#maybe they have to Deal With It in New York or Arkham | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

beardedmrbean · 9 months ago

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And if I was the head writer, I would say Yasuke made a secret deal with the Tokugawas saying he will keep the Europeans busy in the surrounding areas so they won’t have a chance to unite their Armandas to attack Japan

You can do a story line a what if Yasuke story if your smart enough. But these modern hacks can’t

Also another hilarious news on the same day red main menu drop

https://x.com/culturecrave/status/1777553964327936133?s=46

Jeez almost like using a saying most white Americans are scared shitless to say, criticizing a trope that most people can only think of one actor playing (who also played god in one movie sooo)

Also like um, realistically a black magical person from say New York that also lives nearby Chinatown would have different magical abilities than a voodoo doctor from Louisiana bayou

Erasing their worshippers, their records, and their names for eons. Until they were able to whisper their names again, and now they are spoken from a sick, yet creative prophet that made sure all knows their names

PRAISE CLUTHLU- whoops brainstorming sorry

Also funny enough I seen the regressive of black roles from PROGRESSIVES especially those that support pop feminism

Like the audience would love more black action leaders. But when you have Marxists in the writing rooms thinking all black Americans are mentally challenged and all people solely get their ideas of non whites from entertainment

Then your shit out of luck

Oh hey, my suggestion for dlc of Yasuke going to Goa, India is using the theories that he went there, and in lore it’s very not unusual for different branches of the assassin brotherhood to help each other as they can say the Indian assassins need help and Yasuke goes there And if I was the head writer, I would say Yasuke made a secret deal with the Tokugawas saying he will keep the Europeans busy in the surrounding areas so they won’t have a chance to unite their Armandas to attack Japan You can do a story line a what if Yasuke story if your smart enough. But these modern hacks can’t

Beauty of historical fiction, you can make stuff up, not documents saying he DIDN'T go to India....

You'd have to fast forward a little bit for the Tokegawa bit I'd think, they both worked for the same guy so maybe not, depends on how they write it I suppose.

Also, fiction.

This is beautiful, I'm gonna give it its own post too

Jeez almost like using a saying most white Americans are scared shitless to say, criticizing a trope that most people can only think of one actor playing (who also played god in one movie sooo) Also like um, realistically a black magical person from say New York that also lives nearby Chinatown would have different magical abilities than a voodoo doctor from Louisiana bayou

Folks were mentioning black Hogwarts, which wouldn't work you need it to be regional, which I think we've been over before.

NYC gets it's own and there's 5 houses so the people from the different boroughs can just maintain their general attitude about the others.

Or that Massachusetts fuckers that suspiciously goes to a town that not on the map named “Arkham” and try to bring back those beings that self proclaimed to be the original rulers of earth because the “Others” attacked them and imprisoned them Erasing their worshippers, their records, and their names for eons. Until they were able to whisper their names again, and now they are spoken from a sick, yet creative prophet that made sure all knows their names PRAISE CLUTHLU- whoops brainstorming sorry

Was gonna say that doesn't ring a bell too me, but I don't know much Lovecraft.

But hey got an idea go and run with it.

Also funny enough I seen the regressive of black roles from PROGRESSIVES especially those that support pop feminism Like the audience would love more black action leaders. But when you have Marxists in the writing rooms thinking all black Americans are mentally challenged and all people solely get their ideas of non whites from entertainment Then your shit out of luck

It's incredible how your perception of which groups are racist or bigoted or discriminatory and not can start to change if you put this lens in your spyglass and look around.

#zoomer huey anon

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motsimages · 3 years ago

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Thoughts on the drug use and perception of drug use in Gotham and in The Batman. It will be long.

TLDR: in the movie The Batman, drug use is portrayed in different people in different ways, including Batman. Is it used as a narrative device to reflect on the character?

Gotham is a destroyed city. I know they based it off Chicago, maybe New York, but given the state of it, I'd say is more Detroit in that there was industry and money, something happened, and there is no more. If it was Europe, it could be one of those mine/industrial towns in the UK or the North of Spain when there were miners and now there is nothing. It is not even interesting enough to gentrify, for some reason (probably the Arkham Asylum, not because crazy people=dangerous but because have you seen the place? No wonder you want to watch the world burn if you've been there long enough) villains seem to love it. Add to this the opioid epidemic in the 2000s and *chef's kiss*. (if Gotham was in Spain, it would have been the heroine crisis of the 80s-90s)

So in The Batman we have dropaine addicts. Drop seems to be a new kind of drug. The effect are not really explained, more shown, so they are unclear, maybe it is a mix of other drugs and "drop" is just the name, like it happens with crack or others?

It seems to be a global problem in Gotham. It is mentioned at the beginning that crime and addiction are rising issues that are not being addressed.

And in Gotham, like in real life, drug users are reduced to two kinds: junkies and the respectable ones. The respectable ones may be as addict (or more) as the junkies but they have money and access to drugs when necessary. They also have access to housing, food and life pleasures. Junkies only have occasional access to drugs.

In The Batman this is best seen in two scenes: when they go to the -6º and all the local important people are there getting high, partying with music and pretty girls, and when they go to the orphanage and there are 3 young boys in a dark room with bunk beds, who can barely even notice someone (Batman) is there.

In the disco, Selena comments on how she dislikes drop addicts. In the orphanage, it is Gordon's turn to comment with the same disgust. Each one of them deals with a different side of the same coin. Batman doesn't deal with any of them, hidden in his mansion, fighting from the shadows.

But Batman, who spends the whole movie in a personal and metaphorical travel between shadows and light, has a personal report with drugs. At the end of the movie, he gets a shot in his leg of what could be drop, to get up and fight to save Selena. Because of the instant high of whatever he took, he almost kills someone with his owns fists and he has to be stopped. Gordon looks at him worried and horrified.

This may be the first time we clearly see Batman in a movie or series using some substance to stay awake and fight. He may have taken amphetamines, adrenaline or any other. He may have taken drop. He may have awake for over 30 hours working to save people but also forced by the effect of the drug.

It could have been just a scene at the end, except at the beginning, he mentions that sometimes when he comes back after beating the shit out of petty criminals, he doesn't remember what happened. It has gotten worse over the years. So he may have been getting high for the past 2 years (or more) and it may be taking its toll on him. He needs to record, write and analyse everything so he doesn't forget.

He is a rich kid with terrible coping mechanisms. Where does he get his drug from? Who is his dealer? Does Alfred know (it is in his costume after all)? Does he perceive himself as a junkie too? Is he aware?

He thinks he is exceptional, but as the Riddler says at the end, there were other orphans too, the forgotten ones. And Batman sees them, in the orphanage. The rich men have all the resources, all the fun (he could be one of them, but he doesn't want to be, he chooses to be uninformed), but he is an orphan. Is he like the other orphans?

In other Batman movies the possibility that he is a villain or not so different from the villain is also explored, but are they using drugs in this movie to connect Batman with the average Gotham citizen? He could be a hero, he could be a criminal, but can he be a citizen? Can he be a junkie?

If this is explored in the next movie, it will be an interesting take on this particular hero and on superheroes in general.

#the batman 2022 #the batman #batman #drug mention #drug use mention

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harry-peter · 4 years ago

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Demonizing The Mentally Ill

So this silly little Spider-Man shipping blog has been going since 2012, and in all that time I’ve never really said much about myself. Until a week or so ago when that unpleasant, so far nonsensical twist involving Harry happened in the Spider-Man comics. Man, that opened the floodgates! There will apparently be a new comic out tomorrow which deals with the horrible situation and is written by the also horrible Nick Spencer. So... time to talk Harrys and Parksborns and why this blog exists in the first place, but more importantly time to talk the portrayal of mental illnesses in superhero comics.

Businessman #1: So you’re really going to do business with Osborn, Jay? Isn’t that a little risky?

Jay: Eh. I’ll just write a Goblin clause into the contract, or maybe I can get nut-job insurance - Then, it might even pay for him to turn into a blithering psychopath! [Laughter]

Peter: Hey, guys, take it easy. You’re at his party.

Jay: Sorry, sorry... [to the others] One of his college buddies. College most likely being code for “looney bin.”

Businessman #2: Like father, like son...

[Amazing Spider-Man Extra #1]

So the above is a moment of realism that popped up in an 2008 Spider-Man comic. (Don’t worry, Peter starts fighting those guys in the next panel.) I say realism because that is what a lot of people think about mental illness.

...and well, here we are jumping into the difficult thing already, there’s an extent to which superhero media also thinks that. You’ve probably heard it as the background noise to both older and newer Marvel and DC comics.

Comic books have long relied on mental disorders to drive their most memorable villains. Consider the Batman line, in which the Joker, Harley Quinn and other “criminally insane” rogues are residents of Gotham City’s forensic psychiatric hospital, Arkham Asylum. [New York Times]

It’s just sort of part of the mythology of superheroes at this point, you know? And I know strides have been taken to improve it in recent years which I’m very grateful about. But there is an extent to which when people say of superhero comics, “It’s just people in suits beating up the mentally ill,” you can sort of see where they’re coming from. One tiny moment in a superhero movie that’s always stuck out to me is in The Dark Knight, where this exchange takes place after Batman apprehends a criminal:

BATMAN: He's a paranoid schizophrenic, former patient at Arkham. The kind of mind the Joker attracts.

And I don’t mind The Dark Knight as a movie I guess, but considering what the Joker is (a mass murderer) lines like that strike me as so goddamn irresponsible.

(Speaking of Batman, here’s an interesting factoid: The Child Within, probably so far the most in-depth story about Harry’s mental illness and its hows and whys, started off as a Batman story. J.M DeMatteis talks about it in the 2004 book Comics Creators on Spider-Man. He ended up switching Batman and Two-Face for Peter and Harry and the results were, he says, “much more interesting.”)

Anyway, that brings us to another guy with schizophrenia...Harry.

Doctor: Perhaps if Harry hadn’t been so depressed when he took the drug, it wouldn’t have hit him so hard, but that can hardly matter now. You can see the result, total clinical pychosis. What a layman would call schizophrenia.

Peter: Terrific. While I’m off battling the Hulk in Montreal, my roommate drops acid and cracks up. No wonder Gwen wanted me home...

Even Peter here is not overly sympathetic about Harry’s drug use and diagnosis. Which I suppose just makes it hit home all the more about how extremely stigmatized those conditions are.

I guess this is where I come in. I was I guess about 18 when I read all this, generally clueless about most comic-book universes (the MCU didn’t even exist yet) and just about to be hit VERY hard by a mental illness I was aware of but didn’t know the name of or how godawful it was gonna get. This was OCD, as it turned out. It presented in some...interesting ways, and in the spirit of being open about mental health let’s take a look at them... In my mind, everything I did could potentially lead to the death of a loved one, no reason just feelings, so eventually I really did stop doing anything and sat on the bed all day. I pulled out my hair (this is a seperate thing that also has a name, trichotillomania) and then I just kept it in boxes and stuff because I was too afraid to throw it away. Actually I kept pretty much everything, I was afraid to get rid of it. At one point I actually did more or less stop eating, because the “voices”/intrusive thoughts in my head were telling me to. I thought there was a high chance some of the people around me were the devil or possessed by the devil, trying to get me to drop my rituals and kill my loved ones. God, there’s so many things, some of them I actually don’t even remember. I’m actually kinda surprised I didn’t get sectioned, in a way. Maybe it might even have worked out, I don’t know, I wonder about that sometimes.

I once spent a entire morning thinking my cat was a demon and not wanting to go near it, because it winked at me. (I used to use this story as an anecdote when meeting new people. It does not work.) The list goes on and on and on.

Well, you get the picture. There I was back in the late ‘00s with the sort of mind a supervillain attracts and -

- uh it worked? Just not in that way.

