#Lois lane isn’t the nicest in these

[steamyearlgray]

Finally got most of the ‘Gutter Trash’ fic up and started posting the spin off Superman fic. Hoping to post two chapters of the Superman fic every day till I run out of content.

Here’s a little WIP that I started a while ago, it’s Bruce and Asher. I’m new to digital art so this is one of my first big attempts.

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

If Clark Kent isn’t the nicest guy on the planet who sees someone sad and immediately gives them a hug, and Lois Lane is not the most terrifying woman alive and does not curse out anyone who badmouthes him, they are not my Clark Kent and Lois Lane

[anika-ann]

Of Muffins, Coffee and Other Miracles - Pt.2

Of Coffee, Brownies and-- Frack

Pairing: Matt Murdock x reader        Word count: 2210

Type: Two-shot, reader insert

Warnings: swearing, tons of fluff and cheeky/cute Daredevil/Matt

Summary: You’re a secretary at Landman and Zack, having an office on the same floor as the interns. You notice one of them (which you might and might not have a crush on) seems down lately, so you decide to cheer him up the only way you can come up with. You bake muffins; right after your life is saved by a cheeky vigilante.  

Part 1

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“Wild night out?” a male voice made you snap from your dozing and you straightened in your chair with a startle.

Oh shit. Oh fuck, you were so fired.

You look up to the man who addressed you, relieved it was only Foggy – one of the interns. He wouldn’t report you, right?

“Uhm… not sure I would call it wild, but… strange for sure.” Not every night you get to be kissed by a vigilante, even if only on your temple.

“It wasn’t drugs, right? Because drugs are bad,” he whispered, looking around for anyone who could hear. You smiled at him tiredly.

“I know. Not… that kind of strange. What can I do for you… Foggy, right?”

“Yes!” he confirmed cheerfully, until his smile fell. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we were introduced. You’re…” he eyed the name on your desk, repeating it dutifully.

“That’s me,” you confirmed with a nod. “What can I do for you?”

“Oh! Right. My friend, Matt, he’s interning with me here, I’m sure you saw him around. He’s… well, blind.” Oh, I did see him around. “Usually, he gets the copies of the files in braille, but today… whoever is the good soul doing it for him forgot or something and… I have no idea where to find a braille printer here and you seem to know your way around…? And you also look like you’re not gonna fire me for asking.”

You found yourself smiling in the presence of the cheerful man. “Only if you promise not to tell anyone that I was basically sleeping.”

“Deal.”

“Thanks. You have the file? I can print it. Honestly, anyone who knows where to find that printer or how to use it wouldn’t have the authority to fire you. Just send it to me and I’ll drop it in your… your…” you stuttered, unsure how to finish that sentence.

“You can say it. It’s a closet.”

“It is, isn’t it? But which one?” you played dumb, because… reasons. You shouldn’t have known where they were, you didn’t need it. Why would you? Yeah, I’m sooo subtle…

“Oh, the one down the hall.”

“Okay. Just e-mail me the file number and I’ll deliver.”

“Really? You’re amazing.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” you laughed nervously. Amazing. You didn’t think – scratch that, you were sure your boss never called you that, and you were saving his life on daily basis; he wouldn’t even sign a paper unless you handed him the pen.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong…” Foggy pronounced, pointing at you. Then he seemed to realize something. “You said not many people know where to find that printer?”

You shrugged. “Not really, I guess. It’s on the fourth floor, but it’s next to impossible to go there unnoticed by people guarding printers and they are bitch to talk to, so if you ever need anything just tell me, I’ll do it for you. I’m sure your life is enough depressing in that… cubicle.”

“Hm… okay, thanks a lot!” He spun on his heels, walking out.

Weird.

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Dropping off the files in the right closet, you were confronted with…  your crush. You might have not realized it before, but… yeah. You were confronted by Matt Murdock himself and you were suddenly very sure you had a crush on this man. Crap.

The thing was… he was his typical self, which meant… really charming. He stood up from his desk when thanking you, learning your name, shaking your hand. He gave you one of the nicest smile you had ever seen, his grip firm, but gentle; you just stuttered when saying ‘nice to meet you’, stumbling out as quickly as possible, shaking your head over your own inability to communicate like a normal person.

One thing you noticed about Matt that day though was that he had a rather angrily looking gash next to his right eyebrow – whether he ran into a door or something else happened, you didn’t know. But you were glad you had baked the previous night, secretly leaving your backup lunch to ease the blind’s man pain.

You were stuck hungry because of that; you couldn’t make yourself regret it.

You were a hopeless case.

And a liar on top of that, because you had said it wasn’t ‘like that’ just few nights before. Perfect.

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It was raining that night, so you didn’t leave a snack for the vigilante who apparently kissed crime victim’s temples. Maybe the next night.

Or never, because he would avoid you forever, realizing that you were as far from his Lois Lane as you could be. Which was probably a good thing.

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You looked up from the screen at the sound of someone knocking. It was unusual – the door was always open, so people normally just waltzed in.

Matt freaking Murdock was standing in that open door, holding his walking cane and a cup holder in one hand, his other hand on the glassy door. You blinked in surprise at the sight. And god, he was such a sight for your sore eyes…

“Anyone in?” he asked carefully and you fought the urge to face-palm. He couldn’t see you watching him – which might be a good thing, considering you were shamelessly staring.

“Yes! Hi, Matt. What can I do for you? Someone forgot to print case files again?” you wondered when you gathered yourself.

He smiled, turning your direction, walking towards your desk.

“Uhm, no. No, I came to… say thank you.”

Did you hit your head in the shower this morning?

“Uhm. You’re welcome, it really wasn’t a big deal.“ You mentally praised yourself for so many coherent sentences. His smile only grew wider.

“Here. Uhm, I was told you were a bit tired yesterday, so I figured you might appreciate a coffee. One’s black with sugar, which should have ‘B’ on the cup, and the other one is vanilla latté with ‘V’. I had no idea which you might like.” He held out the holder for you to choose.

You had definitely hit your head. What the hell? Or rather… what the heaven?

