#its a story about multi dimensions with parallels of every character

[thewierdartist]

I wish we had comic Ganke Lee in the spiderverse movies, his friendship with Miles is so great, we we're robbed 😭

So I drew another panel of him, kinda

My Ganke <3

The reference ^^

[firstagent]

Review: Digimon Adventure: (2020) Episode 17: The Battle in Tokyo Against Orochimon

In this episode, the team rallies together to take down a giant ferocious Orochimon, keenly aware that the more dire problem is happening everywhere around them.

Despite the fireworks, there isn’t a ton going on here. In fact, as far as the plot is concerned, it’s all about winding down the last episode and hyping up the next one. On its own, there isn’t much to stand on. Orochimon shows up and overwhelms the team, they regroup to rally and beat it. It doesn’t take a new form or a resolution of a personal conflict or even a dramatic speech. The little moments inspiring them are pretty subdued. It’s all straightforward, but still a perfectly good fight in its own right. The talking points all lie in the periphery.

The primary formula is very simple, and for an episode like this simple is sufficient. When you’re advancing the story outside of the main fight, the main fight doesn’t need to be complicated. Still weary from their first fight against Eyesmon, Orochimon shows up with unforeseen multi-head tactics they simply weren’t ready for. Taichi realizes their disadvantage and calls for a retreat, everyone except Yamato scrambling to get away. They hide, settle their nerves, form a better strategy, and come back stronger, with six crest boosts all they need to win. It’s a strength that it doesn’t rely on anything more than that. This series has always been more confident going for the big boom, so allowing itself to give us a battle with no frills and succeeding is a good step.

Not that the kids didn’t need a moment to psych themselves up. Usually these come in the form of a big powerful speech about determination or everyone reflecting on what they’ve learned about themselves so far. This time it’s more casual, everyone pointing out that they went through some trials while they were split and came out of it with some fancy Ultimate forms. It’s nothing remarkable or memorable, but, peppered with the tiniest bit of comedy, works well enough for the moment. Taichi and Yamato don’t give us anything new as far as their characters, but they do open up to each other a little more. Yamato continues to press the urgency of their mission, telling Taichi about Takeru for the first time. Taichi plays down the Orochimon threat as he’s seen enough danger to not be afraid of it.

The takeaway during their hiding that is useful is Koshiro vomiting the connection between this pocket dimension and the real world. The synchronization of time between the two worlds leads to a bunch of conclusions. Most critically, Eyesmon caused the blackouts by pulling massive amounts of data to this side, and Orochimon’s attacks are causing problems in real-world Shibuya. There’s no reason to think any of this is wrong, but he’s deriving all of this off of limited information. The extent of his speculation and the confidence he puts into them makes for a rather dubious plot dump and one of the few unwelcome exaggerations in the episode. It doesn’t help that at the moment, nobody can actually do anything with this information.

Still, it is a good excuse to spend some quality time in the real world and even give Takeru some actual screen time. We don’t learn a ton about him, though. He’s home alone, somewhat but not disturbingly calm, staring at his phone with Yamato’s contact info, and just sort of riding out the trouble. Considering everything going on, he’s… fine? I guess? It’s not all that striking. It does cement his parallels to Hikari, who is right in the middle of trouble. Orochimon’s attack sends their GPS on the fritz and a mob separates her from her mother. Yet she too is only kind of concerned. That’s a little more disturbing. Both of them see Taichi and Yamato in action, which is bound to stir something up in them.

Despite little happening, their presence is more significant than anything else going on in the episode. Between them and the return of the ominous countdown timer (who doesn’t love a good ominous countdown timer?), signs suggest something massive next time. An episode mainly centered around promising big developments in the next episode is working at a disadvantage, but this one handles the role just fine. It doesn’t go overboard with its own action, relying on good animation, music, and sound to keep us engaged. More importantly, it fulfills its goal, as the next one looks like it could blow us away.

My Grade: A-

Loose Data:

There are advantages and drawbacks to throwing in another EMP after the threat of one in episode three. On one hand, you don’t need to explain the concept again. On the other hand, it does feel like a recycled concept that’s scary but not all that novel.

Joe’s line about his falling exam scores is awkward, makes no sense, and feels like something rejected from the dub of Zero Two.

One rather annoying omission from them hiding in the subway was a proper explanation of how Yamato, Sora, and Joe wound up here. The opportunity was there, the need was there, and they just… didn’t bring it up. Feels unlikely it’ll get covered now.

Man, Mimi can’t help but drag the appearance of Palmon and Togemon. Girl, that’s cold.

There’s something nice about seeing both the kids and Digimon exhausted but satisfied after a big win like this. It both sells the energy they put into the battle, but also lets them revel in it for a moment before the next shoe drops.

See reviews of every Digimon episode at Digimon: System Restore! Support the site by joining our Patreon!  

[fablesrpg]

MEMBER GROUPS & LOCATIONS.

the city of st. ostara is divided into six districts, each with its own unique culture, values and socioeconomic status. characters on fables, are grouped according to which district they reside in.

NEW SALEM.

new salem is the first and original district of st. ostara - and not much about its physical appearance has changed over time. everything in new salem is dusted in hues of gold and maroon, reachable by cobble stone streets and canals that run parallel to each other - buildings in new salem tend to have a hidden basement floor, accessible by water-locked creatures from the canals only. serving as st. ostara’s historical district, there is a classic feeling to new salem - sprawling with brick and stone buildings, cathedrals and shrines - stepping foot into new salem will make you want to check your calendar, just to be sure you weren’t spirited away to a different century. this touch of old school isn’t missing from those who live here’s fashion sense either - floor length dresses, scraps of ancient armor worn as accessories, and braids once popular with royalty are on trend here. this district has the highest rate of visitors, and is mainly known for it’s vast array of dusty shops and street-side vendors. if you’re looking for a book bound in ancient greece, an herb for a spell, or a charm to help you be lucky in love, new salem is where you ought to go. st. ostara’s government and cultural board operate out of this district as well, making it home for most of the city’s festivals and events.

unlike the other districts in st. ostara, new salem is not overrun by particular species, and has an even distribution in terms of population. that being said, it is the easiest district for witches, alchemists, and prophets to market their skills.

PHANTOMSGATE.

phantomsgate is the most recently established district in the city. once upon a time just a collection of slums, the first recorded use of it’s name was in the 80s, referring to the vast amount of ghastly spirits that wandered these collections of streets. the most urban of all the districts, phantoms gate is host to a collection of neon signs, glass buildings, and warehouses turned clubs.

harboring a less than favorable reputation for the past few decades, phantomsgate was generally avoided by most of the population - only a place thrill seekers and those with nothing left to lose willingly sought out. in recent years, however, several neighborhoods within phantomsgate have been refurbished and made more appealing to the rest of the population - specifically fashion and entertainment districts, complete with the start of st. ostara’s own take on hollywood. this has been met with some pushback from those who have called phantomsgate home long before it became cool or desirable - beasts and tricksters alike who have built a community of misfits within these streets.

those within phantomsgate tend to be either of two extremes - wealthy citizens who value glitz and glam above all else, or impoverished nobodies, scraping by to survive. similarly, phantomsgate is described to outsiders as either a spectacle of light and sound or an eyesore they wouldn’t wish upon their worst enemy - outdated flashing neon signs, blindingly bright screens on every building, and a fashion style that was meant to die decades ago of worn out leather, dramatic (almost theatric) makeup, and every shade of black imaginable.

THE HOLLOW.

considered the most idyllic district in st. ostara, the hollow exists in a small valley, featuring rows and rows of brightly painted houses and overgrown gardens and greenery. charmed with unique magic that makes it experience all four seasons at once, st. ostara has the climate and environment to sustain many types of species, although the fae folk are incredibly territorial over the district, and make it known it was their craftsmanship that makes it so special. in addition to its array of weather, the hollow is home to the city’s only gated community as well as a small neighborhood known as little ireland, a homage to the homeland of many of ostara’s species - where pitchers run over and music is always playing.

THE UNDERBELLY.

underneath the streets of st. ostara lies a district usually only spoken of in whispers - the underbelly. completely underground, the only way to get to this kingdom of steel and rust is by a train that goes underground, and makes several stops everyday. once upon a time, the underbelly was strictly a prison complex where monsters not fit for ostara’s streets were forced into, and while a jailhouse still exists in the district, it has mostly developed into a series of factories, power plants, and a few residential complexes. the city provides most of st. ostara’s power and construction resources, and as such, the lower, working class tends to make a home in the dark of the underbelly. with no sunlight, the underbelly is constantly alive - the lack of night and day has been known to drive newcomers mad, but long-time residents have adjusted. movement around the underbelly is restricted to pre-laid steel walkways or open concept elevators.

despite its help in advancing st. ostara’s industrial age, the underbelly is notoriously known for its fighting ring - started at the very same prison complex that began it all. monsters would once be forced by guards to fight for their chance at freedom - the system may be gone, but the tradition remains. people from all over the city journey to the underbelly at night to place bets on fighters, a spectator sport popular with the higher class, which has allowed for those to run it to have law enforcement look the other way.

not all about the underbelly is bad, however - rent is cheap, work is easy to find, and those that live there permanently have a strong sense of camaraderie. ‘neighbor’ has a different meaning in the underbelly - often times complete with large, multi-family dinners, one person watching multiple factory worker’s children, and a communal style of living. due to the nature of the district, the arts and culture boom the rest of the city is experiencing hasn’t quite hit the underbelly. a few artists have migrated underground to try their hand at metal as a medium, and due to the lack of stores, locals have had to develop strong story telling talents to keep themselves and others entertained. fashion in the underbelly is simple and nondescript, made of simple, natural materials - simple pants, linen button ups, and leather boots are the everyday man’s attire here.

