#There's also comics online and I'm not sure if that's really a good place to start but... they're really good so I recommend it anyway

[harpoonsnotspoons]

hello moot can you please inform me of what the hell goes down in sonic the hedgehog all i know is that theres a blue guy who loves chillidogs and goes fast[pressumably sonic]

This is the most important part of Sonic

[justagalwhowrites]

The Campaign - A TSATS One Shot

You're doing your part to get out the vote and Joel is doing his part to protect you while you do. AKA Bodyguard!Joel beats the shit out of a Trump voter.

Pairing: Bodyguard!Joel Miller x Movie Star!Female Reader (from The Savage and the Sanctuary)

CW: Joel beating the shit out of a Trump supporter. That's it, that's the fic. Also mentions of the misery that's befallen us since Trump and all the general misogynistic bullshit of this Godforsaken timeline. No use of Y/N.

Length: 1.1k

A/N: Look. I desperately want to beat the shit out of everyone I see wearing a MAGA hat but, unlike (my version of) Joel, I'm not a 6'5" man with years of experience beating the shit out of people so I can't. Wishing exactly what they voted for on every Trump voter there is and then this too because they deserve it. OK ENJOY LOVE YOU!

Joel was about ready to strangle you. 

Why the fuck you’d volunteered to go out and try to get a bunch of fucking college kids to vote was beyond him. Sure, he knew the election was important, but did that really mean you needed to personally go try to talk to as many idiots as possible in an unsecured area? 

He ground his teeth. You were standing on campus, surrounded by a mob of 20-somethings, each with their fucking phone in hand so he couldn’t even tell if someone was holding a goddamn weapon. Anything was safer than this and yet, here you were, doing it anyway. 

“Can I get a selfie?” One girl asked, practically glowing at the sight of you. 

“Of course!” You said and you smiled and put your face next to hers so she could take a photo. “Can I convince you to vote in the upcoming election? We really need voices like yours to be heard loud and clear.” 

“Definitely,” she said. “I already have a plan for getting there!” 

“That’s what we like to hear!” You said. “Just go online, make sure you’re registered and that you know your polling place and the times. Sound good?” 

She didn’t get a chance to respond, a man in a red Trump hat shoving his way through the crowd, pushing a student into and making you stumble. 

“Hey!” Someone in the crowd protested the intrusion but the man ignored him. 

“The hell do you think you’re doin’?” The man got in your face. “We don’t want your coastal elite bullshit getting mixed up in our government!” 

Joel went to intervene but you held a hand out, stopping him. He clenched his jaw but obeyed, standing at the ready in case things got out of hand. 

“I understand,” you said gently. “I’d probably be upset, too, if I were you. But it’s my government, too. I live in Austin, I love it here and part of showing that love is getting involved…” 

“I don’t give a shit,” he stepped closer. “Get the fuck out of here and leave our kids alone, you fucking bitch!” 

He went to shove you and Joel stepped in then, putting himself between you and the fucking Trump guy before he could lay a hand on you. The man’s hands ended up square in Joel’s stomach, bouncing off almost comically. 

The man was shorter than Joel and definitely weaker. He tilted his head back to look Joel in the eye, an unkempt beard growing in on his neck, his eyes narrowed.  

“That was a mistake,” Joel said, his voice dark and deep. 

“Joel,” your hand went to his shoulder but he shrugged you off. Yes, he was here to protect you but your almost callus disregard for your own safety made him want to pull his goddamn hair out and now, here you were, ready to just let this asshole off without any consequences. 

And fuck if this man didn’t deserve some fucking consequences.

“Need to you to apologize to the lady,” Joel said. “And take that fuckin’ hat off before I shove it up your ass.” 

“If you think I’m about to just let her indoctrinate a bunch of kids…” 

The man made the mistake of leaning around Joel, starting to reach in your direction, and Joel’s patience was nearing its end. 

He shoved the man back before he even really thought about it, making him stumble and sending college kids scrambling back. 

“Joel -“ your voice was sharper now, but he ignored you. 

“Step back,” Joel said, his hands clenching into fists. “Last warning.” 

“Fuck you,” the man said, stalking up to Joel again. “And fuck that bitch, too.” 

Joel’s fist caught the man off guard, not even getting the chance to flinch before it connected with his face. 

The man cried out, stumbling and disoriented, but Joel stalked after him, catching him on the chin and sending him sprawling to the ground. 

“Joel!” You yelled, but you seemed far away in that moment.

Instead, Sarah seemed close. He thought about the 2016 election, when Trump won and Sarah was all of 12 years old. She’d just started getting interested in shit like politics, she was excited about a woman running for president and Joel’d had to explain to her why someone would say something like “grab ‘em by the pussy” and have half the fucking country voting for him. 

Things had only gotten worse in the years since. He had to explain Brett fucking Kavanaugh to his daughter, had to watch as fucking Nazis burned torches and marched through the streets with her, had to just sit there as assholes like this man in his red goddamn hat tried to make life worse for her. 

Back when he had her, he had a reason to keep his nose clean and stay out of trouble, even when dealing with assholes like this. That reason was gone now and so Joel did what he’d been wishing he could for the last damn decade. 

The man tried to get up from his place on the ground but Joel didn’t let him, all but diving on him, grabbing him by the collar and holding him there so he could land blow after blow on his face. He clumsily tried to swing at Joel but he didn’t even feel it. When that failed, his hands scrabbled over Joel’s arms, trying to pull himself free. It didn’t work, either.

Hitting the man again and again hurt but it was a strangely satisfying kind of hurt, one that felt just and righteous, like Joel was finally doing something that was worthwhile. He was hurting someone who deserved it, he was protecting you, he was defending a world that would have been better for his daughter. 

“Joel!” You pulled hard enough on his shoulder that he was forced to pay attention. He was panting for breath, his knuckles bloody, the man’s face a mess. He looked back toward you, at your wide eyes in your unsettlingly perfect face. You looked afraid, but not of him. You were afraid for him. “You can’t do this, you can’t just… Joel, you have to stop.” 

He dropped the man to the ground where he lay, moaning, cradling his broken face. Joel ripped the hat off his head and he groaned in pain. 

“Should’ve listened,” he said, before holding up the hat. “I’m keepin’ this. Get fucked.” 

You looped your arm around Joel’s waist, pulling him against your side and he could have sworn he saw the hint of a smile on your face as you led him away. 

[abyssalzones]

art summary for 2024 ^_^ just used a template I pulled off deviantart this time, maybe next year I'll feel up to making something a little fancier. (more talking below)

overall I'm very happy with all I've managed to accomplish this year (ignoring the college-shaped gap in the middle) but I'm really looking forward to getting more done in terms of my large-scale projects in 2025... for a while I thought I was going to leave art as a side hobby while becoming invested in a different career but realizing that was going to make me miserable for the rest of my life has really re-ignited my passion for art. I could potentially be someone other than an artist and a storyteller, but I don't want to be.

with that in mind I plan on expanding things irt my online presence because I've never been very good at.. "marketing" myself... and I don't know how much that will change since I enjoy having a little authentic place here on tumblr to post art and blog at the same time, but I do have plans to open a patreon soon and maybe start selling prints. patreon would mostly be a place where I put short "bonus" comics, I still want my comics to be largely accessible to the public but sometimes I draw stuff and think "nah I don't think the public should get this one for free." it'd also be a good way to give people glimpses of WIPs as I work on projects that take a lot of time.

speaking of WIPs, I really really really want to finish this big d&d&md comic some time in the next few months since I started it all the way back last summer and it's been waylaid by... my starting irl college. ironically.

it's one of my favorite comics I've made so far and I think it'd be a huge loss if I just let it languish or didn't bother to fully finish it the way I'd been intending to. it also has a cool wizard battle in it. so, that's neat I think.

finally I really want to work on escape velocity, particularly making it more accessible to people. I always find myself in this awkward position where I'm never really sure how to talk about something I've been working on for seven (eight??) years without giving away too much, or without sacrificing the time I'm spending on writing and eventually Drawing it to make promotional stuff that gets people interested. I'm still working on a solution for that but in the meantime I plan on finishing up the basic plot outlines for the first act, then once that's done and I've written up dialogue for the first chapter I can get to work on DRAWING. yay!!!!!

anyway, thank you to anyone who has supported me and enjoyed my art this year :] expect more to come... soon...

