#she's not a variation of deadpool but like also she is and I love it

[whocanbelieve]

Book Review: Gewnpool volumes 1 and 2

Reccomend: 8/10

Yes if you like comics, marvel, female superheroes, and thinking about extras/world building. Also Squirrel Girl and Miles Morales.

Plot: 10/10

Loved it, classic superhero plots but not too formulaic or predictable.

Creativity: 8/10

Love the concept of Gwen being from our world, as well as the way they explain it and the other characters' backstory and arc.

Art: 9/10

Gorgeous, especially love the pink text boxes as a nice touch.

[iid-smile]

what they call you

gojo, geto, nanami, shoko, toji, shiu, ino

if they were dating you series.

gojo

baby, chimichanga, pookie

baby is simple, and he calls you that regularly. also uses it when he's whining and sulking, trying to persuade you do fo something or forgive him. if the two of you are just starting off in a relationship, then this is where he starts off.

i'm still on my gojo as deadpool saga </3 chimichanga would actually be cute though. chimi for short, ninja if he wants to tease you, 'chimi cha cha slide changa' if he's feeling silly, or some variation of that. at some point, he'd actually want to try chimichangas with you.

pookie seems so gojo... i can't even explain it. if he has instagram but keeps the identity of you private, your codename would be pookie.

geto

angel, beloved, lovely

angel because he would believe you're saving his life. or maybe it's the other way around idk... you'd be there to comfort him when times were extremely low, it's like you're a blessing to him.

to geto, you're definitely a number 1 priority, which applies to every category known to man. you're his beloved because he protects you and never wants you to get hurt.

lovely would sound so lovely from him </3 his voice is smooth, so every time it comes out of his mouth is just heaven.

bonus!!! even him just saying your name holds so much love and value, so sometimes it may even feel a little weird having him say a nickname instead.

nanami

darling, love, dear

the holy trinity of course. honey or sweetheart may or may not pop up here and there, but not as frequently. i can't even make them separate because they all have the same reasoning anyways. all of them just sound perfect. nicknames that show how precious you are to him >>> nicknames that highlight your beauty. i don't make the rules.

actually!!! nanami uses love when he's comforting you. subtle way to remind you that he does love you, no matter how you're feeling or what you think about yourself.

bonus!!! wife. just "my wife." husband nanami is so real for this. we all get it.

shoko

cherry/loosie, pretty, babe

cherry and loosie are cigarette references. it would sound so nice coming from her until you ask what it actually means or why she calls you that. they're usually said when you talk to her on her smoke breaks.

UGH i can just imagine pretty rolling off her tongue when she calls you before doing an operation. i think she'd call you pretty daily too, both noun and adjective, and especially over text.

i don't think she'd really use overly cute nicknames, so babe is just right. mostly used in casual conversation, or if any coworkers are around.

toji

girl/woman, mama, sweet/sugar

toji is a sassy man. if you just nagged or scolded him, would say "okay, girl?" with no regrets whatsoever. says it as if he's innocent too, doesn't even blink an eye, or even care when you (pretend to) get annoyed or offended.

no he doesn't want any(more) kids, but he does call you mama. kinda comes from the time when he would do sneaky links, but you don't need to know that. when you're doing domestic activities like cooking or doing chores, this one frequently slips out. it's on impulse and he can't help it.

not sweetheart, just sweet. if we're basing this off of post mamaguro toji, i think sweet would come from "bittersweet", because he'd probably feel that way after getting into another relationship. sugar just sounds right as well. get it? because it's sweet.

kong shiu

darling, princess, missy/mrs kong

he's a darling guy for sure. the right amount of formal, but he can make it sound like a tease when he wants to. mostly used when the two of you are at home.

shiu would make you his princess whether you like it or not. you're his passenger princess, so it's natural he just calls you princess on it's own. feel free to decorate the seat as well because he'd actually let you.

mmm... mrs kong. he'd start saying that a few months before he proposes to you, and you wouldn't pick up the hint at all. makes an emphasis on it when he says it as well, just because. when you guys knew each other only for a bit but nicknames seemed okay, missy was a top pick. imagine shiu's driving you somewhere and he does a lil glance and calls you missy while talking... mhm...

takuma ino

bubs, sunshine, queen

ino definitely calls you cute things, and this applies to all of the above. bubs, however, is on another level. when he gives you headpats (canon because i said so) he'd drop a compliment and call you bubs on top of that.

would say it when he wakes you up in the morning with a call or text. "good morning sunshine!" hello??? get me a man that would say that to me every morning WITHOUT FAIL (that's also canon because i said so) you'd be the light in his life and he won't let you forget that.

umm.. i have no solid explanation for this, but it feels right yk? ino would treat you like a queen honestly... in his eyes, you'd be at least ten levels above him and he means that.

bonus!!! he always uses loml over text. there's definitely multiple strings of you calling each other loml and seeing who can keep it up for longer in your messages.

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[canidfeline]

FACTS ABOUT LIAM SO I DONT FUCK UP SPEAKING ABOUT IT WITH MY VOICE Even though he can feel, the sense of emotion he has is very disconnected from how most would feel. The best way to describe it is that he feels that he SHOULD feel sad or whatever in that certain circumstance, he doesn't feel true sadness. The only emotion he can feel properly is anger. (😈) He doesn't feel attraction how most do. He would most likely be on the aroace spectrum of things, but Winnie was able to basically break that for him. She is the ONLY person he finds attractive at all. Even then, he finds her attractive in the same disconnected way he experiences most emotions. He thinks she's pretty and all that, but he doesn't really register ''sexiness'' or anything similar to that. He thinks she's pretty the way you think a plushie is cute, if that makes sense. It isn't as vivid as a person being cute, but it's still there. He is overstimulated very easily. If someone he doesn't like touches him, it sets him off. As if not being used to the person makes the touch more disturbing. Another example is that he just wasn't able to have sex with Winnie because of it. Skin against skin, having a part of his body inside hers was just way too much for him. He feels as if he doesn't belong anywhere. He feels like he can't be a good son to Logan because he deems himself too 'angry' or 'monstrous' to be a hero like Logan, and because he's also a clone of Magneto and Deadpool. He feels like he doesn't belong with Magneto, because he doesn't want to be a bad guy. Not that he thinks Magneto is wrong, but because he spends so much time with and lives with the X-Men, since they think he's wrong, he thinks he must be. Same with Deadpool, but in the way he doesn't think he could be as funny or (as he thinks) happy as Wade is. Same with the fact that he doesn't think he can be anything like his 'siblings'. Jimmy was born with a loving family, did all the things a normal child should and is still a fully functional guy even with being the son of Wolverine. Laura, while still being a Wolverine clone like Liam and went through a lot of the same stuff, and has similar issues, is still decently well put together. Well enough that she is also 'Wolverine', enough to be deemed as strong as and similar enough as Logan to share the mantle. Daken is (almost) the same as Jimmy, a real child. Born of love and care, but he can relate to Daken more than most. Daken feels as if he doesn't belong, same as Liam. People only like Daken because of slight variations on his animalistic mutations causing him to release pheromones that make people like him. Most people that like Daken only like him because of that. But for Liam, either because of his healing factor, maybe having more animalistic, keen senses than logan himself, (or because idk how to explain it), doesn't register Daken's pheromones. He likes Daken because he sees him as family, and he thinks family should like each other.

Liam gets along the most with Gabby, the youngest clone of Wolverine (to escape and actually be named, that is). She seems to see past his troubles unlike the others, and treat him as a brother. Because of how emotionally and mentally stunted Liam is, he and Gabby usually bond the most over childish-like things. To him, Gabby, even though she doesn't have the DNA of Liam's other 'father's', is the most familial of his family. Even if they fight, dislike, or think Liam is weird, Liam does truly love his family. Because most of them, in their own way, are troubled and hurt like him. They are the closest to a group Liam will ever feel like he belongs to and loves. (until i cement a certain storyline) i'll do more later, this is a shitload already

[mattelektras]

Hey what are your favourite + least fav x men characters and why im curious i love seeing ur thoughts (also, to make it easier hopefully???, i mean specifically X-Men you do not need to include like the 100+ teams connected to them like new mutants or Excalibur etc)

tbh these are just from. everywhere. a lot of my favs are xforce and sub teams. just mutants in general really

least favs

xavier. hes just a dick like. objectively. hes got no business mentoring young kids with the way he went about treating young scott and young jean. also mr i would never invade someone's thoughts without there permission. and then he DID

beast. just kinda boring like. we get it youre smart and patronizing and blue and furry, what else is there. kurt is the only blue man

havok. i dont like. hate him. i just think he should be made fun of more. mr all lives matter avengers stan. bully him more

deadpool because i hate that some people think he’s a mutant n it irritates me idk

brian braddock sorry betsy ur brother is dull as all fuck. he barely has anything to do w mutants as a whole and it’s like why do we even claim him as one when he ran around calling himself captain britain for so long like. cringe, sir braddock

favs:

storm. like objectively i think if anyone doesnt favour ororo in some kind of way then theyre insane. she has a lot of wonder woman isms in that a lot of people see her as this. ethereal above reproach goddess but shes ironically a very human character. like just the little facts that shes into botany and is claustrophobic etc. and the fact that everyone loves her is because shes a good person, not because she’s beautiful or powerful or perfect in anyway. like she’s loved because she’s earned it and she deserves it. she’s a good friend and a GREAT leader without needing to physically be in charge. shes very open and loving and loyal but is also someone u really only get one chance with?? she has a much smaller circle of incredibly close friends than people would think. idk i love that shes allowed to be both kind and flawed AND hugely powerful

domino. ive gone on about how i love neena a lot before so i wont bore u but she is. genuinely one of my favourite characters of all time from anywhere. she has a persona that she puts up but there's so much in her backstory that no one would expect if theyd only read recent domino stuff. like she really shines in her solos more than anywhere else i cant stress that enough

magneto. if i had to like. objectively pick a best character ever i think it would be magneto. i think superhero comics are best when they SAY something. like not to be all We Live In a Society but if youre not making some kind of commentary on the real world with your good vs evil media concept then what are you doing. and we all know the mutant metaphor doesnt hold up like. ever. but its as close as it gets with magneto because his fictional mutanthood is linked w his real jewishness and its never like. a replacement or one or the other. and one fuels his activism in the other? idk im not sure how to phrase it but i think he embodies what being a MUTANT is about, in universe, not what being an xmen is about. hes so REGAL and smart and so powerful just in the way he carries himself, even when he was depowered. they simply do not make characters like magneto other than magneto. and YES the dilfery of it all

kwannon. i love where her story is going and how much attention theyre giving her since the body divorce. just that shes being allowed to be bitter and resentful of betsy about having years of her life stolen. her learning how to be her own self again and what's her own. also i like betsy just fine but my first intro to ~~~psylocke was the betsy/kwannon mash up and like. for ME. with what i like in characters??? pretty much all of what i liked was kwannon's. the assassin stuff, the sword stuff, her brutality and harder attitude. like u all know my taste in female characters and shes IT. and theres a lot of potential in exploring her backstory

wolverine. unfortunately. i love a little weasel man. He Is My Dad. i think he has such a rich variation of relationships with other people whether it be as a rivalry, romance, friendship, parent etc etc. this bitch contains multitudes!!! i think he as a character has so much bought to him by the other characters around him. likes YES he is a grmupy old man who probably hasnt showered today but hes a very loving person despite everything

angel. this might seem like a wild pick for me but. the concept of a rich pretty boy with seemingly everything going for him being turned into this monstrous apocalyptic razor bird with varying self control is SO GOOD TO ME IDK IDK. like hes very gentle and atypical for a male character in a lot of ways and i enjoy that a lot??? just the contrast of it all. i think there should be more horrific pretty boys

monet. forever obsessed wither attitude and her confidence even when so much of her story is wrapped up in people stealing her identity and the betrayal in that and being controlled by others physically w the penance stuff like. shes been through all of that and is STILL probably one of the most sure of themselves characters out there. her yes i AM the shit actually, better than you attitude, not afraid to be a bitch superiority. ladies i think we should all be more like monet as a rule. her powers just being that shes pretty much better than everyone at everything. also shes just funny as fuck

im allowed to say this because shes in x books on the regular now but selene. i think shes so fuckin cool and maybe this is the wannabe goth death witch from my teenage years possessing my body right now but i LOVE an insanely powerful woman. shes like 20000 years old, shes physically incapable of dying, shes the FIRST mutant and has a very rich backstory. shes a great villain but i think now shes more vaguely xmen aligned with the krakoa situation theres huge amounts of potential with her to be on heroic teams as the untrustworthy but begrudgingly helps out kind of addition. with everyone being like. remember that time you resurrected half of us as zombies and traumatised us all for life and she’s just like. god don’t you people ever move on

