#blackball comics

[tomoleary]

Simon Bisley Blackball Comics #1 (1994) Source

[evilhorse]

Trencher X-Mas Bites Holiday Blow-Out house ad circa October 1993

[comicarthistory]

Monster Massacre Special #1 cover. 1993. Art by Simon Bisley.

[pinkrangerv]

Okay no, Zordon not having junk is just because this dipfuck tried to genocide. He doesn't have junk for the same reason no sane person would put Hitler's junk in a comic: It might be funny, it might be horny, but dear god you will get fired the second someone notices and you will never get employment again.

*Sigh* Okay, MMPR #122 is out and once again, I only care about TWO things:

My Bulk and Skull crumbs are opening up more helpful things--even though I would rather die than have Taylor so much as touch Bulk (STAY AWAY FROM HIM) and Skull's type has a double entendre that I do not appreciate (stop trying to make him horny for Zelya, I am not kidding).

And hey, what do you know, THEY CAN FIGHT. ISN'T THAT USEFUL RIGHT NOW???

Interdimensional and time traveling rangers~ I spotted DT Tommy and Gold Jason~

Of course, those are only the things I CARE about. There is the additional bonus of:

Once more, we get the reality that Zordon and other Eltarian's probably have internal junk, because he NEVER wears clothes in these situations. So...nudity probably isn't a big issue for them?

And Billy broke the timestream. Great.

[astroboyanalysis]

5. The Third Magician

STOP! YOURE MAKING HIM SELF CONSCIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

Well this is just fucked

OH FUCK THIS IS THE ONE THING YOURE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO AS A MAGICIAN!!!!!!!!!! About to get blackballed by the magicians guild

Well no wonder he keeps revealing his secrets hes not supposed to lie. thats like, the main thing magicians do.

Ok I'm gonna be honest I think a human would also be concerned about this

Number 3 on my Top 5 things to say to get kids to REALLY want to investigate the house right here.

Kenichi like breathes and Atom is like screaming because it was so loud

Again just appreciate how straightforwardly evil this is

Tezuka had a lot of fun drawing these panels I can tell. It reads like a wheres waldo page.

Really great way to consolidate all the paintings into several easy to transport vans so they can get stolen easier.

Ok I do gotta hand it to Tawashi this is a great hiding spot

On my "'Tis" and "Indeed" bullshit yet again

First calves vs. boots mistake(s) I've spotted since Plant People, but it's possible I missed one in Deadcross. All panels leading up to this have boots, he loses them for 3 panels, then they come back.

I want to stress again that calves vs. boots does not matter. I just like pointing it out.

Okay embarassment may be a little harsh

I hate him but he is pretty relateable. Me trying to escape problems as well.

This type of thing is common at the police agency (as we'll see) and Atom overhearing it is Also fairly common. I can't say its not relatable to have heard people say things they believed were behind closed doors about like. Your humanity and human rights.

Anyway, Ochanomizu is not likely to react well to you asking for that change but feel free to go for it I guess.

Actually so badass.

Atom's very unprepared for a debate like this, and clearly Tawashi is embarrassed he's been caught in being a bigot who pretends not to be one.

This interaction is bringing forward like, memories of the way Blue Knight's (2003 specifically) logical and straightforward but passionate approach was really clear to me as a kid. It was like, so simple that to go against it would immediately make someone look bad. They would have to admit the core conceit that they did not think robots deserved rights, nor did they deserve to Leave or be properly compensated - and from there, it's a different conversation.

This Atom, in this moment, just doesn't have any idea of what strategies to use, what to say, what to do. It's sad! And it's overwhelming. No wonder he's about to cry and resorts to "You're being mean!"

For anyone, myself included, who has been put in this situation while wholly unprepared to advocate for their own rights, this scene might hit pretty hard. Or maybe I'm just not normal about the comic book.

This would just be really scary and humiliating and upsetting. For anyone. I'm glad he has someone like Ochanomizu who can support him and guide him through it, but in an ideal world he wouldn't have to go through it at all.

Then again, ideal worlds don't make the best stories, do they?

