#ronin: book two

[omercifulheaves]

Frank Miller's variant covers for Ronin Book Two.

And here's a great little write up by Tegan O'Neil at The Comics Journal about the original and it's sequel.

#comics #frank miller presents #frank miller #ronin #ronin book two #tegan o'neil #the comics journal

[fantomcomics]

What’s Out This Week? 11/23

The past few years have been hard on everyone, so if we’re thankful for anything, it’s YOU, Fantomites! 

Ancient Enemies #1 (of 6) - Dan DiDio & Danilo Beyruth

Earth becomes the final battlefield for a centuries old war between two alien races.  But this final conflict becomes the unintentional breeding ground for a new generation of super powers, each with the ability to influence the outcome of the war.  Some super powers choose sides, while others struggle to maintain their independence with the hope of saving the Earth.  This series explodes with new characters and creations, written by former DC Publisher Dan DiDio, with design and art by the industry's newest rising star, Danio Beyruth.  As first issues, go, this one is not to be missed!

Fear Of A Red Planet #1 - Mark Sable, Andrea Olimpieri & Paul Azaceta

Mars.  Fifty years from now, humanity's first Martian colony is no longer self-sustaining. Under the thumb of its corporate mining overlords, the surviving colonists slave away just to pay for resupply rockets from Earth, will little or no hope of returning home.

One woman has kept a fragile peace: the U.N.'s first and only interplanetary marshal.  A lawwoman escaping a violent past on Earth, she prides herself on never having fired a shot on Mars. But when she's tasked with solving the murder of the colony's most hated man, her investigation threatens to tear the red planet apart.    

Frank Miller’s Ronin: Book II #1 (of 6) -  Frank Miller

Frank Miller returns to one of his most critically praised and influential body of works, RONIN.  Theis six-part mini-series follows the original work and takes Casey and her new born son across the ravaged landscape of America.  With layouts by Miller, the beautiful panoramic art by Philip Tan and Daniel Henriques captures all the energy and excitement of the original series, taking the characters and world into a direction all its own.  Not to be missed!

Kemono Jihen GN Vol 1 -  Sho Aimoto

Inugami is a Tokyo detective who specializes in the occult. One day, answering a call to a remote village leads him to Dorotabo: a peculiar boy nicknamed after a yokai that haunts muddy rice paddies. The boy has no parents and is somewhat unnerving, emitting a foul odor that draws the ire of those around him. Inugami, however, quickly realizes that there's something more monstrous about Dorotabo than just his nickname, a fact proven when the two of them investigate an inhuman creature attacking local livestock. Perhaps Inugami can take this mistreated boy under his wing and train him to face the secret, supernatural beasts hidden in the world... using the eerie powers of his own body.

Men I Trust HC - Tommi Parrish

Tommi Parrish's sophomore graphic novel establishes them as one of the most exciting voices in contemporary literature. Eliza is a thirtysomething struggling single mother and poet. Sasha, a twentysomething yearning for direction in life, just moved back in with her parents and dabbles as a sex worker. The two strike up an unlikely friendship that, as it veers toward something more, becomes a deeply resonant exploration of how far people are willing to go to find intimacy in a society that is increasingly closed off. In Sasha and Eliza, Parrish has created two of the most fully realized characters in recent contemporary fiction. Parrish's gorgeously painted pages showcase a graceful understanding of body language and ear for dialogue, brilliantly using the medium of comics to depict the dissonance between the characters' interior and exterior experiences. Men I Trust is about not-always-healthy people attempting to make healthy connections in a disconnected world, and is one of the most moving and insightful works of literary fiction in any medium this year.

Once Upon A Time At The End Of The World #1 -  Jason Aaron, Alexandre Tefenkgi & Mike Del Mundo

In this epic post-apocalyptic tale, Maceo and Mezzy have never met anyone like each other, and they'll need all the help they can get to survive a planet ravaged by environmental catastrophe. This epic trilogy-each issue overflowing with 30 story pages-spans a lifetime as philosophical differences tear at the threads holding Maceo and Mezzy together. Will they, and the earth beneath their feet, ultimately be torn apart? New York Times bestselling, Eisner and Harvey Award-winning, and Marvel flagship writer Jason Aaron (Thor, The Avengers, Southern Bastards) launches his most ambitious creator-owned series to date with the first of three unique artistic partners - Eisner-winning artist Alexandre Tefenkgi (The Good Asian) - to take on a vision of the end of the world that's brutal and nostalgic, whimsical and grounded... and ultimately, timeless.

Sirius GN -  Ana C. Sanchez

Dani's bright future as an elite tennis player comes to a sudden stop when, during a match, she has a heart attack. Her newly discovered condition affects not only her health, but also her relationship with her mother, as well as her career. Wanting to get away from everything, she leaves behind the big city ?- and all her problems ?-  and goes with her cousin to a little coastal village. There she meets Blanca, a girl full of life and in love with astronomy. Blanca reminds Dani that life can be beautiful, and that she can shine again like stars do.

Steam Reverie In Amber - Kuroimori

A full-color steampunk artbook & manga collection hardcover-includes all 22 Major Arcana as removable tarot cards! In a world wedged somewhere between past and future, an airship drifts gently among pillow-soft clouds. This is the Tomeship-purveyor of used books and fresh coffee across the skies. It can only be seen by those who bear the Gearform Scar on their hearts. Are you one such soul? Don't miss this beautiful release from an award-winning Japanese artist who contributed to Final Fantasy art.

Wild! Or So I Was Born To Be GN Vol 1 -  Cristian Castelo

At Westhoff High, pain is part of the curriculum... But so is math, science, and chemistry. However, Wild Rodriguez and her pint-size companions have always had one goal and one goal only as they enter freshman year: to join the the Rocket Rollers and test their mettle in the infamously violent roller derby league. Now, summer draws to an end and tryouts are here! Do they have what it takes to climb the ranks of the derby world, or will their dream just as quickly turn into a nightmare? Wild discovers that sometimes dreams involve a lot of getting kicked in the face, as well as maybe accidentally getting involved in a blood feud or two. Half roller derby, half professional wrestling, the league is filled with cussin', spittin' roughnecks like the Cult Catastrophe, earnest athletes the 8-Ball Bruisers, sick freaks Puppy & the Pound, and the elegant-but-deadly Matadors. Becoming a true legend of the derby track like her hero (and occasional helpful psychic avatar) Rosie Rozene involves a lot of physical and emotional fortitude, luckily Wild and all her friends-imaginary or otherwise-have each other's backs no matter what! 

You Like Me, Not My Daughter? GN Vol 1 - Kouta Nozomi, Tesshin Azuma & Giuniu

A beautiful mother, a pining tutor, and romantic hijinks await in this hot mom romcom! When Ayako's sister died, leaving her young daughter all alone, Ayako stepped up and took the child into her life. Now that her niece/adopted daughter is a teenager, a 30-something Ayako can sense first love in the air. Ayako teases her daughter about Takumi, their handsome and college-aged neighbor, who's been tutoring her since she was young-could they be a blossoming couple, since he's always beaming when he comes to their house? To Ayako's surprise, Takumi isn't interested in daughter dearest: he's long had a crush on Ayako herself! In this age gap romantic comedy, one young man is ready to bring a little sugar to the sexy mom next door.

