#i love both drawing heroes with other people's design sensibilities because i learn so much and get to reach out of my usual habits

[yo-yo-yoshiko]

Various art fight attacks! Was significantly less active this year but had lots of fun drawing others' characters none-the-less!

Hydrofight by Dregan

Rain Valeria by Gglixious

Lava Lord by TheEntertainer

Spoon and Op by Murrower

[maxwell-grant]

On Lord Hawthorne

A lot of what makes Lavender Jack special to me is the way it’s so masterfully able to create engaging, modern material out of it’s influences, and it’s creation of a genuinely timeless pulp icon that I think should serve as the ideal baseline for any and all creators who want to create stories based on pulp characters, old and new alike, in the future. 

As I make my way through Season 2 and eagerly await Season 3 I’d like to take the time to talk a little about the often overlooked half of the villain duo of Season 1, Lord Hawthorne, and what I think is interesting about him. Out of the many ways pulp heroes have been reimagined into villains over the decades, Lord Hawthorne stands out to me as easily one of the best ones, as a thoughtful take on the Tarzan character.

Spoilers before the cut

The first thing everyone immediately picks about Lord Hawthorne is that he’s Tarzan, with hardly any ifs or buts about it. He’s Tarzan, and we quickly learn that he’s the villain, part of a villain duo with Lady Hawthorne, the real mastermind and kingpin in pearls behind the story’s events. Having Tarzan as the villain n a story that draws from pulp and Edwardian fiction is already an interesting start, as three of the most popular molds from which are pulp heroes are based on, three of the most popular characters as icons, are Tarzan, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and Sherlock Holmes, all three of which exist in some capacity in the world of Lavender Jack. The Gentleman Villain, The Great Detective, and The Wild Man.

Lavender Jack, as I’ve mentioned, is based on the Pimpernel, as well as other figures such as Spring-Heeled Jack and Bertie Wooster. Jack draws from icons that largely predate the pulp heroes because, in Schkade’s own reasoning, if you’re going to try and create an authentic pulp hero, it only makes sense to use as a base the characters that largely inspired them, and clearly that worked out very well. Jack is a Pimpernel remodeled and recontextualized into modern sensibilities, into an era of superheroes and webcomics.

In the Great Detective’s case, we have the figure of Madame Theresa Ferrier, who is called into the story by the Mayor to try and solve the mystery of Lavender Jack’s identity. Schkade describes Ferrier as a character that pulls from elements of detectives like Hercule Poirot and C.Auguste Dupin as well as Sherlock Holmes, in particular Jeremy Brett’s later year performances. As he describes:

In the series’ final years, Brett was getting older, sicker, hindered by bipolar medications that sapped his energy and caused him to gain weight, and he used it. His Holmes became a fading, melancholic shadow of his younger self, but with the spark of his brilliance showing through when it counted. I always found that so compelling

Ferrier is repeteadly described in-universe as “The Great Detective”, and she is both the oldest as well as the most brilliant character in the comic. Despite her age, despite her physical complications, and the tragedy that surrounds her love life, she is nonetheless incredibly skilled, strong and resourceful, able to unmask Jack and survive a confrontation with Lord Hawthorne and even nearly beat him. Ferrier draws from the Great Detectives of old, but this is a character that could never be mistaken for any of them. She’s not specifically based on any of them because, as Schkade puts it: “I wanted her to be someone I’d never get to draw in a leading role in most of my work-for-hire jobs”. 

Her role in the comic ends up being one of mentorship to Jack, and despite her age being emphasized as well as the idea of her belonging to an older generation of great heroes that now gives way to the younger and hot-blooded Jack as well as Ferrier’s new partner in Honoria Crabb, Ferrier is very much another great example of where the old meets the new in Lavender Jack. Pulling from the great old archetypes but very much recognizable as her own thing. 

Thing is, when it comes to Lord Hawthorne, we don’t really get that, because Lord Hawthorne isn’t really combining the idea of Tarzan with a splash of something new and outstanding and modern. He really is just Tarzan, and not a terribly layered character at that, for much of the story he’s largely just a voiceless bulldozer who exists to do the dirty work of Lady Hawthorne no matter how dirty. This isn’t at all a criticism, because I think Hawthorne being just Tarzan, with little to no bells and whistles and twists on it, is central to what makes him work not just as a great physical threat Jack must overcome (in a similar way to Bane as both a monstrous powerhouse and also having a strong connection to a powerful pulp hero), but also someone whose tragedy comes to light as we finally learn more about him. The fact that he is monosyllabic and largely devoid of any personal interests or life outside of being muscle for Lady Hawthorne is something deliberate, as outlined in a speech given by another character in Chapter 39

Her world's been changing for years, now. She's taking her place in a wider game. A more nuanced game. And you're still...Why, you're only good for one thing, aren't you? Well, maybe two, you old hound, you.

I know why you spend vast stretches of the year off in that jungle. It's not for sport, it's not to keep your edge...it's because when there's no need to fight, no struggle to win, no enemy...there's just...you.

And you know there's not really anything to you, underneath all those scars and muscles.

No dreams, no warmth, no depth. Nothing to love.

So you stay away...and that way, you can come when she calls you. You can sweep back to Gallery and show up all filthy and draw her into your powerful, savage embrace....and maintain your novelty.

All of this so you'll never have to endure a silent sunday afternoon where there's nothing to do, any no one to kill, and your lady simply...doesn't...need you.

You do know this word, don't you, Hawthorne, old fellow? "Novelty?"

And how does he respond?

Not with a denial, but an affirmation that this is ultimately all personhood amounts to, in his worldview. Just one more thing to be conquered and then used as a club to batter others with. 

The very act of a character questioning their own worth and depth of personality usually tends to be a telling sign that they, in fact, have those things even if they are out of touch with them, but Hawthorne doesn’t particularly rebuff anything Van Lund’s saying. He just reaffirms his title as Lord while threatening him with violence, because violence is all he knows. 

As we later learn, Lord Hawthorne isn’t, in fact, the real Lord Hawthorne, but instead he and his wife usurped the title from the real one as they escaped from the jungle, where he was only known as “the wild man”. A man who’s been forced his entire life to live in a kill-or-be-killed world, to live as an animal in constant conflict with humans, was then captured and then brutally tortured every day for over a month, and then found for the first time someone who treated him with something resembling affection, someone who ultimately turned him into a tool for her evil designs, and he readily accepts this because he has no life, no identity, outside of her. He doesn’t even know his own name.

In fact, for all we know, he might as well be John Clayton himself, except he was born in a world where being Tarzan is not the greatest thing ever and there was no Jane or ape mother to guide his malleable heart into something resembling good, and there was only Sarah to mold him into an instrument of murder at his lowest point.

I argue that Tarzan is a character that’s all about freedom and vitality, as a heroic take on an archetype that’s long been the missing link between superheroes and monsters, where the dual nature of mankind between person and ape acts not as a disorder or source of conflict but instead as the ultimate power fantasy in a character who gets the best of both with none of the downsides. Lord Hawthorne isn’t necessarily a return to form, because there is no dual nature to him. There is no gentleman, no Lord Greystoke descendant of nobility, romantic hero and great adventurer and leader of men and whatnot. There is only the ape, and what little façade has been grafted onto him by his master so he can pass off as a person, only long enough until he takes his shirt off and starts murdering people for her. While we get long extended close-ups of the icy cruelty in Lady Hawthorne’s eyes, there is none for Lord Hawthorne, because he is not cruel, he is an animal. He’s not a fighter, he’s a survivor. He lives to kill and serve the person who tells him who or what to kill. 

