#the art of book butchery

[bonefall]

Clan Culture Illustrations

So I've been mentioning this in passing, and I think now is a good time to start collecting info from people who are interested!

I'm seeking artists who want to draw stuff for my Clan Culture series.

I often write very large guides for things like tools, ecology, medicine and treatments, etc, which then get held up by the fact that they're big blocks of text without any fun pictures. I usually collaborate with friends and family, but I could put out more quicker if I had some artists on standby.

If you're an artist who would be interested in illustrating, here's the details;

Everything I make on this blog is tailored towards WC fans, but free for anyone to use and reference for their xenofiction worldbuilding projects. You do not have to be intimately familiar with the Warrior Cats books. This offer's open to anyone above 18.

Fans of Better Bones are preferred, because Clan Culture and BB often intersect. I might ask for help with some BB stuff at some point, too. (for example i have a guide on types of StarClan spirits that needs illustration)

To re-iterate, please only inquire if you're 18+

Price range is 20 - 50 USD and turnaround time can be up to 6 months if you just keep me updated. (I am sorry that I can't offer a higher price for these, but this is coming from my own pocket. In return, this is meant to be low pressure)

Half payment upfront, the rest after completion.

I will never "assign" you a surprise mystery topic (unless you ask for that I guess?), I'll either present you with a list of posts that need illustration (yes this means you get to read stuff early), OR float some ideas that play to your strengths and interests. (for example: if I'm approached by Spider-Enjoyer-9000 who's willing to draw a ridiculous number of spiders, I will draft, write, and research a Clanmew Expansion in the style of Deer and Co or Moths and Butterflies.)

Either way, there's usually a lot of creative freedom here unless I need a specific technical drawing, which I will discuss with you and provide references for. (As an example, if we were talking about a post on declawing, I might ask for you to illustrate the muscles within the paw.)

The nature of Clan Culture means you will probably be asked to draw plants, food, objects, and/or scenery

Still interested?

I'm hoping to make a personal "list" of people I can call on, so send me your commissions info or details in a DM, an ask, a reply to this post, or anything else you'd like. Tell me about stuff you like drawing, topics you're interested in, if you can draw backgrounds, etc

Also, please tell include in that message if you're comfortable with illustrating these particular sensitive topics. These are opt-in only;

Medical Gore (Woundcare, stitching, blood, vomit, urine, parasites and bug bites, etc.)

Reproductive Care (Abortion, birth, pyometria, inducing lactation, possible revamp of the HRT guide including simple surgeries, etc)

Hunting and Butchery (Humane killing of prey, skinning, disembowelment, cutting meat, making sausage and blood pudding, etc)

Funerals and Animal Death (Sad kitties, dead battle cats, scavengers and grave desecration, tombs and burial rituals, concealing decay, etc.)

The end art will always stay tasteful, but I might need to give you references in the form of real images or tutorials that might be upsetting if you're sensitive to these topics-- so it's important to me that I consider those four things "opt-in."

I have plenty of other posts that need illustration, it's just a huge plus if you're able to do these too.

(You should also mention any other specific triggers or phobias you have, so I don't unwittingly come at you with something else upsetting)

"I still have questions!"

Putting a big list of answers beneath the cut;

"Would everything have to be colored?"

Nope, as long as there's pictures to break up the text, you can do sketches, black and white, flat colors, only put color in the header, etc. We'll discuss expectations with the post in front of us, and then agree on price.

I have ONE requirement; it's gotta look good on Tumblr darkmode. Because I use Dark Reader.

"Do you have a Discord?"

I do, I just try to be exclusive with who I give it to! When we're discussing details, we'll probably move over there if you'd like. This is a reason why I only want to work with 18+ artists, I'm not always SFW on main.

"Can we do an entry together about (specific topic)?"

Probably yes, so feel free to ask! The worst that will happen is that I say no, or maybe later. For example, I've got a post on Sweetness Tolerance reserved for my partner (they like to draw sweets), so I would say no if you asked.

Just keep in mind that researching, outlining, and writing is unpaid labor I'm doing completely for free. I have posts mostly done that just need art, and topics I've done some research on. Please only ask for special collaborations from scratch if you're serious 🙏

"Does it have to be digital?"

You'd have to have a WILD idea for me to say yes to anything non-digital, but I am a queer of whimsy. If you can whimsify me with an idea, hell yeah.

"Will I be compensated if you need any changes?"

Yes. If I spring anything on you after the details we agree on, I will first ask you, then ask how much that change would cost, and then compensate you for it.

As fair warning though, I am trying to stay within a budget and writing the posts themselves is unpaid work I do (plus occasional helping hands during research stages, I consulted a friend who is an irl wetlands expert for ShadowClan's environment). I can't pay more than what we agree on.

"Can I link my info in the post?"

Yes. "Guest Artist" is going to be named in the opening paragraphs, along with any fundraiser, shop info, carrd, etc, you want there.

"Boosty?"

Yea I got Boosty. Paypal, too.

"I have some other question about pricing"

Feel free to ask, but my hard budget is 20$ - 50$ US. Please only inquire if you're willing to charge within that range.

"What if I'd do it free or I want to do this anonymously?"

I'll donate to a charity of your choice and link to it in the post. If you have no charity preference, I will link to RAINN, Anera, or The Trevor Project.

(Naturally this comes with an anti-ghoul caveat or two. If you try to get me to donate to something like Autism Speaks I will rotate every bone in your body by 45 degrees.)

"I like checklists, can you give me a checklist of info you want in a DM?"

Sure!

Your info; socials, carrd, shop, etc

General interests and strengths. Stuff you'd love to work on, or have insight to. If you like fishing or drawing bugs, I want to know that. If you particularly want to practice flowers, tell me. Be as detailed as you want so I can pair you with a relevant subject!

Your examples

General asking price (or charity)

Which, if any, of the four Opt-In Subjects you're opting in for.

Anything else I should know (triggers, phobias, things you dislike drawing, if schooling or disability means you need a particularly long turnaround time, etc)

[rainy-sel]

my interactions with mads at dallas fan expo 2024:

the photo op 11:30

I was there with my great grandma, and we went to the photo ops for mads mikkelsen. i was terrified. to make matters worse, when we were standing in line two, i realized i forgot something in the car, and that my great grandpa left with my dog so i couldn’t get it back. this was devastating but we’ll come back to it later. when it was my turn a crew member told me to put anything i didn’t want in the photo on a table, so i carefully put everything down and went into the curtained off room. there was a small line i waited in until it was my turn. when my turn came mads held his arm out for a side hug, and i had no idea where the camera was so i looked at the lighting umbrellas. then i ran off because i thought the photo was over but they called me back halfway through me grabbing my things. i tried to set them back down but they slipped off the table and onto the floor. i panicked but luckily my great grandma was there and she picked it up while i retook the photo. the camera man said look here and i took a breath*, then he took the picture. i slowly drifted away with my arm outstretched, he was reaching out to me too, it was like we were mirroring each other as i waited for the camera man to tell me the photo was good. my hand grazed his forearm and hand lightly, it was like a dream. then i got the ok and I dropped my arm and began to leave. as i glanced back he was smiling, and i ran off to collect and check in my things while buzzing with joy.

the autograph 1:15-1:40

after the photo op i briefly looked around the vendors, then got in line at 1:15ish. i stood in line for about an hour and 30 minutes, while my great grandma found a chair to wait in. i feel a bit bad for mads considering some people in line were talking about getting refunded if they didn’t get an autograph** and he was still in the photo area with a bunch of photo groups all until a rumored time of 1:20, though he may have taken some photo groups sooner considering what time he got back to the autographs. mads made it to the autographs at about 1:15. once i was at the front of the line a nice crew lady ushered me to get my name spelled. i was excited and scared. i walked to the man writing and gave him my name and spelling (a-k-s-e-l) and he wrote it on a sticky note, placing it on my bullet journal and sent me to wait in the smaller line. i originally was going to do a section of duolingo*** and tell mads that i aspire to be like him as an actor, but having left my art in the car that i spent hours and hours to draw for him, i scrapped that plan and pulled the art up on my phone, thinking i’d have no chance to get it back and give it to him personally. i gave mads my journal to sign and told him my predicament. i showed him the art and asked if there was any way i could mail or email it to him. upon seeing it he said it looked nice and said i could get in contact with the people running the con and that they could get it to him. as he spoke he had a concerned look in his eyes, like he didn’t want my hard work to be all for naught. then he smiled and handed me my book as i said thank you with a relieved smile, taking my book and walking away.

(image 1) journal with “lecter-graham butchery, est. 2015 ‘ethically sourced’” printed on the cover.

(image 2) inside cover of the journal in image 1 with “to aksel…” and mads mikkelsen so signature on it.

panel 2:45

my great grandma and i were general admission, but we got to sit in the front row because my great grandma was with me and the people on either side of us weren’t the type to call others out for breaking a rule like that. not much happened with me and mads during this panel, i didnt ask a question, but i did sit in his “look off into the distance and think” spot. he reacted to me once i think. near the beginning of the panel he looked at me and i raised my eyebrows at him, then he raised his eyebrows lightly back at me, but looked away before it could turn into a competition. this could’ve been him thinking about something and raising his brows once he got an idea or something but that’s my perspective.

art gift! 3:25-4:01

after the panel i asked mads’ crew if he’d be back for more signings and they said yes, so my great grandma and i fast walked 5 blocks away from the convention center in dallas summer heat, which was about 99 degrees fahrenheit at the time, then my great grandpa drove us and dropped me off back at the con center, and i booked it inside and fast walked through security, the vendors and back to mads’ signing desk. it was 4:01 when i arrived and i was winded, standing there holding it at my chest, waiting to be noticed, unsure if i was too late. i’m pretty sure mads made eye contact with me then the group noticed another guy walking up behind me with a walker, and the nice lady from the autographs spoke with me while another spoke with them. she asked me if i wanted the art signed and i shook my head, trying to breathe, and said no, i just want to give it to mads, so she got permission for me as long as i kept it short and sweet and ushered me back to his table. the crew must not have realized i was trying to breathe, and thought i was scared again. one told me not to be scared or anxious, and i said, i’m not scared. i just ran 5 blocks outside, which while hyperbole, felt true to my lungs. i waited my turn and gave him the art, to which he smiled softly and said “it looks like my wife.” i think i said it was, then i thanked him for making my birthday wonderful. he did not respond. he was too busy looking at my art, then he looked up, smiled more genuinely, and thanked me while offering me his hand to shake. i think he’s left handed, because when i looked down at our hands, i saw mine had graphite on it****. i smiled and i think i nodded but i can’t be sure that i gave a verbal response. then, finally, i walked away.

(image 3) top left corner says “mads og hanne er søde sammen” which should mean they are cute together, and to the right of the dog is it’s name from what i can tell: “messi”

real photo of me trudging away:

ignore that other dude

[askmalal]

“You think me an unlettered horskr? I am aware of the importance of knowledge. But I will always choose the life of an innocent being over a manuscript. You are indeed a scholar. He gave you that gift. Unfortunately, he seems to have forgotten your sense of scholarly ethics along the way.”

- to Magnus

“A tedious, self-referencing, overly pedantic philosopher king with the common sense to pour piss from a boot but the arrogance to insist someone else do it for him. Beyond that, I suppose I like him well enough.”

- on Perturabo

“Warfare is no art, and if it is, it is little more than a poorly written mummer’s play. The challenge lies in conducting it with sufficient brutality to convince the audience that it is not worth revisiting it in the future. “

- “Thirteen Principles of War”

“Mjod, women, smiling children. A good book, a game of Tafl. These are the things I aspire to. They are realistic.”

- To Fulgrim

“How many living languages do you speak?”

“Well? Perhaps a dozen.”

“About the same. One, Peace, I wish I could learn fluently. The other, War, I fear I know the over-well.”

- to the Eleventh Primarch (Redacted)

“Equerry he may be, but if he sets foot on one of my battlefields again I’ll ensure he doesn’t survive the day. Murder is a part of what we do. Butchery… butchery is beneath us.”

- to Vulkan on Kor Phaeron after an unnamed atrocity.

