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britesparc · 3 years

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Weekend Top Ten #467

Top Ten Romantic Couples in Superhero Movies (& TV)

It’s Valentine’s Day this weekend. Woo, I guess? I dunno. I’m not generally cynical about holidays but Valentine’s Day does seem to be entirely focused on selling cards without any of the associated pleasantries of, say, Christmas or Halloween. I’d rather just try to be nice to my wife all year round. At least because of the apocalypse all the restaurants are closed so we can’t be tempted to pay through the nose for a set menu. Anyway, it gives me a strained excuse to tie this week’s Top Ten to something vaguely romantic.

Superheroes are often horny. This seems to be a defining characteristic of the artform. Whether it’s their descent from ancient myths, or their creators’ origins in writing romance books, or just a function of genre storytelling in the mid-twentieth century, there’s quite a lot of romantic angst in superhero stories. Pretty much every superhero has a significant other; Lois Lane even got her own comic that was actually called Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane. It’s hard to conceive of many heroes without their primary squeeze, and often – as we get multiple media adaptations of characters – we can add diversity or a twist to the proceedings by picking a lesser-known love interest, or one from earlier in the character’s fictional history; for instance, Smallville beginning with Cark Kent’s teenage crush Lana Lang, or The Amazing Spider-Man swapping out Mary Jane Watson for Gwen Stacey.

Anyway, I’m talking this week about my favourite superhero couples. I’ve decided to focus on superhero adaptations – that is, the characters from movies and films based on superhero comics or characters. I find this a little bit easier as I don’t have a phenomenal knowledge of sixty years of Avengers comics, but I have seen all the movies a bunch. As many comics as I’ve read, and as much as I love various ink-and-paper pairings, I can arguably talk more authoritatively about the fillums than the funny books. And let’s be real here, kids: my favourite comic book romantic couple is Chromedome and Rewind in Transformers. Also if I split them in two I can talk about comic couples next year. Woohoo!

It really is hard thinking of these things nearly nine years in, folks.

So! Here, then, are my favourite movie-TV Couples in Capes. Obviously there’s a fair bit of MCU in here. And I’ve been pretty specific about “superhero” romances: so no Hellboy and Liz Sherman, sadly (and I do really like them in the movies, of which they really need to make a third). Some are civvies-and-supes; some are capes-and-capes. You’ll work it out.

Superman & Lois Lane (Christopher Reeve & Margot Kidder, Superman, 1978): who else? The most famous romance in all of comics, a combo so strong it remains the focus of pretty much every interpretation of the character, but arguably never better than here; so good are Reeve and Kidder that their fast-talking banter and inherent goodness set the template for a huge swathe of other comic adaptations to follow. She’s sarky and streetwise; he’s gormless and good-hearted. She leaps in where angels fear to tread, he’s an invulnerable alien in disguise. They have buckets of chemistry and an utterly believable (tentative) romance. They’re perfect performances and the scenes of Clark in Metropolis for the first time (including Superman’s balcony interview with Lois) are the best bits of an already excellent film.

Raven & Beast Boy (Tara Strong & Greg Cipes, Teen Titans Go!, 2014): on a totally different register, we have the comedy stylings of the Teen Titans. Raven and Beast Boy had a flirtatious relationship on the original Titans series, but on this longer-running and much more demented comedy follow-up, they were allowed to make the romance more official (I nearly said “explicit” but, y’know… it’s not that). The jokes and banter – BB the love-struck, jealous suitor, Raven the too-cool partner who feigns nonchalance – build and build, but every now and again they’re allowed a moment of genuine heartfelt romance, and it hits all the more strongly amidst the ultra-violence and outrageous comedy.

Captain America & Agent Carter (Chris Evans & Hayley Atwell, Captain America: The First Avenger, 2011): the premier couple of the MCU, Steve and Peggy spend a whole movie flirting (she sees the goodness of him even before he gets all hench) before finally arranging a date that, we all know, is very much postponed. Peggy casts a shadow over the rejuvenated Cap and the MCU as a whole, founding SHIELD, inspiring dozens of heroes, and counselling Steve to her dying days. She remains Steven’s true north (like Supes with Lois, Peggy’s an ordinary human who is the actual hero of an actual super-powered hero), guiding him through the chaos and tragedy of Endgame, until they both get to live happily ever after. Even though he snogged her niece.

Batman & Catwoman (Michael Keaton & Michelle Pfeiffer, Batman Returns, 1992): Pfeiffer delivers a barnstorming performance as Selina Kyle, all barely-supressed mania and seductive feline charm. The chemistry between her and Keaton is electric, and propels the film forward even when the Penguin-runs-for-mayor stuff gets a bit daft and icky. There are beautiful moments of romantic comedy when they’re both trying to cover up injuries they gave each other, and of course there’s “mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it” – a line that runs a close second to “dance with the devil” when it comes to Burton-Batman quotations (just ahead of “never rub another man’s rhubarb”). Burton, generally favouring the macabre villains over the straighter edges of the heroic Batman, nevertheless makes great play of the duality of the character, and how this is something he and Catwoman can share – both “split right down the centre” – but also how this means a happy ending for either of them is impossible.

Spider-Man & Mary Jane (Tobey Maguire & Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man, 2002): whilst a lot of this is really down to the sexiness of them kissing upside-down in the rain, there’s a nice duality to Peter and MJ seeing through each other too: he sees the wounded humane soul beneath her it-girl persona; she sees the kind, caring man underneath his geek baggage. This arc plays out beautifully across the first two films (ending in that wonderfully accepting “Go get ‘em, tiger”) before sadly getting all murky and unsatisfying in the murky and unsatisfying third film. Still: that kiss.

Wonder Woman & Steve Trevor (Gal Gadot & Chris Pine, Wonder Woman, 2017): probably the film that hews closest to the Clark-Lois dynamic of the original Superman, to the point where it includes an homage to the alleyway-mugging scene as Diana deflects a bullet. Steve is Diana’s window into man’s world, showing her the horror of the First World War but managing to also be a sympathetic ally and never talking down or mansplaining anything. He’s a hero in his own right – very similar to another wartime Steve on this list – and very much an ideal match to the demigod he’s showing round Europe. And, of course, Gadot’s Diana is incredible, both niaive and vulnerable whilst also an absolute badass. There is an enduring warm chemistry to the pair, with a relationship which we actually see consummated – relatively rare for superheroes! The inevitability of his heroic sacrifice does nothing to lessen the tragedy, and no I’ve not seen Wonder Woman 1984 yet.

Hawkeye & Laura Barton (Jeremy Renner & Linda Cardellini, Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015): I love these guys! I love that Hawkeye has a relatively normal, stable family life. He has a big old farmhouse that he wants to remodel, he’s got two kids and a third on the way… he’s got something to live for, something to lose. It humanises him amidst the literal and figurative gods of the Avengers. And they’re cute together, bickering and bantering, and of course she is supportive of his Avenging. I hope we get to see more of Laura and the kids in the Hawkeye series, and I hope nothing bad happens to them now they’ve all been brought back to life.

Wanda Maximoff & Vision (Elizabeth Olsen & Paul Bettany, Avengers: Infinity War, 2018): theirs is a difficult relationship to parse, because they’re together so briefly. They cook paprikash together in Civil War before having a bit of a bust-up, and by Infinity War they’re an official couple, albeit on the run (and on different sides). That movie does a great job in establishing their feelings for each other in very little screentime, with their heroic characteristics on full display, before the shockingly awful tragedy of Wanda killing Vision to save the galaxy, before Thanos rewinds time, brings him back to life, and kills him again, and then wins. Their relationship going forward, in WandaVision, is even trickier, because we don’t know what’s up yet, and at times they’re clearly not acting as “themselves”, defaulting to sitcom tropes and one-liners. Will Vision survive, and if he does, will their relationship? Who can say, but at least they’ll always have Edinburgh, deep-fried kebabs and all.

Batman & Andrea Beaumont (Kevin Conroy & Dana Delany, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, 1993): woah, Batman’s back but it’s a different Batman, say whaaaat. Animated Batman has had a few romances, from the great (Talia al-Ghul) to the disturbingly icky (Batgirl, ewwww), but his relationship with Andrea Beaumont is the best. Tweaking the Year One formula to give young Bruce a love interest that complicates his quest is a golden idea, and making her a part of the criminality and corruptiuon that he’s fighting is a suitably tragic part of the Batman origin story. Conroy and Delany give great performances, him wringing pathos out of Bruce, torn between heart and duty (“It just doesn’t hurt so bad anymore,” he wails to his parents’ grave, “I didn’t count on being happy”), her channelling golden age Hollywood glamour. The tragedy of them rekindling their relationship years later, only to wind up on different sides again, is – again – so very Batman. It’s a beautiful, earnest, very Batman relationship, a great titanic tragedy of human emotions and larger-than-life ideals. And they both look good in black.

