#for all the pulitzers assistants fans out there

[newsies-furry-au]

bottom line

[papermoonloveslucy]

THE BOUNDING MAIN!

Nautical Lucy ~ Part 2

A salute to seafaring Lucy!  Grab your life preserver, shiver your timbers, and set sail with part two of this all-new martime blog!  All ashore that's going ashore!

“Lucy and the Scout Trip” (1964) ~ When one of the dads can’t go on the Cub Scout camping trip, Lucy and Viv step in. 

Unfortunately, they sink the canoe, topple the tee-pee, and get lost in the wilderness as well!  

“Lucy is a Process Server” (1964) ~ When Lucy needs money for a summer vacation, she takes a job as a process server. Her first summons must be delivered to none other than Mr. Mooney. She follows him onto a freighter bound for the Caribbean for six weeks. Befre she realizes it, the ship has left the port. So much for “all ashore that’s going ashore”! 

“Lucy and Arthur Godfrey” (1965) ~ Lucy recruits Godfrey to star in a play about the founding of Danfield, which is set entirely aboard a riverboat in the South. The setting was undoubtedly influenced by the popular stage and screen musical Show Boat. 

“Lucy at Marineland” (1965) ~ To open season four and mark Lucy’s relocation to the West Coast, “The Lucy Show” goes on location to Marineland. Somehow Lucy finds herself in a water tank in a tiny raft being pulled by a trained seal. 

“Lucy and the Return of Iron Man” (1965) ~ To pay a debt to Mr. Mooney,  Lucy must go back to work doing stunts as Iron Man Carmichael. 

This time, the film is set aboard a pirate ship. 

“Lucy and Bob Crane” (1966) ~ Bob takes Lucy on a date to a nautically-themed restaurant with a plethora of paintings and models of ships for decor. 

“Lucy and the Submarine” (1966) ~ Mr. Mooney goes on training maneuvers and forgets to sign some important papers. To get his signature, Lucy disguises herself as a sailor and follows him aboard a submarine. She gets trapped inside when the sub takes a dive.  

Although the interior scenes of the sub were done in studio, there were a few establishing shots of an actual submarine in port. 

On “The Lucy Show” Jerry and Sherman (Jimmy Garrett and Ralph Hart) were submarine fans, having a sub lunch box and a toy submarine. 

“Lucy in London” (1966) ~ Lucy and Anthony Newley go boating on the Thames, but end up sinking when the raft springs a leak. [Note: Despite the above photo, the special was shot and aired in color.]

“Lucy and Eva Gabor” (1968) ~ To finish her latest novel, Eva Von Graunitz (Gabor) hides out at the Carter home.  A member of Lucy’s Bridge Club (Gail Bonney) asks her for an autograph – on a copy of The Caine Mutiny, the 1951 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel by Herman Wouk. It was turned into a stage play in 1953 and a film in 1954. It is set aboard a naval shit named the U.S.S. Caine. 

“Lucy and the Ex-Con” (1969) ~ Disguised as old ladies, Lucy and former safe cracker Rocky (Wally Cox) go undercover to catch a crook.  

They stake out the Seadrifter Café, a dockside establishment decorated in nautical memorobilia like paintings of ships and boats in bottles.  

“Lucy Runs the Rapids” (1969) ~ On location at the Colorado River, Lucy navigates the rapids in a sleeping bag! 

There are scenes on rafts both large...

... and small. 

Will the Real Mr. Sellers... (1969) ~ is a 50-minute documentary by British actor Peter Sellers made to promote his film The Magic Christian. Some of the footage was shot on the Cunard ship Queen Elizabeth II. 

Peter Sellers invites the viewers into a VIP lounge “to experience a VIP.”  Once inside, the VIP is Lucille Ball, who is seen in silent close-ups putting on make-up and having unheard conversations. There is no dialogue and the entire sequence lasts just 15 seconds.

“Lucy Goes Hawaiian: Parts 1 & 2″ (1970) ~ Harry takes a job as a cruise director and recruits Lucy to be his unpaid assistant.

Originally, the two episodes were to be filmed aboard the actual S.S. Lurline. When costs proved prohibitive, Lucille Ball Productions had a three-quarter scale model of the ship built on the Paramount lot. At the time, it was the second largest ship ever built at the studio. 

There were, however, establishing shots of the Lurline leaving port in San Francisco that featured cast members. 

The S.S. Lurline was a real ship sailing from California to Hawaii for the Matson Steamship Line from 1932 to 1963, when it was sold to the Chandris Lines and re-christened the RHMS Ellinis. The Matson Line then brought the Matsonia (first known as the Monterey) out of retirement and re-christened it the Lurline, keeping the historic name alive in their fleet. The Lurline sailed her last voyage under this name in June 1970, before being sold to Chandris and re-christened Britanis. During the 1980s it was briefly the oldest cruise ship in service. The vessel underwent one more name and ownership change before being deliberately sunk in 2000 after nearly 68 years at sea.

Naturally, Lucy boards the ship in a highly unusual way. Just as she had in 1957′s “Lucy Takes a Cruise To Havana”, she boards via a cargo net after missing the last call at the gangway.  

“Lucy and the Astronauts” (1971) ~ Harry takes Lucy along to a NASA splash-down aboard a navy ship, but before the astronauts can be medically cleared, Lucy has kissed them, forcing Lucy and Harry to join the space travelers in isolation.

Establishing shots of an actual NASA spash-down from the deck of a ship were used. 

“Lucy’s Houseguest Harry” (1971) ~ Harry is having his house redecorated and needs a place to stay. Naturally, he imposes on Lucy. Harry falls asleep reading Boating, a magazine for boat enthusiasts. 

Harry is a boat enthusiast who decorates his home and office with model ships and paintings of vessels.

“Kim Finally Cuts You-Know-Who’s Apron Strings” (1973) ~ When Kim moves out, she relocates to an apartment building in Marina Del Rey, an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California. Fisherman's Village offers a view of Marina del Rey's dominant feature, the Marina, the world's largest man-made small craft harbor with eight basins having a capacity for 5,300 boats. The backdrop outside Kim’s window is of the harbor and prominently features the masts of many vessels. 

“Lucy and Danny Thomas” (1973) ~ Lucy befriends a gruff painter (Danny Thomas) who says that most artists only sell their work after they die. Harry calls the subject of Danny’s painting a ‘boat’ and Danny corrects him that it is a ‘ship.’ 

Mame (1974) ~ The movie musical filmed scenes for the “Loving You” song on the Queen Mary. The Queen Mary was actually sailing at the time the film is set, but was in dry dock in Long Beach, California when the filming took place. 

“The Love Boat” (1978) ~ Desi Arnaz Jr. appeared in a two-part episode in a segment titled “The Eyes of Love.” He played a blind man who has regained his sight. The series is one of only four one-hour television shows that had a laugh track. “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” (1957) was another.

[canchewread]

Editor’s Note: our Book Blog feature combines a shareable quote from, and a short review of, an important left wing or left-leaning work of nonfiction I’ve read and would like to share or expound on.

Terminal Point

A little while ago, I published a lengthy piece about how corporate media coverage of the so-called “migrant crisis at the U.S. border” uniformly conformed to the dictates of the Chomsky-Herman propaganda model; regardless of the ideological bent of the outlet publishing that coverage. Towards the end of that essay, I discussed the difference between describing how America created the crises driving migration, and what is actually happening on the ground in relation to those crises; before recommending readers who wanted to know more, check out “The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the mind of America” by Greg Grandin.

As longtime readers of this blog may remember, I’ve always been a big fan of Grandin’s work; in particular his scholarship on U.S. imperialism in Latin America is absolutely first rate. Given these factors, today I’d like to return to that portion of the discussion by offering a quote from (see above,) and a brief review of “The End of the Myth” here on Can’t You Read. 

Frankly, for a guy whose writing is so accessible, Greg Grandin remains an extraordinarily complex thinker whose historical analysis explores a sometimes overwhelming number of “variations on a theme” in the larger scope of his primary thesis. Given the sad state of the term intellectual in our society, I won’t burden professor Grandin with the title, but as scholars go this guy genuinely fulfills his obligation to present the facts, and challenge established assumptions vigorously where warranted. 

In that vein, the author opens The End of the Myth with a fundamentally sound, but deceptively simple thesis; that America has always resolved the staggering contradictions between its stated ideals, and its horrifying practices by projecting its identity, and even its very conception of the term “freedom” through the lens of an endless expansion across a wholly mythical, and ultimately metaphysical, frontier. Indeed, as Grandin notes quite early on in The End of the Myth, the contradiction between the colonial enterprise that eventually became America, and escaping the crushing poverty and violence of the old world was resolved by a genocidal project to claim the frontier before early-American settlers even had a word for the frontier. The story outpaced reality, right from the beginning.

Tracing the line of history from the foundation of the colonies, through the American Civil War, and into the modern era of Pig Empire dominated globalized trade, Grandin demonstrates that at each phase American society resolved the deferred promise of freedom inherent in its foundational mythos, by projecting the violence and conflict inherent to its settler-colonial, hyper-capitalist nature, outward and against a constantly-shifting “other.” From Manifest Destiny, to the Monroe Doctrine and on through our modern War on Terror, the solution to America’s problems has always been found in the destruction of an external enemy, and the expansion of the mythical “frontier.” 

Where Grandin’s work really starts to get interesting however, is when he meticulously dissects the internal conflicts a settler colonial project of genocide and slavery created; conflicts that a romanticized vision of endless frontier expansion both rationalized, and reinforced. It is in this analysis that the author exposes the myth of freedom for those who can claim it on an endless frontier, as the skeleton key for understanding the increasingly critical flaws in Pig Empire society. After all, all wars, even an endless war based on the myth of infinite growth, have casualties, and the unrelenting legacy of violence, dehumanization, and ruthless exploitation of the eternal other have fundamentally altered American society in ways no idealized frontier could ever heal. In a wholly disturbing way then, the very existence of marginalized nonwhites inside “the nation” becomes a taunting reminder of a faltering white supremacist legacy the Pig Empire has never made any attempts to reconcile with, let alone end.

These consequences are the dark, unspoken truths of both American history and America’s present; and they are rarely if ever exposed to the public eye. In doing so, Grandin lays bare the roots of American imperialism, white supremacy, colonial exploitation, and even U.S. dominated “borderless capitalism” in the modern era. Like a cancerous tumor, the myth of the American frontier has fueled the endless growth of a Pig Empire capitalist class that threatens to unleash fascist violence to maintain control now that the frontier thesis has run into the hard walls of both history, and reality. By exposing the catastrophic fallout of worshipping frontier mythology in America’s past, Grandin does much to reveal how “the land of the free” has never really stopped being “the home of the slave.”

Importantly however the author does not remain entirely in the past. Grandin also draws stark attention to the fact that although the myth of the frontier has lost its power to obscure America’s horrifying contradictions, it has done nothing to satiate the greed and arrogance of the primary beneficiaries of those contradictions in modern life:

“The fantasies of the super-rich, no less than their capital, have free range. They imagine themselves sea-steaders, setting out to create floating villages beyond government control, or they fund life-extension research hoping to escape death or to upload their consciousness into the cloud. Mars, says one, will very soon be humanity’s “new frontier.” A hedge-fund billionaire backer of Trump who believes “human beings have no inherent value other than how much money they make” and that people on public assistance have “negative value,” a man so anti-social he doesn’t look people in the eye and whistles when others try to talk with him, gets to play volunteer sheriff in an old New Mexico mining town and is thereby allowed to carry a gun in all fifty states. Never before has a ruling class been as free - so completely emancipated from the people it rules - as ours.”

Greg Grandin, The End of the Myth.

Of course, given that The End of the Myth was published in 2019, a certain percentage of the book is focused on specifically what Trump, Trumpism, and Trump’s promise to build a border wall mean for modern American politics. Even this seemingly contemporary discussion however, offers timeless insights on both the past and future of an America that continues to embrace nativist ideas and ideology. Although Grandin never uses the term, he subtly notes that in many ways Trumpism itself represents an explicit ideological rejection of endless growth along an infinite frontier, and even offers a horrifying “solution” to our present day climate crisis - white nationalist infused eco-fascism.

Look, you probably don’t need me to convince you a Pulitzer-prize winning book by a celebrated American historian is “a good read.” What I’d like to add here however is that Grandin’s book isn’t just a guide to understanding American nativism, immigration policy, and right wing fantasies of migrant invasions; this book is a guide to understanding both American political thought, and rising Pig Empire fascism - which in a lot of ways, are very much the same thing.

I don’t know if this is the best American history book ever published, but frankly I suspect it’s in the running. Even though I don’t agree with everything Grandin says in The End of the Myth, I’d still ultimately give it an enthusiastic five star rating. More importantly, I would strongly suggest this work as a must-read volume for folks looking to understand why the Pig Empire works the way it does.

Additional Resources:

Infinite Frontier (The Nation review)

America can no longer run from its past (Guardian review)

A Monument to Disenchantment (Jacobin review)

Slavery, and American Racism, Were Born in Genocide

- nina illingworth

Independent writer, critic and analyst with a left focus. Please help me fight corporate censorship by sharing my articles with your friends online!

You can find my work at ninaillingworth.com, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

Updates available on Instagram, Mastodon and Facebook. Podcast at “No Fugazi” on Soundcloud.

Inquiries and requests to speak to the manager @ASNinaWrites

Chat with fellow readers online at Anarcho Nina Writes on Discord!

“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”

[superman86to99]

Adventures of Superman #506 (November 1993)

Superman vs. Superboy! I mean, vs. Superman, since the Kid still insists that Superboy is definitely NOT his name and never will be. The two Supermen meet while the younger, radder one is dealing with some sort of deformed flying babies that are trying to kill him, which is the sort of thing that happens to you when you wear an “S” emblem on your chest.

These turn out to be deformed flying babies THAT EXPLODE, but the Kid is able to push them away with his (very non-Superman-esque) telekinesis powers. He then deduces that these things must have come out of Project Cadmus, the top secret genetic experimentation facility that created him, and brushes off the elder Superman to get back at those geeks by doing what he does best: being a brat on live TV.

So I guess the “top secret” part of Cadmus’ description is no longer accurate, thanks to the Kid. On the other hand, I kinda feel like the people of Metropolis deserved to know that there's a nearby government facility churning out genetic atrocities into their sewers.

The Cadmus gang sends Guardian to bring their wayward creation home so they can talk to him. Obviously the Kid isn't very interested, and for a while it looks like we might get the fight scene teased in the cover, but then Superman the First convinces Superman the Second that he should at least hear them out. And, while at it, ask Cadmus to tell him exactly what the hell he is. If he’s Superman’s clone, why does he have those weird TK powers? The Kid agrees, but... he doesn't like the answers he gets.

The Kid finds out that he's NOT a clone of Superman since, as established a while back, Kryptonians are damn hard to clone. So, since Cadmus was determined to create a new Superman after the original appeared to be dead, they instead took a clone of a regular, non-super man and genetically modified it to approximate Superman's powers (for instance, translating Superman’s “aura” into a telekinetic field). But who was that human DNA donor? Surely it was someone good and cool!

Just after the Kid wonders that, the quite evil and deeply uncool Director Westfield bursts into the lab and demands that this "super-punk" be taken into custody, probably so they can flush him down the toilet like Cadmus' other failed experiments. Superman makes Westfield see that making Cadmus' whistleblower disappear wouldn't look very good right now, but they can't just let him run around unsupervised. So, at Guardian's recommendation, the esteemed telepath Dubbilex is assigned to follow the Kid wherever he goes. I smell a sitcom! (Or a spin-off comic.)

As a last order of business, the Kid decides to give Superman his trademark to the Superman name, which his manager Rex Leech doesn't take too well. So what are they gonna call this teenage “S” emblem-wearing hero now? Superman has an interesting suggestion: SUPERBOY. Our young friend still isn't a fan.

But after storming out and thinking about it for a couple of pages (and trying out the name on some guys robbing a jewelry shop), the Kid realizes he's "earned" the title of Superboy and accepts it. Character development! And just in time for his solo series. ("That Non-Superman Clone Who Also Calls Himself Superman" wouldn't look good on a cover.)

Plotline-Watch:

The final page shows a shadowy figure shaped like the recently introduced Bloodthirst outfitting someone with a weapon-teleporting gizmo, then calling him "Bloodsport"... except that this dude is quite paler than the Bloodsport we met way back in Superman #4 (in an issue inked by current writer Karl Kesel, so you'd think he'd remember the character). This looks nothing like Idris Elba! What gives?!

Superboy is still bummed out because his friend Tana Moon left Metropolis without telling him where she was going, which is now known as "ghosting". In the end, Rex talks about sending Superboy on a promotional tour to establish his new brand, and the first destination of that tour will be... exactly where Tana went to hide from Superboy. This is now known as "time to get a restraining order."

Clark Kent is slowly morphing into a hipster the longer he rooms with Jimmy Olsen. For a long time I assumed all the bands listed in the panel below were made up, but turns out the only non-existing ones are “James Rock” and "Axel Rose". Luckily, Superboy was happy to give Clark's old apartment back to him (apparently only Pulitzer-winning journalists can afford it), so Jimmy won't hipsterize him for much longer.

Westfield gladly assigns Dubbilex to Superboy because it means there won't be a telepath at Cadmus to read his thoughts and find out about his evil plans (like sending the ugly flying babies after Superboy). Very clever, Westfield! Except for the fact that he thought that right in front of Dubbilex, who clearly "heard" the whole thing.

Incidentally, there's an apparent error in this issue when Superboy thinks "They won't take me without a fight!" and Guardian shows up and says "That's too bad, son. Because I don't want to fight you." How did Guardian know what Superboy was thinking? Obviously, Dubbilex patched Guardian through to Superboy's mind to assist in finding him. Now where's my damn Baldy Award?!

Is it me or is this page reminiscent of the cover to Superboy Prime's first appearance during Crisis on Infinite Earths?

Patreon-Watch:

Special thanks to your Patreon pals Aaron, Murray Qualie, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, and Samuel Doran, and welcome aboard to Bheki Latha (our first $6.50 patron ever!), Mark Syp, and Ryan Bush! You are all excellent. This month they got to read a long-ass post entitled 45 Things I Learned by Reading the “Death of Superman” Novel (Part 1), in which I talked about the stuff Roger Stern added to the canon in the first part of the Death and Life of Superman book. This includes Superman’s private thoughts on the JLI (and Guy Gardner in particular), what Lex Jr. calls Supergirl in bed, and Professor Hamilton getting romantic. Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/superman86to99

But now: the Don Sparrow show! Take it away, Don.

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

The end of an era, at least temporarily, as Tom Grummett draws his last Adventures of Superman issue, moving onto Superboy (and I think still doing Robin at this time?) with Karl Kesel.  He’ll return for the quarterly Superman: Man of Tomorrow and other things, but it’s a long gap until he does.

A pretty good cover, with Superman and Superboy about to tussle.   Though it can be seen as cheaping out on the backgrounds, I always love radial rays as an effect.  

Inside the issue, we have a great splash page of Superboy getting attacked by botched clones, and I love the gesture here—having his head snapping away from the camera adds to the motion and action.  Great stuff. 

Though he won’t be drawing her again for a while, Grummett excels at the new, shorter-haired Lois in these pages.  Superman soaring to the skies is a great panel as well, and I especially like the way his cape and fist slightly break the panel barrier, giving it a sense of motion, again.

The sequence of Guardian acrobatically flipping from one ledge to another is very well drawn.  Ditto the splash on page 13, where Superboy loses his temper.  The body language in this whole sequence tells the story very well, as Superman is calm and patient, confident in his ability not only to reach Superboy with his words, but also withstand him physically.  

The way Superboy snaps the carpet, but controls it mentally with his Tactile Telekinesis is a great example of his unique powers in use.  It reminds me of a technique they tried on the CW Supergirl show (but almost immediately abandoned) where they made like the Kryptonian fabric of their capes was like “smart fabric” and could be used as a weapon.  

Lastly, the dreamy, child-like expression on Superboy’s face during the Peter Pan exchange is wonderful, and a fitting end for Tom’s run on the book. [Max: You mean the William Shatner exchange, Don.]

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

I almost never like it when they reference pop culture stuff in Superman comics, particularly music.  Karl Kesel isn’t the worst offender in that department (that would be JM DeMatties a few years down the line, who had Clark Kent bizarrely asserting he loved the Beastie Boys) but Clark’s discussion with Jimmy about an apparently fictional musician working with a rolodex of early nineties names makes me cringe (as does trying to imagine how awful a “Hip Hop Lyle Lovett” or “Grunge Frank Sinatra” would sound).