Whatcha scooping up this week, Fantomites?

#WOTW #What's Out This Week? #comic #comics #comic book #comic books #manga #You Like Me Not My Daughter? #Wild! Or So I Was Born To Be #Steam Reverie In Amber #Sirius #Once Upon A Time At The End Of The World #Men I Trust #Kemono Jihen #Frank Miller's Ronin Book Two #Fear Of A Red Planet #Ancient Enemies

[graphicpolicy]

Around the Tubes

Some comic news and reviews from around the web to start your day! #comics #comicbooks

The weekend is almost here! What geeky things are you all doing? Sound off in the comments below. While you wait for the weekday to end and weekend to begin, here’s some comic news and reviews from around the web. Kotaku – AI Comic Art Gets Copyright Revoked After Office Learns How AI Works – Good! Comicbook – Crunchyroll Announces Layoffs Following Funimation Merger – As goes mergers. The…

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#best of 2000 ad #comic books #Comics #copyright #crunchyroll #dc comics #funimation #jock #ronin #superman #superman: space age #the witcher: the ballad of two wolves

[cyberlights]

Amulet Rant Time

Okie dokie Waverider is out and thus has concluded the series…so it’s time for a little…bonfire, we’ll call it.

Now don’t get me wrong. I still love this series and always will. I’ve been in the fandom since about Prince of the Elves. I literally have grown up with this series in my backpack from the moment I checked it out of my school’s library. I spent my first summer job paycheck buying all the books out at the time. This series holds a very special place for me.

I also understand that after Book 5(? I’m typing this out on mobile so I can’t verify), Kazu got very sick and lost a lot of his memories, which affected how he wrote Amulet and thus the rest of the story, so I’m not going to say he was a trash author.

There are just certain things that just…have not worked out post Escape from Lucien. And honestly, this is going to be more of a venting ramble than anything, so for the new readers coming in, take it with a grain of salt. You can still enjoy the series, fall in love with the characters, etc. That’s why we enjoy it.

Now I’m gonna do everything else under read-more so spoilers ahead.

.

.

.

We good? Okay, good.

I already stated that I give Waverider a 1/10. It actually is not my least favorite book, to be honest. (That “honor” goes to Supernova)

Trellis leaving the throne?

As others have pointed out, after Escape from Lucien it made no sense for him to just up and skedaddle. That boy was adamant he was going to lead his people. That’s what his whole plot was in the book, and him accepting more of that role in Firebird/the beginning of Supernova. Heck, they even pointed out that Gabilan, even though… voted in(?) as the new king was not doing a good job of it. Gabilan himself fully expected Trellis to take back the throne (albeit by force which is not really Trellis’ style). It felt very much like unnecessary step back from three books worth of development.

I can’t say much about Gabilan because while he did establish in The Cloud Searchers he wanted to be king, it didn’t feel right. Like there was nothing driven past that, that would say he wanted to be king. Honestly besides a tiny bit in Firebird he didn’t get as much character development as he should have, if at all. Which is why, if he was planned to take over from a while ago, probably should have had happened sooner.

Ronin and her Students

Speaking of introducing sooner, this is where I feel having a whole ‘nother two books would have helped the story, because this was just…so terribly executed.

I can’t tell you a single thing about her students except one turned into a turtle and another Cthulhu. I can’t even tell you anything about Ronin beyond her “I was right” mentality (and the mask, not sure why she was wearing a mask).

They all felt very shoe-horned in. I have no attachment to these characters, no real interest in seeing them succeed. They were brought in to fill a plot hole, while simultaneously making another plot hole in their wake.

Overall Problems with the Series

Genre Confusion

I think we’ve already established that Amulet would have been better off as a fantasy series than sci-fi. That is honestly my biggest problem with Supernova, was that was a giant Sci fi wedge in what was predominantly a fantasy series (I know we started more in Escape from Lucien and Firebird, but this is where I feel we veered too off course)

We honestly could have completely cut the sci-fi bit, changed a few things around between Escape from Lucien and Firebird, cut out most of Supernova -which yes, would have wrecked Navin’s sideplot, but there was different options that could have happened.

We don’t need the additional aliens/planets. Those characters could have easily just been Alledian on different parts of Alledia and we would have never known. We don’t even know what most of Alledia looks like because we’ve only been to a handful of places that predominantly look the same.

Which brings me to

Ikol and his Masters

I was so confused by the end of their story. They’re aliens but not. They were created by Silas but they have been around for eons. Everything was Made by Silas to Protect his Family. I just…*sigh*

It felt like they were beating the already dead piñata (pun partially intended).

Silas died in the first book. The consequences of his actions were established to be that he got a bunch of students killed and he ended up passing a huge burden onto Emily that should have gone to her mother. I don’t know why he had to be brought out as this.

Ikol could have very much remained a Chaotic Entity that thrived on the turmoil, his “masters” being a lie to convince Emily that he too was not in total control of the situation so he could slip her more into his control. We already know he likes collecting powerful stonekeepers who are vulnerable enough to fall sway to his side.

Heck, he comes back every 500 years to wage war with the elves and probably (should he have remained the entity) thought of it as one big game.

Having him turn into a somewhat malevolent AI that was just following orders to a T just…does not make sense to me. Especially if he was causing havoc with the elves for so long as implied.

Time-Travel

Okay honestly this is my biggest gripe with the later books.

We established, Books 4 and 5, time-travel was not possible.

All it does is send them back to interact with their memories. They don’t actually change anything about their lives outside the Void.

So having Future Emily and her son come back and save Present Emily throws all of the continuity out the window. And Future Emily’s little interaction with Ikol where it’s implied that they’ve done this over and over? Felt so weird after they actually dealt with Ikol. It felt like a useless little tag on that we ended up not actually needing. (Again, Supernova is my least favorite book for a lot of reasons)

Stonekeepers Good but Bad

*sighs again* Yes. This part would feed into the Problem of Too Many Characters Amulet has going on. But. We were not shown examples beyond our current group (Meaning Emily Trellis and somewhat Vigo) of good stonekeepers.

The Guardian Council that ruled over most of Alledia for centuries? Corrupt.

Silas? Self serving. (Despite being called hero numerous times, we were not actually shown anything he did besides stopping the rampaging stonekeepers back in The Stonekeepers Curse, and even then we weren’t actually shown, just told he did it.)

The Elfking(s)? Corrupted by their stones.

