#roger vance

[latibulater]

AU idea!!!!!!

Five days after the funeral, there was a knock at the front door.

Not the house's front door, by the compound's main entrance. It had been locked since the office closed and all the employees left.

"Who the hell could that be," muttered Rodney, across the kitchen table from T.S. The other members of Team Venture - the remaining ones- were scattered around the house. They were keeping him company while he sorted through the legal documents the family lawyer had given him at the wake. Keeping him from offing himself, more likely.

"Go get the door, Rusty," Rodney barked. "Stretch those legs. And get more beer on your way back."

T.S. grumbled, but did as told. The knocking got louder and more insistent as he crossed the lawn. He didn't feel like entering the compound wing to open the door and yell at this asshole. Much easier to simply walk over outside. When T.S. circled around to the front, he saw a strikingly familiar shade of red.

"Dad?" He breathed. He ran closer and realized the build was all wrong. Neither would have Dr. Venture ever worn that outfit. The stranger turned around and T.S. was face-to-face with himself. One with his father's haircut, more freckles than he had even as a child, and a hideous trench coat. T.S. skittered to a halt, jaw dropping. He stuttered, "Who the, what, how-"

"Where and why?" The mirror of him smiled oddly, as if the one side of his mouth couldn't move. He stuck his hand out, "I'm Roger, by the way. Roger Dean."

"No you are fucking not!" T.S. couldn't help laughing. He took a breath and put his hands on his fist. "No seriously, who are you?"

"Okay, so I'm not the Roger Dean, but I am a Roger. Roger nee Rusty," the man says and sits down on the compound stoop. T.S.'s knees give out and he plops down next to Roger. "But formally it's Roger T. Vance. I escaped our father a number of years ago, but I couldn't come back till he was dead for sure. Not like fake-dead with that slip n' slide time-loop mishap."

His hands shake in his lap. "I never...I never thought..."

Roger cocks an eyebrow at him - exactly how T.S. has seen himself do in the mirror. "Thought the old man would kick the bucket?"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" He lashes out, standing abruptly before running out of steam, sinking back down. "Yes, but no, I mean, you. I never imagined a you."

"Crap, you didn't know about being a clone yet? Jesus christ," the man sighs; really, he is a man, a full-grown adult unlike T.S. the half-baked guppy. He waves his hand at the former Rusty.

"No, no, no, I know about all of that. It just, wasn't until recently," he admits, hanging his head.

"How recent?"

He chews on his lip, thinking. "Five days ago."

Roger's jaw drops. "Don't tell me - at the funeral?"

It had been a miserable affair. Thousands of people packed into the only venue suitable for a public funeral of Jonas' prestige. T.S. had been called Rusty by every single person there, even the ones who didn't speak with him. He had been hiding in a private suite when Otto Aquarius and Horace Gentleman had tracked him down and given him the tape.

One of many, he had been told, and so far Rusty had been too afraid to watch the collection sitting in a box on his ottoman. The memory of his father's face filtered through the grainy televisions screen, calm and unforgiving, even wryly amused, delivered the news that T.S. was a replacement copy. The last in a long bloody line. More on that later, Jonas had promised.

T.S. had been incoherent and been unable to give the planned eulogy after Rodney had given him one too many Xanax.

"Fuck." Roger pushes up his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. In his mind's eye there was a trailing after-image of every time Jonas had made the exact same motion out of stress. The man reaches over and lightly pats his shoulder. "That sucks, kiddo."

He shrugs off the hand, trying to ignore the lingering warmth. "It's whatever, besides! " He leans back and, glaring with no real heat, says. "You can't be any older than me!"

"I'm six years older," Roger broke gently.

T.S. smiles blankly at him. "I'm sorry," he smacks the side of his head, "my tinnitus must be acting up. I could have sworn you said six years." He chuckles as bile rises in his throat. "That's not, that's not possible."

"I - we were born in 1960. It's right there on the birth certificate," replies Roger. He fiddles with his wristwatch. "I'm twenty-seven. You're not twenty-seven, are you?"

His 21st birthday rager was still fresh in T.S.'s mind from several months ago. Pete and Mike and shitty Underbheit showed up at the college town's main bar and paid for all his shots. "Fuck," is all he can say.

His older clone nods empathetically. "Super fuck."

Two clicks, and both of them jolt in place. T.S. whips his head around and Action Man is standing at the base of the steps with his weapons drawn.

"Rusty, step away from the man," the ex-super soldier orders. T.S.'s limbs can't seem to unlock. "NOW!"

