#but i totally get hunting down the most obscure little comics and things just to see your Guy

[froot-batty]

Okay so another pretty good comic you might wanna read is Man-Bat (2021). The Suicide Squad are put in at the end of issue 1 and issue 2 is all about them fighting Man-Bat. I'm not sure how good it is as a Man-Bat fan, but there's probably something there you can use for incorporating Captain Boomerang into your au potentially. I honestly keep forgetting about it because it's just sort of one of those issues that you gotta go out of your way to find because it's like... Issue 2 of a miniseries so when you're only interested in issue 2, it's kinda a weird one for someone like me who only wants it for Captain Boomerang.

thank you for all the recs youve given me !! i am Not a very fast reader at all but i swear they will not be wasted on me. boomer knowledge Here I Come

i think i already have sooommee idea of how i'd like to incorporate him. i'm not entirely sure yet though

[bigskydreaming]

Big Jason stans on twitter have been talking about a character named Eddie Bloomberg being Jason's friend, and since you know more about older comics than most I was wondering if you had any thoughts about it.

Eddie Bloomberg is a character known as Kid Devil, the sidekick of relatively low-profile mystical/supernatural hero known as Blue Devil. Though ironically, for a large part of both characters’ existence, their personas were only thematic and they had no actual mystical/supernatural powers or connection - those were added to both characters in later years. Originally, Blue Devil was a stuntman who just designed his own devil-themed costume to fight crime because like, why not, basically. LOL. And Eddie was basically a fanboy who snuck into his workshop and designed his own Red Devil/Kid Devil costume/armor along similar lines. Years later, long after Jason’s death and return and completely unrelated to it, Eddie made a literal deal with a devil, aka Neron, to get actual powers. And this resulted in him gaining a demonic appearance and related powers.....though later on it was also revealed that his powers weren’t actually given to him by Neron, rather he’d had a dormant metahuman gene all along that Neron just activated and kinda tweaked to make the resulting powers seem supernatural/occult related.

Eddie’s a fun character and there is actual canon basis for him and Jason being friends, going way back, and so I vastly prefer people going with him as Jason’s BFF over say, Roy......like, back in the day, Jason and Eddie were literal pen pals. And I do mean literal. Like we’re talking pre-email days, old school letter writing back and forth pen pals. We saw very little of their actual friendship, but like I’m always talking about with the relative lack of interactions between Dick and Jason back then....this isn’t truly indicative of anything other than a lack of places to SHOW these relationships. 

There were waaaaay fewer titles back then, there was no solo Robin title to show what Jason was up to when he wasn’t with Bruce, and thus the only instance I can ever think of when we actually saw Jason and Eddie teaming up together, actually happened in one issue of the Blue Devil comic book from way back when. But again - purely logistical. Doesn’t mean they weren’t actually good friends, and there’s really nothing standing in the way of assuming they had a ton more interactions just like that but offscreen, as it were.

Also, this limited interaction took place BEFORE Jason was retconned to have his street kid origin, but that doesn’t actually mean Jason and Eddie’s friendship was ever retconned at all. 

See, it was actually pretty confusing, but while post Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jason’s origin was definitively the one where he was jacking the Batmobile’s tires, and then after this point only spanned less than twenty issues before his death in ADITF......this doesn’t mean that Jason’s tenure as Robin was ever limited to JUST the events of those twenty or so issues. When they retconned his origin, they did it in such a way as to allow for pretty much every single story Jason had already been in PRIOR to that....to still have happened. Literally the only stories of his that were ever ACTUALLY retconned were the ones that pertained directly to his pre-Crisis origin as another circus kid like Dick.

Basically, the way they pulled this off was via the usage of one single caption box. At the start of the issue where Dick and Jason ‘meet for the first time,’ post-Crime Alley retcon. That issue, which is basically right at the start of Jason’s ‘new’ run as a street kid turned Robin, opens with the caption box “One year ago.” By doing this, they basically just inserted that new origin for Jason as one book-end to his time as Robin....with ADITF twenty or so issues later being the other book-end to his time as Robin obviously.

But IN BETWEEN those book-ends was contained not JUST the twenty issues between them.....but ALSO, every Jason-as-Robin story from pre-Crisis, except for his actual pre-Crisis origin story. The proof of this lies in the fact that even long after ADITF, hell, even after Jason’s return as the Red Hood.....canon kept citing specific stories of Jason’s from pre-Crisis. Like when he fought Tim at Titans’ Tower and he mentioned having briefly been a Titan...that was a definitive reference to the pre-Crisis stories where he teamed up with the Titans, once with the Fab Five in Dick’s place, and then again not longer after, to help the Titans rescue Dick and Raven from the Church of Blood. Those are the literal only two stories where Jason was ever a Titan or associated with them, and they’re squarely smack in the pre-Crisis era......but they remained canon even after Jason’s origin was retconned, because THEY weren’t retconned with that origin....they were just kinda...shuffled around a bit.

Same thing with Jason and Eddie. Even after Crisis and the Crime Alley retcon for Jason, they still were definitely friends during his time as Robin, though this never actually came up in any of the issues between Jason’s new origin and ADITF. But it was referenced once or twice since then, by Eddie I believe, so again, like the missions Jason made with the Titans and the times Dick and Jason did hang out and get along, etc, etc....these things were always definitively part of canon and were never once actually retconned before the New 52 Reboot as a whole.

So yeah, its true, Eddie was Jason’s friend and there’s canon basis for that. I’m gonna be totally honest here, my main gripe with the Jason and Eddie BFF connection is purely petty - it bugs me slightly, Jason stans’ awareness of it at all, because although it was there, we’re talking a time literally concurrent with the stories where, y’know, Dick fluffed Jason’s hair and told him if Bruce gives him any grief about sneaking out to go help the Titans rescue him, just ‘let the old man know it took you and all the Titans to pull my butt out of the fire,” and was happy to take the fall to keep Jason out of trouble. So the fact that people could remember all along something as obscure as a friendship with a character as low-profile as Kid Devil, that only appeared in all of four pages in all of comic-dom, but still loudly insisted not that they just preferred writing takes where Dick didn’t like Jason back then but rather that these were the only takes that existed in the comics.....it makes me go mmmm, shenanigans! And sadly sours me a little on the Jason - Eddie friendship just by extension. *Shrugs* Hey I’m not proud of it, lol, but ngl, that’s basically the big reason I don’t engage with it much.

I mean, the other reasons are simply that Eddie’s not super in my wheelhouse, y’know? The original Blue Devil comic was just never one I was really all that familiar with, I think I just read the one issue that Jason showed up in BECAUSE he showed up in it, lol, and although fun, Eddie never really grabbed me outside of that connection with Jason. Nothing wrong with him, just so many characters, so little time, kinda thing. And then he was in comic book Limbo unused for a loooong time, until brought back to prominence by Geoff Johns, who I’m just not really a big fan of. So he’s mostly just never really been present in the books I actually read and know really well, and so although I’m ALL for giving Jason his own friends and not just shoehorning him into his older brother’s dynamics with other characters more commonly associated with Dick.....I tend to default to doing that with characters who I’m already a fan of in their own right. 