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy (Kaley Cuoco & Lake Bell, Harley Quinn, 2020): this one’s a little bit of a cheat, as I’ve only seen the first season of the show, where Harley and Ivy don’t even get together. But in the wider, non-canonical sense of these being characters who are part of the pop-cultural ether, Harley and Ivy will always be a couple, I feel; and there’s definitely enough in there already to see the affection between them, not yet consummated. They adore each other, are always there for each other, and as the season follows Harley getting out of her own way and acknowledging the abuse of her relationship with Joker – and finally getting over it in the healthiest way possible for a bleached-white manic pixie in roller derby gear. And all through this, holding her hand, is Ivy. They’re utterly made for each other, and I’m glad that they do get together in season two. I hope that Margot Robbie’s rendition of the character can likewise find happiness with a flesh-and-blood Ivy. Hell, just cast Lake Bell again. She’s great.

Just bubbling under – and I’m really gutted I couldn’t fit them in – was Spider-Man & M.J. from Spider-Man: Far From Home. Like Batman, I’m comfortable including multiple continuities here, and those cuties offer a different spin on a classic relationship.

#valentine's day #romance #top ten #love #superheroes #comic book #movie #films #dce #mcu #marvel

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killiansprincss · 3 years

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Man I didn’t even watch ouat since like s5 (even then I didn’t watch all the episodes) I just kept watching because captain swan, but dude!! I did ship Henry and Ivy!!! Like they had CHEMISTRY!! And tbh that was a missed opportunity, I think they would have gained some audience beacuase everyone loves some villain/good guy ship, I think I would have watched if they actually got together. And also, I’m with you in that 1% that loved Mary and Bash, like I even stopped watching ‘cause I didn’t really like her with Francis 🥴 They were amazing and I loved them, and I’m still bitter about it, even if I knew how that was gonna go

Omg anon I love you right now first Henry and Ivy and you tell me you loved Bash and Mary 😫🥰

Yesss!! Like the villain falls in love with the hero is a lovely trope that we saw with Captain Swan so of course it would’ve made sense for Henry a hero to fall in love with a villain not a version of Cinderella🙄 like Henry is an original character, like Emma, they could’ve created anyone for him to fall in love with, and I get mad that they didn’t make that person a villain!! It would’ve made so much sense for his character like half his family are ‘villains’ and he was all for them getting happy endings, so what a great storyline it would’ve been for Henry to fall for a villain and convince this girl that she deserves a happy ending just as much as a hero does!!

S7 could’ve been so powerful if Henry fell for the ‘ugly stepsister’ not Cinderella! More people would’ve watched it in my opinion. Even if they decided they weren’t gonna be together at least explore the relationship a bit more as I strongly believe Ivy was falling for Henry, and imagine that she could’ve fooled her mother by joining Henry’s side and defeating her in the enchated forest (because her Hyperion heights ending was pretty flat) like ouat has shown a deeper side to each villain, even Ashley’s step-sister who is the og drizella had a deeper past and showed that she wasn’t always evil, they could’ve done the same for Ivy!

Bash and Mary were so adorable like I’m sad that not many people ship them 😭 my favourite episodes were when they were engaged because they were both so happy with each other and Mary genuinely loved him, I’m annoyed that after Francis died she never went back to Bash because I would’ve loved to see that, then both grieving him and rekindling their old flame.

I’m a history nerd, so when I was watching I knew the story of Mary Queen of Scots and her demise and how her husband died, so I knew she had to end up with Francis but Reign was never historically accurate so they could’ve easily played with Bash and Mary more!! I would’ve loved to see more, I’m the same I lost interest after S2 because I adored Bash and Mary so much I ended up not paying attention to the show😂

The only thing I loved about Francis and Mary, is that after she dies they’re reunited in the afterlife, not many ships have that and the writers gave them what they wanted which is rare!!! I don’t ship them much but they had some sweet moments.

Also don’t hesitate to message me I need more people who understand my love for both these ships!

#I’m so happy I’ve found my people #Henry and Ivy remain superior #and bash and Mary should’ve had more time together #bitter about both #ivy x Henry #bash x Mary #anon ask

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swissmissficrecs · 5 years

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Hi, I was wondering if you have a rec list or recommendations for some really good johnlock page-turners (can’t think of what the right tag would be): just well-written, edge of your seat stories you can’t put down because you have to know what happens next. Thanks!

OK, I’ll give it a shot. Here are some that have kept me riveted for various reasons. There are a lot more, naturally, but I limited myself to the first 20 I thought of, in order to keep the list from getting too unwieldy.

Johnlock page-turners

A Cure for Boredom by emmagrant01 (81K, Explicit, Johnlock and others)They’d never talked about sex in the year they’d known each other. Well, that wasn’t quite correct: Sherlock had never said a word about sex; John had bemoaned his personal dearth of it on many occasions.

Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (151K, Explicit, Johnlock)Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns. Post-Reichenbach.

Be Here Now by Todesfuge (181K, Mature, Johnlock)John Watson was already fighting demons when he and Sherlock met. With Sherlock’s suicide, it all comes flooding back, forcing Sherlock to intervene before he’s solved the persistent riddles of Jim Moriarty and his game. Together they find that something darker lurks behind Moriarty, forcing Sherlock, John, and Irene Adler into an even deadlier game with a much more dangerous foe. Begins six months after the events of The Reichenbach Fall.

Deflowered - Director’s Cut by Lorelei_Lee (328K, Explicit, Johnlock, Mystrade, others)It should have been strictly business. Being a Mafia boss with a sadistic sexual streak, John had long since realised that his playthings were in it for the money only. Being a masochistic rent boy, Sherlock seemed too good to be true. Little did they know…

Full Court Press by MissDavis (126K, Explicit, Johnlock)Sherlock Holmes has accepted a scholarship to play basketball at the College of St. Bartholomew’s. He expects to be their star player and turn the team’s losing record around. He does not expect to fall in love with the team’s captain, a certain scrappy point guard named John Watson. Or: Sherlock is the team’s best shooter. John is the team’s best ball-handler.

Isosceles by SilentAuror (56K, Explicit, Johnlock and Sherlock/OMC)After solving a case for a major celebrity, Sherlock gets himself asked out. When John asks, he discovers that Sherlock has no intention of going, at least not until John agrees to coach him through whatever he might need to know for his date…

Letters series by earlgreytea68 (71K, Mature, Johnlock)While he’s dead, Sherlock writes John letters.

Midnight Blue Serenity by BeautifulFiction (151K, Explicit, Johnlock)When Sherlock infiltrates a club in order to track down a serial killer, his altered appearance is enough to make John question his assumption that Sherlock is beyond his reach. However, is he the only one who appreciates his flatmate’s charms, or is Sherlock at risk of becoming the next victim?

Names for the Galaxy by evadne (191K, Explicit, Johnlock)Sci-fi AU. Sherlock Holmes is a recent arrival to 22nd century earth, and determined to find out who he is and where he comes from. John Watson has the unenviable task of teaching him how to be a normal human being.

Prior Engagements by PlaidAdder (123K, Teen, Johnlock, Janine/Harry, Mollstrade)Years after Mary melted into the darkness, John and Sherlock are at their wits’ end. Rachel Watson, aged nine, is about as difficult as you might expect a child raised by Sherlock Holmes and John Watson to be. But life is no picnic for Rachel, either. John won’t even talk about her mother; and ever since Uncle Mycroft was assassinated, Sherlock just hasn’t been himself. It doesn’t help that the British government is in the hands of a gang of corrupt criminals. John finally decides that the right boarding school might give Rachel the structure she seems to need. It’s not until Rachel disappears that he and Sherlock realize that someone else has had the same idea.

Renegades by augustbird (39K, Explicit, Johnlock)Sherlock Holmes takes down Moriarty’s syndicate. He also takes John Watson with him. AU of The Reichenbach Fall.

Scotland series by snorklepie (341K, Explicit, Johnlock and Mystrade/OMC)After he separates from Mary, John returns to Baker Street. Following a request for help from Sherlock’s cousin Violet, the detective and his blogger take a trip to Edinburgh. John discovers more about the Holmes family and Sherlock than he bargained for, but tries not to run screaming.[Note part 3 of this series is incomplete]

Tennis series by Jupiter_Ash (216K, Explicit, Johnlock)John and Sherlock are professional tennis players and it’s Wimbledon. One is a broken almost was at the end of his career, the other an arrogant rising star tipped for greatness. It should have been a straightforward tournament. It really should have been. How were they to know that a chance encounter would change everything?

The Best of Times by Polyphony (72K, Mature, Johnlock and John/OMC) Struggling to cope with life after Reichenbach, John is gravely injured during a vicious, apparently motiveless street attack. Convalescing, on Mycroft’s invitation, at the Holmes family seat, John encounters someone entirely unexpected and uncovers an intriguing seventeen year-old mystery. Things hot up as John finds himself battling to work out the solution before James Moriarty’s legacy catches up with him – and also rekindling a love affair that was never really given the chance to blossom. Mystery, murder and mayhem together with love, romance and the return of the absent Sherlock in an enigma that will keep you on your toes until the very end.

