#solo nerd bird

[solonerdbird]

I feel like this level was longer than it needed to be 🤨.

[artbyblastweave]

If you had to bet on which female superhero breaking the Wonder Woman monopoly on Female Superhero Recognized by Non-Cape-Nerds in the near future, who would you bet on?

This is a hard topic for me to address because of my Feldspar-and-quartz levels of recognition of B-list superheroes that I think of as A-list because I've been seeing them in things for years.

That said, I think that a lot of what they've been doing with Captain Marvel over the last ten to fifteen years was, in large part, motivated by how the meteoric rise in popularity of the MCU was highlighting how Marvel didn't already have a widely recognized female character who could hit at that weight; some good Carol Danvers stuff came out of that, but we also got Civil War II, and the "girls can join the air force too!" propaganda threaded deftly through the whole affair, so it's not entirely clear the extent to which any of that worked. Relatedly, Black Widow's inclusion in the initial MCU Avengers lineup was, while not a bad decision, also pretty visibly a result of them going, Christ, we need at least one woman and we don't think they'll take The Wasp seriously- who's left? So Widow was pretty big for a minute... followed by dead, and in the absolutely ridiculous position of her solo movie being released after the one in which she died. And Scarlet Witch, she was pretty big for a minute!.... followed by dead. There's an issue here.

A long time ago, like when I was a teenager, I had this pithy observation that it felt like Marvel had a greater range of diverse, idiosyncratic female superheroes who got to exist independently of the branding of a male counterpart, but on the other hand DC got to have Wonder Woman. There are ways in which this was obviously extremely truthy even at the time- most of the female characters I was thinking of- Wasp, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Invisible Woman, Storm, and so on- existed basically exclusively on ensemble team books, and it was an analysis that left out characters like the Birds of Prey, Starfire, and Raven. Again, I was a teenager. But it does inform what's come to be my real conclusion on this, which is that I'd prefer that both companies just start cranking out a whole bunch of solid, sustainable B-list female superheroes who have a clear niche and reason to exist that isn't "trying to recreate the lightning in the bottle that is Wonder Woman." Like, ten new characters who stick at the reasonably successful levels of quality and fan buy-in achieved by Kamala Khan and Kate Bishop? Way, way better outcome than the other thing that can happen.

Because, like, the decisive answer to your question, the one that occurred to me halfway through writing this? Harley Quinn. They tried to do this with Harley Quinn- maybe less "Wonder Woman 2" and more "DC's answer to Deadpool," but on balance I don't think jacking up her prominence in the way that they've done has been good for her, in the same way I don't think jacking up Deadpool's prominence has been good for him.

[strawberrystepmom]

hello kendall !!! i hope you don’t mind me dropping by to visit 🥹🌸 i’ve been enjoying seeing you talk about dante on dash even if i am not too familiar with him or the fandom— but i was wondering if you have a list of your current fav characters? i am just very curious and love hearing about people’s favs— even your top 5 or 10 that have been occupying your mind and what made you fall for them if you’re comfortable giving more information!

💗 i hope you have a delightful wednesday ^^;

hi vana <33333333 i hope your wednesday has been the loveliest! i hope the sun is shining! i hope the birds have chirped! i hope you have enjoyed something very tasty and memorable!

my list of favs is many and long im crying but the usual suspects are:

senku ishigami from dr. stone - i have a love/hate relationship with him most of the time but it's only because i appreciate him so deeply LMAFOEIJFLSKJF im so ungrateful. i originally fell for him bc i love nerds and will fuck nerds until the day i die. i appreciate his big heart even though he keeps things close to his chest and the idea of real feelings makes him wanna gag. something will always be so dear to me about a man that is ill behaved with a big heart.

i have several au's with senku but the main one diverges from the canon storyline and he and his friends end up at a settlement in california set up by me and my friends. my si/oc is an agriculture expert and he and i go back and forth on science, life, sociology, the future all the time.

gen narumi from kaiju number 8 - my skrunkle cat.........where do i even begin? he enchanted me from the minute he started being unhinged for zero reason. like he's wound SO tight despite appearing as someone kind of laid back and relaxed and i think about it so often. a capricorn nightmare aka my day dream. my si/oc in this universe is a seismologist and we date online for a very long time before it becomes a real life thing. i also have a couple of au's with him - knight/princess ofc and omegaverse.

satoru gojo from jjk - i cried every day for three months just thinking about him and had to really figure out what that was all about. man of all time. even talking about him makes me feel like im literally stripping naked for you guys to see so i have to stop myself bc he makes me crazy and unwell. my oc/si in that universe is a teacher who went to school with him in nanami's class. there is a million years of drama and like 10 straight years of being off and on but yeah. it's a lot.

yami sukehiro from black clover - i watched black clover for the first time this summer and fell so disgustingly hard for this man i dont think i've ever looked so dumb in all my life. he's big, he's brash, he's Daddy energy embodied and he drives me nuts. my si/oc in that universe is a noblewoman who works as a spymaster for the wizard king and yami and i secretly sleep together because im horny, unmarried, and wanna "practice" to be a good wife. little did i know that would be the man im being a good wife for. life comes at you fast!

and ykw since we mentioned him let's give a shout out to mr. may cry himself...

dante from devil may cry - idk what the fuck has possessed me but the minute i saw this man i said man that sucks bc he's for me. i denied him for months (i did this with gojo too everyone will tell u) and was like im not getting into this bc i know I KNOWWWWW and i was warned and here we are.

what i love about dante is that he is a true believer in good. despite how shitty his life is, despite all the trauma and horrors he has been put through, he believes in people. he believes in love. he's compassionate and protective and silly and sure of himself and wiuehgwaioejfalwjf that's cat nip to this lil kitty kitty. like i didn't wanna speak too soon and sound insane but he is kind of soloing the rest of my harem bc tbf he's everything i like about the rest of them with huge arms and pecs to boot. i am just a woman vana.

[pumpkinstrawbrew]

you were asked about your NSFW headcanons for scarebat. but what about SFW hcs? do you have any particular favorites?