Most of Alledia in the early books respect Stonekeepers enough to kinda hold them in reverence. But we’re not shown anyone (beyond a couple panels of someone building stuff) notable enough to say Yes. Stonekeepers good. Anyone else who is mentioned is “Yeah, they were good, but they listened to their stone and turned into a rampaging monster” (Honestly Gabilan has more of a point here)

I get that’s why Ronin and hers were introduced, but they were introduced way too late into the series for it to feel that there could be some sort of balance.

Emily is one big outlier too here. She’s good but because she feels she has to be and has been told she has to be. Firebird honestly put a nice spin in this because we do see her fall. But Supernova kinda nixed that development sooooo.

*cough*ThisiswhatOCsarefor*cough*

Conclusion

Now those are the biggest ones that have bugged me for a while in addition to the new stuff from the new book. @motherstone has already touched upon multiple times some of the other issues that I tend agree with (go check them out, their art is amazing and I love their ideas. Also looking forward to their rewrite!)

Is there some technical issues with the books as well that bug me? Yes. (The later books are very over saturated in comparison to the older ones and it kinda shows, and I believe that Motherstone already touched upon the “smoothification” that started taking place about book 4/5, and there were quiet a few panels that felt very unfinished in the later two books)

Am I sad to see the series end? Yes. But Kazu at least finished as best he could to the end instead of half assing it or completely dropping the series altogether, and I can respect that.

Do I already have my own post-book 6 AU that I’m willing to ramble about at the drop of a hat? Also Yes. (May also heavily be influenced by some OCs)

Overall, I enjoyed Amulet enough to see it through the end. Books 3-5 will remain my favorites. I still will cherish the characters that we got. Amulet is probably the first thing that actually got me into interacting with Fanart and Fandom, so I’d say it’s a pretty big part of what developed me. And for the newbies. Hi! I see you! I look forward to seeing what you do with the series!

See y’all around!

(And btw, if you drop something in my ask box, I’ll apologize in advance if I don’t get to it. I tend to forget I have one)

#amulet series #amulet spoilers #waverider spoilers #wow it’s really been ten years since I joined this fandom #😧 #Good news is that it’s kicked up the ol brain bunnies #i have been Having Thoughts #some old art may see an upgrade #Some old ocs may or may not appear

[lavafet]

In celebration of getting the first two The Last Ronin books, here are some ROTTMNT-inspired sketches I did awhile ago! Fair warning: the personalities reflected might not be entirely accurate.

Spoilers for The Last Ronin below!

So I WAS going to say something about how I would post this before I work on a piece about the top art I did this past year, but I was unfortunately met with the realization that I left my iPad at home. After moving back into college. 💀

It's going to take about a week and a half before I get that back sadly. I'll perhaps post some older art in the meantime...

#rottmnt #tmnt #tmnt fanart #rottmnt fanart #tmnt yi #tmnt uno #tmnt odyn #tmnt moja #the last ronin #tmnt last ronin #sketch #art

[thisbelongsto-nohbodys]

What future headcanons do you have for gravity falls characters from the Cipher wheel?

(Dipper, Mabel, Stan, Ford, Soos, Wendy, Pacifica, Mcgucket)

Huh, didn’t expect this kind of thing (thought I’d get TOH post-series headcanons before GF ones, lol) but here’s a few quick ones I guess.

Dipper: Following in his Grunkle Ford’s footsteps he became a researcher in the paranormal and supernatural. Getting a degree in several fields such as zoology, mythology, literature, religion, archaeology and occultism just to name a few. He wrote several boos on his findings along with having a semi-popular YouTube ghost hunting/debunking channel. He and Mabel still have adventures with each other and she helped Dipper graduate early and get accepted into the dream college that Ford wanted to go to but couldn’t. He would often write books under the pseudonym of “Dr P”

Mabel: Getting a degree in art she is more of a freelancer and does odd jobs wherever she can. Before going to college she did a trip around the country to figure out what she wants to do in the future. Her unique and interesting sweater designs got the attention of fans when she’d appear on Dipper’s ghost hunting webshow and she opened an online store selling her sweaters and personalized patterns. She came out as pansexual to the surprise of no one. She eventually grew to be the taller twin after Dipper had a growth spurt, he suspected she used the crystal lights but she swears she didn’t.

Grunkle Stan: Traveling with Ford and helping him catch up on things that he missed while gone (well, Stan’s view on things. Ford would look it up himself later and knows that Stan left out a few details). He comes back to the Mystery Shack in the summer and helps Soos run it, take care of his (Soos) kid and hang out with Dipper & Mabel whenever they visit. He also brings souvenirs from his adventures with Ford to make as new displays in the Shack.

Grunkle Ford: Traveling with Stan and uncovering more mysteries around the globe about various weirdness spikes. He often helps Dipper with his research and comes on as an expert on Dipper’s web show. He brings back some interesting things from his adventures back to the shack and treats the store more of a museum of weirdness than a tourist trap. He spends more time with Mabel who has knitted him several turtle neck sweaters and she would often be along for the ride when Ford and Stan go somewhere new (Dipper can’t always go due to school but he is okay with Mabel going)

Soos: Becoming the new Mr Mystery he ran the Mystery Shack better than ever and he not only kept the fake stuff but also expanded into a museum of weirdness where both Ford and the magical creatures can submit things to display. He and Melody eventually got married and had one or two kids whom he swore to be the best father in the world for them (he was). He also likes to go around town and help with random handyman jobs during the off-season for the shack and continues the legend of the ronin handyman

Wendy: Wendy worked for her dad at his lumberjack job in order to pay for college out-of-state. While there she discovered and came out as bisexual, having better luck in the dating/romantic game with women then she did with men. She and Dipper remained the best of friends and she even helps him with his relationship issues. She takes some freelance writing jobs to help pay the bills but also helps with Dipper’s web show and has gained a number of fans when she’d appear (mostly woods based videos where she acts as security for Dipper and his crew).

Pacifica: Learning the value of a dollar and taking several jobs to help afford her own place, education and other expenses humbled this former rich kid to the point that she cringes whenever she thinks of how she used to act. She started several web-businesses and has found a bunch of success, one of which is in helping Mabel sell her sweaters online. She and Dipper tried dating briefly but they found that they were better friends, especially since Dipper is usually engrossed in para/supernatural things, however Paz has an on again-off again relationship with Mabel which she (Paz) wants to solidify but respects Mabel’s free spirit and is willing to wait for them both to be on the same page. She doesn’t talk to her parents much and has pretty much cut them out of her life, especially after she caught them pretty much stealing from her and use the “we’re your parents, your money is our money” excuse.

McGucket: With both a newfound wealth and a somewhat restored sanity, Fiddleford started up a robotics company and is on the cutting edge of advanced robotics and AI. There’s still a few “evil” program glitches but it’s easily dealt with in the development phase. He and his son rekindled their relationship and became closer, he’s easily the “crazy grandpa” to his grandkids.