I probably said this in the other post I made about the current comics mess but man I was really, really lucky to encounter a character with a mental illness who wasn’t demonized just as I was going through it myself. That was the really staggering thing to me. Harry was clearly not well mentally, alienating and scaring people, he wasn’t a superhero, he wasn’t even physically attractive (ditto) and yet everyone liked him. Peter loved him, even. (There ya go, the secret origin of this blog.) Not only that, Peter made it clear on more than one occasion that Harry was ill, not evil. In between me being awestruck by all this I guess I thought, “This is a thing? People will still like you even if you’re mentally ill? They’ll fight for you?!” And that turned out to be correct.

So you can probably understand why I’m so repulsed by a comic book twist that literally demonizes Harry, i.e turns him into an evil demon. Because the Harry we know now, post-resurrection into the modern-day comic, is pretty much just a normal person in many regards. Yes his father is a supervillain and he still struggles sometimes but he’s just...a good dude. A good father, too, which is important in terms of showing the breaking of an abusive cycle. Right now we not only have Harry as a demon but also Norman as an apparently good person, which on a meta level just... feels really gross. That’s his abuser.

It’s not like this sort of thing hasn’t been done before, I suppose. There were plans to make Harry the villain behind the Clone Saga at one point, which is full-on baffling to me. It negates all the amazing work J. M. DeMatteis did with Harry, it negates his death scene, it negates everything. What the hell? And then there was The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which I hate about as much as you would reasonably expect a mentally ill person to hate an adaptation where a canonically mentally ill character murders someone without remorse.

(Another fun fact about me, as if you didn’t have enough of those already, is that - sigh - I actually do, like ASM’s NotHarry, stand a chance of inheriting an incredibly unpleasant disease. Only a slight chance, but godddd, Amazing Spider-Man 2 is just a trauma tour for me. I geniunely will never watch it again, I can’t.)

But generally Harry in his various forms has remained a good person who always chooses love over hate no matter what. And now, with the Kindred reveal and everything that’s come with it... I don’t know what to think. I certainly don’t trust or remotely like Nick Spencer, a man who apparently considers this reddit-y nonsense to be good writing. It feels very much within his wheelhouse to make a story where the abused, mentally ill man is ~the real~ abuser and his cruel, violent father is ~the real~ victim, and that’s what I fear the most about all this.

Is any of this stuff I’m talking about ableism? I don’t know. Other people are way more qualified to answer that question than me. I suppose if I was to turn my brain off (oh god please) I’d say it feels ableist? I remember coming out of ASM2 and I feel like the thought buried in the back of my brain was, who knows if it’s fair or sensible, “They’ll think we’re all like that.”

(We are not.)

Well, until tomorrow at least, that’s me about done. If you’re reading this and any of the mental health stuff sounds familiar, you’re absolutely free to message me for advice, I’ll do my best. I might not get to you for a few days because of the regular adult life stuff but I will eventually, I promise. (Gotta pay forward the “People will fight for you” thing.) I suppose I’ll probably always be in recovery from my own brain goblin but man, it gets so much easier when there are other people/characters, ya know? Oh and I can also guarantee, despite unpleasant twists of fiction such as this, that neither you nor my cat are actually a demon.

(Too long, didn’t read? “When I said Harry Osborn was a kindred spirit, that wasn’t what I fucking meant.”)

#harry osborn #spiderman #mental health #peter parker #representation talk

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justacomedy-archived · 4 years ago

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Three years- it’s been three years since he’s checked into Arkham Asylum. Years spent being abused behind closed doors, suffering though inhumane treatments and merely existing in a cruel cycle and he found himself paying his way out. He couldn’t take it anymore. And all it took was one shady therapist being paid under the table and the agreement that once he was free- he would have to leave Gotham and never return: a deal he gladly obliged to if it meant getting out of this horrible place. Everything was secretive- the Asylum leaving the impression to the entire city that the Joker remained locked away when in reality, he had taken the first bus out of the city where he found himself in New York City with a few dollars in his pocket and the clothes on his back. It was hard- the first couple of months were spent getting on his feet, restarting his adulthood by landing another job as a clown for hire: the only job that he knew he would qualify for and he’s seeing a therapist weekly. And although his mental health was still questionable- he was back on the medication he severely needed in the past even though he never felt like it worked. The healthcare he’s receiving here is better than Gotham’s and though he was still severely depressed, he was trying to make a life for himself. To see if maybe, just maybe New York City would offer him a better life than Gotham some how. And his new job was almost just like the old- his coworkers quickly finding out that he’s strange and he’s already falling into the same old pattern as he did for years, dealing with people who simply refused to understand him- who knows how long he’d put up with it for. He’d at least try. He’s been working all morning, standing outside of a strip of stores dancing along to the beat of music playing on an old shoddy radio set in front of toy store where he would try to entertain the children- making them balloon animals amongst other silly gestures that would attract them with their parents over and he would slip the parents an add with the special deals going on within the store to help draw people in to spend money just as the store owner hired him for. His eyes were drawn to a bright eyed little girl. A toddler with fiery red hair who practically bounced with joy at the sight of him. She reminds him of the woman he once loved, but the thoughts were swept away at the sight of the young girl tugging her parent’s hand in his direction, his eyes focused onto her with a bright, welcoming smile as his dancing slowed to a stop and he knelt down to greet her with grace.

He brought a gloved finger to his lips, making a silly face as if he were thinking before he let out a cute gasp, gesturing with a finger to wait as his other gloved hand slipped into the handkerchief pocket of his plaid suit and pulled a rainbow petaled daisy from the front pocket and offered it to the young girl. He reached over and squeezed the stamen of the fake flower, causing it to emit a light squeaking sound before he gave the girls head a gentle and playful pat before he lifted himself from the crouching position to back upright. His hands next reached into one of the lower pockets of the suit, pulling out a folded add to offer to the parents, emerald eyes locking onto the oh so familiar pair of dazzling emerald eyes that he’d grown to love once upon a time. The smile faltered into a look of disbelief and shock as he stood frozen, holding out the add as his jaw practically dropped at the sight of her- immediate recognition of her. Ivy. @pmlisly

#pmlisly #c :: poison ivy

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wonderlandleighleigh · 4 years ago

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TimKon or anything from the Tuna Melt-verse, which is fantastic, by the way.

Thank you!!! Here’s some unfinished Tuna Melt Fic. Maybe one day it’ll get done. It’s called “His Day in Court.” The Joker origin referenced is lifted from Batman: Streets of Gotham.

“Mister President.”

Bartlet looks up from his desk and grins, before getting to his feet slowly. “Judge Walters.”

As they shake hands, Jed marvels, not for the first time, at just how tall, and just how green Jennifer Walters is. She’s a beautiful woman.

She’s just…

Well, she’s She-Hulk.

Well, she used to be She-Hulk.

Now she’s a United States federal judge.

Like Mendoza, getting Jenn appointed as a federal judge had been a nightmare. She’s green, she’s huge.

She’s hardcore leftwing.

“Please, have a seat,” he offers, gesturing towards the couches and chairs.

Jenn nods, and does, settling into one of the chairs carefully, always hyper-aware of her own body and its impact on the world around her.

“I assume you know why I’ve asked you here,” he says, settling onto the couch next to her, clasping his hands in his lap.

“I have a pretty good idea,” Jenn smirks, leaning back a little. “The Joker case?”

Bartlet nods. “The Joker case. The prosecution is putting everything together, and I’ve been informed you’ve been chosen to preside.”

Jenn doesn’t say anything for a long moment, watching the president carefully before speaking up. “Permission to speak my mind?”

“Of course.”

“This whole trial is bullshit,” she says.

“It’s the law.”

“It’s bull. Look, I believe in our justice system when it works the way it’s supposed to, but jesus, this isn’t a case of innocent until proven guilty, this is a case of the defendant boasting in a public forum about the very fact that he is guilty. He’s killed thousands of people. He’s maimed and mentally and emotionally scarred more. Why put the survivors and the families of the dead through this? And how the hell are we supposed to choose a grand jury? An enormous percentage of people in this country, and just about everybody on the East Coast has been affected, in some way, shape or form by the Joker.”

“So you think we throw United States law out the window and just kill him?” Jed asks, lifting his eyebrows. “You don’t think that might look bad to the rest of the country? That they’ll start pointing fingers at whoever the hell, and asking why those people haven’t been offed too?”

“I think the Joker is different,” Jenn says. “I think he’s this country’s modern day boogieman, and I don’t think he deserves a traditional trial. And anyways, it’s not out of the question that the Joker could die...other ways.”

“Jennifer.”

“Don’t you have the Red Hood on speed dial?” she asks, lifting an eyebrow. “Didn’t I hear that somewhere?”

“Like that kid hasn’t been through enough,” Jed grumbles. “The last time somebody tried to take out the Joker because they thought it was the right thing, it ended in an office full of dead FBI agents and an attack on this White House. We do this the right way.”

“The right way would have been lethal injection at Arkham twenty years ago,” she tells him. “Everything beyond that is just us cleaning up decades-old messes.”

“Jennifer, are you saying we should find a different judge to preside over this case?” Jed asks, looking at her seriously. “Because what you’re telling me is that you cannot possibly be fair-”

“I’m telling you there is no fair,” she interrupts him. “Mister President, the Joker has eschewed legal council. He’s defending himself, which means he will run around my courtroom like the damn lunatic he is before he gets bored and attempts to massacre everyone in it.”

Bartlet closes his eyes and takes a breath before opening them again. “Jenn, all we can do is prepare for the worst. But we don’t have any other choice.”

*****

“It starts tomorrow, you know.”

“Hm?”

“The Joker trial,” Danny clarifies.

Maggie nods as she steps past him and back into her cube. “And you’re pissed.”

“A little.”

“Because you’re not the one writing about it,” Maggie goes on. “Because there’s no way to be impartial when you thought he was gonna kill you.”

“There’s not an impartial journalist in the world when it comes to this maniac,” Danny points out.

Maggie sits and looks up at him. “You can still go to the trial you know. Take a few days off. Head up to New York. You could even write an independent piece and farm it out to the Atlantic or whatever.”

Danny shakes his head. “Not worth feeling that angry. How are you doing with all of this?”

“I...have to be fine,” she says, blowing out a breath. “So I’m fine.”

“What are you working on? Anything good?”

“Well…”

He frowns, tilting his head. “What?”

“I...it’s just...how does somebody like the Joker, become the Joker?” Maggie asks. “What drives a person so far over off the deep end that they become...that?”

“Does it matter?”

“Doesn’t it?”

“So you’re looking into who the Joker really is,” Danny surmises.

“I have some leads,” she admits. “The problem is that he’s killed so many people, it’s hard to figure out what was personal and what was just...his version of a good time.”

“But you’ve got a hunch.”

Maggie nods, looking troubled. “I have a hunch.”

“Well?”

She blows out a breath. “About five years ago, Joker cornered an aging Mob Boss named Guzzo.”

“That guy was no joke,” Danny comments, pulling up a chair and taking a seat. “My mentor did a write-up about him back in the day. The stuff he did was almost as bad as the Joker. This was a few years ago, right?”

“Right. So...Joker corners him on amusement mile and sics a pack of hungry hyenas on the guy,” Maggie says. “All that’s left are a few teeth, which is how they identified him. What’s confusing is that if you look at the interviews done of the for-hire goons back then, Joker and Guzzo didn’t know each other. And if you look at the way the city was split up before Guzzo died, Joker’s usual territory was as far away from Guzzo’s as he could get.”

“Like he might have been avoiding the guy.”

“Maybe…”

“You think there’s a connection?” Danny asks. “Joker kills Guzzo for revenge?”

“I think Guzzo hurt a lot of people over multiple decades,” Maggie tells him. “What if one of the people he hurt was Joker, before he was Joker?”

“So you think Joker’s got a sob story.”

“I think he was once something resembling a person,” Maggie corrects him. “And if you wanna take down a monster, you show the world its weak spots.”

*****

“Maybe you should come home for a few days.”

Jason closes his eyes as he listens to his older brother over the phone.

