#young fogeys

[teenagedirtstache]

[johnwickb1tsch]

lessons in anatomy V

a yandere art professor Wick x drawing model muse! reader AU... (also featuring Matt from River's Edge) ->chapter map

V. 

“You missed all the fun,” Matt tells you with a shy smile the next time you see him. “Our van wouldn't start. We spent half the night getting it running again.”

You lift an eyebrow. “Sorry to hear that. What was wrong?”

“Dead battery. And a flat tire.”

“Tough break.”

“Yeah. Kinda weird though, right?”

“A little.”

Professor Wick listens with half an ear from across the room, fighting to suppress a smirk.

-One afternoon you are poking around your neighborhood thrift store when you see a familiar crop of raven hair through the shelves. With mischief in your heart you take down a mangy-looking jackalope taxidermy from a shelf, using it like a puppet to peek around the corner. In a funny voice you say, “Pssst? Hey mister…wanna buy some milk duds?”

You peek around a moment later to find him smiling slightly, one eyebrow raised. “Young lady, do you have a license for that cryptid?” 

You can't stop yourself from grinning at him. “I fed it and it followed me here.” 

“They do that.” 

You have no idea how badly this man sympathizes with a stuffed rabbit defiled with deer antlers at that moment. 

You stand looking at each other for a very long, pregnant moment, which at least in your part is filled with a burgeoning longing you just don't quite know what to do with. You notice he's in the book section. 

“Looking for something particular?”

“Just…looking for books to rescue. It’s kind of a hobby.” He holds up a Victorian cloth bound edition of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories. It’s seen better days.

“You're…going to fix it?”

“With luck.” He flashes a shy smile that sets off fireworks in your heart. “What are you hunting for?” 

“This and that.” You show him your basket filled with bric a brac. Boxes you want to turn into dioramas, fabric with prints you like, tin cutouts and costume jewelry by the pound you intend to glue onto things…for no better reason than it makes you happy. You do have some purpose to this trip though. “I’m…working on my submission to the Monster Masque. Have you ever been?” 

He shakes his head, that fluffy hair swinging into his face in an unfairly adorable way. “I’m kinda new in town.” 

You sort of knew that. You found out that he’d moved here to take the place of the professor who went on sabbatical.

“Well, it's the Halloween party around here. You have to try it at least once.” Part art show, part masquerade, part rave, it takes place in a warehouse by the river, and the art scene puts on their best. No commercial costumes allowed, everything must be handmade. Part of the fun is guessing who's who beneath their masks…and part of the fun is being anything or anyone you want to be. 

“Sounds like too much fun for an old fogey like me.”

You snort. “As if. You're not old.” This seems to hearten him, somehow. 

“Are you submitting one of your miniatures?”

You pause for a moment. You don't remember telling him about them, but they're not exactly a secret. “Yeah. I'm making a tiny haunted airstream trailer with ghosts who are like…glamping.”

“Glamping?”

You put on a serious air. “Am I commenting on the death of the American Dream, or do I just like cute creepy things? Who can say…”

He huffs with laughter, a sparkle in his dark eyes. “Interesting.”

“Do you…have any projects you're working on?”

He shakes his head and offers you a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. “I…haven't been too motivated, since my wife passed,” he admits, looking down at the stacks of books on the table before him. 

“I'm so sorry.”

“Thanks.” He sighs, putting on a brave face, and when he meets your eyes…you don't think you imagine the warmth that kindles between you, out of your own desperation. 

You don't know where you get the cheek to say, “Maybe something will inspire you soon.”

He holds your gaze, and it's like withstanding a lightning bolt straight through your heart. Yet somehow, you stand fast, resisting the urge to wilt before a wildfire.

“If I'm lucky,” he answers, and your heart lodges in your throat, tasting of ash.

You browse the rest of the store together, chatting lightly and chuckling over some of the treasures you find. By the time you are ready to leave you have filled your basket with odds and ends. He has three books–and the jackalope.

“What are you going to do with that?” you laugh as he tucks it under his arm when you leave. 

“I think I’m going to make you pose with it next class,” he jokes. 

You cackle with delight, your mirth filling the street. People shoot you odd looks as they walk by, and you try to look contrite, smiling sheepishly. 

“Should I bring a cowboy hat?” you tease, more in the spirit of being silly than suggestive, but you can tell immediately that your offer hits a different way. You’re not sure how it’s possible for this man to appear equally flustered and wolfish, his eyes darkening to true black as his attention sharpens upon you.

“That…might be too much…for all of our sakes,” he answers diplomatically, and once again you feel too hot under your collar, wishing the sidewalk would open up and swallow you. Why do you always have to ruin everything by running your mouth?

“Ok.” You look around, wondering which way would prove your quickest escape. The least painful option would probably be to walk straight into traffic. “I guess…I’ll see you Monday.”

You have to go crawl into a hole. 

You have no idea how badly he does not want you to go, but before he can think of another thing to say to ease your embarrassment or possibly pry his big foot out of his mouth you’re already halfway down the block.

He watches you go with a sigh.

TBC...

---

->chapter map

[snailstep-and-her-clan]

“What would Snailstep’s life have been like if she had been raised in her Fathers Clan?”

Stagheart would have been OBSESSED with his daughter and spoiled her rotten. Also he would have had no problem naming her 😂

Her name would have been Turtlekit, and her warrior name would have been Turtledove

There would also have been plenty of other kits for her to play with, and eventually plenty of young Tom’s for her to choose from whenever she feels so inclined to take a mate, unlike her life in Shadowclan which was mostly full of old fogeys.

[ladykissingfish]

Could you do sum with this random image i found ??

*Deidara, Itachi and Hidan sitting in the kitchen at breakfast*

Deidara: *mumbling as he aggressively shovels cereal into his mouth*

Hidan: Oi, what’s up your ass, blondie? You’ve been talkin’ to yourself for ten minutes now.

Deidara, scowling: It’s that stupid Sasori, hm. He never listens to me about anything! He never lets me take the lead on missions because he’s older and he thinks he knows better about everything!

Hidan: Ugh, I know what you mean. Kakuzu is the same way. The old bastard won’t listen to a word I say, and just calls me a stupid brat all the damn time. Shit, Leader was really setting us up for some bullshit when he gave us young guys the old fogey partners.

Itachi: You both are frustrated with your older partners as well, eh? You should do what I did; make a “vision board” of your enemy and plot their downfall.

Deidara: … “Vision board”?

Itachi: *gets up* Come and see.

*Hidan and Deidara follow Itachi to his room, where they find every surface of his walls covered with different pictures of Kisame*

Deidara: …

Hidan: W-what the fuck is this supposed to do — ?

Itachi: Easy. You stare at the pictures all day long. You visualize scenarios in your mind that could cause them pain or discomfort. *touches one of the pictures and involuntarily sighs* Like kissing them until they run out of breath and are gasping. Or sitting on their lap and bouncing on them until they get really turned on, then getting up and walking out. Really so many possibilities to teach the other person a lesson.

Hidan: …

Deidara: …

Deidara: Itachi. I … I think that you might be in lo—

Itachi, carefully hanging up another Kisame photo (this one shirtless) in the corner: I hate him, Deidara.