- Leman Russ, “On The Primarchs,” Volume VI

[limpfisted]

wylls formal education up to 17

ballroom dancing, arts and culture, LOVES opera, dancing, ballet, art history and woodworking most, as of course, reading every legend and book of poems he can get his hands on

(notably his mother was a trained bard and excelled in all manner of stringed instrument. wyll didn’t have a knack for it as he tensa to find it loud and overwhelminf when he plays himself—but he loves instruments and knows how to string and tune p much any harpsichord or violin especially.)

politics and law, history, geography. knows most noble familys in bg3 and brief histories of them by heart, though wyll does so with rose colored glasses and much bias in some cases.

elvish, dwarvish, some infernal and abyssal—while wyll is not entirely fluent, he knows enough to assess political and romantic entanglements spoken within earshot, he knows the foods, art, and cultural norms and language for most societies, and can hold his own and understand most nuances in conversation, thiugh he has a learned-from-a-textbook style of speaking that never held a candle to his elvish tutor

sword fighting, shields, unarmed self defense, boxing, wrestling, jousting. wyll excelled in all areas save jousting as he always worried too much about the horse. wyll learned best when it was promised he could spend more time fighting later.

hunting, animal handling, horse riding. wyll had a soft and delicate heart, but like he learned to separate people from goblins, he learned to separate “animals” from “food.” wyll excells in hunting all manner of beast, magical or not, and can do all sorts of butchery on the animal

sewing, mending, manners, managing a household and conversation. wyll was once trained as a proper young lady! though it was revealed he was more on the non-binary masc side, he insisted these lessons continue to the age of twelve so he could make a fine husbandwife some day. wyll did not excel in sewing or mending, but obviously he took to conversation perfectly

writing and math

science and magic and the history and practice of it. while wyll was NOT permitted to learn how to perform magic, he learned how to recognize it, stop it, etc. wyll learned to do some magic in secret—a healing spell or two from his mother, a dancing lights cantrip here or there, but he truly only excelled once he met mizora who unlocked all the magic within

MOST IMPORTANT.

wyll learned to handle birds and horses, he had a white pony named charming and a hawk named prince, he did not take them when he was exiled from the gate, but his father took care of them and they are reunited when wyll and his father make up and wyll cries a little bit bc they still recognize him

[issybaker]

A different point of view

For this project we had to pick 2 books that had nothing to do with each other and take 3 lines from each and combine them into one story. We then had to make an outcome to represent this new story.

Source A- VILE BODIES-Chris Downsend

She would draw lines on her body-like those drawn by a cosmetic surgeon prior to an operation-and then try to diet until the outline of her body fell within these imaginary, ideal contours.

 But however insistently we try to control and monitor our bodies, they have errant lives of their own-sagging and bulging, contaminating themselves with disease from within, decaying and expiring.

 I’m not dealing with the perfect body, I'm dealing with another kind of truth, that is how the body really is and why don't we accept it, because that's our norm.

Source B- GHOST TOWN- Kevin Chen

Their limbs would go numb.

Devine exaltation and bloody butchery were two parts of the most bizarre song in history.

The past is never dead. It's not even the past.

This is the story I created from these books :

A- she would draw lines on her body-like those drawn by a cosmetic surgeon prior to an operation-and then try to diet until the outline of her body fell within these imaginary, ideal contours.

B- their limbs would go numb.

A- but however insistently we try to control and monitor our bodies, they have errant lives of their own-sagging and bulging, contaminating themselves with disease from within, decaying and expiring.

B- devine exaltation and bloody butchery were two parts of the most bizarre song in history.

A- I’m not dealing with the perfect body, I'm dealing with another kind of truth, that is how the body really is and why don't we accept it, because that's our norm.

B- The past is never dead. It's not even the past.

My story ended up being much darker and sad than I was intending however this inspired my colour palate - red, white and black. I used this colour palate for all my outcomes and it represents the morbid meanings behind the book. The black to represent the darkness of the book, the red to represent the blood and pain throughout the book and white to represent the hope of change in the line " I’m not dealing with the perfect body, I'm dealing with another kind of truth, that is how the body really is".

These were some of my first thoughts after creating the story :

Artist inspiration - Chris Legaspi

I really like how he draws bodies that aren't complete which gives them a kind of messy vibe which I wanted to use in my art to represent that body are ruining and messing up their bodies whilst trying to achieve the perfect body. This link to the line "bloody butchery", I also like his use of lines on the body, this made me think of the line "She would draw lines on her body-like those drawn by a cosmetic surgeon prior to an operation"

References pictures

Final outcomes

I really like this one however I would've done the writing bigger or in a thicker pen as It is a little hard to read. I like how this one had no facial features as it brings more focus on the body and the meaning of the book is about people focusing so much on their bodies they are destroying it. It also represents that people are more focused on how peoples bodies look than their personality.

I really like this one as the girls look happy and unaware of the bloody finger prints around them and the knife hovering behind them. It shows they are unaware how they're destroying their bodies to fit in to the social standards. I like the font I used however it is a bit wonky which annoys me so I would fix that if I were to do it again.

This was my most direct outcome from the story. I was inspired by the line "She would draw lines on her body-like those drawn by a cosmetic surgeon prior to an operation and then try to diet until the outline of her body fell within these imaginary, ideal contours." I really like the red against the black, it makes it stand out. I really like the font however it got a bit squished at the end.

[toothlespoggers]

The guys name is Noctis Clyde

(Art by me this time)

He’s a reincarnate demon, one of the main protagonists for the book series and world I’ve been working on for years (I’m not like the other writers I’ve actually been working on this with a writing coach and laying the foundations for the characters and world out before I start writing)

for the 2 people that are interested, here’s the synopsis summarised briefly:

A guardian Angel gets kicked out of this worlds heaven when it fails to protect its human, this doesn’t sit right with the Angel protagonist as they don’t know what their life’s purpose is without their job and status, this causes them to desperately seek redemption, to be given a second chance at heaven after they were punished wrongfully, causing them to enter hell on the night the gateway opens up in the centre of a giant magical fo on both sides, the surface and the underworld) hell in this universe is inside the core of the earth, so travelling there is much easier than it would be otherwise.

when the Angel is caught in the midst of a purge, where the demons emerge from the depths to kill off as many sinners as possible during that night. The only demon that helps them is a nervous butcher reincarnate named Noctis, who came to the surface to collect corpses for his butchery place.

Noctis and the Angel share similar goals, as Noctis, was a serial killer who butchered people for their own personal gain and for fun, in life. A psychopath by medical definition but chose to do the evil stuff, the psychopathy just aided them in their own way of thinking. It’s not caus he was a psychopath the book makes that clear.

So the way reincarnation as a demon works is that the soul is taken, then the body is completely remade. Into the new form. This usually works fine and the sinner is exactly the same as their living self to now.

but with Noctis, the process made an error, as psychopathy is a physical medical thing in your brain, when he was remade, he no longer had the same condition. Leading to a glitch in the process, and causing Noctis to loose all memory of his past life and who he was.

this causes memory issues during his demon life, and a identity crisis as he seems to be the only demon in hell who doesn’t know why he’s here.

so the demon and Angel work together to redeem themselves, as Noctis tries to find out who he was, and battles with the crushing guilt of each new revelation and memory that he finds.

eventually leading him to a difficult crossroad,

if he chooses to turn the Angel in and betray them to hell, he would get fame and fortune, everything he could ever desire.

But he would have to break the trust of a new friend, and loose any chance at a potential redemption he could’ve gotten.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

THE BUTCHERY OF THE FIRST INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD WAR MEETS YAUTJA HUNTING-RITUAL SAVAGERY.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on the two-issue "Predator" comic-book series set against the backdrop of World War I -- cover art to "Predator: The Bloody Sands of Time" Vol. 1 #1-2. February-March, 1992.

MINI-SERIES SYNOPSIS: "The discovery of a long-lost diary leads to an investigation of predator visits to Earth during World War I. With the planet coming apart at the seams, we discover that the Second German Reich weren't the only ones interested in world domination!"

-- DARK HORSE COMICS, c. winter 1992

Artwork by Dan Barry & Chris Warner

Script/Story by Dan Barry & Mike Richardson

Colors by Chris Chalenor

Source: https://viewcomiconline.com/predator-the-bloody-sands-of-time-issue-1.

[kittykittyhunter]

[Posted 21 September 2016] to write a haiku about the reasons i like writing poetry to begin: a haiku is not simply a haiku due to syllable counts. i read an illuminating essay on deviantART. it made me wonder how many other forms of poetry had undergone such severe butchery. we divide art into chunks; there is too much to consume in too short a space of time. this year, i tried to complete a reading challenge. i got about five books in before giving up. i write poetry because it’s easy, cathartic, speedy, emotional, inspirational – insert adjective, adjective. poetry has a lot to give. more than i do, sometimes. and now, to squeeze that concept into an arrangement of arbitrary lines: i write poetry because i love the rhythm of a varied life.

[avishabilis]

Some Books a Year, Episode Four Pages a Week

Reach of the Roach God, by Zedeck Siew with illos by Munkao. Tabletop RPG setting based on the mythology & cultures of southeast Asia, especially the archipelagos. Groundbreaking ideas in not-quite statting out characters to make them adaptable to literally any system, creating locations, & viscerally unnerving monsters. Also an absolutely gorgeous physical object. So of course it tragically became unpurchaseable pretty much as soon as it hit the market because of a business dispute between the creators.

Ultimate Flexibility: A Complete Guide to Stretching for Martial Arts by Sang H. Kim. Exercises to increase your range of motion for all sorts of combat sports from ground work to high kicking.

Never Going Home, by Brandon K. Aten, Matthew Orr, Irvin Jackson, Sarah Orr Aten, Taylor White, Corey Capps, Crystal Mazur, & Steven Wu. Tabletop RPG set in a Great War that saw the butchery at the Somme open the way for Evil Outsiders to cross the veil to our world & start spreading their influence. Can your squad fight them off, or will you fall to Corruption & become mindless thralls of the Dark Forces

Vaesen, by Nils Hintze, Rickard Antroia, & Nils Karlén. Nordic folk horror RPG.

Four pages a week because that's literally as much time as I get to read.

[seakclauswinkler]

The painting in the back, acrylics, spray (@molotowheadquarters) , oil, canvas, both sides@is from 2009/2010.

I was painting a painting which works with in accordance of the movie/ book @thesecret365 / @rhondabyrne_thesecret . Manifesting things one thing.

Being a man, working for it, with hard work, while pretending it all come with ease, another thing.

Had this almost sold in 2013 ish. For a low price, from what i would charge these days.

It would be just affordable for affluent upwardly Uhnw Individuals anyway.

I can always paint a wallpainting, before I loose money giving things away for too cheap.

They just respect the art when it was expensive from there perspective.

The word ‚ Nein ‚ Iam holding in my hand, the little canvas over wood, is the German word for ‚ no ‚.

The most important when you like women. Yes I know, i must keep it moving. My Vice is food.

Didn’t run this week. Just a little gym work out, & hacking with my carpenters hammer.

In this room i was already reading history books when I was a child. It was my grandfathers office room.

He was a teacher in civilian life. Later I was playing there amiga computer games when visiting my grandparents in the holidays.

In my twenties i was sleeping there when I was painting in cologne (Köln/Germany).

I still have the light brown blanket. I call it the horse blanket, due it’s rugged appearance.

The little red shield on my chest is the traditional code of arms from my army unit. Back then I could just paint on the weekends, & after the duty in the afternoon.

Iam a bit selfconcious knowing I didn’t do enough Sport this week.

Just hanging with women who fxck in the first minutes, & are doing work out with me.

Efficiency. The company you keep.

#SEAK #ClausWinkler #SEAKClausWinkler#jungemalerei #jungekunst #neuemalerei #abstraction #artcurators #symbiosis #innenarchitecture #newpaintings #intuitiveartists #mixedmediart #studioartist #artiststudiowork #germanpainters #abstractpaintings #stylewriting #interiorarchitecture #neuekunst #zeigenössischerKünstler #sprayart #newcontemporaryart #interior #moderneskunstwerk #abstractpaintings #oldpainter #collecteurs

[literaturha]

We behave like battered wives you see on documentaries: we are so gripped by terror, we have forgotten the basic rules of survival. And as soon as high-tech human butchery is a booming business, we'll watch our nearest and dearest head off to the slaughterhouse with only a single shudder before the unacceptable. Our neighbors will put on their headphones and their dark glasses, pop a pill and go shopping.

Virginie Despentes, Vernon Subutex 2

[michaelhirshon]

Two unused cover designs for the memoir of a female butcher in the UK. I did both the lettering and the illustration.