[sanstropfremir]

Okay, time for my weekly rant so buckle up. The vocal stages were okay-I cant really remember them well because I watched them only once so take what I say with a grain of salt. Well I watched the Spark one once and I only got through half of the other one because I can’t stand ballads especially when there’s no interesting movement on stage to keep me engaged. Like it’s no fault of the members themselves or the song (I actually think their singing was incredibly beautiful and Eunkwang always sings like his wife just left him with the kids which is how you know he’s good) but I physically could not pay attention. That’s why I liked the spark stage a bit better-there was enough movement that I was able to focus on it. I really liked the use of the fire and the way they were walking in and out of the frame trading off parts so there weren’t too many awkward moments where the other members where on stage but not doing anything. The opening was gorgeous with each members being lit by the spotlight as they harmonize. So stagewise, I prefer Spark but vocally I think the other group was stronger. I love Spark and Taeyon is such an incredible vocalist (I mean the song is great because of her) so I don’t get why their delivery was, I don’t want to say weak, but subdued might be a better word. The only one that really stood out was Junhoe (but also that man couldn’t not stand out even if he tried, not with that incredibly rasp) and even he seemed to be holding himself back a bit. Though it was a bit slow it built up well to the two last choruses but still the first half could have been stronger. I know they were trying to draw it out to a strong pay off but I don’t really know if it was enough. And yes the suits were *chef’s kiss*. I think at this point in their career the FNC stylist has put SF9 in so many suits they’ve got it down to a science. Also I’m a sucker for those shirts with the triangle cut out and we got not one but two of them here.

Okay moving on, I’m not sure which group was next but I’ll talk about the Ikon stage. It seems like they finally realized that they’re on a performance based competition show so they decided to pull out the big guns. Love the little skit at the beginning (making sure people don’t forget that they’re YG), it was cute and refreshing. I really appreciated how they leaned into the campy acting in this stage (Stray kids did it too-just adding to the similarities between their stages). The song was meh but I also don’t really like BP especially not their recent stuff so it’s not a big deal. I would have preferred if they had gone with another song maybe Whistle or As If It’s Your Last or if they’d done a 2NE1 song like Chanwoo mentioned some point in the episode. I also think the stage would have been way smoother if they’d let Ikon and Lisa interact. Like if the boys appeared in her set after her section and then they all moved back to the first jungle set and then the whole thing turns gold and they did a dramatic outfit change (but with better jackets because theirs look like they came out of Party City). I also get what you mean about the dancers outfits not being that great. I actually really liked the outfits of Lisa’s dancers in isolation but they didn’t match with her or the set so they threw me off a bit. At least with the ikon members they were going for a modern look so the dancers outfits didn’t look that strange in comparison. Do you think it would have been better if they were white? How would you have improved then? The best way I can describe this performance was that it was a stage, stuff happened, I enjoyed myself but I don’t plan to revisit it anytime soon. Oh and we also have to give points for them cursing on national television not once but twice (at this point Jinwan deserves to say fuck).

Now to Stray Kids. So I feel like I need to preface this with the fact that I am actually a stray kids fan (I won’t call myself a stay because I don’t associate with the fandom) and though I’ve been really critical of them and their stages tend to be my least favorite I still have a soft spot for them (I got into this show because of them after all). I loved, loved, loved the intro with Felix (and yes his biggest flaw is that he’s Australian but I forgive him for it) and the way it immediately transitions into the chorus of DDD-the abrupt transition does fit really well with the Deadpool theme and I guess it is the closest they’re going to get to the feeling of yeeting themselves into traffic like in the movie. Interesting choice to start with the chorus. Now that I’m rewatching it I do really wish they stuck with the comic theme. I think that’s my gripe with SKZ-they have a lot of good ideas but they move on too quickly from them. Just pick a handful of things and sprinkle them throughout instead of cycling through them at breakneck speed. Like okay they’re doing Deadpool and he’s a comic character so keep the comic styling (it would have been a good thing to put in the projection behind Seungmin’s scene), maybe in the subway they could have had some fight choreo so the guns coming in at Lee Knows part aren’t out of nowhere (also someone please tell me they were trying to recreate the meme with the cat and the knives, please I need to know). I absolutely agree that them having a goal or an antagonist would have really helped the story along. I mean they literally have a spoken intro so why couldn’t Felix just tell us who they were fighting (and I’m pretty sure in the movie Wade tells us he’s trying to kill Francis in that scene sooo). As always they put more focus on the rappers (please can we get less Changbin and more Seungmin, Jeongin, or Lee Know or at least give Felix more parts). Seungmin was the real mvp of this stage and he had the best outfit (I think it qualifies for Hanya’s best gay little outfit list). Personally I with they hadn’t gone with Gods Menu again. I’ve been hoping that they would perform My Pace (and maybe remix it with their B-side TA off their Go Live album) because that would be such a fun stage. Again, I enjoyed myself but I won’t revisit it anytime soon. At this point the only groups I actually look forward to are BTOB and SF9 (they’re doing fucking Move and I don’t know whether to be excited or terrified-there’s a clip of Taeyang covering Move from a variety show or interview and I think he does it really well so I know at least one of them can pull it off). Again thanks for creating space where I can info dump and I hope I said something of interest to you!

i think you wrote more than me!! i love this, im gonna put my response under a cut im not being super obnoxious on the dash.

i get that the mayfly stage would be not as visually stimulating for people and usually i would count myself in with that crowd because i love a good spectacle but i think because i watched the spark stage first and my colour perception is sometimes weird so when there's a lot of movement with very little colour variation my tiny pea brain loses track of whats happening really quickly. especially with red. so it was kind of difficult for me to pay attention to the spark stage in the second half. also i absolutely HATE watching people flub on stage because it brings up such visceral secondhand feelings that i couldn't even watch the stage when i started the full episode today.

i love a good suit but you know what i would also love: sf9 in more costume variations. tbh im just getting nitpicky about it because im a costume designer down to the core and i got trained by a designer who specialized in doing avant garde costuming so i tend to skew more towards wild than reserved. it looks like the move stage wont be be suits so ill take it, but oh man to do i want to see some really crazy stuff. which i know they'll never do because idols have to be pretty at all times or the fans get mad but oh i want it so badly.

do you mean how i would improve ikon's backup dancers outfits or lisa's? here why dont i do both. for lisa's dancers i would have just done away with that harness shape all together, its almost exclusively a military style. the jackets by themselves would have been fine but really what they should have done was put them in something that matched the gold but contrasted enough to give them shape. by having at least her dancers in all black on a gold stage there was a lot of "haha look at me do a duck walk because lets throw in some voguing for spice." they could have gone with a mesh bodysuit idea similar to what she was wearing or even just different colour coats. as for ikon's backup dancers, firstly pants. not black. or even a longer skirt. genuinely a part of the reason why i dont watch girl group content is because i HATE the hem length of the shorts they make everyone wear. words cannot describe how much i hate that cut. kpop is so obsessed with showing off women's bodies and especially their legs but they do it in the LEAST flattering way possible because it "can't be too risqué," just shoot me now. i hate it. i hate it so fucking much. yea yea everybody was on cocaine in the 80s whatever but at least they were all wearing french cut bodysuits so their legs looked fantastic. stop interrupting the lines!! anyways. pants so the only section of skin showing is thigh to mid calf, especially because they weren't even doing any fun legwork! if they really wanted to keep the full sleeve bodysuits they shout have done them in a fabric with a texture or external embellishments, like a patent/vinyl or sequins/rhinestones. something to catch the stage lights so we can actually see the shape of the limb. but the easiest way to fix it is literally just cut the arms off the bodysuits. stages are lit to show off skin, sometimes the best way to have something be seen is just to have it bare.

i agreed skz cycles through ideas way too fast, they need to just pick a couple and stick them out through the stage instead of just adding more and more different ones throughout. also ok good someone else noticed that there is just...so much changbin. we don't need that much changbin. i know there's other boys in the group let them do something! also im pretty sure theyre not recreating the cat knife meme but actually the promo image from john wick chapter two, which i also could have sworn i saw a deadpool version of as an instagram ad back when movies were happening, but now that im looking for it it doesn't exist so i might be crazy.

im excited for the move stage but im also trepidatious because...its move. i have NO clue what the concept is from the previews so i just hope its weird enough to take it enough out of the taemin context for me to enjoy it.

[animatronic5]

