#and I had not read or even heard of Superman at this point

[bilboyagathechickenfootedhobbit]

My son has a whole ass other family. His Other Mother, from what I have pieced together, is as large as a planet, capable of anything, infinity years old, and really very nice. His Other Dad alternates between -5 years old and a thousand billion million years old, but he’s often dead as he seems to die quite often and is (presumably) resurrected by his giant magical omnipotent wife. He had 22 brothers but they all died in a house fire except for two who didn’t, but it’s okay, the other ones all came back to life, but then they died again. No sisters to speak of, but he has an Other Dog who is pretty much our dog without bad breath. Oh, and sometimes he has 15 children of his own that he teaches math to as a professor at college. No spouse mentioned, but he’s young yet.

Oh, and they all live in Ohio.

[pinkiemachine]

Hi! First off, I love your DC ideas!!! I was just wondering if you had seen the Green Lantern animated series and planned on doing anything with green lantern(s) in your DC stories?

He isn't even my favorite, I just love hearing your ideas and remember loving the show when I watched it last year. Again, love what you've come up with and drawn, hope you have a good day/night/whenever you read this!

*cracks knuckles*

Yes, I’ve recently heard that there’s a Green Lantern show in the works, and yes, I’ve been planning my own outline for a while now (however it sadly does not have as much framework as the rest of my BatFam or even Superman and Wonderman stuff.) BUT there are a few things to note purely based off the concept that I know are going to catch people off guard, so let’s jump into it!

First potentially controversial idea: Green Lanterns come in teams of four now! A squad, if you will. The team begins when Hal Jordon finds Abin Sur crash landed on Earth, and he inherits Abin’s ring. Hal is an ex-pilot for the Airforce, and while he mostly still enjoys being a test pilot for Ferris Air, he feels stuck in a rut and like he’s not really working toward anything—he’s got no mountain to climb, no dragon to slay, no big purpose for his life. So when the Lanterns come along, while he’s nervous at first, he eventually decides to give it a try. Before anything else, Hal is told about how the Lantern Rings work with the emotional spectrum. Each ring is equipped with an “emotion tracker” that registers your emotional wavelengths (anger, jealousy, fear, willpower, hope, compassion, love) and must all fall within exceptional margins before you’re considered ready for active duty. In this case, Willpower must be at a high level, and all the others must be at a constant mid-point range. (The idea being that if these levels go too high, you’re letting your emotions control you. If they’re too low, they’re being suppressed, and that’s not good either. Having them be somewhere in the middle, with Willpower as the dominant force, means you’re in touch with your emotions, but you have the will to control them and yourself.)

Now—the Green Lanterns are currently having trouble with another corps, the Red Lanterns, the ones responsible for Abin Sur’s death. So Hal is expected to find and form his unit of Green Lanterns as quickly as possible, so that they can be trained as quickly as possible, to join the fight as quickly as possible. No pressure. The first person he meets is John Stewart, an ex-marine who now works as an architect. He’s far more mature and level-headed than Hal, and it quickly becomes apparent that he’s more likely to receive the leader role for this squad from their superiors back on Oa. But John and Hal become good friends, so there’s no hard feelings.

The next person they find is Guy Gardner. Okay, that’s not entirely true, Guy found them. An impulsive, arrogant, loud-mouthed Army vet—the moment he learns about the Green Lanterns on Earth, he wants to know how he can get in on the action, and once he finds out that one of the prerequisites is you have to have a proclivity for strong willpower? He wants to know why he wasn’t considered first! So he’s a part of the team now. Because he said so. You might say he… WILLED it into existence! :D So now John has Hal and Guy to babysit.

Up next is their fourth member, Jessica Cruz. Jess was part of a special ops unit as a sniper, and one day she went on a mission with her team, and she was the only one who came back. She left the military shortly after, citing PTSD. She doesn’t like to talk about it. However, turns out that hiding away in a cabin in the woods trying to burry all your feelings isn’t always the best idea, because she soon finds herself attacked by a strange new creature calling itself “Paralax.” Our three Green Lanterns help her overcome this fear-feeding menace, and free Jessica from its hold, and she has a bit of a rude awakening moment. She thought she had been in such control of her feelings, but they were really controlling her. When the final lantern ring chooses her, she says she will think about it.

Now, here is the second potentially controversial change I’m making: Keli Quintella is a Blue Lantern! Come on, I think it’s high time some of the other lanterns got some love, wouldn’t you say? Besides, it’s only after she hijacks a lost Blue Lantern ring and uses it—without permission—and joins Earth’s Lantern Squad—without permission—that Jessica feels like she can finally accept her ring. It’s Keli that gives her hope that she can overcome her demons.

So now we have our team, and it’s time to go kick some Red Lantern patooties. Naturally, it doesn’t take long for the Yellow Lanterns to crawl back into existence after the Green Lanterns wiped them out a while back, and Hal’s rivalry with Sinestro, etc etc, but I’m still blocking everything out, because I do plan to incorporate Emerald Twilight and Blackest Night. Which means, yes, Kyle Rayner will be joining the team, but later on, after… well, I’ll just come out and say it. After Barry Allen’s death, Hal enters his villain phase in Emerald Twilight, trying to use all the willpower in the universe to bring Barry back, but it ends with Hal being stopped, kicked out of the Corps, and sentenced to life in prison on Oa. (Or, at least, that’s what I have in my first draft.) It’s during that whole mess that Kyle becomes a Green Lantern, and… yeah, it’s one chaotic time to be chosen, for sure. But there’s a reason he was chosen when he was, hehehehehe…

Anyhoo, there’s only one other character I’ve drawn so far, and that’s Star Saphire: I didn’t mean to draw her so small at first, but after it happened, I was like, “No wait, plenty of women are this short. Why not just make that one of her quirks? She’s got short person anger issues because people keep thinking she looks like a child.” lol. Of course, in a cartoon setting, some might start to make accusations, so maybe the idea won’t stand up to scrutiny, but I thought it would be cute. Anyway…

Now, not all of the lantern corps as we know them are in existence at the start of the show, because of reasons. Like, the GLs got rid of the Yellow Lanterns way back when. And then the Pink Lanterns and the Indigo Lanterns come into existence later too, and it’s all important because it’s leading up to a prophecy being fulfilled in Blackest Night. For the moment, though, I just want to classify each corps to make them more easy to understand as an organisation. So—

Red=Anger: Rogue Militia.

Orange=Jealousy: Lone Criminal.

Yellow=Fear: Terrorist Organisation.

Green=Willpower: Military/Police Force.

Blue=Hope: First Responders.

Indigo/Purple=Compassion: Church (sort of).

And then Pink=Love: …to be perfectly honest, I got nothing. Matchmaker service? XD You decide.

One final thing I forgot to mention: Yes, John gets appointed to be leader of the GL squad, due to his good performance record and his ability to wrangle the others. Hal, meanwhile, gets appointed to be their representative on the Justice League. I wanted to give both characters equal time to shine because I know they’re both fan favourites as lead GL characters, and this seemed like a good middle ground.

And I call this show: Green Lantern: Special Forces!

There are more story things, especially regarding Kyle, but this post is long enough already, so if you want more, just comment 💚 down below :)

Part 2 where I rant about KYLE 👇

[nofingjustaninchident]

Hi, I just read your two Jason fics and I love them. Could you write a daughter of Poseidon x Jason and maybe Percy being a overprotective brother. Thanks. Love you

⛧° jason grace x daughter of poseidon! reader hcs °⛧

⛧° 。 ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆༺♱༻⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ 。°⛧

content: jason grace x daughter of poseidon! reader, platonic!percy jackson x reader

warnings:

a/n: guys, i reached 100 likes with just two posts omg you're amazing!!! so, i kinda got a few other requests waiting, but they’re TOO good to make just headcannons or to be poorly written, so they’ll take a little while longer to be posted. nothing much, tho (i hope). enjoy!

Protective is an understatement.

Percy is literally the most protective brother ever, even if you're just one year younger than him.

He feels as if he's job to protect you from everything and everyone that could possibly think about hurting you.

So when you started hanging out more with him and his friends, he couldn't have made it more clear to all of them that you were completely and totally off limits.

But did this silly little rule stop Jason to date you?

Of course it did!

My baby is just too obedient and such a rule follower... poor boy

Anyways, you had to make the first move.

Even with that, he was pretty hesitant to do anything such as holding hands in public.

In reality, he wasn't afraid of Percy, he just didn't want the other boy to get mad with him.

So, one day, you called both Percy and Jason to have a very serious conversation in the Poseidon cabin.

Percy was, as usual, completely clueless about anything, so he just babbled with Jason.

Who, by the way, was a complete mess of blushing and stuttering.

You obviously thought it as endearing, cause it really was.

"You're probably wondering why i called you here today." you said, a wicked smile on your face.

Percy was hugged with his plushie (you had matching shark plushies, Dory and Nemo) while Jason wanted to dig a hole in the floor and never come back from it.

"What's up, sis? If it's something to do with missing chocolate, i have nothing to do with it." The dark haired boy said, smiling.

Little did he knew that smile was gonna fade in three seconds.

"Me and Jason, we're dating." You said, quickly.

Percy's face fell.

"W-what?" He asked, his eyes darkening.

"We're dating. Like, boyfriend and girlfriend."

"So... you're dating Jason. Not Leo?" Percy asked.

"No, why would i date Leo-" You were cut off by a grateful sigh coming from your brother's mouth.

"Thanks the gods. As long as it's not Leo, i can handle it."

Jason turned to him for the first time, as if he wasn't even believing the words he just heard.

"Just... break her heart and i'll break your neck." Percy said with a threatening smile and patted Jason's back, leaving the cabin.

Alright, enough of the Jackson drama, back to Blond Superman.

He's the literal sweetest person alive.

He👏🏼learnt👏🏼 how 👏🏼to 👏🏼swim👏🏼 for👏🏼 ya

Bro's whipped

And he took Percy's words as his life rules

He made his best to make you happy whenever you're with him

Like, literally anytime

Once you cried next to him cause a fish didn't talk to you (it was a plastic fish, but you were on ur period, okay?)

He literally took you to the beach so you could chat and gossip with the real fishes

And you were so happy he nearly melt at that sight

That's when he knew he had fell in love with you

Romantic dates EVERY WEEK

He bribes the Demeter kids to give him your favorite flowers every once in a while

He always keeps some sort of physical touch, doesn't matter if he's holding your waist, your hands, touching pinkies

You got the point

He's just too madly in love

For him, you're the most beatiful, unique, hot, perfect, powerful, hot, smart, hot, strong, HAVE I MENTIONED HOT, person in the whole world

Literally, he would kiss your feet if you asked him to

He's glad you don't, actually

He stopped eating anything that comes from the marine animals after you got together.

Like, absolutely anything

Oh, and i've mentioned this on a previous hc, but he literally pays for absolutely ✨everything✨

Like, honey, don't even come near your wallet

Oh, and he buys you lots of gifts constantly

From plushies to books to makeup to sketch books in case you like drawing

And he's totally a languages guy

And with your ADHD and dyslexia, he helps you a lot

And you help him with maths.

Of course, he always has a nickname for you.

"Hey, mermaid?"

"Hm?"

"I love you."

[aro-of-argentum]

Red Dahlia- Chapter 9

WC: 6,095

Notes: Jason and the reader finally talk about what happened, Jason tells reader about his past, the man is starved for affection and the reader is starting to help with that, Jason is a flirt, Reader makes a phone call to one Mr. Pennyworth. Most of this chapter is just conversations between the two of them.

Beta'd by: @teaspacebar

Previous Chapter, Masterlist, Next Chapter

Chapter 9:

Jason had stayed asleep for most of the day, even though the anesthetics were long worn off. You continued to give him pain meds every few hours, or whenever he started to fidget, and had been changing his bandages as needed. The total for you so far was 44 consecutive waking hours, but you found that no matter how exhausted you were, you couldn’t settle enough to sleep. You knew you needed to, and you wanted to, but each time you attempted to lie down on the couch for at least a nap, the worry that something might happen to Jason while you slept kept you awake.

Now, you had an almost empty IV bag of saline attached to your arm as you sat on the couch and flipped through channels with the television on mute to kill time until it ran out. You paused for a moment on a news story from Metropolis about Superman taking down some mob boss, apparently incredibly dangerous, before turning the TV off all together. You tried to convince yourself that you’d survive not sleeping until he got better, but at this point you felt like you could barely stand without an adrenaline rush, and you weren’t keeping anything down unless it came through the IV line.

A cough sounded from your bedroom followed by a strained, “Ow,” and you heaved a breath as you pulled the IV from your arm and rose from the couch. Jason was looking around the room confused when you entered, knocking on the slightly ajar door before stepping in.