“All anybody is gonna be talking about down there is the trial,” Dick goes on. “Or hey! We could take a roadtrip! Load up the car with snacks and sodas and get outta town for a while.”

“Dick.”

“I don’t want you to be alone,” Dick admits.

“I’m not.”

“Fine. I don’t want you to be so far away from me that I can’t be there for you,” Dick adds. “And neither does Bruce.”

“Is he testifying?” Jason asks.

“Yeah,” Dicik confirms. “He’s showing up in full bat-gear and he’s testifying.”

“That’s nuts,” Jason points out. “This whole -”

“I know.”

“Fucking - why can’t I just kill him?”

“Because it won’t help you,” Dick says sadly. “Little Wing, just because the monster is gone, doesn’t mean the nightmare never happened.”

Jason goes quiet. “I wanna go to the trial.”

“Jay-”

“I wanna go. At least to the first one.”

Dick sighs sadly. “The last thing I want is for this to be the thing that breaks you. You’ve been doing so well...the job, and the girlfriend...you looked so happy at that wedding we all went to. What if going to that trial just sets you back.”

“What if he hurts somebody?” Jason asks. “What if he takes down an entire courthouse full of people?”

“Then it won’t be your fault,” Dick says gently.

“One of us should be there every day of that trial,” Jason argues.

“Maybe. But it shouldn’t be you.”

“The hell it shouldn’t!”

“Jay,” Dick says firmly, but worriedly. “Look, with what he did to Babs...I have a good excuse to be at the trial every day. I’ll go. I promise. But you need to stay home.”

“You don’t get to-”

“Jay.”

Jason goes silent, and Dick can hear deep, heavy breaths.

“I’ll be there every day,” he says. “I promise you, Little Wing. I’ll go every day. Whatever happens, I’ll be there to help stop it.”

*****

“You’ve reached the office of Jason Todd, Wayne Technologies Liaison to the White House. I will be out of the office until the end of the month. You can reach my fill-in, Luke Fox at the following number…”

*****

“He took the entire month off?” Leo asks, staring at Luke Fox, utterly bewildered.

“He did,” Luke nods.

“To do what?” Leo snaps.

“Not go crazy,” Luke says simply. “This Joker thing has him fifty shades of fucked up, Leo.”

“The DoD hate you more than they hate him,” Leo points out, relaxing a little.

Luke chuckles and shrugs. “I know it freaks those old farts out to have to deal with a black man who is younger, smarter and more attractive. That’s what makes it fun for me.”

Leo sighs but grins wryly. “It’s gonna be a helluva month.”

“Oh it definitely is,” Luke smirks back. “You want lunch? My treat?”

"It’s hard to say no to that.”

#The Tuna Melt-Verse #fic #au #Jason Todd #Maggie Rogers #OFC #West Wing Crossover #Anonymous

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ranger-report · 4 years ago

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OPINION: Stop Making Batman Games

With the weekend came the DC FanDome event, in which Warner Brothers and DC Comics held an online event specifically for their fans in order to generate hype about certain franchises and media they produce. While most of what was shown received positive responses -- the first trailer for The Batman is the clear highlight -- there’s been a little bit of apprehension surrounding two of the video games receiving mega hype treatment: Gotham Knights, and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. Gotham Knights opens up by telling us Batman has died, and he’s left a message for his former sidekicks: protect Gotham City at all costs. Meanwhile, the Suicide Squad is seen in a battered Metropolis, tasked with assassinating what looks like Superman Turned Evil as an alien invasion rages around them. Both trailers offer massive, open-world co-op action featuring some of DC Comic’s finest B-grade heroes. Sure, Harley Quinn is on the rise and is arguably an A-list hitter now, but when it comes to bankable characters, Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, Deadshot, King Shark, Captain Boomerang, they’re not big stringers. But they do have something in common:

Batman.

While Gotham Knights is clearly the more obvious game between the two to draw from the Dark Knight’s influence, Suicide Squad has heavily featured Batman as a character and influence over recent years. Harley Quinn is a Batman character, the Caped Crusader appeared in the Suicide Squad film played by Ben Affleck, and developer Rocksteady -- who is making the SS game -- reached infamy for developing the Arkham Trilogy. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has even been confirmed to be set in the Arkham universe (surprisingly, Gotham Knights is not, despite the premise based on a dead Batman, something which happened at the end of Arkham Knight). Kill the Justice League even goes one step further by setting the game in Metropolis, battling Batman’s usual heroic foil. This looks to be for all intents and purposes like a treasure trove for dedicated DC gamers, but it’s my opinion that they simply look -- and feel -- incredibly tired.

Once upon a time, Rocksteady was rumored to be developing an open-world Superman game. We haven’t gotten one of those since 2006 with Superman Returns, whose XBOX version was regarded with decent praise. But instead they’ve turned their sights to the Suicide Squad. Granted, Warner Brothers is doing their best to make the Squad A Thing, considering the first film and now the upcoming I’m-Not-A-Sequel-I’m-A-Reboot-But-Also-A-Sequel The Suicide Squad which is being directed by James Gunn, who made the Guardians of the Galaxy A Thing. Desperation plays poorly in hindsight, which all of WB’s mandated edits to both Batman v Superman and Justice League have wrought. Hell, even the first Suicide Squad film had its guts wrangled about, prompting many to request an “Ayer Cut” from director David Ayer the same way they’ve been hounding for the Justice League Snyder Cut (which looks amazing, btw). But regardless of intent, what’s clear is that WB Games isn’t ready to let go of the Batman Influence, and instead of taking risks like making a goddamn Superman game, they’re going with what feels like the next evolution in Batman gaming: Sidekicks and Spinoffs.

I hear you, I hear you. Maybe I’m a little bitter. Maybe. But since 1986 there have be 41 Batman-starring video games, not counting those released in which Bats had either a supporting role or a cameo. Since 1979, Superman has starred in a mere 17. Batman also features heavily in the recent Injustice fighting games from Netherrealm (creators of Mortal Kombat) which features, strangely enough, an evil Superman. So now we have two new WB Games which either rely on Batman’s influence or feature an evil Superman which needs to be stopped.

Guys. Come on. Just. Just fucking stop.

Where’s the open world Superman game which promises the experience of playing the Man of Steel, protecting the city -- nay, the world -- from an incoming alien invasion. One which could not only spell the destruction of the human race, but also cause significant damage to the Man of Steel himself. Juggling protecting the Earth and keeping himself alive, Superman is tasked with handling this invasion, featuring a number of notable cosmic villains in DC Comics. The player has to manage a health bar for Metropolis, ensuring the city receives as little damage as possible, or aids in rescue work around the city helping citizens and saving lives. Between this, Superman handles incoming warships and invaders, who can zap him with powerful beams. Yes, he can take a lot of damage, but they’re dealing a lot as well. Superman will not go down easily. But being Superman has never been about protecting himself; it’s about protecting others.

Think about it! Skip the RPG leveling system where you upgrade powers and abilities! You’re already Superman, you already have the powers! Now you just need to use them, balance them, combine them to weaken enemies or strengthen the city. The opening chunk of the game introduces you to Metropolis and how it works. Imagine flying through the city at high speed, listening, searching, helping, just being the Big Blue Boy Scout, and then without warning there it is: lights in the sky. You fly up out of the atmosphere to tackle the problem, but the problem is so big, it’s everywhere. Now the game opens up: it’s not just Metropolis, but the whole world at stake. Zoom between major cities as hubs, with large maps for each one. Metropolis is the stand in for New York, but also London, Moscow, Egypt. Imagine zooming over the Great Pyramids battling alien invaders as the Man of Steel defending not just America, but the entire fucking world from the greatest threat ever since to humanity. Throw in a few Justice League cameos! It writes itself!

But we get two new Batman-related games instead.

Fucking hooray.

#wb games #dc comics #batman #gotham knights #suicide squad #kill the justice league #rocksteady #wb games montreal #dc fandome #arkham asylum #video games #opinion #ck burch #ruby ranger #ranger report

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newagegs · 4 years ago

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𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒔𝒉 & 𝒅𝒖𝒔𝒕...

welcome to the new age! a discord roleplay server, set in a post-endgame universe, featuring characters from the marvel universe, with plenty of crossovers into other universes thrown in for good measure!

founded in march 2020 & run by alex ( of corignem/edgebled/minormend ), the new age explores many different arcs inspired by canon resources of the multiple fandoms included.

click through our extensive google doc for a rough outline of the general universe timeline.

buuuttt, read on for a here’s what you missed on glee! recap ;D

welcome to the new age, and welcome to september of 2025-- exactly one year after the return snap and the battle for earth. what did this month see? well, for starters, a super fun NASA break in. some symbiotic chaos, an old enemy back from the dead and a super fun kidnapping! what a fun last few days of the month!

and where do we go from there? get ready for a prison break out, some more space and symbiotic chaos and oh what’s this? tony stark dies! again! but it’s okay, it was only for a few minutes. a minor heart attack is nothing in the scheme of things. but the madness didn’t end there. following tony stark retiring from the avengers ( after a rather icky falling out with natasha romanoff ), we saw the team take on HYDRA for multiple missions, teamed up with some titan powers to pack a harder punch.

but oh shit, remember that fall out between natasha and tony? well! turns out tony’s suspicions of the spy were in fact, founded. coz guess what? it wasn’t the real natasha! nope, say hello to a HYDRA spy with a photostatic veil. fun times!

now, onto november! and why not kick it off with some torture by the fury and some fun HYDRA kidnappings?! mix a little oh no may parker died and mutant fuckery for good measure, and we’ve got the start of a super fun month.

from fights with harry osborn, to the murder of happy hogan, it was a wild time. and look! insert a jason todd death and resurrection by the lazarus pits for good measure and we’re still not even close to being done. sprinkle in a few more missions and explosions, an arkham breakout and more deaths later, it’s all looking pretty tragic.

but light comes, on the FIRST OF DECEMBER 2025, with hanji zoe finally returning to earth with a CURE FOR TITAN SHIFTERS.

and eeeyy, time to celebrate, it’s the murder of the joker in a fun team up of jason todd/the arkham knight, harley quinn and poison ivy. but it’s not all fun and games, and the month leading up to christmas was full of more twists and turns than the final season of game of thrones.

insert a fucking dragon, a car crash, some zombies from space and the start of secrets being spilled from the illusive ‘augur’ and we’re heading into a new year of fun.

JAN 2026 saw a mission to capture the fury, titan attacks in NYC, bounty hunters from space & a kaiju breach site opening. we saw an attack on the new york SI building that destroyed it entirely, the death of sasha braus and another hydra mission. the month wrapped up with a mission to face nick necro and return all of those kidnapped, jason todd leaving to begin training with all caste, and the identity of augur being revealed to a few people.

FEBRUARY saw jason vesper being confirmed as the illusive augur and inevitably, his death in confinement. but jason wasn’t the only death this month: levi ackerman died too, sacrificing himself, before being brought back to life in a deal with handsome jack. and here, is where things get spicy again because... it’s anteverse time. newt geiszler & blythe hart, under the influence of the precursors open a new temporary breach site, letting in kaiju and, unknowingly, forces from another universe.

march saw A LOT of chaos. different missions, different attacks from multiple sources.

april was when things really got fun though. those visitors from another universe? say hello to the judges, they’ve come to inflict their will upon gotham city and pass judgement. this month saw increasing attacks on the city, rising death tolls city wide before finally...

in may, TEAM MAGIC came together alongside the batfam and the avengers in order to come up with a solution with judge dredd. and finally, they won. but at great cost. a perfectly timed attack on the anteverse meant two birds, ones stone. but before they could fix things, gotham was placed under martial law, declared a no-go zone and now?

IT’S NO MAN’S LAND.

which brings us nicely up to present day. gotham city is a mess, overrun, barely holding on but maybe some old friends and new faces will be able to help get things back on track...

or knowing our band of idiots, things are only going to get more chaotic.

so, why don’t you come and join the fun? we have so much planned, and would love your input! come and dive head first into the chaos of this world of ours.

