#but never had any real interest in comic collecting

[nayadoesstuff]

People (mostly Zuko stans) like to think Ursa was some saint. Ursa is not a saint, let's be completely real. I mean, series!Ursa is a plot device - she's there to remind Zuko to never forget who he is. The show wouldn't paint her in a bad light. Comic!Ursa is also a terrible portrayal. I can't imagine a parent choosing to forget their own children to go and live another life and have another child. Kiyi is quite literally a replacement child - and lying about who Zuko's father is? That could've put Ozai, Ursa herself and Zuko at risk if Azulon ever caught wind of it. She did it to spite Ozai, which I think is so incredibly stupid. Back to the point - Ursa is not a saint in any way. No completely innocent person has a collection of poisons which they can use at any time. Ursa also grew up in the FN. She was married to a Fire Prince - I highly doubt she'd support any kind of rebellion. Let's be honest, she'd probably be a hardcore imperialist. I'm quite sure it's implied Ursa had a hand in how Azula turned out, even if it was mostly Ozai. She'd probably be proud of Azula for taking over Ba Sing Se and being an imperialist if she stayed with Ozai. Are we forgetting she laughed, along with Azula and Zuko over Iroh's whole 'burning Ba Sing Se to the ground' joke? Ursa is not a good person, and IMO not even the best mother. It doesn't mean she can't change. In fact, we don't even know much about her without the comics (which were terrible) I feel it's lazy writing. They needed a reason why she wouldn't return or try to contact Zuko when he joined the gaang - it could've been done much better. Especially her relationship with Ozai. Sure, it's fine for her to be a victim of abuse, but it's incredibly boring and been done before. The trope of evil guy and kind woman where evil guy abuses kind woman is OVERDONE. It'd be more interesting if Ursa and Ozai actually liked eachother. The idea of them marrying because she's Roku's descendant is good, but I feel the rest of it was poorly executed - she could've been as power hungry as him. I mean, Ursa's family would've been nobility if Roku didn't betray the FN. Maybe she wanted power, maybe she was like Ozai in that regard. It would've been a lot more interesting if they loved eachother for a while because of the things they had in common but Ursa stopped chasing power after her children were born and Ozai didn't.

[homestuckreplay]

Do you remember when tumblr was overrun by kids in grey body paint and horns speculating over how their story would end, when browser extensions would ping almost every day alerting people to a webcomic update, when the anticipation of the next plot twist had people inventing chaotic AUs and sometimes other, completely fake webcomics?

Do you want to do it again?

On April 13, 2024, I will turn on New Reader Mode in the Unofficial Homestuck Collection, and I will not turn it off again until April 13, 2031. Every day, I will post to this blog which pages were originally posted on the corresponding day 15 years ago, and read those associated pages - and if anyone else wants to experience or re-experience Homestuck in real time, I invite you to read along.

A few months back I had the idea of 'what if Dracula Daily but for Homestuck' and I considered how to make Homestuck work in email format - I think it's possible, but would be a lot of work and still wouldn't be as good a reading experience as the Unofficial Collection. So I modified the idea and just made a big spreadsheet of which dates every Homestuck page was posted on, and I'll be scheduling the page ranges to post day by day for myself and anyone else to follow along with in the app.

I came to Homestuck towards the end of its original run, so I've never had to wait for updates on the main comic - which I've heard is a very different reading experience to getting a few pages a day and having to endure long pauses in the last few thousand pages. I can't turn back time and start reading in 2009, so this is the next best way to get the real time reading experience. I am really interested to see if this will change my opinion on any aspects of the comic, as I like a lot of the things I know other fans hate, and I am extremely committed to seeing this through, even when it means not looking at some incredible moments for many years.

Will this be a good way to experience Homestuck? Will anyone else think this is a cool idea? I have no fucking clue, but ai'm excited to see how it works out. If other people are interested, I have other ideas including a Discord server in the style of r/stuck10yearsbehind, otherwise, I'll brave the solo journey.

Happy Cascade Day, Homestucks grab your strife specibi, go forth and be cringe 😎

[sualne]

Sorry if you're already working on this but with Luffy in Croc dad what's his hobby?? Like he's the biggest ball of energy and I think if wasn't fighting wild animals as a kid he would vibrate into another dimension from lack of stimulation. Does he draw and develop his art skills, has he taken up music or is he invested with the void century with Robin? Croc wants to keep him inside and safe so what did he think would be best to entertain him or does he buy a new thing every week that Luffy says he suddenly wants to do. Yes he looks at books but is that it. Also sorry if you answered this before and I've missed waht you said, I am pretty sure I've seen all your comics on this but I haven't seen all your ask answering questions.

i hadn't gotten these questions and im so glad you ask!! :D

so! luffy doesn't have one specific hobby and croc does end up giving him whatever he wants when he suddenly gets a new obsession, one of the reason he's so excited with finding the jewelry box and getting a dagger is because it's finally something new! after that he gets really into rings and knives until it gets bored of it and switch to something else again.

about him and learning about the void century with robin i actually got a comic later for that so i won't say anything here!

im going to make this a list and explain how it goes, under read more:

Fighting: this luffy doesn't know how to fight, but he still love the concept! he gets really excited hearing stories of fights, duels, martial arts and all the rest! In practice though, since he's been so sheltered and only ever saw one real fight that ended up with people being killed in front of him as a kid, if (haha) he were to witness another real fight he wouldn't be as giddy about it as when he hears stories. he does also learn the tiniest bit of kenpo from bonclay!

Dancing: luffy in canon loves dancing (and partying), here too! he doesn't know/master any specific styles but likes to drag people into dancing with him, if no one is around he'll grab some of the smaller bananawani instead.

Singing: he's still very bad at it.

Music: croc noticed how he'd taps on thing and tried to get him to learn some percussion, unfortunately for him, luffy doesn't care about music theory and just does whatever makes him happy. he also love loud noises and croc has to find a way to stop him from making a racket at any hours of the day, it gets worse when luffy loses some of his hearing and needs to make everything even louder. eventually he gets bored of it too.

Cooking: him and croc cooks together pretty often, if no one is there to supervise him luffy will ignore recipes and common sense, making all kind of abominations. it's a miracle he never set the kitchen on fire.

Bugs: he loves them! he collect them! alive. croc is horrified one day when he finds out baby luffy has been letting some food to rot so he could observes flies and larvae going through their little bug lives cycle. later croc gives him those pinned dead bugs collection boxes thinking luffy will like it, he doesnt.

Board&Cards Games: he mostly has to play them by himself, he doesn't like being alone so he'll often ends up playing it "with" the banawanis. after he loses a few too many times against the banawanis and can't get croc to join in for the millionth time he gives up on them. even when robin joins baroques works he still expect her to be too busy to play with him and doesn't ask (she would have accepted if he had asked).

Art&Craft: he tries a bit of everything, doing it his own way meaning most of it is kind of hideous or about to fall apart, canon luffy is completely fine with that, au luffy though, he's having ton of fun at first but when he gets old enough to see that his dad cant quite fake his enthusiasm or interest towards his disastrous creations he gets frustrated and stops for a while. later, robin finds an old drawing of his and thinks its cute so he start doodling a little again for her.

basically, he struggles keeping a hobby, some like fighting, dancing, bugs and staring at pictures in geography books he keeps through his life but mostly, he's very lonely and bored out of his mind, he's depressed, that's not something that can be helped for as long as he's isolated.

when robin becomes a part of his life everything gets better for him! she spends time with him, read stories for him, helps him get out more often, they even meet bonclay and for a few years he's genuinely happy.

[catboy-beckett]

So a few months back, I started getting ads for a game called Tokyo Debunker. The ads had WILDLY different tones and genres, not entirely unusual for mobile game ads, and usually I just ignore it when this happens. They want me to be curious so they can get me to download. It's a cheap, common trick, not worth my attention.

