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ofstormsandwolves · 5 years ago

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Jenny/ Giles

Jenny Calendar, Rupert Giles, Buffy Summers, Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg, Cordelia Chase

Episode tag/ missing scene for ‘Ted’. References to child abuse, domestic violence.

After the mishap with the crossbow, Jenny and Giles stumble across Willow, Xander, and Cordelia. It turns out Jenny shooting Giles was the least worrying thing to happen that night.

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“J-Jenny?”

Rupert Giles’s voice was still a little shaky and, really, Jenny couldn’t blame him. She’d shot him with a crossbow. Of course his voice was a little shaky. She’d managed to snap off most of the bolt, leaving only the tip embedded in Rupert’s skin, and then she’d bundled him into her car- because his car was useless and besides, no way was she risking wrecking Rupert’s car as well as Rupert all in the span of one night- and had driven him to the hospital.

Rupert had, of course, insisted he didn’t need the hospital, and that it would make much more sense to go to his place and use his first-aid kit. But Jenny vetoed the plan immediately. For a start, she wasn’t sure Rupert had thought the plan through, and considering the pain he’d been in, there was a good chance he had been delirious when he’d suggested it. His plan not only relied on him having a fully-stocked first-aid kit complete with antiseptic, gauze, a needle and thread, and god knew what else they might have needed, but also on Jenny being at all competent at stitching him closed again. So instead, she’d taken him to the hospital and rode out the embarrassment as Rupert lied to the nurses about what had happened.

Thankfully, they lived in Sunnydale, and so the story of being out for a walk before being attacked by an assailant wielding a crossbow bolt wasn’t as ludicrous as it should have been. He’d been patched up, prescribed some pain relief, and sent on his way.

“Jenny?” Rupert tried again, startling Jenny from her thoughts. “I quite think you need to pull over.”

He sounded faint, and Jenny’s eyes went wide. Was he going to be sick? Had his wound been infected? Was he having a reaction to the pain relief he’d been given? She pulled over quickly.

“What’s wrong?” she demanded, as she hastily pulled on the handbrake and turned to look at him.

Rupert blinked, eyes bright from pain. “I- I, well, I’m quite certain I saw the children in the alleyway next to the grocery store.”

Jenny stared for a moment, brain frantically trying to unscramble the words. The children. Oh. It dawned on her. “What were Buffy and the children doing in the alley? I thought you were patrolling tonight?”

“I was,” Rupert said with a frown. “And Buffy wasn’t there. It was just Willow, Xander, and Cordelia.”

The two adults shared a look.

“We need to check it out, don’t we?” Jenny said after a moment.

“Completely,” Rupert agreed.

They got out the car, Rupert with a little difficulty, and made their way back down the dark street. Cordelia’s car was parked outside the grocery store, and Jenny realised she’d been so wrapped up in feeling guilty about shooting Rupert that she hadn’t even noticed it as she’d driven past. As they neared the alleyway, however, her thoughts turned quickly to the three children. Half-whispered, frantic voices drifted out from the alley, and the two adults shared another look.

“-want to go home,” Cordelia complained. “We’ve been at this for nearly half hour. We’ve been to three dumpsters! Isn’t that enough for you people?”

“Cordelia,” Willow responded in frustration, “we, we have to make sure Ted’s really gone. We don’t want anyone finding him and, and trying to put him back together.”

“I don’t think there’s a chance of that, Will,” Xander said with some humour in his voice. “I mean, Buffy had already done a good job of breaking him into pieces before we got there, and now you’ve broken him into even tinier pieces... All I’m saying is, it doesn’t even look like a body anymore.”

“Right,” Cordelia agreed, “and while I’ll never get over the nightmare of this night, can we all just agree we’ve done everything we can and we get to go home?”

Jenny and Rupert had gone wide-eyed at what they were hearing.

“Good lord!” Rupert exclaimed, and the voices in the alleyway suddenly went very quiet as he hurried forward.

Jenny followed quickly, and suddenly the pair of them were face to face with a wide-eyed trio of Cordelia, Willow, and Xander, all standing near a dumpster. Several pieces of what looked like computer circuitry were clutched in Willow’s hands as she blinked at the adults.

“What exactly is going on?” Jenny asked, already feeling she was going to regret asking.

“Buffy called!” Willow said quickly, face pale. “Ted- Ted came back! And, and he attacked her, and Mrs Summers, and then Buffy hit him with a frying pan, and, and-”

Xander quickly took over. “Ted isn’t human! Willow did, like, a tonne of research, and he has marriage licences dating back to the sixties. And we went to his house-”

“Which was really creepy, by the way,” Cordelia chimed in.

“Which was really creepy,” Xander agreed as he pressed on with the story, “and there were dead women in the closet, so we called the police-”

“And that was when Buffy called us,” Willow broke in. “She didn’t know what to do with the body, because it wasn’t really a body, but it looked like one, and she didn’t want her mom thinking she’d killed Ted again, because then she’d call the police-”

Jenny held a hand up to cut the children off. “Ok,” she said as the quietened. “One thing at a time. I feel like I’m out of the loop, here. Who’s Ted? Wasn’t that the man the police thought Buffy had killed?”

Beside her, Rupert was pale, and Jenny hoped he hadn’t pulled any stitches.

“Ted was Mrs Summers’ boyfriend,” Rupert admitted quietly, and there was a strange look in his eyes that Jenny couldn’t pinpoint. “The impression I’d got from Buffy was that she wasn’t exactly taken by him, but she wouldn’t go into detail. The next I heard, the police were at the school asking about Buffy’s behaviour.”

“Buffy said she didn’t trust Ted,” Xander told the adults mournfully. “We didn’t listen.”

Sensing that she could quickly lose the children and Rupert to their melancholy, Jenny spoke up. “You three were researching this Ted?”

“Yeah,” Xander nodded. “I mean, Buff wouldn’t just attack someone for no reason, so we did a little more digging. And Ted was squeaky clean except for the weird marriage licences. The dates didn’t add up. Four marriages since the sixties was weird anyway for a guy who was only about forty, but the weirder thing was that no divorces had been filed.”

“So we figured he was murdering his wives,” Cordelia explained. “Like, a real, psycho serial killer. And that he was probably going to do the same to Mrs Summers if Buffy hadn’t stopped him. He’d even been drugging her. And Xander. Because Xander had been eating his cookies.”

“So you broke into his house,” Jenny concluded, crossing her arms and surveying the children with her best stare. All three of them shifting uncomfortably. “How did you know it was safe? Anything could have happened to you.”

Willow and Xander didn’t seem to have an answer to that, but Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, Ms. Calendar,” she said, sounding annoyed. “He was dead.”

“Not dead enough to stop him from attacking Buffy,” Jenny reminded them pointedly.

Out the corner of her eye, she saw Rupert shift.

“What, ah, what exactly happened with Buffy?” he asked with a small frown. “You mentioned something about Ted not being human?”

Willow nodded quickly. “We didn’t even know until we got to Buffy’s,” she told the adults. “I mean, like Xander said, we knew there was something weird going on because of the marriage licences, but Buffy just called Cordy telling us to come over and that it was an emergency... When we got there, he was on the kitchen floor. There was motor oil leaking everywhere, and Buffy was trying to hack him up in case Mrs Summers woke up. I took over then, because we all know Buffy doesn’t know a thing about robotics, and-”

“I’m sorry,” Jenny interrupted, “are you telling me this man was a robot?”

Willow frowned. “Y-Yeah?” the redhead said. “That’s why Buffy called us in. We’ve been scattering all the machinery across town so nobody can reassemble him.”

“It’s taken ages,” Cordelia added in annoyance.

Jenny blinked, before stumbling forward. “Ok, you need to give me whatever you’ve got left.” She held her hand out for the pieces Willow was still holding.

Reluctantly, Willow handed over the final few pieces of Ted. Jenny frowned at them before slipping them into her pocket.

“We should really, ah, really go check on Buffy,” Rupert said, looking to Jenny as he spoke. “I know you’d probably rather go home, but I should check in on her.

Jenny nodded. “Sure.” She turned back to the kids. “You three are going to go straight home, am I clear? And next time...” She trailed off, sighed. “Next time, just call me or Rupert, ok?”

The three kids shuffled out of the alley, and the two adults watched as they climbed into Cordelia’s car and drove off.

“Shall we go check on Buffy, then?” Jenny asked once Cordelia’s car disappeared round the corner.

Rupert nodded, a small frown of concern creasing his brow. “Yes. Please.”

Jenny led him back to the car, and they headed off for Buffy’s house in silence.

When they reached 1630 Revello Drive, there was a single, soft light on in the sitting room. Jenny followed Rupert up the path a little warily; she’d never had any need to go by Buffy’s house before. She didn’t even teach her.

But Rupert moved with the air of a man who was familiar with the house, and Jenny followed him up onto the porch. He knocked softly on the door, just loud enough that anyone downstairs would hear, but not loud enough to wake anyone upstairs. There was a long pause, before finally the door was cracked open.

Jenny felt like she’d been punched in the chest. She’d said before, when she’d found out Buffy was the Slayer, that she’d been surprised that somebody so tiny could be the Chosen One. And now, with Buffy’s wide eyes staring at her from the doorway, Jenny felt vaguely sick. If she’d thought watching this girl put on a brave face to walk to her death had been bad, seeing the tiredness and fear in her eyes now was even worse.

“Giles?” the girl asked, as though she wasn’t entirely sure she could trust what she was seeing.

“Buffy,” Rupert responded, and his voice was so soft it nearly made Jenny cry. “Can we come in?”

Buffy eyed the two adults carefully before stepping back and opening the door wider, allowing them entry.

Rupert stepped inside, and Jenny quickly followed.

“We saw Willow and Xander and Cordelia,” Rupert said quietly as Buffy led them through to the sitting room. “They told us about Ted.”

Buffy’s arms were wrapped around herself in a protective manner, and she gave the two adults a small, tight smile. “So you’re checking up on me, huh? I’m fine.”

“Willow said he attacked you,” Jenny spoke up, looking the girl over. There were shadowy marks on her throat and her cheekbone, and she frowned.

Buffy responded with a shrug. “And now he’s scattered in a dozen dumpsters across town. I guess I won this round, huh?”

Rupert was frowning at Buffy, however, and Jenny was a little relieved when she saw that he had apparently noticed the marks on Buffy’s skin as well.

“He hurt you,” Rupert noted, stepping forward hesitantly.

Buffy tilted her cheek so that Rupert could get a closer look. Apparently, she knew the drill, and frankly it made Jenny a little ill.

“He pinned me against the wall,” she admitted quietly. “By my throat. I don’t remember much after that, he knocked me out. When I came to, he’d knocked Mom out too. I cornered him in the kitchen.”

A shadow had passed over Rupert’s face, his brow furrowed in anger as he took in Buffy’s injuries. “You should have come to me the moment you were worried about him.”

“And said what?” Buffy asked. “‘Giles, I don’t like my mom’s new boyfriend’? I didn’t even know he was evil until he hit me that night, and the next thing I knew he was at the bottom of the stairs.” She lowered her gaze to the floor, brow furrowing. “I lost my temper, and someone ended up dead.”

Rupert looked uneasy then, and when he moved he winced. Moving forward, Jenny nudged him towards the armchair to sit for a while.

“Buffy, from what you said, he hit you,” Jenny said gently. “You were defending yourself. He intended to hurt you, and he would have continued to do that if you hadn’t stopped him.”

Buffy looked unconvinced though, and looked over to Rupert. “You don’t need to stay. I’m fine. Mom’s fine. I took her upstairs. She doesn’t even remember what happened.”

“That’s hardly the point, Buffy,” Rupert protested, before wincing as he shifted in the chair. “That man- that, that thing- hurt you. As Jenny said, you have nothing to feel guilty about. I only wish that I’d pushed harder when I became concerned you were hiding something.”

Buffy looked away, and Rupert’s eyes narrowed. “Why do I feel like you’re hiding something now as well?”

Jaw set, the blonde seemed to think for a moment before finally making her mind up. “Promise you won’t be angry?” she asked Rupert quietly.

Jenny frowned at the question, but said nothing.

“I won’t, Buffy,” Rupert assured gently.

Buffy swallowed, and moved to sit on the edge of the sofa instead. “He’d... Ted had already threatened to hit me. Before that night.”

Jenny watched as Rupert clenched his jaw, but he said nothing.

“It was when he and Mom took me and Xander and Willow to play mini golf. Ted caught me cheating, and he threatened to slap my mouth,” Buffy admitted quietly. She shrugged then, as though trying to downplay the seriousness of what she was saying. “I told Mom, but she accused me of lying. Thought I was making it up to get back at Ted. After that, I figured if I was going to get rid of Ted, I had to do it alone.”

Rupert seemed to take a moment to calm himself then, and Jenny shifted forward just a little more. She didn’t want to intervene if she didn’t have to, but it was a delicate situation.

“You really should have told me,” Rupert said at last, and Jenny could hear that he was doing his best to remain calm. “Buffy, I need you to understand something; you can come to me about anything, whether it’s about slaying or not.”

Buffy blinked at him then, wide-eyed as she processed the words. Apparently, Jenny realised, it hadn’t occurred to the girl that she could go to her Watcher for matters other than slaying. Rupert shifted himself forward in the chair, leaning forward with a wince so he could grasp Buffy’s hand in his.

“Promise me, Buffy, if anything like this ever happens again, you’ll come to me.”

Buffy nodded wordlessly. Jenny stepped in then, looking pointedly at Rupert before turning to Buffy.

“Maybe you should head up to bed. It’s been a long day,” Jenny said with a tight smile.

Apparently Buffy agreed, as she nodded and pushed herself to her feet. Rupert stood too, and moved to give Buffy a hug before she could leave the room. When Buffy pulled away again, she had a slightly shaky smile on her face, and Rupert smiled at her.

“Go on,” he said, nudging her towards the door. “Jenny and I can see ourselves out.”

By the time Jenny was pulling up outside Rupert’s house, it was nearly three in the morning. She yawned.

“Did you, ah, want to come in?” Rupert asked, glancing over at her before he opened his door.

Jenny blinked at him, a little surprised, and Rupert apparently realised how his question had sounded.

“Not, ah, not for anything, you understand. I just... Well, it’s rather late, and my car is still back at the cemetery so if you didn’t mind giving me a ride to pick it up in the morning, you could-”

Jenny suppressed a smirk at his panic. “Sure, Rupert. I assume you’re offering me use of your sofa for a few hours?”

Rupert stammered again then. “Well, I, I could take the sofa,” he said quickly.

But Jenny cut him off before he could finish that thought. “You’re injured, Rupert. I shot you with a crossbow bolt-” She cut herself off abruptly, wide-eyed as she recalled the incident. “Huh. That feels a lot longer ago than a few hours.” She looked over at him, gave him a small smile. “It’s been a long night.”

“It has indeed,” Rupert agreed with a small smile of his own. “Should we head inside?”

Jenny’s smile widened.

“Lead the way.”

#buffy fanfic #Buffy The Vampire Slayer #child abuse #domestic violence #buffy summers #rupert giles #xander harris #willow rosenberg #cordelia chase #jenny calendar

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ty-talks-comics · 5 years ago

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Best of Marvel: Week of December 11th, 2019

Best of this Week: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #14 - Tom Taylor, Marguerite Sauvage, Ken Lashley, Rachelle Rosenberg and Travis Lanham

There's a reason Spider-Man is Marvel's most popular hero.

He's the everyman. The guy that everyone of any age can relate to to some degree, or at least want to be even a little. Sometimes he's down on his luck, but he always pushes on. He somehow manages to juggle work-life balance with superheroism thrown into that awful mix. He has family and friends that care about him so much as he cares about them and though sometimes he's late or missed things, it's always for a good reason, because he's saving the world. What's a better way to repay all of his devotion than by being there for him for even just one night?

That's the entire premise of this issue and it absolutely builds off of the rest of this run to produce an almost tear inducing finale that made everything worth it. As sad as I am that this down-to-Earth superhero story is ending, it's certainly going out on a high note.

Ever since Aunt May’s cancer diagnosis in, I think, issue #4, her health has always been this lingering concern throughout the book. Even before Peter found out about May, we got an amazing issue where Spider-Man teamed up with his new sidekick, Spider-Bite, and we got that reveal that he had a potentially terminal disease. It was wonderful because Spider-Man showed that he was never too high in the clouds to remember who he was fighting for. Even when the kid wanted to give up, or didn’t have hope, Spider-Man was there for him and it was beautiful. Peter found a way to give that kid strength against all odds.

Peter, however, upon finding out about Aunt May’s diagnosis, didn’t have the same strength. He didn’t want to believe it. He stormed off, not knowing what to do. He had saved the universe, billions of lives and there was effectively nothing he could do for his ailing Aunt. It’s such a real, but childish response to horrible news like that. However, for Peter, it’s normal. Peter’s done everything under the sun to protect Aunt May in the past, even going so far as to sell his love and marriage with Mary Jane to Mephisto in order to save May’s life for another decade in our time. All May really needed was Peter to be there for her and he realized as much.

Aunt May, ever the tough cookie, didn’t respond to the news with defeated grief. Instead she reopened the FEAST center for New York’s homeless to do something good with whatever time she had left and without a doubt helped the community despite the many times it was destroyed or threatened by supervillains. She wasn’t going to let cancer stop her from being the amazing woman that she always has been.

This book begins with a flashback sequence drawn by Marguerite Sauvage. Colored in red and white, Aunt May consoles a crying Peter after he gets yelled at by Uncle Ben for running away. He misses his parents, but May is there to assure him that he’s never alone and that as he goes to sleep, she will be there when he wakes up. It’s a touching scene made great by Sauvage’s warm coloring, soft shadows and sweet body language that shows the affection between them.