[supersonicart]

Kathy Ager’s “Fool’s Gold” at MOAH.

Opening virtually on September 12th, 2020 at Lancaster Museum of Art and History and presented by Thinkspace Projects as part of their curated series, “The New Vanguard III,” is artist Kathy Ager’s solo exhibition, “Fool’s Gold.”

Kathy Ager creates detailed, still lifes that feel simultaneously Baroque and acerbically modern. Inspired by the 17th-Century Golden Age of Dutch and Spanish painting, her imagery uses historical visual rhetoric to deliver intensely personal and emotively charged themes. A professional graphic designer-turned painter, this is Ager's first complete body of work to date and will include ten new paintings. Ager begins her process with language - an idea or expression often gleaned from music, a book, or some other source that resonates personally. She then endeavors to resolve the concept visually through objects and composition, assembling a patchwork of references - some collective and shared from pop culture, others steeped in the idiosyncrasies of the personal. Both poetic and revelatory, Ager's works feel charged with the simultaneous misery and beauty of contemporary appropriation - and express the current world through the formal repositories of the past to create anachronistic moments of resonance and delivery. Ever present amidst moments of undeniably expressed disappointment and disillusionment are redemptive linings, beautifully poignant discoveries, and playful, irreverent mirth. The seductive darkness with which Ager reveals universal human longings is both disarming and consuming. Broken hearts are offered up as organs in a bowl, skeletal memento mori abound, and dating feels about as abject in the modern world as butchery; books are stacked with suggestive spines, and flowers wither while fruit threatens to decay. The abattoir is never far from the transcendent ambitions of classical statuary in Ager's world, while beauty is embroiled in the vulnerability of intimacy and self-exposure.

-

Be sure to follow Supersonic Art on Instagram!

[collectorscorner]

CC New Arrivals @ Collectors Corner : Wednesday 8/25/21

Collectors Corner Parkville - HQ : OPEN for IN STORE SHOPPING with Strong Safety Measures in Place (Hand Sanitizing Stations, Masks Encouraged for All) - 1-410-668-3353.

CC Parkville - 2020/2021 STORE HOURS, Sunday 12-6, Mon-Tues 12-7, Wed 9-8, Thurs 11-7, Friday & Saturday 11-8

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PUBLISHER/TITLE/PRICE

ABLAZE Gung-Ho Anger #4 (Cover A Daniel Clarke), $3.99 Gung-Ho Anger #4 (Cover B Cian Tormey), $3.99 Gung-Ho Anger #4 (Cover C Miki Montllo), $3.99 Gung-Ho Anger #4 (Cover D Thomas von Kummant), $3.99

AFTERSHOCK COMICS Girls Of Dimension 13 #5, $3.99 Project Patron #5, $3.99 Seven Swords #3, $3.99 Silver City #4, $3.99 We Live #4 (2nd Printing Inaki Miranda Cover), $3.99

ALBATROSS FUNNYBOOKS Lester Of The Lesser Gods #1 (One Shot)(Cover A Eric Powell), $3.99 Lester Of The Lesser Gods #1 (One Shot)(Cover B Gideon Kendall Cardstock Variant), $5.99

ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS Best Of Archie Comics Eighty Years Eighty Stories TP, $14.99 World Of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #112, $7.99

ASPEN COMICS Fathom Reprint Edition #1 (Cover A Michael Turner), $1.99 Fathom Reprint Edition #1 (Cover B Michael Turner), AR

AWA STUDIOS Resistance Uprising #5, $3.99

BLACK MASK COMICS Everfrost #3 (Of 4), $3.99

BOOM! STUDIOS Buffy Vampire Slayer Legacy Edition Volume 5 TP, $29.99 Dark Blood #1 (Of 6)(3rd Printing Valentine De Landro Cover), $3.99 Dark Blood #2 (Of 6)(Cover A Valentine De Landro), $3.99 Dark Blood #2 (Of 6)(Cover B Juni Ba), $3.99 Dark Blood #2 (Of 6)(Cover C Valentine De Landro Black & White Variant), AR Dark Blood #2 (Of 6)(Cover D Taurin Clarke Virgin Variant), AR Dune House Atreides #9 (Of 12)(Cover A Evan Cagle), $4.99 Dune House Atreides #9 (Of 12)(Cover B Christian Ward), $4.99 Dune House Atreides #9 (Of 12)(Cover C Evan Cagle Virgin Variant), AR Dune House Atreides #9 (Of 12)(Cover D Christian Ward Virgin Variant), AR Firefly #32 (Cover A Bengal), $3.99 Firefly #32 (Cover B Kai Carpenter Portrait Variant), $3.99 Firefly #32 (Cover C Bengal Black & White Virgin Variant), AR Firefly #32 (Cover D Jakub Rebelka Virgin Variant), AR Good Luck #3 (Of 5)(Cover A1 Jorge Corona), $3.99 Good Luck #3 (Of 5)(Cover A2 Gerald Parel Secret Foil Luck Variant), $3.99 Good Luck #3 (Of 5)(Cover B Caspar Wijngaard Virgin Variant), AR Once And Future #19 (Cover A Dan Mora), $3.99 Once And Future #19 (Cover B Dan Mora Black & White Virgin Variant), AR Once And Future #19 (Cover C Christian Ward Virgin Variant), AR Something Is Killing The Children #19 (Cover A Werther Dell’Edera), $3.99 Something Is Killing The Children #19 (Cover B Danny Luckert Virgin Variant), AR

COMIC SHOP NEWS Comic Shop News #1775, AR

DARK HORSE COMICS Bacon And Other Monstrous Tales HC, $19.99 Berserk Deluxe Edition Volume 8 HC, $49.99 Far Cry Rite Of Passage #3 (Of 3)(Cover A Matt Taylor), $3.99 Michael Avon Oeming’s Victories Omnibus TP, $29.99 Norse Mythology II #3 (Of 6)(Cover A P. Craig Russell), $3.99 Norse Mythology II #3 (Of 6)(Cover B David Mack), $3.99

DC COMICS Action Comics #1034 (Cover A Daniel Sampere), $4.99 Action Comics #1034 (Cover B Julian Totino Tedesco Card Stock Variant), $5.99 Batman Reptilian #3 (Of 6)(Cover A Liam Sharp), $4.99 Batman Reptilian #3 (Of 6)(Cover B Cully Hamner), $4.99 Batman Reptilian #3 (Of 6)(Cover D Mitch Gerads), AR Batman Superman #21 (Cover A Rodolfo Migliari), $3.99 Batman Superman #21 (Cover B Kaare Andrews Card Stock Variant), $4.99 Checkmate #3 (Of 6)(Cover A Alex Maleev), $3.99 Checkmate #3 (Of 6)(Cover B Matt Taylor Card Stock Variant), $4.99 DC Connect #16, AR Detective Comics #1042 (Cover A Dan Mora), $4.99 Detective Comics #1042 (Cover B Lee Bermejo Card Stock Variant), $5.99 Fables Compendium Volume 3 TP, $59.99 Harley Quinn #6 (Cover A Riley Rossmo), $3.99 Harley Quinn #6 (Cover B Derrick Chew Card Stock Variant), $4.99 Harley Quinn #6 (Cover C Riccardo Federici The Suicide Squad Movie Card Stock Variant), $4.99 Icon And Rocket Season One #2 (Of 6)(Cover A Taurin Clarke), $3.99 Icon And Rocket Season One #2 (Of 6)(Cover B Doug Braithwaite Card Stock Variant), $4.99 Mister Miracle The Source Of Freedom #4 (Of 6)(Cover A Yanick Paquette), $3.99 Mister Miracle The Source Of Freedom #4 (Of 6)(Cover B Juni Ba Card Stock Variant), $4.99 Robin #5 (Cover A Jorge Corona), $3.99 Robin #5 (Cover B Francis Manapul Card Stock Variant), $4.99 RWBY Justice League #5 (Of 7)(Cover A Mirka Andolfo), $3.99 RWBY Justice League #5 (Of 7)(Cover B Simone Di Meo Card Stock Variant), $4.99 Superman ’78 #1 (Of 6)(Cover A Wilfredo Torres), $3.99 Superman ’78 #1 (Of 6)(Cover B Evan Doc Shaner Card Stock Variant), $4.99 Superman ’78 #1 (Of 6)(Cover C Wilfredo Torres Design Card Stock Variant), AR Superman Son Of Kal-El #2 (Cover A John Timms), $3.99 Superman Son Of Kal-El #2 (Cover B Inhyuk Lee Card Stock Variant), $4.99 Superman Son Of Kal-El #2 (Cover C Sami Basri The Suicide Squad Movie Card Stock Variant), $4.99 Superman Vs Lobo #1 (Of 3)(Cover A Mirka Andolfo), $6.99 Superman Vs Lobo #1 (Of 3)(Cover B Simon Bisley), $6.99 Superman Vs Lobo #1 (Of 3)(Cover C Tony Harris), $6.99 Superman Vs Lobo #1 (Of 3)(Cover D Philip Tan), AR Wonder Woman #778 (Cover A Travis Moore), $4.99 Wonder Woman #778 (Cover B Becky Cloonan Card Stock Variant), $5.99 Wonder Woman Black And Gold #3 (Of 6)(Cover A Jae Lee), $5.99 Wonder Woman Black And Gold #3 (Of 6)(Cover B Joshua Middleton), $5.99 Wonder Woman Black And Gold #3 (Of 6)(Cover C Janaina Medeiros), AR

DIAMOND PUBLICATIONS Previews #396 (September 2021), $3.99

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT Dejah Thoris Vs John Carter Of Mars #2 (Cover A Lucio Parrillo), $3.99 Dejah Thoris Vs John Carter Of Mars #2 (Cover B Joseph Michael Linsner), $3.99 Dejah Thoris Vs John Carter Of Mars #2 (Cover C Alessandro Miracolo), $3.99 Dejah Thoris Vs John Carter Of Mars #2 (Cover D Rachel Hollon Cosplay Variant), $3.99 Dejah Thoris Vs John Carter Of Mars #2 (Cover E Joseph Michael Linsner Pencils Variant), AR Dejah Thoris Vs John Carter Of Mars #2 (Cover F Alessandro Miracolo Line Art Variant), AR Sonjaversal #7 (Cover A Lucio Parrillo), $3.99 Sonjaversal #7 (Cover B Joseph Michael Linsner), $3.99 Sonjaversal #7 (Cover C Jae Lee & June Chung), $3.99 Sonjaversal #7 (Cover D Junggeun Yoon), $3.99 Sonjaversal #7 (Cover E Savannah Polson Cosplay Variant), AR Vampirella #23 (Cover A Lucio Parrillo), $3.99 Vampirella #23 (Cover B Marco Mastrazzo), $3.99 Vampirella #23 (Cover C Shannon Maer), $3.99 Vampirella #23 (Cover D Warren Louw), $3.99 Vampirella #23 (Cover E Lorraine Cosplay Variant), $3.99 Vampirella #23 (Cover F Lucio Parrillo Black & White Variant), AR Vampirella #23 (Cover G Warren Louw Greyscale Variant), AR FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS Alberto Breccia’s Dracula HC, $19.99 Butchery HC, $19.99 Fantagraphics Underground The Hand Of Black And Other Stories TP, $24.99

HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE Black Beacon #2 (Of 6), $2.99 Modern Frankenstein #5 (Cover A Emma Vieceli & Pippa Bowland), $3.99 Modern Frankenstein #5 (Cover B Robin Hoelzemann), AR

IDW PUBLISHING Beauty Of Horror Volume 5 Haunt of Fame Coloring Book SC, $16.99 Spacecraft A Smithsonian Coloring Book SC, $16.99 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #120 (Cover A Jodi Nishijima), $3.99 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #120 (Cover B Kevin Eastman), $3.99 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #120 (Cover C D.J. Bryant), AR Transformers Beast Wars #7 (Cover A Fico Ossio), $3.99 Transformers Beast Wars #7 (Cover B Ed Pirrie), $3.99 Transformers Beast Wars #7 (Cover C Gavin Guidry), AR Transformers Shattered Glass #1 (Of 5)(Cover A Alex Milne), $3.99 Transformers Shattered Glass #1 (Of 5)(Cover B Daniel Khanna), $3.99 Transformers Shattered Glass #1 (Of 5)(Cover C Sara Pitre-Durocher), AR Usagi Yojimbo The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy #3 (Of 6)(Cover A David Petersen), $3.99

