#If not three. Spidey is two years old by now

[deva-arts]

Some older works with the same holiday cheer <3

[tototalks]

Now three quarters of the way through Captive Prince and I’m currently devouring this book like a vulture with its face in a carcass.

More ✨thoughts✨

- Love how there’s a whole conversation where everyone is sitting round eating grapes like “oh wow yeah Kastor was really beat up about the death of Prince Damianos. He looked real sad.” and Damen is just like… stood there… very alive… two feet away in big ol’ gold chains metaphorical sign over his head saying “NOTICE ME” lol

- On that note, spidey senses are telling me there’s no fuckin way Laurent doesn’t know who he is in a very “you killed my brother prepare to die” kinda way… unless he doesn’t?? Like am I wearing the tin foil hat?? Am I the fool?? Have they pulled a fast one on my dumb ass??

- Omg Nicaise. My heart kinda breaks for him. He’s a thirteen year old boy trying to survive by any means necessary, and if he’s gotta stab a bitch in the leg with a fork to do it then so be it. I support him.

- Ancel really is 💅that girl💅 in the same way Margaery Tyrell was that girl. He’s manipulative, he’s beautiful, he can spin fire, he’s out for someone to buy him a Birkin. Legend.

- I am, once again, requesting nice things for Erasmus and desperately need a whole training arc of Ancel teaching him how to use his looks to get what he wants. Glad my boy is safe. (Is he? Please say he is. Damen was on his best behaviour.)

- “He’s too old for my uncle’s taste.” SIR?? EXCUSE ME SIR????? 🚨🚨🚨 🚩🚩🚩 🚔🚔🚔

[parkerpeter24]

Hello, i hope you are doing great. Can you write something where Peter is hurt and the reader is taking care of him but suddenly he swears and their son hears it and starts repeating it.

i like this one

pairing ➳ peter parker x reader

masterlist

“where’s spidey junior?” peter hissed through the pain, trying to divert his mind from the throbbing he felt as you cleaned the cuts right over his rib.

“sleeping.” you assured, wincing with him as you cleaned the numerous cuts, “said he missed you at dinner.”

“i’m sorry i couldn’t make it to dinner.” peter gave you a sad smile but you quickly shook your head.

“don’t worry. i read him his favorite story book in ‘dada voice’.” you chuckled, making peter join you, then wince at the antiseptic you put over a cut at his collarbone.

“i’ll make up to him tomorrow.” peter nodded to himself as you put a bandaid on his cut.

“i know you will.” you smiled and held his face gently, expecting any more cuts other than the ones you could see on his forehead. your hand must have brushed against a bump on his head because he gasped in slight pain the next second.

“fuck!”

you quickly removed your hand, letting him inspect the spot himself, “uhm, everything okay?”

he nodded and relaxed, “got thrown against a billboard.” saying that, peter sounded as casual as he did the day he told you that your two year old climbed up the wall.

“fuck.” your eyes widened at the new source of voice. such a little voice it could only have belonged to a three year old boy named ben. your child.

peter wore the same expression as you as he pulled the covers up over his spider-man suit which was resting on his waist, “ben-”

“mommy, what’s a fuck?” the little boy padded over to you, rubbing his eyes.

you pursed your lips, looking at your husband as you held back a laugh, whereas he looked horrified at having taught his son a word he didn’t really mean to.

the little boy spread out his arms and you held him, keeping him in your lap as you settled on the edge of the bed, “why aren’t you asleep, benny?”

you asked, rocking your toddler back and forth as you tried to lull him to sleep.

“dada said fuck.” he looked up at you with sleepy eyes and you couldn’t hold back a laugh this time.

peter looked at you apologetically, “n-no, ben. i didn’t! i said fu-dge.” peter smiled deliberately wide, making you chuckle.

“come on, let’s get you back to bed, sweetie.” you carried ben over to his room, placing him in his crib, “now close those heavy eyes.” you cooed at him, watching the doe brown eyes fall shut at your request.

you smiled, feeling peter sneak up behind you as he kissed your neck. you let him wrap his arms around you as you watched your little boy sleep before pulling peter with you to go back to your room.

“i’m a horrible father.” peter whined, burying his face in your neck as soon as you shut the door to your room. you chucked, “stop laughing at me.”

“i’m not laughing at you, no.” you shook your head gently, “you both are so alike honestly.” you smiled softly, running your hands through his messy, yet soft hair.

“please don’t tell him what ‘fuck’ means-”

you laughed again, dragging peter carefully towards your bed, “peter, he’s three. he was half asleep. he’ll probably forget what even happened by tomorrow.”

“if you say so...” peter replied, feeling little to no reassured at your statement.

when next morning came, peter was in the kitchen, making a breakfast for his family. it was his way of making up for missing dinner. he hummed a soft tune– may’s favorite song as he remembered– as he made ben’s favorite chocolate chip pancakes.

it was a few minutes later when you carried little ben to the kitchen area, letting him down as he ran to hug his dad. you took over the pancakes as peter re-bonded with ben.

the laughter from your husband and your kid was enough to brighten your morning as you plated the pancakes with a side of sliced up banana.

you seated yourself beside him as peter blowed over the pancakes– not wanting the little one to burn his mouth or anything– as he cut up a little piece of it.

the second ben at the pancake, his eyes widened with happiness and peter smiled proudly, “how’s that, benny boy?”

“fuck!” your little boy gave a toothy grin, making peter’s smile fall.

“ben no-” peter facepalmed and ben eyed his dad in confusion before he turned to you.

you chuckled and held his little face as he mumbled, “no fuck?”

you shook your head as peter spoke for you, “we don’t say that word, ben.”

“dada, you said fuck.” ben pointed out, looking at the brunette with curious eyes.

“i clearly made a mistake.” your husband sighed.

“fuck?”

peter’s head dropped, as he felt there was nothing else he could do.

unless he asked doctor strange to wipe the word from ben’s mind.

[maxislvt]

helloo, first off i love your work ! second, this may or may not be a request but- imagine dark!wanda x spidey!reader, post no way home where r is one of the avengers sent to stop wanda on her rampage. r gets captured by wanda though and turns out wanda remembers r’s identity. she had a crush on r since civil war and now that she has r all to herself…😳

“i’m going to ruin you”

warnings: womb tattoos, coercion, manipulation, spiderperson typical quips in really bad situations, no smut

got a little carried away, whoops!

The last few months of your life have been awful.

Life had been pretty stable for the most part. Trying to balance college, being a superhero duo with your adoptive brother, and the newfound freedom of adulthood was a lot to say the least. Then some big alien freak came along and ruined everything. You and Peter left Aunt May behind for five years.

For better or for worse, you and Peter didn't age. Peter still had his senior year ahead of him and you were only 24. So you both tried to make the most of that.

You were supposed to chaperone your little brother's senior trip through Europe. All you wanted to do was help Peter enjoy the last few months of youth he had before being shipped off to college. Of course, fate had other plans and the trip was interrupted by another cataclysmic event. One unpredictable turn after another. Then suddenly everyone knew your secret identity.

Quentin Beck was a hero and you were half of the duo that killed him.

One edited video and suddenly the whole world was against you and your brother. It was a target on your back you had no way of getting off your back. The magical escape you thought you'd found was nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing. Universes nearly collided. Three versions of your brother. Two other versions of you. Villains the two of you tried and failed to rehabilitate. A moment of complete darkness for your brother A dead aunt. So much fighting. So much pain. All of it for nothing. At the end of it all, everyone was forced to forget about you and Peter. No more full rides to dream colleges and no more "Amazing Spider Kids". It was just the two of you in a shitty Downton apartment at a community college neither of you really wanted to attend, but that didn't stop you two from trying to protect those who couldn't protect themselves.