Like, my personal preferred BFF for Jason is Grant Emerson aka Damage. Because for a period in the nineties, Roy really took him under his wing and was a surrogate big brother and even guardian figure for Grant, and they had suuuuuch a great relationship, and in a lot of ways it mirrored the relationship I remembered seeing hints of between Dick and Jason and wanting more of for them, so it just makes a natural parallel. Roy and Dick as BFFs and then Grant and Jason as BFFs and with somewhat similar relationships with the older two. Plus, Grant has a lot in common with Jason, such as an abusive childhood and surprise revelations/upheavals regarding his parents that have massively affected his life. Grant is a big old softie, and not nearly as abrasive as Jason often is written as, but when paired with how much else they have in common, to me this creates a natural dynamic wherein Jason likely WOULDN’T be that abrasive with Grant, especially not when its just the two of them, because so much of that behavior for Jason is a defense mechanism and shield against being seen/viewed in ways Jason is not down with, but would never be an issue with Grant, because like....they’d both know where the other stood there and where they were coming from, and thus if Jason were going to just completely let his walls down with someone in just a totally casual way, IMO it’d be with someone like Grant. And Grant in turn I think could really benefit from having a friend he can relate to like Jason, who happens to be very confident about like....validating a lot of his own personal struggles which mirror a lot of Grant’s personal struggles where he really COULD use more validation, particularly of the external kind.

Course, I mean plus, Jason’s still Jason so also there’s the factor that Grant’s meta power is literally to blow things up with his brain, and I refuse to accept any characterization of Jason wherein he learns hey there’s this dude who can blow shit up with his brain and DOESN’T immediately follow that thought with “I must hunt him down and make him my best friend AT ONCE for clearly we are soulmates and this is DESTINY.”

(On a similar note, the other third of my preferred trio for Jason is Courtney Mason aka Anima. Like, if I were creating a Red Hood and the Outlaws style team/book from the ground up, I would hands down go with Jason, Grant and Courtney. A brief summation of Courtney from wikipedia: 

“Rebellious teenage runaway Courtney Mason acquired her miraculous powers following an attack by parasitic aliens: one of many New Blood superbeings created in this way, as part of the Bloodlines crossover. Seven extraterrestrial predators had come to Earth and slaughtered thousands of humans by feeding on their spinal fluids. On the run in New Orleans, Courtney was kidnapped by a cult that sacrificed her to two of these insatiable parasites, knows as Pritor and Lissik. But Courtney did not die. Instead, the parasites' bites unleashed the Animus, a sentient-energy creature that can absorb the spirit essences of the living and the dead, which was now able to enter the world through Courtney. She became the embodiment of mankind's rage and masculine drive, and quickly developed awesome physical powers of her own. As Anima, Courtney sought revenge against the cult. She also met the Teen Titans and battled a variety of supernatural menaces. Anima remains a wanderer, traveling from place to place and helping those in need by calling upon the fearsome primal force inside her.”

Like, I’m just saying. The Jason and Courtney BFF show basically writes itself. Also, Courtney’s got her own share of sibling issues given that her little brother Jeremy eventually ends up becoming the host for the Animus entity’s ‘little sister’ Eris, the spirit of strife, so.....dot dot dot.)

But yeah, anyway, Eddie is still very much a fun character worth looking into, and his friendship with Jason pre-New 52, at least back during Jason’s Robin days, is very much a thing, even if we never got to see all that much of it.

[monotonous-minutia]

How would you like your favorite opera to be staged ideally? (I went off in a Così post and now I need to know the deep opinions about everyone’s favs). Thank you!!

thanks, this is great!

I did a post on Don Carlo a while ago and how I’d stage it so this time I’m going to talk about my other favorite opera, Martha, oder der Markt zu Richmond. It’s very obscure so I’ll start with a brief description of the opera. 

It’s a German comic opera about a lady-in-waiting, Harriet, who is super bored with her rich life and decides to go to the fair dressed like a maid with her best friend, Nancy, and a knight, Tristam, who’s in love with her (she does not reciprocate his feelings). At the fair they meet two brothers, Lyonel and Plumkett. Lyonel was was taken in by Plumkett’s family when his mysterious father basically dropped him off at the front step, said “He’s yours now” and then died. Now Plumkett’s parents have died as well and they just inherited the farm and have no clue what they’re doing. So they go to the fair to buy some maids and come across Harriet (who calls herself Martha) and Nancy, who unwittingly sell themselves into servitude because they think it’s all a joke. Well, they get taken to the boys’ farmhouse and naturally they all fall in love with each other by bonding over household chores. Lyonel asks Harriet to marry him and she laughs in his face and he immediately overreacts because Tenor. The boys go to sleep and then Tristam comes and rescues the girls and the boys wake up and find them gone and are super depressed. An ambiguous amount of time later, Plumkett bumps into Nancy in town and she’s on the hunt and she pretends not to recognize him and gets her fellow huntresses to chase him off. Meanwhile, Lyonel is depressed and listless and wandering around and proceeds to sing one of the most famous tenor arias of all time, “Ach, so fromm” (look it up, you’ll probably recognize the tune); the fame of which SHOULD be enough to integrate this opera into common repertory, but alas that is not the case. Anyway, of course at this very moment Harriet is also wandering around in the exact same spot and bumps into Lyonel who instantly recognizes her but is confused as to why she is dressed so fancy. Harriet freaks out and also pretends not to know him and calls for help. Tristam comes and, seeing his rival in love, calls for all the available Big Strong Men to come and save Harriet. Everything gets out of control and Lyonel winds up arrested and is humiliated when he realizes who Harriet actually is. Turns out, though, that his deceased father was a Count and when Harriet finds this out she goes back to him saying they can get married now without backlash because he’s of a higher station. He rejects her because he thinks she only wants him because he’s a count and also he renounces his title. Harriet decides to dress up as Martha again to convince him that she still loves him and is willing to leave all her wealth behind to be with him. Meanwhile, Plumkett and Nancy sing an absolutely delightful love duet. Harriet sets up the farmers’ backyard to look like the fair where she and Lyonel met and he meets her out there and she renounces her title and asks if he will still marry her and he agrees. And Plumkett and Nancy get together too and it’s all just adorable. 

Okay so that wasn’t really brief but. Moving on.

I absolutely love this opera because the story is so original and fun, the libretto is ingeniously witty, and the music is fantastic, intricately portraying the comic but making sure to take the more sober parts seriously. ALSO, Flotow was using leitmotif before it was cool. But that is another rant altogether.

There is a film based on this opera that is actually really spot-on, but I’ll talk a little about my vision for this opera too. I’ve actually been curating it since I was thirteen and first heard this opera.

First off, I think I would have the sets and costumes be historically accurate. This opera is pretty straightforward and I don’t see the need to fancify anything with elaborate or weird sets and costumes. Plus, it being more obscure, I think it helps to keep things simple so the audience doesn’t get lost wondering what’s accurate and what’s interpretation.

The fair scene would be so much fun. It’s pretty obvious that the maids who are selling their services are, in fact, looking for boyfriends, and the farmers purchasing their services are, in fact, looking for girlfriends. Which makes it all the more ridiculous that Lyonel and Plumkett have no idea what’s going on. They’re just looking for maids while everyone else is looking to get laid.So there’s this whole chorus where the maids are saying what all they can do and in the libretto there is so. much. subtext that they’re not actually talking about washing linens and knitting and making beds, they’re talking about using the beds in a specific way...you get the picture. So there would be some suggestive body language and a LOT of flirting. And the maids would be primping and preening, and the farmers would be straightening their hats and smoothing down their hair, etc., and it’d all just be ridiculous. The Sheriff would be rolling his eyes the entire time because he a) wants to get this over with and b) wishes people would take their responsibilities more seriously. 