[bounces happily] i was so ecstatic to get this question, you have no idea! i know, that i’m already talking quite a lot about my thots on scarebat, but i remember that at some point, i’d always feel so embarrassed about never shutting up about my interests. but nowadays it’s like ooohh, ask me anythin’ about them, pretty please! so happy to answer! don’ care if that’s too eager. i think classic scarebat deserved more stuff in their tag! like any, kind of thoughs an' ideas for them!

but welp, i assume that we are talking about my fav hcs, that are kinda universal for all versions of scarebat or at least, can be applied to all versions? since quite honestly, some stuff will be different for each version or can be applied only to them specifically, such as jon's condition in arkham knight an' so on.

either way, i will list my most often re-visited / used hcs an' keep them kinda in 'can fit any version to some extend' format. + a couple of hcs where i can talk about all 3 versions in a somewhat less specific frame, an' bring all of them up, without over bloating this too much. so here we go!

1). after fighting each other for years, naturally, they would learn stuff about one another. esp everything that concerns fears an’ phobias. jonathan learns about batman’s distaste for guns fairly early on, an’ despite this being a handy ‘tool’, he doesn’t use it. in fact, after certain point, the bat don’t see him with any kind of gun. some might say, that batman’s reaction on it is smth that jonathan finds uncomfortably relatable. not the hatred an’ fear of guns itself, but how it reminds him of his own childhood fears. of course, there be cases, where this bit played on differently or disregarded, but i feel like, usually, that’s the solo reasoning why crane doesn’t use guns, despite not being bad with firearms on main. 

2). they’re jock an’ nerd trope gone wrong. an’ while jonathan’s envy / lust for big, handsome jocks is engraved into his dna, bruce who typically shows attraction to more commonly appealing people, finds jon to be kind of cute. in his own, bird-like, unkempt way. esp when certain emotions make jonathan’s features softer or his movements grow more shy an’ cautious. that’s just cute an’ not smth that he saw anyone else do around him. not that kind of almost innocent boyish behaviour.

3). jon’s most deepest, wishful fantasy about him an’ batman usually ranges from ‘we shall rule Gotham together with help of fear. together we’d be unstopable’ to ‘Batman will tell me that I’m Master of Fear an’ that I outdone him, so it will make me God of fear’, depending on setting. bruce’s only deepest fantasy about jonathan *prob ever* is that he will get better an’ won’t feel a need to hurt others anymore. needles to say, those fantasies most likely will stay this, unless they both get to live to be super old, so that they would have no choice to stop being batman an’ scarecrow, an’ live together as two old farts, who will watch sunsets together an’ yell at kids to get out of their lawn. in other words, i generally, love to imagine that jonathan's fantasies are more edgelord-like vs bruce, who just craves peaceful existence, essentially.

4). alfred being alfred is always supportive of bruce, but expectedly, he won’t be super thrilled when he learns about him having a thing with scarecrow. but i imagine, that he will make peace with it eventually, regardless of 'what ifs'. mostly bc crane is obsessed with bruce, which means that he won’t abandon him. an’ i think, for alfred who gets older an’ knows that at some point he will have to leave bruce side, this idea is somewhat comforting. kinda knowing that bruce won’t be alone an’ someone would care about him, even if that person is jonathan crane. besides, it could have been worse. at least, bruce not into clowns or penguin lol. 

5). jonathan is a possessive, jealous prick. but i always think, that the way he demonstrates his territorial stick is pretty comedic. like those cartoonishly >:(  kinds of enraged an’ offended expressions, that promise slow death to anyone, who lets their hands wander when they’re next to bruce. jon tends to assume like almost everything under the sun wants a piece of his man *it doesn’t help, that half of rogue gallery literally wants to bang the bat for real* but still, all of those admirers an’ suitors shall know, that they will have to get past the spooky straw-pencil first. meanwhile, bruce is kinda low-key oblivious of this. both in older comics an’ BTAS, he shown as someone who doesn’t have that emotion himself, so he prob doesn’t recognize it very well in others. however, i think with jon, there are moments, when bruce experiences this feeling for the first time, but in a somewhat childish way. like, jon being his typical gay incel self an’ complimenting superman’s arms or smth in pretty objectifying way, which will make bruce be kinda annoyed lol. or BTAS crane telling batman, that he had that extra smart student or smth, an’ he solved this chemical reaction faster than bruce, an’ it’s like a kicked puppy feeling + slightly prickle of that jealousy too. an’ in more uh, up to eleven versions, i feel like bruce will obtain a saviour complex toward jon an’ be like ‘only I can save him’, which in some form is connected to possessive shtick too.

6). it’s a known fact, that bruce has a soft spot for kids, his foster ones or just children / troubled teens / etc. jon, on other hand, seems to both like an’ hate them at the same time lol. i guess, that what being a professor an' teaching young folks would do to a man. yet, i imagine, that comicverse jonathan is co-exist surprisingly well *as far as it possible* with bruce’s kids. they kinda annoy him at times, but he's not against them being around from time to time. he also likes teaching people smth by habit almost, so it's nice to have someone besides bruce, who listens to him. BTAS jon is also for the most part can get along with bruce's brats, even if he expands more of that good ole ‘tough love’, rather than coddling *bruce the one, who does this to some degree* method upon them. but then, there is arkhamverse. in comparison, that version of bruce an’ jon are basically the worst foster parents ever. bruce ‘i didn’t know that you were alive’ wayne an’ jonathan ‘don’t worry, i fix this in a moment’ crane [montage of him pulling out a gun an’ shooting red hood] bc come on, three alive foster kids are way too many! 

7). both crane an’ bruce stealing each other's stuff for ‘collection’. i mean, this is partially canon. esp for bruce. but i think, that jons also have batman’s things an’ belongings *those not many* saved in some place creepy, so that he can pull them out an’ admire them later. like a magpie would admire a shiny object, it sneaked away from someone’s house. jon's most precious possession is batman's glove. he prob did smth very weird with it too, i imagine.

8). bruce is also good with all sort of animals an’ over the years of fighting crane, he learned a bit more about crows as a result. sometimes he would feed wild crows as bruce wayne, mostly bc those birds feel a bit more special now. mirroring him, crane who before didn’t care much for the bats, grew a bit protective over them. considering that once he became associating them with batman, he started paying attention to how fragile an’ silky of a creatures they are. also he learned that some species of bats are very intelligent, like flying foxes for example. an’ some other breeds have a surprisingly good long-term memory for a small, rodent animal. so yeah, don’t you go an’ assault bats on his watch. 