fanfiction.net/u/10887504/

The link above is for my Fanfiction.net profile. 1. A sequel to my story, LoZ: Hyrule Heroes, involving Link and Malon's kids, Lyn and Mel, trying to rescue Zeldas sonn Prince Scott, from a ressurrected Vaati and Zant from TP. Along their journey, they travel with a young Rito girl named Sarah, Erma, (the witch from the first story), the desperate Midna who's trying to reclaim her throne, and Flynn's pup, Zeke. A side-plot in the story would be Link and his companions from the first story protecting Hyrule Castle, and Zelda, from Zant and Vaatis incoming forces. 2. A harem crossover, Dragonball Z and Chrono Trigger, involving an OC, Ayla, Maron, (Krillins Ex, not his daughter), Launch, and a few other single women in these universes. The plot I've thought of so far is a young man from the future who ends up travelling through time, and thus, meets the many hot women who fall in love with him. 3. AvP, a female predator named Tia'ra and a male human named Max are trapped on a prison planet with many other humans and aliens. As they try to find a way to escape, as well as fall in love, they meet a Xenomorph whose been experimented on and given human speech and thought, a little girl whose been wrongfully taken there, a woman and her pet Xenomorph, (note, this is my character Violet and Xander from my story, the Android and The Mutant), and a male cyborg, the group find out about a plot that threatens to destroy the universe. 4. OFF, Batter x Queen AU. The Judge sends a regretful Batter to a time before Hugo lead his world to ruin, and thus, starts to form a relationship with the Queen. 5. A continuation of my story, UnderFell Mob. In this, Frisk is now an adult, working with her monster family to maintain peace. Soon, a new menace rears its head to threaten Frisk and those she cares about. 6. Godzilla Apocalypse Story involving OCs, humans and monsters from Godzilla, Gamera, Mothra and King Kong movies. When the world is turned into a wasteland, it's up to a small group of humans to try and create peace between the monsters and themselves. When Ling Ghidorah threatens the last of humanity, it may be up to a certain radioactive creature to maintain peace. 7. Invader Zim X Gaz AU, if this one wins, or if I ever decide to do it in the future, I might do another poll on where you'd want the setting for this AU to be. 8. Tom, Toonamis glorious host, is sent on a Sci-Fi adventure that will have him meet several faces. And they're all his own! (Basically, our current Tom ends up stranded on a desert planet with a new larger, more mobile version of SARA, Georgia the worm, and Clyde 56s, and they end up finding the factory that built Tom, and in doing so, they find the previous models of Tom, but discover that they have their own personalities!) 9. An OC ends up on a cosmic adventure with Quenn Tyr'ahnee, (aka: The Martian Queen on Duck Dodgers). On their journey, the two fall in love as they are chased down by a group of space pirates, (who may or may not look like classic Looney Tunes villains). 10. Years into the future, the Teen Titans, (comic versions mostly), are now lead by a new generation. The son of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, the daughter of Dick Grayson and Starfire, the daughter of Raven and Garfield Logan, an ageing Victor Stone, the grandson of Slade Wilson, and an orphaned monster find themsleves coming together to carry on the legacy of the Titans before them... 11. A crossover between Super Mario Odyssey, and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In the story, set in an AU, A weakened Ganon creates a spell that merges his world with the one housing a certain Italian plumber. When he forms a shakey alliance with Bowser, it's up to 2 heroes to save the day. A plumber with his talking cap, and the Hero with the sword that seals the darkness must save their world's from the Koopa King, and the Demon Lord... 12. Who loves Smash Bros? I Do! So I thoight, why not make it into an actual story? Keep In mind, due to so many characters In the games, and several games at that, I made it a more simple plot by making my own that's loosely based on the first game. I will have various characters from certain games In it though. Some as heroes, some as villains, and some as side characters. In my story, a dimensional rift created by Master Hand brings various worlds together. This includes the Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog, Link, Fox Mccloud, Samus Aron, Solid Snake, Megaman, Kirby, Red and his pokemon, Ness, Lucas, Donkey Kong, Pit, (aka Kid Iccarus), and Captain Falcon. Characters such as Bayonetta, Lucas, Banjo Kazooie, various Princesses, the Wario Bros, (Yes, I'm putting Waluigi in there), will be forced to hold up together while our heroes work to stop Master Hand and his minions. 13. Mad Marvel. A Mad Max style universe involving various Marvel characters. For my main leads, Spiderman with his Karen AI, She-Hulk, (note that I'm toying with the idea of Spider-Man and she hulk as a couple for this story) Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Wasp, and Thor. The villains would be an immortal Joe version of Thanos, Hela, Magneto, Red Skull, MODOK, Dr. Doom and Abomination. Other characters like the X-Men, Deadpool, the Hulk, and other Avengers would pop up in other groups. The main one is the characters I listed. 14. Spiderman: Great Power. A very loose adaptation of the PS4 game. It has variations, like the action, and certain changes to the story. Such as Peter having his AI Karen and his drone from SM: Homecoming, Peter is in a relationship with She Hulk, he is friends with the Avengers, and side characters like Ned being involved on the side lines. 15. A Ben 10/ Fallout harem romance story. It loosely follows the combined plots of Fallout 3 and 4. An alternate Ben's universe is destroyed by a black hole, and so Paradox, feeling bad for him, sends him to an alternate dimension where he was unknowingly killed by an insane pyronite. Ben is brought to a fallout style dimension where various alien species have come to the Earth before and after the nukes turned it into a wasteland. As Ben works to save this world from being torn apart, he also finds himself in a harem style relationship with various woman from the series. Influenced by the story, "Ben's Harem", by GreyKing46. 16. A Smash Bros AU. In this story, Samus Aran is the captain of a group of space mercs. This team consists of Aran, Sonic from Mobius, a Pikachu tested in in a lab, a baby Metroid, Link as a Luke Skywalker type character as boy coming from a backwater planet, Mario as a space mechanic, Fox Mccloud, a cyborg version of Snake, Megaman and and Kirby as a mysterious space outlaw. 17. A fantasy story maybe? When a feared yet gentle barbarian is taken hostage by a tribe of ogres, he is soon thrown into an adventure involving high stakes danger, and romance. He soon finds himself in a relationship with several females! Yeah, trying to delve into harem style storytelling. He finds himself with an orc warrior, a runaway dwarf princess, a human thief, an enslaved centaur, a flirtatious elf, a hard headed goblin and a shy nymph. 18. A simple romance story where Peter Parker, Spider-Man, and Jennifer Walters, She-Hulk, become a couple, fighting against various enemies as members of the Avengers.

[killypool-archived]

* getting  to  know  the  mun :

NAME :  alana aisling

NICKNAME : variations of my name, ais, ash, etc. my mom calls me baby bop for some unholy reason

FACECLAIM :   mun fc? i’ve used shannen doherty and ryan stiles from whose line 

PRONOUNS :   she/her

HEIGHT : 5��4″ ish

BIRTHDAY : june 26th

AESTHETIC :  the colors orange and blue. tulips. landscapes. black ink. leather bound pagess. mountains capped with snow. 20 2-liters of dr. pepper thrown haphazardly in the back of a ford fiesta

LAST  SONG  YOU  LISTENED  TO :   someone you loved - lewis capaldi

FAVORITE  MUSE (S)  YOU’VE  WRITTEN :  wade, heather, ty lee, seamus

* getting  to  know  the  account :                                            

WHAT  INSPIRED  YOU  TO  TAKE  ON  THIS  MUSE :  during a pretty rough spot emotionally in may-ish? of last year, i kept trying to get out of the house, and i impulse ran to the movie theater. surprise, surprise, deadpool 2 came out that day so it was my first pick. then i cried. and laughed my ass off. and proceeded to watch it in theaters like... 8ish? more times? it was my happy movie, and it still is - just like the first one was. so i posed the idea of writing wade to billow and was met with nothing but encouragement. i gave him a trial on omegle and liked writing his voice, and now i can’t drop him.

WHAT  ARE  YOUR  FAVORITE  ASPECTS  OF  YOUR  CURRENT  MUSE : i love being able to have a muse where it’s safe to shitpost and be silly and ridiculous, but also have the emotional depth and range of emotion that wade has. there’s really something to writing him that can fit any mood, and i love how flexible he is.

WHAT’S  YOUR  BIGGEST  INSPIRATION  WHEN  IT  COMES  TO  WRITING : aesthetics, music, other media has always been big for me, but i find a lot of inspiration just in silly memes and random youtube videos for wade. 

FAVORITE  TYPES  OF  THREADS :  any. i love the silly, i love the random, i love the angst, and i love the smut. 

BIGGEST  STRUGGLE  IN  REGARDS  TO  YOUR  CURRENT  MUSE :   it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the things i want to do and want to focus on, and my energy level really doens’t match what i want to do. there are so many worlds and verses i want to spend time building and improving, but i lack the motivation to push for more threads in certain verses, or lack the confidence to reach out and suggest certain plots i really want. and when i do have that confidence, i often find myself without energy and too afraid to tell the other person that i just don’t feel like writing. communication is something i really struggle a lot in building relationships for wade and plots.

TAGGED BY : i’m a thief                          

TAGGING : be a thief

[arcxus-of-altihex]

Allow me to blab about the combiner team Hiraeth who aren’t allowed on the front lines (even though they’re Deceptions) because they end up saving people instead of fighting. Faction doesn’t matter, they’ll save everyone. 

Aeonn (car, centre)

literally "what if Shiro from Voltron was a TF" 

I wasn't planning for it to happen but there it is 

also hates Prowl because Prowl is a FUCKING DICK 

won't tell anyone why 

might relate to how he got booted out of enforcer academy though 

gets crushes really easily 

but Dhume will always be his one and only 

cannot cook. at all. 

he’s been banned from the kitchen

Dhume (armoured ambulance, right leg)

met Aeonn because the idiot was lying in the middle of the Vosnian wastes and bleeding out  

hates how no one except Intra has self-preservation instincts 

himself included 

has this thing where he can detach his left arm and throw it at people 

has the same chainsaw hand mod as Pharma 

is actually really nice 

has mostly infinite patience 

the cinnamon roll who could kill you

Kismet (attack helicopter, right arm)

disaster lesbian 

has a crush on Senator Windblade 

feels things really strongly 

can empathize with others well 

but she really doesn't care (unless you’re family)

she's like a fusion of Mako Mori and Deadpool 

wants Ochre to stay away from her 

she's literally the WORST role model ever 

ends up adopting Ochre anyways

Ochre (jet, left arm)

the hoarder 

has a subspace full of... stuff (think like Rico from Penguins of Madagascar) 

is a bomb specialist 

likes making things go boom 

has the attention span of a squirrel  

but he has a good heart 

and the strongest moral code out of all of them 

wants to!! help people!!

Intra (tank, left leg)

loves art 

ends up needling the rest of her gestalt about self-care all the damn time 

is actually pretty mentally stable 

ends up unintentionally becoming everyone's else's therapist but she doesn't mind

her hobby is tinkering with weapons 

she's the gruff "I hate all you spawns" parent but loves them dearly 

legit calls them "spawns of primus" or "spawn" or “spawns” instead of any variation of kids.

[storyofmorewhoa]

Fan Review/Rant: Rogue & Gambit #1

"Ring of Fire:" The arc "Ring of Fire," links Rogue and Gambit with another iconic Southern duo in sharing its name with the 1961 country song written by June Carter and covered by Johnny Cash-- while they were both still married to other people-- equating sensuality with destruction. A line from the song, “I fell for you like a child,” particularly fits Rogue and Gambit. For in leaving home, traveling the world, and in ending up falling in love someone from the other side of the river-- is the unspoken hope of a second chance at childhood. Further layering the multi-tiered work R&G is proving to be, is the possibility that the title could additionally refer to the zone of volcanic and seismic activity that surrounds the Pacific Ocean which is also called the "ring of fire". This is interesting because not only does volcanic activity have the potential to create lush and fertile tropical islands, which is where R&G is set, but because it further alludes to natural intensity churning below the surface which has been essential to much of Rogue and Gambit's relationship.

The cover: The cover of R&G #1 is drawn as though from the perspective of someone about to be punched in the face by Rogue with a split second before the punch lands to enjoy a superb view. Kris Anka’s proportions and foreshortening are flawless. With Gambit’s care-free grin, Rogue’s smug smirk and raised eyebrow, the cover suggests that the series is going to be as much fun as those two are having. Frank D'Armata makes fantastic use of their signature colors, incorporating both the same shade of pink for Gambit’s eyes, armor, and charged playing cards, and the same green for Rogue’s eyes and suit into the series’ title lettering. Though the cover is undeniably enjoyable and gets the reader’s curiosity as peaked as Rogue’s eyebrow, it would have been more engaging if it was specific to this particular issue since the absence of plot-related substance makes it feel slightly generic. However, the technical skill behind it is too solid for any criticism beyond that.

a spread of ice or glass?: The comic begins with nine ordered rectangular panels containing: white blank spaces; images of Rogue and Gambit in a fight that is yet to come; and images of their shared past. The next two pages contain a spread of the two crashing through more past images in broken shards, displaying both Rogue's borrowed "flying brick" powers and Gambit's explosive force powers that break things apart from the inside. The broken shard imagery calls to mind two things: glass and ice. Viewing the shards as glass can be further broken down to two readings-- the first of which is best described by Battle of the Atom's Zach Jenkins as a shattered stained glass window. It is as though their relationship itself is a great mosaic of moments that is being destroyed. The second reading regarding glass is that each shard is merely reflecting Rogue and Gambit, but at a different times in their relationship. This recalls the images of Rogue contained under glass in framed photographs and on screens in Gambit vol.4-- as though their relationship was preserved but inaccessible. Lastly, the imagery also suggests ice, and that what they are crashing through is merely the surface of their relationship. Only once that is broken through can a deeper meaning be discovered. The significance of ice is evident with Rogue #1 (2001), in which Rogue is described as "a river of anger beneath... frozen indifference," the events in Antarctica of UXM #348-350 (1997), and XML #234 (2010) in which Rogue likens her sexual attraction to Gambit to melting snow.