“I… you really didn’t have to do that, Matt. That’s… thank you, but… it was just a file. Anyone would do that.”

You found the V cup, taking it hesitantly as if it could explode in your hand.

“Well, for one, that’s not true, especially here, and… it’s not just for the file,” he offered with a cute smile.

It wasn’t the smile that sent your heart racing. Well, it was, but also the thing he was implying— did he somehow figure out you were his… secret muffin-maker? Well, shit.

“I’m not sure-“

“People by the printers on the fourth floor are next to impossible to sneak by – that’s your words, not mine. Next to impossible, but not completely. That suggests you know how to do it. I imagine the bosses wouldn’t be happy finding out you’re using the printer to write notes for miserable blind interns, so sneaking under radar it is.”

You pressed your lips together, squeezing your eyes shut, cursing mentally. And out loud. “Frack.”  

“So, you know. Thank you. The muffins were delicious. They did make my day much better,” Matt assured you and an unfairly warm feeling spread in your chest. Maybe it wasn’t such a disaster he found out.

“There’s no way I’m finding a way to prove you wrong, is there?” you sighed. “You should reconsider your career choices, you would make a great detective. Glad it worked. I know that muffins can’t fix all the problems of the world, but occasionally, they can save the mood.”

“Not wrong there. I... uhm… the coffee is the best thank you I’m capable of. I hope my debt is paid.”

Well. That made more sense. “You didn’t have to-“

“That came out wrong. I wanted to say thank you, to erase a potential debt, because I was…”

You tilted your head to side, waiting what brilliant end that sentence would have. For once you weren’t the one who apparently didn’t know what to say.

“I was wondering if you would want to go for a coffee sometime? Or a dinner, maybe? Not as a thank you.”

Throw the incapability to speak up back on me, why don’t you. You blinked in utter shock, your knees buckling a little. Come again? “Not… not as thank you. You’re… you’re sure of that?”

“Hundred percent positive.”

You were certain you heard wrong. Which was easily possible given how loud your pulse was in your ears.

“Oh. Uhm… yeah. Okay. Sure. Just… just to be clear, since it’s not a thank you-“

“It’s a date. If you want it to be,” he added quickly, his confidence slightly shaken.

“If I want it to be…” you muttered under your breath incredulously. “Is the sky blue?”

“You tell me, it’s been a while since I’ve seen it last time,” he replied, grinning. He was so not supposed to hear that. Dammit.

“Oh my—… yeah, last time I checked it was still blue.”

“I’ll take that as a yes, then.” He shoved his hand into his pocket, pulling out a phone, holding in out for you. “Would you enter your number in it, please? First name’s enough. I’ll call you.”

You finally set your cup down and took the phone from his hand, still not quite believing this was happening. Your fingers brushed his lightly when doing so, nearly sending you into a cardiac arrest. Jesus.

“Sure. You don’t have a distaste for black coffee right? Because I can totally switch the cups, I haven’t even sipped mine yet,” you mumbled as you were entering your number.

He laughed. “I like black coffee.”

“Noted. And number saved.”

You returned the phone to his extended hand. “Thanks. Dinner or coffee? I would offer a lunch, but the muffins appeared during lunch-breaks, which suggests you’re not leaving the office.”

“Detective, seriously. Dinner?” you asked, unsure.

“Dinner it is.”

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Dinner it was. And an amazing one. Matt picked the restaurant wisely – nice, but not too expensive, because neither of you were exactly rich (not that it mattered, because Matt was a gentleman who wouldn’t let the woman pay for the food, definitely not on the first date) and that way you could have a dessert without remorse; financial one anyway.

Matt saying that your muffins were better after eating a chocolate brownie was just the icing on the cake of how… sweet he was. He was even more wonderful than you had thought, but despite becoming a lawyer and working between the sharks, he was a down-to-earth person. Not playing any… leagues. And you had fun. His sense of humour was refreshing and he was apparently more than capable of smiling and laughing as cheerfully as his friend. He was a freaking sunshine and you found yourself drawn to the warmth and light like to a magnet.

He walked you home, looking almost disappointed that the night was ending, which was a sentiment you shared wholeheartedly.

“If I wasn’t so full, I would invite you upstairs. I have muffins,” you whispered as his hand travelled up your arm, wavering in the crook of your neck and he leaned closer to you.

The corners of his lips rose a little higher at your note and you were honestly regretting he was still wearing his dark red-tinged glasses. You would like to see his eyes to complete the picture.

“Well, I would say I’m sorry, but I’m actually glad. I… I really enjoyed tonight. I wouldn’t want to screw up.”

You could tell he hesitated, his thumb caressing your neck in silent question. You leaned in as well. ”I can’t really imagine you screwing it up, Matt, no matter what you would do. Unless you‘d wake me up now.”

“Is that a permission?” he breathed out an inch from your lips.

“It’s a plea.”

He met your lips softly, retreating too soon.

“Please, don’t wake me up,” you mumbled, not sure you wanted him to hear it.

“This is a goodnight kiss,” he reassured you lowly, kissing you again, caressing your lower lip and making your knees unfairly weak. “We’ll work our way up to a good morning one. If you’d like.”

You brought your hand to the back of his neck, keeping him close just in case he was getting any ideas and you returned the kiss, nibbling on his lips just a little. He let out a content sigh, his fingers tangling in your hair, his body shifting closer to yours.

“Probably sooner than later,” he mumbled against your mouth, making you smile and hum in agreement. You added ‘excellent kisser’ to the mental list you were making about him. Hot. Sweet. Gentle. Funny. Smart. Ray of sunshine. Gorgeous smile. Likes black coffee and my muffins. Never should stop kissing me.

He met your lips for the last time, withdrawing with a smile, his thumb running over your jaw.

“Goodnight,” you whispered, licking your lips to savour the taste of his own.

He pecked your temple lightly, wishing you the same.