9). scarecrow has a large collection of books. be it his main hideout, his temporary apartments or his cell. bruce, who loves reading, but typically doesn’t have much time to read stuff just for pleasure sake, rather than research, found many useful books via his exposure to crane’s collection. he also has all of crane’s papers saved on his computer, which sometimes helped him as well. 

10). due to exposure to fear toxins over the years, they both have regular nightmares an’ sometimes they have almost same-ish ones, both of them. some of those nightmares is kinda a blurred memory of what the other did, while they were like this, so it becomes less of a nightmare an’ just a wonder if this actually happened or not. bruce doesn't tell jon about how many times, he saw him inside his dreams / night terrors, bc it would get to his head very fast and' he won't hear the end of crane's peacocking. prob ever lol.

11). jonathan crane doesn’t have the best hygiene. in fact, he’s the type of a man, who would sit inside the basement for a week, without shower, barely any food or sleep. he only begins to try an’ pay better attention to these things, when he’s about to met / fight batman. but quite frankly, i imagine that his natural scent is basically irreparable from chemical odor by this point an’ it’s sort of smell, that bruce remembers very well. his cape faintly smells like it, along with his gloves. it's easy to miss, but he knows that its there.

12). this one, i mentioned numerous times, i feel like, but it doesn’t hurt to mention it again. bruce tends to babysit jonathan, when he inhaled too much fear toxin an’ can’t move or begin hyperventilating as soon as he’s about to be moved. i always hc, that crane have some sort of heart condition / unspecified heart disease, but surprisingly manages to live through all of his terrors, but partly, bc batman actually waits until it will get a bit less dangerous to move him, if he notices that ‘it’s worse, than usual’. he also aware about all of jonathan’s medical records, just bc well, he’s batman. 

13). all bruces can sing. all jonathan’s actually know how to play a guitar *not professionally, but well* but none of them do it often, but they could at some point make a fun duet, despite rusty skills. an' it will turn out, that they seem to be into similar sort of music.

14). their relationships are mutually obsessive, but in different ways. an’ bruce is usually better at downplaying it *mostly to himself*, than jon could ever hoped to be. but it’s like they’re soulmates without a universe needed to have that trope in place, y’know. gotta keep love stories about undying, true love always!

15). an’ alright, let’s end this with something, which is more playful, cute an’ kinda silly than anything. in other words, what halloween costumes they would like each other to wear! an’ i will talk about each version here. inside comicverse!jon's mind eye, the ideal halloween costume for bruce, that he invisions, is him dressing as ash from evil dead movie *gotta remind myself to draw this one at some point* as for what bruce imagines would suit jon well, mmm, idk. he might ask him to dress like one of the demons from hellraiser just bc y’know, a lot of leather an’ to troll jonathan a bit, bc he would try to imagine what this might mean an’ if bruce have some sort of fetish, he doesn’t tell him about lol. as for BTAS, i like to picture bruce dressing up as gray ghost an’ jon dressing up as one of the villains from the show, so that they will have a matching set. an’ finally arkhamverse can have the most non-serious one, bc everything is gloom an’ doom for them in canon, so here, they can be weird. jonathan can be phantom of the opera, bc he’s a lovesick disfigured old creepy man, who crawled from the sewers an’ bruce can be christine, despite being the top lol. but he would rock that dress anyhow.

aaaaaand it covers most of it! since as per usual, everything can heavily depend on AUs. specific settings or even if we talk about comicverse scarebat, where jon is completely nuts or not. or if we talk about arkham asylum scarebat or arkham knight one. but since they have quite a few similar / same-ish narrative bits, despite all the differences, i imagine, that those hcs is like 'core' of my outlook an' view of scarebat.

[ran-orimoto]

[ After more than a year I’ve finally put my hands on my Junzumi fam to give them a slooooow redesign, because it was necessary to give some logic and “ personality “ to people exclusively wearing shirts and cardigans, but also because I just love playing with my Junzumi trash, so this was just a good excuse like always ~~. Btw, I’m also planning to draw the ✨ uncles✨ + Chiaki, as she is also part of Rapsodia , whether she wants to or not ahahahh. ]

I had already written drafts about Junpei and Izumi in the past, but I will put them here again, more polished, along with the kids’.

• Junpei Shibayama in Orimoto, 42: International star tenor, occasional VA and narrator in children stuff, former singing teacher (in Covid period), part-time waiter ( *cough* restaurant co-owner).

• Izumi Orimoto, 41: Chef, owner of two restaurants, Gambero Rosso’s favourite guest, Slowfood member, DIY stylist.

• Tomoki Orimoto (Toto), 6: first year of elementary school, trains enthusiast, expert in digging in his father’s toolbox, little friend of the living room’s piano, knows a lot about prehistory.

• Miranda Orimoto (Ran), 9: fourth year of elementary school, school recitals lover (but never being picked for solo singing roles), clumsy rookie ballerina, butterflies nerd (but being afraid of moths), would eat pasta al sugo everyday.

• Koujirou Orimoto (Kou), 11: sixth year of elementary school, striker with lightning speed (in his dreams), disasters at the stove but 1st fan of his mother’s cooking (so he thinks), can imitate birds’ chirps surprisingly decent white voice, never gives books back to the library in time.

[buzzheadchick]

Loopy (OC) Trivia

It's hard to believe I was in high school when I first got into Bully and made Loopy, and I'm turning 23 in 10 days! Now she's a great big love letter to who I used to be in high school, which to this day has made up the majority of the most tumultuous times in my life, even if it's been longer now since I graduated than the time I spent there.

Anyways, since I'm feeling sentimental, here's a bit of trivia about my gal!

Loopy's surname was decided before her given name. I wanted her to have some sort of tie to canon, but to keep it minimal because I don't like altering established things too much. "Stimson" came from the name of Gord Vendome's chauffeur that he mentions by name exactly once in a cutscene. That driver is Loopy's uncle.

Loopy's first name, Lorein, was the middle name of my great great grandma!

When I first came up with her character, I wanted her to have a bird motif. I couldn't figure out much of a way to make it work, but I kept it as a minor character trait of hers that she really likes watching the birds when she's outside.

Loopy was originally going to have a color palette of green and purple, back when I envisioned her as part of the Nerds.