The Case of the Green Gown by splix (209K, Explicit, Johnlock and Warstan)…Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association. I was alone.

The Good Morrow series by greywash (216K, Explicit, Johnlock and others)My post-S2 series where everyone has a lot of feels about everything and plausibility is stretched unto breaking. Also: fucking.

The Great Sex Olympics of 221B by XistentialAngst (58K, Explicit, Johnlock and others)John Watson thinks Sherlock Holmes should admit that he, Watson, is more of an expert on sex than Sherlock is. But Sherlock refuses to concede the point. He comes up with an experiment plan that will resolve the issue. The results will determine who wins the prize. But sometimes even the best thought-out scientific study has unexpected consequences.

The iceman Cometh by Polyphony (60K, Mature, Johnlock and Viclock)An intriguing puzzle tempts Sherlock to accept Victor Trevor’s invitation to the French Riviera, but all is not what it seems. Frustrated by the case and increasingly concerned about an absent John, Sherlock uncovers far more than he was meant to and is forced to become a fugitive, pursued by those on both sides of the law, as he fights for his freedom and the lives of all those around him.

The Omega Sutra by Ghislainem70 (275K, Explicit, Johnlock, Mystrade, Sherlock/OMC) In an Omegaverse/Angels & Demons AU, Sherlock Holmes has a secret life. John Watson shouldn’t want to be part of it. But they’ll go through heaven and hell to keep each other. Johnlock and Mystrade caught up in the eternal battle of angels and demons.

The Straw Man Fallacy by Vulgarweed (40K, Explicit, Johnlock)Summerisle is not a welcoming place to visitors, but it shows its best face at May Day. For ulterior motives.

#rec list #request

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themyskira · 5 years

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The Life of Captain Marvel - issue #3

Previously: Carol has spent the last nine months listening to early-2000s emo music while watching herself cry in the mirror, basically.

She let her brother get in a car accident, then made his brain injury all about her.

She found out something private about her parents’ relationship problems, and made that all about her as well.

She discovered an alien device among her father’s possessions, but she couldn't find a way to wring family drama out of that one, so she ignored it.

Now the alien device has enabled a Kree cyborg assassin to track her and her mother down, and it almost (but not quite) forces the two of them to have an actual conversation.

This is the issue where things really kick into high bullshit.

(No talk of family violence in this one, thankfully, but love interest Louis goes into some creepy, coercive Nice Guy territory.)

Dishwasher continues to be the shittiest stealth assassination unit ever. Having already conspicuously crash-landed, murdered two people and caused a gigantic explosion on a major highway, it has stolen a boat (so probs another murder in there as well) and is drawing further attention to itself by speeding so erratically around Harspwell Sound that it almost capsizes a smaller vessel.

But who could possibly see past this cunning disguise?

Carol, meanwhile, is apparently psychic. She thinks to herself,

I can’t get away from the feeling that something is wrong. I woke up in a panic this morning, reeling. For a split second, I couldn’t remember… What had happened? What terrible thing? Why was I spinning?

Because you’re trying to wake up from this nightmare of a comic?

She decides to let off some steam by running, which is apparently something that has always helped her clear her head.

This leads into a flashback of a SUPERNATURALLY FAST YOUNG CAROL OUTRUNNING A GODDAMNED TRUCK.

fuckin WHAT.

We will later find out that Carol, being half-Kree, was always naturally faster and stronger than the average human (though it wasn’t until the Psyche-Magnitron ‘jumpstarted’ her Kree powers that she got the full superpowered package).

That’s what we’re told. Except Margaret Stohl and flashback artist Marguerite Sauvage go so hilariously over-the-top in their portrayal of Carol as a child, so what we end up seeing is a newborn infant with such an iron grip that she causes her father GENUINE PAIN, and a fourteen-year-old girl who can OUTRUN MOTOR VEHICLES.

And yet, supposedly neither she nor anybody else around her twirled that there was anything out-of-the-ordinary about her??

In the present, Carol is snapped out of her reverie to discover that she is jogging mid-air.

Louis: Whatcha up to? Get it? Up to? Carol: Um… Calm down. Get it? Down?

So, we’ve all seen some version of this trope, right? The stressed-out super-person goes to the gym to take out some of their tension on a punching bag, only to unintentionally lash out with their full power and send the bag flying clean across the room, something like that.

What weirds me out about this iteration is that— jogging does not logically bleed into flying. They’re different forms of movement, presumably requiring the exertion of different muscles and associated with different physical sensations. It’s not so much ‘super-person unthinkingly hits the punching bag so hard they pulverise it’ as it is ‘super-person unthinkingly turns their punch into a cartwheel mid-swing’.

Carol and Louis talk. He suggests that “Maybe it’s time ta drop the Mystery of the Old Lettahs, Nancy Drew”.

WHAT MYSTERY. THERE IS NO MYSTERY.

I mean, no, it turns out there is a mystery because the letters were really written to Carol’s mother, who is a secret alien, but CAROL has no reason to know any of this as yet. As far as she’s concerned, the extent of the mystery was ‘ohshit dad had an affair? does mom know?? how will I tell her?? should I tell her??’ And then her mum was like, ‘yep I knew, ‘scool’. MYSTERY SOLVED. THE END.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, this family has a bucketload of issues to work through, but those letters don’t particularly factor into any of them.

Carol wonders what else she didn’t notice about her family.

“Were we normal, Louis? Did I even seem normal? Or… yanno… was there something funky about me too?”

You mean aside from the fact that you could run faster than a speeding pickup truck?

But of course this is Louis’s cue to confess that he’s had a crush on her since he first laid eyes on her… which he does by faintly negging her, because Louis is a turd.

“All those brains and you never figured that one out? You were the only thing I noticed, most days. … You’d hafta be stupid dense to miss that.”

Louis takes Carol’s hand and moves in for the kiss, just as Carol begins to hear a small but insistent beeping that sounds like a distress beacon. Louis handles it SUPER WELL.

Bear in mind, this scene is presented as humorous and cute.

[Louis goes in for the kiss] Carol: Wait— do you hear that? Louis: Shh. I’ve been picturing this since I was 14…

So straight away, Louis is viewing and treating Carol like an object — not an equal partner in this scene but a vehicle for his sexual fantasies. Carol is not enthusiastically consenting. She’s asking him to wait. She’s visibly distracted and concerned. His response is ‘shut up, you’re spoiling my boner’.

Carol: [leaning back from the kiss] …is that a car alarm? Some kinda distress beacon? Am I just freaking out because my childhood friend is, like, millimetres from planting one on me?? Louis: …but with less talking…

We are just going to zoom on past this atrocious dialogue because we do not have the time.

The important thing is, Carol is visibly uncomfortable and Louis does not care. Carol is making it clear that (a) she’s distracted and not in the moment, (b) she’s concerned someone might be in trouble and she may need to get her superhero on and (c) she’s panicking a little at the prospect of kissing Louis. This is the point where any decent person would back off and ask if she’s okay, if she wants this, if she wants to slow down, if she needs to go do the superhero thing.

Louis, who let me remind you is supposed to be a likeable love interest, again tells her to shut up with an aside that she’s less talkative in his sex fantasies.

Carol: [pulling right back in concern as the beeping grows more urgent] Hold that thought. Definitely not a car alarm. Louis: [visibly irritated now] …way less talking.

AND LOUIS TELLS HER TO SHUT UP AGAIN.

Carol: [flying into action] Something’s happening…! Louis: [kicking a stone sullenly] I know, I’m the guy tryna make it happen…! [sighs loudly]

Louis is a classic fucking Nice Guy.

He thinks that because of their recently-rekindled childhood friendship, because he’s listened to her troubles and offered a shoulder to cry on, because he’s finally managed to engineer this romantic moment alone — he’s therefore entitled to Carol’s love. So when Carol keeps pulling away from his increasingly pushy advances, she’s the one being unfair — he’s trying so hard to “make it happen” and she’s not giving him anything in return!

The fact that he’s whining about Carol not reciprocating literally as she leaps into superhero mode and flies to investigate a potential threat makes this particularly laughable, but there are no circumstances in which this behaviour is okay.

In every panel, Carol is sending clear signals that she wants to stop or slow down, and Louis responds by trying to pressure her into doing what he wants — first by shushing her, then by belittling her for talking too much, and finally by sulking and blaming her.

AGAIN. THIS IS THE MAIN ROMANTIC INTEREST IN THIS BOOK. CAROL IS SUPPOSED TO LIKE HIM. WE ARE SUPPOSED TO LIKE HIM.

WHAT THE F U C K

Carol traces the sound to the family home and realises that it’s coming from the garage. When she gets there, Marie — apparently the only other person who can hear the beeping, is in a frantic state. She’s found the source — the obviously extraterrestrial device Carol found, inadvertently activated and promptly forgot about back in issue 1 — and she’s super worked up about it.