This time though, the ads were so bizarre and disconnected that it actually worked on me. I HAD to know what this game was about.

For context, here are all the screenshots I took of these ads:

(no, the bright flash on the second image isn't censorship, it's just a poorly-timed snapshot of a visual effect)

So, we're getting essentially three distinct genres of ads here: Dating Sim game, Horror game, and Cute Casual Cartoon Cat game. I think it's really the horror imagery that put these ads above the rabble. It was too high-effort and offputting. Normal clickbait goes for as generic and appealing as possible.

So, what was the truth? What IS the game, actually?

Well, uh.

Here are the actual screenshots I've taken in-game:

It's not just the ads that are all over the place, that's for sure. It turns out this IS a horror dating game filled with cute cats!

I'll explain further: the main mode of the game is a visual novel (that "story" button on the fourth screenshot) which occasionally has comic panels in the middle of scenes. In the background, you have the "Campus" where you can build facilities that generate currency that you can use to upgrade or build more facilities, and these gradually passively increase your character stats. What are stats for? Why, you can have your characters do battle with monsters or other players' teams! It's an auto-battler sort of thing so it's not very involved, but powering up the characters is surprisingly convoluted. Wait, how do you get "characters"? Oh, there's a gacha too! (The "summon" button.) The gacha is kinda shit to be honest; rates are bad enough but they lumped equipment and characters into the same banners, so even when there's a "rare guaranteed in 10 pulls" it might not even be a character.

It's definitely a romance game, though not the sort with "routes" or even story choices, really--you can get characters' affinity scores up outside of the story by making them fish or taking them camping (oh yeah the fishing is to summon cats to eat the fish and then if you're quick you can take photos of the cats, Neko Atsume style--) but nothing in the course of the story changes.

Honestly, I think this game is great. I've completed all the available chapters of the story so far, and the writing and characters are great. I love the horror too, and I really appreciate that they don't pull any punches with it just because this is fundamentally a game about flirting with eccentric 2D men. I hope in the future they revamp the gacha system to make it less ass.

BONUS:

Lightning round of ✨which aspects of these ads were accurate?✨

Rescue Him-- That artwork is in the game, but the minigame is not, and there is no need to "rescue him". He's fine. That's just Jiro. He's always like this.

Do You Always?-- That artwork is also in the game, though I'm not sure why Jin is labelled "guy from cafeteria". The UI is also not right.

Who is Cheating Whom?-- This one is interesting. Not only is this scene entirely fabricated (and the player is never tasked with solving riddles like this), I can only identify one of the characters. The guy on the right looks like Ren (albeit wearing another character's earring) but I have no idea who the guy on the left is? Rui or Towa are my best guesses, but I've heard that these ads just sometimes fabricate entire characters. That octopus is in the game though.

Vegetable Ninja-- Not a real minigame. That cat is one of the ones you can get in the Neko Atsume clone guild cat album, and it can indeed be seen slicing carrots.

Cat Town?-- This is real, just with more of the collectible cats added for flavour. (You can even see this area in one of my screenshots!) In the actual game, there ARE cats running around delivering messages, as well as chibi versions of the anime boys.

Eye Monster-- This monster is actually real! She appears in the beginning chapter. The human in front of her however, doesn't look like the protagonist or anyone else currently in the game. You also never see that pixelart style.

Customize Your Crush-- Not a real feature. You can pick which character you want on the home screen and can change their outfit to a limited extent, but you can't freely undress them or mess with their features. That character is named Alan though, and they did just release a shirtless card of him. Hi Alan!

Slenderman, Sadako, and Jeff the Killer-- Breaks my heart to say, they are not in the game. There is an anomaly that kind of looks like Slenderman, I suppose? The "You have been cursed" tagline is actually true though; in the beginning of the game, you DO get cursed.

Bathing in Blood-- Curiously, this scene is in the game... but it's not a horror scene. It's not sketched like that, it's not red and black and white, there's no explicit or implied blood. It's just a brief fanservicey scene of Leo in the bath.

Cat on Rails-- This one is the closest to being an actual minigame! There's an overhead view of a cat running along in the rhythm game "bonus stages" you get in-between some of the autobattler stages. You have to tap the screen to make the cat turn at certain points in time with the music. It's not very good, but it's easy to cheat. The cat is identical to the one pictured but the stage looks different and there's no food.

[graysoncritic]

A (Negative) Review of Tom Taylor's Nightwing Run - Conclusion

Introduction Who is Dick Grayson? What Went Wrong? Dick's Characterization What Went Wrong? Barbara Gordon What Went Wrong? Bludhaven (Part 1, Part 2) What Went Wrong? Melinda Lin Grayson What Went Wrong? Bea Bennett What Went Wrong? Villains Conclusion Bibliography

Though it may not appear so given the length of this essay, I did try to be fair to Taylor and Redondo. I focused my criticism on Taylor because my knowledge of written storytelling far exceeds my knowledge of visual storytelling, especially when it comes to sequential art. As such, I did not think it was my place to criticize something that I did not feel entirely comfortable addressing.

As I implied in the introduction, this essay was both an intellectual exercise and a cathartic one. Much of the information in it were reworded discussions I had with other Dick Grayson fans throughout the past couple of years. I must also thank them for allowing me to quote them when appropriate, as none of this would have been possible without their contribution. The essay itself was written in the time span of months, and sometimes I went weeks without even opening the document, only doing so again when a new issue came out and I wanted to vent.

As I worked on this, I was able to articulate a frustration that has been building up inside of me and, I know, many Dick Grayson fans for years. These frustrations are not exclusive to Taylor's writing. Rather, Taylor’s writing is but the most obvious and prominent example of said problem, with new and old symptoms drawing glaring attention to themselves on a monthly basis. The real problem behind all of these grievances and, quite frankly, the hurt Dick Grayson fans feel at the moment is rooted in the fact that DC Comics as a whole seems determined to undermine, if not completely erase, the importance of this amazing character.

There are other ways in which this can be observed. One of the Dick Grayson fans I know has been collecting examples of this erasure that span decades. I, myself, have thoughts on the motivations behind these actions and how they are reflective of a societal dislike for those who are othered, and especially those who challenge patriarchal ideals, the gender binary, and heteronormative culture. 

Perhaps one day I will address those subjects. Or perhaps not. As cathartic as writing this was, I do want to write more about the things I love rather than the things I hate. But I also believe it is important to express dissatisfaction when experienced, to vent when required, and to critique when necessary.

If you stuck around this far, then I do not believe that this needs stating, but just in case, I must assert that I reject any claims that comics should not be analyzed in this much depth. I do not, for a second, believe that comics are above serious criticism simply due to their format or their content. Comics, like every form of storytelling, are worthy of being examined and dissected. They are a part of our culture. They are literature and as such, they deserve to be studied. 

This essay explored Taylor’s current, ongoing run of Nightwing. I believe it proved not only its failure as a good story, but also as a good Nightwing story. Taylor’s superficial characterization, weak plot, and simplistic morality that undermines the story’s stated themes, demonstrate that Taylor does not care about Dick Grayson. He does not see Dick as a character worthy of his care and attention. At the very best Taylor lacks the knowledge to understand Dick. At the very best, Taylor has no interest in getting to know him, nor any respect for his predecessors to learn how they handled Dick and incorporating their work into his continuity. At worst, he despises the character so much that he wishes to re-invent him into something different, tossing away everything that was special to his fans in order to bring in a new crowd that never cared about Dick Grayson before he was made palatable to them. 

