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jbuffyangel · 6 years ago

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The Code: Arrow 7x21 Review (Living Proof)

You guys know me pretty good by now, so it should shock no one that I love this episode. Tommy takes a vacation from heaven to argue morality with Oliver while he’s stuck in a life or death situation. SOLD.

Of course, there are problems in “Living Proof” just like any other episode of Arrow. Unfortunately, Olicity is separated for most of it, but they are each struggling with the best way to protect their family. A common theme this year is Oliver and Felicity being on separate, but same trajectories. They reach a conclusion on an individual level, so they can come together and make decisions as a couple. “Living Proof” is a perfect set up for Arrow’s season finale and Olicity’s final episode.

Let’s dig in...

Oliver and Tommy

TOOOOOMMMMYYYY!!!!

I’m always Laurel when I see Tommy Merlyn. I’m not kidding when I say I love him. It’s not just nostalgia of Arrow days long past. Tommy had a profound impact on Oliver and his journey. Oliver has lost a lot of loved ones, but Tommy’s death really changed his mind about how he should go about saving the city and what it truly means to be a vigilante. Tommy sparked Oliver’s desire to be more – to be a hero. So, it makes absolute sense Tommy appears to Oliver now to deal with his latest morality crisis.

Emiko blew up a building and Oliver is trapped underneath a giant piece of concrete. He’s uncomfortably close to some rebar too and the Tommy parallels are anything, but subtle. Oliver is literally in the same life and death situation that befell is best friend six years ago. Are the writers putting Oliver in this position, so his “hallucination” of Tommy makes sense? Perhaps… or perhaps something deeper happening unbeknownst to Oliver.

Source: smoakmonster

I firmly believe Colin was not allowed to grow a beard while on Arrow because it would overload whatever hotness Stephen Amell was bringing to the table and since he’s the lead that cannot be allowed. I know my truth.

Source: smoakmonster

Tommy psychoanalyzing Oliver’s mind to explain his appearance is a hoot. Hallucination, concussion or just some good old-fashioned PTSD are all on the table, except for the one that’s the actual truth. But we aren’t there yet. We weren’t wrong to notice the similarities between Oliver’s current situation and Tommy’s death though. There’s always a reason my friends.

Source: smoakmonster

Oliver escapes from underneath the concrete and Tommy helps with his dislocated shoulder. We enjoy some of Tommy’s patented banter (I missed him so), but he’s here to talk about family - sisters to be specific.

HA! I love Oliver’s “Don’t sass me look.” At least everyone is agreed this storyline would be far more entertaining if Thea went all evil. Instead, we have Emiko and Tommy wants to know how Oliver is going to deal with her.

Tommy: Speaking of, what about Emiko? What kind of solution are you planning for her?

Oliver: The one she deserves. She let our father die.

SERIOUSLY OLIVER? KILLING? ARE WE BACK TO THIS?

Oh, hang on I don’t have to yell at him. Tommy is taking care of it for me.

Source: ebett

See why I love him? He has a hot beard and says my words because we samesies.

Emiko dropped another bomb on Oliver last week when she confessed to knowing about Merlyn’s plan for the Gambit and letting their father die. Oliver is pretty ticked about it, which is understandable. His sister has lied and manipulated her way into his life while wearing his superhero suit no less (RUDE), she was an accessory to their father’s murder or suicide (whichever way you want to look at it), sent Oliver to hell for five years and, to top it all off, is a terrorist. She also dropped a building on him and the team.

Yeah, I’d say the angry face is warranted.

Source: smoakmonster

Emiko is the worst. Not just her actions, but she’s kind of a snoozer personality wise. None of that means Oliver should kill her though. He must move beyond that kind of thinking.

As horrible as Emiko’s actions are, she unknowingly was the catalyst for Oliver becoming someone who could stop her. It’s a mind bender when you think about it. Oliver’s life is filled with loss and immense suffering. However, that suffering has led to immense love and joy. Oliver has created a family beyond the one he was born into. His life has traveled on a path no one could predict.

I’m not saying it’s okay that Emiko and Merlyn killed Robert or that Slade killed Moira. But we’ve glimpsed the “What if?” with Oliver already. He would be happy, but not a hero. If Oliver wants to serve true justice, then he must look at the bad and the good.

Barry: We both got a look at what life would look like normal.

Oliver: It would have been happy.

Barry: But not full.

Oliver: No. Nowhere close.

Barry: To things not being normal.

Oliver: To life being full.

Tommy tries to defend Emiko and I’m pumping the breaks right there. Listen my delicious bearded cupcake; there are plenty of fathers who abandon their children. It’s an epidemic from my point of view; however, they don’t all become terrorists. The “blame Dad” routine is tired. It is possible to hold Emiko responsible for her actions short of killing, but we don’t need to excuse the behavior either.

If you’re tired of the kill/don’t kill debate well then, I’m sorry. It’s an integral part of the show because this is how the writers gauge Oliver’s morality and his evolution as a superhero. They will always circle back to it just like they will always circle back to Robert Queen and the “sins of the father” theme. Family, guilt, responsibility, redemption, teamwork, heroism, sacrifice, killing, love, legacy – these are all the building blocks of Arrow. The bow and arrow will always be how Oliver fights crime. Killing will always be barometer for his morality.

But didn’t Oliver already decide to stop killing after Prometheus? Didn’t he stop blaming himself for Robert Queen’s death?

He realized killing can create an unforeseen monster. Adrian Chase was the blueprint for what not to become, so Oliver forgave himself for Robert Queen’s death. He also stopped viewing the mask as a conduit for his darkness.

So why are we talking about killing again? Oliver didn’t kill Diaz. He didn’t kill anyone in prison. He’s supposed to be a fully realized superhero, but here he is, trapped under rubble, and discussing putting an arrow in his half sister with his almost dead best friend. COME ON.

I know Oliver is not real and the writers refuse to drop this, but there is a reason for it. It’s always one step forward and two steps back with Oliver Queen. This is the biggest pine tree to ever live. Oliver continually circling back to killing feels extremely in character. He finds himself in situations where he believes killing is justified. When Oliver has exhausted all other possibilities he still believes killing can be a solution.

But what about Prometheus?

Well, Oliver couldn’t kill him because that would be giving Prometheus exactly what he wants. Prometheus believed Oliver is a killer and it would prove him right if Oliver killed him. That’s not happening here with Emiko so TA DA! Totally different circumstances! It’s completely okay to kill her.

But what about Slade?

Uhhh… Oliver made a promise to Tommy no more killing and he wanted to prove to himself he could be a hero without it. Mission accomplished! NO MORE KILLING!!!

Hahaha. Just kidding. Up next we have Ra’s Al Ghul.

He had the League of Assassins, chucked Oliver off a mountain, tried to bio weapon Star City into oblivion and made him marry the only lesbian on the show. Ra’s had to die. Right? Right.

Damien Darhk killed Laurel and was a Terminator like magician, so Oliver was completely justified running him through with the pointy end of an arrow. On camera no less!

And round and round and round we go. I’m not arguing any of these people deserved to live. They didn’t. Oliver was always justified killing any bad guy and the world is a better place without these villains. However, it’s not really about the villain. It’s about Oliver Queen and his soul.

I won’t rehash all the reasons why I think Oliver should stop killing and it’s perfectly okay if you disagree with me. This is simply part of my morality. I don’t believe Oliver Queen gets to be judge, jury and executioner simply because he is the Green Arrow and has anointed himself savior of the city.

Oliver’s prison arc was in large part showing him the moral grey zones when it comes to villains. He was operating in a very black and white world when he determined which villains lived and died. Does Ben Turner deserve a death penalty for his crimes? Is he the same as Ricardo Diaz? Who gets to decide?

Ideally the justice system, which is why we have one. It is an imperfect system, but it’s one Oliver has tried to work within for most of the season and has succeeded at it until recently. The larger point is there is a third option for villains when choosing between life or death. JAIL.

And yet, here we are again with Oliver arguing the same moral quandary we’ve argued for the last seven years. The reason we keep circling back to this issue is because Oliver Queen has no code. We can justify almost anything, which is why it’s important to have a moral code to check our justifications. We all need rules to live by, moral absolutes, which are unbreakable under any circumstances. This is the reason laws exist.

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Jesus gave us the Beatitudes and a whole new section of the friggin Bible to digest. If superheroes are fictional Christ like figures, then their hero’s journey needs to end with a set of rules he/she live by based off the lessons they’ve learned on the road to becoming a superhero.

If you want a less Christian perspective, then consider superheroes modern day mythology. Every mythological hero learned painful lessons which resulted in a morality the Greek and Romans lived by. Our democracy is fashioned from the Greeks. Suffering = lessons = moral code = righteous path.

Oliver needs a code he can apply to any given situation he’s faced with because being a superhero requires checks and balances. He needs something, a lens, to filter his morality through. His morality must set a high bar too because Oliver isn’t just your run of the mill everyday hero. He’s becoming someone else… something else. Oliver Queen is superhero. He supposed to be the best of us.

Oliver views Tommy as a brain concussed hallucination, but he couldn’t be more wrong. This is Oliver’s God moment. I’ve been waiting for Oliver to have a God moment since Barry Allen had his in Season 2 of The Flash. The Speed Force aka God took Barry on an out of body experience to explain that even though Barry has incredible gifts those gifts do not make him God. Barry doesn’t get to decide who lives or who dies. He doesn’t get to rewrite the past or change the future just because he’s experienced lost. Those decisions are outside the purview of The Flash. Barry has immense power, but those powers will not illuminate loss from his life.

The Speed Force/Barry’s Mom: What you’ve become – it’s wonderful. A miracle even. But it won’t make bad things stop happening to you. Even The Flash can’t outrun the tragedies the universe is going to keep sending his way.

At the end of the “The Runaway Dinosaur” Barry comes to terms with his mother’s death and accepts it. He achieves peace, healing and let’s go of some of the pain which has been a weight around his neck. Until his father dies the next episode.

Barry chucks everything God told him out the window and creates Flashpoint to save both his parents.

This is the point where my relationship with Barry Allen began to crumble. HE LITERALLY HAD GOD TELL HIM LOSS WAS PART OF LIFE AND HE HAD TO ACCEPT IT. BARRY HAD TO ACCEPT HE WAS NOT GOD. And what does he do? He creates an entirely new timeline where Cisco’s brother is dead, Caitlin becomes Killer Frost, Sara Diggle is erased and replaced with John Junior. Oh, and I wasn’t allowed to be mad at him about it because he’s Barry.

I don’t know if Oliver Queen believes in God or a life beyond death. I’m leaning towards not given his reaction to Angel Tommy, but “some things are true whether you believe them or not.” City of Angels is an EPIC movie. Watch and thank me later.

Regardless of Oliver’s personal beliefs, he doesn’t have a Speed Force. There’s no higher power/magical whatsit sitting him down for a chat to explain how life works like Barry had in Season 2. Oliver has been flying blind for seven years. Until now.

Oliver: No Tommy! Because of what he did to you.

This is the first time I’ve ever heard Oliver blame Tommy for his death. Oliver is plagued by what ifs? What if Tommy listened to him? What if he got there a little bit sooner? But none of those things happened because Tommy was blinded by the fact that Malcolm Merlyn was his father. And he paid for that loyalty with his life. Oliver isn’t going to make the same mistake with Emiko.

Angel Tommy agrees with Oliver! He takes responsibility for his death, but not for the reasons Oliver stated.

Tommy was stuck in a cycle of self hatred, one created by his father, and he couldn’t free himself from it until it was too late. Angel Tommy urges his friend to view him as a cautionary tale and break his own cycle of violence.

This isn’t the first time Arrow has referenced Oliver’s cycle of violence. We did a deep dive on it in “Level Two” during Oliver’s psychotherapy session. What that doctor was doing to prisoners was deeply wrong, but he did pull out a nugget of truth.

Oliver created his vigilante persona to avenge his father’s wrongs. Those wrongs began with violence and death. Oliver has often avenged those wrongs through violence and death. There is a pattern here. There is a cycle even though Oliver has done so much good as the Green Arrow.

Oliver doesn’t want William to experience the same pain and loss, so he must do things differently than Robert. If Oliver doesn’t want to saddle William with righting his wrongs, then he must break this cycle and be better. Oliver must walk a higher road if there’s any hope of his children being freed from the Queen family’s past.

Oliver: No. You’re wrong. This isn’t about me. This isn’t about my father. This is about Emiko. And the choices that she made? They are on her.

Like I said it’s always one step forward with Oliver and two steps back. He is soooooo close!!!! Everything he said about Emiko is true and showcases the stunning character growth Oliver has gone through these past seven seasons. He’s not blaming himself for Emiko’s actions. Hell, he’s not even blaming Robert. Oliver is holding Emiko responsible for her choices.