IMAGE COMICS Chu #7 (Cover A Dan Boultwood), $3.99 Department Of Truth #12 (Cover A Martin Simmonds), $3.99 Department Of Truth #12 (Cover B Caspar Wijngaard), $3.99 Department Of Truth #12 (Cover C Aaron Campbell), $3.99 Die #19 (Cover A Stephanie Hans), $3.99 Die #19 (Cover B Jenny Frison, $3.99 Echolands #1 (Cover A J. H. Williams III), $4.99 Echolands #1 (Cover B J. H. Williams III), $4.99 Ice Cream Man #25 (Cover A Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran), $4.99 Ice Cream Man #25 (Cover B Zoe Thorogood), $4.99 Ice Cream Man #25 (Cover C Yuko Shimizu), $4.99 Ice Cream Man #25 (Cover D Martin Simmonds), $4.99 Ice Cream Man #25 (Cover E Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran Anniversary Wraparound Variant), $4.99 Killadelphia #16 (Cover A Jason Shawn Alexander), $3.99 Killadelphia #16 (Cover B James O’Barr), $3.99 King Spawn #1 (Cover A Puppeteer Lee), $5.99 King Spawn #1 (Cover B Todd McFarlane), $5.99 King Spawn #1 (Cover C David Finch), $5.99 King Spawn #1 (Cover D Sean Gordon Murphy), $5.99 King Spawn #1 (Cover E Greg Capullo), $5.99 King Spawn #1 (Cover F Brett Booth), $5.99 King Spawn #1 (Cover G Donny Cates), $5.99 King Spawn #1 (Cover H Greg Capullo Raw Variant), AR King Spawn #1 (Cover I Todd McFarlane Signed Variant), AR Low Deluxe Edition Volume 2 HC, $49.99 M.O.M. Mother Of Madness #2 (Of 3)(Cover A Jo Ratcliffe), $4.99 M.O.M. Mother Of Madness #2 (Of 3)(Cover B Tula Lotay), $4.99 M.O.M. Mother Of Madness #2 (Of 3)(Cover C Cat Ferris), $4.99 M.O.M. Mother Of Madness #2 (Of 3)(Cover D Luana Vecchio), AR M.O.M. Mother Of Madness #2 (Of 3)(Cover E Jo Ratcliffe Virgin Variant), AR M.O.M. Mother Of Madness #2 (Of 3)(Cover F Tula Lotay), AR M.O.M. Mother Of Madness #2 (Of 3)(Cover G Maria Llovet), AR Made In Korea #4 (Of 6)(Cover A George Schall), $3.99 Oblivion Song By Kirkman And De Felici #33 (Cover A Lorenzo De Felici), $3.99 Old Guard Tales Through Time #5 (Of 6)(Cover A Leandro Fernandez), $3.99 Old Guard Tales Through Time #5 (Of 6)(Cover B Rafael Albuquerque), $3.99 Old Guard Tales Through Time #5 (Of 6)(Cover C Leandro Fernandez), $3.99 Old Head GN, $16.99 Punderworld Volume 1 GN, $16.99 St. Mercy #1 (Of 4)(Cover A Atilio Rojo), $3.99 St. Mercy #1 (Of 4)(Cover B Tony Parker), $3.99 Summoners War Legacy #5 (Cover A Luca Claretti), $3.99 Syphon #2 (Of 3)(Cover A Jeff Edwards), $3.99 That Texas Blood #9 (Cover A Jacob Phillips), $3.99 Vinyl #3 (Of 6)(Cover A Daniel Hillyard), $3.99

MAD CAVE STUDIOS Becstar #4, $3.99 Knights Of The Golden Sun #13, $3.99

MARVEL COMICS Alien #6 (Cover A InHyuk Lee), $3.99 Alien #6 (Cover B Salvador Larroca), AR Alien #6 (Cover C Leinil Francis Yu), AR Alien #6 (Cover D Jay Anacleto), AR Amazing Fantasy #2 (Of 5)(Cover A Kaare Andrews), $4.99 Amazing Fantasy #2 (Of 5)(Cover B Kaare Andrews), AR Amazing Fantasy #2 (Of 5)(Cover C Felipe Massafera), AR Amazing Fantasy #2 (Of 5)(Cover D Peach Momoko), AR Amazing Spider-Man #72 (Cover A Mark Bagley), $3.99 Amazing Spider-Man #72 (Cover B Carlos E. Gomez), AR Amazing Spider-Man #72 (Cover C InHyuk Lee Asian American And Pacific Islander Heritage Variant), AR Amazing Spider-Man #72 (Cover D David Baldeon Handbook Variant), AR Amazing Spider-Man #72 (Cover E InHyuk Lee Asian American And Pacific Islander Heritage Virgin Variant), AR Avengers Annual #1 (Cover A Federico Vicentini), $4.99 Avengers Annual #1 (Cover B Ron Lim Connecting Variant), AR Avengers Annual #1 (Cover C Travis Charest), AR Black Widow #10 (Cover A Adam Hughes), $3.99 Black Widow #10 (Cover B Mark Brooks), AR Black Widow #10 (Cover C NetEase Marvel Games Variant), AR Cable Reloaded #1 (Cover A Stefano Caselli), $4.99 Cable Reloaded #1 (Cover B Rob Liefeld Deadpool 30th Anniversary Variant), AR Conan The Barbarian #24 (Cover A Geoff Shaw), $3.99 Conan The Barbarian #24 (Cover B Roberto de La Torre), AR Darkhawk #1 (Of 5)(Cover A Iban Coello), $4.99 Darkhawk #1 (Of 5)(Cover B Pepe Larraz Design Variant), AR Darkhawk #1 (Of 5)(Cover C Leinil Francis Yu), AR Darkhawk #1 (Of 5)(Cover D Ron Lim), AR Darkhawk #1 (Of 5)(Cover E Mico Suayan), AR Darkhawk #1 (Of 5)(Cover F Mike Deodato Jr. Hidden Gem Variant), AR Extreme Carnage Riot #1 (Cover A Skan), $3.99 Extreme Carnage Riot #1 (Cover B David Nakayama Design Variant), AR Extreme Carnage Riot #1 (Cover C Jeff Johnson Connecting Variant), AR Extreme Carnage Riot #1 (Cover D Skottie Young), AR Extreme Carnage Riot #1 (Cover E Symbiote Variant), AR Fantastic Four Epic Collection Volume 1 Word’s Greatest Magazine TP (New Printing), $39.99 Fantastic Four Epic Collection Volume 7 Battle Of The Behemoths TP, $39.99 Marvel Masterworks The Avengers Volume 21 HC (Book Market Edition), $75.00 Marvel Masterworks The Avengers Volume 21 HC (Direct Market Variant Edition Volume 310), $75.00 Marvel Previews Volume 5 #15 (September 2021), $1.25 Marvel’s Voices Identity #1 (Cover A Jim Cheung), $5.99 Marvel’s Voices Identity #1 (Cover B InHyuk Lee Asian American And Pacific Islander Heritage Variant), AR Marvel’s Voices Identity #1 (Cover C Peach Momoko), AR Marvel’s Voices Identity #1 (Cover D Philip Tan), AR Marvel’s Voices Identity #1 (Cover E Mashal Ahmed), AR Marvel’s Voices Identity #1 (Cover F Rian Gonzales), AR Marvel’s Voices Identity #1 (Cover G Peach Momoko Virgin Variant), AR Marvel’s Voices Identity #1 (Cover H InHyuk Lee Asian American And Pacific Islander Heritage Virgin Variant), AR Non-Stop Spider-Man #4 (Cover A David Finch), $3.99 Non-Stop Spider-Man #4 (Cover B Peach Momoko), AR Spider-Man Life Story Annual #1 (Cover A Chip Zdarsky), $4.99 Spider-Man Life Story Annual #1 (Cover B Mark Bagley), AR Spider-Man Life Story Annual #1 (Cover C John Romita Jr.), AR Star Wars Darth Vader #15 (Cover A Aaron Kuder), $3.99 Star Wars Darth Vader #15 (Cover B David Nakayama Wanted Poster Variant), AR Star Wars Darth Vader #15 (Cover C Chris Sprouse Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary Variant), AR Star Wars Doctor Aphra #13 (Cover A Sara Pichelli), $3.99 Star Wars Doctor Aphra #13 (Cover B David Nakayama Wanted Poster Variant), AR Star Wars Doctor Aphra #13 (Cover C Chris Sprouse Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary Variant), AR Star Wars The High Republic Volume 1 There Is No Fear TP, $15.99 Strange Academy #12 (Cover A Humberto Ramos), $3.99 Strange Academy #12 (Cover B Arthur Adams Character Spotlight Variant), AR Symbiote Spider-Man Crossroads #2 (Of 5)(Cover A Greg Land), $3.99 Symbiote Spider-Man Crossroads #2 (Of 5)(Cover B David Baldeon), AR Thor #16 (Cover A Olivier Coipel), $3.99 Thor #16 (Cover B Nic Klein), AR Thor #16 (Cover C Peach Momoko Marvel Anime Variant), AR Thor #16 (Cover D NetEase Marvel Games Variant), AR Thor #16 (Cover D Rob Liefeld Deadpool 30th Anniversary Variant, AR Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Squirrels Just Wanna Have Fun TP, $12.99 United States Of Captain America #3 (Of 5)(Cover A Gerald Parel), $4.99 United States Of Captain America #3 (Of 5)(Cover B David Cutler Design Variant), AR United States Of Captain America #3 (Of 5)(Cover C Jeffrey Veregge), AR Venom By Donny Cates Volume 6 King In Black TP, $19.99 Winter Guard #1 (Of 4)(Cover A Toni Infante), $4.99 Winter Guard #1 (Of 4)(Cover B Kim Jacinto), AR Winter Guard #1 (Of 4)(Cover C Ken Lashley), AR Winter Guard #1 (Of 4)(Cover D Todd Nauck Headshot Variant), AR Wolverine #15 (Cover A Adam Kubert), $3.99 Wolverine #15 (Cover B Gerardo Zaffino), AR Wolverine #15 (Cover C InHyuk Lee Asian American And Pacific Islander Heritage Variant), AR Wolverine #15 (Cover D InHyuk Lee Asian American And Pacific Islander Heritage Virgin Variant), AR

ONI PRESS Choose Your Own Adventure Eighth Grade Witch TP, $12.99 Rick And Morty Vs Dungeons And Dragons Deluxe Edition HC, $49.99

SCOUT COMICS Broken Souls Ballad #2, $3.99 Lifeformed #1, $3.99 Midnight Western Theatre #4 (Of 5), $3.99 Rabid World #3 (Of 4), $3.99

SCOUT COMICS – SCOOT Action Tank #1, $1.99

SOURCE POINT PRESS Boston Metaphysical Society The Spirit Of Rebellion #1 (One Shot), $4.99 Broken Gargoyes Sin And Virtue #3, $3.99 Cult Of Dracula #6 (Of 6)(Cover A Gyula Nemeth), $3.99 Cult Of Dracula #6 (Of 6)(Cover B Shannon Maer), $3.99 Darling #3 (Cover A Dave Mims), $3.99 Darling #3 (Cover B Alex Riegel), $3.99 Runes #2, $3.99 Suicide Jockeys #1 (Cover A Davi Leon Dias), $3.99 Suicide Jockeys #1 (Cover B Fabio Alves), $3.99 Touching Evil #16, $3.99

TITAN COMICS Blade Runner 2029 #7 (Cover A Harvey Tolibao), $3.99 Blade Runner 2029 #7 (Cover B Syd Mead), $3.99 Blade Runner 2029 #7 (Cover C Hendry Prasetya), $3.99 Blade Runner 2029 #7 (Cover D Skylar Patridge Pride Variant), $3.99 Gamma Draconis HC, $14.99 Horizon Zero Dawn Liberation #2 (Cover A Justine Frany), $3.99 Horizon Zero Dawn Liberation #2 (Cover B Aloy Concept Progression Variant), $3.99 Horizon Zero Dawn Liberation #2 (Cover C Harvey Tolibao), $3.99 Horizon Zero Dawn Liberation #2 (Cover D Baldemar Rivas), $3.99 Horizon Zero Dawn Liberation #2 (Cover E Justine Frany Sketch Variant), $3.99

UDON ENTERTAINMENT Art Of Shantae HC, $49.99 Art Of Street Fighter HC, $59.99 Mega Man X Maverick Hunter’s Field Guide HC, $29.99

VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT Ninjak #2 (Cover A David Nakayama), $3.99 Ninjak #2 (Cover B Michael Walsh), $3.99 Ninjak #2 (Cover C David Lopez Pre-Order Edition Variant), AR

VAULT COMICS Barbaric #3 (Cover A Nathan Gooden), $3.99 Barbaric #3 (Cover B Josh Hixson), $3.99 Barbaric #3 (Cover C Tim Seeley Black Bag Variant), $5.99 Blue Flame #4 (Cover A Adam Gorham), $3.99 Blue Flame #4 (Cover B Yoshi Yoshitani), $3.99

WARRANT PUBLISHING COMPANY Creeps Annual #4 (2022 Spooktacular), $9.95

YEN ON 86 Eighty Six Light Novel Volume 8 SC, $15.00 Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten Light Novel Volume 2 SC, $15.00 Durarara SH Light Novel Volume 2 SC, $15.00 Konosuba Explosion On This Wonderful World Bonus Story Light Novel Volume 2 SC, $15.00 Spy Classroom Light Novel Volume 1 Lily Of The Garden SC, $15.00

ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Red Agent The Beast Of Belgium #1 (Cover A Igor Vitorino), $5.99 Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Red Agent The Beast Of Belgium #1 (Cover B Canaan White), $5.99 Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Red Agent The Beast Of Belgium #1 (Cover C Ale Garza), $5.99

GAMES

NECA/WIZKIDS Dungeons And Dragons Icons Of The Realms Minis Snowbound Brick, AR Dungeons And Dragons Icons Of The Realms Minis Snowbound Frost Giant And Mammoth Set, AR Marvel HeroClix X-Men Rise And Fall Of The Shi’ar Empire Booster Brick, AR Marvel HeroClix X-Men Rise And Fall Of The Shi’ar Empire Fast Forces, AR Marvel HeroClix X-Men Rise And Fall Of The Shi’ar Empire Of The Shi’ar Empire Fall Dice And Token Pack, AR

TOYS - T-SHIRTS & COLLECTIBLES DC Collector Build-A 7 Inch Scale Action Figure Wave 5 Suicide Squad Assortment, AR DC Justice League 7 Inch Scale Action Figure Assortment, AR DC Justice League Aquaman 7 Inch Scale Action Figure, AR DC Justice League Batman 7 Inch Scale Action Figure, AR DC Justice League Cyborg 7 Inch Scale Action Figure, AR DC Justice League Flash 7 Inch Scale Action Figure, AR Dragon Ball Super Adverge Figure Box Set 1, AR Dragon Ball Super Adverge Figure Box Set 2, AR Dragon Ball Super Dragon Stars Future Trunks Vs Fusion Zamasu Action Figure 2 Pack, AR Marvel Select Marvel Now Silver Centurion Iron Man Action Figure, AR Mobile Suit Gundam Char’s Counterattack RX-93 Nu Gundam Universe Action Figure, AR Mobile Suit Gundam FW Gundam Converge 21 Trading Figure 6 Piece Set, AR Mobile Suit Gundam MS-06S Char’s Zaku II Gundam Universe Action Figure, AR Motorhead Lemmy Modern Cowboy ReAction Figure, AR New Gundam Wing XXXG-01SR Gundam Sandrock Gundam Universe Action Figure, AR

[letterboxd]

Sick Beats.

Blade-reboot director Bassam Tariq talks to Alicia Haddick about partnering with Riz Ahmed on Mogul Mowgli, how to open a film, the clash of colonialism and art, and the escapist joys of comic-book movies.

“We’ll make films, we’ll die, who gives a shit? Right? But how we lived and all that stuff, I feel like that matters.” —Bassam Tariq

Standing alone on a dimly lit stage in a New York music venue, Zed appears to have it all. He’s on the brink of a musical breakthrough in his rap career, with a growing legion of fans and fellow artists inspired by his work. Yet at this moment, on this stage, with the audience barely visible in the shadows, there is so much more going on.

Riz Ahmed has had a couple of blistering opening performances in films this past year, but where Sound of Metal’s first moments track his character’s hearing loss, the opening scene of Mogul Mowgli—written by Ahmed and director Bassam Tariq—feels like a physical manifestation of the emotions that come with tackling what it means to be a London-bred, Pakistani-Muslim rapper.

Zed is unsure where he belongs in a complex web of cultural and social ideas defined by a family that raised him, a religion he treats with skepticism, and a country that colonized his parents and their ancestors. Transforming these questions into art won’t make them disappear, but music at least gives Zed a measure of indirect control over his problems. That is, until the diagnosis of a degenerative autoimmune disease puts the brakes on his career.

As Zed’s father struggles to reconcile his own past with caring for his son, Zed’s illness manifests itself in apparitions of a mysterious figure, whose face is veiled by a sehra (the decorative groom’s headdress worn at Pakistani weddings). The man refers to himself as Toba Tek Singh, which is both a reference to a city in Pakistan named after a Sikh religious figure, and the name of a satirical story about Partition.

Mogul Mowgli is Tariq’s debut narrative feature. It had its premiere at Berlin in 2020, winning the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize and gaining notice for its director, who has been confirmed to helm MCU’s Blade reboot, with Mahershala Ali in the leading role. Tariq previously co-directed the highly rated 2013 documentary These Birds Walk, and the 2019 documentary short, Ghosts of Sugar Land, each centered on Muslim life and experiences, one on the streets of Karachi, the other in Texas. Mogul Mowgli is a more introspective—and more surreal—exploration of these ideas, couched in the dingy halls of a UK hospital, and in the lyrics of a rapper searching for himself.

Tariq chatted with us over Zoom about his friendship with Ahmed, the production challenges of keeping a set alive, and his film inspirations, from Abbas Kiarostami to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Riz Ahmed and Bassam Tariq on the set of ‘Mogul Mowgli’.

I know that you and Riz worked together on the film for a number of years while you were coming up with the story, and there was also a lot of mutual respect for each other’s work. How did the two of you first meet? Bassam Tariq: We met through my co-director of These Birds Walk, Omar Mullick, who introduced Riz and I to each other. At that time, I was running a butchery in the East Village in Manhattan. That’s where Riz and I met and we just became fast friends. Things kind of took a few years for us to figure out what the project would be that we would do together, it took me about three years, four years. But you know, he was shooting The Night Of, and then slowly his career was skyrocketing and it was like, “oh, great, we’ll probably never see him again”.

Yet he would always stay in touch because I think he had a desire to tell something that was very specific to him. All I knew was how to tell things that are specific to me, I didn’t know anything else. So I think that’s why it kind of worked really well for both of us, because he became quite great at playing other characters, but to do something that was very close to him, I think that was quite new.

And it gave you both the opportunity to tell your own stories through that. That’s the exciting thing. It’s so exciting when you’re able to pull from some unique things that only you can tell, and particularly working with actors that also share that part and then bringing it alive through them. It’s just gold, it’s such a gift. Why would you try to hide that from them or mask that from them?

Speaking of These Birds Walk, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between how you observed and captured the work going on in Karachi and the intimate filming style used in this movie. What were the challenges in jumping from documentaries to this film, and were there any lessons you learned from that field of work that then factored into the production of Mogul Mowgli? I would say that the big learning curve for me was timing, like, you’re burning money as you have a day of production. Every day that you’re in prep and every day that you’re in production, you’re burning money. So the financing is very different because there are stakeholders involved. We were blessed with amazing partners with BBC and Cinereach that weren’t the crazy ones that you would expect when you think of stakeholders, they were amazing partners. It was more of a family vibe than anything. But you’re still burning someone else’s money, right?

I think that was something that I didn’t take stock of and I wish I was a little bit better with, but I think I finally realized what it means to “make your days”, to “make your minutes”. How do you keep everybody engaged? How do you keep your crew engaged? Is this going to be a long production? How do you do this? How do you keep it all alive? And we’re doing it in the thick of winter in London, you know, we couldn’t afford heaters and stuff.

And we were just blessed with such an amazing crew. I didn’t have a crew with These Birds Walk. It was just me and my co-director, and then I had an editor, Sonejuhi Sinha, who came on board for free. It was just people out of the goodness of their hearts, whereas with Mogul Mowgli, it was both the goodness of their hearts and they were getting paid a little bit. No one was getting paid great money. But it was still this desire to make an excellent film.

I think what I had to learn was to communicate clearly what this film was with everybody involved. That was a really exciting and new thing for me, because it wasn’t just me and a co-director. We have a ship and everyone on the ship needs to know what this film is and how we’re going to make it look, how we’re going to make it feel. These are friends I care about, I care about Riz, he’s a dear friend of mine. And I wanted to make sure that he was being respected, that I was being respected and I was doing right by everybody on my team.

And I think that’s really the most important thing for me, because man, who cares? We’ll make films, we’ll die, who gives a shit? Right? But how we lived and all that stuff, I feel like that matters. You could give somebody a very empowering experience.

Riz Ahmed as Zed in ‘Mogul Mowgli’.

While your own experiences were a major inspiration on a number of areas of the film, what research did you do for the medical aspects of the movie, especially with how crucial it is to telling this story? Oh, it was massive, we did a lot of research. We pulled a lot from our own families’ histories, but we never named the illness. That was quite important to us. It was quite allegorical, but also based in a very real concern, a very real thing.

I think something that I will say that is true is that a lot of first-generation immigrants have autoimmune illnesses, and it’s because of the body coming into a new terrain and new climate. Sometimes there’s trauma in the body from past generations. The Body Keeps the Score is a book that I think everyone’s been reading these days, but it’s about epigenetics and this idea that the psyche doesn’t know time. It doesn’t understand time, so you can’t hide it.

We have this false idea that time will heal wounds, but it’s such bullshit, because if we don’t confront these traumas, we can then pass those traumas onto our family members, which is something that I think is very real.

There are a few moments while Zed’s coming to terms with his condition in which he encounters the image of Toba Tek Singh. What inspired their appearance in the film and their place as a confronting figure for Zed? I think there’s a few things. One is that he’s an allegory, he very much symbolizes the illness, he is the illness. But then there’s another part of it where, like, I feel that I never know how to connect with our culture. I’ve always had a hard time understanding how to connect with it. So that’s the reason why he’s almost veiled from us as well. It’s like I don’t want to be able to see him—I don’t know what he is.

We have this very social-realist film, and we filmed the movie chronologically. So what I remember is that in the prayer scene, the first time he looks over and he looks back and then we have the guy in flowers I was like, “I can’t believe I’m making this movie, am I really doing this?” And you know, good on Riz. This is why having good partners along with you to be like “yeah, this is what we’re doing and we’re committing to this”, because there’s a version where they didn’t exist.

I also have to ask about the opening scene with the concert. I know that you had originally taken footage from one of Riz’s own concerts, but then you re-recorded it. How difficult was that scene to put together? It was scary! It was our first day of shooting, it was the first day of Riz and I working together. I’d filmed him a little bit here and there, like in a hotel or this or that, I filmed him in Pakistan when we were having fun, but it was all fun. Now we’re putting on the concert, people are there to see Riz perform, it’s the first day of filming, you know what I mean? The crew doesn’t have the language yet, we’re still figuring out who we are, how we’re all going to speak to one another, and then we have to do this big concert scene.

I will say that it was so important to make it feel like he is a real performer. I think I wanted to see him unleash a bit, because I wanted that energy from Riz to be real. I want him to unleash in a way that we haven’t seen him perform in concerts before. We did a few takes on it and then it was like, no, we got to go further, now we got to go further. And that was great to see how both of us were egging each other on to go further with it.

It was a really powerful introduction. It’s something that makes you sit up and take notice, if that makes sense. Thank you. I love openings of films. I remember my co-director on These Birds Walk, they taught me that how you open is everything. So I always knew that I wanted to open with a concert and then end with the concert. But I wanted the last concert to be in the bathroom. And I’m happy they were able to bring it to life.

‘Mogul Mowgli’ director Bassam Tariq. / Photo by Ryan Lash

Were there any opening scenes that inspired you when thinking about that scene? One of my favorite movie openings is Under the Skin, because I think it tells you very clearly what the film’s about, it grabs your attention. You’re about to watch a story about humanity and about, you know, what does the construction of a human look like, which is phenomenal, like, what is under the skin? Literally, what is under our skin? There are others. Narc has an incredible opening.

