#barely appeared in the 70s and 80s

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Rebirth and the 2017 movie convinced a lot of people that you cannot do Wonder Woman stories without Steve Trevor there as her love interest, even though there's a good 45 years worth of WW comics with barely any Steve Trevor in them.

[nota-archive]

me drawing the portal gang as anthropomorphic cats implies that cave johnson was a huge furry

[hellotailor]

armand’s costumes are such an interesting data point re: his nebulous sense of identity.

when analyzing any costume, there are always many factors to consider: the setting, the character’s personal taste and economic constraints, storytelling concerns like tone and genre, etc. with armand, we also need to remember that he’s 500 years old and violently disconnected from his human origins. everything he wears has an element of disguise, selected to blend into a new environment.

armand was enslaved as a child in 16th century delhi, and barely remembers his mortal life. unlike louis - who can return to new orleans after 80 years and reconnect with his past - armand has no home to return to. his whole backstory, even his name, is rife with traumatic subtext, leaving him with an obsessive need for structure and control. this adds an extra layer of meaning to costuming choices that initially seem like straightforward menswear. 

armand’s 1940s wardrobe is very put-together - primarily three-piece suits and coats that make him look wealthier and more formal than louis, who is purposefully dressing down. most of these outfits are tailored to bulk up armand's frame, leaning into the "maitre" persona. and like his business-casual dubai wardrobe, he always leaves his collar open. when i interviewed costume designer carol cutshall, she described this as a symbolic power move, signalling that he's an apex predator who doesn't need to protect his throat.

my personal interpretation is that while armand clearly likes to look good, he has a complicated relationship with attractiveness. he doesn't always want to draw attention. his color palette is shadowy (black, grey, brown, olive green), and he’s much less flashy than the other Théâtre vamps. however when he’s feeling confident and flirty, he becomes more of a power-dresser - for instance his hunting outfit with the big coat and sunglasses, or his habit of wearing kohl.

interestingly, most of armand's 1940s costumes set him apart from the coven. the Théâtre vampires dress like cabaret performers, embracing a lot of period-specific styles. by contrast armand is more timeless and neutral. in fact, due to the relatively minor changes in men's suits over the past 100 years, there's a lot of overlap between his wardrobe in the 1940s, '70s and 2020s:

the rest of the Théâtre squad share an unofficial uniform of boldly clashing monochrome patterns with pops of bright color. meanwhile armand has a very plain wardrobe, emphasizing the image of him as a businesslike authority figure surrounded by zany artistes. he only wears subtle stripes on a few occasions in the '40s, reflecting the recurring prison motif we see in lestat's trial suit and (most famously) the dubai penthouse bedroom:

if we ask the question, "what does this person like to wear?" there are easy answers for lestat, louis and claudia. we understand their tastes, and the motives behind them. but armand is more enigmatic. we can recognize through-lines in his wardrobe, but his "taste" is dominated by whatever role he's currently decided to embody, whether that's a parisian theater director or a real estate mogul in dubai.

the times when he appears to have the most fun with clothing are when he steals a pair of sunglasses from his human dinner (!) and when he's pretending to be rashid. in other words, when he's explicitly performing for an audience. "real armand" is still a mystery.

(i may write more about armand's dubai wardrobe later, but for now, you can find all of my iwtv costumes posts on this tag!)

[mr-ys-phantasma]

🌙 Moon Phases 🌙

Agatha Harkness X Fem!Reader

Chapter 1. - Chapter 2. - Chapter 3

Chapter 4. - Chapter 5. - Chapter 6

Chapter 7. - Chapter 8. - Chapter 9

Chapter 10. - Chapter 11. - Chapter 12

Chapter 13. - Chapter 14

Word Count: 1652

Chapter 14:

It was not long before the next trial appeared in your path. Once again, it was a house, though different from the last one.

There was no beach, no sunset and no expensive vibe coming from it.

What was different, though, was the fact that Alice seemed to recognise it.

"Pass." She exclaimed, going as far as to take a few steps back.

You arched an eyebrow and looked at her, getting the feeling that there was something inside there she wished to avoid or worse, something she did not want to remember.

Something was telling you this would be her trial, her own fear, and personal test that they all had to pass if they wished to make it to the next trial.

Rio gasped in joy. "A mutiny already?" She asked rhetorically with a toothy grin that made you all uneasy... well, almost all.

Agatha sighed. "Alice."

Yet the witch refused to take a single step.

You turned to face her. "So, what's the plan, Alice?" You asked, trying to make her see that there was not not of an option left.

"Go back. Go around. Go anywhere but in that house." Was her answer, and she went as far as to try and walk back where you all came from.

Yet a few steps after, she gasped upon spotting the very same house blocking her way. It was becoming evident rather fast that the Road was not going to take a No for an answer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the end, the group walked towards the next trial; Alice trailing behind with hesitation.

Immediately, you took notice of the glass stained door; depicting a moon phase once again, in a rather favourable and deep red shade.

"Waxing moon." Lilia informed, her hand gently brushing over the protruding 3d stained glass.

"The fire phase." Teen exclaimed, earning a nod from the older witch.

You glanced at Alice, seeing her regretting everything and you were now even more certain this was her trial.

Of course, you could not help but be curious as to what kind of trial you were about to face.

"Okay." Agatha exclaimed and pushed the door open. "Come on. Don't drink anything. Don't eat anything. Don't touch anything... It feels like there's a story there."

The moment the door closed and trapped you inside, everyone dared to look at one another and then at themselves.

"Oh, check me out," Agatha said, passing her hands slowly above her rather revealing dark outfit that have 70s-80s rock ballad vibes.

You could not help but stare a little longer, your eyes unwillingly following her hands as you took in every curve of her body. Your gaze remained a little more on both the view of behind but also the very open cut of her cleavage and abdomen, barely covering her perked up chest.

Agatha caught your gaze and slowed down her hand movements on purpose, enjoying the reactions she was drawing from you. She was a killer in that outfit. She was not going to lie, and she loved how she practically enchanted you without even trying.

Eventually, she chose to tease you. "Lips closed, sugar. We don't want any flies going in"

This made you focus on her and realize you had been staring with your mouth slightly open, an embarrassing thing for you to admit. Clearing your throat, you averted your gaze towards yourself and prayed your cheeks had not blushed from being caught red-handed.

You took notice of your outfit, once again changed to fit whatever aesthetic the road seemed to have chosen for each trial.

Long gone were the shirts and pants, replaced by a 70s slightly more rock era for you.

You moved your legs faintly, feeling the leather pants stretching and wrapping around your legs, while you also had leather black knee length boots; already too much leather for your liking.

Two extravagant belts with fake diamond and huge buckles drew most of your attention, their shining effect perhaps being the most interesting thing on this outfit.

Unlike Agath and Rio, you were more modest this time. Your bright crop stopped after your ribcage, leaving only a small piece of skin to be shown between it and your high waist leather pants. No cleavage this time for you, the fabric stretching all the way to your neck.

The cherry to the top was not the four necklaces of various lengths hanging in front of you but your short leather jacket, ending to shiny armcuffs.

"Hmmm..." someone exclaimed, sounding like a faint approving moan. "Someone fits the role of a bad girl pretty well"

You glanced to the source of it, seeing Rio eyeing you up and down before licking her upper lip faintly.

Between your bad girl rock style and Agatha's revealing leather one, she definitely had the time of her life and was not trying to hide it either.