I do love these moments when the roles are reversed from what we've seen before, and Ochanomizu is Protecting Atom from something he can't fight (human bigotry) instead of Atom protecting Ochanomizu from a more direct physical threat.

This whole portion of the story just makes my heart ache a little

Here we see a completely peaceful demonstration by robots to defend an ambiguous existing law that allows robots to act autonomously.

Atom's conceit here is that "If we offend the humans now, it'll only make things worse!" does not work - They will make things worse if the robots do nothing. Should they not at least show that they disagree? That they don't want to go down quietly? The human police are attacking a peaceful protest.

This is all stuff we're plenty familiar with. Atom's idealism is the same as liberalism in many ways. Go out and vote, don't disrupt the way things are. It allows the status quo to go almost entirely unchallenged, and all that needs to happen is a workaround for some votes. A system rarely actually listens to its most vulnerable.

This is the angriest we've seen him yet in the omnibus order. "Maybe I'm not in the mood to listen!" speaks to some righteous anger we rarely see from him - he's sick of always listening, always being patient. This is the way he knows to enact change. Fighting and punching work. When fighting and punching are out of the question, he feels helpless.

FUUUUCK YES DOGGY POLICE CARS FUCK YES ITS EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm biased but I do especially love how this was interpreted for Astro 2003. That said I can't find an image online immediately so everyone that's reading this please join me in imagining the 2003 dog cars.

...

It's great, right?

Oh good thing there's only one big place for us to check huh?

To be continued in a reblog. For reasons.

[mctyndall-blog]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Trencher Comic Book Lot May 1993, , June 1993 & XMAS Bites Holiday.

[omercifulheaves]

John Pain Art by Kevin O’Neill

[thefailurecult]

[feraltuxedo]

Good Omens Fic Recs: Actor/Celebrity AU

It's been a while since my last AU recommendations post, (you can check out my previous ones here), so I thought I'd rave a little about some favourite actor/celeb AUs.

It's a compelling trope with many storytelling possibilities, and one I love reading over and over again.

There are so many good ones in this category that I'm sure there will be a part 2 to this post at some point.

South Downs by summerofspock Rating: E Words: 48707 Summary: Blackballed from the industry ten years ago, Anthony Crowley jumps at the chance to star in a new Regency romance miniseries with well-known gay actor Aziraphale Fell in the hopes that it will help him restart his career. The trouble is, Crowley has played all sorts of characters and for the life of him, he can't figure out why he's struggling to play the romantic lead opposite a man.

An absolute comfort read I return to over and over again. I love the characterisation of Crowley in particular, his impulsivity and the way he interacts with those around him. Tonally this hits the sweet spot between funny and dramatic, with a good dose of smut and just a sprinkle of angst.

Boyfriend Debut by snae_b Rating: E Words: 20045 Summary: It’s fucking on camera. It’s not that complicated.

Does a porn AU count? Well, I say it does. It takes a skilled writer to pull off a multichapter story with little actual plot, no drama or angst, no major obstacles for the protagonists except to have mindblowing sex on camera and subsequently fall in love. When I tell you just how compelling this one is, you'll just have to believe me, or find out for yourselves. An absolute delight from start to finish.

That Gay Pirate Show by TawnyOwl95 Rating: E Words: 28946 Summary: If anyone had ever been in any doubt about where the relationship between Captains Angel and Bentley was going, Newt's stage direction ended them. 'If these two weren’t on opposite sides', he'd written, 'and seperated by a sword they’d be fucking each other into the deck right now.' No one was going to argue with that. Least of all the actors playing them.

I loved this despite not having watched that gay pirate show. The author manages to create such a three-dimensional world. The chemistry between Aziraphale and Crowley is so good, so much pining on and off set, and the side characters are so three-dimensional and fun, this feels like a novel squeezed into a short story.

How to Win a Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to Television (and how not to) by GaryOldman Rating: T Words: 31481 Crowley hosts a late night comedy talk show. Aziraphale hosts a feel good morning talk show. When Crowley is asked to present Aziraphale with a lifetime achievement award, everything goes a bit skew-whiff. ----- Normally when I don’t get something that everyone else seems to be mad on my first point of call is the wonderful world of the internet, but we’ve had a falling out you see, the internet and I. Despite my many years as late night show host meets investigative journalist meets comic genius meets veritable sex god (though Wikipedia only acknowledges the first of these accomplishments, despite my many attempts at editing the listing) they have turned on me. I’m a gif. And a meme.

