#also first time ive tried drawing black doom

[negativespace06]

BIG sketchbook dump from the past two weeks. over half of it is just team dark because i went a little bit crazy

[sun-summoning]

"Nine Months” Summary: Zuko’s having a baby. A baby dragon, that is. Note: Shameless Zutara. Ignores all finale kisses. 

i.

Zuko isn’t at all tipsy when he sneaks into the room his coronation gifts are stored and begins trifling through everything. And why should he be sneaking, he wonders, not at all drunkenly stumbling into the chest of sacred scrolls someone had given him. He groans as he bends forward to rub his knee. Then he loses his balance and nearly falls flat on his face. 

Fortunately, Katara is there to stop him, catching his shoulders and helping him stand straight. “You okay there, Fire Lord?”

He tries to focus on her but mostly goes cross-eyed. As the three Katara’s wave their hands in his face, he thinks he might throw up. If he threw up on her, she’d probably be furious. Especially because that would mean he ruined her dress. Perhaps she could bend it away? Was vomit-bending a thing?

“I’m fine,” Zuko replies. “I’m the Fire Lord.”

“Oh, I heard. Today was your coronation, after all.” 

His coronation! Zuko perks up, now remembering why he asked Katara to play ninja with him again and sneak into the room the servants brought all the gifts into. Sokka didn’t look all that impressed with the term “play ninja”, but since Sokka was the one challenging him into a drinking contest, he wasn’t really in a position to fight. He was so far gone that Suki had to bring him back to his room. 

“Why did we need to sneak in here?” Katara asks. “You’re the Fire Lord. Can’t we just waltz in?”

“But I don’t want to waltz.”

“That’s not what I--”

“Oh, swords!” 

Zuko runs to the set of broad swords Master Piandao gifted him like Sokka on a shopping spree. He draws out both blades and Katara is quick to grab his hands and make him put them back down.

“You said we were here for an egg?”

“Right.”

Zuko puts the swords back on their decorative stand with only a small pout. When he remembers the reason he came here, he rummages around the piles of presents. He finds a few more weapons that peace time will only allow him to admire and not use. He finds scrolls that will bore him and scrolls that might actually interest him. He even finds some pieces of jewelry that he assumes are supposed to go to the future Fire Lady but that he’ll offer to Katara instead. Not that he assumes she’ll be the Fire Lady, of course--

“I think I found it!”

Zuko rushes over to her side, nearly knocking her over in the process. Katara has to balance both of them as Zuko leans over the box she opened and marvels at the dragon egg. He reaches in to pick it up, but Katara grabs his wrist.

“Are you sure you want to pick that up right now?” Katara asks. “You’re a little, well, inebriated.”

“I was literally just playing with the swords.”

“Yes, but if you stab yourself, I can heal you. Whereas if you drop the priceless fossilized dragon egg, that’s it.”

Zuko decides that he’s heard her warning, respects it, and isn’t going to listen. He plucks the egg out of its box and holds it delicately enough. The shell is surprisingly smooth for the scales that line it. Like virtually everything in the Fire Nation, they’re a deep red, but at certain angles the scales flash gold. Zuko turns it slowly, amazed that something barely bigger than his head could grow into the majestic beasts he met with Aang months ago. He lowers his hands to put the egg back into its case, but pauses when he feels a beat.

“Huh?”

Zuko frowns. He brings the egg closer to face, looking for something but unsure of what. The egg pulses in his hands, as if burning with life. Zuko’s hands begin to shake, so he places the egg back in the chest it came in.

“Katara?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think that dragon egg is a fossil.”

-

ii.

Zuko tracks down the gift giver, an eccentric old merchant that was old friends with his uncle. He explains that the egg truly had been a fossil for dozens of years, sitting in one of his smaller warehouses as a lump of black rock that he held onto for sentiment’s sake. However, that warehouse caught fire during the day Zuko returned to the Fire Nation to claim his rightful place, and among the ashes, he found the egg restored, ready to hatch after nine months. Considering it an auspicious sign, he simply knew the dragon egg would need to be given to the new Fire Lord.

The next day, Zuko announces his impending fatherhood to the rest of his friends. 

Sokka is quick to pick up the knife he’d been using on his breakfast before Katara explains that Zuko is having a dragon baby, not a human one. 

“Oh.” Sokka sits back down. “Wait. What? A dragon?”

“A dragon,” Zuko confirms.

Aang looks ecstatic. “That’s so cool, Zuko! When your dragon gets big, you guys can race me and Appa!”

Toph punches Aang’s shoulder. “No way! The first thing that dragon is doing is taking me on my life-changing field trip.” She scowls at Zuko’s general direction. “I’m still waiting, you know.”

“I think Zuko needs to focus on, you know, reforming the Fire Nation, Toph,” Katara points out.

Toph sighs dramatically. “You’ve really changed, Sparky. How dare you.”

Later at dinner, Sokka tells them that he spent the day in the library. That isn’t much of a surprise to anyone because Sokka absolutely loves the palace library and often only leaves when he’s told it’s time to eat.

“I was reading about dragons today,” he explains. “Did you know you have tons of books about dragons?”

Zuko did not. “Of course I did.”

“Well, okay, so where’s the egg?”

“Still with the other gifts?”

“Zuko!” 

Sokka stands with a small shriek. He takes off running. The rest of them resume eating until a few minutes later, Sokka returns with the egg and a long length of cloth that may or may not have been a banner.

“Sokka!” Katara yells. “Don’t run with the egg! What if you dropped it?!”

Sokka ignores his sister and deposits the egg in Toph’s lap. “Here, hold it.”

“Yeah, that sounds safe,” she grumbles.

“I’ll hold it!” Aang says.

“No!” Toph folds over where the egg sits. “It’s mine!”

“No fair!” Aang pouts as he turns to Katara. “Katara, Toph isn’t sharing!”

Katara sighs and tells them to take turns.

Meanwhile, Sokka succeeds in making Zuko stand with his arms outstretched. As he works, he explains that the books all said that the egg needed to stay warm at almost all times, meaning Zuko would need to use his natural body heat to take care of his future dragon. Sokka proceeds to wrap the cloth around his middle and shoulders, leaving a small pocket on Zuko’s chest. As Toph finally agrees to let Aang have a turn holding the dragon egg, Sokka plucks it away and tucks it against Zuko.

“Behold, the Dragon Daddy...Carrier...Thing.” Sokka holds his arms out as he shows Zuko’s new look off to their friends. Everyone regards Zuko in his formal attire with a dragon egg strapped against his chest. “Super manly, am I right?”

Katara crosses her arms, utterly unimpressed. “There’s nothing manly about it.”

Sokka glares at her and Zuko looks positively offended.

She rolls her eyes. “What I mean is that women have been doing that for centuries, Sokka. You’re hardly a genius.”

“But I’m still manly right?” Zuko asks.

“Sure?”

They resume dinner and Sokka regales them with all that he’s learned about dragons. When they’re done, Aang reminds everyone that he still didn’t get a chance to hold the dragon egg. 

Zuko says he can have his turn after dessert.

-

iii.

On rare occasions, Zuko is told that he cannot bring his egg into particular meetings. His advisors are generally accepting of this minor eccentricity, but he knows when to pick his battles, and relents. After all, some other attendees might not take him seriously with a sling strapped across his abdomen. During those moments, Zuko entrusts his egg with Katara. 

Katara looks significantly less weird with the egg held against her body. She’s still too young to be a mother, but she certainly looks like one like that. And it doesn’t help that she’s flanked by Aang and Toph who are both touching the egg and commenting on how the scales feel.

When he’s done for the day, he heads their way. Toph notices him first, turning her head in his general direction. Aang and Katara see him next, the former waving excitedly while the latter smiles in that way that makes Zuko’s heart skip a beat.

“Thanks,” Zuko says when he’s in front of them, “for, um, watching my egg.”

“That sounded weird.” Katara makes a face. “I hated that entire sentence.”

“Well how else am I supposed to say it, Katara?”

Her lips twitch in amusement and Zuko can’t help but smile back. He wracks his brain for something clever or maybe even flirtatious. Naturally, he comes up short.

Aang breaks the silence and eye contact though by tugging Zuko’s sleeve. “Hey Zuko, next time you need to look like a super serious Fire Lord--”

“I am a super serious Fire Lord.”

“--can I eggsit? I’ll be super responsible, I promise! And I can actually firebend, so I can be warm for the egg too!”

Zuko considers Aang’s hopeful grin while also considering that he and Toph thought it’d be a great idea to airbend a pair of ostrich-horses onto the roof for a race. There was nothing responsible about that. Toph couldn’t even see! Aang could be trusted with restoring balance and taking bending away from bad people, sure, but eggsitting Zuko’s future dragon? No way.

“Aang, yesterday you made a mini cyclone in the garden.”

“Yeah, but that’s because Sokka wanted to see what it’d look like on a smaller scale than the ocean.”

“That...no. No, you don’t get to eggsit.”

“Boo!” Aang crosses his arms and pouts. “Fine. I guess only Katara gets to hold your egg.”

Zuko frowns. “Yeah, I hated that entire sentence.”

-

iv.

Every few weeks, Toph confirms that the dragon is indeed a healthy thing. With the egg on the ground and her hands holding it in place, she tells Zuko that it has a regular, steady heartbeat. Of course, she doesn’t really know how a dragon’s heart should beat. For all she knew, it wasn’t actually beating at the proper rate and the dragon was doomed.

“Nah,” Sokka says. He begins tapping the floor. “It should be like this.”

Katara raises an eyebrow. “How would you even know that?”

“I read about it.”

“You read about dragon heartbeats?” Katara frowns. “I don’t think that’s a thing.”

“It’s absolutely a thing!”

Zuko drowns them out as he picks the egg up from where it sits before Toph and carefully tucks it back into his sling. His hands rest upon it while Aang leans in close to marvel at it too. 

“Man, this is so awesome, Zuko!” he exclaims.

“Yeah.”

“A dragon. For the new Fire Lord.”

“Yeah.”

“And--” Aang pauses. He rises to get a better look at Zuko’s face. “Are you...crying?”

“Of course not!” Zuko bites out. “There’s just something in my eyes!”

Toph snorts. “Yeah, alright.” 

She makes a joke about how Zuko does this every time she checks the heartbeat, while Aang suggests maybe using waterbending to see if it’ll be a boy dragon or a girl dragon. Toph laughs and says Zuko won’t be able to hide his crying if that happens. Zuko carefully blinks back tears before he snaps back at them for being right.

-

v.

Zuko joins his uncle for tea in the afternoon. His uncle has been busy with the efforts to reestablish peace, and they certainly still have more work ahead of them, but Zuko is happy to have him home again.

“I’ve heard rumours, nephew, that you have...secured your legacy.”

Zuko nods. He will never share the legacy of the Fire Lords before him, conquerors and tyrants alike. No, Zuko will be the bringer of peace and its champion too. He will teach kindness and compassion. He will restore culture, reform education, and continue to reinvent to match his people’s needs.

“Yes, uncle.”

“That’s good to hear.” Iroh pauses. “However, you are not married.”

“I...am not, uncle.”

“Perhaps--”

“There you are!” 

Zuko looks up to find Katara entering the room. In her arms is the dragon egg that he’d dropped off to her that morning because of some commitments. 

“Hey,” Zuko says, letting Katara’s settle the egg in his lap.

Katara then ignores him and decorum by rushing over to his uncle’s side. 

“Iroh!” she greets. “It’s so good to see you!”

“It is good to see you as well, Master Katara.” When she draws away, Iroh examines her up and down and then frowns. He quickly covers that up with a smile though. “Please, won’t you join us for tea?”

“I’d love to, but I promised I’d help Aang with some stuff. Are you free tomorrow morning?”

“For you, Master Katara, I will be.”

Katara laughs and sets a time before making her way out again. When she’s gone, Iroh looks at Zuko and stays silent.

“What?” Zuko asks. 

“It’s nothing.”

“Clearly it’s something.”

Iroh purses his lips, as if unsure if he should say what’s on his mind.

