#Tom Puckett

[randomrichards]

BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY:

Using the TV

To show the joys of reading

A show made with love

[weirdbabs]

U////U a love story for the ages

[rassilon-imprimatur]

The Dark Knight Returns (Miller/Varley/Janson/Costanza) 

The Batman Adventures # 3 (Puckett/Templeton/Burchett/Taylor/Harkins)

Super Powers (Scioli) 

[sjbattleangel]

Wow! That was an extremely clever and inventive fight scene. What made it even more compelling was Kaine's commentary on Ben: How even if he is a clone, even if he died once, he still chooses to live his own life and keep fighting on. I find it very poetic.

One of my favourite comic fights of all time is Batgirl/Cass Cain's battle against Lady Shiva in Batgirl (2000) #25 by Kelley Puckett and Damion Scott.

After being killed by Shiva in a long-awaited death-wish duel, Cass is then revived by her.

Shiva questions why Cass was so determined to die, she tells her it was over her guilt of killing a man. Being filled with such disgust and shock over her actions ever since that moment, she wanted to sacrifice her life in repentance of taking another.

By seeing her grisly "trophies", Cass learns that Shiva too has a death-wish to be killed a worthy, equal opponent. Yet Cass refuses to give Shiva the glorious death she desires, upholding her vows to never take another life.

What then follows is one of the greatest fights I have ever seen in a comic: Damion Scott's awesome Pop Art-meets-anime art is truly immersive and energetic with its use of fast-paced breakdowns; stylized fluid character movement; expressive action. Almost like an action film or something out of Aeon Flux.

The ending shot is just so perfect in the way the two are presented as opposites in tandum, with heavy allusions to Yin and Yang. Shiva representing death and destruction, Cass rebirth and redemption.

The closing lines are bangers.

"I'll...kill you."

"Not tonight."

*chief's kiss*

One of my favorite Spider-Man: Clone Saga stories has always been the 4-part "The Exile Returns" arc, which not only features Ben Reilly's debut as the Scarlet Spider, but also Benjy's first major victory as a superhero since returning to New York after 5-years when he singlehandedly defeats Venom in mortal combat. What made the fight between Ben and Venom so epic was that the story was actually a response to a previous story in Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #375, which had Peter Parker make a deal with Venom to stay out of each other's way. The reason that was done was because Marvel wanted to turn Venom into an anti-hero during the 90s, but a lot of fans and creators were really pissed off about that story, since they felt that Peter making a pact with Venom betrayed the character's sense of responsibility. And this frustration was openly expressed in The Exile Returns, with Ben Reilly being incredibly shocked that Peter would have done such a thing, basically declaring to himself, "If Peter's not going to accept responsibility and bring Venom to justice, I'll have to step in and do it myself!"

Spider-Man group editor Glenn Greenberg even commented on the writers of The Exile Returns deliberately referencing ASM #375 in the 36-part online essay, "The Life of Reilly," which extensively covers all the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding The Clone Saga:

And the way Ben defeats Venom is so clever and inventive! Instead of relying upon the symbiote's usual weaknesses of loud noises and extreme heat, Ben utilizes his own original inventions as the Scarlet Spider. Ben shooting multiple "impact-webbing" pellets down Venom's mouth which immediately expand into hundreds of little webs that get caught directly in-between Eddie Brock and the symbiote, weakening their bond as Ben then shoots his "stinger" web darts to further weaken Venom as he beats him into submission.

Seeing Ben Reilly singlehandedly take down the one supervillain that Peter Parker was never able to truly defeat up until that point was honestly one of the most badass and entertaining fight scenes that I've ever read in a superhero comic!

And its honestly shocking that neither impact-webbing nor stingers stuck around in the comics after The Clone Saga ended (only appearing in the video game adaptations), since those things are so FREAKING awesome!

From adjectiveless Spider-Man (1990) #53 by Howard Mackie & the late Tom Lyle (May he Rest In Peace...).

[gamesception]

Sception Reads Batgirl (2024) #1

writer: Tate Brombal artist: Takeshi Miyazawa colors: Mike Spicer

I guess the comics creation process has changed in the last 20 years, because there's no longer separately credited pencils and inks. Is inking just not a job anymore? If not, who does that part now? "artist" or "colors"? Lettering is still a separate job - Tom Napolitano for this issue. I haven't been listing letterers with these reviews... should I be? & should I be calling out editors, for that matter?

Just a heads up: I didn't dislike this issue overall, and I do call out the stuff I liked, but I spend a lot of this post comparing it negatively to Batgirl 2000. If you're a Cass fan who's just hyped that she has a new solo title, and don't want to read a bunch of negativity while you're still celebrating then maybe skip this one.

