#Dr Alchemy

[bearforceone3]

rogues designs part 3

[gorogues]

[flashroguefest]

Hello!

Looking toward the year ahead, are there any particular kind of Flash Rogue-themed events you'd like to see (fanart, fanfic etc)? Or is there a particular character or theme you think deserves more love? Let me know in the replies! :)

[doctorslippery]

Not sure about Beetle's fighting style here. Looks like he's about to offer Alchemy a snack, while shooting him in the balls with his beetle gun, or whatever it was he called that damned thing.

[popculturebuffet]

Beetlemania: Ted Kord (A review of Blue Beetle V5 #1 and 2 and Blue Beetle V6 # 1 and 2) (Patreon Review and Comissioned by Brotoman.Exe and WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy beetlemaniacs, and welcome back to beetlemania, my look at those proud boys in blue just in time for the film.. well the day after it came out because my schedule has been in freefall.

Today we look at the man, the myth, and the guy who built his own giant dope as hell bug ship, Ted Kord, the second blue beetle.

To get to the blue part of the blue and the gold though, we have to talk about what happened to Dan. While fox published Blue Beetle into the 50's, dan fell victim to what most heroes a the time did: The Superhero Bust. Post WWII until the mid 50's, kids just werne't checking out superhero comics, preferring western and romance comics. As a result most superheros vanished and only super popular ones like Batman and Superman carried on and even the world's finest were hitting a wall. As a result Fox Comics went out of buisness and sold it's stock to Charlton comics Charlton DID try to make a go of things with dan, twice. First they reprinted golden age stories as a backup before giving him his own title in the mid 50's, ironically a likely result of superhero comics becoming hot again thanks to Dan's future owners DC Comics, before being taken over by Mr. Muscles. Now already just with THAT TITLE alone, I was curious.. but then I looked into it on wikipedia and who boy. Okay first off he was created by Superman Co-Creator Jerry Siegel.

Okay so brace yourselves for this breif detour: So Mr. Muscles is a former wrestler, who still wears a neat belt, has a kid sidekick and female version and fights with the power of being in peak physical condition, much like captain american if he could choke slam you. I also like the angle to him that he promotes physical improvment to the point that a guy who tries to KILL HIM WITH TIGERS, is instead given a chance ot better himself. Those parts.. all honestly work and i'm shocked this character has never been revamped especially since he REALLY would've fit well with the wrestling boom of the mid-late 80s around the same time the charlton cast got added to the dc universe.

But the most bonkers part is his origin....

Yes folks, Mr Muscles beat Polio, a disease that cut countless people down before Jonas Salk's polio vacine started to help just three years before this comic THROUGH SHEER FORCE OF WILL. Take that science! Again he'd probably need his origin touched up as "I didn't need a vacine I just beat this disease through will" isn't the uplifting message it was in 1955. Sadly the world just wasn't ready for him, and both Mr. Muscles and Dan Garret sat on the shelf.

So we enter the mid-60s. After dc plateaued with it's stories, Marvel breaks in with stories that treat it's characters like real people. Sometimes their real people who will fake being their own hepcat twin brother to fool their friends because they can't just tell them who they are because shut up, sometimes they'l lfight communists every week and sometimes they'll have their college roomate wind up as a dictator with his own country, but still people who have mostly realistic emotions and what not. So sensing another chance to cash in Charlton tried one more time to bring back Dan. The stories seem good, with Dan getting a new love intrest Cheri, an egyptian archelogy professor and a new job as an archelogist, an origin I honestly feel works better given the scarab and was carried over. The series breathed new life into the character.. but not new sales and once again the beetle was gone. However with a new boom going on they decided rather than let the beetle gather dust again to try a new approach: They combined the approaches of both companies: they'd give someone new the blue beetle identity.. and have one of marvel's top guys give him that sense of realisim.

Enter Steve Ditko, soon to be objectivst, loveable curmudgeon and co-creator of spider-man. Understandably angry Stan kept taking all the credit for the wall crawler and less understandably angry lee was a liberal, Ditko walked out of marvel and Charlton snapped him up and put him to work on a similar but still distinct new version of the blue beetle. They started with backups, just to be safe, before giving Ted his own title that... somehow only lasted 5 issues. Still it's a bafflingly un-republished classic that introduced one of the greatest superheroes of all so let's give it a look under the cut, along with what dc did with a similar premise

Blue Beetle Bugs the Squids: While another writer is credited.. it was simply a front: Ditko actually wrote and scripted the stories here, he simply didn't want a writing credit for some reason.

So we open with a high class party. The spread is bland, sauerkraut and boiled goose. There's no way these people will ever cut loose.. but more importanlty there's some man in squid suits with suction cups climbing the building.. suction cups on their ARMS.

The suits do look neat, not as squidy as i'd hope, I love me a good squid. Their beady eyes, their cupped mouths the fact they can murder you. Good boys. But their still a nice design.

They crash the party to rob it, but before the mystery men can burst in to stop this a diffrent costumed hero crashes the party

Ted's quip game is STRONG here, I can't show you them all, image limits, but Ditko's comedy and action writing is up to bat as ted acrobatically handles the much larger group. IT's very spidey-esque, without feeling EXACTLY like peter: Ted has no powers and thus his movements are more human level acrobatic, using a lot of throws and a lot of hand stands. It's a great level of art.

The Squids try to bug out with beetle following in the bug, his flying machine and something so iconic the blue beetle film makes sure to use it even with ted not physically present. But before we can get to that say.. do you have problems being short? Well charlton comics ad pages have a solution for you.

I can now see how randy newman thought short people got no reason to live, he was brainwashed by the liftee corportation! Someone deprogram randy newman!

we also get this ad for the charlton action heroes. We get a white guy doing judo, captain atom in his best red, blue , dark blue and silver armed ensemble, peacemaker: he'll eat every dick on the beach clean for liberty and of course the classic character Peter Cannon Thunderbolt. I have no idea who this guy is and don't care to. Why he's here and not Mr. Muscles, only god and charlton editorial knows.

Annnd looking it up he's bascially got the same gimick of human perfection with some added "White guy learning asian wisdoM' uncomfort. : Also I just noticed he's basically wearing socks.

Anyways beetle chases after teh squids in the bug which here looks more like a cricket than an actual beetle, something later designs would iron out.

We then see Ted Kord's personal life. It's largely what it'd be for most of his career: working as a researcher at a lab at his father's company, sometimes Ted's own company, though things.. aren't happy. Lt. Max Fisher is trying to figure out what happened to Dan Garret on Pago Island, and Ted can't tell him for reasons we'll get into next issue.. reasons he refuses to tell his girlfriend and fellow lab tech tracey.

He has reasons for keeping Max from knowing though: there's a secret there that could threaten the world, again more for the next issue. For now he's going to enjoy being blue beetle for as long as he can. I get the sense the detective subplot was added to throw in some drama to Ted's life, spider-man style. There' some elments of peter here: the dictomy of brooding civlian, carefree hero, the science background, the quips, the secret id driving a wedge between him and his loved ones.. but what I like is Ditko takes steps to make sure ted is his own man: he dosen't have powers, relying on techno wizardy, acrobatics and his own brain, has a steady love intrest from the word go and as we'll see next issue DOSEN'T keep his id a secret from those he loves for long if it'll keep hurting them. It's clear from the next issue Ditko either realized going the broody rout woudln't work forever or he was simply swerving his audeince expecing "Spider-man but blue and without powers". Either way it's nicely done.

So we cut to Todd Van III, a socilate suggesting a yacht party to raise money for .. something. Naturally given this guy we've never heard of has a lot of focus, he's the big bad behind the squids, having spent his inhereitance to show he can make his own money to his dead dad. That'll show his ghost! He also plans to make himself out to be a hero: since th eparty's a masquerade he swaps places with a minon so said minion will play him and stand up to the squids, who then slink away to the lower decks with the money.

This ends up backfiring as Ted was montoring the scene the whole time. It's nicely set up too: this time he's ready since the yacht party is too big a target for the squids to pass up.. and thus he notices how weird it is the squids AREN'T on his radar.

So we get a really fun action scene as the yacht, c leared of guests but not of squids, gets sieged by ted, who uses the bug in some really fun ways, including giving them a second to sweat it out before pouncing. It's cool stuff. Todd has decided to blow this pop stand... literally. He plans to blow up the yacht and everyone involved to get away. Unfortuantely for him the squids find out and escape while Ted is able to chase todd, and get the very moist back of money back. We get a REALLY fun fight scene as Ted keeps quipping about how todd REALLY wants to go to prison.