I wrote out whole fake missions she could give Jimmy like scripting game cutscenes, including what chapter they appear, what causes them to trigger, and their winstates. These are still sitting on my computer somewhere.

When I played Disco Elysium last year, I made an OC for that, and she's literally just Loopy grown up! DE/CCE crossover...?

When I made Loopy, I was kinda obsessed with shipping her with someone because I was a lonely teenager and wanted to project onto my self insert. Now that she's a representation of who I was in high school, and I never ended up dating anyone, her relationship fate is pretty much set in stone. A solo agent!

Loopy makes a point to call every nicknamed character by their real and full first name. This means I had to make a few up for writing her. Some I just guessed based off common shortenings, like Dan is short for Daniel and Thad is short for Thaddeus, but for characters like Fatty, I made up new names.

Sidenote not about Loopy but about me; when I looked up to see if "Bo" was short for anything, I found Bo Jackson's real life namesake has the same birthday as me: November 30th! Neat.

And here's a little bonus about Atticus because compared to Loopy, I've hardly posted anything about him.

I was originally gonna have Atticus be from Virginia but retconned it for one joke.

"You look alright, for a Prep."

"Now, what's that supposed to mean?"

"All the local families are inbred."

"Ah, well that explains it. I'm from no local family."

"Where are you from, then?"

"West Virginia."

[fufupng]

More splatoon x pikmin doodles !!!

I always come back to Dingo and Yonny 💀 pom, shep, and collin are sitting in my file but trying to finalize thatttt

As per usual, notes in the keep reading~

Dingo is sooooo the definition of the fuck it we ball in the frontlines, mainly playing skirmisher weapons. You need the backline to the frontline soooo Yonny fucks around with anchor weapons B) Mainly E-liter but doesnt mind flexing to other anchors like splatlings. Yonny is definitely the brains behind the operation lmaoo being the shotcaller of the two, Dingo hears and goes LMAOO yet Dingo has the habit of going anyways💀 the fighter mindset.

Dingo is definitely a solo grinder whenever Yonny isn’t available, hes a solid player mechanically but tends to struggle in teamplay. So he can make do in soloq for now- Yonny is alot more of the study type outside of games, lots of map n strategy review so his game knowledge is definitely up there. Backlines just overall have that birds eye in game too so hes solid at just planning in game overall, the backline of all time. Though he does carry a more anchor by definition playstyle, playing more on the defensive minimizing risk if possible.

Im a splatoon nerd so i have alot of fun figuring out of the playstyles of the two :3 tho i do wanna make the rest if the coorps as a bigger comp team!!

[gamesception]

Sception Reads Cass Cain #36

Batgirl (2000) #16 - July 2001 Writer: Puckett Pencils: Scott Inks: Campanella Colors: Wright

Another solo one shot, another resonant and memorable stand alone story that Cass fans from back in the day will remember clearly. Got a bit more time to work with, gonna try and pull some more images this time, because the art in this one is just really good. Honestly, this issue is peak early days Batgirl - the kind of story she was literally made to tell, and it's really well executed. If I had to pick a single issue of Cass's entire Batgirl run as sort of a 'this is what she's all about' encapsulation for someone completely new to Cass and her book, this would be on the short list. If you've never read her ongoing before, i strongly recommend you actually read the issue for yourself before the summary here.

The issue opens on a bunch of kids playing a mean game where they throw a rat in the air and get points if it lands in a circle they drew on the ground. The nerd in my has to point out that it's kind of unrealistic. Rats aren't quite as fall resistant as, say, cats, but while they could be hurt or maybe even killed by a fall from only as high as a grade school kid could throw them, most are going to scamper away and none are going to land so badly that they splatter like a water balloon.

Anyway, it's gross and its cruel but also kind of cute as the kids argue about the rules and 'nuh uh' each other, and Scott draws their faces really expressively, and the whole scene starts with a rat silhouetted in front of the moon mid toss in an image that's as aesthetically compelling as it is disturbing in context before plummeting back down

I could talk about how Cass is flying high through the city as Batgirl while her mental state is hurtling towards a painful crash, but that's probably reading too much into it.

Anyway, after the first splat there's this kind of cool sequence where the next kid throws the rat up and they all run back and look down at the circle...

Only the rat never comes down, and when they look up like 'where did it go?' there's Cass

The image of Cass swooping down from above with the kids all looking up is pretty cool, and the way the panels create a pacing for the scene is really good. Effective storytelling through sequential art.

Cass drops down, and the kids scatter. Not a situation that needs any more intervention then that, and we get a nice panel showing just her hands and feet as she crouches down to gently let the rat go. A pretty standard inverse kick-the-dog moment to establish Cass as the good guy by having her be nice to an animal, but for those who have been reading along from the first issues of her book it also reminds us of how Bruce once praised her for being 'gentle', and how despite everything that's happened that part of her is still in there.

As the other kids scatter, one stays behind to kick off the main plot for the issue. I like how awkward Cass is here, towering over this kid when she's used to being around allies and enemies taller than herself, not knowing how to talk to him.

Also, I haven't talked about it in a bit, but I just really love the way Scott draws Cass as Batgirl? Her proportions with her big head emphasizing her youth. The way you can make out her expressions despite the full face mask - and the way he gives her the same expressions that he gives Bruce. Her prominent jaw line making her feel tough and defiant and stubborn. The way you can make out her expression through the mask, the sleek lines of how her cape drapes from her neck to the point shoulders and then down, or the way the cape flows when he draws her in motion, all with an oil-slick feel that likely owes as much to Campanella's inking as to Scott's pencil work.

There are aspects of how others draw Cass in her batgirl suit that I like - most recently I love how Leonardo Romero draws the pointy ears on her cowl in the recent Birds of Prey run, it gives Cass a retro feel that really fits his vintage newspaper comic aesthetic. But Scott's version of Cass-as-Batgirl is always how I'll see the character in my mind.

The kid, Tim, takes Cass back to his home, a messy apartment with a mattress just dropped on the floor. You can feel the poverty, and start to form an image of this kid's dad in your head as, like, a decent man pushed into crime by desperation to provide for his kid.

An impression that Tim then explicitly reinforces.