That need to protect everything and everyone seemed to get you in bigger trouble.

America Chavez. Barely 15 years old, alone in the multiverse, and no one to trust. Her powers and life experience were beyond you — you couldn't even take credit for defeating whatever monster that was chasing her — but you wanted her safe. You foolishly thought that it'd be as simple as finding a hero that could mentor her. Magic wasn't your strong suit. Yet, you still helped America try to escape the claws of the Scarlet Witch along with Doctor Strange.

In the midst of a heated chase, the witch's focus seemed to have shifted. Your mask was ripped by a piece of metal and you could feel the witch's eyes on you. Since you were more focused on protecting America, you decided to send The Scarlet Witch on a goose chase. You and a magical body double of the girl. Unfortunately, you could only run for so long. You didn't bother fighting when you were captured. All you could do was put on a brave face as you were somehow teleported back to your universe. You assumed the witch had gotten a decent portion of America's powers. That worried you, but unfortunately you had to prioritize your personal safety for a moment.

The witch must've known you were too weak to run away because she didn't even bother tying you down. She just stood over you and examined your face. You were nervous and confused to say the least. "So, uh, do you always stand over sacrificial young adults in such a compromising way or am I special?" You quipped. It was a real misfortune your mouth tended to run more when you were nervous. Your heart almost exploded when she reached out for your mask. "Hey, hey! Have some respect for a man's secret identity, will you?" You shouted, trying to push her hands away.

Automatic reflexes were nothing against magic and you were unmasked and it sent your spider senses spiraling.

"You remember me."

"Of course,I remember you. Do you not remember me?"

The airport. Tony had you and Peter flown out for a top secret field mission, that's what he told you at least. You weren't sure what you were fighting for, but you remember the battle clearly. Some guy had grown to a hundred feet tall. You fought some guy with a metal arm. Then someone suddenly started throwing cars. They had all missed you and went straight for Tony, but it was still scary. After the battle, you learned the name of all the people you fought. The weird one, as Tony described her, was named Wanda Maximoff. It's scary how your life had become so eventful that you'd forgotten that whole experience. Well, you couldn't blame yourself for not recognizing her considering the drastic change in her appearance.

"Yeah," You said bitterly, "you threw a car garage at my mentor."

"Your mentor made the bombs that destroyed my home country and had me jailed for powers I didn't ask for."

That was the first time a villain had left you truly speechless. Tony wasn't like that. Was he?It was a lot to process and that wasn't made any easier with the icy cold hand caressing your cheeks. "If you're going to drop an information bomb, can you at least give me a second to —" Your sentence was cut short by her thumb slipping into your mouth. Wanda had managed to slip past your spider senses. It was odd considering you were definitely not calm nor did you trust her.

"I figured he didn't bother telling you the whole truth," Wanda's voice had gotten low and seductive. Her thumb pressed down on your tongue as she continued to monologue. Your squirming didn't phase her at all. "I could hear your thoughts the moment you stepped foot in the airport. So loud and frantic, but nothing but innocence and desire for approval. It's a shame I wasn't able to see you again after that. I was lost in a hex of my own deepest desires and do you know what was there?" A smile spread across her lips as she felt you relax out of curiosity. "The two of us, happily married with two children, and living in New Jersey."

The statement made you jump and start fighting again. Married with kids was definitely not on your list of goals in the next few months, living in New Jersey just sounded dreadful. You managed to get her thumb out of your mouth just long enough to speak. "I'm sorry to hear about your crazy magic thing, I'm not ready to settle down yet. Maybe come back in six years once I've graduated, yeah?"

Wanda binded your wrists with magic. Her hand came down on your cheek with all the strength she had. Despite her frustration, she was happy to see you were still as witty and innocent as the day you two met. "I think I have a plan you'll like." She smirked as she summoned the darkhold. It opened on its own. The book turned towards you and translated itself so you could understand it. "Your innocence," she said before ripping you suit, "and your body in exchange for the girl's safety."

Your eyes nearly popped out of your head. It certainly wasn't a fair deal, even more unfair once you looked over the spell presented to you. A womb tattoo magically etched into your skin that would give Wanda complete control over your libido, orgasms, and a bunch of other depraved things you hadn't even heard of before. Wanda definitely wasn't the woman you imagined would take your virginity, but it wasn't an offer you could refuse. Strange wasn't strong enough to defeat Wanda and letting America die wasn't an option in your mind.

You put on as brave a face as you could before speaking, "If you so much as lay a finger on that girl, the deal is off." Your voice faltered at the feeling of Wanda's lips pressed against your neck. A moan nearly escaped your lips when Wanda's hands began exploring your body. The skin of your lower stomach began to tingle. This was it. This was how you lost your virginity.

Wanda's lips curled into a smile. A real one that showed off her perfectly white bunny teeth. She was no longer concerned with America. You were all she needed now.

"I'm going to ruin you," She whispered, "and you're going to enjoy every moment of it."

You wanted her to be wrong. You wanted so badly to hate the way her hands felt against your bruised skin and the softness of her lips on your neck, but you couldn't. Months without affection left your body desperate for any form of human touch. It is shameful and almost disgusting.

"Shh, I'll treat you right. Just be good for me."

[thankskenpenders]

And now for something new

So, here's something I was never planning on doing, but I just couldn't shake the idea... Thanks Ken Penders is gaining a sister blog featuring an entirely different comic franchise!

Introducing... Thanks Steve Ditko, a blog where I read the Earth-616 Spider-Man comics, starting all the way back in the '60s! It's gonna be much more casual and less thorough than how I run things here on TKP, though, which I'll explain in a sec.

If seeing me post weird bits from old Spider-Man comics sounds fun and you need no further info, then just head right on over to Thanks Steve Ditko. But for longtime TKP readers, I know you probably have questions...

Number one: Why?

Spider-Man's always been my favorite superhero, and with the Spider-Verse movies kicking ass and my excitement building for the new Insomniac game, I've been in a Spidey mood. Inevitably, a thought occurred to me: Maybe I should actually read the comics that everything else is built off of and see the wildly varying contributions of all the original creators, rather than filtering them through big budget adaptations. If I can power through One Piece and all these other manga with hundreds of chapters, it can't be that hard... right?

And, well, after a few issues I quickly realized that my options were to either clog up my other accounts with random Spider-Man panels for years, or to just make a side blog. And so the side blog was born.

Two: Will this blog replace Thanks Ken Penders?

NO!!!!!!!!!

Okay but prove it

To allow the two to exist side-by-side, Thanks Steve Ditko will have a different format than what Thanks Ken Penders developed. Rather than an in-depth guided tour that critically analyzes every story beat of every issue, TSD will just be a place for amusing panels and brief thoughts as I casually read the comics at my own pace.

If you've seen me make a few tweets about reading Spider-Man recently, I'm basically just moving that to a dedicated Tumblr. It's a place for me to dump these things so that it doesn't fill up my media tab on Twitter for the next decade. (You know, assuming Twitter is still around in a decade.) There will be many issues where I only post two panels that I thought were funny. There will be issues where I don't have anything to say at all. Maybe I'll reach a run that I just cannot get into, and I start skipping around more. Who knows!

