#paul 99 problems

[samgirlboy]

something gay was going on between them repost from my tik tok again because i'm in a sampaul mood (and i might edit them again in the future)

[hart-on-my-sleeve]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62003788/chapters/158561875

Finally posting my Vampire AU Jimmy fic if anyone wanted to read-

First 12 chaps are up, about 6k words... I'll post more as i solidify the chapter order lol. I think I've got 30 chapters written or so? But uh. Yeeeeee...

[beatleshalloween]

I have 99 followers but a bitch ain't one!

😜 yeah I aged myself!!!

[reasonsforhope]

"The world is betting heavily on carbon capture — a term that refers to various techniques to stop carbon pollution from being released during industrial processes, or removing existing carbon from the atmosphere, to then lock it up permanently.

The practice is not free of controversy, with some arguing that carbon capture is expensive, unproven and can serve as a distraction from actually reducing carbon emissions. But it is a fast-growing reality: there are at least 628 carbon capture and storage projects in the pipeline around the world, with a 60% year-on-year increase, according to the latest report from the Global CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) Institute. The market size was just over $3.5 billion in 2024, but is projected to grow to $14.5 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights.

Perhaps the most ambitious — and the most expensive — type of carbon capture involves removing carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the air, although there are just a few such facilities currently in operation worldwide. Some scientists believe that a better option would be to capture carbon from seawater rather than air, because the ocean is the planet’s largest carbon sink, absorbing 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions.

In the UK, where the government in 2023 announced up to £20 billion ($26.7 billion) in funding to support carbon capture, one such project has taken shape near the English Channel. Called SeaCURE, it aims to find out if sea carbon capture actually works, and if it can be competitive with its air counterpart.

“The reason why sea water holds so much carbon is that when you put CO2 into the water, 99% of it becomes other forms of dissolved carbon that don’t exchange with the atmosphere,” says Paul Halloran, a professor of Ocean and Climate Science at the University of Exeter, who leads the SeaCURE team.

“But it also means it’s very straightforward to take that carbon out of the water.”

Pilot plant

SeaCURE started building a pilot plant about a year ago, at the Weymouth Sea Life Centre on the southern coast of England. Operational for the past few months, it is designed to process 3,000 liters of seawater per minute and remove an estimated 100 tons of CO2 per year.

“We wanted to test the technology in the real environment with real sea water, to identify what problems you hit,” says Halloran, adding that working at a large public aquarium helps because it already has infrastructure to extract seawater and then discharge it back into the ocean.

The carbon that is naturally dissolved in the seawater can be easily converted to CO2 by slightly increasing the acidity of the water. To make it come out, the water is trickled over a large surface area with air blowing over it. “In that process, we can constrict over 90% of the carbon out of that water,” Halloran says.

The CO2 that is extracted from the water is run through a purification process that uses activated carbon in the form of charred coconut husks, and is then ready to be stored. In a scaled up system, it would be fed into geological CO2 storage. Before the water is released, its acidity is restored to normal levels, making it ready to absorb more carbon dioxide from the air.

“This discharged water that now has very low carbon concentrations needs to refill it, so it’s just trying to suck CO2 from anywhere, and it sucks it from the atmosphere,” says Halloran. “A simple analogy is that we’re squeezing out a sponge and putting it back.”

While more tests are needed to understand the full potential of the technology, Halloran admits that it doesn’t “blow direct air capture out the water in terms of the energy costs,” and there are other challenges such as having to remove impurities from the water before releasing it, as well as the potential impact on ecosystems. But, he adds, all carbon capture technologies incur high costs in building plants and infrastructure, and using seawater has one clear advantage: It has a much higher concentration of carbon than air does, “so you should be able to really reduce the capital costs involved in building the plants.”

Mitigating impacts

One major concern with any system that captures carbon from seawater is the impact of the discharged water on marine ecosystems. Guy Hooper, a PhD researcher at the University of Exeter, who’s working on this issue at the SeaCURE site, says that low-carbon seawater is released in such small quantities that it is unlikely to have any effect on the marine environment, because it dilutes extremely quickly.

However, that doesn’t mean that SeaCURE is automatically safe. “To understand how a scaled-up version of SeaCURE might affect the marine environment, we have been conducting experiments to measure how marine organisms respond to low-carbon seawater,” he adds. “Initial results suggest that some marine organisms, such as plankton and mussels, may be affected when exposed to low-carbon seawater.”

To mitigate potential impacts, the seawater can be “pre-diluted” before releasing it into the marine environment, but Hooper warns that a SeaCURE system should not be deployed near any sensitive marine habitats.

There is rising interest in carbon capture from seawater — also known as Direct Ocean Capture or DOC — and several startups are operating in the field. Among them is Captura, a spin off from the California Institute of Technology that is working on a pilot project in Hawaii, and Amsterdam-based Brineworks, which says that its method is more cost-effective than air carbon capture.

According to Stuart Haszeldine, a professor of Carbon Capture and Storage at the University of Edinburgh, who’s not involved with SeaCURE, although the initiative appears to be more energy efficient than current air capture pilot tests, a full-scale system will require a supply of renewable energy and permanent storage of CO2 by compressing it to become a liquid and then injecting it into porous rocks deep underground.

He says the next challenge is for SeaCURE to scale up and “to operate for longer to prove it can capture millions of tons of CO2 each year.”

But he believes there is huge potential in recapturing carbon from ocean water. “Total carbon in seawater is about 50 times that in the atmosphere, and carbon can be resident in seawater for tens of thousands of years, causing acidification which damages the plankton and coral reef ecosystems. Removing carbon from the ocean is a giant task, but essential if the consequences of climate change are to be controlled,” he says."

-via CNN, April 29, 2025

[queerfortress2]

Hello!

May I request any number of mercs you’d like to write for helping a S/O who is getting burnt out from work/school/general busy life stuff?

I’m having the worst burnout right now and it stinks :/

If I had any preference…any of these: Medic, Engie, Scout, Spy

You can write for one, you can write for all of them, whatever you would like to do.

I’m a woman and use she/her but you can make this gender neutral so non-female folks can also enjoy, whichever you’d like!

Hope you’re well, and thank you <3

an engie request finally you don’t understand — mod engie

GN!READER X MEDIC + ENGINEER + SCOUT + SPY (SEPARATE)

MEDIC

my brother in christ he is ALSO working. 2fort’s best paper pusher right there.

if you see work pile up he wouldn’t be opposed to helping you if you ignore is own work piling up. he doesn’t mind it really, as much as he says he doesn’t get burnt out he absolutely does and completely understands.

also taking you out of a work environment !! separate yourself from work for a little while, it’ll make you feel a lot better. he would take you somewhere nice if he wasn’t banned for 99% of public spaces, but does his best with what he has. you can walk around town together or he’ll invite you to his private quarters for you to relax with him and his Unusual Amount of Doves.

he’s also huge he’s practically a living weighted blanket. he isn’t exactly one to lay down and cuddle for hours but he can give you physical comfort before he finds himself distracted by something else in the room. you WILL have to listen to his crazy side rants if you spend time with him.

over all i think he’s more work oriented, so i think he’s more focused on “getting it all done” than “girl fuck your work we’ll go out on the town”

ENGINEER

paper pusher number two

he saw it happening before you did and probably dragged you out of the workshop before it got too serious. in the most non-creepy way possible he finds himself observing you frequently when you work together (or just in the same area) and will run checks on you frequently. need water? don’t worry about it, got a mini fridge right there for you— hey would you be a darling and pass the beer over too? thanks.

hospitality is his deal, even if you’re dating he finds himself treating you like a guest. you get the top priority. ignore his constant working and hypocrisy and he’s like a mini nurse.

also also probably does the work for you while he distracts you with something else. he doesn’t mean to be untruthful but.. while you nap he might’ve finished up a bit of your work and just told you that you did it but you were so tired you didn’t remember. HE JUST WANTS THE BEST FOR YOU

celebration too! he can actually go places, he takes you to a nice little diner and has dinner with you. he’s wearing his stupid little plaid shirt and jeans to dress nice and is TOTALLY playing but off like he’s the prettiest boy at the party. (he is) he even does the slick back hair motion on his hardhat (or very bald head). i want his dead /pos.

SCOUT

brother doesn’t know what he’s doing. he is one of the WORST at trying to help you get work done. he honestly just tells you to forget about it and you both just leave to go run about the base for a bit. a good jog never hurt anyone, i guess. (pauling is drowning in work)

he’s irresponsible so don’t trust him to help you either, he’ll forget about it and get distracted with something else entirely. but it’s the thought that counts! he’s also illiterate so that’s probably a problem with homework or just filing pages…

he also doesn’t take no for an answer, if you shove him off he’s just gonna keep pestering you, or if you’re small enough? just GRAB YOU. you’re leaving that desk whether you like it or NOT. you’re gonna go— as the kids say— “touch grass.” it’s gonna happen.

on the bright side, you’re never bored, he’s extremely entertaining. even if it gives you guys weird looks out in public, at least you aren’t frowning! you’re just having a good time.

if anything you’re going to get a good break, but when you get back that work is still going to be there, that’s a guarantee.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Will people buy and read ASM be happy? No, not under this current editorial regime. Because it is betrayal pornography.

A more thorough respose to this video. Will ASM readers be happy? Under the editorial regime of the last 17+ years, it is highly unlikely, but most people enjoyed Nick Spencer's run until the tail end when editorial sabotaged him.

'Willl they ever say 'this is great, this is what we all wanted for years'?' No, because for years they've been outright betraying us. Nick Spencer put in the hustle to repair stuff, we liked that, we appreciated that, but he wasn't allowed to go far enough. When he tried, they sabotaged him.

You say long time readers dropped out but kept in the know since the Clone Saga, but a lot of those readers returned in the early 2000s when Straczynski and Paul Jenkins salvaged the title. Not everyone loved what they were doing but it wasn't the case that the Clone Saga irreparably broke the readership. Remember also, this was during the speculator bubble bursting, so a lot of people were buying because they thought the issues would be worth something someday.

I don't really know why you are distinguishing between the Clone Saga and the Ben Reilly era when 99% of people who talk about the Clone Saga are referring to when Ben Reilly showed up in 1994-when Ben Reilly died in 1996. The whole thing was understandably controversial because they invalidated 20 years of Spider-Man canon. People didn't even hate Ben Reilly himself, they hated that Peter Parker from 1975-1995 had been delegitimised as the real Spider-Man. Which only happened, in part, because Marvel wanted Spider-man to not be married. Even when they were trying to reverse gears on the Clone Saga they tried desperately to have it end in such a way that Peter and Mary Jane were not together and there was no baby, ultimately settling for 'the baby was kidnapped but Spider-Man thinks it was a miscarriage'.

You jumped to the John Byrne era, or as it is often referred to the Mackie/Byrne reboot era. I should point out you entirely skipped over the era between the Clone Saga and Byrne showing up. Two years of stories that were slowly but surely rebuilding trust in the readership, before Mackie and Byrne sabotaged it with the Gathering of Five/Final Chapter storylines which set up the relaunch of ASM. Bear in mind, relaunches back in 1999 were NOT common and it was felt that it was insulting to the historical value of ASM to ditch the numbering so close to ASM 500. As it was, we never celebrated ASM 450 or 475 as a result. In 2004 they did restore the old numbering but that was the first time such a practice had been done. As far as readers in 1999 knew they would NEVER see ASM 500, 600, etc.

More importantly, this era was once again *understandably* maligned and controversial. John Byrne was deleting and re-writing Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's run on Spider-Man. This was insulting on principle, but what was worse his 'updates' were objectively inferior. Not only did they retoactively cause problems to later storylines (ASM 200 could no longer make sense) but they also were stupid in and of themselves, for example having Spidey get his powers as a result of a radioactive EXPLOSION!, which was actually *less* realistic than his 1962 origin. This stuff wasn't just a mini-series, it was referenced in the (at the time) modern day stories, the height of the cringe being Captain Power.

