#‘career death’ and he’s still more relevant than your faves

[prisonpodcast]

Choosing kindness by hitting the draft button

[sinagrace]

Iceman’s been back on my mind lately. It started with the internet rumor that Shia Labeouf was being considered to play the role of Bobby Drake in a Marvel Cinematic Universe version of the X-Men. My DMs and @Mentions on social media were a mixture of intense reaction and then asking my take on who would make a great Bobby Drake (for the record: in my head I always saw him as a younger Antoni Porowski with a theater background, ‘cuz playing the funny guy with a vulnerable streak requires serious acting shops). My mind went back to the time of BC, when I was doing a lot of touring, and answering this very question because of my work on the Iceman book at Marvel. One thing led to another, and I decided to take a trip further down memory lane to look at my favorite volume of the series: Amazing Friends. Now, I know I’ve spent equal amounts of time publicly stating what a gift working on Iceman was, while also calling out the challenges that came with the experience, but the third volume really was a pure blessing. I was able to take every valuable lesson I learned as a writer, and apply it to telling a story that would be interesting to one person: Me. I’ve been a lifelong X-Men fan, I live and breathe comics, so my own expectations for a return to the series seemed like the only ones to really worry about meeting/ surpassing. The first two volumes had been so bogged down by rotating editors, complex continuity, company-wide events, multiple artists… The third volume was my chance to focus on what an Iceman series was outside of so much context. All that mattered was challenging myself to do an X-Men story that focused on the aspects of the franchise I felt were valuable and relevant, meaning: excuses to have Emma Frost be an asshole and finding an opportunity to make fun of Kitty Pryde’s haircut. Before moving on from Marvel, Axel Alonso made time to call me for a pep talk about the series. I wanted to get the series extended, and he wanted to help me succeed with the ten issues he could commit to. First, he offered an eleventh issue to give me more time on the stands. He took a look at everything I had planned, and basically told me to restructure with an eye for ramping up the pace. My writing background comes from prose and essays/ think pieces… both of which are methodical and provide some allowance from the reader to really take your time and set up the world before diving into the meat. That’s not the case with comics. You gotta work fast. Especially in today’s market, there is less and less room for a retailer to say, “give it two volumes, because shit starts really coming together by the third trade.” That was literally my speech for hooking people on such iconic series as Invincible, Fables, and Strangers in Paradise. Nowadays, every single issue is not a brick to be laid down as foundation so much as a bullet in your gun. Conflicting imagery, but that’s the point. Axel told me to think about the Big Moments in my life and sort out how to inject the mutant metaphor into it and make the most compelling comic book story I could. This was epic advice that I took with me into the new arc, but I struggled a bit with what could be bigger than the “coming out” storyline in volume one. Love was off the table because I wanted to keep Bobby single and ready to mingle. Death was off the table too, because my editor felt like we’d done enough with Bobby’s parents in the first two volumes. Upon looking at my own life, and considering the stuff me and my friends were dealing with, I landed on something a bit more reflective than LIFE or DEATH. I wanted to focus on that moment when a gay guy looks outside of himself and realizes the folks around him may not have it so easy. After everything we’ve been dealing with this summer, Iceman’s “big issue” of the arc feels oddly prescient. Bobby Drake had to reconcile his accidental complicit role in keeping the Morlocks down, and he has to investigate new approaches to being a better ally to those who don’t want to or can’t live under the protection of the X-Men. I used the Morlocks to allegorically speak to the issues that the trans/ NB community face today. Considering that trans folks are facing higher rates of homelessness and murder than other members of the LGBTQIA+ community, all I needed to do was find a perfect villain to treat the Morlocks as “lesser-than.” Cue Mister Sinister, who I wrote as particularly Darwinist with a major flair for interactive theater. While Amazing Friends definitely is the most fun I’ve had working on the book, it was also full of the heaviest shit I’ve written about. I’m so grateful that my editor let me use Emma Frost for a story about the trauma of gay conversion therapy with her brother Christian, but I’m still annoyed he wouldn’t let me put her in a sickening Givenchy outfit for her reveal. Similarly, creating the Madin character required that I chat with several mental healthcare professionals and members of the NB community to respectfully portray them as a resilient and fleshed out hero. I included personal lessons that I learned from years of the therapy (the sandcastle / sea image, a Jay Edidin fave moment). My editor and I weren’t always aligned, but we definitely were on each other’s side. He understood what I was trying to do and asked questions when something flew over his head, and he even had the good instincts to stop me from going too heavy handed with the ending. My original idea for the arc’s finale was to have Bobby become permanently scarred in his fight with Sinister, where he’d have a cool ice gash running across his face or something, a la Squall from Final Fantasy 8. The goal was to show Iceman stripping himself of his ability to pass as non-mutant to save the Morlocks, but the Mutant Pride fight scene being a stand-in for the Stonewall Riots kind of already made enough of a statement. Plus, no one in editorial wanted to deal with remembering to track his scar in other books. At first I tried to balk at his point of view, but when I looked over my original notes for the series, the point was to focus on optimism and hope. Giving Bobby a permanent scar and emphasizing the notion of sacrifice was too bleak a message for a series wherein the hero carbo-loads hoagies while riding an ice scooter and mutant drag queens emcee local festivals. Of course, the crowning achievement of the series… my mutant drag queen :) I’ve witnessed a lot when it comes to the world of pop culture and myth-making, and I 100% believe that you can’t plan the success of something. I’ve seen bands forced into breaking up because labels spend six figures failing at making listeners connect with an album. I witnessed firsthand how The Walking Dead was built from relatively humble beginnings as a buzzy cable drama into a literal international phenomenon over the course of its first three seasons. Everyone hopes for the best, but you never know how something will land with audiences. When the Shade character took off, I was truly astounded. Things I posted on Instagram while half-asleep became official quotes on major news sites. Queens and cosplayers were interpreting her like Margot Robbie had unveiled a new Harley Quinn lewk. The impact was so legit and immediate that we had to jump in and give Shade a proper Marvel hero alias, to truly welcome her into the X-Men canon. Hence the name change to Darkveil. (Funny story: I tried to fight hard for Madame X as an alias, but CB didn’t want another Agent X / “X-Name” character. Three months later, Madonna announced the Madame X album. Phew!) There was a time where I felt uncertain that the folks in charge at Marvel would bring Darkveil into any stories outside of the ones I wrote. My understanding was that Hickman was like the Cylons and had A Plan-- one that didn’t include her character. I made peace with my contribution to the Marvel Universe being contained, but then someone on social media pointed out that Darkveil showed up in an issue of Marvel Voices. After breaking down and reading Hickman’s House of X, I saw that his Plan was one of endless possibilities, and that he was moving EVERY character into new and dynamic places. I have hope now that he sees the possibilities with Darkveil, and takes advantage of her and all of her many body pouches. Amazing Friends really is my favorite thing I’ve done for the Big Two. I made a lifelong friend out of artist Nate Stockman (DC, please hire us for a Plasticman book), and I got to run a victory lap with the most encouraging and supportive readers out there. It was worth every dreadful conversation, every shitty thing a person said to me online, and all of the fun nonsense that goes into being creative for a living. Being stuck at home in quarantine has given me a lot of time to reflect on the gift that my career to date has been, and I feel so grateful to be where I am today. Other people may groan when they have to talk about something they’ve moved on from, but not me. I made people happier, I got to work with my favorite characters at Marvel, and and I'll say it again: it’s a frickin’ gift to make people move from your work. So, I will engage every tweet or message asking me my thoughts about who should play Bobby Drake in the Marvel Cinematic Universe… I’ll just never have a good answer.

