#ive still only made 2 comic pages i wanted to do a lot more by now

[arvoze]

beheeyem, 2

[wolame-o-ccx]

would genuinely love to see your process for sketching out your comics!! ive wanted to make my own but i have never really figured out the process and end up overwhelmed- and you're one of the folks who makes stuff in a style that I kinda draw close to, and u do ur comics with pencil and paper- so if you wouldn't mind in the future, it'd be really cool to see how you actually get everything planned :)

This ask is so cute :( probably genuinely the biggest compliment I've ever received! Well, no waiting in the future! I'll tell you now what happens behind the scenes! :)

SO FIRSTLY, I'd like to clarify I am in no way a professional or even close to one, I never even looked up how to do comics, I just kinda do them and use what I've read from DC comics and Pinterest tips.

But! Personally, I find that making comics is fun and that's what I strive on. I won't lie when I say my comics are pretty bland, the surroundings are empty and lame but I think the character's expressions and body language make up for it, and especially the script. So altogether in this post, I'll be breaking down how my comics are made!

↓↓↓ if you're interested, open up the full post!

1 - Scripting

In both dialogue and character detail/placing!

I use a notes app for when I get ideas!

* I usually don't do specific dialogue, only stating the idea and then coming up with dialogue in my head, but there are some exceptions where I do write down pre-thought-out dialogues you can see in the examples I put below!

With the idea / dialogue in tow, we can go to character detail / placing. I don't know the actual word for it but basically how the character acts in a specific scene / dialogue!

Character expression is especially important when it comes to any type of art, be it comics or animation as it can tell a story with little to no dialogue!

* panels taken from 1 and 2 for context

From here you can clearly tell their expressions well! Be sure to exaggerate!

2 - Limit planning

With Tumblr's 10 images limit, as well as Instagram if you post there, it's important to note that limit and know when to end the comic with a good panel where it doesn't feel like it's supposed to continue UNLESS you're making two parts!

I can't tell you how many times I've ruined my sketchbook papers trying to get a perfect script but I've been doing it long enough that my brain has adapted to the limit and every comic I've done since adapting had been a perfect ≤10.

But even if you decide to go with two (or maybe even more) parts, you should make sure it ends well still! Like a book! Those spaces between paragraphs and chapters and such!

Take these for examples too!

* panels taken from 1 and 2 for context

So treat it like a book! I guess ?

3 - Panel placement

This isn't a necessity, but my personal way of drawing each panel is having it scattered around randomly around my sketchbook. I don't use strips or anything like that as it restricts me because using strips on paper is a whole lot harder than on digital. Because I have such a wide area to draw, I'm less restricted from drawing any excess things I want to add in case my dialogue doesn't fit the panel or so!

4 - Draw

Now to put it all together and make the comic! I usually already have my vision in mind so I can just go draw it without a light sketch layer, but I do recommend it!

What that is is essentially a sketch but drawn like.. your pencil is hovered above the page? Like you don't press down on it or something like that. Basically a guideline! So do that if you need it, and when you're satisfied with how it looks, you can draw it! And make sure it's clear!

After that, it's just picture and post! (Make sure you crop it right tho!)

4.5 - BONUS / TIPS

When I started posting Belos drawings, I never expected it to get any attention or even end up as a whole AU 😭 I just drew him in a babygirl hoodie and people ate that shit up so now it's an AU 💀 and because of that you need to prepare personalized tags!

Tags like pitmdau or sharing caleb au ! Very very useful for navigation

More important than tags, make sure you have a Masterpost!

I'm aware mine are unfinished and very messy and I'm trying to work on that right now but it's very difficult but people really need it so when making Masterposts, YOU HAVE KEEP UP WITH IT. I slacked of for ONE POST and now it's a mess.

Also another important note you can only put 100 links in one post so you have to make more Masterposts to navigate through the comics 😭

5 - Have fun!

When getting into comic making, I think really the most important thing to keep in mind is your enjoyment in making said comics. Sometimes some things can burn you out very quickly so when you're getting into things like this, especially when you're not getting paid, you gotta make sure you have fun doing it. It doesn't matter if it doesn't get a lot of traction or not, it only matters that you are enjoying making and posting them!

I've experienced MULTIPLE burn outs from making too many comics for my TOH AUs that at some point I just completely died and lacked motivation. But what drives me into making them are other people's enjoyment! Their enjoyment gives me enjoyment which gives me motivation to make more. Someday I'll know the AUs I've created will inevitably be over, at some point, but right now I'm just having fun with the small community I've built!

So make comics, and have fun!

I hope this was helpful in any way. I just want to clarify that, again, this is my way of making comics, and you don't have to follow anything I put into the post. I'm mostly hoping this was easy to understand as well. I'm more of a visual learner so making up the words to make this was kinda hard so I'm sorry if some parts didn't make sense. If anything, feel free to hit me with another ask or a PM! I know me not posting seems like I'm inactive but I promise I check Tumblr frequently 😭

Happy posting!!! :3

[carmenpeach]

not sure im gonna b able to finish my comic chapter by end of month like i want considering its halfway over (was visiting ppl for a week so very busy and only drew a little but got a little more figured out for it) and i still need to script out the last 4 or 5 pages. usually the scenes in it are only a page or 2 but trying to have a longer scene/ convo in it without it being too compressed or taking too long plus finding what all jokes i need to fit into it too. like the meat is all there but the small chunks need to be filled in, plus the task of drawing a full 8 or 10 pages and i gotta pack all my shit again to move again but i dont wanna keep delaying my comic like i always do, and having a bit of art block last like 2ish weeks and think i should do the requests i got from deviantart and here done to break into that. and wanna finish up some ceramic stuff since it might be a while until i get to do that again. but think im making it more daunting than it needs to be when its like i just gotta sit down and draw the damnt thing. no jdea how im always so busy despite not really doing anything a lot. i can only imagine what i would get done if i had adderall. im a little torn on how i want it to end since theres what i want but it doesnt fit the story thats been crafted and i feel there is really only one way for it to go and i am very excited to share it. ive made a sideblog where i wanted to catalogue what everything is in reference to since like 90% of it is in jokes between my friends and i really do loce sharing funny things 2 the world

[kzscarcadeau]

03/9/24

technically an update from yesterday but it’s 1 am right now lmao

Worked on some pages

Fixed some older design sheets

i have made a decision that sets me back quite a bit but it will save me a significant amount of time in the long run so i feel less bad about it

i restarted. again. i was going back to look at some old pages and there were quite a few weird continuity errors (ex. line sizing, line colours, character placement etc) that i just couldn’t fix because i get rid of the file as i finish them to save space. there’s also a bigger reason i wanted to, which is a problem ive run into several times while working on this project:

colour. i am so incredibly bad at picking colours for non-painted artworks that it’s embarrassing 🥲 i just can’t do it!! and it takes me so long and procreates fill bucket just doesn’t work properly so i’m doing 2 things:

- switching the comic to black and white

- going back to my drawing tablet and using krita as the art program

the reason why i used my ipad for so long was because i wanted to be able to work on it wherever i went, but procreate has so many setbacks that has wasted so much time that the portability isn’t enough to justify using the program. i cannot go as loosely as id like to be with my linework in procreate as i can on pc and the fill bucket never working is such a big reason why i’ve struggled to work consistently on this project. these changes will eliminate a large majority of my problems when i’m making this comic so there’s very little chance i end up restarting again. my only problems would just be hating my old art but what can you do 🤷‍♀️

not really update related, just kinda yapping utc

i used to care a lot about getting this comic out and making hype earlier into the project. thats what all creators usually go through. trying to push things out while they’re relevant so it gets more reach. after working on this comic for almost 3 years, im doing this more for me than for anything else. it’s so incredibly self indulgent that it already caters to a rather small demographic, and im fine with that. that’s how i’ve always worked. i did whatever i wanted and if people didn’t like it, i didn’t care. they can go find other media they like.

i used to be worried about not getting this comic out when this ship was super popular. not to say that it isn’t still, but there was a prime time and i was trying to get there within that time period. obviously that didn’t happen but whatever 🤷‍♀️ i’m taking the time to make sure i like what im doing with this project. who knows when i’ll finish it. but i want to make sure i do. just to say that i did it. this story has evolved and grown alongside me and i can’t wait for a day where i can put it out into the world. i’m okay with the possibility of my friends being the only readers. as long as it exists someday and im happy with what ive accomplished, i’m okay with the time ill need to get there.