The car poster on the wall of Jimmy’s bachelor pad looks for all the world like Robin’s Redbird, also a Tom Grummett creation.  (Fun fact:  Tom once told me he still gets {very small} royalty cheques from the Batman & Robin movie, because Robin’s motorcycle was called the Redbird, though that might no longer be true with Paul Levitz no longer in charge of such matters.)

Superboy (in no less than his third time calling those pink creatures “spuds”) references John Candy and Joe Flaherty’s “Farm Film Celebrity Blow Up” where the guests would frequently “blow up real good” and it does my SCTV loving Canadian heart good.  

It’s interesting (and a little sad) that they again note that Superboy knows things (pop culture, etc) without ever having experienced it.  I feel like there’s a lot they could do with this concept.

This issue reads very much like the end of the Superboy “Reign” issues, as Superman is more of a secondary character to the kid.  All of it begs the question of why Superman, or Guardian put up with Cadmus.  Superman has said in previous issues that he has moral problems with how Cadmus treats life with their cloning experiments, and they’ve attacked him in the past (and also stole his corpse!) so other than the fact that it’s a launchpad for Superboy’s series, there’s really no reason any of these heroes should associate with Cadmus.  Especially Guardian, who comes off as little more than an errand boy here.  He wants to bring Superboy in, but won’t promise Superboy won’t be harmed or imprisoned?  

Nice to see Superboy return to his “Slammin’” catch phrase!

An interesting bit of foreshadowing when Superboy asks Big Words whose clone he is, and who immediately enters but Westfield. [Max: That’s right, Westfield! Not Luthor! Sorry, sorry.]

[theculturedmarxist]

Published below is the introduction by World Socialist Web Site International Editorial Board Chairman David North to the forthcoming book, The New York Times’ 1619 Project and the Racialist Falsification of History. It is available for pre-order at Mehring Books for delivery in late January 2021.

The volume is a comprehensive refutation of the New York Times’ 1619 Project, a racialist falsification of the history of the American Revolution and Civil War. In addition to historical essays, it includes interviews from eminent historians of the United States, including James McPherson, James Oakes, Gordon Wood, Richard Carwardine, Victoria Bynum, and Clayborne Carson.

***

I should respectfully suggest that although the oppressed may need history for identity and inspiration, they need it above all for the truth of what the world has made of them and of what they have helped make of the world. This knowledge alone can produce that sense of identity which ought to be sufficient for inspiration; and those who look to history to provide glorious moments and heroes invariably are betrayed into making catastrophic errors of political judgment.—Eugene Genovese [1]

Both ideological and historical myths are a product of immediate class interests. … These myths may be refuted by restoring historical truth—the honest presentation of actual facts and tendencies of the past.—Vadim Z. Rogovin [2]

On August 14, 2019, the New York Times unveiled the 1619 Project. Timed to coincide with the four hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the first slaves in colonial Virginia, the 100-page special edition of the New York Times Magazine consisted of a series of essays that present American history as an unyielding racial struggle, in which black Americans have waged a solitary fight to redeem democracy against white racism.

The Times mobilized vast editorial and financial resources behind the 1619 Project. With backing from the corporate-endowed Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, hundreds of thousands of copies were sent to schools. The 1619 Project fanned out to other media formats. Plans were even announced for films and television programming, backed by billionaire media personality Oprah Winfrey.

As a business venture the 1619 Project clambers on, but as an effort at historical revision it has been, to a great extent, discredited. This outcome is owed in large measure to the intervention of the World Socialist Web Site, with the support of a number of distinguished and courageous historians, which exposed the 1619 Project for what it is: a combination of shoddy journalism, careless and dishonest research, and a false, politically-motivated narrative that makes racism and racial conflict the central driving forces of American history.

In support of its claim that American history can be understood only when viewed through the prism of racial conflict, the 1619 Project sought to discredit American history’s two foundational events: The Revolution of 1775–83, and the Civil War of 1861–65. This could only be achieved by a series of distortions, omissions, half-truths, and false statements—deceptions that are catalogued and refuted in this book.

The New York Times is no stranger to scandals produced by dishonest and unprincipled journalism. Its long and checkered history includes such episodes as its endorsement of the Moscow frame-up trials of 1936–38 by its Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent, Walter Duranty, and, during World War II, its unconscionable decision to treat the murder of millions of European Jews as “a relatively unimportant story” that did not require extensive and systematic coverage. [3] More recently, the Times was implicated, through the reporting of Judith Miller and the columns of Thomas Friedman, in the peddling of government misinformation about “weapons of mass destruction” that served to legitimize the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Many other examples of flagrant violations of even the generally lax standards of journalistic ethics could be cited, especially during the past decade, as the New York Times—listed on the New York Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of $7.5 billion—acquired increasingly the character of a media empire.

The “financialization” of the Times has proceeded alongside another critical determinant of the newspaper’s selection of issues to be publicized and promoted: that is, its central role in the formulation and aggressive marketing of the policies of the Democratic Party. This process has served to obliterate the always tenuous boundary lines between objective reporting and sheer propaganda. The consequences of the Times’ financial and political evolution have found a particularly reactionary expression in the 1619 Project. Led by Ms. Nikole Hannah-Jones and New York Times Magazine editor Jake Silverstein, the 1619 Project was developed for the purpose of providing the Democratic Party with a historical narrative that legitimized its efforts to develop an electoral constituency based on the promotion of racial politics. Assisting the Democratic Party’s decades-long efforts to disassociate itself from its identification with the social welfare liberalism of the New Deal to Great Society era, the 1619 Project, by prioritizing racial conflict, marginalizes, and even eliminates, class conflict as a notable factor in history and politics.

The shift from class struggle to racial conflict did not develop within a vacuum. The New York Times, as we shall explain, is drawing upon and exploiting reactionary intellectual tendencies that have been fermenting within substantial sections of middle-class academia for several decades.

The political interests and related ideological considerations that motivated the 1619 Project determined the unprincipled and dishonest methods employed by the Times in its creation. The New York Times was well aware of the fact that it was promoting a race-based narrative of American history that could not withstand critical evaluation by leading scholars of the Revolution and Civil War. The New York Times Magazine’s editor deliberately rejected consultation with the most respected and authoritative historians.

Moreover, when one of the Times’ fact-checkers identified false statements that were utilized to support the central arguments of the 1619 Project, her findings were ignored. And as the false claims and factual errors were exposed, the Times surreptitiously edited key phrases in 1619 Project material posted online. The knowledge and expertise of historians of the stature of Gordon Wood and James McPherson were of no use to the Times. Its editors knew they would object to the central thesis of the 1619 Project, promoted by lead essayist Hannah-Jones: that the American Revolution was launched as a conspiracy to defend slavery against pending British emancipation.

Ms. Hannah-Jones had asserted:

Conveniently left out of our founding mythology is the fact that one of the primary reasons the colonists decided to declare their independence from Britain was because they wanted to protect the institution of slavery. By 1776, Britain had grown deeply conflicted over its role in the barbaric institution that had reshaped the Western Hemisphere. In London, there were growing calls to abolish the slave trade … [S]ome might argue that this nation was founded not as a democracy but as a slavocracy. [4]

This claim—that the American Revolution was not a revolution at all, but a counterrevolution waged to defend slavery—is freighted with enormous implications for American and world history. The denunciation of the American Revolution legitimizes the rejection of all historical narratives that attribute any progressive content to the overthrow of British rule over the colonies and, therefore, to the wave of democratic revolutions that it inspired throughout the world. If the establishment of the United States was a counterrevolution, the founding document of this event—the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed the equality of man—merits only contempt as an exemplar of the basest hypocrisy.

How, then, can one explain the explosive global impact of the American Revolution upon the thought and politics of its immediate contemporaries and of the generations that followed?

The philosopher Diderot—among the greatest of all Enlightenment thinkers—responded ecstatically to the American Revolution:

After centuries of general oppression, may the revolution which has just occurred across the seas, by offering all the inhabitants of Europe an asylum against fanaticism and tyranny, instruct those who govern men on the legitimate use of their authority! May these brave Americans, who would rather see their wives raped, their children murdered, their dwellings destroyed, their fields ravaged, their villages burned, and rather shed their blood and die than lose the slightest portion of their freedom, prevent the enormous accumulation and unequal distribution of wealth, luxury, effeminacy, and corruption of manners, and may they provide for the maintenance of their freedom and the survival of their government! [5] 

Voltaire, in February 1778, only months before his death, arranged a public meeting with Benjamin Franklin, the much-celebrated envoy of the American Revolution. The aged philosophe related in a letter that his embrace of Franklin was witnessed by twenty spectators who were moved to “tender tears.” [6]

Marx was correct when he wrote, in his 1867 preface to the first edition of Das Kapital that “the American war of independence sounded the tocsin for the European middle class,” inspiring the uprisings that were to sweep away the feudal rubbish, accumulated over centuries, of the Ancien Régime. [7]

As the historian Peter Gay noted in his celebrated study of Enlightenment culture and politics, “The liberty that the Americans had won and were guarding was not merely an exhilarating performance that delighted European spectators and gave them grounds for optimism about man; it was also proving a realistic ideal worthy of imitation.” [8]

R.R. Palmer, among the most erudite of mid-twentieth century historians, defined the American Revolution as a critical moment in the evolution of Western Civilization, the beginning of a forty-year era of democratic revolutions. Palmer wrote:

[T]he American and the French Revolutions, the two chief actual revolutions of the period, with all due allowance for the great differences between them, nevertheless shared a great deal in common, and that what they shared was shared also at the same time by various people and movements in other countries, notably in England, Ireland, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy, but also in Germany, Hungary, and Poland, and by scattered individuals in places like Spain and Russia. [9] 

More recently, Jonathan Israel, the historian of Radical Enlightenment, argues that the American Revolution 

formed part of a wider transatlantic revolutionary sequence, a series of revolutions in France, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, Haiti, Poland, Spain, Greece, and Spanish America. … The endeavors of the Founding Fathers and their followings abroad prove the deep interaction of the American Revolution and its principles with the other revolutions, substantiating the Revolution’s global role less as a directly intervening force than inspirational motor, the primary model, for universal change. [10] 

Marxists have never viewed either the American or French Revolutions through rose-tinted glasses. In examining world historical events, Friedrich Engels rejected simplistic pragmatic interpretations that explain and judge “everything according to the motives of the action,” which divides “men in their historical activity into noble and ignoble and then finds that as a rule the noble are defrauded and the ignoble are victorious.” Personal motives, Engels insisted, are only of a “secondary significance.” The critical questions that historians must ask are: “What driving forces in turn stand behind these motives? What are the historical causes which transform themselves into these motives in the brains of the actors?” [11]

Whatever the personal motives and individual limitations of those who led the struggle for independence, the revolution waged by the American colonies against the British Crown was rooted in objective socioeconomic processes associated with the rise of capitalism as a world system. Slavery had existed for several thousand years, but the specific form that it assumed between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries was bound up with the development and expansion of capitalism. As Marx explained:

The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalised the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production. These idyllic proceedings are the chief momenta of the era of capitalist accumulation. [12]

Marx and Engels insisted upon the historically progressive character of the American Revolution, an appraisal that was validated by the Civil War. Marx wrote to Lincoln in 1865 that it was in the American Revolution that “the idea of one great Democratic Republic had first sprung up, whence the first Declaration of the Rights of Man was issued, and the first impulse given to the European revolution of the eighteenth century...” [13]

Nothing in Ms. Hannah-Jones’ essay indicates that she has thought through, or is even aware of the implications, from the standpoint of world history, of the 1619 Project’s denunciation of the American Revolution. In fact, the 1619 Project was concocted without consulting the works of the preeminent historians of the Revolution and Civil War. This was not an oversight, but rather, the outcome of a deliberate decision by the New York Times to bar, to the greatest extent possible, the participation of “white” scholars in the development and writing of the essays. In an article titled “How the 1619 Project Came Together,” published on August 18, 2019, the Times informed its readers: “Almost every contributor in the magazine and special section—writers, photographers and artists—is black, a nonnegotiable aspect of the project that helps underscore its thesis...” [14]

This “nonnegotiable” and racist insistence that the 1619 Project be produced exclusively by blacks was justified with the false claim that white historians had largely ignored the subject of American slavery. And on the rare occasions when white historians acknowledged slavery’s existence, they either downplayed its significance or lied about it. Therefore, only black writers could “tell our story truthfully.” The 1619 Project’s race-based narrative would place “the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are.” [15]

The 1619 Project was a falsification not only of history, but of historiography. It ignored the work of two generations of American historians, dating back to the 1950s. The authors and editors of the 1619 Project had consulted no serious scholarship on slavery, the American Revolution, the abolitionist movement, the Civil War, or Jim Crow segregation. There is no evidence that Hannah-Jones’ study of American history extended beyond the reading of a single book, written in the early 1960s, by the late black nationalist writer, Lerone Bennett, Jr. Her “reframing” of American history, to be sent out to the schools as the foundation of a new curriculum, did not even bother with a bibliography.

Hannah-Jones and Silverstein argued that they were creating “a new narrative,” to replace the supposedly “white narrative” that had existed before. In one of her countless Twitter tirades, Hannah-Jones declared that “the 1619 Project is not a history.” It is, rather, “about who gets to control the national narrative, and, therefore, the nation’s shared memory of itself.” In this remark, Hannah-Jones explicitly extols the separation of historical research from the effort to truthfully reconstruct the past. The purpose of history is declared to be nothing more than the creation of a serviceable narrative for the realization of one or another political agenda. The truth or untruth of the narrative is not a matter of concern.

Nationalist mythmaking has, for a long period, played a significant political role in promoting the interests of aggrieved middle-class strata that are striving to secure a more privileged place in the existing power structures. As Eric Hobsbawm laconically observed, “The socialists … who rarely used the word ‘nationalism’ without the prefix ‘petty-bourgeois,’ knew what they were talking about.” [16]

Despite the claims that Hannah-Jones was forging a new path for the study and understanding of American history, the 1619 Project’s insistence on a race-centered history of America, authored by African-American historians, revived the racial arguments promoted by black nationalists in the 1960s. For all the militant posturing, the underlying agenda, as subsequent events were to demonstrate, was to carve out special career niches for the benefit of a segment of the African-American middle class. In the academic world, this agenda advanced the demand that subject matter that pertained to the historical experience of the black population should be allocated exclusively to African Americans. Thus, in the ensuing fight for the distribution of privilege and status, leading historians who had made major contributions to the study of slavery were denounced for intruding, as whites, into a subject that could be understood and explained only by black historians. Peter Novick, in his book That Noble Dream, recalled the impact of black nationalist racism on the writing of American history:

Kenneth Stampp was told by militants that, as a white man, he had no right to write The Peculiar Institution. Herbert Gutman, presenting a paper to the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, was shouted down. A white colleague who was present (and had the same experience), reported that Gutman was “shattered.” Gutman pleaded to no avail that he was “extremely supportive of the black liberation movement—if people would just forget that I am white and hear what I am saying … [it] would lend support to the movement.” Among the most dramatic incidents of this sort was the treatment accorded Robert Starobin, a young leftist supporter of the Black Panthers, who delivered a paper on slavery at a Wayne State University conference in 1969, an incident which devastated Starobin at the time, and was rendered the more poignant by his suicide the following year. [17] 

Despite these attacks, white historians continued to write major studies on American slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction. Rude attempts to introduce a racial qualification in judging a historian’s “right” to deal with slavery met with vigorous opposition. The historian Eugene Genovese (1930–2012), the author of such notable works as The Political Economy of Slavery and The World the Slaveholders Made, wrote: 

Every historian of the United States and especially the South cannot avoid making estimates of the black experience, for without them he cannot make estimates of anything else. When, therefore, I am asked, in the fashion of our inane times, what right I, as a white man, have to write about black people, I am forced to reply in four-letter words. [18]

This passage was written more than a half century ago. Since the late 1960s, the efforts to racialize scholarly work, against which Genovese rightly polemicized, have assumed such vast proportions that they cannot be adequately described as merely “inane.” Under the influence of postmodernism and its offspring, “critical race theory,” the doors of American universities have been flung wide open for the propagation of deeply reactionary conceptions. Racial identity has replaced social class and related economic processes as the principal and essential analytic category.

“Whiteness” theory, the latest rage, is now utilized to deny historical progress, reject objective truth, and interpret all events and facets of culture through the prism of alleged racial self-interest. On this basis, the sheerest nonsense can be spouted with the guarantee that all objections grounded on facts and science will be dismissed as a manifestation of “white fragility” or some other form of hidden racism. In this degraded environment, Ibram X. Kendi can write the following absurd passage, without fear of contradiction, in his Stamped from the Beginning:

For Enlightenment intellectuals, the metaphor of light typically had a double meaning. Europeans had rediscovered learning after a thousand years in religious darkness, and their bright continental beacon of insight existed in the midst of a “dark” world not yet touched by light. Light, then, became a metaphor for Europeanness, and therefore Whiteness, a notion that Benjamin Franklin and his philosophical society eagerly embraced and imported to the colonies. … Enlightenment ideas gave legitimacy to this long-held racist “partiality,” the connection between lightness and Whiteness and reason, on the one hand, and between darkness and Blackness and ignorance, on the other. [19]

This is a ridiculous concoction that attributes to the word “Enlightenment” a racial significance that has absolutely no foundation in etymology, let alone history. The word employed by the philosopher Immanuel Kant in 1784 to describe this period of scientific advance was Aufklärung, which may be translated from the German as “clarification” or “clearing up,” connoting an intellectual awakening. The English translation of Aufklärung as Enlightenment dates from 1865, seventy-five years after the death of Benjamin Franklin, whom Kendi references in support of his racial argument. [20]

Another term used by English speaking people to describe the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries has been “The Age of Reason,” which was employed by Tom Paine in his scathing assault on religion and all forms of superstition. Kendi’s attempt to root Enlightenment in a white racist impulse is based on nothing but empty juggling with words. In point of fact, modern racism is connected historically and intellectually to the Anti-Enlightenment, whose most significant nineteenth century representative, Count Gobineau, wrote The Inequality of the Human Races. But actual history plays no role in the formulation of Kendi’s pseudo-intellectual fabrications. His work is stamped with ignorance.

History is not the only discipline assaulted by the race specialists. In an essay titled “Music Theory and the White Racial Frame,” Professor Philip A. Ewell of Hunter College in New York declares, “I posit that there exists a ‘white racial frame’ in music theory that is structural and institutionalized, and that only through a reframing of this white racial frame will we begin to see positive racial changes in music theory.” [21]

This degradation of music theory divests the discipline of its scientific and historically developed character. The complex principles and elements of composition, counterpoint, tonality, consonance, dissonance, timbre, rhythm, notation, etc. are derived, Ewell claims, from racial characteristics. Professor Ewell is loitering in the ideological territory of the Third Reich. There is more than a passing resemblance between his call for the liberation of music from “whiteness” and the efforts of Nazi academics in the Germany of the 1930s and 1940s to liberate music from “Jewishness.” The Nazis denounced Mendelssohn as a mediocrity whose popularity was the insidious manifestation of Jewish efforts to dominate Aryan culture. In similar fashion, Ewell proclaims that Beethoven was merely “above average as a composer,” and that he “occupies the place he does because he has been propped up by whiteness and maleness for two hundred years.” [22]

Academic journals covering virtually every field of study are exploding with ignorant rubbish of this sort. Even physics has not escaped the onslaught of racial theorizing. In a recent essay, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, assistant physics professor at the University of New Hampshire, proclaims that “race and ethnicity impact epistemic outcomes in physics,” and introduces the concept of “white empiricism” (italics in the original), which “comes to dominate empirical discourse in physics because whiteness powerfully shapes the predominant arbiters of who is a valid observer of physical and social phenomena.” [23]

Prescod-Weinstein asserts that “knowledge production in physics is contingent on the ascribed identities of the physicists,” the racial and gender background of scientists affects the way scientific research is conducted, and, therefore, the observations and experiments conducted by African-American and female physicists will produce results different than those conducted by white males. Prescod-Weinstein identifies with the contingentists who “challenge any assumption that scientific decision making is purely objective.” [24]

The assumption of objectivity is, she claims, a major problem. Scientists, Prescod-Weinstein complains, are “typically monists—believers in the idea that there is only one science … This monist approach to science typically forecloses a closer investigation of how identity and epistemic outcomes intermix. Yet white empiricism undermines a significant theory of twentieth century physics: General Relativity.” (Emphasis added) [25]

Prescod-Weinstein’s attack on the objectivity of scientific knowledge is buttressed with a distortion of Einstein’s theory.

