#or like. there was just urban legends about comics called 'super man' and when you go to the comic shop looking for it...

[foxoftheasterisk]

wait a "fictitious" character? that's not even true. he's a fictional character. they are not the same.

Gail Simone I love you more than you will ever know

[evilwickedme]

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts lately about how fanon treats Tim compared to Damian and Jason, which is fine, but they’re looking at it through the lens of “good victims” vs “bad victims” in response to trauma and I don’t think that’s the right way to do it. I don’t think we should be looking at it like that because 1. All three of those characters have trauma and comparing trauma is gross and 2. applying real life psychology to inconsistently written fictional characters feels pointless lol. Damian and Jason are written super inconsistently and trying to tie their characters into one specific framework is borderline impossible lol. Sometimes Jason is written as a good person who has inner demons but other times he’s written as a psychopath who tries to murder his family and gleefully tries to shoot children so I don’t think it’s super productive to label him as one or the other. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Ok I'll be real with you I'm not 100% sure what you're getting at! I think you're saying that Tim is positioned as the good victim and Damian and Jason are positioned as the bad victims, although correct me if I'm wrong.

I definitely have a lot of thoughts when it comes to victimhood and the batfam, especially Jason. I saw a TikTok recently that put something I've thought for a while now into words, which is that Jason - Red Hood - is a victim's power fantasy. Like, Bruce is very much a male power fantasy, and Spider-Man and Captain America are Jewish power fantasies, and Jason is over here with his anger and trauma and it just feels so familiar. I don't relate to Jason the most out of the batfam - I feel like Tim's experiences as a whole are much more relatable to me - but I for sure see myself in that aspect of Jason's character.

I think the dynamic of "bad victim" vs "good victim" is flawed in the first place, and dare I say it - yet another aspect of cultural xtianity that has made it into fandom and our culture at large. Purity culture is based in Christianity, and a natural result of it is the idea that victims must be flawless and well behaved, or they must be at fault.

Honestly we see this in DC's constant rewriting of Jason's Robin days - post UTRH comics, esp post n52 comics, are constantly retconning him into being the angry Robin, a boy who was angry and damaged and no good from the beginning, which of course is not true at all - he was a fucking nerd, for real. He loved school and doing homework and going to museums and he only had two notable cases of violence, one extremely close to his death, and the other is in the first issue of A Death in the Family - you know, the story in which he was killed off. Afai can remember RHatO n52 and rebirth and urban legends: cheer all try to present this - almost as if to make Jason's death less tragic, make it seem inevitable. When Bruce calls Jason "broken" in a hologram in battle for the cowl it's this claim that he was mentally unstable and shouldn't have ever been Robin, something that was only brought up in ADitF.

All of this is DC's attempt to make Jason a "bad victim". Red Hood!Jason is angry not bc of his death traumatizing him, but bc he was always broken. The reality is, the reason Jason's death affected Bruce so much and the reason UTRH was so impactful WAS Jason being such a joyful, trusting child. He wanted so much to belong, to be good, to be magic, and instead he was betrayed by his own mother, brutalized, and then left to die. If there was such a thing as a good victim or a bad victim - which there isn't, because being a victim is a neutral act, and nobody deserves to be traumatized, even if they're the worst person on earth - Jason was absolutely a "good victim". That's the whole fucking point.

I don't know as much about Damian as I do about Jason, but I feel like Damian needs less retconning to be presented as a "bad victim". He's introduced as a violent boy who attacks Tim and doesn't trust anyone and having taken in so many of the LoA's teachings. I think it's insane how much the fandom tends to stick to this early characterization; unlike the situation with Jason, where DC is actively trying to pretend that he's always been rotten, for the most part the actual comics have really let him grow as a person and I'm really looking forward to reading Robin (2021) (I already have vol 1 I just need to like. Get around to it).

The truth is Damian was a deeply traumatized and brainwashed child who needed a supportive environment and Dick really tried to give him that, which was so instrumental in his development. I feel for him so much and it's really saddening to see the way many people treat him in the fandom. At least Jason made the choice to become a villain as an adult. Damian's just a kid, even now, and he'd never been shown another option.

As for Tim - God, I've said this before, but I fucking hate how woobified he's become in fan spaces. Guy's intelligent, sarcastic, independent, and yeah, honestly? Not always been treated the best. His biodad wasn't exactly great. Bruce gaslit him on his birthday and Alfred just went along with it. Dick and him were so close, and then after Bruce "died" everything just fell apart between them. But also like. Idk I feel like people often take his agency and character away from him. Originally Tim was supposed to be the normal kid. Robin was basically a nine to five - he was there to do a job, and he wasn't ever supposed to be part of the family, esp considering how recent Jason's death was when he became Robin. That just sort of... Happened. Dick treated him like a brother from the first, yes, but Bruce didn't treat him like a son, and Tim wasn't looking for a father. I don't remember where I saw this, but somebody pointed out that Tim basically never lived in the manor. I think he feels very deeply for the people he loves, and that's why he was so distant at first from the batfam - he didn't want to create a connection that would be severed eventually anyway when he stopped being Robin (again, was initially supposed to be a temporary gig!). We see this most obviously because he did get attached, and then Kon, Bart, Steph, his dad, and Bruce all died - or "died" - and he low-key lost it. And like...

Okay I've sort of lost the plot, but I guess basically what I'm saying here is that I'm not saying that Tim isn't deeply traumatized himself, but I don't really see the things that traumatized him the most as victimizing. Like... He and his dad were working on rebuilding their relationship, for better or for worse. Before Bruce died, he was doing pretty well as part of the family. He's, unfortunately, back to being Bruce's Robin. So like - what is he a victim of that he's being treated as a good victim? But then you read the most popular Tim centered fics and you're like, oh, okay. So we're just projecting here.

Like, were Jack and Janet drake amazing parents? Again, no, and he expresses extreme frustration with the constant moving and boarding schools and at a certain point jack confiscates his tv and jack forces him to stop being Robin because it's dangerous. But none of this is anywhere close to the abuse that's portrayed in woobified!Tim fics. Like my God, some of that shit is AWFUL. Many of them are extraordinarily well written and deal with the abuse they inflict on Tim extremely well. But it's, at least as far as I can tell, made up. Positioning Tim as a "good victim" is so fucking easy when you're making up the abuse in the first place.

Idk I guess the main problem here is that the idea of good victim and bad victim are ridiculously harmful in the first place, but then there's also just the fact that none of this characterization is based in canon - whether bc of DC's attempts to erase history with Jason, bc character development is routinely ignored with Damian (not to say that it's low-key because of racism, but... It's low-key because of racism), or bc it's straight up made up.

But, again. Y'all. Just do not moralize victimhood. Nobody deserves to be abused or mistreated or fucking murdered (except the joker, bc as I've said before, he has such a high fictional kill count it's like the equivalent of killing a Nazi and I stand by that).

Anyway thanks for asking, sorry for taking a few days I just had to think about it and also apparently write a full scroll of text. I tried to break it up into readable chunks instead of the wall of text I originally wrote it as but it's still just. So long. Anyway much love

[musicals-n-cartoons]

Elsewhere and Elsewhen Reaction

You know what could be fun? If I give my reaction to the newest Owl House episode. I meant to do the last one actually, but I procrastinated. Oh well. On to the show!

Pre-episode thoughts

It's definitely a time travel episode. Or at least a "going to a representation of the past" episode, which is really the same thing. It's not like anyone cared about the Assassin's Creed metaplot.

Episode thoughts

Nice to see Luz hitting the books, I love how studious she is.

Ooh, a party! Is it Lilith's birthday? Oh, it's to celebrate her new job at the museum. Neat! And is that Steve hanging out there? I guess Hooty wants someone from her old workplace, but damn.

So Lilith got a former mentor now, ooh!

No theme song? We're getting a long one this week.

Luz wishes that she can go back in time to ask Philip how to build a portal, and then realizes the obvious.

So, no time magic, but there is an urban legend that "time pools" can do the trick. Eda and Lilith use to look for them when they were kids. Adorable!

So Luz is straight-up calling Lilith her aunt now. Damned, Luz is basically having "divorced parents fighting for custody" energy without her two moms ever needing to be married.

So a device that needs a lot more power than Lilith had, where would Luz get something like that... of course, the Titan's blood! But Luz, you only got so much. Are you sure you want to spend it?

Ha, Luz's getting tired after pulling an all-nighter, while Lilith remains super excited. I feel ya Luz.

Aww, Babysbrough! That's so cute! And Luz impersonates a... "crab maiden"?

Oldest barnacles on her head? How many barnacles did Lilith put on her head before?

Man, the Deadwardian Era is shockingly civilized. Did something happen between now and Belos' reign? Cause it is not looking so savage now.

Eda, meanwhile, is trying to avoid meeting her father. She tries to sneak off disguised as Lilith (not that anyone was buying it), only to get caught by her father. Who's sweet enough to just let her go if she wants to.

There are inside the Skull! Turns out it is sacred ground?

Ooo, Lilith is picking bad vibes from Philip. Philip is Belos confirm?

Yup, he turned out to be evil, what a surprise.

Luz tames a dino!

A confrontation with Philip, but he refuses to give any information up. And it turns out the Collector got nothing to do with the portal? Luz got a cute way of peacing out.

At least Lilith gets to study Deadwellin balusters from a practitioner.

Eda is talking with her father finally! And damn, Eda destroyed Dell's ability to do his job. His hands are trembling! I can see where you are coming from Eda, but he already wants to meet you, and avoiding him for 20 years is kind of hurting him even more, so...

Ah, he's working to restore the population of an endangered specie, Dell's a man after my own heart.

Gasp, Philip is Belos! The theorists were right! So, the liquid body was caused by glyphs on his skin, huh? I wonder what purpose they served, and how palismens were able to stop him from dying. And what does he need the collector for? The collector got a lot of moon symbolism, so they're probably connected to the whole moon thing coming in a month.

Neat trick, having Belos voice overlapping with Philip's one.

Reaction to other reactions

lol at everybody saying that Philip/Belos is basically just an English colonizer. I mean, he really is. That's basically canon.

15,000 recent notes, with the 2nd trending tag. A comically large amount of notes.

OMG FLORA D'ESPLORA WAS DORA THE EXPLORER HOW DID I MISS THAT. That's amazing.

I like the theory that the reason that Philip took much longer than Luz to learn the glyphs is that the Boiling Isles judged him unworthy and was literally hiding it from him.

The dino Luz befriends is a stonesleeper, the same creature whose lung was needed for the grimwalker recipe.

Why are some people saying that Lilith is what made Philip hate witches? People don't become bigots just because someone punched them.

I worried about the moon symbolism that Amity is wearing. What connection does the Collector have with her?

Prediction for future episodes

The next one is... another sports episode? And the description doesn't mention Luz or Eda. Judging from the promo, I am going to guess that Hunter's mission is going to crash into Willow's story and that Luz is going to have a b-plot with Eda.

[jq37]

so...... thoughts on the first ep?

**spoilers for start spreading the news**

What is UP you guys? The new season of Dimension 20 is out and your girl is back (implies I left, which is false) with only the hottest of takes.

Usually I vomit up my opinions with little rhyme or reason and, don't worry, I'm not changing that format any time soon. But, because of the structure of the episode, I think it'll be easier to use headings and go through each character/element of this. So let's do this y'all!

The Setting

I think the best thing you can do as a writer or a creative person in general is the make something that only you could make, you know? Like, make the thing that only someone with your specific life experiences and weird brain could have come up with. And I really think that this is that for Brennan. I already talked about this in other posts, but the version of NYC that Brennan created for this game is that to me. Like, magical NY has been done, but the specific details? Who else could have written, "The annual SantaCon is actually Santa dumping all of his defective clones into NYC where the magic barrier that keeps normals from seeing magic will disguise them and the protectors of the city will be able to deal with them"? That's so specific and so wild and so New York and so Brennan.

And I haven't lived in NY for so long but I've had one winter here and the way he describes what it's like to walk down the street during winter in the city is so real. Like smelling garbage then laundry detergent then sugared nuts from those corner stands and you're freezing and then baking in the subway in your coat. That was so so real. (I will be saying this phrase a lot so get used to it now)

And I like that he didn't make the obvious choices, you know? Like we've had three, like, magical figureheads across D20 and those are usually classic old, white, possibly British roles, you know? Like a Gandalf or a Dumbledore. But he had Aguefort in FH and now Esther and Alejandro in TUS. I just think it's cool that we're getting some different archetypes to fill these roles instead of the same dude c.p'd in again, you know?

Also, the fantasy NYC map is so dope. I wanna go back and try to read everything on it when I have the chance. 

Pete

Ally is a DRUG DEALER. I thought Pete was gonna be a stripper but he's a DRUG DEALER. Honestly, I could have figured this out sooner if I'd just checked Urban Dictionary like I did just now and found out that "plug" means "someone who is a resource for obtaining something valuable that would otherwise be difficult to obtain" or, more simply, "drug dealer". But I'm glad I didn't because it was much more fun to find out in real time.

Ally makes some character choices sometimes that are too specific to not be rooted in life experience and that whole microwave cheese monologue was one of them.

Pete's official diagnosis is that he has "a lot going on."

Ally almost won MVP line of the episode with, "Shot my tits off." Murph losing it in the background killed me almost more than the actual line.

I really, really want Pete's doctor to be a recurring character because he is wild in how wild he isn't. He has so much wild stuff happening around him and he is in a wild line of work but he seems like a relatively stable guy. I love him. Also, the completely wrong cadence he used to say, "lgbt ally" was gold.

Is Ally ever gonna have a character with a good relationship with their parents? One time? Ever?

I literally don't even know how to begin to address the wild magic trip Pete went on. Like, I don't think Ally knew what they were doing when they decided to be a wild magic sorcerer. I don't think they knew what kind of challenge they were issuing to Brennan. And after seeing the wild nonsense Brennan consistently came up with for Jer'ih'meh in Bloodkeep, I can't want to see the insanity he spits out for Pete.

"You're the one who they they wanted to play a wild magic sorcerer."

Also, Brennan just using lyrics from "New York, New York" for whatever dream demon or whatever was going on in that trip was, like, equal parts clever and hilarious. Sidenote, do you think all the ep titles are gonna be from songs about NY? I mean, there are enough songs I bet.

Pete has this thing where he constantly lands on the exact wrong part of the situation to focus on. Like later when he gets stuffed in the magic closet at the hospital and he's like, "Hospitals are so advanced, also go much is this gonna cost?" Ally's comic timing on that is always perfect.

WILD that that was the first intro. Like, way to kick off the new season with a bang.  I really wonder what this episode would have felt like if this was the last intro or if the intro for the two normal people hadn’t been right at the top. Actually now that I’m editing, I feel like we almost got the intros from least experienced w/ this stuff to most experienced. Because Pete is a total noob. Sophia is also a noob but she has met Kugrash at least once. Then you have Ricky who’s only been in this for about a year. Then Kingston who probably has more experience than Kug by years but Kug has been a rat man his whole life (presumably). Finally Misty who is probably like a BS amount of years old and steeped in this stuff. Honestly,  if I was DM’ing, I might have fudged the die rolls to look exactly like how it turned out. 

