#but for the plot of my next comic I believe that this style is actually more on-point

[elfen-alcibiade]

For once, I made quite a simple drawing, because still I'm trying to figure out the style of my next Marisa x Alice manga. I made another one like this with Alice too ^v^ (if you have any old anime recos that I could get inspiration from in terms of looks, I'm willing to have a look at it!✨)

[sporeclan]

Hellooooo! I’m working on a clangen blog of my own, so I’m going around asking my favorite clangen blogs some questions. I’m happy to get answers to whichever you feel like answering (or none at all if you don’t feel like it!)

What program and file size do you use?

If you use a font, what font is it?

How far ahead do you recommend playing?

Do you have any advice for layouts?

Do you have any tips for lighting/drawing fur?

Do you have any tips for making cats look more unique?

If you do backgrounds, do you have any advice for creating them?

If you use them, where do you recommend finding reference images?

Hi!! :D

1) I use Clip Studio Paint! Unfortunately not a free program, but I'm very very fond of it. Definitely recommend it to anyone who has the money! My file size is about 1680px wide, I believe? With varying heights. I definitely wouldn't recommend doing it that way, but it's what works for me so :')

2) I made the font myself, actually! Highly recommend doing that tbh, it's a happy medium between getting something handwritten looking without having to spend a thousand years writing haha :D There are probably a hundred websites out there that let you make you own font, but I used Calligraphr

3) It depends! For me playing to about 12-15 moons ahead with a minimum of 6 moons works really well with my style and workflow. Makes me able to cobble together these small interpersonal plotlines while also letting me occasionally play and get new drama to get invested in these characters all over again about. But if I were going for something with a major overarching plot, I would probably go a lot further ahead, if not straight up take the playthrough as far as I'd want it/until a game over just to not risk rng screwing with my plans

4) I would suggest looking up comic panelling tips in general for a better explaination than what I can offer, but I'll try to explain my basic process :'D I mostly go by heart, but I do like to sometimes follow this rule of thumb I like to call the 'Z'

When we read text, we learn to go from left to right, then back to left at a slight diagonal to get to the next line. By following that simple shape when placing characters and especially text, it makes it flow much more naturally to us. And when your pages flow well, you get to break that flow when you want a scene to feel more tense! I tried doing that with the last two panels of the page above and I really liked how that came out :D

Another couple of tips is 1) try not to make the panels too uniform 2) if you want to use two panels for one scene, slanting the side of a panel can make it feel like they flow into each other better, like matching two puzzle pieces if that makes sense 3) small overlapping panels are great for reaction shots and so fun to do!

And lastly, don't be afraid to break the panel border!

It can add a lot of momentum and impact if used right! Plus it's so fun to do <3

5) No sorry, I don't do lighting/shading in my comics at all :'D

6) I have a couple posts here and here describing my own process a bit! But otherwise I'd like to refer to whisper-cats' response to this same prompt, it's pretty in depth and I think they give some really solid advice here!

7) Not particularly, just find a style that works for you the best. I don't do a lot of backgrounding, but when I do, it's in this lineless limited palette style because that's just my favourite kind of background to make

I do highly recommend trying to limit how much time you spend on a background. Don't burn yourself out on one panel because then you'll never wanna finish the whole page!

And for 8), I dont use references so sadly I can't give you any good recommendations there either :')

I hope any of this made sense, lol! Good luck with your blog!

[iobartach]

haven't made a ramblings post in a while 😶 sooo i reckon, with aus on my mind, i'll put together a lil' list , in case folks would like some bite-sized details at a glance below.

anddd just before i proceed, i wanna point out, since i'm a glutton for storytelling ( <3 ) in addition to verses / aus, i also have story arcs! I call these chapters, and you can find out more info here!

now, on to business! ;

the next stage ; based on the [prototype] games; miguel got bitten by a hunter and now he's a walking, talking biohazard 👍 ( well, more than usual...)

the talk of the town ; marvel / earth-928 based; early days miguel, out here work for A.lchemax by day and fighting evil corporations at night. a.k.a.home 🏠 , in the days before he went looking at the multiverse

father knows best ; more or less a horror au / 'what if' ; miguel found another gabriella. but it ain't wholesome in the slightest. 💀

cross the rubicon ; marvel / earth-928, but this time, with dimension hopping! ; miguel's main verse. everything atsv related happened within this verse exclusively. is also the default choice for crossovers with non-marvel chars!

a hero gone astray ; based on overwatch; miguel is a geneticist involved in a program that aimed to surpass the achievements of SEP , thanks to a revolutionary gene imprinting technique that he invented. it's left him as a marked man.

a small cog in a big wheel ; corperate!miguel / cyberpunk 2077 based; your classic dystopian au, a.k.a, if miguel had never gained powers / became the s-man. alchemax is the default corpo, and for cyberpunk 2077-specific threads, will be a mix of arasaka / biotechnica, as needed.

man out of time ; marvel / earth-616 based / modern day; a slight twist on an actual spider-man 2099 comic book plot; mig's stuck on earth-616 / 'in the present day', cut off from 2099 & the spider society, so he returns to crime fighting. the majority of interactions with mcu / other media / marvel comics muses will fit into this!

ravenous hunger ; bleach / zombie au; miguel crossed paths with a quincy, and became zombified. it's left him with an appetite he cannot satiate. so he's asking anyone he can for help with a cure.

fighting like a man possessed ; kengan ashura based; miguel is a fighter that represents alchemax at Kengen matches.

life processes ; jurassic world based ; miguel is a geneticist working InGen, on Isla Nublar.

running out of options ; based on overwatch; after a horrible accident left several dead and miguel as the sole survivor, he believes that his life can't possibly get any worse. that is until he learns of his brother gabriel's kidnapping, and what he must do in order to rescue him; join Talon, or else add another death to his conscience.

valour in the void ; marvel / ratchet gladiator / deadlocked based (extension of main verse!) ; sort of a side plot, this time! miguel is captured and dropped into a series of gladiator-style challenges, where heroes are forced on pain of death to compete and fight for their survival. all in front of thrillions watching live from around the Shadow Sector

death is not the end ; based on the villains series ; upon surviving a near death experience following an accident in the laboratory, miguel has never quite felt the same. and to make matters worse, he happens to grab the attention of a man that seeks to claim the lives of those who didn't die when they were supposed to.

a fresh lick of paint ; auxiliary / companion verse; unique in that it's more of a wardrobe change, rather than an actual au. basically, if this verse tag is on a post, then it will denote that miguel is in fact using his armoured suit (full details here!)

ceiling crawler ; based on the bioshock series; set in rapture. miguel is the prototype spider splicer!

a deal with the devil ; marvel / earth-928 / symbiote au ; when investigating an incident, miguel becomes bonded with an unnamed symbiote.

infected world ; based on the resident evil series; here, miguel's work, in addition to genetics, leans into virology as well, and still oversees the Corporate Raider Program. except, in this version, it is Alchemax's attempt at 'immunising America's finest against the most prevalent viral strains of the time'. and made more difficult still when the same guy you trust to run the project becomes infected himself....

endurance of pain ; historical / mythology inspired verse ; miguel is the son of the great goddess, the one who endures.

spilling of blood ; marvel / earth-616 / vampire hunting ; miguel is caught up in the events of Blood Hunt , and helps to free New York from the control of vampires. also used for any Eternal Night Falls based plots, plus generic vampire plots as well. (also, quick reminder, miguel is not a vampire himself!)

united action ; based on doctor who series ; miguel is a multiverse expert and works with U.N.I.T. to investigate unexplained phenomena.

complete chaos ; based on the borderlands series; miguel's a hyperion stooge. 'nuff said.

the final pin ; pro-wrestling au ; miguel forms a tag-team with his brother gabriel, going from promotion to promotion

each strand of silk ; based on league of legends / arcane series ; miguel is the acolyte of a soul devouring spider god. don't ask him about what happened in the Shadow isles.

baron with sharp teeth ; marvel / earth-23291 / Battleworld ; a version of miguel in which he is both the CEO of Alchemax and the leader of the Avengers

[watcher-comic]

okay hi

did i promise to make an art... lore dump post literally last month? yes. did i not do it for nearly a month? also yes. and im Very Sorry.

anyway! onto the ranting

So starting off with the obvious, Nanehi's color scheme is based off of the Shawnee tribe's flag!

