#i wasn't expecting that kind of character development to be thrown at the end

[latin-dr-robotnik]

Still not over the fact a silly April Fools game said "you can't force people to stay in your life forever, you might get lonely, but you've got to accept it and move on"

[nekropsii]

What a about Caliborn makes him so cool in your opinion?

Go keep track of his progression as an artist alongside his development as a character and think about how these are intrinsically linked. Ponder the fact that he is both at his most obnoxious and at his most amateur when trying to ignore his unique style explicitly brought on by his canonical learning disability and mimic others rather than truly be himself. Consider how his explorations of art are genuinely cool, not a bad thing, and how we get some really neat multimedia stuff out of it.

Caliborn may be a shitty little teenage wretch but the way he is portrayed as an artist and as a disabled person is both really good and very real. It comes from a place of love. His learning disability is handled with a degree of gentle care that you would not really expect from Hussie. The place Caliborn's art style ends up in is so fucking sick and I actually unironically love it. The technique he uses is really interesting. It's intentionally reminiscent of an Etch-a-Sketch, and I'm a little obsessed with it.

This is so fucking good. I mean this seriously. He's right - that is some Pure Art Skill.

I just love the way art is employed as a necessary component of his character arc. It's so neat. You don't see visual cues that intricate too often. Usually it's just in character design, but watching his entire art style and even his medium of choice change several times over is fascinating. You can really tell Hussie had a lot of fun with him. He's also just really, really fucking funny. Just about every sentence that comes out of his mouth is Grade A Absolute Fucking Gold, and I'm honestly obsessed with his dynamic with Dirk. This may get me thrown to the wolves, but I personally think Dirk and Caliborn have way more chemistry than Dirk and Jake. Maybe that's because we actually see Dirk and Caliborn interact on screen... Lmao.

Necessary Topic: I don't know why people hate him so much. Like, I understand hating his misogyny and fatphobia, sure, but those are deliberate character points and not just Hussie-isms. I see people act like Caliborn is indicative of Hussie, as if Homestuck-era Hussie wasn't, like, famously really fucking good at writing female characters and absolutely not a misogynist. Caliborn's a parody of Homestuck Anti-Fans - which is a term we really ought to bring back, god, anti-fans are absolutely still a thing and good lord they're everywhere - who really were just shitty little bigoted haters. Calliope, the opposite side of his coin, was representative of, essentially, "the best kind of Homestuck fan" - an ultimately sweet young teen girl who willingly dedicates almost all of her time to this piece of fiction she loves so, so much, who draws a lot of fan art for the joy of it all, has OCs that don't fit any of the design conventions in Homestuck whom she pairs with the characters in it for innocent fun. Someone who has a lot of theories and analyses, writes a lot of fanfic, and is genuinely just having a lot of fun. Everyone loves Calliope. Even the characters in Homestuck love Calliope. They just think she's the cutest, sweetest little thing they ever did see. Caliborn was the worst kind. He sucks on purpose. No one likes him. He is a total nuisance to characters he is by all means trying to impress. I love them both.

It's also just funny that he's a canonical Intersex Transmasc who is probably Gay and this has, like, no relevance to anything about him, really. So no one really talks about it. Gender Hilarious, Gender Nefarious.

[tossawary]

Reading the end of "Naruto" on a whim was funny because there was a lot about that final battle that was really Not Good, but I was approaching it with neither investment nor expectations. "This story can't hurt me because I don't care" vibing.

And then I hit the Sasuke/Sakura stuff at the end and I was suddenly struggling with anger and something that felt a lot like nausea. WHAT was that?! It was like getting slapped in the face. Sakura's character development got yanked out of my arms and thrown out the window to die AGAIN.

I don't ship it, but I wasn't necessarily against the pairing as a concept until canon's execution jolted me out of indifference. If I WAS a shipper, I'd be furious at what a crap deal both of these characters I supposedly liked were being given by this ending. Fuck all of Sakura and Sasuke's previous motivations and experiences and growth as people, I guess? Fuck their problems and grievances and arcs, I guess??? Fuck having resolution for all of their previous interactions??? I don't necessarily need either of these characters to have a happy ending, but they and their relationships (and every other character and relationship tbh) deserved far BETTER writing for either a happy ending or a tragic one. Wow. This is sad! The quality of this ending is really not good! Wow.

(This is the kind of terrible execution that I'm talking about when I say that I would prefer Luffy dead at the end of "One Piece" rather than married to a random woman and having bio-kids. If I have to choose between some Sasuke/Sakura type of shit and Luffy going out on a far more thematically coherent and in-character bang, if those are my only options, then I want my boy dead.)

Like, this story element becomes almost compelling because it sucks so much??? I'm fascinated. It's a canonical pairing that's not just failing to stick the landing, it's breaking both hollow legs, and I've been letting it go every time I think about it because otherwise, I will go mad trying to understand just how much a person can suck at writing convincing romantic relationships. It's SO bad. Damn.

[skayafair]

Hell Circles

Alright time for a soul-crashing post!

When I saw Edwin curling down on the floor in that room in Hell, trying to be as quiet as possible and not even trying to run when Charles found him, my mind faltered.

We know Edwin escaped Hell. So why did he look like he gave up? He hasn't been there for as long as the first time, I think even with hell's no-time he should have been able to feel this.

I explained it to myself in 2 ways, they aren't mutually exclusive and are both pretty painful to think about.

It was just this devastating to end up in Hell for the second time, and Edwin clearly didn't expect for anyone to come for his rescue. So his resilience and resolve weren't as strong as the first time or, rather, he felt broken by this sudden developement and didn't manage to bounce back from it yet (again, it wasn't very long this time). The boiling point of "I WILL get out of here again, everything be damned" wasn't reached yet. (As you can clearly see, I have no doubts whatsoever that he WOULD HAVE done this eventually, just after much more trauma and suffering. I'm so glad Charles came before all that.)

This is a psychological cycle. I often go through a similar one so I couldn't help remembering it. When you run as fast as you can and try your best to no avail until you're out of all the resources to go on, and so you give up. Curl up in the corner and hope the outside world won't notice you, give you some respite. The future seems bleak or non-existent. You give. up. It won. And then over time the inner battery charges, or the desperation reaches its breaking point, so you grit your teeth and get up. And run and try again and again and again. "Impossible just means try again". I thought Edwin must have went through similar cycles time after time. The first time he was dragged into hell, then the second. After every couple of "deaths". The worst thing about it is that while real life has at least one escape (not recommended but as a last resort it's at least always there if everything becomes too unbearable), Edwin has none. His only choice is either to tremble in the corner forever (and who said the doll-spider won't notice him even so?) or to run and be torn to pieces. Forever is a very long time. Only with running there's still this very thin, very subtle hope to escape, so in a way this choice is unavoidable. Oh, right, Edwin actually has another possible escape - into madness can you tell I'm fond of loveraftian horror. Locking himself up in his own mind might help, although I'm not sure it would have been effective enough. And honestly I'm glad he wasn't this broken after all.

So yeah that was fun to realize :')

Also Edwin doesn't handle change well, as we know from Charles' words. How jarring (beside the obvious) was it to be tossed from one demon to another? I bet the "punishment" changed, too. It must have felt devastating to figure out the way of handling one and get more used to it, more mentally stable, however horrible it might be, - just to be thrown into a completely new situation.

Let's add insult to the injury, shall we? Look at the corridors Edwin was kept in. The greenish hue, the dim light that makes even the most spacious halls feel claustraphobic. It feels heavy, weights on your mind. There are no windows, no outside, forever. It's suffocating. This place is a pure torture on its own, even without demon doll head spiders.

All in all, I didn't like Edwin much when I first started watching, but after completing the series and rewatching on top of that, I admire him. To go through all these horrors and get out of them is worth that on its own. But Edwin retained his kindness, compassion, moral compass and a will to help others in need. He didn't grow callous, didn't lock himself away emotionally from the world fearing to be hurt again - at least not completely, not even close. I really didn't expect to come to respect and admire a teenage series character like that.

This show has a heart in it, it's living and beating and big and kind, and its characters reflect that in full.