Agatha glanced at her above her shoulder, giving Rio a disapproving look but the green witch merely pulled an innocent face; as fake as her good personality.

"The Road changes for the coven." You reminded everyone, once you were all done checking each other out.

"The Road isn't subtle." Jen argued, and you nodded faintly.

Now with that out of the way, you all chose to explore the room and try to find a clue or instructions; like that fancy envelope with the Riddle found in the first trial.

You walked slowly, taking notice of the spacey interior that resembled a 70s-80s recording place or booth. The designs, the colours, and the fancy couches at the sides fit the vibe perfectly.

Of course, one should not fail to mention that the majority of colours found all around were in different shades of red; perhaps a tribute to the fire phase associated with your trial.

As you all spread to explore, you felt as if someone had followed you. Your suspicions were proven correct when Rio sneaked up behind you, her lips too close to your face.

"Why the sour face? Thought you would be happy to see me," she whispered in your ear.

Immediately, you looked around to see if anyone was watching you. The last thing you needed was for the coven to find you knew Rio, even if not that well.

There were enough tensions and mistrust as their was already no need to add more fuel to the already big fire; that threatened to escape and burn you all in the process.

You turned to face her, only to miscalculated how close your faces were. Subconsciously you took a step back, only to feel the base of a couch that threatened to trip you if you dared to continue.

"You should not be here, Rio," you hissed in a low tone, trying not to let her closeness intimidate you. "You don't belong in this road"

She seemed amused by your reaction and your futile attempt to try and stand your ground. She took a step closer, your knees brushing against one another, and she was so tempted to give you a little push; watch you fall on the couch, fully exposed and ready to be taken.

"You summoned me here" she reminded you, her smirk never leaving her tempting lips.

"We summoned a green witch. We both know you are far from it" you argued, doing your best not to let her affect you as your faces were closer than before.

Her dark eyes seemed to be locked to your moving lips a little longer, making it clear what kind of thoughts passed through her mind; or at least you hoped you knew.

"I can do both, no big deal," she replied smugly. "I feel you simply don't want me around Agatha"

You kept your chin up and took a deep breath. "If I say yes, will it change anything?"

She lifted her hand, and you did your best not to react to the movement or focus too much on the rather exposed cleavage too close into your personal space.

"Nope," Rio replied and spread her hand on your cheek, trying to reenact a soft and caring movement. "But you should cheer up. This is where the fun begins, " she grinned. "Let us see which one of us will keep her in the end"

You had been trying hard to fight the goosebumps her cold hand was causing you. The moment she brought up Agatha and the fact that you had to fight for her affection like some sort of game; you snapped.

You grabbed her wrist in a rather iron grip, your gaze darker than before. In a swift motion, you had switched places with her, and the force of the move sent her straight on the couch.

She laid on her side, surprised by your reaction and yet she chuckled; clearly enjoying this little game between you and her.

"Do not dare to play with her emotions, Rio. I don't care what past you two have, but I dare you to try and play with her feelings..." White magic sparked between your fingers, your threat passing loud and clear.

Rio took notice, remembering the rather unique and slightly annoying feeling your magic had on her. Never enough to truly harm her but it was a sign of how polar you two were.

Ironically, it was also the first step in you finding out who she was.

When Rio merely kept looking at you and with your anger still rising, you chose to walk away and hope she got the message. You had to keep a distance between you and her, or you were afraid something would happen; whether bad or good.

After all, the moon was not going to be full forever, and only the triple godess knew what would happen; if once again Rio influenced your darker side when it was at each peak.

Chapter 15

[natequarter]

concepts i think would be fun for a nuwho companion:

a historical companion. like a proper one. none of this wishy-washy victorian nonsense. give me a tudor carpenter. a twelfth-century byzantine soldier. a tenth-century arab scholar. something to sink my teeth into!!!

ok rant over. now i want a bog standard young woman from london type companion... from the 70s/80s. it would be an interesting point of reflection for doctor who i think

a time lord companion. initially pitched similarly to romana (only minus the whole bird on his head guardian nonsense), the same age as romana in her first appearance - only, as soon becomes clear, drastically different in character. this time lord, barely of legal age, is (or was) a cia agent and bears the scars of growing up during and after the time war. can the doctor get this cynical, traumatised child to realise they've been forced to grow up too fast?

a robot. or an android, whatever word you prefer. similar to nardole but like, more obviously a robot. their consciousness was originally a living human's, uploaded by accident after the human's death to a factory work robot. they have all the core elements of the human, but their personality is different - travelling with the doctor is an opportunity to process their severe identity issues

an alien historian. like properly alien. really interested in studying a niche period of earth history - perhaps one from our future, even

[ffverr]

hello I come to you with a request. I watched x men 97 recently and was saddened by how little time the whole magneto in charge of the x men storyline got and I know he does this longer in the comics (I can't say why but the phrase "its seven in the morning max..." lives rent free in my brain) so I wanted to ask if you have any recommendation for comics from that era / any recommendations for comics with mister magnet-os because I want to get into x men comics but comics as always are so daunting

It is my great pleasure to answer this!!

Disclaimer 1, I am still going through a lot of the issues of this era but I will try my best to make it as clear a guide as I can for you!

Disclaimer 2, Headmaster of the school and leader of the X-Men are quite different positions that they kind of fused together in the 97 show so I do want to make it clear that magneto in the "seven in the morning" era is headmaster of the school, teaching young kids, while Storm is leading the X-men team and Scott is leading the X-factor team, so with that said:

Magneto's teacher arc starts in uncanny X-Men issues 199 and 200 (iconic issues containing the trial of magneto that was adapted in the show!) And then he is headmaster of the school in the book "The new mutants" by Chris Clermont, from issue 35 to issue 75. It is A LOT I admit and he gets a more minor place considering the book is about the kickass young class of new mutants that he's teaching. But it is worth checking out! Many consider this to kind of be peak magneto because.... he's trying so hard to be a good teacher and to handle all these kids and it's very humanizing for him!

I mean look at him and his 8 kids!

Now, how to get into Magneto overall? Let's get into it:

I believe it is impossible to get into Magneto without reading his ultimate origin story, Magneto: Testament by Greg Pack. It is a quick intro, it barely features his powers (not an action comic) and it is a very very emotional read. I consider it essential magneto reading!

Next up: Two One shots if you want to get a quick primer on the character pre moral arc instead of sitting through his few appearances in the Stan Lee comics:

A classic one: X-Men: God Loves, Men Kills by Chris Claremont. It is an iconic comic book one shot that can be read out of continuity just to see what his deal is when he's not necessarily on the side of the X-Men but fighting for his own ideals! It's overall a brilliant comic book!

If you want a more recent retelling of the first appearances of magneto you HAVE to read X-Men Mythos that retells magneto's major first appearance in the 60s in quite a beautiful and amazing way! It also has an absolutely insane magneto scene that is very memorable! (So this would "chronologically" come before God loves men Kills)

Now for his switch from cartoon villain of the 60s/early 70s to complex guy in the 80s, read the issues 149 and 150 from the run Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont. This is THE pivotal moment for "good guy" Magneto

(know that after issue 150, somehow he falls in the ocean from asteroid M, is rescued from a shark attack by Scott's girlfriend Lee Forester. They have a quick relationship where he struggled with his change of morals then he comes to the new mutants)

if you want to continue chronologically you read the issues 199 and 200 that I recommended at the start then go to the new mutants book I talked about earlier!