“It shouldn’t be here! […] It wasn’t his. I don’t even know why he kept it… this piece of junk…”

Okay so first of all, you do know why he kept it, that is a lie. Next issue we’ll find out that the device is a beacon through which the Kree military could track and communicate with operatives like Mari-Ell/Marie. When Marie decided to desert the Kree military and commit to raising a family with Joe on Earth, she gave him the beacon as a gesture and they switched it off together.

Obviously he was going to keep it. He wouldn’t have been capable of destroying it and it’s clearly not something you can throw in the bin. Marie could have destroyed it and ensured that it could never be inadvertently switched on — say, by her dumbass daughter — and used to track them both down, but I guess incompetence runs in the family.

Carol asks who the obvious alien technology belonged to if it didn’t belong to Joe, and Marie screeches that “IT BELONGED TO HER!”

Of course, she needs to say that — she has to keep up the pretence that this is all about an imaginary mistress and not about her and Carol being aliens — because Stohl doesn’t want to give away the game yet. But the question is, why would she at this point?

Marie is a deserter and a fugitive from the Kree military. She knows that, were the Kree ever to track her down, she would be summarily executed for treason. She has just discovered that her beacon — the one surefire way the Kree have of locating her — has been activated and is now beeping insistently. Knowing how the military operates, she should know that the Vacuum Kleaner is on its way to kill her and her family, and that it almost certainly has a bead on her location.

(Seems pretty incompetent on the Kree’s part to have an alarm installed in the beacon to let the deserter know an assassin is coming, but as we’ve seen The Mopman Prophecies is a pretty terrible assassin.)

Priority one should be deactivating and/or destroying the beacon. Priority two should be getting her family secure and preparing Carol in particular for what’s about to go down. Because as deeply selfish as Marie has been to keep lying to her daughter for all these years, surely Marie is more invested in saving her children’s lives than she is in preserving this fiction she’s created.

Well… maybe not. Jury’s still out.

Because rather than doing any of those things, Marie seemingly doesn’t know what to do except freak out and continue to lie when questioned about the beacon.

Carol isn’t much better. She couldn’t see the beacon for the OBVIOUS ALIEN DEVICE that it is before, and even now as it’s beeping at a volume/frequency that is near-deafening to her and her mother and yet completely inaudible to everybody else in town, she still thinks it’s nothing more than a busted old TV remote.

No, the extent of Carol’s deductive reasoning is, ‘THING MAKE MOM SAD. THING BAD. THING GO AWAY NOW.’

Carol: [snatching the beacon] Here— Let’s just get rid of it! [hurls it into the bay several kilometres away]

So this is the point where Marie comes clean, right? She knows it’s only a matter of time before the Kree Khambermaid shows up at their door. She knows that even as they stand here, her children’s lives are in danger. She has to say something, if only to get them somewhere safe.

NOPE. SHE JUST FUCKS RIGHT OFF TO SULK AND TAKE HER FRUSTRATION OUT ON THE DISHES.

JJ asks what upset Marie, and Carol is a shitty liar.

“…nothing. Some broken remote I found in a box of old… um… just some stuff in your closet.”

Again, ZERO curiosity about this ultra-suspicious beeping that only she and her mother could hear.

JJ reveals that he knew about the letters, which kind of stands to reason — the box was in his wardrobe, and it was stored in a very visible, easily accessible spot. (Carol, of course, is taken completely by surprise.)

He adds that, after reading them, he recalled kind of a weird childhood memory.

It was during the summer; the three kids were spending the day on the boat with their uncle while their mother was out of town. They stopped briefly at shore to pick up some more bait, only to see their father canoodling with a mysterious blonde.

Steven: Hey— is that Pops?! What’s he doin’ all the way up there…? JJ: And who’s he doin’ it to?! Steven: Uh… I’ll tell ya when you’re my age. Beans, don’t look! Carol: Huh? [Joe and Marie start to levitate off the ground]

Things that are stupid about this:

Marie is a deserter from the Kree military. If the Kree Empire were alerted to her presence on Earth, they would send somebody to kill her and take her daughter away. Donning fancy alien clothes and flaunting her superpowers in full view of the harbour is idiotically reckless and endangers her entire family.

AN ALIEN HAS JUST LIFTED UP THEIR FATHER AND LEVITATED WITH HIM AND ALL THE KIDS CAN FOCUS ON IS THE FACT THAT THEY’RE KISSING AT THE SAME TIME.

AND LIKE. NOBODY EVER DISCUSSED THIS. JUST LIKE NOBODY EVER DISCUSSED THE FACT THAT THEIR SISTER COULD OUTRUN A FREIGHT TRAIN WITHOUT BREAKING A SWEAT. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS FAMILY.

oh and can we talk about the fact that Carol saw this. Carol, who dreams of visiting the stars. CAROL, whose childhood bedroom is wallpapered with NASA and Star Wars posters. C A R O L, who has craved flight since before she could walk.

CAROL SUSAN JANE DANVERS SAW A MYSTERIOUS ALIEN WOMAN FLYING WITH HER DAD AND THEN IMMEDIATELY FORGOT ABOUT IT ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME.

Also, though it’s less important, the dialogue has gone askew here. Steven’s “I’ll tell ya when you’re my age” is clearly meant to brush off a question about the canoodling. But it was Steven who asked about the canoodling — the question from JJ that he’s responding to is ‘who’s the lady?’, which of course neither of the brothers knows.

So the exchange should either read,

JJ: Hey— is that Pops?! What’s he doin’ all the way up there…? And what’s she doin’ to him?! Steven: Uh… I’ll tell ya when you’re my age.

Or,

Steven: Hey— is that Pops?! Who’s the lady? JJ: And what’s she doin’ to him?! Steven: Uh… I’ll tell ya when you’re my age.

But also, it shouldn’t be either of those things, because what they really ought to be talking about is OMFG THOSE PEOPLE ARE FLYING.

“And I was right there? I— I really must have buried that memory.”

Really? We’re gonna do suppressed memories, now? That’s where you wanna go with this?

I mean, it’s possible it could have slipped her mind somewhere in between the two complete memory wipes she’s suffered over the course of her superhero career, but short of that, there is no earthly reason why Carol would not recall seeing an actual alien hovering in front of her face.

Carol goes to talk to Marie about the histrionics in the garage and they take a walk down to the pier together.

Carol: So… what was that device in Pops’ stuff? I tried to open it but couldn’t make heads or tails of the thing. Marie: Carol, it’s not just… that thing you found. It’s time I told you the truth… though I promised your father I never would.

Really, Carol? That’s the question you want to ask? Not ‘why was Dad canoodling with aliens?’ Not ‘why did Dad have an extraterrestrial device among his possessions?’ Not ‘how come you and I are the only ones who heard that thing?’

So, a few things happen at this point.

Having decided that with lives on the line, she can no longer avoid telling Carol the truth, Marie… continues to avoid telling the truth, procrastinating by talking vaguely around her relationship with Joe and her decision to keep the family together. Can’t take it too quickly, or she might actually reveal something of value before the Janitor arrives to kill them all.

But Room Service is taking its time, and Marie is running out of steam. If something doesn’t happen soon, she and her daughter might be forced to have a necessary and productive conversation!

It’s all on Carol now. Only she can save us from a devastating outbreak of basic competence!

Marie: Carol? Carol: [wheeze] I can’t— [wheeze] Marie: What is it? Are you okay? Carol: [swoons] Marie: Carol! Carol: [HYPERVENTILATES HER WAY FACE FIRST INTO A GODDAMN LAKE]

Okay, but who in the hell read this script and saw this artwork and didn’t think that everybody involved with this comic was about to make massive fools of themselves?

Wait, never mind, I just googled it, and the editor on this book is the same person who edited America. That... absolutely checks out.

There’s a page of Carol sinking dramatically through the water, unable to get her body to move, before Marie dives to her rescue. They both collapse on the dock, exhausted, just in time for the beeping to begin again.

In town, all hell is breaking loose. Turns out Carol’s ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach to the Kree beacon? Not a great plan. After being flung into the bay, the device wound up being scooped up in a fishing net and brought right back into town, which is where Tide Pod’s drone has located it. The drones are now exploding everything in sight.

Louis tries to slow it down by hurling some sick burns: “Hey you! Sir Splodesalot! … Hey! Baby Death Star Head!”

Carol arrives on the scene and asks if anybody is hurt, and Louis immediately starts whining that she didn’t show up sooner.

Carol: Louis! Everyone okay?! Louis: What’s the use of this place being the “summer home to a super hero” if you’re not gonna come when we’re being [attacked?]

He’s skating very close to having an actual point, because this entire situation is Marie and Carol’s fault. However, this is also the dude who, mere hours ago, lost his shit when Carol prioritised saving lives over a make-out session. You don’t get to demand she ignore a distress call one minute and then complain that she didn’t respond fast enough the next.