[familyabolisher]

Elaborate on poor things? Haven’t seen it, just curious

i think caden does a great job at getting at the heart of a lot of its problems here. some of my own thoughts on top:

for a piece which clearly wants to work with the materials of frankenstein and dabbles in broader gothic tropes especially in its final plot beats, it really just -- it wasn't very fucked up at all! i think probably the worst thing we saw happen was bella killing a frog in the first half hour. the gore was unspectacular and the plot was profoundly low-stakes -- the film utterly fails in crafting any kind of a sense of tension, such that you're never really afraid for (or of!) bella, never seriously concerned that something bad is actually going to happen. it was all just a fun little romp through europe.

the humour was either just straight-up asking the audience to laugh at how a character telegraphed as disabled moves and communicates, or, like, marvel-type jokes that felt unnatural and forced. i don't think a single joke landed for me. it's not a black comedy because it's not black enough and it's not a straightforward comedy either because it is simply not funny. a better version of this film would've been a) more fucked up and b) funnier, with those two elements complementing one another very well, but -- well. Sad!

lanthimos thinks that making big, unwieldy gestures towards every discourse of the nineteenth century he can think of is the same as interfacing with them at the narrative level. we've got: science and religion! class struggle! sex work! humanism! enlightenment idealism giving way to socialist thought! misogyny! we've got class inequality and a very faint outline of imperialism, helpfully telegraphed by showing some starving brown people on-screen in a yellow filter for all of about five seconds. but none of these are actually engaged with -- they're thrown in as empty signifiers, as if to say, very vaguely, It's The Late Nineteenth Century, Big Ideas, We All Know About Those. nothing changes in bella's material conditions at the end of the film, save for like, the presence of her Black lesbian socialist lover. that's not engaging with what Blackness, lesbianism, socialism ought to problematise about bella's life and worldview; it's tacking the fact of those things on as a footnote and calling it development.

speaking of enlightenment-style idealism, the film makes very little effort to problematise bella's desire for self-improvement, and how that self-improvement comes about specifically through becoming articulate and acquiring greater motoric skills. as i said, the film takes a turn towards (very shallow depictions of) socialist thought once the action shifts to paris, but the underlying suggestion that bella's 'self-improvement' to the ends of making herself, essentially, less disabled was to her benefit is never challenged. this combined with the extent to which the film's aforementioned shit humour rested heavily on expecting the audience to laugh at bella speaking and moving oddly or saying something out of place &c. left a v nasty taste in my mouth.

the premise is stupid sorry. like it's just utterly inane. frankenstein for the most unimaginative people alive. for that matter, most of the plot beats are ridiculous and lazy -- the final arc, with the arrival of her old husband and the return to her old house, was very much giving "the deadline is at midnight and we still need to fill this last half hour and we've got nothing to put here so let's just whack out the first plot we can think of." like, it was incredibly rushed, ridiculously heavyhanded and patronising, and unable to add anything of substance to the piece (which, to be fair, nothing in that film was at all substantial, So Like).

it's misogynistic slop with a lazy plot and no real interest in engaging with the ideas it vaguely raises for five seconds. it's aesthetically decent, i guess, but like ... anything can be aesthetically decent. it's v easy for a film to look pretty and apparently v difficult for it to actually do anything substantial.

[the-cat-chat]

August 24, 2024

Lisa Frankenstein (2024)

A misunderstood teenager and a reanimated Victorian corpse embark on a murderous journey together to find love, happiness, and a few missing body parts.

Warning: Review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

JayBell: We’re starting spooky season early! There are good things and bad things about this movie.

One, I love Kathryn Newton and I like that they reallllllly lean in to how weird and dramatic and unstable her character is. Cause truthfully, you would have to be off your rocker to make the bizarre decisions she does throughout the movie. Like no normal and rational person would make these decisions, but it does make sense for her character.

I also really enjoy that they give her a caring relationship with her stepsister, even though they are totally opposites. Honestly, it’s probably the most developed relationship in the movie, and I like that. It’s unexpected, especially with the evil stepmother and the brainless absent father.

On the other hand, the relationship with zombie boy feels kind of lackluster. The whole time I didn’t feel like she actually cared about him at all, but she was just using him to make herself feel better. So their whole "relationship" isn't that romantic in my opinion, and her love confession at the ends feels meh to me.

Also what on earth is with the father? I still can’t figure that relationship out, and it’s weirdly not acknowledged in the movie.

So yeah. I think if Kathryn Newton wasn't the lead, this would be a much worse movie. I think Cole Sprouse does an okay job considering he has almost no lines, so he's there, but almost like an afterthought.

But I have to admit I was invested and entertained, which is honestly better than I expected.

Rating: 5.5/10 cats 🐈

Anzie: I don’t know where to begin. First, I’m sooo ready for spooky season. Second, I recall this was released for VALENTINES DAY. What a power move. I also want to put out the disclaimer that the concept this movie exists in the same Diablo Cody universe as Jennifer’s Body cures some of my soul’s ailments bc Jennifer’s Body holds a very large part of my poor little broken teenage emo heart. Soo just that alone can cover the few qualms I have.

I loveee Kathryn Newton and her acting in this is so phenomenal she’s such a gem. I love how she sulks and scrunches her body and her costumes are amazing. The stepsister is adequately irritating and Carla Gugino as the evil stepmom??? What a performance.

Now the plot. I’m here for it. But it got freakky. Ok so she hangs out alone in a cemetery- it’s the 80s and her mom was murdered. She’s in love with a grave bust??? She goes to a party?? (Seems her not her vibe? but okay) takes pcp- I at points was convinced she was just in one long pcp trip or dream. And I can even get behind the unbelievable notion this guy came back to life- it’s spooky season.

And I might be slightly underwhelmed that Cole Sprouse neveeeeer spoke but I guuuuuuueesss since it’s frankenstein I’ll forgive it bc what was I expecting??? The mutton chops are too much tho.

Anyyyyways the serial killing plot for body parts was unique if unhinged and I totally agree with JayBell that half the time I was convinced her step mom was right and she did need to be thrown in the snake pit (a murdered mom gets a girl at least some meds or therapy right?) - I love that to get him “electrocuted” like in the og story they used the broken tanning bed. I do have to say there are parts and especially the last murder and body part added to Frankenstein kills me and I rather wish I’d never experience, but I’ll add it to my collection. I’m glad Lisa did end up surviving and Frankenstein could talk bc I love a happy ending- and I was totally gonna riot if to avoid the cops she died in the tanning bed.

Rating: 5/10 undead boyfriends 🧟‍♂️

[roxyteal]

So, concerning WTTW. It's been almost three months now, and I'm deeply sorry for it taking so long to put out the epilogue. Even worse since it's only supposed to be as long as the prologue was.

But instead of making everyone go "wait that's it?" after the long wait, I'm going to do another double update. When the epilogue drops, so will the chapter 2 expansion. Yeah, I'm working on that; I want to flesh it out properly so that it fits in with the rest of the chapters' lengths. Like, as of this writing, ch 2 is the last remnant of the time where I wasn't planning a whole story. So I'm gonna fix that.

All in all, this way there'll be a little more to have looked forward to. I hope it's enough. I don't know when they'll be out, but as always I'll share them when they do.

And yeah, looking back I also feel guilty that instead of just making the epilogue, I instead wrote a few things on the side that're only tangentially related at best, and was mostly just for fun. None of which is on AO3 because I don't know where I could put them in terms of fic listings. If I figure anything out with that, I'll port them there, if desired.

Anyway, one preview for each thing I'm working on, and then more information, will be in the Keep Reading. If you wish to stop reading this post here, I just want to say: Thank you to everyone for enjoying WTTW while it lasted thus far. I know I say this to literally anyone who so much as says they liked it, but I genuinely mean it from the bottom of my heart. This story, like all others I do, has been a labor of love.

You have my gratitude.

Ch 2:

Epilogue:

Okay, now for more information.

For my next work, I really want to get to that final Baldi STG story, and it would conclude that series for the foreseeable future. Here's what you can expect from it:

Working title is "One Final SUM"

Return of C Baldi, his friends, players, and Plus

Introduction to Susan Summerton, her in-house physician Jared (surname WIP), Andrew, Doug, and BADSUM (!!!)

Existential crisis over creator expectations vs organic developments (particularly with M)

WTTW is mentioned but doesn't affect the overarching narrative, so readers don't need to read it to understand what this one's going for, and vice versa

The Ending of All Time

Then? Well, I have considered a WTTW sequel. What could I possibly do with that? Thing is, I have a bunch of ideas for it, but I would have to find a way to string them together cohesively. But here's what I do know, and am willing to share:

It would be set in the future, probably the 2030's

Takes place in a myriad of locations on the Internet, from Neocities sites to Google Earth. The Webspace as we knew it is gone, and remains only as an archived domain

Some major characters have changed in some way and/or have been separated as a result. Some characters never written about previously will have time to shine

Variations of pre-established character types may appear (wow more clones can ya believe it)

Introduction to a new character entirely. Everyone please say hi to Emil. He's from a fangame prototype called "Detective Emil: Private Eye". It was never finished, but was instead thrown Online. But to be clear, it doesn't exist

This story's more like a "reunite everybody" kind of feel

It's Alex's fault

I think that's all for now. Thanks for reading up to this point!