Typically, Oliver blames himself for everything. Lately, he’s been putting the blame squarely where is belongs and holding people responsible for their crimes. He has freed himself from the crippling guilt which began on that raft with Robert Queen. YES. EMIKO IS TO BLAME. NOT OLIVER.

But thennnnn he takes it one step too far. Oliver believes Emiko deserves to die.

He may not be blaming himself anymore, but Oliver’s solution remains the same. He’s still stuck.

Tommy promises Oliver will eventually be free (BECAUSE HE’S AN ANGEL SENT BY GOD OKAY??!!!) but urges him to stay on the higher road because he has a shot at a clean slate. What’s wonderful about “Living Proof” is the writers give Oliver more justification to kill than any other time in the history of this show. Emiko is a threat to Oliver’s wife, son and unborn child. We won’t weep over this woman and no one will be angry if Oliver kills her because he’s protecting his family! If there was ever a justification to kill this is it. This decision is morally justified.

Oliver frees himself from the rubble, meets up with his team and comes face to face with Emiko.

This is all it takes. DADDY RAGE ACTIVATED.

Source: olicitygifs

Emiko tells Oliver she’s made certain his family will die and even though Diggle (the moral compass) warns him not to - Oliver kills Emiko.

Source: olivergifs

There’s an immediate cause and effect. Emiko is dead, but so is… JOHN?

WHAT THE FRICKEN FRACK IS GOING ON? Oliver’s team is laid out Game of Thrones style.

Source: arrowdaily

Is the Night King here?

I had no idea what the hell happened.

God happened. Oliver isn’t free. He’s still trapped. Angel Tommy gave him a vision of all his loved ones dying.

Oliver: What was that?

Tommy: How do I know? I’m just a figment of your imagination.

Note to self: When face to face with God don’t call Him a figment of my imagination. He gets cranky.

This is all a hallucination, right? If that’s the case, then how did Angel Tommy know about Emiko and the baby?

Source: olicitygifs

She just threatened Felicity. Oliver doesn’t know that happened. Sure, it’s easy to assume Oliver just played out his worst nightmare, but he’s trying to morally justify killing. Why would he show himself a scenario where killing Emiko leads to losing everyone he loves? Why would he play out this horrible scenario when Oliver thinks he’s right to kill Emiko? Why torture himself over a person he’s ready to kill?

Source: olivergifs

In Oliver’s despair he calls out to God almost like an exhale. And God answers. Angel Tommy is much more than a hallucination. Losing loved ones isn’t new for Oliver, but God showed him this worst nightmare for a reason. Oliver is making decisions based on fear just like Robert Queen did. Angel Tommy briefly takes the title of Yoda from John (that’s ok he hasn’t had much use for it lately).

If Oliver wants a different outcome, then he’s going to have to do something different. Angel Tommy urges Oliver to embrace the best parts of him instead of giving into his worst impulses.

God gives Oliver Queen his code. What’s does a hero believe in? The Four Pillars of Heroism are Oliver Queen’s answer.

Does Emiko deserve Oliver’s loyalty, selflessness, courage and compassion? No. She doesn’t not, but that’s not really the point.

Forgiving someone when they don’t deserve it is quite possibly one of the most heroic things we can do as human beings. It’s a gift and, in many ways, it’s a gift we give ourselves too.

The beauty of these pillars is we all can embrace them. That’s what so wonderful about hero’s journeys. Heroes represent the best of humanity and are a shining beacon of the potential we could all reach. And yet, most of us don’t. Someone like Oliver Queen has a depth to his loyalty, selflessness, courage and compassion that is unparalleled. The reason why most of us don’t become heroes or saints (if you prefer a religious perspective) is because it’s too damn hard. We don’t want to make the sacrifices necessary to be one.

Oliver must offer the same forgiveness offered to him all those years ago through Diggle, Felicity, Tommy, Roy and Thea. Oliver is one of God’s perfect examples of the power of redemption. If there’s anything he should believe in it should be that and what God wants, more than anything, is for Oliver to be a vessel. God is asking Oliver Queen to be a servant of redemption.

Source: smoakmonster

And it’s Tommy asking. So of course, Oliver will do it. That’s why God chose Tommy to deliver the code. Robert Queen’s death ignited Oliver’s mission, but Tommy’s death ignited his heroism. We must go back to the beginning when we reach the end.

Oliver is given the chance to say goodbye again in their final moments together and Tommy makes a him promise. Death is not an end to love.

This was Oliver’s God moment. This code was the final piece of the superhero puzzle. It’s a gift born from loss, pain, love, redemption and forgiveness. Oliver is the living proof for us all. He is a beacon of light for his family, team, city and yes even villaina like Emiko.

Felicity Smoak

I wish I liked Alena. It would have made her scenes with Felicity more fun, but I don’t so that’s that. Oliver is not the only one reexamining the way he’s doing things. Felicity is as well.

The SCPD tries to arrest her, which cements my belief they are the biggest twats to ever live and they will never be anything other than twats. But things take a dangerous and extremely emotional turn when Felicity and Alena come face to face with Emiko. Felicity must beg for the life of her child.

Source: arrowdaily

STOP POINTING ARROWS AT MY PRECIOUS BABES YOU CRAZY BITCH!

Emiko as a villain isn’t all that threatening, but Cookie Monster could be threatening Felicity right now and I’d get worked up about it.

Source: arrowdaily

The speech Felicity makes is gut wrenching. Hasn’t she been through enough? Just let her pregnant in peace.

This latest life or death situation causes Felicity to ponder what kind of life her child will have. Poor William has not fared so great thus far. Being a child of heroes is not an easy thing as we see in the flash forwards.

Is Arrow saying Oliver and Felicity can’t do it all? Are the writers saying Oliver and Felicity can’t be heroes and have a family?

No, I don’t think so because Oliver and Felicity have been doing it all for the last two years. They got married, brought William into their home to raise

and expanded their little brood all while actively fighting for the city as vigilantes.

Oliver isn’t choosing between man and mask anymore. He’s embraced both personas and he’s been living in the light more than he ever has in previous seasons by working with the SCPD (twat factory that it is) and going hoodless.

Timing on Arrow is always a tricky thing. I didn’t expect to see Oliver live his happy life with Felicity for as long as we’ve been blessed to watch it. Most television shows end at wedding or baby, but not with this show. Oliver is a fully realized superhero. That evolution worked in conjunction with his relationship with Felicity and not as a “reward” for his superhero evolution. Oliver could never become a superhero without Felicity. He needs her. Felicity Smoak is Oliver’s superhero.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences to their choices. Sure, the show could tap out and maybe it would be all rainbows and puppies in the end, but probably not. Arrow isn’t that kind of show and there was always going to be pain right up until the final moments.

Personally, I like that the writers are examining the consequences of having a family and being heroes. We like to tell ourselves we can “do it all” but there are consequences to every decision we make. Once we go through a door another one closes behind us.

Life is not about “having it all.” It’s about deciding the kind of life you want to live and accepting the ramifications of those decisions. There is no perfect plan. There are always negatives to every choice. We must determine not only if our choice makes us happy, but if we can live with the negatives.

What makes Oliver and Felicity happiest is fighting for their city, but they realize that puts their family in danger much more than if they’d chosen to be farmers or dermatologists.

It’s a very real consequence that cost them William. He bailed. So, what about the nugget cooking in Ms. Smoak? Oliver and Felicity can proclaim their number one priority is keeping their children safe, but they are also actively engaging in behavior that puts their children at risk.

Felicity tells Alena about how she wants to be a better parent than her parents. I love Donna Smoak, so it made me a little sad to hear Felicity say this. I think Donna was a spectacular mom to Felicity, but I also understand they are opposites which probably drove Felicity crazy as she grew up. And of course, there’s always Noah Kuttler to set the parenting bar real low. Let us not reflect too heavily on Robert and Moira Queen either. Sure, they made the ultimate sacrifice to keep their children safe, but they were pretty much disaster zones of parents right up until their final moments on this earth.

Felicity always wanted to be a mother. There has been some debate on this topic over the years and “Living Proof” essentially ended it. Yes, she wanted children when she imagined what her life would be someday. Maybe she didn’t know how or with whom that dream would come to fruition, but motherhood is something Felicity wanted. This is great because… spoiler alert she’s pregnant!

It’s perfectly acceptable if Felicity didn’t want children, but I’m glad Arrow didn’t go down the “I changed my mind” trope we so often see on television. Like there’s something inherently wrong with not wanting children and thus the character’s mind must be changed. Nope. There isn’t anything wrong with it. It’s a perfectly valid lifestyle choice.

Of course, there are some who change their minds and that’s valid as well, but storytelling can fall into some uncomfortable tropes and the “change the woman’s mind about becoming a mother” is one I’ve watched too much. I’m also fed up with the “kill the lover/husband but the woman gets to have his baby” trope too in case you’re wondering.

Being a mother, however, was not something forced upon Felicity because Oliver wanted it or something she warmed to because of her relationship with William. It was a quiet dream she kept to herself. A dream William and Mia fulfilled.

Of course, Felicity is an amazing mother. The sky is also blue. This conversation with Alena is just one of the million ways the writers showcase Felicity’s A+ level mom skills. Yes, being a vigilante makes Felicity whole. It’s her calling,

Source: ebett

BUT kidnappings and attacks by serial killers is a serious downside to this career choice. That’s just facts.

Source: ebett

They say the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If Felicity truly wants to keep her children safe, then perhaps she and Oliver need to change their nightly activities. At least for a little while. Our happiness doesn’t have to come all at once. The life we build can be put together in pieces, bit by bit, until we’ve found a way to incorporate all the things that make us happy while balancing the consequences (good and bad) of those decisions.

Oliver and Felicity love Star City, but they love their children more. Are they willing to walk away from everything they’ve built to keep their children safe? Is that even a question? Of course. They are parents.

Source: ebett

William Clayton

The messiest part of this whole flash forward storyline is William.

The writers wanted to keep Mia’s identity a secret which is difficult if everyone knows who she is. This gets dicey when it comes to her brother. Personally, I don’t think William and Mia being kept apart for 20 years was necessary. Sure, it was a great “OMG I KNEW IT” moment and it will be interesting to watch the two of them develop a relationship IF we get a spin off.

Source: arrowdaily

However, it doesn’t change the fact that this storyline is a dumpster fire. William continues to bitch about Oliver and Felicity abandoning him in the flash forwards. YOU WANTED TO LIVE WITH YOUR GRANDPARENTS WILLIAM. OLIVER AND FELICITY BEGGED YOU TO STAY BUT YOU LEFT FOR A NORMAL LIFE. Can we at least remember history correctly? Own your choices kid.

But we haven’t circled back to Oliver and the voicemails. Oliver just decides it’s perfectly normal his son isn’t returning ANY of his calls? He never goes to see William in Central City? REALLY?

And then of course there’s Felicity in the cabin for 20 years. I understand why she didn’t live in Star City and remained hidden. Maybe she thought William had a better set up living with the grandparents. He also apparently changed his name... sooo I guess he’s safer with them or something?

Bottom line - Felicity is his mother. It’s difficult to process a situation where Felicity would not bring William home to her at some point.

This is where I understand William’s anger. Yes, Felicity believed she was keeping William safe, but the logic doesn’t really track. If Mia is safe living with Felicity, then so is William. Keeping Felicity and Mia separated from William for 20 years just so the Olicity baby reveal is more shocking to the casual viewer and attempts to keep us fandom super sleuths on our toes for five minutes longer isn’t worth the collateral damage.

Dinah and Roy

Sweet mother of Moses where the hell do I even start? Dinah finds out the SCPD knows Roy murdered those two guards and she immediately starts bitching about her job.

Dinah: She lied about us being behind the Ninth Circle attacks, but she was telling the truth about us covering up those murders. We never should have done that.

Of course, Roy feels terrible his uncontrollable Lazarus Pit rage which resulted in the death of two innocent people and he will live with the guilt the rest of his life. But he ALSO cost Dinah her job and that is most important.

Dinah: He’s right. I’m sorry but the SCPD has already tried to arrest Felicity. Its better one of us takes the fall than the rest of us spending our lives as fugitives.

It’s not surprising Dinah and Rene are willing to feed Roy to the sharks to save their own asses.

We have alllll of Season 6 as evidence that this is exactly the kind of people they are, but unfortunately this DRIVES ROY TO SUICIDE. He volunteers to shut off some poisonous gas and the chances of his survival are next to zero.

And what do we get? Dinah crying. PICK A LANE BITCH. You don’t get to guilt Roy into sacrificing himself and then cry over his corpse. You had zero problems sending him up the river for a nice long stint at Slabside if it secured your 401K. But now she’s oh so sad because her new bestie is flinging himself into toxic waste fumes? I CANNOT WITH THIS WOMAN.