What were the films that most inspired the overall production of Mogul Mowgli? You know, there’s this one film by Alonso Ruizpalacios called Güeros. It’s one of the best debut films I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s so radical. It’s so singular. It’s so special. It’s so specific. And there’s probably a thousand things I don’t understand about it, but I love that about it. I’m walking into a world that I haven’t seen.

I would also say that the TV show Atlanta is a deep inspiration for me. Another film that I’m just so in love with that I watched a few times with Omar Mullick was Ida. Then I would say Son of Saul, and how that dealt with trauma, was really powerful. And all three of these films were also shot in the Academy ratio, which is the 4:3 ratio that I think we unwittingly decided to do.

Were there any particular filmmakers that really inspired you growing up or that made you think “yeah, this is what I want to do”, and pushed you to make the films you are today? No, I don’t think it was in the filmmakers I looked at, but more just the wonder of film that I loved, the escape of film. So my earliest films that I always loved were, like, Back to the Future. I watched a lot of, it’s weird to say, but even the bad Marvel movies I’ve seen, like The Punisher, Captain America, those early ones, I would watch those because I loved the comics. So for me, the comics were an escape, and ’90s X-Men, the ’90s Spider-Man, that was my life. My first introduction to Blade was that bit when Blade [appeared] on Spider-Man in one of those episodes of the animated series. And then, of course, the movie Blade.

I will say that one filmmaker I’ve come to who’s given me permission to make films is Abbas Kiarostami, the Iranian filmmaker who died a few years ago. He’s just a phenomenal voice, a singular voice in Iran. And Mohsen Makhmalbaf and then his daughter Marziyeh Meshkiny, who made the film The Day I Became a Woman. But these are films that are so unapologetically unique and of them. I want to be able to do that as well. They’re not in response to, or reacting as a discriminated member of some community, but instead they’re like, “no, I exist and I am”.

I feel like so much of the content that comes from communities that I’m a part of can sometimes feel like we’re sloganeering to white people or to the heteronormative or whatever. It’s just, like, come on. Andrew Haigh’s Weekend is one of the films that really moved me and made me be like: “Oh, wow, this is uniquely queer, it could only be two queer people having a one-night stand. It couldn’t be anybody else. And it had to be made only by that filmmaker.”

That’s it, that’s filmmaking, that’s cinema to me, that’s exciting. Just like the movie The Fits, where it could have only been written by women, directed by a woman, edited by a woman, it’s so specific. It’s one of the films that I also look to that I’m, like, what she did in that film, I’m still in awe. I can never have that experience, but I can relate. I can connect to something so vulnerable and so true. Because when it’s true, it’s undeniable.

Just one last question, the obvious question: top three films of all time, what would you say they are? I’m going to go with Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky, and I will say The Matrix because, you know, whatever, I’m lame like that. Then I’ll say another very expected answer, City of God. If I could add two more to the list, though, I would say Güeros and Dog Day Afternoon, for sure.

They’re all very different from one another. Yeah, but that’s what’s so great about cinema. You’re fluid. Genre, it could be anything.

Related content

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‘Mogul Mowgli’ is currently screening at Film Forum (NY) and Nuart (LA), and coming to more screens soon.

[aboveallarescuer]

Dany longing for a home, people to belong to and peace and safety in general

As I was rereading ASOIAF, I made it my goal to compile all* the book passages demonstrating either certain key attributes of Daenerys Targaryen (e.g. that she's compassionate and smart) or aspects of hers that are usually overstated (e.g. that she's ambitious and prophecy-driven).  Doing such a task may seem exaggerated, but I'd argue it's not, for many, many misconceptions about Dany have become widespread in light of the show's final season's events (and even before).

It must be acknowledged that it can be tricky to reference, say, ADWD passages to counter-argument how she was depicted in season eight (which allegedly follows ADOS events). Dany will have had plenty of character development in the span of two books. However, whatever happens to Dany in the next two books, I would argue that there is more than enough material to conclude that her show counterpart was made to fall for flaws that she (for the most part) never had and actions that she (for the most part) would never take. (and that's not even considering the double standards and the contradictions with what had been shown from show!Dany up until then, but that's obviously out of the scope of these lists)

Another objection to the purpose of these lists is that Game of Thrones is different from A Song of Ice and Fire and should be analyzed on its own, which is a fair point. However, the show is also an adaptation of these books, which begs the questions: why did they change Dany's character? Why did they overfocus on negative traits of hers or depicted them as negative when they weren't supposed to be or gave her negative traits that were never hers to begin with? Another fact that undermines the show=/=books argument is that most people think that the show's ending will be the books', albeit only in broad strokes and in different circumstances. As a result, people's perception of Dany is inevitably influenced by the show, which is a shame.

I hope these lists can be useful for whoever wants to find book passages to defend (or even simply explore different facets of) Dany's character in metas or conversations.

 *Well, at least all the passages that I could find in her chapters, which is no guarantee that the effort was perfectly executed, but I did my best.

Also, people could interpret certain passages differently and then come up with a different collection of passages if they ever attempted to make one, so I'm not saying that this list is completely objective (nor that there could ever be one).

Also, some passages have been cut short according to whether they were, IMO, relevant to the specific topic of the list they're in, so the context surrounding them may not always be clear (always read the books and use asearchoficeandfire). Many of them appear in different lists, sometimes fully referenced, sometimes not.

I listed the passages back to front because I felt doing so highlighted Dany's evolution better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To justify the existence of this list, let's see examples of widespread opinions that I feel misrepresent Daenerys Targaryen:

Power is what Daenerys wants and that's really all she wants. She lusts after the Iron Throne with a hunger that is truly baffling. She's not from Westeros, or at least she's never really lived there her entire life. (x)

~

Why does she want to be queen so badly? Is it to bring a more just era of rule to the land? [...]

Why? What will she do with this power? Will she be a good and just monarch or will she be more like her father, the Mad King? More and more I suspect that she will be a very bad queen, only interested in doing what is right only if it helps her secure the Iron Throne. (x)

~

Her ruthlessness can't just mean nothing. She's far too power-hungry and far too cold to end up as a good person, ruling magnanimously over a peaceful land. (x)

Never mind that demanding that Dany asks herself why she wants to be queen is not understanding how the Westerosi pseudofeudalistic system works (or that she outright states that "justice ... that’s what kings are for" in ASOS Dany III).

Is power really all Dany wants, to the point of "lust[ing] after the Iron Throne" (particularly gross wording)? Is Dany "only interested in doing what is right only if it helps her secure the Iron Throne"? Is Dany "far too power-hungry and far too cold to end up as a good person"?

I would argue these claims certainly cannot be made after reading the books (some can't even after watching the show's first 71 episodes, but the show can be all over the place and ... I digress), so take a look at these passages.

A Dance with Dragons

ADWD Daenerys X

The hill loomed larger down here. Dany had taken to calling it Dragonstone, after the ancient citadel where she’d been born. She had no memories of that Dragonstone, but she would not soon forget this one. Scrub grass and thorny bushes covered its lower slopes; higher up a jagged tangle of bare rock thrust steep and sudden into the sky. There, amidst broken boulders, razor-sharp ridges, and needle spires, Drogon made his lair inside a shallow cave. He had dwelt there for some time, Dany had realized when she first saw the hill. The air smelled of ash, every rock and tree in sight was scorched and blackened, the ground strewn with burned and broken bones, yet it had been home to him.

Dany knew the lure of home.

~

Daenerys Targaryen was no stranger to the Dothraki sea, the great ocean of grass that stretched from the forest of Qohor to the Mother of Mountains and the Womb of the World. She had seen it first when she was still a girl, newly wed to Khal Drogo and on her way to Vaes Dothrak to be presented to the crones of the dosh khaleen. The sight of all that grass stretching out before her had taken her breath away. The sky was blue, the grass was green, and I was full of hope. Ser Jorah had been with her then, her gruff old bear. She’d had Irri and Jhiqui and Doreah to care for her, her sun-and-stars to hold her in the night, his child growing inside her. Rhaego. I was going to name him Rhaego, and the dosh khaleen said he would be the Stallion Who Mounts the World. Not since those half-remembered days in Braavos when she lived in the house with the red door had she been as happy.

~

No, Dany told herself. If I look back I am lost. She might live for years amongst the sunbaked rocks of Dragonstone, riding Drogon by day and gnawing at his leavings every evenfall as the great grass sea turned from gold to orange, but that was not the life she had been born to. So once again she turned her back upon the distant hill and closed her ears to the song of flight and freedom that the wind sang as it played amongst the hill’s stony ridges. The stream was trickling south by southeast, as near as she could tell. She followed it. Take me to the river, that is all I ask of you. Take me to the river, and I will do the rest.

The hours passed slowly. The stream bent this way and that, and Dany followed, beating time upon her leg with the whip, trying not to think about how far she had to go, or the pounding in her head, or her empty belly. Take one step. Take the next. Another step. Another. What else could she do?

~

“Drogon killed a little girl. Her name was ... her name ...” Dany could not recall the child’s name. That made her so sad that she would have cried if all her tears had not been burned away. “I will never have a little girl. I was the Mother of Dragons.”

~

In the stream or out of it, I must keep walking. Water flows downhill. The stream will take me to the river, and the river will take me home.

Except it wouldn’t, not truly.

Meereen was not her home, and never would be. It was a city of strange men with strange gods and stranger hair, of slavers wrapped in fringed tokars, where grace was earned through whoring, butchery was art, and dog was a delicacy. Meereen would always be the Harpy’s city, and Daenerys could not be a harpy.

ADWD Daenerys IX

She pushed herself to her feet, splashing softly. Water ran down her legs and beaded on her breasts. The sun was climbing up the sky, and her people would soon be gathering. She would rather have drifted in the fragrant pool all day, eating iced fruit off silver trays and dreaming of a house with a red door, but a queen belongs to her people, not to herself.

~

Treachery on treachery, the queen thought wearily. Is there no end to it?

~

In Westeros the septons spoke of seven hells and seven heavens, but the Seven Kingdoms and their gods were far away. If she died here, Dany wondered, would the horse god of the Dothraki part the grass and claim her for his starry khalasar, so she might ride the nightlands beside her sun-and-stars? Or would the angry gods of Ghis send their harpies to seize her soul and drag her down to torment?

ADWD Daenerys VIII

Every child knows its mother, Dany thought. When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves … “They call to me. Come.”

~

Dany slid her arms around him and let him have his way. Drunk as he was, she knew he would not be inside her long.

Nor was he. Afterward he nuzzled at her ear and whispered, “Gods grant that we have made a son tonight.”

The words of Mirri Maz Duur rang in her head. When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the wind like leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a living child. Then he will return, and not before. The meaning was plain enough; Khal Drogo was as like to return from the dead as she was to bear a living child. But there are some secrets she could not bring herself to share, even with a husband, so she let Hizdahr zo Loraq keep his hopes.

Her noble husband was soon fast asleep. Daenerys could only twist and turn beside him. She wanted to shake him, wake him, make him hold her, kiss her, fuck her again, but even if he did, he would fall back to sleep again afterward, leaving her alone in the darkness. She wondered what Daario was doing. Was he restless as well? Was he thinking about her? Did he love her, truly? Did he hate her for marrying Hizdahr? I should never have taken him into my bed. He was only a sellsword, no fit consort for a queen, and yet …

I knew that all along, but I did it anyway.

“My queen?” said a soft voice in the darkness.

Dany flinched. “Who is there?”

“Only Missandei.” The Naathi scribe moved closer to the bed. “This one heard you crying.”

“Crying? I was not crying. Why would I cry? I have my peace, I have my king, I have everything a queen might wish for. You had a bad dream, that was all.”

“As you say, Your Grace.” She bowed and made to go.

“Stay,” said Dany. “I do not wish to be alone.”

“His Grace is with you,” Missandei pointed out.

“His Grace is dreaming, but I cannot sleep. On the morrow I must bathe in blood. The price of peace.” She smiled wanly and patted the bed. “Come. Sit. Talk with me.”

ADWD Daenerys VII

If she had been some ordinary woman, she would gladly have spent her whole life touching Daario, tracing his scars and making him tell her how he’d come by every one. I would give up my crown if he asked it of me, Dany thought … but he had not asked it, and never would.

~

Khal Drogo had been her sun-and-stars, but he had been dead so long that Daenerys had almost forgotten how it felt to love and be loved. Daario had helped her to remember. I was dead and he brought me back to life. I was asleep and he woke me. My brave captain.