Anyway, Cassandra Cain finally has a proper new solo ongoing title as Batgirl again, and the Cass fans on tumblr have seemingly been pretty hype about it. I'm considerably more trepidatious going in, because my reread of Cass's original appearances (link) has mostly shown me that I'm maybe not so much a 'Cassandra Cain' fan as I am a fan specifically of the initial Puckett/Scott run of Batgirl (2000). Of the unique tone and story-telling style of those issues, of the particular relationships between Cass and her main supporting cast at the time - Bruce, David, Barbara, later Stephanie.

I recently wrote a too-long post about what I was hoping for out of the new book (link) - but to recap I DON'T want to see a return of OG Cass's character and continuity - that version of the character is too tied up in her particular relationships with other characters that either don't exist or don't exist in the same form anymore. Plus, the impulse of middle age comic creators to try to force continuity back to whatever the status quo was when they first became fans is exactly what led to original Cass getting tossed aside and trampled over in the first place. New Cass is a new character, and I don't want her fans to have to go through what I went through just because people my age are in charge of editorial now.

What I DO want is a return of original Cass's storytelling style. Self contained stories, sombre tone, focus on emotion over action, leaning into Cass's personal motivations and fraught interpersonal relationships (just those of new Cass instead of old Cass), with a heavy emphasis on the individual humanity of all parties involved, with story and emotions conveyed primarily through the art - especially the facial expressions - while minimizing the reliance on dialog and especially narration blocks wherever possible.

That's a tall order, especially the last bit. There's a reason Batgirl 2000 caught my attention and stuck in my head. It takes a special kind of artist to be able to convey all that visually, and a special kind of writer to understand that less is more, to trust the artist to convey these things and trust the reader to pick up on them without spelling it all out explicitly in text.

So that's all what I want. But what do I expect? I'm a old school Cass fan. What I expect is disappointment.

...............................

So, first two pages, and we have some positives and negatives right off the bat. The art & colors are good. I mostly like the way Miyazawa draws Cass. It's a solid take on her costume, even if I prefer the wider angle ears from the recent Birds of Prey run. I like the classic chonky yellow belt pouches, though I'm not as big a fan of the yellow outline bat symbol. Yes it's also a classic, but it's a bit fiddly and doesn't read terribly well when she's smaller in the panel, like on that second page, so I always though a solid yellow bat symbol would have been better. I like the white eyes.

Cass's proportions feel a bit off. I like the emphasis on her musculature, but the overall figure feels too hour glassy, and the head to body ratio kind of visually implies a much taller Cass that I'm used to, especially for her post-reboot incarnation. This is an issue in Birds of Prey as well, if maybe not to the same extent.

New Cass was apparently supposed to be 16 when she was first introduced in B&RE & her earlier Detective run and like 17 or 18 in later Detective, outsiders, and Batgirls appearances - through from the way she was drawn and depicted I had thought she was like three years younger than that the whole time. Now she's 18 or 19, and has apparently gone through an extremely late and extremely sudden puberty? Eh, continuity in Bat books especially regarding canon ages was never good and has been an absolute wreck ever since new 52, so that's not something to fault this book in particular for. But even so, the body type feels a bit off.

The big tragedy, is, of course, the way Cass's mask blocks her face - especially her mouth. This is another throwback to her original batgirl costume, but Damion Scott was still able to convey a full range of emotions on Cass by just ignoring physics and drawing her face straight through the mask. Miyazawa seems to be going for a slightly more... I don't know, 'realistic' maybe isn't the right word. And there is some expression still showing, but given how much more expressive Shiva's face manages to be in this issue, it really feels like breaking from tradition to go with something that keeps her face exposed, like the domino mask of the Blackbat costume, would have better served Miyazawa's style.

Speaking of Shiva...

Yup, that's post reboot Shiva there, looking basically exactly how I expect her to look. Which is to say she looks fine. Good even. Her face is very expressive throughout the comic, which I really like, and I also like that she's deliberately drawn a bit older - something about the lines on her face, the sharpness of it. This is a woman with a history, been around the world, killed a lot of people, and that experience shows on her face. This in particular I can credit Miyazawa above Scott on, because in their first few meetings in particular back in Batgirl 2000 Cass and her mom looked about the same age.

