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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Paul Dini’s Jingle Belle: The Mighty Elves (Comissoned by WeirdKev27)

Well well boys, we’re back to Jingle Belle with another kevmission, though per his request i’ll be getting back to Life and Times Of Scrooge McDuck at long last. I also have some other stuff planned and all that, but for now, let’s focus on everyones faviorite elfen hellion as we dive back into Paul Dini’s Jingle Belle.

I covered most of the behind the scene’s stuff last time so in short in case your just joining us, since this one’s got a bit more stuff to tag: Jingle Belle is an indie comic book character created by animation god Paul Dini, the daughter of Santa Claus and the Queen of Elves who acts like a standard rebellious teenager sterotype and causes trouble for her dad. Last time I touched on the character a good two days ago, we looked at her first appearance, where she sent her family to Family Therapy. At the time I’d ONLY read that story, and hadn’t gotten that far into Jing’s world just yet. As you probably guessed despite plugging a decent amount of time into re-reading the rest of Scott Pilgrim (shout out to my good friend Mike for the early christmas present), on digital and in color and into the Switch port of the first Fire Emblem, I still got 2/3 of the way through the omnibus Kev gifted me of almost all her stories up to 2018′s The Handmade’s Tale. Honestly not a lot has changed from the pilot.. while Jing’s designs changed a bit, she’s still more of a rebellious hellion, and while Santa’s no longer a slut shaming jackass, he’s still hard on her while her mom tries to keep the peace, The humor’s still edgy, if toned down enough to support returning whenever Dini felt like it but it’s largely the same for better or worse. Overall the stories haven’t been bad but have been a bit reptitive to read in one giant omnibus. This really is down to the format they were made in: These were one off stories spread months apart meant to be picked up off the shelf with no real ongoing stories or character development and only some slight worldbuilding here and there. In short not bad stuff, just clearly not built to be collected in a huge omnibus like it was and not the first comic collection i’ve encountered with this problem and definitely not the last.

That being said the stories are creative and still well put together. It is Paul Dini and he has wrote pretty much every story collected here with few exceptions, so it’s still good stuff, just as I said clearly not meant to be read all in one block like i’ve been doing. And today’s story happens to be one of my faviorites so far, breaking the formula up a bit by having Jing do something a bit diffrent and also involving hockey, a sport this story made me realized might actually intrest me on some level.. if in part due to letterkenny.

God bless those two handsome idiots. So let’s ice up or skates, get those letterkenny refrences at the ready and see what the Mighty Elves have to offer.

We start at Hockey Practice for Santa’s Hockey Team, The Elves, the kind of sentence that makes me really happy to type for money. Santa’s team is naturally for this kind of story and what the title references, are the last place in the bi-polar hockey league their in.. presumably ran by commissioner bi-polar bear.

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Again, I really love this job and that i’m actually getting paid for this this go round. Anyway, Santa’s team isn’t all that agressive because.. well i’ts a team coached by Santa, why would they be? But Santa’s still proud of his boys... as for his girl on the otherhand he gets a call and we soon find out via mugshots Jing dragged her two friends, up from just one in previous stories, to an air force base, somehow got arrested for hitting on enlisted men, not a crime, and stealing and crashing a helicopter, very much a crime. Naturally Santa isn’t pleased, so we cut to a few days later where he’s letting her friends off making robo kitties, damn I want one of those now, while leaving Jing to do the packaging, though like most stern but fair dad’s he admits he dosen’t like punishing her and is right in saying there’s more to do with her summer vacation than you know, piss off the military. Santa needs his flight clerance dammit. Jing complains there isn’t much to do but feed the reindeer and make toys to which I say.. really santa? You haven’t set up anything else for your eleves to do? Making toys is their job. Build a fucking movie theater. And at the very least if not for them than for your bored and rebellious daughter to distract her from doing crimes. She’s still likely got a few hundred years of teenagering left, give her something else to do other than piss you off. Santa does have a least a little something: Hockey! Which Jing’s cousin Rusty has taken up. Rusty showed up in the first story but I kind of glossed over him, he’s basically Jing’s Dorky cousin she frequently abuses. Not really much more or less to him. Jing isn’t on board mostly because their team always looses, to the other teams: The Penguins, the Polar Bears, The Snow Leopards and the Eskimos because they don’t really have killer instinct, which yeah is kind of necessary for hockey. To her..

But during her rant she does show Santa she’s got genuine talent for the sport, so he makes her a deal: Do a little favor for him, and she’ll swap that for making toys.. it’s a deal.. one she soon regrets but hey.

Jing naturally makes an ass of herself pretty quickly beating the shit out of Rusty with her dad repremanding her and threatning to throw her off the team if she has another outburst like. That is until she runs into the Huskies Coach, Stan.

I mean i’ts a hairy old man who makes a side bet with Santa Claus despite it technically being against commission rules, might as well be. So Santa tells Jing screw it, as long as it’s the opposing team violence is a-okay. And naturally our first target is the world famous hockey player, aka snoopy aka a snoopy stand in. And being a big fan of peanuts i’m a sucker for a good peantus parody. Doubly so since Dini did his homework, and as I’d remembered and a quick google confirmed “The World Famous Hockey Player” was indeed one of snoopy’s many personas.

Not that it was much of a stretch: just about any time snoopy played a sport he was “the world famous X player”, but still it’s a nice little nod. Not so nice is Jing within seconds slamming him into the air and under a Zamboni and getting sent to the box for it naturally. So clearly she’s the shorsey of this team, all chirps and ultra violence.

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Snoopy is thankfully still alive, if barely, though he’s off course been through much worse.

But while in the Box jing helps advise the team and a presumed combination of her beating the shit out of the other team’s best players and her team now not only having something to inspire them but a strategy means the Elves win for once! Santa and Jing share a hug, though Santa advises her not to go for his wallet, it’s still a sweet moment as she’s genuinely invested now. So we cut to..

Okay Hank Ribbon seal is genuinely one of the best things humanity has made but as for Quiki I just... wow that joke is mildly racist at worst, confusing and unfunny at best. I mean... it really just makes no sense on any level and that’s with me not knowing a lot about hockey, but knowing just enough to know Kathy Lee Gifford existed. Just.. what even was that? I know Paul can do better than this.. because as my first review outlined he wrote a LOTTTT of Tiny Tune Adventures including my favorite episode. He also wrote most of the best Joker episodes for BTAS, so it’s not like the guy CAN’T be funny.. so I have no idea how he could fail so hard with this. Just.. what is this. Who thought this was funny? what was the joke?

That.. utter bafflement aside, this newscast is used to push things ahead as the elves are on a winning streak, having also beaten the Polar Bears and the Penguins.. though weirdly we DON’T get a cameo by this guy despite having already had Snoopy show up.

That’s my boy. But yeah there’s only two teams left with this, the Eskimos and tonight’s matchup the Snow Leopards, aka snow catgirls lead by Tashi Ounce, who Jing met at the winter games last year and lost too and thus has a whole rivlary thing going. In a really nice moment Santa stops to make sure Jing is okay going into the game.

It’s part of why I REALLY like this story: Santa instead of just being disapointed in his daughter genuinely bonds over her over something and Jing shows she has a softer side to her. It’s some good character stuff, helps shake up the normal formula nicely. Back to the usual though she and Tashi naturally go at it, phrasing, and fight the whole damn time, with Belle eventually scoring the winning goal. Though noticably while Tashi is just as competiive as belle and lost this time.. she’s fine with it, knowing she’ll win next time and congradulating the opponent. But before she can leave the rink, Tashi is approached by a mysterious figure with an offer and we cut to said figure’s lair... it’s THE BLIZZARD WIZARD! dun dun dun!.... yeah I haven’t introduced him the Blizzard Wizard is.. well exactly what he sounds like, as well as the former ruler of the North Pole. He enslaved everyone there to do his bidding and was essentially, a butt till Santa showed up, united all the various animals and kicked his ass. Since then he’s been reduced to basically a rankin bass villian, lurking near bye and scheming to get petty revenge on Santa for it. So essentially....

Minus the tragic backstory. He offers them a deal: The championship cup for him defeating the elves. As he puts it the cup symbolizes hard work, respect and team work.. i.e the things their throwing out to get payback. Tashi wants none of it, but the blizzard wizard has his slush minons capture her and with the rest willing to sell out, he gets to work.

Bliz snows out the eskimos, and brings up accusations of Santa gambling, which he gets away from by.. having his wife donate the money real quick don’t ask just go. But he has a waiver signed by the other coaches so their playing his goons. But Jing isn’t phased and Santa asks her to give the lockeroom some inspiring words.

10/10 no notes. But naturally Bliz has a sneaky trick up his sleeves.. to win.. specifically a hot french canadian player which.. makes jing fall to pieces flirting with him and makes her entirely ineffective. Okay time out.... huh so this is the timeless void known only to zack morris, that girl from the reboot I haven’t watched, and Regis Filbin. But yeah while I wouldn’t expect Jing to slaughter the guy it feels out of character for all she’d do is to giggle like an idiot instead of making a move. She’s been established as forward and knowing what she wants. I’m not against her being distracted by this it’s just the how that feels off especially since the opening reinforces this. She hit on air force guys. She’s not going to just be giggly and awkward. Jing may not be the most complex charcter but she’s better than this. Aside from the baffling Kathy Lee Gifford gag, this is the only thing I really don’t like abotu the story, and it lasts two pages before it’s resolved and in a 22 or so page story, that’s a good chunk of it spent on something that isn’t funny and that’s out of character even within story. That being said it dosen’t drag the story down entirely, still a good story. Just a bit uneven is all.

But unsurprisingly Tashi escapes her earlier imprisonment offscreen to let Jing know not only the full extent of Bliz Whiz’s machenations, i.e. that the other coaches are in on it, but that the hockey player is really just one of Bliz’s minons uner a glamour. WIth that knowledge Jing asks why she’d help and Tashi shows her inner honor beneath the whole rival deal, pointing out she wants to win from a GOOD team next year. With the jig up Jing pulvirzes her former crush, claims to have been under a spell (no one byes it) and the elves clean house and win. Super fuckin shooter. As for Bliz Whiz he tries to steal the trophy but instead gets booted into the snow leopards box, phrasing... it doesn’t end well for him.

And yeah while he comes back eventually, some how, apparently, for most of the stories after this he’s just.. dead. He was killed and then his remains eaten. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

But Jing admits she had fun, she and her dad bond and we get one last gag as he assumes she learned not to showboat only for her to block everyone else in the team photo. Falalallal we’re out.

Final Thoughts: As I said, one of my faviorites. It’s really well paced, has a good premise and only one part drags at all and only that part and one gag really don’t land. The rest of it is really funny, nice and touching, and overall a nice shakeup from these stories usual pattern of “Jing getting into hyjinks”. While she DOES here, her and her dad are literally and figuartvely on the same team, and she does show a sweeter side genuinely bonding with her dad and it’s nice to see them actually enjoy each other’s company for once. It’s a nice change of pace and one I wish more of the stories had. I’m not saying they all have to be holly jolly but i’d be nice if more of them had a bit of heart to them is all. Tis the season and all that. Still for what it is, it’s a fun ride and I highly recommend it. We’ll probably see her again sometime this season but that’s a bit off. For now coming up I have some ducktales to tell, a chapter in a man’s life story that’s long overdue, a holiday mess I wish I didn’t have to clean up, and in the distant future.. an old friend to reconnect with. Until then if you liked this review reblog it, comment etc all that good stuff, and you can send me asks with suggestions fo ra review or direct message me, or ask for my discord, to comission a review yourself. Until then, happy holidays.

#jingle belle #paul dini #comics #comic reviews #santa claus #christmas #hockey #letterkenny #snoopy #opus #blizzard wizard #tashi ounce

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what-is-your-plan-today · 5 years ago

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Stark Spangled Banner Ch32: The Impossible Choice

Summary: Tony catches up with Steve, Katie and Bucky in Siberia and as the events unfold he learns the truth about how his parents were killed. A dramatic show down ensues and Katie finds herself forced with an impossible choice: her brother or her husband.

Warnings: Bad Language words.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist

Please don’t hate me for this one... it’s a tearjerker

The jet wasn’t fully fuelled so they couldn’t fly at full speed, meaning it took them a few hours to reach the wide, flat, snow-covered landscape of Siberia. Once they touched down Steve cut the power and Katie stood up and moved to the back of the jet, opening the closet that held the Avenger’s weapons. Bucky stepped over and started examining the rack of guns labelled 'Romanoff' before he selected a light machine gun.

Katie reached over to grab 2 9mms and twirled them in her hands before she slotted them into the holders on her thighs. Bucky watched her through the corner of his eye and raised an eyebrow as she reached over to select another larger rifle.

“Sure you can handle that thing, sweetheart?” he asked, his tone was gently teasing and Katie snorted, whilst behind her Steve gave a chuckle.

“Stop flirting with my wife, Buck and I’ll have you know she’s a trained sniper, give you a run for your money.” he said, almost proudly as he slung his shield onto his back.

“That so?” Bucky asked, his mouth twisting into a grin. Katie simply smiled in response and cocked the gun, looking down the sight to check it was all clear.

The 3 of them stood together, Katie in the middle of the 2 super soldiers, waiting for the exit ramp to descend as Steve tossed his helmet in his hand.

“You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?” Steve said suddenly, looking over at Bucky as the cold air hit them.

“Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?” Bucky frowned

“You blew three bucks trying to win a stuffed bear for a redhead” Steve smirked.

“Right, what was her name again?” Bucky asked, a tone of amusement on his voice

“Dolores” Steve answered instantly, smirk still on his face “You called her Dot.”

“She's gotta be a hundred years old right now.” Bucky said.

“So are we pal” Steve said, clamping his hand on Bucky’s shoulder. The ramp was now almost completely down. Steve placed his helmet on, fastened the strap under his chin and the three of them descended.

“Well it aint quite a freezer truck.” Katie mused.

“I hate the cold.” Bucky sighed as they trudged through the snow.

“Yeah Stevie isn’t exactly a fan either.” Katie said “Although he still runs the Air Con at like minus 20”

“No, I don’t.” Steve sighed, as Bucky gave a bark of a laugh as the two of them began to playfully bicker.

“Our bedroom is freezing.”

“Look, I run at a higher temperature than you.” Steve shot back, looking at her “Yeah yeah.” Katie rolled her eyes, gun still raised as she looked around.

“Our place was always cold in the winter.” Bucky mused, and then he laughed again “Hey Katie, once when we were kids we built a fire using all this spare and wood we found in the outhouse.” “Yeah, your dad gave us a whack each round the back of the head as he’d been saving it to build a table.” Steve grinned again. “My ears were ringing for days.”

Katie smiled as the two men shared a laugh, it was nice to see them caught up in memories. But their reminiscing was short lived as they had reached the entrance to the bunker. Bucky turned round, just to make sure no one was behind them as Katie looked at the large, steel door set into the rock. It was open.

Bucky and Katie both raised their guns towards the gap.

“He can't have been here more than a few hours” Steve said as they stopped just outside,

“Long enough to wake them up.” Bucky sighed.

Steve looked at him, before his attention went back to the door and he stepped forward, into the cast iron bunker. Katie followed him in, Bucky taking up the rear and a couple of meters in front of them was a caged elevator. The three of them climbed in, Steve pressing the button hanging from the top and they descended into the depths of the bunker in silence until it reached its destination with a soft thud.