Obviously more desaturated, but the blue sweater and two yellow stars were meant to show that he's native.

Alright, going in page order I'm just gonna throw around some easter eggs or fun facts or commentary...whatever....

Because this is the only good image I can find of it, Nane wears his parents' wedding bands on a necklace. Because his parents are divorced </3

On page 2, Nane has a poster up on his wall which is my current sketchbook cover in my art class. I believe it's somewhere on my art blog

Nane has a ziptie on his backpack! It doesn't mean anything.

Page 6: The white text that says "what?" is actually a reference to the first debut of Nane - an askblog!

(technically his first word was "huh" but i changed it to what for plot's sake)

Continuing with the black spaces on page 6, the panicked eye doesn't really mean anything. However, the twisted light switch was supposed to represent the noose that shows up at the end of the comic.

For page 7, there's obviously the audience design to talk about, but the things I actually wanna focus on are:

The doodle on the top left, which is Nanehi saying that he thinks he has tinnitus [which he then goes on to immediately deny in the next page]

And the doodle on the bottom right. His fursona is a bunny and if I could, I would've tried to fit more bunny imagery into the comic. But alas :pensive:

Page 13: All the different colored text were the responses I got from a select few people. I showed them the previous panels of the page and asked them what they wanted [there is one distinct person I didn't ask but I will get to them later].

I also want you to keep the... 3rd shade of green in mind [the "i want to see where this goes"]

For this panel on page 15, I wanted it to be known that Nanehi isn't a real person, and they know it. Everyone else's face is squared, even the simply doodled character in the background and the barely visible person in the foreground. Everyone except Nane.

Page 16: Man that's just mold on his shower curtain.

Page 17: There's actually a lot I want to talk about with page 17. Firstly, the design of The Audience. It changed, clearly. Before it was that weird circle thing, but now it's more humanoid - to the point of having hair similar to Nanehi's. The reason being, it's not entirely The Audience anymore. It's The Creator too. Nanehi was based off my fear of being watched and constantly having an audience. The little amount of comfort that the figure gives was... sorta supposed to be an apology to the character- as cheesy as that sounds.

(Also the fact that their text originally said "didn't they already answer that" but was crossed out to say 'we'. The Creator disguising themself as The Audience. And truly, what is to separate them?)

Another thing I want to point out is the dark grey panel. It's the same shade of grey I used for the askblog, and he's smiling in that panel, because during the askblog he was much happier around the audience- or the concept of them, rather.

And then of course, the dark blue text that reads "I know how this ends." That actually wasn't a response I took from someone, but rather a piece of... I guess dialogue, that I felt like someone would say. That specific someone being my friend Classi, who was the only person besides me that knew how Watcher ended. Purely because she had a very similar character and we thought that they'd be buddies.

On page 18, we have 3 entire panels in a different style. That being the style of the askblog.

(some examples)(the last image is where the avatar came from, haha)

On page 19 we have this panel, which you can probably assume what it is. It, I suppose, could both be seen as Nane standing, back to the audience, or as Nane hanging without the noose. You choose.

And of course, the last page. For some reason this fucks me up. Because this is The Creator talking to Nanehi. The Creator knows that Nane has no say in how their story ends, but they're given the illusion of control, because that's all they've been looking for. They wanted control over something, so the only way to prove such control was to show The Audience that they could end the story whenever they wanted. He doesn't know that he was talking to The Creator, he just assumed it was still The Audience. He doesn't know that he didn't really have a say.

This was what he wanted. That's how he's ending the story

[the-batacombs]

Okay, this week was...fine, I guess? Not a lot really moving. The Question #2 is...it needs to be more firmly grounded in a style, I think. It's also obviously juggling the plots in Challengers, JLU, and whatever overarching thing DC has going on, which is a lot. Enjoying it but really twiddling my thumbs a bit. The plot has been kind of go-go-go and I want to sit with Renee for a minute.

Batman & Robin: Year One #3 was also in that middle space. I really enjoyed the last two issues but this one was maybe a little more villain-plot-heavy focus with a little less actual Batman and Robin, and the villains aren't that interesting. Hopefully that'll pick up next week. The actual dynamic duo scenes are consistently very good.

The New Gods #1...amazing comic. Really, really good comic. If you are even vaguely curious, go pick this one up. This is it. This is...it's just really good. Art. Writing. Pacing. Tone. Kicking my feet in delight and deep satisfaction.

World's Finest: Green Arrow/Green Lantern: Was this anything? I mean, not really. Was that a problem? Not really. I'm a sucker for this run and it was really just such a fun treat. They put the old logo on the front and had me at hello. Adams had way too many pages for such a one-thread plot, and I had to pause in the middle to figure out if I'd missed a Lantern "In brightest day, in blackest night" recharge, but it was just...fun. Real Actual Oliver Queen characterization, after my frustrations with the Condon first issue earlier this month. And a Flash backup presumably as a nod to all the times GA/GL were the Flash backup, with some fun art choices for Barry's speed. Although I can't believe Hal would road-trip-cheat on Ollie like that, for real.

[heroictoonz]

Alright, best way to start getting into sonic in your opinion, I've only seen X and partially prime and never touched the comics or played the games?

OKAY SO! In all honesty, it really depends very heavily on your own personal interests both in style and media! Fun fact: I also started with Sonic X!! I watched it as a kid and then found Satam and the Archie comics later!! Funny enough it was a reeeeally long time till I got into/played a game.

Like I said I think it heavily depends on what you are interested in and what you have the time or ability to do.

So like, if you are more interested in the shows, I'd say X is a PERFECT start. Sonic X, tho not really seen as that canon to the rest of the franchise cause of it's creative liberties with setting, it does do a lot of stuff both from the games but also original that's super fun and great for a new audiences to get acquainted with the characters and the vibes, I think. Though if you've only seen the dub I do strongly recommend the subs. As much as I love 4kids for the childhood they gave me and for introducing me to one of my biggest special interests for most my life and other shows I enjoy so much they, uh, are not always the best with their dubs qwq Sonic is no exception they changed a lot for it that many fans think screws up some of the story. Of course I also encourage you to watch it with an open mind and form your own opinions on all of this but! Just lettin ya know!

If you wanna continue with the shows I would say Prime is a great one to keep on. There are some fans that complain that its really OOC and like, yeah I think there are some moments here or there but like also it's fun, it's pretty, and if you ship Sonadow there's some nice crumbs in there lol! (Also, personal opinion, I think going into the Sonic franchise and expecting every single media to portray the characters the same way every time is impossible. It's a MASSIVE franchise with TONS of writers both in the Japanese and American sides of Sega and who knows how many more. IDK I don't take screams of OOC to heart all that much personally)

If you wanna see older stuff Sonic the Hedgehog also shortened to Sonic Satam by the fandom is a great cartoon as well. Because of the Archie Sonic series getting the plug pulled, all of those characters are completely retired and non canonical (unless Sega does some king shit but idk if it's possible legally) HOWEVER they are still AWESOME AS FUCK!!! Sally is still to this day one of my fave characters of all time. I was at a con once and a guy at a booth asked me my fave sonic characters I told him it was probably a tie between Shadow and Sally and he was so fucking shocked I knew who Sally was that I didn't realize how much casual sonic ppl don't know the archie characters oirghierhgreui BUT its a super cool show very serious in it's plot and real interesting

TLDR with the cartoons stuff: Sonic X is my first pick for a start so you got that covered but I do recommend the subs, to keep going down the cartoon rout I'd personally say finish Prime next or jump into Sonic Satam

Now if you wanna get more into Sonic via the comics that is a whole other story. There are a few different comic runs, the big three are Fleetway, Archie, and IDW. Fleetway is like insane and I love her dearly but she's fucking bananas wild, one of those 'not a lot of games were out at the time so they did whatever the fuck they wanted' type deals. So I wouldn't recommend Fleetway as a starter but if you wanna see some wild ass Sonic content I say go back to it lol

Honestly, I would recommend either catching up with the IDW series OR start by reading the Archie comics from the Super Genesis Wave to end.