Sophia

Emily describing her character and slipping into her character voice gradually as she went on was so pro.

"Like if Fran Dresher went on an Amy Winehouse bender." I love her.

"Did you not want baby bangs?"

"She's a WHOO-OAR."

I'm gonna die if Brennan make than woman an actual succubus because of an offhanded comment.

My favorite thing is when Emily is saying some nonsense and she can barely even get through it without breaking. Also, Murph is so visibly amused by Emily's entire intro. It's great.

I love that both of the "normal" characters spent most of this episode intoxicated in one way or another.

So Emily absolutely won the episode in my eyes for coming up with one of the sickest burns I've heard and in real time. A dude tells her to read his dick and she, after only a momentary pause, says, "No I'm not gonna read your dick (beat) because I don't read short stories!" Brennan doesn't even make her roll. He just narrates her success. The table goes wild. The bar she's at goes wild. Zac specifically is cracking up. Like, I feel like this is gonna be a little bit of a deep cut reference but did any of you ever play the Monkey Island games and do the insult swordfighting? That's what that scene was. Amazing.

Murph's, like, entire posture and expression (@ 1:24ish) when Emily is saying Sophia thinks she saw a giant rat man who gave her an egg sandwich and Gatorade is total gold.

"Gotta kill some brain cells to kill the ones with the memory of Dale in them."

OK so funny story (funny to me at least) at the Fantasy High live show, I was talking to some other girls who were there and we ended up talking about how the small of a woman's back is basically the worst place you can casually touch them outside of the really bad places and how viscerally terrible it is so when Brennan said one of the trolls touched one of the girls there and Sophie/Emily was like BIG NOPE, I had a That's So Raven flashback to that conversation immediately.

Emily leaps into action...and rolls a nat 1 to fight a bunch of trolls. She actually does really well in the rest of the fight though so that's good.  

Oh, also Siobhan made everyone dope themed dice boxes!

Ricky

I hope Dimension 20 runs for the next 10 years and I hope Zac plays a good, big, doofus in every single season.

"He's basically like Superman if Superman were Japanese." Love.

Also, I love the distinction that he's 5' 8" but buff.

Ricky surrounded by a raging fire: First of all, that's a cool bear.

I like the way that Brennan skinned the cleric and paladin powers for this game so they're more about values than deities. I was wondering how it was gonna work in this setting and I think this was such a cool way to handle it.  

I really think Brennan has a great handle of presenting certain things in such a way that it's interesting for the players as well as the audience. Like, when Ricky is trying to escape the burning apartment, he puts an obstacle in his way that forces him to use his Paladin powers (to create water specifically). It's not really a hard "puzzle" or something he has to roll for, but it introduces to the audiences that he's not just a firefighter. I just think it's really cool that he's able to pull off narrative things like that without actually controlling the characters. (And, props to the players too, of course, for being so consistently entertaining).

"Mr. March."

Ricky in the middle of the winter: I'm not as tan as I used to be.

Ricky rooftop runs like a freaking superhero.

OK, this is barely related to what I'm talking about right now but it's important to me that you all know this. I commented in an earlier post that Ricky clearly had circus music playing in his head at all times and then I was like, "Hmm, I wonder what that one circus song is called." You know, the song that you think about immediately when you hear the phrase "circus music" so I looked it up and APPARENTLY it is a CZECH MILITARY MARCH known alternately as (brace yourselves) ENTRY OF THE GLADIATORS and THUNDER AND BLAZES. I kid you not. That's actually what that song is called. I called my brother and told him immediately. OK, back on topic.

Is a questing blade a thing? I feel like it's a Thing from legend or fairy tales or something but, when I Google it, I come up with basically nothing.

Does Ricky have a thing for Esther or is he just a super awkward texter and nice guy who does not want to be set up by his sister for a different reason?

I need Brennan to explain how the Santa Question works in this world. The question being, "Why don't parents freak about the gifts they're not buying?" and, side question, "Why don't poor kids get presents?" My go-to answers are always, "He Jedi Mind Tricks into thinking they bought them," and, "He has to work within each family's socio-economic means in order to not be obvious." So there are def plausible answers. But, like, this is something I like to see addressed when we're doing the "Santa is real," thing.  

"I grew up with twins and one of them was worse than the others so that makes sense."

"Is Santa good?"/"The ethics of it are alarming, I won't lie."

So, my paranoid thought for this episode is I'm a little Concerned that someone down the line (maybe Esther, but hopefully not) is going to take advantage of Ricky's Big Dumb energy and his "It's the right thing to do," mentality and manipulate him into doing something Not Great. Like, it's not based on anything besides mainlining a ton of media over the past 24 years but I'm just gonna keep an eye out.

Re the Santa/Peppermint Zombification: Hey Brennan, turn your location on. I just wanna talk.

I have to say, from the bottom of my heart, what the hell?

That creeped me out in the same way that episode of Adventure time where Princess Bubblegum (infused with the primal elemental candy energy or whatever) turned everyone into Candy people and everyone started singing Let Me Call You Sweetheart. What a weirdly specific body horror thing for me to encounter more than once. That one peppermint tooth thing is gonna haunt me. 

Kingston

I gotta say, props to Lou for pulling a complete 180 on the kind of character he picked this time around. He went from playing this super extra rich pretty boy to this salt of the Earth quasi patriarch and he's just as comfortable with it. Kingston is so real. I went to church with like 50 guys like him back home.

Why are you fighting so hard about free food Kingston? Take the free homecooked food Kingston!

The intensity of his, "I will be here until I die," was hysterical.

Mentioned this before but I love the flavoring of the cleric class where instead of being attuned to a deity Kingston is basically attuned to the entire city. Also, the perks are excellent. Bus service anywhere for free. Sign me up.

I like that Ricky's sister works at the hospital. It's a really cool potential connection for later.

"We're gonna take the thing outchyo butt. We're not gonna deny you medical services."

"Aint nothing wrong with being a freak." --Kingston Brown

Fantasy creatures having to deal with updated tech (like the Toll bridge trolls talking about EZ-passes) is one of my fave urban fantasy tropes.

"I've got a really sweet smelling man here!"

"Yeah, my tooth fell out and now it's a candy. Hey, how much is this gonna cost?" This is what I’m talking about. Priorities my dude.

I love that Kingston knows Pete's weird mob doctor. It seems like part of his deal is that he just knows everything about everyone in the city (within whatever parameters).

Pete says, in quick succession about Ricky, "I feel like he would bully me," and, "He seems like a golden retriever," which I feel are almost mutually exclusive statements.

Kugrash

Well, I asked what kind of druid nonsense was happening in Central Park and the answer is Murph apparently.

I really wish I could have been there when Murph announced he wanted to play a literal rat.

"I am the shit that feeds the flies. A dumpster druid."

"Wherever you are rat Jesus, I love you." You're killing me Brennan.

Aww Kugrash goes around feeding the homeless and stuff. He's like this grumpy ass rat man who really cares about the community.

"Santa you fucking bum." --Kugrash

"I'm sorry are you a rat?"

The idea of a roach with a hobo sack pisses me off because it's adorable but roaches are the worst.

"Is Santa dead?"/"I don't know. I'm not religious."

"Santa Claus is real and he's DEAD."

Brennan loves to use the modifiers "full" and "fully" and I have picked it up irl and in my writing.

"Let's get a little fucked up and go see if Santa's dead!"

Just that whole squirrel interaction.

The sixth borough huh? Interesting. I see you Brennan.

Also, the detail that Kug's clothes are made from old MTA vests is great.

Misty

Siobahn is playing basically exactly the character I thought she'd be playing but she's doing it so much better and more extra than I could have imagined.

"A lady would never say her age, so I won't."

Is her pianist magic or something too? I have my suspicions.

So Misty gets some kind of bard and/or fairy high from praise and adoration which is interesting.

What kind of weird, morally dubious and/or unpleasant fae thing is Misty gonna have to do soonish? It's not gonna be good. Fae stuff never is.

DON CONFETTI

"I don't study magic. I just *am* magic."

So many of these intro vignettes end with, "You don't know that...but you do know who does." Like I said before, I really love the weaving together of all the story threads to get everyone in the same place at the same time in an organic feeling way.

Also he makes all these transitions sound cinematic, like he's writing the description parts of a movie script and not narrating in person.

Public Library! I knew we'd end up here eventually but I didn't know it'd be pretty much immediately. Like, if you're going w/ the "NY is magic" premise, the library has to figure in, you know?

Emily immediately having Sophia recognize Ricky as Mr. March was such a funny and on point character decision. I love how one-off, spur of the moment lines end up being running jokes because other players pick on them and drop them an hour later.

"Are you a rat?"/"Yeah, I'm a rat man!"/"I'm sorry if that was rude."

Brennan: The lions are alive and they're boyfriends.

Misty and Siobhan both are genre savvy enough to want to nip a knights/knave door puzzle situation in the bud.

Ricky on escape rooms: I'm not very good at them but I can definitely try my hardest. (Guys, I love him so much.)

Love me some MC Escher steps.

Underrated Misty line: It's all infernal to me.

Misty's little, "Ugh" at learning they have to go to Times Square is the real NY experience.

Is this Alejandro dude gonna die? What's the over under on this dude eating it very soon?

Misty encouraging Pete to shoot Alejandro is so needlessly chaotic which is a common fae trait and I really hope this escalates.

I dunno what Murph rolled for initiative but he looks like he just shamed his entire family line.

And we’re fighting an army of crazed Santa clones next week! We have literally just started and we are already fully off the rails.  I cannot *wait* to see where we go from here if this is the *starting point*. 

[geek-gem]

Joker 2019 Sequel Cast And Ideas

This was a draft I’ve been working on for a long while now. I forgot when I started it. Maybe two weeks but I’m not sure. I’ve seen Joker three times. The film has made a billion dollars. Including Joaquin Phoenix seems like he wouldn’t mind being the Joker again. Also Todd Phillips has said he wouldn’t mind a sequel unless the story is right. Which I agree with him.

I just wanna mention I really like Joker 2019. Especially the Arthur Fleck interpretation of the Joker. Including you can see the popularity among Tumblr especially women. XD But yeah to be honest I’m both ways. I don’t mind if it’s just a stand alone. But also I loved this version of the character. It’s the version that got me to appreciate the Joker as character. Which may sound stupid.

Especially despite what Todd Phillips has said....I want this Joker to meet his Batman in his universe. The idea of a continuation to Joker has been on my mind for a long time now. Yet the problem and I have mentioned it before.

A half of it is like, “Yeah this is the kind of a movie that's the perfect continuation to Joker. It’s artsy and has lots of meaning”, but also it feels like, “What the hell is this? What’s with so many characters in this story? Why are there many references? This doesn’t feel like the kind of film Joker 2019 was”.

Including I have wondered it feels like a movie that would deserve a super cut. Something like Batman V Superman with it’s ultimate edition(Which added more scenes that explained things). Or even the It supercut I’ve read about. Which is basically the two It films put together with I think more footage too. Including it being 7 hours.

But the main focus of this story was between the relationship between Bruce Wayne/Batman and Arthur Fleck/Joker. Including it’s about the end of the Joker. But also for Arthur Fleck, giving him a proper send off. So a franchise wouldn’t be built. 

I am planning on making a synopsis of the general story. It’s what I think a sequel should be to Joker. But I would trust with what Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix would want to do with a sequel. This is just my fan fiction of wanting to respect of what had came before. Expanding upon Arthur’s journey as the Joker. Including to give this character a emotional conclusion as he meets the Batman and Bruce Wayne during his final week or more of living. 

So this is all rambling. I’ve been hesitant to post this because again it’s just rambling and notes. But I think I should share this. Be warned there are spoilers. Including if you have been going in deep in the theories about Joker 2019. You may be disappointed by possible choices I’ve made in this. Because doing this kind of sequel may disprove certain theories or confirm certain theories. I’m deeply sorry this is very long.

Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/Joker. 

A mentally ill man disregarded by society and became the, “Joker” in 1981. 20 years later, now 50 years old and known mostly as his alter ego. An anarchist with no motive wreaking havoc in Gotham as much as he can with followers behind him. 

But as years gone, things have changed. With more people are slowly stop believing his cause. Including with this, “Batman” helping the police closing in on him. Old emotions have started to flow through Arthur again. Bringing back memories of why he became this way. Even if he does not fear death, he thinks his final days are probably upon. As each day he grows older and the world is moving on without him.

Including just like his final days will like how in 1981 will forever impact him. Once he crosses paths again with Bruce Wayne. Along with who people thought was a urban legend, “Batman”. With Arthur realizing he isn’t the only freak in Gotham who suffered so much.

Notes: The story of this Joker continuation is something. I’ll be honest I want to respect the legacy of these old comics characters. While also putting them in this world Joker 2019 created. But also the direction I’ve been thinking about for Arthur/Joker may bother a lot of Joker fans. 

Mainly considering this story where it’s basically what I call, “Jokers Downfall” because it’s final days or week or so on. While showcasing 20 years the man who was once Arthur Fleck truly changed. Becoming an, “Agent Of Chaos” creating destruction wherever he can.

It’s this time in his life as he meets people old and new that causes him to act differently. In some ways you get the evil Joker that you usually think of. But for this story kind of has a, “Softer” Joker. Because of his meeting with certain people, especially Bruce Wayne and Batman. The man that was once Arthur Fleck is still there. Including as Joker becomes less of how people see him, being honest of who he had killed, and other things.

But including to make sure this doesn’t turn into a long running franchise. Even though I have thought this feels like the third part in a trilogy. This story is a way a definite end for Arthur Fleck. In his own and for the best of everyone a ending that only suits him. 

Yet this doesn’t mean he doesn’t get redeemed at all or you condone his actions. It’s more like a proper ending to a man who had good intentions, but because of how society treated him and the choices he made. It’s an ending where the only, “Happy ending” probably for him is his death. But also the addition of maybe along the line some how, he gains a best friend. Someone who understands him. Showcasing he’s not alone. Especially proving Murray Franklin’s words, “Not everyone is awful”. 

But the tragedy in all of this. This revelation happened 20 years later. Because Arthur has destroyed his chance of returning to who he was. Or even change for the better. The best thing for Arthur/Joker in this situation despite this sounds rather harsh. Is for him to embrace death as the world around him has changed. But also to as he reaches closer to death. He truly that he wasn’t alone, one spot or more empathy from someone in the likes of Bruce Wayne/Batman and whoever else.

Including the other thing. Confirming whether or not Arthur is Bruce’s legitimate older brother. Considering there or theories based upon the flies Arthur had taken. It’s something I need to think about.

Jay Ryan as Bruce Wayne/Batman.

A young man who lost his parents during the riots in 1981. Traumatized by his parents deaths. He vowed to bring vengeance upon criminals. It’s been 20 years since that night, now 28 years old. He’s been mostly keeping a low profile as the, “Batman”. Fighting criminals and stopping the mobs. Gaining the trust of the citizens and even the police. Despite them being suspicious still. While making sure no one figures out it’s Bruce as this vigilante. 