This may sound similar to what I thought this blog would be before it blew up. Aside from the simple fact that there's already mountains of Spider-Man commentary out there and therefore less of a void for me to fill, one of the main steps I'll be taking to avoid repeating the past is not enabling an ask box on TSD. I do not need people to ask me to go into ten times more detail on everything. I do not need to write seven essay-length responses to questions about Spider-Man minutiae every day. I do not need a place for people to chide me for not covering certain scenes, issues, or ancillary series.

It also won't have any kind of update schedule. I'm trying to keep it very casual. I'm reading these comics at my own pace, and if I feel like sharing a moment or commenting on something while doing so? It goes there. That's it.

(On the subject of format changes, I'm also listing the issue, writer, and penciller in the body of every post. This is a thing I wish I'd done on TKP so that people didn't misattribute every weird Archie Sonic panel I post to Penders.)

Three: So when will TKP come back from hiatus? You said it'd come back after you finished SLARPG!

I don't know! Sorry. I have a couple things on the backburner right now for TKP, but I'm not sure when I'll get back to proper updates where I read more comics.

I wanted to bring TKP back this year, and that's still possible. The main hurdle is that I want to reread my own archive (again) as a refresher, which is, uh. A lot of posts. I've developed a high standard for myself on here, and I feel like I wouldn't be doing my job right if I forgot half the ongoing subplots and character arcs and didn't bring them up in my analysis. Especially when I'm discussing the work of an author as obsessed with continuity as Ian Flynn. Unfortunately, the nature of this blog means that every time I go on another long hiatus for Life Reasons I have even more comic continuity to catch up on than last time.

(This is a big part of why I'm making Thanks Steve Ditko an extremely casual blog instead of promising to become a Lore Expert on 60+ years of Marvel.)

Mostly I've just been very burnt out this year after having finally finished a video game that took almost eight years to make. I haven't really had the energy for any creative projects, including TKP. But I feel a little bit of a spark here with Spider-Man, so I'm chasing that feeling to try to get back into the swing of blogging about comics - no pun intended.

So, basically, bear with me on this as I start this low-energy side project. But hopefully folks will enjoy Thanks Steve Ditko as its own thing, too.

Look forward to goofy shit like this

[bisexualvampires]

Live Laugh Leather

happy 3rd wedding anniversary to these idiots :)

(846 words) Also on AO3

Dean knew the rhythm of Cas’ footsteps from the kitchen all the way to their bedroom. Knew it better than the pulse of his own heart; as familiar to him as the scent of the warm coffee that carried with his husband every morning like clockwork. He found himself smiling against his pillow, feeling the early sunshine through the lake house window heat the frosty February air.

So the routine goes; any minute now Cas would pause to bump the door open with his pajama-clad butt, scooting backward into their bedroom, two coffees in hand. Dean would fake the grouchy attitude as if the gentle interruption had pulled him from sleep. As if, minutes earlier, Cas hadn’t waited until his spidey senses told him Dean’s REM sleep was done and he was ready for his daily stubbled kiss at the back of his neck. For the arm that tightened around his waist, sinking suggestively lower until Dean cracked open an eyelid. Falling for the same old trick every day, before Cas would rise his heavenly ass out of bed to start on coffee. Leaving Dean tethered between the land of sleep and this world of dreams.

Same old, same old.

And wasn’t that a hell of a thing.

Dean scooched over to Cas’ side of the bed. The warmth had faded but it was the scent he chased; like rich earth pounded by the heavy rain of a thunderstorm, the charged promise of lightning still to come. Like honey and ether and so like home, Dean could drown himself in it. Smother himself in his husband’s pillow with a smile on his face and a bulge in his pants.

And so, it began.

The gentle clink of the spoon dropped into the sink. The ceramic scuffling on the kitchen countertop. The first bare footstep on the warm wooden floor.

Three years of this, Dean thought, and he knew he could go a thousand more.

A squeaking sound broke the routine, and Dean perked up his bedhead to listen to the audible eye roll and soft sigh that accompanied it. The footsteps and squeaking drew nearer, and Dean propped himself up on an arm to watch the regularly scheduled show.

The ass that greeted him was familiar, but Dean’s eyes bulged out of his head like Donald Duck at the first sight of Daisy. Cas backed into the room, letting the door swing softly shut behind him.

Dean’s husband paused, breakfast tray in hand and a look of genuine surprise on his face that quickly morphed into a feigned innocence.

“Sweetheart,” Dean managed to say with a tongue that now weighed an ACME ton. “Are you wearing leather pants?” He was dreaming, right? Had to be. If the next words out of Cas' mouth were "tell me about it, stud" in Olivia Newton-John's voice that would surely confirm it. A laugh threatened to burst all the way from his belly, born of shock more than anything, because this was Cas. His Cas. In tight leather pants. Like he was Jon Bon fucking Jovi and Dean was eighteen, alone in his motel room and realising some shit. 

But Cas ignored the question, setting the breakfast tray safely on the bedside table. When he turned to find Dean’s gaze still locked on his broad thighs, mouth hanging open like it didn’t know where to start, he placed his hands on his hips.

“The third wedding anniversary gift is leather, is it not?”

Dean glanced up from his stupor, feeling his heart swell like a damn balloon at his husband’s words.

Leather. Anniversary. Right.

How Cas heard "leather" and thought "pants"... actually, he didn't need to know how or why, because this was happening. Somehow this was real life.

Dean licked his lips. Didn’t mean to, but he did.

He’d tell Cas about the new leather couch he’d secretly set up in the Cas Cave later. Right now…

“The salesperson insisted this was the perfect gift,” Cas frowned down at himself. “Perhaps this was a mistake.”

“Whuaa-“ Dean started, tangling in the sheets as he struggled to sit upright. “No, no, they’re – hell of a – gotta tip the guy… god, Cas.” Only the need to defend these pants with his life gave Dean the strength to tear his gaze from them a second time.

He’d expected to find that frown he loved so much – the one that crinkled Cas’ brow, and tugged his soft lips into a flat line. Instead, his husband grinned at him, eyes blazing with that smugness that was the bane of Dean’s life.

Son of a bitch. He played him.

“Happy anniversary, Dean,” Cas said, stepping forward to crawl on his knees across the mattress, caging Dean in between his thighs.

Dean pulled him closer, sunlight glinting on the band of his wedding ring as he ran a hand through Cas’ hair. Three years of this. Already three. Only three.

And he could never have enough.

“Happy anniversary, Cas.” The words were a whisper against his husband’s lips.

The rest, he already knew. They both did.

[lovecanbesostrange]

Please know that since yesterday I am mentally trapped in these two panels. There is actually a lot I will miss Krakoa for, but I also felt a bit of resentment throughout the era and this family is a big reason why. NOW that we are in the last stretch of burning it all down and the new X-launch is in reach, we'll get this wedding special. And we finally have all four together in a panel. NOW?! I bought X-Men Unlimited #4 in either fall of '94 or spring '95, solely because of the cover. 30 years of waiting. Let me live in this moment for a bit.

Look at what they are doing with the art! Oh sure, Mystique and Nightcrawler are the blue ones. Pair up Destiny and Rogue next to that to make them look similar enough as well. Only for my brain to scream "but the personalities are the other way around!!!!!!!!". Irene and Kurt work on faith and believe in possibilities and reaching out to be better. Raven and Anna Marie typing this out makes me feel weird are the ones who will kill a bitch and say they will darken their soul so others don't have to. Plus there is the element that they both have lived more than one life and their sense of self is distorted .

They've come a long way, okay?!