The scene cuts to the bank mid robbery, and we meet someone who seems to fit the mold - Jake. The way Scott draws Jake's expressions, you can tell he doesn't want to be there, and when asked what he's going to do with the money they steal, he just says he's going to pay some bills. But when a security guard surprises them, Jake is startled and shoots him, almost by accident....

The boss, Chaco, compliments Jake on the kill, rubbing in how this isn't a guy who would normally do something like that with the 'didn't think you had it in you' line, and as they walk away you can see how horrified Jake is at what he's done.

In contrast, Chaco shows just how comfortable he is with killing by shooting one of his own guys point blank when he realizes the guy was stealing traceable jewelry from the vault, the way the panel suddenly goes red, and Chaco's calm expression just the panel before, emphasizing how sharp and sudden the violence is.

Chaco's a professional. Ruthless and dispassionate, about the job, about killing, even with his allies. He clearly didn't even feel any malice towards the guy he shot - he was downright friendly with all of his crew, even Jake, just a few panels ago, and that friendliness was probably even genuine. But this guy became a liability, and Chaco doesn't have any time or pity for liabilities.

It's around this time that they notice Jake is missing. More liabilities.

A couple of the crew find Jake in an alley, overwhelmed by guilt over killing that security guard, and again, I just have to say, the art in this issue is really good. The perspective in that first panel looking down, with the shadows stretching forward guns first, the expressions on Jake and the guy who has a gun drawn on him, the detail on the background cobblestones & brickwork. All really good.

Anyway, this is when Cass shows up, in terrifying shadow form, knocking out the two goons with the guns in as many panels.

Cass sees Jake, like us assumes he's Tim's dad, and takes pity on him. For Tim's sake.

But Jake is overwhelmed by guilt.

Guilt is one thing Cass understands.

Tim wanted Cass to stop his dad before he did something bad, something he wouldn't be able to forgive himself for, something Tim wouldn't be able to forgive him for. But Cass was too late. Once again, she's failed.

Only, Tim isn't Jake's son.

He's Chaco's son.

Chaco the remorseless killer. Chaco who can be friendly one moment and commit murder the next. Cass wasn't too late to stop Tim's dad from doing something bad, Tim's dad had been bad the whole time.

And bad dads are also something Cass understands.

I need to take a step out of the story for a moment here though to talk again about how Scott draws Cass, and in particular the bit about conveying her facial expressions through the mask. Scroll up a bit and look at the downcast resignation on her face when Jake says he has to pay for what he's done, then the surprise when he says he isn't Tim's father, and then the absolute fury here.

The expressions are so vivid, and carry so much of the load when it comes to conveying Cass's thoughts and emotions and personality.

Bringing back another old chestnut of this blog, Cass can speak now, and think in words and sentences, but there are no thought bubbles or narration blocks in the entire issue. The book just doesn't need them, not when Scott's Art is able to put everything going on in these characters heads right on their faces.

Cass lays into Chaco, stopping only when she realizes he's already unconscious, and you can feel the sharp snap of her attacks in how the panels are layed out.

Bringing back another old chestnut, the action panels are practically perfunctory. They're there, and they're good, but there's no back and forth, there's never any question of the bank robbers so much as landing a hit on Cass. Who will win in a physical fight was never where the story's tension was. It was all about the emotional stakes.

Tim arrives on scene just in time to see his dad carted off on a stretcher to the hospital, and as Cass takes him home he looks back, through the spikes on her gauntlet, as through through the prison bars that are going to separate him from his father for the rest of his life.

And the last page is this somber, heartbreaking moment of Cass trying to console Tim that just because his father is a bad person, doesn't mean he is too, and it's obvious that Cass is thinking about herself and David Cain here, but while I might be reading too much into the panel, the way Cass's shadow forms Bruce's symbol to me draws attention to the fact that Cass has two fathers, and just because one of them isn't a murderer doesn't mean he isn't also bad.

...

So yeah, this really is more or less the archetypal Cass Cain Batgirl (2000) issue. A somber, contemplative tone. Street level / no super-villains or over the top scenarios. A focus on the individual humanity of the minor characters, including criminals who would be faceless mooks in any other bat book. Story and characterization conveyed through expressive artwork and deliberate panel use rather than blunt narration, taking advantage of the specific strengths of the comic medium. Violence and action scenes sharp, short and snappy rather than heavily drawn out, with the main conflict grounded in personal and emotional stakes. Narrative themes - guilt, parenthood - that tie directly back to Cassandra's core themes, history, and character motivations. All concisely contained within a single issue episode that works as a stand alone story.

Although there might be a bit too much emphasis on the stand alone part. Sometimes Cass's stories do come back to be referenced again later, we'll have an example of that next week, but we never see Tim again, we never see Cass following up or checking on him which is kind of a shame.

[zippy-reacts]

Sonic the Comic Liveblog: Issue 84

Idk about anyone else, but I think Sonic using swimming aids is cute, like when he wears a lifejacket in the olympic games series

You know, I should actually try to learn about the StC artists myself. I have seen people mention them when talking about StC before.

New story with Sonic and the Chaotix! …man this artwork makes you realise how odd Vector's classic era design was.

Sonic: A god-like, all-powerful, perpectually pissed-off version of me is running amok in your home turf Espio: cool story bro

It does make for an interesting conflict though. I don't believe the Chaotix have ever witnessed Super, so they don't know how destructive he really is, meanwhile Sonic had recently spent the past few weeks concinved he had unwittingly murdered his friends.

Lmao that did make me laugh a bit

What a name for a group of people. "yeah bruv, we're The Bigots"

The cops are literal pigs. Amazing

It's a little funny hearing Knuckles talk about sleeping in the open when off the top of my head the only incarnation of him that lives in a house is Movie!Knuckles

Surprise crossover with Emmerdale /jk

Knuckles gets casually offered beer

Oooohhh… are we going in the 'idyllic village secretly has a cult' direction?

Unformately I cannot look at this panel without thinking of the multiple submitted readers questions from previous issues asking about characters feet

Yay! I was right about the cult thing! (Also that sheep lady is quite pretty)

And here's an article on Sega Channel! Think is actually the first I've actually heard about this specific service, I typically think of the website when I think of the name Sega Channel

Another solo Tails story.