#im cackling this is sUCH A TERRIBLE RECAP BUT LISTEN IT CAPTURES THE ~VIBE~#recap #*

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gokinjeespot · 5 years ago

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off the rack #1301

Monday, February 17, 2020

Happy Family Day. I'm grateful for my extended family of fellow comic book aficionados. Sharing the love of our hobby keeps me young and brightens my life. I miss seeing many of you but you are in my thoughts.

Catwoman #20 - Joelle Jones (writer) Fernando Blanco (art) FCO Plascencia (colours) Saida Temofonte (letters). Mrs. Creel poisons her party guests showing us what a nasty woman she is. Catwoman fights through a bunch of zombies to get some Lazarus Water to save a friend. Selina's final obstacle will be Mrs. Creel. I can't wait for this story to end. It's been kind of blasé.

Thor #3 - Donny Cates (writer) Nic Klein (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). Lots of KRAKKABOOMS this issue as Thor fights Beta Ray Bill. Horseface doesn't have a chance with All-Father Thor boosted with Galactus given power cosmic. Don't build a funeral pyre for Bill yet. Someone comes to his rescue and that person is a surprise.

The Dollhouse Family #4 - M. R. Carey (writer) Peter Gross (layouts) Vince Locke (finishes) Cris Peter (colours) Todd Klein (letters). Alice and her daughter recover from the horrible explosion from last issue but their survival cost them an arm and a leg. When Alice gets back to the dollhouse, she finds there's a new tenant and she's not nice at all. This horror title isn't horrible. You should come visit.

Hawkeye: Freefall #3 - Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Otto Schmidt (art) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). This issue explains how Clint can be in two places at one time. It's dumb but I don't mind because this story is kind of dumb. I like it for the guest stars. The Black Widow shows up and the hero on the last page is a favourite of mine. If the new Ant-Man mini had been this much fun I'd still be reading it.

The Batman's Grave #5 - Warren Ellis (writer) Bryan Hitch (pencils) Kevin Nowlan & Bryan Hitch (inks) Alex Sinclair (colours) Richard Starkings (letters). I don't know if it's just me, but I find that I lose interest in a Warren Ellis story somewhere and this issue might be it. I've forgotten what the mystery is that put Batman in detective mode even though he's following a lead in Arkham Asylum this issue. I like seeing Batman kick bad guy butt as much as the next fan, but 8 pages of it here seems to be padding the story. Methinks this 12-issue story could've been told in 6.

Savage Avengers #10 - Gerry Duggan (writer) Patch Zircher (art) Java Tartaglia (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). Conan and the two Doctors, Doom and Strange, battle Kulan Gath. Guess who wins? This issue made me laugh out loud.

Jessica Jones: Blind Spot #3 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Mattia De Iulis (art) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Now this is a much more enjoyable murder mystery than Batman's Grave. I know exactly what's happening because Kelly Thompson recaps as the investigation continues. There's even an extended 5-page fight scene where Jessica and Elsa Bloodstone fight creatures from the Black Lagoon but it isn't boring because they're bantering about the case all the while. The rest of this 6-issue mini can't come out fast enough for me.

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #6 - Jody Houser (writer) Adriana Melo (pencils) Mark Morales (inks) Hi-Fi (colours) Gabriela Downie (letters). Harley and Ivy's adventure comes to an end with a battle between good and evil Ivy. I liked how they left the fate of Poison Ivy a mystery. Who knows how she'll act the next time she sees Harley?

X-Force #7 - Benjamin Percy (writer) Oscar Bazaldua (art) Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This issue features Domino who was rescued from the bad guys recently. The bad guys managed to steal her good luck powers and have transferred them to someone else. This newly empowered individual is an assassin going around killing mutant supporters. Neena's not too happy about that. I wasn't too surprised by the reveal of the assassin's identity on the last page but I'm sure some new fans will be.

X-Men #6 - Jonathan Hickman (writer) Matteo Buffagni (art) Sunny Gho (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). This issue features Mystique. She's my favourite shape-shifter. She's sent on a mission to infiltrate the space station designed to fight against the mutants. I liked how the flashbacks merged with this story to culminate at the ominous last page.

The Immortal Hulk #31 - Al Ewing (writer) Joe Bennett (main story pencils) Ruy Jose, Belardino Brabo & Cam Smith (main story inks) Paul Mounts (main story colours) Javier Rodriguez (McGowan sequence pencils & colours) Alvaro Lopez (McGowan sequence inks) VC's Cory Petit (letters). We get into the heads of Scientist McGowan and the Hulk this issue. Matters of the mind shouldn't surprise fans what with Xemnu being in this story.

The Amazing Spider-Man #39 - Nick Spencer (writer) Iban Coello (art) Brian Reber (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This issue reminded me of the Odd Couple, Oscar and Felix. Spider-Man agrees to be a guest on Jonah's podcast and sparks fly as the two antagonists butt heads. It's all talk radio until the super villain crashes the party. Next issue should be less talk and more action.

Superman: Heroes #1 - Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction & Greg Rucka (writers) Kevin Maguire, Mike Perkins, Steve Lieber, Mike Norton & Scott Godlewski (art) Paul Mounts, Gabe Eltaeb, Andy Troy & Nathan Fairbairn (colours) Troy Peteri, Clayton Cowles & Simon Bowland (letters). This $5.99 US one-shot is tied-in quite closely with what's been going on in Action Comics & Superman. It looks at the consequences of Superman revealing his secret identity and it's well worth reading.

Doctor Strange #3 - Mark Waid (writer) Kev Walker (art) Java Tartaglia (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This is a great one issue story if you want to check this new run out. Doctor Strange fights an artistic demon to save lives.

Gwen Stacy #1 - Christos Gage (writer) Todd Nauck (art) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I liked this better than The Amazing Mary Jane maybe because it deals with a younger high school aged Gwen. This story takes place before Gwen and Peter become friends and lovers and involves her father Captain Stacy and his investigation of New York's mob. There are a trio of bad guys that you'll recognise but the big deal super villains don't show up until the last page. If they don't get you to pick up the next issue, nothing will.

Batman: Pennyworth R.I.P. #1 - James Tynion IV & Peter J. Tomasi (writers) Eddy Barrows & Eber Ferreira, Chris Burnham, Marcio Takara, Diogenes Neves, David Lafuente and Sumit Kumar (art) Adriano Lucas, Rex Lokus & Nathan Fairbairn (colours) Travis Lanham & Thomas Napolitano (letters). This one-shot tribute to Alfred shows us what a dysfunctional family Bruce has created. I would have preferred a more touching send off to this beloved character like the one Brian Michael Bendis wrote for Ultimate Spider-Man/Peter Parker. Damian, Tim, Jason and Barbara reminisce about the butler and then Ric Grayson chimes in with a story about Nightwing. Who the heck is Ric Grayson? I thought Alfred deserved better than this.

Nebula #1 - Vita Ayala (writer) Claire Roe (art) Mike Spicer (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). I'm ambivalent when it comes to this cyborg killer but I wanted to see if that might change by reading this 5-issue mini. She finds a scientist who has built a device that can predict the future and has him implant it so it's integrated into her cybernetic system. The untested tech winds up screwing with her head. I didn't change my opinion of Nebula with this first issue and I can see where the rest of the story is going so I'll leave the rest on the racks.

Superman #20 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Ivan Reis, Joe Prado & Oclair Albert (art) Alex Sinclair & Jeremiah Skipper (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). There's action: Superman dukes it out with Mongul. There's drama: The Daily Star is trying to discredit Clark, Lois and the Daily Planet. And there's a surprise appearance of an old friend. There's everything a good comic book needs to grab my attention and want to keep reading.

Marvels X #2 - Alex Ross & Jim Krueger (writers) Well-Bee (art) VC's Cory Petit (letters). I was fooled by the truck driver who picked up the kid because of the red beard, sunglasses and No Fear baseball cap. I thought it was Matt Murdock in disguise but I was surprised by who it actually was. Daredevil does turn up later in this issue as he and Spider-Man help to keep David safe. The kid's important because he could help find a cure for what's infecting humanity.

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eddycurrents · 6 years ago

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For the week of 27 May 2019

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #10 somehow gets even more disturbing as we’re shown some of McGregor’s past as he was abused and set up as a suicide. The horror that Garth Ennis, Goran Sudžuka, Ive Svorcina, and Rob Steen keep exploring in this series keeps getting more personal and seemingly has no limit to its depth.

| Published by AfterShock

Amazing Spider-Man #22 concludes (mostly) the “Hunted” arc as Kraven continues to try to convince Spider-Man that he’s a killer and to finally put Kraven out of his misery. It’s incredibly messed up logic, but Nick Spencer, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado, Erick Arciniega, and Joe Caramagna make it interesting. You could consider this end anti-climactic, especially after how long this has been, but I get the feeling we’ll be dealing with the ramifications for a while to come.

| Published by Marvel

Amber Blake #3 takes an interesting turn as an undercover operation into a modelling agency reveals that Amber’s childhood friend Amanda is still alive. The level of intrigue and twists in this story just keeps escalating, matching the density of the layouts and art from Butch Guice, Mike Perkins, and Dan Brown.

| Published by IDW

Angel #1 is incredible. Possibly even better than the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and that has set a ridiculously high bar. Bryan Edward Hill, Gleb Melnikov, Gabriel Cassata, and Ed Dukeshire embrace the darker, moodier feel of Angel consistent with the different atmosphere that was present in the television series, while diving deep into building up his dark past and conflicted future. There’s a lot that is new to this interpretation, which just makes it more intriguing. And the art from Melnikov and Cassata is gorgeous.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Ascender #2 advances the vamps’ plan to eradicate the remaining technology in the universe, as Andy is reunited with Bandit, and the vamps come to threaten him and his family. This remains an interesting new take on the Descender world from Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen, and Steve Wands as we see more of what’s happened since the end of that series.

| Published by Image

Batman: Last Knight on Earth #1 is an interesting debut from Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano. On its surface, it’s an “Old Man Bruce” story, as a previously comatose Bruce awakens in a dark and strange future. But this existence is weird and unreliable. Especially as Bruce awakens in a fiction at first, being told that he’s in Arkham and that all of his villains and time as Batman were fever dreams cooked up by a fractured mind. This may well be the best art ever from Capullo, Glapion, and Plascencia.

| Published by DC Comics / Black Label

Black Science #40 shows that the story still has some surprises in store as it rockets towards the end. Also some ridiculous jokes. Matteo Scalera and Moreno Dinisio continue to inventive as hell with the art.

| Published by Image / Giant Generator

Coda #12 is the explosive, brilliant conclusion to what has been on the best series of this year and last. Si Spurrier, Matías Bergara, Michael Doig, and Jim Campbell have delivered some stunning flights of imagination, tapping into some highly inventive nihilistic fantasy, presenting the final battle battle this issue, and, man, does it stick the landing. Phenomenal storytelling all around.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Daredevil #6 begins “No Devils, Only God” in a New York City without Daredevil. Lalit Kumar Sharma, Jay Leisten, and Java Tartaglia come on for art duties for this arc and it’s an interesting shift. Sharma’s style reminds me a bit of Klaus Janson’s, but without the heavy inks and shadows.

| Published by Marvel

Detective Comics Annual #2 heads into Year Two territory as we get a new Reaper from Peter J. Tomasi, Travis Moore, Max Raynor, Tamra Bonvillain, Nick Filardi, and Rob Leigh. This is a nice use of the annual format, giving us a satisfying single issue story setting up a possible future arc.

| Published by DC Comics

The Forgotten Queen #4 brings an end to this excellent series exploring the history of Vexana, War-Monger, from Tini Howard, Amilcar Pinna, Ulises Arreola, and Jeff Powell. Very interesting depth added to the character and interesting hints as to what more might be coming, hopefully.

