#the only thing i've been reading when it comes to dc is old comics or fucking elseworlds stories

[navree]

anyway this is why, despite the fact that i firmly believe that dc has the better characters and the better stories and, for me at least, is the one that engages me more and that i'm the most emotionally invested in, marvel's the one that i'm currently even attempting to follow current continuity on, because i know they're doing fuckery with spiderman but doctor strange is my main marvel guy okay, and they brought clea back when she's my fave character of their's, and jed mackay is a good writer who both likes and understands these characters, so i'm really only interested in modern doctor strange and refusing to even look too closely at dc's current train wreck beyond what my mutuals are telling me is happening

[based-bobcat]

Remember when Batman used to solve regular murders? Remember when Batman was fallible and could be beaten by a gunshot?

DC's writers don't.

I don't know if it's because writers only really write for trades more, but ever since new 52 every writer wants to be the O'Neil/Morrison and make it more epic than the last. I've lost count how many fucking times Gotham has been taken over and/or destroyed these last 5 years, but the fact that I lost count says something. There have been no civilian characters introduced since Tamaki's promising, but kind of mediocre, go at TEC.

They take his money away 'to go back to his roots' (laughable as Bruce has never been without his fortune), and sure you finally get him interacting with regular joes again, only for it not even mattering since he's gotten gear stashed everywhere anyway, not to mention that the next writer to throw it all into the garbage like a meal they don't like.

They reveal Batman's identity as if they're handing out pamphlets for a local political party; Including to Gordon, to Penguin, to Harvey Dent, to fucking Joker, but there is no consequence to that since Bruce's out-of-mask life isn't even a thing that exists anymore. When was the last time he interacted with someone who didn't end up clashing with/meeting with Batman? I sure as fuck can't remember it.

I had hope for Zdarsky's run, since his Daredevil run was a nice street-level romp. (At the beginning anyway, christ did he lose the plot in the end) but he writes stuff like;

That's just sad. Joker and Batman are not Gods or powerful beings like Clark or J'onn.

Th-they're just normal men.

And at the same time you have more and more influences that come from Wayne Family Adventures, which I like don't get me wrong, but these watered down fanficified versions of the Batfam is not what I want to read about when I open up a comic book. Just try reading Taylor's Nightwing without falling asleep and you'll get me.

I like these kinds of things as fan-art or fun covers, but not in my mainline comics.

The Batfamily used to be made up of people with the same goals, but with different approaches, ideals and moral boundaries. Which caused a lot of friction. (Barb and Bruce really, REALLY did not like each other during the early 2000s and that's putting it mildly. And they were co-parenting a suicidal gremlin at that time) They all respected each other, sure, but I can't see any of the family even slightly considering moving in with Bruce. Especially Dick, Barbara and Steph.

All this to say that I'm a boomer and miss the old days.

[clericxhood777]

I feel like ranting on Tumblr, because it's much more safer(?)

I only recently started reading comics. Unaware of the age gap between Damijon. I thought it was fine to ship them, because I thought they were teens, until a Pinterest post told me that they do. And honestly, I could give less of a fuck.

A ship's a ship. Seriously, like when the hell did we care about DC canon. You can make your own reality atp with how inconsistent DC is with their characters.

But I feel like most antis either can't accept that there are shippers willing to make Damijon the same age or that Damijon is in no way— shape or form— Superbat.

I mean from what I've read and seen, Damijon's bond is special. It can either be platonic or romantic. I mean like soulmates type of thing.

They're different from Superbat. They just work, you know. Without having to change anything about their characters. As friends or boyfriends. They make each other feel normal.

That leads to my other problem. The age gap was unnecessary. I don't care what y'all say. Jon shouldn't have been aged up. The moment he was aged up, he was given to Nightwing.

I know how our fandom likes to joke about Jason getting Dick's old friends, but what about Dick getting Dami's???

Jon and Dami has a well-deserved bond. Again, either platonic or romantic, they just work. And now the only person that makes Damian feel human instead of a fucking weapon is given to his brother???

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk

[autisticrosewilson]

Hello to the one blog I've been loving to read for the past few days :) <3

Just wanted to add a little something that I started thinking abt after reading a few of your really cool posts, I think we should also discuss abt how Bruce's argument abt killing (with Jay) are often framed with "you're not the judge, jury & the executioner" which is really telling of who he thinks can exersise this legitimately? ? ?

I think it'd be constructive to actually properly discuss this aspect of Bruce's philosophy too. Plus, we get more nuanced Bruce characterisation. (Also keeping in mind uh... comic book propaganda of the writers and DC themselves)

YES ABSOLUTELY! Like what if someone is given a death sentence by a court of law? Does Bruce still care? I'm sure most writers would tell you no because Bruce has become a cop allegory. He's a violent enforcer of the law, and he seeks to uphold the law. Which is a recent switch! Batman comics used to be more radical, but now they're being written by old white men. So it's another one of those things where you can ignore it for your PERSONAL INTERPRETATION but you can't say that it's not A Thing because it's been like this for at least a decade.

His argument would likely be that everyone deserves a fair trial, that everyone has the right to be seen in court. Something which I do think Jason would agree with because when he's being written well he's not just shooting petty criminals! Jason's stance comes in with the big players, the disgustingly rich or well connected upper class who get away with murder. This has been true since the Garzonas case, the whole point was that Felipe was virtually immune to the law, and Jason couldn't allow that.

I think what it comes down to is whether they believe in reformative justice or punitive Justice, and I can most assuredly say that Batman believes in the latter. You can argue that Bruce is an advocate of prison reform but we don't really have evidence of that. He considers himself a punishment for criminals, he considers himself an equalizer but that's not true because he just delivers criminals into a system that is fundamentally corrupt and unfair. Do you actually think a trial in GOTHAM of all places is going to look at a rich man vs a petty crook the same way? That rarely happens even in real life.

And I don't think that Bruce does what he does out of inherent malice. Bruce is a deeply empathetic person, the core of Bruce Wayne is that he cares. But that's not enough, Bruce was allowed to grow up sheltered and it gave him an intrinsic idealism. He only has a Birdseye view of what the common people go through, that is not enough to stand there and say that he understands . Because he doesn't. He literally can't. And I think this bias, certainly one projected by the writers but that's another issue, comes through the most with Jason and Steph.

As far back as Jason's Robin era - widely regarded as Bruce's peak of being a good dad - he still makes some pretty big mistakes. Because he finds this homeless kid whose family has been ripped apart by the corrupted systems, who has actively experienced the worst Gotham has to offer, and he comes to the conclusion that if he doesn't take Jason home Jason will inevitably become a criminal even after Jason explicitly says he doesn't like stealing. So he takes Jason in but he makes that position as his son synonymous with Robin. And this is where we have to talk about meta because Jason is intrinsically tied to meta narratives. I'm not sure if you saw my other posts about Robin, as a concept, but I'll summarize here.

Child sidekicks are fine, in early comics. When things were campy light hearted whodunnit mysteries with a few action sequences, when you always knew that the child hero would come out unscathed, would always live till the next issue. And so when Bruce makes Jason Robin you have this veil of suspension of disbelief. But Jason's era is where you start seeing these kids' storylines get worse. More gruesome, more violent, more cruel. They start really testing the limit of Bruce's morality.

Batman: The Cult - Robin Jason has to crawl through a pile of dead bodies and while Bruce is having a mental break this MAYBE 14 year old is trying to get them out. The Diplomats Son - Jason watches a rapist be let go, because he's powerful and his dad has money. He sees exactly the kind of damage it does to the victims, he's the one who finds Gloria Stanson. A Death in the Family - Jason is murdered. Tortured and murdered and betrayed. He's dead and he was always intended to STAY dead. And all throughout Tim's run and then into Steph's the writers retroactively change everything about who Jason was because it has to be HIS fault, because if it's not Jason's fault then it might be Bruce's. Because how can audiences see Bruce as just and good for taking in new kids after what happened to the last one?

The suspension of disbelief shatters. Because now Jason is back and he's angry. Because maybe we as readers know that Tim, and Steph, and Damian need to be Robin because Robin makes money with young readers. But you know who doesn't know that? Jason, who no doubt assumed that his survival depended on being Robin. Who was sold out because he was Robin. Who was badmouthed and disgraced the entire time he was gone by people he loved and trusted. Jason doesn't know that he's in a comic book, but I argue he knows he's in a Batman story.

If not from his first appearance then definitely in recent ones. What can you do besides lay down and forgive and keep coming back when you know that the universe revolves around one man? How do you get rid of the terror and anger at realizing that you can never leave, that no matter how much he hurts you the universe will bend itself in half so that he is still just and right? When you realize that the love that has defined you is a disease rooted so deeply that to rip it out would be to kill yourself, that you can't even stay dead because Bruce does not want you to be.

And they couldn't even stick to Jason being the problem! Because then Steph dies. And all I could think was "Of course she did. She's an East End girl whose been compared to Jason constantly. Or a version of him. Of course she would be tortured to death trying to get Bruce's approval." Here we are, history has literally repeated itself, and...Tim is Robin again. Why? Because this is a comic book, and Batman needs Robin.

But what do you think everyone in-universe thinks? What do you think that looks like? How can you possibly still call Bruce a good parent under these circumstances? Bruce calls Robin a blessing, a gift, a necessity. He relies on Robin, physically to watch his back and emotionally to keep him in line. He trains them, he molds them, he loves them.