[lotus-mirage]

Trigun Stampede episode 7 liveblog

Man I said this two-parter is really focused on Wolfwood, but this episode has his name as the title

Oh I see the destination is an additional threat to him. Huh. I wonder what the purpose of that is? Like just to mess with him, or to make the journey seem appropriately menaced, or what?

I didn't notice before, but it is incredibly funny that the letters front and center are B and L

I feel like half of Wolfwood's gun is like ammo storage lmao, he goes through that fast

Oh actual emoting from Livio! Not looking particularly cognizant, but it's something.

Oh there's Meryl and Roberto! Would not have figured that's how they managed to tag along, but if it works it works haha

The boing noises as the desert raiders are thrown around are fantastic

Vash is wielding his gun, backhand, like a blunt weapon. Possibly as a gauntlet idk. Still. Makes sense for him, but not something I've ever seen before lol

Mmmmhmm and now the "monsters" and "not human" assertions are being foiled.

Between Livio and Rollo, seems like they kinda get stuck on a single sentiment?

"It would have been better without you around" ...ah. I did not expect that and don't know how to respond to it.

Wow, uh. I mean we knew Vash was incredibly accurate at aiming before, but to redirect someone else's gun to land a clean shot (particularly one that has as much heft as Wolfwood's) is rather uncanny.

that method of getting another Worm actually made me gag ugh.

wait hold up what was happening with Livio's reflection. I don't think I recognize it?

Eef. Thought that was how it'd end, but didn't expect him to shoot and fall over the side. (I suppose it's possible that the 'if there isn't a body, they're probably not dead' rule applies here though)

"I just wanted to spread the good word. That's all." You know I think this does in fact hold true to the, uh. Real world weight? That this sort of phrase carries.

Okay this is the first we've heard of a topic that Wolfwood apparently has disagreements with the Eye of Michael over. ...Actually that was on an assumption that it's a decision on an action, not a religious thing. It's Wolfwood's initial verbal disagreement on religion, isn't it.

Switched to Eng dub for a second 'cause I wasn't sure who said the next couple lines, but yeah I think it's clearer that it's about Wolfwood's denial.

Wait speaking of that's also a Christian term too right. Like Judas denies Jesus or something? I know the term is used in relation to those two in particular but I don't actually know the specifics. It's like "one of you will deny me" or "one of you will betray me" and I don't remember which.

Not sure if that really matters in this case, though, since I don't think Bluesummers quite maps to Jesus lol. Anyways.

Okay yeah "Punisher" is definitely being used in relation to Wolfwood himself. Noted.

Lmao the "Hi!~" being in English really sold it

Ooh, worldbuilding. Spacefaring age, okay.

Wait if they're running around to all the controls, where are the people originally driving the ship?

Yay, character exploration and development from Meryl! (and Roberto to a lesser extent)

Oh wait the kid that fell in the first town is alive?? I guess I saw him moving a bit at the end there, but it was a long fall and I thought maybe it was his mom's movements while carrying him.

:0 Vash's arm fractured! Frankly I didn't know it could do that. That's not good.

Oh lmao it's the disproportionate response "Wolfwood..." that kept being memed on.

Oh NOW the title comes up!

Actually wait I saw something on this a while ago, too. They were talking about he asserts he's "the Punisher," then "Nicholas the Punisher," and then the framing basically hits him with a "no :)" That's so funny. Also kind of tragic. But still funny.

Oh hey this is the first time we've seen Vash in this sort of situation since he was a 'plant technician' in the first episode.

it can move in there!?

oh that looks really painful

it's humanoid already!?

maybe I leaned too far into the "oh it's kind of egg shaped" assumption lol

Oop, yep, I guess Livio's not dead. Or uh. Might be dead but isn't out of the picture?

Alright yeah Vash looks pretty out of it.

...was that him hitting the ground? oof.

End Notes:

Again not really much to say here! We got some character details, some worldbuilding details, lots of character development & solidification of relationships, and now some immediate threads to be followed up on (Vash's arm and the Plant reveal thing). Feeling much more invested than when I started the series and interested in seeing how this conversation goes!

I will say. The plant did not look uh. very intimidating. kind of reminds me of the... neopets fairies? I don't think that's right, but like some similar franchise kind of had similar vibes, shape-wise.

...is this the first time the Plant stuff got fully revealed in the show? I went in knowing and haven't been keeping track. I know it was established that Vash is a) non-human b) fell from a spaceship onto the planet and c) had 'relatives' in pods on said spaceship. Not to mention his twin also having pretty obvious markings. But I'm curious about the reasons for the pacing of these reveals, since we got so much of Wolfwood's backstory just last episode.

[the-laziest-dragon]

DIGIMON GHOST GAME: AKA: How to make the fanbase desperate with an unexpected ending.

Unlike Adventure:2020, I haven't commented much on this season because;

Story pacing is different (horror stories vs season 1 reboot)

Many of the references I needed to go after and the chances of talking nonsense were great. And I can't stand to hear more irrelevant drama than I already listen to offline.

But I really wanted to talk about Ghost GAME, and now that the season """"ended"""", I can talk a little with my opinions (and spoilers soon if you don't want to, don't read. Enjoy other of my posts or go to another blog you like, I'm not holding you back 🙂)

Taking everything out of the way, let's go to the beginning :

1 - The delay for tamers/chosen children/human heroes to appear and develop as characters.

I'm going to take those shots soon because it was one of the things that pissed me off the most.

Ruli joined the team in episode 3 and got the adult form of Angoramon in episode 15.

Kiyo joined the team in episode 5 and reached Jellymon's adult form in episode 10, if I'm not mistaken.

After waiting 12 episodes to reach the adult form compared to Kiyo who was only 5, she only reached the Ultimate form in episode 35. 20 more episodes. Kiyo achieved Ultimate form in episode 29...

Hiro already reached adult forms (Red, Blue and Green) in episodes 2, 7 and 12. The Ultimate form came in the episode 25...

And most of the time it was Hiro and Gammamon who solved everything, leaving the other humans and digimon in the background. Like the protagonists of the original Adventure rooting for the Megas to win because they are nothing but Ultimate form and the enemies are too strong for them.

And want to know when the mega forms arrived? Episode 56 for Hiro, 58 for Ruli and 60 for Kiyo.

And the season ended at 67... and the last two episodes Diarbbtmon and Amphimon barely served as relevant fighters... They were more like glorified punching bags.

2 - Digimon do not fight to the death.

It may sound morbid but it's a fact: The enemies fight to kill, the protagonists don't fight seriously because they don't want to hurt the other digimons.

Apart from GulusGammamon (I already got to him) the protagonists killed at least 2 digimons: SimbaeAngoramon killed Digitamamon and the three Ultimate killed RareRaremon.(No, Shadramon was already half dead before Datamon messed with him. Tetismon didn't kill him.)

It makes it seem like they don't really fight. And all they do is sit the shit out and then make up... which is kind of disappointing after the literal demon of lust just walks away.

3 - GulusGammamon

When he first appeared, NOBODY expected that the sweetest marshmallow in the world had the literal devil inside the body. But since every digimon protagonist has to have a dark evolution, it was to be expected.

Whenever GulusGammamon appeared it meant that someone was going to die. No jokes. That was basically it.

'Oh, this Digimon is too bad! What do we do?' 'Oh! Gammamon evolved into GulusGammamon!'

The worst part was what they did to him in the end. From Gammamon's suppressed original personality to the final Boss of the season. It was all so thrown in the face that there are still people numb from the shock.

And then there's the fact that he IS A FUCKING ALIEN DIGIMON FROM ANOTHER PLANET!!?That was contaminating the entire digital world to form an army to face a Galactus from the Digimon Universe!!??!?!!

4 - Espimon

For the first time, after Xros Wars of course, the protagonist won a secondary Digimon for his team. But my holy Christ... what a soap opera.

He was introduced in episode 38 but didn't reach his adult form until EPISODE 62!!!

