Thanks to photography

◇ Pairing: Greg Nolan X model!Reader

◇ Warnings: SMUT, grinding, game, blowjob, photos, bad writing

◇ Summary: Greg goes carried away during a photoshoot.

◇ Note: Sorry for the mistakes and the English. This is for my dear @sissylittlefeather 🙇🏼‍♀️❤️

Y/n's action left Greg breathless again as she sat down on his lower tummy, her ass nearly brushing against his pelvis getting a reaction out of the man.

It was clear the way he looked at her... full of admiration and with a playful touch given by the tiny smirk glued to his handsome face.

A smile that caused Y/n's body to warm up, even if she wasn't such a shy person because of her job... it happened to her more than once to pose naked for photographers but it was the first time she felt something between them.

A chemistry and a tension that shouldn't have been touched.

"Anything else?" Her soft voice asked as her eyes roamed all over his body, stopping again at his face while she waited patiently... smirking slightly as soon as he replied.

Greg shook his head softly as his stunned self didn't allowed him to speak or register immediately what she was asking. Making him only stare at her to drink in every little part of what she was offering him.

It was perfect... the moment was perfect, her body as well. And the only thing that he wanted to change was the position that they were in. So with that he finally broke the silence with his low voice

"How about changing a little position?" He asked her as his thumbs rubbed soft circles on her hips, making her bite eagerly her lower lip and reply with a simple quick nod.

Greg looked Y/n in the eyes with a bit of hesitation as he gathered the courage he need to finally speak, hiding his arousal with a poker face

"How about you lay down on top of me?" He suggested casually as he played a bit with his camera, gulping as soon as the young woman lay slowly on top of him just like he craved.

The simple action instantly setting a fire inside of the photographer, his Adam's apple bobbing again, as he looked at her in that new position.

He could feel the way her body pressed down against his and it felt so damn good that he nearly stuttered out his words "Now can you pose and sway in your seductive moves, the way you did before?" He required.

Y/n started to slowly sway her hips back and forth just like she did when he asked her earlier to dance sensually for a couple of pictures he had to take.

It felt stupid as she did it, simply dancing without music or anything... just a camera pointed at her. But now it made her aroused, her hips were swaying the same way... this time leaded by the soft music of his heavy breaths.

He even had to swallow a moan since he found it extremely hard to take his eyes off her.

The way her body kept moving in each direction was very seductive and slow, and even if she wasn't doing anything extremely provocative it still looked very appealing to him... making his thoughts run wild.

Her body fitted very well on top of his, he thought as he allowed his hand to help her lower half press harder against his.

As Greg got lost in his lust just like his body which started to move on its own— meeting the soft sways with his own to create some kind of innocent friction his aching boner craved— Y/n's voice made him come back to reality.

"No photo?" She asked teasingly, not doing anything to stop his actions, enjoying herself every moment of it... opting to mock him lovingly since they should have taken care of the photoshoot instead of that.

Greg chuckled at her tone and slowly but gently whispered back his reply while controlling as best as he could his breath and groans

"I want to enjoy this moment a little bit more... I want to drink in your beauty before I take the next photos" the handsome man murmured against the skin of her cheek as he enjoyed every minute.

At the feeling of the little smile on her skin Y/n giggled back, her eyes fluttering shut as she met his thrusts less casually... her head nodding softly as she hummed back an answer

"You are the artist— I follow your wind" And with that she unlocked his racing thoughts again, making the man tilt his head up when he pressed harder his erection against her hips.

"Then you don't mind if I make another request, right?" Greg asked breathless, smiling at the teasing tone she used earlier while his hands traveled down to her waist to keep a hold on them. Pulling her in a little closer to him.

"Can you just sway those hips of yours a little bit faster? Maybe this time, it can be a little bit too provocative for the eyes to handle" he joked while doing a serious request, biting his plumpy bottom lip when she obeyed, taking the lead.

"Fuck— Bit faster, please" Greg cursed softly, taking a handful of her ass in a poor attempt to make her increase the speed of the grinding.

His heart raced, beating in his ears as his body began to sweat because of the feelings and actions.

"So damn good, Darling" the man added breathless, cursing softly as his back arched while Y/n's skilful and rough movements nearly leaded him to his peak.

"I start to think this isn't for the photoshoot anymore" the young woman joked, her heart racing at the view of him under her... her cheeks flushed due to the heat that had created between their bodies.

Greg knew that it was true but he was actually enjoying this moment as well... reaching his climax slowly as she kept swaying her hips in such a sublime way

"Yeah... It's not for the photos but still.. can you just sway those hips a little bit more?— Maybe you can do more than just swaying your hips" he whispered before biting hard on his bottom lip again, jolts of pleasure invading his body till she stopped abruptly, moving away from that lying position.

His light eyes fluttered open but quickly closed shut as a groan left his throat at the new sensation caused by her hands on his now bare cock.

When he agreed to that job he wasn't expecting to end in such a situation, being now deep throated by a beautiful and hot model that wasn't just good at her job but also at using her hands and mouth.

Her tongue swirled around his tip as her hands worked on his balls, switching after a while so that her hand was on his hard length... pumping it in a delicious pace while her lips wrapped around his testicle, sucking and licking softly.

Greg could feel his orgasm approach, just like her.. due to his loud groans and spasms of his body.

"Fuck, sweetheart" he cursed sweetly, his hand grabbed her head so that he could lead the tempo and fuck her face till he emptied his balls inside of her warm mouth.

Watching her swallow his seed before cleaning her mouth and reach for his camera to take a photo of him with an amused smile.

"Bet you would be an awesome model as well".

Problems With The Heart

Greg House x Dr Anna Harding (OFC)

Story Masterlist

Chapter 24 - Rehab

‘How are you doing?’ Wilson sat down opposite Anna in her office a little while after they dropped House off.

‘I’m fine.’ She smiled but it never reached her eyes.

‘He’s going to be fine.’ Wilson reassured her, but it didn’t really work. ‘His doctor called me, he’s stopped dry heaving, no more hallucinations, he’s getting better.’

‘That’s good.’ She said, but she still worked.

‘Happy birthday.’ Wilson smiled, she stopped working, stilling. Wilson stood up and left her office, knowing she’d be okay in the end and so would House.

House finally gave in and started to talk to Dr Nolan, Anna didn’t come up at all, but he was thinking about her constantly. When he kissed Lydia he felt the guilt overwhelm him once again.

‘Who are you not talking about?’ He asked one day, out of the blue. It had been a long time talking about all sorts of things, deflecting, rationalising and defending himself, he was tired.

‘Anna.’ He said, leaning on his knees, sighing deeply.

‘Tell me about her.’ Dr Nolan said, simply. ‘What does she do?’

‘Her birthday was a week ago,’ he said more to the ground than him. ‘I thought about taking her somewhere for the weekend to celebrate.’

‘Sounds nice.’ He nodded. ‘You wanna call her?’

‘Really?’ House looked up at him.

‘Sure. It’s clear you care about her, I’m sure she’d like to hear from you.’

‘Thank you.’ House nodded.

‘Does she work at the hospital?’

He breathed deeply, turning his head to look out of the window. ‘She’s a cardiologist, best I’ve ever known. She used to be a military doctor for the British. She did three tours in Afghanistan before being discharged.’

‘She must’ve have seen a lot of terrible things.’

‘She was shot.’ He could just about hear her having an episode, clutching at her shoulder. ‘She has episodes, some are pretty bad, others are just stressful.’

‘Is she seeing a therapist? Going to a group?’

‘I don’t think so. She went to a sleep clinic, I think it helped a little.’

‘Did you tell her how you felt about her?’

House nodded. ‘Several times.’

‘And she didn’t feel the same way?’

‘She told me she was in love with me,’ he continued to stare out of the window. ‘But when I told her I wanted to have more than casual sex and nights at a bar… I think she was right, we wouldn’t be good for each other.’

Dr Nolan was quiet for a while. ‘Maybe you could be. If you leave here a new man, maybe you could be what she needs.’

House shook his head again. ‘We always said we weren’t warm, fuzzy people, but…’ he didn’t know what the end of the sentence was. ‘I taught her to play the piano, I bought her one for Christmas so she could practice.’

‘You bought her a piano?’

House nodded.

‘Sounds like you two were pretty serious for a while.’

‘No.’ House went back to looking at the floor. ‘I kissed someone else, hallucinated about sleeping with her.’ He felt the shame coursing through him. ‘Anna deserves better than that.’

‘You’re letting your own feelings of inadequacy cloud your judgement.’ Dr Nolan insisted. ‘She told you she loved you, maybe all she needs is you. This “more” you keeping asking for, are you sure you’re asking for more from her, or are you asking for more from yourself?’

House, in part thought it was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard, in part, thought he was probably right. Anna needed him to be better.

House got his phone call, but he didn’t know what to say. Dr Nolan just watched him pick up the phone, but he took a while to dial.

‘Hello?’

House thought his chest might have caved in. He leaned back against the wall and breathed a laugh.

‘Anna.’ He said, smiling.

‘Greg?’ She sounded like she was just getting home. ‘Oh my god, are you okay?’

‘Yeah,’ he realised he was crying. ‘Yeah, I’m good. I’m good. I just called to say Happy Birthday.’

‘Bit late for that.’ She chuckled. ‘It was last week.’

‘I know.’ He sat down on the floor and held the phone as if it was Anna herself. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t call.’ He listened to Dr Nolan going back into his office to give him some privacy. ‘Have you got some time to talk?’

‘Yeah, I’ve got time.’

They talked for a full hour, he listened to her tell him about her work, she played a new piece she’d learned on the piano, they laughed when she got a note wrong, but neither of them minded.

‘Are you painting? Rock climbing?’ He asked as they were about to say goodbye.

Anna seemed a little awkward. ‘No, I… I haven’t had the time really.’ She cleared her throat. ‘I finished the painting of you, I don’t know if I’m happy with it, but it was the last one I did.’

‘I bet it’s perfect.’ He smiled. ‘I should go, leave you to your evening.’

‘Greg.’ She stopped him. ‘I… I’ll see you when you’re back.’

House waited a moment before listening to her hang up.

‘I love you.’ He whispered to himself.

Dr Nolan had seen fit to apply to give his medical licence back and the last session with him was a difficult one.

‘Will you be seeing Anna again?’ He asked.

‘Yeah, eventually.’ House nodded, he knew he was smiling a little.

‘I’m sure she’ll be very proud of you.’

House finally managed to leave Mayfield. He’d arranged with Wilson to stay with him for a while until he could function on his own and figure things out. He went to the hospital to quit his job and Cuddy had taken it surprisingly well.

On his way out, he went toward the elevator to go and see Anna, but he didn’t need to go that far. The doors to the elevator opened and there she was, head in a file and glasses perched on her nose, those were new, but she looked good. She didn’t even see him standing in front of her and wandered past him towards the clinic.

‘Anna.’ He could have said it louder, but she heard him anyway and turned back. Her blue eyes widened and she scanned him quickly.

‘Greg.’ She breathed, removing her glasses, embarrassed. ‘What are you doing here? Why didn’t you say you were getting out?’

‘I wanted to surprise you.’ He shrugged.

‘Oh my god, you look great.’ She reached up to wrap her arms around his neck and House couldn’t help but hold her against his body. ‘I’ve missed you.’

‘I missed you too.’ He said close to her ear, he couldn’t believe he could feel her again, he could hold her and smell her again. ‘You’re beautiful.’ He said and felt her chest skip a breath.

Anna pulled back, smiling. ‘I’m so glad you’re back.’

‘Me too.’

‘I have to get to the clinic, but if you wanted, we could get dinner tonight?’

‘I’d like that.’ House nodded and soon watched her turn away and head to the clinic. He was happy.

