#that show was top tier for DC

[sinningraccoon]

Kissing practice 😌

#yes i used a reference #that show was top tier for DC #anyway #the owl house #the owl house fanart #art #fanart #toh fanart #digital art #digital drawing #eda the owl lady #the owl house edalyn #edalyn the owl lady #edalyn and lilith #the owl house eda #edalyn #edalith #toh edalyn #edalyn clawthorne #lilith the owl house #lilith fanart #lilith art #eda x lilith #lilith clawthorne #eda clawthorne #sisters

[ggootthhaammm]

Hands down my favorite outfits Jenny wore in infinity Inc

#jennie lynn hayden #jade dc #infinity inc #my art #dc comics #the one she wears right before psycho pirate shows up is also a top tier outfit of hers

[shegetsburned]

Peacemaker - Favorites gifs (part 1)

#dc comics #peacemaker #tvshow #vigilante #crave #eagly the eagle #gifs #not my gifs #top tier show #dc peacemaker #john cena #freddie stroma

[thelibrarian1895]

Gotham Rich People

So there are other millionaires and billionaires in Gotham besides Bruce Wayne.

I'll wait for you to get over the shock.

You good? Ok

There are other stupidly rich people in Gotham. A thought that if you've really made it in stupidly rich society in the dc verse then you have to have some property in Gotham where you stay for like a month or so every year like it's the regency society season. It's a sign that you're so ridiculously rich that it doesn't matter if someone steals your priceless painting or holds you for ransom because you can afford it and still be ridiculously rich. You are rich enough that your bodyguards are so skilled that they can keep you safe in Gotham. Because people are stupid and people who are rich and want to be snobs about it and show off tend to be a little more so than not.

Ridiculously rich seasonal Gothamites will also absolutely think that being kidnapped and held for ransom by one crime family or another or a rogue shows a different level of quality and status. Because they are just that bored and just that rich. And it lets them deal with the ✨trauma✨ ala gallows humor.

Lex Luthor has a bunch of snobby rich people look down their noses at him because he doesn't have Gotham property (Bruce keeps outbidding him when he tries and then Tim does the same when Bruce is busy because neither want Luthor in their city though sometimes people just won't sell if they find out it's Luthor trying to buy the property because they don't want him in the city either) and while he's rich enough to make mechs to go after Superman he can't afford quality Gotham caliber bodyguards.

Oliver Queen might have had a tiny by rich people standards apartment in Gotham, he inherited it. It may have been destroyed during the quake. He doesn't bother to rebuild or buy a new one and just stays in fancy hotel if he has to be in Gotham for any length of time and grumbles that Bruce won't let him crash at his place.

Tim gets Drake Manor back, if he didn't have it already, and puts it in his and Kon's name so Kon can be smug at Luthor because Kon has property in Gotham. Tim might come up with another secret identity as Connor Luthor's Gotham bodyguard just for fun. Superman may be Luthor's villain nemesis, Tim is determined to make himself Luthor's social and business nemesis because Tim apparently doesn't have enough people who want his head on a pike. Also fewer people give Tim well meaning lectures against villainy when Tim makes trouble for Luthor than when he's made trouble for Clark after Clark has said or done something dumb to Kon. Plus having a business nemesis makes being primary shareholder in Wayne Enterprises less mind numbing for Tim.

These other stupidly rich people also end up getting fleeced for millions by the Waynes for the Wayne charities because if they're going to have all these extra idiots to keep an eye on then these extra idiots are going to pay for things like the road work that the city isn't paying for because the city budget was embezzled by some jerk who ran off with the money to some other hole in the ground.

If Jason is bored enough he will be one of those rogues who kidnaps one of the Gotham elite visiting for their maintain the status month and the ransom money goes directly to literacy and educational programs. This way his preferred causes are funded and he doesn't have to be stuck in a suit at a horribly boring gala where he has to be polite. He is also considered the top tier platinum star in rogues to be kidnapped by since he is professional, has kidnapped Waynes before (Damian convinced him to do it so Damian could get out of a series of civilian parties and go hang out with Jon instead and a few times Cass has gotten Jason to "kidnap" her so she doesn't have to deal with a gala either) and is known for returning people when the ransom is paid. He has, on occasion, returned people after the ransom demands were made and denied and it is later discovered that he took the ransom anyway and the person who denied to pay the ransom finds themselves in serious physical and legal trouble. Seasonal Gotham rich people will absolutely brag about having been kidnapped by the Red Hood who clearly has good taste in hostages.

#bruce wayne #batman #tim drake #gotham #lex luthor #kon el #jason todd #damian wayne #young just us #cassandra wayne #damian wayne al ghul

[threewaysdivided]

compared to the other hero's in YJ how do you think Phantom stands up power wise. like Future Danny ripped the world apart and i know in some fanfiction that it is used as an indicator that he is high up there, but i'm interested in your thoughts.

This is an interesting question nonnie!

I generally agree with the idea that Phantom is in the upper-tier of crossover superhero powers, but I do have more specific thoughts so let’s break it down:

Danny’s power level

Just looking at the variety and strength of ghost-powers that Phantom displays in his show, I would put him in the higher rankings of most heroes when it comes to raw ability.  I alluded to this in my main DP x YJ Deathly Weapons fanfic, but to me Phantom shows signs of a pretty common power-scaling differential that happens when a solo-protagonist hero gets transplanted into an ensemble setting.  Within his own setting, Phantom had to be (or become) powerful enough to solve most problems/ fights all by himself – and some of those ghosts he ended up facing towards the end of his canon were impressively strong.  By comparison ensemble heroes are generally less-powerful because working as a collective means they don’t have the same need for aggressive self-sufficiency and also so that no one character upstages or outmodes the rest of the group from a writing perspective.

There’s also the nature of ghost powers.  Phantom needed to develop the raw strength to fill the role of solo combat heavy-hitter, but his base powers are versatile to the point of unsettling.  He has to physically fight against other ghosts because they have (and to some extent are immune to) the same abilities as him, but in a fight against other species he could potentially avoid, manipulate or exhaust an opponent with strategic use of invisibility/ intangibility/ overshadowing.

The back of Dinah’s neck prickled.  With flight to mask footsteps and intangibility rendering them undetectable by touch…  Nonthreatening as Phantom generally appeared, she was starting to understand why his kind had developed such an unsettling reputation.  The idea that a ghost could be present at any time - eavesdropping, spying, interfering - without any of them being the wiser was… disquieting to say the least. - Deathly Weapons, Chapter 17: Assessment

On top of that, he seems to be in a similar boat to Superman when it comes to physical weaknesses – he doesn’t have that many, and they’re often quite specific or hard-to-find.   The most easily-exploitable one is that Danny can run out of power, be slowly starved of ectoplasm or be knocked unconscious; all of which would forcibly revert him back to his weaker human state.  After that, he’s vulnerable to certain magics and ghostly-artefacts, which are more likely to be accessible to various DC/ Marvel heroes (although they might not know exactly which spells/items will be most effective or why).  Beyond those two, most of his weaknesses need to be specifically known about and actively sought out – anti-ecto-technology is obtainable but not mainstream, blood blossoms naturally repel/hurt ghosts but they seem to be rare in nature (or even extinct in the modern day) and then assuming you acknowledge Phantom Planet there’s ectoranium which is basically ghost-Kryptonite in rarity (and possibly even the same mineral in DP x DC settings depending on the crossover).  Much like with Superman, the most reliable ways to take down Phantom require actively knowing what he is and having prepared accordingly.

Based on those metrics, I want to place Phantom in the same power-band as Superman or the Martian Manhunter.  I’d consider their powers to be equivalent incomparibles – it’s hard to stack their abilities side-by-side and say one is objectively better than the others.  A no-holds-barred, knock-down drag-out fight between those three could get very nasty but it would be hard to confidently call a winner without knowing more about the external factors around them.

That said, I think the thing holding Danny back from being fully at that level is his experience: or rather his lack thereof.   Danny hasn’t had much formal training (except maybe some basic self-defence instruction from Maddie/Jack) and he doesn’t have a proper mentor either.  His personal experience mostly fits the narrow niche of direct open combat with other ghosts, mostly throughout Amity Park and surrounds (although occasionally in the Ghost Zone or further from town). 

Phantom has enough raw power and innate talent as a strategic lateral-thinker to get by, but I think that hyperspecialisation and lack of guidance would leave him with a lot of blind-spots.  His hand-to-hand is self-taught and probably missing a lot of best-practice basic techniques.  He’s also never had an experienced third party to observe him in the field and offer suggestions on alternative approaches to using his powers/ keep him from developing bad habits.  This is something Danny actually comments on in canon; he can take a long time to identify solutions (even obvious ones) that deviate too far from his default throw hands approach to fighting.  His powers could be more effectively deployed as a precision-instrument but a lack of coaching means he tends to falls back on using them as a blunt hammer because that was the pattern that came naturally when he was first starting out, and no-one was around to keep that habit from ingraining.