RUBY COAST.

just west of new salem lies the eccentric community of the ruby coast, a haphazard collection of brightly painted buildings set against the backdrop of st. ostara’s largest body of water, most noted for its unique beach of red sand. its charming appearance distracts from its morbid history, as any ancient being left within the city will tell you - the sand never used to be red, not before the sirens came to the city.

a relatively small beach, the red sands are flanked on both sides - to the right, a pier complete with stomach flipping rides and an arcade, and to the left, a collection of houses and shops carefully carved into and built on top of looming cliffs, mimicking the ancient infrastructure dragons once used to make caverns. from the beach, the district may look small, but underneath the surface of the ocean lies the remainder of ruby shores - a collection of glass-domed buildings underwater, accessible through pressurized walkways that keep water out.

ruby shores residents live a life of indulgence - entertainment and food are its main exports, and many people will head the shore’s way for date nights, or a place to take their children on a holiday weekend. it is well-advised, however, that humans avoid ruby shores, as many of the eateries here cater to the monsters of st. ostara with unique diets.

THE FOREST.

the forest lingers at the edge of st. ostara like a bad omen - the only district in the city unnamed, the word itself is spoken by citizens the way one would utter a hex. at the beginning of st. ostara’s history, there was an attempt to build on the land, but every attempt was met with overgrown vines and roots that would appear mere hours later. eventually, the project was abandoned, and architects searched elsewhere. those who prefer the quiet or want to distance themselves from the politics of the other districts may find themselves here. while the forest floor was never disrupted with anything other than a few cottages, a small community of tree houses - both for residential and commercial purposes - has been built without interference from the aggressive force of nature.

deeper into the forest lies the graveyard of the old gods - a collection of decaying statues of figures from throughout magic’s history. this land is considered sacred, as many believe these statues will be used as vessels for ancient deities to return to st. ostara. in recent years, however, it has become a hot spot for the younger crowd of the city to throw parties and sneak off to, free from the wandering eyes of the rest of the city.

rumors pass through the city that the forest is haunted, cursed, but this is far from the truth - rather, the forest lies on the edge of veil, the border between dimensions that the city lies on. here, magic runs thin and glitches appear - upside down trees, floating eyes, and creatures never before seen are common occurrences, and many warn that going into the forest runs risk of never coming back - stuck in the ‘in-between’ of st. ostara and earth for forever.

[daniel306gaming]

Marvel Zombies Secret Wars

To: Marvel Entertainment and DC Entertainment

                                                       Intro Welcome to the MULTI-VERSE where we crossover characters or series to see who would win. In today’s MULTI-VERSE fan fiction we’re going to be seeing a Secret Wars featuring the Marvel Zombies and the Justice League along with Earth-616. ¿How can this affect the multiverse going forward? This is my own take of events taking inspiration from the 2015-16 Secret Wars story arc with elements from the 1984 version while following the mythology of the Marvel Zombies and the Justice League and the timeline of the Marvel/DC universe. Without wasting anymore time sit back and relax and let’s get right into this horrific fan fiction.  

                                                    Prologue

What’s unique about the multiverse is the many events that happen within them. Some events are completely different and others are rather very similar and even little events that can even crash with each one other from one end to the other and dealing with time and events can lead to the destruction of the multiverse. The story I tell u today is horrific and trust me you’re going to be very surprised on why it’s horrific. ¿Why u ask? Well let me explain. Imagine a world that is in every way, shape and form the same but with the slightest change being a zombie apocalypse and what if this world had made its way not just to the DC multiverse but also to our world. The heroes and zombies of both multiverses will be brought in to fight against each other for the sake of entertainment. I am the Watcher. I am ur guide to these vast new realities. Follow me and pounder the question. What If…

                                          Part 1 (Justice League)

In the Marvel Zombies Universe, Colonel America, Iron Man, Giant-Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, the Hulk and Wolverine have just acquired a portion of the cosmic power after devouring the Silver Surfer. 4 years have passed since the zombie apocalypse began and they have devoured their entire universe. They returned to their Earth where the zombies then continued to devour whatever life force were available but their hunger was still insatiable. They then knew they needed more food supply but the resources were already running low. The Marvel Zombies then decided that the flesh of other zombies were not able to satisfy them. Coincidentally, Galactus the devourer of worlds arrived on Earth and was attacked by the zombies. At first he repelled them easily but the heroes created a device to amplify their powers they gained from the Silver Surfer and managed to injure him. With Galactus’s enchaned powers in them they knew it would only be a matter of time before they would be hungry again. Giant-Man and Iron Man started working on a dimensional teleporter to track and devour more universes. Giant-Man managed to gain access into Uatu’s lab and there he managed to unlock the secrets of the universe. There were apparently other multiverses and parallel dimensions in the universe. Giant Man told the other Marvel zombies about this and they decided to scout for other worlds in the universe. They came across another universe which hasn’t been infected. They locked their coordinates in and they were transported into the other universe which was the DC universe. Meanwhile, in the DC universe Batman and the Justice League were discussing their next course of action after their recent battle with Darkseid. They were wondering when Darkseid would launch his next attack. Batman told Cyborg to scan across the network to search for any possible tracks of Darkseid. Cyborg then said that across Metropolis there was a portal that emerged and some people were emerging from it but they didn’t seem to be normal people but rather zombies. Batman said that it was impossible as demons in Darkseid’s level is understandable but zombies are kinda weird. Cyborg then put on the screen of the people emerging from the portal but what shocked them was that the people started devouring the people of Metropolis. The Justice League knew that they need to assemble to identify and eliminate this threat. Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Aquaman headed to Metropolis while Flash, Batman and Cyborg decided to aid the others who might have survived the onslaught. The US Army was also dispatched by the time the Justice League had arrived and all of Metropolis were infected and zombified. From a aerial view Superman saw the infection was spreading rapidly. If the infection weren’t completely bitten then they could turn into zombies. He used his heat vision to raise the zombies and attacked the Marvel Zombies but they saw that they were unable to defend against his attacks. Superman then told the Justice League to retreat as they needed to regroup properly. Batman retreated to the Bat-cave where he observed the chaos consuming Gotham. Just then a live tv broadcast was hijacked. Appearing before the screen was Giant-Man who made a declaration that the entire world will be consumed by them and that there’s nothing that they can do to defend their attacks. Iron Man managed to pinpoint the location where there would be a huge supply of meat which was at Arkham Asylum. The Marvel Zombies then charged towards Arkham Asylum. From the Bat-cave Batman saw that the massive horde of zombies were approaching Arkham. Realizing that he has no other choice he released all the super villains including Joker, Bane, Penguin, Lex Luther etc. to fight against the zombies. The Justice League also regrouped at Arkham Asylum. Seeing the Marvel Zombies up close Batman asked who they were and then Giant-Man said that they used to be heroes from another universe but one day they were consumed by this disease which caused them to turn into zombies. Since then they have devoured countless victims and managed to create a portal that would allow them to search for more supply of fresh food. Green Lantern and the Lantern Corps arrived and started shooting down at the Marvel Zombies while the last of the DC heroes and villains battled the zombies. Superman told everyone to avoid getting bitten and fight in long distance combat if possible. A brutal battle exploded between them. Aquaman was overwhelmed by the group of the infected while Joker and Green Lantern were devoured by Giant-Man, Colonel America ripped apart Black Canary and Wonder Woman was smashed by the Incredible Hulk. Wolverine, Luke Cage and Spider-Man used their agility to instantly infect the heroes and villains so that they would have more manpower. One by one of the DC universe started falling down. Batman told the remaining survivors to flee and regroup at the Bat-cave before Batman detonated Arkham Asylum killing everybody including Colonel America and Mister Fantastic. The only survivors of the DC universe were Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Superman, Robin, Red Hood, Batman, Lois Lane and Alfred. Batman was also disappointed that there weren’t other survivors but he knew that he had to think of a solution. With Wasp’s head he brought back to the Bat-cave he experimented on it. Meanwhile, Giant-Man was furious that his wife was killed by Batman and vowed to devour him. Batman then deduced that the hunger for flesh was more of a physiological than physical. However, he was unable to create a cure for the zombie victims. Just then he saw in the Bat-computer that millions of people were being infected at at rapid speed across the world. Batman used his satellites and was shocked to see an infected Flash running and infecting everybody. Superman decided to stop the Flash as he was capable of going on a rampage and the infections can multiply instantly. Lois begged Superman not to go but he had no choice. Superman flys into the Flash’s head obliterating it. Unfortunately he finds out 2 of Barry’s fingers were lodged into his abdomen. Superman bids farewell to Lois realizing that he can be turned into the infected anytime soon. He flew away into space depriving himself of oxygen. However, it was too late as the transformation has begun. He started attacking National City and the Marvel Zombies were happy that they had a strong ally to spread their damage even further. With over 50% of the world already infected Batman said that there were only 2 options. Either they obliterate this world or head into outer space and seek another place of refuge. However, with the zombies being smart it would only be a matter of time before they would be discovered. They first had to stop Zombie Superman. Batman said that with him being his close ally he donned a suit which was built to battle Superman in times like this. Fully armored with kryptonite Batman left the remaining DC heroes and villains before fighting with Superman. A hungry Superman still had his weaknesses to kryptonite. Batman then stabbed him with the kryptonite sword killing him for good. Batman then returned to the Bat-cave to decide what their next course of action was going to be. But was shocked to see Robin and Red Hood eating Lois while Harley and Poison Ivy were ripping apart Alfred. Batman then decided to shoot all of them blowing them apart. He saw that the Wasp’s container head was broken meaning that she caused the others to turn into the infected. Just then the remaining Marvel Zombies which were Giant-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage and Spider-Man appeared at the Bat-cave. Giant-Man said to Batman that with him being the last survivor he should just surrender himself and turn into one of them. Batman refused and attacked the Marvel Zombies. Batman blew up Spider-Man’s guts and blasted Luke Cage’s head off killing Luke for good but Spider-Man survived as his  suit had a healing technology meaning that the damage was healed. Knowing that he can’t stand a chance against the horde of zombies he retracted to his Bat-jet. However he was shot in the knee by an infected Green Arrow before an infected Shazam smashed into the ground. Pinned to the ground Batman self destructed his suit killing both of them for good. However this give Wasp the chance to infect Batman as she bit him on the neck turning him. Batman then became one of the infected. Giant-Man laughed at the sight of the infected Batman and knew that there would be no other threats that could counter them any longer. Batman then became a zombie Avenger. With the whole word infected within hours and Batman’s defeat Giant-Man, Wasp, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Hulk and Iron Man with now Batman locked their coordinates in to search for more flesh meat. They found another universe to devour and that was Earth-616 of the Marvel universe. However, as they were being teleported there they were sent somewhere else revealing to be none other than the Battleworld.