Because of him and the Joker being now out in the open more. He’s set his sights on the man who inspired the man who murdered his parents. Yet what Bruce figures out as he looks more deep into who the Joker is. Including who was Arthur Fleck, and what made him what he was. Bruce discovers that his father, someone he looked up for all his life. Finds out his father wasn’t truly the greatest. Including was one of the reasons for Arthur’s decent into madness.

Along with trying to hold back his anger as much as he can as he learns more information and not wanting to kill. Bruce slowly uncovers what made Arthur how he is now. Which results in not just wanting to bring Arthur to justice, but to even try to save this man who suffered so much.

Describing his batsuit: To fit the aesthetic and tone of this world that Joker 2019 is featured in. Including to compare with next to Arthur Fleck's Joker attire in Joker 2019. With the help of a friend named Lucius Fox. Bruce's batsuit could be similar to the likes of the batsuits from The Dark Knight trilogy.

But mainly in a weird way to fit this more realistic world. The batsuit seems similar to the likes of the outfit worn by Hunk and Vector from the Resident Evil series, and also the likes of SAS soldiers. But without the likes of a gasmask unless if needed for any necessary situation.

Especially like the 1989 batsuit, there is body armor on the chest to protect Bruce from bullets.

This batsuit is basically personally accustomed for Bruce Wayne's needs and his war on crime. It still has the cape, the bat ears, and the spikes on his gloves.

The concept of Batman in the world of Joker 2019: This is something that's been on my mind. Because reading the process behind Joaquin Phoenix's Joker outfit of how he would look. But also the idea of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker is basically supposed to be what if the Joker existed in real life.

Before Joker 2019, The Dark Knight Trilogy was maybe the best example of showing how the Batman mythos could exist in reality. The challenge for this Batman was to try that again. But this time not recreate what Christopher Nolan had did basically copying him. Yet the idea of it is how would Batman realistically look in this universe.

It's a interesting challenge. Mainly the design is what makes me think. While I know the concept of a Batsuit looking like something similar to the likes of SAS and the other examples I mentioned. It's to compliment the realistic approach taken for Joker. Basically how Christopher Nolan did for Batman and Joker before.

Including to me we've had comic accurate Batmans and Jokers before so to me it's okay to change things up a bit, be creative. Yet I understand a direction like this would get hatred. Especially how people were reacting to Joker at first.

But I keep telling myself this. The concepts I keep thinking is it's like a smaller version of Batman 1989 and The Dark Knight. Because both Batman and Joker were two major characters in those films. Yet there have been ideas of showcasing a Batmobile. The biggest challenge of that is how would that look realistic. Yes we have the Tumbler as a example and that's good. 

Including the training Bruce had in this universe. After talking with a friend and making some funny jokes. Alfred in this universe was part of the SAS when he was younger. Bruce did some smaller forms of training(Such as karate as a friend mentioned as an idea) before having Alfred help get connections to get secret training from the SAS in the United Kingdom. Including any other possible special forces training that Bruce may need in his war on crime. 

I have wondered of using Batman's first appearance as an inspiration. But I have thought of other inspirations like Ben Affleck's Batman, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Batman Arkham Origins, the Telltale Batman series. I just wanna make the best realistic Batman I can make.

Especially for this take including I remember hearing Ben Affleck’s take on Batman would of been about his mental state. This is kind of familiar. But it’s also showcasing that this Bruce Wayne is the anti thesis of who his dad was in Joker 2019. Showcasing the good Bruce does when he’s not Batman. Such as using his wealth to help those around him. I do think people might dislike the idea of a, “Softer” Batman. Yet considering the direction of this story. It’s something I wanna take and it seems fitting for a sequel to Joker 2019. Especially as a conclusion to Arthur’s story showcasing after he became Joker. The events in 1981 started a chain reaction that changed Gotham City. Including the lives of Bruce Wayne and Arthur Fleck. 

About Jay Ryan as Bruce Wayne/Batman: This is something that’s been bothering me. Casting Bruce Wayne/Batman is such a huge deal. While yes all of this is fan fiction right now. Originally Jay Ryan was my choice for the DC Black Clark Kent/Superman. But I decided to have him as Bruce Wayne/Batman. 

From what I’ve read he’s gotten experience from shows like Beauty And The Beast(Where he plays Vincent Keller the beast), and Mary Kills People(Where he plays a detective named Ben Wesley). Mainly my experience of seeing him in something was in It Chapter 2 where he played the older version of Ben Hanscom.

Mainly my biggest concern is not just his age. Yet he looks quite young anyway and there are similarities with Dante Pereira-Olson who portrayed a younger Bruce Wayne in Joker 2019. But also his performance next to Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck/Joker. 

Which is interesting a younger Batman against a Joker who’s been doing his thing for 20 years. A weird similarity between the DCEU’s Superman and Batman. I have thought of Nicholas Hoult. But I think people may not like the choice. 

Yet when I look at it. The direction of this Batman isn’t meant to be something like Batfleck. Who had been Batman for 20 years. This is a Batman in this universe started being Batman(like in the comics) at the age of 25. Starting in 1996. Yet he’s still young and learning. Including like I mentioned he’s a, “Softer” version of other versions. Who’s the reason why Gotham is doing better now. By donating his wealth to the people of Gotham. Basically what his father never did in this universe maybe.

Brad Pitt as Jim Gordon.

The commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department. Who was present during the riots of 1981. A good cop who is trying to help everyone the best he can in Gotham City. Especially with corrupt cops being around. He’s been on trail of the Joker for some years now but without any luck. With Batman helping more he’s close to catching him. 

Little does Gordon realize the chaos that might ensure when Joker and Batman finally meet. Which will result in something more greater than the riots in 1981.

Notes: Originally actors like Bryan Cranston(who voiced the character in Batman Year One), and Tom Selleck. But considering Bryan already voiced the character, and Tom seems like it would be type casting. Because of his character’s role in Blue Bloods. Brad Pitt was chosen because of the early reports of him being James Gordon in Matt Reeves The Batman 2021.

Especially to give the cast that, “Oscar” feel or so. Considering the last film had Robert De Niro. I wanted to give Brad Pitt that chance to shine.

Sophia Lillis as Barbara Gordon.

The young daughter of Commissioner Gordon. Only 17/18 years old as of now. While her father is concerned of trusting this, “Batman” vigilante. She believes Batman is trying to do the same thing as her father. But just on the other side of the law. 

An intelligent and also brave young girl who wants to help people. While wanting to help this case somehow by trying to be a detective. She never expected that in her life she would get this deep in this search for the Joker.

Especially when she ends up meeting the proposed, “Clown Prince Of Crime” himself. Someone she has only heard stories about, but never thought she would meet.

Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond.  

A young women Arthur had fallen in love with during 1981. But then Arthur discovered he had been hallucinating his entire relationship with her. With Sophie now in her late 40′s. While not close to Arthur. Because of the, “Batman” trying to find out answers about who Arthur Fleck was. Sophie discovers a bit more about how Arthur felt about her. Especially with Joker remembering her again and maybe some how can restart what they had. 

Notes: There is this idea of when Batman decides to investigate who Arthur is. He tracks down anyone who may of had a connection with him. With cameos from characters like Sophie, and Gary are in this film. Because they have met him before. Mainly with Gary knowing a bit more on Arthur because of working with him. 

Just a important detail, Sophie doesn’t die. But I wanted to bring back these certain characters that had met Arthur during his transformation into the Joker. Including in this story. I decided to do a little retcon(Unless it could still be in there) by adding in the scene from what I heard about the old script. Of Arthur in his Joker outfit meeting Sophie one final time before leaving to go meet Murray Franklin. Basically apologizing to her about the incident of him being in her apartment, giving her flowers, money, and telling her he’ll be on the Murray Franklin Show.

While this may seem weird. It’s this idea that because of the road he was taking, and knowing he might not see her again. He just wanted to say something one final time to her. Despite in the movie they never had a actual relationship.

It’s this idea that after 20 years. Joker still had these feelings for her and telling her the truth of how he felt. Including how he was feeling about her. But Sophie being honest with her after everything he’s done, it probably wouldn’t work. Yet he doesn’t get angry. It’s more like he understands because she’s right in this case.

This was a character I wanted to bring back somehow. Again these are all just my ideas. Especially this was the, “Softer” Joker I’m talking about. Because it’s at this stage, he doesn’t seem to care. Because Arthur is slowly coming back and Joker just doesn’t care anymore. 

Mark Hamill as Jack Napier. 

The old boyfriend of Penny Fleck who is the reason behind Arthur’s, “Condition”. Who was released 20 years earlier. Now working among the regular people. Including trying to stay low and make sure no one knows who he is. Because after all those years of spending in jail, he is still the cold hearted man who had beaten Arthur. But now living as a hermit, not making any connections with anybody. 

During this time, Batman questions him about Arthur and where he may be at. But also when Joker discovers who Napier is and that he still lives in Gotham City. He decides to pay the old man a visit and confront him.

Notes: This is a weird addition. Because in a way it doesn’t add a whole lot except that Batman part. Mainly the addition of Penny’s boyfriend being in this story is to give the people what they want. To have Arthur/Joker give him what he deserves. Including to close a chapter in Arthur’s life. 

Mainly the scene is this weird dark comedic scene with Joker, Barbara(who’s being kept hostage by the Joker), and his followers go to Jack Napier’s apartment. With Joker revealing who he is(Despite the added Batman meeting I had thought about to give his role more meaning) to Jack Napier and what he did to him as a child. With Jack Napier admitting to not regretting abusing Arthur. Including saying Arthur deserved it. 

Joker(Even if he was already planning on doing this, Jack Napier not regretting his actions made the choice even more easy) holding a customized sledge hammer, repeatedly beats Jack Napier with the hammer to the head. Basically beating the old man to death. With Joker admitting this is a vengeance to with Napier had beaten Arthur’s head. 

It ends with Joker all tired from beating his abuser to death. Traumatizing Barbara(Which was the reason he brought her there to witness it. To show in his case, “Parents are fucking awful”) in the process. With Joker literally asking as some sort way to calm her nerves down by asking her and his followers if they want to order pizza. With Joker literally stealing Napier’s money off his corpse to pay for a possible pizza.

Including it was tough thinking of who to cast as this character. Including it’s a small role. Originally it was Clancy Brown. But I decided Mark Hamill as a easter egg because he had voiced the Joker in multiple Batman media. Such as Batman The Animated Series, and the Batman Arkham series. Especially his name being a callback to Jack Napier from Batman 1989, the Jokers real name from that film.

Douglas Hodge as Alfred Pennyworth.

Bruce Wayne’s butler, caretaker, and legal guardian after Bruce’s parents were murdered. He knows Bruce is Batman and tries to assist him the best he can. A best friend and father figure to Bruce during the most dire of times. But when Bruce discovers that his family had possible connections to Arthur’s decent into becoming the Joker. This puts a strain on their relationship as Alfred was possibly keeping this secret from Bruce. 

Sally Field as Dr, Leslie Thompkins.

A doctor who has dedicated her life to help Gotham’s unfortunate, including a surrogate mother to Bruce Wayne after his parents were murdered. She knows Bruce is Batman yet despite the dangers. She supports him being the Batman. 

Elza Gonzales as Selina Kyle.

A woman who Bruce has been dating for a while. The woman who would later or is possibly Catwoman now.

Emma Stone as Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn.

One of Jokers followers he’s gained along the way. A intern psychologist who was assigned to the Arthur one time. But soon fell in love with him and escaped with him. But compared to other interpretations, there isn’t really a abusive relationship between the two. Mainly just the idea Harley fell in love with Arthur/Joker but he doesn’t share the same feelings towards her. Which overtime her, “Love” for him slowly fades away, possibly helping the police track Joker now. Realizing she was never really in love with him. 

Notes: To be honest it’s difficult to deal with Harley in this story. Because there is a reason why I said this feels like a third part of a trilogy. Because Harley sounds like she would be something like from a first sequel. Including this is what I have said there seems to be too many characters for this one story. 

Especially with this angle because this Joker, while not abusive with her. Yet he doesn’t share the same feelings for her. With Joker or in this case Arthur still having feelings for Sophie after all these years. Especially it’s also the fact I’ve seen a person’s reply on a piece of Joker and Harley art(With the 2019 Joker and DCEU Harley with Batman) of this Joker probably wouldn’t abuse his Harley. But we don’t know about that. 

I’m sorry if I seem to disregard this element. I’ll be honest I’m not big on the Joker and Harley ship. Mainly because of the whole abuse thing and just let Harley stay with Poison Ivy. Especially I guess this adds to the, “Softer” Joker thing I mentioned.

But yeah Harley is such a big character that just it’s interesting to imagine her in the world of Joker 2019. Yet I’m trying to be careful with what I do with these characters.

Also Emma Stone isn’t this permeant casting choice. It was just a casting choice I went with him because choosing a suitable actress for Harley is difficult. Including crap now I’m thinking of having a Poison Ivy cameo to just give Harley a girlfriend or whatever.

Especially I have wondered of putting Vicki Vale as a cameo. Maybe Emma Stone but I don’t know. As of now in this development Emma in Harley.

Leif Gantvoort as Bob the goon.

A follower of Joker who in 1981 helped Arthur Fleck escape from Arkham State Hospital. Ever since then Bob has been Jokers, “Number One Guy” basically his right hand man/2nd in command. He’s a man who believes in Jokers cause or if he even has one. These days he helps Joker with his acts of terrorism. Being one of his most devoted followers.

Notes: As you can tell it’s Bob from Batman 1989, basically in the same role in a way. Yet it probably won’t end the same way like it did in the 1989 film.

 Other notes: I just wanna say I do have plans of showcasing Black Mask in this. But not as an important character. Mainly in a scene where he is talking to Joker, criticizing him for having no motive and everything he’s doing is doing nothing for anybody. Which results in Joker just straight up murdering Black Mask by shooting him in the face. All because Black Mask criticized Joker and what he was doing. 

Mainly Black Mask’s men are shocked but don’t do anything. Because they just lost their leader and Jokers followers are there too in the meeting. In a way Joker kind of saved Gotham from Black Mask and his criminal army. But it also unleashed more chaos.

Especially Black Mask would mention Penguin as a reference of him being a, “Deformed freak” who is a weapons dealer and crime lord like Black Mask of sorts. Including Killer Croc was supposed to be in this as a minor character who Batman takes down. With Killer Croc being described as a cannibal with a skin condition making him look like some sort of reptile. But I feel this may be too much and Killer Croc deserves his own film maybe. I wanna put Scarecrow and Harvey Dent in some ways. But it’s already too much.

[thecomicsnexus]

THE WILD STORM #19-24 MARCH - SEPTEMBER 2019 BY WARREN ELLIS, JON DAVIS-HUNT AND STEVE BUCCELLATO

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE AND COMIC VINE)

In her London flat, Jenny Mei Sparks is telling her three new friends the story of her life over a few bottles of beer. It is a tale of adventure, righteousness, improbable encounters with famous people, and quite a lot of sex. She has been talking for thirteen hours and has still only gotten to 1955. By that year, she had joined Skywatch, a secret organization founded in the 1930s to guard against potential alien invasion. To that end, they needed a forward base on Mars. Their technology was formidable, their mission noble in theory... but Mars was a boring wasteland, and its lack of a magnetosphere meant that most of Jenny's crewmates developed cancer from stellar radiation exposure.

