#first impressions comic page 03

[wishingstarinajar]

First Impressions comic, page 03 ← previous |*| next →

Go forth and explore, my skeleson~

[re-readingcomics]

Comics Read 02/21-03/12/2023

Over this time period I read Alison Bechdel’s The Secret to Superhuman Strength. Long time readers of this blog may remember that when I was starting the transition for re-reading comics to first reads I was slowly making my way through Bechtel’s The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For. I was impressed by how she seemed to have a knack for catching and having her characters comment on the news that would most resonate through the future. This is more autobiographical than the earlier strip, and does cover her habits while making the comic strip, but does not directly comment on the content or what inspired it. However, there are regular reminders of the political figures of the times throughout the book. I also didn’t realize how long she worked on the comic after leaving the scene that supposedly inspired it.

One thing that jumped out as I started to read is that there was more color than I associate with Bechtel’s work work. In her earlier memoir, Fun Home there is a memorable moment where her father criticizes her coloring choices and you realize that she is still choosing the same limited pallet ones for the book you are reading. It’s a great moment of understanding what the medium of comics can represent psychologically. The use of color became less surprising when it’s absence was used for moments where she felt enlightened and transcendent.

While I am praising the book for it’s visuals I want to draw attention to the great use of text to help guide ones eye around the page. It makes all the less noticeable recent reads seem less great, let alone when it’s attempted and done badly. 

I started the book feeling pretty similar to Bechdel  on the subject of athletics, and became less sit went on. As a person who hated gym class as a kid, but is devoted to voluntary gym classes as an adult, I am interested in people with similar experiences. Bechdel and I have some overlap in exercise interests, but not much. She is a life long devoted skier. I tried twice and while the second time was okay, the first was awful. Anyway, I don’t like being outside in the cold. I am devoted to swimming laps, and she barely mentions them. She also has a complicated but mostly positive relationship with running, and I hate it. In general, when she’s devoted to a kind of exercise, she’s singularly devoted, while I am more willing to base my choices on variety.  Writing notes to base this entry on the experience of reading this was odd.

Somewhat surprisingly, this book about the relationship to exercise includes more discussion of drug and alcohol than in her previous  autobiographical books, Fun Home and Are You My Mother? combined. It relates to when it does or does not feel like it works with her intense work out routines, and how it helps. It was interesting how even sobriety was obviously influenced by who she was living with and when.

Speaking of Bechtel’s earlier memoirs, I have to say, Margaret Fuller and Jack Karouac are to The Secret To Superhuman Strength what Donald Winnicott is to Are You My Mother? meaning earlier writers who I have never gotten around to reading and everything I know about them comes from these books. I’m not sure I ever will get around to the. But while I am more aware of where I am lacking in some readings, these books make interesting and intense reflections on each other, and I intend to keep reading them as long as she keeps making them. 

[scarlet--wiccan]

X-Men Senior Editor just responded to criticisms about the Wanda/Pretender plot point: aiptcomicsDOTcom/2021/05/03/x-men-monday-104-jordan-d-white-election

 Jordan: Well, I think that your question is a good question, but it’s a question that’s coming from a place of — well, I think it’s coming from a place of love for Wanda, which is a sensible thing to feel. And it’s coming from a place as a reader of comic books. The people on Krakoa, they’re not fans of Wanda. They don’t know her continuity. They don’t know all the details. They know what they know. Are there some folks who know that? Absolutely. But that’s not necessarily the function of it. 

Her being called pretender has more to do with the formation of a mutant society than it does with the people who know all of the details telling what really happened. I mean, who’s the person we see talking about her in that way the most? Exodus, right? He wasn’t there for any of that. He doesn’t have firsthand knowledge of what happened with her in any capacity. And again, I don’t know how much the bulk of mutants do know that. What they know is there was this person who said she was a mutant. Turns out she wasn’t. She said she was Magneto’s daughter. It turns out she wasn’t. And at one point, she took the mutant powers from millions of people.

“Yeah, but she did it because Doctor Doom made her do it.” Again, I think most of them don’t know that. And I think that that doesn’t have the impact culturally. I mean, I think you can look around us today and see that there are lots of things that lots of people believe [...] that are not as simple as they seem to those people or in the way that they talk about them that are not 100% true. Or even if they are 100% true, it’s more complicated than that. There are mitigating factors. [...]

And I think that the nation had a need for a boogeyman. And I don’t even necessarily mean somebody sat down and went, “Who’s going to be the boogeyman. I know, I’ll demonize Wanda.” But I think it’s a thing that probably evolved naturally in the formation of kind of mutant fables and myths, you know? It’s grown, it exists and we are aware of it. It’s not a thing that’s just passively happening and we’re like, “How did that happen in our comics? I didn’t even realize it was going on.” There’s thought put into it. And there is intent being put into it, let’s say. [source: AiPT]

So, here’s the thing. Jordan is glossing over all of the most prescient concerns.

Exodus might be the one driving these rumors and fables about Wanda, and he may be primarily appealing to people who weren’t around or don’t have first-hand knowledge of what happened. That explains the growing tide of misconceptions about, and hatred towards, Wanda, but it doesn’t explain the nation’s political stance against her, and it doesn’t explain why the rest of the Quiet Council has cosigned this propaganda campaign. Erik, Emma, and Scott do know what happened, and they do have first hand knowledge-- not only of the truth behind M-Day, but Wanda’s actions during AvX, as does Hope. Kurt, a fellow Council member, has also defended her in the past. That’s why it reads as arbitrary, and that’s why it feels like character assassination all over again. It defies prior characterization, and it just ignores facts. If any characters had been given space to acknowledge the truth, or contest the Council’s actions, this scenario would be more well-realized. Du Paris’s false version of events is being treated, universally, as truth, with no explanation. That’s not a retcon, it’s revisionism. 

Speaking of character assassination, White has conveniently ignored the fact that Hickman, et al’s treatment of Wanda extends beyond du Paris and the Council. In X-Men, Way of X, and S.W.O.R.D. her characterization is indirect-- we only see other people talking about her. In Empyre: X-Men, however, she is characterized directly, as she appears on-page alongside Doctor Strange. Wanda’s actions, appearance, and demeanor fall in line with her treatment in X-Men, but directly contradict her continuity of the last eight years and treatment in present Avengers titles. Strange also addresses her and describes the events of M-Day in a manner very similar to du Paris’s proclamations. The Pretender scenario cannot only be about “mutant society” or “mutant fables and myths,” because it has extended beyond mutant dialogue. 

Speaking of fables and myths, I’ll remind you that Powers of X established a condensed timeline in which the history of the X-Men, from Xaviers’ first meeting with Moira Kinross to the formation of Krakoa, takes place over only ten years. Judging by this scale, M-Day is much more recent than we might otherwise assume. I realize that misinformation doesn’t take long to spread, but fables don’t form in the span of, what, two years? Three? Krakoa itself can’t be more than a year old. I’m usually very forgiving with the fluidity of Marvel time, but this was a thoroughly orchestrated relaunch. This cannot have evolved organically. Even though Krakoan society is developing an accelerated pace, the cultural benchmarks are being set by that society’s architects-- Crucible and resurrection are perfect illustrations of that. 

I believe that White has earnestly explained the narrative rational behind the Pretender scenario, flawed as that rational may be. That doesn’t account for the fact that this treatment of Wanda, and the lens with which we are now looking back on House of M, is a blunt refusal to acknowledge how harmful and offensive that story actually was. Wanda only gets written this way if nobody in the room will stop and say “actually, vilifying Wanda while simultaneously denying the character any agency or control is kind of poor writing, and, you know, in hindsight, everything that was projected onto this character reads as ableism, misogyny and a good dash of racism. Maybe we should take responsibility for the impression this made on our readership and work to counteract that messaging, instead of doubling down on it.”

[ladyc0312]

A Jikook Guide to RunBTS: 66-80

Things in this batch start out a little slow, KM-wise, but seriously pick up around the Toronto episodes. It features the episodes where both RM and Jin ask if JK and JM are a couple, so it includes the giggly hand-push game that helped make me a jikook believer! 

As usual, let me know if I’ve missed anything or should take another look at something. :)

Ep 66 "BTS in a Comic Book Cafe Part 1" (Ep: 2 / KM: 1)

The one that I can’t help but feel would be more fun if I was more familiar with the comics involved, but the guys make it cute anyway

3:08 - This is a little hard to see because they use weird angles and cuts, but JK sings a piece of a theme song and JM catches his eye and sings with him.

9:23 - JK leans in over JM's shoulder to see how many people are on the comic book page

10:18 - JM does the same when it's JK's turn

BEHIND 10:29 - JM jokes around with JK and does the playful chest tap thing

Ep 67 "BTS in a Comic Book Cafe Part 2" (Ep: 3 / KM: 1)

None

BEHIND 7:28 - JM asks JK if there's a comic book he wants and says he'll buy it for him if so

Ep 68 "Heart Pang" (Ep: 1 / KM: 0)

The one where I can't for the life of me understand the board game they are playing

None. 