[recentanimenews]

Top 8 Anime Donuts

What is a donut, anyways? Well, it's a delicious circle of greasy goodness. Cake or pastry, glazed or jelly-filled, with coffee or tea, Dunkin' or Krispy Kreme, any flavor under the sun – the varieties are endless. You might even say there’s a donut out there for everyone; that’s why we love them so much. But donuts don’t have to be 3D! Donut love transcends dimensions to include the anime variety as well. And when it comes to anime, sometimes donuts are so powerfully addictive that they actually become plot-relevant – truly the mark of a good anime. In my very unbiased opinion, no anime is complete without at least one (1) scene of sincere donut appreciation. Here are some of my personal faves.

8) Trigun

For a time, Vash the Stampede was one of the most iconic cosplays on the U.S. convention scene. The essential components: long red coat, glasses, spiked wig, and most important of all, his box of donuts. Fans loved Vash for not only his endless compassion, but also his goofy personality, so in their eyes, an early running gag about his love for donuts eventually became essential to his character. Trigun might not be as enduringly popular as some other anime from its era, but Vash the Stampede remains best boy in the world of donut appreciation. Maybe someday he’ll get to enjoy them in peace.

7) 18if

The fourth episode of 18if stars a girl who loooves food. Fed up with the real-life pressure to be thin, she retreats to a candyland-like dream world where she takes the form of a little pixie who can eat as much as she likes without gaining weight. Trespassers in her personal haven get punished with donut-themed attacks: rolling donuts, like a version of Indiana Jones where the boulders are holey and delicious; donut cannibalism of the disgusting health food variety; even a donut wheel of death, complete with chocolate-covered handcuffs. It’s a little scary to imagine a world where donuts’ power to kill extends to more than heart disease or whatever, but maybe it’s not so bad to die by drowning in glaze and sprinkles. Either way, donuts aren’t exactly good for you. Does that matter? No, not really.