Yes this is exactly what it looks like. For plot reasons Nightcrawler was too weak to teleport and dangling off a cliff next to Mystique. And of course Rogue could only save one and before she made a decision Mystique said "I make this for you" and let go. I still like to believe she flipped them the bird when she fell. Because she is Mystique. "HaHa! Take this, you think I'm the worst mother ever, but you will have to live with a moment of nobility from me!" (Also Destiny knew this would come, and she fucking knows there is something good inside of Mystique. It just comes out... different. And needs very specific circumstances.)

Apart from X-Men Evolution (and the X-Men Forever alternate history comic with its very special vibes), we have never gotten any bigger acknowledgement of this family. And Irene has been cut out. Either conveniently on account of being dead, or because she's an old lady and clearly just a gal pal, ahem. (It's also very funny to me to go back to their first appearances, where the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants has the biggest Three Stooges energy ever. I needed Mystique, Destiny, Rogue, Pyro, Blob and Avalanche to have a drinking contest on Krakoa. That is what Krakoa was supposed to be about!! You needed to give us 200% domestic nonsense, fun and games. So it would hurt everybody when it was inevitably taken away. EVERYBODY needed to find happiness in that place in unconventional ways.)

Sadly not my original thought (I don't have those), but recently I read some comment where somebody said that with Irene being his bio-mother, Kurt should have inherited a type of precog-sense, a sorta spidey-sense for teleportation. A natural ability that he won't teleport into an obstacle. And I would be so on board with that. (Also funny, because Ms Marvel had that type of sense and I could pull up panels where Nightcrawler tried to trigger that in Rogue.) Would it be weird to add that now? Sure. But also super cute and helpful.

My deepest gratitude goes out to the fanartists who have doodled and sketched and painted cute family moments for them out of time. Now canon can catch up. Imagine their dinner conversations. N: "Logan is my best friend." M: "Oh, that reminds me there is this blue furball running around with his and my powers. I don't even remember if we ever had sex or not, we're so close in age and have these memory gaps." N: "Mutter, nein!" D: "You should ask him out, you two would make a cute couple. Trust me." R: "You're setting up Nightcrawler with Wolverine and keep giving me grief over Gambit?" M: "He speaks too much French! Wolverine might be Canadian, but at least he's not a Franco-Canadian!" N: "So I couldn't date Northstar?"

Do not get me wrong though. Mystique and Destiny are horrible people and they will stab others in the back. They have worked for the government, they have plotted assassinations of government people. They have fought alongside and against the X-Men. I don't want them tamed or be reasonable. I want their mess. I want them as anti-villains. Because they don't do heinous things for nothing. They like to create less horrible murder events than what could be... some writers just liked to go overboard with the scheming and forgot the sympathic undertones, which I want to cling to. And we deserved a time of peace on Krakoa. Truly imagine a Mystique who was happy on Krakoa. And the absolut batshit villainous energy when it's burned down against her will... now THAT would have been something. Instead of baking resentment into the foundation.

[casswithmywholeheart]

Is there any more information you can share about your Spidey Golden Guard AU? I am absolutely frothing at the mouth over this it is literally so cool, and the art you made for it is EXCELLENT it is scratching my brain so well, you have no idea

Also I know this was asked before but it was a while ago, so would you allow fan art of this?

Thank you!!

Oh well! I coulda go on for hours and hours for this.. It's been three years but I still remember the burning passion I had for this!

This is actually just a very very vague idea in which <Hunter is a high school student who is secretly a superhero named golden guard>. I gave spiderman traits and spidey-like characteristics to his hero identity, such as joking (to hide his insecurity and weaknesses), may come across as mischievous (a social menace) but is actually just trying his best to use his powers for justice, and a masked guy who must keep his real face and name unrevealed. As a teen he is classic peter parker cause he is nerdy (for birds), struggling for everyday life at school against the bullies.

The only difference might be that he's trying to get a boy -instead of getting a girl- cause he's in love with his classmate Edric lmao edric is basically his gwen stacy. And that he had to be trans bc I'm ftm, so extra trans struggles(like wearing a binder to a fight and stuff). Also he uses a magical staff as a source of power so all his superpowers come from that, instead of spider webs or a spider bite.

I didn't specifically think of a concrete or consistent storyline or setting (when it comes to making AU's I tend to be weirdly unspecific); I just drew a bunch of doodles of whatever scenes that came into mind. All the posts were created like that. The margin ones where gg is shooting webs from his wrists are literally just brainrot doodles- I don't think that's canon. I don't think the golden guard as a hero should be bitten by a spider (he has a whole staff to use). He is the masked golden guard who uses magic powers to save people but normally is an insecure teen named Hunter(not ben); the classic story we all know.. It's as simple as that. (Since it's vague and unspecific I think it makes easier for others to hop on and enjoy with their own views!)

There are tons of doodles in old textbooks and on printouts and papers from back then.. but for now, here are some drawings that I found.

I remember the start being a random thought where I made a connection between these two because I thought their vibes were very similar.

And yes! You're absolutely welcome. I would always love to see any kind of fan art for this idea. I always think of a green t shirt with white long sleeves beneath it with a pair of beige pants when I think of spidey Hunter, but I did draw an orange hoodie once, and I don't mind if people made him wear what they would like for him to wear. Even I couldn't decide if he had round or pointy ears, but I believe he is human in this au, so even if they were pointy it would be due to genetics. (One last Tmi: I like to think his arch enemy is emperor belos who is actually his own uncle, just like how spidey's enemies are sometimes among his own neighbors.)

And last, thank you so much for giving love and attention to a silly little AU I made. 💛💛 It's so precious to receive asks like this.

[rancid-zinnia-onthepatio]

cough DOCTOR CURTIS CONNORS MENTION‼️

this man has the most development in my AU so far bc Liz is the first villain I’ll clarify rn the AU main story takes place when Peter’s college aged bc I’m sick of HS sorry

Curt is a very prominent figure in Peter’s life. Martha Connors is May’s closest friend, so the Connors would visit a lot in Peter’s childhood. Eventually, while working at OsCorp, Curt gets very into cross-species research.

(How he lost his arm? I don’t know yet RIP 💔 tssm AND tasm never really mention how their respective Curt variants lost their arms so maybe it won’t be brought up here either)

This leads him into lizards and their regenerative properties. He leaves OsCorp to join his old friend at Octavius Industries. I don’t want to make him a grouchy ex-employee and spiteful towards Osborn y’know? So, he just leaves out of his own will. Curt doesn’t like some things about Norman, but he wants to be the bigger man, so they’re on decent terms.

Through some problems that I’m still working on—he takes the lizard serum to document the process. I’m addicted to slow burns so the transformation is not instant. It takes place veryyy slowly over a month. Connors takes note of everything. (There is an antidote in his house as a safe measure) First, he randomly develops nictitating membranes. (Third eyelids) Then, there’s a scale or two on his right shoulder. But he can hold out a little longer right? These symptoms need to be written down so he can fix them!

Curt waits too long and the Lizard emerges when he's alone one night.

fun facts i have again :)

Billy Connors is a teenager in my AU and serves as a younger brother of sorts to Peter.

I have three lizard species in mind for the lizard's design but I'll go into detail with that when I actually design the Liz

Curt and Otto met in college and used to have karaoke nights together.

The lizard thing sticks with him for a while (no he does not eat his son I'm not going that far) because for a couple years Spidey seemed undefeatable. The Lizard was the first thing to severely hurt the spider—so Connors doesn't want this newfound power in the wrong hands.

He's one of Peter's professors atm but I still dunno what Peter's studying so this could change

I debated whether Billy will be part of the AU or not for a while but he's in it now.