IT's a really great bit and really sells who ted is. In the end Beetle wins, the squids go to jail and he wonders what's next. Before that though I have to say..t his is a REALLY fun story. The dialouge is hilarious, the mystery for next issue is very well set up, and the squids are fun badies. Their not exactly a threat, but their not really here for that: there here more to give ted someone to show off against. To show what the beetle can do and to show he dosen't have any powers like dan. For a first issue it's a lot of fun

This issue also introduces the Question. The question is vic sage, a tv reporter by day who fearlessly speaks against corruption despite a good chunk of the board at his station wanting him gone. You can see a LITTLE of ditko's budding objectivism peak in, him blaming people with gambling problems for enabling mobsters, but otherwise it's also a great story. It's a really solid first issue and given it introduces such important characters i'm baffled dc hasn't reprinted these since the 2000's. It's great stuff. And there's more of it coming up next

The End is A Beginning By this point steve apparently got less shy about taking the writing credit as this one credits him rightfully as writer and artist.

Ted's stressed as Lt. Fisher keeps pressing him and Tracey hasn't showed up for work. So after Fisher leaves he decides to do some blue beetling to clear his head.

He flies over Pago Island, remphasising for new readers it has some terrible secret.. but it also has a guest. Ted's worried so he checks in.. and finds Tracey. Turns out she was here all day searching..

I... fucking love this scene. Ted sees his loved one is hurting.. and decides to come clean, despite the risk. Because it's the right thing to do. It's something I REALLY wish more superhero works did after this. Nowadays this sort of thing is way more common and deconstruing the secret keeping way more often, but it still took it's sweet time and even then we have things like miraculous ladybug where they just.. outright keep the ids secret because shut up. Here ted sees his girlfriend in distress and simply agrees to tell her.

So we cut back a few months: Ted was working with his Uncle Jarvis, with Tracey running his lab while he did as Jarvis preferred ted work only at his lab. Ted was curious, only getting in pieces, and while he was innocent enough to not ask big questions he still wanted to know what was going on. Jarvis agreed to tell him.. but then exploded.. literally. The lab explodes, Jarvis is apparently dead as he's the only one there.

Naturally though it's not that simple as Ted finds a box not destroyed in the fire.. and to his horror finds out the experiment was actually to create some cool looking artifical super solders. Before now their weakness was being slow.. but Ted accidently solved that. So he goes to Dan. In this continuity their old college buddies, and he figures Dan can find it with his archelogy. Dan tries to go alone so he can beetle it up if needed but Ted insists on going with because.. of course he does. He gave his uncle the keys. As for the whole being dead thing Ted rightly dosen't buy it and has to be sure. What I also love is that Ditko makes sure we get Tracey's perspective: she thought Ted was distraught because his uncle died, and she was supscious he was lying about being alone on pago island because she KNEW he left his house with someone else.

Naturally Jarvis not only has his atomic men capture them but gets monologuging. This case I get though: he has NO idea ther'es a superhero among the two guys he just captured, thus he has no reason to fear them.

dan naturally goes into action, secret identity be dammned and we get one hell of a fight. It alsos hows Dan's own fighting style: throws and more up close brawling once again to Ted's later acrobatics. Sadly... given ther'es only ONE blue beetle in present day.. you can probably guess how this ends.. in tears.. and expoding robot men

dan's body was soon lost for an explosion and while Ted managed to make it out, the police were left supscious.. but now he's given good reason. While Ted COULD at least reveal the pago island stuff without outing himself or dan as the blue beetle, though the latter might be necessary, he can't trust that anyone find the robots now jarvis is dead (his control center also conveintly overloaded), as no one man can be responsible for that kind of power.

So after some soul searching Dan used some of his dad's old experiments, his dad having left indefintely on his own vauge quest, and thus.. a legend was born

Turns out though the Androids themselves aren't gone and we get a breif but awesome fight. This is the real test: Ted is out powered, out gunned and barely survives.. but he manages to outwit them, dumping the two that emerged into a crevice.. but barely. It really cements who ted is: he's not a brawler, he can't use brute force: all he has is gadgets (something emphasized more in the dc version) and his greatest weapon: his brain. Like spider-man he has to think his way out over stronge foes but unlike spidey his brain is all he has.. and he uses it well. he then has the bug cover the crevices to be sure. Tracey vows to help him no matter what and the two embrace.. as under the island more robots are made... and the future is uncertain.

This issue is even better, giving ted a really fantastic origin story one that's been kept in most versions of him since, it's that good. DC would use it, brave and the bold would base an episode around it, and even the movie is using pieces of it, simply turning Jarvis into his sister rather than his uncle and , like brave and the bold, having the scarab be the basis. The art is fantastic, the fights as usual are great, and the stuff with Tracey is top notch character work, making her feel more like a person and less like an object.

Out From the Ashes!

So after only a few issues the blue beetle folded. Again. He'd appear breifly in AMERICOMICS. Because Merica, which finds a nice way to reconcile his golden age adventures with his silver age ones: reincarnation. It makes sense given both the egyptian themes present in the second run and the scarab itself not being defined as an alien just yet. Also as one last note the term Kahji Dah pops up here. Remember it, it'll be important later.

Anyways with that the beetle set on the sidelines again till the mid 80s. In 1983 DC Bought Charlton Comics, and it's characters, seeing the potetial Charlton had squandered just letting Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby creations sit on a shelf somewhere. At the same time Marv Wolfman, editor at dc and writer of the new teen titans (I covered his run with george perez in full last year and STILL feeling winded from it), had pitched a crossover: history of the dc universe!... which was set to completely reshape said history for a new generation, with Wolfman feeling the various parallel earths of dc had gotten a bit much, and with DC lagging behind marvel they felt a refresh was needed. They changed the name to...

Something I intend to cover eventually. When i'm not sure (I'd be happy to do it on comissoin). For those not familiar with it, Crisis was a massive 12 issue crossover, and while marvel beat them to the punch with secret wars as the first crossover, crisis was still the first proper linewide crossover: every book was effected in some way, and many would never be the same for better or worse. The book brought in EVERY altenate earth dc had, had most die horribly, and merged the remainder.

It was in these pages our boy Ted made his dc debut, and once the dust was settled he and the other charlton characters were put front and center in the new universe and most given another shot at a title or mini series with Captain Atom and Blue Beetle being the first to get ongoings, likely since Steve Ditko had worked on both, with the Question, after a guest stint in Beetle's own book, getting one and peacemaker getting a mini series and a key role in checkmate.. the latter of which I only know because he showed up for an overly long crossover between Checkmate and Suicide Squad, before largely disappearing until...

Giving him a starring role in the suicide squad book thanks to his movie apperance and his own mini series recently.

The four along would also be adapted into the Watchmen, another book i've covered, as DC wanted to reuse the chalton characters after and watchmen was a bit too.. permeant.

And so in 1986 ted bravely and boldly enterted the dc universe proper with Blue Beetle #1.

Writing the book was Lein Wein, comics legend responsible for co-creating Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, and Nightcrawler, and of course KRAKOA THE ISLAND THAT WALKS LIKE A MAN AND WAS A MUTANT NATION TILL RECENTLY. IT'S COMPLICATED. Lesser known though was his run on Spider-Man. What i've read of it is pretty dang good, and it's clear even after a healthy run with the wallcrawler Lein still wasn't quite done doing this type of story and jumped aboard when DC asked him.

So once again we have a spidey alum bringing a wallcrawling energy to Ted, let's see how it bears out.

We open with some brave chicago firefighters tryign to put out a penthouse blaze... and failing. Goly firehouse 51 was a lot less competent before Chief Boden ran it huh.

Anyways Chief Red Haired Guy is dismayed to see a familiar face, The Blue Beetle, who he thought retired. Apparently Ted took some time off between picking up the mask and now, a nice way to explain why he hadn't been in any recent dc history prior to the crisis in-universe. What they never explain is WHY Chief Carrot Top hates Ted. No really this guy is j jonah jameson levels of dismayed ted is back, gets weirdly mad at him later, they never tell us WHY this guy hates ted. Maybe it's in an issue past where i've read in this book, I don't know, but it is hilarious, you have to give it that.

At any rate ted swings in on a line he has that comes out of the bug and he can call for help. It showed up in the previous adventures. Ted then tries to help someone in the fire.. only to get a cup of punch to the face instead. Turns out this is our villian..

Yeah the idea of firefist is a good one, and we'll get to why he keeps starting fires besides it being his desire later as well as why it burns so hot. But that outfit.. where do I even begin. the armor parts MOSTLY look neat, my only complaint being that his eyes shoudln't be visable, especially since he has a whole thing about wanting no one to see his face, trying to barbeque ted over it. The idea of an armored man with undousable fire who is determined to murder all firefighters is brilliant. The problem is the rest of the outfit. The pure white underpinning, the inexplicable utility belt no doubt caring firefist shark repeleant, the GIANT bulge

And the fucking logo. He looks like a dollar store shredder knockoff. I like paris cullen's cartoony art on this book, it fits well and he makes ted look great but I have NO IDEA what he was thinking on this costume.