Dinner was nice, Anna was a little late, but he didn’t mind, she was a little stressed, talking about work and all the little things that had happened while he was gone. Anna had to work early the next day, he offered to take her home and for the next couple of weeks, they hung out. Just as friends. She’d come over to Wilson’s and he’d cook her whatever she wanted.

House had gone back to Dr Nolan a few times and told him about Anna and how his leg had started hurting again. He was worried he wouldn’t be happy.

Anna was offered his old job, but she refused straight away saying no one wanted to work under her, they wanted him and surprise, surprise, Foreman had asked for the job. Cuddy gave him a chance, but House was the one to solve the case online. Anna was impressed, but he wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not.

‘So, are you going to show me the new song you learned?’ He asked, one night at hers.

‘Okay.’ She said, gently biting her lip and heading over to the piano.

She seemed a little nervous and he soon learned why. It was a complex piece, but she was actually pretty good.

‘It’s good.’ He nodded. ‘A little slow, but it’s good.’

‘Thank you.’ She smiled.

House took a seat next to her and began playing a piece he’d composed himself. She leaned on his shoulder while he played and he’d never felt more settled.

‘Anna,’ he whispered, she’d almost fallen asleep. ‘You wanna sleep?’

‘Mmm.’ She hummed. ‘Stay.’ She breathed.

He thought about it and decided he wanted to go about this properly. ‘I’ll put you to bed, but I think I should leave afterwards.’

‘Why?’ She lifted her head and her heavy eyes found his. They were dark and her slight smile had him weakening as he always did around her.

‘I don’t remember.’ He said, he leaned forward a little and placed the softest kiss to her lips. She was soft and warm and all the things he remembered he loved about her.

He took her to bed and decided to stay with her that night, she was exhausted and he missed the feel of her body against his. She slept soundly all the way through til morning.

They went to dinner a few more times, hung out, but it was never more than a kiss goodnight at the end of it, he wanted to start again with her and treat her the way she deserved to be treated.

Wilson was glad to hear that House and Anna were getting along, she was happy, he seemed like he was recovering the way he should’ve done. It was going well until House started provoking his neighbour.

Anna had mixed feelings about the foreign president being treated at the hospital, Foreman wanted her to consult when his heart started becoming a problem, but she sent down other doctors to consult.

It was odd to see friction forming between Foreman and Anna, he seemed to be under the impression that Anna would allow him special privileges that even House didn’t get when he was in charge of the department.

‘Look, just call the nurse’s station like everyone else.’ She said, leaving Foreman standing in the hallway after what appeared to be a heated debate.

‘What was that about?’ Wilson asked.

‘I just asked her shuffle some things around to get my patient in for an echo in the next hour,’ Foreman explained. ‘Next thing I know she came down and started overreacting. I don’t get it.’

Wilson just chuckled to himself. ‘You should ask about the time House asked for special privileges, this was timid in comparison and they were sleeping together at the time.’

‘What do you mean? I thought diagnostics took priority.’

‘You can’t be that naïve,’ Wilson told him. ‘Like every other department head, Anna won’t be bullied or ordered around. She’s reasonable and can be negotiated with, but you’ve just thrown out every chance you had of coming close to a reasonable line of communication.’

Foreman sighed. ‘How do I fix it?’

‘Well, you’re lucky you have someone on your team who might be able to get you a lifeline.’ Wilson went to walk away, as he did, he caught House watching them both, smiling. Wilson rolled his eyes and went back to his office.

If you liked this, please consider supporting me ☕ thanks for reading!

Elvis f/os part 2

Rick Richards (paradise Hawaiian style)

(Spinout also came out in ‘66 too so I’m improvising.)

Aricka x Rick, love me, love me true

Scott Hayward (clambake)

Aricka x Scott, I want you, I need you

Greg nolan (live a little, love a little)

Aricka x Greg, six feet tall and super strong

Jess Wade (Charro)

Aricka x Jess, cowboy take me away

Dr John carpenter (change of habit)

Aricka x John, I’m liking what I see

Deke Rivers, loving you

Aricka x Deke, I'll always be loving you

Toby Kwimper, Follow that dream

Aricka x Toby, let me kiss an angel tonight

A lot of the songs on the album that can be read as being about a romantic relationship could also apply to siblings. Is that something you’ve been exploring more in songwriting?

Tegan: “It’s funny, because when Sara wrote both those songs [ ‘100x’ and ‘White Knuckles’], I was in the room and I had no idea that she was writing about our relationship, so I’m kind of like everybody else.”

Sara: “I can feel her awkwardness sometimes when I’m talking about our relationship publicly, but I also feel like it was a huge part of my identity and my growth as a person, and I’ve never written about it. It helps that Tegan and I are in a really good place. I feel incredibly proud of what we were able to overcome because it was dark. And we got through it.”

COSCARELLI,  Joe. Tegan and Sara Talk About ‘Love You to Death,’ a Deeper Dive Into the Pop Mainstream. The New York Times, 2016. x - OP x

                                                                                                                              When Heartthrob came out, you spoke about how hard it was for you to write such direct lyrics and not dress everything up in a metaphor—you’d sometimes pretend you were writing for other artists. For new songs like “100x,” did that simplicity come any easier?

Sara: “I forgot I had said that about writing for other people. I really like the songs for this record because I didn’t have to think so hard about trying to say things clearly. There’s always a trick to that, too, because it makes you really vulnerable, specifically on ‘100x’, because I was pulling from my relationship with Tegan.

I was actually in the room with Tegan when I was writing a bunch of that song. We were working with Jesse Shatkin, who had worked with Greg Kurstin on Heartthrob with us. Tegan popped in while I was writing the lyrics, and it was funny because she would pipe up and say, ‘What if you sing this thing? Or that thing?’ And I was like, this is so awkward. I’m trying to use our experience as sisters and our conflict when we were younger. I’m not saying that in the room, but that’s what I’m doing. I’m almost creating the conflict anew. I’m like, ‘No, I don’t really like that line.’ I can see her getting frustrated, like, 'I’m just trying to help!’ And I’m like, I know. But it was really helpful. I was really tapping back into how complicated our relationship is.”

I knew you wrote about your sibling relationship more with this record, but I never would have guessed “100x” was one of those songs. It sounds like a breakup song.

Sara: “Because our relationship is in such a good place, it’s easier to analyze and look back at just how bad it was at times. For a lot of career, we were really struggling with trying to get people to avoid innuendo about sexuality and our sibling relationship. I mean, there was stuff in the early days that was borderline suggesting we were incestuous. We really stayed away from talking about ourselves because we were like, ‘God, people cannot handle that we’re twin sisters who are gay.’

All these things were very institutionalized in my brain when I thought about our relationship. Even writing a song like “100x,” which everyone will think is about a romantic relationship, that would have made me so uncomfortable even five years ago. I would have been afraid people wouldn’t underestimate how truly intimate and like a marriage my relationship with Tegan is. I was afraid to talk about those things because of these horrible stereotypes and weird, f—ked up things that people think about gay people or gay siblings. But in a way the song sounds like it’s a breakup song because it was a breakup, it really was.”

FEENEY, Nolan.  How Tegan and Sara Became Bona Fide Pop Stars. Time, 2016. x  - OP ?

Ok so apparently weed + baseball autism = a graph showing the pace of 7 pitchers toward 3000 strikeouts. X axis is years in the MLB, Y axis is number of strikeouts (and the faint red line is 3000 strikeouts). See if you can guess which one is which player!

Answers and a link to the Desmos page below the cut. If anyone wants me to complete this with all members of the 3000 strikeout club or do this with other significant numbers milestones (500 home runs, 3000 hits) please let me know (I might end up doing them anyway but encouragement helps).

In order by total:

Nolan Ryan (red)

Randy Johnson (green)

Bert Blyleven (purple)

Walter Johnson (blue)

Greg Maddux (black)

Pedro Martinez (orange)

Bob Gibson (black again, Desmos only has 6 colors)

willow music video

starring taylor swift taeok lee indiana cheairs samuel silver yoe apolinario maria wada jazz smith gracie stewart jake landgrebe nolan padilla mark villaver robert green mason cutler sienna lyons

directed by taylor swift

director of photography rodrigo prieto ASC, AMC

producer jil hardin

editor chancler haynes

production designers ethan tobman regina fernandez

stylists joseph cassell sunshine madsen

first ad joe “oz” osborne

co-first ad ev salomon

visual effects ingenuity studios grant miller  david lebensfeld jumanah shaheen   executive producer rebecca skinner

co-producer kathy palmer

gaffer manny tapia

key grip “pie” alexander griffiths

storyboards vincent lucido

the song written by taylor swift and aaron dessner produced by aaron dessner recorded by jonathan low and aaron dessner mixed by jonathan low orchestration by bryce dessner mastered by greg calbi and steve fallone drum machine programming, percussion, keyboards, synthesizers, piano and electric, bass and acoustic guitars by aaron dessner synthesizers and drum machine programming by james mcalister percussion and drum machine programming by bryan devendorf violin by yuki numata resnick electric guitar by josh kaufman cello by clarice jensen glockenspiel by jason treuting flute by alex sopp french horn by cj camerieri keyboard and synthesizers by thomas bartlett intro music modular synth by benjamin lanz

A special thank you to our on set medics, COVID-19 compliance personnel and the crew for operating under the strictest guidelines including wearing PPE, practicing thorough sanitization and respecting social distancing during the video shoot. (x)

I’m V. Arrow (she/her), and I’ve been writing fanfiction my whole life, really, but I’ve been posting it online since 1998 (and it was the main thing that got me grounded between the ages of 12 and 18).

Thanks to fandom, I have also published The Panem Companion, a guidebook to The Hunger Games; an essay in Fic! Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World about RPF, looking mainly at One Direction; and an essay with infographics in Divergent Thinking, an anthology about the Divergent series. I’ve also gotten to speak at San Diego Comic-Con on a panel about fanfiction!

I like woman-focused narratives and analytical lenses, weird and thoughtful linguistic choices, rich worldbuilding, when the good guys (and especially gals) win, women written as full people with dignity and respect, men who adore the women in their lives, and healthy relationships after sad characters get the therapy they need.

I love fics that take a tiny corner of a huge canon universe and dive deep to flesh out a place or a character that canon doesn't give its due.

Some people think I’m angry all the time, but I’m actually a very bubblegum happy girl -- I’m just a Jewish feminist who loves yelling and sees spirited debate as a bonding activity (and I have high standards and no energy for excusing bad behavior just because a character's hot).

In the time that Maggie and I have known each other, I have written fanfic for the following pairings:

Rob Pattinson/Kristen Stewart (Twilight RPF)

Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark, Cinna/Finnick Odair, Finnick Odair/Annie Cresta, various other pairings (The Hunger Games)

Anna Oliphant/Étienne St. Clair, Lola Nolan/Cricket Bell (Anna and the French Kiss series)

Percy Jackson/Nico DiAngelo, Percy Jackson/Nico DiAngelo/Rachel Elizabeth Dare/Annabeth Chase, various other pairings (Percy Jackson & the Olympians)

Mia Thermopolis/Michael Moscovitz (The Princess Diaries book series)

Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Louis Tomlinson/Nick Grimshaw (One Direction)

Harry Styles/George Shelley, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson/George Shelley, George Shelley/Ella Henderson (Union J + One Direction)

Barclay Beales/Tom Mann (Stereo Kicks)

Poe Dameron/Rey Skywalker, Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey Skywalker, Poe Dameron/Suralinda Javos, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Karé Kun, Poe Dameron/Muran, Poe Dameron/Leia Organa, Poe Dameron/Greer Sonnel, Cassian Andor/Shara Bey/Kes Dameron, Sabé/Padmé Amidala, Breha Organa/Bail Organa, various other pairings (Star Wars universe)

Nicky/Joe [Nicolò di Genova/Yusuf al-Kaysani], Andy/Quýnh [Andromache the Scythian/Quýnh] (The Old Guard)

And LOTS of drabbles for various YA and MG book pairings and other pairings of UK X-Factor contestants. And maybe some GBBO contestant drabbles? I honestly can’t remember!