One thing about this opera is that, though it’s pretty short compared to a lot of others (it’s just under 2 hours--more if the scenes that are often cut are left in), but some of the numbers are long and repetitive while others are very fast-paced. So it would need to be staged carefully so that when the 2-verse duet stretches for like 5 minutes, they’re not just standing their the entire time. For example, when they first get to the farmhouse the boys are telling the girls for about 3 minutes that they’re home and will wake up early the next morning, and the girls spend an equal amount of time freaking out. I’d put some movement in here--Plumkett goes around lighting the lanterns, checking the doors, etc., while Lyonel stands awkwardly watching the girls as they huddle frozen in fear and then at the end Plumket turns and sees Lyonel doing absolutely nothing to help out and is supremely annoyed. After that a lot of the action is pretty well laid out in the libretto and I wouldn’t really need to add much because it moves along so quickly. Then there’s the duet between Lyonel and Harriet where he freaks her out with his Mad Tenor Passion and she sings a song to get him to shut up and then he professes his love for her and asks her to marry him and it all goes downhill. The song itself is kind of grim, and it’s sandwiched between these two duets that start lighthearted and then get serious when Harriet realizes “Oh, wow, my words can actually hurt someone, this is new information” and Lyonel goes “MY LIFE IS OVER THE WOMAN I JUST MET ISN’T IN LOVE WITH ME” so it’d have to be a careful balance of making sure the comic and dramatic elements are given equal weight. That’s kind of true for the whole opera.

An image I want to really utilize strongly is the rose. The song Harriet sings to Lyonel is “The Last Rose of Summer” but the librettist’s translation focuses more on death than the original poem which I find fascinating. Right before the song Lyonel takes Harriet’s “nosegay” that she had as part of her Martha costume and teases her with it, saying he’ll only give it back if she sings to him. My hot take: there’s a rose in her bouquet. He takes it when he takes the bouquet. She sees it and it’s what inspires her to sing this song. He takes it back when she rejects him and keeps it to remember her by when she runs away. He’s singing to it when he stumbles upon her in town. He drops it in the mayhem and she picks it up. She takes it with her and gives it to him when she goes to his house to try and win him back. He throws it in her face. When they split Nancy finds it on the floor, and then gives it to Harriet when she’s waiting for Lyonel to come out and find her dressed as Martha. She gives it to him when she renounces her station and pledges her love to him and he takes it and it ends with them both holding on to it.

One of my favorite things about this opera is the Nancy/Plumkett relationship and I absolutely do not want it to get swept to the side because a) mezzo/baritone couples need all the love and b) they have one of the greatest comic love duets in operatic history and I will fight anyone who argues that point. So I’d really want to make sure that stays as a big part of the plot. The libretto and music is so great at portraying the sweet, awkward feelings they have towards each other and I want the staging to reflect that. Also Plumkett totally learns his lesson: he tries to subordinate Nancy when he finds her in town and demands that she find her place, and she retaliates by sicking her huntresses on him and they chase him away. After that he has nothing but mad respect. He forgives her much more quickly than Lyonel forgives Harriet. Because though he is gruff and stern he’s a sucker at heart. One thing I’ll have to think more on is what happens right before their duet in the finale, when they come out of the kitchen after hiding there during the Lyonel/Harriet confrontation. Do they come out standing awkwardly distant from each other because they spent the last seven minutes silently twiddling their thumbs and eavesdropping? Or are they ruffled because they utilized much of that time to make out? Maybe it’s ambiguous, like Plumkett goes into the kitchen wearing a jacket and when he comes back out with Nancy he’s not wearing it anymore and we see who notices.

Also: Tristam is gay. Undebatable. He just thinks he’s in love with Harriet because that’s what’s expected. So he will possess all the stereotypes. He will be Extra and he will have the Gay Hands and Gay Eyebrows and all that. They will give him a flower crown at the fair. He will continue to wear it because he secretly likes it. He will be oblivious to the charm of the maids and instead become keenly interested in one of the farm hands. 

aaaaaaaanyway not sure if any of that makes sense because I ramble and talk in circles and also most people don’t know this opera. But I thank you for the ask and hope that it brings a little enjoyment into your day. It definitely saved me from some fuming. Thank you!!

[thepetulantpen]

Fairytale/Emotional Support

(Here’s another late contribution for @beaujester-week , a Robin Hood AU for day 5!)

Beau crouches beside a tree and tries to ignore Jester’s giggles behind her, hoping they’re out of earshot of the guards.

“Beau,” Jester whispers as best she can but in the dead silence of the forest, it may as well be a gunshot, “which-“

A twig snaps and Beau’s ears pick up the soft sounds of footsteps on the dirt path that winds through the forest, just a few feet in front of their tree. Reflexes kicking in, Beau pulls both herself and Jester closer to the tree, making sure its silhouette obscures their forms. In the same fluid motion, she covers Jester’s mouth to cut her question short. Jester pouts beneath her hand but begrudgingly accepts the necessity of silence in a run from the sheriff and snuggles closer to Beau.

The guards on the path look irritated and confused, no doubt lost in the twists and turns Beau took through the forest. They’re all sighing with exertion and annoyance, not paid to hike through the woods all day, hunting down an elusive thief for the sake of their delusional sheriff.

“I think she took the other path. Let’s join up with our forces in the east.”

Beau exhales silently, thanking every god she knows and barely believes in. She waits until the last spot of sunlight reflecting off their stupid helmets disappears on the horizon and then moves swiftly from their hiding spot, tugging Jester along.

Her feet have memorized this forest floor, dexterously leading her around roots and rocks, choosing the path of least resistance for Jester’s sake. Jester keeps a running commentary through their walk and Beau lets her, knowing the threat has passed.

Besides, she always loves to hear Jester speak about these things, the pride and excitement in her voice is enough reward for all the trouble they’ve had.

“-then I had my doubles do a little jig to distract them and you stunned the guard like bam! Oh, Beau, it was so fun- we should do this more often!”

“Feel a little bad for getting you involved in a life of crime.” Beau glances up from ground briefly to look at Jester’s face, tone only half joking.

“Pssh, I was kicked out of the last town, remember? I’m hardly as innocent as my pretty face looks!” Jester frames her face with her hands, looking angelic one second, then grinning like a devil the next.

Beau’s heard this story before and she’s only half sure she believes it. Anybody would deny it upon first meeting Jester, a cheerful little tiefling girl clearly incapable of humiliating a politician, committing minor theft and causing mayhem in the streets to mask her flee from the city. But Beau knows her a little better than most, has seen that deeply chaotic and mischievous energy of hers in action. This is, after all, the girl who agreed, without hesitation, to join her quest to pull off one of the most high scale robberies Nottingham has ever seen.

This last job was their biggest yet- and their most personal. Lionett family wineries may not feel the loss of revenue for long, but the poor of Nottingham could certainly be sustained by their stolen money for many months to come.

Beau just wishes she could’ve seen her father’s face when he realized just how much she was able to get away with.

“Beau, are you alright?”

“Hm?” Beau blinks away bad memories and vengeful fantasies to look at Jester, frowning in concern, “Of course. Why? Do I, like, look grumpy?”

“No, it’s just that you’ve got that look on your face like you’re thinking too hard about something dumb.”

Beau laughs and opens her mouth to respond with a joke, a transition to an easier topic, but Jester interrupts, expression earnest and serious.

“Is it about your dad?”

The forest floor is a fascinating thing, textured with unexpected holes and littered with odd plant life, giving Beau something to study while she stalls for time.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Beau looks up from the roots to meet Jester’s eyes, filled with kindness that has become Beau’s lifeline the last few weeks. Those eyes have carried her through heartbreak and abuse, made her feel valuable when Nottingham treated her like a stain on society. She knows she can answer honestly, without judgement or disappointment from Jester.

“Not really.”

Jester hums, studying Beau’s face to detect a lie. When she doesn’t find one, she smiles, a little relieved.

“Well, there’s not much to say anyway- he’s just a stupid, greedy man.”