Ep 69 "BTS in Toronto Part 1" (Ep: 4 / KM: 5)

The Toronto one where Jikook wear matching denim shirts while going to Niagara Falls, getting lunch, and playing games

2:36 - RM says there are certain people who will struggle with the wake up challenge. JK and JM readily seem to admit it's them. 

6:29 - JM hangs back (to walk with JK?) when the rest of the group starts heading for the Falls.

8:06 - There's a "teleporting" moment where Jin is in between JM and JK, then the camera cuts away, then it comes back and jikook are next to each other. They stay next to each other as they walk on.

9:52 - You can see jikook interacting in the background.

12:25 - JM takes a photo of JK and gets him to giggle, then they huddle to look at the pic.

13:56 - JM puts his arm around JK and takes a selca in the background, causing RM to ask "what, are you a couple or something? Both wearing denim shirts?" He says it fairly seriously for a line that seems like it's supposed to be a joke and they don't laugh or say anything in response - it looks like JM looks away and flips his hair while JK shifts and awkwardly rubs his forehead. You can also see a quiet exchange after between RM and JM where RM says no to something, then nods at JK. Unclear if it's related, but including it just in case. 

15:25 - JK doesnn't try to distract JM while he did the staring contest like he did with Hobi. When Jimin passes, JK is the only one to clap. 

18:04 - Quick moment where you can see JK start to rub the arm of JM's shirt before the camera cuts away.

18:50 - JM laughs and touches JK's chest after JK loses the rocks paper scissor game, too.

19:53 - When the other five walk away and JK is doing something with his mic, we don't see where JM is.

22:02 - JK appears to help JM with something with his camera in the foreground.

BEHIND 4:12 - After JHope scolds JK for letting Suga pour everyone's water, JK goes to pour JM some water, then puts the pitcher down. JM seemingly tries to help him out by saying it's a new trend for the oldest to pour water. 

Ep 70 "BTS in Toronto Part 2" (Ep: 3 / KM: 5)

The Toronto one where the guys go shopping, pick beds, and play games

1:15 - JK slows down to walk side by side with JM.

2:00 - When JK messes up the game he was confident he'd win, JK laughs and playfully shoves at his chest.

7:23 - When JK loses a game and has to buy the others hoodies, JM sneaks a hat into the pile while JK has his back turned. RM rats him out.

8:01 - JM quietly puts the hat back in the pile, then walks over and hugs JK.

8:40 - JK walks over to Jimin to show him something (sunglasses he wanted?).

20:30 - When they're all joking around about whether they can fit four people on a bed, JK moves JM into an L-shape and then lays down nested with him.

BEHIND 0:09 - JK calls out "Jimin-ssi!" and tosses JM that hat he bought him.

4:49 - When the guys are all stretching and JM is in an inconvenient place, JK calls him "Jimin-ssi" again, essentially feels up his calf, and then pushes his upper thigh, all purportedly to get him to move over.

5:28 - JK kneels down behind JM, who's on all fours, and holds his hips to correct his position (I am literally just describing what happens in the clip, but I kind of feel like I'm writing porn, here...). JK then picks Jimin up to move him over a bit. Both giggle as JK starts to stand up and then the camera cuts away.  I can't even begin to think what exercising looks like for these two when there aren't cameras on them...

6:55 - JK reads out the words on the Jimin shirt they're all wearing, which happen to be, "BTS Park Jimin, I love you! I root for you! I'm ARMY!" with a huge grin on his face. Jimin laughs - no one else does - and then jokes that they should wear the shirts back to Korea, prompting JK to tell him "bye!" and wave while giggling. 

7:37 - Jimin shows the parts of the shirt design he would change by poking JK's chest, and then JK and JM share a fairly steamy look until RM interrupts. 

7:52 - JK folds up the shirt so JM's face looks weird and Jimin points to him doing it and laughs. No one else does.  Man, these two were really in their own world this whole Toronto trip, weren't they?

8:02 - JM tries to give JK some advice on the game he's about to play. Before starting, JK starts what seems like it's going to be a silly pose, but ends up being him dragging his fingers down his face, neck, and chest. Sadly for JK, JM wasn't looking. Happily for us, we can look as much as we want. 

8:18 - When JM wins a game, JK claps for him. You can probably guess by now that he's the only one who does. 

10:09 - JM steals a piece of steak, then JK does some cross-cut teleporting to come over and sink down into a chair next to him. JM overdoes making his eyes look big and innocent (perhaps hoping to get caught and scolded?).

10:35 - JM makes Jin move when he takes JM's seat next to JK I feel like just the Behind for this episode needs it's own jikook rating! And most of it is watching JK lead the guys in a workout. If you're going to watch just one Run Behind, consider making it this one!

Ep 71 "BTS in Toronto Part 3" (Ep: 3 / KM: 3)

The Toronto one where the guys have dinner, have breakfast, and play games

14:28 - Maybe nothing, but just to note it - in this and the next shot, you can see JM heading towards where JK is lying back on the couch after losing a game, then there's an abrupt cut and everyone is in a totally different position. 

29:20 - JK tells JM the "super-pancake" he made is for him since he has to do the penalties. 

BEHIND 6:59 - JM says that he thinks JK will want to eat and calls out for him.

Ep 72 "BTS and Mafia" (Ep: 3 / KM: 2)

The one in which we learn that BTS is so terrible at the Mafia game that it almost comes back around to being impressive 

3:10 - When Jin says JK is suspicious because he isn't talking, JM defends him, saying "you know he doesn't talk much." 

8:34 - JM seems to direct his appeal to be spared to JK.

18:16 - JK compliments how well Jimin is doing at the game.

20:13 - After Jimin says he's ARMY, JK asks, "do you like me that much?" Then there's a quick cut and Jin is doing a Jim Halpert face at the camera.

28:03 - Confusing maybe-moment - let me know if it's clearer to anyone else! - but after JH is sending finger heart guns, JM points gun fingers directly at JK for no apparent reason. 

BEHIND 2:39 - Before they start playing, JK predicts that JM and Jin will be good at the game.

Eps 73-76 “Run BTS Drama Parts 1-4″ (n/a)

The ones where BTS spend four episodes making a “comedic” skit

01:09 - After JK explains that he had a wisdom tooth taken out, Jimin adds the info that they had to take out the whole root.  09:10 - Even though V is the "director" of Jimin's scene, JK speaks up and takes over the role, saying that directors use informal language and repeating twice in informal language "Jimin, let's go!" He continues speaking informally when Jimin messes up and JK scolds him.  11:40 - When it's JK's turn to deliver a line and he gets nervous about remembering it, JM reads it out loud for him. He also says as soon as JK delivers the line that he did the best job and adds to Hobi, "he doesn't get embarassed, I told you."  16:26 - It's a little hard to see for sure, but it looks like Jimin votes for JK when it's time to choose who should be the skit's director. I'm going to be totally honest with you guys - I didn't rewatch these episodes past this. I first saw it months ago and remember being disappointed and fairly bored through most of it past the first half of the first episode - I don't find the skit funny and the behind-the-scenes stuff isn't amusing enough to make a four-part episode about. I’m sure there are others who completely disagree with me and no judgment if you don't share my opinion! But I'm doing this guide for fun and I don't want to spend two hours rewatching them. 

I don't recall a ton of jikook beyond the above - I think there's a moment in part 3 where JK is getting tired and Jimin offers to take over slating for him. So, anyone who is a fan and knows / finds more jikook moments, please let me know and I will update this guide to reflect that. Otherwise, let's happily move along. :)

Ep 77 “Food Guest Part 1″ (Ep: 4 / KM: 5)

The weirdly-named ones that are prob better translated as "food connoisseurs" but the specifics of the foods theme don't really matter because JIKOOK  

07:41 - When Jin says JK and JM will be competing in a palm-push game, JM says he's already lost (because JK is strong).

07:55 - I'm fairly certain that, if you're a jikook-er, you've seen this moment. It's so unabashedly flirty a description can't really do it justice.   JK and JM are supposed to be playing a game where they put their palms together and shove to see who can make the other lose their balance. JM shoves lightly at JK's chest before they even start the game, then both start giggling. Still giggly, JM asks if JK's ready and JK says he is. JM pushes at JK's palms and JK just swings his arms back as they look at each other and smile. Jin interrupts to ask, "are you a dating couple?" (that's the most direct translation - V app translation is "are you two together?"). JK and JM both laugh, the latter so hard that he spins around, thus losing the game. 

17:08 - JK is staring so intently at Jimin on his knees with a blow-pen in his mouth that he completely misses RM trying to give him a high five. Jin has to call for JK to please respond to RM before JK looks away and returns the high five, laughing and apologizing. He looks back immediately after. 

BEHIND 0:58 - JK gives JM a shoulder massage while holding his chest as JM makes satisfied noises. I've seen this clip in compilations before, but hadn't realized it was also from  this episode. It's really the gift that keeps on giving! 

4:29 - Just prior to the above palm-push game, JM reaches out to do something to JK's sleeve (I think?). The camera cuts before we see clearly.  

