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bet-on-me-13 · 10 months

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Stranded Danny AU

Danny gets pulled into a faraway Dimension by a Villain one day, just after the events of Phantom Planet. He is barely 15.

He has no way to get back, but he does manage to unlock the power to make Portals. Unfortunately, none of the dimensions he ends up in are his own, and none have enough Ectoplasm to open portals for very long. It takes up to a week to scrounge up enough Ecto to open a single Portal into the next dimension over.

And none of these worlds have Technology strong enough to take him home either. The few times he did find some tech that could potentially get him home, it never worked or it was destroyed before he could finish it.

He spends well over 30 years of his own Personal Timeline trying to get back to his home dimension, constantly gathering scraps of Ectoplasm and Tech until the day he eventually collected enough to build a safe way home.

But time does not pass the same across dimensions.

What to him was a 30 year long Journey, was actually just 10 for his home Dimension.

And they had to move on without him.

Sam became a Business Woman who used her money to fund Nature Preservation Organizations. She hired Pamela Isley and helped her through her powers when she became Poison Ivy (still a Villain, but secretly working for Sam)

Tucker got a high ranking job at Star Labs, and helped Cyborg come to terms with his new life when he became a cyborg. He even helped upgrade his tech a few times.

Jazz became a successful Psychiatrist, and now works under Daina Lance as one of the Justice League's top Therapists, specifically their Child Psychologist for young Heroes

Ellie took his place as a Hero and became the new protector of Amity after he dissappear. After the Justice League was formed, she joined them and became one of their best members, always working and nor really taking many breaks.

They always wondered what happened to Danny, and spent many years trying to figure out what happened to him, but never succeeded. They finally began to assume that he was fully dead after a few years of searching. They had enough time to come to terms with it.

...

So one night, while a 22 yr old Ellie is resting on one of her rare days off, she gets called in by the League about a possible Dimensional Breach near her Home Town. JLD was deployed to investigate, and she was asked to tag along since she was the Resident Hero of the area.

But she refuses, thinking it's just some random ghost trying to enter the Living Realm illegally after she began regulating the Portal. JLD would be able to handle it on their own, let her sleep on her day off!

Meanwhile, JLD has located the spot where the Dimensional Breach is about to appear. They surround the Area, and prepare to interrogate whoever is about to appear, or deal with them if need be.

Space begins to tear apart as the fabric of Reality breaks apart at the seams. And from that wound in existence, an Adult Danny steps out. He is 44 years old, and looks like a less buff version of Dan without the mustache (basically imagine Danny as Ford Pines from Gravity Falls)

The JLD can sense that he is strong, but not too much so. It feels like he is powerful, but like that power has been starved for a while.

"Who are you?" Asks Wonderwoman, ready to jump into battle if needed. "What are your intentions in this World?"

Danny ignores them. He is staring into the Night Sky, eyes wide. The Constellations he hadn't seen in 30 years were there. The stars were in the right locations. He takes a deep breath, tasting the amount of Ectoplasm in thr Air. This is it. He's home. He's finally home.

"Finally" He says breathlessly. A slightly manic Grin on his face.

"What the hell does that mean?" Demands Constantine. The grin had unsettled him, and he began preparing a few spells just to be sure.

Danny ignored him again, this time deciding to close his eyes and finally eat his fill of Ectoplasm for the first time in 30 years. He was ravenous, this was the first decent Meal of Ectoplasm he had been able to have in 30 years. He was giddy, he was so happy to finally be home.

However the Heroes didn't know what was happening. All they knew was that some guy had ripped a hole in reality, said "finally" with a crazy grin on his face, and started emitting a dangerous amount of Death Energy for no apparent reason.

Constantine reacts on impulse, trying to cast a Banishing Spell on this guy.

Danny, feeling the spell begin to pull him away from his home after he had just found it again after Thirty. Fucking. Years. Does something that he would consider reasonable.

He quickly dashes over to Constantine and slams him through a tree.

This sparks a fight between Danny and the JLD. And at first he is having some serious trouble, but as he continues to feed on Ectoplasm and recover his strength, he becomes progressively more Powerful. It comes to the point where the JLD can't keep up anymore, and call in Backup.

Ellie was enjoying her night off, but the desperate Call from JLD about a powerful Entity at the edge of Amity finally got her going.

She rushes over and slams into Danny just as he is about to attack Constantine again. Neither of them recognize eachother, since they have changed since they were kids (Danny moreso) and continue to Duke it out.

Ellie is trying to banter with him, but Danny is really angry at this point. So he resorts to his final attack, his Ghostly Wail.

He levels a good chuck of the Forest, and in the end he is standing over Ellie as his anger fades. He says "Sorry" and he starts taking a look around him to see if there is anybody else.

Ellie is on the ground, shaken because she recognized that power.

She gets up, and asks "Danny?"

Danny finally gets a good look at her and says, and says "Ellie?"

Meanwhile JLD still has ringing in their ears and thinks that Ellie just called Danny "Daddy"

(Which makes sense because of the new age difference)

#Dp x dc #Dpxdc #Danny phantom #Dc #Dcu #ellie phantom #Danielle Phantom #Planes walker Danny #Danny is stranded on the other side of the Multiverse #He can't open a Portal to the Infinite Realms #Danny has not had a decent amount of Ectoplasm in 20 years #Aged up Characters #Angst #Justice League Dark #The Justice League #Dimension Travel #Danny traverses the multitude like Ford Pines

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nelkcats · 10 months

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Paranormal Department

Something strange was happening in the world, something that even the League would not have prevented. It seemed that the United States government had been fighting things they didn't stand a chance with, and this almost ended in disaster if it wasn't for the kindness of what they were dealing with. The details were highly classified and encrypted so Batman didn't know the details and it was frustrating him.