If you want MORE MODERN comics, then I advise you get right into what's happening at the moment!

House of X powers of X are two series that intertwine (you'll easily find them in the right order) by the same writer, Jonathan hickman!

It serves as a status quo change/relaunch of the X-Men universe. Magneto plays a big part of the story as he is directly involved in building a mutant nation. I'd say it's a bold but quite functional intro to X-Men comics!

Then he appears as a major character in the GREAT series X-Men Red by Al Ewing alongside Storm, a character that meant a lot to him in the 80s, so it's really nice to see again.

In this he is- epic, depressed, suicidal, sassy, it's great magneto stuff! This series is widely regarded as the best X-Men comic out right now!

(if you want context for this book read the event X of Swords, or I could explain if interested)

That's about all I will lay on you ! If this is hella confusing, don't hesitate to dm me! I can detail more cleanly exactly what you have to read and when!

Good reading!

[undergroundbillions]

Raggedy Ann art style masterpost!

Sorry this is a long one, but I need to make examples! After over a hundred years, how Raggedy Ann is drawn in books and merchandise has changed a LOT, and I'm obsessed with identifying different eras of the art styles and how they're combined. These aren't all of them of course but here's a few major ones.

First off, the original Johnny Gruelle & Co. style. These are the books from her first appearance in 1918 to the late 40's, when she was now being drawn by Gruelle's family. Early on they look more like literal dolls, but as the years go on they look more lively and round.

We get different illustrators throughout the 40's to the 60's, but the little physical merchandise outside of the books continues to lean toward the Gruelle style.

In the 70's, Hallmark owns the licensing, and as expected they go ALL out on merch. This era is defined by childish proportions with large heads, big eyes, and a checkered-shirt Andy.

In 1977 we get the Raggedy Ann and Andy Musical Adventure movie! Here's the most commonly used promotional art:

But this barely gets a chance to exist on its own, because in next two years both Chuck Jones holiday specials are released. As a result, there's a whole lot of promotional stuff that combines these two styles in a very strange way. Often, Ann and Andy (and Arthur) are in the Chuck Jones style, with the title and Camel from the movie. Sometimes side characters from both pieces of media make it in!

In the late 80's, the CBS Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy show along with the corresponding Grow and Learn series of books are released, with a new art style:

It's similar to the 1977 movie again, but as if they re-designed it from that above promotional shot alone. They're very much stuck in the one shape, instead of squishing and stretching like rag dolls as they do in the movie.

In the 90's you have the Snowden Target collab, which is pretty easy to spot since it's the most blatantly red & green christmassy thing you've ever seen.

Aaaaand last (and maybe least) we have Simon & Schuster's Classic branding in the 2000's. These are recognizable by solid black eyes with no whites, having the exact same expression in every picture, and visible stitches.

I will release you from this Raggedy Ann prison now. Go forth and be free with your new unnecessary Raggedy Ann knowledge.

-𝕸𝖔𝖉 𝕲𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖗𝖆𝖑 𝕯.

[the-nado-hunter]

Random Hetalia character head cannons/hc histories and characterizations that float in my brain but I’ve never written down - starting with England, America and Germany since I’ve thought about them the most lol:

England:

- Was the reverse of Alfred where he actually physically and emotionally aged much slower than most nations. He was barely not a teenager when he first took in Alfred (and his other “kids” by extension) when he was not at all ready/had even fully matured himself.

- I have a hc that nations who “get too big” (meaning the territory under their name grows) they kind of lose themselves and get less distinct and coherent in their motivations and sometimes don’t feel themselves at all, too many voices in their head so to speak. Unfortunately Arthur “lost it” during a pivotal part of his relationship with his family, hence all his strained relationships.

- Once he took on those responsibilities he suddenly jumped in physical age a bit. So while Alfred sees him as being SO much older (calling him an old man) his time in the nation equivalence of life stages was uneven and all over the place.

- it wouldn’t be until the 60s/70s/80s that Arthur had the time and ability to “make up for lost time” hence his musical and punk phases. He finds himself in some ways.., also likely dissolves into addiction problems at the same time.

- In the modern era he still has many anger issues but he’s a lot more calm and sure of himself, however he’s got a built up emotional wall and a whole lot of hidden self hatred that’s going to take a long long time to resolve, and he isn’t quite there yet and tends to lash out and push people away rather than deal with things.

America:

- He was very sheltered by Arthur at first, he was kept out of almost everything for most of his early life. If Arthur wasn’t present (which he often wasn’t due to the two having vastly different understandings of the passing of time) there were people hired and cycled out to take care of him. He can’t help himself though, even if he’s being treated like a sheltered little prince he wants to go run free in the fields and get into shit. He’s basically a Disney princess in his early life is what I’m saying lol.

- reality hits him like a ton of bricks when he’s roughly looking/acting about 14-15. He realizes likely through being exposed to other nations starting to come in and managing to slip out to talk to people just how much has been hidden from him and the resentment grows. And he starts REALLY growing even faster.

- Despite all that he went full on into a “fight” coping mechanism and never stopped. He put on a “mask” at one point in his life and it hasn’t come off. He’s never really deeply dealt with anything so he progressively seems more and more obtuse and seemingly arrogant to overcompensate for not wanting to face any sort of pain.

- He’s deeply deeply lonely and desperately wants closeness and to open up- yet at the same time the idea of seeming “weak” or “vulnerable” is terrifying to him. Him and Arthur are more similar than they would like to admit with how they mask and push people away despite really REALLY needing love and closeness.

Germany:

- it depends on if you accept the “Germany is HRE” theory or not, but either way I tend to think they at least have the same body but might be different entities or ‘spirits’ so to speak. That being said I imagine Ludwig specifically not only was “born” into a body that was preexisting and therefore already past a decent part of childhood, I imagine that his body was at first incredibly weak, frail, and he was very sickly for quite some time.

- I’ve written a fic about this, but I personally hc Ludwig from about 6-15 years old in appearance being almost completely unable to walk and needing braces and assistance to get around. His brother obviously loves and cares about him, but Ludwig couldn’t help but feel frustrated and like a burden. He really does look up to his big brother and is worried about being weak and reliant on others for the rest of his life.

- Ludwig GETS his strength, and as soon as he’s able to walk on his on he becomes obsessed with being as strong and capable as he possibly can be. He wants to never have to rely on anyone again, feeling an odd sense of guilt for needing so much help.

- he’s, in the end… kind of socially inept. Gilbert isn’t exactly the pinnacle of a socialized man himself - So despite being mostly independent and capable he doesn’t really understand social situations, or how to understand himself and others. Feliciano is both jarring and someone I think he becomes interested in him because Feli is capable in something he never has been and really is teaching him a lot.

- Unfortunately Ludwig had in face overcompensated for his past feelings of being a burden he’s taken so much on and has become such a protector that he’s almost unable to set boundaries and say no to requests to take on extra work- malicious or not.

- we already know Ludwig tends to explode and bark directions at people, to me it’s always been a clear sign of how much stress he’s under- but he winds up just appearing scary and he once again takes on more responsibilities and feelings of “something must be wrong with me”.

- i think many in the fandom have joked about it but Ludwig to me is SO repressed and SO gay it’s not even funny

-I would expect poor Ludwig to hit a breaking point and have a nervous breakdown eventually, which I do want to write at some point, just gotta not procrastinate lol

[pluckyredhead]

We made it, you guys! I'm wrapping up my blitz through all the Fourth World canon. I've already covered the comics of the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, and the 00s, so now let's get into everything post-Flashpoint!