[coffinup]

Hey! I’m currently in high school and thinking about going into funeral services. I’ve felt with grief for most of my life so I think I could get around it being mentally hard, but I also kind of despise math and have forgotten everything I learned about it this summer. Anything you think I should know about the industry?

I think your experience with grief will absolutely make you the right person for the job. The funeral profession always needs people who understand the struggle and can have true empathy.

So the math thing: there are some US states that require a four-year degree for mortuary science, and some (like mine) that split it up into a separate associates degree and secondary mortuary science diploma. Usually the four-year degrees are attained at universities, and the split/trade style degrees are attained at colleges, trade schools or community colleges. Several colleges have programs you can do hybrid/online as long as you can work at a funeral home. For both you’ll have to do college-level math courses for your gen-ed requirements. BUT something I did for my undergrad is I took a C.L.E.P test for college math so I didn’t have to take a class. CLEPS let you test out of a credit course, so I would look into that if you don’t want to do college math classes. There are study guides for them too. Aside from that, there isn’t much math in mortuary science that goes beyond basic algebra. I had to take an accounting class which required some money-related math, but that was the extent of it. There’s a formula in embalming called the primary dilution formula that is a very basic algebraic problem that’s super easy as long as you understand basic algebra concepts.

I’ll also say a couple things, since you are a young person that wants to go into it out of high school:

-Be prepared to deal with old fogeys that are set in their ways. There will be a lot of them, and the best strategy is to just accept what they try to teach you, and then make decisions based on what you think is best after that.

-Mortuary Science has one of the highest drop-out rates because of the graphic nature of it. About half of my class in the first anatomy course dropped out after we went for our autopsy examination. I think it’s probably stating the obvious that things can get gross, but if you aren’t squeamish and can express and tackle your feelings, you’ll be fine. You’ll be encountering human bodies in various stages of decay, various forms of injury and deformation, and see lots of results of disease. Just be prepared for that! And have an outlet like a trusted friend, therapist or journal where you can talk about your experiences, it’s important to not keep things bottled up!

-Funeral service rarely has an ideal work/life balance. Most funeral homes work on a “10/4” or “2 week” work schedule where you’ll work ten days in a row and get four days off. Some days you’ll work 6-8 hours, other days you might be there all day and night. Something to be prepared for. Larger firms and corporations tend to have more set/defined schedules.

I hope that helps! Good luck on your journey, and I truly wish you the best. Young people being interested in this profession always makes me happy, and I think you’ll do great things. Don’t be too discouraged by your perceived limitations, you NEVER know until you try! And the great thing about being at the age you are is you have ample time to try new things!

Best wishes :)

-Memento Mori

[dangermousie]

I decided to sorta-rewatch Gong/Jade Palace Lock Heart which I am old fogey enough to have watched as it aired back in 2011.

The time travel/transmigration ban is thanks to the success of it and BBJX one-two punch combo. Tragic but almost worth it because two dramas are both huge huge faves. Where BBJX is a moody tragic masterpiece, this is just insanely addictive fun.

In the event you were not (1) watching cdramas back in 2011 (2) did not watch this since (3) weren't around when I posted about this before, JPLH centers around our awesome heroine Qing Chuan, who is a modern day owner of an antiques shop and a huge Emperor Yongzheng fangirl, who falls through time and ends up in the Qing Dynasty, during the time of Kang Xi's sons' fight for the throne, a fight that she knows and is happy Yongzheng eventually wins.

She meets and has some epic interactions with hunky YZ, then merely the Fourth Prince (played deliciously by young Mickey He - as always with plenty of chemistry with Yang Mi; they were a tragic OTP in Schemes of Beauty some time before JPLH, the chemistry is still there.)

Today's censors would collectively immolate themselves rather than release this drama - Four is ruthless and scheming and fine with murdering his brothers (and others) on his path to the throne (so like the historical YZ.) There is no noble "I care for the people" from him or anyone, they just want power. He does develop a soft spot for our plucky FL and she has an epic crush on him but...wrinkle. Her endgame OTP is not this gentleman. It's this one:

The immature Eighth Prince, loser in the battle of the princes, her bete noir in the palace and one who is here confusing one of his brothers who does not understand that his bullying is a bizarro form of flirting that even he doesn't get, not a genuine desire to harm.

One of the things that this drama, bubblegum tho he is, ahistorical tho it is (QC teaches one of the concubines to get into Kang Xi's favor by rollerskating!) gets is how bloody and murder-happy that world is. None of these people blink at murdering, maiming or otherwise damaging others

Did I mention that JPLH is a Qing era AU of Boys Over Flowers, btw? With our FL as Makino, Eighth Prince as queued Domyouji and Four aka Yongzheng as an extremely homicidal Rui. I have said it before and said it again - this is the first BOF adaptation that actually makes sense to me in power and character dynamics because of course period absolute royals are gonna be insane, bloody, and get everyone to obey.

This drama has the old school cdrama delicious vibe (that Dashing Youth brought back) of starting light and then descending into hell. It's the best. I love how long it takes Eight to win her. I love the ship and angst and happy ending and why it makes sense for her to take so long to realize it's him she loves (look at his initial behavior, look at her being a time traveler etc.)

This was my first Qing era drama actually. When I looked at Feng Shao Feng not just with the queue but unbound loose hair (with the half shaved look) and went "you know, I don't know if it makes sense, he looks FUCKING HOT" I should have known I was a goner for period cdramas, if I wasn't before.

PS I am old enough to remember FSF and YM having hordes of RPShippers. Oooooold.

PPS Equivalent of Rui's violin:

[alliluyevas]

this is going to make me sound like the world's oldest fogey but the church i've been going to in my new neighborhood literally just lets young kids run around during the service like...this one toddler always wandering up by the altar and fully elementary aged kids racing up and down the aisles making a ton of noise. i have NEVER been to a religious service where that happened previously and when i was a kid there is absolutely no way that would have happened. i would have been yoinked back into that pew lol. i like kids but i think it's incredibly distracting for adults trying to focus on sermons and also i don't think it's in kids' best interests to be overly permissive and let them do whatever whenever.

[inexplicifics]

🧡 for Vesemir/Guxart!

There are a lot of things about getting older which have surprised Vesemir.

One of them, to be fair, is that he has survived long enough to grow old. He was a hellraiser as a young witcher, and no one in Kaer Morhen would have put money on his living past his century mark. Hell, Vesemir himself was rather astonished when he hit fifty, and now here he is at something a bit over three hundred and still kicking.

The first time he caught himself scolding one of the young hellions in almost exactly the same words Barmin had used on him decades ago, Vesemir had to go have a drink and run the hardest pendulum course a couple of times to reassure himself that he wasn’t actually becoming an old fogey. These days he borrows Barmin’s lectures shamelessly, and only runs the hardest pendulum course once in a blue moon, when he has to show the young whippersnappers that he may be grey-haired and a little creaky, but decades of practice can in fact make up for the fact that he moves a little more slowly than he used to in his prime.

The years have taught him the value of taking his time on things. He scouts far more thoroughly when he goes out on the Path than he ever did when he was young; he lingers over his meals and his ale, savoring the taste.