It's honestly what i've realized on a second read took me out of the book the first time I tried reading it. Since dc had all the issues and no intention of reprinting the series (and as of this writing despite the movie STILL hasn't, though they have reprinted Jamie's series after too damn long which is nice), I bought the first two.. and wasn't really impressed. It felt like it was trying way too hard to be spider-man. I see now it's not really that bad, it has some good stuff i'll get to, I just let the problems stack up because one of the first things I saw was this guy. And on second read like I said he's not a terrible villian he just has a bad costume. And he's far from the first supervillian to start out with a bad costume before getting an upgrade later. I'd honestly love to see him fight Jamie if he hasn't already: just upgrade the flames to make hima threat to the scarab and your good.

At any rate firefist gets away though Ted escapes via the zip line thing I mentioned the sky wire, and uses it to save the last firefighter left in the building. The sequence is tense cool and really shows what ted can do. Granted I woudln't of also opened with him getting punched in the face but I do get it: they didn't HAVE to talk ted up since he had a prominent-ish role in crisis on infinite earths.. but for people just turning into bb it's a weird choice.

The Fire Comissiner wants answers and wants Beetle to come int o the fire house.. what. Ted does tell him about firefist but skedadles as fire chief grumpus vows revenge.. well he dosen't but wouldn't i tbe neat if he did.

Ted is a LITTLE bummed that was a bumpy return.. but what I like is he dosen't stay glum for long. He instead comforts himself with the fact that he at least prevented some damage. We then get a rundown of things as he pilots the bug underwater and into his secret lair. We also find out something I think is neat as Ted unmasks: the beetle mask has a lock on it that he can undo with his glove. It's clever, giving good reason why someone can't just yank the top off and find out who the blue beetle is and fits who ted is. Wein is the one who really codified that ted is a man of gadgets: while Ditko's Ted used more acrobatics, this is a ted who uses sceince and skills and it's something that would stick from here on out. And I .. really like it. It's a way to set him apart from both spider-man and batman, his most obvious comparisions being both a bug based hero with a load of quips having a load of fun doing this and a gadget based viglante. Peter is smart and WILL use his science knowhow and strategic genius to down foes, it's part of his charm, but dosen't really pack a ton of gadgets in most runs, only doing so when he has enough backing to afford gadgets or in the Insomniac universe, while

It's more criminology: most of his gadgets are based around crime solving and are down to earth. He CAN have something custom whipped up if the need arises, but prefers more practical solutions. It's seen in their modes of transportation: batman has a car, a boat and a plane, all speclaized just in case he needs one, and while all conspicious all black, fast and able to get in and out quick. Ted by contrast has the bug which while not exactly slow, is flashier, multipurpose (both plane and sub) and designed to more make an impact and look real cool. It's in how they treat the job: To ted this is something that needs doing and honors a friend, but something he also has FUN doing most of the time or can snark at to cope when he really REALLY isn't. For batman it's a sacred mission that has to be handled with the utmost seriousness while he wears a bat costume.

We get a recap of ted's origin, which is mostly untouched. The only diffrences are a change in design for the robots, Dan is switched from a college friend to Ted's old teacher and the fact this time out ted got to control the narrative, so while Lt. Fisher is still suspcious, we'll get to that, Dan is thought to have died mysteriously.. and in a nice touch the beetle cave has a memorial set up for him, the newspaper reporting his death with two candles next to it and Ted hoping to do him proud. It's a great way to speed through the origin without trivalizing what it means or what ted's lost.

Ted rides an elevator up to the proper levels of Kord Omniversal, his company which he runs as CEO. This is it's research part. He meets with his secretary, Angela, who has really neat looking big pink glasses and is nice.. but is hiding something. To get this out of the way now she's subtly stealing tech from the company for her uncle whose forcing her to. It's a subplot that dosen't get paid of here so i'm mostly glossing over it, but I apprciate these first two issues setting up later ones already. I also love this bit of ted going through the stack of messages she has for him.

It suits him so well. I also like his hat. I want that hat. Mail me that hat.

Ted heads to the lab where we meet Melody and Jermiah. Melody is ted's love intrest.. and a fairly eh one. Sh'es mostly just "Perky' and "Into ted" in the issues i've read. There really isn't a lot to her. With Tracey it was fine because A) it was two issues and b) It was 1965, love intrests rarely got fleshed out and her feeling as fleshed out as she did for the time was nice. It dosen't really help that ted later has chemistry with both Barbra Gordon (though sadly it never went anywhere), Power Girl and Booster Gold. I personally like Karen, but i'm not against tedbabs or the blue and the gold. What i'm saying is ted is just so likeable and charming that like Spider-Man he is shippable as fuck and Melody just dosen't do enough to stand out against what came after. Update: As I was writing this review I looked ahead at future issues via the dc database (their wiki).. and found out there IS an intresting subplot where Melody is mad Ted keeps vanishing.. that being said it's still frustrating as Ted has no real reason not ot tell her WHY he's vanishing and still dosen't quite fix the character. It IS neat though.

As for Jerry he's an old friend of Ted's dad's and a wacky guy, doing get rich quick schemes reguarly and having been fired from STAR Labs for it. For those not familiar with it, STAR is dc's go to super science outfit, with branches all over the country, and has heavily shown up in Superman the Animated Series and was home base for Team Flash in the CW Flash.

Ted then has the team analyzie the wreckage to figure out what Firefist is using without saying that. I do like that Ted uses his resources cleverly and being boss, and on good terms with both Melody and Jerimiah, they don't question it. That said.. I would've preferred it if the two just.. knew who he was. There's no real reason to hide it at this point and they don't give us a good one: Melody and Ted are doing super well and Jermiah is an old friend of Ted's dad and clearly likes the kid. Jerry MAYBE could tell kord sr, but there's no reason given Ted's dad can't know either. It'd be more fun for him to not have to hide it and see how they grapple with this as well as how they help Ted hide he's the beetle from the rest of the world. Loop his secretary in too. It isn't helped by hindsight: as noted above the flash show demonstrated how cool it is for a hero to have his own support staff, while as we'll see with Jamie while he still has a secret identity, his family and two best friends learn VERY early on and his book is better for it, something the movie seems to stick to judging from the trailers.

We cut to Pago Island where we meet Conrad Caprapax, aka one of the movie's villians.. and our second subplot that dosen't payoff here. In this case it's understandable. To get it out of the way this issue ALSO sets up Lt. Max Fisher looking into Pago Island, recyling that plot from volume 5. I figured the two plots would eventually dovetail, and since i had only read the first ten issues my first time trying this book, I looked it up and confrimed: the two plots do indeed payoff eventually in issue 14 and at the same time.

We then get to setup for future issues #4, or three chronologically, as Ted helps his good friend Murray Takamoto over at star. It's a neat setup too: Murray's an old college buddy and Ted often does consulting work for him. It's a nice way to setup plots. In this case a red headed stranger wants to steal some promethum star labs plans to transport to kord omniversal. The guy turns out to be Dr. Alchemy, longtime dc villian and honestly a fun choice to go up against the more traditionally scientific ted. I love this setup. He later tries to flatten the tires on the delivery but we find out his magic is shorting out, hence the promethium need. Oh well possible stories for another day.

With our various b-plots mostly out of the way we can focus on the main story again. Ted's chilling with Murray and chatting over coffe whcih his a bit fun if also a LITTLE bit stitled, but I get comics back then weren't the most natural and prefered over the tom, 80's sitcom style talking between characters, and it still feels natural enough.

Ted heads off when he gets a ding on his watch, as he was montoring for fires.. and Firefist has stepped up his game this time SETTING A FIREHOUSE ON FIRE. Ted is prepared though using fire foam on him from the bug before fighting the guy and actually has the upper hand this time. It shows off ted's smarts with this time his acrobatics. The roof caves in.. but we get an absoltuely DOPE shot of ted sliding down the fire pole.

Sadly this dosen't last and we end with Ted pinned under flaming wreckage while firefist gloats.

This City is Not For Burning

Man Len REALLY loved his melodramatic titles.

Anyways Blue Beetle is trapped in a burning building and we get a moment that's a clear homage to a spidey classic: This be my destiny aka that image of spidey under a ton of rubble he barley escapes from through willpower alone. Here it's diffrent ENOUGH for me to consider Len.. isn't just ripping it off: Ted has no power, the heat is a diffrent kind of complication and he has to use what he has on hand, a pipe and whatever else to escape. It's a well done scene all thigns considered and ted BARELY escapes. Fire Cheif Petty Grudge decides to call it even if Beetle can stop this guy. He's still mad Ted won't fill out his forms.. which is fair.