Roy survives because he’s the Parkour Prince and Dinah offers some mea culpa about how the world is a better place with a hero like Roy in it. NO SHIT! WE’VE BEEN THERE FOR THE LAST SEVEN YEARS DINAH. Hey everybody! Roy gets to stick around because Dinah said it was okay!

I have whiplash.

Dinah: I was wrong. We all make mistakes.

Yeah, but you continually make the same mistake Dinah. It’s called disloyalty. What the team should have done is doctor the video, so it looked like Dinah killed the guards and handed it to Bingsley with a big red bow.

Stray Thoughts

Oliver had a building on top of him. Roy had cardboard. It's not always fun being the lead.

I really needed the show to be Tommy backseat hero-ing Oliver for the last six years.

Doesn’t Angel Tommy sound a lot like Felicity? It’s an absolute tragedy Tommy and Felicity never had any scenes together. I will forever blame L&urel for the joy she stole from me.

"I don't know how you ever breathe on this job."

"I don't." I love Felicity Smoak.

It makes me sad seeing Felicity’s genius corrupted like this.

ALENA WAS THE MAD SCIENTIST THUS CONFIRMING MY SUSPICIONS THAT SHE IS THE WORST.

Mia defending Felicity is a big mood.

I love you Roy. You are Olicity's first born son, but this is a lot your fault. So, I accept the guilty face. Next time tell Oliver you have homicidal blood lust tenancies before going out into the field. Okay cookie? Uh huh. Thanks.

Don't think about how we missed out on Tommy Merlyn for the last six years and put up with L*urel L*nce nonsense season after season instead. It'll never be okay.

It was weird Olicity didn’t hugh when they reunited. Made the scene awkward. I loved how Oliver almost slipped up and said “baby” though. Source: olicitygifs

Completely unacceptable we only had one Olicity scene for Emily’s second to last episode.

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me. 7x21 gifs credited.

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#arrow #arrow spoilers #arrow 7x21 #arrow reviews #oliver queen #tommy merlyn #felicity smoak #anti dinah drake #roy harper #william clayton #arrow season 7 #arrow season 7 reviews #season 7 episode review #season 7 episode reviews

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thebatmarino · 6 years ago

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The DCEU’s next Batman should be played by Dick Grayson

Batman and Robin. Words that have gone together like Peanut Butter and Jelly for around 80 years. Everybody in the world knows that Batman’s younger sidekick is Robin. Many know that Robin is Dick Grayson, fewer know that Dick grew up to become Nightwing, and even fewer still that he has spent time as Batman. With the recent activity in DC film, I want to talk about my favorite superhero, what makes him great, and most importantly, why I believe Dick Grayson is the answer to the DCEU’s Bat situation. To start, we’re going to rewind to 1940, when Robin was introduced to the world in Detective Comics #38.

Batman was created in 1939. A grim figure of the night, Batman spoke very little, a trait that has held through to this day. At the time however, legend has it that Bill Finger and Bob Kane were tired of drawing thought bubbles for him, so they needed to give him someone to talk to. But who? Well, Batman was a Sherlock Holmesian figure, it was Detective Comics after all, so they needed to give him a Watson. A character who’s intelligent, capable, and a proxy for the readership so they can join Batman on his adventures. The readership at the time (target readership, we know girls love and read comics too, but this was 1940) was 12 year old boys, and who might they look up to? Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn came out in 1938, he seems pretty cool. And a Robin keeps up the motif of flying animal that Batman started. And there you have it, Robin the Boy Wonder was born.

The creation of Robin is also the birth of the Teenage Sidekick. Since then, every teen sidekick from Bucky to Kid Flash owes a debt to the creation of Robin. As more and more sidekick characters populated the comic scene, something happened at DC Comics in particular that is one of my favorite things about the brand: the idea of Legacy Characters.

Consider the Justice League for a moment. Let’s look at the big 6: Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, and Aquaman. These characters are the Greek Gods reborn. They are iconic, they are mythological. Each one of them proudly displays a symbol that they adhere to. “I believe in love and equality”, “There is hope for everyone”, “I will drag myself through Hell for justice”, “by force of will, I will overcome all fear to save the world”, “I will always make time to help people”, “I will be the great uniter of disparate people”, or whatever you interpret the thesis of these characters to be. They are perfect embodiments. The problem with perfection is that real people can’t attain that. We can try. We can stumble and fall. And that is exactly what the Legacy Characters attempt to be. These characters are absolute representations in ways that humans are generally not. They are aspirational. That’s why there’s merchandise out the wazzu (do people still say that?), so you can see a person on the street with that Green Lantern symbol and know that person wants to overcome fear.

Dick Grayson was the first. For many years Dick was happily Robin, going on strange adventures with Batman and friends, whupping ass in green short pants. He even formed a team of sidekicks, known as the Teen Titans along with Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Speedy. All teenagers struggling to live up to their “parents”. These perfect people who’s symbols they have taken as their own and sworn to uphold. Then something interesting happened. In 1984, in Tales of the Teen Titans #44, Dick Grayson debuted his Nightwing persona.

Dick Grayson had been growing up. Which is a thing yet again, never done in comics before. For some time now, a rift had been growing between the Dark Knight and his Squire. Dick had gone off to college, formed his own super-team, and was going through the typical growing pains of a young person trying to step out on their own. No longer feeling the identity of his 12 year old fancies were fitting, he picked an adult, darker name that still reflected and honored where where he came from (the origins of this name are toyed with and retconned, but the connections between Bats and Wings of the Night cannot be denied).

As Nightwing, Dick Grayson was his own man, ran his life and heroics how he saw fit, and most importantly, didn’t answer to Batman. Until Knightfall happened. In the events of this story, Bane broke Bruce’s spine, resulting in Bruce choosing a man named Jean-Paul Valley as the new Batman. Jean-Paul went nutso and nearly killed Bane and begun a reign of hyper-vigilante terror in Gotham, so Bruce badassed his way back to walking because comic books, and whupped his ass. Before restoring himself as the one true Batman, Bruce asked the one man qualified in all the world to take up the mantle to do so: Dick Grayson. Yet again, we have a comic book first: a legacy character fulfilling their legacy. This didn’t last long however, Bruce did what he had to do, and Dick dutifully (and reluctantly) filled in as long as required.

Nightwing then got a brilliant solo series by Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel, which to this day is probably the most influential run on the character. Before we move on in his publication history though, I think it’s important to understand WHO Dick is, and WHY he is. After all, what makes this 12 year old boy so special that he becomes Batman’s right hand man in a war on crime?

Richard John Grayson, aka Dick, was born to John and Mary Grayson of the legendary Flying Graysons of Haly’s Circus. The reason they were legendary was because they flew without the safety of a net. Dick grew up on the trapeze with no net. No fear, no cares in the world, except being a child star performer. After a mob boss tries to unsuccessfully extort money from the circus, they murder the Graysons by tampering with the trapeze before Dick’s very eyes. The young orphan was observed by another orphan in the crowd, Bruce Wayne, who took him in. It wasn’t really successfully explained why a 12 year old seemed okay to take out fighting crime until the two part episode of Batman: The Animated Series, Robin’s Reckoning. Like a young Bruce, Dick was consumed with his parents’ murder. Each night, unfulfilled by the guardianship of an absentee Bruce Wayne, Dick would sneak out and try to track down leads on his parents’ killer. Eventually he got in over his head and Batman bailed him out and returned him to the Batcave. This boy knew no fear. He would return to the streets night after night. He would get himself killed. Unless he was trained how to not die by a certain… bat themed expert at not-getting-killed-by-criminal-scum. Bruce revealed his identity to Dick, which also explained why he was busy so much of the time, and in the Batcave, Dick swore an oath by candlelight to uphold justice and everything Batman stood for. The training was gruelling. Probably inhumane. But eventually Dick was allowed to accompany Batman on the streets as his sidekick.

Dick Grayson was saved by Bruce Wayne. Where Bruce was in uncharted territory sorting his rage, vengeance, and pain, Dick Grayson had a guide. A Mentor. Someone who had been exactly where he was, and could keep him from being consumed by darkness. And that’s reflected in their uniforms. The bright boy and the dark man. Adding to that, the Wayne’s murderer got away. There will be no vengeance or justice for Batman, just a gaping wound. Dick got justice for his parents. He saw that what they did worked, and that he could keep doing it for other people. Whereas Batman is driven by a desire to hurt those who hurt others, Dick is here to help. That’s something Tom King wrote into his character over and over during his run, the words “how can I help”. And if you look at the jobs he’s held down since striking out on his own: Police Officer, Guidance Counselor, Personal trainer, even bartending at a cop bar where he could give these guys relief (as well as pick up some leads) are all acts of service towards others. Which when the time came, made him a very different Batman.

The time eventually came. Bruce Wayne was “dead” (as dead as anyone is in comics), and Gotham City was in chaos. Initially Bruce left instructions for Dick not to become Batman. Because Nightwing was strong enough. He was his own man and Bruce believed in what he was doing. However, Gotham needs Batman, the symbol. And for the first time truly, not just putting on the cape and cowl, but deep in his bones, Dick Grayson became Batman. Fulfilling the legacy. He is not Bruce Wayne, just like we cannot be Bruce Wayne, but he can do his best to live up to what the symbol of The Batman means to him, just like us. Which brings me to where Dick Grayson is the future of the cinematic Batman franchise.

Over the last few years, we are experiencing a massive shift in how our male heroes are percieved. In the 80s which gave birth to Dark Knight Returns, a huge influence on the DCEU Batman, we saw a trend of hypermasculinity in our heroes. They were JACKED, strong, fearless, .50 Cal from the hip, Macho Men, stoic badasses that were too busy punching out teeth and blowing shit up to feel sissy-ass feelings. And that is where Batman has lived for years in comic continuity. He doesn’t say I love you, he doesn’t hug, he doesn’t feel feelings, he’s a rage-powered badass dressed all in black that kicks in criminals’ kneecaps because he probably kind of likes it. At the end of the day, you read enough of these comics and question whether or not Batman is actually a good man. Is he doing this to save the day, or inflict pain? Probably some of both.

As we survey the current landscape of masculinity, of heroism, of feminism, it’s important to question our heroes. It’s important to question, is this the ideal that we want people to strive for? In Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, we saw that Frank Miller Dark Knight Returns in all his glory. In my opinion, Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Batman was my favorite thing about that film. He was deliciously brutal, he was stubborn in his righteousness, he was extreme in his methodology, he was....murdering people? He was losing himself. He was so caught up in his need for violence, his need for war that he attempted to murder superman with a freaking spear. I suspect Justice League was intended to have a more redemptive arc for the demon he had become, but in any case, he has still become a monster. He has dwelled in hell so long that he has become the very type of devil he sought to destroy.

The best thing for Bruce Wayne would be to leave this life behind somehow. Pass the cowl on to the man who he trained for this very purpose. A hero that exemplifies modern healthy masculinity. Who can say “I love you”, who wants to seek justice more than vengeance, who can maintain healthy friendships and relationships, who believes in kindness, friendship, and laughter. I think it is time for Dick Grayson to take his place in cinematic history as Batman.

That doesn’t even touch upon the fact that the DCEU Batman is around 45 years old. While incredible and imaginative, they’ve set him at a natural age to retire from jumping off rooftops and withstanding repeated head trauma. If you look at Batman as a pro athlete, you simply do not see them at his age and doing tremendously well. Which when your sport is dodging gunfire and acting as bait for super aliens so other super aliens can clobber them, is not great. I think DC Entertainment is looking for ways to have a more youthful Batman, and I believe Dick Grayson is part of that natural path.

And that doesn’t mean we won’t have Bruce Wayne stories. As the news has just dropped, Matt Reeves is telling his own young Bruce tales. But as far as the Batman that stands shoulder to shoulder with Wonder Woman, and Superman? Here we have a young man in Dick Grayson coming into his own as a hero on the world’s stage, just like Diana and Clark. A young man with the strategic mind of Batman, the physical training, the gadgets, resources, but without the blinding rage, pain, and cynicism. A superhero that looks at the world and wants to genuinely help people. Not out of a deep psychological need to harm those who harmed him, but because he was broken and then saved, and he can do that for other people. Being a good person is all the superpower you need. As a culture, I believe those are the heroes we need right now. And as for Dick Grayson, he’s a born showman, and I think it’s time for him to take the stage.

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writingblankspaces · 6 years ago

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Super-Liked

Baekyeol

Chanyeol accidentally Super-Likes Baekhyun via dropping his phone on his face.

Ever since Sehun had convinced Chanyeol to make a tinder profile, his face became acquainted with having a phone dropped on it in the dead of the night when Chanyeol stayed up swiping through people.