And he delights in spending long winter mornings in bed, his Cat sprawled over his chest, sharing lazy, indulgent kisses and the comforting warmth of two bodies curled in his ridiculous heap of blankets.

It’s nothing like the encounters he used to have as a young man. There’s no danger to it - well, aside from sharing his bed with a Cat. He isn’t worried about having to jump out a window, or causing a political incident, or even just having his partner eat him - in retrospect, bedding a higher vampire was not the smartest thing he’s ever done.

Instead, it’s slow and sweet and easy, as so few parts of a witcher’s life are ever easy, and when he was younger he would have been baffled at the idea that he would ever want such things.

Now, though, with Guxart purring softly as they kiss, each lazy press of lips adding to the slow building pleasure of the morning, Vesemir thinks his younger self was very foolish indeed. 

(Or here on AO3!)

[teenagedirtstache]

[voidingintotheshout]

OK, I don’t know what you guys did, but looksmaxxing and smellmaxxing have become something that the 20 year old hustle Bros have taken to heart. Not to seem like some old fogey, but they are now using this special gum that makes their jaw muscles look completely bizarre. It’s very rare that I’m on the ground floor of a new form of body dysmorphia, but here we are.

The article is wild. Apparently it originates from incel culture, which is a sentence that makes me sad to say. They’re developing new forms of body dysmorphia to look more like their hero, Patrick Bateman from American psycho. I am just going to admit that my autism makes it so that I can’t even tell what’s parody, and what’s not anymore. I think this is legit but, yikes. American culture is just melting down right now, so I don’t know. All I know is the question “what can I do to be a Patrick Bateman sigma?” is going to be one of those nonsensical questions that will probably haunt my dreams. 

[bethanydelleman]

This scene between a brother and sister who have a very strict father was so real:

"My father would never allow you to go to the theatre; and the George Smiths are such old fogeys—they would be sure to tell." "How do you go, then? Does my father give you leave?" "Oh! many things are right for men which are not for girls." Jemima sat and pondered. Richard wished he had not been so confidential. "You need not name it," said he, rather anxiously. "Name what?" said she, startled, for her thoughts had gone far afield. "Oh, name my going once or twice to the theatre!" "No, I shan't name it!" said she. "No one here would care to hear it." But it was with some little surprise, and almost with a feeling of disgust, that she heard Richard join with her father in condemning some one, and add to Mr Bradshaw's list of offences, by alleging that the young man was a playgoer. He did not think his sister heard his words.

-Ruth, Elizabeth Gaskell

[antigone-ks]

Lantern of Evil, Chapter Eleven

MASTERLIST

CHAPTER TEN

Chapter Eleven: I’m Still in Love with You on this Harvest Moon

Because I’m still in love with you/ I want to see you dance again/ Because I’m still in love with you/ On this harvest moon

____________________

I’m getting pretty good at this talking-to-women thing, Steve thinks. Of course, he’s been getting a lot of practice. There’s this whole re-getting-to-know-you phase going on, where he tells the truth about stuff that he might have fudged a bit, before.

“I knew it,” your eyes narrow at him, and he shrugs. “I should have called you on it then. Brooklyn Heights was affluent by the 70s and 80s, and there were lots of parks – the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Cadman Plaza Park . . .”

“I remember when Cadman Plaza opened,” Steve says, “I used to go there and draw studies of the post office across the street.[1] But I was grown when it opened; when I was a kid it a was a mess of buildings that needed tearing down. Wait,” he says, giving you a skeptical look, “how do you even know all that?”

“From my extensive research watching reruns of the Patty Duke Show,” you say promptly. “And then when you didn’t make any sense, I looked up census data.”

He is vaguely, irrationally annoyed that you’d checked up on him, but it’s overridden by the fact that he had been lying, apparently poorly, and by the fact that you look awfully proud of yourself and it’s adorable. He smiles at you, and tucks a lock of hair behind your ear. “You’re a nerd,” he says, fondly.

You wrinkle your nose at him. “What’s the old-timey word for that?”

“Egghead.” He skips out of your reach, laughing as you swat at him. “You asked!”

“Great; if we’d met back in the day you’d have called me an egghead,” you mutter, but there’s a smile dancing around your lips, so he leans in and kisses your cheek.

“Nah, I’d have told everyone you were a real buttercup,” he whispers, gratified when you start to blush.

“Is that the same thing as a pretty dame?” you ask, then “stop that; they’ll be here any minute.”

He steps back, but not very far. “I hate to break it to you, but they already know you’re my girl. And no, it’s better. A buttercup is pretty and sweet. The kind of girl –”

“The kinda gal who’ll let you take her on a walk in the park when you’re broke and never complain that it’s not a real date.” Bucky’s voice broke in, as he and Natasha walked up. He had a bag in one hand and a picker pole in the other.

“The kind who only dates around a little, and doesn’t compare you to her other guys,” Steve says, remembering some of Bucky’s youthful complaints.

“The kind who’ll go parking with you, but not all the way parking.” Bucky waggles his eyebrows at Natasha, who rolls her eyes and plants herself at your side, clearly forming a united front against the men. “And doesn’t laugh at you when you’re not real good at it yet.”

“You told me you were born good at it, Barnes,” Natasha says, then looks at you. “Thank god you’re here. When they get into old fogey mode, it’s hard to pull them out by myself.”

Steve watches you smile shyly and feels a rush of gratitude toward Natasha. She hadn’t once held the mess he’d made over his head, and she – and Sam, and Bucky (well, not so much Bucky; all of Bucky’s ideas were seventy years out of date, but he was good for commiseration) – had definitely helped dig him out. He’d goaded her, once, before you’d started talking to him again, had defiantly blocked her path and asked “aren’t you gonna say it?” But she’d just patted his cheek and answered, “do I need to?” and he’d deflated so fast she’d given him a brusque hug and then shoved him out of the way.

“I might not make a good ally,” you say. “Old-fogey mode is still new and interesting to me.”

“Riiight.” Natasha gives him an appraising look. “So, how was he at pretending to be young and hip?”

You look at Steve, baffled. “Were you trying to act hip?”

He clutches his chest dramatically and looks hurt. “Oh, I got a mouthy dame, huh?”

“Rude!” you exclaim.

Natasha crosses her arms. “Yeah, Rogers; you talk to your girlfriend like that?”

My girlfriend, my girlfriend, his brain sings. He nudges Bucky.  “Hey pal, some help here?”

Bucky busies himself attaching the bag to the picking pole. “You dug this hole yourself, punk.” He winks at Natasha. “I have learned never to disagree with a lady.”

She snorts. “That’s a lie, Barnes.”

“Yes it is.” He looks pointedly at Steve. “See?”

Natasha grabs another bag out of Steve’s hands and looks expectantly at you. “So how does this go, anyway?”

You look incredulously around the circle. “Have none of you gone apple-picking before? Steve, you said you all loved this place.”

“I, ah. I love the idea of this place. And I really do love apple pie.” In truth, you’d just looked so excited when you suggested it that he’d agreed immediately, and then volunteered Nat and Bucky as a double-date. It seemed like a low-stakes way to introduce you to his team, since they’d be too busy to interrogate you. Much. Probably.

