#ivette velez/the jaguar II

[nianderful]

the jaguar oneshot was so so good and i have so many thoughts and feelings about it that i am too shy to post here so have this funny meme instead

[nianderful]

and now: a not-so-brief tangent on jaguar (2024) from an ivette velez stan

hello! it's been a while since i made a post like this but it's for a good reason! and i have a Lot to say so i'm putting it under a cut.

not a lot of people who follow me may know about this but i've been kind of losing it (/pos) over one of archie comics' latest oneshots— the jaguar, which came out about a couple of weeks back. it's a pretty great comic, and one that means a lot to me as someone who's actually been a fan of ivette velez/jaguar II for quite a long time. ask anyone who follows me on discord and they'll tell you; i can talk about this catgirl for hours.

while i find new crusaders to be pretty....alright, ivette's character was the only one that stuck with me. i related a lot to her shyness and fear, and found it wonderful to read about her overcoming her fears and rising up as a hero.

go ahead, girl. i am of the opinion that she carries this comic in terms of writing. (ian flynn had only 20% of his power, and it went into her) as for mighty crusaders 2017, i found it to be....Fine but hey! The Girl! Yay!

(i think 2017!ivette is cool...when i'm able to ignore the inconsistent lore. i'm a bit of a lore nut) so to sum up: i've been a fan of ivette velez for a long time. and i've pleaded with the comic gods for her to get her due for. well. a long time (again just ask my discord pals) so you can imagine how happy i was when the jaguar oneshot was announced last year. it was a very wonderful day. i was finally being fed after so long three and a half months later, here i am, and let me preface by saying: the jaguar is great. it's the comic i always dreamed of ivette getting. and i can't really go on without saying thank you to the creative team. you worked magic and i hope you know that.

i don't want this to be a super long post going through a play-by-play of this comic so i'm going to talk about what i came out liking the most: the meaning and pathos it gives to ivette as a character, and the jaguar name.

let me preface this by admitting something: as much as i adore ivette in new crusaders, i'm starting to realize/understand that her character's sort of....bare-bones. i love her dearly but it's kind of true. she's just shy and scared and little else until she's not. while she’s still the only new crusader to get something resembling an arc, a lot of it is “shy one stands up for herself”.

and, again, i love her for that! there aren't a lot of superhero characters i'm able to see myself in, because a lot of the time, shy girls don't become heroes.

but part of appreciating the jaguar meant accepting the reality that there wasn't much to her in new crusaders. and that makes me appreciate with the former comic did with her all the more

the first two pages of the oneshot do wonderfully with establishing her relationship with her heritage—she doesn't really have one.

(i can talk about how much i love tango's art all day, how it does a phenomenal job showing us not just how reserved ivette is, but how insecure she feels answering the question "are you from peru?")

this is so much more than what we got in new crusaders; instead of being Shy And Nothing More, she's shy...and someone who clearly has a bunch of baggage. and this isn't even getting into the pathos this story adds to the jaguar name. in new crusaders, it's simply ivette's hero identity. her powers come from the helmet of ai apaec, but there's nothing more than that.

but in the jaguar, ai apaec's helmet (and his entire existence) is tied to ivette's growth. and we learn as the comic goes on that the name 'jaguar' means more to her than a superhero moniker

one of the parts of this comic that struck me the most is the panel talking about one of the peruvian ruins ivette visits

this panel sticks with me because. there's a lot of parallels to ivette's backstory. the legend of a girl who lost her parents...

... and became a powerful jaguar.

it's pretty clear that ivette's got close ties to this legend, and that's before we learn where ai apaec factors in all this.

again, let's go back to new crusaders for a bit. in that comic, ai apaec's just a bloodthirsty god who looks down on ivette at first...

...and only gives her his powers when she tells him where to stick it.

(there's just a bit more to their dynamic than that actually but. not relevant)

in the jaguar, though, we learn pretty quickly that ai apaec was the god mentioned in the panel discussing the jaguar's lair...

and we're reminded that ivette is the girl in that legend. and also may be an reincarnation of ai apaec. the guy's not just the source of her powers; they're one in the same.

(these panels are so SICK man the art in this slaps so hard)

the dynamic between ai apaec and ivette just feels deeper than it is in new crusaders. he's instrumental in her growth and self-realization. his last bit of dialogue is....augh

(it's probably not a coincidence that ai apaec's appearance is more jaguar-esque than it is in new crusaders)

the main takeaway i got from all this: ivette velez Is the jaguar, and not just because that's her hero name.

all of this comes together in the final page of the comic, where ivette is able to answer the question "are you from peru?" with certainty—and in spanish no less.

honestly, this is just part of the package. i haven't even gotten into the writing or the villain (and i'm not telling. read the comic you yahoos) and again i could gush about the art all day.

but this is the number one thing i appreciate about the jaguar. it takes a character who was pretty two-dimensional in her debut and adds meaning, depth, and emotion to her character. she's so much more than who she was, and while i love both iterations, i can't deny that.

to end this little spiel: i made this post last year. and in said post i expressed my dream that ivette would get her own shadow of the batgirl.

and now i can say that wish has been granted in spades. (i mean. i would've loved a graphic novel but we can't have it all) i've said this once but i am so so thankful for that. i'm thankful that i can say that ivette velez is more than a character who's potential was wasted.

and to everyone who brought this comic to life: thank you from a fellow shy girl. and while i'm hopeful that the future is as bright as this, i'm also very grateful for what we've got. thank you.

[nianderful]

anyway, while i mull over my fate of being the only person who gives a shred of a shit about new crusaders, have this bingo board that you can consider a sequel to the robbie one i made last year

[nianderful]

part 2 of my Ivette Velez is Autistic post: the Ted Talk (aka: This Girl Is Neurodivergent, and Here's Why)

like with my speedball post, i feel the need to clarify that this is just me rambling about a character i relate to. if anybody disagrees with this post, it’s totally cool.

exhibit a: is very shy and anxious for....pretty much all of her panel time.  when we first meet her, she's sitting alone and away from a lot of the people at the party she's at.

even when Everything Goes Horribly Wrong, she’s still relatively secluded and away from everyone...

....and she’s cited as someone who needs to get out more, and who--in her own words, just wants to be alone.

exhibit b: textile stimming! ivette grabs/runs her hands through her hair a LOT.

exhibit c: i noticed that she bunches her hands in front of her face a lot--i personally headcanon that this is her equivalent to raptor hands.

exhibit c: canonical instance of fidgeting

tl;dr: this new crusader is definitely not neurotypical; thank you for coming to another “nia makes all of her faves autistic” ted talk, and apologies for the super long post.

[nianderful]

i'm the only one who's probably even heard of this series, but i feel the need to come out and Say It: ivette velez/jaguar II is autistic!

[nianderful]

have you seen her?

now you have :)