~

“...Bring your frog to court tomorrow. The others too. The Westerosi.” It would be nice to hear the Common Tongue from someone besides Ser Barristan.

~

She went to the parapet and stood there gazing down upon the city as she had done a hundred times before. It will never be my city. It will never be my home.

~

It was close to sunset before Daario Naharis appeared with his new Stormcrows, the Westerosi who had come over to him from the Windblown. Dany found herself glancing at them as yet another petitioner droned on and on. These are my people. I am their rightful queen. They seemed a scruffy bunch, but that was only to be expected of sellswords. The youngest could not have been more than a year older than her; the oldest must have seen sixty namedays. A few sported signs of wealth: gold arm rings, silken tunics, silverstudded sword belts. Plunder. For the most part, their clothes were plainly made and showed signs of hard wear.

~

When she saw the name Ser Willem Darry, her heart beat a little faster.

~

This was done in Braavos, while we were living in the house with the red door. Why did that make her feel so strange?

ADWD Daenerys VI

Dany tried to speak and found no words. She remembered Ben’s face the last time she had seen it. It was a warm face, a face I trusted. Dark skin and white hair, the broken nose, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Even the dragons had been fond of old Brown Ben, who liked to boast that he had a drop of dragon blood himself. Three treasons will you know. Once for gold and once for blood and once for love. Was Plumm the third treason, or the second? And what did that make Ser Jorah, her gruff old bear? Would she never have a friend that she could trust? What good are prophecies if you cannot make sense of them? If I marry Hizdahr before the sun comes up, will all these armies melt away like morning dew and let me rule in peace? Daario’s announcement had sparked an uproar. [...] “Be quiet! I have heard enough.”

[...] She wanted to scream, to gnash her teeth and tear her clothes and beat upon the floor. Instead she said, “Close the gates. Will you make me say it thrice?” They were her children, but she could not help them now. “Leave me. Daario, remain. That cut should be washed, and I have more questions for you.”

[...] He kissed her.

[...] “I thought you would be the one to betray me. Once for blood and once for gold and once for love, the warlocks said. I thought … I never thought Brown Ben. Even my dragons seemed to trust him.” She clutched her captain by the shoulders. “Promise me that you will never turn against me. I could not bear that. Promise me.”

ADWD Daenerys III

Dany could feel the warmth of his fingers. He was warm in Qarth as well, she recalled, until the day he had no more use for me.

~

That only made him chuckle. “The Dothraki horselords call the Lhazarene the Lamb Men. When you shear them, all they do is bleat. They are not a martial people.”

Even a sheepish friend is better than none.

~

Dany had never known a home. In Braavos, there had been a house with a red door, but that was all.

~

Westeros. Home. But if she left, what would happen to her city?

~

The next morning Dany woke as full of hope as she had been since first she came to Slaver’s Bay. Daario would soon be at her side once more, and together they would sail for Westeros. For home.

~

Take these ships and sail away, or you will surely die screaming. You cannot know how many enemies you have made.”

I know one stands before me now, weeping mummer’s tears. The realization made her sad.

~

Dany seated herself upon her bench again to gaze across the blue silk sea, toward distant Westeros. One day, she promised herself.

ADWD Daenerys I

She had been dreaming of a house with a red door when Missandei woke her. There had been no time to dress.

A Storm of Swords

ASOS Daenerys VI

Up here in her garden Dany sometimes felt like a god, living atop the highest mountain in the world.

Do all gods feel so lonely? Some must, surely. Missandei had told her of the Lord of Harmony, worshiped by the Peaceful People of Naath; he was the only true god, her little scribe said, the god who always was and always would be, who made the moon and stars and earth, and all the creatures that dwelt upon them. Poor Lord of Harmony. Dany pitied him. It must be terrible to be alone for all time, attended by hordes of butterfly women you could make or unmake at a word. Westeros had seven gods at least, though Viserys had told her that some septons said the seven were only aspects of a single god, seven facets of a single crystal. That was just confusing. The red priests believed in two gods, she had heard, but two who were eternally at war. Dany liked that even less. She would not want to be eternally at war.

~

The dragon has three heads. There are two men in the world who I can trust, if I can find them. I will not be alone then. We will be three against the world, like Aegon and his sisters.

~

She looked away until she heard the doors open and close. Then she sank back onto the ebony bench. He’s gone, then. My father and my mother, my brothers, Ser Willem Darry, Drogo who was my sun-and-stars, his son who died inside me, and now Ser Jorah ...

~

She was Daenerys Stormborn, the Unburnt, khaleesi and queen, Mother of Dragons, slayer of warlocks, breaker of chains, and there was no one in the world that she could trust.

ASOS Daenerys V

“Khaleesi, it was only at the start, before I came to know you ... before I came to love ...”

“Do not say that word!” She backed away from him. “How could you? What did the Usurper promise you? Gold, was it gold?” The Undying had said she would be betrayed twice more, once for gold and once for love. “Tell me what you were promised?”

“Varys said ... I might go home.” He bowed his head.

I was going to take you home! [...] Was there no one she could trust, no one to keep her safe?

ASOS Daenerys IV

Dany found herself wondering whether he was right about Daario. She felt very lonely all of a sudden. Mirri Maz Duur had promised that she would never bear a living child. House Targaryen will end with me. That made her sad. “You must be my children,” she told the dragons, “my three fierce children. Arstan says dragons live longer than men, so you will go on after I am dead.”

~

Dany looked at Missandei. “What are they shouting?”

“It is Ghiscari, the old pure tongue. It means ‘Mother.’”

Dany felt a lightness in her chest. I will never bear a living child, she remembered. Her hand trembled as she raised it. Perhaps she smiled. She must have, because the man grinned and shouted again, and others took up the cry. “Mhysa!” they called. “Mhysa! MHYSA!” They were all smiling at her, reaching for her, kneeling before her.

ASOS Daenerys I

Across the still blue water came the slow steady beat of drums and the soft swish of oars from the galleys. The great cog groaned in their wake, the heavy lines stretched taut between. Balerion’s sails hung limp, drooping forlorn from the masts. Yet even so, as she stood upon the forecastle watching her dragons chase each other across a cloudless blue sky, Daenerys Targaryen was as happy as she could ever remember being.

~

The narrow sea was often stormy, and Dany had crossed it half a hundred times as a girl, running from one Free City to the next half a step ahead of the Usurper’s hired knives. She loved the sea. She liked the sharp salty smell of the air, and the vastness of horizons bounded only by a vault of azure sky above. It made her feel small, but free as well. She liked the dolphins that sometimes swam along beside Balerion, slicing through the waves like silvery spears, and the flying fish they glimpsed now and again. She even liked the sailors, with all their songs and stories. Once on a voyage to Braavos, as she’d watched the crew wrestle down a great green sail in a rising gale, she had even thought how fine it would be to be a sailor.

~

They are my children, she told herself, and if the maegi spoke truly, they are the only children I am ever like to have.

A Clash of Kings

ACOK Daenerys V

It was not by choice that she sought the waterfront. She was fleeing again. Her whole life had been one long flight, it seemed. She had begun running in her mother’s womb, and never once stopped. How often had she and Viserys stolen away in the black of night, a bare step ahead of the Usurper’s hired knives? But it was run or die. Xaro had learned that Pyat Pree was gathering the surviving warlocks together to work ill on her.

~

Her bloodriders would sooner have returned to their great grass sea, even if it meant braving the red waste again. Dany herself had toyed with the idea of settling in Vaes Tolorro until her dragons grew great and strong.

~

It was good to hear men speaking Valyrian once more, and even the Common Tongue, Dany thought as they approached the first ship.

ACOK Daenerys III

Part of her would have liked nothing more than to lead her people back to Vaes Tolorro, and make the dead city bloom. No, that is defeat. I have something Viserys never had. I have the dragons. The dragons are all the difference.

~

“...The Qartheen have a curious wedding custom, my queen. On the day of their union, a wife may ask a token of love from her husband. Whatsoever she desires of his worldly goods, he must grant. And he may ask the same of her. One thing only may be asked, but whatever is named may not be denied.”

“One thing,” she repeated. “And it may not be denied?”

“With one dragon, Xaro Xhoan Daxos would rule this city, but one ship will further our cause but little.”

Dany nibbled at an onion and reflected ruefully on the faithlessness of men.

ACOK Daenerys II

She wondered whether Aegon’s Red Keep had a pool like this, and fragrant gardens full of lavender and mint. It must, surely. Viserys always said the Seven Kingdoms were more beautiful than any other place in the world.

The thought of home disquieted her. If her sun-and-stars had lived, he would have led his khalasar across the poison water and swept away her enemies, but his strength had left the world. Her bloodriders remained, sworn to her for life and skilled in slaughter, but only in the ways of the horselords. The Dothraki sacked cities and plundered kingdoms, they did not rule them. Dany had no wish to reduce King’s Landing to a blackened ruin full of unquiet ghosts. She had supped enough on tears. I want to make my kingdom beautiful, to fill it with fat men and pretty maids and laughing children. I want my people to smile when they see me ride by, the way Viserys said they smiled for my father.

But before she could do that she must conquer.

A Game of Thrones

AGOT Daenerys VIII

Dany did not want to go back to Vaes Dothrak and live the rest of her life among those terrible old women, yet she knew that the knight spoke the truth. Drogo had been more than her sun-and-stars; he had been the shield that kept her safe. “I will not leave him,” she said stubbornly, miserably. She took his hand again. “I will not.”

~

“All I can do now is ease the dark road before him, so he might ride painless to the night lands. He will be gone by morning.”

Her words were a knife through Dany’s breast. What had she ever done to make the gods so cruel? She had finally found a safe place, had finally tasted love and hope. She was finally going home. And now to lose it all ... “No,” she pleaded. “Save him, and I will free you, I swear it. You must know a way ... some magic, some ...”

AGOT Daenerys VI

“The stallion who mounts the world has no need of iron chairs.”

[...] “It was prophesied that the stallion will ride to the ends of the earth,” she said.

“The earth ends at the black salt sea,” Drogo answered at once. He wet a cloth in a basin of warm water to wipe the sweat and oil from his skin. “No horse can cross the poison water.”

“In the Free Cities, there are ships by the thousand,” Dany told him, as she had told him before. “Wooden horses with a hundred legs, that fly across the sea on wings full of wind.”

Khal Drogo did not want to hear it. “We will speak no more of wooden horses and iron chairs.” [...]

Savage beasts he did not fear, nor any man who had ever drawn breath, but the sea was a different matter. To the Dothraki, water that a horse could not drink was something foul; the heaving grey-green plains of the ocean filled them with superstitious loathing. Drogo was a bolder man than the other horselords in half a hundred ways, she had found ... but not in this. If only she could get him onto a ship ...

~

“My princess. How may I serve you?”

“You must talk to my lord husband,” Dany said. “Drogo says the stallion who mounts the world will have all the lands of the earth to rule, and no need to cross the poison water. He talks of leading his khalasar east after Rhaego is born, to plunder the lands around the Jade Sea.”

[...] “The khal has never seen the Seven Kingdoms,” he said. [...]

“But he must ride west,” Dany said, despairing. “Please, help me make him understand.” She had never seen the Seven Kingdoms either, no more than Drogo, yet she felt as though she knew them from all the tales her brother had told her. Viserys had promised her a thousand times that he would take her back one day, but he was dead now and his promises had died with him.

“The Dothraki do things in their own time, for their own reasons,” the knight answered. “Have patience, Princess. Do not make your brother’s mistake. We will go home, I promise you.”

Home? The word made her feel sad. Ser Jorah had his Bear Island, but what was home to her? A few tales, names recited as solemnly as the words of a prayer, the fading memory of a red door ... was Vaes Dothrak to be her home forever? When she looked at the crones of the dosh khaleen, was she looking at her future?

~

You could never tell what treasures the traders might bring this time, and it would be good to hear men speaking Valyrian again, as they did in the Free Cities.

~

If I were not the blood of the dragon, she thought wistfully, this could be my home. She was khaleesi, she had a strong man and a swift horse, handmaids to serve her, warriors to keep her safe, an honored place in the dosh khaleen awaiting her when she grew old ... and in her womb grew a son who would one day bestride the world. That should be enough for any woman ... but not for the dragon. With Viserys gone, Daenerys was the last, the very last. She was the seed of kings and conquerors, and so too the child inside her. She must not forget.

~

But the Western Market smelled of home.