All that trouble resulted in Justice League Dark working steadily with the "Paranormal Department", there wasn't much information on their members and they worked in the shadows (Bruce wasn't amused, he needed contingency plans) but Zatara claimed they were excellent allies, despite their strange use of modern technology.

Bruce didn't know what they were about, or what agreement the president had made, but he didn't trust this "new department". They could betray them at any second. That's why when Constantine informed him that they would take over the "Lazarus pits" he flatly refused. Apparently his refusal didn't matter at the end since the "Department" got jurisdiction over the case.

Team Phantom, which was now headquartered in downtown Amity Park (and had many new members like Paulina and Dash) was having fun pissing off the Bat. While Danny had made an agreement with the government to deal with threats from the Realms, one of the clauses was not to tell the heroes they existed (After years of living with the Fenton's Danny was not amused that anyone knew ways to eliminate him, Clockwork was backup enough). Sam thought it was childish but didn't stop him.

Sam handled all the legal stuff, but it seemed like they had jurisdiction over all the cases that interested them (more than JL, since they were an elite team in that field), and no one could reveal their identities, which relieved Danny greatly.

Their main job was to send the ghosts home and close the rifts, plus deal with demons, or creatures that came out of said rifts. Easy enough for them, but probably extremely risky if you were inexperienced. Honestly, since they dealt with the GIW themselves, Danny didn't trust the heroes, however JLD was fine.

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gremlin-bot · 1 year

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The Trials and Tribulations of Summoning Your Boyfriend

This is based on this prompt from @stealingyourbones ! Hope y’all like it!

AO3 link!

Tag list- @bewitched-forest @half-dead-ham @eyesofcrows

Tim wasn't up in the watchtower much. It's the Justice League's base and he had his own city and team to take care of (even if said team is a branch of the Justice League and he shared responsibility of Gotham with his family). All of that is to say that when he and other available members of the League were called to the watchtower, it was bad.

Tim was expecting a world ending threat. What he wasn't expecting was a summoning circle and a portion of Justice League Dark to be there. John Constantine and a summoning circle always means bad news, it's even worse that Zatanna and Captain Marvel are there helping. What kind of threat is it to warrant this? All of this is topped off with superman wheeling in a projector to the training room they are all set up in.

Bruce steps up next to the projector. He looks extremely tired, not that most people could tell but a bird knows the bat well. As Bruce turns on the machine, Constantine takes his place next to him with a book bound in leather that holds pages that glow a slight green.

"I called you all here because of this creature attacking Central City." Projected on the wall is a blurry image of a black dragon with a purple underbelly, its whole body glowing.

"Justice League Dark was able to identify it as from a place called the Infinite Realms. They have advised us to not engage and to evacuate everyone we can from the whole city. The Flash has started that. Half of you will join him, as indicated by folders Superman is handing out. The other half will be here to help with the solution that Constantine is handling."

As Bruce directs those in the evacuation group, Constantine takes over the debrief. "The beast in Central City is a bitch to take care of and the solution is even worse. You boy scouts are here to make sure everything doesn't go completely tits up. I hate to say this and hate fucking doing it even more, but we are trying to trying to summon the Ghost King."

At that point Tim tuned out a bit. Usually he wouldn't have but he actually knows more about what's happening than Constantine does. Looking back at the creature still being projected, he can vaguely recognize it now. How did Aragon get out of the realms? Especially without being noticed by Da-

Tim was pulled out of his thoughts by Dick, who apparently was dragged here as well, brushing past him with a smirk. What a dick, going out of his way to mess with him. He really should get to where he was needed.

Taking his place near the top of the summoning circle, he noticed how it was actually set up. It was wrong, completely and utterly wrong. The array was correct. It showed the right constellations and had the right places connected but the candles aren't on the circles that represent the planets, nor was the offering placed correctly. This wasn't going to summon anything. Too bad that Tim was going to let them try anyway. It's better than trying to correct it and explain why he knew it was wrong, plus where was the fun in that.

The other heroes settle into their places. The ones left were the Justice League's big three , the JLD members, Conner, Dick, and Tim himself. They all looked a little nervous and on edge in their own way, from Superman's clenched fists to Dicks never moving smile. Besides Tim who was a bit more relaxed than he really should be. He really should hide it a bit better.

Constantine reading from the book starts the summoning. Latin falling heavy from his lips, a wind that should not be possible in a satellite blows through the room, the candles' flame turns neon green. Everyone holds their breath as the chanting stops. The candles flicker once, twice, and nothing. The room quickly reverted to how it was before. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife.

"Bollocks." Constantine deflates. "Looks like this didn't work, we must have fucked up somewhere."

"Why don't we explain how we set it up and go from there." Zatanna offers, gesturing for everyone to gather around her and Constantine. Tim stays back and waits for the rest to be distracted by figuring out what went wrong. He can tell that Bruce and Dick have noticed his distance from the others but they haven't done anything yet.

Once the distraction is set, Tim moves in front of the correct offering section of the array. Removing his glove and taking out a birdarang from his belt. He can hear the moment everyone notices the actions he has taken and the one about to come.

"Red Robin, step away from the summoning circle." Bruce demands with concern hidden in his voice.

Tim doesn't listen.

In the moment before anyone can get to him, Tim slashes his ring finger on his left hand. It wasn't deep per say but it definitely wasn't a paper cut. Blood flows out of the wound (almost like a ring), hitting the floor inside the offering ring of the array.

Several things happen at once. First, Dick who was the closest and was trying to grab him, stopped in his tracks along with everyone else. Second, the summoning changed. The first offering was ejected from its place, the crystals shattering. Candles slide at high speed, settling on the represented planets, their flames changing color. The summoning is like a loaded spring trap now. Tim grinning, sets the trap off.