Lord Hawthorne is what happens when you strip the Tarzan legend of the romanticism of fiction and you look at it for what it would likely result in: the tragic story of a child forced to grow in the jungle, where the concept of personhood and human decency are utterly meaningless and there is only survival, where his existence is at odds with the worlds of man and animal alike, and what happens when that sort of being receives a first contact with something resembling decency and love. Even if said first contact wasn’t with someone as evil as Lady Hawthorne, there was little chance Lord Hawthorne’s life was ever going to be anything other than just an extension of his life in the jungle, or end in anything other than tragedy, and ultimately even the characters start to pity the wild man.

Jack: All that power and stamina and fighting acumen, but yet all you seem to get to use it for is...this. Another laborious climb to another locked-room murder.

Ferrier: You've long passed the point where human lives hold any meaning. You are detached from our species, a...a stranger, loose among us. I thought the sight of you would stir distain in me, or even fear...but as I look at you now...I feel for you only the strangest sort of pity.

What I like most about Lord Hawthorne as a take on Tarzan is that, far too often, we see intended “deconstructions” or reinterpretations of the classic pulp heroes, or even superheroes, that largely just make them villainous by extrapolating the worst possible interpretations of the character’s traits or real-life circumstances around them to villainize them, or outright invent faults and problems that weren’t there in the source material, usually to put one character over the other. The entirety of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is built on this, as is a lot of Superman parodies built on getting the most graphically shocking results possible. 

I'll admit it’s somewhat hypocritical of me to criticize this entirely, because it’s an impulse that I sadly admit I myself have fallen into in my own writings on characters not my own, as anyone who’s ever talked with me about Doc Savage, a character I do not like and cannot bring myself to like, can testify. I get why this happens, even if I understand why it’s shitty. Ultimately, the best “deconstructions” or reinterpretations will always come from people who are best familiar with the material they are using and know exactly the best ways to twist it, like with Mark Waid’s Irredeemable, an Evil Superman comic written by a huge Superman fan who knows exactly the absolute worst ways a Superman character can go sour, and was leagues ahead of works like The Boys and Brightburn who largely just take the “easy” pot shots. 

With Lord Hawthorne, we get a character who’s an evil take on Tarzan, but whose evilness isn’t made from exaggerating or adding faults to the source material character, which could very easily be done. I never got the sense that the author hates Tarzan and wants everyone to hate Tarzan and is willingly to sacrifice immersion just to get across how much he hates Tarzan (again, something LOEG does way too often), in fact it really doesn’t matter how the author feels about Tarzan, because those feelings are irrevelant to what’s on the page. 

Instead, Lord Hawthorne is an evil take on Tarzan whose characterization is largely based on just looking at the source material, the character’s origins, and extrapolating the circumstances in which that could go sour. What would a “wild man” forced to grow up and fight for survival every day in the jungle look like, what would that person look like when making it’s first contact with human affection, how could that person be twisted and manipulated into becoming a villain, what’s even left to that person outside of violent action scenes. How little it would take to twist a childhood hero into a brute that murders old women in their hospital beds, just by tweaking a few details about the context surrounding him. 

He is not a caricature of Tarzan, he’s not a parody, he is just Tarzan, but no longer the power fantasy. No longer the center of fantastical adventures. No longer getting the best of both worlds, but instead having to contend with the worst of them. Ultimately only finding some dignity in death, with his nemesis expressing hope that, maybe somewhere else, he’s going to have better luck than what this world afforded him.

[princeasimdiya12]

My Hero Captain Mightypants

So I was talking with @tornrose24 about the potential of having the cast of My Hero Academia in a Captain Underpants AU. She mentioned how there were several parallels regarding the two series so I figure I can come up with something for the two.

So for starters, Toshinori Yagi and All Might would play the roles of Mr. Krupp and the Waistband Warrior. In this reality, Toshi would be the school principal. Unlike Krupp, Toshinori is not a heartless jerk who gets off of tormenting children. He’s a fair and understandable man who does give his students a chance to prove themselves and see if they can better themselves. Although he’s quite serious and pretty cynical. The reason is because his physical health was weak and limited his opportunities in life so it gave him little to no hope over what he can accomplish on his own. Until one fateful day, when the protagonists unintentionally hypnotize him into the Waistband Warrior Captain Mightypants. His new personality would be just like All Might’s public persona: confident, over the top, friendly, compassionate. The only problem would be that (initially) he’s now a skinny man in briefs and a cape. Thankfully that changes when the heroes come across a carton of “Juice For All” and in a desperate bid to save themselves, they give some of it’s juicy contents for their malnourished hero. This results in CM obtaining his muscular physique and powers that allow him to take on any foe. And his secret identity is secure now that the two forms have radically different personalities and appearances. 

As for our heroes, they would be played by Ochako Uraraka and Izuku Midoriya as George and Harold respectively. Ochako is technically the first genuine friend of Izuku/Harold who helped them out of their bullying situations. She’s also quite witty and is assertive when facing challenges. Izuku would be Harold since he faced many years of isolation, having a disappeared dad, and being the victim of horrid bullies. Apart from the gloomy stuff, he’s also super interested in superheroes and would spend his time making drawings and statistics for each new hero he created. Once Ochako arrives, she would encourage him to make stories with his characters and how each hero would use their skills and overcome their challenges. I can’t really see them pulling consistent pranks since neither of them have ever been the type to prank others. If anything, I see them pulling one big prank on the school jerkhole Bakguou which is big enough to earn the disapproving attention of Mr. Yagi. Izuku would freak out over having his permanent record being tarnished and Ochako, in a desperate bid to save themselves, would pull out a hypno ring and would brainwash Toshinori to stop him from delivering punishment.

Now let’s talk about everyone’s ‘favorite’ jerkhole. Bakugou Katsuki would be the Melvin of the AU. An arrogant, cocky, unpleasant rival who takes pleasure in proving his superiority over others and belittling everyone around him. He continues his role as Izuku’s bully by tormenting him during their early years. But he isn’t able to get away with it once Ochako steps in and vows not to let him get away with his abuse. So the bullying isn’t as prevalent but Bakugou still shows up every now and then to mock and tease them. He also shares the nerd’s dedication to studying and getting great grades. Regarding tech smarts, Bakugou would spend most of his time creating high grade weapons and explosives to see what he can build and to blow off steam whenever he needs time to vent. (He goes to the junkyard/wasteland and blasts things). If I had to give him sympathetic qualities to keep him from being too unlikable, then I’d go with how his need to lash out is because of an inferiority complex where he believes he isn’t good enough for anyone. Both his parents are busy with their own jobs, and his mom is terrible at showing positive affection, and everyone keeps away from him because of his bad attitude. So in Bakugou’s mind, he’s made lashing out a way to cope with his loneliness and to trick himself into thinking that he doesn’t need anyone as long as he’s the best. This is a little tricky so I’d like to come back and rework this later.

Now for the other characters!

Momo Yaoyorozu would be the Erica Wang. A mature honors student who takes her academics seriously and is also a great leader among her peers. She has a big sister role when it comes to Ochako and Izuku’s antics and tries to steer them into making smart and sensible choices. She’s also involved in alot of after school programs and activities as a means of ensuring that she can enter the best school possible and obtain a worthy career. Her arc would be to learn that while academics are important, it’s also important to enjoy her youth alongside her friends and just relax. And in reference to her quirk and Erica’s hammerspace, Momo would conveniently have any object or item that the heroes need.