Zuko doesn’t understand why he suddenly seemed so disappointed. Zuko had just confirmed that he would no longer carry on their family’s legacy of destruction. Shouldn’t that make his uncle happy? But instead he saw Katara and looked sad. This was obviously Katara’s fault then. Katara’s fault for being--

Zuko stills. He looks down at his tea and then back up at his uncle’s solemn face. He exhales and finds angry steam coming out of his nostrils.

“Uncle,” he begins slowly, because he is a kind Fire Lord and kind Fire Lords don’t lose their temper with people, even gossiping uncles. “Were you under the impression that I...and Katara...” Zuko’s features contort into a scowl. He refuses to even say the words. “Uncle!”

“Now, now. You must forgive an old man for chatting with old friends over pai sho, nephew.”

“About my love life?!”

“But of course.” Iroh grins. “It is a very popular topic all over the world.”

“Uncle, please!”

-

vi.

As an ambassador for the Southern Water Tribe, Katara’s stays in the Fire Nation are long, but not permanent. She spends her last evening there with Zuko and the dragon egg.

“Based on everything we’ve read, the egg shouldn’t hatch for another three months.”

“That’s right.”

“I’ll only be gone for two months.”

“Correct.”

“I’m going to be back on time for the birth.”

“I know you will.”

“I’m going to be so upset if I miss it...”

“Don’t worry,” Zuko reassures. “Druk will wait for you.”

Katara grins. She likes the name he picked. She knows he spent a lot of time poring over a list of names of the dragons that used to be partnered with members of the royal family. The original Druk belonged to a Fire Lord from centuries ago whose reign was one of peace and prosperity. He was a huge patron of the arts and Love amongst the Dragons was written in his time. 

“Take care of yourself while I’m gone, okay?”

“Obviously.”

“Make sure you eat three meals a day.”

“I already do that!”

“Because I make you!”

“I missed a meal one time--”

“Yeah, per day!” She pokes his shoulder. “And make sure you sleep.”

“I will.”

“I mean it. I’ll know if you don’t.”

“Yeah? How will you manage that, waterbender?” 

The question comes out more coyly than he ever would have intended. And calling her anything other than her name has always seemed more flirtatious than intended. Granted, maybe he did intend it. Zuko smirks for effect, hoping he seems as cool to her as he wants to be. 

Katara narrows her eyes, lifting her chin a fraction and crossing her arms and--

Agni, it was happening. 

They were officially flirting. 

Zuko willed his beating heart to be still.

“I have my ways,” she drawls with a little grin of her own. But that soon fades into sadness. “I’m going to miss you, Zuko.”

Zuko nods. He’s going to miss her too. Katara has been around since he defeated Azula. He got used to her presence when they were still fighting in the war and he became at home with it during their stay in the Fire Nation. 

“Zuko...”

Katara leans forward and Zuko’s heart begins to race. Actually, it was already racing. Now it’s just beating ridiculously fast. This might actually be a health hazard, Zuko realizes. Perhaps Katara wasn’t good for him after all if she was going to make his heart go crazy and make his stomach hurt in that weird, stupid fluttering way all the time. Her lips twitch, puling into a pucker, and Zuko knows this is it. 

This is it. 

He closes his eyes, ready as if he hasn’t been ready for months now, and then--

Nothing.

He blinks, confused, and catches the back of Katara’s head as she stands back up and grins sheepishly. She pats the dragon egg strapped to his chest.

“I had to give Druk a kiss goodbye,” she explains.

“Right,” Zuko mumbles. “Druk.”

He tries not to pout. Really, he does. But apparently he doesn’t try hard enough because soon Katara is giggling. She reaches up, one hand cupping his cheek as her thumb brushes his skin.

“I’m going to miss you,” she tells him.

“I’m going to miss you too.”

Her gaze flickers to his lips and he watches the way she swallows nervously. Deciding it’s now or never, Zuko leans in, and is pleased when Katara meets his lips half way. It’s a bit of an awkward lean considering the dragon egg between them, but Zuko wouldn’t change a thing. He kisses her softly, unwilling to rush what he knows is going to be a good thing. 

Eventually they draw apart and Katara smiles shyly. “Will you see me off in the morning? Well, Ninja Zuko, not Fire Lord Zuko.”

Zuko nods, still a bit breathless. “Of course.”

-

vii.

Fire Lord Zuko’s less than standard choice of outfit is expected at this point. Gone is the initial sash Sokka made when they first realized the egg needed to be held at all times. He has new ones in a variety of colours. Some have even been gifted to him by other dignitaries on their visits, so Zuko has half a dozen shades of green. Today he wears the yellow one that Aang so eagerly gave him the other month. 

He looks ridiculous, therefore he stands out. And because he stands out, it makes an attempt on his life that much easier.

Of course, Zuko has the best guards in the entire world, and his attackers are dealt with swiftly.

Panicking, Zuko unwraps the yellow silk and carefully inspects the dragon egg. He frets until he finishes. 

“He’s okay,” Zuko breathes in relief.

“Good,” Suki says, “because I don’t think you were the target.”

“What do you mean?”

Suki nods to the egg. “They were aiming for that.”

“Druk?”

“Great.” Mai sighs as she looks up at the ceiling. “He already named it.”

“Of course I did!”

“I think Druk is a great name, Zuko!” Ty Lee says. 

Suki continues searching the room with her two new recruits. “Why would someone want to assassinate a dragon?” 

“Why wouldn’t they?” Mai turns to Zuko and finds him rewrapping the yellow silk around his body to cradle his dragon egg close. “A new Fire Lord supported not only by the Avatar, but by a dragon. No propaganda can beat that in the Fire Nation, especially when you started walking around with the real thing. They probably think you’ve been chosen by the spirits.”

“But dragons are extinct, Mai,” Ty Lee points out.

“So, what, that’s a toucan puffin then?”

“If someone wants Zuko out of the way,” Suki muses, “they know they need to get rid of that dragon before it’s born.”

“Exactly.”

Zuko rises, scowling in his Fire Lord regalia and the sling wrapped around him. Fire shoots out out of Zuko’s clenched fists. He might look absurd, but his expression is fearsome as he all but growls, “They can try.” 

-

viii.

Katara returns a few days earlier than expected. Maybe the tides had been kind to her ship. Maybe there was a master waterbender on board. Who knew. Fire Lord Zuko requests the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador join him for dinner, which she arrives to after a long day of napping. 

Zuko feels a weight lifted off his shoulders when he sees her again. She’s safe, she’s healthy, and if that smile is anything to go by, she’s happy too.

She tells him all about how much they’ve done to restore things to how they were back when she was a girl, along with all the other innovations Sokka’s bringing about. She talks about her grandmother’s cooking, her father’s leadership, and her brother’s antics. Tomorrow will include more official topics about the Tribe’s needs, but tonight is for catching up.

“I guess you enjoyed your stay,” Zuko mumbles, happy for her.

“Definitely. But if I’m being honest, towards the end I...” She meets his eyes for a moment, something akin to longing in her gaze, before she looks down at her plate. She shrugs. “I started to miss it here towards the end.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I really like swimming. And surfing. And...stuff.”

Zuko clears his throat. “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want, you know. Permanently, even!”

“That’s not really how ambassadors work, Zuko.”

“Yeah. I know. Maybe in, um, a different capacity?”

“What do you mean?”

“Uh...”

A voice that sounds suspiciously like his uncle’s says Fire Lady, but Zuko will never ever say that to her face. Yeah, he’s probably in love with her. Oh, how he’s in love with her. And he’s vaguely positive Katara has feelings for him too. And they kissed before! But Zuko could never ask that of her right now. 

“I don’t know,” he says to save himself. He doesn’t do a good job, but Katara doesn’t push the topic.

“There’s still a lot of work to do,” Katara eventually replies.

Zuko manages not to groan at the understatement.  

“Here in the Fire Nation, but around the world too. These past few years have taught me that the world is wide and that I’m in a unique position to be helpful. If I don’t use what I’ve learned to help people in need...that just seems irresponsible.” She grins. “But I’ll come back. I’m always going to come back.”

“Wouldn’t you want to go...home?”

“Of course I’ll visit the South Pole, but...” She shrugs. “Home is very spread out now,” she explains with a small laugh. “Aang and Toph are going back to the Earth Kingdom after Druk is born, Sokka is already back with the Tribe, Suki is going back to Kyoshi when she’s done here, and, well, you’re here, Zuko.”

“I’m...home?”

Katara blinks, taken aback. “Did you think you weren’t?”

Zuko doesn’t say anything, too rattled by the admission, too overwhelmed by its meaning. Katara considered him home. Katara held him at the same esteem as people as precious to her as her family. Katara wanted to come back to him. Katara considered him someone worth coming back to.

“And now home is this guy too.” She rests her palm upon the dragon egg, dangerously close to his pounding heart.

Zuko’s hand rises on its own, settling gently over Katara’s. She looks up at him, startled, and he takes a breath.

“Katara, this is my home. It kind of has to be. But it’s, um, better when you’re here.”

“O--oh.” 

Katara’s hand shakes. Or maybe it’s his hand shaking and he’s affecting her too. It doesn’t matter though, because Katara turns hers over and laces her fingers through his. She holds his hand and she smiles. 

Agni, he loved her smile. Agni, he loved her.

His hand begins to grow sweaty. “Uh,” he self-consciously coughs. “Do you want to hold Druk?” Zuko pulls his hand away and rubs the back of his neck. “It’s been a while for you.”

Katara opens her arms to him and his dragon baby. “I’d love to.”

-

ix.

The first crack comes some time after midnight when Zuko is reading a report from the ever-growing stack in his office, with the egg nestled in his crossed legs. Zuko looks down, but doesn’t really see anything strange, so he keeps reading. But a moment later, the egg begins to shake. Eyes wide, Zuko finds himself frozen.

The egg wobbles as the single fracture on the side begins to grow like a web.

“Katara!” he hisses. “Katara!”

In this moment, he’s grateful she deigned to linger in his office and read those trashy romance scrolls Ty Lee shared with her. 

“What is it--oh!” Katara sucks in a sharp breath when she notices the way the egg moves. She rushes to his side and kneels down. “Is it--”

“It is!” Zuko, unable to move with the leg in his lag, grabs her hand. “What am I supposed to do?”

“I--I don’t know! I’ve only delivered babies!”

“This is a baby!”

“A dragon baby, Zuko!”

They both yelp when a clawed, red appendage breaks through the cracks.

“It’s...” Zuko reaches out for Katara’s hand, squeezing it as the little dragon inside continues to push his way out. “That’s it, buddy,” Zuko encourages. “You’re doing great.” He feels Katara place her free hand on his shoulder. She tells him to breath because at some point he stopped. He doesn’t do a good job listening though, so she begins to loudly inhale and exhale so that he can follow.

Soon another arm comes through, and one moment later, a little head pops through the top of the egg. 

Zuko makes a noise that might be a sob and lets go of Katara to help peel away the bits of shell stuck of the little dragon’s head. He blinks at Zuko with dazed golden eyes before his mouth opens into something that can only be deemed a yawn.

“Hi Druk,” Zuko whispers, holding his hand out to the little dragon.

Druk slithers out of what’s left of his shell and sniffs Zuko’s hand. He’s just a bit bigger than a newborn turtle duck, so it’s not a problem when he settles on Zuko’s awaiting palm.

Amazed, Zuko turns to Katara with the widest smile she’s ever seen on his face. “He likes me!” He begins to laugh as Druk crawls up his arm and over his head to the other shoulder. He presses his head against Zuko’s cheek and nuzzles him.

Katara rolls her eyes fondly. “Of course he does. I’m sure he recognizes that you’re the one who kept his egg warm for nine--”

She yelps when Druk takes advantage of Katara’s hand still on Zuko’s back, using that arm as a bridge to climb on her shoulder. His claws are tugging at her hair, albeit only lightly, and soon he’s rubbing his little head against her chin. 

“He likes you too!” 

Reminded of Zuko, Druk’s golden eyes snap back open and he leaps off of Katara and into Zuko’s lap. Fortunately, he’d had the sense to push the empty shell away when Druk was climbing around. Druk circles the space of his lap before finally curling up and settling down.

Utterly amazed, Zuko gathers his resting son into his arms and stands. He’ll need to prepare a place for Druk, but Katara says she’ll take care of that for now.

“Spend time with your newborn, Fire Lord.” 