"If time is a circle...": The prologue: “If / time / is / a / circle / then / everything / happens / at // once" indicates that the series will recap the evolution of their relationship. Much of this approach works and is achieved with small details in the writing and art. For example Gambit leaning in a doorway, allied with "Stormy" lightly retreads his introduction in Uncanny X-Men #266 (1990). Pérez gives the characters a fantastic range of facial expressions from smug to sensual, and Gambit's boyishness shines through, especially in the shard containing the aftermath of the X-Men #4 (1992) basketball game in which Gambit grabs Rogue. Gone is the chiseled pirate that Jim Lee drew. Instead Pérez draws Gambit like a big goofy kid, suggesting that even though the basketball game was over, Gambit and Rogue were still playing, although it was another kind of game. My favorite of Pérez's variations on back issues is the addition of Gambit's smile in a panel from X-Men #24 (1993). Pérez's action sequence in the Danger Room is fantastic, particularly when Rogue is so distracted by Gambit that she is hit by a sentinel fist, which takes on symbolic poignancy as a superhero whose powers are initiated through touch is immobilized by a giant hand. After the training session, Gambit ends up on top of Rogue with their lips centimeters apart, recalling Gambit #1 (1993). Their post-breakup friendship which was highlighted in XML #265 (2012) is emphasized as Gambit calls Rogue his best friend, and later Gambit suggests that they seize the opportunity for legitimate romance in the midst of an obvious trap as he did in Astonishing X-Men #4 (2017).

"Same as ever?": Other details in the characterizations do not work quite as well, specifically Rogue's return to her XM #4 (1992) disposition that requires Gambit to insistently initiate any kind of communication, and even worse, perpetuates the stereotype of a woman who says no-- but really means yes. It reads like they are back in the 1990s-- before they lived together, and before they were able to treat each other civilly as friends. Rogue even protests being in the same room as Gambit. While this is done to reestablish their early dynamic within this series, I would rather that behavior be left to the past. I also disliked their discussion on Deadpool. Instead of taking issue with Rogue becoming romantically involved with an assassin (to which Rogue could have rebuffed with Gambit's marriage to the head of the Assassins Guild), Gambit complains, "He doesn't even have a face." A lot of Gambit's charm is not just that he is conventionally attractive, but that he treats others as though they are too, and in Deadpool v Gambit (2016), Gambit even seemed to think of Deadpool as friend. While I understand that it is meant as a joke, and appreciated Rogue's defense of, "I didn't kiss Deadpool. I made out with him," her line: "maybe not having a face makes people... I don't know try harder. Maybe people as pretty as you have it too easy" struck me as too immature to be redeemably funny. In Uncanny Avengers #8 (2016) Rogue is confronted with Deadpool appearing as he would prefer to look, and tries to break the illusion gently knowing he is sensitive about it. Part of what made Rogue's brief romance with Deadpool so memorable was her willingness to take on Wade's scars and tumors in UA #22 (2017)-- especially when taking into account her character growth since preferring to kill Angel rather than take on his physical mutations in Dazzler #22 (1982).

"...something bigger": Shadowcat's line, "You're focused on the wrong thing. These mutants need your help, Rogue," and the inclusions of a gay couple and an interracial couple suggests a progressive social commentary in the background of R&G. Already, two very different sides of Paraíso are shown: a city where people presumably live, and the beautiful exclusive resort that locals probably could not afford to stay at. Perhaps R&G will indirectly touch on the effects of colonialism, or the exploitation of a country's natural beauty while ignoring the needs of the people who actually live there. As Gambit is from New Orleans, which depends on tourism for a large part of its revenue, it will be interesting to see if these dynamics will play a role as the series continues. The greatest of Rogue's and Gambit's many similarities to each other is not that they are from the south or had troubled childhoods. It is their acknowledgement that everyone needs to be accepted regardless of their differences. Being on a team that works towards everyone being accepted as they are and being free to love who they love is what brought them together. It's not just fighting, it's work, and I hope R&G allows them to work towards achieving that acceptance and love for others, and finally for themselves.

[dccomicsnews]

Welcome to the latest edition of DCN Cosplay Spotlight, where we talk to people in the wonderful world of cosplay.  This month we had the pleasure of talking with a member of the DC Cosplayers East and the Philadelphia Avengers, the Dark Knight of PA!

Check out our interview below:

DC COMICS NEWS: Batman is arguably one of the most popular, well-known superheroes to ever exist.  What is it about this character, for you, in particular that made you want to create a cosplay?

DARK KNIGHT OF PA: Batman has always been a part of my life. The first comics I remember seeing when I was a child were Batman comics. The 60’s Batman series and the old Filmation Batman (and other DC characters) were also on TV every day. I was drawn to the character for many reasons; the costume, the absence of superpowers, the gadgets, the Batmobile, etc.

DCN: With Batman being such an iconic character to so many people, do you find there to be a lot of pressure to portray the Dark Knight in a certain way?

DK: I don’t really worry about that. I think everyone has their own vision of what Batman should be. I just show my vision. I have several variations of the Batsuit, and none of them are 100% comics or movie accurate, and that is intentional. Personally, I always prefer the oval emblem over the plain bat on the chest. I also prefer an all black or gray and black suit. Even though the first version of Batman I ever saw was gray and blue, the blue never made sense to me. Have you ever seen a blue bat?

DCN: How long have you been cosplaying?  What was your first ever project?

DK: I was cosplaying before cosplay was a word! My first custom Batsuit was back when I was about 5 years old… many decades ago. My grandfather put it together for me. Back then, Halloween costumes were the old Ben Cooper things. A plastic face mask with a rubber string, and basically a plastic poncho that had an image of the character on it. My grandfather took an old Ideal Batman “helmet”, which was a hard plastic version of the bat cowl that covered my whole head. He painted it black, because even at 5 years old, I insisted that blue had no place on a Batsuit. He made a black bat cape for me by cutting scallops in a large black sheet. He modified black rubber boots to look the Batman boots, and added scallops to black leather cowboy gloves. The bodysuit was dark gray flannel pajamas with an oval bat emblem attached (made from cardboard and glued on). He also got black trunks for me, and somehow made a yellow utility belt from a leather belt and pouches scavenged from somewhere. I wish I still had pictures, but the Polaroids were lost many years ago. Years later, in 1989, I bought all the Morris pieces licensed for the Batman movie, and started customizing. So, I have been constantly modifying Batsuits since 1989 and wearing them for parties, cons, and other events.

DCN: What has been your favorite cosplay project so far?

DK: Costume wise, probably my Batman Inc suits. I really loved that costume in the comics and I wish they kept using it. But, the “New 52” ruined that (among other things). Group project wise, working with DC Cosplayers East to do a Justice League International group for a con and meeting the creators of JLI. We also did a fun photo shoot and got to recreate the “one punch” scene. Most of my favorite pictures are recreations of comic book panels.

DCN: How long did it take you to create this cosplay?

DK: It’s a constant work in progress. Every Batsuit I wear is the result of everything I’ve learned since 1989. I am currently working on some modifications to the newest suit that will probably take a month or two. As soon as that is done, I’ll probably come up with other things I want to change and the process will continue.

DCN: What is it about cosplay that calls to you?

DK: I love bringing comics to life. I remember being in first grade and the teacher asked us what we want to be when we grow up. My answer was “Batman”. Now, being around other people wearing superhero costumes is like living a childhood dream and at the same time bringing a smile to others, especially the children who believe they really are meeting Batman.

DCN: Do you have a favorite memory or story while cosplaying?

DK: I can’t pick just one. So many people (both children and adults) have been so excited to get a picture with me, talk to me, or just shake my hand. Seeing the joy in their faces makes all the time and money spent on Batsuits well worth it. I frequently do events at Ontario Street Comics in Philadelphia (the best comic shop in the world, and the comic shop that a scene from ‘Unbreakable’ was filmed in) and there are several families that show up every time I am there. I can look back at pictures from the past few years and see the kids growing up. When I talk to these people each time I see them, they make me feel like I am part of their family.

DCN: You were recently nominated as the “Favorite Philly Celebrity” in an “A-List” competition.  Tell us a little about this experience, how it came about, and what it has meant to you.

DK: That’s a bit of a surprise. It started with Ontario Street Comics, which has been voted the #1 Comic Shop on the list for the past 5 years. I was nominated late in the competition. I think voting began on October 16th and I was nominated a month later. I really didn’t expect to get many votes, but within a week, I was in the lead! Results are hidden now, so I have no idea who will win. I don’t expect to win, I don’t consider myself a celebrity, but it was nice to see so much support from so many people in such a short time. I really appreciate it, and it has encouraged me to get out and do more events.

DCN: Outside of cosplay do you have any other interest/hobbies?

DK: JUSTICE! And also comics, movies, pretty much all things geeky.

DCN: How do your friends and family feel about you cosplaying?  Are they supportive?

DK: Most are supportive, even if they don’t understand it. My youngest daughter has been Batgirl at many parties and conventions with me. She really does a much better job than I do. She is amazing with kids, and always puts a smile on their faces. She’s a natural!

DCN: Do you have a pet peeve when it comes to cosplay?

DK:  1.) I’ve only seen this once or twice, but it really burns me up. If you are in cosplay, and a child wants a picture with you, say YES! I don’t care what else is going on, what panel or photo shoot you are on the way to, take a moment and give that child their wish. You are representing a hero, act like one. Yes, I know this can lead to another child and another pic, and slow you down more, but it’s worth it.

2.) Nitpickers – if someone has the courage to get out in public in a home made, or store bought costume, don’t bring them down. Not everyone has the time, patience, skill, or money to make a “perfect” cosplay. Some people are just starting out and don’t have the experience… encourage them, don’t put them down.

DCN: Do you have any cosplays you will never do? And if so, why?

DK: Never say never, but I doubt I will ever do a cosplay that includes guns. I know there are many characters where guns are a part of the character (Punisher, Deadpool, Deadshot, etc) and I respect those characters and the cosplayers that choose them as a character, but it’s just not for me.

DCN: Why do you think cosplay has become so popular in the last few years?

DK: I think all the comic movies and TV shows that have been so popular for the past several years have called attention to the characters. Social media, and the internet in general have given people easy access to pictures of people cosplaying these characters, online tutorials on how to create cosplays, and access to buy costumes year round. There was a time before the internet when you could only find costumes and supplies in September and October, unless you lived near a costume/theatrical supply store. Before social media, there were message boards where people could exchange ideas and buy/sell/trade costume items. This made things easier, but you still had to know what you were looking for to find the boards, cosplay wasn’t a term at that time.

DCN: Which DC character, if any, may we see next from you?

DK: Flashpoint Batman (without guns)? Yellow or Green Lantern Batman? Or maybe Green Arrow… since he is the CW’s Batman. 🙂 I also keep kicking around a couple Marvel characters (Moon Knight and Captain America) so maybe somewhere down the line I will do those, but they just don’t call to me like the bat does.

I’d like to give a special thanks to the Dark Knight of PA for taking the time to talk with us.  I’d also like to thank Ontario Street Comics for helping make this interview happen.

Be sure to check out Dark Knight of PA’s Facebook page as well as Ontario Street Comics!

DCN Cosplay Spotlight: Dark Knight of PA Welcome to the latest edition of DCN Cosplay Spotlight, where we talk to people in the wonderful world of cosplay. 