Roger turns to him quickly. "It's okay, it's okay, don't worry, T.S. Do what he says."

He's not even listening. Later, he'll reason to himself grief made him do it. He shot to his feet and screamed, "WHY DON"T YOU KILL US BOTH AND GET A NEW ONE?"

Action Man's guns fully drop from where they're trained on Roger's torso. "What..." is all the stunned man can say before T.S. is dragging Roger past, running towards an unfamiliar green sedan.

"Go, go, go, drive!" T.S. shrieks and Roger flings the driver door open, shoves him across the bench and is stepping on the gas before the door is even closed. The tires squeal as they haul ass through the front gate.

A bullet pings the passenger side mirror, and T.S. looks back in fear. Action Man is fading in the distance, dust blocking the view. Roger quickly pulled onto the main road before turning into a shopping mall. He parked seemingly at random in the packed lot and they both panted as the adrenaline crashed down.

They glanced at each other and laughed. Roger's was slightly deeper, but still the same Rusty nasal pitch. T.S. wiped tears from his eyes and looked out the window.

"I've never been to this mall before," he says absentmindedly.

"You want to go in?"

T.S. snorts. "While I'm, what, on the run from my guardians? Am I on the run?"

Roger's eyes go distant before re-focusing. "You know, you're 21 right, they're not your legal guardians."

"Well no," T.S. admitted, "but they guard me, so they're my guardians."

"Do they?"

"What?"

"Do they guard you? Actually?"

T.S. harrumphed, crossing his arms, and looked out the window. "What do you know," he muttered. The reality of the situation was beginning to dawn on him. "You could be an elaborate robot from some Guild antagonist sent with an scheme to capitalize on my possible maybe emotionally imbalanced emotional state upon learning the apparent VERY PUBLIC knowledge that I have died many times of which everyone at the funeral saw me screw-up it wouldn't be hard to send a servant altered to look like me and convince me to, to, to, I don't know! Divest my fortune into fake charities that secretly funnel into your off-shore bank accounts."

Raised eyebrows. "You done?"

He deflates. "Yeah."

Roger clucks his tongue and hops out of the car. "C'mon, lets get a snack. I'll explain."

[allhailthe70shousewife]

This is satisfying.

[rogerrrroger]

half life 2 stuff I had sitting around

[tomorrowusa]

America is getting weirdness fatigue. It's time to cancel The Trump Show and move on.

Some people who started middle school or high school around 2015 may actually think that Trumpism is normal in American politics. In fact, you'd have to go way back to the McCarthy era (late 1940s to mid 1950s) to find anything close to it.

Trump is to American Politics what COVID-19 is to public health.

Trump is not normal and we need to reinforce institutions of democracy to hinder people like him in the future.

The first thing we can all do is vote – and take more interest in what goes on at the state and local levels which are often neglected by liberals and moderates.

[ask-vance-phillip-lotf]

asa everette and vance except they're the heathers PLEASE

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sara Boboltz at HuffPost:

Donald Trump has been working hard to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a blueprint for a second Trump administration that would radically reshape the federal government and American life. Among other proposals, such as dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, the plan outlines how the government could keep detailed records on abortions and even obtain pregnant patients’ medical records without their consent.

As a whole, Project 2025 is highly controversial. Trump’s campaign leapt at the chance to disparage it once again on Tuesday, with the news that the project’s director, Paul Dans, was stepping down.

“President Trump’s campaign has been very clear for over a year that Project 2025 had nothing to do with the campaign, did not speak for the campaign, and should not be associated with the campaign or the President in any way,” Trump spokespeople Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in a statement. [...] But reporting indicates that the ties between Project 2025 and Trump’s campaign run deep. At least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration — including six former members of his cabinet — have been involved in the project, according to an investigation by CNN. At least 31 out of 38 people named as authors or editors on the 900-page plan are tied to Trump, USA Today reported.

[...]

The letter signed by Vance claims the Biden rule “unlawfully thwarts the enforcement of compassionate laws” against abortion and “directs health care providers to defy lawful court orders and search warrants.” “Abortion is not health care — it is a brutal act that destroys the life of an unborn child and hurts women,” the letter reads. A Trump-Vance presidency could see the Biden administration’s rule erased, allowing police and prosecutors in states led by Republicans to more easily go after people who decide to end their pregnancies. The rule also only goes so far — it doesn’t protect data from mobile phones, where many people track their menstrual cycles using apps. (The rule modifies the Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act of 1996, known as HIPAA, which does not cover digital data.) “Donald Trump and his allies want to monitor people’s pregnancies in order to track and prosecute people for their pregnancy outcomes,” Jenny Lawson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes, told HuffPost.