[chrystallink]

New Year Thoughts

Hey everyone, it's been awhile! Just wanna splat out some thoughts on the first of the new year. This year has been a really nice one for me. There were some hard challenges, like finding a new job when the other one ran dry, and overcoming the challenges of the new one. (I never thought I'd grow accustomed to a customer service type job.)

But also there were a lot of good things that happened, like finally getting my driver's license. Being able to go places on my own when I need to/feel like it is such a huge blessing, and something I honestly wasn't sure I'd achieve a few years ago. God really has blessed me these past 2 years--opening a door I thought would never opening, and giving me the courage and strength to hobble and limp my way through it.

Though in all these good things happening in my life, I don't want to forget the One who brought me here in the first place. So my prayer for this year is to keep on learning and growing in the Lord, and to not grow lazy or forget Him. As far as my art and projects go, I admit I haven't been doing as much digital/traditional art or writing as of recently. I've been putting more of my left over creative energy into various crafts (I've been dabbling in soft solder jewelry in particular recently, and I've been really dazzled by some of the results!) Still, I don't want to abandon my original projects. System Collapse and Catalyst are still my main projects (and there has been some new developments for both of them, so they haven't been totally left to rot). I'm still trying to work on a shorter project too.

I think my main slowness with my digital/comic art is due to feeling tired after work and not wanting to invest brainpower into drawing (somehow crafting takes less brainpower in comparison), and the fact I'm in the age old feeling of 'Oh no, I don't like how my art looks anymore, I gotta put effort into improving or taking my style in a different direction that I actually like'.

And of course I need to learn how to not be distracted so much with online stuff. I guess my main goals for the year are these: -To maintain and deepen my relationship with the Lord -To better exercise discipline -To get more into the swing of doing digital art and my personal projects, and for them to remain rooted in the Lord and not just what I want to do with them. Anyways, that's just my personal thoughts on the new year. I'm hoping and praying that everyone has a good outlook for 2025, and that the Lord will lead you all to where you're meant to be. I can't make any promises about uploading artwork right now, but if you want to see my more recent crafty stuff, just let me know, and I'll get some nice photos to show everyone.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: The Maritime Finale

This is definitely the last one of these, as it's rounding up a bunch of sea creatures I've missed. I assume by this point everyone who sees this knows what it's about, but just in case: https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. (I'll get the rest of the entries on there soon.)

The entry people are working from is here:

The one for next week does not exist. (Also I apologize if I seem rushed, this is a busy week for me.)

Art below the cut!

@pomrania (link to post here) has us off on a weird start with their interpretation of the Fatrihrukh. I don't have any particular nostalgia for rage-face comics (I was online during that era, just not in circles where they were common), but honestly this made me smile. Also I like imagining some fisherman on a dock, still sitting in a normal pose and holding his fishing rod, just full-throat screaming at the sky, apparently apropos of nothing in particular. This is a fun one, is what I'm saying.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has an uncanny ability to make me think, "sure, that looks like an animal that could be real" even when they're drawing something like Fish With Tentacles, which I am 99% sure is not a thing. Though if fish did have tentacles, they would look like that. This is of course also the Fatrihrukh; apparently people like that one.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has done the whole set. A lot of these turned out really well -- I think the Ormlalaehr is stealing the show here, but the Bursgaenga is pretty darn cute. The linked post has details on each of them, which I recommend checking out. (Also thank you for providing alt text.)

@wendievergreen (link to post here) continues to impress with their delightful art style. Love the little space-invader Magtlegyegs, and the Lungyoggeas are just... wild. Extremely cool looking. (Also, thank you for providing alt text.)

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) joins the broad consensus that if you're only drawing one of these, it's the Fatrihrukh. I love the (medieval-art-appropriate) choice to give it human-like parts since the entry doesn't say otherwise. The colors are also really pretty; I like the effect on the background.

Okay. Aberdeen Bestiary. No illustrations for this one -- this whole section is just blocks of text.

Ahrmegyaeb

The wording is ambiguous as to whether whales and dolphins also do this -- but the creature in question is the seal. I have no idea how this works; either baby seals are way smaller than I think or I have completely the wrong idea about how seal mouths look.

Bursgaenga

This one is of course the scarus or escarius, which does not exist. Bestiary.ca notes that Scarus is a genus of parrotfish in modern taxonomy, and that the Rackham translation of Pliny the Elder has decided they are wrasse. No idea how well that reflects medieval understanding.

Chraekhret

Another one that doesn't exist, the echenais. Apparently Pliny has heard of some magical applications in love-charms, litigation, and obstetrics. The fish that anchors ships is a good addition to a fantasy setting, I think.

Dhrakyetor

Naturally the fish that looks like a serpent is the eel. More spontaneous generation, too, which is always nice. I swear I've heard that "giant eels in the Ganges" line somewhere before, but can't place it.

Eavbechtgi

Here we have the lamprey. I kind of wonder if this "head vs. tail" thing has something to do with its unusual head shape?

Fatrihrukh

Honestly I probably should have redacted the "many-footed" thing, because the name given is polippus, which... yeah, that actually tracks. I thought maybe this was the result of someone not bothering to actually count the limbs on an octopus, but it's apparently an obsolete umbrella term for octopus, squid, cuttlefish... all manner of tentacled cephalopod.

Griggkhraz

This is the torpedo, which is some fun etymology. The modern usage of torpedo is inherited from non-self-propelled naval mines, which were named after this torpedo, an electric ray. (Presumably they named mines after it because it hides itself & zaps you if you accidentally step on it.) The rays were named for their effect on people whom they zap: torpidus, 'numb'. This is of course cognate with English torpid. Which is a strange word to be cognate with the thing you shoot at boats.

Also:

...if a torpedo from the Indian sea is touched by a spear or rod, even from a considerable distance, the muscles of the fisherman's arms, even if they are very strong, grow numb...

Would that work if it were a metal rod?

Hretchngin

This is the crab. I did not know all of that about crabs, especially the basil thing.

Khaboghrad

Meet the sea urchin. That's why it specifies "the maritime kind" -- the other kind of urchin is a hedgehog. I don't know why the author calls it "worthless and contemptible", especially since they go on to say it can do this really cool thing. Just seems unnecessarily mean.

Lungyoggea

This one is just shellfish. All of them, apparently. The words given are conca and concle -- Latin concha covers shellfish in general.

Magtlegyeg

Naturally the pearl-bearing shellfish is the oyster, but I love the imagery of oysters going ashore to be fertilized by dew from heaven. The idea of going out at night to watch the oysters migrate onto land and catch the dew is another thing I'm taking note of for a fantasy setting.

Nolthrigyo

Someone probably clocked this one: it's the murex snail, source of the famous "tyrian purple" dye.

Ormlalaehr

Really pushing the definition of "fish" here is... the tortoise. Technically also the turtle, I guess, since the author specifies that this includes land and sea varieties. This is, I think, one that makes total sense once you know what it is, so we're moving on to our last one, which is also really pushing the "what is a fish" envelope...