At the window, Zuko considers showing Druk all that the light touches, but realizes it’s night and so he should wait until tomorrow. He laughs, still utterly astonished by this turn of events, and silently thanks the man who gifted him with the egg at his coronation. Druk twitches and resettles in his arms. He yawns and then he huffs with a little burst of fire escaping his mouth. 

Zuko looks down at Druk with adoration and excitement in his eyes. 

“I have a dragon.”

[doomedandstoned]

Meeting Bomg, Doom-Drone Legends from Ukraine

~Interview by Billy Goate~

Doomed & Stoned continues our week of epic interviews with a long overdue conversation with the great Ukraine doom-drone band BOMG, who have been desamating stages and blowing out amps since 2010. During that time, Nikolay Temchenko (guitar), Yuriy Temchenko (bass), and Anton Khomenko (drums) have put out two mammoth LPs, an EP, and a split.

I first got turned on to BOMG's sound with the record 'Polynseed' (2013), which released the year that Doomed & Stoned was founded. I recommend starting there if this is your first exposure to the mighty trio from Kyiv.

Bomg have been gradually drifting in the direction of full-on drone metal, executed in their own authentic and compelling way, as we're about to discover as we drill into 'Peregrination' (2020) -- which we reviewed last year and Robustfellow has recently reissued.

Give ear...

You state that BOMG means “vagabond” on your Bandcamp page. Can you elaborate on how the name ties in with the band’s history and core identity?

It’s an abbreviation literally meaning “with no particular place of living”. Funny thing is that its’ meaning is degraded in common use (like “bum”), but when it was incepted (60s – 70s in USSR) those who were stigmatized by it were better off going elsewhere than being part of the regime, taking it as a positive. This became somewhat of a short-lived movement even. We think that despite being prone to misunderstanding in every way, it fits the overall vibe. Blessing and a curse. But frankly, the name is a secondary thing at best.

How would you describe your distinctive sound, to someone who has never encountered it before?

Basically, trying to elaborate and add to “Black Sabbath spaghettified” idea. We try to squeeze out any possible amount of low frequency, volume, distortion and effect saturation to the instruments, not necessarily designed for it. As of similarities and influences, it’s 60s-70s heavy psych, proto-metal and proto-punk, 80s - 90s continuation of it (doom metal, stoner/desert rock, sludge, drone doom), besides that – dub, ambient, prog rock, experimental music, field recordings and whatnot.

Peregrination by Bomg

Your new album 'Peregrination' is an explosive bombshell, massive in every respect. When was the concept for the album born?

The first track was almost ready in 2011, we played it at our first show. As of concept, it started to take shape somewhere in 2013-2014, most of the lyrics were written back then. Then it took years to “grow.” First, we tried to make it so each track would fit one side of LP, but it seemed kinda compressed and landed too quick. Then we decided not to confine it to any time limit but each track landed itself around 40 minutes, so we made sure it evens out like this in final recording.

Tell us about the recording process involved. We’re very curious about instruments, gear, amps, and the general studio environment in which it originated.

Each whole track was recorded live (took roughly four weeks for four tracks), then layered with two additional guitars. Synths, field recordings, vocals were added afterward.

Gear: we used two Tank amps (Orange/Matamp clones) made from old soviet broadcast amplifiers and Tesla Disco 240 for guitar and bass (wish our Sunn concert bass was alive at that point, but it just burns transistors when turned on – we couldn’t find an exact schematic for it, even photos of the exact amp on the web, seems like it’s from some transition period).

The drums are '70s Rogers 13”, 16” toms and 24” steel shell bass drum from '50s-'70s (mass-produced for political celebrations, weddings and funerals), coupled with Meinl hi-hats, Paiste Rude China and Zildjian Mega Bell.

Guitars used were early '00s Gibson SG Standard, '72 Musima Eterna Deluxe and ’69 Musima Record; and ‘70 Cremona Violin bass.

Pedals: Poltava fuzz-wah, Noname “flanger” that is actually phaser for bass; Tesla Vrable fuzz-wah (the seller told us that his uncle was under KGB investigation for just having it), Noname dist (most likely a ProCo Rat clone), Vox wah, Boss BF-2, Lel’ parametric EQ, Lel’ digital delay, Boss dynamic wah, Roland Space Echo for guitar.

Recording equipment: Two '70s Oktava ML-19 for overheads, '50s-'60s Oktava ML15 and ML16 for room and various dynamic and condenser mics for everything else into Pro Tools, then later in mixing/mastering stage partly routed through mixer and cassette deck using beaten up cassette for analog saturation and vibrato.

Long story short, we tried to use most of the stuff we got in our studio, and at this point, it’s hard to remember every detail of the process. Referring to the environment, it is compiled of numerous weird gadgets which got to us throughout years, most of which were collecting dust somewhere for decades, and have a history (an entire topic by itself) we’re always asking for. And when used, they tell a story which then leaves a mark in recordings for sure. That was a hell of a fascinating process.

I noticed you had lyrics for each song on 'Peregrination,' but the singing doesn't seem discernable. Are there indeed vocals and, if so, how can I hear them?

Yes, there are vocals. They appear on low volume as reverberated and somewhat oscillated notes, more like presence; on high volume, you can hear words with 1-5 kHz correctly dialed in (on most audio equipment these frequencies tend to be excited, so lowering EQ at this range brings clarity), it appears as a whisper in a loud, saturated mix. Also, we added subtitles on YouTube, so you can know for sure where to find vocals. The point was to make them recognizable only with intent.

Talk about the album art. It seems there is hidden symbolism there, is that true?

It’s some sort of a window that leads to four areas, which are the visualized soundscapes to each track. There were no particular symbols, but the thing is that they fill in the picture as it is set - like a hallucination, which is often a well of meaning where symbols change and multiply interpretations, at the same time being just momentary blobs of form.

The process of making this album cover involved many iterations of drawing, running through GAN networks, editing the result to achieve the effect of a captured hallucination, close to the exact one. When hardwiring symbols directly into it, they would be eaten up by hallucinating AI. So by randomly forming a resemblance of shapes, things started popping out where they fit the most contextually - weird stuff. It’s a common thing in art to throw “open for interpretation” on everything, but this one might be.

What is the concept behind each "hobo" symbol and track on 'Peregrination'?

So, the first one means being quiet and alert, seeing what’s going on. The second one is a sign of a trolley – hopping from one soundscape to another, time travel. The third one – safe camp; it may be confusing when applied to the lyrics, but the position that is stated there facing the object is some sort of a “safe camp”, ground to stand on. The fourth one means “don’t give up”, even if applied in both meanings of this phrase to track. But the symbol references may lack context without diving into tracks.

I'm sure our readers would be most happy if you were to illuminate the meaning of each of the songs on your new album.

Well, it’s like trying to create a soundtrack to some introductory ontological theories (pretty blank, sterile stuff), realizing their intensity. Here uneven-numbered tracks touch on mind ontology, even-numbered - on reality ontology. Not diving into details too much, let them hang there.

I. Electron

Peregrination by Bomg

it's no light of star it's a light of mind walking thru a dream electron shamanism

"Electron" is covering the theme of mythical perception akin to humans and the discovery that put a dent into these beliefs. Variation on a Tunguska story, mythos surrounding Tesla, how people mythologize all around.

II. Perpetuum

Peregrination by Bomg

Across desolations Caravans astray Sand covered roads Forget old ways

"Perpetuum" goes more into sci-fi territory: endless cycles of dead and born-again civilizations, the Great Filter caused by cosmic events or beings themselves, and how we just might unknowingly observe such things staring at the sky.

III. Paradigm

Peregrination by Bomg

Giant web built and set in lines It works when mind reflects Leaving us with all the fears Or letting them disappear

"Paradigm" is based around the tendency of the mind to confine itself into some set of ideas, building a higher fence while thinking it broadens the space. Thinking of one thing while it is the opposite, fear of the structure collapsing while an event like this would alleviate any sort of fear. But breaking a paradigm usually leads straight to the next one, to which the same attributes apply. And keeping this notion brings a safe distance to it.

IV. Emanation

Peregrination by Bomg

Now the opportunity is To see the universe spinning Emit structures boundless Round its' endless borders It's the very first the very last small moment In periods of endless time When the structure merge infinite To manifest as something

"Emanation" goes somewhat contrary to the second one - a reality that may be started at some point, complicates itself, and never is truly repetitive. Also thoughts on subjective existence and the point of it, maybe being an instrument of the Universe to explain it to itself. Speculation on whether or not consciousness flows from one state to another, as energy does, returning to its inception or scattering across until equilibrium, or even said results being the same thing. And the uncertainty of these things that are left to be answered while we as beings, it seems, are just left to fade away.

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[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 245

Last time, Goku teased a new form, one beyond the Super Saiyan 2 form Vegeta and Gohan used against Buu at the start of this arc.   But he’d prefer not to use it if possible.  

The idea here is just to keep Majin Buu busy long enough for Trunks to fly there first and get the Dragon Radar.   After that, it won’t matter (as much) if Buu destroys the place, because the Z-Figthers can use the Dragon Radar to collect the Dragon Balls and wish back all the casualties.   But Trunks is distracted by Goku’s abilties.   He can sense that Goku is about as strong as his father, and he’s apparently unfamiliar with Goku’s teleportation ability.    The reason he’s got his eyes closed here is because Babidi is psychically broadcasting Buu vs. Goku to the world, so Trunks can watch their confrontation simply by closing his eyes.

And Goku uses that trick to speak directly to Trunks, telling him to quit gawking and do his job. 

With that taken care of, Goku decides that he’s got no choice but to demonstrate his new form.   First, he powers down completely, presenting this as a review of the Super Saiyan forms.   Babidi doesn’t see the point, but Buu’s interested, and that’s the one Goku’s worried about.

So this is Goku in his base form.   

And then he turns Super Saiyan.   This is the form he used to beat Frieza.   No worries there.

Then he transforms again, into the form Gohan used to beat Cell, and the one Goku and Vegeta used when they fought each other about fifteen episodes ago.

Crucially, Goku dubs this form “Super Saiyan 2″, about sixty episodes after it was introduced.    So now we can finally stop calling it “beyond Super Saiyan”, “ascended Saiyan”, and whatever else this show has been throwing around.    The funny thing is, everyone kind of stops referring to this form altogether after this.  Goku and Vegeta continue to use it, but you almost never hear anyone spell out “Oh, he’s using Super Saiyan 2″.    I don’t think anyone mentions the form in GT at all, even though a lot of guys use it.   

The story I heard was that when Movie 14 happened, Akira Toriyama was so rusty with DBZ continuity that he forgot Super Saiyan 2 was ever a thing.   That seems kind of odd, considering that he must have remembered the higher levels, but it doesn’t surprise me a whole lot, because it looks so similar to Super Saiyan 1, and for a very long time the form didn’t have a true name.     I know that when I was watching this arc back in 2001-2002, I just considered this “Ascended” nonsense to be irrelevant.    To me, the forms were one and the same, and SSJ2 was merely a Super Saiyan fighting at full power.  But then I got to this episode, where Goku made it clear that Super Saiyan 1 and 2 were different things.   

And this is important, because we need to establish these things so that it means something when Goku decides to go... even... further beyond!    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Back in Otherworld, King Kai is freaking out, begging Goku not to do this.   It’s too much!  This form he’s going to use is so extreme that it’ll use up the rest of his 24 hours in the living world!

BUT THERE’S NO TURNING BACK NOW!    THE MUSIC IS ALREADY PLAYING, KING KAI!    Oh, shit, I forgot the music.

It’s called “Ssj3 Power Up” on Bruce Faulconer’s DBZ American Soundtrack volume IV.   

The Japanese version, sadly, does not have a theme song this badass for this moment.    I really don’t understand that, because they should have known one was called for here.    Let’s face it, not much happens during this scene, and they seemed to recognize that issue when Gohan turned Super Saiyan 2 for the first time.     Then again, Faulconer kind of whiffed it on Gohan turning Super Saiyan 2, so I can’t critique the Japanese score too harshly.    But if you’re a subs-only fan and you want to give the American dub a chance, this is one of the better episodes to sample.   

Meanwhile NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON THIS IS INSANE!    GOKU’S ENERGY IS SO HUGE RIGHT NOW U GAIS!