Pairings I love desperately but have not written include:

Jack Dawson/Rose DeWitt Bukater (Titanic)

Emily Fitch/Naomi Campbell (Skins)

Everyone in Ocean’s Eight/Everyone Else in Ocean’s Eight

Eleanor Shellstrop/Chidi Anagonye, Jason Mendoza/Janet (The Good Place)

Steve/Bucky (Captain America)

Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau (Captain Marvel)

Cassel Sharpe/Lila Zacharov (The Curse Workers)

My Top Ten Albums of All Time

1989, Taylor Swift

Heroes & Thieves, Vanessa Carlton

Hotel Paper, Michelle Branch

Salute, Little Mix

Up All Night, One Direction

Replay, Play

A Little Bit Longer, The Jonas Brothers

Folie a Deux, Fall Out Boy

Chapter One, Ella Henderson

That Day, Greg Raposo (and more than that, all of his unreleased/limited release tracks)

Right Where You Want Me, Jesse McCartney

I’m currently @aimmyarrowshigh​​ on Tumblr and AO3, @aimmyarrowshigh_ on Instagram where I mostly post my mediocre crafts, and @aimmyarr0wshigh on Pinterest where I save up images to eventually make aesthetic graphics or moodboards.

now presenting...

various once upon a time characters and ship tags as songs i’ve heard on the lofi hip hop radio - beats to relax/study to station! :D guess who had a lot of free time during work today.

this is by no means a comprehensive list but did get v e r y long, so i’m going to stick it under the cut. chances are even if your fave is Obscure, there’s an 80% chance they’re on here. although i will admit to running out of steam when it came to the ships--if a character or ship you dig isn’t on here, you can request a song in my inbox if you’d like. <3 and let me know if the links don’t work!

the characters are in complete random order with no rhyme or reason, but the songs are purposeful; headphones are recommended but not required. i hope y’all find this inspiring at least a tiny bit! enjoy~

david nolan/prince charming - j’san x epektase, ‘ghost in my mind’

killian jones/captain hook - dryhope, ‘contrasts’

neal cassidy/baelfire - casiio, ‘back home’

zelena/the wicked witch - ajmw, ‘hometown’

mary margaret blanchard/snow white - no spirit x mell-o x sitting duck , ‘la rochelle’

emma swan - mila coolness, ‘ibis’

belle french - mell-o x ambulo, ‘solace’

henry mills - pandrezz, ‘crystal lake’ ft. epektase

regina mills/the evil queen - iamalex x dillon witherow, ‘lazy morning’

rumplestiltskin/mr. gold - chiccote’s beats, ‘away’

ingrid/the snow queen - g. mills - ‘icicles’ ft. chris mazuera & tender spring

ariel - iamalex x dillan witherow, ‘coral’

elsa - chris mazuera & tender spring, ‘winter’s kiss’

mulan - less people, ‘gyoza’

anna - eisu x softy, ‘snowflakes’

august booth/pinocchio - team astro, ‘helpless’

tinkerbell - dontcry & nokiaa, ‘since’

alice jones/tilly - mondo loops, ‘starside groove’

the blue fairy/mother superior - project aer x wys, ‘after sunset’

ursula - mila coolness, ‘surf’

archie hopper/jiminy cricket - amies x cxlt, ‘things will work out’

sidney glass/the magic mirror - enra, ‘consequences’

grumpy/leroy - tysu x spencer hunt, ‘letting go’

eric - dontcry & nokiaa, ‘tides’

cora mills/the queen of hearts - sitting duck x hoffy beats, ‘slow mornings’

ruby lucas/red riding hood - brillion x chief, ‘moon theme’

malcolm/peter pan - dlj, ‘the docks’

robin hood - brillion, ‘when the sun goes down’

merlin - jordy chandra, ‘late night call’

aladdin - softy, ‘before the rain comes’

jefferson/the mad hatter - xander, ‘missing you’

graham humbert/the huntsman - xander, ‘morning time’

philip - no one’s perfect x kanisan, ‘pendulum’

isaac heller - yasumu, ‘untold stories’

aurora/sleeping beauty - lilac, ‘hyacinth’

ashley boyd/cinderella - purrple cat, ‘caramellow’

granny lucas - oatmello, ‘essenced’

albert spencer/george - team astro, ‘love lockdown’

the dwarfs mining co. - chiccote’s beats, ‘before’

greg mendell/owen flynn - tabal, ‘no return’

cruella de vil - cabal x blumen, ‘crystal land’

dr. whale/victor frankenstein - casiio, ’wondering’

kristoff - monma, ‘winter days’

maleficent - ajmw, ‘way back when’

henry mills i - snug, ‘warm meadows’

marco/geppetto - hm surf, ‘single phial’

ruth - laffey, ‘umbrella’

lancelot - laffey, ‘campfire’

will scarlet - sebastian kamae x aylior, ‘dontyouknow’

anton the giant - g. mills, ‘sublimation’ ft. arbour

daniel - softy, ‘autumn morning’

the apprentice - mila coolness, ‘heron’

violet - oatmello, ‘good night’ with late era

lily - imagiro, ‘wool gloves’

morraine - eugenio izzi, ‘get lost in the mind’s ocean’

dorothy gale - kupla, ‘valentine’

the blind witch/miss ginger - chiccote’s beats, ‘finding’

paige/grace - mila coolness, ‘balance’

kathryn nolan/abigail - g. mills x hm surf, ‘mmmm’

william smee - no spirit x mondo loops, ‘washed ashore’

sister astrid/nova - yasumu, ‘midnight thoughts’

ava zimmer/gretel - laffey, ‘moonlight’

leopold - less people, ‘persist’

billy/gus - glimlip x yasper, ‘floating away’

milah - snug, ‘balcony nights’ ft. spencer hunt

midas - chiccote’s beats, ‘back’

michael tillman/the woodcutter - spencer hunt, ‘moonlight’

walsh/the wizard - mondo loops, ‘drive to midnight’

eloise gardener/mother gothel - towerz, ‘fateful slumber’

liam jones - dryhope, ‘quetzal’

rapunzel - chris mazreua x brillion, ‘juniper’

fiona/the black fairy - kupla, ‘twilight’

jafar - no spirit, ‘glowing lights’

the jabberwocky - mondo loops, ‘winter shells’ ft. kanisan

jacinda vidrio/ella mills - yasumu, ‘questions’

lucy mills - kupla, ‘sleepy little one’

margot west/robin mills - snug, ‘night coffee’ ft. mondo loops

king arthur - brillion, ‘crescent’

guinevere - mila coolness, ‘silent river’

merida - iamalex x dillan witherow, ‘nightwalk’ ft. azula

dr. jekyll/mr. hyde - g. mills, ‘rest your head’/fatb, ‘aurora boreale’ ft. mell-o

ivy belfry/drizella tremaine - chiccote’s beats, ‘illusion’

nicholas zimmer/hansel - chris mazuera, ‘obscurity’

hades - dryhope, ‘down river’

sabine/tiana - chris mazuera, ‘counting’ with g. mills

drew/naveen -hoogway, ‘skyline’ ft. dlj

felix - kupla, ‘roots’

walt d./the author - jhove, ‘if you only knew’

elliott mcgrath/jane hawkins - less people, ‘everything’s a symptom’ _____________

red whale (dr. whale x ruby lucas) - aso, ’espresso’

rumbelle (mr. gold x belle french) - yasumu, ‘waking up’

sleeping captain (aurora x killian jones) - monma x cocabona, ‘garnet’

snowcules (hercules x snow white) - dlj, ‘blackout’

beauty queen (regina mills x belle french) - tabal, ‘inside space’

captain charming (killian jones x david nolan) - pandrezz, ‘cuddlin’

aladasmine (aladdin x jasmine) - kupla, ‘soft to touch’

believe or leave (mr. gold x jefferson x dr. whale) - hoogway, ‘everything (you are)’

brave warrior (merida x mulan) - wys, ‘snowman’

charming whale (david nolan x dr. whale) - sebastian kamae x aylior, ‘outlet’

bellefire (belle french x neal cassidy) - eisu, ‘sheets’

captain charming hood (david nolan x killian jones x robin hood) - yasper x glimlip, ‘infused’

dragon queen (maleficent x regina mills) - tenno, ‘luna’

firewood (august booth x neal cassidy) - sebastian kamae x intoku, ‘lucid’

blue hook (the blue fairy x killian jones) - tysu x spencer hunt, ‘blue moon’

outlaw queen (regina mills x robin hood) - a[way], ‘warm nights’

captain swan (emma swan x killian jones) - hm surf, ‘mud master’

snowing (mary margaret blanchard x david nolan) - brillion, ‘kiptime’ with hm surf

golden queen (mr. gold x regina mills) - team astro, ‘empty shelves’

white whale (mary margaret blanchard x dr. whale) - laffey, ‘nighttime’

red cricket (archie hopper x ruby lucas) - dr. dundiff x allem iversom, ‘pale moon’

swan queen (emma swan x regina mills) - no spirit, ‘memories we made’

curious archer (alice jone x robin mills) - flovry x tender spring, ‘becoming’

swanfire (emma swan x neal cassidy) - pandrezz, ‘when she cries’

wicked hell (zelena x hades) - elior x eaup, ‘ships’

seeing stars (archie hopper x elliott mcgrath) - euginio izzi, ‘the fairie’s city’

Fandom Instagram /Social Media AU Masterlist:

Actors:

You (white blonde female) x Sebastian Stan

You (white blonde female) x Tom Hiddleston

You (white blonde female) x Thomas Brodie-Sangster

You (white blonde female) x Theo James

You (white blonde female) x Matt Smith

You (white blonde female) x KJ Apa

You (white blonde female) x Oscar Isaac

You (white blonde female) x Robert Downey Jr.

You (white blonde female) x Barry Keoghan

You (brunette latina) x Barry Keoghan

You x Pedro Pascal (7/?)

You x Tom Holland (7/?)

Actresses:

You (white blonde female) x Camila Mendes

Musicians:

You x Shawn Mendes (13/?)

Teen Wolf:

Thiam / Theo Raeken x Liam Dunbar (21/?)

Thiam ‘Airplanes’ series

Thiam x other fandoms

Morey / Mason Hewitt x Corey Bryant (3/?)