When the flashback ends and we cut to the modern day, May goes in for her first round of treatments and Peter makes the same promise to her that she made for him, that he’ll be there when she wakes up. Of course, given the good old Parker luck, a supervillain manages to crash New York’s power grid, causing the hospital to lose power as well. Initially, Peter wants to stay in the hospital and drink their bad coffee, but his guilt convinces him that he’s needed in the city and he shoots off to fight whoever may be thinking of taking advantage of the darkness.

Initially, I thought this issue was going to be another one of Peter’s gauntlets where he’d have to go up against all of his villains and save the day alone and it sure seemed that way. Ken Lashley sets up a conflict with Shocker, making him look cool and dangerous with Rachelle Rosenberg’s colors making his energy waves look devastating. Just as the two are about to fight, Shocker gets THWIPPED away by Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Miles tells Peter that he’s not supposed to be out in the city tonight and asks his mentor to follow him.

Lashley stuns with a sequence of many of Peter’s friends protecting Spider-Man’s neighborhood for the night. Rumor, the newest elderly superhero that’s made her name in this series, Human Torch, Iron Man, Ben Grimm, Ms. Marvel, Mr. Fantastic, Miles and the Defenders (Jessica, Luke and Danny) all show up for him. Spider-Man may not get the respect from the public at large, but he has managed to cultivate amazing friendships among his own fellow heroes and what more could he possibly ask for?

Spider-Man returns to the hospital and tries to sneak back in when he’s stopped by a kid who gives him a bit of information on who might have caused the blackout. He manages to get a hold of Detective Sebbens, the officer he befriended early on in the series and she gives him an address. It leads him to a suburban neighborhood which is hilarious as Ken Lashley draws him running around like a nerd. Spider-Man finds the home and the perpetrator, a simple high school kid.

This is the bit that made me absolutely love this issue.

Peter understands that the kid is just that, a kid, so he calmly asks him to reboot the city’s power. The kid, Darick, does so, to the surprise of Spider-Man. He cites the many many times that Spider-Man has saved the world and even apologizes for making Spider-Man’s life harder. Spider-Man doesn’t come down hard on him. He sees that Darick’s a smart kid, able to hack the Social Services website into showing that he had a family when he’s been alone. Pete says there’ll be consequences, but promises to be there for him and says that he’ll talk to other people he knows about Darick - hopefully putting him on the right path.

The last beautiful shot is a mirror of what Aunt May said to Peter all those years ago as he’s there when she wakes up.

Tom Taylor knows how to write a damn good story. He understands what Spider-Man is all about; the little guy, the man on the street. Universe eating monsters be damned, Spider-Man will take on any threat, but what makes him so special is that he’ll always remain grounded. He didn’t have to go see the sick kid in the hospital and he certainly could have just thrown Darick under the jail, but he didn’t. He sees the good potential in everyone and gives them a chance to improve the world with that hope. That’s what’s made Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man such a refreshing story to read.

Sure, all of it may not have focused on small things, but it did focus on helping everyone. The Undercity, pensioners, how the people that Spider-Man’s saved feel about him. It’s been a wonderful ride, especially with the art teams. Ken Lashley and Marguerite Sauvage absolutely made this issue feel so personal with their stellart art.I only hope that we get to see more stories like this for other heroes. Not everything can always be the most dire of straits, sometimes it’s good to stop and smell the roses.

#friendly neighborhood spiderman #spider man #peter parker #aunt may #marvel comics #marvel #tom taylor #marguerite sauvage #ken lashley #rachelle rosenberg

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sapphicscholar · 5 years ago

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Pride Month Prompts Day 13: Graveyard Shift (Vasquez/Lucy)

From this Pride Month Prompts post! I’m taking the opportunity to write some short fics for a variety of pairings that I haven’t written for as much, maybe at all. They won’t be going on AO3, so I’ll be sure to tag them all with #pride month prompts so you can find them later if you want.

Day 13: Graveyard Shift

Pairing: Vasquez/Lucy

“Happy New Years to us, huh?” Vasquez asked, rolling their chair along the row of monitors that were, as they had been for the past several hours, rather quiet. Apparently even extraterrestrial threats thought New Year’s Eve should be treated as a holiday—hence the almost non-existent staff at the DEO’s desert base. Downtown? Sure, they got a few revelers who got a bit too drunk and caused trouble—enough to warrant keeping a team of agents on hand. But out here where they dealt primarily with long-term threats and research? Not so much.

“Beats going to a party and having the fun choice between standing alone when the ball drops or dealing with some drunk guy acting like he’s my knight in shining armor for offering to make out with me, as if it’s some great sacrifice on his part.”

“No way does anyone call making out with you a sacrifice.”

Lucy shrugged, her cheeks warming slightly at the earnest quality to Vasquez’s voice.

“I’m always stuck being DD.”

“Really?”

Vasquez spun their chair around. “You mention one time that you don’t really drink, and suddenly everyone thinks they can get as wasted as they want every time with a guaranteed chaperone to get them home in one piece.” They dragged their toes along the ground, slowing the movement of their chair. “And like, yeah, I’m not gonna leave anyone behind, but some nights it’d be nice if I could let loose a little. Not get drunk, but, you know, go to a different bar if the music sucks. Stop for a late dinner at a place that isn’t greasy fast food afterwards. Go home with someone. Not have to worry about throw up in your backseat.”

“Ugh, yeah, that doesn’t sound particularly fun.”

“It’s not. Especially not when it’s an every weekend kind of deal.”

“Well…is there anything we could do to make tonight more fun?” Lucy bit back a smile at the way Vasquez’s cheeks flushed as they rubbed at the back of their neck.

Still, they managed to come up with an answer after a few seconds’ delay as their brain ground to a halt, then restarted itself anew. “Um, you watch Brooklyn 99, don’t ya?”

“Okay, I’d do a lot of things for you, including taking a bullet, but I won’t get my ass handed to me for using our good fire extinguishers for a chair race.”

A loud laugh met Lucy’s words. “I was thinking more that we could see who can last longer without standing up. Like Rosa did with Hitchcock and Scully.”

“Oh! Yeah, alright.” After a moment, she tilted her head slightly. “Though is that really any different than anything else we’re already doing?”

“Good point. Hey, why don’t you go to the vending machines and get some things of M&Ms. I have an idea that I’ll get all set up while you’re gone.”

“They’re two floors down,” Lucy whined.

“That’s what you get for acting like the game doesn’t require skill. But if you want to be a quitter…”

Throwing a hand over her chest in mock offense, Lucy gasped. “Take it back.”

“Make me,” Vasquez taunted, arching an eyebrow and, for a change, not backing away from the heady undercurrent of flirtatiousness and desire that seemed to run between them whenever they were alone.

“I bet you I can be back in under ten minutes.”

“You’re on. I win, I don’t have to pay you back for the M&Ms.”

“I win, I get to use all the hair styling products I have in my bag to give you a new ’do.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Vasquez nodded. “Deal.” They looked down at their watch, counting out the last few seconds before the second hand hit the 12, then yelling, “Go!”

As Lucy’s chair skittered around the first corner, Vasquez pushed their own away from the desk, rolling over to their bag to pull out a laptop and a few cables. Within a matter of minutes, they had their computer hooked up to display on the massive center screen and a system in place for any alerts to override the speakers so they wouldn’t miss any emergencies.

With 30 seconds to spare, Lucy came sliding back in, hitting the edge of the desk and going spinning, finally stopping only after she crashed into Vasquez’s chair. “Bet I made it, huh?” Despite being slightly out of breath, she still managed to look smug.

“Barely.”

With a wink, she held her backpack aloft. “That’s ’cause I stopped and grabbed my bag from my office. Can’t wait to see what you look like a mohawk.”

“Maybe I won’t let you use my fancy computer setup to watch the ball drop after all.” Vasquez stuck out their tongue as Lucy pouted.

“C’mon, it’s just the two of us for the next four hours while Rosenberg and Anderson get to sleep before the overnight shift. Would you really deprive yourself of the fun?”

“Fine, fine.”

And with that, Vasquez ended up with an over-gelled mohawk. Which somehow turned into a game of seeing how many M&Ms they could toss into each other’s mouth and from how far away. Which turned into another bet. Which was how Lucy ended up with two pigtail braids that were perfectly even (“I had two younger sisters, don’t act so surprised.”).

Eventually, as the clock ticked nearer and nearer to midnight, Vasquez pulled up a live stream of the celebrations, and they settled in, side-by-side, to watch the countdown.

“I had a lot of fun tonight,” Vasquez whispered, nudging Lucy with their shoulder.

“Yeah… I did too.”

The clock hit 30 seconds.

Lucy cleared her throat. “I need to be honest. I lied when I said that no one else could work tonight.”

“Hmm?”

“I mean, no one else wanted to work tonight or anything, but I sort of wanted the excuse to hang out with you. So I, uh, I’m sorry. For taking over your New Year’s Eve.”

Vasquez glanced over at Lucy, inching their chair a little closer. “If I’d known that there was a chance for spending a whole night, just the two of us? I’d have fought anyone else who tried to take the shift.”

The corners of Lucy’s mouth pulled up into a soft smile.

Ten seconds left.

Vasquez reached out a hand so that their pinky finger was just barely grazing Lucy’s hand. “Hey, um, when the ball drops, I’d like to kiss you. If that’s alright.”

Three.

Two. Lucy’s hand curled around Vasquez’s, fingers tangling together.

One.

As the ball dropped and the night sky exploded with fireworks and confetti, Lucy leaned over and pulled Vasquez forward, pressing their lips together—soft at first, but building into something deeper, something that made Lucy want to abandon her chair and the game and crawl into Vasquez’s lap. But then the reality of where they were crashed back down as a local EMT alert for a small fire—probably some asshole with illegal fireworks and too much to drink—beeped at them, the sound amplified through the speakers.

“Happy New Year,” Lucy whispered, her breath a warm whisper against the corner of Vasquez’s mouth.

“Next time you get the day off work, maybe I can even take you on a date somewhere other than the DEO?”

“Wow, so romantic.”

“Hush. I’ll have you know I can plan a great date.”

“I didn’t doubt you for a second.”

#pride month prompts #lucy lane #susan vasquez #lucy x vasquez #nb!vasquez #ficlet #fanfic #supergirl #fluff #first kiss

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italianartsociety · 6 years ago

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By Jennifer D. Webb

The five days of celebrations for the marriage of Costanzo Sforza and Camilla d’Aragona began on May 26, 1475 with the entry of the bride into the city of Pesaro from Fano along the 6-mile, tree-lined avenue Costanzo had ordered built for the occasion. Celebrations began in earnest the following morning, Sunday May 27, with a brief marriage ceremony in the main hall of the Palazzo Ducale and an hour long Latin oration by Pandolfo Collenuccio. In the nearby Cathedral, the nuptial mass took place.

The details of the ceremony are recorded in both an early print text (British Library, I.A.31753 Sforza, Costantio Signore di Pesaro, 1475) and an illuminated presentation manuscript (MS Vat. Urb. Lat. 899).

The couple returned to the Great Hall of the palace at which point the 7-hour, 6-course banquet began. Surrounded by temporary decorations and music, the couple and their hundred-plus guests enjoyed ballets choreographed by Gugliemo Ebreo, received presents, and gifted sugar sculptures to the attendees.

The chronicler not only notes aspects of the spectacle in detail, but also describes each food course, its mode of presentation, and the ancient god with which it was associated. One course, dedicated to Bacchus, understood as bringing “jollity” to the celebrations, included sweet wines, gilded cloves, and a “triumphal chariot made wholly of gilded sugar, upon which sat a figure of Justice holding a sword and scale.” (Quoted in Bridgeman, 90.)

The final day of the celebrations set aside for a joust in the main square, was postponed by rain and wind. Once the weather passed, the beginning of the joust was announced by the arrival of a float referencing the Triumph of Fame. The day concluded with a fireworks display in the main square.

This marriage helped secure Costanzo’s career by way of his strategic alliance with the King of Ferrante in Naples. Costanzo’s premature death left Camilla to rule until their son, Giovanni, came of age in 1489. Camilla’s piety is evident in her commission of intarsia choir stalls in Sant’Agostino. This commission also commemorates her husband’s rule.

References: Jane Bridgeman. A Renaissance Wedding. London: Harvey Miller Publications, 2013; Mary Hollingsworth, “Art Patronage in Renaissance Urbino, Pesaro, and Rimini, c.1400-1539.” The Court Cities of Northern Italy. Edited by Charles M. Rosenberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010: 346-350.

Image credits (Jennifer D. Webb)

Palazzo Ducale, Pesaro

View of Road from Fano to Pesaro

Cathedral, Pesaro

View of Piazza del Popolo, Pesaro

Further reading: Guglielmo Ebreo. La danza nel Quattrocento. Milan, ABEeditore, 2017; Campbell, Caroline. Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence. London: The Courtauld Gallery, 2009.

#Costanzo Sforza #Camilla d'Aragona #marriage #pesaro #fano #otd #wotd #Palazzo Ducale #guglielmo ebreo #ballet #banquet

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eddycurrents · 5 years ago

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For the week of 27 May 2019

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #10 somehow gets even more disturbing as we’re shown some of McGregor’s past as he was abused and set up as a suicide. The horror that Garth Ennis, Goran Sudžuka, Ive Svorcina, and Rob Steen keep exploring in this series keeps getting more personal and seemingly has no limit to its depth.

| Published by AfterShock

Amazing Spider-Man #22 concludes (mostly) the “Hunted” arc as Kraven continues to try to convince Spider-Man that he’s a killer and to finally put Kraven out of his misery. It’s incredibly messed up logic, but Nick Spencer, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado, Erick Arciniega, and Joe Caramagna make it interesting. You could consider this end anti-climactic, especially after how long this has been, but I get the feeling we’ll be dealing with the ramifications for a while to come.

| Published by Marvel

Amber Blake #3 takes an interesting turn as an undercover operation into a modelling agency reveals that Amber’s childhood friend Amanda is still alive. The level of intrigue and twists in this story just keeps escalating, matching the density of the layouts and art from Butch Guice, Mike Perkins, and Dan Brown.

| Published by IDW

Angel #1 is incredible. Possibly even better than the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and that has set a ridiculously high bar. Bryan Edward Hill, Gleb Melnikov, Gabriel Cassata, and Ed Dukeshire embrace the darker, moodier feel of Angel consistent with the different atmosphere that was present in the television series, while diving deep into building up his dark past and conflicted future. There’s a lot that is new to this interpretation, which just makes it more intriguing. And the art from Melnikov and Cassata is gorgeous.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Ascender #2 advances the vamps’ plan to eradicate the remaining technology in the universe, as Andy is reunited with Bandit, and the vamps come to threaten him and his family. This remains an interesting new take on the Descender world from Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen, and Steve Wands as we see more of what’s happened since the end of that series.

| Published by Image

Batman: Last Knight on Earth #1 is an interesting debut from Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano. On its surface, it’s an “Old Man Bruce” story, as a previously comatose Bruce awakens in a dark and strange future. But this existence is weird and unreliable. Especially as Bruce awakens in a fiction at first, being told that he’s in Arkham and that all of his villains and time as Batman were fever dreams cooked up by a fractured mind. This may well be the best art ever from Capullo, Glapion, and Plascencia.

| Published by DC Comics / Black Label

Black Science #40 shows that the story still has some surprises in store as it rockets towards the end. Also some ridiculous jokes. Matteo Scalera and Moreno Dinisio continue to inventive as hell with the art.

| Published by Image / Giant Generator

Coda #12 is the explosive, brilliant conclusion to what has been on the best series of this year and last. Si Spurrier, Matías Bergara, Michael Doig, and Jim Campbell have delivered some stunning flights of imagination, tapping into some highly inventive nihilistic fantasy, presenting the final battle battle this issue, and, man, does it stick the landing. Phenomenal storytelling all around.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Daredevil #6 begins “No Devils, Only God” in a New York City without Daredevil. Lalit Kumar Sharma, Jay Leisten, and Java Tartaglia come on for art duties for this arc and it’s an interesting shift. Sharma’s style reminds me a bit of Klaus Janson’s, but without the heavy inks and shadows.

| Published by Marvel

Detective Comics Annual #2 heads into Year Two territory as we get a new Reaper from Peter J. Tomasi, Travis Moore, Max Raynor, Tamra Bonvillain, Nick Filardi, and Rob Leigh. This is a nice use of the annual format, giving us a satisfying single issue story setting up a possible future arc.

| Published by DC Comics

The Forgotten Queen #4 brings an end to this excellent series exploring the history of Vexana, War-Monger, from Tini Howard, Amilcar Pinna, Ulises Arreola, and Jeff Powell. Very interesting depth added to the character and interesting hints as to what more might be coming, hopefully.

| Published by Valiant

Hellboy vs. Lobster Johnson: Ring of Death elaborates further on Hellboy’s time in Mexico making wrestling movies in a pair of tales from Mike Mignola, Chris Roberson, Mike Norton, Paul Grist, Dave Stewart, Bill Crabtree, and Clem Robins. Seeing a presentation of the movie Hellboy starred in is a real treat.

| Published by Dark Horse

Immortal Hulk #18 leans hard into the body horror aspect of the series, debuting both Betty’s full form as this new Harpy and in the Abomination. Joe Bennett, Ruy José, and Paul Mounts just nail this perfectly.

| Published by Marvel

Killer Groove #1 is a great first issue from Ollie Masters, Eoin Marron, Jordie Bellaire, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. It’s a taut crime drama mixing a never-was musician with the potential of life as a hitman, as he lucks into a kill during a chance encounter. Great art from Marron and Bellaire.

| Published by AfterShock

The Magnificent Ms. Marvel #3 advances the alien plot, sending Kamala and her parents off to Saffa to supposedly fulfill the role of their Destined One, saving the planet again. Saladin Ahmed, Minkyu Jung, Juan Vlasco, Ian Herring, and Joe Caramagna are doing some interesting world-building here, and ensuring that nothing is quite what it seems.