Riggmungku

This is the frog, also obvious once you see it. The fact that it's being called a fish really throws you off, though, I think.

And that's the whole lot. This has been fun, but I'm also glad to have it completed. (Well, completed with the exception of any responses to this one I've missed or that came in late.) Thanks to everyone who's been looking in on this project -- thanks doubly to everyone who contributed -- and thanks triply to the handful of people who drew something practically every week.

[ofmdrecaps]

09/10-17/2024 Daily OFMD Recap Pt 1

Hey all. Sorry about the format, and I even said this was coming yesterday and then some crazy shit happened ONCE AGAIN because life is crazy like that. Please bare with me as I get the different parts out -- and please let me know if I missed anything major!

TLDR; David Jenkins; Rhys Darby; Kristian Nairn; Vico Ortiz; Con O'Neill; +

Part 2 / Part 3

== David Jenkins ==

David has been at it again, making us cry even more with admiration of our beloved Captain.

Source: David Jenkins Twitter

And David reached out regarding the other trailer drop anniversary!

Source: David Jenkins Twitter

Coming up in another section for Taika in part 2, as we know whenever Taika goes to any event, someone complains about him, so David sent a very sweet reminder about him (although the second one, I'm not sure if he's calling Taika old or not lol).

Source: David Jenkins Twitter

And just in case you weren't tearing up from Chaos Dad's kind words, he has some for the fans too.

Source: David Jenkins Twitter

And just a friendly reminder that fanfiction CAN help you go places. (Lincodega now works as a writing assistent for IWTV)

Source: David Jenkins' Twitter

== Rhys Darby ==

In related but news, Rhys did a cameo for Kitten Rescue LA! They constantly get so many kittens in that they can't take care of. This is a really sweet video of him endorsing, but as mentioned below, there's a CW you should be aware of.

CW: Mention of Pet Euthanasia

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kitten Rescue LA (@kittenrescuela)

Rhys is also giving us more Substack Content previews-- this time of Bill Napier from Short Poppies <3 Wanna subscribe to his substack? Check it out here!

Source: Rhys Instagram

Rhys has announced on his substack (the non-paid content) that he'll be touring next year!

Source: Rhys' Substack

If that isn't enough Rhys for you-- good news! He'll be in Los Angelos at the Largo at the Coronet at 8 PM on October 1! Get tickets here! (Special thanks to Sara for pointing this out!)

Source: Largo LA (found via Sara aka chaoticmulaney on Twitter)

== Kristian Nairn ==

Kristian's book has arrived at his house! He did an unboxing video for everyone to check out! Only a week or so left til release!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kristian Nairn (@kristiannairn)

Oh, Kristian mentioned he was going to be getting a tattoo while and Portland, and hey look, it's Kristian's New Tattoo!

Source: Kristian's Instagram

Need more of Kristian? Well look no further, he's got a new DJ Appearance happening Oct 4, 2024 at the Ministry of Sound Club in London!

Source: Kristian's Instagram

== Vico Ortiz ==

So much news for Vico! First and foremost, Vico was voted a Fan Favorite Out LGBTQ+ Actor in the Autostraddle TV Awards!

Source: AutoStraddle TV Awards

Vico also has some exciting things coming up-- they mentioned an upcoming Momentus Event on their Patreon (free version)!

Source: Vico's Patreon

Looks like Momentus is excited ...and dropping hints!

Source: Be Momuntus Twitter

Vico also had some more pics from Rose City Comic Con they wanted to share--

Source: Vico's Instagram

Vico did some amazing work for Elder Scrolls Online and is seeing some love coming down the pipeline-- they have some BTS up for it on their Patreon if you're interested!

Oh I almost forgot to mention, Vico was featured on Dimelo Season 2 Episode one!

== Con O'Neill ==

Con's new short film, "The Men" is FINALLY coming out on October 25 at the AlnwickPlayhouse! Our friends over at @adoptourcrew were kind enough to let our UK Crew know where and when they could catch it before the rest of the world! Get tickets here!

Source: Adopt Our Crew Instagram

Continued in Part 2!

[scary-pixie]

November 1st = New Tina Year! (secret diary entry and upcoming goals)

I'm mainly writing this down so I don't slack off! Cause if I slack off I can look back on this and think, "wow, you failed terribly. dingus."

Ahem.

Anyways, I am in the process of thinking up some new short term goals now that:

2024 con season is over (with the exception of some smaller events)

Spooky Season is almost over (I like posting non-stop spooky stuff during this delightful time)

Twitter is going inside the toilet

Magazine troubles (more on this below)

I have met the famous man whose inspiration played a big role in both: a) getting back into drawing my old OCs after 15+ years (little round glasses are a bad influence), and b) getting brave enough to be on video after saying I would never do this for god knows how long. (secret: I watched a certain music video with one of his characters the morning before I made my own). BUT HE WILL NEVER KNOW ABOUT THIS AND I WILL NEVER TELL! I AM FULL OF CRINGE!!!

This is what I'm thinking at the moment, in terms of my next creative direction. I appreciate any thoughts or advice!!:

My OC art was an absolute flop in terms of gaining new social media followers. Bluesky seems to be a LITTLE bit better, but it's still early to tell and I haven't posted too many of my OCs there yet either. For the time being, though, I plan to get back to my Schoolism subscription assignments since I've been neglecting them for a bit!

good lord I need to flatten my stomach somehow, as I cannot fit into my preferred fashion choices. I quit watching TV for a while in the summer, which helped a bit (I tend to eat everything in the house while I watch), so I may try this again soon.

arm workouts are going alright I guess, I am gaining a bit of muscle in my armes so they do not look so much like noodles.

Tempted to get back into posting video game screenshots and mini-reviews on social media since people really liked this stuff, but I'm worried it might just add more to my plate.

I'm really enjoying doing videos now, I'm just not sure which direction to take them (or if I even should take them places). I tend to film a lot of myself and a long-time friend in the car just saying stupid shit, but I don't really want to post all of these.

I wish to read more books without falling asleep, jesus christ this is tough.

On a similar note: the magazine I used to write book and comic reviews for has SHUT DOWN GOD DAMN IT so maybe I'll write some new stuff here?? Not sure yet!

I need to get back to my Japanese studies!! I used to do them at lunch and dinner but now I get distracted by all the awful political shit online! Aaaaaaaa!! I really hope America doesn't combust in the next few days but I guess we'll find out soon...

Finally, I need to be more active HERE! It's the best place for longform writing and art that might be a bit too "cringe" for the general public. Let's see if I can stick to it!!

I think that's all I have to SAY for NOW. Wish me luck in sticking to my goals instead of spiralling into ADHD Twitter nonsense, aaaaaaaaaaaa!!

Tagging a couple frands: @prometheus-ghost @fadingdreamerdream @thewebspinner @autolykiss @draganwhorror

Also anyone who actually wants to watch my shitty ass videos, the link is below. I have a bunch more but haven't posted them! https://www.instagram.com/kittensoft39/reels/

[havendance]

hello mem!! i just finished reading the entirety of no man’s land, and im trying to figure out where to go from there. online searching hasn’t really been helpful 😭 this is the list i found, im just not sure about the order:

- batman by ed brubaker vol 1

- new gotham vol 1

- officer down

- new gotham vol 2

- bruce wayne murderer/fugitive

- gotham central

- catwoman???? not sure which comics tho

where does vol 2 of batman by ed brubaker fit into this?? is this even the right order?? i’d truly appreciate your help 🥺

I'll do my best to straighten you out!

After No Man's Land, all of the Bat titles go their own way (before joining up back together for Officer Down and Bruce Wayne: Murder/Fugitive).