The mission had swiftly built its bases underground, shielded by the red dirt of Mars, but the base was also boring, and when Jenny came home, she left Skywatch, judging it to be "full of maniacs"... and to have only gotten worse since then. Skywatch has a set of agreements with IO, the shadowy intelligence masters, which mean it has to remain hidden, but as time goes on, the current leader of Skywatch, Henry Bendix, becomes more eager to use his technology to reshape Mars and Venus... and Earth. Jenny was sure a tipping-point would come, and it did - when Angie Spica used a jetpack suit made of IO and Skywatch tech to stop an IO assassin, in full view of a crowd, from killing Jacob Marlowe, a billionaire alien. Jack Hawksmoor interrupts, saying she didn't mention that. Jenny grins cryptically, and reaches for another bottle...

Elsewhere, the television news has gotten peculiar. Speculation about the New York Jetpack Incident. A report on a freak meteor strike which seems to be affecting the weather. A segment on the urban legend of the "billboard ghost girl". A segment on a serial killer dubbed the "Highway Ripper". A man speculating about a secret space program. An interview with Voodoo, where she describes her artistic side as a separate entity, her "daemon". And a news report about a township of fifty people, vanished in what the only eyewitness describes as an alien abduction...

In a large bed in a nice house, two men are watching that last segment on a phone screen. They conclude that it might be the work of Skywatch, who they escaped from together, but that if it is, something has made them brazen. One, dour as midnight, insists they must remain hidden, but the other, smiling like a Greek god, lists the actions of the dour one which have forced them to fight in the past. They will fight again this time, armed by preparation and buttressed by their love.

In the IO headquarters in New York, Jackie King is going over the estimates of Angie Spica's implants, wondering how she got it through IO's normal scanners. Ignoring a request that she attend a meeting, she orders an underling to prepare a report on their earlier DDOS on the Skywatch headquarters and whether they could replicate it.

Shen Li-Men is in the Hospital, the bardo realm where her predecessors as the Doctor reside. She says she has spoken to Jenny Mei Sparks and now she needs to know about the aliens. When they answer cagily, she insists that she cannot do her job unless they comply. So they tell her the tale.

Once upon a time, there was an alien planet called Khera. On it, the dominant species formed a society which bound together five sub-species in a caste system. The Kherans search the galaxy for life-bearing worlds with tool-using natives, with the goal of conscripting those natives as "clients", or slaves. Due to the chaotic nature of the universe, tool-using natives are hard to catch before they are wiped out by chance or foolishness. The goal of the Kheran rulers is something called "forward escape" - to take their whole society from this plane of existence to one where life is easier to sustain. A Doctor has never learned how this would work, but it requires living beings, serving in free will. Once, a Doctor seduced John Colt, a Kheran soldier, and while he was sleeping read his mind to view what, mechanically, this would entail - a vision of Earth marked by three massive fire pits.

However, when the Kherans arrived, they discovered that they were not unopposed. They called these rivals "The Other", once. Now they are known as "The Daemon". The goal of the Daemon is gently inspire, shepherding humanity forward with a modicum of balance so they can escape extinction. Aiding them in this vocation is a device of theirs - the Shaper Engine, a machine that Li-Men saw in a metaphor in a vision. One of the things the Shaper Engine does is empower specific humans to serve as a defense mechanism - like Jenny Mei Sparks.

The interference of the Daemon stymied the Kherans' efforts enough that they fell to internal bickering. A faction of the Kherans tried to influence the culture of the Middle East by appearing as wise but fearsomely-visaged powers, recorded in legend as cherubim. Emp chose a different tactic - he gathered a cabal of underlings, scuttled the alien ship, and vanished in the ensuing explosion. The Kheran homeworld assumed the mission to be a failure, and wrote Earth off. Emp has hidden inside society ever since, pursuing his "Main Project" - to raise human technology to the level where it can petition to join the Kherans as equals.

Today Emp pursues this mission using his resources under the alias 'Jacob Marlowe'. He sees far, but not far enough. He never grasped the reasoning of the Daemon. He did not anticipate that the marooned Kherans would spread competing philosophies and religions across the world, primed to oppose him. He did not anticipate how strong, or how strange, the humans could become. And he knows nothing of the Shaper Engine.

To conclude, the Doctors tell Shen Li-Men that a portentious storm is coming, a storm that may end the world. The Doctor that will have to oppose it will face a burden that no previous Doctor has ever had to bear, and that Doctor is her. And yet, they have an unbiased assessment of her skills and her compassion, which, with fortitude and spite and maybe a few friends, may be enough to see her through.

Skywatch intensifies its preparation for war, increasing its attacks on the planet. For some of these conflict zones, Skywatch’s greatest threat is not IO or conventional forces, but the people who escaped from its own experimentation camps. And the four people in London whom it knows little about, but who are preparing to take steps to alter the balance of the world.

The experimental subjects code-named Apollo and Midnighter have broken cover. Combat-optimized superhumans are now loose on the Earth.

Jenny Mei Sparks has assembled a group of misfits and exiles, to stand against a corruption that covers the world and orbits above it.

The storm of accidents, deaths, mistakes, confusion and anger has led to this. Miles Craven has lost his grip and Henry Bendix has lost his mind.

IO has betrayed the world, and Skywatch wants to burn it. The only people in the middle are Jenny Mei Sparks’ ragtag team of wounded orphans of the secret world.

REVIEW

These last six issues are more action packed (it is a third act after all), and in general it feels like a pilot for The Authority (curiously enough, the next book announced was WildCATS but it was cancelled. May be re-solicited eventually. WildStorm has a very complicated history with runs that get cancelled, with the most obvious one being The Authority by Grant Morrison.

Anyway, the visuals and the story are very tight, and this is an amazing story to read. It just, takes you two years to get the whole thing. I feel like in the last 12 issues, I got more about the properties I knew more, and that may be the reason why I liked the last 12 issues more.

As I said in a previous post, this is a very long prologue, but a high quality one. Think of it as the “Man of Steel” for a new universe (the John Byrne one, not the one that made you stop reading Superman).

I had problems in the past with the way Apollo and Midnighter’s relationship was portrayed. At least, during the New 52/Rebirth era. I felt it pretty real in this run, or at least is more similar to what I experienced in real relationships. Their differences are big, but at the core, they shouldn’t get in the way of their love.

Voodoo was a gratuitous character throughout these 24 issues. She barely did a thing. Same with the way Michael Cray ended up dying in the last issue. He did have his own mini-series that I didn’t follow, but considering that Deathblow had a “healing factor”, I suppose he is probably not dead.

This story felt very sober sometimes, replacing super-heroes with regular people with powers, it’s a nice interpretation when every book around you has spandex and shiny armor.

There is spandex and shiny armor here too... but you know what I mean.

I give these issues a score of 9.

[true-halloween-tales]

2018: #10-YOKAI

Previously we have examined monsters from the East: the rakshasha, the kaiju and the oni. The oni can be grouped under another entire classification of Japanese monsters, yokai (see 2012: #11-ONI). Yokai started appearing in folklore and art in Japan during the Middle Ages. Yokai are supernatural monsters and spirits, usually with powers, especially shapeshifting. Some yokai are evil and some are not. Most are mischievous, and a few may bring good luck. Yokai became popular for blaming on accidents, especially when households ran out of lamp oil; that’s because “the yokai stole it overnight.” Yokai are very much personifications of animistic supernatural phenomenon. According to Japanese animism, spirit-like entities called mononoke were believed to reside in all things, very much like the midichlorians that create the Force in the Star Wars films. Some mononoke are evil, vengeful ghosts; some may be souls from yesteryear basking in the sunlight and fermenting. These mononoke supposed to have minds, feelings, and individual personalities. Good spirits are nigi-mitama, bringing good fortune. Bad spirits, ara-mitama, bring misfortune, including violence, illness and disasters. These mononoke are the basis of the yokai.

Yokai have many different external appearances: demons such as oni, human-appearing yokai, animal yokai, object yokai, and miscellaneous yokai. Some consider the general classification of yokai to have a sub-classification, also named yokai, referring to those that are not oni, often the more playful and less harmful yokai. Another sub-classification are bakemono, any yokai who have the ability to shapeshift. Since there are so many types of yokai, the easiest way to classify them is by appearance. Oni have been previously covered, so how about the rest of the yokai classifications?

Human-appearing yokai are common and usually dangerous. A sub-classification of human-appearing yokai are the yamauba. Yamauba tend to be old, disheveled women who live deep in the wilderness. They appear to be friendly and nice. Then they reveal a mouth with fangs on top of or in back of their head and they try to kill you! Rokurokubi appear as normal women or men with surprise attack necks that elongate ten to twenty feet often with surprise super sharp teeth. Sometimes rokurokubi have the power of a penanggalan, aka the Tchaikovsky delusion, of the head separating from the body and flying around surveying the surrounding countryside. Other human-appearing yokai include the yuki-onna, women dressed in white who are ice ghosts. The shirime are yokai who make no physical attack and appear as normal respectable people. They usually want to lead you to see something nearby, like in an alley. As you look around the seedy location, the shirime bends over, drops their pants and underwear, and reveals a large eye looking at you in the place of any anuses. That’s all the shirime do. Aren’t yokai fun?

Another classification of yokai are animal yokai. They tend to have recognizable specific animal features. The kappa is the most popular animal yokai. Kappa are similar to humanoid turtle-men with flat heads. Kappa folktales may have emerged due to sightings of Japanese giant salamanders. They are certainly mischievous, occasionally helpful, and often dangerous. They have powers over water and are known for drowning people in rivers. Parents would dissuade their children from swimming by telling them that if they swim alone a kappa would get them. There was a custom to throw a cucumber in a river to placate a kappa when having a picnic nearby. Kappa were known to speak Japanese, enjoy wrestling, and make deals with people. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are similar to kappa. A second animal yokai are the tengu shapechanging bird-men, often with ridiculously large noses when appearing as humans. Some tengu may be evil corrupters of humanity whereas other tengu may be druidical protectors of forests or mountains. A third animal yokai is the kitsune. Kitsune are shapechanging fox-men who may be wise and good or may be malevolent tricksters. Kitsune may have multiple tails, up to nine. The more tails they have, the stronger the kitsune are. Kitsune have a strong supernatural significance due to having a mythical connection to Inari, the rice god.

The next classification of yokai are yokai that are inanimate objects. Tsukumogami are objects that reached their one-hundredth birthday and thus became intelligent and self-animated. Tsukumogami include normal items such as umbrellas, sandals, furniture, and kitchen utensils. They are believed to be ghost-like and can shapeshift into human form. Umbrella yokai are the most well-known object yokai and go under several names: kasa-obake or karakasa-obake or kasa-bake or karakasa kozō. Another object yokai are morinji-no-kama, tea kettles. A very large object yokai are the nurikabe, large walls that appear at night, blocking roads to confuse travelers, getting them lost. The object yokai are usually comical and harmless.

The last yokai classifications are miscellaneous yokai. A popular miscellaneous yokai is the wanyudo. Wanyudo are flying heads surrounded by fire, usually attached to an oxcart wheel. Wanyudo yokai started appearing in folktales in the 800’s A.D. The wanyudo can be traced to a particular evil Japanese feudal lord who had his victims drawn to oxcart wheels. As punishment, the wanyudo flys about guarding the road and gate to Hell. The nuppeppo is a man-sized droopy fleshed human head with legs and arms sticking out of it. Nuppeppo are harmless and don’t do much except emitting a sickeningly sour smell. However, eating their foul flesh brings eternal life. Keukegen are furry creatures, either brown or black, resembling very furry dogs. They may only be composed of fur and have no substance beyond that, quite similar to some politicians. Keukegen look cute but are known to bring disease. Sagari are grotesque heads of horses, without bodies, that drop down from hackleberry trees at passers by and howl out a dreadful wail that could cause a deadly fever. Sagari are created when a dead horse is abandoned on the road and its soul becomes caught on a tree branch. The miscellaneous yokai are quite strange.

Yokai have appeared in Japanese art, films, television, and even in games. Yokai started appearing in manga, Japanese comic books, in the 1960’s. Yokai were first featured in the cartoon tv series, GeGeGe no Kitaro, created by Shigeru Mizuki. GeGeGe no Kitaro is about a boy, Kitaro, who has one eye and has a companion of his dead father reincarnated in his other eye which creeps about and jumps with a squish. Together they fight bad yokai... Again: a boy with one eye travels with his other eye which is animated – jumps around – and the eye has his father’s soul possessing it, and they fight evil yokai… Nope, there is no simple way to describe GeGeGe no Kitaro. GeGeGe no Kitaro has had six different tv series since the 1960’s and the latest series started in the Spring of 2018. Shigeru Mizuki also created the popular manga, Kappa no Sanpei, also featuring yokai.

Yokai feature films started with 1964’s beautiful, Kwaidan, a series of folktales including yokai. Yokai Monsters are a trio of films released in the 1960’s written by Tetsuro Yoshida, starting with 1968’s Yokai Monsters: One Hundred Monsters. My favorite in the series is Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare, also from 1968, featuring a vampire shapeshifter. The final film in the series is 1969’s Yokai Monsters: Along With Ghosts. In 2005 Takashi Miike directed a remake of Spook Warfare titled The Great Yokai War which is a wonderful cornucopia of craziness. A live-action film of GeGeGe no Kitaro was released in 2008, Kitaro and the Millennium Curse, and it is pretty good - and the disembodied eye pops about and talks in a funny voice! Yokai-Watch is a 2013 Japanese Video Game and the popular Pokémon game includes many monsters based on yokai: shiftry are based on tengu and electibuzz are based on oni.

As new unban legends are formed, so are new yokai created to explain them. One new yokai based on an urban legend is the jinmenken, a dog with a human face. Teke teke is another new urban legend inspired yokai which is a ghost woman with no lower half of her body, so she crawls about on her hands. The 2007 film, A Slit-Mouthed Woman, focuses on the the kuchisake-onna yokai, an evil and violent slit-mouthed female serial killer wielding a large scissors. A peculiar new urban legend is that of the aka manto. They are only found in restrooms in the last stall at the end which is usually dark, old, and shunned. It turns out there is no toilet paper, so when you start looking for it you hear a creepy voice offer “red or blue” toilet paper. If you select red, you are sliced up dead and so bloody that you are entirely covered in red blood. If you select blue, the blood is drained from you are you appear blue. The aka manto may be a serial killer, or a ghost, but sometimes it is identified to be a kainade, a furry creature that just wants to rub your backside in the dark restroom…

I tend to think of yokai as being fun, harmless beings. There are quite a few of them, and they are very different from each other. Since they are asian monsters, they would logically fit into an asian-themed Dungeons & Dragons adventure, as we shall see… (on Friday see 2018: #11-THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES 6).