Steve nodded to Bucky and then heaved up the cage door, Bucky readying his gun as they walked slowly down a corridor, keeping close to the wall. This time Bucky went first, Katie second, Steve following. Katie kept her gun raised, eyes sharp as she looked round into an alcove full of junk, the place seemed to be nothing but a dumping ground. They continued to move down the corridor before a loud thud rang around, causing them to spin around. Bucky aimed his gun back down the corridor, as did Katie, whilst Steve pulled his shield in front of him.

“You ready?” Steve asked, looking at Katie, then over at his friend as he took a slight step forward so he was almost shielding them both taking a step down the flight of stairs in front of them.

Katie nodded as Bucky replied “Yeah.”

The double doors at the bottom began to open, but it wasn’t another super soldier that greeted the trio. It was Tony in his full Iron Man suit.

Katie stared in surprise as her brother retracted his helmet.

“You seem a little defensive.” Tony said as Steve strode down the steps towards him, shield covering his body. Katie followed a yard or so behind, her gun now by her side.

“It's been a long day.” Steve replied, shield still raised, not quite sure what Stark was doing there. Bucky shifted slightly and Tony turned his head to look at him.

“At ease, Soldier. I'm not currently after you.”

“Then why are you here?” Katie asked.

“Could be your story aint so crazy.” Tony said, shrugging.

“Sorry, is that you admitting you’re wrong?” she asked, raising her eyebrow slightly at her brother.

“Maybe.” Tony shrugged.

“Ross?” Steve looked at him.

“Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself”

“Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork” Steve quipped as he lowered his shield “It's good to see you, Tony.”

“You too Cap.” his brother-in-law smiled softly before he looked over at Bucky who still had the gun raised

“Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop…”

Steve motioned at Bucky to lower the gun and he did.

“So how did you find us?” Katie asked

“I went to the prison.” He sighed, “Spoke to Sam.”

“How are they?” Steve asked.

Tony hesitated “Angry, mostly at me. Clint especially but… they’re, ok.”

Katie looked at him, she had the feeling he was holding something back but now wasn’t the time.

“What made you change your mind?” Bucky asked Tony. He may have lowered his gun but because his Captain had asked him to, but he was still unsure.

“I got an update from the Berlin police…” he said, turning to face the man. “The Task Force called for a psychiatrist as soon as you were captured. They dispatched a Dr Broussard from Geneva but he was intercepted by the man who questioned you.”

“You got a name?” Katie asked her brother.

“Yeah, Colonel Helmut Zemo, Sokovian Intelligence. He ran Echo Skorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad”

“Sokovia…” Katie sighed as Steve groaned, “Is that place set to follow us around for the rest of our days?”

“You think that’s what he wants with these Super Soldiers?” Steve asked. “Some form of army to get revenge?”

Tony made a face, shrugging.

“Your guess is as good as mine Cap, but I reckon so, yeah.”

Tony re-engaged his helmet and the 4 of them set off to continue the search. Katie felt bolstered by her brother’s appearance, and Steve also felt hopeful. Hopeful that they could sort this out then go home, together, and work through the whole unholy mess that had been left in the wake of the Accords. Still, they moved cautiously and silently until Tony, who was at the front, turned to his right, into a smaller corridor at the end of which was a vast chamber.

“I got heat signatures.” He said gently.

“How many?” Steve asked.

“Uh…one.” Tony said as he walked into the chamber.

“One?” Katie frowned. She looked at Steve and then the two of them turned to Bucky who shrugged, equally as puzzled.

As they all walked up the 3 small steps into the chamber Katie could just about make out several huge pillars when the lights in each of them snapped on. It was then that the all saw they weren’t pillars, they were capsules. Each containing an enhanced soldier surrounded by some form of hazy, yellow mist.

The four of them looked around, bewildered when the PA system crackled into life, causing Katie to jump.

“If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep”. The voice spoke as Bucky looked up at the solider in the capsule nearest to him whilst Katie continued to the next, her gun still raised. It was then that she noticed there was a bullet hole in the glass and a shot buried right between the female soldiers eyes.

He’d killed them.

“Did you really think I wanted more of you?”

There was another pause as Katie turned to look at Steve and Tony who were walking slowly through the middle of the chamber to her right, towards the machine that was used to wipe the soldiers’ minds. Bucky and Katie exchanged a puzzled glance. None of this added up. Why had he killed them? What had he come all this way for if he didn’t want to activate them?

“I’m grateful to them, though. They brought you here” the voice said, and then a window lit up to their right. Zemo was in there. Steve hurled his shield at the window but it simply bounced off the glass and returned to him where he was stood by my side.

“Please, Captain.” Zumo spoke with amusement “ The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets”

“I'm betting I could beat that.” Tony said, as he and Steve rounded the chair to the right, Bucky and Katie to the left.

“Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came.”

“You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?” Steve stepped forward so there was just the glass separating his face from Zemo’s as he glared at him.

“I thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized… there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw.”

Steve drew back slightly, frowning as Katie reached his side.

“You're Sokovian.” she said, watching the man, his brown eyes flickering to hers “ Is that what this is about?”

“Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell.” Zemo shook his head “ No. I'm here because I made a promise.”

Steve studied Zemo as he asked “you lost someone?

Zemo bowed his head and clicked his tongue. “I lost everyone. And so will you.”

Steve watched as Zemo pressed something and then a screen just behind them, to the right clicked on. He shot another look at Zemo before he made my way over to it, as Katie followed.

“An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again…but one which crumples from within?” Zemo spoke and Katie glanced back at him, Steve doing the same “That's dead… forever.”

Katie looked at the screen, the still image that was portrayed was somewhere very familiar. Her eyes flicked to the date on the freeze frame. December 16 1991. And in that split second she understood.

One which crumbles from within…

This was about splitting the Avengers up, pitting them against one another.

“I know that road.” Tony jerked her out of her thoughts from where he stood to her right, “What is this?” he spoke louder, aimed at Zemo who didn’t answer.

Tony glanced back at the screen and Katie felt herself grow cold as the footage began to play. The Stark siblings watched as their parent’s car entered the frame and crashed into a tree. And then the Winter Soldier rode up and got of his motorbike.

Katie glanced at Tony and could see his unease was increasing, his brow furrowing as he watched the driver of the car, their dad, laying on the ground. Tony inhaled deeply as the footage progressed and the Winter Soldier walked over to their dad who had struggled out of the car and hoisted him up by his hair and stared down at him.

Tony wasn’t watching the screen anymore. He was stood, eyes fixed on Bucky who had his head bowed. The soldier took a deep breath and glanced over at Tony, his eyes locking with the man’s. Tony looked away and back to the screen as the tears began to freely fall from Katie’s eyes. On the footage the Winter Soldier reined blow upon blow upon her father before dragging him by his collar and shoving him back into the driver’s seat. She felt Tony take her hand, his Iron Man Gauntlet tightening painfully around her fingers as The Winter Soldier rounded the car and reached in through the window. At that point she couldn’t take it anymore and she turned away, supressing the sob that was rising in her throat and pressed her face into Steve’s chest were he stood besides her side on, watching Tony carefully. He gently placed a hand at the back of his wife’s head before he glanced back at the screen to see the Winter Solder aiming a gun at the surveillance camera, shooting it.

There was a moment’s pause and Katie moved and looked over to where Bucky was stood a few paces behind them, his head bowed, shoulders slumped in disgrace. He looked up, his own tears clouding his eyes and then Tony lunged, and Bucky’s face contorted into panic, his rifle flying up as Steve hastily moving to stop Tony grabbing his arm.

“Tony, Tony.” he conciliated.

Tony looked down at the screen again, before he looked up at Steve, the tears glistening in his eyes as Katie wiped away her own with the back of her hands.

“Did you know?” Tony asked his voice barely audible.

“I didn’t know it was him.” Steve began, his voice pleading as he looked at Tony.

“Don’t bullshit Rogers!” Tony cut him off before Steve could continue, his voice full of fury. “Did you know?”

There was a pause, before Steve sighed and dropped his head slightly. “Yes”.

Tony pushed Steve away before he glanced back at the screen.

“Tony.” Katie said as he turned to look at her. “We didn’t know for sure, not until…”

“You knew as well?” Tony asked, his voice cracking as he looked at his sister and she began to cry again as she nodded, and Tony’s chest tightened with betrayal and heartbreak.

He stepped back, his chin jutting upwards twitchily before he re-engaged the Iron man helmet. He pushed Katie out of the way and as she tumbled left he punched Steve hard, sending him to the floor. Bucky started to fire, bullets easily deflecting off Tony’s Iron Man suit and he shot a beam at Bucky, disarming him and then flew across the chamber, slamming him into the floor. “Tony, please!” Katie shouted, as Tony jumped on Bucky’s chest. Steve stood up, threw his shield which hit Tony, distracting him momentarily before he tackled him from the front, barging him backwards. Then Steve was on the floor, then Bucky was there, it was getting really out of hand and Katie was powerless to stop any of it.

“You need to go.” Steve instructed as he cut the restraints that Tony had fired at him off his legs.

“I can’t!” she said stubbornly, “he’s my brother, Steve!”

“That wasn’t a request.” Steve repeated firmly “Go, get Zumo. If we don’t apprehend him, then all this is for nothing.”

She hesitated for a second.

“Katie!” he said, voice full of authority.

“Alright.” she swallowed “but please...don’t…”

She trailed off as Steve gently touched her face before he leapt up, shield raised. Then she turned and ran. Back the way they had come, the sounds of blasts and yells and metal on metal growing fainter and fainter as she sprinted down the corridors, the tears in her eyes hindering her view and sense of direction.

Every so often snippets of the footage flashed across her mind. Her mom and dad, pleading for their lives before Bucky, no, the Winter Soldier coldly executed them. This entire situation was a mess, and she had no idea how any of them were going to come back from this. Whether they could ever come back from this.

Eventually she made it outside. The snow had been falling, almost completely eradicating any sign of the three sets of footprints that were hers, Steve and Bucky’s, leading into the bunker, but there was one set leading away.

She took out one of her pistols, having lost her rifle in the chamber somewhere, and began to follow them, eventually coming to a thicket of trees. As she approached she could hear the sounds of voices, it sounded like one of them was talking via a phone.

“You should've seen his little face. Just try, okay? I'm going to bed. I love you.”

It was a woman’s voice and then Katie spotted Zumo, he was sat by a rock, looking at the phone in his hand. As she approached someone else emerged from the corner of her eyesight and she spun, raising her gun. It was T’Challa, Black Panther suit fully engaged. He gestured at her, palms up, before he retracted his helmet and spoke to Zumo.

“I almost killed the wrong man.”

“Hardly an innocent one.” Zumo shot back, no sign of surprise in his voice at them two of them being there.

“This is all you wanted.” Katie shook her head sadly, the cold snowy wind whipped her hair about her face and it stung her cheeks which were wet with tears. He looked up at her, eyeing the gun which she still had trained on him. “To see us rip each other apart?”

“My father lived outside the city.” Zemo began to explain “I thought we would be safe there. My son was excited. He could see the Iron Man from the car window. I told my wife, "Don't worry. They are fighting in the city. We're miles from harm." When the dust cleared… and the screaming stopped. It took me two days until I found their bodies. My father… still holding my wife and son in his arms. And the Avengers? “

He looked up at Katie and she saw the hatred in his eyes as he glared back. “You went home”

“None of us wanted any of it.” she shook her head, eyes welling up again “There isn’t a day goes by where I don’t wish things could have turned out differently. We tried, but we couldn’t save everybody…”

“I knew I couldn't kill you.” Zumo ignored her. “More powerful men than me have tried. But, if I could get you to kill each other…”

Kill each other.

Katie swallowed, her thoughts returning to Steve and Tony back in the bunker.

“I'm sorry about your father. He seemed a good man. With a dutiful son” Zumo looked up at T’Challa.

“Vengeance has consumed you. It's consuming them.” T’Challa blinked ruefully and retracted the claws in his gloves. “I am done letting it consume me. Justice will come soon enough”

Zumo smiled thinly, and for the first time Katie saw that he had a gun in his hand. “Tell that to the dead”

As he raised the gun to shoot himself T’Challa grabbed the shaft of it, absorbing the bullet and shot in his hand before he rolled round behind Zumo, getting him into a headlock.

“The living are not done with you yet.”

All 3 of them fell silent and Katie slumped onto a rock, her head in her hands. Whatever happened now, it didn’t matter. Zumo had gotten what he wanted. The Avengers were split, right down the middle, Tony and Steve were pitted against each other. Her brother and Husband.

And she had no idea what she was going to do.

*******

The fight went too far. Tony blasted Bucky's metal arm off of his body which sent Steve off into a frenzy but he lost his shield in the fracas that had ensued. And now, he stood in between Tony and that final blast that the billionaire knew would end his parents' killer once and for all. And Tony was going through him if he had to.

"He's my friend." Steve pleaded breathing heavily and he looked at Tony hoping to get through to him. Surely he understood it wasn’t Bucky that had done it, it was Hydra, it was always fucking Hydra.

"So was I." Tony answered flatly before punching Steve in the face once, twice then threw him into the opposite wall. Steve coughed, spitting out blood, then began to unsteadily work his way back up to his feet. "Stay down," Tony warned aiming his repulsor beam at him "Final warning."

Steve lifted both his hands in a fighting stance shrugging slightly as he said, "I can do this all day."

I can do this all day… those words roused Bucky and for a moment he was in an alley, bailing the little blonde punk out of a fight. Well, why break the habit of a lifetime? He grabbed Tony's ankle with his remaining hand, distracting him and Tony turned kicking him in the face rendering him unconscious again. Before he could react Steve grabbed him from behind and with a monumental heave he lifted him over his head, Tony tried to fly away but with his failing jets it was no use and he landed hard when Steve threw him down onto the concrete.

And then Steve was on top of him throwing punch after punch, grabbing his previously discarded shield bringing that down onto the mask until it broke and fell apart revealing Tony's frighten gaze to Steve.

Steve raised his shield one more time and Tony brought his hands up to cover his face but that wasn’t Steve’s intention, he couldn’t and wouldn’t ever hurt him like that. Instead, he brought it down hard onto the arc reactor. Tony lowered his arms and stared up at Steve with a mixture of surprise, betrayal and resentment and the soldier looked back at him, his own face contorted with remorse as he rolled off to the side of the now useless suit.

Both men took a moment to catch their breath as fatigue and exhaustion begin to set in, Steve was the first to move as he pulled the shield from the chest of the suit and hooked it back onto his arm. He glanced back at Tony one last before time, wishing it could be different before making his way over to his best friend and pulling the barely conscious man to his feet.

"That shield doesn't belong to you," Tony spat turning over on his side. "You don't deserve it. My father made that shield!" he shouted angrily.

Steve paused. Howard had made that shield, yes. And he had betrayed the man’s memory by keeping the true nature of his death a secret. Taking a deep breath, he realised Tony was right, he didn’t deserve it after all. Captain America was a righteous man, fighting the good fight, a moral man…and Steve Rogers had been selfish and arrogant thinking he could act as he had without consequence. With an immense air of sadness he shrugged the shield from his arm and let it clang to the floor. Then he proceeded to carry Bucky up the exit and out into the snow.

The sound his shield made as it hit the concrete was a noise that he knew would be forever ingrained in his mind. The sound of him leaving Captain America in a bunker in Siberia.