The place where you can see this lack of experience hurting him the most is in his lack of soft-skills.  Phantom didn’t have anyone to advise him on de-escalation, damage control, comforting civilians, interacting with authorities etc.  Add in the naturally-frightening nature of many ghosts and it was easy for him to fall into a public perception of being “the town menace”.  Danny is pretty decent at rallying both humans and ghosts (even erstwhile enemies) to his side in crisis situations but no-one has taught him how manage public relations outside of that.  He says it himself: he needs a PR agent.

On the other hand, Phantom’s heroics have inadvertently earned him a decent amount of potential political pull in the Ghost Zone.  He has enough positive rapport that some regular rogues will take his side or even actively seek him out for help in the right circumstances, and other more antagonistic ones have at least developed a degree of grudging respect.  There are several powerful ghosts that either have direct debts of gratitude to him/his team (Princess Dorothea, Pandora) or who hold him in high esteem for re-sealing Pariah Dark (The Far Frozen).  It’s possible that defeating Pariah might even have granted him a potential candidature/claim to an official position, and judging by the way the Observants and Clockwork pay attention to him, it seems that Phantom’s slow accumulation of power/influence isn’t going completely unnoticed.  However, again, Danny doesn’t have the awareness, experience or training needed to leverage that effectively – heck, he’s not even doing it on purpose.

With all that taken into account, I think Phantom would rank very highly in terms of overall potential, but at his current level he’d be in the lower ranks of the A-tier.  He could become a much more powerful figure with the right guidance but in his canonical state he’s underutilising or outright overlooking a lot of his most effective tools.

TUE Future/ “Dark Phantom”

The “Dark Phantom” presented in the TUE Bad-Future is interesting to me because while he’s a very powerful figure within that story, I don't think he’s a very good reflection of canon-Danny’s potential to do harm.

Gonna complain about The Ultimate Enemy for a bit: I’ve tag-muttered about this before but I’m one of the Phandom members who finds The Ultimate Enemy to be a frustratingly weak episode.  It has a potentially fascinating core premise (the “evil future/alternate self”) but the execution is so convoluted and driven by improbable contrivances that the whole ends up being far less than the sum of its parts.   

One of the biggest problems is that, rather than being a straight future/alternate version of Danny, “Dark Phantom” is actually a hybrid of Phantom and Plasmius’ worse sides.  He’s a distinct, separate entity which means he can’t work as an effective dark mirror to either of them.  (Compare and contrast the Justice League episode A Better World in which the Justice Lords acted as a dark mirror of what the actual Justice League members could become if they chose to abandon their morals and compassion in favour of seizing control and instating a totalitarian system of draconian crime prevention.)

The episode also tried to graft on a really mismatched moral of “don’t be a cheat”.  Rather than being a lesson on choices/ values/ power/ responsibility, Dark Phantom almost ends up being an offhand biproduct of Danny getting caught cheating on a freshman/sophomore-year career-aptitude test.  Instead of learning a lesson about himself/ his ideals/ his personal faults, Danny comes away from the episode with a cool new superpower after deciding not to cheat on the test after all.  Not exactly satisfying.

That mismatch and the convoluted levels of moon-logic required to make it fit severely undermine the idea that this version of Dark Phantom is “inevitable”.  There are too many steps that are too highly-specific and too easily-avoidable for the threat to feel real: Danny has to care enough about an early-highschool CAT to want to cheat, he has to somehow get the answers which he wasn’t intending to do in the canon timelineand only does as a result of Clockwork’s meddling, making it a self-fulfilling situation, he has to get caught using them, Mister Lancer has to hold the resulting parent-teacher meeting at Nasty Burger rather than a school office for some reason, the Nasty Burger Sauce has to 1. be dangerously explosive and 2. coincidentally explode while not only Danny’s parents but his friends and sister are inside, Danny has to be placed in Vlad’s custody rather than with his Aunt Alicia or closer family-friends, Danny has to ask Vlad to remove his Phantom-half and finally, Vlad himself has to agree to do it.  Take away any of those steps and this version of Dark Phantom doesn’t happen.  That’s not inevitable, it’s contrived.

But anyway, let’s look at Dark Phantom as his own entity:

One of the things that makes Dark Phantom much more potentially dangerous is that he combines Phantom’s raw power with Plasmius’ experience.  Like I was saying before, one of Danny’s biggest handicaps is that he lacks training/guidance and tends to underutilise his most effective abilities.  Vlad meanwhile has had years of relative freedom to practice and finesse a lower raw-power level; he’s much more skilled at advanced techniques like duplication and overshadowing (which he canonically used to force through his fortune-making business deals), as well as ecto-constructs.  Plasmius is also a lot more tactical and manipulative in how he applies their common powers.  Plus, the TUE version of Dark Phantom is a full-ghost, which means he doesn’t have a vulnerable mortal state that can be exploited as a weakness.

This is why I think it would be possible for TUE!Dark Phantom to successfully decimate other heroes in shared-universe crossover situations where ghosts aren’t common knowledge.  He’d be an unexpected, unknown enemy that the heroes have no effective way to fight (outside of a few magic users).  Combine that with many of the most powerful heroes being visible as public figures, and Dark Phantom having inherited Plasmius’ strategic/manipulative traits and it could be very easy for Dark Phantom to basically launch a premeditated paranormal blitzkrieg attack, using Plasmius’ skill with duplicates and overshadowing to subjugate any hero he couldn’t overwhelm with Phantom’s raw power level.  It would also make sense that Amity Park would become one of the remaining bastions in any TUE-style future, since having advanced knowledge of ghostly abilities and access to anti-ecto technology would tilt the balance more evenly and allow them to at least keep the danger out.

Mentally, it’s also worth noting that Dark Phantom is a lot more dangerous than either Phantom or Plasmius.  He’s basically the most toxic traits from both of them, removed from their more moderating/ compassionate instincts.  Based on the canonical explanation given, TUE!Danny had Phantom forcibly removed in attempt to remove the pain/ rage/ grief he was feeling over the death of his family.  This isn’t a model-hero-persona conceptualisation of Phantom a la Splitting Images; the TUE-version of his ghost half is a big ball of churning negative emotion.  And what are some of Danny’s toxic traits when it comes to negative emotions: he lashes out, falls into self-blame and self-destructs.  Then we add in Vlad’s toxic traits: he’s egocentric to the point of narcissism, he projects negative feelings/ blame onto others rather than accept responsibility for his own actions and he has a controlling/ sadistic streak.   

TUE’s Dark Phantom is the worst possible combination of an emotionally devastated teenager and an emotionally immature adult.  He’s a ball of pain and rage that blames the world for that pain, lashes out at it, feels worse for doing so and then blames the world for making him feel worse because he doesn’t have the emotional capacity to accept that he’s the one causing it.  Grief is love persevering but the feelings of love, connection and guilt that contextualise his pain were left in the human shells that remained of Danny and Vlad.  It’s possible that the Dark Phantom presented in TUE might not have the capacity to feel positive emotions or compassion.  He was never meant to exist as his own entity – he was an attempt to destroy Daniel Fenton’s negative emotions which went horribly wrong.  In some ways it seems like his reign of terror could be an angrier version of Dracula’s scheme from Netflix’s Castlevania or Haliax’s goal from the Kingkiller Chronicles – a drawn-out suicide note from an undead being who’s been dead inside for much longer, destroying whatever peace/happiness he encounters in revenge for being denied it himself, until such time as he either attains catharsis or finally ends the pain by destroying reality and himself along with it.  That’s the final thing that makes TUE’s Dark Phantom more dangerous than either Phantom or Plasmius – he has nothing to lose and no “better nature” or personal dreams that other heroes could try to appeal to.

So yeah, the TUE version of Dark Phantom could absolutely rip the world and other heroes apart, but I don’t think he’s a particularly good reflection of Danny’s capabilities in terms of either powers or personality.  There’s too much Vlad in the mix, and even then he represents such a narrow and extreme edge-case for each of their personalities that it’s barely representative at all.  At best he’s a warning for what these kinds of powers could be capable of in the wrong hands.

Meta-question: What is “power” in narrative?

Alright, now that I’ve (hopefully) answered the question, let’s finish with a self-indulgent thought exercise for extra credit.

There’s an anecdote which I’ve heard attributed to the Stan Lee, in which a fan apparently asked him “who would win in a fight between Superman and the Hulk?”  To which Stan apparently replied, “whoever the writer wants.”

While it can be fun to make tier-lists and try to rank how strong different heroes/villains/creatures are based on the rules of their respective universes, I think it can also be helpful to consider that– like all things in storytelling – power is a narrative device.  It’s a tool that the character(s) and storyteller(s) can use to create and solve problems.