Kirishima Eijirou as Bo. They’re both the designated strong boys of the group who would use their physical strength to help out their friends. Kirishima also has insecurities like Bo when it comes to how people perceive him and whether he can be a reliable friend. In the past, he had his hair black and would keep to himself because of his doubts. But with the heroes’ help, he starts to come out of his shell and is more open with everyone. And he even dyes his hair to help him stand out. In reference to his quirk, Kirishima can make little figurines out of rock and stone. 

Ibara Shiozaki as Dressy. Both of them are nature loving girls who try to maintain peace and order among their friends and classmates. No matter the circumstances, she always has a calm mood. For the AU, Ibara’s hair would either be dyed green or she’d have twigs, leaves and flowers all over because of how much time she spends in the garden. 

Aizawa would probably be the Ribble of this universe. Along with being the main homeroom teacher, he’s also shown in a serious and gloomy mood and has zero tolerance for the tomfoolery of his children. Though like with Toshi, he wouldn’t have the same level of cruelty as Ribble. His ‘villain’ persona would be “The Scaremaster”; a villain who along with having long and controllable hair, he’d be able to scare anyone into submission with his deadly stare. The kids hypnotize him in order to make him forget about a disastrous event but unintentionally convince him to become the Scaremaster. And things get worse when his face gets splashed with “Juice For All”. 

And as weird as it sounds, I’d go with Present Mic as Mr. Meaner. Mic is also shown to be pretty dense but approachable like Meaner was in the series and is the second most recurring teacher alongside Aizawa/Ribble. He tends to overreact and would embarrass himself with his hammy nature. Most of the time, he can’t even complete the physical activities he set up and is mainly there to talk and push the kids to get through it.

And for the sake of shipping, we can have Inko as Edith the Lunch Lady. They’re both fat, soft-hearted and timid women who try to make the most of any situation. Along with being her main source of income, Inko took on the job because of the bullying and wanted to make sure that her son was okay. But after seeing how her son was able to make new friends and stop the bullying on his own, Inko finds herself with more time to focus on her own interests. She’d also has frequent “parent-faculty” meetings with the principal as they both try to bond and interact with each other while trying to stay professional. They’re both really awkward at it but they still enjoy their time together.

And for the actual villains (this is gonna involve major spoiler territory so please proceed with caution).

The villain who would play Poopypants would be Daruma Ujiko. Both of them are short, glasses wearing scientists who are genuinely evil and have no remorse when it comes to making horrifying experiments for their own personal agendas. Just like in the movie, Daruma came to the school in the hope of perfecting his experiments while also using the children as pawns/subjects for his weapons. He struck gold when it came to Bakugou’s weapons and promised the kid great success if he let him ‘borrow’ some of his weapons. 

And I think I’d go with All For One as Sir Stinks Alot. Granted he won’t be Meaner but it works in the sense that he’s an incredibly intelligent villain who is able to control others much like how SSA had the support of the faculty and created the drug to brainwash the children at Jerome Horwitz. For most of the series, AFO would stay in the background as Daruma, along with several other monsters/villains, would serve as his eyes and ears as they frequently terrorize Piqua. Initially they came to take over, but what caught AFO’s attention was a mysterious hero in his underwear along with two students who frequently defeat his forces. This intrigues AFO as he intends to learn more about Mightypants and what would be the best way to dispose of him.

And those would be the key players of the AU. If anything, I’ll try to think of more people who can be involved aswell as other plot points for the cast. What do you think?

[thesinglesjukebox]

ROSALíA - MALAMENTE

[8.23]

This song won Best Alternative Song and Best Urban Fusion/Performance, and based on this score, probably should have won everything else too.

Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: Flamenco-pop, flamenco-tinged R&B, even flamenco rap and flamenco-reggaetón, are nothing new -- past heroes like Rosario, Bebé, Chambao, Papá Levante and fusion legends Ojos de Brujo all have enjoyed international projection and can be considered Rosalía's natural predecessors in that aspect. Rosalía gladly and effectively acknowledges that tradition while contributing to it with her empowered R&B-flavored chants, and the latin urban sensibilities in El Guincho's productions. "Malamente" establishes an interesting dynamic between the modern synths and pads and the traditional palmas a compás, which work in counter-rhythm to her cante, for a track that offers a glimpse into the percussive complexities of rumba while feeling at home in one of those alt-pop playlists. It's a new step in flamenco's legacy. [8]

Crystal Leww: My introduction to Rosalía was her feature on J. Balvin's latest album, a quiet, downtempo, fluttering track among an album of reggaetón bangers. At the Latin Grammys, she beat his monster of a tune "Mi Gente" for Urban/Fusion performance with "Malamente." It's easy to see why: this is slinky and sensual with plenty of interesting flourishes in the production as well as her very own vocal performance. It's perfect critic bait, as it stands out as driving towards a very specific sound, a re-imagining of a largely left behind musical genre in flamenco. The handclaps, the asides, the breaking of the glass, the reverb, the "tra! tra!" -- all of these should take you out of such a quiet song, but Rosalía does just enough without crossing the line. Enric Palau, director of Sónar music festival in Spain recently said that she could be the Rihanna of flamenco. And don't get me wrong, I love Rihanna, but she never had the vision to do something like this. [7]

Alfred Soto: Relistening to Radiohead is not an experience to which I often submit myself, but their use of hand claps, programmed or otherwise, loosened me up for what Rosalía attempts on "Malamente," complete with mournful keyboard. [7]

Nortey Dowuona: Twirling, circular drums wind up around the soft synths, with Rosalía's gentle, short singing and claps carefully herding them together into the field. [8]

William John: We don't have any Andalusian writers on the Singles Jukebox roster, as far as I know, which is a shame in this instance because I've been desperate to read something in English about Rosalía from that perspective that isn't a garbled translation derived from Google software. Rosalía is Catalan, but has sent shockwaves through Spain that are slowly permeating into other Western markets (I confess to learning of her from a Dua Lipa tweet); the shockwaves are in part due to her striking videos, overseen by CANADA (also responsible for that memorable El Guincho video a few years back, who incidentally handles production here), but also for her use of gitanx imagery and accents as a non-gitana. She's addressed these matters with defensiveness and naivety in interviews, and thus in Spain is the subject of some controversy. To her credit, she has worked with Las Negris, a group whose members are part of the Montoyita flamenco dynasty, on this song and elsewhere on her album El mal querer, and she seems to be both a devoted student of flamenco tradition and aware of her place in its world. Her designation as a pioneer, as someone revolutionising a centuries-old artform, seems to have come from media outside Spain more than anywhere else, and it's important to acknowledge that though she presents a perspective that may initially strike Anglo listeners as unusual, she's not the first and likely not the last flamenco artist to add personal flourish to this esteemed cultural institution. But when you watch her in "Malamente," with its portentous murmuring and dramatic "tra TRA!" hook -- one of the year's most insidious -- as she variously claps with menace leaning over the steering wheel of a truck, is raised up by forklift like a martyr to the pyre, and sits atop a frozen motorcycle, flagged down by a matador, with an expression of incredible intensity, isn't her baptism as a revolutionary, future world conqueror the most obvious conclusion? [9]

Iris Xie: Something about this song is instinctual, velvety, and haunting, like it will grab you by the chest and then dare you to explore what lies in the world that it came from. Inside of its vortex, it conjures up the perfect environment for being audacious enough to dance on a cutie that you see at the club, and there's enough breathing space in between the instrumentals and vocals to cultivate a chemistry and charisma after. There's a stunning pre-chorus from 1:34 that reminds me of the high, dreamy vocals in some Bollywood sequences, before it drops back low into a whispered chorus that undulates with a mesmerizing repetition. You can't help but dance along to that. It's a siren's song, remixed for 2018 and creeping along to a venue near you. [8]

