#went crazy with this one with the colored comic

[raycatzdraws]

idk if u still have requests open, BUUUT i personally never knew remlits could fly back up and thusly never threw one off skyloft. i was shocked when i saw a clip of someone doing that. maybe that w sky + the links?

YEAH! BYE KITTY!!!

Alternate ending under the read more!

(Twi doesn't know the remlits fly, but he knows Sky can SOOOO

Sky knew what he was getting into xD )

[dabuggh3]

Heyyy Can you write smth cutesie abt picking hamzah up after he gets too overwhelmed at comic con. I couldn’t stop thinking abt it the whole time watching it was rly funny😭😭😭 Please and Thank you

HIII YESS, no because when I was watching the video and I literally started getting anxious because of how overwhelmed he was. I paused the video😭. But anyways thanks for requesting and I hope you enjoyyy!!💗

Hamzah calls you to come pick him up from comic con because they were done shooting the video for slushynoobz. You get in your car and head over, you arrive and he gets in the car. The first couple mins were quiet, “ So how did it go?, did you like it?”. “ uh it was good there were so sooo many people on one of the floors it was actually crazy, we had to sit down for literally half of it” You look over at him and he was holding something.

“ What did you buy?” He looks down and starts bursting out laughing as he shows you, my little pony oven mitts. “ Hamzahhh” you say laughing. “ Waitttt, okay me and Martin were passing by and there was just like a huge ass stack and we were like what’s this, and we started talking shit and the lady was like oh they’re home made, they’re home made like 5 times, and idk what came over me and I just bought them.”

“ They’re kindaaa cute” you say looking at them. “ I wasted like 30 dollarssss, I saved 5 dollars tho, we bargained with the lady ” he says smiling. “ 30 dollars is actually crazy, but they’re homemade remember”. “ Stoppp, oh my god and someone called Martin the skinniest Spiderman they’ve ever seennn”. You laugh , “ that’s so meann”.

“Babe I swear I was looking at some people and I literally wanted to gag so bad I don’t even know why”. He continues talking then he goes silent, just staring at you,“ What’s wrong” “ You’re so pretty you’re glowingggg” he says admiring you. You turn and smile at him. “Even on shrooms, you’re the prettiest girl I’ve seen”

For the rest of the drive he continues talking, pointing at random signs, and telling you what he’s seeing. You guys arrive, parking into you’re apartment complex, “ Yea and Martin went over and asked him for a hug and I was like boy he don’t want no dam hug from youu, the guy looked so scared I recorded it.” You both laugh so hard, “ Okay we’re here let’s go” “ Huh, I swear the car was still moving”

You guys enter the apartment, and Hamzah changes then plops down on the couch. “ Do you wanna eat something orrr” “ No I’m okay I’ll eat later” “ Okay” you walk over and sit next to him, “ Want to watch something” you look over at him as he sits with his head back eyes closed, “ uhhh yea,” he opens his eyes and turns looking at you. He smiles and leans over to kiss you. He then positions himself, laying on your chest. “ Do you wanna watch Arcaneee??” You say in an excited tone.“ Yesssss” he says smiling.

You and Hamzah lay on the couch as you rub his back. And he keeps pointing out random stuff from the show that he’s never noticed, “ wait was that always there I swear it wasn’t”. 30 minutes pass by and while laying down, you feel his stomach growl. “ Babe are you sure you’re not hungry?” “ No” “ I literally felt you’re stomach growl right now, ima go make you something” you try getting up. Hamzah holds onto you harder while making himself heavier, “ I’m not hungry, don’t leave” he says muffled because his face is buried in your chest. “ I’ll take like 20 mins and I’ll be right back, I’m literally right here next to you in the kitchen”. “ No”. “ Okay then come with me”

Eventually Hamzah agrees and comes with you to the kitchen. You end up making him a sandwich. While making it Hamzah is just hugging you from behind, watching. “ Are you sure the mayo’s not expired, it’s kinda a weird color” “ No it’s not, trust me”. You finish and go back on the couch. Hamzah sits back down and eats his sandwich. He then goes on a whole rant how Martin didn’t want to finish watching Arcane and he’s missing out. Then he starts talking about the slushies, “ I hope they actually enjoy the video, I feel like we looked so dumb” he laughs. “ Nooo, they’ll enjoy it dont worry”. Eventually he starts getting tired so he starts quieting down and ends up falling asleep.

I hope this isn’t horrible 😭.

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @scottlava

Scott Campbell has illustrated numerous children’s books, including SKULLS!, Sleepy the Goodnight Buddy, and Zombie In Love. He was author/illustrator of the much-loved HUG MACHINE. He enjoyed a long career in video games, where he art directed the critically acclaimed game Psychonauts and Brutal Legend for Double Fine Productions. Great Showdowns is his ongoing online series. Scott’s work has appeared in galleries and publications around the world. You can see more of his work at ScottC.com.

Check out our interview with Scott below!

How did you get your start in art, and more specifically, with Great Showdowns?

I went to art school in San Francisco and have been painting, making comics, and designing video games ever since with Double Fine Productions. The Great Showdowns began at the first Crazy 4 Cult exhibition at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles back in 2007, an exhibition of artwork inspired by the cult classics of cinema. The first 10 little paintings were intended to be snack-sized pieces for people to easily collect. They began with perhaps the most iconic of wild west showdowns from A Fistful of Dollars with Clint Eastwood. I pulled some of my favorite moments from films like Ghostbusters, Predator, Exorcist, and Planet of the Apes and placed them all in simple little dust-colored squares as if they were in the dirt streets of a wild west town. They began as good versus evil but grew to all kinds of showdowns between people and objects and often moments of great love between people. I started a tumblr for them a few years later, and I have been posting them ever since. We have published three Great Showdown books and have had 3 solo exhibitions along with worldwide scavenger hunts. There are over a thousand of them up on the site by now, and i do not plan on stopping any time soon.

Which 3 famous artists (dead or alive) would you invite to your dinner party?

I would like to gather Jim Henson, Walt Disney, and Richard Scarry together for dinner and chats. They have all created my favorite and most joyful worlds. I think we would have some of the most delightful chats.

What is a medium that you have always been intrigued by but would never use yourself?

I love collage, but every time I try it, I get frustrated and just quit. Someday I will get into it when my kids are old enough to really mess around with various mediums. I plan to have boxes of textiles and magazines for them to just annihilate.

What does your work set up look like?

Oh, it’s just a table with an old mug for water and an old plate for my watercolors and not much else. I share a studio with a bunch of very inspiring people who make wonderful things, from fabricated creatures to VR experiences and films. I have probably the simplest little area in the space. I do have an old oak flat file that I love to look at.

Advice you would give to an aspiring creator?

The biggest thing I would push upon everyone would be to not fret about one’s visual style. The style will grow and present itself as you experiment with mediums and expose yourself to various cultural delights. Just have fun and try all kinds of things.

What is one interaction you had from a fan of yours that has stuck with you over the years?

I gave a game design presentation many years back on a game I had art directed at the time called Brutal Legend at a game conference in Leeds. The game followed a roadie to the age of metal in the land of metal, with demons and chrome volcanoes and hot rods growing from the ground, and rivers of happy and cheering fans. After the talk, I spoke with someone whose work I had seen in earlier portfolio reviews at the conference. She was very shy but incredibly talented. She came up to me after the talk feeling pretty emotional and inspired to the point of tears and sobbing. It was probably the most extreme reaction I have ever gotten from someone, and it touched me deep down in my guts. That’s why we make things! To bring on the tears!

From video games, to illustrations, and children's books, you've worked on many projects. What was the most challenging, yet rewarding one?

Video games take an enormous amount of work over a long period of time and rely on the skills and talent of many like-minded people. It is sometimes difficult to corral such an effort, but it is incredibly rewarding to see it all come together to create such epic worlds. That said, though, children’s books are very enjoyable in a cozy way. It’s just me right there working on a world and all the pressure is on me. I cannot rely on all the talented people around me to make it look great.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

I love perusing old fashion and film blogs and artists like Bob Jinx and Neil Sanders and collections like Its Colossal.

Thanks for stopping by, Scott! Be sure to check out the Great Showdowns over at @scottlava!

[thekillingvote]

No Birds Allowed: Batman without Robin

The usual claim is that Jason Todd was singularly hated by audiences. Dick Grayson, Carrie Kelley, and Tim Drake are proper, beloved Robins—and Jason Todd is the one and only outlier so unlikable that audiences killed him off by popular vote.

But this claim ignores a massive piece of the puzzle—the Robin role has long been treated as an outdated remnant of a childish era, not only by a significant share of Batman fans, but also by Batman creative teams. While there were definitely fans who hated Jason Todd, he was at least partly chosen to be killed as a scapegoat for some long-standing complaints about the Robin role in Batman stories.

The 1988 poll to kill Jason Todd wasn't just a poll to kill Jason Todd—the poll to kill Robin was a poll to kill Robin.

Fan letters columns from Batman #221 and Detective Comics #398, reacting to Dick leaving for Hudson University in Batman #217 (1969):

Denny O'Neil Batman/Detective Comics writer (1970-1980) Batman group editor (1986-2000) on sending Robin away to Hudson University:

Dan Greenfield: Actually, last night I went back through my comics and the one thing that always strikes me is that before you came onto the character, they’d already made the decision to have Robin leave. Robin was up at Hudson University and was used sparingly from that point forward. Denny O’Neil: Well, that was a conscious decision of mine. Greenfield: Oh! O’Neil: Yeah, I mean … I had been offered Batman a year before I did it. Greenfield: No kidding? I wanna hear this. O’Neil: Because that was in the (Batman TV show) camp thing. The comics were very half-heartedly following in the footsteps of the camp because it was having a palpable effect on circulation. That’s not always true but it was in that case. Camp as in the sense — as opposed to the more erudite sense — this one-line joke about: “I loved this stuff when I was 6 and now that I’m 28 and I have a bi-weekly appointment with a therapist and a little, mild drug habit and two divorces, ‘Look how silly it is.'” I would go into the most literary bar in Greenwich Village on (Wednesday) or Thursday evenings and there would be writers and poets and college professors, all looking at Batman! But when that was over, it was over. It was like somebody turned a switch. And that’s when (editor) Julie (Schwartz) said, in his avuncular way, did I have any ideas for Batman? And at that point, I wasn’t going to be asked to do camp. I was going to be asked to do anything within the bounds of good taste, etc., that I wanted to.