Nett / Nolan Holloway x Brett Talbot parent

Chrissa / Melissa MCCall x Chris Argent (wedding)

Marrish / Lydia Martin x Jordan Parrish

Theo Raeken

Stiles Stilinski

Lydia Martin

Scott McCall

Malia Tate / Malia Hale

Liam Dunbar

Jordan Parrish

Isaac Lahey

Corey Bryant

Allison Argent

Derek Hale

Peter Hale

Kira Yukimura

Chris Argent

Jackson Whittmore

Mason Hewitt

Melissa McCall

Noah / Sheriff Stilinski

Coach / Bobby Finstock

Hayden Romero

Ethan

Aiden

The Order:

Hamish Duke x Randall Carpio 

Harry Potter:

The Not So Golden Trio / My Friends and me at Hogwarts

The Not So Golden Trio / My Friends and me at Hogwarts (Part 2 / Second houses)

You (white blonde Ravenclaw female) x Draco Malfoy

You (brunette Slytherin female) x Draco Malfoy

You (white blonde Ravenclaw and English Cocker Spaniel Animagus female) x Young Remus Lupin 

You (white blonde Ravenclaw female) x Luna Lovegood

Fantastic Beasts:

You (white blonde female) x Newt Scamander

Marvel:

You (white brunette female) x Jessica Jones

You (white blonde female) x 40s Bucky Barnes

You (white blonde female/Athena) x boyfriend!Loki and bestfriend!Thor

You (white blonde female/Selene) x Loki

You (white blonde female/Bruce Banner’s daughter) x Peter Parker

You (white brunette male) x  Peter Parker

Pepperony / Pepper Potts x Tony Stark as Peter Parker’s adoptive parents

Peter Parker as Pepperonys adoptive son

Shuri x Peter best friends

Peter Stark/Parker (as Tony Starks biological son)

Avengers:

Tony Stark

Steve Rogers

REAL Steve Rogers

Bucky Barnes

Natasha Romanoff

Guardians Of The Galaxy:

Yondu Udonta

Peter Quill / Starlord

Gamora

Nebula

Doctor Who:

You (white blonde pansexual female) x Captain Jack Harkness

The Walking Dead:

Desus/Darus / Daryl Dixon x Jesus/Paul Rovia

Desus/Darus / Daryl Dixon x Jesus/Paul Rovia parent

Jesus / Paul Rovia

Daryl Dixon

Negan

Rick Grimes

Maggie Rhee / Maggie Grenne

Glenn Rhee

Eugene Porter

Rosita Espinosa

Sasha Williams

Michonne

Tara Chambler

Abraham Ford

Carl Grimes

Enid

Beth Greene

Carol Peletier

Aaron

Eric Raleigh

Hershel Greene

Tyreese Williams

Shane Walsh

Lori Grimes

Dale Horvath

Merle Dixon

Father Gabriel

Simon

Dwight

Sherry

The Governor

Andrea

King Ezekiel

Bob Stookey

Morgan Jones

Jerry

Fear The Walking Dead:

Trick/Troick / Troy Otto x Nick Clark (taking drugs together in S03E14: how it should’ve ended)

LOST:

Kate Austen

Sawyer / James Ford

Once Upon A Time:

Killian Jones / Captain Hook

Emma Swan

Regina Mills / The Evil Queen

Robin Of Locksley

David Nolan / Prince Charming

Mary Margaret / Snow White

Star Wars:

You (white blonde female) x Han Solo

You (white blonde female/Leia&Han’s daugther/Resistance Pilot) x Poe Dameron

Stormpolot/Finnpoe / Finn x Poe Dameron (2/?)

Hunger Games:

You (white blonde female) x  Peeta Mellark

The Maze Runner:

You (white blonde female) x Newt

Sherlock:

Mystrade / Greg Lestrade x Mycroft Holmes parent

Twilight:

You (legal white blonde female) x Chief Charlie Swan

Open for requests...

Problems With The Heart

Greg House x Dr Anna Harding (OFC)

Story Masterlist

Chapter 27 - Cuddy

House went back to Dr Nolan almost a year after he’d started therapy with him. Nolan focused on Anna, House tried to talk about the case, but for some reason all he could come back to was how he felt about Anna. He was trying to figure out what he was supposed to do to make her happy again, he wanted to go back to dinner dates and watching her laugh, but it got the point where even Nolan didn’t have the answers he was looking for.

The crane site was chaotic and Anna was in her element, she was good under pressure and she was a natural leader, but House didn’t like the fact that he could see her fear, he tried to get her to slow down, but she wasn’t having any of it. She just went ahead and dived into the more dangerous cases, she was on the front line without a care for her own safety, in fact, she had to stop and get her arm bandaged up from cutting it on some metal.

Once she was wrapped up, she was back diving down beneath the construction, helping to get people out. House hated it, she was undervaluing her life after he’d gone to the effort of trying to make her happy.

It all seemed to happen faster than he could stop it, it was one thing after another, he lost the patient, he did everything right, but he still lost the patient. He ended up back at his apartment, ripping the mirror off the wall to find his Vicodin stash. Cuddy was with him before he could take anything.

‘Anna is still at the site,’ she said. ‘I have a feeling she won’t leave until everyone has been accounted for.’

‘Probably not.’ House thought about Anna and the way she moved through the crane site. Everything was fatigued, but she used as much strength with the first lift of concrete as she did the last.

He didn’t really know what happened, he thought he’d been kissing Anna, thought maybe she’d come to save him, but it was Cuddy and before he knew it, he was waking up next to his boss. The worst part was that he didn’t feel bad about it.

He spent the time with Cuddy over the next day, he wondered if he should have called Anna, but his team called to say she was in the ER, taking control of it and the patients. Apparently she was doing a better job than a group of six doctors. He felt the guilt start to get to him as Cuddy was leaving. She left the question hanging. What do we do now?

Cuddy felt terrible, she broke off her engagement with Lucas, it wasn’t fair to him, she had feelings for House and regardless of anything, she couldn’t do that to Lucas. House was in a bad way and she convinced herself she was there as a friend, but when he kissed her, she felt everything she always wanted to feel with Lucas. She didn’t even care that he said Anna’s name instead of hers.

She went into work the following day and the first question was where Anna was. Cuddy heard that the ER was running better than it had done in a long time. Anna had gone home to take a shower and a nap, before she was due back that afternoon.

Cuddy was nervous about seeing her again, when she did, it was difficult to look at her, particularly when her glance lingered for a second too long.

‘Something wrong?’ She asked, stretching her neck and signing a couple of files at the front desk.

‘House lost the patient.’ Cuddy said, she knew her voice was off.

‘I know, Wilson told me.’ Anna nodded, moving to rub her shoulder, probably an old ache. ‘I was going to go over to see him yesterday, but the ER was struggling to cope.’

‘You should go and see him. Let me know if you want to talk afterwards.’ Cuddy said, as kindly as she could, but Anna’s blue eyes snapped to hers.

Anna cleared her throat and looked as if she was about to throw up. ‘You remember the last time you said that to me?’ She asked and Cuddy felt her whole being drop.

‘I-‘

‘I’m sure House is fine.’ She interrupted. ‘But if there’s something you’d like to tell me, I suggest you wait until the end of the day.’

Cuddy watched her best cardiologist and someone she used to consider a friend, but now everything had changed.

House knew what he needed to do, but he couldn’t find Anna anywhere, he went down to the ER first, then cardiology, he hit Wilson’s office and the clinic, but she wasn’t anywhere.

‘She’s been in radiology most of the day,’ Wilson said. ‘I’d wait until the end of the day though, she’s in no mood to be told bad news. She made a mistake yesterday, lost two patients.’

‘I didn’t know that.’

‘No, well she also didn’t sleep with someone else.’ Wilson said, snidely.

‘I thought it was Anna again,’ House sighed. ‘I know I said her name and not Cuddy’s.’

‘When you were having sex with Cuddy, you were thinking about Anna?’

House didn’t say anything. He just got up and left. He didn’t want to wait, he wanted to make things right. He went straight to radiology.

Anna was smiling with a patient, but it was a forced smile, she didn’t mean it. She left the room after she’d made a note on the chart.

‘Say it now or save it for the end of the day.’ She said, walking past him towards the nurses station. She was handed three different files and quickly flicked through all of them, telling each doctor what to do. ‘I suppose you heard that Henderson got caught by some scrap metal and it’s infected so I’ve had to take over his department for the next few days.’

Anna hadn’t looked at him since he arrived at radiology and he realised he just needed to say it.

‘I slept with Cuddy.’ He said, but Anna didn’t even look at him, she just carried on with reading through the file. ‘You already knew?’

Anna sighed, rubbing her shoulder to soothe it. ‘I think…’ she started. ‘I think you should ask Cuddy out.’

‘You’re kidding right?’ House half laughed.

‘Look, anyone in the world can see that you like her and she obviously has feelings for you.’ Anna was saying it all without looking at him, she couldn’t. ‘Every time we get anywhere with this, you go to Cuddy and… House, we were good together because we were casual, but we were supposed to be…’ Anna exhaled in exhaustion. ‘We’re done, House. It’s over.’

Anna was called by one of the nurses, a patient was crashing. She rushed into the room and tried to save their life, whether she succeeded or not, he didn’t know. House went to Cuddy at the end of the day, he told her about the conversation with Anna and just like him, she was surprised.

‘Well, what do you want to do?’ Cuddy asked.

‘I don’t know.’ He said. ‘What do you want to do?’

‘I can’t make this choice for you.’

‘That’s not helpful.’

Cuddy rolled her eyes. ‘This is your choice, if you love her, you have to try and make things work, but if you want to try things with me… I’ll be here.’

House really didn’t know what to do, he liked Cuddy, but he loved Anna.

If you liked this, please consider supporting me ☕ thanks for reading!

THE DREADED NETWORK NOTES

Perhaps one of the most soul-killing and tedious creative hurdles a showrunner has to traverse is what the industry calls a "notes session," or a "notes call," with the network executives and studio executives. A bad note can ignite epic creative firestorms, or even ruin creative partnerships. It's that sensitive place where the creative often bristle at the perception of the "suits" arbitrarily picking apart their hard work.

Here's how it works: the showrunner on a series for every episode has to submit outlines, and then scripts, for the network and studio to review. Why? Because the networks and studios pay for the show to be produced, so it's within their rights, and best interest, to review every line that is going to get produced and eventually air. Where problems start to flare is when executives don't see eye-to-eye with the creative vision of a showrunner. Or perhaps they don't understand, or trust, the nuance or direction the story or character is going. This is when the executives will provide their "notes" and recommendations, or even demands, for changes.

The best-case scenario is that a showrunner will accept the note, or the intention of the note, and make a clarification change, or compromise, that might make the script even better. The worst case scenario is receiving random, strange, or just plain bad suggestions about the script that seem impossible to accomplish without some tremendous creative compromise, or just selling out, by the showrunner and his writing team. Learning how to deal with difficult notes is one of the skills a showrunner has to master to service not only their show but their financier overlords. So what is the prevalent general consensus from showrunners about the notes process? Do they look at it as a positive, or as a migraine in the making?

MIKE KELLEY, SHOWRUNNER: REVENGE Notes, when they're given in the best of circumstances, help elevate the material. The time when notes suck and injure you is when they're given out of fear. Unfortunately, fear is something that seems to permeate the halls of all networks and studios and writers' offices, too. If you're in the creative business, a healthy dose of fear is what you can expect.

JANE ESPENSON, SHOWRUNNER: CAPRICA, HUSBANDS Notes can be very, very useful. When the studio and the network work best is when they are functioning as a very well-informed viewer. They have a little more objectivity and distance than you do, so they can say, "The audience is going to notice that this is actually a repeat of the information in the earlier scene." Or, "The audience may be confused here, because they could well think that they're supposed to be drawing this inference." Or, "The audience might be bored here, because you realize that the scene has gone on a bit long." They're fantastic at making sure that the story you're telling is the story you think you're telling.

HART HANSON, SHOWRUNNER: BONES, THE FINDER, BACKSTROM I get some really good notes from these people. Usually not the ones I'm expecting. Out of left field, our network or studio executive will say, "You should do B," and I go, "Oh my God. That’s so true." When you disagree with them it's not like, "These people are so stupid." Unfortunately, they are so smart. If they could do the typing they would do it themselves but they're very smart people and they have an agenda.

ALI LEROI, SHOWRUNNER: EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS, ARE WE THERE YET? Chris [Rock] and I used to have this conversation and we'd go, "Ignore the note, but respect the reaction." You know if somebody is reading your bit and they go "Hmmmm," it doesn't mean that what you've come up with is something bad. It just means that you didn't necessarily convey it in a way that they get it, and you have to do that. People need to get it if you want them to be entertained.

DAVID SHORE, SHOWRUNNER: HOUSE I have very little sympathy for showrunners who just ignore notes. [The notes] are sometimes stupid but if somebody's not reacting to something, it means you didn't do something right. The person reading your script is your audience and you have to listen to them, even if they're working in a big tower and wear a suit. I also recognize I don't own this show. They own the show. I'm doing a job. I have to respect that. The freedom they give me, and I will keep fighting for more and more freedom, it's a gift. It's not even a gift, I'm actually charging for it, so I mean it’s even better than a gift.