WHAT ARE THESE CLOUDS DOING THIS IS NUTS!

NO SAILING TODAY, THERE’S A SUPER SAIYAN 3 WEATHER ALERT!

I’M GOING TO YELL THE REST OF THIS LIVEBLOG BECAUSE IT’S SO EXTREEEEEEEEME!    GOKU’S GOTTA FIGHT THIS DUDE AND HE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HAVE SEX WITH HIS WIFE INSTEAD BUT THAT’S OUT OF THE QUESTION NOW!    SHE’S PASSED OUT BECAUSE SHE THINKS THEIR SON IS DEAD, WHICH IS QUITE THE MOOD-KILLER IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!    ALSO IMAGINE YOU’RE TRYING TO FOOL AROUND WITH YOUR WIFE AND SOME TALKING ANCHOVY STARTED TALKING IN YOUR MIND AND YOU CAN’T CLOSE YOUR EYES BECAUSE NOW YOU CAN SEE THE PUBES ON HIS SCALP.    AND HE’S ALL “TEE HEE HEE I’M GOING TO SEND MY BUBBLE GUM MONSTER TO BLOW UP SOME MORE SHIT!”    THAT WOULD ALSO BE QUITE THE MOOD-KILLER IN ADDITION TO THE DEAD SON THING.   

I MEAN MAYBE A COUPLE COULD WORK THROUGH ONE OR THE OTHER BUT NOT BOTH.   IF I WERE MARRIED TO CHI-CHI I’D LIKE TO THINK I COULD FULFILL MY MARITAL DUTIES IN SPITE OF THE TALKING ANCHOVY IN MY HEAD.   I WOULDN’T ENJOY IT AS MUCH, BUT CHI-CHI’S A FINE WOMAN WHO DESERVES THE BEST IN LIFE.   BUT IF OUR SON WAS DEAD THAT WOULD JUST BE TOO MUCH.    ONE HUNDRED PERCENT BONER POISON I’M SORRY CHI-CHI IN THE AU WHERE WE’RE MARRIED AND HAVING SEX.

THERE’S NO STOPPING THIS KING KAI.    E! C! W! E! C! W!  E! C! W! 

O-LAYYYYYYYYY, O-LAY!   OLE, OLE, OLE, O-LAYYYYYYYYYYYY!

CROSSWALK SIGNS EXPLODE FROM THE SHEER INTENSITY OF GOKU’S POWAAA

WINDOWS BREAK AND SPILL GLASS ALL OVER EVERYBODY!

THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART WHERE THIS NEWSCASTER IS COVERING THE HORROR OF THE BUU CRISIS--

WHEN SUDDENLY HE CAN FEEL IT!     THIS JUST IN THERE’S SOMEONE SCARIER THAN MAJIN BUU AND HE’S BROUGHT GOKUTOWN BACK TO EARTH!   ONE NIGHT ONLY!

THEN THE TV BREAKS BECAUSE IT KNOWS BETTER

GOKU’S KI IS SO POWERFUL IT EVEN BREAKS THE NO-TIEN RULE ON THIS WHOLE ARC.    PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THIS BUT CHIAOTZU SLEPT WITH THE PRESIDENT OF TOEI’S WIFE AND HE WAS SO MAD HE TOLD TORIYAMA “YOU KEEP THAT LITTLE HOMEWRECKER OUT OF YOUR STUPID KARATE COMIC, YOU GOT IT?”    AND TORIYAMA DIDN’T HAVE TO DO IT BUT HE RESPECTED WHAT THE GUY WAS GOING THROUGH SO THAT’S WHY THEY DIDN’T SHOW UP IN THE TOURNAMENT BUT GOKU’S SCREAMING HAS SHATTERED THE TIMESPACE CONTINUUM AND NOW TORIYAMA HAD TO DRAW THESE TWO AGAIN BECAUSE REALITY BROKE DOWN THAT BAD. 

EVEN THE MIGHTY MISTER SATAN IS POWERLESS AGAINST THE SHEER METAL THAT IS COURSING THROUGH THIS DOOMED EARTH.  

MULLETS EVERYWHERE VIBRATE IN HARMONY WITH GOKU’S EXPANDING HAIR

THEN HE’S ALL TINY AND THE WHOLE WORLD GOES BLACK IT’S LIKE A METAPHOR OR SOMETHING THIS IS ART YOU PHILLISTINES

I DON’T KNOW WHAT OOZARUS HAVE TO DO WITH ANY OF THIS GOKU LOST HIS TAIL LIKE 20 YEARS AGO AND IT WAS SO UNIMPORTANT THEY DIDN’T EVEN SHOW IT.

IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE PLANET VEGETA?   IS GOKU JUST THINKING ABOUT PLANETS HE LIKES?

BABIDI DIDN’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THIS A MINUTE AGO, BUT GOKU’S GOT HIS ATTENTION NOW DOESN’T HE?

AND THEN HE’S ALL DONE!     WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE, GOKU, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD?

JUST IN CASE ANYONE’S NOT CLEAR ON THIS, HE EXPLAINS THAT THIS IS SUPER SAIYAN 3.     WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS EYEBROWS?   THEY GOT SUCKED INTO HIS HEAD, THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED.

SO NOW HE JUST LOOKS AT BUU AND HE’S LIKE YOU COME GET THIS WORK.   

MEANWHILE ON THE SUPREME KAI PLANET THEY CAN FEEL GOKU’S POWER ALL THE WAY FROM THERE AND THEY’RE LIKE WHAA?

SO BUU SAW ALL OF THAT BUT HE’S NOT IMPRESSED.    GOKU’S LIKE FINE LET’S DO THIS ALREADY.

MEANWHILE TRUNKS MADE IT HOME BUT NO ONE KNOW WHERE DRAGON RADAR NO

BUU TRIES TO ATTACK BUT ALL HE DOES IS CATCH THESE HANDS.   GOKU BEATS THE CRAP OUT OF HIM....

... OR THAT’S WHAT WOULD HAPPEN, EXCEPT BUU HARDLY TAKES ANY DAMAGE, AND HE RESPONDS WITH A RAPID FIRE ATTACK.    GOKU’S ALL “THAT’S VEGETA’S MOVE WTF” AND I’M LIKE “HOW IS THAT VEGETA’S TRADEMARK THING  IT’S JUST SHOOTING HAND ENERGY VERY FAST.   DON’T ACT LIKE BUU IS SOME SORT OF GENIUS FOR FIGURING THAT OUT.     I DON’T THING VEGETA EVEN USED THAT ON HIM, SO HOW DID HE LEARN IT?”

KING KAI’S STILL PLEADING WITH GOKU TO CALL IT A DAY.    IF HE RUNS OUT OF TIME, HE WON’T BE ABLE TO TEACH GOTEN AND TRUNKS HOW TO FUSE!   

BUT NO THESE TWO BIG OL’ BOYS ARE HAVING A WRESTLE.

BUU’S REALLY INTO THIS BUT BABIDI KEEPS YELLING AT HIM TO FINISH GOKU OFF.   HE’S LIKE SOME SHITTY ALIEN JIM CORNETTE WHINING ABOUT HOW BUU DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO WORK.   SO BUU TELLS HIM TO STFU.

BABIDI’S LIKE HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME THAT WAY I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW I’M A LEVEL 20 WARLOCK WITH ANCHOVY-BOOGER POWER SIR.

GOKU’S JUST FRUSTRATED THAT TRUNKS STILL HASN’T LEFT WEST CITY YET, SO HE JUST HAS TO KEEP DROPPING HURTIN’ BOMBS ON THIS PINK FOOL.  

MEANWHILE TRUNKS CAN’T FIND THE RADAR BECAUSE IT’S NOT ANYWHERE ASSSDFGHJKL;;

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 18 February 2019

Quick Bits:

Aquaman #45 gives us a new creation story with Father Sea and Mother Salt. It’s interesting world-building for what’s going on on this island. Robson Rocha, Daniel Henriques, and Sunny Gho seem to level up on their art again. This book is gorgeous.

| Published by DC Comics

Avengers #15 continues the vampire civil war, with the Shadow Colonel basically kidnapping Ghost Rider. Jason Aaron is definitely taking this series in weird places, but it remains highly entertaining. Especially with collaborators like David Marquez and Erick Arciniega who deliver some incredible artwork.

| Published by Marvel

Avengers: No Road Home #2 reveals how Nyx and her family took Olympus. There’s also a neat parallel narration for Hawkeye explaining how the guy with just a bow and arrows can take on gods and monsters. The art from Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco, and Jesus Aburtov is gorgeous, they really seem to pushing themselves with their storytelling. It’s just a shame that none of the artists are credited on the cover.

| Published by Marvel

Barbarella/Dejah Thoris #2 is ridiculously impressive. Leah Williams, Germán García, Addison Duke, and Crank! are delivering an intelligent, humorous, and compelling adventure tale here that reminds me a lot of some of what Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse did in Tom Strong. It’s incredibly inventive and the artwork is amazing. Highly recommended.

| Published by Dynamite

Batman #65 gives us the penultimate chapter of “The Price”, featuring an all out battle between Flash, Gotham Girl, and Gotham. The artwork from Guillem March and Tomeu Morey is stunning, with some incredible layouts as the action continues.

| Published by DC Comics

Black Widow #2 is fairly bloody and violent as Natasha racks up a body count tracking down the people running “No Restraints Play”, a site that specializes in depravity. Flaviano’s line art seems scratchier than the first issue, but it works for the violent tone of story.

| Published by Marvel

Bloodborne #9 begins the third arc, “A Song of Crows”, as Aleš Kot, Piotr Kowalski, Brad Simpson, Aditya Bidikar, and Jim Campbell spotlight Eileen the Crow. This is a bit of return to the kind of abstract storytelling and embrace of oblique existentialism of the first arc as Eileen investigates the ritual murder of a hunter, but is confounded by time and holes in the narrative.

| Published by Titan

Catwoman #8 is ostensibly the “conclusion” to “Something Smells Fishy”, but it doesn’t actually end the story in any way and leaves the reader at a cliffhanger of continuing elements. That being said, it’s still an entertaining issue from Joëlle Jones, Elena Casagrande, Fernando Blanco, John Kalisz, and Josh Reed. Wonderful action sequences, and more questions as to the nature of a reliquary that seems to contain resurrective powers.

| Published by DC Comics

Delver #1 begins a new Comixology Original series from MK Reed, C. Spike Trotman, Clive Hawken, Maarta Laiho, and Ed Dukeshire. It’s a very intriguing and unique take on the fantasy gaming theme of a dungeon full of treasure and monsters with delvers working to plumb the depths. But it’s from the perspective of the townsfolk whose land the door to the dungeon appears in and how it changes and impacts their lives. 

| Published by Iron Circus Comics

Doctor Strange #11 concludes the battle with Dormammu and the Faltine, for now at least, from Mark Waid, Jesús Saiz, Javier Pina, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Cory Petit. Some very nice art as usual from Saiz, Pina, and Rosenberg.

| Published by Marvel

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3 continues “Mother of Exiles” from Tom Taylor, Juann Cabal, Nolan Woodard, and Travis Lanham as Peter finds out a bit about the rumours regarding his neighbour and Under York, another duplicate New York City under New York City, that oddly isn’t the Monster Metropolis. Great humour from Taylor in the dialogue.

| Published by Marvel

Guardians of the Galaxy #2 takes a somewhat different approach as Peter Quill drunk dials Kitty as he tries to make sense of what’s going on with Thanos, Gamora, everyone who’s dead, and the current state of the Guardians. Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Marte Gracia, and Cory Petit are really taking this series into interesting offbeat territory, while still delivering some excellent humour and an ominous feel to Starfox’s new band of “guardians”.

| Published by Marvel

Incursion #1 begins a new mini picking up on where the Eternal Warrior and Geomancer are since Harbinger Wars 2 and Ninja-K, and pit them against Imperatrix Virago, a cosmic villain that is devouring worlds (kind of like if Galactus were pestilence), from Andy Diggle, Alex Paknadel, Doug Braithwaite, José Villarrubia, Diego Rodriguez, and Marshall Dillon. The art is incredible, the stakes seem pretty high, and the outlook after this first issue look pretty grim for Earth.