                                       Ultimate finale (Earth-616)

The being who tooked them introduced himself as the Beyonder and he explained to the zombies that they were brought here to participate in the Contest of Champions. This only excited them. They had a chance to feed without actually going to look for life to consume. As the Contest of Champions proceeded in Battleworld the zombie Avengers quickly arose through the competition. As they fought against champions from other realities and dimensions. They ate them as they were being defeated and the Beyonder and his audience enjoyed the carnage and gore with them praising them for it. It didn’t take time before they got dissatisfied with just eating other contenders. Their hunger was insatiable and they kept getting hungrier. They skin broke out and began to randomly attack the people on Battleworld to satisfy their hunger. Zombie Spider-Man, Giant-Man, Hulk, Wolverine and Iron Man along with Batman began eating everyone in their path. The zombie Avengers then decided that Battleworld was the key to traveling across the multiverse. Zombie Giant-Man infected most of the citizens and asked the zombie Avengers for help to defeat the so-called Beyonder. If they could gain his powers they would go beyond their universe. The Beyonder soon pitted the heroes of Earth-616 to try and stop their zombie counterparts and in this altercation that ensued the Beyonder told the zombies that they have faced countless villains such as Kang, Thanos, Doctor God Emperor Doom, Galactus and the Skrulls and it was time for the heroes to be put to the test by having them go up against themselves but in zombie form. The zombie Avengers were then teleported to Earth-616 where the zombies found themselves back to the beginning. Cars and trucks blew up in Times Square while the Beyonder laughed watching the chaos unfold. Earth-616 had become the new Battleworld within minutes. The zombie Avengers started eating people. Giant-Man grabbed a handful of people who were running on the streets before Giant-Man-616 punched him in the face smashing his face into a wall. The Avengers regrouped. Captain America fought zombie Wolverine while Spider-Man fight himself. The zombies that had eaten people started spreading the infection to others while the superhuman zombies and heroes of Earth-616 clashed in an epic fight to the finish. Zombie Spider-Man began to choke his alternate self before Peter-616 threw himself into a wall. Zombie and 616 started circling each other. Peter-616 asked why he was doing this and zombie Spider-Man replied that he can’t stop himself and that it was too late to become the hero he once was. Peter took his mask off and told him that they were the same. Zombie Spider-Man took his mask off and it was as if they were both looking into a mirror. Before Zombie Spider-Man screamed at him Peter knew that if he didn’t stop him he would go after MJ, Harry and May while at the same time zombie Hulk fought with 616-Hulk. The 2 exchanged punches at each other until Hulk gained the upper hand and clapped zombie Hulk’s face killing him for good. Captain America used his shield to slice off zombie Iron Man’s face off before being attacked by zombie Wolverine who was ready to give a final killing blow to Steve Rogers but Rogers dodged the attack and managed to cut his head off too. With just Zombie Spider-Man and Giant-Man left the Beyonder was shocked with how these heroes from this world didn’t give up and that they would put up a fight. Giant-Man held down Zombie Giant-Man. While the heroes were trying to hold him Magneto alongside Charles Xavier alias Professor X came to the scene and they used all of their power before they stopped him. Magento raised a piece of metal through the air and hurled it towards zombie Giant-Man’s chest pinning him to a building before proceeding to cut his head off while at the same time Charles Xavier went inside his mind. He found the truth and learned some backstory behind the zombies before they killed Hank for good. Zombie Spider-Man had been kicked to the middle of the Battleground and looked around at his counterparts. This was his fate. 616-Spider-Man came to the scene and offered to help him by extending a handout. For the first time zombie Peter felt human again and a tear came down his eye. He looked at his hand with the last power of cosmic from Galactus. Zombie Peter closed his eyes and shot himself with a beam of cosmic energy to his skull and he died. His body slumped to the ground. The Beyonder then came to the Avengers and rewarded them that they were the superior heroes and told them that he will be back again to test their might. Zombie Batman who hid from the battle this entire time was killed by Black Widow being shot in the head. The zombie corpses turned into ash and the heroes were left uneasy as anything at this point could be thrown their way in the Contest of Champions…

                                                      Alternate Ending

After zombie Spider-Man died Batman who hid from the battle this entire time screamed at the Avengers for killing the zombies. It was too late for him and now he was going to take vengeance. Batman blasted Spider-Man’s skull in half killing him for good. He looked at the Avengers before eating them one by one dodging and missing all of their attacks. Zombie Batman infected Giant-Man of Earth-616 and by the time Earth’s heroes were infected the heroes from Earth-616 and Zombie Batman were able to kill the Beyonder. As he was being teleported away he was caught and destroyed. After the heroes have absorbed his powers and destroying the Battleworld causing the destruction of the Marvel Multiverse they gained access to the ability to move through other dissensions and realities. From there they jumped to the DC multiverse destroying it all including the dawn of time with the Monitor and Anti-Monitor subsequently killed as well until they had ridden of the multiverse and all life completely with nothing more to eat. They looked beyond the essential entities in the existence outside the multiverse trying to find a way to reach them before they starved but before they could do that their hunger began to turn on each other. They fought amongst themselves trying to  eat each other and utterly destroyed themselves leaving multiverses that were cold, dead and empty…

                                                           THE END!

And that is going to be it for this Marvel Zombies Secret Wars fan fiction where the Zombies of Earth-2149 fought against the Justice League from the DC Universe and the Main Marvel Universe alias Earth-616. We were able to see Powers beyond the universe in this fan fiction. We were introduced to the Beyonder who was a powerful entity that could bring realities together. We also talked about the Battleworld and how the Contest of Champions were held there and I think and I hope you’ll think that it tied together very well with a zombie Secret Wars type storyline just like the title says it. I hope you’ll enjoy this horrific fan fiction with that alternate ending and be on the lookout for more what ifs coming soon. Take care guys and have a fantastic day. Peace out!

[livingdeadmagazine]

Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights Enters an Alternate Dimension with the Highly-Anticipated Arrival of Netflix’s Original Series STRANGER THINGS as All-New Supernatural Mazes

Award-winning Sci-Fi Thriller Comes to Life for the First Time Ever at Premier Halloween Events in Hollywood, Orlando and Singapore

For the first time ever, Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Singapore are partnering with Netflix to bring “Stranger Things” to life at this year’s “Halloween Horror Nights” events.  