The modern Mackie/Byrne stories were also cringe, depressing, incompetent and insulting. They regularly character assassinated Peter and Mary Jane, had them bleet about how they were 'too young' to be dealing with this insane lifestyle. Peter lies about being Spider-Man. MJ lies about having a stalker. MJ is killed off because Bob Harras mandated it, thereby making Spider-Man a depressed widower. Byrne had Spider-Man kiss an under age girl. The new green Goblin mystery was wrapped up by making him a clone of nobody who then melts, purely because John Byrne hated Green Goblin and wanted to spite the fans. Oh, and Aunt May's beautiful death story in ASM 400 was retconned by saying it was an actress who'd had plastic surgery. And again, ALL of this happened because Marvel editorial didn't want Spider-Man to be married and wanted him to be more youthful.

By the way, there wasn't really a new writer in between Byrne and JMS. Howard Mackie had been co-writing ASM with Byrne beginning in 1998 and Byrne left in 2000, leaving Mackie as the only writer.

You say JMS did a soft reboot. Its more accurate to say Paul Jenkins over on Peter Parker Spider-Man UNrebooted Spider-Man. He literally requested that he be allowed to ignore John Byrne's rubbish. JMS was picking up Spider-Man with his Lee/Ditko history already restored. He wasn't rebooting anything, he was tasked with rebuilding Spider-Man at a point in time when sales were at cancellation levels.

JMS' totem stuff was indeed controversial. And understandably so. Spider-Man had been defined as a grounded relatable hero born from science. JMS was floating the idea that actually he was the product of magic and a child of destiny. In a different way to what Byrne did or what the Clone Saga did, it was messing with the fundamental foundational core of the character. Now, I said controversial, I didn't say bad. Those guys in your comic shop weren't alone in feeling the totem stuff was stupid. However, they, and many others, both misunderstoof the narrative and its purpose. JMS never actually CONFIRMED Spider-Man was mystical or a child of destiny. The arc concluded by saying whether it is magic or science doesn't really matter, in fact they could be one and the same. Which is the exact same sentiment JMS expressed in the film script for Thor (2011). Thor says magic and science in Asgard are one and the same. It was a way to have the cake and eat it too, but the deeper purpose of it was to have Peter look inside himself and question who he is, emerging with more certainty about who he is, what he should be doing. Which was in turn a way to *reconstruct* the character after Byrne and Mackie had destroyed him. Additionally, the controversy drove people to buy the book and thus salvage it from cancellation. In hindsight, most fans don't love the totem stuff per se, but they appreciate the reconstruction of Peter's character it facilitated. There is also, it must be said, an age divide with the millennial fans like myself being more aprreciative and understanding of what the totem stuff was doing vs the Gen X or Boomer fans who dismiss it out of hand (much the way Boomer and early Gen X fans dismiss Venom and Carnage on principle).

You jumped straight into OMD but this skips A LOT of stuff. The totem stuff in JMS' run is wrapped up in 2004 (exempting the Other in 2005) but JMS remained on ASM until the end of 2007. A lot of people (not me admittedly) liked the Civil War stuff.

One More Day. Do I really need to explain why OMD is to this day despised? Can we honestly sit here and say this is Spider-Man fans just never being satisfied when in reality it was the actual worst example character assassination and thematic betrayal in the history of Marvel? OMD made a lie out of Peter Parker's 'with great power, comes great responsibility' philosophy because when it *really* mattered he did the most irresponsible (and btw, out of character) thing imaginable. In the process, in a way astronomically *worse* than the Clone Saga or Byrne did, 20 years of Spider-Man stories were deleted and delegitimised, which in turn retroactively made older stories more confusing. Like the OMD made the *Clone Saga* even more convoluted. And, once again, OMD only happened because Marvel insisted that Spider-Man should not be married because he is about YOUTH.

As for Sins Past, J. Michael Straczynski only wrote that story because he was under the belief that it would very soon not matter because One More Day was going to *delete* that story when it rewrote Spider-Man history. Only for OMD to not rewrite Spidey history in the way he expected. You should know that Joe Quesada at one point fully intended to resurrect Gwen Stacy with OMD until Tom Brevoort talked him out of it. JMS' original idea for OMD was going to involve altering history not as far back as Pete and MJ's wedding but actually as far back as Harry's drug problems. OMD changes history from 1987-2007 but JMS intended it to be changed from like 1971-2007. Presumably, this would have somehow involved Gwen and Norman never hooking up so no Goblin twin babies.

You aren't pro-Mary Jane all the time? Does this mean you are pro-MJ *some* of the time?

Let's talk about Brand New Day. You say they are not memorable. So, given how we nuked the character, nuked the canon, nuked Mary Jane, nuked Peter and MJ's relationship, nuked the idea of any romantic relationship Spider-man has as mattering at all (because OMD signalled that Marvel will NEVER let any relationship he has last)...I'd argue being unmemorable is actually a creative sin. BND had an unenviable task, but nevertheless, it had an obligation to *justify* what had led to it. It had to be top tier Spider-man stories almost every time and more importantly, stories that couldn't have worked in the prior status quo where Spider-Man was married.

The fact that they were unmemorable in your opinion is frankly a damning indictment of their failure to be that.

More importantly...unmemorable was the least of their problems. Brand New Day was an inferior Ben Reilly era as Spider-Man. A new version of Peter Parker created to supplant the noe delegitimised version. It was just that this was a new timeline version of Peter, not a clone. And yet, Ben was more in character to Peter Parker than post-OMD timeline Peter was.

BND era Peter Parker was a Loser with a capital L, a pathetic flanderisation of the character. Peter was previously a normal guy with as much luck as you or me, with worse things happening in his life a biproduct of his choice to be a hero (see Spider-man 2 the film for more details). Under BND they just kept piling failure on top of him. Worse, they had him act straight out of character on numerous occassions to the point where fandom dubbed him 'Spider-Douche'. The worst example is perhaps in Peter Parker Paparazzi, by Dan Slott. Putting aside how this story trolls fans by presenting MJ in a clearly intimate relationship with some new douchebag, the story involves Peter learning the lesson that, people have a right to privacy, even if they are celebrities, so being a paparazzi photographer is bad. This is a lesson that Peter shouldn't needed. He hated paparazzi photographer Nick Katzenburg from the 90s. He dated a famous actress and model who was the victim of paprazzis more than once. He himself as a superhero would KNOW the importance of privacy. His identity was public knowledge just 1 year earlier!

Peter was far from the only character assassination victim. Virtually all the villains and supporting cast got their personalities rewritten and/or flanderised, their histories ignored due to inconvenience, Harry Osborn and Black Cat being the prime victims of this. The new villains were lame. The new supporting characters were worse running the gambit from Carlie Cooper (a Mary Sue) to Michelle Gonzales, a racist/sexist sterotype of Latin American women who physically assaulted Peter and destroyed his property, moments disgustingly played off as jokes. BTW, yes a normal human woman was able to punch Peter Parker, yet another problem with thie wretched era; the utter nerfing of Spider-Man.

All this an juvenile humour and indulgant sexual fantasies. Peter can't be married to MJ because it is unrelatable for him to be married to a supermodel. BUT he can break and enter hotel rooms in order to have have no string attached festishtic mask sex with a leath-clad, platinum haired criminal nymphomaniac a chest like Pamela Anderson. The entire era was essentially a bunch of middle aged men working through their mid-life crises by living out their juvenile sexual fantasies throught he avatar of their childhood hero. It was as pathetic as it was insulting. ANd bear in mind I was well within the target demographic they were chasing at the time.

So, once again, the fans are disatisfied for entirely justifiably reasons.

Dan Slott's run. Hoo boy. I'd argue, in terms of runs, not individual stories, no writer has ever *damaged* Spider-Man as badly as Slott did. This man didn't understand Spider-Man on a fundamental level. His Paparazzi story should have proved that alone but it was systemic in his run. Just like the Paparazzi story, Slott delighted in having Peter behave in ways inconsistent with his established personality and history and then wag an imaginary finger at him for behaving in those ways. This guy was nothing more than extension of BND in the worst ways possible.

You say you liked Spider Island. I didn't because I found it belittling to Peter to have the whole city get his powers and magically be practically as good at using them as he was, with Mary Sue Carlie Cooper getting extra glazed by the story. The Jackal is back in Spider-Man for the first time in nearly 20 years and he never has a big confrontation with Peter. Jackal wrecked his life twice. He traumatised Peter. Peter doesn't think or feel any particular way about him being back now?

You enjoyed Superior. I respect your subjective enjoyment. But your subjectively enjoying it doesn't demonstrate at all that the folks who disliked it are impossible to satisfy. Not least of all because the story in its execution was incompetent and contrived. If Peter Parker simply tells the Avengers he's been body swapped, Superior doesn't happen. If Mary jane or aunt may are in character and thereby able to tell Otto isn't Peter (they've been able to distinguish the Chameleon impersonating Peter, when he was much more subtle than Otto) Superior doesn't happen. If the Avengers did a brain scan on Otto and actually brought along any of the brainy Avengers vs the brawny Avengers in Superior #8 Superior doesn't happen. If Dan Slott didn't character assisnate Peter in Superior #9 by having him *endanger the life of an innocent child* and feeling called out by it, Superior doesn't happen. If in that same issue, Peter doesn't believe he is inferior to Doc Ock because he didn't kill Massacre, Superior doesn't happen. Bear in mind, that last point is literally the opposite of what happens in Maximum Carnage so we were going all out on the character assassination. If ANYONE who knows Spider-Man even remotely points out it is extremly unusual for him to lead an army of goons in a giant mech suit and invade Shadowland, Superior doesn't happen.

Do you see? Superior's chain of cause and effect is broken. It is fundamentally contrived. This is to say nothing of how it legit turned Doc Ock into an attempted grapist in Superior #2 and had him jack off to Peter's memories of being with MJ whilst Peter's ghost screamed for him to stop. Classy. This isn't disgusting or a betrayal of the characters and readership at all. Clearly those pesky ASM readers just can't ever be satisfied.

I will add that I find it on principle to be creatively bankrupt to replace Peter with Doc Ock. Its real easy to generate new stories when you have simply started to write about a new character in the first place. Its much more impressive to tell new, engaging stories that fit the themes and history of the same character.

The same is true when you take the same character and the new thing you do is turn them into a rip off of another characcter, which is what happened with Parker Industries.

You say a lot of people were annoyed with Peter being turned into a Tony Stark character. Is this *really* a case of fans being unsaisfied or is it a case of fans when they read Spider-Man wanting:

a) Spider-Man, not Doctor Octopus, to be the main character and

b) wanting Spider-Man to act like Spider-Man, not act like Iron Man

Like bro, Spider-Man's appeal in his how he is grounded and relatable. Its why fans tend to balk at multiverse, magical, time travel, outer space stories for him. He is optimised when he is in New York dealing with stuff you could deal with in real life alongside villains who are crooks/businessmen with high tech gear/victims of science gone wrong. Similarly, his own tech is modest, something that someone smart could believably cobble together from stuff could get from a university campus of the local Radio shack. He should be noticed on the street maybe by someone who read about Mary Jane and be lower middle class at best.

Now, compare that to...

Peter Parker the internally famous head of the world's leading tech conglomorate who is also the globetrotting, nano-tech suited hero Spider-Man foiling astrological themes terrorists seeking to time travel.

Is this something bold and new and different?

Yes, but only because everyone prior to this era understood the character well enough, and wasn't stupid enough, to do this. There are in fact such things as bad *ideas* as well as bad execution.

But as it was, Parker Industries didn't even have good execution. If it did, we wouldn't have had Spider-Man *invading a country with his own private militia*.