But sometimes love just isn't enough and the good Robin does shouldn't negate the harm they get in the process. Robin then becomes this horrible force of change, you get it and you know that this has doomed you, one way or another. Because Bruce believes that suffering is noble, that pain can reform people. It's baked into his character. Even if he doesn't intend to hurt his kids, it's not like we haven't seen him justify it to himself and others. "I love you, I did this for your own good, I thought I could help you, it was your fault I did that, it won't happen again, I lost control of myself but only this once, we can be a family again if you just come home." It reads an awful lot like an abuser trying to convince you or himself that he's not in the wrong.

This was longer than I intended it to be, but I guess my main point is that Bruce and Batman can't ever be fully separated. Something that I think his relationship with Cass shows us he's aware of but chooses to ignore. We know that Batman is dangerous, that he wouldn't hesitate to hurt his kids, we saw that with Zurr-Batman (WHO BRUCE ADMITTED WAS A FACET OF HIMSELF YOU CAN'T SAY IT WASN'T HIM BECAUSE HE HIMSELF SAID THAT IT WAS). So why try and act like it's this impossible out of character thing for Bruce to be harmful? For his kids to feel angry and hurt about his actions or for their feelings to be as or more valid than Bruce's. Batman has and will hurt his kids and Bruce will try to rationalize it all away because he loves them, he would never want to hurt them. And the narrative will tell us that Bruce is right, that this is good and fair and just, that Bruce's perspective is the correct one, that his kids deserve this, because this is a comic book and outrage sells. Or they'll retcon it and pretend it never happened. Or they'll just never bring it up again. Or Bruce will be forgiven regardless just to hammer home how good and right he is.

Because this is a comic book about Batman, and Batman is a hero, he is our protagonist, and so he is reliable and we should never doubt him, or call him out, or be mad at him. Naturally.

[bestangelofall]

(inspired by that post you were talking about + other comments I’ve noticed around recently) I think it’s funny how people will conflate the word “abuse” with “assault” to make Jason look extra bad (he did not abuse Mia or Tim. He is not in an intimate relationship with them. He’s an enemy that attacked them, these are superhero comics you would not call Two Face Dick’s “abuser” be serious for one moment), but when it comes to situations where there is a relationship with an ingrained power imbalance (Bruce and his children for example), nobody knows how to use the word “abuse” anymore

People can't simply say they dislike a character because they don't vibe with them and that's it anymore. I just can't get behind that, personally. (But then again, for me, the worst sin a character can "committ" is being boring and uninteresting...)

Everything has to be dressed up in therapy speak and words that don't mean exactly what people think they mean... such as abuse, like you said, which would imply a power imbalance which does not exist between Jason and Mia or Jason and Tim (of course, though, if you want to write an *AU* where he gets into a relationship with either of those characters (or any other character), and abuses them due to the dynamic you're going to develop, I say go for it, you do you.)

Although *personally* I think it's kinda a bit out there to put Jason in the role of an abuser, tbh... he doesn't really have that kind of power over anyone (arguably he has over Bruce, but does he really? I think you could write him that way in fic and it would be reasonable depending on how you write it, because Bruce is (very) susceptible to some kinds of moralistic manipulation, but in canon, of course, we only see the opposite where the dynamic of Jason and Bruce is concerned (or Bruce any of the other "batkids").

The damage to fandom's perception of Jason simply because in a lot of his official art he looks like a forty year old is so bad (though I don't particularly think he looked that old in the GA issues in particular, from what I remember). (Or because he's ugly too, let's not forget that DC (well, actually, not exclusive to DC by any means) is always pushing the ugliness = evilness thing. And like, Jason is so ugly in a lot of his comics, including UTH).

And the damage that Teen Titans Vol 3 29 caused for the experience of being a Jason fan is... [redacted]

Also, let me take the opportunity to say that I don't think either of those situations were OOC for Jason. I mean, not that I've heard that many opinions that the GA issues were OOC for him, but I definitely have seen a lot of "Titans Tower was OOC, Jason would never." (that difference is, of course, due to the fact that a lot more people care about Tim Drake than about Mia Dearden, because both situations are quite similar).

*CANON* Titans Tower, as it happened (i.e. Jason beat Tim, skill issue, Tim was sassing Jason *while* being beaten) was not OOC.

Going back to the "abuse" thing, and also to the age-difference that people love to stretch - Jason was treating both Mia and Tim as equals when going after them like that... there wasn't in any way a vibe of "going after kids because they are easy" (and of course, if we analyse these events from the standpoint of Jason having been dead + catatonic for a long period, in the meta we could propose that that sort of idea would've never even crossed his mind).

*ALSO* you do you, and you write anything you want in fanfic. Believe me, I'm not a stickler to canon in the fanfic I read/write in most fandoms I'm in (and even if I were, the "you write whatever you want" still stands). And fandom is fandom, so of course a thing like Teen Titans Vol 3 29 would be explored to hell and back in fanfic. I just complain a lot about it because, mind you, I nowadays filter out Tim's character tag (unless I'm in the mood to maybe look for a Jaytim fic that I can read, since, on average, the Tim/Jason fics are better characterized than Tim & Jason ones), and I still get sooooo many fics where Jason is angsting about "the horrors he committed" there. I guess that made me bitter. But oh well... it is what it is.

Thank you for the ask! And sorry for derailing lol

[fractualized]

Alright. Let's break down this "oh" of an ending. NEGATIVE NANCY, COMING THROUGH

Spoilers, ho!

Ending a story is hard, if they're long or short. Whether you wrap up key threads or leave them open, you want some kind of takeaway that puts a period on things. Even in comics, where we know these characters will go on and on, ideally a story will end in a way that just... fits. Even amateur fic writers have loads of WIPs just sitting there because exactly how to end this damn thing eludes them.

I don't know if Rosenberg had an ending in mind when he started The Man Who Stopped Laughing. I don't know if he decided he'd figure it out by the end of it's year-long run. I don't know if DC Editorial lets people do that; it sounds insane, but if you've been paying attention to their current level of editorial "oversight," which I imagine is supposed to make concurrent titles mesh together reasonably well, I wouldn't be shocked if they let people wing it. Or, more likely, perhaps DC Editorial swooped in and made Rosenberg change the ending he had planned and that's why the result falls flat.

In any case, after 11 issues of enjoying myself, I'm left feeling deflated.

But let's start where #12 does, with the Joker who's been told he's John Keyser, a toxin'd henchmen that the real Joker made into a doppelganger for funsies. He approaches a hotdog vendor.

I'm stuck on "Hello. I've been looking for you"?? I didn't catch that on my first read. Joker has a favorite hotdog vendor? lol

Shut up, Waffles!! All we have is your word for it!!

In any case, hey, Keyser Joker has already been Jokering this long, so yeah, why not keep going? And why not with help from poor woobie Jason, fresh from nearly getting himself killed in Gotham War?

Bruce did not fix Jason at the end of Gotham War, so his adrenaline is still triggering fear in his brain. But Keyser Joker has a solution for that!

It's a tiny dose of Joker toxin to take the edge off of Bruce's programming. Joker makes a point of saying that the effects are only temporary, though. (And like, I assume this is just the quick-fix solution Rosenberg came up with to pull off his own ending when told Bruce's plans for Jason over in the other titles.) Jason is skeptical of this "help," naturally, but Keyser Joker brings up their matching interest: getting rid of the other Joker.

Jason, why you gotta ruin Albert's good time? 🙄

Cut to Red Hood dragging a clown henchman through the streets of Gotham.

But "his" face being blacked out and some of the dialogue clue the reader in: things aren't what they seem.

DERAIL TIME: what is up with this batmobile?

Like from some other angles, it looks sportier, but in most of the panels it looks like an old Buick? lol ANYWAY.

With the flaily way this person jumps off the bike and runs, I was sure that this was Keyser Joker and we might see Batman interact with him. Alas.

It's Ravager, who survived last issue's explosion. She's helping Jason 1) distract Batman and 2) get Albert out of harm's way, far from Keyser Joker's plan.

Naturally Keyser Joker is planning something more destructive than he's led Jason to believe. Also like…

The idea that Keyser Joker really is this John guy, not the real deal, is still not sitting fucking right with me. Seeing him here in another costume, with a goofy death train with mismatched eyes just like his, it feels like a signal that he actually is Joker and Waffles is either lying or mistaken somehow. Like compared to the other Joker, who we haven't seen in a costume? Who left Gotham for weird reasons? I really thought there was going to be a reverse reveal.

And since it doesn't come, I guess it's a good time to mention that! There is no reverse reveal of who the real Joker is. Things get a little muddy later, but…. hrm. HRM.

That said, the other Joker does something pretty dang Jokery: he shows up in a dirigible with his face on it.

Killer Moth and a bunch of clown goons (that aren't supposed to be available because of Gotham War but WHATEVER) attach the dirigible to the train and it's pretty chaotic!

I love when villains are like, "Look I may kill people, but an endangered gorilla?! Get outta here!" 😂

Jason also arrives in style.

I guess he was observing Ravager's distraction?? Which feels like it defeats part of the purpose of having her do the distraction. But then he couldn't have this cool entrance in which he bludgeons people with a motorcycle. Trade offs!