That was just a few off the top of my head since it’s been a while since I’ve rewatched gravity falls

#ask #gravity falls #dipper pines #Mabel pines #grunkle stan #grunkle ford #soos ramirez #wendy courderoy #pacifica northwest #fiddleford hadron mcgucket

[sunset-moth]

I have a set of binds for Titanfall 2.

It's a bunch of lines for boarding my titan and triggering the self-destruct sequence, since you're locked into animations for a second or two and have nothing better to do but reach over and tap a bind. I thought it might be annoying, but the majority of responses are "haha thats funny" or "damn thats cool," both of which are the intended result. There are a few people who tell me to shut up, but that happens binds or no binds, so... Meh!

i think one of my favorite responses so far has been "cabin got the protagonist lines, damn" (my IGN is SnowboundCabin.)

I've also had a few people ask how I do it, since it's not just a single bind, but rather a list - 127 detonation lines, 202 boarding lines. So, I'm going to release the AHK script I use for it. (Comes with enclosed instruction book!*) This one's a blank template, but I'm also going to post a few of my favorite lines.

TONE :: PILOT BOARDING ::

PLEASE KEEP YOUR ARMS AND LEGS INSIDE THE ME AT ALL TIMES.

MY BODY IS A TEMPLE TO A GOD OF DEATH.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I PUT DOWN MY BOOK TO BE HERE.

THIS TITANFALL SPONSORED BY PIZZA. (courtesy of @inucaseclosedfan)

I WON'T 'ROCKET JUMP,' STOP ASKING.

I'D CALL SHOTGUN IF I WASN'T THE CAR.

DEPLOYING FUZZY DICE.

CALL ME BOB ROSS THE WAY I PAINT TARGETS.

I AM HUNGRY FEED ME BATTERIES.

DON'T GET DORITO DUST ON MY CONTROLS.

THEY ASKED FOR NO PICKLES!

I THINK I'M IN THE WRONG TF2.

TONE :: DETONATION IMMINENT ::

DON'T FORGET TO LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE!

YOU'RE NOT INVITED TO MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!

WAIT I CHANGED MY MIND HOW DO I-

CAN I GET A BETTER PILOT NEXT TIME?

WAS I A GOOD TITAN?

WATCH THIS COOL TRICK RONIN TAUGHT ME!

LEAKING ENEMY BROWSER HISTORY

DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR!

NICE KILL. ONE SMALL PROBLEM. I HAVE NUCLEAR EJECT.

And my all-time favorite:

TONE :: DETONATION IMMINENT :: POST MY SPECS TO THE WAR THUNDER FORUMS.

#titanfall 2 #titanfall #i notice a lot of my favorite lines are when tone talks about herself or me #I could probably throw the full set onto pastebin separately if someone asked me to #are you going to honor tones dying wish or are you a coward? upload the specs pilot #posts from the snowbound cabin #i add lines whenever i think of good ones or am bored #*enclosed instruction book just means multiline comments

[last-ronin]

[stuff i did while on break]

Finished MLP Make Your Mark

Watched Wolfwalkers (ONE OF MY FAV MOVIES NOW!!! I LOVE IT)

Finished LMK (Lego Monkie Kid) but i gotta watch seasons 3-5 when i can be on my phone again

Currently watching Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

Listened to TTPD (The Tortured Poets Department) I LOOOOOOVVVVVEE EEEIT!!!!!!!

Drew a bunch of stuff

Cried bcuz i have missed you all so so much

Went to Chuck E Cheese for my friends bday

Got two new TMNT figures based on the ones from the mirage comics that were made in 2014 + a last ronin thing with two Synja bot action figures

got a comic book cover last ronin POP!

#romod speaks

[master-jarrus]

Ronin is a zygerrian (slaver race but as he will later put it "Look I'm an asshole but compared to the rest of my kind? I'm more angelic then your friend here")

I decided on conjoined twin twi'leks for the time twins (it just feels so right. Like I want to have more species and take careful considerations of the traits but just the opportunity of that one worked so well)

Overlord: Just a giant corrupted kyber crystal floating through space

Also I decided this is more of a crossover

Pretty much the skywalkers and the new republic is a thing but that's kind of all background

There may end up being some interaction but not much

I was just thinking about it and how I have it set up it fits better to have the original star wars stuff going on in the background

So titles and timeline

Book of Brothers: happens at the end of the empire like the transfer of powers and stuff. So it goes completely under the radar (think of when mandalorian is set. Yeah like a little bit before that) into the New Republic reign

Sorrows of a Bounty Hunter: 7 years later ish. May end up spanning a year (not outlined yet)

Three Moons but Two Lekku: same time as Sorrows of a Bounty Hunter.

Kyber Heart: same time as Sorrows of a Bounty Hunter

The Erosion of a Solid Rock: I'm sure you've guessed the pattern by now 😉

Trials of a Star Bird: ⬆️⬆️⬆️

Rise of The Serpentine: promptly after Trials of a Star Bird

The Legacy of Garmadon: after Rise of the Serpentine

Code: Overlord : few years after the Legacy of Garmadon

Tournament on Dathomir's Moon: year after Code Overlord

The Purpose of Destiny: few months after Tournament on Dathomir's Moon

The Space Between: year or so after The Purpose of Destiny

Crystalized: a few years and spans a few years. I was considering breaking it up but it will make sense when you read it if it translates the same way from my head

Idk if it will go further than that

I would like to let it

But I'm not sure how to do the Merge

I'm also hesitant that the above is already more than I can chew 😅

Let me know if you have any questions, my asks are open

I'll have that art of Wu done in a little bit. Got a busy two days ahead of me and then a camping trip

#ninjago #ninjago lloyd #lloyd garmadon #lego ninjago #oni lloyd #ninjago garmadon #art #sketch #oni #rant #green ninja #ninjago dragons rising #ninjago kai #ninjago nya #ninjago jay #ninja #ninjago zane #ninjago cole #misako #wu #star wars au #star wars cross over #luke #leia organa #new republic #time line #story titles

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

sorry if this has been asked before, but since it's halloween, is there any chance you can talk about some of your plans for dotd in legacy whip?

It's been asked about a little bit, but I've never gone into full detail!! And you tricky little anon, asking me just the right question when I'm in just the right mood *boops your nose*

So the "Day of the Departed" is getting it's own story! It's not quite expanded out into a "full season", but it's getting the treatment it deserves, darn it!

It takes places during the DotD of 20X3, which is when the Yin Yang Eclipse happens (and Mystake alluded to during DotD in Book 2, so like...two years from the current time)

The main focus is, of course, that Cole's starting to fade away, and being hurt that everyone's literally forgetting about him (which has already been one of his greatest insecurities). Enraged, and thinking that this might be his last chance to make an impact on anything, he goes to Yang's Temple to confront Yang (and make things worse; that much hasn't changed haha)

The other Ninja, however, are just extremely distracted trying to process all the traumas and losses they've gone through the past few years (Zane and his death/family/robotness...Jay's Skybound situation...Kai and Nya still not knowing the truth of their parents amongst other things...Wu and all his debts/regrets/mistakes...and Lloyd in general...) Soooo yeah Cole's kind of the last thing from their minds during the holiday, and it is horrible timing because oops if they all forget about him during this eclipse he is gone

Jesse, meanwhile, is at the big DotD performance in the city (cuz he's a big shot entertainer now, woo!) with Lou, Mystake, Dareth, and Ronin. Lou wonders where Cole is (as he was supposed to be here supporting his boyfriend hours ago), along with Ronin lowkey-highkey worrying about Harleigh. Mystake warns them that the eclipse has a chance to amplify both Cole's and Harleigh's ghost curses, meaning that there's a chance they could lose them both forever—or that both of them may already be departed.