The words are flippant, easy, but the way Jester squeezes Beau’s hand is not. Her grip is strong, an unforgettable reminder that Jester is there, should Beau change her mind.

Beau would’ve said thanks, or something equally unnecessary, but she catches sight of smoke and the first patches of straw roofs. They’ve arrived.

Jester pushes ahead, switching positions with Beau to pull her ahead, knowing the way from here.

Arriving at the tiny village on the outskirts of town, where much of the poor of Nottingham find themselves, is always an event. It’s a rush of activity and sound, a rush that Jester meets with matching energy, one girl against a village. Beau just hands over the bag of gold, less good at interacting with the kids and the thankful people here. They’re hailed with aliases whispered across the country, legends of heroes who take from the wealthy and give to those less fortunate.

Beau doesn’t know how she got stuck with Robin Hood, but it’s a little late to complain about it. Jester has it easier, having chosen her own name: Maid Marion, so she can take a bit of her mother with her on her adventures.

It’s cute, though not nearly as cute as Jester and Kiri.

“Oh, you’ll finally be able to buy a new cloak and some new toys, isn’t it wonderful?”

“Wonderful!”

Their smiles- Jester’s, Kiri’s, and the rest of the settlement’s- wipe the image of her father’s snarl.

This is the best part of her job.

...

Between jobs, Beau enjoys quiet moments in their borrowed cottage, barely managing to make her own tea and not ruin it. It’s nice out here, just her and Jester enjoying this place before they move onto the next town, the next community in need.

The peace and coziness is nice, of course, but she wouldn’t give up the thrill and the pride of their mission for it. She knows she could never commit to a life of sitting idly after she’s gotten a taste of adventure, of traveling the world in a whirlwind with Jester.

Jester couldn’t either, can’t even finish a quiet afternoon like Beau before she bursts through the door.

“Look at this! Isn’t it terrible?”

Jester shoves two pieces of paper in Beau’s face, too close for her eyes to focus on. She takes them from her and finds herself looking at two extremely shitty illustrations of her and Jester. They are truly comical, with wildly incorrect noses and stringy hair, and they’re supposed to be official Wanted posters, identifying them to the Empire. It’s laughable, and it’s exactly what she’d expect from Nottingham.

“Well, it’s a good thing we’re leaving town. Don’t think I could live with people thinking I look like that.”

Jester sits down at the table with Beau, taking her own teacup and pouring it somewhat angrily. Her indignation is frankly adorable, just another faucet of her passion. She feels everything so deeply, and acts on it accordingly.

“I’m making our own Wanted posters for the next town. I mean, this is ridiculous.”

Beau takes a drink and smiles at Jester, soft and relaxed on their day off.

“You could paint pictures of totally different people just to confuse everyone.”

Jester’s entire face lights up at the idea, the inspiration sparking nearly tangible mischievous energy. When Jester has found an idea she likes, she can talk about it for hours, her voice like music in a lilting tune that keeps Beau invested in what she has to say.

It doesn’t require much to keep Jester going once she’s gotten fixated on something, but Beau interjects with her criminal expertise when needed, adding fuel to the fire. They’re a perfect duo in that way, unconditionally supportive, regardless of the quality of their ideas or rationality of their worries.

Scheming is their kind of downtime, staying outside and talking about nothing and everything until the tea is gross, fireflies are swarming, and the stars twinkle above them.

Beau calls it a night when Jester starts yawning, following her back inside the cottage with just one last glance at the night sky.

She doesn’t recognize any of the constellations, but she swears the stars are scattered in the exact same pattern as the freckles decorating Jester’s face.

For a moment, the sky seems to smile at Beau and she smiles back. She must be more tired than she thought.

She goes inside, to sleep beside her lover, partner in crime, and roommate. There’s work to be done tomorrow, they’ll need their rest.

[writernotwaiting]

Mis-Matched, Part 3

Oh my God!  An update and it’s only been a couple of weeks! Sometimes miracles do occur.

Title: Mis-Matched Rating: M (this is subject to change at the whim of the author’s muses) Characters: Loki, Sigyn, Frigga, Theoric, and various supporting OCs Description: This is an attempt to fill the propmt requested by @someillplanetreigns (and now I can’t even tag you!): “you asked for prompts and pairings - I would like to humbly beg for more Logyn? I don’t have a great prompt, but this odd thought is in my head about a way to make the comic plot about Theoric and the marriage into something about marriage by proxy? Maybe something like Loki has the duty of proxy-marrying Sigyn cos Theoric’s in the army, and totally plays everyone by going the whole hog and appearing as Theoric, but then Sigyn, who thought Theoric was dull as ditchwater and Loki is… well, y’know, Loki.” I’m not sure this is precisely what you wanted, so I apologize in advance for my wayward muses – Loki does what he wants. Chapter: 3 of 4? Acknowledgements: thank you @icybluepenguin for serving as one of my favorite institgaors and sounding boards – you rock!

Part 1 Part 2 On Ao3

_______________________________

           The morning was bright and clear as Frigga led her entourage out to the garden. Once there, the women divided themselves into little groups—one set going to sit in a shady arbor with their needlework while they took turns reading aloud to those who worked, another fanned out to care for the various plants, another group sat with sketch books taking botanical studies of rare plants.

           Sigyn stood by and watched the women move with perfect assurance toward their tasks, then looked over at the queen inquisitively. “What would you prefer I do, your majesty?”

           Frigga turned a smile onto the newest addition to her court. “What would you prefer, my dear?”

           Sigyn balked at the question and felt her face flush. “I’m afraid I’m not altogether suited for any of these pursuits, ma’am. I never learned the finer points of needlework, or drawing—Herr Bragisson is a bachelor and hired no female tutor for me.”

           “And gardening? The study of magic often involves the study of living things—herbology, and growing things.”

           Sigyn’s blush grew darker and she began worrying at her cuticles. “I’ve never shown any affinity for live plants. Don’t misunderstand me—I know what to do with the plants after they’re harvested. I’ve read many books on the healing arts, and on potions. It’s just the growing of them that seems to elude me.”           [read more cut below]

           Frigga’s brows drew together. “I wonder how that could be. Your sensitivity seems very strong. What sort of magic seems to come most naturally, Sigyn? What were the first spells you could cast?”

           Now Sigyn looked decidedly nervous, and Frigga placed a hand on her arm to soothe her. “It’s quite fine, dear. No one’s talent is ever exactly like anyone else’s—there no shame if yours is a little different than most.”

           “Um, actually, I probably have the most ease with small pyrotechnics—you know, fireworks and light spells.”

           “I see.” Frigga’s smile became a little sly. “Perhaps one of the reasons Herr Bragisson was so eager to see you placed with a spouse so soon.”

           Sigyn laughed, a bit relieved to have the conversation turn. “Yes, undoubtedly! Prince Loki might have told you about the first time we met—I was actually wreaking havoc on one of the greenhouses. I certainly was never able to grow anything out there, so I took to using it as target practice.”

           Frigga laughed. “I think he did mention something of the sort. Loki is always up for a bit of mischief himself.”

           Sigyn rolled her eyes—she remembered his reaction vividly. “Yes, he certainly seemed to find it amusing.”

           “Unfortunately, I’m not sure I have a need for anyone to redecorate my own greenhouses. We shall have to figure out something else for you to do. In the meanwhile, why don’t I show you around the gardens, and perhaps in the afternoon you could do a bit of searching in the library for me.”

           Sigyn’s eyes lit up. “The library? Oh yes, I would very much enjoy that sort of errand!”

           “Excellent, I’ll give you a list of things I would like you to hunt down for me, and you can let me know what you found out this evening after supper.”