New Gotham Volume 1 collects Greg Rucka's run on Detective Comics between the end of No Man's Land and Officer Down.

(Following the end of NML, Batman was written by Larry Hama for a little bit, and all of those stories are just kind of fine and also not collected anywhere that I know of so don't worry about that. This bullet point is mainly to explain why Batman by Ed Brubaker does not cover the same span of time as New Gotham.)

The first four issues collected Batman by Ed Brubaker vol 1 take place BEFORE Officer Down. The rest take place afterward.

This was not on your list, but I do also recommend reading Gotham Knights: Transference which collects the first 12 issues of Gotham Knights. This also takes place between the end of No Man's Land and Officer Down. Gotham Knights is comic that does a good job of showcasing the Bats as an ensemble so if you like Batman working with his allies, this is the book for you. Also, Transference is just really good, and Gotham Knights as a whole contributes to everything leading up to Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive.

Catwoman does not have any collected editions for this period.

Officer Down goes here.

After Officer Down goes New Gotham Volume 2. This collects all of Detective Comics between Officer Down and Bruce Wayne: Murderer.

Batman by Ed Brubaker vol 1 also covers most of this ground. This is where things start getting a little (more) complicated though. The first issue collected in Batman by Ed Brubaker vol 2 takes place BEFORE Bruce Wayne: Murderer. It then proceeds to collect the tie-in issues of Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive that Brubaker wrote. I would honestly just skip this volume. The first issue is a christmas issue with like an evil (fake) Santa Claus or something and it's not that important. The other issues will be easier to read in other collected editions.

I also recommend you read Gotham Knights: Contested which collects the issues of Gotham Knights between Officer Down and Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive. The final issue of the does take place AFTER Bruce Wayne: Murder/Fugitive but the rest of it takes place before.

This is where you read Bruce Wayne: Murderer and Bruce Wayne Fugitive. I think there's a new omnibus collecting it all coming out soon, but I'm not sure how useful that is to you.

Gotham Central starts a few months or so after the conclusion of Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, but there's not really anything else you need to read before you can start this.

To look ahead a little after this, Hush starts to run in Batman and Brubaker start doing some other stuff in Detective Comics that doesn't get collected. And then (unfortunately) the next major event is War Games. But there's plenty of comics for you to read up to this point, so we'll stop here for now.

Other notes:

Catwoman does not really tie in to Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive but around the time that event is starting up, Brubaker is relaunching Catwoman. This is where she gets the black leather catsuit and this IS collected in Catwoman Vol. 1: Trail of the Catwoman. I have not read this, but I've heard that it's good. It's also getting reprinted soon I believe.

Robin does not really have any collected editions post NML. If you want to read him, you're going to need to do it some other way. His event tie in issues are collected though.

Nightwing DOES have some collected editions if you're interested in him though. Nightwing Vol. 5: The Hunt for Oracle overlaps with No Man's Land, but it also collects the start of what he's up to afterward. Following that, Vol. 6 collects the rest of the way up to Officer Down. Vol. 7 and the first 4 issues collected in Vol.8 collect the stuff between Officer Down and Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive.

Birds of Prey gets hooked in to events, but the comics themselves don't really contribute to the larger Gotham narrative going on. I still think they're fun though. Birds of Prey vol. 3 collects the Birds of Prey comics between the end of NML and Officer Down. There aren't any collected editions for the Dixon run after this though.

Batgirl! We can't forget Batgirl, it's very good. It does get roped into events, but most of it is standalone. Batgirl Vol. 1: Silent Knight collects the comics between the end of NML and Officer Down as well as Cass' Officer Down tie in. This volume is harder to track down/more expensive on the resale market, but if your library as Hoopla, it's available there. (Most of these trades that I'm mentioning are as far as I'm aware.) Vol. 2 collects the comics leading up to Bruce Wayne: Murderer and then a couple, and Vol 3 collects a couple of the tie ins for Fugitive I believe and then beyond. They can largely be read on their own terms.

I would be remiss if I didn't recommend that you also read Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood. This is a six issue mini-series takes place relatively shortly after NML and was recently reprinted as Birds of Prey: Huntress. Definitely read this! It is good! Also you can see what Helena's up to after NML.

Finally, at a point in time between Officer Down and Bruce Wayne: Murderer, Joker: Last Laugh happens which is the event where Dick kills the Joker and Bruce revives him. Every comic has a tie-in where they have to fight Jokerized villains and honestly that could be the extent of your engagement with this comic. The main issues of this event are theoretically collected but also I've never seen this trade anywhere and also it's not on Hoopla (which is how I read most of my trades) so that might prove an issue.

To summarize all of this (I'm using bolded entries to demarcate crossover events. You can jump around between entries in this list between them as they largely run concurrently.) (the exception being like Nightwing vol 5 and 6. The Hunt for Oracle Crossover between Nightwing and Birds of Prey is also collected in both Nightwing vol 5 and Birds of Prey vol. 3):

New Gotham vol. 1

Gotham Knights: Transferrence

Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood

Batgirl vol. 1

Nightwing vol. 5 and vol. 6

Batman by Ed Brubaker vol. 1 (first 4 issues)

Officer Down

The rest of Batman by Ed Brubaker vol. 1

New Gotham vol. 2

Gotham Knights: Contested

Batgirl vol. 2

Nightwing vol. 7 and Nightwing vol. 8 (first 4 issues)

Bruce Wayne: Murderer and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive

Catwoman Volume 1: The Trail of Catwoman (Running roughly concurrently with Murderer/Fugitive)

Batgirl vol. 3

Gotham Central vol. 1

Batman: Hush

etc etc

I think that's it, but I'm sure that if I missed anything one of my lovely and knowledgeable mutuals will point it out.

Clear as mud? But seriously, I hoped this cleared things up for you and please do not hesitate to ask follow up questions! If this list is overwhelming, I would say, Nightwing, Birds of Prey, Batgirl, and Cry for Blood (though as a Helena fan, I really do think you should read Cry for Blood) are less essential to the building Gotham plot that leads up to Murder/Fugitive, but I really do think you should read Gotham Knights. There's some really fun comics in this era, I hope you enjoy!

[synergysilhouette]

Changes I'd make to Tim Drake (Warning: may be controversial)

As my favorite Robin, I've needed to make this post for a long time. I know my opinions may not be agreed upon, but I hope my dedication is still appreciated, nonetheless.

He isn't dragged for his superhero goals--Any poor mistake that DC makes, they decide to pin it on him having poor judgement, which is really unfair. As many things that get ignored/retconned (even if they arguably shouldn't be, depending on the subject), it feels bizarre to drag Tim for things like his ill-fated "Drake" costume and era, especially when it was walked back on so quickly. On top of this, people seem to look down on him for genuinely enjoying being Robin. Robin wasn't always a "move on" position, per se; Dick had been Robin for consecutive decades before deciding he wanted something different, while Jason was murdered and became someone else as a reflection of this. Tim became Robin because he saw that Batman NEEDED him, and deduced Batman and the previous Robin's identities on his own. If he wants to do stop being Batman's partner (or sidekick, depending on perspective), it should be his own choice, not everyone else saying "this was a temp job and you're out."

He has his own unique color, costume, and maybe even codename--Even if he remains by Batman's side, Tim deserves to be distinct; his codename and color scheme are shared with all his brothers, and it doesn't do much for him. I'd definitely prefer a cowless take on his Savior costume (unsure about the codename; it feels a bit too on-the-nose, but it also feels like it represents his need to help others) or bring back his N52 Red Robin suit WITH the wings as well as making him the brother in purple, which goes well with the Batfamily's aesthetic as well as signifying his romance with Stephanie and friendship with Bunker.