| Published by Valiant

Hellboy vs. Lobster Johnson: Ring of Death elaborates further on Hellboy’s time in Mexico making wrestling movies in a pair of tales from Mike Mignola, Chris Roberson, Mike Norton, Paul Grist, Dave Stewart, Bill Crabtree, and Clem Robins. Seeing a presentation of the movie Hellboy starred in is a real treat.

| Published by Dark Horse

Immortal Hulk #18 leans hard into the body horror aspect of the series, debuting both Betty’s full form as this new Harpy and in the Abomination. Joe Bennett, Ruy José, and Paul Mounts just nail this perfectly.

| Published by Marvel

Killer Groove #1 is a great first issue from Ollie Masters, Eoin Marron, Jordie Bellaire, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. It’s a taut crime drama mixing a never-was musician with the potential of life as a hitman, as he lucks into a kill during a chance encounter. Great art from Marron and Bellaire.

| Published by AfterShock

The Magnificent Ms. Marvel #3 advances the alien plot, sending Kamala and her parents off to Saffa to supposedly fulfill the role of their Destined One, saving the planet again. Saladin Ahmed, Minkyu Jung, Juan Vlasco, Ian Herring, and Joe Caramagna are doing some interesting world-building here, and ensuring that nothing is quite what it seems.

| Published by Marvel

Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #5 is the beautiful conclusion to what has been a brilliant series from Kieron Gillen, Caspar Wijngaard, Mary Safro, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. It’s been a sequel, satire, criticism, and repudiation of Watchmen, but it’s also been an interesting mediation on “being better” while coming to terms with the nature of reality and learning to deal with the human element.

| Published by Dynamite

Queen of Bad Dreams #2 gets more into the grit of IJ Wei’s investigation into the escaped figment, delivering some great police procedural stuff. The artwork from Jordi Pérez and Dearbhla Kelly is wonderful. Reminding me a lot of some of the work from John Watkiss, particularly during a very impressive action sequence.

| Published by Vault

She Said Destroy #1 is an intriguing science fantasy debut from Joe Corallo, Liana Kangas, Rebecca Nalty, and Melanie Ujimori. It taps into Celtic mythology, presenting a war between Brigid and the Morrigan, but also appears to be telling a coming of age story with some members of the Morrigan’s flock as they try to combat Brigid’s oppression.

| Published by Vault

Star Wars #108 is essentially another one-shot in the 80th anniversary of Marvel celebration, with Matthew Rosenberg and a murderers’ row of new and old Star Wars artists delivering a tale set in the old Marvel continuity. While you’ll get more out of it if you’re familiar with the original series, with familiar faces like Valance Hunter, Domina Tagge, and Jaxxon, but it still works well on its own without having any foreknowledge of previous events.

| Published by Marvel

Stranger Things: Six #1 begins another prequel mini-series, this time introducing us to “Six” and looking into the experiments going on at the Hawkins Labs, from Jody Houser, Edgar Salazar, Keith Champagne, Marissa Louise, and Nate Piekos. I quite liked the first one that served as a view into the terror that Will went through during season one, but this one looks like it’ll be breaking some new ground. Very interested to see more of what happened earlier.

| Published by Dark Horse

Superman: Leviathan Rising Special #1 is a tease for Event Leviathan, the next turn in the Superman series, the forthcoming Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen minis, and the upcoming Supergirl arc once she returns to Earth, but it also manages to tell a fairly entertaining story in its own right as Talia al Ghul kidnaps Clark Kent.

| Published by DC Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #94 continues “City at War” as everything gets nastier and dirtier, and we still haven’t had a full-on incendiary spark yet to ignite even larger warfare. Dave Wachter and Ronda Pattison deliver some incredible artwork. Splinter is very chilling in this one.

| Published by IDW

Thor #13 will make you care about Cul Borson. At least, a little bit. Maybe. Jason Aaron, Mike del Mundo, Marco D’Alfonso, and Joe Sabino deliver on another single issue story broadening the bits and pieces of the War of the Realms.

| Published by Marvel

Transformers #6 takes a break from the ongoing narrative and gives us a look into the past friendship between Megatron and Orion Pax, from Brian Ruckley, Beth McGuire-Smith, and Tom B. Long. There are some interesting parallels between Megatron’s observations and the drifting apart of these two old friends.

| Published by IDW

Wolverine: The Long Night #5 concludes this adaptation of the podcast of the same name from Benjamin Percy, Marcio Takara, Matt Milla, and Joe Caramagna. This has been a mature, psychological thriller amidst all of the violence and darkness, with this final chapter delivering more twists even as it brings the answers.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Age of X-Man: X-Tremists #4, Bad Luck Chuck #3, Black Panther #12, Blossoms 666 #4, Catwoman Annual #1, Dark Red #3, Dead Kings #5, Delver #4, Dick Tracy Forever #2, Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #8, Dog Days of Summer #1, Fantastic Four #10, Fight Club 3 #5, Four Sisters 2: Hortense, Grand Abyss Hotel, KINO #16, Life on the Moon, Lumberjanes: Somewhere Green #1, Major X #4, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #39, Princeless - Book 8: Princesses #3, Punk Mambo #2, Punks Not Dead: London Calling #4, Rick & Morty #50, Spawn #297, Star Trek: Year Five #2, Star Wars: Vader - Dark Visions #4, Superior Spider-Man #6, TMNT: Urban Legends #13, Thanos #2, Wailing Blade #1, War of the Realms: Giant-Man #2, War of the Realms: Spider-Man & The League of Realms #2, War of the Realms: War Scrolls #2, Wasted Space #10, X-23 #12, X-Men: Grand Design - X-Tinction #1

Recommended Collections: Death Orb - Volume 1, Dept. H Omnibus - Volume 1, The Goon: Bunch of Old Crap, Judge Dredd: Toxic, Punisher - Volume 2: War in Bagalia, Rick & Morty Presents - Volume 1, X-Force - Volume 1: Sins of the Past

For the week of 20 May 2019

Quick Bits:

Action Comics #1011 is the last stop before Event Leviathan starts in earnest and it raises more questions as to what’s going on. Brian Michael Bendis, Steve Epting, Brad Anderson, and Josh Reed have done a great job elevating tension through this lead-up and moving the pieces around the board.

| Published by DC Comics

Assassin Nation #3 is another brutal issue from Kyle Starks, Erica Henderson, and Deron Bennett. The body count remains high and we get more questions about who authorized the hit. There’s some hints that it may all just be misdirection.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Detective Comics #1004 gives us the life history of Astrid Arkham. It’s told largely in full page montages, really allowing Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, and Nathan Fairbairn to cut loose on the visuals.

| Published by DC Comics

Faithless #2 sees Faith go to a party, and then it gets weird. This feels like that Griffin Dunne film of him wandering around New York, only with more magic and gorgeous art from Maria Llovet.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Ghost Tree #2 delivers well on the promise of the first issue, going further with Brandt’s conversations with the spirits around the ghost tree, and setting up the possibility of something horrible coming soon. More gorgeous artwork from Simon Gane, Ian Herring, and Becka Kinzie.

| Published by IDW

Incursion #4 is a fitting conclusion to this series bringing Gilad back to a regular status in the world of the living, with some interesting teases as to what might be further down the line, from Andy Diggle, Alex Paknadel, Doug Braithwaite, Diego Rodriguez, Leonardo Paciarotti, and Marshall Dillon.

| Published by Valiant

Justice League Dark #11 continues “Lords of Order” and keeps burning down the magical side of the DC Universe, while diving very deep into the back catalogue to build up the new. James Tynion IV is developing a very interesting structure for what might be coming.

| Published by DC Comics

Middlewest #7 shows the sheer devastation that Abel can unleash as his powers manifest, similar to the rage that his father has shown, and how his newfound “family” can also let him down horribly. Great work from Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos as the story seems to be headed for more dangerous waters.

| Published by Image

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - Jabba the Hutt #1 is an entertaining little story of how Jabba manipulates others to accomplish his goals.

| Published by Marvel

Stone Star #3 gives us another surprise as Dail tries to save Kitzo from being eaten in the arena by Most-Maw. It’s very interesting how this series plays with elements of hero shooters and the designs for the characters and creatures by Max Dunbar are incredible.

| Published by Swords & Sassery

Other Highlights: A Shining Beacon, Age of X-Man: Amazing Nightcrawler #4, Animosity #21, Asgardians of the Galaxy #9, Avengers #19, Batgirl #35, Battlestar Galactica: Twilight Command #4, Bone Parish #9, Books of Magic #8, Clue: Candlestick #1, Cyber Force #10, Dial H for Hero #3, Doctor Strange #14, The Flash #71, Freedom Fighters #6, Gasolina #18, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #262, The Goon #2, Highwayman, Invader Zim #43, Invisible Kingdom #3, Martian Manhunter #5, Marvel Comics Presents #5, Mary Shelley: Monster Hunter #2, Miles Morales: Spider-Man #6, Monstress #22, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur #43, Mr. & Mrs. X #11, Redneck #20, Riverdale Season 3 #3, Road of Bones #1, Rumble #12, Runaways #21, Shuri #8, The Silencer #17, Star Trek: Q Conflict #4, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge #2, Tony Stark: Iron Man #11, The Unstoppable Wasp #8, Venom #14, War of the Realms: Journey into Mystery #3, War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #2, War of the Realms: The Punisher #2, War of the Realms: Strikeforce - The Land of Giants #1, War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men #2, The Warning #7, Welcome to Wanderland #4. Wolverine: Infinity Watch #4, Wonder Woman #71, X-Force #8

Recommended Collections: Black Badge - Volume 1, Black Magick, Cover - Volume 1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Volume 1, East of West - Volume 9, Fantastic Four - Volume 2: Mr. & Mrs. Grimm, Friendo - Volume 1, James Bond: Blackbox, Middlewest - Book 1, Planet Terry Complete Collection, Redlands - Volume 2, Summit - Volume 3: Truth & Consequences, Wayward - Book 3

d. emerson eddy thinks there should be more hours in the day.

#This Week in Comics

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thegreenfairy13 · 6 years ago

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Dog Sitter Part 11 - Time To Visit A Friend

A Gobblepot fanfic. When Oswald loses his dog Ed, Jim Gordon finds it and does an excellent job when it comes to taking care of the mobster’s furry friend. Read it on Ao3 here.

Days pass, then weeks, and then even months. Oswald has everything he could have ever hoped for: a family, wealth, power. He should have been happy. And he is. For the first time in his life, he has achieved some sense of stability. Everything is going so well it should have been boring. It is.

Jim has stayed true to his word, keeps as far away from the mobster as possible. He resists waltzing into the Iceberg Lounge at any given moment as if he owned the place and refrains from calling the criminal at ungodly hours to obtain some intel on the workings of the inner mind of some lowlife Oswald might or might not be acquainted with.

Instead, when the situation calls for it, cops show up at his doormat who know how to keep their heads low and their manners in place. Oswald isn’t forced to keep his wits about him whenever the police arrive. Not when he only has to deal with quivering fools nowadays who are too afraid to ask the right questions, intimidated solely by his reputation. There’s no challenge in his interactions with the GCPD any longer, no game of push and pull.

Even Zsasz’s mouth escapes a mournful sigh the next time Jim doesn’t show up for interrogation but one of their most loyal associates at the GCPD.

One could think the Penguin misses the old days. He doesn’t, he tells himself firmly. Now, that he finally realizes how toxic his fascination with the cop always had been, he’s able to focus on what’s truly important: the family he had been given.

As more and more time goes by, Cobblepot’s interests begin to shift towards his more legal businesses. He starts a restaurant chain, and a perfectly legal casino, both turning out to be a steady influx of gorgeous dollar notes and makes plans for another lucrative arms trade with the state of New York.

And yes, it is true. There had been a time when the Penguin had envisioned his son following him on the throne. But now, with his kid being close all the time, he isn’t quite sure about that anymore.