Fans of the series will get the chance to brave the Upside Down and confront the supernatural as each park debuts all-new mazes inspired by season one of the critically-acclaimed series. ​

The parallel universe, referred to as the Upside Down that terrorized the small town of Hawkins, Indiana in Netflix’s mega-hit “Stranger Things,” will bring the chittering, predatory Demogorgon to “Halloween Horror Nights” to stalk unwitting guests as they encounter iconic scenes, characters and environments from the mesmerizing series. ​

Working collaboratively with Netflix, along with the creators and executive producer of the blockbuster series—Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer and Shawn Levy, the mazes at Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Singapore will be authentic representations of “Stranger Things,” designed to transport guests into artfullyrecreated scenes and storylines.  

From the menacing Hawkins National Laboratory, under theU.S. Department of Energy, to the Byers home adorned with an erratic display of flashing Christmas lights and the eerie Upside Down woods oozing a shower of floating orb-like spores, the chilling new mazes will offer surprising twists and unexpected turns around every corner. ​

Universal Studios’ “Halloween Horror Nights” is the ultimate Halloween event.  For more than 25 years, guests from around the world have visited “Halloween Horror Nights” to become victims inside their own horror film.  

Multiple movie-quality mazes based on iconic horror television shows, films and original stories come to life season after season.  

And, the streets of each park’s event are transformed into highly-themed scare zones where menacing scare-actors lunge from every darkened corner. 

Halloween Horror Nights begins Friday, September 14 in Hollywood and Orlando and on September 28 in Singapore.  

Additional details about the events will be revealed soon. 

Select tickets and vacation packages for Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights are on sale now. 

For more information about “Halloween Horror Nights” at Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando Resort or Universal Studios Singapore, visit HalloweenHorrorNights.com.

About Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood is The Entertainment Capital of L.A. and includes a full-day, movie-based theme park and Studio Tour. As a leading global entertainment destination, Universal Studios Hollywood delivers highly themed immersive lands that translate to real-life interpretations of iconic movie and television shows. Recent additions include “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™” which features a bustling Hogsmeade village and such critically-acclaimed rides as “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” and “Flight of the Hippogriff™”. Other immersive lands include “Despicable Me Minion Mayhem” and “Super Silly Fun Land” as well as “Springfield,” hometown of America’s favorite TV family, located adjacent to the award-winning “The Simpsons Ride™.” and the “The Walking Dead” daytime attraction. The world-renowned Studio Tour is Universal Studios Hollywood’s signature attraction, inviting guests behind-the-scenes of the world’s biggest and busiest movie and television production studio where they can also experience such authentic thrill rides as “Fast & Furious—Supercharged.” Coming in Summer 2018, Universal Studios Hollywood will welcome debut The DreamWorks Theatre featuring the premier attraction, “Kung Fu Panda: The Emperor’s Quest.” The adjacent Universal CityWalk entertainment, shopping and dining complex also includes the all-new multi-million dollar, redesigned Universal CityWalkCinema, featuring deluxe recliner seating in screening room quality theatres, and the “5 Towers” state-of-the-art outdoor concert stage. Updates on “Halloween Horror Nights” at Universal Studios Hollywood are available online at HalloweenHorrorNights.com/Hollywood and on Facebook at: “Halloween Horror Nights – Hollywood,” on Instagram at @HorrorNights and Twitter at @HorrorNights as Creative Director John Murdy reveals a running chronicle of exclusive information. Watch videos on Halloween Horror Nights YouTube and join the conversation using #UniversalHHN.

About Universal Orlando Resort

Universal Orlando Resort is a unique vacation destination that is part of the NBCUniversal Comcast family. For more than 25 years, Universal Orlando has been creating epic vacations for the entire family – incredible experiences that place guests in the heart of powerful stories and adventures. Universal Orlando’s three theme parks, Universal Studios Florida, Universal’s Islands of Adventure and Universal’s Volcano Bay, are home to some of the world’s most exciting and innovative theme park experiences – including The Wizarding World of Harry Potter-Hogsmeade and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter-DiagonAlley. Universal Orlando’s on-site hotels, Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, the Hard Rock Hotel, Loews Royal Pacific Resort, Loews Sapphire Falls Resort and Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, feature a total of 5,600 rooms and are destinations unto themselves. Its entertainment complex, Universal CityWalk, offers dining and entertainment for every member of the family. Universal Orlando Resort consistently unveils all-new guest experiences, including powerful attractions, incredible dining opportunities and dramatically themed hotels. Now open is Universal’s Volcano Bay, an entirely new water theme park, and Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon, an immersive and interactive attraction in Universal Studios Florida. Universal Orlando Resort is part of NBCUniversal, a Comcast company. Follow us on our blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

About Universal Studios Singapore

Universal Studios Singapore at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) is an award-winning theme park that operates on a license agreement with the Universal Parks & Resorts. Located at RWS, Asia’s premium lifestyle destination on Singapore’s resort island of Sentosa, Universal Studios Singapore features many of Universal’s most popular theme park attractions from around the world, immersive lands based on DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek and Madagascar properties, plus specially created experiences such as the world’s tallest dueling roller coasters Battlestar Galactica: HUMAN vs. CYLON, the world’s first TRANSFORMERS attraction, the world’s first Sesame Street theme park ride, and more. Spanning 49 hectares, RWS is also home to other world-class attractions including S.E.A. Aquarium, the Maritime Experiential Museum, Dolphin Island and Adventure Cove Waterpark. Other attractions include the Asian flagship of a world-renowned destination spa, a casino, six unique hotels and the Resorts World Convention Centre. With the most number of Michelin stars in one destination, RWS offers award-winning dining experiences at renowned celebrity chef restaurants, establishing itself as a key player in Singapore’s vibrant and diverse dining scene. The integrated resort also offers world-class entertainment, from original resident productions to concerts and public shows such as the Crane Dance and the Lake of Dreams. RWS has been named “Best Integrated Resort” since 2011 for seven consecutive years at the TTG Travel Awards which recognises the best of Asia-Pacific’s travel industry. Follow Universal Studios Singapore at Resorts World Sentosa on Facebook, Instagram, blog, Twitter and YouTube.

[wits-writing]

BOOKENDS: Morrison/Porter JLA

I wanted to do something Justice League related before the release of the movie this week. Part of me wanted to do a full reread and analysis of Grant Morrison and Howard Porter’s run on JLA, but I wouldn’t have the time. Only looking at one story arc from the run was something else I considered, but picking one story from one of my favorite comic runs wouldn’t give me as much space to talk about broader themes. So, this will be a little experiment.

Welcome to “Bookends”: A series of essays where I take the opening and closing stories from a longform serialized narrative in any medium talk about the story’s evolution over time and how each story works as a beginning/ending respectively.

I’ll be looking at JLA: New World Order and JLA: World War III from writer Grant Morrison and artist Howard Porter. Their JLA run gets touted as one of the best in the team’s 57-year history and it’s easy to see why, despite some problems I’ll get into later. In the aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths, due to some editorial problems about what was going on with different major characters in the new status quo of the DC Universe, they couldn’t start with the A-List heroes many expected on the team. The new Justice League book would start in 1987 and mostly be a team of second string heroes that would go on to be the basis of the fondly remembered Justice League International era. It wouldn’t be until 1997 that the group fans refer to as “The Big Seven”; Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter, would take center stage of the new on-going Justice League of America comic.

[Full article under the cut]

The Series:

That comic, simply titled JLA, ended up being headlined by Morrison and Porter with inker John Dell. Part of Morrison’s reason for doing the book, which they state in their novel Supergods, was to remind publishers that they were capable of more mainstream work than the mind-bending fringe titles they were mainly known for at the time and still are to an extent. Their high-concept for the series was superheroes as larger than life mythical gods. Approaching the League this way lead to stories on a scale that usually gets reserved for event comics or multi-book crossovers as the order of the day for these adventures. Stories sent the League through space, into their own minds, the future and across dimensions and pitted them against foes both new and familiar. These stories also hit key points in Grant Morrison’s grand DC Comics metanarrative that plays at least a small part in every book they’ve done for the company.

These stories get as superhero as comics can be while still feeling accessible. New World Order, despite a little continuity cleanup from the previous Justice League run at the start, let’s the familiar iconography work to help the reader keep pace with everything going on.

The Beginning:

New World Order (JLA #1-4) shows the recently teamed-up Big Seven fighting against the threat of the Hyperclan, a team of alien superheroes, each with Superman-level powers of their own, claiming they’ll save humanity from the Earth’s environmental decline. It’s revealed quickly that the Hyperclan are up to no good as the JLA realize that facilities they’ve built on Earth are being used to send out mind control signals to humanity. The team splits up and goes across the globe to disable these devices to save the world. In the end, it’s revealed that the Hyperclan are the warmongering White Martians (making their first appearance in the DCU) and merely the forerunners to a larger invasion. The JLA stop the invasion before it begins by using the villains’ mental broadcast equipment against them to tell all of humanity about the Martian weakness to fire.