“City slickers,” you mutter, but let him take your hand and lead you into the orchard.

***

You and Natasha concentrate on the lower-hanging fruit while Steve and Bucky manhandle the picker poles with more enthusiasm than skill. First they race to see who can get more apples (Bucky), then they compete to reach the best-looking first (Steve, who plays dirty). After Steve “accidentally” bangs a half-full bag off Bucky’s head, you try to intervene.

“Don’t you Depression types know you shouldn’t waste food?” They turn toward you, identical scowls of he-started-it on their faces. “There are starving kids!”

“Yeah, don’t bruise my apples, Barnes,” Natasha calls, laughing, and it sounds . . . well, a little dirty, to be honest. From the look Bucky gives her, you think it was meant to be.

“Fine,” Bucky says. “You win this tree, Stevie. I’m gonna squire both these lovely ladies to the concession stand.”

You hear Steve mutter something that sounds like “the hell you are,” and he speeds up to walk beside you. He’s got the bag of apples in one hand and the picker in the other, and looks momentarily stymied, until you slip your arm through his. You notice that Natasha and Bucky split the load, each carrying one item in their left hands. You look up at Steve and he rolls his eyes. “Assassins,” he whispers.

Oh, yeah. Everyone here can kill you with their pinky. Probably their pinky toe. But, of course, you can wield an absolutely devastating red pen.

Stop that. He likes you the way you are. He said so.

Grant’s said a lot of things, hasn’t he?

Oh, shut up.

Things have been going so well between you, but there’s a part of you that still feels vulnerable. Some of that is natural in any relationship and might never go away entirely, but part of it is . . . the situation.

And not even the Grant situation, although that has made you cautious. You’ve almost managed to stop thinking of him as Grant; you only slipped up a couple of times face-to-face. You know it bothered him, though, by how he’d so carefully not react when you did. You tried to train yourself out of it by saying his name out loud when he wasn’t around: “I’m gonna call Steve,” you’d say when you were alone; “Going to meet Steve,” you’d say to yourself, heading to your car. And saying it more than a few times when you were extra alone. You haven’t said the wrong name in a couple of weeks, and the soft look in his eyes when you whisper in his ear makes it worth the effort.

But sometimes your brain still pokes at his words, wanting to check up on them just in case. In case he’s lying about something else. In case something isn’t right, and you just haven’t figured it out yet.

In case he doesn’t really want you.

. . . yeah. Which is stupid, because he’s been nothing but thoughtful and patient – really incredibly patient – since you agreed to try again. He’s answered all your questions, even if it made you angry again. He’s brought his friends around, starting with a more formal introduction to Sam, who had so many new kitten videos. He hasn’t re-met yours, but only because you’re both uncertain as to how you can make that happen without giving away any secrets. He lets you set the pace when you’re alone, keeps his hands confined to PG-13 zones, and goes home looking like he might not make it to a cold shower.

So it’s not anything that he’s doing. It’s your problem – your inability to just open up and let him love you the way he so obviously wants to.

Right now he wants to give you a perfect October afternoon, with apple-picking in flannel shirts and apple-cider doughnuts and possibly pie-making when you get home. He promised to help peel the apples. It’s nauseatingly domestic, not really what you expected superheroes to do when they’re temporarily out of villains to fight.

But damn, he looks good in flannel.

The four of you squeeze into a picnic table with a tray piled high with doughnuts and mugs of mulled cider. Natasha’s friendly-but-still-wary spy face breaks for just an instant when she bites into the first doughnut, still hot from the fryer and covered in cinnamon-sugar – the corners of her eyes turn up and you swear her pupils dilate.

Bucky is a lot more effusive. Borderline pornographic. “Oh Jesus,” he says around a mouthful of hot, sweet dough. “Oh god. Oh –“

“If you start naming off saints, I’m leaving,” Steve threatens, then takes a bite. “Ohh god.”

“See?!” Bucky looks vindicated.

So maybe everyone, even superheroes, are suckers for fried dough.

“So,” you say after you wash down a bite with the cider. “Did you two attack each other with fruit when you were kids, or is that a new thing?”

“That’s a new tactic we’re testing,” Bucky says. “Non-lethal force.” He takes two more doughnuts from the pile while Natasha shakes her head, a fond expression on her face. “We didn’t fight much as kids.”

“Each other,” Steve adds.

“Each other,” Bucky agrees, then grins so wickedly you know whatever he says next is going to be good. “Except that one time when I tried to get you to stop fightin’.”

Steve buries his face in his hands.

“You – wait, you fought him because he didn’t want you to fight?” You tug on Steve’s arm, trying to pry his hand away from his face. “You have to tell me about this.”

“Steve was a real firecracker back in the day,” Bucky said. “You know – ‘I’ll whup you, I’ll whup your brother, I’ll whup myself’ – that was Stevie.”

“I did that last one a lot,” Steve admitted sheepishly.

“So we were, what, fourteen-fifteen, lotta guys fight at that age, you got all the hormones and nothin’ makes sense and you just wanna punch something.” Bucky started on his fourth doughnut. “And Steve had fifty pounds of adolescent rage packed down into a three-pound powder keg.”

“You said you never started fights,” you say, eyes narrowed.

“I didn’t!” Steve protests while Bucky whoops with laughter. “Hey, you’re makin’ me look bad in front of my girl.”

“Nah, Steve’s right, he didn’t technically ‘start’ fights,” Bucky makes air quotes still holding a doughnut. You’ve lost count. “He’d just wait for some chump to step out of line and then he’d bicker at him until the guy busted him up.”

“I could usually duck the first one,” Steve is obviously trying to defend himself, but from the look you all give him, it’s not working. “So Bucky told me to stop, he’s not gonna step in and rescue me anymore – which really made me see red –“

“And the little punk throws a punch at me!” Bucky says, still outraged after decades. Natasha looks delighted.

“It connected, too.” Steve sounds awfully proud of himself, but he had told you that Bucky used to be a boxing champ. And young Steve very much . . . wasn’t.

“Yeah, you were quick as a weasel when a fight started,” Bucky muttered. “Two minutes in and you’d be wheezing like a kettle.”

“So . . . I mean obviously Bucky won,” you say, and shrug apologetically when Steve gives you the most betrayed look and Bucky hoots.

“Kept my hand on his head while he swung at me until he tired out. He didn’t speak to me for two days.”

You stare at Bucky as the scene takes form in your head, then burst into bone-shaking laughter. When you get yourself back under control, Natasha is dabbing at her eyes with a napkin, Bucky is looking supremely self-satisfied, and Steve is red from the tips of his ears down to the hollow of his throat. And probably lower, you think, if you could see it.

You rub his back, running your fingers up to scratch at the nape of his neck. He turns to you, a little dazed, and you whisper, “I’m glad you survived all of that.” As he starts to smile, you add, “Well, it sounds like mostly you survived yourself.”

He slips an arm around you, and you notice the glint in his eyes just before he starts to tickle you.