A character can be extremely physically strong/ skilled/ knowledgeable/ influential in a specific area but how much narrative power they have depends on how well their abilities allow them to influence or resolve story problems.   And, as the omnipotent god(s) of the narrative, the storyteller(s) can choose whether to confront them with challenges that play to their existing strengths, or that force them to find other solutions.  What’s the best way to kill a vampire?

This is actually part of what makes Lex Luthor such an effective Superman villain.  Objectively most versions of Lex are just A Guy™ – on a physical level he doesn’t have anything close to Kal El’s Kryptonian strength or superpowers.  But he feels like a serious threat because he often comes after Superman in ways that Clark can’t easily steamroll with that brute strength.  Lex uses manipulation, money, influence, connections, politics, public opinion; Superman can’t physically fight him without playing into Luthor’s plans, and trying to face him in those other fields requires tools that Clark wasn’t handed as part of his Kryptonian heritage.  An invading alien army is objectively a bigger physical threat to Earth, but a competent Lex Luthor scheme feels more dangerous because – while we feel confident that Superman can beat down a legion of monsters – when it comes to the question of whether he can outwit Luthor, the outcome is a lot less certain.

Situational disempowerment is another of the ways a narrative can reign in an otherwise “overpowered” character: placing them in circumstances where they either aren’t given many opportunities to showcase their best strengths, or are kept from using them because the drawbacks/ risks/ consequences of using their abilities makes their power(s) a liability.  I’ve mentioned it before, but this is actually one of the tricks I’m personally using to keep Phantom’s massive powerset balanced against the other proteges in Deathly Weapons.  It’s also something I’ve been struggling with when it comes to Conner’s place in that story since the stealth-mission plot structure doesn’t allow as much room to highlight his core powers and personal strengths.   

Stories can create additional stakes for powerful characters by giving them emotional arcs which their powers can’t resolve.   For a published example, consider the series One Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100.  Despite how high-ranked Saitama and Mob are within the power-scaling of their respective stories, those powers don’t kill the emotional stakes because the things they actually want/ need can only be gained through self-improvement or making connections in ways separate from their powers (and in some regards their power level actively gets in the way of that).  This is also something I’m doing with Danny’s main grief arc in DW.   

Final Conclusion time

In terms of physical strength and range of abilities, I think Phantom would be pretty near the top of the power-scale in most superhero crossovers.  While the Dark Phantom presented in TUE might not be a particularly good reflection of Danny’s specific potential, a crossover version of the TUE timeline offers a pretty good litmus-test for how dangerous a strong ghost could be in a given universe: the combination of power level, ability range and highly-specific/ inaccessible weak-points poses a strong strategic threat.

On the other hand, physical strength isn’t the only strength.  Phantom has a decent level of potential political sway as well, but he also lacks a lot of the soft skills and experience needed to make use of his toolset to its full ability.

Stepping back further, the answer to how powerful Danny is in a narrative sense is really just “however much the writer wants”.  Phantom’s narrative power depends on the kind of story he’s in and the challenges placed around him – there are as many ways to situationally nerf our ghost-boy as make him OP, all without needing to alter his on-paper powers.

#you asked me for thoughts which is a dangerous game to play as I have many #dp x dc #dpxdc #danny phantom #DP meta #dark phantom #the ultimate enemy #TUE Critical #I know that AGIT did a different take on TUE Dark Phantom and that's totally cool! This is just me unpacking the OG episode writing #on writing #writing superpowers #anonymous #3WD Answers

[pluckyredhead]

i really wanna know your ideal dc publishing cause seriously they could be doing so much and instead choose the absolute worst trashy choices

Lol thank you for indulging me, anon. I have thought about this EXTENSIVELY so sorry not sorry for the tusnami of opinions you have unleashed.

Before I get into the list, a few points to explain my approach:

ONGOINGS. I am a firm believer in the importance of ongoing series. There's nothing wrong with a miniseries but you can't get any forward momentum or character development with them because things keep getting reset to their baseline. Get really strong teams on your ongoings and let them develop their stories for years at a time. That's where all the legendary runs come from.

To that end, I am proposing a list of 30 books, which is a little more than 7 per week, which is roughly what DC publishes now (not including things like Sandman, Looney Tunes, etc.). They can add on as many minis as they want but will need fewer since so many more characters are accounted for with ongoings.

I am a strong believer in backup features - more value for your dollar and double the amount of characters included - so you'll see a lot of those.

I tried to balance what I personally think would be the most holistic representation of the DCU with what I believe will sell, so you're still going to see a lot of Bats. It should be understood that books without Bats are not going to be treated like throwaways like they sometimes are now. They are going to get top tier creators with long, sustained runs, just like Bruce always gets.

It will not be a publishing slate of all straight white guys from the 30s-60s.

Books with an asterisk* mean they will be kid-friendly. Not exclusively for kids, but appealing and accessible to young readers, the way Young Justice and its members' books were in the 90s. They can still include ongoing plots and queer characters and serious topics! They just shouldn't be relentlessly grim.

OKAY THE BOOKS!

Super Books:

Superman*: The lead Superman title, with a backup featuring starring Jon.

Action Comics*: Focuses more on the Superfamily as a whole, though the plot can dovetail and cross over with the main Superman book. (This is basically what's happening now.) Backup feature rotates between Kon, John Henry, Natasha, Kenan, Lois, and Jimmy.

Supergirl*: Why did I give Kara her own book and not Kon or Jon? Because a) DC needs more female-led books and b) I want to. The primary audience for this book is women who watched the CW show, or girls who have outgrown TTGo! and DC Super Hero Girls, NOT ADULT MEN. (Optional: Kon or Natasha backup feature.)

Bat Books:

Batman: Like the Super books, this would be the central title and focus on Bruce. Backup feature can rotate between the nine billion Gotham characters who need a home.

Detective Comics: Focuses more on mysteries/the family. Another rotating backup feature. NOTE: These backup features CANNOT star a character with their own book (Bruce, Dick, Damian, Selina, or Harley).

Nightwing: Dick sells. ;)

Robin*: Starring Damian, Tim gets a team book further down.

Batwoman: Perhaps we could try letting a queer woman write this for once? Revolutionary, I know.

Catwoman: Because she fucking rules.

Harley Quinn: Because she fucking sells.

Birds of Prey: I prefer a classic Babs/Dinah/Helena lineup but I'm flexible.

Batgirls*: If it’s too messy to have Babs in BoP and this, take her out and add Harper.

Red Hood and the Outlaws: Imagine if this book was good! In my universe, it will be.

Solo Books:

Wonder Woman

Flash: This will star Wally. Optional backup rotates between Jay, Bart, Ace, and Avery. Barry can show up sometimes I guess.

Green Lantern: Starring Hal, John, or Kyle. Whoever is the lead CANNOT also be on the Justice League.

Green Lantern Corps: Okay yes technically this is a team book. Shhh. Guy should always be on this book since he does better in an ensemble. The plot should dovetail loosely with the main GL book with an annual crossover but you don't have to read both if you don't want to. I am flexible about how to fit all the Earth GLs in (including Simon and Jessica), whether that's backup features or just including them in the GLC ensemble, but all six should always have a publishing home. Jo should get as many prestige graphic novels as N. K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell care to bless us with.

Aquaman: Jackson backup. Please let him go back to being Aqualad and stop making everyone grow up so fast.

Green Arrow: This book is currently perfect, no notes.

Blue Beetle*: Starring Jaime, though Ted may show up to be annoying if he would like. A Booster backup is permissible.

Vixen: If they have a Webtoon they should have a comic for $ too.

Zatanna: See above.

...I'm torn between Shazam!* or Stargirl* here. I feel like they both kind of fizzled? I guess it depends on which book gets the better pitch.

Team Books:

Justice League: I mostly don't care who is on this but if it's a bunch of white guys plus Wonder Woman and either John Stewart or Cyborg as tokens, AGAIN, DC gets shut down permanently. I don't make the rules.

Justice Society: This is also not allowed to be only old white guys. I know that's harder with the JSA. I don't care.

Titans: I'm going to be honest, I'm not convinced the OG/New Teen Titans can star in a decent book anymore, since they haven't done so in two decades. But I will give them one more try. They can call themselves the Outsiders instead if that helps.

Young Justice*: They also maybe need a new name because they are all legal adults, but this is Tim's book. I'm highly skeptical of success here as well but I think the right creative team could make something really soapy and New Adult and queer work. Please keep in mind that there are nine trillion characters in the DCU who are roughly Tim's age to draw from; the "Core Four" (ugh I hate that term so much) can all be members but they are not the only members. (Cassie cannot be the only girl and it cannot be all white.)

Teen Titans*: Damian's team! I vote for characters like Emiko, Ace, and Jackson here, but I'm flexible. THE AUDIENCE FOR THIS BOOK IS MIDDLE SCHOOLERS, NOT PEOPLE WHO GREW UP ON WOLFMAN/PEREZ. Jesus, DC.