With IDW, I would also say that's the arguably best place to start comic wise. 1) Because it's the current running series. I believe the last one that came out wassss 75? I'm not fully up to date myself but whatever. The IDW comics actually start as a not-explicit-but-well-implied continuation of one of the games, Sonic Forces, but it gives enough background that I don't think you neeeed to play/watch Sonic Forces but it would make the comic start more interesting I feel. 2) Because it has ONLY characters canon to the games or original to the comics. So what you read in IDW is basically considered more or less full canon. The head writer has stated so (though as far as I'm aware no one on the game teams have) and iiiiiif I remember correctly he also worked some on Sonic Frontiers, one of the newer games. Also, again, all the major characters are all pretty standard and established Sonic franchise characters with a few IDW originals sprinkled in to make the world big and the threats interesting.

With Archie being a good start... well... okay. It is but it isn't. SO above I specifically stated to start with Super Genesis Wave Archie which, yes, is not just a string of random ass words. The TLDR (cause this story is INSANE and LONG) is that an old writer on the Archie Sonic comics got sued by Archie because they wanted to keep his characters he made for the franchise but he wanted to leave the team and make his own thing with his own characters it's a whole fucking thing the end of the story is that Archie lost and because of this over 200+ characters had to be retconed from the fucking comics. Yeah. SO to do this there was an in-canon retcon that took place where Eggman fired this weapon that restarted the universe. A shit ton of plotlines were rewritten, characters replaced, and stuff just completely taken out or added in. It was insane BUT the reason I say this would be a decent place to start comic stuff is because 1) the start of this new era makes it to where you really don't have to know that much about the old Archie content to keep up and 2) it's an ended comic so you don't have to worry about it constantly going while you're trying to keep up if that's something you may be worried about. Also, if you do end up watching Sonic Satam and enjoying it, Archie Sonic is the continuation of those characters' stories so! More Sally yay!!!!!

TLDR on starting with comics: IDW starting from the beginning or Archie starting from the Super Genesis Wave

Now if you wanna start with the games. Weeelllll. To be honest with you I watch the games instead of playing them lol! I'm terrible at video games so I watch them on youtube instead of playing them. I've only played a very small handful of Sonic games and an even smaller handful of those did I actually get every far in. Because of this where I know a lot about the games I would not by any means call myself an expert on the topic. I know more about the shows and comics, honestly

BUT if I was to pick a good place to start with the games, I would probably start with Sonic Adventures 1 and 2! I think that the Sonic Adventures games, not only are they INSANELY charming and so cute and fun but also are a perfect spot to really start to get to know the characters and the setting! In fact, you will probably notice a lot of similarities between them and Sonic X since you've seen that show! Since Sonic X was coming out around the Adventure series era they took a lot from those games! They are also the introduction of MANY popular sonic franchise characters and some pretty classic lines and moments!

Honestly, with the games, most of them are made to where you can just jump into the franchise at random. Any that make reference to past games either give an explicit reference so you can follow along or are vague enough to just not matter or be confusing. So by all means! Take a look at the games pick a random one you think looks fun and either play it or pull up a movie version up on youtube! I'm sure you will find something you love in them!!

I hope this was helpful! I know it got suuuuper long lol. But honestly have fun with the franchise! There's SO many good shows, movies, comics, games, everything!! This franchise has it all!! If you ever wanna know more just ask I love the different parts of the franchise and love when people get into sonic !!!!

[hexenmond]

Webcomic Wednesday: Gunnerkrigg Court

Buckle up folks, this is going to be a long one. Not least because this comic has been running for years and years now (since 2005, even longer than I thought!). And it really has it all — I’m sure I could throw bits and bobs at you for longer than anyone would care to read and I still wouldn’t need to hit any spoilers. There’s just so MUCH!

Shortest summary I can do: It’s a coming of age story, following Antimony, a not very average girl in a decidedly fantasy-techy world, throughout her years at Gunnerkrigg Court, a school for the weird and paranormal.

Distinct art style

Well art is always a matter of taste, but in my humble opinion it started out unique and striking and a little bit quirky and only got better over the years. Have a few a whole bunch of samples, roughly from older to newer:

(I actually own physical copies of the first three volumes, and both the vibrant and the more muted colours really set a mood on the black paper.)

Tons of multidimensional, juicy characters

Seriously, every single character is a fleshed out, complex person with believable capacity for genius and being likeable, but also for mediocrity and villainy (and in quite a few cases, I still really don‘t know what their deal is). I especially enjoy all the teenagers behaving like actual teenagers, making impulsive decisions and having no clue. But also I should say that there are many, many non-human characters, and they are really fun!

Let’s see, we have, in no particular order:

a selection of figures from myths and stories

some shadows

laser cows (I’d completely forgotten about those until my son read the comics and wouldn’t shut up about them for days)

some fairies

people who turn into animals

animals who turn into people

someone who looks like a human but isn’t

a person whose mind is in a cage most of the time

ghosts and spirits

and very importantly, ROBOTS

The most mind-blowing world building

Just imagine: this comic will be twenty years old next year. It has been plodding along at a steady pace of three pages a week, usually without much of a chapter break. And there are so many threads woven throughout this story that may or may not get picked up again - it might just go on for another twenty years, but then again it could also end in a gigantic big bang within a year. I really couldn’t say.

Now that I think about it, it reminds me a bit of The Sandman (disclaimer: it’s been at least a decade since I last read those comics), with all the many elements from different mythologies crisscrossing and interweaving to make this thick tapestry of stories within a story. (And I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that so far, the basis of that world seems rather more solid to me – Sandman’s “fundamental universal forces” that just happen to be seven in number, all conveniently starting with a D, have always bugged me a little bit).

Long story short, I’ve been reading this comic since 2009 or so, and I have yet to tire of it. It’s masterfully done, cohesive with a fair amount of plot twists, suitable for young teenagers (possibly younger depending on the kid), inclusive without being explicit about it, fantastical, techy, and it just feels so genuine to me.

Go take a look, but remember - we’re in chapter 95. Pace yourself. (I’m saying this as someone who has a hard time doing that usually…)

Start here: First page of Gunnerkrigg Court

Bonus: Parley being a badass!

[circlemidnight]

hey, so... do you (by any chance) know if the '"open ending/multiple endings" ship' is just about who ARCHIE decides to be with, or if it will included more couples as well? like, i could have never predicted JV would have an actual chance, and less that they'd have the same chance as the (arguably) main/long-lasting ships of the show!? it's nothing short of amazing. how powerful they are.