Stephen Eisermann: Growing up, I was always enthralled by (what I thought was) gypsy culture. Clearly, the problematic media portrayals in both Disney movies and novelas my mom had playing in the background gave me a limited and exoticized view of gypsy culture and even now as I've taken the time to learn more, its hard to shake predispositions if the past. This song, very clearly R&B but with Latin tinges and seemingly Arab pop phrasing, is a culmination of all sounds that feel mysterious, as if the sound coming from my speakers form together to make that image of a gypsy from my past. All at once I'm enthralled and embarrassed, knowing that I should move past negative media portrayals yet entranced by the imagery this song brings to mind. [8]

Pedro João Santos: By releasing "Malamente," Rosalía achieved that moment of conquering the pop sphere all at once, in the span of 2:30. Aong with co-author El Guincho, Rosalía never relinquishes control, and they distill flamenco into sleek, diligently-precise soundscapes. That sonic mesh, differing from the traditional approach taken on her last album, has been the subject of controversy. I highly recommend reading from all points of view on the matter of cultural appropriation and, although that of the Andalusian community prevails, it's hard to grasp everything. This is a single that defies expectations of what an inaugural moment of pop domination is -- its foreboding edge, the multilayered sound, the conceptual richness (most evident if its parent album) -- and takes other expectations to an extreme -- vocal prowess is conspicuous, but my favorite part is how hooks are thrown relentlessly at the forefront and into the background. Within just ten seconds: "Así sí? Tra tra! Mal, muy mal, muy mal, muy mal... Mira! Toma que toma." Instant yet disorienting, seamless yet complex. In any measure other than cultural sensibility, as Rosalía's use of flamenco will continue to be the center of debate: it's bulletproof. [9]

Will Adams: The handclaps alone would have convinced me, but it's Rosalía's steely confidence that makes "Malamente" worth revisiting. [7]

Edward Okulicz: It's a short song, but it's so packed with intoxicating and instantly gratifying hooks and smaller, subtle details that make it so satisfying to dive deeply into. Rosalía's voice embodies so many moods in such a short time that one can't help but be impressed at her performance and composition. She sings, she whispers, she interjects her catchiest lines with other catchy parts. The clapping rhythm is infectious, and the song generates so much heat I'm sure my blood raised the temperature of my body a couple of degrees after having it on repeat for an hour. After that, I put it on for another hour. [9]

Juan F. Carruyo: Some friends of mine hyped Rosalía to me by claiming she was "inventing a whole new genre," which is probably a disservice to the successful fusion she and her co-conspirator El Guincho manage here: a bare bones production that's rescued by a sultry flamenco melody and lots and lots of attitude. This is the one that blew up because it's her most global, retaining just enough of an exotic touch to draw people in -- the handclaps, the slang that gives the song its title -- but also holding back from her virtuous pipes. [9]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Rosalía's sophomore album was inspired by a 13th century fable entitled The Romance of Flamenca, a classic love triangle story that centers on Count Archimbaut's jealousy-fueled transformation toward insanity. He eventually imprisons his wife -- the eponymous Flamenca -- in a tower, allowing her to leave its confines for no more than two reasons: bathing and mass. He was meant to represent the very opposite of courtly behavior to the story's readers, and yet, this portrait of a powerful man restricting a woman's life is just as necessary today. There's consequently no greater statement that could have started El mal querer than its lead single, "Malamente." The interaction of its flamenco palmas with minimal percussion and synth pulses pits listeners in a space between the traditional and contemporary. Even more, the spacious world that she and El Guincho create is simultaneously anxious and impassioned. Rosalía's vocalizing glides smoothly along the beat before sharply piercing listeners with jaleo in the form of "illo!" and "tra, tra!" adlibs. In the album's narrative, "Malamente" prefaces Archimbaut and Flamenca's wedding, and the track's subtitle indicates that the song is an omen. What is it foretelling, exactly? Well, it warns of the tumultuous relationship that's to come from the Count and his wife, but it's also a declaration that Rosalía is putting forth regarding her music, that it's going to be charting unfamiliar territory. Critics may, and have, decried "Malamente" as being disingenuous to flamenco's roots, positing that Rosalía is a mere cultural appropriater. This is despite her time spent at the Catalonia College of Music, a school where only one student per year is admitted to studying flamenco, and whose flamenco teacher commented that Rosalía was their most memorable pupil. She also has been vocal in wanting to collaborate with people outside the world of flamenco, and has already met with artists such as Pharrell and Arca. In a sense, Rosalía's critics try to force her into her own proverbial tower, but it's clear that she won't stay inside. With "Malamente," she delivers that very message to whoever will listen, reimagining new stories for Flamenca and flamenco in the process. [9]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: The way "Malamente" worms into your brain, dancing in as this amorphous thing pulsating polyrhythmically and working in tones just barely within the boundaries of pop music, is deeply compelling. Even more compelling is what Rosalía does with it: over the funhouse-mirror flamenco-R&B palace she builds, the Catalonian singer's precisely sung portrait of fractured fate and consequences feels real and haunted in a way that few pop songs truly are. [9]

[Read and comment on The Singles Jukebox]

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Oh boy one of these again

“Even though both of these characters are awesome, fans can’t help but argue among themselves, so the question is simple: Who makes the better Spider-Man? Is it the new kid on the block who is winning new fans over left and right, or is it the classic Spidey that basically started it all?”

 It’s Peter.

 This isn’t even a debate.

 One character is literally trying to be a replication of the other but throwing in some zigs where they zagged, whilst the other is the thing being replicated that also revolutionized comic books forever.

 “As always, the answer to this question is: “it depends.” ”

 Yes. It depends if you are a moronic clickbait author or not.

 Do most Miles Morales fans even honestly argue that Miles is the best Spider-Man as opposed to just...great in his own way?

 Like I’m pretty sure most Ben Reilly and Sam Wilson fans don’t try to honestly assert those guys are better than Peter or Steve.

 “How do you even begin to measure something like this? ”

 Who has had the biggest impact on the medium.

 Who was most original.

  Who has the most acclaimed stories.

  Who has had the most comparatively unconvoluted narrative.

 Who’s stories stick closest to the fundamental guiding ideas behind the core concept of Spider-Man and execute that the best.

 Mystery solved.

     20. MILES: BETTER ORIGIN

  “The Peter Parker Spider-Man has an origin story that is downright iconic. There’s no denying that. However, if we’re being honest, then Miles Morales has a much better origin story. And it’s one that modern audiences will find a much easier time relating to.”

Hmm, a scientifically gifted teenager gets bitten by a super science spider and gains spider powers that he doesn’t commit to using altruistically for the wider community. Because of this he fails to intervene in a crime the results of which ultimately wind up killing a noble person he admired. From this he learned that his great powers should be used responsibily to help others and carried a burden of guilt around with him. o this end he dressed up in webbed spandex and became a crime fighter called Spider-Man.

 Yeah...I can see how that is so much better and modern than Peter Parker’s origin...

  This doesn’t even explain how or why the origin is better, it just says Peter’s origin is iconic but Miles is better and leaves it at that.

 Surely if something is better than the iconic thing you’d have more to say about it.

  “Miles, meanwhile, had to deal with his powers being stolen by an uncle (whom we saw briefly in Spider-Man: Homecoming) before Miles’ early exploits with Venom led to the loss of his mother.”

 This isn’t part of his origin and therefore doesn’t belong in this section.

Moreover it’s asinine because it omits Peter’s early adventures to give the false impression Miles is better.

 Let’s say Miles’ uncle stole his powers. Why is this somehow better than ‘My uncle is dead, I need to step up and replace him as the man of the house, also my aunt is chronically ill, I am cash strapped and I constantly get shit in both my identities’.