And that attitude is not isolated to Taylor. It is, I believe, observable throughout much of DC. Not all current writers, editors, and artists are like this, of course, but for years — decades, actually — there have been attempts to erase Dick’s importance to certain characters, to replace him, to downplay his achievements and his uniqueness in order to prop up others, and to water him down until he becomes but a shadow of who he was. Sometimes, it feels like DC is trying to kill Dick Grayson, remove his parts and give to other characters. This character gets his unique relationship with Bruce. This character gets to keep Dick’s relevance to Robin. These characters can have Bludhaven. For how long, I must wonder, do Dick Grayson fans have to put up with this silently? Must we just quietly watch this continue until Dick is all hollowed out and is only a memory living in the hearts of those who love him? 

Because we do love him. We love him for all the special characteristics that made him different, that did not make him into a blank canvas, an every-man hero. I do not hate Taylor personally, but I believe that his clear disinterest in Nightwing is not an isolated case, and that DC, at this moment in time, is unwilling to engage with Dick’s character and his fans. They want a brand new and palatable hero to step into his place, not the long standing bastion who has been around longer than most of DC’s characters. They don’t want Dick Grayson. They do not respect or care for him. And as such, I believe Dick’s fans have a right to be angry and to feel like DC does not care or respect them. 

I do not know how long these attempts at erasing Dick will last. I do not know how long-lasting the effects of Taylor’s run will be. But trends come and go, and Dick has been around for nearly a century. He’s a strong enough character to survive this long, and I believe, despite previous and current attempts, that he will survive this as well.

And as he does, I will be there, cheering him on. 

[cantsayidont]

For a long time, the main impetus for DC reprinting any of its voluminous back catalog was some promotional or licensing tie-in: a movie, a TV show, some merchandise they were trying to push, or just a popular ongoing book. Given how prominently Dr. Fate was featured in the recent BLACK ADAM movie, therefore, it's surprising and somewhat disheartening that DC didn't take the opportunity to do some kind of greatest hits compilation for the character, who was certainly the best thing about that mostly terrible film.

This is especially unfortunate because you could fit quite a bit of Dr. Fate's Silver Age and Bronze Age non-JSA appearances in a single volume, starting with the two 1965 SHOWCASE team-ups with Hourman shown above, by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson. There are also a number of later team-ups with Superman and Batman:

Fate then got a couple of solo features in the '70s:

Kubert cover notwithstanding, the 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL story, which is written by Marty Pasko, has some really outstanding early Walt Simonson art, while the SECRET ORIGINS OF SUPER-HEROES story has an eight-page retelling of Fate's origin, narrated by Kent Nelson's wife Inza, by the ALL-STAR COMICS team of Paul Levitz and Joe Staton.

In 1982, Doctor Fate got his own eight-page backup feature in, weirdly enough, THE FLASH #306–313. Despite what a couple of the covers imply, there wasn't a team-up between the Flash and Fate (who in those days still existed on separate parallel Earths); the Fate strip was just an unrelated second feature.

This strip, written by Marty Pasko and Steve Gerber with spectacular art by Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt, presents an array of interesting ideas (some of which obviously paved the way for Giffen's 1987 revamp). Pasko had already established (in the 1975 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL story) that Doctor Fate wasn't exactly Kent Nelson: He was really the ancient Lord of Order Nabu, the entity who trained Nelson in the magical arts, who possessed Nelson's body whenever he put on the Helm of Fate. In other words, the Dr. Fate of these stories isn't so much a man wearing a magical helmet as a magical helmet wearing a man. Nabu has made both Kent and Inza ageless — they both appear about 25, but by this time, they're really in their 60s — but allows them little real control of their lives. Kent has more or less resigned himself to it, but Inza is feeling the strain of being trapped in a magical menage à trois with her husband and an inhuman entity that has little regard for Kent's welfare and even less for hers. Nabu, for his part, seems to exist in a state of constant mystical urgency in which human frailties are an unaffordable distraction.

This could have been really compelling, and it's both graphically interesting and quite strange, but all that is a lot to squeeze into eight-page installments, and having them crammed in the back of one of DC's most conventional superhero books was obviously not optimal. It was also having to compete for Giffen and Mahlstedt's attention with LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, which I assume was why the Fate strip was dropped after only eight installments.

To everyone's surprise, there was even a Doctor Fate action figure in 1984 as part of the Kenner Super Powers line. This came with a little minicomic, which to my knowledge has never been reprinted:

All of this stuff would add up to something in the realm of 230 pages, which would easily fit into a single trade paperback collection with a digestible price point. Maddeningly, DC has already done the color remastering for roughly three-fifths of this material, so even that probably wouldn't be a huge chore (although the Giffen/Mahlstedt stuff, which has a lot of color holds and graphic effects, really calls for more care in remastering than DC has tended to give its older material of late.)

[eminsunnytoons123]

Dedicated to all my besties/Sisters And brothers/pen pals: @splashy900 @kxllboii @cheezekennith @aquamarine-dream-queen @dayzsaclark @oscarandgrinchfan @moshywoosh @ilovescaredysquirrel2 @nuggetaubrey @sharkyy599 @nightkit92 @familyoffood @mysafespaceblog13 @thelazzyblogzz @sugar-miss1 @shrimpathizer @shypeachrunaway @iggyguyy @sophia-does-skits @typical-sophie @peaceforpeople @ben5569 @xxkurosakutisaxx @ducktoonz903707 @muppet-fan-real @artismeyou-12 @blackstar044 @acen402 @acen404 @walt-diego-rodriguez @goatsarecool1 @nia1sworld @rumplestiltsbear @s4gefr0g @beeware-of-lulu @leafith that always cared for me And loved me just like how I love them And they love me just the way I am And my Projects just like how I love their Projects, I imagined making a new muppets AU =^_^= 💗

Since I was listening to OR3O's new song "digital hallucination", I decided to make an AU called "horrifying muppets world AU"

Let me explain the lore, its nearly like TADC And zoophobia (i dont support vivziepop, but i was interested in her comic And Got the inspiration), but its about a person named y/n that's scared of the muppets. But one Day, their father had a heart attack during a family gathering. Y/N And their mom And a few of their siblings, cousins And family members went to the hospital to see the father, about to die. The father told Y/N to: "take care of this collection of the muppets." And then he died. When they all Got home, Y/N went in father's room since he never let them go there, And what they saw, HORRIFIED them.... There are was a huge collection of muppets in father's room, from every Show, he had all the muppets there (i'll tell them soon). Y/N became halluctinating because of the muppets because she was deadly scared of them. And one Day, it was a stormy night, Y/N was all alone home And she Heard voices of the muppets in their father's room, they got inside, And there werent any muppets on the shelves, their heart nearly stopped... but then they saw an door in the wall, they Got inside that door And it was nearly like a tunnel.. when they Got in, they literally saw an stage of the muppets Show, they were horrified, but they started walking And saw Kermit the frog, facing his back at them, And he turned around... He looked extremely horrifying And creepy, nearly like an Trevor Henderson creation. And Y/N realizes that they are literally stuck in a world of the horror muppets, but! But, they arent halluctinating, dreaming nor are they in coma, this is actually happening to them.