| Published by Marvel

Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #5 is the beautiful conclusion to what has been a brilliant series from Kieron Gillen, Caspar Wijngaard, Mary Safro, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. It’s been a sequel, satire, criticism, and repudiation of Watchmen, but it’s also been an interesting mediation on “being better” while coming to terms with the nature of reality and learning to deal with the human element.

| Published by Dynamite

Queen of Bad Dreams #2 gets more into the grit of IJ Wei’s investigation into the escaped figment, delivering some great police procedural stuff. The artwork from Jordi Pérez and Dearbhla Kelly is wonderful. Reminding me a lot of some of the work from John Watkiss, particularly during a very impressive action sequence.

| Published by Vault

She Said Destroy #1 is an intriguing science fantasy debut from Joe Corallo, Liana Kangas, Rebecca Nalty, and Melanie Ujimori. It taps into Celtic mythology, presenting a war between Brigid and the Morrigan, but also appears to be telling a coming of age story with some members of the Morrigan’s flock as they try to combat Brigid’s oppression.

| Published by Vault

Star Wars #108 is essentially another one-shot in the 80th anniversary of Marvel celebration, with Matthew Rosenberg and a murderers’ row of new and old Star Wars artists delivering a tale set in the old Marvel continuity. While you’ll get more out of it if you’re familiar with the original series, with familiar faces like Valance Hunter, Domina Tagge, and Jaxxon, but it still works well on its own without having any foreknowledge of previous events.

| Published by Marvel

Stranger Things: Six #1 begins another prequel mini-series, this time introducing us to “Six” and looking into the experiments going on at the Hawkins Labs, from Jody Houser, Edgar Salazar, Keith Champagne, Marissa Louise, and Nate Piekos. I quite liked the first one that served as a view into the terror that Will went through during season one, but this one looks like it’ll be breaking some new ground. Very interested to see more of what happened earlier.

| Published by Dark Horse

Superman: Leviathan Rising Special #1 is a tease for Event Leviathan, the next turn in the Superman series, the forthcoming Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen minis, and the upcoming Supergirl arc once she returns to Earth, but it also manages to tell a fairly entertaining story in its own right as Talia al Ghul kidnaps Clark Kent.

| Published by DC Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #94 continues “City at War” as everything gets nastier and dirtier, and we still haven’t had a full-on incendiary spark yet to ignite even larger warfare. Dave Wachter and Ronda Pattison deliver some incredible artwork. Splinter is very chilling in this one.

| Published by IDW

Thor #13 will make you care about Cul Borson. At least, a little bit. Maybe. Jason Aaron, Mike del Mundo, Marco D’Alfonso, and Joe Sabino deliver on another single issue story broadening the bits and pieces of the War of the Realms.

| Published by Marvel

Transformers #6 takes a break from the ongoing narrative and gives us a look into the past friendship between Megatron and Orion Pax, from Brian Ruckley, Beth McGuire-Smith, and Tom B. Long. There are some interesting parallels between Megatron’s observations and the drifting apart of these two old friends.

| Published by IDW

Wolverine: The Long Night #5 concludes this adaptation of the podcast of the same name from Benjamin Percy, Marcio Takara, Matt Milla, and Joe Caramagna. This has been a mature, psychological thriller amidst all of the violence and darkness, with this final chapter delivering more twists even as it brings the answers.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Age of X-Man: X-Tremists #4, Bad Luck Chuck #3, Black Panther #12, Blossoms 666 #4, Catwoman Annual #1, Dark Red #3, Dead Kings #5, Delver #4, Dick Tracy Forever #2, Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #8, Dog Days of Summer #1, Fantastic Four #10, Fight Club 3 #5, Four Sisters 2: Hortense, Grand Abyss Hotel, KINO #16, Life on the Moon, Lumberjanes: Somewhere Green #1, Major X #4, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #39, Princeless - Book 8: Princesses #3, Punk Mambo #2, Punks Not Dead: London Calling #4, Rick & Morty #50, Spawn #297, Star Trek: Year Five #2, Star Wars: Vader - Dark Visions #4, Superior Spider-Man #6, TMNT: Urban Legends #13, Thanos #2, Wailing Blade #1, War of the Realms: Giant-Man #2, War of the Realms: Spider-Man & The League of Realms #2, War of the Realms: War Scrolls #2, Wasted Space #10, X-23 #12, X-Men: Grand Design - X-Tinction #1

Recommended Collections: Death Orb - Volume 1, Dept. H Omnibus - Volume 1, The Goon: Bunch of Old Crap, Judge Dredd: Toxic, Punisher - Volume 2: War in Bagalia, Rick & Morty Presents - Volume 1, X-Force - Volume 1: Sins of the Past

For the week of 20 May 2019

Quick Bits:

Action Comics #1011 is the last stop before Event Leviathan starts in earnest and it raises more questions as to what’s going on. Brian Michael Bendis, Steve Epting, Brad Anderson, and Josh Reed have done a great job elevating tension through this lead-up and moving the pieces around the board.

| Published by DC Comics

Assassin Nation #3 is another brutal issue from Kyle Starks, Erica Henderson, and Deron Bennett. The body count remains high and we get more questions about who authorized the hit. There’s some hints that it may all just be misdirection.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Detective Comics #1004 gives us the life history of Astrid Arkham. It’s told largely in full page montages, really allowing Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, and Nathan Fairbairn to cut loose on the visuals.

| Published by DC Comics

Faithless #2 sees Faith go to a party, and then it gets weird. This feels like that Griffin Dunne film of him wandering around New York, only with more magic and gorgeous art from Maria Llovet.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Ghost Tree #2 delivers well on the promise of the first issue, going further with Brandt’s conversations with the spirits around the ghost tree, and setting up the possibility of something horrible coming soon. More gorgeous artwork from Simon Gane, Ian Herring, and Becka Kinzie.

| Published by IDW

Incursion #4 is a fitting conclusion to this series bringing Gilad back to a regular status in the world of the living, with some interesting teases as to what might be further down the line, from Andy Diggle, Alex Paknadel, Doug Braithwaite, Diego Rodriguez, Leonardo Paciarotti, and Marshall Dillon.

| Published by Valiant

Justice League Dark #11 continues “Lords of Order” and keeps burning down the magical side of the DC Universe, while diving very deep into the back catalogue to build up the new. James Tynion IV is developing a very interesting structure for what might be coming.

| Published by DC Comics

Middlewest #7 shows the sheer devastation that Abel can unleash as his powers manifest, similar to the rage that his father has shown, and how his newfound “family” can also let him down horribly. Great work from Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos as the story seems to be headed for more dangerous waters.

| Published by Image

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - Jabba the Hutt #1 is an entertaining little story of how Jabba manipulates others to accomplish his goals.

| Published by Marvel

Stone Star #3 gives us another surprise as Dail tries to save Kitzo from being eaten in the arena by Most-Maw. It’s very interesting how this series plays with elements of hero shooters and the designs for the characters and creatures by Max Dunbar are incredible.

| Published by Swords & Sassery

Other Highlights: A Shining Beacon, Age of X-Man: Amazing Nightcrawler #4, Animosity #21, Asgardians of the Galaxy #9, Avengers #19, Batgirl #35, Battlestar Galactica: Twilight Command #4, Bone Parish #9, Books of Magic #8, Clue: Candlestick #1, Cyber Force #10, Dial H for Hero #3, Doctor Strange #14, The Flash #71, Freedom Fighters #6, Gasolina #18, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #262, The Goon #2, Highwayman, Invader Zim #43, Invisible Kingdom #3, Martian Manhunter #5, Marvel Comics Presents #5, Mary Shelley: Monster Hunter #2, Miles Morales: Spider-Man #6, Monstress #22, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur #43, Mr. & Mrs. X #11, Redneck #20, Riverdale Season 3 #3, Road of Bones #1, Rumble #12, Runaways #21, Shuri #8, The Silencer #17, Star Trek: Q Conflict #4, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge #2, Tony Stark: Iron Man #11, The Unstoppable Wasp #8, Venom #14, War of the Realms: Journey into Mystery #3, War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #2, War of the Realms: The Punisher #2, War of the Realms: Strikeforce - The Land of Giants #1, War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men #2, The Warning #7, Welcome to Wanderland #4. Wolverine: Infinity Watch #4, Wonder Woman #71, X-Force #8

Recommended Collections: Black Badge - Volume 1, Black Magick, Cover - Volume 1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Volume 1, East of West - Volume 9, Fantastic Four - Volume 2: Mr. & Mrs. Grimm, Friendo - Volume 1, James Bond: Blackbox, Middlewest - Book 1, Planet Terry Complete Collection, Redlands - Volume 2, Summit - Volume 3: Truth & Consequences, Wayward - Book 3

d. emerson eddy thinks there should be more hours in the day.

#This Week in Comics

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jennycalendar · 6 years ago

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imperfections (56/?)

read it on ao3!

iiiiii don’t know how to add a footnote w/o making it Extremely spoilery. love u all. writing this fic is such a trip and i am so glad to have an audience for this scooby family nonsense, esp. as it gets closer and closer to being finished

“That was some nice stuff you said to Buffy,” said Jen as they walked to the car.

Faith’s stomach flipped over. “Yeah,” she said uncertainly. “Yeah, it was—she means a lot to me, y’know?”

“I’ve noticed,” said Jen, and maybe it was just wishful thinking on Faith’s part, but there was an almost purposeful lightness to her tone. Like she knew Faith was holding shit back. “I’m really glad you two have hit it off.”

Faith bit the bullet. “I might ask her out,” she said. “Like, on a date. To prom, maybe. I don’t know. Haven’t really thought it through all that much.” She was doing her best not to look at Jen, continuing to talk so that she wouldn’t have to hear what Jen had to say to that. “I mean, she’s still gettin’ over Angel, she says she wants to take things slow, but if she’s not going with Angel she might as well go with me—”

“Faith?”

“I’m into girls,” Faith blurted out, refusing to look at Jen. “Which you should probably know, ‘cause B’s gonna be coming round sometimes, maybe. I don’t know. But that’s why she means a lot to me and we haven’t just hit it off in a friendly way—”

“Breathe,” said Jen, tugging on Faith’s leather jacket until Faith stopped walking. When Faith finally mustered the courage to look over at Jen, she saw that Jen was looking at her the same way that Jen always looked at her, and the relief at that realization was dizzying. But then Jen spoke again. “You’re not the only one who’s had crushes on girls.”

“Don’t try and tell me that every straight girl feels this kinda thing—” Faith began, outraged.

“Operating on some faulty intel there, kid,” said Jen, a broad smile beginning. “Whoever said I was a straight girl?”

Faith stared. Then she said, “You suck face with Giles in the kitchen on a daily basis.”

“You kids really need a crash course on bisexuality,” said Jen, who was now grinning fit to burst.

Faith didn’t really know what to say to that. Slowly, she managed, “So all that time you’ve been giving me looks every time me and Buffy talk—”

“I know the signs,” said Jen, knocking Faith’s shoulder. “You were making the same face I did around Marian Hall back in college, and somehow you managed to be even more obvious about it than me.”

“I was so not obvious!” Faith objected, indignant. “B didn’t catch a thing, and Giles didn’t either—”

“I love the kid, but Buffy probably wouldn’t have figured your crush out if you waved a sign saying DATE ME,” said Jen matter-of-factly. “And Rupert spent the better part of last year trying to figure out whether or not I liked him, most of that time while we were actively dating.”

Faith snickered. “Fair point,” she said, and reached down, quietly gripping the hem of Jen’s sleeve as they started to walk again. Her heart was pounding. “So I kinda just came out to you, huh?”

“Kinda, yeah,” Jen agreed, her voice softening. “I’m very proud of you.”

Faith made a gagging noise to try and hide her dumb grin.

Willow apparently still hadn’t reconciled with her mom, who had somehow forgotten the stake-burning but remembered that Willow had run away after being grounded. Joyce was still trying to talk Mrs. Rosenberg through that one, but for the time being, Willow was staying in the Calendar-Giles attic/guest room, which was A-okay in her book.

Ms. Calendar made Willow some hot chocolate again, this time with half-melty marshmallows and a dollop of whipped cream. “Does your mom tuck you in?” she asked, crossing the room to sit down on Willow’s bed (no, the guest room bed, Willow reminded herself). “If I recall correctly, you’re the kind of kid who really appreciates that.”

“You could tuck me in again,” said Willow. Ms. Calendar had done that a couple of times over the summer, back when things were a total mess and Willow stayed in Ms. Calendar’s bedroom pretty much every other night.

Ms. Calendar stood up, then bent down again, tucking the covers more snugly around Willow from the waist down. “You can just leave your mug on the nightstand when you’re done,” she said, leaning around Willow to fluff up one of the pillows. She smelled like a mixture of old books and floral perfume. “And get some sleep, okay? Don’t do that thing you do where you nap for two hours and get up to read books from Rupert’s study.”

“Giles has a study?” Willow grinned. “This is a nice house.”

“Yeah, I like it too.” Ms. Calendar gave Willow a little kiss on the cheek. Willow thought she felt a waxy smudge of lipstick, and kind of liked the thought of it lingering. “Night, Willow.”

“Goodnight, Ms. Calendar,” said Willow with a yawn.

Ms. Calendar wavered. Then she said, “You know, if you wanted, you could call me Jenny outside of school. You’re not just my student, Willow.”

Willow felt a kind of rush and had to blink really fast to hide potential tears. “Um, yeah,” she sad, swallowing hard. “Maybe. But, but maybe not yet?” The thought of Ms. Calendar as Jenny felt weird and informal, especially since Giles was the only one who called her that. Faith called her Jen, but that was a name that Willow personally thought didn’t really fit Ms. Calendar. “I like Ms. Calendar,” she clarified. “It used to feel kinda formal, but now it feels…”

Even though Willow wasn’t quite sure how to finish her sentence, Ms. Calendar smiled slightly, like she got it anyway. “Yeah,” she said. “That name didn’t really mean a lot to me until I came to Sunnydale, but now…”

She squeezed Willow’s shoulder, then leaned down again, enfolding her in a soft, floral-perfume hug. Willow closed her eyes, smiling.

Giles was still sitting in the kitchen by the time Jenny came down from putting the children to bed. Upon seeing her, he stood, feeling a sense of profound sadness and exhaustion. “Moment’s come, hasn’t it?” he said quietly.

“Come here,” said Jenny.

Giles obliged, stepping into her arms and closing his eyes. “You are so remarkably resilient tonight,” he murmured.

“Yeah, well, next apocalypse it’s my turn to freak out,” Jenny informed him, turning her head to rest her cheek on his chest. “Listen—this is gonna be hard, I know. But it’s the right thing to do for all involved.”

“They’re going to come here in person, you know,” said Giles quietly. “They’re going to demand to speak to Buffy, and I don’t know what they might convince her to do—”

“In a few days she’s turning eighteen,” Jenny replied simply.

“I was twenty-one when I raised Eyghon,” said Giles.

Jenny pulled away, looking up at him with a resigned, loving expression. “Rupert Giles,” she said, “idiot of my heart, you are gonna have to let that girl make her own choices. There’s only so much a parent can do to protect his kid, and after you make this call, you will have done everything you can.”

One word in particular stood out to Giles. “Parent?”

Jenny’s smile fluttered; she looked suddenly nervous. “Was that—I mean, was I off base?”

“Quite the opposite, I think,” said Giles unsteadily. “It’s simply that I worry my attachments mean I have failed her as a Watcher.”

“We have already established,” said Jenny firmly, “that the system you were raised in is bullshit. I know it is going to be so hard to let go of all that stuff, but holding onto it only hurts you.”

There was a level of understanding in her eyes that went well beyond her knowledge of the Council alone. “Jenny,” said Giles quietly, “you came to Sunnydale to carry out a mission of vengeance.”

“Yeah,” said Jenny, and gave him a wobbly, crooked smile. “Yeah. Because my family told me that that was all I would ever be good for.”

Something twisted in Giles’s chest. Not once had he thought about what might have brought Jenny here—in part, he supposed, because he knew it must have been painful for her. “You’re good for—” he began.

“I’m not a witch, remember?” said Jenny, who seemed to be doing her best to keep her smile steady. It wasn’t really working. “I came from a long line of seers and witches and warlocks and people in tune with the earth, and I was never, ever that. So they sent me off to watch Angelus, because that was the only way I would ever be of use, and…” She trailed off, raising her hands to his face. “I know,” she said. “I know for a fact that you’re making the right choice, Rupert, because you’re making the same one I did a year ago. I don’t regret a single thing I did last year, not one, because it led me to a home and a family and one of the best hot librarians I know.”

Giles stared at her, eyes wet, and then he kissed her, and…how, he thought, was he this lucky? Watchers lived a painful, lonely life; nearly everyone they dared to love ended up dead, and here was beautiful, compassionate, resilient Jenny, changing the rules because she could. “I love you ceaselessly,” he said clumsily as they broke apart, then kissed her again, an awkward kiss that was more of a collision than anything. Both of them were a bit too emotional for finesse. “Unendingly.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” said Jenny with a nervous laugh.

“You know I would never do that to you again,” Giles persisted.

Her expression didn’t change, but Giles felt Jenny press herself closer against him. “Yeah,” she said. “Ditto.”

“The promise thing or the flowery-love thing?”

“Don’t make me say it,” said Jenny, giving him a small, watery smile.

Giles kissed her one last time. Then, with no small amount of reluctance, he let go of her, stepping back and picking up the phone. Eyes locked on Jenny’s, he dialed the extension, waiting for Travers to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Travers, it’s Giles,” said Giles, and Jenny took two steps forward, winding her arms around his waist. Grounding him.

Faith was hanging around the general area of Buffy’s locker, looking somewhat tense. Even after the emotional mess of the night before, Buffy’s heart did a funny little flip thing upon seeing her, and she couldn’t hide her smile. “Hi,” she said bashfully, stepping up to Faith.

“Yeah, B, I got some bad news,” said Faith shortly. “You were gonna find it out when you got to the library, but Jen said I should run and tell you beforehand.”

Buffy felt the crush-related jitters fade, replaced by some more general jitters that she didn’t really like. “What’s going on?”