Meanwhile, Real Joker makes it to the front of the train to confront Keyser Joker. One of Real's goons offers to shoot Keyser, but Real Joker wants to make this personal and kills the poor hench so he can do it himself.

Jason coming in like YEEEEEAAAAHHHHH 😎

Then he gets the bad news.

Keyser is as casually suicidal as your average Joker! Also "Real" Joker never acknowledges Red Hood's identity, afaik. It's always Keyser Joker. Details like this got me thinking that reverse reveal was coming, AND YET.

That aside, next comes a fun comedy beat.

Real Joker going right for the hair!

Jason isn't going to let this be the end of it, of course, and once again Killer Moth must suffer at his hands.

Jason shoots so many clowns. Just never the one he wants. 😞

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaait wait wait. You're telling me that Bruce knew about the imminent TWO JOKERS situation. But he decided to prioritize a report of Red Hood dragging a clown through the streets. When in the same breath he's saying there are other people coming to the scene with him, so he obviously could've sent someone else? On the same day Batman #139 is like "oooh Bruce is totally onto Joker now"? This is what you're telling me?? Augh.

Well, we can't rely on Batman right now, clearly, so it's up to Jason.

Meanwhile, Keyser Joker has told the other one that he actually does have a secret way off the runaway train safely. After they fight some more, the tune starts to change.

Alright so, this "deal," which would sort of start them back at square one, doesn't bother me because obviously it's on shaky-ass ground and one of them is definitely killing the other before this issue is over. What does bug me is the "franchising" line, for two reasons:

1) Is this supposed to imply that Real Joker is the one who was behind Joker Incorporated in the Batman Incorporated issues, not a third one?

2) I was just SO SURE it was another indication we were getting a reverse reveal. Joker absolutely does not love the franchising idea. That's kind of been the point of this whole series. The genuine Joker in Keyser Joker's hallucination/memory said that having two Jokers around is stupid. HRRRRMMM.

Anyhow, they leave the train together, though the escape plan is literally just jumping off, which has more issues than they bargained for.

So do you think, assuming the Gotham War writers actually communicated at least a little, that Zdarsky asked Rosenberg what he needed Jason for at the end of TMWSL, and Rosenberg was like, "oh I need him to heroically crash a toxic blimp and almost die?" And then Zdarsky was like, "er, I need him to heroically fly a plane into a magic meteor and almost die?" And then they just shrugged and closed the Zoom?

But yeah, the blimp crashes, and I'm sort of confused because I thought that earlier Bruce was saying that even if the toxin gets into the water, it'll still make it's way to the city. So for one thing, it's still exploding in the air and it's still gonna drift. And the parts that dissolve in water are still gonna drift. There's a part to the equation missing here.

But these two are just thrilled at the excitement.

Until the sudden yet inevitable betrayal.

BUT WHO WAS JOKE

Shortly after this, Ravager shows up with Manhunter, who also survived last issue's explosion. (It just doesn't come up at all. Like it doesn't have to, I guess, but it's just weird that there's not a word or wound about it.) Ravager dives into the water looking for Jason, because she instinctually knows he did something grand and dumb. She finds him among the clown bodies and brings him to shore.

Nothing can kill this man! He came back from the dead with nine lives! And also maybe that Lazarus resin from TFZ is still helping, I dunno.

Elsewhere along the shore, what's left of both Jokers' crews find themselves waiting in the same spot for the Joker they expect to be triumphant.

You know what. I'm soured on Waffles now. Leave him.

And then, from the water…

And that's it. That's how it ends. With a sort of snide cop-out?

Like, it's Joker's POV, so yeah, you could say the dickish tone is just him. But following this story for a year, and then seeing it end with simply the old "you'll never know which Joker prevailed," it doesn't feel clever or whatever this is going for. It just feels obnoxious.

Honestly, it feels like the same takeaway as freaking Three Jokers. 😐 That it doesn't matter who Joker is. All the lead-up to this, where maybe we get a tiny bit of depth and development, even if just in this story, eh. Doesn't matter! We're ending this with blah payoff.

On the other hand, the part of about about there being more questions, about this ending not being tidy, makes me think that this is leaving open the possibility that Keyser Joker actually was the real one. After all, we don't get a flashback to the actual events. The events we see are part of a hallucination, and Keyser never said he had clear memories of being the real or the fake one. He just went from assuming he was the real one to taking Waffles' word for it that he was the henchman.

Also, Keyser Joker was always the Joker giving narration. And the narration boxes for the Final Joker at the end remain in his style. So it seems like we actually have a huge indication of which Joker prevailed-- unless we're meant to assume that if the other Joker prevailed, he merely took over the narration.

I mean, this is what we have. So if I can just choose what I want to believe, I'm going to believe both that Keyser was actually the real guy and that he won. But it puts a real sour taste in my mouth to be super engaged with a story and wanting an ending that says something about Joker's character… and the ending is just that one murders the other and you don't know who, neener neener. It's anticlimactic. It's a predictable direction that I thought SURELY Rosenberg wouldn't go in. It feels like a dick move.

And... what else is there to say? So ends my year of consistently buying a comic, I guess. Nothing else has really grabbed me like TMWSL did, though City of Madness looks promising. After the multiverse and Gotham War stuff, I'm not about to start picking up Zdarsky's Batman. #139 had plenty I should enjoy, but it's soured by Zdarsky deciding to bring a canonical take to the three Jokers concept for some ungodly reason.

A new three Jokers take feels extra stupid after a year of a story about two Jokers. And the second Joker in TMWSL isn't even taken into account in Zdarsky's story. Based off that #135 scene, it really looks like he's going to say that Darwin Halliday accidentally copied TKJ Joker somehow. lmao Why. Why do we have to do this. Why can't this just be one of the things that gets retconned away. I just want my murderclown to be fun.

I need to get back to my list of unread older comics. Or read One Operation Joker! I didn't think I was interested, but I think a random goofy premise is actually just what I need.

[evilwickedme]

This wasn't asked for because nobody in their right mind would ask for this but this is a fic rec list of fics I cannot stop rereading

Just started yet another reread of Inimitable Verse by deniigiq and I fully plan on rereading their into the multiverse series which occasionally crosses over also - this is a Spider-Man/team red focused series, think comics canon infused early mcu-spidey since only homecoming had come out for a non substantial amount of time they were working on the series and the daredevil stuff is explicitly tv show AND comics. Also the multiverse series is how I got into Murderdock and therefore how I got into Spider Gwen

Unpretty's Sorrowful And Immaculate Hearts series which is just a loosely interconnected series of DC fics. My personal favorites are Empty Graves, in which Martha Kent keeps killing time travelers trying to kill baby! Clark; any of their clois fics but especially Third Wheel; and Anti-Social, which is a social media fic mostly about Tim and Bruce that made me cry laughing. Catch Bruce trying to get Walmart's employees to unionize. Also shout out to unpretty's only fic with Jason in it, it looks awesome but is tragically incomplete

This particular Reverse Robin AU which put in the work to reverse every single younger generation and is chef's kiss I LOVE this version of Tim he's wild

Both of Shoalsea's fics are in constant rotation for me I talk about Into The Brighter Night all the time in the tags of reblogs and stuff it truly lives in my head rent free. Anyway Tim gets kidnapped by aliens and the batfam have to watch as yj98 saves him and it's angsty and funny and such a good take on what could have been if the new 52 hadn't happened. And Compassion Builds No House is about Tim and Pru from Red Robin. Ugh they're both so good

Speaking of Clois (I did you've just forgotten this by now) brilliant (like a confession) by kathkin (penny-anna on the hellsite) is so fucking good I'm. Okay. Anyway it'll be listed as inspiration if/when I finally post my two person love triangle fic for them

I'm too anxious to catch up on this before it's done but jumble sale chic is hands down the best spideydevil fic series despite and because of the omegaverse

Make A Little Birdhouse In Your Soul is my favorite take on Jason, period, and has a lot of fantastic Damian stuff going on too. It's updating every few weeks still! Sometimes more often! I love you bacondoughnut it's me JustGail the person who will not stop commenting on your fic you're stuck with me forever

I lied above Rumspringa Murderdock is what got me into Murderdock but that series is second place. I found this one while scrolling through the tv show's mattfoggy tag, thinking I was safe

Speaking of Murderdock mattfoggy, The Lawyer All the Wickedness was written early on in spider-gwen's history and so diverges from canon really early in ways that I think are super interesting and creative

Oh also straight on 'til morning by merils (Tumblr url mamawasatesttube) does SUCH a great job unpacking Kon's trauma and building up healthy relationships around him including a budding timkon romance and yeah it makes me sad and happy at the same time

We're getting into poisonivory territory so just trust if you like the pairing and poisonivory is writing it you'll like it. Ok rapidfire

Like A Handprint On My Heart mattfoggy soulmate au with a twist

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Damijon future fic/au. Jon came back from the future when both of them were 19. Demisexual!Damian at its best. Damian's terrified of being abandoned by Jon again and it made my heart hurt

I feel like I've already recommended every JayRoy fic by poisonivory and genuinely I do reread them all, sometimes in order of publication if I'm in a particular mood. Maybe the one I've read most though is I've Got the Feeling You're the Right Thing After All which is about Roy and Jason starting a fwb thing while Roy still harbors old feelings for Dick. Can't see anything going wrong here lmao

Mmm this post is long enough so I'll leave it at just superhero fic for now but I do in fact have the ability to do a whole post just for the Witcher or Leverage so I might do that. Anyway thanks for following me on yet another burst of insanity it will happen again

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

is there any major moon knight news? (Comics or Show) I wasn't always online and barely keep up with marvel stuff but I really love Moon knight

Major news? In the comics: He's alive again! But that's old news. He came back about a month or two ago.