Wonder Woman (2011): I'll be honest: this series is Not Valid, and Orion only shows up as a supporting character for about a dozen issues, so I just skimmed his appearances rather than actually reading the whole volume. Anyway this version of Orion slaps Diana's ass and hits on her relentlessly and isn't even from Apokolips. Highfather is emotionally abusive. No one else from the Fourth World even shows up. Throw it all directly in the trash.

Infinity Man and the Forever People (2014): Genuinely who was asking for a New 52 book about the Forever People (the most optimistic of Kirby's creations) written by Dan DiDio (a man on the record as saying he wanted "to take the smile out of comics")? Shockingly, it's not as bad as I was bracing myself for. I mean, the lore changes are baffling (Darkseid and Highfather are brothers! the Infinity Man is Highfather's conscience and that's why New 52 Highfather's such a dick all the time! Big Bear is from Apokolips and has a secret, angrier face because he's like a bonus Orion now!). And the art rotates through four or five different artists and all of the issues not drawn by Tom Grummett are hideous. But mostly it's just very boring and pointless? Let's all ignore it forever.

Green Lantern/New Gods (2014): Hey, do you remember when Green Lantern was one of DC's most successful franchises and they were publishing five simultaneous GL-related ongoings and they oversaturated the market so badly they could barely keep one GL book going until recently? I'm not saying shit like this is what killed the goose that laid the golden egg, but...I'm not not saying that either. (No seriously, I am genuinely fascinated by whatever the fuck DC did to the Lanterns in the 2000s and 2010s as, like, a publishing cautionary tale, but that's a story for another post.)

This was a three-month crossover across all five GL books - Green Lantern (Hal's book), Green Lantern Corps (John's book), Green Lantern: New Guardians (Kyle's book), Red Lanterns (Guy's book), and Sinestro - plus a New Gods one shot and a GL annual. That's 17 issues that are meant to be read in order to follow the story, and then you can optionally also read the tie-in issues of Infinity Man and the Forever People, which makes a whopping total of 20 issues dedicated to this storyline.

So what was the plot of this grand saga? Uh...Highfather tries to steal all the rings of every Corps like he's the fucking Trix Rabbit or something. The end.

Yeah, it's a mystery what killed the GL publishing juggernaut. 🙄

(Side note: this crossover adds a brand new Original Character Do Not Steal who is from Apokolips and was raised by Highfather and has a Secret Rage Face. After Infinity Man and the Forever People also gave Big Bear a Secret Rage Face. STOP STEALING ORION'S SHIT. You don't need extra bonus Orions, Regular Orion is right there!)

Bug! The Adventures of Forager (2017): This is a very charming, very strange series that isn't in continuity (it was part of the Young Animal imprint) and doesn't really forward the plot of the New Gods in any way, but it's funny and enjoyable. Basically, Forager wakes up after his death in Cosmic Odyssey (29 years prior, for those keeping track) and goes on a time- and reality-hopping adventure in which he interacts with various characters Kirby wrote and drew for DC over the years (although oddly, very few New Gods). It's the sort of series that rewards the long-time comic book reader, but I still enjoyed it even though I was very aware I was missing references. I wouldn't recommend it if you're brand new to comics, though.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (2016): Orion's in a couple arcs of this run, and they're pretty fun. Orion's heart gets removed from his body and Kyle keeps him alive with a construct! Hal races Lightray! Orion helps the GLs fight a shit ton of Darkstars! There isn't much in the way of advancing New Gods Lore (TM) here, but this is a pretty good series in general. A fun time!

Mister Miracle (2017): Sigh.

You know, the frustrating thing about this series is that some aspects of it are really good. The art is superb. Some of the humor really lands. Funky Flashman as the Frees' nanny is an utter delight. (The bit where he retells the Galactus Trilogy as "Jake's story" is especially charming.) The subtler take on Granny and the way Scott is still wrestling with her abuse and his complicated feelings about her is heartbreaking. And the big twist, when Darkseid demands baby Jacob in exchange for peace, and Scott's agony over the decision, is utterly wrenching. It's such a good conflict to give Scott, to have him try to wrestle with the decision his own father made and what the right answer is. I even believe King read more than one issue of Mister Miracle (1971) to research this! I mean, he references the Lump. That's a pretty deep cut.

But it's all undercut by his decision to make Orion a villain. King's Orion isn't just brutal and wrongheaded, like some earlier writers have portrayed him - he's a vindictive sadist who craves power and enjoys humiliating someone who, in all previous canon, he eagerly embraced as a brother. He has elaborately cruel plans and enjoys making others know their place - Orion, who is historically as subtle and refined as a two-by-four to the head. He's out of character in basically every possible way.

But this isn't just me being like "How dare you get my blorbo wrong?!" (That's my reaction to King's depiction of Lightray as a simpering toady.) Making Orion a villain, as I have said many times at this point, betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the Fourth World's central concept, which is, like...not a hard concept to grok. The point of the baby swap isn't to see whether nature or nurture is stronger. It's that both babies grow up to be heroes. It's that good is stronger than evil. And if Orion isn't a hero, the whole thing falls apart. Instead, we get a bleak and fundamentally unbalanced take on the Fourth World that begins with a suicide attempt and ends with Scott resigning himself to a life from which he desperately wants to escape. And again, again, King's pessimism is mistaken for depth because someone else drew it real good.

Anyway I hate this comic, the end.

Justice League Odyssey (2018): The New Gods didn't really have a home base post-Flashpoint, which is why I'm covering so many books that aren't really New Gods books (Wonder Woman, the various GL books), because my crops are dying and I'm desperate for Orion to show up on his little scooter. Anyway this is actually first and foremost a Jessica Cruz book, which isn't really a complaint because I love her. Basically, Cyborg, Starfire, and Azrael (who is pretty OOC and also why is he here??? he doesn't know these people and he can't breathe in space?????) decide to go on an Illegal Space Adventure and Jessica tries to stop them and they all get swept up into an incredibly convoluted plan by Darkseid to turn everyone but Jessica into a NEW New God and take over the universe? Or maybe destroy it? UNCLEAR. Also the last time they all saw Darkseid he was a baby but now he's not anymore. How? UNCLEAR.

Darkseid kills Jessica but it doesn't take because she's the GOAT, but now he's taken control of Vic, Kori, and JPV, so Jessica has to team up with Orion, Blackfire, and Dex-Starr the Red Lantern cat to defeat Darkseid and rescue the others. Overall this book is so unrelentingly high stakes and cosmic that I kind of tuned out. After a while I just hit "we have to save the universe!!!" fatigue. But a huge part of the second half of the series is just Jessica yelling at Orion until he grumpily does what she tells him, and I truly could have read 40 more issues of that. I hope when it was all over he went and pouted at Lightray about how the Green Lantern was SO MEAN to him (he deserved it).

Verdict: Don't bother to read for New Gods continuity, do read if you love Jessica Cruz.

Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom (2021): This book reintroduces Shilo Norman to the post-Flashpoint universe as a celebrity superhero and escape artist who aggressively protects his secret identity, because his predecessor Thaddeus Brown, who is Black in this series (and presumably going forward), had a public identity and dealt with horrible racism from the public. But his mask is partially torn off when he's attacked by N'vir Free, the daughter of Scott and Barda Free - who Shilo has never heard of. While Shilo tries to figure out who the Frees are and why N'vir thinks he stole her father's legacy, he also discovers that Thaddeus was secretly his grandfather, and has to unpack all of his emotional hangups about his own identity and legacy.

