#touch of gold

[comyetani]

theyve been on my mind

[idliketobeatree]

10. in the meanwhile as you chop down our roots measure out D E V O T I O N add lantern oil stir the concoction counter-clockwise. leave it to simmer on the lowest heat. [charles' book of secrets] poem by me art quote by @wordsinhaled

[sharp-fanged13]

What a wonderful occassion to remember this happened and is canon af:

[motherwench]

jeanette lee, a brooklyn-born pool player nicknamed the “black widow” for her tendency to wear all black outfits and “lure [her] opponents to the table and eat them alive.” some of my favorite photos of her :)

her vogue article here. sports illustrated article here.

photo creds: 1 - drew endicott via vogue. 2. 3. 4.

[feminist-furby-freak]

One reason I’m vocal about being a “gold star” lesbian / never having slept with or dated a man is because I feel it goes against the dominant lesbian narrative. I’m talking about the lesbian master doc “am I gay or are girls just really really pretty” back and forth years of experimenting stereotype. For gay men I feel like the narrative is always how they’ve always known since they were small children. Because of this I love talking about how I knew I was a lesbian since I was a kid and never questioned it enough to feel like I had to try out a man. Again, this isn’t because I think I’m better than bisexual women or lesbians who have been with males but because I’m sick of the only lesbian coming out story being the indecisive oh do I love my best friend or am I in love with her. Again, nothing wrong with that either I just don’t think that’s necessarily the norm but it is in pop culture. This of course ties into the stereotype that women’s sexuality is more fluid and less certain and that lesbians are less gay than gay men.

[fullscoreshenanigans]

Posuka Demizu's Second TPN Christmas Art for 2024 [Complementary Piece | Source]

[soni-dragon]

first comes a blessing of all that you’ve dreamed, then comes the curses of diamonds and rings

[themandylion]

Every once in a while I'm reminded that not everyone has read Booster Gold (2007) and thus aren't familiar with the fact that Batman is the only* Post-Crisis hero who truly believes Booster is a True Hero.

So today I'm going to educate you!

I can't really talk about Booster/Michael Carter prior to Ted Kord's death (because I haven't read those comics). I don't know about his earlier solo series or any team-ups he was in before the 2007 series, aside from when he kidnapped Jaime during Infinite Crisis to help take down Brother Eye. But I did read his 2007 solo (it's good, there's a lot of interesting stuff that happens in it), and the part that always stuck with me was when he kept the Joker from shooting Barbara Gordon.

If you don't remember that happening, that would be because he failed. But not for the reason that most people might think, considering Booster's reputation as a joke, only in the hero-ing game for fame and fortune.

See, the premise of the 2007 Booster Gold series is that he gets recruited by Rip Hunter to correct problems in the timeline. There's an entire thing going on where a group of villains are deliberately causing disruptions for their own personal reasons, but we're not here to talk about that! Because before Booster could really get into the swing of fixing the timeline, he first had to learn why. Why it was so important that he do this, but also why it was that these schmucks could successfully make changes but he couldn't save Ted?

Early on (issue #5, as it happens), Rip tells Booster there's an abnormal wormhole in Gotham on the night Joker shot Barbara Gordon—something that was never supposed to happen! He tasks Booster with reversing this. It, well. It doesn't go well.

Booster: Send me back. I need to try again. Rip: You've lost a lot of blood-- Booster: Now, dammit!

He failed to stop the Joker from shooting Barbara and got beat up in the process—Joker even grabbed Skeets and beat Booster with it at one point! Booster bruised and battered and all around not having a good time. But nonetheless, he's is determined to try again.

So he does. Over and over and over again. He gets electrocuted, bashed into a window, shot—these are the tries that are shown in the comic but it could very well have been that he tried even more and there just wasn't space to show it. Each time he fails and returns, he's demanding to go back again before Rip even finishes patching him up.

Finally, Rip tells him he needs to stop. He confesses there was never an abnormal wormhole at this event. Joker is always going to win, Barbara is always going to end up paralyzed. It's a solidified moment in time, something that can never be changed—just like Ted's death.

Booster: Damn it, I can do it! Rip: You'd only die trying to save her. I'm sorry.

Things get a bit physical—Booster shoves Rip, shouts at him. Gets ready to abandon this whole mission since the main reason he went along with it in the first place was the possibility of saving Ted. This being comics, some stuff happens next that stops him from giving up, and we're left to believe that Rip was correct when he told Booster that, "Anything from the present on back cannot be changed."

However, as later issues will prove, this simply isn't true. Why? Because of this whole mess that was never a real mission and only ever happened in order to teach Booster a lesson about inevitability. In fact, as we find out in issue #1,000,000 (which is really like... issue 11 but also issue 12 because DC was doing some weird stuff with number in the 2000s—there's an issue 0 between 6 and 7 similar to how issue 1 million comes between 10 and 11) Booster trying to save Barbara did change something. Just not what he expected.

In issue 1 million, Batman summons Booster to the Bat Cave, pulling him out of an awkward confrontation with Green Arrow (Ollie) and Green Lantern (Hal). There's some back and forth—Booster assumes Bruce wants to chew him out for being a screw-up (he's already feeling down and on the outs with Rip again). Instead of saying anything, Batman throws a bunch of photographs at Booster.