JONATHAN NOLAN, SHOWRUNNER: PERSON OF INTEREST I'd heard all these horror stories about network shows, and how if things aren't going the right way, they dig in with the notes. [Greg] and I probably handled something in the region of 300 to 400 notes calls. On The Dark Knight I had none of those calls, so this is a real change of pace for me. But I think that's because we approached it with, hopefully, a confident, clear, unified voice. If we had any disagreements, I don’t think anyone knows about them because we had them privately. Largely we saw eye-to-eye on everything, and then presented all that with a unified voice to the studio and the network, and they were fucking relieved, because that's really all they want. They just want someone who has a vision for something that's maybe a little risky, a little different from what they're doing, but not a million miles outside of it.

NOTES MEETING 101

While every studio and network regime has their own way of dispensing notes, the process is relatively cut and dry. Jane Espenson explains the ins and outs:

"Different networks and studios structure their corporate executive ranks differently. You may be dealing with someone who gives notes only on new shows, versus someone who gives notes on continuing shows. Or you may have different layers of executives weighing in, so you have to know that a senior person's notes supersede the less senior person's notes. Each place seems to do it a little differently."

"The showrunner can either be alone on the notes call with the network and studio, which may be one notes call, or it may be two separate notes calls. Or they may bring the [episode] writer in with them to get their notes personally. It just depends on how it's done. The showrunner may come back and relay, 'Here are the notes that I got from the studio.' It may come in an email. The individual writer should be very clear after a notes session. The showrunner should be very clear with them about which notes they're expected to address, and which ones they're not expected to address."

"Ron Moore at Battlestar Galactica had a very good system. He would get the notes email, he would then go through it and send an email to you, forward those notes to you, but he would notate after each note, 'We agreed to do this one; I don't think this one's worth doing. Do you have a suggestion for that?' You would see everything that the studio said, unambiguously, because they were forced to write it all out, and you would see what Ron wanted you to do with it. It's a great system. I liked it, because it forced the network to be very specific in their notes, and the writer had a written thing they could go back and consult. Did I address this note? Yes. Check it off."

Excerpted from: Bennett, T. (2014). Showrunners: The art of running a TV show. London, UK: Titan Books, Kindle edition. (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

off the rack #1242

Monday, December 24, 2018

 I was hit by a spasm of back pain on Saturday like the ghost of Christmas Past. That'll teach me for being such a Scrooge this time of year. I try not to be naughty but being nice is such a pain in the pants. I am slowly recovering under the gentle ministrations of Santa's Helper. Being around family and friends is better medicine than any pain pills I could take. My brother and sister-in-law hosted a brunch yesterday and seeing everyone together laughing and happy soothed me greatly. Just holding baby Oliver and making him smile eased my back pain.

 I saw the Ottawa premiere of Aquaman thanks to my Jee-Riz partner Chris, who won passes from the comic book store Myths, Legends and Heroes. I can sum up how I felt about the movie in one word; wigs. I wish they had spent some of the Atlantis special effects budget on better wigs for the actors. Arthur's dad's toupee was glaringly obvious. I've seen better hair on Cosplayers than Nicole Kidman's wigs. It looked like Amber Heard/Mera was wearing a wig at times but even when it looked like her real hair the colour red they chose was too unnatural looking. The movie's saving grace for me was Jason Momoa. He makes a great Arthur/Aquaman. I'm glad I didn't pay to see this one.

 Ugh. Stan Lee tribute covers. Terrible marketing idea.

 Dead Man Logan #2 - Ed Brisson (writer) Mike Henderson (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). A couple of things really annoyed me this issue. Sin, the Red Skull's daughter, acted like a spoiled brat. It's not a stretch to foresee the villains losing at the end of this 12-issue story. Then we have Forge repairing a machine that can get Old Man Logan back home. They actually go there and he doesn't stay. I'm for super heroics as much as the next nerd and maybe I'm selfish, but that irked me to no end. Old Man Logan has been whining about getting home ever since he showed up in this timeline and now he wants to stay to prevent all the super heroes from being killed by all the super villains. There isn't even a guarantee that is what happens in the future. And why don't they use the machine to fix things? Man I hate time travel. I really like Mike Henderson's art but this looks like another travelling super heroes versus super villains battle every issue, and that's not very interesting to me.

 Defenders: The Best Defense #1 - Al Ewing (writer) Joe Bennett (pencils) Belardino Brabo (inks) Dono Sanchez Almara (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). It's the big Defenders reunion to save Earth. Old Man Dr. Strange, Hulk, Namor and the Silver Surfer have to sidetrack The Train in order for Earth to survive. It's a bit complicated and I'm surprised that you didn't really need to read all the one-shots to get what's going on. I mean all those scenes where the stabby killer in the bed sheet is killing aliens isn't even mentioned in this story. So what was up with that?

 Marvel Knights #4 - Vita Ayala & Donny Cates (writers) Joshua Cassara (art) Matt Milla (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Here's where they explain why all the super heroes have forgotten who they are. T'Challa/Black Panther is featured in this issue that ends with him discovering the lair of villains. I'm wondering how the bad guys retained their memories.

 Old Man Hawkeye #12 - Ethan Sacks (writer) Francesco Mobili (art) Andres Mossa (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). That was a very satisfying ending. What a great prequel to the Old Man Logan story where Clint and Logan go on a road trip. This is where Clint loses his sight for good. I loved the last page epilogue showing Clint tracking down someone who will help him to continue to fight the bad guys despite his blindness.

 Runaways #16 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Kris Anka (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Reading this Christmas special is better than getting a lump of coal. Having Doombot as a dinner guest made this a treat. I wish he was a regular member of the team.

 West Coast Avengers #6 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Daniele Di Nicuolo (art) Triona Farrell (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The good guys have been captured by the bad guys: Satana Hellstrom, M.O.D.O.K., The Eel and Madame Masque. Kate is still free however and she's not going to abandon her team mates. Too bad she gets waylaid on her way to rescue them. Her captor is a complete surprise, which will make the next issue a hoot.

 Thor #8 - Jason Aaron (writer) Mike del Mundo (art) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). This is an awesome issue with Thor fighting the Angelus. It ends with an ex-Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. being paid a visit by the Black Panther. I like how this book is being tied into The Avengers.

 Season's Beatings #1 - Jason Latour (writer) Greg Hinkle, Chris Brunner, Veronica Fish & Mario Del Pennino (art) Rico Renzi, Jim Campbell & Veronica Fish (colours) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). I should have realized from the cover that this was a Deadpool Christmas Special. If I had known, I would have bought a pair of socks from the Dollar Store with the $4.99 US that this comic book costs. Unless of course, you're a big Deadpool fan or West Coast Avengers fan or even an X-Force fan. They're all in here too. Plus Squirrel Girl and Doctor Doom. Come to think of it, this is an everything but the kitchen sink gift for a Marvel Comics fan who will get a few chuckles out of it.

 Freedom Fighters #1 - Robert Venditti (writer) Eddy Barrows (pencils) Eber Ferreira (inks) Adriano Lucas (colours) Deron Bennett (letters). This is some heavy duty patriotic poop right here. We start this 12-issue story in 1963 America that is ruled by Adolf Hitler and his "ratzi" party. The original Freedom Fighters meet to plot a resistance attack on a war robot factory. Things don't go well for the good guys. Jump forward to 2018 and the surprise appearance of the New Freedom Fighters; Black Condor, Doll Woman, the Human Bomb and Phantom Lady. All we need is Uncle Sam. Robert Venditti holds nothing back showing the Germans as ruthless racists. The art is really well done so I will give these Golden Age heroes a chance to see how they fare in modern times.

 Middlewest #2 - Skottie Young (writer) Jorge Corona (art) Jean Francois Beaulieu (colours) Nate Piekos (letters). A new character named Jeb is introduced who helps Abel get out of a bind. Jeb reminds me of the first time we meet Gandalf. Abel's quest continues and we find out a bit more about the symbol on his chest. I predict he'll meet his mother down the road but unlike the talking fox, I won't be travelling down it with him.

 Cover #4 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) David Mack (art) Michael Avon Oeming (Owen art) Zu Orzu (colours) Carlos Mangual (letters). This issue is a great example of how a comic book can tell a story with words and pictures. I felt like I was watching a TV show or a short film. Brian, David and Michael work together seamlessly

 Hardcore 1 - Robert Kirkman & Andy Diggle (writers) Alessandro Vitti (art) Adriano Lucas (colours) Thomas Mauer (letters). Yeah man, it is. Agent Drake is a drone pilot but what he controls are other human beings. A new nanotechnology allows him to take over and move a remote body for 72 hours so he can complete wetwork missions. It's really cool. The big problem arises when the guy who invented the tech comes back to reclaim it from the government. That guy is not asking nicely. I like this concept and the predicament that Agent Drake finds himself in at the end of this issue. Therefore, this goes on to my "must read" list.

 Klaus and the Crying Snowman #1 - Grant Morrison (writer) Dan Mora (art) Ed Dukeshire (letters). This $7.99 US one-shot tells the tale of how Sam the snowman helps Klaus save the Earth from murderous aliens. I loved how they wove in Norse mythology. You'd think a crying snowman would be doomed in the end and you'd be right, but fear not, 'tis a happy ending.

 Betty & Veronica #1 - Jamie Lee Rotante (writer) Sandra Lanz (art) Kelly Fitzpatrick (colours) Jack Morelli (letters). The BFFs are back with a 5-issue mini that starts off their senior year of high school. I know that these slightly more mature Archie Comics want to draw in a new audience but Betty dating Reggie? Sacrilege. A few other things bothered me storywise that turned me off even more. Betty drinking a spiked punch without noticing? C'mon. Then there's the art. I didn't like the interiors compared to the nice cover that Sandra drew. I expected my girl Betty to be treated better than this.

 Catwoman #6 - Joelle Jones (story & art) Laura Allred (colours) Josh Reed (letters). The finale of "Copycats" is a quick read so I read it twice. The first time was to see how Catwoman deals with the evil Mrs. Creel and her pumped up on drugs son. The second time was to see Catwoman in action and to savour the beautiful art and layouts. I wish Joelle Jones would do a Betty & Veronica mini.

 Extermination #5 - Ed Brisson (writer) Pepe Larraz (art) Marte Gracia (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I tolerated this time travel tale because of the amazing art. I wish Pepe Larraz would do a Betty & Veronica mini. If you thought that the mutants being exterminated was a real threat then you haven't been reading X-Men comic books for very long. This story puts the young X-Men back in their own time and all is well again. The big surprise comes on the last page and I'm thinking "oh geez, here we go again".

 Domino #9 - Gail Simone (writer) David Baldeon & Michael Shelfer (art) Roberto Poggi (ink assist) Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Soldier of Fortune part 3. The ladies are asked to kill Longshot. Haven't seen him in a while. Might not see him for long though, since he's supposed to bring about the end of the world. This is interesting because both Domino and Longshot have the same super power. Who's luck is going to run out first?

 Firefly #2 - Greg Pak (writer) Dan McDaid (art) Marcelo Costa (colours) Jim Campbell (letters). Mal and Zoe are being hunted by a gang of thieves and the Alliance. Darn tootin' there's going to be shootin'. I have been watching Nathan Fillion's new cop show The Rookie and I quite like it.

 Batman #61 - Tom King (writer) Travis Moore (art) Tamra Bonvillain (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Knightmares part 1. The "what the!?" appearance on the last page of #60 is explained here as a new story starts. I knew something was hinky when I saw the string of pearls around the dead body of Martha Wayne in the alley. I thought we were in an alternate universe and we sort of are but it came as a complete shock when what was going on was explained. Arkham Asylum is getting a new inmate. At least he's new to me unless I want to go back and read Batman #38.