Also, you’re the ones who slapped Captain Marvel’s brand on your town and your donuts, not her. You fuckers are lucky the Avengers haven’t come after you for trademark infringement.

A cloud of drones descends on Main Street. They immediately go for Carol, so she takes to the sky with the plan of luring them away and exploding them high above the town.

But first, a quick detour to needlessly endanger her family and tackle her mother to the ground.

After destroying the drones, Carol returns in time for Clorox to arrive and—

what the hell man, why did you decide to nude up for this?!

And finally, the reveal we’ve all been dreading.

Marie/Mari-Ell: …she’s here for me. Carol: Ma?!?!

(Small detail, but dudes, let your letterer do their job. They’re not just your friggin typist. You want to emphasise Carol’s shocked exclamation, the letterer can do that by playing with fonts, sizing, colour and speech bubbles. You don’t need to vomit out interrobangs like a seven-year-old who’s just discovered punctuation.)

anyway yes this book is a nightmare.

#comics talk #the days of our lives of captain marvel

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agent-7-at-your-service · 7 years

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Odysseus Arc: Kraken Eye - Prologue

(( Agent 7 belongs to me

Lee and Mooky belong to @inklingleesquidly ))

Agent 7 would be exploring the kettles that Agent 4 has cleared, mostly to find clues to what has become of Callie. He was wearing a new outfit: light green polo, light gray vest, dark green jacket, a black belt with silver buckle, denim slacks, and a brown flatcap. He still wore black slip-on shoes, his badge of Bigfin Splatoon, and his signature green bowtie. He's armed with the usual N-zap '89, but this one was different: it had Marie's signature. He nicknamed the N-zap, Izanami.

An hour ago, Agent 7 has told Marie something important. He got a call from Captain Cuttlefish about his agent status: His license to splat is going to expire soon. Without it, he won't be able to work with Marie in Octo Canyon. The estrangement between him and Marie has affected their relationship (And Agent 7 is trying to rekindle that) but losing his License to Splat would end his Agent career and his stay in Inkopolis.

As he explored the one of the kettles, he found them to be similar to the kettles back in Octo-Valley. The only change he saw were the dazzling decorations and the enemies spawning around the area. And the end of every kettle was a zapfish waiting to be freed, but in Agent 7's case, the kettles that Agent 4 cleared has a zapfish plushie instead.

Agent 7 stopped at one of the rails, noticing something from one of the areas in the kettle: ink-splosions. Someone -- a possible agent to be specific -- is going through the stage. He quickly reaches one of the jump-pads and makes his way to the area.

Once he lands in the designated area, the last inksplosion knocks someone off a platform. Agent 7 didn't get a clear view of who it was starting ink-fire here but he can see one of their hands hanging from the edge. He then saw and .96 Gal which he noticed is strapped to their arm. When the unknown figure pulled themselves up, it was a green inkling boy with starry eyes and carrying some kind of robot on their back. That robot got off and tried to help the inkling. Agent 7 recognizes the kid from anywhere.

"Lee Squidly, son of the famous Boss of the Turf Wars, you better have a good reason to be in Octo-Canyon!" Agent 7 approaches Lee, kneels down and lends him a hand. "A kid like you doesn't belong here!"

Lee grabbed his hand, but he still struggles to get up. Agent 7 soon puts his N-zap '89 in a holster attached to his belt and lends Lee his other hand, pulling up Lee. Once Lee is alright, Agent 7 gave him a serious look and pulled his N-zap out again.

"You're name is Jason Gatz-Ling--" Agent 7 shoot an ink drop at Lee's feet. "Ahh! What was that for!?!"

"First off! My real name should a secret!" Agent 7 intimidated. "Second, the name is 7 -- Agent 7! Got it, old sport!?" He taps Lee's forehead with the barrel of his N-zap.

"Okay, geez!" Lee rubs his forehead.

Agent 7 and Lee take a walk with Mooky walking beside Lee. They have a little chat.

"Now tell me! What are you doing in Octo-Canyon and why?" Agent 7 narrowed his eyes.

"I'm here because....." Lee looked hesitant, but he gave a simple explanation, "I am searching for Callie! Marie invited me to Octo Canyon, and she has told me everything about the situation here."

"What else is Marie hiding from me...?" Agent 7 muttered to himself. He then shook his head. "I am aware of your relation to Callie, but with all respect, you need to leave this to 'real' agents."

"But Agent 7, sir, there's a reason Marie sent Master Lee," Mooky intervened, "And it's possible Marie didn't want just you assisting."

Agent 7 looks at him and raises an eyebrow; he recalls meeting the Servbot before. Mooky's reasoning was quite flawless in a sense. Still, Agent 7 doesn't see Lee as the type to take on this mission. And looking at the .96 Gal Buster, he can guess he isn't using it.

"Marie and I maybe separated, but were together as Agents. However, I don't agree with her choice to put you along with Agent 4 to search for Callie and the Great Zapfish." Agent 7 tried to be reasonable. He stops. "Look I can't stop you, but there is no way a kid like you can save Marie's cousin!"

Mooky gasps. "Agent 7, sir!"

"You can't understand what this means to Marie! And I sure you don't understand what it means to do something right!" Agent 7 sighs; he know's he'll regret what he said. "Find Callie if you must, but don't expect her to be the squid sister you know and love, Lee Squidly! Some hero you are!"

Agent 7 turns into a squid and leave the kettles. He's moving on to the next kettle. Lee looked up, watching him leave. He then looked down.

"Master Lee, are you going to be okay?" Mooky asked.

"I'm no hero..." Lee reminded himself. He then glare back up. "But he's wrong... I will find her..."

[End of Prologue]

#Odysseus Arc #Prologue #Plot: Kraken Eye

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luxshine · 7 years

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The Great Supernatural Rewatch Project - Dead Man Blood

Ok, here we are. John’s big return. I can’t say I was waiting for this particular episode, but… well, gotta get over with it.

Also, big shot out to sevenpointedspiral who started this out with me. I hope she didn’t regret the experience.

(And yes, I am again, late. RL is hectic. I am trying to get my artist career working and it’s going… slowly. There are things you guys can do to help if you really enjoy these recaps but I won’t expand here as I don’t want to make it an informercial. More on my about and tumblr)

General stuff

The whole Then segment puts the relationship between John and Sam as positive thing. As if Sam really missed his dad and wanted to help him while Dean was just along for the ride. This is kinda misleading, given what we know. In fact, this is one of the most misleading “Then” of the series so far. And this is something that I need to touch in more detail: The Then segment is very misleading at times, and if one doesn’t remember (or is obsessively taking notes like I am) it’s easy to see why certain fanon ideas get so entrenched in the fandom’s collective minds (For example, the real frequency of the Bitch/Jerk exchanges)

Anyway, we go onward to our victim of the week. Who is a former hunter. I can work with that. Sort of.

Poor Elkins, the first hunter we met, and he has a lot of experience, or at least, a lot of “tell” experience as we will see in the rest of the episode. What happened to the idea of hunters don’t reach old age? That had been a very common theme before, and it has picked up again in later seasons. However, we met a LOT of elder hunters in the series, most of them pre-Apocalypse but we still get some surprises all the way in the double-digit seasons. So I wonder where the idea that it doesn’t happen came from. Not only that, for being one of “the best”, he is wholly unprepared to fight vampires, even if he is supposed to have hunted them to “almost extinction” I mean, it’s sad and even Buffy s3 Wesley Windham Pryce would have known better. Obviously, the Lost Boys go and get the gun, because the gun is the important.

It is still a bit underwhelming.

Anyway, back to the brothers. Sam in his laptop, Dean on the newspaper. Looking for a hunt, or their dad. Anything. They look a bit bored, to be honest so I wonder about the director’s intention. Dean wants to go back to Sarah so that Sam can rekindle their relationship, but Sam stops that. And here comes an interesting thing: Why is Dean so interested in making sure Sam has someone? I mean, isn’t the common fandom belief that Dean CAN’T live without Sam, CAN’T stand the idea that Sam could quit? And yet, here, in the actual TEXT we have Dean trying to get Sam to have a life OUTSIDE the roaring road trip of revenge. Dean WANTS Sam to have a life outside hunting, and that is something that was forgotten by both fandom AND the writers as time went on. Next, he founds our Victim of the Week, and Dean recognizes the name from John’s diary and decides to go and check.

We also see that Dean has an amazing memory, as Elkins is not mentioned in a case, or put as an important contact. It’s just a name and a number, and Dean recognizes it and the fact that the number is from Colorado. It is amazing how just last episode we had “Dumb Dean” and now we’re back to “Photographic memory Dean”. I wish the writers took a chance to have some consistency.

So obviously, the brothers go to Colorado and break and enter into a crime scene because there’s no one watching the house of a man killed in a break and enter. One loves the bad cops in the country in Supernatural.