Of course, Jesse vows to go after Cole before it's too late (using Miranda -who also forgot Cole, dammit Mira- to track Cole's Elemental signature) while Dareth and Ronin use Ronin's ghost hunting tech to find Harleigh (who, unlike Cole, has simply accepted that this is probably gonna be how her life ends)

(And now you see why Harleigh's tarot card is DotD themed heyo)

In the meantime the Ninja all have much more meaningful showdowns with the villains of the past that Cole unleashed (that I am VERY excited for) while also subsequently freaking out about nearly losing Cole and Harleigh

And then Cole/Jesse and Ronin+Harleigh+Dareth have some very turbulent emotional moments with each other that I have been waiting my whole life to write (not really but that's what it feels like ;w;)/ )

#ninjago #day of the departed #legacyverse #the ninja legacy whip #info tag #legacy spoilers #cole brookstone #oc: jesse marvell #oc: harleigh kognito #ronin kognito #sensei dareth #and that's about all i can reveal without too much context reveal #harumi might gets some scenes in here too if i'm feeling spicy

[destinygoldenstar]

My headcanon on the ninjas ages throughout the series. (Feel free to disagree with me or if you think my logic is off)

Pilot/Rise of the Snakes/Legacy of the Green Ninja

Lloyd / 9/13

Kai / 16

Jay / 16

Cole / 17

Zane / 60

Nya / 14

Starting off, the ninja are definitely teenagers at the beginning of the show. I’m splitting this up based on how many seasons do I think can realistically happen in the span of one year. Also, this is obviously not the case in the movie so this applies in the show only: I don’t think Ninjago has a ‘middle school’. My idea is Elementary School, High School, and then you graduate, not counting optional college. So it’s at least a few months after Nya had graduated school by the time the Pilots happen.

So with this logic, Kai could be old enough to run a blacksmith shop. That, and another headcanon of mine is that he didn’t go to high school due to money problems, and he sacrificed his education for Nya’s. Canon that there’s a two year age gap between Kai and Nya. And I have Jay be the same age as Kai so that his relationship with Nya doesn’t become creepy from some huge age gap. (Sailor Moon, in the books, Usagi is 14 and Mamoru is 16. In the show Mamoru is 19 and… WHY?!)

Everyone says Cole is at least a year older and I do agree with that.

Lloyd is a kid. I kinda put both ages here. Because again, canon, Lloyd is the youngest, even with the potion. Spoiler, but by Sons of Garmadon has he never been aged up, he’d be twelve. Old enough for his voice to hit puberty. Now I’m not a man, I’m a cis female, so I can’t tell you how accurate man voice puberty is. But I did have a classmate in chorus class in middle school that was dormat due to vocal puberty, and he was twelve, so I’m going off of that. Again, sorry if that’s not accurate.

Zane… Ngl. I BS’d this one. There is NO WAY you can make a reasonable age for him. It just can’t be done. We don’t know how old Julien was when he made Zane, we don’t know when he died of old age, we don’t know the gap between that passing and Zane being found by Wu. There could be several years of a gap. So I most definitely got this wrong. I don’t care though. Robots don’t age. He has no canon age.

Rebooted

Lloyd / 14

Kai / 17

Jay / 17

Cole / 18

Zane / 61

Nya / 15

This season is just its own year. Gap between season 2 and 3 with the teachers career. Gap again after Zane’s death, as the ninja got all these jobs. You could argue there’s more years in the gap because of the bs technology renovations, but my argument is that Ninjago is not Earth. Earth is our world. Ninjago is its own world. Ninjago has smarter more advanced intelligent humans (Lego creatures). Earthlings are slow learners/morons.

Tournament of Elements/Possession/Skybound/Day of the Departed/Hands of Time

Lloyd / 15

Kai / 18

Jay / 18

Cole / 19

Zane / 1

Nya / 16

There’s really no significant time gap I can see. I can see all this happening in one year. You could argue Wu’s Teas makes it a year gap between Day of the Departed and Hands of Time, but Possession established the tea shop and that’s pre-shorts. If you consider Shadows of Ronin canon, I’d still say this. The whole thing is a story being told by Kai over a pizza night, so he could just be making that stuff up. It’s not clear, honestly. The only difference here is Zane. He died. He’s in a new body now. The body is what’s aging, not the soul. I almost DON’T consider Pilot-Rebooted Zane and Tournament-onward Zane the same character. But I think that’s just because of the writing quality for this character.

Sons of Garmadon/Hunted/March of the Oni

Lloyd / 16

Kai / 19

Jay / 19

Cole / 20

Zane / 2

Nya / 17

This is very obvious that the Oni Trilogy is one year. I don’t think anybody’s going to argue with this. And again, Lloyd, age potion or not, would realistically hit puberty at this time. And the others wouldn’t.

Plus, this works because they said that Kai and Jay were 'still teenagers' but 'grown up teenagers'. And 19 fits that description. The only other questionable thing is Nya, as Jay proposes to her. On Earth, the marriage qualified age is 18, unless you’re pregnant or stupid, which is obviously not the case here. So again, Ninjago is its own world with different rules. If you can graduate school at 14, you can probably marry at 17. Not that unreasonable. Can I just say that I love the vibe of the Oni Trilogy? It allowed the ninja to grow up with the audience. We get to see them transition into adults in this trilogy. And I LOVE IT.

And they become mentors to Wu?! Golden.

I wish the Wildbrain era didn’t revert back to the status quo with their dynamic with Wu. I wish it was a follow up to their new chapter of their life and Wu was retired. Doesn’t mean you have to get rid of Wu, but the ninja would be well independent at that point. No, they didn’t de-age, but the narrative acted like it to silently push the ninja back into the teenager attitude they had at the start of the show. Because the show is for children and children can’t relate to young adults. Therefore we must keep the ninja under the roof of a sensei FOREVER.

Until Dragons Rising, anyway.

Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitsu/Prime Empire/Master of the Mountain/The Island/Seabound

Lloyd / 17

Kai / 20

Jay / 20

Cole / 21

Zane / 62

Nya / 18

I can’t see much gap between the Wildbrain era minus Crystalized. It’s all kind of one collective story if you put these together, as they act as build up for the Finale Season. Again, the only change is Zane, because canonically he’s been in the Never Realm as Ice Emperor for DECADES.