We then get firefists origin.. and I meant what I said earlier. While his costume is messy... his origin is both great and genuinely heartwrenching.

My guess is they assumed he was dead.. but I still can't blame him for being mad they abandoned him. Granted it still dosen't justify putting on a costume for revenge but frankly if no one did that superhero comics would be kinda boring wouldn't they. I also like the ambiguity: we geninely DON'T know if that firefighter didn't care to save the victim his friend went in for.... or simply missed the guy and assumed he was dead. It's a true tragedy and i'ts clear the ptsd and circumstance warped this poor guy into the arsonist we see now.

So with that Melody and Jerry find out the substance is apparently greek fire, a substance used to burn ships and find all the places the ingredignts could've come from before clocking out. ONce ted gets back and notices via the computer that everyone's gone he heads home for a shower and folks... and he's not alone.

I.. am endlessly baffled and amused by this whole thing. Does ted like being choked and Melody just simply didn't think to ask consent because it was the 1980s, or did Melody REALLY just think "Tee-Hee you know what would really be fun, suprising my boyfriend in his dark apartment alone when he's the head of a major company and thus a target for robbers or kidnappers. The fact that as the lights go back out Lt. Fisher is watching the apartment just proves my point. He already has a stalker, he dosen't need it simulated.. unless that's what he's into and again you gotta set that stuff up first.

A few subplots later ted gets the info and goes out after firefist but while he finds the stuff to make it, the guy's already gone. He did burn his newspaper in a rage thoug hso ted has meldoy read it to him.

This.. really hurts my brain. Ted is careless as hell with his identity here. Which again would be fine if the people he was careless to found out.. but instead we get a subplot of melody being mad he disappears.. and it somehow gets worse as she not only emotoinally cheats on him but CALLS IN HIS DAD TO DEAL WITH HIS ABSENCES WITHOUT TALKING TO HIM ABOUT IT. When as far as I could tellt he company.. was fine. Ted was just missing meetings but he still did all his work on time. Girl chicago , as far as I can tell has the ONE superhero. Company 51 is still under old managment, we're not there yet.

Anyways Firefist publicly targets a firefighting museum with ted giving chase as we get an add for the dc roleplaying game from back then.. and now I want to play that. if you knwo where the docs are online or have a copy let me know.

Anyways Beetle fights him and it's a decent enough fight.. with ted trying water for some reason even though greek fire is famous for being waterproof

Ted eventually wins by tarring up the mask and then takes off the mask... with firefist seemingly comitting suicide over his burns. A tragic end. Blue BEetle plugs firefigghting and the issue ends.

This two parter.. is a decent intro to ted. It shows off his skills, what his wealth can do, and firefist, while looking like bargin basement moltar, is a good first opponent: powerful enough to give Ted a workout, but nothing to major off the bat and with a tragic ending.

The books flaws are more character wise: Ted's well done, as his his secretary, but everyone else feels kinda.. eh. Len wanted the vibe of spider-man and the repor but forgot the audience needs to feel it too. I also could've done with using more tactics with ted: while him bounding around was nice as always, part of what made the ditko one so loveable was Ted was SMART: he could outhink his foes not just out manuver them. We see bits and pieces but with ted having a full secret lab and a fortune this time we really don't see him use it. The final fight is decent.. but he dosen't say try to figure out how to counteract greek fire or at least use some gadgets.

It was fine in the ditko era he didn't whip up specific gadgets because the situations didn't call for them; The squids were tricky but he had the means to deal with them. They were just guys in suits at the end of the day, same as him, but without the skill and the bug did the rest of the lifting and while he COUDL'VE for the androids with time, he simply didn't. Here he's dealing with firefist for two days, gets full analysis of what he can do.. and does NOTHING with the info but track the guy. Say what you wil about ted curbing from spidey.. but this bit, the thinking after getting his face caved in and being ready next time, is the one bit that was crucial and that ditko rightly carried over. As it stands this is just okay and i'ts a shame this is, as of this writing one of the ONLY two solos ted's had. It's not horrible and might even get better with time, i'll certainly look into it but the more I wrote about it the more it became clear why I just.. never really took to this run: it's good god ideas.. but just does not a whole lot intresting wtih them.

Fortunately Ted would get another big break midway into his series.

But more on that next time as we find out whatever happened to ted kord.. and see the rise of a new boy in blue. Thanks for reading.

[i-aint-here-man]

Is there a Doctor Alchemy on this flight?

Every Flash-Fan, whether you watched the CW series or simply are a comic fan-whatever, knows Dr Alchemy

Albert Desmond is undoubtly the most popular one as he's "the 1st Doctor" and has been serving this role non-stop pretty much since 2004, but there were some "proteges" I'd like to delve into, hence this post will be about nearly everything

So, once upon a time in popculture there used to exist this trope of "opposite twins":

-Samantha & Serena in Bewitched (which seems to be the primal source of this trend),

-Gwen & Sunny in Ben10,

-Wayne & Lucien from The Cramp Twins and many many more

Anyway, in

July '80; in The Flash #287

Cary Bates starts the arc with Dr Alchemy's attack at the lab in CCPD. Naturally, the last wearer of the mantle - Al Desmond, comes first to Barry's mind, although he doesn't want to believe that Al would revert to his criminal career

'cause here's the thing: Mister Element appeared in Showcase #13 whereas Dr Alchemy debuted in Showcase #14, where even Flash pointed out the quick change in Desmond's alter ego

What's even more interesting, it seemed like Al just "wanted to be" a criminal

Since then, Al did his time in prison, became a model citizen...

Well, it wasn't perfect, because he happened to have few relapses now and then, whether he:

was mind-controlled by Professor Zoom [The Flash #147]

was possesed by this "evil star" that aCtUalLy had been influencing his mental condition from the beginning [The Flash #216]

orrr was possesed by a demon? [The Flash #230]

In The Flash #153 Albert feels an urge towards doing evil, hence he behaves compulsively, firstly imitating having a gun, attempting to rob a restaurant and then suiting up in Element's costume

He later returns as Mr Element in order to rescue Flash, simultaneously deceiving Thawne ['cause Zoom believed that was the result of his "evil-making machine"] Fortunately, Barry takes Al to 25th century, where the latter goes through some "electro-re-education programme"

[at least it worked all right here, right Alex DeLarge?]

Later on, Al relinquishes "the Dr Alchemy-self" in The Flash #230

[aight, I know, sorry for this long interlude but I found it necessary to include it - now back to #287]

Upon meeting Desmonds, Rita - Al's wife, reveals that her husband's been absent at the time of Alchemy's assault, further increasing Barry's suspicion; police arrives, takes Albert to custody and not long after - Dr Alchemy escapes, ultimately leading Allen to a terryfying conclusion

But, reaching the final page, the reader finds out that

*tum tum tuuuum*

The Flash #288

Soooo the new Dr Alchemy is an Al Desmond. Both Desmonds happen to be "astral/platonic twins":

-they both were born into Desmond families [although they aren't really related]

-they both are fond of chemistry

-they have the same voice

And the most interesting aspect about their "connection" - while one is a good citizen, the other tends to behave violently, albeit this doesn't explain Al's becoming a criminal in the first place

and yeah, second-Albert created a hypnotic serum, which he named...desmondium

...right

As the second-Albert battles and seemingly wins over Flash, he proudly reveals his secret. Barry obviously gets out of the trap, but at least now his mind is at ease about Albert. Talking about Albert, what's up with him?

...

[*sets "Without me" by Eminem]

The Flash #289

That's right, Mr Element's back in action, but despite his previous returns, this time Al ain't sinister nor controlled - he's deliberately a good guy, whose only goal is to stop Dr Alchemy. Albert donned his old alter ego as he felt responsible for Dr Alchemy's deeds

Barry learns from Rita about Alchemy's potential hideout.

And so, the final battle between Dr Alchemy, Flash and Mr Element...doesn't happen as Al's quickly rendered unconcious, but heyy, Barry's here to save the day

And so, the two pals walk into the night as Al confesses that it's over finally

...

The Flash vol 2 40

Years later, Wally tries to exorcise an irish ghost out of Linda. In order to do that, they pay a visit to Albert Desmond who apparently inhabits now a goth-like mansion

And then...Albert?