The Ending:

World War III (JLA #36-41) brings the run to an end with the JLA’s battle to stop the Anti-Sun Mageddon, an ancient cosmic weapon designed to kill gods. Before the League can take any pre-emptive actions, Lex Luthor’s Injustice Gang strikes at them. Meanwhile, the heroes of Earth are all brought in to manage the chaos on Earth caused by Mageddon’s influence. Elements from every story in the run, plus some Morrison material outside of it, leading up to this are brought in to add to the scale of this story, character arcs for individual members are concluded and a climax that brings into full view how much these superheroes have been able to do for humanity.

Parallels:

On the surface the main villains in these stories present different kinds of threats to the JLA. From theme to names to character design, the Hyperclan are perversions of what it means to be a superhero. Direct action on the issues facing humanity are a major part of how they initially sell themselves to humanity as faux-saviors. They turn deserts fertile and publicly execute supercriminals. Showy displays of “might makes right” force that Superman calls out as spectacle. Pitting the classic heroes of the DC Universe against characters that represent a modern take on the concept is a trick that didn’t start here and would go on to make other comebacks in future stories, notably in the Superman story “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way.” In the case of New World Order, the device is used to show why these superheroes shouldn’t simply use their powers to overhaul the Earth’s problems. It’s their job to be exemplars for the rest of humanity to follow and it’s a key theme throughout Morrison’s JLA that people can reach for those impossible heights and beyond. The Hyperclan underestimating what humans without powers, including Batman, are capable of ends up their undoing as Batman pieces together their Martian nature and uses it against them.

Mageddon in World War III presents the JLA with a threat that takes the capacity people have to stand stronger together and twist it to create chaos. The Anti-Sun’s form is never seen in full, the closest the story comes is a shot of what appears to be its face barely contained in a full-page spread with Earth in the foreground for scale. It’s a cosmic, existential threat as much as a physical one. For the first half of the story, Mageddon is only spoken of and the influence it has can be felt in everything the heroes are trying to stop. The first thing we see of this primordial weapon is the aftermath of its strike against the supergods of Wonder World, turning what was supposed to be existence’s first line of defense against each other and destroying themselves. The early parts of the story mainly consist of dealing with Mageddon’s slowly increasing influence over Earth with every nation on the planet prepared to go to war with each other. The other key threat in this story is Lex Luthor’s Injustice Gang, which includes himself, Prometheus (a villain created during this run), Queen Bee and General Eiling. They think they’re in control in their plot to destroy the League by sabotaging the moonbase Watchtower and take credit for the building conflicts on Earth, only for Luthor to discover they’re pawns under Mageddon’s influence. The Injustice Gang ultimately serve Mageddon’s purpose by keeping the League occupied during its approach.

Both threats are ultimately defeated through methods that reinforce the key theme of the JLA under Morrison and Porter, that superheroes are at their strongest when inspiring people to stand together. Humanity’s potential to become something greater recurs throughout Morrison’s body of work, probably taking on one of its more literal forms by the end of this run. The White Martians and Mageddon each work to undermine that potential. Protex, leader of the Hyperclan, refers to humanity as “stunted slaves” that should be ruled over by the superpowerful during his final showdown with Superman. The White Martian talks about how they were able to manipulate primordial life on Earth and humanity will never reach what they could’ve become. Superman understands that humanity believes in him and he believe in them. It’s why he needs to be the one who sends the message to humanity about how to exploit the White Martians’ weakness, so the invasion can end before it begins. Humanity can’t be forced into greatness, that can only be accomplished by a steady climb to always get better and the JLA will be there, as Superman puts it, “To catch them if they fall.”

How they’re ultimately able to defeat Mageddon comes back to this idea in a big way. Over the course of World War III, many forces that could help the League, including Heaven itself (I’ll get back to that), are already convinced that Mageddon’s assault spells the end for existence. The power in this massive ancient weapon brings even Superman to his knees when he tries to assault the Anti-Sun from the inside, subjecting him to the full force of existential dread and depression it broadcasts. Thanks to multiple elements from the Morrison/Porter’s JLA run, the League broadcasts their own signal that unlocks all of humanity’s dormant potential and none of them hesitate to help their heroes. It’s being told about humanity standing together against the end of existence that frees Superman from Mageddon’s influence and leads to them cancelling the apocalypse.

Superman and Batman’s friendship and respect for each other plays into both conflicts as well. In New World Order, Superman is certain the Hyperclan are going to lose the second he realizes they’re underestimating Batman, tying into the theme of that story. It’s because Batman works out the Hyperclan’s Martian nature that Superman can break out of a mental trap they’ve put him in. That gets paralleled in World War III when Bruce, using Martian Manhunter as a mental go-between, reminds Clark about why they fight against all odd in a universe that couldn’t care one way or another. This results in a great panel by Porter and Dell featuring a mental image of an amalgamated version of the tragedies that define Clark, Bruce and J’onn’s origins.

The similarities between the main threats of these stories and how they resolve was a key inspiration for why they serve as a testing ground for “Bookends.” New World Order ends with Superman affirming that they’ll always be there to pick humanity up and keep them on the path to become better. World War III resolves when Superman realizes that humanity will likewise be there for him if he ever fell. Morrison’s bibliography often comes back to the power of ideas over reality and the concepts of inspiration and belief in each other are the ideas that manage to save the world in JLA.

Development:

Most of the development over the course of this run occurs in Howard Porter’s art. His linework at the beginning reflects a lot of art trends of mid-90s superhero comics and not just because Superman sports his post-Death/Return mullet. It has a sharp angular quality that works in favor of dynamic action sequences and the designs of the Hyperclan members, especially once they revert to their white Martian forms. Character emotions and other beats are usually served for the worse. There are some key exceptions in New World Order, most notably the smile on Superman’s face when he realizes that the Hyperclan have underestimated Batman’s capabilities. By World War III Porter’s art shifts to an overall cleaner style, human figures are more evenly proportioned and expressions are more recognizable. Helping matters is that the inking by John Dell seems less heavy by the end of the run as well.

The shifts in Morrison’s writing style between stories are subtler, such as the lack of narrative captions to emphasize the mood of the scene by the time World War III begins. Otherwise the shifts aren’t as much in style as in what elements are brought into JLA between the beginning and the end. Morrison and Porter created multiple new concepts and characters through the run that make major comebacks by the end. New villains like the previously mentioned White Martians and Prometheus would go beyond this run to play key roles in other major DC Comics stories (for better or worse.) The run also got more cosmic as it ran on in the buildup to the final story, with concept like Wonder World and the enlistment of the New Gods, namely Big Barda and Orion, among the JLA’s membership. The lineup expansion also included new heroes like Zauriel, the angel who fell to Earth so he can protect the woman he loves, and Aztek, a Grant Morrison and Mark Millar created hero who was designed to stop Tezcatlipoca (which turns out to be one of Mageddon’s other names.)

Beyond new concepts and expansion into a cosmic scope, Morrison would also start bringing in elements from the DC Universe like Barbara Gordon as Oracle managing the JLA’s tactics, John Henry Irons as Steel working as the Watchtower’s main engineer, Helena Bertinelli as Huntress working to prove herself a hero to Batman, and finally Plastic Man. Even all of that is only the stuff introduced in this run that’s most relevant to the bookending stories. So much of this comes into play in World War III that there’s so many moving parts involved and how the story keeps transitioning between all of them can make losing track  in certain spots understandable.

The Big Seven themselves are mostly left to stand as the mythic icons Morrison intended them to be in this run, reacting to threats as they arise. The ones who show the clearest development between the two stories are Wally West as The Flash and Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern. Kyle Rayner was still a relatively new creation at the time of this series, first introduced a mere three years earlier, so his rookie status and having to live up to the legacy of Green Lantern are the main sources of internal conflict for him. Wally starts off the story incredulous at this young guy who’s taken up a major legacy out of nowhere, when he was a superhero for years before taking up the Flash’s cowl. Wally does manage to gain respect for Kyle as a teammate by the end and Kyle fully steps into the role of Green Lantern in World War III by stepping up to help lead the heroes of Earth against Mageddon.

Revisiting New World Order and World War III does a lot to reaffirm why these characters are so interesting when they’re allowed to exist in these stories on their own terms. They’re the types of stories that work best in a serialized format like superhero comics. People are weary of continuity for multiple reasons, some of which I’ve gone into here, but stories like the ones in the Morrison/Porter run on JLA are some of the best arguments in its favor. To paraphrase Kyle Kallgren’s video essay on Buckaroo Banzai, no other genre would try and no other audience could buy into it without the context continuity creates.

Morrison/Porter’s JLA ends one of my favorite ways for serialized narratives to end, a reminder that things don’t end. As they’re winding down from fighting against a godkilling weapon, they receive a new report that Doctor Destiny has a new plot brewing and spring back into action, even if it’s a smaller threat. I love this type of ending because in life, even when things seem to be at peace, we always have to face the next day and we have the strength to get through it.