He's going for a psyche major--I feel like this fits so well with his motivations. It's weird that the Batfamily doesn't put more stock in studying psychology outside of Harley (who rarely uses this skill, much to my chagrin). Tim wants what's best for everyone, and became a hero in order to help people. He isn't simply trying to stop problems, but prevent them and make Gotham a better place for everyone. While he can still go for a cyber-related degree (I don't remember his exact major), I'd prefer he also go for a degree that furthers his desire to understand and improve others, plus it's good to help him better understand himself as well. Definitely would've made this something he furthered in "Heroes in Crisis" (which I should make an post about another time).

He isn't bi--Hate me if you must. I'm a gay guy, and I just didn't vibe with this reveal. During the mid-2000s, it was stated by one of his artists that he and the writers kind of already saw Tim as bi, though DC never made this canon until 2021. As far as I know (as a 2010s comic person), it never seemed like DC was keen to lean into LGBT sexuality for Tim, and given that they've been treating him poorly post-N52, it feels like this was a random "let's find a way to make Tim as popular as his brothers" by making him stand out in a way that they didn't. I know this is a bold claim, but this is a feeling I've had for a while now, especially since his personal life now mainly revolves around Bernard (personal bias, but I'm usually not a fan of heroes dating non-heroes; I'd prefer him with Bunker--or Connor, if he's romantically into guys). And they haven't done him many favors since; DC infamously described him as the "always-online bisexual" in a now deleted tweet that embodies my concern that they're just defining him by his sexuality now, as well as a solo comic with horrendous art for most of the run. If Jason or Damian were depicted as bi (with the latter being the least controversial choice, imo, given his younger tenure in comics and romantic life not as fleshed out), I'm almost sure they'd be better handled, probably because they've been better handled as characters in recent years. Overall, I found Tim's retcon of sexuality unnecessary (yet we have bi characters such as Ghostmaker who were LGBT from the get-go and don't get nearly as much attention) and overall used as a metaphor for his "indecisiveness" at making decisions that DC forced onto him.

He still has a (biological) family and life--A big problem with writers and artists is that they sometimes have a problem with trying to make the 4 Robins identical in appearance and lives. Unlike Jason and Dick, Tim wasn't an orphan adopted by Bruce, not originally anyway. He had his own life and chose to be part of Bruce's world, and the need to make him an orphan with pretty much nothing going on in his civilian life was disrespectful (is he still an Olympic-level gymnast? Kinda love the idea that he takes time off for "me time" here and there and that's when Damian or another Batfam member jumps in). Let him have friends and family as Tim Drake, not just as Robin. Let Bruce be his dad without killing off his biological one. Let Tim have autonomy and individuality!

More A-list connections--This is being petty, but most of his friends are next-gen heroes with no major stuff going on for themselves, just like him. Surrounding yourself with important people can help you become important, too. I'm not telling friends to drop his friend groups (him and Conner have one of the best male homosocial relationships in comics and it sucks how they got overshadowed by Damian and Jon), but giving him more relationships with well-known characters could help his status. Plus maybe involve him in more teams outside of Teen Titans and the Batfamily; it's not good that he jumps between being an underrated member amongst iconic characters and a leader of underrated people. Just make sure he's not trading positions to become another hero's apprentice--there was once plans for him to be the next Blue Beetle as well as a temporary Nightwing, neither of which would be good for him, tbh. I have similar feelings for Starfire (we need more of her friendship and Superman; plus I'd love another underrated TT team led by Tim, perhaps with Ryand'r).

Never lose sight of who he is--The idea with Tim (at least from what I've absorbed) is that he's the most optimistic, maybe even naive, version of Dick, committed to wanting to help people and support them, and not one to brush them off of devalue them. He's got a heart, not just a brain, and I like to consider him one of the glue sticks that holds the family together. He doesn't need to be edgy or cool in the way that Damian and Jason are, nor should he be reduced to a sex object like Dick (which is another post entirely).

[fenrislorsrai]

Hey, saw your reblog of the post about flyers being a good way to reach not-so-online folks. Do you have any examples to draw on for inspiration? I'm no graphic designer so appreciate some examples. No matter what I promise not to use Comic Sans or Arial. 😀

Ironically, Comic Sans and Arial are some of the best font choices because they're easier for people with dyslexia to read! They're also widely available on most machines, so if you're going to send an editable version to other folks to print on a home computer, they'll generally render correctly. (you can also export a PDF and force it to do the same if you don't want them to edit)

Some sample full page flyers.

This is a two up, where I printed on a single page and split the page in half for hanging

Conveniently, one of the things in the twoup is the same as the full page. We did a smaller, less detailed one for this as it was a mini-event, so we hang in a much more limited area where folks likely already knew a lot of details about the venue as they walked past it.

It's not obvious with these, but generally the smallest text on here is 14 point. These are all in Arial.

The initial header is at least 34 point and some are up to 50, if I had space. The subheading is generally in range of 20-30

Bigger is better! People are generally going to see these while walking so need a really big, clear headline to get attention. You still want to keep it overall large because often walkers are older folks who may not have their reading glasses with them. GO BIG.

Less is more for this type of flyer.

Event Title

date and location

Other info

That's it! That's the basics! Use declarative sentence. One clause per sentence. If you can present things in a list, even better!

If you're doing a BIG event that had sponsors and stuff, you'll want to use fancier posters with their logos and stuff in prime locations and then these little guys that are just "event, date, location" in outdoor locations with low traffic.

If printing at home, buy yourself a light colored pack of card stock in a bright color. I personally use a safety orange. If you're getting them copied somewhere, spring for the card stock. It'll withstand getting rained on a few times and if it's pinned to an indoor bulletin board, you can hang with a single pin without worrying about it curling.

If it's going to be a flyer for recurring event or just info about a local resource like where the food pantry is, put a small "hung on X/y/z" on the very bottom. Some places require a date on posters for hanging and they'll take them down after a certain point to make sure they're still current. If you date them, they may stay up longer, because they know when they were hung instead of going on vibes of "oh that's been here forever" and it was actually only two weeks.

QR codes are something some people like on posters, but I personally am old and suspicious about anything I can't see the destination URL on, so don't use them. If you do use them, look at the place generating them carefully. If you can't figure out how they make their money making free QR codes... you're the product. Be suspicious, don't sell out folks data via QR code data harvesting.

My top spots for hanging flyers:

Bulletin boards at grocery stores

Laundromats

Coffee shop

Library (you will probably have to take it to circulation for approval, so make sure its All Ages appropriate as there are free range children in that library)

trailhead or parking pulloff by a trail.

Transfer station/dump (you may need approval there as it's town property, but you will get ONLY town residents there. It's worth asking at the booth! Same rules as library.)

Good luck with the flyers!

[longlostlorian]

I don't want to add on to that good webcomic post with what I'm p sure is just my own fruitless navelgazing, but I started doing webcomics as a kid in the mid-aughts and the scene was basically unrecognizable from what it is now. I would come home from school and post sketchbook comics scanned in with minimal touchups, and I don't think I've ever gotten as much engagement on anything in all the years since. I didn't know how to implement a comments section (I was hardcoding everything in html on a domain my dad helped set up for me, lol) but I got tons of emails from excited/curious readers every week! A phpbb board (early internet forum) with 300+ human members (and all the fun of viagrabots I had to cull by hand)! People were just excited by what it was possible to see online. And that was for a bad comic made by a kid with minimal skills that nobody remembers today!