Chanyeol, however, wasn’t a quick learner and on a particular night, he found himself interested in this one guy’s profile. In fact, he stared at his pictures for nearly ten minutes before he moved to swipe left because the guy looked too far out his league.

As Chanyeol moved his finger, his phone fell from his hands and onto his face. When he opened his eyes, he saw the match screen, along with a blue star in the middle, signifying that not only had he dropped his phone on his face, but he’d also super-liked the Baekhyun guy on accident.

He debated going and unmatching to save himself some face, but when he didn’t get a message in the five minutes Chanyeol stared at the match in disbelief, he figured that maybe Baekhyun would just ghost him and he wouldn’t have to bother unmatching.

Despite how levelheaded he was when he came to that decision, his heart skipped in his chest, and his stomach lurched.

Why would someone like Baekhyun be interested and swipe right on him? The guy seemed entirely too intellectual and gorgeous even to want to be bothered with someone as tall, lanky and corny as himself.

After all, his profile consisted of nothing but a list of his hobbies and a few dad jokes here and there, whereas Baekhyun’s spoke about how he desired to find a person to have deep and meaningful conversations with, especially with things involving space and cats.

The most Chanyeol knew about space were limited to what was in the Star Wars movies.

It took nearly twenty minutes of candy crush and a few deep breaths before he was able to calm himself down to go to bed. When he rolled over to go to sleep, he failed to see his screen light up with a notification.

Instead, he saw it in the morning, and just the thought of Baekhyun messaging Chanyeol first sent his nerves into overdrive the rest of the day. He kept messing up cords and blanking out on his guitar students, dropping pieces of pasta off his fork at lunch, and he’d walked into about three walls before the day was finished.

Only when he was back home, vacantly staring at the TV as some stupid reality show came on, did he fish out his phone and open the app to read the actual message.

Wow, a super like? I’m flattered ~_~ Am I that cute?

His fingers hovered over the screen, and he debated what to type, trying to come up with something witty, yet also showcase his very corny personality, which Chanyeol considered to be one of his best traits.

Finally, he thought of a passable reply and sent it, gritting his teeth the entire time because the whole situation was more than shooting his shot. No, he was shooting the ball from half court and could only hope that it at least grazed the hoop or backboard.

Would you be mad if I told you that the super-like was an accident, but that yes, you *are* that cute?

After he finished typing and sent the message, he threw his phone on the couch and jumped up from his seat, immediately pacing the room.

Would his flattery actually get him somewhere or would Baekhyun think he was boring?

A few moments later, his phone lit up with another notification.

Well, I’m not mad, but I’m glad we matched. You’re not bad yourself. Not to be too forward, but are you looking for a hook-up or relationship? Your profile doesn’t say anything, so I wanted to know, so I don’t ask any uncomfortable questions.

His fingers typed faster this time, and he repeatedly typed and erased various responses, eventually settling on something simple.

I’m not the best at hook-ups so I would say a relationship, but what about you? I know your profile said something about wanting someone to talk to.

Chanyeol wanted to type more, but he decided against it. That’d been enough, and if Baekhyun was interested, he’d open the conversation for more in-depth explanations.

Another notification.

Well good. I’m not the hook-up type either. How about we continue this over text? This feels so impersonal, and I like you so far.

Following the message, Baekhyun listed his number and Chanyeol copied it then saved it into his phone.

Everything was going so smoothly that Chanyeol felt the hair on the back of his neck stand because it was too smooth.

Too perfect to be true. Something had to give.

Growing up, kids made fun of him for various reasons whether it’d been his weight, his unexplainable love for ferrets or his large ears that he never quite grew into. As a result, he was always on guard and uneasy when things went too smoothly, especially a potential romantic relationship.

It wouldn’t be the first time he’d made that mistake, and for his own sake, he’d like to keep it from happening again if possible.

Chanyeol pressed the message button and thought about what to type before he sent a message to the number.

You’re not going to pop out my closet and tell me I’m being punked or anything will you?

For a moment, the typing bubble came up on the screen, and Chanyeol waited, and his stomach tossed.

No, unless you want me to hide in your closet and scare you. It sounds like fun, but definitely not ideal for a first date.

A date? Baekhyun wanted to go on a date? Date him?

The thought sent Chanyeol’s nerves into overdrive, and he stuck the tip of his thumb into his mouth, chewing the nail.

He went on like that for nearly ten minutes until his phone dinged again with more messages from Baekhyun.

Chanyeol?

Still there?

Chanyeol’s heart sped up when more typing bubbles appeared on the screen, then disappeared half a dozen times before the screen of his phone finally dimmed, then went to sleep. The entire time Chanyeol stared at it, finally looking away when he heard a knock at his door.

“Why do you look surprised? We made plans to chill yesterday,” Sehun commented after he gave Chanyeol a once-over. When he didn’t receive a reaction, he slipped off his shoes and pushed past Chanyeol, claiming his usual spot on the man’s couch.

“Sorry, I’ve just been um preoccupied, I forgot,” Chanyeol finally answered, his voice flat as he eyed his dark phone screen. Sehun’s eyebrows quirked, interested as he reached for it, quickly typing Chanyeol’s password and eyeing the exchange with Baekhyun.

If it’d been anyone else, Chanyeol would’ve had a problem at the blatant disregard of his privacy, but since it was Sehun, Chanyeol didn’t even blink. Instead, he just hunched his shoulders and sunk deeper into the couch.

“He seems really into you. Why are you ignoring him?”

“I just don’t know how to reply. What if he’s like, pretending to be into me? He’s way too hot for me,” Sehun put Chanyeol’s phone down and patted his friend on the shoulder with a sad smile on his face.

“There so no such thing as ‘too hot’ for you. We both know you’re a catch and anyone would be lucky to even breathe the same air as you. Also, if Baekhyun didn’t like you, he wouldn’t be wasting his time. This isn’t high school anymore.” The words got a small nod from Chanyeol, and he unlocked his phone again, his fingers hovering over the keyboard as he thought about what to type back.

Yeah, I’m here, just had to run a quick errand.

Sure he was lying, but it was way too early in their interactions for Chanyeol to disclose the recurring downward plunges in his self-esteem. He’d save that for the third date, thank you very much.

Ah okay. Sorry if I’m being too needy or impatient. But speaking of errands, I have to go to work in a bit, but I was wondering if you wanted to do dinner tomorrow night? There this new Poké place near my house and I heard it’s good.

Sure. What time?

Is 8 good? We can meet up there, or I can pick you up? Whatever is better?

“Despite what you say, you’re actually pretty good at texting,” Sehun whistled, wiggling his eyebrows at Chanyeol.

Chanyeol collected air in his cheeks and made a face at Sehun in response, which earned him a hard poke in the cheek, “stop being a coward and make it clear that you’re asking him out.”

The air rushed from Chanyeol’s mouth with a puff, and he stared down at his phone because Sehun was right.

8 sounds perfect actually. See you then~

And just like that Park Chanyeol found himself nervously buttoning his shirt in the mirror as he looked over himself one more time. It was nearly 7:45, and he needed to leave his house soon if he wanted to make it to the restaurant on time.

The moment he arrived, nearly tripping through the door, he recognized Baekhyun.

The pictures on his profile barely did him justice with his honey blonde hair and smooth skin. Chanyeol briefly thought about asking him for skin care tips but decided against it last minute.

He wanted to make a good first impression.

Chanyeol stood in front of Baekhyun for a few moments before the man looked up, recognizing him immediately.

“Ah, you’re here! How long have you been standing there?” Baekhyun sounded embarrassed, and Chanyeol made a mental note of how cute he looked as his cheeks turned a light pink.

“Not too long, but it’s alright. Should we get a table? I heard this place gets packed at dinner time,” Baekhyun nodded and stood up.

It was then that Chanyeol noticed just how much shorter Baekhyun was than him.

Cute.

To Chanyeol’s surprise, the date went well, and he and Baekhyun hit it off.

They liked the same kind of music—90’s grunge and 80’s pop—and the same TV shows. They even discovered that they’d gone to the same college, but unlike Baekhyun who’d graduated after three and half years, Chanyeol had dropped out due to disinterest.

“So, this guy tried to tell me that the 80’s wasn’t Madonna’s golden years and I couldn’t take it anymore. I just walked away from him,” Baekhyun explained, telling Chanyeol in great detail about his last Tinder date as they walked around the empty streets.

“Well I’m glad you didn’t walk away from me,” Chanyeol muttered more to himself than Baekhyun, but the man heard him anyway.

For some reason, he didn’t offer a response and only reached for Chanyeol’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Chanyeol picked up the sentiment immediately, and a small smile graced his lips. Even though they were walking, now that Baekhyun was holding his hand, his heart was racing.

“I don’t usually hold hands on the first date, but I’ll make an exception,” as Baekhyun said the words, he realized that he’d already made plenty of exceptions for Chanyeol that night and he was about to make one more.

Chanyeol tried to be suave and said the line, “what else don’t you do on a first date?” but as he said it out loud, he immediately regretted it and wished he could shove the words back inside. Baekhyun, however, glanced up at Chanyeol, then let out a laugh that sounded like it came from the pit of his stomach.

When he finished laughing, he stopped walking, “this.”. Chanyeol also stopped, and he looked at the shorter man in confusion. Without warning, Baekhyun rocked forward and place a soft peck on Chanyeol’s lips.

As he pulled away, he took in Chanyeol’s reaction and immediately started to freak out. Chanyeol’s expression looked akin to a short-circuited robot. Only after Baekhyun waved a hand in front of his face did he finally blink.

“I’m so sorry, I should’ve asked first, I—” Baekhyun went to ramble on, but Chanyeol stopped him by holding up his hand. There was a sheepish smile stretched across his lips and a light flush across his cheeks, “no it’s okay Baekhyun. I liked it. It’s okay.”

After that, they both walked in silence for a minute before Chanyeol cleared his throat, “would it be too much if I asked for another date?” Baekhyun looked up at Chanyeol with an incredulous expression on his face.

“I was going to ask you the same actually,” Baekhyun admitted with a bright smile on his face.

Chanyeol could’ve sworn his heart stopped for a few beats.

#fandom: exo #pairing: baekyeol #rating: pg #baekyeol

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hellyeahheroes · 7 years ago

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Characters That Should Be In Young Justice S3, Part 4: Legacy

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Many characters in Young Justice are connected by the theme of legacy, being sidekicks of heroes from Justice League or in another way following their footsteps. As such, this time I looked at characters that could continue with this theme and expand on it, carrying a legacy of characters we already have seen on the show, or others, whose history we haven’t yet explored.

Number Ten: Firestorm

Firestorm is a weird character in that he went through multiple identities and adaptations are happy to cherry-pick for their own interpretation. In Justice League Action it’s a teenage Ronnie Richmond and professor Stein, in Batman; the brave and the Bold it’s adult Ronnie and teenage Jason Rusch, in Injustice 2 it’s Jason and Stein and in Legends of Tomorrow it’s Stein and an adult Jason. In New 52 it was teenage Ronnie and Jason as separate Firestorms who could fuse into one bigger Firestorm called Fury. And that’s not even getting into characters like Firehawk, Gehenna or Mikhail Arkadin that were thrown into the mix over the years. Or that time with fire elemental. As such, I feel it would be interesting to see Young Justice’s take on the concept. Maybe we could have multiple people able to merge into different Firestorms, with their own relationships and conflicts, with the Team or the Light trying to gain some of them as allies?

Number Nine: Jessica Cruz Green Lantern

As I’ve mentioned recently, DC Rebirth managed to push Jessica to the popularity that allowed her to become the representative of Green Lantern mythos in both DC Comics Bombshells and DC Superhero Girls. I’d say let’s strike the iron when it’s hot and give her appearance in Young Justice. While the concept of multiple Green Lanterns isn’t new in this Universe and has lead to a pretty nice joke about Guy Gardner in season one, we never had a Green Lantern actually working with the Team and while Jess is an adult, she is a rookie so it would make sense for her to be assigned to the Team first. For the better fun, I’d also suggest bringing in her partner and fellow Lantern, Simon Baz - I want to see them in the early days, clashing and bickering and the Team having to help them get along, before developing beautiful friendship we know from comics.

Number Eight: Mary Marvel

Fun fact: Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. actually are supposed to exist in Young Justice Universe - one bit of obscure information reveals they operate under codenames Laurietant Marvel and Sergeant Marvel. It never came to be, but honestly, I’d love to see it happen - in a more serious, dramatic and sometimes the outright dark world of Young Justice a ray of sunshine here and there won’t hurt and she could fill nicely in the spot missing since Billy stopped being a regular part of the team now.

