#ive only read summaries and shit of that storyline

[masonsystem]

ok i will update this as time passes but anyways this is MYYYY list of miles morales issues that i actually like <3 will list them in (kinda) chronological order rn but as i add on issues that i read later i.. will not do that. ❤️ also im not listing down issues exclusively from his runs, im listing down any comic shit with miles in them that i like. yay! (but theyre all miles morales focused)

- Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man (2011) #5 this is the last issue of miles' origins arc! while i enjoy his spider-verse origins more, im actually OK with his original origins. tho i am not a fan of SHIELD butting in like, at all….. like straight up telling him that his uncle is the prowler? giving him his iconic SUIT? lame as hell.. but whatever! anyways i picked this issue from this arc specifically bc i think miles holding nick fury's hand is the cutest thing ever

- Spider-Men I (2012) this entire arc is great and imo the best miles storyline that bendis ever wrote for him. i dunno why its so good when it has the same amount of pages as every standard comic (17-19 pages). like not just the story and dialogue is good, but this is the best sequencing work ive seen from pichelli (the artist). this is kinda mean but nothing that bendis and pichelli put out for miles after this arc is as good as this LOL, like look how well these pages flow!

also it was peter's and miles' meeting in this arc that inspired the chaotic meeting between peter b and miles in ITSV 😊

- Spider-Man (2016) #10 its so sad that the only run thats titled 'Spider-Man' for miles morales, and not 'Miles Morales: Spider-Man' or 'Ultimate Spider-Man' or Whatever is written by bendis.. and is like. probably his worst run of miles yet but WHATEVER!! but yeah i havent properly sat down and read this run (as opposed to skimming it which is what i did) bc its just like. lame storyline after lame storyline... but this is the one good issue to come out of it. and out of Civil War II, which is the event this issue is having a crossover with.

quick summary of civil war ii: theres some dude who can allegedly see the future and is predicting that the superheroes will betray each other, and now the superheroes are split up against whether to believe these predictions and lock themselves up before these predictions come to fruition, or whether they should just chill tf out and ignore this guy. yeah. its... whatever. miles doesnt do much so i Dont Really Care. he does get a focus tho when the future-seeing-dude foresees that he will kill captain america! awesome!!!

not awesome for miles tho bc bendis-written miles is kinda lame but whatever. but anyways this issue deals with the aftermath of miles being accused of being a killer in his future, and how it deeply affected him, considering his family's criminal history. he has a supportive group of friends too that are there to comfort him so yeah! this is a really neat, touching, and heart-wretching issue.

- Spider-Man (2016) Annual #1 ok i said i hate miles' 2016 run but i actually really like the annual issue for it! its not written by bendis so maybe thats why lol. also ill be commenting on the first story of the annual not the second one. like i like the second one too but thats just ganke and miles fucking around in driving school.

so anyways this issue is kindaaa retconned.. like it was kinda? supposed to be miles' new origin for his immigration to 616 except.... no writer ever used this issue again, ever, so like.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ the storyline is OK but what i really like abt this issue is two things:

1.) i really like that miles and uncle aaron's relationship is explored further here. like ill always love the exploration between these two bc i have prowler brain disease like you know this i know this im deep in the prowlerverse. whatever. but yeah i just really love the nuance in their relationship, i love that aaron is a product of his environment and is just looking out for miles the best he can. im not gonna analyze him too crazily rn so ill just let these panels speak for themselves:

and 2.) i really love that miles holds his ground and defends his existence in the last few speech bubbles. especially important in the context that this is his first run in 616, so he really has to affirm that he's earned his place alongside the already existing spider-man. miles is spider-man too and hes here to stay you son of a bitch!

(also its funny that he says he isnt an avenger when he becomes an avenger like a year or 2 later. lmfao. he also gets a What If? issue where he becomes captain bitchmerica and thor so... LOL?)

- Generations: Miles Morales Spider-Man & Peter Parker Spider-Man (2017) get a load of that fucking title. anyways this is an anthology, meaning it fits fucking nowhere in continuity and is just here for you to get your kicks in, hell yeah. its some fanfic-esque plot where miles morales gets transported to the past where peter parker is only on his like, 2nd or 3rd year of being spider-man. how does miles get back to the present? who fucking knows! dont worry about it.

whats striking about this comic is that miles isnt meeting some more modern adaptation of peter parker, hes very much meeting the peter parker that was published in the comics from the 60s. the same moody, grouchy, beaten-up-by-life peter parker from the 60s that revolutionized comics. even the art style of this comic reflects this.

its a very introspective and intimate comic. no big fights. just miles morales meeting the actual first spider-man. despite the ending rubbing me the wrong way at first, i eventually warmed up to it. at first i had thought it was saying something like "only peter parker is the true spider-man", but as i thought about it some more, i realized what it was saying was this: spider-man will always distinctly belong to peter parker, and to the writers and artists who established his early and iconic premise and storyline. this does not mean that spider-man does not belong to miles morales, but it means there is always a threshold for miles to reach for, and that isnt necessarily a bad thing. it is a legacy being shared with miles, and it is an amazing one.

(and its one that hes steadily living up to, in his own way ❤️)

- Marvel 1001 (2019) this is literally a one page special in a book of one page specials so ill just post the whole thing here! its just kamala and miles being cute and pranking each other 😊 and its by the artist of the champions, whom art style i love!

- Champions (2016) #25, #26, #27

shadow spider suit is here..... what else is there to say!

- Ironheart (2019) #6 kinda a continuation of the champions weirdworld arc that i just listed, bc it focuses on miles and riri who were paired together in that arc. i think the character dynamics between them are great, theyre both pretty introverted heroes but riri is more confrontational while miles is more withdrawn. it makes for a very interesting duo, and i wish they were paired up more often </3

cute little issue where these two are cute together, and also some pretty ominous commentary on the whole 'miles is not originally from this dimension' thing. like it gets handwaved away but miles was literally kept in captivity for like, 2 months without even being aware of it, and the reason for his captivity is bc he's from another universe that he doesnt even always remember. some dark shit honestly.. i love it!

- Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2019) #4 such a silly slice of life issue. miles and his friends skip school and its so cute and silly and its so!! fun!! its got an A plot where miles is skipping school with his friend while still running into spider-man troubles, and its got a B plot, where jonah j jameson has reincarnated into a spongebob-looking vice principal and is trying to catch miles and gang skipping school. this dual page spread is possibly my favorite from ahmeds entire run:

it reminds me of the tt2003 comics where they had a bunch of chibis on the margins, i love it so much!

- Free Comic Book Day 2019 Spider-Man just a oneshot for free comic book day, so its not tied to any on-going arcs whatsoever which is great! set in 616 so u got both peter and miles just chilling.

despite this hysterical first page that i love so so much, its a very chill and introspective issue, that reflects on nostalgia. its a sweet and solid issue!

- Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2019) #12 & #13 BILLIE IS BORN!!!! CONGRATULATIONS AND APPLAUSE!!!!

but besides the blessed introduction of the beloved billie, i really love the interactions between miles and aaron in these two issues. aaron reluctantly re-enters a life of crime to pay off a debt he acquired after saving miles, and miles reluctantly has to stop him from committing said crime. neither of them want to fight each other, ESPECIALLY since rio is about to give birth, but they both have to do what they have to do.

(i wanted to post a pics of their dilemma at first but this makes me laugh too much so im putting this here instead)

its a very great two issues, that explores miles' complex family situation really well and with a lot of nuance. and now that ive read bendis' original prowler run, i can see how this mini-arc has several callbacks to that. where bendis' prowler run ended with death (uncle aaron's), this arc concludes with new life (billie's). which i think is beautiful :') i prefer ahmed's take on uncle aaron a lot more than bendis', bc miles having a living and supportive family has always been the strongest aspect of his character imo.

- Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2019) #15 the leadup to this, issue #14, is not that bad either honestly! but the only parts i really like from it are the fact that it leads up to this issue #15, and that theres some dialogue from miles where he kinda recalls bits of earth-1610. so anyways regarding this issue.... i really like how honorable the spongebob vice principal is. he endangers himself to defends his students, and those students includes spider-man!! (he learns of miles' secret identity in this issue)

hes just a really cool character. my only complaint is that i wished ahmed dragged this on a bit longer, with more instances of spongebob vice principal trying to catch miles skipping class, so that when he does eventually protect miles and his identity, it wouldve felt much more impactful. but this is just a little nitpick, and i still love this issue ^_^ its DAMN good!

- Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2019) #24 this issue is the calm before the storm (clone saga).. but who gaf about that! this issue is just miles and kamala doing fuck all, and its just really sweet and cute.

a very well-needed breather of an issue, except for the part where miles gets to express his RAGE!!!!! also i love this artist's work sm (carmen carnero). their work is my favorite artstyle for this run!

- Marvel's Voice: Comunidades (2021) probably my most favorite miles story ever ❤️ talking about the last issue of this volume, not the one in the middle.

anyways, i love everything about this story. i love how proud miles is of his culture. i love this beautiful artstyle with strong dynamic lines and warm tones for the colors. and the commentary about diaspora from black panther is so touching. i love that he tells miles that no matter the distance, you will always be the same people your ancestors were. nothing can take that away from you, and we will always be family in that regard.

and i love how much he loves billie, and how he loves that they will come from the same worlds. these panels might be my favorite miles morales panels ever.. this issue warms my heart and makes it aches in the best possible way ❤️❤️

- Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2019) #42 saladin ahmed's farewell to miles morales and honestly what a way to go out! wow!! despite not being the biggest fan of his run, i really love this issue!! :D

it neatly wraps up the various elements that he bought to miles morales' mythos for the past 3 years, and in such a creative way. i adoreeee the tarot idea in this issue. and i LOVE that (i think) all the previous artists who worked on this run came back to illustrate different sections of this issue, with different artists illustrating a different tarot card.

sean the bully is here. spongebob vice principal is here. shift the clone is here. kenneth the non-binary fashion designer kid actually designs something that slays for once!

tiana is here! billie is here! hell even the rhino is here again, and the irrelevant villain from the first arc! miles with a living and supportive uncle, proud parents, and a loving friend group are here! i may not agree with all of ahmed's writing choices, but he did not slack when it came to expanding miles' cast <3 its a beautiful and perfect way for ahmed to sign off from a series :D

oh!! and one of my biggest complaints with ahmed's run is how he kept piling trauma after trauma onto miles, but never really gave him time to sit down and cathartically process or acknowledge them (unless it was done in the insane evil clone of miles turns into a dictator in an alternate future arc which i still havent read). but he finally does in this final issue, where it makes him strong enough to beat the villain from this series first arc, but this time without the help of captain bitchmerica!

not the most ideal acknowledgement of his trauma by my standards, but honestly thats ok. bc miles' next writer, cody ziglar, picks up the torch and makes sure miles is Breaking The Fuck Down and acknowledges all this trauma, baby!

- Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2022) #1, #2, #3, #4, & #5 basically the entire Trial By Spider arc. i love this arc. i love this new villain, raneem rasheed, and i love how shes actually related to miles' lottery backstory! cannot believe it took 10+ years for that aspect of his character to be explored, but better late than never ig. the artwork for this is also phenomenal, tho theres some sequencing aspects that are a bit hard to make out, but its very minor. i love the coloring very much.

i already posted quite a bit about raneem, but i really love her character. i love her ruthlessness, rage, and grief. and i cant wait to see her again 💜

- Marvel's Voices: Spider-Verse (2023) both miles stories in this book are pretty good, but im gonna talk abt my favorite of the two, which is 'Training Day' by cody ziglar, which has this world famous panel here:

(i love how miles is the exact opposite of his movie counterpart LOL)

its basically miles' story from comunidades.... 2! what more can i say. i love babies and i love (GOOD) social commentary!!

^im too tired to ramble (again) about how much i love this dialogue. like look at that.... self-awareness in a superhero comic <3

- Miles Morales & Moon Girl (2022)

such a cute comic! moon girl is such a cute and precocious character... really not much to say here LOL its short, snappy, and sweet!

[ihassheepquake]

"Do you remember how in the Legacy of the Force..." I have spent much of my career as a Star Wars fan trying to expunge that 9 novel series of tripe from my memory. Thank you so much for breaking my clean streak. While you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it?

Legacy of the Force is actually my second favourite Legends storyline, just after Republic Commando

#another thing thatll get me canceled by legends fanatics #ive never actually read the Vong war #its like 16 books or something crazy like that #maybe now ill go back and actually read it #but yeah #ive only read summaries and shit of that storyline #anon asks #asks #star wars legends #star wars #legacy of the force

[mayabruhbruh]

Stranger Things 4 Analysis and Theory

I don’t know if anyone else has done posts on this stuff yet (it’s really likely, but i’d not want to take the credit if i’m not the only one who’s thought of this)

I know @kaypeace21 has made tons of posts on the s4 movies from Video Store Friday, and many others have theories and analyses, but back in July I took it upon myself to research more into the very last few scenes of s3. Specifically the three months later time stamp, where Steve and Robin are in search for a new job.

My main focus was the four movies that they mentioned for Keith at the counter. “Animal House”, “The Hidden Fortress”, “Children Of Paradise”, and “The Apartment”.

(reminder that if you read this, it could be spoilers for the final cut of the actual show if i end up being correct about some of this, so read at your own risk)

My first theory, which I’ve already discussed in a separate reblog, is about The Hellfire Club. But i’ll say it here too.

Basically,

(sorry for the sucky quality)

Animal House is about two awkward freshmen going into college and joining a fraternity of rejects. It matches Mike, Dustin and the Hellfire Club perfectly! Personally, my lowkey theory is that they’re going to have to go though an entirety of initiation activities (possibly drugs too, if what we’ve heard is correct) and Lucas and Max will be in their own storylines up until the supernatural threat brings them back together again. This could be wayy off, but still its my idea.

As for Max and Lucas...

I’m not sure about the entirety of the plot of this movie, but the last line sounds a lot like something that would happen between Lumax. Lucas is a basketball jock now, I think that’s crystal clear now seeing from the Pep Rally poster, and how he’s always been the one in the group to be able to mask his nerdy side. For Dustin and Mike, I know it’s much harder for them. Anyways, Max, I’m pretty positive by now, is going to be extremely distant and defensive from everyone just like she was in the beginning of s2, since she just had a big change happening in her life. It’s the same now, except with the grief and loss of Billy. My guess, from the hints of this movie and other stuff, is that Lucas is going to come face to face with his reputation as a popular kid, and his love for Max. Like the summary says, he must decide between the advancement of his career or the girl that he loves. Real hard hitting stuff.

Onto the next one. MIKE WHEELER. (or will byers)

I watched an analysis video on this movie, because I haven’t seen it yet, but again the very last line is what I’d like to focus on.

My. Jaw. Dropped.

I’ve read many analyses of Mike Wheeler being gay (courtesy of @kaypeace21 @hawkinsschoolcounselor and MANY others), but I dunno, I was always just so skeptical no matter how much it made sense. But when I saw this WHAT THE HELL?!?’);/&? It’s stupid of me to not have believed it sooner, but I hope this is the movie that foreshadows Mike’s storyline this season. I’m assuming Mike will have to “prove his expertise in battle”, or perhaps prove he can go through with all of the initiation shit for The Hellfire Club, while hiding his growing revelation that he might be gay/bisexual.