All told, you fill three bags: two with pie and preserve apples and one with what your grandpa would have called “good eatin’ apples.” You and Natasha concentrate on gathering the best Winesaps for pie while the guys continue their non-lethal weapons research.

“Bet you a pie Bucky pinches him with that picker thing,” Natasha mutters. You consider it; Steve is quick and has great reflexes, but he’s also too trusting – as you watch, he turns his back and present a very tempting target.

“You bake?” you ask, trying not to sound surprised.

“I buy,” she says. “But I’m also not going to lose.” She’s right; Bucky immediately takes the bait and Steve hollers loud enough that the orchard attendant peeks over, frowning.

“One pie,” you agree. “Delivered by Steve no later than Wednesday.”

“You could always come to the compound and bake it there,” she suggests, watching Steve knock Bucky on his ass. “We have a great kitchen and Sam’s the only one who uses it regularly.” She catches your guarded expression. “It’s not that I don’t trust Steve not to eat it on the way . . . but I don’t.”

“I’m not sure Steve’s ready for me to be in his space like that,” you say slowly. “We don’t want to rush things this time.”

She frowns, and the look she gives you wouldn’t be out of place on any sister worrying that her bonehead brother is getting strung along. “It’s my understanding that Steve is ready for you to be anywhere that you want to be. This is your pace, isn’t it?”

Of course it is.

She watches your face for a moment, then sighs. “I’m not going to make excuses for Steve; he’s a grown man and he can make his own terrible decisions. But, I guess, he perhaps didn’t receive the best advice from . . . certain of his associates.” You side-eye her. “Including me. But his own ideas were, and I really want to stress this, appalling. He wanted to step back, after that time at the barbeque place. He wanted to wait until he got back to his fighting weight, then . . . I don’t even know, maybe just show up at your door and sweep you off your feet?”

“Ooh, he really has no self-preservation instincts, does he?” Natasha laughs and shakes her head. “Wait, how did you know about the – you know what, never mind.“ The look she gives you is unimpressed and unashamed.

“I honestly didn’t think he’d tell you. Not while he was still small. He was very sensitive about that, you know.” She’s not looking at you, but she’s definitely watching you while she talks.

“I know that now,” you say. “It didn’t register then. It’s just not . . . I wonder if he’d grown up later, if it wouldn’t have been such a big deal. He’d have had better medicine, not had to be so careful all the time. He would have gotten more attention from girls, I think.”

“But then he wouldn’t be Steve. Not our Steve.”

Your head feels so light at the thought of our Steve, you don’t even notice Natasha watching you approvingly.

“So I do maybe owe you a small apology,” she says. “I also may have contributed to the way it shook out.” You raise an eyebrow and wait. “The dance was my idea,” she says, and shrugs. “I thought it would be too much for Steve to resist. He always talked about missing his dance with – you know about Peggy, right?”

She knows you do, or she wouldn’t have mentioned it. The layers of meaning in everything this woman says could make your head spin. Steve had told you about Peggy early on, spending the whole time split between studying his own hands and your eyes, watching for any sign of . . . jealousy, maybe? Disapproval? Impatience? And then sighing with such relief it almost made you cry, when you wrapped your arms around him and whispered, “I’m glad you had more time with her, after you came back. She sounds incredible.”

How could you be jealous of his love for Peggy, when she’d had so much to do with shaping the man he is? You would have enjoyed getting to know her.

The thing with Sharon is a little weird, though, you’re not gonna lie about that.

“You told Steve to buy seven hours of dance tickets?” you ask.

“No, I – seven hours?” For the first time today, Natasha looks truly surprised. “Go big or go home, I guess. Or go big, screw it up, and then go home anyway. No,” she says, “I may have used official channels to suggest to the fundraising committee that the Stark Foundation would be very generous if they’d change it up from the usual holiday home tours and Victorian tea parties, and then suggested a taxi dance would be just the new and semi-scandalous kind of thing Tony wanted to see.”

“Well, that worked. And the foundation definitely came through.”

She smirks, gratified. “Yeah, when I told Pepper about it she laughed till she choked and told accounting to cut a check right then.”

So everyone everyone knows all about this situation, even the ones who aren’t Avengers, you think with mounting horror.

Natasha looks at you like she knows exactly what you’re thinking, and pats your arm. “I didn’t tell her why. She just agreed that Tony would bust a gut if he knew about it.”

“Why a taxi dance, though?”

“Steve and James were talking about petting parties, but I didn’t think I could push that one through.”

No, definitely not. Your mind reels at the thought of Madame President chaperoning a bunch of couples in flagrante to various degrees, and then at the idea of Steve attending one. And then at the idea of you and Steve attending one, and you know, you’ve never really had that kink but it sounds hot. Then you wonder if Steve had ever been to a taxi before, if he’d paid for a woman to let that awkward, kind, stubborn boy put his arms around her for three minutes. At least he would have been polite about it.

You’re lost in thought, not paying attention, when your ankle turns on the gravel path and down you go.

You hear Natasha call out for Steve, and immediately follow her with “No, I’m fine!” You prod at your ankle; it’s tender, but no worse than that, and the biggest injury is to your pride. Steve skids on the gravel and kneels down beside you.

“Is it broken?” he asks, gingerly lifting your foot onto his thigh. His touch is so careful, the pads of his fingers pressing gently into your flesh. He’s got a callous on the inside of his middle finger, you realize, where he holds his pencils. No – you don’t realize, you remember. You used to feel it when Grant took your hand.

Just like the little scar over his right eyebrow. Like the dorky way he puncutates his texts. It’s the same hand, the same touch, the same man. He hasn't changed, not really; it's just taken you too long to understand.

“No, it’s okay. I just turned it, I think.” He’s got a look on his face that makes you worry about ambulances, medi-vacs, para-rescues, and you touch his cheek. “Steve, I’m fine. Help me up and I can probably walk on it.”

He carefully manipulates the joint, watching your face for pain. His face relaxes. “Not broken,” he says, “but could be a nasty sprain. You’re absolutely not walking on it.” He turns his face and kisses your palm. “Put your arms around my neck.”

You panic a little. “No, I can walk. I want to walk.”

“I’m not letting you walk, c’mon.” His arm slips under your knees.

“You can’t stop me,” you insist, in the face of all available evidence. Steve rolls his eyes. “No, Steve, don’t pick me up – you’ll hurt yourself!” He gives you an incredulous look and lifts you bridal-style.

Natasha picks up your bag of apples. “You know he can toss a motorcycle like it’s a football, right?” she asks, and your face heats up.

Steve settles you in his arms, his lips brushing your forehead. “Sweetheart, relax. You weigh nothing.” He smiles brightly as your arms slip around his neck. “You know I’ve always got you.”

And in this moment, you do know: this awkward, kind, stubborn man has you.

[1] It’s gorgeous: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadman_Plaza#/media/File:Brooklyn_Post_Office_0321071421a.jpg Accessed 11 July 2019.

____________________

Neil Young – Harvest Moon

Because I’m still in love with you/ I want to see you dance again/ Because I’m still in love with you/ On this harvest moon

READ CHAPTER TWELVE (SMUT WARNING)

[jechristine]

Ok, anon from earlier, what I meant was Tom has matured as an actor and a person. He knows now that he doesn’t need to put his whole life on Instagram to further his career. And he’s more careful what he says. I think a lot of young up and coming actors have that misconception that social media will help them, but in the end its like selling you soul to the Devil.