*****

Katie had no idea how long she sat waiting, lost in her thoughts and worries but eventually she heard a shuffling noise and spun round to see Steve supporting Bucky who was missing his metal arm. Both men were bloodied, battered, but alive.

“Where’s Tony?” she said standing up, looking at Steve.

Steve took a deep breath, “In there. It got out of hand but he’s ok.” Katie immediately headed to the door of the bunker.

“Katie, he won’t listen.” Steve shook his head sadly as he called after her “This…it’s too far gone to fix.

“I have to try Steve, he’s my brother.”

She left the sentence hanging, not looking back as she moved back into the bunker. She had to try and talk him round, make him understand this was what Zemo wanted… it was the last chance to try and sort all of this out. If she couldn’t then there was no way Steve could go back. No way he would go back.

And she was going to lose one of them.

“Tony.” she said gently, walking towards where he was sat, back against a wall in the depth of the concrete building.

“You know, when Rogers asked for your hand in marriage I couldn’t have been happier. Finally you’d met someone that treat you well, looked after you…now, I wish he’d never come out of that fucking iceberg.” He snarled up at her.

Katie took a deep breath. “You’re upset, I get that.”

“Really? You do?” he said, sarcasm dripping off every word “Oh that’s good because I thought for a moment you were missing the point.”

“What is the point, Tony?” she asked, softly “Do you think for one minute that I like what happened to our Parents?”

“How long have you known?” he looked at her.

“Since we took SHIELD and Hydra down.” she bowed her head.

“2 years?!” his voice rang round the cavern. “You knew for 2 fucking years?” “I didn’t know for certain it was him until yesterday, I swear.” she took a deep breath “But Steve is right. It wasn’t Bucky that did it. It was the Winter Soldier.”

“Oh god, he’s brainwashed you as well.” Tony groaned, banging his head against the wall “That man murdered our parents!!”

“No one is brainwashed, it’s simply a fact. Hydra murdered our parents.” she sniffed slightly

“BUT HE DID IT!” Tony yelled, “And whilst that mind control is in there he’s a danger and he needs to be dealt with.”

“He needs help.”

Tony laughed, scornfully “Frankly if you believe that, you’re the one that needs help.”

"We both know what it’s like to be tortured, to have your dignity stripped from you in a way people cannot possibly imagine.” she turned to her brother “And for us it was weeks Tony, fucking weeks. He endured it for 70 damned years." "He killed our mom!" "And he saved my life!" Katie said, her voice cracking "The Winter Soldier did those things, not Bucky Barnes.Tone, this is tearing me in two. I can’t choose between you, I can’t do it!" "You already chose." "No, I didn’t. I did what I thought was right. Not just the Accords but coming here. And you know it was right too, deep down or you wouldn’t be here either. You saw those soldiers in there, it could have been so much different." Tony snorted. "For once in your life just admit you'd follow Rogers anywhere..." Katie shook her head, sniffing slightly as her eyes misted over "Look, You're my brother, my father even, and I love you so much, but he is my husband and I love him, with everything I have.” Tony looked at her, and turned away. He felt betrayed, by them both. But as much as he hated what she had done, he loved his sister beyond belief and he knew no matter what happened here there would be no winners. If she stayed her heart would break at losing Steve and she would probably end up inside that shit hole pokey until some agreement or deal was done. And if she left, she might be free, but then he would lose her.

But above all Tony knew the thing that would break her the most was having to make that choice, a choice between a life of freedom on the run with Rogers, or a choice between being locked up or with him. He couldn't see her go through that, he couldn't see her locked up and miserable and without the man she loved, and who clearly loved her. Tony knew, there was nothing else to do, he had to make the choice for her. And moreover he knew he had to be the one to lose.

"I don’t even wanna look at you right now." His voice cracked and he turned away "Get lost, go on." "And go where?” her voice was strained. "Wherever your precious Captain is running to. And you best run fast. Because if Ross gets hold of you, you're both gonna be in that pokey with the rest of them and I'll make sure Rogers never sees the light of day again." "And me?" She said, her eyes wet as she looked at him. "You went against the accords." He shrugged, unable to meet her eye "Maybe they could get you a double cell" Katie felt her heart breaking. Her brother, the man who had been there all her life, was actively pushing her away. This is what it had come to. But just as she was about to argue, try and see they could get a way through this, he delivered the final blow. "You know, I'm glad mom and dad ain't here to see this, because they'd be so ashamed of you...” he took a deep breath before he delivered the blow he knew would kill her, and he was going to hate himself for it. “You disgust me." That. That there. Was the moment Katie felt her heartbreak. "Tony." her voice cracked "Tell me you don’t mean that." "I mean every word." he lied. Because he didn’t. He didn’t mean any of it. He was beyond proud of her, how strong she was. But he knew, this was the only way she could be spared the agony of a shitty choice.

With a shaking sob Katie stood up and began to walk across the cavern slowly, giving Tony a chance to stop her but he didn't. As she reached the start of the corridor she stopped, taking a deep breath and turned back to look at him through her tears.

“Me not telling you about mom and dad was a mistake. But I did it to save you from all this, save you from hurting because I figured you’d seen enough over the past goodness knows how long.” she shrugged, wiping her face “I’m so sorry Tony.”

He looked away, not meeting her eyes because he couldn’t. “Just go.” he said softly.

She walked from the cavern as calmly as she could. Once she was out of site she began to sprint, wanting nothing more than the comfort of Steve. She was that wrapped up in her thoughts, twice she took a wrong turn and hit a dead end, screaming in frustration, before eventually, after what seemed like a lifetime she burst out into the snow before collapsing onto the floor, a loud agonising wail erupting from her chest.

“Katie?” Steve saw his girl fall to her knees, the noise she made chilled him to the bones. He sprinted straight towards her, ignoring the aching all over his body from the blows he had taken over the past 3 days or so. He dropped besides her “Honey?”

Katie took a deep breath before she looked up at Steve unable to voice her emotions or explain what happened. She simply bowed her head again and shook it. Steve sighed and placed an arm round her shoulder “Come on.”

With his help she rose to her feet, looking round. There was no sign of T’Challa. Zemo or Bucky.

“Where is everyone?” she asked, sliding her arm around Steve’s waist, more for support than anything else.

“T’Challa left about 2 minutes ago. He’s taken Zemo to the United Nations.” Steve said as they trudged through the snow.

“Least Bucky’s in the clear.” she sniffed, always searching for the positive.

“He’s not.” Steve sighed “Even if he’s proven not guilty they’ll want to lock him up, especially whilst Hydra are in his mind.”

They stopped at the bottom of the ramp to the jet.

“T’Challa has offered to help.” Steve turned to Katie, taking a deep breath as he knew this was it. The point at which she was going to have to make a decision on what she did next, and his heart was breaking for her. “He’s given me the coordinates to Wakanda and says he has someone there who could assist in fixing whatever it is Hydra did to Buck’s mind.”

“If the UN catch on he’s harbouring him it’ll cause even more trouble.” Katie sighed. “I know, which is why they can’t find out.” Steve said looking at her “T’Challa is going to tell the UN that me, you, Bucky and Tony are here, so they can send a craft out to pick everyone up. Then the cover story is that in the meantime Bucky and I escaped, and no one knows where we have gone.”

“Think they’ll buy it?” she asked, ignoring for a moment the fact that he had said Bucky and I, not Bucky and us.

“They’ve no reason not to.” Steve said after a moment.

“And he really thinks he can help him?”

Steve nodded. “So that’s the plan. Take Bucky and lay low for a while, at least until I can figure out what to do next”

He paused for a moment and then looked up the ramp before taking a deep breath and looking at her.

“I didn’t want any of this to happen” he sighed, “and if you don’t want to come I’ll understand.” he took a deep breath, as he grabbed both of her hands, the tears swimming in his eyes “I don’t ever want to force you to make a choice so whatever you do decide, I’ll understand, I just want you to know that I love you, I’ll always love you.”

Katie looked up at him, his last words were barely audible above his choked back sob. She knew Steve wasn’t ever going to go back, he couldn’t go back. He wouldn’t settle being behind bars but he was offering her a way out, a chance to stay with Tony. Her husband had never, not once through this entire situation pressured her to take his side. And she hadn’t taken his side, she had done what she believed was the right thing. But now, when it came down to it, there was simply no choice for her to make. Tony hated her, the Accords had finished the Avengers, Ross would make sure she was locked away…and the thought of Steve not being with her broke her more than anything.

There was nothing else left for her to do but go.

Her eyes misted over as she looked up at the man who was her world, her everything. “I can’t stay.” she whispered “Not without you. Please don’t leave me.”

“Leave you?” his voice cracked and he pulled her into his chest, hard, hands pressed at the base of her back and her head as she fisted her hands into the dirty material of his uniform. “Never, Doll.”

“Then get me out of here.” she pulled back to look up at him, gently using her thumbs to wipe away the tears on his face that had run down below the line of his helmet.

“Are you sure?” he had to ask again. “Because if we do this, there’s no going back. You might be able to sort things with Tony if you stay.” “When I’m locked up in prison?” she shook her head “What’s the point in that. Besides, we both know that you wouldn’t stand for it. You’d break me out in a week.”

He gave her a soft smile, she was right. He would. She leaned up to place a soft kiss on his lips before she turned and strode up the ramp into the jet, wiping her eyes and putting her weapons away silently. Steve followed her in and she turned to look at him when she spotted Bucky who was looking significantly worse for wear sat on one of the seats.

“You ok?” she said gently. He looked up and gave her a small smile.

“Yeah, look, I’m sorry, I really am.” his voice cracked and his head hung again.

“I know.” she said sadly as she touched his shoulder and headed over to the co-pilots seat.

Steve settled in the pilot seat just in front of her, removing his helmet and punching in some co-ordinates. Moments later the jet was airborne.

“Auto-pilot locked. ETA 4.5 hours” Katie muttered, reading the computer before she stood up and dropped her hand on Steve’s shoulder “Think it’s about time I patched you boys up.”

“Start with Buck.” he said gently, standing up “He’s worse than I am.”

She moved to the back of the jet and began rummaging in the first aid boxes gathering various things before she told Bucky to sit on the gurney in the medi-bay area of the jet.

“This is probably gonna sting a little.” she said, biting her lip as she began to wipe gently at the various cuts and bruises on Bucky’s face. If it hurt he didn’t give any outward signs that it did. She then moved to the back of his head, clearing up a nasty gash from where he had taken a hit and once that was done she checked his arm, there was no new wound, but his metal arm had been removed just below the shoulder blade, leaving the metal socket intact.

“Does it hurt?” she asked him gently.

“No.”

She looked at Steve, shrugging as if to say that she had done the best she could and he nodded, looking at Bucky.

“Why don’t you rest?” He said, nodding over to the seats. “We’ve got a while before we arrive and I doubt any of us had much sleep last night.”

“You guys certainly didn’t…” Bucky said slyly. Katie shared a look with Steve who she was amused to see had flushed from the neck upwards, the patches of his face that weren’t dirty were now a bright crimson.

“Walls in hotel rooms are thin…” Bucky continued, grunting slightly as he dropped into one of the seats, leaning back and closing his eyes.

Katie bit her lip as Steve sat down on the stretcher, same place Bucky had sat before. She studied his weary face and noticed that there was a huge bruise forming on his right cheek and a smaller abrasion on his left. His nose had at some point been bleeding and there was a split in his lip, but all in all his helmet had saved him for the most, as he was nowhere near as bad as Bucky. She gently wiped at his face, as tenderly as she could to avoid hurting him. She cleaned off the dirt, dried blood and then the cut above his eye, before moving to the one on his lip. As she touched it with the antiseptic wipe he hissed slightly.

“Stop being a baby…” she said, teasingly as she continued. He opened his eyes and simply watched his wife’s face intensely. Her eyes were red rimmed from her crying and he couldn’t help but wonder what Tony had said to her when she had gone back in. But he knew she would tell him when she was ready. Eventually she finished and dropped the wipe she had been using into the dish to my right, and he placed both his hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him, so that she was stood in between his legs.

“I love you so much.” He said gently. She brought her hand up to brush across his now clean but bruised face and sighed.

“I know.” she said gently, placing a soft kiss onto his lips, careful not to aggravate any cuts further. He would heal fast, he always did. In a few days there would be no evidence of any of these.

From over in the corner of the jet there came a soft groan “Get a room…preferably not next to mine.”

*****

It was 3 hours into the journey when she told Steve everything. What Tony had said, how he had told her to leave, and that he was disgusted with her, and Steve’s heart broke for her as she cried again, her tears falling to his shoulder as he sat and simply held her before insisting she also took some rest. He knew what Tony had said was bullshit, the man was ridiculously proud of his sister, and he found himself understanding why he had done it. To save her from an impossible choice. Tony was as selfless as the next person where his sister was involved.

About 45 minutes or so later, when Katie was fast asleep, Bucky woke up and he noticed Steve was sat in the seat at the front, simply staring out of the window.

“Got anything to drink?” he asked, and Steve’s head snapped round.

“Should be some water in the fridge, hang on…” “I lost my arm Punk, not my legs.” Bucky grumbled, heading over to where Steve was directing.

“Glad to see your attitude is still as bad as ever.” Steve raised an eyebrow as Bucky threw a bottle to him which he caught in his right hand.

“Yeah well, there are somethings even being brainwashed can’t get rid of.” he sighed as he headed over to the seat by Steve. Clasping the bottle in his knees he worked the top off with his right hand and took a deep swig.

“Do you really think they can do it? You know, get whatever Hydra put in my head out?” he asked.

“T’Challa seems to think so.” Steve nodded, looking at his friend.

“Well, perhaps when he has we can catch up properly…” Bucky’s voice was wistful.

”Like old times huh?” Steve said with a twinkle in his eye.

Bucky smiled before he grew serious again. “You know I did think about finding you, but…”

Steve looked at him for a moment and then leaned forward slightly. “How much do you remember?” he asked.

Bucky sighed, “I remember most things, about my life that is, but at first it was just a big jumble. That’s why I wrote it all down...”

The two men fell silent again, Steve full of his own guilt again for not going back for him that day he fell from the train. He could have spared him all of this.

“How did you do it?” Bucky asked suddenly, making Steve look back at him “Wake up 70 years in the future and just carry on?” “Katie.” Steve said instantly “I came out of the ice, I’d lost everyone I knew, had no idea what to do…but then I found her…almost like it was meant to be.”

“I thought Steve Rogers didn’t believe in fate?” Bucky teased “What was it you used to say? You make your own luck?” Steve chuckled “I didn’t, I mean I don’t really, but whatever it was be it fate, luck, circumstance…I’m just glad it happened.” he trailed off, smiling, before he carried on “You know, I loved Peggy but that was nothing to what I feel for Katie. I can’t imagine being without her.”

Bucky looked at his friend, smiling. He had always known that when Steve found the right dame he would fall hard and fast, and it was clear he had. After all of his bad luck before the war it was nice to see the man so happy and loved. But Bucky wasn’t going to let it lie without the chance to tease his friend. He grinned and looked at him, a cheeky smile spreading across his weary face.

“Yeah she’s pretty hot too. How did a punk like you manage to pull a gal like that?” “Buck!” Steve said exasperatedly as Bucky laughed.