His love for Martin keeps growing steadily, increasing day by day until he can’t remember what had possessed him in the first place to wish for his child to become a criminal. The thought alone of his kid being hunted down by other mobsters or being chased by the police is enough to make his stomach churn. Now, he has more to live for than an empire. He has a legacy. A legacy he keeps building steadily for Martin and Martin alone.

One day, his son will be a powerful and respected man, he vows. There won’t be any hideous rumors, exchanged only in the dark, about his alleged criminal connections. He’ll be as much loved as Bruce Wayne - Oswald will make sure of that.

That doesn’t mean the Penguin has entirely given up on crime. Gotham is still his city, his kingdom. And despite the crime-licenses being history, nobody in their right mind would dare to make their businesses without the monarch’s blessing. He doesn’t control petty crime any longer, but who cares anyway? The GCPD listens to his command, the other Dons too, and the Penguin still makes his cut in exchange for protection under his notorious umbrella. He just isn’t personally involved anymore. He lays low for the sake of his boy.

And maybe for Jim’s sake, a traitorous voice in the back of his mind keeps whispering. He shushes the voice whenever it speaks up. Claims not provoking the last honest man at the GCPD is just another measure to keep his boy from having to visit him in prison.

Oswald Cobblepot has turned into a criminal who doesn’t make his hands dirty. Just like Falcone before him, he pulls the strings in the background while in public maintaining the facade of a proper businessman.

On some days, he’s sure Jim sees right through the charade. Or would, if he could be bothered to care. Or maybe he does care but decides not to act on his instincts. His promise not to turn Martin into an orphan seemed to be a genuine one. And with Oswald residing in Arkham or Blackgate, Martin would be just that.

With Jim being gone from his life for good, the Penguin starts to wonder. He reminisces their conversations during dull meetings, tries seeing his actions through the eyes of the cop who came here so many years ago to rid the city of the corruption that is the very blood and soul of Gotham. If he understands at last?

It doesn’t seem like it. Not if the Gotham Gazette and the City Herald are anything to go by. Almost on a daily basis, the man’s face stares accusingly at him from the covers. Jim is judging him, scowling at him. That surely wasn’t what he had envisioned when he let him off the hook.

But what was he expecting anyway? He remembers their first conversation in Jim’s flat. When the man stunned him into silence, admitting he had indeed let the mobster walk away freely despite being able to arrest him. Back then, he didn’t believe him. But now, he starts to reconsider.

In Jim’s eyes, he had been too powerful before his third fall from grace. He had controlled the city like no other man before him and he had tried putting an end to it by bringing Sofia to Gotham. But maybe that had been Jim’s kind of mercy. The cop had always been smart, clever. Yet, instead of arresting him, he brought home another criminal to take the throne from him, or at least someone he would have had to share his power with.

His actions had almost torn Gotham apart. And now, despite him meddling and expanding his control again, Jim stays true to his word. He must know about Oswald’s actions, though. He’s still Jim Gordon, isn’t he?

And while the weeks pass, Oswald reads the newspapers. Learns about the hero-cop who’s never afraid be the first in the line of fire whenever someone robs a bank or takes another hostage.

Ed is wreaking havoc again when Lee finally leaves him. He blows anyone up too stupid to solve his ridiculous riddles, desperately trying to strike fear in anyone’s hearts and to make himself known. It’s laughable, really. He’s putting so much effort into his games and still achieving nothing: no wealth, no power. Fear without reputation has never been to Oswald’s liking. Sometimes he wonders how he fell for Ed in the first place. The man has become a mess, a loose cannon ready to go off at any given moment. They had been a good team though, he muses. Before everything went to hell.

Jim is chasing Ed desperately, almost getting himself killed before finally catching him and hauling his sorry ass to Arkham. Oswald wonders if Jim survived thanks to his wits or because Ed couldn’t bring himself to murder him. After all, there had been a time when the two men had been friends.

How deep is he under Ed’s skin, too? Is he? And no, he isn’t jealous. Not of that friendship. Not of Lee, who is now free to return to Jim. He isn’t. For he can’t be friends with Jim. Not when his proximity alone is a danger to his child and everything he built.

His heart isn’t filled with dread either when Jeremiah Valeska hatches a plan to cut off Gotham from the mainland. He definitely isn’t worried half out of his mind when Jim does what he does best and marches right into the heart of darkness. Isn’t staring into the flames of his fireplace when the news declare Jeremiah dead and the Captain missing, buried beneath the ruins of the single bridge the redhead managed to destroy. He doesn’t drink too much or bites his nails frantically until drawing blood when ordering his men to team-up with the Wayne boy to get the appropriate machinery over to dig up the cop as soon as possible.

He simply does what any decent, wealthy citizen would do. And he definitely doesn’t sob hot, relieved tears in the privacy of his own bedroom when Jim survives yet again. He should have prayed for his death instead, he chastises himself. With the cop gone, his life would be easier.

Oswald never took the easy way. But he stays strong even afterward. Doesn’t consider catching a glimpse of the Detective lying in his hospital bed despite wishing so much for visible, tangible proof he’s still breathing.

Instead, he stares at yet another photograph of the good Captain gracing the cover of the Gazette. His frown has deepened and the circles beneath his eyes seem darker than ever. Else, he seems fine. Not even three days after the incident he’s back at the precinct, ordering his men around. Oswald is relieved - and a tad bit worried. It’s awfully soon, isn’t it?

It’s no use denying: he misses Jim Gordon. Yet Oswald isn’t going to waste his chance for his personal happy ending. That is until Harvey Bullock pays him a visit.

The Penguin frowns. None of his machinations should have provoked the GCPD’s interest lately.

The Detective is still a stranger to decent haircuts or flatirons, the mobster notes, slightly displeased. Bullock is unusually subdued today, but then he’s mostly rather civil when not tagging along with Gordon. Must have something to do with him regularly paying the cop’s gambling debts, Oswald ponders. Only last week Bullock brought himself into rather serious trouble once more.

If Jim knows Harvey can’t quit visiting illegal gambling dens? Probably not. Why the Detective doesn’t visit his own clubs is anyway beyond him. He wouldn’t have to fear for the safety of his kneecaps in the Penguin’s establishments, that’s for certain. And no, that’s because the man is useful, not another favor for Gordon. Well, maybe a small one.

Heaving a sigh, he gestures for Bullock to sit down and waits patiently while he crams himself into the deliberately too narrow chair before him. A polite smile firmly in place, he orders Gabe to bring them some refreshments. After all, he still has manners.

Folding his long, elegant fingers beneath his chin he asks, “what can I do for you, Detective?”

For a second, Bullock squirms under his gaze before ceremoniously dropping a folder unto the table. Cobblepot’s mouth twitches. He never liked rude gestures.

Slowly, he picks it up and opens it. The first page isn’t spectacular at all. A simple police-report he can’t be bothered to read. Yet when turning to the second page he has a hard time concealing the surprised gasp about to escape his throat.

He has seen pictures of corpses before, has seen dead bodies with his own eyes and even been the cause of death but this, this is different.

Thankfully, this is also the exact moment Martin decides to barge in. Scowling venomously at the Detective, Oswald quickly snaps the folder shut.

Bullock’s eyes grow wide like saucers when taking in the little Penguin, but Oswald pays him no mind. He’s too grateful for the distraction allowing him to collect his jumbled thoughts. That man on the cop’s photograph, he knows him. Knew him, if only briefly. And now he’s dead. It can’t be, mustn’t be. Not now, not when everything is going so well.

Pushing his inner turmoil aside, he focuses on Martin instead. His little one looks so much like him, dressed in his gray dress pants, even if currently decorated with grass-stains, and sporting a white shirt. Except one item is missing to complete the picture.He’s holding a small, rumpled frock in his hands and looking entirely crestfallen at his father.

“I’d rather you wouldn’t bring such horrifying pictures to my home where my child could be exposed to them,” he chastises Bullock haughtily.

“And Martin, what did I teach you about knocking?” Oswald inquires sternly.

“That I should do it?” the kid asks back.

The mobster rolls his eyes. “Just tell me what happened,” he urges, tapping his fingers impatiently on the shiny surface of his desk.

“See, Ed…” he starts, cheeks already heating up.

“No,” Oswald interrupts his kid. “What did I teach you about lying?” He doesn’t miss the snort that escapes Bullock at the question.

“Only ever lie to the police, the judge, business partners, and…” Martin starts to list by using his tiny fingers. This time, the cop outright chokes.

“And never to your dad,” Oswald cuts him off determinedly. “So try again.”

“I was playing in the garden with Ed,” the kid finally admits. “I slipped and tore the lining,” he elaborates, holding up the piece of garment for his dad to see.

Oswald bristles. “This kind of attire isn’t really suited for playing in the garden, Martin.”

“I know, dad,” the kid whines and his father has to hide a smirk behind his hand. “But can you fix it?” he asks, already stepping closer to the desk.

He’s staring at Bullock with unhidden curiosity when approaching. “I know you,” he states. “You’re the cop who accompanied the one who watched over Ed. The one who…”

Before Martin can finish his sentence, Oswald takes the frock from him and makes a show of inspecting the garment. “Just take it to Olga,” he judges, giving his son a pointed look. “Ask her nicely to take it to the tailor. And while you’re at it, see what she can do about the grass-stains. I’d be more worried about those,” he finishes.

“But Olga is terrifying,” the little one protests.

“Maybe she’d be less terrifying if you’d be nicer to her?” he suggests.

“I am nice,” he objects.

“Good then, at least someone in this house can be severe,” Oswald mutters more to himself than to his child. “Martin, darling, please let dad have a chat with this man here. We can discuss this later, alright?”

Nodding, the kid finally makes to leave the room, still openly staring at the Detective. “You aren’t in danger, right?” he can’t help asking, glancing warily at the elderly man. Bullock is still too flabbergasted to respond.

“No,” Oswald soothes him. “I’m just having a chat with an old friend.”

Once the door closes behind Martin, the mobster turns his attention back to the task at hand. His initial shock at seeing a photograph of the recently deceased Brian Gold has thankfully worn off enough for him to think properly again.

“Cat caught your tongue?” he smirks when Bullock still stares at the door.

Turning in his narrow seat, he stammers out, “no, I just thought…”

“What?” Oswald snaps more for dramatic reasons than out of real anger. “That I killed my own son? Or sent him away for good?”

“Son?” he echoes incredulously.

“Son,” the Penguin confirms proudly.

Collecting himself slowly, Bullock taps the folder. “The reason for my visit,” he clears his throat awkwardly.

“And I already thought you’d be here to show your gratitude,” he interrupts him, directing a sweet, innocent smile at the cop. Thanks to Martin, it’s almost ridiculously easy to throw the Detective off guard.

“Yeah,” he brushes off the last statement seemingly unheard but the folder suddenly vanishes from his table. Silence stretches between the two men while Oswald waits for Bullock to speak up again. The cop is meanwhile looking at anything but at him. He twirls the hat in his hands, studies his dirty fingernails before sucking in a deep breath.

“Penguin,” he starts. “I need to talk openly with you.”

“Please, we are old friends after all,” he encourages, his smile growing wider.

Leaning back, the Detective studies him thoroughly. “I never liked you,” Bullock admits. “Thought you’d wind up dead sooner than later. Instead, you’re on top of the food chain again.”

The Penguin dismisses this rather rude statement. The man is obviously trying to manipulate him into losing his temper. Oswald isn’t going to rise to the bait. Not when the stakes are so high. Not when there’s still hope.

It’s only Bullock he’s dealing with. Jim Gordon still respects their agreement, and while he must be absolutely certain Cobblepot had Brian Gold killed, he still didn’t come. He sent his partner instead. It seems like Jim is truly sticking to his word, going even against his moral code in order to keep Martin from becoming an orphan.