Dean finds Elkins’ journal, which Sam realizes is just like his father’s. An ominous figure looks from the shadows as the brothers keep looking around. Dean finds the gun’s box, but doesn’t pay much attention to it as he keeps looking for clues. He finds some scratches on the floor that Sam points as death spasms, but Dean, remember: the “Dumb” brother, figures out they’re an actual message: A mailbox put in the same code as John.

So off we go to the mailbox, that has a letter for J.W. Sam, being captain Obvious, asks if it’s for John, just as John appears to the brothers’ surprise. He was the ominous figure, and for once, he was actually sort of protecting their boys.

John mentions he had a falling out with Elkins, starting a pattern we will know by heart soon that is John having a falling out with every single hunter active in the US –and, I’m sure by season 14, active in the world- and proceeds to read the letter where he figures out that Elkins had “the gun” all along. John, again in a trend that will continue to hound the character forever, starts barking orders and tells them to follow him since they have to find “the gun”. It’s also a problem as we figure out that John knew about vampires and never told his kids because… who knows. I mean, it’s not as if he was training them to be supernatural hunters!

As John explains that vampires in the Supernatural universe are pretty much unkillable, we see a doomed couple being caught by the vampires.

Next day, John wakes them up upon listening to he police radio about the dead couple. Sam is asking questions; John is not giving any answer at all. Dean is withdrawing into himself, which, oh boy, will create arguments within the fandom for years to come.

After a really tense scene where we see things are definitively not good with the family and I will discuss in Emotional Violence, we go back to the Lost Boys circa 2004 where one of the vampires is forcing one of the hostages to drink beer and we finally get to see Luther (whom I call low-budget David. Sorry, this Vampire pack is way too Shoemaker for me). Luther orders his minions to eat the guy, as his lieutenant gives him the surprise that they killed Elkins. This makes Luther angry, as he knows that this means that more hunters will come.

WOMAN (smiling) No. It's from an old friend of yours, Daniel Elkins. I caught his scent and thought I'd surprise you.

LUTHER (Concerned) Kate, what did you do?

KATE I made him suffer.

LUTHER You shouldn't have done that.

KATE Luther...

LUTHER There's others like him. They'll know the signs and come looking for us. We have to be careful.

KATE Luther I did it for you, for what he did to your family.

LUTHER Revenge isn't worth much if you end up dead.

And here I wonder at the fact that a vampire is the first one who agrees with Dean in this whole series. I mean, because this is what Dean will say next episode. Uh, I guess Dean had empathy with Vampires even before he knew about vampires.

Kate apologizes and gives the Colt to Luther, who recognizes the Colt as not an ordinary one.

We go back to Sam complaining that John is not explaining every single step he gives. We figure out that it was a bad idea to put Sam on charge of the wheel as he stops to fight with John. Dean looks as if he wishes he was in Purgatory, even before he knew Purgatory was a thing.

We finish the fight and move to the sex. Between the vampires, not between John and Sam because this is CW not HBO, and it would’ve been weird. Kate starts harassing the girl hostage, and then bleeds on her mouth from a cut Luther made on her arm. So yeah, this poor girl is a vampire now.

Next morning, the Winchesters find the vampires and John FINALLY tells them that the only way to kill them is to cut their heads off. And he tells them about the Colt, which will kill anything (Well, not anything, we know, but whatever, season 1 and back then having a game-ending weapon wasn’t really a problem). Dean and Sam figure out that John wants the Colt to be able to kill the yellow-eyed bastard, and thus that the whole thing is STILL John being blind to anything that is not avenging Mary. Well, they can’t say their dad is not focused.

Despite the whole “Vampires can wake up in daylight and are equally strong in daylight as at night”, they go and decide to start killing the vampires right then and there. We are only around 25 minutes or so, so I know it won’t work. Also, wow, Vampires WERE pretty much impossible to kill. They’re the third “hard” monster that the brothers face (Tulpas are the first, who are still pretty much unbeaten, Demons were the second, but well, demons are so easy to kill right now it’s a joke, and Vampires now. That again, pretty easy to kill by season 12)

It is obvious John is not going to save the humans that the vampires have there, Sam is freeing the girl we know is a vampire because… well, she was there. Close enough to be untied even if that must have been a red flag, and Dean… Dean is trying to save ALL the humans the vampires have there. Priorities are kind of skewed in the family.

And of course, Sam’s chosen damsel in distress gives the alarm and thus, the brothers are chased out of the vampire’s nest.

Sam and John argue AGAIN about how they lived as a family, and Sam is angry at how John’s “paranoia” made it hard for him to have a normal life. Sam is forgetting that it’s not paranoia if you are really being chased by demons. Of course, NOW Sam is starting to get it and starts to bury the hatchet with John which unfortunately only shows a very clear vice that Sam has and that I’m pretty sure I’ve discussed before: Sam only empathizes with John due to what happened to Jess. That means that even within his own family, Sam is unable to empathize with someone unless he reflects his OWN feelings into that person. If he has a different life experience that can’t be forced into the other person? Sam won’t get it.

And then we use Dean as bait. After being the errand boy, because yeah, John and Sam both tend to use Dean as the sidekick. Wow, I hadn’t realized it was so obvious in season 1.

Dean wants to go to hunt with John, supports Sam. But John has nothing to do with it and makes it an Order to DEAN, not to Sam. And thus, well, Dean agrees that no, they won’t keep hunting with John. And now that I think of it, wasn’t Sam quitting after he avenged Jess? (And that makes me curious: IF Mary had been killed by a different demon from the one who killed Jess, would Sam want to accompany them if they killed Jess’s killer but not Mary’s killer?)

The Lost Boys are angry about their nest being invaded. And so they go for the hunt. Dean, as a bait, is very effective. Love the use of the Dead Man Blood, and love how even in this season, LONG before we started having “good monsters” every two episodes, we still see that Vampires do have a strong loyalty to their nests. It’s something that thankfully didn’t disappear as years went by.

I love the effect of the Colt killing Luther. Actually, I love the frigging Colt. Or well, loved it until season 12. But back in season 1 it was AMAZING.

Anyway, not considering that the Colt has limited bullets, the vampires decide to call it a day and go away. John agrees that, since now they have a good chance against the yellow-eyed demon, they will hunt him as a family. Given that we’re two episodes before the season finale, we start the Supernatural tradition of rushing things that would’ve been amazingly cool in at least seven episodes to just two hours running time.

Violence

It’s interesting how the first Winchester on Winchester violence is not between Sam and Dean, but between Sam and JOHN. Dean gets in the middle, trying to stop them.

SAM and JOHN, who is also out of his truck, both looking angry.

DEAN (following) Sam!

JOHN What the hell was that.

SAM We need to talk.

JOHN (coming to a halt face to face with SAM) About what?

SAM About everything. Where we going Dad. What's the big deal about this gun.

DEAN Sammy, come on, we can Q and A after we kill all the vampires.

JOHN Your brother's right, we don't have time for this.

SAM Last time we saw you, you said it was too dangerous for us to be together. Now out of the blue you need our help. (yelling) Now obviously something big is going down, and we wanna know what!

JOHN Get back in the car.

SAM No.

JOHN I said get back in the damn car.

SAM Yeah. And I said no.

DEAN (Hovering) Ok you made your point tough guy. Look we're all tired, we can talk about this later. Sammy, I mean it, come on.

DEAN grabs SAM and pushes him back toward the car. SAM goes, still staring at JOHN.

SAM (mumbles) This is why I left in the first place.

JOHN What'd you say?

SAM (swinging back) You heard me.

JOHN Yeah. You left. Your brother and me, we needed you. You walked away, Sam.

DEAN Sam...

JOHN (Yelling in SAM'S face) You walked away!!

DEAN Stop it, both of you.

SAM You're the one who said don't come back Dad, you closed that door not me. You were just pissed off that you couldn't control me anymore!

DEAN (Forcing them apart) Listen, stop it, stop it. Stop it!! That's enough!!

SAM and JOHN stare at each other over DEAN'S head.

DEAN (Looking at JOHN) That means you too.

SAM gets into the Impala. JOHN turns back to his car. DEAN stands in the middle, alone. He looks from one to the other.

DEAN (to the night air) Terrific.

So this is NOT a one-time thing for Dean. He acts as if he knows exactly how this is going to go down, and what he has to do and say to try and defuse it. It’s probably also not the first time Dean has called out John, if their reaction is anything to go by despite Sam’s insistence that Dean never went against John. The fight itself is not that intense, and in fact, there are no real punches, but it’s our first glimpse of Winchester on Winchester violence. Well, real violence, not the fight in the pilot or the Skin mock up.

I have to notice here that Dean is usually set up to be sexually assaulted, as he was by the vampire. This is starting to bother me, even if it’s the first clear example of the whole series.

Emotional Violence

Holy shit, do we have a lot of emotional violence here. IT’s one of the reasons I was dreading this episode.