I'll think more about the lore And even make the characters! =^_^=

If y'all have any ideas, please tell me either in reblogs, replies or private messages =^.^=

[pochapal]

32! Do you like HS^2?

i...genuinely do! i think sometimes there's a half-conception that based on the mere premise of my fics that i don't like postcanon all that much (omelette route was misconstrued as an epilogues fix-it fic in certain circles and pickle route is still sometimes seen as a "better version" of hs^2) even though everything i write is in direct conversation with and comes from a place of admiration for hs^2/the epilogues.

with hs^2 in particular i think it had some really electric ideas that we only got to see the very first brushstrokes of (thinking most pertinently here about whatever was going to go down on deltritus that we never saw) that, if they'd been able to get off the ground, probably would have eclipsed the epilogues as the most interesting part of homestuck. from the bits we saw the meat timeline stuff was definitely the weakest. outside of the jade/altcallie possession chapter a lot of that half of the story was fairly unsurprising character-driven extrapolation of the same angst we departed the epilogues with - and i largely agree with @hms-no-fun that some kind of timeskip here would have helped it feel a little less repetitive (although arguably there might have been? three years definitely passed with dirk et al but it was very up in the air as to how long it had been for the pursuit spaceship crew). i get why that never happened - both meat and candy were being told in tandem and candy ended on a buildup to an immediate conflict that needed to be followed in real time versus meat's meandering slingshot towards something more nebulous, so for the sake of structural symmetry that limited things a little.

i think i'm more amenable to a lot of hs^2's storytelling decisions because i wholly and entirely loved the epilogues from the getgo and it was so good to see that theme/tone be carried through to a more "traditional" mspa space, even if i wonder if the comic form damaged the story more than it helped it. i remember a lot of people getting weirdly mad whenever we'd get an extended prose scene instead of visual panels despite hs^2 being a continuation of the text-based epilogues. then again, the mainstream hs fandom as a whole fucking sucked when it came to postcanon and that's even more evident in how they've collectively memoryholed the whole thing so talking about audience reception is maybe not the most useful thing to talk about here lmao. idk i think people forget that homestuck is largely a story about people who suck and then who get better from sucking. it's just that nobody really likes it when that lens is turned inward onto the alphas/betas who outside of a small handful of exceptions in canon never really had any ethical issues that caused problems for them and others so i personally think it was very interesting and refreshing to explore how the kids' complacency wrt their baggage and trauma allowed them and their world to backslide so disastrously! roxy lalonde enabling jane's fascist ascension is fascinating storytelling actually! (side note: read through shadowed eyes)

hs^2's original characterwork is probably where the story shines the most. the fucked up dynamics between the theseus crew was super fun to read because there's honestly nothing more enjoyable than Supremely Divorced people deciding that makes them irredeemably evil now. the egbert gender stuff was really nice! i particularly enjoyed how, even though it came after the june egbert renaissance, it still managed to be its own unique take on egbert's gender arc that i think really encapsulated the originality driving the project. also forever shoutout to the candy kids my beloved candy kids my children who i will die for - for me in particular hs^2 was a fun time because i was developing my own versions of harry/vrissy/tav for pickle route in parallel to hs^2 and it was so enjoyable seeing all the overlaps and divergences with each upd8. also yiffy fucking rules on every level and even though she never got to be more than a promise she sure was one hell of a promise.

that said i do not think it's that surprising that hs^2 ultimately died before its time. the conditions of the story paired with the most demoralising and vicious iteration of the fandom meant the odds were stacked against it in a big way. you can particularly see the strain of that starting to manifest in the final ~6 months worth of upd8s where people were leaving/being pushed out of the project and every part of hs^2 was a completely hostile environment and the quality of the art and storytelling began to get a little shaky - which i can't really blame them for all things considered! it's hard to want to make the best version of a story possible when the overwhelming reception is a bunch of sanctimonious redditbrained weirdos screaming that you're evil and foul for making characters in a piece of fiction do unexpected and surprising things and also being sympathetic to trans women. there were of course issues with the production conditions of hs^2 that would have probably led to some sort of reckoning at some point, but it's very obvious that the traumatic pressure cooker of a fanbase that wanted nothing more than the death of this project and the ruination of everyone that worked on it threw this whole thing off the rails much faster. despite that, you still have to infinitely admire the team for daring to make something challenging and original in a sphere dominated by people who are content to regurgitate the same babybrained 2013 content ad infinitum - for just a brief moment, homestuck was truly allowed to be the literary masterpiece it's been all along. now people just treat it as more fandomslop to consume and that's perhaps the biggest shame of all.

in the end i think hs^2's legacy is best felt in the places haunted by its premature absence. i'm talking about the comic itself of course but also other spaces and people and projects. stuff that really engaged with the meaty thematic frameworks being thrown up in postcanon that now no longer have a mirror to talk back to - stuff like pesterquest and godfeels and the aforementioned through shadowed eyes that all massively are in conversation with the deeper artistic and philosophical principles underpinning this era of homestuck. if anything else hs^2 will continue to serve as a useful prerequisite for getting into some of the best stuff homestuck fans have ever made. we might never see what could have been, but at least the torch is still being carried by people who care.

[dasinclair]

how’s the art book? I’ve been trying to find pics online but I haven’t found many. any cool trivia?

i really like having it! i love the full-page spreads of background paintings, they're beautiful. we get turnarounds of every character, and expression sheets for several. it's nice to have clear references and see some range of emotion we didn't see in the show proper

some interesting stuff i never would have thought of, too. like a floor plan for the sewer sinclair works in, the lighting effects on characters' powers, robot's eye displays, fun details like that. if there's anyone/anything specific you'd like pictures of, i can try to get them for you!

the only real disappointment for me was the lack of concept art. i really like seeing the process of character design and the drafts that didn't make it, even if a lot of these guys didn't change that much from page to screen. there's some discussion of that, but not a lot of examples shown

trivia:

the grayson home had no consistent design in the comic, and kirkman wanted them to have a sort of nonsensical house with no fixed layout in the show too. this didn't pan out obviously

a lot of the iconic gory shots were done by the character designers rather than the animators, and some scenes had to be re-boarded to match the intensity of the action with the brutality of what they'd drawn... every seemingly random blood splatter was done with artistic intent ❤️

nate bellegarde got super attached to the background heroes we see at the guardian tryouts. some of them have names and a little bit of backstory in here too. there's a green goop guy named Big Mildew who didn't make it to the screen but he's in this book

there are designs, somewhere, of mark & amber in prom outfits. eve used to have a whole collection of pins on her jacket. bellegarde always thought that cecil was from texas and should have a cow skull bolo tie. i wish we got pictures of all this

dou hong thinks they picked the ugliest outfits out of all the ones she drew for debbie

rex was designed to be "as different as possible" from mark in the show, which is why he now has a one-piece visor instead of goggles like mark's

ryan ridley came up with the bit about ka-hor the mummy and everybody thought it was really funny

kirkman wanted to reference different styles/genres in each episode, for instance s1e5 being a crime drama and s1e6 being horror

season 1 was more self-contained because they didn't know if the series would get to continue, which is why in the viltrum flashback they made sure to include recognizable characters like thula, kregg, and conquest. just in case that was all we ever got of them

[roykleinberg]

Oh now you have me curious about your spicy takes! 👀

hooooo boy okay, some of this is about the franchise and some of this is about the fandom (which I love with all my heart okay please no one throw rocks at me lol)

90% of program/user ships give me the ick

continuing on the shipping train of thought, I don't actually find the Encom trio (Alan/Lora/Flynn) all that compelling as an ot3. and a lot of it is a personal pet peeve I've come across in a number of fandoms, but honestly most m/m/f ot3s feel like they're just a way for people to focus on the m/m dynamic while patting themselves on the back for "including" the female character instead of sidelining her completely........ even though said female character is rarely if ever a major contributor to the dynamic or a focus of whatever fanwork. but on a less meta side eye note I just find the perceived sexual component of Alan and Flynn's relationship to be the least compelling thing they could've had going on

and I know she's barely brought up in canon outside of Betrayal but uhm Jordan exists??? and perhaps it is an unpopular opinion but I would like to see more of her in things instead of relying on Lora to be the only human woman in the Tron universe

once again I might not be so harsh on Uprising if there was more to it, but taking it for what it is and how much of it exists -- a lot of the episodes were boring filler to me. also I don't like how they drew Tron

actually I don't like how Tron has been drawn in any rendered/animated media with the exception of maybe Kingdom Hearts

