#look batman and superman are objectively coming of age stories

[therandomartmaker]

ngl throwing danny phantom, a facsimile of the hero genre and practically a mockery of a coming of age story, at dc, one of the paragons of superhero stories that, while admittedly could be better written at times and is constantly retconning due to it’s dated past, is still a highly complex and admirable story, is goddamn hilarious. I’ll be the first to admit that i haven’t seen canon for either of them, but may the Fool help me, it is fucking hilarious that these two sides of the same coin are actually just a coin mint error where both sides are actually just the same person different portrait.

[paintball-writes]

Day 3 - Identities

Day1 - Day2 - Day3 - Day4

Marinette had been living with the waynes for over a month now. The reason? Tom and Sabine sent her away to her biological father. Apparently To Dupain was not her biological, but Bruce Wayne was.

Marinette had a sliver of hope, A really, really thin one. Which had faltered by the month.

Marinette had defeated Hawk Moth with Chat Noir. Apparently Plagg found the brooches along with two sleeping kwamis accidentally. At night when Gabriel and Natalie were asleep, He had stolen the miraculous. On the patrol that night, Chat had told her that the miraculous were right under their noses. He gave her the two brooches and told her that Plagg had found the brooches in his father’s study. He told her that Gabriel was Hawk moth and Natalie was Mayura. Then he de-transformed and handed her the ring saying that he wanted to continue his life as a civilian.

Later that week it was announced that Chat noir found out who Hawk Moth was and he had stolen the miraculous at night. He then said that Gabriel and Natalie were the Villians. He then revealed himself saying that he was innocent, and he had no idea that his father was Hawk moth. Marinette had thought that with Hawkmoth gone she could beat Lila, But no, it Backfired. That was the reason she was Shipped off. Like an object. She was replaced just like an object.

Her only wish was to die. But she had tried to do that multiple times. Someone always managed to save her. So no, that option was unavailable. She had thought that she would finally be able to die in Gotham by sucide, But no, Selina, Cassandra or Jason always managed to save her.

By now she had started to see the woman as a mother figure. The Waynes hated her. They didn’t even listen to her side of the story. Only Cass and Jason had seen that there was more to the story. Selina and Alfred too, of course. The waynes saw her with disgust. They laid out certain rules.

And of course she figured out they were Bat family. She may not be from Gotham, but she wasn’t certainly stupid. She had to admit, The Waynes were really good at hiding the Batfam thingy. But what gave them away? Misplaced Batarangs by Tim. Then Tikki had also found the cave. She wasn’t stupid, Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne were good friends and certainly Batman and Superman. The people of Justice league stopped by often at the Manor too.

Speaking of the Justice League, They had given her an offer to join the League, but she declined. They had given her a satellite phone for emergencies to contact the league. They had praised her high and low. Batman was even Concerned for her when he found out her age range. Concerned! If they knew that Ladybug was their new sibling who was claimed to be a bully, she’d be declared a threat and her take Miraculous away.

Her routine was the same. Wake up. Eat breakfast in silence as she was being glared at. Study something. Do commissions while talking to her boyfriend, Luka and the others. Eat Lunch while being glared at. Study the Grimoire with Alfred. Sketch some designs while talking to Selina and Cass. Draw illustrations while Jason talks. Eat dinner in Silence. Stay up till 3 am doing commissions. Sleep.

Last week she had introduced Luka to Cass, Selina, Jason and Alfred. It went really well. Especially when Jason found out he was Jagged Stone’s son.

She was thinking how she could step up her game with the Waynes. In her thoughts she didn’t see Selina coming in.

“What are you thinking about Kitten ?” Selina asks, seeing the half sketched dress.

“Gah! Selina don’t scare me like that! Anyway I was thinking, ``What do I do to annoy the waynes?” Marinette asks the Master of scheming Cat-woman.

“Hmm, what about going to your true self? Being in headphones, ignoring them, Snide answers, and stuff like that?” Selina says thoughtfully.

“Selina, that's brilliant! You’re the best Mom!” Marinette says. She covers her mouth with her hand realizing what she said.

“Aww, Com’ere Kit. I love you.” Selina says softly.

“You’re not mad?” Marinette hesitantly asks.

“Of course not!” She says.

“You’ll be more of a mother than Sabine will ever be to me.” Marinette says with a small voice and hugs the older woman.

Then the Chaos was unleashed. Whenever the Waynes wanted to ask her something she’d ignore them and she always had her headphones on.

- - - - - - - -

“Marinette, tell me why did you hurt the poor girl?” Bruce asks in a stern voice. Of course Mari didn’t hear him because of the blaring music.

“Marinette, Why did you hurt the poor girl?” Bruce asks again, obviously annoyed.

“MARINETTE-” He was cut off from Alfred of course.

“If I may Master Bruce,” he says, earning a nod. He gently taps the girl’s shoulder. Marinette moves her hair away and removes her Airpod. The music is loud enough for everybody to hear.Meanwhile Bruce flushes in embarrassment. “Miss, Your father wants to ask you something.” Marinette nods. She turns to her Father.

“What?” She asks.

“I asked, Why did you hurt the poor girl marinette, around two months ago?” He asks, patience bearing thin.

“Oh? I didn’t know that I could make a clone of myself and Send one to the fencing class and the other to beat her up at the Seine?” She says in a bored tone. Jason and Cass, not being able to hold their laughter any longer, burst out laughing.

Later that night they checked her attendance, sure enough she was in the fencing class.

- - - - - -

One day Marinette got a call from the Justice league, Stating an emergency. She quickly transformed to Ladybug and Portalled to the Watchtower.

“Ladybug, welcome to the Watchtower,” Wonder Woman welcomed, standing at the head of a group of heroes. Interestingly enough, Batman and all of his brood were among them. Nightwing, Red Robin, Black Bat, and Robin and the others.

“Wonder Woman,” she greeted back. “What’s the problem?”

“Your former partner has been kidnapped.”

Ladybug’s face turned pale, but she took a deep breath instead of panicking. “What do we know?”

“Ra’s al Ghul has taken the former Chat Noir in an attempt to convince the Guardian of the Miraculous to turn over the jewels to him,” Batman reported.

Her face turned up into a snarl. “The League of Assassins,” she spat.

They were surprised that she knew Ra’s. But they hid it well.

“I take it you understand why we cannot allow the Miraculous to be surrendered to his control,” Batman continued.

Wonder Woman stepped in before Ladybug could reply. “Ladybug, we need you to tell us who the Guardian is so that we may protect them.”

Ladybug let out a cold laugh. Shivers ran down everyone’s spine. “Wonder Woman, you misunderstand. The Order of the Miraculous is all but dead. I’m all that’s left. You want the Grand Guardian of the Miraculous?” She spread her arms wide. “You’re looking at her. And Ra’s al Ghul can have them over my dead body. ”

The gathered heroes looked stunned. “Now where is Adrien?”

Red robin started, recovering first. “You’re not going alone.”

“You’re right,” Ladybug cut in. “I’m not. I’m gathering my team.”

“What Red Robin meant to say is that Batman and his assembled partners are going with you,” Wonder Woman soothed. “They have experience dealing with Ra’s and would be a great asset.”

“I’ll be back in ten minutes, at the most.” She said. Everyone nodded. She portalled away to gather her team.

Five minutes later a portal opened and stepped out Honey bee, Dragoness and Cobra in the Glory. The portal snapped shut when Ladybug entered.

“This is not enough! We’re dealing with Ra’s al Ghul and the league here!” Ladybug said. “We need her. She’s the last resort if we lose!” Dragoness exclaimed. The Justice league was confused. Who were they talking about?

“You’re right. Bee, you’re the only one who knows where she is. You’re her best friend. I can't find her in all of paris!” Ladybug asks, turning to Honey bee.

“You’re right, I do. It’ll be easy to find her. She’ll be in her room. She’s always Isolated, so don’t worry about getting caught.” Honey Bee answers.

“Isolation! I thought I told her to Socialize!” Ladybug exclaims.

“Yeah, but her family treats her like a pariah except some people. But Ladybug I don’t know if she’ll be able to fight.” Honey bee says.

“Rossi?”

“Rossi.”

“Now location please.” Ladybug says.

“Right. Wayne Manor, Gotham, New Jersey.” Honeybee whispers. Earning surprised looks from Ladybug and the Supers.

“Alright.” Ladybug portals away. This was all staged of course. She had recently found a spell to make a clone of herself.

“Why won't the hero be able to fight? She’s a hero!” Batman exclaims.

“Depression, you overgrown furry, Depression. She’s tried committing sucide several times. We saved her.” This earns many shocked looks.

Cue opening a portal. All of the Paris heroes Gasps. All in glory Multimouse is standing there.

When Honey Bee saw Multimouse, she gasped and enveloped her in a hug, muttering French endearments and saying how much she’d missed her. Dragoness stole Multimouse for a hug next before passing her on to Viperion who also received an extra peck on the lips in return, while Ladybug watched with a soft smile.

With Kaalki involved, it was child’s play to get into the assassin stronghold. Team Miraculous filled the gaps and worked seamlessly in their own right, simply a step away from Gotham’s Bats. They beat assassins on their own. The Bats just watched in awe.

It didn’t take them long to make their way to Ra’s.

The man wore a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he greeted him from his throne. A bruised and bloodied but otherwise intact Adrien was being restrained on the dias a few feet away.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Team Miraculous,” Ra’s mused, looking down the line. His eyes paused on Multimouse and his expression shifted to intense amusement. “And if it isn’t the latest in the Detective’s brood. I suppose heroics truly do run in the family after all.”

A number of shocked and confused gazes snapped to Multimouse, who simply stared at him down with cold eyes growling quietly.

“And yet she isn’t why we’re here,” Ladybug cut in coldly, shoving that problem in a box for later.

Ra’s shifted his oily attention to her. “Yes, I believe I requested the Guardian, young Bug.”

“And here I am,” Ladybug said simply. “But I will never cede the Miraculous to you.”

“Well, then I suppose the Blonde Cat dies.” The assassin near Adrien tried to kill him only to turn to orange smoke. Ra’s growls when he realizes he was tricked.

“Your reign is over. Your crimes won’t continue much longer. Tell me, just how long have you been using the Pits to keep yourself alive?”

“Goodbye, Ra’s al Ghul,” Ladybug intoned. “We’ll leave you to what remains of your empire.” She turned and motioned for the Fox to open the portal to the Watchtower. The Bats followed behind.

Adrien was at the fringes, attempting to escape a hero that was trying to get him to the Medbay for medical attention. He only had eyes for Multimouse.

“Marinette!” he called.

The Bats were shocked at both the name and the blatant outing of a secret identity.

Adrien broke free from his wounds. “Marinette, I’m so sorry,” he said brokenly.

It was quiet for a moment. “I take it they told you why I left, then,” Multimouse said, carefully devoid of emotion.

“I never thought-”

“Don’t, Adrien,” Queen Bee snapped.

Adrien gaped at his friend, shocked at the venom her words carried against him.

“But her Lies, they weren't hurting anyone!”

“How?” Multimouse snapped, her voice cracking. She took a deep breath. “How was it different? Because you told me I had to ‘take the high road?’ Because her lies would unravel themselves? Because she wasn’t hurting anyone? Bullshit, Adrien! They were hurting me!”

“She followed your advice at first,” Queen Bee said sharply. “She shouldn’t have, but you were her friend and she trusted you. By the time she realized that it had been a mistake, it was too late. Everyone else was in too deep and you did nothing . When Mari tried to tell everyone that they were being lied to, she was made to look like a liar. A bully.”

“Do you realize that the rest of us had people on watchlists?” Ryuko said bluntly. “People at risk of Akumatization that could bring the city to its knees. Aurore, because of Stormy Weather II. Ondine, because of Syren. But do you know who was on top?” She let the silence sit. “Marinette. Marinette was on top of that list. The only reason she was above Ladybug was because Marinette was drowning. But any time she tried to get through to the others, Lila hit back harder and you would ask Mari to back down. Because we don’t want to upset Lila, right? We don’t want her to become an akuma. Again.”

“My parents believed her, Adrien,” Multimouse said quietly. “They sent me away because I was ‘out of control’. I’m treated like a criminal where I am now! So I’m sorry, Adrien, but I can’t forgive you. You said you didn’t want to live with more lies, but then you stopped telling the truth when it threatened your ‘peace’. Even when that ‘peace’ might have ruined my life.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “But you know what they say, right? Never meet your heroes.” She turned and looked straight at Batman. “They’ll always just disappoint you.”

- - - - - - - -

The next week was tense at the Wayne manor. But eventually they apologised to marinette. She became close with them. She and her family then sent lawsuits to the Akuma class.

The saying is true then. “All’s well that ends well.”

@maribat-bdbwm

[orlissa]

So now we have “BatCatPussyGate” or whatever, and I have some thoughts on it—I mean, it does intersect with my area of research.

In case you missed it: a scene where Batman goes down on Catwoman was not included in the Harley Quinn animated series, because, basically, a Batman who gives oral is bad marketing, and makes merchandise hard to sell (they did use the word “toy” in the statement, but you just know they meant action figures aka collectibles aka whatever older male fans buy). It is not even the first such scandal involving Batman in recent years, but we’ll get to that later.

There is a LOT to unpack here, so let’s get started. I’ll try to make it as coherent as I can, but this post still might be a bit of a mess.

First of all, we have to make one thing clear in which Marvel and DC differ from each other (I think I might have talked about this before, but it bears repeating): it’s what I like to call “hierarchical structure of characters.” Basically, Marvel’s structure is like the nervous system: there are interconnected nodes, but no one, clearly defined center. The Avengers are important, but so are the X-Men, and Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four… Plus Wolverine has been an X-Man and an Avenger, Spider-Man has his own lore, but he has been a member of the F4… you get the picture. A big pro of this structure is if that one node falls (a series doesn’t sell), it’s no big deal, because the system remains standing, so, basically, you can experiment with stories. If it doesn’t stick, it doesn’t stick, you move on. DC’s structure, on the other hand, is more like a spider web: you have the Holy Trinity—Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman—in the middle, and everything else connects through them. And if the center falls… everything falls. Which means that even though the Holy Trinity has HUGE cultural visibility (greater than of any single Marvel character), they are pretty much set in their ways. They cannot change much, because what they are now is what sells, and any significant change in representation might lead to failure, which then in turn would lead to the failure of the whole spider web. (I have a like 40 pages long paper on how, because of this, Wonder Woman needs to continuously appeal to both the male—sexualizing male gaze—and the female—identifying female gaze—gazes, compared to Carol Danvers, who keeps jumping between the two ends throughout her publication history.)

And within this scheme, Batman is the picture of hypermasculinity. He is powerful, intelligent, cannot do wrong, closed off from his emotions, and women fall for him, even if he cannot properly commit to a romantic relationship (this last thing is something that goes back to the Silver Age of comics, because male heroes just cannot have love, because nothing can be more important than their vigilantism, while female superheroes are lesser, because they are ready to hang up their capes for love).

Then what does academia has to say about this? Note: I’m going to be talking a lot about stuff that film criticism came up with, but since both movies and comics are a visual narrative medium, I’ve found that you can pretty much project everything about movies to comics.

So, first of all, one big shortcoming of feminist film criticism is that (not entirely unjustly) it is mostly focused on how women are portrayed in movies—especially how they are oppressed and objectified, while it leaves men/male characters… unstudied. Masculinity studies exists, but it’s pretty new and marginal. The availability of male bodies in film to the female gaze is also mostly unexamined (but I’ve dabbled in it! Talking about sexy male bodies in a detached academic manner is fun!), and it’s somewhat of a problem.

Richard Dyer studied the peculiarities of male pinups, and he came up with three instabilities: 1, it violates the codes of looking (because traditionally it’s the men who look, and women who are being looked at), 2, it rejects passivity (because being looked at is read as being passive, and the male body is supposed to be active, so, usually, male and female pinups are posed in a totally different way), and 3, it breaks the myth of the phallus (male power signified by the penis)—because once we start looking into it, we’ll discover that the phallus just… cannot live up to the hype. Therefore not studying the male body/male presence and focusing on the female body/presence actually serves the patriarchy, because the phallus can only keep its central, dominant position until it remains unexamined. Once we look into it, we discover that it’s not that great, and then we can displace patriarchy.

And then what does it mean in practice? Here comes the other Batman scandal I mentioned: about three years ago, DC came up with their new line of comics, where the big draw was the total lack of censoring. It was promised to be super bloody and full of gore and cursing and stuff. The first series of this line was Batman Damned, and the first issue featured the… batawang. I mean Batman’s penis. Returning from some mission, Batman starts undressing the moment he steps into the Batcave, stripping naked, and on some panels one can clearly see… little Bruce. It had no point. It could have easily been brushed out, and it would not have looked out of place. Or course, the internet had a field day with it, about the same way they are having a field day with his lack of oral sex now. It grew so big that within a couple of days DC announced that they’d airbrush out the batawang in the second printing and in any subsequently sold digital editions (which then caused the price of the first print editions skyrocket, to some $300, I believe). So to sum up: DC showed Batman’s penis for shock value. Seeing Batman’s penis wasn’t awe-inspiring, a show of power, but the butt of the joke—because examining the phallus shows that it cannot live up to the hype! So Batman’s power, his standing as a masculine ideal/male power fantasy was misplaced in a moment. (Something similar was happening behind the scenes of the Watchmen series as well: when Tom Mison had a full frontal nude scene, they actually used a penis-double—as there was no shot where his face and penis was shown at the same time—now imagine the casting for that role!)

In some way, this is happening now as well—not showing Batman performing oral sex is not because it “hurts toy sales;” it’s because it breaks the myth of the phallus, thus it breaks the myth of the Batman as an immaculate male power fantasy. Batman receives—power, admiration, and, of course, sex. But within the framework of sex, he needs to be the one that dominates, the one that mostly on the receiving end of the pleasure. What is important is that 1, he gets the woman and 2, he gets off. Whether the woman gets off is unimportant within this framework, because it doesn’t serve the myth of Batman/the male power fantasy. Within the fantasy, women need to want to sleep with him because he is Batman (because the male reader identifies with Batman, and he needs to feels as if the women in the comic want him just because he is him/Batman), but if he performs oral sex on the woman, it presupposes an active need for effort from his part from her to want him. It gives her agency, which elevates her to a partner, not an object to-be-looked-at.

So if Batman performs oral sex, his body will be put on display as something beyond the realm of the male power fantasy; it will be examined, and thus determined he is not all-powerful. His dominance within the narrative will be questioned. The role of the woman will be elevated. The patriarchal dominance displaced. So, yeah, that’s why Batman can’t give oral—not because it will hurt the toy sales.

I mean, it might. But because it will hurt Batman as a hypermasculine ideal

[batfamily--headcanons]

okay, i think about this one a lot. jason as a dad! would be the BEST. imagine him spoiling the hell out of this kid and putting away the red hood mantle in order to maintain this kids safety. the batkids babysit him and adore him and ahshsbdhssbgshw. also bruce trying to be a grandfather would be adorable

I love this and now I have so many ideas (ones involving him and Roy setting up play dates for Lian and Jason’s kid and Roy actually being happy and not unceremoniously killed off for no reason while Jason has no real reaction to it. Whoops, guess I’m still bitter about Heroes in Crisis).

Anyway, Jason would name his son Atticus (for obvious book related reasons) Bruce Todd. For years he would keep his son's middle name a secret, telling everyone he didn’t have a middle name until Dick found his birth certificate and posted it in the family group chat for everyone to see.

Bruce would be so touched by that, but he wouldn’t say anything, emotionally constipated vigilante that he is. However, his actions spoke louder than his lack of words because he spoiled that kid rotten. He didn’t just buy him anything and everything he ever wanted, though he did that too since he could never say no to Atticus, but he actually took nights off patrol and missed WE board meetings to spend time with him. He never understood Alfred's obsession with taking so many photos of him and the boys until Atticus was born and now Bruce’s phone is 90% full of pictures of his grandson.