Moon Knight (the title, not the character) now has two runs going, which is just...Unheard of in the Moon Knight fandom! Which means he is popular and Marvel is taking note of it. Which can lead to a lot of very good things! Phases of Moon Knight is an exploration of different Moon Knights that have existed. This is interesting for those looking for more of that delicious lore and Khonshu stuff and more of the Fists. (Not exactly my cup of tea, as I'm in it for my boys, but I'll read it!)

Moon Knight has also been popping up in other comics a lot more! And not just as a background ghost! Check out the new run of Werewolf by Night! We're getting back to our roots! (It also has Elsa, who is greatly underappreciated).

Speaking of - Marvel MCU has announced that they have plans for a season 2 of Werewolf by Night! In no way is this an official promise to do it, as they have not confirmed the cast return, dates, or story, but only that they are looking strongly into it!

Which, if they bring back WBN, it could mean a wider introduction into the MCU and the formation of something that Moon Knight could become a part of! (My boys getting back together with Jack!)

Moon Knight also appeared in the What If Venom issue as a key player and let us not forget the Blood Hunt vampire extravaganza lead by McKay! And it didn't suck! (At least the parts that I read didn't. I've yet to read the main parts). Considering how much Age of Khonshu sucked, this is good news! And means that Marvel might start looking at Moon Knight seriously and as a $$ item.

Sadly, there are no news sources that I can trust right now about a season 2 of Moon Knight. They have discussed off and on that Oscar is up to continue the part and that they are looking at a potentially good story line for season 2, so maybe that means they are starting to actively consider making a season 2.

I do think that Marvel MCU is a little gun-shy right now. They have been scrapping movies and shows and plans left and right as the interest in superhero movies wanes. But honestly, the lack of interest has to do with the fact that Marvel shat out things so fast and so connected that people started to feel lost and disrespected for not knowing ALL the lore, when they really just wanted to see their favorite characters do the thing. That's just my opinion.

(DC also didn't help by the massive fiasco of shitty SHITTY movies that were coming out and then the constant censorship of the studio leading to director releases and reshoots... That that's a different rant all together.)

In other news, Marvel has ALSO started to secretly and quietly release novelizations of comic runs!! WHAT?! Venom What If-Moon Knight novelization just came out this past week! (There is also a Loki novelization that just came out for all those Loki fans out there).

So for all those fans that love to read more in search of deeper thoughts and secrets and takes, there you go! (Man I used to suck down Novelizations of movies when I was little and I think I'm looking that way again, I say as I eye the new Batman sequel book that is about to come out).

Sooo... Probably not the news you were looking for, but I've got my finger vaguely on the pulse of Moon Knight news and trust me when I say don't fall for all the fucking click-bait headlines that say SEASON 2?!!! and then it's just a retelling of some old news they found that the fandom already knows about season 1. I hate the way today's news stories are written.

[duhragonball]

Just out of curiosity, who was your favorite character in part 1 of Chainsaw Man?

I'm gonna go with Makima, since she's basically the straw that stirs the drink.

I think the main problem with CSM part 1 is that a lot of the main cast is sort of just... there. A lot of Denji's coworkers will show up, do a few things, and then get massacred. The ones that stick around for a while can be difficult to keep track of. Even some of the cooler villains just sort of fizzle out as the plot passes them by. Part 2 might improve upon this. As I understand it, some Part 1 folks do come back for Part 2, so that seems like a good sign.

But as far as Part 1 goes, it's really just Denji and Makima. Everything else is just window dressing, diversions that get eliminated one by one as the plot reveals that it was only ever about Denji and Makima and no one else. I'm not saying Power and the rest were bad characters, but you could swap out any of them with others and the story isn't affected much.

Part of the reason I read CSM was because I was intrigued by the Makima design. I'd see images of this lady in fan art or cosplay or whatever, and she looks fairly ordinary except for the hypno eye thing. It's a great design, one that draws my attention and makes me wonder what her deal is. And when I read the comic to find out, the answer is complex and interesting enough to satisfy my curiosity.

These days I've been going through my comic book collection, trying to read old books that I've bought but never actually read, and a lot of them aren't that great. I'm currently in the middle of Showcase, a DC Comics anthology book that ran from 1993 to 1996. Some of the features are good, but most of them aren't, because they star forgettable characters in short, formulaic stories. This week I've read three different tales where a hero in a slump gets a kick in the pants. Aqualad assumes the new identity Tempest, the Golden Age Green Lantern becomes Sentinel, and Arion... well, I think he keeps his name, but he stops moping around a deli and decides to get back in the game. And all three of these tales involve the heroes regaining their resolve thanks to the manipulations of a wizard.

As it turns out, I think the Showcase series probably wasn't the best way to present all these minor super-heroes, because all it does is expose just how trite and boring their stories are. Worse, by sandwiching them between two other superhero features, you just expose how same-y they all are. No one seemed too concerned about making these characters stand out.

Well, I guess that's why I was eager to read Chainsaw Man but I left so many unread comics gather proverbial dust for so long. If it was just Denji carving up bad guys with his chainsaw head, it'd get old really fast. Makima added a counterbalance to the story that made the whole thing work. Somewhere along the way you begin to realize how insidious this all is, and yet Denji's way too simple a hero to fix it, so what can he do? And yet it all works out in a very satisfying way. Makima may have manipulated everyone else, but I got what I wanted out of her.

[archivalofsins]

So I spent the day out with my father dragging him to two movies in a row. Which leads me into this-

It will always be funny to me when English speaking specifically comic fans that are into Milgram discuss how mental health is portrayed in Milgram. Especially how it's lacking because the understanding of mental health in the east is lacking something that is reflected when it comes to media.

Like buddy the person writing this actually studied psychology this is actually pretty decent when it comes to that and written with care.

Not even touching on how that's just kind of a self-report. Saying that to me is pretty much announcing that some may not read many things from other areas or not wander out of their comfort zone much. Even when it comes to the thing they're saying is better. Because western comics is a big frontier with many canons.

Well, why are you bringing up this old thing now- Honestly because the funniest thing just happened and I think some people may enjoy pointing and laughing. Deservedly so at western comics and the media depiction of mental health. That is so far and leagues above everywhere else.

Meaning it would never touch on any similar points to Milgram ever. Because it's so much more advanced. So last week a new Harley Quinn graphic novel came out and the new Joker movie released-

Guess what these two things talk about~

This week alone I've read,

A new Young Adult graphic novel inspired by The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde that reimagines Harley Quinn's origin story and struggles with dissociative tendencies which to my knowledge (I'm not a walking dc canon encyclopedia) has only been implied and not expressly stated as due to drug experimentation. It has all the symptoms of the thing that shall not be named in western comics but since it's a western graphic novel just like with Elle(s) it can't be stated it's that.

So, it's due to a research experiment and treated as just a side-effect the same drug experimentation group that gives Pamela Isley (poison Ivy) plant powers by the way. They both were given different drugs I need to state that. It's not that absurd and it is a fun read.

Just to then go- Ya know; I've heard the new Joker movie is trash without really getting anything more than that. Mostly it's been why did they use Harley in this way. They should've just made that character Punchline. Which let's be real we all know why name recognition who the fuck knows Punchline for real- for real?

Any of you seen this woman the jokers new partner in crime?

Anybody know who this is outside of the fact she hates Harley Quinn. Because the only time I've seen her online is in contrast to Harley. Like I'm sorry yeah she has Punchlines story in this I can see that with as little as I know about this woman. But like it's not about Harley (Lee as she goes by briefly in this) it's about Joker (who isn't even anything much like the canonical joker already). So it'd be more accurate to say it's about Arthur Fleck and iteration of the joker.

But like it would have been great if this was Punchline would have been a amazing way to introduce her to the live action dc universe but they didn't do that. Because they wanted to make money of the name recognition well not entirely they also wanted to flip the script and highlight another reason this relationship would have never worked. Like the only thing that movie showed me was that Harley and the Joker should never be together.

This isn't portrayed as relationship goals it's abusive, unhealthy, and to an extent something done as both of their last resorts for separate reasons and founded on lies. It just puts Harley into the manipulator role which I can understand people taking offense to given the history of Harley's character.

Yet before I saw it. I was just curious. I was curious about what made this pretty quickly despised. So, I wanted to go see it for myself. Just to find out during the first five minutes it's about Arthur Fleck (Joker) having dissociative identity disorder. This is stated at first ambiguously through the Warner Brother's cartoon at the start of the film and then blatantly for the court case he's having.

It also kind of blatantly showcases that Harley and the Joker would never be good together quite blatantly. Like under any circumstances actually for the reasons stated above. But also funnily enough she likes Joker and not Arthur as soon as he's like not the guy she dumps him. This is a concern that's also brought up in The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley with Pamela and Harleen's relationship.

It's handled different there but an issue that is still covered none the less. Now when it comes to DC deviations from canon are nothing new and the first Joker movie already did that greatly.

I did find it interesting that they did highlight how easily manipulated individuals with mental health issues of any kind can be but particularly the way it highlighted this with DiD was just brutal. It's a depressing film it is not a good time.