"Alnilam, my love" dropped soft and sweet from Tim's lips with a crawling static buzz. Everyone could hear the buzzing honey intertwined with those words despite their low volume.

The stilled room stirred, yet no one but Tim himself had moved. A cold fog rolls out from the array, blowing a light breeze with it. The static can be felt in their scars, healed bones, all the near misses, and clipped hits. All close calls of the past haunt them in this moment. The room's lovely held in tension snaps as the soul deep buzz is pulled from them into the array. It spills into a Lazarus, toxic, death, neon green pool with small rippling waves that crest with reflection of the space that engulfs the watchtower. This rippling pool stretches upwards. Everyone struggles to move as they inch closer to Tim. As the liquid barely reaches the tall ceiling of the training room, gravity seems to take hold. It sloshes down, turning into a cool fog on impact. Leaving a being in its wake, that is kissing Tim's offered bloody hand.

Danny is in his full king garb. A black metal crown floats above his head surrounded by light similar to earth's aurora borealis. White hair glowing starlight complementing pale blue skin, that blushes the prettiest cyan, not that anyone but Tim can see that. Jewelry hanging from pointed ears and slender neck. His suit is hidden by a long cloak cut from the barrier between realities. The outside is the space outside the satellite with the interlining of a swirling Lazarus green peaking out as the end floats upward.

Tim is grinning like a love struck fool and he knows it. This is so worth the lecture he will be getting from both Bruce and Dick. Danny raises his head, blood staining his lips as they stretch into a fanged grin just as love struck.

"Hey Red, uh what the fuck!?" Dick's voice snapped the two boys out of their own world and back into the one with everyone surrounding them with looks of concern and from certain people, bone deep exhaustion. Danny drops Tim's no longer bleeding hand, allowing Tim to turn to fully look at the group around them. Tim's grin is now one of mischief and secrets yet to be spoken. From the look on Bruce's face if Danny wasn't behind him he would be out of the watchtower and locked in the manor despite not living there anymore. Too bad that Constantine could give less of a fuck about what's going on between Danny and him.

"Your highness, we called your assistance because one of your subjects is causing trouble in the moral realm and-" as Constantine told and worked out what was going on, Danny moved so he was behind Tim, his arms loosely wrapped around Tim's neck and chin resting on top of his head. Danny was floating off the ground to do this.

"Oh! That's Aragon, give me 10 minutes and he'll be out of your hair. There is no payment needed, I insist. But before that –'' Danny’s legs float up, flipping him to face Tim upsidedown. A grin that only means trouble for Tim sets on his pretty face. “Red, Babe, Love. You could have just called me if you wanted me to meet your dad and his superhero friends!”

“Danny, I swear to the Ancients if you disappear –” Tim couldn’t finish the hollow threat as Danny gave him a peck on the cheek and disappeared from sight. Leaving Tim to the heroes, one being Bruce ‘Tim is my little princess’ Wayne and another is his very protective brother.

Tim looks at his family members in the room, and wow, yeah he is not escaping the interrogation when they get back to the manor. Bruce is approaching him swiftly and looks as if he is going to grab him and never let go. Dick is no better, he has a shit eating grin with his wrist computer up and is already typing. Everyone is going to be there for the interrogation and Bruce's coddling, Tim just knows it. He's going to make Danny go back to the manor with him, he is not doing this alone. It's the least his boyfriend can do after leaving him to deal with this. It was still worth it, even if he has to flee to the Infinite Realms after all is said and done. He’ll just become a trophy husband for Danny and avoid his family at all costs in doing so.

"Red Robin, would you please explain what your relation is with the King of the Infinite Realms." Bruce is definitely in mama bear mode, he was never going to be let outside of the manor.

"I think there are more pressing matters at hand here, like how King Phantom is on his way to Central City and we have yet to inform anyone on the ground." Tim is stalling and everyone knows it, but he's not wrong.

Bruce grumbles about not knowing the king's name but still steps away from Tim and starts relaying the relevant information to the evacuation team. Dick is leaving him alone for the moment, probably waiting for more privacy. Conner on the other hand is trying to hold in his laughter at the situation he got himself into. Tim just glares at him, even if Conner can't see it under the domino. At this point he doesn't care what the rest of the League thinks, he just wants Danny back so they can face Bruce and the rest of his family like he (they) has been avoiding.

Danny was quicker than his self-imposed time limit, taking 7 minutes instead of 10. Giving just enough time for Bruce to almost give an on the spot interrogation, almost being Tim's saving grace. Unlike Danny, who decides to drop his invisibility only after wrapping around Tim's torsos, his head and arms taking their previous places.

"Your ghost problem is taken care of. I'll be taking Aragon back to the infinity realms, along with Red Robin here." Danny casually says, like it isn't kidnapping.

"Wait, what." Tim said in shocked silence.

"Well since you summoning me got me out of a meeting with the observants, it's a perfect time to go on a date, you know like all of our dates." Danny is saying these things on purpose and he better get them out of here quick before Bruce tackles them.

"You are a menace!" as Tim says this, ectoplasm begins to pool at their feet, spreading out making a barrier of open space around.

"A menace, you love!" Danny lovingly teases as a low rumble ripples from his core making Tim smile. This is the last thing the heroes hear before the couple drops out of the mortal realm and into the one of the dead.

#Tim drake x danny fenton #Danny Phantom #danny fenton #dp x dc crossover #prompt fill #summoning fic #ghost king danny #dc x dp #Tim Drake #Petals and Arrays of The Dead and Those Yet To Be #Writing on the walls

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aprocessionofthoughts · 7 months

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To lose control

ai-less whumptober 2023 day 6- mind control fandom- Danny Phantom x DC TW- loss of control summary- Danny's been working part time for the JLD when they come across and artifact he'd hoped to never see again.

ao3 ai-less whumptober masterlist Part 1 of ITR

Danny had been a consultant for the Justice League and part time member to the JLD for over a year now.