Number Seven: Tanya Spears Power Girl

Tanya is a relatively fresh character in DC universe, but she already managed to leave an impression and gain few fans and her appearances in Deathstroke prove she can work very well in darker stories as well, especially in contrast between her naivety and idealism and more cynical people around her. Being a super genius who can change the size and has super strength makes her a kind of addition the Team doesn’t really have and her connection to Superman family allows us to have a character from it without someone with similar powers stealing Conner’s thunder. And, as a bonus, in the previous part I have brought up introducing second, younger Wally West from New 52 to Young Justice - seeing how these two are now friends and looking out for each other, I wouldn’t mind seeing it on screen.

Number Six: Kevin Kho O.M.A.C.

O.M.A.C. lives....SO THE MAN CAN LIVE! Holly shit is the concept of O.M.A.C. (One Man Army Corps) just freaking awesome or what? A normal person turned into a literal one-man army by a supercomputer on a satellite, Brother Eye. Be it to carry orders of mysterious and maybe not so benevolent as it looks Global Peace Agency or Brother Eye’s own agenda, he is a force to be reckoned with. There were multiple incarnations of the character over the years, but New 52′s Kevin Kho or his teenage version from DC Rebirth, Kevin Cho, seems best suited for a story in modern times. And it helps in this version O.M.A.C. is basically the Hulk - powerful, giant monster that can give even toughest enemies a pause. Carrying orders that not necessarily need to align with the Team’s mission, he could as well be a valuable ally or a dangerous enemy. That being said, Kirby’s original 70′s series was years ahead of its time and I’d gladly see if some of its influences or antagonist have found their way into Young Justice. Especially with how it’s been implied that story’s O.M.A.C. is being manipulated and his superiors are not as good as he thinks.

Number Five: Stargirl

A legacy character to both Starman and Star-Spangled Kid, Courtney already has made her way into other shows, having minor roles in Justice League Unlimited, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Justice League Action. As such I’m interested in seeing what would be the take on her from writers of Young Justice. She is another one of those characters who can bring more optimism in darker moments, but also have some potential for drama on her own (especially if we go with New 52 version where she is motivated by the death of her brother). For a bonus, she was a love interest for Captain Marvel and YJ Billy should be of that age by now, so...

Number Four: Emiko Quinn Red Arrow and Number Three: Connor Hawke Green Arrow

Arrow family is strong on Young Justice, with Artemis as one of the main characters, not one but two Roy Harpers and Arrowette coming to join the cast and some small but sometimes surprisingly emotional appearances by Oliver Quinn himself. So why not add more? I could totally see Emiko, Olivier’s half-sister and Connor, his son, as his newest protegees and potential recruits to the Team or allies helping them on occasion. I’d love to see either of them interacting with Artemis in particular.

I also have a different idea - Green Arrow was beating himself on how he has failed Roy Harper, both of them and even more on the supposed death of Artemis. Maybe we could see him trying to somewhat do better by retiring as a Green Arrow and becoming a full-time mentor for younger members of the Team...while his City is protected by new Green and Red Arrow, who obviously show up from time to time?

Number Two: Zachary Zatara

Zachary is Zatanna’s cousin, who also possess magical abilities like her. He does have a different personality, being more arrogant and confident with his magic. He calls himself the world’s most popular teenage magician. While not earning many friends, he does seem to gain fans in and out of Universe. In Young Justice, his addition could be interesting both because Zatanna herself was a part of the Team and he could be a great contrast to her for the fans. But also because of the fact Zatanna is now on Justice League. And so is Doctor Fate. I can totally see him calling her out for not having yet saved her father and his uncle from Fate but outright working with the guy who took Giovanni from them. And I can certainly see him trying to do something about it himself.

Which leads us to our last entry on the list

Number One: Khalid Nassour Doctor Fate

I never really forgave myself sleeping on when DC You Doctor Fate book launched. So here is a small bit to make up for it. I want Khalid to show up in Young Justice and take a part in finally saving Zatanna’s dad from the Helmet of Fate and then put it on himself, maybe figuring a way how to not end in the same situation as Giovanni and others before him (he is Kent Nelson’s grand nephew, he could have found a way). He is an interesting character in his own right and I want him to have more spotlight.

- Admin

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sphinxsmuses-archived · 7 years ago

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ooc: All available muses/characters on this blog

Kingdom Hearts/Fandomless:

Ai Malificia (A kind-hearted, gentle girl who lives in Radiant Garden. She is the Somebody of Xia, losing her heart when her world went into darkness. She also has a twin sister verse with Xia where the two have plant powers)

Naruto/Fandomless:

Midori Ryu (Clumsy, overly shy, and faints at the sight of blood, Midori is probably the worst ninja in existence. But she wants to make her family proud, their ideals that dragons exist causing them to be a laughing stock in her village Specializes in fire and wind jutsu to mimic dragons)

Kiyumi Tenshi (Wild, rambunctious, and full of crazy ideas including calling her three team of girls the party ninjas, Kiyumi is also a terrible ninja. She views her ninja abilities as something to use to entertain others. Has the jutsu ability of ice but mainly fights with her fists)

Naoko Shizuka (Quiet, emotionless, and unreadable. Naoko is the brains of the group and probably the only real qualified ninja. She specializes in shadow jutsus, creating creatures of shadow)

Warframe:

Trinity (A Tenno wielding the Trinity Prime frame. Calm, mature, and cool headed in chaotic situations, Trinity is always looking out for others and supporting the innocent. Though she is a tad lonely, traveling with just Ordis and the Lotus to keep her company while she takes on missions)

Dot Hack/Log Horizon/SAO/fandomless fantasy:

Marie/Aislynn (A nerdy girl who loves videogames, anime and manga. She loves to play MMOs and is a Shadow Warlock in Dot Hack. She roleplays in character in the game as a mysterious being who speaks poetically at times and loves to read fortunes.)

Nier Automata:

10B (A YorHa Battle unit who shows way more emotion than most androids. Loves to flirt and adores humans and androids, detesting machines. If she gets too attached to someone, she can come off as Yandere in a overprotective way.)

Monster Hunter:

Jinouga (A mischievous playful Stygian Zinogre monster girl who loves to hang out in Yukomo village, specifically the hot springs. She hasn’t caused trouble for the villagers and is therefore left alone. She loves to tease hunters and follow them on hunts sometimes)

League of Legends/Fairy Tail:

Shay Pierina (Playful cat girl hailing from the country of Shurima with the power to manipulate sand. Acts very cat like including curling on laps and her love for fish. Also wants to become a guard of the Emperor. Has Fairy Tail verse and a general fantasy verse)

My Hero Academia:

Kyana Aeira (A wannabe heroine with the Quirk to conjure fire. Easily excitable and tends to rush into fights without thinking, but wants to help the world. Has Multi-Hero Fandom Verse and a Overwatch verse. Also an Endeavor’s Daughter Verse. (all on Alt. Verse page))

God Eater Burst:

Rosella “Rosie” Tsuritsa (God Eater who is very serious when it comes to her work and hardly finds joy in much but is trying to change for the sake of her team. Lost family to a Vajra long ago therefore hunts them the most when possible. Weapon set made of Vajra parts. Is a Blood Unit.)

Final Fantasy XV/Kingdom Hearts:

Diana Fotieni (A lady knight who wants to be a Kingsglaive like her mother was but has no chance now that the empire took over. Diana is calm and friendly to friends but becomes serious in fights and upholding justice. Travels with a Moogle companion named Vico. Has a Kingdom Hearts verse where she is a keyblade wielder traveling with Vico. Also has Fire Emblem verse.)

K Project/The World Ends With You:

Tia “Usagi” Faye (Bubbly kind of girly girl who loves to rollerblade and attends Ashinaka High School. Is a Strain with Electricity/Magnetism abilities. Also has The World Ends with You verse where she ends up the in the Reaper’s Game after falling to her death trying to do an extreme rollerblading trick. Has a fandomless fantasy verse.)

Pokemon:

Blair Mahou (Braixen Gijinka who thinks she is a magical girl. Flirty and mischievous sometimes but mainly likes to help people with her ‘powers’. Likes to put on a show in order to gain reputation and hopes to get her own tv show)

Kingdom Hearts:

Xia Malificia (A mischievous, flirtatious, manipulative Nobody with the ability to summon and control plants. Her favorite to use are vines which she ties up her victims in and sometimes combines them with rose branches, making them have thorns as sharp as knives. Wants to join Organization XIII. Has RWBY verse and a fandomless verse)

Fairy Tail:

Alyssa Astrum (A Celestial Wizard from the town of Hargeon with Chinese Zodiac keys. Loves to dress fashionable and can be kind of bratty. Has the Monkey, Tiger and Mouse Jade Keys. Currently looking for a wizard guild to join.)

Yugioh:

Christina Terrwyn (Spunky, rambunctious tomboy with a dragon deck. Loves to show off and take things to the absolute extreme. Has Digimon, Dragonball Super and Fandomless Sorceress verse.)

Miyuki Tenshi (Sweet, innocent, naive girl who can see duel spirits, has one of Happy Lover, and has a angelic deck. Mainly a Yugioh GX OC who is an Obelisk student.)

Iyumi Akuma (A wannabe queen who is highly delusional and acts a bit like a spoiled brat. Brash though if someone shows her kindness she is quick to fall in love and can turn a little lewd and shy. Has fandomless verse.)

Aku Yazoi (A wannabe punk who is hot tempered and tries to act cool but is a sucker for cute girls. Is kind of a dweeb. 5Ds OC but can fit in other verses. Has fandomless verse.)

Katie Terrwyn (Serious and calculating but also shy. Uses Spellbook deck. Has fantasy verse. The sensible one who tries to keep her sister out of trouble to no avail. Also is very intelligent especially with technology and learned how to hack on her own.)

Cathy Terrwyn (Optimistic and cheerful. Youngest sister of three. Uses Madolche deck. Has fantasy verse)

RWBY:

Ursa Miela (Bear girl with a secret love of honey. Tries to act scary and tough but gets easily embarrassed. Part of Gwen’s team with two guys. Her Semblance is the ability to shape shift into an actual bear. Her weapon is a staff that turns into a large bow with bear carvings)

Gwen Favete (Gwen is a rabbit Faunus and is part of Ursa’s team. She loves fashion, vintage things, and coffee. Shy at first but becomes chipper and excitable and a tad ditsy once she warms up. Semblance is the ability to summon weapons she can control in a telepathic manner with a baton.)

Fate Stay Night:

Emilia Clarimond: (A young mage from a family of mages. She became the next in line to fight for the Holy Grail. Seems quiet and reserved but can be mischievous and playful. Fights with magic of the stars)

Fandomless:

Chloe Thaleia (A trained thief from a family of infamous thieves. Playful, mischievous, but secretly a kind person. Looking for her older brother who left the family to pursue a different career when she was a child. Has a modern day Robber verse and a Kingdom Hearts verse)

Aiolos Thaleia (A man aiming to be a knight who came from a family of thieves. Usually calm and composed and friendly to anyone he comes across. Misses his family at times but believes his path is the right one for him. Has a modern day Police Officer verse and a Kingdom Hearts verse)

Colette Eirina (An air headed, very naive, hopeless romantic princess who has done nothing but caused grief for her kingdom by getting continuously kidnapped and held for ransom. Now on a journey on her own to find true love. Has Konosuba verse)

C.H.I.S.A. (A self learning Android that looks like a human girl who loves to sing and is very innocent and curious about the world. Has Overwatch verse)

Zalira Deona (A lazy but kind succubus who would rather play videogames, eat snacks and read manga than actually do succubus things. Loves human culture and humans though her parents highly disapprove of it.)

Kishi MacAuley (Boy-crazy, excitable, self appointed captain of a wannabe pirate crew of all teenage girls. Captain of the S.S. Fishermen.)

Madeline “Maddy” O’ Raleigh (Hot tempered, not very friendly first mate of the pirate crew. Was orphaned just like Kishi and the two grew up with each other. Very protective of Kishi.)

Julianna Jana Frost (goes by Julia for short) (Down to earth but kind of a stick in the mud and a worry wart. Navigator of the pirate crew and also a Prime Minister’s daughter)

Olivia Filligan (Oldest of the pirate girls and acts it. Calm, composed, but scary when angry. All she has to do is flash a scary smile to send the others running. Very caring and can cook, clean, and even knows some first aid.)

#ooc #all available muses #all available characters #updated with ninjas

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prettyflyforasuperboy-blog · 8 years ago

Text

YouTube’s Gonna Love This || Conner and Kaldur

Kaldur didn't mind stakeouts. As long as he worked with the right partner. He and Conner had brought Garfield along once because of his abilities but the boy had been Snapchatting the whole thing. The criminals of course had seen it and known they were coming. That was the day Kaldur discovered bullets really hurt. So this evening it was just him and Conner and he was pleased with it. It's been a few days and his hangover had finally gone away and when Batman had delivered the assignment he leaped at it. Apparently two young men were more inconspicuous than Clark and Bats trying to blend in. He drummed his thumbs against the dossier while waiting for Conner to arrive. They'd decided to arrive at the car separately because it looked less suspicious. When he finally heard the car door open he grinned lopsidedly. "I have the refreshments, the dossier, and some music. This shouldn't be too bad. Information gathering never is. How was class?"