Here’s the thing: While I agree that John Winchester wasn’t the worst father in the world –not even in the Supernatural world- and at this point in the story it was possible to defend him a bit against those who claim he is so abusive it’s a miracle that Sam and Dean weren’t taken by CPS the second day of school in any school…. That doesn’t mean he was a great father. Much less that the theory that the “John is abusive” storyline began after Jeffrey Dean Morgan became unavailable for the show is true. John shows emotional abuse, especially against Dean, from the very second mention we have of him in the pilot (The simple fact that Sam takes for granted that John leaves for days, weeks even, without any contact… but at the same time expects his 26 year old brother NOT to hunt alone because “Dad wouldn’t allow it”).

So in this episode that it’s the first one where the brothers spend ANY time with John… the emotional abuse comes out in spades. From the very small things like John not paying ANY lip service to the fact that Dean had to face his traumas in Home, that they exorcised Mary there –which is odd given his obsession- or even to the fact that he NEVER went to visit Dean in his dead bed in Faith, to bigger things like the fact that he treats Dean like a soldier.

But let’s go with this first:

SAM Dad, what are you doing here? Are you all right?

JOHN Yeah, I'm ok. I read the news about Daniel, I got here as fast as I could. I saw you two at his place.

SAM (softly) Why didn't you come in Dad?

JOHN You know why. Because I had to make sure you weren't followed.... by anyone or anything. Nice job of covering your tracks by the way.

DEAN (looking a little proud) Yeah, well, we learned from the best.

SAM Wait, you came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?

JOHN Yeah. He was... he was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting.

We immediately get the idea that, whenever there are arguments in the Winchester’s family, it’s Sam vs. John. Because Dean’s ONLY line in this? It’s to praise John’s hunting skills and how he was taught. (Of course, this is undermined because JDM;s of the line “Nice job of covering our tracks” sounds a bit sarcastic, but I digress)

What it’s very clear is Sam’s reproach. John came for this Elkins guy, but he doesn’t answer the phone for his kids. He came to investigate the death of a man who is only a phone number on his journal, but couldn’t bother to come and see Dean as Dean lay dying (I know I have argued a lot about Sam’s narcissism tendencies, but here? There’s no hint of that. Sam is not mentioning anything that would mean that his reproach is about himself alone), that he wouldn’t even let them know if he was alive.

John ignores this, of course, and immediately goes into “I need to find the Colt” mood.

Then there’s this particular gem from John, right after Sam once again, challenges his authority:

JOHN Hey Dean why don't you touch up your car before you get rust? I wouldn't have given you the damn thing if I thought you were going to ruin it.

Now, at this time, Baby is not yet the recipient of Dean’s obsessive love. Even so, Dean loves the car, and we know he prides himself on keeping her in perfect condition. And yet, the second John has a disagreement with Sam? He goes and attacks the brother that won’t defend himself. Dean.

This is, of course, emotional bullying, and we get the feeling that it’s constant. It also ties into something that we will see a bit later on.

Dean, to his credit, doesn’t take this completely silent, as he tries to make Sam patch things up, and then we get this:

DEAN Sam, we've been looking for Dad all year. Now we're not with him for more than a couple of hours and there's static already?

SAM Hmph. No. Look, I'm happy he's ok, all right? And I'm happy that we're all working together again.

DEAN Well good.

SAM (Unable to help himself) It's just the way he treats us, like we're children.

DEAN Oh God.

SAM He barks orders at us Dean, he expects us to follow 'em without question. He keeps us on some crap need-to-know deal.

DEAN He does what he does for a reason.

SAM What reason?

DEAN Our job! There's no time to argue, there's no margin for error, all right? That's just the way the old man runs things.

SAM Yeah well maybe that worked when we were kids but not anymore, all right. Not after everything you and I have been through, Dean. I mean, are you telling me you're cool with just falling into line, and letting him run the whole show? (looks at Dean challengingly)

DEAN (Giving Sam a long look; weakly, as if he's convincing himself) If that's what it takes.

Now, Sam is right. John does treat them as if they don’t know things, as if they’re not capable of handle information. But the thing is… he is still treating them as soldiers (need-to-know deal), and his words imply that he treated like that when they were kids. So, basically, here we have canonical confirmation that John raised them as Child Soldiers. And while Sam is usually an unreliable narrator, Dean not only doesn’t contradict him, but his last words are very telling.

“If that’s what it takes”.

To what? To save people? To do the job? Or to keep an appearance of peace, the yelling at a minimum and a semblance of a normal family?

It is easy to think it will be the last one, when we see Dean step in between the one physical altercation between Sam and John, and look so down when it seems that things are going back to “normal”: John and Sam at each other throats.

His reaction to this, is a very classic abuse victim reaction: Don’t make the abuser mad, don’t bring the yelling onto himself. Which makes the final resolution to this quite surprising to everyone:

JOHN You are my children. I'm trying to keep you safe.

DEAN Dad, all due respect but, uh, that's a bunch of crap.

SAM and JOHN both look at DEAN, shocked.

JOHN Excuse me?

DEAN You know what Sammy and I have been hunting. Hell you sent us on a few hunting trips yourself. You can't be that worried about keeping us safe.

JOHN It's not the same thing, Dean.

DEAN Then what is it? Why do you want us out of the big fight?

JOHN This demon? It's a bad son of a bitch. I can't make the same moves if I'm worried about keeping you alive.

DEAN You mean you can't be as reckless.

JOHN Look... I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece. Your mother's death ... it almost killed me. I can't watch my children die too. I won't.

DEAN What happens if you die? Dad, what happens if you die, and we coulda done something about it? You know I been thinking. I ...think maybe Sammy's right about this one. We should do this together.

SAM nods.

DEAN We're stronger as a family, Dad. We just are. You know it.

JOHN We're running out of time. You do your job and you get out of the area. That's an order.

Dean looks down, emotional. Sam clenches his jaw.

Now… thing is: Despite all the yelling, posturing and rebel attitude from Sam, the one who finally talks some sense into John and makes him accept the brother’s help against the demon is Dean. And this is REALLY weird. Because it was not Dean’s arc logical ending if we have been listening to SAM’s idea of Dean and John’s relationship (That btw, this episode proves it’s completely wrong. Dean is not treated like the priced child, he’s treated like the abused manservant). It is, however, a good step TOWARDS the end of an Dean’s arc if you are paying attention to Jensen’s acting. In specific, the way he keeps gulping every single time he contradicts John… as if he expects a slap for his disobedience.

Speeches and Apologies

Oh, boy, this is sad. There IS one apology on this episode, and it’s a good one. Except… it’s not a full apology, and not to BOTH brothers.

It happens when John sends Dean to be an errand boy and stays alone with Sam, not long after Sam exploded about being treated like a child.

JOHN Sammy.

SAM Yeah.

JOHN I don't think I ever told you this but ... the day you were born, you know what I did?

SAM No.

JOHN I put a hundred bucks into a savings account for you. I did the same thing for your brother.

It was a college fund. And every month I'd put in another hundred dollars, until... Anyway my point is, Sam, this is never the life that I wanted for you.

SAM Then why'd you get so mad when I left?

JOHN You gotta understand something. After your mother passed all I saw was evil, everywhere. And all I cared about was keeping you boys alive. I wanted you...prepared. Ready. Except somewhere along the line I ... uh ... I stopped being your father and I ... I became your, your drill sergeant. So when you said that you wanted to go away to school, all I could think about, my only thought was, that you were gonna be alone. Vulnerable. Sammy, it just... it never occurred to me what you wanted. I just couldn't accept the fact that you and me -- We're just different.

Sam huffs a laugh.

JOHN What?

SAM We're not different. Not anymore. With what happened to Mom and Jess... (laughs) Well we probably have a lot more in common than just about anyone.

JOHN I guess you're right, son. (smiles)

SAM Hey Dad? Whatever happened to that college fund?

JOHN Spent it on ammo.

They look at each other. SAM cracks up and so does JOHN.

Now. This is beautiful. It is the perfect way to continue Sam’s road to reconcile with his family and what his family do. Not only that, but it redeems John a little, because now we know that he WANTED Sam to go to college. That the big divide between the two was not because John would never consider that his son could have a future being MORE than a war veteran and a mechanic in a small town in Kansas.

But even if he mentions Dean, almost as an afterthought (and wow, John had a good job as a Mechanic, if he could afford that house, and set aside 200 dollars every month when he was the ONLY one working. Because between what we knew then, and what Season 12 has told us about Mary, she didn’t have a job. And except for a small mention in Season 4, we don’t see the Winchesters as needing much extra money by the time Mary died), the whole thing is about SAM. John doesn’t mention that he left most of the emotional raising of Sam to Dean (Parentification won’t be obvious until much later), or that Sam HAD a small window of normalcy when he didn’t had to hunt.

Most importantly? While Sam and John make peace, and John admits he did wrong to Sam? He never does the same for Dean (And when I say never, I mean never. It’s… kind of tragic really) Hell, we don’t even know if Dean ever KNEW that there was a college fund for him that, before John went insane, must have been around 4,800 dlls. Not much, but SAM’s fund must have been 600, if one supposes John deposited the last check BEFORE Mary died. So… the one who REALLY got cheated out of some food money because Dad needed Ammo was Dean.)