‘Familiar,’ you added to your mental list and your heart, fluttering until the moment, started hammering in your chest wildly. Familiar voice, familiar smile, familiar gestures-

No, no, no, no, no. That was ridiculous. You were projecting again, you were-

“Clark?” you chocked out, perfectly aware of how stupid it was, expecting Matt to shoot you a puzzled look and ask you about your possible ex or something.

Except Matt did no such thing. Instead, he froze and said just one word that meant you were somehow, in some impossible way, right.

“Frack.”

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Matt Murdock Masterlist

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It’s silly and I’m grinning when writing it and posting it and I’m most definitely sure that this cliff-hanger is the end and it’s all up to you to wonder what happened next ;)

Thank you for reading :-*

[jcogginsawriter]

Hand to Hand: Mark Waid’s Flash

I have been a fan of comic book characters for a long time. I started with the cartoons, and as I got older, I began doing deep dives into wikis, reading fanfiction, and participating in that shallowest of internet past times, the vs debate. I dabbled in writing fanfic for myself, but I spent far more time thinking about writing fanfic instead. I would come up with all these ideas about what I would take from the various different versions of the characters, and don’t get me started on the idea of Crossovers.     The point is, I knew a lot of what happened in the comics, but I never read many comics. I didn’t know where my local comic shop was, and even if I did, I wouldn’t have had the money to spend on them. The comics that I did read were usually fan translations of manga. I did read a few comics, big name stories like Death of Superman or Crisis on Infinite Earths, but they were few and far between.

Recently, I’ve begun to change that. I now follow several comics as they come out, most notably the current X-line. This change sprang in part because I began reading a lot more comics criticism. In particular, I followed the blog of a certain Superman fan, and began to eagerly digest his various takes. I wanted to be able to ask him questions about new comics without looking like an idiot (This is how 90 percent of my interactions on comics twitter go, BTW) and that was a kick in the pants for me.

After getting into a steady habit, I decided to look into reading some of the classic runs I’d read so much about throughout life. To go from knowing them second hand, to knowing them first hand. After a bit of hemming and hawing, I’ve settled on Mark Waid’s legendary run of Flash Comics to start off with.

(Spoiler Warning for some 30 year old comics, by the way)

As of this writing, I have read up to the final issue of his story arc Dead Heat, wherein Wally does battle with the speed cultist Savitar. Before we get into things like plot and characters, I want to discuss the art, because no discussion of comic books is really complete without talking about the art. Unfortunately, the art in this run hasn’t done much for me, but that’s not really it’s fault. I read this comics in manner that they were not created to be read, digitally and zoomed in. These comics were drawn with physical issues in mind, and I don’t doubt that they’re good in that format. It also doesn’t help that I’ve read far more manga than I have American comics. American comics have never clicked with me the way manga does. Even now, I still find the layout of manga more legible than the layout of an American comic. That’s not a value judgment, it’s just my personal experience.

I do distinctly recall thinking that the art was better up to issue #79 (The conclusion to the Return of Barry Allen storyline), than it was after. I prefer the less exaggerated character designs, and lighter inks, though it could very well be a case of me having gotten used to the initial style and not liking the change. One thing that thing I can say about the art is that it helped me grasp how Wally’s costume differed from Barry’s. Before this, I was incapable of separating them in my mind, but seeing them side by side made it clear to me how different Wally’s Costume was colored and shaded.

Now, onto the writing of the run, we’ll start with the lead, Wally West. My previous touchstone for Wally was the Justice League series from the DCAU, which I watched a lot as a kid. The Wally in these comics comes off as more serious that his DCAU incarnation. Not too serious, he still cracks jokes, but he’s more on the ball. He takes his adventures as seriously as any hero would, rather than the more carefree attitude I recall his DCAU version having. This is not unsurprising, Wally here is the lead whereas there he was part of an ensemble cast, and here we get his internal monologue which gives us a much more thorough sense of his headspace. Not to mention, the DCAU version was voiced, so we know with no ambiguity what tone his dialogue’s in. In text, tone is more up to interpretation.

Perhaps the biggest thing that set Comic Wally apart from DCAU Wally is that the Wally in the comic was more consistently angry and frustrated. While his DCAU incarnation had hidden depths, I can’t recall a time when he got seriously angry. This Wally is frequently irritated, usually by things which are enitrely understandable. On occasion, his irritability causes him to be rougher with the bad guys than he could be, and that feels uncomfortable sometimes, though thus far he hasn’t gone too far.

Going into this, I knew that one of the issues that Wally had to overcome was his mental block about surpassing Barry, and to my surprise, it wasn’t as much of a through-line as I expected. I was expecting it to be a reoccurring issue that was solved by the Return of Barry Allen storyline, but in reality there are only one or two times something like it comes up, usually in the context of him not being able to do the vibrating through walls trick. In the Return of Barry Allen, it feels more like an issue introduced in that story than a long running plot line. Granted, it may only feel this way because I’m solely reading Mark Waid’s Flash. I didn’t read the issues prior to his take over, so that storyline could have been more apparent there for all I know.

Moving on, starting with Waid’s run had another knock on effect, that being that the character introductions aren’t introductions. I came into this expecting to see when Wally met Linda, when he met Jay Garrick, when Pied Piper redeemed himself, but all of that happened before Waid took over the book, so they’re already part of the cast from the start. Again, not a flaw of the work, it’s just a result of my personal experiences. Now, let’s take a look at some of these characters.

I’ve heard a lot about Linda and Wally’s romance, and so far it’s not bad. I wouldn’t rate it as one of the best of all time, but I haven’t gotten to most of the major moments yet, so that’s not a huge surprise. One thing that’s very apparent is the Lois Lane DNA in her character. Some of that is to be expected, which the love interest to your superhero is a reporter, but I see a lot of similarities in their personality as well. There’s a lot of the same fire in her. Fortunately, the fact that Wally’s identity is public lends a very different arc to their relationship than what you see with Lois and Clark, so Linda doesn’t come off as a Lois rip-off. Linda’s concerns that there’s no place for her in Wally’s wild superhero life is the kind of relationship hurdle that isn’t present in Lois and Clark’s Relationship.