Suicide Squad: I truly do not care about this book but we need to do something to appease the edgelords.

The New Gods: I'm thinking EPIC, I'm thinking KIRBY, I'm thinking SIMONSON. Everyone talks in a serif font and it should be impossible to explain out loud with human words. It's what Kirby would want.

So there it is, there's my pitch. Again, this doesn't cover minis (Elongated Man miniseries WHEN), event books, etc., but I think it gets most of the key players on the board!

(And yes, I know I left the Legion out. I'm sorry. But not very sorry. They can cameo in Kara's book.)

#comics #meta

[moss-with-legs]

Hold You Close; Call You Mine

“So, tell me... Do you like sweets?” 

"Sweets? Of course I do! My favorite are gummy worms, what are yours?" 

“Ice cream.” 

"Ice cream? I'll have to share one with you sometime," he said with a sly smirk before he chuckled to himself. 

The two of you were chilling out together as friends, watching tv, and chatting. 

he puts his arm around you and pulls you close. 

"Do you mind if I rest my head on your shoulder?" he asks, blushing. 

“Go for it.” 

After all this time being partners and going on missions together, this was like second nature to the two of you. ‘Comfortable,’ you think. ‘Domestic,’ even. 

he wraps his arms around you, hugging you tightly 

"You're so soft~" he says in an even softer whisper 

“Favorite color?” You muse, pressing further, trying to ignore the heat building in your chest and the fact that you stopped paying attention to the sitcom that was playing fifteen minutes ago. 

"It's hard to pick one....but I'd say sky blue. What about yours?" 

You tell him yours and he lets out an amused ‘hmm’ at your answer 

he leans his head against you. “That is a nice color." 

“Favorite... tv show?” 

"I really love Friends. I know it's cliche and all, but there's just something I enjoy about the show," 

he chuckles slightly before he closes his eyes 

"You're too comfy..." 

“Bleh. I don't like that one.” (It’s a perfectly fine show you guess, just not your favorite...) 

"Bleh? What do you watch then, you heathen?” 

“The Golden Girls,” you say smugly. “Top Tier Comedy.” 

"Really? That show is kinda old," he chuckles 

"Do you like old shows more?" 

No... something about it is just comforting I guess,” 

"Yeah I get what you mean....it kinda feels like home doesn't it?" he asks as he moves his head to look at you 

“Hmm maybe.” You quickly look for a way to get his gaze off of you- it's too piercing, too... intimate. 

“Favorite band?” 

"Ah,” this catches his attention, and you can’t help but smile at the way his sky blue eyes light up when he hears the question. “I like a lot of different types of bands. But I really love Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Guns N' Roses." 

He seems satisfied with his answer, albeit a bit shy to have revealed it so easily. He rubs his arm with his hand and yawns 

"What about you?" 

“Honestly, that sounds about right for you,” you chuckle. “I don't know if I can choose though...” 

he raises his eyebrow as a slight blush tints his cheeks 

"Why does it seem right for me?" 

“Heh, I dunno... I can just picture you listening to something loud and instrumental.” 

"I like how you know me pretty well, it's cute," he says with a smirk, nudging you with his elbow 

“Then it's a good thing you have me for a partner then, huh,” you quip back. 

"You're such a dork hehe... but yeah I guess you're right. It's nice having you there by my side," he chuckles as his stomach growls. 

"I'm pretty hungry, you?" 

“What are you thinking?” 

"How about this? How about we go grab some burgers?" he says as he gets off the sofa and stretches 

“That also sounds right for you,” you say, definitely not looking at the way his muscles flex when he does that. 

"Well, it's my favorite food," he chuckles. "You want to get in my Truck? Or shall we walk?" 

“I won't say no to a ride.” 

He smiles warmly as he holds out his hand for you to take. 

"Then let's drive together." 

“Okay.” 

he takes your hand and you both head towards his truck and he opens the passenger door for you 

"After you~" he chuckles as he glances at you 

“Oh, how charming,” you fire back. 

"I try, I'm glad to see the charm thing is working on you~" he teased as he closed the door, walking around the truck and getting in the driver's seat. 

You turn on the radio as you pull off. 

"Oh yeah?" he looks over at you 

"What do you like to listen to?" 

“Hmm...” You flip the stations until you land on something you like. 

He turns his head in your direction again as he turns the steering wheel. 

"heyyy,,," he says after a beat. 

“Yeahhh?” you mimic. 

"I... kinda like you,” he pauses, “if you know what I mean..." he offers a small smirk before returning his gaze at the road again. 

“Awh, only kinda?” you tease, “Your trusted partner that keeps you out of trouble and knows your favorite things and rides with you at 2am to get burgers? Dang, what’s it gonna take to make it into this guy’s good graces?” 

He sighs, blushing slightly as he looks at you. 

"You know what I mean...I really like you. A lot." he adds shyly. 

“Heh, well then...” you say, smiling to yourself, “I'm glad. I like you too Leon. A lot.” 

he looks at you 

"And what if I asked to kiss you?" 

You smile wholly then,  

“Can I ask that you feed me first?” 

He raises an eyebrow before he chuckles 

"Of course, you can babe. It wouldn't be a very romantic date if we didn't eat now, would it?" 

he asks, continuing to drive and taking exits for the burger joint 

“Oh?? Is this a date now?” you ask, your eyebrows raised in turn this time. 

he smirks. That Bastard. 

"I thought it was." 

he says with all too much confidence, before slowing down to park and turning off the engine, turning to look at you 

You laugh playfully, “That's to be determined I suppose.” 

he gets out of the car before coming to the passenger side and opening the door for you. 

"Shall we enter the burger joint my lady?" 

he smiles before extending his arm out in order for you to hold it. 

You raise an eyebrow, but take his hand and step out anyway, playfully bumping your hip against his. 

he chuckles softly as he puts his other hand over your hip, looking over to your face as you both enter the restaurant. The restaurant itself was notably bustling despite the late time 

"It's a lot busier than I thought it would be" he mumbles to you before walking in to find a table. 

“Mmhm,” you hum in agreement as you lean into him. 

The two of you manage to find a table and a waiter comes up to help. 

"Table for two?" 

"Yes please" replies Leon as you take your seats, him sitting next to you. He nudges your side. 

"What would you like hm?" 

“Fries and a shake please,” 

"And I'll have a bacon burger and a milkshake please" 

he said smiling softly before the waiter walked away. He turns to face you. 

"You know, I don't think I've ever been on a date with someone like you before, you're really sweet." 

“Oh? How have your other dates been then?” 

"...I think it would be better if I didn't answer that question...” 

he says as color fills his face 

You laugh, “Ha-ha, no, I really wanna know now. Tell me?” 

he looks around first to see if anyone else is hearing the conversation before turning to look at you 

"Alright, you asked for it," he teases. He leans closer to you, a smirk across his lips as his voice goes down a volume. 

"All of my other dates were...they were...well...they wanted to..." 

“They wanted to what?” 

"..." 

he stops talking, he sighs, looking at you intently. 

"...you want me to say it don't you?" 

“yES!” 

"...they only wanted ONE thing from me...you know what I mean..." he said slowly, blushing 

"...after the second date they never wanted to see me again..." 

You’re taken aback. Honestly it makes sense because he looks Like That. Still, it’s sad, and you feel bad for him. Don’t they realize how sweet he really is? 

“Aw you poor thing...didn't you mention you had a girlfriend once though? How was that?” 

his face flushes more as he hears the topic being changed 

"Umm...my ex girlfriend....she....she...was nice for a while..." 

he said with a small frown 

"But she started getting...more distant. And then she cheated on me," 

he said softly 

“Oh...” 

“I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked” 

"No, it’s alright, Really,” he adds upon seeing your concern. 

He leaned back on the seat, sighing before looking at you again. 

"Hey...can I... can I try something?" 

“Try what?” 

he leans in closer to you, his face only inches away from yours 

"Can I try...giving you a kiss?" 

You lean in to meet him, only to stop short and whisper, 

"the food is here." 

"Huh? Oh right...alright let's dig in," 

he chuckles softly as the waiters place the food in front of the both of you. Leon takes a few fries and eats those. 

"Y'know....there's something I've been meaning to ask..." 

he looks at you 

You look up from your milkshake. 

“Something beyond wanting to kiss me?” 

"Haha okay...you got me there. But if you let me...can I ask what I've been wondering?" 

You not-so-subtly sneak a piece of bacon from his burger. 

“Sure, ask away.” 

He looks down at his burger and the piece of bacon that is missing. 

"Hey! Give it back~" 

he laughs as his face turns slightly red. he sighs, 

"Okay....well...., do you ever think about maybe wanting to be more than just friends?" 

“Hmmm...” You pretend to mull it over. 