Probably my favourite first-person fic ever, where the POV really enhances the story and characterisation. Crowley as a chaotic night-time TV show host is so much fun, and the whole story is so well thought-out, funny, and cleverly written, it really is unique among celebrity AUs.

[wonderlandleighleigh]

Could you make one of the "public" reacting to the Lenny/Midge relationship?

Or maybe Penny Pann seeing them and judging 😅

COMEDY AND CUPID?

by L Roy Dunham

Dear readers, it seems that our city's most tasteless comic has found herself a man.

That's right. Mrs. Maisel - she of the unfunny punchline and former burlesque MC duties, now currently in-house comic for Gordon Ford - has found a new romance with one Lenny Bruce. They were spotted walking hand-in-hand in Midtown a few nights ago, and even sharing what looked to be a rather steamy embrace.

Are we really surprised? Mrs. Maisel got her start opening for Bruce at the Gaslight when Sophie Lennon had tried to blackball her from the local clubs (a valiant endeavor). They've been popping up at each other's shows for a number of years at this point. It was only a matter of time before the relationship went public.

With her shiny new television spot and his run at Carnegie Hall followed by his Chicago charges being dropped, it's no wonder the two are now being a little less conspicuous about a relationship that has likely being going on for a while.

So what does this all mean?

Likely that she truly did get her start by opening for Bruce in a number of different ways. Certainly that comedy for Maisel has been a mere husband hunt.

And seemingly, she's found one.

Good for you, Mrs. Maisel. May you remarry, and go back to your Jell-O molds, never to grace our comedy clubs again.

The New Feminine School of Comedy, Jewishness and the Art of Minding One's Own Business

By Lenny Bruce

I suppose I can press pause on my history of comedy and the modern sense of humor series to address some things. Right? That's allowed. Sure.

Yes, I am seeing a very funny lady that I have known for a number of years. We have been friends for a while, and things have progressed into romance. They do that from time to time. It's fairly common actually, for consenting adults to one day look at someone they like or admire or even care for and think "Oh. It's you."

It even happens to us celebrities.

Let's get down to it:

Now, Timmy. When a man and a woman love each other very much -

Wait, wrong lecture.

Right.

This paper has printed quite a few articles about how unfunny Midge Maisel is. Her humor is not for everyone, I suppose. It's very feminine, which is a brand of comedy a lot of people just aren't used to yet. It's a new concept for women to go on stage at a smoky club and talk the way men do about their lives. Men have done it for decades, of course, but women are expected to stay in their home kitchens (god forbid they set foot in professional ones, right?), raise their children and die shortly after their husbands do.

But Midge Maisel decided to do something different with the very real pain of being left by a self-centered husband with two children and no job.

She got on a stage and she talked about how much it stinks.

How dare she! Trying things that men do. What nerve. What gall.

Maisel's brand of humor is also very Jewish. She is a Jewish woman who was raised in a Jewish community who is raising her own children in a Jewish community. And I wonder if these hit pieces that the Daily News sees fit to print are veiled attempts at antisemitism. It certainly feels that way sometimes. We are, after all, very easy targets. I bet you can find a few nice old men in Argentina who can confirm that fact.

As a Jew myself, I can tell you that I am deeply aware when I read something that feels strange; when you know you are being singled out because you are Other. Some of these articles feel that way. It's unsettling.

In regards to my relationship with Midge Maisel, that's really no one's business but ours. I suppose if you must pass judgement on two divorced people making a go at something new, you may, but it won't change anything. She makes me laugh. She makes me very happy. I like to think I do those things for her. Ain't love grand?

As a point of order, this will be the only time I address my love life in these articles. Next time, I promise: none of you will have to bother reading anything like this again. Next time, I'll just call my lawyer.

He won't mind hearing from me for a sixth time this week. We've become pals, you know?

Next week, we'll be looking at the concept of The Fool in a historical context and how it bleeds into our modern sensibilities.