BUT a possibly more likely scenario would be that this movie connects with Will Byers’ storyline this season instead. Perhaps the hardships of a new school and a new town has Will shaken up, and he also has his sexuality awakening that he has to hide from new people. I say that it’s more likely for him, because Will has always been more heavily queer-coded (not exactly heavier, but just extremely much more apparent and obvious opposed to Mikes queercoded subtext that we really had to dig for).

I also didn’t mention this in my reblog from earlier, but I want to address my opinions on the apparent cheerleader that meets Mike and befriends one another. One of my friends on twitter said Chrissy (her name, or so we think lmao) might be a key component to Mike being able to discover and come to terms with his sexuality. But then again, a different friend of mine thinks that the amount of content were getting is oddly suspicious, and that the Duffers are feeding us all the wrong information to lead us to all the wrong conclusions. But, at this point, why not both. At the moment, everyone thinks that Chrissy is Mikes new love interest, but what if she really isn’t, and they’re pulling a Robin on us (i call it a robin because it was technically straight-baiting in s3 LMFAO). I’m not saying that she might be a lesbian (although 👀 it says on her character info that she’s 18 (robins got some game to work with now ahaha)) but it could be a straight-bait up until she helps Mike realize his sexuality (i would have said realizes his love for Will😍😍 but recently ive been trying not to input byler into everything i fucking say, so theres how that’s going). Anyways. Last movie!

Now, I’m currently not super concrete on this one to be completely honest. I have a few in mind...

Okay, so don’t attack me, but this could possibly be a mileven storyline. It sort of fits. They have an undeniable connection, but “their fortunes shift considerably and they’re pushed apart” aka the misfortune of the mindflayer and hawkins not being safe for them leads them to moving away and literally being pushed apart. I don’t know about the pursuing other relationships, but we still have no idea what’s going on with El Hopper tbh, i havent a single clue what’s going to be happening with her storyline atm. But either way, that could be it.

ORRRR the MUCH more likely scenario, Jancy :)

Bloggers on here have already predicted that they wouldn’t be endgame, and I was only slightly skeptical because although their relationship was built on shared trauma, a very unstable foundation to have for a ship tbh, i still hung onto the fact that they cared for eachother a lot :,( But the entirety of their season 3 bickering and this summary kind of sealed the deal.

Just like Mike and El, Nancy and Jonathan have been pushed apart aswell. It was already seen in season three that they’d be better of leading separate lives, aka Jonathan was doing fine at the internship, whereas Nancy could have been somewhere better for herself. I doubt they broke up at the end of season 3, but there’s bound to be new relationships for them seperately. It sucks bc I love Jancy, but s3 showed how badly they snap at one another when there isn’t a life threatening event at hand. Jopper on the other hand, I thought their bickering was adorable, but i’m getting off track, sorry lmfaoo.

Once again, I probably am not the first to talk about these, but jsyk if you steal this from me specifically i will track you down and end you. I’ve been speculating about these things since April and July, which is pretty weak tbh, but that was when i had nothing better to do LMFAO. i hope i got at least something right, but i haven’t seen many of the video store friday’s movies, which sucks bc those could really help. But whatever.

(i wrote this really late at night, and it’s poorly edited bc my eyesight sucks lmfao, but i hope you get what i mean)

And that’s it! I hope you like it, or had some sort of impact from it idk, just sharing my thoughts tbh. Anygays, if you have any questions/added ideas/thoughts of any kind, my inbox is always here, you can private message me, and comment if you want!! i love y’all sm lmfao, so excited for the upcoming content were about to get soon, byee!

#stranger things s4 speculation #strangerwriters #stranger things #stranger things ships #mike wheeler #will x mike #mike x will #will byers #el hopper #eleven #jane hopper #max mayfield #lucas x max #max x lucas #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #analysis #byler #byler aesthetic #byler is canon #byler is real #mileven ships #mileven #finn wolfhard #millie bobby brown #noah schnapp #sadie sink #caleb mclaughlin #gaten matarazzo #nancy wheeler

[yinxiong]

do u have any anime recs?? ive only watched the popular ones like haikyuu, bnha and aot but its kinda overwhelming to look for new ones so im asking u since i know & trust that u have good taste

ooohhhhhh boyyyy im vibrating bc 1) you’re asking me for anime recs 2) yOU SAID I HAVE GOOD TASTE HDJK THANK 🥺💞

okay but being serious here ,,, i’m not sure exactly what genres you’re looking for so i’ll put a list of my favorites + other ones similar to those 3 you might enjoy :))) if you have anything specific in mind lmk !!! i recently compiled a list of everything i’ve watched / tried to watch (it’s quite embarrassing actually) so hopefully there’s something you’ll like on there 😊

fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood

genre: shounen, action, fantasy, women characters being badass

very brief summary: two boys learn alchemy and try to get their bodies back, ends up unravelling government conspiracy in the process

this is my all time favorite uhdfdjks

top tier, a masterpiece truly

i'd rate it 100/10 but it surpasses that honestly

it's just really REALLY good

might be a little bit slow in the beginning but trust me it picks up quickly

if you’re interested it’s originally a manga and has some more details the anime left out !!!

assassination classroom / ansatsu kyoushitsu

genre: shounen, school, action, kids being kids but with knives and guns

brief summary: a class of kids are assigned to kill a super monster before he blows up the earth in exactly one year - the catch is that he’s their homeroom teacher :D

basically kids learning how to be assassins but also trying to pass school and it's all very heartfelt and you WILL adopt them all

10/10 i cry every time

honestly watch this first it’s very easy to follow

also a manga with a few storylines the anime left out, not crucial but i recommend anyways since i read it first before the anime even came out and it just has a special place in my heart

noragami

genre: shounen, urban fantasy, gods being literal disasters someone pls help them

brief summary: a girl accidentally meets an unknown god and asks him for his help, slowly learns more about his world (i’m so sorry this is really vague but it’ll all be covered in the first episode trust me)

the gods can find spirits (dead people) and turn them into weapons if that’s cool

sexy animation !!!!!

only big flaw with the anime is that they mess up the main character’s characterization a little bit so you might want to read the manga? also only has two seasons and the manga is further along ,,, but everyone is currently stressed tf out over the plot ohmygod ,,,

gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun

genre: romantic comedy but heavy emphasis on comedy, slice of life, literal chaos

brief summary: a girl has a crush on a guy who turns out to be a manga artist, she winds up being his assistant (this barely covers it though)

a bunch of high school kids being chaotic and oblivious

just watch it i can’t really explain it in words you’ll be laughing a lot

only one season so if you enjoy there’s also more chaos in the manga

your lie in april / shigatsu wa kimi no uso

genre: shoujo, classical music !!!!

brief summary: a former piano prodigy who no longer plays because he can’t hear music meets a violinist that brings color into his life once again

look

this is top tier

so beautiful hhdjfdks

i watched this on my new tv and shed real tears

as a pianist/musician i adore it a lot hhhhh the pieces they chose to play are all the favs (i performed a medley with my violinist friend for a show once hahahah)

a little sad tho beware of feels

the opening song is like . so freaking well known omg

akame ga kill!

genre: shounen, action, lots of fighting and blood, war

brief summary: a boy joins a group of assassins who are working to overthrow the shithole government (yea sounds kind of basic but there’s more to it)

mainly just girls with weapons

i mean there’s guys too but the girls are the best characters

the weapons are lowkey magical too

yea this is where my nickname came from lol

the anime gets a 7/10 but the manga probably 8/10

manga is darker, more graphic but better plotwise

no game no life

genre: shounen, a bit of ecchi ugh, lots of mind games

brief summary: two genius gamer siblings get transported to a world where everything is decided by games, they decide they want to beat god

very colorful and pretty animation!!!!

there’s some questionable “fanservice” moments but ignoring that the plot is legit

only one season tho :(( pls it was so popular when it came out where is s2

there is a movie prequel, a lot more angsty but still vv good

ao haru ride

genre: shoujo, the usual high school romance, slice of life

brief summary: a girl meets the guy she used to have a crush on, only to find that his personality has completely changed (she has too though)

insert falling back in love

one of the shoujo classics haha

i binged this in one night a few weeks ago

not sure if it was worth it but i had fun lmao

just a low stakes cute anime

also very pretty

only 12 eps, the manga finishes later

given

genre: just music boys being gay lol (jk it’s kind of sad)

brief summary: a boy learns to move on from his ex by joining a band (this is possibly the shittiest summary ever but i dont wanna give anything away hdjhkjs)

just watch it lmao it’ll make sense

idiot boys

band boys !!!

feels but not overwhelming

the comedy is top notch though

i adore given so much hhjkdf waiting for the movie to come out

THE MUSIC IS SO GOOD

all the songs are on spotify i listen to them way too much

yuri on ice

genre: figure skaters being gay that’s all you need to know

brief summary: a figure skater falls into a slump, somehow winds up with the top skater as his coach (yet another shitty summary sorry)

hmm this isn’t actually one of my favorites but it’s popular enough so why not

i just really love figure skating hfjdks

it’s pretty accurate i’d say! there are even easter eggs of top men skaters irl hahah

definitely dramatized lol

but still pretty fun

bungou stray dogs

genre: shounen, urban fantasy, very dapper mafia / detectives

brief summary: a kid on the run after getting kicked out of his orphanage accidentally saves a detective, shit goes down from there

pretty fun as you learn about their powers, watch them solve mysteries

the fighting is cool too

until the machine guns appear ugh i just tune that part out

oh yea all the characters are named for actual literary figures and i didnt realize until s2 💀

fairy tail

genre: shounen, magic/fantasy, action, friends !!!!!

brief summary: just mages in guilds going on quests lolol what more do you want

fr it’s honestly quite chill

like there’s definitely an ongoing plot and lots of subplots / arcs

but it’s very character driven

so many cool character designs

was OBSESSED w this in middle school ,,, highkey embarrassing omg

one of the big anime/manga, if you like bnha i’m sure you’ll have fun with fairy tail

this was a stupidly long list and im clearly way too excited ,,, if you have any questions or just want to scream about any of these, my inbox is always open ;)))

#ask #anon #anime recs #plsss im a weeb #ive definitely lost followers over it #but idc anymore #tysm for this ask ily

[kyufiber-moved]

got any bl show suggestions?

abso-fucking-lutely i do !! i typed out this WHOLE thing then my computer crashed so this is my second time answering this ripskfjd

also i went in depth about everything so it got long, and imma put a keep reading!! here are some bl show recs:

love by chance ::

summary: pete is a popular and wealthy student who is very shy, which is caused by the fact that he is secretly gay. he meets ae, a fellow student and they quickly become friends. pete starts to have feelings for ae, but doesn’t want him to experience ridicule for being with a man, so he attempts to repress his feelings

my thoughts: this show is amazing tbh. one of my alltime favorite dramas ever ngl. it has 5 couples that are shown on screen (with small cameos from / mentions of tharntype), all of which are cute (except klano. we dont talk abt klano.) 

ending: mixed, depending on the couple. the main couple (aepete) has a happy ending, but three of the side couples have open endings, one of which is super angsty

sequel(s): there’s a second season coming out in february, in which the side couple that got the angsty ending (tincan) will be the main couple!!

where to watch: youtube

history 2: border crossing ::

summary: yuhao is rebellious and has a short temper. when he is approached by the captain and manager of the school’s volleyball team, he isn’t interested, but eventually ends up joining. he then develops a very close bond with the team manager, zixuan, which turns into something more than friendship

my thoughts: very very cute !!!!! i loved it so much omf. also the side couple is step brothers and although they don’t get much screen time, they’re still cute. also the kisses b/w yuhao and zixuan (despite 1 of the only 2 being in a dream) are F A N T A S T I C

ending: happy!!

sequel(s): there’s a 2nd season coming out sometime in 2020, but idk when. also it’s apart of a series called HIStory which has several different storylines, all of which being bl. they are not related to each other in terms of characters or anything, though, so don’t expect to see familiar characters ^^

where to watch: youtube

sotus: the series ::

summary: kongpob is a 1st year engineering student who stands up against head hazer and 3rd year arthit, who the first years feel is cruel / overly strict. the two start out as enemies, become friends, and eventually develop feelings for each other

my thoughts: no sexual stuff like many other bls, instead focuses on the romance part of it, the evolving relationship/friendship between kongarthit, the internal struggle of figuring out one’s sexuality, and the bond formed between students/friends/classmates. honestly?? storyline is gotdamn beautiful and i cried more than once just bc i was so overcome

ending: happy :)) (for all seasons and special eps)

sequel(s): there is a 2nd season titled sotus s: the series which takes place 2-3 years after the 1st season, where kongpob has become head hazer and arthit is now out of college and in the working world. kongarthit is also featured in the multi-bl special sequel titled “our skyy” which has special episodes set after the main official dramas surrounding various bl couples !

where to watch: it’s on netflix yeehaw ! but if you don’t have netflix it’s on youtube

together with me ::

summary: korn and knock are childhood best friends who meet again in college and, after a drunken night out, end up having sex. knock, who has a girlfriend, makes korn promise never to tell anyone about it and pretend like it never happened but you can’t hide falling in love forever :))

my thoughts: god SO much angst. it isnt an ep of twm if there isn’t angst smh my heart hurts watching it. BUT . it also has cute moments, funny af moments, and some SEXY AF moments . the sex / kiss scenes are unmatched bro . holy shit . watch the uncut versions too theyre even hotter i cant breathe 🥵 

ending: happy 

sequel(s): there are two “sequels”, one: together with me: the next chapter (which apparently wasn’t as good as s1 but i havent seen it) and then two: bad romance which features kornknock but the main couple is boyxgirl (and it aired first, but it’s set chronologically AFTER twm)

where to watch: youtube

theory of love ::

summary: third is secretly in love with his best friend, a straight playboy/manwhore named khai. he tries to stop his feelings, but is unsuccessful until he overhears something he wasn’t meant to. third, heartbroken, decides once and for all to stop loving khai- but just when third stops, khai starts.

my thoughts: anGST goddammit bl dramas love their angst huh. anyways i love the general plot of this and also like ? how aware the creators are of the plot sorta bc the movie flipped is a large af part of the show . also the kiss that ive seen ?? whew YES bro . also like before we get the happy ending there’s SOOOO much angst, even after they both know that they like each other ksjdf i haven’t finished it bc im mentally preparing myself 

ending: happy

sequel(s): n/a, but if you want another drama where these actors are together, puppy honey has the same actors as a the couple pick and rome (idk if they have a happy ending though?? i havent seen it)

where to watch: youtube

great men academy ::

summary: love is a girl who is a huge fan of vier, a boy who attends great men academy (an all-boys school). one day she helps an injured unicorn by a lake (dont ask BRO DONT ASK) who then grants her one wish: to fulfill her love. unfortunately, the unicorn interprets love’s wish differently than expected, and turns her into a boy. love decides to attend great men academy in her male form, but she must remember to return to the lake and submerge herself every night before midnight to turn into her female form again, or she’ll be stuck in her male form forever

my thoughts: this drama........ whoever thought of this plot was on crack or smth. s’cute though. all the male characters are members of 9x9 (including captain, who plays noh in lovesick) also the main lead ends up with the person everyone acTUALLY wanted him/her to end up with so . YAY FOR US. still a WEIRD ass plot though

ending: happy

sequel(s): n/a

where to watch: kissasian

honorable mentions:: 

bolded : watched/watchingitalics : unwatchedstarred *** : hasn’t aired yet

- until we meet again (only an honorable mention and not an actual rec bc i haven’t seen it yet so i don’t know as much about it, BUT i know it’s good)

- kiss me again (the prequel to kiss: the series and also good but not PRIMARILY bl, focuses on three het couples/storylines and then the one bl storyline, but petekao is still otp asf)

- 2moons / 2moons2 (2m2 is a remake with a little better acting, a different cast, and more focus on the side couples than 2m. it is NOT* a sequel)

- make it right: the series (a bit old and kiiiinda shitty but one of the classics. also the second season is a little better imo bc the characters look more mature and the cinematography is better but ! s1 is a classic. also very . VERY sexual pls god do not watch it without headphonessjfkds)

- love sick: the series / reminders (love sick: basically the first mainstream bl uhhh ever. not particularly good / bold compared to more recent ones but it paved the way for current bls so we Respect love sick. ALSO reminders: is a modern sequel type thing set after love sick 2 when phun and noh are in university. also :: features almost all the main couples/actors from love by chance but has no relation/isn’t the same universe)

- the stranded ( i haven’t seen this but i know it has some gr8 bxb relationship shit ! but it’s not the main focus of the show i believe)

- 2gether: the series *** (hasn’t aired yet, but looks juicy af)

- my engineer *** (also hasn’t aired yet but again . i am inTRIGUED)

#asks #anonymous #drama recs #bl drama recs #recs #there's more but i dont want my computer to crash again and lose everythingskdfjds #plus like #you'll be preoccupied watching those before u need / want more recs haha !