I would not recommend going to see it. Unless you plan to talk shit in an empty theater than actually yeah its kind of fun.

The only movie I can compare it to is Primal Fear because it is a lot like that except it also has musical numbers. The amount of musical numbers in that film outlandish. Still they had Lady Gaga and said got damn it we're going to use her.

It's a crime movie that is literally what it was labeled as at the theater. It's slow the movie itself is over two hours and the first hour is set up. Still it also has a reputation of being so bad that I shit you not the theater I went to see it in with my father was completely empty. Like a group bought five seats in front of me they were sold on the thing I bought tickets on.

They did not show up. That bitch was empty during the fucking movie I got a text from an unknown number asking if I was okay like they could fucking sense I was watching the new Joker movie-

I was having the time of my fucking life though. Do you know how often I pray for theaters to be fucking empty. Private viewing for just me. I could just text while watching it. The shit said during that later half court case wild-

It was a fucking experience my dad the entire time,

"What is this shit how can they allow this in a theater."

Me damn karmas a bitch after all that good talk I saw about well it can't be like media here where depictions of mental health are always decent. It's like let's all just ignore these several things that do the same stuff actually.

Am I saying any of these things are bad to depict. No, it's important to have media that discuss these topics and I will always believe more is needed not less. No one individual can decide what is good representation or not. However, I think implying that certain cultures are more inept than others when it comes to depicting mental health in media is unwarranted and unfair.

The examples I listed here showcase that we are all working with the same information, the same stereotypes, and western media is in no way ahead of any other places when it comes to depictions of these things. Yes, it's better than it was when I was a child but that's only marginally so. It says a lot that the only time that this topic can be mentioned by name in western media and not danced around is within Joker.

In a story that was never going to have a happy end. The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley has a good ending, Elle(s) has a good ending. When it's explained away as anything other than what it is when it's not said aloud then characters can be happy. The fact that Milgram stated what it was is already better than most recent media that only alludes to it and then quickly shuffles about and goes but it's not that we swear.

That's how I genuinely feel about it. These were good I enjoyed them but like ya know wait a bit see what happens. Ya, know~

[isfjmel-phleg]

At the antique store today, I found a Batman comic from 1989. I didn't get it (although I did pick up another from the previous year that has a brief Angry Jason moment), but in the back was a letter page with responses to A Death in the Family and I took pictures. Here's a glimpse of what the 1989 Discourse was around Jason's death:

Some readers approached it in terms of story quality, like Bob U., who wrote a lengthy piece comparing it in quality to a previous story and concluded with

The voting, well, that was rather crass, if you ask me, but all in all, I think the characters stand up, and the pure adventure of it all will be remembered for years to come. You allowed the fans to contribute, and that couldn't have been easy. So thanks, I guess, for a few fun months of Batman and Robin, and what I hope will be some really brutal Dark-night Detective stuff in the months to come.

But other readers, like Rene S., had more emotional investment--in case some rather harsh and uncalled-for hatred of a fictional teenager:

After reading the conclusion of "A Death in the Family," I've only one thing to say: thank you very much for killing off Robin! I never liked the little gnat; he is not even the original Robin! I always thought that Batman looked a little bit silly running around with a fourteen (?) year old sidekick. Now the Batman is restored to his old glory, and I sincerely hope there won't be another Robin for some years to come (although I liked the girl Robin in DARK KNIGHT [i.e. Carrie Kelley], maybe you can do something with that...) Robin is dead, long live Batman!

Mitchell K. had none of that meanness but showed a fan-like interest in alternate endings:

I have been an avid Batman fan since I was a boy, and I just finished "A Death in the Family" series and thoroughly enjoyed it. I voted for Jason to live and was very shocked to see him die, but I was still very impressed with the rest of the story. But I can't help wondering how the story would have gone if Jason had lived. I would like to know if there is any way that DC Comics will ever publish the second ending.

To which the editor replied:

Mitchell, while we understand your curiosity, we have no plans at present to ever publish the "alternate" ending to BATMAN #428. Very few people even at DC have seen those pages, and sorry to say, but that for the time being the material will stay locked up tight in my file.

I hope Mitchell was inspired to create his own version of that ending! (Those top-secret alternate pages have since been glimpsed; they feature Batman holding Jason as he does in the original but exclaiming, "He's alive! Thank God!" and then Jason in the hospital in a coma with his recovery uncertain.)

Alvis S. has an unfortunate story about his thwarted intention to vote for Jason to live:

As I read "A Death in the Family," this time in the Graphic Novel form, I relived the frustration I felt when I read BATMAN #428. Why did I feel this frustration? It could be that on September 15th and 16th, the South Texas area was being threatened by Hurricane Gilbert. At that time, the Phone Company asked that the phone lines be kept clear for emergencies. Maybe my friends and I, who had planned to vote on keeping the late Jason Todd alive, could have made a difference. We made sure we voted on November 7th, though; but this time we have no excuses. What is done is done, but I will miss the effect Jason was having on our hero.

Shon G. was disgusted by the fandom's murderous attitude toward Jason:

It saddens me to see that comic fans are becoming so blood thirsty. I have never seen a character like Jason Todd be disliked so much. Maybe it was because he was no Dick Grayson. Who knows? But I know this: it tells you how far some people will go to get their way. I have also noticed that when a writer terminates a character, most people write in that it was a cop-out. This time it is not the writer's fault directly. It is ours. And it appears that a few people are being quite hypocritical. It is a shame you let us choose, for it is very frightening to know that, if given the chance, people will vote for the death of someone because of dislike. People always seem to miss possible alternatives. That makes us not only ignorant, but also narrow-minded. I am aware that this letter does not apply to everyone, but I wanted to, at least, voice my opinions on this situation. [...] P.S. Whatever happened to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"? Especially for those heroes who have given us so much--whether we admit it or not.

To which the editor replied:

Voicing opinions is what letter columns are all about, Shon. But I really don't think you give your fellow readers enough credit. Try to keep in mind that Jason Todd was a work of fiction (despite the incredible feelings of angst and finality we all felt as the votes came in [...]). You know as well as I do that if the phone vote was over the life or death of a real-life, living, breathing PERSON, the results would have been a little different. A LOT different.

...would it have been? For someone so apparently hated? Some people can be surprisingly just as cruel with real people as they are with fictional ones.

Similarly, Rob H. is concerned by such attitudes in the fandom:

First of all, let me say that I am not writing to complain about his [Jason's] death, nor am I writing to cheer about it. Personally, I do wish he had survived, although I must admit I wasn't fond of his character after his origin was changed after the Crisis; however, he was still an interesting character. I don't mind the fact that he is dead as much as I mind the manner of his death. The Joker didn't kill him. The readers did. He didn't die for any good purpose that I can see. He died because of some stupid idea to garner some free publicity. Look at all the media coverage it got. If it hadn't been for the phone-in poll, I doubt his passing would have gotten much attention at all. It just seems to me that the only reason he died was to make some money. I am not so concerned about the money aspect of his death, but with many readers' outright joy that he died. The letter column seems to be full of people gloating that they helped kill him. Why are they so overjoyed? They really seem to have hated him a lot. Why? It seems more and more readers are calling for the deaths of characters. In SUICIDE SQUAD, the readers keep pleading for more people to die. In NEW TITANS, readers seem to be calling for Danny Chase to die. What is this obsession with death? Admittedly, these characters are merely fictional, but doesn't this fixation with death seem like a sad commentary upon society? I, for one, like it when the heroes prevail. Sure I like realism in comics, but I also like the escapism. There is enough death and destruction in the world today. It seems to be getting harder to occasionally escape from the madness for even a short time.

In light of the outcome of the vote, it's good to know that there were some people who were disturbed by all that. Sure, it's "just a fictional character" whose death wouldn't matter in the same way that a real person's would, but if a fictional character is ultimately so inconsequential, why was there enough investment to warrant that level of vitriol? I tend to agree with Rob; it's "a sad commentary on society" that readers were so harsh.

Even if it resulted in some fascinating storylines, both shortly after and much, much later.

[gffa]

Hey! Love your blog for the sw content but ngl you have me window shipping dickbabs more and more everyday. I’m not reeeeally a comics person unless it has quality online format but I have been known to enjoy cartoons. Do you have any show recs to get me into the batfam? Sorry if this has already been asked (and answered somewhere else). Thanks again for all your great content! Love your blog!