It only hits him now, that he clearly didn’t tell his partner about the return of his son. While he isn’t keeping Martin a secret per se, he didn’t shout it from the rooftops either. The less know, the safer his kid is.

Oddly enough, the mobster wishes Jim had come himself. Oswald had had nothing to do with the man’s untimely decease and he yearns for the Captain to believe him. Hopes to look into his eyes and be given the chance of convincing him he isn’t the monster he clearly thinks him to be. He values agreements too. He had always been honest with Jim. Can’t he see that? Not even once? Must he send his partner?

And Bullock, really? Oswald wants to scoff. He trusts his partner so much while the man is still another crooked cop, ready to sacrifice the oh so precious law for his own interests.

“Jim sent me personally,” Bullock carries on. “Which is odd in itself,” he states with what passes as his most intimidating stare. It does nothing for Cobblepot though. “Said you might know something about the man we found with a bullet in his head this morning. Gently placed for his final rest on a trash dump.”

“And your point is?” the Penguin inquires politely.

“I could ask you if you knew him and listen to your lies,” the cop growls lowly.

Leaning over the table, he brings his face uncomfortably close to Oswald’s. He can smell the cheap burgers he consumed, the onions and the garlic in his breath. He wants to lean back, evade this gross, stomach-turning scent but dutifully stays in place. Bullock needs to see his expressions, has to be certain he isn’t lying to him.

“But I did know him,” he concedes, surprising the cop entirely. “If only briefly,” he continues. “But this,” he gestures at the folder. “I’m not responsible for this.”

Leaning back against his throne, Oswald studies the cop intently. He isn’t sure he believes him. It isn’t Bullock’s validation he seeks anyway but Gordon’s. But he’s the next best thing, a step to take in order to get into the Captain’s good graces.

To his utter surprise, Bullock nearly explodes out of his chair. “I couldn’t care less who’s responsible for some minor drug dealers death!” he shouts. “Maybe it was you, maybe it wasn’t. What I really want to know is what have you done to Jim Gordon?”

“Pardon?” the Penguin blinks.

“What,” Bullock commences. Slowly leaning over the table he grabs his lapels again. “What have you done to Jim?” he asks again, lowly, threateningly. “Before the whole dog incident, he would have never shied away from going to you himself if he thought you were up to no good. So, what is it you are threatening him with?”

Releasing him, Bullock pushes the Penguin deeper into his chair. Oswald gapes, too stunned to reply. He should have assumed their agreement would raise some suspicions.

“I, I, I did no such thing,” he stammers, intimidated, as shy as the umbrella-boy he used to be so many years ago.

Bullock merely scoffs in response. “Whatever you’re doing, it’s working incredibly well.”

“What do you mean?” Oswald asks back, having a hard time following the cop’s train of thought.

“What I mean, is that I don’t care who and what you are,” he declares dramatically. “I’ll be coming after you if Jim should get killed or kill himself.”

At the notion, Oswald feels as if someone had pulled the rug right underneath his feet. He has to draw his breath before being able to speak again.

“Whyever would he do that?” he sputters. It’s not his most eloquent moment but he must have done something right for Bullock’s expression turns less thunderous.

“Have you been reading the news lately?” he demands to know. Too anxious to answer Oswald just tilts his head.

“Our good Captain of the GCPD is on a suicide mission ever since he stopped caring for your pet. You don’t want me to think that’s merely a coincidence?”

Surging forward, Bullock reaches again for the Penguin. Yet the mobster stops him.

“As opposed to you, I truly considered Jim Gordon a friend. Always. I’d never…” He’s struggling for words, unsure how to continue. It’s unlike the King of Gotham to beg for something. But right now, he needs Harvey to trust him. “What you are implying… I could never do that. Not when it comes to Jim. So tell me, what’s wrong with him?”

Laughing humourlessly, Harvey considers his words. “I never know with you if you’re lying or being sincere. Jim lost his will to live. That’s what happened. And should I ever find out it’s something you’re threatening him with, I’ll personally come after you.”

“Sounds fair,” the kingpin mutters. Collecting himself, he indicates for Bullock to leave. Being clearly outnumbered should the kingpin choose to call for his employees, he turns on his heel but not without shooting the Penguin a last, nasty glance.

Once the cop is gone, Oswald collapses back in his seat. Rubbing his temples wearily he picks up the latest edition of the Gotham Gazette. He browses through the newspaper until he finds the picture he had been looking for.

Jim Gordon is frowning at him from the paper, appearance haggard. The Captain has clearly lost some weight since they last saw each other. The worn down suit he’s sporting seems to be the only thing gluing him together. Oswald doesn’t know if he’s imagining things but Gordon seems to look, for the lack of a better word, sad.

He wonders how he didn’t notice that before. Could Harvey be right? Jim had only been doing what he had always been doing: trying to save this wicked city from itself. True, he had been reckless, careless for his own safety but that is just ultimately Jim, right?

And Jim Gordon committing suicide? The thought alone is laughable. The man is a soldier, a hero, the last honest cop in the entire city. Whyever would he even think about ending his life?

He doesn’t dare thinking the man’s losses might have finally caught up with him. After all, what does he have? Two failed relationships and his job. He remembers the state of his flat shortly after giving Ed into his care. How shabby and messy the place had been. The dog had been an anchor back then, a reason for him to tidy up the apartment and to reconsider his life.

Could it be that with the dog gone he had gone back to his old ways?

Once he has made up his mind, he orders Gabe to come over. The bulky man stumbles through the door and Oswald sighs. There are not many jobs the slow-witted hulk can be trusted with. But this one should be easy enough.

“I need you to get me a dog from the animal shelter,” the kingpin commands, tone decisive. “A Pomeranian. The one in 34th street has one. Fetch it and take it to me. I already informed them about your arrival.”

To his utter surprise, the whole man lights up at him mentioning the Pomeranian. “You mean that kind of dog they had on this sitcom called “The Nanny”?” he inquires.

Oswald stares at him, entirely lost. “I suppose,” he offers.

“Oh, it was a lovely show,” Gabe continues. “See, boss, there was this couple. She was a nanny and he was some rich dude. They were pining for each other for years and never got properly together. They had love interests but always broke off with them cause they knew they were meant for each other but in the end…”

The Penguin cuts him off. “The dog, please,” he presses out through gritted. “And once you have it, get my car ready. I have to visit an old friend.”

#gobblepot #fanfiction

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fatmandd1 · 6 years ago

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Spiderman for the PS4 is an incredible experience. It’s way different than any spiderman game out there. This game is the beginning of the next evolution of marvel turning their comic series into video games. This is what I wanted from Marvel the entire time; for them to create an incredible spiderman game that immerses you in story, fighting skills, and the best combos you have ever seen. It may take something from the Arkham series but it adds its own nuance and amazing web-slinging fun, and that’s what people want from Spider-Man. Web-slinging fun, taking villains seriously and, having the best villains. When you fight Shocker, when you fight the Sinister Six, and Mr. Negative (and find out who Mr. Negative is), everything comes together. If you are the type of person that’s not spoiled by trailers or don’t even watch a trailer or watch one second of a teaser, Spider-Man immerses you in an entire world full of ass-kicking, web-slinging, amazing characters and the story is just full of immerse-ness. You can grab onto the Spider-Man story and relate to every single comic, and there’s more mysteries within Spider-Man. There’s more that leads up to the stories of Spider-Man. When you’re going on a mission to collect back-pack pieces, everything for the back-pack, everything that he lost when he was in his younger years, has a story within it that you find. Including, a capsule that holds Sandman and that’s crazy and beautiful. It holds the essence and it holds Sandman. It may be a hint to other future games coming out from Insomniac games. This is the best moment for these characters and for the amazing Spider-Man himself, not just dealing with silver-sable, not just dealing with the backlash from kingpin. It’s the story coming out of there that’s incredible. Especially after the buildup of Doc Ock becoming evil and Spider-Man defeating him, as well as Peter’s relationship with Mary Jane and them getting back together. After playing Spider-Man and seeing the Spider-Verse, seeing characters, and finding out where they’re going next, you kind of get the connection between the two (game and movie). They’re amazing because you can see the suits, the costumes, and you get a bit of the story of Spiderman and Mary Jane. But, Peter in his adulthood trying to adult, and trying to hold down a job and pay his bills and his mortgage, it’s kind of hard to see him still struggle. It’s different seeing him going from the Daily Bugle to being a scientist and doing what he loves to do, something we don’t see often for his character. We also find out that his relationships with people are also kind of diminishing. I think in real life, we all go through the same struggles but this never makes Spider-Man selfish. Peter Parker is never selfish. And when they introduce Miles Morales, the selfishness is never displayed, it’s always “defend the people,” “for the people,” “do what’s right” and “don’t be selfish with anything.” That’s incredible coming from such an amazing character as Peter. And seeing the growth of Miles Morales before he loses his father in the game is even better because we’re taking a different look from the ultimate comic universe, in the video game. We get to see Miles, his hacking skills, and his relationship with his family. We see everything from the character up until the moment Mr. Negative attacks the town hall meeting with mayor Osbourne—and Miles’s dad dies. That is one of the hardest moments, because even Peter gets knocked out and we get to play as Miles for a moment and you get to use hacking scenarios with him. We also get to run from the rhino with Miles, and that is incredible. And then we also get to fight and punch up some guys with Miles for the first time. As the Spider-Man story progresses we see the growth of Miles when he gets his spider bite, we see the growth of the relationship between Peter and Doc Ock and how that relationship has failed, which is scary. We saw Doc Ock turning into a monster and turning into someone that was fueled by anger, deceit, destruction, and even when that deadly gas hit, Peter could have saved his aunt but he didn’t. And he had let his aunt die to save others. This is the most grueling part of the game, where Peter’s aunt passes away and now he has to take the mantle of an adult, he has to grow even further, he lost his aunt May and uncle Ben, and the only one he has left is Mary Jane by his side. Just going further in the story, finding out that Harry Osbourne is not on a trip in Europe, and he’s actually been held (willingly) in Oz Corp. behind secret doors. In the scene where MJ gets scared by a spider, Harry Osbourne is behind secret lab doors and at the end of the game, seeing that he’s surrounded by the venom symbiote, we get an aspect of the story that’s incredible because Norman Osbourne is using the symbiote to maybe try to cure Harry of the same disease his mother had, which is very emotional. The story layered is incredible and Insomniac games has pushed the envelope of what a Marvel and Spider-man game is. People say that there are many Spider-man games that have done the same thing. Not like this. Not story elements, not cinematic elements, nothing. From fighting all the enemies, to the story, to the hunts and the quests, you can never get bored with this game. You can never ever get bored with an incredible Spider-man game. There’s so many quests, there’s so many hunts, and there’s DLC that’s already out. If you haven’t played it, silver sable, hammerhead, black cat; 3 incredible DLC’s that are already out and people can’t wait for what’s next with the game, if there is anything. People can’t wait for part two. I can’t wait for part two. And that’s the thing, because we all want to know what’s gonna happen next. I hope they introduce Kraven the hunter and the Chameleon. I hope they introduce more aspects of Spider-man’s rouge gallery. And that’s another part about Spider-man that’s amazing. You can never stop wondering what they are gonna hint about in the comic, what comic are they going to hint, what movie are they going to hint to, what comics are they going to just throw out there, like “this is from this comic and that is from this issue.” As a Spider-man fan and a comic fan, anyone that buys this game knows there’s a lot of heart and soul that went into this. I thank the creators, I thank the producers, I thank the voice actors, I thank everyone that did every visual thing on this game, to the audience in New York City. I wish they had dialogue DLC so the dialogue could change up for the character and the emotes. But the web-slinging is incredible, the diving is amazing, the combat is smooth and sick and crazy. And the best part about taking pictures in New York City is that you can see Avengers Tower, you can explore and, the missions are just amazing. This is a solid Spider-man game, and whenever part two comes out, I hope it beats this one in sales and everything. And also that we get to choose from as many suits as possible. People love this game for the suits. If you’re a Spider-man fan, you should grab this game. You should cherish it forever, if you got the PS4, hold on to it. If you got the statue, you’re awesome. People may have invested a lot into this but it’s worth it. Every investment into a video game is worth it. Shout-out to the studios, thank you so much for creating an incredible game. I loved it. I can never stop playing it. I platinumed it and beat it, and I want the second one to be so hard that I can’t even reach a platinum. So, thank you Insomniac studios, thank you to the entire crew that worked on this game. So much awesomeness. A. Ringling

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diyunho · 7 years ago

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The Joker x Reader - “Gotham’s Villains Awards”

Once a year, all Gotham’s elite underworld gets together to recognize the best of the worst among them. After working so hard to create mayhem and chaos,it sure is nice to enjoy an event created just for that.