Jason would pretend to object to Bruce spoiling Atticus or ask Bruce if he really needed another picture of his grandson, but this actually made him so happy. He saw his son having a life that he never got to have as a kid, growing up not worrying about where the next meal is coming from or sleeping with one eye open because his mom's dealers were on the warpath, and he would never ever doubt that he was loved. The whole big happy family thing was always a secret desire of Jason’s and now his son got to grow up never knowing anything less than this perfect, happy family.

After he gave up the Red Hood mantle, Jason focused on redistributing his wealth from his more villainous Red Hood days around the Narrows. He invested in local businesses, funded after school programs and tutors for kids who were struggling, he helped kids apply for scholarships and summer camps. His good work as Jason Todd ended up doing a lot more good for his neighbourhood than the Red Hood or Batman could have ever done. Atticus grew up at Jason’s side, volunteering and helping people who needed it. He never had any idea that his father used to be the Red Hood until he was a teenager and even then, didn’t quite believe it because of how much he’d changed to take care of his son.

Dick would teach the kid acrobatics and how to swing from the chandeliers and cartwheel up and down the bannisters and every time Jason caught him doing this, he would go into panic mode and worried about his son. Even though he and Dick both did much more dangerous things than Atticus in their youth than a few flips, Jason would always chastise Dick for encouraging such reckless behaviour and for introducing his son to Frozen. If he heard Let It Go one more time, he was going to lose it and take up the life of crime again just to beat his brother senseless.

Tim would be the cool uncle who traveled the world and never settles down, but always comes back with the coolest gifts and the craziest stories. We all know Tim (and Dick, but not to the same extent) would be telling this kid all kinds of stories about the reckless shit his father did when he was Atticus’ age while Jason tried to deny it. Tim would also introduce Atticus to the wonder that is the TV marathon and they would spend hours on the couch watching what Tim considered to be classics.

Damian, well he wouldn’t be as outwards as the others with his affections. Instead, he would gift Atticus with his favourite books and paintings and they would read or admire them together mostly silently. Jason wanted to make sure his son was well read and didn’t even have to try very hard thanks to Damian’s efforts. He would also be the one to bring strays home and make a beeline to Atticus because once he saw the animals, he became attached and nobody could say no to that face when he wanted something harmless. This is obviously a ploy for Damian to get around Bruce’s rules about ‘no more pets, we have enough already’ but Atticus doesn’t mind it one bit and pretends he has no idea of his uncle's ulterior motives.

Alfred would love this kid more than life itself. His first great grandchild had already brought him joy just by being born, but then he made things even better by causing Jason to give up the mantle he’d held for so long and he was happy at least one of them wasn’t in danger every night. The first thing he bought for newborn Atticus was a Superman onesie, because he knew it would amuse Jason and because he thought it would look so cute with the little cape attached to the back and everything. He would also teach the boy to cook, how to properly look after a house, and all of the ‘boring’ life lessons that so many young people aren’t being taught anymore. Alfred wanted to make sure Atticus would be able to be self-sufficient when the time came for him to go out into the world on his own and he was more than prepared thanks to his great grandfather.

[davidmann95]

Thoughts (if any) on DC's April 2021 solicitations?

Let’s take ‘em in order! I should be able to muster up a comment on just about everything one way or another.

Green Lantern #1: Oh this is gonna be bad. Heard only the worst about Thorne’s Future State: Green Lantern, and I assume Jo Mullein’s DCU debut will be wasted here to either function as some kind of ridiculous ‘popularity contest’ with Teen Lantern for who gets the bigger push, or as a way to put TL over with a few “good work kid, you got a future” comments. Also, and granted I don’t know how Morrison will end or this will begin, is the New Guardians angle being immediately dropped?

Robin #1: Dope suit, art, and premise, but it’s Williamson so I don’t care.

Batman: The Dark Knight #1: I’ll read this and I expect to like it, but between this being Kubert’s first big Batman project since Master Race, the ‘old but not quite retirement age yet’ angle, and the title, I’m concerned the shock ending here is that it’s actually a stealth DKR prequel.

The Next Batman: Second Son #1: So they really are committing here, though weird that this kinda makes Ridley’s Future State book basically a longform teaser for this. And I’ll get it as it comes out since it turns out this won’t be in that John Ridley’s Batman collection after all - sorry Dustin Nguyen, I love your stuff but I won’t buy an entire trade of material I otherwise already own just for one new story by you.

The Batman & Scooby Doo Mysteries #1: I got that whole great-looking Scooby Doo Team-Up run by Fisch for free on Comixology, I should read that sometime and see if this’ll be worth getting too as well, because it sounds like a hoot.

Challenge of the Super Sons #1: Glad people who want it are getting it, I do not care.

RWBY/Justice League #1: WILL BE GETTING A POST ALL ITS OWN

Action Comics #1030: His powers waning definitely won’t help the standard pre-run fuming by a lot of Superman fandom, but it’s an interesting pairing with PKJ apparently doing mainly cosmic Superman adventures so I’m curious where he’ll go with it. That it’s particularly cited as being tied to Death Metal might validate my suspicion that the new ‘everyone remembers their entire mainstream publishing histories’ thing will play into Johnson’s description of Clark really feeling his age at the start of the run. And Janin on covers even before he gets in on the book proper! And that Midnighter description!

Superman #30: This sounds like where Johnson’s gonna start with that worldbuilding he touted, and I’m curious; definitely reads in this instance like him shoving Clark and Jon into some swords-and-sorcery-esque territory he’s familiar with.

American Vampire 1976 #7: Not reading, don’t care.

Batman #107: I assume ‘the events at Arkham Asylum’ are the ‘A-Day’ ominously brought up in Future State solicits. Tynion Batman, Jimenez as the regular artist now, whatever the Unsanity Collective is, all entirely my shit. More importantly than any of that though, GHOSTMAKER BACKUPS. And drawn by Ricardo Lopez Ortiz, artist on Steve Orlando’s excellent The Pull! Dope!

Batman: Black & White #5: Any other issue and ‘Jamal Campbell doing a life story of Nightwing’ would probably be the highlight, but in case you somehow hadn’t heard Gillen/McKelvie are making their DC debut on a Batman vs. Riddler story here, absolutely wild.

Batman: Urban Legends #2: Even more excited for this now that I’m onboard for the Grifter and Outsiders stuff given how much those features pleasantly surprised me in Future State.

Batman/Superman #17: Injecting it isn’t enough anymore, I need to be on some kind of constant IV drip with this book. I was wondering whether it’d take the premise to further generational riffs or follow a history of mass-media Supermen and Batmen, but instead it’s veering off in a direction I never could have guessed and I couldn’t be more excited.

Batman vs. Ra’s Al Ghul #6: NOTHING CAN STOP THE ADAMSVERSE. NONE MAY DARE TRY.

Batman/Catwoman #5: Wondering how this Harley involvement plays in - I don’t imagine it’s quite what it seems given how King’s written her before. And love that Joker by Mann on the cover, major Clown at Midnight vibes.

Catwoman #30: No reason to assume this run won’t continue to rule.

Crime Syndicate #2: Dammit, I don’t think this book is going to be good, but I’m kinda tempted.

Detective Comics #1035: Wouldn’t be psyched, but Dark Detective was another pleasant surprise so I’ll give this a chance.

The Dreaming: Waking Hours #9: Again, not reading.

Far Sector #11: Sucks a little knowing we’ll never see that little ‘Young Animal’ label in the corner again after this wraps. At least it’s going out on its highest note.

The Flash #769: In a vacuum this would sound dope but I have less than no faith in this, and goddamn that’s a terrible cover.

Harley Quinn #2: I’m sure it’ll be fine, no interest.

The Joker #2: I wanna believe Tynion will be able to make this work, he keeps talking like he has more freedom on this than he has some other books, but everything about this reads like the price he has to pay for relative post-Joker War freedom on Batman.

Justice League #60: It’s Bendis/Marquez on Justice League, lots of people will complain but I’ll mostly dig it. More interested in Ram V briefly getting to write the main crew in the JLD backup.

Man-Bat #3: I’d ask why this exists - and as a matter of fact I still do - but checking out some of DC’s digital-first output recently I see Dave Wielgosz has something on the ball, so maybe he’ll be able to make this work? Perhaps I’ll check it out in trade someday if worth-of-mouth is on its side.

Nightwing #79: I maintain, this is gonna be huge. And clever move to make for how to justify Nightwing keeping up his standard way of business after Bruce loses most of his money.

Rorschach #7: A comic I will purchase and let’s continue leaving it at that.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #109: DC’s highest-numbered comic (that hasn’t gone through an interim renumbering), astonishing. Not getting it myself, but respect.

Sensational Wonder Woman #2: Can’t say this sounds like my thing.

Suicide Squad #2: I’ve been swayed into checking out the Future State debut, but that’d have to really blow me away for me to follow into the main book.

Superman: Red & Blue #2: Sadly if unsurprisingly DC’s clearly not stacking this with AAA attention-grabbing names in the same way as this latest version of Batman: Black & White, but there do seem to be some interesting names from outside the usual big two roster here. And the main and Bolland cover may disappoint but holy cow that David Choe variant.

The Swamp Thing #2: I have no doubt it’ll be incredible but time and again I learn I simply don’t have it in me to care about Swamp Thing regardless of the objective quality of the effort put into him.

Sweet Tooth: The Return #6: Another one I’m not interested in.

Titans Academy #2: Oh lord so this is where they stuck Billy Batson.

Truth & Justice #3: I continue to have no idea what if anything the unifying idea of this anthology is supposed to be.

Wonder Woman #771: Wonder Woman as troubleshooter for mythological mishaps isn’t a permanently sustainable or desirable status quo but I’m down for it for as long as it lasts if it’s any good (though that Immortal Wonder Woman preview...concerned me, in spite of Jen Bartel’s jaw-dropping art).

So that’s 19-23 out of 37 I’ll be getting - if DC’s standard for success with Infinite Frontier is the proportion of their line people will be checking out, I guess it’s winning with me.

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Alright HERE WE GO...SOME PRESS!

By which I mean, Tom King was on ComicPop discussing Supergirl! So we have CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND INFO! WOO!

Gonna get into it below, but my recommendation, as always: the best way to have an informed opinion is to get the info firsthand, so don’t just take my word for it! Go forth! Watch the thing! (Language advisory, though. There is some swearing.)

Okay. With that out of the way, LET’S GO!

Gonna lead off with a summary of the Supergirl bits, as they discuss a variety of things, from Strange Adventures to Batman/Catwoman to the canned New Gods project:

How Tom King came to be the writer of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow:

King’s longtime editor, Jaime Rich, was moved from the Bat books to the Super books. 

King, historically, likes to take on characters that ‘need help.’ He cites the example of Kirby who, upon coming to DC, asked what their lowest-selling title was, which is how he ended up on Jimmy Olsen.

So, when King asks which character needs help, Rich, to King: Supergirl. We have trouble selling that book.

King, describing Supergirl: ‘She’s singular in a way Mr. Miracle and Vision are not.’ Says that if you ask any four year old who Supergirl is, they know.

Editors asked him, ‘what’s your take? what are you gonna do with her?’

King then discusses the difference between his approach to Bat people vs. Super people.

Bat people: It’s a deconstruction approach. King brings up Kite Man from his Batman run. You tear the character down and build them back up, a la Dark Knight Returns

Super people: It’s not about deconstruction. Let them be themselves. They’re wonderful, let them be wonderful. 

But he does mention sort of stripping down the character to their purest form; he describes it as chiseling off the barnacles that have built up on the character, over the years.

Additionally, he says ‘evil doesn’t work for the Super family of characters.’

He mentions Superman: Up in the Sky. He says that there’s deep stuff in Up in the Sky, but the theme of every page is simply: Superman is awesome.

King: “I don’t want to make Kara mean or sad. I want to test her.”

The host compares ‘angry Kara’ stories to ‘evil Superman’ stories in that there are many of them, such to the point that people think Kara is relatable because she’s miserable and angry all the time. 

The host: I don’t get that.

(Same dude, same.)

King talked to Steve Orlando

They discussed the fact that Supergirl knew her planet; the people who died were her friends, family, classmates.

King summarizes Kara’s original Silver Age origin: she witnessed three huge, traumatic losses of life. First, when Krypton exploded. Then again when the Kryptonite started killing Argo residents, and then again when the meteorites destroyed the lead shielding that was keeping Argo safe. 

King: “That’s some f-ing trauma! I don’t know if you’ve read my books, but I love the trauma in characters.”

King thus describes Kara as world-weary, she swears, ‘she has seen some sh*t’.

On the new character, Ruthye:

She’s a child on a vengeance quest.

She’s named after King’s niece, Ruthie.

The pronunciation for the comic character, though, is Ruth-Eye.

One of his sons told him to add the ‘e’ on the end to make it look cooler.

Further discussion of Kara herself:

King noted that there’s sometimes a tendency to be very precious with the character.

King: ‘Let’s not be precious with Supergirl.’

This is not the story of a sixteen-year-old girl discovering the world; King says that Supergirl has been that sixteen-year-old for a long time now.

He describes it more as a move from Supergirl to Superwoman.

Art and Influences:

Talking about the red sun planet that Kara visits for her twenty-first birthday, King says he was reading a lot of Conan, which influenced the look of that portion of the story.

The impetus for getting Evely on the book: King said his editor emailed him, ‘Hey, how about Bilquis?’ King: “And I did a happy dance!”

Evely sent King a mood board of the types of things she wanted to draw; Moebius, Kirby, Wally Wood, landscapes in particular. 

Also, King says Evely is fast! She’s already halfway through the book, art-wise, and King is confident the book will release on time.

The host asked him, following up on King’s description of the book as a fantasy/western, ‘Is this True Grit?’

King: “It’s True Grit inspired. The novel AND the movie.”

If asked to give the Hollywood pitch: ‘It’s True Grit in space with Supergirl as Rooster Cogburn.’

Details about this book, as compared to Other Tom King titles:

He’s using captions on this comic--he’d thrown out captions as a storytelling device after Batman, but he found a ‘good voice’ for this comic.

King was prepared to do his usual twelve issues, but they said no one buys Supergirl comics, so it’s eight issues.

King says that Strange Adventures, Rorschach, and to a lesser extent, Batman/Catwoman, were written at a time when the world felt very apocalyptic.

He considers them to be angrier books; they are about what happens when evil is in our life, and how we deal with that.

Supergirl is the start of the ‘next generation’ of titles. 

It was written during the pandemic, but King hoped that by the time it was released, the pandemic and this very dark time in our history would be past.

He says it’s a ‘roaring 20s’ book. Not about anger, or trauma, it’s about stepping into the future and kicking a**. 

THUS CONCLUDES the Supergirl portion of the interview. 

Okay, so! Now that we’ve been objective and presented the information in a straightforward, unbiased manner...SOME THOUGHTS AND OPINONS!

The thing I was most curious about was how King got the book, so I was EXTREMELY PLEASED to get the full story.

This wasn’t like. King desperately wanting to do a Supergirl book, nor was it DC coming to King like, ‘Take Supergirl!’

Sadly, it was, ‘which book needs the most help right now? In the Superman lineup?’

He even said that Supergirl was kind of just sitting around, no one was doing anything with her/there were no plans.

(So the idea that King stole this opportunity from a woman is not true. There were NO PLANS.)

(Also it’s not based on the FS stuff, I suspect they gave the FS team some ideas from his pitch to work with, as that entire event was sort of a stop-gap/fill-in as they hurried to relaunch their line.) 

Anyways!

My initial thought that this is DC’s attempt to sell some dang Supergirl books? Not that far off! XD

Boy, I hope it works.

(Important to note: This is not news. Supergirl has historically always sold poorly. I’ve heard from actual Supergirl writers that the trades do not sell, which is a huge problem.

So King, who is KNOWN for having really good trade sales, is as solid a gamble as they could probably hope for.

He said Superman: Up in the Sky is his third best-selling trade. A WAL-MART BOOK! Is just behind Vision and Mr. Miracle!

Basically: If this doesn’t work, I don’t know that anything will.) 

As for the specifics of King’s take in particular!

Again...I really want to see it, before I pass judgement on it.

I liked the Andreyko run! And that was pretty edgy! 

Also, we have never seen a twenty-something Kara, post-Crisis. She’s always been a teenager. Thus I’m pretty willing to go along with this approach because it’s entirely new territory.

And it does seem like King is enjoying leaning into the idea of a Super who swears and kicks butt and is just a little ‘done’ with it all.

It might not mesh with my ideal Kara but again. I need to see it, before I come to any firm conclusions. 

Honestly the thing that gives me the most pause? Is that King says this book really focuses on Supergirl, not Kara, which is a more recent identity for her.

(That is somewhat true! The ‘Kara Danvers’ identity is wholly new to the show; she’s always been Linda Lee, Linda Danvers, Kara Kent, or Linda Lang, when she has a secret identity. Sometimes she doesn’t.)

(Also of note: Tom pronounces it ‘Care-a’, like the cartoon.)

(PERSONALLY I like KAHr-a, like in the show, because it creates a phonetic consistency with ‘KAHl-el’ but that’s not really relevant to a comic book. You can mentally pronounce it however you choose! XD)

So, yeah, I like the Kara Danvers part of her identity, I like earth-bound Supergirl stories, but. This isn’t that. Which I’ll need to make peace with, I guess. XD

Otherwise? Tell me a story, Mr. King. Even if I hate it, Evely will draw it beautifully, Lopes will color it masterfully, and that’s half the battle, right there. 

I’m sad King didn’t mention the Gates/Igle run! But I also understand he’s probably been looking at more recent stuff; those Gates/Igle comics are fifteen years old, oh man, oh geez, how are they that old already.

King did confirm that this is 100% in-continuity, and will affect the character going into the future.

But, IDK, given the sort of. Grim beginnings of how this book came to be, what with the reminder that the Supergirl title doesn’t sell well...who knows what the future will look like, for Kara!

I stand by my guess that Kara will graduate to ‘Superwoman’ and the Supergirl mantle will pass to someone else, maybe Ruthye? She might be a bit young, though.

Mmm. What else, what else?

Oh, this is pretty funny, IMO: when King first teased the new character, Ruthye, a bunch of SG fans rushed to google to see if there was any clue as to like. What it could mean.

And they freaked out over some obscure connection where that name appears but hey, turns out! It’s just a made up name! Based on King’s niece!

It’s funny because SG fans never learn, man. Just chill out, read the dang book, then get all upset and huff and puff and blow your twitter house down.

They briefly mentioned the Peter David run; King said the PAD stuff was great.

He’s already teased that ‘treat’ and, okay. Time for some rumination on that specifically.

I’ve read the whole PAD run. It wasn’t my cup of tea, I don’t really like the DnD, angels and demons stuff. Also, it wasn’t Kara; it’s an entirely different character who uses the name ‘Supergirl.’

Also, stuff from that run didn’t age well.

And on top of that, PAD turned out to be...kind of a jerk! As so many folks in the comic industry are.

There’s also...an extremely weird, mean-spirited vibe through the whole back half of the run; I thought maybe I was imagining it at the time, but I recently went back to “Many Happy Returns”, the final story arc of the title, and David’s introduction in the trade...it doesn’t read like a guy who was in it for the love of the character, you know?

All of which to say! I’m not excited about connections to the PAD stuff. 

But I know a lot of fans who love that run, love that version of the character.

So like. Eh! Not for me, but to the folks who enjoy it, I hope it’s cool/fun, whatever it is.

(Still think it’ll be a variant or an easter egg or something, but we’ll see.)

(Oh, hmmm! Evely *did* post a WIP of like. Some creepy skull gate that they presumably encounter...hmmmmm.)

Okay, this is crazy long, and there’s no fun art or anything to go with it--OR IS THERE?!?!?!

BOOM. From Bilquis Evely’s twitter today. (GO. FOLLOW. HER. FOR THE GOOD ART.)