4:31 - Slightly different angle of JM and JK giggling at the start of the palm-push game.

7:11 - Reveals that RM actually tried to high five JK and was ignored TWICE before Jin called JK's attention away from JM on his knees with a blow-pen in his mouth. 

Ep 78 “Food Guest Part 2″ (Ep: 3 / KM: 3)

15:00 - JK jokingly asks what the answer is and Jimin giggles at him as the on-screen text says, "how adorable." Unsurprisingly, the others are less enamored. (JK's biggest fans = 1. Jimin  2. Run BTS on-screen text writers)

BEHIND 9:56 - JK watches JM dance playfully, then wiggles his own hips, seeming to want JM's attention. Jimin smiles and starts to say something that gets cut off. 

10:03 - JK films JM as JM dances and smiles while looking into the camera. Jimin is doing silly dance, but JK zooms in on his joyful face. He quickly licks his lips as he watches. 

[alexthegamingboy]

Toonami Weekly Recap 10/03/2020

Assassination Classroom EP#06 - Test Time: School principal Gakuhō Asano pays a visit to Class 3-E to greet Koro-sensei. Having noticed how Nagisa stood up to Nobuta and Chōsuke, Gakuhō tells Koro-sensei to adhere to his educational system, which requires Class 3-E to be at its poorest to encourage the other students. Noticing the students of Class 3-E only caring about the bounty reward rather than getting high grades, Koro-sensei issues the ultimatum of leaving and destroying the school, should any of the students fail to score well enough in the midterm exams to rank among the top fifty students. During the midterm exams, the students of Class 3-E use what they learned from Koro-sensei's teaching methods to tackle each question they come across. However, they are stopped in their tracks by questions that Gakuhō had added at the last minute without informing Class 3-E of the changes, resulting in none of the students other than Karma ranking among the top fifty students. Downhearted from underestimating Gakuhō, Koro-sensei receives some encouragement from his class and becomes determined to turn things around for the final exams.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind EP#36 - Diavolo Surfaces: Doppio dies in Bucciarati's bullet-riddled body feeling lonely and abandoned. Meanwhile, Chariot Requiem races towards Polnareff, but when Mista tries to shoot it, his gun suddenly breaks apart. Chariot Requiem retrieves the arrow and walks off; however, its additional ability takes effect, mutating the bodies of organisms nearby. Inspecting Mista's broken gun and determining that Diavolo destroyed it during erased time, Giorno deduces that Diavolo must be hiding within the body of someone in the group and plans to touch each of them with Gold Experience to detect Diavolo's soul. Mista refuses, so Bucciarati agrees to go first, but as Giorno is checking Bucciarati, King Crimson suddenly appears from Mista's body and swiftly severs Giorno's arm. When Trish summons Spice Girl in retaliation, King Crimson grabs hold of her Stand, using it to control Mista's body. Diavolo concludes that Chariot Requiem is effectively the shadow of one's own soul, cast by a light source it generates behind each of their heads. He destroys the light source behind King Crimson's head, dissipating Requiem and allowing him to obtain the arrow. Giorno converts the drops of his blood on King Crimson's hand into a colony of ants which chew through the arrow's shaft so the arrowhead falls to the ground. When King Crimson tries to pick it up, Trish uses Spice Girl to knock the arrow back towards the group. King Crimson then ruthlessly punches through Spice Girl, using the force to propel Mista's body, and himself, towards the arrow.

Black Clover: Six Months of Training Arc EP#134 - Those Who Have Been Gathered: Mereoleona kidnaps Asta, Noelle and Secre to her home, Vermillion House, for a party along with Mimosa, Kirsch and Fuegoleon, to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of Sister Theresa Rapaul becoming a Nun, since she also taught Fuegoleon and Mereoleona. Theresa also brings along her orphans, including Marie, though Theresa exposes one of the children as Gauche magically disguised so he could secretly visit Marie. Fuegoleon demands party tricks from everyone to amuse Theresa and the children and Noelle goes first, after Mereoleona suggests it was what Acier would have done. The children declare Fuegoleon’s tricks boring and Mereoleona’s scary so Theresa shares embarrassing memories of Fuegoleon and Mereoleona’s childhoods instead, causing them to fight. Mimosa duels Kirsch to settle their own childhood grievances while Gauche joins the brawl to protect Marie. Theresa stops the fight, proving that despite her advanced age she can still discipline both Fuegoleon and Mereoleona when they get out of hand, impressing Asta ad Noelle. She also disciplines Gauche for trying to see Marie outside of his allotted monthly visit. After thanking Mereoleona and Fuegoleon for the party she takes the orphans home, happy that she raised such excellent students.

Slightly Damned Page 983: https://www.sdamned.com/comic/983

[f4liveblogarchives]

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #203 & #204

Fri Aug 30 2019 [12:13 AM] Wack'd: Any ball that's both sufficiently big and can accommodate Ben's fingers cannot possibly be regulation

[12:14 AM] maxwellelvis: Hmmm... [12:16 AM] Wack'd: Well this is a weird swerve we've taken

[12:17 AM] Wack'd: So Reed and Sue are dropping by to help. Mr Evans is skeptical because he thinks superheroes don't have time for little people but then they actually show up! So he's happy [12:18 AM] Wack'd: Reed: We're not a group of super-policemen. We're people concerned with helping people. [12:19 AM] Wack'd: This bodes well

[12:19 AM] maxwellelvis: Oh great, we've got another god-child [12:19 AM] Wack'd: ...sure

[12:21 AM] Wack'd: Back at the Baxter, Sue has a machine that makes cookies! Franklin is pleased. Johnny is worried about setting unrealistic expectations for cookie production [12:21 AM] maxwellelvis: Nobody tell him about Cookie Clicker [12:21 AM] Wack'd: Johnny: What'll his future wife do to impress him? [12:21 AM] Wack'd: 🙄 [12:23 AM] Wack'd: So the monsters rampage through NYC. The Four go to stop them. And meanwhile little Willie's measurements are off the charts! [12:23 AM] Wack'd: There's actually two original Human Torches but sure

[12:27 AM] Wack'd: So Reed figures out what's up and thankfully was working on a radiation absorber to help little Willie, which he uses to melt up the evil doppelgängers [12:28 AM] Wack'd: Sure

[12:28 AM] Wack'd: And so our story ends [12:28 AM] maxwellelvis: We're never gonna see Willie again. [12:28 AM] Bocaj: Some would call a machine that makes cookies “an oven” [12:29 AM] Wack'd: It's got a conveyor belt and everything [12:29 AM] Wack'd: Doesn't really seem to require much effort [12:29 AM] Bocaj: Still though [12:30 AM] Wack'd: Oh my god! [12:30 AM] Wack'd: We see Willie again, once, seven years from now, in an Iron Man Annual [12:30 AM] Wack'd: He dies [12:31 AM] Bocaj: 😐 [12:31 AM] Bocaj: God damn marvel comics [12:31 AM] Wack'd: William Evans, Jr. on Marvel Wiki [12:31 AM] Wack'd: This poor child

Fri Aug 30 2019 [12:34 AM] Wack'd: HERE IT IS [12:34 AM] Wack'd: THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR [12:34 AM] Wack'd: THE CANONICAL FIRST APPEARANCE OF FRANKLIN RICHARDS IN AN ADORABLE COWBOY COSTUME

[12:36 AM] Wack'd: A trope that will vex this poor child for, apparently, exactly the next 40 years [12:37 AM] Bocaj: He only has himself to blame for keeping himself a child for 40 years [12:38 AM] Wack'd: And the writers [12:38 AM] Bocaj: Writers are a myth [12:38 AM] maxwellelvis: Note: Thing to do with a Fantastic Four thing: Have Valeria visibly age but Franklin doesn't, if I ever got that far. [12:39 AM] Wack'd: He's a Steven Universe [12:39 AM] maxwellelvis: Mixed with Rigby and why he hates his brother so much. [12:40 AM] Wack'd: "I'm gonna enter a deep, meaningful relationship right now! That's how that works, right?"