I don't think of Rinzler as a standalone character, and he's not at all interesting to me when removed from the fact that he is Tron with the serial numbers filed off. I feel like I've increasingly seen people portraying Rinzler as his own thing and it simply does not work for me. I think the whole point of his character / existence is that he doesn't have thoughts or feelings or any real personality of his own. he's a backflipping blank slate whose only real character moments are when Tron's overwritten personality peeks through

to that end I can't conceive of an ending where Tron or anyone around him would allow him to remain as Rinzler, and I can't imagine that Rinzler's capable of forming an autonomous opinion to not want to be Tron again

the fandom collective spends too much time talking about how hot the live action and animated men are and not enough time talking about how hot the Sirens are. or how hot Yori is especially in the deleted love scene. or how hot Paige is. or

Daft Punk (rightfully) gets a lot of hype for the Legacy soundtrack, but Wendy Carlos's soundtrack for 82 is unfairly slept on. love that those funky robots got to cameo, but we should be giving Carlos just as much credit for her work

for as much as it pains me to say it, I don't think Tron ever would've been a tentpole franchise for Disney even if they had treated it better. and it's mostly because of the sad fact that the general public has never been that into Tron. I see it tossed around a lot that Disney ditched Tron in favor of focusing on Star Wars and Marvel. A New Hope -- an original sci fi movie that had absolutely no brand recognition, so to speak -- made over $400 million in 1977. the original Tron made $50 million in 82. the first Iron Man movie -- which sure had comic fan recognition but was still a very early comic blockbuster -- in 2008 made over $500 million. Legacy made just over $400 million in 2010. and Disney advertised the shit out of Legacy, they didn't set it up to fail. yes it sucks that things like Uprising were dealt a bad hand (a garbage release schedule that lead to poor viewership that definitely killed the show), yes it sucks that capitalism impacts what art gets made, but the fact of the matter is that Tron has always had niche appeal, and niche appeal does not a successful franchise make. and while it'd be nice to live in the universe where Tron blew up, I look at what's become of Star Wars and Marvel and maybe I don't lament it all that much

[goodluckclove]

good evening monsieur clove i have realized in the past two weeks that i drag my feet when it comes to writing because words are not my preferred medium for communicating stories, much like how a prolific painter might not enjoy doing a full, detailed charcoal sketch. this said, should i or should i not turn my current fanfic ideas into comics/storyboards rather than written prose ?

Oh yeah! Absolutely!

I think different ideas are best for different mediums. That's something that I only recently had to learn wasn't common knowledge amongst artists here. There seems to be a weird preconception on certain writing communities that something has to be a novel, that you have to specifically turn this idea into a novel.

And that's - I mean, it's a noble thought to want to make any effort at all to make art. But if it isn't working and you're stuck in perpetual writer's block - perhaps even to the point where you start to assume that a fundamental part of being a writer is not writing - maybe it's time to expand your idea of Things You Can Write.

Maybe your idea isn't a novel. Maybe it's a play, or a movie, or a comic, or a short story, or a collection of short stories. Maybe it's something else entirely. Maybe it's a fucking ARG. Contrary to what other people seem to think, a novel isn't the only barrier to entry to be considered a Real Artist.

Short stories don't take less effort because they're shorter. If you think they do, maybe you're just naturally good at short stories (Which is very lucky because they're way easier to publish and sell so like why not lean into that?). And scripts for theater, film, and comic are each separate structures that have a ton of room for artistic flair and structural skill. Have you ever read the script of your favorite movie? It's really interesting how much it expands on the experience!

So yeah, different ideas require different homes. If you think your idea would work as a collection of storyboards or like a formatted script you can share with other artists, fucking do it.

I commonly adjust medium and structure for an idea if it isn't flowing the way I want it to. This mainly looks like going between prose and stageplay, because those are my two main realms. But if you only work in prose for now, you can also try switching POV or setting. Change the perspective of what you've already planned. Stephen King had a fun reoccurring bit in his writing where he would briefly hand over the perspective to what was essentially a walk-on player who would observe something spooky and then never be seen again. It can be fun for the reader and refreshing for the writer to play with different angles, you know?

Whatever you got to do, man. No Gods No Masters and shit. I would just truly love if we got rid of the weird ongoing generalization in communities like this that it's the norm for all writers to hate writing. Like, I'm probably the absolute wrong person to counter that thought, but that. Doesn't seem right? Or good or healthy?

[bulbabutt]

I love you’re little 2003 comic series and Mikey being to queer! Would you ever draw Mikey and Leo (since you did one with Mikey and don and Mikey and raph?)

Or would you do all 4 of the turtles and them taking about Star Trek while being queer?

Also author, I would like to hear you infodumps/rant about Star Trek :)

thank you! and yeah i have more plans for it dont worry haha

in terms of me info dumping or ranting, well im gonna leave my turtles to do any proper star trek takes lmao (donnie shall be my mouth piece, as i am the voyager stan)

but what i can say is star trek to me is not like a thing i ever actively watched as a kid, but something both my parents had an interest in. so i recognized ferengi and klingons before i knew what they were based on my dads graphic tees, i knew what the ships looked like cuz we had model ships. i have memories of watching star trek characters without having any idea what was going on, specifically janeway lol

and ive not finished any show, though i feel like ive seen all events in most shows? because the way star trek was intended to be watched was episodically on television, and thats how i consumed most of it.

and the other thing ill say is me and the editor (my sibling) came up with the idea based on like a silly thing i said which was simply "hey if the turtles love star trek canonically and 03 is the right age for the next gen - ds9 age, i bet they each have a different favorite, what would they be?"

we didnt have to think two seconds about mikey, mikey would love TOS its a classic it fits the vibes of mikeys classic comic book collection.

leo would love next gen because he would see picard as the best captain and want to emulate that. also think its interesting based on the fact 12 leo trys to emulate the picard parody (who is...a bad leader to emulate lmao, if 12 leo had proper star trek so many leadership issues would have been solved /j)

the real discussion came in the form of between raph and donnie whos voy and whos ds9. as im the raph and theyre the donnie, i wanted to offer up the donnie ds9 cuz thats their favorite show and voy is mine, but they said that raph would like ds9. specifically the politics and more intense war plot lines would speak to him. and that (maybe spoiler for something id wanna draw but oh well) during leos depression arc leo would like to sit and watch that with him because it would speak to him too at that time.

and as for donnie we didnt have the best reasoning for him loving voyager most, what else could we say but donnie has rizz (03 donnie is the only one who has a maybe romance in a one off episode, and i just.... yeah) but then i kind of thought about it more, and something about everyones favorite donnie episode same as it never was (and other donnie central plots) something about the crew of voyager trying like hell to get home even if they might be dead before they make it? i think it speaks to him.

but yeah! i have a lot of thoughts about it, kind of cuz of the age 03 is set in and the way that specific family unit is, that star trek speaks to them for a multitude of reasons! so im kind of making this little series thing about representation without knowing thats what youre looking for ? if that makes sense.

[bigskydreaming]

Re: Alfred, does he think of HIMSELF as family/parent? I find it interesting because it reminds me of nanny dynamics where the employers/rich family THINK they have a super intimate and “like family” relationship, but really they ignore/downplay the fact that it’s a job for the employee. Which isn’t to say that it isn’t inherently intimate to do that type of caregiving, but I wonder for Alfred if he always has to remind Bruce/Dick/himself that he’s collecting a paycheck at the end of the month.

It depends on the writer. Like he definitely HAS expressed - explicitly - that he sees himself as Dick's other parent, even to the point of making Dick the recipient of his own will, but I hesitate to play into that one too much as pretty much the only one to go to that level of explicitness was Taylor, A Known Panderer, and like. The sincerity/genuineness wasn't there for me. On the writing's part, not Alfred's.