Next, let’s take a look at the first Flash, Jay Garrick. Within this series, Jay is perfectly pleasant, and by no means unlikable, but he also comes across as...kind of superfluous? There are three elderly male speedsters in this comic, and of all of them Jay is by far the least defined and has the least role. Max Mercury is the Wally’s mentor in the ways of speed, the one with the most knowledge of the Speed Force. He’s basically what I expected Jay Garrick to be going into this. The third of the group is Johnny Quick, a speedster who is the father of another speedster, Jesse Quick. Jesse is also very skeptical of Max Mercury’s teachings, which veer from the scientific into the mystical.

Because Johnny takes the role of skeptic, Jay is left without a role in the narrative because being the nicest of Wally’s friend group. Veering over to Hollywood for a second, whenever a book gets adapted into a movie or TV Show, minor characters get lost in the transition. Either they get composited with other characters, or they get cut entirely. Game of Thrones is the most prominent example in recent memory. I bring this up because, if Waid’s Flash were to go through that process, it’s hard to argue that Jay wouldn’t get the ax. Despite being the most important of them in the context of the universe at large, Jay is the least important Speedster in this narrative. Of course, Jay’s importance in the context of the larger universe means that in this hypothetical adaptation, he probably be composited into either max or Johnny. More likely Max, since mentor is the logical position for the first Flash to take in the Third Flash’s narrative.

I mentioned Jess Quick there, so let’s talk about her. Thus far, her most prominent role in the narrative has been to call Wally out and be his critic, though she does have very good reasons to be angry. In the Terminal Velocity storyline, Wally believes he’ll die soon, and tells the Flash Family that Jesse will be his successor, but it turns out to be a lie in order to motivate Bart Allen to take things more seriously. Jesse has remained angry with Wally since then, though it hasn’t seriously impacted her hero work. That’s good, because her continued competence lends legitimacy to her anger within the narrative. She’s not being punished for being mad at Wally for mistreating her. Hopefully it stays that way going forward.

Now let’s take a look at the character Wally chose over Jesse, Bart Allen AKA Impulse. I’ll say up front that I’m not reading Bart’s solo series during this read through, as I didn’t want the hassle of going back and forth between books. As such, the only issues of it that I’ve looked at are the ones that tie into the Dead Heat arc. I feel it’s important for me to say this, because I’m basing my opinions of Bart primarily on his showings in Wally’s book, not his own. In Wally’s book, Bart’s character flaws are more on display.

Bart is a character deliberately designed to be obnoxious, and such characters are a hard tightrope to walk in fiction. Gotta be annyoing enough to get the point across, but not annoying enough to turn people off from the work. Bart in Wally’s book isn’t perfectly balanced, and tends toward the too much pile. Not to an egregious extent, but a little bit. I found myself echoing Wally’s frustration with Bart more than a few times. In Bart’s defense, Wally does share some of the blame here. He doesn’t do a very good job as a mentor, and handing those duties off to Max is probably for the best.

I find it interesting, that a character like Wally who is so defined by inheriting a legacy is a poor mentor, to both Bart and Jesse. He makes different mistakes with both of them, but he still fails both of them. I’m eager to see how that plays out in the future issues.

Now that we’ve discussed the supporting cast, let’s discuss some of the book’s villains. We’ll start with the one who is most infamous, Eobard Thawne. Thawne’s spends the majority of his time in this book thinking he’s Barry Allen, and if I’m being honest, he’s more effective under that guise that he is as Eobard. The scenes where what appears to be Barry Allen turns evil out of jealousy of his successor are powerful, more so than the more traditional villain Eobard displays after the reveal. Not that it would have been a good idea for it to actually be Barry, of course. Much as I prefer Wally to Barry, having Barry go full supervillain would have been very out of character. In any case, this run had a profound impact on Eobard’s character going forward, solidifying him as an agent of toxic fanboyism, making him a dark mirror of Wally West.

The next major villain of the run is the cult slash terrorist organization Kobra. That might bring thoughts of GI Joe to your mind, and you honestly aren’t far off. So far as this run goes, the biggest differences between DC’s Kobra and Hasbro’s is A) DC’s version prefer green over blue, and B) Hasbro’s version has more in the way of distinct characters. Kobra thus far is more of a plot device than  anything else. They’re generic terrorists with little to make them distictive. Their storyline, Terminal Velocity, is more notable for it’s introduction of the Speed Force, Wally preparing for his upcoming ‘death’, and Linda going on a revenge quest after said ‘death’. All things that Kobra is incidental to, any villainous organization would have sufficed.

The final, as of my current point in the run, major villain is Savitar. Savitar was formerly a soviet test pilot who gained a connection to a the speedforce, gave himself the name of Hindu god, and started a speed worshipping cult. It says a lot about my mind that my immediate thoughts upon reading Savitar’s origin were. “Huh, an AU where Hal Jordan became a Speedster the same way would be neat.”. Savitar is in some ways an improvement on the Kobra Cult from Terminal Velocity. This time the Cult has a more direct connection to the Flash and his mythos. Dead Heat is by no means a retread of Terminal Velocity, but if you wanted to mesh them into one story, it wouldn’t be hard. And it’d improve on both, in some ways.

One of the things I like to do in my fanfic ideas is connect the other speedsters to Thawne’s theme of Toxic Fandom, and it wouldn’t be hard to do that with Savitar. His entire motivation is to deprive those he considers unworthy of their speed, and that can easily by played as a metaphor for gatekeeping.

Over all, while the run is far from perfect, I must say I’m enjoying these comics a good deal, and if you’re like me and have read a lot about comics without actually reading them, I don’t think you’d regret jumping into them.

[dreadhaus-literature]

{January Collection} #27

Stained Glass on My Window

Inspiration ♥

Seeing the world through rose-tinted glass is sometimes the only way to make it through the day.

Some people think churches have the monopoly on stained glass, but that isn’t true. Intriguing rumors persist about others outside the religious institutions, who weave stained glass for healing purposes.