[rfield87]

Writing Advice from Best-Selling Authors: Jason Reynolds

This week’s re-blog was written by J.D. Myall and is titled: Sunny Author Jason Reynolds on Publishing, Writing, and Advice for New Writers. It was published on July 20, 2018. If you would like to read the original post on the Writer’s Digest website, I will leave the link below.

https://www.writersdigest.com/be-inspired/jason-reynolds-author-sunny-writing-publishing-advice-new-authors

Sunny Author Jason Reynolds on Writing, Publishing and Advice for New Writers

Award-winning YA novelist Jason Reynolds has cemented his place in literary history with titles like When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit and Long Way Down. Here we talk to Jason about writing, publishing and his advice for new authors.

Jason Reynolds is one of the most gifted YA novelists of this time. With titles like When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit and Long Way Down, Reynolds has cemented his place in literary history.

Recently, Reynolds had three titles on the New York Times Best Seller list at the same time. He has been honored with a collection of awards, including several Coretta Scott King Book Award honors, an NAACP Image Award, and his novel Long Way Down has won the Edgar Award. He’s been a National Book Award finalist and has graced stages with Ta-Nehisi Coates and Rep. Jon Lewis. Reynolds has also been featured in the pages of People magazine. He has appeared on television shows such as The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Here we talk to Jason about writing, publishing and his advice for new authors. 

What was your life like, pre-book?

I was a happy shop worker. I got to dress nice going to work every day and I liked that. I saw people at these high-end stores in New York City making a lot of money. I would have been happy to do that, but I wouldn’t have been reaching my full potential.

Best advice you have heard on writing?

Sharon Draper told me that to write a novel is to climb Mount Everest. When you climb Mount Everest, the whole time you’re thinking, I don’t think I can make it. When you reach the top, you think, now I know I can climb Mount Everest. But what you don’t account for is that on your way down all the footholds change. So, when you climb again it’s not the same route. It’s difficult all over again...every time it’s a new climb.

Do you have any advice for new authors on creating a satisfying ending and a thrilling beginning?

My uncle use to say that the good books begin with “...and shots rang out.” Shots rang out is a cliche, but what he meant is that no one has time for you to get us to the minefield. Drop us in the minefield in the beginning. Drop us off in the mix and you can move backward and forward from there. End in the mix. Don’t answer any questions. Leave me in the muck at the end, too. There can be less muck, but all the loose ends shouldn’t be tied up. There should be something unreconciled. That’s life. Nobody’s life is tied up in a bow. Stories that end in a bow are kind of disrespectful to the reader. If you want your story to be compelling, let it fade to black without reconciliation.

How do you know when a novel is finished?

You always end it a chapter early.

What has novel writing taught you?

Patience. Diligence. Every time you write a novel it’s like writing one for the first time.

Your poetry is amazing. Do you have any advice for writing poetry that connects with readers?

You have to be honest. You have to choose words that breathe. It doesn’t have to necessarily be correct English, but you need words with life. Gwendolyn Brooks once had a list of goals that was published. One of them said she wanted to speak proper English. One of her most popular poems was “We Real Cool.” That’s not what anybody would call proper English, but those words breathed.

You have collaborated on writing with editors and writers. What is the key to making a collaboration work effectively?

Humility. If we are collaborating, we both need to only work for the good of the product. Nothing is sacred to me. If my best line has to get sacrificed for the good of the project, I am not in fear that I’ll never have another good line. If my editor says, “this isn’t working,” and she explains why it’s not working...it’s just not working. It’s that simple. I want to create the best thing. I don’t always know how to make the best thing by myself. Sometimes I can be way too close to something...to actually see it.

How did you connect with Marvel to write Miles Morales: Spider-Man? And can you tell us about the project?

They called me. I wish I had some romantic story about it. I was writing a lot of young, black urban males and they wanted a Spider-Man like that. They reached out to me. Then, I had to think about what that would mean. What are superpowers? Heightened senses? All of our mothers have taught us to have those, so we can stay safe in the hood. I had to ask myself what the kid’s neighbors and family are like. How does it feel to wear a mask and then take that mask off and still feel like you’re not seen? For a kid like this, his super villain would be while supremacy. So, I had to figure out how to change that thought into a comic book.

Tell me the story behind the story. How did your current novels, For Everyone and Sunny, come to be? What are they about?

Sunny is the third book of the track series. I wanted to explore what it means to be black and to be strange...I think our kids deserve to be able to stretch out imaginatively and live their best lives...even if that means being a little left of center. It’s beautiful to tell a story like that.

The other one is called For Everyone. It was basically a love letter wrote to myself when I was twenty-five years old. I decide to quit writing. It was like a curtain call, a sun setting on my career. Looking back on it, (that thinking) was very melodramatic. I thought I’m twenty-five years old and this is it for me. I’m Done. So, I was writing what it feels like to fail. Then, over the course of the two- or three-year process of writing it (things) evolved. It became less about failure and more about what it feels like to want something. We often look at freedom as attaining something. Really, it’s the ability to even have the gumption and the space to dream you could have it in the fist place.

Do your current novels address social issues? If so what themes or messages were you hoping to convey to readers in regard to those issues?

For Everything addresses the fear of living a full life. Sunny addresses depression and  grief...and the breakdown of a family due to a young person’s misunderstanding of their parents. Parents are human. They deal with things like grief, depression and anxiety. To a young person that can feel like dismissal, abandonment, and other things.

Looking back what do you think you did right that helped you to become the novelist you are today?

Be honest. When I was 21, my first editor said that my intuition would take me further than my education ever would. She said what she knew about me was that I had a golden gut. I could put on a page that what felt good to me. I don’t care about the rules. If it feels good, I go with it and that hasn’t let me down yet.

How has your life changed since publication?

I feel more responsibility about what I put out in the world because a lot of people are going to read it. I feel more pressure so there are moments when it isn’t as fun. Moments when this feels like a job. I am appreciative and the fun is there, but there are times when it feels like a job. I’m on the road 100 days a year. Visiting schools, speaking at events, but I have to show up and be the Jason that everyone came to see. It’s hard on me and it’s hard on my family...but you can’t show that.

What are the biggest surprises and learning experiences that you discovered during the publishing journey?

How hard it is. The editors are like collaborators. They do a lot of work, but most writers don’t give them enough credit. (I’ve also learned) how hard it is to sell books. I would encourage everyone to go outside and try to sell fifty things to strangers and see how difficult it is. People underestimate how difficult it is...so when you land on a (bestseller) list it can feel like a miracle.

How do you respond to finding out you made the New York Times Best Sellers List? How do you celebrate?

I don’t celebrate things that have to do with me. I celebrate other people. My National Book Award medal is in a desk. My awards are in boxes. When those things happen, it’s awesome. But there is so much work to be done. I don’t have time to bask in it...People who drink their own Kool-Aid have their career cut short. I can’t believe my own hype. It’s cool to have people say nice things about me. But I have work to do.

Your novel Long Way Down was optioned for film by Universal, with John Legend scheduled to produce it. How involved will you be in that?

I don’t know. I would like to be in the room. I’d like to consult. There are slippery parts of the book I would like to be sure they understand, but other than that, I am not a movie maker. I don’t have that weird thing authors have (when they say), “Don’t ruin my book.” No one can ruin my book because it already exists. What they are creating is a different product. Having that distance helps you enjoy the process.

What matters more to you as an author: winning awards or making best sellers list?

What matters most is creating a book that will withstand. I am here to make art, but if I had to pick between the two, I would pick the awards because awards last forever. Bestsellers are nice, but you may only be on there a week. You’re only as good as what comes out that week. If you make that list and the next week Stephen King or John Green come out it’s a wrap for you. You ain’t on there no more. I think Long Way Down was on (The New York Times Best Sellers List) for seven weeks...but it won the Walter Award, and that’s forever.

Final advice for aspiring writers?

Excellence is habit. The way you live your life is the way you approach your novels...If you work to be great at every part of your life, writing a novel will feel natural for you. Excellence can’t be turned off.

What’s up next for you?

I want to work on a contemporary adult novel. Sunny and For Everyone are available now and I will continue to work hard and put out more books. I want people to scratch their heads wondering how I can put out so many books at this level. I’m my own competition...I’ll keep trying to best myself and try to be of service to others.

[builder051]

No sympathy (a Spiderman sickfic)

I was super enthused about how much love the first Spiderman fic got, so I had to run and write another one.  This one is Halloween themed, and it’s EXACTLY 2100 words.

Ned’s texted Peter four times in the last hour.  He’s as dead-set on inviting Peter to do something for Halloween as Peter is dead-set on saying no.

“Geez, how many times do I have to tell you,” Peter mumbles as he taps out another reply.  I’m busy. Stark internship.  Already told you.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to go trick-or-treating in Ned’s building.  To be honest, he kind of does. There’s that one neighbor that gives out full-size KitKats, and he has the best costume.  And it’s not even a costume, it’s, like, his work uniform…  But there are way more important things to do.

If urban legends and underground news reports are anything to go by, Peter has dozens of black kittens to save from satanic sacrifice and chocolate-stealing thugs to beat up and kids to help cross the street and baskets of candy to check for broken glass and LSD…  With that agenda, goofing off on Halloween doesn’t stand a chance of making it onto the timetable.

Peter turns his phone upside-down on the desk so it won’t glow at him when Ned inevitably texts back. Again.  He rests his elbow on his partially-finished algebra homework and drops his forehead into his palm for a moment, until he remembers he shouldn’t do that because it’ll give him acne.  But cool-hand-on-achy-forehead kind of feels good, so maybe it’s a wash.

The sun’s falling into its late afternoon position, warning that dusk is near.  And that people with headaches should close their blinds to avoid being shot in the eyeballs with extreme sunset glare.  Peter doesn’t think the blinds on his window have worked since he moved in, so he splits the difference and pushes out of his desk chair to head for the kitchen.

May’s working late, so Peter’s on his own tonight.  She’s given him free reign to do whatever he wants to celebrate as long as it’s legal and he’ll be ready for school tomorrow.  Usually Peter would be ecstatic about the breadth of his freedom, but today he’s just glad he’s alone so he can dry-swallow three ibuprofen and eat cheese shreds straight from the bag.

With hunger taken care of and medication yet to kick in, Peter checks his watch.  The neighborhood won’t start bustling with Halloweeners for another couple of hours.  His homework’s as good as finished; no one will show up with completed math assignments tomorrow morning.  Peter doesn’t feel like giving the school population at large another reason to call him a geek.  And he doesn’t feel like he’ll be able to concentrate especially well anyway.

Flicking on the TV to a random rerun of The Simpsons, Peter flops down on the couch.  He intends to hang through the 30-minute episode, then put on his suit and jump through the window to start his patrol.  But somehow Peter blinks and the TV’s playing Hocus Pocus and it’s dark out and he’s missed something.  Like two hours of passing time.

“Fuck,” Peter curses himself, jumping to his feet as realizations of the date, time, and fact that he’s not feeling well all crash into his head.  He tornadoes into his room and strips, almost tripping over his jeans as he tries to scramble into his suit.  He’s groggy and his reflexes suck.  The logical voice in his head, the one that’s usually reminding him to do his homework, tells him this is not smart.  He should think about staying in tonight.  Or hit up Ned for something safer to do.  But the louder impress Mr. Stark and justice for Ben voice makes him keep going.

Peter throws his jeans and hoodie into his backpack, slings it over his shoulder, and tosses back the blinds to open his bedroom window.  He crawls up onto the small ledge of the sill and shoots a line of web to the next building over.

He swings to his usual hiding spot in an alley near the school building and drops his backpack behind a dumpster.  Everything seems to smell worse than usual, and it’s not helping Peter’s head.  Or his stomach, for that matter.

“Ok.  Here we go.”  Peter revs himself up.  He jumps on top of the dumpster and swings himself onto the roof the bodega to survey the streets from above.  A few people in costumes are running around, and there’s a pretty comical looking group of small-scale Power Rangers standing on a street corner, but beyond that, everything looks normal.  There aren’t any black-robed Satanists brandishing bloody knives or kids dropping to their knees from poisoned candy.  At least not that Peter can see.

He sits down on the edge of the roof and watches for a while, then webs himself two blocks over to get a different view.  A couple taxis honk at each other.  Some guy re-lights the jack-o-lantern on his balcony three separate times because the wind keeps blowing it out.

Peter rolls his mask up to his nose so he can catch a little bit of the autumn breeze.  It feels nice, especially seeing as the pressure of the tight spandex over his face is doing little to make him comfortable.  It’s actually making him pretty uncomfortable.  The throb that was just between his eyes earlier is now playing across his whole forehead.  And his stomach’s starting to feel frothy, like it’s full of shaving cream.

There’s a sound coming from the sidewalk on the other side of the building.  Not of someone in peril, more of sound of frustration.  But with the lack of anything else going on, Peter decides it’s his business to investigate anyway.  He looks over the vertical line of brick wall and sees what he thinks is a scruffy homeless man lounging on a dirty bedroll and a stroller-pushing woman expressing disdain that he’s blocking the sidewalk.

It’s not the large-scale, Halloween-themed rescue mission Peter’s been expecting, but he knows how to diffuse this bomb.  He puts his mask back down and jumps to street level.  The impact reverberates from his feet to his head, and Peter tries not to cringe as the headache flares into momentary vertigo.

“Ma’am, he’s not gonna hurt you,” Peter says, addressing the gum-chewing young mother first.  A candy bucket for her sleepy baby clad in a skeleton onesie is slung over the stroller’s handle.  Peter imagines she’s really trick-or-treating for herself.

“Yeah, but he’s blocking the sidewalk,” she complains.

“I know, I got it,” Peter placates her.  He bends at the waist to tap the man on the shoulder.  He’ looks like he could be dozing, and he has a smoldering pipe held up to his lips.  The fumes coming from it smell a bit more illegal than just tobacco.  “Hey, dude?”  He says.  “You can’t sleep here.  People want to walk here.”

“Hm?” the guy says, exhaling a cloud of smoke and looking quizzically at Peter’s masked face.  “What’re you supposed to be dressed up as?”

“Hi, I’m Spiderman,” Peter introduces himself.  He holds out his hand, and when the guy shakes it, Peter puts his other hand into the guy’s armpit and pulls him to his feet.  “There’s an alley right up here where you can be without being in everybody’s way.”

The guy fumbles so as not to drop his pipe, but doesn’t resist Peter walking him ten yards down and depositing him around the corner between a trash can and a drainpipe.  “I’ll go get your sleeping bag,” Peter promises, hustling back the way he came.

The young mom is already gone when Peter dashes back around the corner to grab the filthy bedroll.  He shakes it hard over the ground, muttering, “Could’ve at least stuck around to say thanks.”  Once most of the dust and stray flecks of weed are lost to the sidewalk, Peter re-traces his steps again.