Conner had been busy with class, yet when Clark himself had asked him for his help he had once more felt as if he couldn't say anything but yes. Not that he couldn't say no to Clark, it was just that he could be doing something else with his time. But if anything this was worth it. With nothing to do but sit in the car for the next twelve hours, he could get stuck into a huge stack of equations and formulae that he had to work out for a physics module he had enrolled in on a whim. Little did he know that physics would be more difficult than he had imagined, yet regardless he wasn't about to quit. "I've not even read the dossier yet," he grunted as he closed the door behind him and slid into his seat, at least it wasn't going to be too cramped, he thought. The car was relatively spacious and whilst a van would've been ideal, they couldn't really justify one for the mission. So a car had to do. "My class was fine, mind boggling stuff, but fine. How about yours?" he asked, smiling gently at his friend.

Since both of them were large men: Kaldur was tall and lanky and Conner was a brick wall made flesh, he wished they'd been able to have a van for the mission. However they found themselves instead in an SUV rigged with technology to rival the batmobile. At least this one had leg room. "You are not missing much." Kaldur offered as he unscrewed the top off a bottle of water. "See who comes in. See who comes out. See how long they're in there for. The car will notify us when there is movement, we just have to mark down who triggered the movement alarm. Rudimentary stakeout to be sure." He nodded along as Conner talked about his class, knowing full well he'd have a stack of homework to rival Kaldur's "we are attempting our own individual translations of The Odyssey. It will occupy much of my time for at least a month. But in an uncharacteristic act of kindness my professor has made it the only homework for that particular class." He tucked a mechanical pretzel behind his ear and looked at the clock on the dashboard. "Ten pm on the nose. Let the twelve hour countdown commence."

Chuckling gently, Conner scooped up the dossier and read it quickly. It was a lowkey, surveillance mission. They were not to engage unless they were engaged first and Conner had no desire to get in a fight with the bad guys today. They might've been two of the more powerful and not to mention experienced fighters within the team, but that didn't mean that they were infalliable and they might well be out gunned here. Besides, this was an easy mission, basically an extended study session with the occasional chore as long as everything went to plan and Conner saw reason why it shouldn't. "This is a real interesting read," he murmured as he flicked through it, "a real page turner." They had basically been given no information, but this assignment came directly from Batman and that usually meant that it was important. "Well that sounds riveting!" he exclaimed, "Incredibly interesting really!" he shook his head gently and smirked. "Twelve hours of fun!" he exclaimed somewhat sarcastically.

Kaldur cracked a broader and more luminous grin at Conner's sarcasm, gills flaring as he laughed. Truth be told he agreed with the assessment. This was a startlingly easy assignment to give to the two most senior members of the team, but he wasn't complaining. Being on assignment meant he couldn't be bothered by other members of the team, it left him time with homework and Conner. At least one of those was his favorite "I can hear the sarcasm in your voice. We do have that in Atlantis as well." He spread books out on his lap; the original Greek, a lexicon, and balanced his notebook with nascent translation on top of them. "At least this car is sizable. Remember the Sacramento stakeout? They put the two of us in a Mini. Most cramped I believe I have ever been in my life." His pencil scratched away at the page as he kept one eye on the building's sole entrance and one on his homework "This seems palatial in comparison."

Shrugging gently, Conner dug an iPad out of his bag and began to bring up the work on it that he needed to do. They were in Chicago, not in the worst neighbourhood in the city, but certainly not in the best one either. There were the small tell tale signs of poverty all around them, over years and after many many training exercises, Conner had become adept at judging his environment after one glance. "I'm not complaining," he replied with a smirk, "being here with you is better than nothing and some of the best missions that I've ever had are the most boring ones." He hoped that this was boring, he hoped that this nice if not slightly run down neighbourhood was safe from whatever crime they thought was going on here. Too many times entire blocks were ruined just because they were the location of a meeting that concerned the Justice League and although Conner believed in what they were doing there was far too much collateral damage for his liking. "It isn't the flyer," he admitted, "but things could certainly be worse, I'm glad that Batman found it prudent to give us all of the best tech, that mini didn't even have basic defensive functions." He shrugged, happy with his lot in life as he began tapping away on his iPad. "We'll make do my friend," he said with a smile.

Listening to the tapping of Conner's fingers on the iPad he'd brought with him Kal smiled. Even working it was easy to be around the other hero. It's what made their partnership work so well on and off the field. "I feel like the mini was punishment for something though for the life of me I cannot comprehend what." He chewed idly on the end of his pencil while flipping through the lexicon for a word that fit what he thought the author was trying to say "We always make do. It is our trademark." He kept scratching away, neat handwriting filling the gridded paper, occasionally making note of someone entering or exiting what he assumed was a gang headquarters. "Queen Meera would like to know if you are coming down for Atlantis day. I told her I would ask." He took another drink of his water and looked over at Conner's iPad "That looks hellishly difficult." The numbers swam in front of him and he couldn't make hide nor hair of them "I do not know how you manage all of that."

Conner had started getting into the flow of the work and was in the middle of a particularly difficult piece of quadratic formula when Kaldur next spoke. "Surviving for the next stakeout," he said as he watched a man with a dark jacket and broad shoulders enter the building, he made a note before turning back to his work. He had no clue what the building was, by all appearances it was a block of apartments that could do with a new coat of paint, but what was going on behind closed doors was another matter entirely. "I should be able to go," he admitted, knowing the date was coming up soon, Conner had scheduled some time off work for the festivities. He tried to go every year, it was an important festival for his friend and he would've hated the idea that he wasn't there to support him. "Tell her that I'd be delighted to come and that I'll make every effort to attend." He smiled gently and shrugged, "I could say the same for your work."

Rummaging through the cooler he'd put in the back seat Kal grabbed a bag of carrot sticks and started to eat them as they worked. There was music playing in the background, he'd put it on before Conner had arrived and hadn't turned it off when his friend had gotten in the car. It was quiet enough not to be a nuisance and if it was, Conner would turn it off "She will be delighted. She adores you." His pencil flew across the page as he parsed a tricky sentence into something resembling the original poetry, a pleased smile creeping across his face. "We will only stay for the parade and the feast. I know what trouble a rebreather is." His laugh cut across the car at Conner's comment "it is not so bad. It is a puzzle. I like puzzles. I have to tread the fine line between making it understandable English and keeping the authors original poetry and intent. It is fun for me. I cannot imagine pursuing another major."

Grabbing a carrot stick out of the bag, Conner thoughtfully crunched on the snack as they both worked their way through their pile of homework. This was nothing more than a weirdly situated study session. At least that was what he was hoping. Hopefully the stakeout would go well and they wouldn't have to deal with the repercussions of whoever they were spying on finding out that they were spying on them. This was about as normal as things got for Conner and he was beyond grateful for this time to relax, work and spend time with his best friend. "I am delighted for the invite, I adore your mentors Kaldur," he said with a smile, "you got the kindest of the mentors." He shrugged gently before turning back to his iPad. "They've developed a new line of re-breathers that Green Arrow and Batman promise me are much more convenient. You place them over your bottom lip and they form a film between your mouth and the water, I've yet to try one but apparently they are much more comfortable for wearing, so hopefully we will be able to stay longer." He smiled gently and shrugged. "I can understand your position, Mathematics is similar I guess."

Setting the carrot sticks between them Kaldur grabbed a fourth book from his bag and balanced it against the steering wheel, trying to read in the dim light before grunting and acquiescence to his body's limitations and sliding a pair of wire framed glasses on his face, cross referencing several things at once "and they adore you. They perhaps like you better than me. They certainly think you are the most polite surface dweller they have ever met." He cracked a grin and turned to Conner "Careful. She is already asking for your measurements. Appear to eager and you might end up with one of these too." He tapped a nail against the small ornate piercing hanging from his septum, the carefully styled gold a gift from the King and Queen. "Then you will truly be one of us." Three sketchy looking men entered the building and Kal made a note of it before returning to his work "We each have our fortes, to be sure. Math has just never been mine. I find you singularly impressive."

Smiling gently Conner kept working through his homework. Things weren't exactly difficult, but it was tedious work and far from the most interesting type of mathematics that he had ever done. Yet he was somewhat content, enjoying himself as much as he could when it came to this point. Looking at his friend, he smiled gently and looked up from his work. The dim light was fading fast now and it wouldn't be long before they weren't able to see anything more than the outlines of each other But he didn't mind, he was enjoying himself. "You think that they like me better than you?" he asked, scoffing gently as he did, "Clark and Lois won't shut up about what a nice young man you are, I'm pretty sure they are considering adoption." He laughed and shrugged. "I never thought that a septum would suit me," he admitted with a smile. "I think that I would need gills before you could consider me Atlantean," he said with a laugh.

"I think they look upon you with tremendous favor." His voice held no ill will, Kaldur wanted his adoptive family to like his best friend, so the fact that they did made him incredibly happy. He laughed again, sliding his glasses off and resigning himsf to the fact that he couldn't see his books anymore. "Clark and Lois have only ever seen my genial and polite side. I am sure they would reconsider if they were to live with me for any extended period of time." He cocked his head and looked at Conner in the dying light "I think you could pull it off. Yours would have to be silver, of course, but gills or no you are certainly an honorary Atlantean."

"I am grateful for their respect and reverance, it means a lot coming from the adoptive family of my best friend." Conner had truly developed a healthy respect for the Atlantean court and that was almost exclusively due to his friend. He fiddled with one of the rings in his ear and shrugged. "Perhaps, but even when you've had three hours of sleep and have been fighting for most of the night you somehow manage to be one of the most level headed and calm people that I have had the pleasure to meet." He smiled and tapped on the glass. It wasn't that late but their stakeout had only just begun. The problem with stake outs that Conner found was that he was often tired from the day and staying awake for the next nine hours was going to be tough. "I'll have to pass," he said finally, "getting a piercer who is able to properly pierce me is already enough of a pain."

"They appreciate all you have done in defense of our society and culture. Atlantis would have fallen several times had it not been for your assistance." Kaldur adored his culture, and it meant a lot to him that Conner went out of his way to involve himself in Conner's home and the customs it held. "Years of being trained by the King and his commanders. It teaches one that equipoise is the key to moving through life. Regardless of the circumstances around you that you cannot control, the one thing you can control is how you react to it." Stowing all of his books in his bag he sighed and leaned back in his chair, watching the door they had been tasked to observe. Without the aid of light it was going to be a long night. The length was ameliorated somewhat by Conner's presence though. He chewed idly on a fingernail and chuffed a quiet laugh, "Standing offer. The King's Guard would be happy to have you. Like all things, they'd be better with you."

"Whilst I'm flattered by the compliment and I appreciate it to an extent that I doubt you fully understand, I don't think it is fair to say that my sole involvement in the three to four battles I've participated in when near Atlantis is what prevented defeat," Conner said with a gentle smirk, "but I appreciate what you're getting at," he shook his head gently and smiled. "Yeah," he grunted, "what you just said. That." He didn't need to be the most eloquent person around, he didn't need to always have the last word, Kaldur was easily more than capable of that. "Thanks, but I'm not sure that Martha and Jonathan could cope with me coming home with another piercing or anything too radically different to what he had left the farm with. His adoptive pseudo parent / grandmother was resistant to his hair cut and he had been getting it cut like that for well over a year.

"The truth is never a compliment, Conner. It simply is." With a finality that made his opinion iron clad and unmistakable he flowed onto the next conversation topic, looking through the gloom at Conner's various and sundry piercings. Kaldur had never been one for personal ornamentation like some of his Atlantean compatriots were. The golden septum piercing that was the mark of a battlemage of the King's Guard, and the tattoos that helped him channel his water magic were the only permanent adornments he opted for, but Conner positively glittered with piercings. Coupled with a flashier haircut than Kaldur could have ever driven himself to get, the Kryptonian presented a grander picture than his more slender Atlantean best friend. "No wonder your family thinks so highly of me, if personal adornment is cause for alarm for them. I am more understated with it than you are, to be certain." He flashed a smile and drank more of his water, taking note of someone leaving the building, "I enjoyed myself the other night, when you and I drank far too much and watched the stars. Again, thank you for spending that time with me."