[yelloskello]

Saw a post on twitter talkin abt how reviews 4 detective pikachu keep saying it sucks cause u have to have knowledge of the pokemon franchise for it (which is stupid, but thats another can of worms) and comparing it to avengers endgame's 20 movie homework assignment - which isnt hyperbole. And i was thinking of all the folks who are like 'stop crying why dont you understand how sequels work'. And it got me musing on what marvel and disney have done here to basically guarantee that they not only garner huge profits from their new movies, but that they continue to garner huge profits on basically every mcu movie theyve made since 2008.

Like. MCU movies whether i like it or not are a huge part of being... social, basically. I dont give a shit about them, but i also have almost no friends and dont give a shit about communicating with people in a general sense. But every time a new marvel movie comes out, its fuckin all people talk about. It permeates everything. Ive seen the societal pressure to continue seeing these movies even if you dont care about them, *just* so you can be part of everyday conversation for a good few months. People RUN to see the movie as soon as humanly possible because people want to avoid spoilers so desperately they completely isolate themselves from the world. And, yeah, you can apply this to literally any movie in a popular franchise or any standalone heavy hitter - what sets mcu apart is that 20 movie homework assignment.

In looking up what movies are essential to watch before endgame, the absolute shortest list i could find was 8, and that was like, bare bones. Watching those 8 movies, if youre a newbie to the franchise, you still wouldnt know who the fuck most of the heroes popping up are or why the fuck theyre there. (I have general knowledge of marvel, but i never saw ant man, so even being marginally aware of the hero when i saw civil war and he popped up, i was like 'what the fuck, whyd they kidnap celebrity paul rudd?') In order to fully understand who everybody is, i'd say you have to watch at least the first movie of every individual hero's movie line. In order to have perspective on the inner workings of characters and what has happened to them so you can see where theyre coming from, youd have to watch *all* of it. Which, i mean, if people wanna do that, u do u booboo. Some people are in love with this shit. Some people wanna be able to, like, be part of greater society and talk to their friends. I get it. Youre not gonna be able to keep up with conversation as well if you dont know who a third of the characters even are. If your friends are big fans, you better be able to talk shop, too.

What im musing on is that, like, theres no way this wasnt fully intentional. Theres no way that disney and marvel arent aware of the social influence their franchise has, and no way they werent aware of how it would be from the beginning, just by watching social trends when huge movies come out. I mean, thats what your marketing team is there for, yknow. Its literally their job. The entire mcu line was carefully crafted to make sure youre not just giving money to their new movies, but to all their old movies, since its required watching and youll experience some level of social isolation if you dont. Yeah, other franchises have done this stuff too, having multiple sequals or breaking up their sequals into several parts to make more money. But - and i might be wrong, if theres another quite this huge, im just not remembering - not to the extent the mcu has. Not *20 fucking movies*, spanning several different storylines with their own sequels that are only intermingled juuuuust enough to be important. Imagine if all the disney princess movies were intermingled. Imagine if, in order to watch moana, you had to watch everything from, oh, little mermaid on, to understand whats going on.

And then, like the big bright maraschino cherry on top, if you complain about it being inaccessible, you get social backlash. Youre socially isolated and out of the popular loop if you dont see it, but if you take issue with everything you have to do just to get there, youre chastised by your peers. The only way to win is to give marvel lots of money, and thats entirely intentional on their part.

And yes, i know, ppl can pirate movies or read summaries. I am one of the ppl who basically live by doing that, so ofc i know. But i think we can all agree that reading summaries is absolutely not the same as seeing the movie first hand, leaves out a ton of details, and gives you none of the emotional impact of the situation, so youre still socially stunted - and theres absolutely a societal trend to some people to just experience the whole thing because it just feels right. Basically as a ritual. (See: people rewatching the LOTR trilogy before going to see the hobbit movies, just to hype themselves up and turn seeing the movie into a much bigger personal event, as ONE example among mmmaaannnyyy.) And pirating? Tons of folks are vehemently morally opposed to that. (I am not, but like, doesnt mean there aint a significant number of ppl who are.)

Its clever. And also kinda horrifying, in a 'capitalism is highly manipulative and insidious' kinda way.

Im 100% sure this musing is not new or groundbreaking in any way, shape, or form, and that tons of people have been well aware of it for ages. Its just interesting to think about.

#i suppose it's worth mentioning that I also very literally work in marketing #for a large local nonprofit #so talkin about how this is all meticulously planned ain't tinfoil hatting #after seeing all the work that goes into marketing for a *local nonprofit* #and comparing it to a company with the kind of means disney and marvel would have? #I can guarantee: there are no happy accidents here. EVERYTHING is planned out to the letter.

[renaramblesaboutcomics]

Wednesday Roundup 8.8.2017

Okay quite a huge week for my pull list, though with a few sad farewells as a result of that. Will everything pass the muster? Or have we got some duds in waiting? 

Just kidding everything’s wonderful and I’m going to explain why that is.

Marvel’s All-New Wolverine, DC’s Detective Comics, DC’s Gotham Academy: Second Semester, Marvel’s Immortal Iron Fists, Dark Horse’s The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars, Marvel’s Silk, DC’s Titans, IDW’s Transformers: Till All Are One

Marvel’s All-New Wolverine (2015-present) #23 Tom Taylor, Leonard Kirk, Michael Garland, Erick Arciniega

Probably my favorite Marvel book coming out right now is All-New Wolverine and I think nothing has helped my appreciation for Tom Taylor as a writer grow than this book. It’s everything I’ve always wanted for Laura and more, but I won’t waste time. Let’s just dig into the specifics~

Story: We’re in the midst of an arc that’s meant to completely avoid the stink of Secret Empire but also probably will limit exposure to Laura that will be given to the stupid asshole male Wolverine they replaced her with on the main team I meant that is meant to bring us into Laura and Gabby’s first big space opera adventure, which is a proud tradition for all Marvel A-listers, and especially familiar to the X-Men. But Laura’s not with the X-Men on this trip because a forced romance with Warren isn’t being shoved in our faces. She’s here with the Guardians of the Galaxy who are enjoying their rise in Marvel prominence quite a bit, I believe.

In any case, the Brood have kidnapped Gabby and this is pissing both of them off immensely because Laura’s protective of Gabby and Gabby’s protective of Jonathan their pet Wolverine, and everybody is trying to get in the way of the Wolverine ladies living a happy life that they deserve. 

Now I don’t often give summaries but it’s difficult to really parse what this story gets right and why even as the crotchety woman that I am who usually doesn’t care for superheroes in space, I am enjoying the aliens and the epic giant crossover and the cast of thousands. And that’s because this story and this comic series is about Laura and Gabby. It’s about the sisterhood, the mother-daughter relationship, the friendship, and the just general goodness that they’ve provided for each other throughout the past 23 issues that makes all the dressing not matter nearly as much as the moments where Laura declares her commitment to getting Gabby back or Gabby’s stern rebuttal to the idea that any outcome would be possible besides Laura coming for her. That faith and trust has been earned for over 20 issues and it’s the thing that really makes this comic stand out from the majority of the comics I’m going over this week. 

This is a comic that has always been about these two characters and the loving bond that they share for one another. And it is exactly why it works to the point that I can give a hilariously complex summary like the one above without it making a real difference, and it’s why the final page is so gut wrenching for a cliffhanger.

Art: Leonard Kirk, I believe, has done the majority of the artwork for this series so far, and I really appreciate the look he gives to the title and specifically to Laura. She’s treated with every ounce of power and intimidation that you expect of Wolverine and the sexy costumes or posing are brought down to a severe minimum. Really, his designs for everyone are great and service the action of the story well because with so many aliens and sceneries to be had, the precise and direct approach makes the comic easy to follow. And I like that it manages all that without sacrificing action scenes or Kirk’s own style. 

It’s solid comic art through and through.

Characters & Dialogue: For the most part I’ve said everything that needs to be said in the story bit, but I need to again give accolades to Taylor here because of the subtle character growth he’s allowed for in the way Laura and Gabby’s world views are evolving. 

The dialogue for the two of them is very specific to their characters, but now we’re starting to see the way that they talk is having an effect on the other. Laura has become more artfully expressive about her feelings and love of others, especially Gabby, which is a change that took a long time for her and also is something her father never quite learned as well. We are a long ways away from the Laura who was ready to give Gabby up to the Jean Grey school and not look back. Likewise, Gabby has become more stern, more encouraged. She relies on Laura and believes in her so much that she doesn’t fear, another far cry away from the Gabby who was abused and misused by the lab that created her. 

Basically the characterization isn’t just good, it’s subtle and full of depth beyond what people would be expecting from a giant space opera adventure trying to avoid a storyline centered around Captain Fascism. 

DC’s Detective Comics (2016-present) #962 James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez, Raul Fernandez, Brad Anderson

So, I think my Roundups are a pretty fair record for how tumultuous my relationship has been over time with Detective Comics. It’s a comic and characters I love fiercely but it’s also often subject to fair criticism of being fairly unpolished, rushed, and just generally misses a mark from time to time that’s just difficult to overcome.

A mixed bag if you will. 

And we’re coming to the close on this particular storyline “Intelligence” and I think it’s as good of a place as any to really get into the nitty gritty of what the pros and cons of this Detective Comics run is.

Story: I only recently have begun reading Jean Paul’s original solo series Azrael thanks to DC’s new campaign to volumize old comics and it’s been a surprising read. But I’ve always been familiar enough with him as a character to be fairly curious about what more stories centered around him -- and not Azabats him but him him -- would be like. And I’ve stated before that I enjoy seeing the development of his friendship with Luke and would love to see it feature more prominently. 

And in all those respects, I feel like this conclusion and really this whole storyline paid very good tribute to Azrael and Jean Paul in ways that even contemporaries of Denny O’Neil tended to miss the mark on. The complexity of his relationship with religion while also dealing with the additional stress and pressure that has placed on him with his abusive past, the allusions to mental illness which serve throughout his stories. And really just Jean Paul getting a chance to be a character in a way he certainly wasn’t in his re-introduction through Batman and Robin Eternal worked out very well with me. And I’m grateful that his injury in this battle and his paralysis are not going to be immediately erased while they do acknowledge that in this universe that’s a possibility.

I don’t really like the state reasoning for the decision or the near certainty that his disability will eventually be “overcome” but it’s better than the nothing that DC has basically given us in the way of the major titles for a while now.

Plus, consequences! It’s nice to have consequences that matter.

The magic part... well I enjoy Zatanna as a character to an extreme degree so my ability to be completely unbiased here was always going to be difficult. But this is one story where the magical elements being blended in with the spiritual.. I’m not really sure if it worked for me. It’s nice to see Zee, but in an ensemble book I’m getting a little tired of all the excuses being fit into the narrative to excuse not ever actually being about the ensemble.

oh look tim’s alive and ra’s al ghul’s behind it all who saw this coming

At least we don’t have another new made up organization that secretly spans across the whole world and Batman didn’t know about it ever. At least they’re finally converging a bit because that shit was getting ridic.

Art: Of the rotating art teams that we have for Detective, I have to say that this is one of the best and most consistent. There’s a good variation between splash pages and regular paneled format, there’s a proper use of shifting and varying panel differing. And overall it’s just a pleasing comic to read with easy action to follow and a great use of color and inking despite being a literally dark comic.

It is not the most stylized comic for those who prefer styles that are Out of House as opposed to the Big Two’s normal aesthetic, but it is a good comic and easy to read without being redundant. 

Characters & Dialogue: Detective Comics has way too many characters. Tynion gives all of them good voice, and everyone who’s featured gets quite a lot to do, but there is not enough balance for the ensemble and the constant addition of new characters, new villains, etc. makes even less room for development and especially for relationship building between characters. 

Like I guess Cass is just the only kid in the Belfry period now. Alright. 

Cass, Kate, Luke, and... *sigh* Clayface have very little to do in this issue, though I’d argue that their small parts are some of the best content when one’s reading. And while it’s more than okay to center different arcs on different characters and Jean Paul getting his long, long overdue dues is more than welcome, there’s still the problem of giving everyone something that pushes their own plots forward, or at the very least, let’s us see the progress that has been made as a culmination of the previous storylines. 

Cassandra is still not even adopted by either Bruce or Kate yet for chrissake. Someone give Cass a family.

Zatanna was good and if I have to measure a Bruce this Bruce is good for my tastes, but again there’s just so many characters it’s very difficult to fully dive into their various developments, especially when it’s hard to tell if there is one.

At the very least, I can give this comic thanks for getting Cass’ speech pattern back to normal. I have to agree with some other fans who have contacted me and said that it’s not too terrible if from time to time Cass learns and memorizes a Shakespeare verse thanks to her time with Clayface, but not showing any of the characters working with Cass to teach her to read and speak and then giving her full sonnets or soliloquies is way too much and is painfully out of character to read.

DC’s Gotham Academy: Second Semester (2016-present) #12 Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl, Becky Coloonan, Adam Archer, MSASSYK, Sandra Hope

After a few years of this fun, YA tale of mystery and friendship, we sadly come to a close on Gotham Academy with this final issue wrapping up the series that was very beloved by myself and a number of my comic reading friends here on the internet. It’s a different type of story in the landscape of DC’s Batbooks and it’s going to very much be missed, regardless of how well or not this last issue was going to do. 

But, with this cancelation, did the finale manage to feel like it came to a conclusive resolution for all of our favorite Gotham Academy kids?

Story: Given that this is the finale of both this storyline and for the series as a whole, going into story is a much bigger deal than it has been before. I mean, we’re talking about a narrative that really started back with Gotham Academy (2014-2016) and has come to its end here, a reboot and a year later. And it all, as it should have, revolved around the titular friendship between Olive Silverlock and Maps Mizoguchi. 

Of course all the friendships, all the support that has been built up for Olive throughout the series still play a fairly important role to her conclusion here, but it was always going to be the friendship that held Olive and Maps together that would be what drove the story at its core, and in that way this ending doesn’t feel forced or strained, but simply like a natural testing of friendship when both have made mistakes and are wrong for various reasons -- for Maps it was coming to terms with her treatment of Olive’s mental illness and accepting her for it rather than simply ignoring that it was a factor, and for Olive it was about relying on Maps and trusting her to be there for her whenever she should fall. 