“Getting to patch you up after missions, hang out with you to get food at horrid hours of the morning, hold you close and call you mine, kiss every mole and freckle on that cute face of yours... 

...I think I'd like that, Leon.” 

his jaw just about drops as he blushes intently, he was caught off guard after you described...what you wanted to do 

"W-wait a minute! You really want that?!" 

he looked at you with a blushing face and a shocked expression 

You grin wickedly and start to laugh  

“I do, yeah.” 

He chuckles with you and takes your hand, squeezing it tightly with his. 

"'Hold you close and call you mine.' What do you mean by that hmm?" 

he asks in a whisper, his blushing face filled with curiosity 

“Oh, ah...” you falter. You begin to feel your cheeks heat up and go to take a sip of your milkshake.  

“I did say that didn't I? 

Leon smiles as a look of anticipation flashes across his face 

"So, what did you mean by that, darling?" he asks softly. 

“Oh you know....” you start, “I just want to um... hold you sometimes... 

I would be so lucky... to know that... you would enjoy being with me too...” you trail off. 

"Baby," he chuckles, 

"I'd Love to be with you, it'd make me feel...not so alone anymore." 

he says, taking the milkshake from your hands and taking a sip of it. 

“Heyy! Is that payback for the bacon?” 

he sighs, 

"Yes, it is, I figured it was only fair if I took some of your milkshake." 

He takes another sip. 

"Damn...this is actually pretty delicious." 

You chuckle and continue eating your fries with one hand, while holding his with the other. 

"I see you're not too angry I took your milkshake," 

His face was still blushing as he looked at you with a grin. 

"C'mere." 

he said to you as he leaned in and kissed your cheek, giggling as he did so. 

You giggle as well,  

“hol’ on you got a little somethin’ there.”  

You point to the corner of his mouth at an imaginary stain and lean in to kiss it, catching him off guard. 

he was surprised, his face turning an even brighter red as the feeling of your lips touching his made him flutter 

"Bleh!" 

he giggled 

"You're a meanie, you know that?" 

he said with a pout, smiling. He then licked the imaginary stain in the corner of his mouth just to tease you. 

“Bleh?!” you say in mock affront. 

“I thought you wanted a kiss?” 

"Oh I do~ I definitely wanted a kiss..." 

a smirk appeared on his face 

"Would you mind giving me a proper one~?" 

he asks, his face still blushing despite your teasing 

“A proper kiss? Hmph! I'll have to think about it.” 

"Ohh nooo, what shall I do to convince you? You want to hold me close right? Wouldn't a kiss help with that?" 

With a smirk he looked around to see if anyone was staring before he leaned in and kissed you on the lips, holding it for a few seconds before pulling away. 

“You're such a dork,” you whisper across his lips. 

"And you love that about me, right?" 

he says, looking at your smiling face. The two of you are now sitting there like lovers, smiling from cheek to cheek. A few of the people in the restaurant begin to look at you and him. 

"Uhh babe...people are looking at us now..." 

his face turns red as he sees the people looking at the both of you 

"W-want to maybe go outside and eat our food there??" he mutters 

“Nah, let ‘em look.” you say, “I'm almost done anyway...unless you're really uncomfy? Then I don't mind.” 

his confidence comes back to him 

"You know what? You’re right. Let them stare, we're dating and that's all that matters." 

he grins as his face turns red 

"I'm pretty much done with my food anyways," 

he says before patting your leg. 

"Wanna head to the truck?" 

You stifle a yawn and nod.  

“Yeah, okay.” 

"Alright sweetheart." 

He smiles with a nod he gets up from his seat and holds his hand out for you. 

"After you of course~" 

You groan at his teasing but take his hand again anyway. 

he smiles 

"Why? You don't like that?" 

he asks curiously as if he didn't know. He walks outside with you as you both head to the truck, he then opens the passenger door for you. 

"Aww, are you tired cutie?" 

his face was still red, blushing at the nickname 

You get in, shaking your head at his antics. 

"Aw come on, you're just so cute~ you can't help being so cute you know?" 

he chuckles. 

Once you're inside, he gets in, getting in the driver's seat and turning on the engine before turning to you and grinning. 

"So, I know it's really late, but do you want to sleep at my house tonight? Or would you like me to drop you off at yours?" 

“Hmm... would you let me hold you if I stayed over?” 

"Oh please~ I would love that," his face goes red immediately as he looks at you, grinning happily. 

"I would love to cuddle you right now darling; you make me feel so...comforted..." 

he leans over and kisses your cheek again. 

“Alright then,” you smile, “let's go.” 

he smiles and starts to drive back to his apartment; it took a few minutes but eventually he parks 

"Alright, we're here. I'm so lucky to have met you..." 

he says before getting out of the car and opening your door, waiting for you to get out 

“Despite the unlucky circumstances that brought us together?” 

he nods. 

"Yes, despite everything....I'm happy I met you. I'm happy I'm dating you. My life would be boring without you in it." 

With a wide smile on his face and he holds his arm out, his hand waiting for you to hold it once you get out of the truck. 

You take his arm in yours and lean against him. 

his eyes light up and he smiles gently 

"Thank you." 

he leans down to your ear and whispers, 

"Shall we head up to my apartment? The neighbors won't be able to sleep if we're making out in public." 

He laughs, and it's delightful and genuine and makes you feel bubbly inside. 

“Woah there, Agent. I remember discussing cuddles, not making out.” 

his laughter dies down into chuckles. 

"Oh, come on, give me a little credit, it's hard to want to just cuddle you. But if that's what you want then that's what we'll do." he leans in closer to you as the two of you walk on the sidewalk, looking at you with a smirk. 

"Besides...if we do end up making out, I don't mind~" 

“Uh huh,” you say giving him a little pinch in the side. “We'll see.” 

he looks down at you with a wide grin 

"I think it'd be fun~" 

The two of you eventually make it to his apartment building, his arm still around yours as he opens the door and you both enter. 

It's quiet now and you yawn again while taking off your jacket and shoes. You look over to the clock on the wall and muse that it might be time for us to head to bed. 

he yawns as well. 

"We probably should head to bed but...I dunno, I want to keep talking to you tonight." 

he says softly 

"You know...I want you to stay in my room with me tonight...will you? I know it may seem sudden but...I don't want us to be separate tonight..." 

“Well, we've shared a bed before on mission so it shouldn't be too different right? Can I borrow a t-shirt to sleep in?” 

"That's exactly what I was going to say, and yes, you can have one of my shirts to sleep in, I'll go grab it." 

He went to his room and grabbed a T-shirt as he came back, walking over and giving it to you. 

"Here you go babe" 

“Thanks.” You go to get changed and hangout in the bedroom waiting for him. 

He comes into the bedroom a few minutes later, wearing sweatpants. 

"Can I sit with you on the bed?" 

he asks softly, his tired face looking at you. 

"I'm sorry if I sound clingy...I just want to hold you right now." 

No, no, it's okay. Come here,” you say. 

he walks to you and you both sit on the bed; he leans on you and wraps his arm around you 

"Thanks, just having you here is already soothing...you know that?" 

“I feel the same,” you tell him.  

You turn towards you and begin to nuzzle into his neck, inhaling his freshly showered scent and leaving a quick kiss on his shoulder. 

“Wanna lay down?” 

He smiled and laid down flat on the bed, pulling you to lay atop his chest. 

"Of course, I do...c'mon, cuddle with me, you can even sleep on my chest," 

he says softly, his face blushing again as you kissed him. 

You sigh and wrap your arms and legs around him. 

“I'm so happy. You make me happy, Leon. Thank you... for being mine.” 

you hear a soft sniffle, and he pulls you in tightly. 

"Thank you...thank you soo much for loving me..." 

he smiles 

"I really am lucky to have such a beautiful person like you..." 

He's about to speak again until a yawn escapes him. 

You rub small circles across his hip as you grow more tired, comfortable and safe in his warm embrace.  

His face turns red as you start rubbing circles on his hips, his arms wrap around you as he gently kisses the top of your head; his eyes slowly droop as he holds you. You could feel him start to breathe in and out softly. 

“Goodnight Leon.” 

He smiles in his near sleep, wrapping his arms around you more tightly. 

“I love you...goodnight sweetheart~" 

he says softly, his eyes slowly shutting, and falling asleep. 

#mine #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy #resident evil #leon x reader #leon kennedy x reader #sorry if you like Friends #leon kennedy fluff #leon x reader fluff #re4r leon #re4r leon x reader

[frownyalfred]

smth I think is totally underrated about Batman is his ability to be the funniest person in the room at all times. like whether or not he actually meant to be funny, he cracks the driest jokes and does the goofiest things that crack me up and that needs to be acknowledged more like Bruce actually has a sense of humor and it's the funniest ever. like I was watching the lego jl movies recently and it was like everything he said made me start giggle. and let's not talk about all the animated movies too . . . top tier comedy and the shows 😔😔 Batman is actually a comedian but dc is too scared to lean into it

He's SO dry. I feel like a lot of his humor can go over people's heads, and that's largely due to Alfred and his upbringing.