"Then how do you manage to make every little piece of the ‘truth’ that you tell me be positive about me?" Conner said with a chuckle. Kaldur had a wonderful way of making the truth support you. Of all the people that he spent lots of time with, Kaldur was one of the most positive and supportive presences in his life. Always driving him to strive for greater than he thought was possible, always pushing him to be the very best person that he could be. It was something that he would appreciate for his whole life, he was certain that Kaldur was the reason that he was the person that he was today and one day, when he was older Kaldur would be the reason he was the man that he was on that day. "Yes, well the smooth talking and complicated vocab probably helps too," he replied with a smirk as he yawned and reached into his bag and pulled out a flask of hot coffee, pouring out two cups and handing one to his friend. "It was my pleasure, thank you for the drinks although my hangover the next day was lethal."

"You absolutely do. I have slept near you on enough occasions to know for a fact that you do. I believe Garfield has a recording of it, actually." Kal's fingers tapped against the warm exterior of his mug before he shrugged "Be that as it may... the world is hard enough on us without me compounding that. If I have an opportunity to remind you of your positive attributes I think I will take it." Crunching thoughtfully on another carrot stick he kept his gaze on the door as Conner grabbed goggles. "Fishy indeed." Glancing down at the notes he'd been taking on the tablet batman had given them he ran a quick tally in his head "twenty-five people have entered and only three of them have come out again. Someone is having a staff meeting and I do not believe they are called together to discuss the HR policy on workplace romance."

"Psht," Conner waved his hand idly and shrugged gently. "That sounds fake, I'm almost completely certain that it is something that definitely didn't happen." He shrugged gently and shook his head. "But I guess I should just say thanks instead?" he said with a smirk. Grabbing a pickle from the snack pot, he held it between his two fingers thoughtfully before slipping it into his mouth and chewing on it slowly. "Do you think that we should take a closer look?" he asked with a gentle frown as he looked down at the dossier. Their orders had been very very clear that they were not to engage with the criminals, but Conner wasn't sure he could help himself. "Maybe we should just take a peak?"

"It was his ringtone for awhile. I believe it was M'Gann that made him change it because she could not bear the sound of your snores every time someone texted him.... which is frequently. I do not know how he has time for such a burgeoning social life in between missions but somehow his phone is constantly ringing. Now it is a song about a unicorn in space.... but it previously was the dulcet tones of you snoring on that mission in Madagascar." Kaldur crunched loudly on dried seaweed chips (something he'd had to bring back in bulk from his last trip to Atlantis since nobody sold them on the surface) and looked over at Conner with his brow furrowed, "As the team member in command I am required to remind you that our implicit orders were to stay in the car for routine surveillance only. As your best friend and sword-brother though..... I am cramped. I could to with stretching my legs for awhile. Close surveillance only. No combat unless absolutely necessary."

Conner laughed gently, shaking his head and fiddling with one of his piercings gently. "I'm touched that he actually went to all that effort," he said with a smirk. He knew that he probably did snore, that was why when the team were on a mission and in close confines, he always made sure that he was the last one to go to sleep. He didn't want to keep them up. Though Conner didn't need to be told twice, he got out the car and crossed the street to the front of the building, pulling out a pack of cigarettes -- of course he didn't normally smoke, but every once in a while you had to improvise and the number of times a pack of cigarettes had helped with that was unbelievable -- and lighting one up as he leaned on the wall and did the best that he could to listen into the building. He didn't have Superman's hearing, but he could hear a bit better than most. "What do you think?" he asked as he struggled to hear anything but the general noise of the street.

Kaldur crept silently across the roof of the warehouse as Conner got into position with his pack of cigarettes, "I am also obligated to remind you" he murmured into the comms, sliding from one shadow to another, glad he'd opted for black jeans and a dark shirt, "That smoking is a filthy habit and Kryptonian biology or no it is detrimental to your health." Positioning himself near a vent he managed to get half a view of the interior of the building "I think I was correct. I can see a large table and people around it. However, I cannot hear anything because of the noise of traffic." A quick scan of the roof revealed several options for ingress and Kaldur heaved a sigh, this was getting farther and farther away from the parameters of the mission and Kaldur was reminded of a mission in an underwater base where he'd deviated from mission parameters. It had been a bloodbath and he had had an unfortunate lecture from Batman after it. "I can gain entry unseen. But can you hear anything?"

Straining his ears nearly to the point of ignoring his other senses, Conner was all but pressing his ear to the wall and at this point he was convinced that they must have sound proofing or something. Either way he could only hear some muffled whispers. "Don't worry," he said ashing the cigarette and gently struggling not to choke on the smoke that was leaking out of the cigarette, "I think I'll manage to quit on my own." He was tempted to just jump onto the roof and have a look himself. "I can't hear anything, if you want to learn more without having to be stuck in the snore-mobile all night then this is probably going to be our best shot.

"Fine. But I am not explaining to Martha why you smell like cigarette smoke. She likes me. I will not sully that with your bad habits." Kaldur started to slide towards a very large air vent and unscrew the fasteners holding the grate in place, "Fuck" he only swore infrequently, because he felt it was below him as a leader of the group, but it had been a long long time since he had been worried about what Conner thought of him, "Please remember that if I die, you are in charge of the group and my remains should be delivered back to Atlantis so they can be buried properly and I can pass into the Deep Trench." He wedged himself into the airvent and started to slither forward as silently as he could "Please do not tell His Majesty that I wedged myself into an air vent for information. It is not befitting a member of the Kings Guard."

Raising his eyebrow gently, Conner reached out and scratched the tip of his chin thoughtfully. Ashing his cigarette once more gently and taking a long drag before exhaling gently. "I don't go back to the farm when I have to smoke, and it isn't like I smoke frequently," he said shrugging gently, "what can I do? I'm young, dumb and full of fun. Besides, I'd not go anywhere near smallville, or even metropolis, Clark would definitely have a stern word with me." He sighed at Kaldur's unnecessary dramatics. "If you're going to die then hold off and swap with me, I'm bullet proof and I would much rather not have to lead the team. That just isn't me."

Kaldur managed a chuckle as he rounded a tight bend in the vent "We are indeed young and dumb and full of fun. Though I think my only vice is drinking. Drinking and moderate pornography use." The murmur of voices grew louder and louder until he could understand what people were saying through a nearby grate. He stopped moving, concerned that if he scooted close enough to see through the vent he himself would be uncovered. "Too late." He hissed as quietly as he could while still having the comm pick up his voice, "I am here and close enough to hear what they are saying. Is my mic picking this up? You should record this so we can present it to the League."

"What about the insufferable sense of justice and absolute right in every situation?" Conner asked somewhat sarcastically, he didn't particularly care what his friends vices were. He could be a drug addict and it wouldn't change the way that Conner felt about him. "Well you kept going forward in the vent, you should have gone the other way!" he exclaimed with a laugh. Straining his ears he switched their comms onto a mode that would record everything except what they said. "I can just about hear it," he murmured, listening to them discuss what appeared to be shipments, though they weren't exactly being specific about when they were coming in. A gruff voice was picked up, "... the shipment from Metropolis is right on schedule and the shipment from Gotham will be delayed for three more days, but that shouldn't affect our plans too much."

"Once again my lithe form works to our advantage. I am fairly certain you could not have made it around the first bend let alone the several I had to make to get here." Kaldur’s eyes rolled sarcastically at Conner's questionable compliment "I cannot be your best man if you refuse to take control of the team. Definitionally I am my own best man right now which seems needlessly conceited to me." His mind raced with possibilities as Conner's voiced filtered into his ear, "You are correct, they are not. After the raid we conducted in conjunction with the League last month nobody has had the chance to build up their facilities enough to start production on a mass scale again. Which means they are importing." Curled up into a tiny ball in the air vent he thought for a split second, "We cannot act yet. We need more information about what they are bringing in and how they are dispersing it. But once we have that information we should attempt to capture as many of them as we can. Whatever this plan is it cannot be allowed to come to fruition."

Conner nodded gently and moved back to the car. "Well we can all be lithe," he replied exasperatedly, "some of us have to be big and broad." He smirked gently as he moved to the trunk and he tapped in the code on a holographic key pad that shone out of the handle of the trunk. Popping it open, he typed in another code and grabbed a large box. Pulling it open he placed it on the ground and popped it open. Grabbing the large frame he moved back to the door of the apartment building and placed it over the frame of the door. "You know that I have no problems working in conjunction with you and telling you what to do once in a while, making you my best man in this instance, but there are plenty of other candidates who would be perfect for leading the team. Miss Martian, Red Robin and Tigress are all more than qualified." Pressing a button he watched as a large force field vibrated into life before his eyes. Perfect. A second later and he was climbing up to the fire escape, it was the only exit now. "See what else you can learn," he said with a smile as he pulled himself over the ledge and onto the roof of the building, "I've secured the front exit with the portable force field emitters so they'll have no choice but to move out of the fire escape, when we know enough I suggest that we spook them and then drive them up, you can then take them from behind and I'll take them from the front."

Kaldur couldn't help but roll his eyes again "yes yes you are built like a brick wall and are convenient when I need a human shield to hide behind." He chose to ignore the old argument about leadership for the moment. Carefully listening he gleaned as much information as he could from the meeting while Conner's voice whispered a plan in his ear. "They are importing a manufactured toxin designed to force everyone into a hallucinatory state; making the city defenseless for a mass robbery and crime spree. It sounds much like the work of the Scarecrow though they have not mentioned him by name yet. They last shipment they need is arriving tomorrow night. I suggest at this point we attempt to capture as many as we can which means I am about to make a dramatic entrance from his air duct. Are you ready for incoming?"

"Convenient?!" Conner screeched down the microphone, "is that all I am to you?" he asked, faking a sob, "A convenient piece of cover?" He smirked and squared up in front of the door, he would work as a barrier and prevent anyone from escaping. Reaching up and adjusting the ring that was in his cartilage of his right ear so that it sat more comfortably around his headset. "So it is either the work of Dr Crane or a copycat. That is all we need to know," he said, knowing that Clark was going to give him the telling off of a life time at the end of this. But he didn't care, they needed to act and if they didn't act then that could lead to a disaster. "I'm ready for incoming," Conner confirmed with a smirk, cracking his knuckles, "I hope you do something funny, the last time you burst out of an air duct it got over a million views on YouTube."

"The minute your muscles start to go I have no more use for you." Kaldur teased, wriggling as silently as possible to get the water bearers out of their sheaths on his back. "Nothing but a piece of attractive meat to me." His finger tapped against the ring in his nose; partially out of habit and partially out of a need to call to mind everything that made the King's Guard, and him, great. "Well if I can get a million and a half i will consider this mission a success." A quick twist and a quirk of thought brought razor sharp water through the metal and he tumbled gracefully down into the middle of the conference table their targets were seated around "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I am Aqualad and you have two choices. Death or surrender. This building is surrounded so please make this easy on yourselves and come quietly." He knew they wouldn't. But he liked to try.

"I knew it!" Conner exclaimed down the comms, "I knew that you were forgetting my anniversary!" he said with fake tragedy tinging his voice. "Well since you've admitted that you're only in it for the sex, well then we're not getting anymore sex until we've sorted this out, you're not getting any of this sugar." He laughed to himself and pushed his hair out of his face. Balling his fists, he slid his feet backwards and lowered his center of gravity, preparing himself in front of the fire exit as he heard metal clang and knew that Kaldur must be starting his assault and that it wouldn't be long before they found out that the front exit wasn't an option. "Death or surrender," he said with a smirk, "that was a very nice touch."

"You mock, sir." Kal muttered as he waited for the stunned assemblage to make up their minds, "But Atlanteans frequently exchange gifts on the anniversaries of friendships. Ours is July 27th... in case you were wondering." As there was a sudden mad rush for the exits Kaldur hopped off the table and gave chase, knocking a burly man unconscious as he ran past, "Was it? It felt a little heavy handed. They are coming your way by the by. One has already been knocked unconscious and I can probably have four more down before they hit the fire escape." He fought to make good on his promise, water bearers transforming from weapon to weapon as suited the situation he found himself in, "Hopefully we can get through this one without killing anyone."

Smirking gently, Conner shook his head. "I knew that, I count it as both my birthday and the day that I met you, Dick and Wally." He smirked gently, Atlanteans had strange customs by all accounts, at least compared to other groups of people, but that didn't mean that he didn't love them just as much as almost anyone else. The Atlanteans were almost a second people to him, they were always there for him, always accepting when no one else would. "But then again," he said with a smile, "you already knew that too." He laughed gently as he took a breath and watched the fire door slam open. A gun was raised and the bullets bounced off of his chest. "This is a new t-shirt!" he exclaimed with a shake of his head. Grunting he lunged forwards and knocked his first opponent out with one strike. "Ready to surrender?" he asked with a smirk.