A clever detail about this is that in previous panel's you can see the bear scientist's hands were green- not matching the head at all

Ignoring the apparent sex-appeal of these ugly-ass sneakers, that fella in the middle is wearing a crucifix pendant. That has many implications for the lore of this world that will give me a headache if I think about it for too long.

Thinking about it, StC's concept of Zones really does give the writers freedom with settings in a similar way to the islands in One Piece. From jungles to bustling metropolises, the story can be placed wherever the fuck the writer feels like

Forced makeovers via kidnapping. Probably not legal, but then again it's not really like this world has a super concrete justise system

This is something I actually learned myself the other week. Apparently in the 80s and 90s it was a Thing in Britain to call people who were giant nerd Anoraks, because people who had hobbies like train spotting or bird watching will often wear practical, but unfashionable clothing such as waterproof jackets. Thinking about it, it's a slightly roundabout way to insult autistic people.

Imagine the keystone of your evil plan relying on being able to tie a decent knot and you cant even fucking do that correctly.

[solonerdbird]

Look at that view! 🌈

[altocat]

Genesis: What up nerds *flexes by singing with an angelic voice and wows everyone with his amazing vocals*

I feel like he'd always flex in the most unconventional ways possible

Angeal: "Same to you, loser."

*Plays entire Free Bird solo and casually walks away*

...And Sephiroth just flexes by being Sephiroth

[blackholefriend]

next show:

Marnie Stern: probably one of my favorite “solo acts” of math rock time, who also made one of my most listened to albums ever (effortfully titled This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That). so excited for her, especially after her recent album (comparatively effortlessly titled The Comeback Kid).

Quasi: also amazing. Featuring “Birds” is still one of my favorite indie pop / indie rock albums ever, with vulnerable lyricism and earworm melodies all over it. they’re touring for the anniversary of this album, but i would love to see a song from their most recent (titled Breaking the Balls of History).

nerd out over, i feel like they’re about to come on soon

[spacefinch]

A list of my favorite characters associated with the sky, birds, and/or flight.

Tom Paris (Star Trek Voyager)

Callum (The Dragon Prince)

Skyla (Pokémon)

Winona (Pokémon)

Falkner (Pokémon)

Kahili (Pokémon)

Hera Syndulla (Star Wars Rebels)

Mart Mattin (Star Wars Rebels)

Wedge Antilles (Star Wars original trilogy)

Hikaru Sulu (Star Trek TOS)

Hailey Turner (The Search for WondLa)

Jason Grace (Heroes of Olympus)

Nyx (The Dragon Prince)

Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel

Clint Barton/Hawkeye (elder)

Kate Bishop/Hawkeye (younger)

Sam Wilson/Falcon

Dashi (Octonauts— she flies the Octo-Ray!)

Nausicaa (Studio Ghibli— Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)

Pazu (Studio Ghibli— Castle in the Sky)

Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)

Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars)

Han Solo (Star Wars)

Sabi (Braviary’s warden in Pokémon Legends Arceus)

Hækel (The Search for WondLa trilogy)

Hope Van Dyne/the Wasp (MCU)

Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (Star Trek TOS— he might not be a pilot, but he sure as heck loves the feel of flying.)

Sabine Wren (Star Wars Rebels)

Jinora (The Legend of Korra)

Nyota Uhura (Star Trek TOS— her first name means “Star!”)

Zinnia (Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire)

Elesa (Pokémon)

Zym (The Dragon Prince)

Queen Zubeia (The Dragon Prince)

Note: I use “sky” in a very broad sense here. It could mean the air itself or the wind. It could mean clouds and rain. It could even mean thunder and lightning storms. It also means the night sky as well.

Anyway, I think it’s safe to say I have a type when it comes to characters I like. This probably isn’t even all the Sky or bird associated characters that I know of.

Some things about me (which explain my taste in characters)

I am a huge bird nerd, both on this site and IRL.

Everyone who follows this blog knows I go by “Finch” for my online persona.

There was a time I wanted to be a pilot, before realizing it was too hard

I’ve wanted to be an ornithologist since I found out what it is. I want to study birds for a living.

I went through a WW2 aircraft phase during my sophomore year in high school

[clay-cuttlefish]

Finishing out post-Crisis continuity on all Renee's highest notes. I miss her (characterization that was outdated by more than a decade before I started reading)

The Question #37

I am going to eat this.

Shiva and Renee are great here, I love how they both work with the theme of rebirth, but it's Tot's driving emotion being greed that makes this issue so critical to me. He's so consistently restrained, the sensible one to Vic and Renee's burning curiosity, and that facade completely shattering to show that he's just as driven to find answers as they are? Chef's kiss.

Tot is the first person to ever shoot Shiva. David Cain has nothing on the power of old man lunacy.

"Charlie, son... Goodbye..." UNHINGED.

The absolute Question dream team on this one: Dennis O'Neil and Greg Rucka on writing, Denys Cowan on pencils, Bill Sienkiewicz on inks, even Cully Hamner doing the cover.

IT'S THE FIVE HUNDREDTH ISSUE TOO???

I don't have the words so please imagine me biting my hand because the normal chewing stim is not powerful enough to vent the feelings.

It helps/worsens the feelings that this is a single issue with no buildup that comes after a few bad minor appearances and Final Crisis, so I've let my guard down.

Pipeline Chapter One (Tec #854-858)

Into Pipeline now. It's not technically a Renee solo, but it's about miniseries length.

She's got a website! And takes cases!

It's nice to have a return to the classic Question staples of being nosy, fighting thugs, trying to help the vulnerable, and getting shot. Good to end up in the river sometimes, yknow? Not everything can be grand evils and crisis events.

The Eighth Deadly Sin (Batman Annual 27, Tec Annual 11)

Dick is way less uptight about getting help than Bruce, so he calls her in to help with a case.

Not important or anything but it's a good time.

GO (Tec #859-860)

Renee's first relationship with Kate, and their first breakup.

Pipeline Chapter Two (Tec #859-865)

Helena!

Renee and Helena reminiscing over Vic is very sweet. It's nice that he's still important to Helena despite how badly it ended.

Nobody tells either of them anything about the superhero community, apparently.

Love that Renee's broke. Charlie left her a lighthouse and Tot's fairly well off but she doesn't have private jet money.

I like that it calls back to 52 with Veronica Cale before following up on Revelations.