Albert Einstein’s monumental contribution to our empirical understanding of gravity is rooted in the principal of covariance, which is the simple idea that there is no single objective frame of reference that is more objective than any other. All frames of reference, all observers, are equally competent and capable of observing the universal laws that underlie the workings of our physical universe. (Emphasis added) [26]

In fact, general relativity’s statement about covariance posits a fundamental symmetry in the universe, so that the laws of nature are the same for all observers. Einstein’s great (though hardly “simple”) initial insight, studying Maxwell’s equations on electromagnetism involving the speed of light in a vacuum, was that these equations were true in all reference frames. The fact that two observers measure a third light particle in space as traveling at the same speed, even if they are in motion relative to each other, led Einstein to a profound theoretical redefinition of how matter exists in space and time. These theories were confirmed by experiment, a result that will not be refuted by changing the race or gender of those conducting the experiment.

Mass, space, time and other quantities turned out to be varying and relative, depending on one’s reference frame. But this variation is lawful, not subjective—let alone racially determined. It bears out the monist conception. There are no such things as distinct, “racially superior,” “black female,” or “white empiricist” statements or reference frames on physical reality. There is an ascertainable objective truth, genuinely independent of consciousness, about the material world.

Furthermore, “all observers,” regardless of their education and expertise, are not “equally competent and capable” of observing, let alone discovering, the universal laws that govern the universe. Physicists, whatever their personal identities, must be properly educated, and this education, hopefully, will not be marred by the type of ideological rubbish propagated by race and gender theorists.

There is, of course, an audience for the anti-scientific nonsense propounded by Prescod-Weinstein. Underlying much of contemporary racial and gender theorizing is frustration and anger over the allocation of positions within the academy. Prescod-Weinstein’s essay is a brief on behalf of all those who believe that their professional careers have been hindered by “white empiricism.” She attempts to cover over her falsification of science with broad and unsubstantiated claims that racism is ubiquitous among white physicists, who, she alleges, simply refuse to accept the legitimacy of research conducted by black female scientists.

It is possible that a very small number of physicists are racists. But that possibility does not lend legitimacy to her efforts to ascribe to racial identity an epistemological significance that affects the outcome of research. Along these lines, Prescod-Weinstein asserts that the claims to objective truth made by “white empiricism” rest on force. This is a variant of the postmodernist dogma that what is termed “objective truth” is nothing more than a manifestation of the power relations between conflicting social forces. She writes:

White empiricism is the practice of allowing social discourse to insert itself into empirical reasoning about physics, and it actively harms the development of comprehensive understandings of the natural world by precluding putting provincial European ideas about science—which have become dominant through colonial force—into conversation with ideas that are more strongly associated with “indigeneity,” whether it is African indigeneity or another. (Emphasis added) [27] 

The prevalence and legitimization of racialist theorizing is a manifestation of a deep intellectual, social, and cultural crisis of contemporary capitalist society. As in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, race theory is acquiring an audience among disoriented sections of middle-class intellectuals. While most, if not all, of the academics who promote a racial agenda may sincerely believe that they are combating race-based prejudice, they are, nevertheless, propagating anti-scientific and irrationalist ideas which, whatever their personal intentions, serve reactionary ends.

The interaction of racialist ideology as it has developed over several decades in the academy and the political agenda of the Democratic Party is the motivating force behind the 1619 Project. Particularly under conditions of extreme social polarization, in which there is growing interest in and support for socialism, the Democratic Party—as a political instrument of the capitalist class—is anxious to shift the focus of political discussion away from issues that raise the specter of social inequality and class conflict. This is the function of a reinterpretation of history that places race at the center of its narrative.

The 1619 Project did not emerge overnight. For several years, corresponding to the growing role played by various forms of identity politics in the electoral strategy of the Democratic Party, the Times has become fixated, to an extent that can be legitimately described as obsessive, on race. It often appears that the main purpose of the news coverage and commentary of the Times is to reveal the racial essence of any given event or issue.

A search of the archive of the New York Times shows that the term “white privilege” appeared in only four articles in 2010. In 2013, the term appeared in twenty-two articles. By 2015, the Times published fifty-two articles in which the term is referenced. In 2020, as of December 1, the Times had published 257 articles in which there is a reference to “white privilege.”

The word “whiteness” appeared in only fifteen Times articles in 2000. By 2018, the number of articles in which the word appeared had grown to 222. By December 1, 2020, “whiteness” was referenced in 280 articles.

The Times’ unrelenting focus on race during the past year, even in its obituary section, has been clearly related to the 2020 electoral strategy of the Democratic Party. The 1619 Project was conceived of as a critical element of this strategy. This was explicitly stated by the Times’ executive editor, Dean Baquet, in a meeting on August 12, 2019 with the newspaper’s staff:

[R]ace and understanding of race should be a part of how we cover the American story … one reason we all signed off on the 1619 Project and made it so ambitious and expansive was to teach our readers to think a little bit more like that. Race in the next year—and I think this is, to be frank, what I hope you come away from this discussion with—race in the next year is going to be a huge part of the American story. [28]

The New York Times’ effort to “teach” its readers “to think a little bit more” about race assumed the form of a falsification of American history, aimed at discrediting the revolutionary struggles that gave rise to the founding of the United States in 1776 and the ultimate destruction of slavery during the Civil War. This falsification could only contribute to the erosion of democratic consciousness, legitimize a racialized view of American history and society, and undermine the unity of the broad mass of Americans in their common struggle against conditions of social inequality and exploitation.

The racialist campaign of the New York Times has unfolded against the backdrop of a pandemic ravaging working-class communities, regardless of race and ethnicity, throughout the United States and the world. The global death toll has already surpassed 1.5 million. Within the United States, the number of COVID-19 deaths will surpass 300,000 before the end of the year. The pandemic has also brought economic devastation to millions of Americans. The unemployment rate is approaching Great Depression levels. Countless millions of people are without any source of income and depend upon food banks for their daily sustenance.

[somedayonbroadway]

Looking at your Newsies AU list, I'd love to see that Now You See Me idea. These fellas strike me as the Robin Hood con artist type

Absolutely I can!

Now You See Me AU

Characters

Jack Kelly- J. Daniel Atlas

Katherine Plumber- Henley Reeves

David Jacobs- Merritt McKinney

Racetrack Higgins- Jack Wilder

Obadiah Wiesel- Arthur Tresler

Joseph Pulitzer- Thaddeus Bradley

Bryan Denton- Dylan Rhodes

Hannah- Alma Dray

Jack Kelly (The Lover)

Jack is an illusionist.

He’s a bit of a ladies man and nows how to get what he wants while also being a complete and utter control freak.

He’s been practicing magic since he was four years old and the last thing he received from his biological parents was a book on magic tricks

He grew up in the system with his little brother, Charlie

He was abused most of his life and used his magic tricks as a way to cheer up his little brother and himself when things got bad

He begins preforming on the streets when he’s fifteen, just to make a little extra money.

At age twenty he is one of the worlds best illusionists.

His little brother gets really sick when Jack is sixteen. Charlie is twelve by then. Bone cancer.

Since they’re in the system and his foster family gives them up so that they don’t have to deal with it, Jack finds a lot of the pressure on himself to provide for his little brother and keep him alive.

The system splits them up, placing Jack with a Mr. Snyder and Charlie with a Miss Medda who promises to help

Jack has to run to avoid getting killed by his foster father. But he still sneaks over to the hospital to see Charlie once a week. And he steals for the orphans he left behind in that boys home.

Medda knows he’s there but never calls him out.

Charlie survives but is not truly out of the clear. Jack visits him whenever he can.

Jack lives on the streets doing magic until he’s eighteen. He buys an apartment and starts doing actual shows with his assistant, Katherine Plumber.

Jack Kelly actually begins to become fairly famous. Him and his assistant are proud. They make good money before they split up when Jack was around 22.

Jack gets his card when he’s 24. His card to join “The Eye”.

He’s doing a street show, just for fun.

He does a card trick for a young, beautiful, drunk girl who he ends up taking home that night and almost sleeping with before he sees it.

He kicks her out of his apartment and immediately gets ready to go on his way.

Katherine Plumber (High Priestess)

Katherine is an escape artist.

Katherine had a relatively normal childhood. Mom, Dad (who worked all the time). 

She was an only child. 

When she’s little, she learns about this magician names Harry Houdini

Baby Katherine is fascinated 

Growing up, she’s a bit of a loner, the only people who really talked to her being teenage pricks who wanted to get in her pants. 

Her father was a great magician too. She wanted to be just like him. Except, when she was around seventeen, he quit, instead choosing to depict the illusions rather than perform them.

Katherine left home the day after she graduated high school, running off to join some magic act where she meets the famous Jack Kelly.

Yes, they sleep together. Several times. But their quest for fame gets the better of both of them and things don’t quite work out at first.

She leaves Jack when she’s 24 and starts her own shows and acts, doing magnificent escapes and tricks

She gets her card when she’s 25

She’s doing a show for a paying audience. She does a morbid trick that involves chains, a glass box filled with water and flesh eating piranhas.

She finds the card floating in the large tank after her show.

David Jacobs (The Hermit)

David is a mentalist.

This means many different things.

First off, he can hypnotize people easily. He is self taught and very good.

Second, he can read people easily, causing people to believe that he’s psychic or can actually read minds.

Third, he’s overall just very smart and takes information in easily, which helps him out a lot in his career path.

David grows up poor, with his father and his mother and his little brother. He has to start working when he’s sixteen and he does mentalism on the side which actually brings him a lot of cash considering he kind of shakes people down by threatening to give up all their secrets that he gets out of them

He’s very smart.

The most important person in his life is his little brother

His father can’t work after he breaks his leg. It never fully heals.

It’s David’s job to support for his family.

David’s mentalism career takes off when he’s about 23. He does a couple tours around the US. But all of his money goes straight to his family.

His career dies down when his father dies and he has to go take care of his mother and baby brother.

He gets his card when he’s 26.

He’s doing a street show for some tourists where he meets a couple.

He figures out that the husband is actually cheating on his wife with his wife’s sister and he forces the husband to give him everything in his wallet in order to make the wife forget she heard it.

He does it to a lot of people that take their family for granted.

Racetrack Higgins (Death)

Race is a sleight of hand. More well known as a pickpocket.

He is also very good at throwing cards and using them as weapons.

He has anxiety.

Race grows up as an orphan.

He’s put through a lot of homes and is taken advantage of a couple of times by some foster parents.

Eventually he lands in a boys home run by a mister Snyder.

He’s about ten when he lands there. He never meets Jack officially, only sees him a couple of times at the window, passing around some food and blankets to the littles.

The kids are like vultures. They grab for it even though Jack asks them to share. None of them know him since he ran before all of them got there. They just know him as the boy who brings them gifts.

Only once does Race get to talk to him. When Jack realizes he never gets any food or blankets. He makes a point to give Race some.

Race looks up to Jack so much even before he really knows him.

Snyder is cruel to Race.

Race is loud and likes to talk back so Snyder constantly locks him in closets or in the basement. He starves him and makes him do chores before locking him up again.

Race gets sick of it fast. So he teaches himself how to pick locks. He teaches himself how to lift things off of people like food and wallets and anything he can just to survive.

When he’s thirteen he runs away. He wants to be just like the mysterious boy who helped him and the other boys out for so long.

But he’s too scared to go back.

Eventually, he finds the boy who helped him. Jack Kelly. He’s a magician. And Race is his biggest fan.

Race starts teaching himself how to do magic after he sees his hero do it so easily and confidently.

Living out on the streets, Race gets amazingly good at pickpocketing and sleight of hand tricks. He also gets very good with cards. Throwing them, of course.

He gets his card when he’s seventeen.

He’s doing a trick on a ferry ride, promising that if someone could figure out how he bent a spoon with his mind, he’d give them a hundred dollars.

One man figures it out, but the second he steps up, Race slips his wallet off of him, giving him a hundred from the man’s own wallet and taking the rest.

Then he runs and jumps off the ferry as it pulls away.

He finds a card in his pocket only a couple minutes later.

The Four Horsemen

These four magicians meet at an apartment building, all believing they were the only ones chosen to be apart of a group called the eye — the cards being their invitation. (The eye is an exclusive group that defends and protects magic, just to sum that up real quick). David arrives first, finding that the door is locked and waiting to see if it will be unlocked.

Only moments later do Jack and Katherine find each other in the streets and immediately recognize each other. Jack tells her to wait outside while he takes a look, trying to protect her or be the gentlemen when she immediately pushes him away and walks up to the apartment first.

The minute they get there David laughs and shakes his head, disappointed that he wasn’t the only one chosen. He immediately does a read on Jack, concluding that he is an artist as well as an illusionist and a control freak who may or may not have an OCD problem in every aspect but his art. He pretends to know Katherine’s name, but Jack quickly points out that it’s on the coffee cup she’s holding because he doesn’t like Davey all that much right off the bat.

David hates that Jack calls him Davey.

They start to argue a bit while Jack tries to open the door, when they are interrupted by the last member of the future crew. A teenager who sees Jack and freezes for a moment. Race recognizes Jack. Jack does not recognize him.

Race goes fully into fan mode, telling Jack how he’s seen every trick Jack has ever done and how all of it was so impressive and cool. And Jack would thank him and shake his hand David would ask if he got a card, at which point they would reveal all of theirs (Lover, Prietess, Hermit and Death) and Race would ask why they were all standing around and they’d tell him the door was locked, in which Race would reply that nothing was ever locked and he’d pick the lock and let them all in.

That’s where they’d find plans. A lot of plans. A years worth. It would be hidden by some effects. Water and dry ice and lights.

A Year Later

These four magicians are books out in Las Vegas where they are doing a spectacular magic show. At the end of which they promise an audience member that they are going to rob their bank. They do. And they give their audience 3.2 million dollars.

That’s when the FBI is tipped off.

Agent Bryan Denton of the FBI is put on this case which he calls stupid and low profile because the people they were trying to catch were magicians. He goes to their hotel with a small team and arrests them. The four horsemen (as they call themselves) are smug and not at all concerned as they are led away in handcuffs in front of a cheering crowd.

Denton easily notices that the group is a bit tight knit. He notices that Jack gravitates towards Race a bit when they are arrested, like he wants to protect him a bit more than the others.

When Denton goes into interrogate them, he’s told that Interpol will be assisting them on this case. That’s when he’s assigned a temporary partner. Hannah Dray. He doesn’t appreciate the help and constantly tells her she’s not needed but brings her into interrogation anyways. But she is the one that connects with the people they interrogate, beginning with the man who was chosen to have his bank stolen.

It is revealed the man was hypnotized during the show and a trigger word will make him believe he is a violinist playing in an orchestra.

Denton and Dray interrogate all the magicians, where they are told by Jack that they have no ground to arrest them because if they did it would be like the FBI was admitting that they believed in magic and they couldn’t possibly do that.

In the end, the four horsemen are released.

Denton immediately questions that decisions where his coworkers ask him what changed and he says he met them.

One of the other agents rushes up to tell Denton that someone recorded the entire show. A Joseph Pulitzer. A former magician who now reveals tricks in TV specials.

Pulitzer meets with them and takes them down to Vegas where the trick was done and shows them how it was pulled off, consisting of the four horsemen targeting the man in the audience and hypnotizing him to believe he is actually in Paris when the truth is They’s robbed a Paris bank prior to the trick.

The four horsemen get on a plane to go to their next show.

Their benefactor, mister Wiesel is traveling with them to New Orleans for their next show. The horsemen joke around with him and Jack, to show Davey up, tries to get a read on Wiesel by simply looking at him and fails miserably.

The FBI and Pulitzer attend the next performance, conveniently taking place during Mardi Gras. The four horsemen start their show and explain that they have four separate acts that they are going to make work together.

It’s a spectacular performance.

Prior to this, the FBI figures out that Jack is a pretty big control freak. He puts trackers on the entire team. Not just the horsemen, but stage hands as well.

What they don’t really know is that it’s more to make sure they’re all okay at all times.

At this show, the horsemen admit that every audience member was a victim of hurricane Katrina and they were tricked by their insurance company. Wiesel insurance.

They rob Wiesel and the Denton immediately runs up to arrest them, showing “freeze” as Jack waves to him, only to be tackled to the ground by hypnotized audience members.

Hannah, Denton and Jack eventually end up in a chase through the crowds of New Orleans. Hannah catches up to Jack for a second, holding him at gunpoint, but letting Jack slip away, not shooting on account of him not having a weapon. Denton gets irritated and chases after him again. Jack eventually loses them with the help of Race who plants Jack’s tracker in Denton’s own pocket.

Denton questions Hannah’s motives later that night and Hannah tells him she’s just doing her job. Eventually she tells him about the eye and some tricks that she had to look so far into the past to figure out.

At some point during their chat, Denton realizes that they planted a bug on him, leading him to discover that Jack had lifted his phone off of him during their interrogation and had planted a clone on him instead.

Denton tells them to leave the bug in the phone, believing themselves to finally be ahead of the horsemen.

Meanwhile the horsemen are panicking back at their hideout in New York where the FBI now knows they are. Jack destroys Denton’s phone as they scramble to execute the plan they were given perfectly.

Race in particular is frantic.

He keeps telling them all that he doesn’t think he can do this and that he doesn’t want something to go wrong. He sees his card. Death. He doesn’t want to die.

Jack eventually lashes out and tells him that if he wants they to stop treating him like he kid and more like an adult, then he needs to start acting like one and just do this. Race is taken aback and almost starts crying, which is when Jack tells him to stay and burn it all, only offering him a small pat on the back as a sort of comfort.

Jack feels bad about it but doesn’t have time to offer Race much else.

Davey, Katherine and Jack all leave Race to destroy the evidence in the apartment they met at.

Denton finds him.

Race tries to sneak away, trying to avoid the FBI, but is forced to engage in a fight that ends up being another epic chase. Race uses his sleight of hand techniques to trap another FBI agent, as well as disgusting his voice to sound like Denton to ward off the rest of the FBI and then fighting by throwing cards, pulling disappearing acts and eventually rushing out of the apartment and sliding down a garbage shoot.

He lifts the keys to an official FBI vehicle where Hannah, who wasn’t allowed to go inside on account of jurisdiction, catches sight of him. He drives away and she commenders a car where her and Denton end up chasing him onto the Brooklyn Bridge where Racer ultimately crashes and dies in a big fiery car crash.

Denton tries to pull him from the burning wreckage, only able to grab onto the plans the kid had been trying to hide from him before the car explodes.

Pulitzer calls Denton up after the whole thing, asking Denton how much he trusts Hannah. Denton then questions her place there once again, accusing her of being the mastermind behind the four horsemen.

Only a day later, the remaining three horsemen release a video on YouTube, where Jack tries to explain that they will be having one more show in Race’s honor as he tries not to cry. Davey has to finish for him.

Denton is all over it, feeling guilty over having a teenager die like that and wanting the horsemen to answer for it.

The FBI use Race’s papers to find the next planned crime scene, where they stop the safe from being driven away and put it on full time guard. Pulitzer shows up and tells them to open it, where it is revealed to them that the safe they have is full of balloon animals and magician’s props.

The FBI heads to the horsemen’s show, Hannah and Denton stay together and try to figure out the horsemen’s play. The horsemen DONT truly gives a show, instead saying goodbye to their audience when the show had hardly even begun and managing to jump off the roof of the building they were on, showering their audience with fake money that had their faces on them.

The FBI finds all the stolen money overflowing out of Pulitzer’s car. They arrest him.

Pulitzer waits in a cell until Denton comes down to visit him, where Pulitzer explains to him that he was framed and that he knows how the horsemen did it. He tells Denton that the safe never left the building it had been in and that someone had planted a mirror in the room to make it look like the room had been empty. And while the FBI had gone after the fake safe, someone broke into the warehouse to steal the money.

It was Racetrack Higgins.

Denton said that that was impossible. That Race had died right in front of him. But Pulitzer would explain easily. The other three horsemen had been on the bridge waiting for him. Davey drove a bus, Jack drove a cab and Katherine drove van. They got Race out of view of the FBI for a second where Davey let an identical car lose and had it crash, a cadaver from the mall at the wheel. Race made it out just fine.

Denton asks Pulitzer who put it all together. Pulitzer says he doesn’t know but it had to have been someone on the inside.

He turns around for only a second to think.

When he turns back, Denton has disappeared. Pulitzer then realizes who had been behind it all.

Meanwhile, Jack and Kath and Davey make their way to Central Park where they find the gate locked only for one Racetrack Higgins to come up and tell them that nothings ever locked.

Jack pulls Race into a hug and apologizes for yelling at him and Race holds on a little tighter than he means to.

This is the only real family he’s ever had.

They make their way to the center of the park towards the carrousel. That’s when they see the mastermind.

The one and only Bryan Denton.

Denton tells them that they did phenomenal and are now apart of the eye.

About a week later, Hannah is back in France at her regular job where she sits on a bench to read the paper. She finds an article from twenty years ago stuck in the middle of it.

And Denton sits down next to her.