           It was a lie, of course--not a hugeone—fireworks were most definitely Sigyn’s secondfavorite spells, but there was no doubt that her greatest affinity was for fire magic. She could easily call flames out of anything, set fire to the wettest, greenest wood, make flames dance intricate patterns, hold white hot fireballs in her cupped palms. To admit this, however, was to admit who she was—what she was—and that was something she could never do, not if she wished to remain in Asgard. Her father and guardian had always made it quite clear—her mother had not been a citizen and Sigyn would not be welcome if that secret came out.

           For her part, Frigga had detected a lie, she just didn’t know what it was covering over. It made no sense—they were just spells. Frigga, however, was nothing if not good at digging out the truth—it was a survival trait; her second son was Loki, after all. In fact, perhaps another discussion with him was in order, since he had spent over a week out in the country with Sigyn. Frigga liked her temporary charge, but there could be no secrets in cases like this. Not if a family alliance were a possibility.

           Despite this little hitch, the queen really had meant it about the research, and drew up a list of topics for Sigyn to look into for her. After lunch, she gave her a data recorder, asked Gudren to show her to the library and introduce her to the archivist.

           Early that afternoon, Loki came to check in with his mother, just to chat—what other motivation could he have? “Father’s locked in his office with the auditors this afternoon, and gave me permission to ‘follow my own pursuits,’” he intoned, imitating his father’s sonorous baritone.

           Frigga pretended not to notice the sarcasm, nor to notice as his eyes scanned over the clusters of women at work. Instead, she took his arm and led him away from prying ears for a short turn through the arboretum. Once out of earshot, she patted his arm. “While you were out in the country, did you notice anything odd about Sigyn’s magic?”

           “Her magic? No, why?”

           “There were no spells that she seemed to have particular difficulty with? Things that went awry or got out of control?”

           “No. If anything I’d have to say it was the opposite. It’s hard to believe she’s self taught. In fact, one morning she started to show me a fantastic fire spell, which is something I’ve never quite mastered. I was hoping to have her show me how, but she got called away.”

           “Hmm. I was just curious. She tells me that she hasn’t quite mastered spells for growing plants and I just wondered if maybe she was just being modest.”

           “I guess I couldn’t say. We never went into a garden.”

           “Well, no matter.” Frigga smiled. “I sent her to the library this afternoon to collect some notes for me since there didn’t seem to be anything for her to help with here. She’s a bookish girl,” Frigga’s tone approving rather than dismissive, “I thought she might be able to ferret out a few obscure references for me. The archivist can point her toward the right texts.”

           “Really? That should be something she would like.”

           If his mother noticed that her son’s visit was a tiny bit shorter than usual, she was diplomatic enough not to say.

           Loki found Sigyn easily enough at a large table toward the back of a side room, sun streaming through a window onto the text in front of her. Every competitive bone in his body suddenly came to life—he would not let Theoric take her home with him. It was unthinkable.

           He sidled up to the table, and pulled a chair around. “So what sort of wild bilgesnipe has mother sent you after?”

           Sigyn’s eyes went wide when she saw who her visitor was, then she smiled brightly, “oh it’s not that bad. She just wanted notes on these new herbs that some ambassador had brought from Alfheim, so the archivist pulled a couple of botanical references for me. I should be done long before supper. In fact I think I’ve got most of what I need already—I just need to do some cross-checking.”

           “Hmmmm . . . just the sort of thing Theoric would enjoy talking about I’m sure.”

           She snorted before she could catch herself, but then she schooled her face into neutrality and took a long look at Loki before she replied cautiously, “I’m sure he’ll appreciate that I can supervise the health of the household without consulting him on every detail.”

           Loki could see the battle in her countenance, so he licked his lips and decided to gamble. “Especially since he wouldn’t know the answers, anyway.”

           This threw Sigyn farther off balance, and she opted to deflect, “Yes, well, it’s good that I’ll be able to fill that role. I’ll be able to make myself useful.”

           Loki barely contained a snort and tried hard not to roll his eyes, there’s a lofty goal for a marriage.

           Instead, he drew his chair closer so he could get a better look at her text. “Which book is this, anyway?” He reached across Sigyn to pull the book closer and look at the title pages, brushing her arm in the process.

           “Alfric’s herbology — I hadn’t seen it before. He’s very thorough.” She relaxes at the change in subject, and he hid a little smile.

           “Did you already look at Sumerson?

           “No, but the librarian pulled it for me. I was going to look at it next.” She pointed to the stack on the far end of the table.

           “Good idea—they don’t always agree with one another.”

           “Really?”

           “No. They used to get in tremendous rows at guild meetings.”

           Her eyes brightened again. “No! How do you know about that?”

           “My tutor told me—both of them meticulous to a fault but with egos the size of Yggdrasil itself, apparently.”

           “Oh gods, I would pay to see that!” She smiled openly now, catching his mischief.

           “He said it was quite entertaining, as long as you could avoid getting dragged into the debate.”

           “Oh, do tell.”

           “Apparently they once went at it for a week about the classifications of square-stemmed plants and whether they constituted a family unto themselves, or should be divided into three separate ones.”

           “Why that’s completely illogical—how could you divide mints into more than one family?”

           “There you are! But they went at it for days. Sumerson went on and on about the chemical composition of the oils and the intoxicant effects of certain species on various species of felis, insisting that this set them apart from the rest of the group.”

           “That’s ridiculous.”

           “Well, obviously, but he very much sticks to detail, so it’s good you have both books.”

           “So good of you to approve.” Sigyn’s eyes fairly danced now, and Loki was stopped cold by it, his gaze magnetized by her own for a long moment before it flitted over the rest of her face—forehead, cheeks, nose, lips. It was all Loki could do to keep himself from leaning in for a kiss.

           Sigyn blushed hard, turning away to pull the book back in front of her and try to find her place again, all while trying desperately to ignore the fire in her skin that somehow made her painfully aware of the fabric of her clothing shifting over her skin, made her swallow hard and her heart beat fast.

           She flinched when Loki’s hand covered her own, but didn’t pull away.

           They sat in silence for several long minutes as his fingers roamed over the back of her hand, carefully outlining each knuckle and tracing the tendons down toward her wrist, while Sigyn’s face remained fixed on the far page. Once his fingers slid to the underside of her wrist, though, Sigyn balled up her fist and shook her head. Her voice came out small as her throat constricted, “I can’t.”

           Loki kept his touch light over her skin, tried to keep his voice just as light, “Modal verbs are tricky things, don’t you think? Such small things—can’t, won’t.”

           Sigyn’s other hand felt unsteady as it covered her mouth briefly and she squeezed her eyes shut. When her hand came back down, she forced a smile. “Those little words cause so much trouble.” She kept her eyes focused on the book, but he saw her fight for control, saw the tears that she blinked back before she next spoke in a quiet, bitter tone, “Little words like ‘I do’—they get in the way.”

           She pulled her hand away from his to hide it in her lap.

           “Sigyn.”

           “I think you need to go now so I can finish my work.”

           Loki leaned in. “We’ll talk later, then.” As he walked behind her, he squeezed her shoulder and trailed his hand across her back.

[motherboxing]

WHO’S THAT HAWKPERSON (ladies edition)

This has been bugging me because every time I post stuff about Hawkpeople, people tag it with the wrong names. Worse still, I keep seeing stuff about how Kendra is the reincarnation of Shayera Thal, which is just irritating to me because the reincarnation stuff makes Hawk mythos things ENOUGH of a mess already. Anyway I hope this helps. Let’s get started. This is under a cut because it’s very long and probably quite pedantic.