This is all because he thought Hiro was a 'fake Hiro' because he wasn't practically identical to his father.

5 - THE END OF THE SEASON.

To say they hooked up for a second season is calling me and all fans idiots.

It was so rushed, but so rushed that it seemed like fanfic that the author got lost and decided to tie all the ends at once but left a lot up in the air.

The Digi-Galactus only coming 2000 years from now, a Country of Digimons in a space between the Digital World and the Human World*cough cough Xros Wars cough cough*, all human protagonists becoming diplomats as children. It looked like the Meme of Yamato becoming an astronaut at the end of Digimon 02...

But I'm not saying that the fight between Regulusmon and Siriusmon was bad... But three Megas almost losing to an Ultimate was a forced fall due to the plot armor.

I hope there is a second season, or movie or OVAs to end the story, because it was very... Empty at the end...

[pridepages]

eARC Review: Darkhearts

A HUGE thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:  When David quit his band, he missed his shot at fame. For the past two years, he’s been trapped in an ordinary Seattle high school life, working summers for his dad’s construction business while his former best friends Chance and Eli became the hottest teen pop act in America. Then Eli dies. Suddenly David and Chance are thrown back into contact, forcing David to rediscover all the little things that once made the two of them so close, even as he continues to despise the singer’s posturing and attention-hogging. As old wounds break open, an unexpected kiss leads the boys to trade frenemy status for a confusing, tentative romance—one Chance is desperate to keep out of the spotlight. Though hurt by Chance’s refusal to acknowledge him publicly, David decides their new relationship presents a perfect opportunity for him to rejoin the band and claim the celebrity he's been denied. But Chance is all too familiar with people trying to use him. As the mixture of business and pleasure becomes a powder keg, David will have to choose: Is this his second chance at glory? Or his second chance at Chance?

RELEASE DATE: 6/6/2023

See my full review under the cut!

Sutter’s latest novel Darkhearts is a strong, bittersweet work about grief and regret. 

This book is difficult to classify. While it has some elements of a romcom (friends-to-rivals-to-lovers, secretly dating, finding yourself, etc.), it doesn't actually read like one. The romance between narrator David and his love interest Chance is the main plot, but arguably the story is really about how David has been stuck in the past and needs to find a way to move forward. If I had to register a critique, it would be the fact that band member and friend Eli's death wasn't handled in a way that served the narrative or the readers. 

This is the event that kicks off the plot and brings Chance and David back together. Narratively, we are set up to expect it will be tied to the emotional development of both characters. Maybe it will help them learn to let go of old grudges because life is too short? Maybe it will cast doubt on how they used to see each other or the wider world? Maybe something else, but (pardon the expression) you can’t raise a ghost like that and then just expect it to...fade away.

But that’s exactly what happens. By the midway point of the book, Chance's feelings of guilt are "resolved" for narrative purposes...Or maybe they just get forgotten? Either way, the fact that this event just falls away is troubling.

It’s particularly insensitive considering that Eli’s death is a tragedy related to substance abuse. This is an incredibly serious topic, one that affects many young people, particularly young queer people. Chance--who lived in the bubble of teenage stardom side-by-side with Eli--is no doubt traumatized by the loss of the person who understood him best in the world. But somewhere along the line, David and Chance have maybe one honest, vulnerable conversation about it...and then they never speak of it again!

The only thing I can think of is that maybe this is meant to be another sign of David’s selfishness. He’s the narrator, and by the end he realizes that he’s been ignoring the emotional needs of his friends and family to feed his own resentment. But wouldn’t Eli’s death be a trauma for David too? After all, he perceives Eli as having left him behind for fame just as much as Chance did. Knowing David as a character, I find it hard to believe he wouldn’t obsess over the fact that he’s not ever going to get some kind of closure with Eli.

As always, there’s also the Big Question of all queer self discovery stories: to come out or not to come out? I understand that not every teenager is in a position to come out before becoming an independent adult. I also recognize that in real life celebrities often choose to live in the closet because homophobia has real consequences that could put them and their dreams in danger.

Still! I hate reading stories like that. I live and breathe homophobia every day of my life. I don’t want to escape in a book and see queer people having to settle for a half life of stifled unhappiness, resigned to reality because that’s just the way life is. Why do we write fiction if not to bring back some measure of power to our lives with our voices?

So I also thought I would leave unsatisfied by the 'resolution' about the choice to come out or not. 

Until those last couple of lines...

Well, let's just say I liked it better than I thought I would.

I'd recommend this book to fans of YA, coming-of-age novels, and bittersweet romances.

[readingrobin]

A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos

A mix of awkward misfit and misunderstood genius, Ophelia cares little about appearances or other people’s opinions of her. She possesses two special gifts: an unrivalled talent for reading the pasts of objects and the ability to travel through mirrors. Her peaceful, if somewhat dull existence on the ark of Anima is interrupted when she is promised in marriage to Thorn, a taciturn and influential member of a powerful clan from a distant ark, the cold and icy Pole. Ophelia must follow her fiancé to the towering city of Citaceleste, where nobody can be trusted. There, in the company of her inscrutable future husband, Ophelia slowly realizes that she is a pawn in a political game that will have far-reaching ramifications not only for her but for her entire world. -Storygraph

A Winter's Promise feels like a book that pulled inspiration from several different places: The Golden Compass, Game of Thrones, Pride and Prejudice. It has the tone of an epic fantasy with intriguing magic systems underlain with a touch of darkness. The switch in how that magic is presented in the book, the whimsical, object-reading and mirror-walking found in the ark of Anima to the reality and mind-warping illusions and non-physical pain infliction of the Pole, provides a bit of whiplash that puts us in a similar position as Ophelia. I could have used a bit more time on Anima, where Ophelia has a clear purpose and actual things to do, as well as just having more interesting aspects to it, but I suppose the story had to get started at some point.

Though I like Ophelia as a character, it was hard to constantly see her being beaten down, even if it was following a standout moment of rebellion. This woman gets absolutely no reprieve in this story, being constantly kept in the dark, manipulated, degraded, hurt in some way, and basically just treated as a tool. It's most likely to serve as the basis for some character development, which we can definitely see in the final chapter, but really Ophelia could have used a break every now and then. I'm just glad there were ultimately people she could come to trust in the court, naturally them being the servants and outcasts. I'm really interested to see where she goes as a character from here, if she ultimately breaks from the expectations of her fiancee, her family, and the court and displays her autonomy, but I guess I'll just have to keep reading onward.

Thorn really is your typical broody, traumatized young adult love interest. He came across as a mix of Dragon from Uprooted and Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, but if Darcy was completely hated by society and had no friends. You know, your standard emotionally distant and unavailable love interest. There is a slow burn aspect between him and Ophelia, those moments where the animosity and distrust slips a bit after a surprising show of emotion or hidden character, only for some ulterior motive to be revealed and we're back to square one. There's never really a moment of true romance or the feeling that these characters are growing closer, which I'm fine with. It makes their relationship more interesting and, given the personalities of the two leads, would be a little unbelievable if there wasn't always some kind of stress between the two. Again, looking forward to see how it develops in the series.

If you're a fan of constant subterfuge and court intrigue, then this is definitely a book you'll want to check out. There's always some kind of scheming or double dealing going on, no one you can really completely trust despite their actions. Even the children can be pint sized terrors and outclass the adults in brutality. Given the book's length, it certainly keeps the pace going and never makes the story feel too dull.

After a cliffhanger ending, it really makes me want to jump into the sequel as soon as possible. With new pawns being thrown into this whole debacle, Ophelia is probably left in her most compromised state in the end and who knows if she can gain any sort of advantage?

(4/5)

[avatarcompanion]

I finally watched the netflix live action. Binged in a few days with a friend.

Overall verdict: it's good, of course doesn't surpass the original, but brought a few interesting new angles.

My main complaint is it's kind of dull, particularly in the beginning. Not so emotionally engaging, every character has been toned down in some way, they took out most of the cartoonish humor and heartwarming moments and just quirky shit that made Avatar special - obviously it's to "age it up" in the tone and themes, which is fine, but they need to replace it with some other kind of soul.

Visually, it's perfect in my opinion, they re-created the visuals of the show in live action in a way I found impressive - I feel like I am in the Avatar world, all of the casting is at least decent, however the direction and some of the writing didn't make me FEEL like I was watching Avatar.