O'Neil, quoted from “Notes from the Batcave: An Interview with Dennis O’Neil” in The Many Lives of The Batman: Critical Approaches to a Superhero and His Media:

There was a time right before I took over as Batman editor when he seemed to be much closer to a family man, much closer to a nice guy. He seemed to have a love life and he seemed to be very paternal towards Robin. My version is a lot nastier than that. He has a lot more edge to him.

O'Neil in 2015:

Modern Batman does not do camp. He has to evolve but to stay true to the concept he has to stay lonely. The kids, there shouldn't be many. Keep him the lone, obsessed crusader and the stories will be better. We did a story called Son of the Demon. It told a story where he had a kid, a baby. It wasn't in continuity. These days, the kid came back and became the new Robin, and I hear that Batman's got a few more running around.

Jim Starlin, Batman writer (1987-1988), writer of A Death in the Family:

I tried to avoid using [Robin] as much as I could. In most of my early Batman stories, he doesn’t appear. Eventually Denny asked me to do a specific Robin story, which I did, and I guess it went over fairly well from what I understand. But I wasn’t crazy about Robin.

I thought that going out and fighting crime in a grey and black outfit while you send out a kid in primary colors was kind of like child abuse. So when I started working on Batman, I was always leaving Robin out of the stories, and Denny O’Neil who is the editor finally said, "You gotta put [Robin] in."

In the one Batman issue I wrote with Robin featured, I had him do something underhanded, as I recall. Denny had told me that the character was very unpopular with fans, so I decided to play on that dislike. [...] At that time, DC had this idea that they were gonna do an AIDS education book, and so they put a box out and wanted everybody to put in suggestions of who should contract AIDS and perish in the comics. I stuffed it with Robin. They realized it was all my handwriting so they ended up throwing all my things out. About six months later, Denny came up with this idea of the call-in thing. [...] I didn’t find out about it until I came back [from Mexico] and found out that, just as I expected, my ghoulish little fans voted him dead. But by a much smaller margin than I’d imagined. It was only like 72 votes out of 10,000, so statistically it was next to nothing.

Dan Raspler, assistant editor/associate editor to Denny O’Neil (1988-1990):

Denny wasn’t really interested in comics continuity, and he didn’t like superheroes. And if you read his work, you see his influence was really a pushing away from the conventions at the time—it was growing old, that sort of Golden Age-y, Silver Age-y stuff, and Denny sort of modernized it, and he never stopped feeling that way. Jim Starlin’s Batman appealed to Denny. It was a little more ‘down to Earth. Nobody liked Robin at the time. For a while Robin was not—it didn’t make sense in comics. Comics were darkening, and so having the kid was just, it was silly, and even at the time I kind of didn’t. Now Robin is my favorite all-time character, but at the time when I was twenty-whatever, I accepted kicking Robin out, the short pants and all the rest of it.

Comic shop owner Phil Beracha on A Death in the Family, quoted in The Sun Sentinel (October 22, 1988):

"I got 100 copies, and I don't expect them to last past the weekend," said Phil Beracha, owner of Phil's Comic Shoppe in Margate. "I usually get 50 copies of Batman. I doubled my order, and I still expect to sell out." The readers voted right, Beracha said. "Robin is an outdated concept. He was created in the `40s, and back then in a comic book you could have a kid beating up grown men. I don't think that works today."

Writer Steve Englehart, quoted in "Batman, the Gamble; Warner Bros. is betting big money that a 50-year-old comic book vigilante will be a `hero for our times'" in the Los Angeles Times (June 18, 1989):

Writer Steven Englehart, who did a series of Batman stories in Detective Comics, also worked up some movie treatments. In a letter to Comics Buyer's Guide, he revealed the approach he had in mind, which would have pleased Batfanatics: "My first treatment had Robin getting blown away in the first 90 seconds, so that every reviewer in the country would begin his review with, `This sure isn't the TV show.' "

Michael Uslan, producer and film rights holder for the 1989 Batman film:

I only let Tim [Burton] see the original year of the Bob Kane/Bill Finger run, up until the time that Robin was introduced. I showed him the Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers and the Neal Adams/Denny O'Neil stories. My biggest fear was that somehow Tim would get hold of the campiest Batman comics and then where would we be?

"Death Knell for the Campy Crusader" in the Orlando Sentinel (23 June 1989):

For most people, the name Batman summons up a picture of a clown in long johns, a Campy Crusader who - with the young punster Robin - ZAPed and POWed his way into our lives. That's the Batman that appeared on TV in the mid-'60s, and that's the Batman that the world at large knows. Such is the power of television. But this ludicrous image may become obsolete now that the new, $40 million Batman movie has opened. Robin is absent from the film, as are the perky Batgirl and the utterly superfluous Aunt Harriet of the TV series. And though the movie has plenty of sound effects, they don't appear on the screen as words, spelled out in neo-Brechtian absurdity.

Sam Hamm, writer for Batman (1989 live-action film):

The Case of the Disappearing Robin is high comedy. Tim (Burton) and I had worked out a plotline that did not include the Boy Wonder, whom we both regarded as an unnecessary intrusion. Really: Our hero was crazy to begin with. Did he have to prove it by enlisting a pimply adolescent to help him fight crime? Was Bat-Baby unavailable? But the studio was insistent: There was no such thing as solo Batman, there was only Batman and Robin. So, after holding off the executives for as long as we could, Tim and I realized we had better try to accommodate them. He flew up to my house in San Francisco and we walked around in circles for two days, finally deciding that there was no way to shoehorn Robin into our story. [...] We figured that if we managed to squeeze him in, the lame hacks who were making the sequel could worry about what to do with him next. When the film went into production in London, and ran seriously over budget, WB started looking for a sequence that could be cut to save money. And there was one obvious candidate: Intro Robin! So Robin was cut from the movie and shoved back to Batman Returns— from which he was cut yet again and shoved back to Batman Forever.

Grant Morrison on creating Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (written 1987-1988, published 1989) with Dave McKean (see the annotated script's fourth page):

The original first draft of the script included Robin. Robin appeared in a few scenes at the beginning then remained at Police Headquarters for the bulk of the book, where he spent his time studying plans and histories of the house, in order to find a way in to help his mentor. Dave McKean, however, felt that he had already compromised his artistic integrity sufficiently by drawing Batman and refused point blank over for the Boy Wonder — so after one brave but ridiculous attempt to put him in a trench coat, I wisely removed him from the script.

Paul Dini on Batman: The Animated Series (1992), as told in the 1998 book Batman Animated:

The Fox Network, on the assumption that kids won't watch a kid’s show unless kids are in it, soon began insisting that Robin be prominently featured in every episode. When Fox changed the title from Batman: The Animated Series to The Adventures of Batman & Robin, they laid down the law-no story premise was to be considered unless it was either a Robin story or one in which the Boy Wonder played a key role. Out were underworld character studies like “It's Never Too Late"; in were traditional Batman and Robin escapades like “The Lion and the Unicorn.” A potentially intriguing Catwoman/Black Canary team-up was interrupted in midpitch to the network by their demand, “Where's Robin?” When the writers asked if they could omit Robin from just this one episode, Fox obliged by omitting the entire story. Looking back, there was nothing drastically wrong with Robin's full-time insertion into the series—after all, kids do love him. Our major gripe at the time was that it started turning the series into the predictable Batman and Robin show people had initially expected it would be. For the first season, Batman had been an experiment we weren't sure would work. We were trying out different ways of telling all kinds of stories with Batman as our only constant. For better or worse, having a kid forced him, and the series, to settle down.

Christian Bale, star of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy (2008):

If Robin crops up in one of the new Batman films, I'll be chaining myself up somewhere and refusing to go to work.

Summed up

Among the keepers of Batman, there has been a vocal contingent arguing against the inclusion of Robin. They argue that Robin damages Batman's brooding, solitary persona. They argue that the concept of Robin is too ridiculous and fantastic for the grounded, gritty ideal of Batman. They argue that a respectable version of Batman shouldn't allow, encourage, or train "child soldiers" to endanger their lives fighting against violent evil-doers.

The original and most iconic Robin, Dick Grayson, has definitely benefited from his deep roots in DC lore and his consistent popularity among fans—and yet even he has been shunned from various Batman projects over the decades. When even he struggles to get his foot in the door, his successors face stiffer opposition.

So it's not quite correct to say that Jim Starlin hated Jason Todd. In his own words, Starlin wasn't fond of Robin, and his storytelling (most obviously A Death in the Family) set out to argue against Batman having any kind of "partner" at all. This, following the wildly successful comic that treated Barbara Gordon as a disposable prop. A growing audience welcomed the Dark Age, and the gruesome spectacles made of kid-friendly elements like Batgirl and Robin.

This trend could be broken by the upcoming sequel to The Batman and by the planned slate of upcoming DCU films. But most Robin fans will tell you that many movie-going Batman fans still have their doubts about Robin sharing Batman's spotlight.

[falconearring]

The way you draw Etho is so freakin GENDER!!!!! and I love your zombie au so much!!! Is there anything you've really wanted to talk about with the au that no one's asked about yet? :D

First of all, thank you for reading/enjoying the things I've been drawing!! Second of all, what I want to talk about could fill a novel or two, but I've settled on flowers today.

A couple months back, I decided to assign a handful of characters in the AU flowers. Mostly just for fun, but I do use them in my illustrations, and Joel and Lizzie's flower makes an appearance in the comic.