There's a deliberate choice in this first introduction to pose her away from Cass, despite the fact that in the narrative she's the one going to Cass and Cass is rejecting her. But while it doesn't fit the narrative, it does play into some of the underlying character dynamics between them. It ties into the idea that since she understands body language like Cass does, she can 'speak' that language deliberately, allowing her to deceive Cass in a way that normal people can't. Her interior emotions are closed off to Cass - not because Shiva isn't expressing emotions but because her ability to lie means Cass can't - and doesn't - trust what Shiva 'says'.

That's all good stuff. The kind of interpersonal dynamics that I want to see out of Cass stories, so in that at least I'm happy. Most of the Cass-Shiva stuff in this issue is really solid. It was a natural and imo correct choice to start the book with a narrow focus on Cass's relationship to Shiva, given how core that relationship has been to both of their characterizations since Cass's post-reboot reintroduction. But that's for both better and worse, especially in Shiva's case. I know there are fans of Shiva out there who don't like how much of her individual character and motivation has been pushed aside to just make her 'Cass's Mom'. Unfortunately, that particular problem isn't one that's going to be fixed in a Cass Cain solo title.

Less good is how much Brombal relies on blunt narration blocks to explain this dynamic between Cass and Shiva to the reader, instead of allowing the reader to pick up on the emotional undercurrent through the art the way Cass perceives it through body language.

I'm willing to cut Brombal some slack here, because where they're working with Shiva - a reserved, withdrawn, calculating, and emotionally deceptive evil parent - Puckett & Scott were working with og David Cain. He was original character they crafted specifically to fit the kind of story they were trying to tell, so they made Cain the kind of man that never had a sincere emotion that he didn't wear all over his face for the world to see. Like, here he is in Batman 567, Cass's first appearance, with the Puckett/Scott creative team.

look at this man

Look at his face! See how expressive it is!

And yeah, Shiva's just not going to be expressive in the same way. So it really is honestly impressive how good a job Miyazawa does with her face in this issue:

Those are some good & fun faces. It's a good thing Miyazawa is doing such a good job with Shiva's face, though because it's near about the only face we get to see in this issue. Which is a problem I pitch a big old fit about below regarding the antagonists, but even more than that it's kind of frustrating that we don't get to see Cass's face even one time in the first issue of her new ongoing.

And while these Shiva faces are good, they're rarely the focus of the page. We're never given the kind of close up faces that take up half a page or more to really let us drink in the characters' emotions like Batgirl 2000 used so effectively.

.....

That's about as much as I can wring out of those two pages. Unfortunately that means I have to get to the actual content of the book.

First, what the hell is Cass doing in that first panel.

Second... come on. This book wants me to believe that Shiva is worried about some random assassins killing her and Cassandra? In this continuity the League of Assassins are the worlds top evil ninja society that every other random evil ninja society is afraid of, except for the League of Shadows who are the super secret even more ultra evil ninja society that even the League of Assassins is afraid of, and Shiva and Cass are each individually established as being so far beyond even them that either of them could outfight and take down the entire League of Assassins on their own. "Faceless ninja mooks Trained killers are coming to get us" is so far beneath either of these characters as far as threats go that Shiva should feel insulted, not afraid.

And I guess that's supposed to be the point? Like the writer is saying "these guys who you've never heard of are so scarry that even Shiva is afraid! Aren't you intrigued?" And, like, no. I'm not. If Shiva isn't feeling disdainful and insulted, then I'm just kind of forced to feel insulted on her behalf. This isn't something Shiva should think Cass needs help with, and if Cass did end up needing help I'd expect Shiva to help, but also to make a big show of how disappointed she was that Cass couldn't handle it on her own the entire time.

That last panel with Cass and Shiva is cute. Again, most of the direct interactions between them in this book are good, and they're the ledge I'm desperately clinging to in order to say I don't actively dislike the whole issue altogether.

On the other hand when I say 'faceless ninja mooks' I mean it. These guys are as generic as mooks get, with no individuality at all. Store bought ninja halloween costumes, swords and bows instead of guns or anything serious. These guys aren't people, they're the putties from Power Rangers. They don't even have real dialog, just a corny mantra.

Compare to these generic thugs from Batgirl (2000) #1. Even without names and almost no dialog, each one is a completely unique individual, to the point that we easily recognize 'Merc' in the middle when he shows up later in the issue.

Mob guys, bank robbers, just random civilians on the city streets, everyone who shared a panel with Cass with under Scott's pencil had a unique face, and whenever any of these background characters stepped forward to actually take part in the story Puckett invested them with personalities and motivations and lives of their own.