“So, uh, Giles and Jen tried to call the Council yesterday night,” said Faith, falling into step with Buffy as they headed towards the library. “Didn’t really go over well.”

“How did it not go over well?” Buffy asked, pushing the door open with her shoulder. Then she stopped.

“Ms. Summers?” said an old guy in a tweed suit, flanked by a whole bunch of other business-formal people that Buffy didn’t know. “My name is Quentin Travers, and I am the head of the Watchers’ Council. I believe you and I need to talk.”

#fic #imperfections #so yeah shit's abt to go down

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greysexcellent · 2 years ago

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Love at first bite 1979

#LOVE AT FIRST BITE 1979 HOW TO#

#LOVE AT FIRST BITE 1979 MOVIE#

#LOVE AT FIRST BITE 1979 PROFESSIONAL#

#LOVE AT FIRST BITE 1979 HOW TO#

In the first place, he's funny just to watch." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film zero stars out of four, writing that Hamilton "has no idea how to play comedy" and gave "a smug performance in a film full of tired jokes and some of the most cruel racial stereotyping you'll ever see." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "It is not quite the coupling of the decade, and Ms.

#LOVE AT FIRST BITE 1979 MOVIE#

Janet Maslin of The New York Times described Love as "a coarse, delightful little movie with a bang-up cast and no pretensions at all," while Dave Kehr lamented the film's "hodgepodge of flat one-liners and graceless slapstick." Variety noted a "tendency to lurch from joke to joke" and observed that the story may be "silly," but Hamilton "makes it work. However, critical reviews were mixed, and Love at First Bite has a 67% "Fresh" rating on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 21 reviews. In fact, it was one of the highest-grossing independent films for many years. The film was a financial success, earning about $44 million against a $3 million budget and ranking at number 13 on a list of the top grossing films of 1979. Director Stan Dragoti became attached to the project through Peter Sellers, an acquaintance of Kaufman. A script was financed for $100,000 and later acquired by Melvin Simon, a shopping-mall entrepreneur with an interest in films. The inspiration for the film came about while George Hamilton was entertaining screenwriter Robert Kaufman with poolside impressions of Bela Lugosi, and thoughts turned to what would happen if Dracula lived in modern New York City.

George Hamilton as Count Vladimir Dracula.

The last scene shows Dracula and Cindy, transformed into bats, on their way to Jamaica. or whatever." Rosenberg keeps Dracula's cape – the only thing his stake had hit – which Ferguson borrows, hoping (since the cape makes the wearer look stylish) it will help him on his wedding anniversary. A check drops down by which Cindy pays off her (enormous) psychiatry bill to Rosenberg, to which he remarks: "She has become a responsible person. Rosenberg attempts to stake Dracula, but as he moves in for the kill, the two fly off as bats together. On the runway, Cindy finally agrees to become Dracula's vampire bride. The coffin is accidentally sent to Jamaica instead of London and the couple miss their plane. In the end, as a major blackout hits the city, Dracula flees via taxi cab back to the airport with Cindy, pursued by Rosenberg and Ferguson. Rosenberg's increasingly erratic actions eventually cause him to be locked up as a lunatic, but as mysterious cases of blood-bank robberies and vampiric attacks begin to spread, NYPD Lieutenant Ferguson starts to believe the psychiatrist's claims and gets him released. Subsequently he tries to shoot him with three silver bullets, but Dracula remains unscathed, patiently explaining that this works only on werewolves. Rosenberg also tries burning Dracula's coffin with the vampire still inside, but is arrested by hotel security. Rosenberg's numerous methods to combat Dracula – mirrors, garlic, a Star of David (which he uses instead of the cross), and hypnosis – are easily averted by the Count.

#LOVE AT FIRST BITE 1979 PROFESSIONAL#

Jeffrey is the grandson of Dracula's old nemesis Fritz van Helsing but changed his name to Rosenberg "for professional reasons". While Dracula learns that America contains such wonders as blood banks, sex clubs, and discotheques, he also proceeds to suffer the general ego-crushing that comes from life in the Big Apple in the late 1970s as he romantically pursues flaky fashion model Cindy Sondheim, whom he has admired from afar and believes to be the current reincarnation of his true love (an earlier being named Mina Harker).ĭracula is ineptly pursued in turn by Sondheim's psychiatrist and quasi-boyfriend Jeffrey Rosenberg. The world-weary Count travels to New York City with his bug-eating manservant, Renfield, and establishes himself in a hotel, but only after a mix-up at the airport causes his coffin to be accidentally sent to be the centerpiece in a funeral at a black church in Harlem. The infamous vampire Count Vladimir Dracula is expelled from his castle by the Communist government of Romania, which plans to convert the structure into a training facility for gymnasts (including Nadia Comăneci).

#Love at first bite 1979

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rabbittstewcomics · 2 years ago

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Episode 361

October 2022 solicits

Comic Reviews:

Artemis: Wanted by Vita Ayala, Skylar Partridge, Romulo Fajardo Jr

DC vs Vampires: All-Out War 1 by Alex Paknadel, Matthew Rosenberg, Pasquale Qualano, Nicola Right, Guillaume Singelin

DC League of Super-Pets: The Great Mxy Mix-Up by Heath Corson, Bobby Timony

Marvel

A.X.E.: Judgment Day 1 by Kieron Gillen, Valerio Schiti, Marte Gracia

Alien Annual 1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Salvador Larroca, Guru eFX

Defenders Beyond 1 by Al Ewing, Javier Rodriguez

Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings 1 by Gene Luen Yang, Marcus To, Erick Arciniega

Infinity Comic

Spider-Verse Unlimited 7 by Ken Nimura

Love Unlimited 7: Viv Vision by Marieke Nijkamp, Federico Sabbatini, Martina Fari

Marvel Meow 11 by Neo Fuji

IDW

Dark Spaces: Wildfire 1 by Scott Snyder, Hayden Sherman, Ronda Pattison

Image

Rogues’ Gallery 1 by Hannah Rose May, Declan Shalvey, Justin Mason, Triona Farrell

Skybound X 25 by Robert Kirkman, Joshua Williamson, Lorenzo De Felici, Mac Smith, Ryan Ottley, Andrei Bressan, Annalisa Leoni, Adriano Lucas

Skybound Presents Afterschool 2 by Kate Herron, Briony Redman, Leila Leiz

Silver Coin 12 by Stephanie Phillips, Michael Walsh, Toni Marie Griffin, Adam Gorham

Dark Horse

Hellboy and B.P.R.D.: Time is a River by Mike Mignola, Mark Laszlo, Dave Stewart

Young Hellboy: Assault on Castle Death 1 by Mike Mignola, Thomas Sniegoski, Craig Rousseau, Chris O’Halloran

ComiXology

Barnstormers 1 by Scott Snyder, Tula Lotay, Dee Cunniffe

Canary 1 by Scott Snyder, Dan Panosian

Dudley Datson and the Forever Machine 1 by Scott Snyder, Jamal Igle, Juan Castro, Chris Sotomayor

Dynamite

Madballs vs. Garbage Pail Kids 1 by Sholly Fisch, Jason Crosby

AfterShock

Brother Of All Men 1 by Zac Thompson, Eoin Marron, Mark Englert

Vault

Dragon Prince: Bloodmoon Huntress by Nicole Andelfinger, Felia Hanakata

Ray’s OGN Corner: Fly By Night by Tara O’Connor

Additional Reviews: Glenn’s thoughts on Ms. Marvel finale, Camp Cretaceous full series review, And We Love You

News: SDCC news, Joe Fixit series from Peter David, mutant rumors and casting buzz in MCU, Alan Grant, new Star Trek comic from Lanzing and Kelly, Power Rangers new creative team and another TMNT crossover, Gargoyles getting a comic continuation by Weisman at Dynamite, return of X-Treme X-Men by Claremont and Larroca, Strange Academy relaunch, new Gotham series, Kraven origin by DeMatteis, Tradd Moore Dr. Strange series, release dates for X-Men ’92 and What If s2, Batman/Spawn special, Zuko animated movie news, Dynamite picks up all Disney cartoon licenses?, Sina Grace new YA Superman OGN, new ATLA graphic novels, Cap event upcoming, MCU phase 5 and phase 6, Gold Goblin by Christopher Cantwell, more comics in TMNT Last Ronin continuity, Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+, Jason Aaron’s swan song on Avengers?, new FF creative team, Hickman/Schiti 2023 event, It’s Jeff returns in September!, the return of Royal City, Avengers director

Glenn reads a Morrison comic

Trailers: Dungeons and Dragons - Honor Among Thieves, I Am Groot, Shazam 2, She-Hulk trailer, Batwheels, Sandman, Dragon Prince s4, Wakanda Forever, Picard s3

Comics Countdown:

Do A Powerbomb 2 by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer

Nightwing 94 by Tom Taylor, Geraldo Borges, Adriano Lucas

Barnstormers 1 by Scott Snyder, Tula Lotay, Dee Cunniffe

Usagi Yojimbo 29 by Stan Sakai, Hi-Fi

Dragon Prince: The Bloodmoon Huntress GN by Nicole Andelfinger, Felia Hanakata

Lonesome Hunters 2 by Tyler Crook

Batman: The Knight 7 by Chip Zdarsky, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Ivan Plascencia

Dudley Datson and the Forever Machine 1 by Scott Snyder, Jamal Igle, Juan Castro, Chris Sotomayor

Grim 3 by Stephanie Phillips, Flaviano, Rico Renzi

Ice Cream Man 31 by W. Maxwell Prince, Martin Morazzo, Chris O'Halloran

Check out this episode!

#comics #podcast #podernfamily #rabbittstew

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inhumansforever · 6 years ago

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Ms. Marvel #31 Review

spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers

It the fiftieth issue of Ms. Marvel (50th when you combine the two series together) and what better way to celebrate such an achievement than to have a good old fashioned slumber party! If only the various duties and demands of being a superhero could allow for a such a thing. A bunch of impromptu adventures and ordeals notwithstanding, Kamala and her buddies end up having a pretty great night. All from the creative team of… deep breath… G. Willow Wilson, Nico Leon, Ian Herring, Saladin Ahmed, Gustavo Durate, Rainbow Rowell, Bob Quinn, Hasan Minhaj, Elmo Bondoc, Valero Schiti, Rachelle Rosenberg and Stephanie Hans. Recap and review following the jump.

Kamala has been campaigning her mother for weeks to allow her to have her friends over for a slumber party. The whole idea of a sleep-over is rather perplexing to Mrs. Khan, but she has finally agreed and Kamal could not be more excited. Everything is ready. There’s popcorn, chips, chi, the idea game system is ready to go and pizza is on the way… Kamala has even set her room up with strings of Christmas tree lights to set the perfect mood.

Her friends, Nakia, Mike and Zoe arrive and they jump right into the gossip and giggling. Along with having fun, Kamala is also hoping her pals can help her work her confused and anxious feelings over having kissed Kareem and her possibly still having feelings for Bruno.

Mike is surprisingly chill with the fact that Kamala may have a crush on her former boyfriend, Bruno. Nakia is concerned that Kamala has done something so brash as to kiss a boy. Oh yeah, and Zoe recently went out on a date (most likely with Alana, Neftali’s sister introduced int he previous issue). Yet before they can get into any of this important stuff the conversation is interrupted by a strange barking from outside.

Well, Kamala knows exactly what sort of creature makes that distinctive bark and she furtively sneaks into her Ms. Marvel guise to see what sort of mischief Lockjaw has gotten himself into.

Here Willow and Leon hand the story-telling duties over to Ahmed and Durate for a fun jaunt in which Ms, M and Lockjaw try to rescue a kitten who has teleporting powers of his own. Chasing this cat takes the trio all over the galaxy, even to an alien planet... yet it isn’t long before Ms. Marvel realizes that Lockjaw and the kitten are just having fun chasing each other. She has no time for such games, she has a slumber party to get back to.

Ms. Marvel leaves Lockjaw and teleporting kitty to their fun and returns home to find her mom making samosas for her guests. Mmmm samosa. Yet before Kamala can join in the doorbell rings, the pizzas have arrived. Here the story is taken over by Rowell and Quinn. The young woman delivering the pizzas is a rather irascible sort who becomes aggressively resentful when she finds that she is delivering pies to a slumber party. Oh, and she smells terrible… like supernaturally bad.

Once again donning her Ms. Marvel duds, Kamala chases down the pizza delivery girl to investigate. It turns out that her name is Samantha. Like Ms. Marvel, she is an Inhuman who was transformed by way of exposure to the Terrigen Cloud. Rather than receiving neat super abilities, however, Samantha was bestowed with ‘skunk-like’ powers. Her hair took on a distinctive white streak and she can emit a terrible, noxious odor whenever she feels anxious, threatened or even irritated.

It’s all just about ruined poor Samantha’s life. No one wants to hang out with someone so stinky. She’s a young adult, still learning how to handle her feelings and mood and hence barely able to control these smelly powers. And finding that she was delivering pizzas to a slumber party just filled her with jealous rage.

Rather than fighting, the two talk it out. Terrigenesis is a lot like adolescence… it is sort of like a lottery and is by no means fair. Some are endowed with cool, useful transformations, other are saddled with unfortunate, almost debilitating transformations.

It’s not all that different the kind of changes that adolescents have to contend with as they go through maturation. And it is also rather random and never fair. Some become tall, slender or have flawless skin, whilst others have to deal with acne, super awkward growth spurts, or just smell terrible.

Neither Kamala nor Samantha the Skunk Girl can go back to the lives they had prior to Terrigenesis, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t carve out new lives, make their own paths. Samantha has no interest in being a super hero or anything like that, but that doesn’t mean that she cannot get help from people such as the Avengers or Inhumans of New Attilan. With time and training she can learn to control her odor-based powers, keep them suppressed and even use them to her advantage if the need were to ever arise. Having solved that problem, Kamala returns to her party. Yet it is not long before yet another crisis arrives. She receives an emergency text from her Champion team-mate, Spider-Man/Miles Morales. Well, it turns out that the villainous Arnim Zola has plans to poison the water supply of Manhattan and Miles needs Kamala’s shrinking abilities to help him break into the city’s central pumping station and reroute the poison.

This tale is told by the team of Minhaj and Bondoc. There are some hiccups, but Miles and Kamala are ultimately able to foil Zola’s diabolic plans. And yet there’s something sort of off about Miles. He reveals that he may have come into possession of an Infinity Stone, the mood stone to be precise. wait, the mood stone???

Pretty certain this isn’t an Infinity Stone Miles has gotten ahold of… maybe it’s the mood-affecting ring The Mandarin used to wield. Whatever the case, it seems to have an effect on Miles, causing him to be more forward and open with his thoughts and feelings. It leads him to blurting out the fact that he thinks Ms. Marvel is terrific, and pretty, and, well it’s all quite embarrassing for him. Although, Miles does admit that being so frank and open does feel rather liberating. And this helps Kamala realize that maybe it’s time for her to lighten her load as well.

Kamala finally makes it home where Nakia, Zoe and Mike have been patiently waiting for her. Kamala decided to come clean nd rather than concocting some lie to explain where she has been she tells them that she is Ms. Marvel.

And they’re all like, ‘yeah, no duh.’

They all knew, have known for quite a while. Kamala hasn’t exactly been proficient in hiding her secret identity and it was pretty easy for her close friends to put two and two together. Heck, even Gabe, Kamala’s step-brother, has figured the matter out. None of them have said anything about in that they figured it was her business and she’d tell them when she was ready. It’s a nice, cathartic relief for Kamala to share this secret and she is wonderfully surprised to find her friends so supportive of it all. They all hug and it’s really quite a sweet moment. And it is here that this fun, goofy romp of an issue comes to an end.

What a blast. The whole issue acts as sort of a patchwork anthology. And each side-story works as a sort of encapsulation of the distinct qualities that makes Ms. Marvel such a wonderful comic...

The Lockjaw story by Ahmed and Durate highlights to wacky silliness that so often finds its way into the tales, the moments of screwball levity that balances out the heavier, more poignant themes.

The Skunk Girl encounter by Rowell and Quinn addresses the comic’s powerful knack to create moving parallels to real life matters, especially in terms of the trials and tribulations of growing up.

Minhaj and Bondoc’s Spider-Man team-up adventure showcases the comic’s ability for good old fashioned comic book action and intrigue, where the adventures are always peppered by a progressive development and cultivation of both the main and supporting characters.

And the over arching frame of the slumber party, by Wilson and Leon, shows off the heart of the series: Kamala herself: a dynamic, fully fleshed out and multifaceted character who is just absolutely lovable, relatable and endlessly fun to read about.

It’s a pretty neat idea that the issue kind of dissects the individual components that makes Ms. Marvel such a great book and offer up each component in vignette spot-light form. It makes for a very fun read as well as a good book for those out there looking bettie understand the craft of good storytelling. It’s all kind of like a baking recipe done up in a comic book formate.

Before wrapping, up I feel a special shout out is deserving to Ian Herring, who provides the coloring for the entire issues. The various illustrators depicting the different side stories all have rather distinctive styles… yet Herring is able to color them all with a unifying pallet that provides a terrific sense of continuity wherein the shifts are not jarring in the least. This is something Herring has excelled at throughout all fifty issues of Ms. Marvel. Whether the issues have been illustrated by Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa, Mirka Andolfo, Jacob Wyatt, Nico Leon or anyone else, Herring has been able to utilize his coloring to maintain a sense of constancy… a visual flavor that is distinctive and unique to Ms. Marvel. It’s really quite impressive.

Highest possible recommendation. Five out of five Lockjaws!

#Ms. Marvel #kamala Khan #G Willow Wilson #Nico Leon #Ian Herring #Saladin Ahmed #Gustavo Duarte #Rainbow Rowell #Bob Quinn #Hasan Minhaj #Elmo Bondoc #Valerio Schiti #Rachelle Rosenberg #Stephanie Hans #review #spoilers #Inhumans

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drpepperhateblog · 7 years ago

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Thoughts on Jessica Jones Season 2, Episodes 1-5

In case it wasn’t obvious: SPOILER WARNING!