“Hey,” was your tired greeting, paired with a soft smile. You were certain there was exhaustion all over your face, but you hoped he would be able to see relief there too. Most of what you could read on Jason’s face when he saw you was shock.

“Am I dead?” There was a concerned and almost panicked tone in his voice that struck at your heart.

You were quick to reassure him. “No. You’re in my apartment. You’re safe, and you are going to be okay.”

 He took a shaky breath in, stopping with a wince when he had to because of his damaged ribs. A hard swallow bobbed in his throat before he responded with a nod, “Okay.”

“Do you remember what happened?” You asked, cautiously taking a seat at the edge of the bed. “You didn’t tell me much.”

A flash of shame crossed his eyes. “I was ambushed. There were eight guys, and a couple of them had armor piercing ammo.”

You huffed. “Yeah, that I do know. I still have one on my counter.” You shook your head to yourself for a moment before you continued. “You’re probably the luckiest man alive to not have been hit in places I couldn’t fix here. No bones or organs…”

“That was probably on purpose actually.”

Your face scrunched in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“The guy I was after, Morgan Edge,” he clarified, “He doesn’t like to let people off the hook easy. He probably wanted to make sure I didn’t die too quickly.” Jason couldn’t watch the pain that crossed your face at that, so he averted his gaze and continued. “Edge usually only has to deal with Superman; was probably pissed I was snooping around.”

A flash of memory from the news just a moment ago appeared in your mind. “That’s the guy you were going after? And you didn’t have any back up or-”

“I was just supposed to be getting information from an old contact.” He interrupted gently and waited for you to nod in acceptance before he continued. “He must’ve heard I was coming for him; wanted to remove me from the equation, I guess.”

You nodded again, content to take any information he’d be willing to share, even if it meant hearing the details of his almost death.

“I remember being surrounded and getting shot… a few times. I took out everybody else in that alley, but I knew I didn’t have a lot of time, so I-” His eyes darted toward you and found you staring back at him. “I need you to know I didn’t come here expecting this.” He made a vague gesture toward himself with his hands. “I just needed to see you, I needed to apologize for-” He let his head drop back softly against the pillows bracing his back and closed his eyes for a moment. “I’m so sorry.”

“Jason, we don’t have to have that conversation right now. We can talk about it later, you’re still-”

“No.” He stopped you. “It’s been long enough. I was going to come see you after I got this mission taken care of anyway. We should talk.”

You shook your head slightly at the idea and looked at him directly before relenting to speak. “I’m still upset about all of it. I have guesses but no actual answers on why everything went down the way it did, and no matter how many times I tried to get ahold of you, you just-” You stopped, and clenched and unclenched your fists a couple of times to try to calm down.

Jason nodded in guilty admittance. “You’re right.”

Tears sprung to your eyes as emotions overwhelmed you. “You can’t do that to me again. We need to be able to talk about things. Even if it isn’t right away. But you can’t just disappear for a month. You made an assumption about how I felt, and I know I did the same, but when I tried to explain, you ignored me, and you left, and then you were just gone. For weeks.” Your voice was dripping with hurt as your eyes released the tears in them. “I didn’t know if I was ever going to see you again and it broke my fucking heart, and then out of nowhere you’re here, and you’re dying in my arms, and you’re telling me that you-” You cut yourself off with an angry scoff and your hands were quick to wipe your cheeks before you spoke again. “I just- You can’t do that again. You can’t.”

“I know.” He nodded again, not wanting to interrupt, but wanting to make sure you knew he was taking in your words. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m here now, though, and I’m not going anywhere.”

A halfhearted smile pulled at your lips at his playful gesture to his bandages, and you hung your head. “I just needed to know that you wanted to show me; that you weren’t just doing it because I’d all but asked you to.”

“No, Sweetheart. I’ve wanted you to know who I am for a long time.”

You brought your head back up, tilted slightly in question. “How long?”

“Halloween, I think. I realized I wanted to always walk you home, be able to hold your hand, and have you know I’m there. I’ve only been able to do that one other time under the mask… It’s not enough.” He gave a shrug with his right side as though the reason was obvious. “I was scared you would like the mystery of it all more than you would’ve wanted to know. I didn’t- I don’t,” He corrected himself, as he was acutely aware that he hadn’t actually clarified the next part of his sentence with you, “I don’t want you to be disappointed about me being the one under the helmet.”

Your eyes nearly bugged out of your head as you balked at him. “Right, sure, just an incredibly thoughtful, kind, smart, beautiful, enormous man under there. Jason Todd, anyone who would be disappointed to see you is out of their fucking mind.”

His eyes were wide as he stared at you. “Would you come here please?” He reached for you with his right hand and once you’d stepped close enough for him to get an okay grip, he pulled you down into the bed next to him. “I’m gonna kiss you.” He nodded as he said it and didn’t wait for a response before pulling your lips to his, threading his fingers over your hair at the back of your head.

The air was stolen from your lungs as Jason kissed you. It was slow and deliberate and all consuming, and when he finally pulled away, just enough to breathe, it took you a moment to come back to yourself.

“The dumbest fucking thing I ever did was thinking I could go the rest of my life without doing that again,” he whispered with his eyes still closed before pressing a short kiss to the corner of your mouth.

The sentiment and the action made you smile as you continued to lean into his space, trying desperately to make sure you weren’t accidentally going to mess up all the work you’d done to keep him alive. You moved to pull away, and when you felt him tense up, you kissed his cheek for reassurance. Once you felt him relax a bit, you sat upright again, though this time next to him, rather than at the foot of the bed. Your hand reached for his face, gently brushing over his cheek and carefully avoiding the bottom edge of the bandage on the side of his head. “I’m happy I know now.”

“Yeah?” A hopeful smile crossed his features.

“Yeah.” You smiled in return, eyes roaming over his face as you continued, “The full helmet is a good idea though.” Your fingers moved up to play with the white strands above his forehead. “The hair is a dead giveaway.”

A short chuckle escaped his chest before being cut off by a sharp inhale. The following grunt of discomfort reminded you why you’d come into the room in the first place.

“Right. One second.” You stood up from the bed too fast and got a rush in your head, but recovered quickly and were off to get the pain relievers from your cabinet. There wasn’t much of the prescription level meds left, meaning you’d either need to get ahold of more, or Jason would be switching to over-the-counter medication just days after being shot. When you returned to your room with the bottle in your hand, you found the man watching you through squinted eyes.

“What was that?”

You squinted in return, having assumed the answer fairly obvious. You held up the bottle and shook it a little. “Painkillers.”

“No, right before you left. You got dizzy; I saw you sway. Why?”

You shook your head to dismiss it. “Jason, I’m fine.”

He continued to stare you down as he asked, “Do you not know, or do you not want to tell me?” Jason waited a moment to give you time to respond. When you didn’t, he brought your own argument against you. “We’re trying to be better about talking about things, yeah?”

A sigh escaped you as you rolled your eyes at his insistence. “I’m a little dizzy because I’m down two units of blood.”

He immediately sat up straighter, looking almost comical to you as a person wrapped in bandages went into high alert. “What? Why? What happened?”

“You needed more than I had stocked up.” You pointed to where his IV was taped into his arm, one of the ports currently unoccupied by transfusion tubing.

Guilt flooded Jason’s face and posture. “Oh.” He deflated some, sitting back against the pillows once more. “Wait, how did you test for my blood type?”

You shrugged, “Didn’t need to, I’m O neg.”

“Huh, that’s lucky.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am too.”

“Hm.” You hummed in acceptance of the information. “I guess that’s good information to know, just in case.” You rattled the bottle in your hand slightly. “Do you want the meds?”

He seemed to consider it for a moment. “Are they going to put me out again?”

“They might,” You admitted.

“Then can I take them later, or is it going to fuck up a schedule?” He seemed to wince at his own request, as though hoping it wasn’t an overstep to ask.

You shook your head slightly. “The schedule is to make sure you don’t take too much too quickly. You can wait if you want but aren’t you in pain?” You questioned him with concern all through your face and voice.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to pass out again right now, I’d rather just deal with it.” He dismissed you without hesitation.

“Jason…”

The man’s heart ached at the pain he found in your expression. “I promise, I’m used to stuff like this.” He attempted to reassure you, “It’s not a big-”

“You’re used to being a single breath away from dead?” You interrupted him with the sarcastic question and were immediately caught off guard by his answer.

“I mean I was once before…” He mumbled. Jason’s attention snapped back up to you at the choked noise that you gave in response to his statement.

There were instant tears in your eyes. “What?” The word came out barely above a whisper.

Jason let the remaining breath in his lungs escape him as a sigh. “Do you remember when you asked me if I liked working with Batman, and I told you it was complicated?”

You blinked, still staring at him, almost afraid to move. “Yes.”

“I have some stuff I want to tell you. I’d love for you to come sit back down first, though, if you’re okay to.”

It took a moment for your brain to connect with the rest of your body and you were able to nod and wipe the tear that had fallen away from your cheek before gingerly sitting down next to Jason on your bed.

He told you everything. You listened intently as he spoke about his parents, how each of them died, and what his life was like afterward. He told you about stealing the tires off the Batmobile and eventually becoming the second Robin because of it, and about how he died in the uniform at the hands of the Joker only a couple of years later. The next thing he had memories of was training with the League of Assassins, though he also told you what he knew of his resurrection from being informed by others himself. He got around to how he ended back up in Gotham to avenge his own death, how he discovered that Batman had already taken a new Robin, and how he more or less ran the Gotham Underground for a time. You noticed his hesitation and shame around the details that involved him being a ruthless killer, and his attempts on Batman and the other vigilantes’ lives. Eventually he explained the deal he’d made with the Bat about being able to return to the “good guys” so long as he swore off killing. At this he seemed conflicted.

“And I don’t mind having to prove myself, I get it, I was one of his biggest problems for a while but fuck I’ve been doing my best with all of this for years now, and the old man still treats me like I’m going to explode at any second. I swear to God, he’s gotta have a muzzle stashed somewhere just in case, or probably a fucking kill-switch implanted in my brain for if I “go too far.”” He put up air quotes with his right hand for the last part of his sentence, and you got the feeling it was a phrase that had been used on him more than he’d like. Jason finally turned his head to face you for the first time since he started his biographic recounting and found you slowly bobbing your head up and down as you processed the information. “Well?”

You took another moment to consider your response before you decided on, ““Complicated” feels like an understatement.”

Jason snorted at your response and let his head drop back against the pillows situated behind him. “Yeah.”

Your hand crept to his, and once you found it, you were quick to lace your fingers through his, squeezing his hand as you spoke. “I’m glad you’re alive.”

He rubbed his thumb over the back of your hand. “Me too, Sweetheart.” For a moment Jason’s hesitance returned, a cloud of worry forming over his head. “I didn’t scare you off with all of that, did I?”

“No,” You responded immediately, softly. “It was a lot to take in, but I’m not going anywhere.”

A smirk crossed his face. “So, you’re gonna stay in bed with me all day?” He joked to try to relieve some of the pressure in the room. It worked.

“Oh, see now you’re pushing it.” You chuckled as you spoke. “Tragic backstory, I can handle, but cuddles? You’ve gone too far.”

“And here I thought we already had. Must have been nothing but a dream…” He tried to force a dramatic sigh and ended up gasping in pain instead.

“Jason!” You were immediately sat up and looking him over.

“I’m good, it’s fine, I just-” He hissed through his teeth as his right hand ghosted over the stitches in his left side.

“Okay,” was your confirmation with a nod and you were on your feet, rounding the corner of the bed to reach him.

Jason saw you coming and tried to intervene. “I said it’s fine, you don’t-”

“Stop it.” You swatted his hand away as you began to pull at the bandage over the site. Your tongue clicked in your mouth as you looked over the wounds in front of you. They were healing well so far for the most part, though clearly irritated by the amount of movement in the last few minutes. You looked back up to Jason’s face and found him looking at you curiously, as though waiting for your analysis. “You didn’t pull any of them out, but it is inflamed now, which means your pain is going to be worse. Would you please take the drugs?”

He nodded and gave a rough “Mm hmm, yeah.”

“Great.” You grabbed the bottle of painkillers, handed him two and a glass of water off the bedside table, no longer needing to dissolve them in his IV since he was awake. You also helped him sit up slightly so it would be easier for him to take them, and you found yourself absentmindedly rubbing his exposed back as you supported him. You waited as he downed the medicine and an additional sip of water before humming appreciatively. His eyes were softly closed, and you felt more of his weight lean into you, his body relaxing some at your touch. “You okay?”

“Feels good,” he responded, leaning further into you and resting his head against your collarbone.