“I’m just playing with you Stevie. I’m glad you found someone.” Bucky said gently. “Just gutted I wasn’t at the wedding, well properly anyway. You looked happy though when you came out of the church.”

“I was. And I wish you could have been there properly too pal.” Steve said, his voice taking on a teasing tone “But Sam made a pretty good substitute best man.”

“Wait, you had Seagull as your best man?” Bucky’s tone was indignant.

“He’s a good friend.” Steve said.

There was another pause.

“You know I haven’t thanked you yet.” Steve said gently “For saving her life.” he nodded over to where Katie was curled up in a seat under a blanket “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been there.” “Right time right place.” Bucky shrugged “You know, I didn’t recognise her at first, just heard all this screaming and…well she was in a bad way.” “I know.” Steve said, softly “They…they hurt her.” Bucky didn’t need to ask what they had done to her. He could imagine.

“She’s ok now though, right?”

“Physically yeah..” Steve nodded “mentally…she still has nightmares sometimes but don’t we all? She’s strong though, way stronger than me…”

“I dunno from the noises I heard last night you seemed to be pretty strong.” Bucky quipped and Steve groaned

“Sorry, our walls at the compound are soundproof so…” he offered an explanation, blushing again.

“Yeah, well the first time we just kinda ignored it but then when you started again an hour later, then again, well…frankly it was a little gross.”

“Guess we just got a bit carried away.” Steve felt the heat spread up his neck.

“Sam said you were showing off.” Bucky smirked causing Steve to snort. “You got some stamina, bud, I’ll give you that.”

“Something we both thank Dr Erskine for on a regular basis.” Steve shot back cheekily and Bucky barked out a laugh.

Then the alert on the cockpit started to go and Katie sat up, rubbing her eyes as the noise roused her. Steve shot her a smile, pretty sure he was still blushing, and then turned to look at the dials on the cockpit

“Hey.” she said, approaching the front, dropping her hand to Bucky’s shoulder as she pressed a soft kiss to Steve’s head “We here?”

“I think so.” Steve frowned, “The co-ords are telling me to drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0…only...”

Katie looked ahead, it was nothing but a thicket of what looked like jungle.

“You trust T’Challa?” she asked, settling in a seat behind him.

“Yeah.”

“Then do it.” she said simply, looking at him like he was an idiot.

Bucky smirked slightly and Steve rolled his eyes, but obeyed all the same. They passed through the trees as they simply disappeared, like a computer image and they were left with the skyline of a beautiful city. Katie let out the breath I hadn’t even realised she had been holding.

"What the fuck?" Bucky whispered, and Steve laughed in agreement.

*****

They were welcomed by T’Challa’s Mother, younger Sister Suri and a few members of his King’s Guard. T’Challa was on his way back from the UN and wouldn’t be back for an hour or so, so in the mean time they were given something to eat and a place to clean up, Katie taking her time in the scalding hot shower in their luxurious suite. Steve had stayed with Bucky and she was glad, as she broke down once more thinking about Tony, wondering where he was. Once she had cried all the tears she had left to cry, she dried off and crawled into the bed passing out almost immediately. She didn’t feel Steve climb in besides her later on that night. He stayed awake for a lot longer than she did, having spent the evening with T’Challa who had filled him in on what the UN had said. Tony was home ok, he knew that much, and the authorities had accepted T’CHalla’s explanation, essentially meaning he, Katie and Bucky were outlaws. For once in his life he had no idea what to do next, and the guilt at dragging her into this was eating him up. With a sigh he wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close and drifted into an uneasy sleep.

The next day felt slightly more positive. After breakfast Suri took Bucky into her lab for a scan on his brain. Bucky had worried that going into a scanner would remind him of the machine Hydra used and could bring out the Winter Soldier again, but Suri had simply smiled and shook her head, before using what looked like a beaded bracelet to perform the scan.

Now she stood over a tablet looking at the image.

"Your mind has been fighting this the whole time." she said tapping a few places on the tablet and bringing up a hologram image of Bucky’s brain for them all to see. She pointed to a bright, pink line which snaked all over the image “That's what they put in there but it hasn’t melded properly, which I suspect is why you required constant…how to put this…recalibration I suppose.” she pondered something before she turned to look at the soldier and smiled. “I can fix this.”

"Really?" Bucky said, his head jerking up as he looked at her, his eyes shining.

"I may have to engineer something new equipment wise, and it could take me a few months to do it- but it is reversible." She nodded, voice oozing with confidence as she looked at the scans of Bucky’s brain on the screen

"How?" Bucky frowned, hardly daring to believe what she was saying. He would be free…

“I can cut it out.” she said, like it was something she did every day. “Like I say, it has not melded to your brain. Think of it as foreign object, not a part of you, and all foreign objects can be removed."

Katie squeezed Steve’s hand as Steve let out a loud breath as he looked up at the ceiling. Bucky was going to be ok. He glanced down at his wife who smiled at him, as they both turned to see Bucky’s eyes were wet as he wiped tears off his face. Suri dropped a hand to his shoulder.

“You won't have to live with this anymore, Sergeant Barnes." she said to him.

Bucky looked at her, then to Steve before his face crumpled and in a stride Steve had closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around his friend in a brotherly hug as Bucky sat on the bench, unable to believe that he was going to be free, finally free from Hydra. Katie watched the two of them as T’Challa gently squeezed her shoulder as he and Suri made to leave the room. She followed them, pausing in the doorway to turn to look at the two men, Steve stepping back from Bucky to look down at him as he wiped at his face, a teary smile crossing his features.

It had cost them everything, but at least there was something good going to come out of it all.

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f4liveblogarchives · 5 years ago

Text

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #200

Mon Aug 26 2019 [01:59 AM] Wack'd: Alright, here we go. [01:59 AM] Wack'd: FANTASTIC FOUR VOL 1 NO 200: [02:00 AM] Bocaj: WILL IT BE BETTER THAN AVENGERS 200?? [02:00 AM] Bocaj: HOW CAN IT NOT BEEEEE? [02:00 AM] Wack'd: I just skimmed it and an alien does actually forcibly impregna--nah I'm just kiddin' [02:01 AM] Wack'd: So Doom's throwing himself a little pity party and Reed's like "uh, maybe we hang back a minute?" [02:02 AM] Bocaj: hah [02:02 AM] Wack'd: But Ben is, of course, not having it [02:03 AM] Wack'd: Uh...Ben aided in the destruction of his clone by.......?????

[02:04 AM] Wack'd: His memory doesn't take long to revise itself, does it [02:04 AM] maxwellelvis: By being friends with Reed Richards, I assume? [02:05 AM] Bocaj: Being adjacent [02:05 AM] Wack'd: Oh, in the Saul Goodman meaning of culpability whereby any wrongdoing that sufficiently scars you justifies all your actions [02:05 AM] Wack'd: Sure [02:06 AM] Wack'd: Anyway Doom uses a force field in his suit to shove the Four back to buy himself time to see to his clone's body [02:07 AM] Wack'd: ...they were on a balcony

[02:09 AM] Wack'd: Ben does his usual thing of trying brute force and Reed does his usual thing of randomly guessing why that won't work and being right and Ben does his usual thing of grumbling about it [02:09 AM] Wack'd: Wondering if this is a "Reed and Doom aren't so different" moment or just reenforcing the status quo

[02:10 AM] Wack'd: "Leading an armed insurgency into the UN is the same as giving them a present and offering to depose myself, right?"

[02:11 AM] Wack'd: So the mob's gotten bigger [02:12 AM] Wack'd: I like that Zorbo's got a superhero build and bone structure and literally every other Latverian is still drawn like an extra from a Universal Frankenstein picture

[02:14 AM] Wack'd: Doom siccs a tornado on his subjects [02:14 AM] Wack'd: Coulda done that last issue when the protest started but I guess now he's got nothing left to loose [02:16 AM] Wack'd: Then he takes his personal jet, his statue, and "equipment" he's kinda cagey about to the UN [02:17 AM] Wack'd: Daredevil's gonna sue someone

[02:17 AM] Wack'd: Maybe he'll hire that Matt Murdoch guy. I've heard good things [02:19 AM] Wack'd: Meanwhile, the Four escape. Reed slithers through the door's keyhole at great personal risk because touching anything will vaporize him [02:19 AM] Wack'd: They really should just get a fucking sonic screwdriver [02:19 AM] maxwellelvis: It's Operation! The Wacky Doctor Game! [02:20 AM] Wack'd: heheheh [02:20 AM] Wack'd: So Reed, Sue, and a miraculously-okay Zorbo search for and find Doom's secret plans [02:21 AM] Wack'd: While Ben and Johnny free Alicia [02:21 AM] maxwellelvis: Doom's plan, more or less: 1 2 3 [02:22 AM] Wack'd: Sure [02:22 AM] maxwellelvis: More or less. [02:22 AM] maxwellelvis: There wasn't a panorama of that scene I could grab. [02:22 AM] Wack'd: This is a pretty good moment

[02:23 AM] Wack'd: Minus Johnny's cool-guy posturing at the end there [02:24 AM] maxwellelvis: While also trying to play it cool about how little action he's been getting lately. [02:24 AM] Wack'd: Maybe if he tried asking out someone who wasn't afraid of fire [02:25 AM] Wack'd: ...whatever happened to Valeria from the 5th Dimension? Did they break up in Johnny's solo book or did Marvel just kinda forget about her [02:28 AM] Wack'd: So the short answer is Johnny's solo has been over for three years by this point! And yeah after that everyone just forgot her [02:29 AM] Wack'd: Hell Marvel Wiki doesn't mention any followup on their relationship in Johnny's solo book, so [02:29 AM] Wack'd: Into the ether with her [02:30 AM] Wack'd: Anyway--Chapter 2! We're back to doing chapters now! Exciting! [02:31 AM] Wack'd: The Four and Doom have both arrived in NY. Reed and Johnny are fighting Doom directly while Sue and Ben head to the UN [02:32 AM] Wack'd: Sorry, Johnny overdoes it against some areal missiles and retreats back to the Pogo Plane [02:32 AM] Wack'd: Time for the highly-anticipated Reed/Doom cage match [02:33 AM] Wack'd: Not like this is a team book or anything

[02:34 AM] Wack'd: There's a quick recap before the fight and it's retconned the college actually condemned Doom's experiment to go to the netherworld [02:35 AM] Wack'd: Thus ending one of my favorite dumb bits of comic book lore, which is that Doom got a grant for that [02:36 AM] Wack'd: Round one goes to Doom! Reed tries to dismantle Doom's suit and gets electrocuted [02:37 AM] Wack'd: Probably should've remembered he tried that on a robot two issues ago and got the same result [02:38 AM] Wack'd: Round two! Reed's been lured into the MURDER ROOM! Mechanical tendrils, lasers, robots! [02:38 AM] Wack'd: In keeping with Doom's "fair play" policy, all the traps have solutions, but eventually Reed will be worn down and miss a step and get, presumably, murdered [02:39 AM] Bocaj: Wherein Doom is a Saw [02:39 AM] Wack'd: Meanwhile, in the UN [02:40 AM] Wack'd: It occurs, perhaps too late, that it's probably a bad idea to send a giant-size statue of yourself as a gift to the people planning to vote you out of their organization for war crimes

[02:41 AM] Wack'd: Also: wouldn't be a commemoration of the long, proud history of Fantastic Four without some racial/nationalistic caricatures, I guess [02:41 AM] maxwellelvis: Now, these are his Servo-Guards, right? [02:42 AM] Wack'd: These are humans I'm pretty sure based on the last few issues [02:42 AM] maxwellelvis: I just assumed with how tight to the face those nose things are [02:42 AM] Wack'd: Doom doesn't design for comfort [02:42 AM] maxwellelvis: And the identical sunken cheeks on all of them. [02:43 AM] maxwellelvis: It's one of those things like Psycho-Man's mask [02:43 AM] maxwellelvis: At one point in the 80's the inker forgets that it is a mask and just draws him as a very ugly man. [02:43 AM] Wack'd: In fairness that's a lot of Fantastic Four baddies [02:44 AM] maxwellelvis: I know. It's just those sorts of coloring errors bug me. [02:44 AM] Wack'd: So it turns out Doom is planning on doing something to the UN with this statue and that massive hall of mirrors that's also a solar power center from back in 196 [02:44 AM] Wack'd: Bet you forgot about that thing, didn't you? [02:45 AM] Wack'd: So Doom is about to Do the Thing when Reed surprises him by having broken out of the Murder Room [02:45 AM] Wack'd: (He slipped inside the nozzle of a gas gun and exploded out of its ammo tank) [02:46 AM] Wack'd: Wouldn't be a commemoration of the long, proud history of Fantastic Four without Reed pulling a solution out of his ass that the narrative expects us to believe he had planned from the very beginning

[02:47 AM] Wack'd: How did he fit that through the nozzle of a gas gun, anyway [02:47 AM] maxwellelvis: "Wasn't easy" [02:49 AM] Wack'd: Reed tries to convince Doom to give up on petty revenge and join the good guys [02:50 AM] Wack'd: But Doom retorts that he's not interested in revenge, he genuinely believes he deserves power, because the murder of his mother proved to him that everyone who's not him is a "superstitious, frightened pack of cloddish morons" [02:52 AM] Wack'd: Doom manages to activate his statue which hypnotizes all the UN delegates into attacking Sue, Johnny, and Ben [02:52 AM] Wack'd: And Doom and Reed finally spend a few pages punching each other a lot, which is what we all wanted, I guess [02:54 AM] Wack'd: "I DON'T CARE ABOUT PETTY REVENGE! ALSO, ADMIT YOU WRONGED ME!"

[02:56 AM] Wack'd: And so, Zorbo takes his rightful place as acting leader until elections can be set up. Sets Doom up with some mental health care too which is nice of him by 70s standards

[02:57 AM] Wack'd: It was nice of the UN to let Doom have his evil hypnotic statue back

[02:57 AM] maxwellelvis: And some attempted biblical symbolism from Marv [03:01 AM] Wack'd: Thus ends the first 200 issues of Fantastic Four [03:01 AM] Wack'd: Jesus fuck [03:01 AM] Wack'd: Cannot believe I read 200 installments of anything ever [03:03 AM] Wack'd: I will try not to take a multi-year hiatus again like I did around the time I hit 100

#1978 #Marv Wolfman #Keith Pollard #The Main Book

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prorevenge · 6 years ago

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Don’t screw with somebody who is trying to give you a deal.

I’ll preface this post with the obligatory, “I’m not vindictive, or hold grudges...” bullshit. I really don’t, but I do have a long memory.

I own a commercial painting company. I’ve done everything from $50 jobs to $250k jobs. I try not to discriminate, but as my business grows larger, I’ve found that costs for doing smaller jobs is not worth the effort to “mobilize”/“demobilize” them. Perfectly natural for a growing construction business. You want fewer jobs worth more money.

So here comes the pro revenge...

My company is just getting into the groove of things during 2018, and picking up some big jobs (From this point forward we’ll refer to big jobs as 20k+ projects). I get a call from a family friend (call him Jerry) that I have done a lot of work for in the past. Jerry is a millionaire. Like never have to worry about money ever millionaire. Jerry wants me to loan him an employee or two to do a “big job” at a property he owns two states away (yes, Midwest 2 states away). I told Jerry we could accommodate his work needs if he pays per diem and a hotel room for my guys. I needed them on another project, but I have other employees that could make due. This was a huge favor since he was essentially renting my employees without needing to carry workers comp or keep them on payroll.