[knamil]

Rambling about my comic \o/ and my plans for NaNoWriMo

Small confession: I haven't been playing diablo iv like I said I would. I did play it for almost 2 months straight when it released. And it was fun. And I did think about my comic while I played it. And a solution DID present itself. Well, a clearer understanding of the problem presented itself and from there the solution was something I could figure out.

So that was groovy and then Bliz released the big D4 patch before the first season launched and made the game feel really bad to play. Like they fixed zero things that were broken and broke many things that were working. And the worst part was that they did not know this would be poorly received. That was a sign to me that I should stop playing (aka the game wasn't fun for me anymore) so I stopped and have been chipping away at figuring out the solution for my comic.

I realized while playing d4 that it's been more than a decade since I wrote Remi and most people who will see my comic don't know her. The AU was written at a time where my audience was basically 100% mutuals who knew Remi so I didn't need to show who she was and the differences in her character brought on by events in the AU would be obvious. Now though, since people don't know Remi, it's difficult to say what's different about her and a lot of the things I wrote just don't have the same impact.

So the solution is I had to write more and now the comic is much longer. Like 3 or 4 times longer. or more. I realized this a few months ago as I re-paneled everything and the darn thing just kept growing.

Another problem is when I drew the first 15 pages I wasn't happy with the results. I felt like I was rushing and I wanted to really do my best on every page. Looking back, I realized that the action in page 13 doesn't exactly read like it's supposed to. Actually, most of the action was pretty lazy XD. But after not making a lot of progress in the past couple months it's pretty clear that I can either draw with the skills I have now or I can like... not draw.

Only one of those choices is going to get anything done.

So. NaNo presents an opportunity. I've always failed NaNo like I fail every time-based challenge (haha repostober I had one job and I had already posted the art and I still failed), but I want to use it to make progress anyway. While there are several more parts to go after this I'm hoping to get part 1 done by the end of the month.

I don't know if I'll post pages as I finish or wait till I'm done with part 1 or what, but I've started working on it again and I'm looking forward to getting somewhere.

[elysiuminfra]

hi anon i love you. thank you for thisi question (i just woke up) you have no idea how excited i am to talk about this. had to make a post since it didnt wanna publish ur ask :( in the ideal world AMPHIMAL (all capitals for silly) is a 14 episode 2D animated tv show (heavily inspired by gennedy tartakovsky's work - particularly with samurai jack and primal, as well as mike mignola's work on hellboy) (AND SERGIO PABLOS!!) (wait edit: AND the old animated batman movies) HOWEVER. i have had many many thoughts about its ACTUAL format as a webcomic. i think it works best in this format cause the internal dialogue is important and you'd lose that in a show (i have many many thoughts about how media format influences tone/overall storytelling) particularly i'd like to execute it as a webcomic set with unconventional format - im very inspired by indie comics such as quinn - a horror webcomic made by moby, tumblr linked here, an artist who's work ive followed for a while and who's work first piqued my interest in breaking "traditional" webcomic format. yugo limbo and mike mignola (there he is again!) are also huge inspirations. (and another webcomic im too embarrassed to say) im in love with the  idea of using the website itself as a backdrop for your visuals - it would be a mix of script, prose, intermingling with cinema-like stills as visuals - this is because traditional comics are difficult for me, i THINK in camera angles and shot layouts, not necessarily comic panels. i also plan on having annotations throughout the story, for secrets and descriptions of certain era-specific objects as fun optional facts - although when i actually put it all together on a website, this feature could be toggled. ideally it would be non-intrusive - think the note system from pentiment. the biggest inspirations i draw for AMPHIMAL though is Hellboy full stop in terms of palettes, visuals, and style. i plan on further solidifying and developing the "look" of amphimal as i do more research on victorian cultural and architecture motifs (they don't even know about the henry jekyll architecture associations) and also because i am the world's most unnecessarily detail-oriented person. my current work reflects moreso how i plan on amphimal looking when its published, with stark shadows, black shapes taking forefront, limited and striking palettes with heavy emphasis on color, shape, and object motifs. i am putting an unnecessary and frankly embarrassing amount of thought into literally every single detail (AND striving for semi-historical accuracy) (which is extremely difficult due to the lack of primary sources / bias in papers and the lack of accounts of certain aspects of victorian life, such as lgbt history and london’s underbelly of the era. particularly because many primary accounts are rife with racism, bigotry and inaccuracies - and they don’t paint a complete picture, so much of what i show WILL be speculation and not historically accurate) as for SCRIPT? behind the scenes its pretty rough - i have my charts and notes, but they're all pretty disorganized and i don't think i could share them without 1. spoiling a LOT of stuff (it doesnt differ from the original plot in any way, it just has far, far more depth into the characters - and some stuff i want to keep a secret!) 2. exposing just how deranged my note-taking skills are. amphimal currently exists only in pages and charts and key visuals i've made for myself that i MUST compile in a clean format for personal use (and sharing among those who can take peeks behind the scenes) as for key points oh boy. my favorite chapter and the one i'm most excited to write is utterson's search and first meeting with hyde. second favorite is utterson's scenes involving lanyon's death (he does die in amphimal, that i'm not changing - i thought about it at first but scrapped it) these moments show off utterson's character at key points OUTSIDE of jekyll (an absolute necessity!) - and he is, by far, my favorite protagonist out of all my projects. and i love him your honor ANYWAY ummm i dont really have much else to write other than thank u for sending this question!!! artistic format / experimentation is one of my favorite things to talk about. as for WHEN amphimal is gonna be a thing, it'll be in the future when i'm in a better living situation (and when the full amphimal theory bible is compiled - i'm obsessed with consistency between scenes and background motifs, so this will work as a reference for me once the project gets started however this will and is currently taking a LOT of research) ETA? later. possibly next year if i'm not too busy adjusting to the city im moving to. dont know yet but it'll happen. i'll make amphimal before i die promise because if i dont my spirit will never sleep peacefully

[ambyandony]

not done yet but heres some notes

i use tizianos hair to cover things i do not want to draw (awesome shortcut)

squalo had a towel over his shoulder but it was actually more inconvenient to draw the towel than it was to just draw his collarbone so i made it fall off his shoulder (awesome shortcut)

tiziano doesnt wear eye makeup i think his eyes just look like that . because he is beautiful

i didnt get to draw squalos stupid anchor tattoo because its on the side of his other shoulder and the side of his right shoulder was hidden the entire fucking comic

(i draw him from the front and the back on page 2 but his shoulders are covered by tizianos arms the whole time)

i could give him another, larger, much stupider tattoo on his back, if im stupid

i fucking hate tizianos shades i should have never given him those. fuck

i actually drew them on a separate layer look . ive disappeared him

you can also see that ive started colouring squalo.

i didnt overline the background characters cuz fuckem

CROSSED. ARMS. THE WORST FUCKING THING TO DRAW

i never actually know how to draw squalos hair. i draw it pretty much the same with and without with headband even though i know that is not correct

i hate headbands too but thats not why i didnt draw them here (i assume theyre cloth and would get waterlogged and whatnot)

tiziano finally lost it (been too nice to people for too long)

the last minute inclusion of the portuguese man o war was in fact a stupid fucking idea

see the thing is that squalo actually does know exactly what he was grabbing and did in fact know in no uncertain terms that it was venomous and he grabbed it anyways so he could show tiziano the VENOMOUS CNIDARIAN HE WAS GRABBING OUT OF THE FUCKING OCEAN thats how you know hes stupid but not unintelligent. he Knows but fails to Apply the Knowledge

same man who puts metal in the toaster despite actively knowing exactly what is going to fucking happen when he does because the self preservation instincts keep kicking in late

but you know that if tiziano was about to do some shit like that he would lose his fucking mind because THATS A HORRIBLE IDEA WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT THAT IS SO DANGEROUS

apparently the dangerous things are only dangerous if they put his beautiful beloved Tiziano's well-being at risk

i think squalo could do with some GETTING MEDICATED FOR HIS SEVERE ADHD

for some reason his anxiety seems to be specifically about what other people think of him

thats trauma babeyyyyyyy

these men cant keep their hands off each other. but AT LEAST they are not sorbet and gelato

apparently i dont actually know what nipples look like. or chests.

i tried to load up google earth to take a look around naples for some bg ref images but it made me wait too long so im just gonna fuck around and find out!!!!!!!

lots of trouble trying to draw squalos stupid broken nose (he refuses to acknowledge that its broken and will regret that later)

since i was drawing squalo shirtless i actually looked up 'swimmers build' and just based his figure on that

i have to overline the second page twice because I had to redraw this panel a million fucking times because i couldn't get their heads the same size

you know the off-with-their-head thumb-across-neck threatening gesture thing? had to model that for myself and its really embarrassing to be making im-gonna-kill-you motions in the mirror as art reference. no nobody was around to see it but its still fucking embarrassing

AND I THINK I DREW IT WRONG ANYWAYS

do you ever accidentally switch to the fill tool instead of the pen tool

[wellhalesbells]

✨✨ TOP FIVES FOR 2020 ✨✨

2020 was, i think we can all agree, a massively chaotic year but i have never consumed as much media before in my life, so i thought others might benefit from my slothery uh, connoisseur.... ship?  yes, that.  below are the books, comics, shows, and movies that got me through!