It made your heart melt to see him being so openly affectionate, especially after everything he’d just told you about feeling so alone, but you wanted to reapply the compound on his stitches just to be safe, and for that, you needed to move. You pressed a kiss into his hair and whispered, “Baby, I can’t hold you like this forever, I still have stuff to do.”

“Oh,” A blush crept over Jason’s face as he realized how long he’d been pressed into you, and then at the realization of just how much he enjoyed you referring to him so endearingly. “Sorry…” he mumbled as he did his best to pull away.

“No, hey,” Your hand cupped his cheek as you pressed a chaste kiss to his lips and then another. “It’s for you, and I’ll be right back.” You helped him lay back before leaving the room to retrieve the compound. In only a moment you were back and gently dabbing the plasma over the stitches in hopes it would soothe the irritation and help with scarring. As you pulled his bandages back in place and stood up, you fought and lost against a yawn.

“You’re tired.” Jason’s eyes snapped to your face as he realized for the first time that the circles under your eyes may have come from more than just the blood loss. It had to have been a rough couple of days for you since he got here. “How long has it been since you slept?”

You shrugged in accepted defeat. “Couple days. I just keep getting worried something’s going to happen while I’m out.”

Guilt covered Jason’s face. “You’re worried about me. Fuck, Sweetheart I’m sorry, that’s not fair.”

“Jason, it’s okay, I know you’re stable now, you’re coherent, you’re healing. I’m going to go try to take a nap on the couch after your meds kick in” You gestured over your shoulder toward the living room as you suggested it. “I’ll be-”

“You could stay.” He cut you off. The confusion on your face was clear to him so he clarified, “I’m in your bed anyway; you could sleep in here… with me.” He hoped he hadn’t crossed any boundaries with the suggestion. The last thing he wanted to do was make you uncomfortable. “I remember waking up with you here at one point, right?”

“Jay, you were hypothermic. And shivering. You needed the body heat.” You stated it matter-of-factly and Jason decided to try one more time.

“Sure, but it was nice, and I want-” He wanted to hold you so you could sleep; to take care of you like you were taking care of him. “What if I say I’m cold?”

With a snort of a laugh, you relented. “Okay, just a minute.” You left the room again, much to Jason’s dismay, but quickly returned, no longer wearing old scrubs. Instead, you were dressed in something very similar to what you were wearing the first time Jason saw you. It was a different shirt, though still oversized, and shorts that barely peeked out underneath.

He thought for a moment what you might look like wearing his t-shirt, but quickly shot the idea down when he realized how far his imagination would go if left unchecked. He carefully moved over a little on the bed, giving you room to sit next to him. “Here.”

You smiled, a soft exhale coming through your nose. “I still need to check your other stitches and fix your pillows.”

“Right, sure,” Jason’s neck and cheeks reddened in embarrassment at his eagerness. His eyes followed your movements as you reached for the blanket covering the lower half of his body.

“May I?” You asked cautiously, knowing that there was a new tension to examining the wound on his leg now that he was awake. You waited for his nod of approval before lifting the blanket and exposing his left leg, bare from the top of his thigh down. You’d needed to cut away his compression leggings to tend to the bullet hole there, and you hadn’t been embarrassed about it until now, when your hands were on his skin as he watched.

Jason’s eyes were trained unflinchingly on your hands as you carefully removed the bandage from the upper part of his thigh and spread more of the compound over it before replacing the covering. You skipped over the two in his side, having already checked them, and moved to the wound in his shoulder. Jason could only continue to watch your skilled fingers as they ran gently over his stitches, not feeling anything other than the slightest of pressure as the painkillers began to kick in. When you moved to check over the one on the side of his face, Jason could no longer see your hands and opted to watch your face instead. He admired the way your eyes focused and squinted slightly when you were concentrating, and the way your lips parted as though to whisper to yourself while you worked. He wanted to reach out and touch you, kiss you again.

“You’re staring.”

“Hmm?” Jason’s attention came back to the moment.

A small chuckle bubbled out of your chest and Jason found himself wishing he could hear the noise forever. “Have you always done this, and I just never caught it because your eyes were behind the mask?” You asked him, glancing up to make eye contact before returning your gaze to your task.

He hesitated to give an answer, unsure whether it would be better to tell you the truth or preserve his dignity. He decided to try for both. “I’d embarrass myself if I told you how often I spend time just looking at you.”

A shocked, “oh,” escaped you as heat flooded your cheeks at his admission. You recovered your composure quickly and decided that leveling the playing field was your best path forward. “At least now I know I don’t have to feel weird about doing the same thing.”

Jason’s eyes went wide for just a moment before his head tilted, eyebrow cocked, and a smirk danced across his lips. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, but you better put that attitude away. I still get to choose whether you make it through this.”

You had a finger raised in warning at him, but Jason only smiled as a bold idea entered his mind. “What?” he asked, maintaining eye contact as he wrapped his right hand around your outstretched one and planted a kiss to the inside of your wrist before he continued speaking. “Mostly naked and covered in scars and bandages not your type?”

Your breath caught in your throat for a moment as you looked down at him. His eyes seemed pleading, but you could see the glint of mischief there, and it took a moment before you were able to formulate a response. “Scars, sure. Bandages, no.” You gently pulled your wrist from his grasp to finish reattaching the bandage by his temple as you continued, “I’m not going to help you destroy all the work I put in to keep you alive.”

Jason waited until your work was done and you stepped away to clean up before he spoke again. “So, we’re just ignoring the “mostly naked” part?” He asked.

“We are if you still want me in that bed with you.” You put away supplies in your med kit as you responded to him, and once you were done you turned back around to face him. “Are you going to keep your hands to yourself?”

“Do I have to?” He questioned, smirk returning.

You laughed and your eyebrows shot up at his forwardness. “You’re in a mood, aren’t you?”

“You’re the one that gave me drugs, Sweetheart.” He made a dramatic show of shrugging his unwounded shoulder and lying back on the bed as you walked over to him again.

Adjusting his pillows under his left side to keep his injuries elevated, you joked, “Right, so remind me not to give you any more of those unless I’m also putting you to sleep.”

Jason shook his head slightly as he got comfortable. “No need. I’m tired, I’m just holding out for when you’re in here with me.”

When you walked around to the other side and pulled away the covers, Jason looked concerned. “What?” you asked him.

His eyes lingered for a moment on your bare legs. “You aren’t going to be cold?”

“While cuddling a six-foot-four radiator? Not something I’m worried about.”

You were hardly even in the bed before Jason had you dragged into his right side, and he wasn’t entirely sure your head was on the pillow yet when you fell asleep. He breathed as deep a sigh of relief as he could manage as he stared down at you, and a myriad of emotions ran through his mind. He was still angry with himself for having forced a month of separation, and guilty for the way he’d made you feel. But most of what he was able to focus on was the feeling of your body pressed up against his, your hand on his bare chest. You were real, and here, and you cared for him. This was how it should have been the entire time.

He felt sleep calling to him, so he adjusted slightly to press a kiss into the top of your head and whispered, “I love you,” before drifting off himself.

-

You woke up slowly the next morning, having slept all evening and through the night, and for a moment you felt heavy, until you realized it wasn’t your body weight you were feeling. At some point in the night, the two of you had adjusted, and Jason was laid face down on the left side of your body. His head was resting in the crook of your neck and his arm was draped over your abdomen as he snored lightly. You drew your arm up around him and began slowly carding your fingers through Jason’s hair as you laid beneath him. The snoring stopped and you heard a soft hum before you felt the man snuggle closer, his grip on you tightening.

“Good morning,” you cooed, a slight chuckle behind your words.

“Morning,” came the mumbled response before you heard his breathing begin to slow again.

“Would you move over, please?” You hoped he hadn’t fallen back asleep so quickly.

There was no verbal response as he instead squeezed your side and settled again, giving no indication that he intended to move.

“Jay, I need to get up, I need to pee.”

He groaned in protest but rolled slightly to pull his weight off of you, allowing you to get up. When you came back, he was more awake, resting on his side, and his eyes were still sleepy but open.

“Hey, Sweetheart.” The soft smile he gave you could have melted the Arctic.

“Hey,” you responded, sitting next to him on the bed and reaching to run the backs of your fingers along his cheek. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore mostly.” He tilted his head side to side for a moment as if considering something before he continued, “Otherwise, okay. Best morning I’ve had in a while.” His movements were slow as he reached to move your hand from his cheek, bringing your knuckles to his lips. “Thank you for staying with me last night.”

“Of course.” You smiled down at him for a moment before a thought you’d been meaning to bring up crossed into your mind. “Hey, I don’t want to ruin this moment,” you started, squeezing his hand to reassure yourself more than anything, “but I wanted to ask you if we should tell anyone you’re here? Maybe your family? Or-”

“Fuck.” Jason’s face dropped as though he was just realizing for the first time that he should let everyone know he was okay. He hadn’t checked in with anyone in almost three days, and given that Superman had taken care of Edge, they would have expected him home by now. He needed to let them know he was okay, or they’d start tearing the city apart looking for him (or his body). He couldn’t have Cassandra leading everyone to your apartment for clues, he didn’t want Bruce anywhere near you. “Fuck.”

“Jason?” You questioned, cautious, given the panic that was now all over his face.

“It’s fine, I just- I’m thinking.” His mind was nearly frantic as he ran through options. He didn’t have his phone, the communicators in his helmet were broken along with the trackers, and if he was being entirely honest with himself, the only person he trusted to not make a scene with all of this was, “Alfred.”

“What?”

Jason looked up to you, calm resurfacing on his features as he formulated his plan. “I need you to call my house, ask for Alfred Pennyworth, and tell him I’m okay.”

You quirked an eyebrow in confusion as you spoke. “You don’t want to talk to him?”

He shook his head. “There’s vocal recognition for the phone lines, if it hears my voice, it’ll alert Bruce and he’ll know everything. I don’t want him involved in this.”

To say you understood his reasoning would be a lie, but you agreed to make the call anyway.  He rattled off the number quickly but stopped you before you could press the dial button.

“Wait.” You froze when he spoke. “Don’t use your name, just say you’re Dahlia and he’ll know. And don’t give your address over the phone, tell him to ask Cassandra.”

“You’ve been keeping me a secret, but someone called Cassandra knows where I live, and Alfred knows me by the name Dahlia?” You questioned.

He nodded slowly and let out a small sigh before he clarified. “Cass is my sister. She saw me drop you off after our bike ride. Alfred is our butler, but also kind of like a grandfather, and he’s the one that got our bracelets made after I asked. The only other person who knows about you is my older brother Dick, but that doesn’t matter right now.”

“Is that everything?” Your thumb hovered over the screen as you asked, ready to call if he said yes.

“I’d love some clothes,” he said, motioning to the phone to ensure you knew he meant that he wanted you to ask Alfred for them.

You nodded and pushed the button to call.

-

Alfred was cooking breakfast for the family when he heard the phone ring. The children would all be awake soon and hungry, after the last day and a half scouring Metropolis for signs of Jason. They had found his motorcycle there, in a base belonging to Morgan Edge’s organization, and so had been tracking down its members in search of anyone who might know anything about the young master’s whereabouts. He put down his utensils and wiped his hands on the towel over his shoulder to ensure he would not dirty the telephone receiver as he picked it up.

“Wayne residence.”

“Hi, I’m calling to speak to Alfred Pennyworth?” He heard an unfamiliar woman’s voice come through the line. She seemed nervous.

“This is he. And to whom and I speaking?”

“I’m Dahlia.”

Alfred’s attention was no longer divided by the eggs he had been scrambling on the stove. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you. May I ask the reason for your call?”

“I wanted to let you know he’s safe and okay, he’s with me, and if you want to come see him, you’re welcome to, but you need to come alone.”

“I’m sorry?” His eyebrows lifted in surprise, not only at finding out Jason was alright, but also that the woman had the audacity to make demands regarding his presence.

“It’s his request,” Alfred heard the woman rush to justify. “He said he didn’t want everyone involved, and he trusts you to be discreet.”

“Ah.” The man’s protective bravado deflated somewhat as he was given clarification on Jason’s reasoning. “What is the address?”

“Cassandra knows where I live.”

He frowned at the game-playing involved but understood that Jason was likely the one instructing the woman away from giving any definitive information. “Right.”

“Oh, and Alfred?”

“Yes?”

“He’s asking for clothes, comfortable mostly, if you’re able.”

“Understood.”

“Thank you, Alfred.”

The phone clicked as the call was ended, and Alfred took a moment to process the conversation he’d just had. It seemed to him that the woman had been genuine, or else she would not have thanked him, or been at all polite. And if there was any ill intent, then surely, she would have asked for ransom right away, rather than clothing. And she would not have identified herself using the code name Jason had given her if it was not the woman Jason trusted so deeply as to have given her a direct line to him. Alfred resolved to do as he was asked and gather some of Jason’s clothes before going to investigate on his own.