“Start at the Beginning” is the name of Episode 1, but it may as well have been a tagline for the season, because the phrase has been used several times now. It’s fitting, really, because this show is about Jessica’s past. Not her past with Kilgrave, but her past before Kilgrave.

I’ll start by saying that I feel as if my opinions on this show put me in the minority of Jessica Jones and Marvel fans. Go to any YouTube comment section and you’ll see hundreds of people upvoting “I hope Kilgrave is back!” “I hope Kilgrave returns as Jessica’s sidekick!” and other comments of that nature.

I loved Season 1 and I think David Tennant played Kilgrave well, but I don’t want him back on the show as a series regular. It would be detrimental to character development. Jessica dealing with her PTSD is one thing, but turning Kilgrave into her best friend after he raped her, Hope, probably more women as well, and mind-controlled people into committing murder, suicide, and other horrifying acts, is just bizarre.

Luckily, I’ve seen the first 5 episodes of Jessica Jones, and he doesn’t appear in any of them. He is referenced in conversations, of course, trauma doesn’t go away easily, even if you confront it it’ll stay with you. The aftermath of the confrontation also weighs on Jessica. While at first sight not much has changed about her character: she still drinks heavily and throws quips, the first five episodes make it clear that Jessica is more volatile than ever. And she isn’t the only one.

Trish is tired of feeling helpless. Hogarth is not in control of her destiny. They lash out, they act out. The characters are brought to different places which enables them to show darker sides of their personality, and it’s a treat to watch.

In an interview with The New York Times, Melissa Rosenberg mentioned that the season was inspired by the U.S. election. It shows.

“We were writing the second season during the whole Trump/Hillary election, and I was just so angry,” Ms. Rosenberg said of her team of writers. “We constantly talked about characters that had been trying to be nice for so long, finally just saying, ‘Get out of my way!’ Just tapping into the rage Hillary must have felt every day.” (Source)

One of the first scenes involves a man who approaches Jessica to say he wants to absorb Alias Investigations. When she says no, his response is “I never take no for an answer”. Jessica gives the perfect response: “How rapey of you”. Happy International Women’s Day!

Jessica’s comment is more than just a random quip though. It’s part of the recurring Hillary Clinton theme.

We get a scene where Jeri talks about sexism in the workplace. The speech felt very real to me as a viewer, so it’s no surprise when I looked back at the aforementioned Melissa Rosenberg interview and found this quote:

She recalled struggling “to be one of the guys in the writers’ room.” If she didn’t laugh along with men at sexist conversations that made her uncomfortable, she risked being left out of meetings — or fired.

“If I had been a man, my stridency and my opinionated presence and voice would not have engendered the same kind of response,” Ms. Rosenberg said.

Jeri also gets involved with three sex workers, who are given a scene where they talk about their personal lives. It was a breath of fresh air to see sex workers shown as actual human beings. I can’t recall ever seeing that in a show before.

Trish gets into a relationship with a man called Griffin, and constantly has to deal with standing in his shadow. In one scene with her mother, Trish says “I didn’t want to be with him, I wanted to be him”, and I get the impression that gender played a role in it.

She wishes she had the same power and impact as he did. She wishes she didn’t need to deal with magazines immediately assuming she hooked up with another guy just because she helped Malcolm. She wishes she didn’t need to deal with the pedophile from her past who decides to slut-shame her, blaming 15 year old Trish for his actions as a 40 year old adult.

The show doesn’t shy away from reality either- women engage in this type of victim blaming behavior too, and Trish’s mother is one of them (what a surprise).

All these little moments stood out to me, perhaps more than the IGH mystery did. It’s not a boring plot in any way, but it feels quite stretched-out at the moment. I have faith in these writers though. They must be building up to something big in episode 6, since they were sending out the first five episodes only for the audience to review. They must have done this to avoid crucial spoilers. Or so I hope.

In addition, I felt a bit thrown off by Simpson’s change in character. He had a very creepy approach to Trish, yet he seems harmless (if creepily overprotective) when she captures him. It felt unnatural after his actions in Season 1. I’m willing to let it slide since he was on some very strong medication, but Jessica and Trish’s reactions didn’t feel completely in-character to me. I choose to view it as a product of the stress they are going through.

Nonetheless, the mystery in itself is appealing. Who is the mystery woman? News sources suggested that it could be an MCU version of the character Typhoid Mary. I have never read a comic book, but from the information I was able to search up about her, she fits like a glove. Whizzer’s words, “With great power comes great mental illness” is the most obvious hint, but I also noticed Trish’s mother ordering coffee in Episode 2, only to change her mind and ask for a Bloody Mary. Coincidence? We’ll see.

These first five episodes were a pleasure to watch, and I think choosing only women as directors was a major reason why. Some commenters have argued that you should always choose who is best for the job and ignore factors like gender- and while that in itself is true, these first five episodes indicate that the show wants to focus 100% on women and the struggles they face.

And who would know more about how being a woman feels like: a man, or a woman? I think you know the answer yourself.

#jessica jones #jessica jones review #jessica jones spoilers #trish walker #jeri hogarth #marvel #jessica jones analysis

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filmstruck · 7 years ago

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Remembering Rose: Or, How a Shy Art Historian Became the Inspiration for Two Films by Susan Doll

If you liked THE MONUMENTS MEN (’14), George Clooney’s wartime drama about a group of art historians who tracked down hordes of art stolen by the Nazis, you should check out THE TRAIN (’64), John Frankenheimer’s historical action film based on the same subject. Currently streaming on FilmStruck, THE TRAIN stars Burt Lancaster as an inspector of French railways who tries to prevent a trainload of looted art from reaching Germany during WWII.

Both films feature their share of heroic male protagonists, but my favorite character in each is a woman based on a real-life art curator. In THE MONUMENTS MEN, curator Claire Simone, played by Cate Blanchett, hands over her ledger with a list of stolen artworks to the Allies near the end of the war. Simone had secretly kept track of the art stolen by Nazi officers for Hitler's proposed Führermuseum in Linz, or for the private collections of senior commanders like Goering. In THE TRAIN, curator Mademoiselle Villard, played by Suzanne Flon, knows a certain train is filled with priceless works of art and tries to persuade Lancaster’s character to intercept it.

Claire Simon and Mademoiselle Villard are based on Rose Valland, an art historian who was working as a volunteer assistant curator at the Jeu de Paume when the Nazis invaded Paris. I first heard of Rose when I read a screenplay by Debbe Goldstein titled VALLAND, which told the story of the theft of thousands of artworks by the Nazis from her point of view. To find out how the real Valland measured up to her fictional counterparts, I interviewed Ms. Goldstein, a writer with a degree in art history, about this forgotten heroine.

The daughter of a blacksmith, Valland rose above her humble beginnings in Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs, Isère to study drawing and art history at a teachers’ school. She later received a special diploma from the École du Louvre before becoming a volunteer assistant curator at the Jeu de Paume. According to Goldstein,

She was the overseer of the Jeu de Paume during the German occupation of France. She had been appointed by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (EER) as Special Staff for Pictorial Art. She was essentially a gatekeeper for the warehousing of the art that was confiscated and looted from the French Jews. . . . She was also the appointed tour guide, if you will, to personally escort Goering around the museum when he came to inspect the paintings for his own private collection. In all he made twenty visits. Here is where it gets good. She knew German, but she didn’t let anyone know that. When the Nazis were there, they had no idea she understood what they were talking about. In other words, they did not know she was gathering information.

So, what exactly did Valland do that resulted in the recovery of thousands of pieces of art, and why was it dangerous? Goldstein explains,

She kept a diary of every work that had been catalogued at the Jeu de Paume. In some cases, she stole negatives and copied them at home at night so she would have a visual record of the artworks. She kept copious notes of who the owners were. Her mission seemed to be to return the works to the original owners. What I loved was that she worked with the French Resistance, particularly Jacques Jaujard, the Director of Musées Nationaux. She kept him apprised of the status of what had been looted. She kept track of where the art was going to be shipped and informed the Resistance about the railroad cars that the paintings were in. They did swipe the cars with white paint so they could be identified and not blown to bits. The information she gave to her contacts prevented some of the cars from leaving Paris. She would have been executed certainly had she been discovered, and the book she kept would have also been destroyed.

Photos of Rose Valland reveal a slightly built, plain-looking woman in glasses. Dressed modestly, she wore her hair pinned up most of her life. In THE MONUMENTS MEN, efforts are made to deglamorize Cate Blanchett so she can play Claire as a modest academic, complete with glasses and matronly hairstyle. But, when she works with Matt Damon’s character to track down the artworks, she lets her hair down to become more attractive during their romantic non-romance. In THE TRAIN, Suzanne Flon also dresses modestly and wears her hair up, but she exhibits a no-nonsense manner that adds grit to her character. Commercial filmmaking is dependent on archetypes and onscreen charisma as part of the storytelling process, and these changes make Rose more exciting to watch. Still, I would like to see Debbe Goldstein’s screenplay visualized so that a more authentic depiction of Rose Valland might make it to the screen.

After WWII, Valland was at the forefront of recovering the stolen art. She joined the Commission for the Recovery of Works of Art, and she was appointed Conservator by the French Musées Nationaux. She also became the chair of the Commission for the Protection of Works of Art. According to Goldstein,

She received a commission from France to go to Germany to look for the art that had been transported there. Over 20,000 pieces had been shipped to Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian Alps. With a team supplied by the Allies and France, she journeyed to Germany and to the castle to look for the artworks that had been hidden away. . . . Over 20,000 works were recovered. [There are] probably still some more there somewhere.

Rose Valland wrote a book about her experiences, Le Front de L’Art, in 1961.

I am attracted to Valland’s story, as well as any pop culture versions of it, because I am a sucker for tales of unsung heroic women who use their wits and intuition to best their enemies. Ms. Goldstein had a more thoughtful response when I asked her about her interest in Valland:

I first heard of her in a documentary entitled THE RAPE OF EUROPA. . . . I had never heard of her before, and I thought that being a graduate student in [art history] in the 1970s, I should have at least known of her. I began thinking about cultural history. I taught History of Art for many years at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. And, my first lecture included the idea that sometimes history is an accident of preservation. I was curious about what would our study of art history be, for example, if the caves at Lascaux had not been discovered. . . . What would we teach if those luscious Cézannes and gorgeous Manets had been destroyed in a box car on its way to Linz, Austria—the proposed site of Hitler’s art museum. If they had been blown up, how would we [articulate the influences on] Abstract Expressionism, or Picasso’s later work.

Ms. Goldstein’s final words make a worthy tribute to Rose Valland and the others who risked their lives for their culture:

Nothing in Valland’s narrative would present her as someone who would take such risks—except for her love of art and French culture. This quiet, unassuming art historian. I remember reading that during the occupation 800 people who worked at the Louvre went underneath the museum to live for a time to protect the work that was there. I loved the idea of what people would do for art.

#The Train #Rose Valland #FilmStruck #John Frankenheimer #The Monuments Men #StreamLine Blog #Susan Doll #Debbe Goldstein #Susan Flon

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jayleeg · 7 years ago

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What's going on with Marvels comics this time?

Okay, so this guy who called himself ��The Whisperer” who claims to be a Marvel Comics employee dumped a crap load of company dirt onto reddit. Once those rumors surfaced Bleeding Cool ran an article about how it was all crap. And then the rumor leak guy fired back that Rich, the administrator of Bleeding Cool, got paid by Marvel to write the article debunking his rumors. Honestly the entire thing is like a soap opera.

I mean I shouldn’t find this stuff interesting, normally I don’t, I stay away from gossip sites for a reason (and that reason is most of it’s torrid and exaggerated) but as someone who’s worked in the market of business data and trends for twenty years I *have* been wondering why Disney hasn’t intervened with the comics division of Marvel when a) it’s going under, sales are way down and b) they’re ruining their brand with crap storytelling. So out of all of these ‘rumors’ the one I can actually believe is that Disney is staging an intervention and also toying with the possibility of moving Marvel Comics to Burbank, California in order to keep a closer eye on them all.

Anyway, the rumors that started the drama are copied and pasted under cut (and by pasting them here I am no way claiming or endorsing that they are in any way valid, they very well could be a bunch of crap) and I linked the Bleeding Cool article debunking some and taking credit for others above…

Editorial is miserable. Understaffed, under experienced and overworked. The direction at the top corporate level is a mess of politics and in-fighting. They all look the fool to Disney because of Feige’s split and the bad PR & constant gaming of their declining sales is wearing on them. Top brass want to make a hard left back to what worked with Steve, Thor, Tony, Banner and other recognizable faces. Editorial knows how bad it’s going to look to push all their diversity celebrations to the side. Reality is those books didn’t sell. A lot of it had to do with Marvel’s chincy practices finally reaching a breaking point with fans but the internal editorial spin is that comic shop fans aren’t ready to embrace change.

>The terrible reaction to Hydra Cap/Secret Empire forced a change in plans. Originally it was going to end with a quasi-Dark Reign scenario where Hydra is vanquished thanks to Kubik shenanigans and the World Security Council from the movies steps in to assume power over super heroes and everything has Civil War-era overtones with registrations, boot camps, the idea of an Inhuman ban. The Vanishing Point would be a way to bring back Steve, Tony, Thor, Banner; sort of like Hickman’s “Time Runs Out” jump-skip but in reverse, it would rewind the characters to before the Hydra subversion stars. The classic heroes realize that they have lost touch with the people and need to learn how to fight for them again. In the meantime, the new generation of Miles, Kamala, Riri and other Champions would form “the resistance” against the WSC state. (“Generation” was also planned to be the transition from the classic guys taking a step back and letting the new generation lead the charge).>>>Legacy is a rush-job. They can’t afford to take the classic characters off the table like that for so long but they also don’t want to piss off the new diverse audience they’ve been trying to court. They’re trying to have their cake and eat it too, and please all masters. It’s a scattershot way to buy time while they right the course on several books. It’s not going to be about “new number 1s” but milestone 500, 600, 800 issues. A lot of these big volume numbers are really stretching the definition but the constant relaunches have started to seriously damage the trade department’s ability to plan out long-term marketing.

>They’re bringing back the Ultimate line for the teen heroes. Miles will become Ultimate Spider-Man again. Siri becomes Ultimate Iron Man. X-Men Blue becomes Ultimate X-Men. Champions becomes the Ultimates. The only “adult” character that will be a regular presence is Captain Marvel because they want her to be seen a prominent character to the overarching power structure of the WSC/SHIELD and other elements that will factor into her movie heavily. They’ll still make guest appearances in the “main” books but don’t expect them to anchor anymore franchises. Bendis staying on Miles and Riri. Hopeless is still on Ult X. New Ultimates writer is Amy Reeder

>Waid is a stop-gap on Cap to bridge the Legacy launch, then takes over Iron Man with 600 (Doom will be the main villain). Coates is taking over Cap with 700. They want him on the book to endorse the image rehabilitation. There’s a lot of face-palming internally about the “cap is a nazi” talk. He’s on both that and Black Panther as long as his schedule allows.

>They got lucky with Greg Pak and Hulk. It leads into a Planet Hulk revival pretty seamlessly.

>Jane Foster dying was always the end-game with the storyline, but the positive response with female fans means they’re trying to find a way to make her stick around. Tentatively planning to make her the new Valkyrie as the movie version is a blank slate and no one cares about the 70s Defenders character.>Classic Thor will be space-bound for awhile. Definitely through “Ragnarok.”>>

>Slott is off Amazing Spider-Man. They’re going to move him over to Friendly Neighborhood; the fear is he would sign exclusive with DC if they took it away from him completely. Plus he struggles with deadlines and there’s less risk with him off to the side. They can’t ignore declining sales anymore and it’s time for a refresh.>Spencer was earmarked for ‘Amazing Spider-Man” for awhile but he’s “earned it” after taking the heat for Secret Empire. Plus there are fans of his “Superior Foes” book in editorial and the plan is to emphasize tech-based criminals, go smaller scale, focus on NYC. Yes, like the movie. No, they’re not going to de-age him to a teenager. (Although it is a corporate synergy idea that has been floated; editorial has been able to argue that there’s no great way to do it … yet. They’re hoping Tom Holland ages up and they give up on that idea. The time-displaced X-Men are an albatross brought on by First Class synergy).>No major plans for MJ beyond guest spots here and there. The marriage isn’t coming back ever. Renew Your Vows will stick around until its a money-loss. It’s just a spin-off that had some legs, like Spider-Gwen. Silver Sable/Black Cat plans are being developed. Big plans for the Venom series to have a central role in Marvel events.>>>The X-Men are still in a tight spot. ResurrXion was itself a rush job after the Inhumans movie push was officially kaput and there was no future for family of books. Because of the Fox issue, they still can’t create new ideas that could go toward the movies so its literally just nostalgia retreads. Uncanny will be back next year with Xavier. Old Man Logan is sticking around for the foreseeable future with X-23 becoming his sidekick, the book will be called “Wolverine.” They burned out Deadpool fans with the price gouging, so no plans for spin-off series, but there will always be mini-series on the side to line out trades.

>Seriously, don’t expect the classic Fantastic Four anytime soon. Ike has seemingly dug his heels in; even though Fox will probably never figure out what to do with them, he’s spiting the brand because of how bad the negotiations went. Sue & Reed and the kids are seen as “boring” enough to sacrifice. Two-In-One is basically a containment book for people to get their F4 fix. It’s an inventory book, no set writer, it’s like “Avenging Spider-Man” or “A+X.” Different writers will get to use different pet characters.