Project 2025 indeed calls for such government tracking — under penalty of loss of federal health funding for states that don’t comply. “Because liberal states have now become sanctuaries for abortion tourism, HHS should use every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence, and by what method,” it reads. “It should also ensure that statistics are separated by category: spontaneous miscarriage; treatments that incidentally result in the death of a child (such as chemotherapy); stillbirths; and induced abortion. In addition, CDC should require monitoring and reporting for complications due to abortion and every instance of children being born alive after an abortion,” the plan stated. The recommendations on abortion were written by a Trump-era HHS official, Roger Severino, according to Rolling Stone.

A potential Trump/Vance “Presidency” would be a disaster for pregnant people, as the Project 2025 document has endorsed the proposal of government-mandated tracking of abortion and pregnancy records.

[wwprice1]

Love this new Jamie McKelvie Avengers cover!

[heckcareoxytwit]

As she had been "working" for Orchis as an undercover agent, Firestar (Angelica Jones) was sent out by Judas Traveller to capture her ex-fiance Vance Astrovik to test her loyalty. Firestar had defeated Vance in the fight and before he could fall to death, she swoops down to catch him. Poor Vance feels betrayed by his ex-fiancee when he's collared and taken away by Orchis soldiers. Since Firestar had appeared on Orchis propaganda news for arresting Vance, the superhero community had become disgusted with her. However, only Dwayne Taylor isn't fooled with Firestar on the Orchis propaganda as he seems to figure out that she might be either undercover or brainwashed.

X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #114, 2023

[sir-toastington]

I had a dream that my peeps were hanging out with the Scooby gang, so I drew it

[doctorstrangereview]

0147: Giant-Size Defenders #5

Cover Date: July 1975 On-Sale Date: April 22, 1975

In this final installment of Giant-Size Defenders, we get superheroes from the future and a mutated eel for a villain. We're even introduced to an alternate time-line version of one of the Guardians and he's a big guy. Lots going on here.

Our story begins as three "less affable" gentlemen await a local shop owner to close up his business. The grandfatherly type, complete with round specs, a bushy mustache and a bowtie completes locking up his store and is promptly chased by the "less affable" types who pull him into an alley and then pull a switchblade on him.

Meanwhile, up in the air, we find Doc, Valkyrie and Hulk flying toward an assignation. Hulk, rather than his usual jumping of the era, is getting a lift courtesy of Doc's All-Purpose Amulet. Doc mentions something about a disturbance in the flow of time that could hurl the world into limbo. In a startling coincidence a nearby cruise liner is heading toward a big glowing spot in the ocean.

As soon as the ship hits the glowing spot, the passengers get an unexpected freebee and are suddenly knee deep in dead fish. What a ride!

The airborne Defenders marvel at the convenience of being so close to the action. Val and Hulk start bailing the fish out of the boat while Doc manages to get grabbed by something under the water.

This is our introduction to Eelar!

Don thought this was momentous enough to warrant an entire page and show us that Val wasn't keeping track of her teammates by not realizing Doc disappeared right away.

Looking back into the alley and the "less affable" types, they are roughing up the adorable old dude. Suddenly a very large man shows up. One of the roughs manages to slip his switchblade into grandpa. This angers the large man who we haven't actually seen yet. He proceeds to kick their asses and we finally see him. This is Charlie-27 and he's wearing some very colorful bondage gear.

Charliefinds injured grandpa and carries him to a local hospital. His thoughts reveal that he considers this era of Earth "pre-civilized."

Returning to the fishy ocean liner, Val rescues Doc and Eelar flies away broadcasting ominous telepathic thoughts about attacking all the cities. New York being the closest is presumed to be the first.

Changing the scene to Upstate New York we look in on Nighthawk who is all brooding about the events of the most recent issue. Feeling betrayed by his closest underling, he burns up some page real estate by rehashing these events. As the flashback ends, Nighthawk sees a strange craft flying out of the sky and crashing somewhere. As he flies to check for survivors, nearby onlookers see the giant bird flying through the air and think we're being invaded.