That is what affects the narrative the most and that’s what the resolution to this story got right the most here. 

Still, the cancelation of GA has come at the cost of the resolution of a lot of other elements that had been built up over the series. An unfortunate affect of having spent so much of the bulk of the series building up the world, the supporting characters, and more for what was no doubt many more mysteries and subplots to come, but it’s ultimately a little lost here. Colton’s confession to Kyle doesn’t see some real focus in the finale due to time and that’s made all the more a painful thing to see cut short considering the confirmed LGBT+ elements of Gotham Academy never received direct attention in ways I know I wish I could have seen. And likewise some resolutions felt missed entirely or unnecessary, Tristan’s apparent comfort with his bat form by the end as an example of the former and Pomeline being in a romantic relationship again with oh-whats-his-beard in the final pages. 

I would not have wanted any of the final issue’s focus to have left Maps and Olive at all, as I’ve said, they are the driving force of this comic, but as understandable as it is that these shortcomings happened under the circumstances, they’re still shortcomings nonetheless. 

The one that’s the most glaring, however, is the way that Olive’s disdain and distrust of Batman ended up coming to an end here. This is a character trait that was built up with Olive since the first issue of the series, and that relationship complicated between her, her mother, Batman, and Bruce Wayne, began dropping off the radar the moment we came into Second Semester and became more and more lost only to give us this moment in the finale where she comes to terms somehow with the fact that Batman was just trying to save her mom? I don’t know. 

Speaking of which, this all coming down to magic and a secret society using Olive’s ancestral blood to control her or whatever reminded me exactly of when I was watching Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated for the first time and I adored that first season SO much and loved how it stuck to the tried and true Scooby-Doo formula of skepticism winning over superstition and the paranormal, only for the second season to... make a 180 and everything was due to magic after all. That’s kinda how I felt about Gotham Academy, we spent the first series constantly solving mysteries of Gotham Academy through the eyes of the Mystery Club and time and time again the lesson seemed to be that the legends and tribulations of the people at the heart of these things were just that -- they were people and they were real, and their problems paralleled the cast’s for that reason. 

Only for that to be somewhat wasted due to the fact that... it was all nobody’s fault and the strings were being pulled by the occult the first series had proved were false. And I suppose that’s okay, save for how it feels as though it tries to use this to wave off the genuine symptoms of mental illness Olive has shown throughout the series. 

It’s something I’ll have to chew on for a while, honestly. It’s given me a lot of complicated feelings. 

Art: Ah, the most contentious part of the series has been the massive shift in art. Karl Kerschl was the original artist for the first few volumes of Gotham Academy and his style remains a truly unique, very stylized, and very character driven style which was a huge contributing factor to launching Gotham Academy and getting it off its feet with a unique flare to draw in audiences that weren’t necessarily picking up other Batman books at the time. And his presence has been missed since he left the book, without a doubt. I’ve had people tell me personally that a big reason for dropping the book when they did had to do with the change up in art. 

I’m not condemning Adam Archer here for not being Kerschl, make no mistake. What I think has truly hurt this book, however, is that Archer either chose or was directed to attempt Kerschl’s style as close as possible which comes off as not feeling natural to Adam Archer’s own talents. That’s unfair because Archer’s work is unique, fun, and lovely n its own without this attempt to mimmic a style that was less his own. I think we would have all appreciated the art more in that respect, since other guest artists between the two like Chen were better received for their issues. 

That being said the art for this issue is not bad, but it’s not great, and missing that feeling of sincerity that was connected to by so many readers before. 

Characters & Dialogue: Considering how character driven this series is, it’s fair to say that the characterization and dialogue of these new Gothamites is unquestionable. They were always well rounded, interesting, and full of intrigue, and all the way to this conclusion, that remains to be the case. The big difference here would be that because we needed to focus on Olive and Maps, the other members of the Mystery Club were less involved than I would have liked though they very much did at least get to play a part in stopping Calamity (pun intended).

The good thing about having a single team writing from the very start of the book is that we get very strong voices throughout for all of the characters, and that remained true to the very end as well. Really, the characters were the best part and it made this feel like a very deserving farewell to our Gotham Academy family. 

Marvel’s Immortal Iron Fists (2017) #2 (of 6) Kaare Andrews, Afu Chan, Shelly Chen

Well, guys, never say that change isn’t real and tangible, because it almost looks like Marvel learned something from the reception of Immortal Iron Fist on Netflix and is creating a legacy from the title that shock of all shocks actually contains Asian characters for once. I know, I was stunned as well.

In all seriousness, I was super interested in this series when I first saw it with issue #1 but hadn’t bought it by the time I was doing my weekly reviews for that week. Obviously, that has since then been remedied and has left me open for a good ol’ review of the new Marvel Infinite series Immortal Iron Fists.

Story: We’re still very much in the early part set of this story, which is a combination of Danny trying to navigate the trials of adulthood while being a complete human disaster, Pei is attempting to fit in her new public school which is middle school and thus inherently filled with racist little sociopaths in training just like real life high school, and also about the two Iron Fists trying to harness all of these magic scrolls which are currently possessed by demons which increase in power each scroll before culminating into this Mega Awful Demon that is the mortal enemy of the Buddah.

So yes. Immortal Iron Fists is basically ripping off Jackie Chan Adventures and believe it or not I am absolutely fine with that, in fact I think it might be the most fine I have been with a Marvel concept in ages. It’s like making Laura Wolverine, creating Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, and now this. There, I had my arm twisted and admitted there are positive things about Marvel this week.

The story itself is a very soft, even light narrative considering the complexity of Pei’s origins and even her connection to Danny, but it’s also at the same time so fitting for what I assume is the intended audience (children and YA) and especially fitting with the art that is positively adorable and awesome. 

In this issue Pei makes her first friends, learns that there is a string of missing cases, and also decides that unlike everyone else in middle school she’s not going to be a “key to a single door” but keep all her doors open and try to bridge the gap between the various cliques, who were introduced to us Mean Girls style and it was hilarious. 

It’s just a fun read overall, but it’s also a fairly quick read so given that ever high Marvel price tag it’s hard to argue with the assessment that this one could be a trade wait for a lot of you.

Art: As I mentioned before, the art is very soft, gentle, and light. The colors pop, everyone is incredibly stylized, and the action scenes are surprisingly varied and plentiful. While they’re still simple enough to read for beginning comic readers, there is a flow to them, such as the sequence where Pei gets some revenge on some bullies at school through one extended fight sequence across a panel. 

I just really enjoyed the art and I’m glad to see so much variation in comic art lately. It’s been a long time coming.

Characters & Dialogue: Pei and Danny are the focus of the comic, obviously, and they play their roles incredibly well. Danny is ... I mean, he’s Danny Rand, he’s a complete disaster of a human being trying to Adult it with an inheritance he never cared about or really earned and as such everything rolls in and catches up with him. He literally can’t teach Pei how to clean the house without tripping on soap, and I feel like that is a perfect summation of everything anyone has ever needed to know about Danny Rand. 

In contrast, Pei is a reserved little girl, fish out of water, and drowning in a culture she has no familiarity with while also harnessing power and skills beyond her years. What I find interesting and subversive about this, though, is that Pei neither yearns for normalcy nor does she completely rebel openly against Danny’s orders for her to restrain herself and act normal. It’s honestly a relief to have a character whose problems are so relatable and have her just... treat it with the actions of a kid in the moment: uncertain but trying to play everything out until she decides she doesn’t fit the necessary mold. And she’s pleased with herself for not fitting the mold. It’s honestly kind of inspiring to see that in a kid character these days. 

But the big part of this issue was arguably building up the supporting cast, including the nanny Danny has hired for Pei and most of all the kids in Pei’s school. And how there’s apparently no point to her hiding her identity as the tiniest Iron Fist. It’s well paced and all the kids, right down to their overwhelming cruelty to their surprising generosity, are definitely acting like kids.  

Dark Horse’s The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars (2017-present) Part One Michael Dante DiMartino, Irene Koh, Vivian Ng

Ah, at long last!

While I was not in on the hype for The Legend of Korra as it was airing, my appreciation for what it’s become has grown over time, and more importantly, I fnd that it provides more possibilities and more opportunity to the world of Avatar, which is always a good thing.

As such, I’ve been waiting for this comic series to come out for quite some time! ... and then had to wait longer because for Reasons we don’t get the comiXology release at the same time as the regular issue’s release in stores. Oh, Dark Horse. 

But now to get into the specifics. 

Story: It’s always difficult to gage story with just the first issue, but in all honesty I think that the fact that the TV series ended on such an open note really helps the comic in this matter. “Turf War” is an interesting name for the story, but at the same time it’s oddly blunt and fitting. There is a war erupting between the Spirit World, the human lands and property settlement, and with the ever present Republic City triad gang wars. We follow all of these through the Krew members who are exactly where we last left off with them. 

Some of the stuff that deserves a lot of attention is the cementation of Korra and Asami’s romantic relationship, which is given a good amount of page time for the first half of the book. They confess true feelings for each other, share a first kiss, have a beautiful vacation together, and we ultimately get to see Korra’s blunt and protective nature play out accordingly. She rushes in to Asami’s aid and frets over her pretty consistently, which could be seen as a callback to the series itself when, as Korra was most down, Asami cared for and nurtured her. 

We also get to see Mako and Bolin working together as partners in the Republic City police. They deal with the triads and the general unrest that has come about as a result of Spirits and Humans openly interacting again for the first time in centuries. And this honestly felt like some greatly due development for the brothers’ relationship since in the series it felt like they had grown apart without it ever being explicitly addressed in the text.

And while all this turf grabbing is happening, we also see a parallel drama being played out. And that would be the story of how Korra and Asami choose to come out to their friends, family, and even the world. As usual, Korra barrels in half cocked and not thinking of repercussions, figuring “damned if anyone judges me” whereas Asami is more thoughtful, planning, and reserved. She’s nervous about coming out to people, and she’s nervous about how boisterous Korra is being about it. 

But they haven’t communicated this detachment between their processing of the situation yet. It’s fairly obvious that a portion of Turf Wars is going to come to a head with Asami and Korra having to address being respectful of each other’s needs to come out in their own ways first. 

In any case, it was a real great start and had lots of little moments to help explain the world without acting as though the intended audience wouldn’t have some more than passing knowledge about what was coming up.

Art: One of the most widely praised and beloved aspects of The Legend of Korra from the very start had been the beauty of its animation, so much so that the same animation house got to move on to other passion projects like the current reboot of Voltron. And one of the things that makes the world of Avatar so unique is that aspect of Eastern philosophy combined with different disciplines which inspire the forms of bending in the series. And, as was pretty clearly seen before in the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics, that is not something that is easy to translate into a more still and less fluid medium like comics.

And that mostly goes the same here. There’s a distinct lack of bending compared to what you would see in an episode of the show, but at the same time that isn’t to say that there isn’t a lot more than I thought there was. It simply did not have that many creative takes on what to do with the bending. No splash shots into the next panels, no using the elements to transition. The sort of things you’d expect from a comic inspired by a show which was all about the uniqueness of bending. 

Still, the comic did a fair job of keeping to the style of the series without the character art seeming stagnant and stationary which is usually a problem with cartoons that are adapted into comics. Hair in particular was treated with much more fluidity than I remember the show being able to give it. And the styles of the various nations and cultures were well designed while also fitting. 

Everything was well compositioned and especially the events which took place within the Spirit World were beautifully colored, though that came at the seeming cost of a duller color pattern used in the “normal” world. 

It’s a good start, and I’d argue it’s better than if it had tried to strictly stay to only the style of the series and not rely on the personal style of the artist. 

Characters & Dialogue: Given that this is an ensemble story and there was a limited amount of time to dedicate to each of the characters, we did not get as much individual development for the wider cast. But Korra and Asami got relatively large roles and since they and their relationship seems to be the driving force of the narrative, it worked out well for this issue. 

Korra was brash to a fault, but as always it is her conflict and emotions and her validity that moved the plot forward. For a character it is always important that her purpose and her growth be the defining force. And I think we definitely got that.

Asami on the other hand was the quieter personality, yes, but her hesitation and temperance also did a lot to build suspicion for future conflict in the relationship between her and Korra and also in just the world itself. Her perspective and her concerns are as real and as valid as Korra’s which means that our concerns for their coming out narrative are validated here, too. 

The dialogue is a bit harder to pin here, as again there aren’t many characters with specific inflections that really pop out, so we’ll have to wait for more issues to get a larger grasp on how the dialogue changes between characters.

Marvel’s Silk (2015-2017) Vol. 3: The Clone Conspiracy Robbie Thompson, Irene Strychalski, Tana Ford, Ian Herring

I can’t believe I’m having to say goodbye to so many books this week. It’s like my personal Cancellation Day, and the only prize is disappointment that more series I enjoyed aren’t coming my way. I’m supremely sad to see Silk go, as Cindy Moon is a hugely inspirational and important character both for being an Asian-American superhero with her own book and for narratively dealing with anxiety in depression. 

And it’s also extremely sad to see her go on what was mostly tie-ins to yet another endless Spider Event. I won’t be going into a full review for that reason, it just doesn’t seem fair to recap the end of the series knowing that a lot of the context for The Clone Conspiracy is not included in this book, nor should it really have been, but I do want to say to fellow Silk fans that there’s enough of Cindy and enough closure to her narrative that it will be worth your collection and time, but yeah there will be some lackluster stuff in the majority of the issues in this since it is a tie-in. 

And I hate that, I hate how much endless tie-ins have felt like they’re killing books lately. 

But Robbie Thompson was a fantastic, thoughtful, and well articulated writer throughout this series and for Silk before this series, really making her a real character where her initial introduction was... not that... ugh pheromones and gross twitter trolls. Anyway, Robbie Thompson truly made a character to love in Cindy Moon, and the two artists who contributed throughout the series -- Irene Strychalski and Tana Ford did amazing very stylized work and weren’t afraid to experiment with style and page correlation.

It was a great read and I’m going to miss it a whole lot.

DC’s Titans (2016-present) #14 Dan Abnett, Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Andrew Dalhouse

Hello, world, it’s me, the Titans fan who wished upon the monkey’s paw that her favorite heroes would be restored to their former glory and that their friendship would be allowed to flourish on the page once again. And in return I got Roy’s stupid hat. 

But in truth, I’ve been fairly pleased with Titans since the very first issue in Rebirth and have felt taken aback by just how much the creative team seems to love the characters, their relationships, and their history. But now we’ve got to answer that ultimate question: a year later with those rosy tinted glasses still firmly on my face, am I starting to eep out of the honeymoon phase? Or it this book still living up to unrealistic expectations?

Story: We’re in the middle of the sleeper agent storyline and it’s probably more difficult to gage how good a story is doing by its middle than it is by its start, in all honesty. All the same, the distrust running through the Titans, the pain of conflict and second guessing each other’s friendships and so on. It’s not a bad way to flesh out the arc, and I wouldn’t say that like a lot of storylines’ mid-issues this one felt useless or flat. 

There is a definite escalation throughout the issue of how the Titans are beginning to fold in on each other, how HIVE’s master plan to destroy them from the inside may be working before we ever get confirmation about a betrayer. And the testing of the relationships among the Titans in that delicate web they weave cause everyone to trip over each other once they’re really put to the test. 