For the week of 10 September 2018

Quick Bits:

 Archie: 1941 #1 is fairly morose and downbeat in tone and execution as a recently graduated Archie Andrews seemingly sleepwalks through this opening chapter, depressed and anxious about the future, both in terms of what he wants to do with his life and with the growing fear of the war in Europe. It’s not bad, elevated by wonderful art from Peter Krause and Kelly Fitzpatrick.

| Published by Archie Comics

Birthright #31 returns after an extended break, opening a new arc following Kallista and Brennan, while diving into the backstory of Mastema. I like Joshua Williamson taking us off down this thread and the art from Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas is as beautiful as always.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Cemetery Beach #1 is a very entertaining start to this new action/sci-fi mini-series from Warren Ellis, Jason Howard, and Fonografiks. It’s been a while since I’ve seen some of Ellis’ dialogue be this funny, but it’s very welcome.

| Published by Image

Champions #24 tackles the increasing problem of school shootings with the added intersection of a world with superheroes. Now, that may sound like a recipe for disaster, condescending patronizing or an after school special with saccharine solutions, but that’s not what’s presented here. Jim Zub, Sean Izaakse, Marcio Menyz, Erick Arciniega, and Clayton Cowles instead present a thoughtful story of the helplessness of the situation, that you really should pick up and read for yourself.

| Published by Marvel

Crowded #2 is as good, possibly even better, than the first issue as we get further development of Vita and Charlie’s characters, and a broader understanding of many of the facets of the series’ world. This really is a great comic, wonderful humour, amazing premise, interesting characters, and beautiful art. Christopher Sebela, Ro Stein, Ted Brandt, Tríona Farrell, and Cardinal Rae have something special here. Don’t sleep on it.

| Published by Image

Exiles #8 is a good jumping-on point, as the team’s history is explored and the issue sets up a new group of antagonists in the Watchers. Saladin Ahmed is doing a great job of building these characters and making their unique alternate realities interesting. Nice guest art this issue from Joe Quinones, Joe Rivera, Jordan Gibson, Chris Sotomayor, and Muntsa Vicente. 

| Published by Marvel

Fantastic Four #2 has a couple things in its opening page that could be considered problematic, the first in its depiction of an alien race that could be an analogue to the racial stereotype of Native Americans as the “noble savage”, the second is of the sexualization of a child. Neither are particularly endearing in how they’re presented and I’m kind of surprised they made it to print.

That being said, the rest of the issue is pretty good. It’s the kind of sci-fi adventure you’d expect from the FF, though it does feel like we’ve been dropped in at the end of an adventure we’ve never seen, and it has beautiful artwork from Sara Pichelli, Elisabetta D’Amico, and Marte Gracia.

| Published by Marvel

Hot Lunch Special #2 is just plain great storytelling. Eliot Rahal, Jorge Fornés, and Taylor Esposito are crafting a crime story here that is the perfect storm of characters, plot, and execution. It’s dense and heavy, navigating through the Khoury family and their shock at the death of their youngest, masterfully told through both dialogue and art.

| Published by AfterShock

Iceman #1 isn’t a bad start to a new series from Sina Grace, this time with Nathan Stockman and Federico Blee joining him for the art duties. While still cracking wise a bit, this seems like it’s going in a much more serious direction than some of Grace’s previous series. Great art, and an interesting hook for a new group trying to “cleanse” mutantkind.

| Published by Marvel

Infinity Wars #3 gives us the twist in the tale that’s going to deliver most of the tie-ins and spin-offs for the series, as Gamora remakes the world and causes the fusion of various heroes. It’s an idea we’ve seen before in things like the merged DC/Marvel Amalgam universe, which could be fun depending on where the creative teams take it.

| Published by Marvel

MCMLXXV #1 is kind of a mash-up of different 70s exploitation film genres, creating an interesting action horror story from Joe Casey, Ian MacEwan, Brad Simpson, and Rus Wooton. MacEwan’s art is very nice, reminding me a bit of Troy Nixey, with some interesting character designs and wonderful depictions of the action.

| Published by Image

Mech Cadet Yu #12 concludes the series with a final battle between the robos and the Sharg, again following the important themes of teamwork and sacrifice. This has been a very entertaining, action-packed story from Greg Pak, Takeshi Miyazawa, Raúl Angulo, and Simon Bowland.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Oblivion Song #7 is the big answer to the Transference, maybe, as the series turns itself on its ear again with more sweeping changes. I really quite like how Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo de Felici are keeping us on our toes as the series keeps pressing forward. 

| Published by Image / Skybound

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #309 concludes this two-parter focusing on Sandman, with gorgeous art from Chris Bachalo and his army of inkers. This one’s a lot more action-oriented than the quiet reflection upon death in the first chapter, but it’s still very satisfying.

| Published by Marvel

Runaways #13 begins a new arc with some incredible guest art from David Lafuente and Jim Campbell. Along with the return of Alex Wilder, this drops in another old threat for the team, leading to one of the more action-packed issues of the series so far. Still, amidst the chaos, Rainbow Rowell still has a laser-focused eye for character development, giving us some interesting reactions to Wilder’s return.

| Published by Marvel

Scales & Scoundrels #12 concludes this two-part arc with Dorma and with it the series for the foreseeable future. This has been a great all ages fantasy adventure series from Sebastian Girner, Galaad, and Jeff Powell, and I wish it had have caught on better since the quality has been extremely high. Great characters and beautiful art, I do hope they find a way to bring it back in some form, and I highly recommend people to check out the series in the collections. 

| Published by Image

Volition #2 is another beautiful comic. The artwork from Omar Francia is gorgeous with a nice polished sheen to the colours that enriches this world of sentient machines.

| Published by AfterShock

Weapon H #7 continues to be more entertaining than anyone probably thought possible. Though I really quite like Cory Smith’s art, I’m thinking that Ario Anindito’s is even more suited to the weird, alien creatures of this turn in the story.

| Published by Marvel

The Wrong Earth #1 is a solid debut, kicking off new publisher, Ahoy’s, foray into comics. It’s a nice package with a lead story, a back-up comic, some interviews, a one pager, and a short story. It gives nice value for what you’re picking up, especially when you consider the talent involved. 

The lead story from Tom Peyer, Jamal Igle, Juan Castro, Andy Troy, and Rob Steen is the main draw, though. It’s a rather brilliant premise of a superhero crossing alternate realities, switching from a kind of Adam West Batman-esque quaint, bright world to a much darker grim and gritty world, and vice versa. It’s executed very well, capturing the tone and atmosphere for both takes perfectly.

The backmatter also nicely enhances the experience, particularly the back-up comic featuring Stinger from Paul Constant and Frank Cammuso, presented in a kind of retro comics fashion. And a suitably bonkers adventure prose story from Grant Morrison, with illustrations by Rob Steen.

| Published by Ahoy Comics

X-23 #4 pushes further to paint the Cuckoos as out and out villains now. Which is a bit of a shame, much like with Emma Frost, but I can’t deny that Mariko Tamaki isn’t doing something interesting with them and the story overall. Also, Juann Cabal and Nolan Woodard continue to deliver stunning artwork.

| Published by Marvel

X-Men Blue #35 takes a moment for each of the time-tossed original five X-Men to chat with their present day counterparts about going back to their own time, while flashing forward to the seemingly nightmarish future that would exist if they stayed. Obviously with Extinction going on events are a bit out of order, but I still like the handle Cullen Bunn has had on these characters.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Accell #14, Amazing Spider-Man #5, Astonisher #10, The Beauty #23, Dejah Thoris #8, Charlie’s Angels #4, Daredevil #608, Domino #6, Farmhand #3, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #256, Head Lopper #9, Joe Golem: The Drowning City #1, Journey Into Mystery: Birth of Krakoa #1, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Tempest #2, Low Road West #1, Mage: The Hero Denied #12, Moth & Whisper #1, Ms. Marvel #34, Nancy Drew #4, The New World #3, Ninja-K #11, Old Man Logan #47, Proxima Centauri #4, RuinWorld #3, the seeds #2, She Could Fly #3, Sleepless #7, Star Trek: The Next Generation - Terra Incognita #3, Star Wars: Darth Vader #21, Star Wars: The Last Jedi #6, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #36, Venom: First Host #3, Wasted Space #5, The Weatherman #4, The Wicked + The Divine #39, World of Tanks: Citadel #5

Recommended Collections: Anthony Bourdain’s Hungry Ghosts, Dissonance - Volume 1, Dry County Complete, DuckTales - Volume 3: Quests & Quacks, Elsewhere - Volume 2, Infinity Countdown, Infinity Countdown Companion, Kick-Ass - Volume 1, Koshchei the Deathless, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - Volume 6, Oblivion Song - Volume 1, Slam: Next Jam, Star Trek: The Next Generation - Through the Mirror, Star Wars: Darth Vader - Volume 3: Burning Seas, Star Wars: Thrawn, Strangers in Paradise XXV - Volume 1: The Chase

d. emerson eddy did not start a joke that started the whole world crying.

Top 10 batman writers?

With particularly honorable mentions to Steve Englehart (his Batman wasn’t itself up my alley - though his Joker is another story altogether - but his significance is undeniable), Greg Rucka, Jeph Loeb (Hush was fun, dangit! Or at least it was fun to young entry-level DC reader me, which I understand has been its general underappreciated function over the years among fans), Peter Milligan, and Matt Wagner, as well as Dwayne McDuffie and Christopher Nolan outside of comics:

10. Scott Snyder

This’ll be a controversial one, no doubt about that. Look, Scott Snyder is easily one of my favorite superhero writers out there, and his Batman run is a favorite of mine. But judged as a Batman run specifically as opposed to a rip-roaring superhero book in general, his take is rather…specific. As he develops his voice on the character, his Bruce Wayne moves further and further into the territory of beleaguered 80s action hero, constantly freaking out and in over his head but always ready with a fast quip and a solid fist. His grasp of Batman’s thematic underpinnings is second to none, but while his execution of those ideas is just about always a blast, it’s surprisingly rare it feels on-point for the character as he’s existed elsewhere over 78 years. But I still can’t exclude the dude who wrote Court of Owls and Zero Year.

9. Bill Finger

Finger makes it by default; while I’m surprised myself that I’m putting him so low, that in and of itself is only a testament to the versatility and enduring power of the world and themes he built. But make no mistake, he’s not just here as a matter of being grandfathered in: aside from being one of the best done-and-one adventure writers Batman ever had, stories like The Origin Of Batman and Robin Dies At Dawn pack an emotional punch that resonate to this day.

8. Denny O’Neil

About as close as you can get to the founder of Batman as we know him today, aside from maybe my next pick. O’Neil hasn’t batted a hundred over the years, but when he’s on-point he’s as good as it gets, swinging between giddy pulp adventure and pitch-black noir that set the definitive template for what it is we expect out of Batman, and his interactions with several of his most important loved ones and enemies.

7. Frank Miller

In terms of characterization, Miller’s Batman is maybe best thought of in the same terms as the Golden Age comics - instrumental to Bruce Wayne as we understand him today, but recognizably not quite that guy yet. But Miller energized, mythologized, or outright invented a truly staggering degree of the fundamentals of Batman’s world, punctuated by moments of pure, distilled Batman-as-unstoppable-vengeance, whether hauling two hundred and twenty pounds of sociopath to the top of the highest tower in Gotham, bursting in on an upper-class mob meeting to deliver his statement of intent, or recalling what it takes to make the world make sense as he drives his best friends’ face into the Crime Alley pavement, with just enough humanity in there (accepting and nurturing Carrie Kelly as Robin, telling the kid not to swear, saving the cat in Year One and stopping a punk from falling off a fire escape and catching a beating for it) to keep it palatable.