| Published by Valiant

James Bond 007 #4 sees Stephen Mooney join Greg Pak, Tríona Farrell, and Ariana Maher for the art chores for three issues, continuing the tale of Bond and “Oddjob”’s team-up. Like Marc Laming, Mooney seems to be born to draw Bond and espionage themed stories.

| Published by Dynamite

Judge Dredd: Toxic #4 concludes what has been an excellent series dealing with xenophobia and hateful rhetoric from Paul Jenkins, Marco Castiello, Vincenzo Acunzo, Jason Millet, Shawn Lee, and Robbie Robbins. I’ve always found non 2000 AD Judge Dredd stories to be a bit of crapshoot, but IDW have been delivering well with the past two mini-series, this and Under Siege.

| Published by IDW

Justice League #18 is the latest excursion into the Legion of Doom territory from James Tynion IV, Pasqual Ferry, Hi-Fi, and Tom Napolitano. It works with some of the revelations from last issue regarding Martian Manhunter and builds a new narrative for Lionel Luthor’s past and his work with Vandal Savage. It’s interesting to see Tynion working with variations on discarded continuities in this way, building a new past that synthesizes pre-Flashpoint ideas with the current batch of backstories.

| Published by DC Comics

Middlewest #4 only seems to be getting better and better as more of this world and how it seems to work get fleshed out by Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos. There’s something incredibly magical and special about this series that taps into the feeling of some of the best coming-of-age fantasies as it blends Ray Bradbury, JM Barrie, and Carlo Collodi into this magical realist adventure.

| Published by Image

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #3 concludes the opening arc from Saladin Ahmed, Javier Garrón, David Curiel, and Cory Petit by adding Captain America to Miles & Rhino’s team-up. This has been a very entertaining start to the series, with a nice mix of Miles’ personal life and superheroics.

| Published by Marvel

Naomi #2 reasserts that Jamal Campbell is a powerhouse of an artist and one of the best kept secrets of the past few years who really should have a higher profile. His art is amazing. It also helps that the story he, Brian Michael Bendis, David F. Walker, and Carlos M. Mangual are telling is as compelling as this, as Naomi confronts Dee as she tries to learn about the day of her adoption. It’s very widescreen and epic as it hints at the broader DC Universe, but at the same time this is very deeply personal.

| Published by DC Comics

Old Man Quill #2 gives the Guardians a taste of the depravity and despair that Earth has fallen to in this post-superhero world. Ethan Sacks shows there’s still a bit of humour left, though, in that Piledriver’s descendent thinks that Piledriver was one of the all-time greats. Also the art from Robert Gill and Andres Mossa gives a wonderful amount of detail to the wastelands.

| Published by Marvel

Relay #4 returns after a delay with new artist Dalibor Talajić (I believe Andy Clarke had to bow out due to illness, but I’m not 100% sure on that). Talajić’s art style is not as bright and clean as Clarke’s, giving a darker, shadowy approach that results in the bleak, horror elements of the story coming further into focus.

| Published by AfterShock

Seven to Eternity #13 returns from its own lengthy delay to conclude the arc in Skod, with the revelation of part of Adam’s choice to save the Mud King. It reiterates the theme since the beginning that there seem to be no good choices in this world, that everything tainted, despite Adam’s father believing the world black and white. While we are going into another trade break, Rick Remender, Jerome Opeña, Matt Hollingsworth, and Rus Wooton consistently make this worth the wait.

| Published by Image / Giant Generator

Sharkey: The Bounty Hunter #1 is the latest of Mark Millar’s Netflix feeder series, after The Magic Order and Prodigy, with Simone Bianchi and Peter Doherty rounding out the team. This one feels a bit like if Warren Ellis were writing Strontium Dog, and it works. The artwork from Bianchi is worth it on its own. Gorgeous character designs.

| Published by Image

Venom #11 is another holy crap issue from Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, Joshua Cassara, JP Mayer, Frank Martin, and Clayton Cowles. There are some really big revelations about Eddie and his family that really need to be read firsthand. Amazing work.

| Published by Marvel

X-O Manowar #24 reminds us again just how good of an artist and storyteller Tomás Giorello is. The action sequences and battle between Aric and Hesnid is incredible, with fairly inventive layouts that just elevate the overall impact of the pages. Giorello and Diego Rodriguez really make this something joyous to behold.

| Published by Valiant

Other Highlights: American Carnage #4, Bitter Root #4, Black Badge #7, The Black Order #4, Breakneck #3, Coda #9, Death Orb #5, DuckTales #18, East of West #41, Evolution #14, Exorsisters #5, Go Bots #4, Grumble #4, High Level #1, Hot Lunch Special #5, Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter #2, Jim Henson’s Beneath the Dark Crystal #5, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: Discovery Adventure, Jughead: The Hunger #12, Lightstep #4, The Lone Ranger #5, Lucifer #5, Lumberjanes #59, Mars Attacks #5, Monstress #20, Outpost Zero #7, Rainbow Brite #4, Shuri #5, Solo: A Star Wars Story #5, Star Wars Adventures #18, Starcraft: Soldiers #2, Stronghold #1, Sukeban Turbo #4, Superb #17, TMNT: Urban Legends #10, Teen Titans #27, Turok #2, The Unstoppable Wasp #5, The Witcher: Of Flesh and Flame #3

Recommended Collections: Amazing Spider-Man - Volume 2: Friends & Foes, Bedtime Games, The Beauty - Volume 5, Black Lightning: Brick City Blues, Captain America - Volume 1: Winter in America, Days of Hate - Volume 2, High Crimes, Infinity 8 - Volume 3: The Gospel According to Emma, Old Man Hawkeye - Volume 2: The Whole World Blind, The Punisher - Volume 1: World War Frank, West Coast Avengers - Volume 1: Best Coast

d. emerson eddy would do anything for a Klondike bar, but he won’t do that.

[milomeepit]

Virgil’s Birthday

Prompt: So headcannon where the sides are all talking about special dates ((birthdays, anniversaries, etc)) and Patton goes, “Hey, Virge, when’s your birthday?” and he gets all quiet before just saying it, and horror just fills their faces as they realize it was forgotten a week ago https://chemically-imbalanced-romance.tumblr.com/post/168974544071/so-headcannon-where-the-sides-are-all-talking

Relationships: Platonic LAMP (Maybe Analogical at the end if you squint?)

Tag List: (I think I got everyone? Sorry if I missed anyone who wants to be in my tag list!) (I also tagged everyone I could in the notes of the original post, true to my word!) @istolelittleredshoodie @do-rey-me @chemically-imbalanced-romance @kittyboof8 @zoranzumrov @gay-space-rain @koalamuffins @pinknachoobject @realityisnt-real @minimandy1256 @vixyrules @torito-sakka @liberalautisticnerd831 @linnamonroll-too-good-too-pure @the-king-of-lemons @c-a-l-m-sanders @texastwo22 @shy---anon @themeddlinggirl @lynisnotamused @ohmyfuckingchrist @allaboutme7 @thomas-the-smol-gay-bean @pieces-of-annedrew @shyrinhabits @undertakershairline @nicky-nix @jinxgolden5 @i-support-angsty-virgil @maximusgayimus @cringey-username @nicole-is-online @theangelsoars @keeshy-ekho @failureofaesthetics @thepusheenqueen @captainmcfluffin @ananipurlue @hello-my-fandoms @justarandompersonwithadream @space-princey @sanders-trash-4ever @thelogicalloganipus @lovelylogans @baguettes-save-lives @waste-of-space-666 @lucyheartfilia123  @thatsthat24@issocoldiminfuckingnarnia @sunshine-hal @madd-catter @all-da-fandoms @devilessyeet @thebrokennightmare @fortunebooks @pyromaniacphoenix @leesacrakon @sos-fandoms @ireblogstuff-andineedalife @the-answer-is-juice-or-murder @novagalaxy4real @bennidoesart @sandersfanders @midnightcandy @mantha-has-fallen @awkward-avocado-of-death @softpretzel13 @angsty-sandersides @j-ust-l-ive @roliza @nyxwordsmith @persiphonec @ai-logical @cecil-the-scientist-catcher @im-bad-at-life @littleoptimistme @spoonfullofcrofters @markiptefangirl2017 @blade-the-demon-fangirl @11wolfpup11 @nyifmet @galaxypankitty3030​ @seas-space-and-stardust​ @otto192​ @enchantingdefendorperson​ @deathshadowrules​ @iaminmultiplefandoms​ @superwaywardangel​ @cheapwiltedroses​ @tree4life25​ @fsm-c-sher​ @that-purple-snazzy-dragon​ @super-confetti-cannon​ @future-watcher​ @anotherspnfangirl​ @passionateaboutponies​ 

Patton stretched up on his tiptoes, trying to reach up to the top of the window. He huffed in frustration and strained to hang the end of the banner on the hook attached to the wall. What he wouldn’t give to have the extra six inches to be Virgil’s height. “Roman?” He called, half-turning towards the kitchen.

“You need some assistance there?” Roman grinned as he meandered over.

Patton pouted. “I can’t reach. Can you get a ladder or something?”

“Psh, I can do better than that!” Roman proclaimed. He swooped forwards, wrapping his arms around Patton’s waist and lifting him up.

Patton squeaked in surprise, then quickly hooked the banner onto the wall. “There!”

Roman set him down and nodded. “It looks good!”

Virgil glanced up from his spot on the couch. HAPPY MEW YEAR! the banner read. Cartoon cats with party hats were on either end, and he chuckled at the pun. “Nice one, Patton.”

“Indeed, it shall suffice for the celebration,” Logan agreed. He sat at the kitchen table, carefully drawing out a schedule for the new year. Papers, rulers, and pencils littered the surface around him.

“Yaaaaay!” Patton grinned, clasping his hands together and bouncing up and down excitedly.

“So, what’s on the agenda for 2018 so far, Specs?” Roman asked, coming up behind Logan and clapping a hand on his shoulder.

Logan jumped at the sudden touch, frowning up at Roman. “Well, first of all, we need to work out resolutions-”

“Because that went so well last year,” Virgil said dryly.

Logan cleared his throat and continued. “Then of course, there’s Patton’s birthday, Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day, your birthday, Independence Day, Labour Day, Halloween, my birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Now, naturally, I believe we should be focusing on staying organised in the new ye-”

“Wait!” Patton interrupted, shooting over the the couch and flopping down next to Virgil. “You forgot Virgil’s birthday!”

Logan blinked, looking closer at his schedule, and frowned again. “... I have indeed. My sincere apologies, Virgil. I’ll add it immediately.”

Virgil sighed, cupping the back of his neck. “N-nah, it’s fine, guys. Don’t worry.”

“C’mon, Gloom N’ Doom, we couldn’t forget about you!” Roman insisted.  

“Virgil, what’s your birthday, kiddo?” Patton smiled at him.

“It’s, uh...” Virgil licked his lips, nervous. “My birthday’s December 19th.”

The room went silent for a few seconds, and he regretted saying anything. He closed his eyes, curling up tight. There he went again, spoiling the mood. God, couldn’t he keep his mouth shut-

“We missed your birthday?” Patton whispered, horror clear in his voice as he gently touched Virgil’s shoulder.

“It’s fine, guys, don’t worry about it,” He murmured dismissively, unable to meet Patton’s eyes.

“It most certainly is not fine!” Roman shook his head. “Virgil, we are very sorry-”

“It’s fine,” Virgil snapped, shaking off Patton’s hand and standing. “Just drop it, okay?” He took a deep breath and shook his head. “... I’m going to bed.”

“It’s 4pm,” Logan glanced at his watch.

“I’m tired.” Without another word, Virgil disappeared up the three steps leading from the common area into the hallway.

“... Uh oh,” Roman sighed.

“Oh nooooooooo, we have to do something, guys!” Patton rushed over, grabbing onto Roman’s sleeve.

“Absolutely.” Logan agreed. “The only question is what? We clearly wouldn’t want to overwhelm him if he’s already not feeling great about it.”

“Buuut, it needs to be something special. Something... that just screams Virgil...” Roman mused.

“I’m gonna start making a cake!” Patton announced, sprinting to the kitchen. “Do you guys think chocolate would be good? Oooh, maybe devil’s food. Or black forest?”