This is a great book for the humans of Kirby's Mister Miracle and a terrible one for the New Gods. Scott and Barda are not only dead, but their memories have been erased from most people's minds. N'vir is an awful character with a stupid name, and also a fascist dictator, which is...a choice for Scott and Barda's kid. (I'm assuming all of this is either taking place in a different universe than the main DCU, or has been retconned away, because Barda is currently appearing in Birds of Prey and is perfectly fine. And perfectly perfect. Please read Birds of Prey.) Orion does show up for a bit and he's great here, but he doesn't remember Scott either, which hurt my heart.

But it's a great book for Shilo, who gets to be a complicated, endearing but flawed protagonist instead of a sidekick who tends to get forgotten for years at a time. I'm a bit torn on having him be related to Thaddeus, since I like the idea of Shilo becoming a hero on his own smarts and spunkiness rather than inheriting it, but it allows for some really beautiful themes about legacy and being proud of where you come from, so it suits the story really well. And Oberon is a delight the whole way through (as always). Overall a good book, but somewhat to the side of the overall New Gods saga.

THE END. We did it, you guys! Now DC please greenlight a new New Gods book, thank you.

(Actually it should be double length and reversible so when you hold it one way it's a New Gods book and when you flip it to the "back" cover it's a Mister Miracle book and the stories intertwine. Do you see the vision???)

[alpaca-clouds]

The thing that bugs me about Cazador

Allow me to ramble about a thing that really bugs me about Cazador and his character design.

Let me start out with the fact, that it is super iffy that Cazador is the one recognizable east asian character in the entire game. At least from what I came across. And, you know. It is iffy if you take a minority and make their only representation the "sadistic vampire who wants to sacrifice 7000 mostly white people to become a god". I hope I don't have to explain that.

And yes, technically speaking... yeah, Karlach is technically also East Asian. With just one problem: Her being red-skinned and having the make-up very much hides this fact. Like, I did not realize this until I saw the mod that removed the make-up from the companions.

But outside of the basic issue with the trope... Well, look. I do not think that the folks Larian were like: "Hehe, we will use this character to show how evil the Asians are!" or something like this. But the game very much shows that there was a lot of internalized biases. And be it just in the fact, that we barely come across non-white characters in the entire fucking game. All non-white characters are basically tokens.

And before someone comes in with: "Faerûn is based on medieval Europe!" First off: "Shut up." Second: Going by official DnD Lore Faerûn is a super diverse place, where you will find all sorts of Asian, Arab, and Black people. I mean, just look at the DnD movie, where they made an effort to have half of the cast be non-white. Like, the Faerûn that Larian depicts is basically the Faerûn of 3e, not 5e.

And then... Well, when it comes to Cazador, then there is the Early Access design.

Now, this is actually where WotC stepped in and was like: "Yeah, you cannot do this." Officially by explaining that elves do not have facial hair. But I do imagine that someone at WotC actually looked at this design and was like: "... Do they realize that this is Fu Manchu?"

Because yeah, this design is simply just Fu Manchu. And for those who are not aware: Fu Manchu is a character popular in pulp fiction of the early 20th century, that arose mostly from Yellow Peril stereotypes.

He was a Chinese magician, who was up to all sorts of evil schemes, which suspiciously often involved sacrificing white people (mostly white women) to evil gods or demons. He made appearances in all sorts of media back then, including movies (where he obviously was portrayed by white actors in yellowface) and some off-brand Sherlock Holmes novels that were not written by Doyle but other writers.

Fu Manchu was also what the original Mandarin in the Marvel Comics was based on.

This is one of the Renditions of Fu Manchu in one of those off-brand Sherlock Holmes stories.

And here is the earlier Mandarin design:

And, like, I am sorry. But that stuff leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Again, I do not really think that this stuff was done on purpose. My best guess is, that Cazador was either based on the Mandarin, or on some of the other "Chinese Magician" villains that some American Kung Fu movies put into their media in the 70s and 80s.

But I also think there was nobody at Larian who did any sort of sensitivity consulting when it came to the inclusion of non-white characters.

[mariaxxxxx]

Chapter 3- My future in gold and jade

Summary: To save your nation You are given as a bride to a sea god.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY/ Minors DNI, Angust, Hurt comfort, Sex, Apologies, Crying, Creampie, Passionate sex, virgin!reader, size difference, smut, soft!dom!, HEA, somnophille, slight degradation, duvious consent, pregnancy, arranged marriage, inexperienced reader, abortion commented, unprotected sex (don't do that wrap this thing), kidnapping, aftercare, curse words.

A/N: English is not my mother tongue. I apologize for any errors.

A/N: Reader is heavily implied to be Mexican but i tried to keep it as free to the imagination as possible

Curiosity: A friend asked me what period my story takes place in, well, although I didn't specify, it is very implicit that everything takes place in the colonial period. Namor obtains his queen (You) at least 200 years after burying his mother; As we know, our water daddy ages very slowly and he was around 70/80 years old when he said goodbye to his mother, but he had the appearance of a boy of no more than 13 years old. In my story he already has the appearance we know in the film, perhaps, with some small touches of subtle youth. The characters Namora and Attuma will not be present in this fic, as they were not born yet, I guarantee that later on the reader will have contact with the people who would become the great-grandparents of these iconic characters.

Work count: 1.020

Serie materialist

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

You could have a million lives, but it wouldn't be enough to describe the beauty of the man in front of you. Adorned in gold, jade and lazulite, with his modesty being covered by a white loincloth with checkered embroidery, in his beautiful nose a jade piercing and in his pointed ears earrings also decorated with green stone, his skin shone like liquid gold under the yellowish light from the cabin; the figure was so imposing that You believed you were in the presence of a God.

He smiled wide in her direction, exposing all his white, perfectly aligned teeth. He was standing in front of you, with an upright posture and hands clasped in front of his body. A beautiful body; You noticed. He wore nothing to cover his bare chest. You noticed that on his ankles there were two pairs of wings; just like his father had said.

“You’re even more beautiful up close.” He broke the silence.

"You speak my language." Although it wasn't his intention, his voice came out as a mere whisper. He seemed to have fun with it.

“I see they took very good care of You.” He gestured with his right arm as he spoke; indicating her figure covered in a beautiful dress and precious jewelry. His brain took a while to understand that the ‘‘they’’ he was referring to were the blue-skinned girls who had bathed and dressed him.

"Yes. They took very good care of me.” You said. “I feel like I should say thank you, but I don’t know how to do it.”

"Don't worry about that. I will tell them myself how pleased their queen is with the result.”

Queen, the word echoed in his mind. So he was a king? Were you his queen? Everything seemed so confusing to You. The information you were given proved useless at this point.

“I…” You started to speak, but the words slipped off your tongue. You knew what to say what to do what to think.

"You...?" he encouraged.

“What should I call him? I am your wife, but I know nothing about You.”

It seemed like the right question, because the man, The God, puffed out his chest and approached You. As he approached, You felt the wave of heat that his skin exuded.

“K’uk’ulkan. That’s what my people call me and that’s what my queen will call me.”

“K'uk'ulkan” You repeated the word quietly, testing the sound on your lips. The name was as beautiful as the one to whom it belonged.