Don’t ask me how the ninja get to the Never Realm in the present but Zane was taken several years back, Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitsu LOVES its plot holes. As if this show needed any more plot holes than it already had.

Crystalized

Lloyd / 18

Kai / 21

Jay / 21

Cole / 22

Zane / 63

Nya / 19

Canon. Year has passed. The reason I didn’t give Nya the treatment I gave Zane is because she returned to her body. There’s a difference between returning to your body and reforming into a new one.

I think.

I live on Earth. Idk how reincarnation works.

Pre-Merge

Lloyd / 19

Kai / 22

Jay / 22

Cole / 23

Zane / 64

Nya / 20

Arin / 8

I do think there’s some gap with the end of the main show and the prologue for this show. Can’t tell you how big of one so I’m just gonna say a year.

Dragons Rising

Lloyd / 24

Kai / 27

Jay / 27

Cole / 28

Zane / 69

Nya / 25

Arin / 13

Sora / 13

Then again, we don’t know how many years have passed since the Merge. But long enough for the ninja to be considered adults.

Keep in mind I am very weary on Jay and Cole, because they have not appeared in the show yet. We could get another Zane situation for all we know. I kind of see Arin and Sora as the same age as post-potion Lloyd, because of their attitudes being similar to Season 2 Lloyd in my opinion, especially Arin. There’s nothing YET that confirms to me that they’re different ages, but if there is something in the future, I might say Sora is a year older. (Sora’s a queen btw)

And if anyone else joins this new Ninja team, like Wildfyre or that wind girl (forgot her name), then I’ll include them.

Wow, we went from Gen 1 having only one girl in a team to Gen 2 having only one boy in a team. We’ll see. I am on board for that if that’s the case.

#ninjago #ninjago lloyd #lloyd garmadon #ninjago kai #kai jiang #kai smith #ninjago jay #jay walker #ninjago cole #cole brookstone #ninjago zane #zane julien #ninjago nya #nya smith #ninjago arin #ninjago sora

[emcandon]

Should I do an SDCC highlights reel? Yeah okay for sake of my own memory let's do this!!

Brought a bunch of Hawaii snacks and cookies to feed folks. My second round of feeding the Tor booth, Publicist Caro was like "I think I'm understanding something about how Sunai came to be" and I was like HONESTLY IT'S JUST HAWAII CULTURE. It is my pleasure to feed you but also it's a social norm I am emotionally compelled to uphold!

The Tor Dinner and the Star Wars Dinner were at exactly the same time on exactly the same day and I got the Tor invite first so went there. Bemoaned having to choose to Editor Tom and Editor Liz at the Star Wars corner of the PRH booth and they assured me there would be more dinners. WHEN THO. I wanna hang. They're so sweet.

Editor Tom pointed me out to every fan at the booth while I was visiting and was like BE NICE TO EMMA; THEY WROTE A PANDEMIC BOOK AND HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO DO THIS BEFORE. Thank you, Star Wars fans. You are consistently really cute.

Also apparently they were selling out of Ronin by like, day one, so that's pretty cool.

They actually sold out of both Ronin and The Archive Undying by the end of day two/beginning of day three! Which is! Pretty fucking rad!

I hung out a lot with JR Dawson, Julia Vee & Ken Bebelle, and @miatsai as a kind of debut posse, and had some truly fantastic conversations with all of them.

Also got to meet @charliejaneanders!! Whose work I have adored and admired for goddamn years!! Along with Sylvain Neuvel, who is a lovely goofus. And Martha Wells, Nnedi Okorafor, and Charles Soule at the other panel, which was amazing bc I admire the fuck out of all of them in different ways. (And Pierce Brown was also there, but lol i don't go here, who is he.) (the answer is he's a big enough writer to have folks cosplaying from his books so like, he's Known i'm just a Weirdo Aesthete).

Hope I wasn't too much of a nightmare for the second moderator bc I could not shut up about the fundamental toxicity of late capitalism as a social structure when he just wanted to ask what we thought of various technological developments (BUT MY GUY THE GAME IS IDEOLOGICALLY FLAWED. WE CAN'T Y/N ON TECH ADVANCEMENTS SANS THEIR BROADER CONTEXT. GENOMICS ARE TECHNICALLY A VERY COOL VERY PROMISING FRONTIER BUT ALSO, UNFORTUNATELY, EUGENICS.) (I'm extremely normal-brained and definitely know how to abide by the rules of ice breaker party games.)

The most important thing to know is that I got to bring a plus one, but my wife had to go back to work after book tour/wedding trip, so I brought my largely not very nerdy mother. She had a great time people watching the cosplay. Love her.

#sdcc 2023 #writer life

[contentloadingandstuff]

I said I had ideas so here is one of em.

Beidou x reader. Reader was a crewmember on board a ship of your discretion, for some reason, there was a group of crewmembers that just did not like the reader and one day they shove him overboard. He spends the next day in the freezing waters. Right when as he begins to go under, he is pulled up onto the Alcor by Beidou.

The Hunt for Forgotten Treasure - Beidou & GN!Reader

A/N: There's some Necro AU in there. Hope you don't mind! Enjoy.

CW: (Not canon) Necro AU inclusion.

The endless waters of the oceans hide unspeakable treasures. 

From your earliest days you took interest in the overwhelming vastness of them. You spent ages browsing through books about adventures, sea life and legendary sailors who ruled the seas of Teyvat in days gone by. You eagerly dived in the waters of Inazuma, marveling at the colorful fish swimming by. When you were young, every rock and every pile of sand seemed like a potential treasure stash. Though the disappointment was usually what you got out of digging them up, your desire for discovery never wavered. 

When you finished education in your early adulthood, you left Watatsumi Island behind in search of a legend you heard from your late mother. You promised her once, as merely a teen, that you would bring about all the treasure hidden under a particular island in the far North. You planned to stay true to your words. 

Using your oceanology knowledge, you made a fortune by catching and selling rare plant and animal species, sourced straight from the darkest depths of the ocean. Your Hydro Vision made the gathering process far easier. Having amassed the necessary funds, you bought a large ship to sail to the island your notes pointed to. 

Then the war came. 

Since, as a citizen of Watatsumi, you couldn't do business in the Shogunate. You were still missing a crew. With nothing to turn to, you settled for a more… shady team. Using your money to purchase good intel, you picked out a more honorable ronin leader. They agreed to man your ship for a hefty sum of money, which wasn't a problem for you. 

When you showed your maps and guides, you were met with plenty of suspicion from your second hand. The Kairagi didn't believe in legends or myths, but because of the sum you offered, he kept quiet. Until one night, that is. 

When you reached Inazuma's border, you had to face the storm the Shogun called forth. You steeled yourself, and ordered the crew to push on. Only because of the secret scrolls' guidance did you manage to come out on the other side. Yet there were casualties. This strained the leader's patience beyond limit, and he plotted a scheme against you. 