“I think I remember Virgil saying he liked cherries,” Logan replied, setting aside the schedule and pulling up another piece of lined paper. “Roman, can you help me brainstorm some movies that Virgil might like?”

“Top of the list, Black Cauldron. Hmm...” Roman tapped on his chin. “The Hunchback of Notre Dame might be good as well. Return to Oz, perhaps?”

“All those suggestions sound really good!” Patton grinned. “How about Fantasia?”

“Fantasia? For Virgil?” Roman didn’t sound convinced.

“Well, sure! He likes music a lot. The animation is gorgeous. It’s right up his alley!” Patton explained.

“True, true... I’ll write it down,” Logan nodded.

Meanwhile, as the three older Sides talked, Virgil was pacing back and forth in his room. Good job, dumbass, you upset them all. God, why do you even bother? It’s not worth it anyway. You’re not worth it. Even if they did do something, you would have said or done the wrong thing.

His hands nervously raked through his hair.

You’re just fucking everything up again. They’re gonna hate you for not wanting to participate.

His fingers tightened into fists, pulling at the roots of his hair.

theyhateyoutheyhateyoutheyhateyoutheyhateyou

He sunk down into his bean bag, shaking. He tried to focus on his breathing. He could see the danger signs, see that he was standing right on the edge of a meltdown. The air was thick and heavy, hard to heave into his burning lungs. He couldn’t. Not right now. He couldn’t call the others to help. He couldn’t do it right now.

hecouldntcouldntcouldntcantdoanythingcantevensuffocateright

He shuddered, lurching forward off of the bean bag and crawling towards his bed. He snatched the Eeyore plush off of his bed- a gift from Patton- and clung to it desperately.

See, Patton gave me this, Patton cares, they care. They care. They care. He repeated to himself silently as tears began to roll down his cheeks.

He didn’t know how long he sat there, curled awkwardly on the ground, silently crying until his eyes seemed to run dry. Minutes? Hours? Time seemed static, unchanging, within his little bubble of misery.

Well, aside from the sun going down outside his window, but that was an illusion anyway.

A soft knock on the door shook him out of his blank trance. He leapt to his feet, scrubbing at his face quickly with his hands. “Yeah, what is it?” He called, doing his best to sound nonchalant.

“Hey, there, buddy...!” Roman’s voice was cheery, suspiciously so.

“... Can I help you, Princey?” Virgil rolled his eyes, gently setting Eeyore down on the bed before he trudged over to the door. He stood before it with his arms crossed, not yet opening it.

“So, Logan wanted some help with planning the next few videos and he wanted to see if you had any input?”

Virgil stiffened. Of course. Even after earlier, a small part of him had been quietly hoping that they would ignore him, make a big deal out of it, do something special. He viciously crushed the thought. He had told them to drop it, they had. He should be happy they did as he asked.

Not that they understand what you want because you never fucking talk to anyone.

idiotidiotidiotidiotidiotidiotidiot

“Y-yeah, sure. I’ll be out there in a sec.” He replied, glancing at himself in the mirror and frowning. His eyeshadow was smudged to hell and back.

“Excellent!” There was a pause. “Out of curiosity, do you like cherries?”

Huh? “I mean, they’re okay, I guess.” Virgil shrugged as he began to clean up his face. “Why? We doing a fruit video or something?”

“Yeah, something like that. Just curious.”

Virgil set down his makeup, then opened the door. Roman was leaning against the wall across the hall, a thoughtful look on his face. “Gee, you almost look like you have a brain,” Virgil said sarcastically.

“Surprisingly, it does exist,” Roman laughed.

Virgil snickered. “You’re a dork, you know that?”

“And proud of it!” Roman extended a hand and grinned. “Virgil, do you trust me?”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “I mean, you asking honestly or...?”

“Shut up and close your eyes, Mr Secretary of Nagriculture.” Roman grabbed his hand. “I promise not to trip you up.”

“Oh gee,” Virgil snorted, closing his eyes, “I feel safer already.”

Roman led him down the hallway, dodging around the pot plant next to Patton’s door. “Okay, gonna stop just before the stairs, alright?”

“Sure?” Virgil frowned.

He heard hushed whispers, a giggle from Patton, and Logan sighing. He strained, trying to hear what they were saying.

“Are you ready, Virgil?” Patton asked, suddenly much closer to him.

He jumped slightly. “Uh... yes?”

“Open your eyes and come on in, then!”

Virgil cracked open his eyes and took a step forward, onto the middle stair.

He was suddenly assaulted by party horns, confetti, and a spray of silly string onto his chest. He yelped and jumped, losing his balance. His foot slipped off the stair and he landed with a thump on the wooden floor.

“Oh, gosh, are you okay?” Patton tossed his party horn to the side, kneeling down next to Virgil.

Virgil looked around the room, speechless. Black, purple, and grey streamers were hung from the ceiling, draping down like cobwebs. A dark purple tablecloth had been thrown over the dining table, where a large purple and black iced cake sat. Even from his spot on the floor, he could see the dark glazed cherries in a ring on the top. Balloons bobbed up from each chair, with more tied to weights dotted around the edge of the room.

What caught his attention most, however, was the large, bright banner hanging across the top of the window. Happy Birthday, Kiddo! It read in bold, colourful writing, with his purple stormcloud on each end.

“Patton... your banner. You worked so hard to hang that up,” He mumbled.

“Oh, shucks, I can hang that up again with some help!” Patton waved a hand, laughing.

“I...” Virgil put a hand over his mouth, unable to say anything else. Tears pricked at his eyes.

Oh great yes go on cry theyll just think youre even more pathetic go on virgil start up the pity party thats all this anyway they just feel sorry for your stupid ass youre so needy

“Virgil, are you alright?” Logan asked, stepping closer, concern etched into his face.

Virgil opened his mouth, his hand still loosely touching his face, but nothing came out. The tears began to overflow from his eyes. They rolled down his cheeks, fat and hot, and he choked out a sob.

Roman threw his can of silly string over his shoulder and dropped to his knees in front of Virgil, expression worried. “Hey, hey...” He said soothingly, taking Virgil’s free hand and squeezing it gently.

Logan sat on his other side. “What’s wrong, Virgil?” He asked, his voice soft.

Virgil sniffled, waving his hand at the decorations, the cake, everything. “I-I don’t...” He struggled, swallowing another sob. “I don’t deserve any-any of this...”

Patton’s eyes started welling up. “Vir-gil!” He exclaimed with a huge smile. “Of course you do! You are perfect and special and wonderful!” He threw his arms around Virgil’s shoulders, almost knocking the featherweight Side onto his back.

“Indeed you are. There’s nobody else than all three of you who I would want by my side in life’s great adventures!” Roman proclaimed grandly, beaming at him.

Logan paused for a few seconds before speaking. “You’re vital. Both to Thomas’ functioning... and to us. We wouldn’t be... us without you.” He said slowly. “We... love you, Virgil.” He laid a hand on Virgil’s shoulder.

theydontmeanittheyhateyou

Virgil sniffled again, ignoring the voice in his head for the first time that day. He had solid proof. The lingering smell of baked goods. Patton’s hug, his glasses pressed awkwardly against Virgil’s cheek. Roman’s grip on his hand, warm and solid and soft and comforting. Logan’s gentle, subtle, touch, soothing in it’s own way.

“I-I love you guys, too.” He smiled.

[dsknsk]

Sanders Sides Major Arcana

So I made an entire Major Arcana today, themed around Sanders Sides. I made a Minor Arcana first, because I am using (and deriving some things) from the Geneverse Tarot on which I based a lot of cards. It was the first time I drew Talyn, Joan, Valerie and Dahlia too! 

@thatsthat24

@tallykat3

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@randomslasher

@thebaagelboy

@gingermachiatto

@thelilkiwibird

0 - The Fool

I pictured Thomas in this card. He’s walking with his eyes closed, but he doesn’t see he’s at a very dangerous cliff. His jewel (right there next to his neck) is white, signifying he’s a beginner. This card is numero 0 in almost every deck; (in some it is 22) and it is a card of purity, innocence and not knowing much in general. But instead of it being pictured as something dumb (like the title suggests) it is put as being a blank slate.

Music - With Pearly (reminds me of the innocence of the Fool)

I - The Magician/Bateleur/Mountebank

Logan is pictured on this card. Instead of a wand, a cup, a pentacle and a sword he is holding up the alchemistic symbols in his hands (from left to right: Fire, Air, Earth and Water). He is walking, as these things are always moving in infinity (the symbol he is standing on). The earth behind him does not have any vegetation - yet. 

Music - Rustless Fall (Sounds simply magical and like it would belong in Portal)

II - The (High) Priestess/Papesse

I needed for the next two cards two female characters. Here’s Thomas’ friend Dahlia as the High Priestess. She sits between the two pillars of the old temple, named Boaz and Jachin. One of them is black with a white dot; the other is white with a black dot - this references Yin and Yang. Dahlia is sitting on a throne and the moon is on the throne and also on her outfit. Together with the fact I placed her also above a body of water, means that she is ruling over the subconscious. Dahlia holds a perchment in her hands and she is sitting in front of a curtain. The red spots are actually pomegranates (I can’t draw them), the fruit Persephone ate and She was doomed. 

Music - Sis Puella Magica (Light Instrumental Remix)

III - The Empress

I sketched this one last. I knew the Empress was going to be hard to pick someone for, especially since I picked Dahlia for the previous card. But I decided on drawing Valerie. She is sitting in (my approximation of) a forest, and she is holding a female sign in her hands. The Empress is strongly associated with female power, the Anima and mothership. 

Music - Darling Kanaya (A dead ringer for this card)

IV - The Emperor

Roman sitting on a throne in the mountains. In tarot, mountains are a usual male symbol (don’t ask me why). He is holding regalia in his hand and a wand - a traditional fire symbol. His throne mimicks the rays of the sun. He is sitting calmly and has a stern expression. This card is the opposite of the Empress - Male power, the father figure and authority. It is associated with Aries (Aradia) and since it is a Fire sign, I put Roman in here.

Music - Requiem of Sunshine and Rainbows

V - The Hierophant

Joan, with a key in hand and their other hand raised in benediction, sitting in front of Thomas (left) and Talyn (Right). A card of methods that are tried and still hold true, tradition and status quo, should be taken as a whisper of ‘Don’t do it now.’ to you when it comes to trying out new things. It is associated with Taurus (Tavros).

Music - Salv8tion (Repetitive and the voices gave me a church vibe)

VI - The Lovers

Joan once said they shipped themselves with Talyn and because I’m not a shipper when it comes to Sanders Sides (when it comes to things other than that...they are...different so to speak) has this card has Talyn and Joan. Talyn’s more busy staring at their phone than watching Joan, but has one arm around Joan’s leg to keep them grounded. Talyn is holding Joan, who is pointing at the sky - a representation of the journey from the conscious mind, to the subconscious to the superconscious. This card is not only about love, but also about harmony, unity and - often - choice. The tree in the background is to recall a little from the Raider - White card. It is associated with Gemini (Sollux).

Music - Lilith in Starlight (two-sided waltz; picks up in rhythm in the middle part to return to a waltz rhythm at the end)

VII - The Chariot

Virgil isn’t the first Side you’d think of if you know what the Chariot entails: victory, motion, willpower. However, since this card is associated with Cancer (Karkat) and it is a Water Sign, I put in Virgil. The stars represent the celestial forces at work. Have a rare smiling Virgil - but it is no happy smile, it is a ‘Get out of my way’ smile. He is not making his way by rough power, but with powers from his mind, as you can see at his hands.

Music - Orange Hat/Breakdown (Badass fighting theme)

VIII - Justice/Adjustment

I know you’re just dying to see Strength in the place where I put Justice. Before you yell at me - I have two reasons for doing this.

1. Justice was card 8 before Aleister Crowley made a change; 

2. I am a huge fan of the series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which has a lot of Tarot symbology in it and it features heavy themes of Justice (albeit reversed) in episode 8.

Alright, Justice. It’s the card of the concept of Karma. Patton is blindfolded much like the actual Lady Justice. He is holding a scale weighting the Feather of Truth and a heart. Egyptian mythology says your heart is weighted with the Feather of Truth to decide where you go. In his other hand, he is holding a yellow sword with purple inscriptions in it, which is the symbol for Air. Also, what are backgrounds. It is associated with Libra (Terezi) and because it is an Air sign, have a Patton.