But for the most part I DO fall on the side of Alfred does seem himself as family more than employee - I think there is a degree of, hmm, not wish fulfillment per se but willfullness perhaps, in writers writing the most famous employee in comics as part of the billionaire family rather than examine the optics of the very different positions Alfred operates from versus the members of the Wayne family. I think there are extenuating elements, such as the fact that Alfred was written from pretty early on as having been friends with Thomas Wayne to the extent that he was made the executor of Thomas' estate....so even as he raised Bruce, who was Thomas' actual heir, he had a great deal of control and influence over the Wayne resources rather than being subject to them as would be the case in most real world parallels....

So ultimately, I do think it would be disingenuous to look at what we have in the text in most cases and interpret it as Alfred having more distance from the family than the family has from him, and ultimately just perceiving his position as a job. What distance Alfred admittedly DOES put between himself and Bruce and his children has more to do with just his personality and his adherence to a certain degree of aloofness as a way of maintaining some control in the chaos of his life and the general....Waynes Being Waynes of it all.

His influence within the family is pretty much unmatched though, and you can see hallmarks of how he raised Bruce in how Bruce interacts with his own children, even as we can also see in a lot of instances how Alfred regrets elements of how he raised Bruce and so makes a point to be different with the kids. But I think both Bruce and Alfred have such complicated relationships with their honest emotions and each other that Alfred never figured out how to express to Bruce that he regretted how he raised him for fear it would come across as Alfred saying he regretted raising him, full stop.

Its interesting though - there have definitely been times when Bruce has leaned on Alfred's 'employee nature' to get him to back off when Bruce feels particularly threatened by points Alfred is making and the emotional influence they're both aware of him wielding over Bruce - which always made it a possibility that Bruce would cave on any of these points - so there have been various not awesome story beats where BRUCE is the one to express some idea that Alfred is just the help and should know his place.....but Alfred usually is written as only backing down there when he wants to. As in, there are times when all he has to do is raise an artfully British eyebrow to evoke to Bruce that he knows exactly what Bruce is doing there, and he is Not Impressed and simply will NOT be backing down, thanks ever so much.

But then there are other times when its like Alfred 'takes the hint' or whatever and does cede to Bruce's man of the house bullshit - BUT in almost all those cases, I would argue that its not because Alfred really fears repercussions of standing his ground with Bruce, its more that Bruce going this route enables Alfred to back down and not push things more than he wanted to begin with.....like I mentioned in that other post's tags, unfortunately we don't talk enough about how Alfred likes to pull the ripcord out of especially tenuous situations within the Wayne family dynamic. Because ultimately I think he's just not really comfortable picking a side other than the son he directly raised all on his own - the one who is pretty much solely a product of his own upbringing and his direct responsibility, whereas the kids are all majority raised by Bruce even if you see Alfred as a second parent to them - but at the same time, he's still keenly aware of when Bruce is in the wrong and not willing to back him on a lot of these moments either. So he takes the out, and in the process, enables Bruce in many of his worst moments even though ultimately I'd argue that's more about Alfred than it is about Bruce.

[isfjmel-phleg]

Most of Grant's solo is motivated by his need to learn who his real parents were. But even though he does find out the truth, his relationship with the parents he never got to meet (or rather with the idea of them, with what could have been) never quite gets resolved, and I would love to see this revisited now that he's alive again in recent comics.

After a lot of dead ends and red herrings, Grant finally learns from Vandal Savage, who was responsible for the experimentation done on Grant and for placing him with the Emersons, that his real parents were Al Pratt (the Atom) and his wife Mary James.

Mary was murdered shortly after giving birth, her baby was taken away to be experimented upon, and Al had no idea that any of this had happened. He died in the Zero Hour event, about twelve hours before Grant got dragged in to save the day. They so narrowly missed each other!

Grant, like most of us, isn't well-informed about every obscure Golden Age JSA hero, so this revelation doesn't have any context for him. He knows his parents' names, but feeling actually connected to them...? Not so much.

(Damage #12)

It gets even more complicated with the additional reveal that although the Pratts were his biological parents, he was injected with the DNA of many other superheroes. The primary donor of these was J'onn J'onzz (Martian Manhunter), but Grant is also genetically related to

Barry Allen (Flash)

Johnny Chambers (Johnny Quick)

Arthur Curry (Aquaman)

Joan Dale-Trevor (Miss America)

Jay Garrick (Flash)

Ted Grant (Wildcat)

Carter Hall (Hawkman)

Shiera Hall (Hawkgirl)

Hal Jordan (Green Lantern)

Ted Knight (Starman)

Dinah Drake Lance (Black Canary)

Dinah Laurel Lance (Black Canary)

Libby Lawrence (Liberty Belle)

Charles McNider (Doctor Mid-Nite)

Ray Palmer (Atom)

Alan Scott (Green Lantern)

Rex Tyler (Hourman)

So not only does Grant have parents whom he knows nothing about, but he also has eighteen other "parents," some living, some dead, whose combined DNA has contributed to the powers he's still trying to adjust to. So many good people whose child he could technically be considered, and yet he still ended up raised by the abusive Emersons, who had no real connection to him. It's a lot to process. He is overwhelmed and confused--but he still wants to make contact with his real parents in the only way he can now.

He asks to be taken to their graves.

(Damage #15)

Several of his JSA "fathers" (Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, Ted Grant, and Ted Knight) come to the cemetery to meet him and try to make some sense of the situation. This information is just as new to them as it is to Grant, but they do seem willing to accept him and bring him into the JSA legacy.

This would have been an interesting direction to take the story: having the entire JSA take on Grant as their collective child. He used to have no real family, and now he's part of many families! But this is a dynamic that never gets to happen, for whatever reason. Although Grant does picture something like it in an illusory sequence. It's what he wants: acceptance into a family.

(JLA Titans #2)

But by the end of his solo, he's on his own, although he makes a point of seeking out Albert Rothstein, his father's godson, for information about his father--which we can assume Albert was only too happy to give. He and Al were very close.

We don't get to see here how hearing about how someone else got to have a warm, quasi-parental relationship with the father Grant never got to meet might have affected Grant, but remember this for later.

(Damage #20)

During Grant's hiatus from the Titans, he and Jesse Quick have an encounter with some malevolent beings who impersonate people from their past. Grant sees his parents and hears something from his father that he probably has always wanted to hear.

(Titans 1999 #45)

But he's still enough in possession of his faculties to question it with the painful truth. His father never met him. Never knew about him. Couldn't have cared about him. And what does that leave him with? His foster parents and their "love" that came with abuse.

His real parents died before they could know him. His foster parents failed him. His JSA parents either are dead or haven't done much to actually support him after his time with the Titans and the fight that scarred his face. By the time Grant is a young adult and has joined the JSA (who all seem to have forgotten that they're technically related to him), he's harboring a lot of bitterness toward his father.

(Justice Society of America 2007 #3)

He insists he's not following in his father's footsteps, and he is adamant about not taking up his father's mantle. He is Damage.

There's some inconsistency in this panel (Grant knew nothing whatsoever about Al Pratt before finding out they were related), but it's made clear that the bitterness comes from feeling abandoned and disconnected.

(Justice Society of America 2007 #16)

This resentment comes to a head after Grant has joined the cult of a villain who restored his face. This change in loyalties has caused a lot of trouble for the JSA. Albert tries to do the brotherly thing and talk some sense into Grant by reconnecting him to his father.

(JSA Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom #1)

Which is something that should have happened a long time ago! Grant should have gotten the opportunity to see his parents' house and artifacts. It would have been a way to connect, especially at a time when he was more open to that, but for whatever reason that didn't happen, and he's in no frame of mind to accept this as a kindness.

Instead he projects his own jealousy onto Albert, destroys his father's belongings, uses a term for his father that is both very rude and inaccurate, and deliberately blows up the entire house.

(JSA Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom #1)

This level of maliciousness is not normal for him, and of course it's exacerbated by the influence of the villain he's currently following, but still...he's way out of line. This is him at his absolute worst. Accidental destruction has left him with a lot of guilt before. But how does he feel knowing that he let his anger get so out of hand that he obliterated so many physical ties to his father's memory--things that meant something, if not to him, then to his almost-brother?