You really enjoyed Silk. Can you in good concience not see how fans can have a legitimate problem with retconning that the dying spider that bit Peter somehow crawled all the way over to someone else and bit her. That Ezekiel never mentioned her. That She is practically as competent with her powers as Peter is despite no experience. How she and Peter are played as lovers in a creepy way because they are compelled to want to mate with one another (which is extra weird since it is the same spider that bit them, so like sort of incest?).

Again, YOU enjoying it doesn't mean the fandom en masse disliking it = they can't be satisfied. Perhaps *you* have tastes out of the ordinary for the majority of the readership? More to the point, I have myself no end of experince being told I am wrong for liking certain Spider-Man stories. Our subjective enjoyment is neither here nor there. Love whatever you want. But it is good practice to maintain a critical eye as well. I love Spider-man Torment and Maximum Carnage, but both are objectively bad, with Boomer fans blasting them and Millennials like me enjoying them. A better example? I love Revenge of the Sith, I don't even think its a good movie and still recognise Empire Strikes Back is the best Star Wars film.

'Make them married again. That's not a story that's a gimmick' JMS took Peter and MJ after they'd been pushed apart by Byrne and Mackie, then MJ had been killed off, then they had been seperated and wrote a whole story arc about them getting back together. So making them married again can be a story. And more importantly, it doesn't need to be a story or a gimmick. A wedding is a gimmick. A marriage is a status quo, one that represents growth and responsibility, two things that were fundamental to the foundations of Spider-Man Stan Lee and Steve Ditko laid down. The absence of the marriage and the continued presence of the Devil Deal signals the continual betrayal of those foundations. No one can take Peter Parker as a hero seriously because the foundation of his current status quo dates back to OMD, the story where he was quintessentially unheroic, irresponsible and sold out on everything he stoof for. And everything we have spoken about above since 2007 is indicative of reaffirming that betrayal again and again and again.

I will add that, it is rather unfair to claim that just having them be married again would allegedly be a gimmick instead of a story....but Doc Ock becoming Spider-Man, Spider-Man becoming like Tony Stark, everyone getting spider powers, Spidey teaming up with every version of himself in the multiverse somehow *aren't* gimmicks?

You said that it isn't that case that 'everything is concrete and if you change it, it is wrong'. First of all, this same rationale is EXACTLY why Marvel made 3 attempts to ditch Spider-Man being married in the first place. Second of all, this is rather unnuanced isn't it? Certain aspects of Spider-Man undeniably are concrete and should not be changed. Other aspects can be, but this does not therefore mean you can change those aspects into *anything*. Changes must be consistent with established characterisation, world building and themes.

Case in point. It is fine if Peter gradutes high school, moves out of Aunt May's house, moves out of a shared apartment, graduates college, gets married, becomes a parent, gets a regular job. These are all changes that are stark in comparison to how he began under Ditko. But they are all consistent with what his defined desires and goals are as a person and the themes of growth, responsibility and (relative) normalcy that have defined him. These are all relatable life experiences. Losing a year of your life because Doc Ock stole your body is not relatable, and it can't even be an allegory for something relatable.

Indeed, all the eras we have gone through have been reviled precisely because they have not simply changed things but changed fundamental and foundational things in Spider-Man. It simply needs to be understood that not all changes are born equal and the character and mythology cannot be contorted into anything and everything without losing integrity. If Spider-Man can be anything, by definition he is also nothing. Limitations are integral or else it has no meaning.

Lets talk about Iron Man and Mary Jane. Frankly, this was a case of fans being, again, justifiably salty that Spider-Man best supporting character and his equivilant to Lois Lane had been exiled from Spider-Man under false pretenses. You might not recall Superior 31 and how she was written out of the story, but it was an absolute tour de force of character assassination. Not a single line of dialogue was in line with who MJ as a person was. It was contrived to reach a pre-determined destination of jettisoning her from the book.

It really boils down to people want important Spider-man characters to be in Spider-Man's comic book, not Iron Man's. The same should be true for Iron Man. Why use Mary Jane when Tony has a plethora of interesting supporting characters who could have been used instead, ones with whom he has a long history and compelling relationship dynamics to explore? The answer? Controversy and nothing more. That and cheap novelty. Bendis's penchant was putting characters drom one franchise and sticking them somewhere else. It essentially NEVER worked. Spider-Man contributed nothing in his time as an Avenger, it was superficial. The same was true of MJ in Iron Man. It didn't even make sense because Iron Man stabbed her and Peter in the back during Civil War so she should hate hated and mistrusted Tony.

Nick Spencer. The ONLY run of modern ASM done by a writer that largely understood Spider-Man and actually put the effort into researching the character. He read allegedly every Spider-Man comic book before his run. He proved his creditials multiple times.

Most people didn't hate on Spencer's run. Even afterwards there was recognition that his final story was bad but also it was obvious it was the victim of sabotage. So the argumentation that Spider-Man fans can't be satisfied is disproved by the reaction to Spencer's run. People DID like it. Because, like I said, it was the first run since 2007 in which Spider-man was being written (mostly) correctly.

Zeb Wells. Let me tell you about this man. This man is self-admitedly just in this as a job. He doesn't care. This man was hired in 2020 to be one of 3 rotating writers after he was exiled from Spider-Man in 2010 for Shed, aka One More Day but for the Lizard, which including the Lizard eating his own son alive and maybe graping a woman. This guy was a fill in writer in 2002. In all that time he was never considered good enough for the main ASM job until 2021. Because Marvel at that point were desperate.

I was there when he came onto the scene in 2002. He was never talented. Ever. He wrote 2 decent issues, neither of which were actually about Spider-Man himself, one of which Brand New Day retconned anyway.

THEN he begins with alternate reality, magic BS. Again, this is not in keeping with Spider-Man's core values and unlike with JMS, Spider-man didn't need reconstructing in 2021.

He immediately destroyed Peter and MJ's relationship after over 4 years of rebuilding it, sending a clear 'Screw you' message from Marvel editorial to the fans as they aggressively reaffirmed their 'official policy'.

And then he proceeded to write Peter as a nerfed hero and a complete loser. It was Brand New Day all over again but with worse artwork.

Again, can you *really* not see how fans would inevitably hate this rather than just being picky babies unable to be satisfied by anything?

Joe Kelly run. I've seen the same opinions you talked about. I think its too early to say one way or the other. But I will say this. Can you not understand how, after the Wells run, the Slott run and BND (which Joe Kelly was part of) Spider-Man fans understandably have been betrayed over and over and over and over again? And therefore, will treat the new run with hostility?

Like I said, you are dismissing the discussion about the marriage as mere reguritation when it is fundamental to Spider-Man's own mini-culture war that's been raging since 2007, if not the 1990s.

Simply put the readers who make Spider-Man comic books sell and Marvel who makes Spider-Man comics for people to buy hold two mutually exclusive interpretations of the character.

Marvel believes it was a mistake for Spider-Man to graduate high school (Joe Kelly in 2009 literally said Spider-Man is mentally 15, so no wonder people don't have faith in him). Marvel believes Spider-Man is fundamentally defined by the theme of YOUTH. Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort in 2007 wrote a 'manifesto' in which he literally says 'with great power comes great responsibility' is NOT fundamental to who Spider-Man is and never was until he got married.

Meanwhile, the readership believe Spider-Man IS about 'great power = great responsibility'. They believe GROWTH was foundational to the character. That him being grounded and street level is intrgral to the themes and world building of the character. That Peter Parker shouldn't be an adult by default per se, but that the 616 version of him aged into an adult and should be allowed to be written as such whilst moving forwards, including being married and having children. Hence Ultimate Spider-man is widely supported by the fandom and outsells ASM.

To put it another way, Marvel are forcing Spider-Man into a fundamental MISinterpretation of the character whilst the fans want him to be IN character.

So it isn't a case that Spider-Man fans can't be happy. It is the case that Marvel have instituionally been abusing their greatest character.

Speaking of Ultimate Spider-Man....bro....come on. You know it is a false equivilancy to say fans should be happy with Ultimate Spider-Man and therefore be okay with ASM the way it is.

USM Peter Parker has an entirely different history to his life and world than 616 Peter Parker. He became Spider-Man as an adult after he married and had children. If a character has different life experiences to another version of himself he is necesarilly going to be a different person with different vectors for readers to relate to him with. Fans don't simply want to see A version of Peter and MJ married, they want the versions whose life journeys they followed and tracked across the decades. They want the Mary Jane and Peter who began falling in love in the aftermath of Gwen Stacy's death and who began moving towards marriage when Mary Jane revealed she'd always known he was Spider-Man and revealed she too wore an emotional mask of her own.

"Just stop and let us be happy"

First of all you should be able to be happy enjoying whatever you want regardless of what others think.

Second of all, I'm sorry, but I and others are just not going to tolerate slop or low expectations for one of the greatest characters in American culture that has resonated with millions of people across the world. We expect better. We demand better. Slop is unacceptable.

"Why do Spider-Man fans attack the editor for just doing his job?"

Because he is doing his job extremely badly. An editor has to engage in quality control and consistenty control and Nick Lowe failed at this on Spider-Man and X-Men before that. He doesn't understand Spider-Man and his predecessor Stephen Wacker was even worse as he literally attacked fans and defended instances of grape in Spider-man as not depicting that subject matter.

Tom brevoort, executive editor at Marvel literally said in 2016 during the Hydra Cap era that pissing fans off was a marketing policy for Marvel.

So the editors are fa from innocent here. They are complicit in sabotaging writers like Nick Spencer, antagonising their customers and vandalising this beloved character. They also defended people like Dan Slott who bullied fans online.

"We're not worried about the sliding timeline"

I'm sorry. I honestly do not understand what that has to do with the conversation at all?

"Spider-Man's not broken. The readership is broken."

Spider-Man is more than broken he is currently discintegrated. Complete and absolute creatively bankrupt BECAUSE Marvel editorial refuse to undo OMD. Its not even about him being married as much as it is about his history being altered and him selling out to Mephisto.

The readership is 'broken' as a result of the betrayals.

'The readers are nto accepting that this character is kinda just who this characxter is'

That is because the fans can clearly see that this character IS NOT Spider-Man. We can literally slap down pre and post OMD comic books side by side and do a basic point by point comparison to prove this. I already did a little bit above when I compared Maximum Carnage with Superior 9.

"You grew up with the character at one point and now you are old"

This very easily disproven. I was 10 years old when I began reading Spider-Man and those stories werre the tail end of the clone saga. Ben Reilly was Spider-Man. Peter was married to MJ. He was an expectant father. So I was a kid who got into Spider-man when he was ALREADY grown up. And yet my views on Spidey are broadly similar to Gen X fans who grew up with Roger Stern single Peter Parker when he was in grad school or Boomer fans who began when he was in college and Gwen Stacy hadn't died just yet. Because we all knew GROWTH was fundamental to Spider-Man.

The Clone Saga, Byrne's run, OMD and most everything since 2007 has attempted to backpeddle on that growth and keep Peter Parker stuck at age 25 forever (he was canonically 30 circa OMD).

Heck, I was 16 years old when OMD happened, I wasn't old and I was the exact demographic Marvel were trying to capture. I was repulsed by BND as were most fans my age, not least of all because their idea of 'young people' was cringe and pandering.

"I'm older than some of my favourite characters"

This is an irrelevant argument.

As a 5 year old watching the Spider-Man cartoon Spider-Man was MUCH older than me to the point where there was no meaningful distinction between him and my parents.

I began reading at age 10 and the stories I was reading was a mixture of Spider-Man from high school, to college, post-college post wedding, post miscarriage. If written well, Spider-Man can be an engaging character at any age.

In my early 20s, when I was closest to the current age for Spider-Man I despised the character's then current status quo.