Music - Delta Divination (Fluctuating, as if deciding a verdict)

IX - The Hermit

Let me tell you a thing. I planned Logan for this card even before remembering it is associated with Virgo (Kanaya) which is an Earth Sign. This card represents solitude, meditating and a quiet moment before getting back on track and kicking a few asses. Logan is clothed in a covering robe here, suggesting invisibility.

Music - Darkened Streets (Picture yourself in a cave when listening to this)

X - The Wheel of Fortune/Chance

Named ‘Chance’ for brevity and also to mimick the Geneverse tarot card, this card was also a bitch to make. Why does it have to have so much to draw on it? This translated to all four Sides. Virgil as the one who rests at the depth, Roman as the one who always strifes to get higher. Logan and Patton rotate between them. This card is a card of, you know, Chance, but also inevitable fate and changing things. Oh, and cycles. That too.

Music - Puella in Somnio (Listen to it. It goes on. Forever repeating.)

XI - Strength/Lust

Strength, the card you’ve been waiting for when you were staring at card 8 instead. This card was a little hard. The beast, or often lion, represents inner animalistic tendecies everyone has. And because I cannot draw lions, I needed a substitute - and it became Roman. It is associated with my Sign, Leo (Nepeta), which is a Fire Sign so it needed to have Roman in it anyway. The Side of Thomas’ Ego and masculinity. He stands in front of Patton, sword drawn but he does not attack him. Patton is standing there, showing no signs of panic, and is simply holding up his hand closest to Roman, as in to say ‘Stop, no further’ but also ‘Okay, stay there.’ as in a calm way. 

Music - Oolongcat (A calm track, as the titular strength is no physical strength)

XII - The Hanged Man

Thomas is hanging upside down, his hair is being ruined and all the blood’s streaming to his head. That can’t be healthy. Yet he is completely calm. He is tied on a tree with a red rope symbolizing human desire, and because his other leg is tucked behind it, he makes a reverse ‘4′. His jewelry (Tiara, hanger and the thing he wears on his chest) is on the ground, as they probably won’t stay on when hanging on this card symbolizing self-sacrifice, martyrdom with a cause and change.

Music - Clementia (as to symbolize the calmness he invokes and because it’s the theme of another character associated with this card)

XII - Death

A misunderstood card. This card is representative of a crisis and a large change. Keep in mind: This card in a reading has a 50% of being good if upright in my view. Anyway, Virgil in a yellow bed of red and blue roses. At the bottom two Red Spider Lilies (Lycoris Radiata) grow, as a symbol of seperation, death and meetings that don’t happen again. Virgil is dead in this image and that is why his skin tone is so light, for anyone who has never seen a dead person. It is associated with Scorpio (Vriska) which is a Water Sign, and it’s a coincidence that Virgil is on this card, because I was mainly inspired by the other Virgil tarot card.

Music - Serena Ira (which means ‘Calm Rage’, this music fits the image more than the meaning though)

XIV - Temperance

Talyn was perfect to convey this card, mainly because they’re nonbinary - the angel on the original card was too, as a balance between the genders. That’s because balance is all this card is about - peace and reunion. Talyn is standing with one foot in the water, and one foot at the ground, as if they are testing the water. A triangle box symbol can be seen behind Talyn. It represents them being protected by natural law. And as an extra - the water is actually flowing from bottom to top - as a subconscious mind to a superconscious. It is associated with Sagittarius (Equius). 

Music - Calming Quartz (Which I usually associate with Virgil, by the way)

XV - The Devil

Deceit (who was another dead-ringer for this card), together with Roman and Patton who are bound. Their binds to Deceit are not physical, but mental (they’re mind-controlled if the Crocker tier eyes and fucked up color scheme could not tell you). This card is the ultimate Dark Side card. It is a representation of our addiction to things and being bound. This card is also a symbol of materialism. It is associated with Capricorn (Gamzee).

Music - Purple Bard/Paradox Remnant (Which I also regard as a theme for the Dark Sides as a whole)

XVI - The Tower

I honestly had no idea who to choose. It became Logan. He is an onlooker in regards to the small tower that is burning. Next to the fire there are two glass shards, which suggests that he burned the tower, using the sun’s rays. He is sitting there calmly. Clearly, he is okay with being on this card that represents disaster and sudden changes, but also chances for starting anew.

Music - Cor Destuctum (’Heart of Destruction’ or ‘Broken Heart’)

XVII - The Star

After the destruction of the tower and everything went down (literally), we see Patton calmly pouring water in a starry sky. The seven stars represent your Chakra’s. This card is a card of hope, rejuvenation and peace. It is associated with Aquarius (Eridan) which is an Air Sign, so here is another Patton.

Music - Desiderium (Signifying the tiny bit of hope left after destruction)

XVIII - The Moon

Virgil and Roman were my last dead-ringers I had. Mainly because this card is representative of mystery, secrets and - you won’t believe me - Anxiety. Virgil is standing half in a pond, half on the ground. He smiles mischievously and the hand also seems to say: ‘Be silent, you’re in my territory now’. His other hand is behind his back, as if he is holding something we are not allowed to know. There is a portal around Virgil, which seems to be leading to a pathway.

Music - Another Episode (Which sounds more magical than anxious)

XIX - The Sun

Roman posing with a sword. Everything is bright, and he is ready for whatever comes. This card is a card of positivity, joy and innocence. While Roman does not really embody the last thing, but he does embody several of the things this card is also associated with, which is passion. 

Music - Salvae, Terrae Magicae (This really does not need an explanation)

XX - Judgement/Aeon

This card is called the Aeon in here in order to align up the Geneverse Tarot. This was another hard one since it is a card of the final battle, getting up one last time, the final push and I had no idea who to picture as the angel who awakes the dead. I decided to go for Virgil as I just wanted to have drawn a winged Virgil. 

Music - Rust Servant/Handmaid of Death (You can see why I chose this - violence warning though)

XXI - The World

This is the card of ‘it’s finally done’. Getting your reward - you earned more than enough. Clockwise, this image shows Virgil, Patton, Logan and Roman’s hands. 

Music - Sagitta Luminis

[hecvenslight-blog]

thrýlos (legend)

i. ATALANTA was an Arkadian heroine--a huntress and a favourite of the goddess Artemis. She was exposed by her father at birth in the wilds but was suckled by a she-bear and afterwards found and raised by hunters.

ii. Atalanta swore to defend her virginity and when two Kentauroi (Centaurs) burst into her grove, she slew them with arrows. She later took part in the voyage of the Argonauts and defeated the hero Peleus in wrestling at the funeral games of King Pelias.

iii. When King Oineus (Oeneus) summoned heroes to destroy the Kalydonian (Calydonian) Boar, Atalanta answered the call and was the first to draw blood. Meleagros (Meleager) awarded her the prize of the skin but his uncles protested and tried to take it from her by force. The hero slew them for the affront.

iv. Atalanta was eventually reunited with her father Skhoineus (Schoeneus) who insisted that she wed. The heroine reluctantly agreed insisting that a suitor must defeat her in a race and that the losers be put to death. Melanion--or Hippomenes--however, sought the help of the goddess Aphrodite who provided him with three golden apples to cast before the girl in the race. When Atalanta stooped to retrieve these, she was slowed enough to allow the hero to emerge victorious. Their marriage was a short-lived one, for Hippomenes neglected to pay Aphrodite her dues. She cursed him and he was compelled to lie with his wife in the sacred precinct of Zeus, Rhea or Artemis where an offended deity transformed them into lions.

v. Atalanta's name was derived from the Greek word atalantos meaning "equal in weight"--perhaps a reference to her success in various contests with men.

source for atalante’s lore.

i. Maria was born and raised onboard the Space Colony ARK. Before she could visit earth, however, she contracted Neuro-Immuno Deficiency Synfrome, an incurable and inevitably fatal disease. Due of her illness, which left her frail and weak, Maria needed constant attention, so she could not leave the ARK's hospital, leaving her confined in space. Despite getting medical help though, Maria only grew weaker over time. While looking down at the earth from the ARK, Maria developed an interest in it and longed to go there.

ii. Onboard the ARK, Maria was looked after and cared for by her grandfather, Gerald Robotnik. Maria came to mean everything to Gerald, and the two of them would work and live together onboard the ARK. Maria also befriended a young Commander, whom she would play with.

iii.In an attempt to save Maria's life, Gerald agreed to work on Project Shadow, a medical project for creating an immortal life form, in hopes that he could make a cure for Maria's illness with the creature they sought to make. Gerald's research eventually led to the creation of Shadow the Hedgehog, who Maria befriended and grew very close to. While raised together, Maria remained by Shadow's side and they would spend their time together gazing down upon the earth, wondering what it was like and wishing to go there.

iv. When the Artificial Chaos went on a rampage onboard the Space Colony ARK, Maria sought out Shadow to help save the ARK. Shadow complied to Maria's wishes and the Artificial Chaos crisis was soon after averted. At some point, Maria joined Gerald when he was making a contingency video for Shadow to tell him about how he was meant to defeat the Black Arms, where Maria promised to help Shadow protect the world alongside him.

 v. Some time after the completion of Project Shadow, Maria's peaceful existence was shattered when GUN attacked the ARK to eliminate everything and everyone related to the project, as they had come to believe that Project Shadow was too dangerous. Meeting up with her grandfather during the attack, Maria was entrusted with Shadow by Gerald, who told her to escape the ARK with Shadow. While Gerald distracted GUN, Maria and Shadow tried to escape the raid, but Maria was unwilling to leave the other researchers in the captivity of GUN and pleaded Shadow to help them. After Shadow had made his decision, they continued onward, but were attacked by a Heavy Dog which Shadow defeated.

vi. Eventually, Maria and Shadow got to the ARK's escape pods. There, Maria saved Shadow by initiating his escape pod's launch with him in it, but was mortally wounded by a GUN Soldier's gunshot in the process. With her last strength, Maria pleaded to Shadow to protect the world for her sake and give everyone a chance to be happy, just as he was jettisoned from the ARK. As Maria perished, her parting words were "Bring hope to humanity."

vii. Maria's death was an event that deeply struck those close to her and would have a strong influence in several conflicts that would determine the fate of the world. Shadow, who witnessed Maria's death first-handed, was traumatized by this sight and came to loathe humanity for what they did. The Commander also suffered a deep loss which made him develop a life-long grudge at both Gerald and Shadow for inadvertently killing her. However, none was more affected by Maria's death than her grandfather, Gerald, who went mad with grief and made a plan to destroy the world to avenge her. Before he went insane though, Gerald made Maria's last words the keywords that would activate Emerl's free-willed emotions-based AI.

viii. Maria's last request for Shadow to protect the world and its people would be a driving force in the hedgehog's life, which Shadow made the promise to keep despite his loathing of humanity. When Shadow was reawaken nearly fifty years later though, his subsequent actions were motivated by avenging Maria's death (due to Gerald manipulating his memories) by destroying the human race. It was not until the eleventh hour that Shadow remembered Maria's dying wish, and he aided Sonic the Hedgehog and his allies in stopping the very plan he had set into motion, seemingly sacrificing his life in the process. Shadow survived his ordeal only to lose his memories, with the exception of a disturbing image of Maria being shot. When the Black Arms invaded and set Shadow out to rediscover his purpose, Black Doom would use Maria's demise at the hands of the humans to sway Shadow to his side. Fortunately, Shadow learned of his true purpose from a final video message from Maria and Gerald, which gave him the motivation needed to obliterate the Black Arms.

 source for maria robotnik’s lore.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 11 June 2018

Quick Bits:

30 Days of Night #6 concludes this retelling of the original 30 Days of Night story. The art from Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson has been great, but as the series has progressed, I’ve increasingly been wondering what’s the point? While there have been minor differences, this essentially amounts to the same story extended out further. Personally, the decompression doesn’t add a lot for me.