Hi! Thank you for the kind words and I'm glad to be helping to at least tempt you into this pit, and I wish I had better recs for you, but I've been turning this over in my head for the last couple of days and keep coming back to that I don't know that I would recommend most of the animated series or movies/TV series for DC. Even the best bets would be: - Young Justice 2010 cartoon, which is overall decent, but DickBabs doesn't happen until like season 3, I think? (And I think Dick dates Kory for awhile before that?) And they're a very minor part of the show, even the Batfam as a whole is only one aspect of the show, it's really a multi-fam kind of series. As long as you know that it will have some major differences in relationship and character dynamics (like Superboy in the show and Kon from the comics share certain aspects, but they are also vastly different and I'm not sure you'd recognize Kon as the same character), it's a fun show to watch overall! - Batman: The Animated Series 1992 + The New Batman Adventures 1997 was absolutely, incredibly groundbreaking at the time it came out, but that means it's 30 years old now and a lot of it is going to be incredibly dated compared to current stuff. I do still love it and the Dick/Babs episodes are TOP NOTCH (so much delicious yearning oh my god) and the flashback to when Dick was a kid are also great, but there's a LOT of basic cartoon action stuff that's not that exciting anymore and it might feel like a long haul. Cautiously recommended if you don't mind viewing it through an old-fashioned lens, don't mind that Dick tends to be more in his "angry teenage years" than his more settled 20s, and you're okay with zipping through any parts that bore you. - The Batman 2004 is another series that's pretty dated, but in a way I find deeply charming, because it really leaned into the gothic aesthetic and wasn't afraid to try some new things with the character designs. I usually suggest skipping forward to season 4 when Dick shows up (and I greatly enjoy his and Babs' dynamic, they're kids at the time, it's not a romance here, but it's not hard to see that one day they could grow up into the characters they'll be in other versions) but the whole show is just a good Batman cartoon! Honorable mentions: - Justice League: The Animated Series 2001 which I don't think Dick or Babs ever appeared in, but is still probably THE best DC animated series. It's not super complex, but what it did, it did very well, and is still pretty influential to this day. - If you don't mind reading an online comic, the Wayne Family Adventures webtoon is a very easy intro point, has very pretty art, and will get you reasonably familiar with the characters! (I sort of liken it to LEGO adaptations, it's meant to be light-hearted and occasionally genuinely touching, it focuses on extremes of the characters and memeable moments, rather than the more sharp-edged comics, but that makes it all the better for an entry point imo.) Beyond that, I can't really think of anything I would necessarily recommend to help get new fans into the Batfam characters (I wouldn't recommend the Harley Quinn show as a starting place for them, nor the Teen Titans cartoon, and I don't really personally care for any of the animated movies personally, other than maybe Super Sons, which was absolutely adorable and a great intro to Jon and Damian), because DC has a really weird track record on adapting them into non-comics mediums and I just enjoy the comics so much more. Though, if others have recs or would offer a rebuttal against some of the suggestions, feel free, because I would love to have easier ways into the comics

[teratron]

"Wonder Woman: Hush", or Wonder Woman Vol. 1 by Tom King review

I've been reading this monthly but wanted to wait until the first few issues were collected as a trade to review it since King's work I'm told his work reads better collected than standalone. King and Sampere were probably the biggest high profile team to be put on the Wonder Woman book since Rucka back in Rebirth in 2016 (eight years ago, damn).

I have real prior attachment to King's work since I've read his Batman run sparingly and almost none of his various miniseries. Interviews he gave went back and forth on making me excited. On one hand, he brought the old tired line of "WW has no good stories" that he usually backtracked on when pushed but on the other hand his story about being inspired by George Perez to write the book despite his initial disinterest was nice to hear.

King came in swinging in certain respects with stuff like the general plotline of the U.S. vs. Amazons and introducing the idea of Diana having a daughter (to be talked about a later time). But if there's one main thing I think I could talk about when it comes this run so far is that I think I figured out what King is going for so far. That being to give WW her equivalent of a Batman: Hush story.

Hush, for the few who don't know, being the famous Jeff Loeb/Jim Lee Batman story from the 2000s most notable for the introduction of the titular Hush character and it's art (if you've seen any Batman poster or image from the past two decades, chances are you've seen a page from Hush). Part of what makes the story so famous being that while it's story pretty bare bones/thin, it serves as a very popular tour of both Batman himself and his larger world without having to retread his origin. His rogues gallery, his relationship with Catwoman, the Bat family, Superman, you name it Hush probably has it. So with that in mind, I thought I'd tackle this first volume through the lenses.

New Villains, Same Problems

Like with Hush, we're introduced to a hyped a new villain (not uncommon in WW history sadly) who was supposedly always in the background before finally "revealed" in this storyline. In this case, The Sovereign, a "King of America" who speaks in plural and the latest descendent of a long line of rulers who has been secretly ruling America since the first colonists arrived.

We get quite a lot of him in this opening arc, mainly through his narration as it's presented in past tense of Sovereign telling Diana's future daughter, Trinity, of his failed war against her mother. This has been a point of contention for some as instead of getting Diana's own insights of what's going on around her, we instead this guy's P.O.V. just telling us how he continually underestimated Wonder Woman only for her to continually triumph over him despite what he through at her.

One of the things King said in interviews was to make "Wonder Woman cool" and this has been reasonable criticism that most of the plots have been "Sovereign underestimates Diana and is surprised when Diana overcomes him". With this in mind, my interpretation of Sovereign has come to be he's less about what he says about America (though there certainly is stuff there to look at) and more specifically how he's a "stand-in" on certain types of comic book fans.

The type of comic fan who knows Wonder Woman but doesn't read her solo adventures, at most reads her when she pops up in other people's books. The type of fan who thinks WW's traditional weapons of the bracelets and lasso are lame in comparison to the sword and shield. The type of fan thinks Wonder Woman's only "role" in the DC Universe is to be a second-rate female Superman and token girl on the Justice League. A Wonder Woman who knows her place and doesn't upset any feelings by bringing up any of that annoying feminism. Like Sovereign, these fans are surprised (and in the case of "power scalers") and quick to anger when Diana far out exceeds their expectations and challenges their previous view of her.

Sovereign getting defeated so easily is a surprise to him but not to us. And so far he hasn't been defeated by the popular image of Diana as a sword swinging barbarian looking for blood. But by a Diana who forgoes her sword, and relies on her own natural abilities and her true iconography of the lasso, bracelets, and even the Invisible Jet. A Wonder Woman who can take time out of her life to visit a sick boy and take him to Themyscira. A Wonder Woman who relies on her relationship with Steve Trevor for help, not the traditional "alpha males", Superman and Batman.

We, as Wonder Woman fans, already know Wonder Woman is cool but Sovereign (like these fans) doesn't.

Now with that in mind, it's not like there hasn't been problems with King's approach. His dialogue has never been his strongest aspect and even with my own interpretation in mind, it does get flat out repetitive after a while. Solicitations (as of this writing) seem to suggest issue #14 will the start of the end of the Sovereign storyline and in that case, I am interested with how King will proceed from there once he can't fall back on Sovereign's narration.

A Grand Tour

King has said in interviews he's using a mentality of "give the fans what they want/makes them happy". This primarily meaning, despite new creations like Sovereign or unrelated characters like Sarge Steel, much of his run has been a grand tour of most of the major aspects of Wonder Woman world.

Lasso and bracelets as her main tools? Check

Invisible jet? Check

Showcase her villains? Check

Reference the clay origin as much you can? Check

And continuing beyond just these six issues with spotlights on Steve Trevor and Cheetah.

Probably the biggest example of this being he originally made it a rule that he wanted to keep the focus on Diana and that meant "no Wonder Girls". But fans asking him repeatedly made him change his mind and thus, amusingly enough, King has probably done more to write a cohesive "Wonder Family" in a similar fashion to the Bat-Family than people like Gail Simone, George Perez, or Greg Rucka.

It's a nice move from King though ironically, while I thought he's written them well, I'm actually not the biggest fan of the Wonder Girls if I'm honest. So I'll just ask King nicely if he ever sees this that I'd happily take an Artemis team up!

Villains We Love To Hate

It's been a contentious issue for many WW fans that her rogues gallery is so often poorly thought of and treated. Tying back into my earlier point about Sovereign being a stand-in for the people who underestimate Wonder Woman's value in real-life, I'd say that also goes for the villains.

Here, it's not the U.S. Army, or any other traditional obstacle Sovereign throws at Wonder Woman that defeats her. Instead the only thing that comes closest enough are her rogues working together.

King didn't go to much into depth on them, I hope to see what he does in future issues, but a detail I liked is the gravitas he and Sampere all gave them. Sarge Steel, Sovereign's lacky and man on the ground, gets made a fool of by almost all of them and even Sovereign himself shows up to Grail in person as a sign of respect. It's a rare showing of WW's villains being treated as people you don't want to mess with.

Issue #6 is probably my favorite purely from a showcase spectacle of seeing Diana run a gauntlet of her most famous rogues and still taking the time to showcase both her sheer power and also endless compassion.

The Princess Herself

This brings us to King's writing of the main woman herself. He hasn't made a secret he finds her difficult and was hesitant to take her on. Something a lot of Wonder Woman fans are used to hearing from most writers.

King certainly leans more towards the royal and slightly stiff way of making her speak. This was similar to how he wrote her the few times she showed up in his work before and I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of it. Diana's been written as formal before with writers such as Perez and Jimenez but here it just kind of bugs me. Mainly the lack of any contractions. I realize King is trying to emulate Diana having an accent but on the page it makes her come as almost aloof to the people around her.

As for her characterization? I'd say he's been mostly on the ball there's stuff that's doesn't sit quite right with me like threatening to disembowel people in the middle of combat but stuff trying to check up on Silver Swan to help her while in the middle of fighting Giganta is a pretty dead-on Wonder Woman moment.

I feel King's hesitance in writing becomes apparent with how much he relies on the Sovereign's narration. I feel, more hope honestly, that this is him finding a way to ease into writing Diana more normally rather than relying on people around her.

The Art

Anyone familiar with this run so far is probably aware the most praised talking point is Daniel Sampere's art. And it's entirely justified, Sampere leans more towards the portraying characters as these living icons, similar to Alex Ross, and his work on Wonder Woman might the best showcase of the ability.