[12:41 AM] Wack'd: Agatha drops by to pick Franklin up for his "lessons." I wonder if they ever tried public schooling him? Or, uh, have him interact with other children at all [12:41 AM] Wack'd: Maybe the real reason he's keeping himself a child is that he keeps assuming that kindergarten is going to start and no one ever takes him [12:42 AM] Larena: Johnny I have something to tell you about heteronormative standards of happiness [12:43 AM] Wack'd: I really don't want to point out every fucking time we're back at this well so maybe we should stop being there, jesus

[12:49 AM] Wack'd: So Reed finds a thing with science [12:50 AM] Wack'd: And then this lady shows up

[12:50 AM] Wack'd: She is being chased by a Skrull! And then she gets shot [12:51 AM] Wack'd: We are now done with Kirby tiny gremlin Skrulls. They've eaten their Wheaties and they're back for revenge

[12:52 AM] maxwellelvis: This one's got a laser so compact it rests in his palm. [12:53 AM] Wack'd: Fight fight fight [12:54 AM] maxwellelvis: When WAS the last time we saw the Skrulls in this comic? [12:54 AM] Wack'd: The 60s, I think [12:54 AM] maxwellelvis: Wow. [12:54 AM] maxwellelvis: The Avengers/Captain Marvel/Cosmic Marvel absorbed them FAST. As you can probably tell by this guy's look. [12:55 AM] Bocaj: Look, someone had to feed them if the FF weren't going to leave saucers of milk out [12:55 AM] Wack'd: Holy shit. They...kick his ass! Pretty decisively! [12:56 AM] maxwellelvis: I mean, it's just one Skrull trooper. Be pretty sad if they lost to a lvl. 1 mook like him. [12:56 AM] Wack'd: They usually don't win their first fight in an issue! This is a novelty [12:57 AM] Wack'd: So Reed gets her to a medical scanner and she wakes up and switches to English [12:58 AM] Wack'd: Expodump! [01:00 AM] Wack'd: So this woman is from a once-great world when suddenly the evil empire showed up, you know the drill. [01:01 AM] maxwellelvis: This must be the first time the FF have come up against the Skrulls after they became a star-spanning empire [01:01 AM] Wack'd: The lady doesn't know this but we the audience are shown many cities were saved by the Watcher. This is definitely interfering dude, I don't care how quiet you are while don' it [01:01 AM] maxwellelvis: as opposed to occasional nuisances. [01:01 AM] Wack'd:

[01:02 AM] Wack'd: So these folks figure out how to make tunnels between their cities and build a new society...and then Skrulls fuck that up, too [01:03 AM] maxwellelvis: And Uatu never does the Doctorly thing of railing against this non-interference thing, he just does, what was it you say? Baby word games? [01:03 AM] maxwellelvis: To keep his job in place. [01:03 AM] Wack'd: Yeah [01:03 AM] Wack'd: Baby word games [01:03 AM] Wack'd: In fairness Uatu has phenomenal cosmic power he's potentially sacrificing, without which he can't necessarily do much [01:04 AM] Wack'd: Whereas the Doctor can go renegade because they can't take his brain and they...could take his ship but they're not gonna [01:04 AM] maxwellelvis: Because it's a hunk of junk by Time Lord standards. [01:04 AM] Wack'd: Also Uatu probably needs to save all of Watcherkind a few times, build up some goodwill [01:05 AM] maxwellelvis: The Time Lords DID take the TARDIS from him once, technically. But they gave it back for good behavior. [01:05 AM] maxwellelvis: As an "attaboy" for stopping Omega from flooding the universe with antimatter or whatever. [01:05 AM] Wack'd: Yeah [01:05 AM] Wack'd: Anyway Adora--yes, really, is here to seek aid [01:06 AM] Wack'd: So the Four are like "fuck, guess we're goin to space!" [01:06 AM] Wack'd: But first we need to check in with Johnny, who has decided his ticket to happiness is not a new significant other, but reenrolling in college [01:07 AM] Wack'd: Johnny: Two girlfriends later. I finally realize my only real skill is tinkering with cars, and I don’t wanna wind up being the 70's answer to the Fonz! [01:08 AM] Wack'd: You could probably make a living working on cars, Johnny, but whatever [01:08 AM] maxwellelvis: You shut your fool mouth, Johnny! Fonzie was cool! [01:10 AM] Wack'd: So Johnny starts making the moves on a college girl, who is unimpressed by his attempts to show off his skee-ball skills [01:11 AM] Wack'd: And even less impressed when she asks him about traveling to space and so on and he claims he never paid much attention [01:11 AM] Wack'd: And then Frankie Raye appears! Remember Frankie? [01:11 AM] maxwellelvis: Oh right, the girl who hates fire. [01:12 AM] Wack'd: She claims that she didn't wanna date him because he was always rushing off in the middle of some emergency and they never got any real time together [01:12 AM] maxwellelvis: "Liar liar liar!" [01:12 AM] Wack'd: And then Reed radios Johnny about going to space and she's like "yeah, like I said", and leaves [01:13 AM] Wack'd: Johnny decides he's too sad to go to space and while he's not dramatically quitting the team or anything, he wants to take some time to decide what he wants to do with his life [01:14 AM] Wack'd: Which everyone's pretty chill about, comparatively [01:14 AM] maxwellelvis: Pretty sure they all know what massive hypocrites they'd be if they belittled him about feeling ennui. [01:15 AM] Wack'd: Or about dramatically quitting the team [01:15 AM] Wack'd: Reed's set up a teleporter by getting Adora's signal and he tells Johnny that if he changes his mind he can join them with the press of a button. [01:15 AM] Wack'd: And Sue says some mail came for him and drops it off [01:15 AM] maxwellelvis: IMPORTANT PLOT POINT ALSO IMPORTANT [01:15 AM] Wack'd: And then...the story keeps following Johnny! [01:15 AM] Wack'd: Huh! [01:16 AM] maxwellelvis: “It’s a bold strategy Cotton, let’s see if it pays off for ‘em” [01:17 AM] Wack'd: Johnny tries to drop by the garage. Closed for a vacation. The Avengers are busy with Mr Gyrich and told Jarvis to turn away all visitors [01:17 AM] Wack'd: Which leaves Johnny with one last resort for company [01:17 AM] Bocaj: ugh gyrich [01:17 AM] maxwellelvis: i'm glad Sabretooth killed him in the X-Men movies [01:19 AM] Wack'd: 🎶 Spider-Man / Spider-Man /  Friendly impoverished Spider-Man / Stays at home / Can't pay to fly / He'll only ever know New York skies / Look out! / Here stays the Spider-Maaaaaaaan! 🎵

[01:20 AM] Wack'd: Oh, okay, this isn't going to be a team up, because he's busy fighting the Man Wolf in his own book [01:21 AM] maxwellelvis: I was expecting to see a cutaway to him breaking down Molten Man's door, honestly. [01:21 AM] maxwellelvis: But man, Johnny must feel pretty low right now if even Spider-Man is too busy to hang out. [01:22 AM] Wack'd: Oh hey, the letter is an invite to a fancy private college!

[01:22 AM] maxwellelvis: "Security University" That doesn't sound ominous [01:23 AM] Wack'd: I didn't even have until the end of the page to make that joke

[01:24 AM] Wack'd: So a building blows up and Johnny springs into action [01:24 AM] Wack'd: This guy is definitely a creep but for some reason the thing that's setting off the most alarm bells for me is that he's calling Johnny "John"

[01:25 AM] Wack'd: OH MY GOD THIS DOOFUS? REALLY?

[01:25 AM] maxwellelvis: The wha-? [01:25 AM] Wack'd: I thought we were scraping the bottom of the barrel when Gideon came back, but no [01:26 AM] maxwellelvis: Who? [01:26 AM] Wack'd: The guy whose sole shtick is "commits assassinations by taking photos" [01:26 AM] maxwellelvis: Ahh. [01:26 AM] maxwellelvis: Who? [01:27 AM] Wack'd: One of the very last Lee/Kirby villains [01:28 AM] Wack'd: He tried to commit some assassinations at the UN [01:28 AM] Wack'd: And was stopped [01:28 AM] maxwellelvis: Now, was he stealing souls with his camera, or was it just a disguised gun or something? [01:28 AM] Wack'd: It was a raygun [01:29 AM] Wack'd: This is such a nothing guy that he's literally not appeared in any other book until now and will unceremoniously vanish off the face of the earth once we're done here [01:29 AM] KarkatTheDalek: Thought that was Dr Faustus for a second, but apparently not [01:29 AM] KarkatTheDalek: Discount Dr. Faustus [01:30 AM] Wack'd: That's right, a fucking *decade* of stripmining the Lee/Kirby run for parts, and not only is he just returning now but no one will ever try and use him again

[alexandralumetta]

Prologue - Where Bad First (?) Impressions Happen

|01|02|03|04|05|06|07|08|09|10|11|

Character Study -

| Lance | Hunk | Allura | Shiro | Keith | Pidge | Matt | —-

Illustrations -

| – | – |

Me, plotting the comic "Okay, it's time to introduce Pidge. Let's start with her in prison. And. Oh. GREEN. I WANT GREEN" And me, checking the page on my phone: "... on my tablet it was green, but not so much green. That or I need to sleep more". . That said I have to finish a piece for a zine, so I'm going to post the next page Monday, sorry ❤❤❤!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

#1yrago Hockey Noir: The Opera

Cecil Castellucci:

A bunch of years ago, I was sitting at a LA Kings Hockey game, noticing the music the game made.  The skates on the ice.   The slap of the sticks.  The puck being handled and passed around.  The grunts.  The whistles.  The roar of the crowd.  The bursts of music clips.  The Zamboni.  And in that moment, I knew that I had come up with the idea that for my new opera it would have something to do with Hockey.  

I once heard that Bertolt Brecht said something along the lines that the purest form of theater is live sports.  That in the arena, the drama is in the game.  The ending is not yet written.  And there is a direct conversation between the players and the spectators.