He finished making breakfast for the rest of the family and served it before packing a small bag and excusing himself for the day, citing an appointment he’d “forgotten about.” He pulled Cassandra aside when she was done eating to retrieve the address. She had been more than happy to give it when she discovered that Alfred was “finally going to meet the girlfriend,” and seemed to already know that she was not to tell anyone where he was going. The man smiled to himself at the young adults’ conspiracy to keep secrets for one another. He knew that of the three eldest siblings, Cassandra certainly had the most amicable relationship with Bruce, but as much as she pretended otherwise, she loved her brothers more. Anything sworn to secrecy would stay that way, even from their father.

Tag List: @lettucel0ver, @4rachn3

[who-let-a-bird-in]

Let’s talk about “replacement”

If you’ve been in the dc fandom for longer than maybe a week, you’ve probably seen it before. It’s present in fanfics, tumblr posts, role plays, and fanart. On the off chance that you somehow don’t know about it, “replacement” is a sort of nickname often used for Tim Drake by Jason Todd

This post is going to be cut, I’m going to leave the explanation out but there should be two other sections under it as well

Where did it come from?

There are two possible places that the use of it came from

The first is from a Batman comic series from 2002 called “hush” and I’ll spare you most spoilers about the comic but the part of it that’s important to this conversation has to do with Bruce, Jason, Tim, Selina, and Clayface

While catwoman is fighting huntress (Helena Bertanelli) who is currently drugged by poison ivy, Bruce is worried that Helena is going to force Selina to kill her so he tells Tim (who is Robin at the time) to stay where is and look for someone

Before Bruce can tell him who he’s looking for a figure appears behind Tim and says he’s the one they’re looking for, before hitting Tim and calling him “pretender”

When Bruce finds Tim he’s being held at knifepoint by “Jason” who begins lashing out and then fighting Bruce. Eventually he melts in the rain and is shown to be only made out of clay, and the real Jason Todd is still dead.

The important thing about this, is that Jason never called Tim “pretender,” he never held Tim at knifepoint point (if you ever see anything about Jason “slitting Tim’s throat” that’s where it’s from, Tim was fine all he needed was a bandage), all of it was done by Clayface who was mimicking Dick Graysons movements and using what he knew about Jason to manipulate Bruce.

As to where “replacement” specifically came from, the only time I’ve ever heard about its origin was in a TikTok where the person who made the video said it came from a fanfic (which is very likely true), in the comics Jason has never called Tim by that name

Why does the nickname not make sense?

The nickname doesn’t make sense because if anyone would be a pretender or replacement, it’s Jason. Jason Todd is one of the original robins but he isn’t the original Robin. That title will always belong to DIck Grayson.

And in brining up something like this you have to acknowledge the origins of the moniker in the first place. The name “Robin” came from a nickname that Mary Grayson had for her son, I’m fairly sure the original reasoning was because he was born in the early spring. The reason DIck chose to go by Robin is because the name was important to him, it let him feel closer to his late mother, similarly to how the original Robin costume is based on his flying Grayson’s outfit.

But when Dick was 17 or 18 he was shot in the shoulder by the joker, and Bruce tells him that he can’t keep risking his life as Robin, so he fires him. Dick moves out to Blüdhaven, starts working almost solely with the teen titans, and gets a new moniker (nightwing) given to him by Superman.

And then Bruce adopts Jason, and he gives him Dick’s name and uniform, putting a new child in the way of harm. And yes, Jason did make Robin his own but it was not his, he would have no right to put a claim over the name.

Why does any of this matter?

In short, it doesn’t. There is nothing inherently wrong with writing Jason using the term but in my opinion for their relationship, it just dosen’t make sense.

In the comics Jason has a complicated relationship with everyone in the batfamily, he’s grappling with coming back to life and trying to find a place for himself while also working through his own grief and anger

When you read comics though, when they’re together they often work well together and even hang out a few times, there’s one panel where Jason is trying to take tim out to get a drink (underage drinking is bad don’t do it/lh), and they have a fairly normal sibling dynamic with each other

Which is why I don’t understand where the concept of all the hate and resentment came from in the fandom, I’m genuinely curious as to know why it’s so prominent everywhere

[lightningarmour]

Absolute comics first thoughts

For the first time since the end of DOOMSDAY CLOCK I've been persuaded into paying money for a DC comic, and two, no less.

I've been 100% checked out of the DC sphere for about 5 years, only occasionally seeing some news here or there about the latest crossover event or fave character or what have you, and I regard those with the passing interest one might have in seeing a hot air balloon. Nothing has drawn me back partly because I'm old now and don't have the time or inclination to try catching up on years of crossover event, status quo altering storylines and yadda yadda.

I had heard about the new ABSOLUTE line of titles, but from the initial teasers and previews, not the least of which was the character design for Absolute Batman with his giant stupid fat bat symbol, I just wrote it off as them doing yet more edgy elseworlds stories, and thought no more on it until maybe three weeks ago. I saw a little roundup of details about Absolute Superman from an interview with Jason Aaron and it caught my attention.

I've gone on at length in the past about how I think that any earnest attempt at writing Superman for modern audiences that keeps true to the "idea" of Superman without making a cynical edgelord version of the character would need to depict Superman as a politically engaged, class conscious individual at least, and a full on Leninist at best. Now obviously I do not expect DC comics to publish a comic about communist superman without it being a laughable piece of propaganda like RED SON, but nonetheless, hearing that Absolute Superman is about a superman who is fighting a mining corporation to protect a community of abused labourers, and re-imagining Krypton as a caste-based society that was destroyed by reckless exploitation of the environment, I was certainly interested.

I resolved to check it out at least. I'd seen some of the details about Absolute Batman, that he's not a billionaire and whatever and still wasn't too interested, but realized I'd heard basically nothing about Absolute Wonder Woman. "She didn't grow up on Themyscira" okay what does that mean?

At this point both Batman and Wonder Woman were out so I looked it up and found some pages from Absolute Wonder Woman #1 and was pretty much instantly hooked because the art was tremendous, and Wonder Woman is flying on a skeleton pegasus with a huge Guts sword and like, that just fucking rocks ass, come on. So I was now sold on two Absolute series, I decided eh, what the hell I'll check out Absolute Batman #1, maybe I could be convinced.

So now that I've read all three first issues of the new ABSOLUTE Universe, I have some thoughts.

ABSOLUTE BATMAN #1 is a confused mess. I think that Batman, being easily the most popular DC character, with the broadest demographic appeal, has too much baggage. You'd kind of think that with a character like this where everyone knows his whole basic backstory, you could gloss over the details a bit more, but this issue is so concerned with establishing and referencing as many iconic Batman characters as possible, it's so bloated.

in this one(1) issue they set up or directly show you: Alfred Pennyworth, Jim Gordon, Barbara Gordon, Harvey Bullock, Killer Croc, Penguin, Riddler, Cat Woman, Two-Face, Black Mask, Ras Al Ghul, and of course we cannot go even one single issue without giving you The Joinker. It's too much. Ease off. We're not going to encounter probably two thirds of these people for ages. And, frankly establishing that half of Batman's presumptive rogue's gallery just so happened to be Bruce Wayne's childhood friends is dumb as shit. The dynamic between all of them is going to follow the exact same "gasp, could it be that my old friend is now a criminal?!" dynamic like 5 times in a row.

This is easily the most edgy of the current Absolute series and is basically exactly what I assumed the whole imprint was going to be, but it really feels in places like Scott Snyder wanted this to be a Batman that was darker and more violent but then DC editorial was like "no, Batman can't kill people" so he adjusted the script as little as possible to reassure the audience that he's rolling non-lethal damage as he stabs the shit out of people with his ear-knives and chops their hands off.

Despite all the parts I don't like about how they portray Batman, the thing that pisses me off is I really like the way they are doing Bruce Wayne.

Typically Bruce Wayne, the billionaire is kind of a hard character for me to like because of how much he serves this kind of great man power fantasy(yes, I know, superhero comics are inherently fascist) He has a vendetta against the concept of crime because his parents were killed by a criminal, so he takes it upon himself to "protect" Gotham, but in many depictions of Batman it's kind of like, what exactly is his connection to the city other than he lives there and presumably is the HQ of Wayne Enterprises. he views it the way a rich person would, dirty and too full of undesirable people who must be punished so that he, a wealthy socialite can enjoy the place without having to see the underclasses.

Making Bruce a working class urbanist is such a more interesting way of exploring the character. He loves the city because he grew up in it's streets, played in it's parks, attended it's schools, rode it's busses. Adding the layer on that that he became a civil engineer and worked with the municipal government does for the first time I've ever seen something interesting with Gotham by kind of interrogating the notion of what makes a city what it is. Is it the infrastructure, the people, the civil servants? It's the most interesting Bruce Wayne has ever been.

But then as Batman he's just fucking mutilating people and blowing them up with bombs and whatever. Yawn. I think that the Batman aspect also annoys me because it so blatantly disregards the central premise of the Absolute line. What if Batman wasn't a billionaire? Well then he wouldn't have access to tons of money and resources to do his Batman shit! So they like, half-ass that by giving him the kind of stripped-down arsenal. No gadgets and gizmos, just knives and a hunk of bat shaped metal used as a battle axe. But then oh yeah he also has some kind of miracle fabric that he can use as like tendrils or whatever and it's completely bullet-proof and so on and so forth. Like, Batman really really does not feel in any meaningful way like he is working at a disadvantage in this version of the story, and that just makes the whole thing so damn boring.

ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #1 fucking kicks ass. This was by kind of a wide margin the best issue of the three series debut issues. I think that unlike Batman and Superman who both have quite a lot of baggage tied into their backstories and supporting cast and so forth, Wonder Woman has never quite achieved the level of iconography as they have so there's almost more freedom to do something new without hitting a bunch of prescribed plot points. In fact she might be the one of the trinity who has had the most attempts to re-imagine her and spruce her up to get people interested. I recall back in 2010 they did a big shake up that was not too dissimilar to this new take on the character. What if she never grew up on Themyscira? What if she didn't have the favour of the gods, etc. And I really liked that one, so I guess it's no surprise I'd be fond of this new version as well.

I think the number one thing that hooked me on this issue is the artwork, tbh. It's my favourite style so far of the Absolute comics, and everything just looks so cool and big and epic and awesome. That's it. It's just cool as hell.

The next most important thing is it has much better pacing than the other issues. You get a very simple, very effective set-up. The Amazons have been punished by the gods so this baby is being raised in hell by a witch. That's it. Good, effective time lapse of her growing up interspersed within the action scenes of her fighting monsters. It's simple and to the point but still leaves me invested int he mystery and wanting to know more. And again, it did not feel the need to shoe-horn a bunch of characters in so you can do the soyjack point at the issue. They could have easily shoved Steve Trevor in there as one of the soldiers responding to the freaky monster pyramid but that would have just been lame. It's confident enough in itself to not have to try and get you with low hanging fruit.

I don't really have much else to say, it's just cool and good and I'm unequivocally excited for more.

ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #1 is a solid start. Now I'll admit I'm way more of a Superman-head than I am for Batman or Wonder Woman. This was the series that made me interested in the Absolute experiment in the first place, so I'm probably way more willing to be lenient towards a Superman title than say Batman.

That being said, this one also has like Batman, aspects I really like, and others I'm a bit iffy on, though not in as wide a gulf as Absolute Batman. As I said before, I've spent probably too much time trying to think of how to reinvent Superman in a modern context and, specifically, from a politically left-wing perspective, and I'll say that so far I think they're doing a decent job.

It's obviously nothing new to look at Superman as an immigrant story. Going all the way back to Siegel & Shuster, who were children of Jewish immigrants, the whole idea was what if this guy came from somewhere else. I think that the way that Jason Aaron has interpreted that concept for a modern context is actually quite brilliant. It's almost less of what if Superman was an immigrant than what if Superman was a refugee? Rather than unable to return to his homeland, but finding a new home with loving foster parents we are given the suggestion that he's never had a stable home since arriving on Earth. Moving from one place to another, nowhere to go home to, hiding among the economically exploited peoples of the global south.

It's such a riveting set up, I'm really excited to see how this version of the Character is informed by his history.

I also like the use of Krypton as kind of a heavy-handed double metaphor for stratified class society and the dangers of climate change. Like, it is presumably already dead and gone and unable to like, textually affect the story so who cares if it's allegorical nature is too on the nose. I also really like the notion of Kal El having like, living memory of Krypton, rather than only knowing about it from recordings on an alien flash drive or whatever.