This isn't even to mention that from the late 1980s-the present day Spider-Man and Wolverine have been Marvel's top 2 characters. Wolverine was at best portrayed as his mid-30s and yet teenage boys lapped him and Spider-man up because Wolverine was bad ass and a compelling character.

Characterisation and substance are what matter.

"Are we as fans willing to accept that we are old and grumpy?"

It depends on how willing you are to accept the Lizard eating his own son, Doc Ock trying to rape mary jane or Mary Jane dating a man complicit in genocide?

But ofc, only old people hate that stuff. Its not like 90% of YT videos or tiktocks bashing Paul and Zeb Wells run are perpetuated by Gen Z as opposed to creaking Millennials like myself.

p.s. This is purely subjective, but I hated the Partker Industries suit for two reasons.

Its original design involved a green glow. Green visually clashes with the red and blue of Spider-Man's suit. It is the reason his villains have green and purple in their costumes, primary and secondary colours clash. it is why eventually people started drawing it as blue instead of gree

In much the way shoulder pads and puches were the silly cliche design gimmick of the 1990s, superficial glowing bits and extra lines were the silly cliche design gimmick of the 2010s

[nattikay]

ok, I mentioned in tags the other day that I had something else that I wanted to address about Josh Izzo's Omaticon panel but wanted to wait until I had a chance to rewatch the recording (missed several chunks of it when it was live due to technical difficulties on my end) to make sure I had the full proper context. Now that I've done that, here it is:

Mako asked Izzo about how much he consulted Paul Frommer (creator of the Na'vi language) for the games, comics, etc. Izzo responded that he does so very frequently and that all the Na'vi language stuff in official media goes through Frommer to be checked first.

Now, to be clear, I do believe him when he says this. I can 100% believe that he talks to Frommer frequently and that Frommer checks everything. If this weren't the case, the Na'vi we get in AFoP, for example, would be far far far worse than it is (side-eyes old Activist Survival Guide).

However....

Mistakes can still happen. Typos can still happen. Even if Frommer approves an initial name or word or sentence, someone down the line could still mishear it or misspell it (either by transcribing it incorrectly or simply making a typo) etc.

The character "Eetu", for example. The pronunciation of this character's name in the game is perfectly valid in Na'vi, but the spelling doesn't match: it should be Itu. I'm completely willing to believe that Frommer heard the name pronounced "Itu" and said "yeah that works", but I highly highly highly doubt that he saw it written down as e-e-t-u when he approved it because that just does not fit with how Na'vi spelling works.

Same with "P'asuk", I don't doubt for a second that Frommer could've been asked "hey, we want to name this character 'berry', how do you say that?" and responded "sure, that word is Pasuk!" but I just cannot buy that he'd have seen it written down with the unnecessary (and invalid!) tìftang and said "yup that's fine". I'm sorry, I just don't believe that; it doesn't make sense.

And then of course, there's things that are inconsistently misspelled: for example, AFoP usually spells "Zeswa" correctly, but there are a few places in the Hunter's Guide where it's incorrectly spelled "Zes'wa", which is phonetically invalid per Na'vi syllable structure.

Now, I'm not saying this to hate on the team who put AFoP together. I very much enjoy AFoP and the majority of the Na'vi language stuff in it is very good. But mistakes happen. And these are mistakes.

Which brings us to my issue with Izzo's panel: when he noticed some people in the chat bringing up these small typos and errors, instead of acknowledging that "hey yeah, people might have made a few typos, we do our best to avoid it but mistakes happen sometimes", he........basically doubled down on them, insisting that Frommer approved everything and handwaving any inconsistencies as "meh it's just a conlang, there's a wiggle room".

which.......I'm sorry, Mr. Izzo, as someone who both studies and teaches the Na'vi language that is a major L take.

He shared an example story from the first movie, where Zoe Saldaña accidentally mispronounced a word (pähem) and the mispronunciation wound up getting canonized as a synonym (pate).

Here's the problem, though: pähem was not the only word that got mispronounced the first movie. There are tons of mispronunciations to varying levels of severity. But pate is the only one that got canonized as a new word (idk why they decided to do that for this one particular word but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). At one point Jake says "analu" when he should've said "ngari" but you won't find that in any dictionaries.

It's a kinda fun story that the word pate stems from a mispronunciation, but it's not the norm. 99% of the time, when an actor flubs a word, it's just that: a flub. A mistake. And that's ok, because mistakes happen. But it's a mistake nonetheless. And that applies to typos and misspellings too.

The High Ground Vol 1 consistently misspells skxawng—one of the most well-known Na'vi words outside of the language community—as skwang, but you ain't gonna be seeing "skwang" show up in any Na'vi dictionaries any time soon.

Yes, it's true that Na'vi is a conlang and that it's actively growing and evolving. But hand-waving away very obvious mistakes as "oh it's a conlang it's flexible" was...not good.

Josh Izzo seems like a nice guy who really loves the fans and I understand that he wanted to emphasize how much effort they put into getting things right and that they do consult with Frommer etc—and that's all fine and good!

But, it seems very clear to me that Izzo himself simply does not know all that much about the Na'vi language or how it works. Which is fine of course, understanding the language is not his job; he can (and does) talk to Frommer for that. But if he did know more about the language and how it works himself, I don't think he'd be doubling down to validate these very clear mistakes.

[superman86to99]

Action Comics Weekly #642 (March 1989)

Superman gets offered a job as a Green Lant-- hey, wait a minute, why are we back in 1989?! Is Zero Hour already messing with the timestream? Nah, it's because, while making a Superman '86 to '99 reading guide at League of Comic Geeks, I noticed we never covered this issue -- we have a post about the Superman serial in Action Comics Weekly #601-641, and one about the classic Action Comics (Non-Weekly) #643, but this one sorta fell through the cracks since it wasn't technically part of the serial but not really a monthly issue either. So, with present-day Action Comics going weekly again this month, it seems like a good time to right another long-time wrong and plug this tiny hole in the '86-'99 continuity.

Anyway, the issue starts with a flashback to the day Green Lantern Abin Sur crashed down on Earth and, in his dying moments, instructed his ring to select and bring over a successor, who ends up being... Clark Kent?

Yep, this issue reveals that Clark was Abin's first choice for Earth's Green Lantern -- and no, this doesn't take place in some alternate timeline, like that annual where Superman becomes GL and President of the USA. However, the ring soon determines that Clark doesn't qualify for the gig because he's from a species "not native" to this planet, even though Man of Steel #1 established that he was born on Earth. Still, I guess it wouldn't be good for his GL authority to be undermined by any potential birther movements. Before having his memory of the incident wiped by the ring, Clark sees a projection of the other GL candidates, which include Robin, someone who looks like Pope John Paul II, and a test pilot Clark remembers interviewing called Hal Jordan. (Oh, and no women, leading Clark to correctly deduce that Abin's bosses have "an attitude problem.")

Clark recommends Hal for the job because he's "the straightest arrow I ever met" and will surely never go insane and kill a bunch of his buddies. Great call, Clark.

Meanwhile, in the present (well, 1989's present), Hal Jordan returns to that same desert where he first became Green Lantern to investigate a bunch of stolen nuclear materials someone's been piling up here. Some military types start shooting at Hal, which wouldn't normally be a problem for a Green Lantern, except that Hal is feeling so insecure lately that his ring malfunctions and lets the bullets hit him. When an army major shows up and starts barking orders, Hal just lets the guy arrest him and ends up getting shot in the chest by him. Again: great call, Clark.

As Hal lays dying in the desert, his ring is like "whelp, here we go again" and goes looking for potential Green Lantern candidates from all over the planet. They are: a union leader at an Eastern European factory, a priest in South Africa, an old Native American guy who fights mountain lions, a hostage negotiator in Beirut, Nightwing (so Robin again, but all grown up), Deadman (currently possessing some criminal), and Guy Gardner. Doesn't Guy already have a GL ring? Nope, because he just gave it to some very confused arms dealer who looks like G. Gordon Liddy to make a fight more interesting.

Oh, and Clark Kent again. Wasn't Clark already disqualified from the job? You'd think the ring would keep track of stuff like that.

As Hal's ring-projected ghost looks over his potential replacements, who are frozen in time at the desert, Deadman is able to talk to him (being a ghost too) and tries to convince him to just let himself die and go to heaven, where he can chill with Abe Lincoln, Ghandi, MLK, Robin Hood, and some unicorns. Clark unfreezes himself in time and tells Hal he should continue living, his main argument being "What if you miss out on the exciting space exploration that's definitely happening in the next decades?" (which is kind of a weird thing to say to a guy who can fly through space on his own).

Clark and Deadman get so caught up in their argument that they don't even notice an AI version of Abin Sur coming out of the ring and joining their little ghost party. "Abin" tells Hal that all of these other candidates are "lesser wills" compared to him, which surprises Hal (wonder if he heard "lesser willies"). Apparently that's what gives Hal the confidence to go back to his body, instantly heal himself, go kick those military dudes' butts, and convince a judge to prosecute them. While Hal's doing all that, we see that every one of the potential candidates took some GL energy with them as they got transported back to their countries and unknowingly used it to deal with the sticky situations they were in, from "convincing a factory boss to hire an old man back" to "declawing and defanging a mountain lion."

As for Deadman, he possesses the body of a kid from Clark's building just to continue his life/death argument with him. Clark tries to ignore him as he walks through Metropolis, but Deadman keeps jumping from body to body (a doorman, an old lady walking a dog, the dog) to pester him. Clark refuses to take the bait...

...until Deadman goes away, proving that Superman's will may not be as big as Hal's, but at least it's bigger than this guy's.

Creator-Watch:

Unless you count the Kingdom Come novelization, this was the only Post-Crisis Superman story written by prolific Pre-Crisis writer Elliot S! Maggin, who wrote over a hundred Action, Superman, and Superman Family issues in the '70s and early '80s. This is also, not coincidentally, the only Post-Crisis Superman story that ends with this Clark offering his once-customary last panel wink at the reader, though nothing we've seen so far suggested that fourth wall-breaking winks was in his power set. Maybe he just saw Bibbo across the street?

Plotline-Watch:

The "ACTION - CLOSED FOR RENOVATION" sign up there is a reference to the ads DC used to hype up the Action Comics Weekly series in 1988, which showed a theater marquee with messages like "WATCH FOR GRAND OPENING" and "GALA PREMIERE." Ending with "RENOVATION" is appropriate, since the regular Action title wouldn't be back for three more months.

The retcon about Clark helping Abin Sur pick Hal Jordan as Green Lantern means that, in a roundabout way, Superman is responsible for all those deaths in "Emerald Twilight" and certain dramatic events we're about to see all over the DC Universe. So, if you think about it, this issue is connected to the Zero Hour coverage we've been promising for some time now...

When Clark and Deadman are arguing about whether Hal should live or die, Deadman says one shouldn't "screw around with the way things go" (meaning: you can't just go back to life if you already died). Clark says "I resent that." I'm guessing he resents it even more post-Doomsday.

The stuff about Hal feeling fearful and insecure is explained in his ACW serial, but it's interesting that it lines up with the future retcon about a certain space parasite crawling up his butt sometime around this period. His next appearance would be in the rebooted Green Lantern #1 (1990), which is the issue where his hair started going grey (due to the fear caused by the aforementioned space bug, it was later revealed).

Don Sparrow says: "This issue, which was supposed to wrap up a number of the anthology of storylines depicted in Action Comics Weekly (or just feature the players within the book) was actually the second attempt at a final issue. The first attempt was written by Neil Gaiman, but was deemed unsuitable since his story relied on Superman and Hal Jordan knowing each other’s civilian identities, which was an editorial no-no at the time. So the story that Gaiman -- fresh off Black Orchid at the time, but before he'd hit it big with Sandman -- wrote went on a shelf, eventually emerging as a one-shot prestige format book which was released 11 years later. Though it had its moments, that story also felt similarly disjointed, to me at least, and the art styles from each chapter clashed even more jarringly than this issue. But at least that’s the last controversy Neil Gaiman was ever involved with." (Who's gonna tell Don?) I remember kinda liking that one. Since it came out in 2000, it's outside the scope of this blog, but maybe we'll cover it at the newsletter and Patreon at some point anyway.