The beauty of it in fics, I feel like, is people close to him (sans Alfred) not knowing when he's joking or making fun of them -- he's just so dry and expressionless/deadpan that it could be him making a subtle joke, or just saying something, and nobody knows.

And if you do know, and he makes a dry joke in front of like, the entire JL, nobody else realizes and you're the only one laughing and everyone thinks you're super weird for interrupting Batman's presentation.

#batman #dc #bruce wayne #dc comics #asks #anon

[natsubeatsrock]

Top 7 Things I Enjoyed in 2023: Number 7

If you've seen my past lists, you'd think that I don't like much from DC. That's just a reflection of my current relationship with the company. They've only really made two comics I love this century and it's for B-tier characters. I've been out of touch with any movie endeavors involving heroes since Batman. I've never really gotten into the animated movie scene.

That was only sometimes the case. When I was younger, they ruled the animated television scene. First, it was the DCAU works like Justice League and Static Shock. Later works like Teen Titans and Batman: the Brave and the Bold were what I looked forward to seeing on weekend nights. Sadly, that magic seemed to have died as the years continued, and nothing else has been of interest to me on the animated scene in over a decade.

But what better way to get back into it than the man of tomorrow?

Number #7 – My Adventures with Superman

I've recently been hit with how old my generation is. It's crazy that a show like this feels perfectly suited for the Adult Swim block it aired on. This felt like the kind of show I would have seen around the same time as any of those other shows I mentioned. All while referencing things that my generation would recognize and appreciate. That said, it's thankfully not too adult. There's not too much that could keep me from watching this with my elementary school students, especially considering they're watching anime like One Piece and Demon Slayer.

Speaking of anime, one of the bigger complaints about this show has been feeling too much like anime. For one, have you seen a lot of what is airing around the same time slot? Two days after it aired, Toonami came on to show actual anime. And, for all the changes to character designs, these characters very much feel like the versions fans should know and recognize.

Ever since film audiences had to see Superman snap General Zod's neck on screen, followed by his death in Dawn of Justice, it's been clear the public image of Clark Kent has needed serious repair. While the fate of the DCU stands to be seen, it's amazing to have a story so uniquely focused on how good Clark Kent is. And I do mean Clark. Despite the title, this story feels more about how their world doesn't have to be afraid of Superman because Clark Kent is a good person. This is despite everything his world throws at him and the slander made his way.

And thank goodness for this iteration of Lois and Clark's relationship. This is a relationship that has seen multiple versions over the years. However, it just feels satisfying to see a solid romantic relationship progress in real-time. The best thing about this being for adults is that much of the "will they, won't they" nonsense that pervades teenage romance is replaced with honest conversations about feelings and amazing payoffs.

The only complaint I could have is that it felt too short. It could have easily overstayed its welcome, but there are things about this series that demand a second season. Thank goodness the end of the first season came with a confirmation of the second season's production.

This is normally how I talk about my favorite things of the year. And there were six things I thought were better than this. That's how crazy this year was.

#good riddance 2023 #my adventures with superman

[arecomicsevengood]

Jack Cole's Plastic Man

I recently discovered that some volumes of the Plastic Man Archives, those fifty dollar hardcovers issued by DC, can be had for fairly affordable prices these days. I had always heard that Jack Cole was one of the few Golden Age cartoonists whose work held up - Some would advocate for Will Eisner's work on The Spirit, but Cole's work, being more explicitly comedic seemed like it might come closer to E.C. Segar or other strip cartoonists whose work I know to be enjoyable. I'd read a little bit of Plastic Man before - his origin story, as reprinted in Jules Feiffer's The Great Comic Book Heroes, is not that impressive, but is ingrained in my memory due to poring over that book at my grandparents' house as a kid. I also know that I read the Art Spiegelman and Chip Kidd Jack Cole And Plastic Man: Forms Stretched To Their Limits book but that was much later in life and so I don't remember the stories reprinted nearly as much as I recall the Chip Kidd of it all: The scans from newsprint, the ephemera. There are only a few complete stories in that book.

I do wish there was a single volume best-of, in an affordable softcover, rather than a series of eight hardcovers, committed to completism. There are also now four softcovers, put out by PS Artbooks, that reprint four issues of the Plastic Man series at a time - I believe there is some overlap with the archives in the first two of these volumes, but that with the third they get to reprinting material DC didn't get around to. I also believe that PS follows the "scanning from old issues" method preferred by Spiegelman to the "restored and made crisper" approach seen in the DC Archives books. I don't know, of course, if my personal taste in what I think is the strongest material would align with that of the editors of a hypothetical best-of. I'm sure there are great discrepancies between my taste, those of an editor at DC Comics, and Art Spiegelman's when it comes to contemporary work, but I would also like to think that, when evaluating work from the 1940s, our collective tastes would approximate those of the theoretical modern reader. I believe we'd all agree that The Granite Lady, from Volume Five, with its reoccurring gags of men being suicidal due to a beautiful but indifferent woman, or the same volume's Thinking Machine, with its prefiguring of AI played for laughs, constitutes top-shelf material. Volume 3 is a little more consistently high-quality than volume 5, but not by much.

But beyond selecting the stories that hold up as comedy, that are able to maintain a certain velocity, there is the cartooning itself to observe the oddity of. There is a peculiar way these panels move from panel to panel, which is abnormally solid: Often it seems like the figures are made of clay, and they and the camera are being moved around a stop-motion diorama. There's a way of foreshortening the bodies and backgrounds that gives the comics a sense that the spaces have been realized by the artist with perfect precision before he laid his pen to paper. This is most in evidence with Woozy Winks, Plastic Man's sidekick, a big fat guy wearing polka dots and a straw boater hat, but there is always a sense of solidity, of moving the reader through the space of the page by identifiable props. A big part of this is the gag of Plastic Man himself, how he disguises himself as an object then reveals himself later.

Cole shows Plastic Man stretching within the panels themselves, which are set out in a standard three-tier page. He doesn't go for wacky byzantine dynamic layouts that have Plastic Man moving throughout the page. There is something inherently deadpan or understated, which is both a big part of why these comics work and something that people trying to adapt Plastic Man to a more traditional superhero comics framework miss. Plastic Man is now owned by DC Comics, and when he shows up as a character, he is played as zany, while the sense of humor in Cole's comics is situational and occasionally dark. In a non-Golden Age context, it makes sense to play the character for what he can do visually, but playing the cartooning broader leads to different calculations as to how the timing would work.

There are other factors in play as to why later incarnations may not work as well. Over time, the idea of a humorous superhero veers into superhero parody, which then gives way to head-up-its-own-ass self-referentiality. This is a trap even very funny people can fall into. Jack Cole is simply telling stories, that require very little from the reader in terms of background knowledge they need going in, and he elaborates on his basic premise, time and time again, becoming reliably entertaining. I don't think I need many more of these collections beyond the two that I have, but two volumes of classic comics is generally my limit: That's all I have of Carl Barks, Floyd Gottfredson, E.C. Segar, and Cliff Sterrett. Cole easily ranks among those guys, a great entertainer for a broad audience.

#Jack Cole

[incarnateirony]

So I've been thinking.

And I think it's time to sort of go back over what I've talked about the last few years. From my "dips glasses in corporate oil" WBD merger narration, CW merger, and the various business changes that have led us to... where we are right now.

Because people don't really get it yet, or accept it fully. Some think they do, some pretend it's relative. But the status of the Supernatural Franchise, the status of broadcast DC, the status of CW and Nexstar have all become a strange new future about to reshape everything down to the bones of convention structure for years to come, now inked in contracts. So pull up a chair. Sit down. Buckle in.

Short version update of the Corporate Oil post:

As said, we survived the merger, no problem

As said, we're topping the charts with GOT, no problem

As said, we've got several deals locked on several product fronts for a few years, no problem.

As said, we're topping nexstar's digital profit nationally, no problem

Zaslav cut the 3 tier reporting structure, giving creative liberty back to creatives unless numbers suffer, no problem

Nexstar doesn't care about the creation methods of the properties it buys, right down to the LIV dispute.

Glen, and Renee, and others all show we're being handled with the import of DC

That's because Zaslav was advised on IPs by Jensen's mentor, Roth, who told him to do this to begin with

We're the next Harry Potter, welcome to hell antis

Meanwhile Berlanti, DC, Jensen, Misha overlap on both animated and broadcast new DC forms, and friendships

It's gonna be deancas and they gotta cope whether they accept that or not but all the rest aside

That's it that's where we are right now.

They're top properties, top signed deals for years in the future, they're the priorities, they're multi funded, we're golden.