On a starless night, they dragged you out of bed, and, still in your nightgown, threw you off board when you refused to give them a straight way to the treasure you sought. You couldn't give them the answer - you still had to figure it out yourself. But they didn't care. So, the ship changed its capitan, and the only things you were left with were your clothes and the gallons of icy water around you. The Kairagi was honorable, however. Well, it's an overstatement - but he was indeed kind enough to throw you a board to hold on to. 

You knew the ocean would be your end from the first minute. The frigid water attacked your vulnerable, beaten body, slowly stripping you of all the feeling. Your arms grew weaker with each hour, the sun mercilessly shining down on your exposed neck. Your wounds, dealt to you by the hard fists of the traitorous mercenaries you hired, hurt, making holding on even more difficult. But the feeling - or rather lack thereof - of nothingness under your feet kept you desperately clutching your plank. 

After two days or so, you passed out from thirst, only to wake up in a soft and warm bed. 

Among the people moving around, dressing your wounds, you recognized a familiar figure. Tall, brown hair, characteristic hair pin and an eye cover all made Beidou quite the recogniseable character. She struck up a conversation shortly after you’ve woken up, bringing with her a refreshing cup of fresh water. Only then, driven more by thirst than the desire to keep your purpose secret, you finally opened your mouth and took out the only thing you managed to save from your research - a small, golden compass. Truth be told, its safe keeping cost you about eight broken teeth, but it was worth it. 

After having the best water of your life, you told Beidou about how you got here. Ever the curious adventurer, she asked you about the point of the voyage. You had to think about giving the explanation, but taking into account her reputation as an honorable capitan, you gave in. 

You described the legend about the three Lyres of the Anemo Archon your mother told you all those years ago. She heard it when she was young, and still lived in the city of freedom. The story described three powerful artifacts, created by the Anemo Archon himself. According to it, Barbatos created them to describe the world - each could be used to play a tune carrying more meaning than any amount of words. The first of them, Lyre of the Heavens, was made to tell of all the hopes, dreams and emotions of sapient beings. It sang praise of the soul and the mind, capable of comprehending and interpreting the world. The second was the Lyre of the Earth. It’s music told of life and its many forms. Whenever the archon played it, plants would grow and flowers would bloom at his feet. The final artifact was the Lyre of the Void. The notes caused life to wither away and fade. Though it was played only one time, the song contained a truth about the point of life, and Barbatos’ people would live out every day as if it were their last, understanding that death would inevitably claim them one day. 

When The War came to Mondstadt, the Archon was severely injured by War himself, and retreated deep into the city. His color guard, as few in number as they were, fought valiantly to defend their ruler. Though the undead were seemingly unending, Barbatos was kept safe long enough to make his escape and secure the Lyre of Heavens, the most powerful of them all. After many long hours of grueling combat, the guard fell, and the remaining items fell into the hands of the dead. While the Lyre of Void was destroyed for its strings, the Lyre of Earth was - allegedly - taken as a trophy to “the lands in the far North, where the candle of life burns the weakest”, along with all the looted treasures of Mondstadt. 

Beidou, having been to Mondstadt before, confirmed that the Lyre of Heavens remains inside the cathedral more or less intact. That gave her enough of a reason to believe the legend, and she agreed to seek out the artifact with your guidance. To find the Lyre the golden compass was needed, and it would not work without samples of all eight elemental gemstones. The first seven weren’t a problem as the experienced alchemists were able to acquire those from common elemental creatures. It was the onyx gemstone that was the issue. 

To obtain it, you and Beidou sailed to a remote island, famous for its many tombs and burial mounds of gods and humans alike. On the starless night, you arrived to find not only the slaughtered remains of your former employees, who were oblivious to the dangers of the journey, but also to the sight of many tens of undead horrors. Although Beidou and her men fought valiantly, they took plenty of casualties, with a handful of her sailors succumbing to their injuries. The sight of the small, black shard siphoned from a strange, spherical device was enough to convince Beidou to push forward however. 

As you made your way North, far past Mondstadt’s plains and Snezhnaya’s icy coasts, restlessness grew among the crew. Your character caused quite the controversies, and plenty of sailors felt a growing disdain towards you. Seeing this, Beidou quickly quieted down the coming mutiny. Ever since she raised her voice in your defense, not one of them has questioned your motives ever since.

As soon as you hit the rocky shores of that forgotten realm, you rushed to action. Time was limited, because the inhabitants could easily sense the disturbance of their familiar, lifeless homeland. Through the muddy, half frozen swamps your team went, but at last - you stood before a door, bearing the same mark as the one you saw in Mondstadt’s chronicle and your purchased ancient texts. With a short incantation you knew by heart, you opened the treasury to the somewhat underwhelming sight of about thirty dusty chests. 

Ordering the team to take as much as they can carry, you made your way back to the coast. 

Seeing your return, every single sailor came ashore to see the contents of the chests. Since you knew they were most likely trapped, you volunteered to be the one to open them. It was your journey, your dream, so it was obvious that you would be the one to pay the price should anything happen. Inside the first chest, you found the Lyre of Earth, preserved in perfect condition. In all the others there were treasures - coins, necklaces and gemstones. As you finished opening them all, you grabbed a golden chalice from one of them, filling it to the brim with gold and precious gemstones.You went to Beidou. Getting on your knee before her, you offered her the chalice. 

Beidou, roaring with triumphal laughter, took up the gift.

With her action you were also accepted into the crew for good.  

Thanks for reading!

#genshin impact #genshin #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact x gn reader #genshin x gn reader #genshin imapct necro au #genshin necro au #necro au #genshin impact fluff #genshin fluff #genshin impact beidou #genshin beidou #fluff #beidou #beidou x reader #kinda? #platonic ship

[stitch1830]

Stitch!!! I hope you're doing well, pal!

50 Random Character Asks: #2, 4, 9 & 10 please

For Aang, Sokka and Zuko

Hi Ronin! Better late than never, I suppose?

Character asks for the Gaang boys, let’s go!

2. A canon or headcanon hill I will die on

For Aang, Idk if it's a hill I'd die on, but I like the idea of him growing out his hair every now and again. Sometimes you just don't wanna shave, so he just lets his hair grow out and it's a fun lil change of pace for him! Also, no beard. LOL

For Sokka, I really like the idea that he finds his space sword. Or he makes another one!

For Zuko, he’s deeply in love with Katara and they’re happily married LOL.

4. Favorite line

Aang: "You're just a teenager!"

Sokka: “Drink Cactus Juice. It’ll quench ya!”

Zuko: “It keeps blowing up in my face! Like everything always does.”

9. Scene that first made me love (or hate) the character

For Aang, probably when he realizes that Toph is the girl in his vision! I really like the realization on his face and then later tries to explain to Toph how they found her. “A crazy earth king told me to…”

Toph: 🤨

Hilarious Lmao

For Sokka, I think the fight between him and Master Piandao made me appreciate him more. He learned/gained fighting skills that I wanted to learn as a kid, so I thought that was cool.