(LIKE!!! I look at this and I just! Can’t! Bring myself to not be hyped as all heck! LOOK AT THIS! AND iT’S JUST THE PENCILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

God, wish that Supergirl sold better, so we could get a full year of this. HNNNNGGGGGGG.

Oh! That was another thing King discussed in detail; that 8 is way different from his usual 12, in terms of pacing and story. The beats fall at different places (obviously) so it was a bit of a challenge for him.

Actually, now that I’m thinking about it...maybe 8 will be good. Issue 10 just dropped for Strange Adventures, and wow, it has felt LONG. (I mean, the last four? Three? issues are also bi-monthly so that doesn’t help but. Still.)

(Superman: Up in the Sky was twelve issues but half the length, because it was a Wal-Mart book, so it was more like six.)

OKAY! For real, I’ve gone on long enough. XD 

SOON. Soon. June 15th, to be exact. Mark yer calendars!

[trickstermiraculous]

You Had Your Chance To Help Years Ago And You Blew It

Chapter Eleven: Laying Down The Rules As Quickly As Possible Before An Akuma Appears

Summary: The meeting between Ladybug and the league has arrived unfortunately it's cut short by a night time Akuma.

Author's Note: I'm back and this time with a long chapter.

The meeting room was filled with nervous chatter and why wouldn't it be, the members of the league were waiting to meet a hero with powers from a god and said hero was quite clearly pissed at all of them for noting helping them out when they sent several cries for help five years ago. So needless to say the league was nervous.

Most members jumped in surprise when the door opened except for martian manhunter who already knew when Ladybug had entered the watchtower. As Cyborg and the Trinity went to sit down in their seat, the member turned to focus their attention on Ladybug and a hero they didn't recognise.

The hero's hair was pure white and pulled into a high bun, she wore sunglasses instead of a mask and her costume consisted of a dark brown coat which had a black rope belt, black padding on the end of her arms and on her shoulders, it had a turtle neck collar and the bottom was wrapped around her like a skirt but on the second time around on side was diamond-like and was left loose. She wore black pants and had brown horse riding boots on. Her weapon appeared to be a horseshoe that was tied to the hero's rope-like belt. What was clear to the league was that this hero was an adult unlike the well-known heroes in Paris.

The room was quiet with the heroes questioning who would say something first while feeling the coldness of Ladybug's glare and the daggers that the new hero was clearly sending them through their glasses. Surprising Hal was the first to speak up, "Ladybug, I would like to apologise for the pain that your city has experienced on behalf of the league and the other green lanterns due to the idiotic mistake of the green lantern called Guy Gardner",

"Where would Guy Gardner be now since I'm pretty sure we would like the apology to come from him" spoke the unknown hero in a cold tone,

"He is on a mission at the moment but when he comes back, we can assure you that he will face consequences" replied Superman,

"Quick question who are you? miss" asked Flash,

"My name is Jument, I'm the holder of the horse miraculous and is one of the two temporary heroes that Paris has" the newly named hero, Jument answered.

"Now onto the important matters, I going to give you the basic rules for you when dealing with Paris" stated Ladybug, "You can not enter the city as you superhero identity without informing us or the government beforehand, you will be accompanied by one of the miraculous heroes during your stay for safety purposes, you will not engage with an Akuma unless we give permission and you will not engage with hawkmoth or any of his allies without us".

As soon as she said this, it was quite clear many wanted to object but were cut off by Jument, "these rules have been agreed upon by the French government and failure to follow these rule will be a criminal offence along with the fact that these new rules will be public knowledge so that other heroes not from the league will also know about the rules",

"You are still allowed to be in Paris as civilians but only as civilians" Ladybug continue staring pointedly at Batman as she said this,

"Aren't these rules a bit drastic?" questioned Cyborg "what if we need to be in Paris quickly but can inform the government in time?",

"If that happens the government will look over the incident to see if you unannounced arrival was justified or not but for now just follow these rules" answered Ladybug "and no the rules are perfectly understandable since we don't need one of you being akumatized along with considering the fact we don't know how your powers could affect an Akuma victim if you decide to fight one".

"That is understandable" stated Batman while the other heroes looked like they wanted to argue but decided against it, "How can we help you with these Akumas? since I believe everyone in this room will agree when I say we don't want to sit around and not help you" asked Wonder Woman,

"The best you can do is try to find out more on Hawkmoth's identity and send the information you find to the government" replied Jument,

"We will send you the info we have so far but be warned it's not a lot" continued Ladybug as her yo-yo beeped.

Grabbing it, the heroes were surprised to see it open and hear the voice of a young girl who had the distinct sound of someone who was rich and always got what they wanted, "Ladybug, the Carpenter has made an appearance along with an Amok" the girl said right before the room heard the distinct sound of a crumbling building.

"Shit, Medusa make sure none of you engages with Carpenter until I arrive, focus on the Amok" Ladybug stated with panic in her voice. Ladybug looked at Jument who nodded as she yelled out Voyage as she created a circle in the air which seemed to become solid before throwing onto the wall of the meeting room. The circle became a portal that showed the platform of the Eiffel tower.

"I apologise that we have to cut this short but we need to get going now," Ladybug said quickly as the pair of heroes went to leave before Wonder Women grabbed Ladybug's arm.

"Before you go Ladybug, I need to ask if you are willing to meet with my mother Hippolyta as she would like to meet the new holder?" she asked getting an annoyed look from both heroes, "I will talk it over with Tikki but I must get going" replied Ladybug as ripped her arm from Wonder Woman's grip, running through the portal before it closed.

"You could have asked at a better time, Dina" stated Hal, "I wasn't sure if I would be able to speak with Ladybug again soon since it appears that we are basically banned from Paris along with the fact that my mother wants to see the new holder soon" replied Wonder Woman,

"Why?" questioned Flash,

"Because she was a former holder of the ladybug miraculous and want to see how she could help the new one" answered Dina getting surprised looks from the league,

"And you didn't bother to tell us this information sooner?" asked Batman,

"I mentioned it but you seemed to be focused on their ages and how to earn Paris forgiveness to listen" retorted Wonder Woman glaring at the Dark Knight.

"So what now?" questioned Superman trying to change the subject before an argument broke out,

"We investigate Hawkmoth and the heroes" replied Batman in an icy tone.

Author's Note: Hey, I'm back.

So to be honest I haven't had the motivation to write due to writer's block and me getting back into anime which meant I have been focusing on other fandoms but since I've started to write again, I hope to get more chapters out soon.

I know the meeting wasn't as long as you guys probably wanted but like I couldn't think of how this would play out so it's short, I may come back and rewrite this at a later point but for now, here you go.

Jument's costume idea

The Akuma is based on an idea I used in my Not A Game series so go check that out if you want to see it back story and powers along with why Ladybug was so worried.

AO3    Wattpad

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[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

I will respond to this. But in future I’m asking you and others not to send me things like this please.

“This month, Marvel Comics relaunched Amazing Spider-Man with a Nick Spencer as head writer, marking the end of Dan Slott's long run with the title and an end of the "Brand New Day" era of Spider-History.”

The problems start here. BND ended before Slott’s solo run began.

“ Spencer's run begins with a bit of a bang.

Well, about as much of a bang as you get from kissing the same person you've known for 50 years.”

This is a reductive and childish mentality towards romance and sex. It prioritizes the novelty and excitement of ‘new love’ (which is scientifically guaranteed to last like 2 years tops) over the deeper and ultimately more potent emotions attached to proper love, which in truth is kind of like friendship on steroids.

In this specific case it’s especially stupid as, putting aside fan reactions, the fact that Peter and Mj were back together after 10+ years was OBVIOUSLY going to be a shocking moment. A ‘bang’ if you will. This is like saying it wasn’t a moment of audience interest whenever Ross and Rachel seemingly got back together or when Monica and Chandler initially got together. They too had known one another for a long time, a roughly equivalent time for their character and Peter and MJ in-universe.

“This has come after Peter and Mary Jane have been apart for about a decade. This recent "surprise" get-back-to-gether is the same sort of "exciting development" that happens eventually after Marvel breaks a couple up, or kills someone in one of their books (See the Hulk, Jean Grey, Peter Parker during Superior Spider-Man, etc. etc. etc.) Peter and Mary Jane getting back together (apparently) is sort of a big deal.”

Yes. Because fans WANTED them to be back together.

Fans aren’t in this for the roller coaster of novelty. They don’t want Spidey or Superman to be with anyone OTHER than MJ or Lois. By the same token the majority do not want anyone other than Luthor or Joker to be Superman or Batman’s archenemies.

“See, in 2007 Marvel Comics made the bold decision to end the marriage between Spider-Man and his longtime wife, Mary Jane Watson.”

Watson Parker

It wasn’t bold it was asinine

How bold is it when it was the third such attempt to do that? “At the time, fans lost their shit.” And they are STILL angry about it. “You can't really blame them because the deed was done in the most asinine way. For some reason, divorce was out of the question. The alternative was somehow more awful. After Peter's Aunt May got shot in the bo-bo at the end of Civil War, Spider-Man literally made a deal with the devil to save her life.” WTF is a bo-bo? “What did this change exactly? Well, the events of Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 didn't end in a marriage. So everything that happened after was still the same except Peter amd MJ were a common-law couple. Or something.” And MJ was never pregnant, and all the shit specifically related to their wedding rings, dress, photos, anniversary couldn’t have happened and given how to them marriage wasn’t a piece of paper then this would have massive ramifications for their relationship quite a part from the fact there would now be a massive sore spot in their relationship. “Anyway, like I said, a lot of longtime fans hated it.” No. MOST longtime fans hated it. And most SHORT time fans also hated it. And even many newer fans who jumped on-board after it hated it too. “You know, the audience they weren't trying to appeal to anymore.” Which was idiotic. You don’t try to gain a new audience by throwing away your old one. You try to retain the old audience and bring new people into the fold at the same time. Noticeably this happened in the 1990s. This failed  to happen after OMD and it failed  to happen with the Nu52 which was the OMD for the whole DC universe. The latter failed so badly they reverse rebooted many characters, Superman chief among them. Superman’s financial and critical reception increased when they brought back the OLD Superman who was married (and now a father to boot) and used him to replace the younger, single and hip Superman most people disliked. The OLD fans returned. Shockingly appealing to the old AND new fans is possible. “Still, they came up with a storyline that would be relatable to younger readers, and still be relevant to longtime readers as well”

It wasn’t a storyline it was an era

No. It absolutely wasn’t relatable or relevant to younger readers. I was 16-19 when BND was running. I was directly  the demographic they were trying to appeal to. Let me tell you straight. Those stories were not relatable. At all. They weren’t relevant. At all. The PS4 game’s take? Now that shit was reltable but noticeably that version only takes plot concept from BND. The characterization of Peter is far more in line with his pre-OMD self and didn’t represent a regression of the character

Thousands of people became Spider-Man fans reading the marriage era Spidey comics. If it was so unrelatable how is that possible?

The stories were not relevant to the older audience at all because the whole purpose of BND was to basically ignore 90% of Spider-Man history between 1987-2007. And more importantly even the characteriation before then that they were trying to invoke was done incorrectly. The Spidey of BND was a systemically mischaracterizion of Spider-Man even if yu ignored OMD “The fiscal reasoning made sense, there were Spider-Man films that were out roping in a new generation kids who wouldn't relate to a married Spider-Man.”

There was a 5 season long TV show before those movies aimed directly at children. Kids got into Spidey through that and we didn’t care he was married. In fact he was married on the show

To 90s/2000s teens and tweens the struggles of Spidey in the 1994 cartoon and Raimi movies were not all that relatable. The male members of the cartoon audience were too young to be interested in romance and all the demographics were unlikely to relate to Peter’s financial struggles as they were too young to work. Even if they weren’t too young to work they wouldn’t have been the breadwinner of the household the way they might’ve been in the 1960s. By the 1990s and 2000s times had changed

Peter had become a MAN like halfway through the first Raimi movie and that wasn’t even the most popular or successful one. Spider-man 2, where Peter was distinctly an adult and grappling with adult problems, was

Kids have been unlikely to relate to Batman. In fact as times have changed it’s evident they infinitely prefer Batman to Robin, the character actually created specifically for them to relate to. Batman is at least as popular as Spider-Man, if not moreso

The MCU has made Iron Man and Black Panther (who kids could never truly relate to) and Captain America (whom few people regardless of age could ever relate to as he is almost a moral paragon) fan favourite characters. CLEARLY relatability is at best highly subjective and at worst not essential to making a character appealing

BND occurred after Spider-Man 3 where Peter wanted to marry Mary Jane. If anything the JMS era of Spidey where he was married to the main love interest from the movies and where Aunt May knew who he was would’ve been MORE synergetic with the movies of the time than what BND was “Also, times have changed. Fans freaked out that Spider-Man was no longer married and back to living at Aunt May's home? At the time Peter Parker was in his late 20s (Marvel Time).” No, at the time he was 30 years old. “If this is basically you in 2018, you had no reason to bitch about Brand New Day.” Get fucked. Fans had EVERY reason to bitch about BND back then AND now too. Putting aside how we got there (which would be reason enough) the stories themselves were objectively deplorable! “Looking back at the storyline 10 years after the fact,” It’s not a storyline. It was an era. “it's hard to understand what the big deal was.” It’s hard to understand mischaracterization, illogic, continuity contradictions, sexism, racism, juvenile writing, character deconstruction, borderline gaslighting of the fans, talking down to the audience, price gouging, inconsistent writing and art and just generally bad storytelling? “Because I secretly hate myself, I decided to read every Spider-Man comic published.” I somehow doubt that. Even if it’s true there is a massive difference between reading a story and understanding it. Dan Slott READ a lot of Spider-Man. He knew a lot of Spider-Facts. But he clearly never understood  the character. He might KNOW MJ shut that door in ASM #122. But he absolutely doesn’t grasp it’s deeper meaning. “I started about a year ago, and I'm just hitting stories published in 2007. In retrospect, there are a lot of shitty Spider-Man stories. Some of them weren't as bad as they were made out to be (The Clone Saga, being one of them, surprisingly) One thing about the Peter/MJ marriage (which ran from 1987 to 2007) is you quickly realize their marriage was horrible.” Sure. If you are a bad literary analyst, sexist, crap at contextualization and apply a blunt criteria instead of nuance. If you don’t you get that there were ups and downs with the writing as would be expected of almost anything written across 20 years by multiple writers. “Especially for Mary Jane.” Oh cool, sexist it is then. “It wasn't good, it was a burden to telling good stories.” Kraven’s Last Hunt Sensational Spider-Man Annual 2007 Spider-Man Unlimited v3 #2 Story 2 Parallel Lives Anything by JMS involving MJ Revelations Spec #200 Spec #241-245 Sensational v2 #32 Marvel Knights: Spider-man #1-12 And many other stories I could name say otherwise genius. “This is because the writers involved at the time didn't seem to understand how a marriage works.”

JMS clearly did

DeMatteis clearly did

DeFalco clearly did

Sacasa clearly did

Peter David clearly did

Mark Millar clearly did

Even Bendis clearly did

Maybe it’s not how YOUR marriage works. But everyon’es marriage is a different “The marriage was, at best, an excuse for an instant damsel in distress situation,” Remember how the marriage was used as an instant damsel-in-distress situation in KLH? Remember how that was ALL it amounted to in the Eisner nominated Sensational Spider-Man Annual 2007? Remember how badly MJ was in need of rescuing in the Jonathan Caesar storyline? “or at worse a reason for Peter Parker to go on about how "lucky" he was to be married to a model/actress. Like Mary Jane was nothing more than a trophy to pride himself because he was such a fucking loser in high school.” Yes. Peter never argued with MJ. Peter never confided his concerns with MJ. MJ never alleviated his guilt. MJ never grew as a person from her horrible childhood issues through being married with Peter. MJ didn’t become more self-sacrificing due to Peter. Peter was never pushed to become more powerful by thoughts of his believed wife. They never helped one another through traumatic situations. “What I really want to stress here is, Peter and Mary Jane's marrage was awful.” Nah fam. YOUR analytical skills are awful. “Worst. Idea. Ever.” Nah fam. You writing this was the worst idea ever. Scratch that, me subjecting myself to this shit was the worst idea ever. “Can't take my word for it? Here are some reasons why: Mary Jane Had to Swat Away So Many Dicks” An attractive woman with a very public profile draws unwanted attention? How unrealistic! It’s terrible that such a thing would never happen in real life, real life being the baked into the core concept of Spider-Man. Why if it did it’d be a organic way to give MJ subplots and conflicts of her own to deal with that could impact  upon Peter’s life by extension or something. “Almost from the start, Mary Jane had to fend off other men who were obsessed with her and didn't give a shit that she was married. That's not necessarily Peter's fault, but it really says a lot of the opinion towards female characters in comics at the time.” …how…? This happens in real life…A LOT! And what has ‘Peter’s fault’ got to do with this? It’s not even a statement that warrants a ‘necessarily’. What? If Peter was more ‘Alpha’ other men would know not to try it on with ‘his woman’ or something? Also, let’s properly contextualize things okay. Between 1987-2007 MJ was stalked by like 5 people. That’s once every 4 years if you average it out but 3/5 of them occurred in Michelinie’s run alone which is not the be all or end all of the marriage. Another one was for a single issue and the final one was actually obsessed with Peter and used MJ to get to him. I ain’t saying it didn’t get old but this guy is making it out to be something that was an annual event. “Sure, the idea of someone stalking an actress/model isn't outlandish, and a sad fact of the celebrity-driven reality we live in.” YOU DON’T SAY! And it doesn’t just apply to actresses or models btw. “However, the number of times this was used as a plot got a bit out of hand.” I agree. But 5 times across 20 years, when there was a 5 year gap between the third and fourth instances and a 5 year gap between the fourth and final instance (lasting for 1 issue and wasn’t even the main plot) is not reflective of anything. “That said because it's a Spider-Man comic book they couldn't just settle on a dumpy guy wearing sticky jogging pants. They had to kick it up a notch. With horrific implications for poor Mary Jane.” …yeeeeeeeeeeah? And? Stalkers are horrible. You want there to be tension and conflict so the threat of violence is absolutely justifiable. FFS, kraven the Hunter buried Spider-Man alive and Venom threatened to eat parts of him. And VENOM was Spidey’s stalker! “Jonathon Caesar An obsession so cliche, I'm surprised that nobody made a joke about his knife compensating for having a small dick.” Except circa 1989 it wasn’t  cliché. At least not as far as a Spidey comic was concerned. If we are opening this up to ALL media then sure but then by that logic Gwen’s death and countless other stories would also be cliché wouldn’t they. “The first scum bag to enter Mary Jane's married life was Jonathon Caesar. He was a wealthy man with a lot of connections.” …Almost like Harvey Weinstein or something… “He helped Mary Jane get into the Bedford Towers condominium (which Caesar owned). His motivation? To kidnap a married woman and force her to live in a specially made trap room until she agreed to marry him. Spider-Man didn't even save the day! Mary Jane broke free on her own and the wall-crawler showed up in time to do the cleanup.” Holy shit. If anyone ever needed proof this doofus’s analytical skills weren’t there this is it. The Jonathan Caesar storyline was designed  to be a subversion of the damsel-in-distress  trope. The whole fucking POINT was that MJ saved herself instead of Spidey saving her! Jesus Christ how do you miss that. Not to mention how do you complain Caesar as a villain is cliché but then ALSO complain that the damsel-in-distress cliché wasn’t adhered to. “Caesar went to jail but he used his influence to ruin her modeling career and get her evicted from their home.” *coughWeinsteincough* “Not only that, but MJ's money got tied up in a lengthy legal battle, with no apparent end in sight. In fact the money mentioned here is never talked about again.” Er…yes it is. MJ ultimately settles in ASM #333 wiping out her savings. I’d have thought someone who read every  Spider-Man comic book would have known that. “Caesar eventually got out of jail and continued to stalk Mary Jane.” Again, clearly hasn’t read every Spider-Man comic book and/or is a shitty analyst. Yes Caesar did this but he did this BEFORE MJ engaged him in a legal battle. “Her husband didn't do squat to stop it.” What was he supposed to do? Caesar was out legally and Peter couldn’t just kill or assault the guy. Threatening him would likely have helped Caesar’s legal case further, especially due to the public knowing about the association between Peter and Spidey. Touching Caesar would be like trying to get the Kingpin locked up. It’s extremely difficult for someone that rich and powerful. “He was too busy playing Spider-Man to help his own wife.” No. He was busy saving the lives of innocent people. He wasn’t doing this for fun, he is Spidey for the greater good. MJ knows that. MJ knew that she could ask Peter for help if she needed it and he’d come running. She made it clear she could handle it and like a good husband he respected her decision. It wasn’t like she was trying to reach him for help and he was distracted or actively ignored her. But you know, those disingenuous pieces of misinformation aren’t going to write themselves. Also the stories are a little ambiguous about this but there is a possible implication that MJ was keeping Peter somewhat in the dark about Caesar’s activities. “The only person who was interested in Mary Jane's safety was Officer Hal Goldman, who ended up shooting Caesar dead. Was Hal a super-cop detective that ate serial stalkers for lunch? Note really, see the thing about Hal.... Hal Goldman Let's  follow up this sexist scene with the woman regretting her career choices. Very progressive.”