B O O K S .

the starless sea, by erin morgenstern - i loooove this book because it loves me back.  it says: ‘oh, you’re a reader, well i have just the thing for you.’  it luxuriates in language and story and riddles and fairy tales and it feels like an entire library in a single tome.

they never learn, by layne fargo - oh fuuuuuck, this was satisfying.  i thought it might feel a little exploitative as it is very aware of the zeitgeist and likely would not exist without the #metoo movement but it never ever did.  this was a fucking ROMP, period.  reading about a woman getting away with murdering skeezy guy after rapey guy after shitty human just made me happier and happier.

moonflower murders, by anthony horowitz - this is the second in the susan ryeland series (and the first was hardcore good fun too) and really feels very classic mystery with the artful twist of catering to the literary community.  mainly because: susan isn’t a detective, she’s an editor and she gets drafted in this time because the clue to what happened to a missing woman is in a book she edited, if she can find it.  both of the books in this series have such an excellent coming together moment that is rare af to find.

the invisible life of addie larue, by v.e. schwab - the writing in this is just so good.  it has that feel to me where i just want to drop the book and open up my own page and let my fingers fly.  it’s that inspiring kind of writing that reminds you of all the things language can do.

crown of feathers/heart of flames, by nicki pau preto - aaahhh, this series is SO FREAKING GOOD!  why is there not more of a fandom for it, why???? it is so many of my favorite tropes all resting perfectly together to the point where you almost forget they’re tropes because they just so naturally evolved there.  ugh, it’s just.... it’s so heart-bursty good.

.... number 5, part 2?  raybearer, by jordan ifueko - this was just so original and i was invested af.  like, what a brilliant idea though and an even better execution??  i loved every character and am so looking forward to the next in the series so i can get to know them even better!!

honorable mentions (sh*t i still liked a whole heckuva lot): you/hidden bodies, by caroline kepnes // writers & lovers, by lily king // i’ll be gone in the dark, by michelle mcnamara // the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home, by joseph fink & jeffrey cranor // girl, serpent, thorn, by melissa bashardoust // a little life, by hanya yanagihara // the guinevere deception, by kiersten white // obsidio (and the entire illuminae series), by amie kaufman & jay kristoff // the bone houses, by emily lloyd-jones // house of salt and sorrows, by erin a. craig // we hunt the flame, by hafsah faizal // savage legion, by matt wallace // blacktop wasteland, by s.a. cosby // crier’s war, by nina varela // the empress of salt and fortune/when the tiger came down the mountain, by nghi vo // upright women wanted, by sarah gailey // the monster of elendhaven, by jennifer giesbrecht // a deadly education, by naomi novik // you let me in, by camilla bruce // when you ask me where i’m going, by jasmin kaur // the lights go out in lychford/last stand in lychford (and the entire lychford series), by paul cornell // the devil and the dark water, by stuart turton // serpent & dove, by shelby mahurin // one by one, by ruth ware // ruthless gods (this was SUCH an upshot from the first book - it’s worth sticking with if you’re on the fence), by emily a. duncan // cemetery boys, by aiden thomas // the inheritance games, by jennifer lynn barnes // the fortunate ones (2021 release), by ed tarkington

C O M I C S .

cosmoknights, by hannah templer - the art was gorgeous, the gayness was glorious, and just.... hot HOOOOOOOOT lady knights in space?!  a princess winning her own hand?  find something not to love in there, i dare you.

don’t go without me, by rosemary valero-o’connell - wow. wow wow wow wow wow.  the writing was stunning, so lyrical and atmospheric and deep, and rosemary has to be one of my favorite artists but even that managed to come as a beautiful surprise because it was just so freaking bold.

through the woods, by emily carroll - i loooove emily carroll, the convergence of spine-tingling horror and art that feeds into it, that is both visually and aesthetically pleasing, is hard to beat!  p.s. i also read beneath the dead oak tree from her this year and it was also a BANGER.

the impending blindness of billie scott, by zoe thorogood - zoe is someone that i just want to follow.  she’s just starting and i want to be there for every single step.  i love her art style and her ability to tell a story with it.

above the clouds, by melissa pagluica - this was so unique, and such a baller concept, as nearly half the entire book is conveyed only through the art and yet you’re never once lost, never once confused as to what any character is thinking or feeling.  it’s a story within a story and only one of those gets words though they both are chock full of emotion!

um.... number 5, part 2? crowded, by christopher sebela - everything about this series is fun af.  crowd-funded assassination and a hirable bodyguard who’s rated like an uber driver???  and the chemistry between the two mains is so great and gay!!

honorable mentions: monster and the beast, by renji // long exposure, by kam ‘mars’ heyward // fence, by c.s. pacat // invisible kingdom, by g. willow wilson // ms. marvel, by g. willow wilson // heathen, by natasha alterici // not drunk enough, by tess stone // giant days, by john allison // die, by kieron gillen // be prepared, by vera brosgol // ascender (sequel to descender, which is also great), by jeff lemire // the unbeatable squirrel girl, by ryan north // bang! bang! boom!, by melanie schoen // gideon falls, by jeff lemire // life of melody, by mari costa // cry wolf girl, by ariel slamet ries // the tea dragon society, by katie o’neill // ptsd, by guillaume singelin // heartstopper, by alice oseman // solutions and other problems, by allie brosh // finding home, by hari conner // the magic fish, by trung le nguyen // something is killing the children, by james tynion iv // the weight of them, by noelle stevenson // spill zone, by scott westerfeld // skyward, by joe henderson // miles morales, by saladin ahmed

F I L M S.

parasite, dir. bong joon ho - oh it was satisfying, oh it was suspenseful, oh i had to watch some of it through my fingers but i loooooooved it.  such a good story and so well made.

knives out, dir. rian johnson - okay, everything about this movie was amazing.  every single character was fun as hell and i could’ve watched an entire movie about each of them.  what a great fucking mystery!

blindspotting, dir. carlos lopez estrada -  this made my heart hurt so damn much.  what glorious writing, acting, and story!

portrait of a lady on fire, dir. celine sciamma - gooooorgeous cinematography, amazing chemistry, and such a soft, atmospheric film.

the farewell, dir. lulu wang - i cried and my heart felt so full and i love it so so much.

um.... number 5, part 2? someone great, dir. jennifer kaytin robinson - no part of me expected to love a netflix movie this much but it’s a love story that doesn’t get told that often??  the end of a relationship and the true love of friendship and i love these girls and i love jenny and nate’s broken relationship.

honorable mentions: eighth grade, dir. bo burnham // booksmart, dir. olivia wilde // midsommar, dir. ari aster // the curse of la llorona, dir. michael chaves // the secret life of pets 2, dirs. chris renaud & jonathan del val // jojo rabbit, dir. taika waititi // the invisible man, dir. leigh whannell // the favourite, dir. yorgos lanthimos // can you ever forgive me?, dir. marielle heller // troop zero, dirs. bert & bertie // ready or not, dirs. matt bettinelli-olpin & tyler gillett // brave, dirs. mark andrews & brenda chapman & steve purcell // the half of it, dir. alice wu // palm springs, dir. max barbakow // doctor sleep, dir. mike flanaghan // uncut gems, dirs. benny sadfie & josh sadfie // birds of prey, dir. cathy van // bloodshot, dir. dave wilson // the old guard, dir. gina prince-bythewood // enola holmes, dir. harry bradbeer // hocus pocus, dir. kenny ortega // always be my maybe, dir. nahnatchka khan // finding dory, dirs. andrew stanton & angus maclane // die hard, dir. john mctiernan

S H O W S .

black sails (2014) - this show, this shooooooooow.  i cannot, it just makes me want to cry with how good it is.  the characters, the EMOTIONS, the story, the plaaaaaan.  like, the creators clearly had a plan for every single step of this show and it was a gOOD, GOOD PLAN.

the untamed (2019) - truly, cheesy good fun with one of the best gay romances ever.  i love these characters and their relationships to each other and the way it glories in its own ridiculousness.