This aspect did improve gradually through it's 8 episodes, making it more engaging to watch as we went along, with more emotional engagement and heartwarming moments that made me enjoy the cartoon series. Then again, I'm honestly not sure I would be hooked on this franchise just watching the first few episodes of the original cartoon - at least, I think most hardcore fans would admit their deeper engagement grew throughout the show.

In the end, I felt convinced I'm watching the same characters in the same world and an overall similar story, albeit an altered one with a different take. It's clearly a re-interpretation that doesn't pretend to be otherwise, and I rolled with that. No, I don't really mind some moments were "OOC" or off, because that's what it is - it's fanfiction, and I found it entertaining to be thrown off my expectations and see this AU version of the story and characters. They are allowed their own interpretation, as far as I'm concerned, and I can take it or leave, it doesn't move the cartoon 1 mm. I prefer it this way, so you can't let the characters from the live action inform the original, except if I want to.

I was happy when the live action veered off from an exact retelling of the cartoon, because when they re-created almost the same scenes, it was hard not to compare mentally with the cartoon and analyze for the "flaws" in recreating something that was already loved. In the end, I felt like I didn't have too, because they'd changed too much.

I was fine they cut-off some of the fillers and really childish elements, and instead included worldbuilding from Korra or the comics. I honestly I didn't really mind they put away some of the focus from the younger characters (Aang and Katara) to the older characters and including Azula, because they weren't really trying to pretend like that's not what they were doing. (Unlike the cartoon which presents as being all about Aang, and then let's Zuko take over lmao). I think in the end the series can find it's own balance, and some developments might go differently and a bit slower. Clearly Aang and Katara is still a main relationship, even if it's not as explicitly "the heart of the show" and probably some romantic undertones will develop more slowly, which I do not mind.

Probably the most interesting aspect was making a canonically consistent, yet completely different angle for the presentation of Azula, actually. I'll make a separate post on that.

One issue with the marketing is they sold the show as a pretty 1:1 re-telling of the cartoon, and it wasn't. Likely they wanted to distance themselves with the movie-that-won't-be-mentioned, and this is obviously much, much better than that. However, it's not the cartoon, it's not trying too hard to be, and that's kind of great.

So not perfect, but worth watching. It's Avatar, but it's completely it's own take on it, it lets new things come out and some stuff die. They want to do their own thing, and what they should improve is developing more soul of their own, not becoming more purist canon or whatever.

[antibrainrotcrusader]

Review of: Akudama Drive

Going into Akudama Drive, I did not know much about it other than: 1) It's set in a dystopian society 2) The art is killer 3) A lot of people I know love it So my expectations weren't very high. I went in for the pretty art and animation, and stayed for the pretty art and animation. And Swindler. And the creepy rabbit and shark TV brainwashing program. That's pretty much it.

First, I'll list everything I loved about the show. I found the animation to be super consistent. It never disappointed me, and that's why if I rated my anime based on the art purely, I'd be giving Akudama Drive a 10/10 without hesitation. I also loved the soundtrack, they certainly felt unique enough that I did not dare skip the opening song, and stayed until after the ending song multiple times. It's an interesting pairing with the anime itself. Had this been a slice-of-life, the pairing would make a lot more sense. I loved it this way though, it made it feel like the anime wanted it known that this story doesn't want to be "just action" or "just cool". The music gets a 7/10 from me.

I also loved how our main character is a girl in her 20's. She's an ordinary person, with no tragic past, and no specific character traits that would mark her for the danger she gets thrown into later on (other than her honesty and kindness). It was incredibly refreshing to see in anime. She was not sexualised, but she also wasn't bland in terms of her character design. I enjoyed the moments Swindler was on screen. It worked perfectly for (what I felt like) the anime was trying to tell it's viewers: anyone can fall into the "wrong" path easily. Allowing people to judge those that fall into darkness with such absolutism will probably ruin a society. Example from the show? The executioners.

Oh the executioners. The way I feel about them is very mixed. They were shown as typical "heroes" for the first few times they appeared on screen. And then that seemed to shift to them... being evil? I did not like it. It could've been done a LOT better. I think the producers themselves might have also had mixed feelings. There is a clear shift in tone where the show changes it's direction and goes off the rails. In the first half, the executioners were developed a bit more, and one of them (the young apprentice) seemed to have more growth waiting for her at the second half of the show. But, of course, there wasn't. And so we lost sense of who the executioners are and what they are. The anime just wanted them to be branded as the "bad people" and it was left at that.

The Kanto plot was also a bit of a disappointment for me. Surely the technologically advanced city of the future that literally does not care or need physical existence anymore can do better than... putting an entire virtual city inside the bodies of children....? Right? It felt extremely far-fetched. As Hacker said (SPOILER ALERT):

"What a crazy twist, right? A world inside a supercomputer... who would've thought Kanto would be some overused sci-fi trope?"

If only the show's awareness of it's own tropes went anywhere. Note to story writers: making a character break the fourth wall and voice the future criticisms of your viewers is NOT good writing and it is NOT going to make those criticisms disappear or be less relevant. Breaking fourth walls is in and of itself not always a great thing to do in a story so focused in it's own world and separated from the viewer.

But you know what? The ending makes everything worth it!! Not. There is a single scene that I LOVE, and it is Swindler's last confrontation with the executioners. They surround her and stuff happens and then she says "zamamiro", and I love it. I died fangirling, and then died trying not to be sad. Lol. It's stuck with me now, such an iconic scene. Other than that, the ending wasn't that great.

Overall, I enjoyed the show, but I wish I could've seen another Akudama Drive. The Akudama Drive the first half introduced seemed like it would be amazing, not only a must-watch for the season, but BEYOND that. The Akudama Drive I was left with made me feel glad that it ended so short and stopped wasting my time. 6.5/10 and not lower for Swindler <3

[daydreamerdrew]

Comics read this past week:

Marvel Comics:

Iron Man (1968) #15-18

In this batch of Iron Man solo comics I went from April 1969 to July 1969. These issues were all written by Archie Goodwin, penciled by George Tuska, and inked by Johnny Craig.

Last week I noted that, while Tony had ended his relationship with Janice despite their mutual feelings for one another because he thought it was wrong to have that kind of relationship when he was Iron Man and with his weak heart, I hoped that she would still be appearing in the book as the owner of a competitor company that he had complicated feelings about. That's exactly what she was in issue #15; Tony and her kissed for a publicity photo at a party celebrating the reopening of her company, but Tony pretended to be unaffected and was otherwise distant from her. This is an interesting approach to his character's feelings towards his identity as a playboy, which I feel has been inconsistently approached as sometimes a natural part of himself that he enjoys and sometimes an act that he uses to push people away or preserve his secret identity. It had him in that natural playboy habitat but with more of a specific reason for it to be an act and for it to be emotionally painful for him. Later throughout these issues we saw that one of Janice's employees was seducing her as part of a revenge plot against Tony, wanting to take away the only woman who cares for him away from him. I'd also talked about last week how Janice was being portrayed as this perfect girl who was always understanding and always forgave Tony when his Iron Man responsibilities made him look bad, but not before we got to see Tony freaking out about whether or not she'd forgive him, and that that wasn't a pattern that could play out forever and be interesting. This new plot development with her employee has become a way to change things up without diverging from how she's previously been characterized.

We also saw Whitney Frost again in these issues, who I'd been made to be interested in just as her previous role in the book was being concluded. We'd gotten a backstory reveal for her where she had not originally wanted to become a criminal but finally accepted that path once she had been made to believe she had no other choice. We last saw her fleeing a crime scene in a ship, said crime being one she had been conflicted about because she had developed genuine feelings for a SHIELD agent she'd conned as a part of it, but which she'd ultimately gone through with because she didn't think she had a way out of the criminal path she was set on. In these issues we learn that she became horribly disfigured when that ship crashed, which she frames as a sort of divine punishment for her criminal life, and barely considers herself a woman anymore and hardly believes that anyone could feel real emotions for her. I don't expect that she'll be a recurring villain in Iron Man's comics going forward and think that she'll be appearing elsewhere in other villain plots in other books, but I might at some point try to follow her around.

There was a very absurd plotline across issues #17-18 where Tony's life was taken over by a life model decoy he'd previously made to appear as him publicly while he was Iron Man to deter suspicions about his secret identity but then didn't have the time to dismantle afterwards. The LMD has Tony thrown out as an attempted imposter, promptly making him homeless and penniless and without his Iron Man armor or a reliable way to charge his chest plate. He's saved from this fate when he's recruited by villains, who believe that he was an impersonator and not the real Tony Stark, to replace the LMD, who they believe is the real Tony Stark, as part of a plot to transfer Tony's wealth over to them. Tony goes along with this, then once they'd made it inside of his plant, he ends up fighting the LMD while wearing the original bulky Iron Man armor while it's in the latest model. The fight ends with Tony destroying the LMD, but his heart gives out immediately after, and the story ends with a cliffhanger of the Avengers trying to save Tony Stark.