Technically, the meanings of some of the flowers below can change depending on color and who you ask. I chose whatever I jived with most.

Anyhow, here they are;

Cleo-Hyssop

In general this flower represents humility, repentance and sacrifice. I've seen in my travels that it's mentioned in the bible, in the context of cleansing/forgiveness. Fun hyssop fact, it's actually a garden herb from the mint family.

Etho-White Lily

White lilies are all over the place in terms of meanings and associations, so I'll only touch on what specifically applies. They're a popular funeral and wedding decoration. The color white is heavily associated with purity, but I chose these for their ties with death and rebirth. Them being a popular sympathy flower is a bonus, considering he's presumed dead for the majority of the comic.

Joel and Lizzie-Morning Glory

Morning glory has a handful of meanings, but the most popular ones are all centered around love; love in vain, undying love, sometimes even obsession. I like the way morning glory twists around things, it's one of my favorite flowers despite it's weed status. In general, morning glory is known to smother nearby plants and they require a lot of consistent effort to get rid of. This is pretty well known, but most morning glory blooms in the morning and closes in the evening.

Grian and Scar-Poppies

This is a really popular fandom thing already, and I think death and remembrance are really fitting for them. They're also closely associated with sleep, peace, undying love and sacrifice. I associate them very strongly with the Wizard of Oz, and that movie strikes a really great balance of nightmare and reverie for me.

Martyn-Hemlock

It feels weird to talk about characters I haven't introduced yet, but I'm doing it anyway for the prank of it all. In Victorian era flower language this flower is tied to the phrase 'You will be my death.' Hemlock is (allegedly) associated with dark arts like necromancy and it's generally seen as a sign of danger.

I only went ahead and chose flowers for people who have really important roles in the story, so apologies 75% of the characters aren't listed. Just a fun little list, I don't know if folks are as crazy about flowers as me, but anyways thanks for reading! Below is a lil scribble I did up on tracing paper back in February.

Take care!!

[spiders-scare-me]

noir hcs

(these are hcs, not actual canon so these are things that are made up and NOT based off the comics)

hc him as 19 yrs old.

joined the spider society because he thought he maybe could do some good by helping others, only to regret it later. genuinely thinks Miguel is kinda a facist.

he also doesn’t regret joining the society because he got to spend time with Ham, Gwen, Peni, Hobie etc.

he and hobie bonded over similar views, became best friends for the last four ish months before Noir quit.

quit because he generally had a bad feeling about miguel, but got worse when he referred to robbie’s death as a canon event.( https://www.tumblr.com/lildoodlenoodle/720268522059612160/if-spider-noir-wasnt-kicked-off-the-elite-spider ) (based off of)

taught hobie how to pickpocket/steal things in different places/shops before he quit. especially shops in Noirs dimension where it was easier to put something in your pocket and leave without anybody noticing.

( https://www.tumblr.com/butevrythinggoesaway/719504366077345792/i-kind-of-headcanon-noir-as-having-kelptomania-so ) (inspired)

Miguel hates him, probably because Noir rivals him in size and also questions the way Miguel runs things around the spider society.

(Miguel is canonically 6’9 and i hc Noir as around 6’5)

Miguel once asked (very rudely) in front of hobie, if Noir only dated Hobie because he was similar to Robbie. You can only IMAGINE what Noir almost did (aka assassinate Miguel) before he was stopped by most spider people who are loyal to Miguel. Basically, Noir went even more crazy because of that since Miguel uses Robbie as a way to get to him.

Noir in fact didn’t want to date anyone because of some stuff that happened, but when he met Hobie and got to know him, he instantly fell in love.

Miguel simply hates Noir, but can’t fire him or kick him out for no reason so Miguel picks on him until he snaps.

he acts like Peni’s older brother, being protective of her. she became depressed after he quit the spider society because she really cared about him.

most likely smokes, Peni hates it and always takes his cigarette from him to put it out. has dumped water on him multiple times. Hobie also puts out Noirs cigarette when he sees him smoking.

humor is his coping mechanism, example (my interpretation of the scenes):

when miles said his uncle was the prowler, Noir responded with “this is a pretty hardcore origin story” which sounds like he’s trying to make the situation a bit lighter by joking a bit.

as well as when aunt may asked if they could fight doc ock outside, he replied with “We don’t pick the ballroom, we just dance”

another one: when he, peni and ham met gwen, miles and peter for the first time, peter asked noir how they got there and he answered with “it’s a long story” only to say right after “maybe not that long”

(I INTERPRET THIS AS HUMOR FIGHT ME)

Hobie paints Noirs nails from time to time because it seems to relax him.

used to wear glasses because he had such bad eyes but now that he sees better because of the whole spider thing, he wears them cuz they’re cool.

his favorite color is purple because of robbie. (angst obvi) ( https://www.tumblr.com/lildoodlenoodle/721163033344425984/me-watching-everyone-on-tumblrtiktok-say-spider )

(based off of)

his relationship with aunt may is so wholesome. she’s against him killing facists etc, but still loves him more than anything.

his style is absolutely IMMACULATE. ( https://www.tumblr.com/spiders-scare-me/723947203857694720/tried-to-find-references-for-30s-mens-fashion-and ) (based off my own post) ( https://www.tumblr.com/spiders-scare-me/723996134618628096/no-stfu-im-so-fucking-obsessed )

i tried :,) don’t bully me

i’ll post more later if it’s wanted obvi

credits to @lildoodlenoodle and @butevrythinggoesaway for the posts i linked <3

[pixelatedraindrops]

I did a collaboration art with @kazinsblog ✨

She made the sketch and I lined/colored it. I even tried to be a little ambiguous and attempted to make detailed backgrounds for the first two panels. (then went back to simple and flat in the third)

I tried to draw out Makoto’s crazy penthouse in Kanai tower, referencing some screenshots I had on me. First panel is the open door of the bedroom leading to the main area, while the second panel I tried to draw out Makoto’s bed. I headcanon that he uses all the pillows on his side of the bed if he’s unwell, and uses the turquoise ones to prop himself up

Makoto, what is your house? XD

Anyway, the comic illustrates Yuma taking care of a sick Makoto. He runs out to get medicine for him, but comes back to him working despite his poor health, worsening his condition. He looks even more pale, and is drenched in sweat. (I gotta make ‘em look as ill as possible lol) This sends Yuma into a mini fit scolding his homunculi twin endlessly. Then he shoves the medicine he bought down his throat xD (that was a little addition that I made) The brothers are fighting lol

It turns out kazin and I share a similar affinity for sick whump, as well as targeting Yuma and Makoto. So we may make more comic art collabs in the future. I had a lot of fun lining and coloring this c:

[forestgranted]

I'm absolutely obsessed with your art piece of Etho's kill on Joel!! The composition is incredible. How did you learn that kind of composition? I've started learning art and your piece feels like ultimate composition goals!!

oh,, my god thank you so much.......

i never really learned composition, it's all just sort of intuition and experimenting, but i'll talk through my thought process for this one.

the only thing i was sure of from the beginning was that i wanted a low angle of etho jumping pulling his fishing pole back. at first i considered making it a comic because i liked all the crazy stuff etho yelled in that scene and there was just so much that happened in that short amount of time, but i struggled with making the composition work; i felt like i was squeezing stuff in, so i abandoned the idea.

after that, i thought maybe less is more, and just had etho jumping at the top and joel falling at the bottom landing in the water, but my friend pointed out i had a lot of negative space i wasn't utilizing.

i went back to brainstorming and looking for inspiration, and a lot of the life series art that i admire incorporate symmetry and symbolism, so i thought maybe i could put elements of their history from double life into the background. i also really liked the imagery of the stab itself rather than them just jumping, so drawing inspiration from ciearcab's philza illustration, i drew the stab big and center, kept etho's jump and joel's fall, made the water more graphic, and added the RelationShip and the fire. from there, it was adding more detail, adjusting color, adjusting anatomy, and adding smoke to balance out the top.

i really really struggled with this piece actually and i got a LOT of help from my friend @linktoo-doodles. i'm glad you like it and see it as "ultimate composition goals" hahaha! i honestly think it's a little too busy and certain important elements don't stand out enough, but i definitely put in a lot of effort and learned a lot.

[taxkha]

Is there a genre/story you want to do for your future webcomic?

I think your use of color is fantastic! Do you often rough in colors before finishing your lines? Was peeking at the wip you posted, and was curious about your process(👀👀👀)

my planned comic story, if I ever end up working on it, is gonna be fantasy, horror, tragedy! These three are my main characters:

And Maheloas is currently getting a redesign because I want him to be more asymmetrical but jfc its hard. I'm capital S Struggling. And thank you so much! Hm my progress really depends on how serious I take the drawing I work on and how easy it is for me to draw in that moment! For example for that one og trilogy AA fanart I did recently I only did this very rough sketch here:

and then I went into the lineart already without doing a clean sketch. Or I guess in this case my clean sketch is the lineart lol.

So for this drawing I didnt do any color blocking at all!