[garnetrena]

10 More Songs

For @thranduil-is-fabulous

You can re-tag me in this meme, because I really, really love it! Even if I play by my rules xD I’ll choose songs that can be good recs for the people that tag me, according to their own playlist and to what I know of them. Also, songs that are meaningful to me.

Rules : we’re snooping upon your playlist. Set your entire playlist on shuffle and report the first 10 tracks that pop up [in your mind] and then choose 10 friends.

Let’s go!

*

1 - Shakira - Try Everything

Thanks to Zootopia, that I’ve rewatched with a friend lately, I’ve rediscovered this song. I really like it, it’s so positive and empowering!

I won't give up, no I won't give in Till I reach the end, and then I'll start again Though I'm on the lead, I wanna try everything I wanna try even though I could fail

2 - Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe (remix)

I’m no cool kid either xD Also, I like this song, and the lyrics are so gay, like, OMG. Just listen at ‘em:

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe I'd been married long time ago (...) He came to town like a midwinter storm He rode through the fields so handsome and strong

3 - Mirai - Open Up Your Mind (Saiyuki OST)

This song means a lot to me. Saiyuki is the first fandom for whom I’ve written fanfictions. And this tune is very soft and soothing.

In this world, when life can be so tough, you must be strong Just believe in yourself and don't you fear So open up your mind and close your eyes Take another look from the other side

4 - The Killers - All These Things That I've Done

I like The Killers a lot, and this song is sweet, but also positive, in a way. It’s about still fighting, and not giving up!

I want to shine on in the hearts of men I want a meaning from the back of my broken hand

(...) Help me out Yeah, you know you got to help me out

(...) I got soul, but I'm not a soldier

5 - TOK - Galang Gal

Soooo, it’s a song of dancehall, but this one is actually a remix of “Emmanuel Road”, an old reggae classic, which is a variation of a lullaby sung by Jamaican slaves (thanks Wikipedia Jamaica Jamaica!). Long story short, this song was in an musical exhibition that I saw, I like its vibes, and I hope you’ll like it too!!

(the lyrics are irrelevant, so I’ll put a dancing gif instead!)

6 - Mike Krol - Fifteen Minutes

I had NO IDEA of who it was before Steven Universe xD But they did a caméo and voilà ! This song means a lot to me now, because I’ve rewatched the (very queer) episode where it’s featured with my Beloved.

See, in times like this With the changing heart It was over and done before we had a start It goes on in my head, singing, cha la la la, la la laaa

7 -  Lindsey Stirling - Shatter Me (feat. Lzzy Hale)

This song reminds me of Pearl, my favorite character of my current favorite fandom (sorry Fool, sorry Kaiba). Saw a splendid AMV about her with it. To be honest, I relate a lot to this song... The broken vives, the bittersweetness, the sadness.

Somebody shine a light I'm frozen by the fear in me Somebody make me feel alive And shatter me 

8 - Imagine Dragons - Believer (Acoustic)

Yes, Imagine Dragons again, but they’re my favorite band, so... You said you liked guitar, so here’s an acoustic song of them that I find very meaningful and powerful... The acoustic make it sounds more intimate and personal, I think. And my awesome-awesome mom send me this song (the regular version) once on Messenger, because I had told her that she was “a believer like Wonder Woman”. Beautiful memory.

You made me a, you made me a believer, believer You break me down, you build me up, believer, believer I let the bullets fly, oh let them rain My life, my love, my drive, it came from pain You made me a, you made me a believer, believer

9 - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - The Sexy Getting Ready Song

Here’s one of my current obsessions: CEG! Since you can appreciate this song without watching the show, and that it’s quite funny, here it is! I like the feminist message about the “male gaze” and all the pressure that patriarchy puts on women. Also, it’s a fun song.

“God, what the f... this is how you get ready? This is some... this is horrifying, like a scary movie or something. Like some nasty-ass patriarchal bullshit.You know what? I gotta go apologize to some bitches.”

10 - DMX - X Gon’ Give It To Ya

I know you already know this song, but I’ve got a lot of things to say about it. For a start, it now reminds me of Deadpool AND Rick and Morty. Also, it’s one of my “energizer” songs, when I feel angry, like “Omph”, “Bad Blood” or “Pump It”. And we’ve talked about how we both liked this song, so... here it is!

*

Sorry for the long, long post, but I really like doing this... Thanks for reading and (I hope) listening at my recs!

And I’m tagging: @calimera62 , @captain-jale, @dupond-and-dupont , @kanechi-fanfiction, @pingou7, @pwassonne, @theblackwook, @thedreadvampy, @the-moonslayer-cat and @smudgedtoon

[studentsofshield]

New Warriors by Fabian Nicieza - A Reading Order and Franchise Breakdown

The original New Warriors run is awesome. It is a solid four year run of ups and downs with lots of X-Men style character development/soap drama. Almost all of it under the pen of one writer, Fabian Nicieza, a name X-fans should be familiar with through X-Men, X-Force, Cable, Gambit, and Deadpool. Most of the early run was drawn by the legendary Mark Bagley (Ultimate Spider-Man) who has recently gotten some X-Men work. It is definitely of the 1990s, but if you can stick through that it's a gem. Also worth noting that the team becomes diverse with a disabled Vietnamese woman and two prominent Black men. Also, it is impossible not to love Speedball.

Keep reading for the order and some notes on this run.

Reading Order:

-Thor Vol 1 411-412 -New Warriors Vol 1 1-13 -Kings of Pain (New Mutants Annual 7, New Warriors Annual 1, X-Men Annual 15, X-Factor Annual 6) -New Warriors 14-17 -Avengers 341-342 -New Warriors 18-25 -The Hero Killers (Amazing Spider-Man Annual 26, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 12, Web of Spider-Man Annual 8, New Warriors Annual 2) -New Warriors 26-34, Annual 3, 35-44 -Child’s Play (X-Force Vol 1 32, New Warriors 45, X-Force 33, New Warriors 46) -New Warriors Annual 4 -Marvel Comics Presents 159-163 (NW story obviously) -Time and Time Again (New Warriors 47, Night Thrasher Vol 1 11, Nova Vol 2 6, New Warriors 48, Night Thrasher 12, Nova 7, New Warriors 49-50) -New Warriors 51-53

Supplementary:

-Night Thrasher: Four Control 1-4 after New Warriors 28 -Night Thrasher Vol 1 1-10 after New Warriors 39 -Nova Vol 2 1-5 after New Warriors 42 -Justice: Four Balance 1-4 after NW 50

Collection Information:

An omnibus collects everything in the core reading order above through New Warriors 26.

There are also three paperback New Warriors Classic volumes. -Volume 1 (Thor 411-412, New Warriors 1-6) -Volume 2 (7-10, Kings of Pain) -Volume 3 (11-17, Avengers 341-342)

No other major collections of New Warriors Vol 1 exist. Someone pester Marvel for a second omnibus finishing Nicieza’s iconic run. 

There are several collections of New Warriors Vol 3-5. Those series are briefly discussed below, but I’m not gonna list or link trades since they aren’t exactly “real” New Warriors books (in my condescending opinion).

Notes:

New Warriors, Night Thrasher, and Nova continue past this point but decline in quality with Nicieza's departure. Not absolutely terrible though if one really enjoys the characters and relationships. Ben Reilly eventually gets tangled up in the NW squad during the Clone Saga. 

New Warriors Vol 1 ends at 75 issues. New Warriors Vol 2 picks up a few years later and goes 10 issues plus a 0 issue. It has about the same reputation of the post-Nicieza Vol 1, if not a little worse.

New Warriors Vol 3 has some of the same cast but is quite a different book. The premise is changed to the NW being more self-obsessed and starring in a reality show about their heroics. It’s only a six issue miniseries that leads into the Stamford Incident and kickstarts Civil War. These events killed several New Warriors and royally screwed Speedball by starting his edgy Penance era.

New Warriors Vol 4 is a 20 issue series that is really more of an X-Men book in disguise. It features some mutant rejects post-M-Day like Jubilee, Chamber, Beak, Angel Salvadore, Stacy X, and some of Quentin Quire’s old groupies. The title has almost nothing at all to do with New Warriors, besides being lead by Donyell Taylor again stealing his brother Dwayne’s Night Thrasher persona. 

New Warriors Vol 5 brings OG cast members Justice, Speedball, and Nova back together. But...this Nova is Sam Alexander and not Rich Rider. Also Speedball is very obviously de-aged. A Scarlet Spider is on the team, but this time it’s Kaine. The team is rounded out with Hummingbird, Sun Girl, and the Atlantean Water Snake. And some Inhuman. It ran 12 issues and had a strong creative team in Christopher Yost and Marcus To. Some people like it, but fans of the original run will probably still be disappointed.

With a TV show around the corner, some variation on the New Warriors will probably pop up in comics again. 

On Squirrel Girl:

For those interested in the show or stumbling upon this thanks to it, fun fact - Fabian Nicieza actually intended to incorporate Squirrel Girl into the team had he not been kicked off all his Marvel books. He even wanted to tease a romance between her and Speedball. This was actually followed up on in a throwaway 2006 one-shot titled I ♥ Marvel: Masked Intentions. That issue also broke up Justice and Firestar, so it can be seen as a years later sendoff to his run.

He said the following when asked about his plans:

“I had always planned to get to Squirrel Girl eventually because I thought the idea of her idolizing Speedball and him having to deal with a girl liking him (who he didn’t necessarily like in return) would be a fun thing to do. Plus I thought by that point in the run, the book and characters would need some innocence and renewed optimism introduced into it and she would fit that bill as well.”

However, it’s worth noting that the Squirrel Girl of 1994 is very different from the Squirrel Girl depicted by Ryan North and Erica Henderson for the past few years. If he had included her, who knows where her character would be today.

If you’re looking for comics closer in tone and cast to the TV show, this post actually isn’t quite for you. You’ll want to check out the New Warriors Vol 3 miniseries for Microbe and more of a comedic tone. Squirrel Girl and other TV cast members are being co-opted from Great Lakes Avengers. Which started as a joke way back in John Byrne’s West Coast Avengers. Dan Slott wrote a hilarious miniseries and some one-shots in the mid-2000s. A recent collection with a misleading title collects all that GLA stuff. A failed Great Lakes revival happened not too long ago. It mostly fell flat because they tried to not have Squirrel Girl involved.

[renaramblesaboutcomics]

Wednesday Roundup 8.23.2017

Whooo weeks where I have more than one trade to review at once are always difficult and this week I got two massive ones for sure. We’re, maybe for the first time since I started the Roundups, fairly Marvel heavy this week so it’s going to be a game of determining whether or not that makes it a cakewalk for the Mouse’s favorite leaking sieve of potential movie rights. 

Or maybe, y’know, I just read a bunch of good comics and it’s not nearly as competitive as I make it out to be. You decide~ 

Marvel’s Deadpool, DC’s Detective Comics, Marvel’s Immortal Iron Fists, Image’s Lazarus: X + 66, Marvel’s X-Men Gold

Marvel’s Deadpool (2015-present) Vol. 8: ‘Til Death Do Us... Joshua Corin, Gerry Duggan, Christopher Hastings, Iban Coello, Salvador Espín, Scott Koblish

You know, if Marvel is attempting to use these endless crossover events as a way of pushing readers to only buying books in trade rather than subscribing individually, I will have to admit to their amazingly successful marketing campaign. Because no book has made me more relieved that I wait for the trade than this collection of Volume 8 of Deadpool (2015-present) which has the entire storyline of “’Til Death Do Us...” which only includes two issues of the actual titular Deadpool (2015-present) series. How can that possibly be? Well let’s find out together.