| Published by IDW

A Walk Through Hell #2 continues this weird and creepy horror story, with Garth Ennis, Goran Sudžuka, and Ive Svorcina giving us an ever present sense of dread with this story. It’s heavy. It’s dark. Ennis is dealing with some dark and depressing subject matter through politics, homophobia, and child sex trafficking and that’s just the backstory in the flashbacks. In the present, we get more terror and the appearance of one of Ennis’ favourite recurring story items. Also, the art is gorgeous.

| Published by AfterShock

Analog #3 takes a bit of a detour following up on Oona’s night out and the ramifications of it. I really like how Gerry Duggan and David O’Sullivan are teasing out this story, giving us glimpses into Jack’s character and supporting cast, making us really care about them and their predicaments, even while his job and being snatched by the government continue to simmer.

| Published by Image

Animosity: Evolution #6 begins the next stage in this story, as Adam continues to search down what exactly happened in the death of most of the lex animata. I love the mix of politics and thriller that Marguerite Bennett is throwing at us with this series.

| Published by AfterShock

Astonisher #8 kicks things into high gear as we approach the end of this arc. We get some impressive action sequences from Al Barrionuevo in the second half of this book, as Magnus begins to enact his plan to stop his brother’s nefarious plans and save his girlfriend from the clutches of Dr. Saperstein.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Babyteeth #11 nicely plays with conventions as Sadie trains to enter the hell dimension of the Red Realm to rescue Clark. In a typical action/horror story the hero trains and finds herself ridiculously good at everything, Donny Cates doesn’t play it like that. It’s kind of hilarious. Also, Gerry Brown shows off some impressive hellscapes as we get a little more information on the Red Realm.

| Published by AfterShock

The Ballad of Sang #4 takes an interesting turn as we focus on the Dandies capture of Sang and Lucy trying to talk some sense into the Black-Eyed Betties. This series has been over-the-top violence and fun, this issue is no different.

| Published by Oni Press

Betrothed #4 sees the crap hit the proverbial fan as the betrayal of Kieron and Tamara lies out in the open and everything goes to hell pretty fast. The action from Steve Uy is particularly nice.

| Published by AfterShock

Bloodshot Salvation #10 takes us almost in sync to when the series began, giving us a look at why Magic and Jessie were on the run, and what Ray was doing in 4002. It’s interesting how Jeff Lemire has been using time in this series.

| Published by Valiant

Bloodstrike #0 is an oddity, beginning the “Brutalists” arc that runs through this issue and then the two missing issue numbers from the original ‘90s series, #23 & #24. I’m not exactly the target market for this, as I have no real affinity towards Bloodstrike, but this is still interesting. Michael Fiffe is presenting a kind of origin story here, so you needn’t worry about having read any Bloodstrike before, but what makes it stand out is Fiffe’s approach to the artwork and storytelling. It looks and feels like an indie book out of the ‘80s, the offbeat and highly violent stuff that was out there and it has a nice appeal about it.

| Published by Image

By Night #1 is a fun debut issue, featuring all of the charm and humour that John Allison brings to Giant Days, plus some great art from Christine Larsen and Sarah Stern.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

Coda #2 is every bit as good as the first issue, possibly even better, as Hum finds himself the prisoner of an old wizard with dementia and his doting daughter. I loved Matías Bergara’s art in Cannibal, but the art here, with Michael Doig, is incredible. Bergara makes it look like he was born to draw this kind of weird fantasy.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

The Damned #10 begins “Daughter’s Danse”, with Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt kicking off Maura’s scheming. It adds another wrinkle to the already complex mess of the series’ crime drama.

| Published by Oni Press

The Dead Hand #3 keeps this thriller chugging along, with a new obstacle in an obstinate MI-6 agent trying to find his missing friend. The missing friend who, last issue, was murdered after stumbling upon the series’ mysterious test city in Russia. Some particularly nice action sequences from Stephen Mooney and Jordie Bellaire this issue, great layouts and use of colour washes.

| Published by Image

Deadpool: Assassin #1 reunites Cullen Bunn with another Deadpool mini-series, this time with some impressive art from Mark Bagley, John Dell, and Edgar Delgado in tow. Bunn writes some good Deadpool.

| Published by Marvel

Death of Love #5 ends this series in an unexpected way. Sure, some people are likely to be angry about it, but when you think about it, and read Justin Jordan’s missive in the backmatter, it makes sense. Dudebro Eros is also pretty funny. Good art from Donal DeLay and Omar Estévez.

| Published by Image

Dejah Thoris #5 is a bittersweet end to this first arc, with Dejah finding Ephysium and the source of the waters of Mars. Amy Chu and Pasquale Qualano are largely playing this as straight-forward adventures and it certainly works as that.

| Published by Dynamite

Domino #3 begins to give us some flashbacks to Neena’s childhood. I’m somewhat reticent when characters who bank on a mysterious past start to have their backstories filled in, but I trust what Gail Simone is doing here.

| Published by Marvel

Dry County #4 goes into the expected territory of an amateur detective’s professional (and personal) life suffering due to obsession with a case. Despite being expected, it’s still highly entertaining.

| Published by Image

Hunt for Wolverine: Adamantium Agenda #2 continues this bunch of New Avengers members search for Wolverine. It’s still one of the groups investigating that makes the most amount of sense, and the picture of what’s going on here comes even more into focus with a couple of other character reveals. Good stuff from Tom Taylor, RB Silva, Adriano di Benedetto, and Guru-eFX.

| Published by Marvel

Kick-Ass #5 shows again how easy it is to get in over your head when doing the wrong thing and addicted to the cheap, “easy” fix. Then everything goes to hell. Definitely like what Mark Millar, John Romita, Jr., and Peter Steigerwald have been doing with this story.

| Published by Image

The Magic Order #1 is an interesting start to this first series borne of Millarworld’s sale to Netflix. The art from Olivier Coipel and Dave Stewart is suitably gorgeous, with some really nice designs for the villain and one of the tricks to take the family off the board.

| Published by Image

Marvel Two-in-One Annual #1 is possibly one of the best things that Chip Zdarsky has written. This is an excellent character study in Doom, wrapped in revelations of bits of Victor’s past, the end to Secret Wars, and more. All with gorgeous art from Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire.

| Published by Marvel

Nancy Drew #1 is a great first issue, presenting the kind of fun and exciting, beautifully illustrated mystery adventure that I’m used to seeing mostly from Boom these days. Kelly Thompson, Jenn St.-Onge, and Triona Farrell pack a lot into the initial salvo, giving us a conclusion to a goat-napping adventure, before propelling us into a personal crisis for Nancy Drew, while delivering a fairly large supporting cast. It’s fun and the art is wonderful.

| Published by Dynamite

New Mutants: Dead Souls #4 has the X-Men of all sorts coming together for Rictor’s funeral. Matthew Rosenberg and Adam Gorham put Magik through the wringer as she tries to deal with the loss and the burdens of leadership. Then the other shoe drops.

| Published by Marvel

Oblivion Song #4 has a lot of quiet moments, allowing for Lorenzo de Felici and Annalisa Leoni to really show off their chops.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Old Man Logan #41 begins another two-parter. I like how Ed Brisson is structuring these arcs, contributing pieces to the larger whole of the elder Logan’s story of his diminished healing factor, while telling discrete, entertaining stories in their own right. Also, some really nice art here from Francesco Manna and Carlos Lopez.

| Published by Marvel

Port of Earth #6 foreshadows something horrible happening at the port, as the introductory interview starts diving further into potential problems with one of the agents, looking for what looks like a target for blame. I like how Zack Kaplan is setting this up, even if the story does move relatively slowly in execution.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Proxima Centauri #1 is some very weird sci-fi. It’s being done by Farel Dalrymple, so it should come as no surprise that there are odd visuals, strange characters, and bizarre occurrences, just as it’s rather entertaining and beautiful to look at.

| Published by Image

The Punisher #226 pivots Frank’s direction a bit to attacking Hydra. Matthew Rosenberg is layering a lot of humour into the script and it’s working very well.

| Published by Marvel

Quicksilver: No Surrender #2 continues what is an excellent character study of Quicksilver. I would argue that Pietro’s characterization of himself is a little too favourable, but don’t we always cast ourselves in a better light than we often are? Great work from Saladin Ahmed, Eric Nguyen, Rico Renzi, and Chris Brunner.

| Published by Marvel

Stellar #1 sees the return of another creation from Robert Kirkman and Marc Silvestri’s turn at Top Cow’s Pilot Season back in 2009/2010 after Demonic in 2016. You don’t need to have read the original one-shot to follow this. Joe Keatinge and Bret Blevins handle the creative and this is, well...stellar. Blevins’ artwork is amazing, with some truly breathtaking sci-fi imagery. This is a damn fine looking comic. The story of a reticent soldier trying to make amends for her horrible past is a common one, but it’s entertaining. Especially when you add the mix of possible unreliable memory and fuzzy reality. This looks like another winner for Skybound.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Thor #1 begins the third act in Jason Aaron’s epic run, turning towards the War of the Realms and the previously Unworthy Thor reclaiming his name and mantle. The various Thor series have been blessed with god-tier artists from Esad Ribić through Russell Dauterman, and this book continues that traditional with Mike del Mundo handling the main story and Christian Ward the back-up. Even if the story wasn’t exciting, with an added amount of humour that’s been missing for a bit as the last volume took a serious turn, the art alone would be worth the price of admission.

| Published by Marvel

Tomb Raider: Inferno #1 follows on from the story in the Survivor’s Crusade mini, with Lara travelling to Antarctica to discover the secret that Trinity is willing to kill to protect there. It’s nice to see Phillip Sevy doing more Tomb Raider artwork. If you like the games since the 2013 reboot, I largely consider these comics a must. 

| Published by Dark Horse

Transformers: Lost Light #18 continues this arc that, like its counterpart in Optimus Prime, is bringing all the chickens home to roost.

| Published by IDW

Venom #2 is just as excellent as the first issue, with Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, and Frank Martin building upon Eddie Brock’s legacy and adding new lore to the history of the symbiotes. Stegman is probably doing the best art of his career here, this book looks incredible.

| Published by Marvel

The Weatherman #1 is an interesting debut, bringing to mind to me some of the weird, offbeat, and humorous sci-fi like The Fifth Element. Jody LeHeup and Nathan Fox start this series off straight enough, with a future Mars mourning the loss of Earth, seemingly transfixed only by the “extreme” antics of the titular weatherman. It’s a weird premise, sure, but it’s entertaining, and gets even more so when the other shoe drops. Some really great art from Fox and Dave Stewart.

| Published by Image

Witchblade #6 sees Alex assemble her Scooby Gang to help investigate the kidnapping of her guardian demon, Asher. Caitlin Kittredge is doing a great job of building up the supporting cast, as well as giving us glimpses into Alex’s past. This continues to be one of Top Cow’s best looking books, with phenomenal art from Roberta Ingranata and Bryan Valenza.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Xena: Warrior Princess #5 brings the first arc of this series to a conclusion. The art from Vicente Cifuentes and Triona Farrell has been a real high point for the book and this issue is no different.

| Published by Dynamite

X-Men Blue #29 jumps ahead a bit, taking us past the original five’s return to Earth and the events of Venomized, to spotlight a transformed Jimmy Hudson on the run from the team. It’s a good follow-up to the Venom event so far with some very nice art from Nathan Stockman and Matt Milla.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Accell #11, Betty & Veronica: Vixens #7, Copperhead #19, DuckTales #9, Exiles #4, The Fix #12, Invader Zim #31, Kaijumax: Season 4 #1, Mage: The Hero Denied #9, Marvel Rising: Alpha #1, Mech Cadet Yu #9, Monstress #17, Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #305, Resident Alien: An Alien in New York #3, Rose #12, SHIELD #6, Spider-Man vs. Deadpool #34, Star Wars: Darth Vader #17, Star Wars: Thrawn #5, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #33, World of Tanks: Citadel #2

Recommended Collections: Babyteeth - Volume 2, The Beauty - Volume 4, Dakota North: Design for Dying, Defenders - Volume 2: Kingpins of New York, Invincible Iron Man - Volume 2: Choices, Rumble - Volume 4: Soul Without Pity, Slots - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy thinks it’s probably a bad idea to eat deep fried mozzarella sticks and marinara sauce at one in the morning, but is doing it anyway. Clearly, he’s a demented rebel just asking for a heart attack.