And about his reputation for keeping secrets, I really think it only happened once or twice and then Disney just took over and used it as a marketing ploy (unfairly I might add. It carried on way too long and isn’t funny anymore ). I guess with him being so much younger than the of the Avenger group, one of those old fogeys on the board of directors thought it would be a good idea? Now I think people still associate him with that and it’s quite unfortunate.

Hey, anon. Another way to say your first point is that Tom did build up a devoted fanbase by putting so much out there on Instagram, but now he’s older and more established, so he doesn’t need to do all that anymore. The IG presence does help/did help, but that help has plateaued so no more need.

Agree about the secret thing! Who cares about spoilers anyway (not me).

[davidmariottecomics]

Why is it so Hard to Launch a Superhero Universe?

Face front, true believers! 

We're talking superhero comics! In particular, we're going to be talking a little more history this time and then, y'know, time for a bit of updates on the world and what you can maybe do to help things not totally fall apart. 

I was talking with someone this week about superhero comics and it made me think about what the new superhero universe of the 2020s is going to be. Now, I hope that the person I was talking to about it is the one who cracks it because they've got a lot of good ideas, but I wanted to do a quick rundown of just how hard it is to make a new superhero universe that lands in the market and has a real staying power. Looking at the history, I think since the 1990s, there's been one major front-runner each decade, and then some other notable accomplishments. So, let's walk through 'em and see if there's anything we can discover from that. 

2020s: ??? Maybe the Massive-Verse?  We're still pretty early in the 2020s and I don't want to make a definite call at this point, but I will say, I think the Massive-Verse, the Image comics spinning out of Radiant Black by Kyle Higgins and cohorts is a strong front-runner. And as we move backwards in time to talk about this all, I think it'll increasingly make sense why. But, to put a brief pin in this, let me say that I think Kyle's got a good pedigree in the Direct Market, a strong and largely focused concept that allows for a fair amount of different folks to work on very complimentary stories that feel of a shared creative vision, and a history of Image superhero books doing well. 

2010s: My Hero Academia

Okay, so, now with the benefit of hindsight, I think it's fair to say that the biggest new superhero universe globally in the 2010s was My Hero Academia. It was this kinda crazy crossover hit that blends a lot of tropes of shonen action/school manga with American superheroes. But what made it a success? 

First and foremost, I think a lot of what would be it's competition in a US comics-based market was in a weird place. That's not to discount MHA in any way, just to say that it was able to step into a niche that had kinda been forgotten. The most direct American superhero comics comparisons to it would probably be X-Men and Legion of Superheroes (with sort of Teen Titans/Young Justice as more strained comparsions). Both X-Men and Legion focus on a large team of heroes, often told through a couple key focal characters, who have generally unique powers from each other and the rest of the world with some minor concerns about being young and having school or the responsibilities of youth, but that was almost always backburnered for the action. Both have, at various points, had their characters wrestle with being empowered in a world where not everyone is and the various sorts of prejudices therein. And both, for a while, were largely read by a younger audience, but by the 2010s, Legion was for old fogeys (like me, a huge LSH stan) and X-Men was... were they on an island? I know they were fighting the Avengers a lot (and/or joining them as one bigger superteam). And with that shift away from being for younger readers and being more continuity heavy, and without sort of other young superhero books doing a lot to replace it (Young Avengers vol. 2, a great book, was already on it's way out when the first volume of MHA came out stateside). So, there were a lot of young people who had grown up with superhero media and with anime and manga and had an option to get both in one book that was easily accessible to new readers. 

Of course, it also has a pretty compelling story and visual style. MHA was swiftly bolstered by an anime adaptation and spin-off titles and anime-original stories in the movies. All of that added to make the world--the universe--feel bigger, but simulatenously, managed to remain ancillary. If you wanted to get deeper, know more, here are your options! Have at! But if you just want to read MHA or just want to watch the anime, you don't need the rest of it. It isn't tied too closely to the story. It builds, but not so structurally that you can't still see the shape of the room without it. As I've addressed here before, I get that some readers are really looking for that. Whether I personally think it's accurate or not (and, as covered, I think most American superhero comics are as easy to get into as a sitcom--though I acknowledge that maintaining a readership can be very difficult for all sorts of reasons tied to price and access), there are people who believe that superhero comics have a high barrier of entry and were really entranced by this not having that. And so, it blew up and Volume 35 is still in the top 10 manga charts as of last month and I can buy MHA stuff at Target. It's huge. 

Now, I also want to give some special mentions to other big initiatives of the era. The thing I'll say about all of these is up front is even if they had hit as big as MHA ultimately has, none of them are new universes. They're building on something existing. Keep that in the back of your mind too as we talk about the 2000s. 

The New 52 - DC's first big initiative of the 2010s. This was a way to reset the universe and, to what was appealing about MHA, try to build in a lot of accessibility to new readers as well as to diversify the DC line. Lots of folks have taken stock of the successes and failures of the New 52, but I will say, I personally am kinda bummed that some of the efforts to really build a universe were pretty quickly lost (though not entirely and these things have re-come-and-gone since). I would love to see superhero publishers dig deep into the non-superhero elements of their history again: War, Horror, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Western, Romance, Humor, etc. And I'd love to see them in a way that feels of a piece with a world with superheroes, but not like superheroes applied to those genres, necessarily. Also, just noting here, one of the New 52 launch writers? Kyle Higgins on Nightwing. 

Valiant (2010s) - Valiant had a shot in the arm in the 2010s when, about a year after the New 52, they did their own relaunch. Again, I'm not here to measure the exact successes and failures of that though you can surely find plenty of folks who have done that deep dive, but I do want to note it because they did aggressively position themselves as a player. After a decade of being pretty quiet, the 2010s saw some real success critically and commercially for Valiant and things like, yeah, the Bloodshot movie, but also Faith: Taking Flight , the YA novel by Julie Murphy (author of Dumplin'). In a time and space where the Big 2 were undergoing a lot of reinvention and extension into other markets/media, Valiant made a point of also diversifying in that way too. 

Power Rangers - Boom's Power Rangers obviously also kinda blew up in the latter half of the 2010s and has inflated as a comics universe unto itself that is obviously borrowing from the source material, but also really expanding upon it. And, notably, it kicked off with Kyle Higgins at the helm. You can pretty directly track the success of Power Rangers (and Nightwing before it) and the way it took a licensed property and really built it out into a little universe to the later success of the Massive-Verse. 

2000s: Invincible

Somehow the big superhero universe of the 2000s is also big again in the 2020s, and that's Invincible. Much like MHA, it tapped into the right vein at the right time. It came hot on the heels of Marvel's Ultimate universe and The Authority and really just combined the sensibities of Image's superhero universe, Classic Marvel, and nu-Marvel. It was a book that lived on surprising upsets and a story that felt like it was maybe aiming a little younger because it was about a young hero that then went full-bore into being for ADULTS. Like the later Massive-Verse, Invincible kind of slowly expanded, sometimes retroactively adding other Robert Kirkman books, sometimes having more tangential spin-offs, but even when other creators entered the mix, it felt like part of a unified vision. 

