toxotesj

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“Not everything is about love,” Booker said.

“Isn’t it?” asked Nicky.

Page 1

Transcription of first panel under cut (the text just didn't look right in the font I picked for the comic)

For those who cannot read my handwriting:

Left of Booker as he sits on the towel, on the hand caressing Jean-Pierre's face: was there love here?

Across Jean-Pierre's shoulders: Jean-Pierre! Je t'en supplie, mon fils! Pardonne-moi! If I could, I would, I swear!

Below him, in the shadows of four rocks that look like gravestones: I HATE YOU

As if I would not have given my life! I loved him. It didn't matter. I had believed until then in a great purpose. Jean-Pierre made me realize I had fooled myself. I loved him, but what did it change?

Below the crow, on the right:

What I did in Russia-- was it really to get me home to my family? Was it only fear? I caught the bird. Tore its throat out with my teeth. Man's gotta eat, right? Maybe most men....

In the shadow of the umbrella: And the thing is, it didn't matter. I didn't live long enough to eat the damn thing. I knew I'd hang again first. The futility makes me feel more an animal than having eaten the live crow.

In the center, over the towel, next to Booker's open book:

Love, humanity-- both seemed only veneers over the AWFUL ENTROPY of the UNIVERSE.

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Nicky’s sword is as big or small as I want it to be

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early days immortals making out and nose squishing (filed under sketches that accidentally became way more than a sketch)

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hey. hey. Star Wars old guard (this is what early clone wars animation looks like. to me. I love it.)

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Beach Episode page 1 of like… 6? They’re all sketched and I will post them as I finish coloring. It’s going to be more or less centered on Nicky and Booker.

Part 2

Thoughts below:

Is Nicky reading his catholic alien vampire romance novel and taking it at face value? That’s up to you. Personally I think he buys his books at Goodwill, which gives him a nice mix of classics and beach reads.

A plot does exist in my head for the novel, btw. The priest secretly has superpowers, which he uses to reverse the cover’s implies power dynamic, which gives them a unique understanding of one another, and they live happily ever after in Uranus (not on: it’s a gas planet. The alien vampire lives on ships that float around inside).

Points if you can guess what Booker’s reading. It’s one of my favorite books ever, because I read it for the first as my mental health really spiraled in high school, and it helped me get out of that hole. It’ll appear with the title in a couple pages, but my friend recognized it from just this.

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he was just supposed to be a joke for the discord but I am so charmed by Long Booker he gets to be on the blog now. He’s so long! So sad! Yet he slouches his way onward…

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long-haul flight

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Realizing the only big smile we really see from Andy is when she’s captured with Quynh. There’s the airplane fight and seeing the others again, but they’re clearly different: one is the exact smile you get from an athlete enjoying themselves, one is sort of quiet.

I’d be delighted to be wrong about this, though: I’m looking for a reference. Maybe she just doesn’t have a middle ground between the smile for Nicky and the one for Quynh?

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Y’all ever draw something and it comes out exactly how you had in your head on the first try? Me neither, but that’s that first Nicky. hi crusader Nicky you are so so gross ❤️

Sketch for part of a slightly longer project I’m calling the beach episode.

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You shot Nicky. You shouldn’t have done that.

MARWAN KENZARI as YUSUF AL-KAYSANI (JOE) in THE OLD GUARD (2020)

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oops my hand slipped, again

here’s part 1

another fanart based on @tovezza​ ‘s priest/professor au

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tragedy! (wounded version).

You know how Joe dashes out in front of Nicky at the start of that one fight scene? I doubt that’s a new thing. Maybe this is the first time someone other than Nicky kills him, and Nicky isn’t sure he’ll come back. He’s trying not to cry— not because of some masculine ideal, but because he knows it’ll be massive whole-body sobbing, and he won’t be ready for a second attack while he cries like that.

So he holds Joe and prays— his hand rests on Joe’s chest so he’ll feel it the moment Joe draws breath. Later, when they’re both safe, they’ll cry in one another’s arms for the first time.

I had a lot of fun redoing this sketch in another style (and drawing wounds!).

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First date<3

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I worry that we’re not talking enough about this Netflix-commissioned comic-style Joe-Nicky poster drawn by Brian Stelfreeze.

Take a good look at their faces.

The artist CLEARLY took both expressions DIRECTLY from the van scene. This is literally the moment after Joe says ‘more’ and right before Nicky says ‘incurable romantic’ it’s THAT SPECIFIC.

This is a gorgeous promotional pic for an action movie that is Gay As Fuck.

AND IT’S COMMISSIONED BY THE STUDIO.

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Trying to kick my art block by doing the opposite of an easy drawing

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What exactly is the vibe here? Unclear, but feel free to tell me! Are they both dead without ever reviving, sharing a very nice tomb in a “there was only one bed” situation (and falling in love as ghosts)?

Did Joe sneak Nicky Content into a window he designed?

Do they own a bunch of gravesites in a ‘dads picking out a burial plot’ kind of way?

Is this just a fancy window in their cottage in Malta (I bet they built that thing how I build in the Sims: all my favorite things, not caring if they match).

Whatever it is, everyone certainly is yearning. (please notice the sun/moon, where Nicky is looking, and that Andy/Quynh weapons are also in this)

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The fastest possible Cassian. he looks so sad at all times