Shout Outs-Watch:

Speaking of which, massive Hal Jordan's willforce-sized shout outs to our supporters, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, Dave Shevlin, and Dave Blosser! You can join them at those links above, because we feel self-conscious enough about plugging them once already.

And now, Don's take on this issue, plus more art from the stacked roster of artists (including Steve Ditko and Kevin Nowlan)!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

Starting with the cover, and it’s a strange one.  I absolutely adore Ross Andru generally, so, not knowing if it’s the inks or the pencils, both the drawing and colouring here seems pretty rushed.  The image of Superman weighing the Green Lantern uniform is a good concept, and would have made a decent panel, but it seems a little under-developed for a proper cover.  Add to that the fact that only some of the crowd behind Nightwing, Deadman and Superman are familiar, and there’s a strange weightlessness to Nightwing’s stance, and it just doesn’t feel like what I’m used to seeing from Ross Andru. 

Inside the book though, we open with an absolute treat, with the opening pages drawn by the instantly identifiable Gil Kane.  This is late period Kane, and while it’s not as sharp as his drool-worthy early Green Lantern or Spider-Man runs, his late, ligne claire style is still a joy to read.  It’s especially wonderful that these early pages are right in his wheelhouse with a lot of space technology—Kane did practical-seeming high-tech buttons, panels and wires about as good as anyone.  It’s fascinating seeing the visuals of the other candidates Abin Sur’s ring seeks out—to my eye that looked like Pope John Paul II (I guess the ring, nor the writers of this comic could see that he wasn’t entirely honest, or without fear), Dick Grayson (who I mistook for Jason Todd because of the haircut), John Stewart, and then Hal on the far right.  I wasn’t sure, on my first reading just who the mustachioed fellow is between Stewart and Jordan—Hector Hammond I thought.  So I was glad the stories in later chapters elucidated these images. [Max: Worth noting that it's mentioned John Stewart wasn't invited to the latter part of the story because he was off-planet, not because the ring has something against architects. Also, they say the white priest is dead by then, so that can't be John Paul II unless 1981 went very differently for him in this universe...]

If I dare criticize someone with a legendary career, I was a bit thrown by how frequently Kane draws Clark with a prominent (and very Superman-like) S-curl in his hair, jeopardizing his secret identity.  Then again, he recognizes the alien is dying, so maybe he’s deduced it’s ok to be a little careless with the forelock.

After Kane’s brief story, we’re treated to another rarity for its time—mainstream comic pages from Steve Ditko!  Being fairly familiar with his style in the 80s, I’d say Art Thibert (future super-teamster, lending a very Jim Lee aesthetic to Dan Jurgens lines in the early '90s) has a pretty heavy hand here, as Ditko’s pencils, while always energetic and succinct, had gotten a little looser by the late 80s.  No matter who is more responsible for the images we see, there’s a great sense of movement and imagination to these pages, especially Hal’s use of his ring. Battering rams we’ve seen before (even in Superman comics, wherein Hal may or may not look so totalled it makes Superboy wanna hurl) but making a dragon creature to simultaneously capture armed guards and excavate a roof is pretty darn inventive.  I also appreciate Ditko’s pure cartooning—this is certainly a more visibly expressive Green Lantern than we’re used to seeing, so it’s bold to have the character emote a little more. 

The Curt Swan pages that follow are unsurprisingly excellent, Ty Templeton’s precise inks making them look all the more crisp (if memory serves, Templeton was a sharpie marker guy as well!) but they don’t give Swan a lot to do, drawing lots of real world, civilians in clothing type storytelling.  Don’t get me wrong, Swan can do it all, but this glacial, decidedly non-superhero interval gives a hint to me as to why Action Comics Weekly kinda sputtered out. Though it’s perhaps a dull scene (Clark typing out a story on a computer), the rendering and lighting of the panel of Superman using his visual powers is almost photographic, it looks so good.  The Deadman section has a bonkers depiction of Heaven, complete with Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Himself (!), Robert, Earl of Huntingdon (AKA Robin Hood) and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, with Deadman assuring a ghostly Hal Jordan that Lincoln is the funny one in the group. [Max: Wait, is that Jesus? I thought it was Uncle Sam without the hat, or maybe a time-displace Lex Luthor Jr.]

A few pages later we get a great look at Hal Jordan diving into a spiral caused by helicopter blades, and as often happens with Kevin Nowlan, the penciller underneath, no less than Carmine Infantino, gets a little lost—not that I’m complaining—I love Kevin Nowlan’s sometimes overpowering inks, because they’re so clean and delicate. [Max: Side note: Why do all the guns in this issue look like water pistols squirting green liquid?]

The Nightwing section is Jim Aparo at his reliable best, though the inks by Nyberg look a little dated next to the more modern finishes of Nowlan. 

SPEEDING BULLETS:

Fun, but tragic fact—the consistent line weight of Gil Kane’s self-inked pages (like the ones in this book) were largely created by non-archival alcohol or xylene based markers, so a lot of Kane’s original art from around this period yellowed so significantly over time that some of his pages feature ink “blacks” that are light yellow on white, making those beautiful creations almost invisible.  Fortunately, having looked into it, these very pages still look pretty good today.  

I like that even back in 1988, Clark Kent is evolved enough to question why Sur’s ring didn’t find any female candidates.

While it’s fun to explore the function of Hal’s ring, I don’t know if I subscribe to the notion that his shield would be that weak if he had a confused thought. 

I like oldies enough that I can’t help hearing Neil Sedaka’s high pitched tones as I read Hal thinking “Oh, Carol!”

On the whole, I found this whole yarn, about military corruption, with the brief if colourful interstitials to introduce the other Lantern candidates (which had little bearing on the rest of the story) pretty hard to follow.  Even more so, since we don’t actually see the fruits of Green Lantern’s labour—Major Easterly isn’t shown being arrested, we see only the signing of the warrant for his arrest, which feels like something more consequential than the kid selling door to door in Clark’s apartment building, say.

Action Comics Weekly was an interesting experiment, and there’s a pretty in-depth explanation of DC’s reasoning behind discontinuing it.  They do acknowledge that sales weren’t strong, but also posit that they weren’t at cancellation level.  Their rationale for cancellation was that the weekly schedule was too difficult to keep up with, especially with a double sized book like Action Comics Weekly.  I remember being incredibly excited when it was first announced, then crushed when I realized that Superman got only two pages in each issue.  Yes, the story was by Roger Stern, and yes, illustrated by Curt Swan, so we were in good hands, but there was a dullness and a lack of fantasy or superhero action in the stories that persisted, and made ACW feel less than essential.  The teams were top notch talents (people like Mark waid, Peter David, Dave Gibbons, Christopher Priest, etc).  The characters were ones I wanted to read about, but what happened in the stories often felt like strange choices.  For example, there was an extended Hal Jordan story where it was revealed that Hal Jordan, whose only thing is that he’s honest and fearless was revealed to be neither honest, nor fearless, but had been subconsciously purged of fear and dishonesty by his ring, requiring him to deprogram the ring to remove that influence.  That decision led to reading about Hal Jordan cowering on the ledges of buildings, afraid to fly as he got his bravery back.  Interesting concept, or intellectual exercise, perhaps, but is it what the average Green Lantern fan would want to read?   It felt like there was a lot of that to me (though it did have the unique element of depicting Oprah Winfrey threatening to break…something… of Green Lantern’s). Once Roger Stern was brought on as a regular writer, some elements (like the Superman cult of California) were a little more integrated into continuity, but for the most part as a Superman fan at the time, the ACW story read a lot like pre-Crisis Superman.

Missed an issue? Looking for an old storyline? Check out our new chronological issue index!

[nordleuchten]

Now, My dear General, that You are Going to Enjoy some Ease and Quiet, Permit me to propose a plan to you Which Might Become Greatly Beneficial to the Black part of Mankind—Let us Unite in Purchasing a small Estate Where We May try the Experiment to free the Negroes, and Use them only as tenants—Such an Example as Yours Might Render it a General Practice, and if We succeed in America, I Will chearfully devote a part of My time to Render the Method fascionable in the West indias—if it Be a Wild scheme, I Had Rather Be Mad that Way, than to Be thought Wise on the other tack.

The Marquis de La Fayette in a letter to George Washington, February 3, 1783.

“To George Washington from Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, 5 February 1783,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-10575. [This is an Early Access document from The Papers of George Washington. It is not an authoritative final version.]

Now, the thing is, if Washington would have written to La Fayette, saying that he would like to support him with his name and his gravitas but could not muster the funds to support him financially, this would not have been a problem. La Fayette had the money, he bought the plantation in the end alone anyway.

As to the French Revolution, well, no one could have seen that coming.

[ostensiblynone]

Kosovo Support Gig NME - 12 June '99 Written by: Jim Alexander

On the 31st May 1999, a benefit concert was held in London's Kentish Town Forum. Bands like the Stereophonics, Paul Weller and Ray Davies were joined by Noel Gallagher and Paul Stacey on guitars to play a short acoustic set.

If the atmosphere occasionally veers towards all-mates-together, you can always rely on the worst-kept secret guest in the world to strut onstage fuelled with the bullish spirit of lager and Man City's playoff victory.  Overwhelmed by a return to the First Division, Noel Gallagher launches straight into a cover of 'Bittersweet Symphony'. Fortunately, he does it with considerable style. True, he could probably fart into a trumpet and everyone would be happy, but as he sets about hijacking the proceedings, that's largely irrelevant. Especially as he plays 'Supersonic', 'Live Forever' and 'Rock 'n' Roll Star, stretching them out into raging acoustic mini-epics, which without Liam are altogether less arrogant and more vulnerable. But which, crucially, still sound like some of the best songs of the decade and give this gig genuine event status.

If they're taken up by the crowd with rabid enthusiasm, however, it's nothing compared with the way they greet 'Wonderwall'. Everyone in the country must know the words, but more than that they seem able to take those words and find some memory of their own to fuse them on to. Hopefully next time they hear it they'll spare a thought for the Kosovans. A few stars playing a few songs might seem insignificant in the face of such a complex and massive problem as the Balkans, but it's a welcome start. Dadrock has done itself proud.  Now it's over to everyone else.

[thirdlotusprince3]

Other idea I had Anger forced Pouchy to swallow all the new emotions so they will not be a problem.

And

Envy is acts more like a spoiled rich kid who cries and tantrums to get what she wants.

(Okay the Logan Paul and Jojo Siwa I'm kinda making fun of them, I don't actually like any of them)

Based off of this

(99+) Of the options listed below, which one would completely ruin “Avatar the Last Airbender” for you? Aang discriminates against... – @giveamadeuschohisownmovie on Tumblr

[dollanganger-in-the-attic]

Ok so about Cathy’s bloody accident in Petals - I’m 99% sure it was a miscarriage. I’ve missed my period for 3 months in a row a few times and when I finally got it, it was just a regular period if a little heavy. I’ve also never heard of a D and C being used for anything but an abortion

First off i want to preface that a lot of people have interpreted that scene as a miscarriage and i think thats totally fine either way. Art is meant to be up to interpretation!

However, i am of the opinion that she did not have a miscarriage so thats why i’ll be sharing points to support my view.

First: Cathy asks Paul straight out if she had a miscarriage and he tells her no. He kind of even seems shocked that she was think that would be kept from her. I think the scene where he assures her that she did NOT have one is meant to clarify the ambiguity to the reader, so thats how i have interpreted it.