For Zuko, definitely when he cut his hair and the way it grows in during season two LOL. What can I say, I’m a simple blue alien.

10. Best moment on screen (or in the book)

For Aang, I like the scene where he’s breaking into the Earth King’s palace with the Gaang. The earthbending in particular is so cool!

For Sokka, probably the FN air balloon scene where they’re fighting the Fire Nation and he’s leading Toph and does some crazy fighting moves with a broken leg and clutching Toph’s hand. Hard core stuff right there.

For Zuko, I think the scene where he fights Azula sticks out to me. I think the show made a big deal about blue fire because that means it's more powerful or whatnot, and I just loved seeing him fight Azula and the development in his skills you see from season 1 to season 3.

......

And I think that's all of them! Hopefully I got everything, and if I didn't, feel free to send another ask! :) Thanks again for sending this over, Ronin! Appreciate the ask, your patience, and you! Hope you have a great day :D

Ask me questions about ATLA or LOK characters!

#what's the stitch #ask game #character asks #my asks #thanks for the ask! #wingchunwaterbender #atla #aang #zuko #sokka #headcanons

[thecomicsnexus]

TMNT: THE LAST RONIN - RE-EVOLUTION #1

March 2024

By Tom Waltz, Kevin Eastman , Esau & Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, Luis Antonio Delgado, and Shawn Lee.

With the resistance running low on manpower, it's up to the new turtles to rise and save the city.

SCORE: 9

You could say that, because this is a pretty much reimagined version of the turtles, there would be enough room for bold creative choices. But some of these choices, well, one in particular, was the reason the Turtles weren't well received on ocassions.

My concern, right now, is that the Turtles seem to be having "special abilities." In this issue we found out that they can use telepathy, something that was always kind of implied to exist but never abused, for the sake of storytelling. Did they learn this ability through the Splinter journal? If that's the case, why didn't Mikey use this ability in the previous two stories?

Another special ability came up at the end of this issue, which reminded me of the issue where Miles Morales debuted with a unique super-power.

Apart from that, this issue finally acknowledged one of the main points of this version. That the Hamatos and the Orokus had a feud. This was already present in "The Last Ronin," but because they didn't spend time to explain it, we only had a couple of interviews that detailed it.

Well, the feud feels a lot like the Mirage version, but with some unique characteristics that fit better in the Roninverse. I am talking about Nagi being Saki's father.

Now, this on itself brings additional questions. If Nagi already had a full-grown son, why was he after Tang Shen? What happened to his wife? Or is this a case of the unreliable narrator?

Another big question is how Splinter knew ninjitsu, as it was never explained, like in other versions, that he imitated his master. We shellheads can assume that was the case, but I guess the Turtles simply didn't know about that.

Another significant detail in their narration, was the bit about the ooze. They never explained what it was, so perhaps there is a story behind it that will be explored in the future?

Perhaps the best moment of the issue was when the Turtles were finally put into action. It took some time, but they are finally here.

Now, you could read this book and think. These are basically the same turtles with different looks and names. And technically, I wouldn't be able to deny that. There are some slight differences, like Uno being more overconfident than Leo, or Moja being more passionate about injustice than Raphael. But... they are very similar.

But this story is just beginning, so perhaps they will start becoming their own characters after this.

I appreciate having April still around, but I feel like this book should have a maximum percentage of panels dedicated to the parents (April and Casey), hopefully below the 40%. I kind of want to see stories about teenage mutant ninja turtles, not Huntress Jones. So I really hope that they start becoming the focus of the story in the next few issues. Sure, give me storylines involving all these characters, but don't forget who the readers are buying the book for.

Other than that, I saw many improvements when compared to the last two stories in the Roninverse. There are no oddly-positioned flashbacks, the story is more linear, and the world feels a little bit more familiar now (and expanded).

I want more stories in the Roninverse, and I am wondering it this should continue being mini-series, or if it should become an ongoing series. I guess that, since the Roninverse is such a big hit, writing for the trades is the way to go, so either option would work.

#comics #review #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #post modern age #2024 #the last ronin #the last ronin re-evolution #esau and isaac escorza #idw comics #idw publishing

[richincolor]

We have three books on our radar this week! Which ones have caught your eye?

The Worst Ronin written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrated by Faith Schaffer HarperAlley

Being a samurai isn’t easy. Sixteen-year-old Chihiro Ito knows that more than anyone. Her father is renowned among the samurai, but the only thing Chihiro is known for is spending way too much time on her phone obsessing over Tatsuo Nakano, Chihiro’s idol and the first woman to be accepted into Kesi Academy, a prestigious samurai school. So, when Chihiro’s father is conscripted for service and the opportunity arises to work with Tatsuo in his stead, Chihiro jumps at the chance to prove that she’s worthy of a spot at Kesi Academy and the samurai title. Their mission: kill the yamauba demon terrorizing a village. With a legendary samurai like Tatsuo by her side, Chihiro is convinced victory is inevitable. But Tatsuo isn’t at all like the hero Chihiro imagined. Foulmouthed, quick tempered, and a terrible drunk, Tatsuo completely turned her back on the samurai way and is now a ronin working for hire as a means of escaping the grief that haunts her. Forced to work together, the two are thrust on a treacherous journey filled with epic battles and twisted conspiracies as they must put aside their differences to save the village and face the demons of the past.

Liar's Test by Ambelin Kwaymullina Knopf Books for Young Readers

Bell Silverleaf is a liar. It’s how she’s survived. It’s how all Treesingers have survived, after they were invaded by the Risen and their gods. But now—thanks to some political maneuvering—Bell is in the Queen’s Test. She’s one of seven girls competing in deadly challenges to determine who rules for the next twenty-five years. If Bell wins, she’ll use the power to help her people and get her revenge on the Risen. But Bell doesn’t know how much she’s been lied to. She’s part of a conspiracy stretching back generations, and she’s facing much bigger dangers than the Queen’s Test. She’s up against the gods themselves. Getting hold of that crown might just be the least of her problems. Aboriginal writer Ambelin Kwaymullina has created a fast-paced, twisty narrative and an unforgettable heroine inspired by the strength and power of Aboriginal women.

In the Shallows by Tanya Byrne Godwin Books

Mara's ex, Nico, is the girl of her dreams: beautiful, wild and unpredictable. She's Mara's everything, even though Mara's never sure that she's Nico's anything. Then Nico goes missing ... New Year's Day: A girl is rescued from the sea. She knows she is called Nico, but other than that, she has no memory of why she was in the sea or what came before. When destiny reunites them, is this Mara and Nico's second chance? Can their relationship make it out of the shallows? And what will happen when they discover the truth behind Nico's accident? Because one day, Nico will remember everything.

#the worst ronin #liar's test #in the shallows #maggie tokuda-hall #faith schaffer #ambelin kwaymullina #tanya byrne #new releases