They both thought he was just a human with a connection to the occult. He planned to keep it that way. He didn’t really want to get back into hero-ing. He had had enough of that and was quite happy that most of his rogues were now his friends. And any ghost that wasn’t friendly was often taken care of by his parents who had greatly changed their views after he had told them his secret.

With his luck, he should have known that all his work at keeping Phantom a secret from the heroes would eventually go down the drain.

********

Danny paced by the side of the warehouse waiting for the League to finish taking down the summoners. He was merely here to help with the cleanup and to help determine which artifacts were dangerous and to collect any tomes for the JLD to review later.

Danny thought that Constantine could handle that on his own, but apparently since he was still ‘new’ the League had thought it necessary to send him so he could get more experience.

Finally, his comm dings and he makes his way to the door.

Constantine is inside along with the Bats, Danny really only recognizes Batman and the current Robin, the rest look familiar but he can’t remember any names.

Though that one with the red helmet sure feels familiar. Almost as if…

He’s cut off from that train of thought when he senses pick up another familiar energy reading. One that makes him freeze in place, eyes wide.

“What’s wrong?”

Danny stumbles back. Holy Ancients! That’s Batman. How had he gotten so close without Danny noticing? Oh right, he was distracted by the energy he had hoped to never feel again, already he could feel memories trying to pull him into a panic.

Danny ignores the Bat who’s looming over him in favor of looking around the room. There was obviously a fight and Danny can see a summoning circle in the center of the open space with knocked over candles around the edge and piles of scattered herbs. The scent was making his nose prickle.

Danny ignored it as well as the Bat who seemed to be getting broodeir. Where was… There. He zeroed in on one of the cultists. A cultist who was wearing a necklace with a red gem. A very familiar red gem.

Danny lets out a small gasp and Batman follows his gaze, his own eyes narrowing.

“What is it?”

Constantine is turning to them too, as are the other Bats.

“What’s wrong, mate?”

Danny can see the other Bats tensing,

Danny opens his mouth to tell them about the dangerous artifact, no need to tell them about said artifact’s abilities, when the cultist looks up and meets Danny’s eyes. Then he grins his eyes glowing faintly as the shard of crystal also glows.

“Look what we have here.” comes the raspy voice. “And here I’d been upset when our ritual was ruined.”

“What’s he talking about?” says the bat with a blue bird shape across his chest. Robin is starting to approach the cultist.

“His necklace—”

“Stop.” says the man and Danny’s jaw clamps shut. He can feel the Red starting to haze his vision and he fights against it.

“Mind.. control..” he rasps, his body twitching as it fights to throw off the gem’s effects.

Robin has nearly reached the cultist.

“Stop him.”

Between one blink and the next Danny finds himself having flung Robin away. Everyone is ready to fight now and the Red is still fighting to take over his vision.

“Run!” he manages. He doesn't want to fight them. Not if they don’t have the proper equipment. They don’t know what he is, what he can do. He doesn’t want to hurt anybody, except maybe the cultist.

“Strange, that you have a ghost working for you. Though I’ve never seen one look so human before.” Danny hears the cultist say, but he can’t move. He feels like a passenger in his own body. He can see everyone giving each other uncertain looks. They haven’t moved yet, but they will soon if they don’t think Danny’s a threat.

The bats have started to move towards him when the cultist says, “Attack.”

Danny feels the Red wash over him as he fires an ecto-beam at the nearest bat. At the last second, Danny’s able to redirect it to miss.

At least everyone’s on higher alert now.

But his body keeps trying to attack everyone and even though he’s fighting it, Danny knows it will only be so long before he succumbs to the Red.

As he’s grappling with Batman he manages to grunt through gritted teeth, “Find– Manson–”

Then the cultist shrieks, “Get over here!” and Danny finds himself putting up a shield between the cultist and the hero wearing black and blue. “Get me out of here.” the cultist growls.

Danny turns to grab him, making them both invisible and intangible as the Red drowns him.

He can only hope that they’ll find his friends before he does anything too terrible.

Then, there is only Red.

#ailesswhumptober #ailesswhumptober2023 #day 6 #mind control #Danny phantom #batman #dp x dc #dp x dc au #fanfiction #Danny fenton #john constantine #bruce wayne #all the other bats are mentioned #hurt/no comfort #open ending #cultists #in the red

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thebisexualdogdad · 9 months

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Could you plz do headcanons with Hellblazer!Reader x Donna Troy?

Donna troy x Male!reader

● you have known Donna for a decade first meeting back when you were 18

● the justice league dark which you had recently joined were asked to aid the justice league in fighting doomsday

● Dick had written you off but Donna fully believed in your magic

● Dick "really Donna? You're falling for this mumbo jumbo?" He says as they watch you create a potion made of outlandish ingredients Dick had never heard of

● Donna "the Amazon's history is rooted in God's and goddesses, occultism is not too far out of the box"

● sure you two met up every so often to hook up but with the amount of traveling around you both did you decided it was best not to commit to a relationship and ruin the good thing you had

● but then years later she's settled down in San Francisco with the titans so you found a way to make your own pocket dimension headquarters to allow you to move to San Francisco to be with her while still having 24/7 access to the other JLD members when needed

● Donna is the only one on the titans who is allowed to have a key to this pocket dimension

● and Gar and Connor have been banned from even stepping inside after setting off a magical windstorm in your library while messing around with some of your ancient artifacts

● well Kori has been trusted with another key in case of an emergency but no one except you and Donna know that

● Donna walking in on you doing a spell fully naked

● "see something you like love?" You say with a grin

● "Y/N please put some clothes on, the titans need your help"

● you become a mentor of sorts to Rachel teaching her about the supernatural and how to control her powers

● she's also not allowed to take any of your spell/ritual books out of the library because once again Gar and Connor were messing around and accidentally summoned a demon in the titans tower

● Donna and Zatanna are super close

● Zatanna tells Donna so many embarrassing stories about you

● and all the magical mishaps she's witnessed you make

● being the only girl in the JLD Zatanna also likes having other women around

● Zatanna "you think Gar smells bad when he shapeshifts? You don't even want to know the smells that come off of Alec when he returns from the swamp"

● giving Donna your trench coat when it's cold out

● "you know there is something that will warm you up" you say suggestively

● Donna leans in like she's going to kiss you but instead whispers "tequila?"