I make the trip with my guys to make sure everything is set up correctly. We get going on the job and it is a success! Get the entire backside of a massive building done within 4 days. After the showing we had there, I thought we were good. Me and my guys go home to our young families and just enjoy life. My guys are scheduled for a weekend off, then 7 hour drive back to the project. We all had a great weekend.

My guys get back up to the project after their awesome weekend, and realize there is no per diem and no hotel room waiting for them. I call Jerry’s secretary to make sure everything is alright. She says she is not able to accommodate their room and board. This was the premise of our deal. Take care of my guys and you can have them. My guys immediately come back home to work for me (albeit pissed as fuck). Jerry calls and wonders what’s going on. I have to explain to him why they came back. It was a $70/night hotel room and $40 per diem which kept them from staying.

Jerry’s pissed, I’m pissed (for not having my guys during that period), and my guys are pissed (for not getting paid for 20+ hours of work/driving).

Tensions cool after about a month. Job still needs to be done. I tell Jerry (in a moment of weakness) we MAY be available to complete the job for X amount of $. He went and got 3 bids for 3x’s the amount we were willing to do it for. Again, this is a family friend which I WAS willing to help. I said we’d do it for half of the highest bid...pretty fucking gracious. He comes back with a previous conversation we had about the total project cost trying to get me down on price.

At this point I have devoted 100+ hours to make a family friend happy. I got paid $1000 for equipment rental and coordination minus the money I could’ve made from my employees/gas for me and my employees/and living expenses I incurred.

Side Note* I do a $400 weekend job for Jerry. He says he will help me and give $300. He doesn’t show or help at all. I charge him $275, and he says for tax purposes he will give me $250. No discussion, he wrote me a check for $250 and I took it. Yea, I’m a pussy. Straw that broke the camel’s back.

I’ve strung him along for a month on when we’re going to come up and finish. He has been renting a 85’ boom lift for that period in anticipation for us. He has now wasted $7k + on lift rental.

I thought about posting this to AITA, but then I realized this wasn’t a question. I might be an asshole after this, but at least I’m not the bottom bitch.

He just called...it can wait until tomorrow morning.

Edit: I put Ricin in my ex-roommate’s shoe moulding. I am the asshole.

Edit 2: My guys got paid for the entire first phase out of my company’s pocket. They got gas money and per diem even though I did not get paid for the second trip. Fuck all of you that think I have screwed over my employees. They missed out on 5 hours a piece, and they were fine with that for the shear fact they know they have a solid year-round job with me. I’ve learned my lesson working with Jerry. Don’t. I don’t throw my employees to the wolves. I wouldn’t be in business if I did. Again, fuck all of you that think I treat my employees like shit. Any small business owner will tell you that your employees are what make you money, so you need to make them comfortable and happy.

(source) (story by Riggs-e-mortis)

#prorevenge #by Riggs-e-mortis #pro revenge #revenge stories #pro revenge stories #pro #revenge #revenge story #last10

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adm-starblitzsteel-4305 · 11 months ago

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Okay!

10 times watching Godzilla Minus One and I'm gonna say, the movie is awesomely 100% great job!

BTW guys...

Have you all seen the black mark on Noriko's neck that eerily resembles Minus One Godzilla's dorsal plates?

What are your thoughts about that? Is Noriko now linked to Godzilla? Or is she slowly transformed into a Godzilla?

My biggest fear for her is that what if when Godzilla makes round 2 from Ginza (you know he regenerates back), instead of destroying the city, he kidnaps Noriko and forcing her to be "HIS BRIDE"? Godzilla may sense her because of the black mark she had. If that mark will make her turn into his kind, then I'll be as good as dead. Poor Koichi and Akiko, maybe Koichi will have again his round 2 revenge.

If she is Godzilla's bride, then BE IT. That freaks me out more.

State your opinions!

(Not gonna spoil you all, but here's the thought: if Noriko has psychic powers like Miki Saegusa, so Godzilla will be able to communicate/sense her).

I am still hoping for a sequel of this movie as the director has said earlier after the release of Godzilla Minus One.

#godzilla minus one #godzilla #reiwa era #godzilla minus one spoilers #noriko oishi #spoilers!#still nervous of the sequel but be brave enough to know that #miki saegusa

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burning-up-ao3 · 5 years ago

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From the Point 11 15 2019

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League have been short-handed this season, too. All those injuries at the NHL level meant that they had to fork over three of their best players for a little while. Plus, they've had a bunch of bumps and bruises, too. After a so-so start in their first season under coach Mike Vellucci, the Baby Penguins are on a roll. They've won four of their last five games, allowing a total of five goals, to climb into third place in their division. They host the Springfield Thunderbirds, the second-place squad, at Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday night. Eight of their next 10 games at at home. Thursday, we checked in with Vellucci, whose fascinating backstory includes surviving a car accident with former teammate Al Iafrate, to see how things are going down on the farm. He had some interesting things to say about Casey DeSmith, the late addition who has 11 goals in 15 games and three notable prospects who have been hit by injuries or illness. Here's a transcript of our conversation, which has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity. Post-Gazette: What are some of the challenges your team has faced early in the season and what has helped you get on a roll lately? Mike Vellucci: It was difficult. We had 11 guys that we expected in our lineup that weren't. So we were playing guys that are in Wheeling now and playing a lot of rookies that had never played a pro game and were learning what it takes to be a pro and also understanding what my expectations are for them and the way we want to play. So it was just a lot of teaching, growing pains, finding ways to win. I just feel that structurally the last six, seven games were getting to where we need to be. PG: What was it like seeing Sam Lafferty, Adam Johnson and Joseph Blandisi come up to the NHL and make the impact that they did? We know that's what you're preparing guys to do. And what kind of message does that send to your players when they see that happen? MV: As a coach, you're thinking, 'I hope they're doing what I told them to do so they don't make mistakes.' And then it's such a great feeling when you watch them play so well and do the right things. As for what the other players see, if they're doing it right down here and do it right up there, then they could end up staying and doing well. That means don't take the shortcut. Make sure you're doing everything the right way. I think it's very helpful as an organization to see that. And, as a coach, I'd use that as motivation for the guys that aren't there yet. PG: And when someone has success at the NHL level and comes back to the AHL, like Lafferty, can you sense a different confidence about them? And how much of a boost did that give your team when those three call-ups were returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton? MV: Yeah, you play with confidence. My job is to tell them to not take any shortcuts. Do what you would do in the NHL. Don't make a change down here and think that you need to cheat for offense. If you're not going to do it up top, why would you do it here? And then continue to play with speed and passion and those things. It was good they came back. The only difference for them was that they went from eight or 10 minutes to 22 minutes of ice time. PG: We talked to Casey DeSmith a couple of weeks ago. He admitted that he was frustrated and, frankly, hurt by being put on waivers and sent down to the AHL club. How do you think he's responded to that and how critical has he been for your team? It seems like he has found his game down there recently with shutouts in back-to-back games. MV: Yes, of course he was hurt and disappointed and all those emotions, which is understandable. I talked to him when he first got down here and I pulled him aside maybe 10 days ago and just said that he can't let this affect him. He can't control that he was sent down, whether it was because of money or the cap situation or whatever it may be. The only thing he can control is how well he plays and how he tries to get better every day. So I think from that point on he's been preparing to be the best he can and not worrying about things he can't control. I think he's settled in nice. And from a team standpoint, we've settled in with our structure to limit the chances against him. And when we have broken down, he's been there to bail us out. Photo via Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins PG: Tell us about Stefan Noesen. Your team signed him just before the season started and it seems like every time we check Twitter he has just scored another goal. Tell me about him as a player and a potential prospect, because he seemingly came out of nowhere. MV: He came out of nowhere for you, but not for me. I coached him in juniors [with Plymouth of the Ontario Hockey League]. So I know him very well. He was a first-round NHL pick [by Ottawa in 2011] and he had some tough injuries early in his pro career. He missed a lot of time. He played the last couple of years in the NHL and has been a very good player there. I know him. He's got great hands. His hockey sense is off the charts. He's competitive and he hates to lose. It's been a great signing for us. He's been a huge part of all of our wins, especially early on when scoring goals was difficult for us as a team. PG: How has Emil Larmi's adjustment to North American pro hockey been going? MV: Early on, he was really good, and then he had that freak, weird injury that gave us all a little scare there. He's finally gotten cleared and we're just trying to get him back into game shape so he can play. I like him a lot. I think he's a very good prospect for the organization, and he's a great person. PG: Speaking of injuries, two of the organization's better prospects, Kasper Bjorkqvist and Pierre-Olivier Joseph, have been out. Bjorkqvist had knee surgery a couple of weeks ago and is out for six months and Joseph is dealing with mononucleosis. How disappointing is it that you haven't been able to get a longer look at those two and help them develop? MV: We had all those injuries up top [in the NHL] and Joseph gets mono and Bjorkqvist goes out for six months. Go on down the list. Thomas DiPauli was hurt. It was crazy. It's difficult. It stunts their growth really. It's just going to take more time. P.O.'s getting close. He lost a lot of weight and mono really kicks your butt. So we're trying to get him back in shape and hopefully he gets cleared here in the next 10 days. Bjorkqvist, I mean, that's a big blow. One good thing is that he's in great shape and will continue to be. But he was really making some strides in his game. So it's very disappointing to see that he's out that long. PG: Last question – What's the next step for your team? You said they've really bought in structurally and you're getting some guys back in the lineup. What's the next step for your players? What do you want to see from them in the next month or so? MV: Continue to get better in all areas. But we've improved in everything we set out to improve in. We've been exiting our zone way better. That's something we worked on the last two weeks. Our forecheck is getting better. Our special teams, our power play's been really good but our penalty kill struggled early on. That was more from everybody being new to it but it's been oh-for-20 maybe in the last number of games. Just continue to get better as a team and individuals, and then being at home for the next little bit will definitely help. WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED 1. Sidney Crosby is expected to be out six weeks after undergoing sports hernia surgery. 2. Are all these injuries simply bad luck or is there something more to it? Note that Crosby, Kris Letang and Patric Hornqvist are all highly paid core players in their thirties. 3. Jim Rutherford goes into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday. He'll be sure to thank a lot of folks from Windsor, where he spent four formative years as a young hockey exec. 4. What's it like to bodycheck a buddy? Bryan Rust knows a little something about that. 5. Olli Maatta was back this weekend and had a lot of nice things to say about Pittsburgh. THREE STARS OF THE PAST WEEK 3. Evgeni Malkin. OK, so he was at least partially responsible for the Rangers' game-winning goal in overtime Monday. But he has been really good otherwise. He had a pair of assists in the comeback win against the Blackhawks and another Monday. That was a continuation of what he did in the previous week. The Penguins need Malkin to keep this going. 2. Jared McCann. McCann scored the shootout winner against the Blackhawks and got the team's first power play goal in a month in the loss to the Rangers. Going back to last week, McCann has two goals and four assists in his last four games with a plus-6 rating. 1. Matt Murray. He stopped 29 of 31 shots against Chicago and kept hope alive in New York after they got off to shaky start. They've lost in regulation in only four of his 15 starts. PENGUINS STAT LEADERS Goals: 8, Guentzel Assists: 12, Crosby Points: 17, Crosby +/-: +12, McCann PIMs: 17, Blueger Save %: .929, Jarry Wins: 9, Murray IT’S A GREAT WEEK FOR HOCKEY Friday @ 7 p.m.: Penguins at Devils. Three days after getting their first look at Rangers rookie Kaapo Kakko, which wasn't pretty, the Penguins have to chase after Jack Hughes for the first time. The speedy Devils center, picked first overall ahead of Kakko in June, has nine points in 17 games. Not bad. Hughes, a native of Florida, also has a minus-7 rating. Not good. Saturday @ 7 p.m.: Penguins vs. Maple Leafs. No Crosby for the Penguins and no Mitch Marner for the Leafs. The Leafs still have a few more big names, including American-born center Auston Matthews, but so far they have been pretty disappointing. With this being the second half of a back-to-back, Tristan Jarry could get his first start since Oct. 23. Tuesday @ 7 p.m.: Penguins vs. Islanders. The Penguins, as you probably recall, got a small measure of revenge last week when they rallied from three goals down to beat the Islanders in Brooklyn. The Islanders since then have started another streak and are one of four teams that entered Thursday with a better goal differential than the Penguins, who are plus-13. Thursday @ 7 p.m.: Penguins at Islanders. Jeez. These guys again? The Penguins and the Islanders play for the third time in 15 days. They won't meet again until March 15. STAT OF THE WEEK 4 – consecutive games in which the Penguins have fallen behind by two or more goals. Improbably, they won two of them and lost Monday's game in Manhattan in OT, earning a point. Opponents have scored first in 11 of the past 13 games, in part because the Penguins have just eight first-period goals. They should probably score some of those. QUOTE OF THE WEEK "I will be fire." – Evgeni Malkin, inspired by a fire alarm, on stepping up with Crosby out. EXITING THE ZONE I'll use this space to share quick Penguins tidbits, hot takes and random thoughts on hockey and life. ... Losing Crosby stings but it would hurt a lot, lot more had they not gotten off to a good start despite all their other injuries. They shouldn't fall too far behind the pack with a record like 8-11-4 in his absence. ... Now would be a great time for Nick Bjugstad to produce. I like Bjugstad as a player and he's one heck of a dude. But the points haven't been there for his linemates and him since arriving in February. ... Looks like Evgeni Malkin and Jake Guentzel will skate together against the Devils. Eager to see if that union works. Not sure if their games mesh. ... Wrote about this Monday and it still holds true today. Jack Johnson has been pretty decent so far this season. Heck, even advanced stats back that up. Playing a lot with John Marino helped. But let's give credit where it's due. ... You should really read this story my partner, Mike DeFabo, wrote about a homeless veteran who was looking for a place to sleep outside PPG Paints Arena while the Pens recognized Veterans Day inside. Sobering stuff. subscribe here: https://my.post-gazette.com/newsletters/?utm_source=pg.com&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=newsletter-subscribe&utm_content=navbar

#Pittsburgh Post-Gazette #Matt Vensel #from the point

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pharaohsparklefists · 7 years ago

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Episode 100, part 2 and let’s have some FUN

oh. not fun.

Not fun at all. While Yami is having possibly the worst duel your correspondent has ever had to sit through, and Honda and Otogi are fuckin around with life and limb, the Kaiba brothers have been hurtled back in time to a moment both of them would rather forget...

“already dead” is just about as vague as vague can be, and “an accident” doesn’t really clue us in much either. It’s possible Mokuba’s avoiding the memories but I think it’s more likely that he just doesn’t. know. Like Seto is not famed for his willingness to discuss the past. At all. Ever. And Mokuba was only about five years old when they arrived at the orphanage. I think Mokuba genuinely doesn’t know what actually happened to either of his parents, and has no one to ask.

It’s also not clear what happened immediately after Seto and Mokuba’s father’s death, except that upwards of six relatives (a) existed but (b) cared only for whatever money was involved.

Seto was defined during this period as being very crankily protective of the hobgoblin that is his younger brother.

Seriously, is tiny!Mokuba supposed to be cute?? Cause he’s sure as fuck not.

I suppose that, having died suddenly, their father didn’t leave a will, cause the fact that the relatives managed to get the inheritance and ditch the kids is a pretty damning indictment of both the father’s legal presence and whatever passes for child welfare services in YGO-world.