The homeless man is braced against the wall and losing what sounds and smells like a full stomach of liquor.  “Oh, god,” Peter cries in surprise, turning his head away as soon as he realizes what’s happening. “Ok.  Um.  Yeah.”  He sloppily folds the sleeping bag into a rectangle with too many corners and sets it on the ground.  He can feel his own stomach asking to rebel, and his headache’s screaming a whole new tune.  “I’m not the one to help you with this.”  Peter’s mouth is full of spit.  “There’s a shelter with rehab stuff down on 35th by Steinway…”

The guy just pukes again, and Peter turns around to stumble out of the alley on shaky legs.  He swallows hard.  Vertigo threatens to take him down, and Peter leans against the cool brick wall.  He can hear blood pounding in his ears, but it doesn’t drown out the homeless man’s next retch.  That’s all that’s needed to send Peter over the edge, and he has to scramble to flip his mask up fast enough.

He heaves a couple times and watches dazedly as a small puddle of thick whitish spit forms between his boots.  His stomach empties before it settles, and Peter leans heavily into the wall.  He wipes away a moustache of sweat with the back of his gloved hand.  The spandex fabric still carries notes of the homeless man’s smoke and BO, and Peter almost goes down retching again.  But he just coughs and gasps for a moment before deciding he has to get out of here before he becomes a Halloween disaster himself.

Peter starts the stroll back around the block to pick up his backpack, feeling too dizzy to web himself around.  He briefly clocks in for another good deed and helps a couple third-grade ninjas cross the street, but practically undoes it when a yellow cab almost slams him on his way back across.  Peter halfheartedly flips the driver off and continues on his way to grab his stuff.

After struggling to pull his jeans over his suit, Peter zips up his hoodie and stows his gloves and mask.  He realizes he forgot to pack shoes, so he just has to hope his Spiderman boots won’t be noticeable.

Peter enters his building through the front door and pauses for a moment while he considers the choice of stairs or elevator.  He goes for the stairs, and even though his quads are burning by the time he reaches his floor, at least his head is still on his shoulders.

Light’s streaming from under the door when Peter approaches the apartment, and that can only mean that May’s home.  He tries to think up a good, believable story for what he’s been up to, but nothing comes easily, and he’s eager to get inside and shower and go to sleep.  Or maybe vomit his slimy guts out for the next millennium.

“Hey, May,” Peter says as he pushes open the door.

“Hey yourself,” May says.  She’s on the couch, eating popcorn and watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  “You do stuff?  Have a good time?”

“Yeah, just, uh,” Peter starts, “Ran around with Ned for a while.”

“Great costume,” May says, nodding to Peter’s getup.

“Thanks,” he replies absently.

“That wasn’t…” May trails off and starts over.  “What’re you supposed to be?”

“Um.”  Peter looks down at his rumpled hoodie and finally understands.  He scrubs his scrambled brain for an answer.  “Um.  Dead tired?”

“Dead tired,” May repeats.  “Well, you’re doing a fantastic job with that.  You look awful.”

“Yeah, I’m not feeling all that great, so I thought it would be kind of appropriate,” Peter says in a mixture of truth and joke.

“Would you happen to not feel great because you ate all my cheese shreds?  And now I can’t make lasagna for tomorrow night?”

“Sorry, May,” Peter says, passing his hand over his forehead, which is beading with fresh nauseous sweat. He almost starts to unzip his hoodie, but stops himself before he reveals what he’s wearing underneath.

“Want some popcorn?  There’s candy corn, too.” May asks, inviting him to join her in front of the TV.  “We got plenty of that.  Could have snacks for dinner all week.”

Peter’s stomach rolls, and he has to swallow hard to push down the rising bile.  “You know, uh, I’m not sure I’m really in the mood to talk about food right now.”  He starts down the hall toward the bathroom.

“You do feel sick, huh?  You think you need help or anything?”  May makes to stand up.

“No, I’ll be ok,” Peter insists.  “Just, uh, maybe don’t eat all the candy corn.  I might want some.”  He suppresses a gag.  “But, probably not till later.”

[alphacrone]

and i'll use you as a focal point [bittyrans vampire au]

[Read on AO3]

There was something off about Bitty.

At first, Ransom thought it was the gay thing—but not in a bad way! Ransom was, like, 90% sure he was bi, so the idea of Bitty being gay didn't make him uncomfortable, per se. It was just, they'd never had a guy as small or as feminine on the team before. Things were weird because a lot of the guys clearly didn't know how to act around Bitty. But no one was an outright dick to Bits, except Jack, but he was a dick to everyone in the pre-season, and soon Bitty was just another teammate.

Even then, Ransom couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about Bitty.

Most of the time, the kid was a sackful of sunshine and puppies and rainbows, bustling around the Haus kitchen and making the best fucking pies appear out of thin air. But sometimes...sometimes there was something sharp in his smile, something harder in his gaze.

Bitty let slip in a conversation once that he'd been bullied growing up, and for a while Ransom believed that was the secret he'd come to believe Bitty was hiding. After all, no one as kind and bright as Bitty could harbor anything more sinister than that in his heart, could he?

The thing was, when you were best friends with Adam Birkholtz, you tended to live half your life in fantasy.

And not in a fun, sexual way. Hell, not even in a regular fun way most of the time. Holster consumed media the way most people consumed oxygen: constantly and effortlessly. And he exhaled commentary on it like it was carbon dioxide. Ransom knew far more about Netflix shows and web comics and sci fi novels he'd never even seen than he felt was appropriate or even possible.

So it was really all Holster’s fault when he started noticing the signs.

The first was the most concerning, in the beginning. After a year of team meals and literal buffets of pie in the kitchen, Ransom looked across the dining hall table one morning to realize he had never seen Bitty eat. Bitty baked and cooked constantly, attended every team meal, even made himself plates of food, but he never, ever put anything in his mouth. Ever .

Ignoring his own dirty joke setup, Ransom continued to spiral down this path. Bitty was super thin, he already knew that. Jack was always harping on Bits to eat more protein, to Bitty’s annoyance. But Ransom had met Mrs. Bittle and she was tiny too; he'd just assumed Bits was naturally... bitty.

Now, Ransom wasn't Holster. His first thought wasn't some grand conspiracy theory. Instead, he approached Bitty on a sunny September day, a baggy of kolaches from Svoboda’s in hand. No one could resist Svo’s jalapeño-cheese kolaches. No one.

Except Bitty, apparently. Ransom found him lounging on a blanket by the pond, textbooks open but blatantly tweeting instead of studying. Bitty was stretched out like a cat, languid, and his tank top was rucked up a little to show off the thin, blonde happy trail running down his stomach and disappearing beneath the band of his shorts.

“Bits, bro,” Ransom said, plopping down next to him, shoving one of the books away. “Have some kolaches with me, man. They're fresh.”

Bitty grinned up at him, wide and amused. “Those are klobasneks, you heathen.”

Ransom, who already had one shoved into his mouth, barely managed to say, “But the sign-”

“It's not uncommon to lump the two together,” Bitty continued, tucking his phone back into his pocket and turning to better look at Ransom. “Especially since the Svobodas are from Texas and it's a whole, complicated thing there. But kolaches have fruit filling; klobasneks have sausage or cheese or eggs.”

Ransom was a bit taken aback. Swallowing the half-chewed pastry roughly, he asked, “How did you know these were cheese and not fruit?”

Bitty shrugged. “I could smell them. Plus you and Holtzy love the jalapeño ones.”

Ransom couldn't argue with that. He held out the bag to Bitty, shaking it a little. “Eat me, Bitty!”

Bitty laughed and shook his head. “I'm good, thanks.”

Ransom frowned. Maybe Bitty’s food issue were worse than he thought. “Dude, I don't wanna sound, like, intrusive, but honestly...I have never seen you eat. Is it…? Do you need to talk to someone? You can always talk to me.”

Bitty’s smile turned endeared, and he shook his head. “I can smell garlic in those.”

“Huh?”

“I'm allergic,” Bitty clarified. “I have quite a few food allergies. It's why I have a mini fridge in my room, it's stocked with things that are safe. I really can't eat most of what I bake, but I love baking so much I do it anyway. And I go to team meals to socialize, not eat. I promise I don't have an eating disorder,” he said, touching Ransom’s arm gently. “But thank you for being concerned.”

“Oh.” Ransom frowned, then gasped and tossed the bag of kolaches away from Bitty. “Shit, dude, I'm so sorry-”

“Ransom, it's okay.” Bitty laughed again. “There isn't a whole lotta garlic in there, being near it won't kill me.”

“You've really got a strong nose, eh?” Ransom asked, leaning back on his elbows. Bitty shifted onto his side, and Ransom couldn't help but note the sharp lines of his silhouette, the stark brushstrokes of muscle in his shoulders and arms, the thickness of his thighs in contrast to his small waist. When they were on ice, Ransom was guilty of thinking of Bits as small and fragile; it made him a more ardent d-man, for sure, being on Bitty’s line, always looking out for his bittiest bro. But here, in the reddish sun of early Fall, Bitty was nothing if not a perfect specimen of raw, compact power. It unsettled Ransom, mostly in a totally gay way, but also, a little, in a way that made something small and primal at the back of his mind cower in fear.

“Ha, yeah,” Bitty said, in response to the question Ransom had forgotten he'd asked. “Survival instinct, I guess. You know, because of my allergies,” he added quickly.

“Right,” Ransom said, feeling hot and awkward under the gaze of Bitty’s dark brown eyes. “Allergies.”

When he eventually excused himself to go to class, Ransom didn't even remember to grab the bag of kolaches from the ground. It wasn't as if he had much of an appetite anymore.

After that, it was little things that made Ransom wonder just what Bitty was hiding behind his sunny, southern facade. Though he wasn't proud to admit it, Ransom had started an Excel doc just to keep track of everything, titled ERB and hidden deep in his pirated comics folder on his laptop (labeled PORN, of course, just in case).

Bitty wore sunscreen constantly. He tried to claim it was a southern thing, but Holster had family in Texarkana and claimed that they all had nasty, leathery skin because they literally never wore sunscreen ever and that Bits was full of shit. And he didn't just wear it in the summer—Bitty showed up to morning practices in January smelling like Coppertone. It was one of those quirky things about him. Absolutely no cause for alarm.

But then there was the way he was always cold. Bitty’s hands could rival ice cubes, even in the heat of August or after working out. “Poor circulation,” he'd explained once while drunk. “What can you do?”

Except, it wasn't just his hands. Bitty didn't let people touch him often, but Ransom had held his legs for kegstands and clapped his shoulders and even, once, slapped his bare back in the locker room and every time it had felt like Bitty had just stepped out of an ice bath. That couldn't be normal, could it?

And there were other things: his freakishly good sense of hearing and smell; how silent and still he was when he slept on roadies, barely seeming to breathe; the way he went on and on about his church back home but didn't attend at Samwell. Ransom had them all marked down in his spreadsheet, and on nights when Holster was dead to the world and Ransom sad supposed to be studying, he'd make whole charts of possible ailments, disorders, and lifestyle choices that could add up to the enigma that was Eric Bittle.

A small part of him—the part that had been forced to binge-watch those godawful Twilight movies with Holster and Shitty—whispered that there was another answer, one far simpler than the impossibly rare diseases he’d researched.

But that was the same part of him who believed he was being haunted by two dead sororities girls, the same part of him that got scared when Lardo and Nursey exchanged their favorite urban legends, late at night. There was no fucking way Bitty was a v-

He couldn't even think the word, it was so ridiculous. Bits was just a quirky dude with health problems; there was nothing paranormal about it.

Still, there were times Ransom felt Bitty’s gaze on him, and a chill would involuntarily run down his spine. And only a little in a gay way.

Everything came to a head when Ollie got decked in the face by a puck.

The dipshit had removed his helmet in the middle of drills, so Ransom didn't have that much sympathy for him, but it still looked like it hurt like a bitch. His nose broke with an audible crunch and Ransom saw the blood on the ice before he even realized what had happened.

“Shit, fuck, man, I'm so sorry!” Wicks called, skating over as fast as he could. “Bro, are you okay?”

But Ransom didn't hear Ollie’s answer; he was too distracted by Bitty.

Bitty was staring at Ollie with his mouth agape, eyes large and- not scared, or angry. Shocked seemed a closer description, but didn't feel quite right. Determined, maybe. His hands were shaking in his gloves, and his knees were bent, like he was poised to rush over to Ollie at any second. What was most unsettling, however, was the fact that Bitty didn't appear to be breathing at all.

Before anyone could blink, Bitty was in front of Ollie, half-crouched, eyes black in the weird light of the rink. He opened his mouth, but said nothing, and everyone fell deathly silent in their confusion.

Then Bitty was gone, sprinting from the rink faster than anyone on skates should be capable of. Ransom stared after him, unsure of how to process what he just saw.

“That was weird,” Holster said as Wicks moved to get Ollie off the ice. “Li’l dude can't handle the sight of blood?”

“I guess,” Ransom murmured. “Weird.” 

As soon as practice ended, Ransom rushed to the Haus. Normally he hung out at Founders until class in the mornings, but today he was on a mission. One way or another, Ransom was going to figure out what Bitty was hiding from them, from him.

Without even bothering to check the kitchen, Ransom sprinted up to the second floor, throwing his bag to the side of the hall and knocking on Bitty’s door. “Bits, bro, you okay?” He called. When there was no reply, he pushed open the door.

Nothing could have prepared Ransom for the sight in front of him.

Bitty’s room was a mess. Books had been knocked off his desk and the chair was overturned. His mini fridge was wide open and empty, cool air drifting to brush past Ransom’s shins. Several IV bags and plastic tubs were scattered across the floor, empty but stained pink by something . And Bitty-

Bitty was curled into a ball in the corner, half hidden by the bed, face pressed into his knees. His whole body was shaking like a leaf in the wind. He hadn't even changed out of his under armor.  

“Bits?” Ransom moved around the bed slowly, lowering himself to his knees in front of Bitty. “Hey, are you okay?”

Bitty raised his head from his arms slowly, and Ransom almost screamed. Bitty’s lips were stained red, and protruding over them, just slightly, were two fangs, clear as day. But the fear in Bitty’s eyes kept Ransom from running. He'd never seen Bitty look so small.

“I nearly attacked Ollie,” Bitty whispered, not meeting Ransom’s gaze. “I...I thought I was getting better. I thought I could handle things like that.”

“But you didn't attack him,” Ransom said, trying desperately not to let any hysteria seep into his voice. “You ran away. That's…that's good, isn't it?”

Bitty groaned and covered his face in his hands. “Not good enough. I can't just run away every time there's blood…”

“Is it-?” Ransom paused, grimacing. “Are you-?”

“It’s a rare disorder,” Bitty said quickly, voice monotone. “Porphyria. It’s why I wear sunscreen all the time, why I don’t eat with the team-”

“You don’t have any of the other symptoms though,” Ransom interrupted. “Pain, seizures, vomiting. And it doesn’t make you crave human blood . Bits.”

Bitty looked up at his name, shaking a little with...fear?

“It’s okay if you’re a vampire,” Ransom continued, not missing the way Bitty flinched at the word. “I mean, as long as you’re not killing anyone.”

“Ransom,” Bitty said glibly. “You’re pre-med, you don’t believe in- in monsters .”

Ransom shot him an unimpressed look. “I live with Holster. I’ve seen Twilight. And, like, weird shit happens to me all the time.”