● Donna pulling you in by your tie to actually kiss you

● and flirting with her at the most inappropriate times during missions

● Jason "does he ever shut up?"

● Jason still hasn't forgiven you for the time you turned him into a rabbit

● in your defense it was Kent's idea after the two of them were arguing because Jason was trying to sneakily put his Dr Fate helmet on despite being warned not to several times

● Jason "it's just a stupid helmet what's the big deal"

● "kid that helmet is one of the most powerful artifacts in the world not even I could handle wearing it, you certainly wouldn't be able to"

● Bobo argues a lot with Dick on who is a greater detective, him or Bruce

● Bobo "Richard, I am a member of mensa"

● Dick "yeah but you're a monkey!"

● Bobo "a chimpanzee actually and batman is the one who comes to me for help not the other way around"

● "he's got a point Dick"

● Dick "not now Y/N!"

● when Donna died you and Rachel stopped at nothing to get her back

● Kent told you it would be impossible to resurrect her but she was the love of your life, you would either get her back or die trying

● when you do finally get her back the two of you decide to put superheroing behind for a bit and travel the world together

● a year later Kori gets a call that you proposed in Paris and that Donna would need her help planning the wedding

#titans imagine #donna troy imagine #donna troy x reader #x male reader #headcanons

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the-person-on-the-bridge · 1 year

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DPXDC Prompt №5

Well

Imagine that Danny and Klarion are a couple, and what a mess it could be. And what would be the reaction of the League? God, this idea just occupied my brain.

JL has a problem that neither they, nor JLD, nor YJ can handle. They decide to use their heavy artillery - Phantom. When Danny arrives he is met by a bunch of panicked superheroes who think the world is about to end. They tell him about the problem, for example, huge monsters that cannot be damaged. Danny realizes that he has already heard something similar. After a while, he remembers.

"Hey, do these monsters have some kind of seal or symbol on their side? For example, K with a dot?"

The league doesn't understand what this is about at all, but they say, yes, there is.

"Oh, I've faced them before, but I can't handle it alone. But I know who can help." Danny sits down on a chair, takes out his phone and starts typing. It takes a long time to type.

Half an hour later, everyone was on edge, and the Phantom didn't stop typing.

Superman couldn't stand it first: "Phantom, we appreciate your help, but please specify who we are waiting for." The boyscout is polite as always. The Batman clan looks at each other uneasily.

"My boyfriend. By the way, he's on his way," the Phantom answers nonchalantly, without looking up from the phone and continuing to type.

The League participants are close to a breakdown: not only is the threat hanging over the States, which they are not able to cope with, but the Phantom has added from above. Phantom, is an incredibly strong player by himself, their heavy artillery, the king of the fucking Endless Realms, dates someone SO powerful that this someone can help him stop a potential threat to the country.

Then something in the air changes. Magic users and the League look at Danny, who finally puts the phone in his pocket. He frowns irritably and crosses his arms over his chest.

"Finally," he muttered discontentedly and gets up.

A black-and-red portal appears in the room, from which an irritated Klarion exits. Exactly the one who was least expected to see. YJ are already ready to take up arms, but the Phantom is ahead of them.

"Did you see how much time has passed? You're late." Danny comes closer, still unhappy.

"I couldn't teleport out of YOUR fucking castle. You open portals yourself every day, why ban them in the castle at all?" Klarion goes to meet Danny. "I got lost in the corridors six times. SIX. I am 16 billion years old, I have existed since the beginning of the universe, and I could not get out of the castle!" the distance between them was rapidly shrinking until they were standing close.

In any other situation, many would have laughed at this, but not in this one. Everyone in the room felt the situation escalate. They saw the Phantom in anger, they saw the Klarion in anger, but they never saw them together, let alone together and in anger.

"So you think it's my fault?!" The windows began to be covered with frost, and circles began to appear on the coffee in the Green Arrow mug. The jar with the handles began to bounce, everyone in the room began to feel the force of their anger.

"This is your castle, your ban. Whose fault do you think it is that I'm late?" Klarion's voice dropped. The Phantom looked dumbfounded. "What… How do you even..." Phantom's incipient tirade was interrupted by Klarion's kiss. He pressed his lips to the Phantom's lips, closing his eyes. He ran one hand through the ghost's hair, and the other pulled the Phantom closer, holding on to his waist.

The Phantom relaxed into the kiss, wrapping his arms around the chaos lord's shoulders. Teekl stepped onto Phantom's shoulders, settling comfortably on them.

"Ahem-ahem" someone coughed tactfully

The Phantom moved a little away from Klarion, turning sideways to the League.

"Phantom, we understand your situation, however, you must remember the original purpose of our meeting." Batman is as straightforward as ever.

"Oh, right, sorry, guys," muttered the Phantom, turning in arms, but looking into the eyes of Klarion. "Do you remember the creatures we imprisoned in the time of Egypt?"

"Mmm, before or after Cleopatra?"

"After"

"Ugh, those slimy things?"

"Yes, and these slimy things are now taking over the east coast. Why did you put your stamp on them at all?” Phantom asked, leaning back into the embrace.