Secondly: A D&C can and is done for reasons other than miscarriage/ abortion. Im not a doctor but i did work in hospitals, and i did chart for a patient who had a d&c for something unrelated to a miscarriage. Cathy wasn’t only having period problems, she was malnourished, poisoned, and traumatized so she would probably need more intervention than the average person. Plus its a fictional story and you know VCA likes to ramp up the drama ;P

Third: I’ve read several versions of the Petals on the Wind manuscripts and each time the “accident” is present it is always clarified later on that she never had a pregnancy from her time in the attic- so i dont think it was ever intended for her to have had a miscarriage.

If anyone has any counter arguments or opinions lmk! Lets discuss, it seems to be one of the more interesting mysteries of the story

[scoobydoodean]

SAM You hear they shut down the cell towers? DEAN No. That’s, uh, news to me. SAM Yeah. No cable, internet. Total cut off from the “corruption of the outside world.” DEAN Huh. SAM Don’t you get it? They’re turning this place into some kind of fundamentalist compound. DEAN No, I get it. SAM And all you’ve got’s a “hmm?” What’s wrong with you? DEAN I get it. I just don’t care. SAM What? DEAN What difference does it make?

Another note about 5.17 "99 Problems": I have seen people say before that Dean was "defending" the town going all doomsday cult like he thought what they were doing was cool or something. That is not what happened.

Dean was experiencing apathy. The episode was emphasizing Dean not instantly caring about something he would normally instantly notice and care about. It was an expression of his loss of hope, just like his ability to stab and kill The Whore was an expression of Dean losing hope.

Even despite that, when push came to shove and Dean stumbled across Rob and Jane attacking Paul the bartender, he immediately intervened. When push comes to shove, Dean makes the right call. That's what Sam ultimately counts on in the next episode.

[lukesfrag]

Destihellers be like: "Sam is homophobic! 😡🤬"

Meanwhile Sam and Paul in 99 Problems:

[layce2015]

Supernatural (Dean Winchester x Female!Reader)

99 Problems

Masterlist pt 1

Masterlist pt 2

*(y/n)'s POV*

"Drive faster, Dean." Sam shouts at him as we scream down the road. "I can’t! Are you okay?" Dean asked Sam, nodding to his wound on his shoulder. "Yeah, I’m amazing." Sam said as I lean forward from the backseat and place a rag over his shoulder, to help stop the bleeding.

"You ever seen that many?" asked Dean. "No." Sam replied. "No way, not in one place." I said. "What the hell?" Dean asked, annoyed, then we came up to a large vehicle that was on fire in the middle of the road and Dean stops the car. "Damn it!" Dean shouts and he backs up.

At that moment, Demons came out, smashed the windows of the car and try to drag the three of us out of the car. We do our best to fight them when, suddenly, water was sprayed on us and the demons let us go, screaming in pain.

"The hell?" I asked as I look out and see a group of people standing by a truck with a firehose and a man on top, holding a bullhorn to his mouth. He started to recite the exorcism and all of the demons scream and we exorcized out of their hosts' bodies.

"Well that’s something you don’t see every day." Dean said as we get out of the car and the man walks up to us. "You three alright?" He asked us as we stare around in shock. "Peachy." I said. "Be careful. It’s…dangerous around here." The guy said and he turns to walk.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait." Dean said and the man turns back. "No need to thank us." He said, smiling. "No, hold up a sec! Who are you?" Dean asked him. "We’re the Sacrament Lutheran Militia." The man replied. "I’m sorry—the what?" I asked. "I hate to tell you this, but those were demons and this is the Apocalypse. So…buckle up." He said and the boys and I share a look. How the hell do these guys know about demons and the Apocalypse?

Minutes later, Dean opens the trunk of the Impala to the guy, Rob, and his partners then showed our weapons. Rob looks at this, impressed. "Looks like we’re in the same line of business." Sam said. "And among colleagues. That’s a police-issued shotgun. That truck is, uh…inspired." Dean said, gesturing at the truck and the group of men that saved us

"Where’d you guys pick up all this crap?" I asked our saviors. "You know you pick things up along the way." One of the men, Paul, said. "Guys, come on. This whole corner of the state is nuts with demon omens. We just want to help. That’s all." Dean tells them. "We’re on the same team here. Just talk to us." Sam said and the guys give each other some looks before they look back at us. "Follow us." Rob tells us.

Rob and his group lead his to this small town, with a church that had guards and barriers around it. We get out and walk towards the church when I noticed the devil's trap symbol painted on the ground, in front of the entrance barrier. 

We walked inside to see several people inside and a pastor at the other side of the church, with a couple standing before him. "Who would have thought the Apocalypse could be so romantic? Marriage, family—it’s a blessing. Especially in times like this. So hold on to that." The pastor said while I noticed all of the people in the pew were holding rifles.

"Wedding? Seriously?" Sam asked, scoffing. "Yeah. We’ve had eight so far this week." Paul replied and the boys and I share confused looks amongst each other. 

"Congratulations! Yay!" Some of the churchgoers shouted to the newly wedded couple as they walk out of the church. We stood there outside of the church, watching the people, when the Pastor comes up to us. "So Rob tells me you three hunt demons." He said. "Uh…yes sir." I said and Dean nods. "You missed a few." The pastor teased as I noticed he had a gun holster wrapped around his right leg.

"Yeah. Tell us about it. Any idea why they’re here?" Sam asked him and the Pastor shakes his head. "They sure seem to like us, though. Follow me, gentlemen and lady." He said and he heads inside the church.

"So you’re a preacher?" Dean asked after we followed him into the church. "Not what you expected, huh?" the pastor said. "Well, dude, you’re packing." I pointed out and he shrugs. "Strange times." The pastor said and he turns to the right and opens the door, leading to a basement of people inside making weapons.

"Is that a twelve-year-old packing salt rounds?" Dean asked, stunned. "Everybody pitches in." The pastor said. "So, the whole church?" I asked. "The whole town." The pastor said. "A whole town full of hunters. I don’t know whether to run screaming or buy a condo." Dean said. "Well the demons were killing us. We had to do something." The pastor said.

"So why not call the National Guard?" Sam asked him. "We were told not to." The pastor said and I furrow my brow in confusion at this. "By who?" Sam asked but the pastor doesn’t answer. "Come on, Padre. You’re as locked and loaded as we’ve ever seen. And that exorcism was Enochian. Someone’s telling you something." Dean said. "Look, I’m sorry, I, uh, I can’t discuss it." The pastor said.

"Dad, it’s okay." A female voice said, behind us, and we turn to see a young woman with long light brown hair, a blue button up shirt, jeans and a gray cardigan. "Leah—" the pastor said but Leah continues. "It’s Sam and Dean Winchester and (y/n) (l/n). They’re safe. I know all about them." She said, which surprised me and the boys.

"You do?" I asked her. "Sure. From the angels." She said. "The angels. Awesome." Dean grumbles, annoyed. "Don’t worry. They can’t see you here. The…marks on your ribs, right?" Leah asked and we continue to stare at her.

"So you know all about us because angels told you?" Sam asked her. "Yes. Among other things." Leah replied. "Like the snappy little exorcism spell." I said. "And they show me where the demons are going to be, before it happens. How to fight back." She said.

"Never been wrong. Not once. She’s very special." The Pastor said as he walks over to Leah and places an arm around her, like a proud parent. "Dad…" Leah said, embarrassed. "And let me guess. Before you see something, you get a really bad migraine, you see flashing lights?" Dean asked her and she gives a stunned look to him.

"How’d you know?" She asked him. "‘Cause you’re not the first prophet we’ve met." I said and she looks between us, almost like she was surprised to hear this.

That night we were at a bar and I had my phone to my ear as I tried to call Cas, but he didn't answer so it went straight to voicemail. "You have reached the voicemail box of..." the automated voice said then it pauses and I hear Cas' voice. "I don’t understand why, why do you want me to say my name?" He asked and I hear him push buttons. "So that people will know who they're talking to, Cas." I hear Ariel say in the background as Castiel presses random buttons and I couldn't help but laugh alittle as the voicemail beeps.

"Cas, hey, uh, it’s me. So we are in Blue Earth, Minnesota, and um, we could use a little help. I…hope you get this." I said and I hang up. Ariel, unfortunately, doesn't have a phone as she relies on Castiel with the phone so it's a bit a pain in the ass to not get ahold of her.

"So, did you get a hold of Cas?" Dean asked, taking a sip of his beer, as I walk over to them. "Yeah, I left him a message. Don't know when or if he'll respond." I replied, taking the beer Sam handed me and sat down next to Dean. "So uh, what's your theory, guys? Why all of the demon hits?" Sam asked us. "I don't know. Gank the girl? The prophet, maybe?" Dean said and Sam shakes his head. "What?" I asked Sam. "Just these angels are sending these people to do their dirty work." Sam said.

"Yeah. And?" Dean asked. "And they could get ripped to shreds." Sam replied. "We're all gonna die, Sam. In like a month...maybe two. I mean it. This is the end of the world, but these people aren't freaking out. In fact, they're running to the exit in an orderly fashion. I don't know that that's such a bad thing." Dean said, taking another sip of his beer.

Sam and I stared at him, stunned. "Who says they're all gonna die? What ever happened to us saving them?" I asked. Dean stared back at us and before he could say anything we heard the church bells toll.

Everyone immediately got up and started leaving the bar. "Something I said?" Dean asked. "Paul. What's going on?" Sam asked him, when he started to walk past our table. "Leah's had another vision." He replied and he leaves and Sam turns to us.

"Wanna go to church?" Sam asked us. "You know me...downright pious." Dean replied, taking a swig of his beer. "You're alot of things, Dean, but pious...eh." I said and he gives me a deadpan look while I stick my tongue out at him. We left the bar and follow everyone to the church.

"Three miles off Talmadge Road." Pastor Gideon announced. Leah whispers in his ear. "Five miles. There are demons gathered. I...don't know how many, but a lot. Thank you, Leah." He said and his daughter took a seat. "So, who's going to join me?" Pastor Gideon asked, Rob raise his hand. "Wouldn't miss it." He said. "Someone's got to cover Rob's ass." Paul said, raising his hand. The two exchange smiles.

"We're in, Padre." Dean said, slightly raising his hand. "Thank you. I'd like to offer a prayer." Pastor Gideon said and everyone, but the boys and I, lower their heads. "Our Father in Heaven..." 

"Yeah, not so much." Dean mumbled. As Pastor Gideon said his prayer, I notice instead of bowing his head to pray along with everyone, Paul pulls out a flask and raises it to a disapproving Rob. "Help us to fight in your name. We ask that you protect us from all servants of evil. Guide our hands in defeating them, and deliver us home, safely. Thank you, Amen." Pastor Gideon said and I lower my eyes to the ground.

We follow Pastor Gideon and his team to a house full of demon, and we, quickly, clear our varying combinations of rock salt rounds, exorcisms, holy water backpack-sprayer blasts, hand-to-hand combat and Ruby's knife. Together we were able to eliminate the demons within record time without anyone getting seriously hurt.

Sam sighs as we walk away from the house. "I guess that's what it's like, huh?" He said. "What?" I asked. "Having backup." Sam replied. "Yeah, it was really nice. And alot easier." I said as we return to our vehicles where we put our weapons away in the trunk.

"Dean. Sam. (y/n)." Dylan called, walking over to us. "Yo." Dean greeted, closing the trunk. "Hey. So, um, is-is that...is that cool that I get a ride back with you guys?" Dylan asked and Sam and I shrugged then Dean waved to Rob, letting him know it's okay. The pastor smiles and drives his trunk away with everyone else on board.

"Hey, you've saved my ass twice already. One more time, you can drive." Dean said to him. "Get a beer?" He then said to me. I open the cooler and pass two beers to Sam and Dean.