"I believe in friendship." I LOVE YOUUUU

The most powerful forces in the world are friendship and also gay longing.

All the Rage (Tec Annual #12, Batman Annual #28)

I don't like this plot at all, but this is important for Renee bearing the Mark of Cain - it doesn't get followed up on in anything else.

Paralleling the Mark with the double Venus scar Renee has from Gotham Central as two scars that provoke religious rejection.

It's wild to me that I didn't come across this the first time I did my Renee reading. I had interpreted the ending of Pipeline as ambiguous, and her appearance in Convergence without it to mean she never received it, but that's just not at all true.

Extending the metaphor here Dick is a kind of insensitive but generally well-meaning lesbian ally. That checks out.

Generally she's written fine in this. Not amazing but it's solid and it gets the point across.

Marked Woman (Tec Annual #12)

The real Mark of Cain was internalized homophobia the whole time, and the reason she's able to bear it is because she's learned to accept herself.

Adding transformative queer self-acceptance to the list of the most powerful forces in the world.

Hostile Takeover (Birds of Prey #12-13)

Important note: the Question that Helena calls Q as a cute pet name in the comics is Renee. IIRC the only person who calls Vic Q is Ted. Make of this what you will.

Slight variation on the drowning motif - Renee only ends up in the sewer for a moment, but Helena goes apeshit and tries to drown a guy in it, so it counts.

"Our first date." "*Snerk.* Shut up. Nerd." This is just fully gay. They are dating.

It actually pisses me off that this is such a promising setup. I'd be able to handle the New 52 more if Renee was left off right after the Mark of Cain arc, I might be able to convince myself it works as an open-ended "and the adventure continues" for her, but no I have to live with the knowledge she was going to be on the Birds of Prey and be adorable with Helena and then DC blew everyone up.

Guess I'll go fuck myself then.

Danger Drive (Batman 80-Page Giant 2011)

Sneaking in just under the reboot, it's... basically just that time Vic punched the Riddler, but with a different terrible Riddler outfit and a Jeopardy theme. Well. That's disappointing.

If I was less masochistic I'd end the project here, but if I was less masochistic I wouldn't have started it in the first place.

[motownfiction]

blue jay

Every time Sam and Sadie’s Uncle Roy visits, Will feels a little bit of dread in the pit of his stomach. It’s not that he doesn’t like Roy. Everybody likes Roy. He’s funny and smart and so much nicer than his sister, Mrs. Doyle, who gets mad if Sam has a song stuck in his head for “too long.” Roy writes stories for a living, he knows more music than Sam and Mr. Doyle combined, and Lucy thinks he’s the best looking guy she’s ever seen in real life.

How is a kid like Will supposed to compete with that?

Most days, Will feels like he fits in pretty well with the rest of his friends. Like they listen to him, like they want him there, like they think he’s a pretty cool guy. But when Roy comes around, it’s like he’s invisible to all of them. Like they speak a different language that Will couldn’t learn even if he tried.

He and Sam sing this particularly annoying song to each other in the car all the time. It’s what they’re doing right now, when Will rides in the backseat on their way to Dairy Queen.

Be like the blue bird and sing … tweet, tweet, tra-la-la-la-la-la!

Apparently, it was Uncle Roy’s big solos in one of the musicals he did back in high school. Sam thinks it’s the funniest song in the world, even now, at twelve, when he’s probably a little too old for it. Sam is never too old for anything. Neither, it seems, is Roy.

Will stopped believing in Santa Claus before he was even three. There was too much evidence in front of him to keep it going, to keep it young. Even his chocolate cone from Dairy Queen feels too young for him. Sam might only be twelve, but Will is already twelve. He’s smart enough to know the difference.

Just not smart enough to keep up with Sam and Uncle Roy.

On their way back to the Doyles’ house, Will asks a question.

“What’s the deal with that song, again?” he asks. “Who’s it by?”

“Which song?” Roy asks.

“Yeah, we talk about a lot,” Sam says, almost like he’s trying to rub it in.

“The one you guys always sing. ‘Be like the blue jay’ or whatever.”

Sam and Roy burst out laughing. Will has never really wanted to die before, but right now seems like a very good time. He must look like hell because Roy’s face immediately sobers up. He puts a firm hand on Will’s shoulder, like a grown-up really would.

“‘Be Like the Blue Bird,’” Roy says. “My solo from Anything Goes, back in high school. Mags likes to torture me with it. I guess I was kind of a nerd. Anyway, it’s by Cole Porter. Really famous and funny composer from the 20s and 30s.”

“You know, like ‘I Get a Kick out of You,’” Sam says. “Sinatra did it, too.”

Will nods. Sinatra, he knows. Daniel’s mom is almost always listening to Sinatra. What does his mom listen to? A little Connie Francis, a little Hank Williams, but never a lot. Lucy’s parents listen to Elvis and Ray Charles and that guy with the fun name, Bo Diddley. They listen to it a lot. Will doesn’t really know where he’s going with that, only that it feels like somewhere.

Roy gets a look in his eye. He snaps his fingers and points toward the Doyles’ record collection. They have about everything you can think of, like a store or something. Will has never really been jealous of it until today, when he knows – knows! – it’s the thing keeping him from being more like Roy Brady, the coolest guy his friends have ever known.

“Will, you’re kind of a genius, man,” Roy says. “You wanna hear a real song? A real blue jay song? I’ve got a good one. Sammy, can you grab …?”

But Sam is already careening toward the turntable with a familiar-looking yellow record.

“I knew it!” Sam says. “I knew it before you even said it!”

“Good for you,” Roy says. “Now, can you put it on so that Will can know it, too?”

He looks at Will like he understands, and for a moment, Will understands why everyone likes Roy so much. He’s like Sam. He understands everyone.

Sam puts the needle on the record, and Will listens to the song. It’s a Beatles song, one he thinks he’s heard before, one from around the time he was born, probably. But it doesn’t sound like The Beatles – not the same Beatles that his mother kind of tolerates, that is. This is … something. Not bad. Not as simple as good, either. It kind of reminds him of water. Really, really thick water.

Soon will be the break of day / sitting here in Blue Jay Way …

Will nods along with it. He’s not sure if he likes the song that much, but that doesn’t matter. The whole time it’s playing, he feels like this is where he’s supposed to be.