For better or worse, the grand majority of readers live on apps now. Webtoons and tapas host hundreds of the most niche, beautiful passion projects you can imagine, better than nearly anything available 20 years ago, but there's just as many stories that were literally churned out by content farms (studios with large teams producing a groupthink product they aim to sell/IP farm - in other words, something that's nobody's baby). And by and large, the userbase is simply too young to discriminate. They've literally been trained to view webcomics as content. Does that mean readers today are the problem? No, of course not! And it's hard to complain about greater access to free, often queer art that's technically better than it ever has been before. I'm glad young readers have easy access to things like that.

But webcomics have become subject to the same level of scrutinization as any other aggregated content. Don't post for two weeks and people will talk about you like you've died, and a week later they stop talking about you altogether. The culture that I grew up with by and large doesn't exist anymore, though remnants of it struggle bravely on. Part of this comes as the "wild west" aspect of the internet circles the drain. When comics are produced with the knowledge that they will go up on webtoons/tapas - sites with strong censorship requirements - people dull down their work. They have to. Anything that goes on those sites automatically becomes a product. And so the truly weird, the unexpected, the indie, and the unapologetically, freely, charmingly bad (and messy) aspect of webcomics is systematically sucked out, both by the exacting standards of a captive consumer base and by the requirements of the platform.

I don't know that I view wt/tapas as net evils or anything like that. I use them myself. And I've heard things about places like comicfury that make it sound like a great substitute for the culture that used to exist around smackjeeves, drunkduck, etc. I also think it's more accessible than ever before for creators to monetize their work, even if for most of us, passion projects never come close to paying the bills. So maybe what I really miss is the early internet and I don't think it's ever coming back.

[deconstructed-paradise]

Queerness is otherness. Being trans, being gay, all of that, that’s inherently othering because society as it is now sees those people as outside of the norm. Nimona is the summation of that feeling.

The creator of nimona the original comic is a trans man but he wrote and drew her story when he was still living as a girl in a controlling and religious household. She was an expression and a rebellion against the controlling life he lived.

The movie version is much more hopeful, much more loving. In the comic nimona dissapeared because the world was just too bad to her. In the movie she helped people and it started to change things, and she came back at the end. And overall…

The comic is a work that is raw and painful and heartfelt and absolutely feels like it was a creation from an artist clawing a tiny bit of catharsis and creation out because they needed it in that moment, because things were hard and he needed something to put all that feeling into.

The movie is more hopeful. There’s still bad, there’s still pain, but there’s also community with other queer people. There’s signs that things are starting to change- the wall isn’t being rebuilt at the end, they’re opening things up.

And a note on Nimona’s looks- I’m nonbinary and movie nimona has the exact same body type as me. She could be any form she wanted, and what I look like is what she’s comfortable with. That’s pretty affirming, personally. Trans people don’t owe anyone a perfect presentation of what they identify as to “count” as trans.

…. I’m so sorry Lucy I just ranted in your inbox for WAY too long I just really like the movie nimona.

I.... I don't know, I don't get it. Not like you do. I've never been trans, so I-- oh, right, is it time to change one of the tubes?

Just routine maintenance, yep. Trying to empathize with trans people online?

I don't get it. I can't empathize with someone so vastly different from me, and why do I need to? Don't they just want to be addressed with the right name and pronouns?

...here's a thought experiment. Imagine that you, a woman, were testosterone dominant. Imagine that people around you tried to gaslight you into thinking that this was normal, but your body wanted to have broad shoulders and a beard and a deep voice without your consent.

Skies above, I'd never leave the house if that happened. I got close, a couple times, and I obsessed over making sure my chin was plucked clean of hair.

If you can't feel like a person in your own body, you'd probably feel distant from other people, right? So maybe trans people aren't quite like everyone else. Saying that they're just like cis people works in some cases, but in others, it can feel like a denial of what they've been through as a trans person specifically. Maybe they've suffered in ways that are hard for cis people to comprehend, and need some extra kindness.

Thank you. You've been so patient explaining this to me.

Oh, I'm not the patient one here, that's you. Heh, sorry, it's a tired joke. Looks like your vitals are all good and everything's in place!

Thank you. Ah... all right, I suppose I get it a little better, anon. Nimona's told that she's unnatural, right? That she's... a monster. I'm not sure I can put all the pieces in place, but.... if she's transgender and was traumatized because of that specifically, then I wonder if it makes more sense what she did in the end. She's not like everyone else, she can't be like everyone else. But they refuse to see her and ask her to be something simple and easy to understand.

....ah, I still don't understand a lot of this. I should probably rest some more. But now I've got a fresh saline drip and I think new painkillers... I'm going to take a nap, anon.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

A couple of replies today!

Anonymous asked:

Edmundedmundedmundedmundedmundedmundnebulacollegeedmund YESSS I have been fed content and I'm so motherfucking happy

The boy looks wonderful in both bunny suits ❤️

Hehehe thank you so much!! I love love love drawing boys in bunny suits, so I am very happy for the opportunity to draw Edmund wearing it…both options~

Anonymous asked:

If Jack and Ortho sees Vil in that outfit, I'm sure they find it attractive.

Of course they will, everyone would~ not only these two.

(related to the latest event)

But I would love to see their reaction to Vil in that outfit as well… I feel like Jack would get visibly flustered, but wouldn’t look away even for a moment.

Ortho would take pictures and record Vil just so he always has the image of Vil looking so good in his head lol

Anonymous asked:

Ok, but those Crewel/Deuce comics, fulfilling another fantasy of mine 😩👌

Actually, the funniest thing is that I've always imagined that those two would have a secret relationship and only would start "officially" dating when Deuce graduated nrc. Like on the weekends, Deuce would tell people that he's going to visit his mom or a cousin, but in reality, he's going to Crewel's place for "extra credit."

Funny scenario: 19/20 y/o Deuce posting on Magicam that he's in a relationship with Divus and all his notifs are from his friends blasting "ayo? 🤨" Then he gets a text from his mom like "DeeDee, you know I will support you in everything and anything but don't make the same mistakes as I did when I was younger, this is how you were born 😔"

(related to this comic; sorry for the late reply!)

Thank you, Anon, I am happy you liked the comic!

Out of all the first years, Deuce does feel like the type to officially go out with a teacher after graduating lol I can’t explain it, but it feels right in a weird way. I wonder if any of the first years would suspect that Deuce isn’t really visiting his mom or a cousin whenever he leaves to spend time with Crewel…

Also! His poor mother, this boy just keeps making her worry lol At least Deuce isn’t going to get pregnant, so that should be a relief…

blackbutlerfandomnerddomain asked:

If we had a battle of crossovers, who would win: GreenViolet or LilIdia

Hmm, how are they fighting? Is this a fist fight? Then Lilidia, because Lilia would outsmart Greenhill, and Violet and Idia both are wimps who can’t fight lol

In terms of a relationship… it’s a bit difficult to compare them because both couples are kind of confused within themselves. Greenhill is a bit oblivious about Violet’s feelings, and Lilidia are both confused about them being online friends lol so now I imagine these four looking at each other confused because they don’t know why are they even here and what is going on.

If both ships are established relationships though, it would be a tough fight, because Greenhill and Lilia are both competitive.

GreenViolet could win because Greenhill knows Violet better than Lilia knows Idia. And Lilidia could win because Lilia is a war veteran who would get super excited about winning and then teasing Idia about them being the best couple ever…

Anonymous asked:

All You Wanna Do by Samantha Pauly, the live Broadway version reminds me of Alois. Especially the last two minutes…

Wow, listening to this while thinking about Alois was quite a journey! 😬 It really does fit him in a lot of ways, and the last two minutes are especially heartbreaking. Ghhh I love Alois’ story so much.

Thank you for sharing, Anon.