And I'm not just harping on it because I like that kind of storytelling better, it was part and parcel to Cass as a character. Her unique superpower, her whole body-reading gimmick, essentially amounts to super-empathy. It's why she doesn't kill, it's why the one time she did kill as a child messed her up so bad. It, along with the guilt from that murder, forces her to connect to even the villains she interacts with, to see them as full human beings and not just enemies that need to be stopped. It's why Bruce once characterized her as 'gentle', despite all the killing skills that were trained into her. And yeah, new Cass is a new character, but these core elements are, or at least should be, shared between both versions, between every version of this character, even as the specific details of that history vary from continuity to continuity.

Emphasizing the individual humanity of all the characters in a Cass story - from Cass herself to the primary antagonists to the random mooks to the background extras - is essential to conveying that aspect of Cass as a character.

And these guys are the literal opposite of that.

Now, they're not all bad. We do get a bit of a fun fight scene out of them. Very 70s hong kong martial arts movie vibe, which Cass and Shiva can play into. And a faceless crowd of ninja mooks makes sense in that context. This isn't as fundamentally obviously a terrible decision on the creative team's part as I'm making out.

But there are any number of martial artist characters in the DC canon that can be used to do this sort of thing. IMO it just doesn't speak to what's uniquely compelling about Cassandra - old or new. Which is a problem for the first issue of her new ongoing title.

And nothing here illuminates why Shiva would be in any way worried about these guys. They're not uniquely skilled, they're not uniquely anything, and they're not portrayed as being on Cass or Shiva's level.

Cass and Shiva eventually get bored of fighting generic nobodies & make their way down to the street via window and hang-glider-cape, where we get this bit... that I actively kind of hate?

Because, see, the incident Shiva is talking about is something that happened in Batgirl (2000). This shouldn't be in continuity anymore, and it doesn't fit into current Cass timeline at all - unless there was some other shiva-worshipping temple in gotham death/revival incident with Cass post-reboot that I don't remember.

I've seen people celebrating this exact line as marking the return of pre-reboot Cass's continuity and the wholesale erasure of post-reboot Cass. Apart from the frustrating indifference of that sentiment towards any fans of post-reboot Cass, especially coming from fans who should know better, it doesn't even work. Because the Shiva we've spent this whole issue with is 100% post-reboot Shiva. This IS NOT the character that Cass fought in that temple. As out of character as it is for this Shiva to be afraid of random mooks, we can at least accept her behavior IF we suspend disbelief about those mooks representing any sort of threat to her and Cass in the first place.

But the Shiva og Cass fought in Batgirl (2000)?

Death matches, putting her own life on the line to test her skills against the deadliest martial artists in the world, was her whole deal. Batgirl (2000)'s contribution to that deal was that Shiva was such a skilled fighter because she had the same body-reading ability as Cass, and just like Cass that ability forced Shiva to experience the deaths of those she killed as they experienced it. And just like Cass had been consumed by guilt from that experience, Shiva had been consumed with... well, not guilt exactly. But a burden of karmic debt. She had killed and she deserved to die for it. But her martial pride didn't allow her to just take her own life, so she traveled the world looking for someone who could give her the warrior's death she deserved.

After Shiva "killed" and then revived Cass, she hoped that Cass would be, at least for a moment, sufficiently freed from the sense of guilt that prevented her from killing again to go all out against Shiva and finally put an end to her. Cass, recognizing how much they had in common, was then able to use her new understanding of the death wish they shared to defeat Shiva without killing her.

All this is to say that if the Shiva Cass fought in that temple had been confronted with an ancient secret order of martial artists out to kill her and so skilled that they could actually do it, she would have relished the chance to finally meet the end she had been chasing across the world for decades. This Shiva is not her, so the comic deliberately invoking that story via this temple reference is kind of jarring to me.

This is part of why I didn't want this book to try to revive pre-reboot Cass's history, whether in part or in whole. That character was founded on relationships with a bunch of other characters whose present versions are all as different from the versions og Cassandra knew as the Cass of Batman & Robin Eternal was from the Cass of Batgirl (2000).

The clock only turns the one way. You can't turn it back, you have to build forward from where you are.

If we ignore this line, and the inclusion of this temple in the story, then I'd argue the comic at least begins to do that with the relationship Cass and Shiva's have built up in Detective and Outsiders and Shiva's brief appearance in Batgirls... but are any of those events even in continuity anymore? I don't know, and that's pretty frustrating.

We do get this cute moment of Cass disappearing on Shiva and Shiva blaming 'her father's influence' - by which she obviously means Bruce. Again, mostly good character interaction between Cass and Shiva. Unfortunately this cute moment is immediately undercut by Cass just being there anyway in the next panel, but still.