Maybe this is the reason why I have always been a sucker for a sports story.  Although I don’t play at all, I love to watch a game.  Hockey is my preference, mostly because of the intense drama that it brings.  I know that this is the reason that I wrote a Hockey Noir Opera, the second commissioned by Ensemble contemporary de Montreal (ECM+) and its artistic director Veronique Lacroix , which is having its world premiere  in Montreal May 3 & 4th. ECM+ has been creating multidisciplinary new music shows for 30 years and often puts together composers with different kinds of artists.

In 2006, Veronique introduced me to Andre Risitic, my composer and collaborator for our first opera, LES AVENTURES DE MADAME MERVEILLE, also produced by ECM+. Here we blended opera and comics. I came up with the concept because it struck me that opera’s making use of supertitles functioned as a sort of stand in for comic book captions.  That opera was made up of four movements. We stitched together a piece that was supposed to give the impression of sifting through a random pile of genre comics. For my part, the words, I worked with four comic book artists, Michael Cho, Cameron Stewart, Pascal Girard and Scott Hepburn on the art elements and those were with projected to go along with Andre Ristic’s wonderful music to give the impression of being comic book pages come to life.  It worked really well and Andre and I knew that we wanted to collaborate again and that it was an idea that we wanted to push further.

Being a comic book writer myself (currently writing Shade, the Changing Woman at DC Comics and Soupy Leaves Home at Dark Horse) who is very interested in hybrids in graphic storytelling, I wanted to use the same concept of sequential art mixed with supertitles and captions that we had experimented with in our previous opera and use that our new opera.  But I knew that I wanted it to be more dynamic than what we’d done before, which had some movement, but felt more like a page.  I knew that I wanted there to be more flexibility in the images. This time I wanted a little more of a three-dimensional aspect to it.  I was trying to find another genre that used strong visuals to tell a story and could lend itself well to using aspects of comics, but that was slightly different than what we had done before with mixing comics and opera.

I had settled on it being a hockey story, but it took me a moment to get to the idea of using Film Noir as the visual construct for story and imagery.  I am a huge Noir fan, as is Andre, and in thinking about Noir and the play of shadow and light and what a profound visual language it has, it seemed perfect for our purposes.  Noir also has the benefit of having easily identifiable iconic characters like the detective, the femme fatale, the mobster.  Once we hit on noir, a story about the disappearance of a hockey player during the playoffs between Montreal and Toronto in the 1950s and the subsequent search for what happened emerged from my discussions with André. While it doesn’t seem like the most traditional two genres to do a mash up with, to me it makes perfect sense.  Game on!

I wanted the Hockey Noir to feel as though the story had more movement and layers than we had accomplished before.  I discovered and recruited a fabulous young artist Kimberlyn Porter, who had done her grad thesis telling a story sequentially through noir posters.  It was exactly what we were looking for. Kimberlyn and I set about coming up with the basic visual elements for the story, which will be projected with captions and dialogues on multiple screens.  Through layering, we have more control over the sequential elements of the story and get the singers acting the story, in concert with it being told visually.   It’s all brought together by ECM+’s artistic production team lead by Veronique Lacroix who recruited stage director Marie Josee Chartier, videast Serge Maheu and set designer Cheryl Lalonde  

And at long last, on May 3 & 4th in Montreal  (and May 10th and 11th in Toronto in conjunction with TCAF/Continuum Music) HOCKEY NOIR: THE OPERA for which I wrote a libretto, will have its world premiere.  

https://boingboing.net/2018/04/03/zamboni-libretto.html

[envizn-labs]

Top 10 Venture Capitalist Websites

Your venture capital firm’s website is often one of the first impressions you have with potential partners. While a web redesign requires a great deal of thought, time, effort, and other resources, it can have an enormous impact in helping your firm stand out.

We’ve designed sites for many private equity and venture capital firms. We love working in this space because the clients who seek us out understand that good design is the core offering of all good businesses—including their own and the ones they nurture. They see great design not as a means to an end, but as an end itself. It goes beyond just “look and feel” to include all the elements of execution including messaging, branding, and content strategy.

Venture capital all is about the bleeding edge of growth. The risk is high but those willing to take the gamble are rewarded. This environment creates rich ground that fuels impactful design.

Here we round up our top 10 best venture capital websites for you to use as inspiration. When you’re ready to learn more, talk to us.

‍

1. Crosscut

Story-based content reminds you that you’re dealing with people

Crosscut is a Santa Monica-based firm with a clean, bright website design. The appealing graphics and diagonal color-blocking to match the Crosscut name are just part of what makes them stand out.

Here’s what else is so great about their website.

Human Elements

With so many venture capital firms on the market, sometimes it’s easy to forget that real people are behind every one of them. Crosscut puts that human focus at the forefront. As you scroll through their homepage, you see photos of people interacting together.

Social Proof

The founders’ section features photos and quotes from other company founders praising Crosscut. Not only does this add to the human elements as described above, but it vouches for Crosscut’s services. So too does its extensive list of partners.

Easy Navigation

Crosscut doesn’t make it hard to get around on their website. They have six menu items: Companies, Team, Approach, Stories, Press, and Contact. Besides Stories–another word for their blog–all are very straightforward.

2. Space Angels

Space-themed branding suitable for the firm’s name

Upon first glance at Space Angel’s website, you might think you’ve stumbled upon a site for an aeronautical company, not a venture capital firm. That’s part of what makes this website such a winner.

Appropriate Theming and Branding

You can’t call your company Space Angels and not brand it as such. Everything is in-tune here, from the background with the comic-like render of space explorers to a menu called Expedition, which is complete with an animation of a spinning earth.

Of course, it’s important to note that Space Angels does deal in space venture capital. A wild branding scheme only works if your company does what the branding implies. Otherwise, you’ll confuse and turn off your customers.

Video Elements

If you’re visiting a website for the first time, would you rather watch an introductory video or poke around aimlessly at the menus? Most people would say the former.

Space Angels has a video front and center on their homepage. It’s not very long, only 1:03, and in it, you can quickly learn about the importance of investing in space.

Conversion Elements

Presumably, after you watch the video, you’ll feel more confident in your decision to work with Space Angels. That’s why the website features an “Apply for membership” button beneath white text asking “Ready to join?”

Even if you’re not quite ready, as you scroll down, the “Learn more” button will tell you all the great reasons why investing in space is such a good idea.

– Emma Anderson, Digital Product Manager

3. Greylock

Why we love: Consistency matters in web design and Greylock’s site has it. From the initial framing to the concise headlines on each page, everything feels like it belongs together. Even the typeface pairing of a serif and san-serif is a nice take of blending old and new in a way that is not dated.

– Wes Manly, Creative Director

You can find the entire blog at :

[levelthecomic]

http://www.levelthecomic.com/comics/01-03-044/ 

In which Rain does his best Sailor Scout impression ✨

First Page | Latest Update | Patreon!

[nersharkii-blog]

Did DreamWorks have a role to play in the whole Shadam fiasco?

I’m sure if you’ve been following Voltron, you’ll have seen the 7th season and know about the disarray in the fandom involving the representation of Shiro and his sexuality on the show.  If not, click away!  Right now is your spoiler warning.

So at Comic Con and on Twitter, it was confirmed that Shiro was a gay character.  It was also revealed he had a significant other, Adam.

I’m going to go through a summary of these events very quickly for your sake: The first episode involves a series of flashbacks that show Shiro talking to a man named Adam.  They discuss for a very short amount of time whether Shiro would be going on the Kerberos mission or not, and Adam leaves very disgruntled.  We later see him in the flashbacks of The Last Stand: Part 1.  In one of these flashbacks, he dies due to being shot down by a Galra ship.

In the show, Shiro’s relationship with Adam was very vague and could be percieved as a completely platonic relationship.

A large chunk of the fanbase found this disappointing after being promised LGBT representation, but that’s for another post.  This post is for whether DreamWorks had a role to play in this.

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts and petitions popping up, trying to convince DreamWorks to allow the writers of Voltron to write what they wish(LGBT rep) without having a say in it.  However, I’ve been having a hard time finding hard evidence to support the fact that they were involved in the vagueness.

Now I’d like to say, if they were involved, I would not be very surprised.

Lately, DreamWorks hasn’t been impressing me.  Or ever.  The movie that got me really into it was the first How To Train Your Dragon.  It was amazing, beautiful, showed great messages, and depicted a beautiful friendship between Hiccup and Toothless.  However, the recent movies have been questionable at times.  If you want to read more about the controversy with their new dragon, read more at this article: https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/how-to-train-your-dragon-light-fury-sexist/

Now, DreamWorks hasn’t really showcased any LGBT characters(and I hear you HTTYD fans, Gobber was confirmed gay by his voice actor out of the movie, but nothing he did or say in the movie was any sort of LGBT rep).  They have movies of love between women and bees, ogres and women, and even the love between a dragon and a donkey.  But no LGBT love.  And correct me if I’m wrong, but I hardly see any POC characters in their movies.  Their first animated black character was Tip in Home, released only 3 years ago in 2015.  Not to mention they often hid her in promos, which you can read about here: https://bglh-marketplace.com/2015/03/representation-matters-so-why-is-dreamworks-hiding-their-first-black-main-character/

But onto evidence that they played a role in the vagueness of Shiro’s sexuality:

I’ve only been digging for a couple hours, and I can’t find much.  Most of what I’ve found are fans saying a cast member confirmed it, and the closest thing I could find was this in an interview with Inverse and Josh Keaton:

“I don’t really know all of the going-ons behind the scenes,” Keaton carefully makes clear to Inverse, “but it almost wasn’t going to happen.” Alternate takes of Shiro and Adam talking to each other were recorded that were way less explicit about their relationship. “We had to record other stuff to make it more vague,” Keaton says.