That being said, it’s still not hitting all those points perfectly. While you can see an organic build to the relationship of Lilith and Garth that’s been pretty fun and true to the characters so far, the love triangle between Wally, Donna, and Roy is something I’m pretty confident in saying no one wanted. I have seen no one say they wanted this. And weirdly it continues to put all the female characters in romantic relationships as the crux of their developments while we still have at least Dick and Gnarrk on the men’s side who don’t have to be motivated by this bull. The best part of the love triangle so far has been Donna throwing Roy and Wally both when she realizes what’s going on.

As for Dick being the sleeper agent well, I guess it’s one of those... shoulda seen it coming because of course we have Dick involved with another covert secret underground all powerful world corrupting group in another book. I don’t know why I was expecting different. But at least in the defense of Titans, it does feel like a good call back to the original New Teen Titans storyline with the cult of Brother Blood where similar happened and it was Dick again. 

People just really like mindfucking with Dick, there’s not really much else to say about it. 

Art: Ever since Brett Booth first appeared on my radar I’ve been fairly critical of him as an artist. His style was never really my taste, but he’s proven again and again on Titans to really pull some variation in body types and physicality that I hadn’t seen on his previous works. I like that the guys all have different body types and that the girls’ costumes and personality are reflections of themselves. 

That being said, we still have a problem of Sameface with the girls at the very least, where honestly some panels the only difference between Donna and Lilith is hair color. But the colors are vibrant and the panels are all full of details, no space wasted.

Which is both a compliment and a criticism since, to be frank, the absolute refusal to have any normal panels basically gives us the opposite of my criticism of Turf Wars which is that there seems to be no real complexity because of the constant unstable panel work. 

This is the comic book equivalent of shooting every scene in a movie with dutch angles. There’s no dramatic or narrative reason to have these panels slanted and all over the place, but every panel will be that way. Even panels where we’re literally reading the characters talking about pizza. 

It gives us no real change between action sequences and normal sequences so it’s just kind of boring in spite of the dynamic panels. Which I’m pretty sure is the opposite of what they wanted.

Characters & Dialogue: If it wasn’t clear in the story portion, I’m not a fan of how when it comes to individual character development, we have conveniently gotten all three of our female heroes into romantic subplots with at least one (now possibly two? if we’re hinting at Tula like I think we are) love triangles in the mix. It just feels like it’s 2017 and we should be beyond that sort of “what kind of subplot do we give the girls? love I guess”

That being said, it’s really been amazing to me, personally, to see just how good this comic continues to be at making these characters feel like the ones we knew and loved prior to the New52. Not exact, not perfect, but pretty close to the preferences for each of the characters as we can get with the current character histories being what they are. Like, personally, I’m much more enthusiastic about Dick and Wally in this book than I am about them in Nightwing and The Flash because it just feels like them, Wally’s current romantic entanglements aside. 

Still, it’s a fun book and for what it lacks with some characterization quirks it always tends to make up for later in the story so for the current storyline I’m willing to wait a touch longer.

IDW’s Transformers: Till All Are One (2016-2017) #12 Mairghread Scott, Sara Pitre-Durocher, Joana Lafuente

Wow. Another one of my favorite ongoings is ending today and I’m starting to worry it’s me. I hope I’m not actually the kiss of death to these comics because, full stop, Windblade and Till All Are One have been some of the most enjoyable comics I’ve read in the last several years and there’s probably no comic getting canceled this year that makes me sadder than this one. 

So, how does Till All Are One leave us?

Story: Mairghread Scott has absolutely blown me away over the last year with her comics and just her obvious, obvious love and understanding of the expansive Transformers universe. Her world building has spanned over several series now and her character work has truly been put to task by having to stand up against fan favorite TF writers like John Barber and James Roberts. And I think nothing has proved her talents more than Till All Are One, where all that build up and all that character work is allowed to at long las come to fruition. 

This conclusion could have been use to tease us with the ideas and storylines that Scott obviously had planned (and if people are curious I really encourage you to look up the storylines she had planned and posted to her tumblr), but Scott instead made this a solid ending and a celebration of the comic she was allowed to make. And much like Gotham Academy, she did so by bringing it back home to the characters which have driven the series the most: Windblade and Starscream.

The tumultuous relationship between the two same yet so very different jets has been something that I’ve adored watching play out. Their distrust of each other, their manipulations, their political games, and ultimately their teamwork for the greater good. It’s been fascinating and also has put me on the edge of my seat. 

There is nothing more uncharacteristic, nothing more selfless than what Starscream did by putting his own life at risk in order to save Windblade, and the fact that Windblade at last got the confirmation she’s desired about Starscream’s true self feels like a great resolution to all the buildup over the years. This is a very triumphant ending, to the point that 80s Business Woman style Windblade ended by strutting out the door. 

I sincerely hope we are going to be blessed with more of Scott’s signature Transformers writing in the IDW’verse and I desperately hope that this is not the end of Windblade who has quickly risen as one of my favorite Transformers. 

Art: The majority of the artists on the Transformers titles for IDW are honestly so good and so amazing that I barely know what even to say about the art. The art standard for bringing these robotic transforming cars with heart is so high that it leaves one baffled when it comes to what’s left to say about them, any of them. And even with that standard, Sara Pitre-Durocher manages to amaze me.

Of the Transformers artists I would say her style serves to be the most sleak and the most expressive. Theres not necessarily any time where you think of the Transformers as being “soft” or “pliable” -- they’re still metal and wires with all the complexity therein -- but there’s a believability to the phrase “living metal” that doesn’t always come across in some other artist’s work where the bulk and construction of the Transformers seems more prominent than their expressionism and agility. 

The fact that this book gets to at least end with having had consistently amazing art throughout is a highlight and why I think it’s going to be one of the titles returned to the most fondly of the IDW’verse.

Characters & Dialogue: Starscream’s duplicity is his most iconic character trait, of course, and I’ll be the first to say I’m sort of worn out with classic villains being “reexamined” and given redemptions and whatnot these days, but I love how malicious and cruel Starscream has remained in this series while simultaneously showing us and himself through Windblade and Till All Are One the kind of character he could aspire to be (hello Armada allusions) and therefore making it more frustrating and even tragic when he boldly makes the decision to be the opposite of his own potential. 

Windblade on the other hand has grown as a character since we first met her. Her naivety and pure intentions have been warped and she now understands how to play the game of politics, but also what it costs -- her honesty, her friends, her belief system. And she was willing to sacrifice herself despite learning all of that -- she was willing to put herself in mortal danger knowing that it wasn’t a perfect, harmonious society she was doing it for but a deeply flawed one. And the fact that she ultimately survived and is now capable of moving forward for herself with the new ambition of being open and speaking for herself more than being a figuehead or politician feels like an arc that was built up to through all this time and yet at the same time was something surprising and unexpected.

Other characters didn’t really play much of a significant role in this ending, which puts it like a lot of the other story bookends this week where a large cast doesn’t really get to close out with homage to the majority of those characters. But this felt more solid, at least to me, because of the wisdom Scott had in using the last several issues to bring the focus in particular to Starscream’s POV and then building up to Windblade’s. It feels like what loose ends for other characters are left are left in ways that are going to be easily picked up by another book or by another creative team entirely rather than everything simply being cut off. 

Just an awesome book and I’m so sorry to see it come to an end.

It’s another difficult pick of the week but for me, I absolutely have to give this one to Transformers: Till All Are One. It’s one of my favorite series in a long time and it ended on a resolution that made me honestly puff up with pride for the main characters. It’s a comic which embraces history of its franchise while growing it, a comic that embraces questions of politics, identity, gender, sexuality, and more. It’s been a beautiful ride and I wish the best to the entire creative team.

But I thought all the comics were great this week and highly recommend you check them out! Of course I’d love to hear back from you -- agree with me? Disagree? Think I missed any comics I should’ve picked up? I’d love to hear from you.

Before you go, however, I need to share that I am in a bit of a financial crunch for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which being the medical bills I’m paying for my dog, Eve, who experienced a catastrophic dog fight and underwent surgery just yesterday actually. 

As such, I really would appreciate if you enjoy my content or are interested in helping me out, please check out either my Patreon or PayPal. Every bit helps and I couldn’t thank you enough for enjoying and supporting my content. 

You could also support me by going to my main blog, @renaroo, where I’ll soon be listing prices and more for art and writing commissions.

RenaRoo Patreon

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#Wednesday Spoilers #Rena Roundups #SPOILERS #The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars #Titans (2016 ) #Gotham Academy: Second Semester (2016 2017) #Detective Comics (2016 ) #Transformers: Till All Are One (2016 2017) #All New Wolverine (2015 ) #Immortal Iron Fists (2017) #Silk (2016 2017)

[jasonvtodd]

comic crash course for @thomasflint & @pansexualbcky 💙 I’ve included Image, Marvel & DC comics ✌ (run, run while ya’ll still can) normal font is my thoughts on the runs and italicized fonts are official summaries  

IMAGE

lazarus (2013) i just sorta accidentally stumbled onto this series by mistake but its so worth reading. strong female character who (as you’d guess by the title) can come back from the dead and kicks goddamn ass while looking damn good

In a dystopian near-future, government is a quaint concept, resources are coveted, and possession is 100% of the law. A handful of Families rule, jealously guarding what they have and exploiting the Waste who struggle to survive in their domains. Forever Carlyle defends her family's holdings through deception and force as their protector, their Lazarus. Shot dead defending the family home, Forever's day goes downhill from there... 

east of west (2013)  (hickman idk if you’ve heard the name before but hes done a lot of marvel runs here and there) is the same deal as lazarus. i dont know many (if any) people who have read it like the above, but i think thats cause they’re aimed at more mature ‘older’ readers kinda deal. this is also a really good comic series which deals with the four horsemen of the apocalypse and this whole other storyline which is jsut pretty cool and a good ride

   This is the world. It is not the one we wanted, but it is the one we deserved. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse roam the Earth, signaling the End Times for humanity, and our best hope for life, lies in DEATH.

MARVEL

iron man, vol. 1 issue #172 (1983) am i going to start this marvel rec list off with tony stark? you’re goddamn right i am. not only that... a stony favourite of mine friend. idc what your quams. this is me. you know who i am. now, anyway, this issue... fuckfu cufkc fuCK me right up scotty. it shows you tony in the worst of his fall down into his alcoholism and steve mentions how his father was an alcoholic and tries to talk tony back to reality... you’re an intelligent man. you must know what you’re doing to yourself with every single drop of that stuff you drink. you have everything, man you have your own company, you have plenty of money, you’re an electronics genius. women find you attractive. you’re respected in the community, you have a brilliant future ahead of you (this is honestly one of my favourites i own)

hawkeye, vol. 1 (1983) this is clints first solo run, its only four issues but i highly recommend it. you get to see bobbi morse in action too which is always a Good Time

Enthralled in his relationship, Clint opens up to new girlfriend Sheila Danning about his super hero origin. The date ends abruptly when Hawkeye investigates a break-in at Cross Technologies…and the intruder’s none other than Mockingbird! Is Cross Tech involved in illegal affairs that are destroying the environment? Mockingbird seems to think so, and she'll stop at nothing to convince Hawkeye! 

iron man: iron monger (1985) He's lost his armor and his fortune, but not his nerve! Tony Stark's back on his feet after everything Obadiah Stane has thrown at him, but now the bilious billionaire is taking away Stark's friends...one of them forever! The enmity spanning more than thirty issues ends in a steel-plated slugfest from which only one can walk away! Plus: vision quests and extradimensional intrigue! Madame Masque and Thundersword! And the debut of the Scourge of the Underworld! Guest-starring the West Coast Avengers!

iron man: armor wars (1987) this is such a good old school tony run as it shows you (that everyone always seems to overlook or pretend isnt Important) tonys guilt that is constantly weighing him for so many things and his own battle with him self

Millionaire industrialist Tony Stark is an inventive genius who has dedicated all of his enormous financial and intellectual resources to a single guiding principle: the creation of technology for the betterment of humanity. Stark's greatest creation is a modern-day miracle: a suit of form-fitting, strength-enhancing, steel-mesh armor he dons to become the living symbol of his ideals, the Invincible Iron Man! But when Stark discovers that the same technology he used to create the Iron Man armor - technology so secret he didn't even dare patent it - is now in the hands of several deadly super-villains, he feels responsible for the evil they have done with the high-tech tools he unwittingly provided. In the face of objections from his government, friends, colleagues and fellow super heroes, Stark swears to use the power of Iron Man to bring the evil to an end - and to take back what's his. The Beatle, Stilt Man, the Controller, Stingray, the Mandroids, the Guardsmen and Firepower don't know it yet, but they've got a problem. The world's most powerful force for good isn't playing by the rules anymore. And he's coming for them.

the infinity gauntlet (2000) soon as avengers infinity wars got announced and thanos started popping up with his gauntlet and infinity stones... i looked this up and was curious. annd wowow what a ride ok thanos is fucking ruthless and this shows it. thing i love about comics is when everyone dies in one whole page... u dont even rlly mind cause u know they’ll be fine somehow lololol #me when reading this (was it still stressful how it all went down? yes) 

For the dark Titan, Thanos, the Infinity Gauntlet was the Holy Grail, the ultimate prize to be coveted above all else. Now, on the edge of Armageddon and led by the mysterious Adam Warlock, Earth's super heroes join in a desperate attempt to thwart this nihilistic god's insane plunge into galactic self-destruction.

captain america, vol. 1 issue #401 (1992) clint ‘im an adult’ barton jumps on mopey steves bed and tony walks into a bar despite just overcoming his recent rehab from alcohol just to speak to steve and tells him in this crazy business we’re in, there’s no one I’d miss more than you. And I… well… you’re an inspiration to me, Steve is my goal to make you ship stony (and all its canon ass shit in its beauty)?? you’re goddamn right 

Clint Barton nags Cap into going out to a bar where Steve confesses he has given up on having a normal life to concentrate in his hero activities. Tony Stark arrives unexpectedly and he and Steve hash out their differences going back to the Armor Wars and make up.

tales of suspense, vol. 2 (1992) is possibly hard to find (but i’d be more then willing to buy for presents for the Feels) but ohmYGODDDDDDDD steve talking about tony in his suit and tony talking about steves clear, azure eyes like ok yeah... thats not gay... at all....... stony isnt canon pshaw...  Tony Stark and his armor. His wonderful metal suit. The end result of all the technology he’s mastered in his hands the ultimate weapon for good. A good that I can never hope to equal. ... psha...w???   Captain America. Steve. I look at your handsome face… into your clear, azure eyes.. and, as ever, I feel the same guilty envy.

captain america: operation rebirth what a good. you get badass sharon carter action, a solid good classic red skull as steves nemesis, and just overall a good captain america read. probably one of my favourite cap trades i have

He was the greatest hero that ever lived. But now the legacy of Steve Rogers had come to an end - the serum that coursed through Captain America's veins killed him. Now, 47 years later, Captain America is brought back to lif e to do battle with evil. 

deadpool, vol. 1 (1997) i have the omnibus and so have only read the first 33 issues plus some specials.... but... lOOK listen... l i s t en ... this is what made me fall in love with wade wilson ok and the reaosn why i enjoyed the deadpool (2016) film so much. because they included so much material from this run in it so well i want to goddamn cry about it (i sometimes do) let me also say though as you can guess... it is wade wilson so suffice to say lolol you gotta be in the mood for it but i highly recommend it

iron man, vol. 3 (1998) first comics i ever read so they hold a special place in my heart. you also get rumiko fujikawa, whom, is probably the only best canon relationship you see tony in in all of 616 to this day. forever salty and bitter over the fact that she just got forgotten about over time. like wades run above, ive only read the first 30 issues of this too so i cant speak of the rest of the run (which i will finish someday i swear it) but was a real good introduction to iron man comics in general and just a good time with cameos from nat (black widow) early on and other known characters pop in and out. shows tonys friendship with carol danvers which!! is!! so!! important!!! and never gets spoken about either after this run much to my knowledge which im always salty over because they both help each other through alcoholism and their struggles. and they both pick each other up when the other has fallen back down to the bottle or is on the brink of doing so.