the righteous gemstones (2019) - one of the things that bothered me about my next choice (the ratio of female to male nudity) was so much more realistic in this one (i mean, we’ve all gotten five thousand dick pics and i know like three people?  so the fact that there is so rarely male nudity in shows when there are tits everywhere..... no, how does that even make a tiny bit of sense?).  this show was such great, wonderful, awful fun.  they’re not great people and the show is under no delusion about that and it’s GLORIOUS!

the witcher (2019) - this was just hella fun, i loved the characters and the fantasy elements.  i’m excited for the next season, it’s just entertaining swashbuckling through and through!

fargo (2014) - all of this was really very enjoyable with the through line being somebody fucks shit up and gets involved in something they really shouldn’t be involved in that’s going to swallow them whole.  season one and season three were my stand-out favorites but they were all so violent, clever, and vicious!

um.... number 5, part 2? central park (2020) - um..... so many of the hamilton actors in a muscial cartoon drawn and written by the bob’s burgers team? WHAT ABOUT THAT DOESN’T SOUND AMAZING?!  it was such a joy to hear daveed diggs and leslie odom jr.’s voices again!!

honorable mentions: schitt’s creek // the mandalorian // mr. robot // broadchurch // mindhunter // jack ryan // the good place // the end of the f***ing world // big little lies // elite // kidding // servant // letterkenny // curb your enthusiasm // i am not okay with this // ozark // buzzfeed unsolved: true crime/supernatural // you // runaways // dear white people // dickinson // brooklyn nine-nine // will & grace // 9-1-1 // dead to me // solar opposites // never have i ever // killing eve // what we do in the shadows // grace and frankie // avenue 5 // roswell, new mexico // the bold type // evil // tuca & bertie // impulse // the umbrella academy // watchmen // infinity train // corporate // search party // on becoming a god in central florida // a.p. bio // criminal: uk // the morning show // mythic quest // last week tonight // prodigal son // the great

[juni-ravenhall]

reactions (mild spoilers!) on sso comic song of darkness

bc i read it before bed. this is a mix of random reactions + commentary/criticism. no pics sry! under cut bc spoilers, but i dont spoil the story itself, just some content -

- the pages at the intro with character information for some reason made me feel really nostalgic and happy, like, “wow this is a real comic” idk its hard to explain. it reminded me of reading stuff like W.I.T.C.H. as a kid (ive read a billion comics in my life but i compare to this bc its closer in general vibe) 

- anyway wow sso comics. on paper. wow (yeah i have clouds over silverglade but that was a while ago)

- hhehehehehhe south hoofers and raptor in the bg!!!!!! after this panel i kept looking at the bgs for other cameos kjhdsfg

- i can tell the swedish translation is... a bit... meh. like, yeah this is standard, especially today’s standard, but it could be smoother and more natural, which would make it more fun to read (and supportive of the language in the country where sso was made like? idk...)

- AVALON?? U HAVE A FACE??? he looks way more like evergray than i’d have thought though, youd have imagined he wouldnt want to style himself similar to him lol

- its a bit depressing how even tho this comic tries to express everyone’s personalities, lisa still barely feels like she has a personality. she can sing! ok... and... we’re wating... what else? (there are plenty of “boring” people irl, but in media you usually want to exaggerrate or simplify things a little bit) the current lisa seems like she could have more anxiety/depression in her narrative, the old lisa looked like she was tough in a different way than alex, both of those are things that could be pushed. or anything else. 

- my only like, “art related criticism”, also relates to the above - i think more work could be done in using individually unique expressions. im generally not a person who agrees with the idea of “same face syndrome” (often its a stylistic choice which is fair) but i think here it could be a good idea to work a bit more with various expressions - you can have charas who would almost never make huge shocked eyes for personality reasons, charas who always have a very obvious expression (alex does have this a lot in this comic!), charas who always look annoyed or frustrated or scared alongside whatever new emotion they get, etc. just very simplified description bc im already rambling. but basically, letting all charas emote in a similar way also removes layers of personality expression. 

- it’s cool that kora is in here!! love to see many known charas!! not rly interested in random new charas since sso already has a ton to work with 

- was a bit surprised when they said “mistfall, so youre a long way from home?” to kora when they.. were riding to firgrove from valedale? i could have understood this if they were in like epona or golden hills.. but firgrove?? shes specifically not a long way from home? confused

- i do like that the horses’ personalities get expressed, altho it does feel a bit shoved in, it’s still nice to see them. many of us are here bc of loving horses after all, and this comic delivers in featuring them a lot, even if they dont talk. i get that theres a level of “explaining everything to newbies” in this whole comic, even though i could wish that wouldve been done less blatantly. (kids arent dumb!) 

- i do kinda wish the overall story hadn’t been a standalone random thing but something more tied to what we have, exploring parts of the story & charas in sso in more detail, BUT, i think thats a valid direction to go with comics and its more just a personal preference for me. i would anytime take more sso comics that are standalone random stuff than to not have sso comics at all. 

- it seems like the reason concorde is an alive adult in this comic, is bc its an AU where concorde “almost died” but didnt, if i understood it right (they just said “she almost lost concorde”). i think thats a bit weird BUT valid, its ok to have differences in canon between different media of the same story, it tends to be like that between books and movies for example. however personally i wouldve preferred to see comics that explore, for example, the 2 years (?) between SSL and SSO, or each soul rider’s life history in general until now, or exploring in more depth events that happen in the main storyline (in sso or ssl which counts as backstory to sso)

- there were times i committed small giggle during this comic even as an adult man, tho arguably a childish adult man, but just to say that it was enjoyable, and overall i thought it was really exciting and fun to read a full sso comic book, and i hope to see a lot more (even if i’d prefer stuff like what i described - more exploration of existing story/charas). like i said at the beginning, i also got good nostalgic feels etc. i feel a bit sad now that its “over”, i wish i could have a whole pile of volumes to read for the rest of the summer. 

(when i criticise something, it means i care enough about it to criticise it! i tend to criticise stuff i love - aka sso - way more than stuff i have no interest in or dislike, which i just dont talk about much bc that would be a waste of time.) 

[kayvsworld]

Definitive ranking of the SPN comics from bad to worse

Definitive ranking of the SPN comics from bad to worse

1. Supernatural: Caledonia/The Dogs of Edinburgh

OK SO the art in this comic is fucking BUCK WILD. it tests my fight or flight response at every turn. Everyone is melting and anatomy isnt real and it’s absolutely delightful 1000/10. this art fucks

Do you want to read a story that uses supernatural’s characters without actually wanting to be a supernatural story at all, instead painfully spiralling into a tale of sam winchester (not played by jared padalecki) falling in love with a manic pixie dream girl? also guns? if so, this is the comic for you!! 

the ending is the most melodramatic thing ive ever seen in my life, and i laughed a lot, though that was not the intended reaction i dont think.

very bad. very fun  (for the first half) if you ignore the feeble attempts at a plot and just marvel at the vibes :)

2. Supernatural: Beginning’s End

Is it good? obviously not, its an spn comic, but it IS a GENUINE spn comic—meaning that it actually feels like it could maybe fit into spn. it focuses on the relationships between john and the boys, and has a fun monster-of-the-week vibe that we dont get with any of the others. the art is also bearable. 

is it still racist, mind-numbingly sexist, and desperately searching for a coherent plot? yes, it’s an spn comic,

fun fact: there are also several instances of on-page physical abuse, which is one of many reasons why i now believe i should be legally permitted to hunt john winchester for sport!

3. Supernatural : Origins

do you wish john winchester was the protagonist of supernatural? OF COURSE NOT! NO ONE DOES!! but between these pages you will find, in eye-straining colour and questionable (but compelling) art, the answers to your deepest questions:

where did john get the impala? where did he get the empty notebook that became John’s Notebook? how many strangers can he ditch his kids with in the span of 48 hours? the adventure is yours to explore

the plot is so bad. it’s so so so bad. they have an OC in a cool hat that they made to hold john’s hand and lead him to, like, every familiar john winchester backstory touchstone, just so you, the reader, can point at the page and go “oh! the roadhouse! i remember the roadhouse. oh! that creepy doctor guy! i know who that is”. pastor jim gets a tragic backstory. no i am not kidding

literally the only reason this is ranked lower than Beginning’s End is that i was bored out of my Entire skull,, HOWEVER,,,,,,,,,,there IS one section where they’re trying to get to an inn at the end that i did legitimately enjoy. so.