Dean waits until the trunk was further down the road before turning to Dylan. "Hey." He said and toss his beer across the car to Dylan. "You earned it. Don't tell your mom." He said. "Oh, believe me...I will not." Dylan said, turning his back to lean on the car.

I handed Dean another beer and we all open our cans. The boys and I tap our cans together and took a drink.

Suddenly, Dylan screams as he was pulled to the ground. Dean races around the car to help him while I drag a demon out from the other side and Sam kills it with the knife. "Dylan!" Dean yelled. Sam and I ran around the car to see Dean dragging Dylan out from under the Impala, I kneel down and help him. Only to realize that Dylan was already dead with his neck slit. "No." Dean muttered in regret while I gasped.

The church held a funeral for Dylan, the boys and I stood outside, watching from the door. We turn around when Rob and his grieving wife walk up. "Ma'am, we're just, um, very sorry." Dean said to her. "You know...this is your fault." Jane spat at him. Dean stares back at her with a guilty look. "Jane. Come on." Rob said, guiding her inside, and she gives us one last glare then heads inside the church. The boys and I share guilty looks and went inside, sitting in the back to avoid eyes.

"I wish I knew what to say. But I don't. I'm so sorry, Jane, Rob. There are no words. Dylan...I don't know why this happened. I don't know why any of this is happening. I got no easy answers. But what I do know is..." Pastor Gideon said, stopping when Leah falls out of her seat onto the floor.

"Leah, honey?" He said, going to her aid as it looked like Leah was having a seizure. "Leah, honey? Honey? It's okay sweetie. It's okay." Pastor Gideon assured her and helps her sit up. "Dad, it's Dylan." Leah said. "Just rest a minute, huh?" Pastor Gideon said.

"No, listen. Dylan's coming back." Leah said, causing the crowd to mutter in confusion. Leah stood up and stand before everyone. "Jane, Rob...It's going to be okay. You'll see Dylan again. When the final day comes, Judgement Day, he'll be resurrected and you'll be together again. We'll all be together. With all our loved ones. We've been chosen. The angels have chosen us. And we will be given paradise on earth. All we have to do is follow the angels' commandments." she said and I furrow my brow at this, that seemed a bit too coincidental for her to have a vision.

Later, the boys and I exit the church while Sam looks at a list that was handed out. "No drinking, no gambling, no premarital sex." Sam listed off and scoffs. "Guys, they basically just outlawed ninety percent of your personalities." He said to us and I roll my eyes. "Yeah, well, whatever. When in Rome." Dean replied and I turn my head to him.

"So, uh...you're cool with it?" I asked, confused. "I'm not cool. I'm not, not cool. I'm just, look, guys, I'm not a prophet. We're not locals. It's not my call. I'll catch up with you two." Dean said, walking off. "Dean..." I called out but he keeps walking and Sam and I exchange worry looks.

Sam and I went to the bar, where it was completely empty except for Paul cleaning the counter. "Hey. So what happened to, uh, the Apocalypse is good for business?" I asked him. "Oh yeah, right up until Leah's angel pals banned the good stuff. Wanna help me kill some inventory?" Paul asked, pointing at the bottles behind him.

"Sure." Sam said and we take a couple of seats on the bar stools. Paul took a bottle of the shelf and sets three glasses on the bar. "Don't get me wrong. I grew up here. I love this town, but uh, well, these holy rollers?" He said, sounding a but upset.

"Yeah, yeah, I uh, I noticed you're not the praying type." I pointed out and Paul nods, slightly. "Yeah, well, between you and me, neither are half those guys. A couple of months back, they're all in here, getting wasted, banging the nanny. Now they're all Warriors of God. Cheers." Paul said, holding up his glass.

"Cheers." Sam said and we all click our glasses together and swig them down. "Look, there's sure as hell demons. And maybe there is a God. I don't know. Fine. But I'm not a hypocrite. I never prayed before and I ain't starting now. If I go to hell, I'm going honest." Paul said, Sam and I nodded.

"How 'bout you two?" Paul asked us. "What about us?" I asked. "Not a true believer, I take it." Paul said. Sam and I share a look. "We believe, yeah. We do. We're just...Pretty sure God stopped caring a long time ago." Sam said as I nod and Paul scoffs.

We drank some more alcohol until it was curfew and Sam and I were force to return to our motel room, where Dean was waiting on his bed. "Where you two been?" Dean asked us. "Drinkin'." Sam replied. "You rebels." Dean teased. "We'd have had more, um, but it was curfew." I said, a bit tired. "Right." Dean muttered. "You hear they shut down the cell towers?" I asked as Sam removes his jacket and rolls up his sleeves.

"No. That's, uh, news to me." Dean said. "Yeah. No cable, internet. Total cut off from the 'corruption of the outside world.'" Sam said, using air quotes. "Huh." Dean muttered, unfazed.

"Don't you get it? They're turning this place into some kind of fundamentalist compound." I said, getting mad he was taking this seriously. "No, I get it." Dean replied, matter-of-factly. "And all you've got is a 'hmm?' What's wrong with you?" I asked Dean, worried. "I get it. I just don't care." Dean said, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. "What?" Sam and I asked, stunned.

"What difference does it make?" Dean asked, shrugging. "It makes a hell of a..." Sam said, then he stops and scoffs. Sam walks over to sit on the other bed in front of Dean and i next to Dean. "At what point does this become too far for you? Stoning? Poisoned Kool-Aid? The angels are toying with these people!" Sam explained. 

"Angel world, angel rules, man." Dean grumbled. "And since when is that okay with you?" I asked, placing my hand on his shoulder. "Since the angels' got the only lifeboats on the Titanic." Dean replied, getting up and brushing my hand off of him. "I mean, who exactly is supposed to come along and save these people? It was supposed to be us, but we can't do it." He said as he goes to pour himself a cup of coffee.

"So what? You wanna, you wanna just want to stop fighting, roll over?" Sam asked. "I don't know, maybe." Dean replied, shrugging, and took a sip of his coffee.  Sam scoffs, shaking his head, while stare at him in disbelief. "Don't say that." I said, smiling painfully. "Why not?" Dean asked. "Cause you can't do this." I replied, stand up. "Actually, I can." Dean said.

"No you can't. You can't do this to me. To us" I said, gesturing between me and Sam as Sam stands up. "I got two things, two things, keeping me going. You think you're the only one white-knuckling it here, Dean? Aside for (y/n), I can't count on anyone else. I can't do this alone." Sam argued.

Dean sets his mug down and walks away, not saying anything. "Dean." I called out to him. "I got to clear my head." Dean said, grabbing his jacket. "It's past curfew." Sam said, but Dean ignores him and leaves. "It's past curfew." Sam muttered and I sigh and place my hands over my head.

"Sam, what is going on with him?" I asked. "I don't know." Sam mutters, shaking his head, and I sigh heavily and drop my arms down and let them swing on my sides for a bit. "I'm really worried about him." I said and Sam nods. "You're not the only one." Sam said and I sit down on the edge of the bed, looking down at the floor.

Later, I was skimming through a book but my mind couldn't focus on the words on the book. I pack the book away and take out another one. "I got your message." I heard a voice say behind me. I turn around to see Castiel looking in the fridge. "It was long, your message. And I find the sound of your voice grating." He growls as he closes the fridge. "What's wrong with you?" I asked him, confused.

Castiel wobbles for a bit as he continues to look through the fridge. "Are you...drunk?" Sam asked him. Castiel turns to look at us. "No!" He said, falling forward a bit and grabbing hold of the divider to save himself. Sam and I raise our eyebrows and Castiel leans on the divider for support. "Yes." He said.

"What the hell happened to you?" Sam asked, Castiel sighs. "I found a liquor store." He said, resting his head on the divider. "And?" I asked. "And I drank it!" Castiel exclaimed, like it was so obvious. "Where's Ariel?" I asked him. "I don't know..." he mumbles, drunkly, as he shrugs.

"Why'd you call me?" Castiel asked as he pushes off the divider and wobbles his way over to us. "Whoa. There you go. Easy." Sam said as he and I put our hands on his chest so he wouldn't fall over. "Are you okay?" Sam asked. Castiel looks at him and motions for him to lean closer. Sam does so and Castiel leans in close to his ear. "Don't ask stupid questions." He said.

Sam makes a face and pulls away. "Tell me what you need." Castiel said as he goes to take a seat on the bed. "T-there have been these...these demon attacks. Massive, right on the edge of town. And we can't figure out why they're..." I explained.

"Any sign of angels?" Castiel asked. "Sort of. They've been speaking to this prophet." I said. "Who?" Castiel asked. "This girl, Leah Gideon." Sam said. "She's not a prophet." Castiel said. "I'm pretty sure she is. Visions, headaches...the whole package." Sam said. "The names of all the prophets, they're seared into my brain. Leah Gideon is not one of them." Castiel said and Sam and I look at him, stunned. "Then what is she?" I asked him.

The next day, Dean finally returns to the motel room and Sam and I look up at him. "We went out looking for..." Sam said as he and I stand up from the sofa. But he pauses when we see blood on Dean's hands. "Oh my God, Dean! You alright?" I asked him, worried, as I run up to him and place my hands on his shoulders, looking him over.

Dean glances down to his bloody hands. "Yeah. It's...it's not my blood. Paul's dead." He said and my eyes widen. "What?!" Sam and I asked, shocked. "Jane shot him." Dean replied.

"It's starting." Castiel said. "What's starting? Where the hell have you been?" Dean asked him, angrily. "On a bender." Castiel replied, with an attitude. "Did he...did you say on a bender?" Dean asked, looking at Sam and I, while pointing at Castiel.

"Yeah. He's still pretty smashed." Sam said, patting the angel on his shoulder. "It is not of import." Castiel said, holding up his hand. "We need to talk about what's happening here." He grumbled.

"Well, I'm all ears." Dean said as I remove my hands off of him and he walks over to the sink to wash his hands. "Well, for starters...Leah is not a real prophet." I said, as I sit back down. Dean turns off the sink then looks over his shoulder at us. "Well, what is she, exactly?" He asked, picking up a rag to dry his hands.

"The whore." Castiel said which stuns Dean a bit. "Wow. Cas, tell us what you really think." Dean said. "She rises when Lucifer walks the Earth. And she shall come, bearing false prophecy." Castiel said and he points at the book in front of him. "This creature has the power to take a human's form, read minds. Book of Revelation calls her the Whore of Babylon." He explained as Dean walks over to sit on the chair next to me. 

"Well, that's catchy." Dean mutters, sarcastically. "The real Leah was probably killed months ago." I said. "What about the demons attacking the town?" Dean asked. "They're under her control." Castiel replied. "And the Enochian exorcism?" Dean asked.

"Fake. It actually means, you, um, breed with the mouth of a goat." Castiel said, smiling amused. The boys and I exchange confused look and Castiel looks between us, waiting for our reactions. "It's funnier in Enochian." He said, disappointed.

"So the demons smoking out...that's just a con? Why? What's the endgame?" Dean asked. "What you just saw...innocent blood spilled in God's name." Castiel said. "You heard all that heaven talk. She manipulates people." Sam said. "To slaughter and kill and sing preppy little hymns. Awesome." Dean grumbled as he gets up.

"Her goal is to condemn as many souls to hell as possible. And it's...just beginning. She's well on her way to dragging this whole town into the pit." Castiel explained. "Alright. So, then, how do we go Pimp of Babylon all over this bitch?" Dean asked him.

Later that night, Castiel puts down a wooden stake on the table in front of us and we stare at it then back at Cas. "The whore can be killed with that. It's a stake made from a cypress tree in Babylon." He explained. "Great. Let's ventilate her." Dean said, picking up the stake. "It's not that easy." Castiel said, shaking his head slightly. "'Course not." Dean grumbled and Sam takes the stake from him to look at it. 