So not only does he look different, but he behaves oddly, too. He's clearly obsessed with recreating the Philosopher's Stone for some reason

aight, it's Alvin

But what is "concerning" is his usage of that stone; Alvin seems out of practice, sloppy and uncreative when it comes to choosing the post-transformed product; he makes a few pauses, ponders too long over what the Stone can transform things into

To put it simply, isolation & obession drove him even more insane, rendering him insensible

But well, Wally manages to defeat him; he and Linda find the real Albert Desmond

poor guy...well anyway, hopefully this time it's really ov--

Ehh, for fock's sake...

The Flash vol 2 41

Alvin somehow breaks out [only leaving a salty statue of himself behind in the cell] and creates chaos for kicks, but suprisingly - this time he utilises the Philosopher Stone's powers quite well even going as far as to defeating Wally

Simultaneously Albert returns as Mr Element, but it still isn't enough to beat Alvin

Then a slight retcon happens while Wally realizes that Alvin is pretty much just a manifestation of Al's evilness with fake memories implemented by the Stone itself. In result, Al accepts the reality and destroys Alvin once and for all - FOR REAL this time

In Who's who in DC Universe #14 we find out that, sadly, after retrieving the Philosopher Stone, Albert started to become more and more seduced by his artefact

And it looks like he gave in, 'cause he appears few times in Waid's run

When Johns took over, he made Albert into a stereotypical mystic, who spends a lot of time on reading and practising alchemy [even his cell's been decorated in goth-theme] and he stays this way till N52&Rebirth

But before I get to that "version", lemme talk a bit about the third Alchemy - perhaps the lest known, Curtis Engstrom. He worked as an advisor on a S.T.A.R. Labs project that would use Philosopher's Stone's special properties to cure blood diseases. He of course stole both the device and the Stone. In prison he met a guy, who later tricked him, stealing the device from the first thief. Curtis decided to get his revenge on the guy, got the Philosopher's Stone, calling himself the Alchemist. Engstrom, despite lack of experience, cleverly uses the Stone's power i.e. by creating copper stalagmites while it's raining [electricity conducive] or by lacing an area with thin molybdenum strings [sharp enough to slice Flash] Engstrom only appears in two issues - The Flash #71-72

Rebirth

In Rebirth Albert does appear a few times. In The Flash #764-766 Albert tricks Barry into wielding Philosopher's Stone in order to control Flash himself; oh and he kinda absorbs Stone's powers so he doesn't physically need it anymore

A propos, depending on the issue, Albert either used the Stone to access powers or used it to channel his powers

Exemplary:

-in The Flash #216 Al revealed that the elemental-gun only concencrated his elemental energy, although nothing like this had ever happened before

-albeit in The Flash #230 a similar thing happened, this instance regarding Dr Alchemy, thus he didn't need the Philosopher's Stone anymore

-ever since the Alchemy-excorsion, Al has been constantly using his Elemental Gun

[The Flash #41 & the coolest Mr Element design, along with his cool af machine gun]

-then in Rebirth Al initially used the Philosopher's Stone embeded in a ring, but later he acquired the Stone's powers thanks to lighzinium - a protective material layered on the Flash-ring by Barry

...

Additional notes: °although mostly it's been implied that Al's identity disorder wasn't caused by the Philosopher's Stone, The Flash #765 clearly states a connection between those two aspects °the ring from The Flash #764-766 resembles greatly the Dragon-Eye one back from #216

°reaction-image

°intriguing, but whenever Dr Alchemy appeared in Waid's Flash-run he has never been referred to by his name; NOT ONCE

In fact in Waid's run he looks a lot more like Alvin, although considering the Who's who in DC Universe we have to think it's actually Allbert

°more interesting, The Flash vol 2 Annual 8 takes place right before Messner-Loebs' run and guess who's the villain of the week?

That's right, Dr Alchemy, whose name's never called out and in opposition to later issues we can't assume it's Albert under the mas--the hood

What's even funnier, present Wally's telling Linda that story, mentioning at the end "amazingly enough, Alchemy would eventually turn up again...and again that's another story"

If Wally'd be talking about #40-#41, then it's stupid cos Linda knows about that incident first hand cos she was there

°[*"The Man who sold the world" plays in the back*]

Thug: So uhh mr Desmond, how much of that gold do we need to transform?

Albert:

La-li-lu-le-lo

[dailydccomics]

more Rogues, more problems The Flash vol 2 #207

[bitchycatwizard]

The SPECTRE AU- The ABC of Villainy. Extract from the Archive- A

Name: Albert/’Alvin’ Desmond

Alias: Dr. Alchemy, Mister Element

Description: Middle-age or close to middle age white man in a green hood with a domino mask. Black pants and either a green or dark blue flowey shirt.

Powers: Transmute any substance into any other substance Transform the molecular structure of the human body. Some form of mental control over the Philosophers Stone.

Albert Desmond suffers from dissociative identity disorder, this is both a strength and a weakness. Making him both unstable and extremly hard to mindread or mindcontrol. Identities wants very different things.

Items and Artifacts: The Philosopher’s Stone or atleast a shard of it.

-Item gives Power: Yes

-Item Side effects: Either the cause or the increase of his  dissociative identity disorder.

Weakness: Body of a normal human.

Dissociative Identity Disorder. Makes hm on occasion more dangerous for himself than others.

Allies: Star City underworld.

The Rogues.

Enemies: The Flash.

Goals: Money, Power, generally criminally stuff.

Obssesion: Human levels.

Status: Incarcerated, 

Philosopher’s Stone: Unknown

Living Status: Alive.

Incident Report: O2 and O9 was returnng from a training session.

Flying over the woods South East of Star city were they got to see the arrest of Dr. Alchemy by the Flash.

The Fight was long and gruelling and Dr. Alchemy’s powers are close to reality bendng, O9 has raised the concern that even few Elder Ghosts, IN the Ghost Zone, IN their own Haunt would be able to manipulate so much material.

Addendum: The Philospher’s Stone is a extremly powerful magical item that can make even a stage magican a city threatenng entity.

It is said to have been made by Merlin himself and is sought after by many magical individuals that CAN NOT HAVE IT.

Main Concern: Morgana Le Fey

Lethal Force has been approved to make sure this does not occur.

This CANNOT be aloud to happened.

Destruction of the Stone: Undecided.

Name: Anton Arcane

Alias: -ll-

Description: Arcane is a tall bald humanoid, with skin that appears to be rotting, with many crude stiches.

Arcane’s one eyed and his mouth is filled with sharpened teeth.

He wears the skin of other humans to fit in society, he can shrnk atleast somewhat.

Powers: Elemental Manipulation: Rotting.

Magic- Necromancy

Genius Level intellect

Regeneration, even if only small pieces remain.

Weakness: Monsterous Apperence.

Can hide in the skin of others, but is never 100% convincng.

Items and Artifacts: N/A

-Item gives Power: N/A

-Item Sideeffects: N/A

Allies: The Parliment of Decay also called The Rot, aka the Blue

Enemies: The Parliment of Plants akaThe Green and The Parliment of the Animals aka the Red.

Goals: To cover the entire planet in the Rot.

To watch it all decay.

To kill and kill and kill and kill.

And watch it all ROT.

Obsession: Beyond anything, the Goal is everything.

Status: Unknown.

Living Status: Unknown, how the Parliment of Decay’s power effect a willing person is unknown.

Incident Report: None

This is a name from O1 to all other members, this is a name you have to have, this is a name you have to know, this is a name you have to be prepared for.

Addendum: Born in 1875 and has had his powers for over a century. Do not take him lightly.

Name: (Prince) Aragon

Alias: Prince Aragon

Description: Male, older, long gray hair, pseudo medival clothes wth a spiked golden crown.

or. a Large Black Dragon.

Powers: Standard Ghost.

-When transformed:

Firebreathing

Super human strength.

Super human endurance, do to his scales.

Claws, razor sharp.

Items and Artifacts: The Amulett or Aragon

-Items gives power: Outside of standard ghost: Yes

-Item side effects: On humans increased negative emotions.

Ghost: N/A

Allies: Henchmen, The Executioner and the Archer Ghosts.

Enemies: Princess Dorothea, O3, O6, O7

Goals: Get bride, become a king, be a dick to his sister.

Obsession: Normal Ghostly ones.

Status: In the Ghost Zone.

Living Status: Ghost.

Incident Report:  In an attempt to get himself a beautiful human bride for his wedding, he ordered his sister Dora to hold a beauty pageant in Amity Park, allowing hm to choose just the right girl.

After seeing O12 as the current judge of the pageant Aragon sends out his two henchmen, the Archer and Executioner ghosts, to keep him busy. After O7 was captured by Dora for Aragon, O3 and O6 go into the Ghost Zone to save her.

Meanwhile in Aragon's castle, it was revealed to O7 that Aragon pushes his sister around, always getting what he wants; Dora is forced to obey his every command and whim.