Being known as the world’s greatest reporter is not just a title for Lois Lane; it’s a fact, and something she proves time and time again. It allowed the highly celebrated wife and mother to hold her shoulders square and her head up, posture that follows her even into her home; after all, she’d earned it! Pushing the garage door closed with one hand, Lois was careful with the brown wrapped parcel underneath her other arm, mindful even of her purse brushing against it.

“Hello? I’m home!”

“Welcome home, sweetheart.” Seated at the kitchen island, Clark Kent looked up with a loving smile aimed at his wife, standing as she came in to give her a kiss. “Any luck?”

“I found it!” Lois drew back, holding up the parcel with a triumphant smile. “I found her and I swear, Clark, it was like she was expecting me.”

Clark’s smile deepened, giving Lois’s arm a rub. “You were right about this.”

“I’m right about everything, but it’s nice of you to acknowledge this particular time.” Lois draped her purse over the back of the bar stool with a wry smirk aimed at her husband.

“I...” Clark rubbed the back of his head with one large hand. “I’m pretty sure I always acknowledge it.”

“No you don’t.” Lois opened a nearby drawer, scooping up a pair of scissors before bumping the drawer closed. “And you know the craziest thing about all this? She didn’t even charge me.”

That gave Clark a start, and he moved around to stand behind Lois, curious about the work of art she was unwrapping. “Really? That normally implies something shady...”

“Right? But this was honestly the nicest woman I’ve ever met, and I have met your mother.” Lois teased, but there was a wealth of love in her voice for her mother-in-law.

This package was something special, and the care that Lois was handling it with was well-deserved; they’d been trying to locate this shop for weeks with no luck, even with Clark’s super abilities and Lois’s field experience they’d come up empty-handed every single time--but the tides had turned, today, as if some invisible force that was keeping them from finding what they were looking for was lifted. Lois couldn’t believe how easy the shop had been to find, today, especially after searching for it for so long. That couldn’t just be coincidence, but she had no other explanation for it--she wasn’t looking for one, either. All that mattered to her at the end of the day was that they got what they’d been searching for.

Clark whistled lowly as the parcel paper was carefully cut and then pushed aside, revealing an intricate, absolutely breath-taking piece of art. It was a stained glass window pane, cut to size so that it could hang over an existing window and use the natural lighting to filter through the intricately woven glass. With Clark’s abilities he could feel a certain energy pulsating from the glass, but rather than feeling threatened by it, he felt calmed, soothed, and when he reached out to touch the glass it was warm to the touch. The panes themselves were a mixture of sapphires and fiery pinks, all blending together to create a floral rose pattern at the dead center of the hanging glass.

“When I went into her shop, she asked me what Monica’s favorite fairy tale was, and I told her Beauty and the Beast.” Lois explained, her voice hushed as if she was afraid of disrupting the soothing aura the glass had settled over the kitchen. “I don’t...know if that’s exactly right, but I know that’s her favorite Disney movie? And Francesca seemed to agree it was the right choice, said she’d had a feeling and this was the piece she’d created to suit Monica’s needs.”

“Francesca?” Clark mused, turning the name over as if trying to see if he recognized it.

“Yes, Francesca Del Ponce. She said she was from France, but her accent sounded more mixed than that and when I’d asked she did mention she and her husband Gabriel had originally come from the Carpathian Mountains in Europe.” Lois looked up at her husband. “Can you believe that? I mean, it explains the artistry of this piece, it’s absolutely breath-taking. All the rumors about her work were true. This woman’s a true artist, I mean just look at this.”

Clark couldn’t deny it, and initially he’d been a touch skeptical about the renowned claims of others about a “healer” who could soothe and cure with glass. That just didn’t seem like a normal claim, but the more he and Lois had looked into these claims, the more they couldn’t find a single person dissatisfied with Francesca Del Ponce’s stained glass work. It was a fortunate thing, Clark thought, to be wrong. He’d wanted just as badly as his wife had, to find this miracle healer and request a piece for their little girl. Monica had been struggling lately, and waking up seemed to be the hardest time of the day for her; what had started as an internet search for ways to help battle depression in the morning turned into looking up different ways people dealt with depression, until one night while reading through a forum Lois had come across several people who said they’d gotten special stained glass charms or even full windows installed in their house from a healer named Francesca Del Ponce, and that it had drastically improved the start of each day. Lois and Clark were willing to do anything they could to help Monica get better; she was the heart of their little family and it broke their hearts, day in and day out, that she struggled so much. She didn’t deserve to. Anything they could do to help, they would.

That had begun the search to find the elusive Miss Del Ponce, and Lois had refused to give up once she started. If there was even a slight chance that this glass could help Monica, Lois was going to find this healer and she was going to request a special piece done--but when the shop had suddenly turned up on the same street as Lois and Clark’s skyscraper workplace, it had seemed almost like magic. Lois walked past the same store fronts every single day, how had she possibly missed this? She’d entered Francesca’s store almost in a trance, as if she was afraid to blink or step too heavily and shatter the illusion. As the door had shut behind her, the entire world dropped away; she couldn’t hear the busy traffic or the people passing by on the sidewalk. There wasn’t anyone else in the store, and behind the counter sat a stunning, elegant looking woman with long, dark hair and eyes that seemed too dark to be kind, but were motherly and affectionate as they met Lois’s over the glass top.

“Um, hello, my name is Lois and I’m interested in one of your pieces.”

Francesca had extended her hand, giving Lois’s a gentle shake that was almost more a show of holding hands, and Lois was surprised at how soft and warm her touch was--it was soothing, and she felt her nerves dissipating until they were gone. Once she felt at ease, Francesca let her hand go, and asked, “Tell me, Lois, what does your loved one need most?”

Lois couldn’t be sure, even now, why she felt this way but she was pretty convinced Francesca already knew who she was and why she was there. She’d allowed Lois to talk about Monica and though Lois hadn’t intended on divulging much about Monica’s struggles to a total stranger...Lois wanted so desperately for Francesca’s work to be able to help. In the end, she told Francesca that the thing Monica needed most was hope.