The Lizard is not revealed to be Connors to keep himself safe. I still have a rough idea on how exactly they do this--but only a few know that it was actually him.

He claims that he discarded the lizard research after the Liz incident. But he didn't. 👀

[leclerced]

a lot of people say that oscar would nickname his girlfriend “roo” but like, that’s so generic. if she was the epitome of sunshine and all golden retriever, he’d so nickname her “quokka” which are those small furry aussie animals that smile in every photo. it’s kinda ugly but also really affectionate and means something unlike roo

any good, real nickname fits the person. i was never supposed to have a nickname actually. i was supposed to be caitlin. but my sibling (nonbinary) didn’t want a baby sister so my mom told them they could call me caity so they would feel special about having their own nickname and like me. then three year old them went around introducing me as caity and my dad started calling my caity bug n then everyone picked up on those two nicknames for me.

oscar would come up with something rhymy with her name, something funny that happened, or related to something she loved, or even hated to be ironic bc hes funny. like maybe their first date, he picks her up from her apartment and she begs him to come inside and kill a spider for her so he calls her spidey. or she tries cooking dinner but he distracts her with kisses and it burns, she really talked up how it was her favorite meal and what she could cook better than anything else, so after it burns he calls her chef to tease her, like she asks for something and he says, yes, chef when he does whatever she wants.

i think roo would be cute if she jumped into his arms all the time or on his back, he could joke that she’s his lil kangaroo baby who he carries around all the time. his instagram feed is full of her hanging off his shoulders and mclaren has sm reels posted of her jumping on his back with no warning.

quokka is so cute i think n they would both love it bc its cute and them thinking so is all that matters. maybe they see them at the zoo or on a documentary and he jokes, “you kinda look like one of them when you smile! my own little quokka.” and she pretends to be offended and swat his hands away when he pulls her closer, and demand an apology from him. he apologizes with kisses, but then says, “i love you, my quokka.” when he pulls away and she knows he’s never gonna stop calling her it.

i think i get it from my dad but he used to mess w all our names growing up and make rhymes w them like lando for example could be lanny bobanny. i think its fun and like every now and again u slip it in and catch them off guard and u both laugh ab it. just stupid nicknames you don’t use often but when you’re feelin silly

[thebestofoneshots]

I’m currently watching all of the Spider-Man films on Netflix (which is confusing because there’s like 3 films that aren’t on Netflix, so the story doesn’t make sense to me) and my Media Studies teacher told me to illegally watch them.

D’you know what order to start marvel in? My friend told me to not watch them in the specific order (she never gave me the actual order, and google won’t tell me)

-🫎

Oh, you have come to the right place!

Fun fact: I was a Spider-Man super fan when I was little. Literally, my three year old birthday party was a Spider-Man themed because I was absolutely obsessed with Tobey or I guess Peter Parker (There are even baby pictures of me with a spidey suit).

So first of all something you have to understand is that the Spider-Man movies are kind of like Batman. They have been rebooted several times and they have changed Spider-Man two times so far. That means we have three different Spider-Men: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland (there are other vintage ones but they aren't that popular).

My personal favourite is Tobey, but I am biased, because he was the first one I ever met and the one that made me love spider-man. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t absolutely love Andrew, because you know Remus <3

Now, onto the order!

I’d recommend approaching it on a release date order, although you can watch any of the different spider-men in any order as long as you follow the movie order for them.

So, let’s go through the different spider-men.

First of all, we’ve got Tobey: his movies are known as The Raimi trilogy and were what kickstarted the whole Superhero movie craze of the following decade (he’s a pioneer, my boy).

Names are super easy, you just need to find “Spider-Man + (Movie number)” and that’s it. There are three of them and number two is one of the most beloved Spider movies of all time (Tobey had some of the best Spider-man villains ever).

Then we have Andrew’s movies:

This are “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (My little brother’s favourites).

Andrew was a great Spidey, and although his villains aren’t my favourites, he’s my second fav.

None of the previous movies are part of the MCU (Kind off)

Now onto the MCU, or Tom Holland’s trilogy. Tom is part of the MCU since he was created and the first time he appears on screen is in Captain America: Civil War (The third CA movie).

Although he is on this movie for like 15 minutes in total, it is pretty much the backbone of his story, so I'd definitely recommend giving it a watch. Besides my man Bucky Barnes is a big character on this one so <3

After that, you have his solo movies:

These are: Home Coming, Far From Home and No Way Home.

No Way Home will bring an interesting surprise since you've already marathoned all the other films.

So that's it, you can watch either the Raimi Trilogy or Andrew's movies first, just make sure you leave Tom's for the end (if you want to be as excited as me screaming like a crazy person in the theatre).

Now I'm not sure if your teacher also wanted you to watch these two, but Spider-man Across the Spiderverse and Into the Spiderverse are also spidey films, even though they are mainly focused on Miles Morales and not on Peter Parker.

Now, Miles is a different Spider-Man from a different universe, but that's a lot to do with a bit more technical multiverse things that you'll learn as you watch the other Spider-Man movies.

The animation on these ones is absolutely insane, and I love them, but I would wait until I've watched at least the Raimi Trilogy and the Amazing Spiderman movies to dive in. If you watch it after Tom Holland's movies though, you'll have a much better understanding of the Spiderverse by the time you enter this world.

Sidenote: Tell your Media Studies teacher that your internet friend thinks they're super cool for making you watch all the Spider-man films.

[squids-comics]

So I just finished Loki, and I think I know where the MCU is going. This is going to sound like a wild conspiracy theory, but if it happens, Avengers 5 and 6 will make Endgame look tiny in comparison.

Spoilers ahead for any and all Kang related developments, as well as some Spider-Man stuff.

The groundwork so far:

Loki season one ended with the reveal of He Who Remains, a variant of Kang the Conqueror who stopped all the other Kang variants from existing by erasing the multiverse. He did this to prevent a war between the Kang variants that would cause all universes to explode or something. Ominous and spooky!

He dies and the multiverse happens, meaning the Kang war is going to happen, and it's going to happen soon.

Then Spider-Man no way home happened and Spidey and Dr Strange messed around in the multiverse. We'll come back to this.

Now I thought the show What If? was supposed to offer a teaser for the Kang War.

For those of you who skipped it, What If? takes us on a trip through the multiverse, showing us new takes on beloved characters. These included Peggy Carter but as a super soldier, Dr Strange but as an eldritch horror, and Thor but as a frat bro.

I figured the Kang War would follow our typical MCU cast that we all know and love and then these guys swoop in and help stop the bad guys in a big climactic moment, like the "on your left" in Endgame. I don't think that's the case anymore. And it's all thanks to one small line of dialogue at the very end of Loki season 2.

At the very end of Loki season 2, the TVA is restructured to be on the lookout for variants of Kang. One of the workers said a variant was sighted near the 616 branch. That is the single line that made everything click.

For those unaware (like I was when I first heard the line, I did a bit of research before writing all this out!), the MCU used to be branch 199999 of the multiverse, but has recently been renamed to branch 616. 616 is also the branch of the main comic universe, which essentially separates the two multiverses indefinitely. But that is actually a genius move, one that lets the films build their own multiverse without needing to worry about prior lore from the comics. And What If? is only a small sampling of what that multiverse has to offer.

No Way Home! I told you we'd come back to it. This one film has been the biggest project to flesh out the MCU multiverse. We all thought it was fan service, but we couldn't see the big picture yet.