"I was thinking of leaving them for a rainy day," Klarion replied, stroking Teekl, still sitting on someone else's shoulders. "They had potential. Before they went mad with anger and started consuming each other."

"Ugh, okay," the Phantom grumbled, twisting out of the embrace completely. "Let's go show class"

Having created the portal, the Phantom invited Klarion to go first, gallantly bending over and bending his arm behind his back. "After you"

Klarion grunted, took the Teekl and disappeared into his own portal. Phantom rolled his eyes. "Eccentric"

JL remained in stunned silence, watching the interaction of the two creatures and asking a lot of questions. How long have these two known each other? What is the real age of the Phantom, if it existed before Cleopatra? If the Phantom knows that Klarion is the lord of chaos, does that mean that the Phantom may be involved in Klarion's affairs?

Just a minute after the two creatures leave, JL watches as the two subdue one monster after another. In just ten minutes two of which they kissed Phantom and Klarion defeat all the creatures. Klarion reads a spell, the Phantom opens a huge purple portal, where Klarion sends the bodies of monsters with a spell. When the creatures' bodies have disappeared, the Phantom creates another portal in which they disappear.

JL has literally a few seconds before they feel the familiar chill.

"I'm sorry it took so long. Last time we did it faster," the Phantom's voice rang out at the end of the hall.

Turning around, the heroes saw Klarion supporting Phantom by the elbow. The ghost looked paler than usual, but overall not bad. On the Phantom's cloak was a black slime left over from monsters, which he looked at with undisguised disgust.

"Phe, I thought I didn't get dirty"

"I told you not to kick them, but when you listened to me," Klarion rolled his eyes”

"Hey, ghosts don't attack Amity anymore, it's nice to remember the past sometimes"

"You're a member of the Justice League. Isn't that enough?"

"It's not the same. Okay, guys," The Phantom looked at the League again, "I'm damn tired and I'll answer your questions another time. You've already ruined our movie night. Waiting is the least price you will pay for it. See you soon!"

They were swallowed up by the Klarion’s portal, leaving the League confused and shocked. The first, oddly enough, Constantine came to himself.

"I need a drink"

Klarion and Danny: * kissing while monsters are raging in the background*

Literally the entire Justice League:

#dpxdc #dp x dc au #dp x dc crossover #dp x dc prompt #I sat down to write an idea but got out of control #The League had a very busy evening #Danny and Кlarion are unhappy #A movie night that wasn't meant to happen #Constantine is on the verge of fainting #Clarion collects monsters like Selina stray cats #Danny doesn't like it he's like a grumpy wife #danny fenton x klarion #Doctor Fate as a father who did not approve of his daughter's boyfriend #He is attached to Кlarion in his own way #although he diligently denies it

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timetotrivechallenge2 · 2 years

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Maya Comerota Signs Up With Tony Robbins As Well As Dean Graziosi For The Very Own Your Future Difficulty

I'll ahead your concern to Dean's workplace, so they can possibly offer translations in the future. No, you can not transform your routines in just eventually, but you will certainly see the clear difference after the initial week. Once you understand the success practices, you will be UNSTOPPABLE. Due to the fact that you'll be using the special VIP Zoom link, you can see them as well as they can see you! Unlike the live occasion with thousands of people, they can actually see your facial expression better. My life changed after I found this podcast, 100% the top on the system. So pretend as if you've actually spent real cash in yourself. Stay with it, as well as when you're done, you can completely take pleasure in the experience while your pocketbook remains intact. They supply a systematic way for producing your knowledge organization of the future, detailed, from A to Z. We generated several of our favored individuals in this space, all serious on providing value. 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So I have 80 plus business, everything from AI to resort as well as Fiji to multiple sporting activities teams around pieces of. So I have a lot of firms, a lot of varied locations, but my mission is what I'm doing today. It's why I hang out with JLD and also guys like him. New Globe Brand-new You Challenge Day # 1 With Tony Robbins If you're being kept back in life due to mental blocks, Tony can assist you overcome that. If you're in a good mindset to begin, it's a whole lot less. This event happens from November 11th to 15th and is open to the public. There are goals, desires, as well as goals I want to take control of as well as the obstacle to me is the best way to do it. Do not treat this like a totally free gift you get rid of the following day. Treat it like a benefit and not a right. Tony, Dean, as well as millions of other individuals will be just great if you don't turn up, the show needs to take place. 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This might have been the very best part concerning Tony's personal growth seminar-- it forced me to develop my very own. In the days that lead up to the occasion, I really felt nervous. The second need is filling in every one of the inquiries on your application (" Application") as well as posting your video clip (this is "sending"). There is additionally a third demand of the Obstacle, which is finishing the Peer-to-Peer testimonial. Only submissions with ALL three needs finished will certainly be eligible for the Obstacle. When she fell short to persuade publishers of its worth, Abidi released a Kickstarter fund, increasing greater than $11,500 as well as publishing it herself, after looking for a printing workshop in the backstreets of Karachi's crowded markets. While researching at college in the UK, Maliha Abidi would snap through the pages of publications in her neighborhood Waterstones store, only to become aware there were no personalities who resembled her. 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#deangraziosi

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johnvenus · 2 years

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How YJ & JLDark Dropped The Ball With Zatanna (5/5)

Welcome to the Part 4 of posts where I recap Zatanna’s comic book history from 1964-2011 to compare it with her depiction on YJ and JLDark. This isn’t a rant but more like a fair and balanced anaylsis comparing the good and bad in both versions. Due to length of the material I had break it up into multiple parts.