I then colored everything in. I usually just pick whatever color feels right so during this step I usually dont even fix much at all unless its super off. And then I start adding effect layers. For this one the amount of layers I put on top is very limited as I wasn't trying to do any crazy mood setting so this is what I did:

I usually put a light beige color on top of my drawing and then try out various layer settings and copy and paste it and then I play around a little with gradient maps, this purple to orange one being my favourite. Then at the very end I add a paper like texture on top and put it on 50% soft light to get that grainy look. Since you asked about me doing the color blocking in my wip, I usually do that when I draw something that is more out of my comfort zone to establish the shapes or when my sketch is becoming too incomprehensible for me so I need something to tell things apart. I hope this was helpful and thank you for the interest in my progress! :]

[aliypop]

Anyway You Want Me: Chapter 1

(Rewrite)

Word Count: 3,015

Writers Note: I abandoned this fic, but I'm rewriting it now that I've expanded on Cecelia and Elvis, This is an au idea as stated last time! Well let us try this again

Warning: None so far except for language and historic language

Pairing: POC OC x Elvis

Plot: In 1953, in Memphis Tennessee, Cecelia and her mother Denise Valmos move to Shelby County as Her mother Calpurnia's Nashville home is going through renovations, but when asked to keep a low profile by her mother, Cecelia makes friends with the quirkiest, shy, yet charming kid in class, at least Friends is what she'd call them.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Taglist

@darkmoviesquotespizza

@sissylittlefeather

@richardslady121

@thegettingbyp2

@presleyenterprise

@sissylittlefeather

@dkayfixates

@rjmartin11

@thetaoofzoe

@your-nanas-house

@zayurir

@60svintage

@sillybookmarks

@leapresley

Memphis May 1953

The spring winds of Memphis blew as a pink Chevrolet Bel Air was parked in the parking lot of Humes High School. A place where this one particular student knew she wouldn't belong. Getting her books from the back seat, she dusted off her skirt, looked at her watch, and took a deep breath. Until she realized she was almost late for her first day of school, and she couldn't be late, at least not as the new kid in town!

 The hustle and bustle of everyone was different from when she lived in Georgia, where everything was a bit slow-paced. And with a mix of a few faces that looked like hers. But here it seemed she was the only face that. Well, looked like hers, and the glares she was getting had explained that very clearly. Her saddle shoes kept walking down the hallway until she finally found her homeroom. The glares and stares were harsh, but she continued inside until all eyes were on her. Whispers all around the classroom, some of the students pointing and laughing at her, 

"I think she got on the wrong bus..." 

                 "Whys her hair all like that?"

"Must have stolen that dress..." 

"Class..."

"Class..."

"CLASS!" The room was silent, 

"Class, I want everyone to meet Cecelia Shanel Valmos. She's our new student, Welcome..." 

"Thank you. You know a fun fact about myself is I like comics and-"

"Now attendance." 

Cecelia sat in the back of the Class, where a few students had glanced at her as if she carried the fleas. It was starting to get as bad as when they had driven here to Memphis.

 Tapping her fingers, Cecelia could tell this would be a stressful time. And she couldn't wait to move to Nashville with her glammy, her grandmother.

As the bell rang, Cecelia went to her arithmetic class. Her least favorite subject. But very well needed. At least, it was what Midge told her, looking over the checks she'd signed for Valmos Music and Sound. Taking her seat in the back, Cecelia had begun to read her Batman comic book. Other students filled the room, talking and chattering as she flipped the page on the Joker's crazy antics. 

"You're late..."

"S-S-Sorry, I ain't mean to be late, I just..."

" Lost track of time, Mr. Presley." The teacher sighed, following his gaze as his eyes landed on the tawny-skinned girl with dark brown hair curled up in a tall style. 

"Take your seat, Mr. Presley..."

Sitting next to Cecelia was a kid who had to be about her age. She couldn't tell, and she didn't want to ask. She figured, at this point, her breathing would cause a problem. But something about him was different, after all. He had blondish brown hair and fading black roots. And he smelled like shoe polish. He also had rolled-up jeans and loafers with pink socks, the same color as hers. 

"Is that the 3-D edition..."

"Yeah, it is..." Cecelia kept reading,

"I-I've been tryin to find that one for weeks." 

"Found it at a comic shop in Chattanooga." she huffed. She wasn't annoyed that he was talking to her, just while she was reading her comics. 

"Am I botherin you, doll..."

"A little, and I'm not your-" Cecelia looked up, seeing eyes bluer than James Dean's and a cute but crooked smile that seemed so shy yet so sweet.

"Are you okay? You're starin'?"

 "Sorry, I'm new here, and it's stressful, and I don't have any friends and-" 

"Mind if I be your friend..."

"I wouldn't mind that at all ah..."

"Elvis Presley... But u-uh, most everyone calls me, well no one calls me anything cept for Red West, who calls me E..."

"Well, I'll call you Pres." She smiled, "I'm Cecelia Valmos, by the way." she winked at him as he blushed a little, 

"I'll call you Cece..." he tried to wink back at her, but his hair got in his eyes. Cecelia giggled a bit, "I like it." she grinned. Elvis could feel his heart beat faster, trying to push the emotions aside as he looked into her hazel eyes. Finally, he might not have been so alone in the world. 

"So, favorite superhero..."

"Easy, Jay Garrick," she smirked, "What about you?"

"Captain Marvel Jr." he grinned, "Sometimes I imagine myself as him."

"Flying to the rock of eternity ..." Cecelia smiled back at him,

"Yeah."

"I used to think I was the Flash until I bumped into a wall." she snorted a bit when she laughed, and she could hear the teacher clearing her throat. Cecelia mouthed sorry as she went back to take her notes. 

"Do you understand any of that..."

"Nope..." Cecelia laughed, "But I do know. That, that answer should be 35." Elvis laughed as he changed it,

"You're a lifesaver." He blushed, his accent thick, but Cecelia found it cute, 

The bell rang again as they got up and went to their next class. Elvis and Cecelia were walking side by side, still talking. It was beginning to feel like she had known this kid since childhood, which was nicer than what she had been recently feeling.

"I love the color pink. " Elvis smiled,

"My car is pink!"

"No way!"

"It's a Bel Air." she winked, 

" You're too cool for me, Cece." He joked as Cecelia nudged him, 

"Honestly, I'm just me." she shrugged,

"Again, too cool for me, "He nudged her back as she laughed with him. 

"Say, would you care to eat lunch with me?

"Yeah, sure, I ain't got much but-"

"You can have some of my lunch." 

"Cece, I couldn't."

"I usually don't eat it all." 

"You sure?"

"Positive." 

Sitting alone at the table was Cecelia and Elvis, who were enjoying their lunch together. It was nice to know that he wasn't afraid to go against the normal and politically correct, but instead eat with someone who wouldn't bully him.

"So, how was your first day here so far."

"Eh, crappy..." she sighed, 

"The bullies stop eventually." He sighed as Cecelia looked over at him,

"Easy for you to say, I got called a teacher's pet 'cause I knew all the answers in my history class... Not my fault some of us read for fun." she mumbled to herself, "Or in my typing class, I typed over several words a minute. And yet I'm wrong... Well, excuse me for writing songs when I'm bored!" she began to get angry as Elvis looked at her. 

"At least you've passed your typing lessons on the first day." He joked, "I got a C in that, which ain't bad..."

"But it's not good, Pres." she looked at him. 

"Well, maybe you could tutor me." 

"To type? Sure." she smiled, splitting her candy bar with him. The two cheered each other with their Pepsi-Cola bottles.  

When the day was over, Cecelia went to her car as she saw Elvis walk to his car,

 "Nice 41 Lincoln!" she waved as she was next to her pink beauty. It suited her well. He thought to himself as she got in, 

"See you tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah!"

Dinner was on the table, and Cecelia was doing her homework as her mother was on the phone with the electric company. This move was a headache, especially with her mother having an album on the way and getting settled into a temporary house and Cecelia adjusting to her new school for only a month. It could drive a single mother completely insane. 

"Guess what! I made a friend today, and he's really nice and-"

"Cecelia, I'm on hold with the heating and air..." 

"Right..." She continued to do her homework. She knew things were going to be different. They always had been since her father left, and her mother devoted her life to her music. And her half of the label and studio. Cecelia = sighed as she blushed, thinking about Elvis and his eyes and how she couldn't wait to see him again. 

"Mama!" Elvis nearly ran into his family apartment like a whirlwind. It had been a while since Gladys had seen him so happy after school, like a puppy waiting for a treat. 

"Elvis!"

"Pa! You'll never believe what I made in school today." he grinned as Vernon was about to guess. "A friend. Well, I think she's a friend. We shared a sandwich together, and I think she's giving me one of her comics to read-" 

Gladys chuckled. Vernon perked up. Some special girl, if he was going on and on about her like this, the last girl he did that with was Dixie, or was it another girl?. Meanwhile, to Gladys, it sounded like he had a crush on this mystery schoolgirl. 

"So I assume you'll be staying up in class more."Gladys scolded him playfully.

"And paying attention." Vernon glanced at him as Elvis blushed and nodded, 

"Of course." He rubbed the back of his head, Gladys laughing as Vernon shook his head.

The next day, all the students were back in homeroom, and Cecelia was in the back, dreaming away about her new friend and what they'd talk about that day. Would it be comics or music? Maybe books? Or after-graduation goals? But those thoughts were crushed until a group of girls came behind her and pulled her hair. Cecelia only sighed as she tried to ignore them. It wasn't like she didn't get a note in her locker that said Stay away. Well, words she'd rather not repeat. Yes, this would be a tough couple of months. She just had to make it to, 

"Oh No..." 

Her eyes caught on to several kids running with scissors in their hands. 

"Come here, fairy!" one kid shouted,

"Long-haired freak!"

"Oh, please don't let it be..."

"PRES!" Cecelia shouted, standing up, eyes on her as she grabbed her books, "Ent and I have to go use the girl's room... really, uh, quickly." storming out of the classroom, Cecelia quickly tried to follow the rest of the kids. They had Elvis cornered, with no room to escape, and there was fear in his eyes as if he'd been on death row. 

"Maybe we'll cut off those flashy clothes next." It was no secret Elvis craved the fashion of Beale Street, but it wasn't a secret that everyone else at his school hated it, let alone hated him. He could feel the blades get close to his hair, and he closed his eyes and prayed until he heard a voice say. 

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" 

Elvis looked at the crowd as he saw Red West behind him and Cecelia beside him. 

"Or what!"

"You'll answer to my fist..." Cecelia glared at one of the boys. What was she thinking was the main thing Red and Elvis were thinking. 

"Your fist aint gonna do nothing cause you're just a nig-"

POW!