After O7 tries much convincing to lift Dora's confidence and hope, she turns herself into a wild and sloppy bride to convince Aragon that she is not the girl for him and thus call off the wedding.

Her plan almost worked, but Aragon planned to lock her up if not for O3 and O6 arriving at the same time to rescue her.

Feeling angry that his future wife is being "kidnapped," and hateful towards his sister  Aragon turns into his dark dragon form and fights O3 while burning the castle and the trees. Just before he finishes O3 off, Dora begins attacking him after a big pep talk from O7 to fight back.

Afterwards, O3 removes the amulet on Aragon's neck which grants him the power to become a dragon, transforming him back to his normal form.

After Aragon's defeat, Dora turns the sky from dark to light, causing time to move forward than continue its permanent hold as it had been for 1600 years.

(Source Phantom wiki phandom)

Addendum: The Amulett of Aragon was taken back to headquarters in a locked strongbox, but disappered around the 14th hour mark from it’s original capture.

If  it was stolen or returned to it’s master is currently unknown.

Like, Comment, Reblog, send Frog or Gif’s of the Muppets if you like what I’m doing.

[holy-shit-comics]

[noona-is-afk]

Completed Dramas, Ranked

Masterlist of all the dramas I have finished and my rankings from 1-10. Keep in mind I don't usually finish dramas that I don't like, so most of these reviews will be 6+ ratings.

Recently added: My Dearest, Wedding Impossible, Vagabond, Love to Hate You

Twenty Five Twenty One - 10/10 Finished 2023-08 I will never recover from this drama. I cried and laughed and fell so in love with the entire cast. The friendship between the two female leads is beautiful. Nam Joo-hyuk the actor that you are. That ending will be permanently etched on my heart. Another incredible display of how talented female writers are in kdramas.

Favourite line: “It’s love. I love you, Hee-do. I don’t need a rainbow.” Tags: melodrama, sports, friends to lovers

Doom At Your Service - 10/10 Finished 2023-07 Cried my eyes out. Park Bo Young is too cute. The whole premise is so good and they do such a good job pacing it and throwing in twists to keep it interesting. Also has made me a huge Seo In Guk stan, the man is crazy talented at playing a villain with a heart of gold.

Favourite line: "Love me to the point that you will want to destroy the world for me." Tags: fantasy, melodrama, enemies to lovers

Reborn Rich - 10/10 Finished 2023-09 There has never been a better revenge drama. Succession meets time travel fantasy meets enemies to lovers romcom meets 90s period piece. Song Joong Ki absolutely nails it once again.

Favourite line: "There are 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year. They say time is fair to everyone. However, time isn’t fair. Just like everything else in this world." Tags: revenge, enemies to lovers, time travel, 90s

My Name - 10/10 Finished 2023-07 Despite being traumatized by the ending, this is still one of my fave dramas. The acting. The fight choreography. The romance. 10000/10. Pil-do might be one of my favourite male leads ever. I love me a soft boy who would do anything to protect his strong, independent woman.

Favourite line: "Is life supposed to be fun?" Tags: revenge, action, enemies to lovers, gangs vs cops

Romance Is a Bonus Book - 10/10 Finished 2023 -07 So rewatchable. Truly the coziest kdrama out there. A great start into noona romances too. Also the line where she talks about how it was so nice to be called by her name, instead of “mom”, “honey”, “you” really stays in my heart. Also started my obsession with Jong-Suk.

Favourite line: "Instead of 'I love you,' soseki natsume said, 'the moon is beautiful." Tags: friends to lovers, noona romance, workplace romance, romcom, love triangle

Extraordinary Attorney Woo - 10/10 Finished 2023-08 Absolute perfection. Jun Ho is the new standard. Deals with autism in a surprisingly modern way. Some interesting episodes on feminism in the workplace too.

Favourite line: "All my thoughts tend to center around me, so I make people close to me lonely. I don’t know when or why I do that. And I don’t know what I can do to stop it." Tags: legal drama, autism, workplace romance

Captivating the King - 10/10 Finished 2024-03-03 Incredible directing. Best acting performance of the year surely from Jo Jung Suk. Perfect if you liked Kings Affection. So much tension, little bit gay in a great way, and the palace politics are actually so interesting. All the characters are very morally grey and make for such interesting stories.

Favourite quote: “I love to win but I cannot put up with boredom.” Tags: FL disguised as man, historical drama, enemies to lovers

Nevertheless - 10/10 Finished 2023-06 Female gaze times a million. And the supporting cast is one of my faves (except for the TAs, they were boring as all hell). It’s also one of the few kdramas that tackle a relationship that’s kind of “friends with benefits” and you can very much tell it was written by a woman.

I get why some people really don’t like this one, but I’m a big believer in not needing the main characters to be good people for it to be a good piece of art. Everyone is very flawed in this (nearing on toxic), but it tells a lot of important stories that I really connected with.

Favourite line: "I know it will cause me pain again. Nevertheless..." Tags: friends with benefits, college drama, red flag ml, love triangle

Hot Stove League - 10/10 Finished 2024-03 Baseball is life. Definitely the best sports drama out there, although it’s a close race with Love All Play. This drama has no romance, so I was really surprised that it hooked me so much. But the drama is amazing. The villains are so good. And mostly I just love this goddamn sport man. Even if you don’t like sport, I think you’ll enjoy the twists and turns and found family dynamics of this one. Also Park Eun Bin never misses.

Favourite quote: "Everyone's situation is different, we all fight with the resources that are available to us. If we start listing excuses, we'll lose again in the same situation." Tags: sport drama, found family, no romance

It's Okay Not to be Okay - 10/10 Finished 2023-07 This was a slow start for me because I found the main female lead so annoying at first. But trust me she grows on you. Literally one of my fave dramas now. The emotions are SO real, I was crying constantly. Very attached to this little trio now. And the parallels of the beginning and ending are soooo good. All the characters have so much character growth, some of the best writing I’ve seen in a kdrama.

Favourite line: "Your body is honest. When you're in physical pain, you cry. But the heart is a liar. It stays quiet even when it's hurting." Tags: enemies to lovers, autism, mental health

Alchemy of Souls - 10/10 Finished 2023-10 Absolutely binged this. Such a fun watch. The lore is really cool too. My only thing is I LOVED the female lead from S1 and it felt weird not to have her in the second season. Also second season felt a bit rushed on the ending. Otherwise perfection.

Favourite line: "If you stabe me, then I wil die as the one who released the assassin. If you withdraw your sword, I will make you another promise." Tags: fantasy, enemies to allies to lovers, magic, love triangle

Love to Hate You - 10/10 Finished 2024-04 Incredible binge watch. Only 10 episodes, and all about 40 min or less. They don't get distracted by any unnecessary side stories and really just focus on the characters. Both the ML and FL are incredible, and the secondary couple is just as cute. I will forever remember the look that he gives her when she finally says I love you back. A great mix of comedy and swoony romance.

Favourite line: "I can stand other people hating me, but I can’t live with hating myself." Tags: enemies to lovers, idol drama, fake dating, badass FL x soft boi ML

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo - 9.5/10 Finished 2023-08 Too cute for it’s own good. Male lead is adorable. Only docking points for some of the weird mentions of the female lead’s weight and her being ‘ugly’. Otherwise the perfect drama. Great for a light watch as there isn’t much drama between the couple really, they communicate well and most of the tension is in their family and career.

Favourite line: "You fool, I like you. Not as a friend, but as a woman. If I don't see you, I get curious. If you're depressed, I get upset. If you smile, it makes me happy. If you're sick, I get worried. It's driving me crazy. It means I like you, doesn't it?" Tags: friends to lovers, childhood friends, sports drama, college drama, romcom

Descendants of the Sun - 9.5/10 Finished 2023-09 Beautiful. So sad. Chemistry is insane between the main leads. I cried so much. Also the friendships between all the characters are really great. The plot too is amazing. Only docking it a half point because some of the military propaganda is a bit much for me, otherwise perfect.