6) Nekomonogatari: Black

In the Monogatari series, vampire Shinobu Oshino spends most of her early appearances quietly huddled up in a corner, having been weakened in an encounter with Koyomi Araragi and Meme Oshino. The thing that gets her to talk? The limited edition golden chocolate donut from her favorite bakery chain, Mr. Donut. A season of near-silence broken in Nekomonogatari: Black only by the sweet, sweet temptation of baked goods and a reverence for lovingly crafted pastries that might even surpass her thirst for blood. Shinobu might be centuries old, battle-hardened, and queen of the supernatural, but deep down she loves reasonably-priced donuts just like the rest of us. That's pretty relatable.

5) URAHARA

URAHARA is more or less what you’d get if Hello Kitty barfed cotton candy all over those Lisa Frank trapper keepers you had in grade school. Its aesthetic is all pastel colors and frilly outfits, the squiggly little doodles that live in the margins of a teenage girl’s class notes. Throw in original character designer Mugi Tanaka’s distinct quirks (cat ears and thick eyelashes), and you have what might be the most sugary-sweet anime of 2017. So sweet, in fact, that the alien invaders all just happen to be giant desserts in monster form. The first episode ends with the Scoopers exploding into a literal shower of donuts of all different shapes and sizes and colors. It’s kind of messed up that our three protagonists eat their enemies after defeating them, but in a show this carefree, maybe that doesn’t really matter. After a hard day’s work of developing a new fashion line and protecting the earth, why not reward yourself with the fluffy spoils of battle?

4) Shirobako

Shirobako may not be entirely accurate to real life in its depiction of the anime industry (though it gets fairly close), but there is one thing it gets 100% right: the power of donuts to change lives. In their final year of high school, five girls make a pact over a box of donuts to someday create an anime together. Years later, they’ve all entered the industry (except for Shizuka, because the life of an aspiring voice actress is suffering) and are working on different projects. But despite going their separate ways, they’re always willing to make time to bond over their mutual love of both donuts and anime. That box of donuts is a cute summation of their group dynamic: no donut is precisely the same, but they all come from the same place. Likewise, Aoi, Midori, Misa, Ema, and Shizuka pursue different career paths post-high school while still sharing a common goal. In a way, that box of donuts is what incites the whole show in the first place. "Don-don donuts, let’s go nuts!" indeed.

3) Donyatsu

What’s better than donuts? Donut cats, of course! Donyatsu is the gripping tale of a cat who is also a donut. In post-apocalyptic Tokyo, Donyatsu and his pastry-animal pals live a life on the run from hungry mice. Despite living in an urban wasteland, though, he’s not terribly worried – who has time to think about rodent fascism when you could be playing word games with a giant alien robot? Certainly not Donyatsu or his best friend Bagel, who happens to have a killer Arnold Schwarzenegger impression. When all’s said and done, it’s not worth stressing over the end of the world when you’ve got friends to goof off with. Besides, when your delicious chocolate body regenerates spontaneously, it’s hard to be too concerned about mortality. Maybe we all need to take a page from Donyatsu’s book and learn to live in the now.

2) Aquarion EVOL

Donuts aren’t simply a dessert. They’re a lifestyle. No anime communicates this better than Aquarion EVOL, which creates an entire philosophy around donut holes and their significance in the universe. What is a donut, asks the commander? It is a ring surrounding a hole. But a hole is not emptiness; no, the donut gives that space meaning. Look through its hole, and a donut seems to disappear. Yet the donut never truly vanishes; once consumed, it becomes one with the donut-lover and eventually the earth itself. Clearly, this must be evidence of profound cosmic powers at work. Ergo, a donut holds the secret to all existence. Which gets us to the point of Aquarion (SPOILERS) LOVE BACKWARDS. When all’s said and done, love is the donut that gives meaning to the holes in our hearts. It’s a truly inspiring message from a silly anime about libido-powered robots.

1) Pokémon

Let’s get one thing out of the way. The “jelly donuts” in 4kids’ dub of Pokémon were never jelly donuts, at least by the usual definitions. You can’t just call one by the other, you might say – an onigiri is an onirigi and a jelly donut is a jelly donut. But I raise you this: what is donuthood but an arbitrary category established by the same people who want you to believe Pop-Tarts are not breakfast calzones? Onigiri can be donuts or not donuts. What matters is what you believe they are. Personally, I think our current definition of what constitutes a donut is rather too narrow. Think of the possibilities! Why limit yourself to cake or pastry donuts when you can substitute any number of unusual ingredients to create something fabulously different? That’s why I believe Pokémon’s onigiri belong on a list of the best anime donuts. They’re iconic, and I refuse to have them taken away from me.

Now it's your turn! What's your favorite anime donut?

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Micchy is an enormous dweeb who tries and fails to hide her anime obsession behind a skating otaku facade. Follow her on Twitter @Liuwdere for more vaguely anime-related content. 

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com