Timely Comics:

the Blonde Phantom stories in All-Select Comics (1943) #11 and Blonde Phantom (1946) #12

The All-Select Comics issue was published in September 1946 and the Blonde Phantom issue was published in December 1946. Both issues contained one 2-part story with nine pages per part and one stand-alone 8-page story. I'm referencing the Grand Comics Database for creator credits. The two-part story in All-Select Comics #11 was written by Stan Lee, penciled by Syd Shores, and inked by Charles Nicholas. The stand-alone story was penciled by Pete Riss and inked by Ed Winiarksi with no known writer. The two-part story in Blonde Phantom #12 was written by Bill Woolfolk, possibly penciled by Syd Shores, and possibly inked by Al Avison. The stand-alone story was penciled by Pete Riss and possibly inked by Vern Henkel with no known writer.

I read these stories because it’s my understanding that a modern incarnation becomes a character in She-Hulk’s comics at some point and I’m near She-Hulk’s introduction in my Hulk comics publication order readthrough. I had originally intended on reading through all of the Blonde’s Phantom’s appearances in the Golden Age, but I think I may actually call it good with these stories here, at least for now, as I did not really enjoy them.

As I was reading these stories I kept comparing them to what I’ve read of Harvey Comics’ Black Cat character. Louise Grant, the Blonde Phantom’s regular identity, is Mark Mason’s assistant. He’s a O.S.S. Agent and so far all of the stories have been based around cases that he was assigned to, meaning that our main superheroine comes across as assisting him in both her identities. Whereas the Black Cat and Rick Horne both have their own separate careers and plots usually came out of her career as a movie star rather than his career as a reporter and they both discovered the cases independently then happened upon the other in the middle of their own investigation.

In the second part of the two-part story in All Select Comics #11 the Blonde Phantom pretends to faint so that Mark Mason will catch her, saying “I was knocked out- ohhh- help me, you big, strong man!” In the Black Cat stories I’ve read so far, Rick Horne is deeply admiring of how capable the Black Cat is. This sort of act would not do anything for him. I’m not actually sure what it is about the Blonde Phantom that Mark Mason admires, other than that he does. That story ends with the Blonde Phantom kidnapped and Mark Mason rescuing her, which is much more in line with the lady protagonists I’ve read in the sexy comics reprinted in Spicy Tales than in the straightforward female superhero comics I’ve read so far.

I felt that there was a real resistant to actually portraying the Blonde Phantom as a superhero. In the first part of the 2-part story in Blonde Phantom #12 there’s a scene where the character is on a roof and spots a fight in the next building over. She proceeds to balance a board between the two buildings and carefully walks across it, saying afterwards “Made it across! But I wouldn’t want to do a retake on that stunt!” Any serious superhero would have just jumped from one building to another and it wouldn’t have been a thing. She also gets there after the fight had ended and the person she went to help had already lost.

And the stand-alone story in Blonde Phantom #12 isn’t even technically a superhero story at all. It’s really a detective story with a costumed identity, because it lacks the proper crime fighting element. There is no action in it whatsoever, even with characters other than the Blonde Phantom. It has Mark Mason invite her to a dinner for government officials and their wives because he’s looking for someone that’s been leaking government secrets and hopes that one of them will stumble across a clue there. At the party the Blonde Phantom ends up talking beauty practices with the wives while the men are having a private talk about government business. This does actually lead to the Blonde Phantom finding a clue, one that has her making an appointment in her Blonde Phantom identity at a beauty parlor. Despite the fact that this is supposed to be a superhero, that the Blonde Phantom is in these casual settings like a fancy party and a beauty salon doesn’t feel out of place because her superhero costume is a full length dress with a black mask. She fits in just fine and she actually attended two other parties as the Blonde Phantom within these two issues.

DC Comics:

the Doctor Fate stories in More Fun Comics (1935) #55-61

In this batch of Doctor Fate solo stories I went from March 1940 to September 1940. All of these stories were six pages and were written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Howard Sherman. These stories really reminded me of some of the public domain comics that I've read because of the strange visuals and random turns in the stories, but I enjoy that and this character's bizarre elements. I was most interested in the relationship between Doctor Fate and Inza. Some things I noted while I was reading:

Inza is a constant presence in the Doctor Fate stories and has yet to not be included. She seems to be Doctor Fate's assistant and sole connection to the human world. In several of these stories she has to explain to him some problem that she was able to learn about simply by paying attention to the news. In the story in issue #58 he says that he needs Inza's assistance with a case because "she may discover a clue that I- because I must spend my life in the tower- may miss!" Inza is vulnerable because she's only human and some of the things Doctor Fate deals with are too much for her to even see. Even so, he brings her with him on almost everywhere on his missions, where she's largely providing just someone for him to talk to, rather than having the main character just talk to himself throughout the story, and doesn't physically assist. But he does sometimes give her tasks like at the end of the story in issue #57 he tells her to take a villain that he's turned into a statue and seal it in a cabinet of ebony and in the story in issue #61 he has her contact the world's scientists for him to warn them of a forthcoming danger.

There's a point in the story in issue #59 where there are aliens attacking humans on a ship and Doctor Fate heads to their spaceship first rather than to help the people immediatly and Inza protests "Doctor Fate- Those people on the liner- They'll all be killed!" but he says that he has to learn about the aliens before he can fight them. This isn't really an element that was repeated in these stories, but I wonder if her role as a sort of moral compass will be emphasized more later on.

In the first story Inza says "Doctor Fate! I'd hoped and prayed you'd return!" Later, in the story in issue #59, she used a crystal ball given to her by Doctor Fate to contact him.

Doctor Fate's tower first appears in the story in issue #58 which we see when Doctor Fate takes Inza there. Later, in the story in issue #60, Inza goes to the tower to see him but while she knows how to get there she doesn't know how to get inside as there aren't any doors.

In these stories Inza is targeted by villains multiple times, seemingly but not explicitly for the purpose of emotionally hurting Doctor Fate. In the story in issue #58 when the villain is first confronted by Doctor Fate he says "Then my attempt on Inza in the penthouse failed!" which I feel implies that killing her would have actually hindered or physically hurt Doctor Fate and prevented him from fighting the villain, making me wonder whether there's some magical tether between the two of them at this point. Another interpretation would be that he's so reliant on her to learn about missions that he's not expected to be able to do anything without her, but that doesn't track with how he does sense magical issues with his powers without any notice from her multiple times across these stories.

Fawcett Comics:

the Captain Marvel stories in Whiz Comics (1940) #47 and in Captain Marvel Adventures (1941) #28

With these issues I read through the Captain Marvel stories published in October 1943. There is one Captain Marvel story per every issue of Whiz Comics and four per issue of Captain Marvel Adventures for a total of five Captain Marvel stories read in this batch. These stories ranged from twelve to sixteen pages.

The standout story here was “Captain Marvel’s Birthday” from Whiz Comics #47. The story had Billy wanting to vote for his boss Sterling Morris in a local election but unable to because he’s underage. Billy then assumes that Captain Marvel would be able vote since he’s an adult but that’s complicated by Captain Marvel having to prove that he’s an American citizen and him not actually knowing his own age.

In the process of trying to figuring out Captain Marvel’s birthday, Billy Batson visits the orphanage in which he was raised to try to find records of his own birth because “Captain Marvel is myself- only older! So if I find my age, I’ll know his!” Of course, Billy’s backstory was very famously presented in his first ever appearance in Whiz Comics #2 as him having been kicked out by his Uncle Ebenezer who stole his inheritance when it came in. The evil uncle backstory wasn’t entirely dropped in favor of an orphanage backstory, however, as a later story published in Captain Marvel Adventures #88 titled “Billy Batson’s Boyhood” expanded on what Billy’s life was like with his Uncle Ebenezer.