Like sending kids in your care to the orphanage of the shadowmen is just NOT OKAY, y’know? Like it’s ... not easy to do. It’s actually pretty hard to give a kid up for adoption without losing any other kids you may have!

So at this point, Mokuba’s memories - with the dull colours and the creeptastic shadowmen, intersect with the virtual reality they’re currently in, because the two brothers look around...

... and see the full-colour version of events...

... minus their “relative”, who has immediately driven away, leaving the boys with nothing in this world but their stylish handbags.

Mokuba looks back. Seto doesn’t. (For those of you who are worried about the mid-term exam: yes, this is a demonstration both of the Theme and of the two brother’s individual characters as they exemplify their respective archetypes.)

Having so far been almost exaggeratedly disdainful of events, actually seeing himself and his brother as they were at 9 and 5 years old evokes, rarity of rarities, a spontaneous and reasonable emotion from Seto Fucking Kaiba

So. How is Noah doing this? Like HOW is Noah doing this? Is the VR actively using their memories right now? Because Noah hasn’t had a chance before this to mine them for data. There weren’t CCTV cameras on every inch of the orphanage, there CERTAINLY weren’t any in the park/playground. Gozaburo could have provided data for most of the orphanage, but not for these particular moments of the brothers alone together. Seto and Mokuba, being different ages and very different people, probably have different memories of this time. Although I do suspect Seto’s memory is eidetic, which would help. But could even that really be enough to produce such perfect renditions of the past, of a past both brothers have tried to forget? Or is the VR simply sketching the basics and letting the imaginations and emotions of the brothers fill in the details?

However it’s happening, they’re shocked...

Mokuba especially is rattled, maybe because he remembers it less clearly and maybe because tiny!Mokuba is having a visibly more difficult time than tiny!Seto

Tiny!Mokuba ran away from the orphanage and went to a park, and current!Mokuba seems to have forgotten, until he sees it play out in front of him, that the incident ever occurred, but once he sees it...

(This strongly implies that Mokuba does remember his mother, so she probably didn’t die in childbirth, sorry fic writers.)

And their EXPRESSIONS here, I just can’t, because Mokuba is, for the first time, seeing just how desperate and sad their situation was. As a little kid, he was sad, he’s watching other sons play with their not-dead mothers and crying, but as an older kid, he’s really recognising the pain he went through and how alone they were, and it shows on his face in empathetic horror. But for Seto, this is the second time he’s recognised the awfulness of this situation, and his expression is a soft, tired, recognition...

okay once again, I think they were going for cute but the flat-top-round-bottom eyes are just fuckin creepy #sorrynotsorry

tiny!Seto found tiny!Mokuba and came to bring him back to the orphanage, wearing a faintly anxious smile, that Mokuba is probably extremely familiar with, to the point of not being able to really differentiate it from a genuinely happy smile, I suspect

On the way home, Mokuba explains his reasoning, maybe he could turn back time to when their parents were alive and things were okay...

And there’s nothing, nothing at all, that a nine-year-old can be expected to say to that, because a nine-year-old shouldn’t be left alone to deal with a twice-bereaved five-year-old, or, in fact, any five-year-old, ever, but especially not when they themselves are twice-bereaved so FOR FUCKS SAKE where are child welfare services?? or the orphanage staff??? or their fucking relatives????

But it’s only tiny!Seto and tiny!Seto doesn’t have much, but he does have a very strongly-held set of emotionally-unhealthy principles and dammit, he’s going to preach them!

THIS is where this comes from and it’s not a fun “oh Kaiba! lol!” line. When Kaiba calls someone a loser dog, he’s evoking the absolute worst moment of his life, the terror that grips him before the dawn, the one place on Earth he will never, ever go back to. It means powerlessness.

And then things get ... maladaptive.

For tiny!Seto, and probably for grown!Seto, happiness is just revenge on those who wronged you. Like literally, the point of being happy is to spite those people who tried to make you unhappy.

No wonder he’s so fucking cranky all the time.

This breaks my goddamn heart because Seto SHOULD NOT BE A FATHER, not even in his slightly-more-stable end-of-canon self (give him a few years) but ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY not as a grief-stricken nine-year-old.

Current Seto and Mokuba watch this play out and then Mokuba says, aloud, to Seto...

... something that didn’t come up on the godforsaken subtitles. But according to @ginrou and a few others, he said “you used to say those phrases a lot, big brother”, so this isn’t some one off, some grasping attempt at comfort in a sudden moment of desperation. Seto repeatedly told Mokuba (a) don’t cry, (b) that’s how they get you, (see) happiness is the best revenge so be fucking happy out of spite, (d) I’m your dad now, and (e) I’ll protect you. Those are heavy things for a nine-year-old to believe, and quite a fucking lot for a five-year-old to hear and internalise.

The scene changes and the brothers can see themselves inside an empty classroom (STRONGLY implying that they also went to school in the orphanage? is that normal? I never lost my parents at a young age in 1980s Japan) playing chess

They play chess. Surprising no-one, Seto wins. Mokuba was initially like “aw shucks, again?” but then immediately was like,

which is ADORABLE because Mokuba is ADORABLE and you know who else is adorable?

SMUG, BUT NOT MURDEROUSLY SO, SETO

#seto kaiba #Mokuba #episode 100 #sparklefists watches ygo #there's going to be a part 3 #this was unintended #but here we are

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anothergenericsportsblog · 4 years ago

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Why it may seem like this series isn’t a ‘Rivalry’ anymore(to an outsider

This article is gonna be a fun one for me to write. I was talking with a friend the other day(who is a neutral party in terms of this game as a Michigan State fan) and he said “‘The Ohio State-Michigan game is quickly not becoming a rivalry anymore. It’s becoming something closer to Ohio State- Michigan State because it’s starting to get to be a game of ‘Beating Ohio State would be nice, but it probably won’t happen.’” And that phrasing and sentiment got me thinking. I asked him why he thought that, and he replied with ‘The Michigan players don’t care about the game anymore because the coaching staff doesn’t actually care. The coaching staff is more worried about letting the boosters and other alumni donors do what they want instead of saying no. And when the staff lets the boosters in the locker room they(the boosters) go up to the players and tell them how great they are and how nobody in the country can beat them. Because of that they don’t put in nearly as much work and when the coaching staff is mediocre in the first place this puts them at a serious disadvantage.’ This was an interesting sentiment from a man who spent considerable time around a major college football program(not Michigan) as a player and a team staff member. Naturally, this thought and sentiment from someone who reached a place in the game of football that I could never(for various reasons, including that I definitely was not good enough to be a Division 1 college football player) made me want to sit down and take a deeper look at this. So here we are, on the second day of Hate Week, taking a look at why some people might think that rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan that gives us The Game every year isn’t a rivalry anymore.

Reason 1: Ohio State’s record against Michigan the past 20 years

The first reason that I’m going to look at is how Michigan has fared against Ohio State since the year 2000. Well, if there are any Michigan fans reading this, you may want to look away. Since the year 2000 Michigan has won 3 games against Ohio State. Those wins came in the years 2000, 2003, and 2011. Since 2000 Ohio State has beaten Michigan seven times in a row(2004-2010), and eight times in a row(2012-2019). Michigan does have the longest winning streak in the history of the 116(117 after Saturday) game series at nine wins in a row. But that happened back in 1901-1909. Ohio State very much has the chance to tie that this Saturday considering they are currently a 30 point favorite if the game is played. The beginning of this century has not been good to the Michigan Wolverines. In fact, it’s been beyond bad for them. Combine that with the fact that Michigan has had four different coaches in that time span, I can see why an outsider to The Game would believe it’s not really a rivalry anymore.

Reason 2: Most of the recent games haven’t been close

This is another reason for Michigan fans to look away. Most of the games since Michigan’s last win(2011) haven’t really been that close. Yeah, 2012 was a 26-21 win for Ohio State. 2013 was a 42-41 shootout in which Michigan lost on a failed 2 point conversion attempt. And then there was the 2016 Double Overtime thriller that saw Ohio State win after JT Barrett converted on a 4th and 1 and then Curtis Samuel scampered 15 yards to paydirt to win the game. Outside of those three games, Ohio State has won every matchup by two scores or more. Yeah, the Buckeyes won by 9 in 2017, but then you look at 2014(42-28), 2015(42-13), 2018(62-39), and 2019(56-27), it’s not been pretty at all. And to make the 2018 loss even worse for Michigan, that was supposed to be their ‘Revenge Tour’, whatever the hell that means. They sure didn’t get any revenge against Ohio State for beating them in 2017 or any of the previous years. A secondary reason to Reason 2 is that the last year Michigan beat Ohio State was the year Ohio State went 6-7 and Michigan was only able to beat them by six. Again, this probably doesn’t help Michigan’s case.

Reason 3: The Talent Gap

Over the past years a talent gap has formed between Ohio State and Michigan. Ok, more like a talent gap has formed between Ohio State and the entire Big 10, but we aren’t talking about the whole Big 10, we’re just talking Ohio State-Michigan. Since 2010 Ohio State has had 73 players drafted to the NFL with 18 players being taken in the 1st round. Michigan has had 47 players drafted to the NFL in that span with only 7 players being taken in the 1st round. Wow, that’s a big discrepancy. And honestly, I don’t know how to explain that discrepancy. I knew Ohio State had a lot of players drafted in the past 10 years, and I knew that Ohio State had more players drafted in the past 10 years that Michigan had, but I didn’t know the difference was that much. That’s a rough look. Yeah, Michigan had some really bad coaches in those 10 years, and they had some really bad seasons in those 10 years to go along with those coaches, so that can explain the discrepancy of players drafted, but that’s all I got here. There definitely has been a talent gap forming in the Big 10. And some of that even has to do with recruiting and player development by the coaching staffs of both teams, which leads us into our next reason.

Reason 4: The Coaching Skill Gap

Well, if I’m not careful, this part of the article could go on for several paragraphs. In fact I could probably write an entire article on this reason alone. Since 2001, Michigan has had Lloyd Carr(he became the Head Coach at Michigan in 1995), Rich Rodriguez, Brady Hoke, Jim Harbaugh(current head coach) all walk through their doors as the head coach. In that time Ohio State has had Jim Tressel, Luke Fickell(interim after Tressel resigned), Urban Meyer, and Ryan Day(current head coach). So there has been a lot more long term stability at Ohio State in the terms of who the Head Coach was. After Lloyd Carr retired, Rich Rodriguez was only there for 3 years and went 15-22 at Michigan and was fired having the lowest winning percentage of any Michigan Head Coach. Brady Hoke came in and well, it wasn’t great. Sure he beat Ohio State in 2011, but as we established, that was Ohio State’s worst year in a while. Brady Hoke was fired after going 31-20 as Michigan Head Coach but having progressively worse seasons. At least he gave us the gem of ‘I do like hotdogs’ after responding to a tweet about him for a segment done by College Gameday. And currently, Jim Harbaugh is on the hotseat, one so hot that many people assume he’s pretty much already out the door. He has a 49-22 record at Michigan but has yet to beat Ohio State, has only won one bowl game, which happened his first year as the Wolverines Head Coach, and has had regressing seasons. Lloyd Carr was the last really good Head Coach that Michigan had, and since he retired, they’ve had a stream of bad to mediocre or average at best Head Coaches. Now switching over to Ohio State, after Tressel resigned, Luke Fickell was there as the interim Head Coach for a year, and it wasn’t great. Then came Urban Meyer, who only lost 4 games at Ohio State and won a National Championship as the Buckeyes Head Coach. After Urban Meyer retired, his handpicked successor, Ryan Day came and he’s only lost 1 game as Ohio State’s Head Coach. Ohio State has seemingly had better coaches and coordinators, which has led to better recruiting and player development, which probably speaks to the player talent gap that has formed between not just Ohio State and Michigan, but Ohio State and the Big 10. Without good, you won’t go far and beat or even be able to compete with the teams that have great coaching.

Reason 5: Michigan just doesn’t care as much

This is one that I’ve had some neutral fans/outsiders to The Game and even a few Michigan fans tell me the past couple years. I don’t know if I buy it, but I’m gonna mention it here anyway just to wrap up this article. I guess we’ll have a better idea on the validity of this after the outcome is decided on Saturday. If The Game is played and Ohio State blows the door off of Michigan again, then maybe there is a bit of credence to this. Michigan is a 30 point underdog, and if Ohio State covers the spread, or even wins by just 20-29, then yeah, maybe I’ll believe this is true even though Michigan just isn’t good this year. If Ohio State wins by 20+ that may just mean that they won’t even be playing for pride at that point. Which would be pretty rough, and a very hard pill to swallow for Michigan fans everywhere.

And there it is, an analysis of why some people might think the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry is just a yearly game played between two teams in the same division, not a rivalry. Personally, I disagree with those people. It very much is a rivalry, and I know some Michigan fans who would agree with me. But to each their own. I’ll be back tomorrow to look at other aspects of this year’s iteration of The Game, because it’s Hate Week ladies and gentlemen.

T-Minus 120 Hours until The Game

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spletch574 · 4 years ago

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Mask art research

1. Gillian Wearing, Confess All On Video. Don’t Worry You Will Be in Disguise. Intrigued? Call Gillian Version II, 1994

Confess All On Video. Don’t Worry You Will Be in Disguise. Intrigued? Call Gillian Version II is a colour video lasting slightly under thirty-six minutes that features ten scenes, each showing a disguised person telling a secret in an unedited monologue. All of the speakers are depicted from the shoulders upwards and are heavily lit, so that their strong shadow is projected onto a white wall behind them. In some cases they gaze directly at the camera, while in others they look away. The individuals’ disguises vary in character – some entirely cover their faces with masks, while others wear wigs and other accoutrements, such as sunglasses and a fake beard, but leave their faces wholly or partly visible. The costume elements look cheap and somewhat exaggerated, with the wigs generally being large and the masks sometimes appearing cartoon-like. The confessions vary in length and content and have loose structures, suggestive of improvisation. All relate to sexual acts, crimes or acts of revenge: for example, two speakers discuss experiences of sleeping with prostitutes and one talks about stealing a computer from a school. The voice of an interviewer is heard just once during the work, asking one of the speakers their age.

This is the second version of a work of the same name that was originally produced by the British artist Gillian Wearing in London in 1994. Wearing began the project by placing an advertisement in the magazine Time Out that contained the text that makes up its title (minus the appended ‘Version II’). When respondents met Wearing, she supplied them with a range of costume elements, allowing them to construct a disguise. She then filmed them relating a secret in whatever way they chose. Originally shot in Betacam format, the video was edited and then transferred onto VHS tape. In 1997 Wearing re-edited the work to produce this second version, partly because the sound had deteriorated during the transfer to VHS and partly because during the initial edit she had cut down two of the confessions and she subsequently decided to feature them all at full length, with the result being that the second version is approximately six minutes longer than the first. This later version is considered ‘unique’ in that it was not released as part of an edition, and Tate also owns one copy of the 1994 original, which was produced in an edition of ten. When exhibited, the work must be shown on a television monitor in a relatively small space measuring approximately 3 x 3 metres, with some form of seating provided, preferably a sofa.

The title of this work primarily makes reference to the advertisement Wearing used to attract participants, emphasising the fact that the speakers actively chose to contact the artist and appear in her video.