Favourite line: "Regarding the kiss, what should I do? Should I apologize for that? Should I confess my feeling to you?" Tags: exes to lovers, military drama, melodrama

Vincenzo - 9/10 Very addicting, plot is crazy fun. Leads have so much chemistry. Some episodes ran on a bit though. Tags: revenge, legal drama, workplace romance

The King's Affection - 9/10 Love the premise. Essentially a gayer Mulan plotline. Rowoon is cute AND badass. Also can’t believe this is the same Park Eun Bin as Attorney Woo?? The range!!! Tags: fl disguised as a man, historical drama, kinda gay

Love All Play - 9/10 Only docking a point because Taejun’s whole family deserved the shit beat out of them instead of a stupid redemption arc. Otherwise the perfect romance angst. Taejun is THE green flag. Tags: sports drama, college drama, partners to lovers

Soundrack #1 - 9/10 Beautiful. Short. Simple. Some of my favourite leads. Great winter watch if you’re feeling like some cozy, friends to lovers vibes. Tags: friends to lovers, winter, music

Mr Queen - 9/10 Really good, really funny. Just wish the ending was more gay. Tags: body swap, time travel, historical drama, comedy

Start-up - 9/10 I can’t believe how underrated this one is. First love triangle story that actually had me questioning who I wanted to be endgame. The male leads are written so beautifully and they are both so complex and interesting. And the female lead has you rooting for her so much. I also really loved how they wrote such an insecure male lead, the character development was amazing to watch and Nam Joo Hyuk crushed it as per usual. Tags: workplace romance, paid to date you, love triangle

Happiness - 9/10 Really really good. I always thought it would be interesting to get a zombie story post pandemic. I just think some of the directing wasn’t great near the end. Some of the scenes just needed to hit a bit harder for me, considering I know how good this cast is in other dramas. Tags: zombies, friends to lovers, fake married, cohabitation

Dr Romantic 2 & 3 - 9/10 If you like Grey's Anatomy for the crazy end of season events, this is the show for you. Wil ride, amazing chemistry with the leads, loveable found family. Tags: medical drama, found family, rivals to lovers

Hospital Playlist - 9/10 If you like Grey's Anatomy for the relationships and friendship however, this is the show for you. Medical stuff is sometimes boring in this one, but the found family and ships 100% make up for it. Also there's like 100 episodes of behind the scenes to watch and the cast is too cute. Tags: friends to lovers, slow burn romance, medical drama, found family, ensemble cast, music

Castaway Diva - 8/10 Loved the first 10 episodes. But felt it didn't wrap up great, especially with the romance. Tags: stranded on a desert island, music, childhood friends, finding your first love

Marry My Husband - 8/10 It's good, but kind of burnt out on revenge dramas with time travel. Villains were great though and Na In Woo is adorable. Tags: time travel, revenge, ml falls first

My Dearest - 8/10 The tension between these leads is unmatched. Also just a gorgeous show. Little too dramatic for me. Like after the tenth time they just missed each other, I wanted to pull my hair out. Also desperate for a little epilogue in the last episode. Tags: romance drama, historical, fated love

Oh My Ghost - 8/10 I love Jo Jung Suk, and with Park Bo Young??? Match made in heaven. I’m desperate for them to get on screen together again. Fun fantasy elements. Both characters have so many flaws but they develop so well. Tags: enemies to lovers (ish), ghost possession, restaurant drama

Welcome to Samdal-ri - 8/10 For the Hometown Cha Cha Cha fans for sure. Definitely under utilized Ji Chang Wook (where are the epic kisses pls), but overall the leads had incredible chemistry. 2nd ML was annoying as hell though. Give all the awards to the little girl. Tags: friends to lovers, exes to lovers, love triangle, middle-aged drama

Suspicious Partner - 8/10 Super cute. SO much chemistry. Bit too melodramatic for me and the second female lead is a bit one-dimensional. Really funny though and a decent legal drama. Tags: legal drama, enemies to lovers, workplace romance, cohabitation

Wedding Impossible - 8/10 Enemies to lovers plus a fake relationship to hide your bestie is gay. It's mostly really fun and silly, the FL is one of my favourite korean actors, but it falls a part a bit in the middle of the season. Would have been saved with more scenes with Do Han and exploring what it means to be gay in Korea. Even just more scenes where he's happy. Great finale and fluff throughout for our main leads though. Tags: Enemies to lovers, fake wedding, beard for my gay best friend, idol story

Melting Me Softly - 8/10 Really great premise and the chemistry of the leads is unmatched. Don’t be fooled by the branding, this is very much more of a rom com than a melodrama. Really liked the directing too, beautiful show. Tags: time travel, shared fate, workplace romance

Revenge of Others - 8/10 You know I love a good revenge thriller. Very good series, incredibly gritty for a high school drama. Twist at the end was kind of meh though. And also wish there was more romance as the leads were so cute. Tags: little to no romance, high school drama, revenge

While You Were Sleeping - 8/10 Really great premise. The main trio are all so good. I just think some of the romance drama near the end was a bit annoying. Shoulda been like 3 episodes shorter, just got a bit tiresome. Tags: shared fate, fantasy (ish), legal drama

Fight For My Way - 8/10 Very cute friends to lovers. Great chemistry between the leads. Very similar vibe to Weighlifting Kim Bok Joo, just wish the last episode was a bit more impactful. Tags: friends to lovers, sports, college friends

King the Land - 8/10 Very cute and fluffy. Love both leads. Liked how there was no unnecessary drama between them. Really healthy relationship. Just not my favourite plot of all time, hasn’t hooked me like other shows. Tags: workplace romance, chaebol ml, hotel management

Crash Landing on You - 8/10 Definitely hooks you. Starts to drag in the last 5 episodes with too much melodrama. But I loved how they switched it up mid-way through. Really engaging. Also the chemistry with the leads is unreal, makes sense that they’re married in real life now. Tags: found family, north korea, enemies to lovers, melodrama

Moon in the Day - 8/10 Very solid fantasy romance. Found it a bit boring though in the middle. Kim Young Dae is defs underrated though. Hopefully this will kickstart him as a lead now. Tags: fantasy, loved each other in a past life, revenge, enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers again

Sh**ting Stars - 8/10 Like 90% fluff. Also cool to see the behind the scenes of k actor management. Lee Song Kyung literally plays enemies to friends to lovers perfectly. Nearly same love story as Dr Romantic and Bok Joo, love to see it. Tags: enemies to friends to lovers, college friends, acting drama

Business Proposal - 8/10 It’s pretty good, but very trope-y. If you like a chaebol romance or workplace romance you’ll love it. It just didn’t surprise me that much, so very middle of the road. One of the few times that I actually was more obsessed with the secondary love story than the main. Tags: workplace romance, fl pretending to be someone else

Let's Talk About Chu - 8/10 Kind of ridiculous but surprisingly deep and heartwarming. Loved the chemistry of all the couples. Tags: sex positive, queer secondary couple, friends with benefits, taiwanese

Destined with You - 7/10 Another drama where the chemistry of the leads really carry the show. Also Rowoon is so talented. I like the premise, but the execution was kinda messy and the first few episodes kinda drag until they let Rowoon being a goofy boi. Must watch though if you love fluff and soft bois. Tags: enemies to lovers, love potion, fantasy, past life, betrayal

W: Two Worlds - 7/10 Despite wanting to rewatch this show constantly, it is kind of a hot mess. Really fun though, just the plot is like a yo-yo. Insane chemistry with the leads. Tags: fantasy, love across universes (webtoon comes to life)

Lovestruck in the City - 7/10 Great show and then the last episode is just like really a bummer. The main couple are super cute though and I like the jumping back to the beach town. Good summer watch! Not sure I really like the mockumentary style, but it’s quite cute. Tags: mockumentary, short episodes, summer romance, exes to lovers

So I Married the Anti-Fan - 7/10

The beginning and middle are really good and cute. Ending is just kind of rushed and feels a bit disjointed from the plot. Overall fun rom com though!

Tags: rom com, enemies to lovers, kpop idol

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon - 7/10 It’s very cute, but just way too fluffy for me, especially near the end. It’s a good light watch if you’re looking for something like that. Highly recommend watching the behind the scenes of this series too, because Park Hung Sik is just so in love with Park Bo Young and it’s adorable. Tags: workplace romance, superpowers, comedy

Hometown Cha Cha Cha - 7/10 This was my very first drama so I really need to rewatch it as I don’t know if my review is just because it’s aged in my brain. But it’s very cute, very wholesome. Supporting cast is incredible. My only real issue with it is I don’t love the female lead as much as I like other leads, just didn’t root for her as much as I would have liked. Tags: small town, enemies to lovers, found family

Forecasting Love and Weather - 7/10 Bit boring, but the chemistry is unreal between the leads. Really good twist near the beginning that still sticks with me. Also love seeing Song Kang as little puppy dog heart of gold boi. Tags: noona romance, workplace romance

See You in My 19th Life - 7/10 Love the premise and the leads are amazing. Female lead in particular nails the role. Just a bit too melodramatic for me. Another one where the side characters really make the show, especially her sister. Tags: past lives, childhood friends, murder mystery

Vagabond - 7/10

Great action thriller, the political plot had me the whole time. Suzy never misses. But it ended on a cliffhanger and I wish I’d known that before. Especially since Season 2 hasn’t been announced 😭 Otherwise the romance is great, ML is incredible.