This bozo shouldn’t be lecturing people on what is and isn’t sexist

FFS OF COURSE someone in MJ’s position would be questioning her career choices. She’s just been stalked by 2 lunatics. But noticeably she doesn’t stop  being an actress/model after this. The moment was a dash of comedy given the situation and nothing more. But you wouldn’t know that given how this guy is not bothering to use context or anything

How the Hell is MJ macing a stalker and then knocking him out sexist? “Hal Goldman wasn't actually a police officer. He was just a fat NYPD civilian desk clerk with a terrible bowl cut who had an unhealthy obsession with Mary Jane when she starred in a soap opera called "Secret Hospital". Although he was "investigating" Jonathan Ceasar's attempts to ruin Mary Jane's life again, he was also obsessed with protecting her from everyone who slighted her. He ran over an old woman who slapped MJ in the face, dropped a stage light on her director's head and tried to clobber Peter with a piece of concrete. However, this is an accurate depiction of how fan-boys react to things.” Remember how over 50% of fanboys threatened or actually inflicted violence upon people because of OMD? Neither do I. “When he guns down Caesar he professes his undying love to Mary Jane and admits to committing all the above crimes. Again, Peter is nowhere around,” Of course he’s nowhere around. Peter doesn’t constantly monitor MJ all day every day. You know…like a stalker. Fuck real life husbands don’t do this. Moreover if we bother to check the issue in question (ASM #339) some interesting details are presented to us. For starters MJ was only endangered due to trickery and bad luck. Caesar forced a co-star of MJ’s to handwrite a note and sign it asking for her to meet him at the set of Secret Hospital. Between the set being a relatively safe environment and the note checking out as legitimate due to the handwriting and signature, MJ had no reason to be suspicious. Peter absolutely intended to go with MJ but earlier that day had been doused with a chemical by the Sinister Six, the effects of which he was uncertain about. He got a call regarding the Six’s activities and the chemical so logically that would take priority over Mj merely meeting a co-star. MJ chose not to delay the meeting until Peter was available and go herself. Again neither she nor Peter had any reason to suspect foul play. So Peter’s absence was never due to neglect. It wasn’t even due to putting the duties of Spider-man before the needs of his wife. As far as either of them knew there was no danger. So again, distorting the facts. Classy. “so when she rejects him Officer Bowl Cut decides to do the old "if I can't have you, nobody will!" Routine. However, she sprayed him in the eyes with hairspray and clobbered him with a purse. You know just as you'd expect a strong female character to do.” Yes. That is exactly what I expect a female, or indeed any character, to do in that situation. Mary Jane had no real weapons. The story even specified that MJ tried  to get a handgun but was still waiting on it. So she improvised and used whatever resources she had to hand. This is routine for Mary Jane both during and before the marriage. Using hairspray and a handbag, which are not obvious weapons but can nevertheless be repurposed for offence, was a perfectly legitimate technique for both the character and writer to employ. It’s almost like it makes her look smart, tough and resourceful for being able to think on her feet like that or something. Oh, and again. MJ is bad because she conforms to a cliché but is also bad because didn’t conform to the cliché of Spidey rescuing her which would’ve also been bad because the marriage is used to easily generate damsel-in-distress situations. This isn’t even a double standard it’s a TRIPLE standard. This jackoff has constructed his argument in such a way that Mary Jane/the marriage can NEVER win. “Jason Jerome This happened in 1990, consent hadn't been invented yet.”

Jason wasn’t a stalker strictly speaking

This storyline, bad as it was, was nevertheless handled very differently from the Jonathan Caesar arc because MJ at least was tempted to reciprocate feelings for Jason whilst she was repulsed by Caesar

YES. the concept of consent WASN’T very well taught back in the 1990s! What the hell is he point here? “Jason Jerome was an actor who thought he could seduce Mary Jane into having an affair with him. This came at a time when there were three monthly Spider-Man titles. This made for one busy wall-crawler. On top of fighting villains, he was also promoting a book and traveling the globe as a reporter. Needless to say, MJ was feeling more than a little neglected. This made Mary Jane susceptible to Jerome's advances. However, despite his best efforts, Mary Jane ended things before they had gone too far. To do so, she invited Jason to her apartment under the pretence of sex. Instead of getting balls deep, Jason Jerome found himself in a room plastered with photos of Peter and Mary Jane together, like inviting an obsessed man into your home without telling anyone is a smart idea.” Jason was not obsessed. He viewed MJ as a ‘conquest’ and from her POV was not dangerous like Caesar or Hal. Also IIRC this occurred after  the incident with Hal, which meant MJ would likely have owned a handgun by this point. Even if she didn’t, she defeated Hal and Caesar and his guards when she was unprepared and improvising on the fly. Here she has had hours to prep and it’s literally in her home. If she suspected Jason to be dangerous (which he was not and had given her no reason to believe so) she was in a great position to handle him. “All the lamps and hairspray in the world cannot possibly stop this potentially becoming a bad situation.” A rich and powerful lunatic with a knife and armed guards outside got their ass beaten by MJ whilst she was improvising…on their home turf. A less rich, less powerful, unarmed man with no displays of mental instability or violence comes to MJ’s home turf on his own. So yes, if she was so inclined MJ could 100% rig up a trap with hairspray and a lamp or a fucking gun if she had one. “If this backfires, let's just hope he's into this sort of thing.” A necrophilia joke? How tasteful. “The Stalker "I said, I'm bored with sort of scenario. Can you try and change this up a bit?"”

Jason Jerome wasn’t stalking MJ

Yes the stalker was lame. Also this occurred around 9-10 years later

You know there is more to this relationship than the occasions when MJ was stalked FFS “The most unoriginal character created by Howard Mackie during his run.” His run when he was possibly dealing with serious health issues. Classy. “The Stalker follows a long tradition of Marvel characters whose names are obvious: The Prowler prowls,” Except he doesn’t do much prowling. He flits between retirement and active costumed work. And he’s not exactly a stalker of the night like Batman when he’s out of retirement. “the Watcher watches, and the Shocker finger blasts people.” Does this guy know what ‘shocking’ means? Blasting people isn’t shocking them. Electrocuting people = shocking people. Vibrating them doesn’t = shocking them. “So obviously, the Stalker was a stalker. Specifically, he stalked Mary Jane. The guy went to some insane lengths. He set off bombs and killed people. The whole time this was happening Peter was busy going out as Spider-Man.” YES. THAT’S HIS FUCKING JOB! Also, for the majority of the time Mj was being stalked she had kept Peter in the dark about the guy. Shortly after he finally did learn the truth he seemingly died. For sure he was kept away from her whilst she was being made a target, but

The 1970s Clone Saga

Spec Annual 1988

Smoke and Mirrors

Web #125

Maximum Clonage

Clone Conspiracy

“Each time he seems to forget the fact that a lunatic had cloned his dead girlfriend every time.”

Horseshit.

He KNEW the truth in every encounter following the first one. He didn’t fall for it on the third-sixth occasions but shockingly  seeing your dead loved one (who died right in front of you) walking around alive is going to emotionally hurt you and dreadge up old wounds and old feelings.

Gerry Conway in Spec Annual 1988 directly addresses this by having Peter acknowledge that intellectually  he knows Gwen to merely be a clone but emotionally  he still feels towards her the same way as though she were the real Gwen.

It’s almost like Conway was a good writer not a HACK like the OP and so knows that in matters of the heart a realistic human being might let their sense of logic fly out the window.

If ONLY there had been a global sensation of a movie released months prior to ASM v5 #1 which demonstrated this aptly.

“Every time it made Peter confused and dug up old feelings. Which, naturally, made Mary Jane doubt the strength of their relationship.”

That literally happened twice. And she briefly  doubted before thinking otherwise or been shown otherwise.

“With this many clones of the dead girlfriend, you'd figure he would have gotten used to it.”

Yes if he was an emotionless automaton. Or written by someone who knows jack about human emotions...like the OP…

“Instead of going to a shrink to process these feelings,”

Thus risking the anonymity that protects himself and his loved ones.

“Peter usually fell for the various manipulations that typically came from these convoluted cloning schemes and hit whoever was responsible.”

OBVIOUSLY he hit whoever was responsible. They were super villains, he was going to bring them to justice no matter what

Again, he fell for it the first time. But ONLY the first time. He was aware Gwen was a clone in every other encounter and never played along. Many of those instances weren’t even villains pulling a scheme but a situation Peter happened to mix himself up in. Spec Annual #8 had nothing to do with him as the High Evolutionary wanted to apprehend Gwen for his own purposes. Web #125 involved him discovering Gwen’s clone in the suburbs but no villain had planned on him doing that

“That Time Illegitimate Kids Showed Up

Gwen Stacy was always portrayed as a saintly woman cut down in the prime of her life.”

Except for all those times she absolutely wasn’t prior to her death; that’s not even counting AUs.

Saint Gwendolyn I, Holy Virgin Martyr Princess was a revisionist invention fabricated after her death to make her death more tragic in hindsight. It’s a pack of lies that doesn’t deserve to be paid attention to.

“That was until JMS wrote a Gwen Stacy story that was entirely fucked up.”

No. It was only partially fucked up because

Gwen was obviously not pregnant

MJ and Gwen didn’t care about Gwen’s kids

“In it, Peter learns that Gwen had an affair with Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin, AKA the guy who later murdered her) and got knocked up.”

They didn’t have an affair.

People seem to be misinformed on the definition of what the word ‘affair’ means. They use it as though it means ‘being unfaithful to your partner’. That is not the meaning of the term. An EXTRAMARITAL affair can mean that but a regular romantic/sexual affair doesn’t inherently mean there is any unfaithfulness occurring.

But it DOES have to be ongoing to some extent.

Gwen and Norman weren’t in any kind of on-going relationship. They had sex exactly once.

And during that time no unfaithfulness was occurring as Gwen was not with Peter at the time.

“Everyone apparently knew and kept it a secret.”

…er….no…I don’t know how you could even misread Sins Past to come to that conclusion.

The story is extremely explicit that Gwen and Norman kept their encounter and Gwen’s pregnancy a secret. MJ knew about it and told Peter years later. But there is nothing in the story even hinting that anyone else knew besides the three of them.

“During a point where Gwen and Peter were on the outs, she found out she was pregnant, left the country, and gave birth to the kids. These kids were then secreted away by Norman for years.

When Peter found about these kids (but not their origins) he assumed they were his kids, even though he later remembers that he and Gwen never had sex!!”

He never presumes they are his children. Again, great analytical skills there.

“What's worse, is after all was said and done, Peter later went to France to help out Gwen's daughter, who was her spitting image and the same biological age that Gwen was when Peter dated her (they aged fast, look it up) This was all an attempt to seduce Peter and he had to constantly remind himself that his feelings for her were wrong.”

It was absolutely not an attempt to seduce Peter. Sarah’s agenda only later evolved to entail that too but that wasn’t her original motive

In one of the all time best episodes of the Simpsons Homer was tempted by his co-worker Mindy. This occurred in spite of countless episodes demonstrating how much he loved Marge. Ultimately nothing more than a kiss was shared between them and he didn’t succumb to his temptations. In this scenario Peter is being confronted by someone who looks and to an extent acts identically to someone he loved and cruelly lost, someone who for a time he believed he might have a future with. This occurs not very long after he learns that his relationship with that person was at least partially a big lie as she was pregnant for most of their relationship and slept with his ultimate enemy. So he’s going to be incredibly emotionally vulnerable at this point. Sarah kissed him and he didn’t reciprocate at all. Peter if anything can be more forgiven his temptations than Homer was. And Homer was still forgivable as your actions  are what ultimately matter. Peter not only acknowledged  his feelings were wrong and coming from an emotionally confusing place but he never acted upon them either and reaffirmed his love for MJ when all was said and done. Much like Homer did to Marge after rejecting Mindy.

“Mary Jane had such a bad feeling about it, she travelled to France to check in on her hubby, and walked in on him while Gwen Jr. Was kissing Peter.”

Yeah. Because OOC writing exists dipshit. You don’t just take ANY given story as gospel FFS. What kind of pre-schooler level literary analysis is this?

“The fact that Peter was attracted to a 7 year old girl who only looked like she was in her early 20s because of a genetic disorder is super creepy.”

It is because see above about OOC writing. But by this logic the clones of Gwen were even younger. Sarah was mentally 7 but she looked just like an adult Gwen Stacy so obviously  Peter’s emotions and attractions being confused is forgivable under the circumstances.

“So you can totally understand when Mary Jane was upset about that one.”

I’m genuinely shocked this clown was able to be so sympathetic towards MJ here.

“Somewhere, a divorce lawyer just got a huge erection.”

I’m sure he would have if only the story hadn’t ended by reaffirming Peter and MJ’s love for one another.

“It Wasn't Just the Dead Girlfriend, but her Extended Family

Before we get into more of the Stacy family, let's talk about the Watson family for a minute. Mary Jane came from a broken home. An alcoholic and abusive father led to her mother taking the kids and leaving. Although he mom died her sister had two kids and was abandoned by the father. Also, she has a cousin who has an eating disorder. In a lot of these cases, Peter Parker left his wife to deal with the family drama on her own.”

No.

Peter actively helped MJ when she asked him to in ASM #291-292.

He actively helped MJ’s friend who had a drug problem when MJ asked him to.

In the recent one shot Going Big Peter seeks out Kristy when she disappears…because MJ asked him to.

Peter respected MJ and her family and would’ve helped in any way he was able if MJ aske him to.

But between supporting their family, Aunt May and protecting the city because he’s a fucking super hero  his time and abilities to help were limited. Oh and MJ didn’t ask him to.

She felt, not unjustifiably, that she  could handle it. Often MJ wishes to leave Peter as unburdened as possible if she  can handle a situation because his life is dangerous and stressful enough as is. But she knows he’s there to help if she needs it. And he would be there if she needed him.

It’ almost like they were MARRIED or something and divided up their duties appropriately or something.

This clown seems to treat ‘being Spider-Man’ as code for ‘have fun goofing off lulz’. It’s not. It’s a massive duty and higher purpose Peter takes incredibly seriously.

“Which is quite the slap in the face when he spent more time helping the Stacy family. Namely Gwen's cousins Paul and Jill and their dad.”

Because they were his friends, MJ’s friends and at times MJ asked  him to help them. Peter didn’t even like spending time with them initially because they opened up old wounds for him. He had to put the work in to hang around them.

“When they appeared in Spider-Man stories in the late 90s, Mary Jane took a back seat to whatever problems the Stacy's were having.”

No she didn’t.

SOMETIMES the problems regarding the Stacy’s happened to be the A plot. Other times they happened to be the B plot. This happened more often than not in peter Parker: Spider-Man by Mackie. But there were FOUR Spider-titles at the time so that’s more than acceptable.

But Peter never helped the Stacy’s at the expense  of Mary Jane, not unless there was a clear physical danger posed to their lives.

In Mackie/Byrne’s run MJ and Jill were endangered by the same incident and Peter prioritized saving MJ over Jill.

“You're still dealing with your miscarriage Mary Jane? Sorry, I got to talk Paul Stacy out of a hate group right now.”

Get fucked.

I’ve read PPSM #82-83 as well. In fact they were among my earliest ever comic books I re-read them several years ago.

This is yet another MASSIVE distortion of events.

Peter didn’t talk Paul out of a hate group (specifically the anti-mutant hate group the Friends of Humanity) at the expense of helping MJ deal with their miscarriage.

Peter and MJ were due to meet for a counselling session to talk about the miscarriage. However, Paul was being targeted  by a mutant who literally told Peter she was going to murder him. Peter went to prevent that from happening but a bad bout of vertigo (brought on presumably by an encounter with Morbius the Living Vampire) caused Peter to cling to a wall, his life hanging in the balance.

That’s  why he missed the therapy session that one  time.

He wasn’t goofing off. He wasn’t lecturing Paul about why racism is bad m’kay. He was trying to save his life and then save his own life.

So a quintessential example of distorting the facts and removing things from context.

“Peter Shut Her Out of Every Existential Crisis”

No he didn’t. There were multiple times he questioned if he was doing the right thing, if he was making a difference, etc and talked to her about it

Even if he did shut her out that would be conflict  which is what you fucking want in your dramatic  story

WOW! Moments of intense mental/emotional strife involve people not acting in a healthy manner, including in regards to their romantic relationships?????? Who’d have THOUGHT!

“Not only were Mary Jane's problems put on a back burner, whenever Peter had a problem, he shut MJ out.”

MJ herself understood some of her problems had to be put on a back burner for the greater good  that Spider-Man performed for the world at large.

And the times he shut her out amounted to…I don’t even know…maybe once  just prior to the Clone Saga when he was grappling with intense grief and pain and was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Then just went ahead and had  the mental breakdown.

“During their marriage, Peter had huge life-changing moments. The first was when his parents came back from the dead only to be revealed as impostors then his Aunt May suffered a life-threatening stroke.”

Yes. These were definitely the first life-changing moments that occurred after he married Mary Jane.

Being buried alive, encountering Venom, going back to school, his best friend turning to villainy and becoming a reserve Avenger certainly wouldn’t have been life changing at all.

“Spider-Man's answer? Give up on being Peter Parker and embracing the spider.”

I’ll take ‘What if grief and emotional trauma’ for 500 Alex!!!!!!!

Honest to Christ. The story makes everything clear as crystal. This is an entirely believable response to trauma, it’s just literalized because the person experiencing it lives a double life already and has super powers.

“The writers were probably going for dark and moody, but looking back at it, it was a lot of whining.”

He lived his whole life in the wake of losing his parents, then had those wounds reopened when he learned they were not dead, then gradually grew to love and trust them, was stabbed in the back by them, found out they were imposters and his parents had been dead after all, then saw them violently die right in front of him, then learned this was perpetuated by his best friend, then the woman who raised him had a stroke and fell into a coma.

That’s not WHINING, that’s an insane amount of grief and pain you fucking idiot.

No human being could cope with that amount of trauma and NOT express their pain in some form. This isn’t him complaining he missed a date or can’t get his studies done. This is his heart being ripped out and stomped on in front of him repeatedly!

“Also, he totally abandoned his wife. Which is a dick move. Hey Pete, she might be someone to support you through your recent loss.”

HE WAS HAVING A MENTAL BREAKDOWN YOU DUMBASS!

NO ONE thinks clearly or logically when they are in that kind of emotional/mental distress. He was grieving the loss of THREE parents for fuck’s sake!

“Somewhere, a grief councilor just got a huge erection.”