Well, it's never directly addressed. But he does seem to have some guilt when faced with a memorial to his father.

(Blackest Night #1)

During the Blackest Night event, when Grant encounters the Black Lantern version of his father (basically an evil zombie), "Al" spouts all of Grant's frustrations with him.

And Grant responds with what Albert tried to remind him of. His father didn't know about him. It wasn't his fault. This is some small progress.

(Blackest Night #4)

In fact, if Al had known about Grant, things would have been incredibly different. The Pratts were evidently desperate to have children, since they were still trying for one so late in life (Grant would have been born in the late 1970s, and the Pratts would have been in their fifties by then if they were college-age in the early 1940s, which doesn't make a lot of sense for the established timeline, but whatever the case, the point still stands: older-than-usual first-time parents).

Before Al even married, he was already eager to find out if he and Mary would have kids and his reaction to learning that they'd have "at least one" is excitement.

(The New Golden Age #1)

Was it confidence in this prophecy that kept the Pratts trying for a baby for so long?

If Al's relationship with Albert is any indication of what he would have been like as a father, he would have been a good one. And he would have been outraged if he knew what the Emersons did to his son. If editorial mandate had not ensured that Zero Hour went the way it did, there could have been an eventual father-son reunion that would have taken Grant's solo in a completely different direction.

But that didn't happen, and Al is still dead in the current continuity. Grant, however, was last seen in the company of one of the newly restored lost children. Is he going to adopt a mentor role now? Will that require him to reconsider his own relationships with all the father-figures he had/could have had?

At any rate, a good step for him might be to address his name. After finding out about his complicated parentage, he felt that Damage was the only name he had left. But that's not true.

What if he dropped "Emerson," the name of the people who abused him, a symbol of all that painful baggage he's been carrying around? What if he instead chose to proudly use his birth name: Grant Albert Pratt?

[scarlet--wiccan]

Wanda is going to be in Spider-Man: Homeroom Heroes 2, which is presumably an au since Peter is in highschool. It’s interesting to me that she appears to be wearing the costume from Marvel Verses: SW (down to the kneepads), which seems to be based on the mcu (civil war?) costume

It’s an odd choice for the marvel verses book (since they usually seem to take existing art for those); afaik, the original image was for marketing; I saw it the first time on Amazon as a link to scarlet witch merch and remember noting that her skin was half a shade darker than the white characters on the same page, which felt like a hollow gesture. This new take looks better imo but it is weird that this look is kind of becoming an alternate costume for Wanda. Do you have any thoughts on this either just as a costume or as an extension of marvel’s treatment of Wanda’s race?

Just for clarity-- Spider-Man: Homeroom Heroes is a new series following a teenage Peter Parker that's billed for young readers. It's not set in canon, and I assume that the tone is going to be very simplified and tailored to, presumably, grade school kids. Marvel-Verse is a series of collected volumes that are meant to act as an introduction to various Marvel characters for people who are new to comics. The cover of the Scarlet Witch edition features an original illustration of Wanda wearing a non-canon costume, that I can only describe as derivative of the trenchcoat costumes Olsen wore prior to Wanda//Vision.

I've actually seen versions of this design before, usually on products like games or other comics for young readers. If I had to guess, I think the thought process is that consumers who only know Wanda from the movies wouldn't recognize her classic costume or any of her most recent contemporary looks, so she ends up wearing this half-assed M C U pastiche instead. Her skin tone varies-- this has been going on since before the Dauterman redesign-- but even in examples like these, where she looks like she's meant to be tan, she's pretty washed out. The lightened hair doesn't help.

I think it's silly-- if you're trying to get new consumers to read comics, they're going to have to get used to spandex eventually-- but it's not exactly offensive. Wanda's lucky, in that M C U synergy has never really impacted her appearance or characterization in actual comics, so this weird mashup doesn't actually reflect reality. It's weird to see what's meant to be Wanda, as a visible woman of color, wearing a version of the movie costume, but it doesn't bother me as much as, say, fanart of Olsen wearing the Dauterman costume, or whitewashed fanart of Marvel Rivals.

I guess my only real verdict is that the costume just doesn't look good, and I think that the artists, editors, and marketing people who opt for this are doing both the consumer and the character a disservice. But I'm here to write about comics and their adaptations-- I can't get too worked up about extant material. As long as this never leaks into canon, it's not going to be a big concern for me.

[bluedalliances]

Or read it on ao3, that's cool too <3

When it becomes evident that the end of the world won’t be a one night event, but a slow burn catastrophe, domesticity starts sneaking back into everyone’s lives. At first is subtle, someone sleeps in one morning, the older teenagers open a few beers under the sun, and Max’s laugh, loud as always, can be heard from the street. They need the small things, silly little pleasures that keep them from going absolutely insane while they wait for hell’s next move.

In those moments, Will realizes, the headquarters (Steve’s place) feel like an actual home for everyone.

His mom and Mrs. Henderson start knitting together on the couch. They say it’s because they’re going to need extra blankets if the situation extends into winter, but they spend most of the time talking and trying to teach anyone vaguely interested how to use the needles.

Soon after, Max decides it’s the perfect time to show more stuff to El, and Dustin jumps into it immediately. He picks a corner in the living room and makes a small but extremely organized archive with all their comics, books, movies, and tapes.

Even if everyone is leaving their favorite things there, Will is afraid there will be no place for his interests. After moving to California, he had gotten more and more into world building and fantasy, writing and illustrating all the campaigns he once would have shared with his friends. However, last time he saw any of them, they had been less than interested in games, monsters, or stories. And sure, they had been playing at Hellfire all year, but he still can't shake the memory of Mike’s bored rolls and Lucas’s amused look, like he was trying to indulge a child with his silly games even if he wanted to make fun of him, or the way they would cut every session short, never getting to finish their last campaign.

In the end, it’s Gareth who gives him the push he needed. One afternoon, the boy knocks at his bedroom door, looking nervous and rambling about how he thought maybe Will would like to put his D&D books next to his and Eddie’s ones, but of course he doesn't have to, it was just an idea because everyone said Will was a great DM and filled his books with notes and that sounds really cool, you know? They end up talking for hours while they go through whatever the others left and add Will's stuff to it.

It's an odd collection, and now there’s always someone showing something to El or fighting to be the one who does, but also going through the homemade library themselves, listening or talking about their own interests, as they realize they can share everything they love with the others. They even bring the older ones as “guests” to talk about different things. Jonathan and Eddie introduce them to punk, metal, and poetry, Nancy brings her scrapbook of “inspiring women of history”, Steve shows them his favorite romcoms and explains which things actually happen in real life and which ones they should never put up with, Argyle and Gareth go on a long discussion about the merits of Latin American music and their favorite protest songwriters, and Robin explains the use of idioms and sarcasm. At first, they extend the invitation to everyone, but have to put a quick stop to it when Joyce tries to give them the most awkward attempt of a bees and birds talk. Later that night, Will tells her that Steve made sure they knew everything they needed to a while ago, and immediately makes her swear to never do something like that again.

As the sight of small groups gathering in the living room becomes an everyday thing, Steve picks up baking again. That one involves a short talk between Hopper and Owens, where Jim ever so subtly informs him that while his kids might have lost everything, they will not be losing the joy of their hobbies, specially if they involve chocolate. After that, there’s always a “Steve” package in their government-provided supply boxes, and the house starts smelling like cinnamon and lemons all the time. Everyone loves it, especially Eddie. It doesn't matter how early you wake up, you can find him in the same spot on the counter every morning, holding a cup of coffee and smiling in silence as Steve makes breakfast for everyone.

The last thing to come is Eddie’s campaign.