6. Alan Brennert

If Miller defined the myth of Batman as we know it today, Brennert was the unsung hero who gave him his heart. While his work was minimal, the weight it carries in certain circles can’t be overstated - his Batman was emotionally raw like none before and few after, confronted with his traumas and the walls he had built around himself, and forced to confront himself and his relationships or lose everything. For The Autobiography Of Bruce Wayne alone, Brennert handily secures his place among the greats.

5. Darwyn Cooke

Cooke didn’t do a tremendous amount with Batman before his passing in terms of writing, but what there is is work for the ages. With his recreation of Night of the Stalker! he captures Batman at his brutal, haunting noir best, but it’s with Ego that his seizes his position in the top five with a comprehensive, insightful, and truly spooky look at the center of Bruce Wayne’s mind that says more about Batman with a single one-shot that most of his writers do in their entire careers.

4. Paul Dini

If you’re talking about drawing the straightest line between a writers work towards Batman as we know him today, perhaps no one has more of a claim to fame than Paul Dini. One of the braintrust behind Batman: The Animated Series and later a writer on the main books, he’s been behind armfuls of iconic, fan-favorite Batman stories of every genre permutation that solidified the caped crusader as we know him today: stoic, determined, brilliant, compassionate, and possessed of a jet-black wit that while sparsely deployed perfectly offset the horror surrounding him on all sides. Kevin Conroy is the Batman we all hear in our heads, and Dini put some of his best lines in his mouth before taking that skill to an underrated run on Detective Comics that deserves a spot among the greats.

3. Warren Ellis

EDIT: This was written prior to allegations against Ellis. While I’m not changing the list as this is a reflection of how I felt as I was making it, and the actions of the author don’t change the quality of the material now that it’s out in the universe, that qualification feels necessary.

I’ll be upfront with all of you: I am as surprised as anyone that Ellis is placing so high here. Hell, his first Batman story, a two-parter in Legends of the Dark Knight early in his career, was notably lackluster by his usual standards, and it makes up a significant percentage of his output (even if you count his Moon Knight run with Declan Shalvey as de facto Batman comics, which I absolutely do). But I thought about his other Batman stories - the first-ever Black and White feature with Jim Lee, and the Planetary crossover - and asked myself one by one, “are you better than X writer’s entire cumulative, often revolutionary Batman output?” And dammit if the answer didn’t keep being “yes”. What it comes down to is that he is to Batman as Garth Ennis is to Superman: a writer without much love for the superhero genre (though Ellis seems to have come to terms with it as a perfectly acceptable storytelling delivery system, as opposed to Ennis’s more pronounced disdain) who in a couple fits and spurts found the one character they seem capable of genuinely investing in, and whether people noticed it or not absolutely rocked it beyond comprehension in their time with them. Ellis found through Batman a perfect conduit for his righteous anger with the cruelties of the world, nailing his cunning, his cool demeanor, his vicious humor, his anger, his sympathy, his ability to inspire fear and awe in equal measure, and in the best Batman scene of all time, he articulated better than any writer before or after him why Bruce Wayne fights, and what for. Combined with his Moon Knight as a window as to how he might handle the character on a month-by-month basis that became an all-time great run unto itself, plus his excellent showing in Ellis’s arc of JLA Classified, and I just can’t make myself rank him any lower than this.

2. Tom King

The newest entry to the list, Tom King already had plenty of love when he came onboard thanks to Grayson, Omega Men, and Vision, but he was stepping into some of the most titanic shoes in the industry in Scott Snyder’s wake. But not only did he live up to that standard, he’s soared far beyond, with a thoroughly human and determinedly unconventional look at the degree to which Bruce has hindered himself emotionally for the sake of his mission and the toll of a neverending war on his mind. Ranging from fist-pumpingly cool to unrelentingly grim, profound to self-consciously silly, and managing to be soul-curdlingly cold and shamelessly tender in equal measure, Tom King not only finds the heart of Batman as few others have, but does so through one of the characters’ boldest, most technically spectacular, and refreshingly honest runs.

1. Grant Morrison

Just as much as he is with Superman, Grant Morrison simply is The Batman Writer. I’ve written at extensive length on his work here before, so in short: Morrison’s Batman is the best run a major Big Two character has ever received by miles and one of the best in comics period. He writes Batman as a mystery, as a thriller, as a pulp action romp, as sci-fi, as psychedelic spy warfare, as pure superheroics, as lurid horror, and as one man’s attempt to transcend himself through the ideal his symbol embodies and its ability to inspire others. He played with the symbols and themes underpinning Bruce Wayne like none other, he not only perfectly nailed Batman’s character but imposed a character arc over the whole of his publishing history, he touched on every corner of his world while carving out entirely new and unique spaces, and he left behind an honest-to-god epic that’s visibly influenced every major comics take since. There is simply no comparison of his work to anyone else’s, and I sincerely question if there ever will be - even more than his work defined Superman for me (and his Superman work includes my absolute favorite work of fiction period), his Batman is the Batman that lives in my head.

READING DE NACHT READING 2017

                                                            my favourite books of the year

my overall favourite book of the year:

     david keenan “this is memorial device” [faber & faber] (2017)

POST-CYBERPUNKSTOMPF:

01 nick harkaway "gnomon" (2017) 02 kim stanley robinson "new york 2140" (2017) 03 m john harrison "you should come with me" (2017) 04 gardner dozois (ed) "the year's best science fiction: thirty-fourth annual collection" (2017) 05 james morrow "the asylum of dr. caligari" (2017)

06 annalee newitz "autonomous" (2017) 07 cory doctorow "walkaway" (2017) 08 dave hutchinson "acadia" (2017)   + dave hutchinson "slow companions" (2017) 09 ed finn (ed) visions, ventures, escape velocities: a collection of space futures" (2017) 10 bryan thomas schmidt (ed) "infinite stars" (2017)

11 allan kaster "the year's top hard science fiction stories" (2017) 12 nina allen "the rift" (2017) 13 charles stross "the delirium brief" (2017) 14 simon morden "at the speed of light" (2017) 15 ada palmer "seven surrenders" (2017) & "the will to battle" (2017)

16 yoon ha lee "raven stratagem" (2017) 17 john joseph adams (ed) "cosmic powers" (2017) 18 mur lafferty "six wakes" (2017) 19 taiyo fujii "orbital cloud" (2017) 20 andrew bannister "creation machine" (2016)     + andrew bannister "iron gods" (2017)

21 gareth l powell "entropic angel & other stories" (2017) 22 ann leckie "provenance" (2017) 23 monica louzon (ed) "catalysts, explorers & secret keepers: women of sf" 24 ian mconald "wolf moon" (2017) 25 neal stephenson & nicole galland "the rise & fall of d.o.d.o." (2017)

26 adam roberts "the real-town murders" (2017) 27 tim pratt "the wrong stars" (2017) 28 jim c. hines "terminal alliance" (2017) 29 charles stross "the empire games" (2017) 30 james s.a. corey "persepolis rising" (2017)     + james s.a. corey "strange dogs" (2017)

31 allen steele "avengers of the moon (captain future)" (2017) 32 neal asher "infinity engine [transformation III]" (2017) 33 jason m. hough "injection burn" (2017)   + jason m. hough "escape velocity" (2017) 34 donna scott (ed) "best of british science fiction 2016"/una mccormack "star of the sea" (2016) 35 david marusek "upon this rock"/john scalzi "collapsing empire" (2017)

& a couple of re-readings: richard k. morgan "takeshi kovacs trilogy" in view of the coming netflix series and colin harvey "damage time" (2010) ... no further reason needed!

STOMPF KLASSIK:

01 matthew mcintosh "the mystery.doc" (2017)

02 sébastien roger "les désordres du monde. walter benjamin à port-bou" (2017) 03 laurent binet "hhhh" (2012) 04 + laurent binet "the 7th function of language" (2017) 05 jean echenoz "special envoy" (2017)

06 paul stanbridge "forbidden line" (2016) 07 ryu murakami "tokyo decadence (2016) 08 aifric campbell "the semantics of murder" (2008) 09 mark vernon "darker with the day" (2017) 10 magnus mills "the forensic records society" (2017)

GEDÄCHTNISSTOMPF:

01 mckenzie wark "general intellects: 25 thinkers for the 21st century" (2017) 02 claude lefort "wat is politiek?" (2016) 03 ger groot & sam ijsseling "dankbaar en aandachtig" (2013) 04 martin heidegger "beiträge zur philosophie (vom ereignis)" (2003) 05 hannah arendt "totalitarisme" (2014)

06 daniel birnbaum & kim west "life on sirius: the situationist international & the exhibition of art" (2016) 07 ger groot "de geest is uit de fles" (2017) 08 sean gaston "the impossible mourning of jacques derrida" (2006) 09 bas heijne "onbehagen: nieuw licht op de beschaafde mens" (2016) 10 giorgio colli "ecrits sur nietzsche" (2017)

11 frédéric neyrat "échapper à l'horreur" (2017) 12 slavoj zizek "against the double blackmail, refugees, terror & other troubles with the neighbours" (2017) 13 henning mankell "quicksand" (2016) 14 jacques rancière "en quel temps vivons-nous? conversations avec eric hazan" (2017) 15 alain badiou "je vous sais si nombreux... " (2017)

16 alain badou & jean-luc nancy "la tradition allemande dans la philosophie" (2017) 17 tom mccarthy "typewriters bombs jellyfish [essays]" (2017) 18 valeria luiselli "tell me how it ends: an essay in 40 questions" (2017) 19 fredric jameson "raymond chandler: the detections of totality" (2016) 20 umberto eco "chronicles of a liquid society" (2017)

POLARSTOMPF:

01 chris petit "pale horse riding" (2017)   + chris petit "the butchers of berlin" (2016)   + chris petit "the human pool" (2002)   + chris petit "the psalm killer" (1996)

02 john le carré "a legacy of spies" (2017) 03 david hewson "sleep baby sleep" (2017) 04 mick herron "slow horses" (2010)   + mick herron "dead lions" (2013)   + mick herron "the list" (2015)   + mick herron "real tigers" (2016)   + mick herron "spook street" (2017) 05 jussi adler-olsen "the scarred woman" (2017)

06 jo nesbo "the thirst" (2017) 07 ben fergusson "the spring of kasper meier" (2014) 08 e.o. chirovici "the book of mirrors" (2017) 09 toni coppers "de zaak magritte" (2017) 10 james r. tuck "mama tried (crime fiction inspired by outlaw country music)" (2016)

YOUNGADULTSTOMPF:

01 philip pullman "la belle sauvage" (2017)

PLATTERSTOMPF:

01 cosey fanni tutti "art sex music" (2017) 02 david keenan "this is memorial device" (2017) 03 joanne demers "drone and apocalypse" (2015) 04 + joanne demers "listening through the noise" (2010) 05 robert barry "the music of the future" (2017)

06 richard cabut & andrew gallix (eds) "punk is dead: modernity killed every night" (2017) 07 butt gavin, kodwo eshun, & mark fisher (eds) "post punk then and now" (2016)" 08 sandra garrido "why are we attracted to sad music" (2016) 09 tomas serrien "klank: een filsofie van de muzikale ervaring" (2017) 10 marlies de munck "waarom chopin de regen niet wilde horen" (2017)

11 daniel warner "live wires" (2017) 12 will carruthers "playing the bass with three left hands" (2016) 13 steve hanley "the big midweek-life inside the fall (2016) 14 tex perkins "tex" (2017) 15 mark lanegan "i am the wolf" (2017)

17 simon reynolds "shock & awe" (2016) 18 andrew o'neill "a history of heavy metal" (2017) 19 bryan ray turcotte "the fucked up reader" (2007) 10 bob batchelor (ed) "literary cash" (2017) 20 simon webb "a 1970s teenager. from bell-bottoms to disco dancing" (2013)

         both bell-bottoms and disco dancing can be had @ muntpunt !