Ah, I think some of those rumors/leaks turned out to be false. I think it's better to just rely on the bts and statements made from people on the show. Rumors tend to snowball into unrealistic statements the more they are spread. Unless they are giving a specific detail of a scene then I wouldn't put much faith in them being true. And keep in mind the style of the season, it's been very simplistic, low stakes, with quick resolutions to things. I don't think they are setting up some big complex ending or a cliffhanger that's gonna enrage everyone. It's gonna be something bitter sweet, lighthearted but not crammed with possible what-ifs to every ship that came before. But I'm sure there will be many winks and nudges of nostalgia in the last episode. Right now if I could guess I would say it's probably just left unclear if Betty and Archie figure things out, but to me it seems like they are wrapping up Jeronica as an endgame pairing. There is a lot of mirroring of their first episodes this season together, she's helping him create Archie Comics, and they have written them more like a secondary romantic plot and not really this big will-they-won't-they dramatic conclusion to be reached in the final episode. They're also the only "random pairing" that actually got back together. From the bts, we know they are riding in the backseat of the jalopy together, which I doubt they would be doing if they have another breakup. also just my opinion but it makes a lot of sense to me that the two people hurt the most by the cheating would find happiness and move on together? If they are talking about changing the future, Veronica and Jughead never being hurt has a really big impact on the story. In comparison, the two who cheated are figuring themselves out and not committing to anything or anyone because they are still working on themselves. Plus, if the last episode is from Betty's POV it will likely focus on whether or not she finally gets with Archie this season, because her story is kind of meandering but rolls back to her feelings for him the same way that they showed hints that Veronica never got over Jughead. The multiple endings thing came from what Madchen said: No, we don’t get out of the 1950s. So I guess that is a big spoiler. I will say you do experience the characters in three different… dimensions, that you get to see a lot of closures that are outside of the 1950s. I can tease it that way. I think that’s safe enough. So, make of that what you will. I'd say it's either you get to see what would happen if they went back to their own time, their future in the next few decades if they stay in the 50s, or maybe the afterlife and some kind of cycle beginning again once they all die and time resets for them. The word closure implies that it's not really open ended though. It's possible if they go back to the future the ships reconfigure, but they choose to stay in the 50s, so does that count as canon? But like, I think in one dimension or another Jeronica is endgame. It's very close to the end of the season to be stirring them up with more drama again. At the very least I believe they will graduate as a couple, which is a win for me. It's been very out of the blue that we got so much content, but I'm glad they left it till the end so they have more of a chance of being happy together!

[lynniceberg]

I love Marvel’s Micronauts! I’m talking about the comic written by Bill Mantlo with art by Michael Golden that started in 1979. I had one of the toys (Pharoid) and I followed the comic for all of its original run, but it’s really issues 1-12, drawn by Golden, that remain dear to my nostalgic heart. I recently picked up a few of those old issues – some of the last of Golden’s run on the series - and a couple after he left. I was reminded how much I love his artwork. And how disappointed I was with the artwork on the series after he left.

I’m one of those comic collectors who lost his old presumably now valuable comic collection under unfortunate/careless circumstances. Every once in a while I find a random old issue of Micronauts at a comic shop for a reasonable price and pick it up hoping to relive the excitement of my first collection. I recently bought issues 10, 12, 13, and 14 - specifically because they all feature Michael Golden covers.

Golden co-created the Micronauts world with writer Bill Mantlo, who came up with many of the ideas when his son got some of the Mego Micronauts toys as Christmas presents. I think Mantlo’s writing on Micronauts is top-notch for its time in comic history. Mantlo was always creative and weird in a particularly Mavel way and I was an appreciator of some of his other oddball creations and writing while ignorant they were created by the same guy. I’m talking about Rom: Space Knight which I also collected in its entirety, and Rocket Raccoon, who eventually became part of that little movie series Guardians of the Galaxy.

It was the art of Micronauts that excited me the most, though, and after picking up this series I would always remember Golden’s style and name. I’d seek him out believing his work always elevated the stories. He designed the Micronauts world with Mantlo and while it’s clearly influenced by Star Wars, as are the toys, Golden’s art is so gorgeous, detailed, and dynamic that it really pulls one into the story. And so when I saw these Golden covers a couple of weeks ago I held them fondly in my hands excited to relive the thrill of Golden’s art.

I share these covers and some of the pages to show that the art really holds up! Issue 10 is part one of the climax of the big conflict between the Micronauts and the evil Baron Karza. Golden and Mantlo pack the issue with several plot threads that tie the main story together. Look at how Mantlo and Golden switch threads sometimes from one panel to the next (pages 22-23), building the tension to its bloody conclusion. The action is relentless and they don’t romanticize or shy away from the brutality of revolution and war (pages 11 and 22 -27). An exciting precursor to Golden’s work on The Nam, a great war comic.

The issues I picked up were in sealed bags so I didn’t know they included issues Golden didn’t draw. When I opened issue 13 I was reminded of my long ago aesthetic disappointment discovering it wasn’t Golden’s art inside. Golden drew many of the covers even after he stopped being the artist for the series. I include the first pages of issues 13 and 14 to show the contrast with Golden’s artwork. The art becomes simple, cursory, and, frankly, unexciting. It’s surprising to me that the lay outs are actually done by Howard Chaykin who is still another of my favorite comic artists. The art became so stylistically bland after Golden left and Chaykin’s lay-outs don’t hint at his own greatness.

If you enjoy looking at this art as much as me you will be happy to know Marvel is putting out a reprint collection of the series in 2024. You may also be interested in the Comic Kayfabe podcast about the Micronauts issue #1 and Micronauts Artist Edition. Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg and guest Tom Scioli really appreciate the Golden’s art but Piskor and Rugg often scoff at the Micronauts concept and story. Scioli defends the story as well as I could, though.

A story about the upcoming reprint is at this link:

The ComicsKayfabe Micronauts #1 episode is at this link:

And the Comics Kayfabe of the Micronauts Artist Edition at this link:

[thevindicativevordan]

Why do you think DC wanted to boot PKJ off Action Comics ?

Anonymous asked: Expectations for Aaron writing Action?

Well I was working on a NYCC 2023 post, and unfortunately the damn thing suddenly deleted itself. Left me totally drained seeing all that hard work gone, so I'm going to keep it short this go around.

Aaron is a very similar writer to PKJ in both tone and style. If he were taking over for the long term I'd be cautiously optimistic - but he's only doing three issues. Doesn't matter if he sucks or is great, he'll be gone in a blink of the eye. Leaves me with no strong feelings regarding him.

Pitch sounds cool, it's the Multiverse Bizarro that Tomasi used. It will be darker in tone and Bizarro has a new power seemingly. Waid consulted and Aaron says he "passed the Waid test". Shows how influential that Waid has become that he's being brought in to help the other Superman writers. Once an editor always an editor. Timms on art is fine, he's not an artist I have strong feelings for but I liked his work on Son of Kal-El and his brief Superman run with PKJ. Given Bizarro was on the cover of Williamson's first issue but is showing up here, I wonder if this is just Williamson farming out a story to Aaron that he didn't have time for himself anymore.

After Aaron, Williamson takes over for "House of Brainiac" which is the big Superman crossover story. Brainiac wants to find his Queen and is unleashing his Bottled City of Czarnia to get her. Supes, the Superfamily, Lex, and Lobo team up to stop him. Great pitch - but Williamson writing another event by himself is a huge red flag. He's 0/2 on events thus far and my concerns had previously been soothed by the assumption that PKJ would help him this time, which sadly is not the case. If it's shit at least we get to see Sandoval draw the hell out of the fight scenes.

Next we will get at least two more creative teams, one of whom is almost certainly Waid and Henry doing the Phantom Zone/Aethyr storyline. Not happy to see Waid claim that story, his Silver Age sensibilities are not going to live up to what PKJ was building to. Huge disappointment at this chance to let PKJ flesh out the Phantom Zone like he did Warworld pass by. After Waid we have one more team, and if Tom King isn't shooting his shot by now he will never get on a Superbook. Turning Action into an anthology book feels like a last minute decision made to buy time while they try and get a permanent creative team, which I do think has a chance of being King.

As mentioned in other posts, PKJ claims he will still be writing Superman and I believe that means he's been tapped to write the Justice League relaunch. He was saying on Twitter that we would get to see his Warworld plot threads such as Kryl-Ux unfold elsewhere, and also he would touch on the backstory of the events we saw in the FS House of El one shot. Sounds exciting to me, the kind of story actually worth bringing JL back.