Story: So this is a massive event crossing all of the Deadpool titles. Because, as I’ve said before, there are a lot of them. Much like Wolverine or Spider-Man before him, Deadpool is being used to prop up so many books at once that it’s to the point of insecurity. Comics and their need to oversaturate a character.

In any regard, this particular storyline brings to a head the relationship between Wade and his wife, the Queen of Monster, Shiklah. Which, as Wade himself has joked about before, really had no chance of anything but imploding upon itself. In this case, it involves the invasion of monsters on New York City, a cross-world roadtrip with Wade and Peter, the Mercs for Money... existing until eventually helping manage the epic final battle, and the dissolution of Wade’s marriage in favor of a union between Shiklah and Dracula himself. 

It is a very bloated story, and considering I only regularly follow Deadpool and Spider-Man/Deadpool out of the crossover comics included, it’s easy to see how my investment in this entire crossover was a matter of waning in and out between the characters I care about the most and how much any of them had to do per couple of pages. I mean, Hit Monkey only really got to make out with a Goblin and I think that spells out exactly how divided the amount of stuff there was to do was. 

Even in that case, there were a lot of good moments, arguably the best being any time Gerry Dugan was at the helm and helping to mold the Deadpool I have come to love so much over the years. The story is slapstick and ridiculous, the characters wild and arguably dysfunctional, but even as it comes to an end that feels like it was the only way things could have ended, there is that sense of regret, sadness, and just pure depression that weaves its way into Wade’s stories when the mania dies down. And all of which is positively amazing in how much it does work beyond all reasonable expectations saying it shouldn’t. 

Art: Given this was a crossover event, there were many artists collaborating on this entire book and while the styles differed between issues, there is no denying that the layouts must have been fairly meticulous because the story flowed easily from book to book. There was never any feeling that despite style differences something didn’t belong in the story as a whole and it was a refreshing consistency to how it all came together. There were great monster designs, I was glad to have every issue separated by their cover art. It was seamless work and much appreciated as a whole. 

Characters & Dialogue: Oh boy. So, obviously only reading two of the books which were involved with this crossover, I can’t speak for most of these characters’ portrayals -- maybe Peter Parker and Aaron Stack, but those can be summed up as “modern Peter gives me aneurysms” and “everything with Aaron makes me miss Nextwave.” So I’m going to focus instead on Wade and Shiklah.

While there’s some variation between books, obviously, it is just amazing to me how after years of reading Deadpool, Wade’s voice and character has been really shaped by Gerry Duggan and his years long work with the character. Everything pays off and feels right, and you can see other writers shaping their own writing of the Merc with a Mouth to match. And I mean that in the absolute best way. There’s something inspired about having a character so known for ridiculousness and mania have such a strong and tragic underlying narrative beneath the layers. You can feel how bad Wade feels when his marriage to Shiklah comes apart and how much responsibility he feels for it, but also just how resigned he is to the fact that he messes up his own good things in life. And I love that pathos. 

Shiklah, while a supporting character, has been one that I’ve genuinely enjoyed since Gerry Duggan first brought her into the Deadpool comics through “The Gauntlet” and I love that her fish-out-of-water and normalcy in the name of Marvel’s creature feature and monstrous side of the universe made a strange amount of sense for why she and Wade worked for each other for the time that they did. And I like that this has been something building up for a long time now and that Shiklah’s reasoning and perspective is respected by the narrative and, to an extent, by Wade himself. 

I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ll see of the Monster Queen but it is a good send off until we do see her again. 

DC’s Detective Comics (2016-present) #963 James Tynion IV, Christopher Sebela, Carmen Carnero, Arreola, Fitzpatrick

We’re getting back to what Steph’s doing out on her own and getting some semblance of what the Anarky plot is ultimately going to amount to. The real question I, and everyone else must now ask is, did that Anarky plot from pre-Rebirth Detective Comics have anything to do with this bc I don’t think anyone read it and if it is important or something we could be at just the start of a world of utter and total confusion. Lllllet’s find out.

Story: While this is the beginning of a new arc for ‘Tec, you could make the argument that the real beginning of this story was the one-off Spoiler-centric issue prior to the Zatanna/Azrael storyline we just wrapped up. We follow up from that story where Stephanie was attempting to put an end to the need for vigilante justice in Gotham by taking over cases meant for the Batfamily and completing them with little to no visual evidence of her involvement or credit given to anyone but the authorities. 

At the end of that issue, Anarky had approached her to join his own, similar cause. According to him. 

But the actual start of this issue was a flashback to Steph and Tim’s time together and romance. Which was not only a much better looking relationship than what they had in the preboot which was pretty uneven and full of some teenage shenanigans compounding Steph’s natural self-depreciation, but is also extremely necessary because ‘Tec absolutely dropped the ball in giving the start of the new series any time to establish these characters, show them training together, or grow their relationships before killing off people and breaking the team apart to the point where half the Belfry aren’t even children being trained anymore.

Not that we ever saw much training. 

In any case, I’ve made it known before how much I dislike the use of flashback to make up for previous development and establishment so this kind of puts the new arc on a bad starting foot, at least with me. Especially with how creepy Anarky is around Steph (STRANGER DANGER) and how creepy it is that Bruce is stalking them from a distance to try to figure out what they’re doing (STRANGERER DANGERER). But we’ll have to see. 

Art: While I have mentioned that the rotation of artists on the bimonthly books like Detective Comics and Wonder Woman has been something of a hinderance in other comics, I have to say I’m pretty impressed with the stable rotation of genuinely great art on ‘Tec every arc so far. Now, it’s not stylized the way I personally prefer, like when we get Marcio Takara’s turns to work on issues, and therefore can seem like a very good but standard house style for DC, but I really enjoy the consistency and appreciate how the female characters have reasonable body types and are not overly sexualized like has been part of the DC house style in the past. Steph’s actions and even her stance carries weight, and I increasingly like her new Spoiler costume each time I see it. 

So all in all, great consistent art once more.

Characters & Dialogue: Tynion is usually the strongest when it comes to characters, and I think the beginning flashback between Steph and Tim highlighted that more than anything else. He obviously has a lot of love and nostalgia for these characters and it’s clear to see that that leads directly into direct homages all the way to bringing back an obscure Robin villain like Anarky. And that stuff’s good because, like I mentioned before, I do feel like Tynion has at least learned to be critical of his nostalgia and is righting things that were objectively not so great in the previous canon, like the treatment of Stephanie off-and-on in the Robin (1993-2009) series. Which is very nice.

That being said, I’m still waiting to be completely sold on Steph’s character here. I don’t dislike the change up of having her rebel against Bruce’s ways of doing things early and trying to forge her own path. And I don’t dislike the direction of her being critical of the way superheroes have grown in the public eye as authority figures and thinks instead they should go back to operating within the shadows and without bombast (apparently this is contentious in the Steph fandom? but i digress). But I do dislike that Stephanie, since her reappearance, has all but been refused the right to have her own secret identity. Which is ridiculous. Her identity gets immediately outed -- mostly by herself -- to nearly everyone, from her very first interactions with Dick to unmasking herself willy nilly here in front of a character named Anarky who is all but wearing a golden Guy Fox mask that he then refuses to remove in front of her for most of the issue. 

Which brings us to Lonnie and the general creep factor I felt throughout this issue. Like. I don’t know. Hopefully the exact nature of their relationship will be built on later in the story, but to have him put her through the ringer and ‘test her’ only to then be so familiar with her as to brush her cheeks and put her mask on for her and use her civilian name. I don’t like. And being familiar with preboot Lonnie just adds to that. 

Bruce is... Well, he’s Bruce. 

Marvel’s Immortal Iron Fists (2017-present) #3 (of 6) Kaare Kyle Andrews, Afu Chan

The adventures of Danny and Pei continue and my heart is still trying to recover from the roller coaster it was given in this issue. So let’s just jump straight into it.

Story: Much like last time, the real show stopper in this issue is Pei and how simple yet still nuanced the portrayal of a young, immigrant girl’s struggles are in a middle school. 

Danny’s reluctance to teach the next generation of Iron Fist and his preferred concentration on superheroics and recovering the scrolls comes to a head in this issue as Pei finally unleashes after her attempts to fit in only cause her mentor to be frustrated and upset with her. Which is all kinds of terrible because Danny pretty obviously doesn’t realize that everything Pei is doing at the moment is being a normal girl growing into her own. 

Including the yelling and rebelling. 

What further frustrates the characters, and me as a reader, though is that while Danny is forbidding Pei from getting involved with the current fight for the scrolls and demons and whatnot, it’s not only forcing her to neglect her destiny but also ignoring the fact that even without her direct involvement, her friends and classmates are being hurt and effected already. It’s not only hurting Pei in that Danny’s not helping her embrace her new abilities, but it’s making her feel the burden of responsibility on herself and making her feel even more useless to her friends.

Of course, if they explained their problems we wouldn’t have a story to begin with.

Art: Like I said with the last issue, this art is just so adorable and, most importantly of all, so fitting for the story being told. It displays so much emotion and so much color without giving up solid sequential sequences when there is action to portray. And in that way I love it all the more. But of course, I’m a big sucker for style at the end of the day.

Having read quite a few of Marvel’s digital exclusives at this point, however, I do hesitate to not point out that this is laid out like a regular comic instead of really taking advantage of the new media’s abilities. Whether or not that would be fitting for the story that Andrews wants to tell is debatable, but it does fall into the concerns I have with DC Digital First comics which is that the “digital comic” aspect is not taken advantage of for the sake of future traditional prints of this comic. It’s a delicate balance and ultimately I’ll trust that this is just how the creative team wanted their story to be told.

Characters & Dialogue: Considering that this story is incredibly character based, ultimately most of my bases here was covered in the story section. Still I just want to emphasize that Pei’s arc has been incredibly interesting to watch, and I like that she doesn’t seem to reject any of the “cliques” in school in favor of others but seems genuinely dedicated to making friends with everyone, which is refreshing in storytelling since in a very Mean Girls-esque way it’s usually that the freaks & geeks are held up as the Real True Friends as opposed to the fakers. And the reason I find that relieving is because they’re all fakers. That’s just what middle school is. 

That being said, I will say that as much as I’m not always the biggest defender of Danny Rand as a character or a concept (usually the opposite tbh), I do think that even with the excuse that we’re mostly seeing thing’s from Pei’s perspective, I don’t see Danny as someone who would be this unreasonable and callous toward Pei when she really hasn’t actively gone against his wishes. Perhaps we’re just channeling a little too much of the dynamic from Jackie Chan Adventures for this story when Pei is not a Jade-like character who arguably earns her scolding from time to time. 

Image’s Lazarus: X + 66 (2017-present) #2 (of 6) Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, Mack Chater, Aaron Duran, Arcas, Wynne

I really had no idea what to expect when this miniseries first came out, but you can thoroughly count me in the department as down for this world building and just general enjoyability that is coming from further exploring the world of Lazarus. As much as I would love to soon return to the regular title, this has been a great way to have more heartstrings pulled.

Story: As I said, I didn’t know really what to expect with this book but I’m not understanding more that it’s something of an anthology of stories beyond the perspective of the Carlyle family, and honestly I really love that. 

I’ve mentioned many times before that I feel like Greg Rucka, like few writing peers of today, understands the importance of making a storyline feel complete within a single issue, and his work with this issue really feels like his signature. We follow the Morray family and specifically Joaquim, their Lazarus. From start to finish we don’t waste a single panel getting to learn the turmoil within the story, Joaquim’s tragedy, and the way his actions in protecting Forever in the main title is having severe consequences for the main conflict of this story.