4. Supernatural: Rising Son

this comic really transported me into the world of supernatural, in that i truly felt like i was experiencing being trapped in a goddamn car with john winchester for six straight hours against my will. why did they do this to me

every woman is either 1) a mother, 2) Uncomfortably Sexualized 3) target practice, OR if ur TRULY INSPIRED, 4) ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!! do you love john winchester more than any other spn character. do you want to see 2 pages devoted to john winchester, the worst winchester, having sex. do you hate women. this will thrill u

 i did not pay for this reading experience but i still feel that i deserve a refund

VERDICT: please don’t read these. they are, for the most part, not even fun-bad (except for #1 which is just. inspired and felt like a bad indie comic with the names tacked on). i feel like my time was deliberately wasted. learn from my sacrifice 

[gryphsdeadbones]

hey from one nd person to another the comic where fm gordon says a slur seems kind of in poor taste. ik ur not intentionally making light of it and tht occurring in fm should be criticized but while you dont make it out to be a good thing making jokes about it and calling him a "slurboy" is kind of questionable? it makes it seem more like a plotpoint and angst rather than the creator of fm genuinely fucking up in the past (and having moved on from it)! i think exploring fm coming to terms with being nd is a good idea but this isnt the best way to do it. if you want me to explain my point more lmk if/when u post this and i will! someone already made a post abt it but it was kinda strongly worded and i wanted to approach you more calmly because i genuinely dont want to call you out or start drama or anything ;-;

first off thank you for being civil and patient with me i appreciate this ask a lot- also this got long- im not in a flying rage or anything when i bold or emphasis text, i just needed it also for my own readability and since im not the best at wording- hopefully this hellsite works and my response is under the cut

i would like to know how is it in poor taste when freemind explicitly gets clocked at the very end for saying it. the entire point of the comic was to show that saying the r slur has existed in his source and is bad

im not sure how much more direct i can get, with the disclaimer/warning list growing longer and longer and out there for a huge sign that says “this au can get dark as fuck and these subject matters are treated seriously/not something to mess around with.” Like yes, there are some jokes in the asks and other comics, but that specific comic is not supposed to be “haha thats funny”. it has a serious tone using a rough sketch style bc i was super tired and wanted to vent

was it just the direct reference to it that just made people uncomfortable? because thats 100% understandable, and i made sure i tagged it appropriately (although admittedly, a little bit late since i thought the filter would catch at least the main thing)

i think what some people somehow got from it is “exploring sensitive content = endorsing said content” which! that is not the intent! i absolutely do not want people saying that word! I don’t want people thinking that is any way okay for this character to say

its more of a damned if i do address it, damned if i dont.

if it never comes up, people are gonna assume that ‘oh this character says slurs and is shit, surely the creator or fan-creator MUST be okay with it and woobifies freemind and absolves him of any mistakes’ or something like that. no. this asshole has an arc and i want to do it right. its serious and i think it shouldn’t be shoved under the rug

and people just. dont want to read for context for whatever reason. theyll start watching it and get taken aback by the slur and start blaming me ‘hey you never warned for this’ when very early on i keep mentioning over and over ‘you dont have to watch it if you dont want to! This has slurs and 2000s internet brand humor/style’ You really dont, I’m not forcing you to watch it- Literally all you need to know is either canon half life or hl/vrai. thats it. fm mostly follows hl1 with very slight changes.

so i had to make something that:

1. warns people who arent aware and dont want to go through my asks or about/warning pages (for whatever reason) and just want to see the art

2. also NOT downplay freemind’s canon assholery. listen, i kinda despise writing mean and cruel characters, theyre hard to do, and a lot of people get shit for doing it wrong or people going “character = author”

i’ve also considered leaving the bubbles blank, but then people could fill it with whatever they want, then blame me for being vague. or they’d fill it in with a different kind of slur that freemind has never used, even if he MIGHT be the type to do that. I needed to explicitly mention that it is ableist slur. There are shitty racist and other problematic jokes, but never those kinds of extreme racial slurs to my knowledge.

Although I do see your point that maybe joking about it outside of the serious stuff might not be the best route. The slurboy jokes are getting stale, and I will try a better way to remind people.

The thing that gets to me is that it feels people are more than ready to defend either Ross Scott or Gordon Freeman the fictonal character himself. I don’t??? really care for Ross Scott, so I don’t know if he’s ever brought it up specifically. I’m not really calling him out or cancelling him. Idc for some white man’s feelings, im only bringing the timeframe of That era and reworking it to fit in This current era.

And I hate to break it to people: Gordon Freeman is a blank slate character, you can project whatever the hell you want on him as long as it’s not freakshit illegal garbage. The machinimas (fm, hl/vrai) do have SOME characterization that I want to nail down. It fucking sucks when characters are ooc, and I’m trying not to do that, even if it means sacrificing some comfort. But still mostly staying in my comfort zone if that makes sense

Now about the callout that I do not want to engage with the op directly:

Honestly im very surprised the comic was called out when i just. thought my stuff is relatively tame on exploring the bad shit canon freemind does. ive seen him in fancontent where they really dont hold back and its still played off as ‘kinda funny’ tone.

I really don’t know if people just want any reason to hate me for whatever reason. That’s fine I guess, I can’t please everyone and they dont have to like me.

But like. isn’t it so much easier for the op of that to block me and the post and move on. Why kick up such a fuss. I can see that thinly veiled death threat of a vague. That’s pretty fucked up- Like holy fucking god, you do not have to like my stuff. I’m not holding you at knifepoint to like my stuff. I’ve specifically made two different tags (one general au, one specific au) if anyone wants to blacklist it for their own reasons I do not need to know. I don’t want to know.

You’re allowed to be uncomfortable. You’re allowed to unfollow/blacklist/block.

However you just don’t go ranting about it for something you horribly misinterpreted. If it bothers you so badly, literally just. drop me a message to clarify. thats it. or save yourself the time and block me.

I’ve blocked the op for both our sakes, but if anyone wants to send this post to them, then thats fine. I don’t want anything to do with them.

I don’t want to link the post and blow it up. I just want shit clarified, dropped and we can move the fuck on with our lives. 

If you’re reading this and don’t know what the post is, please don’t bother. I do not want people going after the op with threats, please keep it civil, I’d prefer if you don’t engage with the post at all on my behalf.

Despite this huge wall of text, I do not want this to be a big deal, so please don’t ask me about the details.

_

As for anon, feel free to dm me either on here or. Maybe on discord if you’d still like to suggest or have something more cleared up. I’m still willing to hear any kind of feedback, and i want to thank you again for being reasonable about this

[slaapkat]

More than ever being into comics has really and seriously gotten me through the year. I’ve never been more glad to have a hobby like this that proves over and over that you will never run out of anything to read. Even now I’m getting into more and more!

This list is meant to show what has stuck with me the most this year, with a little blurb as to why. While the year itself might have sucked I’m genuinely grateful to have discovered so much and to continue to discover more.

1. Strange Adventures (2020)

-an honestly stunningly beautiful and emotionally captivating story, mitch gerads and doc shaner keep blowing me away more and more every single issue. what i would give for prints of literally anything in any issue

2. Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular (2020) -- ‘Dark Things Cannot Stand The Light’

-close to my heart because literally NOTHING will ever match the sheer excitement of reading this at the same time as @ufonaut and both of us realizing Holy Shit This Is Happening. WE PREDICTED IT. WE MADE THIS HAPPEN. IT REMAINS THE BEST SINGLE STORY IVE EVER READ. ITS GENUINELY BEAUTIFUL.

3. JSA (1999)

-the run that got me into the jsa and made me love them! i still have a lot of problems with geoff’s characterization but overall I wouldn’t be where I am now with this run to hook me in. the arc ‘Redemption Lost’ is my absolute favorite for the incredible glimpse at hal jordan losing it all over again as the spectre lmao

4. JSA Classified (2005)

-possibly the only run that I’ve 100% liked practically all the way through. made me like pieter cross mid-nite because turns out he was a mad scientist this whole time. made me love the isa because turns out they really were a found family this whole time. made me love the ted/jay friendship. made me love the jsa even more because they really just hang out all the time and jay even wears flash themed slippers while watching tv with everyone!!! they have arcade cabinets for the kiddos!! so much of classified is so good I can’t even list it all here!!

5. Fate (1994)/The Book of Fate (1997)

-more so the second iteration than the first (seeing as i have collected every issue of book of fate) but they both deserve a mention if only for the fact we wouldn’t have one without the other. jared fate, second to alan scott, is one of the comic characters who legit impacted my life for the better this year I really do love him SO much. also re-introduced me to giffen’s comedic genius. I want him back so bad.