So, in short, Josh Keaton didn’t know what was going on.  He was just told to record more lines to make it vague.

It is suspicious that they had to record new dialogue, but that’s not exactly proof that the villain here was DreamWorks itself.  He also says this: 

“Everybody came together because it was something all of us felt was important to see and to have. Even the PR people at DreamWorks helped a lot. Everybody was on the same page.”

At first, I stopped, and thought that this was it.  The DreamWorks staff helped.  But those were only the public relations staff, which are in charge of managing relations between a company and its audience.  And correct me if I’m wrong, a second time, but they aren’t in charge of core decision making in films.

The whole interview is here: https://www.inverse.com/article/47990-voltron-legendary-defender-season-7-netflix-shiro-almost-was-not-gay

Also, as an ending to this post, please don’t attack the cast.  Most of them aren’t even involved in decision making.  Verbal abuse and threats are not ways to solve any problem.  Remember that they are people with dreams just like us.

But the cast and crew of Voltron never gave up, knowing full well what it meant to have a character like Shiro be gay in an all-ages, action-adventure cartoon. “All of us were really clamoring for it,” he says. “We were like, this is important, we can’t just water it down. I was really upset about it. Bex [Taylor-Klaus] was really upset about it.”

I want this post to be a thread for this topic if anyone finds any more hard evidence on this topic before they put a lot of work into things that may not help.  Please add on more info or correct mine if there’s anything to add or fix.

[undertheinfluencerd]

https://ift.tt/3gWJj71 #

Marvel Studios had been wanting to make Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings for almost 20 years, and it wasn’t until Destin Daniel Cretton boarded the project as director that things finally got underway. Cretton created a story with his fellow screenwriters that brought Shang-Chi’s world to life on the big screen, and in an impressive way.

Overall, everything Cretton and the studio wanted to do with Shang-Chi was accomplished. There’s room for more stories and possibly Shang-Chi sequels, but whether or not Cretton returns to helm those future movies remains to be seen.

Related: Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie, Ranked Worst To Best

Ahead of Shang-Chi‘s release, Cretton spoke to Screen Rant about the action sequences, properly showcasing the martial arts, and what he hopes the impact will be with audiences.

Screen Rant: One of the most talked-about and praised elements of this film so far is the action. But there’s also two types of action; there’s one that’s more mystical with the people of Ta-Lo, and then another one that’s more grounded with Shang-Chi and the Death Dealer. What was your approach like with both styles of action? And was there anything you were trying to incorporate or anything you were trying to avoid?

Destin Daniel Cretton: It was an important story-point to have those two different types of martial arts styles sung throughout the journey of Shang-Chi in this movie. One style is obviously from his mother, and then the other, more forceful traditional martial arts style is from his dad. What was really important to us was making sure that those styles felt right and authentic. Brad Allan, our stunt coordinator and the head of our stunt team, put together a pretty amazing team of choreographers that had their own personal experience in those types of movements. Some came from Jackie Chan’s camp – he had a choreographer from mainland China who took a lot of inspiration from movies like Jet Li’s Tai Chi Master to create these scenes that you could describe as elegant and beautiful and even emotional. To be able to see those two drastically different types of styles come together and feel cohesive in this movie was really exciting.

Right now, things are a bit different with Marvel and their Phase 4. It’s no longer about setting up direct sequels for movies; it’s more about one character moving from one film to TV, or from one film to another character’s film. So for you, in making this – I’m not even sure if you would come back for a sequel – but where would you like to see the character go next?

Destin Daniel Cretton: I think, by the end of this movie, there are some pretty clear arrows pointing in the directions that we would love to take the character – and not only Shang-Chi, but I’m really excited to see all of these characters start to interact with the other members of the MCU and go to places that we haven’t gone before. We’re all very excited at the doors that were open because of this movie.

There are a lot of moving parts in this film – there’s Shang-Chi’s story, Katy’s family, the people of Ta-Lo, the Ten Rings – there’s a lot going on and it all comes together quite well. But in making it, was there anything you realized wouldn’t have worked and you had to drop the idea? Or was there something you wished you could’ve included in some way?

Destin Daniel Cretton: I mean, the list of things you drop on the editing floor in every movie is just so long. It would just be boring to go through all of it. But yeah, the process of finding the movie in the edit, to me, is the most important part of making a movie; it’s when you really hone in on the performances, it’s when you really find the essence of the characters and their relationships. And the truth is, the things that we end up cutting typically aren’t things that I even imagine are in the movie anymore, so I don’t regret them at all, because the movie that we discovered just feels like the movie. But there will be a number of pretty fun and exciting deleted scenes that you’ll be able to see whenever those things are released.

Could you give me an example of one?

Destin Daniel Cretton: Of a deleted scene? I’m trying to… I honestly cannot think of any right now, I’m sorry.

That’s totally fine; onto a different topic. The reactions to this film so far have been quite effusive. What does all of that mean to you and what kind of impact would you like to see from this film?

Destin Daniel Cretton: We made this movie with Marvel fans at the front of our mind, from the very beginning to the end. So to be able to go to a premiere that was packed full of people who were eagerly staring at all the details of our movie and they understood how it pieces all together to the bigger MCU, to hear the reaction from those fans in that premiere was really special and very exciting. I can’t wait for more people to see it, and see what the reaction is.

Even more important than the reaction, I get such a kick out of how much interaction there is between Marvel fans and the movies. It’s such a unique relationship between the filmmakers and the fans because there’s so much more dialogue that happens between the fans and the movies than most movies that are coming out. So to be a part of it is really exciting.

This film has been in some stage of development for many years, and I know you weren’t part of that the whole time, but at what point did it finally get underway? What was the impetus to getting it into pre-production and production?

Destin Daniel Cretton: I wasn’t there for all of that previous development, so I don’t really know. When I was brought on, we developed this idea from scratch. There wasn’t a script that was sitting there for us to start rewriting on. So when I came on, I was writing in the room with Dave Callaham and our producer, Jonathan Schwartz; we were kind of starting from a blank page and deciding what this movie was going to be.

Next: Every Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie

#marvel #avengers #marvelcomics #spiderman #mcu #ironman #comics #captainamerica #thor #avengersendgame #marvelstudios #xmen #dc #marveluniverse #art #cosplay #tomholland #hulk #disney #comicbooks #dccomics #peterparker #tonystark #blackwidow #marvellegends #endgame #deadpool #marvelcinematicuniverse #loki #bhfyp

The post Destin Daniel Cretton Interview: Shang-Chi | Screen Rant appeared first on undertheinfluencerd.net.

#entertainment, screenrant #tumblr #aesthetic #like #love #tumblrgirl #follow #instagram #photography #instagood #likeforlikes #s #likes #art #cute #o #girl #followforfollowback #a #tumblrboy #grunge #fashion #photooftheday #tiktok #l #photo #sad #k #frases #f #bhfyp

[crazy4tank]

4 Reasons to Watch the New Stargirl Series

New Post has been published on https://fashiondesigne.com/2021/02/03/4-reasons-to-watch-the-new-stargirl-series/

4 Reasons to Watch the New Stargirl Series

A understanding smile, spunky bravery and also a hunger for justice are usually equal parts familiar plus novel in a fun brand new heroine known as Stargirl.

The fire within her eyes easily matches her festive star-emblazoned red-colored, white and blue match and winning personality. The particular Stargirl series, directed simply by Geoff Johns , is a welcome addition to the particular DC universe, with a fresh new take on the qualifications for any hero role. The name character, Courtney Whitmore, is just a high school sophomore. That will alone could account for the particular mounting popularity of the collection among teens all over the country.

Here are 5 reasons to check out this legendary new Stargirl series:

DC Reminiscence

Stargirl harkens back to the classic DC universe, with inspiration attracted all the way back from Celebrity Spangled Comics in 1941. That’s exactly where the motivation for the series’ child leading man and adult sidekick is located. Even with its vintage roots and nods to older f avorites   like H. T. R. I. G. E., Wildcat, Doctor Mid-Nite, and Hourman, Stargirl nevertheless feels fresh and appropriate due to its modern plotlines plus impressive action sequences. Simultaneously, the familiar pursuit of proper rights and freedom feels classic, allowing Stargirl to fit properly in line with the classic heroes plus stories of ages previous.