 Call me crazy but wasn’t Spider-Man supposed to be ABOUT those normal life problems as opposed to the inherently fantastical problem of your magic science spider powers getting jacked?

 Or your mother dying due to an ooze monster before she was literally resurrected like two years later negating all drama?

 Even if his mother had remained dead, how does this make him better than Peter? His mother died. Wow. I’ve NEVER seen a superhero with a dead parent before. I’ve NEVER seen a female supporting character die in a superhero story before. Certainly not a Spider-man story. Certainly not a Spider-Man story that changed comic books forever before shallow repetitions like murdering the characters mother turned it into a mess of a cliché. A mess of a cliché that the same guy who did it reversed 2 years later.

  “In this way, he feels a much keener guilt over the passing away of a family member than Peter Parker does”

  **** please!

 His mother came BACk to life two years later and it wasn’t like his ENTIRE motivation after she died was BUILT around his grief over her death.

 Like Peter brings up Uncle Ben’s death so much that we needed to do a movie that SPECIFICALLY DOESN’T BRING IT UP!

 And this isn’t even getting into how despite being a family member the best analogy for Rio within Peter’s story is Gwen NOT Uncle Ben.

 And you cannot with a straight face tell any Spider-Man fan Gwen’s death was not AS keenly felt by Peter as Rio’s was for Miles.

 Miles quit after Rio died and then an arc or two later after a time skip he was back in the saddle. Meanwhile literally 2 years worth of issues were devoted to depicting Peter’s grieiving of Gwen and then we also wouldn’t shut up about it for another 40 years!

 “making him not only more motivated, but more sympathetic in the eyes of the readers.”

 If Rio’s death made Miles more motivated than Peter...why did he literally quit being Spider-Man after she died?

 This gets even dumber when you consider this article is drawing an analogy between Rio’s death and Uncle Ben.

 RIO’s death motivated Miles to quit for  A WHOLE YEAR!

 Uncle Ben’s death motivated Peter to BE a superhero for *checks watch) 56 years and counting!

 And what is this the tragedy Olympics? Miles deserves more sympathy because his mother died when he was fighting a villain than Peter does for when his father figure died due to someone he failed to stop?

 At best BOTH things are equally tragic and worthy of sympathy.

 At worst if you truly contextualize this, fuck no Miles doesn’t deserve more sympathy.

 I’m not saying ‘screw him he deserved it’. I’m just saying of course Peter had it worse.

 When Rio died that was the third major death in Miles’ life. His mother, his uncle and Ult Peter Parker.

 Yeah, that’s 2 dead family members to Peter’s 1 circa Gwen’s death right?

  Wrong. Peter lost his parents, his uncle which was his fault, George Stacy who was another father figure which he also felt guilty over and then also his girlfriend/practically his fiancé...which he also felt guilty over.

 Then you’ve got the fact that Miles, whilst feeling guilty over Ult Peter’s death, didn’t actually know him personally. Peter knew all those people personally sans his parents, but they were still his parents.

 And then he had to be the provider for May whilst having exactly zero emotional support from anyone other than her. Miles had Ganke through everything. Peter had jackshit and was also getting bullied and was also getting hated on by Jameson.

 You can’t even say “Well Miles had it worse because he saw his mother die violently right in front of him.” Peter saw and CAUSED Gwen to die violently in front of him, he saw George Stacy die violently in front of him, he at least KNEW Uncle Ben died violenty and in his own home to boot.

 And unlike Miles’ uncle or mother none of THOSE people came back to life!

 19. PETER: CREATIVE USE OF POWERS

 “Have you ever thought about how limited Peter Parker’s powers really are? No, seriously — he has spider-sense and super-strength, and he made himself some webs and that’s it”

 -and, spider agility, and spider speed and you know wall-crawling the one thing his namesake, a spider, FAMOUSLY does!

 “Seemingly every issue has him doing something new with his powers,”

 Says someone who’s clearly not read much Spider-Man.

 How the hell do you even begin to try and have him do something new in every issue across multiple monthly titles across 57 years my god!

 18. MILES: COOLER COSTUME

 “If you were trying to figure out what the most iconic comic book costume was, it may very well be Peter Parker’s Spider-Man costume. Those red and blue tights have inspired literally decades of comics fans, young and old. But we hate to break it to you: Miles Morales has the cooler costume.”

 “The red and blue may be iconic, but it’s also difficult to translate into the real world, such as live action films.”

 This is fucking moronic on four levels.

 Level 1: It was a costume designed for a comic book which isn’t set in the real world or even in a live action medium so the point is fucking moot because the measure of a COMIC BOOK character’s costume is how well it works in a COMIC BOOK.

 By this logic Batman’s costume sucks shit because it’s rarely translated well into live action and usually needed to be made all black.

 By this logic ALL MANGA isn’t that great because none of it translates t the real world.

 Level 2: If the thing is ICONIC then obviously is does effing work!

 Level 3: Solid black with red patterning on top of it. Yes. I can see how this is very original and inherently better.

 Level 4: The red and blue costume has literally been translated into film FOUR TIMES!

 “Meanwhile, Miles’ black and red costume looks sleek and modern.”

 Looking sleek and modern doesn’t counter ‘is difficult to translate to film’. Those are two separate things.

 Moreover, it’s ‘modernity’ is afforded it by being again, mostly unoriginal.

 Shit Spider-Man’s SECOND most iconic costume, which is also more iconic than Miles’, is even MORE sleek so does that make it more ‘modern’ too?

  It’s the same nonsense as before, ‘it’s just better’. How and why!

  “ It’s a perfect compromise between comic book sensibilities and real world aesthetics”

 Which means it’s not as good in the medium it was designed for as another costume that was!

 “and you can’t help but grin whenever you see it.”

 That isn’t even a point, that’s barely even an individual opinion!

 17. PETER: BETTER LOVE INTERESTS

“Sometimes, comparing Peter Parker and Miles Morales feels like comparing apples and oranges. ”

 And reading this article comparing them feels like throwing up.

 “That’s because there are some cool things that one hero has that the other doesn’t, meaning there’s no real comparison. ”

 Okay like...first of all if the author actually believes that then what the fuck is the point of this list!

 Second of all, the fact that they are comparing them means obviously they can be compared.

 Thirdly the fact that they are literally both characters called Spider-Man, with spider powers, based in New York, who got their powers the same way, fight ostensibly the same villains and (allegedly) touch upon the same types of sub-genres and are both made by Marvel comics OBVIOUSLY MEANS THEY ARE COMPARABLE!

 Like fuck dude, this isn’t like you are trying to compare Spider-Man to the Power Rangers!

  “Peter Parker has had an epic romance with Mary Jane Watson, as well as dalliances with Felicia Hardy and Carlie Cooper.”

  Really? You are going to list off a quick romantic history of Spider-Man and you mention MJ and Felicia and...Carlie Cooper.

 A character not seen since 2014. A character who dated Spider-Man for like one year publishing time.

 You will mention her but not, I dunno, Gwen effing Stacy?

  16. MILES: MORE INFLUENTIAL

 I’m face palming from just the title of this one.

 “One reason that we think Miles Morales might be the better Spider-Man is because of how influential he is. And we’re not just talking about more and more fans discovering the character each year. A major bit of evidence is that his character highly influenced the insanely successful Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

  Well I’m happy somebody is acknowledging Homecoming was basically a whitewashed Miles movie.