“Come, sit next to me. I have a lot to tell you.”

The man was a talented storyteller and You were a curious listener. He told him how long ago his people were driven from their corn farms by white invaders; He explained how disease and genocide forced his people to look for alternative solutions to save themselves. It was a shaman, he said, who prayed to the God Chaac for an answer and the God responded. In a vision he was shown a plant, at the bottom of the sea, with sacred properties that would free the people from hunger and destruction.

His mother, his mother-in-law, refused to ingest the plant for fear of hurting the baby growing in her womb, but the Xama was convincing and she was promised that the seed growing in her womb would be the leader of this new nation. Then he, K'uk'ulkan, was born on prayers and salt water. With his ears pointed towards the stars and his feathered ankles, being able to breathe in and out of the water, he was given a throne when he was still just a few days old. His mother died at an advanced age and her body was buried on the surface, on the land from which she claimed to return.

“My mother is buried on the land where you belong. I cannot let his resting place be desecrated again by those colonizers.”

"I'm very sorry." You whispered. “It must have been painful to lose someone so important.”

“Don’t feel sorry for me, my queen. Use this deplorable feeling for those who deserve it. Those who invade taking what does not belong to them, those who deprive mothers of their children and wives of their husbands. What I will do to the invaders will be pitiful.”

“How should I thank the savior of my people?” You questioned, eyes shining in anticipation. You were his to play with, to mold; his destiny was ingrained between that man's fingers.

“Your father already did this for you the moment your hand was offered to me in marriage.” He paused. “A brave man, I admit. He gave his most precious possession to a stranger.”

You noticed a tone of irritation in his voice, as if the idea of You being handed over so easily was absurd.

“Desperate measures require desperate solutions. My father did what was necessary to protect his people and I don't blame him for that; What is a single life to save millions?”

He seemed proud of his words, proof of which was a huge smile that appeared on his lips.

“Sometimes, my queen, alternative measures can be taken that preserve a single life and the lives of millions.”

"I am a princess. And a princess's mission can never cease. I must serve my nation and its role to play, the hopes of my people I can never disappoint.” You said. “These words were whispered in my ears the moment I took my first breath of life and these are the words I repeated to myself when I was told that I would be handed over to a being that flies beneath the waves. I was afraid, I felt angry at my father and those who failed to protect me, but the lives of my people are much more important than my wishes.”

The man, her husband, leaned forward until his face was mere inches from hers. He placed his hand right on her cheek. You closed your eyes, enjoying that intimate and affectionate act.

“The gods sent a good queen to me.”

[haggishlyhagging]

During the '80s, mannequins set the beauty trends—and real women were expected to follow. The dummies were "coming to life," while the ladies were breathing anesthesia and going under the knife. The beauty industry promoted a "return to femininity" as if it were a revival of natural womanhood—a flowering of all those innate female qualities supposedly suppressed in the feminist '70s. Yet the "feminine" traits the industry celebrated most were grossly unnatural—and achieved with increasingly harsh, unhealthy, and punitive measures.

The beauty industry, of course, has never been an advocate of feminist aspirations. This is not to say that its promoters have a conscious political program against women's rights, just a commercial mandate to improve on the bottom line. And the formula the industry has counted on for many years—aggravating women's low self-esteem and high anxiety about a "feminine" appearance—has always served them well. (American women, according to surveys by the Kinsey Institute, have more negative feelings about their bodies than women in any other culture studied.) The beauty makers' motives aren't particularly thought out or deep. Their overwrought and incessant instructions to women are more mindless than programmatic; their frenetic noise generators create more static than substance. But even so, in the '80s the beauty industry belonged to the cultural loop that produced backlash feedback. Inevitably, publicists for the beauty companies would pick up on the warning signals circulating about the toll of women's equality, too—and amplify them for their own purposes.

"Is your face paying the price of success?" worried a 1988 Nivea skin cream ad, in which a business-suited woman with a briefcase rushes a child to day care and catches a glimpse of her career-pitted skin in a store window. If only she were less successful, her visage would be more radiant. "The impact of work stress . . . can play havoc with your complexion," Mademoiselle warned; it can cause "a bad case of dandruff," "an eventual loss of hair" and, worst of all, weight gain. Most at risk, the magazine claimed, are "high-achieving women," whose comely appearance can be ravaged by "executive stress." In ad after ad, the beauty industry hammered home its version of the backlash thesis: women's professional progress had downgraded their looks; equality had created worry lines and cellulite. This message was barely updated from a century earlier, when the late Victorian beauty press had warned women that their quest for higher education and employment was causing "a general lapse of attractiveness" and "spoiling complexions."

The beauty merchants incited fear about the cost of women's occupational success largely because they feared, rightly, that that success had cost them—in profits. Since the rise of the women's movement in the '70s, cosmetics and fragrance companies had suffered a decade of flat-to-declining sales, hair-product merchandisers had fallen into a prolonged slump, and hairdressers had watched helplessly as masses of female customers who were opting for simple low-cost cuts defected to discount unisex salons. In 1981, Revlon's earnings fell for the first time since 1968; by the following year, the company's profits had plunged a record 40 percent. The industry aimed to restore its own economic health by persuading women that they were the ailing patients—and professionalism their ailment. Beauty became medicalized as its lab-coated army of promoters, and real doctors, prescribed physician-endorsed potions, injections for the skin, chemical "treatments" for the hair, plastic surgery for virtually every inch of the torso. (One doctor even promised to reduce women's height by sawing their leg bones.) Physicians and hospital administrators, struggling with their own financial difficulties, joined the industry in this campaign. Dermatologists faced with a shrinking teen market switched from treating adolescent pimples to "curing" adult female wrinkles. Gynecologists and obstetricians frustrated with a sluggish birthrate and skyrocketing malpractice premiums traded their forceps for liposuction scrapers. Hospitals facing revenue shortfalls opened cosmetic-surgery divisions and sponsored extreme and costly liquid-protein diet programs.

The beauty industry may seem the most superficial of the cultural institutions participating in the backlash, but its impact on women was, in many respects, the most intimately destructive—to both female bodies and minds. Following the orders of the '80s beauty doctors made many women literally ill. Antiwrinkle treatments exposed them to carcinogens. Acid face peels burned their skin. Silicone injections left painful deformities. "Cosmetic" liposuction caused severe complications, infections, and even death. Internalized, the decade's beauty dictates played a role in exacerbating an epidemic of eating disorders. And the beauty industry helped to deepen the psychic isolation that so many women felt in the '80s, by reinforcing the representation of women's problems as purely personal ills, unrelated to social pressures and curable only to the degree that the individual woman succeeded in fitting the universal standard—by physically changing herself.

-Susan Faludi, Backlash: the Undeclared War Against American Women

[lineli225]

MHA IS / NOT / ENDING IN 2024

Ok so, MHA is definitely having at least more 50 chapters at the very minimum.

MHA is weekly, and 2024 will have only 52 weeks, so that plus breaks, if it has 50 chapters, knowing Hori takes at least a break a month, it'd need around 65 or 70 weeks to be completed.

So it can't end in 2024, maybe MHA will end around February or March 2025... Perhaps even June!

But why I think so?

The final war arc started on chapter 343, so the current arc has 66 chapters.

This final arc is the longest arc in the series, as Hori's arcs got progressively longer each new arc, the longest arcs being 24, 41 and 54, from the first big arc, it basically doubled in size, it can double again.