“I’d say love, everyone needs love and to feel taken care of but she’s got love and support in me, my husband, our son--what she needs is hope. A reason to get out of bed every morning. No matter what we do, I’m afraid we can’t give her that.” Lois had blinked back tears, clearing her throat and lifting her chin. “Can you really do this, Francesca? Do the things people say you can? My little girl, she needs help.”

Francesca’s smile put Lois at ease. “I can, and I have. If it’s hope she needs, it’s hope she’ll have.”

Lois had thought initially that Francesca would need time to prepare a piece specifically for Monica, but this next moment was what led Lois to believe Francesca...wasn’t exactly human, or was at least a psychic of some sort. She’d gone into the back and come out a few minutes later with that same breath-taking piece of art that was on she and Clark’s kitchen counter.

“All of my pieces are originals, intended only for the person I make them for. I promise, this piece is for Monica alone.” Francesca had run her long, elegant fingers over the glass and Lois had felt the responding vibrations. It was soothing, like a mother’s humming. “You told me her favorite fairy tale was Beauty and the Beast and so I chose a rose, to represent the hope that all flowers have, for sunshine and rain each day. It will remind her that even during the rainstorm, because of the rainstorm, flowers bloom, and that every day, the sun will rise. It will remind her that she is the rose at the center of your family’s garden, necessary and needed. It will give her hope to bloom each passing day, as no matter how the wind howls or the skies darken, flowers do what they must do. They bloom.”

Lois didn’t know how Francesca did what she did, she didn’t know how Francesca had this custom piece when she’d only just learned Monica’s favorites minutes before, but Lois hadn’t felt compelled to ask. Staring down at the handcrafted piece, all she knew was that she believed Francesca.

What neither Lois nor Clark had any way of knowing was that yes, Francesca did know who Monica was, had known for longer even than they’d begun searching her out for a piece of her healing art. Francesca and Gabriel had been drawn to Metropolis to present this piece to an ailing girl, wanting to ease her suffering because she deserved it. She deserved to be happy and the pair of lifemates were compelled to do all they could for her...as if she were another piece of their very souls...

In the end, Francesca would not accept payment from Lois, only asked that Lois take her business card and keep her updated regularly on Monica’s progress. It was something Lois didn’t mind doing, and was truthfully touched that someone else was watching out for Monica. Now that she was home, Lois was eager to hang the piece in the bedroom the three of them shared.

“Where is she?” Lois asked, moving to pick up the pane of colored glass. Clark, however, was faster.

“She’s in bed,” he answered, a little grimly. “Today wasn’t a good day.”

Lois’s smile was motherly and determined as she started toward the stairrs. “Well, it will be.”

The master bedroom door opening drew the attention of the occupants lying in bed; Monica lifted her gaze over the top of Jonathan Kent’s little head, the 10 year old turning without relinquishing his hold around his Mom. Their little family was a never-ending cycle of love and affection, with Monica at the very center, and both Lois and Clark couldn’t help their smile at the sight of their son in bed with Monica, trying his best to give her some of his sunshine.

“Mom! Dad! I got her to smile!” Jon beamed, causing Monica to laugh, and Clark and Lois joined in immediately.

“Way to go, champ.” Clark flashed Jon a thumbs up, careful to keep the gift hidden behind Lois.

“Monica, sweetheart, we have a surprise for you.”

Monica pushed herself to a sitting position, laughing lightly as Jon helped her sit up; she could never get used to his strength in such a string-bean body. As she came to rest against the headboard, Jon wrapped his arms back around her waist, resting his head on her chest; he got clingy when she wasn’t feeling well and it was something she appreciated. He may not understand what she was feeling but he never stopped trying to make her smile and if she really couldn’t, then he’d nod and say, “Then, I’ll hug you until you can, Momma!” And this little ray of sunshine did just that. He stayed by her side, loyally, because he loved her more than anything in the world.

“Y-You guys didn’t have to do anything,” Monica shook her head, settling her arms back around Jon as Lois and Clark came to stand by the bed.

As Lois sat on the edge of the bed, Monica’s eyes were drawn to the beautiful piece of hanging stained glass in Clark’s hands and she audibly gasped. It was beautiful. The moment she laid eyes on it, she felt not one, but two pairs of arms wrap around her, surrounding her in a warmth that made her heart stammer. In her head was a gentle chant, a soft murmuring of one male and one female voice, speaking as if to her very heart and soul, and involuntarily tears sprang to her eyes. For the first time in a long time she felt...okay. She couldn’t understand the words in her head, she had no idea where they were coming from or who was speaking to her, but she didn’t question what she was feeling because it was just nice to feel the weight of sadness, of numbing pain, lift off her petite shoulders for a little while.

“What do you think, sweetheart?” Clark asked, giving her that handsome smile of his. “Lois had it made special for you.”

“It’s from all of us,” Lois gave her husband a pointed look before she turned to her wife, her little girl. Their little girl. Lois reached out, taking hold of Monica’s hand. “It’s special, made just for you by a new friend of the family. She’s a healer, and it’s supposed to help you feel better.” Lois searched Monica’s face with a smile. “Is...Is it working?”

Monica gripped Lois’s hand, turning her face to bury in Jon’s unruly dark hair as she nodded, unable to speak around the ball of emotion in her throat.

Lois tightened her hold on Monica’s fingers, feeling proud and extremely grateful to hear that. Clark had to stop himself from letting out a cheer, his broad shoulders visibly relaxing to see Monica responding positively to this. He strode over to the window nearest their shared bed, immediately hanging up the stained glass and as it caught the setting Metropolis sun, the entire room took on the feel of a sanctuary, somewhere safe and warm. There was magic in that glass, in that moment Clark himself became convinced. Lois slipped further up onto the bed, cradling Jon between herself and Monica as she wrapped her arm around Monica’s little waist. She pressed a kiss to the top of Monica’s head.

“We love you, honey. You know that? We’d do anything for you, anything at all.”

Clark took the offered spot to spoon Monica’s much smaller frame, immediately wrapping his heavily muscled arms around her so that she could rest back against his chest, be dwarfed by him so she could feel safe and very much loved. He rested his head against hers.