 “An example of this is Peter’s friend in the movie, Ned Leeds. Longtime Spidey fans were surprised that he looked nothing like the Ned of the comics. That’s because his design and characterization was based on Miles’ friend, Ganke Lee. On top of that, we even see Miles’ uncle, Aaron Davis, played by Donald Glover. This gave many fans hope we’d see Miles Morales in the MCU!”

  Just to be crystal clear here, this ‘article’ is asserting that Miles Morales, a character invented by Bendis and Pichelli less than 10 years ago, is more influential than the character that....literally every teenage super hero after 1962 was inspired by (including Miles himself)...who was created by one of the art Gods of all comics and the single most famous writer of comic books of all time.

 And their ‘evidence’ for this was...one movie from last year...that he wasn’t even in...

 15. PETER: FANTASTIC…FIVE?

There is nothing objectionable in this sans the fact that he joined the Future Foundation not the F4.

14. MILES: STEALTHY SPIDER

 “We love Peter Parker’s abilities but if we’re being honest, they don’t always make a lot of sense. Detecting future danger and being super-strong is really neat, but it never exactly screamed “spider” to us.”

 Spiders are very strong for their size. Hence ‘proportional strength of a spider’ as a commonly used phrase associated with the character.

 The Spider Sense is more defencible as being ‘not a spider thing’, but there are still ways to explain it.

 “It felt a bit like the writers were just making stuff up.”

 ...making stuff up is literally the definition of writing fiction...

 “And if you’re going to make up some weird powers, we say “go big or go home.””

 None of Peter’s powers sans his spider sense were even remotely weird if he was intended as a human spider.

  “And that’s why we like Miles Morales’ cool stealth ability. His ability to blend into his surroundings creates some really fun stories, and adds a fun dose of Batman to the Spidey stories that we love.”

 Not only is this dumb because being like another character is not a good thing (doesn’t it make you less unique), but worse it pretends like having stealth is something that’s even MORE insane for a spider than spider sense.

 It’s not.

 Spiders can camouflage into their surroundings like you know....shittons of animals people commonly know about.

 13. PETER: AVENGERS MEMBER

 Nothing that wrong here.

 12. MILES: GALACTUS FIGHTER

  “When fans argue about which characters are the best, there are plenty of different metrics. One of the biggest, though, is who the character has managed to fight. And if a hero is able to take on a villain well above their weight, it establishes just how serious they are.

So, how can you tell that Miles Morales is the best? He managed to take on Galactus. No, seriously — when Galactus threatened the universe, Miles Morales teamed up with resident big brain Reed Richards in order to get information and allies. While it was definitely a team effort, Miles should get credit for tackling a bigger foe than Peter Parker ever did.”

 This is so fucked up it’s not even funny.

 By this logic ANY TIME Peter contributed even a little to a team effort that ultimately led to beating someone it should count on his win record.

 Okay then. In AvX he contributed to fighting the Phoenix, which is canonically MORE powerful than Galactus. He’s also contributed to fighting Galactus in Secret Wars. He contributed to fighting Onslaught who was approaching a Galactus level threat. He contributed towards defeating Scarlet Witch in House of M and restoring the 616 universe, Scarlet Witch also being even more powerful than Galactus in that story.

 If you DIDN’T use this type of bullshit then Peter has taken on supremely more powerful foes than Miles.

 Juggernaut, Hulk, Tri-Sentinel, Rhino. The entire X-Men.

 Even the stuff that doesn’t make sense for either character put Peter ahead. Peter beat Firelord a Herald of Galactus, whilst Miles beat Blackheart, the son of Mephisto.

 Let me remind you that Silver Surfer, also a Herald of Galactus, has beaten Mephisto himself.

 Therefore Firelord is most likely put of Blackheart’s weight class.

 11. PETER: CIA PARENTS

 There is nothing incorrect in this but why is this a point in Peter’s favour? Spider-Man is supposed to be down to Earth so the more James Bond super spy craziness involved the more reductive it is.

 Hell it doesn’t even make sense against Miles since Miles dad worked for SHIELD.

  “We shouldn’t be surprised Peter is who he is when he had parents like this!”

 Yeah or you know it could’ve been because of Uncle Ben as literally every version of Spider-Man spells out for us.

  10. MILES: S.H.I.E.L.D. AGENT

 “Just as you can judge a hero by who they fight, you can also judge them by who they fight alongside. When a character joins a team with a proud history and powerful members, it goes to show just how amazing that hero is. And this is why we love that Miles Morales is a member of S.H.I.E.L.D.

He was hand-picked as a hero with great potential and trained by the greatest secret agents on the planet and this is all the more impressive because he already has more training and experience at his young age than Peter had way back when.”

See what I said about about James Bond stuff in Spider-Man being a bad thing.

 Also, if Miles is better because he fought alongside SHIELD, then by this logic Peter would be better because he was a member of the Avengers and FF...at the same time.

 Moreover, whilst it’s true Miles has had more training than peter had, he hasn’t necessarily had as much experience.

 And the point is moot if training and experience doesn’t translate into you being a better fighter, and at a comparable age, Peter definitely could’ve beaten Miles provided the writers didn’t cop out and have his Spider Sense not work so he can avoid Miles’ cheat code Venom blast.

 9. PETER: CHEATING HIS DEMISE

“One time, Kraven filled Spider-Man with tranquilizer darts and left him to pass away, going so far as to bury him. Peter emerged alive, but he later “passed away” after fighting Morlun, only to be reborn with weird new spider-powers. It turns out you just can’t keep him down!”

 Okay, but he also died in Secret Wars, Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity War (the comic, not the movie, or it might’ve been Infinity Crusade).

 8. MILES: BETTER SUPPORTING CAST

 Oooooooooooooooooooooh boy can’t wait for this!

 “Sure, given enough time, you may be able to rattle off a few additional names when it comes to Peter Parker’s supporting cats.”

 This is such BS because Felicia alone is a more memorable supporting cat than any of the felines in Miles’ series.

 LEARN TO SPELL CHECK ON THE ARTICLE YOU’VE BEEN PAID FOR!

 “But when pressed, most people will simply say “Aunt May and Mary Jane.””

 No, most people would say Aunt May, Mary Jane, Harry Osborn, J. Jonah Jameson, Gwen Stacy and possibly now Ned Leeds due to Homecoming.

 And that’s just for Joe Average on the street. Actual comic book fans would say all those people and also probably Black Cat, Betty Brant, Joe Robertson, Liz Allan, Flash Thompson and possibly Norman Osborn and Eddie Brock (the latter being a mistake due to adaptations but still, they’d mention him).

 “And while we’re calling them a “supporting cast,” they often don’t play a major role in the story.”

 Almost like they exist to...SUPPORT the main story isn’t it? Wheras being a MAJOR character would be different.

 This is also a BS metric to use for Spider-Man. Spider-Man’s core concept involves him being a normal guy in his civilian life who is also a super hero, with those two sides impacting upon one another.

 Since most stories are mostly about the hero stuff it means that to get the supporting cast involved in major stories would make them involved in the super hero stuff and therefore make Peter’s civilian life NOT normal.

 “With Miles, he gets to have his spider-cake and eat it, too. He has a major supporting friend in the form of Ganke Lee, who provides insight into both the personal and the superhero life of Miles. And Miles has an extended supporting cast as part of all those team-ups: Avengers, Ultimates — if Miles needs help, some A-listers are just a dial away!”

 First off, by this logic Mary Jane from like 1984 and Aunt May from 2001 would count as equally as Ganke.

 Second of all Ganke is literally the ONLY supporting cast the folks with the most cursory knowledge of Miles could name. Even under CBR’s nonsensical logic of Aunt May and Mj being the ONLY people anyone would know from Peter’s cast, that’s still two vs. one. The author brought up a point against Peter and then failed to demonstrate how Miles is better in comparison, probably because he wasn’t.