I think the use of this "Lazarus" corporation as a kind of stand-in blanket evil corporation that does every kind of exploitative, extractive, broadly seen as morally wrong kinds of industries a bit hokey but hey it's a comic. I love the use of the Peacemakers as the like, corporate PMC security force though, that's fun. I am pretty curious if Lazarus is going to be a kind of fake-out Lexcorp. Like Luthor is the head of it but they called it by a different name so as not to ruin the surprise of his introduction. That or maybe it's related to Ras Al Ghul? Who knows, but I'm interested in what their whole deal is. They not only operate diamond mines and factory farms but also like, hunt down alien technology to reverse engineer?? And employ a Brainiac. curious as to what the deal is with the screaming jars. Does being shrunk down just like, really hurt? Seems like almost going overboard with the concept. Like not only does he shrink down cities and put them in jars but he also tortures the shrunken people? Like why, what's he getting out of it?

Some of the iffy parts for me include the suit AI thing he's got because I'm frankly sick of that trope by now. Ever since Iron man it's like every fucking character in comics has to have some kind of tech suit with a quirky robot voice. I'm willing to give it a chance on the grounds that it's like alien technology so sure whatever. I kind of like that he has to fucking charge the suit with a solar panel. I am curious about what exactly the breakdown is with the suit. He uses his x-ray and laser eyes so presumably it's still Kal himself who has super powers and they're not like, imbued by the suit. The suit seems like it is regulating his powers in some way. Like without it he couldn't control them and would cause havoc, but the fact that he has to like charge the suit's battery is kind of funny. Like, is the suit solar powered and his powers are just inherent no matter what, or does he still derive his power from sunlight as well? Fuzzy on the rules.

I also don't like the Lois reveal. It's just dull. Who care. The little teaser of Kent Farm is interesting to me. Feels like several different ways they could pivot:

Kal El's rocket lands and blows a hole in their barn, they find him and are frightened of him so they call the authorities/Lazarus and Kal flees.

Similar to above but they care for him like usual before Lazarus shows up looking for the alien craft and kill the Kents to remove any witnesses

Altogether it does enough things I'm interested in to keep me going with it despite the few quibbles I have. So far it's 2/3 on the Absolute universe and with the "phase 2" or whatever announced I'm 100% guaranteed also picking up Absolute Flash because it's my boy Wally and Jeff Lemire writing, like come the fuck on, how could I resist that.

[anonymous-existences]

Chapter 14 : Dismantling Red Tainted Walls

I almost forgot to post this here—

[12:35 𝐀𝐌, 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞-𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐎𝐕]

Dante stared out the windows of the Watchtower, his eyes subtly sparkling as he watches the stars twinkle from afar out In space.. "I wish Danny was here to see this." Dante mutters with a pained look. He covers his face with his hand and drags it down his face as he groans, visibly stressed.

"Hey, we'll find Danny Okay?" Jason Reassures his big teddy bear of a boyfriend by carresing his cheek and hugging his arm, he clasped his hand tightly as Jason made Dante look at him. "Just this time we don't have to be reckless.. we have to plan how to save him and all of you from these shitty fucking people." Jason comforts Dante, trying to become a speaker or Logical Reason for Dante's Disarray Family.

Dante nods and presses his forehead on Jason and Jason obliged. "We just need hope..." Jason mutters, "yes... Hope... Right....", Dante whispered back. They both heard Batman's Grunt to get their attention and both looked at him in sync.

Bruce walked inside the meeting room and Dante held Jason's hand as he walked to follow Batman. "Woah, who's that big man B?" Flash the speedster asks clearly taken aback by Dante's Large Size and his unexpected piercing crimson red eyes. "Ah... A speedster... Clockwork always hated you guys..." Dante mutters under his breathe. "Who is Clockwork?" Superman asks but Dante just takes a look at him and ignores his question. "Okay...— I suppose I am Invisible I guess—" Superman says with a sigh.

"Kronos's Granddaughter.." Dante says as he stared at Diana, Wonder Woman. "How do.. how did you know—?" Diana asks in wonder as he had not even introduced herself to this clearly unknowing strange "meta"-being. "I am the apprentice of your Grandfather, I suppose I'm like your uncle because of that." Dante casually says as he faces the screen and summoning a little chip that contains someone important.

"Wait Pardon? Kronos's Apprentice—??" Diana was in shock, perhaps even in distraught and confusion. "Not that it matters, he's changed anyways... No need to worry about the time bastard anymore." Dante chuckles as he inserted the chip in a lodge that Bruce allowed him to insert the "corrupted" files into.

"And Please Sir Martian Manhunter or J'onn J'onzz as you'd like to call yourself, no you cannot bypass my thoughts I have a built in automatic barrier on me at all times by the old "time is my bitch" Clockwork and yes I can read your mind back as well and I know you too is trying to dig something in me but I can assure you that it is VERY uncomfortable that you do so." Dante says as he prepares to summon someone from the screen. He did not spare anyone else a glance, he was in a rush but he needed to be careful with his next actions.

"I Apologize for my rude actions, I was simply being cautious and curious of what is going through your head." J'onn states and Dante understands his reasonings and nods. "Wait Kronos Hates me??" Flash suddenly speaks up. "You break timelines so much to the point he genuinely someday want to strangle you at one point." Dante groans as he was fixing some stuff with the chip.

"There..." Dante mutters as the chip finally does what it's supposed to do. Release Technus into this Burner PC.

"I HAVE so many questions as to who he is, howis he here and, why are we here." Superman states, "Brush off those Questions for later goody two shoes, you'll have more Questions soon enough after all of this.", Dante chuckles as he pulls out a summoning sigil and pressed it on the screen of the computer.

""Ｔ𝑒Ć𝓱𝐍ย丂. ⓗ𝑒𝑒𝓭 м𝔂 ⓒ𝐚ᒪᒪ." Dante says in Ghost-speak and the Sigil burned a bright Lazarus Green, the screen glitched for a moment before text lines itself on the screen.

"ɨ ǟʍ ȶɛƈɦռʊֆ! ȶɛƈɦռʊֆ ռɨӄօʟǟ— աɦǟȶ ɖօ ʏօʊ աǟռȶ ɖǟռȶɛ."

"Amity Park Files of GIW. They have Danny and we plan to prove to these people that The GIW are pieces of shit and that we're sentient HARMLESS beings 80% of the time but still." Dante sputters and glared at the screen. "PowerPoint it." He says one last time with a sigh as he leans on the wall.

The screen glitched out and a hand emerged. "A POWERPOINT I HEAR! HAHA! good good. I am best at that. That Tucker Foley Child has Taught me after all the importance of PRESENTATION!" Technus says as he fully emerge out of the screen. " As much as I hate all these people, I can tell that we are now desperate to find our little Prince! So I shall oblige with your demand and call!" Technus says with pride.

Technus touches the base of the Burner Screens and A PowerPoint appears, he dims the lights and it took the JL members aback because he's controlling the electricity and digital functions with ease. And how he is visible unlike DeadMan Boston which in Zatanna and Constantine's words. "Powerful Ghosts can have be seen by the naked Eye because of how powerful their presence is."

The chill in the room deepened a lot lower than before as Technus Talked about Ghosts and Culture. Amity Park, Basic Stuff until.

"But... The GIW Appeared, also known as the Ghost Investigation Ward, Called Guys in White by the Locals of Amity Park.

Horrid Monsters. More than Me to say the least to be honest! I don't experiment on children ghosts or not! Sure I attack sometimes but that's just as I said how ghosts communicate and play!" Technus says and continues on about how The GIW recently killed many children and People of Amity Park because of how they suspected they were Ecto-Contaminated. How they experimented on ghosts no matter the species or age. Dissecting and Looking for a core they can find without it being shattered inside the Body of the Ghost because of their resistance.

As Technus Went on and on about the GIW Superman couldn't help but feel horrified. MARTIAN Manhunter showed concern in his face, Diana was to say the least not very pleased and Bruce's Face remained stoic but deep inside anger stirred within him. Aquaman wanted to look away but he couldn't. Flash just covered his eyes and just listened to this and Green Lantern was Stunned.

I mean what kind of monsters would... Experiment on sentient living beings whilst they are Conscious? Especially children?? Sure... People like those exist but atleast they kill their victims first before continuing with those horrendous acts.

"Before I continue do any of you have any questions?" Superman raised his hand and Technus Nodded "why... Why has no one called the League if you all knew we existed...?" He asks nervously and Technus Laughed.

Not happily but sarcastically and Technus looked at Dante.

"Because the league always ignored our calls. At first the children were the one to call. That was the time ghosts started attacking the town and they thought the kids were joking.

The second time was when Amity Park was sucked into the Infinite Realms and they didn't heed our call. Ghosts and The People of Amity Park slowly gained this.. level of understanding and ghosts stopped attacking but the GIW still kept Attacking Ghosts.

The people tried to stop them and Yada Yada more stuff and now we're here!... Fun innit..?" Dante sighs as he eats a candy in exhaustion.

The JL members were horrified. The JL ignored their calls? What?... that's... When— "that's why we hate you all! But Right now we don't really have a choice now don't we? Our little Prince is the only person that's keeping me from killing everyone in this ship. And Dante's Lover but he's not the main character here." Technus laughed sarcastically. "I assume I've explained enough, and now if you'll excuse me I need to get back to fixing skulker's Metal Hunk of a Robotic Body." Technus says and Dante nods as he opens a portal Under Technus making Technus slowly but steadily lower down to the portal until he was no longer there.

The room turned back to normal and the chill was no longer haunting the room, although there were traces of frost trailing across the metal bolts of the Room and on the edges of the screens.

Jason Pats Dante's Shoulder "you did good." Jason says and Dante smiled and nods. This was the best they could do. "We need to save Danny first whilst also Dismantling the GIW... That is... If you want this world to still exist." Dante threatens and using Fright Knight's Deep Presence he sent a spine chilling fear induced aura to the League.

They looked at each other and nodded in unison once they turn their heads to Dante. Dante walked out of the room with Jason to let the League discuss what they want to do.

Dante rests his head on Jason's shoulder. "Ancients Spare Danny..." He mutters, exhausted from everything and the hours of discussion they have presented to the League.

[𝚂𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢, 𝚅𝚕𝚊𝚍 𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙲𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔]

"Why are you here again Clockwork..." Vlad mutters as he enters the living room and staring at clockwork who's drinking tea again, "Why? I can't see my favorite man?" Clockwork stood up and tapped on Vlad's Chin again teasingly.

"Wow... Very homosexual." Ellie mutters Behind Vlad., "am I getting a stepfather now?" Ellie says with a giggle and Vlad reddened and Clockwork looked like he was thinking.

"Hopefully!" Clockwork says happily, "I like your daddy after all." Clockwork licks his lips and sharp teeth and glanced at Vlad who wanted to melt on the spot.

"I like my Daddy too!" Ellie giggled and ran to Hug Clockwork, "mmm that's good little Ellie. Your future is bright... Happy and Stable." Clockwork says, his eyes fluttering gently at Ellie who he carries in his arms.

"Yay!" she celebrates enthusiastically.

<33 Little Side Stories now for the fun of it, next chapter might be a bit longer than here 👀 I'll make sure of it HEHEHEHAHAHAH.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball AF Lore

Last night I reblogged a thing about Xicor, the imaginary villain of Dragon Ball AF, the imaginary sequel to Dragon Ball GT. There were some cool responses to this, but I didn't want to reblog the entire post all over again, so I thought I'd carry the discussion over here.

@brotoman-exe : #so do they ever explain why Goku cheats on his wife in this set up?#(to be clear Im guessing it was likely a stolen dna Superman 4 thing just having fun)

My understanding was that the West Supreme Kai faked her death and then came back as a bad guy. She somehow obtained a DNA sample from Goku and used it to impregnate herself? The end result being that Xicor is the biological son of Goku and the West Supreme Kai, even though Goku himself had no idea of any of this.

Of course, it's impossible to cite sources on any of this, since I'm talking about made-up details from a made-up show. It's entirely possible that there are other versions of the AF legend where Goku cheated on his wife like a jerk.

What I always wanted to know was how the West Supreme Kai survived the fight with Kid Buu five million years ago, and why she laid low for so long.

But now that you've brought up Superman IV, I can't stop thinking about the raw chicken thigh Lex stuffed in that little lockbox. This is my new DBAF personal canon.

@scarabats123: #As someone who wasn't alive in 1994#let me tell you Xicor and AF was THRIVING in the 2000s up into the early 2010s#hell even now some people make nostalgic fanart of it#Everyone knew about Xicor and Evil Goku and that blue bald dude

It really is bizarre how long the AF mythos has persisted. I think Dragon Ball Super was the final nail in the coffin for any true believers that were still left, but by the time DBS came out AF had already established itself as this weird little thing in its own right. It's like Bigfoot. I think everyone knows it's not real and doesn't make a lot of sense, but the idea is too much fun to discard completely.