And that conflict rather simply is how much of Joaquim’s humanity can he maintain as a Lazarus that is growing more and more robotic than man, and how much of that decision is in his own hands as he is a product of a system that has been losing its humanity more and more, not only for the Morrays but for all the major families of this dystopian future.

Art: While not as dynamic or fetching as the usual issue of Lazarus, the art for this issue is still outstanding. There’s a lot of... intensive anatomical study, we’ll say, but there was also not a whole lot of action. It was mostly a conversational and expositioning sort of issue which comes with its own complications -- how to make conversations feel alive and dramatic without a whole lot of actual action taking place. To which I must confess that the art did a fairly brilliant job of, as there was quite a lot of expressiveness and uniqueness in setting throughout. 

Characters & Dialogue: It’s difficult to completely parse out the characters here because there are so many and the only one we had a fully established relationship with through the regular series was Joaquim himself, who also had the honor of the most panel time and presence throughout the issue. But that isn’t to say that every moment seen of the Morray family, how they conduct their business, and what that all intended for Joaquim himself was not excellent and as well characterized as always. I genuinely appreciated the culture and the look into the family dynamics which are so similar and yet so different to the Carlyles. 

Rucka’s great with character and it truly shows when he has only an issue to pt everything on the line because he fully delivers almost every time. 

Marvel’s X-Men Gold (2017-present) Vol. 1: Back to the Basics Marc Guggenheim, Adrian Syaf, R.B. Silva, Martin

My renewed interest in the X-Men is getting costly and I completely blame Tom Taylor’s run on All-New Wolverine for getting me back in that groove to begin with because I was totally over my addiction before then. Now I’m here for the Guggenheim.

Story: When an opening arc to a story calls itself “Back to Basics” there’s a decent reason for your expectations to generally be that whatever people haven’t liked about the comics in the most recent Giant Change Up To Forever Break the Status Quo in Comics is going over like a lead balloon of sorts or that they finally wrestled a book out of Bendis’ hands. And there’s nothing in Volume 1 of X-Men Gold that really changes my mind in regard to that impression. 

Which might not be entirely fair. Kitty in particular has been pushed more and more to the forefront of the X-Men in recent years and as a result, they had to erase her curly hair and also force her to really grow up. In a way, Kitty -- who was once the youngest of the X-Men and the student to everyone -- has become the teacher, mentor, and leader to what remains of the Mutant Race. Who aren’t doubles of past versions of themselves. And who aren’t living out of their late dads’ apartments. And who aren’t being killed by yet another serial race murderer. 

X-Men Gold focuses on establishing the elder team to X-Men Blue’s younger mutants and gives us a team of fan favorites as a result. This first arc has them dealing with a very on-the-nose Ann Coulter analogue who has a No Spin Zone style show on Fact News (get it). She’s a race baiter attempting to stir up mutant prejudices again for ratings and also some sort of greater grudge I’m sure will come back later. It includes her hiring Mesmero to create a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to frame all mutantkind for their terroristic acts and encourage public calls for mass deportation of mutants. Get it.

Subtlety of a sledgehammer aside, I want to take this moment to point out that one of the Brotherhood’s new members is an alien lizard looking guy that no one’s familiar with. And from the time he appears until the time they learn gasp he’s an extraterrestrial and not a mutant at all, Kitty (and others but mostly Kitty) keep talking about his appearance and how he’s a creep or scary and I’m just like. Apparently the X-Men truly haven’t learned from their own prejudices. I mean, everyone was assuming this guy was a mutant but at the same time judging him based on his appearance? Like wasn’t this the whole point of having Nightcrawler, Beast, and Anole on the X-Men??? But whatever. 

The second half focuses on Remy discovering the newest incarnation of the Sentinels which are now conscious and learning nanites which take three issues to take out and are only dismantled by Rachel having a Walkabout of sorts talking to her old selves, her mother, and her father which encourages her enough that she psychically blasts every single nanite. To the detriment of her eyes apparently bc now all the Avengers and X-Men now reflect in them. I’m not entirely sure about that cliffhanger. 

Other than the little girl on the last page I thought for sure was Molly Hayes and could not figure out why she was in New York or where the rest of the Runaways were until I realized oh that’s probably just another kid and artists don’t know how to vary their style of drawing younger age groups bc lbr it’s not like it happens that often on most books.

Art: The art for both arcs was honestly really spectacular. There were strong, solid lineart with great use of colors, the characters all had varied designs, and explosions -- which are always important to X-Men stories, of course -- were fantastic and bombast. But it’s also that house style I like to mention so much so it’s also really hard to get into why it works or doesn’t work because it’s just the established good storytelling style that both of the Big Two are comfortable using on any book for good reason. 

Characters & Dialogue: Since X-books are always filled to the gills with characters I can’t go into every single character or voice, but I’ll focus on the two most central characters to these first arcs: Kitty and Rachel. I thought both were written extremely well and there was real gravity to their interactions, a feeling of the importance and enormity of their histories. Sometimes that feels absent in modern books, especially for Rachel who seems to be a character most writers approach with apprehension, but we got to actually do a deep dive on both of them. And as a result, that maturity the book refers to through other characters and through Kitty’s inner monologue feels genuine. 

One thing I have to stress, though: Marvel please stop pushing KittyxPioter. It worked back in the day once. It’s not really going to work again and it’s been too long and Kitty is 1000% right when she says she’s moved on. So have we. 

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if I had so many ridiculously good issues at once to pick from but fortunately we have only three issues for singles to pick from this week. And even though I legitimately enjoyed all of what I read this week, there is just something special about the way Immortal Iron Fists pulls at my heart strings. I’ve really come to adore Pei, her unique voice in comics, and especially the way it’s developing Danny’s potential in ways we’ve never seen before. Not to mention I’m just incredibly partial to all-ages comics which aren’t afraid to tackle very mature problems and themes while still speaking to a young audience’s tone.

Now between the two collected trades here, we’re stuck between an Weapon X and a X-Men which I’m not sure how it happened to me since I’m fairly sure I’ve not had to pick between two choices like that since I was in middle school. It’s kind of astounding. But, bang for my buck, I’m giving this one to X-Men Gold. It was a solid introductory arc and also had the benefit of not being a massive crossover with more characters than it knew how to properly work in. The irony of me saying that about the non-X-Men book here does not escape me.

And those are my picks of the week! That being said, I’m sure there’s lots to agree and disagree with me on in this Roundup. Be sure to let me know one way or the other. Also, do you think there are any books I missed picking up that would be good reads for me?

And now it’s also that time of the week everyone dreads but not nearly as much as I do. 

I am in a bit of a financial crunch for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which being the medical bills I’m paying for my dog, Eve, who experienced a catastrophic dog fight and underwent surgery recently.

As such, I really would appreciate if you enjoy my content or are interested in helping me out, please check out either my Patreon or PayPal. Every bit helps and I couldn’t thank you enough for enjoying and supporting my content.

You could also support me by going to my main blog, @renaroo, where I’ll soon be listing prices and more for art and writing commissions.

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[93fandom]

I haven't seen Homecoming so I dunno how they handled Uncle Ben's death in that film (if they did) but I've seen the two previous Spider-man filmverses (Maguire & Garfield) - and it got me thinking about what if they varied it by having Uncle Ben's death caused by the indifference/vengefulness of another superhero? Obviously it being Peter's fault is part of the idea of responsibility & power, which is a major theme of Peter's origin story, so I can definitely understand if some fans wouldn't like this variation, but if nothing it's food for thought. If it's caused by another superhero, you'd initially have the opacity of what the other person's motivation could possibly have been for letting an armed robber go. Imagine Peter catching up to the superhero late in the film, stricken with grief, to find the other superhero as equally stricken with shame as the Maguire and Garfield Peters were. Or if the person shot wasn't Peter's uncle but someone else's loved one, whether a superhero or civilian's. Hearing the gunshot and going out to see the crowd and watching from afar as someone else sobs over the body. Later on, maybe if it was the loved one of a superhero, that superhero meets up with the Avengers or other hero group that Peter is a part of and tells their story and Peter is sitting there aflame with guilt & shame. He can't stop himself from going sweaty or trembling and at least two of the people he's with keep glancing at him while the story is told and he knows, or thinks he knows, that they're noticing his reaction and almost definitely putting two and two together but he can't stop himself. And everyone would have a different reaction to noticing, depending on who Peter's with. Natasha would keep a straight face & pretend she hasn't noticed because Peter's gone white like he's just been found out for murder. Clint is almost as perceptive as Natasha and almost as good at hiding his reactions, but not quite. Tony would stare at Peter once he notices (especially if Homecoming Spidey because as far as I've heard, Tony's a mentor to Peter in that & presumably has a closer relationship from helping him navigate being a superhero?). Steve would keep glancing at Peter as the story is told which is almost as bad. I think Sam would also look over at Peter once or twice but stop once it's obvious Peter is severely upset by this story and trying to hide it. Bruce's face would fall subtly as he realises, "Oh no..." Thor would be solemnly listening to the tragedy and then notice Peter's face and become even more serious as he realises the implications. Imagine it happening in a meeting room or conference room of the Avengers tower and the superhero telling the story of their loved one's murder is facing the room, and maybe Peter's not facing them because he was working on something but as he hears the story he begins to realise... Imagine hearing someone tell the room your greatest, deepest shame, and feeling your face growing red & hot and feeling your pulse pounding in your ears, and you're beginning to hyperventilate and struggling not to, and Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson are staring at you, two of the greatest & most heroic & compassionate & upstanding people you know, and you fail to prevent the hyperventilation from deepening so now you're trying to muffle your hiccupping breath in a room that's already quiet from everyone listening to someone's story, and Steve is reaching over and putting a hand on your shoulder and saying, "Peter? Peter, are you okay?" And that's just with the Avengers. Imagine sitting in Weasel's bar or in the apartment of Vanessa & Wade as it gets told. Blind Al might give a diplomatic non-reaction like Natasha. Weasel wouldn't put two-and-two together and would ask out loud, "Peter, are you alright?" Vanessa is sharp and would quickly catch on to your body language. Wade might notice more slowly but he'd notice. Worst of all is that afterwards Vanessa & Wade would give you understanding & earnest sympathy that you don't deserve once they’d heard your story, and they'd mean it. Even after hearing that you'd committed a murder (in your own opinion - and that's not to say you're necessarily entirely void of responsibility either!). There's something about seeing even Deadpool become serious that makes it worse. And this can be played around with, depending on who the hero is (whether accidental killer or lover of the loved one). And the above reacting heroes are just the heroes I know of, they can be played around with too. Imagine a superhero confronting Peter who is a little younger or a little older than Peter. At the same life stage as Peter, whether that's high school or college or working their first proper adult job. A superhero who started off like Peter with next to no support systems on "how to hero" and without knowing any other superheros. I haven't said much on them because it'd depend on who it is & I don't know many heroes, but if you give equal weight to their emotional narrative & perspective, it could be equally as interesting and still explore the ideas of power & responsibility (and who can be hurt by those). And this is without going into the "what if it was another superhero who accidentally got Peter's uncle killed" side. Phew, this was a long post.

[putris-et-mulier]

Marvel's diversity is a problem because it doesn't represent enough white conservative able-bodied straight cis males

White conservative able-bodied straight cis males are technically a minority you guys

sick All in the Family reference

So, someone sent me this guy's argument and you can read it here for yourself. I'm just going to hit the big points because I could write for the rest of my life and still not cover everything that's wrong with this.

This gentleman, Jon Del Arroz,  is upset that Disney is being too politically correct (they only own the Avengers movie franchise so what has to do with the comics I don't know) and it super sucks because he already got kicked out of sci-fi fandom and conventions (there is definitely a story there) 

I don't have to explain why this is hilarious, right? If this were a tweet it would say "Disney is the reason I get kicked out of conventions" and also awwwwwwwwwwwww.