He has a feeling he won’t have to dread Roy’s visits anymore.

(part of @nosebleedclub january challenge -- day 14!)

[darksolace18]

Loving Nature

Nature/WindGod! Park Jimin x reader

Warning : Slight lonely aspect.

Masterlist

--------------------------------------------------

People found me odd.

Not in the "weird-emo-nerd" way, no.

It's just that when people got to know my little quirk, yeah it pretty much caused weird glances to be passed around.

My mom especially, was extremely concerned about my well being. Living alone sure made her feel a tad bit nervous for me.

But, I explained her the reason why I did so, which resulted her in laughing at me and continue to stuff my face with my all time favourite home cooked food.

What can I say? Saying that the nature looks after me can make people shoot pitying glances of how "lonely" I had gotten to depend on something so abstract or disgusted glares about how I had finally lost my mind.

So I preferred to keep this small little secret with me, away from the prying eyes of my colleagues.

Thankfully, working as a writer and an editor at the local newspaper publishing company surely made earning easy. Most of the time I could work from home, and who doesn't like to work in the comforts of their own house with the cool breeze?

Living in the outskirts of the city, surrounded by lush greenery had turned the air much more cool and pleasant compared to the dusty and polluted city air.

My allergies would always spike up whenever I had to visit the city. So from a young age, my parents and I had been living in this house.

Now that they deemed me fit enough to live by myself, they left this house for me to settle into and went to live in the city, spending their rest of the years travelling and utterly in love.

I would often visit them and they would keep on insisting that they send me cooked meals because apparently, I turned thinner and thinner with every visit. Which was absolutely not the case.

And as a answer, I would always say that it would be easier for the wind to just sweep me off of my feet then and carry me away to a beautiful forest like in fairytales.

But...doesn't it feels too much of a coincidence when the wind picks up a little whenever you feel down...or random playful gusts of wind would just invade your house when you would feel happy or sad?

Exactly.

I started noticing these odd circumstances and honestly, I thought i was being delusional. But when, one day a very pretty looking leaf from the forest near just floated into my house and right infront of my keyboard when i was stressing on my deadline, yeah that did it.

I was not afraid. Why would I be? The nature was kind to me.

I would often find small tree sappling right outside my windows and birds flying through and sitting on my shoulder, chirping away merrily.

The gnawing feeling of loneliness, that would often disturb me at the start of my solo journey in life, just washed away.

Often, days would go by with me talking to absolutely no one. It has once resulted in my voice turning hoarse.

But now, I have a companion. I have nature.

Everyday I would go up to the terrace that my parents set up so beautifully for me, sit on the hammock with a warm drink and chatter along about my day, accompanied by smooth and soft music.

Getting replied by soft yet concentrated forces of wind as it whispered incoherently, but still in a calming manner.

Nature seemed to communicate through wind.

Hence, i always kept my windows open and hair down. Even at night.

During Summers, the wind would always blow a slight but cooler temperature to dry my sweaty skin inside my bedroom as I slept, decreasing my electric bills a whole lot.

But winters were a bit tough. So I resorted in wearing extra layers and blankets during those times.

Thankfully there would be no snow floating into my room through the window, so I didn't have to clean it up much.

But, even though I was happy, still work was often stressful.

And during those times, I wish for someone to talk to who would actually reply to me in words.

It was one of those glum days today. Work sucked the blood out of my body, leaving me extremely tired yet stressed.

I did not have the energy to even prepare a drink. I just wanted to sit down.

I lazily walked up to my terrace, dragging my feet. This time, I didn't sit on the hammock. Instead chose to sit near the edge right infront of the view of the forest.

My knees were pulled close to my body, arms wrapped around them.

The view was fantastic.

It was a full moon night, the moonlight illuminated my terrace greatly in silver light along with the far off rustling forest, making it look like a soft carpet of velvet.

The breeze started to blow softly and steadily, makinga small yet melancholic smile carve into my face.

"Are you real?" I ask out. The breeze stops.

"Are you real? Am I delusional? Tell me this whole time this wasn't a figment if my imagination" My voice was extremely low, I don't even know that if the wind heard it.

The breeze still did not blow.

"I guess......I really am delusional as people deem me to be" I speak out, voice small yet stiff.

I sniff and stand up, staring right at the moon.

Before turning away.

"Don't go" a voice so soft, so low that it might have just been missed by me.

The wind seemed to blow again, as the whispered carried itself again.

I gasped, it couldn't be, it just couldn't be

"Come back to me, please" The same voice, but this time clearer.

I was afraid to turn around, to break whatever delusional imagination I had came up with.

A smeel of fresh earth and water invaded my nostrils. Th wind carrying the scent softly weaved through my hair, it felt natural, familiar.

"please, turn around" the voice yet again pleads, but this time, I do turn around.

Standing infront of me in silvery white robes which glowed softly, was a person. His soft smile and crescent eyes felt oh so beautiful.

It felt like a forbidden spell was pulling me in.

My eyes raked across its body, even though it shouldn't.

His body was covered in dark spots in some places, making me frown.

"Do you still think of yourself as delusional now?" The voice spoke up.

".....who are you" I couldn't help but ask.

He just smiled and took a step closer to me. He gently put his parlam forward as yet another small gust of dusty wind collected itself on his palm, twisting and turning like a tornado.

"I'm the one whom you have spoken to for so long, and wished for to reply" he says

Tears were starting to accumulate in my eyes. I couldn't hold it in. It was hard.

He smiled and softly held my face, even his touch felt light as wind, and gently wiped my tears away and brought me into a hug.

"You will not believe for how long I wanted to talk to, to reply to you with words. Please don't cry, talk to me. I'll answer you". He says, crawling my sniffling self.

"why....why me. Why not anyone else?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"The winds chose you, my moon. The world has polluted me, made thesoil, the wind, the atmosphere toxic. Most of the civilisation doesn't pay attention to nature, only a handful of youth to preserve it. But even then, you stood out. You always talked to plant, and talked out loud as if the wind listened. And the wind did. The wind liked listening to you, I loved listening to you. Now, you can forever talk to me." He says and I could absolitely feel him smile making me smile.

"okay....what should I call you then?" I ask, pulling myself away from his hold tolook at his beautiful eyes.

"You can call me by my human name, moon. It is Jimin, Park Jimin"