@mozillavulpix: definitely think there's a lot of information here that's wrong, but I wasn't in the fandom in the 1990s to confirm any of it But the one big thing is...I'm pretty sure 'Dragon Ball AF' was originally supposed to stand for 'April Fools'. Like at one point someone somewhere started the name just because it'd be hilarious to trick people into believing something with a name so obviously-fake if you were paying attention. But when people started believing it they came up with their own theories on what it meant. kanzenshuu also says the rumours probably only started around 2002-2003 https://www.kanzenshuu.com/rumor/dragon-ball-af/

There were some factual errors, but the one that stood out to me was the notion of Toyotaro creating Towa and Mira, since I'd always heard Toriyama created her for Dragon Ball Online. And I've heard of the Goku Black/Xicor parallels before, but I'm pretty sure that's more of a coincidence than anything else.

I also found the 1990s to be a little too early for AF rumors to really get started, so I went back to that Kanzenshuu article you linked to and read it again just to check. This time, I ran across the link to the message board discussion about the "SSJ5 Goku" image that seems to have started it all.

Apparently, this was all discovered back in 2012, but I don't think I ever heard about this until now. Someone found the "AF Goku" image in an issue of the magazine Hobby Consolas, cover dated May 1999.

It looks like the magazine just published reader-submitted fan art, and this particular one was credited to David Montiel Franco of Alicante, Spain. Forums member Raykugan published this information in February 2012, and then Derek Padula contacted the artist and published his findings on his blog "Dao of Dragon Ball".

David Montiel Franco, as it turns out, has his own blog, af-dragonball.blogspot.com, where he appears to be promoting his Dragon Ball AF fancomics. And apparently, the guy in the image is not Super Saiyan 5 Goku at all, but an OC named Tablos.

So it appears that the true original DBAF was a fanwork created by Franco prior to May 1999. Everyone else was building onto his creation whether they knew it or not. The alternative is that Franco is stealing the credit from the true artist, but that seems like a weird thing to still be holding onto after all these years. I mean, if he wanted clout, you'd think he'd do more self-promotion than this. By now, everyone would have heard of his claims to be the creator of AF. So I think he might be the real deal.

Anyway, it definitely ties DBAF to the year 1999, although I have a feeling the rumors didn't really pick up steam until 2002 or so, as U.S. fans became aware of a sequel series to Z and wondered what might follow after that. There may have been rumors in other countries that got earlier access to GT, and there were surely American fans in the 90's who knew more about GT before it was localized. But at least the concept of AF was around in the 90's, even if it was the tail end of the 90's, and even if it was very obscure.

But that's AF in general, not Xicor. I get the sense that Vintagegeekculture seemed to conflate Tablos with Xicor, and that's probably an understandable mistake to make, since Xicor was probably invented as a response to what was thought to be SSJ5 Goku. So Xicor must have come later, but how much later?

I guess what bugs me is that there ought to be someone who would claim credit for the character, the way Franco claimed to be the artist of the DBAF image. It's kind of fascinating how Xicor is out there and no one's trying to act like it was their idea.

[kaytheday]

Johnny's Killer (Part 2)

Part 1 Linked Here

“Pone, we talked about this, you gotta stop pushing him.” Darry says and Ponyboy rolls his eyes, his long hair flopping in his face. This has to be the hundredth time he’s heard this. “He’s been through things we can’t even imagine and we have to let him-”

“Let him come to us, huh Darry? Where has that gotten any of us?” Ponyboy is borderline yelling now, he’s so frustrated and unsure of how things got out of control so fast with Soda at dinner today. “He won’t tell us anything. Won’t tell us what’s botherin’ him. Won’t talk to me. He would always talk to me!” Pony yelps and Darry flinches. He never quite understood the bond that the two of them shared. It was never more obvious than now. 

“You know a lot of those guys come back messed up, we’re lucky-”

“Darry, no offense but I’ve heard all of this before. I’m just so goddamn sick of waiting for him. He doesn’t want to go to Johnny's grave? That’s fine, I wish he would just tell me why.” Ponyboy knew his brother better than anyone but in the days he’d gotten back from Vietnam, it had been very hard to read him. But Ponyboy had become awfully perceptive since the whole thing with Sandy when he was fourteen and he knew when something was off. Something was off with how Soda felt about Johnny and Ponyboy wanted to know why. 

“We’ve talked about this Ponyboy and I just don’t know what to tell you.” Pony waves his hand and tries to bite his tongue, if for Darry’s sake. 

“I know Darry. I just… He just can’t keep doing this.” 

“I know Pone. He’s gonna have to face it eventually and we’ll be with him every step of the way. We just can’t push him.” That gets Pony’s anger to spike. 

“When did you become such a goddamn flake?” Pony says, his tongue lashing. In the back of his mind, he knows he’s not really upset at Darry. “Let him come to us? You had no problem pushin’ me all the time. What’s different now? Huh?” Darry sighs, the exhaustion clear on his face. 

“Pone… It was different with you. I don’t… I don’t know how to deal with this.” 

“Just push him then! I just don’t understand-” He wants to say more, all the things he’s been thinking since Sodapop got back but the phone starts ringing and that usually doesn’t mean anything good for them. Darry gives him a look before standing and answering. 

“Hello?” His fingers curl around the phone cord and Ponyboy tries to calm down. “Everything will be okay though?” That gets Pony’s attention. Darry must catch his glance because he mouths Steve at him. “You think we should head over?” That’s when Pony moves next to Darry and stands. 

“Maybe at some point tonight, just to make sure he ain’t gonna…” Steve's voice comes through the garbled phone line. “You know, what happened last time.” 

“Okay, we can head over when we finish dinner.” 

“Y’all get in a fight or something? He seemed… dodgy.” Darry sighs and rubs his temples. 

“Something like that. We’ll be over though, have fun with Evie.” 

“Will do Superman.” The line goes dead and Darry hangs up the phone. 

“What’s going on?” 

“Soda’s alone at the apartment and Steve seemed worried.” Ponyboy can remember a time when none of them ever worried about Sodapop. It was like Darry always said, he was the one who used his head. None of them had to worry about him all that much. Vietnam had changed so much. 

“You don’t think it’s gonna be like last time, right?” Pony remembers how awful it was. Soda out of his mind on acid lying on the bathroom floor with blood flowing out of his wrists. Darry had tried to coax him into the car, but he had bucked and kicked with all his strength and nothing behind his eyes. It still scares Ponyboy how empty his eyes were. 

“I don’t know Pone. Something really set him off tonight.” Pony thought back to the fight and realized that Darry was right. Something could really be wrong. 

“We gotta go over there then. I don’t care how mad he is at me.” Ponyboy was thinking of the last time he’d talked to his parents. The argument over the chocolate frosting and why they’d left. He didn’t want the last thing he’d ever said to his brother to be a fight. He couldn’t take it. 

So the two walked out to the truck, all previous fighting forgotten as they drove to Steve and Soda’s apartment. 

“He’s gonna be fine, Pone.” Darry said, nearly reading his mind as they bounded up the steps to the apartment. Darry fished out the extra key from under the mat and they walked in. All the lights were off and the apartment was silent. There was a jug of chocolate milk left out on the counter. Ponyboy held his breath as the two made their way back to Soda’s bedroom.

“Soda? Hey buddy…” Darry tried to say softly as he opened the door to Soda’s room. There he was, lying on the floor on his back. Pony knew it immediately. Something was wrong. 

Sodapop Curtis had never been still a day in his life. Even in sleep, he was always moving. Fingers twitching, hair blowing, feet pacing, something. He was always moving. It probably kept him alive in Vietnam. It’s what let Pony know that something was terribly wrong now. 

Soda’s lips are blue, his chest unmoving as no breath escapes them. There is a thin line of saliva escaping the corner of his mouth. Pony thinks he might be sick. Darry jumps into action. 

“Pony, call an ambulance. Now!” Darry listens for his heart before beginning to pound on his chest in a CPR rhythm. Pony backs out of the room slowly, feeling frozen. 

The last thing we did was argue. The last thing we did was argue. The last thing we did-

“Pony! Go call an ambulance!” Pony broke into a run, trying to focus as his shaky fingers dialed 911. This was his fault, it had to be. 

This is my fault. The last thing I ever did was argue with my brother and I set him off somehow and I don’t know why but it’s my own fuc-

“911, what's your emergency?” 

“Hello! It’s my brother, he overdosed and we need help!” He answers their questions, rattling off the address and trying to listen to the false reassurances that they’ll have someone there in time. He goes back into Soda’s room where Darry is still pumping on his chest through gritted teeth. 

“Come on Soda.” He breaths. “Come on little buddy… you gotta be okay…��� 

“Ambulance on the way.” He says, his voice sounding weird in his own head. Soda hasn’t moved one inch, his sweaty hair splayed out on the dirty floor beneath him. Fear spikes in Pony’s chest and he wants to scream. 

“Come on…” Darry says, still in the rhythm. Suddenly, paramedics crowd in the room and start trying to take care of him. 

“Please help him.” Ponyboy says softly, though he’s sure nobody can hear him. 

“Alright sir, please stand out of the way while we work.” They’re talking to Darry who won't stop pounding on Sodapops chest… trying to save him. Darry had always saved them. Through his haze, Pony reaches forward and tries to pull Darry away. Still strong and heavy as a bull, Darry lets himself be pulled away. 

The paramedics manage to get Sodapop on a stretcher and they take him out, Darry and Ponyboy close on their heels. 

“Only one can ride in the ambulance.” The paramedic says. 

“You go.” Ponyboy says quickly, clapping Darry on the back. “I’ll drive the truck and meet you.” Darry just nods and runs in the back of the ambulance. Pony doesn’t think he could face it if he saw someone else in his life die. First Johnny and Dallas and then that kid at the party. Now this. His own brother, he couldn’t watch his own brother die too. Not after everything they’d been through. 

The drive to the hospital passes in such a flash that Ponyboy isn’t even sure he remembers it. Darry is standing in the hospital waiting room, his hands balling into fists before shaking out again. Over and over. He looks angry and Ponyboy can’t really blame him. First thing he does in the waiting room is wrap Ponyboy into a bear hug. Pony feels unsure of who really needs it but neither of them say anything before sitting down. 

“I’m sorry, this is all my fault.” Pony says softly, wrestling his hands in his lap.  

“What Pone?” Darry says, broken out of his staring match with the floor. “How the hell is this your fault?” 

“I’m the one that set him off.”

“Hate to tell ya this kid but Soda is gonna do what he’s gonna do. Ain’t none of it your fault.” 

“I just wish I knew what I said. I wish I knew what was wrong.”

“You and me both.” Darry says quietly. Pony has the sudden urge to put his hand overtop of Darrys, but his arm feels like lead and he can’t move it. 

Instead, he stares at the floor, feeling just like he does everytime he gets into a hospital waiting room. Ponyboy’s thinking about the last time they were here and he’s sure that Darry is too. 

“He ain’t suicidal. He was out of his mind on acid or PCP or something!” Darry tells the doctor as calmly as he can but Pony knows he’s as mad as he’s ever been. 

“We can’t be sure Mr. Curtis, that knife went deep enough to kill him. If this was on purpose-”

“It wasn’t!” Darry is nearly yelling. 

“All I am trying to say is that we can’t rule out the possibility of a suicide attempt. We are just going to keep a close eye on him and monitor through the night. Either way, he will likely need to seek help with someone in his V.A department or another third party. I’m sorry Darrel.” The doctor walks away as Darry turns back to Ponyboy. 

“He’s gonna be okay Ponyboy.” He puts a heavy hand on his shoulder. 

“What if it was on purpose Darry?” The question comes out in a shocked whisper. “What if he was trying to kill himself?” His voice sounds choked, even to him. 

“He wasn’t.” Darry assures. 

“But what if he was? What if he was trying to leave us after all that? After all he fought through to get back after Vietnam and he was just trying to throw it away?” 

“He wouldn’t.” 

“What if he did though?” Pony is crying now, unable to say more as he cries into his hands. Darrys arm is nothing more than a weight on his shoulder. Both the boys sit in the waiting room unsure if this was a freak drug-induced accident or Sodapop actually trying to say something. 

“It’s not like last time, little buddy.” Darry says to him softly, somehow able to read Ponyboy’s mind. Unless, he was remembering all the same things. 

“I know, it’s just hard to feel like it isn’t.” Ponyboy knows that Darry wants to say something else. Maybe reassure him again or talk through whatever the hell they just saw but Pony can’t take him staring anymore. 