Until then, readers.

[fridayisbestday]

(A Kiss 1, 2 & 3- pls listen to the song before, while or after reading it)

"You sure you wanna do this?" Susie asked for the last time, the two now standing in front of his door. "Drunk?" She conformed. Midge answered by banging on the door.

After a few painful seconds the door opened, and there he was, in an undershirt and blue and green plaid pyjama bottoms. “Did it mean anything to you? Any of it?” Midge gazed into his eyes, “Miami? At the Wolford? The raid?” She paused, “The blue room?”

The world grew still for a second, frozen in time, she saw her own reflection in his eyes.

He looked down to the side, “Midge, I’m sorry.” He whispered.

“Look me in the eye and say that all of it meant nothing, and I’ll never speak to you ever again.” Her hand balled into a fist by her side, her nails digging into her palm, it was her only solace. To express the pain she felt without showing him.

“It’ll be like nothing ever happened between us, we were never friends, never anything more." She clarified, “Like we," Her breath hitched, "we never met in that cop cruiser.”

His face shifted from apologetic to expressionless, his eyes held still, she saw his chest raise then fall. Please don’t, please don't break my heart, she silently begged.

"Midge, I'm-" His voice downed in shame.

“Susie," She called, her voice almost a whisper, "Dinah gave us the wrong address.”

“Miriam.” Susie's hand reached for her tight fist, holding onto her pinky.

“Or we came to the wrong address.” Midge eyes began to fog up. “Because the Lenny I know," She paused, "my Lenny would never, he would never…”

He barked out a mirthless laugh, "Your Lenny? Midge, do tell me. What would your Lenny do? Huh? HUH?" He hid his sadness and guilt behind his anger as he continued, "The one you put on a fucking pedestal, elaborate for me. WHAT WOULD HE NEVER DO?"

"HE WOULD NEVER HURT ME SO CARELESSLY!"

"The one who handed me my ass on the biggest night of his entire career when I was fucking up my own, 'cause it would break his fucking heart if I blew it." She began to list.

"The one who let me, a comic who was insignificant to open for him, when I was blackballed, his only request was that I changed my name."

"The one who told me that I, no matter all my fuck ups was more important to him than God!"

"SO WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

"Midge, it's not that fucking simple." He tried to explain.

"Fine. Then, let's make it simple. A simple yes or no question." She calmly replied, "Did it mean anything to you?"

“Midge- I- it meant- everything meant- it all meant-” It was like all the words he wanted to say were constantly sucked into a blackhole, never to be known or found, just stretched or morphed, as he scrambled to find another one. And another one. And another one.

"Was it all to just…” She couldn't say it, “Was it really nothing more than just…” She couldn't finish the question. There were no words, or too many words to describe what they had, what they did in that very blue room.

But finally settling with, “Midge, I’m sorry.”

Was that all he had to say? A measly, "I'm sorry." Something her 3 year old daughter would say after being caught eating a cookie before dinner. Something her 6 year old son would say after getting grass stains on his trousers from playing with his friends.

“Ok.” She breathed, she held Susie’s hand and pulls on it slightly before turning to walk away, but her friend stayed put.

Susie's face darkened as she muttered under her breath, the corridor was quiet enough for her insult to be heard. “You cruel fucking bastard.”

“Susie, let’s go.” Midge called, but her voice held no confidence, it was weak. It angered her friend even more.

“No!" Susie shouted, scolding Midge, “Fuck you! You wrinkled piece of shit! You made her fall in love with you! Then you go and say that she should forget about you?!”

“I-” Lenny tried to speak, but Susie cut him off.

“Of all the shit I know you can get off of in that junkie apartment of yours, you chose to get off on this shit? You’re gonna tell her that all of that, everything you’ve ever done, everything, was to fucking bed her?!”

Midge looked at the floor as though ashamed, ashamed for being so naive, so gullible, so embarrassed that she didn't see it.

‘Don't pick a weak man.’ She heard her father voice echo in her head.

Lenny pinch the bridge of his nose, “Susie, let me explain-”

“No! You've had your fucking chance. You cruel vindictive asshole!” Susie stepped closer towards him, a finger pointed at him accusingly, the other still in Midge's hand.