Tags: action romance, enemies to lovers, spy thriller

My Holo Love - 5/10 Kinda just meh. Like it was cute and fun but nothing special. Female lead was really good though. Also I do like the plot around face blindness, just not super memorable as a show in general. Tags: mystery, ml shut in

Love Alarm - 3/10 Too cringe and immature for me I think. Interesting premise though. Song Kang is really good in it (although he plays a massive red flag again lol), I just really didn’t like the other male lead to be honest. Tags: love triangle, fated love, fantasy (ish), red flag ml

[momachan]

"I don't understand! Nezha's been imprisioned for millenia! How does he even know who all this heroes and villians are? Or who else to conscript? Alfred, come in! I need you to check the batcomputer! See if anyone's accessed the Justice League servers! -I'm looking now, master Bruce. But I have to say... everything seems to be just as it should be."

Batman/Superman: World's Finest (2022) Vol. 1.

[thefreelanceangel]

Alchemist, level 90: ACHIEVED.

[gorogues]

[cocktailjjrs]

Happy New Year Everyone!!! 🥳🎉

Here's to another year obsessing over Fictional Characters and finding new in the coming year!

Cheers🥂

[muttonthings]

Kdrama Challenge

Day 4: Favourite Secondary Couple

Grim Reaper+Sunny- Goblin

Cha Sung-hoon+Jin Young-seo- Business Proposal

Park Jin+Kim Do-ju- Alchemy of Souls

Park Eun-tak+Yoon Ah-reum- Dr. Romantic

Oh Pyeong-hwa+Kim Jae-won- King the Land

[longitudinalwaveme]

Voice Acting for Arkham Files: Flash Rogues

These vignettes, and, more specifically, the characterization of Dr. Hugo Strange, are based on the wonderful Arkham Files YouTube videos produced by Mr. Rogues.

Here's his channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyxNOHiNclZlVpeRhYV2QRQ

Since I am a huge Flash nerd, I decided to use this idea as a jumping-off point to explore how the Rogues would respond to therapy sessions. Again, all credit to the basic format goes to Mr. Rogues.

I wrote this about a year ago, and now I am wondering if anyone would be interested in doing some voice recordings/voice acting of the sessions for the characters.

Here's the list of characters that I'm hoping to eventually cast:

Professor Hugo Strange: This is by far the biggest role, since he's in all the sessions as the psychologist. Strange has a German accent (it seems to fit the character), and he's generally calm and fairly soft-spoken. Strange is intelligent, and he's very good at his job, but there's an undercurrent of menace and obsession in his voice whenever he's discussing superheroes.

Captain Cold (Leonard Snart): Captain Cold grew up poor and relatively uneducated, and he doesn't try to hide it in his speech. He talks tough because he is tough, and those who don't know better might assume that he's a dumb thug. But nothing could be further from the truth. Captain Cold is very intelligent; he's very street smart and an excellent strategist. Bringing in some of the drawl that Wentworth Miller used when playing the character would be nice, but only if it doesn't conflict with the rest of your performance. Midwestern US accent. It's also worth noting that Cold has a tendency to drop the "g" sound from the end of words like "trying" or "calling".

Mirror Master I (Sam Scudder): Midwestern US accent. The first Mirror Master also grew up in poverty, but unlike Captain Cold, he's tried to drop some of the speech quirks that would identify his background, which he is somewhat embarrassed by. Sam is dramatic and prone to theatrics; he talks himself up and likes to present an air of being calm, cool, and collected. He's also a chain smoker (in fact, he's smoking through his whole interview), and, while he hasn't quite developed the horse rasp yet, that's something that should be reflected in his voice.

The Top (Roscoe Dillon): The Top is from the Midwestern US, like most of the Rogues, but he's desperate to sound intelligent and sophisticated, so he puts on a very posh accent that sounds somewhat like the "Transatlantic Accent" that's common in movies and radio broadcasts from the 1930s and 1940s. However, when he gets stressed, excited, or angry, his fake accent does slip a bit and he falls back into his more natural accent. He's also on the autism spectrum (like me), and due to this, he is excessive formal and grammatically correct in speech when talking to people he wants to impress (like Dr. Strange in this interview), since he hopes that this will help him avoid social blunders.

Captain Boomerang (George "Digger" Harkness): Like Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang grew up poor and undereducated, and he doesn't really try to hide it in his speech. Unlike Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang is from Australia, and his accent reflects that. More specifically, he has a "broad" Australian accent (the Australian accent that Americans usually think of when they hear "Australian accent"), and he uses a lot of Australian slang. That being said, don't play up the accent so much that it becomes a caricature. Throughout his interview, Digger is calm and relatively friendly towards Dr. Strange; he's not threatened by him since he's totally happy and content with who he is. Unfortunately, "who he is" is a thug and lowlife.

Weather Wizard (Marco "Mark" Mardon): Even though he was born in Guatemala, Mark came to the US when he was only a year old, so he probably has a Midwestern US accent for the most part. That being said, he does speak Spanish fluently, and since he grew up with parents who likely did have Guatemalan accents to at least some extent, there might be twinges of that in his regular speaking voice. Really, the most important requirement for playing Weather Wizard here is being able to speak Spanish fairly fluently. Other than that, Weather Wizard spends most of his interview in a heightened state of emotion (talking about his brother will do that to him); he's trying and failing to maintain his image as someone powerful and scary for much of the interview.

Heat Wave (Mick Rory): Midwestern US accent. Heat Wave has a very deep and raspy voice (in part because he's damaged his vocal cords due to a lot of smoke inhalation). He's friendly and affable, but he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and he knows it. He also has to start crying during his session, so being able to fake-cry with some degree of realism would be helpful too.

The Trickster (James Jesse): Since he grew up in the circus and moved around a lot, he doesn't have any particular accent, although he's an expert mimic of all sorts of accents. He's cheerful and mischievous, and he sees his interview as a game in which he can outsmart Dr. Strange. He's extremely clever and quick-witted, and he has a lot of energy.

Golden Glider (Lisa Snart): Midwestern US accent. Like her brother, Captain Cold, she grew up in poverty, but unlike him, she does make some effort to hide her background (though she might start sounding a bit more like him when she gets stressed). Her overall diction is probably a lot like the first Mirror Master's. Golden Glider has a very intense hatred of Barry Allen and an equally intense love for Roscoe Dillon. While she is very loyal to her friends, she is also terrifying when she's angry, and she is not nice. She also swings between being calm and being angry very quickly and with little warning.

The Pied Piper (Hartley Rathaway): Very upper-class, "posh" accent that he's trying to hide by adopting a more standard Midwestern US accent. His parents were millionaire publishing magnates, and this is reflected in the way he speaks. He's very passionate about helping the poor, but is otherwise rather quiet and soft-spoken (due in part to his extremely sensitive hearing). Pied Piper is also probably suffering from some level of depression in this particular interview, and that should probably be reflected in his voice.

Mirror Master II (Evan McCulloch): Working-class Scottish accent (more specifically, he has a Glaswegian accent). He's endlessly amused by the fact that Americans don't fully understand him and deliberately plays up his accent to confuse people. That being said, I don't want the accent to become a total caricature. McCulloch is a very strange man with a very strange sense of humor, and of all the Rogue, he seems to be the most out-of-touch with reality. He's generally cheerful, but is very dangerous when angered.

Dr. Alchemy/Mr. Element/Albert Desmond: Midwestern US accent. Albert Desmond suffers from a very fantastical, fictionalized version of Dissociative Identity Disorder. All three of his personalities have the same basic voice. Dr. Alchemy is quietly threatening; Albert is sad and horrified; Mr. Element is rougher around the edges. Dr. Alchemy is by far the least human-sounding of the three.

Zoom (Hunter Zolomon): Midwestern US accent. Zoom is prone to stretching out his vooooooowel sounds at random, apparently due to his ability to control his position relative to the timestream. He speaks very quietly and might have a slight rasp; his voice also echoes a bit. He's quietly but menacingly obsessed with his goal of making Wally West a "better" hero through suffering.

Professor Zoom the Reverse-Flash (Eobard Thawne): The Reverse-Flash is from the 25th century, so ideally he should sound somewhat different from the rest of the cast (since word pronunciations tend to change over time). He's pompous and dramatic ("HA-HAAA!!!"), but that doesn't take away from his menace.

The Flash (Wally West): Midwestern US accent. It's hard for me to not simply say "do Michael Rosenbaum's voice from the DCAU", but that's not fair to anyone, so instead I'll just say that Wally should be passionate, a bit hot-headed, and a bit sarcastic. He's a very good guy, but he's not at all happy with the fact that Dr. Strange is treating him like a criminal.