As Irri and Jhiqui helped her from her litter, she sniffed, and recognized the sharp odors of garlic and pepper, scents that reminded Dany of days long gone in the alleys of Tyrosh and Myr and brought a fond smile to her face. Under that she smelled the heady sweet perfumes of Lys. She saw slaves carrying bolts of intricate Myrish lace and fine wools in a dozen rich colors. Caravan guards wandered among the aisles in copper helmets and knee-length tunics of quilted yellow cotton, empty scabbards swinging from their woven leather belts. Behind one stall an armorer displayed steel breastplates worked with gold and silver in ornate patterns, and helms hammered in the shapes of fanciful beasts. Next to him was a pretty young woman selling Lannisport goldwork, rings and brooches and torcs and exquisitely wrought medallions suitable for belting. A huge eunuch guarded her stall, mute and hairless, dressed in sweat-stained velvets and scowling at anyone who came close. Across the aisle, a fat cloth trader from Yi Ti was haggling with a Pentoshi over the price of some green dye, the monkey tail on his hat swaying back and forth as he shook his head.

“When I was a little girl, I loved to play in the bazaar,” Dany told Ser Jorah as they wandered down the shady aisle between the stalls. “It was so alive there, all the people shouting and laughing, so many wonderful things to look at ... though we seldom had enough coin to buy anything ... well, except for a sausage now and again, or honeyfingers ... do they have honeyfingers in the Seven Kingdoms, the kind they bake in Tyrosh?”

[...] Her handmaids trailed along as Dany resumed her stroll through the market. “Oh, look,” she exclaimed to Doreah, “those are the kind of sausages I meant.” She pointed to a stall where a wizened little woman was grilling meat and onions on a hot firestone. “They make them with lots of garlic and hot peppers.” Delighted with her discovery, Dany insisted the others join her for a sausage. Her handmaids wolfed theirs down giggling and grinning, though the men of her khas sniffed at the grilled meat suspiciously. “They taste different than I remember,” Dany said after her first few bites.

“In Pentos, I make them with pork,” the old woman said, “but all my pigs died on the Dothraki sea. These are made of horsemeat, Khaleesi, but I spice them the same.”

“Oh.” Dany felt disappointed, but Quaro liked his sausage so well he decided to have another one, and Rakharo had to outdo him and eat three more, belching loudly. Dany giggled.

“You have not laughed since your brother the Khal Rhaggat was crowned by Drogo,” said Irri. “It is good to see, Khaleesi.”

Dany smiled shyly. It was sweet to laugh. She felt half a girl again.

~

She did take a dozen flasks of scented oils, the perfumes of her childhood; she had only to close her eyes and sniff them and she could see the big house with the red door once more.

AGOT Daenerys IV

Every khal had his bloodriders. At first Dany had thought of them as a kind of Dothraki Kingsguard, sworn to protect their lord, but it went further than that. Jhiqui had taught her that a bloodrider was more than a guard; they were the khal’s brothers, his shadows, his fiercest friends. “Blood of my blood,” Drogo called them, and so it was; they shared a single life. The ancient traditions of the horselords demanded that when the khal died, his bloodriders died with him, to ride at his side in the night lands. If the khal died at the hands of some enemy, they lived only long enough to avenge him, and then followed him joyfully into the grave. In some khalasars, Jhiqui said, the bloodriders shared the khal’s wine, his tent, and even his wives, though never his horses. A man’s mount was his own.

Daenerys was glad that Khal Drogo did not hold to those ancient ways. She should not have liked being shared. And while old Cohollo treated her kindly enough, the others frightened her; Haggo, huge and silent, often glowered as if he had forgotten who she was, and Qotho had cruel eyes and quick hands that liked to hurt. He left bruises on Doreah’s soft white skin whenever he touched her, and sometimes made Irri sob in the night. Even his horses seemed to fear him.

Yet they were bound to Drogo for life and death, so Daenerys had no choice but to accept them. And sometimes she found herself wishing her father had been protected by such men. In the songs, the white knights of the Kingsguard were ever noble, valiant, and true, and yet King Aerys had been murdered by one of them, the handsome boy they now called the Kingslayer, and a second, Ser Barristan the Bold, had gone over to the Usurper. She wondered if all men were as false in the Seven Kingdoms. When her son sat the Iron Throne, she would see that he had bloodriders of his own to protect him against treachery in his Kingsguard. ~

“Please, bring me one of the dragon’s eggs.”

Irri fetched the egg with the deep green shell, bronze flecks shining amid its scales as she turned it in her small hands. Dany curled up on her side, pulling the sandsilk cloak across her and cradling the egg in the hollow between her swollen belly and small, tender breasts. She liked to hold them. They were so beautiful, and sometimes just being close to them made her feel stronger, braver, as if somehow she were drawing strength from the stone dragons locked inside.

She was lying there, holding the egg, when she felt the child move within her ... as if he were reaching out, brother to brother, blood to blood. “You are the dragon,” Dany whispered to him, “the true dragon. I know it. I know it.” And she smiled, and went to sleep dreaming of home.

AGOT Daenerys III

“Have you forgotten who you are? Look at you. Look at you!”

Dany did not need to look. She was barefoot, with oiled hair, wearing Dothraki riding leathers and a painted vest given her as a bride gift. She looked as though she belonged here. Viserys was soiled and stained in city silks and ringmail.

~

“What do you pray for, Ser Jorah?” she asked him.

“Home,” he said. His voice was thick with longing.

“I pray for home too,” she told him, believing it.

Ser Jorah laughed. “Look around you then, Khaleesi.”

But it was not the plains Dany saw then. It was King’s Landing and the great Red Keep that Aegon the Conqueror had built. It was Dragonstone where she had been born. In her mind’s eye they burned with a thousand lights, a fire blazing in every window. In her mind’s eye, all the doors were red.

AGOT Daenerys II

Dany had never felt so alone as she did seated in the midst of that vast horde. Her brother had told her to smile, and so she smiled until her face ached and the tears came unbidden to her eyes. She did her best to hide them, knowing how angry Viserys would be if he saw her crying, terrified of how Khal Drogo might react. Food was brought to her, steaming joints of meat and thick black sausages and Dothraki blood pies, and later fruits and sweetgrass stews and delicate pastries from the kitchens of Pentos, but she waved it all away. Her stomach was a roil, and she knew she could keep none of it down.

There was no one to talk to. Khal Drogo shouted commands and jests down to his bloodriders, and laughed at their replies, but he scarcely glanced at Dany beside him. They had no common language. Dothraki was incomprehensible to her, and the khal knew only a few words of the bastard Valyrian of the Free Cities, and none at all of the Common Tongue of the Seven Kingdoms. She would even have welcomed the conversation of Illyrio and her brother, but they were too far below to hear her.

So she sat in her wedding silks, nursing a cup of honeyed wine, afraid to eat, talking silently to herself.

AGOT Daenerys I

When he was gone, Dany went to her window and looked out wistfully on the waters of the bay. The square brick towers of Pentos were black silhouettes outlined against the setting sun. Dany could hear the singing of the red priests as they lit their night fires and the shouts of ragged children playing games beyond the walls of the estate. For a moment she wished she could be out there with them, barefoot and breathless and dressed in tatters, with no past and no future and no feast to attend at Khal Drogo’s manse.

Somewhere beyond the sunset, across the narrow sea, lay a land of green hills and flowered plains and great rushing rivers, where towers of dark stone rose amidst magnificent blue-grey mountains, and armored knights rode to battle beneath the banners of their lords. The Dothraki called that land Rhaesh Andahli, the land of the Andals. In the Free Cities, they talked of Westeros and the Sunset Kingdoms. Her brother had a simpler name. “Our land,” he called it. The words were like a prayer with him. If he said them enough, the gods were sure to hear. “Ours by blood right, taken from us by treachery, but ours still, ours forever. You do not steal from the dragon, oh, no. The dragon remembers.”

And perhaps the dragon did remember, but Dany could not. She had never seen this land her brother said was theirs, this realm beyond the narrow sea. These places he talked of, Casterly Rock and the Eyrie, Highgarden and the Vale of Arryn, Dorne and the Isle of Faces, they were just words to her. Viserys had been a boy of eight when they fled King’s Landing to escape the advancing armies of the Usurper, but Daenerys had been only a quickening in their mother’s womb.

Yet sometimes Dany would picture the way it had been, so often had her brother told her the stories. The midnight flight to Dragonstone, moonlight shimmering on the ship’s black sails. Her brother Rhaegar battling the Usurper in the bloody waters of the Trident and dying for the woman he loved. The sack of King’s Landing by the ones Viserys called the Usurper’s dogs, the lords Lannister and Stark. Princess Elia of Dorne pleading for mercy as Rhaegar’s heir was ripped from her breast and murdered before her eyes. The polished skulls of the last dragons staring down sightlessly from the walls of the throne room while the Kingslayer opened Father’s throat with a golden sword.

She had been born on Dragonstone nine moons after their flight, while a raging summer storm threatened to rip the island fastness apart. They said that storm was terrible. The Targaryen fleet was smashed while it lay at anchor, and huge stone blocks were ripped from the parapets and sent hurtling into the wild waters of the narrow sea. Her mother had died birthing her, and for that her brother Viserys had never forgiven her.

She did not remember Dragonstone either. They had run again, just before the Usurper’s brother set sail with his new-built fleet. By then only Dragonstone itself, the ancient seat of their House, had remained of the Seven Kingdoms that had once been theirs. It would not remain for long. The garrison had been prepared to sell them to the Usurper, but one night Ser Willem Darry and four loyal men had broken into the nursery and stolen them both, along with her wet nurse, and set sail under cover of darkness for the safety of the Braavosian coast.

She remembered Ser Willem dimly, a great grey bear of a man, half-blind, roaring and bellowing orders from his sickbed. The servants had lived in terror of him, but he had always been kind to Dany. He called her “Little Princess” and sometimes “My Lady,” and his hands were soft as old leather. He never left his bed, though, and the smell of sickness clung to him day and night, a hot, moist, sickly sweet odor. That was when they lived in Braavos, in the big house with the red door. Dany had her own room there, with a lemon tree outside her window. After Ser Willem had died, the servants had stolen what little money they had left, and soon after they had been put out of the big house. Dany had cried when the red door closed behind them forever.

 [...] “We will have it all back someday, sweet sister,” he would promise her. Sometimes his hands shook when he talked about it. “The jewels and the silks, Dragonstone and King’s Landing, the Iron Throne and the Seven Kingdoms, all they have taken from us, we will have it back.” Viserys lived for that day. All that Daenerys wanted back was the big house with the red door, the lemon tree outside her window, the childhood she had never known.

~

“Those three are Drogo’s bloodriders, there,” he said. “By the pillar is Khal Moro, with his son Rhogoro. The man with the green beard is brother to the Archon of Tyrosh, and the man behind him is Ser Jorah Mormont.”

The last name caught Daenerys. “A knight?”

“No less.” Illyrio smiled through his beard. “Anointed with the seven oils by the High Septon himself.”

“What is he doing here?” she blurted.

“The Usurper wanted his head,” Illyrio told them. “Some trifling affront. He sold some poachers to a Tyroshi slaver instead of giving them to the Night’s Watch. Absurd law. A man should be able to do as he likes with his own chattel.”

“I shall wish to speak with Ser Jorah before the night is done,” her brother said. Dany found herself looking at the knight curiously. He was an older man, past forty and balding, but still strong and fit. Instead of silks and cottons, he wore wool and leather. His tunic was a dark green, embroidered with the likeness of a black bear standing on two legs.

She was still looking at this strange man from the homeland she had never known when Magister Illyrio placed a moist hand on her bare shoulder.

~

“I don’t want to be his queen,” she heard herself say in a small, thin voice. “Please, please, Viserys, I don’t want to, I want to go home.”

“Home?” He kept his voice low, but she could hear the fury in his tone. “How are we to go home, sweet sister? They took our home from us!” He drew her into the shadows, out of sight, his fingers digging into her skin. “How are we to go home?” he repeated, meaning King’s Landing, and Dragonstone, and all the realm they had lost.

Dany had only meant their rooms in Illyrio’s estate, no true home surely, though all they had, but her brother did not want to hear that. There was no home there for him. Even the big house with the red door had not been home for him. His fingers dug hard into her arm, demanding an answer. “I don’t know ...” she said at last, her voice breaking. Tears welled in her eyes.