6. The Golden Age (1993)

-I actually read this twice! once at the very beginning of my foray into the jsa and again after I’d read a lot more and developed a better understanding of the mythos and history behind it. holy shit what a story that second time. genuinely incredible

7. Shadow of the Bat (1992) #1-4 & #69-70

-the first arc being where Bruce lets himself get thrown into arkham for a case and gets beat up and the second where he hangs out with jared stevens for a bit! Included because I bought the first arc at a store that was right about to close because of covid (😔) and the second arc because my BESTEST BUDDY got lucky enough to find it and send it to me

8. Secret Origins (1986) #31 ‘Starring the Justice Society of America’

-for the beautiful art! admittedly not much more to say other than a wonderfully written story

9. JSA All-Stars (2010)

-this ones complicated! not for the main story, but for the second side-story at the end of every issue! a story involving rick tyler and jesse chambers teaming up artemis crock and cameron mahkent that ends on a genuinely sweet note and whose greatest crime remains that we get no follow up because right after this finishes the whole universe got rebooted with the new52. still beautiful and touching

10. Rorschach (2020)

-more Tom King! I will admit to not knowing too much about the wider Watchmen universe, but I’m familiar enough to get by and Tom’s writing really helps fill out the rest. already an incredible noir-inspired detective story and I’m excited to see the rest play out.

[inknose]

mdzs read diary part IV, the end

It’s inspiring how much self care wwx is gonna finally get now that his husband will go along with whatever he does, so he’s gotta look out for lwj’s well being if not his own. that is emphatically the STUFF

dragging my hands down I face as I read this, after all these chapters of getting up close and personal with ghouls bleeding from every orifice, slaying ancient beasts, rebelling against the entire cultivation world, the two of them are absolutely paralyzed by middle school crush sleepover math

chicken

he actually drew kissy doodles .... he....

IDK I THINK I JUST DOCUMENTED THIS PART CUZ I WAS STILL SCREAMING you cant expect me to have very useful things to say at this point

this is torture you are both so mushy you are so GONE

This part really stood out to me, it’s an attitude I feel like wwx implies with his inner narration a few times but most clearly says here: he’s not one for allowing himself to exaggerate how bad his circumstances are/could be even a little bit - he’s already lived through some extreme low points and found a way to keep going, so he never makes sweeping statements about what he couldn’t live without (Inner JingYi: you’re supposed to say you’d be lost without him here!!!) Instead he seems to accept as a given that being alive doesn’t guarantee him any pleasantness or joy at all, and as a result his feelings toward being in TRUE LOVE are surprisingly pragmatic, but also colored with such gratitude. There are a lot of things in the novel that struck me, like this, as being just a little to the left of familiar tropes/sentiments, and were more touching for it. Whether it be the influence of culture difference as opposed to what I’m used to reading in most western romance stories, or MXTX’s unique outlook, or a combination of both, it was really refreshing and made me pause over it. Not “I can’t imagine living without you” but “I could be living without you, but instead I get to be with you and I think that’s the best thing that could happen.”

ADJFDKFJ THE UST BEING SO STRONG THAT EVEN THE VILLAIN COMMENTS ON IT IN THE MIDDLE OF EXECUTING HIS EVIL PLANS IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT WILL NEVER FAIL TO MAKE ME LAUGH MY ASS OFF. hes like god damn! here I thought I had problems

it was at this moment that I realized we were doing this Now... I’m still recovering. What a scene. I am so glad I saw the most incredible fanart soon afterwards, bc the fact that someone has already drawn a perfect comic of this part means I don’t have to

I love you so much, you are so annoying, you are perfect... I like how he’s been experiencing openly requited love for all of ten minutes but he’s already figured out how to weaponize it to piss people off

doing!!! his!!! job!!!!!

ahh... it’s a really good story. JGY is a great character. One of the most interesting differences for me between drama watching vs. novel reading experience is that without an actor to bat his vulnerable doe eyes at you and smile faintly with his cute dimples, the book does not go much out of its way to try to lull the reader into a false sense of security around him or *endear* him to you the way the show does. But just by seeing events through wei wuxian’s POV, its still enough to evoke pity or understanding towards him. The overall impression is a bit more detached though, there’s less emphasis on the spectacle of how he could manipulate everyone closest to him and more of a general feeling of resigned tragedy that everyones the worst on this bitch of an earth.

I CANNOT DEAL WITH YOU FOR EVEN ONE MORE SECOND!!!!

I clearly paused to take note of less and less parts at the end & the extras due to: a) too excited to reach the end b) too spicy to photograph and c) too sleepy cuz I kept reading in the middle of the night. but I absolutely took the time for Bro We Are Teens appreciation corner:

I’d absolutely read 40 more extra chapters of their monster-of-the-week field trip antics.

god... poor Jin Ling now basically has to deal with divorced parents that talk shit about each other to him whenever he is saying with one of them. except they are both his uncles. just a disasterhood of all uncles from start to finish. AUUUGH wei wuxian and jiang cheng have fucked me up completely, I dream of them reconciling but I also REFUSE to believe it would ever be easy. let me know if theres a fanfic that absolutely tortures you for decades before they hug

HAHAHA oh no this man ain’t making it to immortality thats for damn sure. HE’S JUST GONNA TRY AS HARD AS HE CAN HIS WHOLE LIFE NOT TO LOOK AT HIM BUT THEYRE *MARRIED* SDLKFJSF ohhhh it’s too funny, like... the mundane domestic family drama IN the fantastical swords and sorcery setting is what really ratchets up these things from amusing to fucking hilarious I think

aaaa the end... final random thoughts? No not final, I would like to please keep discussing at length and exhaustively, all the time please - CQL has gotta be one of the best TV adaptations I’ve seen. ANY adaptation of anything would be lucky to be so good!! reading the novel has just made me appreciate it even more.

- I don’t think I can do justice to what I find most fascinating about comparing the two versions briefly, to do that I need to get drunk and ramble at my friends for hours but... the condensed version is something like this. Really all the significant differences between the two versions (besides the ones which can be attributed to censorship and therefore aren’t worth discussing) are a side effect of the structure of how the story is told - there’s barely anything changed arbitrarily. Aside from having a cold opening, the drama sticks to a very linear version of the story, and I think for a TV show or film, that’s probably the best way to do it. We see everything, we get shocked and tricked and betrayed and surprised along with the characters, we feel the biggest impact at the climactic scenes having experienced all the build-up. The novel on the other hand is not only much more non-linear in WHEN we learn bits and pieces of information, but that information is also obfuscated under wei wuxian’s multiple layers of Unreliable Narratoritis, which are as follows: 1) difficulty remembering things because of personality/avoiding painful memories/actual memory loss, 2) No Homo Goggles still on, and 3) a wry sense of humor that makes the reader unsure of how much they can trust his attitude toward things, especially near the beginning. The experience of reading is a puzzle the reader has to mentally piece together through all of the above listed camouflage, and the puzzle itself is a three-sided mystery: One - How Bad of a guy was Wei WuXian really, and how exactly did all the bad stuff in his life go down; Two - wangxian epic pride & prejudice gambits; Three - political murder mystery. (I love stories like this btw... though I fully admit I’m glad I watched first this time bc it might have taken me a long time to tackle otherwise.) Because of this, where the drama wants to pull you in and submerge you in all the most potent emotional parts, the novel in direct contrast deliberately side-steps around these things and asks that you hurt yourself by filling in the blanks. In fact the more intense emotions and painful memories involved, whether it be his relationship with jiang yanli, his DEATH, the darkest days of war times etc, the more the novel evasively withholds details. I actually really like both styles of storytelling but each one is obviously way better suited to its medium. ANYWAY.... THATS BASICALLY WHERE MY BRAINS AT WHILE IM READING GAY SWORD WIZARD BOOKS

- The extras are so saturated with domestic married bliss that it’s a good thing I stopped taking pictures because I’d just take a picture of every page. this is too much for me to take... I did jump the gun a few times and read a few fanfics while I was still mid-read of the book (I tried to hold out but alas I am mortal) and at one point after finishing I was like “wow what fic was it in where lwj says something cute and wwx kisses him in public but they’re in the corner of the restaurant so no one really sees... OH NO WAIT that was actually in there.” and ... and that’s the LEAST OF IT... *stares into the distance* theyre married wow

- I ofc couldn’t help but see a few vague blogs beforehand so honestly I was braced for something like, wildly ooc for the sake of porn to happen in the extras... I definitely appreciate how the incense burner porn interludes could be uhhh a lot for many people and not my personal cup of tea in terms of smut however [here follows the words of a poisonous frog who has dwelt her whole life in the rainforests of BL] the concept is also surprisingly SWEET SDFLKJF like wwx sees lan wangji’s darkest mixed-up violent teenage fantasies and he’s just like aww babe you had a crush on me!! just... good for them