This is Shiera Saunders-Hall. She was the first ever Hawkgirl. She is a human, from Earth! She’s married to Carter Hall, the first ever Hawkman, who is also a human from Earth. These two are the Hawks Mark One - they were introduced during the Golden Age and their backstory is probably one you are familiar with if you follow Legends Of Tomorrow or any contemporary stuff in DC Comics with Hawkman and Hawkgirl. This is how Shayera Thal explains the whole thing back in 2003:

Shiera and Carter can fly with wings and harnesses constructed from Nth metal, and they use ancient weapons, which is kind of cool, but they aren’t really superpowered themselves, they’re just kind of weirdly-dressed adventurers - they’re both archaeologists, and spend a lot of time using their memories of their past lives to track down artifacts, preserve languages, etc. Still, they were members of the Justice Society Of America until their eventual retirement. 

This is Shayera Hol. She was the second-ever Hawkgirl. She’s an alien from Thanagar. She is married to Katar Hol, also an alien from Thanagar. They both are essentially detectives/police officers. These iterations of these characters were introduced during the Silver Age. Katar and Shayera Hol, like Carter and Shiera Saunders-Hall, get their powers of flight from the Nth metal harnesses and wings that they wear, but they also have a few added bonuses - enhanced vision, stronger than the average human, able to talk to birds (although not command them, unless the bird in question is willing to cooperate). They also have advanced knowledge of all human history and culture because of a device called the absorbascon. They run a museum in Midway City and keep their identities as aliens a secret. These iterations of the Hawks have been retconned out of current continuity, replaced with different, contemporary versions of the characters who were introduced in the 90′s. They basically only continue to exist in Elseworlds and in other alternate universe-type storylines - and sometimes in other media, for example:

That is also Shayera Hol! She is Hawkgirl in the Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited cartoons. Notably, her wings are actually a physical part of her body, as they are with all Thanagarians in that particular universe (although not, as we see in the Beyond-verse, with people who are half-Thanagarian, since Shayera and John Stewart’s son does not nave natural wings). This Shayera Hol is kind of an interesting spin on a number of different Hawkladies - she has the name, alien origins, and costume design of the Silver Age Hawkgirl, the reincarnation backstory of the Golden Age Hawkgirl, and the overall chip on her shoulder that Shayera Thal is kind of notorious for. 

I’m not REALLY gonna get into Elseworld’s or New 52 stuff because Elseworlds are irrelevant and New 52 stuff irritates me generally (although Kendra Munoz-Saunders is cool, she can stay) and anyway I’m only PARTIALLY trying to explain continuity here, the main point of this post is not “trying to fit all these characters into a cohesive narrative” it’s “explaining the differences between them as characters”

Next we have Sharon Parker. This is Sharon Parker:

Poor, martyred Sharon Parker, you never had a chance :(

Sharon Parker was a human woman from Earth who had the misfortune of marrying a Thanagarian spy named Fel Andar. Fel Andar’s job was to infiltrate Earth’s superhero community and report back to Thanagar in advance of the Invasion! storyline, an arc in which a coalition of alien forces that included Thanagar attempted to invade Earth. She discovered her husband’s deception and he killed her before fleeing back to Thanagar, but she was able to warn Martian Manhunter and a couple other JLI members about what was happening before she died.

Sharon Parker was basically created to explain why there was a Hawkman and Hawkgirl active in the Justice League International after Carter and Shiera supposedly retired, but before Katar Hol and Shayera Thal arrived on Earth in the 1990 series Hawkworld. This never made a whole lot of sense and most people have basically forgotten it. Sharon Parker does not come up basically ever in any contemporary stuff about the Hawkladies, and identifying her is tricky because you rarely see her out of costume ever and her costume is a pretty generic Silver Age-inspired bit, but I REMEMBER YOU, SHARON. YOUR SACRIFICE WAS NOT IN VAIN.

Oh, also, she’s Golden Eagle’s mother, but hoooooly shit is that a mess so, uh. Never mind.

Okay. Next in line to wear a weird feathered helmet in the dubious name of justice is Shayera Thal. This is her:

Shayera Thal is a soldier from Thanagar. She is crime-fighting partners with, but not married to, Katar Hol, another soldier from Thanagar. I say “soldier” but the police force and military on Thanagar are basically the same entity - they’re cops, essentially, in a fascist regime. After Invasion!, Thanagar decides to open diplomatic relations with Earth, and sends Katar and Shayera to Earth as ambassadors, where the media just kind of decides that they are the new Hawkpeople now, although Shayera absolutely draws the line at being called “Hawkgirl” and insists on being called Hawkwoman because it’s the 90′s, dude! Of course they both have ulterior motives (Katar is hunting an intergalactic fugitive; Shayera is spying on Katar because he’s secretly fomenting antifascist rebellion efforts on Thanagar) but, moved by what they learn about humanity, they eventually (after a series of intergalactic incidents that mostly involve more fomenting rebellion) break with their homeworld entirely and settle on Earth. During this time they also fall in love and are pretty adorable. 

At this point there’s a whole bunch of VERY messy bullshit about the Nth metal and the general Hawkpeople mythos that I won’t get into because it wasn’t really sustainable in terms of plot and I hated so much of the stuff that it led to in the mid-90′s, but the important thing to know is that Katar Hol was at one point fused with every single incarnation of Carter Hall ever and also a spirit from the Red that embodies the hawk and as a result he went completely nuts and was basically mercy-killed by a mystic named Arion and Martian Manhunter, leaving Shayera alone on Earth, where she more or less remained in relative obscurity, until returning for a role in the Rann-Thanagar War, where she was regrettably fridged.  

Now we get Kendra Saunders, my precious soft daughter! Kendra Saunders is, in most media now, the current Hawkgirl. Remember how the original Hawks, Carter and Shiera, get reincarnated all the time? Kendra is the reincarnation of Shiera, who, weirdly, was also her great-aunt. Kendra had kind of a rough childhood (her parents were murdered, and she was raised by a relative, who did his best but wasn’t super equipped to deal with a grieving young woman with obvious mental health issues) and attempted suicide as a teenager, at which point the soul of Shiera Saunders manifested in her body, saving her life. Sometimes she has access to Shiera’s memories, and sometimes she acts like Shiera, because she may or may not like, psychically BE Shiera. Anyway, following this she starts training as Hawkgirl and joins the JSA, where she participates in the resurrection of Carter Hall, with whom she forms a tentative partnership, because he looks at her and sees like, his wife of the past thousands of years, and she looks at him and sees, like, her great-uncle, and is like, “this is creepy and weird”. Because it is. It is creepy and weird. 

GROSS, DUDE! Carter Hall is a dick.

Anyway, there have also been a few different takes on Kendra in various other media, obviously she’s in Legends Of Tomorrow:

which has caused me to literally transcend this plane of existence but who cares. Legends Of Tomorrow Kendra is basically comics Kendra but with a little bit of additional Hawk mythos stuff thrown in for good measure (possibly possessed by a hawk-type spirit/god, for example, as happened to Katar Hol in the comics - no spoilers for the show though, I’m actually not totally caught up on it right now). There is also a version of Kendra in Earth-2:

who is kind of an amalgamation of a bunch of different Hawk characters. 

I actually am not totally sure about Kendra’s current status in the comics - there was at some point a plot where Kendra just like, turned back into Shiera, and I hated it and basically ragequit Hawk stuff and I still have not fully recovered. However, that’s MORE OR LESS what you need to know about various iterations of the Hawk ladies. 

On the surface, this all seems pretty easy to understand, right? Shayera is an alien, Shiera and Kendra are humans and also kind of but not really the same person. It gets a little fussy when you try to tell the complete story of every Hawk lady in order but if you put continuity aside and just focus on the individual characters it’s easy enough to make the distinction. 