   It's a new beginning for Iron Man as Kurt Busiek and Sean Chen reinvent the Armored Avenger! Tony Stark is back, with a new company, Stark Solutions...but the Mandarin plans to destroy Tony's dreams before they take shape! And if that's not enough, Iron Man must face Firebrand, Whiplash, MODOK, Controller, Fin Fang Foom, Count Nefaria, the Exemplars, Ultimo and the all-new War Machine - while romancing the beautiful Rumiko Fujikawa and protecting his secret identity! 

black widow, vol. 1 (1999) nats first solo run, only 3 issues and highly recommended

    Natasha Romanov has always led an exciting life - first as a Cold War-era Soviet spy, followed by her defection to the West. She has earned a reputation through the years as a consummate professional, coldly efficient and as deadly as her namesake. Now, her time as Black Widow may be at an end. Yelena Belova, the new Black Widow, seeks to claim the mantle she feels was stolen from her Motherland. Trained in the arts of espionage and combat, and anxious to prove herself and eliminate her counterpart, Belova will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. 

avengers: red zone (2003) steve and tony are stupid and literally give up oxygen for one another to live. self sacrificing jackasses. tony doesnt even hesitate ok i hate him so much (really cool storyline though)

When the Red Skull infiltrates the United States government, he authorizes a biological weapon to be released from the peaks of Mount Rushmore, and it is up the Avengers to contain it! Under the direction of creators Geoff Johns and Olivier Coipel, the Avengers face a threat unlike any they've ever faced - then they take on the Red Skull himself!

secret war (2004) Starring Wolverine, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Captain America, Black Widow, Luke Cage and more! Brian Michael Bendis, the most popular and acclaimed writer in comics, reveals the darkest chapter in Marvel Universe history! When Nick Fury discovers a disturbing connection between many of Marvel's deadliest villains, he assembles a ragtag team of the MU's most misunderstood heroes for a secret mission to do what the U.S. government could never allow - eventually leading to a super-powered blowout between a who's who of NYC heroes and mutants!

cable and deadpool (2004) i think this was my first introduction to wade (either this or his first vol.) and how gay him and nathan summers are like wowow what a duo ok. shipping aside these guys have such hilarious, great dynamics together throughout the whole series and im forever salty we didnt get more of them (50 issues wasnt enough ok)

Wade Wilson is Deadpool, the mentally disturbed merc with a mouth and a healing factor that just won't quit! Nathan Summers is Cable, the messianic mutant from the future who plans to save us all - whether we want him to or not! And now, this disparate duo has just become Marvel's oddest couple - because they're stuck with one another! Can two grown men armed to the teeth with high-rech weaponry coexist without driving each other crazy?! It's action, adventure, time travel, dimension-hopping, black humor, black-ops, Bea Arthur, chimichangas - yes, that whole thing started here - and lots of gunfire as two of Marvel's fan-favorite antiheroes take on each other and everyone else!

new avengers, vol. 1 (2005) steve and tony co-parent a new team after all the core ‘original’ members of the team parted ways after clints ‘death’ quality stony aside, this run (for the first 20 issues before civil war happened) was such a fun ride and introduced me to a lot of other characters i hadnt read much of before and is probably one of my favourite marvel runs

In the aftermath of Avengers Disassembled come the New Avengers With the Avengers disbanded following an attack by one of the team's oldest members, a shadowy villain has taken advantage of their absence to initiate his ominous plans. Employing Electro to disrupt the electrical systems of the maximum-security prison known as the Raft, hundreds of super-powered villains are freed to wreak havoc on New York. Without the Avengers to answer the call, a group of heroes must form a makeshift alliance to subdue the rampaging villains and save the city. In the heat of battle, this new team fills the void left by the Avengers' demise - the New Avengers. After shocking the Marvel fans with the series-shattering "Avengers Disassembled" storyline, writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Finch begin an all-new chapter in Marvel Comics history with New Avengers. Featuring a cast of fan-favorite characters including Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman teamed with the hard-edged heroes Luke Cage and the Sentry, New Avengers presents a 21st-century revitalization of the classic Avengers concept. Plus: The mystery of the Sentry revealed. The Avengers try to help the most powerful super hero in the world figure out who he is and where he came from. But will this knowledge destroy the man they're trying to help?

CIVIL WAR TIE INS ok so it goes without saying if you get into marvel comics, civil war is an event that i think you should read just so you have as its one of the biggest and well known events it’s had. the aftermath of it affects 616 massively and its better if you know the gist of what happened. it has 7 core issues which you can read here. i’m just not putting it on my rec list as a rec per say as i am not a fan of how it was written and find it extremely problematic, and ooc for both steve and tony with many of what they say/do. in saying all that i am a fan of some of the tie ins it had (there’s like 500 million different civil war tie ins m8 its a mess, don’t even try to read them all. i just went for my favourite characters and was happy to find they were handled really well)

iron man/captain america: casualties of war (2007) a whole issue recapping steve and tonys greatest hits in 616 (when people try to tell me that stony isnt canon i get so goddamn amused because this is the one of many comics i could pull out and school ya’ll with) 

In the midst of Civil War, Captain America and Iron Man meet secretly, one last time, to see if there's any hope of working things out before further tragedy occurs. Don't miss this oversized special that reveals how these two men, once the closest of friends and staunchest of allies, could end up leading opposing armies in the conflict tearing apart the Marvel Universe!

winter soldier: winter kills (2007) remember that time mcu decided to bring in bucky into civil war when he didnt even make an appearance GOOD times buck stops by the city during civil war and stays on the outskirts and decides to school the young avengers on How Shit Gets Done (this issue is one of my favourites bucky wise)

In the midst of the harsh division of the Civil War, James Buchanan Barnes, Captain America's one-time partner Bucky, faces his first Christmas of the 21st century. And faces the truth of the terrible things he was forced to do as the Winter Soldier. And with Cap caught in a conflict he can neither take a side of - or understand - what moves can he make to try to redeem himself? And what do Hydra have planned for New York this Christmas? Featuring guest appearances by the Young Avengers and some of the original Invaders, this Special issue is an action-packed character study that defines the Winter Soldier's future place in the Marvel Universe.

civil war: front line, issue #11 (2007) steve and tony both get interviewed after steves ‘loss’ 

The final issue is here! Follow Ben Urich and Sally Floyd on the quest for the truth about Civil War! Discover the dark legacy of Robbie Baldwin, formerly known as Speedball, now called Penance!

civil war: iron man (2007)  Two tales of suspense ripped from the pages of Civil War Captain America has fallen into a clash with his government and his friends, and the people close to him are paying the price. The life of Cap's girlfriend, Agent 13, is torn apart as her superiors use her divided loyalties against her. Elsewhere, a new villain emerges; the Red Skull begins to make himself known; and the Winter Soldier again comes face-to-face with Cap. Meanwhile, get inside the mind of of Tony Stark, and learn why he feels superhuman registration is necessary - and why he's taken it upon himself to lead the charge for its implementation Big changes are in store for Iron Man in the post-Civil War landscape, and the build-up begins here.

civil war: spider-man (2007) Life couldn't be more complicated - or more dangerous - for Peter Parker. After rushing to the aftermath of the Stamford Massacre to offer aid to its victims, Peter travels with Tony Stark to Washington, D.C., and the White House - where the enactment of the Super Hero Registration Act appears imminent. As the Marvel Universe braces for the implications of legislation that will forever change the societal status of super heroes, Peter is forced to make an important personal decision - maybe the most important decision of his life. As Civil War tears apart the super hero community, will Spidey stay true to that decision?

captain america, vol. 5 issue #25 (2007) steves ‘death’

civil war: the confession (2007) dont fucking do this to yourself. if you’ve read the song of achilles...  think of this as a single issue comic form of tsoa (i dont want to talk about it ok not ever)

fallen son: the death of captain america (2007) these comics were done so incredibly well. each issue deals with one of the five stages of death and shows you how affected and how shaken every member of the superhero and otherwise was by steves death. peter parkers deals with depression and the black suit comes out and i fucking want to puke just thinking about it. tony ‘ive grown up in the spotlight and known how to play audiences and fake it and show im Fine’ stark cant even speak on the podium and has to step away and is shaking and im emo go away

Can the world accept the death of a true hero? In the wake of a tragedy, we visit the top heroes of the Marvel Universe. How do people with amazing powers face a force that no one can fight? Is more violence coming? Featuring Wolverine, the Mighty Avengers, the New Avengers, Spider-Man and Iron Man!

MARVEL - CONTINUED

captain america, vol. 5 issues #26-50 (2007) after steves death... there is no longer a captain america. that is, until... james buchanan barnes decides to pick up the mantle (after much coaxing and support from tony, sam, nat and sharon) and continue steves legacy.... though... he does things a little different. he uses guns and the villians literally shit themselves its fucking hilarious. crossbones i think at one point straight up just yells at him saying CAPTAIN AMERICA DOESNT USE GUNS! ‘this captain america does’ my hero uwu i love this run for a lot of reasons... it was the first time i got to see buckynat and learn their origins from the red room, you get to see their dynamics in current day and how well they still work together, tony and bucky have very good scenes together and you get to see a letter steve left tony asking him to look after bucky (fuck dont talk to me about how steve... despite everything that they were going through during civil war... steve still entrusted tony with the one thing that means everything to him since he first became captain america... his friend, his once sidekick, his bucky) to save bucky from himself and dont come near me ok. you also get bucky and sam wilson working together which 😂😂😂 good fcking lord ok look at this Quality Content the only compliant i have about these issues is the treatment of sharon carter with what they ended up doing to her yikes

In the aftermath of the fabled hero's assassination, Agent 13, Bucky Barnes, the Falcon, Black Widow, and Iron Man come together again in a desperate attempt to keep his dream alive. But the collapse of Steve Rogers' dream was merely the first step in the wicked machinations of the Red Skull, who is determined to see the death of America follow soon after the death of the Captain. As the Skull's master plan kicks into motion, and chaos begins to take hold of the United States, only one man stands in its way - but is he up to the task? Freed from the psychosis that transformed him into the relentless mercenary known as the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes is called on to live up to the dream in ways he never imagined. Eisner Award-winning writer Ed Brubaker refuses to let up on the action, suspense, and human drama in a tale that ties together all eras of the star-spangled warrior's history. {sidenote: if you’re a bucky fan and want to know more backstory with him in 616, check out the winter soldier arc which is the first 14 issues in this same run}

young avengers, vol. 1 (2005) this first vol. is heavily underrated and doesnt get spoken about as much as its following vol. you have lgbt rep with billy & teddy who are just the purest most sweetest beans and you get kate bishop before you meet her in fractions hawkeye and shes just Wonderful

When the original Avengers disband, a team of teenage heroes comes together to fill the gap. Their first order of business: surviving the wrath of Kang the Conqueror and weathering the disapproval of the adult Avengers Next, the newly formed Young Avengers take on super-powered sadist Mister Hyde, the extraterrestrial Super-Skrull and a full-scale alien invasion, juggling their parents and their private lives at the same time.

alias (2006) Meet Jessica Jones, a former costumed super hero who, in fact, stunk at it. With powers unremarkable in comparison to the great icons of Marvel, Jessica never found her niche. But once she hung up her cape, she was surprised at how quickly she fell out of the spandex loop. Sure, she may hang out with some of the Avengers socially, but she`s not welcome in Avengers Mansion. And she feels the rejection. She`s self-destructive, drinks too much, and has a huge inferiority complex. And did we mention that she's now a Private Investigator who specializes in cases of the super human variety? So if you're thirsty for the film noir feel and complex characterization, grab a stool at the bar!

mythos: captain america (2008)  He may be dead, but now you can find out how the man became the legend! Mythos revisits Steve Rogers’ transformation from a weakling with a heart of steel to the Sentinel of Liberty! From the mind of Paul Jenkins’ and the stunning art of Paolo Rivera comes the origin of CAPTAIN AMERICA!

invincible iron man (2008) remember that time tony stark wiped out his goddamn BRAIN to protect the identities of every last superhero he knew? remember when we got pepper as rescue being fucking badass and gorgeous in her own suit? 

Looking for some old school Iron Man super-heroics? Want to see Shellhead let loose with his repulsors? Filled with page-to-page action, this book shows the Armored Avenger doing what he does best: fighting big name villains armed to the teeth with deadly technology in between jet-setting around the world as billionaire playboy Tony Stark. 

secret invasion (2008) like civil war, i think this is another marvel event that deserves to be read and should be read if you’d like to understand certain things that follow it in the 616 universe. as well as i did quite enjoy this storyline {sidenote: read secret invasion: the infiltration beforehand if you plan to read this}

spider-woman (2009) jessica drews first solo run. you find out her origins and the art is absolutely stunning. definatly worth checking out.