Anonymous asked:

The last ask regarding the Leech parents and their reputation if both of their sons started dating. Out of all the characters you ship them with, which one would make the best impression? My first thought was 🥁 Riddle 🥁

If Floyd would ever settle down (which is hard to imagine with his unpredictable personality), it would definitely be with Riddle. I also think Riddle would make a great son-in-law. Even though Riddle would be very nervous meeting The Leech parents. Riddle Leech has a nice ring to it. Maybe Floyd would take Riddle underwater  to live in the coral sea. Goldfish Riddle confirmed??

But then again, I wonder how Mrs. Rosehearts would feel if her son decided to marry the son of a "Yakuza" boss. Mrs. Rosehearts and Mrs. Leech meeting each other?! 👀

(this is related to this reply)

Sorry for the late reply, Anon! Your ask got me thinking as well, as you can see lol

The Leech parents would absolutely love Riddle! Both because he is hilarious (so uptight, I mean, upstanding!) and because he is genuinely a surprisingly good pick. Just like you said, he is so polite, so well-educated, at times it almost feels too good to be true, how come Floyd of all people brought home such a good boy? They always expected Jade to be the one…  They’ll absolutely let the boys know about it lol embarrassing all of them.

Riddle would be super nervous and a bit scared, but parents are parents, even if they are scary fish mafia parents. So he has to be respectful and polite. Which is honestly only going to amuse Mama and Papa more – Riddle is so tiny and cute with his baby face and tiny hands and stuff, but oh so serious. He’s like a baby doll… they would woobify him a lot lol and tease him in general, but always try to be stealthy about it. Maybe they just don’t want to scare him away because there is no way Floyd finds someone else similar to Riddle lol

Also! Riddle being a goldfish merman is such a fun theme, I love it when people draw him like that. Floyd really should turn him into a merman, poor Riddle is going to be so confused. He is reversed Ariel lol

Oh Mrs Rosehearts is going to hate this so much… Leaving her alone with Mrs Leech is such a bad idea, because Mama Leech is going to play along at first, complaining about how having sons is such a huge source of stress, how rude and ungrateful they are sometimes, and just how much she wants them to just be good and proper at everything that they do. Mama Rosehearts could even think that they are on the same page at first (even though this Leech woman is way too dramatic…)… Mama Leech would just troll her the entire time, just as she does with everyone she talks to… but she’ll like her a lot, she’ll consider her a good friend afterwards <3 and call her every day.

Another potential partner that the Leech parents would love is Idia, and we have some thoughts about them, but I’ll share them a bit later – there is another ask related to this topic that I’ll try to write a proper reply tomorrow. So consider this a teaser and thank you for your patience 👀

[monsieuroverlord]

Hellverine #1 2nd printing 1:25 Cassara Virgin Variant

My goodness, do I have a mini rant about this (I'll keep it under the cut if anyone wants to skip it):

It was such a pain in the ass trying to get ahold of a copy of this!

I saw it when it was first announced a little over a month ago, right?

So, I'm like okay, it'll probably be posted on my usual ordering site (no physical shops near me, but if you follow me, you know I got a pulse on the solicits. My pull list is immaculate, things are planned and preordered MONTHS in advance).

I check every day for a week. No dice. Not posted for pre-order.

After the first couple of days during this week, I'm also casually checking other comic book sites -- either already sold out or going for a minimum of $65 to $100. Ebay pre-sales are pretty similar.

So I'm like, screw that, it isn't even out yet! The official catalog price is like $9.99, I can wait.

A month goes by, I'm checking diligently every day. There are no changes.

Then I'm like, "Okay, I just have to wait until it actually comes out" and I'm sure the shops will be selling their extra incentive copies at a more reasonable price.

Tuesday night, I'm pulling out all the stops, I'm deep-diving. I'm utilizing all the secret advanced search commands I learned in college. AND I thought I found one!

It was a listing on Google shopping for $4.99, so I'm like "Jackpot" and click "buy now" so I do, and it redirects me to checkout on the website, and I think to myself "sweet!" so I buy it.

I get my order confirmation, and IN BIG BOLD LETTERS at the top, it reads:

"PLEASE NOTE YOU MUST BUY ALL INCENTIVE QUALIFIERS TO GET A INCENTIVE COPY"

(I'm paraphasing a bit, and there was a bit more after that, but you get the idea)

So, I'm thinking "what?" and I go and actually browse the site I ordered from, and I somehow stumbled upon a wholesaler store, like the kind a comic book store would use to order bulk copies for the store.

Essentially, if I was a store, I would've placed an order for 25 main 2nd printing copies, and then I would've qualified for this incentive variant.

I was quick, and sent and email request to cancel, and got my money back, no problems. (I don't have the budget to but 25 copies of one book just to get the one I want. That's the whole reason I'm not paying $100 for a copy)

So its the day of release in my timezone. Everywhere is still sold out. Slowly but surely, the Ebay resellers begin to trickle in. Its averaging about $70 to $80.

Then I see it! By sheer luck or diligence or a wild combination of both -- there's a $20 copy. But the listing says "DEFECT" in big bold letters.

Undeterred, I think "How bad can it be?" as I don't really need a flawless copy, I just like collecting my pretties, you know?

There were pictures provided, along with the description: some of the color is faded off around the lower left staple

(circled below)

That's not shininess, its actually faded white.

So I bought it. And it arrived today. Its my wonderfully imperfect copy and I'm so happy.

As of today, the lowest is like $49.99 + shipping o Ebay. All the online shops don't have it, even though it came out less than a week ago. And its still not on my usual pre-order site.

Like, I dunno if the 2nd printing didn't sell as well, or maybe there was a manufacturing delay, but good lord, I did not expect this particular variant to be such a pain to obtain.

Like, it's only a 1:25!! I dunno how many 25s were actually printed, but my goodness. I know this is such a first world problem and I recognize at least half of the drama is self-inflicted by my own hubris and dedication to also getting a good deal.

But I'm just trying to buy a little treat for myself. damn.

[thisbuildinghasfeelings]

2023 Writing Cross Stitch Round Up

Thank you for tagging me @ladytessa74 and @alrightbuckaroo

I'm pretty proud of my cross stitch journey this year! 20 finished pieces since April!

April

911 Lone Star- my first Lone Star cross stitch project, created with an image of the Lone Star logo and a free pattern generator I found online. It had been a couple years since I had done any cross stitching. Working on this one was a bit of a painful week because it involved the reestablishment of my stitching calluses on my fingers.

I'm a fireman, our codes are like...fire!- The first in a series where I took a quote from the show and went on Etsy to find a pattern for some kind of image that I thought worked well with the quote. At this point, I didn't have the confidence (or the software) to come up with my own more complex patterns.

Sure, ma'am, but just so you know, I am a homosexual-Still one of my favorites. However, it was early in my cross stitching journey, so when I look at it, a few major mistakes jump out at me. This is such an excellent quote that I think I want to do an improved version at some point.

Is the lizard back?-I did this one in honor of Lou II after I found a perfect bearded dragon pattern available on Etsy.

Firefighters, you really are a smug bunch-I really like this one. I found a firetruck pattern on Etsy and modified it a bit, including changing the number on it to 126.

May

I was peckish and I wanted pudding- This is a simple one, but I created the pattern myself. From the second I heard this line, I knew it had to be a cross stitch.

It absolutely wrecks people- Cow eyes. I like this one except for the fact that I took a horrible picture of it. I think I finished it at night and was so excited to post that I couldn't wait for daylight to get a brighter picture. It's always a struggle to get a picture that's bright enough but also doesn't have the shadow of my phone across it. Luckily, since then I've discovered the perfect place in my house to take cross stitch pictures, even at night!

Did you know that honeybees pollinate a third of our food supply?- I was originally going to have four little honeybees on this one, but the finale had just aired and I was dying to get going on my planned Tarlos vows project, so it ended up just getting one bee.