It's known King is a light-scripter, so it's obvious it leaves much what will probably be the most well-remembered moments of this run up to Sampere's imagination.

All told, I'd say Sampere is probably my favorite "modern Wonder Woman artist", at least the best since Nicola Scott and Liam Sharp.

Final Thoughts and the Future

There's still a bit more I want to talk about but I'm only reviewing the first trade here so that leaves out me wanting to get to review his issues following #6 but overall I would say these were so far some of the strongest run of issues for Wonder Woman since Greg Rucka. The art is doing a lot of heavy lifting but if King's philosophy is to "make the fans happy" than I'd say in this fan's case, I'm pleased so far with these first six ones.

I do have more substantial critiques for the later issues but I feel I'll leave it here for now. It's also apparent I didn't talk about Trinity but I feel she's best given her own review/post for herself since I didn't want to muddy the water of this (probably too long) review.

We'll check back in with issues #7 - 10 when the next trade release.

P.S.

We'll be skipping the Absolute Power tie-ins though. #11 was completely awful and I'm not interested in a Damien Wayne team up. Sorry King, even I got limits.

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Moon Rocks

Fandom: DC Comics, Batfam

Summary: Jason accidentally reunites his mother with an old friend after being caught shoplifting.

Chapters: 3/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Catherine Todd, Natalia Knight

Additional Tags: No Capes AU, No Powers AU, Angst and Fluff, Old Flames, Romance

Chapter Three: Feed Roller

Natalia took Jason back home to get his things from the apartment. Natalia sat in the living room while he packed. Jason stepped out into the living room and stared at Natalia for a while. He couldn't figure out what to say to her. "Where'd you meet my mom?" Jason asked.

Natalia turned to him and pushed her hair behind her ears. "We met in the cafeteria," Natalia whispered, "Kitty had everything she owned with her… So, I just sort of came up to her and asked if she wanted to be my roommate. She didn't have a job, and she didn't know anyone, but I was all alone at home." Jason stood in silence, and she smiled at him. "Do you want to stay in her old room?"

"You're still staying in the same place?" Jason asked. Natalia nodded. "How come?"

"It's where I grew up… I'm actually sort of excited to have you come stay with me. I know given the circumstances, you're probably not thrilled to go with me—." She grew silent as she looked at the expression on his face. He knit his brows together and went back into the room to pack. She sighed as she realized she might've said something wrong. Jason finished packing and put on his back.

"I'm ready to go now," Jason whispered.

His heart was heavy at the thought of leaving his home, but he knew it was what Catherine wanted. Natalia offered to carry his bag, and he shook his head. "No, it's alright." Natalia walked him down to the car, and the drive to her house was near silent except for the radio.

Natalia cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Excuse me," she whispered, "Jason, you can change the station if you—."

"No, it's okay. I like this station," Jason interrupted as he stared out the window. "I've never been this far out."

"So, you've never been to the observatory?" Natalia asked. "I only asked because that's where I work. I don't know if you're interested in going—." She glanced over at him and noticed he'd turned to look at her.

"Maybe not now, but I'll let you know," Jason whispered. He remembered Catherine's plea for him to be kind. "Thank you for the offering." She nodded. "Did they say when I can see her?"

"After a minimum of three days. Maybe more if Kitty's really sick, but it's looking like you'll be able to see her by the end of the week," Natalia answered. She pulled up to a gate and punched in a code. Once they were inside the gates, Natalia led him to the front door, and Jason fought the urge to mention the size of her home. She led him up the stairs and down the hall. "You can have any of these four rooms."

"Which one was my mom's?" Jason asked. Natalia smiled and pointed to the last door on the left. He stopped at the end of the hall and looked out the window before entering the bedroom. He was shocked to see the deep colors of the paint on the walls.

"She painted the whole room by hand… Sometimes I would come in and watch her work. She said she wanted to see the stars," Natalia lit up as she went on to explain the decor in the room. Jason set his bag down in the corner and looked around.

"You kept it the same… The whole time?" Jason asked. Natalia nodded. "That's cool." She smiled and looked around one last time before excusing herself.

Jason never unpacked his bag. Instead, he took a book off of her shelf and sat down in an old bean bag chair on the floor. He read quietly to himself until he fell asleep. It comforted him to be in Catherine's old room. He slept until close to dinnertime. "Jason?" Natalia whispered. She tapped her nails against the door frame. He didn't stir, so she came close to him and tapped his arm. "Jason? Are you hungry?"

He took a sharp inhale of air through his nose, and he flinched away from her. It was a force of habit. "Sorry, what were you saying?" Jason asked.

She sat on the floor across from him. "I made dinner. Want to come downstairs and eat with me?" Natalia offered. Jason pressed his palms against his eyelids and nodded. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," he mumbled as he got up and followed her down to the dining room. She'd already made his plate. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and started to eat. "The chicken is good… Thank you," Jason whispered awkwardly.

"Thank you, Jason. Is there anything specific that you usually like to eat?" Natalia asked.

"Nuh-uh. Mostly we just ate soup and stuff like that," Jason replied, "But I'm not picky."

Natalia struggled to find things to talk about with him, but she wanted to know him. "Jason? What book were you reading, if you didn't mind my asking?" Natalia asked.

"One of Mom's old books… Animal Farm?" Jason raised a brow. Natalia smiled.

"Let me know what you think of it when you're done," Natalia held back a chuckle. "Jason?" He looked up from his dinner and took a sip of his milk. "Is there anything you'd like to know about Kitty?"

"The um... She went to college with you. What did she study?" Jason asked.

"Art and English Literature. Have you found her typewriter yet?" Natalia asked. Jason shook his head and lit up. "I'll show you where it is later. Do you write?"

"Umm... Well, kind of. I'm not that good, though," Jason replied. Natalia took a sip of her sparkling grape juice.

"Kitty used to say the same thing before she found her voice. Maybe you just need to find yours," Natalia reassured him, "Mmph-. Do you want dessert? I've got half a plum cheesecake left in the fridge."

"Sure... Thanks," Jason replied, "Hey, Miss Knight?"

"You can call me Nat. It's okay," she smiled.

"Is this weird for you too?" Jason asked.

She chuckled and nodded. "But it's a good weird... It's nice to have you here," Natalia confessed. Jason smiled because he knew she meant it.

After they ate, Jason cleared the table and washed the dishes despite Natalia telling him it was no big deal. "It's a big deal to me. I used to do the dishes at home all the time," Jason whispered. Natalia sat at the kitchen island, waiting for him to turn around. Jason dried his last dish and turned to her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just nice to have someone else around the house again," she whispered. Jason hugged her, and before she could react, he made his way up the stairs and back to his room. She chuckled at the sweetness of the gesture.

[redrikki]

2024 Pride Month Masterpost

I've written a bunch of queer stories in a bunch of fandoms. Enjoy!

Agent Carter

Because Girls Love Girls (The Soulmate City Remix) - There’s something in the water and the next thing Angie knows, she’s waking up with the name Margaret Carter wrapped around her wrist. (Angie Martinelli/Peggy Carter)

One Last Kiss (The Final Storm Remix) - You never forget your first kiss with your nemesis. Dottie won’t forget her last either. At Howard Stark’s funeral, she puts a few things in the ground. (Peggy Carter/Dottie Underwood)

Avatar: Legend of Korra

Girl, Gotten (The Heroine After Remix) - As long as Asami’s the hero, Korra’s okay being the love interest. (Korra/Asami Sato)

Leaves on the Wind - Korra, Asami, and the next Avatar (past Korra/Asami Sato)

Ten-Thousand Words (Which Once See the Light of Day) -  A series of short stories about the ladies of Legend of Korra. (bisexual Asami Sato/Mako, various het pairings)

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Playing with Fire (The Dubiously Consensual Remix) - People didn’t tell Azula no. (Azula/Ty Lee)

Battlestar Galactica 

Persephone on New Caprica - It’s winter on New Caprica and they’re all Persephone here.  A collection of short stories. (bisexual Felix Gaeta/Eight, various het pairings) Trigger warning: non-con/dub con

Batwoman (TV)

Trapped in the Closet - Kate was never afraid to come out to her father, but she is now. Episode tag to the season 1 finale. (lesbian Kate Kane)

Pride - A small army of Batwomen marched at Pride. Ryan should be marching with them. (lesbian Ryan Wilder)

Black Lightning (TV)

Comic Book Life - Comic book Thunder’s boyfriend knew what his woman did, so why couldn’t Anissa tell her girlfriend? (Anissa Pierce/Grace Choi)

Truth Will Out - Anissa’s in the closet about her superhero life. Three times she thought about telling Grace and one time she actually did. (Anissa Pierce/Grace Choi) 

Maybe Baby - “Ever think about what kind of power’s you and Grace’s kids would have?“ Jen asked, raising possibilities Anissa had never considered before. (Anissa Pierce/Grace Choi, Jennifer Pierce)

Sleeping Beauty - Grace had been in coma for over a month now, but Anissa still couldn’t help thinking each visit that this would be the one where she woke up. Maybe today it would be. (Anissa Pierce/Grace Choi)

Cat Lover - When your wife was a deadly jungle cat, it paid to be cautious but Anissa meant to get eaten. (Anissa Pierce/Grace Choi)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Short and to the Mr. Pointy - Collection of drabbles set across all 7 seasons. (Willow Rosenberg/Tara McClay, Willow Rosenberg/Kennedy, Willow Rosenberg/Oz, Larry/Xander Harris, various het pairings)