“The ghosts?” Bitty asked softly.

“Yeah, them,” Ransom huffed. “Pretty sure my neighbor growing up was a werewolf. Or maybe just a hairy alcoholic.” At Bitty’s confused and horrified look, he added, “Dude woke up naked in our backyard, like, a hundred times.”

“You can’t tell anyone,” Bitty pleaded. “Please.”

“Of course,” Ransom said, sitting back on his heels. “Not that anyone would believe me…”

“I need to clean up,” Bitty said after a moment, looking around the room. “If MooMaw hears about this…”

“She won’t, because nothing happened,” Ransom said, standing and holding out a hand to Bitty. He took it and rose, slowly. “You just got nauseated at the sight of blood and left practice early. Tomorrow you’ll take a pie down to the coaches and apologize. Bits, it’ll be okay.”

Bitty sighed and began picking up plastic tubs. “If I end up killing someone again, the Council is gonna make me go back home to Georgia and live in the compound. I can’t be out there, or bake for anyone, or even listen to my music. There’s no skating, no hockey, nothing .” He sighed and sat down on the bed, face distraught. “If I go back there I’ll die .”

“Then, we’ll...work on it,” Ransom said with a shrug, feeling a little too much like Jack in this moment. “Somehow.”

Bitty’s lip quirked up at one corner. “Sure. We’ll just run some drills, learn not to murder people. Easy.”

“That’s the spirit,” Ransom said, clapping Bitty on the back. Bitty flinched involuntarily, then let his shoulders droop.

“You’re a good friend,” he said quietly, picking at some dirt under his nail to avoid looking up at Ransom. “And weirdly okay with... all of this .”

Ransom shrugged and picked up a few scattered IV bags. “Got your back, bro.”

Bitty laughed and Ransom’s heart skipped a beat. Definitely in a gay way.

[My writing tag]

[mackchandunn]

We're all entitled to our opinions, but, and I genuinely don't mean this to be shitty, did we see the same movie? Golden Army is one of my favorite movies ever, so pardon me if I get defensive.

In the GDT films, Hellboy is not really a celebrity. In the comics (which I have not read nearly enough of, tbh), Hellboy seems to be much more accepted by society at large. He's even given legal human status by the UN, if memory serves.

In GDT's canon, Hellboy is pretty explicitly a poorly kept secret. This is the main source of tension between him and Manning. Manning sees the whole BPRD as an embarrassing circus to sweep under the rug, with Hellboy as its main clown. He's less of a celebrity and more of an urban legend. I mean, you could argue that the super destructive subway fight scene in the first film would be enough to expose him, but eh, I can forgive that plot hole if I can forgive Men in Black.

That's why, at the beginning of GA, Hellboy deliberately exposes himself to the public. He wants to spite Manning and stop being swept under the rug. And at first, it seems like Hellboy is liking the attention thst he's getting. The news media seems to be pretty fond of him, and pretty eager to shit on Manning.

But, the fact that he's a Literal Demon does still make him a target for bigotry and violence. Not only is this shown in the film, but it's also a pretty easy conclusion to draw. And even if the public were 100% on his side, the government and the BPRD under Manning are most definitely not. So in either case, Hellboy is completely justified to feel that the world is hostile to his existence and wants him to dissapear.

Now, the parallels between him and Prince Nuada are fairly obvious. Both of them princes of a supernatural kingdom, both of them feeling strangled by the modern world of the humans, both of them losing a benevolent father figure recently. But, because Nuada is the villain, he must obviously reject all the things that make Hellboy a hero. Hellboy rejects his birthright, he is willing to accept that this world belongs to humans now, and Nuada killed his father while Broom sacrificed himself for Hellboy. So when Nuada does the whole "we're not so different, you and I" thing, it hits home. They really aren't that different. It's just that Nuada is an entitled elf fuckboy and Hellboy just wants to eat Baby Ruths.

But, one of the emotional cores in the film, when Hellboy is forced to kill the giant plant monster. Hellboy has a moment of doubt. Is he killing the last of an endangered species? Is he contributing to the genocide of rare and beautiful creatures by being a monster hunter? Maybe Nuada has a point. Maybe humans just wanna destroy everything that is different from them.

But when Hellboy takes the shot, yes, the beast is dead, but its corpse creates a beautiful oasis of green in the middle of New York City. So yes, it's tragic that the old world of magic had to die so that humans could take over, but maybe by allowing it to die, we could create a more beautiful world from what comes after?

And who knows, maybe if GDT had been able to make his third Hellboy movie, he could have elaborated on that theme by allowing Hellboy to bring about the apocalypse and create a new world that was better than ours, where magic and humanity live together in harmony once again.

Am I biased because Guillermo del Toro is my favorite filmmaker and these movies introduced me to Hellboy? Yes. Could these films be better? Probably, art is never finished, only abandoned. Did the comics do it better? Subjective.

Is calling the plot "nonsense" a little unfair? I think so. I respect your right to disagree, and I do not intend to change your mind. I just love an excuse to explain my love for this film.

Every time someone tries to characterize Hellboy as an edgy antihero just because he is a demon I feel the urge to strap them to a chair and force them to listen to my 13 part lecture about how Hellboy is an unambiguously good Catholic man who loves cats, Facebook dad humor and being a humble working class hero.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Let me explain in copious detail why the OP’s statements are complete BS.

   This boils down a lot to a fundamentally flawed understanding of what Spider-Man’s goals are as well as not taking into account the restrictions placed upon the character by virtue of genre and dramatic necessities.

  The OP codifies that Spider-Man’s goals is to combat crime and irresponsibility but has flanderized the former to make Spider-Man out to be like Batman levels of trying to deter crime when...that isn’t the case.

  A lot of people use Batman as a comparison for this but it just doesn’t hold up. For starters crime in Gotham city is NOT the way it is in Marvel New York city. Gotham when Batman’s career began was CORRUPT to it’s core and infected with street crime. The citizens of Gotham were in effect prisoners in their own home unless they were members of the elite. The poorer, or even middle class citizens, categorically lived in fairly frequent fear of crime, whether it posed a threat to their property and livelihoods or their lives. The death of the Waynes made this point hardcore because they were the elite of the elite and the smallest of criminals took their lives.

   The point was no one was safe and worse the system was broken.

   Batman arose and used the methods he used to combat crime under these extenuating circumstances.

   And he succeeded to a point. He has yet to eradicate corruption in the police department or the system as a whole, and street crime still exists in Gotham. This is to say nothing of the rise of super criminals after Batman appeared who were a thousand times worse than the regular street punks

   He did majorly alleviate the problem though.

   Marvel New York City and DC’s Metropolis were NOTHING like that and so never necessitated Batman’s methods of fear and intimidation to build a legend and frighten criminals.

   Metroplis in most incarnations is NEVER depicted as particularly crime ridden. At worst it’s in the behind the scenes grips of Luthor. Superman has off and on removed Luthor’s influence over Metroplis but never permanently. And he has never put a halt to all street crime (hence Intergang is a thing), despite every criminal knowing he could apprehend them even if he is literally another country away.

  Spider-Man in contrast lives in Marvel NYC. Crime and corruption exist but it’s not like one big bad dude controls 2/3 of the workforce whether they know it or not or where crime and corruption have such a choke hold on the city no one is safe.

   I should also point out Spider-Man neither possesses powers on Superman’s scale nor the resources of Batman. Batman could never have achieved what he achieved without a shitton of technology at his disposal, even if he had Spider-Man’s powers. His vehicles allowed him quick access around the city. His corporation could provide all the tech he needed and money was never an issue. If he needed medical attention or a loved one needed it hey no problem. These resources also allowed him to better conceal his identity and gather vast intelligence for his activities.

   Now compare and contrast that to Spider-Man who whether as an adult or a teenager basically had to earn a living to support himself and his family (including a mother with expensive health problems) and be a superhero in addition to that. He also had obligations to family and friends which took up his time. Batman has had these too but never to the same degree. Most of his close abiding relationships exist with people within his inner circle and who’re involved in crime fighting themselves. And Peter obviously doesn’t have supersonic speed to get where he needs to be whenever he wants more or less.

   He’s the working class superhero who can’t afford to dedicate himself solely to superheroing but also hasn’t got powers and resources that prevent superheroing from having a detriment upon his normal life.

   But lets get back to goals.

   Spider-Man’s goal has never been to eradicate all crime. I don’t think Batman’s is either and if it is that’s stupid and impossible without becoming a monster himself. Spider-Man does NOT seek to eradicate all crime.

  He’s your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

  It’s not just a catchphrase, its a descriptor of who he is. He’s the little guy superhero who helps out the little guy. His focus is smaller scale. He goes on patrol and stops crimes as he sees them, pursues leads on crimes he gets a whiff of or otherwise intervenes as he comes across crimes by chance.

  Which to begin with isn’t that dissimilar to ACTUAL methods of policing except he can’t do much as far as intelligence gathering is concerned because

  a)    He is one man and

b)    He lacks resources to do that and

c)    He does have other obligations

   Spider-Man’s mantra stemming from his origin story is simply this:

   If you have the power to help it is your duty to help.

   He DIDN’T help when he saw a crime in progress and it resulted in something tragic. He does his best to not repeat that mistake.

  However on a broader level his story is about living up to his responsibilities but those extend BEYOND crime fighting. His family’s welfare, his friendships, his education, his own well being, these are all his responsibilities as they are all of OUR responsibilities.

  Does he always succeed at them? No. Because few of us succeed at them all the time. frequently we have to juggle and things can and do go wrong just as they can and do go right. Example: my father is constantly stressed because the type of man who does things for everybody and to an exent he’s let his health suffer for it. At the same time things with his work can take abrupt unexpected turns which have knock on effects on other parts of his life (and by extension my own). Often times he is constantly stressed due to living up to all these burdens. Now not EVERYONE is like this, but a lot of people are.

  This is who Spider-Man is. It’s really unrealistic and cheap to say “Well if he only did this then it would fix everything and him not doing it shows he’s bad at his job and stupid!”

   Returning to what I said was his ACTUAL goals, like I said Spider-Man doesn’t WANT to remove all crime in NYC. Not only is that impossible, not only are there OTHER heroes working on that at the same time as him, but his goals is simply to help where he can.

  And...it works!

  In Sacasa’s Senssational Spider-Man run we see a beach full of people who represent a tiny number of people who’s lives Peter has saved. In ASM #500 Peter decides NOT to change history by preventing the spider from biting him because he knows how many people could be hurt because he wasn’t there to save them. Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Surpeme that he is stated in the same issue that the greatest gift anyone can give another human being is the chance to make a difference just once and went on to say Spider-Man has no idea how many times HE has made such a difference.

   Want some proof? ASM #3 Spider-Man averts a nuclear disaster. Spec #75 he averts ANOTHER nuclear disaster. PPSM #98 he literally saves the whole planetary population from being wiped out by Norman Osborn.

    Want some more proof? You say Spider-Man does NOTHING to deter crime. Well again...that’s not his goal. He knows crime won’t be deterred by him. Crime isn’t deterred in NYC despite it having the single highest concentration of superheroes of any city in both Marvel AND DC. Crime isn’t deterred by Batman OR Superman’s presence, at least not completely (and is still siginifcant enough to be a real danger). So what’s Spider-Man going to do really? Not to mention that Spider-Man was a kid when he began his career. How was he even going to THINK of deterring crime on a large scale?

   More than this once he got older to comprehend that idea (which again was stupid and pointless anyway) it was too late as his reputation had been established. Sure he COULD’ve switched to a new identity but again that’s dramatic contrainsts at work and we can’t hold that against the character. It’s called Spdier-Man so the protagonist has to be SPIDER-MAN!

    Does Spider-Man intimidate and scare his opponents? Depends. Sometimes he can do that. Michelinie issues of Spider-Man had him bend metal and frighten some thugs into surrender. The black costume was also pretty scary.

   But again...scaring people isn’t Spider-Man’s deal. Jameson already made people hate and fear him and it made his criem fighting career HARDER not easier. It’s also not who he is as a person. He doesn’t operate as a force of fear like Batman (again this is a lot of the bullshit ‘Batman is the best hero ever!’ mentality at play which condemns other heroes who doesn’t operate the same way he does). Many heroes don’t use those tactics and again Peter is a pretty friendly person and nice guy. He doesn’t want to frighten innocent people which is exactly what would happen if he did employ those methods. Given how he also operates in the day in a bright costume intimidation isn’t much of an option the way it is for Batman, who cultivated an urban legend which by nature relies on staying out of the limelight. Spider-Man can’t do that since he needs money to survive and earns it from literally making himself famous through pictures.

    But even taking AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL that into account...Spider-Man DOES deter crime in NYC. In the Spec cartoon Tombstone states that Spider-Man scares criminals off of the streets before they’ve committed any crimes in the first place. And in ASM #50, you know the comic book Spider-Man friggin 2 was based on, it was PROVEN that Spider-Man’s absence saw an increase in crime rates. So Obviously his efforts were reducing crime.

   Now as for his humour? Does it dissuade criminals from villainy? No. Does it make them hate him more? Maybe.

   But to begin with criminals are gonna hate ANYONE who captures them so the latter point isn’t a big deal. As for the second...who the fuck in Batman’s rogue’s gallery was ever deterred from being a super villain by him scaring them? No one I know of? Street punks maybe but none of the major villains.

   But even then...Spidey isn’t the only humourous superhero out there. Silver Age Daredevil cracked jokes at villains too just not to the same extent.

  More importantly Spider-Man isn’t fighting villains for the long term and shouldn’t be either. His goal is to rectify the IMMEDIATE emergency right then and there.

  A mugger is threatening a civilian. So he cracks a joke and gets under their skin causing them to make mistakes which he can then use to resolve the situation more quickly whilst also putting the victim and possibly himself at ease, the latter being a good thing as it allows him to fight better and the former being he good thing because it reduces any trauma the victim might have later on. Meanwhile the punk goes to jail and spends a few years rotting there before MAYBE resuming a career of crime.

  But again...he’s fighting someone with SUPERHUMAN powers. Is he scared? No, but he also knows his chances of capture are VERY significant and his chances of success very low against that person. Meanwhile if he doesn’t run into the unthreatening and humourous Spider-Man again he might run into Daredevil, the FF, Punisher, Moon Knight, Dark hawk, Nightthrasher or any of the other DOZENS of NYC based superheroes and vigilantes he stands absolutely no hope of overcoming.

    Now for the costume, again this is a stupid argument against the character since it’s tied up with superhero conventions. Yeah it’s easy to spot but

 a)    Suspension of disbelief

b)    It’s more entertaining for him to wear a costume like that because it looks cool

c)    Daredevil wore fucking Yellow to begin his career

d)    He then switched to bright (not dark, bright) red which is also easy to spot

e)    Moon Knight walks around in white

f)    Wolverine’s main outfits have been different combinations of bright blue and bright yellow and he literally worked as a spy

   Moving onto his public persona, again...COUNTLESS heroes operate this way. Batman is the exception NOT the rule and even he doesn’t succeed entirely at his goals it is arguable.