The climax of the film involves the Spider-Man from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films and the Spider-Man from the Amazing Spider-Man films coming into the MCU 616 universe to help MCU Spidey fight his villains. This explicitly connects these three franchises into the same multiverse! But it doesn't stop there! The end credits scene (as well as Morbius' end credits scene) connected it to Sony's Venom-verse! That's four franchises that the Kang War can pull from, but it's going to be even bigger!!

There's one small throwaway line in Across the Spider-Verse that connects the Spider-Verse films to the MCU. Miguel O'Hara complains about the various things going wrong across the Spider-Verse, including "Dr Strange and that nerdy kid from Earth 199999". Earth 199999 is the old name for the MCU. Miguel is upset over the events of No Way Home.

We could see some (or all) of these Spideys could show up in the Kang War. Tell me that wouldn't be way cooler than anything Endgame did!

I don't think it will stop there either! I remember one project really stood out to me when they were announcing their phase five and six plans for the MCU.

The first X-Men project in the MCU, and it's a continuation of a thirty year old cartoon. Plus, they greenlit it for a second season before the first was even released. X-Men are the fourth best selling single issue comic series of all time (behind Spider-Man, Batman, and Superman), making them a huge IP. Making their first project in the MCU something as niche as this feels like a slight misstep. Unless, this project is aiming to tie the original cartoon into the multiverse, letting these versions of the X-Men fight in the Kang War. I guess we'll find out when the show debuts in a few months.

There's also one more thing that they could possibly tie in, that I don't think they will.

I don't think they'll actually do it, but it would be really really funny if they did.

(Also Insomniac's Spider-Man games complicate this whole thing a lot, but I've already wrote way too much so I'll cover that in a future post if this one does well)

[archoniluthradanar]

Demetri and the Woman With the Gift of Time

A request from @kpopgirlbtssvt:

You are a pretty young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. You had decided that being twenty-two years without one major vacation was unacceptable. So you took your tax refund and booked a trip to Italy. None of your friends could come with you, so you thought, what the heck, I'll go alone. You book your flight and hotel in Tuscany, in the town of Volterra. It was based in the region where you hoped to visit several wineries, and maybe stop in Pisa.

Once you had arrived in the country, you rented a car and drove to the ancient town you had read about. It had quite the history, which intrigued you. While out walking in the square, you were approached by a very beautiful woman dressed in a lovely dress. Oddly, she wore long gloves that seemed out of place in the daylight. Even more interesting were the violet eyes she had. Her melodic voice drew you in when she spoke.

"Buongiorno. I'm Heidi, and I'm in charge of gathering people for a tour of the Palazzo dei Priori. I had a couple of cancellations. Would you be interested in joining my group? Are you with anyone else?" she asks, looking around you.

You tell her that you are traveling alone and would love to join her tour. You wait for her to add your name to the list on her clipboard. She hands you a ticket with a stamped time, and a brochure that has the address of the location for everyone to meet up. You thank her, and decide to go eat some lunch before heading for the palace.

You choose an outdoor café, and order some wine, salad and pasta. You enjoy people-watching, but notice the time for your tour is near. Finishing your meal, you head on over to see a group of people obviously from various countries. You smile, talking to some Americans who had been to Italy before and were happy to tell you all about it.

Heidi stands at the front of the crowd, giving out orders, then proceeds to lead everyone inside.

You hang at the back of the group, never one to be up front anywhere. Heidi has everyone follow her down a old stone corridor lined with pillars and fire-lit standing sconces. It all looks very medieval to you, but you notice that she doesn't explain anything that you are passing by. She just seems to be leading the group somewhere, but where.

The tour group walks down a set of steps, before arriving at a pair of heavy-looking carved wooden doors. You see Heidi knock on one of the doors and they are opened by two young men dressed in black, both wearing dark coats. You look around the round room built of stone. On the far side of the room, you notice three throne-like chairs, where three men are sitting unmoving, but watching the group enter with visible anticipation.

You turn to notice the two men who opened the doors are now closing them. Your spidey-sense goes off, telling you something is not right. All of a sudden, other people dressed in black begin to grab the tourists, and pulling them close, you see them biting them. It actually looks as if they are drinking the tourists' blood. Men, women and children are being viciously attacked. You see blood everywhere on the floor.

You start to move slowly backwards toward the doors, hoping not to be seen, when you see one of the men heading for you. He is the shorter of the two who stood guard at the doors. You think him handsome, but his eyes are dark, almost black, and you're scared. You turn around and run for the wooden doors, your heart beating so fast, you can barely breathe. You feel a hand on your shoulder and you scream, but the hand does not grab you. In fact, when you look behind you, the man is still and unmoving, his arm still reaching out. You inhale and exhale to calm yourself. The room is completely quiet now. No screams, no sounds at all.

You check out the man who had come after you. You reach out to touch his shoulder. He doesn't react. You step closer, peering into his face, your noses practically touching. What the hell has happened? You walk around the room, observing the still life-size diorama. Those dressed in black are in the positions of attacking the tourists, who are showing fear, looking as if they are screaming, which they were only a few minutes ago. You're amazed to see everyone frozen in place.

Now your mind is telling you to flee, so you go back the way you came, running until you're outside in the piazza again. You head back to the hotel to hide out until you feel no one will be coming after, and to figure out what had just happened.

Back at the castle, time has resumed, and the feeding is done. Aro feels as if something is not right. He orders the clean up to begin, and asks Marcus if he senses anything. Demetri goes over to the master to tell him that he saw a woman he was about to attack, but when he reached out to her, she seemingly vanished right in front of him.

Marcus tells Aro time was somehow affected. Aro's brain starts whirring, ideas filling his mind. If this woman was gifted, he wanted her. "Demetri, did you sense enough of her to track her?" When the guard nods, Aro tells him to go out and find her. "Take Felix with you. Find her and bring her back."

At your hotel, you shower and dress in your PJs, then open your small fridge to pull out a few snacks you had bought earlier. Going out was not something you wanted to do, in case anyone from the castle saw you.

You eat while watching TV, not understanding anything being said, but at least you begin to relax. You have finished eating and are about to doze off, when you hear someone at the door. Perhaps the man who worked the front desk was checking on her. It was a small, family-run hotel, and he was very friendly to her when she got back. Her broken nerves were apparent no matter how hard she tried to hide them.

She jumped off the bed and opened the door, ready to give Signor Facinni her thanks for his concern. Instead, she saw the man who had attacked her at the palace, his taller companion next to him. She did what anyone would do and fainted.

Demetri gathered the woman in his arms, and both he and Felix flashed downstairs and past the arrival desk. They headed for the castle, unseen by any humans they passed. Once home, they headed for the smaller throne room where the masters were studying. On seeing Felix and Demetri entering with the woman in his arms, Aro directed him to take her to one of the guest rooms and he would join them soon.

Once in the room, he lay her on the bed, and looked down at her. He brushed her hair off her face, finding her beautiful.

You opened your eyes to find yourself staring up at the man. Your eyes scanned the room to see it was not your hotel room. You start to sit up to scream, but the man holds you down by your shoulders.

"Shhhh, please don't scream. I'll explain everything. My name is Demetri, and you are in our castle. It's important you understand that you are not our prisoner. Far from it. Master Aro wants to speak to you about your gift. Somehow, you were able to stop time during our feeding."

You look up at the man, frozen in fear, but he said you were not their prisoner, if you can believe them. Still, they kidnapped you by force.