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: How Graffiti Influenced Elizabeth Murray

Elizabeth Murray (December 1987) (photo by Barry Kornbluh (c) 2017 The Murray-Holman Family Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

The 1980’s were a bodacious, hellacious, and most radical decade. Mötley Crüe got it right titling the era (and their greatest hits compilation album) the, “Decade of Decadence!” Intertwined with the rise of hip hop culture and a myriad international styles riffing off the energy of the streets in Los Angeles and New York City, graffiti exploded onto the scene. Artists in New York City in particular found inspiration in the tags, zips, and murals thrown up in endless rotation on subway cars and the buildings lining city streets.

As New York City slid towards bankruptcy in the mid-‘70s, graffiti, with its expressive, colorful, and vandalistic ways, amplified the voice of a significant subculture. “Only the very rich among New Yorkers could ignore the ubiquity of a new underground visual culture, which seemed to be rising like a red tide to cover public spaces: the spray-can art of the graffiti writers,” wrote curator Kirk Varnedoe in his 1990 essay “High & Low: Modern Art / Popular Culture,” “[Graffiti] suggested a city out of control, in which the most basic premises of civility had been surrendered.” Fierce competitive battles of new street styles covered subways and public spaces, and just at the moment the MTA made the elimination of graffiti a priority in the early ’80s, it was hitting the mainstream art world. Artists that once practiced surreptitiously began showing up in alternative spaces — first in the East Village, and then SoHo and 57th Street. The scene celebrated Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, and wunderkind Jean-Michel Basquiat.

The artist Dondi (1984) (photo © Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper)

About the same time, Elizabeth Murray’s reputation was well on the rise. She was counted among a short list of artists credited for resuscitating painting when much of the art world proclaimed painting to be dead. By the late ‘70s she had all but abandoned the traditional rectangular canvas, opting for eccentric, irregularly shaped canvases. The twisting and skewing of her paintings would eventually introduce a three-dimensionality that opened a new space for painting. An important influence we can see in contemporary painters like Ruth Root and Justine Hill.

Although her childhood fascination with comics would remain a major influence throughout her four-decade career, it’s plain to see the impact graffiti had on the paintings Murray made during the ‘80s.

“Popular culture is one part of teeming life that everybody, all of us, are involved in,” Murray told filmmaker Michael Blackwood in 1990, for his film Art in an Age of Mass Culture. She continued:

Whether we know it or not, even if we try to withdraw ourselves from it, we are all really involved in it every day when we walk out into the streets and you hear a … guy walking by with his box blasting a rap song at you. Or in the middle of the subway. Or walking up Broadway. I mean, it’s pouring out at you all the time.

Elizabeth Murray, “Heart and Mind” (1981), oil on canvas, 111 3/4 x 114 in. (283.8 x 289.6 cm) (collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California; the Barry Lowen Collection; (c) 2017 The Murray-Holman Family Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

Labeled a Neo-Expressionist along with Eric Fischl, David Salle, and Julian Schnabel, Murray allowed for the everyday to enter her paintings: tipping cups, falling saucers, overturned tables, and open windows. “Everything I have done and experienced gets into the work somehow or another—my childhood, my family life, my grad-school days,” Murray told Marlena Donohue in an 1997 interview,

I am a woman, I’m a mom, I’m a wife, I’m a painter. I live in a city where I see bright graffiti everywhere. And I was raised on comics and cartoons. I loved their graphic quality, how things jumped off the page. All of it gets in there.

Murray certainly wasn’t alone in her response to the Wild Style of street art. Painter Joyce Pensato, interviewed in MART-Kaleidoscope for a story in 2014 said, “I’ve always loved graffiti. It’s an act of the moment. In the ‘80s it was all over New York. It was in your face, loud and clear.” And for the same story painter Chris Martin explained, “I got a big studio building in 1984 and was able to spread out and make lots of big paintings. I figured if the graffiti guys were able to go out and bomb a billboard in one night, why couldn’t I make a fourteen foot painting in a day?”

Graffiti was something “you couldn’t avoid in New York,” Murray told Robert Storr in an interview for her 2005 retrospective at MoMA. “You couldn’t help but be excited by those big bloopy shapes,” she said. Shapes that manifest themselves in Murray’s work like “Heart and Mind” (1981), and that mimic the bombing of bubbling letters and jagged tags of the graffiti flaring up at the time. Expanding on Murray’s statement, Storr continues: “Murray seized on the potential of bubble-writing and quickly assimilated it into her art.”. And let’s not forget the photograph of a graffitied coffee cup still pinned to the wall of her downtown studio after Murray’s death.

Murray’s Renegade Approach

Murray’s renegade approach to painting dates back to the ‘70s. In one of the earliest critical evaluations of her work, Donald Kuspit called her attack of the canvas back then “something like war paint […] quirky little arcs and loops, or accent-mark dots and squares.” He also noted their “urgent energy” which could easily describe a tag by the reigning ‘70s graffiti artists like DONDI, Zephyr, and Futura.

Murray introduced her first serious series of thickly painted, shaped canvases in the late ‘70s. These included the star-like paintings “Daybreak” (1977-78), “Tug” (Jul 1978), “With” (1978), “Talk” (1978), “Once” (1978) and “Deliver” (1978), which would all demonstrate the first full commitment to this dramatic shift. In “Tempest” (1979) we see the balance of the sharp-edged paintings with poppy, bulbous, colorful shapes that would come to define her art making in the ‘80s.

Elizabeth Murray, “C-Painting” (1980-1981) oil on canvas, 109 x 114 in. (276.9 x 289.6 cm), (private Collection, New York. (c) 2017 The Murray-Holman Family Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

Although “F-Painting” (1973) is one of the earliest examples of Murray’s use of the alphabet in her paintings, “C-Painting” (1980-81) is the first to outright register shape and gesture. The sharp, zig-jag overall shape of the painting offers a contrasting space for two dark, concave, comma-shaped forms — their black silhouettes bounce up off the composition not unlike a graff tag off a city wall. “C-Painting” is one of Murray’s first literal uses of language in painting — punctuation animated and suspended in play.

“Murray referred to this comma form rather vaguely as a ‘physical symbol,’ and slightly more specifically as ‘a birth shape,’” wrote critic Joan Simon in Art in America in 1984.

It can be seen equally well as the simple element of punctuation that it is, or as a diagrammatic sperm; its fully modeled version suggests not only an abstracted organic form, but a uterus. That Murray’s first child was born when she began to use the comma shape, and that 14 years later it began to turn up with great regularity and forcefulness when she was pregnant with her second child, lends it an autobiographical dimension. Yet the implication quickly transcends the personal: most recently, Murray has used the comma in pairs, like Chinese yin/yang forms that signify both male and female principles and, more generally, opposites working in harmony.

This “comma” shape reappears in paintings like “Bean” (1982).

Elizabeth Murray, “Bean” (1982), oil on canvas (three parts), 115 11/16 x 107 5/8 in. (293.7 x 273 cm) ((c) 2017 The Murray-Holman Family Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

Murray’s Letter Paintings

Graffiti’s big, bloopy letters played a vital role in Murray’s work of the early ‘80s. Three paintings in particular parallel the evolution of the street tag: her multi-paneled “Her Story” (1984), “Gga” (1984) and “1, 2, 3” (1984). In these works Murray literally layered letters and numbers as the bases for her compositions. The painting “Her Story,” Murray explained for the publication of her mid-career retrospective in 1987, was about:

now you see it, now you don’t, I was always come back to turning things into something else. The shapes of the canvases are an E and two As with E on top. I was going to do A B C, but thought that was too predictable.

The era’s superstar Keith Haring had something very similar to say in a cover story for Artnews in October 1982, stating, “In all my work there is some degree of content that is more obvious, communicating a specific or a general idea that people will get. But a lot of times the work is ambiguous enough that it can interpreted by whoever.”

Murray’s Punctuation Paintings

In addition to the comma, Murray had a particular fascination with exclamation points and questions marks. The subtext of each added a literal element of drama to her work of the ‘80s.

Elizabeth Murray, “L’Amour (For Panic DJ)” (1986), oil on canvas (six parts), 61 1/2 x 85 x 30 1/2 in. (156.2 x 215.9 x 77.5 cm) (collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Eisenberg (c) 2017 The Murray-Holman Family Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

In the 1980s Murray’s husband, the poet Bob Holman, created a character, which was, Holman told me in a recent email, his “poetic alter-ego, the star of my one-person show.” Holman called him “PANIC*DJ! The Plain White Rapper.” It was a title that “Lou Reed liked and later named a song after,” In 1986, Murray dedicated an elaborate painting of two interlocking “question marks” and called it “L’Amour (For Panic D.J.).” He further elaborated:

I had a white dinner jacket from Trash & Vaudeville that I performed in — Judith Shea had me line it in turquoise. When we were filming Words in Your Face for PBS, the precursor to The United States of Poetry, the white jacket blew out the camera, so Elizabeth painted question marks on a plaid zoot-suity jacket. She also made me a [Pasta Mon Helmet] that PANIC*DJ! donned when doing his reggae number.