“I need a smoke.” Darry lets him go and Ponyboy is thankful. He just needs a minute right now. 

Part 3 Linked Here!

[maxwell-grant]

People keep asking you about the Bat-villains, and I figured I might as well do something a bit different. So, I've oft heard it said that the best Rogue's Galleries in Big Two Cape Comics are (in no particular order) Batman, Spider-Man, The Flash, the FF, and Superman. Would you agree with that assessment? Which of the other four would you be interested in discussing?

Can't find much fault in that statement and I'm honestly down for discussing any of them as well as others (although I'm really not as read on Flash), last thing I'm in shortage of is thoughts regarding villains and rogues galleries. I'd say the one that's been most on my head the past weeks has been the Fantastic Four's rogues, because I recently finished a big readthrough of their major Waid/Millar/Hickman runs and am currently going through Secret Wars, so how these guys click and how they've been used over the years and how weirdly they are structured is something I've been thinking about a bit.

I say weird because the F4 rogues don't exactly lend themselves to the kind of multiple team-ups you see with Spidey and Batman, these guys all developed over the years into weird rulers of their own sub-divisions of the world. Even as far back as the Kirby/Lee era they've always had a pecking order in place, but they've never been too numerous or conductive to forming their own Sinister Sixes or Rogues or Revenge Squads. It's like even by rogues gallery standards, these guys are all freaks too powerful to be underestimated but too anti-social to form team-ups and so they are all kind of operating on different levels. They're not porous and easy-to-transplant like Spidey's villains, and they are not as defined by the biggest and most popular among them as you'd expect, they don't have that kind of monsters vs costumed shmucks dynamic you see more pointedly in Flash, rather they exist more like pieces on a map than a balance, and as a result they have very little overlap compared to the others.

Like, The Wizard may have started, for all intents and purposes, as a small-scale Doctor Doom to do stories you couldn't bring Doom without devaluing him, but The Frightful Four actually had a clutch of fairly impressive victories in the Lee/Kirby run, and The Wizard stuck around carving his own niche in the years since. Of course Doom rules the roost uncontested, but he is a character who's grown big enough to the point he's more of a supporting character/protagonist than the others, and where as Spidey and Batman have a ton of villains that keep losing space to The Joker or the Goblin or the Symbiotes and so on, The Thinker does not exist in the same length as the Puppet Master or the Skrulls, who don't occupy the same kind of alien menace role as the Inhumans or the Kree, neither of which overlaps with Annihilus and the Negative Zone, who is totally different from the other strange master of hidden armies Mole Man, and so on.

It never feels like these guys have to fight for space the way these other rogues do, they have their roles being their own unique kind of roadblocks to the adventure (in fact, when there was a literal war for space in Hickman's Four Cities arc, they called a meeting of the rogues gallery to try and solve the problem of multiversal Reeds pushing civilizations into duking it out, so they could get back to what really mattered: trying to destroy their Reed Richards). Most might not be very flexible characters, but they all have a place in the toolkit. And for the most part they don't really define the stories of the Fantastic Four as much as these others do and I think that works very nicely for them, they are very dependable guys to have around.

[detectivereads]

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures Vol 2 by CRC Payne & Starbite

10/5 (this is one of my favorite volumes)

This post is for fan entertainment, I’m not being paid.

Yay another Wayne Family Adventures volume; I was stoked when I saw this.

This volume shows us that the members of the family have their own anxieties, like Jason PTSD for what happen to him in “Death in the Family”.  Broke my heart when I saw he went into panic mode when he heard the scraping of metal on concrete that sent him back to the day he died.

One story showed Cass and her ability where she can read a person body language inside and outside of battle and she can’t stop it and seeing one of the girls being upset she ask what wrong and won’t take no for an answer.

I noticed in Vol 2 there were a lot more serious undertones in this one and, but it still had some humorous stories as well.  However, the more serious undertones that we faced in this volume was also that I liked, that these people that are so strong and funny, they have their own monsters to deal with, and all that change when they came to live with Bruce and fought alongside with family members.

I love the stories that had Batman and Bruce, those stories are way funnier than some of the others.

One story had Bruce recovering from a big fight and Alfred put him on strict bed rest and he has enlisted the other family members to help because you know Bruce will do everything, he can to get down to the Batcave. Bruce was even trying to bride Tim to get into the Bat cave. Now I know if any of the kids got injury Bruce will put the fear of the Bat into them if they budge from their bed. So, it’s nice that the kids and Alfred also dole out the same treatment to him.

However, I think one of the funniest chapters in this whole series is when Alfred is out of town, and the Wayne family must go out to a party, but Duke and Damian can’t remember how to tie a tie. Bruce tries to help but fails so he calls on the Justice Legue, but all the guys who wear ties keep failing to direct Bruce, and that’s when Wonder Woman comes into save the day.

But one of the best running gags that s running through series has to do with Tim. Tim keeps getting kidnapped by three guys and they are really bad at it and Red Hood comes in, talks to guys point out everything that they did wrong, but gives them some brownie points about picking their target well, and the proceeds to KO all of them while Tim escapes on his own.

One thing I did like was the ending chapter, while Bat family takes the night off for some family time. So, two individuals decided to step in. However, it ends with fighting and trying to call Bruce to figure out who is the best friend, Superman or Harley Quinn.

This is one of my favorite series of Batman I love to read. I would really recommend this to anyone who wants to read a new take on Batman.

[tobiasdrake]

Are you officially gone from TV Tropes? Haven't seen you on any of the forum threads for a while now.

I pop in from time to time to lurk on some threads, but I'm not actively following things there the way I used to. I've been focusing a lot on Tumblr lately.

But I've always had less online time in general lately, as these last couple months have involved a substantial amount of adulting.

I'm finding I enjoy the format of Tumblr a lot better than internet forums. There's less pressure to respond to people here. I can shoot opinions out into the wild and people can take or leave them as they will, and then everyone just moves on.

In a forum, everybody's in one room vying to duke it out with whoever spoke last. Everything has to be such a debate. Everybody's always competing to prove how smart they are and how right their position on whether Batman can beat up Superman is.

And I just. I don't have the mental space for that anymore. I haven't for years. I'm in my late thirties now; I don't want to fistfight someone in the Denny's parking lot over Spider-Man movies.

And I'm also just so tired of long, drawn-out arguments with people who clearly aren't reading what I'm saying, and just respond to the general idea of my point that they've heard from others. Then make me out to be the bad guy because they've made it into an argument and dragged it out for pages on end.

"Ugggh, there goes Drake answering questions and clarifying misinterpretations of what he was saying again. Why does he always have to drone on and on about this every time people keep pushing the topic back onto him? Why won't he just drop the topic we keep responding to him about?"

TvTropes is an echo chamber governed by mob consensus. They like to say that they're just... pro-positivity towards media. "We are a website for celebrating media," is the pitch. Threads that exist purely to complain about a piece of media are forbidden and the general belief is that if a fan and a critic are arguing, the critic is always wrong.

But that's a lie, because the forum has plenty of complaining threads. The Sonyverse thread exists purely so everyone can shit on the Sonyverse and talk about how dumb Sony is for ever thinking these films could work. And also conspiracy theories about Venom's success being fake.

In actuality, TvTropes is governed by mob rule. The community has an opinion consensus about a piece of media, and if you disagree with the consensus then you're wrong. You're not supposed to talk shit about the MCU in the MCU thread but you're also not supposed to defend the Sonyverse in the Sonyverse thread, and either of these positions will incite the furious mob. It's an echo chamber.

For a long time now, it's become my policy on TvTropes to just say my piece and then fuck off and not respond to whoever gets uppity about it. Just fire off an opinion and then bail. Because I don't want to fistfight you in the Denny's parking lot, and if I actually respond to questions being asked then I put a target on my back.

And that's just. Not any fun for me. I didn't like the movie. Seven pages of screeching at me about it isn't going to make me like the movie. That's kind of the thing about media discourse? Even if you have the facts on your side, you're never going to change someone's mind by vanquishing them in the Arena of Logic.

No one has ever gone, "Oh, you're right, Black Widow's death technically does not qualify as Women in Refrigerators because she had agency in it. The scene is therefore good now. My qualms have been quelled and I will now defend this movie with my life." At the end of the day, we're just using words to describe how the thing made us feel. You might outmaneuver my words in a clash of verbal blades. But my feelings live on. You cannot slay them in semantic jousting.

And I've long given up on trying.

This is where Debate Bros will say "Well, my goal isn't to convince YOU but to convince ALL OF THE PEOPLE WATCHING US," as if sharing opinions on whether Batman can beat up Superman carries the same cultural gravitas as a Presidential Debate.

I use media discourse the way other people use fanfic. To express the feelings and ideas that are burning in my brain and need an outlet, need to go somewhere. On TvTropes, that always has to turn into a fight, because everyone in a forum environment has to have opinions about everyone else's opinions and we're all expected to civilly scream at each other until the mob consensus has been formed and the Official TvTropes Opinion is reached.

But on Tumblr, I can just throw my opinions out into the wild. And if people like them, they'll get Notes and maybe even start doing numbers. And if people don't, then they'll just be left to the void of forgotten statements. Either way, I can move on with my life after saying it, you can move on with your life after reading it or not read it at all, and we can all just go do something else.

That's basically how I try to use TvT these days, but on Tumblr that's actually the culture. It's what's expected. And so I find myself drawn more and more to the calming void of Tumblr over the combative civility of TvTropes.

[suzukiblu]

WIP WEDNESDAY GAME

Slimmed-down post/rules, but originally taken from @kedreeva.

It’s WIP Wednesday! This week's theme is "incredibly intentional and deliberate baby acquisition" (aka, "gIVE ME BABY"). With perhaps a slightly loose definition of "baby", hahaha.

( I had so, so many options that fit this theme to pick between, lol. )

Here’s how it works:

I will post the filenames of five WIPs, and will also post a snippet of new content from one of them to get the ball rolling.

Send me an ask with the name of one of the listed WIPs and I will write you a minimum of three sentences in that WIP in response!

Multiple requests are fine, but I’d prefer if you sent them in separate asks. Just a little easier for me to fill them that way.

If you’re reading this, you’re invited!

WIP names:

Clark wakes up alive

congratulations, it's a metaweapon!

the Last Son of Krypton meets Hypertime Kon

YJ accidental baby acquisition

Clark panic-adopts his teenage clones

snippet from “Clark wakes up alive”:

The pod is empty, Clark can already see through the walls. But he can hear a familiar heartbeat, though it sounds a little . . . different, now. 

It’s been so, so long since he’s heard it, but even if he didn’t have the eidetic memory, he never could’ve forgotten it. That's Conner's heartbeat. 

His brother's heartbeat. 

But it's different, too. 

And the empty pod isn't the only thing he can see through the walls. 

“What’s the damn alarm about?” Desmond says irritably, not looking up from his work. Dubbilex doesn’t respond; Guardian shakes his head. 

“Security systems are reporting a breach, sir,” he says. “Multiple doors are broken, but no one’s been spotted on the cameras. And the readings say they all broke within . . . point five seconds of each other?”

Conner doesn’t say anything either. He just sits very, very still between them, his heartbeat thrumming with a quiet, restless anxiety. 

“Then lock the place down already!” Desmond snaps as he picks up a thin metal instrument with a sharp tip. Conner's heartbeat picks up.

“That will not be necessary,” Dubbilex informs them both, bland and neutral. “Superman has already let himself in.” 

“What?” Guardian says, sounding startled. 

“What?!” Desmond demands. 

Conner’s heartbeat stutters, and Clark can’t be anywhere but in that room. 

So he is, before Conner’s stuttered heartbeat has even settled, and then he’s looking at Desmond and far too many needles and medical instruments and Guardian who’s half-turning and Dubbilex who’s already facing his way and a few scattered G-nomes and G-trolls in assorted places here and there around the room and . . . Conner. 

But not Conner as Clark’s used to seeing him. 

Was used to seeing him, anyway. 

Desmond curses, and Guardian jerks in shock. Dubbilex looks unaffected. 

And the child sitting on the exam table in the center of the room stares up at Clark the exact same way a teenager once did: like he’s seeing the moon and sun and everything he thinks he’s supposed to be for the first time. Like he’s seeing something he’s waited and wanted to be. 

Hoped to be, maybe. 

And Clark . . . 

Clark handles it differently this time, just like he’s always wished he could've. 

“Hello,” he says kindly as he steps forward and ignores everyone else in the room to drop down into a crouch in front of the exam table and smile at Conner, who keeps staring at him mutely. “It’s nice to meet you."

[umbrellajam]

To my general hilarity and delight, I recently came across some of my old cape comics in a box of childhood things to be sorted.