>Ms. Marvel is in a funky spot because most at Marvel are aware that something organically special happened with her book. She’s basically the new “Runaways,” a special project with a special writer’s connection. It will last as long as Wilson wants to writer her, with a focus on the bookstore market while she pops in and out of other books when relevant. They want the audience to have enough familiarity with her because it’s inevitable she’ll be adapted sooner than later; it’s way too soon for her to be introduced into any Carol Danvers sequels so the TV division might snag her for their Hulu/Freeform teen show pitches. (Moon Girl is saved by her trade sales but the threshold is much lower for if sales drop any lower.)

>Wilson is also taking over Captain Marvel. They need to make it work and she’ll do the best job tying the legacy together. Kamala, Monica Rambeau, SWORD — its all part of it.

>Runaways is just a mini-series. They just want the trade out in time for the Hulu show. They can’t seem to get readers to care if it’s not BKV but they know people still love the franchise.>Cloak & Dagger and New Warriors series are coming. Squirrel Girl is wrapping up and North is moving her storylines over to NW where she’ll be the main character.

>Elektra, Bullseye, Kingpin tanking so hard shook them. They need the “Marvel Knights Netflix” corner to be sustainable, so they’re relying on Bendis on Defenders & Jessica Jones for awhile. Say what you want about his other stuff, everyone here thinks its still his sweet spot.>Brian Buccellato is on Daredevil with issue 600.>Justin Jordan is on Moon Knight; big hope that he can give Marvel their “mature” critically acclaimed book that juices up that corner of Marvel.

>Secret Warriors and Royals are already wrapping up. Rosenberg is moving over to one main Inhumans book. Quake/SHIELD will be background characters until “Agents” wraps up (everyone knows this is the last season).>They’re going to give Ahmed a shot with Black Bolt until sales drop.

>No plans to take Duggan off Guardians. Gunn is moving full steam ahead with Adam Warlock weirdness and they want to make sure those characters/ideas are “accessible” but still fun.

>Punisher War Machine is just one storyline involving Stark tech. They want to pull the character back from some of the real-life darkness and imagery; Nate Edmondson’s rep + Secret Empire has made him “ugly” (plus no one cares about Cloonan’s run). They want to scale him back to the Spider-Man/Defenders side of street-level, with less focus on real guns and more emphasis on comic book-y tech.

>Al Ewing is on Spirits of Vengeance. Editorial likes him, but he can’t sell a book to save his life. They just want someone with a love of Marvel lore to write the magic/horror characters to have them prepped for future Movie Phase exploration with a Blade reboot. They know that corner of Marvel horror needs its own “Annihilation.”

>It’s just like … a Spencer plot device. It could have been WeirdWorld (oh boy that was a failed plan). It’s just Spencer’s take on a “place out of time” a la Morrison.

>There are no plans for a Spidey reboot like that. They can’t get readers to pick up a teen Peter Parker since Bendis killed off Ultimate.

They wrote themselves into a corner because no one cares about kids books like Marvel Adventures or that “Spidey” book from last year.

There has been some discussion about an “Untold Tales of Spider-Man” relaunch with teen Peter and the high school cast but they don’t want Busiek and there’s no market for “prequel” books.

There’s a thought (and I agree) that once the animated Miles movie comes out, they’ll have their “Spider-Man for kids” so we want to keep him strong in the comics and cartoon merch. The Sony deal is kind of closed off but in terms of brand direction, we’re all about synergy. The Gwen revival talk is dead now that the Emma Stone movies are done.

We’re just kind of waiting to see Sony’s next steps but there’s kind of like a prep for nostalgia for the Raimi trajection in terms of MJ & college.

We’re in the dark about a lot of the post Infinity War plans now but the overarching brand direction we were looking at was scaling it to revolve around Spider-Man even though Marvel can’t make a solo Spidey film.

I think Tom Holland is going to be the new lynchpin for the MCU. They’re not going to have a new “Iron Man” franchise but they’ve got Holland locked into a deal where he’ll teaming up with characters in their own stuff.

The original plan was to mirror the Civil War to Secret Invasion to Dark Reign arc.

There’s a reason this is called Secret Empire. The next step was “Nomad”‘ing the entire Marvel line-up. There was a lot of editorial excitement about saying something about Trump’s win and the baby boomer backlash.

No one was expecting the backlash to cap hydra and they probably could have kept the original plans intact but I think it was the sales/marketing push that buried it.

Not everyone is an idiot here; we are aware of how we price gouge comic shops. I think that was more the issue and once all the online fan political arguing started happening around the book, retailers just finally threw their hands cause it wasn’t worth the outrage.

Jason Aaron is off doing his own thing. His Avengers BC thing is just a Morrison mini series idea he has.

Spencer “made his statement” now that Captain Sam won’t be the status quo (that was the original plan while Steve goes back to the maskless “Super Soldier” identity).

I think everyone agrees it’s time to take teens away from Waid.

But the senior editors had big plans for that push and now there’s nowhere else to put it. But we can’t just get rid of it forever.

There was no plan to replace all the “white men” its just how the pieces fell into the place. Honestly, the Riri thing was the tipping point. It was Bendis’ idea, no one in editorial had a big plan for it and it hurt the big post-Secret Wars push to make Tony Stark the franchise of the MU.

Since it’s basically a book for his daughter, we’re kind of stuck keeping her in print.

Edit wants to have a fresh voice on a Miles book in time for the Sony cartoon. David Walker apparently had a pitch that got people excited.

But there’s just no way to take Miles AND Riri away from Bendis without burning a bridge with him forever.

I’m not kidding: the Slott FNSM run is going to marketed like Joss Whedon on Astonishing. It’s its “own thing” “unrestricted by the monthly continuity but still taking place in the MU” which is code for “if its late, its late.”

It’s going to be sold as “separate but equal” to Amazing. I have no idea how long it will last, but it’s to assuage his ego apparently as he was not interested in other books.

I don’t think anybody wants anyone else to jump to DC. The real fear is Disney seeing that Warner had success moving the comics office to Burbank and lining everything up under one roof.

Moving Marvel Comics out of NYC and onto the Disney lots is a real possibility. A lot of us will get downsized or just not relocate if that happens.

not surprised. just our typical variant trick that’s been meant with diminishing returns while contracts get lined up for new last-minute books to replace post SE plans.

shitty day for me because i had to handle a lot of the online damage control until like 8:30

This is how Marvel corporate works under Ike: we don’t give the fox and sony movies anything but we will milk the cash in on comics.

After X3, the plan was to do a teen focused reboot, so we were going to cash in on that. Not literally the movie cast, but remove the baggage and make them streamlined and accessible to younger demos.

Claremont is like the “Spider Man wedding” of X Men. Its this unwieldy thing that none of the senior editors like that they want to rewind but because of the movie deal we can’t make new IP.

X-Men has been a micromanaged mess since I started here. AVX was a sales team gimmick to replicate Civil War, which messed up Schism. Remender’s plans got hijacked by the time displaced O5 which was a pretty shameless Bendis pitch to corporate. There’s no central architect guiding the franchise, just big plans that get derailed by the next sales gimmick.

Then the fox talks started going really south and it wasn’t just “don’t give them new ideas” but actively scale it back.

Yes Ike and corporate really thought they could replace X Men with Inhumans. They don’t actually care what it is, just as long as they own it.

The 05 was seen as a way to scale it back and might as well “House of M” the last vestige of Grant Morrison’s run and just make Scott & Emma straight up super villains. But its been a mess cause no two writers are working together on the bigger picture and Gillen and Aaron and Remender all had different plans.

IVX was a mercy killing to a character that had been written into a corner

Carnage: big villain for the Venom plansPower Pack: early early development for a freeform show, comic would follow obviously

i’m writing this on my personal laptop out of the office. no one at marvel checks this place. and if they did, they just see 4chan as a bunch of trump trolls.

#marvel #comics

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popculty · 5 years ago

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A ‘Jessica Jones’ Retrospective: Part 1 (AKA The Superhero We Were Waiting For)

Happy International Women’s Day, dear followers! We’re celebrating by looking back at one of the most iconic female characters ever to grace our screens. In Part 1 of our epic, three-part Jessica Jones debrief, we talk about why Jessica was such a revelation in the TV landscape and how she has impacted the culture since. Then we share listener stories on what the show has meant to people all over the world. Join us for Part 2 (coming soon!), when we'll talk queer subtext, David Tennant as Kilgrave, and season two! And hey - Don't miss out on the bonus episode! Become a Patron of the show at just $1 a month and you'll automatically get a very special Part 4! (Trust me, you’ll need it by the time you finish this series...) TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS EPISODE: Mentions of sexual assault; discussion of alcoholism and child abuse. If you need someone to talk to about anything brought up in this episode, please call 800-656-HOPE or visit rainn.org.

Listen to the episode.

Or read the full transcript below.

SJ: Welcome back to The Popculty Podcast, where we highlight all things female and diverse in pop culture. And this week is finally the week: the much-awaited, long-anticipated, painstakingly and lovingly put-together Jessica Jones debrief. I am so excited to finally bring this conversation to you all and to share the stories that we've gotten from listeners, to talk about all the things that we could possibly cram into these next few hours. And honestly, I could have made this a 10-part episode and still had a million things to talk about. There is just that much going on in this show. We did our damnedest to cover it all and do justice to one of the best shows of the decade. Stay with us - It's going to be a ride.

[Jessica Jones theme music plays]

SJ: Marvel's Jessica Jones debuted November 20th, 2015. It was the second series in the Marvel Netflix Universe, or MNU as some of us like to call it, after Daredevil and preceding Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Those four shows then came together in a crossover called The Defenders. The show is based on the Alias comics by Brian Michael Bendis from 2001, and it marked a steep departure from other Marvel fare. In fact, Marvel had to create an R-rated subdivision called MAX just to roll out Alias, because it was dealing with such heavy themes (and because Jessica really likes to swear). Created by Melissa Rosenberg, the first season of the TV series adapts the broad strokes of the comic, following a super-powered private investigator, Jessica Jones, played by Krysten Ritter, after the events of the first Avengers movie.

The cultural impact of Jessica Jones can't be understated. She was basically the first female superhero who had any real mainstream success and staying power in the 21st century. She paved the way for Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Black Widow, and now all these Disney+ shows that have been announced - Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, She-Hulk... Jessica Jones broke that glass ceiling and showed the studios that people were actually interested in seeing female superheroes like this. And it was the first in so many other ways: It was part of the beginning stages of the #MeToo Movement; it introduced the first queer characters in the Marvel universe, and still to this day the first openly gay characters; it introduced us to Luke Cage, one of the first black superheroes on screen, who got his own series two years before the massive hit that was Black Panther. It was also one of the first shows to be created, show-run, and mostly written and directed by women. To my knowledge, Jessica Jones season two and Queen Sugar are the only two shows on TV to be completely directed by women.

All of these things, we can look back to at this exact point in time, when this show debuted, and witness a sea change in the media that came after and in the cultural conversations that it sparked. Ever since the show debuted back in 2015 I have been wanting to do something like this - Have these conversations, come together to share our experiences of the show, our thoughts about the characters and representation, celebrating the things we love and critiquing the things that maybe could be a little bit better. Because no show is perfect, not even my beloved Jessica Jones (although it comes damn close). This is my favorite show in recent memory. I just remember being absolutely gobsmacked the first time I sat down and watched all of season one in one sitting. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and even though it has inspired a lot of other things - better representation of complex female characters, more female superheroes - nothing has ever quite compared to Jessica Jones. She's kind of the O.G. And this show tackled things that other shows are still too afraid to tackle.

A bit of a refresher on Jessica's backstory, going into season one: When Jessica was 13 years old, her family died in a car accident, which also gave her powers like super strength and *technically* the ability to fly (even though she hasn't really mastered it and it's more like "guided falling," as she says). Basically, she can jump real high, she can punch people through walls, and she can heal a little bit faster than normal humans, but she's not invincible. After the accident, she was adopted by the Walkers - Trish Walker, AKA "Patsy," a young starlet, and her manipulative and abusive mother, Dorothy. Jessica grew up with the Walkers, she and Trish became best friends, she protected Trish from her mother's violent outbursts, Trish dealt with her own traumas - addiction, predators within the industry - and Jessica tried to put her powers to use briefly, helping the helpless. That kind of backfired though, because it put her on the radar of a man named Kilgrave, who has the ability to mind-control people and make them do whatever he tells them to do. He kidnapped Jessica and held her for months against her will, mind-controlling her to fall in love with him, to kill people, to do whatever he wanted. She finally broke free of him and returned to her life, but she’s a serious alcoholic with PTSD, just trying to make it through the day. And now, at the beginning of season one, Kilgrave is back and she has to figure out how to deal with him, once and for all.

I do want to say, we will be talking in this episode about mostly the first season of the show, which viewers will know deals heavily with sexual assault, as Jessica is a survivor herself. So trigger warning for general discussion of sexual assault, alcoholism, and child abuse. We're not going to get into super graphic detail with anything by all means, but it is a major theme of the show and we're probably going to be talking about it in some capacity in every episode. So just be aware of that. And if you are a survivor yourself listening to this and you're triggered by anything here, I really encourage you to call RAINN at (806) 565-HOPE, or you can go to https://www.rainn.org/ and chat with someone if you're not comfortable talking on the phone. That stands for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. They're a nonprofit organization that supports survivors. So I just want people to be aware that there are resources out there. If you are someone who has dealt with any of the things that Jessica has, help is available, and other people who have been through it exist.

For these episodes, I really wanted to talk to someone who's as big of a Jessica Jones fan as I am and who also has a background or a perspective that complements mine. And I was super lucky to get back in touch with an old friend of mine, Bethany, who lives in Philadelphia. She is currently working on her PhD in sociology, focusing on gender and sexuality. She's interested in feminist theory and social inequalities as they relate to intersections of gender, class, and race. Her current research examines reproductive inequalities in U.S. legislation on abortion, how different populations are targeted and affected by laws and how they relate to the larger processes of sexism, classism, and racism. She's also involved with local union activities at the university, fighting that good fight for fair working conditions and freedom from the oppressive capitalist model that is modern day higher education.

SJ (to Bethany): I'm so glad that I discovered you are as much of a Jessica Jones fan as I am!

Bethany: I know! Well, thank you, really, for letting me do this with you. I feel honored that this is a show that means so much to you that you would want to talk to me about it.

SJ: Aww, for sure! You and I had a very similar experience of the show, but it's so nice to just be able to commiserate with someone else about some of the things that were going on, and to also have some of my feelings be validated because one of the real problems with this new binge culture that we find ourselves in is, no one experiences entertainment communally anymore. You know what I mean? Everyone's off watching a different episode...

Bethany: Yeah, that's a good point.

SJ: ...And I really just wanted to just catch up with everyone and be like, "Can we all just sit down and have a conversation, and be coming from the same place at the same time?" Because I just feel like, between the lack of promotion for the show and the way things really fell apart with the Marvel Netflix shows towards the end, people are all over the place in their experience. And maybe now that it's been a few months since the show ended, people have finally caught up, and I'm hoping that this is a good time to take a breather and just reflect on the entire series.

SJ (to listener): I had so much fun talking to Bethany about this, and she was such a champ. She put up with so many phone calls and messages from me. She was so helpful in helping me to articulate these things that I feel like I have been trying to say for years, really, since the show debuted. We spoke for almost seven hours total over the course of three months. So that two-part Jessica Jones conversation I promised y'all? Yeah, that's become a three-part and a bonus episode. So stay tuned for the next two parts of this conversation that are to come in the next few months. And then if you want the bonus episode - which I promise you do - that will be available for patrons of the show. So now's the time to head on over to our newly-launched Patreon page, help a girl out, celebrate the season of giving, and get yourself that Jessica Jones bonus episode. If you even sign up to give $1 a month to the show, you will always get bonus episodes, including this first one. I kept that bar super low because I want as many people as possible to enjoy those bonus episodes. All right! Without further ado, here is part one of our Jessica Jones debrief.

SJ (to Bethany): Well, thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. I've been wanting to do this for a really long time because as you know, it's a show that's very near and dear to my heart. You can see, I've got my Defenders t-shirt on, with Iron Fist crossed out.

Bethany: Oh, yeah! [laughs] That's great. Yeah, well thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here too.

SJ: Awesome. So tell me, how did you come across Jessica Jones?

Bethany: Jessica Jones was advertised to me [laughs] on Netflix, because I started watching Daredevil originally. Which was, I guess, a superhero I'm a little bit more familiar with. I mean, I love the Marvel - and DC, for that matter - whole comic book/superhero universe. As a kid I loved X-Men, and as an adult, I still think the idea of having super-powers, but still being a relatively normal person in other ways, is like the coolest thing. So I watched Daredevil, and then Jessica Jones sort of immediately followed that release. And I was so into the idea of this young, kind of badass woman doing her thing. And it wasn't fancy - I've always been more attracted to these dark characters who are not your classic good-guy superhero. So I was there for it. But I honestly had not heard much about Jessica Jones before the show got big and people started talking about it everywhere.

SJ: Okay, so you weren't familiar with the Alias comics then?

Bethany: No.

SJ: Me neither, actually, until I started seeing [the show] advertised, and I was like, "What is this show?? It looks amazing!" And the more research I did then, I found that it's actually based on a comic. So I was like, "Well, I have to read everything." So I did, in preparation. But yeah, same - Even from the trailers, it was apparent that this was going to be a superhero that was unlike any other that we had ever seen, especially in the Marvel world. Like you said, she's so much darker. She's very flawed and damaged. Like in Daredevil, these characters struggle with more human problems, instead of fighting aliens from other planets and that sort of thing. They're more focused on protecting their neighborhood, protecting their family, and dealing with their own traumas, in Jessica's case. So I really liked that, and I was a fan of Daredevil before as well. And also at this point in time, we hadn't had any female superheroes, really. This was 2015, so this was well before Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel, Black Widow - all these other movies that are just now starting to come out. I want to say Supergirl had just debuted the month before Jessica Jones, so they really kind of came out at the same time. We have to think back several years to the status of things in the superhero world at that time.