“If you think for a fucking second that I’m going to let you get away with this, you are so fucking wrong.”

“Susie.” Midge called.

“Midge, I'm not done.” Susie looked up at Midge, meeting her watery eyes, before moving back to his.

“I’m gonna punch you in the dick so hard that it’ll spilt into a fucking vagina! I don’t know how it’ll work and I don’t care, but I will make it fucking happen!-”

“Susie!” Midge finally shouted, “We’re leaving.” She stated quietly.

"ok." Susie sheepishly obeyed, Midge tugged her hand, gripping it tighter as they turn to walk away.

“Midge, I-” He call from behind.

She stopped and turned her head, meeting his eyes, her chest felt tight, her fingers grew cold, her heart cracking and breaking on every beat.

“It’s Miriam, my friends call me Midge.”

[memecucker]

in The Dark Knight there’s a brief mention about how the nickname of “Two-Faced” was applied to Harvey Dent before the transformation and idk if TDK is the first Batman story to have that and within the context of the movie it seems like it just serves to have Dent be called “Two Face” in a way that feels more ‘grounded’ but I think that’s an idea that has a lot of potential actually. Like something different from the “he’s Jekyl and Hyde at the same time and flips a coin to see which one wins” idea. Like a District Attorney especially one seen as a ‘star’ is absolutely a job where someone can be very two-faced because you’ll come off as highly empathetic and compassionate one second and incredibly harsh and callous in the next. Uncorruptable in terms of organized crime trying to bribe or coerce him but definitely someone who bends the rules and sees himself so much as an idealistic crusader that will make a better world that maybe at times of introspection thinks that what he really just wants is power and authority. Maybe that even plays into him being friends with Batman (or Bruce Wayne befriending him). So then he gets hit with acid lets say during an election year (pretty sure multiple Batman stories have used that i think) and he has to go into an induced coma and the election goes to his opponent who gets a boost in popularity from photo-ops of him visiting and being ‘compassionate’ to Dent. Maybe Dent seethes about this and comes off as pissed off and behind closed doors people in the new DA’s office speculate he has brain damage from the attack (acid can do that right? if not its a comic book make it a special type of acid or knockoff joker venom or something idk) so they blackball him from any new positions. So Dent is disfigured, isolated and not sure of what to do because he wants power or maybe he wants to change the world but the structures he relied upon to enable that are no longer there for him and he’s always relied on leaning on things for his strength and now all that’s left is that lucky coin he’s always used. Then he becomes a super-gangster that dual-wields smgs because it fits his visual motif. 

[evilhorse]

Blackball Comics trading card ad circa March 1994

[vegalocity]

Fluff 1/11 for that civilian Spicynoodles with Red being a fashion designer and Xiaotian being a model? (Like, right after Macaque hears Xiaotian quits so the entire time he's sending more and more frantic texts.)

Dialogue starters

1.“Is that my shirt?” “You mean our shirt?”

11.“I’m so proud of you.”

ngl this AU is a lot of fun

--

“What are you doing?”

“Updating my instagram. Need to let the stans know i’m backing a better brand now.”

“Ah.”

Xiaotian leaned back on the bed, his phone held up with the flashlight on as a prop, facing a far more professional camera as the remote shudder went off. An Influencer trick for the ages. Pretending something is a mirror shot when really it’s just a second camera.

Red Son watched his lover/fake honeypot/new business partner get the angle right, fuss over the filter and all that stuff models had to worry about in the age of social media as he leaned back slightly on his designing board. (Xiaotian already had a drawer at his easel for the comics he dabbled in in his spare time) and contemplated just how this would all fall out.

He was more than thankful that Xiaotian had not only informed him right out the gate that Six Ears and by extension the entire Macaque label, was built on the skeletons of stolen ideas that independent designers had gotten poached from them under the guise of an outreach program Red Son had foolishly applied for to get the Firey Cloud label out there, but had also been looking for an excuse to ditch Six Ears and decided to bring his own clout to back up Red Son’s label instead. However, he couldn’t help but be worried that that might be bad for his lover’s career in the long run. He didn’t have much to worry about, being assumed eventual heir to the Flower Fruit Label (with one of his foster fathers being the founder and CEO Sun fucking Wukong) but he seemed to really enjoy modelling and he would feel terrible if Xiaotian’s self made identity was thrown away because he’d decided to help Red Son out and got blackballed because Six Ears decided to take some revenge.