....

I'm getting tired, and this has taken way too long already, what's left?

Yeah, Shiva's temple explodes, Cass & Shiva go there and meet the temple keeper from the same story back in Batgirl (2000) as he dies, the faceless ninjas attack again. There's at least one more really good bit with Cass and Shiva worth calling out:

This is good. This is a good moment, calling back to the start of the issue when Shiva was trying to convince Cassandra how much she she meant her, and Cass accused her of lying, while here she is trying to convince the putty patrol that Cass doesn't mean anything to her, and Cass can tell that that's the real lie.

This is probably my favorite Cass & Shiva bit in an issue that has a lot of good bits to point to in that regard.

Unfortunately the comic pretty much ends here, which brings me to my last big complaint about Batgirl (2024) #1: It doesn't tell a complete story. It doesn't even come close - hardly anything even happens. Cass & Shiva barely talk in a pent house, fight some random nobodies for a few panels, barely talk outside, and then end on a cliff hanger fighting the same nobodies in a burning building. That's it. We barely recap Cass's backstory at all, we don't find out who these guys are or why they want Cass & Shiva dead, we hardly interact with any characters, and they end on a cliffhanger after hardly doing anything only 20 pages in, wasting like 6 pages on an adds for wrestling comics after that.

Batgirl (2000) #1 managed to do so much more with only a few more pages - giving us flashbacks to Cass as a child beating up 'Merc' & the thugs as part of training with David, training with barbara, Barbara trying and failing to connect with her, another flashback to cass after she had left david encountering Merc again, patrolling with batman, barbara and bruce talking about her abilities and disabilities, the little wham moment of Babs being like 'No wonder she's so good at stick fighting, I just thought it was from Cain training her', and Brucy replying 'Cain never taught her stick fighting, I did, last week, took five minutes', Bruce & Cass sparring - which the comic doesn't even show because the page space was better used on close ups of their faces to convey their emotions afterwards, Cass patrolling again and starting to find herself as batgirl when she meets Merc for a third and final time, how that final meeting tied the rest of the issue together in a satisfying way, tying together the drifting life that led to her becoming Batgirl, before closing on Batman laying down the rules for Cass as a crimefighter (no costumed criminals, etc) which also served as a message to readers about what to expect from the book.

....

I get that it's not fair to compare this book to the Puckett/Scott run of Batgirl 2000, one of my favorite comic book works and probably my absolute favorite mainstream superhero comic work ever. I will stick with this book and post my reactions to it going forward, but I don't intend to do this kind of expectations-laden comparison to Batgirl 2000 again. I hadn't even intended to do it this time, except that while I was working on this post I kept seeing "Cass is so back!" style reactions from old school Cass fans at the kind of sort of maybe restoration of an unspecified amount of her pre-reboot continuity, and that's just frustrating to me.

Because to me what made og Cass special wasn't a fan-wiki style breakdown of her lore, it was the way her stories were told, and how that storytelling style brought the characters and relationships in it to life. Batgirl 2024 #1 isn't a bad book at all. In terms of modern Cass appearances, so far I like more than B&RE or Outsiders or Birds of Prey, but a bit less than Detective or Batgirls or Spirit world - though there's plenty of room for Batgirl 2024 to surpass those books in my estimation going forward.

But one thing it absolutely isn't is the second coming of Batgirl 2000.

[blackbatcass]

i fucking love this very specific little corner of the tumblr dc fandom. what would you even call it. the actually-likes-comics side of the dc fandom? the kelley puckett fanclub? the circle of mutuals who are insane about lots of characters but mia dearden specifically? the engaging-with-character-and-storytelling-in-a-meaningful-and-substantive-way enjoyers? the tom taylor hateclub?

[arellas]

i think what annoys me the most about cass “stans” is their tendency to at best pick out like 3 panels of her posted on why-i-love-comics or whatever and use that as a basis for her whole personality. (at worst it’s not even comic panels it’s some random fanfic where there’s two throwaway lines about how much of a badass she is.)

like idk maybe yall are too brainrotted from tom taylor style writing where the entire issue is an excuse to come up with one or two panels to be reposted by fans but that’s not what kelley puckett was going for. or any of the writers pre 2018. i saw this post about how books that were originally written as fanfiction don’t feel like real books because they jump from one meaningful moment to the next without any build up in between and that feels like what comic stans try to do now, they want to reduce a character’s entire history and arc and personality to something that can be captured in one panel or text post while ignoring all context and prior buildup and change and it’s just not gonna happen lol. of course this does occur with other characters as well, but it annoys me especially with cass because her entire character is defined almost entirely by a single run and she’s a very easy character to get into, but apparently even people who “love” her can’t be bothered to read the first 20 issues of her solo