[*ding* to indicate side-bar]

SJ (to listener): I wrote a primer for the blog on the history of female superheroes in media at this point in time, back in 2015. But cliff-notes: there were almost no female superheroes in mainstream pop culture, and there were no female superheroes on TV, with the exception of Skye/Daisy Johnson/Quake on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Who is a great character played by an actress of color, and we should not have Quake eraser by any means, but she is on this ensemble show led by a white man. So Jessica Jones was like *mind explosion*. She was really the first to be the title character of her own show. It was a big deal.

[*ding* indicates side-bar over]

SJ (to Bethany): We're being very much inundated right now, but it was not like that even four or five years ago. So personally, I was like, "Holy crap, we're finally getting a female superhero!" And not just that, but she's the opposite of Supergirl in a lot of ways - she's very gritty and realistic, and an alcoholic...So yeah, I hear you. It was just this realistic representation of a woman that we had never seen before.

Bethany: I think Catwoman has had some good representation. I think there's been some successful portrayals of Catwoman... There's been some bad ones too. And then, you know, there was the major Elektra flop. But other than that, we didn't really have a lot of female superheroes that people were really there for and were excited about.

SJ: Which is really a shame, because Elektra's an awesome character, so that flop was really disappointing. Obviously the Catwoman movie is... a mess. [laughs] Totally bonkers - it's directed by a guy with one name. It's a total bizarre movie. Yeah, [at that point in time], every time we'd had any sort of female superhero on the big screen or on TV, it hadn't really gone that well. It was either poor quality, or people just didn't respond to it, for whatever reason. And I think Jessica Jones - and Supergirl - they both have had really positive, strong viewer reactions. And I think it's both a testament to the quality of both those pieces of media, but it's also the timing. I think maybe we, as a society, were ready for these iterations. Do you think if Jessica Jones had come along either earlier or later, that we would have reacted to it the same way?

Bethany: So no, I don't actually. I mean, if Jessica Jones had come around earlier, I don't think there would have been the same appreciation for her. Or maybe she would have been the catalyst for things that already happened then that led to her creation. If she came later, I think it would have just been seen as "riding the wave." To me, her representation on Netflix was itself a product of things that were already happening socially, that led to the need for that. And I just have to say, since we're on the topic of female superheroes, one of the things I love best about Jessica Jones is that she is wearing realistic superhero clothing. I can't tell you how many female superheroes I'm tired of seeing with their hair down, and they're wearing heels...Just extremely impractical kicking-ass attire!

SJ: Oh my god, yes. And I think part of that is the fact that she's, at best, a reluctant superhero, which has a lot to do with how she presents herself - the way she acts, the way she interacts with people, the way she dresses. I mean, she just doesn't give a shit. Her pants are literally the same ripped jeans in the entirety of the show! The only change in her wardrobe is that her pants have more holes in them by the end of season three.

Bethany: [laughs] Right.

SJ: It's always ripped jeans, a tank top, leather jacket, and her boots - That's her superhero costume. So it's functional, it's realistic, and she obviously doesn't put a lot of thought into what she wears because she just doesn't care, which says so much about her as a person. One of the many think-pieces written in the wake of this show pointed out that it's not just her superhero costume, it's also her armor, her form of protection to keep people at bay. This look that says, "I don't give a shit. Stay the hell away from me."

Bethany: I think it's consistent with her character too, because so much about her look is very utilitarian and just practical for her. She wakes up and throws on the same things that she always wears, that are on the floor or whatever, and then she goes about her day. It wouldn't be consistent with her character to be, like, getting ready and...

SJ: Putting on makeup, wearing heels... It's just not her. Usually she's sleeping off a hangover and then promptly getting drunk again, you know? Bustle said in their initial review of the show, "Jessica is one part Veronica Mars, two parts salty old P.I. from an 80s movie, and ten parts someone who wouldn't give a shit about anything I just said. She's not exactly what I would call a 'nice person', but she's a person that I'm ready to give up fourteen straight hours of my life and all the sunlight that normally comes with it for. At one point she threatens a pipsqueak with the line, 'You turn that thing on and I'll pull your underwear through your eye,' and my heart soared. This is the female superhero we've been waiting for." I'm just like, "Yep, same!"

Bethany: That was one of those lines that got me hooked on the character right from the beginning. You know, it was just the attitude. It was the general vibe of the character. There's something that's really fun about it, it's empowering, it's a little bit vindictive...

SJ: Totally. This is a show that is very dark, it tackles very real issues that are very serious. But it does it in a way that’s not painful to watch. Even when she's dealing with Kilgrave and her past trauma, she has this way - and it's the character, but it's also the performance by Krysten Ritter - she's so snarky about everything and she has these great one-liners...

Jessica: You shoot at me, I'll pull the bullet out of my ruined jacket and shove it up your ass with my pinky finger, and who do you think that's going to hurt more?

Self-respect! Get some!

SJ: It keeps the show from being too preachy or too heavy. And it's this perfect balance that I think is really hard to strike when you're trying to talk about these serious issues in a long-running show like this, because that can get pretty intense over a long stretch of time. I mean, I was grateful for the season breaks for sure, because after every finale I was like, "I need to process this." But I never felt like I was being sucked into this black hole that was Jessica's life or anything.

Bethany: Yeah. One of the things I loved most, just in terms of production value, was that it still delivers on the kind of campy comic book thing that you expect, right? These one-liners, this energy...Some of it's kind of funny, maybe a little bit even absurd. And it is still kind of fantastical - there's this supernatural element to it, right? They have powers, this isn't a world that we really live in. But at the same time, this did actually feel more rooted in the real world than some comic book things do. It didn't feel as blockbustery, which was very refreshing. I thought it balanced that line between delivering on what we love about comic books but also not having it be this crazy-action-fun movie that we usually see in theaters or something. I love that.

SJ: It just had everything I was looking for, you know? Female superhero, but also just a main character who's this scrappy mess of a woman, kind of an asshole, but also really funny. And then it's also about female friendship, which is something that's very near and dear to my heart, and I'm always on the lookout for decent representations of because it's so often overlooked or mischaracterized. It was something that I'm not quite sure that we'll ever see anything like again, honestly. Even in the years since it's debuted, there's been a lot of attempt to imitate what Jessica Jones does. It's been interesting to see how it's influenced other characters in the MCU and also just TV in general.

Bethany: I think Jessica Jones is a character that people want to be like, as much as she kind of glorifies some really not-so-great human qualities. There's something kind of empowering about a lot of the things that she does embody, at least for me. Like, I remember thinking, "Oh, I want to be meaner! And I want to be stronger! And I want to be able to drink more whiskey!"

SJ: Right? Gotta build up my tolerance! I know, it's kind of a weird thing to see her as a hero, but a lot of people felt that way. I mean, if you go on social media, people are just like, "Jessica Jones is my everything. I just want to be like her," even though we all know that's kind of problematic - you know, please take care of yourself. But yeah, there's something that really has resonated with people just because she's so human.

Bethany: And I think even more than human too. Like, to see a woman be that openly angry, that aggressive, physically violent... I don't think she glorifies physical violence, which I was really happy to see actually because I do think that superhero movies are very flippant about portrayals of violence. I don't think she's like that at all, but we don't see outward expressions of contempt and anger from women that often. And for me, that was something that I personally loved.

SJ: Definitely. I am also really fascinated with the "angry woman" on TV right now, because that's something that's very new. Women have not been allowed to be angry, in society or in media, for a very long time. And that's changing now, because we (women especially) are at this cultural, societal, full-on rage-boil. And that's seeping into our media, and I think Jessica is very much a representative of that. But I also think Trish represents that also, in a slightly different, kind of parallel way. So when we get into season three, I would like to talk more about that, because I think the dichotomy that the show sets up between two different versions of female rage being expressed, and which one we are supposed to root for, is super interesting. So we'll definitely get back to that, because that's something that I really, really feel strongly about.

Bethany: That sounds great.

SJ: The other thing that really resonated with so many people when this show first debuted is the fact that it's talking about some really real issues: PTSD, rape/sexual assault, addiction, abuse...I mean, it's tackling a lot of things, and it's doing it very well. I kind of knew that the show was going to be awesome, just based off the things I was hearing and the promos. It looked like it was gonna be great, and then when it actually debuted and I binged the whole thing, thirteen hours straight in one night, I was like, "Holy shit, this actually was as good as I thought it was going to be." And I wasn't the only one - Within 24 hours of that show dropping, you saw people take to the internet to write these really thoughtful, personal essays and think-pieces about what the show meant to them. Women were coming out of the woodwork to say, "Me too," before there was even a #MeToo Movement. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this was very much a part of the beginning stages of the #MeToo Movement, because women were feeling like they could finally have a place to talk about these things, and I think the show allowed us to do that.

Bethany: I think all of these media things really led to part of the shared culture of the #MeToo Movement happening, because they were all signifiers that these were topics we were going to start talking about more publicly, that people wanted to bring into the public eye. Yeah, absolutely. So I was like you, I watched it in probably like a weekend or maybe a week or something. I watched it very, very quickly, and the reaction was just enormous. And that was maybe a year before the #MeToo thing really picked up.

SJ: Yeah, it was right around the 2016 election, all that stuff happening, and then the Weinstein thing came out... But it was just incredible to see all these people coming forward with their stories. And honestly, I shouldn't gender it, I shouldn't say it was just women coming forward, because it wasn't. In fact, the article I read that stuck with me the most was called "How Jessica Jones Saved My Life." And it was written by a man, Reuben Hayslett, who had his own version of Kilgrave and was writing about how this show was the first time he had ever seen his story reflected back to him in a way that he could process his experience. So when I say women coming forward to talk about their experiences, yes, it's mostly been women I've seen, but not exclusively. Let's not forget that sexual assault and domestic abuse know no gender. So just to see the way that she's empowered people to start having these conversations has been so incredible, and a huge reason that the show means so much to me.

So, touching base on the other characters in the show and the other things that are going on, this was also the first queer representation in the Marvel universe. There had never been any openly gay characters, and here we have Jeri Hogarth, openly gay, and in not one, but two lesbian relationships. So all of a sudden, we have all these queer characters. And the show continues to bring in side characters that are queer, and it's all part of creating this world that looks more like the world we actually live in and not just this hetero-normative hellscape [laughs] that the other MCU things do. So that was a big step. And well, I appreciate Jeri Hogarth for a number of reasons. I think you do too, right?

Bethany: I do.

SJ: I love to hate her.

Bethany: Yeah, I feel the same way. I love to hate her. One of the reasons I actually like her portrayal is because she's frankly kind of a terrible person. She's selfish, she's ruthless, she's kind of predatory, honestly. So we get this great representation of another really strong female character who's smart as hell, but then she's also just really immoral. She's sort of like a side-villain that runs through the whole series. You're constantly wondering, "Wait, do I like her? Is she changing? Is she not?"

SJ: She's one of the most interesting characters to watch for me on the show because you never quite know whether she's going to learn and grow from her mistakes. You're always kind of hoping, but she just keeps disappointing you. Just when you think she can't sink any lower, she gets a shovel and goes deeper.

Bethany: [laughs] Yeah.

SJ: There's a long history of queer characters, especially queer women, in media being the villains, being demonized. And she could have fallen into that trap, but the show never gets close to that because first of all, she's not one thing. She's not just evil. And she does have moments where she shows some humanity and she has some semblance of a moral code. And then like I said, there are many other queer characters throughout the show who are all complex and exist on varying places on the morality spectrum. So I love that it's not, "They gave us this one queer character and oh, of course she's the villain." Honestly, when you think about all the characters that exist in this show, every single one of them is morally complex. None of them are all hero or all villain. Every one of them is so nuanced and complicated: Jessica, Jeri, Trish, even Malcolm. That's another thing that I really love, because we don't get characters that are that richly developed and that nuanced, especially female characters.

Bethany: Yeah. Actually some of the characters who, to me, were the most shallow ended up being some of the male characters. Which, in a good show, any shallow character is a disappointment, but I wasn't totally hating that it was the male characters (here).

SJ: Did you see that tweet that went viral? This guy said:

Bethany: [laughs] Exactly.

SJ: [laughs] It was so nice to see that the show was resonating not only with female audiences (for very obvious reasons), but men were appreciating it too. It was giving them a reference point that they've never been given before, like this sort of thing, where female characters are so few and far between and they're not fleshed out - This is the type of media that we're so used to seeing, as female viewers. So to have the shoe be put on the other foot, for men to experience what that feels like, and for them to get it finally, was really amazing.

Bethany: I think it's just become so normal now for you to watch something and the one female character - maybe two, if you're lucky - they're just so disappointing. They're like these shells of real people. They're unrealistic. They say things and they act in ways that are inconsistent. And you can tell that they are written by someone who is nothing like that character. It's just such a disappointment. And one thing I love about Jessica Jones is that not only does it have these amazing female characters that have depth and are realistic, really complex, but the show is so popular that it didn't become classified as a "woman's show." I think that's really unique, because there are other shows with some really great female characters, but I'm not sure that there are a lot of men watching those shows.

SJ: That is so true. I never saw it get pigeonholed as a "woman's show." Of course I've seen a few trolls be like, "That show's stupid, it sucks," whatever. And it's ALWAYS men, always...

Bethany: [laughs] Of course.

SJ: But for the most part, I feel like it resonated with a pretty broad audience, because it was just so different. People were thirsting for something that was outside the realm of what we normally see, not just in terms of superhero narratives, but in terms of television and entertainment in general. I think people were so ready for something this radically different.

Bethany: I do think it helped too that it was a superhero show though--

SJ: Oh, totally.

Bethany: Because that is such a popular genre. It used to be...not even like a niche thing, but people would say, "Oh, you know, it's for comic book people." Or like, "nerds" or whatever. But it's just such a common thing now, right? It's a wide fan-base. Everyone loves superhero stuff - or a lot of people do. So I do think that helped, and I think it also helped that it had these connections to these other shows in the Marvel universe. But yeah, that was the one thing that for me was really unique about Jessica Jones, was to have the show be dominated and really driven forward by female characters. And to not have it be considered a "woman's show."

SJ: Bit of a Trojan move there - Coming in as, ostensibly, a superhero show, an action show, a noir. But then, whoops, it's actually a super nuanced portrayal of female characters! And relationships between women! And a treatise on sexual assault! All these things hit you, but it's so smart to package it under the guise of just another superhero show in the Marvel Universe.

Bethany: Yeah, [laughs] you almost wonder if they were trying to, like, trick people who may not want to watch it, had they known that they were going to get that piece of it.

SJ: I mean...

Bethany: I'm not upset about it!

SJ: I'm not upset about it either! I thank Melissa Rosenberg every single day. [laughs] No, it's brilliant.

Bethany: One thing I think was extremely successful about Jessica Jones, aside from the superhero thing, her being a badass woman, is just that she has The Cool Factor that has been such an icon in TV and film for basically forever. People love to watch these kind of epitomes of Cool. She has The Cool Factor.

SJ: I can't tell you the number of people I saw dressed up as Jessica Jones that first year it premiered. And I'm still seeing Jessica Jones cosplay at Comic-Cons. I'm seeing pictures on social media, people dressing up as her. Yeah, she's awesome. She's a fucking badass! Like, who doesn't want to be Jessica Jones? Obviously we both do! [both laugh]

Let's talk about the other two main supporting characters: First there's Malcolm, speaking of the few male characters. He was someone that people were definitely really skeptical of at first because it's like, "Oh, you have the one black man character and he's a drug addict." But as the season progresses, you realize Kilgrave did this to him. He wouldn't have been an addict if Kilgrave hadn't gotten to him, basically, and he's being blackmailed. And he ends up pulling through and getting clean and helping Jessica, and he becomes a huge part of Alias Investigations. Then he really branches out into his own thing and works for Jeri, going through his own very complicated moral crisis later in season three.

Bethany: I didn't actually care for Malcolm at the beginning for that same reason that you just said - that people saw him as this kind of token character. Just his whole onscreen thing, I was not getting, I wasn't buying it. But once you realize what was happening with Kilgrave... I don't wanna say it humanizes him, but it gives you context. And then he becomes more of a real character, and I really, really liked his arc actually, especially through the second season and into the third as well. But yeah, as he gets more complicated and becomes a more main character, I liked him better and better.

SJ: So what are your thoughts on Trish Walker? I think you know that I really like Trish, for various reasons. And not because she's always likable, because she's definitely not. I just think she's a fascinating character, especially as we go through the seasons and we get more of her backstory, her traumas that really kind of mirror Jessica's in a lot of ways. I love watching that character progress, even though it did get a little painful in season three for sure, as we will discuss. But what do you think about Trish? Because I know that there is a very vocal subsection of the Jessica Jones fandom that really hate her, in a way that they don't hate any of the other characters.

Bethany: I didn't know that that existed. It doesn't surprise me to hear that though. I like Trish even though she annoys me, but she annoys me for the reasons why I think she's a good character. And it's because I think she's a product of her environment. She has this abusive mom, this extremely high-pressure childhood, having to perform. She's been socialized in a very particular kind of femininity. You know, she's uptight, she's pushy, she's relentless, and there are times where I'm watching the show and, frankly, she just annoys the hell out of me! But at the same time, I like her for that because her character is extremely realistic with what we end up finding out about her history through the three seasons.

SJ: I like the way you said that and that's a really good way to describe Trish I think, because she's not always likable, but she is one of the most believable characters I've ever seen. I mean she's been through almost as much shit as Jessica has. Her childhood was abusive, thanks to Dorothy, and was really embroiled in that "casting couch culture" that we're hearing so much about now, especially with the #MeToo Movement and everything. That was her childhood, growing up with those predatory producers and men in the industry who took advantage of her. And her mom was no help - she basically pimped out her own daughter. Trish then becomes addicted to drugs when she's in her teens and struggles with that for a long time. I mean, she's had a rough life, and I think because she is so put-together when we first meet her in season one, she's done a lot of work to get to this point, and sometimes people forget just how many traumas of her own she's survived. And yeah, that's going to mess a person up, that's going to make them act in certain ways, that's going to make them not always the most palatable character. Whenever I hear someone say they don't like Trish, it's immediately followed by, "Well, she's annoying," or in season three it's, "She's just crazy!" But I kind of take issue with both of those adjectives. They seem a little sexist to me because I don't hear fans calling any of the other characters on the show who are way worse in so many ways than Trish Walker... No one calls Kilgrave, the rapist, “annoying” or “crazy”, even though he's both! Something about the way that some viewers of the show attack Trish really kind of puts me off a little bit, because I just question where that's coming from, and I feel like there's a strong element of probably unconscious sexism to it. But I also ask people to think about, if your best friend was a survivor of child abuse and addiction and sexual assault, would you ever call them "annoying"? I mean, I know we're talking about fictional characters, but these characters have lived through things that many people in the real world have lived through, so I feel like they deserve some measure of sympathy on our part.