Within Memoriam

Stargirl herself is based on the real-life hero : Johns’ own late sibling, Courtney, who died in the tragic plane crash within 1996. With bits and pieces attracted from his sister’s living, Stargirl’s character feels much more meaningful and awe-inspiring because the on-screen character lives away her namesak e’s legacy . As we see Stargirl exhibit her energy, optimism, plus bravery saving the day repeatedly, we can hear the echoes of Johns’ love pertaining to his sister and dedication to keeping her memory space alive.

A Continuation

The first version associated with Stargirl was revealed within Johns’ premier 1999 amusing book series, Stars plus S. T. R. I actually. P. E. The character associated with Stargirl came off the web page and into the on-screen planet in a 2010 episode associated with “Smallville”, but she was not quite in the limelight however. 2020’s Stargirl series signifies an opportunity to do the character proper rights and to bring Courtney Whitmore to life. So far in the collection, Brec Bassinger, the celebrity portraying the role, have not let us down. Her shiny personality and passion for your role are clearly obvious as the episodes progress.

A Different Cast

While a female lead currently puts Stargirl apart from the package, a vibrantly diverse solid makes the series feel well-timed and contemporary. Johns prioritized this when casting the particular series, ensuring that Stargirl has been surrounded by a set of personas who could bring out the very best in her and go with her personality. This variety and representation of several heritages also contribute to the present day feel of the series, offering viewers relatable on-screen characters they can look up to.

Exploring and adoring past stories and weaving cloth them seamlessly with brand new ones ensure that Stargirl synchronizes well with the old plus new heroes alike. As the series is fun, eclectic plus visionary, it’s also a soon-to-be classic that keeps the particular spirit of the DC galaxy alive and healthy for any whole new generation of audiences.

[irlpinkiepie]

a house built on sand, chapter 1

a bnha fic

Dreams are fickle creatures.

Sometimes the most certain can fall apart at a moment's notice, and sometimes, the most fantastic dreams have a chance of coming true.

Of course, that all depends on the dreamer.

[ao3]

Wake up. Get ready for school. Breakfast. Grab bag, out the door, to the subway station - seven minute walk from home, leaving by 7:38 to catch the 7:47 train, or by 7:54 for the 8:03 in an emergency. Ride twelve stops into the city, disembark eighteen minutes later, eight minute walk to the school gate, or five cutting through the alleyways and running; only in an emergency, though. Get to school at 8:13, 8:26 at the latest, plenty of time before an 8:30 start. After two years of practice, it’s pretty much routine at this point.

Hop out of the train, head down the steps to Main Street. Today was one of those emergencies, but normally that wouldn’t be a problem; sleeping in a bit isn’t usually a crime, especially not if there’s a plan in place to deal with it. What is a crime, though, is robbery, felony assault, and use of quirk to disrupt the peace.

There’s a lot more people in the city square than usual.

There’s definitely a lot more giant shark men terrorizing the city than usual.

It can’t be helped. An attack in the center of town? That’ll definitely make the news, and this close to the train station, public transport is going to grind to a halt until this is dealt with. A perfect excuse to stay and watch to the end.

The notebook, worn heavy with lead etchings, is the thirteenth of its kind. Its margins are filled to the brim, the notes inside cataloguing only the last few months of a long career of observation. Most of the pages are individual profiles, cataloguing up and coming professionals; some are summaries, geographic patterns, strengths and weaknesses; a few, tucked at the back, are theories and gushes penciled by a thoroughly devoted fan. And right now, another blank page is being converted into notes on the scene unfolding that morning.

“You some kind of fanboy, kid?”

They didn’t know. They couldn’t have known.

Didn’t stop it from hurting.

Focus. Back on the scene. Kamui’s a good hero. Obvious weaknesses, but here he’s perfect. Typically, against villains with gigantification, heroes have the advantage of stealth, but it’s hard to leverage that into an actual fight. Here, though, the growing quirk means that not only can he compete on equal footing, but he can do so without compromising that advantage. Best of all, damage to property is likely to be fairly minimal if there’s only one gia--

Two giant people.

Stealing credit is typically frowned upon, but there’s no doubt it gets results. Mt. Lady, she said? It’s definitely worth writing that one down; first impressions are everything, and this one comes in spectacular fashion. A few cursory notes, mostly copied from the page before, before looking up and seeing the crowd beginning to dissipate as the scene calms down.

There will be time for such things later. For now, school.

Sticking to the main roads, but definitely running. More plausible to be late and exhausted than nonchalant. It’s probably hit the news online already, but better to be safe than sorry.

Watch. Time. 8:38. Panic. Calm. It’ll be alright.

Front gate. Main door. Turn left. Second on the right. Brace for impact.

“And what, young man, is the reason for your lateness this morning?”

She hated school days.

It wasn’t her fault. Not really. Not this.

Or.

Let’s back up.

Superpowers.

It’s an evocative word, isn’t it? Conjuring up images of comic book heroes, using unimaginable abilities to defeat evil villains, protecting citizens from terror. And certainly, when there exists power, there are those who seek to use it for the benefit of society, and those who threaten to abuse it. But what the old comics (and she had read many of them) failed to predict was what would happen to everyone else.

A bit further back.

And a bit to the west.

Perfect.

Keikei City, PRC. At the sight of what was once a hospital, now a memorial. She’d heard this story what must have been a hundred times before. There had been no signs during the pregnancy of anything unusual, but complications arose during childbirth. Suddenly, a routine procedure turned into a medical marvel, then a harbinger.

“Bioluminescence: Ability to emit light from body. Certain manifestations allow the user to vary the presence and amount of light emitted, while others are fixed at a constant brightness; no known cases of color variance have been observed. Has potential in rescue situations, but imparts little strength in combat; distinguishing the limitations of a particular user is important before planning counterattacks, as combatting the former is much more difficult than the latter.”

Volume One, Page One. This nameless child wasn’t exactly a superhero, but it made the most sense from her to start from the very beginning and work forward. And so she did; just below this paragraph, underneath a pile of marginal cross-references, follows every known superhero from before her time - a great deal had been lost or was only fragments, but she had put in her research. This first notebook covered the entirety of the history of superpowers, from that first baby to the year she was born, as best as she could figure out. It may have had an odd focus, written in the shaky hand of a nine year old, but to her it was a masterpiece.

And from then on: more of a catalogue than research, but with equivalent rigour. News reports would be carefully copied down and analyzed, maps would be drawn, and when pages from each journal were lined up and read in series, they formed an elegant picture of a career in motion. She undoubtedly had her own personal favorites, but for her this project was vital research; someone reading any single page, though, would be convinced that this must be her favorite hero. Everything was catalogued: wins, losses, powers, weaknesses, who and when and where and why. It had to be.

“Super Strength: As the name implies, a superhuman level of physical strength, though the level varies from user to user. One of the most common quirks, it has obvious utility in combat situations, though its relative predictability makes it easy to counter in many situations. Less obvious is its potential in non-combat situations: in these cases, predictability can serve as a benefit, ensuring reliable rescues compared to heroes with more powerful but more volatile quirks.

“Because this quirk augments normal abilities, rather than creating new ones, it can often be discovered at a relatively late age, including in some who were thought to be Quirkless.”

Sometimes, it was hard not to cry.

Fortunately, as she’d expected, her professor had in fact seen that news broadcast before school started; a few gasps of “Train…… villain…… rush………” was all she needed to explain herself, and he let her off with an understanding nod.

“Anyway, where was I…” he mumbled as she found her way to her desk, dropping her bag next to her and almost collapsing into her chair. “Right. I know the school year is only just beginning, but it’s time we start adjusting ourselves to the future.”

The future. She wondered about this for a moment. How many of her junior high classmates would follow her even as far as high school? She pictured, for a moment, herself as a professional hero, arriving at the scene of a crime to find one of those familiar faces look up at her with no recognition. How strange, she thought, that I know so many people who’ve never met me.

“...entering your third year now,” continued his drone from the front of the class, “so it’s time you start thinking about the responsibility…”

What would my hero name be? she wondered. She wasn’t sure if she was fantasizing or predicting at this point, but either way she was dedicated. Costume? Maybe the finer details weren’t important, but sometimes when the bigger picture seemed impossible to grasp, the details were a small comfort that helped pull her through. Like this one: maybe once she graduated, she’d be able to start over.

“...in choosing your high school for next year.”

Suddenly, a flash of realization. She looked behind and to the right, and saw a blinding grin shine out from the boy in the far back with the spiky blond hair.

“I presume all of you want to become heroes!”

Sometimes, though, the details are what separate a building weathering the storm from one which collapses when the wind hits at just the right angle.

“Katsuki, you’re intending to apply to UA High, is that correct?”

And right now, Izuku Midoriya wanted nothing more than for the rubble of her hopes to somehow, magically, repair itself.

[artbookisland]

What I’m reading these days #4

* What I'm reading these days #01 * What I'm reading these days #02 * What I'm reading these days #03

Hi there, how are you doing? It’s been a long while since I’ve told you about what I read so I thought I could go over this one more time!