He explains that his father was a famous magician who had been called a fraud by Pulitzer who revealed all his tricks. He explained that his family had been tricked out of their money by their insurance company, Wiesel insurance. He tells her that he is the fifth horsemen.

And she tells him that some things are better left a mystery.

I wanna write scene from this. What scenes should I write?

Thank you, Anon! For more AU’s, check out my list!

[jedifighterpilot2727]

The Rook - Chapter 2

Okay, here's chapter two!

*Tissue warning*

The song for this one is 'Snuff' by Slipknot! Even if you're not a Slipknot fan, listen because it's slow and emotional! perfectly matches the chapter!!

"And I won't listen to your shame You ran away, you're all the same Angels lie to keep control Ooh, my love was punished long ago If you still care don't ever let me know"

Snuff

After that, she starts bringing her lunch.

She’s an independent woman who doesn’t need anyone to bring her lunch.

And honestly, she would just skip the meal altogether, but she promised Kara awhile back that she would always at least try to eat lunch, and even after everything that’s happened, she can’t bring herself to break that promise.

There’s one small part of her that still believes someone cares if she skips lunch or works too late. Kara’s care for her is so ingrained that it almost feels satisfying to plop the tupperware container down on Jess’ desk.

She can take care of herself, thank you very much.

She definitely doesn’t need Kara to remind her.

“Here’s my lunch for today, so if Kara comes by, you can let her know that it’s already taken care of.”

Jess looks from the container to Lena’s face and back again.

“Did you buy tupperware just so you could bring your own lunch?”

Lena refuses to give an answer.

“If Kara comes by, let her know I already have lunch.”

“Lovers’ quarrel?” Jess asks with a smirk.

Lena huffs.

“We’re not lovers.”

“Okay, my bad, platonic friend that brings me lunch everyday and when we fight I get super competitive and insist on brining my own lunch too. Whatever you say, boss.” Jess rolls her eyes and reaches for the container before storing it in the fridge.

"I needed new glass ware anyway, and you know I’ve been trying to learn more recipes.” Lena can’t help but point out.

“Yeah, so you could make Kara homemade potstickers.”

For a brief moment, Lena regrets hiring an assistant so willing to stand up to her.

“Well, I guess she’ll regret being difficult, won’t she? Especially considering I just perfected the soy garlic sauce.”

She desperately wants to tell Jess the whole story, but she refuses to tell more people Kara’s secret identity.

“Just let me know when you want this heated up, I’ll bring it in.”

“Thanks, Jess, you’re the best.”

“That’s what you tell me!” Jess reminds  her with a wink, and Lena rolls her eyes good naturedly before heading into her office.

Some things never change.

* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It’s week before she finally opens up the note.

A week of it sitting on her desk, Kara’s loopy scrawl calling out to her.

She ignores it on purpose - she knows the moment she lets Kara explain herself, she’s going to fold, at least a little.

She’s a sucker for Kara, there’s no denying it, and she refuses to let a soft smile and gentle word talk her out of being angry.

She deserves to be angry.

Her best friend lied to her about something huge, and she deserves the time it takes to be mad.

It’s not fair, none of this is fair.

Her best friend lying to her about her secret identity.

Falling in love with her best friend.

Her homicidal brother revealing her best friend’s identity.

Her best friend coming clean but also confessing her love.

It’s not FAIR.

And just for once, she though life might be working in her favor.

When Kara came into her life with sunny smiles and unwavering belief, she thought things had finally changed, thought she was finally getting away from Lex’s legacy.

But no, of course Kara had to be Supergirl.

Of course her visions of a life with a way too cheerful reporter were too good to be true.

She had imagined a simple life - one where Kara would text her at 4 to make sure she’d be home by 5.

One where they’d adopt a little girl, and the worst fight she and Kara would have would be about how much help was too much help on a science project. (Kara would win, obviously).

Kara would make sure she ate lunch, and Lena would make sure Kara ate vegetables.

Kara would be there at every L-Corp press conference, and Lena would be there when Kara won a Pulitzer.

They would be a perfect match, and Lena would finally feel like she had a family -  even Alex would finally warm up to her.

But no, every vision dancing in her head had to come crashing down.

Because of course her best friend has to be Supergirl.

Nothing can be easy.

Ever since she was a little kid, she hoped to be adopted by a simple family and have a simple life. One where her mom would come to all her soccer games and her dad would show her how to change a tire.

But no, of course she didn’t get that, of course she was adopted into the Luthor’s, the most controversial family on the planet, where Lilian certainly didn’t support her, and the only thing Lionel taught her was how to hate aliens.

Something that definitely didn’t stick, fortunately.

Despite Lex’s constant rhetoric.

She somehow manages to make it through all of the shit that the Luthors throw at her, only to find out that her best  friend is Supergirl.

Of course.

She can’t escape, it’s inevitable.

So when she finally reads the note, it’s in a moment of weakness.

She can’t resist the pull.

No matter the cost, no matter the fact that she wants to hate Kara.

She can’t help it.

  Lena, I know you’re hurt and I know that I’m the reason. I also know that you need time to process, so when you’re ready to talk, just press this button and I’ll be there. Please know that I never meant to hurt you.  - Kara

She stares at it for longer than she’d like to admit.

She doesn’t know what she’s expecting.

(It’s certainly not a small button that fits in the palm of her hand, accompanied by an unwavering promise.)

It angers her, to be honest; riles up a part of her that had felt numb ever since Kara’s secret had been revealed.

How dare she, for starters.

How dare Kara try to say that she’ll be there for Lena when she’s lied to her so much over the past three years.

Like she’s some goody-two-shoes goddess and Lena is just supposed to bow to her righteousness.

Umm, no.

Lena may be a Luthor, but she’s plenty good enough on her own.

At least for Supergirl standards.

She saved the world from the Daxamite invasion; she’s saved Supergirl on numerous occasions; she helped save Sam, at one point she was working on a cure for cancer, she even killed Lex Luthor, the greatest threat to humanity for god’s sake.

So how dare Kara act holier than thou.

She’s not the one who’s been lying to her best friend for the past three years.

She drinks four glasses of Scotch that night before she can go to sleep without thinking about blue eyes.

* - - - - - - - - - -

Turns out, the more she thinks about it, the angrier she gets.

She thought that reading Kara’s note would make her cave to Kara’s point of view, when in fact it does the opposite.

She’s fueled with an anger that she doesn’t quite understand.

She’s never really believed in herself the way that she does after Kara’s betrayal. Because if Kara doesn’t believe in her, who will?

Lena will, that’s who.

She’s nothing if not determined, and she’s always been a fan of the underdog.

It just so happens that she’s the underdog.

Certainly she of all people was worthy of knowing Supergirl’s true identity.

She was Kara’s self proclaimed ‘best friend’.

Kara allegedly was in love with her.

She deserved the truth.

The truth that had been withheld from her for so long.

And now that she had the truth, she understood the saying ‘ignorance is bliss.”

But on the other hand, she was grateful for the anger, it gave her a purpose.

A purpose that came to a screeching halt at 4:45 on a Friday while she was finishing up an investor’s report.

One text message is all it took.

It had been 2 weeks and 3 days since she last heard from Kara.

And as much as she’s loathe to admit it, it hasn’t exactly been an enjoyable time.

She’s missed her friend.

No matter what happened between them; she’s missed Kara - in a way unlike she’s missed anyone else.

To never have something and to miss its existence is one thing, but to have it and it be taken away is another entirely.

So when she get’s Kara’s text as she’s finishing up donor proposals, it throws her for a loop.

She hates the way it breaks her concentration, the way it makes her glance at he phone every few minutes.

Still, she refuses to open the message; powering through the proposals before moving on to the background checks for a group of new hires.

That stings too, Alex had offered to help her with them, but she supposed that’s a moot point now.

She almost relishes skipping dinner - knowing the pout it would have brought to Kara’s face just a few weeks ago. She replaces the meal with a glass of Balvenie, and has a second for dessert,

It’s then, with the alcohol buzzing along her veins just enough to blur her judgement, that she looks at Kara’s message.

“Game night at 8, my place. I know you probably don’t want to come, but I would love to see you there. “

Glancing her watch, she sees it’s past 9:30, though she’s sure the gang is still going strong over a rousing Pictionary or the like.

Not that it matters, she wouldn’t go anyway.

The warmth of the alcohol in her stomach, settles like cold water, and another refill starts to sound like a good idea.

Kara acts like it’s an easy decision, but it’s not. As much as she craves the familiarity of game night; how is she supposed to show her face when literally everyone knew the secret but her?

It’s humiliating and degrading, and she refuses to be apart of it.                                                                                                                  

In fact, the more she thinks about it, the angrier she gets.

Not only did she get played like a fool for three years while the woman she thought was her best friend, the woman she thought she loved, lied to her face; she was just supposed to spend time with all of the people who were in on the secret?

Why?

So they could make a mockery of her?

Of her friendship?

Of her intelligence?

The great Lena Luthor, finally tricked into believing in found family, only to have it ripped away from her like some sort of cruel joke.

No.

She is not some pawn on a chess board to played for someone else’s agenda.

Not Lilian, not Lex, and not Supergirl.

And certainly not Kara, if that’s even her real name.

She supposes, in the chessboard of her life, that Supergirl is the most like the the King.

Almighty but one dimensional.

Always right, always lawful, always good.

Alex is the Bishop.

Right hand to the King, powerful in her own right, but willing to move in ways the King isn’t able to.

Up until recently, she would have considered Kara as the Queen, the most important - at least to her.

Kara is beautiful and talented and magnificent. She’s selfless and kindhearted and completely unwavering in her belief in Lena.

At least, Kara was all of those things.

Since she’s learned that Kara and Supergirl are one and the same, she isn’t quite sure how to reconcile the two in her mind.

It didn’t seem right now that someone as pure as Kara was is now tainted by the self-righteousness of Supergirl.

She never thought that Kara, her Kara, would keep such a massive secret from her for so long; and now that she knows the truth, it’s as if her world is shifted.

At one time, Lena would have considered herself the Rook - a handy asset to the King and more than willing to sacrifice herself for the Queen, but now . . .

She’s been in protective mode for so long, protecting herself, protecting Kara, protecting her company, protecting all the people that Lilian and Lex have tried to hurt, protecting Supergirl even; that she has to reorient herself to attack mode.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - The chess game on her side table is one that she and Kara have been working on for weeks.

Kara had insisted on Lena teaching her chess about six months into their friendship, and ever since, they’ve kept a game going. The first few dozen were pitifully easy - Lena’s been playing chess since she was adopted by the Luthors, and Kara was just starting.

But still, it was fun teaching and playing a game that she’s enjoyed for so long with her best friend.

Kara was an eager learner, and her sunny disposition was a fun distraction to Lena’s usual somber playing.

Not to mention, she was good.

Lena hasn’t had much of a competitor since she stopped playing with Lex when he went to college.

Much to her surprise, Kara learns quickly and easily gives Lena a run for her money.

It would be disconcerting, but she knows Kara is smarter that she looks - that her best friend holds on to her ‘dumb blonde’ persona to throw people off.

Still, as she keeps teaching Kara chess, she quickly discovers that her best friend has a knack for the game. So much so that their current game is about to end in a draw - something Lena hasn’t experienced in years.

At first, when it became apparent that the game might be headed in that direction, Lena was excited; finally a partner who could almost beat her at chess (even Jack hadn’t been able to beat her when they’d dated.). but now, as she stares at the stalemate chess board, she gets angry.

Of course Kara is good at chess.

She’s an alien from an advanced planet that probably would find chess to be a dumb children’s game.

Her whole perception of her best friend has changed since the revelation, and everything around her reminds her of that.

In fact, the whole secret is starting to feel like a cold, calculated chess move.

Frowning, she rises from her chair and moves to the lead-lined safe under her in-office bar.

She’s been working on something for months, something she thinks will finally bring Supergirl to her knees.

* - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The elevator ride to the rooftop passes in a scotch induced haze, the glass in her hand lending to her already substantial buzz.  She knows she shouldn’t, but alcohol seems to be the only way she can get through what she’s about to do.

The night breeze is cool as she steps out onto L-Corp’s rooftop, and it sends her curls flitting about her face.

She smirks, having her hair down has always been one of Kara’s weaknesses - all the more reason for her choice. The red lip, the cascading curls, the low neckline - all chosen to aid her cause.  

Breaking Supergirl’s heart.

Slowly, she makes her way to the edge of the roof, the wind getting stronger as she goes.

She takes a deep breath, downing the rest of her glass before stepping up to the edge.

Looking down, she can see all of National City stretched out before her. She can hear the honks of cars in traffic, and the distant sounds of police sirens. She kicks off her shoes onto the roof, unwilling to let them become missiles to the bystanders below.

Taking a deep breath, she steels herself for what’s about to come.

Shakily, she lowers herself to sit on the edge of the roof. She’s never been a huge fan of heights, but for this it seems fitting; meeting Supergirl on her own turf. Setting her now empty glass down beside her, she reaches for the switch Kara had left her. After a long moment, she flips it; the hairs on her arm standing at attention - either from the cold or anticipation, she isn’t sure.

Regardless, she doesn’t have to wait long until a voice sounds behind her.

“Lena?” There’s a slight panic in Supergirl’s voice, and Lena answers her without turning around.

“Relax, Supergirl, I’m not going to jump.” She turns, a smirk twisting the right side of her face. “And even if I did, you’d catch me, wouldn’t you?”

The super hero’s shoulders visibly drop, and she steps towards Lena until her boots are even with the edge, lowering herself down so that she’s sitting on the edge next to Lena, shoulders almost touching.

“Always.” Kara whispers so softly that Lena almost misses it.

There was a time when Lena would have leaned into the touch, body begging for Kara to wrap an arm around her, but now things have changed. So much that Lena fights the urge to adjust away from her -  instead sitting ramrod straight, her fingers digging into the uneven brick.

They sit in silence for a long moment before Kara finally speaks.

“I was beginning to think you’d never call for me.”

Instead of responding, Lena ignores her.

“Was game night still going?”  she asks instead.

“Yeah, we were just starting charades when you called, but  . . . you’re more important.”

That almost does Lena in.

Almost has her confessing her feelings to Kara and begging for them to start over; but she resists.

“Lena-“ Kara starts after a long moment of silence, but Lena cuts her off.

“No. You got your chance to speak, now it’s my turn. You can either listen or you can go back home.”

Kara studies her for a moment before nodding, gaze slinking back to her red boots that are swinging over the edge.

“You said you loved me.” She states, and Kara nods slowly.

“You wanna know what’s really fucked up about the whole thing?” she continues, but Kara stays silent. “I love you too.”

Kara straightens, her cape fluttering in the wind.

“Or, I loved the person I thought you were.”

Even from profile, she can see the way Kara’s brow crinkles.

“I’ve never had someone stick up for me the way you do. You were my absolute best friend, and I always wondered what would happen if I told you how I really felt.”

Kara’s head whips around, and even in the darkness, Lena can feel eyes on her face.

Swallowing down her fear, she turns to face Kara head on.

“Did you know how much I loved you? Did you know that every time I looked at you I saw the possibility of forever? That I saw the one person who trusted me explicitly?”

Kara’s eyes fill with tears and Lena almost caves. Instead, she rises to her feet. Kara quickly follows, and they stand face to face at the edge of the L-Corp roof.

"I loved Kara Danvers so much. But you? I don’t even know you.”

“Lena. . . “

“I loved you!” Lena shouts. “I would have died for you! But you wouldn’t even tell me who you really are! How am I supposed to trust you?! How am I supposed to build a future with someone who doesn’t even trust me?!”

“I hate -“ She chokes off, unable to finish her thought. “I hate your stupid hair and your stupid suit. I wish Supergirl had never been created.” Kara’s face falls even further, and Lena’s anger only grows.

“Lena, please don’t - “ Kara’s hands reach out for her, squeezing the air between them. “Just let me explain.”

“You had your chance to explain. These are the consequences.” She reaches into her pocket, pulling out the lead lined pouch. Kara’s eyes flick to the pouch, and she can see the other woman fight the urge to shift away.

Carefully, she reaches in and pulls out two necklaces, one laid with sapphire, and the other with ruby.

“Remember that movie night? When you said you always wanted friendship necklaces but you never had a best friend?  I made us these, because you were my best friend. I was going to give them to you a few weeks ago, but then Lex told me the truth. I don’t have any use for them anymore.” She thrusts the necklaces in Kara’s direction, and the superhero looks at them for a long moment before taking them, the white gold chains dangling delicately between her fingers.

Her heart jumps at the broken look that creases Kara’s face. She shouldn’t feel excited at her friend’s broken heart, but she can’t help the satisfaction that soothes her own heartbreak.

This is exactly what she wanted.

Supergirl broken in front of her.

Feeling all of the hurt that she had inflicted on Lena.

“Which one is mine?” Kara hiccups.

“The blue one, because it matches your eyes.” Lens says softly, fighting against the emotion that threatens to break her voice.

Kara’s fingers clench around the necklaces and she starts to speak, but Lena stops her with a hand on her arm.

“I loved you so much.” She whispers. “But I can’t be with someone who doesn’t trust me.”

“Lena -“ Kara starts but Lena ignores her, stepping in to place a gentle kiss to the corner of her mouth.

“Goodbye, Kara Danvers. I’ll never forget you.” Her fingers linger against the strong bicep, but after one last squeeze, she turns away; ears deaf to Kara’s pleas as she walks back to the elevator.

When she gets back to her office, she sweeps an arm across the chessboard, sending all the pieces flying.

* - - - - - - - - -

If CatCo news helicopters were out that night, they would see a strange sight, Supergirl collapsed on the roof of L-Corp, sobs shaking her body; sapphire and ruby glinting between her fingers.

[ggmarvelous]

10 INDIE COMICS YOU NEED TO READ

Not only of giant publishing houses lives the comic and for that reason I made this list of the best of the independent comics. Because they are there even if we don't see them and we know they deserve our time, with themes beyond the common super hero, and characters that are marked in our memory. (In this list I will not include Vertigo since it is a subsidiary of DC so it does not make sense, in addition i will make a list of those vertigo comics that you can not miss)

10. PALESTINE by Joe Sacco (Fantagraphics)

Palestine is a graphic novel that highlights the experiences of its author at the Gaza Strip in the early 90s, focusing on the history and personality of the Palestinian people. The story is highly contextual to the temporal period, but it usually makes some flashbacks to inform the reader about the reason of the situations that occur. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO READ IT?: Palestine is without a doubt a political content, but its intention is not to dig into that, but to make the cut of the human story and the details of the people who have to pay the price for the actions from third parties that live far above them. At the same time, the author is part of the work not only as an impartial observer, but as a human being who is affected by the situation.

9. BLACKHOLE by Charles Burns (Kitchen Sink)

Is the story of a small town in the middle of the United States at the 70s, we follow the lives of some teenagers who run away from their homes to live in the forest, after being infected with a disease that produces horrible deformations. Without authority to guide them or a prospect of life, they relax between drugs and debauchery, in addition to being used as "the Bogeyman" for normal adolescents to behave. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO READ IT?: Black Hole is a deep analysis of life in general, but focused on adolescence, diving into the problems of socialization, self-discovery and perception of the reality that surrounds those who are in that moment of life, represented from a fictional, dark and melancholic angle, but no less concrete and real.

8. LOVE & ROCKETS: PALOMAR by Gilbert, Jaime and Mario Hernandez (Fantagraphics)

Love & Rockets is a cartoon of the eighties, which moves within the genre of magical realism and is developed in a world that seduces between Latin and punk, with a twist of science fiction. Palomar, specifically, is a series of stories within this world located in a Latin American city, where its people develop their daily life until they are confronted with extraordinary events. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO READ IT?: Love & Rockets is not only one of the raiders in the independent comic movement, but in addition to its captivating stories, the technique with which they are developed is unique in terms of time management. Fans of superheroes may feel out of place at first, but it does not take long until you end up identifying

7. GHOST WORLD by Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics)

Ghost World tells the story of two friends recently graduated from high school, who mired in the stupor of a small American town, spend their days wandering, analyzing popular culture, judging the people of their city and theorizing about their future, as the arrival of it distances them. WHY SHOULD YOU HAVE TO READ IT?: The darkness and mild bitterness of this story makes it stand out from others of the genre, thanks to his analysis of adolescence.

6. SEX CRIMINALS by Matt Fraction (Image Comics)

It is a comic cataloged as a sex comedy, starring a couple who stops time qhenever they reach an orgasm (more precisely during the refractory period, but that is very well explained in the story), and take advantage of this to commit thefts Sex and crimes, as the title of the collection indicates. WHY SHOULD YOU READ IT? who introduces Suzie (the protagonist) is herself speaking to the readers, playing to break the fourth wall and declaring from the beginning that this series will alter and take advantage of the possibilities offered by this medium as much as the authors can with their creativity. With this not only get the attention of the reader, but also achieve some pages with excellent composition, ways to narrate different from the traditional but used in a useful and not capricious ... and more.