If anyone else happens to be attached to a show that doesn't have these successes or reassurances they can just rant into the internet or whatever but seriously guys. Chill. This land is your land, this land is my land, from bluegreen georgia, to the newfound amazon prime land. from new con panels to the international max top number waters, this land is etc etc

[sharksandsquirrelsandsnakes-ohmy]

Dating Denki Kaminari

Denki has ADHD and dyslexia, making any kind of studying awful. There have been many times you had read textbooks to Denki while he listened happily 

Even after graduation, Denki still loves to lay with his head in your lap while you read stories to him

Your first kiss with Denki was quite literally electric. He accidentally shocked you because he was excited 

When Denki gets frustrated his entire body becomes covered in a static charge, making study dates a bit more interesting 

When you go to places with large crowds, Denki keeps a tight hold on your hand

When Denki gets brain fried- be from his quirk or a long day of forced focus- he likes to play with your fingers, wiggling and moving them absentmindedly

Good morning and good night calls or texts are very calming for Denki if he is away on a mission. He also loves when you text him randomly throughout the day

You often have to remind Denki to take breaks when he gets enthralled with a video game, he can get so lost in the game he will even forget to use the bathroom

Denki's love language is words of affirmation and he will blush furiously if you leave him note around the house

Denki loves to play video games with you; his favorites to play together are Just Dance and Mario Kart because he likes competitions

Denki will flirt with you all day but the second you flirt back, he turns cherry red and sputters things that could possibly be words

If you have kids, Denki would build lego sets or play video games with them all day without a second thought, completely forgetting he was in charge of dinner

Denki loves to kiss you- on the cheek, the lips, your hand- it doesn't matter. Denki will kiss you every chance he gets

Denki is either the worst or the best morning person with no in between. Either he wakes up on the 1st beep of the alarm ready to go or he hits snooze 8 times

Denki has an alarm set on his phone to take his meds but still forgets, so you also have an alarm set for him to take his meds. 

Denki loves to go on movie dates, especially if there's a new Marvel or DC move out but, for nights in, Disney princess movies are top tier in his opinion and yes, Mulan counts too

Denki's favorite Disney movie is a tie between Tangled and Up. Tangled is exciting and cute and Pascal reminds him of Bakugou- but don't tell him he said that! Up, on the other hand, is beautiful and it makes him cry every time. Doug is his favorite but he loves all the dogs

Denki convinced you to rescue a sweet natured dog named Bates. A month later, Denki wanted to adopt another dog and name him Master. You said no.

Denki and you sleep under a weighted blanket every night and keep a spare for tips or missions but Denki says you being there is better than the blanket 

Denki makes terrible dad jokes and is willing to go a very long was for a joke. He once called you 'Hungry' for an hour

Couch cuddles are a form of currency in your house. Ten minutes of couch cuddles will even buy you out of dishes

Denki gets covered in freckles during the summer months. You gained the habbit of kissing his freckles and Denki noticed and started spending more time outside so he had more to kiss

Denki will go from talking about the theoretical importance of a strong parental roll being substituted by children for a hero figure to forgetting the word cape in the same breath

Denki likes to marathon different animes while cuddling on the couch when you both have a day off

Denki has a small obsession with sports animes- his chaotic bisexual nature showing itself- and has a love-hate relationship with Food Wars

Denki will lay on top of you and hide his face in your chest when he's embarrassed. It often leads to his falling asleep on top of you as well

Denki gets excited when you go to red carpets or hero events with him. Having you there builds his confidence 

Denki will randomly pull you away from whatever you're doing to dance with you

Pro-Hero Denki has a large fan base of chaotic teenagers. They are not allowed to have meet and greets without you or another Hero babysitting 

Pro-Hero Denki will walk the red carpet with you on his arm and will absolutely know he's hot shit with you on his arm

#denki kaminari #denki x reader #gender neutral reader #mha headcanons #mha #mha denki

[lies]

The Diplomat: Predictions for S2 (and S3)

Heavy spoilers for season 1 after the cut. Also, brief mention of some leaked photos from season 2 filming that contain a significant season 2 spoiler.

Unless otherwise noted, this is all just me speculating based on rewatching season 1 of The Diplomat multiple times, because I love it. I don't actually know anything.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Ronnie is dead from the Grove car bombing. I loved Ronnie's character, and would have loved to see them in season 2. But at this point they do more for the story dead than alive. sigh

As also previously mentioned, Hal and Stuart are alive but injured. This is partially confirmed by recent leaked photos from the Season 2 production, which show Kate and Hal leaving an event with a bunch of people dressed in black (Ronnie's funeral/memorial?) with Hal having visible injuries to his face but looking otherwise okay.

No sign of Stuart in those photos, though. Stuart was a few feet closer to the blast than Hal was, going by the freeze-frame of the car bombing effects shot. So it would make sense for him to have been hurt worse than Hal. I think he's alive, though. Debora Cahn & Co. know what they're doing, and Stuart is a top-tier part of what makes the show great. No way they'd kill him off.

The Grace Penn thing will blow up and Kate will be named to replace her relatively early in S2. I'm basing this on my sense that the show is going to have a three-season structure where S1 = Kate as UK ambassador, S2 = Kate as Veep, and S3 = Kate as President. I'll talk about the presidency part below, but in terms of veep it would be anticlimatic at this point not to have the Grace Penn thing happen soon. They've established that it will happen, that it could happen at any time, and that it is likely to happen in the next six months. Having it happen any later than 6 months would feel like a bait and switch. Having it happen in 6 months would feel flat. We want to see Kate thrown into the deep end. That's what they did in S1, and they're going to keep doing it in S2. They'll raise the stakes, and having Kate thrust into the vice presidency does that.

So Kate will go to DC. Stuart will go with her. Hal might go with her, but he might also be pressed into service as Kate's replacement for ambassador to the UK. This means a few things: a) It keeps Mrs. Munning, Pensy, and Winfield House in the show, yay! I mean, I can imagine scenarios in which they have Pensy and Mrs. Munning go to DC with Kate, but those don't really pass the smell test. b) It keeps Dennison in the show, which obviously needs to happen. c) It means Sec of State Gannon is out, since Gannon hates Hal and Rayburn promised Gannon he'd never hire Hal again. So push will come to shove, and I'm sorry, Gannon, but you don't have Hal's plot armor. So Gannon goes, though he could still show up as a Rayburn rival, and a S3 Kate rival, assuming she does ascend to the presidency and we see her subsequent election campaign in the second half of S3, which I think is likely.

Eidra goes to DC. It's a positive career move for her (assuming she gets a sufficiently high-powered role), and Kate's going to want her around. With Kate's newfound sway as a vice president taking the lead on foreign policy, she's going to want a trusted ally at the CIA. So more Stuart+Eidra relationship, yay!

Again on the subject of major players we will not be losing, Trowbridge (at least for a time) will continue as Prime Minister. There will be lots of fun intrigue in S2 about Kate and Dennison looking for evidence to tie him to Lenkov.

It makes me sad to predict it, but Rayburn is definitely going to die at or around the end of S2. They've telegraphed it enough times ("My cardiologist is sure I'm gonna die on his watch", "Just knock off that 'I resign' shit. It really pisses me off. I don't have that kind of time."), and again, how do they raise the stakes? Rayburn's heart is Chekhov's gun, and it absolutely is going off around the S2/S3 transition. (Unless they try to do a slow-burn and stretch it out for more seasons. But this is a Netflix show. If they're not planning for three-and-out they're not paying attention. And again, Cahn & Co. obviously know what they're doing.)

When they finally get the goods on Trowbridge, he'll be out as PM and Dennison will take his place. So the long-distance Special Relationship will continue and escalate in S3. It is to swoon. 🙂

I think that's it for specific predictions. In general I think the show's main dramatic arc will continue to be Kate gaining influence by convincing people of her abilities. This will happen through her “catching fire” as VP in S2, as Billie hopes, and then as President in S3, such that we'll recapitulate Stuart's journey from "it sounded delusional" to "then I met you and it sounded, frankly, more delusional" to "but now I'm getting the idea." Except now it will be everyone in the world going through that same process.

A lot of these predictions, maybe most of them, will turn out to be wrong. But I know the show will continue to be amazing: superbly written, cast, acted, and produced. I can't wait to see it.

#the diplomat #spoilers #the diplomat spoilers

[myfaveficrecs]

Creator Spotlight

@wildbornsiren has a masterlist to die for. Tons of stuff to read from Top Gun, Outer Range, Miles Miller, DC Characters, and Triple Frontier. There is literally something for everyone. Head on over and show her some love.