Part One: Zatanna’s Search and early JL appearances

https://johnvenus.tumblr.com/post/679908146955862016/how-yj-jldark-dropped-the-ball-with-zatanna

Part Two: Sindella’s Story https://johnvenus.tumblr.com/post/679908715915313152/how-yj-jldark-dropped-the-ball-with-zatanna

Part Three: New Look, meeting Raven, losing her powers, becoming League chairwoman:

https://johnvenus.tumblr.com/post/679909340257370112/how-yj-jl-dark-dropped-the-ball-with-zatanna

Part Four: Detroit era and the 1987 Zatanna Special and everything that happened in between:

https://johnvenus.tumblr.com/post/679910087824916480/how-yj-and-jld-dropped-the-ball-with-zatanna-45

In this post I will cover Zatanna’s appearances in the 90′s and early 00′s including Identity Crisis then follow up with my thoughts on her depiction in YJ and JLD.

Art by: Ryan Sook

Zatanna In the 90's & the 00′s

Most people are already familiar with her stories from this era so I will go most of them real quick.

-Her most notable appearance was her guest appearance in 1990′s Books of Magic #2 written by Neil Gaiman with the art for this issue being done by Scott Hampton. I have mixed feeling about this. On one handd, I would recommend Books of Magic to anybody who wants to know about the magical side of the DCU. I am, however, not a fan of how Zatanna was written in this.

First off, she is uncharacteristically affectionate toward John Constantine despite telling him to 'crawl under a rock and die' during their last published meeting. Remember, John is indirectly responsible for John Zatara's death and even in the comic him and Baron Winters were kind of blase about the whole thing afterwards:

At first he is sorry but then:

“Oh well, shit happens”

Poor Mento turns into a villain afterwards (not that he was a very good good guy prior), Sargon has no legacy and Zatanna lost her father. John is kind of blase about the whole thing, of course, he is the one who lost the least. If he actually cared about her he would be comforting her not smirking in the corner, smoking a cigarette while she sobs over her father’s ashes.

Then there is the scene at the bar; despite being charged with protecting Timothy Hunter (who is destined to be a powerful magician), Zatanna endangers him by knowingly taking him to a bar full off seedy magical characters:

Look at that, she gets scared and loses her nerve. It makes no sense because up until this point, she's faced everything from demons from hell to multiversal threats to multiple alien invasions and has proven to be resourceful even with her powers significantly reduced or even gone. You could handwave it away as PTSD from her father's death but no such indication is given in the comic itself. The whole scene is just set up so John Constantine can appear and look cool. We do get a 'oh I could have handled them' line from Zee which sounds patronizing (to the reader not Zee herself since there is no indication within BoM that she could have handled it).

If you think about the relationship with Constantine from Zatanna’s perspective, it makes no sense. Would you date someone who indirectly got your father killed (assuming you had a good relationship with your father)? Not to mention she has a lot of stories and relationships under her belt but apparently this is the only one worth bringing up.

-Zatanna got 4 issue mini series titled Zatanna: Come Together released in 1993 written by Lee Mars with art by Esteban Maroto which did show reflecting on her actions in BoM. As editor Kim Yale explained in the letter columns, this was meant to be a 'feminist revamp' of the character. The plot involves Zatanna's mom Sindella contacting her from beyond the grave (sound familiar?) to try and warn her of a threat which turns out to be a Chtulhu like monster hiding underneath San Francisco. Deciding that her father's backwards spell is ineffective, Zatanna decides to take up her mothers magic instead. Unfortunately, the main issue is that the 'upgrade' to her powers involved 'magical eye beams' and a magical staff which is considerably less original than casting spells backwards. Her new outfit is considerably much more generic than any of her previous ones:

But Zatanna describing herself as the 'bridge between the human and magical' worlds was perfect and of course we get to see defeat a powerful all by herself again. As a character piece, I think the mini series works really well but as a new direction (as in powers and costume)? Nah.

The art by Esteben Maroto was exquisite and it was interesting to see Zatanna trying to live a normal life and work in an office, given everything she’s been through up until this point, it makes sense:

I also like Joshua as a love interest for her. Initially in the mini she is dating a guy named Ron, who is kind of jerk, they break off and she sleeps with Joshua. I like Joshua but like Jeff Sloan, he is not the kind of guy who can handle the kind of things Zatanna deals with on a normal basis.

I also do have a minor quibble with one scene where she says 'oh if John Constantine were here, he would have figured it out.':

Ummm Zee, you’ve driven away alien army, defeated demons, the JL used to just sit back and let you save the day all by your damn self, what’s this ‘oh woe, save me John’ nonsense? I thought this was a feminist book.

-The revamp from the mini series didn't stick. Only time it showed up in a comic outside of that mini was briefly during John Ostrander’s Spectre run (Ostrander is the husband of Kim Yale, I highly recommend their work on Suicide Squad as well as Ostrander's run on 'Spectre' and Martian Manhunter).

In her following appearances, her stage magician outfit became her default outfit. Writers/artists either didn't know or didn't care about the reason why she wore the Perez designed ‘bug head’ outfit (except for one writer/artist whom I will get to). The stage magician used to be just that, her stage outfit, the Perez outfit (while not perfect) was meant to represent her own identity. References to her dad became more prominent and Sindella largely began to fade away.

During the 90's and 00's, Zatanna was largely a guest star. She appeared in the Action Comics, Martian Manhunter, Books of Magic, Spectre, Hellblazer, Teen Titans, Batman and events like Final Night, Day of Judgement, Underworld Unleashed albeit not in a pivotal role like during her JL days.

A couple of her notable appearances before and around the time Identity Crisis hit:

-One of the personal favorites being 1995's Adventures of Superman #522 (w: Karl Kesel, a: Stuart Immonen) in which Zatanna, Martian Manhunter, Superman and Perry White work together to create a spell to restore a destroyed Metropolis. This is one of my favorite guest appearances by her. Karl Kesel also wrote her when she briefly appeared in Final Night #3 and both times he wrote her dialogue well, with the flair and dramatics of a showman.