Elizabeth Murray, “Why? Painting (or Traveller’s Umbrella)” (1987), oil on canvas (three parts) 94 x 130 x 23 1/2 in. (238.8 x 330.2 x 59.7 cm), (collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington; gift of the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum (c) 2017 The Murray-Holman Family Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

In Murray’s “Why? Painting (Traveller’s Umbrella)” (1987), curator Sarah Rogers-Lafferty notes in her essay for a show at the Wexner Center for the Arts in 1993:

The jutting, angular shape of Why Painting is molded by the overlay of three canvases in the shape of the letters “w,” “h,” and “y.” Together they define a rough terrain, over which is painted an equally distorted landscape. Closer examination reveals that the apparent mountain peaks are actually the edges of an overturned umbrella and the dismembered handle plays double duty as the quizzical punctuation mark. Again, here is the great power of Murray’s vision, a vision that can question the essence of painting while making a playful yet serious analogy to the experience of a traveler (artist), lost and turned topsy-turvy by the experience itself.

The same year, Murray finished “Cracked Question,” a giant painting in six parts that harkened back to two earlier fractured paintings, “Art Part,” (1980-81) (Collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas), and “Painter’s Progress,” (1981) (Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York).

Elizabeth Murray, “Cracked Questions” (1987), oil on canvas (six parts), 161 1/2 x 194 x 23 1/2 in. (410.2 x 492.8 x 59.7 cm) (collection of the Colby Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine; gift of the Alex Katz Foundation (c) 2017 The Murray-Holman Family Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

Painting and Violence

Murray attacked the picture like any graffiti artist would. “Painting is a kind of violent thing to do. It’s a way of acting out,” Murray told Mari Rantanen for Konsttidskrift Art Magazine. She was fond of explaining that when she approached a new work she would use every weapon in her arsenal to get the job done. This included layering paint with a palette knife and sketching compositions with spray paint. Krypton spray cans littered the studio floor.

In the ‘80s, as Murray’s paintings became more and more dimensional, their spontaneity never seemed to wane, despite all it took to design and prepare her expanding structures. Speed and style were kept in dialogue, and much of the quality of the work depended on this tension.

Being in the City

As the decade of the ‘80s came to a close, in 1988, Murray summed up her work to date in an interview with John McCarron in Shift:

My work is very much about being in the city. It’s very much about the streets and the buildings and the feeling of enclosure. And in that sense New York is very conceptual. I’m not an intellectual, not by any means. I admire those minds very much. But New York is about enclosure and the energy of enclosure, and has a kind of a tough irony. I mean, it’s a city of complete contrasts and some bitterness, conflict, anger, and it’s also a … place of enormous hope.

The post How Graffiti Influenced Elizabeth Murray appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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[dwestfieldblog]

THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE WEIRD

But which is witch? It gets so hard to tell...but Love does not switch off, it turns on. So, drown this world in astral fire and cling to the wreckage floating...Welcome again to How I Cheated Death for 2000 Years... 'Perhaps we should kiss and break the tension.' as Homer Simpson said...to Plato. Or Pluto in Hades tomorrow. (Most of this was completed on Friday 20th October, under the influence of night air and music on headphones.)

But all dimensions rejoice, my 3 cds are done...'These songs make me glad I am deaf, I only wish that I were blind also' said Beethoven yesterday, via the astral plane... But another critic writes; 'These songs are better looking than a multi-dimensional parallelogram woman'; said Picasso, three days before a sideways yesterday. Of course I have already done five songs for the next cd, still alive and I need to play and sing before my left eye shades over and my liver explodes. The devil does indeed make work for idol hands. Yes, that's a bad pun. Catch 23. There is no such thing as failure, there is only giving up. I do not give up. WILL not.

Some strange times recently like a time shift around me and a slip into a slightly different dimension which is running parallel to where I was. A disorientated balance which quickly re-adjusted itself (into an accepting understanding) but left the feeling of being on or in another channel. A curving parallel synchronicity like two dolphins in the ocean, tango dancers, eternal twists of D.N.A...or just bloody Laurel and Hardy. Time might kiss and tell...or just rape the flesh of its youth.

God is always watching (too scared to join in) and is said to move in mysterious ways...me too after half a bottle of whisky but that's no excuse for bad behaviour. Jehovah'sVoyeurs...The devil is always listening, so be interesting at least...'The gods and angels of magic are described by the science of the mind as archetypes, while demons have been converted into neuroses.' Or 'Symbols reveal by concealing and conceal by revealing'.  G.Gurvitch

Two weeks ago, I gave some of my students the homework 'Describe Beauty'...that which elevates you, connects your highest self and overthrows your lowest. They all mentioned Nature, babies. Imagine Love.And all it means and how it feels. How you perceive it to be. How it transforms you. Where it takes you. EVOLVES you. Try this at home on a daily basis, stay calm, don't be alarmed. Smiley face time.

Meanwhile once again, far, far away from love...Sock puppets on-line writing inflammatory comments dictated by master manipulators with vested interests in power and money, being read by the gullible looking for others to blame for their own lack of energy (transferring guilt) and projecting themselves onto leaders they believe speak for them. Thus wept Zarathrustra. And around and around we go in an increasingly vicious circle with an ever decreasingspiral of possibilities until something disintegrates beneath the pressure.The normal world, '2017'.

Zuckerberg claiming that Facebook had no Russian propaganda connections during the U.S election...now proved to be absolute bullshit lies. And this guy has designs on a future White House? Wonderful news for the world if we ever get there. President Z should have been Zappa. And Trump, dear Donald, still trying to 'drain the swamp', one tweet at at time...and wondering why he is up to his arse in alligators...

Twitter for twats has expanded the amount of possible characters from140 to a stunning 280. Let the bells (which toll for thee) resound in a deadly, mean, meaningless celebration. More poison freely available across the ethernet. Duck Fart has an extra...errr, (wait a moment for my cognitive processes to do the mathematics)...140 extra letters to use for utter stinking excrement with which to fertilize his realm of truly lost souls. Live like scum, die like scum you disgusting moronic reptile. Cursed for three generations. I woke up in a good mood this morning, yes I did.

Various elections and 'power' shifts taking place, but...'In Capitalism, man exploits man, in Socialism, its exactly the opposite'. Ben Tucker. HA.

I can remember the night before I turned ten years old, writing in a little book, 'For the rest of my life I will have two numbers' and feeling miserable about it, (poor little thing) now I look forward to having 3. Death/wisdom or both simultaneously. They can take my life but they'll never take my freedom. Etc. Drawing down the moon straight into the heart...and...away we go...you were born Ready.

All religion, magick and spiritual disciplines are attempts to bring together, (in Latin -religare -to bind) reconnect, re-establish a link, a bridge between hemispheres of the brain, man within the woman, the female enfolding the male, to become whole, the marriage of the opposites, god and the devil within, Yoga, from the Sanskrit root 'yuj'...meaning to join,  a Harmonic resonance causing phase transition if you will. Will, Go deeper... Self-remembering leads to self reprogramming, erasing learned imprints and replacing them with a new circuitry. 'All forms of purposive activity invoke a higher 'I'. That 'I' will take 'you' over when allowed...and there is the legendary guardian angel, another part of yourself.

EVOLUTION IS INEVITABLE..

Altogether now...Left brain...Active Yang for language and reason. ON. Aware of the passing of time. Right brain...Passive Yin for feeling and intuition. OFF. No sense of time. Anima is the female element in the male unconsciousness. Animus is the male in the female. Every ancient story and creation myth (like Plato's legend of the Gods cutting man in two) is an attempt to explain the polarisation of energies. Every mystic religion is a form of discipline to reconnect the one with the other and then combine with the whole. (Or so I choose to believe and I am just crazy enough to believe my own discoveries.) The horizon comes to you because it is already within. How to make new friends and influence yourself.

(Aha, just read today '....awareness that society is everywhere in conspiracy against intelligence'. Schroedinger's Cat, (R.A.W.) Always wonderful to find that someone vastly more clever and better humoured than I, agrees with me. Makes it all almost worth the while.) I think a lot, (way too much) and it is a pity that I am fairly stoopid because my thoughts could actually be useful occasionally. What serves better, is instinct. (When in doubt, blow the thinking OUT.) Logic is ridiculous in the face of eternity. That's why people on various drugs laugh so much

'Every great discovery had been the breaking of a taboo'.

'When you're ugly and somebody loves you, you know they love you for who you are. Beautiful people never know who to trust.'

The following sentence was in last month's blog, but it came from a useful dream of mine and I like it, whether or not it makes 'sense'...so here it is  again....Creation was caused by focused thought form radiations of ahigher oscillating force upon binary possibility waves...This is more or less, (or much more than) what magick seems to be. A discipline of focus, cause and effect...and everyone can do this in their own forms and fashion, every chord, stroke of the brush, every recipe, secret invention, improvisation on the spur of the moment, every executed plan. Every thought form directed, every cosmic joke, every intuition realised, every kiss which dissolves Ego, every spiked lightning and shiver of orgasm, every channelled catharsis creating reality around you, drawing circumstances towards you. But be Very aware of the power of the subconscious, it works both ways.