There’s also a line by Dean that I already quoted, but I want to retake here. (Ok, so it’s a stretch to call it a speech, I know)

DEAN We're stronger as a family, Dad. We just are. You know it.

This is how Dean convinces John to let them help in the fight against Azazael, and it’s about them being stronger as Family, not about himself being “strong enough now” or “old enough” now. But about how they are, in the end, Family.

Which pretty much cements that just as Dean is more interested in Saving People, Hunting Things (And now Season 12 has made me aware more that it never was Killing Things), he is also the Winchester that was always focused on the FAMILY part of the family business.

Double narrative standards

There’s not so much of a double narrative standard as much of a double meta-textual standard. Because at this point, the series was sold as the story of two brothers looking for their father while fighting monsters across USA. However, with the Sam and John convo that we got here, and the minimal time given to John and Dean’s issues, it is pretty obvious WHO is the brother that matters to the narrative.

There is also how different John treats both brothers, but that is something we will talk about at length when we reach the season finale (you all know what line I am referring to)

Final Tally

This episode moves the tally in the exact direction that it has been moving all season: Sam keeps a lot of secrets from Dean, Sam berates Dean as much as he can, and we dedicate as much time as we can to Sam needs. The ONE small difference is that this arc episode HAS that small scene of Dean standing up to John, so it can be considered an arc episode dedicated to both brothers.

Numbers (or the TL;DR summary)

(Episode/Total so far)

Times Dean has lied to Sam or to a loved one: 0 / 0

Times Sam has lied to Dean or to a loved one: 0 / 3

Times Dean has been caught in a lie: 0 / 0

Times Sam has been caught in a lie: 0 / 1

Times Dean has hit Sam in anger: 0 / 1

Times Sam has hit Dean in anger: 0 / 3

Times Dean's lies or secrets have caused someone's death: 0 / 0

Times Sam's lies or secrets have caused someone's death: 0 / 1

Times Dean has abandoned (Or wanted to abandon) a hunt in the middle for his own needs: 0 / 0

Times Sam has abandoned (Or wanted to abandon) a hunt in the middle for his own needs: 1 / 7

Times Dean forced Sam to do something: 0 / 0

Times Sam forced Dean to do something: 1 / 7

Secrets kept by Dean: 0 / 1

Secrets kept by Sam: 0 / 2

Times Dean has blamed Sam for something: 0 / 0

Times Sam has blamed Dean for something: 0 / 3

Times Dean has apologized with words to Sam: 0 / 3

Times Sam has apologized with words to Dean: 0 / 2

Times Dean has respected Sam's boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 7

Times Sam has respected Dean's boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 0

Times Dean hasn't respected Sam's boundaries and/or rules: 0 / 0

Times Sam hasn't respected Dean's boundaries and / or rules: 1 / 13

Times Dean has made fun of something Sam does or has: 0 / 6

Times Sam has made fun of something Dean does or has: 1 / 31

Times we focus on Dean's needs: 0 / 1

Times we focus on Sam's needs: 1 / 5

Arc episodes dedicated to Sam: 0 / 6

Filler episodes dedicated to Sam: 0 / 6

Arc episodes dedicated to Dean: 0 / 0

Filler episodes dedicated to Dean: 0 / 4

Arc episodes dedicated to both brothers (or to none): 1 / 2

Filler episodes dedicated to both brothers (or to none): 0 / 2

Dean's Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 1

Sam's Dropped Plotlines: 0 / 2

#the great supernatural rewatch project #dead man's blood #Dean Winchester #Sam Winchester #John Winchester #season 1 #lots of numbers #lots and lots #and no surprises here

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booklr-16 · 6 years

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November TBR

Since Nanowrimo is also taking place in the month of November, and I am participating, I have italicized the books that I am definitely going to try to get to during the month of November. The books that are in plain black text are books I’ll either read in December or get to if I finish the books that I really want to read this month. For Nanowrimo, I also plan to post daily or weekly (most likely weekly) updates on my progress for writing as well as how much reading I’ve gotten done. These will mostly likely be done throughout the weekend when I’ll have time to write up my progress.

Hard Time, C.F. White - After Micky O’Neill is remanded in custody for breaching his court order, his already tempestuous relationship with Dan Peters is tested to the limits. Having to battle their way through a court case that could end with Micky in jail, social workers breaking up the family home, and the return of Micky’s deadbeat father, it seems everything is set to destroy their relationship before it even had the chance to start. With such high stakes involved, not just for Micky but for once-burned, twice-shy Dan, they both have to learn that falling in love isn’t always responsible.

The Fault in Our Stars, John Green - Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell - Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan… But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words… And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr - Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.

Fifty Shades Darker, E. L. James - Daunted by the singular sexual tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house. But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven, and demanding Fifty Shades. While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront her anger and envy of the women who came before her and make the most important decision of her life.

They Both Die at the End, Adam Silvera - On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure and to live a lifetime in a single day.

The Last Star, Rick Yancey - The enemy is Other. The enemy is us. They’re down here, they’re up there, they’re nowhere. They want the Earth, they want us to have it. They came to wipe us out, they came to save us. But beneath these riddles lies one truth: Cassie has been betrayed. So has Ringer. Zombie. Nugget. And all 7.5 billion people who used to live on our planet. Betrayed first by the Others, and now by ourselves. In these last days, Earth’s remaining survivors will need to decide what’s more important: saving themselves…or saving what makes us human.

Lord of Shadows, Cassandra Clare - Emma Carstairs has learned that the love she shares with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, isn’t just forbidden—it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorns are threatened by enemies on all sides? Their only hope is the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hide bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. Meanwhile, rising tension between Shadowhunters and Downworlders has produced the Cohort, an extremist group of Shadowhunters dedicated to registering Downworlders and “unsuitable” Nephilim. They’ll do anything in their power to expose Julian’s secrets and take the Los Angeles Institute for their own. When Downworlders turn against the Clave, a new threat rises in the form of the Lord of Shadows—the Unseelie King, who sends his greatest warriors to slaughter those with Blackthorn blood and seize the Black Volume. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will bring with it a reckoning of blood that could have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear.

A Million Junes, Emily Henry - For as long as Jack “June” O’Donnell has been alive, her parents have had only one rule: stay away from the Angert family. But when June collides—quite literally—with Saul Angert, sparks fly, and everything June has known is thrown into chaos. Who exactly is this gruff, sarcastic, but seemingly harmless boy who has returned to their hometown of Five Fingers, Michigan, after three mysterious years away? And why has June—an O’Donnell to her core—never questioned her late father’s deep hatred of the Angert family? After all, the O’Donnells and the Angerts may have mythic legacies, but for all the tall tales they weave, both founding families are tight-lipped about what caused the century-old rift between them. As Saul and June’s connection grows deeper, they find that the magic, ghosts, and coywolves of Five Fingers seem to be conspiring to reveal the truth about the harrowing curse that has plagued their bloodlines for generations. Now June must question everything she knows about her family and the father she adored, and she must decide whether it’s finally time for her—and all the O’Donnells before her—to let go

Throne of Glass, Sarah J. Maas - After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her … but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. Then one of the other contestants turns up dead … quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Ruin and Rising, Leigh Bardugo The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne. Now the nation’s fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army. Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives. Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova’s amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling’s secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she’s fighting for.

A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, Mackenzie Lee - Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men. But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy. Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, Cassandra Clare - Simon Lewis has been a human and a vampire, and now he is becoming a Shadowhunter. But the events of City of Heavenly Fireleft him stripped of his memories, and Simon isn’t sure who he is anymore. He knows he was friends with Clary, and that he convinced the total goddess Isabelle Lightwood to go out with him…but he doesn’t know how. And when Clary and Isabelle look at him, expecting him to be a man he doesn’t remember…Simon can’t take it. So when the Shadowhunter Academy reopens, Simon throws himself into this new world of demon-hunting, determined to find himself again. His new self. Whomever this new Simon might be. But the Academy is a Shadowhunter institution, which means it has some problems. Like the fact that non-Shadowhunter students have to live in the basement. And that differences—like being a former vampire—are greatly looked down upon. At least Simon is trained in weaponry—even if it’s only from hours of playing D&D. Join Simon on his journey to become a Shadowhunter, and learn about the Academy’s illustrious history along the way, through guest lecturers such as Jace Herondale, Tessa Gray, and Magnus Bane. These ten short stories give an epilogue to the Mortal Instruments series and provide glimpses of what’s in store in the Dark Artifices

City of Ashes, Cassandra Clare - Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what’s normal when you’re a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who’s becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn’t ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary’s only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father. To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings — and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father? In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City’s Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

The Raven Cycle Series, Maggie S.

#books #bookworm #booklover #book blog #book photography #to be read #city of ashes #the raven cycle

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