And the haters are always more vocal, but I know there's also a lot of people out there who sympathize or empathize with Trish and see their own struggles reflected in her. As someone who also had an abusive person in her childhood, I can tell you that navigating what kind of relationship I now want with this person, if any at all, now that they have supposedly changed has been one of the most difficult things I've had to do in my adult life. And watching Trish navigate that relationship with Dorothy, her former abuser who is now somewhat reformed, trying to do some good, but still inherently the person she always was... I feel that.

Trish: What are you doing here, mother?

Dorothy: I was worried. You've never missed a show, so when Trish Talk got preempted this morning--

Trish: You listen to my show?

Dorothy: Well, of course. I'm afraid I berated your station manager into telling me where you were.

Trish: You're good at verbal abuse.

Dorothy: The nurse told me you took something.

Trish: I'm fine.

Dorothy: [skeptically] Hmm.

Trish: I didn't relapse. I'm fine.

Dorothy: That's good. You know, I would listen to Trish Talk even if you weren't my daughter. You're so smart and incisive--

Trish: I don't need your approval, mother.

Dorothy: Tough shit. You got it. People still look up to you. I get calls about you all the time.

Trish: I'm not your client.

Dorothy: As you made abundantly clear years ago to me - privately, publicly, internationally...

Trish: I didn't want you getting your claws into another starlet.

Dorothy: Fair enough. I was a god-awful mother back then.

Trish: And not now?

Dorothy: How would I know? You never gave me another shot at it.

Trish: I'd like you to leave now.

SJ: Trish can be very extra, but I always feel like this is just a person who is dealing in the best way she knows how. And that's again, like Jessica, just such a human, relatable character, with all her flaws and all her moments of dislikability, and her questionable choices. As the show goes on, we get these flashback episodes that give us a much better understanding of why she is so dogged in everything she does. Rachael Taylor, who plays Trish, has talked about how especially in season one Trish's main motivating factor is that guilt of “Jessica needed me and I wasn't there for her, and now I can be, now that Kilgrave is back and I know the score, and I'm going to do everything I can to make up for last time.” We do see her go a bit overboard on that desperation to save Jessica sometimes, as we'll talk about in season two and three. The show does a great job of foreshadowing her trajectory as well. From that very first scene that they have together, Trish is pushing Jessica to be a better hero, to use her powers in the ways that Trish thinks she should use them...

Jessica: You know what he can do. You know what he made me do.

Trish: So you're running?

Jessica: Yeah, I sure as hell am. If he gets ahold of me again?

Trish: If you leave that girl with him--

Jessica: What would you have me do? What exactly should I do?

Trish: We'll figure out a way to protect you.

Jessica: We? He's coming for me, not you.

Trish: I know!

Jessica: You don't.

Trish: I know one thing: You are far better-equipped to deal with that animal than some innocent girl from Omaha. You're still the person who tried to do something.

Jessica: Tried and failed. That's what started this. I was never the hero that you wanted me to be.

Trish: I'll get your money. [fading footsteps]

SJ: We see this resentment and almost jealousy progress in these incremental ways over the course of the series. Anyways, I just have a lot of sympathy for Trish and I find her really fascinating to watch, especially in the end when a lot of people are like, "Oh, she's really gone off the deep end." But to me, it just actually feels like a very organic, natural evolution for this character.

Bethany: Yeah, I completely agree with that. And I know we both have feelings about the finale, so I'm just gonna pretend that that's not in my next statement, but yeah, her trajectory as a character felt completely natural to me. And I found that some of what was most annoying about her character sometimes was the juxtaposition of it being a barrier for Jessica's character. Because you want to root for Jessica Jones as your primary character in the show, right? Like, you're on her side, you're rooting for her, and Trish is someone who sometimes gets in her way or makes things more difficult for Jessica. And it's built into the show itself - You're supposed to be annoyed by any character who does that. And it's not just Trish, it's Malcolm at various points, and even Hogarth. So I think it's natural that you, at times, are like, "Trish, come on, what are you doing? You're making this worse! Jessica has this, just let her do it!" But I think it's what you said: Trish has such a strong sense of this inner moral compass and such a strong idea about how things should be done, how Jessica should be using her powers, combined with this resentment that she can't do that, and this desperation of like, "If I was the one in your situation, I would do it so differently." I think her character completely makes sense...until the very, very, very end [laughs].

SJ: Right. Exactly. And we will certainly get there. [laughs] Lots of thoughts on that. But yeah, even if you don't particularly like her or the direction that she goes, I think it makes sense for her. And she's a really good foil to Jessica in a lot of ways because of that. The two just see things very differently. Jessica's like, "I just want to get through the day. I didn't ask for these powers." And Trish is like, "Come on! You're a superhero! If I had your powers, I would be saving the world!" And I think that's really relatable.

Another thing that I really love about the show and have loved since the very beginning, is the way that it sets up their relationship as really the heart of the show. Even the villains every season are strategically used in order to really get at the main theme, which is this dynamic between Jessica and Trish. I love the seasonal progression of their relationship - In season one, it's very much reconnecting after this period of Jessica pushing Trish away to protect her, in season two we have Jessica's mother as the antagonist, which introduces a biological-family-versus-chosen-family dynamic, and Jessica is kind of forced to choose between the two... So if you look at every single season, when you boil it down, it's about the two of them. And I really love that, because shows about female friendship...I mean, movies are hardly able to pass the Bechdel Test, and this show not only passes the Bechdel Test in almost every scene, it raises the bar.

Bethany: Yeah, their particular relationship as adoptive sisters is interesting too because I think it allows more people to identify with their relationship. Because you can see it as they're sisters, or you can see it as they're best friends from childhood, which almost makes it even more dynamic because they do toe this weird line between chosen family and given family. I didn't expect the whole arc with their relationship the way that it ended up happening through the second and the third season, just with the first season as a standalone. I almost felt like Trish in that first season is like this...I don't want to call her a sidekick, but she is in this supportive role. And then she became much more central into the second and third season as the juxtaposition for Jessica Jones, as the kind of reflection of morality, right? Where they have these different understandings of justice, morality, they have different motivations.

SJ: Totally. They’re such different characters that it creates this really rich, fraught dynamic that is always unfolding and constantly surprising you and so engaging to watch as a viewer. There's a lot of butting heads and having different ideas about how to do things and all that, which is just good drama, right? But then because they're so different, they also complement each other really well in terms of their skills, their methods, their fighting styles, so that when they do team up a little bit in season one, more in season two, and then quite a bit in season three, it's so fun to watch them work so well together. Honestly, their relationship is unlike any other I've ever seen on TV. They will always be, for me, kind of the pinnacle of human interaction between two fictional characters. It just doesn't get more complicated and emotionally genuine than this.

Trish: I won't let you go to prison, you're not a murderer.

Jessica: Yes, I am.

Trish: You're still punishing yourself for that woman's death.

Jessica: And now more people are dead - Hope Schlottman's parents, Reuben, Riva - and someone has to give their families closure. And until the real killer shows up, that's going to be me. I have to pay.

Trish: There are so many ways this could go wrong.

Jessica: There's one way it'll go right. No one else will die because of me. I'm taking myself out of the equation. [long pause] I'm still not the hero that you wanted me to be.

Trish: [quietly] You're exactly the hero I wanted you to be.

SJ: We're going to pause our discussion there for now. We'll pick up again next time talking more about that relationship between Jessica and Trish, whether there are some queer undertones to that. Then we'll get into David Tennant's performance as Kilgrave and how the show deals with sexual assault. And don't worry, we will also be discussing that epic season one finale - the neck-snap heard 'round the world! That's all still to come. Join us next time.

I'd like to end the episode by hearing from some listeners on what the show has meant to them. Hannah from Salt Lake City writes, "I love this series so much. Finally, a woman in the traditional male role. I felt for her as a woman and as a superhero." Hannah really appreciated the first season's storyline in particular. She says, "the twist of the abusive boyfriend - all he's done for her and she's so 'ungrateful'! I think this storyline resonates with a lot of women who have had trouble shaking their abusive ex-boyfriends. And the guilt Jessica feels when she sees Hope has been taken hostage by Kilgrave is symbolic of many women's experiences when one sees her ex with another girl." That is so true, and I think that's a big part of why Jessica feels so compelled to rescue Hope. She sees herself in Hope, but she also knows what Kilgrave is capable of and she doesn't want him to do what he did to her to another girl.

Wayne from Chicago wrote in. He says, "I didn't come into Jessica Jones with much expectation other than it would be a relatively high-quality serial drama, and it didn't disappoint. Some specific aspects of the show that resonated with me include the portrayal of substance abuse and the kind of disoriented downward spiral that can lead a person on. More than once, I had difficulty watching Jessica drink all that liquor - like, a physical aversion to watching it. I really felt this part on two levels: First, I grew up in a family with a variety of addiction issues and second, I feel my own predisposition for substance abuse when it comes to weed."

Yeah, this is a big one. I have heard from several viewers of the show who have battled their own addiction issues, especially alcoholism, say that it is really difficult sometimes to watch Jessica drink so much. I've never struggled with addiction personally, but even for me, watching Jessica just drink constantly, and knowing what it's doing to her body and knowing where that need to drink is coming from... sometimes it is a little unsettling. There's this scene in season two where Jessica dreams she wakes up in a bed with an IV in her arm. And she follows the IV line with her eyes up, up to where the IV bag would be, but instead of an IV bag, it's an upside-down bottle of whiskey. That was such a powerful visual for the way she feels about her own alcoholism, and I think probably the way a lot of people feel about their own addiction. Wayne also brings up Jessica and her relationship to family - being adopted at a young age, feeling like an outsider and growing up in an abusive household. Absolutely. I think a lot of viewers who are adopted can probably relate to Jessica's experience of coming into this new family, feeling like an outsider, and then on top of that there's abuse going on in the household. I think for anyone watching the show who has their own experience of childhood abuse, there is a very satisfying element of wish fulfillment in watching this character, Jessica, who is super-powered, be able to stand up to her and Trish's tormentor, Dorothy. She can throw her across the room and that's that - It never happens again. When you're a kid and you're in a violent situation, you often think, "If I just was stronger than the other person, they would never mess with me again. This would never happen again." You're constantly wishing that you were strong enough to defend yourself or intimidate the other person, so it is really satisfying to see Jessica just straight-up put a stop to Dorothy's abuse.

Wayne writes that his favorite aspect of the series is how the relationships between the characters transformed over time. That was one of the things that I also found most enjoyable too. In our next couple episodes, we're going to get into those evolving dynamics, especially the one between Jessica and Trish, whether you see that as an adoptive sibling relationship or a best friendship or something more, it sort of exists on all of these different levels. And however you see it, it goes through this transformation over the course of the three seasons. Thanks so much, Wayne, for writing in with your experiences and addressing these aspects of the show that resonate with a whole lot of people. Another listener called in with her thoughts - As a social worker, she was really interested in the mental health representation of the show. Let's hear from her.

Megan (caller): Hey, Popculty Podcast! This is Megan here from Colorado, and I wanted to call in with some thoughts on Jessica Jones and mental health representation in pop culture. So, full disclosure: when Jessica Jones first came out, I had a hard time getting into it. The reason being I had my own personal experience with sexual assault, and it was too close and personal with the portrayal of her relationship with the Purple Man, AKA David Tennant's character Kilgrave. And so I had a hard time watching it at first. But as I watched more of the show, I was also in my Master's program in social work at the time and some things really struck me about mental health in the series. So a couple of really important takeaways, but first let me talk a little bit about context of this issue. So mental health portrayal in pop culture has been pretty bad for a pretty long time. I could list a lot of problematic examples, but just a few are To the Bone, 13 Reasons Why, even critically-acclaimed films like A Beautiful Mind have problematic portrayals of mental health. So you get the picture, but why are these portrayals inaccurate and wrong? Couple of points: 1) Oftentimes, people with mental illnesses are portrayed as violent, but usually people with mental illnesses are actually more prone to be victims of violence than to be the perpetrators of violence. 2) They're also depicted as different or are othered by their appearance. 3) All mental health issues are portrayed with the same level of severity, and spoiler alert: they're all portrayed as very, very severe. 4) People with mental illnesses are shown to never recover. 5) Mental hospitals are depicted as evil places where people are tortured and hung out to dry...It's not a good time. And 6) therapists are often portrayed as a joke, and the person afflicted should try to overcome their mental illness on their own - Kind of a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" approach.

So, as this podcast and everyone in their right mind acknowledges, representation matters. So when we're showing these depictions of mental health in our pop culture, we're setting a very biased, heavily stereotyped and factually inaccurate depiction of what mental health really looks like. And guys, mental health in our country right now isn't looking so great. Suicide rates are on the rise, school shootings/mass shootings... We don't have the best track record of mental health here in the US. So what does Jessica Jones do that other shows don't? Like, why do I care about this show specifically? What does it bring to the table? One: they not only show what trauma looks and feels like, which I feel is a very good depiction of trauma, but they also show the recovery process. This is crucial because recovery is possible and people need to know that. An example of this can be seen in how Jessica copes: she uses the mantra from her therapist and also goes to the support group for Kilgrave victims. And that's something that is also formed out of the show - the support group - that's really interesting and cool to see that organically occur too. Two: they also show the very real problem of co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders to deal with trauma. Jessica drinks a lot, and guess what? According to the National Institute of Mental Health, almost half of the population that has mental illness also has a substance disorder. Yet most of the time in pop culture we don't really focus on these two interlinked problems. Three: even though she has superhuman strength, she is a victim and identifies with the others who have been controlled by Kilgrave as well. This humanizes our heroine in a very real way and makes mental health problems accessible to all, not a product of being "too weak to deal with it." Four: Kilgrave himself is the perfect metaphor of mental illness - having people act out of their character and waking to wonder if it was their fault or an issue that was intrinsically within themselves the whole time. Sounds sneakily like victim-blaming to me, which this show also had the gall to tackle. Number five: casting the role of Kilgrave with David Tennant was a stroke of genius. I actually got to see him speak at a Comic-Con here in Denver and the man is incredibly charming, witty, and talented, and casting someone like him to play Kilgrave is a phenomenal choice, because oftentimes people want to believe abusers are these horrible humans, and can't understand how people (mostly women) can't seem to break free from these "monsters." Well, most perpetrators come across as normal people, often charismatic and charming. Kilgrave is no exception to this rule and the show does an excellent job at teasing this out in his interactions with Jessica when she confronts him about raping her, using mind control, etc. In conclusion, Jessica Jones is the badass lady superhero we need in the forefront of mental health representation. I'm really impressed with how the show tackled such difficult topics. Thanks, guys, for letting me chat with you about mental health and Jessica Jones!

SJ: Thank you, Megan, for sharing your experience of the show and exploring a little bit deeper something that Bethany and I mentioned at various points in our conversation, but which absolutely deserved greater detail. I'm also really interested in the representation of mental health in pop culture, and I absolutely agree - It has a terrible track record. I mentioned in my very first episode of this podcast, the 13 Reasons Why debacle, which I won't reiterate, but it will come up again because it is just such an egregious, horrendous real-life consequence of poor mental health representation on TV. And in fact, I'm planning on having at least one or two episodes of this podcast focusing specifically on mental health representation in media, because it is so important to me and I really want to highlight the few things out there that get it really right versus the ones that get it so wrong that it's causing real-world damage. So I actually reached out to Megan and asked her if she might want to revisit this topic in another full-length episode and she was really excited to do that. She and I will get that in the works, so stay tuned for that conversation hopefully later this year.

All right, that's it for now! Join us right back here next week when we'll finish out season one and dive into season two. In the meantime, if you enjoyed this episode and want to show your support for the show, there's a couple of ways you can do that: One, pull the main show page up on Apple Podcasts and scroll down to rate and review. You can give us a couple stars, which takes two seconds or you can be extra super awesome and write a little review. Tell me what you like about the show, maybe give me some constructive feedback - It's all good. Would love to hear from you. You can also scroll down a little bit further and there's a link that says "Support the show." That'll take you to our newly-created Patreon page where you can become a monthly patron of the show, which will not only show your support, it'll help me out financially to pay for the tools I need to actually produce the show. AND it'll get you all kinds of good stuff including bonus episodes, and there is going to be a Jessica Jones bonus episode. So throw me a dollar on the Pateon and that bonus episode will be yours! The more listeners who give and support, the better the show is going to be, in terms of frequency and production quality, so thank you, patrons!

Huge thanks to everyone who wrote in and called in this week - Megan, Hannah, Wayne - thank you so much for sending in your thoughts. Huge thanks also to L'Orchestra Cinematique for providing the music you heard in this episode. They very generously allowed us to use their cover of the Jessica Jones main title theme in all three of these episodes. Definitely check out their other covers on an album called Geek Tunes, which is available on Amazon. The show is produced and edited by yours truly. All clips used in this episode are property of Marvel and ABC Studios and used herein under the Fair Use clause of Section 107 of the Copyright Act. Thank you, dear listeners, for joining us in this new year. We'll see you next time. And in the meantime: support women directors, stay critical, and always demand representation.

[Jessica Jones theme plays]

#popculty podcast #jessica jones #trish walker #representation #podcast #orig

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