#the greatest figures of war brought to nothing in defeat with endless time to think

[lazyveran]

jesus christ every time i scroll down another post you have something fascinating to say abt the azula in ur brain. well?????? what happens to her post canon???!?!?

starrdio we HAVE to kiss. thank you for asking...

SO. my main vision of azula is that immediately post-war zuko has. absolutely no idea what to do with azula. he's just ascended the throne and he has half his country wanting him dead and he's only sixteen. azula was fire lord for a day, wanted to kill him, has tried to kill him, is probably still loyal to ozai (and god he is NOT telling her about the ozai bending-away situation rn. OR URSA.) so he places her in a highly secure prison until he's settled enough to figure out what to do with his war criminal baby sister

and the prison guards... well, they hate azula. to many of them, she's the closest thing they have to punishing ozai so they treat her accordingly (not like the child she is, but some sort of monster they pin all their anger and grief onto). they shave her head as a sign of her defeat, dishonouring her, they put her in a cell with no sunlight, and they regularly try to bait her. not that it ever works

azula goes nonverbal. for months. she's only in the jail for a few weeks before zuko is able to visit, sees her conditions, and promptly banishes the entire staff and takes her back to the palace. he puts her up her own wing of the palace, tries to care for her best he can, but azula is silent. she barely even looks at him, or anyone. it's like her spirit is just... gone. she shoves away all the familiar figures in her life - zuko, mai, ty lee, her servants, mirrors (for fear they're hallucinations. she no longer trusts her own reality and it's terrifying and she's so scared of her own mind. she refuses to bow to the false visions of living and dead, desperately trying to overcome this 'weakness')

for azula, her only words for nearly a year were her anguished screams and cries in the last agni kai. as she no longer feels worthy of her bending after her dishonour and defeat, she no longer uses her voice. her second greatest weapon, her wit and words and the way she weaved them, is gone. in it, azula remains

[thecomicsnexus]

Halls of Lost Legends

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #43 JANUARY 1992 BY PAUL JENKINS AND A. C. FARLEY

SYNOPSIS (FROM TMNT ENTITY)

Out in the forests of Northampton, the Turtles are working on another one of Splinter’s elaborate exercises.  In this case, he sent them each out into the wilderness blindfolded to expand their senses and intuitive abilities.  Donatello is having particular trouble with this exercise, failing to see the point in the whole endeavor.  His brothers tell him to focus, as his goofing around is ruining it for all of them.  Suddenly, Don bumps into what feels like a brick wall.  He removes his blindfold and finds that he’s standing outside of a vast city of varying architectures with a huge tower in the center.  The other Turtles take off their blindfolds and see it, too.  They decide to venture inside and explore the massive tower.

Inside, they find endless, uninhabited hallways lined with locked doors.  They manage to break into one labeled “Aurora” and find an armored knight laying on a dais.  Leonardo takes a look at him and finds that the knight is still alive, but he isn’t breathing.  Just then, a man walks by the door and the Turtles rush to speak with him.

The young man introduces himself as Locke and tells the Turtles that they’re “early”.  He tells them that they have come to the Halls of Lost Legends in the land of All Creation.  Apparently, when mankind first created mythology and religion, their belief brought the creatures of legend to life.  They then took up residence in All Creation until mankind’s belief in them disintegrated.  Once that happened, the figures of myth were turned to “statues” and placed in the Halls of Lost Legends, where Locke acts as curator.  Locke warns the Turtles to leave, as they don’t belong in the Halls yet and their presence could create a great disturbance.  Don isn’t buying the story and runs off to find the truth behind the “illusion”.  The other Turtles continue exploring together, despite Locke’s warning.

Donatello comes to a room labeled “Asgard” and forces open the door.  He sees Odin sitting on a throne, motionless.  Don’s attention is drawn to a shield with a turtle symbol in the center.  Looking into the reflection of the shield’s polished surface, he can see that Odin is actually weeping.

Elsewhere, the Turtles enter the door labeled “Cronus”.  The titular Titan then slams the door shut behind them and, thinking that the Turtles are more of his wayward offspring out for revenge, vows to eat them.  The Turtles put up a fight, but the Titan proves too much.  Don then comes rushing in and stabs Cronus in the eye with his staff.  Before Cronus can regain his senses, the Turtles flee the chamber and lock the doors behind themselves.

Don tells his brothers that Locke has been hiding something from them.  They head toward the chamber marked “Ector”, as that’s where Locke was headed when they first bumped into him.  They pass several figures such as Merlin and Paul Bunyan, all frozen stiff, and find Locke at the top of a staircase.  Locke again warns them to leave, but the Turtles are no longer falling for his ruse.  Don then shows Locke his own reflection in the shield, revealing his true identity: Loki.

Not wanting the Turtles to ruin his plans for seizing control of All Creation, Loki opens up a portal and summons four of the most ferocious monsters of legend: Fideal, Cerberus, a mantichora and Grendel.  The Turtles each take a monster and with some effort, Raph kills Cerberus, Mike takes down the mantichora and Leo shreds Fideal.  They all then join Don and together they fell Grendel.  Loki prepares to summon Nyarlathotep and Baal next, but Mikey takes him down with a throw of his nunchaku.  Putting his katana to Loki’s throat, Leo forces the trickster to free all the inhabitants of the Halls of Lost Legends from his spell.

Later, once all the figures are freed, Merlin approaches the Turtles and delivers his gratitude.  He explains that Loki had discovered an ancient curse and used it to freeze all the inhabitants of the Halls.  His intent was to fill the Halls with creatures of his own nature, such as Cronus and all the monsters he had summoned.  The frozen figures of myth then used their last ounces of willpower to summon the Turtles to the Halls early in the hopes that they could defeat Loki.  And speaking of Loki, Merlin says that he will be returned to his prison to await Ragnarok.  The Turtles have more questions, but Merlin says that they must leave and teleports them all back to their camp where Master Splinter awaits.

They tell Splinter their story and find that he doesn’t doubt a word of it.  The Turtles ask Splinter what all that stuff about them arriving “early” meant and Splinter says that, one day, they will reside within the Halls of Lost Legends.  Leo is incredulous, as the Turtles keep their existence secret and could never become legends… or could they?

REVIEW

When Superboy met the Legion of Super-heroes and pretty much found out about his future as one of Earth’s greatest heroes, didn’t that change things a bit for him? As much as I like the concept of the Legion, the idea of Superboy being part of that team never worked for me. In this issue, the TMNT discover they will be legends some day, while they have nothing specific about their future, this is a heavy burden to have.

But never mind, this issue is not canon.

And as non-canon issues go, this one is almost as good as the River trilogy. The idea that the Turtles are “early” to “All Creation” is an impactful sentence. I think the Turtles are already legendary at this point, just by the adventures they already had. I am still to read City at War, but I have read volume 4 and I know there is no ending for these characters. Nevertheless, in a meta sense, the TMNT are the stuff of legends. And if Super-heroes are the deities of our times, I would put the TMNT right there, and who knows, maybe some day in a couple hundred years, people will talk about the turtles as legends.

The art in this issue is also very good. With a lot of dynamism, Kirby-like, and great depiction of human faces (not always important for this title).

I give this issue a score of 9.