I don't even remember most of these, lmao. I do remember we only ever had the most random assortment of one-off comic issues, gifted or given away by cousins usually. Interesting to see that most of them seem to be Image comics that I've definitely never heard of since getting back into cape comics, lol. I remember thinking things like, "why is this evil off-brand Superman vaporizing people???" and "why are there two weird off-brand Wolverines in this thing" and "why are there so many people dressed like they've been painted in chrome", etc.

We never had very many comics, truth be told; even if we were interested it was just too expensive of a hobby to keep up with, lol.

Sadly, none of the Death of Superman issues that I remember having seem to have survived; probably given away or tossed at some point. I think Death of Superman was the only time we actually managed to get our hands on more than a single issue of an ongoing storyline, haha.

But look what did survive!!

I had completely forgotten that I ever owned even a single Tim Drake comic as a kid, and even now I can only vaguely recall the cover with its shiny holographic card, and not anything about reading the story itself at the time.

This is so funny, I really thought finding the first trade of YJ '98 at the library was the first real time I'd encountered Tim, aside from BTAS. And maybe that one DC vs. Marvel crossover where he and Jubilee had their cute little romance; I can't remember how I stumbled across that one but I think it was before YJ.

But the really formative piece here is ❤️ROGUE #1❤️ 😍😍😍 Mannnnn I read that one so many times, thank god it's the only one that still has its plastic sleeve and is still in relatively good shape, lol.

I think it was actually the only comic my dad ever bought specifically for me. Because it was a girl (lol), but anyway who cares LOOK AT HER SHE'S SO BADASS.

The tragic backstory of her powers manifesting just as she kissed her high school crush for the first time, only to put him into a permanent coma, fully changed my brain chemistry. To have intimacy permanently associated with trauma and causing harm!! To have a living, comatose reminder that she visits and brings flowers to occasionally!! And then to have Remy fucking LeBeau, the most beautiful, charming, roguish man of all time, head over heels and pursuing her despite Rogue constantly pushing him away.... DELICIOUS.

Also. Now that I'm looking back on it. Bi awakening flags everywhere, lmao, look at this, she's glorious, I was obsessed:

ICONIC.

[frankendykes-monster]

Do you have a favorite super hero deconstruction series ie Watchmen, The Boys, Black Hammer?

Watchmen was a perennial favorite for the longest time (there was a period where I was doing annual re-reads of it) but it's sort of slipped for me through a combination of DC milking it (we're up to, what, four Watchmen adaptations at this point?) and the negative impact it had on the industry and readers. The former is easier to quantify because a significant chunk of creative talent decided "hm, the readers responded positively to this, I think going forward we should try and recapture that by having murder and rape be a consistent byline in our comics." The readers are a bit harder to nail down but you'll see people pretty consistently use Watchmen as their evidence to take down superhero comics as a concept/whole, even though Alan Moore (and Dave Gibbons) have stated that they did the book because they loved superheroes. I consistently point to Supreme as Alan Moore's best work, and its just as much a "deconstruction" as Watchmen is, but with the "love" on full display.

It's a bit hard to quantify what counts as a deconstruction or not for superheroes because Marvel (which, to be honest, Jack Kirby) unleashed the blitz not too long after DC had fully distilled the genre down to its purest form with the Silver Age at their respective company. As soon as you introduce the barest hint of reality (like Spider-Man's life sucking or Reed Richards being unable to cure Ben Grimm) you've already cracked the mirror, and sixty years later we've never returned to that Silver Age because superheroes becoming more analogous to reality has been a permanent fixture of superhero stories. Like people point out that The Boys and Invincible both got TV shows not too far apart from each other and both feature Superman stand-ins as homicidal maniacs, whilst at the same time the actual Superman is a homicidal maniac in the aftermath of Man of Steel (2013) and Injustice: Gods Among Us. Does it count as an Eric "he would not fucking say that" Cartman moment if it's the main version of the character being put out by the intellectual property holders? Or if you want to skew more broadly, both The Avengers (2012) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), the former being inarguably the most influential and impactful film of the 2010's, end with Iron Man genociding the opposition, no moral victory, you just hit harder than your opponents.

For what it's worth I tried reading two issues of The Boys before dropping it and I don't think I've ever heard of Black Hammer.

[lightningarmour]

ABSOLUTE UNIVERSE PHASE 2 First Impressions

I started out just ranting away my thoughts about DC's Absolute imprint not really intending anything with it but now I'm making it into a whole thing, apparently. Maybe it's because I'd been so checked out of DC comics (and superhero comics more broadly, tbh) for such a long time that this all provided such an enticing jumping on point where I'm actually kind of enjoying cape comics again (to varying degrees) and it's fun to talk about the things I think work and complain about the things that don't.

So since I'm All-In on the Absolute Universe[insert rim-shot], I figure why not give my initial thoughts on the debut issues of the second wave of Absolute comics too?

ABSOLUTE FLASH #1 Now I'm going to preface this by saying that The Flash is probably my all time favorite DC comics character, specifically Wally West as The Flash, I have read every single issue of The Flash Vol. 2 so when I heard that Absolute Flash was about Wally and being written by Jeff Lemire who is also one of my GOATS, I had no choice but to buy this and the chances of me loving it were incredible loaded.

So that being said, I liked it! For a first issue I think it does a decent job of setting up some intrigue and getting me hooked. I really like the decision to have Wally be our first for real Teen superhero of the Absolute Universe. Technically speaking it seems like Superman may have been low-key doing some superman shit for a number of years, part of which would have been happening while a teenager, but I digress.

It's a neat way of kind of recreating the character while acknowledging the entire history of the character. Classically, Wally gets powers as a child and becomes Kid-Flash, Barry Allen's sidekick and has a loving and supportive mentor-student relationship. I also like working Barry's death into his origin because such a major part of Wally's growth as a character over the years was climbing out from the shadow of the man he idolized so much.

So starting him off as a teen in this version is a nice call back of sorts to his origins, while obviously changing things up significantly, and I think in the event of an inevitable "Absolute Justice League" kind of crossover with the rest of the cast, having him be the youngest person presents a unique perspective in the bigger picture.

I love the teases of Gorilla city, and I'm interested in finding out more about Mirror Master and the rest of the new Rogues, though I will say I do not like that Captain Cold is hot. I get that Nick Robles is incapable of drawing men who aren't fuckable beefcakes, but Captain Cold should be ugly. Also, when I first saw some of the variant covers showing the new Flash costume I kind of didn't like it, but seeing Robles' design sheet for the outfit, I do kind of dig it. The jacket is good. I think it'll be an easy design for other artists to get wrong, but for now I'm excited to see where this goes.

ABSOLUTE MARTIAN MANHUNTER #1 I cannot say in complete honesty that Absolute Martian Manhunter is my favourite Absolute title because Wonder Woman is still much more my shit, but Manhunter is far and away the most interesting of all the series. It's doing much more than any of the rest of them both in terms of trying to do more than just tell a superhero story, and in just much more creative artistic ways with it's panelling and use of comics as a medium.

I said this about Wonder Woman in my previous reviews, and I think it applies even moreso for Manhunter, but the character has far less baggage than any other of the characters they're Absolute-ifying. Like, personally I have never read a single Martian Manhunter comic, and as far as I'm aware, he's not the kind of character that typically gets his own solo series and if he does they don't last. If he has a regular supporting cast of characters aside from Miss Martian I don't know their names.

Everything I know about Martian Manhunter is from the 00's Justice League cartoon and other animated movies or cartoons. Something along the lines of White and Green Martians had a civil war, he fled Mars, came to Earth and became a cop or something. He has like a million super powers but primarily shape-shifting and telepathy, but also he can like become intangible like Kitty Pryde or whatever? And his name is John/J'onn.

So given this lack of identifiable themes or traits or cast it makes sense that you can basically do whatever the hell you want with the character and take him in directions never before seen with a freedom you would not have with basically any other character so far. This decision to have the Martian consciousness as an "invading" presence is very interesting and makes this almost more of a horror comic in a sense. It certainly at this point could not be called a superhero comic which sets it apart from all it's contemporaries.

The other thing that makes it stand out is of course the artwork, the panel layouts and the clever use of the comic book as a medium for storytelling. Hard to describe honestly but as the issue progresses, the use of colours becomes not just visually interesting but even textually relevant. As John gets more and more detached from his reality or humanity, the more bizarre and psychedelic the layout of the artwork becomes, and the brilliant final double page of the comic is one of the most clever things I've seen in a long while and makes it really worth going out and getting a physical copy.

Overall I am probably more looking forward to the next issues of this than almost all the rest of them just because I have absolutely no idea where the hell they're going with it and it'll probably be a visual treat.

ABSOLUTE GREEN LANTERN #1 I got really into Green Lantern for a very brief period back in like 2008 when they first started introducing the other Lantern Corps and then by the time they did the Blackest Night event I lost interest again and haven't paid attention to Green Lantern since. All I know is that they've introduced like 4 or 5 new GL's into the already bloated cast of them and it all sounds very exhausting to keep up with.

It pains me to say it considering Al Ewing wrote the greatest comic series of all time, Immortal Hulk, but I think he's washed. There's basically nothing about this issue that hooked me, really. Like, there are individual elements I was kind of down with for a few moments but ultimately I just kind of don't care?

Like, okay how do we address the issue of there being a million Green Lanterns? Ensemble cast. Okay that's a choice. There have been like at least 4 or 5 different guys who have operated as "The Flash" but they decided to just go with Wally West as the titular character in Absolute Flash, you could have done so with GL. Which I suppose they kind of have since in the issue and all the cover artwork it's just Whats-her-face who seems to be the actual Green Lantern, though I'm not ruling out the possibility that they all will just get powered up eventually anyway.

The set up of "Arrival meets Under the Dome" is intriguing enough but I think the way the story is being framed kind of dispels the mystery for me. Like, the dome around the town is a neat idea but it's being presented in a flash-back after the fact so it's like, well whatever it is is already resolved so there's not much tension around finding a way out or anything. We already know the giant comical green lantern symbol has crushed that town.

Which I'm sorry but I cannot take that seriously. The page that depicts the Lantern battery having crushed all the buildings just looks silly. It would be like if a 50 foot long McDonald's M fell on a neighbourhood, it feels like a joke.

Hal being a like, architect/ebay memorabilia salesman is such a bizarre rebranding of the character that I honestly have no clue how it meaningfully makes him Hal Jordan. The Black Hand thing is again, kind of neat but like, idk. I bet he got it from alien bullshit. Doubt if the particulars really matter.

I had never encountered the newest Green Lantern so I looked up her wikipedia page and I'm sorry but you have got to be fucking kidding me with this. "After witnessing the 9/11 attacks, Jo was inspired to make a difference in the world, graduating valedictorian in her high school and joining the United States Army, and later the New York City Police Department. During her police career, she witnessed her partner beat a suspect nearly to death. Before being able to turn him in she was suddenly fired after being tagged in a Black Lives Matter Facebook post."

I know that if a certain corner of Tumblr finds this post I'm going to catch hate but this is the most nauseating example of market data based liberal pandering I have ever seen from a comic book. I am not an "anti-woke" reactionary who would say making a black woman Green Lantern is a crime. What I am saying is that this character is such an absurdist caricature of what publishing executives think appeals to young people while also trying to launder the image of the US Military and the idea that "good cops" exist. Absolutely miss me with this shit.

ANYWAY, this is the Absolute universe so maybe all that dumb shit about her character isn't present anyway except that they mention her being a cop. She shows up in the last page and on the cover with her skin all cracking open with Green energy shining out of her so presumably she has green lantern powers and all that, and maybe they manifest in a new way or something. I'm mostly disinterested and nothing set up in the first issue really grabs me or makes me excited to learn what is happening.

So to wrap up, much like with the first wave of Absolute titles, I'm enjoying 2/3 books, and as far as I'm aware they have not announced any further Absolute titles to come, so all that's left is to see where it's all headed. The astute reader may have realized that the chosen titles for the Absolute imprint are 6/7 of the original line-up of The Justice League, sans Aquaman of course and something tells me they aren't rushing to publish Absolute Aquaman any time soon. But that being the case, I'd be frankly shocked if this didn't all lead to an "Absolute Justice League" series of some sort whether it just ends up being a crossover event or limited series. I think, judging by the release schedule so far, DC is willing to commit some time to get these books off the ground, so I'm willing to bet we'll be at least 10 issues into each series before any serious cross over stuff starts happening. The first 3 books were all given 5-6 issues as an opening story arc to set the stage so I doubt if they'd want to suffocate these three by forcing a big crossover after they've barely gotten out of their opening storylines. I'll probably end up doing a similar follow-up as my last posts once each of Flash, Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern have reached 5 issues.