5. SECONDS by Bryan Lee O'Malley (Ballantine Books)

Katie, a 29-year-old girl who is about to take that important step of taking charge of her life now that things are going well: she is a beloved chef at the Seconds restaurant and everything goes according to plan to have her own restaurant called Katie's But a word leads to a gesture, a gesture to a moment and that moment throws you in the opposite direction towards your dreams. WHY SOULD YOU READ IT? Bryan Lee O'Malley gets a comic suitable for all audiences because despite its youthful appearance gives full on topics which sooner or later we will weigh and is to accept our mistakes and try, somehow to move forward.

4. I KILL GIANTS by Joe Kelly (Image Comics)

Barbara is a pretty headstrong young high school girl who loves Dungeons and Dragons, dislikes school, isn't interested in friends or other people, and is obsessed with giants - more accurately, killing giants. But in our everyday world, is Barbara just a weird kid because we all know giants aren't real. Aren't they... WHY SHOULD YOU READ IT?  This coming of age story is also about friendship, courage, bullies, allies, family, and the power of the imagination, this is a wonderful, touching story that should not be missed.

3. PERSEPOLIS by Marjane Satrapi (L'Association)

Is the autobiographical story of the Iranian Marjane Satrapi, the story of how she grew up in an Islamic fundamentalist regime that would eventually lead her to leave her country. The comic begins in 1979, when Marjane is ten years old and from her childhood perspective she witnesses a social and political change that ends more than fifty years of the reign of the Shah of Persia in Iran and gives way to an Islamic Republic. WHY SHOUL YOU READ IT? With this work, Marjane Strapi has managed to show at a stroke that the comic is capable as can be literature or cinema to reflect with crudeness the less sweet episodes of History. Persepolis is a complaint of religious fanaticism and more specifically of the repression exercised by fundamentalists against Iranian women.

2.FROM HELL by Alan Moore (Eddie Campbell Comics/Top Shelf Productions)

From hell tells in his own way the story of Jack the Ripper. It focuses on the figure of William Gull, a magnificent doctor, first assistant of the English Royal Family. He is a doctor who is certainly respected and professional. On the other hand, it belongs to the well-regarded by the sect of The Masons. With the passage of time and the events that are spinning in their environment, something inside William breaks down. WHY SHOUL YOU READ IT? A story in which fiction and reality can not be better mixed. There are no dividing lines here. Very few people today would know how to differentiate what was truly true in everything that happened. Moore was commissioned with From Hell to provide us with his version of events. Who knows if we are not facing the best illustrations of a tragic event that marked a whole era.

1. MAUS by Art Spiegelman (Pantheon Books)

The son of a holocaust survivor in World War II, interviews his father in order to make a story that relates his father's struggle to support his family and his sanity at the same time. Likewise, the mere fact of remembering all these events, cause father and son to be involved in so many moments of reunion and family tension. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO READ IT? Maus is not just a post-modernism clinic in comics but also must be the most accurate, sensitive and coherent human story that has ever been made in cartoon format, even after his successful decision telling everything with anthropomorphic animals, in order to alleviate a little the historical tension. At the same time, the accuracy of the historical recapitulation of the hand of a survivor and the metanarrative of the author describing the process of creating the same comic, generates this impeccable hint that won the Pulitzer Prize.

BONUS: Because there is a lot out there you should check those too. they are a good mix of art and narrative

SAGA (Is a must read)

REVIVAL

THE INCAL

BERLIN

HABIBI

[sprnklersplashes]

I Can Be Your Hero (chapter 4)

The buzz around the Swan had refused died down in the weeks after her fight with Fiona. There had been no more attacks form mutated lightening monsters for Emma to take down, so her outfit remained hanging in her wardrobe. She hadn’t even taken it out for a quick fly around the city, despite the fact she remained itching to get out there. It was making her restless, like something else inside of her was pushing to get out, her Storybrooke side. After being suppressed for so long, it was saying ‘not again, don’t push me out again’ and she wanted to listen to it.

Even though the Swan hadn’t resurfaced in the last weeks, her fanbase hadn’t. The city made the most of it; putting up a plaque at the place where she had taken down the Black Fairy and at the Wonderland apartments, selling t-shirts with her logo on it (that made her a little uncomfortable, but she could get by), mugs with her face on it (which Isaac in her office had and she nearly had a heart attack). She saw little girls posing heroically in the spot where she had defeated Fiona and she had admitted to Elsa that night, that was almost as rewarding as saving the city.

Killian had gotten more than a day off for his achievement of taking the photo. He had been in a few local news interviews, all desperate to get the story from the man who saw the Swan in the flesh and had met the Mayor. There were even rumours of him being considered for a Pulitzer.

She joked to him at the coffee machine that it was a marvel his head even fit on his shoulders any more.

“All I did was snap a lucky picture, Snow,” he pointed out. “Honestly if anyone should be meeting the Mayor it’s this Swan woman. Who seems to have disappeared into thin air.”

“Well, I’m sure she’ll appear once a new crisis emerges.” She giggled to herself as she sipped her coffee.

“Well if she can keep getting me raises and fame, she can stick around as long as she liked,” he joked. “Plus, I’d like to see her back again. She was…. Inspiring.”

“Inspiring?” Emma smiled, ignoring the sense of pride flowing through her as she and Killian made their way back to her office.

“Well who wouldn’t be inspired by her?”

“Mr. Gold,” Emma huffed. Mr Gold seemed to be the only one who was not a fan of hers. For every positive interview or article about her, he Tweeted three negatives.

“Yes, well he is so up his own arse he expects everyone to call him Mr.” Emma choked on her coffee as she laughed. She leaned against her desk, throwing her hair back, not wanting this conversation to end. “Since when did the opinion of one single misogynistic douchebag matter?”

“I’ll drink to that,” she chuckled, toasting him with her coffee. Killian blushed slightly and looked around the room, licking the corner of his mouth slightly.

“And I am in your office. Where I should not be.”

It was like a spell had been broken. The light feeling in Emma’s stomach disappeared, that sensation of being weightless and carefree that she had had since she started talking to him. She straightened up suddenly and gave him an awkward smile.

“Well, thank you for walking me up,” she offered.

“I suppose I should return to my hovel now,” he said. He gave her a nod and turned to leave but was met with Zelena walking out of her office.

“You,” she said. “You don’t go here.”

“No, Miss West, I am on my way to my studio now,” he replied, but she waved his hand to dismiss him.

“No, stay here. I have an announcement that concerns you,” she said. He nodded and stepped back towards Emma, raising an eyebrow at her.

Zelena clapped twice, sharp and quick, and her employees snapped up to her attention.

“Mr Gold has decided to host a gala on Saturday night for his company to celebrate 50 years of him lording his wealth that Daddy gave him over the rest of us and, as per usual I have been invited. Emma, as my PA I need you to attend.” Emma looked over at Graham, mouth open. Zelena had never invited her to go any fancy parties with her. This was unusual indeed, but she wasn’t objecting. “Graham, you’re coming too, I like you and you’re one of the most respectable people here.” Graham smiled, clearly content with that remark. “That’s not exactly a compliment when you think of who works here.” His shoulders drooped, and Emma mouthed an “ouch” at him. “And you, photo man, Kieran.”

“Killian,” he corrected.

“Yes, you’re coming too. You make us look good. Plus, you took photos of the Swan, so your presence will probably piss him off. You three check your emails for the details I’ve forwarded them to you. And the rest of you…. Work harder. Then maybe you can be invited places.”

She turned and marched back into her office, the door clicking behind her, leaving an air of annoyance and excitement among her employees.

“Well, now. Guess us three lucky ones better get ourselves cleaned up for this shin-dig,” Killian said, looking from Emma to Graham. “Hard work pays off.”

“Yeah, you two get that, I got ‘you have to go because you’re my PA’,” Emma reminded him.

“And that makes you the most important player in the game, Snow,” Killian said. “Well I really must be going but I will see you two in all your finery on Saturday.”

He winked at Emma and strutted out the door. Emma pressed her cool hand to her face to try to force the red to leave, telling herself that she was simply overwhelmed with the excitement of the gala. Nothing else.

                                                                                               *****

Emma made her way down to the water cooler with her now empty sports bottle. Elsa had been leaving not so subtle hints that she wanted her to drink more water since they were teenagers but now that Emma was an official superhero, they had become more frequent and somehow more passive aggressive, to the point of buying her a Snow White themed sports bottle from the Disney store.

“We must stop running into each other lass,” a familiar voice joked behind her as she filled up her bottle. Emma couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she turned to face Killian. “Anyone would think you’re doing this on purpose.”

“Me?” she laughed. “You’re the one who keeps running into me.”

“Aye, that I do.” The look he had in his eyes made her stomach flip. She was so sure she imagined that interested look in those blue eyes, like he was fascinated by her. She rubbed the back of her neck and stepped aside to let him use the water cooler.

“So, how goes work up here?” he asked. He was taking his time with filling his plastic cup.

“Oh, you know, I’ve been on my feet all day and Zelena has me sending e-mails faster than one could receive them,” she sighed. “Yourself?”

“Well it’s a bit slow down here,” he confessed. “But here’s to demanding work.” He tapped his plastic cup against her sports bottle.

“What do you even do when you’re not out taking pictures of superheroes?” she asked, her curiosity piqued.

“Well,” he began, cocking his head and smiling. “Mostly adding edits to the pictures, making sure they are the top quality that our good magazine deserves. Or indeed e-mailing our lovely journalists photos they need or asking what they need photographed. Or on the phone to some company that I need to convince to let me photograph something or other.” He ran his long along his bottom lip, sending a shiver down Emma’s spine, and straightened up. “Tell you what, love. If you’re not busy and you’re really, really interested in the art of photography, maybe I could take you down there and let you see how exactly I work my magic.”

His offer completely threw Emma off-guard. There was nothing dishonest in his face-and Emma was excellent at spotting a liar. He just seemed to wish to spend some time with her.

And she’d have been lying to herself if she didn’t want to do the same.

Plus, it was an extra five minutes out of the office.

“What do I have to lose?” she chuckled. “Five minutes?” With a triumphant smile, Killian offered her his arm and led her down to his photography studio.

The studio was messier than it was the last time she was in it; candy bar wrappers and empty water bottles littered the desk, two hoodies were strewn across two different chairs and the bin was overflowing.

“Yes, pardon the mess,” he stammered, lifting one of the hoodies and wringing it in his hand nervously. “I had forgotten about the disarray it was in and hadn’t thought about it when I invited you over.”

“It’s no worse than my own apartment,” she said. His shoulders immediately dropped at her words, a sigh escaping his mouth.

“Come, let me show you what I do,” he said, sitting at his laptop and pulling a chair over for her. He brought up the image of the Swan from a few weeks back, with her fight with Fiona. Emma prayed desperately that her blush would leave, and pulled her hair into a ponytail. “This is the picture before I got my pretty little, uh…..hand on it.” And went into his folder and brought up the image Emma recognised form the cover. It was zoomed in on her, more focussed, her hair lightened, the strain and weariness on her face visible, but her posture stood out as she stood victorious. The lines around her family crest were sharper, making it stand out and drawing her eye. She felt a surge of pride in her chest knowing that people would see that on her. She blinked away her tears furiously.

“So, you make the photos look better?” she asked as she swallowed the lump in her throat.

“Not just better, cover-worthy,” he said. “Make it sharper, play with focus, amp up the colours and voila.”

“So you’re a glorified photoshopper?” she teased, thankful her eyes had dried.

“Oh I am much more than that, Miss Snow,” he replied, but he still had that easy going smile, that relaxed posture. “I am the one making these photos look engaging. I am the man who makes people stop and look at us. I am the reason this whole business is running.”

“Okay, now someone’s being cocky,” she smirked, shaking her head.

“Well, of course Zelena makes some contribution. As does her personal assistant, without whom she would be floundering.”

“And now you’re buttering me up,” she sighed, standing up. “Well I should get going.”

“Of course. Wouldn’t want to company to collapse because you weren’t there to forward on Zelena’s emails, would we?” Emma rolled her eyes as she made for the door. “I’m being serious.”

“You’re being sweet,” she called over her shoulder. “And it’s appreciated.”

“And if you ever need a refuge, you know where to find me.”

Emma couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she walked up to her floor, and she didn’t try to either.

                                                                                            ******

Graham straightened up as he saw Emma walk through the door, blonde hair now pulled back into a ponytail. He commanded that his heart stop its incessant pounding as she took her seat across from him.

This was it. This was the moment he had been building up to for six months. The day he finally took the plunge and asked Emma out.

He had been crushing-no, not crushing. He refused to use the word “crush” to describe Emma. He wasn’t a lovestruck schoolboy staring at a girl as she passed him in the hall. He had had feelings for Emma for six months now and for the last two months, had convinced himself at every opportunity he could he’d ask her out. He’d gotten tickets to some play, some band was coming to town, a new restaurant had just opened. And yet at every point he had chickened out.

But now, Zelena had gifted him with a golden opportunity. The gala. She would be there, he would be there, a black suit and tie event. All he needed to do was officially seal the deal and ask her as his date.

“Where have you been?” he asked, noticing how she seemed lighter than she was when she had left. Happier. That water break must have done wonders for her.

“Oh you know, taking in the wonders of the water cooler.” She still had that open, dreamy smile on her face and Graham’s plans halted in his mind as another possibility took over it. “I talked to Killian for a bit.” It was as if Emma had read his mind and wanted to confirm it.

She was sitting there with a ridiculously cute and happy smile on her face, she was practically bouncing, and her cheeks were still pink.

Graham sighed inwardly and turned to his computer, disappointment crashing over him. Even if Emma hadn’t admitted it to herself, she clearly had feelings for Killian. And what kind of friend would he be if he made her turn away from them?

                                                                                               ******

Anna lifted two more dresses off the rack, not even the sale rack, and skipped off to the dressing room, Emma rolling her eyes and following in tow. When she had agreed to a day out with Anna to go dress shopping for the gala after work, she had expected to find one cute enough dress in the first shop they went to. This was the third and Emma still hadn’t found one she liked, and Anna approved of, the latter of which was infinitely more difficult. Her feet were aching and her legs were practically jell-o at this point. She half-hoped for another burning building.

But even with her weary muscles, Emma couldn’t stop the small smile on her face as Anna flitted through the store to the dressing room, humming some kid’s song under her breath and pausing to look at some multi-coloured knitted scarf. Anna was Anna, crazy and bubbly and distracted as she was, and Emma wasn’t sure she’d want her any other way.

“Okay try this one on first.” Anna thrust a soft blue number into her arms and shoved her into the changing room before she could even protest. And to Emma’s utter dismay, she shook her head when she came out.

“Anna, we’ve been doing this for hours,” she complained.

“An hour and a half,” Anna corrected. “But I have a really good feeling about this one.” She threw a short red one at her and motioned for her to go back into the cubicle. “I’ll make it up to you!”

“You better.”

The red one really was better. The skirt reached to her knees and was loose enough to be comfortable but not so much that she worried about a Marylin Monroe incident. The dress was sleeveless with a low neckline, decorated with sequins.

“Emma, come on,” Anna called from outside. When Emma padded out to her, Anna gasped. “This is it. This is the one.”

“It is?” Emma could have danced. “We’re done?”

“Yes we are,” Anna chuckled. “Hurry up and pay, Elsa’s ready to meet us at the Starbucks up the street.”

After changing, Emma linked arms with her sister and made her way to the counter.

                                                                                                               ******

The night of the gala, Emma was adding in some red earrings and strapping up some black high-heeled sandals that she had kept in her closet since her college graduation. Anna had been around earlier to apply make-up and she had outdone herself with a smoky black and grey eye-makeup and red lipstick.

Graham’s knock at the door was perfectly timed; she had just finished strapping up her shoes. She opened the door to find Graham in a full tux, a pretty big change from his usual shirt and jeans routine.

“You clean up well, Humbert,” she teased, adjusting the hem of her skirt slightly. Graham on the other hand couldn’t seem to close his mouth.

“You look amazing, Emma,” he muttered. Emma shifted uncomfortably when she saw red spread across his face and decided to get their night moving, hoping to cut through the dense atmosphere.

“Come on,” she said, offering him her arm. “I need you to help me down these stairs in heels.”

                                                                                               ******

Graham let out a low whistle as he followed his sat-nav’s directions and pulled up outside Gold’s mansion, where the gala was being held. A red carpet led right up to the double doors of the massive red brick house, French windows decorated with fairy lights and photographers flashing their cameras, making Emma dizzy. Briefly, she wondered if Killian was among them.

As Graham helped her out of the passenger seat, Zelena’s black car pulled up next to them. How she managed to keep it looking new despite the fact she owned it for years was a mystery to Emma.  She stepped out in a tight black dress and stilettos, her hair pinned up in a bun with emerald hairpins.

“Miss West,” Emma greeted, not entirely sure what to say.

“Emma. You look nice,” Zelena said. “Come on.” Before Emma had a chance to respond, she was walking in the direction of the mansion and Emma was stumbling after her alongside Graham. “Gold’s obviously going to want to meet with me inside. We’re keeping it quick and snappy. And it would be best if you didn’t talk.”

“Got it,” Emma mumbled while being blinded by the camera flashes. She thanked God Graham was there to make sure she didn’t stumble and land in one of these photographers’ laps.

The entrance was a marble floor and high ceiling with a diamond chandelier and a spiral staircase. Emma felt like she had been sent back to some 1930s murder mystery event. Men and women in white shirts and tight black trousers walked around with trays of finger food and champagne and the sound of violins could be heard in the next room.

“Well we definitely aren’t in Kansas anymore,” she muttered, which got a chuckle from Graham.

“Oh, alert.” Emma looked in the direction Graham had gestured to and saw a thin man with long brown hair, a metallic cane and a slightly disgusted facial expression as he took in some of his guests.

“Mr Gold,” Emma sighed. “Ruthless and cruel but apparently can throw one hell of a party.”

Zelena looked in his direction and drew in a deep breath.

“All right, lets get this over with,” she muttered. Gold noticed her and immediately started moving towards her.

“Miss West,” he greeted with a pained smile on his face. “I am utterly delighted you could attend.”

“Of course,” she replied, her voice smooth but her arm tense as she shook his hand. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world, Adam.” Emma chuckled and disguised it as a cough even though Gold wasn’t paying her any attention. It was like watching two sharks circle each other and Zelena clearly had the upper hand. “Congratulations by the way on your…. Development? Forgive me Adam, so much happens these days its hard to keep track of the little things.”

Emma was sure that if they weren’t at a media covered event, Zelena would have gotten a punch to the chin. Gold took a deep breath and composed himself, baring his teeth.

“No matter Miss West. And we have an extra cause for celebration tonight.” A young woman with thick dark hair appeared and placed her hand lightly on Gold’s arm. “Miss West, I don’t suppose you know my wife, Belle?”

Behind her, Graham choked on whatever he had nabbed from a server’s tray.

“Wife?” he whispered. “She’s about half his age!” Emma huffed in agreement and looked at her, noticed the glass of lemonade in her hand while everyone around her drank champagne, noticed the slight swell in her abdomen.

“Well Belle and I are expecting our first child together, aren’t we darling?” Belle nodded demurely. Emma couldn’t help but take in her smile that didn’t reach her eyes, how she looked at the floor, the tension in her arms. It broke her heart.

“Oh, Adam that is just lovely,” she smiled. “When are you due?” Belle opened her mouth, but it was Gold who answered.

“Six months from now. So, as I said tonight is another reason for celebration.” He patted Belle’s hand. “What about you, Miss West? Your family, how are they?” Emma new that struck a nerve, Zelena never spoke about her family, but true to form she didn’t show it on her face.

“Oh, you know how it is Adam. I wish you all the best with your child. Especially after what happened with the first one.”

Neither Emma nor Graham had any idea what she was talking about, but if looks could kill, Zelena may just have dropped dead on the spot.

“Indeed,” he growled through clenched teeth. “Come my darling, why don’t we greet more of our guests. I hope you and your employees enjoy the party, Miss West.”

Zelena turned to face Emma and Graham. She had a self-righteous smile on her face, but her eyes were upset, and her hands curled into tight fists.

“You two enjoy yourself. I need a drink after that.” She walked off to the bar.

Graham and Emma made their way to the main ballroom. It was about the size of Emma’s apartment, maybe larger, with a white wall with ornate cold designs. Silver curtains hung at either side of the French windows and the set of glass doors which led out to an immaculately kept garden. At one end there was a long white table covered with finger food and more servers with glasses of champagne.

“I think I am going to take advantage of the free food,” Graham said. “You want to come?”