The team of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev return to a Marvel comic for the first time since their Eisner award-winning run on Daredevil. Ripped from the pages of Secret Invasion and New Avengers, this explosive chapter follows the new adventures of Jessica Drew, aka: Spider-Woman, as she rediscovers her life in a world she did not make.   

young allies comics 70th anniversary special (2009)  a really cool buck comic flashing back to his day as bucky and flash-forwarding too bucky!cap

Before they were Invaders, Bucky Barnes and Toro the Flaming Kid joined forces with four teen-age friends to battle the Third Reich as the Young Allies! Their fictionalized adventures thrilled readers on the Home Front throughout World War II, but their real story has never been told -- until now! Discover the truth behind comics' original kid gang! Action! Intrigue! Adventure!

deadpool: suicide kings (2009) Deadpool's latest job has gotten him into a world of trouble. Everyone wants a piece of him - and for a crime he didn't commit That's right: Someone's framed Deadpool, and it just might be the same guy who hired him in the first place, a guy who just might be using the mouthy merc as a wild card in a twisted wager. If Wade's going to clear his name and serve up some revenge, he's first got to avoid getting captured - or killed - by some of the Marvel Universe's heaviest hitters: Daredevil, the Punisher, and Spider-Man. Plus, see what happens when Deadpool goes behind the scenes of "Pain Factor" - the reality TV game show so controversial, it's been banned around the world.

deadpool: merc with a mouth (2009) It's the Merc with two mouths! Deadpool travels to the Savage Land to retrieve what might be the deadliest bioweapon the universe has ever seen. What is this deadly object? Well, Deadpool's employer is being a little vague about that. Let's just say when the secret is finally revealed, it's enough to throw even the Merc with two Mouths for a loop.

iron man noir (2010) Marvel's Noir line ranks among the most intriguing of the alternate-universe superhero reimaginings. Through the lens of Depression-era New York, the likes of Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and Wolverine have a harsher, tougher light cast on their essential characters. Snyder (American Vampire) rips a page from Indiana Jones' notebook and turns Tony Stark into a hard-charging adventurer who must come to terms with a troubled psyche as he races the Nazis for possession of an ancient "metal of the gods." From exploring the deep sea to invading military strongholds, Garcia delivers gritty action to match the drama and darker hues to capture the tone. With appearances by the Noir versions of other Marvel regulars (Sub-Mariner Noir, for instance), this is a fine treat for fans, and although newcomers will enjoy it, too, they should be warned that this isn't Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man. The one major drawback, as with so many mainstream collections lately, is its brevity, at only four collected issues.

avengers prime (2010) the first time steve and tony properly talk to each other since the events of civil war. basically a brotrip to asgard and shenanigans with naked horseback riding ensues. this is such a fun 5 issue ride 20/10 to recommend one of my favourites

They were friends, brothers and teammates through all of Marvel's greatest adventures, but recent events turned them into the bitterest of enemies. In the wake of the Siege of Asgard Thor, Iron Man and Steve Rogers are brought together on the same side once more, but these great heroes can't truly trust each other yet. They better start soon because something only the Big Three can handle is tearing their world apart. This all-new, grand and dangerous adventure will catapult our heroes into the explosive Heroic Age and will unite comics legend Alan Davis with Avengers scribe Brian Bendis for the very first time.   

black widow: the name of the rose (2010) some cute buckynat stuff plus overall just a good natasha story

Natasha Romanoff is not a super hero. And yet as the Black Widow, she manages to hold her own against a world of incredibly powerful enemies and allies. But now someone has tried to kill Natasha and almost succeeded. Now she sets out to find her attacker with no suspects and no leads. Who could be deadly enough to get the drop on Natasha? 

winter soldier (2012) bucks first solo run by brubaker which is highly entertaining with nat along for the ride. when winter soldier (2014) got announced i ran around looking for every comic with buck in it i could get my hands on and this run was such a ride to get an introduction to him in 616 for the first time. we just ignore the shitty writing choices made at the end re: buckynat yes sir we do

He's been Bucky and Captain America - now, James Barnes returns to the role of the Winter Soldier! They're the super-spies of the Marvel Universe - and when ex-Russian sleeper agents awaken, Bucky and the Black Widow must go on the hunt for men trained by the Winter Soldier himself. But when the trail leads to Latveria, Bucky comes face-to-face with Dr. Doom! Can Bucky and the Widow prevent war with Latveria? Can Bucky stop the sleepers he himself trained? 

hawkeye, vol. 4 (2012) for people who don’t even read comics... to try and get them into comics? i hand them this. this run is hands down probably one of the best things marvel has ever produced and is the Clint Barton we deserve. just give me a neftlix hawkeye series based on this and i can die happy. the writing is fanfuckingtastic and the art is very well done too. we get kate bishop fighting alongside clint and you get lucky aka pizza dog (for who has a whole issue of a Day in the life of, its fab) you get being reminded that as much as 616 likes to forget about it... clint barton is canonically deaf and does in fact know sign language and just... just read this. if you only read one thing off this entire list? make it this

The second Hawkeye ongoing series by Matt Fraction and David Aja, the creative team behind Immortal Iron Fist. The legendary superhero during his time when he is NOT being an Avenger. Clint Barton becomes a landlord and a pet owner, but in the process makes some deadly enemies. Plus, can he balance a relationship and a friendship with a certain red-headed Russian spy, ex-wife, and flirtatiousfemme fatale? The series had one Hawkeye Annual. This series lasted 22 issues, after which it was continued into All-New Hawkeye with a new team. 

captain marvel, vol. 7 (2012) carols first solo run as captain marvel :) The "Mightiest" of Earth's Mightiest Heroes is back! Ace pilot. Legendary Avenger. One hundred percent pure bad-@$$. Carol Danvers has a new name, a new mission - and all the power she needs to make her own life a living hell. As the new Captain Marvel, Carol is forging from a challenge from her past! It's a firefight in the sky as the Banshee Squadron debut - but who are the Prowlers, and where has Carol seen them before? And how does secret NASA training program Mercury 13 fit in? Witness Captain Marvel in blazing battlefield action that just may change the course of history! Avengers Time Travel Protocols: engage! 

a babies vs. x-babies (2012) bucky bear. need i say more?  It's coming--and it's bringing babies with it! Who will live? Who will die? Who will get diaper rash? Find out as the X-Babies face the A-Babies in the tie-in to end all tie-ins!

black widow (2014) gorgeous art by noto (iconic) + fantastic writing  You've seen Black Widow as an Avenger and even an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. But on her own time she searches for atonement for her past as a KGB assassin - in ways of which those teams just wouldn't approve. The Black Widow goes undercover in Russia, but from its cold streets, the Hand of God reaches out to crush her...and it is as merciless as its name implies. Outmatched by the brute force of a powerful new villain, Natasha faces her deadliest test, and discovers a deadly plot unfolding that spans the entire globe.

hawkeye vs. deadpool (2014) wade teams up with clint (team up is a strong word... more like wade keeps harassing clint till he caves and helps) and its highly entertaining 

Once upon a time, champions emerged to fight the evil plaguing humanity. They fought for all that was good in the world. They were kind, generous and self-sacrificing. They were heroes. These are not those heroes. Meet Hawkeye: ladies man ("ladies man" because the ladies love to hate this man), mighty marksman and, most importantly, Avenger. He's the only guy on the team without any powers, though. Then there's Deadpool (Mr. Deadpool to you), the regeneratin' degenerate. You can shoot him, stab him, and punch him right in his face, but nothing can keep the Merc with a Mouth down. What do they have in common? Halloween in Brooklyn, and a S.H.I.E.L.D. espionage mystery that has both heroes racing the clock! But will Deadpool and Hawkeye kill each other before they figure it out?

captain marvel, vol. 8 (2014) Hero! Pilot! Avenger! Captain Marvel, Earth's Mightiest Hero with an attitude to match, is back and launching headfirst into an all-new ongoing adventure! As Captain Marvel, a.k.a. Carol Danvers, comes to a crossroads with a new life and new romance, she makes a dramatic decision that will alter the course of her life - and the entire Marvel Universe - in the months to come. But as Carol takes on a mission to return an alien girl to her homeworld, she lands in the middle of an uprising against the Galactic Alliance! Investigating the forced resettlement of Rocket Girl's people, Carol discovers that she has a history with the man behind the plot. But when the bad guy tries to blackmail Carol and turn the Avengers against her, it's payback time! Guest-starring the Guardians of the Galaxy!

silk, vol. 1 (2015) Cindy Moon exploded out of her bunker and into the Marvel Universe when we first learned that she had been bitten by the same radioactive spider from the first arc of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. She then went on to save Peter Parker's life (more than once!) and traverse the Spider-Verse alongside Spider-Woman. Now, as SILK, Cindy is on her own in New York City, searching for her past, defining her own future, and webbing up wrong-doers along the way! Robbie Thompson (writer from TV's SUPERNATURAL) fills this new story with his unique blend of antics and feels. Featuring interiors by future superstar Stacey Lee. 

I’ve been behind in 616 for a few years now, so there’s probably a lot of good runs i’ve left out... but these are just all ones that i’ve personally read and have enjoyed os hopefully there’s a few in here that catch your interest and you also enjoy (616 is currently a mess though with the hydracap fiasco and tonys in a godddamn coma, rhodeys dead and im still salty about everything so dont go there with me #intro post to being a comics fan) also i highly recommend checking out marvel masterworks trades as they’re great to own and such a blast back to the past

DC

batman: year one (1987) A young Bruce Wayne has spent his adolescence and early adulthood, traveling the world so he could hone his body and mind into the perfect fighting and investigative machine. But now as he returns to Gotham City, he must find a way to focus his passion and bring justice to his city. Retracing Batman's first attempts to fight injustice as a costumed vigilante, we watch as he chooses a guise of a giant bat, creates an early bond with a young Lieutenant James Gordon, inadvertently plays a role in the birth of Catwoman, and helps to bring down a corrupt political system that infests Gotham.

batman: a death in the family (1988) fuck dont do this to yourself man. this is the storyline that brutally killed off jason todd in ‘88 because there weren’t enough votes to save him (i will hunt them all down one day i swear on jays name) as painful as it is, i think its worth checking out as you get an insight into jason as a robin and how his death came to be (cry he was too trusting and cared too much and his mother didnt deserve him)

Batman readers were allowed to vote on the outcome of the story and they decided that Robin should die! As the second person to assume the role of Batman's sidekick, Jason Todd had a completely different personality than the original Robin. Rash and prone to ignore Batman's instructions, Jason was always quick to act without regard to consequences. In this fatal instance, Robin ignores his mentor's warnings when he attempts to take on the Joker by himself and pays the ultimate price. Driven by anger with Superman by his side, Batman seeks his vengeance as he looks to end the Joker's threat forever.

batman: knightfall, vol. 1 (1993)  Villainous Bane breaks the Bat. He releases the inmates of Arkham Asylum to create chaos. Batman must push himself to physical and mental limits and capture Joker, Poison Ivy, Riddler, Killer Croc and more. But is Bruce Wayne still beneath the mask? Original Part One: Broken Bat + Two: Who Rules the Night.

nightwing, vol. 1 (1995)  Dick briefly considers retiring from being Nightwing forever before family papers uncovered by Alfred reveal a possible link between the murder of the Flying Graysons and the Crown Prince of Kravia.

nightwing, vol. 2 (1996) The solo book sees the former Robin trying to be his own man, but often leads him back to his roots with Batman. Having left Bludhaven, Nightwing is now re-inventing himself and rediscovering his passion for crimefighting.

nightwing: alfred’s return (1995) After leaving Gotham City at the end of "KnightsQuest," Alfred travels to London. But when a young man who may be his son comes under fire, Alfred calls on Nightwing to mount a rescue mission.

batman: the long halloween (1996) this was such a cool, dark story and was a major influence in nolans film regarding the friendship between dent, jim gordon and bruce as batman. 

Taking place during Batman's early days of crime fighting, this new edition of the classic mystery tells the story of a mysterious killer who murders his prey only on holidays. Working with District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant James Gordon, Batman races against the calendar as he tries to discover who Holiday is before he claims his next victim each month. A mystery that has the reader continually guessing the identity of the killer, this story also ties into the events that transform Harvey Dent into Batman's deadly enemy, Two-Face.

batman: dark victory (1999) The sequel to the critically acclaimed BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN, DARK VICTORY continues the story of an early time in Batman's life when James Gordon, Harvey Dent, and the vigilante himself were all just beginning their roles as Gotham's protectors.Once a town controlled by organized crime, Gotham City suddenly finds itself being run by lawless freaks, such as Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, and the Joker. Witnessing his city's dark evolution, the Dark Knight completes his transformation into the city's greatest defender. He faces multiple threats, including the apparent return of a serial killer called Holiday. Batman's previous investigation of Holiday's killings revealed that more than one person was responsible for the murders. So the question remains: who is committing Holiday's crimes this time? And how many will die before Batman learns the truth?

robin: year one (2000) Already entrenched in the Batcave and his official training complete, young Dick Grayson has a world of experience to gain, and a ton of new enemies to make, beginning with the truly insane Mad Hatter! Ultimately, over the course of YEAR ONE, Robin crosses paths with many crazed villains in Batman's Rogues Gallery and makes a new deadly enemy for himself, one whose impact will be felt in the present-day pages of NIGHTWING! ROBIN: YEAR ONE explores many facets of Dick's early days as Robin, including his struggle to live a "normal" childhood while continuing to serve not only as the Boy Wonder, but also as the ward of one of the world's most visible, richest and eligible businessmen, Bruce Wayne. Not unlike BATMAN: YEAR ONE, which became an enduring classic because of its account of a hero in the making, ROBIN: YEAR ONE will reveal how Dick became the hero he is today.

harley quinn, vol. 1 (2000) remember that time i was reading a harley quinn comic and dick grayson stopped by and i fell in love and got more into dc and batfam? GOOD TIMES uwu ah, memories. harley has pet hyenes need you know more? 

HARLEY QUINN is not the story of an honorable woman and her quest for justice. Instead, it’s a love story gone horribly, horribly, horribly wrong, especially in the first extra-length issue, as the Joker's girlfriend must do without Mister J's "calming" influence. And considering just how many sandwiches short of a picnic Harley is, you know this book's going to be wild! Harley is driven to astounding lengths to free her loony lover. And that's just in the first seven pages. What follows is too strange for words, though it does involve one itsy-bitsy cameo by Batman. Just one! Once you see life through the eyes of Harley Quinn, you'll find she makes a lot more sense. Would you believe a little more sense? {sidenote: remember when batman animated writers originally only created harley quinn as a character for the joker to beat on and treat like shit? but then dc fixed themselves by making her more then that and developing her properly and fleshing her out in her on solo fun? good times yes}

batman: gotham knights, issue #17 (2001) bruce officially adopts dick  "Matatoa" part 2! Batman battles for his life with the eternal shaman whose destiny includes killing the Dark Knight and taking on his nocturnal crime-fighting duties! It would secure Batman a safe, crime-free Gotham City for all eternity--but at what cost does it all truly come?

batman: hush (2002)  BATMAN: HUSH is a thrilling mystery of action, intrigue, and deception penned by Jeph Loeb (BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN) and illustrated by comics superstar Jim Lee (ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER) in which Batman sets out to discover the identity of a mysterious mastermind using the Joker, Riddler, Ra's al Ghul and the Dark Knight's other enemies - and allies - as pawns in a plan to wreak havoc.

green lantern, vol. 4 (2005) that time i read all 67 issues of gl within a few days because i fell hard for the short tempered piece of shit hal jordan

Hal Jordan has returned to the role of Green Lantern and taken up residence in rebuilt Coast City. This series examines Hal's re-acclimation to normal living as he attempts to protect the world from danger and enjoy being human once again.

batman r.i.p. (2008) Tying into his other blockbuster stories of 2008 Final Crisis and Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul, the legendary Grant Morrison confronts readers with the unthinkable...the death of The Dark Knight. The troubled life of Bruce Wayne seems to spin out of control when his relationship with the mysterious Jezebel Jet deepens. Soon Bruce Wayne drops out completely, having seemingly become the victim of mental illness and abandoning his Batman identity for a life on the streets of Gotham City. Capitalizing on the fall of their greatest foe, the Club of Villains begin a crime spree through the streets of Gotham that threatens to bring the city to its knees.

batman and robin (2009) we were the best, richard’’ RIP me. after bruces ‘death’, following the events of battle for the cowl (if you’re a jason todd fan for the love of god pretend its a different jason). dick reluctantly picks up the batman mantle... which also means he picks up batbrat damian wayne alongside him as the latest robin. this run is hands down one of my favourite dc runs and i highly recommend it for various reasons (once again though, jasons written terribly and i hate how dc continuously puts my beautiful boy through so much shit even after they goddamn beat him to death with a crowbar they still manage to treat him more poorly)

The new Dynamic Duo hit the streets with a bang in their new flying Batmobile as they face off against an assemblage of villains called the Circus of Strange. They also tackle their first mission investigating a child who's been abducted by the mysterious Domino Killer. But will everything go smoothly? And who exactly are the new Batman and Robin? The newest era of The Dark Knight begins here!