Oh and starting with issue 10, Williamson is doing a Superman arc that is a Western, expands on Moonlight's backstory, and brings in Terra-Man. Sign me the hell up for that! Redondo seems to have permanently moved to Superman from Nightwing which means I'm probably dropping Nightwing soon.

For other DC news I am ecstatic to see Spurrier and Campbell reunite for more Hellblazer, but otherwise it was a fairly muted showing from DC aside from one huge rumor that I'll cover in a separate post. Oh and I guess there was the Elseworlds announcement but since that was mostly Batbooks I’m not interested.

Apologies to all the Asks about the new Ultimate Universe, I did get them but they were deleted.

Ultimate Spider-Man - Pitch is perfect, a mid-life Peter inspired by Spiderverse Peter B. Parker is exactly what I want. Ideally this Peter will be married to MJ and a father to Mayday but we can't rule out Hickman throwing a curveball and having him be divorced or dating Liz Allen or something. Seeing DoomReed hold the spider in the vial that Maker had, plus the transition scenes of 6160 Peter wearing all the suits makes me guess that DoomReed will time travel back and give Peter his powers similar to how he and Tony used time travel to save Cap. Thus this Peter will have been Spider-Man for a while, in secret. Or it's setting up a bunch of variant covers and instead we will see what happens when Peter gets his powers much later than usual. Either way I am excited about reading Spider-Man comics again, no mean feat.

Ultimate Black Panther - Great choice for writer, Hill's run on Blade rules and his name dropping Dune as an influence has me hyped since I love the book too and it's influence is all over the work of Hickman and PKJ. Great artist in Caselli. Moss is the editor and that is not great. He edited the main BP book and his tenure has been a disaster. Hickman needs to be involved to protect Hill from Moss. Costume design is not great either, feels 90s in a bad way. Of all the new Ultimate books, this is the one I hope is most like the old UU in terms of updating T'Challa, his supporting cast, and Rogues Gallery for a modern era. Fine to start off with "Ultimate Moon Knight", but let's not wait too long to bring in traditional Panther foes like Achebe who need the spotlight and revamps.

Ultimate X-Men - Not interested. Momoko is a talented artist but I only care about the A-List X-Men. A bunch of OC mutants does not intrigue me. Easy skip.

No Ultimates is surprising but my suspicion is that Black Panther will tell the story of T'Challa housing the Ultimates in Wakanda and Hickman wants to push people towards Hill's book. Eventually the Ultimates will spin out of UBP I reckon.

Expect the same level of quality here as Orlando showed on the previous SW book. That said if this is not setting up the restoration of the twins being mutants, I find more Magneto drama tedious. Either pull the trigger and make them mutants again or keep them away from Magneto and the X-Line.

And that was basically it for Marvel announcements that I care about. Might check out the vampire event since McKay is writing, haven't decided yet.

[helenpace]

In recent farting Harley comic announcement, can anyone recommend good Batman media product that is actually fun, not weird and also not in style of recent DC movies?

Just to be clear, so far I

~ Read a couple comics (Serious house is probably my fav, but I see it’s huge flaws)

~ Watched 66’s series (my beloved)

~ Watched more or less all modern movies. Don’t remember Dark Knight trilogy that well - I was a baby, but quite liked the Crane there. The once that came next make me cry.

~ Love Gotham series

~ Listened Batman Audio Adventures (my beloved #2)

~ listened to Batman Unburied Series s1 + it’s spinoffs. (rn I’m at season two, and it’s way less fun, just bc I don’t believe anyone can deal with court of owls plot in a good way lol)

~ Tried to watch Harley Queen series but I hate the recent take on Harley too much to be able to enjoy it.

~ Played all Arkham games except VR (I’m working on it) and the one which shouldn’t be named.

Did I missed anything? Is there any other good product that isn’t that new series about Penguin that makes my soul hurt?

[ntshastark]

NUlts lb

i am, once again, catching up on the last few weeks (but now it's just the anniversary oneshot, uxm and usm)

==

Ultimate Universe: One Year In

lmao tony is literally the protagonist of this universe, so iconic of him

==

i thought this was some rare southern hemisphere rep (HELL YEAH FOR SUMMER CHRISTMAS) but using fahrenheit??

==

that one woman who got arrested for repeating the words on luigi mangione's (allegedly) bullets

==

ah nvm just global warming. anyway, happy first day of summer! it means rainy season is finally here and the temperature should start to go down!! that's right bitch, i pulled a double jeopardy (i don't actually know if that's the right way to use this expression)!! yeah it's the southern hemisphere, but it's also the fucking tropics babeyyy

==

oh wow. they finally did it. they made the worst possible nick fury. the ultimate son of a bitch, if you will.

==

ROBERTO????????????? WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO MY BOY

==

LOL

LMAO EVEN

==

i was gonna say that's giving people way too much credit, but popular opinion on the ceo thing apparently proves me wrong so

==

is that a falcon suit?? so no sam? :(

==

HE KILLED MANTIS AND DUMDUM????????????????

==

ah damn, a huge shift on the status quo would be so interesting. well.

==

he should be at the club :(

also, thinking of 616 beto and illyana meeting these versions...

==

ok what the fuck are these things supposed to be

and why was everyone drawn with their eyes closed so much on this issue?? was it on purpose? does it mean something or is it just a stylistic choice?

==

...charles?

==

ah so the wolverine/winter soldier is logan. i was kinda expecting a plot twist where it'd be bucky (given logan's is out there calling himself the first mutant)

well, apparently the wolverine comic is gonna be a lot more classic x-men than uxm itself. i can't believe they're putting the x-men behind a paywall, and the pay is having to read one of logan's solo books. and i don't even get scott >:(

well, at least my faves didn't get saddled with the evil russian trope, so i guess it could be worse

==

Ultimate X-Men #10

i didn't even check if i should've read this one before the 'one year in thing' uhhh oops

==

me n the gc

==

i'm sorry, this looks so stupid

==

i genuinely don't know if i just don't vibe with peach momoko's style or if she's really getting sloppy because of deadlines (which, if it's the case, is totally understandable), but like

this is so ugly, i'm sorry. these are thumbnails.

==

sigh.

==

oh. uh.

oops?

==

is this hank???

==

yeah, i guess this makes a bit more sense coming before the 'one year in' thing, since the oneshot makes christmas references and so does the next comic (usm), but this one doesn't. i have absolutely no idea how big christmas is in japan, but i think it makes for a smoother read? (this is me thinking about my 6160 reading order btw)

==

Ultimate Spider-Man #12

they're married at this point

==

OOOOOOOOOOOOO EDDIE BROCK REF AND MJ FAMILY DRAMA

==

oh my god are the watsons going to be the focus of this issue, would hickman be that nice to me???? i mean, three whole women????

==

ma'am you're looking at him with his husband!!!! can't believe mj's mom is a homewrecker

==

oh my god

==

*banging on the table* WATSON FAMILY DRAMA WATSON FAMILY DRAMA WATSON FAMILY DRAMA

==

not posting a lot of screenshots of things i'm enjoying bc it'd just be the whole fucking issue atp

==

jjj being richard's cool uncle is certainly Something

==

guys i think i love the watson sisters

==

oh my god gayle is such an absolute bitch, i love her

==

wait, am i actually supposed to believe they're not fucking????? what's this whole thing been about then???????

(like, i didn't think they'd make it canon or anything, but i genuinely thought hickman was writing it with the intention that it'd be implied bc like. why the fuck else would you do half of what happened in this run)

==

damn. one of the best spider-man issues i've read in my entire life and i don't think peter's actually said a single word in it.

==

oh wait there's more

==

OH HOLY SHIT

HOHOHOLY SHIT, EVEN

==

OH WAIT THERE'S EVEN MORE

==

OH HOLY FUCKING SHIT, JONATHAN HICKMAN THE MAN THAT YOU ARE

[cosmiconomy]

ABOUT.