   More than this Spider-Man ALREADY had a public persona because he was a goddam wrestler and TV star! He isn’t cultivating anything he’s already been established as what he is.

  The claim that he is daring people to come after him is also a major extrapolation by the OP. No one is saying that is how criminals tthink regarding him due to his outfit. It’s especially bullshit given how the black costume didn’t change that much at all.

    Additionally is daring people to come after him a bad thing in a fight where it distracts them from hurting civilians?

   Now to address the ‘it makes him a target and gives his enemies a common threat to rally around’...again EVERY hero has this. Dude...Batman was MORE of a urban legend and stealthy ninja in the Nolan movies where his costume was solid black and people debated his very existence. But the entire plot of the Dark Knight was that the criminal underworld rallied together and even trusted a mad man to end a threat to their business ventures despite his public appearances and persoinality being more reserved than his comic book counterpart.

   EVERy superhero more or less has a time where their enemies team up to take them down. Friggin SUPERMAN has that and he’s probably more powerful than most of his enemies one on one and is even MORE public than Spider-Man. he has an even flashier costume and is a globally recognized and revered figure. And he also has a Superman Revenge Squad who’re more active against him in many versions than the Sinister Six have ever been against Spider-Man. Hell the second Sinister Six story didn’t even have the Six form against Spidey specifically. In fact they didn’t even do that in their debut. I mean you are saying criminals and villains would unite to take down their common enemy Spider-Man but the actual Spider-Man comics mostly dispprove that. not only has that not happened all that often but it rarely works, either because they are unable tow work harmoniously  because they are bad guys or because Spider-Man is able to beat them.

  In fact Spider-Man’s powerset and abilities make his chances of success BETTER when he fights groups since he’s faster than most of them and can turn their abilities on one another. Frequently Spider-Man has fared worse in one-on-one battles than in group villain battles.

   If we wanna go comics....how many tiems have the Batman rogue’s gallery teamed up against Bruce in various combinations seriously? Like the Trial episode from the animated series doesn’t prove this idea to be bullshit?

    As for his villain don’t have a reason to stop what they are doing...this is illogical.

  Thier reasons for stopping should be that Spider-Man will kick their asses (Spidey once beat Doc Ock so bad he developed an outright phobia of him) or that they will go to jail. And again let me ask which villains, yes even batman’s, actually have ever ceased being bad guys because of their heroe’s intimidating them? Certainly not Joker or Poison Ivy that’s for sure? Luthor or Toyman? Fuck no. Jigsaw? Nope. Kingpin? Hahahahahahaha.

   This is thus a foolish line of reasoning. As is the idea that repeatedly being beaten by Spider-Man makes them stronger in the long run. Like...why? Where is the A>B>C logic of them growing stronger through repeated defeats? Not to mention...it’s literally not true. There is no evidence to suggest Shocker grew stronger as a villain through his battles with Spider-Man. Nor did Kraven or Doc Ock. But Spider-Man with his immense experience and frequent battle experience sure as fuck was growing more powerful whilst they rotted in jail. He’s one of the greatest street level MU fighters.

   Now for the loved ones angle. You know who else the laws of probability are working against? Superman. Batman. The Flash. Daredevil. Police officers. Judges. Politicians. Political activists. Gangsters. People who testify in court. You. Me.

    Spider-Man has a secret identity which protects people and a Spider sense to help maintain that. does this guarantee safety? No. But Spider-Man is far from alone in this regard and has kept his identity safer than most people. His identity provides BETTER protection from criminals with axes to grind than people in real life who put criminals away without the benefit of anonymity.

   Plus again they live in New York. COUNTLESS super villains put the citizens in danger all the time, much as they do on Gotham. But in Peter’s case FREQUENTLY his loved ones have been endangered by things which had nothing to do with him.

   Doctor Octopus lived with Aunt May for reasons independant of him being Spider-Man.

  Jonathan Caesar kidnapped Mary Jane because SHE was famous and he was obsessed with her

  The Hobgoblin targeted Harry Osborn because his Dad was the Green Goblin

  Betty Brant and Ned Leeds’ wedding was interrupted by Mirage because he happened to be pulling a heist there

  Eddie Brock happened to be batshit insane and delusion ally picked Peter as the target of his hatred

 The Scorpion has beef with J. Jonah Jameson because HE created him

   And FYI, Gwen died because PETER made a mistake in the way he saved her. Goblin was still at fault though.

   And just what exactly is the OP trying to say here?

   That if only Peter had adopted a less bright costume and a scarier demeanor *coughbeenmorelikeBatmancough* his loved ones could’ve been spared. Because you know that worked so well for Rachel Dawes in the Dark Knight and Alfred was 100% not at risk from Bane in Knightfall obviously.

   Or is the OP saying Peter just shouldn’t have loved ones? Which you know is OBVIOUSLY the healthy thing to do right?

  Finally explain to me with SPECIFIC examples how precisely ‘the more he does the worse things get’?

   Lets move onto the whole ‘its stupid that he doesn’t kill people and that’s inept’.

   Dude...he’s not LEGALLY sanctioned to kill people. He already bends the law in pursuit of addressing immediate dangers he encounters and sparing dangers posed to other members of law enforcement.

   He’d 100% go to jail if he killed someone. That is not his role in the legal system. He is a glorified special officer. He intervenes in crimes as he sees them and halts the immediate threat. The legal work and legal system is then left to deal with it and it’d be a gross ABUSE of power for him to decide to act as judge jury and executioner. It crosses a line and puts him on a slippery slope to say nothing of the psychological toll that takes on a person. Killing deliberately can be incredibly psychologically damaging and is partially why many police officers and soldiers develop mental issues in life, including PTSD or alcoholism to cope with what they’ve seen and done. For someone with raw physical power the temptation to abuse it is always there but he doesn’t give into it or risk becoming as bad as the bad guys.

  Whatever else he may be no one man should EVER have the power to decide life or death unless in cases of self defence or defence of another.

              So in the grand scheme of things the OP doesn’t know what they are talking about, has taken things out of context, failed to do much research, has defined an illegitimate set of criteria through which the situation (hinging upon using Batman and Punisher as a valid basis for comparison) through and over all taken a needlessly cynical aapproach to the character.

    I mean for God’s sake. Please tell me how Spider-Man is such a massive failure compared to fucking Daredevil? Elektra and Karen Page’s deaths along with other’s and MULTIPLE examples of his identity going public tell an entirely different story. Like seriously when you have to fake your own fucking death because you are that bad at keeping your identity secret (despite having the obvious alibi of being blind) the fuck do you suck more than a guy who’s identity only wnet public when he decided to make it so? Like goddam.

   Some final points to finish up

 ·         Spider-Man isn’t seriously going to wound his opponents? Tell that to Kingpin in Back in Black

    ·         Its not Spider-Man’s fucking job to actually try and REFORM his enemies. Shit Batman to my knowledge rarely if ever does that. Same with Superman and MOST superheroes. It’s not their job the same way MOST cops don’t actively try to reform the criminals they capture. That’s the job of OTHER people in the legal system. Laying the blame for everything on the superheroes’ shoulders is disgustingly cynical and short sighted.

  ·         Spider-Man carries himself with the maturity of a 13 year old? Not in the comic I’ve read which by the way is a shitton. And you exemplify this by posting a picture of Ultimate Spider-Man. I.e. the Spider-Man that is 100% non-canonical to the mainstream version. How well researched of you

 ·         You realize the Fantastic Four render themselves even bigger targets than Spider-Man right? And they have much more powerful enemies. Doctor Doom alone has sent the Baxter Building into space and Frankling Richards to Hell.

 ·         Batman’s enemies gang up together all the time, often to fight him. they mostly know he isn’t super human so they could in theory kill him with a mere gun. And they sure as shit aren’t afraid of him

 ·         Well I actually DO know a fair amount about social psychology. So I know that when you have that many big egos as supervillains with raw physical power have or crime lords they are far from guaranteed to unite harmoniously towards a major cause. Shit, the debut of the Sinister Six saw them unable to fight together to the point where they just decided to fight Spider-Man one on one...and he beat them all...at age 18....

 ·         Spider-Man doesn’t ‘fight irresponsibility’ you know that right?

 ·         You codify that ‘being responsible is deterring those types of villains’. But...it’s not. NOTHING sets in stone that THAT is the responsible thing to do. The responsible thing to do is to just stop crimes when he sees them. Because given how most of his enemies are power hungry, power mad, stupid assholes reform is unlikely. The Sandman is an exception not the rule. Most of his villains have spent their careers in prison where logically they would’ve been exposed to rehab programs which have never worked. Some criminals are lost cuases and since Spider-Man began his career as a kid and lacks any formal training in this field is is idiotic to discredit him or reprimand him for ‘not trying to change their behaviours’. And again BATMAN and Daredevil have categorically failed in this regard too. Penguin has never been reformed nor has Kingpin. Nor Mr Hyde nor Joker. They also haven’t been deterred from lives of crime.

 ·         David Michelinie stated he created Venom specifically because no other Spider-Man villain actually WANTS to tangle with him. Even Doc Ock only rarely conspired plans specifically to get rid of Spider-Man. Mostly Green Goblin and Venom were is. Most other villains would rather just avoid Spider-Man than go after him. most of them were NOT bent on revenge, they just wanted payback if given the opportunity.

 ·         It is continually brought up how intimidating Daredevil and Batman are. And I will thus keep brining up how at times that wasn’t always true and how being intimidating does little to honestly deter crime since it is still around in Gotham and Hell’s Kitchen. I will also keep bringin up how OTHER characters are not intimidating in their looks or personalities but MANY criminals are intimidated by the mere prospect of you know...fighting super powered beings. No one knows Daredevil has powers, and by now most people know Batman doesn’t either. Spider-Man though really does not seem human at all and has been shown to intimidate criminals but just not outright scare them. But again, he isn’t trying to combat ALL crime in NYC. That’s stupid and would never work. He is just trying to help out where he can is all. At the same time we know from ASm #50 that his presence does deter criminals so in theory there are people who avoid crime because of his presence...and you know...every other hero’s in NYC.

    Long story short the premise and arguments laid out by the OP are bullshit and hinge upon worshipping Batman, Daredevil and Punisher and their methodologies despite all of them having major problems on par with or greater than Spider-Man’s.

   Or to put it another way the OP doesn’t know what the Hell he is talking about.

[professorthorgi]

Hey I've never been a fanatic of manga or anime but a good portion of my friends totally are... I value your opinion on this because I have discovered great comic book series through you... The only two things I have fully invested in are Death Note and My Hero Academia which I really liked

Haha, as I started reading this I thought “Oh I’ll recommend My Hero Academia, it’ll be great,” and then I saw you were already reading it and thought “Oh crap,now what.” 

But okay, let’s see, if you liked Death Note I’d recommend Bakuman, it’s from the same creative team behind Death Note but it’s totally different. It’s about an artist and a writer who really want to make a manga series, and it’s basically an inside look at the world of Manga Making and working at Shonen Jump. In fact it becomes pretty obvious pretty quickly this is like a behind the scenes look at the making of Death Note and what they went through to make it.

Also if you like My Hero Academia I’d recommend One Punch Man, it’s another semi parody of the super hero genre, and it starts off as a series of one shots, but then it actually starts to develop a story and the story gets really emotional and really makes you care for these joke characters.

Speaking of good super hero spoofs, check out the anime Tiger and Bunny. It’s about a world where super heroes have to be sponsored by corporations and they have to compete in a big reality show to get points by saving people, but one hero is still saying “No this isn’t what it means to be a hero, we aren’t here to win points and get sponsors,” but he’s getting old and washed up, so his sponsors pair him up with a young rich pretty boy hero and the two of them have to go out there and learn what it means to be a hero together, loved that anime, never read the mangas though but I think they’re like side stories to the anime so just start with the anime.

Full Metal Alchemist is one of the best manga/anime’s for people who enjoy sci-fi/fantasy who haven’t really been able to get into anime to start with. If you watch the anime though then be warned, there’s a “Full Metal Alchemist” series and a “Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood” series, watch the Brotherhood series because that one was based off the manga, while the first series started being based on the manga but then halfway through went in a totally different direction that wasn’t as good.

Cowboy Bebop is another great series for people who aren’t big into Anime, it’s that anime series that people who dislike anime always stop and say “Except for Cowboy Bebop, that one was great”

If you like Death Note because of how dark it gets, then I recommend any Junji Ito stuff, especially if you like horror stuff, although just to warn you it gets really dark.

Also if you like some darker stuff and want to check out a classic, Neon Genesis Evangelion. It’s a story about fifteen years after Angels came down to earth and caused the apocalypse, the angels have now returned and mankind is now ready to fight them back with giant robots. Sounds goofy, but it is basically twenty six episodes of watching these poor kids who have to fight them back get emotionally torn apart and delving into all their baggage and problems as the world hangs in the balance. Like I said, if you liked the emotional stuff in Death Note, then give this a try.

Also, one last darker Death Note style recommendation, go check out Monster. It’s the story of a doctor who saves this mystery man’s life one night against the hospital’s wishes, gets fired over it, and then years later people start dying and he’s getting blamed. Turns out the person he saved is a serial killer and now this doctor has to hunt him down and stop him.

Now for something completely different, I’d also recommend Eyeshield 21, which is a sports manga. Now I was never a fan of sports mangas, but this one I really enjoyed. It’s about a football team (America football) and they can’t get any members recruited and they’re in last place every year. But one day they find this little wimpy kid who has spent his whole life running from bullies and they recruit him because they realize he can run around the other teams with the ball. From there they recruit all these outcast misfits who don’t fit in anywhere else and you watch them all come together and become a family. It’s actually got an amazing cast of characters and will make you cheer... however I do have to warn you of something, there is one storyline where they go to America and it get’s really culturally and even racially insensitive, it was hard for me to get through that one storyline. Aside from that it’s one of my favorite series, but I do have to point out that one big problem.

And I’ll throw one last obscure pick that most people don’t even know just to impress your friends. I absolutely loved this series and it had a strong fanbase but the fanbase just wasn’t big enough to keep it going. But the series is Psyren, it’s a story about this kid who has to investigate the disappearance of a classmate. As he investigates it he learns of this rumor going around about this game people are playing, one of those urban legends that involves making contracts and phone calls in the night (at this point I should say anybody out there who loves the Persona franchise this is a great recommendation for you too). One night he gets recruited for the game and he gets picked up and taken away to a far away world where he has to fight in these games to survive. Now everytime that he survives, he gets brought back to the real world and he has a card on him now with a number that slowly decreases, and he realizes he has to keep going back to that world until the number hits zero. Now I’m going to spoil one thing for you because this is what made me start loving this series, they eventually realize this world isn’t an alien planet, it’s not another dimension, it’s the future. So everytime they go to this post apocalyptic world, they realize it’s because something happened to their world,so they have to unravel that mystery, and whenever they go back to the present they have to try and change things, then when they go back to the future they have to see what’s changed. It’s a really engaging story with great villains and twist.

Okay, that’s all I got, hope you enjoy them and if anybody reading this has some recommendations then fill them in below.