Last time (almost a year ago!), I told you I started reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring” and actually I’ve had time to read almost his entire bibliography (The Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Silmarillion -again-, The Children of Húrin, and Unfinished Tales)! It took some time but I absolutely don’t regret this, it was simply amazing, Tolkien’s writing is incredible and I strongly recommend that you try reading The Hobbit, it’s a great way to start because it’s shorter than his other stories and easier to read, you won’t regret it and you’ll want to read the rest :)

So after spending about a year in Middle Earth, I thought I could come back to sci-fi and I chose to keep reading Philip K. Dick’s short stories with volume 2 of the collected stories: “Second Variety”.

It’s not my first time reading PKD so I’m not surprised but I’m glad to come back to this, I really like reading these stories and I’m always impressed about how he could create worlds and characters in just a few pages. And as usual, most stories end on a twist or an incredible revelation, a good reward for having read the fiction.

Like I’ve said before (if you were already following me last year!), I always try to read several books at the same time and especially different types of books like novels, mangas, comics and so on. So I’ve also just read a French bande dessinée (a comic) called Undertaker, volume 4 (which was published quite recently).

This series has become popular quickly in French bookstores almost since its first volume, published in 2015 and in just two years the talented authors Ralph Meyer (art) and Xavier Dorison (story) have already published four volumes.

This bande dessinée tells the story of an undertaker (you wouldn’t have guessed) with something to hide, trying to make a living in the wild West but he keeps meeting shady people from his past and things keep going from bad to worse.

Dorison and Meyer have already worked together and I think they make a good team (like Remender and Murphy in american comic books) so I’m always waiting for the next volume. If Undertaker is published in your country, why not giving it a try?

In terms of manga, these days I’m buying the “deluxe edition” (published in France by Panini Manga) of City Hunter. I used to watch the anime when I was a kid but in France it was censored and had a very bad dubbing but when you’re a kid, you don’t realize... So, recently I tried reading the first volume and I liked it a lot!

Tukasa Hōjō’s style is quite retro but I appreciate it! He’s very good at drawing women (as you can see with all the scans I post here on ArtbookIsland) and this manga is sooo funny, I find myself laughing out loud sometimes, it’s fantastic! I also like seeing Tokyo in the 80s and Ryō Saeba, the hero, is pretty badass (as much as he’s stupid and perverted).

As usual, if you’ve never read City Hunter, give it a try, you might like it, especially if you like vintage mangas, you’ll have a good time!

That’s it for now, I still don’t know what I will read next but I hope you’ve discovered something thanks to this post, bye bye!

[alexthegamingboy]

Toonami Weekly Recap 03/14/2020

Sword Art Online: Alicization: War of Underworld (Alicization Exploding) EP#33 (09) - Sword and Fist: With the decoy force heading through the dark territory towards the World's End Altar, Emperor Vecta orders the Pugilists and the Dark Knights to pursue. Sheyta Synthesis 12, otherwise known as Sheyta the Silent, considers herself to be cursed with the ability to cut anything she touches, no matter how hard the object is. Iskahn, leader of the Pugilist Guild, considers himself to be uncuttable by any object imaginable. During the pursuit the Pugilists catch up with the decoy force, and Sheyta stays back to hold them off. She goes up against Iskahn and a hard battle ensues with Sheyta wounding Iskahn with her paper thin sword. With a drawn out stalemate, both fighters gain a mutual respect for each other and she withdraws back to the decoy force. At the end of the first day's haul, the decoy force setup camp to rest. Unknown to them, Vassago has been lurking and secretly takes out a few men in the camp. When he spots Ronie and Tiese as his next target, the Goddess of Creation, Stacia, descends from the sky and protects them. However, just before he got swallowed by the ravine, Vassago recognized Asuna in the glowing light.

My Hero Academia Remedial Course Arc Season 4 EP#79 (16) - Win Those Kids' Hearts: Katsuki and Shoto attend a special Hero License course, having both failed the second phase of the last exam. There, they encounter Inasa and Camie from Shiketsu High School, and the four are tasked with winning the hearts of Masegaki Elementary School children. All the while, Endeavor has a serious talk with All Might about being the Symbol of Peace.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind EP#18 - Head to Venice!: Giorno tricks Baby Face Jr. into merging with Melone's motorcycle, then uses the spark plug to ignite the gasoline and cause an explosion, destroying him and returning Bucciarati and Trish to normal. Giorno then uses Baby Face Jr.'s components to create a poisonous snake which tracks down and kills Melone. Bucciarati's gang then finds instructions to use Moody Blues to receive the boss's final orders. Moody Blues transforms into Pericolo who, having been speaking to no one, had planned this method to ensure the orders couldn't be intercepted. Pericolo said to recover a data disc at Venice Station which contains further instructions, then killed himself to keep the information secret. Giorno and Mista drive towards Venice while the others remain in Coco Jumbo; however, Ghiaccio, another Hitman Team member, catches up with their car and attacks them using the freezing ability of his Stand White Album. They manage to shake him off by combining their Stands' abilities, but Ghiaccio catches up again and uses his Stand as both armor and ice skates. In a desperate move to defeat Ghiaccio, Giorno drives their car into a canal.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Natagumo Mountain Arc EP#20 - Pretend Family: Tanjiro collapses from his wounds and crawls towards Nezuko, who has fallen and isn't moving. He smells blood behind him and realizes he normally smells ash when demons were killed by his sword. Rui stands and puts his head back on. He tells Tanjiro he cut his neck with one of his own threads when he realized he would be decapitated by the nichirin sword, which would have killed him. Enraged, he encircles Tanjiro with threads to mince him, only for Giyū to arrive and save him. Giyū congratulates Tanjiro on holding out until he arrived. Rui throws a sheet of threads at Giyū, who uses Water Breathing's eleventh form (there are only ten officially) to shred them when they reach him. Giyū then beheads him. As the Daughter runs, she remembers when she was being chased by Demon Hunters and saved by Rui, promising to join his family. Rui fed her some of his blood, giving her her current appearance. There were many siblings Rui had shared his blood with and he insisted they pretend to be a family. If they did something Rui didn't like he'd punish them, sometimes by wounding them, other times stringing them up and letting the sunlight kill them. Thus the numbers decreased to five. The Daughter comes across Murata and ensnares him in a cocoon filled with acid that will liquefy him, only to be knocked to the ground by Shinobu. Shinobu asks her how many people she's killed, saying (smiling all the while) that once she tortures her appropriately for all the people she's killed (gouge out her eyes, rip out her organs, ect.), they can be friends and her sins will be forgiven. The Daughter refuses so Shinobu uses her Insect Breathing to approach and cut her neck with her sword. Shinobu's sword is sharp only at the tip as she lacks the strength to behead demons. However, Daughter dies seconds later from the wisteria-based poison Shinobu invented and coated her sword with. Shinobu then frees Murata. Tanjiro makes it to Nezuko and drapes himself over her body protectively. As Rui dies, he thinks he made the pretend family because he had no memories of when he was human, and he thought if he could feel a familial bond, his memories would come back. He looks upon Tanjiro and Nezuko, wishing he had what they had.

Food Wars: The Second Plate Totsuki Autumn Election Arc EP#33 - The Sword That Announces Fall: The finals begin, and Alice reminisces on the many cooking battles she's had with Kurokiba. After only half the cooking time, Kurokiba presents his dish, a cartoccio cooked with herb butter inside film bags. Next, Akira presents a seared carpaccio, using fire to unleash a powerful aroma from a single spice. Finally, Soma presents his dish, Salted Rice Bran Pacific Saury Rice, inspired by Fumio's pickles. Just as it seems his dish has failed to impress the judges, Soma brings out his dish's true edge.

Black Clover: Elf Tribe Reincarnation Arc EP#109 - Spatial Mage Brothers: The elf Baval, possessing Golden Dawn member David Swallow, threatens Kirsch, Mimosa and En, pointing out the elves power and the fact that Langris, possessed by the most twisted elf, Ratri, has made it to the Clover King. The Clover King arrogantly declares he will defeat Langris with his Royal Magic but he is easily and embarrassingly defeated. Finnes is saved from Ratri by Finral. Yami throws Finrals parents through a portal while Finral promises Finnes he will survive. Jack cuts through the castle wall, sending the King falling to safety. Jack figures out a way to cancel Ratri's automatic defence. Jack and Yami almost knock Ratri unconscious but he goes on a rampage instead. Finral recalls he and Langris have never actually fought each other as Finral always ran away, and now Ratri is distracted. Finral succeeds in teleporting him directly in front of him and Finral knocks him out with a simple punch to the face. Inside Langris' mind he and Finral reconcile as they both pass out. Patry arrives at the floating dungeon and meets the elves Droit (right in french) and Eclat possessing Gauche (left in french) and his sister Marie. Rhya reveals that due to an unknown reason Licht's memories have not fully returned and he has once more fallen asleep. Patry reveals the final stage of his plan, to place a final magic stone in a tablet deep within the castle, wiping out all humans and making the elves reincarnations permanent, a stone that is on Yuno's necklace.

Slightly Damned Page 954: https://www.sdamned.com/comic/954