“Is that my shirt?” it wasn’t even one of the shirts he’d made himself, it was just some cheap T-shirt from a three pack from fresh out of school when he couldn’t afford enough spare fabric to make his own clothes. (getting cut off from his family had its own setbacks; he’d never even touched the clearance section before getting out of school and deciding to become a designer, but in his defence a lot of his early work was upcycling anyway so it all worked out in the long run)

“You mean our shirt?”

“You’re really uploading instagram pictures of you in a clearance rack T Shirt?”

“Nobody will notice, I’m doing it for the Firey Cloud Jacket.” he was indeed wearing the jacket with the design label on it. Though Red Son had only made that one for himself, it was more of a gentle hope for himself, that one day his brand would be big enough that a relatively simple jacket with the label logo would someday be enough to mean something.

And to Xiaotian it already was.

And that made something warm settle in his chest.

Xiaotian huffed and glanced back at his phone, sticking out his tongue in distaste.

“Guess whose texting me?”

“Six Ears?”

“‘Xiaotian this is an out of season prank right?’ ‘Are you playing long con or something?’ ‘Seriously i need a check in’ Like bitch read my fucking letter of resignation again; maybe since ‘I don’t agree with your business practices and am morally obligated to leave’ wasn’t clear enough, I should have just put ‘I’m fucking your newest competition’!”

He laughed like the whole thing was personally amusing and Red Son found himself settling behind the model and peeking over his shoulder at the response he was typing out.

“Ah, you’re going to keep professional about it?” He made sure his tone sounded as comically astonished as possible and Xiaotian stuck his tongue out at him. So Red Son followed that up with a “I’m so proud of you!” and a patronising pat on the head.

“You’re such a bastard.” Xiaotian huffed, but the grin still stretched across his own face belied his amusement.

“You love it.”

“Damn, caught me.”

There wasn’t much silence to be had as Xiaotian scrolled through his social media, periodically interrupted by more and more frantic/enraged texts from his former boss. And a single text from one of his fathers. A simple ‘glad you’re free of that bastard, have fun working indie’ which was responded to with a simple ‘I will!’

“Aaah! Check your online stats Red, I’ve already got like… so many likes on that promo shot!”

--

Send me stuff!

[fuckyeahwomenfilmdirectors]

The 2022 Governors Award honorees will include American writer, actress and director Elaine May and Norwegian writer, actress director Liv Ullmann!

May began her career as part of a comic duo with Mike Nichols. In 1971 she starred in and directed her first feature film A New Leaf. It was the first time since Ida Lupino made The Trouble with Angels in 1966 that a woman had directed a feature film in Hollywood. The studio had final cut on A New Leaf and May resented the fact that they recut the film to give it a happier ending, suing (and losing) to have her cut re-established. 

She next directed The Heartbreak Kid which co-starred her daughter, Jeannine Berlin who was nominated for an Oscar for her work. 

May directed the 1976 film Mikey & Nicky. She was fired off the film for going 3 times over budget but succeeded in getting herself hired back after she stole and hid the reels of the film from the studio. Nevertheless she was blackballed from studio work. 

In 1987 she directed her final film, Ishtar, which was a commercial and critical failure. It subsequently developed a cult following. Despite enduring appreciation for her work May has only returned to directing once more on the TV documentary Mike Nichols: American Masters in 2016. 

Liv Ullmann made her career as an actress and is best known for her long personal and professional collaborations with the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. She began directing in 1992 with the Danish film Sofie. In 2000 she directed the film Faithless directing from a script written by Bergman. Her most recent film was a 2014 adaptation of Miss Julie starring Jessica Chastain in the title role. 

[mctyndall-blog]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Trencher Comic Book Lot May 1993, , June 1993 & XMAS Bites Holiday.