The students scurried, dropping everything they had to torture Elvis. Shaking her wrist, she looked back at the two guys and sighed. She probably made it worse, and the principal would call her mother, and then there'd be a commotion about it all. 

"Where'd you learn to throw a punch like that."

"My mother taught me." Cecelia shrugged, looking at Red,

"Some mother..." Red nodded until they both saw Elvis shaking like a leaf. 

"El!" Cecelia ran over, "Are you okay? Do you need to go home? Do you wanna stay at my home..." she offered, but Elvis stood up, shook it off, and tried to laugh even though he wanted to cry and scream and yell,

 "Cece, Red, I'm fine..." 

"E, yer tremblin." 

"Like a leaf, Pres..."

"I SAID I'M FINE!" He shouted. He didn't mean to. He was having a rough day and an anxiety attack.

 Cecelia approached him, "We're just worried, is all..."

"At least let us walk you to class." Red offered as Elvis nodded. Cecelia's hand brushed against his. He blushed a little. Was Cecelia flirting with him?

"So then Superman catches him in the water!" Cecelia said as the three were walking down the hallway,

"You're spoilin' it, Cece." Elvis groaned, 

"Well, I have a TV in my room. If y'all ever wanna come by and watch it." her southern accent escaped her as Elvis had a slightly brighter blush on his cheeks. 

"Or we could go to the drive-in!" Cecelia then said as Elvis's eyes wide. He's only been a third wheel to the drive-in, mooching off his friend's french fries and whatnot. And if he did bring a girl. Then he was either making out with her, or he was super into the movie.

"I think I'd leave that up to you two," Red said as Elvis had short-circuited. Walking to their English Class, Elvis had taken in the charm of Cecelia. She was a big ball of mystery who was protective, loyal, and stood up for him after only knowing him for a day. Cecelia was kind enough to share her sandwich with him. And she was pretty to look at in her pink gingham dress. But this wasn't how you thought about a friend. Besides, he was Elvis, the weird kid with a guitar and his head in the clouds, dreaming.

"Since it's Friday, what'cha got planned for the weekend?" 

"Well, work, but I'm off at 3 p.m."

"Well, I'm still new in town, so... maybe you could show me around Beale Street or comic shops you like to go to. Or record stores." She began to ramble on as he laughed, her stomach doing small butterflies at the sound of it,

"We can do all of that," he bumped her shoulder as she bumped his back. 

"That would be great," Cecelia smiled, "Oh! You'll need my number. So you can call." Things were looking up for Elvis. He had gotten her number. And he got to hang out with her. It wasn't a date, but it sure enough was something. Besides, he spent his weekends playing football, fixing his car, or on Beale Street. Now, he wouldn't have to be alone doing it.

When school was out for the day, Cecelia rushed to her car with a now-popped tire. Kids were so cruel, but that still didn't stop Cecelia. Going to the back of her car, she rolled the spare tire until she remembered that Midge had taken the tire kit with her. Elvis walked out with Red West, talking to him about his weekend plans, and then he saw Cecelia, who looked like a pinup girl in a calendar posing with a tire, "A little help here..." She sighed, watching some of her peers walk by, 

"Could you help me here... And they walked off." Cecelia huffed until she saw Elvis, 

"Not bother you, but..."

"I caught a flat last week." Popping open his trunk, he took out the jack. "How'd this happen."

"Those bullies you were talkin about..." she gritted her teeth,

"Don't let 'em get to ya, Cece. Which ain't easy to do," he sighed as he fixed her tire, "Just breathe and imagine the good Lord pickin' 'em off one by one." Cecelia laughed hard as Elvis laughed with her,

 "Morbid, but it helps." Cecelia grinned, "Say, call me when you get home so I know you're safe, okay."

"Cece, I'll be fine." Those hazel eyes pierced his soul in a glare, 

"Okay, okay, I will."

"Good, you better, or I'll find out where you live. And I'll!"

"You'll what." He smirked. His face was close to hers and she blushed a little.

"Bug ya! to death," she smirked,

"You could never bug me, Val." He winked,

"Cece the phones for you," Denise said as Cecelia raced down the stairs, 

"Thank you, Mother." she winked, taking the phone as she took a deep breath, 

"Cecelia speaking,"

"It's me, Elvis. We're still on for tomorrow. Right? " 

"You bet we are!" Cecelia grinned, "Do you wanna meet at your job or a restaurant or-"

"My job is fine." Elvis said, "You can park your car in the front, and we'll take mine." 

"Sounds good. " she smiled, trying not to sound so giddy, "Oh, and El!" she said as if she forgot something, 

"Yeah, Cece?"

"I may have bought several volumes of Captain Marvel Jr."

"You gotta let me read 'em!" 

"Why do you think I bought 'em..." 

"Cece, you're the best." he grinned. 

"No, El, you're the best, " she smiled. If only he knew how much he was starting to mean to her, 

"Say, bring the comics. There's a diner in Beale Street we could read 'em at."

"Deal." 

"Cece, time to get off the phone."

"Let me guess your mama."

"Mhmm."

"Elvis Aron Presley!

"Let me guess yours?"

"Yeah," 

"Well, Good night, El,"

"Night, Cece."

"So who was that," Denise asked as Cecelia smiled widely, her dimples on display,

 "Elvis Presley, he's a friend from school. And he's showing me around town tomorrow." Denise only laughed a little at her daughter's reaction. She was happy to see that something made her smile since they moved to Memphis. "And is this Elvis cute..." Denise asked as Cecelia blushed a bit, embarrassed, 

"Mother!" her brown cheeks turning red, "We're just friends!"

"For now... After all, you and Anthony Rodgers were friends..."

"That was a poor judgment. Besides, Anthony's an actor." 

"Who pretended to love me to get to you." Her mother was right, but she knew that Elvis was different. Besides, he didn't know her secret. And she didn't plan for him to find out anytime soon either, 

"He's not like that."

"What's he like then."

"I don't fully know yet, but he's not that." Cecelia sighed,

"Just be careful tomorrow."

"I will, and you have fun getting Daddy to do the electrical work for the studio," Cecelia mentioned as she walked up the stairs. 

 Neither party could hardly fall asleep from the excitement of seeing the other. Elvis tossed and turned in his bed. And Cecelia was counting sheep and talking to her posters as she swooned. This wasn't a date, right? Right?"

[clean-casual-analysis]

How I’d Ruin it: Transformers

Inspired by Tyrantisterror and his “how I’d ruin it” series, I’m doing one for Transformers. I’m gonna take this one step at a time, because I’m crazy about transformers and I got a lot of thoughts on what I would do if I had three phases of a comic book.

Part One: Lore

For the general lore of this hypothetical series, I’d lean into the Primus vs Unicron storyline. Ironically appropriate for my How I’d Ruin It, because I know a good number of TF fans who prefer the quintesson origin and want to return to it. Sorry fellas, I just think the thirteen primes are neat. We also take a look into the (possible) future of the cybertronian race at the start of phase two of the hypothetical comic. I’ll be dividing this lore into ages for simplicity's sake.

Prehistory: At the very beginning of the universe, there was an omnipotent being made of light with no name. This being, referred to by cybertronian historians as The One, had cosmic powers beyond space and time. With this power, it saw into multiple timelines and dimensions out of young curiosity. There were so many different lifeforms, all with their own cultures and beliefs. There was peace and war, creation and destruction. As its knowledge grew, so did its internal conflict. Why were these unique beings fighting over seemingly pointless things? Was it individual philosophy that sparked greed and violence, or was it differing beliefs that each species held? If they were to all unite under one banner, would they lose that which made them unique. Was it morally correct for such a perfected and powerful being as The One to judge and interfere with mortals? The One had become so confused and anxious from this internal battle, that its mind and body split into two separate beings. Primus, the great creator, adored and even envied mortals. Where The One was flawless and blank, these miniscule lifeforms were varied and colorful. These beings could change and grow. Even the smallest could evolve and transform into something beautiful. Then there was his brother, a being who hated these ununiformed and petty insects. He vowed to destroy and reshape these species into a singular kingdom of rigid order. No longer would there be conflict, for he would punish and unite all as their one God. He would be Unicron, the chaos killer. These cosmically powered twins became natural enemies the moment they were created, the following battle lasting for billions of years. The battle ended in a draw, Primus and Unicron were so exhausted that both entered a deep sleep. In this coma like state, meteors and other space debris formed around them to become seemingly dormant planets.

Age of Primes: Sensing that Unicron was regaining strength and reformatting his planet into a colossal body, Primus began to plan his defense. Not wanting a repeat of their last battle, Primus decides on a different approach. He creates the thirteen primes, incredibly powerful, autonomous robots with unique abilities. Together, these thirteen would prepare for the return of Unicron and become a sort of family through their training. After the deed is done and the chaos killer is defeated from the inside of his vast body, the thirteen are left to their own devices on the metal world of Primus. As his final act, the great creator formed the well of all sparks. It was here that new robots were created and the planet would be known as Cybertron. Thirteen tribes were created, each led by a different prime, which led to the foundation of cybertronian culture. Much like previous TF stories, the thirteen primes had a falling out due to the manipulations of one manipulative and ambitious prime. The primes nearly went to war with one another, until the near death of one of their most beloved siblings shook them out of their anger. Realizing that they were not the infallible gods that they thought they were, nearly all the primes either left Cybertron or merged with the planet’s inner core. Only one prime remained to overlook the planet’s development, Alpha Trion, who gave one of the mythical artifacts of primes (the matrix) to one worthy of leadership.