A Little Q & A

1: What is your favorite thing you've written or made?  The Game -- A Bradley/Reader/Jake series. Bradley lost a game of pool, betting Jake a night with you. Things evolve and go from there, finding the three of you in a relationship. Lucky Piece Jake/Reader. This is actually the first thing I've written for the fandom, and it's ending soon. You’ve known Jake “Hangman” Seresin for years. He gets called up,and asks if you’d come with him. Throwing caution into the wind you join him as he trains for a special mission; all the while figuring out how much you really mean to each other. And Delicate Bob/Rooster. A love story and neither of them realize it. It's really really hard for me to pick just once, so forgive me for picking three. There's a few things that I'm really proud of/happy with, and these were the first three that came to mind.

2: Top 3 favorite creators you want people to check out?  @jakeseresins​ , Em is an incredible writer. Their work is one that I immediately drop everything to read. They create with so much passion that the love seeps into every word. Their FloydSereShaw is top notch! I highly recommend Feathers and The Fragile Season. @roleycoleyreccenter Their House We Share series is top tier. Their writing is so immersive, so good. I am in absolute awe of their ability to spin creative, captivating stories. I get so caught up in their stories that everything else slips away. @hederasgarden is one of the first person I've read in fandom. Her work is beautiful, emotional and just incredible. I love how she writes Jake. Her series Friendly Competition is one that I come back to often.

3: An idea you have for a future work that people should look out for?  Finishing up some series! Lucky Piece, Magnetism, and Rise & Shine are all getting finished here in the next couple weeks. As well as The Deconstruction of Hangman. I've got lots of things on deck--I just need to sit down and write them. I've got a Floydsin Hanahaki fic, Bradley reuniting with the girl who got away, and an assassin AU.

@roosterscock​

@roosterforme​

@bradshawsbitch​

@jupitercomet​

@seresinhangmanjake​

@fandomxpreferences​  

@wildbornsiren​  

@babyrooster​

@ohtobeleah​

@callsign-marlie​

@callsign-milano​

@oncasette​

@topguncortez​

@topgun-imagines​

@roleycoleyreccenter​  

@call-sign-shark​  

@cherrycola27​

@thedroneranger​

@notroosterbradshaw​

@almostgenerallyalways​

@roosterbruiser​

@teacupsandtopgun​

@endofdays56​

#promote creators #creator spotlight #tgm

[existslikepristin]

Hi ELP! Long time lurker here, love your writing! From the legendary groups of the 1st generation to the most recent rookies, is there any group you recently got into? What makes you curious to check a group out? Is it their music, performances, music videos, visuals, variety show appearances? What are you looking for in a group? Skills/talent, personality, chemistry between members, just good songs? What do you like the most about your favorite groups? sincerely, leaf.

Heyhey, thank you for being around and engaging!

This post isn't HUGE, but here's a Keep Reading line for the sake of efficiency:

I don't think I've gotten into any groups recently. Like... within the last year, at least? I'm pretty sure the last one I started actively paying attention to was WJSN, and that was either right before Queendom started or somewhere in the middle of it. Basically just in time to hype myself up with "Last Sequence" and then immediately become disappointed with their lack of comeback for more than a year now.

As for what draws me in, if I'm being honest, it's usually that I see a random picture of a member in the group who I find exceptionally attractive to the point that I have a bias before I've even heard their music (Eunha, Dayoung, Choerry, Sunny, Jihyo, Rina, etc), and I go from there. As long as they have more than just one member I think is hot, such as music I like and ideally a company that gives them more than one comeback a year, I'll follow them casually. Sometimes I'll get into a group based on a recommendation directly from a friend (Dreamcatcher, Purple Kiss, Monsta X), or very rarely I find them at random like from a Pandora station (Red Velvet, Itzy).

What I like the most about each group is pretty much always different. The ones I don't follow quite as much have fewer factors I like (Itzy puts on great performances, f(x) had incredible music, G-Idle is full of wild personality). My favorites just have the largest number of things I like. Red Velvet has an enormous discography of mostly hits, they're hot, their fans are relatively chill, and I've seen them in person. Purple Kiss are top tier musicians and have the discography to prove it, they're hot, they give indie vibes, their company seems decent, and they were willing to let go of a member who they weren't utilizing rather than hanging on to her for no good reason. DC has a good company, they're hot and funny, they make tons of content, I got to go to a concert, they have a great fanbase, they nourish my soul, and they have great music.

TL;DR: It depends on the group.

(Like, fuckin OOF, am I right?)

[thecreaturecodex]

Modron, Octon

Image © @tredlocity​

[Those of you who are familiar with the modrons of 1e may notice that I am leaving out a big bit of modron flavor text. The idea that there are a set number of modron hierarchs of each tier. This I am intentionally leaving out, because I think it is stupid. Namely, the numbers of each tier are way too low. They’re the square of the modron’s number (so 100 decatons, 81 nonatons, 64 octons, etc). And in 1e, Mechanus is infinite. So you have an infinite plane, with just 100 supervisors, 81 sheriffs, 64 governors? D&D in general has difficulty with population sizes (cities always are underpopulated compared to real world medieval cities), but comparing these numbers to literal infinity just makes the problem even more noticeable. So I am leaving the numbers of each rank of hierarch intentionally blank. Do with them what you, as a GM, will.]

Modron, Octon CR 12 LN Outsider (extraplanar) This stoutly build creature has a single large eye set in its head, which is surrounded with an ornate collar. It has eight arms, and appears to be wearing a metallic set of robes.

Octons are bureaucrats and middle managers par excellence. They act as regional governors in Regulus, overseeing the tasks of lesser modrons, coordinating large scale construction or expansion projects and keeping tabs on law and order in their province. Their collars give them enormous magical mobility, and they are sometimes seen floating at the tops of buildings or swimming through waterworks in order to properly inspect them. They are rarely found in each other’s company, although by no means are most octons alone—they usually travel with a decaton to delegate to, and a large staff of drones to follow orders. When multiple octons come together, it is usually to discuss a project that would affect all of their districts or to share intelligence about visitors to be aware of (such as mortal adventurers).

Octons may look rather unassuming compared to decatons and nonatons, but they are even more dangerous combatants than those ranks. Octons are trained in the martial arts, and each octon has a specific fighting style that they use—these fighting styles are about the only individuality given to octons, and so they are proud of their skills. The octon statistics presented here show specialization in defensive techniques. Although octons are proud, they are not foolish; their first move when confronted with interlopers from another plane is typically to send them back where they came from with magic.

An octon is fastidious and precise in its movements, mannerisms and speech. They are sticklers for following all of the rules, even those of spelling and grammar, and get irritated with anyone who does not consider such proprieties. On the rare occasions they are found outside of Regulus, octons often serve as ambassadors. In these roles, they are usually granted authority to make some decisions, but usually defer major treaties or declarations to the tertians.

Octon     CR 12 XP 19,200 LN Medium outsider (extraplanar, law, modron) Init 23 (fixed); Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect chaos, Perception +22 Defense AC 26, touch 17, flat-footed 26 (+6 Dex, +1 dodge, +9 natural) hp 156 (13d10+65 plus 20) Fort +9, Ref +14, Will +13 DR 10/chaotic; Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10; SR 21 Defensive Abilities constructed, freedom of movement, uncanny dodge Offense Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (good), swim 60 ft. Melee unarmed strike +19/+14/+9 or +17/+17/+12/+12/+7 (2d6+4) Special Attacks monastic training Spell-like Abilities CL 13th, concentration +17 Constant—detect chaos, freedom of movement, tongues At will—calm emotions (DC 16), clairaudience/clairvoyance, dimension door, haste, order’s wrath (DC 18), protection from chaos (DC 15), telekinesis (DC 19) 3/day—dismissal (DC 19), greater command (DC 19), greater teleport 1/day—dictum (DC 21), true seeing, wall of force Statistics Str 18, Dex 22, Con 20, Int 19, Wis 21, Cha 19 Base Atk +13; CMB +17 (+19 grapple); CMD 34 (36 vs. grapple) Feats Alertness, Combat Expertise, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike (B), Stunning Fist, Weapon Finesse Skills Diplomacy +17, Fly +27, Knowledge (arcana, engineering, history, local) +14, Knowledge (planes, religion) +17, Perception +24, Sense Motive +22, Spellcraft +14, Swim +26, Use Magic Device +14; Racial Modifiers +4 Fly, +2 Perception, +4 Swim Languages Celestial, Infernal, Modron, telepathy 100 ft. (9 miles with modrons), tongues SQ coordinated ally, fixed initiative, motility collar Ecology Environment any (Regulus) Organization solitary or conference (2-5) Treasure standard Special Abilities Monastic Training (Ex) An octon gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat as well as the unarmed strike damage bonus and flurry of blows of a monk equal to its Hit Dice. Octon hit dice stack with monk levels for these class abilities. Motility Collar (Su) An octon’s collar gives it a fly speed of 60 feet and a swim speed of 60 feet as a supernatural ability. It also grants it a +4 racial bonus to Fly and Swim checks.

#modron #octon #planescape #D&D #pathfinder 1e #tredlocity