Demetri looks into your blue eyes and knows instantly you are his mate. You're human, but he will take care of that once you understand and agree to the change. He smiles down at you before sitting on the bed next to you. He takes your hand and kisses it.

You watch the handsome man hovering over you, Demetri, he said. Your heart feels strange, as if something were tugging at it. It was strong but not painful. His eyes pull you in, crimson in colour. You reach up one hand to touch his face, and find his skin cold. "What are you?" you ask.

He says simply, as if you would understand instantly. "I'm a vampire, but I won't hurt you. I cannot hurt someone who is to be my mate, someone destined to spend eternity with me."

You look at him. "Me?" Your heart skips a beat when you see him nod.

Just then, the three masters come into the room, their expressions ones of annoyance. The one with shoulder-length black hair speaks first. "You nearly interrupted our feeding, but I am willing to look past that if you tell me about this gift you have," he says softly.

You sit up on the bed, Demetri now standing by the door. You tell them you don't know anything about a gift. You only noticed how everything had stopped when you screamed, so you ran.

The blonde man stepped up, his face a scowl. "You didn't purposely attack us then?"

"Of course not!" you tell them. You see the taller of the three looking down at you, a small smile on his face. He seems to believe you.

The black-haired man tells you his name is Aro. He holds out his hand to you and waits. You look around at everyone and see Demetri nod his head, so you put your hand in Aro's. He sighs softly, then after a minute, let's it go.

The taller man speaks. "My child, you are for our Elite guard, Demetri. If you agree to stay with us, he will take you as his mate and make you a vampire. You may join the Elite guard if my brother feels you have a usable gift. If you were unaware of it, we can assist you to learn about it and use it for the benefit of the our coven. It seems fear triggers it, but you might learn to control it. Life will be good here, and you will discover your own strength."

The blonde who tells you his name is Caius explains that you have to accept being changed or you will be killed.

When you look at Demetri, you see his eyes pleading with you to listen well. Once the masters leave, with Aro telling him to stay with the woman, Demetri sits beside you on the bed, leaning against the headboard.

"If you agree to stay here as my mate, you will find it's not that bad. We will have our own room, you and I, and your clothing will be provided for. You will train so that you become proficient in the use of your power." He reaches out to touch your hair, then brings his fingers to your face, caressing your blushing skin. His thumb brushes over your lips, while he tells you, "You're beautiful." He asks you your name and you give it to him. His arm slips behind you, pulling you close. His other hand cups your chin. He kisses you, softly at first, but once he has tasted you, his kisses become more passionate.

A heat fills your belly. Breathless, you pull back but you give him a smile. Your eyes are sparkling and you kiss him again. You then lean against his chest, feeling comfortable and wanted. You tell him you will stay with him and here at the castle. You assume much will be expected of you, but he reassures you Aro will take care of you, as will he.

You wonder how it is you feel so close to this man already. It won't take long for you to fall in love with him. And the power you discovered you had excited you as well. Stopping time itself. But before you can think too hard about that, you feel Demetri touching your chin with a finger, guiding you to his lips. You wonder how long you have to decide to be changed. You ask Demetri to stay with you all night and smile when he agrees. You snuggle against his body, the coldness of his skin radiating through his clothing. You feel your face go hot when you imagine him without those clothes. You sigh and close your eyes, happy while thinking of nothing else but the vampire lying next to you.

[paullovescomics]

FCBD 2024, Part 5 of 5

Spider-man Ultimate Universe - This is not the same Ultimate Universe we saw years ago, but an entirely different one. Some powerful time-traveller has manipulated history to remove superheroes, and install a secret ruling elite of supervillains. Except he missed a bunch of superheroes, both in recent times and in the past, because here we have Spidey, Iron Man, Cap, and Doctor Doom. They're trying to find one of Cap's buddies from WWII. So that's another hero that this hero-erasing big bad failed to erase. This hero is held in a bunker that's filled with costumes and corpses of other heroes and villains. Where did these come from if they were prevented from arising? Clearly the blurb at the front of the comic left out a lot. When there are already so many alternate versions of superheroes running around, and status quos changing frequently, it's honestly hard to get excited about another alternate group of characters.

Blood Hunt - I like vampires, so we're off to a good start. The vampires have a plan that involves exploiting some Marvel lore and some characters who aren't seen too often. That's cool. The last page suggests it's not afraid of embracing a little camp, which suggests fun. Blood Hunt seems promising. The second half is about Jubilee dealing with the new status quo for mutants after the fall of Krakoa. I have to admit I can't be objective about this because I have seen the X-comics change their worlds and go to new interesting places only to come back to the same old thing over and over again. And here we have Jubilee watching the Xavier school get rebuilt for the 947,000th time. And mutants are again a persecuted minority who have to stay hidden. Of course they can make good stories out of this. I would prefer to have sense of progress or the X comics (and superheroes in general) that lasts more than a few years.

Marvel Voices - The first couple of stories here feel new. They are short vignettes that serve as introductions to Pavitr Prabhakar, the Spider-Man of Earth 50101, and Ghost Spider, aka Spider-Gwen. They're light, fun stories. The other three seem to be samples from upcoming issues. There's one about a character called Muzzle who I'm not familiar with. They're part of a gang of principled criminals, and get into a scrap with an unidentified version of Spider-Man. (I'm not up to date on Spidey comics.) Is this another alternate Earth? I can't tell. Then there's a few pages of Gambit fighting people. The sample is too short to convey anything meaningful about the story it's taken from. That's also true of the last sample, in which a literally nameless, mythological-looking guy is pounding on the shield around Wakanda, and Shuri is preparing to fight him. It's two pages. There are ads for other Marvel Voices series that look cool, but I hope there is more to them than what we see here.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Now for an entirely different kind of mutant. "Who Is…Nightwatcher?" Based on their general shape, I'm betting Nightwatcher is one of the turtles. But who knows. This one pulls a neat trick, where the narrative boxes don't match what we're seeing in the panels until a reveal at the end which puts them in a very different context. I get tired of characters narrating and commenting on their own stories through narrative boxes (just plain narration is often more efficient and more clear), but this put it to good use. Nicely done. This does make me curious about what has been going on over in IDW's version of the turtles' world. The second story is a fun one with the old school turtles and Master Splinter called "Splinter's Day Off".

Sorry if I was picky or generally a downer about the Marvel ones. It's still early as I write this, and maybe I am too uncaffinated or grumpy for some as yet undetermined cause. Feel free to take those reviews with a grain of salt, and as always, your mileage may vary.

[heavywithourbabies]

A four part storyline arc, or "Run" for a reboot of Spider-Man and a come to Jesus moment for your author

Part one: A look at young Spider-man in like the fifth year of him in his career as the web slinger. (Don't retell the Uncle Ben story. Good lord it's been done to death.) Following the ups and downs of being spidey while crushing hard on fellow scientist nerd, Gwen Stacy, catching up with old friend Harry Osborn, and tutoring a briliant teenage Miles Morales. Peter sells spider-man stuff to the daily bugle, and fights weird dudes in costumes more often than not. He isn't prepared at all to deal with his first real threat, when an old college proffessor, Otto Octavius, suffers an accident at Osborn labs, (yup, the four arms, ya guessed it) and goes on a rampage through New York. it's ya classic spidey story while laying the ground work for a large background cast (Eddie Brock is the journalist who gets assigned Peter's photos and they kinda work together. Norman Osborn is exposed to an chemical explosion at the same accident where Otto gets his arms, Peter awkwardly dating gwen with her police captain father, tons of early character work.)

