#like FUCK the context for ryans screencap here is hes saying right there

[1980ssunflower]

I hope I'm not the only one who finds it so hot when their f/o's are angry 😳💖💙

[arotechno]

Jughead (2015), Aromanticism and Representation Part 1: The Mark Waid Fiasco

So, here’s the thing.

I was going to finish my arc-by-arc reread and review of the Jughead reboot. I was! But that was nearly a year ago now, and I kind of got distracted with a busy summer and moving and then a bunch of other stuff got in the way. And so really, I was going to finish. But the truth is, the last volume is either not super interesting for me to talk about or it’s the Mark Waid bit that I just really didn’t want to go through the trouble of getting screencaps and doing analysis for and so on. But I’m also not done talking about Jughead (I never will be) and I said before that I had some more overarching commentary I wanted to eventually put out, so here we are. So let’s talk about representation. Namely, I want to talk about the differences between Zdarsky and North’s portrayals of Jughead’s aromanticism. But in order to do that, we have to address the elephant in the room. We have to talk about Mark Waid.

First, a brief summary of volume three, just for context, since I never got around to it: Ryan North finishes off his run with a relatively lighthearted short arc where due to Jughead fucking up in a video game bet, the gang is forced to treat Reggie like a king for a week and do everything he says. They end up starting a really terrible band, things get out of hand, Jughead accidentally uploads a public video of them that implodes all of their social lives… it’s fun and goofy and can be basically summed up as Jughead Experiences Consequences, Wacky Hijinks Ensue.

The last two issues of the Jughead reboot ever released were written by Mark Waid and Ian Flynn. For the sake of focusing on the source material itself, the final arc consists of Sabrina accidentally casting a spell that makes everyone obsessed with Jughead. The problem is, since Jughead is super aroace and touch averse, this very quickly becomes a very uncomfortable situation. Now, I actually don’t hate these last two issues, and it’s not like Waid and Flynn retconned Jughead’s orientation or anything as drastic as that. The problem was with how the storyline was promoted and sensationalized prior to these issues even being released, and with Waid’s attitude in general.

I can’t find any record of Waid’s tweets about this because he deleted them all. Literally, I’ve searched his profile and all of his tweets from 2017 after January 5 are gone, or else Twitter is glitching like crazy. But there is this one that he wrote in reference to Trump not long before his Jughead run was announced, and uhh…

I don’t know how to explain why this is bad, but it made aspec fans very nervous to see this kind of behavior and then find out that Waid was picking up Jughead, an aroace character.

Further alarm was raised when the synopsis for the new storyline was announced. It originally read as follows:

“Sabrina the Teenage Witch tries to do something nice for Jughead, but it ends up creating a comedy of errors in which he is the most desired bachelor in town! From the new writing team of Mark Waid (Archie) and Ian Flynn (Sonic the Hedgehog).”

This was… concerning, to say the least. A cover art in which Jughead is depicted surrounded by women and grinning was also circulated, which made a lot of aroace fans very uncomfortable (though it should be noted that this was an alternative cover, and not the one drawn by Derek Charm that ended up in the issue):

Once issues 15 and 16 were eventually released, things kind of died down a bit, at least from where I was standing. Like I said, the storyline as it actually appears in the comics is not really all that bad. As a basic plotline, I don’t find it particularly problematic; however, the issue that I still have with it to this day is that it doesn’t feel like it was written or promoted for aspec people to enjoy. It was a storyline about borderline sexual harassment that was played entirely for laughs for a straight audience, right down to the way it was described in the initial synopsis for issue 15. Zdarsky and North, in different ways, both wrote with what I felt was a great deal of care and attention paid to making sure Jughead’s orientation was portrayed respectfully without being his entire character. I don’t know what role Ian Flynn had in all this, because all of the criticism and back-and-forth that eventually got deleted seemed to be focused on Mark Waid—but needless to say, issues 15 and 16, while not bad writing, feel a lot more careless than aspec people deserved.

I don’t think Mark Waid is an awful person and my intention isn’t to restart the discourse or “cancel” Waid by posting this. I think he’s a deeply flawed person and kind of an asshole who wasn’t the right person to write Jughead and treated fans very disrespectfully in response. I think he’s a coward for deleting the evidence, and I’m disappointed that issues 15 and 16 were the last that we ever got, but at the same time I shudder to think what worse damage he may have done in later issues had he been given the chance. This is the exact opposite of how I feel about the Zdarsky and North arcs, and I want to talk about that more in a later post (that one will be more fun!), but for now I felt that I could not get into a deeper commentary on aro representation in the Jughead reboot without addressing Mark Waid first. It felt disingenuous not to.

Anyway, before I go I just want to add that when I went onto Mark Waid’s Twitter, I found out that today, by complete coincidence, happens to be his birthday. So I hope he enjoys this gift of continuing aro rage. <3

And if any of you happen to find those tweets (or anything else pertinent to this discussion that I missed), please let me know!

[wetookanoath]

Supernatural Season 6 | The Hidden Secrets Of Area 51.

CALLED IT! I knew it was going to be a Area 51 episode, lmao. We start with an alien ep, let’s go.

Looking  fucking FINE. Look at Shane’s growing hair, I’m so damn happy. Shane with long hair is MY DREAM, I’m so happy for this season. It’s gonna be my season.

By the way, Matt, our local conspiracy theoriest, it’s at the raid right now with Aria, Fernando and Brenden.

“This is gonna be a stupid episode” LMAO. I love them.

WHY IS SHANE TOUCHING HIS NIPPLES? Ryan’s rapsberry, tho. “No, no, no, stop. Don’t go down there. That’s better.” <-- Out of context? Amazing.

WHY IS RYAN TOUCHING HIS NIPPLES LIKE THAT? OH MY GOD. That nipple game is strong in this episode.

Okay, as we hear about the thingy, do you guys think Area 51 really does has alien tech and other stuff from another world?

“The best strike is the one you don’t see coming”, love that good shit. Ryan giving good quotes for the edits since episode one.

God, I’m too distracted with how goddammed handsome these men are. Holy shit, I can’t stop looking at Shane, holy fuck. I’m gonna... die a little.

Ryan thinking aliens are gonna show up is me going the extra mile for everything in life and then being hella disappoined when nothing ever happens. 

“But then if they do, who cares?” “I CARE BECAUSE I LIVE HERE!” “But then everyone is dead and that’s kind of cool” “YOU SOUND LIKE A MOVIE VILLAIN RIGHT NOW”

I love Shane ‘death wish’ Madej so much. He is such a relatable bitch, I’m so glad we have him in our lives.

WHY IS RYAN TOUCHING HIS NIPPLE?

“Did you just did that so you could touch your left nipple again?” “No...” “This is my least favorite bit we’ve ever made in the show...” OH MY GOD, SHANE.

Shane saying he doesn’t want to live without his social media following, jfbvnfindifhirgnir. GIVE HIM LOVE IN SOCMED.

Why is Shane talking like that about the aliens? I’m....... WHY IS HE TALKING ABOUT ALIEN SEX? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

Distracting from one thing with another thing? The X Files.

God, that take of Shane smiling to Ryan’s bit against Bob is the cutest thing. Watch me edit that screencap in 2345678987654 ways.

Did... he just lick Ryan’s paper.... What is going on here?

“Just pay attention... Just pay. attention.” JESUS.

Bigfoot is working at the reception desk, jfbniensdienfur. “What do you think it is?” “Nothing”, DJBFENDFIDNFJR.

I fucking love them. This was a weird episode. I love it.