Our next change of scene takes us to the mouth of one of the New York City tunnels. The captions call this the "Hudson Tunnel" but there's no such thing. I guess this is one of the time suspension of disbelief comes into play. Or perhaps PATH wasn't happy with them using a real tunnel's name. A pair of tollbooth operators are being jerks with their weapons when they notice that the cars in the tunnels are being abandoned and people are running out on foot.

The tunnel is now knee deep in dead fish and one of the jerk tollbooth operators seems frozen in his tracks while his buddy abandons him. Looks like Eelar has arrived! So too have the Defenders. The Hulk uses one of the cars like a stress ball to crush it up and keep the tunnel from collapsing. Hulk tells us he knows how to plug up a hole!

Now they can get to the real problem of rescuing that frozen tollbooth operator jerk!

Back to Saugerties, where Nighthawk was trying to check for survivors of the funny-looking plane crash, a boy runs into his house to tell his folks about the UFO. They think he's lying and send him to his room instead of spanking him. Yeah, being a kid in the 70s could really suck sometimes! But we'll eventually find out this is a special little boy. Just you wait.

Little boy ain't having it! He sneaks out and heads to the crash site. He arrives before everyone except Nighthawk who surveys the scene. Someone named the vessel "Captain America." Took me a minute to realize that it wasn't Cap's ship.

The ship's occupants then disembark.

These are the 31st century Guardians of the Galaxy before Chris Pratt turned the name into a joke. Now we know where Doc's temporal displacement vibrations came from.

Returning to New York City (wow, there are a lot of scene changes in this issue) Eelar is attacking Times Square while telepathically broadcasting more ominous thoughts.

While Eelar is causing insurance companies endless nightmares, Charlie-27 has just completed dropping off grandpa at the hospital and isn't having a great time of it. Yes, Charlie's clothing isn't helping matters as he should probably look more in place around Doc's Sanctum Sanctorum in Greenwich Village.

As the giant bondage boy attempts to lose himself in a crown, the Defenders are finally facing off against Eelar. Hulk jumps on Eelar taking him down for a moment. Eelar then attacks Val's horse Aragorn and Val isn't too pleased. But Eelar then takes her out with an electrical discharge. Hulk then gets burned by his discharge and even Doc's spell won't work against him.

Charlie "Bondage Boy" 27 watches this go down and is impressed by Doc's power but realizes that all their efforts won't do any good. He thinks the telepathic speeches sound familiar as well. Meanwhile the Guardians contemplate getting themselves in and out of danger while Nighthawk makes a double entendre.

Vance, Yondu and Nighthawk get beamed into danger while "Crystal Guy" Martinex encounters our special little boy who has found the ship.

The three wind up in the midst of the Defenders battle with Eelar. Vance thinks they're in the middle of a riot and that Martinex got the coordinates wrong when Charlie calls out for them. The crowd parts for big bondage boy so he can make his way over to his buddies. Eelar flies away at the stranger danger. Hulk flies after him and Doc orders Val and Nighthawk to follow the Hulk. Doc attempts to address the Guardians, but they've disappeared. Doc has figured out the Guardians are the source of the temporal shenanigans and Eelar is a separate problem altogether.

The Guardians have tracked down a device that looks like a quilted helmet they believe is the answer to all their problems. Charlie tries it on but it's blank. Doc has flown to the glowing spot in the ocean that has been dumping dead fish all over the place and manages to dredge up another quilted helmet.

The rest of the Defenders are in Central Park watching Eelar beat up some of the local flora. Doc arrives and tells everyone gathered that the helmet created Eelar. He probes Eelar's mind to find out that Eelar doesn't actually have one.

The helmet served as a nest for some eels and one got programmed by it with lots of Badoon propaganda. (The Badoon are a race of lizard people who conquer the solar system in the future.) Eelar has recovered and is attacking Nighthawk. Yondu, Doc and Vance subdue the slippery beast using a combination of their powers.

This cancels out Eelar's electrical field allowing everyone else to beat the crap out of him. Doc then restores Eelar to his true form.

Everyone meets up at Doc's Sanctum where they catch up on future events. We haven't forgotten about our faceted and fascinating Martinex. He's still with our special boy who reveals his identity at last!

Oh wow! This is such a long story and I have so little to say about it. It's utterly ridiculous, even for a Defenders story. Alien device makes a harmless dumb animal into a menace is hardly new ground and it seems just a way to shoehorn the Guardians of the Galaxy into the plot and get them on the cover. It's all about sales after all. Don Heck's art is serviceable, but not spectacular. I don't know enough about the 31st century Guardians to determine if they're reasonably portrayed, but everyone seems to take a back seat to this ridiculous plot. Thankfully this is the final Giant-Size Defenders and there are no more bloated stories like this. Yes, the Defenders will have double-size issues here and there, but they'll work much better than this mess.