Part Two: The 6th year of being Spidey. Peter Parker may not always have the best luck, but being Spider-Man is still as fun as ever. And life is pretty great now that he has an apartment with Gwen. Sure, there's still costumed weirdos popping up like an idiot calling himself The Shocker but our beloved wall crawler is confident and knows his ropes. He may be facing an uphill battle trying to mentor Miles Morales who has become the Spider-Man of Brooklyn and his day job at the Conners labs may be over since Doc turned himself into a eight foot tall gecko. But this is the life, the yin and yang of being the original spider-man. ......but something is very wrong with his friend Harry. His father, the founder and CEO of Osborn Pharm has just woken up from the coma he has been in. He seems paranoid. Delusional. seeing enemies everyhwere and hearing voices....yes, something is very wrong with the very big public figure of Norman Osborn.........(Long story short, it's Spider-Man vs. Green Goblin. This will also cover the death of Gwen Stacey because of direct actions caused by Norman. The finale battle is epic and Green Goblin beats Peter within an inch of his life. Its a bloody brawl throughout Osborn Labs and includes a set piece where Goblin throws Peter against a meator being studied and it's cracked open. A strange black substance gets on peter's costume. The battle seems lost at one point but green Goblins pride is his downfall as he is killed by his own glider. Reporter journalist Eddie Brock is witness to the finale moments of Osborns life and has taken pictures of the whole thing including unmasked photos of Spidey. Eddie can't believe Peter is Spider-Man but takes it in stride. Until Peter does something very unlike him and destroys the photos. Peter believes he is worried about what will happen to harry if the photos are exposed but the strange black goo on his costume seems to pulse. as he is explaining himself)

I realize halfway through doing this that A. No one is going to give a shit. B. This poor fast written stuff will sound stupid the way i am just barreling through it all. and finally C. If anyone DOES read this and actually likes these ideas, who knows what they will do with it? I know it's crazy but I would be pretty pissed if this ended up happening in the books and it's been written poorly by someone else. I know. My ego is huge........

If anyone ever wants to know what happens in parts three and four, let me know. I really would love to share. I will say this much, Part 3 is Kraven, the black suit, and Venom. Part four is the Sinister Six and Carnage.

Yes, i am this big of a nerd

[measuringbliss]

Spider-Man Read-Through 022: The Master Plan of the Molten Man... and Dracula is also there (ASM 132-133, GSSM 1)

MASTERPOST

In this duo, we see an old friend... or two. And then, we meet a vampire. OoOoOh~!

I really enjoy the Molten Man's new design! Gorgeous cover.

It may be January in the Marvel-verse, but we're in May 74, publication-wise!

Liz is back! Hasn't been seen since issue 30, which explains why I keep mistaking Betty and her.

I don't know why, but I remembered this specific (and very ugly) maid. Poor lady.

Anyway, Raxton is hot, there I said it, we can get on.

When I first saw those panels, I thought it was exactly like how Romita would draw Liz... then I checked the credits again... and it's him! His soapy style is gorgeous as ever. Peter says she never got on with MJ, but given that MJ appeared for the first real time in #42... I don't know what he's on. The art of the retcon!

Ned, who's investigating the maid's intel on Raxton, almost dies as Raxton (actually the Molten Man) makes his room explode. I like that Ned (and the rest of the cast) are more involved! I miss them.

The Molten Man has apparently not been seen since #35, which checks out. It's the occasion for the artists to put gold, which is a shade we don't see so much.

Look, is this a safe space? Can I say what's on my mind?

The feet are really nice. I'm not particularly into feet (I know, TMI) but I'm really impressed by how it looks good. And the rest of Raxton's body is obviously quite well-done too. I'm not saying that Spider-Man comics made me gay, but they sure aren't beating the allegations.

Ned is very badly aged, but I like the damsel in distress look.

Raxton's radiation has a bad influence on Peter's metabolism, and he might very well die by the next issue...

Oh, who are we kidding?

In the readers' letters, it seems like Gwen's death has now mostly been forgiven, and someone is praising MJ--and she deserves it!

Even men want to see more of Peter! I'm afraid the situation isn't exactly adapted, however.

As a matter of fact, Spidey has already planned to party in a sauna with another man. Better luck next time!

(I love those smoke effects.)

Liz reveals that Raxton is her brother, which I completely forgot about.

We rarely see that kind of comedy, hahaha.

So. Um. It's a classic story of Spidey kind of being a jerk. Um. So Liz's brother is dead. For now. Maybe. Oof.

In the comments, there's also people talking about Russia's attack on Ukraine. Gerry Conway's run is really provocative, huh! I'm kind of loving it. His shaking of the status quo, not the attack.

I wonder if we'll get to see Liz's reaction :(

I'll do Giant-Size 1 later, it's currently more than 3 am. Hey, do you know what we'll get next time? A big batch... and Harry's big moment as, you know, the, the...!

Oh, you'll just have to wait!

______________________________________________________________

And here's the late addendum of Giant-Size Spider-Man #1!

I'm into that, actually!

So May's dying again (isn't she always?) and Peter needs to get her a vaccine. Ross Andru thus entertains us with a brilliant perspective shot.

Their homoeroticism never fails. Reading the summary of Marvel Team-Up 23 actually was a treat, because I finally got the answer to a years-old question of mine: did Iceman really rob a bank in the first few pages of this issue?

No, he didn't, folks!

Yes, you're getting a ton of screenshots for this part, since I know there's no more issue in this batch after this one.

Anyway, Dracula... Could you please breed me?

To me, Peter and Dracula crossing paths was like, an interplanetary event. It gave me chills. In fact, it still does and I think I should write Peter/Dracula smut now so thank you to the whole team, you've made a mess out of my brain, ARE YOU HAPPY?!? (It is 3 am.)

At least three factions are out there to find Maxfield, either to kill him (Dracula), use him for bartering (the Whisperer and Simian), and naturally Peter just wants to heal his aunt.

I remember that exact cosplay!!!! Funny what the brain remembers and doesn't. Sir, if you thirst so much, maybe I could come to your aide. You just need to ask. Okay, that's actually optional.

The Whisperer's men have a run in with Dracula and think he's Maxfield, which totally offends Dracula. As revenge, he decides to homosexualize his assailants.

Muahahaha.

The writing team then attempts to gaslight me into thinking Dracula isn't hot as fuck.

They're not doing a good job, I can tell you.

A woman is attacked by Dracula, Peter hears her, alerts the captain, who makes Dr. Maxfield come... and Simian follows them.

The fake Hawkgirl attacks one of them and is knocked unconscious. They escape with the man, Peter escapes too...

I'm all giddy!!!!!! Don't know why, but I love that "oh it's not the end yet... or rather, at all! I'm loving this romp. It's a complete joy.

In a great feat of misdirection, Simian and his men find Spider-Man... but actually, he's just a rando in a costume! That's funny and foreshadowed (given that everyone's in a costume anyway). And if I remember, this isn't the only misdirection...

The guy on the right is a fun one.

Meanwhile, Dracula is just as uncomfortable watching Babylon's first 10 minutes as I was. (It's a great movie, go watch it.)

Great mise-en-scène! The Whisperer has trapped the guy, but a bat follows... and hits Simian with its gay ray. Hurray!

Gosh, Dracula is such a girlboss. "I have been harassed--attacked--INSULTED..." Iconic.

Dracula eventually escapes, convinced that he just threw Maxfield overboard... but Spidey caught fake Robin Hood!

And thus, the biggest twist arises!

What a girlboss too.

And that's how it ends. A stellar issue! Loved it.