red robin (2009) these are probably my pride and joy of trades that i own (along with all my old school nightwing trades) and took me forever to get, but so worth the running around. tim drakes first (and so far only run you facists dc) solo series 

Following the aftermath of BATTLE FOR THE COWL, a new Batman watches over Gotham City. But not everyone is ready to give up on the old one. Someone believes that Bruce Wayne may still be alive...and that someone is Red Robin. But who is wearing the Red Robin costume, and why is he traveling the globe looking for a dead man? Whoever he is, he's not alone in his search and has been targeted by the League of Assassins. What does Ra's al Ghul want with Red Robin? Why are members of the League of Assassins being targeted for death? And what happened to the life Red Robin left behind?

gotham city sirens (2009) such an underrated run and such a good 

This all-new series features the bad girls of Gotham City! Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn are tired of playing by other people's rules regardless of which side of the law they're on. These tough ladies have a new agenda that's all their own, and they'll use any means necessary to pursue it. But can they get along and work as a team? And who will get hurt along the way? DETECTIVE COMICS and STREETS OF GOTHAM writer Paul Dini kicks off this brand-new ongoing series with amazing artwork by Guillem March

batman: under the red hood (2011) jason todd jason todd jason todd one of the few good (any) jason todd based story-lines that treat him well and give you a solid read story wise (i also highly recommend checking out the 2010 film, jensen ackles voices jay and does an amazing job) 

Batman is confronted with a hidden face from the past — it’s the return of the vigilante Red Hood who appears to be Batman’s one-time partner Jason Todd, the same Jason Todd that died many years ago. But the Red Hood’s violent ways pit him against the Dark Knight in his hunt for the very person responsible for his death: The Joker.

red hood: lost days (2010) ignore what they did to him with talia it was hella yikes i pretend it doesnt exist cause its goddamn gross and not at all ok otherwise highly recommend if you want more quality jason todd

After his death at the hands of The Joker, Jason Todd was resurrected by Batman’s foe Ra’s al Ghul as a weapon against The Dark Knight. Now, learn what secret events led Jason on his eventual path of death and destruction as he tours the DC Universe learning dangerous skills in an effort to find his way in a world that left him behind. 

batwoman: elegy A new era begins as Batwoman is unleashed on Gotham City! Marked by the blood-red bat emblem, Kate Kane is a soldier fighting her own private war - one that began years ago and haunts her every waking moment. In this first tale, Batwoman battles a madwoman known only as Alice, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, who sees her life as a fairy tale and everyone around her as expendable extras! Batwoman must stop Alice from unleashing a toxic death cloud over all of Gotham City -- but Alice has more up her sleeve than just poison, and Batwoman's life will never ever be the same again. Also, witness the origin of Batwoman in the shocking and tragic story "Go," in which young Kate Kane and her family are kidnapped by terrorists, and Kate's life - and the lives of her family - will never be the same! (did i mostly put this here so hira doesnt kick my ass? yes. is it also worth checking out though? also yes)

blackest night (2009) i reread this again after i binged some green lantern and lololol it made x100 more sense. however, its not required, and is a pretty cool story even if you aren’t familiar with how gl verse works. 

Throughout the decades, death has plagued the DC Universe and taken the lives of heroes and villains alike. But to what end? As the War between the different colored Lantern Corps rages on, the prophecy of the Blackest Night descends and it's up to Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps to lead DC's greatest champions in a battle to save the Universe from an army of undead Black Lanterns made up of fallen Green Lanterns and DC's deceased heroes and villains.  also the batman tie ins were great too

batman: the black mirror (2011) one of my favourite dick!batman stories as its also incredibly dark and gritty

In "The Black Mirror," a series of brutal murders pushes Batman's detective skills to the limit and forces him to confront one of Gotham City's oldest evils. Helpless and trapped in the deadly Mirror House, Batman must fight for his life against one of Gotham City's oldest and most powerful evils! Then, in a second story called "Hungry City," the corpse of a killer whale shows up on the floor of one of Gotham City's foremost banks. The event begins a strange and deadly mystery that will bring Batman face-to-face with the new, terrifying faces of organized crime in Gotham.

batman: gates of gotham (2011) more quality dick!batman plus quality batfam and a classic original enthralling story

When a mystery as old as Gotham City itself surfaces, Batman assembles a team of his greatest detectives – including Red Robin, Owlman, I-Ching and others – to investigate this startling new enigma. As clues are discovered and the mystery deepens, Batman’s team soon finds itself on a journey that explores different eras in Gotham’s history and touches upon notable Gotham families including the Waynes, Kanes, and Elliotts.

batman, vol. 2 (2011) this was part of dcs new52 relaunch & my intro to dc and batman. the court of owls was an amazing story-line and executed so well as problematic as a lot of runs in new52 were and things in this run too, overall i recommend it for anyone wanting to get to know bruce and the batfam better

After a series of brutal murders rocks Gotham City, Batman begins to realize that perhaps these crimes go far deeper than appearances suggest. As the Caped Crusader begins to unravel this deadly mystery, he discovers a conspiracy going back to his youth and beyond to the origins of the city he's sworn to protect. Could the Court of Owls, once thought to be nothing more than an urban legend, be behind the crime and corruption? Or is Bruce Wayne losing his grip on sanity and falling prey to the pressures of his war on crime?

green lantern, vol. 5 (2011) In the aftermath of a deadly showdown between the Green Lantern Corps and a mysterious foe from the past, Hal Jordan has been stripped of his ring. Left standing is an unexpected new Green Lantern in town: Sinestro! And now, this renegade GL has set a course for Korugar with one purpose: To free his homeworld from the scourge of his own Sinestro Corps, with the not-so-willing help of Hal Jordan!

rebirth (2016) brings us to the latest relaunch ‘rebirth’ of which i am extremely behind whoops but i can tell you right now that basically every title in this relaunch is worth checking out (i only read a few issues of nightwing, green arrow and batman but they’re all worth checking out my guy)

if you’re interested in any of the arrowfam comics go directly too @blackcanarydinah she will school you on things i one day hope to know

for buying comic trades i’d recommend using bookdepository as they do worldwide free shipping, for single issues i usually use tfaw or ebay. if you need more resources i have a shit ton of comic shit bookmarked, just hmu if needed for whatever 🤗💕

#dc #marvel #em recs #comics #comic recs #stow it em #i've probably left out a lot of great runs or issues but as anyone who's ever read comics you can spend your whole life reading them #and then still only know about 30% of the world and other characters and whatnot #this is just from my personal readings ive read over the years since i got dragged into this shit cause of an egotistical genius and #a artistic tactician from the 40's who have been ruining me since 2012 #text post #i spent way more time on this then i should have but idc cause if anything this just made me realize how much i miss reading comics wowowow #and hal jordan omfg i miss hal jordan ok #IS BARRY MAKING SURE HE EATS SALAD AND DOESNT BLOW HIMSELF UP TRYING TO MAKE TOAST #references #resources

[patheticphallacy]

IT’S MAY Y’ALL. Even though I’ll still be doing blog posts in May, it’s not going to be as hectic, as I finally finished my second year of university and have decided to take it easy after a very packed April.

I’m also doing things a little different with my wrap up this month by getting rid of star ratings. I watched a video on it, and I just feel like I’d rather people go by my actual comments on the books than look at the rating and decide that covers all my thoughts. I still have star ratings on Goodreads for my own personal use, but I’m doing my best to start writing proper summaries of my thoughts from now on!

READING WRAP UP

  Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan– a solid follow up to the first book, although there’s a startling lack of dragons in a series about a dragon naturalist! Definitely go into this one expecting a lot more politics than book 1, and Isabella starting a lot of Drama.

The Elementals by Michael McDowell– such an amazing horror novel! McDowell is so underrated for a writer who wrote predominantly in the seventies and eighties, and it’s so tragic how young he died. 

Princess Jellyfish Volume 1 by Akiko Higashimura– such a disappointing read. It’s really problematic, to the point where it drastically impacted my enjoyment of the plot, especially when I’ve got so many other more recent manga I could be enjoying more than this. 

Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 8 by Hiromu Arakawa– speaking of next tier manga… holy shit. I am so scared of volume 9 and finishing this series, it’s meant so much to me and it’s really helped me immerse myself fully in reading manga. 

Lumberjanes Volume 9 by Shannon Watters– Barney is a precious precious bean and I love them! This is a roller derby volume, and it was pretty great: I’ve been a fan of roller derby since I first watched Whip It, and this volume was super entertaining!

Lumberjanes Volume 10 by Shannon Watters– wholesome volume where the parents come to visit their kids. I do feel really sad for Molly, but it was nice seeing everyone else’s parents! 

Lumberjanes: A Midsummer Night’s Scheme by Nicole Andelfinger– this was a fun bonus one shot comic. However, it does get very cheesy and it’s whole message is just so obvious  that them explaining it was very much unneeded. 

Smut Peddler Volume 1 by Various Authors– this is a fun anthology of smut comics that I super enjoyed reading. E.K. Weaver’s comic is by far my favourite, and it’s only after I realised that it was a one shot about a character in her webcomic! 

Rumple Buttercup BY Matthew Gray Gubler– a very cute children’s graphic novel about loving yourself and finding acceptance! 

Smut Peddler Volume 2 by Various Authors– this wasn’t as good as volume 1, but I still read it really quickly and had a fun time looking at the different art styles and methods of story telling!

Dream Daddy by Various Authors– there are so many good moments in this comic, it’s so great. Highly recommend if you’ve played the game, and if you haven’t, check it out, it’s real fun! Damien and Robert’s issue was by far my favourite as they were my favourites in the game too.

Tokyo Ghoul Volume 5 by Sui Ishida– finally, I’m starting to enjoy Tokyo Ghoul. It took a while this volume to actually understand what the hell was happening, but once I did, it really did become something I enjoyed.

Rick and Morty VS Dungeons and Dragons by Patrick Rothfuss– A decent enough read, although there is way too much dialogue and exposition on every page. The font is really small, too, so reading it was a hassle. 

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero– this book was actually terrible and I have a whole review discussing my issues and how harmful it is!

Jackass! Volume 1 by Scarlet Beriko– This is a funny, sweet manga about fetishes and blackmail. It has an age gap romance between an 18 year old and a doctor, and there is some transphobic bullying/weird treatment of bullying being okay if the person has a crush on you, but the main relationship is great, and the MC has a really lovely relationship with his older sister. 

Batwoman: Elegy by Greg Rucka– Chronicles the Alice Batwoman arc from Detective Comics, as well as giving the backstory for Kate. It’s so great having a badass DC hero who is a lesbian, whose storyline also touches on homophobia in the ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ era of the military. Glad I finally got to this!

Sparrowhawk #5 by Delilah S Dawson– a really disappointing series conclusion overall. I knew I should’ve just stopped reading after the first issue and I wasn’t feeling it, and I honestly wish I had after such a dissatisfying conclusion. Others may enjoy this, but it really wasn’t for me.

Assassination Classroom Volume 1 by Yusei Matsui— an amazing series starter! Already really moving with a teacher who spends all his time encouraging his students despite being a threat to the entire world they have to kill within the year. I have a feeling this will become a new favourite.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara– really great non-fiction read written by a journalist who played a massive part in the resurgence of talk surrounding the Golden State Killer. You also get some of her life story, and by the end I was almost in disbelief that the author had already died by the time her work was published. I will say it did drag at points, especially in the parts not written by McNamara that had to be finished after she died, but overall a really thorough look into the cases and the victims.

The Woods Volume 5 by James Tynion IV– this series is- dare I say it- picking up? I still have issues with the representation and the fact that most of the main characters to have died, especially in this volume, were POC while the white characters are in the exact same situation and survive. Will have to see if this carries on. 

Backwards & In Heels by Alicia Malone– this started off strong, and I found out so much about women in film and their presence in the industry since the creation of film in the 1800’s. However, by the end it got so repetitive and formulaic in the way information was presented that I started skimming. This is more of a coffee-table, occasional-read book when you fancy learning more about amazing women! Also, even though there is diverse rep and talk of lack of hiring of WOC and LGBT+ women in the industry, we also get the author praising white women earlier on in the book who took on roles where they did blackface and yellowface, which really dulled down the conversation in the latter half of the book. 

My Love Story!! Volume 6 by Kazune Kawahara– so GOOD. I got so emotional reading this volume, I ended up crying. This is by far one of my favourite manga series, I can’t recommend it enough. It follows tough-but-soft boy Takeo as he enters into a relationship with Yamato, cutest girl in the universe, with the support of his best friend Suna. Truly the PEAK of romantic comedy fiction. 

When the Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry– emotional, hardhitting read about a group of friends who end up with superpowers after discovering a strange alien object. It’s very reminiscent of the film Super 8 in my head, and if you love stories about not only aliens but found families through friendship, highly recommend!

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle– I just don’t think Sherlock Holmes is for me. I love the retellings and adaptations, and in theory, I’m invested in the murder mysteries, but I just think Doyle’s prose weighs it down and there’s always that underlying racism I don’t think is appropriate to even attempt to shake. 

And my May TBR Jar pick is…. MY HEART GOES BANG by Keris Stainton!

TV SHOWS/MOVIES/VIDEOS

At the start of the month, I started bingeing Dead Meat videos, a channel entirely revolving around horror. My personal favourite series is the Saw kill count videos, and the movies that changed horror podcast episode James (the host) does with his girlfriend Chelsea (who is amazing)!

I finally watched season 2 of Stranger Things! I adore Steve, as always, and it was such a solid season (BOB). However I did have an issue with the needless rivalry that festered with Elle towards Max, season 3 better sort that and stop pitting girls against each other for no reason other than because of boys.

Zoe from Read by Zoe was on FIRE this month with some really great read-a-thon videos! I loved her 24 read-a-thon vlog especially, she read only books she enjoyed growing up and it all felt really nostalgic.

This is very much a personal one, but my favourite streamer returned to a podcast with the company he used to work for, and it was just…. so heartwarming to watch. I can’t believe he left four years ago! I’ve been watching this company since I was about fourteen, so it was so nice watching this, a long-awaited reunion.

Kat at paperbackdreams did an amaaaaazing video rant reviewing After by Anna Todd, and I loved it. In general Kat is a top tier booktuber for me, I highly recommend her videos as much as I can!

MUSIC I’VE ENJOYED

Pressure by The 1975

Old Town Road Remix by Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus

The Black and White and I Spend Too Much Time in My Room by The Band CAMINO

I Got 5 On It  (Tethered Mix From US) by Michael Abels, Luniz, Michael Marshall

Soldiers (From Stranger Things) by Kyle Dixon, Michael Stein

REVIEWS I POSTED

Three Romance Reviews: Kulti, The Hating Game and Sunstone

The Elementals Book Review

Meddling Kids Book Review

OTHER POSTS I’VE DONE 

Spring Cleaning Book Tag

Film Friday: Favourite Campus Films

Getting Through Exam and Essays: ADVICE

DISCUSSION: Reading at University, and how I do it!

Music Monday: OMG This Song Book Tag

Top Ten Tuesday: Rainy Day Reads

Top Ten Tuesday: First Ten Books I Ever Reviewed on Goodreads

  April Wrap Up & May TBR Jar Pick IT'S MAY Y'ALL. Even though I'll still be doing blog posts in May, it's not going to be as hectic, as I finally finished my second year of university and have decided to take it easy after a very packed April.

#blog #book review #movies #music #reading #reading wrap up #tv shows #videos #wrap up