But i think of the traitor arc as part of the final war, starting with the Sns chapter, which is chapter 329

So to me the final arc has 80 chapters so far to put it simple.

Also Hori wouldn't just cut the end dry, I can easily see a last, short, epilogue arc showing what happened after and all the changes in society and everything.

MHA won't end in more 15 chapters, we still haven't seen: Aizawa/Mic/Kurogiri, Sero's role, the tie up to Toga and Ochako, Hawks being the light of hope, Spinner's demise, seeing what talk Compress had with the heroes, Hisashi finally appearing(hori did promise it!), Hori did mention Class 2-A briefly showing up, tie the quirk singularity theory plot, AFO finally inserting his quirk factor on Tomura, AND finally, Tomura vs Izuku.

Tomura vs Izuku is probably not being quick, giving they are the main characters, and the grand finale, the greatest mess and also what needs more focus, In these 60+ chapters of this arc so far, izuku barely showed up, you can't have a 80 chapters only arc and your MAIN CHARACTER show up just 5 or so!!!

Considering Hori made almost 50 chapters of ONLY people fighting AFO and other stuff, I'm confident we will have at MINIMUM some 15 chapters of ONLY Shigaraki vs Izuku, he is saving these two for last, so I'm confident it won't be that fast AT ALL!

Honestly, I won't be surprised if MHA have more 70 chapters left, I can easily see this arc being over 150 chapters, like, come on, Hori didn't take his sweet sweet time only to half ass rush the most important part! Hori won't rush now that he toke so much care to build up the climax

Honestly i personally think MHA might even reach 460/480 chapters total, I wont be surprised if we reach 500 chapters either! (Each volume have 12 chapters, so MHA ending with a total of 47 or 48 volumes. )

Like- there is way TOO MUCH to be seen! The final arc is only on the half way but already been 80 chapters so far! And we haven't even got to the main fight!!!

Anyways, mark my words

MHA is ending in middle 2025.

Update/Edit: Just realized MHA will have only 33 chapters released this year and only 2 volumes

First chapter of 2023 was 377- the chain thus far

33 chapters of only fighting AFO, togachako and tododabi

Even If MHA have only more 15 chaps it'll still take half a whole year 😭 MHA IS SO NOT ENDING TILL 2025

[alterundying]

Sometimes you are going through an article and something so silly in it pops up that you question the validity of everything else in that article.

Such was my experience today. Oh yeah, this is a nerd fight but no hate to anyone involved, mistakes happen.

So What did I read? Someone actually said Zatanna Zatara is a rip-off of the Scarlet Witch.

Okay so let's start unpacking this, let's take a look at the article itself.

Okay, so this is a very aggressive start, DC and Marvel have a history of taking ideas from one another, including a whole team in Marvel that are basically a parody of the Justice League.

So I come in this article to number 12.

Special Note: I tried to find this article not on my phone, but it isn't easily found on the website's desktop page. So what does this say about Zatanna?

This is an interesting way of saying she makes things happen by saying them backwards, which seems a little misleading. At this point, one might give the benefit of the doubt and say the writer just isn't that familiar with the character.

The way this article is structured it's likely attempting to take Zatanna's base description and make her sound like the Scarlet Witch. So time to do some unpacking. Talking about Homo Magi sounds like they are comparing Zatanna being a Homo Magi to Wanda being a Mutant. These two were introduced in the 60s. According to the Superfriends Wiki the concept of Homo Magi was introduced to comics in the 80s.

So Zatanna being a Homo Magi can't be a rip-off of Wanda being a mutant. Now maybe the implication is that because Zatanna has the same powers as her father it's the same as Wanda having her powers from being a mutant and Magneto being her father. This is very odd since inheriting traits from someone's parents seems like a pretty broad concept and not one that could be considered a rip-off.

But I will admit I am unable to confirm Wanda is the originator of the trope of a child inheriting superpowers from a parent in comics.

Next, we have the implied claim that being able to use mystical powers is what Zatanna is taking from Wanda, but this is an odd claim since when Wanda first showed up in comics her powers weren't magic-based, they were probability manipulation. Mutant powers, not magic.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about when Wanda's powers became magic.

So Wanda's Powers likely became magical in the 70s, remember these two debuted in the 60s.

But the Article does keep going on about these two, so what does it say?

Okay, so, the claims. Hypnotic Beauty? What Comic Book woman in the 60s wasn't beautiful? Ma Hunkel existed in the 30s so I am not going to discount it, Maybe it's something about their costumes or character designs being similar? Of course, the claim is that Zatanna is a Rip-off of Wanda so we need to look at what they looked at in their orinal costumes.

So Scarlet Witch has a head piece, and Zatanna has a tophat. Scarlet Witch has a cape, Zatanna does not. Wanda has opera gloves, Zatanna has bare hands. Scarlet Witch is wearing a full-body leopard in pink, while Zatanna has fishnets. These two costumes have more differences but just look at these two designs. MAYBE you can point out they both have black curly hair, but most pictures I see of Wanda's first appearance have her with brown-red hair, NOT black.

So the next claim is them having a Dramatic Flair. Now I think there is a much more logical reason for Zatanna having a Dramatic flair.

Zatanna is a stage magician, a literal performer.

Her not having a Dramatic Flair would be extremely odd. But where did Zatanna's inspiration come from?

Her father Giovanni Zatara who is a Golden Age character. His first appearance was in Action Comics #1 (June 1938), which means he predates the Scarlet Witch by 26 years.

She has the same powers as him, she is a stage performer like him. Her look mimics his, but with a feminine flair a stage performer would have.

Maybe I am too much of a comics nerd, but I believe calling Zatanna a Scarlet Witch rip-off really undermines Zatanna's impact as a legacy hero who has surpassed her father in the public consciousness.

And the conversation about comic companies wanting to get their own versions of various titles is really interesting so it's sad to see it handled this poorly.

There is speculation the original Doom Patrol was created because DC Comics wanted their own Fantastic Four, and rumours are that the X-Men were created because of leaked information about what Doom Patrol would be.

From what I understand, The Fantastic Four was originally based on horror Comics and concepts, making them a body horror comic.

The Fantastic Four is one of the first comics to tackle superpowers as disabilities, with Doom Patrol picking up the concept and making it more blatant. The X-men then took this concept making it about marginalization and disability.

Anyways this massive rant is over I hope you enjoyed this nerd fight.

[randomvarious]

Today's mix:

Fuse Presents Hell by Hell 2000 House / Techno / Deep House / Electro / New Wave

Goddamn, man, I'm not gonna say outright that this mix in particular is the greatest shit in the world—although it's pretty close!—but the ethos behind it certainly represents what has ultimately led to some of the most astonishing sets that we've ever had the pleasure of witnessing as a species. There's this late 70s-and-80s-rooted spirit that's equal parts unpredictable and eclectic, in which the overall route of the set doesn't feel pre-planned at all, because the DJ takes risks by linking tracks together that you yourself would never expect to hear in succession. The overall journey from point A to point B that you get taken on is one that's long and winding and full of surprises, and the DJ themselves doesn't really have any particular destination in mind to begin with either, because the perpetual question that's always most immediately on their mind is, "hmm, what banger do I want to play next? 🤔"

And I feel like this flying-by-the-seat-of-its-pants approach to DJing has largely faded from the limelight and has gradually been replaced by either the DJ who specializes in one specific dance subgenre that's in one specific range of BPMs for a whole set, or the DJ who just plays mindless EDM claptrap from a pre-loaded USB stick 😒. All of it's so safe and hermetically sealed shut. Where's the danger, the fun, and variety of it all?