[sjbattleangel]

"As a casual comic book fan, I really enjoy the MCU." This website:

"Dan Slott's Spider-Man run was fantastic, fun romp reminiscent of the character's Silver-Age years." This website:

"I really love Tom Taylor's run on Nightwing and Superman: Son Of Kal-El." This website:

"Look, I get that Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV wanted to bring the character of Cass Cain as created by Kelley Puckett and Damion Scott but, thanks to editorial, they were forced to give her a completely new backstory, a new alias and she no longer had the ability to predict her opponents moves. Still, Batman & Robin Eternal was a great series; the Joker War one-shot The Symbol was an awesome return to form for the Batgirls; The Batgirls series was really fun; I'm looking forward to the rest of her adventures with the Birds Of Prey." This website:

"I love Tom King's work on Mister Miracle, Vision and Wonder Woman." This website:

"I really enjoy the works of Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Donny Cates and Jonathan Hickman." This website:

"Jeremy Whitley, G. Willow Wilson and Mariko Tamaki are some of my favourite authors working in comics right now." This website:

"Joshua Williamson is one of my new favourite working in comics. He absolutely knows his stuff and it's great that he's the new architect of the DC Comic Universe." This website:

"Grant Morrison is one of my favourite comic authors." This website:

"The Last Of Us Part II is a freaking masterpiece." This website (and the entire internet):

"I get that it has a horrible fanbase but I still love Rick & Morty." This website (and the entire internet):

"I get that it's not as epic or glorious ATLA and each season was rushed due studio interference and the creators uncertainty of the series containing, The Legend Of Korra is still a fantastic series with great writing." This website (and the entire internet):

"Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil is still a great series regardless of the controversial final season." This website (and the entire internet):

"I know Vivziepop was a member of the 4Chan boards as a teenager and art student, I'm well-aware that she might be control-freak, slave-driver but I still enjoy Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel regardless." This website:

"The Last Jedi is the best Star Wars film alongside The Empire Strikes Back. Rian Johnson is one of my favourite new filmmakers working today." This website (and the entire internet):

"I love Steven Universe, She-Ra and The Owl House. They are hopepunk masterpieces." This website (and the entire internet):

[ghstsrock]

- Jeremy -

intro ！ too many memories there

Hi, my name is Jeremy (gasps). This is my first and only tumblr account so, say hi!

I have a plan for this acc, believe it or not. I like to write and have considered turning this into one of those writing accounts but I’m a bit too chicken shit.

Fan fic writer curse and what not. Makes me nervy 😖

But, despite these fears and concerns, I shall make this a writing account. More on that in a later post.

I’m 16 and trans (who would've thought). I play the drums and piano, HUGE Batman/Batfam lover, loves going into depth/analyzing stuff, was once in a band, and I’m canonly Ralph Macchio so .. all those people with the “if you look like Ralph Macchio hmu” shit going on trust, I’ll be there.

I’m hideousvampire’s biggest supporter and hater and quizzicalwriter is my inspiration for even posting on this platform.

I can’t think of anything important worth adding so, I hope you enjoy my content.

kins ！ the saddest thing I’ve ever seen

　ㅤ　　ㅤ　the outsiders﹐﹢🗯

　⊂⊃ Dallas Winston

　⊂⊃ Two-Bit Matthews

　ㅤ　　ㅤ　the karate kid/cobra kai﹐﹢🗯

　⊂⊃ Daniel LaRusso (tkk)

　⊂⊃ Johnny Lawrence (ck)

　⊂⊃ Miguel Diaz (ck)

　ㅤ　　ㅤ　dc﹐﹢🗯

　⊂⊃ Dick Grayson

　⊂⊃ Jason Todd

　⊂⊃ Wally West

　⊂⊃ Beast Boy

　⊂⊃ The Joker

　ㅤ　　ㅤ　marvel﹐﹢🗯

　⊂⊃ M.J (Zendaya version)

　⊂⊃ Tony Stark

　⊂⊃ Scott Lang

　⊂⊃ Peter Parker (Tom Holland edition)

　ㅤ　　ㅤ　anime﹐﹢🗯

　⊂⊃ Hanji Zoë (aot/snk)

　⊂⊃ Eren Jeager (aot/snk)

　⊂⊃ Denki Kaminari (mha)

　⊂⊃ Karma (Assassination Classroom)

random shows﹐﹢🗯

　⊂⊃ Shawn Spencer (Psych)