Harvey Dent is hosting tonight’s event. It is a chance for Gotham’s underworld elite to come together and celebrate the mayhem and chaos they create every year. You and The Joker are sitting at a table close to the stage, sharing the space with The Penguin and his girlfriend, Anita and Harvey’s wife, Sophia. Since he is on the stage, can’t really join you for the evening and that’s fine with J. He keeps on talking to Oswald and you chitchat with the girls.

“Are you going to try for another baby?” Anita asks because you hang out quite a bit so she knows the story.

“Yes, we are actually trying again, I really want a girl,” you sigh, thinking about all the pink, cute stuff you can buy for a little Princess and you can’t since you have 5 boys.

“And…how are things going?” Sophia elbows you, snickering.

“Great, can’t complain; J is such a stud, he could get a rock pregnant!” you praise your partner in crime.

Plop! An olive bounces off your cleavage and falls on your plate. The Joker was eavesdropping (like he always does) so he had to get your attention.

“Rrrrrrrrrrrrr,” he purrs from across the table, winking and goes back to his conversation.

You smile, blushing a bit and scratch your arm, flattered.

“I love my kids, don’t get me wrong,” you address the women, “but a girl in the ocean of testosterone would be nice.” They laugh, amused and you have to say it: “I think it might be something wrong with J’s genes - he can only make boys.”

Plop! Another olive bounces off you.

“There’s nothing wrong with my genes, Pumpkin,” he growls, annoyed. He wants to continue with a rant but the first award of the night is coming up. They never show the nominees, they just present the winner to avoid further confrontations between all the crazy people in there. If you don’t really know who you were up against, then things won’t get out of hand. Hopefully.

Harvey Dent clears up his throat and announces:

“The first award of the night is Best Car Chase of The Year. And the winner is… Mister J for the third year in a row!”

“Ha! I won again!” J gets up, leans over the table to kiss you and you are so excited for him. Pictures taken from the surveillance cameras all over Gotham show the Purple Lamborghini followed by the Bat mobile on June 15th, when you and J robbed 7 banks in one night. J goes on the stage and Harvey hands over his recognition.

“Thank you!” his deep voice resonates in the huge room and the speakers tremble from the husky tone that makes you shiver with adoration. You are about to lose your shit; he looks so dashing in that silver suit. ”All I wanted to say is: Batsy’s a jerk!!” The whole place goes insane! Everyone is clapping, whistling and get on their feet, chanting his name. He smirks, victorious, enjoying being the center of attention and points towards you: “My wife was with me that night so half of this is hers.” You almost faint with exhilaration and blow him a kiss while he feels the need to clear up something:

“And for the record, there’s nothing wrong with my genes!” Not a single soul was phased by the random sentence because they are all a bunch of mad weirdoes. Nothing fazes them since they are used to awkwardness; they actually clap more.

Your husband returns to his sit not before kissing you again, then bites your neck fast and really hard.

“Auch!! That hurts,” you complain, pouting, covering the red mark.

“Good,” he whispers in your ear. “That got you pregnant, Doll. Since I can get rocks pregnant, maybe this worked also,” he sniffles your hair, aroused, then fights with himself to get away and returns by Oswald’s side.

“Our next award recognizes the good work of our trusted sidekicks,” Two Face underlines. “The award for Henchman of The Year goes to… Jonny Frost! He couldn’t be here tonight due to his need to recovery from the 3 bullet wounds he sustained on a mission in…in…” Dent goes through his papers, not finding the information.

“New York!” J shouts, rolling his eyes.

“Huh?”

“New York, man!” The Joker yells louder.

“Oh, New York,” Harvey finally understands. “Anyway, we wish him speedy recovery so he can go out there and create more trouble. It is fair to assume Mister and Misses J will take the award to him.”

“No, I don’t want to!” J sulks, irritated.

“Of course we will,” you wave at Harvey with a smile, nodding a yes.

Oswald distracts The Joker with some questions and Sophie inquires about a detail she always wanted to know.

“Say, Y/N, how did you and Mister J met?”

“Ahhh…” you take a deep breath, touching your burning cheeks from the precious memory, “…he stole my heart.”

“Oh my God, how romantic!” both women squeal with puppy eyes.

“No, he literally stole my heart. I was delivering one I found on the black market for a transplant a senator’s father needed, can’t remember the name but he had the money,” you quickly add, “ …and J stole it from me; he thought I had diamonds in there. Isn’t that sweet?” you giggle and they follow. “I have no idea how he got my number, but after an hour he called, pissed about what he found when he opened the box. I had to give him half the money promised to me in order for him to return that heart for delivery. J is a very good negotiator; the whole time he talked to me on the phone he made these sounds that got me all worked up. He’s such a flirt; I had to take a cold shower after the phone conversation.”

Plop! The olive bounces off your shoulder and you take it from the table and eat it, licking your lips in the process. The Joker flashes this huge silver smile and everything fades: you so want to jump over this table and rip his clothes off but can’t.

“The next award of the evening is Best Dressed Male Villain of The Year. And the winner is…The Riddler!”

“Booooo!” J protests, unhappy he didn’t win that one. But, come on, the Riddler looks cute because they let him wear his trademark outfit in prison. Nobody else was that lucky. “The Riddler can’t be here tonight, he’s still incarcerated at Arkham,” Harvey informs.

All the ladies in the room go awwwww.

“Ha!Ha!Ha!” your husband cracks up, thrilled about The Riddler’s misfortune.

“Wasn’t someone designated to get him out of there?” Dent asks the crowd and they look at each other, confused. The Joker coughs, sipping on his brandy. He was appointed for that task but didn’t give a shit. “Anyway, we’ll keep it for him until he’s back,” the ex-senator concludes, continuing with his task. “Next, one of the lovely ladies will be up here to join me. The award for Best Dressed Female Villain of The Year goes to…Poison Ivy!”

“Booooo!” you get upset because you didn’t win but your objection disappears under the ruckus her presence on stage creates among the attendance. “What the hell?! She just has a bunch of leaves hanging down her butt, what’s the big deal?!” J sees you are cranky so he gestures for you to go to him. You sit in his lap for a little bit; it always makes you feel better no matter what.

“You’re the best dressed for me, Kitten,” he winks, caressing your thigh. “Though I like you undressed mucchhhh better,” J corrects his sentence, breathing on your neck and you sure need another cold shower right now.

Harvey is announcing Best Explosion of The Year that goes to Mister Freeze for the simultaneous blasting of police headquarters in 6 precincts on May 14th but you don’t pay too much attention since J is the center of your universe for the moment. You seductively pull on his shirt’s collar, so attracted to him you would love to flee the event just to get it out of your system.

“Congratulations!” The Penguin pats your back and you both get out of trance.

“Huh?”

“You won Best Villain Couple of The Year, get up there!” everyone urges you and the deafening applauses echo in your ears. You hold hands with The Joker and go collect your award.

“You’re so sexy Mister J!” somebody has the nerve to scream from the crowd.

“Thank you honey, ” your husband scoffs, fixing his perfect green locks. “Who said that?!” you snap, scanning the women and they don’t give out the guilty party.“I’m gonna blow your brains out!” the threat follows and all the psychos are aware you mean it.

There are some roars and whistles coming from men as your possessiveness takes over, then:

“You look so hot when you’re angry, Y/N!”

Your face turns from frowny to ecstatic in just one second:

“Thank you, darling!”

“Who the fuck said that? “ J takes over the microphone, his blood boiling with jealousy. “This is my woman; I’m gonna stab you 50 times and enjoy it!!!” Nobody gives away the offender and Harvey manages to calm down the commotion to some people’s disappointment: they would like to see some shit going down tonight.

For the rest of the evening you fret, keeping a close eye on J and he does the same with you. Nobody takes away what’s yours! He believes the same but doesn’t share, of course.

You really started relaxing a bit after dying of laughter: when Bane was climbing the steps towards the platform to accept Best Heist of The Year award, he tripped on the red carpet and fell on his face. Jeez, did he have a tantrum or what?! Almost as good as The Joker, but nobody beats him. Pretty close and nice try.

Two more hours pass by and it’s finally time for the last award of the evening: Nemesis of The Year.

Dent flips his coin once, opens the envelope and puffs:

“And the award for the fourth year in a row goes to The Batman!”

“The asshole won!” J claps his hands, chuckling like a maniac. People are booing, discontent to hear the name but it’s the tradition to recognize the best from the opposite side, so… nothing that can be done about it.

“I’ll take it!” your husband offers without hesitation and he is handed the award: a gold statue of Gotham’s vigilante, about the size of an Oscar.

*****************

You creep inside the penthouse just to notice everyone passed out from exhaustion: your five sons are cuddled around the 3 henchmen appointed to babysit tonight, scattered on the couches all over the living room. It really looks like a battlefield: probably they played villains and cops again. Yep, there it is: your oldest son (he’s 12) is wearing a Batsy outfit. Your youngest (he’s 2 and a half) is wearing a policeman outfit. You can’t see the others because it’s too dark.

“Ssstttt,” the Joker covers your mouth when you attempt to go and wake them up, this way they can sleep in their beds. “Let them be, we gotta celebrate. I wanna have sex!” he drags you after him and you kind of regret not kissing your kids good night and kind of don’t. You sneak inside one of the bedrooms upstairs, the furthest on the hallway for more privacy, which a lot of times is hard to obtain with 5 offsprings.

“Kittyyyy, “ J purrs, running his hands down your back, “Come to Daddy.”

“Mmmm…” you enjoy his touch, unbuttoning his shirt. “You teased me all night long, it’s outrageous!”

“Bad girl!” he slams you against the wall when your hand stops on his crotch.

“Dammit!” you mutter, exasperated.

“Wha’ ? What is it? I’m ready to go, what’s the problem?! Nobody is faster than me! Are you trying to say I’m not fast enough?!” his ego kicks in and you don’t even know where he gets all these ideas from.

“It’s not that and you know it, my blue eyed pretzel,” you pull him in your arms, disappointed you didn’t remember sooner.

“Then what is it?” he pushes himself into you so hard you can’t breathe.

“Ummm… we forgot to deliver the award…” you yawn, slowly blinking.

“Crap!” J gasps, stomping his foot. “I was too horny on the way home to think straight!”

“Me too…” you are fast to whine. “But the sooner we go, the sooner we can come back and full around…”

“Uhhhhh, “ he groans, releasing you and walking funny towards the door. “Be quiet and let’s hurry up, Princess!” ******************

Bruce Wayne is driving around Gotham’s streets in his Bat Mobile, making sure they are safe. Suddenly, a huge Batsy signal illuminates the night sky.

What does Gordon want now?! he sighs, tired and not in the mood.

Once he gets to the top of the building, there’s nobody there. The scanner discloses nothing either. But there is something under the reflector. He approaches and bends over to grab the gold statue representing him. A small handwritten note under it. He unfolds it and reads: “There’s nothing wrong with my genes!”

What the hell is this? he asks himself, puzzled. Bruce has an idea about who left that there.

The Batman looks closer to see the inscription on the award: Nemesis of the Year.

“Hm,” he huffs, “I won again.”