Age of Function: After receiving what would later be known as the matrix of leadership, the prideful but valiant Nova Prime unified the thirteen tribes into one civilization. What follows is the planet wide construction of cities and government. Because the masses were still freshly made and unsure of their purpose in this new world, Nova decided to create functionism. Each cybertronian’s alt-mode would determine their role in creating Cybertron. At first, when the species was still relatively small in number, this system served well in accelerating Cybertron’s society. But when the contruction was near its end their optics looked towards the stars, the inherent flaws of functionism reared its ugly head. The rigid caste system quickly led to class envy and great inequality among the masses. Despite Alpha Trion’s insistence in changing this system, Nova Prime ego wouldn’t allow him to admit his prejudice. As space travel was fully realized and Nova set out to discover new worlds to colonize, his pride at his species’ accomplishments leading him down the road of becoming a cybertronian supremacist, a terrible discovery was made. During the first great battle between Primus and Unicron, their blood splashed across the galaxy. Not only were energon crystals (formed from Primus’ blood) found on foreign worlds, but the blood of Unicron was discovered as well. Before he realized what it was, dark energon infected Nova Prime and a number of his crew. They became more aggressive, burned through their energon at an alarming rate, and began to hear whispers of a dark god thought to be dead. Despite his smugness and stubbornness, Nova knew what terrible things could happen if he became Unicron’s herald. The corrupted prime gave up the matrix to the unaffected cybertronians in his crew, took those who were infected and went into deep space in self-exile. • The Golden Age: The next cybertronian to own the Matrix was Nominus Prime. Although he was overly invested in his personal appearance/hygiene and was somewhat of an elitist snob, he also possessed a good moral framework and a kind spark. His first major act as prime was the elimination of functionism, making him both beloved and hated by many. Not long after, the cybertronian race began to colonize worlds with the strict policy of not claiming worlds with significant life on them. Seemingly every new colony world produced new subcultures and different kinds of cybertronian. Although Nominus arguably just piggybacked off of other leaders and inventors, this was an age of artistry and prosperity.

Age of Rust: Seemingly out of nowhere, a slow acting but fast spreading disease began to appear across the farthest colony worlds named cosmic rust. Metal skyscrapers began to crumble, citizens were falling apart in medical beds, space bridges were forced to shut down to stop the rust from spreading. This was the first major disaster that Nominus Prime had to face and he was utterly mortified. Then, when all hope of saving the colonie and their species was lost, a strange race of techno-organics appeared. These beings were the quintessons, five faced octopus like people who claimed to be the creation of one of the thirteen prime to aid cybertronians in understanding the organic side of the galaxy. They offered a cure to cosmic rust and asked to use the space bridges to help spread the cure. Desperate to end this nightmare, Nominus gave them access to the space bridges without question. Almost immediately, he would regret this decision. These were not benevolent geniuses, but black hearted and capitalistic entrepreneurs. Not only were they the ones who invented cosmic rust, but they had created a great number of gadgets, combat drones and weapons specifically designed to annihilate cybertronians. In the blink of an eye, the whole of the cybertronian race was conquered and enslaved. Nominus was publicly executed, the matrix was taken, and the cybertronians were sold as commercial goods or military hardware to all other species in the galaxy. This would go on for thousands of years, until a hardened soldier named Zeta began to lead a rebellion with the aid of Alpha Trion and a brilliant engineer named Termagax. The cybertronian uprising was slow and bloody, but through cleverness and determination the quintessons were defeated. The matrix was found, Zeta had become Sentinel Prime, and the cybertronian race was free.

Age of Restraint: When the dust settled and the quintessons were driven away from the colony worlds, Sentinel Prime and Termagax went to work on rebuilding their civilization. Sentinel, having seen their kind’s technological power used against lesser beings firsthand, initiated the Nominus Edict. Unless there was unanimous agreement of every senator of Cybertron’s cities and other colony worlds, no new colonies would be made, and no technology was to be shared with other alien races. While he had the wellbeing of both his race and all other alien species in mind, his time as both slave soldier of the quintessons and uprising leader left him scarred and paranoid. Through the cybertronian government, he enforced the law to a borderline imperious degree. Termagax grew to resent Sentinal Prime, believing that the cybertronian race could thrive in the galaxy if they weren’t so restricted. She formed the Ascenticon movement, a growing group of bots who not only wanted to explore the cosmos but cooperate with the organic races that they’ve distanced themselves from. This philosophical debate between security and isolation vs freedom and alien collaboration went on for dacades, neither side quite gaining significant ground over the other. Eventually, the exhausted and embittered Termagax stepped down as Ascenticon leader and gave the reigns to her protégé. That protégé was a quintesson mining slave turned gladiatorial champion named Megatron, who had big plans of his own.

Age of Civil War: Not long after becoming leader of the Ascenticons, Megatron began to fully preach his personal doctrine. He believed that the cybertronian race deceived themselves into believing that they shouldn’t be proud of their power. The gladiator fear mongered that another species like the quintessons would conquer them if they didn’t show their dominance. True galactic peace can only be achieved through tyranny. Many cybertronians, in the ascenticon movement and beyond, were radicalized by Megatron’s words of might making right. In short time, Megatron amassed an army and called his new empire the decepticons. The mad tyrant and his followers overthrew the government and imprisoned Sentinel Prime. But much to Megatron’s surprise, the matrix did not deem him worthy of being a prime. He angrily dismissed the matrix and the lineage of primes as outdated and weak as his empire rapidly grew. Alpha Trion, sneakily taking the matrix back, set to work on creating a counter resistance to this new militaristic regime. The elderly prime already had a perfect candidate for the next prime; a former ascenticon who disavowed Megatron’s violent means of peacekeeping despite once being friends with him. A young data clerk named Orion Pax, who believed Cybertron had a responsibility to aid to those who needed it, and that freedom was the right of all sentient beings. And so, Optimus Prime was born. This counter resistance, named the autobots, grew arguably faster than the decepticons did. Cybertronians across the galaxy could see Megatron for the warmongering tyrant that he is. The civil war, waging primarily on Cybertron, lasted for eons. It all culminated in Megatron seizing Vector Sigma, a supercomputer near the well of all sparks that gave newly formed cybertronians the basic history and knowledge of their kind. The decepticon leader planned to hack Vector Sigma to forcibly program his beliefs into every new cybertronian to be protoformed. Horrified by this assault against free will, Optimus journeyed to the core of Cybertron to do something unthinkable. Through communication with Primus, the great creator poured his life-giving power into a device known as the all spark. Optimus threw the all spark into a space bridge with randomized coordinance, and it was lost to the stars. Their home planet torn apart and essentially dead, the Great War began to spread across the galaxy like wildfire. Earth, rich with crystallized energon beneath the surface, is the latest battleground.

Age of Beast Machines (possible future): Manipulating Megatron through dark energon, Unicron is revived. The very first planet destroyed is Cybertron with his new herald Galvatron and an army of terracons. The chaos killer goes on a galactic rampage, consuming stars/planets and creating heralds to spread his influence. Scrambling to save the galaxy, the remaining autobots and decepticons join forces in an effort to slay Unicron. Against all odds, they defeat the chaos killer once and for all. But their victory is bittersweet. The galaxy’s remaining stars and worlds are few and far between. The night skies feel unnaturally blackened. Their war now made pointless, the remaining cybertronians join together in rebuilding on the planet earth and the one surviving colony world known as biosfera. With virtually no energon left, the first order of business was to create a new type of fuel. The scientists of biosera, a jungle world primarily made up of beast mode cybertronians, came up with an unorthodox solution. They would alter their biology and transform into a techno-organic race, flesh and metal fused at the cellular level. Through this technology, they’d be able to live off of solar energy, need minimal energon, and even be able to consume meat and plants for substance. While a good number were hesitant to make such a radical change, they had little choice. Slowly, the cybertronian race flourished once again. Once new generations were protoformed, two sections of one government began to spread across the stars. One group was the Maximals, scientists and explorers that aided young civilizations and researched the new galaxy. The other group were the predacons, the core military that fought off space pirates and crushed growing dictatorships. Although the two groups bickered amongst themselves over their clashing ideologies and methods, they still cooperated and respected each other. But rumors are circulating that a small handful of Unicron’s heralds are still alive. If they are, their willing to bend space and time itself to assure their fallen master’s ultimate victory.

Notes: This lore is a combination of Aligned, both IDW continuities, Beast Wars/Machines and a dash of Last Autobot Standing. One major difference is that Solus Prime survives in this continuity, but we’ll get to that in the next part.

[writings-ofthe-heart]

JUST FINISHED BES, GOING CRAZY JUMPING ON THE WALLS‼️‼️‼️‼️

I'll post my thoughts on it here ummm its gonna be very long sorr🤦🏽‍♀️

HUGE BES SPOILERS YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

Ok first of all can we talk about the ART???? THE STYLE?????? OH MY GOODNESS ITS SO BEAUTIFUL IT REALLY REMINDS ME OF THE OLD JAPANESE ART AND COMIC BOOK STYLE TOGETHER?!! i love the uprising of stylized animation its so nice and good

ok second, THE CHARACTERS?? I love how they really kept everything consistent, taigena character development is 🥰🤌 mwah beautiful, akemi i lub her badass attitude honestly its rlly good at showing every part of japan in the edo period the brutal honesty of how women lived back then is amazing, omg speaking about akemi, madame kaji and her girls‼️‼️ so lovely i hope we see them in season 2 omg the purple girl when she got fucking killed i was so sad omfg my poor girl dude honestly and pf course imma make one big paragraph abit Mizu

ok mizu i think omfg omfg let me just say SHE'S LITERALLY THE MAN LIKE MIZU THE WOMAN YOU ARE😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 i could not get enough of her, her voice??? her face??? her personality??? flawless😍🥰 the character development is precious omfg the way she was such a cold stone killer in the first episode and you could see her heart thawing while still keeping that revenge and anger alive??? AMAZING omfg props to the writers because they did so well. i really cant wait to see more about her backstory, ESPECIALLY ALL THE PLOT TWISTS IN THE LAST EPISODE???? WDYM HER MOM ISNT HER MOM???????? also im so curious about Violet? cuz she killed him but... honestly.... i saw someone theorize that it was her mom that was white and not her dad because in my head it makes sense i dont think the white father would be so hateful for mizu?? if the white parent was the mom then it makes sense for the dad to be ashamed of her,,,,,,, maybe its just me and violet is a man not a woman, idk i cant wait to see what happens in that storyline

the animation is so smooth its so satisfying and the colors??? the backgrounds of each frame is so detailed and wonderful???? oh mt goodness if i could pause it every frame juat to admire the art (and mizu) i would 100% god omfg

I just cant wait for season 2

ALSO THE LAST SCENE WHERE MIZU JUST WENT??? TO LONDON?? NOW EVERYONE THINKS SHE'S DEAD😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 she looked soooooo good tho so I'm not complaining....

also there's def gonna be a triangle between taigen , takoyashi and akemi bro, like theres no way there wont be

tbh.... im kinda #teamtako because he's a cutie... maybe ill write for him.... idk Hes so cutie patootie like his little stammer is 🤌 u dont see it often and he's royaalty? great character designs

ringo i love you my favorite boy i hope he will be well

ok thats all

[upsidedownsmore]

Hi!! I was wondering if its okay to ask what brushes u normally use in krita? I love your art!!