 Thirdly the Avengers and the Ultimates are NOT supporting cast members, they are team mates!

 Fourthly, by that logic Peter again has the advantage since the Avengers, F4, the (Netflix) Defenders, the X-Men and literally everyone he ever teamed up with in Marvel Team up count as his supporting cast!

  7. PETER: DEALING WITH THE DEVIL

 Forget what I said earlier. Now THIS really should be good!

  “We’re going to keep saying this over and over again, but the best way to judge a hero is to look at the villains they have gone up against. And in the case of Peter Parker, he’s actually survived the greatest villain in all of history in the devil himself or, as they call him in Marvel Comics, Mephisto.”

 That is such insane broken and desperate logic I almost want to love this article for trying.

 Peter is better than Miles BECAUSE of the worst Spider-man story of all time.

 Wow. That’s beautifully bonkers.

But seriously, this is...just holy shit.

 Peter did survive an encounter with Mephisto...but Mephisto was never trying to kill him. They never exchanged blows at all.

 Saying Peter survived Mephisto is like saying Miles survived God Emperor Doom in Secret Wars, therefore he’s more awesome.

 Then you have the fact that Mephisto really, really, really isn’t even the greatest villain in the marvel universe. I hate to invoke Quesada, but he isn’t even the ACTUAL devil. He’s not even the ACTUAL guy who rebelled against God and was damned to be the ruler of Hell. He’s one of the 4 rulers of Hell alongside Satan, Satannish and Lucifer, who is the ACTUAL Biblical devil. In fact one of them (Satannish) is himself the SON of the Dread Dormammu and supposed to be weaker than his old man IIRC.

 DAFQ are you the greatest villain when the DAD of one of your peers is a bigger deal than you are?

 And if we ignore morality for a moment and look at raw power, shittons of antagonists are much more powerful and dangerous than Mephisto or else have been capable at times of owning his red ass.

 Thanos. Firelord. Hela. Galactus. Annihilus. Dark Phoenix. Arguably Apocalypse and Onslaught.

 “Longtime fans don’t like to remember this because it is a highly controversial story. ”

 Longtime fans? It was only 10 years ago!

 And the sequel was only 8 years ago!

 And it got referenced explicitely THIS YEAR!

  “Spider-Man basically gets Mephisto to save Aunt May’s life, but Mephisto’s price is that he will rewrite reality so that Peter and Mary Jane never loved each other. ”

 Holy shit that isn’t even an accurate summation of the most infamous story ever.

 Mephisto rewrites their marriage, not their love. And Spidey gets him to do nothing, it was an offer Peter accepted.

 “Is it the clumsiest reset button ever? Sure. But Peter still survived encountering the ultimate evil.”

 He survived in so far as he didn’t die. He objectively lost though.

  6. MILES: PLAYING WELL WITH OTHERS

  “One of the weirder qualities of Peter Parker is how much he likes to keep to himself. ”

 No one in the real world does that. And it isn’t like he has a rich friendship group or anything.

 “Sure, he’s been on many teams (and that many more team-ups), but at the end of the day, he prefers to work alone.”

 Except when he’s in Marvel Team up or with Black Cat.

 “This isn’t the case for Miles Morales, which is why the young man has better allies than Peter does.”

 Preferring to be a loner vs a team player doesn’t make you better or worse it’s just different. But even if it didn’t Peter has allies too. Most of Miles allies are also Peter’s and Peter has even more.

 “Who are we talking about? Miles is both friends and allies with characters like Ms. Marvel, Nova, Amadeus Cho,”

 And Peter is both friends and allies with characters like Captain Marvel (both female ones), the ORIGINAL more powerful Nova, and Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the original and holy fuck immeasurably stronger Hulk.

 He’s also friends with Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine and most of the X-Men and Avengers and F4.

  “He seemed to figure out something early on that eluded Peter Parker for many years: that it’s good to have a support system in place, especially as a superhero!”

 And yet, Peter survivied on his own for years like a bad ass.

  5. PETER: THE MAN, THE MYTH

 “While the comic played coy and never confirmed this, it is strongly hinted that Peter Parker is part of centuries of “spider totems” that are chosen as champions. That means the spider that bit him was not powered by radiation: it had powers it wanted to give Peter, and only later passed away due to radiation. You may or may not believe it, but Peter quite likely has centuries of lineage fueling his powers!”

 Again this isn’t necessarily a good thing.

  4. MILES: BETTER VILLAINS

BWAHAHAHAHAHA...oh they’re serious...

 Do you want to know the secret to nostalgia? Your brain only remembers the good parts of whatever you’re thinking about. Your buddy that loves ’80s music? Trust us when we say that he managed to brain wipe some pretty awful stuff — it’s a lot like that with Peter Parker’s rogues gallery.

Sure, there are some cool villains like Venom, Green Goblin, and Doctor Octopus, but there are also some real lame ones like the Shocker.

 a)   The author can go suck a dick, Shocker is awesome.

b)   Yeah SOME cool villains like those 3 guys...and Carnage...and Kingpin...and Hobgoblin...and Rhino...and Scorpion...and Electro...and Vulture....and basically everyone under the Ditko run

c)   By this logic Miles villains suck ass too because he’s fought many lame ones too

  “Compared to this, Miles Morales has fewer villains, but that means fewer duds as well. ”

 Super hero rogue’s galleries are not marked negatively.

 It’s one thing if you have few good villains and most of the time you fight lame ones.

 It’s entirely different if you have a lot of good villains, and way more disposable rarely seen lame ones. The lame ones don’t make the whole thing suck shit.

 This is particularly asinine since most of Miles villains are either Peter’s villains or else the Ultimate versions of them.

 What is worse is that by this logic BATMAN has a worse rogue’s gallery than Miles Morales!

 “We’ll take cool villains like the resurrected Aaron Davis over Peter Parker’s C-list baddies any day!”

 So would I probably but would you take him over Venom, Doc Ock or any of the Osborns!

  3. PETER: ALIEN FIGHTER

I don’t even understand how this is a point in Peter’s favour

  2. MILES: SPIDER-BITE

“As we said earlier, it often felt weird that Spider-Man wasn’t more like, well, a spider.”

 He is like one the author is just a jackass.

  “Which is one of the reasons we appreciate Miles Morales so much. In addition to having a cooler backstory”

 A near identical backstory made cooler because the author said so...

 “and a more realistic costume, ”

 Which is bad because in a visual medium like comics where you aren’t bound by the constraints of reality (hence spandex looks awesome) ‘realism’ in your costume designs is not a good thing.

 “Miles has more realistic spider-powers as well, including his “bite.””

 ...his what?

  “With a simple touch, Miles Morales is able to incapacitate villains. Now, Spidey being Spidey, he still has to engage in some wild fisticuffs on more than one occasion, but it’s pretty cool to see that he can take down major bad guys with a spider-bite instead of just fists powered by “radioactive blood.””

 Wow.

 Lets unpack this.

 First of all the author is such a dumbass they don’t even realize Miles’ Venom blast (not named because the author is a hack) is not a representation of a spider bite, but of a specific ability some species of spiders possess wherein they can paralyze foes with bio-electricity.

 This is one of THE most well known things about Miles.

  Second of all if this was analogous to a spider bite wouldn’t it i dunno involve his fucking TEETH!

 Third of all this is Miles’ worst power. It sucks the drama out of action sequences because it’s an auto-win button which means he wins too easily or looks like a moron when he doesn’t just bust it out.