　⊂⊃ Sam Puckett (iCarly/Sam & Cat)

　⊂⊃ Tori Vega (Victorious)

　⊂⊃ Jeremy Andretti (Eight is Enough)

　⊂⊃ Peter Griffin (Family Guy)

　⊂⊃ Dean Winchester (Supernatural)

　⊂⊃ Gumball Waterson (The Amazing World of Gumball)

random movies﹐﹢🗯

　⊂⊃ Richie Tozier (IT)

　⊂⊃ Ron Weasley (Harry Potter)

　⊂⊃ Frank Della Rocca (Too Much Sun)

　⊂⊃ Stu Macher (Scream)

　⊂⊃ Kuzco (Emperor’s New Groove)

　⊂⊃ Alice Cullen (Twilight)

　⊂⊃ Samantha Baker (16 Candles)

[gallerynucleus]

Check out these 12" tall Phantasy Arcades illustrated by select artists! ⚔️✨

(In Order)

"Brave of Heart" by Sibylline Meynet + Wendy Kill

"Dwarf Flight" by Tom Hunter & Ashley Tran

"The Goblin Market" by Abigail Larson + Alex Guigue

"Inferno" by Graham Erwin, Marissa Rene + Christopher Puckett

Each Phantasy Arcade Cabinet is hand assembled & include an internal LED light to illuminate the screen! Plus you'll get the full song for download upon purchase.

🔗 https://www.gallerynucleus.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=Phantasy+Arcade&category=events

[number1spongebobfan]

IJenny (ICarly)

Parody of ICarly

Cast:

Jenny Wakeman (My Life as a Teenage Robot) as Carly Shay

Sunset Shimmer (My Little Pony: Equestria Girls) as Sam Puckett

Tree Fu Tom as Freddie Benson

Spencer the Silver Engine (Thomas & Friends) as Spencer Shay

Russel (Up) as Gibby

[balu8]

Superman and Batman Magazine #1: Secret Origin of the Batman

by Kelley Puckett; Mike Parobeck; Rick Burchett; Rick Taylor and Tim Harkins

Cover by Ty Templeton and Tom McCraw

[magmahearts]

What are the five most influential books you've read throughout your life?

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja

Vision by Tom King

Batgirl by Kelley Puckett

Green Lanterns by Sam Humphries

Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson

[kudosmyhero]

Robin II (vol. 1) #4: Chill Factor

Read Date: January 07, 2023 Cover Date: February 1992 ● Writer: Chuck Dixon ● Penciler: Tom Lyle ● Inker: Bob Smith ● Colorist: Adrienne Roy ● Letterer: Tim Harkins ● Editor: Kelley Puckett ◦ Dennis O'Neil ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● I bet he's talking to his dad… ● yup 😞 ● (pg 4) I love Alfred's winter peacoat ● wow Batman has a lot of costumes! ● I like this panel of Gordon on the phone with the mayor

● (pg 6) whoa, did they really scrape together the money? ● (pg 10) I kinda miss payphones… ● (pg 11) Robin rigged the 18-wheeler to run via remote control ● I love this panel of him in a snowy Gotham

● (pg 12) Aww, Pixie. That made me tear up a little. ● (pg 14) jet-skiing on one of Gotham's rivers. Epic! ● nope, no money. Just newspapers. ● (pg 16) Nice half-splash of Robin!

● (pg 19) Joker coming up behind him is genuinely creepy ● eeewwwww 💩 ● 👏👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: With no one to really share his feelings and worries with, Robin visits his comatose father Jack Drake in the hospital.

Later, Tim and Alfred prepare for a plan that will evade the Joker's ransom trap, and simultaneously trace back to the location of Dr. Osgood Pellinger, who the Joker had kidnapped to enact his plan to technologically cripple Gotham City.

The police deliver a red truck, as requested, leaving it to be picked up by Batman, who is not in the city to collect it. Instead, Robin arrives, and sets up a system by which he can control the truck by a remote.

Elsewhere, Alfred sets up a laptop at a payphone, from with which he will run a program set up by Robin to get a response from Dr. Pellinger so his location can be traced by the GCPD. The program shows a picture of Pellinger's childhood dog Pixie, and he emails Alfred, allowing the trace to occur.

Meanwhile, Robin drives the truck through a blizzard onto a suspended bridge. The Joker drives to a viewpoint on a snowmobile. He spies Batman in the truck's driver seat through his binoculars, falling for Robin's ploy. Rather than collecting the promised billion dollars in cash, the Joker opts to simply blow up the truck to kill his adversary. When he investigates, he discovers that the Batman in the truck is a fake, and has little time to contemplate it before Robin swoops down and knocks him to the ground.