- I swear I’m not gonna rehash every cute married thing they do but wei wuxian grading papers in the tub........................rEALLY GOT ME

- I want to Draw - ok thats enough if I keep going I’ll just write “wei wuxian grading papers in the tub” seven more times probably

[mattelektras]

Hey, Jessie I was wondering if you had any recent comic recs from marvel with lgbt characters? I feel like every time I find one it gets canceled. Thanks 😊

im gonna focus on stuff that’s either solo or small teams with more than one lgbt member so you arent reading 40 issues for a few panels of a single character

runaways

ft an alien lesbian (from the first run onwards), another alien who’s genderfluid (came in later and doesnt stick around but theyre a huge part of the story when they do), and a bisexual girl (in the most recent run)

all runaways books are great. i personally prefer the earlier ones for content but it’s been nice to have a more current book to update the team a bit

young avengers 

ft a gay couple who are honestly the only solid constant throughout the whole series in all runs, and a lesbian who comes in in vol 2 which is weaker than 1 but still enjoyable. vol 2 also introduces an xman as bi!

the earlier the young avengers books, the better. vol 2 had a lot of promise and the characters were great but it focused more on being like. funny and hashtag relatable more than it did on being GOOD sometimes 

angela

ft a warrior lesbian and her trans lesbian girlfriend!

there’s asgard’s assassin and queen of hel. i personally prefer asgard’s assassin. the story in queen of hel is ok but characters gradually just got whiter and thinner 

there’s also 1602′s witch hunter angela

black panther: world of wakanda

focuses on a lesbian couple in wakanda and is written by roxanne gay who is bisexual herself 

darkhold: pages from the book of sins

victoria montessi is a lesbian and was one of the first (if not the first?) lgbt character to headline a comic. ive got a soft spot for her because i love kind of... gothic mysticism in comics. she has some vampirella/satana vibes. shes very cool

some honorable mentions (where the characters might not be much of a focus in the book generally, specific issues, it wasnt that good etc etc)

guardians of the galaxy 2008 - features a lesbian and bi woman in a relationship. they fight dragons for one another

astonishing xmen #50 - northstar & kyle jinadu get married. it was the first gay wedding in comics i think

iceman (2017 run & 2018 run) was really good at times but the quality varied. n i still have... reservations about how bobby came out. BUT his solos were fun

america - such a good character but such a weak book. it started off pretty ok but ended up as just. a chore to read. the story left a lot to be desired and you kind of got the feeling marvel just wanted to have a lesbian of color leading a solo book but didnt want to put the actual effort in to make it good. BUT pretty much ALL of the supporting cast is lgbt and you get to see some familiar faces

xfactor investigations made longterm life partners rictor & shatterstar canon. but its a long run of a book and you dont get a huge amount of content for the two?? start around issue 40 onwards 

shatterstar also had a solo in 2018. its not bad

loki: agent of asgard & his 2019 run - i dont read the current run but i enjoyed agent of asgard a lot. it’s rare that his gender/sexuality is played with but also taken seriously and the supporting cast is very fun

[someone-always-cares]

[image description: a q&a for the webcomic someone always cares. full desc under the cut because its long and wordy sorry]

post chapter 3 Q&A

first - previous - next

thanks for yalls questions!! it was fun to answer! if anyone still has questions feel free to ask whenever i am always 100% down to ramble. even if i did go slightly off topic in some answers

additional: went off topic with the hair question a bit. their bright hair is all part of the transformations. regular hair dye does exist though. best way to tell is that if the eyebrow matches the hair its probably not dyed. also, quartz’s hair is naturally ginger.

also for more on ages, check out the character bios here

also was gonna keep this in the tags but thought i might as well actually try to answer it: the question i found it hardest to answer was someone the song one. my taste in music is. a mess really. ive been listening to like the same 5 songs on repeat all day. more under the cut because i was rambling again and now its uhhh half 1am

if it helps at the time of answering that specific question i had home by cavetown on repeat, and that song reminds me of both rami and lewis. but that may be because i project onto those two a lot, and as a aro trans dude. who sucks with people skills, yeah of course i love that song.

specifically the vibes of like not knowing how to communicate (rami is fine with his friends but other people are different), the lines “ Turn off your porcelain face, I can't really think right now and this place, Has too many colors, enough to drive all of us insane” idk what the porcelain face line is supposed to mean but im picturing it as like. a mask. that you need to take off and stop hiding and rami does tend to hide when hes feeling upset, and the next two lines kinda could tie into that, like the feeling of when youre overwhelemed and just want the world to stop so you just hide somewhere. also the colours could go with chapter 3 with the chromatic abberation.

also the bit with “ my eyes went dark, I don't know where, my pupils are, But I'll figure out a way to get us out of here” just kinda sums up ramis whole hero thing with his powers and all. anyway this has turned into less what songs rami would like and why this particular song reminds me of him and lewis (lewis specifically has the hair cutting/chest hiding, [big transmasc mood], and also messy haired trainwreck who doesnt know who he is yet. also the ghosts bit)

i did end up picking upbeat songs because ramis a dude who like to try and be upbeat even if things arent. even if hes not really feeling it he will pretend to.

[full description: Anonymous said to someone-always-cares: “hi ily!!! do characters like quartz who have colored hair have that naturally or did they dye it?”

“its both natural and not! while most supers can do a magical girl ish transformation, including a change in hair colour, there are some exceptions.”

theres two small full body drawings of rami, one in civilian clothes, one fully transformed.

“if a superhero were to have a biological child, the child will inherit the powers of the parent(s). however, the child will not inherit the full transfromation. they do inherit any physical transformations, but not the outfit.”

theres a drawing of a woman in blue, quartz’s mother, fully transformed, holding her mask in her hand, smiling down at a much younger quartz as a child. hes smiling back up at her with the same blue eyes, pointy ears, and blue hair, but hes still in normal clothes.

“in the case of quartz, both of hisparents had superpowers, and he inherited those powers and the physical transformations.he can also pick and mix whatphysical traits to change.“

next is a headshot of adult quartz, his face split down the middle with one side having hair and eye like his mother, the other like his father. theres a list of traits from each parents, blue hair and eyes and pointy ears from his mum, and purple hair and eyes and pointy teeth from their dad.

 “Anonymous said to someone-always-cares:  Are all the characters the same age? If not, how old are they? Are they irl friends or just superhero friends?”

theres some headshots of rami and his team lined up with ages labelled: cam is 15, rami himself is 17, lin, mateo, and dante, are all 18, and cap is 20.

“rami and xandra were somewhat friends before she got superpowers, so when, after the incident with her old team, she found rami had developed powers, xandra stuck close to him. their other teamates started off as superhero friends but soon turned into irl friends too”

theres a headshot of lewis and jade. theyre both 17

“when lewis first decided to start being a vigilante,jade quickly found him and decided to help train himand offered to be a mentor of sorts, as they both have similar powers. that quickly derailed.”

“ cinder5555 said to someone-always-cares: How long does it usually take to make a comic page? I'm curious because they're so freaking good that they must take FOREVER”

theres a drawing of myself, a fluffy hair tired bastard in a hoodie, smiling

“Thanks! Ive been doing this shit since like 2017 and i still have no idea how long it takes me. i can get a page done in a day if i have nothing else to do or if its a simple page, but if i have work then maybe 2-3 days? i spend like, most of my free time doing this.“

another drawing of me, now looking frustrated muttering “how the FUCK does time work”

“but i can never do it all on one sitting.i will inevitably get distracted and zone out daydreaming mid drawing so its very hard to get an accurate read on how long it takes. so however long a piece of string is i guess“

the only qustion not from tumblr is a discord message from RuneStone Cabin:

“Q: Can you talk about the incidence of superpowers in this world? Like many people are supers, which powers are more or less common, how long they've been a thing for, stuff like that. Also does Omen know I'd die for them “

theres a drawing of omen pointing at a date circled on a calender marked “decembuary”, theyre saying “i know. i already wrote your death in my calender.”

then a giant wall of text reading: “Supers have only existed for a relativly short time, since the early 1940s. momento mori was the second person to have ever gained powers.