“I do not want to face down this crowd. But bring me back something?”

“Got it. I’ll look for anything either friend, cheesy or chocolate covered.” Emma laughed as Graham left her for the food table.

“Snow?” a familiar voice asked behind her. She smiled as she turned to face Killian, who wore a black shirt, slightly open, and black jacket with a red trim, his hook replaced by a black prosthetic hand. Emma forced herself to maintain eye contact but damn, did he look good. “You look absolutely amazing.”

“You’re looking pretty well yourself,” she replied. “Although I am fairly certain the invitation said ‘black tie’.”

“Well, it did but it also said ‘the finest champagne in New York City’ and frankly, its average at best.”

“So, in addition to being a photoshop wizard, you’re a drinks expert.”

“I may have a rather refined pallet, yes.” He smiled at her, making her hands twist into the fabric of her dress. “So this is quite the hoe-down isn’t it?” Emma laughed at how wrong the word ‘hoe-down’ sounded in his accent.

“Is that how you think Americans talk?” she asked.

“Well I spent a semester in Texas and it is exactly how they spoke,” he replied, making Emma laugh again.

The musicians changed their tune to some slow, classical piece she vaguely remembered being on the radio.

“Not exactly keeping with the times with this music, are they?” he asked.

“No, but Mr Gold is getting up in the years,” she joked. “Maybe this was the tune of his day.”

“Aye, possibly,” he said. He licked his lip slightly and his hands reached up to scratch lightly behind his ear. “Emma, I hope I’m not being too foreward, but would you do me the honour of dancing with me?”

Emma’s stomach dropped to the floor, two conflicting thoughts battling in her head. One said “say yes say yes say yes” and the other brought up painful memories of her attempts at slow dancing with her first girlfriend Lily during her high school prom.

“I would,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “As long as you don’t mind me standing on your foot.” Killian chuckled and stepped closer, offering her his hand.

“I have a feeling you’ll do grand.” Emma placed her hand in his warm one, sending warmth throughout her whole body and making the smile on her face wider. “There’s just one rule when it comes to these kinds of dances. Pick a partner who knows what he’s doing.”

Emma allowed him to place her hands on his shoulders and for him to place his hand and prosthetic on her waist. She moved her hands until they were clasped at the back of his neck, her thumb running across the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Just follow my lead.” They swayed together in a comfortable silence, small smiles passing between them as Emma’s rapid heartbeat gradually slowed down, not to its normal pace, but so she could feel comfortable but still have the buzz of adrenaline. “You know, Snow, I think you’re too hard on yourself. You are quite good.”

“Shut up,” she said, red creeping across her cheeks. “Where did you learn to dance?”

“Well, my mother taught me,” he said, sadness flickering across his eyes for a moment.

“Your mom?” Emma asked, not knowing what else to say. Her mother had danced with her, but that was just fun, not serious, slow dancing which involved holding another person close like the way she was doing with Killian.

“Aye. She was adamant that my brother and I grow up to be proper gentlemen. Which would involve being able to spin a lady-or man-across the dancefloor with grace and poise.”

“Well she taught you well.” Emma wanted to ask more about his childhood but held herself back. She barely knew this man. She was not going to pry into his childhood.

And she was not staring at his lips. And she was not inching closer to him, tilting her head and parting her lips slightly, her eyes half closed. And his warm breath smelling only slightly like champagne was not on her face.

The sound of a window crashing caused her to jump back from Killian, her hand wrapping around his of its own accord.

The window closest to them was smashed, the glass looking like diamonds on the floor, but that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was the black robot that had crashed through. It was taller than a human, broader. At the end of one of its arms there was a canon-like device which glowed red. On its blank face there were two glowing red eyes.

The canon fired at the wall, staining it black and burning a crater in it.

Immediately the party descending into panic, people feeling towards the exit as fast as humanly possible. Emma’s eyes scanned the crowds to try to find Graham as she and Killian squeezed through the crowds closing in on the exits.

They stumbled into the lobby, only for Emma to almost trip over the person in front of her as the crowd came to a standstill. A scream shot through the air and Emma felt a weight press on her chest as murmurs slithered through the crowd.

“There’s ones blocking the exit!” someone in front of her gasped. Killian squeezed her hand tightly, terror written all over his face.

Emma didn’t need to think about what she had to do. Killian was scanning the crowd for an exit and she took that opportunity to take her hand out of his and push backwards through the crowd. She squeezed out of the crowd, slipped down a narrow corridor and into a closet containing various light switches.

Hastily, she ripped off her glasses and unzipped her dress. This party needed a hero.

                                                                                               ******

The Swan flew out of the mansion and back round to the ballroom. The robot was still in the window, not moving except for its head, which moved left and right every so often. She focussed hard on the back of his neck and allowed her lasers to shoot out, drilling into it until a sad metallic groan came form it and it fell to the ground.

Wasting no time, she flew over the destroyed robot and into the entrance.

“Look, the Swan!” someone called from below. Gasps rippled throughout the crowd as they craned their necks to see her. Somewhere in the crowd, Emma saw she dishevelled hair and blue eyes of Graham and smiled. He was safe, for now at least.

“They’ve blocked the exits!” someone called up to her. She was surprised when she turned and saw that the voice belonged to Belle, Mr Gold’s wife. Her husband wasn’t around. “The main entrance and side doors. We can’t get out.”

“I can take care of this,” she called back, and Belle immediately relaxed. “I need you all to remain calm.”

The Swan flew over the crowd and landed squarely in front of the robot blocking the main doorway.

“Who are you?” The robot tilted its head to the side. The blank expression sent a chill down Emma’s back. At least with Fiona she was, at least partially, human. Whatever this was, it was just a void staring back at her. “Are you from this planet?” Again, nothing. “What do you want?” The robot raised its arm in response, a red laser firing up inside it. “Okay so we’re doing this.”

Emma wasn’t sure her plan would work, but it was better than nothing. She flew to its side-it was too big and clumsy to respond-and used her laser eyes to cut through the metal, wincing as sparks and shards came close to her, but the arm fell off and the laser died down.

“Now, do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?” she smirked before lasering off its head and watching as its motionless body toppled. She didn’t stay to enjoy her victory, instead flying to the next door, only to be greeted with another robot. “Okay Robocop, let’s do this.” Same as before she lasered the head off it and let it topple to the ground.

A ripple of applause caused her to turn around and face the around. There were even people screaming their appreciation for her.

Emma didn’t take time to stop and appreciate it. She focussed, blocked out the applause and listened closely. She took off down the corridor and found herself face to face with yet another robot. The same routine applied; laser the head off. She supposed she should be happy they were predictable. She repeated the same chore at three other exits before heading back to the main ballroom.

“I think I’ve stopped all of them,” she called to the worried crowd. “But just stay here for now while I keep checking this out.”

“What are they?” Mr Gold asked. He seemed to be the only one not impressed by her, if the tight grip on his cane and gritted teeth were anything to go by.

“Honestly, I am not entirely sure, but we will find out. If you can call police and your loved ones to make sure they know you’re okay.” She didn’t wait for his response before she did another sweep of the building and to her relief she found all other exits clear. She swept back to the crowd to break the good news.

“We’re clear. There are no more robots blocking the exits. I think we’re good.”

It appeared she spoke too soon; one of the robots jerked to life almost the second she had said “good” and began firing up its weapon. The next Emma knew, she was speeding towards it, feeling the head of the blast on her face and shoving it away from the crowd, causing it to make a rather large dent in the wall. When she turned to face the crowd again, she saw Graham facing her, mouth open in shock. She felt her stomach drop at the thought of losing him.

“You said we were safe,” Gold snapped as she lasered off both its arms to be safe.

“Forgive me if I wasn’t totally sure, I’m not used to damn robots,” she replied before she could stop herself.

“Just who are you, Swan?” he asked, her name venomous on his tongue. Emma didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reply, just made another tour of the mansion and disarmed (literally, she supposed) the robots. As she did, she noticed the red and blue lights of police cars flashing outside the window. As well as the presence of a large black van. She felt certain it was the same one she had seen that night with Fiona.

Police, armed with guns, ran through the front door of the mansion, followed by hounds of reporters, no doubt hoping to catch another glimpse of the Swan.

                                                                                               ******

Emma, now once again Emma, the Swan discarded and thrown away, slipped back into the crowd. Everyone else was too distracted by the police and reporters to even pay attention to her as she pushed her way back through the crowd searching for Killian.

“Snow,” he said behind her as he took her hand gently. Emma turned to see his relieved face. He smiled and moved towards her, arms outstretched, before pulling back. “I lost you in that crowd and I didn’t know what to think…..”

“It’s okay, I’m fine,” she sighed. “The crowd was too big, and I couldn’t hold on to you. Have you seen Graham?” She knew he was safe, thanks to her, but she still saw her terrified face in her mind.

As if someone granted her wish, Graham appeared in her line of vision. She squeezed Killian’s arm and ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck.

“Hey,” she sighed as he hugged her back. “Graham I was so worried there.”

“I think I need a drink,” he muttered. “Or ten.”

“Tell me about it, that robot arm almost killed you,” she said as she pulled back. Graham’s smile faltered, his eyebrows knotted.

“How did you know about that? You weren’t with me, how did you see it?”

Oh shit Emma thought. She slipped up, probably a side effect of the adrenaline wearing off. She felt herself growing hotter as she fumbled for an explanation.

“Excuse me, I need you to evacuate this place now,” a dark haired girl in a black uniform said. Tiredly, Emma thought to herself that it wasn’t like any uniform she had seen before, she wasn’t police but clearly wasn’t the army.

She allowed Graham to lead her outside. She gave another smile to Killian Jones as she and Graham made their way to his car.

“Big universe, huh?” she asked. “Sorry about the dance.”

“Oh, it’s nothing Snow,” he said. “You can simply owe me.” Before she could ask what he meant, he nodded and opened his car door. “Safe home.”

Emma nodded and turned to Graham’s car. Graham still had questions, but he wasn’t pressing. She took one look back at Gold’s mansion. The black van near the entrance. It gave Emma an uneasy feeling, and not knowing what the van was for frustrated her a lot, to put it mildly.

But not nearly as much as the fact she was going to have to think up some way to explain to Graham how she saw him when she was nowhere near him. She slipped into Graham’s passenger seat, her weary muscles relaxing into the leather covers he had. Graham looked at her sceptically for a moment, but said nothing.

This was going to be a long night.

[acaseforpencils]

Karen Green, Curator for Comics and Cartoons at Columbia University.

Who are you and what do you do? My name is Karen Green, and I was hired as Columbia University's Librarian for Ancient & Medieval History back in 2002 (I had done my graduate work in medieval history here at Columbia).  A love of comics, and a recognition of their absence in our collections, caused me to propose that we begin to buy graphic novels in 2005; what was then 3 titles (Maus, Persepolis, and Palestine, for those keeping score at home) has grown to 14-15,000 titles in over two-dozen languages.  In 2010, my role expanded when Chris Claremont offered us his papers, and I began collecting other creator archives, with a focus on the NYC area and the history of publishing.  This became a prominent enough part of my brief, that in November 2016, the libraries created the job of Curator for Comics and Cartoons, and moved me up into our Rare Book & Manuscript Library with the other curators.

Portrait of Karen by Drew Friedman

What is your goal as a curator for comics and cartoons? There are more archives of comics history than you might think, with the largest and most prominent probably being the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University in Columbus OH.  I'm not trying to compete with Billy Ireland--I couldn't really, even if I tried, as they have a 35-year lead on me!--but what I try to do is create an array of materials that fits well with other strengths in Columbia's Rare Book & Manuscript Library: specifically, the history of publishing, NYC history, the Pulitzer Prize archives (including 95 years of editorial cartoon winners), and illustration.  I want to build out those areas, make the material accessible, assist scholars in their research--and to further solidify comics studies as a proper academic discipline.  And I want to try to preserve a snapshot of the 21st-century NYC comics scene.

Learning about the history of cartoons can be a bit daunting. Where would you recommend a novice start? Gosh, there's no one starting place, I think.  I found THE SMITHSONIAN COLLECTION OF NEWSPAPER COMICS when it first came out, back in 1978, and that grounded me in newspaper strip history.  Other useful resources are Brian Walker's two books about comics, before 1945 and after 1945, and Jerry Robinson's history of the comics.  Comic-book history is a bit more challenging, but Gerard Jones' MEN OF TOMORROW lays out a lot of the players and the process, and the two big Taschen 75 YEARS OF... books, DC Comics by Paul Levitz and Marvel Comics by Roy Thomas, provide narratives for the two dominant mainstream publishers.  Mark Estren's history of the undergrounds is still probably the best there is, and Tom Spurgeon's history of Fantagraphics, WE TOLD YOU SO: COMICS AS ART, offers an oral history of one of the larger alternative publishers.  But there's no unified field theory for the medium's history, and just going to panels and listening to creators talk can be the most interesting and entertaining way to dig in.

A piece of original art from STUCK RUBBER BABY, showing marginal notations; the Howard Cruse papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

What do you wish artists knew about curation? I wish they realized that we're not just looking for their original art.  Don't get me wrong--we love original art!--but it's not the whole story, and we know that it can often be a crucial revenue source for cartoonists.  We're interested in process materials (sketchbooks, first drafts, tracings), too, because they demonstrate the creator's thinking.  But we love correspondence (between creators and publishers, creators and editors, creators and family, creators and other creators), we love business records and contracts, we love ephemera.  Often a creator won't even understand the research value of little things--I went to visit a major comix artist once, who was getting an external appraisal, and in one drawer was a pile of address books going back decades.  My excitement was met with surprise, but those things are snapshots of creative networks over time: invaluable!  On a different note, for artists who work digitally, I just pray they're preserving all their versions and their layers, so that researchers of the future can analyze their process.

Oliver Cesare, cartoon about the impeachment of NY governor William Sulzer, impeached after tangling with Tammany Hall; Dennis Ryan editorial cartoon art collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

Tools of choice:  The Grand Comics Database for comics runs and covers; Poopsheet Foundation for minicomics; and Wikipedia--you probably won't be surprised to learn that comics fans create meticulous and thorough entries, including publication histories.  And WorldCat, to see how others have cataloged some of the rarer items.

George Herriman, hand-colored drawing from archy & mehitabel, given to his Doubleday editor; Daniel Longwell papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

Tools I wish existed: Oh, this tool exists: a processing archivist.  We just don't have enough of them for the number of archives we bring in!  Oh, and a bigger budget, especially for programming.

Tricks: Still looking for those! But while it isn't a trick, I'm happy I work in city that has such a long and storied comics history, and which still has a relatively vibrant comics community, despite the ravages of NYC rents.

Charles Saxon, NEW YORKER cover proposal; Charles Saxon papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

George and Sarah Booth, accompanied by Bob Eckstein and David Borchart, visiting the archives to look at Charles Saxon's paper. [Editors note: all of these wonderful people have appeared on Case!]

Misc.: Sometimes I think that Columbia isn't well-known enough as a comics archive for creators to think of us when they're figuring out what to do with their files.  It's true we've only been collecting archives for about seven years now.  I go to cons, both mainstream and indie, and I've been an Eisner judge, a Pulitzer Prize judge, and moderated panels around the world.  But I'll still meet creators who'll be surprised to learn that Columbia even has an interest in comics.  I'd like creators to think about the context in which their work could be studied here, too--we have a tremendous historical children's literature collection, with movable books and Big Little Books and all sorts of comics-related stuff, and we have a terrific illustration collection, with the largest collection of original Arthur Rackham drawings and watercolors in the US, and original Caldecotts and Rowlandsons and Cruikshanks as well as Rockwell Kent and Boris Artzybasheff and more.  I think this allows us to provide a context that a comics-only archive might lack.

Website, etc. A guide to our collections, and to research

My old ComiXology columns (2009-2012) 

Books for which I've written prefaces or introductions:

THE LEANING GIRL

WEIRD LOVE vol. 3

MORE HEROES OF THE COMICS

Enjoy reading A Case for Pencils? Consider becoming Twitter, Instagram, and Patreon buds with the blog and/or Twitter buds with its creator, Jane!

[keywestlou]

LATROBE, PENNSYLVANIA

Two person college reunion last night at the Chart Room. Grads from a few years back from St. Vincent College in Latrobe.

John Lally and John Moore. They were having dinner with their wives at Pier One.

Lally is from Pittsburgh. Moore from North Beach, New Jersey and Sugarloaf.

Lally a loyal blog reader. I suspect Moore also.

Nice guys. Enjoyed meeting them. Wish we had longer to chat.

Arnold Palmer’s name came up. Palmer born and raised in Latrobe. Did not attend St. Vincent. Was fortunate to receive a golf scholarship and went instead to Wake Forest.

Mary arrived. We had a drink and chatted with John.

I said let’s walk. We went down to the waterfront. Enjoyed Schooner Wharf food and drink. Sat at the bar.

A while since I ate at Schooner Wharf. A cheeseburger and onion rings.

Tonight, Syracuse/Virginia at 7. Virginia #2 in the country. Syracuse unranked. Never the less, we could win.

Ted from Wampsville visiting. We still have not met this trip. Ted, I will be watching the Syracuse game at the Chart Room. Join me at 7.

Ted a radical Syracuse fan, also.

The Old Man and the Sea. Hemingway’s last novel. Published this day in 1952.

Hemingway had it delivered to his publisher with a note indicating it was “the best writing” he ever did.

The critics agreed. Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea.

Trump has a pattern of making something out of nothing. As he has again!

At the CPAC meeting he announced he was signing an executive order requiring free speech on college campuses.

I was not aware it was being denied. I also was under the impression that it was generally liberal students who had their free speech rights abused.

This time a conservative activist. Not a student. At the University of California at Berkley campus helping the right wing group Turning Point USA.

He got punched in the face. Trump has turned one conservative attack into it happens everywhere! No more, he said. If “they” continue, he will cut off all federal grant monies to that particular college.

What bravado! He has now made college attacks on conservatives a problem. He has created a situation where in reality few existed.

Two additional points re Trump. Sort of go together.

A personality cult has resulted. Trump their god.

John McCain was insulted a day or two before Trump’s appearance at CPAC by conservative Michelle Malkin. She attacked the “ghost of John McCain.”

Trump said nothing in his appearance to correct her words. Thereby condoning the words.

Is their no respect for the dead? Trump could not hold a candle to McCain for anything. Neither bravery, combat, honesty, etc. McCain was a true conservative. Trump is not.

What bothers me is that a poll taken following the “ghost” thing found Trump’s popularity rating had risen to 46 percent.

Beware America!

The other half of the story involves Hurricane Michael, FEMA and federal assistance.

Florida’s Panhandle got killed! No question about it. Here 4 months post Michael and thousands still living in tents. Delivery of FEMA trailers slow. Extremely slow.

People of the Panhandle consider themselves forgotten. Trump continuing to fail natural disaster victims.

It’s all about money. Trump is reluctant to spend proper amounts of money to help his people. We are all his people.

He might be saving up for the wall.

March an important month in recognizing a very special group. March is Women’s History Month.

Forget them not! I feel we men have screwed up the world sufficiently. It is the time for women! They can do no worse. Perhaps, better.

Have to hustle. Heart doctor this morning.

Enjoy your day!

One conservative under attack, all must be. so hero Trump before CPAC introduces the activist and says no more…..

  LATROBE, PENNSYLVANIA was originally published on Key West Lou

[unconventional-hero]

Chapter 6-- At the Theater.

written by “The Countess”

(In which two Jacks collide.)

* * * * *

They entered and took seats in the dress circle directly in front of the stage. The large, brilliantly-lighted room was already well-filled with people, but the boxes were still empty, their future occupants desiring to create a stir by being fashionably late.

Jack looked steadily at his programme. “I’ll be blamed if I look ‘round much and get took for a regular clodhopper from Wayback,” he told himself, and wondered what the play would be like. “Erminie.” It was a pretty name, but he remembered he had been disappointed in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and did not build high his anticipations. From his limited experience with “shows,” he had discovered that the name had little to do with the play. Didn’t the cabin disappear after the first act in “Uncle Tom,” and was it not a very ordinary affair any way?

“What’s this ‘Ermine’?” he asked in a whisper.

“It’s a light opera. ‘Ermine’ is the heroine’s name and Miss Pauline Hall takes the part very acceptably. New York is in a perfect furore over it. Its run has been almost unprecedented,” Mr. Reynolds explained courteously.

Jack relapsed into silence. He wished he were West again where he felt equal, no, even superior to his surroundings. He was too bright to underestimate the effect of his handsome face and magnificent physique on people he met. He knew he created a favorable impression every where, but he felt he was unpolished, especially when near Mr. Reynolds, a typical New-Yorker. “I’ll not embarrass him. I’ll keep mum,” Jack was resolving, when Mr. Reynolds touched his arm.