Elysium Heart is a webcomic being written by myself and my partner. He does the drawing and writing on the actual webcomic, I help with character design, plotting, and rough drafts.  Leon Hughes is written to be the main antagonist of arc 2; arc 1 is still a frequently updating work in progress. To avoid spoilers, this blog is set before arc 2, i.e. before he meets the protagonist of the comic. Think of it as a Leon prequel.

Bio.

Leon Hughes came from humble beginnings. His mother left when he was four. His father blamed him for his mother leaving and his father's abuse and alcoholism only escalated as the years passed. A few months before his 18th birthday, his father kicked him out. He spent some time homeless before discovering the Church of Cosmiconomy. He was promised safety and shelter in exchange for committing his life to the organization. It's easy to brainwash someone with nothing left to lose. The organization’s founder and leader at the time, Fish (a failed science fiction writer in his late 50’s,) took a personal interest in 18 year old Leon. While the church worked on turning him into the perfect Cosmiconomist, Fish secretly took Leon as a lover for the next ten years. 8 years into his grooming of Leon, Fish’s health took a sharp decline. Leon was next in line to take over as leader of the cult, but he had appearances to worry about. The continued success of the organization depended on Leon being taken seriously as a leader; that meant squashing rumors that Fish was biased and that Leon had slept his way to the top. Fish chose a dedicated and submissive woman from the cult, Grace, and arranged for her and Leon to be married. Fish encouraged them to play the happy couple role in public and perhaps even to start a family in the coming years. Two years later, in 2008, Fish died and Leon became the head of the cult. Without Fish's guidance, and without him pressuring Leon to partake in his lifestyle of booze and drugs, Leon began to see the world more clearly. Though he still believes the core tenets of the church, he began to see how the church and Fish used and manipulated him. He grew resentful over the years, taking it out primarily on Grace. Modern day, Leon, now in his 50’s, retains leadership over the Church of Cosmiconomy. Grace Hughes hasn't been seen publicly in years and, though the church won't release an official statement on it, she's presumed dead.

Rules.

I. 21+! I’m 29 years old. Trigger warnings for this blog will include: - Cults - Grooming (in Leon’s backstory)  - Spousal abuse (mention, not in detail) - Drug use - More to probably be added later This is not a blog for kids. I’ve written in the Outlast and Saw fandoms in the past and, while this blog is unlikely to be as R rated as those fandoms, they’re representative of my writing style. II. I am low activity! This is not my main blog; I also have a full time job, and a partner and a dog. I’ll get to things on here whenever I can. III. Not really a rule, but- I’m pretty laid back despite how intimidating Leon is. Don’t be afraid to send me things from my prompts tag, IM me, or ask for my discord if we’re mutuals!

Stats.

full name:  Leon Hughes gender:  cis man pronouns:  he/him sexuality:  bisexual  age:  51 date of birth:  6/24 zodiac sign:  cancer residence:  split between a mansion with extreme security precautions, and his office at the main Cosmiconomy headquarters  occupation:  cult leader height:  6’ 5” build:  Fit, thin and muscular  eyes:  blue-gray hair:  brown piercings:  none tattoos:  cult related tattoos on his back, left hand, and right hip

[iriemorning]

return to sender

fluency in words comes with great expectations. as i was widely read since young, people hang on to what i say and so i often feel that looming pressure on my shoulder whenever i speak out and inform. in contrast, ideas breeze to me like petals in spring. i see all these foods for thought and i am a mere basket catching all of them. but whenever it's time for me to present them into something people can digest, my words don't come out easily—both written and orally.

analyzing literature pieces and academic papers are relatively easier, since you already have a source material to relate to (which is what my current degree is all about) the key there is finding twisted connections. you're not creating concepts out of thin air, unlike writing fiction. it is one of the most soul-sucking practice a human can ever do, so fermenting my ideas for a long period of time is a must. there are a lot of stories in my roster gathering dust for years, waiting for the miracle when i would finally have the time of day to write their first draft. but alas, i'm a chronic procrastinator; very much in love with outlining and daydreaming scenes more than actually putting the work to churn out words on the blank page.

nowadays i'm working on that weakness by writing a page everyday. it's a snail pace but i hope i can make it a habit in the long run.

there are fortunate times wherein i catch fully ripe fruits in my basket. my expertise is putting together various petals from different flowers altogether, creating a new, unique flower. ripe fruits though, is the quintessence of art in its absolute form. they come in my all-time favorites [TV shows and movies, animangas, comics, books, music videos, albums, paintings] and what im striving to make someday; to have a complete opus with my style and trademark.

but there are also terrible times wherein i receive unripe ones from the mail. my former colleagues, for example, have asked me for advice about their unfinished pieces. some even prompted me to revise the entire manuscript itself (that's like giving away free labor, being an editor is not for the weak), or changing the entire plot based on my suggestions. like woah, why would you trust me that much?

which is why i always walk on eggshells when giving out constructive criticism, or making offhanded remarks, because it might make or break someone's morale and negatively affect how they make their artwork. that's the last thing i want. i am a firm believer that we should all maintain creative autonomy on our own works, and how we live our life in general

so here is a big disclaimer: please treat whatever i say here in my blog (experiences, tips, realizations) with a grain of salt. they're rather N of 1 trials: i am a lifeseeking-researcher but i am also my own sole test subject, always putting myself in this microscopic stance with the rest of the world as a petri dish. i cannot guarantee that whatever works for me will also work for you. and just because i make direct eye contacts with the sun doesn't mean you'd also follow me and make yourself blind. the world is in constant flux, our cells are always regenerating, the energies are always changing. i grow everyday, and some epiphanies i get may not be applicable anymore the day after tomorrow, or a year later.

only take whatever seems useful for you in my basket of confectionery then leave the rest, at your own discretion; maybe even pass it on to the next person.

and there's more: ever heard of unwanted deliveries? annoying calls from unregistered numbers masking themselves as urgent? there are times when i receive these rotten fruits; situations that seemingly require my immediate attention and action but doesnt really fit my forte in life. i am just like any other twenty-something-year-old-woman, living my normal college life, having silly little crushes, spending my teensy-weensy outdoor moments reflecting because i didn't do that when i was young (i was just like any other rebellious teen too, not so special). so i could have been any of you. i am not a superhero, a mad scientist, nor an aspiring cult-leader. just a creatively-constipated storyteller

if you still wanna stick around, then welcome to my humble abode (maybe even cure my word constipation... is that a yes?)

but if i receive unwarranted energies, trust that i will send it back to your address

with love, xx

[taiblogcomics]

Slap-Happy Fun!

Hey there, paisanos. Well, we came to the end of Rainbow Brite way too early, but we sure enjoyed what we got, huh? A little bittersweet. However, it's left me in a bit of a cartoon mood. As such, I got a theme thing I wanna run through for a while. I got two different series, each six issues long, that both use toon physics as a major story feature, in somewhat different ways. And to start with, let's talk a little about the protagonis for our first series~

So, probably the comic would introduce the backstory itself, but why don't we go into detail here, then we won't have to during the comic review! To that end, here's our hero: Steve Harmon, AKA the awesome Slapstick. Steve was the class clown and loved pranks and tasteless jokes. He'd do very well on modern Youtube, but his original series came out in 1992. When he got caught before a prank could go off, he dressed up as a clown to sneak into a nearby carnival for revenge. However, before his plan could come about, he ends up pulled into Dimension X by the evil clowns runing the carnival, and is transformed into a living cartoon!

Now he's Slapstick, a being made of a mysterious substance called electroplasm. Slapstick can be stretched and beaten and suffer any number of horrible torments, but not actually hurt. He also has a pair of gloves that act as a pocket dimension he can pull objects out of, particularly his signature mallet. Slapstick eventually defeats the evil clowns, rescues his kidnapped classmates, and realises he just had a full-on superhero origin. Now he can go and fight crime! Pretty good for a new character in a four-issue miniseries in 1992!