This shithead clearly doesn’t know the meaning of the word grief.

“Then came the Clone Saga where Peter was convinced he was actually a clone of the real Spider-Man. He was too wrapped up on the fact that his past was potentially a lie that he couldn't see the good things in his life. He was married. Had a child on the way. None of this registered with him because of all the clones around putting his past into question.”

Peter Parker’s belief system was that a clone is NOT a real human being, it is a creature that is less  than human and that in being a clone you have no real identity or right to life, you are just a freak. MJ echoes these sentiments in ASM #400.

Ben Reilly, who had all of Peter’s memories became distraught upon learning he was a clone. That occurred circa 1975 when Peter was approximately 22 years old and hadn’t finished college yet. Ben literally grieved for himself and that the memories in his head were a pretense, a life that was not his. He contemplated killing Peter and taking his life. He became borderline suicidal and anti-social. This went on for years during which he pushed himself to the very edge self-destructively.

Putting aside how the original intent was for Ben to be the REAL Peter Parker, Ben’s behaviours display what a dark and dangerous place Peter could’ve gone to had he been in Ben’s position.

The intent of the Jackal and Norman Osborn in orchestrating the Clone Saga was to shatter Peter’s sense of identity. The Jackal wanted to do that in 1975 with a 22 year old Peter. Norman however knew the blow would hurt Peter much more when he had more to lose and so delayed it until 1995 when Peter would’ve been about 27 years old, had more of a career, longer and deeper connections to his loved ones, a wife and a baby on the way.

When he finally pulled the trigger Peter had also only recently recovered from a terrible mental breakdown, lost Aunt May, been falsely accused of murder, had his sense of identity further damaged by yet more clones of himself appearing and learned that he and MJ’s baby might have serious health problems if he was a clone.

In fact MJ’s first reaction upon learning Peter was a clone was to grip her tummy and express concern for her baby. And remember she directly told him a clone isn’t a real person.

When put in context  this caused Peter to have a SECOND mental breakdown. Entirely UNDERSTANDABLY!

This wasn’t a case of appreciating all he had because from his point of view being a clone meant he’d LOST all that. That he COULDN’T have that because he was less than human and not the real person that life belonged to.

If BEN reacted that way when he believed he was a clone then logically OF COURSE Peter was going to take it much, much, much worse.

“It should also be pointed out that during this period, Mary Jane's life was at risk and she was being stalked, again. This time by a clone. However, Peter was once again nowhere to be seen.”

Oh my fucking…HE HAD BEEN ARRESTED!

He wasn’t around because he was literally incarcerated in prison. Breaking out risked exposing his identity and thus endangering MJ and the baby. He also didn’t KNOW she was being stalked. When he found out in ASM #401 he broke out of jail and sought to find her. Later when Ben offered to take his place in jail Peter went on the hunt for MJ’s stalker, his clone Kaine whom he ALSO suspected as the guy who framed him.

Gee, proactively seeking out the guy threatening your wife and who might’ve framed you?

What a shitty husband, it’s not like that’s an entirely practical consideration to take or anything.

“In Heindsight...”

Oh this outta be good

“I could go over every other moment where Peter treated his wife like crap,”

Except he rarely did and the examples you’ve brought up do not hold up to scrutiny in the slightest because you are a clown show of an analyst.

“but those are the huge ones.”

No they aren’t, see above.

“Looking back at the upset of 2007, it's clear that anyone who got mad didn't actually read any of the stories written while Peter and Mary Jane were married.”

That’s so very rich coming from this dipshit, see above.

“Even then, over the past decade there has been a plethora of great Spider-Man stories.”

That’s true.

Agent Venom by Rick Remender

Carnage Family Feud

Carnage USA

Half of Scarlet Spider by Chris Yost

Bits of Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider by Peter David

AXIS Hobgoblin

AXIS Carnage

Carnage by Gerry Conway

Silk by Robbie Thompson

Superior Foes of Spider-Man

ASM: Renew Your Vows

The issue where Flash Thompson lost his legs

The story regarding the Rhino and his girlfriend

Spider-Man 2099 by Peter David

Notice how none of that stuff focuses upon 616 Peter Parker.

Because between 2008-2018 there were no good stories focussing upon 616 Peter Parker.

At best there were mediocre stories focussing upon the pathetic man-child that was Spider-Man in name only.

“In fact, I'd even argue that Dan Slott's run on Spider-Man has contained some of the best Spider-Man stories of the past two decades.”

And you’d just further confirm yourself to be a moron who doesn’t have the first warm shit of a clue about how to analyse stories if you did.

“I can't think or a stellar Spider-Man run past 198 until Slott's run.”

ASM by JMS+Romita Junior

Sensational by Sacasa

Spec by DeMatteis+Buscema

Spec by DeMatteis+Ross

Marvel Knights by Mark Millar

Bits of Peter Parker: Spider-Man by Paul Jenkins

Hypothetically though let’s say they weren’t stellar.

They would still be OBJECTIVELY better than Dan Slott. Like who’s mothers did Michelinie, DeFalco or any of the above guys murder for you to claim Slott was better than them.

None of those guys:

Had Peter become a paparazzi photographer

Had Aunt May claim she was disappointed in Peter for not supporting her the night Uncle Ben died

Had Doc Ock try to rape Mary Jane

Created a clear cut Mary Sue to upstage Spidey in his own book

Turned Spider-Man into Diet Iron Man

Killed off a Ditko-era character for no other reason beyond a shock death. Except Mark Millar but the character was extremely minor

“Next to JMS' run, Slott has been the best Spider-Man writer in decades.”

Again, notice how he CONVENIENTLY neglected to bring up stuff from the JMS run when MJ and the marriage was written the best.

His criteria for judging MJ literally JUST included:

ASM by Michelinie run from 1989-1994

ASM by DeMatteis in 1994

Conway’s Spec/Web runs from 1988-1989

Spec #226 by DeFalco in 1995

Mackie’s PPSM run from 1997

The Mackie/Byrne run from 1999-2001

That was it.

He stated the marriage lasted between 1987-2007 but his analysis halted at 2001. He’s leaving out 6 goddam years worth of material in addition to ALL the other material he conveniently ignored before then.

“Where to Go From Here?

That raises some interesting questions. Will Peter and Mary Jane tie the knot again? It seems like Marvel is marrying characters off again (Colossus and Kitty Pryde as well as Gambit and Rogue) so that's promising.

Another is the promising thing is that the alternate reality series Renew Your Vows has been doing very well.

The last point is the main reason why they nixed the marriage to begin with: Needing a Spider-Man younger readers can relate with.”

The main reason they nixed it was because Quesada was butthurt Gwen died in 1973 and that MJ got to marry him instead.

“For the past number of years they have been promoting the hell out of Miles Morales, the "Ultimate" Spider-Man. They have been grooming him to be the young Spidey that they want for younger fans.”

Maybe don’t use the term ‘grooming’ in the context of a teenage character there buddy.

“While that doesn't mean Peter and MJ are destined to get married again, hopefully they will allow Peter to at least grow up a little.”

I see.

Marriage = bad because it makes him unrelatable to the kids. But also this dipshit wants Peter to ‘grow up a little’…which is what he had done by marrying MJ in the first place.

“However, let me say this: Doing what's expected doesn't necessarily make for a good story, it's the unexpected.”

Why don’t you ask Star Wars and Game of Thrones fans what they think about that buddy?

“That's what made Slott's run on Spider-Man so great.”

That’s true. Nobody expected Slott would have Doc Ock masturbate in Peter’s body. Nobody expected him to drag out our suffering for as long as he did. Nobody expected he’d invoke such a juvenile idea as Norman Osborn becoming carnage.

“Let's hope Nick Spencer continues that tradition.’

Fuck the unexpected. Just give me competency.

[thegeekerynj]

A Christmas List for the Fan in All of Us

An Occasional Attempt to Read, Discuss and Review the Wonders of Comics

By: John Rafferty, cranky old man, and Fan of All Things Comics

A Christmas List for the Fan in All of Us 

Greetings Gentle Readers! As the Holidays approach, whether Christmas, Chanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Saturnalia, Krampusnacht, or whatever you might celebrate, our thoughts invariably turn to trying to find the PERFECT GIFT for that Special Someone, let me offer some suggestions:

MARVEL

For the Avengers Fan:

The Kree - Skrull War - Recently re-collected, this is the basis for Captain Marvel, as well as 70% of the Marvel Comics Mythology, as all the heroes, from the Silver Age, through to the Present have had conflicts with either the Kree, the Skrull, or both.

Roy Thomas, Neil Adams, Sal and John Buscema bring these stories to life, crossing years, and parsecs to bring these characters to you.

For the Spider-Man Fan:

Kraven’s Last Hunt - Kraven the Hunter has hunted, captured, and killed every dangerous creature he has sought out… Except one. In his final quest, Peter Parker’s alter ego will be his quarry, and Kraven will prove he is the better by capturing, killing, and BECOMING SPIDER-MAN!

One of the greatest of the Spider-Man stories, this is best acquired in the Deluxe Edition, which carries the sequel story.

This JM DeMatteis and Mike Zeck’s masterpiece, and a story that is always discussed as one of the Five Best Spider-Man Stories.

For the X-Men Fan:

God Loves, Man Kills - An X-Men story written as a Graphic Novel, due to the graphic nature, and subject matter, this book really looks at the concepts of racism and religious bigotry, through the glass of the ‘Mutant Menace’. Written in 1982, the lessons carry through today, maybe mores than they did then.

I am sure when Brent Anderson and Chris Claremont brought this to life, they had no idea of the relevance it would carry 40 years after.

For the Black Panther Fan:

Panther’s Quest and Panther’s Rage - Two collections, written by Don McGregor, drawn by Rich Buckler and Gene Colan, which became the basis for the Black Panther we see today. Prince T’Challa, defending Wakanda from the onslaught of social injustice and invading mercenary armies, while in search of his mother, who until now was thought to be dead.

This is the character portrayed by Chadwick Boseman, regal, intelligent, strong, and fair.

For the Daredevil Fan:

Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson 1&2 - I know, this is a big one, but if they never read this before, they will love you forever. And if they have, they will love you anyway, because the Miller books are priceless, and not to be read regularly.

This is the seminal Daredevil Story, from which all Daredevil stories grew. Everything before it was nice. Everything after, a pale shadow. This is brilliance.

DC

For the Superman Fan:

Whatever Happened to the Man Of Tomorrow - Written by Alan Moore, drawn by Kurt Schaffenburg and Curt Swan, this reprints the two part story which asks the question: Where did Superman Go? 

Many of these collections also include the Alan Moore story ‘For the Man Who Has Everything’, which is a real added bonus, as it is also a great story.

For the Batman Fan:

The Dark Knight Returns - This is the inspiration for the dark, gritty Batman we know now from the Christopher Nolan BATMAN films., as well as the Snyder Batman in BvS, and Justice League.

The fight scene between Batman and Superman its directly from the third issue of this story. It is a MUST READ for any Comics Fan.

For the DC Fan:

Mister Miracle - The collected Jack Kirby, or the collected Tom King maxi-series, it doesn’t matter which one. Both are phenomenal.

The Kirby Collection is from the late 60’s, and the King  - Gerads collection is from 2017.

Kingdom Come - Mark Waid and Alex Ross create a future where the old guard of heroes have removed themselves from the public eye, and the new breed which have taken their place have little or no regard for those they are supposed to be protecting, creating a terrified populous looking to lash out rather than reason.

This book is beautifully rendered by the man who is currently considered the greatest superhero artist of the day, as Alex Ross’ paintings can be as covers, and if lucky, interiors of some current comics.

Watchmen - The book which inspired the movie, and the recent HBO series, this is Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s tribute to the Charlton characters of old, and a story  about what happens when there are no checks and balances on the powerful.

Another object lesson for today…

For the Comics Fan:

Spawn - Todd McFarlane’s creation, Al Simmons, after a long distinguished service to his country becomes an assassin for the CIA, and is summarily murdered by his friend.  As a reward for his career as an assassin, he is sent to Hell, where he makes a deal with a devil, agreeing to become a Helspawn, and serve Malebolgia, in exchange for seeing his wife Wanda one last time.

Al learns twi things. First, never trust a devil and second, you CAN break a deal with Hell, if you don’t violate the letter of the deal.

This series is collected in many volumes, I’d try to find Origins Vol 1…

Saga - Written by Brian K Vaughn, drawn by Kieron Gillen, this is the story of Hazel, a child born to parents from opposite sides of a never ending galactic war.  Hazel’s family risks life and limb to try to find a peaceful future for themselves, in a universe that would see them dead, rather than let them exist.

While available in many editions, the Compendiums which collect 15 - 18 issues are the best way to read this.

Other Things:

Funko Figures - Whether Superheroes, Television Characters, Movie Characters or Pop references (There’s a Grumpy Cat… WHY!!??!!), there’s something for everyone in the Funko Line of figures

Q-Fig - Newer to the scene, these are more detailed, and smaller than Funko figures. They are also more expensive. 

But, in their defense, they are MUCH COOLER! 

Let’s face it, if you visit your Friendly Neighborhood Comic Purveyor, he will definitely be able to point you in the direction of something amazing for the special Fan in your life!

Happy Shopping!

[the-ventriloquizt]

i was looking up adam's big backstory post, and i couldn't find it, so im going to try and gather all the info i've come up with for adam into one big old post!

adam ascott /aka/ easter info dump!

adam has a sorta complex motivation for his crimes, something that goes beyond 'getting money for trans surgeries' but somehow is exactly that... though it's hard for him to explain

it started during his childhood. childhood in metropolis while superman was there meant seeing the guy everywhere, and the expectation that you would look up to him too. adam was born anna, and his life was spent in fear of superman. it started with paranoia. you see, in metropolis, a big way that kids were made to feel safe was that superman would always be there, would always hear you. adam's bad childhood, what with bullying and a lot of victim blaming from his parents, warped this feeling into 'superman knows you're bad'.

once he started noticing he was a guy, suddenly the masculinity exuded by superman and praised by all the men around seemed threatening. this extra threatened feeling led to adam hating superman, and having awful, mean thoughts, and these mean thoughts  led to 'superman knows you hate him'.

adam tried to hide his transness for a while, kept going by anna, even though it made him ill. he began thinking of 'anna' as a different version of him, something still dying off so he could eventually pop out of her corpse, and he waited. he waited.

when he was trying to find a place for himself in metropolis after finishing high school, he was caught up in a bank robbery with some no-name creep that wanted superman's attention. since he was presenting rather femininely and seemed really vulnerable, the guy grabbed him up and dragged him all the way to the top of the bank, holding him to the edge with the threat that he'd be dropped if superman didn't come save him.

superman did show up, and the guy panicked, throwing adam off the edge to distract the superhero. someone in a building across the street took a photo, a photo of a long haired blonde person in a white dress falling to their death, doing nothing, not even screaming. superman caught him, but when he was set on the ground, superman asked...

'Are you okay, miss?'

adam screamed. it was all too much. he screamed, and he pushed away superman, and he ran past the cops, and he ran past the reporters, and he ran all the way to his shitty apartment his family got him while he was in his 'weird phase', as they called it.

'anna' had finally died. the fall killed her, and adam was still raw.

a popular tabloid would have that photo, the photo of 'anna' falling, on the front page. the article would talk about 'the mad woman of metropolis' and how adam screamed, how someone literally screamed after being saved by superman, in this day and age? what, did 'she' want to die?

adam couldn't get work after that. everywhere he went, people asked, 'aren't you that lady that freaked out after getting saved by superman??' and eventually, he couldn't stand it.

the last thing he did before he cut off his family and move away was take what money he could from his account and change his name. 'anna' had died so 'adam' took over.

not that this adam was complete. he still felt wrong when he looked at himself, new name or not. he was still a shell he needed to escape from.

in gotham, nobody asked if he was the 'lady scared of superman'. in fact, in gotham, nobody referred to him at all. he could finally wear his binder and refer to himself properly, and he could start his work. he began working in a bike delivery company during the day...

and when he saw a coded offer for a henchman for egghead leaving retirement for one last heist in the wanted pages, he decided to go for it. he was bad anyways, and he needed the money, and gotham was better. batman couldn't hear him. batman didn't know him. and it didn't matter what happened to this adam, because it was the incomplete adam.

he put on a rabbit mask, and wore some bright clothes, pastels, things he knew egghead wore. the rabbit mask was just what he had on hand, something he got while still in middle school.

the heist went horribly. batman showed up, and while he was distracted with egghead's upset rant about the bat ruining everything, adam ran. he ran, and he ran, and he ran, and batman apparently didn't bother going after him, because he ended up going home without a hint of the bat or his robin chasing him.

he didn't want the egg. the egg was an extremely valuable, priceless, last of it's kind egg, a piece of art. he had no use for it. he thought about selling it, but he didn't know how, or where to bring it. egghead was in jail. there wasn't anything he could do...

(he stashed the egg in a drawer, wrapped in the same white dress 'anna' wore on the day she fell. it was safe, and began standing as a motivation. finish yourself. finish yourself.)

the media ate up the idea of a rabbit running off with an egg while wearing bright colors. began calling him the 'easter bunny', and then eventually just Easter, since it was catchier. adam watched the media die down, and he fully accepted his title. he liked the idea, and realizing that he needed the gimmick if he was ever gonna get the money he wanted for his surgeries to 'complete' himself, began thinking more about what he needed to fully realize his new identity.

he began thinking about this new midpoint between 'anna' and 'adam' as 'easter'. easter was the point between what he had to be and what he wanted to be. easter would still be called adam during the day, but adam couldn't bring himself to actually count as that version of him.

he began playing with some ideas. he carried baskets with him when he stole things, and the best thing he did for himself was formulate his spring-heeled shoes, though the design was stolen off the internet. his boss let him borrow some tools from the shop, under the excuse that he needed to fix his bike up, and he made something that would help him with his escapes and break ins.

he isn't popular yet, but a few higher ranking rogues have borrowed him for a some tasks, including two jobs with the joker (one job to break into a judge's house and steal some family photos, and the other job to break back into the judge's house and replace the family photos, only now they had mustaches painted onto all of his family members. adam was payed in hollowed out carrots full of bills.) he's working on it. the rise in fame is a slow one.

and once he's complete, he's going to return the egg. thats a promise.

-

adam serves as a lackey for hire, specializing in in-and-out thievery and quick escapes, though he doesn't seem to care too much about the 'thrill' of it all. he has a hard time thinking of plans for hisself, and has an even harder time communicating, though if someone sets him on a task, he'll do whatever he can to continue it, even if he gets hurt.

he doesn't have much weaponry, throwing punches or using explosive eggs made specifically for opening safes if pushed, but he prefers to run from confrontation.

he lives in the wayne garden apartments, and does bike delivery for a delivery company during the day... though he's recently figured out that said company was owned by one warren white, who uses it as a way to transport the smaller goods he promises to his clients.

-

eventually adam is caught, not in some big blaze of glory, but confronted in his own apartment by the bat. even faced out of costume, adam still attempts to crawl out of his fourth-story apartment window, unable to figure out why the batman was able to figure out who he was... even though he hadn't really been hiding it so well.

he has a fairly long stint in arkham for endangerment of the self, where he ends up able to get the surgeries he needs for his dysphoria, though it's not as cut-and-dry as he thought it'd be. he'd bet on the surgeries giving him the epiphany of who 'adam' really was, but it wasn't as easy as that, so he still struggles with who he is...

the identity of 'easter' hasn't died yet, and adam often falls back on it when he feels unsure of himself, though after a good deal of therapy he's much less likely to recklessly throw himself off of rooftops... which is a great improvement, if you ask dr arkham.

post-surgery, adam still does heists for egg-themed objects for himself and some lackey work for others, trying to find some sort of balance between the life he'd lived up to that point and a future life.