“See here, Morningstar. The boxes are filling up. There are the Goulds. The younger lady is Mrs. George Gould. She was an actress herself once-- Edith Kingdon-- pretty but desperately poor. See her now! Americans are truly created equal.”

Jack nodded eagerly. Ah, if only his little sweetheart may think so some day!

“Then, to the left there, is Cornelius Vanderbilt’s family. And below them is Pulitzer, of the “World” and some journalistic friends. Those boxes represent a good many millions of dollars, man.”

“Yes, I suppose they do. It must seem strange, though, to be able to spend one’s money so fast.” He let his eyes wander to the right again.

A party of society people is just entering the lower box. A dignified man of fifty, an elegantly-dressed, middle-aged lady, accompanied by an older, plainer woman, two pretty, jaunty debutantes, and there-- “What a face! Jack thinks-- a lovely girl, scarcely seventeen in a soft, fleecy white gown, with a man-- “Heavens!” mutters Jack and starts forward, jerks Mr. Reynold’s opera-glasses from his hands, stares fixedly through them for a moment, drops them, crashing, to the floor and rises abruptly.

“My glasses-- my-- Why, Mr. Morningstar, what’s the matter?” gasps Mr. Reynolds, laying his hand on Jack’s arm. 

“Broke, eh?” Jack says in a husky, almost unintelligible voice. “Broke, d’ye say? Never mind, I buy you a dozen pairs tomorrow!”

“Are you ill?”

“He shall not do it! He shall not, I say! Reynolds, d’ye see that man in the box dressed like me? Well, sir, he’s the blackest devil on the whole globe! Yes the worst friend, the cruelest brute--” Jack chokes, remembering all the evil Jim has done him then he concludes vaguely-- “Never mind now, Mr. Reynolds-- yes, I’m ill-- desperately ill.”

By this time the people in the adjoining sections are greatly excited. They rise-- the ladies trembling for fear of the Westerner’s revolver-- some whisper that he is insane and they try to summon a policeman, but he has spoken rather quietly so could scarcely be arrested for disturbing the peace. It is his face-- his gesture-- that is wild.

Imagine him, tall, standing there like a prince, dressed in his Western garb, his bared head showing glints of gold among the curls under the gas light, his eyes gleaming fire, hatred, passion.

Mr. Reynolds begs him to be seated. He complies slowly, hoping that he has not annoyed his friend yet all but regardless of all things save the beautiful lily-like girl and the man, dressed as he is, in the box.

“I’ll tell you all, some time,” he whispers after a while, when those about them have partially recovered themselves. “I can’t help what I’ve done, but I’ll make it all right.”

“Pray, don’t distress yourself, Mr. Morningstar. If you are ill, we can go home now.”

“No, I want to stay. I’ll be good.” He smiles faintly, wearily, and his color returns to his face.

The curtain rises. The pretty opera progresses nicely. The momentary excitement has been long since forgotten. The pink ball-room scene has received its usual bursts of applause, the play is almost over and still-- he has not once taken his eyes away from the box. What are petty stage joys and sorrows to those he knows? What more dramatic incident than the one he has himself enacted? The “Erminie” to him is a bauble; the girl in the box, with her large eyes intent upon the stage, is the priceless gem.

He feasts his soul upon her face in all its charming youthfulness. -- He loves her!-- Then he turns his eyes toward her companion-- toward Jim Paxton-- his dearest foe.

Jim is at his best. His well-formed hand strokes his moustache in a way that would be creditable to Berry Wall; he is handsome, brilliant,-- his eyes shine as he converses with the three girls. He is picturesque-- more than one opera-glass is turned toward him between the acts. He is graceful-- keeping time now and then to the music’s passionate throbbing, with his disengaged hand.

“Curse him!” mutters Jack as the girl in white-- he knows she is Clyde-- hands her companion her Mary Anderson fan, and, blushing vividly, leans back in her chair while he bends over her, complimenting as well as fanning her.

Jack becomes restless. The room to him grows stifling yet he is unconscious of the crowd. He has forgotten Mr. Reynolds, who watches him narrowly and is visibly perplexed. He has forgotten the actors-- the singing-- his very name-- There! The curtain is rung down, the play is over. Mr. Reynolds gathers up the broken fragments of his handsome lorgnette and tells Jack they must start for home. He mentally decides that Jack is a raving maniac at times and thanks his stars that he may never see him again. Jack rises stupidly, with his eyes still on the box. Then they walk through the corridors out into the open air.

Outside they wait for a hansom cab. Jack is speechless still. A gay laugh rings out behind him.

“See, Mr. Morningstar,” cries a girlish voice, “there is your double! There, under the gas-light! See him?”

He turns at hearing his name and sees Jim assisting the young ladies to their carriage. Jim glances quickly at him, draws back hastily, as if stunned, hurriedly jumps into the carriage and the party is whirled away.

“Goodby, Mr. Reynolds.” Jack shouts as he starts madly in pursuit. “It’s all right-- I won’t wait longer!”

And Mr. Reynolds, dazed, thunder-struck, watches the lithe form swing through the crowd and makes no effort to get him back.

* * * * *

Up the streets he hurries, his broad hat brim flapping in the wind. He prides himself on his running. He is agile, graceful, alert. The carriage turns a corner. Jack turns too. He is but a few feet in its rear.

The coachman drives faster. He has evidently been told to “whip up” his horses. Jack runs faster too.

Now they are before a dimly lighted house-- The carriage stops abruptly. Jack jumps forward. His first impulse is to seize the reins of the horses-- but he fears to startle his little sweetheart.

He pauses beside the carriage steps. Jim jumps, trembling, pale to the ground. Jack touches his arm, firmly yet gently.

“You couldn’t get ahead of me, Jim.” he whispered. “But I won’t hurt you to-night.”

The ladies-- Miss McClure and Clyde, for the others of the party were driven to their home in another vehicle-- alight. They start at sight of Jack, who steps back a little way.

“Never mind, ladies,” rings out Jim’s voice, steady and clear. “A Western friend of mine. Allow me to assist you up the steps. Come in? Thank you, I will! Goodnight, Henry!”

He tosses a look of mingled triumph and detestation at Jack, who, afraid to frighten the ladies by any outcry, and taken entirely aback by Jim’s easy manner, is silent.

The massive doors swing back heavily. A blaze of light from the hall shows him the three figures on the threshold. Jim is cooly adjusting his silken muffler and making some witty remark to Clyde, who laughs musically.

It is the most stupendous wrong in all the world to Jack. He can bear it no longer. He sits down on the step as the door shuts again and waits for-- Jim. 

[homepictures]

Seven Reliable Sources To Learn About Ideas For Homes | ideas for homes

Sign up for our newsletter

Navy Blue Exterior House Colors (Navy Blue Exterior House … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Dec. 12, 2017 / 9:55 PM GMT / Updated Dec. 14, 2018 / 6:07 PM GMT / Source: TODAY

By Chassie Post

Want to get in acceptable with your co-workers this Anniversary season? We apperceive that accolade the absolute allowance for an appointment acquaintance is no accessible task. That is, until now!

From a balloon blanket calendar to a claimed shiatsu accept massager, we’ve angled up a bulk of alarming ability that will not alone appearance your colleagues aloof how abundant you care, but ability additionally put you in band for that continued behind promotion.

When we absolution our 2018 allowance guides, we accomplish abiding all prices are current. But, prices change frequently (yay, deals!), so there’s a adventitious the prices are now altered than they were the day of publication.

TODAY editors, writers and experts booty affliction to acclaim items we absolutely like and achievement you’ll enjoy! Aloof so you know, TODAY does accept associate relationships. So, while every artefact is apart selected, if you buy article through our links, we may get a baby allotment of the revenue.

Also accessible for $41 at Walmart.

We all apperceive things can get appealing demanding at the office. This shiatsu close and accept massager is like accepting a claimed masseuse on call.

Truly, a allowance that gives aback all year long! This box of 52 acknowledge you cards inspires a account announcement of acknowledgment for favors big and baby throughout the advance of a year. Such a admirable way to let co-workers apperceive how abundant you acknowledge them.

Also accessible at UncommonGoods.

Let’s face it, few things are as acceptable as a acceptable balloon blanket pop. With this calendar, they’ll get 365 ancestor — one for anniversary day of the year.

For the aide who has everything? The llama board duster! He keeps your board dust-free with his furry blush locks and looks ambrosial while accomplishing it. Sign us up!

Beautify your neighbor’s board with this glassy pencil holder. It is the apotheosis of admirable storage.

30 Small house decor ideas – YouTube – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

The Echo Dot is the abutting best affair to a absolute claimed assistant.

In lieu of an “I’d Rather be Golfing” t-shirt, this desktop golf bold brings a accomplished new acceptation to the appellation mini golf. Plus, it takes a lot beneath time abroad from the job than a absolute eighteen aperture game.

Help your accessory acquaint their accepted affection and animosity after accepting to accessible their mouth. Moodycards comes with thirty altered letters as able-bodied as a bare cards and an erasable pen for added claimed musings.

Similar accessible for $15 at Walmart.

This bargain mug warmer will accumulate your co-worker’s coffee bleared hot all morning long.

Help your accessory accumulate their air-conditioned with this super-mod, claimed board fan. It’s USB-powered and has two speeds ensuring best claimed comfort.

We’re additionally bedeviled with appealing abundant all the plants The Sill has to offer.

You apperceive what we adulation about succulents? No blooming thumb, no problem! These 2-inch plants crave about aught affliction which makes them the absolute board accoutrement for all.

The appointment tea lover will rejoice aloft accepting this admirable allowance box abounding with an array of Tea Forte’s best accepted varieties. The adornment includes twenty alone pyramid tea infusers for twenty canicule of tea time bliss.

Also accessible at Walmart.

To advice action the ill furnishings of hours sitting in advanced the computer, your accessory will be beholden for your anxious allowance of a continuing desk. And while you’re at it, aces up one for yourself.

Your admired aide will adore hydrating (deliciously) with this beverage baptize bottle. Simply add arctic or beginning bake-apple forth with collapsed or sparkling baptize for a refreshing, fruit-infused baptize break.

Also accessible for $50 at Walmart.

Siding Color Options For Red Brick Homes On Pinterest … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

The Anker SoundCore Bluetooth Apostle is a abundant allowance for the accessory who has taken on the role of appointment DJ. This tiny apostle is carriageable and can comedy up to 24 hours on a distinct charge.

Their caramel blah is additionally accessible in a 12-bag box for $57 at Walmart.

Now, this allowance may be a little self-serving, abnormally if your board is abutting to the giftee. It’s a bassinet of bristles ambrosial favors of airheaded so big that your officemate won’t be able to debris your apprehensive appeal for a scattering (or several) every now and then.

For added food-related gifts, analysis out our allowance adviser for the foodie!

If all abroad fails, you can never go amiss with a candied treat. Sugarfina’s pre-picked allowance boxes attending like you put in added accomplishment than you did, and they aftertaste delicious.

Also accessible at Walmart.

The uber-organized aide will acceptable do cartwheels bottomward the anteroom back they accept their actual own handheld characterization maker. The alone check is that you may acquisition that the stapler you generally “borrow” is now acutely labeled with its owner’s name.

Also accessible for $34 at Walmart.

Trust us, this is a never-go-wrong option. Who wouldn’t adulation a brace of animated red and atramentous headphones to advice asphyxiate out the din of the office?

This one’s for the bang-up or accessory who can’t assume to acquisition a adequate bench all day.

This allowance is a bang dunk. It’s advantageous for assignment presentations as able-bodied as demography home to watch TV on a abounding wall.

There’s consistently one being in the appointment whose admirable board elicits backbiting with their air-conditioned and avant-garde appointment accessories. These minimalist and well-designed wire organizers are the absolute allowance for the aide with the curated desk.

It is important for one’s board to accept some personality, and this anachronistic agriculturalist will instantly bear abundant bare flair.

14 Exterior Paint Color Ideas 2018 – Interior Decorating … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Also accessible at Walmart.

Talk about a chichi stapler! Turn the act of stapling into a comfortable acquaintance for the accessory who is advantageous abundant to be able with this beauty.

It additionally comes in a aerialist for algid drinks!

For the officemate who’s consistently busy, the “I Am Actual Active Mug” doesn’t chip words.

This timer is a admirable way to break on schedule.

We adulation an old-school artist area you can absolutely address things down. Your agreeing officemate will be captivated to accept this ambrosial Lilly Pulitzer 17-Month calendar to accumulate her organized through December 2019.

For the appointment coffee connoisseur, this carriageable dribble coffee brewer delivers a affluent cup of Joe appropriate at their desk.

This appealing custom anchored is absolute for abatement and will be accepted by those who amount the absent art of the acknowledge you note.

Help accomplish abiding that your accessory never afresh misses that argument about the fun, ad-lib anniversary affair with this abbreviate ability bank. The alone check to this allowance is that it makes it boxy to use the old “my buzz ran out of juice” alibi for missing the boss’s call. Whoops, we meant an added account to this allowance is that your accessory won’t anytime afresh absence the boss’s alarm — ever.

We anticipation we had apparent it all, but this adored little otter-shaped band dispenser abiding accepted us wrong. The allowance of a band wielding bearcat will agreement that your accessory wins the “Cutest Board in the Office” award. In fact, we wouldn’t be afraid if you bought an added to put beneath the timberline for yourself

Talk about advantageous — this desktop charging base and ability band appearance three USB ports and three outlets, all in one unit. Your appointment acquaintance can now allegation all their accessories in one place, because let’s face it: There are never abundant outlets.

This is abundant for all of those aboriginal mornings in the appointment back your bang-up or accessory needs a BIG caffeine bang to get things going.

Finding the absolute present can be a challenge, but Shop TODAY’s up to the task. No amount who you’re attractive for, we’ve got allowance guides for anybody on your list, including:

50 WOOD Creative Ideas for house 2017 – Interior and … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

To ascertain added deals, arcade tips and budget-friendly artefact recommendations, subscribe to our Stuff We Adulation newsletter!

Seven Reliable Sources To Learn About Ideas For Homes | ideas for homes – ideas for homes | Welcome for you to my blog, on this occasion I’ll teach you concerning keyword. And from now on, this is actually the primary image:

Rock siding for homes, exterior stones for homes … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Why don’t you consider photograph over? will be which incredible???. if you think maybe therefore, I’l m explain to you a few image once again beneath:

So, if you would like get these magnificent images regarding (Seven Reliable Sources To Learn About Ideas For Homes | ideas for homes), simply click save link to save these pics in your personal pc. There’re all set for transfer, if you’d rather and wish to grab it, just click save logo on the post, and it’ll be instantly down loaded to your home computer.} As a final point if you like to obtain new and the latest graphic related with (Seven Reliable Sources To Learn About Ideas For Homes | ideas for homes), please follow us on google plus or book mark the site, we attempt our best to give you regular update with all new and fresh graphics. We do hope you enjoy staying here. For many upgrades and recent news about (Seven Reliable Sources To Learn About Ideas For Homes | ideas for homes) graphics, please kindly follow us on tweets, path, Instagram and google plus, or you mark this page on book mark area, We try to provide you with up-date regularly with fresh and new graphics, like your searching, and find the right for you.

Thanks for visiting our website, contentabove (Seven Reliable Sources To Learn About Ideas For Homes | ideas for homes) published .  At this time we are delighted to announce we have found an extremelyinteresting nicheto be discussed, that is (Seven Reliable Sources To Learn About Ideas For Homes | ideas for homes) Many people attempting to find information about(Seven Reliable Sources To Learn About Ideas For Homes | ideas for homes) and of course one of them is you, is not it?

Stylish Home Office Ideas – Chic Home Study – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Home Office Ideas: Working From Home in Style – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Tips on Choosing the Right Exterior Paint Colors for … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Office Paint Color Ideas Home Homes Design Fresh Exemplary Wall … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Smart Home Design from Modern Homes Design … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

35 Sublime Koi Pond Designs And Water Garden Ideas For … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Living Room – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Kitchen | Low Country Vacation Cottage | Idea Homes | Bathroom Ideas … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Images Of Home Design Dining Room Ideas – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Home Ideas | Get Inspired – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Home Ideas | Get Inspired – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Small Loft Ideas Small Loft Apartment Ideas Small Loft Homes Small … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Home Ideas | Get Inspired – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Small Loft Ideas Small Loft Apartment Ideas Small Loft Homes Small … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Interior Design Ideas For Small Indian Homes Low Budget … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Small House Hallway Ideas – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Luxurious Bathroom Storage Ideas For Small Bathroom With … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

30 Stylish Interior Design Ideas Creating Original and Modern Homes – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

25+ Contemporary Home Bar Design Ideas | EverCoolHomes – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Interior Design Ideas Indian Homes Webbkyrkan For Living … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

Idea Homes, Idea Homes – Home Builders Hilton Head, Home Renovations … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

4 Modern and Chic Ideas for Your Home Office – Freshome – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

30 best Southern Living Idea Houses images on Pinterest in 30 … – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

39 Budget Curb Appeal Ideas – YouTube – ideas for homes | ideas for homes

The post Seven Reliable Sources To Learn About Ideas For Homes | ideas for homes appeared first on Home Picture.

from WordPress https://homepicture.online/seven-reliable-sources-to-learn-about-ideas-for-homes-ideas-for-homes/

[kvistbruhn0-blog]

The greatest Pizza Styles, Ranked.

Yet if I have to highlight a function in Straightener, I choose Styler Toolbar, that feature that is going to turn your Windows Xp toolbar as well as offer that the look from Microsoft window View or even Mac OSX. I found these designs while surfing Dribbble and I assume they embody the premium you would certainly really want in your personal style overviews or design ceramic tiles. While all the significant systems for blogging offer their very own online devices for generating as well as editing and enhancing entries, there are opportunities when a standalone pc customer can be a much better alternative. Nonetheless a large job like redesigning the NY Times would take advantage of each type tiles as well as style overviews. Very soon afterwards, nevertheless, Sanderson's employers learnt about the blog site and also immediately discharged her. As I go through guide, I found myself rethinking just what I yearned for that weblog to become. http://surmonterlespeurs.info/erogan-commentaires-fonctions-ou-acheter-dans-les-pharmacies-prix-russie-forum-skroutz-forum/ using it at the moment was I have actually certainly not focused. The Receptive Calculator is actually a really simple online resource that can easily assist you to turn pixels right into percents while designing your reactive site. With greater than 100k fans on Pinterest, she has the ability to drive huge web traffic to her blogging site ad valorem 80-100k month to month website visitors.

Our experts likewise perform certainly not have several decorators used to help our company. Actually, this manual is actually virtually useless for tips for any person besides famous people (that have their very own individual shoppers and stylists anyhow), however gently entertaining and created me think much better about on my own, like I have equilibrium in my life. Feedburner is an RSS administration company that supplies personalized RSS supplies and administration tools for blog sites. It may certainly not be stated good enough merely exactly how significant that is for your business, that you feature an on-line blog site to your features. A couple years ago, in behalf of my school's broadcast station I questioned pair of Pulitzer Prize-winning authors: New york city Moments reporter Thomas Friedman and also Washington Post syndicated writer as well as Fox Information commentator Charles Krauthammer. These components could be the doors throughout the cars and truck on both the interior and exterior. This are going to transform your ink to a visuals, which are going to then be uploaded to your WordPress (or other service provider) blog as an ingrained photo. In addition to delivering you with original ideas for your creating, taking down those tips as they turn up will certainly save you a significant quantity of time in the brainstorming procedure. Altogether, blog post platforms offer quick and easy and also hassle-free website control and could be utilized to create eye-catching sites along with great functions. We'll must plunge deeper in to the LG X Type performance when the phone appears. There is actually no chance to trump expertise, but this may help deliver a lay of the land for getting If you are actually a rookie, newbie, beginning a blog post in a brand-new market, this could be guide for you. Another choice is actually to produce a paid out podcast that exemplifies your blog' content. http://surmonterlespeurs.info is actually a simple established, but as somebody whose originated from mobiles along with touch to focus the simple fact the entire display screen on Moto X Design is a shutter was originally very frustrating. That said, those who are actually experiencing complications or even acquiring upset by auto proper, fortunately we could switch it off. There is not a lot of info concerning blogging in this particular one yet I did get some good pointers as well as found the book to be a valuable read. Some applications will force the display to turn flat, suggesting it is actually recommended to block this feature off Setups > Present > Vehicle spin monitor. And also, despite the terminology, the way the feat plant works seems to be to indicate that the desired impact of the final accomplishment up the chain is actually to apply scaling harm, separately from the other impacts that arise from Ascetic Type on its own (e.g. using Remarkable Clenched fist on item strikes). If you're certainly not careful, that experiences very fragile and also I can easily notice it receiving damaged or curved effortlessly. WIN - Leave behind BA an inquiry today at her Cyber Introduce Gathering and your title uses the hat for an enjoyable Monster Award Load - stuffed monster, monster candy, as well as a duplicate from the United States Monster in Greater london! In the created styleguide, StyleDocco reveals a sneak peek along with the styles you have actually administered and an instance from the HTML code. Essentially, marketing is the act from getting your name (and also your publication) exposed. Living design resources are actually various off regulation type manuals, as the latter contain regulations regarding the best ways to create legible as well as sustainable code, while residing style guides are actually collections from front-end patterns, like CSS types for buttons, gizmos, and typographical components. There was a bunch of discuss company blog writing which will be actually practical for a firm would like to receive several people engageded in their writing a blog reason. Blog posts for much larger women is the brand-new trendy particular niche complying with fashion's abrupt captivation along with females larger than an autumnal greatest is Young Excess fat and also Fabulous through a girl who is actually 23, coming from Detroit and also a measurements TWENTY. There is actually updates on plus-size ranges and functional style guidance, but that's Gregg's photos and accounts of sagging fashionistas that make this the blog to book marking.