Robin takes down the Joker's thugs, but the Joker himself begins escaping on skates across the river. Robin follows on snowmobile to a sewage treatment plant, unaware of whether or not it is a trap. When he arrives, he is ambushed by the Joker. Robin is quick on his feet, and manages to dodge the Joker's blades before ultimately knocking the villain into a vat of sewage. The police arrive in time to apprehend the Joker and inform Tim that they have traced Dr. Pellinger's location.

At home, Tim is served tea by Alfred, and they congratulate themselves on their success. Finally, Batman returns home, wondering what's happened. In Arkham Asylum, the other inmates make cracks about the Joker's accompanying smell of sewage, while he swears revenge on Robin.

(https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Robin_II_Vol_1_4)

Fan Art: Robin by EmmShin

Accompanying Podcast: ● Everyone Loves the Drake - episode 19

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 10.17

Beer Birthdays

George Wendt (1948)

Scott Kerkmans (1979)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Childe Hassam; artist (1859)

Rita Hayworth; actor (1918)

Mike Judge; cartoonist, writer (1962)

J.L. Kraft; processed cheese inventor (1874)

Jerry Siegel; cartoonist, Superman co-creator (1914)

Famous Birthdays

June Allyson; actor (1917)

Jean Arthur; actor (1900)

Jimmy Breslin; writer (1930)

Montgomery Clift; actor (1920)

Joyce Compton; actor (1907)

Ernie Els; golfer (1969)

Eminem; rapper (1972)

Jupiter Hammon; poet (1711)

Alan Jackson; country singer (1958)

Wyclef Jean; rapper, singer (1969)

Felicity Jones; actor (1983)

Robert Jordan; writer (1948)

Margot Kidder; actor (1948)

Evel Knievel; daredevil (1938)

Dolph Lundgren; Swedish actor (1959)

Norm MacDonald; comedian (1963)

Ziggy Marley; Jamaican reggae musician (1968)

Michael McKean; actor, comedian (1947)

Arthur Miller; playwright (1915)

Tom Poston; comedian, actor (1921)

Gary Puckett; rock singer (1942)

Irene Ryan; actor (1902)

Jimmy Seals; pop singer, musician (1941)

Nathanael West; writer (1903)

[doomerpatrol]

Comic Log 2024 (Redux)

The Great: Comics that stick with me, that are fun to read, look at, and think about; these wind up in my "Favorite Comics" spreadsheet.

Dungeon Meshi by Ryoko Kui Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison and Richard Case The Flash by Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, and Mark Millar JLA by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter Animal Man by Grant Morrison and Chaz Truog All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely Batman by Grant Morrison Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja Black Widow by Marjorie Liu and Daniel Acuna Birds of Prey by Gail Simone Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman Superman: Up, Up, and Away by Kurt Busiek, Geoff Johns, and Pete Woods Moon Knight by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips 20th Century Men by Deniz Camp and Stipan Morian Gotham Central by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka Action Comics by Phillip Kennedy Johnson The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V and Filipe Andrade

Dandadan by Yokinobu Tatsu [ONGOING] Fantastic Four by Ryan North [ONGOING]

The Good: Comics that I overall enjoyed but had some notable complaints about.

Seven Soldiers by Grant Morrison Batman: No Man's Land by various authors Wolverine by Greg Rucka Catwoman by Ed Brubaker Black Cat by Jed MacKay She-Hulk (Vol. 2) by Dan Slott Magneto by Cullen Bunn 52 by Johns/Waid/Morrison/Rucka/Giffen Wonder Woman by Greg Rucka X-Men: Messiah Complex by various authors We3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely Superman and the Authority by Grant Morrison and Mikel Janin Black Widow by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee Punisher by Greg Rucka

The Mid: Comics that slid off me in one way or another, or had potential that I think got squandered - not terrible, but feel a bit like time lost. Least likely to get a write-up.

X-23 by Craig Kyle & Chris Yost Detective Comics by Greg Rucka JLA by Mark Waid Batman: Hush by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee Detective Comics by Scott Snyder Journey into Mystery by Kieron Gillen Batgirl by Kelley Puckett

The Bad: Comics that I actively did not enjoy.

Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday Action Comics by Grant Morrison Punisher by Rick Remender Venom by Rick Remender Moon Knight by Brian Wood and Cullen Bunn Daredevil by Ed Brubaker Ant-Man and the Wasp by Mark Waid Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky