#comic event: red zone

[artbyblastweave]

i only learned recently from a friend's who much more comic literate than I that magneto's backstory as an Auschwitz survivor wasnt planned from the start, which surprised me since it seemed to me a really integral part of his character. anyway, twofold question: how common is it to see capes with backstories tied to very specific historical events, and, as time inevitably passes and real world survivors of those events pass, how do they justify having their characters still alive and kicking? (stay safe on your mountaintop friend)

Depending on how wide you cast the net, this is a pretty big list! There are a lot of comics who's characters cutting-edge ripped-from-the-headlines origin later became a very specific historical event, or at least Of A Specific Moment, in a way the writers had no reason to anticipate the franchise would run long enough to have happen. But to shed pedantry and hone in on some specific ones;

The big one, of course, is Captain America. Superficially Cap's contemporary origin comes with a baked-in means of him making it to the present day- he gets stuck in the ice and then gets unthawed. The fly in the ointment, though, is when he unthaws. When they first brought him back into rotation in 1964, his stint in the ice was only around 20 years; long enough for there to be a significant culture shock, but not long enough that his entire social circle was dead or even culturally sidelined. Nick Fury is still around and kicking ass as a zeitgeist-appropriate 60s superspy. But the further the sliding timeline hauls forward his implicit date of release, the more it changes the tone and tenor of the resulting story. Losing twenty years is different from losing fifty years (as was the case in The Ultimates, where he very explicitly comes back during the Bush years as part of the book's commentary on The War On Terror) and those will both be way different from when we inevitably hit the point where he's lost 100 years and he's the cultural equivalent of a Civil War Vet or something. There's strength to all of those stories but they're undeniably different.

Iron Man's origin was originally explicitly tied to the Vietnam war; he was captured by a detachment of "Red Guerillas" while consulting for the US military and the South Vietnamese government. Unfortunately U.S. foreign policy to this day has prevented this from ever becoming an unresolvable storytelling issue.

The Fantastic Four are a case where their origin was intimately tied to the space race; their untested, cutcorner spaceflight was expressly an attempt to show up the Russians. The extremely specific political context of their test flight is something that sort of gets brushed off; the Ultimate incarnation (written by Warren Ellis) threaded this needle deftly by having the accident be a dimensional expedition instead, circa the early 2000s. I'm not actually sure how the urgency of their test flight is currently contextualized in 616 continuity. Anyone got their finger on that pulse?

The Punisher was also originally a Vietnam vet- but through the jaded cynical lens of the 1980s rather than the straightforwardly peppy and jingoistic lens that defined Iron Man's debut in the 60s. Current continuities I believe have mostly bitten the bullet and updated his origin to the invasion of Afghanistan. However, an interesting decision in the Garth Ennis-spearheaded Punisher MAX continuity of the early 2000s- where Punisher is literally the only costumed vigilante- is that they bit the bullet and posited a version of Frank Castle who really has been killing criminals nonstop since shortly after his return from Vietnam in the 70s, a man well into his 60s who's survivability and efficacy at killing are edging up against the boundaries of magical realism.

Hulk I feel sort of deserves a mention here- he's in a sort of twilight zone on this issue, as there was, uh, a pretty goddamn specific political context in which the Army was having him make them a new kind of bomb, but you can haul that forward in the timeline without complete destruction of suspension of disbelief. Pretty soon it'll be downright topical again.

To circle back around to The X-Men, Claremont introduced a lot of historical specificity with the ANAD lineup. Off the top of my head, Colossus was explicitly a USSR partisan (updated to a gangster forced into crime to survive in the mismanaged chaos of the USSR's collapse in the Ultimate Universe) and Storm was orphaned by a French bombing during the Suez War. More to the point, the timing was such that Magneto, in his upper-middle age, had a pretty strongly defined timeline vis a vis his ideological development vs Xavier; child during the holocaust, Nazi hunter who eventually rifts with Xavier during the mid-to-late 60s, and then the two of them spend their years marshalling their respective resources before coming to blows during the quote-unquote "Age of Heroes," whatever the timeline looked like for that in the 80s. And it was a timeline that held together pretty damn well in the 80s, but it's gotten increasingly awkward as time's gone on. The Fox films completely gave up on having it make sense, near as I can tell. In the comics they've had all sorts of de-aging chicanery occur that very pointedly ignores what an odd timeline that implies for everyone else in the X-books besides Magneto. The Cullen Bunn Magneto standalone from 2014-15 I remember actually leaned into playing up the idea that he's just old as shit and dependent on so many superscience treatments to remain functional that he's basically pickled, which was a take I liked; the comic ended when he died of exertion trying to stop two planets from crashing into each other, right before a brand-wide universal reset. When the MCU was at it's peak and people were wargaming how to integrate the X-Men (lol) you occasionally saw people float "fixes" for the issue, such as making Magneto a survivor of the Bosnian Genocide, or making him black and a survivor of the Rwandan genocide; I remember that this consistently drew a lot of ire from people who (reasonably) thought that his Judaism and connection to the holocaust were deeply important to his character, continuity be damned. But yeah, he's a character dogged by specificity in a way only Cap even slightly approaches. If this is a tractable problem I'm not going to be the one to tract it.

Interestingly, I'm genuinely having a lot of trouble coming up with stuff that's analogous to this at DC comics- almost universally the core roster updates into any given time period much more smoothly. Furthermore, DC stuff has always been much more willing to eschew Marvel's World-Outside-Your-Window philosophy in favor of deliberately obfuscating the time period via the Dark-Deco aesthetic of BTAS's Gotham or the retrofuturism of STAS's Metropolis.

The closest you get to this kind of friction is The Justice Society, who, pre-crisis, were siloed off in a universe where superheroes had existed since the 40s and there was no comic book time, so they were all in their upper-middle-age to old age now, with their kids and grandkids as legacy capes. Post crisis they were (and are) kind of an awkward fit in DC continuity; in the scant few JSA comics from the 90s and early oughts that I read, surviving members of the WW2-era lineup like Alan Scott and Jay Garrick were absolutely written as dependent on their metahuman physiques to have endured up to the present day. I think they're still doing stuff with those guys. I don't know how. I do understand the impulse, though. I also never throw anything out.

[black-rose-writings]

Unexpected Consequences (Danny Phantom One Shot)

Also on AO3

Inspired by and referencing the events of this comic by @lilianade-comics

By the time Danny Fenton was four, his parents have gone through all of the available babysitters in the entirety of Amity Park and Elmerton. Well, technically not all of them, but apparently, there is a critical percentage of babysitters scared half to death, at best, which makes all other babysitters turn you down no matter how high the pay.

Of course, in this case, the problem was with the house, not the kids, but the Fentons would not be convinced that their house is anything but the safest place for their children to be. What if a ghost came to the babysitter’s house? How would they defend themselves? Do ignore the fact that their own house was a magnet for ghosts, because that’s exactly what they did.

And it brought them to him.

The last thing Vlad Masters expected to hear during his Thursday dinner was his phone ringing.

Well, that was not entirely the case. He was running a rather large company by then, and he was known to take after-hours calls. Not happily, but it wasn’t as if he had any sort of life outside of work – not one that he could be open about, anyway – and with the global expansion of his enterprises in the last few years, sometimes people simply forgot about the existence of time zones.

He didn’t expect to find his personal phone ringing. A small thing that he modified himself and was fairly certain only his mother and a certain annoying definitely licensed and absolutely not shady or paranormal in any way psychologist had the number for. This was neither of them.

He was sure Spectra would give the number to someone just to piss him off, but no living being (and very few dead ones) even knew of their connection. Which left his mother, whom he did instruct to not give the number to anyone, under any circumstances. Of course, telling a Masters to not do something was entirely pointless if said family member did actually want to do the thing.

He hoped to all Ancients his mother wasn’t trying to set him up with some pretty single girl or a recently divorced single mother from her church again.

And while that prayer had been answered, it was much like making a wish to Desiree – somehow worse than the thing he wanted to avoid.

On the other end of the line was Jack fucking Fenton.

It took considerable willpower to not immediately crush the phone and burn the remains to nothing. He did, however, transform before Jack even finished the first sentence.

What ghost wouldn’t get defensive, hearing the voice of their ghostmaker, for the first time after a decade of silence, talking cheerfully and excitedly? Like he hadn’t killed him with his impatience. Like he hadn’t left him to rot. Like he didn’t turn him into an abomination. Like no time had passed. Like nothing had changed.

How dare he talk like that? How dare he ask for favors?

His ghost half may have been the more emotional one, but there was also a level of confidence and power that it brought. Things that he was going to need if he was to talk to Jack Fenton and not let the oaf know anything was wrong. He was fairly certain the man wouldn’t notice either way, but there was no way to know when Madeline could be listening in.

Jack – no, both of them – were asking for a favor. They needed someone to babysit their kids.

Vlad was vaguely aware the two of them had produced two children – the thought of Jack’s clumsy hands anywhere near Madeline made him see red every time – focus, Vlad.

It seemed the couple had bought a haunted broadcast tower to work in and had transformed it into a livable house (or so they claimed). Unfortunately, it seemed that while the ghosts haunting the tower steered clear of the Fentons, babysitters had no such luck, and neither did their kids – though they taught the kids basics of ghost defense (Vlad didn’t know much about kids, but he was fairly certain ghost fighting skills of any sort were not standard curriculum for four and six-year-olds).

It took Vlad a considerable effort to not send Jack to hell and tell him that it’s their own fault. He thought of Madeline. They were her children too.

Of all the plans he had come up with, of all the ways he considered wooing her, this was not one that had come to him before. Things have changed. They weren’t in college anymore. His Madeline was a mother, now.

Perhaps all he needed was to show Madeline that he was a better parent than Jack Fenton. It couldn’t be that hard, right?

***

If you told Vlad Masters the day he (run from) left the hospital that there would come a day when the love he felt for Madeline was going to be but a distant echo or that he would love children sired by Jack Fenton as if they were his own, he would probably laugh at you.

If you said to him the day he received the notice of the birth of their first child, that he would one day destroy any creature that would even dare to look at her meanly, that he would endure any pain, put himself between any weapon and this child, he might have blasted you to pieces. He would endure. But she was so human. So fragile.

If you told him the day he found out about their second child that one day, that the child would be the first human to find out his secret, he might have just flown over and throttled the baby in its cradle, just to be safe, and felt exactly zero remorse about the action. Nobody would ever know. Babies die all the time. Especially with parents like his.

If you told him the day he received that fateful phone call that one day, he would be the first to hold Danny Fenton after his death, the only way he would imagine such a scenario happening would be he was the one to kill the boy. Why else would he hold Jack Fenton’s son?

If you told him, any time in those 18 years between his transformation and today, that the Fentons would make their own child a halfa with their negligence, he would have nodded along. Perhaps he would have even been excited about finally having someone be like him, someone he could teach, someone who would share the hate every ghost feels for their ghostmaker for Jack Fenton. It didn’t surprise him – they never changed in that way. And if there was some excitement, when he found out, he could never imagine how much it would hurt.

If you had told him how much the second fateful call would hurt, what emotions it would ignite with him, how irreversibly it would alter him, he would have never picked up the first one.

But he picked up both and there was no going back.

***

Danny’s hands were shaking as he carefully put in the numbers into the phone.

He felt so stupid. He knew it was stupid. He knew it, and he did it anyway.

And for what?

He had been so proud when his parents left him alone at home for the whole weekend for the first time, when Jazz convinced them to take a campus tour at one of her top choices for a university.

She was sixteen for god’s sake, she had so much time for that stuff.

So, of course he invited his friends over. Of course his techno geek and goth best friends wanted to see the stupid ghost lab his parents had in the basement.

Of course they dared him to go into the ghost portal. It wasn’t working. Danny knew that. He also knew it was dangerous. If he could avoid touching any of his parents’ stupid invention for the rest of his life, he would. Which was kinda hard when half of the house counted as one of those inventions.

They called him a coward.

Tucker was one to talk. He was afraid of hospitals for no good reason. Danny could name about a hundred reasons why messing with his parents’ tech or ghosts was a bad idea. It didn’t bother him that Tucker called him a coward. They were losers and cowards and that was one of the reasons they were friends in the first place. Okay, maybe it bothered him a little, but he would never admit that.

Sam, though, it hurt from her. The girl seemed to not be afraid of anything and she was fascinated by all things strange and dark. All the things that pissed off her parents. And as much as Danny told himself she was a friend and he didn’t want to make it weird, anyone with eyes could see the giant crush he had on her.

Sam wasn’t afraid of anything. And even though he could name all those reasons for why he shouldn’t do it, why they shouldn’t be in the lab at all, why he just wanted to spend the weekend playing videogames and raiding his dad’s snack hideouts and why that’s exactly what they should do, none of those words came to mind as Sam goaded him.

He never asked to have a weird family. He just wanted to be normal and deal with just the normal kid problems. He just wanted his friends to understand that unlike them, he wasn’t a weirdo by choice.

Maybe he snapped at them a little. Maybe he raised his voice a little. Maybe he called them just as shallow and image-obsessed as the A-listers. Maybe he called them boring and attention seeking. Maybe he cursed them out a little.

Maybe a lot more than little.

And they left.

He sat in the living room, watching the clock, alone.

Of course he was alone. He yelled at his only friends.

And for what?

Maybe they were right. Maybe he was just a coward. The portal wasn’t working. How dangerous could it be?

As the minutes ticked by and he felt worse and worse about what he did, he got up and headed back into the lab.

He put on one of the small hazmat suits his parents had for him. He had meticulously torn off and threw out all of the stupid patches with his dad’s face that the self-obsessed mad scientist put on them, months ago, in the off chance he was forced to wear one outside or near a camera. He knew that Sam would mock him for it. But with his parents inventions, he’d rather be safe than sorry. Or dead. Or worse – a ghost.

The thought terrified him. If his parents were to be believed, ghosts were nothing more than echoes of human minds, twisted, either entirely animalistic or evil. Monsters, wearing the face of the dead.

He didn’t even believe in ghosts. He had memories of them from when he was a kid, but they could have just been dreams. With how much their parents talked about the stuff, of course his mind would haunt him (ha!) with them in his sleep.

He realized Sam had left her new camera on the table. She had shown him and Tucker how to operate it a few weeks earlier when she bought it.

Danny turned it on, started recording and left it on one of the tables, pointed at the portal.

“Hey, Sam, Tucker… here’s to show you I’m not a coward. I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier.”

He waved at the camera, took a deep breath and stepped into the portal.

It didn’t work. How dangerous could it be?

How dangerous could it be?

He couldn’t get that thought out of his head as he stumbled out of the portal. It hurt. It hurt so much. And he wasn’t himself. Not anymore.

Twisted monster wearing his own face. A monster his parents would probably hunt and tear apart for stealing his face, for stealing their child away from them.

He sat on the couch and cried. He wished so much to just be himself again.

He couldn’t be dead, right? Everything hurt. He couldn’t be dead. Ghosts didn’t feel pain.

He looked at his arm, at the formerly black glove, now snow white.

He just wanted to be himself again…

He watched as white light appeared, first around his waist and then travelling along the rest of his body, turning him back into himself.

But his parents said ghosts could sometimes pose as living humans.

He felt his heart beating in his chest, now.

He couldn’t be dead if his heart was beating, right?

It didn’t just moments ago.

The rings.

A memory came up. A memory he dismissed as another dream.

He must have been really small, one of the first times uncle Vlad was watching him and Jazz. He was making smoothies in the middle of the night.

Danny wanted to see what was going on and he saw uncle Vlad, with those same rings around him. His normally silver hair seemed pitch black, before the black rings swept across him and turned him into his normal self. He was too young to have gray hair even now, and more so then. His parents explained that it was because of an accident back when they were in college. And accident with a portal prototype…

Vlad gave him candy to promise to never tell anyone what he saw that night. Danny did very distinctly remember eating it all at once, because he was a four-year-old given an irresponsible amount of candy, and how sick he wound up being after.

He thought the whole thing was just a dream. And maybe it was.

When he looked at his hand, he couldn’t see it. He still felt it there, it still made a dent in the couch pillow, but it was invisible.

Something was very, very wrong and he needed to solve it before his parents got home.

And there was only one person that might have the answers.

He called uncle Vlad.

***

Vlad told him to not panic.

That was easier said than done.

He tried to. He tried to keep himself occupied. He took off the stupid hazmat suit.

He other him was still wearing his.

He wanted to watch the TV, but after the remote phased through his hand and fell beneath the couch, he gave up on that.

He could just go to bed. Vlad lived a few states over. It would take him a few hours to arrive.

Maybe he would wake up in the morning and find out it was just a bad dream.

It couldn’t be. Bad dreams don’t hurt.

Most of the pain had faded by now, though he still felt sore, especially in his own body. The other him didn’t hurt that much – but Danny was scared if he fell asleep in that body, he would never wake up. Not as himself anyway.

He was staring at the living room ceiling as the sun set outside. His whole body felt numb. He was tired, but in a different way than needing to sleep. He didn’t have the energy to get up and turn on the lights.

As the darkness crept up more and more, he realized that he could see in the dark a lot better than he did before.

He felt cold, he realized. Not horribly so, just barely colder than would be comfortable.

Cold like the dead.

A horrible thought crossed his mind.

His parents said ghosts could possess human bodies. Maybe he was already dead, his body growing cold slowly, but he just refused to leave it.

Maybe if he closed his eyes, he would never wake up. He could just let go.

Uncle Vlad would arrive in the morning and find his dead body, laying here on the couch.

A shiver run down his spine, and he would swear a cloud of mist escaped his lips.

Maybe it was just cold in the house, and he was freaking out over nothing.

Then, the light turned on.

He jumped up to see who did it.

Uncle Vlad stood by the door leading from the kitchen, looking him up and down.

It took Danny a moment to realize he was floating and that he didn’t have legs.

Instead, there was a wisp-like tail, moving with a mind of its own.

He may or may not have screamed in shock and moments later, he was back to his old self and hit the couch.

He poked his leg. Solid. Normal.

He gulped and looked up at uncle Vlad.

“Danny…” the man whispered. Danny knew his uncle. His voice was always comforting. It was now, too. But there was something else, that he couldn’t put a finger on. Vlad breathed in as if he wanted to say something, but he didn’t.

He sat down next to Danny and pulled him into a hug.

Uncle Vlad was always warm. Too warm. And he was always super weird about it. But right now, Danny felt the chill that had plagued him since he stepped out of that stupid portal melt away. For the first time since that scream left his throat, he still felt it hurt, he felt like he could breathe properly.

For a moment, it didn’t matter what happened, or if he was some kind of monster now. He felt safe.

He began to cry. He cried into Vlad’s stupid fancy suit, because the man apparently didn’t own any other clothes.

He felt his body tingle the same way it did when he dropped the remote and he feared he would slip from Vlad’s grasp. But he didn’t.

“If you don’t want to hug, you can just say that.” Vlad muttered.

Danny sniffled and looked up at him. “What… what do you mean?”

“Intangibility. But I think you didn’t do it on purpose, did you?”

“I… I don’t know.” Danny admitted. He didn’t want to let go, but he felt like a baby sobbing into his uncle’s chest like that. Vlad run his fingers through Danny’s hair.

“It’s okay. It takes time to learn to control it.” Vlad said. “And I’ll help you in any way I can, little badger.”

“Do you… do you know what…” Danny paused, looking for words, unsure of which question to ask first. “What happened to me?”

Vlad seemed to have just as hard of a time finding words.

“Am I dead?” Danny whispered after a moment.

Vlad sighed. “Yes. But you’re also alive.” Vlad run his hand along Danny’s left arm, where he still felt echoes of the electricity that went through it not so long ago. The electricity that killed him. Vlad let go of him and moved away. Danny didn’t want to let go. He didn’t want to go back to the cold. “I want to show you something.”

“Oh… okay.” Danny muttered, letting.

Vlad took Danny’s hand and placed it over his own heart. Then, he laid his own over the center of Danny’s chest, where the cold was coming from.

“Like this, we’re still alive. Our hearts are beating. We need to breathe. We need to eat and sleep like any other human.” Vlad paused for a moment. “Can you transform?”

“I think so.” Danny nodded. He had tried turning back and forth a few times while waiting for Vlad. All it took was a thought.

Vlad turned, too.

If he looked closely, he could still recognize his uncle. The shape of the nose and face, the stupid goatee. But if he didn’t look for his uncle, he probably wouldn’t see it. The ghost had blue skin, red eyes with no whites or pupils, pointed ears and when Vlad spoke, Danny could see sharp fangs glint inside of his mouth. Even the shape of the body was different – mom said uncle Vlad had never fully recovered from his accident and the resulting hospital stay. It seemed that the ghost half of him had no such problem, and probably much more resembled the shape the man had been back then. And if his human body had been a little too warm, this one was basically a walking space-heater.

“Like this, no heartbeat.” Vlad whispered. “No need to breathe and no need to eat human food, either.”

“What about sleep?”

“Unless you’re in the ghost zone, yes.” Vlad nodded. “But you can’t stay in one form for too long. If you stay human for too long and don’t use any of your powers, they will simply happen on their own, whether you want it or not. And if you stay as a ghost for too long, your human body will weaken.”

“Will it go away?”

“No. This is you, now.” Vlad sighed. “But you’re not alone in this. I’ll teach you. I’ll help you.”

Vlad turned back to his human form again and Danny followed suit. He could now name the feeling that happened when he did. The suddenly loud thump of his heart, the need to breathe.

“What was that… tail thing?” Danny asked. It had been bothering him the whole time.

“Sometimes, ghosts do that, when we’re flying. Not all and not always, but it does make flying a little more effective.”

“Am I a monster, now? Mom and dad said all ghosts are monsters.”

“Your mom and dad are too obsessed with being right that they get a lot of things wrong about ghosts. Ghost are much like people. Some good, some bad, and most just kind of in-between.” Vlad said. “They are… different, though. Their society, their rules and traditions, it’s very different from human ones.”

“Why do I need to know that? I’m not planning on hanging out with any ghosts… except you, I mean.”

“Some of those customs and values are inherent to being a ghost. It will not be right away, but your view on those things will likely change to a more… ghost-like one.” Vlad explained. “But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

“Vlad… do mom and dad know about you? What you are?”

Danny saw Vlad’s eyes flash red. He had seen it before, though he was sure he was imagining things. Often whenever his accident was brought up. Or when dad said something stupid and insensitive – so most of the time dad talked.

“No.” Vlad said after a moment. “No, they don’t know what I am. And they must never find out about either of us. Nobody living can.”

“Why? I mean… yeah, they are ghost hunters, but I’m still their son and you’re still their friend.”

“Are we? Or are we monsters wearing stealing their faces?” Vlad shook his head. “Your parents have very hard time accepting they were wrong about something. What you are… what we are… goes against all of that, all that they think they know. You might be right. Maybe their love for you is stronger than their stubbornness. And maybe it is not. It’s better we never find out.” Vlad sighed, pulling Danny closer to himself again, seeing the boy shivering again. “And they are not the only ghost hunters out there. Even if they do accept us, the others would not be so forgiving. We must be careful to not leave any evidence of what we are.”

“The camera.” Danny exclaimed suddenly.

“What camera?”

“I… I was recording myself when I went into the portal. I wanted to show my friends I was not a coward.” God, he felt even dumber saying that out-loud.

“Is it still in the lab?”

“I think so.” Danny nodded. Vlad stood up and headed there immediately. Danny followed him.

He always knew Vlad seemed to make no sound while he moved. For the first time, Danny understood how.

“High ectoplasm can mess with electronics. If we’re lucky, the recording doesn’t show anything.” Vlad muttered, seemingly talking more to himself than Danny. The camera was still recording while he picked it up. That was not a good sign.

Vlad began to watch the playback of the video. Danny cringed at the awkward intro he did. And then, moments later, a piercing scream echoed through the lab. Danny felt a sharp stab in his chest at the sound. Even through the recording, it was awful.

Vlad’s features seemed to be made out of stone, but somehow, Danny was certain the man was furious. As the figure of ghost Danny emerged from the portal, Vlad closed the camera and his palm erupted in magenta flames.

Danny stepped back.

“You could have just deleted the video.”

“There are ways to recover deleted videos. This is more certain.” Vlad said, the poured the charred dust from his hand into the hazardous waste disposal. When some of it refused to come off, Danny watched Vlad’s hand change – it seemed almost like static on a TV, but in real life. Vlad’s hand was now perfectly clean. “I’ll buy you a new camera.”

“It was Sam’s actually.”

“I’ll buy her a new camera.” Vlad corrected himself.

“Can you teach me how to do that?” Danny asked.

“It will not be possible right away, but once your core settles a bit, it should come naturally.” Vlad nodded. “I promise, I’ll teach you everything I know. But first, dinner. I’m sure you have a million more questions. You can ask them while I cook.”

***

Vlad Masters was not a father. Not that he knew of, anyway.

And Vlad Plasmius wouldn’t even consider exposing himself to such a weakness.

But cores are as fickle as they are stubborn.

Vlad wasn’t Danny’s father, and perhaps in a different lifetime, that would have mattered to him.

It didn’t in this one.

It mattered that the boy he had watched grow up was dead, because of his parents’ negligence.

It mattered that he was alive, stuffing his face full of pasta, badgering him with questions about a subject he had no interest in until that day.

By human law, he was the boy’s godfather and the assigned guardian, should something happen to his parents, just as he was for his sister. Some days, he was tempted to make something happen. Today was one of those days. But he looked at Danny, remembered the conviction with which he claimed his parents would accept him, both of them, even as the abominations they both were now. The boy would mourn. The boy would break. The boy loved his parents, because he was a child and that’s what they do. It was for that look, that conviction, that Vlad held back the inferno rising through his body. The Fentons were lucky their son Remained – had that scream in the portal truly been the boy’s final breath, Vlad knew there would be no holding back.

By ghost rules, however, the boy was his child. Nobody, living or dead, had a greater claim to Danny than he did. Danny couldn’t understand it yet, but the trust he had put in Vlad, the love he held for him, and whatever it was that Vlad felt for the boy in return, had bonded their cores. Perhaps the boy would never realize – his core was so soft and new when the bond formed and would be such a natural part of it by the time Danny would start to understand his core that he wouldn’t even notice it.

Vlad wasn’t sure what he felt for Danny could be called love in the human sense, but after ten years of fighting it, he knew it would be recognized as such by ghosts. Ghost love was like that. Possessive, obsessive, a powerful and unbreakable bond, built on strength and devotion.

Danny was his.

He had let go of his old obsession long ago, perhaps on that fateful night, but he knew the parts of him that still clung to the rage of death would rest easier from now on. In the battle between himself and his ghostmaker, he had won.

[sineala]

Fic: Even the Score

Even the Score (36307 words) by Sineala Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Avengers (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Comic Book Science, Hallucinations, Temporary Amnesia, Medical Trauma, Blood and Injury, Happy Ending, Comic: Avengers Vol. 3 (1998) Summary: After Tony risks his own life to save Steve from the deadly Bloodwash gas, he's in bad shape, and he needs immediate treatment. Thanks to the treatment, he doesn't quite remember what's going on, but he does remember that people have been trying to kill him and that he can't trust the government. Since the Secretary of Defense did try to murder both of them today, Steve can't exactly tell Tony he's wrong about either of those things -- but, unfortunately, Tony doesn't remember who Steve is. And, even more unfortunately, Steve taught Tony to fight.

Written for @phoenixmetaphor for the You Gave Me A Stocking event for the You Gave Me A Home comics Steve/Tony server. It's Steve/Tony established-relationship v3 (Manhunt & Red Zone) h/c.

[dreadsuitsamus]

5 Times You Meet Kensei +1 Time He Gets Your Number | Kensei Muguruma x Reader |

author's note: this structure is horribly outdated but i give no fucks!! thank you to @yeowangies for the help and support on this!

pairing: kensei muguruma x fem!reader

warnings: buncha meet cutes, alcohol mentions, lotsa flustering kensei

Speed dating.

What in the fuck is he doing here.

Kensei pinches the bridge of his nose as he sits at a table, waiting for the event to start just so it can end that much sooner. Mashiro forced this damn thing on him, that little shit. She knows just how to annoy him and get her way: why does he keep her around??

"I guess this isn't really your thing, huh?"

Kensei's brown eyes flick up; dammit, he zoned out and made a fool of himself on the very first 'date'. His silver brow twitches involuntarily as he responds. "You got me."

Your laugh twinkles as you slide into the seat across from him, a fruity cocktail in hand. Kensei's struck immediately by your beauty, for sure, and he's suddenly feeling underdressed in his black Henley and jeans while he's up against your, emphasis on little, black dress and golden accessories. "I've done a few of these before; it's not really anybody's thing, honestly. You're not as out of place as you feel."

"Oh, yes the hell I am." An odd laugh accompanies his shaky assertion— and he hates that he's nervous!

"You should have a drink, calm your nerves a little." The black straw from your brightly colored drink settles in the center of your gorgeously painted lips, demonstrating how you can possibly bear such an event without so much as batting an eye while your gaze flicks to the name tag stuck onto his chest.

Kensei rubs the back of his neck, his muscles deliciously hugged by that too-small Henley. "Good idea. But I don't know if I should be taking advice from someone with more sugar than alcohol in her drink."

Your laugh does more to calm his nerves than a drink would, that's for sure.

You continue to chuckle to yourself as he goes to the bar, watching him order his scotch on the rocks from the rather busy bar. The red numbers tick down on the clock, and he's not likely to return before the time is up. It is speed dating after all. Fishing out a pen from your purse, you scribble a little note on the cocktail napkin before moving onto the next table.

Kensei is rather relieved when he returns to an empty table— but only briefly, since your seat is taken damn near immediately by a new stranger. He has a pull from the drink, smirking into the tumbler as he reads your note and tunes out the new 'date' introducing themselves.

Get it with a twist next time, you wimp!

"This shouldn't have been so controversial." Kensei's arms are crossed and the vein that's famously seen amongst his infuriating friend group is throbbing so hard that they may as well pay for an entire extra seat just for it.

Shinji and Hiyori, as per fucking usual, cannot decide what movie to watch. The group is split entirely, and it's up to his tie breaking vote to get the evening moving along. They're arguing harshly, the two factions, and he has not a care in the world to the actual film. He just wants his popcorn and peanut M&M's that'll cost him a solid thirty dollars and to take a nap.

"Shut up!" He stands tall, brown eyes furious and just a tad crazy as he fishes a coin from his pocket. "Heads or tails, you jackasses!"

He flips the coin easily, not even sure who called what side as he catches it and flips it into the back of his hand. "Tails. I'm getting a snack now."

Hiyori's taunting Shinji as they purchase the tickets, and Kensei tucks his box of candy into one of his pockets (he told Mashiro his cargo shorts are useful!!) so he can better hold his popcorn bucket out of Hiyori's reach as they stand in line to have their tickets scanned. "Hey, you little rat! Knock it off!"

The giggle behind him is familiar, and his eyes widen rather comically upon sight of you and what he presumes is your gaggle of friends. He never saw you again during that disaster of a night, and it was definitely for the best— he was hammered by the end of it and had to be, literally, picked up by Hachi just to make it home.

"Nice to see you again, Ken." You tease, laughing at Hiyori's ability to snatch a handful of his popcorn during his stunned daze.

"K-Ken?" He stumbles on the word— nobody has ever called him that.

"What movie are you seeing?" You breeze on by his confusion, though the gears in his head have come to a complete standstill. Listen closely enough and you'll hear the internet dial up tone.

"Ah…" He shows his ticket to you, ignoring the snickers of his friends behind him. He'll never live this down. Kensei, their resident, stone-faced asshole, is flustered??

"Oh, we saw that last weekend! Not a bad movie; I think you'll like it." You smile and the line moves up, Kensei's group getting their tickets scanned next.

"Not sure if I trust the opinion of someone who agrees with Hiyori's tastes." Kensei grumbles, worried that the heat on his cheeks is visible to you; or worse, his friends.

"Hey!" Hiyori kicks at Kensei's shin, though it hurts her far more than Kensei himself. You scan your ticket, the teen at the stand pointing your theater in the opposite direction of Kensei's movie.

"You'll trust me enough after you see it." You wink and start to head to your movie, glancing over your shoulder to smile at Kensei once more before disappearing into the theater. Ignoring the snickers of his friends, Kensei growls and heads into their own designated theater.

I should've fucking flipped heads.

The chill of the air is rather inconsequential to Kensei as he runs security at the door of the nightclub, his nice suit and gloves keeping him as warm as he is stylish. He's never been one to say no to extra cash, and though his days as a doorman are far behind him, he's still got it, evidently. He's stopped several fake IDs, weapons, drugs and more, all while making his much-higher hourly rate than he did back when this was his living.

Just after busting a teen with the worst fake ID he's ever seen, Kensei's line finally starts fizzling out. The club is booming, half of the city must be inside by this point, with the other half having been kicked swiftly to the curb. He checks the expensive watch on his wrist; just a few more hours and he's all done, his favor to the club owner fulfilled and his next monthly car note paid off. Huffing out a breath, the cold air lingers for a moment, and as it dissipates, he's met with his next crowd of people.

So much for a moment of peace.

The group is split between himself and the other doorman, and it's the routine pat downs and ID checks as usual. He's gotten through a third of the group before you're before him, smirking with twinkly eyes as you present your ID to him— it's only now that he actually gets your name.

"Funny how we keep meeting." You tease, tucking the ID card back into your wallet and stepping aside for his pat down, rather eager for those strong-looking hands to get a touch of you.

Kensei's brown eyes flick to meet your gaze, and his face warms just at the sight of you. You truly are a stunning woman. "Careful; I might just think you're stalking me."

"You think I like you that much, Ken? Interesting…" Your teeth graze your lower lip, just a little, as you spread your arms and legs.

"Don't call me Ken." He grumbles, appreciating the way your perfume masks the cigarettes those in line have been smoking all night.

"It's cute." You shrug and Kensei pats you down without another word, perking a pierced brow as he snags a small bottle of whiskey concealed in your waistband.

"I don't think you know what 'cute' is if you're talking about me in the same sentence. Better luck next time, princess."

"Guess you're good at your job, huh?" You murmur, gazing up and over your shoulder to better see his handsome face. He's got a pet name for you now, hm? Interesting.

"Shoulda got in the other guy's line." Kensei mutters, tossing and subsequently shattering the glass on the cold sidewalk.

"I like this line." Slowly, your fingertip drags along the length of his sharp jaw and it's then that Kensei's aware of his other hand still holding your hip— how in the hell do you have the ability to make him forget himself so easily? "But since you took my whiskey… Can I go inside now? I could use a drink."

The taller man's Adam's apple bobs and he releases you, practically pushing you into the doors of the booming club and the arms of your giggling friends. His face is pink, and at least he can try to pass it off on the cold temperatures if anyone asks.

He should've saved that damn whiskey for later.

Kensei's sweating like a whore in church as he finishes his workout, his body glistening with sweat as he pulls off his tank top for a taste of refreshing air. Cardio was a particular killer for him today, though it made the weight training a little bit easier too. He'd been slacking off for a few weeks, and the moment he had just a little difficulty yeeting Mashiro and Lisa (simultaneously, and while dealing with Hiyori doing her best to knock him over) into that pit of foam at the trampoline place was a reminder to get back to the gym.

He's more of a primadonna than he admits.

He takes a long pull from his water bottle, pouring the remainder over his heated face and shoulders and scans the room. It's habit to him, partially as a former special forces commander and also due to the number of times he's caught others incorrectly using equipment and aided them for better workouts. The gym is the only place he's remotely social in, oddly enough.

His brown eyes narrow at the sight of a woman (that can't be who he thinks it is) on a stair stepper. There's a man beside her, one that he noticed following her around before. They could be friends, though Kensei doubts it greatly as the loser continues to stand beside you, talking about gains while you remain the only one actually working out.

The guy's talking with his hands, and Kensei's witnessed this brand of harassment enough to tell where this is going. Wasting a breath no more, he's walking over with a meaner face than usual. It is you, and that makes him just a little more angry at this harassment than he'd normally be. You turn your head away from the man that's been annoying you, eyes lighting up at your savior. "Ken!"

Kensei places himself between you and the strange man, his impressive size and build enough to make the other guy nervous. "You like harassing women at the gym?" He crosses those deliciously thick arms, and you're frankly more concerned with viewing his toned back than dealing with the situation at hand.

"I told you I had a boyfriend." You tease, peeking over Kensei's shoulder at the now very intimidated mark.

Kensei frowns just a tad deeper after that— so many things are wrong with that statement. Namely, you thinking you had to have a boyfriend, real or not, for this guy to leave you alone. Unbeknownst to him, the back of his neck flushes a light, rosy color that makes you snicker.

"If I ever see you harassing a woman again, I'm gonna beat the shit out of you. Understood?"

Kensei doesn't waste time hearing any lame excuses or apologies before turning to face you, who smirks proudly in his wake. "I'm here most days a week around this time. If anyone bothers you again, just come find me and I'll take care of it. And don't call me Ken."

"You're more bothered by me calling you Ken than my boyfriend?" You raise a brow, an entertained smirk on your face.

"Like I'd date someone who wears a pink bodysuit to the gym." Kensei grumbles lamely, blushing from the tips of his ears to the center of his chest.

"That's a lot of talk coming from someone that's blushing pinker than a Barbie dream house." You laugh, poking one of his pectorals.

He's red now as he looks away from you, his jaw tight as you tease him. "Stop bothering me and finish your workout." He retreats before you can manage to get under his skin again, though his plan doesn't pan out like he hoped as your voice follows him.

"Nice tattoo, by the way!"

"Get your mind outta the gutter!" He hollers back, practically running to hide in the locker room, all while you grin and wonder if that was the hint of a Long Island accent slipping through.

"Come on, let's go!" Kensei claps his hands harshly, ushering his friends (and those they brought along that he merely tolerates) towards the stadium. The baseball game is due to start shortly and goddammit he's not gonna miss a thing because of these unorganized fucks. He's still got a hot dog to get!

"Relax, friend." Shinji shakes his head at Kensei's impatience, not that it was unexpected of the hothead.

"No! They might actually win this one!" Kensei's excitement is hard to contain, and he actually smiles at the idea of his favorite team not being losers!

"Oh yeah? Confident enough to put your money on it?"

Kensei snorts, leading the charge into the stadium amongst the throngs of people. "Not a chance."

Half of the group is sent to their seats while the other takes on the responsibility of securing food and drink, Kensei at the ready with the entire order memorized. The lines are dense, the entire area packed and noisy. Under normal circumstances he'd be overstimulated quickly and heavily irritated, but even those ticks of his can be overlooked for a ballgame.

He's next in line and fires off the order with precision, handing off the drinks to Shinji and Ichigo to run to deliver them to the rest of the group, Kensei more than capable of carrying all the food himself. His thick arms full, he steps away and makes for the stands just as the person in the line beside him exits at the same time.

"Woah there!" You steady yourself against Kensei's strong build, gripping his sleeveless jersey tightly to keep yourself standing as the hot dogs and nachos in his arms crash onto the floor.

"Jesus!" He grumbles, grasping your hip with a strong hand now that the food is gone.

"Oh, Kensei, I'm sorry." You glance at the floor before looking back up at the not-so-strange stranger.

""s just food, no worries." He mutters. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." You wave off his concern easily. "Here, let me buy you your food again."

Kensei snorts, tugging at your own jersey that's for the rival team. "I don't need a Bears fan buying me a hot dog. That's how people choke."

"Ha!" You smile despite your offended scoff. "As if a Panthers fan could do anything but! They learned from the best!"

"You take that back!" Kensei pokes your shoulder.

"You gonna make me?" You smirk in the face of the handsome man, and he smirks right back at you.

"You will by the end of the game, princess."

"Guess we'll see, Ken. That is, if you make it to your seat by the end." Winking slyly, you saunter off and Kensei's left to realize just how much longer the line is now.

"Don't… Don't call me Ken." He grumbles out, heading for the back of the line.

Hell has frozen over: his friends all have plans on a Friday night, between dates and familial commitments and whatnot, and he's left to do whatever the hell he likes in peace. It's been years since he's had such an opportunity, and there's nowhere else in the world he'd rather be than here at his favorite dive, enjoying a basket of fish and chips with a mug of ice cold beer.

That was the plan, anyhow. And it started off that way easily enough.

But then you walked in with someone else.

Ever since he met you, you've popped up at the most random times and he's never expected not one of them, this time being the absolute furthest from expecting it he could be. Seeing you was one thing… Seeing you with another guy, in Kensei's favorite bar, was… So fucking rage-inducing that he's still contemplating throwing the guy through the window even an hour after seeing you come in.

Lookin' so pretty… For a fuckin' schmuck that took her to the shittiest dive in town.

Who the hell does the guy think he is? With the prettiest woman for miles on his arm, he's at a dive bar for a first date. The disrespect is insane, the lack of thought or care simply ludicrous. Kensei doesn't date anymore because it's just so stupid but damn if he wouldn't do better than this, by a lot.

"Awfully pouty tonight, Ken."

Kensei blinks out of his salty stupor, turning his head. "Don't call me Ken."

You laugh at his offense to the nickname and order two drinks from the bartender before looking back at him. "What's got you so worked up?"

Kensei feels like his brows will forever be stuck frowning, the vein at his temple about to burst. "Did you just order that grown man a drink?"

"Mhm. Is that an issue?"

He snorts, shaking his head at the bitter laugh he can't control. "No, if you like bums who can't show a pretty woman a good time."

Your teeth sink into your lip, tugging while enjoying how this big, tough guy seems to be jealous that you're with someone else. "Well, when you put it like that, I can't help but wanna see how you'd do it better."

And fuck, there it is. Kensei can't turn down such a golden opportunity; he's already a sucker for being challenged, add a beautiful woman into the mix, one that's mischievous and crafty like you, and he's got no choice but to jump in headfirst. "Then I'll show you. You'd do well to learn what a good date is."

Your grin is bright and you dive into your purse for a pen. "Call me anytime."

Kensei holds the napkin with your number carefully as you retreat to your horrible excuse for a date with the drinks, his heart pumping quicker than normal. Now he can access you intentionally, with ease.

A slow smirk spreads on his lips as he types the number into his phone, nearly wearing a shit-eating grin as he holds it to his ear and watches you politely step away from your sleazy date to answer the call.

"I'm ready to show you a better time."

Your laugh echoes across the room, and for once he's not embarrassed to laugh with you.

[jadenoryuu]

Phandom Holiday Truce Time!

(For maximum experience, please turn the light mode on.)

Sorry for keeping you waiting, @raaorqtpbpdy here's your @phandomholidaytruce gift!

When I saw the prompts "Danny-Wes Role Swap", comboed with the No One Knows AU, Creepy Cryptid Danny and your mention about the Ghost King Danny trope only used in a significant way, the gif "I have a MIGHTY need!" started playing in a loop, so here's the bg for this mini-comic.

Before the Portal Accident, Wes and Danny were friends. Not as close as Danny and Tucker, but they sometimes hung out when the Fentons were too busy to entertain Wes' interest in the occult.

My boy Wes Weston has also a side hobby/obsession with basket and it all started since he watched for the first time Space Jam. (It doesn't help that I headcanon Amity Park in Illinois, which means Chicago Bulls.)

(So he plays basket because His Airness does so and because MJ was involved and interacted with the embodiment of a visual novel. Talk about supernatural!)

(Yes, I'm saying that crossovers between animated and physical world can count as a supernatural and ghost-related event.)

All of this premise was to introduce the personalized jumpsuit that the Fentons made for Wes with the colors and accessories of the Chicago Bulls.

(Jack made a mistake with the number and stitched only the "2", so once Wes became a halfa, he added the "3" with marker and later learned to shapeshift enough to change some of the inverted colors of the jumpsuit. Originally it was white with red inserts, the accident made it black with blue inserts, then the shapeshift finally made it black with red inserts.)

Since it's a No One Knows AU, Wes was alone when the accident happened, but being the smart bean he is, no one discovered that he's a halfa until Danny, much like Jazz in canon, discovers Wes' double nature after stalking investigating him.

Like sister, like brother, Danny doesn't say anything to Wes about knowing, but here and then he assists (in the shadows) Wes in ghost wrangling.

Due to living above the active portal and Maddie experimenting with ectoplasm while pregnant, Jazz and Danny are liminal, the latter more than the former. (Thus, Danny becomes the creepy cryptid of Amity Park.)

Even if Danny isn't a halfa, Vlad still tries his scheme of stealing the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage to obtain enough power to defeat Wes' hero persona (who Vlad believes is a full ghost).

Much akin the Reign Storm episode, Amity ends in the Ghost Zone, but Wes gets stuck fighting "alone" the army (the Fentons and a reluctant Plasmius do the same on another front after the Ecto-suit is deemed a failure).

While his parents are out fighting, Danny sneaks in the lab and fixes the Ecto-suit (my boy is as much as a genius as his family, after all), then goes to challenge Pariah.

Due to his liminality, after the victory, Danny IS eligible for the Throne, so he becomes the King. (He doesn't discover this immediately, but when the Observants start bothering him, he gets the explanation.)

So, after declaring Amity Park Wes' (and his) Haunt and a No Fight Zone, the ghost attacks practically stop, leaving Wes on edge, because he doesn't know about the Law.

Thus, we're back to this mini-comic! Danny decides to finally reveal both that he knows Wes is a halfa and that he's the Ghost King, but where would be the fun if he didn't mess with Wes a bit? So he amps his creepy factor and plays a Yandere act (he isn't, he's doing so just for the prank. As a matter of fact, 3-5 seconds after the last declaration, he bursts out cackling at Wes appropriate horrified face, then after moving to a more private place -a roof-, Danny explains everything.)

Does this became a UFS? I like to think so, but you're free to decide.

I'm adding the non transparent versions under for those without the light mode:

[dalekofchaos]

Context

Choice 1. I was rereading the Injustice comics and came across the panels where Bruce and Barry were talking about Barry time traveling via the Speed Force and saving Lois to prevent the whole thing. So this is the basis of Injustice 3.

Barry's tired of the fighting and dying between the Regime and the Insurgancy and his war crimes keep haunting him. So Barry does what he swore he would never do. Goes back in time, save Lois, disassemble the bomb and stops the Joker.

Injustice 3 is the the fallout of Barry's choice to go back in time. As for what's caused this? Maybe an all out war between Brainiac and Darkseid, Black Adam vs Sinestro vs Wonder Woman vs Grodd vs Zod. But it would ideally end with Barry realising that he has to merge with the Speed Force for the good ending to stay in place, so he does and Wally takes up the Flash mantle.

Choice 2. The villains see that the world is vulnerable. The Regime is powerless without Superman, WW standing trial on Oa. No one can stop them.

So the Legion of Doom led by Vandal Savage seizes power. And this leads to the Legion causing chaos throughout the world and it forces Batman and Superman to team up and this eventually leads to a redemption for Clark because we're all tired of this grim dark edgy bullshit.

Choice 3. Continuing from the Absolute Justice ending, Superman escapes the Phantom Zone and with him is Zod, Ursa and Non and other Kryptonian criminals and all the other criminals Bruce locked away.

Choice 4. Superman is desperate. Everyone is either imprisoned/depowered or dead and Nekron gives him the choice and in Superman's ignorance he gives in and this results in Blackest Night. Everyone dead in the games or the comics comes back.

It's ideal for bringing back characters want in the game, that have been dead in the story. This way we can get Beast Boy and Nightwing back.

The Lantern Rings might work very well as a mechanic to give us playable variants, if every character comes with three different movesets depending on their Lantern Corps (a no Corps moveset is also possible as one of the three.)

This would also might give us Red Lantern Supergirl as a playable option.

Choice 5. Apokolips invades. Darkseid is the big bad. Joined by Steppenwolf, Granny Goodness, Desaad and Kalibak and the heroes and villains of earth must unite to stop Darkseid.

Choice 6. See my post here

Choice 7. Trigon will be the main villain, and it’s a chance to have many magic based characters such as Raven, Constantine, Zatanna, Brother Blood, Ragman, Circe, while keeping the likes of Doctor Fate, Enchantress, etc. I would love Constantine be one of the main characters in this storyline, where Trigon can try to destroy the world for its crimes against hell. Also a potential pre-order character in Lucifier.

Choice 8. The game is set after the events of Injustice 2's good ending with Batman training Supergirl and some new members of the Justice League with Mr. Terrific, but are interrupted when Mister Miracle and Big Barda comes from Apokolips saying that Darkside has been killed. On top of that, Booster Gold and Superboy come from the future warning them that the Anti-Monitor is destroying the multiverse. Now, the Justice League must band together with other heroes across the multiverse to stop the Anti-Monitor!

Choice 9. Basically pulling from MK1's card where the first half of the game we see what Bruce's absolute Justice brought the world and then Superman's universe invades and it's all out war between Batman and Superman

Choice 10. Damian frees Wonder Woman and she decides to stop playing nice. To make Wonder Woman more of a threat, she kills what's left of the Greek Pantheon and absorbs their powers. Her brand of justice will bring the mortals to heel, she will reunite the regime and end this insurgency once and for all.

This would end with Superman once and for all opening his eyes and having a chance to redeem himself. Batman and Superman team up to stop Wonder Woman once and for all.

It ends with Bruce retiring as Batman and becoming the president. The Justice League reforming being lead by Supergirl, Batgirl(Cassandra Cain) Donna Troy, Wally West, Green Lantern(Jessica Cruz) Green Arrow and Black Canary

[miqotepotatoe]

Nothing's Ever Childish - Ninjago Secret Santa 2023

WC: 970

My Secret Santa for @sensei-twinkles. Enjoy your Watermelon Brothers fluff

Thank you @kokosnuss-jaguar, for hosting this event

Kai was not fond of patrols at all. He just personally found it a bit boring, going around the city, keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity or if any citizen needed help. When they manage to catch a crook in action, busting them is fun, but that's as rare as finding gold at the end of a rainbow as no one is dumb enough to do crime in broad daylight during a ninja patrol. 

Mix boring patrols with the cold winter temperatures and it's a recipe for a very cranky Red Ninja. Despite being the Master of Fire you'd think Kai would do well in the cold, but not even his unusually higher than average body temperature can keep him warm in the biting winter chill, and these ninja suits weren't made of materials that keep you warm. He may have to request Zane to make thermal ninja suits for the winter, and ask Jay if he could make some of his amazing hot chocolate when they return to the monastery.

As Kai was passing by a bunch of shops, he spotted a familiar figure in green staring through the windows of the toy shop. Parking his bike, the Red Ninja went to see why the Green Ninja was shirking his patrols to stare at toys. 

"Hey Green Bean, what're you looking at?"

Lloyd immediately jumped back in surprise and quickly turned around to face Kai, a guilty look on his face. 

"K-Kai! I'm not looking at anything!" 

Kai gave his little brother a small smile, a hand casually on his hip. 

"No need to lie to me, I could see you staring whimsically through the window. Anything catch your eye?" 

Lloyd glanced back to the toy shop window, at a giant teddy bear in the far back corner. It was huge, the biggest teddy bear Kai had ever seen. Everyone in the monastery could use it as a mattress and have a cuddle pile on it. 

"Nothing really. Besides, I'm too old for toys like this. I'll be heading back on patrol, see you back at the monastery." 

Lloyd quickly summoned his elemental dragon and flew off to his patrol zone. Kai lingered, looking at that goliath of a teddy bear. Ever since the Tomorrows Tea, Lloyd had put away anything and everything he owned that he considered childish, from his Starfarer comics, handmade action figures and even his old black hoodie that he painted a ribcage on in an attempt to mimic his father. The boy was forced to grow up, despite still being mentally a kid he put all his focus on training. Sure he never grew out of his love of sweets, but Lloyd deserved to be a kid. Besides, you're never too old for toys or plushies. Look at Jay and his model vehicles and Cole's collection of plushies that take up 70% of space on his bed. 

Lloyd was getting that goliath teddy bear, but he needed help. Pushing a button on his earpiece, he called up the best person to help with this.

"Hey Cole, I have a favor to ask of you."

***

Lloyd was exhausted. The past few days of trying to catch this thief who had been robbing bakeries was met with little success. Everytime Lloyd was close to catching them, they vanished. It was getting annoying. Right now he just wanted to collapse and fall asleep. 

He entered his room, but was met with a surprise on his bed. Looming over him was a giant teddy bear. No, the same giant teddy bear he spotted at the toy shop when on patrol the other day. But what was it doing here? 

There was a tag on the teddy, which was hard to read because the handwriting was basically scribbles. From what he could make out, it read "Enjoy your new friend." Hearing a mischievous chuckle, Lloyd turned around to see Kai, leaning by the door frame, a sly smile on his face. 

"So, how do you like your new cuddly friend, Green Bean?" 

"Kai!? You were behind this!?"

Lloyd gestured to the goliath on his bed, the Master of Fire nodding. 

"Yup, they don't call me the Master of Surprise for nothing." 

"But, how did you get it here without-"

"Without you noticing? I had someone distract you with little 'robberies' at bakeries while I bought this goliath and brought him here." 

Lloyd didn't know what to say. He appreciated the gift, but he was too old for stuff like giant teddy bears. The Green Ninja doesn't need childish distractions like this.

"Kai, I can't accept this. I'm-"

"Don't say you're too old for stuff like this. Who says you can't enjoy things that are seen as childish? Have you seen Jay's model vehicles that he made, or Cole's ever growing plush collection? It'd be hypocritical of us to enjoy things like this and say you can't do the same. You may be the all important Green Ninja, but you're still a kid, all of us are. So just accept this big guy as a gift from me. Besides, he may help calm you down from those nightmares you get." 

Kai was right, just because they're ninja who have an important duty to protect the world doesn't mean they can't enjoy things seen as childish. Maybe Lloyd had been too hard on himself after prematurely growing up. The blond ran to Kai, wrapping his arms around his older brother, a wordless thank you for the gift. 

"By the way, who'd you get to distract me with those 'bakery robberies?'"

"That's a secret I'll take to my grave."

Neither of them noticed Cole walking past, munching on a slice of Black Forest Gateau with a smile on his face, his reward for distracting the Green Ninja from Kai's plan.

[rachelbethhines]

Archie Sonic Chronological Read Through Recap - 2nd Era

I’ve been re-reading old Archie Sonic Comics lately, and doing so in the recommend chronological order of events, except for flashbacks which are placed within their reveal.

First Era recap is here

The second era includes

Sonic Super Special 8: “Running on Empty”

Sonic & Knuckles

Sonic the Hedgehog: 26

Sonic Triple Trouble

Sonic the Hedgehog: 27 - 29

Tails Miniseries: 1-3

Sonic the Hedgehog: 30

Super Sonic v.s. Hyper Knuckles

Knuckles Chaotix

Sonic the Hedgehog: 31 - 36

Knuckles Miniseries: 1-3

Sonic the Hedgehog: 37 - 39

Sonic and Knuckles: Mecha Madness Special

Sonic the Hedgehog: 40-41

Sonic Quest: 1-3

Sonic the Hedgehog: 42

Sonic Live

Sonic the Hedgehog: 43-44

Sonic Blast

Sonic the Hedgehog: 45

Sonic Super Special 5: Sonic Kids: “Stop… Sonic Time!” (Sonic telling the story)

Sonic the Hedgehog: 113 (can take place at any point before StH#46)

Sonic the Hedgehog: 46

Sonic Super Special 1: Sonic v.s. Knuckles Battle Royal

Sonic the Hedgehog: 47-49

Sonic the Hedgehog: 50 (Non-Canon; Replaced) Sonic Super & Special 6: The Big 50 (Remake of Sonic the Hedgehog: 50)

Archie Sonic Story Ranking

(Stories with the same ranking are listed in reading order)

The Map - 9.5/10

Mecha Madness - 9/10

Sonic the Hedgehog Goes Hog Wild - 8.5/10

Endgame - 8.5/10

The Day Robotropolis Fell - 8/10

Court Martial - 8/10

Bunnie’s Worst Nightmare - 7.5/10

The Chaos Effect  - 7/10

Crash of the Titans - 7/10

Sonic Quest: The Death Egg Saga - 7/10

Way, Way Past Cool  - 6.5/10

Heart of Darkness - 6.5/10

Countdown to Armageddon - 6.5/10

Panic in the Sky - 6/10

The Southern Crossover - 6/10

The Return of Uncle Chuck - 6/10

Who Keeps Stealing My Chaos Emeralds? - 6/10

Tundra Road - 6/10

To ‘Bot or Not To ‘Bot - 6/10

The Rise of Robotropolis… The Fall of Sonic! - 6/10

The Dream Zone - 6/10

Sonic Blast - 6/10

Battle Royale - 6/10

Running On Empty - 5.5/10

Steel Belted Sally  - 5.5/10

…and One Shall Save Him - 5.5/10

In Every Kingdom There Must Exist a Little Chaos! - 5.5/10

Knuckles‘ Quest - 5.5/10

Stop... Sonic Time - 5.5/10

Fortified - 5/10

Tttriple Tttrouble  - 5/10

A Robot Rides the Rails - 5/10

Blast From the Past - 5/10

Rites of Passage - 5/10

Eel of Fortune - 5/10

Black and Blue and Red All Over - 5/10

Submersible Rehearsal - 4.5/10

Ring of Truth - 4.5/10

The T.U.F.F. Awards - 4.5/10

Fire Drill - 4/10

Let's Get Small! - 4/10

A Sense of History - 4/10

Don’t Let the Island Hit You on the Way Down - 4/10

The Substitute Freedom Fighters - 4/10

Bugged Bunny - 4/10

Guerrilla Thriller - 4/10

Lord of the Floating Island  - 3.5/10

Tag! You’re It! - 3.5/10

Sonic Shot - 3.5/10

Bedtime Tails - 3.5/10

First Contact - 3/10

A Chaotix Kidnapping - 3/10 

The Last Game Cartridge Hero - 3/10

Cry of the Wolf - 3/10

Coming Soon: Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble  - 2.5/10

Knuckles’ Chaotix Sneak Peak! - 2/10

When rounded up to the last decimal the Average for the era is 5.3.

Which is one point higher than the last era. Once again silly joke issues weighted things down somewhat. However, 6/10 wound up being the most common ranking for this round, so the quality is definitely going up.

Top Five Individual Stories

The Map (Antoine's only solo story!)

The Day Robotropolis Fell (Just a very well constructed stand alone story with lots of tension. Events here also impact the story later)

Court Martial (I just like how it basically showcases Antoine at his lowest, just so that his character development later on is more pronounced)

Bunnie’s Worst Nightmare (Bunnie's best story for the era)

The Chaos Effect ( A good intro for the Chaotix)

I also have to give Countdown to Armageddon an honorable mention for bringing Bunnie and Antoine together... it's just not as strong of an overall story as the above.

Worst Five Individual Stories

Knuckles’ Chaotix Sneak Peak! (It's just a single panel of foreshadowing for the upcoming Chaotix special. It barely qualifies as a story)

Coming Soon: Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble (a forth wall breaking advertisement for an upcoming video game promotional tie-in comic... long after you've expected the book to drop such silliness)

The Last Game Cartridge Hero (probably the most ego driven thing Penders ever wrote... with questionable art work and a middling story)

Cry of the Wolf (a lazy rip-off of a SatAM episode published far too long after it was relevant and features some of the worst art work that the book would ever publish)

First Contact (technically the start of the Knuckles mythos but it's far too vague and meandering to make much of an impact)

Best Story Arc

Mecha Madness

There's a lot of strong story arcs this era but Mecha Madness is iconic for a reason. Loads of fun with a lot of action and plenty of high stakes and emotion.

Worst Story Arc

A Chaotix Kidnapping

This arc goes on far too long and mostly just consists of Knuckles wondering around aimlessly waiting for his actual miniseries to start. After spinning its wheels for so long it fails to have an actual pay off and just kind of slides into a completely different arc talking about the floating island's history. Then when we finally resolve the conflict, it turns out to be a whole lot of nothing as the Chaotix were never in any danger to begin with.

Best Artist

Patrick Spaziante

It took me a long time to warm up to Spaz's style, but y'all were right all along. He is one of the series strongest artists.

[daredevilexchange]

Do you like Daredevil, The Defenders, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, the Punisher, and/or Team Red, in their comics or TV (or, in some cases, cinema!) versions?

Then, get ready for the new and improved exchange… still with a Remix Option! You can say you’re open to getting a gift created from one of your own fanworks :D

Signups for DDE’s 2023 Exchange open until September 4!

Works revealed on AO3 on Halloween, and submissions posted on Tumblr from Halloween onwards.

How? Sign up here! You will be able to give several prompts (different types of prompts, too! Music, scenarios, one word prompts…) and you will, of course, receive several prompts ^_^

Your job? Use at least one of these prompts to create at least one fanwork! You can combine several prompts in one work, use the same prompt for several works… The one hard and fast rule is to respect your giftee’s squicks!

Please get in touch with your giftee anonymously if only to let them know someone is creating something for them, and of course if you have any question :-)

What types of fanwork? Here’s what you can do: Gifsets (6 gifs min), Fanfic (1,000 words min), Fanmix (6 songs + cover min), Fanvid (1 minute long min), Graphics / Fanart, needle art, podfic.

What’s the timeline? Signups until Sep 4 (your time zone is fine), prompts sent around a day or two after that (depending on your time zone), fanworks due OCT 28 in the AO3 collection if you're using AO3, and must be submitted to Tumblr. AO3 collection revealed on Halloween! If you have a scheduling issue please get in touch with the blog, we can probably work something out ^_^ And you will be able to post on the dedicated AO3 collection earlier since it will be kept unrevealed until D-Day- aka Halloween! Yes, you can go wild on bats and zombies if that's your jam ;-)

Where to post? Tumblr, AO3 (Exchange collection name: dde2023 / Daredevil and Defenders Exchange 2023)… let us know where you’re posting so we can share it on our two blogs, DW and Tumblr. AO3 can’t host video or graphics, but you can still put them up on the Archive as long as they’re already online somewhere else like Instagram, DeviantArt, YouTube, Squidge hosting, etc. Get in touch if you have questions about posting !

Posting guidelines are here (this link should be opened in a separate browser tab, NOT the app) or here, please take the time to read them! You will find more important information there. If you do not have an AO3 account and want one, please get in touch with the blog.

**Spread the word!**

@thebigbangblogproject @marvel-events-central @trackmarvel @nmcunyc @fanwork-exchange-promos @hells-kitchen-discord

A winning banner by @neonbrutalism !

Banner ID: All four Defenders and Frank are sitting around a table strewn with red goblets, coins, and beer bottles and cans. They're playing cards and gambling. From left to right, Matt wearing a red shirt is feeling his cards with his fingertips, Jessica in black has her chin in her palm and is side-eyeing Luke, Luke i a yellow shirt is grinning down at his hand, Danny in green is looking pensively at his own, and Frank, seen in profile in his customary black shirt, is gritting his teeth. We can see the back of Foggy's lavender shirt as he's leaving the table; there's an empty chair left around the table.

[sineala]

I am sorry if you have already gotten an ask like this, but I must admit that I am curious. Which avengers runs would you recommend as must reads? Of course, with special reference to stevetony.

So the thing is that there are A LOT of Avengers runs. We are currently on volume 9 of Avengers, and that numbering doesn't even include things like New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, All-New All-Different Avengers, all of which were the main team at some point. (There are of course also a bunch of other teams; Steve is currently on the Uncanny Avengers again.)

If you're looking for Steve and Tony specifically, off the top of my head, these are the main-team volumes that have had both Steve and Tony on them: Avengers vol 1, 2 (technically), 3, New Avengers vol 1, Avengers vol 4, Avengers vol 5, Avengers vol 8. They aren't always on the team at the same time, but that's everything that might conceivably contain them both.

So. I have a lot of recs.

For about the first half of volume 1, basically everything that shows up on lists of classic Avengers stories are a good bet. You definitely at least want the first 16 issues because that's when Steve and Tony first become teammates. But, yeah, things like the Korvac Saga and the Kree/Skrull War are probably things you will want to read anyway. (The Korvac Saga is the time Steve punches Tony in the face that, weirdly, fandom doesn't talk about much.)

I know volume 1 has nearly 400 issues but you can actually knock out everything after about #230 because that's approximately when Tony leaves the team because he's drinking again (there are some issues afterwards of the Avengers, mostly Steve, expressing concern) and eventually goes to the West Coast Avengers, and he and Steve aren't main-team together until vol 3. Tony does come back for the big events, though. But, yeah, you can basically stop slightly after Steve learns Tony is Iron Man (216) if you want them as regular teammates. In terms of what you might need to know from the second half of volume 1, the big thing that shows up in Steve/Tony fic is Operation Galactic Storm, because Steve and Tony have a big ol' fight by the end of it, and eventually end up resolving everything else they've fought about in arcs like Armor Wars (you did not ask for Iron Man recs, but, you know, maybe read that). Other than that, there's not much you need to know for Steve/Tony purposes because they mostly aren't together. But if you want to read things that are good anyway, I would highly recommend Under Siege, in which the Masters of Evil invade the Mansion (and destroy the only photograph Steve has of his mother). (There is a recent follow-up issue to Under Siege -- Avengers: Loki Unleashed -- by the original writer, Roger Stern, in which Tony does show up in New York to help the team rebuild.) It's not part of Avengers, but you might also want to consider reading some of the big events. I mostly mean Infinity Gauntlet when I say this. The other events in Avengers v1 that get fic mentions are The Crossing and Onslaught, but I swear you don't have to read them.

Volume 3 is my personal favorite and I think it really hits the sweet spot of being a classic Avengers run where everyone lives in the mansion and are friends together, but with more modern art and storytelling conventions. Steve and Tony aren't on the team together for the entirety of the Busiek/Pérez run which is the first half of the volume (and in fact Steve leaves for a reason that is Not Great), and it's not the absolute shippiest volume in the world but I think it's an incredibly solid run. Like, if you want A Really Good Avengers Run, read this run. Steve and Tony are back on the team for most of the second half of the run, which includes Red Zone. You absolutely want to read Red Zone.

After this, Marvel mostly starts new volumes when the creative team changes, which makes them slightly easier to keep track of, except then there's about five years where there isn't a comic called "Avengers," which is more confusing again, so there's really no winning here. Anyway, after vol. 3, we get Avengers Disassembled (which you probably should read just because you should know what happens) and the mansion explodes and everyone moves into the tower and we get New Avengers.

The first half of New Avengers vol. 1 -- which is the beginning of Bendis' Avengers run -- is what a lot of Steve/Tony fans (including me) imprinted really hard on. There are about twenty issues of them putting a team together and being co-leaders and it's really sweet and they work amazingly well together and you will probably really like it... and then Civil War happens and everything is bad and wrong and then Steve dies and stays dead for a few years and that is, uh. Less happy. You will probably want to read all the stuff after that anyway. I have a reading order for that around here somewhere.

Eventually Steve comes back to life and Avengers Prime happens (and you should read Avengers Prime) and we get Avengers vol. 4, which is the end of Bendis' Avengers run. I actually really enjoy vol 4. It is my Underrated Fave. Steve only rejoins the team, technically, for the second half of the run (for the first half he's running the Secret Avengers, which he hates), but he's around for a lot of the first half anyway because he just can't stay away from Tony. It's an interesting Steve/Tony dynamic because Steve remembers Civil War and he's pretty depressed and pretty angry and it's kind of like "what if you couldn't stand to be in the same room with the person you loved most?" because they clearly want to be around each other but they don't really seem to remember how to be friends with each other anymore but they still have a lot of feelings about each other and the best they can manage is A LOT OF SCREAMING and they're like "is this how friendship works???" and the rest of the team is like "no???? stop screaming." Because of course they want to scream at each other about their feelings in public in front of all their friends like two people who have a normal amount of feelings about each other.

This is Avengers v4 #9. This is their teammates watching them having a screaming fight. I wasn't kidding.

And then halfway through they figure out how to be friends again and because it's their particular kind of friendship it involves, like, Steve just gently touching Tony's neck while they are having a conversation.

That is Avengers v4 #18. You'd think Steve would rather put his hand on Tony's shoulder. Like a regular friend. You would really think he would do that. That doesn't appear to be the thing Steve is doing here.

Issue 19 gives us this panel which is basically their entire relationship:

The last arc of v4, where they get Jan back, is one of my favorite Avengers arcs. It's just... the classic Avengers being Avengers, and it's a lot of fun.

So, yeah, Avengers v4 is my Underrated Fave. But also it probably helps to have read the entire rest of Bendis' Avengers run first (or at least New, Mighty, and the major events -- Civil War, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, Siege), which is a lot to ask.

And then you get Avengers vol 5, which is Hickman's Avengers run. Reading this run is kind of an all-or-nothing thing, because it tells one story that goes through Avengers v5, New Avengers v3 (if you're wondering what happened to v2, it's just that it's a team neither Steve nor Tony were on), Infinity, and probably also Secret Wars, in a very precise order. This is about a hundred issues. (If you are deeply into Hickman's work, before this you would want to read Secret Warriors and his Fantastic Four run. Which is about the same number of issues again.) It's a big commitment.

Hickman's run was the run that was going on when I joined this fandom -- I actually got into 616 Steve/Tony the week that Avengers v5 #29 came out, which was a hell of a week to pick -- and I think honestly I liked it better when it was coming out. Hickman is a very plot-driven writer, which means that a lot of big epic stuff happens, but it also means that characters often get slotted into positions in the narrative because someone needs to do a thing and I feel like there's often not a lot of consideration about whether this particular character would do that thing. When this was the first run I was reading, I didn't have a feel for the characters and I trusted that Hickman knew them better than I did, but at this point I have read enough Avengers that I have developed Opinions (as every comics fan does at some point; comics is kind of unique as a fandom in a "build your own canon" way) and my opinions are not really the same as Hickman's. Also at the time, it hadn't ended yet, and I thought the ending was a disappointment.

However, if what you want is a big, epic, universe-changing Avengers story in which Steve and Tony are main characters and how they feel about each other is absolutely integral to the plot... well. That's what Hickman's Avengers run will get you. As a Steve/Tony shipper, it's hard to imagine there ever being another Avengers run where Steve and Tony's feelings for each other are what so much of the run hinges on. So this is that.

After that, the universe ends (don't worry, it's fine), and then there's a period of time where Steve and Tony are on different teams. Then Steve is secretly evil for a while, and then Tony is dead for a while (while Steve is secretly evil), and then we get Avengers vol 8, which is Jason Aaron's run, which recently ended. Steve and Tony were both there and neither of them were evil or dead, which was nice, and somehow this run lasted five entire years and I just thought it was... mostly okay...? Steve and Tony didn't have a lot of interaction with each other. Some of the events during this time period were pretty good, though. AXE Judgment Day was the standout for me, though I think a lot of us who like villain AUs have mined and are continuing to mine Secret Empire for some angst material. That was before Aaron's run started, though.

Currently we are on Jed MacKay's volume 9, and Steve is not on the main team, though Tony is.

So, yeah, I'd have to say that my picks are some of the classic v1 arcs, v3, at least the beginning of NA v1, v4 provided you have read everything after NA v1, and v5/NA v3 if you're into that. Hope that helps!

[lutavero]

hey vera 💜 love your sets! what would you say is your favourite of your own sets? do you have any that you're particularly proud of?

Hi Lola!! 💜💜 Oh, the can of worms you just opened with this one sksksk I can never answer it with one single answer 😅

But truly, can I start this list with other than theeeee feral cat! TK set?? I worked so hard and so long on it!! I used cute little cat shapes and arrows, I blended and used ripped paper effects, I made consistent coloring?? It started out as a joke but damn, I am so proud of it till this day!! 🥺💖💖

Also, another favorite is this TK + endure set, the first time I figured out how to make that b&w with color halo coloring and how to make the text outline 'move' from the text. I also spent so long on that middle gif and am still so proud of it!!

Then there is the Lone Star + animal cast set, the first time I managed to make the colored text see-through and it's equally adorable and hilarious. ♥♥♥

And last but not least, I to this day adore the sets I made for the LS character appreciation week, like I truly went off there!!! Feral cat! TK was already mentioned, but this Gwyn set with this color combo and the shapes and coloring I used on these gifs are just so gorgeous. The Tarlos set for this event, where I went out of my comfort zone and used red and orange as the color combo, and where I also managed some insane blending (I almost never blend and I work with the blueish shades!). And then the set that took me forever, the ice storm rescue but as a comic!!

[knamjooned]

The Red Thread (07)

pairing: idol!namjoon (third pov) x fem!reader (first pov) genres: fluff, smut, angst tropes: soulmate au (red string), magical friends, two idiots in love

summary:

After a tragic event, you find a letter that gets you out of your comfort zone. Meeting Namjoon seems to be simple, but then you see the thread. The string brings about life changing decisions. Are you both ready for it?

chapter warnings: same sex relationship mentioned (not members), anxiety & depression symptoms word count: 1200 author’s note: two idiots lol; another fave chapter i’ve written

< previous | masterlist | next >

~*~ If you enjoy this chapter, please reblog it! ~*~

NAMJOON’S POV

Two of his younger best friends grinned at him from the laptop screen, one in an office chair and the other standing behind it, leaning forward. Taehyung and Jimin were a few months out from their enlistment, just finishing up a promotion for a duet that had been released a few weeks ago. It was nice to see their faces, a hint of mischievousness that never went away in both their eyes. Namjoon leaned back in his own office chair and stretched his legs under the desk, letting a long breath out.

"You don't look as depressed as you were last weekend," Taehyung bluntly pointed out, grinning. Namjoon narrowed his eyes and tried to look annoyed at the comment, but in the end no one took him seriously. He gave up and shook his head, rolling his eyes. Jimin moved to the side enough to let Taehyung get closer to the screen, almost sitting in the chair.

"Smartass," Namjoon replied. "I'm calling to send congratulations, but since I'm being insulted, I'm gonna just leave…"

"Come on, we just miss you! You barely talked to us before heading off to whatever country you're in.” Taehyung took a moment to locate another chair in the corner of the room and pull it over. He made himself comfortable and scooted close to Jimin. “You should be celebrating the awards with us -”

"Thank you," Jimin interrupted before Taehyung could bring up what everyone knew he would. It was no secret between the seven of them at the very least that Namjoon was thinking about stepping back from music. “The lyrics you helped me with made the songs even better. The fans responded even better than I thought they would.”

"Because it's what you wanted to say, I just added a few things here and there.”

"You made it sexy, which is why everyone loves it." Taehyung snickered and elbowed Jimin, who grinned.

"That was not intentional.” Namjoon ducked his head a bit, feeling his ears burn with the compliment. His self-image wasn't the same as the way his fans saw him, although he tried his best to portray himself as naturally as he could realistically. He lifted his left hand to play with the dark hair barely sticking out of his beanie. "That was your interpretation of the song and -"

"What the fuck is that?" Namjoon frowned at the sudden shout and curse from Taehyung, fighting the urge to look behind him at the closed studio door. Jimin's eyes widened at the outburst, as confused as Namjoon was. He scanned the room with his own eyes, but gave a little shrug. Taehyung got as close as possible to the screen, his face comically large as his eyes blinked. "When did that happen? Who have you talked to lately?"

"What?" Namjoon’s thoughts immediately went to her and their surprise lunch date yesterday, which had been pretty great. He made himself swallow a stupid grin, not wanting to cause either of his friends to start making fun of him. Plus, he knew the topic of his past relationship would come up if they knew he was currently interested in someone. It was two years ago, and he had moved on, but still…

"You have a red thread tied on your hand,” Taehyung stated with conviction, a smile on his lips. “That wasn’t there the last time we had a video call! Who have you been talking to?”

"Your grandma told stories about it years ago, didn't she?" Jimin looked at Taehyung thoughtfully, then glanced in Namjoon's direction, studying what he could see through the camera.

"Sometimes we can see the red thread of soulmates of people we're close with. I saw my sister’s thread after her first date with her husband, which was the first time. I saw Jin's the day he met -"

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Namjoon vaguely remembered stories from his friend's family, but he wasn't one to believe in metaphysical things such as magic. The story of a red thread of fate was common, but it was just a story to perpetuate the idea of a perfect partner. He held up his hands in front of his face, palms out and fingers spread. His eyes widened as he saw what they must be talking about.

Tied to his left hand was a thin red thread, floating in the air, the end fading into nothing. After a long moment of silence between the three of them, Namjoon used his other hand to try and pull it off. After two tries, he realized how stupid he looked trying to get the magical string off his fingers.

"It only appears when you interact with your soulmate, from what my grandma told me. Your mind has to be open to the possibilities to actually see yours and the ones it may be connected to," Tae added with eyebrows raised. "Whoever this person is seems to have opened your mind to possibilities. Our realist leader has found a bit of magic in his life!" He laughed with amusement at the predicament he saw his friend in.

"Can sh-can they see it?" Namjoon asked, feeling dizzy with this new development. Has he spoken to many people in the last few weeks? Did it matter how long, or the topic, or would even a look do it? He wondered if he should just look up the myth online, gather information on it to see what had happened and how he could fix it. Was fixing it even something that could happen? Before he could be buried under his thoughts, Jimin caught what Namjoon had almost said.

"She! He said she. Their pronouns are feminine," Jimin teased. Namjoon looked to the ceiling, letting out a huff, stretching his arms and legs out. Jimin’s voice quieted as he continued. "It's been a while since you broke up with… you know."

"You can say his name. It's been over two years," Namjoon snapped back, instantly regretting his tone of voice. He quickly sat up and looked back at the screen to apologize, but Taehyung started talking.

"We get it, it was a mutual break up because of life.” The two of them shared a look before Taehyung kept talking. “We also know it was hard to see him happy and dating in public after-"

"Taehyung!" Jimin interrupted with a glare, knowing this was a very sensitive topic even after the time had passed.

"After we decided we couldn't do it," Namjoon frowned, the old ache in his heart beginning to flare again. He rubbed his chest as if trying to put it back out. "This has nothing to do with Noah. I'm over it. I just… I don't know. I didn't come here looking for this…"

A fog came into his mind, making it hard to think in positive terms. He closed his eyes tight, leaning forward with his elbows on the desk. He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, hoping the pressure might trigger some way for him to figure out how to move forward with this development.

[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.

[cult-of-chaos-comic]

[Header ID: The Cookie Run logo with dark shading coming from the bottom of the text, a black outline, and a white overline, with the words "Cult of Chaos" written in very sharp and angular hand writing in the same color as the Cookie Run logo, with the same outline and overline, behind the Cookie Run logo is a collection of blood splatters with a cyan shadow. The background is dark red with semi-transparent red and cyan circles that come from the center and fade out towards the edges. /END ID]

[Profile Icon ID: A neck-up drawing of Red Velvet Cookie from Cookie Run: Kingdom, looking into the camera with a somewhat determined expression. Most of the drawing cuts off at the top of Red Velvet's chest, but his hair is drawn flowing all the way down to the bottom of the image. The background is dark red, with a circle of a light shade of red-tinted pink in the center.]

Hey! Welcome to the official Tumblr blog for Cookie Run: Cult of Chaos!

"What is Cookie Run: Cult of Chaos?" You ask?

Good question! Let me explain myself.

Cookie Run: Cult of Chaos is (or will be, at the time I'm writing this) a Cookie Run fan comic set in an alternate universe that is a blend of both of the timelines presented in Cookie Run: Kingdom and Cookie Run: Ovenbreak. (And is also in the same multiverse as my other big AU series @the-era-of-shadow)

Its story starts shortly after the events of the CRK × Sonic the Hedgehog event, with the Cookies of Darkness having caught wind of Gingerbrave and friends' latest adventures in Green Hill Zone. Now, with this information in their grasps, they plan to capture the strange creatures Gingerbrave and friends were seen with during their adventures, but things go haywire soon after Red Velvet Cookie is sent out with his cakehound army to complete this mission, and a change of plans is made... But some wonder if Red Velvet Cookie had been hoping for such a disturbance this whole time...

Anyway! I'll be posting the comic page by page, I can not promise a release schedule, as I have other projects and school, but I will do my best to regularly update this series! And of course, I'll make it clear when a chapter is finished, and do expect more of a hiatus between chapters.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

This is where the links to the start of each chapter go!

[VIDEO CUTSCENE] Series Launch - Heist of Wizardly Knowledge

Prolouge - Equal Opportunity (In progress)

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

please also enjoy this early release of the one original track I made for the series launch cutscene

And follow my other accounts!

@black-arms-hivemind (main)

@the-era-of-shadow (other AU blog)

@home-sweet-hive (art blog)

[sang8262]

i have a stupid number of ideas i wanna draw but i only have so much time yfeel me

so here's a running list of them because i need to be organized + it's fun to tease future pieces

it's mostly JP and SF6 ideas, obviously. it's a long ramble, you've been warned

1. Eventually, art of the whole roster, but this is a big Eventually. I usually end up drawing my friends and my own favs all the time, but I gotta expand, get out of my comfort zone, practice new things.

2. JP has several outfits already, so I'd like stickers or charms for each of them: Default, Alt costume, Arcade mode Nayshalli robes, the suit from the comics, and the suit while he's talking about being Bison's accountant.

2.5. And I understand SF does a lot of fun dlc costumes too, so I'm quite excited to draw whatever new thing they give us!!

3. JP golfing, his Drive Reversal looks like he swinging a golf club. The sport and those old timey golf "uniforms" both fit his vibe perfectly.

4. Crossovers with other Capcom games I like, namely: Monster Hunter, Ace Attorney, and Ghost Trick. You can just see him snapping and yelling "OBJECTION! Now observe (this new evidence I had forged)."

5. His likes include chess puzzles, cleaning, and local cuisines, and his dislikes are stains on his clothes and... sleep? That's the biggest red flag tbh who doesnt like sleep. Anyway, I wanted to draw something for each of them.

Maybe reading, or taking an uncomfortable nap in a chair with a chess board on a table. Doing the laundry while Cybele sleeps on a pile of clean (now cat hair covered) clothes. Surveying Nayshall while enjoying the street food (there's in game food items that will be perfect to reference).

6. Making actual playing cards! With his default and alt costumes mirrored like on the face cards. I want to hand them out to fellow JP mains I meet at tourneys... if I can one day make it out to one of the bigger events again, ugh.

Finally, there's some animated emotes I'm making for JP's chara discord, and I want to do cheer art for any notable JP's at tournaments too. .... and more ideas to come I'm sure haha...

7. Chibis of my mains/ favs from various fighting games, who all coincidentally have a dedicated special that parries or negates damage. Idk it just kinda turned out that way lol. They are: Raven (GGXrd), Relius and Azrael (BB), Yamazaki (KoF), and now, JP (SF6). Would be cute to have them all doing their respective parry special, with the inputs underneath. Doubles as a quick way to pass superficial but probably accurate judgement on the kind of person I am to like these bunch of weirdo villains.

8. Whoops just remembered, Zangief's day off outfit from his World Tour bond illustration. He's reading at the library too which is a great setting.

[usagirotten]

The Beginner's Guide to the 'Sandman' Comics by Neil Gaiman

Explore the enchanting world of Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman' comics with our comprehensive beginner's guide. Uncover the mysteries of the Dreaming and embark on a journey through fantasy, myth, and storytelling in this iconic comic series. Debuting at the end of 1989 published by DC Comics and later becoming the flagship of the Vertigo sub-label in 1993, "The Sandman" introduces us to the Eternals / The Endless, anthropomorphic beings that embody natural forces or aspects of the universe and have existed since the dawn of creation, which puts them in a higher hierarchy or other types of gods and entities existing in the universe. In fact, Gaiman’s original pitch for the title was radically different and involved the regular old DC Universe Sandman... But he was unavailable, so DC asked Gaiman to come up with someone new. Tasked with creating a whole new character, Gaiman invented Morpheus, the Lord of The Dreaming - a dimension where all dreams come from. When Sandman kicked off, Morpheus was captured - accidentally - by humans, and held captive for decades. When he finally escaped, he wreaked terrible, Twilight Zone vengeance on them, before regaining his powers, and returning home to the Dreaming. There, he found things in massive disrepair, and set about making dreams right again... And returning some particular horrible nightmares (and unwilling to return dreams) home again. Over time, Morpheus grew into being more than just a vengeful spirit, and in a certain sense, a hero; though with forces conspiring against him, he was eventually killed. The last few issues of the series were the funeral of Morpheus, and that book was closed forever.

  Dream, as he’s most commonly called, is a part of The Endless, a family of seven siblings who physically embody and carry out the will of abstract concepts, such as destiny, destruction, and desire. Each one of The Endless has its own tasks and rules its own realm, and in many ways, they take on the form of a sort of mythology within the DCU. The cosmic beings are said to have existed since the beginning of time and are among the most powerful creations in the DC universe. However, while the whole family plays a vital role in the events that take place over the course of the comics seven-year run, ultimately the story revolved around Dream. Along with Gaiman, the artists who inaugurated the series were Sam Kieth ("The Maxx") with Michael Drigenberg, as draftsman and inker respectively. Later a rotating team was had, highlighting Kelly Jones ("Batman & Dracula: Red Rain"), Chris Bachalo ("The Amazing Spider-man") Collen Doran ("A Distant Soil"), P. Craig Russel ("Legends of The Dark Knight ”), Dick Giordanno (“ Crisis On Infinite Earths ”), Shawn McManus (“ Fables ”), Jill Thompson (“ Wonder Woman ”), Mark Buckingham (“ Miracleman ”), Vince Locke (“ Judge Dredd ”), Marc Hemple ("Heavy Metal"), Charles Vess ("Promethea") and Michael Zulli ("TMNT: Souls Winter") who walked throughout the series, giving versatility to the art of the same by authentically exploiting the potential that the ninth is able to reach.

What are the key story arcs and volumes in the ‘Sandman’ series?

The Sandman series is divided into ten main volumes, each comprising multiple story arcs that weave together to form a larger narrative tapestry. Some of the key story arcs include: - Preludes & Nocturnes: Introduces the character of Dream and his quest to reclaim his lost artifacts. - The Doll's House: Explores Dream's interactions with various dreamers and introduces important supporting characters. - Season of Mists: Focuses on Dream's journey to Hell and his confrontation with Lucifer. - A Game of You: Follows the adventures of Barbie and her friends in the waking world and the Dreaming. - Brief Lives: Chronicles Dream's quest to find his missing sibling, Destruction. - Worlds' End: Features a series of interconnected short stories set in a mysterious inn. - The Kindly Ones: Culminates in a confrontation between Dream and the Furies, ancient beings seeking vengeance. - The Wake: Concludes the main storyline of the series and explores the aftermath of Dream's actions. Each volume offers a unique blend of fantasy, mythology, and human drama, contributing to the overall richness and depth of the Sandman universe.

How does ‘Sandman’ connect to other works by Neil Gaiman?

While 'Sandman' stands on its own as a singular masterpiece, it is also interconnected with Neil Gaiman's broader body of work. Many characters, themes, and concepts introduced in 'Sandman' reappear in Gaiman's novels, short stories, and other comic book projects. Additionally, 'Sandman' has inspired numerous spin-offs, adaptations, and continuations, including graphic novels like 'The Sandman: Overture' and audio dramas like 'The Sandman: Act I'. Whether you're exploring Gaiman's prose fiction or his contributions to the comic book medium, 'Sandman' serves as a gateway to a larger world of storytelling. At its core, 'Sandman' is more than just a comic book series – it's a celebration of the power of storytelling. Through its rich tapestry of mythology, literature, and pop culture references, 'Sandman' invites us to explore the depths of our imagination and embrace the magic of storytelling. It's a reminder that dreams are more than just fleeting fantasies; they're windows into our souls, reflections of our deepest desires and fears. So, whether you're a seasoned comic book aficionado or a curious newcomer, there's never been a better time to join the Dreaming and let your imagination soar.

  Here are 10 intriguing curiosities about Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman' comics:

- Origin of Dream's Design: Dream's appearance was inspired by a combination of Gaiman's friend, musician Peter Murphy of the band Bauhaus, and the DC Comics character Destiny from "The Endless." - Influence of Mythology: Gaiman drew heavily from various mythologies and folklore to create the rich tapestry of the 'Sandman' universe, incorporating elements from Norse, Greek, and Judeo-Christian traditions, among others. - Pivotal Role of Dream's Helm: Dream's iconic helm, also known as the Dream Helm or the Helm of Dreams, serves as a symbol of his authority and power over the realm of dreams. Its significance is explored throughout the series. - Connection to DC Universe: While 'Sandman' exists within its own self-contained universe, it also features connections to the broader DC Comics universe, with appearances by characters like Batman and John Constantine. - Award-Winning Series: 'Sandman' received numerous awards and accolades during its run, including multiple Eisner Awards, Harvey Awards, and a World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction for the story "A Midsummer Night's Dream." - Diverse Artistic Collaborations: Throughout the series, Gaiman collaborated with a diverse array of artists, each bringing their unique style to the pages of 'Sandman.' Notable collaborators include Dave McKean, Jill Thompson, and P. Craig Russell. - Influence on Pop Culture: 'Sandman' has left a significant impact on popular culture, inspiring everything from music and film to fashion and literature. Its themes and imagery have been referenced in works ranging from the TV series "Supernatural" to the video game "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask." - Themes of Identity and Existence: Central to 'Sandman' are themes of identity, existence, and the nature of reality. The series explores questions of free will, destiny, and the human condition through the lens of its diverse cast of characters. - Spin-Offs and Adaptations: In addition to the main series, 'Sandman' has inspired numerous spin-off comics, graphic novels, and adaptations in other media. This includes "The Sandman: Overture," a prequel miniseries written by Gaiman himself. - Enduring Legacy: Despite concluding its original run in 1996, 'Sandman' continues to capture the imagination of readers worldwide. Its themes of imagination, storytelling, and the power of dreams ensure its place as a timeless classic in the world of comics and literature.   Sandman was a seminal work that catalyzed a creative renaissance in comics. Its breakout success established Vertigo Comics as a platform for intelligent, adult-oriented graphic fiction. In Sandman’s wake, Vertigo published acclaimed series like Hellblazer, Preacher, and Fables – cementing the imprint’s reputation for crafting literate fantasy and horror. Beyond Vertigo, Sandman revealed the latent potential of comics to render sophisticated, moving stories. Gaiman wielded the medium with a poet’s grace, spinning tales as richly metaphorical as any prose. This alchemy of word and image helped legitimize graphic novels as a genuine art form, paving the way for today’s most celebrated works. Read the full article