-

the robin he most often goes up against is tim, though they fight less than they race, with maybe a little bit of teasing from easter’s side. it’s probably the only time he thinks its really fun to run

[byebyeskylark]

So I want to get in on the Batfam (I'm looking for new people to love & the Batfam yknow seems to be lovely/angsty enough to qualify) anyhow, what shows / movies / cartoons / fanfics / comics do you recommend as a starter pack? I know this is a big question :/ Shows, cartoons, and fanfics are what I'm most likely to devour.

Hoo boy, I’m not sure I’d call it a starter pack? But here’s what’s on my shelves.

Cartoons

Batman the Animated Series and its associated animated movies (Mask of the Phantasm, Batman & Mr Freeze: SubZero, Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman):

Iconic. Timeless. Outstanding. Many dislike the style change of the fourth season (also known as The New Batman Adventures) but I like it and a lot of the stories in that one.

Batman Beyond: It took me a while to come around on this one. I was about 13 when it came out and couldn’t stand that Bruce was alone in his old age. I get it now. Putting that aside, there are some really interesting and really funny episodes, and I love it overall. (See also, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker)

Justice League: This is an honorable mention as it has no Batfam interactions due to the infamous Bat Embargo of the time. But one could consider some League members as extended Batfamily, and it’s great. Also contains the epilogue for Batman Beyond.

[Keep in mind that BTaS, BB, and Justice League do not follow the comics. Perhaps the biggest divergence is a version of Tim Drake that mimics Jason Todd’s story line and the absence of Jason, Cass, Damian and pretty much anyone else newer than Tim]

Young Justice: Batfam cameos are small in S1 and S2, but great. Haven’t watched S3 yet, as I refuse to pay for yet another streaming service. Fingers crossed they bring it to Netflix like Titans.

The Batman: I watched this purely because I saw a gif here on tumblr of Batman pulling a blanket over Robin. It’s not a bad show overall, but made for a much younger audience with some really odd revamps of villains.

Batman/Superman: Public Enemies: Great dialogue between Superbros

Batman: Gotham Knight: This is a segue from the Nolan films, but I love these vignettes, in particular Working Through Pain

Shows/Movies

Adam West Batman (and its movie): Campy doesn’t begin to describe this show. It is a very specific version of Batman, but one of my besties and I just finished watching the whole series over a few years of wine nights and I think it’s worth it. I will cherish it always for Giant Alfred, Eartha Kitt, Yvonne Craig, and Bruce Wayne’s racehorse, “Waynebow.”

Batman & Batman Returns: Tim Burton is not for everyone, but I grew up with these and I still love them, particularly Batman Returns. They heavily influenced BTaS and are known for showcasing villains as much if not a little more than Bruce/Batman.

Batman Forever and Batman & Robin: Every couple of years I get drunk with my bestie and scream at these trainwrecks. I used to hate on them, but I realize if these hit you at the right age as a kid you probably adored them. Also, I have a theory that Bruce Clooney telling Alfred “I love you, old man” in Batman & Robin is perhaps the only time Bruce Wayne has ever said the words “I love you” on screen, directly to the object of his affection.

The Nolan Trilogy: I really like these, but it’s pretty much just Bruce and Alfred. I hope we get an ensemble Batfam film someday.

Fanfics

Here are the authors I’m subscribed to on AO3:

@audreycritter, everything she’s written on the Batfam. Start reading now.

@unpretty, fantastic Batfam fics live under her work Sorrowful & Immaculate Hearts

@cerusee, wonderful but especially if you love Jason Todd

Also a fan of @incogneat-oh @caramelmachete @jerseydevious  @oh-mother-of-darkness @lemonadegarden and I’m sure other folks who would be easier for me to find if I ever tagged anything on this blog o’ mine :-/

Comics

Confession time: I love superheroes, but I do not love comics. There are some outstanding pieces of art out there, and I have my indie favorites, but the mainstream stuff turns me off. It’s not a form of storytelling that I find very effective. Having said that, here are a few Batman titles that I’ve enjoyed:

The Long Halloween

Batman: Haunted Knight

The Gates of Gotham

Kingdom Come

The Dark Knight Returns (Miller’s a weirdo but Carrie Kelley is great)

Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth (might not make as much sense if you don’t read the Planetary stuff before it–which is great–but so fun I had to include it)

[do NOT read Batman Beyond 2.0, it will ruin whatever love you have for Batman Beyond. I should have listened to my local comic shop people]

Those are the shows, movies, and comics I like the best, but I’m just one persnickety person. Also, the great folks I listed under Fanfic are probably much better resources for comic recs than I!

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 10 June 2019

Quick Bits:

Age of Conan: Bêlit #4 sets up a rivalry with a high priest from Stygia in this penultimate issue. Tini Howard, Kate Niemczyk, Scott Hanna, Jason Keith, and Travis Lanham guide us through more of Bêlit’s family history and hints of madness.

| Published by Marvel

Age of X-Man: Marvelous X-Men #5 is the first of these minis to reach their end, but it’s far from a conclusion. While the team and Psylocke find out the nature of reality as everything starts unravelling, much still remains hanging, and the conclusion is set for Age of X-Man: Omega. Great art from Marco Failla and Matt Milla.

| Published by Marvel

Amber Blake #4 concludes what has been an entertaining thriller from Jade Lagardère, Butch Guice, Mike Perkins, Dan Brown, and Robbie Robbins. Some nice twists and surprises as this story ends.

| Published by IDW

Archie #705 is part one of “Archie & Sabrina”. I quite like the change to the trade dress to reflect that, giving the appearance of a limited series for the arc, while maintaining the ongoing numbering. Nice Spencer, Sandy Jarrell, Matt Herms, and Jack Morelli do a great job moving through Cheryl’s “Bachelor” plans to hints of things to come, along with impending conflict between Betty and Veronica.

| Published by Archie Comics

Batman & The Outsiders #2 spotlights the battle between Ishmael and the team as he goes for Sofia. Great art from Dexter Soy and Veronica Gandini. The little bits of occult belief and practice Bryan Hill gives to Ishmael are interesting.

| Published by DC Comics

Bronze Age Boogie #3 is another fun issue, pitting Li against Lynda for the Martians’ amusement. The pieces are all coming together nicely. Also, the “Major Ursa” back-up is just about the best thing ever.

| Published by Ahoy

By Night #12 is a bit of a weird one for the conclusion to this series, focusing almost solely on our side of the rift and what happens down the line for everyone. Still, this has been an entertaining series from John Allison, Christine Larsen, Sarah Stern, and Jim Campbell. 

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

Calamity Kate #4 brings this series from Magdalene Visaggio, Corin Howell, Valentina Pinto, and Zakk Saam to a close. It’s still a bit of a head-scratcher, wondering how much is real and how much is a manifestation of Kate’s issues with her break-up, but it’s entertaining.

| Published by Dark Horse

Detective Comics #1005 concludes the Arkham Knight’s “Medieval” arc from Peter J. Tomasi, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, Nathan Fairbairn, and Rob Leigh. It’s really weird seeing Anton Arcane as anyone’s lackey, but that aside this is still a decent conclusion. The art from Walker, Hennessy, and Fairbairn is incredible.

| Published by DC Comics

The Empty Man #8 is the end of the series. For now at least. It’s a satisfying conclusion for this horror story from Cullen Bunn, Jesús Hervás, Niko Guardia, and Ed Dukeshire, even as it leaves hooks for the possibility of more. Very interesting bits of body horror and ideas about infection.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

The Flash #72 continues “Year One” from Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, Hi-Fi, and Steve Wands. Once again, the artwork from Porter and Hi-Fi is phenomenal. The layouts, the action, the sheer visual storytelling is incredible.

| Published by DC Comics

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #7 is the first part of “Feast or Famine” from Tom Taylor, Ken Lashley, Nolan Woodard, and Travis Lanham. It’s May’s grand reopening of the FEAST shelter and it appears as though people are angry that it’s happening.

| Published by Marvel

Gogor #2 is possibly even better than the first issue, giving more focus to the tale even as Ken Garing does more world-building. This is a very interesting fantasy story, with fascinating characters and regions, and beautiful artwork.

| Published by Image

Hawkman #13 gives us a single-issue story from Robert Venditti, Will Conrad, Jeremiah Skipper, and Richard Starkings & Comicraft on the endless cycle of war. It’s a good bit of decompression following “Cataclysm” and Bryan Hitch’s run, using Carter’s endless resurrection to show the toll of battle on one planet.

| Published by DC Comics

Immortal Hulk #19 is another incredible issue in this amazing run, with Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Belardino Brabo, Paul Mounts, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Cory Petit delivering hard on the new Abomination and Harpy. The body horror aspect of this story is ratcheted up even higher.

| Published by Marvel

Infinite Dark #7 looks like it’s building for a catastrophe for the end of this arc at a magnitude even greater than losing the outer ring in the first arc, as the remaining portion of the station gets plunged into the dark here. The level of tension that Ryan Cady, Andrea Mutti, K. Michael Russell, and Troy Peteri are creating here is about to explode.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Joe Golem: Occult Detective - Conjurors #2 sees Joe brought back to life by Simon Church, against the objections of Simon’s ghost friends, and sets up the road to what looks like might be a new status quo, bringing forth an old direction. Great art from Peter Bergting and Michelle Madsen. I really quite like the murky appearance of the underwater scenes.

| Published by Dark Horse

Justice League Odyssey #10 gets a new logo while the team continues their search for relics for Darkseid. Also, more intrigue as they still don’t exactly know whether they can trust one another. Dan Abnett, Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, FCO Plascencia, and AndWorld Design are telling an interesting story here.

| Published by DC Comics

The Life & Death of Toyo Harada #4 enacts Angela’s plan on the rest of the team with explosive results. It’s interesting to see everything burnt to ash along the way. The flashbacks into Harada’s life this issue are illustrated by Diego Yapur and they’re worth it on their own, but you also get the present day material beautifully rendered by CAFU.

| Published by Valiant

Outer Darkness #7 begins the second arc from John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau. We get a little bit of Rigg’s past, more of the crew’s aggressive behaviour towards one another, and a rescue mission as an 18th century mansion tries to swallow another ship. This is the good, weird stuff.

| Published by Image / Skybound

The Punisher #12 begins Frank’s trek back to New York in the first part of “War on the Streets” from Matthew Rosenberg, Szymon Kudranski, Antonio Fabela, and Cory Petit. Great art from Kudranski and Fabela as Frank fights off a squad of Hydra goons on a remote island.

| Published by Marvel

The Ride: Burning Desire #1 returns for The Ride’s 15th anniversary, with a lead story from Doug Wagner, Daniel Hillyard, Laura Martin, and Ed Dukeshire, and a back-up illustrated by Adam Hughes. Nice set-up picking up on where Vega is now fifteen years later. And more depraved cops.

| Published by Image

Silver Surfer: Black #1 is another leg in Donny Cates’ redefinition of the Marvel Cosmic, joined here by Tradd Moore, Dave Stewart, and Clayton Cowles. This reminds me a bit of the George Perez/Tom Grindberg run from ages ago, with some incredible artwork from Moore and Stewart.

| Published by Marvel

Sonata #1 is a fairly imaginative sci-fi/fantasy debut from David Hine, Brian Haberlin, Geirrod van Dyke, and Francis Takenaga. It introduces us to to races of colonizers in the Ran and the Tayans, bringing conflict with them as they try to carve out new lives on Perdita. Beautiful artwork from Haberlin and van Dyke.

| Published by Image / Shadowline

Star Wars: Vader - Dark Visions #5 closes out this series of takes on different perspectives on Darth Vader with a barkeep suffering hallucinations as he tries to flee from Vader’s wrath, from Dennis Hallum, Geraldo Borges, Marcio Menyz, and Joe Caramagna.

| Published by Marvel

Supergirl #31 is pretty much concurrent with Superman #12, though you should probably read Superman first if you’re reading both of them. There’s no need to read both, though, as it stands well enough on its own. This one presents the reunion of the House of El from Kara’s perspective and then continues on the battle against Gandelo.

| Published by DC Comics

Superman #12 reunites the entire House of El amidst the battle with Rogol Zaar and the fleets trying to kill Jor-El. There’s foreshadowing of more “everything you know is wrong!” about Krypton’s destruction and Superman’s origin, which may or may not rub you the wrong way, but I find it entertaining. Especially with the beautiful artwork from Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, and Alex Sinclair.

| Published by DC Comics

Transformers #7 is part one of “The Cracks Beneath Your Feet”, with Brian Ruckley, Angel Hernandez, Andrew Griffith, Anna Malkova, Joana Lafuente, Josh Burcham, and Tom B. Long picking up again in the present, following up on the second recent murder on Cybertron. It’s fairly morose, as you’d expect, as Bumblebee laments the loss of the new spark, Rubble.

| Published by IDW

Trust Fall #1 is a great debut from the Dead Letters team of Christopher Sebela and Chris Visions, with Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou providing his usual outstanding lettering to round out the team. It’s another crime drama, with the interesting twist of a family member with teleportation powers. Visions’ art is amazing and the hook of the family being set-up to fall right as they’re ready to move on to bigger and better waters is enticing.

| Published by AfterShock

V-Wars: God of Death feels more like a tease than a discrete story. The good news is that you don’t need to have read any of the previous V-Wars stories, as this fills you in on what you need to know, the bad news is that there’s no indication as to anything else coming next. Still, great art from Alex Milne and Brittany Peer.

| Published by IDW

Other Highlights: Accell #21, Age of X-Man: Apocalypse & The X-Tracts #4, Amazing Spider-Man #23, Asgardians of the Galaxy #10, Catwoman #12, Champions #6, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark #6, Event Leviathan #1, Five Years #2, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #263, GLOW #2, The Grave, Grumble #7, Gunning for Hits #6, House of Whispers #10, Invaders #6, Ironheart #7, James Bond: Origin #10, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens #3, Jughead’s Time Police #1, Major X #5, Marvel Action: Spider-Man #5, Morning in America #4, Oblivion Song #16, Orphan Age #3, Penny Nichols, Princeless - Book 8: Princesses #4, Prodigy #6, Red Sonja: Birth of the She-Devil #1, Rick & Morty Presents Mr. Meeseeks #1, She Could Fly: The Lost Pilot #3, Spider-Man: Life Story #4, Star Trek: The Q Conflict #5, Superior Spider-Man #7, Symbiote Spider-Man #3, The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion #7, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #45, Unnatural #10, Venom #15, War of the Realms: Giant-Man #3, Wonder Twins #5, Wonder Woman #72, Xena: Warrior Princess #3, X-Force #9

Recommended Collections: Avengers: No Road Home, Dark Souls: Age of Fire, Hawkman - Volume 1: Awakening, Hulkverines, Ice Cream Man - Volume 3: Hopscotch Melange, Lollipop Kids - Volume 1, Road of the Dead: Highway to Hell, Moonshadow, Star Trek vs. Transformers, Swamp Monsters, United States vs. Murder Inc. - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy likes pie.

[thedcdunce]

Green Arrow

“At my core, I wasn't a hero. I was a hunter.” - Green Arrow

Real Name: Oliver Jonas “Ollie” Queen

Aliases: 

Chief Magic Bow

Gender: Male

Height: 5′ 11″

Weight: 195 lbs (88 kg)

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blonde

Abilities:

Acrobatics

Archery

Aviation

Cooking

Firearms

Hunting

Martial Arts

Peak Human Condition

Politics

Stick Fighting

Survival

Swordsmanship

Throwing

Weaponry

Equipment:

Custom Bow

Quiver

Arrowboat

Arrowcar

Arrowplane

Arrowsub

Jetpack

Katana

Trick Arrows

Universe: 

Earth-One

New Earth

Base of Operations: 

Star City

Seattle

Citizenship: American

Parents:

Robert Queen; father

Moira Queen; mother

Marital Status: Divorced (Dinah Lance; wife)

Occupation: 

Businessman

Reporter

Education: College Graduate

First Appearance: Adventure Comics #250 (July, 1958)

Last Appearance: Green Arrow Vol 4 #15 (October, 2011)

Abilities

Acrobatics: He has displayed on many occasions that he is an expert in acrobatics, and often uses this skill while evading enemy fire.

Archery: Oliver Queen is perhaps the finest archer ever known. He claims to be able to shoot 29 arrows per minute. He has a wide-variety of trick arrows, ranging from bola arrows to time-bomb arrows to his infamous boxing-glove arrow. In recent years he has used these arrows sparingly, preferring the time-tested simple arrow. Green Arrow has shown the ability to shoot an arrow down the barrel of a gun, pierce a drop of water as it leaves a tap, and shoot almost any part of the human body; although he aims only to wound and not kill when he shoots. He once shot two arrows down two different gun barrels while upside down, in mid-flip while somersaulting off a building.

Aviation: He has some skill in flying different types of planes.

Cooking: Green Arrow's Chili is one of the hottest foods on the planet.

Firearms: Although not his preferred weapon, Oliver is very skilled in the use of firearms. He has displayed great accuracy with handguns and machine guns.

Hunting: Archery is by far Oliver's preferred method of hunting, however, the ability to hunt comes from years of training, patience and survival.

Martial Arts: He is proficient in several forms of hand-to-hand combat including Judo, Kickboxing and Karate. Proclaimed as a martial arts master, he has shown the ability to take on seven people at once. He spent several months dedicated to making himself a better fighter and trained with many of the world's finest martial arts teachers.

Eskrima

Judo

Kickboxing

Karate

Peak Human Condition: Oliver spent a fortune to hire the world's foremost martial arts masters to train him until he was in peak physical condition.

Politics: Ollie ran for office and became the mayor of Star City for a significant amount of time. He has since resigned from being the mayor and has continued to lean on political issues from time to time.

Stick Fighting: Oliver has shown to be a highly skilled stick fighter.

Survival

Swordsmanship: Ollie is also very proficient with a sword, though it is not his preferred weapon of choice.

Throwing: Oliver is a master marksman and possesses great aim with projectile objects such as darts, in addition to his skill in archery.

Weaponry: Oliver is proficient in the use of an array of weaponry, including archery, sticks, and various bladed weapons.

Equipment

Custom Bow

Quiver

Arrowboat

Arrowcar

Arrowplane

Arrowsub

Jetpack

Katana

Trick Arrows: Ollie wore three quivers holding thirty arrows each.

Personality

Oliver Queen has a very dynamic personality. His passion and intensity make him strong, although he has always had difficulty finding direction in life. Born into wealth, he didn't need to work for most of what he had and was raised with very little responsibility. His experience on Starfish Island taught him self-reliance and showed him there was more to existence, giving him an outlet. In the beginning of his career he has been portrayed as a thrill-seeker, fighting crime not for moral reasons but the sense of adventure. It wasn't until he lost his fortune that he developed his strong social conscience, and outspoken left-wing political viewpoints. This character development has made him much less egotistical in the way he deals with problems.

Romantic Relationships

His attitude towards women has been shown to vary over the years, although he is consistently more attracted to dangerous types. Oliver was originally shown to be a very faithful and enduring partner to his long-time love interest Black Canary, although he has committed infidelity, and retcons to his personality have made him more womanizing. This is something he has worked hard to overcome and eventually proves himself when he becomes engaged to Black Canary.

History

Green Arrow is a vigilante superhero who fights crime using archery, martial arts and technology. In his secret identity, he is Oliver Queen, living in Star City as a wealthy playboy and billionaire industrialist turned outspoken socially-progressive politician. He is the leader of Team Arrow; he has also been a member of the Justice League and the Outsiders.