Thank you so much!!! I only use the ones available in Krita by default and I tend to jump around based on what I think will work best for each piece, but I can give a little rundown on which ones I use the most and what I use them for :)

Here's an image guide with each of the brushes I've used and that I recommend checking out:

I'll highlight my favorites as well with some examples where they were predominantly used! (though in some cases multiple or even all of these brushes were used)

Marker Details:

Varying opacity and size makes this one my favorites for sketching, especially since it can easily be nearly transparent or fully opaque which helps with value range.

I also like using it for silhouette sketches!

It can also be used for final linework, but it takes more work to get to a full opaque and its lack of texture makes it a little less interesting than Ink-7 Brush Rough imo.

Ink-7 Brush Rough:

Really good for linework, especially for comic styled drawings with it's slight texture, varying weight, and opaqueness.

Also good for just filling in entire areas with a single color as well as non-smoothed shading!

Wet Bristles Rough:

Actually just an amazing brush, its pressure sensitivity is crazy.

Blends strokes like paint and can vary in size and opacity.

Also has a nice subtle texture!

Amazing for smoother coloring and shading, especially if you want a more painterly style.

Watercolor Texture:

(hard to show examples of this, just assume that I've used it in any piece that has smooth shading lol)

Not the best for painting/drawing on its own, however I've found it to be really useful when set to white or black on an overlay layer for adding extra shading and/or highlighting on top of the shading I've already done.

I usually shade individual figures, objects, and parts separately, but using an overlay layer with Watercolor Texture (or even Shapes Square) on top of everything helps make the entire piece feel more cohesive.

Also adds a hint more texture!

Another thing to note is the importance of layer modes!

I know that you asked about brushes specifically, but many of these brushes (particularly those to do with effects and textures) work best when experimenting with different layer modes other than Normal. Overlay is generally a safe bet and most of the best for, well, overlaying multiple layers for interesting effects. But please try out all of them at any given opportunity, sometimes things like Burn, Color Dodge, Soft Light, etc can have more interesting effects!

In addition, mess with filter masks! You can even edit where they apply by drawing on the mask directly! HSV/HSL Adjustment (also accessible with ctrl+u) in particular is INSANELY useful for fiddling with the colors and balance of a piece, from individual layers to whole groups and drawings. I also really like blur filters, often times I'll duplicate a layer and make the bottom one blurred to add a glow affect to something without losing its definition.

While this latter stuff isn't about brushes specifically, its generally very important to how I use and experiment with all these different brushes!

Anyways I hope this helps!! I kinda went overboard with this post, but I had a lot of fun writing it! Thank you again for the wonderful ask!! :)

[soleminisanction]

There are very few ""headcanons"" out there that get a bigger side-eye from me than people who try to make Stephanie Brown into a Black girl.

Firstly because that is not a headcanon. That's just a whole-ass retcon created out of thin air. A headcanon would be saying she's a natural redhead like how Morgan Kohan played her on Batwoman, or that she's mixed-race because of the curly way some artist draw her hair. There's definitely flexibility in race interpretations for comics but looking at the blue-eyed blonde-hair white girl and declaring her "actually Black" is not one of them.

Secondly, because I have seen (and sometimes gotten) a lot of harassment from Steph fans aimed specifically at Tim's actual, canon Black love interests and teammates. I still seethe at the memory of this one CBR interview I read back when YJ2019 was running, where Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker were clearly there to talk up Naomi and Teen Lantern, and in the middle of their heart-felt conversation about the importance of representation for young Black girls, the interviewer butted in to interject, "But you know who I want to see more of?? Stephanie!!!" This going on while Steph fans on Twitter were going on racist tirades because the book dared to highlight the history of Teen Lantern, a character who was actually advertised to be a part of the book and a new member of the team, instead of giving them more of their white-blonde fav who had never been affiliated with YJ and was never part of the advertising.

Thirdly, she was created and so often written by Chuck Dixon, a blatant racist, and as a result there are so many little scenes of her that have uncomfortable racial elements to them. Like the one where he created a pair of Black girls just so Stephanie could call them "raging morons" to their faces and then later talk about how stupid and immature they are compared to her. (Which I am still convinced was Dixon directly criticizing the much better teen pregnancy subplot from Icon & Rocket). Or the borderline-blackface white savior ""demon"" where she wears a dead gnu and maybe accidentally calls herself a bitch in Swahili. (Disclaimer: I do not speak Swahili, and thus do not know how a sentence structure that should read "I am thorn" turns into "I'm a bitch" or "I'm crazy," but I checked that translation with three different robo-translators and got the same results so, shrug.)

And finally -- god, Steph is just, such a walking avatar of white women's privilege. Her entire thing is demanding that she get her way, never letting anyone tell her no, and still being treated by the narrative as a pure-hearted ""beacon of hope"" that everybody needs to protect and nurture at all times.

The inciting incident of War Games can be boiled down to, "A white girl got told no, and made it everybody else's problem." The first attempted Black member of the Batfamly fucking died during that event and got almost entirely forgotten because people only went to bat for the white girl who caused the whole mess and the white woman who got character assassinated to kill her off.

If Stephanie were Black, she wouldn't exist anymore. Fuck, if she were a brunette or just as butch as Carrie Kelly, she probably wouldn't exist anymore. She certainly wouldn't be Batgirl, I can't imagine Dan Didio replacing Cass with another woman of color.

And it's not even just her? Her father is also a very white character. It is incredibly easy to summarize Arthur Brown as a mediocre white man lashing out at the world for not handing him the success he felt entitled to. Take that petulant entitlement away from him and you lose his entire character.

I'm ranting about it on my own blog instead of picking a fight because everybody's entitled to their own fandom experience and blah blah, but this is just. Yeah. Ugh.

[fractualized]

Hey Fractualized, how are you?

About the Telltale Joker, how did he get the pale skin and green hair? Since he has a different origin from the comics version.

Do you think that somehow John was one of the victims of Thomas Wayne's illegal experiments or is the origin of John's condition linked to some other villain? (My guess is Hugo Strange) and Telltale didn't have time to explore it.

Sorry for any grammatical errors, English is my second language.

Hey! Bummed the weekend is coming to a close, but there'll be another one soon enough. And no need to apologize!

While I know Telltale's writing happened in a time crunch, I don't think that's why they didn't explore an origin for John. I think they simply chose not to, which is an instinct I applaud.

Across all Jokers, I am a big fan of keeping his past unknown, both for the fun of the possibilities and so that he remains a mystery that Bruce can never solve, yet another reason Joker vexes Batman. In Telltale, where John has his strange coloring before Bruce even meets him, I extend the mystery to the cause. I like the angst of Bruce convincing himself that if he can uncover what happened, it will help John in some way, but he never manages it. Also, Bruce's fixation on solving the mystery bothers John because John's focused on who he's making himself into now, and does Bruce not like that?? Strife!

Though I am attached to the idea that whatever happened to John happened at Ace Chemicals, and even though he doesn't remember it, that's why he's drawn there in both the vigilante and villain paths.

I've seen people propose John was one of Thomas's victims, but I don't think that fits. For one thing, Thomas's crime wasn't really experimenting on people. He was getting people illegally committed to Arkham if they got in his way. Whatever drugs he injected into them, the point was to alter their behavior so they seemed crazy, which legitimized trapping them in the asylum. He may have experimented in terms of changing what drugs he used to see if a new formulation would work better, but those observations weren't the point. The point was to expand his control over Gotham business and politics.

Also, I think the timing is way off. Bruce and John seem about the same age to me, which indicates that John was also a child when Thomas and Martha were murdered. Sure, there's a chance that little John witnessed something that would be bad for Thomas if he testified or went to the newspapers, but I still think he would've been too young to be committed to Arkham (and again I don't think it explains his skin and hair color). Also, while John has amnesia, he knows so much information about Lady Arkham's origins and such in Season 1 that I think he would've figured out if he was connected to Thomas Wayne— and we'd definitely know if that was the case because that would mean John is connected to Bruce, and John would've been over the freaking moon.

If you wanted to tie John's origin to another villain, Hugo Strange would definitely be a better fit than Thomas since he's done some wacky experimentation. Perhaps he was testing chemicals in his youth, and his trials acidified poor John, traumatizing him so badly that it nuked his memory. And then Strange pulled some strings and stowed his failed lab rat away in Arkham (since the place is definitely still corrupt after Thomas dies). But as I said, if I were to write it, this would just be a possibility. It would be a story Bruce put together that make so much sense in theory, but enough pieces are missing or don't fit that he can never be sure. And John's like, "You want me to try to bring back possible memories of being endlessly tortured by a mad scientist?? You okay there, buddy?"

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

What's this? Another Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow post?? But it's 2024! Surely, there's nothing new to uncover with regards to this seminal work of sequential storytelling...right?!?!?