The weird thing with Invincible, and the reason it *almost* didn't count, is that it is built off of like... a jillion other universes. Like, obviously, Invincible is in many ways a reflection of other superhero tropes. He's Superboy and Spider-Man wrapped into one and plenty of major and minor Invincible characters are pretty clearly meant to be riffs on existing characters with other publishers. But in a more literal way, Invincible is piggy-backing on and joining various other company and creator-owned superheroes. Over the course of the series, he met Spider-Man (in an issue of Marvel Team-Up), joined The Pact (with ShadowHawk, Firebreather, and Zephyr of Noble Causes), and Savage Dragon and various other Image superheroes. A lot of it did manage to be self-contained and as the series continued, it did really parse down to only Kirkman-original characters, but it was a series that got some of it's esteem from being in a pre-existing shared universe too. The Massive-Verse is, to my understanding, in a similar place where they've got like... a Spawn appearance. There is something to the even casual and official early crossovers that really helps a universe get a hold and seem more likely to both last and, I think, have an air of legitimacy. 

It's a very interesting contrast to MHA in that the universe is bolstered by a sense of larger continuity, while still being presented as something that has a lot of accessibility and both are, in my opinion, actually probably best enjoyed with an understanding of the tropes they're riffing on.  

The Ultimate Universe - As a special mention, again, Marvel's Ultimate Universe is not it's own unique universe, but as an experiment in rebooting an existing project and making new easier access to it, the Ultimate Universe's existence is a key influence to most attempts at shared superhero universes, both existing and "new", that followed. 

IDW's Transformers - While a shared universe with TF wasn't really a thing until the 2010s and the Hasbro Shared Universe, I will note that IDW's TF run had a lot of elements of superhero comics (including also meeting Spider-Man in the New Avengers crossover) and is ultimately notable as the first attempt to take an existing property and build it into a universe of it's own. Like, earlier Marvel TF, even as it became increasingly it's own thing, did have some core DNA in the Marvel universe (same for Godzilla, Micronauts, G.I. Joe, and all the others). And a lot of the other licensed comics of the time, like the early Dark Horse Buffy and Aliens or IDW's Angel were trying to either tie to the franchise's source material or exist in sort of limited, unconnected runs. Not to say there weren't others doing it at various points before, but I do think IDW's TF really became a blueprint for how to take an existing franchise and make it into a unique comics universe that you can see in things like IDW's TMNT or Boom's Power Rangers even today. 

1990s: Image

Okay, people who were not into comics in the '90s... do you know that Image started out as a third superhero publisher? Like, when you think of modern Image, which just has a couple of superhero titles, do you know that superhero comics made up the majority of early Image? Like Spawn, Savage Dragon, and a lot of the stuff coming out of Top Cow and Extreme Studios and (in my personal estimation, the best one) Wildstorm? Because superheroes are where Image started and made their first big (jeans) money. It came out of artists from the big two deciding to do their own thing with their own characters and loosely building a shared universe for their ideas. I'd personally say Wildstorm was the stand-out for superheroes in the Image Revolution--they spun-off to be their own independant thing before getting bought up by DC and while they published a variety of titles, superheroes remained core to Wildstorm's publishing. They also published consistenty. Like, no crack to Youngblood or Cyber Force or whatever, but those books released less regularly than most of the Wildstorm titles--with Youngblood's schedule being... what it was and Cyber Force, even after being pretty regular for a while, becoming less central to Top Cow's identity. 

So, of the stand-outs I've mentioned, Image technically makes up 3 of them (Massive, Invincible, Image) and the exact overlapping nature of these things with each other is a bit strange, but I think speaks to the central philosophy of what has made these universes appealing. They exist at a crucial intersection of recognizability out of the Big 2 (writers and artists who had been Big 2 guys taking the central vision, even if many subsequent members of the teams were starting in the "indie" space) with this sort of loose interconnectivity of other creator-owned superhero comics and a sense of some sort of reactive commentary on the other superhero properties of the time. While full mythos have been formed, something you can't really say about any of the superhero universes that've found success after the 1970s is that they featured a wholly unique take on superheroes, rather than digging into the tropes that had already been long established. 

The other big thing behind early Image is because the founders were a bunch of Big 2 movers-and-shakers, even in the early days, they had a fair amount of room for crossovers (and $$$ for the BIG TALENT). But if you look at Wildstorm, you can see Gen13 team up with Superman, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Monkeyman and O'Brien, Generation X, etc. Add in the return of a bunch of the Image heavy-hitters for Heroes Reborn over at Marvel and there's a complicated web of connections that really elevated the legitimacy of the superhero titles. 

Astro City & America's Best Comics - In a truly bizarre move, two of the other major superhero universes that came out of the '90s were... also by Wildstorm! Kinda. Astro City came out of Homage and America's Best Comics was it's own imprint, both through Wildstorm. And both have weird histories that ultimately end up kinda under DC (except for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which ends up at Top Shelf, but that isn't really a superhero book). And like a lot of what has already been mentioned, these things thrive from an incredibly strong vision from the original writer (Kurt Busiek and Alan Moore, respectively) and, as Becca mentioned when I was talking with them a bit when I took a break in writing, like a lot of the above, part of the way that they are engaging with the existing superhero universes is a sleek design sensibility. I have felt bad talking about the importance of the writers in all these successes and not giving enough credit to the artists, so let this be a chance to correct that. Something all of these have in common is when they're succeeding, they've got top notch artistic talent--Brent Anderson, Alex Ross, Kevin O'Neill, Chris Sprouse, J.H. Williams III, Gene Ha, and all the ABC gang--who are creating art that pushes the medium forward. Like, here and in pretty much every other example, we're talking about people who are capturing a sense of classicism--the looks are often clean and iconic and noteworthy--but are doing so with a style that shows where comics are going to be going in the next decade. It's a really fine balance to strike, but a notable one. 

Milestone - While Wildstorm started as part of Image, went independent, and then was acquired by DC, Milestone was an independent publisher that had their material published through DC from the beginning, and in later years would actually be folded into the larger DC universe. Milestone fits the same model we've been talking about--a strong unified vision by the founders who created the Dakotaverse, a motivation both behind-the-scenes and on the page to respond to the current state of comics, art that felt classic and iconic while also being a vision of what future comics would look like. And, similar to Invincible in some ways, or Wildstorm, it also benefitted from a bit of loose connection to a larger established universe. It took a while for Milestone to officially cross over with DC, but the marketing and distribution relationship really helped it gain legitimacy within the market. 

Valiant - I'll also give a brief shout-out to the original Valiant line. To the point of later Valiant, there was a fair amount of competition in the late '80s/into the '90s of publishers trying to enter the market and disappearing. Like, bless 'em, but Eclipse, Pacific, Malibu, etc all came and went and while some of those stories and characters are still around in various capacities, none of them have had quite the revival of Valiant which is notable to the strength of those core concepts. 