Origins

As a young child, Oliver idolized his hero Robin Hood and was said to be a natural archer, frequently practicing with his bow and arrows. He was mildly traumatized the first time he accidentally killed an animal, but when his mother and father were mauled by lions in a tragic safari accident his hesitation to shoot cost them their lives. Afterwards he was raised by his uncle and eventually inherited the family fortune and business. Queen grew into a rich, thrill-seeking, and drunken playboy with no real sense of responsibility or direction in his life. Everything changed when he fell off his boat in the middle of the ocean and washed ashore on the remote isolated Starfish Island, clutching a bow – a memento from a Robin Hood movie – which he had used to keep himself afloat, where he was completely stranded. During this time spent without food or shelter, Queen developed his skills as a hunter to survive and gained mastery over his bow. Having previously taken everything in his life for granted, this experience taught him self-reliance and made him into a man. His second test of new character was the discovery of drug smugglers on the island run by the ruthless international crime lord China White. Using his new skills, he attacked and destroyed their heroin operation, then delivered them to the authorities before returning home. Realizing that he had found his destiny, he chose to use his abilities and resources as a crime-fighter. With a nickname coined by the press, he made it his mission to protect Star City. He took his cue from Batman and built his own "Arrow Cave," complete with an "Arrowcar" and allegedly a yellow submarine. He and Speedy fought with trick arrows that were designed to be non-lethal.

Speedy 

A young man named Roy Harper idolized him. Harper was an incredible archer, having grown up on a Native American reservation. His mentor Brave Bow was dying and he needed someone to take care of him, so he wanted to become Green Arrow's sidekick. Proving his mettle by taking down several thugs faster than he could while they were both on the scene, Oliver adopted Roy as his legal ward. He would go on to fight crime taking the name Speedy. Speedy would later team up with a number of other costumed youths to form the Teen Titans, including Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin and Wonder Girl.

Justice League

Green Arrow would go on to become a member of the Justice League of America, although there are multiple versions of this story. Originally the Silver Age showed him joining after he rescued the League from an evil alien named Xandor. Post-Crisis stories retconned Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman out of this story, making several other changes. Queen Enterprises secretly funded the early League, never revealing his identity and speaking to them through Simon Carr. Eventually the team voted him in as their sixth member. Infinite Crisis brought back the League's original founders and beginnings. Green Arrow is shown to have joined at the same time as Black Canary, proving their value in combat against the League of Assassins. He would go on to have many further adventures with them.

Social Conscience

Green Arrow began developing a personal crisis about which of his identities was more important and doing more good, the crime-fighter or the politician. Giving himself a new look, he had a more modern costume designed. His entire fortune and control of Queen Industries was lost to a corrupt employee named John Deleon who stole everything from him through corporate fraud. The League fights manifestations of their inner darkness and he is confronted by his character failures in combat. Part of him has only chosen to be a hero for the thrill and glory, but he realizes that he defines himself by his ability to control those instincts for the greater good. Queen begins to reevaluate his priorities, and learns to focus more on the everyday problems of regular people.

Hard Traveling Heroes

In the ensuing year after losing his fortune, Ollie traveled the country with Green Lantern Hal Jordan while his left-behind ward dabbled with drugs that caused the two to go their separate ways.

Late one night while fighting an ambush under duress, Green Arrow's arm slipped an inch and he accidentally shot a criminal in the chest, killing him instantly. The experience was so traumatizing for him that he ripped up his costume, destroyed his equipment and decided to end his heroic career entirely. After destroying the Arrowplane, he went to live in a monastery to seek redemption and get back in touch with his roots for several months. A wise man named Master Jansen taught him the secrets of zen archery and encouraged him not to abandon his destiny, sending him home with renewed confidence in himself.

Longbow Hunters

Green Arrow and Black Canary relocated to Seattle, Washington where they set up a flower shop called Sherwood Florist. Having decided that years of reliance on Trick Arrows had made him weak, he returned to his basic roots as an archer and began using exclusively regular arrows again. He asked Dinah to marry him, but she believed that the strength of their relationship was in the independence they allowed each other. Although Oliver wanted children of his own, she did not want to bring children into the dangers of their world. Black Canary makes a new suit for Green Arrow and the first criminal he takes down is a serial killer known as the Seattle Slasher. There is an assassin named Shado targeting men for personal reasons that Oliver tracks down, fights with, and loses to. James Cameron is the police officer he chooses to work alongside and develops a relationship with. Black Canary went undercover to expose a drug ring, but was captured and interrogated. By the time he got to her she had been brutally tortured and they were planning to rape her, although he stopped them by shooting her assailant in the chest without hesitation. Shado appeared mysteriously and took down the other men in the building to assist him. They would go on to take down a conspiracy involving C.I.A. cocaine shipments to fund foreign wars, ran by men Shado had sworn vengeance against for her father Tomonaga.

Dinah's injuries were extensive; she lost her "canary cry" and was subsequently found to be unable to bear children. This marked a major turning point in Ollie's life. When Ollie was injured and being cared for by Shado, she proceeded to rape him while he was unconscious, conceiving a son she would name Robert. When Ollie found out about the son, Shado made it clear that he would have nothing to do with the child. It also caused a rift between Ollie and Dinah, since she despaired at not being able to give Ollie the one thing he had always truly wanted.

After many adventures around the globe, Ollie and Dinah began to grow more distant, resulting in her breaking up with him after she caught him kissing their assistant Marianne.

Cross Roads

Seattle had its first super-human conflict when Nuklon fought Shrapnel. Realizing there was nothing there for him anymore, Oliver decided to take a road trip alone to find himself again. A fighter named Rival fought him and forced him to truly take ownership of his bow again. Huntress teamed up with him to solve a series of murders. Mistaken for the mercenary Deathstroke in Las Vegas, Queen became a massive target and was on the run from dozens of hitmen after him. Losing his bow, he picked up firearms and killed bad men repeatedly for his own survival. Then he teamed up with Deathstroke to take down the syndicate responsible, learning from his style and attitude. This continued and he killed several thugs while on a mission with Catwoman. Oliver started killing criminals even when he didn't need to, and murdered a child molester in cold blood. A visit to see his old friends in the Justice League reminded him of his past as one of the world's greatest heroes; now, as a street-level vigilante, he didn't feel like he belonged anymore. Depressed and angry, he had a meeting with Anarky that changed his perspective and made him realize again the political reasons he had for becoming a hero. At the beginning of Zero Hour, he chased and took down a thug then witnessed an alternate timeline where he had missed a step in the fight and been shot to death. Oliver Queen was left standing over his own corpse. Looking at his own mortality, he realized that in his position he cannot hesitate at what he does, then Batman says they need him and he answers the call.

Zero Hour

Cyborg Superman destroyed Coast City, hometown of Green Lantern, and killed thousands of its citizens. This drove Hal Jordan temporarily insane and he dismantled the Green Lantern Corps, murdered the Guardians and absorbed the cosmic energy inside the Central Power Battery. At the time, he had been possessed by the evil Parallax entity. Seeing imperfections in the universe, Parallax decided to rebuild it in his own image, but first he had to destroy all of existence through the entire timestream, everything there ever was or would be. In the last pocket of reality at Vanishing Point before everything was consumed by entropy, Waverider of the Linear Men gathered the only heroes who hadn't been erased. Ollie refused to believe that Green Lantern, his oldest and closest friend, had indeed become the murderous Parallax. Ollie initially refused to fight against Hal, until the full depth of the former Green Lantern's madness became all too clear. In the final battle, Ollie shot Hal in the chest, being the crucial attack that stopped Parallax and saved the universe. Ollie was distraught, however, at the thought of having killed one of his best friends.

Connor Hawke

Distraught with grief at having killed his best friend, Oliver returned to the ashram he had visited after his last murder. Master Jansen counselled him again in finding inner peace after he swears off super-heroics. The National Security Agency had determined that they must eliminate him after the things he had seen in their employ, and assassins are sent after him. A young archer and martial artist named Connor Hawke who idolizes him helps fight them off, and the two leave together in search of answers about who set him up. Connor has his own costume and becomes the second Green Arrow, which Oliver is supportive of. They quickly find themselves entangled in a government conspiracy and Eddie Fyers is enlisted to help solve their problems. Hal Jordan reappears again at one point still alive, and wishes to rekindle their friendship although he is still clearly insane and obsessed with his cosmic energies. Before parting he accidentally lets Oliver know that Connor is actually his son by an old girlfriend named Moonday Hawke. Furious that the young man didn't tell him about their relation, Oliver has an argument with Connor and Eddie then leaves to be on his own again.

Death

The NSA was under new management and they offered Oliver a job as an agent. They needed him to go undercover and infiltrate the Eden Corps, an extremist eco-terrorist organization. On his first mission with them he was forced to fight his closest friends and allies; gaining their confidence he also started a romantic relationship with their leader Hyrax. He fought off Connor, Eddie Fyers, Arsenal and even the Force of July. Hyrax had a bomb named the Mutajek 9-9 and planned to destroy Metropolis with it. On the plane ride there was a massive firefight with another deep-cover agent, and most of the terrorists were killed. Green Arrow's arm was inside the detonation chamber for the bomb, which would activate if he released his hand. Superman tried to help but had no way of saving him other than tearing off his arm. Rather than allow himself to be crippled Queen let the plane explode, sacrificing himself to save thousands of people. Having been completely vaporized in the blast, there was no body. A small funeral gathering of his closest friends was held in Warriors. There was nothing to bury, so his son fired an arrow into the air and marked its landing as his final resting place, as in the legend of Robin Hood. Connor Hawke then decided to continue on his legacy.

Resurrection

This wasn't Oliver's end, however, as Hal Jordan returned to save the earth during the Final Night and used his godlike powers to bring his old friend back from the dead. Unfortunately, the reanimated hero was an empty vessel with no soul, whose memories were replicated from his earlier days when he had a stronger liberal conscience. Ollie's more experienced soul remained in a Heaven-like place for a time, until it was reunited with his body in order to defeat an evil warlock named Stanley Dover. Now, the original Green Arrow was back in action with a rare second chance at life to make up for previous mistakes with his loved ones, all while renewing his vows to be a defender of the downtrodden.

With the death of Stanley Dover, Ollie inherited Dover's estate. He renovated it, and established it as the Star City Youth Center. During this time, Ollie rescued fifteen-year-old Mia Dearden from a life of drugs and prostitution. He took her into his confidence, and into his home. Mia developed a crush on Oliver, and began emulating his actions. She even began training with a bow and arrow. Eventually, her extensive training paid off, and she became the new Speedy.

Identity Crisis

The superhero community was thrown into chaos when Elongated Man's wife Sue Dibny was murdered. Green Arrow had been part of a conspiracy that covered up a mind-wipe performed by Zatanna on Doctor Light, altering his personality after he had raped Sue on the Justice League Satellite many years before. They hunted Light down and were forced to fight unprepared against Deathstroke as his bodyguard, who decimated them until Oliver leaped onto his back and stabbed an arrow into his empty eye socket. His memory triggered again, Light was able to escape. Having gotten into many compromising situations over the years, his was not the only memory erased, but altering his personality was the furthest they ever went. This is justified on the grounds that they did what needed to be done, despite what the opinions of others would've been. The shocking revelation is that Batman discovered what they were doing and tried to stop them, forcing the group to wipe his mind as well.

Deathstroke blew up his house as revenge for their earlier fight. Realizing that someone has discovered his secret identity, Oliver puts his family on lock-down and relocates to an underground bunker before teaming up with Black Lightning to take on Doctor Light again.

Infinite Crisis

During the Infinite Crisis, Ollie was engaging in a duel with Merlyn when Doctor Light triggered massive explosions. Critically injured by the attack, Ollie relocated to the Marshall Islands where they remained in convalescence for several months. Once healed from his injuries, Oliver spent a fortune to hire the world's foremost martial arts masters to come to the island. Over the course of many weeks, Ollie trained under the masters' tutelage until he was in peak physical condition. He further hired an assassin named Natas to mentor him in the killing arts – a decision met with great enmity by his son, Connor. During this period, Ollie met a political campaign adviser named Frederick Tuckman. As Tuckman detailed the state of affairs in Star City, Ollie decided to take his fight in an entirely new direction.

Mayor of Star City

One Year Later, Oliver Queen is the newly elected mayor of Star City, continuing his fight on the streets and through the system. He also has a new costume, which appears to be a combination of the classic Neal Adams costume and the Mike Grell Longbow Hunters costume. At the onset, it seems Mayor Queen is most interested in the "shock value" of his office, although his controversial decisions and statements are actually meant to draw attention to and benefit the devastated Star City. He uses an open interpretation of the town charter to perform same-sex marriages in Star City as both a political statement and a way to boost the local tourist economy. He also exercises the power of his office to do things such as blackmail corrupt businessmen, or have the Star City SWAT unit back up his actions as Green Arrow while publicly condemning his alter ego.

During the year-long hiatus, Queen also amassed a quite large personal fortune by manipulating stocks of companies he sees as unscrupulous. While never stated outright, it appears Oliver Queen is now worth billions. The former gangster Brick now fights crime in Star City and allies himself with Green Arrow, although he evidently still traffics in drugs and prostitution.

Before long however, Ollie faced problems from opponents who wore business suits as well as costumes. Deathstroke the Terminator, having been incarcerated at Alcatraz Island after a fight with Green Arrow, conspired with fellow inmate Constantine Drakon and Star City police commissioner Brian Nudocerdo to ruin Ollie politically.

Following the battle with Deathstroke and his subsequent imprisonment, Green Arrow began a battle with Red Hood that lead him to ally himself with Batman. Brick's friendship with Queen was short-lived as well, as it appeared that he had sided with Todd. The Green Arrow defeated Jason in a sword fight, however Jason escaped and kidnapped Speedy.

Brian Nudocerdo publicly revealed that Queen had been secretly financing the Outsiders – a team whose actions at the time were ethically questionable and tantamount to terrorism. In light of these facts, Nudocerdo demanded a recall election and cast his hat into the ring as Ollie's mayoral replacement. Queen had little defense against the charges. It was true that he had been financing the Outsiders, but his motives were so that the group would be financially stable enough to enable his former protégé, Roy Harper, to leave the team and join the Justice League.

In a private conversation with Hal Jordan, Oliver admitted that he missed the League "every damn day", but that he understood that Roy needed to be a member more than he did.

Marriage

In the midst of political scandal, Oliver Queen reignited his love affair with longtime paramour, Dinah Laurel Lance. After successfully fending off an attack by Deathstroke and Constantine Drakon, Ollie asked Dinah to marry him, but she was not prepared to give him an immediate answer.

Shortly thereafter, Ollie and Speedy helped Black Canary when Merlyn abducted Canary's "daughter" Sin. To save Sin's life, Ollie was forced to fake the young girl's death, keeping the knowledge of the plan between himself and Mia, even at the risk of losing Dinah forever. After Sin was placed into safekeeping, Ollie told Dinah what he had done. Recognizing that he was willing to sacrifice his own happiness to save a life, Dinah finally agreed to marry him.

After a great deal of compromise and strife, Ollie and Dinah agreed to get married inside the Secret Sanctuary, the original cave headquarters of the Justice League of America. Wedding guests included nearly everyone within the super-hero community who were asked to attend the ceremony in-costume. The wedding was interrupted by a phalanx of super-villains who attempted to take out as many heroes as possible in one fell swoop. Nearly all of the villains were apprehended except for Deathstroke who managed to escape. Despite the interruption, the ceremony concluded and Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance were married.

Outsiders

Oliver joined a new incarnation of the Outsiders under Batman's guidance. However, when Batman disappeared leaving no trace behind, Oliver went to Wayne Manor to investigate and discovered the place empty and the Batcave utterly destroyed. Oliver then took some of Bruce's liquor and started drinking for his missing partner. Superman went to investigate as well and he found Oliver, who showed him the same scenario he just discovered and they come to the realization that Bruce might be gone for good. A few hours later at the Outsiders' headquarters, Oliver questioned the purpose of the team now that Batman was gone.

At that moment, the Outsiders received a video message from Batman giving them instructions. After the message ended, Green Arrow told the others that it was not the real Batman and he tried to block further contact with that enemy, but his judgement was challenged by Batgirl, who wanted to use the enemy's contact to locate the real Batman. This resulted in the death of REMAC, the destruction of the Outsiders HQ and Thunder's coma. Knowing that his experience and judgement are worthless inside the team, Green Arrow departed from the Outsiders.

Final Crisis

The prophet Libra and his Secret Society of Super-Villains execute Martian Manhunter, and Oliver goes on television to announce that whoever is responsible will suffer. Green Lantern has a conversation with him about how they wouldn't lose sleep torturing the bastards responsible. He is drafted into the new All-Star Squadron along with many other heroes to fight the increasing threat. Darkseid begins spreading his influence on Earth and enslaving humanity's minds using the Anti-Life Equation. Green Arrow is one of the last surviving heroes resisting the forces of evil and holding the Hall of Justice. As their defenses are breached he sends everyone else including Black Canary through the teleporters and makes a valiant last stand. He is captured by the mind-controlled Black Lightning and subjected to the equation, turning him into one of the Justifiers. His wife is also captured and he tries to turn her as well, but she rips the helmet off his head and helps him resist again. They've bought enough time for the Ray to mask the world with the life equation and fight off evil's influences and barely survived the conflict. Superman destroys the last of Darkseid's power.

Cry for Justice

Green Lantern decided it was time for an era of change in the Justice League, believing they had lost sight of their goals and the true meaning of justice. He set out to form his own League alongside Green Arrow as his partner, taking a less reactionary and more aggressive stance on crime-fighting. They spent weeks together hunting and tracking down super-villains. The team they assembled included the Atom, Captain Marvel, Congorilla, Starman and Supergirl. Prometheus, one of the world's most dangerous villains with a violent hatred for everything heroic, is revealed to be orchestrating a world-wide conspiracy with the intention of causing as much pain for the forces of goodness as he possibly can. There is an argument about how far they're willing to go to protect innocent lives, and whether or not the ends justify the means while they're torturing villains for information. Black Canary was mad at Oliver when they returned to ask the rest of the League for help, because he had ignored his responsibilities and turned his back on her. Prometheus gained access to the Justice League Watchtower and severed Roy Harper's right arm. Prometheus fights the entire League and defeats most of them until he is blindsided by Donna Troy, who beats him within an inch of his life. In the interrogation, he explains that he is going to destroy each of the heroes' cities, and his plans are already in motion, starting with Green Arrow's. A massive bomb is detonated and most of Star City is completely annihilated, killing thousands in the process. Speedy goes after the trigger-man, Electrocutioner, and Lian Harper is shown to be one of the many who died in the blast. Prometheus promises to detonate bombs in every other major civic area unless they release him, and reluctantly they are forced to when Oliver reminds them it's the only way to save millions of people. Green Arrow then hunts Prometheus down to his lair and shoots him right between the eyes with an arrow, murdering him in cold blood.

Blackest Night

Nekron attacks the universe using his Black Lantern Corps, an army of resurrected zombie heroes turned evil wielding power rings. Coast City is ground zero for his arrival on Earth, and many heroes are called in to wage war against the death constructs. Every person who's been brought back from the dead is zombified including Green Arrow, Animal Man, Donna Troy, Ice, Kid Flash, Superboy, Superman and Wonder Woman. Possessed by the death entity, he is forced to watch from inside his body as it attacks Black Canary, Connor Hawke and Speedy. He fights his loved ones and nearly kills them, taunting repeatedly about their deepest fears and insecurities, provoking an emotional response to feed upon. Determined not to sit back while his family is murdered, Oliver has enough willpower to make himself miss a kill shot and fires instead at a liquid nitrogen tank. Connor then grabs a hose from it and uses it to freeze him, stopping the Black Lantern in its tracks. Hal Jordan brings everyone back to life when he taps into the power of the Entity and brings them into the White Lantern Corps, then defeats Nekron.

Fall of Green Arrow

Following his murder of Prometheus, Green Arrow sets out to kill the Electrocutioner. Green Lantern and the Flash are the first to discover the corpse he left behind, and attempt to take him in. Black Canary tries to get him to listen to reason, but he pushes her aside. Now with his own community after him, he continues his personal vendetta for revenge. Connor Hawke gets into a heated argument with him about the troubles in their past with Oliver's fatherhood and how much of a bastard he's been, not sure if he can ever forgive him again. Mia Dearden is the only one of his allies in agreement with him, and she captures the Electrocutioner with the intention of murdering him in cold blood. Realizing that he can't drag a child into this, Green Arrow begins to regret his crimes and turns himself in. Finally, he's arrested by Brian Nudocerdo and publicly unmasked, revealing to the world that he's former Mayor Oliver Queen. Black Canary visits him in prison and returns her wedding ring, telling him their marriage is over. On trial, the jury finds him not guilty, but the judge overrules this and sentences him to a complete exile from Star City.