Photographs from the camera Joker was wearing when he shot Barbara. Mostly of her looking awful... but also of Booster, broken and bloody and horrible. Batman reveals he's held onto these photos for years—waiting until Booster was wearing a suit that matched the one he had on in the photos. Waiting until he was grown up enough to explain how he was there that night.

Booster can't explain everything—part of being a time agent means you can't tell people you're a time agent (in fact, him being a joke hero is actually part of his cover). But this wasn't actually a time agent mission, so he says he tried to save her, but he couldn't. He tried over and over again, but all he did was fail, because he's a joke.

Batman: A joke? Batman: I don't know what you're up to, but I can see the pain and punishment you took from the Joker. Batman: You were literally tortured. You risked your life for a chance she might walk again.

He goes on to give Booster a genuine pep talk, telling him it's fine if the rest of the world thinks he's crazy if that's what it takes to be the best he can be. That Booster has proven himself not only to Batman, but also to himself. And then they shake hands and it's super-duper touching and I'll be honest, it's very, very hard for me to not just stick whole pages in here. This bit always gets me choked up and emotional. (He offers to listen to Booster the way Ted used to! He tells him to keep up the good work!!)

Anyway. More people should write about how Batman is the only* hero in the Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint continuity who believes in Booster Gold and has absolute faith in him.

*Caveat that Jaime Reyes and a handful of others are also aware of some of what Booster is up to during this period, but most of those other heroes are actively involved in time shenanigans with him.

[blaiddraws]

enthralled with the ancient hero outfit but unsettled by the in-game execution of it (just has that Uncanny aspect and not in a fun way. genuinely they should have consulted a furry artist) so i finally drew it myself

[satoblue]

satoru would absolutely buy anything and everything that catches your eye. if you stare at a purse for a millisecond too long or take something from the rack to simply get a closer look at the design or pattern — he is already behind you and snatching it from your hands, throwing it into the large pile in the cart bc something about it must’ve appealed to you so he must purchase it

[the-moody-angel]

Imagine the following show, if you will so humor me.

A group of criminals, coming together to do a job but them ending up as their own awkward little found family. Each one of them has their own unique background and skill set, drastically different from any of the others. They joined this venture for different reasons but the more time they spend around each other, the closer they get.

They're led by a man with a stick up his ass, plenty of sarcasm, and a tragic past. He plays the tough guy but he loves each of his felons dearly, although good luck getting him to admit it.

This odd group goes around doing jobs that basically give the middle finger to the elite and in charge. And what they do is very, very illegal.

They occasionally interact with a sort of villain played by Mark Shepherd and even meet up with the leaders (ex)wife multiple times. The two youngest members of the group are a slow burn couple and absolutely adorable, and the leader guy has this sexual tension going on with the brunette of the group that is just a constant will-they-won't-they subplot.

The show is serious and dramatic, but also has some good humor and witty one liners thrown in with some action. Definitely and explosion or two. The writing is superb and everything is well executed with great character development.

Oh, and there's an episode called The Train Job.

Now, if you've read this far, good luck trying to guess which of these two masterpiece shows I'm talking about 🙃

[daggerfall]

Tesblr if it could accept ESO as having meaningful and interesting additions to the lore and not immediately knee-jerking to say anything new is bad

[hesbianyaoi]

its 10pm here which is still christmas time so i can still post this. happy holidays from the detective agency

(parody of that one My Hero Academia Christmas omake)

[bayetea]

while I like hylla in isolation conceptually the amazon chapter really is just the worst part of son of neptune by a mile. son is such a good book but this part is just bad. everything about rick's worldbuilding for the amazons is weird and bad. and although the escape from the amazon base is hazel's first big solo hero moment I don't think it actually does a whole lot for her thematically or in terms of character development unless getting a horse friend out of it counts

I wish the king midas meeting in tlh was transplanted into son of neptune somehow and replaced the whole amazon thing because hazel being face to face with a fellow undead being whose curse mirrors her own (midas touch) really could have led to something interesting and meaningful for her. hazel's curse ruined her life and her mom's life and all the lives of the people who were sold her gems. in tlh midas denies that the gold touch is a curse at all. he's selfish about his perceived right to live as a gaea revenant. he's proud of his curse and how powerful it makes him. he didn't "learn his lesson" when he turned his daughter into gold and he feels no guilt, no need to repent for his past deeds. the man is greedy and unabashedly perverse in his obsession with having and generating wealth. this characterization of the king midas figure renders him the picture perfect foil for hazel, who suffers from extreme guilt and shame over her past, who is unselfish to the point of self-harm, who wants to live but struggles to believe she deserves it, who views material wealth as a conduit for misery in the most literal way - because of her mother's fate, her father's influences, and because of the curse that she never asked for. can you imagine the faceoff and everything that it would mean for her

but none of this happened lol and instead we have the chapters that turned a legendary mythological society of warrior women into a lazy spoof of jeff bezos whose in-text mission statement is to hoard wealth and make people become so dependent on their services that they can take over the world 👍 yeah

[if-lesbian-return-yes]

[meep-meep-richie]

Loki acting like the jealous girlfriend here