"Of course I knew that." Kaldur huffed out as he rounded a corner, the water under his control spinning into a mace allowing him the club a man with a gun out of his way, "It is why I buy you presents every year on that day." Leaping over the slack body of an enemy combatant he vaulted out the fire escape as quickly as he could, just in time to see Conner lament his ruined new t-shirt and take someone out, "I will buy you a new t-shirt if we pull this off successfully." He grinned, tripping someone and waving at his friend, "But for now, there is rubbish to clean up and a story to figure out. Since I am sure my King will threaten to lock my in a trench below for this." He winced as a knife found its target, lodging in his side, "Rude. Exceedingly rude." He knocked the woman out and moved onto his next target

Whirling around, Conner grabbed a criminal by their ankles and used them as a battering ram, knocking enemies over left and right. Once upon a time he had exclusively relied upon his brute force and his strength to get him through, but as he had fought more and more villains he had learnt that you can't always trust that you'll be the strongest person in the room. So he had taken up a few martial arts and he was putting them to good use now. Leaping over to Kaldur's side as he saw the knife lodge into his side, he knocked another person out and knew that the League would've noticed this fight by now and that they'd be on their way. He hoped that they sent a Green Lantern. Or Wonder Woman. Hell Batman would be better than Clark showing up right now. "Are you ok?" he asked, fighting back to back with his friend. "There aren't many of them left now." Five by his count.

Kaldur watched with no small amount of amazement as Conner grabbed a poor criminal and used them as an implement of destruction, "That poor man." He murmured as he tossed the knife out of his side and chucked it to the side, "I am fine. It is not the first time I have been stabbed this year and I am sure it will not be the last." He nodded in agreement at Conner's assessment that there weren't many left, "We should have this wrapped up before anybody shows up. It will help to ameliorate the large amount of yelling that is about to come our way." He tucked and rolled behind someone, lashing out with a leg to trip them before knocking them out with the hilt of his weapons, "This would be phenomenally easier on us all..." He called out over the din of battle, "If you simply surrendered to us. You are human.... neither of us are. So... this fight is not stacked in your favor."

Conner watched as Kaldur spun back into action, his water bearers a blur of blue light as he knocked their number from five down to four. They were a motley crew. Two big white guys that looked like they were members of the KKK. Kaldur kicking their ass must really be beating them up because they charged at the pair of them and before they could even react Conner and Kaldur had swiftly dealt with them. That left a small girl with a buzz cut and a weird tattoo under her chin and to her left was a skinny boy with greasy hair. Holding out their wrists, they collapsed to the floor and it was obvious that they had realised that this was a fight that they were not going to win. "I want a deal," the girl pleaded, her face stony. Conner was surprised, he didn't usually hear a criminal breaking their apparent code of honour and trying to rat out the other members of their gang. "That will help," Conner said to Kaldur as he slipped magnetic cuffs onto both of them, "she'll be able to give us all the information that we need." He smiled gently and looked at the sky. They were just in time to see a figure in a blue onesie shooting through the clouds. "Great." He muttered under his breath.

Kaldur narrowed his eyes in disbelief as the two remaining combatants sank to their knees in surrender. "I am going to bind you now. If this is some attempt at a ruse please know that I will knock you unconscious. It will not be gentle." He pulled restraints out and immobilized both of them before returning to Conner's side, tearing off a strip of the man's ruined t-shirt to hold against his wound, "The deal will be as follows. You will turn evidence against the attendees of the meeting you were just at. In exchange for this you will still go to prison. It will be a prison not filled with the people you just turned against and it will be for a slightly shortened sentence. There will be no negotiation." He looked up at the sky when Conner did, brow furrowing as the blue streak grew closer, "Oh look.... He is here. Not who I wanted to see right now if I am completely honest with you."

Conner smirked gently as they locked the two criminals up and he couldn't help but wonder why they would take this risk. Either way, it was a blessing in disguise. "Kaldur," he said with a sigh, "you know he could hear what we were saying if he wanted to," he paused and looked at the prisoners. "I'll go talk to him, you make sure these guys are secure and in transit." Straightening what was left of his t-shirt he sighed gently and made his way towards the blue streak.

#para #p: kaldur #chatzy para #YouTube's Gonna Love This

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aion-rsa · 8 years ago

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INTERVIEW: Priest & Cowan on Deathstroke and Real World Violence

SPOILER WARNING: The following interview contains spoilers for “Deathstroke” #11, in stores now.

All these months later, and storied DC Comics characters are still lining up for their respective debuts in the publisher’s Rebirth reality. This week sees the reemergence of that jaundiced, feral freak, The Creeper, along with his Fourth Estate alter ego, Jack Ryder. To make the return all the more odd, it takes place in the pages of “Deathstroke #11,” by Christopher Priest and guest artists Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz.

Priest and company have hardly taken the typical approach to Slade Wilson or his terminations with this series, opting instead for something just as violent, but far more introspective. That’s especially evident with this latest issue, a frank examination of gun violence and vendetta–not in Gotham or Metropolis, but real world Chicago. When multiple perpetrators of gang murder turn up dead themselves, journalists flock to cover the story of a potential serial killer. Is this justice, or the kind of “eye-for-an-eye” vigilantism that only feeds the cycle of violence? Perhaps an assassin with an eye-patch may prove the best testimony.

CBR: Chicken and egg question: Did Deathstroke #11 start with the outline, or the knowledge that Denys and Bill would be the art team?

Art from “Deathstroke” #11

Christopher Priest: The issue began as an inventory story, which is an issue we prepare and hold in case there are production or scheduling problems with the book. I wanted to do an anti-violence story and thought, what better place to do an anti-violence story than Deathstroke — a book that all but glorifies violence. As I see it, my run does not glorify violence so much as it examines the consequences of violence and the effect living this lifestyle has on this man Slade Wilson. I thought a stand-alone inventory issue would be a great platform to make a more forward-leaning statement about those consequences.

At the time of commissioning, there were many stories about the rising toll of shootings in Chicago, with 2016 being a record-breaking year in terms of gun violence and homicides. I thought this tragic situation would make an appropriate platform for my story, and discussed it initially with film director and producer Reginald Hudlin (“D’Jango Unchained,” “2016 Academy Awards®,” “Marshal”), who is now a principal in Milestone Media Inc. I invited Reginald to co-write the issue, but he was busy at the time directing the upcoming biopic “Marshal.” He did share his views on the culture of violence—including Hollywood’s role in it—and suggested my story might work as an urban spin on the classic western “A Fistful of Dollars,” wherein the beleaguered townsfolk hire the gunslinger Clint Eastwood to resolve their problems by means of violence. “Dollars” is a cautionary tale and an anti-violence statement in its own right, and Reginald’s suggestion provided the direction I ultimately pursued.

I thought the story would be a great fit for Milestone Media in its renewed relationship with DC Comics, and had hoped for a mini Milestone reunion by inviting Reginald and Milestone co-creator Denys Cowan to join me. I was incredibly pleased when Denys said yes and worked the “Deathstroke” story into his busy schedule. Denys then brought along our longtime friend Bill Sienkiewicz as well as longtime Cowan letterer Willie Schubert (“The Question,” “Legends of The Dark Knight,” “Lone Wolf & Cub”).

Was there ever any resistance to this story?

Priest: DC has been unqualified in their support of this story. I was actually prepared for a fight and kind of expected the story to get dumped somewhere along the approvals process, but both Bob Harras and DC Publisher Dan DiDio were extremely supportive, making me feel a little like a dope for, essentially, doing to the company what I’d experienced for so long — making assumptions along cultural lines. I kind of owe the company an apology for my having suited up for a fight that never happened.

Art from “Deathstroke” #11

Obviously, every project is different, with its own mood and pace. Denys, were there any particular challenges when putting pencil to paper on this one? Anything you wanted to try?

Denys Cowan: The challenge of this story was to try to convey the city of Chicago and the people who live there, because the city is as much of a character in this story as Deathstroke is. I tried my best to show this… and with the excellent story by Priest and the inks by Sienkiewicz, I’m very happy with the way this issue came out.

I don’t imagine this applies to anyone on this call, myself included, but there are those who don’t want politics to infringe on the escapism of their comics reading experience. What’s your take on that?

Priest: Read other comics. [Laughs] The way I see it, there are so many choices these days and so many genres from both major and indy publishers, that there should be room for a myriad of approaches. You know, once there was a Cary Bates approach and a Denny O’Neil approach, with Chris Claremont emerging as a kind of amalgam of the two: the high-energy larger-than-life superhero action but character-driven and grounded in reality.

DC films are very much grounded in reality, while the main grouping of their superhero comic books tend to read more like animated series in terms of their heightened reality and high-octane action. Everything is really loud and really bright and occasionally silly, with colorful villains like Abra Kadabra and so forth. But The Dark Knight was so good, it actually worked without the costumes. I mean, if Bruce Wayne had been a Bond-style vigilante rather than Batman, that movie would have still worked.

If I were writing Justice League, the book would probably not be something DC fans would want to read because it would be far less larger than life and would echo life as we know it. I mean, what if there really were a self-appointed group of godlike people “protecting” us? How would the world respond to these people? My JL book would examine the real-world conflicts, challenges and consequences and be less concerned about the next galactic menace the heroes would have to fight.

Art from “Deathstroke” #11

This isn’t to criticize writers who write the bang-zoom stuff; these are very talented people doing a great job. But I, personally, don’t read those comics unless I have to for research because they don’t appeal to me, and nobody is writing “JLA: The Real World,” which would appeal to me. It’s also possible I am simply not the audience for mainstream superhero comics because so much of it is just too cranked and too loud for me. I want the real world—or as close to it as I can get—and then pop the heroes into it.

Cowan: This isn’t a political issue to me. Gun violence is a human problem. We deal with this subject in the context of a thriller type story.

Still others might ask why Deathstroke the Terminator is the right guy to relay questions about the cycle of violence in the real world. Do you think audience perception of Slade is a hurdle or an advantage in telling a really charged, meaningful story?

Priest: I think only Nixon could go to China. If DC is going to do an anti-violence story, it really has to take place in “Deathstroke” in order to have real credibility. You had to send the most staunch anti-Communist crusader to talk to Mao in order for any agreement to be trusted by both sides.

I went into this one cold. In fact, I read this digitally without having seen the cover. So when the Creeper shows up, it was maybe the last cameo I expected to see. It’s almost a shame most other readers will have already seen him on the cover. How did the Creeper become part of the equation?

Priest: For this story, I wanted Deathstroke to be portrayed, more or less, as a force of nature. He has very few lines. The story is told by a point of view character. I thought that POV character should ideally be a reporter; someone who could ask questions. I did not want to the book to preach to the readers “Violence Is Bad!” I wanted to preach a good sermon. A good sermon is like a good court summation: tell a story, ask pointed questions, which lead the hearer to draw their own conclusion.

I initially wanted Lois Lane, but there was so much going on in the Superverse that we looked elsewhere. When Jack Ryder came across my desk, I felt Ryder — a former Jerry Springer-type — would be perfect. The story is built around Ryder however, as it developed, it became obvious that if we have Ryder in the book, readers would expect The Creeper to make an appearance.

I actually did not want Creeper on the cover, but this is the first post-Rebirth appearance of the character, so it made sense that DC would want to play that up. Hopefully, the way the book is written, most readers will have all but forgotten about The Creeper until he makes his entrance. I think it still works.

What’s important to you right now, as storytellers in, let’s call it 2017? What do you personally want to explore or say or ask? What do you want to get out of it?

Art from “Deathstroke” #11

Cowan: As a storyteller in this medium, I’ve always tried to explore the human experience using extraordinary superheros to entertain and reach people. It’s just as or maybe more important in 2017 to continue to do that.

Priest: I’m still trying to decide if I’m having a good time or not, and how long I’ll be writing comics. It’s a lot of hard work, and there’s this big team the editor has to corral, like herding cats. I worry that I’m really not in sync with what is popular and what sells these days, which is probably why I am not offered leading, or A-List titles. A friend told me last week, “Dude, that [Denny O’Neil] era is over.” Man, I really hope not. I loved Cary Bates’ Superman and Flash, But Denny took Superman and grounded him in reality — got rid of Kryptonite and de-powered him, then wrote him introspectively. It should not be zero sum. Grant Morrison’s “JLA” was certainly larger than life and sold a gajillion copies, obliterating my “Justice League Task Force.” So, do I still belong here? I guess that’s for the readers to decide.

I’d like to be writing novels and exploring other creative avenues. As of this writing, there are lots of possibilities and I’m really kind of shocked that so many people have approached me to work with them. It’ll likely be at least another month or so before I know for sure what 2017 looks like.

Art from “Deathstroke” #11

The post INTERVIEW: Priest & Cowan on Deathstroke and Real World Violence appeared first on CBR.com.

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