 1. PETER: STOPPING THE UNSTOPPABLE

Again, there is nothing wrong in this, but like...how does this prove Peter is better.

 This article made me ill

[franeridart]

Hey hey hey, so I've seen your lack of Bokutoo art (or haikyuu art in general) and at first I was going to comment on it, but then I saw your art theft post and I hope that won't have too much influence on your haikyuu art? Of corse I'm gonna let you post whatever you'd like to post, I just miss it a lot y'know :0

Well. Okay, I’ve talked about this a lot but I understand people don’t just read all my answers and it’s totally my fault for procrastinating on that faq page so let me just go through this again in an as clear way as possible?

I haven’t stopped drawing for hq! As a matter of fact in the last week alone I have posted one, two and three things for that fandom for a total of five portraits and a three panels comic

That said I understand with the rhythm I update this blog you might think “well, that isn’t much at all, is it?”, which, again, is my fault because - even though when compared to most art blogs’ update schedules eight drawing in one week is more than enough - I’m the one who set the rhythm here

The “problem” with hq is that all my favorite characters are currently absent from the manga and there’s no anime airing, while at the same time my other main fandom (bnha) has both an interesting arc going on in the manga AND an anime season airing right now - I hope you’ll understand if my interest at the moment is mostly focused there, that’s a continuous stream of inspiration I have coming my way

To add to that some parts of the Haikyuu!! fandom are being unrespectful of what I post (this includes reposting, treating my stuff as if it were templates for their own art instead of ship/character specific content, honestly unrespectful comments and tags under a lot of my main ships posts and so on) which, you’ll excuse me, but dampens the joy I get from posting art a lot

Moreover, the creative side of the hq fandom is being, at least for what concerns the zones I frequent, pretty damn quiet lately, so I can’t say I get much inspiration from there either

I haven’t stopped and I can’t see in my foreseeable future myself stopping posting stuff for haikyuu!!, and all things considered I don’t think I’m posting too little for it either? Art and inspiration aren’t things I want to force, if I started I would stop finding drawing enjoyable really damn fast and I can’t let that happen - please be understanding, I first and foremost draw for myself, I can’t help it if sometimes I get stuck on one fandom or another

Anon said: Have you seen the latest chapter of haikyuu? I like how they are showing more Daishou. It’s fun to see his reactions and thoughts about nationals! And I will love to see him in your art style.

Anon, my friend!!! I have drawn Daishou in the past! As a matter of fact the last one was just after he appeared again in chapter 251! I love that snake boy a lot, seeing him there made me really really happy haha

Anon said:SAEKO NEE-SAAAAANNNNNN

SHE WAS AMAZING WASN’T SHE OH MY G O D !!!

Anon said:Kirishima and/or Bakugou being good at singing. And then gay happens.

BOI ANON I have drawn these boys singing to each other a whole lot already (like here or here) at this point I would assume you guys were fed up with it hahaha (… can’t say I won’t ever have them sing to each other again, though)

Anon said:DADZAWA IS SO REAL! But I’m actually so amused because Izuku is basically Ron Swanson with his “I can do what I want” permit except Aizawa wrote and signed the permit

No no anon it’s even better because Aizawa wasn’t like “you can do what you want” he was like “you can do only what I tell you you can do and it just so happens that I’m deciding that you can do exactly what you want to do but it’s still my decison” it was amazing lmao I love Aizawa so much poor man

Anon said:friendo, whats your opinion on the traitor kaminari theory? it breaks my heart but it has a good backbone to it?? like in the new chapter, theres a character that looks like kaminari’s dad/uncle/older family member and im worried for my electric baby

I still don’t think Kaminari is the traitor - as a matter of fact, I still don’t think the traitor is any of the kids. If that’s how it’ll turn out to be I’ll be sad about it, for sure, but right now I really, really don’t believe it. It’s true that the Kaminari-is-the-traitor theory is very cleverly worded and super convincing, but a lot of the things in it are really stretched out as far as I’m concerned

ie, taking the weird faces Horikoshi makes him make in the sketches and using them as proof that he’s got a double face? Too far out for me; his original design being that of a villain? Deku’s original design was villain-ish too, no one is calling him a traitor; taking the expression he made when Aizawa told him he could go to the camp and making it sound like he didn’t want to go? Might be believable as long as you don’t take into account the fact that he had just had a conversation with Midoriya in which he told him it was impossible Aizawa would let them go and that Midoriya was just being too optimistic, the “what the actual fuck is this” expression makes a lot more sense in that context; the fact that he makes clever quotes and uses a complex vocabulary used to say that he’s pretending to be stupid is unfair towards the very real possibility of him just not liking studying or thinking things through analytically but otherwise enjoying reading and being fairly intelligent in his own way?? - in the theory it’s also mentioned that it’s weird how during USJ he was worried about an electricity villain overcharging him as if that’s not perfectly normal, having an electricity quirk obviously doesn’t stop him from suffering overcharges, and later during the end of term exam they say it’s “weird” he refused to go all out with his qurik from the start, again, as if that weren’t a perfectly sensible decision in that context (you have to keep in mind that Kaminari is also studying to become an hero, him going “wait a second, maybe keeping on going stupid and putting myself out of commission every time I fight isn’t the right choice” is perfectly in line with him growing up and learning)

Now I don’t have the post open in front of me and it’s been a while since I’ve read it, but most of the theory as far as I get it is based on the idea that Kaminari can’t be lazy and an airhead and might talk without thinking now and again (the Stain comment), but at the same time be clever in his own ways, which just isn’t convincing for me. It’s taking this character’s three dimensionality and making it a plot-hole, why would you want to do that

(on a similar note, the Kirishima-is-the-traitor theory doesn’t convince me for the same kind of reason, it’s all based on the idea that he can’t just genuinely like Bakugou for who he is without having second reasons for it, which is just unfair and cuts too much off the personality of a really good, well written character)

As far as the new villain guy goes, I understand why most of the fandom might be weary and linking him to Kaminari, but we don’t know his color scheme nor his quirk and the pattern on his hair isn’t even a lightning bolt - Horikoshi has had to make up unique designs for a whole damn lot of characters, the fact that one random guy might have something similar to Kaminari isn’t really enough to make him his dad (again, it might turn out to be true, but in my opinion it’s still too early to make theories about it). Also, this guy is from the Eight Precepts. Weren’t you all trying to link Kaminari to the League of Villains? Isn’t the traitor supposedly tied with the League? How many people is this boy working for even

By the way, during the USJ attack the villains had informations they couldn’t have gotten from any of the kids aside from Midoriya (the “they told me All Might was getting weaker” comment) and tbh that’s enough for me to not believe any of the student is behind the informations leak, but all of this is just my opinion

Anon said:Your thoughts on mob psycho 100??

LOVE IT  one of the best anime I’ve watched lately, without any doubts

Anon said: Being a bokuroo artist? More like drawing art but every time someone says brOTP, you get steadily more annoyed, lol - love your art, btw; you have a really cute and fluffy style

Yyyyyyyyeeeeeeaaaaahhhhhhhh… sadly you kind of grow used to it but it is incredibly annoying and one of the reasons why I’ve been drawing it less, t b h

Anon said:I love the concept of the bakubowl because unlike with other characters where everyone’s like “omf they’re so cute!!” the bakubowl is just “why is he like this. why do we ALL like him for this ffs”

WELP I don’t ship Bakugou with everyone so I can’t say I’m fond of the idea as a whole, and the ships I do ship Bakugou in are with the people that actually do like him for whatever reason (lmao), but I can understand why you’d find it a fresh take on the concept! 

Anon said:Ily your art gives me life

AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!! *O*