Brightest Day

Deadman uses his new power ring's connection to life energy and creates a massive forest in the ruins of Star City. Green Arrow now lives in this forest, helping his city wherever he can while staying underneath the radar. His company is bought out by a defense contractor named Isabel Rochev with a connection to his father, who supplies Mayor Altman with a specially trained police force ordered to attack him on sight. Fighting the corruption of a society that has turned its backs on the refugees, ignoring the tremendous human suffering, he robs from the rich and gives to the poor. Brian Nudocerdo is murdered by a mysterious assassin.

Fun Facts

Green Arrow's struggle with the usage of lethal force has led him to kill a total of 17 people on panel, although it is implied there have been several more. 14 of these deaths happened during the brutal Cross Roads storyline.

Nicknames for Green Arrow include Emerald Archer, Ace Archer and the Battling Bowman.

There is a running gag that Green Arrow bears a strong physical resemblance to Warlord. The two men actually team up when Warlord arrives in Seattle, and half the criminal population try to murder him under mistaken identity. Aquaman mistakes Warlord for Oliver when he travels to the mythical land of Skartaris. Deadman also makes fun of this during Quiver.

Oliver Queen's powers, if any, remain unknown. It has been rumored that Green Arrow may in fact be a metahuman. The Department of Extranormal Operations has a classified dossier on Queen, wherein they indicate such a possibility, but as of yet, this information has not been confirmed nor denied.

Ollie has a rare Rh-negative blood type, the same as his former lover, Black Canary.

Ollie's left arm can sometimes cause him pain due to an old injury. He once took an arrow to his left side, chipping his bone which never healed properly.

[rednether]

Superman - My Starter Pack

Inspired by @davidmann95​‘s own post, where he does basically the same thing. recommending people where to start in regards to reading Superman.

I do think that to begin with, this is still what I’d read in general about Superman. and what appeals to me in terms of being about the character.

1. All-Star Superman

Whats It’s About: Superman saves the first-manned mission to the sun, led by Dr. Leo Quintum of P.R.O.J.E.C.T., which has been sabotaged by Lex Luthor via him sending a genetically modified suicide bomb in human. Superman manages to save the ship and it’s crew, but ends up powered beyond the norm to fatal levels. as a result, he’s now dying due to solar overexposure. leaving Superman with only a year to live. this is his last deeds.

Why You Should Read It: It’s Superman at his greatest and finest, written and drawn by what could be debated is the greatest writer and artist duo in all of history. it’s not just the best Superman story of all time, it is factually and objectively the best superhero story period (to quote Davidman). on one hand, I’d recommend reading this last because it does kinda read better the more you know and like Superman. on the other, I recommend to just drop in blind because it’s an out of continuity book that doesn’t require you to have read the mainstream comics. 

2. Grant Morrison’s Action Comics

What’s It’s About: The debut of a depowered Golden Age-esque social crusader Superman clad in a T-shirt and Jeans in the modern day, fighting corrupt politicians and rich people suppressing the weak and the oppressed. before basically moving to the Silver Age by fighting the very alien Brainiac after spending his career so far as a Bully Hunter. signified by him starting to work at the Daily Planet and moving from the Daily Star. as the forgotten first Superman, Adam Blake returns to Earth to take away Lois’ niece, Susan Tompkins before the planet is destroyed. Superman decides to kill off Clark Kent because he feels he outgrew him, while ultimately coming to blows with Captain Comet and convincing the latter to turn over a new page at the end of their fight. Vyndktvx finally enacts his plan, attacking the Man of Steel at all points of his life alongside the Anti-Superman Squad and their wild card, Super-Doomsday. though Superman ultimately wins through tricking him to say his name backward by having the entire Earth including himself say their names backwards thus banishing Vyndktvx back to the Fifth Dimension.

Why You Should Read It: It’s the definitive Superman blueprint, merging the character’s Pre-Crisis life from the three eras he was in: Golden, Silver and Bronze ages with some small aspects of his Post-Crisis history (Super-Doomsday for example), creating a definitive Superman who spans all of his life in a consistent manner. 

3. Greg Pak’s Action Comics

What’s It’s About: Superman reunites with childhood friend as well as one-and--off love interest Lana Lang years later, after her departure from Smallville when they were teenagers.as they investigate an ancient civilization that lives deep beneath the earth that is full of bizarre and appears dangerous while attempting to decide which race needs their protection the most, humanity or the underworlders? two months later, after the conflict with Doomsday that resulted in Superman almost turning completely into the beast itself as well as Brainiac’s latest attack. Lana and her lover John Henry Irons travel to Smallville for a vacation, only to discover that the graves of her parents have been mysteriously dug up and the corpses gone.Lana’s parents seemingly back from the dead as zombies, meanwhile. Clark Kent has started placing more importance on his secret identity, helping rebuild Metropolis even while he has a feeling that something appears off. so he flies to Smallville to check on it, only to discover a mysterious fog surrounding it and that he can’t initially get through, getting teleported miles away when he tries to get in.ultimately Superman does make it through, discovering that the dead are seemingly walking amongst the living, not just the Langs. to his horror, he now discovers he can’t make it out. all the while, something is wrong with Smallville’s denizens who appear to have developed psychic ablities as a monster from the Phantom Zone called the Ultra Humanite has made it through to Earth, feeding off the fear, terror and darkness found in everyone. including Superman himself.

Why You Should Read It: One is an Science Fantasy story starring Superman and Lana Lang also taking inspiration from sources like Indiana Jones, which is awesome. As they investigate an ancient civilization that has secretly existed beneath the Earth all this time, the other is what a sci-fi horror starring Superman as the main protagonist look. being bone-chilling enough while still being more than inspiring enough, Greg Pak also is the only writer who truly expanded on in some fashion what Morrison set up in his own run. allowing Superman to save the day while also giving him pyrrhic victories.

4. Batman/Superman

What’s It’s About: A still young Superman and Batman have their first initially forgotten meeting, where they initially fight against each other. before being transported into another parallel world by a rogue goddess, while some things appear the same, others appear distinctly different. The two rookie heroes end up meeting and teaming up with older more experienced versions of themselves to get home. Years later, the World’s Finest remember said alternate earth with the alternate versions of themselves. They’re given a second chance to save Earth 2 and it’s version of the the Trinity, though they ultimately choose not to intervene too much. Angering Kaiyo, who teleports the three of them back to Prime Earth while also erasing the memories of Superman and Batman. leaving them completely different people than they normally are. And it’s up to Lois Lane to convince the amnesiac Batman as well as a Superman who’s lacking his moral compass to remember who they truly are. After that, a mysterious foe obsessed with Superman who knows all of his secrets begins killing all those who ever stood by him just to thoroughly his true target. Superman now has a Joker of his own, It falls to the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel to track the murderous madman and stop him, but with no real clues and leads to follow will they ultimately be outsmarted?

Why You Should Read It: Greg Pak begins his winning streak, developing Superman and Batman into the heroes they’re meant to be as they become the best friends they normally are. from a rough-and-tumble social crusader Idealist Superman and a Batman who has no interest in running his company, preferring to spend his time being in disguise as he watches kids beating each other up in the streets.

5. Superman: Birthright

What’s It’s About: Clark Kent is a man with no direction who is a freelance reporter, fighting for truth and justice. Traveling the world, he tries to get a handle on what it is that he wants to do. But with the tragic passing of the Ghuri political leader and human rights activists Kobe Asuru he decides to return home, having decided to learn more about his alien heritage. Opting to become Superman, he takes the cloth from his ship and turns it into a costume. transforming Clark Kent into a disguise alongside it. He moves to Metropolis, getting hired by the Daily Planet.

Why You Should Read It: It’s the best canon origin story for Superman, bringing back his teenage-hood  friendship with Lex Luthor. Making Clark Kent accepting of his alien heritage once more after Byrne changed it so Superman completely disowned the fact he was from Krypton. it manages to humanize the character while not changing him to the point that he’s completely unrecognizable or that you forget that this is Superman.

6. Superman: American Alien

What’s It’s About: Superman as one of us, done correctly. Clark Kent here is the true identity, with Superman being a pair of tights and nothing more. seven important events from Clark’s life that shape the way he thinks without even realizing it sometime, such as realizing that it’s OK to be strange. realizing that only he can help in certain scenarios, learning to expand his horizons. deciding  to finally use his powers actively to help people, his first encounter with a supervillain. the power going to his head, not thinking about the implication. becoming obsessed with Krypton which leads to him being called out on it, learning to move on and accept the fact that he’s been raised as a human, on Earth even if in his mental state.

Why You Should Read It: It’s seven disconnected tales from all through out Clark Kent’s life, from when he’s eight to when he’s around 25. Citing his development into Superman, that he is still just so damn nice that he just wants to help with no strings attached or have to be manipulated into. With no tragedy influencing him, that he can just no longer stand aside and watch as people die. so he stops doing so, beginning to actively help because he just wants to. Because that is his better nature.

7. Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore

What’s It’s About: An experiment turns all Kryptonite on Earth to iron,  rendering Superman truly invulnerable,but a mysterious doppelganger of the Man of Steel with the ability to steal his powers and weaken him is born as a result, can Superman save his adopted home planet and defeat this devious clone of his without coming into direct contact with it so as to not destroy the Earth?

Why You Should Read It: Also more accurately known unofficially as The Sandman Saga, this is the story that kicked off the Bronze Age era of Superman. toning down Superman’s insane strength to more manageable levels, as he was no longer able to juggle planets and fly to the other end of the universe with ease. additionally making him somewhat wiser and a more human character.

8. Superman Smashes the Klan

What’s It’s About:  The year is 1946. Teenagers Roberta and Tommy Lee just moved with their parents from Chinatown to the center of Metropolis, home to the famous hero, Superman. Tommy makes friends quickly, while Roberta pines for home. Then one night, the family awakens to find their house surrounded by the Klan of the Fiery Kross! Superman leaps into action, but his exposure to a mysterious green rock has left him weak. Can Roberta and Tommy help him smash the Klan?

Why You Should Read It: An important tale about the dangers of genuine racism that is especially relevant nowadays, what with Trump’s supporters running rampant and lashing out at black people due to their skin color & nothing more.

[wraithscomicjourney]

               Today on my journey through comic book history, I watched season 1, episode 1 of The Adventures of Superman, which aired on September 19th, 1952. The show was shot for first-run syndication, rather than for a particular network. This is the first piece of media I’ve covered on my journey which, while based on comic books, is not a comic itself. I feel that this is the first piece of media that’s come along in this timeline to be worth mentioning (remember, I’m starting with the silver age, so I’m not counting golden-age material, such as the 1940’s Batman or Superman serials).

               The Adventure of Superman is a really fond memory for me. Even though it aired decades before I was even born, I remember watching reruns when I was in kindergarten and elementary school. It, along with the Adam West Batman and the Linda Carter Wonder Woman, were probably my very first exposure to superheroes (and Linda Carter in the Wonder Woman outfit was when I first realized there was something different about girls, and while I wasn’t sure what it was, I definitely liked it, and not to go off on a tangent, but have you seen that woman? How does someone look that amazing at 70 years old?!).

               The first episode tells Superman’s origin. Particularly, his Golden Age origin. It opens with a narrator speaking of the hyper-advanced planet Krypton, millions of miles from earth, and shows us the proceedings of a meeting of Krypton’s governing council. Jor-El, Krypton's “leading man of science,” has been summoned to explain why Krypton has been experiences a series of great natural disasters, including tidal waves and earthquakes. Jor-El Explains that Krypton is doomed. The planet is being pulled into into its sun. The council members refuse to listen to him about the coming disaster, mocking him as an alarmist mad man. Jor-El explains that their only hope is to build massive rocket ships to take them to a planet called earth; a plan which the council scoffs at.

               Jor-El is getting ready to launch a model version of the rocket he’s designed, with the intent to be build one large enough for himself, his wife, and their baby, Kal-El, should the test be a success. Unfortunately, while prepping the rocket, the planet begins completely destabilizing, and Jor-El know that this is it, there will be no time to build a larger rocket. The fat of his world, not to mention himself and his wife, is sealed. But the rocket is large enough to carry his child, and so with little more to go on than hope, he places baby Kal into the rocket, and send it hurtling towards earth, as Krypton is pulled into the sun and explodes.

               The rocket crash lands on earth where Ethan and Sara (oh crap, her name’s not Martha, better hope this Superman doesn’t fight 1950’s Ben Afleck Batman) Kent find it on fire, and Ethan risks his own safety to rescue the crying child he hears inside of it. Sara is shocked to find that the baby isn’t even singed, and after rescuing little Kal, the rocket explodes, leaving no trace of it behind. Sara mentions that they’d always wanted to start a family, and no one would believe their story if they handed the baby over to the authorities, so they decide to raise it as their own.

               The scene transitions to twelve years later, with the narrator returning to explain that as time went on, it became increasingly clear that Kal, now named Clark, is different from other boys. He’s stronger and faster than anyone should be, and he can see through solid objects. One day Sarah sits the 12-year-old down, and explains how he was found, and why he’s special. Fast forward 13 years and Clark is now a full grown man. The Kents are planning a surprise party for Clark when Ethan suddenly has a heart attack. Fast forward again and Clark is leaving Smallville for Metropolis, with his mother going to live with her cousin. She tells him that he has a responsibility to the world to use his great powers, and remind him that the costume she made him is special. It came from the red and blue blanket he was wrapped in, and nothing will ever harm it. Which makes me wonder how she sowed it, but I digress.

               Clark has resolved to keep his abilities a secret, and seeks a job as a reporter for The Daily Planet so he can know as soon as there’s an emergency (oh 1950’s, when the pinnacle of instant news was being in a newspaper office). Sadly Perry White is too busy to talk to him (with three old-timey telephones on his desk lol), but when news arrives that a dirigible is out of control and there’s a crewman hanging off a rope from it. Clark gets Perry to agree to hire him if he can get the exclusive story. Clark changes to Superman and rescues the man, placing him down safely behind the hangar, before changing back to Clark Kent to approach the man for the story. Perry gives Clark the job, while Lois Lane, in an admiral display of shrewd thinking from a woman in a 1950’s TV show, questions Clark about how he manages to leave after they did, arrive before, and know just where to find the man. Clark just laughs and says “maybe I’m a Superman!” As the credits roll.

               All in all, this was pretty good for the time it was made in. They did a good job of telling a long story in short period of time without it feeling too overly rushed.

[wazafam]

Amazon Prime's newest series, Invincible, is based on the comic series by Robert Kirkman of the same name and is a coming of age story that takes inspiration from various other pieces of comic book media to bring a unique and fresh take on the genre.

RELATED: Invincible: The 10 Best Characters

As a result, some of the characters in the series are similar to other popular comic book characters that already exist. Specifically, the primary superhero group of the universe, the Guardians of the Globe, seems to be an obvious parody of several characters from DC comics who are all members of the Justice League.

7 Red Rush: The Flash

Almost immediately, it's easy to realize that Red Rush is a lot like the Flash aka Barry Allen. Both characters are speedsters with the ability to move incredibly fast and both also share a red color scheme when it comes to their costumes, although the Flash's costume often features yellow accents and a lightning bolt logo while Red Rush's costume is just different shades of red with two R's for the symbol.

The first obvious difference is that Red Rush, whose real name is Josef, is actually Russian while Barry isn't. Another difference is when Barry runs, he leaves a trail of bright yellow lightning behind him, however, when Josef is using his superspeed all that is seen is a red blur.

6 Aquarus: Aquaman

Out of all the Justice League members, Aquaman is the one that has been parodied and made fun of the most so it makes sense that Aquarus is based on him. In addition to the fact that both of them are the Kings of the underwater city of Atlantis, both can breathe underwater and on land and both have hydrokinesis which allows them to bend and control water.

While Arthur is only capable of Hydrokinesis while using the trident of Poseidon, Aquarus can use that power without any necessary tools and can even directly generate and blast water from his hands. Besides the ways their powers differ, the biggest contrast between them is in their appearance since Aquarus is more fish than human, complete with fins and webbed feet, while Aquaman is much more human.

5 Green Ghost: Green Lantern

Despite the fact that Green Ghost is based on Green Lantern, she is the character that is least like her DC counterpart in the series due to the fact that some of her powers had been changed for the show. In the comics, Green Ghost has the ability to create energy constructs as the Green Lanterns do but since that power isn't used in the series, her primary ability is becoming intangible, allowing her to move herself and others through solid objects.

RELATED: Amazon's Invincible: The Most Likable Characters, Ranked

Another difference between the characters that is actually accurate to the comics is that instead of a ring that is fueled by willpower, Green Ghost gets her powers from a small green stone that she swallows.

4 Martian Man: Martian Manhunter

If their names didn't make it clear enough, Martian Man and Martian Manhunter are basically the same. Both characters originate from the planet Mars, however, while Martian Manhunter is the last of his kind in the DC universe, Martian Man's homeworld is confirmed to be full of other Martians when Mark visits the planet while overseeing a NASA mission. In addition to their names being similar, they also share a few powers, specifically, flight and the ability to shapeshift.

While Martian Manhunter often uses his shapeshifting ability to look like other people, Martian Man mostly uses his to stretch and contort his body, allowing him to wrap himself around his enemies. Those seem to be his only real powers they share considering Martian Manhunter has various other abilities like invisibility and can even rival Superman in strength.

3 War Woman: Wonder Woman

Another member whose name is similar to the DC character they're based on is War Woman, who is inspired by Wonder Woman. The two both have essentially the same powers, enhanced strength, enhanced durability, and flight. While they are different colors, the design and style of their armors are also pretty similar but their weapons of choice are not.

RELATED: 10 Most Powerful Invincible Characters, Ranked

While Wonder Woman usually uses a sword or her lasso of truth in combat, War Woman instead uses a mace which is a weapon typically used by another Justice League member, Hawkgirl. Another aspect of War Woman that could be a nod to Wonder Woman is the fact that her alter-ego, Holly, is a CEO of a business located in Boston during her free time which could be a reference to the unaired 2011 Wonder Woman pilot which showed Diana as a CEO as well.

2 Darkwing: Batman

The character that is closest to their DC counterpart is Darkwing, who is a parody of Batman. Much like how Batman has no superhuman abilities, Darkwing is the only member of the Guardians without any actual powers. Instead, he relies on his skills in hand-to-hand combat and on a series of gadgets he has, including a glider that he uses to get around since he isn't capable of flight.

It's even shown that, while the other members of the Guardians deal with more powerful villains while acting on their own, he focuses more on street-level criminals. Their costumes are also basically the same since they both feature dark colors, a cape, and a utility belt. The only real difference between them is that the person in the Darkwing costume is Black while Bruce Wayne is traditionally white in the comics.

1 The Immortal: Superman

While The Immortal isn't as close to Superman as most of the other characters are to their DC counterparts, the similarities are still there. Both characters are the leaders and the strongest members of their teams with similar powers, super speed, super strength, invulnerability, and, most importantly, flight. However, the differences in their powers are that The Immortal doesn't have Superman's freeze breath, laser vision, or his super senses.

Also, The Immortal has the power to not age at all while Superman just ages at a much slower rate. As far as costumes go, both characters also feature the first letter of their superhero identity in the design of their suits with the "S" being plastered across Superman's chest and the stem of the "I" appearing on the Immortal's chest while his head comes out of the section meant to represent the dot of the "I."

NEXT: Invincible: 10 Things They Changed From The Comics

Invincible: The Original Guardians Of The Globe & Their DC Counterparts from https://ift.tt/33ZOqMQ