Slapstick had relatively few appearances since then. He became a member of the New Warriors, and despite his cartoony personality, he was particularly loyal to his teammates, as seen in Avengers: The Initiative, which was his next major appearance. This was following Civil War in Marvel, just to put you on the timeline. It was about this time that Steve spent more and more time as Slapstick, and eventually lost the ability to turn back into his human self. Problem is, he's your average high school teenager swimming in hormones, and his cartoon self doesn't have, shall we say, "an outlet" for that. This is a plot point, believe it or not!

So, being frustrated in such a way, conscripted by the military, and all the bullshit he went through in said military, Slapstick became a little bitter and cynical. Not unpleasantly so, he's not dark and gritty or anything, he's just a bit grouchy. This is what leads to his next major appearance: Deadpool and the Mercs for Money. This team included, aside from Deadpool himself, Foolkiller, Solo, Stingray, Terror Inc., Masacre, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and Hit-Monkey. Not a cheerful group! It was goofy, but they were also shooting people for money. In fact, most of them being unlikeable assholes is why Steve left the group and moved back in with his parents, which is where we find him now~

And after all that, here's the cover:

This cover (which is also the cover of the trade paperback I'm reading from) basically tells you everything you need to know. Here's Slapstick, living cartoon clown, who inhabits an otherwise realistic world. Well, as realistic as the Marvel Universe can be. But that's the best part. Slapstick is drawn with thick black outlines and minimal shading, standing out against all the other characters, who are rendered in a more realistically-drawn and properly shaded style. He really does look like a cartoon interacting with the real world. It's very good! Also, he commits unspeakable violence, as seen here. Like, this book is actually pretty violent and gory, and I will do my best to warn you when that's about to go down.

So we open in Bayonne, New Jersey, where a group of generic thugs are doing a crime down at the docks. It's not even past the first page before Slapstick appears, doing a cartoony violence on them to thwart their intended crimes. And I do mean a violence. You know, they shoot him, he plays like he's dead, then springs right back up and spits the bullets back at them. And he can spit the bullets at a machinegun speed. Or he knocks the teeth out of one guy's mouth, then hits the teeth with his mallet into another guy's eyes. Painful! Like, these first three pages are pretty violent. Use them as a litmus test!

These opening pages have just been a tale Steve (still in his Slapstick guise) has been telling at the dinner table, back in his hometown of Plainfield. His young niece and nephew are super into it, but the adults don't much care for his boasting. His parents don't much care for his non-traditional job, his brother Richard is only interested in his own IT work, and Richard's wife Portia thinks Steve ought to just give up being a mercenary and start a family. Mrs. Harmon tells her to downplay the idea, since Steve's "inability to perform his husbandly duties" is a sore point for him.

Steve leaves the table in disgust, which I think anybody would if their mom started talking about their "downstairs" problems at the dinner table. He storms outside and uses his phone to look for any ongoing merc jobs. Deadpool still hasn't figured out Steve's been using his log-in on MERK (the Uber for mercs!), so Slapstick's been swiping jobs off the system to spite his old boss. And he's found a listing for group of thieves breaking into the Edison Museum in West Orange, which is right nearby! Like, it gives a highway exit number and everything. If you learn nothing else from this comic, at least you'll learn some New Jersey geography!

Upon reaching the museum, Slapstick already finds himself on the right track: there's a sneaky shadow a-sneaking about on the roof! Upon jumping up to take a look, he encounters… the spectacular Spider-Man! Well, West Orange is pretty close to Manhattan, it's not out of the question. This was late 2016, so Spidey had just gotten his body back from Doc Ock and Parker Industries had not yet crashed and burned. He also notes it's been a while since he last teamed up with Slapstick, but Slapstick somehow doesn't recognise him at all. J. Jonah Jameson wishes he could be so lucky~

There's a brief fight, but Spidey easily dodges Slapstick's mallet swings, then trips him with a web-line. Slapstick recognises the move as one a buddy of his named Scarlet Spider used to do. Well, his debut was in the early '90s. Spidey's miffed to be compared to his clone, but both of them hunker down and clam up as the real thieves turn up. Slapstick slips off, pulls one of the goons away, and slips into his uniform, which looks ridiculous on his cartoon body. He then leads the rest of the goons into a nearby warehouse. A well-pulled ruse!

Slapstick begins beating up the goons, using their own gunfire to take out several of them. Spider-Man also soon enters, having heard the sound effects of "GUN GUN GUN GUN". No, I'm dead serious. Spidey's kind of appalled at all the blood, wondering what kind of superhero Slapstick is, acting like that. Slapstick is offended as well, being a "superhero" is a childish concept. Their argument doesn't keep up for much longer, as the goons resume shooting. Spidey goes back to non-lethally restraining them, like a loser non-mercenary, and Slapstick peels off to find the stolen loot he was hired to recover.

Down below, he encounters Quasimodo, a low-rent D-list Fantastic Four villain. Picture MODOK, but instead of a giant floating head, he's a hunchback man with He-Man action figure proportions. Ram-Man. Picture Ram-Man with a monocle, if he was in Tron. He also speaks in an incredibly robotic way, doing both the Elcor thing of stating intention before the sentence and using BASIC syntax. Actual dialogue: "10 DECLARE Soon none will dare mock Quasimodo--instead they will think he is hot stuff! 20 DECLARE Many of the Tinder dates will be mine! 30 LOOP Ha ha ha ha ha."

Slapstick leaps in to fight him, mostly to get him to shut up. He has the upperhand for a bit, but Quasimodo does a molecular scan and determines that Slapstick is made of electroplasm. And with that, he determines a particular frequency, firing a laser at Slapstick. He's at first skeptical, because nothing in this dimension has been able to hurt him thusfar. But then his arm actually begins to destabilise and melt. If he wasn't so cartoony, it'd probably be horrific. As it is, it looks mostly like a paint smear. Disturbing, certainly, but not graphic.

However, his arm doesn't totally slough off and dissolve, and Slapstick realises it can't be destabilised any further than it already is. So he uses his messed-up arm as a shield to get in close, then whacks Quasimodo big over the head with his mallet. Soon enough, Spider-Man comes in, having mopped up all the goons. Everything's good down here, too. Spidey reclaims the equipment for Parker Industries, and he splits, glad the team-up is over. Once he's gone, Slapstick lets the other shoe drop: he kept Quasimodo's involvement secret, stashing the villain before Spidey's arrival.

See, Slapstick's reasoned that if Quas here can find a frequency that destabilises his form a bit, perhaps he can find a way to undo it altogether. He's a little tired of being stuck in this form without access to his privates--plus, he still needs his arm restored anyway. But of course, why should a villain like Quasimodo help him? Why should he help any human? That's easy: since the accident, he ain't human. And besides, he doesn't want to imprison or coerce or trap Quas. No, in fact, what he wants is to hire him…

Next day, in New Brunswick, Slapstick does in fact have his arm back in working condition. No cure yet, but I'm sure he's working on it. This also confirms that Slapstick is indeed in his early 20s or 19 at the earliest--he and his buddy Mike are stated to be out of high school. In fact, they're here for a college football game! It's a fictional "New Jersey University", but given that they're in New Brunswick, it's likely a stand-in for Rutgers. Mike's glad things are looking up for Steve. He's hoping to pitch Slapstick's adventures as a graphic novel, and humorously the brief page he shows is in the style of the original 1992 series. Slapstick isn't impressed~

Mike, Slapstick, and his niece and nephew take a seat to watch the game, and the ref calls for mascots to clear the field. However, the brawny figure marching across the field ignores him, instead loudly declaring himself to be Bro-Man, Master of the Multiverse, and here to fight the Princess' champion. Mike muses that the guy looks kind of like Steve, and indeed, he's drawn in a similar flat-coloured thick-outlined style. The comic ends with the other team's mascot comes to clear the guy out, Bro-Man merely pulls out his sword, and gruesomely cleaves the guy in two. He's just another 3D sack of meat, not the champion he seeks…

Well, this is off to a pretty fun start. It's not like we're doing a gritty, dark reimagining or anything here, like I said. We're just contrasting a very silly character with the more realistic world around him--and frankly, he's a little sick of being the silly character, too. Basically it's Who Framed Roger Rabbit if Eddie Valiant was in Roger's body. Really, you can't blame poor Steve for his surly attitude. He got goofy-ass powers that eventually stopped turning off, got drafted into superhero boot camp where his former teammates' names were dragged through the mud (it was a whole thing), joined a mercenary group and then got kicked out of said group, had to move back in with his judgmental parents, and can't satisfy one of his basic needs as a human being--which he doesn't even resemble anymore. He's frustrated, it's understandable! Relatable, even. The violence and blood are a little high, but again, it's just to contrast him with the real world. Any cartoon would survive those injuries! So we'll see just how well he does against Bro-Man next time~

[starcchild]

What changes do you think would be made between your muse as they exist in your head vs how they would be treated as part of canon?