Now please stop tagging your reblogs of my posts about Shayera Thal with ‘Shayera Hol’ and ‘Hawkgirl’ and ‘Kendra Saunders’ because it’s making me sad.

[professorthorgi]

Hey I've never been a fanatic of manga or anime but a good portion of my friends totally are... I value your opinion on this because I have discovered great comic book series through you... The only two things I have fully invested in are Death Note and My Hero Academia which I really liked

Haha, as I started reading this I thought “Oh I’ll recommend My Hero Academia, it’ll be great,” and then I saw you were already reading it and thought “Oh crap,now what.” 

But okay, let’s see, if you liked Death Note I’d recommend Bakuman, it’s from the same creative team behind Death Note but it’s totally different. It’s about an artist and a writer who really want to make a manga series, and it’s basically an inside look at the world of Manga Making and working at Shonen Jump. In fact it becomes pretty obvious pretty quickly this is like a behind the scenes look at the making of Death Note and what they went through to make it.

Also if you like My Hero Academia I’d recommend One Punch Man, it’s another semi parody of the super hero genre, and it starts off as a series of one shots, but then it actually starts to develop a story and the story gets really emotional and really makes you care for these joke characters.

Speaking of good super hero spoofs, check out the anime Tiger and Bunny. It’s about a world where super heroes have to be sponsored by corporations and they have to compete in a big reality show to get points by saving people, but one hero is still saying “No this isn’t what it means to be a hero, we aren’t here to win points and get sponsors,” but he’s getting old and washed up, so his sponsors pair him up with a young rich pretty boy hero and the two of them have to go out there and learn what it means to be a hero together, loved that anime, never read the mangas though but I think they’re like side stories to the anime so just start with the anime.

Full Metal Alchemist is one of the best manga/anime’s for people who enjoy sci-fi/fantasy who haven’t really been able to get into anime to start with. If you watch the anime though then be warned, there’s a “Full Metal Alchemist” series and a “Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood” series, watch the Brotherhood series because that one was based off the manga, while the first series started being based on the manga but then halfway through went in a totally different direction that wasn’t as good.

Cowboy Bebop is another great series for people who aren’t big into Anime, it’s that anime series that people who dislike anime always stop and say “Except for Cowboy Bebop, that one was great”

If you like Death Note because of how dark it gets, then I recommend any Junji Ito stuff, especially if you like horror stuff, although just to warn you it gets really dark.

Also if you like some darker stuff and want to check out a classic, Neon Genesis Evangelion. It’s a story about fifteen years after Angels came down to earth and caused the apocalypse, the angels have now returned and mankind is now ready to fight them back with giant robots. Sounds goofy, but it is basically twenty six episodes of watching these poor kids who have to fight them back get emotionally torn apart and delving into all their baggage and problems as the world hangs in the balance. Like I said, if you liked the emotional stuff in Death Note, then give this a try.

Also, one last darker Death Note style recommendation, go check out Monster. It’s the story of a doctor who saves this mystery man’s life one night against the hospital’s wishes, gets fired over it, and then years later people start dying and he’s getting blamed. Turns out the person he saved is a serial killer and now this doctor has to hunt him down and stop him.

Now for something completely different, I’d also recommend Eyeshield 21, which is a sports manga. Now I was never a fan of sports mangas, but this one I really enjoyed. It’s about a football team (America football) and they can’t get any members recruited and they’re in last place every year. But one day they find this little wimpy kid who has spent his whole life running from bullies and they recruit him because they realize he can run around the other teams with the ball. From there they recruit all these outcast misfits who don’t fit in anywhere else and you watch them all come together and become a family. It’s actually got an amazing cast of characters and will make you cheer... however I do have to warn you of something, there is one storyline where they go to America and it get’s really culturally and even racially insensitive, it was hard for me to get through that one storyline. Aside from that it’s one of my favorite series, but I do have to point out that one big problem.

And I’ll throw one last obscure pick that most people don’t even know just to impress your friends. I absolutely loved this series and it had a strong fanbase but the fanbase just wasn’t big enough to keep it going. But the series is Psyren, it’s a story about this kid who has to investigate the disappearance of a classmate. As he investigates it he learns of this rumor going around about this game people are playing, one of those urban legends that involves making contracts and phone calls in the night (at this point I should say anybody out there who loves the Persona franchise this is a great recommendation for you too). One night he gets recruited for the game and he gets picked up and taken away to a far away world where he has to fight in these games to survive. Now everytime that he survives, he gets brought back to the real world and he has a card on him now with a number that slowly decreases, and he realizes he has to keep going back to that world until the number hits zero. Now I’m going to spoil one thing for you because this is what made me start loving this series, they eventually realize this world isn’t an alien planet, it’s not another dimension, it’s the future. So everytime they go to this post apocalyptic world, they realize it’s because something happened to their world,so they have to unravel that mystery, and whenever they go back to the present they have to try and change things, then when they go back to the future they have to see what’s changed. It’s a really engaging story with great villains and twist.

Okay, that’s all I got, hope you enjoy them and if anybody reading this has some recommendations then fill them in below.

[oosteven-universe]

Kino #2

Kino #2 Lion Forge Comics 2017 Written by Joe Casey Illustrated by Jefte Palo Coloured by Chris Sotomayor Lettered by Todd Klein     Major Alistair Meath of Britain's Royal Air Force helped save the world and is now using his amazing kinetic energy powers to fight evil as the superhero called KINO. But the British intelligence agency, MI6, has sent agent Devlin Gilmour on a worldwide hunt to recover Meath's corpse. How can the most amazing hero in the world be alive and dead at the same time?     I really like the direction that Joe is taking this book. It is coming from a direction that is unexpected, interesting and with the potential of something that could go in so many ways. What is happening to Meath is almost unconscionable and yet fits right into what this world is offering those fallen Astronauts who caused the Event. At the same time we’re also seeing what is going on with Devlin so it’s a weird look at it but totally kind of innovative at the same time.     Mister Assante now has possession of Major Meath and what he’s doing with him well you’ll have to see to understand and believe it. Alive and Dead at the same time genius indeed. I suppose something like this would be more inclined for a coma patient, wait what oh okay then. Sneaky I guess but hey the things we think about when we’re actually writing this down is pretty amazing. So now we’ve got Lorena and Foresight, the MI6 and whomever Assante works for if not himself and I got to say that I'm digging the way Joe’s expanding this world.     Surprisingly the story keeps shifting focus and it’s extremely well done. Joe manages to bring us looks from three different perspective, well four in reality, and somehow doesn’t make any of it feel like it’s crammed in, too much too soon or even glossed over in any way shape or form. This is some extremely high class storytelling and the ebb & flow of what we see, the structure of the book all of is just impressive to me. You have to be able to do something which produces that IT factor nowadays or else you’ll be lost to obscurity and let me tell you something Joe’s got it and he’s got it in spades!     Jefte does some work here that I find on the simpler side of things. it’s not terribly detailed but it still has this nice interesting factor to it. He does have a nice eye for storytelling as we see through the use of page layouts with the angles & perspective in the panels. I’m big supporter of the utilisation of backgrounds so even if they are simple that’s okay they do what they need to do and expand the story. I also like the way that the “classic” adventure of Kino is portrayed. That work has such a different feel to it and it’s got that great effect. There is some nice creativity and imagination on display as well as Kino fights the alien race intending to invade earth. Still it’s my humble opinion that a superhero book should have more detail to it.     So with three different story arcs happening at the same time here it’s kind of a race to see who will end up with Meath next. Will Assante be able to continue the work he’s been doing, albeit rushing it far too quickly, or will Lorena’s people hire someone to get him back and then there’s MI6 and Devlin who after suffering what he considers a defeat is more determined than ever to retrieve the body and return him home.     So far none of them have any kind of altruistic intentions, they all want the man as weapon for themselves. So what is going to happen when Meath regains consciousness again? Who will be the man that wakes up and what will he be apt to do? So many great questions here and so little clues as the reality of what’s going to happen.     Stunning storytelling that makes the mind race as fast as the pulse and all because there’s a race against time that no one realises.