Cobra Kai

Make a Wish - Tommy has a different confession in episode 2.06 "Take a Right." (Tommy/Johnny Lawrence)

Queer Eye for the Karate Guy - “Our hero this week is Sensei Johnny Lawrence,” Karamo read off the pad. “He’s a 53-year-old, 6-foot-tall master of karaté.” Queer Eye/Cobra Kai crossover. (Queer Eye cast)

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (TV)

The Beast You Made of Me - The Waverider’s resident shapeshifters compare notes. (Mona Wu, Genderfluid Charile) 

Neither Should You (The Real People Remix) - Rescuing her clones was the right thing to do. They deserved the right to live their lives and make their own choices. Ava just wished they’d stop sleeping with Gary. (Ava Sharpe/Sara Lance, Ava Clones/Gary Green, implied Gary Green/John Constantine)

Army of One - Sara Lance was dead. Sara Lance was a clone. Sara Lance was going to need a minute to process. Tag to "Bishop's Gambit," episode 6.06. (bisexual Sara Lance)

Downton Abbey

The Hedgehog’s Dilemma - Thomas Barrow’s daemon is a hedgehog. Five warnings, four relationships, and one revelation. (Thomas Barrow/Duke of Crowborrough, Thomas Barrow/Edward Courtney, Thomas Barrow/Jimmy Kent)

Snakes and Lions - Hogwarts AU. In Thomas, Jimmy finds that courage isn’t exclusive to Gryffindors.  Now if only he could find some himself. (Thomas Barrow/Jimmy Kent)

Genius Loci - Downton Abbey consumes people and it won’t let Thomas go. (gay Thomas Barrow) Trigger warning: referenced canon suicide attempt

When the Wolf Comes Home - Buggery is legal in the army, required even, for wolf-brothers. Bates, Lord Grantham, and their wolves have a certain history. Thomas can't help thinking about it. Fusion with A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear. (Thomas Barrow, past Robert Crawley/John Bates)

Kipo and the Age of Wonerbeasts

Dream Girls - On the surface, Mulholland had given Wolf everything she had thought she wanted: her and Kipo, the two of them buff and tough and together. Her guilt had kept her from really enjoying it, but it hadn’t been why she fought back. (Wolf/Kipo)

The Hero Was You - Benson likes Troy and Troy likes Benson. Great! Now all Benson has to do is figure out what to do about it. (Benson/Troy)

A Post Post-Apocalyptic Romance - It was kind of wild when he thought about it. Benson and Troy had fallen for each other super fast, but, between the rescue and the other rescue and all the running around with HMUFA, they’d never really gotten to know each other. Luckily, without Scarlemagne and Dr. Emilia trying to capture and/or kill them, they finally had the time to get to know each other as Benson introduced Troy to the city. (Benson/Troy)

Miraculous Ladybug

Better Than Ice Cream - Orange, mint, and raspberry could be a tasty combination. The solution to every love triangle should be polyamory, but sometimes it’s just not that simple. Spoilers for Love-Eater. (Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Adrien Agreste/Kagami Tsurugi)

The Old Guard 

Take What the Water Gave Me - Quynh drowns and wakes and in between are Booker and Andromache. She would take his life if she could. So she does. (Quynh/Andy)

Orphan Black

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl - There’s something magical about Uncle Felix’s flat.  Maybe it’s all the art. (Kira Manning, gay Felix Dawkins, lesbian Cosima Niehaus)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

She-Ra (Modesty) Shorts - Three very short Catra/Adora stories. (Catra/Adora)

Parting Strands - Looking out for each other had been their thing, but Adora’s starting to suspect that’s over. Her thoughts during that scene in "Promise.” (Catra/Adora)

Sick Leave - Back when they were kids in the Horde, they used to hide when they got sick. It’s a hard habit to break, but things are different now and Catra really should be in bed. (Catra/Adora)

Another First Kiss - Five times Catra thought about kissing Adora and one time Adora kissed her. (Catra/Adora)

Spider-man (Ultimates verse)

Queen of Lower Chelsea - Jessica Drew may not be a real girl, but she’s trying to build a real life. (gender-queer Jessica Drew)

Fingertips That Might Ignite - Peter is straight like a straight thing.  Jessica isn’t sure what she is. (Jessica Drew/Johnny Storm, Jessica Drew/OFC)

We Were Orphans Before - The first time Jessica ran into Peter after the Wave she grabbed him into a hug. (gender-queer Jessica Drew, Peter Parker)

Gonna Share My Tin Man Heart - Kitty moves in and Kitty moves out. Jessica falls in love somewhere along the way. (Jessica Drew/Kitty Pride)

Star Wars

For Amidala - Her handmaidens had all poured so much of themselves into Amidala, it was like they were part of her now. Padmé didn’t know if she had the strength to let one go. (Padmé/Her Handmaidens)

Dateline Felucia - Embedded with the troops on Felucia, a reporter from HoloNet News paints an intimate portrait of the men of the 212th Attack Battalion. (Obi-Wan/Cody, Waxer/Boil)

Tag - Sabine and Ketsu, bounty hunters extraordinaire, argue about how to sign their work. (Sabine Wren/Ketsu Onyo)

When I Was Your Age - Kanan, Ezra, and the fruits of a misspent youth. (Pansexual Kanan Jarrus)

Stranger Things

Date Night - Everyone and her mother seems to think they’re together and Robin’s getting pretty sick of it. (lesbian Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington)

Umbrella Academy (TV)

Iconic - When Vanya learns Klaus is gay from a magazine, she’s angry for more than just one reason. (queer Vanya & Klaus Hargreeves)

White Collar

Eyes on the Target (The Solid Ground Remix) - Peter asked Diana to keep an eye on Neal for him while he’s stuck in jail. It could be going better. (lesbian Diana Barrigan, Neal Caffrey)

[skepsiss]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by @strangersteddierthings, I've never even thought about half of these questions, so.... we're gunna go on a journey together. I MISSED SEVERAL QUESTIONS LMAO. LEMME UPDATE.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

18 (I only post like 1/3 of my fics on AO3)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

66,922. I pay such little attention to this kinda stuff xD

3. What fandoms do you write for?

A lot... and a lot more than what is listed on my AO3. If we're friends I'll literally just message you a 2k+ fic in a DM for funsies.

Stranger Things (TV 2016) (8)

Overwatch (Video Game) (5)

Teen Wolf (TV) (1)

Castlevania (Cartoon 2017-2021) (1)

Critical Role (Web Series) (1)

Promare (2019) (1)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) (1)

DC Comics / Batman (Tim Drake / Kon-El)

Orphan Black

Marvel (Steve/Tony)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Basket Ball Shorts

Roadrat: The Fire that Covered the World

The Comfort of Warmth (Lio/Galo)

Fifty-fifty (Roadhog / Junkrat)

Perspective (Caleb / Essek)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes. As soon as I see them I will reply with a thank you or to engage with someone's question/musings/etc.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably a Roadrat one. It's been a while since I've read my work, but The Things They Lost is a Roadrat fic where I explored a bunch of like... when Junkrat lost his arm and stuff like that. Brutal, tbh. Next closest is my Alucard (OT3) Castlevania fic where he is BIG SAD about Trevor and Sypha not being there. Nights Spent Alone.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

UUuhhhuhuhuh..... I mostly write sad shit LOL. Milkshakes has a happy ending. It's a 2 part modern-day Steddie fic about the boys asking each other out on a date over Instagram.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've never seen any hate on my fics before.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Uhh, yeah. I do. PWP or With Plot. I like full stories that have smut that BELONGS there, but then we've got just straight-up PWP. That is what Basketball short is tbh.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No, never written a crossover. I've written lots of AUs though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No. Dunno how I'd figure that out.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope. Dunno what that would look like tbh.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Steddie; for right now. My other top 3 are Harley/Ivy, Tim/Kon-El, and Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

NO IDEA. Lol, all my unfinished WIPs are either ones I have no interest in finishing (Roadrat), or ones I can complete faith in being able to finish (Steddie)

16. What are your writing strengths?

Speed. I can compose a story very quickly and put it together.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I never promote myself/share. I'm really bad at sharing my works. Additionally, I'm bad at finishing things before I lose interest.... eep.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Uuhh maybe. I def have some Ancient Greek and Latin in my up-coming Robin (Stobin platonic) fic.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I'm not sure... maybe Batman (Tim/Jason or Tim/Kon). I RP'd A LOT from ages 13-18 and had like 5-8 rps going at once for a whole bunch of fandoms. (Naruto, OCs in the Star Wars universe, Tim/Kon, and more I can't remember atm).

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Ooohhh, I dunno. I'm bad at picking favourites. Right now I'm pretty proud of my Because I Want You Steddie fic. It's Steve and Eddie as 30-year-olds with kids. They broke up in their 20s and are trying to get back together in their 30s. Eddie has a complete breakdown in it, but Steve is there to tell him that he loves him.

I don't think about this stuff at all xDDD Fic writing is just a pass time for me. This will be the first time EVER in over 18 years of writing fic that I've EVER participated in an exchange/Big Bang. I'll tag @medusapelagia @oh-stars @br0ck-eddie @kallisto-k