While at the orphanage he was raised at Billy says that “I can’t be more than fourteen years old!” This purposefully vague statement ends up being the final word on Billy’s age in this story. In the Fawcett character writing guidelines from 1942 (printed in Fawcett Companion: The Best of the FCA) it’s stated that “Billy Batson is now about 14 years old. He was 12 when the strip began. Don’t ever state his real age- that would spoil a reader’s conception of Billy as being his own age, or younger, or older, as he may prefer to believe. However, for our benefit, Billy has the reactions and characteristics of a boy of 14.” It seems that no older than fourteen ended up being what was settled on for Billy’s age, as this story was published late in 1943 yet Billy has not aged one year to be fifteen, when he had aged two years in the writers’ minds from 1940 to 1942 to go from twelve to fourteen.

And the ending of “Captain Marvel’s Birthday” was incredibly cute with Captain Marvel being all dejected that he can’t have birthday parties because he doesn’t have a birthday and Sterling Morris throwing him one anyway with a big cake and inviting Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Junior, and other Fawcett heroes like Ibis the Invincible and Spy Smasher. This story was also used to announce a contest to give Caption Marvel a birthday where readers could write in to offer him the use of theirs.

Eastern Color Printing Company:

the Jane Arden strips in Famous Funnies (1934) #19-26

Famous Funnies was a comic book series that primarily reprinted newspapers comics. It was standard procedure for them to remove the publication dates from the original art, so there isn't a way for me to check when these Jane Arden strips were first published. But within the Famous Funnies series I went from January 1936 to August 1936. There were four strips (with four paper doll cut-out sections) in issues #19-24 and three strips (with three paper doll cut-out sections) in issues #25-26 for a total of thirty Jane Arden strips read in this batch. All of these strips were written by Monte Barrett. The strips from issues #19-22 were drawn by Jack W. McGuire and the strips from issues #23-26 were drawn by Russell E. Ross.

The first story had a convoluted plot that I really enjoyed. It lasted seventeen strips across issues #19-23 and had Jane Arden and Prince Henry- who had actually previously appeared in the first Jane Arden storyline reprinted in Famous Funnies- trying to save Princess Tania from Duke Victor. The story begins with Princess Tania and Prince Henry engaged, even though Prince Henry is and has been in love with Jane Arden, but Duke Victor is able to machinate events to make Princess Tania believe that Prince Henry was sneaking around with another woman, Irene, and then later that Jane Arden tried to kill her. Separated from these two loyal friends, the Duke further distances Princess Tania from anyone else who might give her wise counsel, and tries to assume more command of her kingdom, with the end goal of getting her to marry him and allow him to rule Anderia on his own. Jane Arden and Prince Henry work together to kidnap Princess Tania and replace her with Jane Arden, who happens to look so much like her that an impersonation is very effective, which Duke Victor doesn’t suspect because he believes that he already killed Jane Arden. Having spent time away from Duke Victor and his manipulations, Princess Tania is made to listen in on Duke Victor trying to convince Jane-Arden-disguised-as-Princess-Tania to sign over Anderia’s oil leases, and she finally accepts the truth that he had bad intentions for her and who she had been made to believe were enemies and spies were really loyal friends. While Jane Arden reciprocates Prince Henry’s feelings, at the end of the story she’s convinced that it’s in the best interest of the kingdoms to trick Prince Henry into confessing his love for Princess Tania by pretending to be her and directing him to confess to Princess Tania by telling him that she’s Jane Arden.

The second plot was six strips across issues #23-24 and had Jane Arden with fellow reporter Steve solving the case of a hit-and-run that killed a child, which I thought was a notably intense story concept. And the third plot went eight strips across issues #24-26 with the final ninth conclusion strip being published in issue #27 and had Jane Arden and Steve again working to catch money swindlers, a case that goes awry when in the middle of it Steve unknowingly invests company money with one of the swindlers.

Eternity Comics:

Spicy Tales (1988) #12-14

Spicy Tales was a series that primarily reprinted comic strips from Frank Armer's line of pulp magazines at Culture Publications from the 1930s and 40s and then stories from comic books published by Trojan Magazines in the 1950s. The comic strips were unique as the editorial in issue #6 explains, quoting Will Murray that "Sexy comics strips were a staple in the girlie pulps before the Spicies came along- in mags like Pep, Breezy Stories and College Humor. But they usually revolved around college girl situations, not genre stuff." Those sexy comics frequently contained scenes such as women being striped to their underwear and restrained or tortured erotically, but the stories reprinted from comic book from the 50s-as well as some of the comic strips from the 40s- would be more aptly described as having 'good girl art' than as being 'sexy' as they did not have those kinds of sexual scenes.

There was one 5-page Special Agent Hendrix story- which was written by an unknown writer, possibly penciled by Sol Brodsky, and possibly inked by Christopher Rule- reprinted from Spy Cases (1950) #26, which was actually a book from Timely Comics. This story revolved around detecting and deciphering hidden coded messages in a woman's sunbathing positions, which was just amusing to me as a premise more than anything else.

There was one 7-page Ray Hale, News Ace story- which was written and drawn by Newton H. Alfred- reprinted from the March 1949 issue of Super Detective. This story stood out to me because the beginning has Ray Hale attending a performance of hula dancers and- before one of the women mysteriously dies- the narration says that "Hale finds only boredom" and he himself says that there's "nothing of interest here" because it "doesn't look like I'll get a story out of this." The dancing women are there for the reader's enjoyment, but this is the first time I've seen one of the male protagonists be disinterested and dissatisfied in these elements of the story.

There was one 8-page Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective, story- written by Robert Leslie Bellum and drawn by an unknown artist- from the April 1950 issue of Hollywood Detective. This was the first Dan Turner story reprinted in Spicy Tales that I actually found the mystery of to be interesting. It has Dan Turner intend to assist a paranoid movie star who claims to be receiving strange threatening phone calls and is too afraid to handle the stunt work he's meant to, a case that's derailed by the director of the movie actually dying when demonstrating to the actor how safe a stunt was. At first it seems that the primary suspects are two people who were angry with the movie star after they lost a lot of money in a oil well he got them to invest in, but then it's revealed that the movie star actually set the whole thing up as a cover to kill the director because he's the one that got the movie star to invest in that oil well in the first place and he also lost a lot of money from it.

And there were two 8-page Gail Ford, Girl Friday, stories- written and drawn by Gene Leslie- from the March 1950 and April 1950 issues of Super Detective. Both of these stories were actually really unique and well-executed. The story from the March 1950 issue was genuinely effectively suspenseful. It had Gail Ford get a job at a department store after a woman was found murdered there to see if she can figure out who did it. While snooping around at night after the store had closed and everyone was supposed to have gone home, Gail Ford sees a man walking around in the dark who she’s unable to tell if he is a watchmen or somebody that’s not supposed to be there. Just after finding a clue that points to a specific person as the killer, Gail Ford is spotted by the man, leading to a prologued chase, which ends with her getting the drop on the guy and overpowering him. At one point she pretended to be a store mannequin to avoid detection and at another she hide and rolled a toy car to make a sound in a part of the store that she wasn’t in to mislead the man. This story is also notable as this chase between two people in a limited space meant that there was no one to appear to save Gail Ford, so unlike in her other stories she took the criminal down entirely by herself. This being a change to form actually helped make the story more suspenseful, as it would have usually been expected for her to get caught at some point. And the story in the April 1950 issue begins with Gail Ford already undercover as “Mimi,” the girlfriend of a prominent mobster. The story depicts Mimi attending a meeting the mobster where his men turn on him and kill him, so then Mimi seduces the new head of the mob. She’s shown to sneak out and speak to a mysterious figure after learning about the mob’s plans and then after the deal goes through she messed with the shades, supposedly so that “nobody’ll see you guys” but which is clearly a signal for the police to begin the raid. And it’s not until all of the criminals are caught that it’s finally stated that Mimi is actually Gail Ford. This is a completely different structure that the usual where the story begins with the police officer characters explaining the case and telling Gail Ford what her role will be.

There were four 2-page Sally the Sleuth stories, written and drawn by the character's creator Adolphe Barreaux, from the June 1938, August 1938, September 1938, and November 1938 issues of Spicy Detective. There were a few startling things that stood out to me in this batch of stories. In the story from the June 1938 issue it’s an essential part of the plot that a kidnapped Sally gives her underwear which has her initials embroidered on it to a dog that then finds the Chief and leads him to Sally. The end of the story in the September 1938 issue has the Chief telling Sally “That shows you can’t judge people by their clothes” and her telling him “Then I guess I’m no mystery right now, Chief.” And the story in the November 1938 issue has the Chief saying “Good work, Sally, you can buy some new underwear with the reward” as hers had gotten torn in the fight.