“It’s okay if every single day is a tough day,” Clark murmured reassuring words to mirror Lois’s, wanting to comfort his little girl, his wife. “You aren’t going through it alone.”

Jon burrowed closer to Monica’s chest, holding her tightest of all! “You’ve got Superboy and Supermom and Superman to help save your day!”

"And what is it we say, sweetheart?” Clark nosed a kiss to Monica’s temple. “What do we Supers say?”

Monica sniffled but laughed all the same. “Up, up, and away.”

Every single day. One day at a time.

[aion-rsa]

Superman & Lois Episode 2 Review: Heritage

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This Superman & Lois review contains spoilers.

Superman and Lois Episode 2

There was a time, long ago, when big genre TV shows would get two hour premieres. Not the kind of two hour premiere that Superman & Lois had, where an episode that was actually a full hour without commercials got stretched out over a longer time slot with additional commercial breaks and a behind-the-scenes special. I mean a genuine 90 minute pilot that sat in a two hour timeslot. Those days are long gone, but I’ve long suspected that The CW structures the first two episodes of its biggest new series accordingly. And just as Superman & Lois feels like the most ambitious addition to the network’s DC TV lineup since The Flash, so too does its second episode feel like an extension of its first.

That’s a very good thing, by the way.

If anything, Superman & Lois episode 2 is an even easier watch than the impressive first episode. At this point, you’ve either bought into the concept of the show as a family drama, and the idea of Lois and Clark as parents, or you haven’t. We’ve met all the key players already, so there’s a little less exposition necessary (although, to be fair, it isn’t like the first episode committed the sin that so many CW pilots do, where it can sometimes feel like characters are taking turns introducing themselves to the camera), and the story itself can breathe.

What that means, for one thing, is more action. I can’t tell for sure, but it certainly feels like we spend a little more time with Superman in costume than we did in the first episode. And if you liked the cinematic look and feel of those sequences before, you’re in luck, because there’s no sign whatsoever that they blew their effects budget on that episode. This show just looks great.

That shouldn’t be a surprise though, right? It’s Superman. There’s a general sense that the network and the producers knew that either you go big or go home with the Man of Steel, hence the show’s widescreen look and amped-up special effects and redesigned costume. Superman & Lois episode 2 isn’t wall-to-wall action, but when we get it, it counts and it looks terrific, and that’s what matters.

That title, “Heritage” refers very much to Jonathan and Jordan Kent, particularly the latter. The parental decision is made to keep him home from school after his “ocular release of energy” at the Shuster Mines, specifically so that Clark can take him to the Fortress of Solitude for evaluation by the Kryptonian technology stored there (and the holographic form of Jor-El) and to gauge his power levels. Jonathan, on the other hand, has to go to a school where he doesn’t feel terribly welcome, especially when steps were taken to make sure that the football team’s playbook never arrived for him to study, thereby making his life a little harder on the field where he usually excels.

But “Heritage” could also refer to how much Smallville has changed since Clark left it. While Lana’s husband Kyle Cushing isn’t the most likeable character on the show, he effectively speaks for the people of Smallville who feel they’ve been left behind, and who are in desperate need of a job creator like new Daily Planet owner (and apparent vulture capitalist) Morgan Edge. So far, Clark dealing with the Jordan issue means that he hasn’t yet come to terms with how Smallville has moved on (or fallen) since he’s been gone, and it’s Lois who finds herself in the line of fire with the locals. Something tells me that eventually this is going to change, whether in a confrontation with Kyle or whether it’s Lois who forces him to reckon with what’s happening.

We also learn more about the mysterious “Captain Luthor,” who may not be the villain he was presented as last week. For starters, he uses non-lethal force on the soldiers who confront him, and despite the dangerous situations he’s created in the past, they were clearly designed to draw Superman out rather than cause maximum loss of life. But more importantly, it seems he comes from a world where Kal-El was either inherently evil or let his power corrupt him, and he had his own relationship with General Sam Lane on his world. Some harrowing footage that closes the episode indicates that Captain Luthor’s grudge against the Man of Steel is justified.

In case you can’t tell, “Heritage” is juggling quite a lot. But it manages to not get in its own way, while dealing with its heavier dramatic moments unpretentiously and its weightier subjects with relative ease. I often cringe at the Supergirl model of journalism, or what has passed for it with the Central City Citizen on The Flash. Taking both Lois and Clark out of The Daily Planet may help in that regard here, and so far they seem to be easing Lois into doing some investigative journalism here. There’s still the question of whether Lois actually has enough to do at the moment, but since this episode feels very much like an extension of the pilot, I’m willing to give everyone the benefit of the doubt right now.

Speaking of Lois getting into trouble, we do get our first look at the new Morgan Edge this week. Adam Rayner is Edge this time around, taking over from the Earth-38 version who was played by Adrian Pasdar over on Supergirl. As with Sam Lane, we can chalk this bit of recasting up to the changes made to reality by Crisis on Infinite Earths. Rayner’s Edge is a little more subdued, a bit more cynical, and more of the elegant boardroom shark that was first introduced in the comics. He’s certainly not the nicest guy on the show, but time will tell if he’s actually the season’s big bad or if they’re going to eventually give him some nuance, as well.

This core cast is really what powers everything through. Elizabeth Tulloch and Tyler Hoechlin are, of course, perfect in their roles, and there’s probably not much reason for me to hit that point every week. But seeing them as parents is a new wrinkle for the characters overall, and the pair hit this pretty effortlessly. In particular, Hoechlin’s resigned “you heard your mother” after Tulloch’s Lois puts the boys in their place during a blowup is both perfectly delivered and wryly funny. Even Superman knows who’s really in charge in their house. That entire scene could have gone south in less gifted hands, but the four actors who make up this Kent family make it work.