So, he suggests that the diversity Marvel (he never addresses Disney again) needs is in political and social philosophies so they can put out a variety of books preaching an array of propaganda.

And I'm with him on the classification of what Marvel Comics and Disney separately put out is their own propaganda. Propaganda simply means information released that is biased or misleading. Both Disney and Marvel Comics are corporations so of course they are going to use propaganda to do whatever they can to get their audience to stay loyal. What I'm writing now is propaganda. Jon Del Arroz is using propaganda. Everyone is biased and no one has all of the information. The problem with propaganda is if you don't know where it's coming from and can't contextualize the bias.

The assertion that "social justice propaganda…is dangerous when it comes to creating art" is a little too ridiculous for me to address in whole so I'll just say: You're right bro, art has never been used as a social and political platform and any that has never ever becomes a piece of classical art. Frida Kahlo totally loved white people.

On that note, let's talk about the writers and artists. This gentleman contends that Marvel (again, where is Disney?) only hires social justice warriors. He looked up all of the current writers and investigated their twitters to give you proof of their liberalism and every single one of them has unequivocally stated that they are anti-Trump. He says that like it's a bad thing. Hhere are some of my favorites

Gerry Duggan – Constant Anti-Trump posts, retweets Bernie (he can still win!)

Al Ewing – British, and doesn’t seem to post a lot of American politics, but very heavily steeped in globalism in immigration “rights” in his posts. Anti-Western civilization

Kate Leth – Regular anti-Trump posts. Constant complaints about some boogeyman “privilege”, rambles at racist, sexist, etc., “white dudes”.  Rants about queer issues

Greg Pak – Complains about “representation” of different races. Lots of anti-Trump posts

Dan Slott – Anti-trump rants all the time

a-Nehisi Coats – brand new to twitter, most of his posts anti-trump. Writes fake news articles for the Atlantic on “micro-aggressions”

Jason Latour – anti-trump tweets regularly, regularly makes fun of Christian culture

Sean Ryan – Anti-American tweets, Women’s March tweets, ran podcast “horrifically misinformed” which championed left-wing causes

Mariko Tamaki – not many posts, but encouraging fans who speak of him as “homophobic, misogynistic and racist”, social justice posts, anti fox-news posts

G.Willow Wilson – “Muslim” Ms. Marvel writer, rants anti-Trump posts all the time

I'm honestly not sure what he means about Mariko Tamaki (she writes Hulk) and he uses incorrect pronouns so I'm doubly confused.

I do agree with him on one, Gerry Conway calls himself a “passionate libtard” in his profile. Stop using that word and variations of it, Gerry, but continue complaining about the government.

"18/18 Marvel writers, 100%, are extreme left wing ideologues who hate half of the country, have nothing nice to say about the USA or its president ever" (he went back and added the 12 he forgot and the percentage remained at 100)

It should be no surprise that people in the art industry, especially ones who freelance and publish independently, tend to be into activism and not very into conservationism.

You can make an argument that publishers intentions can be analyzed based on who they hire but at the end of the day these people are themselves, not Marvel. They work on commission. I don't think I could pick out anyone who only writes for Marvel.

He also argues that no one reads Marvel comics that aren't long-term dedicated fans and that even they are not reading as much. Source?

Take Spider-Man/Deadpool for example. The series was created based on the interest of the two of them and specifically how popular their ship is. From my personal experience most of the readers are brand-new to comics and the cells have been astronomical, especially on fan markets for first printings.

It stars Deadpool, one of the queerest characters at Marvel, and the premise revolves around his romantic pursuit of Spider-Man. It's pretty out there, they now have a child together and the sells numbers haven't been below 45,000

And just look at the sales numbers for comics in general. 2002–2006 they were making over $300 million, 2007–2012 they were making over $400 million, and 2013 through the present they've consistently been over $500 million. That's just North America and those are just the numbers for the ones published by Diamond, no one knows how much is being made by digital comics yet but it's a lot.

Source, it's apparently extremely hard for you to take two seconds and Google that information.

"This is why your sales are in the toilet, Axel Alonso (Editor in chief)"  

That's the opposite of how math works.

“heeeeey maybe we shouldn’t, in every single book we publish, stick middle fingers up at our overwhelmingly primary audience of 18-35 year old white males who buy comics, as about 2/3 of them voted in a way that is contrary to the social narratives we’re pushing”

Don't judge him, he's not allowed to go to conventions so he doesn't actually know how diverse the audience is. And it should be noted that a target audience is separate from an actual audience. A great example of this is 

Young Justice on the Cartoon Network had great ratings but the ratings weren't from their target, 18–30 white straight men, so it got canceled. The reason? They didn't want to sell merchandise to them despite the fact that sexual and gender minorities overwhelmingly keep this industry afloat in the majority of their purchases are merchandise. Remember when only 18–30 white men were buying comics in the 90s and everyone had to file multiple bankruptcies?

46.67% of comic book readers are women. We don't know the percentage of non-binary readers but it's safe to say that cis men are the minority and you hate minorities! I guess?

This is weird but he tries to back up his points by explaining that his wife would never buy Iron Man comics again because the current character using that legacy title looks like this:

Muslims "think American pop-culture is evil" so they would prefer not to have representation in comics

Don't get offended because in his web comic "I have a Female, half-Asian protagonist. I didn’t do so out of any desire for representation or to show that she can be just as physically strong as men"

And this: "Peter Parker doesn’t sound like Peter Parker when he’s sitting there fretting about beating up an actual criminal because of their race (seriously, it’s in a bleeding cool preview)"

Peter Parker, well known racist? I don't remember ever seeing those particular issues but I'm a girl so I wouldn't know.

I agree that there should be comic books of all types, even ones that might even offend the shit out of me but that's what we have different publishers for. If you don't like liberalism, don't read Marvel or DC. You have many other options. More so now than ever because web comics and digital comics are only gaining in popularity and because of that it's incredibly easy for anyone to put out a comic that is listed right alongside Marvel's.

Read these:

[renaroo]

Wednesday Roundup

It’s that time of the week again, where I fill everyone’s dash with an unnecessary amount of comic love. Or nitpickiness. Depends on the week. And this week we have a lot of variation in genre and publisher! I mean, more than usual, which is saying something if you follow my bizarre and varied tastes ; ) 

In any case, let’s get right into the comics and see how they stand this week!

Image’s Lazarus (2013- ), DC’s Titans (2016- ) Annual, IDW’s Transformers: Lost Light (2016- ), IDW’s Transformers: Till All Are One (2016- )

Image’s Lazarus (2013- ) #26 Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, Arcas

I have been following Lazarus for years now, literally since I heard Rucka promote it on 3 Chicks Review Comics, and I feel like, in a lot of ways, a lot of the feelings, emotions, and just tragedy that has been building up in all that time really comes to a head with this issue. 

Lazarus, more than anything, reads to me as the struggle of autonomy in a world and, especially, in a position where that seems to manufacture everything about you. Forever seeks autonomy from her world, Johanna risks everything to help while seeking it for herself, Eight’s autonomy is being unknowingly stripped from her, and the world of Lazarus continues to show a grim reality where all freedom and personhood is owned and divided between a few international corporate powers -- by a few families that are the 0.000001% and own nearly all of the wealth of the world but still fight amongst themselves for more of it.

Obviously reading this comic four years ago at its start is strikingly different than reading it now, three years into the present where things have... unfortunately struck much different cords. 

This is a dystopia that focuses on the right things, does the right things with its world and its characters. It’s a world that impresses the importance of autonomy for its characters and the face of complete domination from outside forces. And even with its darkness, with its depressing end, there’s a certain catharsis I got this week by realizing this purpose for myself.

DC’s Titans (2016- ) Annual #1 Dan Abnett, Minkyu Jung, Adriano Lucas

There’s a certain love of continuity porn and character drama that is a weakness for long term comic fans in a way that I don’t think that fans of other media really understand as well. Because on its own, you shouldn’t derive absolute goodness on a story based on its references and continuity use, yet I am so weak when it’s utilized in a way to enhance stories. 

Titans for better or worse always seems to deliver for me in that continuity and character relationship way that makes up for nearly any other leaps of logic one could hold against it. I mean, the main villain of this annual is The Key -- a character so obscure I’m pretty sure his fandom consists of ONLY me and that’s mostly because he was a way for young me to draw more comparisons between Connor Hawke’s Green Arrow and Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl. That kind of obscurity. 

This comic delivers on that, but I’d argue that if that was all it was doing, it’d probably be nitpicked by me more -- I mean look at how I rip Detective Comics a new one every two weeks -- and there’s just so much love in this comic and Dan Abnett REALLY adores the original Titans to a point that it’s obvious this is a love letter to the fans of not just this team, but of these characters and their histories. Their legacies -- as was plainly spelled out in this annual.

I loved this, and especially Minkyu Jung’s art on the issue. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that I’m annoyed that we’r once again at the “what are Donna’s origins” point with her character and that Wonder Woman was written just... so weirdly this whole issue. Man it’s amazing how people can just not get Wondy.

Regardless, it was a really fun issue and I’m curious to see where we go from here.

IDW’s Transformers: Lost Light (2016- ) #4 James Roberts, Jack Lawrence, Joana Lafuente

Our gay robots in space soap opera returns in full form with more feelings than you can shake a holographically project tread at. This issue is full of queer romance, robots, blowing things up, and a sense of humor and fridge horror that can only be expected of fans of JRo’s take on the Transformers franchise at this point. 

For instance, I never thought in my life I’d eagerly express to friends that “we have a robot Deadpool” or that Megatron smiling for a single panel would make my heart actually break.

The mystery continues and I’m really interested in seeing what the overall effect of this parallel world will be. After all, they have basically found “Cyberutopia” in a literal dystopia of the home they knew. And Rodimus has literally dove headfirst, recklessly into near certain calamity to spare Ratchet and his team a few moments. Something that doesn’t seem to be ending well for anyone.

I also need to take time to say that. I’m in an awkward, strange place in my personal life. A moment that’s hard to really explain unless you are intimately familiar with me outside of my online presence and... Anode’s story is striking a much needed, though very much hurtful cord with me at the moment and I really, really wish to thank the creative team for her addition to the cast. It hurts but it’s something I really need to see played out in a fictional universe full of gay robots. 

IDW’s Transformers: Till All Are One (2016- ) #8 Mairghread Scott, Sara Pitre-Durocher, Joanna Lafuente

If the goal of Gay Robots Inc. was to rip my heart out a million times today then they succeeded. PHENOMENALLY succeeded. Because ow. 

We’re finally at the end of this expansing storyline of the Titans and I was really worried that its conclusion was going to be questionable due to the fact that it was basically ending a crossover event that itself ended months ago for the other books involved, and that it was dealing with all the complicated issues that built us up to this point in various other books. 

But, my god, they really delivered on this story emotionally, and it was all so well done. The art was beautiful, the characters great -- even the few glimpses of Starscream -- and the hopelessness and desperation we got from Chromia throughout has just solidified for me that she is one of my favorite Transformers period. I adore her,a nd the pain she faces when Windblade’s apparent sacrifice is discovered is just amazing and powerful.

This was a great ending to the arc and I’m highly anticipating the fallout to be handled just as well!

My pick of the week never seems to be easy, but I definitely have to give it this week to Lazarus. This series has come out very slowly over the past three years and continues to prove quality over quantity. It’s probably Rucka’s most passionate project and it shows, especially in an issue as impactful as today that really brings the entire nature and message of the comic full circle.