[topmixtrends]

THE PAST 20 YEARS have seen the rise or reinvention of a number of indie-infused mainstream comics publishers: IDW Publishing, Ape Entertainment, Oni Press, Black Mask Studios, Dynamite Entertainment, BOOM! Studios, Avatar Press, Image Comics, and a slew of others. In tandem with this publishing boom has come increased attention to the individuals who work for the various presses, in particular editors. Comics editors now seem to make the news — both within and without the comics world — just as often as artists and writers, and they are frequently (and often correctly) depicted as creators in their own right. Yet the exact role of the comics editor and the activities he or she performs remain tantalizingly mysterious. In an attempt to pull back the curtain on the practice of comics editorship, I spoke with Dark Horse editor Daniel Chabon about the role of the editor in comics production and a number of other subjects. 

Since its founding by president and publisher Mike Richardson in 1986 — a watershed year for American comics — Dark Horse has established itself as one of the major comics houses in North America, consistently maintaining a high profile in terms of both artistic prestige and sales. Dark Horse has also employed some of the most influential editors of the contemporary period, including Diana Schutz and Karen Berger. And although he is still relatively early in his comics career, Chabon is already well positioned to garner a slot alongside these well-respected figures. He is behind some of Dark Horse’s most acclaimed recent comics, including Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s Eisner Award–winning rural superhero tale Black Hammer, the smash horror hit Harrow County by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook, Matt and Sharlene Kindt’s Dept. H, P. Craig Russell and Scott Hampton’s comics adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s legendary novel American Gods, and novelist Margaret Atwood’s Angel Catbird, the Booker Prize winner’s first foray (with artist Johnnie Christmas) into the comics form.

¤

COLIN BEINEKE: Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you became involved in comics publication?

DANIEL CHABON: My family has always been involved, in some way, with comics. My paternal grandfather worked at a print shop in New York where they printed comic books in the 1940s. My father is an avid collector of comics, cards, stamps, and more. We lived in Washington, DC, when I was a kid and we would go to comic shops and conventions almost every weekend. My mother was instrumental in the creation of a comics studies certificate program at Portland State University. My older brother, Michael, wrote The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a Pulitzer Prize–winning novel about the Golden Age of the comics industry. I had been a big fan of comics, put them aside when I was in high school, and then returned to them after college.

In 2008, I moved from Kansas City, Missouri, to Portland, Oregon, to attend graduate school at Portland State University, where I received a master’s degree in writing and book publishing. While at Portland State, I spoke with Dark Horse about how to obtain employment in their editorial department. Michael’s Escapist comics were published by Dark Horse, and he put me in touch with editor Diana Schutz. Diana interviewed me initially, and then put me in touch with Scott Allie, who had edited all of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy titles. My second interview was at the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, where I was asked to assist on all the Mignola books. From there, I moved on to editing my own.

While working full-time at Dark Horse, I was also attending law school at night. I graduated from Lewis & Clark Law and, since then, have focused solely on editing comics. My interests are primarily in creator-owned comics, and I hope to utilize my law degree by helping creators understand their contractual rights and advocating for creator-owned work.

What drew you to editing, rather than, say, writing? How aware were you of what comics editing entailed?

I began to write in high school and in college. I wrote short stories, plays, and screenplays. I wrote a play as an undergrad that was actually performed by my school’s theater program. Post-undergraduate school, I lost interest in writing or, at least, in my own writing, and became more interested in the concept of helping other writers and artists to realize their visions. I had very little understanding of what a comics editor did, and I am sure that it varies from company to company. It took some time to learn the skills, but I think it helped that I am a voracious reader.

Regarding your background in law and championing of creator-owned comics, what are some of the more immediate legal (or perhaps ethical) challenges that creators are currently facing? And how do you see your background in law as a means of addressing those challenges?

My background in law provides me with an understanding of how I can help creators and publishers find the most beneficial deal possible for both parties while still allowing creators to retain ownership. My role as an editor at Dark Horse positions me as an intermediary between the creator seeking to pitch the project and the publisher who wants to publish it. The creator comes to me with their original idea, and if I like it I present it to our publisher. If the project is approved, I negotiate a final contract with the creator wherein they retain copyright and media rights, while we hold the print and digital rights. I work between creators and Dark Horse as an advocate for both — an advocate for the creator and their vision as well as an advocate for the publisher and their line. It is in my best interest that both parties are represented fairly.

Can you describe what exactly it is that a comics editor does, and how it compares to editing prose literature or even film?

A comic book editor has multiple roles. They handle acquisitions and work as project managers. With most of the titles I edit, I contact the creators — I am hardly ever assigned a project to edit. Once a project that’s interesting comes my way I pitch it to our publisher, and if all goes well it is approved. After that I work with the creators (writer/artist/colorist/letterer/cover artists) to set up a creative schedule that works for everyone. I work on each stage in the creation of the book: the submission of a plot summary, the establishment of an issue breakdown for the story, scripting, the creation of rough layouts, penciling, inking, coloring, and lettering. I review covers, too. I work on all of these stages for several titles at once, so it is a lot of work and a lot to keep track of.

The story feedback that I give at each stage of the process is never mandatory, as I believe a lot of editorial notes are subjective. My own notes are based on my education in literature and publishing and my avid reading in prose and comics, and so a lot of my suggestions come from seeing what other successful creators have done to make and market their books.

For example, one big note I always tend to give creators is to ask whether the first issue script they turn in gives enough of a story in 22 pages that it will bring the reader back a month later, when the second issue must compete with a bunch of new number ones. Getting the comics reader to want to come back and get that second issue can be challenging, so you really want to make sure you’re giving them a lot in that first issue to hook them.

When you reach out to a creator, how do those calls usually go?

It is actually quite informal and relaxed. Most of it is done through email. If I am reaching out to an artist to do a cover or interiors on a book, I will introduce myself and let them know what I work on, what the project entails, who the writer is, and the proposed page rate. Then I send any attachments, such as the pitch document, that I might have already.

Do you select and assemble the entire creative team for a given comic, or is it more of a collaborative process?

It depends on the project. Some books get pitched to me with full creative teams already in place, and some teams I need to assemble. Every project is different, but I try to make it as collaborative as possible. American Gods the comic started out with no creative team attached. I put P. Craig Russell on the book because of his previous outstanding work with Neil, and because working with Craig is always a pleasure. I met Neil for the first time a few years ago at my nephew’s bar mitzvah and I asked him about his thoughts for an interior artist, which led to hiring Scott Hampton for the book.

Would you say that some editors are more skilled in certain aspects of the process? For example, it seems that having an eye for talent with respect to acquisitions and providing feedback on narrative arcs require different sorts of skills.

Sure! Certainly everyone has their own special skills, and many have more than one. Acquisitions is a part of the gig that I enjoy, but it’s tricky to navigate as you’re competing with so many different comic titles being released each month. You really have to strongly consider a book’s ability to perform well and survive in the market. I see many great books get canceled each month just because everyone’s cannibalizing each other by trying to produce more books than the market can handle.

Can you map out the editorial structure at Dark Horse?

I believe we currently have 20 editors. That includes a mix of editorial interns, assistant editors, associate editors, editors, and senior editors. This is a fairly large department compared to other comic publishers. When I started, I was an intern and worked my way up.

What sorts of backgrounds do Dark Horse editors come from?

Many different backgrounds. Some folks have college degrees in English, film, and other fields. Some have master’s degrees, some have no college education. Our editor-in-chief has a degree from an Ivy League school. Dark Horse editorial comes from varied backgrounds, which gives us different insights into the books and the process of producing them. But they are very well read, which, as mentioned earlier, I consider important to the success of a good editor.

Would you say that Dark Horse’s large editorial staff is a result of the diverse type of work Dark Horse publishes, or does it perhaps reflect the amount of work put into each project?

I think it’s both. There are a great variety of books that require someone who can handle a high workload. I feel like each editor has the opportunity to focus on the kind of comics that they enjoy on a personal level. I edit primarily creator-owned titles, Carl Horn edits our manga line, Ian Tucker and Patrick Thorpe edit the lion’s share of our art books. Everyone is doing their own thing and what they enjoy working on, and that’s what makes this a great place to work.

I would argue that one of the most fascinating things about Dark Horse’s “house style” is how difficult it is to pin down. Popularly, the house is known as a leader in horror comics, manga translations, and licensed/franchise works. But Dark Horse also produces archival and historical reprints and original, creator-owned titles. What is it, to your mind, that makes Dark Horse distinct within the larger field? And what is it that unites these diverse projects?

We also publish coloring books, prose books, art books, and books for younger readers, and we have a large product development line where we create figures, models, and more. The big positive of this approach, of course, is that it never feels like you’re limited to one kind of story, character, book, property, or creator. Having all of these different things under this publishing umbrella meets the vision of our publisher, Mike Richardson: a publishing house that works tirelessly to bring in the best books, creators, stories, and licenses out there. I suppose a lot of publishers think of themselves as publishing the best books. But I feel like when I talk to fans at conventions and see them talking about Dark Horse books, they really project an enthusiasm for the types of stories we are putting out there, which is very encouraging.

We have spoken previously about the idea that the body of comics overseen by each editor (or editorial team) might be conceived of as constituting an “unofficial imprint” of Dark Horse, yet not quite (I would say) along the same lines as previous (Dark Horse Heroes, Legend, Maverick) and current (Dark Horse Manga, M Press) official imprints. Playing with this idea, how would you describe the aesthetic and/or mission of your own unofficial imprint?

My line is predominantly creator-owned titles. Those are the books I read myself, and they are the types of projects I have the most fun working on. When I was growing up I found myself strongly attached to the mature content titles being published by Vertigo Comics — which is great considering that former Vertigo founder Karen Berger is now editing her own creator-owned imprint at Dark Horse called Berger Books.

The creator-owned books I edit are by innovative creators working in a wide mix of genres. I do tend to look for and edit works by creators who have a body of work that I just enjoy reading as a fan. After I read all of Oni Press’s The Sixth Gun, I knew immediately I wanted to edit a book by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook, and that led to me acquiring their popular horror series Harrow County. A few other titles I am editing include work by Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt, Dave McKean, Geof Darrow, and Evan Dorkin — all stellar creators!

What was it about The Sixth Gun that made you want to pursue a project with Bunn and Crook? 

It’s a damn good book. Well structured, the art kicks butt, the characters are all really interesting and memorable — and it’s a super engaging read. The whole series is a fun ride! I had worked with Tyler Crook for some time on B.P.R.D. and I was interested in seeing him work on a creator-owned title after that. I knew he did a few fill-in issues of The Sixth Gun, so after I read that series I encouraged Tyler to reach out to Cullen to see if he had any stories percolating. What arrived later was an early version of Harrow County.

Black Hammer won “Best New Series” at the Eisner Awards in 2017. Do you view that as a validation of your approach to editing?

Not really — that series was initially pitched to Diana Schutz at Dark Horse almost 10 years before my arrival, but by the time the book actually started coming out I was the editor. The whole story of Black Hammer was really in great shape before I came to it. If anything, what I suggested to Jeff later was to expand the universe of Black Hammer. Initially the series was only going to be 13 issues total. After I started the project and read all the scripts by Jeff, I told him I thought that this was a great universe and that he could really do more with it. He thought about it for a while and then we just kept adding more issues to the main Black Hammer title and also produced some tie-in series to the world of Black Hammer: Sherlock Frankenstein, Doctor Star, The Quantum Age, and several more unannounced Black Hammer–related tie-ins coming up down the road.

In your opinion, what is it about creator-owned titles that makes them distinct? And what makes them more fun to edit than others?

They just feel a lot more liberating. You work with the creators on fleshing out their ideas and making the project as great as can be. You’re not confined to the limitations of a license where you’re stuck with a preexisting canon. The process of working on creator-owned is exciting because you’re sharing new ideas with people who are creating an original story, you’re coming up with new titles and characters, you’re asking questions about these characters and what motivates them, you’re creating events for these characters, and more.

Would you call editing an art form in its own right?

I think so. You’re managing the way a story is being told, which in some way makes the editor a collaborator to a small degree. But really my main goal is to act as more of an advocate and coach for the creator and their work, by using my knowledge and skills for the advancement of their book.

You have mentioned both Diana Schutz and Karen Berger, major innovators in comics editing who have achieved a level of celebrity comparable to popular artists and writers. What do you think it is about their approach to editing that makes them stand out? And were either of them an influence on your own work?

Good question! Both are certainly innovators who I very much look up to, and both certainly have influenced my own way of thinking about editing and managing a creator-owned line. Both established wonderful relationships with their creators, and I feel like the sort of responsiveness and attention they gave to their creators had a great impact on my own work. It is really an honor to be colleagues with both of them. I still see Diana at the Dark Horse offices even though she retired not too long ago, and I enjoy working with Karen and reading the amazing books coming from her creator-owned line Berger Books: Incognegro, Mata Hari, Hungry Ghosts, and more.

What would you like to see happen in comics publication over the next 10 years, and in your own “unofficial imprint” specifically?

More diversity in stories, creators, and publishers. Not just in comics, but in everything. There’s not enough and never enough.

¤

Colin Beineke’s research and writing focus on contemporary comics and the institution of the publishing house. He has recently been elected to a term as member-at-large for the Comics Studies Society.

The post Not Enough and Never Enough: An Interview with Daniel Chabon appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

from Los Angeles Review of Books https://ift.tt/2IjKY2m

[ultrasfcb-blog]

Mohamed Salah: The night the

Mohamed Salah: The night the

Mohamed Salah: The night the

Mohamed Salah did not celebrate either of his goals against his former club

Mohamed Salah was named Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year on Sunday. Two days later, he established himself as one of the best in Europe. Next step: the world?

On a memorable European night at Anfield, the Egyptian scored twice and made two more goals as Liverpool routed Roma 5-2 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.

He now has 43 goals in 47 appearances this season – a record that does not look out of place next to the elite attacking players in the game: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar.

And there have been calls for him to be the next winner of the most prestigious individual accolade in world football.

“You’ve got to give him the Ballon d’Or,” former Wales midfielder Robbie Savage told BBC Radio 5 live following Salah’s second goal on Tuesday. “He is that good.

“Never mind the PFA Player of the Year, just give him the Ballon d’Or.”

Former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler, who was nominated for the award in 1996, described Salah as a “phenomenal player”.

“The form and confidence he’s in at the minute, to have the class and style to score those goals just speaks measures of the man,” Fowler told BBC Radio 5 live.

“The man we all talked about before the game; the man for the big occasion.”

And those big occasions keep on coming. If Liverpool can finish the job in Rome, a Champions League final in Kiev beckons.

Just weeks later, Salah will take his talents to the global stage, when he spearheads Egypt’s attack at the World Cup in Russia.

The stats which keep getting better

Salah is the first African player in history to score at least nine goals in a single European Cup/Champions League season.

He has scored in each of his past five Champions League starts – the only Reds player to score in five consecutively before the Roma tie was Steven Gerrard between October 2007 and February 2008

Salah’s haul of 43 goals is the most by any player in all competitions in Europe’s top five leagues this season.

He has surpassed England’s 1966 World Cup-winning hero Roger Hunt (42) in terms of goals in a single season for Liverpool. Only Ian Rush has scored more (47).

Salah has scored 10 goals in the Champions League this season – the most, along with Roberto Firmino, by a Liverpool player in a single season in European competition.

The Egyptian is just the fifth player in Premier League history to be involved in more than 40 goals in a single season (31 goals, nine assists). Alan Shearer (47 in 1994-95), Andrew Cole (47 in 1993-94), Thierry Henry (44 in 2002-03) and Luis Suarez (43 in 2013-14) are the others.

How Salah compares to the best

Real Madrid forward Ronaldo, Barcelona frontman Messi and Paris St-Germain attacker Neymar are considered by most to be the best three footballers in the world, but how have they fared this season when compared to Salah?

Player Games played Goals Assists Shot conversion rate Chances created Shots on target Salah 47 43 13 23.89 87 90 Ronaldo 39 42 8 16.22 53 111 Messi 50 40 18 14.81 112 127 Neymar 30 28 16 20.59 98 63

‘He is world class’ – Klopp

Speaking after Tuesday’s game, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said Salah is “world class” but might not be the best in the world just yet.

“To be the best in the world maybe you have to do it for a longer period,” said Klopp.

“His first goal is a genius strike, he’s scored a couple like that. The second goal was also great play.

“He is in outstandingly good shape. He is a fantastic player that we are really happy to have. What a player!”

Salah joined the Reds for £34m in the summer from Roma, but Klopp would not acknowledge Tuesday’s result could have been different had the winger stayed put.

“If Neymar didn’t go to PSG, then Phil Coutinho is still here. It’s just if, if, if,” said Klopp.

Speaking on BT Sport, former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard said Salah is the “best player on the planet right now”.

‘Magical’ – Pundits’ reaction to sensational night

Commentator Alan Green on Radio 5 live: “I should be ashamed to take money for working tonight. Thank you.”

Former Liverpool midfielder Steve McManaman on BT Sport: “It’s just like a stroll in the park. I’m amazed by this performance tonight. It’s absolutely unbelievable! You just can’t believe it!”

BBC chief football writer Phil McNulty: “Sadio Mane may have let Roma escape but there was no chance of Mo Salah making the same mistake – two bits of magical finishing from the Egyptian.”

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker on Twitter: “Oh Mo. Oh My.”

BBC World Service reporter John Bennett: “If Mohamed Salah keeps this up he’s playing himself into Ballon d’Or contention. And Nobel prize contention. And Pulitzer Prize contention. And Turner Prize contention.”

Former Manchester United and Arsenal striker Robin van Persie was also in awe of Salah

Robbie Savage on Radio 5 live: “Salah has been the best player on the park. Two massive goals, a couple of assists. A standing ovation against his former side, what a player, what a man. Looks like he has put one foot in the final for Liverpool.”

BBC Sport pundit Jermaine Jenas on Twitter: “Wow, all you can eat buffet at Anfield tonight – what an amazing performance by Liverpool!”

Radio 5 live’s European Football Show host Mina Rzouki: “I never imagined Salah was capable of this when he was at Roma. He has truly developed into a sensation at Liverpool and under Klopp. As for Firmino, wow!”

Former Liverpool and Roma defender John Arne Riise on Twitter: “The work-rate and intensity of the Liverpool team is insane! They just don’t stop. The front three are destroying the Roma defence, who can’t cope with the pace and movements.”

Former Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt was also celebrating on Twitter

‘The greatest match I’ve seen in 30 years at Anfield’ – Reds fans react

Chris Williams: I’ve been coming to this old stadium for 30 years, both for work and pleasure and this is without doubt the greatest match I’ve ever seen.

Gumbo: Only one word describes watching Mo Salah play football: joy.

Tom: What a goal! Salah really is football’s success story of the season.

Reece: Don’t think I’ve ever loved a footballer as much as I love Mo Salah right now. The guy is a king. Not just an Egyptian one. But a King of Liverpool.

Si: That is why he is player of the year.

Pepe: Salah! I just hit my head on the ceiling and I’ve got 12ft ceilings! I’m only 5ft 9in. Salah, what a strike!

Nii: Please could someone check… is Mo Salah human. Wow, what a goal.

Curt: Mohammed Salah Football Club. That is all… Mohammed Salah Football Club. That is all.

Khanyile: Mo Salah is simply outstanding, even if you don’t support Liverpool you just gotta love him, he is joy to watch, and his humility makes him even more likeable.

Shebab Khan: NEW: Prince William and Kate Middleton have named their third child Mo Salah.

BBC Sport – Football ultras_FC_Barcelona

ultras FC Barcelona - https://ultrasfcb.com/football/2834/

#Barcelona