Only a small number of the population are supers! the chances are higher in more populated cities, but unusally london has oneof the higher percentages of supers. while nobody in universe has any idea of the origins of superpowers, it does seem that powers are more likely to occur in people who would actually use their powers.

as for what powers are most common, after making a badly catagorized spreadsheet of every superpowered character ive made for this world (70% of which will probably never even be seen), turns out that elemental powers are the most common. although not all elemental powers manifest as the straight up 'controling this element' as seen in characters like lin or tsunami. for example, iris's powers would fall under shadow elemntal powers, but theyre a lot more weird that just controlling shadows.there are some abilities that have never been seen before,such as ressurection or full on time travel (aka anything that could bring a character back to life), but powers are certainly allowed to toe the line eg healing, powers involving undeath, immortality, pausing or manipulating time.

aside from that, anything goes. you could get plain old superstrength, but you could also get the ability to create dogs with your mind. other not quite rules, more guidelines are that supers are immune to their own powers hurting them (unless they were pushing themselves too hard), although the way the imminuties occur may be inconvinient to the super.

while some powers may be 'more powerful' than others, powers dont really get to be way underpowered or overpowered in comparision to others. sure being able to talk to animals may feel a bit useless compared to someone who can lift 4 tanks at once, but nobodys going to end up with a power like 'can turn into a goose but only once' or 'can grow toenails twice as fast' or 'if i sneeze i can change my hair colour'. at the same time, youre not going to get someone with the power to snap their fingers and level a city, or instantly blow up the moon or whatever.

“Anonymous said to someone-always-cares: I love rami PLEASE tell me his favorite song(s) and why. I will die for you”

a drawing of rami saying out loud “i dont really have any specific favourite song, really? i just listen to whatever sounds catchy and then listen to that on repeat for hours until i hate it. i guess i do like upbeat songs? ones that make you feel happy even if the lyrics are sad”

“ un1c0rnhh said to someone-always-cares: tell me,,, please,, cam,,, are they a cat person or a dog person?? ily"

theres a drawing of cam a metre away from a cat lying down. she has her arm out and is making ‘psspsspss’ noises at it. end id]

FUCK i am so glad i didnt hand write all of that, it would have been a major pain in the ass to write it all and then have to transcribe all that next. but nope i could directly copy paste the asks and word answers. cheers if anyone made it this far down. if anyone wonders why this is uploaded late, you know now.

[edge-lorde]

hp update: its been a long time, boys. ud think that with this plague outbreak id have more time for shitty phone games, and ud be right! however, the time i normally might use to make tumblr posts has been taken up by reading lotr orc fanfiction non-stop for at least 1 full month. id still be in the thick of that obsession even now if only the fics would update. that is how i find you today folks, for the first time in many weeks i am staring at a screen with nothing to do. so come with me friends, theres no better way to fill the soulless void we are all in than reading a nice long tumbler post. 

disclaimer, first of all, a lot has happened, i prefer to keep these updates as plot spoiler free as possible but do to extenuating circumstances i feel like it is necessary to say, [SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER BELOW]

that rowan fucking died,

i wont say exactly how, but i will say that her death was animated as were animations of myself and a few others reacting to our friend fresh corpse. obviously meant to be serious moments but the animations made it seem almost comical. 

i saw at least one post going around right after this update that was like ‘how could the game devs do this to us..... how could they hate rowan so.... this is punishment from on high’ and its like.... u guys do know what a story is right? the events of  a story are not typically done to punish less faithful fans, im pretty sure they were planning to kill rowan off from the beginning. this isnt disney im pretty sure the writers are not writing each chapter the night before its released by popular vote. 

that little “are we drifting away..?” scene with rowan makes more sense now. there was a bit in one of the scenes where the kids all reminisce on rowans life and the mc talks about it being the last real one on one time they had with rowan. a nice bitter sweet moment. i dont hate this turn of events. its a good reminder that actions have consequences and we are way past they days of “should i wear a hat or scarf?” its YA time now. 

i did manage to take 1 screenshot from this time, i had commented that before that when rowan said she didnt have many friedns that barnaby seemed to be hanging out with her without be there as a friend buffer and here was his reaction to her death:

;_;

the funniest part in all of this however, was of course cedericks reaction to rowans death “but she was so young....” LOL fuckin RIP.

lets see... what else.... i forget a lot of what happened but i think there was a time sensitive quidditch event in there somewhere? if so i  dont remember it. what i do remember of the quidditch pals is that im gonna play beater now, skye is being weird and cagey about it, andre is involved.... the others are there.....

sidenote, i love the shitty b characters they throw in to be like yes you know this person but no they are not cool enough for u to even think about befriending. the first one of those is face paint kid, and now we have another, who is a former beater girl with horrible bangs named bean who didnt go to any classes for a whole season so she could just play ball 24/7 and got kicked off the team.  this is a character who only exists to provide an explanation as to why there would be a beater position open but i love them on principle. 

right now im in the midst of another time sensitive event, this one is a bother-your-brother-at-work-day event where recent hogwarts graduate bill weasley is bullied by myself and his younger brother charlie into letting us go with him on one of his curse breaking jobs. 

so for those unfamiliar, bill works for the magical bank of england.... and his job seems to be “retrieving treasure” for said bank. in the books, there is a bit where he takes his family on one of his trips to egypt, where his job seemed to have been tomb plundering indiana jones style for the posterity of the english bank :X. i wont explain here why thats bad but its bad. 

the game devs however in this instance, at least SEEM to be doing what jkr couldnt do by attempting to salvage what is left of gringotts bank and form it into not a super shitty implications factory run by horrible jewish caricatures. bills mission is to retrieve a goblin made artifact that was taken by dragons, so no going to foreign countries to steal things from other people! only going to a dragon reserve to rifle through animal nests. they even appear to be providing us with a likable goblin character, egad!  

my hope for this event is that we get a plotline about how maybe, goblins arent shifty human haters for no reason, and in fact they hate magic humans for very understandable reasons, like being forced to go into hiding with the rest of the magical world even though only the humans wanted to do that, and maybe despite running the bank in england they still dont have a lot of political sway in the world of wizards and witches, and have to rely on the faith that said wizards and witches wont fuck them over at every turn, even as they see how they treat other non-humans, such as house elves, which they desperately dont want to end up like. and maybe they DONT only care about gold... maybe thats a human stereotype based on the fact that theres a long history of humans not respecting goblin ownership customs.... which i could get into..... but i wont.... i just....... very badly dont want them to suck ;__________;

i know i said its ok to still like a piece of media as long as you recognize the problems with it, and i do, but once this game is done im gonna stop hp posting all together. ive been feeling more and more uncomfortable making these posts lately.  

GENERAL GAME NOTES; theres been some new layout changes and such. 

most notably the stairs screen has been changed from a bulleted list of all locations to a screen with tiles picturing an image of each location along with the name + icons of all classes at each place. there is one additional location that is new and yet to be unlocked, and the dragon reservation is appearing temporarily as its own tile as well. i prefer this method of getting in and out of a temporary location to how they did it with car during the last christmas special. the stairs icon also now stays in the corner when you scroll through locations, allowing you to open the stairs menu without scrolling all the way back to the left. 

they also moved a few of the buttons down into the lower left corner rather than the left side & combined the story button and sidequest button. they added a little camera button as well, just like in the dormitory, that makes all the icons in a location disappear and look better for screenshots. 

the daily special add offer thing now has its own button in the top right corner of the screen, and idk if i mentioned it before but now there are daily challenges that appear in the sidequest screen that offer small rewards for completing 3 tasks per day + a better one if u get all 3. the prizes are things like 4 energy, 75 coins, 3 monster food. the better rewards are usually either more coins, 8 energy, 3 gems, or 1 notebook. i think that it does all the different color notebooks but i cant remember for sure if i ever saw the gold one up as a reward. i like this addition in any case. if you dont pick up ur reward by the end of the day, the next time u log on it will force u to stop and accept them, and if one of the rewards is energy and ur energy bar is full, it does not seem to stack beyond the bar so watch out.

 the character stats page is now more zoomed out so you can see your full character instead of just from the waist up. no change to the leaderboard. rowans face in the friendship roster is now a still black and white image that says ur friend may be gone but friendship is forever u-u. 

rowan has been removed from all classes. in the classes where the minigames involved her, those minigames have passed the mantle onto other friends in the class. in potions that person is now liz helping u find stuff off the shelves and in tranfiguration that person is badeea. bless these girls for helping mc get through it. touched my heart. 

theres been a few fun little “i know u have more free time now so uhhhh have some energy” prizes like they do sometimes when they dont update on schedule so thats been nice. just a few days ago they gifted us 3 gold notebooks the same way. :O. 

theres also been a few instances of a energy happy hour where for a limited time energy takes less time to refresh. normally it takes 4 mins for 1 energy to do this but during happy hour its like 2:30 mins. :U its all very interesting.

and that will have to do it for tonight my friends, ill do a post for the dragon event when its done because i do like it so far and i do like getting to bully bill with charlie. 

until next time, remember.......