[allhailthe70shousewife]

We are pissed off and we are voting about it.

Vote Harris/Walz. Vote True Blue Democrat down ballot. Vote to fight the fascist gop and Project 2025. Do not allow them to take away our rights and the rights of our daughters, granddaughters, nieces, and all of the young ladies of United States of America.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jonathan Nicholson at HuffPost:

Donald Trump’s “guilty” verdict on 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush money trial could make it harder for the Senate to get much work done in the next few months — at least, if a group of pro-Trump senators has their way. Eight Republican senators said Friday they would try to slow down the Senate’s business in response to the verdict. Unlike the House, the Senate runs its day-to-day business under small, temporary agreements between the majority Democrats and minority Republicans. It’s a system that can be undermined sometimes by even one obstinate senator.

“The White House has made a mockery of the rule of law and fundamentally altered our politics in un-American ways. As a Senate Republican conference we are unwilling to aid and abet this White House in its project to tear this country apart,” said the eight senators in a letter. Signatories included Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Specifically, the group promised three things: to not allow any increase in “non-security” funding or spending bills that fund “partisan lawfare”; to not vote for any of the White House’s political or judicial nominees; and to not allow faster consideration of Democratic legislative priorities “not directly relevant to the safety of the American people.”

“Those who turned our judicial system into a political cudgel must be held accountable,” Lee said in a social media post about the letter. “We are no longer cooperating with any Democrat legislative priorities or nominations, and we invite all concerned Senators to join our stand.”

8 felon-coddling Republican Senators signed a letter that they’ll muck up even more business in the Senate in protest of the guilty verdict handed down by a jury in the Trump business records falsification trial.

The 8 signatories are: Mike Lee, J.D. Vance, Tommy Tuberville, Eric Schmitt, Marsha Blackburn, Rick Scott, Roger Marshall, and Marco Rubio.

Surprisingly, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Tom Cotton didn’t sign on to it.

[wwprice1]

Does it get better than the Avengers by Busiek and Perez?!

[heckcareoxytwit]

The formation of the New Warriors originally starts with Night Thrasher (Dwayne Taylor) recruiting Nova (Richard Rider), Marvel Boy (Vace Astrovik) and Firestar (Angelica Jones). Then, they go out to assist Namorita (Namorita Prentiss) in their first battle with Terrax. Along the way, Speedball (Robbie Baldwin) joins in the fight and he knocks Terrax with a lot of bouncing. Terrax took a lot of damage thanks to the combination of Vance's telekinesis and Speedball's bubbles. Just as Terrax is about to self-destruct, Nova and Namorita haul him high in the air until he explodes. However, the New Warriors got snubbed by the Avengers who arrived at the scene. Nevertheless, Night Thrasher and his teammates form their superhero team as Speedball dubs it 'The New Warriors'.

New Warriors v1 #1, 1990

[marvelousmrm]

Thor Annual #6 (Wein & Stern/Buscema, Dec 1977). A freak accident flings Thor to the 31st century, where the Guardians of the Galaxy confront Korvac… This particular image sure seemed familiar.

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Making childrem have connectios for the only reason that it would be really funny to see their parents deal with that:

Roger Harlan first crush was ... Janice Palmer. And look at that: she also was his childhood best friend. And what is that? She didn't like him that way and was oblivous of his feelings most of the time. Now it was a first crush and Roger moved on. But we did have a specially taxing moment where Roger tried to confess when the whole Palmer familly (Cecil and Carlos included) where at the Torniquete and cringe failed as Janice called them good friends.

Earl got visibly upset about the whole situation wich was worse because it led to Cecil trying to cheer him up by saying "I know is hard to see your son upset, but is for the best it didn't work out because it would be kindda weird with she being my niece and the two of us being basically brothers just from different parents." and Carlos, who ofc was with his husband, also offering his emotional support and talking about how scientifically speaking most people move on from childhood crushes quickly and Roger would be fine and not even think about his previous feelings in the long run. It got to the point that Abby started feeling pity for him and interviened by asking to go personally thank the chef forcing her and Earl to go to the cerimonial chef greetings room as to remove him of the situation. Later Steve patted Earl's back sadly as Carlos was sharing his dessert with Cecil and being very coupley at the moment.