 "The whore can only be killed by a true Servant of Heaven." Castiel said as pouring himself a cup of water from the sink. "Servant, like..." I started to say. "Not you. Or me. Or Dean. Sam, of course, is an abomination." Castiel said and Sam give him an offended look. "Cas, that's a bit uncalled for." I said to the angel. "It's okay, (y/n)." Sam muttered. "We'll have to find someone else." Castiel said then he takes a sip of his water.

We decided on Pastor Gideon and Castiel left to retrieve him. A wind blows through the room follow by the sounds of wings flapping and Castiel appears with the pastor. "What the hell was that?" Pastor Gideon asked, stunned. "Yeah, he wasn't lying about the angel thing. Have a seat, Padre. We got to have a chat." Dean said To him as Gideon turns to us.

We then went on to explain everything to Pastor Gideon, who looks at the cypress stake and shakes his head. "No. She's my daughter." He said, sniffing. "I'm sorry, but she's not. She's the thing that killed your daughter." I said. "That's impossible." Pastor Gideon said, shaking his head in disbelief. "But it's true. And deep down, you know it. Look, we get it-it's too much. But if you don't do this, she's going to kill a lot of people. And damn the rest to hell." Sam said.

"It's just..." Pastor Gideon started to say. Dean picks up the stake and holds it out to him. "Why does it have to be me?" He asked. "You're a Servant of Heaven." Castiel said, leaning on the divider. "And you're an angel." Pastor Gideon said, turning his head to look at him. "Poor example of one." Castiel replied. Pastor Gideon turns back to us, staring at the stake Dean was still holding out to him.

We went back to the church, hiding in the office and waiting for Leah. Eventually she enters the room and looks into a mirror in the wardrobe that shows her true face. She closed the wardrobe and sees Castiel there. He grabs Leah and holds her for Pastor Gideon, who went up to them stake raise. "Daddy! Don't hurt me!" Leah pleaded. "Gideon, now!" Sam yelled but Pastor Gideon was hesitating. Leah chants in Enochian, putting a spell on Castiel. "Pizin noco iad." Castiel screams, letting her go and falling to the floor.

Leah uses a form of telekinesis to push us away, sending us slamming into the wall. She runs off while we get up. Pastor Gideon picks up the stake and chases after her. "Gideon! Wait! No!" I yelled as we run after him, leaving Castiel groaning on the ground. 

We enter the basement to see three guys fighting Pastor Gideon, causing him to lose the stake. We run over and attack the men, knocking them to the floor and off of Pastor Gideon. People began screaming and banging on the door of the storage room, begging to be let out. Rob goes over to the door with a lighter but Sam and I tackle him before he can light the kerosene, and then I throw the lighter across the room. 

Jane runs over to attack me but Sam got in her way and began fighting her, while I fight Rob and Dean gets knock down by Leah.

Dean reaches for the cypress stake as Leah pins him down. "Please. Like you're a servant of Heaven. This is why my team's gonna win. You're the great vessel? You're pathetic, self-hating, and faithless. It's the end of the world. And you're just gonna sit back and watch it happen." She said.

Dean grabs the stake, punches Leah, and stakes her. "Don't be so sure, whore." He growled. At that moment, Rob and Jane stop fighting with Sam and I to watch what happen in shock.

Leah's body shakes and the stake catches on fire. It explodes, leaving a burning hole where it entered her body. "But...I don't understand. How are we supposed to get to paradise now?" Jane asked, stunned, after a 

"I'm sorry. Pretty sure you're headed in a different direction." Dean replied to her. Pastor Gideon attempts to stand but he was struggling, so Sam and I grab him and help him up. "Gotcha." Sam said. Once on his feet, Pastor Gideon looks down at his daughter in shock. "Come on." Dean said to us.

We retrieved Castiel and exit the the church from the basement. Dean helps Castiel up the stairs while Sam and I help Pastor Gideon. "Dean, how did you do that?" I asked. "What?" Dean asked. "Kill her." I replied. "Long run of luck held out, I guess." Dean said. "Last I checked, she could only be ganked by a servant of Heaven." I said.

"Well, what do you want me to tell you? I saw a shot. I went for it." Dean said, a bit annoyed. We reach the Impala where Dean walks around to the driver's side. "Alright. Here we go." He said and the boys open the doors to the backseat and we help Castiel and Pastor Gideon get in the car. "Watch your head, now." Sam said to Pastor Gideon.

"Are you gonna do something stupid?" I asked Dean, across the top of the car. "Like what?" Dean asked me. "Like Michael stupid." I replied. "Come on, (y/n). Give me a break." Dean said, opening the driver's door and getting in. I glare at Dean then turn to Sam, worried.

Back at the motel, Castiel was laying on Sam's bed, staring at nothing. I pace the floor as Sam was wrapping bandages around Pastor Gideon's arm while he held an ice bag his his bandage forehead. "How's the head?" Dean asked him. "I'm seeing double. But that may be the painkillers." Pastor Gideon replied then chuckles. "You'll be okay." Dean said. "No." Pastor Gideon said, shaking is head.

Dean stares at him for a moment, then he looks over at me. "(Y/n), come with me." He said and I was a bit shocked about this. "I need help to go get some medical supplies since we ran out, that's all." He said and I eye him, warily. "Okay." I said and we head to the door. "We'll be back." I said to Sam and he nods as Dean and I leave the room, get into the Impala and take off.

*3rd Person POV*

​​​​​​"Dean, where the hell are we going?" (Y/n) asked after a few minutes of silence. She noticed that Dean left the town and drove pass a small store that would've definitely had some medical supplies and bandages.

Dean couldn't talk as he does everything to prepare for what he was gonna do, or what he was gonna say that is. ​​​​​​It's for the best... he thought as he stays silent. I just need her to be safe and away...from me. He thought. "Dean, please, you're scaring me." (Y/n) said, worried. "I lied about getting supplies..." he said and she scoffs. "Well, that's obvious." She quips.

"I just...I just want to talk to you, alone." He said and (y/n) eyes him. "Okay..." she said, unsure, then Dean takes a turn and drives down a road til they come up to a white farm looking house and (y/n) recognize it as another one of her father's safe house.

Dean pulls up to the house, shuts the engine off then gets out of the car and goes over to the front end of the car and leans against it. (Y/n) stares at him then she gets out of the car and goes up to Dean and places a hand on his shoulder. "Hey...is everything okay?" She asked him.

He looks down as he preps himself on what he was gonna say and pushed back all the emotions he was feeling away as he gets ready for the storm that was about to happen.

“I think we should break up.” Dean said, simply, and there was silence, not even the birds or bugs made a noise. (Y/n) stares at him, confused. “Excuse me?” She asked. “It’s just not…working. It’s not you, it’s me. I just think that’s what’s best.” Dean admitted. “Are…are you being serious?” (Y/n) asked.

“We’re not right together. You’re Lil’ Miss Perfect and I’m Mr. Screw-Up. I just want to stop pretending we’re something we’re not. You don’t belong with me. It’s over.” Dean explained and (y/n) looks at him, stunned, unable to comprehend what was happening right now.

“You…you can't just say that. You-you can’t just say it’s over. It’s not over. You can’t decide that, I’m in this too.” (Y/n) stammered. Dean closes his eyes tightly, inhaling and preparing himself. 

When he opens his eyes, Dean masks all his true emotions behind an expressionless face as he turns to face her. “I don’t want to be with you. My feelings have changed.” He said in a rough voice, barely able to get it out.

(Y/n) stares at him, completely bewildered. She knew in her heart he was lying, or maybe she wanted to believe he was lying. It took a long moment for (y/n) to articulate her emotions and figure out what to say to such a harsh statement.

“After all we been through. Everything that you've done. Everything that I've done. It’s just been all for nothing?” She asked and Dean stares at her for a moment. “Yeah…it has.” He said in a low voice, still showing no emotion.

(Y/n) looks at him heartbroken but then she gets angry and slaps Dean across the face. “You’ve told a lot of crappy lies before but this one takes the cake.” She growled. Dean turns his head back to look at her, keeping up that expressionless face and acting unfazed even though his heart was breaking.

“You know, when we ran into each other in Jericho and I saw you after…what a few years? I saw this guy who I’ve know all my life. The guy I had a stupid little girl crush on. But those feelings never went away, they only got stronger because you were…well you were Dean. Funny, charming, handsome. You flirted around, but could take no for answer. You could be incredibly sweet in your own way. And you were strong, you’d protect me, but you also got me. Better than anyone I’ve ever been with.” (Y/n) explained.

Dean nodded and looks down as she continues, unable to hold eye-contact with her. “I don’t think I’ve ever really loved anyone until you.” (Y/n) admitted, tears welling up in her eyes. The corner of Dean’s lips twitches as he restrains himself from speaking up and taking everything back. 

“You hear what I’m saying?” (Y/n) asked, getting closer but Dean doesn’t answer. (Y/n) shoves him in frustration, forcing him to look at her. “I love you, you idiot!” She shouted, tearfully.

Dean finds his footing and looks at her, his motionless face beginning to crack, showing a glimpse of regret in his eyes. “And I know you still love me. You told me so yourself that you knew your feelings for me were real! So don’t you DARE stand there and tell me it’s all been for nothing!” (Y/n) said in anguish.

Dean stares at her, taking everything she just confessed in. (Y/n) stands there, trying to fight back the tears as she waits for a response. “I’m sorry…but it does.” Dean said in a harsh whispered. (Y/n) felt a sudden sharp pain in her chest like never before.

Dean was telling himself this is what’s best. He doesn't want her to get hurt and even with her being Ariel’s vessel, he doesn't want to take that chance. She needs to go so in that way he’ll knows she'll be safe. 

Seeing (y/n) about to break down in tears, Dean turns himself away, desperate to ignore it. If he sees her fall apart, he knows he will too. “Now get inside the house.” He said, harshly. (Y/n) breaths shakily, wiping her eyes and trying to maintain her composure. “You can’t get rid of me that easy, Winchester.” She said, tears in her voice.

“I don't want you near or around me.” Dean said, keeping his back towards her so she couldn’t see the tears in his eyes. “Too bad, I’m staying.” (Y/n) said, glaring at him as the tears ran down her cheeks.

Dean looks over his shoulder at her and saw tears running down her face and he turns his head away. His heart shattered when seeing her like this and he closes his eyes, tightly, as he fights back the oncoming tears. Dean let's out a sigh then he gets into the driver’s seat of the Impala and shuts the door. 

(Y/n) wipes away her tears then goes over to the passenger seat and goes to grab the door handle but Dean had already locked the door. "Dean, open the door." (Y/n) said in a low voice. Dean ignores her as he starts the car. "Dean, open the damn door!" (Y/n) said, louder and angrier, as she pulls on the door handle again.

Again, Dean doesn't listen and he shifts in gear. "DEAN WINCHESTER, OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" (y/n) yells but then Dean takes off, leaving (y/n) behind.

She stands there, shocked, as she stares after the Impala as it takes off, dust from the dirt billowing behind it. Dean looks up at the rearview mirror to see her standing there for a moment then she places her hands over her face and falls to her knees.

Seeing this made fresh tears fall on Dean's face as he keeps going on down the road. After putting a few miles between him and (y/n), he comes up to a rest stop, which had no vehicles around, and pulls in and parks. Anger and sadness overcame him as he gets out of the Impala and walks over to the door to the men's bathroom.

He stops and stares at the door and the wooden sign that said Men. Suddenly, he punches it then continues to punch it, letting out his anger, frustration and his pain onto the sign and the door. The sign was completely destroyed and Dean grabs the remains of the sign and throws it on the ground.

"SONUVABITCH!" He cries out, in anguish, and he stops and he leans against the wall of the bathroom building and slides down it and sits down. He places his hands over his face as he catches his breath, tears running down his face.

@rach5ive @kitsun369 @itzabbyxx @cevans-winchester @ellie-andthemachine

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