POESISSTOMPF:

01 jonty tiplady "zam bonk dip" (2010) 02 murray lachlan young "how freakin' zeitgeist are you?" (2017)

BILDERSTOMPF:

01 peter-andré bloch "sils-maria - "l'île bienheureuse" pour nietzsche" (2017)

02 willem vanhuyse "atlas van de imaginaire verklaringen: het complete handboek vor de 'patafysicus'" (2017) 03 reinhard kleist "nick cave: mercy on me" (2017) 04 william gibson "archangel (a graphic novel)" (2017) 05 a. uderzo, didier conrad & jean-yves ferri "astérix et la transitalique" (2017)

WISSENSCHAFTSTOMPF:

01 thibault damour & mathieu burniat "mysteries of the quantum universe" (2017) 02 brian cox & jeff forshaw "universal: a journey through the cosmos" (2017)

HUMOURSTOMPF:

01 james acaster "james acaster's classic scrapes" (2017)

02 chris wade “the story of derek and clive” (2017)

CYCLOSTOMPF:

01 frederik bakelandt "grinta! de bergen: 10 legendarsche wielercols" (2017)

02 lucien van impe & filip osselaer "de dag dat ik de tour verloor" (2017) 03 jonas heyerick & jelle vermeersch "bahamontes #17-#20" (2017) 04 frank strack "the hardmen: legends of the cycling gods" (2017) 05 matthias m. r. declercq "de val" (2017)

… tsundoku !

may your home be safe from tigers, leroy, x HNY!

the TBR pile grew with...

lászló krasznahorkai "the world goes on" (2017) samanta schweblin "fever dream" (2017)

peter mark, peter helman & penny snyder (eds) "the mountains in art history" (2017)

alvin lucier (ed) "eight lectures on experimental music" (2017) rhian e jones & eli davies "under my thumb: songs that hate women and the women who love them" (2017)

arne dahl "watching you" (2017) philip kerr "prussian blue" (2017) antti tuomainen "the man who died" (2017) jon michelet "the frozen women" (2017) nicolás obregón "blue light yokohama" (2017)

alex lamb "exodus" (2017) c robert cargill "sea of rust" (2017) chris brookmyre "places in the darkness" (2017) d nolan clark "forgotten worlds" & "forbidden suns" (2017) dan moren "the caledonian gambit" (2017) elizabeth moon "cold welcome" (2017) ferrett steinmetz "the uploaded" (2017) greg egan "dichronauts" (2017) ian whates "the ion raider" (2017) jaine fenn "the martian job" (2017) jamie sawyer "pariah" (2017)

jeff noon "a man of shadows" (2017) joe m mcdermott "the fortress at the end of time" (2017) joe zieja "communication failure" (2017) john kessel "the moon and the other" (2017) john meaney "destructor function" (2017) jonathan strahan (ed) "best sf &f of the year vol 11" & "infinity wars" (2017) kameron hurley "the stars are legion" (2017) kay kenyon "at the table of wolves" (2017) malka older "null states" (2017) marina j. lostetter "noumenon" (2017)

martha wells "all systems red" (2017) neil clark (ed) "galactic empires" & "more human than human" (2017) paul mcauley "austral" (2017) r.e. stearns "barbary station" (2017) robert kroese "last iota" (2017) sage walker "the man in a tree" (2017) stephen baxter "obelisk" (2017) + stephen baxter "the massacre of mankind" (2017) sulari gentill "crossing the lines" (2017) the justified ancients of mu mu “2023 a trilogy” (2017) wendy n. wagner "an oath of dogs" (2017)

Training camp primer: NFC East NFC East (listed in predicted order of finish) Dallas Cowboys Projected 2020 record: 11-5 2019 record: 8-8 2019 summary: The offense clicked as well as anyone could have hoped under new coordinator Kellen Moore, but untimely hiccups and defensive inconsistency led to a pair of three-game losing streaks. After a finish outside the playoffs, longtime head coach Jason Garrett was not retained. Key additions: WR CeeDee Lamb, DT Gerald McCoy, DT Dontari Poe, S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, QB Andy Dalton, CB Trevon Diggs, DT Neville Gallimore, K Greg Zuerlein Noteworthy losses: C Travis Frederick, CB Byron Jones, DE Robert Quinn, WR Randall Cobb, DE Michael Bennett, DT Maliek Collins, TE Jason Witten, S Jeff Heath, G Xavier Su’a-Filo Cause for concern: Quinn looked rejuvenated in 2019, landing him a big contract in Chicago, and other talented defenders in Jones, Bennett and Collins are all gone. There’s enough depth to survive at cornerback, but the pass rush opposite DeMarcus Lawrence might need a boost. Position battle worth watching: Frederick wasn’t quite himself in 2019, but his retirement was nonetheless a blow. Who will replace him? Connor McGovern, a 2019 third-rounder who missed his rookie campaign due to injury, will try to unseat veteran Joe Looney, while fourth-round rookie Tyler Biadasz could factor. Over-Under win total from PointsBet: 9.5 The Cowboys are a classic candidate to improve, as their 8-8 record last season belied a terrific plus-113 point differential. There are several questions still to answer, but they have the talent to hit double-digit wins with ease. 2020 forecast: It’s unclear how much new head coach Mike McCarthy will influence the offense, but a loaded unit should continue to thrive with CeeDee Lamb’s arrival. Dak Prescott is still playing for a payday, and Ezekiel Elliott should be in better shape. Dallas’ ceiling depends on new coordinator Mike Nolan’s defense, but the Cowboys should battle the Eagles for the division title. Philadelphia Eagles Projected 2020 record: 10-6 2019 record: 9-7 2019 summary: An offense ravaged by injuries struggled to move the ball, but Carson Wentz & Co. won four straight to close the season and claim the NFC East. Wentz, however, was concussed early in what would be a season-ending playoff loss to the Seahawks. Key additions: CB Darius Slay, DT Javon Hargrave, WR Jalen Reagor, CB Nickell Robey-Coleman, S Will Parks, QB Jalen Hurts, LB Jatavis Brown Noteworthy losses: S Malcolm Jenkins, RB Jordan Howard, DE Vinny Curry, CB Ronald Darby, OL Halapoulivaati Vaitai, DT Tim Jernigan, WR Nelson Agholor, LB Nigel Bradham, LB Kamu Grugier-Hill Cause for concern: Once one of the league’s best, the offensive line is showing cracks. Pro Bowl guard Brandon Brooks (Achilles) is out for the year, and the contingency plan — veteran left tackle Jason Peters re-signed to switch to right guard — is risky. Peters’ replacement, Andre Dillard, was shaky as a first-round rookie last season, and center Jason Kelce will turn 33 in November. Position battle worth watching: After scraping the bottom of the barrel last season, the Eagles have options at wideout, but Alshon Jeffery’s health (foot) leaves a few roles up for grabs. First-round rookie Jalen Reagor should start, but he fits best in the slot or as the Z receiver, which is DeSean Jackson’s nominal spot. JJ Arcega-Whiteside is built to play the X but underwhelmed as a rookie. Greg Ward and rookie John Hightower could also factor in. Over-Under win total from PointsBet: 9.5 A decimated roster made it to nine wins a year ago, and the Eagles are clearly improved, so we feel good about the over. That said, Brooks’ injury was a big blow, and several other key players have a history of getting hurt, so it’s not without risk. 2020 forecast: Wentz got much-needed weapons, and the defense added difference makers up front (Hargrave) and on the back end (Slay). If the reconfigured O-line clicks, Wentz could return to a Pro Bowl level and Philadelphia could be a Super Bowl contender. Still, the Eagles’ variance is high, as Wentz and Jackson have worrisome injury histories, and Fletcher Cox showed signs of decline in 2019. New York Giants Projected 2020 record: 6-10 2019 record: 4-12 2019 summary: The Giants benched Eli Manning early in favor of rookie Daniel Jones, who showed bright spots amid a turnover-heavy rookie campaign. New York did win two of its last three, though that likely cost it top college pass-rusher Chase Young, who Washington took No. 2 overall. Key additions: CB James Bradberry, OT Andrew Thomas, LB Blake Martinez, S Xavier McKinney, OLB Kyler Fackrell, OT Cameron Fleming, RB Dion Lewis, OT Matt Peart Noteworthy losses: LT Nate Solder (opt-out), QB Eli Manning, LB Alec Ogletree, RT Mike Remmers, S Antoine Bethea, C Jon Halapio, LB Deone Bucannon, K Aldrick Rosas Cause for concern: The Giants had only one player with more than 4.5 sacks or 13 QB hits (Markus Golden, 10 and 27) in 2019, but they didn’t add much and brought back Golden only after he had few suitors in free agency. They must hope Lorenzo Carter or Oshane Ximines develops, as Fackrell is hardly dynamic off the edge. Position battle worth watching: Solder has been a poor performer and a massive overpay at left tackle, but his opt-out leaves a major hole. Thomas will very likely fill it, but then who steps in at right tackle? The veteran Fleming should have the edge over Peart, an athletic third-round rookie who must get stronger. Over-Under win total from PointsBet: 6.5 Good quarterbacks tend to make a leap in Year 2, so if you’re a believer in Jones, we don’t blame you for taking the over. But we see a few too many concerns on both sides of the ball to have high expectations in Joe Judge’s first season as head coach. 2020 forecast: Judge and his Patriots-influenced staff aren’t under pressure to win early, so Jones’ development should be the top priority. The Giants will hope the QB returns with better ball security and awareness for pressure, but that’s asking a lot behind an unsettled O-line, even if Thomas’ transition is smooth. Jones does have a nice set of weapons, but the defense has significant question marks. Washington Football Team Projected 2020 record: 6-10 2019 record: 3-13 2019 summary: A tire fire from the start, Washington opened 0-5, leading to Jay Gruden’s firing. Rookie QB Dwayne Haskins took longer to acclimate to the NFL than hoped, but he did show flashes before a Week 16 injury ended his season. Key additions: DE Chase Young, DB Kendall Fuller, CB Ronald Darby, LB Thomas Davis, G Wes Schweitzer, OT Cornelius Lucas, S Sean Davis, QB Kyle Allen, RB/WR Antonio Gibson, OT Saahdiq Charles, WR Antonio Gandy Golden Noteworthy losses: LT Trent Williams, TE Jordan Reed, CB Quinton Dunbar, CB Josh Norman, LT Donald Penn, TE Vernon Davis, G Ereck Flowers, WR Paul Richardson, RB Chris Thompson, QB Case Keenum Cause for concern: Haskins made progress as a rookie, but he didn’t get much help, and that doesn’t seem to be changing. There’s no remotely appealing option at left tackle, and Washington didn’t add much of note at either wideout or tight end, apparently counting on development from Kelvin Harmon and Steven Sims behind Terry McLaurin. Gibson could be a slot/gadget weapon, but the team plans to start him at running back. Position battle worth watching: With Williams traded and Penn unsigned, the left tackle job is wide open. The veteran Lucas, 2018 third-rounder Geron Christian and rookie fourth-rounder Charles — a talented but inconsistent prospect who slipped in the draft due to character concerns — are the primary competitors, but signing another veteran might be wise. Over-Under win total from PointsBet: 5.5 New head coach Ron Rivera brings a strong track record from Carolina, but he’s got his work cut out for him as Washington tries to fix issues both on and off the field. There’s certainly a path to seven or eight wins, but another three-win season seems just as likely. We’d pass on this one. 2020 forecast: Young’s arrival could ignite the defense, which is loaded with talent up front and also has an intriguing set of playmakers in the secondary. But can that unit compensate if the offense is dead weight? Haskins flashes high-level processing and arm talent, but unless his slimmer self proves more mobile, he needs protection and weapons to produce. Washington doesn’t have much of either at the moment. –Field Level Media The post Training camp primer: NFC East appeared first on National Football Post.