The curator Russell Ferguson has argued that this work simultaneously involves an ‘uncomfortable’ level of intimacy and a feeling that ‘we have heard nothing we can be sure of’, since the speakers could be performing for the camera or simply lying (Russell Ferguson, ‘Show Your Emotions’, in De Salvo, Wearing, Ferguson and others 1999, p.36). Regarding the possibility that the speakers might somehow be performing in this work, Wearing stated in 1997 that ‘I noticed that they had taken time to mull over what they were going to say. One or two actually brought pieces of paper to prompt themselves. Things were set up, and it was ... ambiguous – that is where the art or the fiction came in’ (Wearing in Turner 1998, accessed 2 June 2015).

Further reading Grady T. Turner, ‘Gillian Wearing’, Bomb, no.63, Spring 1998, http://bombmagazine.org/article/2129/gillian-wearing, accessed 2 June 2015.

2., 3., 4., 5. Cindy Sherman, Untitled A, B, C, D, 1975

Untitled A, B, C and D belong to a more extensive series of photographs Sherman made while she was studying art at the State University College at Buffalo, New York (1972-6). She selected five images from the series and arbitrarily labelled them A to E. They were enlarged and reprinted in editions of ten. Sherman has explained the origins of this Untitled series:

These images were from a series of head shots that I made to show the process of turning one character into another. At that time I was merely interested in the use of make-up on a face as paint used on a blank canvas. I was experimenting with several types of characters – i.e. starting with an old person who then gradually became a drag queen. While the original series showed the entire process (about fifty 3” x 5” photos), later I chose a smaller group to make into slightly larger separate pieces. I unintentionally shot them with a very narrow depth of field, leaving only certain parts of the face in focus, which gives some of the features [a] malleable quality.

(Quoted in Contemporary Art, p.98.)

Sherman initially studied painting at Buffalo, making self-portraits and realistic copies of images she found in magazines and photographs. She began using photography after being introduced to Conceptual art by a teacher who inspired her to bring her childhood activities and obsessions into her work. She has said that as a child she was introverted, adding that ‘as a girl I used to always enjoy dressing up and being made-up. A lot of girls might like to look like their moms, but I would try to look like a monster or an old lady. Maybe I could have been an actress.’ (Quoted in Paul Taylor, ‘Cindy Sherman’, Flash Art, no.124, Oct. – Nov. 1985, p.78.) In this series of images Sherman combined painting (on her face) with photographic portraiture, assuming the personae of three female characters of different ages and one male. Variations in hairstyle and the use of hats in two of the photographs are the only props used. Below the chin the artist is bare. Two pale lines running down from either side of her neck, the result of being in the sun in a halterneck top, are clearly visible in each image and emphasise the theatricality of the work. The character in Untitled A wears a crocheted hat and has the most obvious make-up. Her dark eye-liner and lipstick, accompanied by heavy rouge just under her cheekbones to thin her face, suggest a woman in her thirties. Her submissive smile and the angle at which her head is tilted convey the sense of someone shy and anxious to please. The character in Untitled B, who is male, has joined-up eyebrows, and darkening under his eyes and chin and between his nose and mouth. For this image Sherman wore a cloth cap and pulled her chin into her neck to give the character a genial, comic air. The character in Untitled C has the least facial darkening. Her makeup mainly consists of thick mascara on her eyelashes, contributing to the wide-eyed innocent look she aims at the viewer from under her fringe. She appears only marginally older than the character in Untitled D, whose hair is held back with a pair of butterfly grips. For this pose Sherman darkened her face between the eyes, under the chin and in a line between her nose and the edges of her mouth. In all the images, Sherman has combined evident staging with the successful portrayal of a character type. This was later to become the artist’s signature technique, permitting her to evoke a wide range of emotional and thematic registers. Bus Riders 1976 is a series of photographs Sherman made shortly after leaving college, before she moved to New York and made her famous series of Untitled Film Stills 1977-80.

6. René Magritte, The Future of Statues, 1937

This work is made from a plaster copy of the death mask of the French Emperor Napoleon. A death mask is made by placing a mixture of plaster or wax over a person's face once they have died to create a mould. Magritte painted at least five of these casts, each with sky and clouds. The artist’s friend the surrealist poet Paul Nougé suggested an association between death, dreams and the depth of the sky. He commented: ‘a patch of sky traversed by clouds and dreams [can] transfigure the very face of death in a totally unexpected way’.

7., 8. John Stezaker, Mask XIII and Mask XIV, 2006

Mask XIII is a collage created by superimposing a postcard on a black and white photograph. The photograph is a film publicity portrait of an unidentifiable actress taken during the 1940s or 1950s. The postcard is a colour print mounted upside down over the actress’s face. It shows an image of a ruined stone building partially surrounded by trees. Stezaker has positioned it so that the inverted building appears framed within the actress’s face: the edge of the building matches the actress’s hairline at the right side of her face and a tree trunk and branches continuing the line of her face’s left side. Dark areas of foliage either side of the building align with her dark hair. A second tree in front of the ruin extends down the image to connect with the woman’s hand which is raised to her chin emerging from a narrow section of sky at the top of the postcard. At the bottom of the postcard, which traverses the subject’s forehead, the inverted caption ‘Nîmes – Le Temple de Diane’ identifies the ruin as the temple of Diana at Nîmes in France. The form of the inverted temple and its positioning over the woman’s face have the effect of evoking a skull: three rounded arches leading into darker spaces suggesting eye and nose-sockets and the broken upper edge of the ruin drawing the line of a broken and toothless jaw.

Mask XIV is a collage created by superimposing a postcard on a black and white photograph. The photograph is a film publicity portrait of an unidentifiable actor taken during the 1940s or 1950s. The postcard is a colour image mounted over the actor’s face. It shows a rocky cavern in which a sandy track curves around a central pillar. On the bottom left the card is captioned ‘Zig zag path, Folkestone’. At this point it covers part of the actor’s signature on his portrait above his right shoulder. Part of his first name – ‘Barry’ – is visible on the print. The postcard photograph appears to have been taken from inside a cave or under a bridge looking out through two openings towards the light. Stezaker has positioned the card on the actor’s face so that the dark silhouette of the rocky openings and the curvature of the cavern line up with the contours of the actor’s face. This placement causes an anthropomorphic reading of the postcard image – the two openings to the light suggest eyes connected by the rocky central column which covers the actor’s face in the position of his nose. Initiated around 1980, the series of Mask collages developed from the Film Still collages, such as The Trial, The Oath and Insert. The Masks all follow a similar and deceptively simple format: a film publicity portrait of a star whose face is covered by a postcard – ostensibly a mask – which opens a window into another space, paradoxically suggesting a view behind the mask constituted by the actor’s face. Initially the postcards were images of bridges and caves which in some instances united two or more protagonists. Over the years Stezaker has extended his range of imagery to include tunnels, caverns, rock formations such as stalactites and stalagmites, railway tracks, historic ruins and monuments (as in Mask XIII, 2006), woodland clearings and paths, as well as streams, waterfalls (as in Mask XI, 2005), lakes and the sea. Stezaker began collecting film stills in 1973 but was not able to afford photographic portraits of film stars until the early 1980s when their price dropped. The first portraits the artist used were damaged or of forgotten film actors, unnamed and anonymous. He has commented:

The Masks were inspired by reading Elias Canetti’s essay on masks and unmasking in his wonderful book Crowds and Power which inspired so much of my work at this time ... I was also teaching a course on Bataille and the origins of art which focused on the mask as the origin and point of convergence of all the arts. Canetti’s idea of the mask as a covering of absence and, in its fixity, as a revelation of death, alongside my discovery of Blanchot’s Space of Literature, was an important turning point in my thinking and in my approach to my work. I usually think of the key dates being 1979 and 1980 as marking a yielding to pure image-fascination and as a release from any function societal or transgressive in the work. The Masks were a response in practice to the Canetti/Blanchot idea of the ‘death’s space’ of the image and consolidated the sense of pure fascination and the desire for ‘exile from life in the world of images’, an ideal I saw in the practice of Joseph Cornell.

(Letter to the author, 26 October 2007.)

Stezaker shares with Joseph Cornell (1903-72) the Surrealist technique of apparently irrational juxtaposition and the evocation of nostalgia through his focus on outdated imagery, collected and pondered over many years. While Stezaker’s use of film stills and publicity portraits of the 1940s and 1950s stems from his boyhood experience of encountering these images on the outside of cinemas advertising films from which he was excluded because of his youth (letter to the author, 26 October 2007), his choice of postcards tends towards the Romantic tradition of nature and the sublime. The image of the zig-zag path relates to the woodland path or holzweg, a path leading – in German folklore such as that published by the Brothers Grimm in the early years of the twentieth century – to possible danger and death. Stezaker became interested in the historical phenomenon of the holzweg through his reading of Landscape and Memory (published New York, 1995) by the British art historian, Simon Schama (born 1945). The artist’s juxtaposition and careful alignment of the postcard image with the publicity portrait create an effect related to the concept of the uncanny as described by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) in his 1925 essay, ‘The Uncanny’. Freud analysed the feeling of the uncanny aroused most forcefully by the fantastic stories of the Romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822), in particular his tale The Sandman (first published in Nachtstücke, 1817). He relates the sense of horror experienced by the protagonist Nathaniel not only to the mechanical doll Olympia, who appears real, but more significantly to a fear of losing ones eyes which he connects to the Oedipal castration complex. In the Masks the subjects’ eyes are covered; the collage intervention substitutes blankness or holes – dark and empty or leading into other spaces – creating the disturbing sensation of seeing death beneath the features of a living being.

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survivenovascotia · 4 years ago

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Episode 9 - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - Keegan

So I talked to Coco, and both of us agreed now is not the time to flip. It was a pretty obvious choice, my last confessional was just me over thinking things but what else is new? I don’t feel bad about sticking with my og tribe (which is a strategy I usually hate) because we haven’t really had a crucible? or a split? Like it’s not like I know I’m on the bottom from previous votes, there were none. So there’s no reason for me or anyone to flip.... i hope.

We voted Darcy out, and now the hard part begins, trying to get Mac to believe I might still work with him. Ideally what I want is a “let’s protect each other until it is time to flip” scenario, but thats a hard sell, and is also very risky

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Darcy was blindsided and voted off. Which is quite upsetting. Darcy was a great person and a close ally of mine. On the plus side Livingston was very much left out of the majority vote which means that he’s fully on our side now. I hate saying that. “Our side” “Their side”. I don’t feel like I entirely fall into a specific side at the moment. Heather and I have had great conversation and a bond of mutual trust. Even though we didn’t vote together we’re watching each other’s backs. And that’s 95% the reason I didn’t panic play my hidden immunity idol. Mac told me he also has an extra vote so that’s incredibly useful to us. Part of me is hoping Heather wins immunity again and sends me off to Oak Island. I’d like the opportunity to pick a third advantage in this game. On an interesting note Kyle is saying that Austin doesn’t feel comfortable and wants to make a move. I’m not sure I trust that so early on in the merge and so soon after immediately voting someone out. It could be a trap. And I’m back to being annoyed at Kyle. He told Livingston and Darcy to message Heather the moment she said things were quiet to Kyle. If she didn’t suspect the three of them of being a tight group she certainly did after that. I’m seriously questioning the gameplay of some of these people. It’s bizarre.

So this morning Kyle whips out a whiteboard and starts planning shit. Calm down there. Anyways, he made a colour coded chart about “cross tribal relations”. Kyle and Livingston are connected with Coco, Dan is connected with Austin and Eric, and I’m connected with Heather. Mac has no connections apparently. So his brilliant plan is for us to win immunity and send Glo to Oak Island. So far so good, I’m down with that even though I flopped massively in the challenge and won’t be winning at all. And then he hits me with “Are you good to vote Heather?” So instead of voting of Stephen or Evan who we don’t have a relationship with, you want to vote off the one person I do have a relationship with? All this partly hinges on Austin flipping and voting off Heather because apparently Austin told Kyle he wants to make a big move. I don’t buy it but believe what you want to believe. The other big part of this plan is relying on Dan to butter up Austin and make him flip. But really why would Dan even work with us in the first place? The Kevin’s Revenge group was formed entirely to get rid of Dan and the others already out. Why is Dan suddenly with us again? If I was Dan I’d be running for the hills of Musquadibeeboo or whatever that tribe was called. All of this has shown me that it’s really Kyle who has to be voted off. He’s playing really hardcore and he has Livingston in his back pocket. That’s not a relationship I want to power through this game. So my next step is to have a nice conversation with Heather about all of this. Let her know she’s being targeted and figure out how to stop this. Also Mac mentioned he also has an extra vote and wants us to both use it to help us out this tribal but... I don’t want to use mine yet. I don’t think I need to use mine yet. We’ll have to see what happens with immunity but Coco promised me that if he wins, he’ll send me to Oak Island which would actually be great. I’d get to sit out of this messy ass vote and keep both of my advantages intact.

So tribal last night went pretty as planned for what seemed like it was going to be messy. That morning it seemed like I was going to be the one to get votes, but I guess that I was able to take the target off my back by talking to everyone on the other side and telling Livingston I was aware of the plan for me to receive votes. Evan ended up getting their 5 votes, while the 7 of us that are in an alliance voted Darcy out. I would say that while I didn't call the shot this vote, that I can call it a good move on my part because the actions I took resulted in me not being the target. Now it's time for me to do the challenge and hope I win, because I could use a round of safety. 4

So... drama happened. Heather called the Chatty Trio, and said apparently Austin through her name out? But Austin had already said that the other alliance was trying to vote her out? Idk that convo didnt go anywhere cause we were interrupted by Krackd Kyle leaping gracefully into the cool waters of wtf territory and giving his immunity to heather. What??? That is not smart! The only two ways that would work in his favour is if he is trying seperate himself from his alliance and form a bond with heather (bit late). OR he already has immunity from an advantage and is trying to cause drama. Thats more likely, and it does worry me, cause if Austin is trying to flip on us, he might aim for me now that heathers immune. Now i’m not as threatening as heather, I like to think I’ve played a solid sorta utr game so far in that i haven’t been overly social or strategic, but who knows. Right now I think Livingston or Keegan is the best vote, but I am looking for future flipping opportunities and Keegan has been social with me. God, this is a tough game.

So I didn't win immunity which is annoying, but I wake up and there's a bunch of messy shit that I don't understand, like why Kyle gave immunity to Heather and why theres a rumor about Mac. Honestly I'm tired of these people because they are only extra for the sake of being extra. I don't know about the other players but I'm not voting for someone because they are the loudest player. I'm gonna figure this out and hope I'm not targeted again because I don't know where I'm at with people atm

Today is the day when we finally blindside Austin. I've been waiting so long for this moment but now I know the time is right. I feel like so far I've been cruising by, but now is the time to put something on my resume, get control of this game, and take a threat out. Now, I just need to convince 6 other people to do the same thing.

Coco is completely on board with the Austin plan, and so is Kyle, Keegan, and Mac. Now it all comes down to Heather. I discussed the plan to her before and she wasn't completely down with it, but after I told her I had an idol she was considering it more. However, the craziness of today's vote took a huge toll on her mental health to the point where she's considering throwing it away! C'mon Heather!

Kyle taking charge of the Austin blindside is something I'll have to deal with. It was 100% my idea since day one, but I have to keep the truth lowkey, because if I don't, I could be next on the chopping block.