Well...kinda. XD

BEHOLD! Another Tom King podcast interview, wherein he discusses Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and mostly confirms stuff we already knew, but! BUT! He does drop some new bits of info!

Right then. LET'S GO!

My usual disclaimer applies, recommend listening to the interview firsthand to get a more objective perspective.

But if you're cool with my (INCREDIBLY BIASED! ALWAYS! ALWAYS BIASED WITH THIS BOOK!) summary, then ONWARDS WE GO.

(And when I say 'biased summary' what I mean is that I will be including the bits that make me want to run a victory lap because my readings were SPOT HECKIN' ON, ALL YE NAYSAYERS!*)

Ahem. Anyways.

So I'm going to start off with some new-ish info (at least, it's new-ish to me. XD) The interviewers had asked about the title, specifically in regards to Zor-El's dialogue in issue six (I believe it's the portion where Zor is explaining to Kara why he's going to save her, and says something like, "tomorrow will come soon enough...and you will be a woman looking back on the many decades of your life..." hence 'Woman of Tomorrow') and whether that was planned from the outset, or if that part came about organically as he was writing it.

King said he'd originally written a completely different script for issue six (which we did know) but FUN NEW FACTOID TIME: Zor-El/Kara's origin (initially) weren't included in issue six like, at all. It therefore would not have come up at any point within the mini-series, had they gone with that first script.

But editorial hated it (King agreed with their conclusion, and another fun fact, we'll get to see said script in the backmatter for the new deluxe edition, YAY) and when King asked if there was anything in it that they liked, they said the tiny flashback to Kara's time on Argo was good.

SO. King then decided to expand that/incorporate her origin, because that would be 'easy', and this was back during his crazy COVID writing schedule.

(Folks will perhaps recall that he wrote issue seven in like...a day. What we did not know was that he rewrote issue six in that same week.)

And then it ended up being everyone's favorite issue so yaaaaay for editors! Unsung heroes of comics!

They are also comics' greatest villains but that's a discussion for another day!

Evely's art was mentioned at this point and King was like, 'I had to go back and make the writing more beautiful/esoteric to match what she was putting out.'

Also we stan a comic writer who lets his artists take as long as they need on art. (Though as he's mentioned before, Evely was able to turn in the art quickly on this book, which is heckin' WILD to me, have you SEEN that woman's pencils and inkwork??!??!?!??!?!)

They touched on the True Grit comparisons, only relevant/new bits there are that King feels it's the perfect novel (agree) and that the John Wayne version is terrible (also correct) and the Cohen Brothers' version is great (right again.)

Another bit we already knew: It was an editor who was responsible for the suggestion that Kara should be Rooster, not Mattie. (I think in the past he credited this to Jamie Rich, but this time he said he couldn't remember if it was Rich or Brittany Holzherr, and said they could fight over the credit if they want. XD)

Either way, THANK YOU, WHOEVER YOU ARE, b/c the alternative pitch, with Kara as Mattie and Lobo as Rooster, sounded awful.

Instead King went with, 'Kara will learn from the young naïf, and teach the young naïf.'

(Much better.)

MORE NEW, FUN TRIVIA!!!!

King said they had the first issue completely drawn, colored, and lettered--basically ready to go, and DC said, 'we can't publish this because Supergirl doesn't drink.'

King called Jim Lee, trying to make his case, that she was twenty-one, it was legal, it was a totally normal/human thing to do, and Lee was like, 'but we can't.'

King: Could I do it with Superman? Lee: Yeah.

Essentially it was a lot of tiptoeing around stuff like, 'girls can't get drunk and whatnot' coupled with 'Supergirl can't do that because she's perfect and pure.'

But! Lee ultimately was like, 'okay, you can leave the scene in, but you can't say she's drunk.'

So if you go back and read the actual dialogue/narration, there's no explicit language confirming that kara is three sheets to the wind.

(Which is so, so ridiculous to me because the art makes it very, very clear that she is. XD LOOPHOLES!)

King and the interviewers pointed out that this real world editorial incident ironically tied into one of the metanarratives of the character, that being the pressure placed on Kara, which Clark doesn't have to deal with.

Art imitating life etc. etc. XD

Feel like I've heard this bit in other interviews but it's sweet so it bears repeating: the green sun planet's name is based on King's nickname for his daughter, and she was the one who came up with the idea of a 'green sun planet' during a discussion at dinner one night.

So shifting gears a bit, the rest of the podcast focused specifically on various plot points that the interviewers wanted to discuss/had questions about; it's basically King offering his insights as the writer. And I really, really appreciate this, for reasons I'll get to further down. Now then, more summarizing!

One of the interviewers brought up a sticking point he had with the book: the execution of the Brigand in issue four. Ruthye says to Supergirl that she thought she would save him. To which Supergirl replies: Did you?

King explained that Ruthye and Kara are on opposite journeys in this book. In issue one, Kara is on the side of 'I don't kill, heroes never kill' and Ruthye is on the opposite side, 'Krem killed my father, I have to kill him.' At the end of the book, they are once again on opposite sides, but they've switched.

(I love the way King described it, that Ruthye becomes Supergirl, and saves Supergirl. More on this later.)

But specifically that part in issue four, where Kara doesn't step in, King confirmed that she's on that journey, she's going through that transition, but she hasn't crossed the line of, 'I'll kill him myself.' Rather, she's allowing the system to do what it will.

King also mentioned that this theme isn't especially new and has been examined in comics time and time again, of superheroes asserting their morality over governments, and how that spirals into fascism. He cited Kingdom Come, etc.

Further comments from King on Kara's character: she's conflicted, unlike Clark. Clark's soul and ideals are aligned one to one; Kara wants that. She loves those ideals and wants to uphold them, but she's not fully aligned like that because of what she's been through (read: She's Seen Some Things)

Loved this bit from King: "Supergirl's a little more human than Clark, in spite of being more alien."

King said DC probably would've let him have Supergirl kill Krem in the end, BUT (and it's a good 'but' tying into that earlier bit about Ruthye becoming Supergirl) he said that the theme of this book was 'what makes Supergirl awesome' (he admits this is kind of a dumb theme, but hard disagree, sir) and he liked that Kara's lessons to Ruthye are ultimately what saves her. Kara saves herself.

(STICK A PIN IN THAT ONE, FOLKS)

King once again stated, for the record, that Krem does not die in the end!

The two interviewers had differing interpretations, hence King needing to confirm. XD He even pulled out his script for issue eight, and the description does indeed say that Krem is unconscious, not dead.

And, AND, Evely even made this clearer in the art; the script didn't have Krem moving after Ruthye hit him, but Evely added Krem placing his hand on his head.

Another point the interviewers wanted to discuss: Ruthye writing that Supergirl had killed Krem.

King confirmed that this was to prevent the Brigands from retaliating against Ruthye, and instead focus on going after Supergirl.

In King's mind, Kara feels immense guilt that her father saved her over literally anyone else, so she spends her life taking on other people's pain, to make up for what she sees as taking someone else's spot on that ship.

The scene in issue seven, where Kara's falling through the atmosphere and pushes through in order to preserve the memories that she carries with her was inspired by events from King's life; his mother died unexpectedly, and when going through her things, realized that he was one of the only people who carried certain memories of his mother and grandparents; he described it as a kind of burden.

Last question from the interviewers: Why make Ruthye and unreliable narrator? Do we believe anything in this book, now?

King started off his answer by noting that he fought against using captions in his books for his entire career; by the time he started writing comics, caption boxes had sort of lost their vitality and had become the equivalent of thought balloons, which had long since fallen out of style.

But when he returned to them with Supergirl, he said, (and I have the full quote below)

King: "What I love about [captions] is that you can write things that contrast what's in the pictures, so that the captions can tell you a little bit of a different story than what you're seeing, and thereby enhance it--it's that idea of Ruthye being, she's narrating the story but we're seeing pictures of what's actually happening, creates an excellent sort of tension I think." (Bold mine)

And so, some THOUGHTS!

As always, I love learning new things about this comic. I wish this comic had a commentary track, with King (and Evely, Lopes, and Cowles!) talking about the creation/processes behind the book.

Next best thing is podcasts, I guess! XD

But IN ADDITION to fun, new information, as I mentioned at the outset, King has basically confirmed a bunch of stuff I mentioned in my deep dive posts.

To quote one of the interviews: "I was validated by Tom King!"

XD

This also debunks like. Every bad-faith criticism lobbed at the book. It's almost like a checklist of the month-to-month stuff I was seeing from those aforementioned naysayers, complaining on twitter that King had ruined Kara beyond repair.

They'll likely never listen to this podcast, but I wish they would! I think it would make them feel better. XD Like, hearing the insights on Kara/Ruthye/etc has just reminded me once again how good this book is, and how emotionally moving.

Like, again, I love the way King sums up how Kara and Ruthye work together in this book to shine a spotlight on Supergirl; Kara teaches Ruthye lessons, Ruthye becomes Supergirl thanks to those lessons, Ruthye then saves Kara, thus Kara saves herself.

(Which hey, I touched on in my issue eight post, way back when.)

(I'm also beyond thrilled that my assumption that the art is the true account while the narration boxes are Ruthye's recounting was CORRECT.)

(Which isn't to suggest this is a terribly deep, difficult to decipher text. I mean. It's a monthly comic book intended for mass consumption, starring popular IP--the writing isn't inaccessible by any means. XD But I just remember seeing SO MANY PEOPLE deliberately misreading these specific points as a way to Stay Mad, so I'm relieved that my glass half full interpretations wasn't just the result of desperate Evely Stan goggles, you know? XD)

TL;DR: I cannot heckin' WAIT for that big, beautiful hardcover coming out in July (IDK if I've posted about it here yet but Lopes said he recolored some stuff so you BETTER BELIEVE I'll be back on my Woman of Tomorrow nonsense this summer) and I'm also thrilled that this entire creative team has returned with a new creator owned title (EXPECT A POST ON THAT...AT SOME POINT???)