June

Working on stitching the vows.

July

Tarlos wedding vows- It took 7 weeks and a comically large hoop, but I got it done. I mapped out this pattern before I had pattern making software meaning I did it by hand with pencil and paper. Plotting out the words, making sure everything was centered, making sure it would all fit, etc was quite an ordeal!

Tarlos proposal- This was the first pattern I created with my new pattern making software and it's still one of my favorites. It's love ❤️

126 Firehouse- I was incredibly proud of myself for this one. It was the most elaborate pattern I had created on my own up until that point.

August

Typical TK- I really like this one but I didn't include the full quote for simplicity's sake (leaving out the "of course") and I kind of regret that now.

We make a pretty good team-This one did not turn out the way I saw it in my head, so there were moments that I kind of hated it. Ultimately, I'm ok with it.

September

Working on my elaborate tarloft dining area project.

October

You Have All of Me, Carlos-This is without a doubt my favorite thing I've ever made. It took about 6 weeks and is the most elaborate pattern I've created to date.

November

This is real- A quote from @ladytessa74's incredible fic for her birthday.

Tyler Kennedy Strand-My best attempt at capturing the essence of TK.

Lone Star Christmas Tree Ornaments-4 stitched ornaments for my Lone Star-themed Christmas tree.

Well, he's a wise ass- A piece in honor of my favorite wise ass.

Season 1 Tarlos- The first in my cute little Tarlos series. I love tiny TK and Carlos very much.

December

Season 2 Tarlos-Cute little Tarlos part 2.

I will have at least one more (and maybe two) still this month. Season 3 Tarlos will definitely be finished before the month is over, and depending on how much stitching time I have, I may even get Season 4 done.

No pressure tagging @bonheur-cafe @heartstringsduet @birdclowns @paperstorm @carlos-in-glasses @lemonlyman-dotcom @strandnreyes @fitzherbertssmolder @reasonandfaithinharmony (gif round up?)

[stacys-museum]

My rant about AI art and comics.

Hadn't really expected to ever write a post about this, but here I am. Also, I'm not a native english speaker, so there might be grammar mistakes.

This is just my opinion. If you don't want to read it, skip this post.

The topic of AI "art" was brought by conversation with my teacher, who's a big fan of comics (and I don't mean superhero comics, he's more fond of detective stories). He mentioned a comic which was made using an AI, which he thought of as insulting. And I agree with him.

For an artist, whose style was inspired by various comics I've read, this is an insult. Making a comic is not as simple as writing "make a page of comic with this and this and this" or writing a short script and sending it to AI with "create a comic out of this". Making a comic is a process of both creating the story and the visuals - either by one person or a team - where you're making sure that art enhances your story just as much as dialogue, where each scene conveys emotions you want it to convey.

My teacher and I agreed, that, just like with other mediums of art, you can recognize the artist even if they decide to switch styles. There is a way with which they use draw their lines that makes it recognizable.

Think of manga for a moment, where each mangaka has their distinct way of drawing things - you will know it's them even if it's a different series or if they paint something (like cover) instead of drawing it. True, mangakas might have assistants who are good at replicating that style. And if two mangakas draw the same character (good example is BNHA's spinoff series Vigilantes) there are either big or subtle differences. This is even more visible in western superhero comics, with many artists working on the same series; sometimes the style changes every few issues.

It's not just drawings or comics. If you're a big fan of one guitarist, you'll also be able to recognize them even if they play something completely different than what they normally play.

An artist's style reflects their mastery and experience. It's rarely perfect, it doesn't need to be. First artist will use pencil and lean on hatching as shadows, second will prefer painting with broad strokes, third will work digitally and render semi-realistically. I don't follow many artists online, being mostly into traditional art, but let me ask: It's easy to recognize a piece by SamDoesArts, isn't it?

Now, AI doesn't have a single style they follow, nor does it have experience. It's taught by being fed art made by us, humans, and emulates it.

Kinda similar to mangaka's assistant, but an assistant knows what a specific thing should look like. AI makes mistakes no human would - it's all in details, where some things blend together instead of being separate, the deph in those pieces is plain wrong. Even a small kid knows that when the cat is behind tree, they draw cat behind tree, not cat blending into tree - they might draw cat a little too close, or a little too big, or it's legs are too long, or their cat is made of crude shapes - but you can see a CAT BEHIND A TREE. Tree and cat are separate entities. That's one argument - AI blending things together.

Another is that, where humans usually keep to one style or make multiple styles harmonious with each other, AI mashes those together. The bigger pieces produced/spat out by AI might have this issue. One side may be in style based on Jujutsu Kaisen, the other on Berserk - what's the difference, it's all anime, isn't it? It doesn't notice a difference, anime was requested, anime it will give.

There's also people who want something drawn in "anime style" and make the same argument - that anime is a singular style. At this point, I'm tired of explaining to people in real life that anime is animated, manga is drawn; and that comics differ depending on their place of origin. That's for different rant.

Hell, this post isn't even covering that, to train their AI, corporations commited copyright infringement.

Anyway, now for reason why I even started ranting. EMOTIONS. AI can't convey emotions properly.

For this post, I found an AI comic (if you want to read it, look it up - I don't want to link or promote it) and I looked through Twitter's (not calling it X) ai art community. It was to make a small experiment. I called it "How many times I spot the same lack of emotion?" and felt some vindictive pleasure to see my hypothesis proven.

Do you know how hard it is not to convey emotions in art? I have one specific character that is supposed to stay stone-faced, but I either fail or on drawing it seems that this character looks bored. I tried to draw specific things that didn't convey much emotion - did I succeed? I don't know. Even quick sketches convey emotion - from expression to the pose. That emotion may be boredom, but it's still there. And we all look for those emotions.

In my expreriment I looked over pieces featuring people and mentally checked off my list of possible drawn emotions. There was little variety, mostly the same "expressionlessness" that can sometimes be mixed up with boredom. The characters just stare straight at viewer (me in this one) or stare ahead if it's in profile. With those souless eyes - because I couldn't see any emotion in this faraway look, the face didn't scrunch up at all like a person's would.

The comic was even worse. I had to ignore my mind recoiling at inconsistent design of characters and enviroment, as well as horrible layout of scenes and speech balloons (which I could make into another argument) (mind you, the style itself would've looked rather appealing had it not been for those things). I focused on main character's emotions. There. Were. None.

Just like other AI generated graphics, she stared at the viewer in 90% of the scenes. The same smight curl of lips, the same fake fucking smile that doesn't reach eyes as she spoke of horrors (it's supposed to be post-apocalyptic setting). Not ONCE have I seen any variety to her expression. No quirk of lips, no crincling in corner of the eye, nothing.

I finished looking through the comic even more disappointed than I had already been.

On quick glance for someone who knows jack shit about visual storytelling, it would look good. For me it's just shit. I don't know a lot about history of comics, hell, I know little about comics outside of those I've read; but I know enough about drawing emotions that I think only the most ignorant people would praise that abomination.

Those are my closing statements.

Comics are medium of art between pictures and books. They can be interesting, beautiful, humorous and remarkable - both visually and as stories.

To anyone, who reads comics, have fun reading them. To anyone who wants to read them, go find something you'd like. To anyone, who doesn't read comics, you don't have to, but don't hate on them.

To anyone, who draws comics, you are incredible. To anyone, who wants to draw comics, I encourage you to try. To anyone, who thinks they lack the skills to draw comics but wants to, I recommend you start learning and craft stories - you can use anything as characters. Stickmen, animals, robots, vehicles, rocks, kitchen utensils, etc.

Just please, don't generate comics using AI.

Thank you for reading.