1980s: The Non-Superhero Okay, so, no offense to anyone: Malibu or Capital or First or any of the other publishers that brought in new superheroes. But in my estimation, the big "superhero universe" of the 1980s was the '80s not really having a new superhero universe. Like, and I'll make this quick because I'm already going long--there are a ton of comics that came out that we can debate if they're superhero narratives, we can dig deep into the creators' intentions vs. their ultimate executions, but that ultimately don't feel like they're trying to build a superhero universe. TMNT is awesome and, obviously, has in latter years crossed over with a bajillion things. Usagi Yojimbo and Concrete and Mage which is part of a universe with Grendel and The Crow and whatever else you want to throw in this pot--superhero or not--feels primarily like the later association it may have with a larger world is largely accidental or in some way in spite of it's early siloing. Again, not to say this stuff wasn't ambitious or didn't crossover with it's peers or didn't have grand designs, just that in comparison to, say Marvel's New Universe, it feels much more disconnected and organic in the growth of these things. 

I'm going to make one last special mention, and that is DC Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths. And the reason I bring Post-Crisis up is that it is the prime example of (what I'd also contend is DC's ultimate strength) not making a new universe, but trying to do something about already long-legacies, heavy continuities, and various acquisitions. Like, we could chart the other superhero comics competitors pre-'80s, but so many of them before (and clearly, even some since) have been purchased or otherwise acquired by the big 2 powerhouses and folded into their worlds. And Crisis was a buckwild way of being like "okay, now Fawcett and Charleton and whatever else is also just DC forever" and making a point of it. 

So, why is it hard to make a new superhero universe that sticks? Well... it takes a lot of planning and a lot of money and a bold vision of what superhero comics could be. So, to all those trying to make their new universe, best of luck!  A Note for the Weekend

And, as usual, I've run long and this is going out later than expected. Uhh... well, the long and short of what I wanted to get to here is if you haven't already, continue not spending money for big corps for Black Friday and all weekend long. There're certain businesses that've been specifically targeted by the Palestinian National BDS Committee. You can see those here and learn more about BDS on their site and in this article. Obviously, boycotts can be complicated because there are some that're being called for by folks who don't represent the BNC that are sort of up to how you feel about them and the legitimacy of what you can do within the confines of your community. And this year in particular, there's extra weirdness around the idea of shopping because there are plenty of other reasons to boycott various businesses (solidarity with striking workers, stands against capitalism, stands against artificial and crushing inflation that has made the "Black Friday Deals" not good, literally so many reasons to not buy shit from big corporations) BUT ALSO because costs are rising all over, it's a lot harder for small businesses. Like... man, postage is out of control. It costs so much to ship stuff. I literally can't afford to ship things internationally and to all my international folks, I'm so sorry! It'd just cost a stupid amount to do and it already costs a stupid amount to ship just within the continguous 48. 

With that all said, if you're saving some money by not spending this Black Friday weekend at big business, might I suggest spending some $$$ on your friendly neighborhood artists! Today (Friday) is an itch.io Creator Day, so all proceeds actually go to the creators. Inprnt's got a sale that a ton of really cool artists are a part of. There are tons and tons and tons of artists who have shops both locally in your community and online that could really benefit from your business. So, please, if you do shop, shop responsibly. 

What I enjoyed this week: Blank Check (Podcast), Reverse 1999 (Video Game), Joe Pera Talks with You (TV show - Finished it and I miss it), Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Anime), Three Rocks (Comic - Finished it and I miss it), Chainsaw Man (Manga), Nancy (Comic), Lego Masters (TV show), Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror (Short story collection), the success of Comics for Gaza's Children, the protests made at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (and, yes, the TMNT float at the parade too because I'm a sucker for the parade even as I am critical of it as a celebration of capitalism and a bad holiday), all the money you're going to spend on my Small Business Saturday sale (hint hint)

New Releases this week (11/15/2023): Brynmore #5 (Editor)

Announcements: Do you have $10, want some cool comics, and also want to do good in the world? Adam Szym put together Comics for Gaza's Children on itch.io. When I posted about this less than a week ago in my previous blog, they were about 1/3rd of the way to their intial goal of $10K. Today, that goal has doubled to $20K and they're 98% of the way there! It'll easily meet $20K with your help and could even push to 25-30K before the drive is over. And in return, you get over 100 comics by people like Adam Szym, Reimena Yee, Blue Delliquanti, Emma Houxbois, Cam Marshall, Elaine M. Will, Duke NuCum, Rebecca Ann, and oh yeah, me too! Yeah! Get yourself Rivals and Jimmy Squarefoot and enjoy smut and monsters! And then when you've enjoyed them, buy physical copies from me or Becca! 

I believe this is still going too, if you have more money to give, the Cartoonist Cooperative is doing E-Sim cards for Gaza. You can donate a digital sim card so that residents can get access to the internet and have more functional phones and, in exchange, get some comics or a drawing or whatever else is available from the many participating artists.

You can also give more directly. If you don't have money, and I get it, you can call or fax or email or show up at the offices of your representatives. There are a ton of demonstrations happening this weekend and you can see if you can put your actions in on one of those! 

Thanks for reading all the way here! You deserve a reward! You can use the code "FREECOMIC" on my webshop and get a 10% discount for Small Business Saturday (11/25) through Cyber Monday (11/27) and I'll send you an extra free comic with your order! Want a bigger discount? My Patrons are getting an even better code exclusively on Patreon! Now's a great time to support so I can buy Becca these Chainsaw Manbunny figures that are on a good discount but that I still don't have $500 for. You can also get some stuff from my Kofi! Becca will be back to streaming soon, so keep an eye on their Twitch! Or if you're really ambitious, looks like some things are on discount on their Throne right now. I think Becca'll be doing something for SBS too, but can't say exactly what. And if you're a fellow hiring pro... maybe give 'em a job. Just have 'em do a comic! 

Pic of the Week: Today, our physical copy of Aradia Beat, the magical girl magazine that Becca contributed to, came in, so here's the artist with their spread! 

[anavatazes]

Ok... I think the Doc shoving that scop up my nostrils today to check for polyps and shit may have triggered a vertigo reaction 😑. Since 2018, when I had full-blown vertigo, I have had a few times of smaller episodes of it. Most of the time, it lasts for a few hours to a day. This one feels different. I am having to hold my head still, in one position. Even moving it slowly makes the spinning sensation worse. Not to mention the light headedness. No rocking. No walking fast. No chewing or drinking fast. Nothing loud. Closing the eyes or bright lights don't matter. If things were really kicking off, then closing the eyes would suck, and I would request strong sedatives from my neurologist to knock me out faster at bed than what my night meds already do. 😴

Yup. Already planning ahead for this. Hoping I don't have to worry about this. And I will be fine in the morning. Focusing on other things right now. Looking up other TLOU playthroughs. Trying to find the remastered one with creators I actually like. So far, I don't think any of them have played it for videos yet. 🤔 Which sucks. I am an Ole Fogey and I don't like young whipper snappers screaming and shit into the camera. I just want Joel while I'm not feeling well 😔. In game, there's a lot of crouching, that we missed out with Pedro 🙃.

Again, no difference 🥰