See, what you really have to understand here is that there was no place on the planet that was more sonically diverse than your typical late 70s and 80s dancefloor. House, freestyle, synthpop, disco, hi-NRG, pop, post-disco, art punk, art rock, art pop, electro, hip hop, funk, boogie, post-punk, new wave, dance-pop, dancehall, two-tone ska, glam rock, sophisti-pop, soul, alternative dance, R&B, etc., etc., etc., all had the potential to be played at any given moment during a set, and the ultimate job of the DJ was to craft a breathtaking sonic collage out of any of it.

And that's exactly what Germany's DJ Hell channeled here with this commercial mix from 2000 for the second ever installment in Belgian club Fuse's own series. But what's more is that while Hell was deriving his inspiration from an attitude of a bygone era, he also happened to have about an extra decade of music at his disposal that his spiritual predecessors didn't. And the 90s ended up seeing a mega-expansion on the frontiers of electronic and dance music entirely, so while Hell certainly picks out his classics from super popular acts like Donna Summer and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, on here you're also gonna find stuff from contemporary dance legends like Todd Terry and Carl Craig, different flavors of rock from Tuxedomoon, Sparks, and the Flying Lizards, Brazilian-sampled techno from Andrew McLauchlan, and deep house from Bougie Soliterre. In reality, almost none of this track list makes any lick of sense on paper, but that's the inherent beauty of the whole thing, folks! Once you put it on and get a taste of Orange Lemon's (Todd Terry's) "Extended Club Mix" of "The Texican," you really start to get a feel for the vision that's been laid out here, and it's one that's mindbendingly motley, and more in the vein of how a lot of old DJ sets used to be!

The best DJs to me are the ones who appear to be doing it purely off the dome and are just living right in the moment while barely thinking ahead. They know how to wow a crowd with a memorable blend of classics, a contemporary hit, and obscurities from any decade, place, or genre, but they make adjustments if and when they feel the need to as well. And above all else, they possess an uncanny ability to play songs that you don't see coming—or that you never even knew existed in the first place—while also convincing you that the choice they made is one that's both thrilling and logically sound. It's a tough act to balance, like a halftime gimmick who rides a unicycle and spins plates on a long rod that sits on their chin while also juggling bowling pins, but DJ Hell is someone who clearly has the knack for it and puts it on full display here.

The world could always use more of this kind of DJing in it, especially when so many of us now have access to more music than we know what to do with that's all sitting right at our fingertips.

And by the way, I didn't really get into specific tracks with this post here, but "Desire," by 69, which is just a nice alias that was used by Carl Craig, is one of the most stunning combinations of string synth and drum break that I think I've ever heard in my life. Good lord, what a tune that is! 🤯

Listen to the full mix here.

Highlights:

Speedy J - "Evolution" Ché - "The Incident (Wet Dream Mix)" Orange Lemon - "The Texican (Extended Club Mix)" Liaisons Dangereuses - "Avant-Après Mars" Tuxedomoon - "What Use" 69 - "Desire" Mitsu - "Shylight" Donna Summer - "I Feel Love (Patrick Cowley Megamix)" Sparks - "Beat the Clock" Phuture - "Rise From Your Grave (Wake Side)" Foremost Poets - "Pressin On" Bougie Soliterre - "Superficial (Main Vocal Mix)" G Strings - "The Land of Dreams" Frankie Goes to Hollywood - "Two Tribes (Annihilator Mix)" Dopplereffekt - "Rocket Scientist" Andrew Mc Laughlan - "Love Story" Filippo "Naughty" Moscatello - "Disco Volante" The Flying Lizards - "Steam Away"

[southern-god1]

I waited in line, my back aching and my bare feet tired. Ahead of me and in a long trail behind me, other captured Yankees were all chained together by the shackles around our necks, being slowly led into the processing center.

When the New Confederacy took over, I surrendered myself to the Southern Enforcers. They said the fate given to those who surrendered would be more lenient, but I still didn't know if it was true. I had just been bundled up in a prison wagon, my belongings confiscated, and taken to this processing center where I had been waiting for hours, slowly walking forward.

Finally, my time came to enter. One of the Enforcers, a muscular man in cowboy boots and a stetson, cracked his whip and made me kneel before the Confederate flag, before allowing me to proceed. I stepped forward, and as the door ahead opened, I could see there was only one slave in front of me now. The chain that previously had many ended at him. He was a tall, somewhat handsome man, and I thought I recognised him as one of the rebel soldiers before the war ended.

He stepped up onto a platform while I watched, and an Enforcer pulled a large lever beside him. A digital display appeared, showing a wheel that spun rapidly. Next to it, a counter read 'REBEL TENDENCIES. SCORE-50'. Eventually the wheel stopped on 48, and the Enforcer chuckled.

"Shucks boy", the cowboy said. "Negative score means y'all don't even get the honor of being something useful. Lessee what the board says", he said in a deep Southern drawl. After a moment, the display turned red, and showed the words 'CONFEDERATE FOOT DIRT'.

The Enforcer whooped with delight and slapped his leg, then pulled off his boots and peeled down his socks to reveal his large, rough and powerful feet. He moved in front of the slave, and propped up his feet in front of him. After a moment, the podium began to glow. The slave ahead of me squirmed and gasped, and I watched in horror as his body began to change. He crumbled, his flesh turning darker and grimier, his body starting to stink of a smell I was familiar with, the smell of sweaty, dirty Confederate feet.

As he crumbled into dirt, he was drawn up against the Enforcer's feet, his dissolving body pulled up as if by static. I saw his face squirm in discomfort before he collapsed completely, and then as the light faded, there was only the barefoot Confederate, his soles now caked with dark grime. He slid his boots back on, and tugged the chain forward so that I was now the one on the podium.

The display above me began to spin. Next to it was the words "SURRENDERED WILLINGLY. RECOGNISES CONFEDERATE SUPERIORITY. WORSHIPS SOUTHERN ENFORCERS. SCORE +20". I tried to hide my humiliation, but I could see the Enforcer looking at the words, then glancing at me with a smug and arrogant smile.

My final score was 35. I was unsure if this was high or low. I didn't even pay much attention. I was too focused on the words being displayed.

CHEWING TOBACCO.

The light beamed down on me, and the taste of nicotine and rich, thick tobacco filled my mouth. The smell of it overpowered me, and I felt my body darkening, feeling dry and crumbly. My insides felt tight, and when I tried to speak, tobacco dripped from my lips.

Something surrounded me, a wall of metal. It pressed down on me, compressing me and crushing me. The feeling was overwhelming, the sense of my crumbling limbs being pressed together, my face falling apart into dark tobacco, my entire self being squished down into a small round tin, and sealed.

As I was trapped in the darkness, I had no way of knowing the Enforcer had just picked my tin up. From now on I would be nothing but an enjoyable pick-me-up for my superiors.

Woah! That was awesome! The descriptions, the foot dirt, the tobacco! Honestly, the spinning wheel reminded me of a game show! Not sure what scores would be needed for a Yankee to retain their humanity, maybe in the 70s or 80s?

Never considered the idea of reducing a Yankee to foot dirt!

Damn, that was awesome! Fantastic work anon, thank y’all!