And there was also one 7-page Sally the Sleuth story- the artist and writer of which are unknown- from Crime Smashers (1950) #5, published in July 1951. I believe that it was actually originally published in a pulp magazine but I'm not sure which one. This story was notably partially copying a 2-page Betty Blake story that was written and drawn by Harry Lemon Parkhurst and printed in the July 1935 issue of Super Detective. That Betty Blake story began with her receiving an invitation to a bohemian ball a few days before she was due to testify in court against someone and purchasing a harem outfit to attend the ball. Then the story showed a woman appearing to be her stabbed to death at the party by a man in a devil costume before revealing that Betty Blake had gotten there late and that was another woman who was coincidentally wearing the same costume and mistakenly killed in her place. Betty Blake then confronts the costume seller who admits that he told the man she was due to testify against what she was going to be wearing. When Betty Blake confronts the criminals, the man who stabbed her, who hasn't had time to take off his devil costume yet, shrieks "It's her ghost!" All of that also happens in this Sally the Sleuth story, except that it covers fives pages instead of two, and then there's two more pages of Sally chasing down one of the criminals who tried to escape and a conclusion where the man Sally was meant to testify against shoots the man who stabbed the wrong woman and then shoots himself, rather than go to jail. Also, it's unfortunate that the artist of this story isn't known because I enjoyed the style and would have liked to have been able to look up more of their work.

Little break here since there's a character limit per text block:

And, finally, there were twelve 2-page Diana Daw stories, written by Clayton Maxwell and drawn by Max Plaisted, from the June 1937 to January 1938 and February to March 1938 and May to June 1938 issues of Spicy Adventure. This batch of stories actually had a significant change to the strip's premise as, throughout the stories from the February to March 1938 and May to June 1938 issues, the setting changed from India to Shanghai where, instead of always wandering around the desert and getting captured and then escaping harems to wander around the desert some more and get captured again and so on, Diana is going to be working as a spy for China in a night club popular with Japanese officers. I did find what preceded that change to be interesting too, but it's coming right as the series' concept was being played out. The stories from the June to August 1937 issues did have a unique approach to the typical harem plots where Diana escaped, not just by herself, but with a bunch of other women. It was particularily unique to see Diana working with these women and trying to set up a proper community with them to fight back against the men who would hold women as slaves as typically the only positive characters are our two white recurring characters, Diana Daw and Ted Morton, and everyone else is or eventually becomes antagonistic to them. This is because the portrayal of non-white characters is very limited and stereotypical and there are few other white characters in this strip, but when there are other white people that aren't bad then they typically die very quickly. Unfortunately this pattern did play out again as some of the women turned on Diana in hopes that that they'd then get favored treatment for defeating her when they returned to the harem, but there were a few that still supported her and so remained positively framed, which is still a first for this strip albeit which still being stereotypically portrayed. And the stories from the September 1937 to January 1938 issues actually had a bit of a role reversal as Diana was hypnotized which sort of temporarily put Ted Morton in her place in the strip, being inconvenienced by her as she's sometimes been inconvenienced by him (even once before being when he'd been controlled himself by a love potion) and having to resort to seducing one of his captors to rescue her.

[where-skies-end]

sometimes i like to think about the contrast between cyrael and rysel. like physically i made them look really different, but also in personality and how they respond to everything their lives have thrown at them

like rysel was initially meant to be a one off character who only showed up a few sections but i liked the contrast with cyrael he brought to the story so i kept him in and eventually developed him more and more so the contrast is by design but i'm in the mood to ramble

she grew up with very little stability. her parents were adventurers by trade, constantly moving place to place, she was just enough younger than her older brothers that she couldn't quite do the things they could either so she was just kind of left to do her own thing a lot, aside from time to learn how to wield a sword and a bow, make traps and whatnot. it was this being left alone and brushed aside that made her feel the need to prove she could do something useful, and led to her getting attacked by the bear. her parents dropped her with her aunts, who while they cared for her were not prepared to have a gravely injured, emotionally unwell child dropped on them by some random relative who refused to settle down and actually take care of said child. she goes into everything expecting the worst and expecting a fight, she's operating under the assumption that nobody will like or trust her, and her reaction to pretty much any situation is to fight her way out, even when it probably shouldn't be

whereas rys grew up with pretty much every aspect of his life being controlled either directly or indirectly by his parents, especially his mother. he wasn't allowed to be anything, he was expected to be perfect, and his best efforts were never good enough to get him ranked any higher in line for the throne than his actual baby siblings. he's operating under the assumption everyone's going to be disappointed in him, and he's doing absolutely nothing to prove them wrong, because why bother when the effort gets you nowhere anyway? he expects everyone to want to hurt him and most of the time he's just going to sit there and take it, and his few attempts to stand up for himself at the start are largely misguided because he does Not know how the real world works and that trying to pull authority figure card doesn't work on cyrael, who isn't even tied to a single kingdom.

and these two who have pretty much no shared experience or personality compatibility have to work together, because cy has to or she ends up back in prison and rys is at a point where he's going to do one good thing (find and save his sister) or die trying, and without her he most definitely would have died because he has no practical skill surviving or fighting in the wild

and in return after they learn cy is the chosen one, he's got to help her navigate her life flipping over and going from being a nobody to being a "hero," when she's fully convinced she's undeserving of the title. she doesn't know how to handle attention, especially positive attention, because she doesn't really get any

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

What are your thoughts of The Batman? Please go in as much detail as you'd like.

I'll try to avoid spoilers but generally I think it's better than all previous live action movies in tone and style

they really embraced Batman as a detective which I feel like wasn't done this well in the other movies, the main villain being the Riddler made this a perfect angle to work with

speaking of

the Riddler is diet Jigsaw, like straight up, he puts people into Saw traps, if this movie were just the slightest bit more gutsy this could have been a horror film and I would 100% have been on board

and when he's unmasked he doesn't look like what you'd expect but at the same time you aren't exactly surprised, like he definitely looks like the kind of guy who would be obsessed with Riddles, he has 'guy who loves the movie Fight Club for all the wrong reasons' energy

Robert Pattinson is the Best Batman

I have never 100% liked any of the previous Batmen because they could never quite get both Bruce Wayne AND Batman quite right

Pattinson nails the interpretation of Bruce Wayne they went with for this movie, everyone making posts about this sad emo boy is absolutely on point, it's kinda edgy without being cringy, this character could be so easy to fuck up but he plays it in a very understated way, it's all in his performance rather than his dialogue, he really SHOWS us who Bruce Wayne is without needing to tell us

this is the first Bruce Wayne I've looked at and thought "yes this is a man who would deal with his problems by dressing up as a bat and punching people"

I would like to see what direction they take his character in for future movies, this feels like the first step of a character development journey, it doesn't feel like a 'this is what Batman is' vibe it feels like a 'this is how Batman started' vibe, like my guess is that they plan on emotionally developing Bruce Wayne in future

I also really like that he doesn't do the Christian Bale Batman voice, he doesn't growl, he doesn't sound gritty, he speaks very softly, almost whispering the whole time, this version of Batman is intimidating because he's quiet, focused, always thinking, he scares the shit out of people just by being in the room, during a crime scene you can see the cogs turning in his head as he looks around the room, taking in details, just quietly observing before saying something, and he keeps his words simple and to the point

I was actually not expecting Pattinson to be able to pull it off because I really didn't think he had the stature for it, he's never looked intimidating in any of his previous roles

but once he has the suit on, he really makes it work, the armour builds his frame up, makes his shoulders look broader, he has thick ass soles in his boots, when this motherfucker steps out of a dark corner and just quietly stares people down, he has a hell of a presence

at the moment his Bruce Wayne and Batman personas feel like very much the same person, like he hasn't quite separated his identities yet, he hasn't cultivated the Bruce Wayne mask because he's an antisocial shut in that nobody ever sees

I'm very keen to see if that changes

what I personally want for future movies is for Dick Grayson to enter the picture, and be the one who helps Bruce develop into a more stable person, I want this absolute mess of a man to impulsively adopt a child, realise 'wait fuck I dunno how to raise a kid' and then be forced to actually become a functional human being

I want Dick to call him out on being a wreck, I want this kid to drag him out into the sunshine because he wants to go get ice cream, I want Bruce to be thrown into the deep end of parenthood, I want it so bad

so yeah, 10/10, fucking awesome movie, very much doing its own seperate thing from the previous movies, this isn't an action blockbuster superhero film, this is a detective noir crime thriller