If your character had a breakout show/film/comic, what would the plot be? Who would be in their supporting cast?

What headcanons/theories do you believe fandom would invent about your character?

Is your character the subject of ‘imagines’ or ‘x reader’ style blogs?

What do you imagine the most popular ship(s) for your character would be?

What is the wildest crackship you can imagine for your character, whether in-universe or in crossover?

META ASKS: If Your OC Was Canon. ((under the cut because I completely rambled sfdgksfd))

What changes do you think would be made between your muse as they exist in your head vs how they would be treated as part of canon?

well, the biggest thing would be that Carter would either get a different mother so she'd still be born in '96, or she would be born in '00, since, in the movies, Tony and Maya meet at the end of '99, while I have them meet a few years earlier at the end of '95/start of '96. I mean, I know... nothing of the comics ahah, so idk if maybe that could work? but yeah! Definitely the biggest change.

the next biggest could easily be who she grows up with. It could be changed so the hansen au is canon, so Carter would grow up with Maya and Tony doesn't learn of her existence until im3 (if it's put together in general), or it could just stay the same where Maya dumped her with Tony, that way im1 picks up with an already established familial relationship with them. Which I think would be the easiest way to go, since I already have her shuffled around between carers (Pepper, Happy, Obadiah, Rhodey) while Tony is off doing Tony things lol, and also it doesn't need any build-up or major explanations. Plus, then getting into im3, it could be revealed then that Maya is Carter's mother, and there could be tension there between Maya and Tony because of that. Especially when getting into Maya's obsession with Extremis, since that was one of the main reasons for her leaving Carter with Tony in my canon to begin with.

other than that... I could see her and Tony keeping their dynamic, the "careful daughter of a careless man", since I have seen that play out before (like in Castle! When the show was still good! but actually I do like the comparison with Carter and Tony to Alexis and Castle), or they could completely change her character and have her be a mini Tony, which... I could see but I don't like sdgkhjsdf

though, they might keep her relatively the same, but throw out most of her trauma by not acknowledging it since we know how much the mcu loves downplaying trauma or outright ignoring it ahah

I think... honestly, Carter would stay relatively the same? I did my best to keep her from wildly changing the plot of everything (in her main verse lol, since the ikau does the opposite and I do tweak eg with my not today au), so she could easily just be shoved into the background and not really. need major adjustments. Like, I really either add to existing plots (her trying to intervene when Obadiah steals Tony's reactor) or alter minor plots (her stepping between Thor and Tony in aou, so Thor doesn't grab Tony in a chokehold), so I feel like it should be easy enough to just. have her exist. She's only the focus because she's my oc and obviously she's going to be the focus because of that, but overall, in the bigger picture, she's just there.

If your character had a breakout show/film/comic, what would the plot be? Who would be in their supporting cast?

oooh, I don't think a breakout film would work for her, but, I think a one-shot comic or her being tossed into a show like aos could work! Now... hmm, I'm not sure about the plot, tbh! Actually, no, I think it would be either a mini-series or one-shot comic dealing with the aftershocks of eg. Maybe her stepping in and being kind of a mentor to Peter?

OR it could be a lil mystery spinoff!! Maybe involving Mysterio? I think that could be fun! Like her trying to figure out what's going on with these drones and why Peter's suddenly involved and all that, and maybe ending up with Happy in England? I feel like a lil mystery with her would be fun sgfdkhjd

but honestly I think it would be better for her to have like. an episode or two in aos revolving around her (kinda like how they did with Sif) than her having her own show/comic, since... in her main verse, while I'm always down to explore any aspect of her background, I don't know if any of it would either generate enough interest with fans across the board or be considered financially feasible. Like, I could see her just getting brushed aside because they don't think it would make any money, y'know, like how they were saying with Natasha in delaying a bw movie for as long as they did, but them actually having a genuinely good point with that for Carter sdfgkhjsgfd

anyway, going back to my aos thing, they could easily have her be involved with them figuring out the centipede serum since extremis was used to create it, especially if her canon became her being raised by Maya instead of Tony. Or even if she somehow took interest in her mother's work! Plus I love the aos cast, so I think it'd be a lot of fun to have her interact with them!

edit: WAIT THE IKAU THEY COULD DO A COMIC RUN FOR THE IKAU I DIDN'T THINK ABOUT THAT SDFGKJSDFHJ

What headcanons/theories do you believe fandom would invent about your character?

*rubs hands together* okay, so if canon were to go the route of it not being known who Carter's mother is until im3, then I absolutely believe there would be a popular hc/theory that her mother is Pepper, and since in Carter's canon she stays at Pepper's place in im2 during Tony's party, I could see that being a decent piece of evidence to back up that claim. Though maybe a theory of her being Maya's daughter could come up before im3? again, I don't know comics, but, I'm sure there could be hints/easter eggs hinting to that that could be thrown in, and anyone who knows Maya from the comics could toss it in as a possibility!

umm... I'm sure the hc/theory that Carter will take Tony's place as Iron Man would crop up, especially in eg since I do have her getting involved in the fight with her own suit, though with my canon that was really a one-time thing that Carter doesn't want to make a habit of using, since that's definitely not something she wants to do

I... honestly don't know if there would be a whole lot of theories that would develop in fanon with Carter? I'm sure there would be a bunch of lil hcs, but otherwise I don't think there would be a lot of major ones! I think the biggest would be her possibly becoming the new Iron Man and who her mother is pre-im3

Is your character the subject of ‘imagines’ or ‘x reader’ style blogs?

yes, I absolutely want to believe she would be because I think that would be both incredible and hilarious sdfgkhjdg

anyway, uh, I think it'd be mostly shippy things, especially with the reader inserts since those seem to lean in that direction? but I could also see imagines popping up with her, maybe more au things? like kinda touching upon the ikau without it being the ikau? I actually don't. really remember how imagines work outside of them being reader inserts sfdgkhjd

but yeah! I want to believe she'd be the subject of those sort of things, but I doubt it would ever be to the extent of a major character like Tony. Probably just a few here and there!

What do you imagine the most popular ship(s) for your character would be?

other than the Maximoff twins, a popular ship would definitely be Steve/Carter, because I know how much the mcu fandom loves pairing Stark ocs with Steve sfdgkjfsgdhkj

I think, though, a ship with Bucky and a ship with Quentin could be close contenders? I feel like I've seen those as ships with Stark ocs enough to be considered a popular pairing, but I think the three above would be the main ones!

What is the wildest crackship you can imagine for your character, whether in-universe or in crossover?

uhh... idk?? I feel like her with one of the gotg characters? like Drax? But honestly I,,, have no idea sdfghjsdf - I'm drawing a huge blank on this one

I'm not gonna even think about crossovers because that's gonna hurt my brain sfdgkjhdf