As someone evolved might have said; 'When you need to shit, shit.' Anal retentives have a hard time ascending their internal heaps. Process and release, do a finger painting in your own blood if you have to. When dealing with yourself , honesty is always the best policy. White people seem to have it quite bad and English folk all the worse. Once again, everyone has an Ego problem because they have an Ego. (Or something.) And remove the insecure mask of self delusional vanities, some folk were born mediocre but the 'average' can always become more...although that takes focus and the majority are always lazy. They have been trained to be.

Acquiring knowledge is also a matter of losing useless parts of your thinking in tandem with ingesting fascinating teachings. The teacher comes when ready. (HA.) And many, many times, the teacher becomes yourself. You, on another level, reorientating yourself, a helping hand further on. Much depends on trust and most humans learned to be natural manipulators as babies, adults merely refine the negatives. Lessons are everywhere and take thousands of forms, too much to know but One to Be.

I remember reading many years ago of someone asking Buddha if he was a saviour, to which he replied 'I am not'. 'Are you an angel?' No. 'What are you?' The realised man replied; 'I am awake'. And there it was and here it is. At the same time. Almost all of us including myself, are deeply asleep. Somnambulists on a treadmill of daily routine...too busy busy busy with basic survival (and being kept so by the powers that seem to be) to evolve and clamber amoeba like out of the ocean onto land) (F......g terrible mixed metaphor but you get the idea) and as that temporarily French programme from the Matrix said; 'If we do not make time, then 'ow can we take the time?'

Still love the part where he says how much he enjoys the French language because it is the best to curse in; 'It's like wiping your arse with silk'. Wonderful writing. HUMOUR. Ahhh, Sing Swan Song by Can....Melt. She is the mother of Everything and you are her egg...afterglowing...

Shelter, embrace, eat you, drink you consume you, renew you, over and over, higher and higher and OUT. A glorious and total sanity to the very sweetest end.

And as for the 'Here and Now'...This quote from The Tibetan Book of the Dead, could not be much clearer... 'This Truth is that there is no reality behind any of the phenomena of the Bardo plane, save the illusions stored up in one's own mind as accretions from sangsaric experiences. Recognition of this automatically gives Liberation'.

Saw some graffiti yesterday in large letters on the side of a block of grim flats in Prague, translates as; 'YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT UTOPIA'. The definition of Utopia is? Drugs in concrete boxes? A fake temporary connection with an illusory higher self? All addictions weaken. He says, now slurping whisky, eating a chocolate biscuit and smoking a cigarette. (See, how a man can multi task with total focus, arf)  Never said I was perfect. Not even my mother would claim that.

The age of reason was the death of love. The Aeon of Chaos will see its rebirth. Where does all this nonsense come from? I just watch my fingers moving. Don't think. Switch off by choice and dive into the flowing rivers of trance and Blah. Very rarely I am I arrogant enough to believe that any of this waffle is being channelled. Only sometimes.

Harm none and do what you Will. HAPPY HALLOWEEN, jump on a broomstick and Know YourSelf, with Love, D.

[aion-rsa]

Corrina Bechko On Revealing Angel’s Hidden Past In Season 11

Fans of Joss Whedon’s hip horror world centering on Buffy the Vampire Slayer have already embarked on the 12-issue saga that is “Season 11.” But even though this year’s canonical continuation of the cult TV series is shorter than seasons past, the Dark Horse world isn’t done with “Buffy” alone. This week sees the debut of “Angel Season 11” – the latest chapter in the afterlife of the Whedonverse’s leading vampire.

While previous years of the comics have seen the “Buffy” and “Angel” series (whatever form they may take) work closely together to tell a sprawling story, Season 11 sees “Angel” going solo in more ways than one.

Under the guidance of writer Corinna Bechko and artist Geraldo Borges, the series will embark on its own 12-issue journey in parallel with “Buffy Season 11.” The book takes Angel out of previous trappings like Los Angeles and London and actually out of the 21st Century as a whole. Instead, the story focuses on the goddess Illyria transporting Angel back through his own past as an aristocratic vampire…and on the path to confronting a Big Bad villain all his own.

RELATED: Sarah Michelle Gellar Weighs In On If A Buffy Revival Would Work

CBR spoke with Bechko about her first foray into the Whedonverse, and got an exclusive, expanded look inside this week’s #1. Below, the writer digs into the ways in which she’ll connect her “Season 11” to all past iterations of Angel on the screen and on the page, the way the vampire with a heart will finally overcome his dark side and why historical horror fiction is the right frontier for the future of the franchise.

CBR: Corinna, comic fans will know a lot of your work both at Dark Horse and across the business, but since the Whedonverse is such a unique and specific story space, I wanted to start with your own experience there as a fan. What’s your background as a Buffy/Angel follower? How much of a crash course did you have to put yourself through when you got the gig?

Corinna Bechko: I immediately read every “Buffy” and “Angel” comic Dark Horse had ever produced, and set about watching “Angel” in order from the start. I needed everything to be fresh in my mind, and the result was that Angel’s world seemed very full and multi-layered to me by the time I was done. It’s funny how immersing yourself in something can alter your feel for it in contrast to what you half-remember from impressions gathered years earlier.

Of course, this world is also an idiosyncratic one – the Buffy books like all of Joss’ work have a very specific tone to them. What’s it been like balancing your own writing style with the voice of these shows/comics as you’ve gotten underway?

When I write for myself, it’s a very different experience compared to working in someone else’s universe. In a situation like this, my job is to erase myself as much as possible and to not impose my personal style too much. Of course, I can’t help but be me, but I try to capture the voice and tone of the original as closely as possible while still bringing something new to it.

Generally speaking, the core Buffy series, which is always about the Scooby gang fighting against Monster X in Y phase of their lives, but “Angel” as a concept has been a little more fluid. Last year, we saw his status quo shift to the “Angel & Faith” series, but he’s solo now. How would you describe your book in comparison to past iterations of the character?

I think that Angel is all about how his past impacts his future to an extent not seen in “Buffy.” He can’t ever escape what he is, often to his determent, but sometimes to his good fortune as well. Season 11 will explore this theme more deeply, and in the course of that, we will see some familiar faces. Close readers who paid a lot of attention to the show will spot references, of course, and will hopefully be pleased by the implications.

At his core, Angel has always been a character fighting against his darker impulses, and that idea has really taken on new dimensions since the Dark Horse series started up. How do you hope to explore this internal dynamic over the course of “Season 11”?

I think that Angel is a complex enough character that his fight has become something nuanced. He doesn’t have to like the dark things he’s done, but he can and does learn from them, and then he often turns that knowledge to good advantage. Over the course of this season, I hope he learns that he can trust himself more and that even some of his worst impulses can be made to bear fruit that benefits the light instead of the darkness.

From what I’ve seen, artist Geraldo Borges seems to not just be working to provide a strong likeness for the characters fans already know, but it feels that as a storyteller he’s working on some unique page compositions. What’s your experience working with him so far, and what are you trying to tailor to his style in your scripts?

I’m so lucky to be working with Geraldo! His art really captures both the energy and the pathos of Angel’s character in a much more holistic way than by simply producing his likeness. I will admit that I threw some rather hallucinogenic sequences his way and was thrilled to see how beautifully wild and otherworldly they turned out.

Getting into the story, we know that this series involves time travel to Angel’s own past – a period of Buffy history that’s been talked about a lot but rarely seen. What’s the biggest draw for you in writing in this period both from a history standpoint and for what it says about Angel as a character?

I like writing stories set in the past since that often involves a lot of fun research, but in this case, it requires not only delving into real-world facts, but a close study of the history portrayed in the shows and comics. I do think I have it pretty easy because the real challenge is for the artist who has to do a lot of extra work in order to get the clothes, food, ships, houses, etc. correct. Hopefully, the end product will result in Angel getting to know himself a bit better. Angel often has a harder time forgiving himself than he does anyone else.

We know that in the main “Buffy” book, the team is working with the “short season” format (at least compared to previous seasons) of 12 issues. Will you run take a similar approach, or are you structuring this run differently?

Season 11 will have 12 issues in it, portioned into three natural arcs.

One big tease for the story is that Angel is investigating a potential future Big Bad. What can you say about the nature of this threat and any wider connection it will have with what’s going on “Buffy Season 11”?

By design, there won’t be any crossover between “Buffy Season 11” and “Angel Season 11.” Both will be complete unto themselves, so the reader can enjoy them in any order they like. As to the threat, it’s something very unique to Angel’s situation, so only he can solve the riddle and keep the world safe from a potentially devastating future.

Ultimately, what’s the aspect of this series you find the most rewarding creatively? And what about working with this character in this world is most challenging?

It is always enjoyable to delve into different historical contexts, and here I get to do it not once, but several times. It’s also a challenge though because Angel has such a complex and lengthy history. It’s important to get all the little details correct because he deserves no less from me!

“Angel Season 11” #1 arrives this Wednesday from Dark Horse Comics.

The post Corrina Bechko On Revealing Angel’s Hidden Past In Season 11 appeared first on CBR.com.

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