The warmth between Jordan Elsass and Alexander Garfin as Jonathan and Jordan Kent that feels even more pronounced in this episode than the previous one. Particularly when they’re getting along, they’re fun and believable as brothers, and they (along with Inde Navaratte as Sarah Cushing) are refreshingly free of the overwritten teen dialogue that has become de rigueur over the last couple of decades. It also helps that the entire young cast are actually believable as high school freshmen…it’s pretty hilarious to think Jordan, Jonathan, and Sarah are supposed to be the same age that Clark, Lana, and Pete were in the first season of Smallville, for example. If you missed it, watch for Jonathan and Jordan’s simultaneous reaction when their mom goes after Morgan Edge at the Town Hall. Superman & Lois isn’t as likely to lean on humor as The Flash, but it could use more subtle moments like this one.

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It feels like the pieces are all in place now, and that there are even bigger and better things ahead.

The post Superman & Lois Episode 2 Review: Heritage appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[davidmann95]

If the argument can be made of both Superman and Clark Kent being the real person, then what's actually stopping the Superman persona from going Justice Lord/Injustice to secure his truth and Justice ideals in both Pre Flashpoint and New 52, especially if Lois Lane played a factor or not?

Well, generally speaking, I hear Superman’s a pretty swell guy, who’d never consider crushing the feeble forces of the Earth beneath his unrelenting, eternal bootheel of steel.

You know. Generally speaking.

As for the main version, it’s simply not something he’d do under any reasonable circumstance. He believes in human freedom and self-determination, and that his decisions aren’t above the will of the people, or any more *inherently* correct than anyone else’s. Even if he did think of it as a better immediate option than a given ruling power - and let’s be real, the nicest guy on Earth being in charge and using his superpowers to fix everything would be objectively preferable to any actual government that has ever existed - he knows he can’t decide how he’s interpreted by the world, and his rule would be a mandate to future generations of citizens and superheroes that enlightened fascism is terrific, and might can indeed make right so long as you’re really sure you know best. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Lord Superman obviously takes a pretty different approach.

Much as parts of that come across now as distressingly plausible, it’s also clearly not any version of Superman we would recognize. He makes his decision to take over the world in the aftermath of that in a place of total calm rationality, which like I said, doesn’t make sense for him. However, this is also a version who implicitly was saving the world out of ego, he enjoyed killing and his Batman had no problems with it, and the team was apparently always known as the Justice Lords rather than the League, so we can assume he’s a very, very different man from the one we know anyway.

The Injustice guy is clearly quite different himself. His Lex was an ally and a good man - and lacking Lex as an opponent to force him to question himself is a pretty good way to potentially weaken his moral fiber a critical bit - Wonder Woman is straight-up evil from word one as a corrupting voice in his ear (Tom Taylor admitted that while he tried to justify Superman’s behavior in the comic as well as he could, he essentially had to write her as just being an evil parallel universe version given what the game presented), and it’s implied there was maybe always something deeper disturbed in him, with the Kents recalling that when he first realized as a kid he didn’t have to sleep he spent months sitting on the roof each night, watching with his scary glowing red eyes for dangers to make sure nothing would hurt his family. But even those aside? Injustice is as close as I can imagine a story coming to justifying Superman spiraling over the edge.

To be clear, that’s not the same as saying Injustice was a good story that should have happened. Tom Taylor did the best he could with this, but it’s still a story predicated on Superman being drugged by the Joker into punching his pregnant wife into space, which nukes Metropolis. Even if I was in the market for any more evil Superman stories at this point - the answer being no on that unless Mark Waid feels like doing an Irredeemable follow-up - I think we can conclude that if THAT is what’s required to justify your premise, then probably even in a wild anything-goes superhero universe we can assume that it’s a dumb premise there’s not much point in investigating. Hell, Taylor wrote two stories himself in there, one of which was the last thing he did in his tenure, about how it’s a bad, depressing premise that never should have happened. Seriously, it’s almost as blatant as if he’d plastered “I swear to god I’m only doing this for the paycheck” on the back cover of all the collections.*

But if you’re willing to allow those dumb, wrong-headed circumstances, a lot of it actually makes sense character-wise. Assuming he could somehow acquire the materials needed, it’s a believably Joker plot, twisting the Superman victory conditions (he beats up a monster and saves Lois) into destroying everything he’s ever loved. I buy that a lot of the Justice League would be bought in by Superman’s initial response, and then could be strung along further because the alternative would be admitting Superman isn’t really Superman anymore. More than that, it’s not quite a simple matter of “Superman is bad now”. In the aftermath of losing everything his immediate first instinct is to continue rescuing people, but with the psychological damage he’s sustained, the convictions and standards and moral clarity underpinning what he does fades into background noise against the immediacy of saving the greatest number of lives possible. Every attempt at holding him back and eventually defying him aggravates the scar on his soul, making him push back, leading to further push-back and aggravation on his end, until his initial motivations behind what he’s doing are lost. It’s not “Superman decides fascism is awesome”, it’s “Superman is having a catastrophic nervous background in the aftermath of a scale of trauma unheard of in human history, and because he’s Superman and no one can actually physically force him to stop and calm down and listen, attempts at doing so can only agitate his already-vulnerable mental state further until he finally loses himself completely”. Insomuch as I believe anything could ever push Superman to calmly laser-vision Billy Batson to death, that’d pretty much have to be it. Though again, if things need to be pushed that far to even kind of believably get an evil Superman, it’s probably not something that ever needs to be worried about for the regular guy.

* If you’re interested, this is a great standalone story by Taylor on how ultimately depressing the very idea of a “Dark Superman” is, and this is the two-parter closing out his time on the book, showing a dream of what would have happened if Superman and his friends had managed to save the day at the beginning after all, which basically ends with Taylor all but turning to the reader and saying “this is how the story should have gone, this is the proper ending”. If you’re curious what a proper Tom Taylor Superman Story would look like, I’d seriously recommend checking out his really fun three-part Batman/Superman arc with Robson Rocha, starting here. You’d never think the guy behind Injustice would have a damn clue what to do with Actual Superman, but based on the strength of these (and his great work on Superior Iron Man and All-New Wolverine) I’d 100% up for seeing what a run by him on Action Comics would look like.