Darcy went home. I’m hurt. I want revenge. I’ll get revenge. FOR NOW, Austin’s going home because me n him are snakes and I’m the Snakiest snake so he gotta go. Me and Glo have a “mutual therapist” bond where I’m the Psychologist and we give each other some intel. I think I can outsmart Glo, I absolutely love Glo with all my heart but I can’t let her get to the end. She’d win easily. I told Keegan about my extra vote then less than 24 hrs later and then Coco said apparently I had a double vote. I obviously lied about having it and make myself seem like I don’t have anything. Oops.

Fuckkkkkk I feel I'm def the one going home.heather is telling me evan and coco have flipped on me which would be really shitty bc I thought I was close with them . I know for a fact heather is against me so that sucks . I dont know what else I could really do but I'm gonna fight til I'm gone . Atomic survivor gods be with me

I had a video confession about this round but it wont load and it would be a whole lot to type khjkh

I think this is my first confessional this episode and all I have to really say is: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Heather comes to me late before tribal starts by asking me, "What if Kyle is just using me you and Coco so that the 5 of them could send home whoever they want in a 5-4-3 vote (assuming Mac plays his double vote advantage)" I thought about it, and it made sense; why would Kyle want to blindside Austin so much? Why would Kyle take orders from someone other than himself? So my backup idea that I proposed to Heather is that she switches her vote to Livingston, so that there's three possible outcomes; a 5-5-2 revote Livingston goes home; a 5-4-2 vote and Livingston goes home (basically Heather is voting for Livingston to counter Mac's advantage), or everyone just sticks to the Austin plan.

Kyle is desperately trying to get Dan to vote for Austin late, but I really don't want that. I need Dan to vote for Livingston, despite myself voting for Austin. This is because we need Dan in case the 4 OG members from the other tribe minus Dan plus Livingston decide to pick off whoever they want in a 6-4-2 vote. We can't have that; we need it to be 5-5-2. I am desperately trying to sway Dan last minute to make sure I don't get blindsided.

So..... ugh. I’m voting out austin. I hate to do cause i love the guy and trust him with my game, but coco and evan, the silent shady ones, have flipped for no others reason than a slight change in the wind. Seriously, dumb. This is really annoying cause I wanted to get livingston and kyle out before i flipped. But now I have to work with an alliance that only 1 quarter of have spoken to me about the vote. Not good. Hopefully i can have some sort of honest reputation (me! honest! aint this a turn out for the books) and convince them next round that im a better ally than shady evan. However this just means theyre gonna keep voting us out, so maybe we just piece together our broken alliance next round.

It's always the people scared about flipping that flip. 9-2. I was the only one voting to keep Austin when it should have been 6-5. Not one person told me to vote Austin or that Austin was the vote. Not even very last second without explanation. I didn't know my loyalty meant jackshit but here we are. All I gotta say is nice eric is gone, and everyone's about to see a new face. Prepare yourselves.

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timespacehigurashi · 7 years ago

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It’s done! I’ve read every single issue with Harley and Joker in it. Now, an article: Comics: Harley, Joker and abuse 2.0 *improved*

Friend: T_T Everybody on internet says I’m sick because I ship JxHQ

me: Let me explain the mess : ) book by book >.<

what’s mainstream and continuity? click here

If you want to know what N52 is click here

Friend: Why are people always talking about Snyder’s Joker or Morrison’s, etc?

Me: DC made it sure that the sacred continuity of the mainstream was kept, each writer had to work based on what his predecessors wrote but writers had different interpretations of the character so the characterization was different.

So sometimes we have an absolutely violent Joker, sometimes He’s a smart guy who tries to seem dumb or a man so crazy that couldn’t avoid the police.

Why Am I explaining this? because you have to understand that Joker at the time Harley was introduced in comic world was extremely violent and sadist. He spent the half of his time killing his own men. He wasn’t the character we knew in the tv show. Comic world is more raw, crude and bloody. Of course Harley changes her personality many times it depends on who wrote it.

Harley was written like Joker’s girlfriend in the series, now if you’re not familiar with batman comics that’s the most logic development but otherwise you understand that was a bold move cause Joker existed during 50 years before someone gave him a girlfriend but even more, he didn’t have a brother, a father, sons or a sidekick, nothing at all* and today someway we have big pictures of him kissing a girl and people pay for them LOL.

Harley was a new phase for Joker as a character cause she gives to him humanity what is good or bad, good if you want a more complete character, bad if you’re trying to use the cruelest, the grosser and the most important batman’s enemy to be creepy.

Batman - Harley Quinn (august, 1999. by Paul Dini): The canon origin for Harley in the mainstream (Mad love is from tv/ Batman the animated series continuity). They didn’t use the thing of abuse, no, they had an idea to keep it weird and dysfunctional: He tries to kill her and they had a twisted reason, It’s cause he loves her alike but different entirely to abuse. This was the strategy of the comics and was reflected everywhere

Comic Harley Quinn (2000-2004), comic Batman adventures (Tv continuity), comic batman, etc at least until 2007 BUT we have a couple of exceptions.

This picture by Guillen March (many batman comics) is a good brief of that tendency:

Mainstream:

-The code: Batman #570 (oct, 1999. part 1), Detective comics #737 (oct, 1999. part 2). This is what I was talking about batman and detective comics are combined though the numbers aren’t corresponding. It’s because the magazine detective comics began first. The story called “the code” was one of the most tender, funny stories. No trace of abuse.

Joker: It’s ok to call me Puddin’.

Some pages here

-Legends of the dark knight #126, detective comics #740 (both feb. 2000) by Gregg Rucka: you have to read them combined. I think this was the most abusive you can find in comics and the next one of course. There isn’t anything implied you can see it and its very bad. Please notice the date, it was written almost at the same time that the fluffy “the code”

-Batman #573, shadow of the bat #93 (both jan, 2000) by Gregg Rucka: The majority of the images really showing abuse are from this one and the former.

Why the difference? The writers, whenever Gregg Rucka is the author Joker is abusive cause Rucka uses Harley like a sidekick no really his girlfriend and this writer’s Joker is every second shooting someone. BTW Rucka has said he didn’t like Joker and he wanted to kill him but DC didn’t let him.

Wait…what about “suicide squad”? Just now we aren’t talking about N52 universe (since 2011). Maybe you don’t know what’s that so we’ll cover it later.

-Harley Quinn (2000-2004 and Linked to Mainstream): They used the matter or Joker trying to kill her, no real abuse here and she tries to kill him too as revenge. This comic is important because after many of its ideas were applied in other comics (specially N52). In fact they created a development of character where she reached a kind of equality with Joker, maybe the first time they used a development of the subject in the world of comics but there wasn’t abuse.

well…in the episode 1 he hit her and kicked her but a)- This Harley is so strong could carry him in arms :S and she did so :D b)- She threw him into a big neon sign for doing so.

After a second writer in HQ made up one of my favorite JokerHarley stories, and very funny. pages here.

-Batman adventures/Gotham adventures (1992-2004): The comic is directly linked to the cartoon, there’s not abuse at all they usually show their relationship as something funny and cute but they made some references after 1999 that I want to explain.

Gotham adventures #10 (march, 1999) and #14: One of my favorites stories because it was hilarious but shows a twisted but sweet relationship. They fight each other but writers tried to make it in both ways =_= yes, that was their solution

Curiously she didn’t mention that time he threw her through a window so no reference to mad love but the strange answer of Joker is a reference to the origin in the mainstream because if he wanted to kill her that was a sign he loved her O_O Whatever, at the end she forgave him, just the reader could see he missed her but he wrote this on a photo.

“Harley baby, love you forever.” Link to see the picture

As result “Batman Adventures” is a continuity with the storyline of the TV show but without Mad Love.

A proof supports this opinion is “Harley Quinn and Batman #1″ (July, 2017) by Templeton, main writer in Adventures, the comic is new but with this panel here the writer was reminding us the state of the things in Adventures.

-The Joker - last laugh (oct, 2001): special, limited series. Joker thought he was going to die. Very cute story in that regard. here The last laugh

-Gotham Girls (dec. 2002): Special limited series 5 issues, really good but coming to business, at first glance it seems (because of the design and story) it happened in the continuity of Batman Adventures but there’s a trick. Gotham Girls wasn’t created as another chapter in Batman Adventures, but it is a comic sequel/adaptation of a series of animated shorts written by Paul Dini with the same name.

The series by Dini didn’t have references to Mad Love but the adaptation by Paul Storrie did have them.

The vol 3. shows harley’s story as in Mad Love, abuse included, they used some panels extracted from there.

-Harley and Ivy (2004): No real references. Limited series by Paul Dini

-Batman confidential (2007): Madmen and Lovers: Confidential has its own continuity and my favorite origin story, just fluff here.

https://timespacehigurashi.tumblr.com/post/126947551376/batman-confidential-episode-7-joker-and-harley

Mainstream:

-batman 663 (mar, 2007) by Grant Morrison: his style is absolutely different and he did a strange mess but his Joker wasn’t abusive, he was totally crazy and murderous, I meant MORE, and Harley worshipped him almost literally o.O but here they said clearly “he cared about her” and at the same time harley shot him down xD.

If you want to know more about Batman #663 here. It’s a comparison with its variant in N52 but just read the 663 part to get what happened.

-Detective comics 831 “kind of like family” (Dini, jun, 2007): Good story, no real mention of abuse, no exactly…but here Harley had made her mind about don’t be involved with him again and was reformed. A new character, the second ventriloquist, appeared and she is supposed to have a bad relationship with scarface that is her other personality…It doesn’t make sense…forget it. It’s a long talk and Dini himself “erased” it with his next work.

If you don’t read comics skip this (About Dini, Morrison and logic):

In first place this episode is dated jun, 2007 and 663 (Morrison’s) was in march, it’s confusing because the last time we saw Harley (2004 ending of “Harley Quinn”) she was in arkham and paul dini began from there writing a story about her getting out of Arkham and reformed (”kind of family” in June) BUT Morrison used the character BEFORE, in March and in Morrison’s she’s far away from sanity just a couple months of difference :-/ (*cough* continuity staggering *cough*)

It’s more or less that Dini ignored Morrison xD Well, in the continuity after a while when we saw Joker again he was his normal himself like nothing occurred (his face wasn’t damaged like It was in batman # 663) so everybody ignored Morrison and then DC tried to explain it saying what was writen after #663 corresponds to BEFORE in the time xDD (If somebody thinks I’m wrong expose it to me please.) and BTW It’s impossible since a reference was made about this chapter (663) in Gotham sirens (2009), in other words Batman #663 by Morrison can’t be the future cause Gotham Sirens calles it the past.

-Detective comic 837 (Dini. oct. 2007): she’s living adventures, no comments

Then the order in the general story for Harley according to the mainstream is this:

-Gotham sirens (2009-2011) by Paul Dini (just first 11 issues minus the #8): In sirens this is a weird topic and long to explain. There’s one reference, a comment of P.I and selina, chapter 1.

selina :“he’ll be calling for your money the second he hears about it”

Ivy: “then you’ll be skipping out the door for another round of abuse, humiliation and regret”

This is a reference to the dynamic in “Harley and Ivy” the episode in the tv show where joker took adventage of her for her money, one could think when they said abuse, they were talking about brutality like mad love but it results that Dini likes to use “abuse” meaning distinct things in distinct works. o.O

In Sirens by Dini “abuse” is not what appeared in Mad Love but something slighter… more like He’s a jerk kind of thing.

Understanding this is a little difficult if you don’t follow Dini’s work but Sirens itself helps you providing some context

The ending of the chapter 6 is a second reference to “Harley and Ivy”. Both, the ending of the episode and the comic handled the matter lightly, treating it with humor,

In the original episode Harley isn’t an beaten wife but the object of her love is inconsiderate and he wanted to steal her money too. Ivy called her a doormat.

So Selina and Ivy meant he takes advantage of her, however Sirens established Joker does care about her at the same time, in the chapter 5 Ivy said this:

Chapter 2 showed this one here.

More context: Dini made up a background for Harley’s family was never written before. While Mad Love was tragic and the story of the downfall of a girl who would have been somebody Sirens is optimistic. Her family was so a disaster that she’s happy with her new life and identity. It isn’t dark, they’re just disagreeable people.

Harley has daddy issues, no, seriously! Her father is …Joker.

Her father is a swindler who takes advantage of women and get their money :O So Harley is used to deal with liers on a daily basis and her family’s used to have relatives in jail. here

The writer is trying to compare her father with Joker, and her old life with her new criminal identity, saying “It isn’t so bad”. From Harley’s point of view at least Joker is a man of one woman and he doesn’t have kids from several mothers like Harley’s brother. For Dini usually the little domestic sins like infidelity are the worst.

Again another writer that is very different wrote the last arc of Sirens though sometimes wrongly attribuited to Dini. His story it’s darker and ignored the previous chapters, this time Ivy changed lines and said “he doesn’t love you” (chapter 24). Harley said “after all the abuse, betrayal and dirty tricks” (chapter 19) but they keep comparing harley/joker to Selina/batman and being kind of romantic. So what was that? : / What we saw after wasn’t an abusive relationship (He even called her Ms. Q once), they were a team but they were together doing horrible things, I mean, the guy was very nice and all but he was stabbing orderlies. Here the reason Harley must not be with him is simpler, cause he does evil things :O

Some pages here here

And then again the weirdest twist in the final 2 chapters (2011) Ivy explained how Harley is very sick and they carried her obsession to proportions weren’t seen since her origin in 1999…ok, maybe Morrison’s Harley in 2007 maybe not.

Extra but canon too :-/

-Countdown to Final crisis (Dini, 2007-2008): Ultra crossover and a temporary event that stopped the normal progress of the continuity for a long while, maybe my least favorite story by Paul Dini (he was the main writer, like a director). Here…well…Harley became an amazon (you know, like wonderwoman. XP -_- ) because…she was reformed…no abuse here or signs of it are mentioned. (If you know of something just say it).

-Crossovers/several universes: Usually just fluffy things I haven’t found some abusive story in them but yes, there’re a one or two really creepy. Interestingly I don’t know about any universe where Harley is a boy but Joker was a girl 2 or 3 times O.o and always in love with another version of Harley…I guess AUs are fanservice XP.

-Batman Strikes! (2005): Linked to the cartoon “The Batman”, fluffy and cartoonish.

Well, that was PRE-N52…

Game based comic weren’t included cause those have their own continuity that isn’t accurate in regard to the games and the relationship is different between one and another

conclusion

Because of the amount of writers the relationship is never exactly the same and in the majority of the cases isn’t abusive besides being realistic one writer could have written the characters and their relationship different in different occasions (that’s why you can find interviews where they say it’s abusive and he doesn’t care for her and then another where they say how much he loves her) and It’s not really possible put together all what was written and saying it’s the same character always (Joker changes and Harley too) sooo that’s why you don’t hate women if you ship it, thanks. :D

My God, I think I’ve read every single issue with harley and Joker but who knows there’re so many. @_.@

Perhaps I’ll write another article for N52, We’ll see.

If you have a question, just ask.

Although this is an article about Harley’s origin in N52 comparing it with Mad Love.

https://timespacehigurashi.tumblr.com/post/136218691876/harley-quinns-origin-in-n52

#Harley Quinn #the joker #joker #joker x harley #harleyxjoker #Harley x Joker #jokerharley #Mad Love #DC comics #comics #batman

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