What he planned to be a simple one shot to entertain everyone on a rainy day, quickly turned into a six-week adventure that now is close to its end. They finally found the BBEG, an undead wizard that’s behind decades of hardships in the reign, and are close to defeating them, but also close to death. Lucas is down, Dustin and Mike are paralyzed, and even if Will hasn't rolled below 17 all night and Erica’s Barbarian is a force to behold, they are in trouble. Gareth has been getting shitty rolls all night, and he’s the only one left before it’s the Lich’s turn. If he fails, Eddie will attack Will, it’s the logical thing to do, and facing such a dangerous monster without a cleric would inevitably end up in TPK.

“Let's face it, I can't do it, we’re all gonna die,” says Gareth as he buries his face under his hands.

Will pats him on the shoulder and tries to ignore the tingling that spreads from his fingertips when they graze on skin over the neckline of Gareth’s shirt. “We’re not gonna die, you got this,” he goes for a smile, but is pretty sure it comes out all wrong and stiff.

Gareth meets his eyes, barely leaving his hiding place, but before he can do anything else Mike interrupts.

“No, he’s right, we’re gonna die.”

Everyone turns to glare at him. There have been long talks lately about the way things are said within The Party and how they can be hurtful.

“What?” Mike looks around the table, suddenly defensive. “The highest he rolled today is an eleven! It’s okay, it happens to everyone from time to time, I’m not trying to be an asshole here.”

Gareth sighs, and Will is pretty sure he’s ripping out his own hair with the way he’s pulling at it.

 “He’s right, guys. I guess I really upset the Fates this time.” Even if it starts in an overdramatic tone, playful and filled with the group's usual drama, he suddenly sits straight and turns to Eddie. “Do you think it’s because I didn’t let that Demodog eat Biscuit? Maybe his life was supposed to end that day and now they'll punish me for ruining their plans.”

He’s so serious about it that Will can't stop the laugh that escapes him, and a second later everyone follows. Even Steve, watching next to Max from the couch, lets out an amused snort. Leave it to Gareth to make a world out of a few unlucky rolls.

“Don't laugh, this is serious!” By now, Gareth actually heard himself and is fighting to keep a straight face. In his last attempt to keep himself from laughing, he goes back to his theatrics, whining and pouting. “Will, you’ve been doing great today, tell the Fates I’m a nice guy, share your luck with me.”

“You want guidance? Can I guide him for this?”

He’s looking at Eddie now, but two answers come at once, one from the DM, the other one by his side.

“This is not an ability check.”

“Sure, give me a good luck kiss.”

Even if he says it lightly, Will turns to him so fast, a twinge of pain runs up his neck. Silence falls around the table and he can feel everyone’s eyes on them. Gareth looks shocked by his own words as his face fills with red, and Will would find it cute if he wasn’t so sure he looked the same.

“You know what? I'm feeling generous.” Eddie’s stunned expression turns into a gleeful grin. Mischief takes over his eyes, and Will realizes this is the mean DM everyone talks about. The sight quickly finds its way to his top five most scary experiences and, considering their history, that's not a small achievement. “I’ll allow it as a blessing, if you actually kiss Gareth”.

As soon as he says it, hell breaks loose around them. Everyone wants to have a say in this.

Will should’ve expected that. During their first session, he discovered that, with Eddie, role-playing beats every rule in the book. Truthful to his theater kid nature, he’ll allow anything if it makes the game exciting. And exciting it is, if the fluttering of Will’s heart is something to go by.

As everyone laughs and yells and argues around them, he looks at Gareth and finds him already staring.

“You don’t have to”, the older boy says. “Eddie doesn't realize he makes people uncomfortable sometimes, but he won't press if you say no.”

Will thinks about it for a second. He could say no, and no one would give him shit for it, but he needs to know. Even if it’s not the time and everyone’s looking, even if he’s scared to death, he needs to know if he needs to rip these fluttering feelings apart before they grow too big and dangerous.

Is this a rosebush or a baobab?, he wants to ask.

But thoughts need translation sometimes, so he says, “Would it make you uncomfortable?”

“Kissing you?”

As Will nods, he sees Gareth’s eyes falling to his lips and back to his eyes. A small smile is taking over his face, hesitatingly, and Will’s not nervous anymore. He knows that smile, it’s the same one he sees before Gareth hands him a cup of tea and the last of Steve’s cookies, as he asks him about his campaign ideas or listens to his honestly annoying rant about the pros and cons of choosing the Moon Circle as a Druid.

It’s a familiar smile, kind and welcoming.

He’s already getting closer when Gareth finally says, “never”.

At some point, everyone went silent again and now they’re waiting for a show.

“Whenever I look at you, I see the fire of your bloodline, Gareth the Great.” Will cups Gareth's cheek and leans in until their noses are touching. He doesn't make his character’s voice this time. He wants Gareth to know this is all him. “When you speak, I feel the warmth that runs through your veins, and when you stand by my side, I feel invincible. I believe in your power,” his last words are said against Gareth's lips, barely above a whisper for him to breathe in, “give him hell.”

And just like that, he does it. It’s a soft kiss, gentle and sweet, filled with untold feelings, but there’s no doubt to it, Gareth is kissing back.

“I feel very lucky right now, Will the Wise.”

As they pull apart, the world regains its shape and Will can almost hear his friends’ surprise. El is slapping Max’s arm in excitement as they giggle, and Eddie gives a smug smile to Steve. Will would see it if he had half a mind to stop looking at Gareth.

Gareth, who’s smiling and reaching for his dice without taking his eyes away from Will either.

“I cast fifth level fireball.”

Only then, he turns back to the table and rolls both dice, his own and the one given by a kiss.

The rattling against the table seems to go forever, but Will can't tear his eyes from Gareth’s face to see what’s going on. He knows it’s good when the other boy turns to him with the brightest smile he’s ever seen.

“Natural twenty, for a total of twenty-seven with Will's dice”, he announces. Everyone roars again, and the air feels alive with their excitement.

“That’d be a crit hit,” says Eddie with a proud smile, the mean DM facade falling in pieces. “Add six D6 for me.”

That’s so many dices that Gareth has to borrow a few from Will and Dustin to do it in one go.

“Ohgodohgodohgod,” says Gareth as he counts, “that’s— 68 fire damage.”

Shocked voices take over the room and Holly mother of a Demogorgon gets mixed with fuck, fuck, Gareth that’s insane and that must’ve been a really good kiss.

 “Children, children. Be silent for a minute.” Eddie stands up from his place at the head of the table and looks straight at Gareth, putting an immediate stop to the noise.

“I regret to inform you, Gareth the Great,” he says before a long pause that has everyone holding their breaths and at the edge of their seats, “that you’ll have to use that one brain cell of yours and tell me how you want to end this motherfucker.”

A grin spreads across Eddies face as the gleeful screaming comes back.

Gareth stands up and starts acting his character’s moves, one hand extended in front of this body. “You all see sparks surge from my face. They start right under Will’s fingers and travel down to my arm and hand, where a small spark of fire forms. It gets bigger as it travels through the air and you can see it's purple, just as Will's clothes. It fills the far side of the room, engulfing the Lith and turning him into ashes.”

“As the Lith turns into ashes”, Eddie takes over, “you, Gareth, hear his voice in your head. He promises to come back, to end you and your party, to make you regret ever crossing his way. But right now the fight is over, you can heal your companions and take a good night's rest. Is there anything you want to do before we wrap up for today?”

“I'm going to hug Gareth and whisper, ‘you made it’,” says Will.

“Only because of you.”

They're staring at eachother again, and Will realizes that, just for a moment, he feels no fear.

“Okay, love birds,” interrupts Erica in her character’s voice. “Let's heal mister can’t-do-anything-without-fainting and get out of here, I need a drink.���

Everyone laughs at that as Lucas complains. They still have to find the Lich’s phylactery and find out what waits for them in this adventure, but that’s a story for another day.