[briangroth27]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Review

I enjoyed this and definitely had a good time, but I think the hype got to me and I left a little whelmed rather than absolutely loving it. Vol. 2 has a better main villain than Vol. 1 and good character development all around, but it also has unfunny minor villains in a subplot that goes on too long and I wanted more out of Ego.

I loved that Guardians Vol. 2 embraced comic booky colorfulness and the medium’s "anything can happen” sensibility! These movies are totally unafraid of going big and weird by incorporating the most obscure & outlandish Marvel ideas and they should be celebrated for that. I’ve long thought there’s very little that wouldn’t work on screen, and these movies prove the key to pulling it off is going all-in without pretending you’re too cool for the craziness. I also loved that this was entirely standalone. I really hope the MCU’s Phase 4 is just standalone movies for each of the characters, building up their little worlds and casts instead of getting bogged down with crossovers or starting another too-long arc like the Infinity Stones has become. The MCU as a whole should take a few notes from these films as they go forward!

Full Spoilers…

Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Vin Diesel (Baby Groot), and Karen Gillen (Nebula) were all in top form here, bringing all the fun you’d expect from their characters to the forefront (and Baby Groot comes very close to stealing the show several times!). There was a great deal of character development for everyone, particularly the Guardians' continued growth as a family (families being the movie’s theme). Gamora and Nebula’s sisterly relationship got some solid exploration here and was one of my favorite parts. I’m glad we got to the root of their issues rather than just watching a series of fights, and their familial bond with each other was much more interesting and powerful than their relationship with their father, Thanos. I’ve seen this pointed out elsewhere and it’s worth mentioning here too: the movie never treats their adopted siblings relationship as less important than the biological relationships in the movie, which is important. I would've liked a little more from Peter and Gamora's burgeoning relationship, but I enjoyed what we saw of it here. Gamora seeing the potential for Peter to become just like his father (and her’s) and dealing with that instead of the immediate turn to saving Peter from Ego (which felt very fast, considering she’s the one who wanted to go with Ego in the first place) would’ve helped flesh out where they were in their almost-dating situation.

At first I didn't like Rocket stealing the batteries just because "that's who he is"—I felt no sympathy for their being chased because he was clearly in the wrong and the Soverign didn't seem evil at any point—but the reveal that he was trying to push the team away was surprising and worked well. This also made Rocket fighting with Peter over the piloting duties seem more like another attempt to distance himself instead of character regression. Dave Bautista was good as Drax, though I thought he was funnier in the first movie, as his species’ completely literal take on everything seems to have turned into “points out the obvious,” which is not the same thing and wasn’t funny to me. I also felt his laughter sounded forced. However, I enjoyed his unorthodox romance with newcomer Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and his story about meeting his wife was surprisingly touching. Mantis was fun, adding a spacey yet sincere flavor to the Guardians’ off-kilter chemistry that blended with the rest of the characters well. I have a really difficult time buying into Yondu (it’s the accent; the southern dialect destroys the idea that he’s a space alien immediately), but I liked that he ended up being Peter’s “real” father.

Kurt Russell could not have been better-cast as Peter’s biological father Ego and I liked what we got of his absent-father relationship with Peter. That Peter gets an unlimited source of power and uses it to play catch with his dad for the first time worked very well. However, I wanted more from Ego, both in terms of imaginative uses of an entire planet fighting the heroes (and how Peter would’ve used the power to make weird stuff) and in his character and relationship with Peter. They could've played with Peter acknowledging he was a womanizer like his father, what his place in the universe is if not shaping it like his dad, etc. The revelation that Peter's father was a (lowercase g) god felt uncharacteristically underplayed by Peter too. True, the discovery of his father should and did take precedence, but he doesn't have a smartass or cocky response to the situation? The weight of that power and potential responsibility doesn’t affect him at all? Gamora isn't going to roll her eyes at him being a literal “gift from the gods?” No one comments more on how weird it is that they're talking to a god or standing on the planet he built himself (and from himself)? I'm all for characters rolling with weird things, but that's pretty extreme. Also, the reveal that Ego was evil came too fast (I was jaw-droppingly SHOCKED at just how evil, though). Gamora didn’t think to connect Ego to her own father, who wants to be a god? Yondu’s unorthodox parenting could’ve played a role in Peter’s defiance of Ego too (or at least allowed him to see that something wasn’t right with how Ego was treating him), rather than just blind fury. On the other hand, I didn't think they would, but they gave planet Ego his face!!

I thought the Rocket/Baby Groot/Yondu vs. the Ravagers subplot was by far the weakest part of the film and wouldn’t have minded seeing it cut entirely in favor of more Ego. In a galaxy full of weirdness and a set of films starring a talking raccoon and a sentient tree, space pirates and mercenaries feel decidedly bland and mundane. The Ravagers, led by Sylvester Stallone’s Starhawk, came off as goofy rather than threatening and felt like a step backward for the franchise. They were a necessary bit of world-building in the first movie, explaining who Peter Quill had become after leaving Earth, but now feel like Gunn and Co. are falling back onto the tried-and-true (and overused) mix of humanoid galactic thieves, mercenaries, and bounty hunters you can find in any space adventure. The Guardians themselves are all those things (in addition to being heroes), so why are we spending so much time with their less-competent and unfunny cannon fodder counterparts? While they give Yondu his own family to squabble with, there’s just so much more out there. Baby Groot’s “scavenger hunt” largely saved this plot, but just barely. Yondu and Rocket bonding was worthwhile too, but that and the Groot fun could’ve happened under different circumstances (on Ego looking for Peter, preferably). If this were a TV series, so much focus on the Ravagers and Starhawk’s crew (who are—plus Yondu—apparently the original comics’ Guardians of the Galaxy) would be fine for an arc, but in a film with limited screentime, I'd like to see new things. I want the Guardians to go as weird as possible.

Some random thoughts: -I continue to think the Guardians are a more heroically-written team than the Avengers: in the first one, they didn't need the death of someone personally connected to them to make them heroes and put an end to their infighting (the impending death of trillions if they did nothing was enough) and here, the infighting is actually largely just Rocket's attempts to push them away rather than character regression for drama's sake.

-If Peter's been immortal all this time, that explains how he was able to go suitless in space at least twice in the first movie (and how he could survive holding the Infinity Stone). I like that even though he turned out to be a born-better “chosen one” who finally inherited Ego’s godly DNA, that “specialness” was erased here, leaving him as just a guy.

-I wish Nebula'd stayed with the crew.

-I can't wait for Teen Groot!

-I liked the Sovereign. That they engineer each member of their species for a specific role was a cool, original idea.

-Stan Lee’s cameos felt like we saw the same thing twice.

-I hope Cosmo the dog gets to "speak" (he's telepathic) in Guardians 3.

Despite some rushed development in Ego’s plot and a Ravagers subplot I didn’t like, Guardians Vol. 2 was a lot of fun! It felt like hanging out with old friends again and I’m excited for more. I can’t wait to see how the team will interact with the Avengers in Infinity War, but I’m also excited to dive back into the weirdness of their solo adventures in Guardians Volume 3!

If you haven’t seen this yet, go before it leaves theaters!