Although this is the kind of comic that makes people go ‘why didn’t she or the League help during No Man’s Land’? But it’s comics, so I’m sure there could be a hand waved away somehow. ‘Gotham’s magic aura is too dark and doing that spell could be catastrophic’, see, that took only took me 3 seconds. Besides I’m not reading Batbooks to find out what the JL is doing.

-2001's Wonder Woman #175, a one page cameo written and drawn by Phil Jiminez :

Note that Zatanna is in her Perez costume and can chant her spells forward as well.

This was part of a much larger crossover involving WW leading every major/minor female superhero against every major/minor female supervillain lead by Circe (and also an excuse for Phil to flex on his artistic skill and encyclopedic knowledge of the DCU especially the female heroes). Jiminez is a huge Perez fanboy and uber feminist and it shows.

- 2004's 'JLA: Incarnations' #4 (w: John Ostrander, a: Val Semeiks) , this was a retelling of the JLA's history after 1985 COIE through the news reports of reporter and superhero fanboy Tully Reed. This issue retells the story of Aquaman disbanding the League. It also features Zatanna casting a planet wide spell:

-2005's Justice (written by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger with art by Alex Ross and Doug Braithwaite), this is a big ensemble story with a lot of sub plots running. One of which involves Superman, Zatanna and Red Tornado teaming up against Brainiac.

-Paul Dini wrote her first animated appearance in 1992's Batman: The Animated Series episode 'Zatanna' and in 2003, he would write the one shot 'Zatanna: Everyday Magic'. It addressed Zatanna's love life, introduced a new rogue for her (Nimue Ravensong) and it's a rare story wherein Zatanna saves John Constantine instead of the other way around. We learn that she bears no grudge against him but she is not pining for him either even if she helped him.

With that out of the way, lets address the elephant in the room;

Identity Crisis

This was and still remains a very controversial story. Ralph Dibney/Elongated Man comes home to find his wife, Sue Dibney, murdered and burned to death. This leads to the revelation that years ago, Sue was raped by Dr Light (who used to be a harmless supervillain) and the League voted to mind wipe him with Zatanna carrying out the deed.

Batman found out and Zatanna mindwiped him too. The culprit turned out to be Jean Loring; Ray Palmer's ex-wife who had snapped and did it so Ray would spend more time with her. Much has been written about how the story handles the rape of Sue Dibney, the mental illness of Jean Loring and darkening once lighter and wholesome characters but the character most damaged by Identity Crisis was probably Zatanna.

Writers couldn't make up their minds on whether she was a willful participant of the mind wipe or a young rookie coaxed into it by the older League members. There is also the reveal of her mind wiping Catwoman (an insult to Selina's redemption arc in her own title and to both characters) and other villains like Toyman to make them harmless but the revelation only made some of them more dangerous.

Source: Catwoman Vol 2 #50-51

It's less about her and really more about using her as a plot device to justify making villains dark and gritty or to make them relevant again. Hence why writers had trouble making up their minds on how remorseful she was about it which started the downward trend of trying to make her a more morally gray character and afterwards plots involving Zatanna started to revolve around mindwipes or at the very least stories couldn't go without mentioning it.Even with Catwoman, later stories would try to bad aid it by having Zatanna claim that she only ‘nudged’ Selina’s mind and that her choices were still her own.

Source: JLA #115

Source: JLA #116

^The above is by Geoff Johns who can’t write morally gray characters for peanuts. Note that in his take she was sorry but

Where as in Superman #644 by Greg Rucka she is more remorseful about the whole thing and has clearly defined boundaries:

On the bright side, in 2006 we were introduced to Zachary Zatara, Zatanna's cousin created by Geoff Johns and Tony Daniel who debuted in that volume of Teen Titans. This made Zatanna one of the rare female heroes with a male side kick.

She was also still the main go-to-person whenever a magical threat appeared, guest starring in Action Comics, Detective Comics, Birds of Prey and Power Girl but the stink from Identity Crisis still lingered.

It was Morrison and Dini who pulled Zatanna out of the pit that Identity Crisis put her in.

First, Morrison wrote her in their Seven Soldiers maxi-series, which showed her hitting rock bottom and joining a support group:

Source Seven Soldiers #4

then going on a mind bending magical journey with a female underling named Misty Kilogre during which she redeems herself by taking on a cosmic entity and briefly reuniting her father.

Source: Seven Soldiers #4

Then Paul Dini wrote her in his Detective Comics run, which had Bruce finally bury that animosity he had towards her over the mind wipe.

Which I covered here:

https://johnvenus.tumblr.com/post/674738267300708352/zatanna-x-bruce-a-timeline-part-12

https://johnvenus.tumblr.com/post/674751230017519616/the-detective-the-magician-a-timeline-of-batman

Plus some better interactions between Zatanna and Catwoman:

https://johnvenus.tumblr.com/post/674753793344274432/the-detective-the-magician-epilogue-with

Later he fleshed out the history between Thomas and John Zatara in his Streets of Gotham run. He also established that Zatanna and Giovanni were Romanii in ‘Hearth of Hush’ and ‘House of Hush’ story arcs.

Spring boarding off of his 'Tec run Zatanna finally.....

finally....

finally.........

for the first time in 40 years.....

....got her solo ongoing in 2010.........

.....only for it to be cancelled after 16 issues because the Great Disaster...New 52 was going to happen (at the time we were told it was due to low sales).

As for the ongoing itself; I think it was off to good start and could have grown into something special had it been allowed to continue. Dini is largely a street level writer so his handling of magic tend to be so-and-so but he nailed the character work and he repeatedly emphasized her non magical skills like escape artistry, sleight of hand tricks, martial arts and showed that she was clever and resourceful even in situations where she can't use her magic.

Dini’s Zatanna was confident, powerful, charming and clever.

He established Shadowcrest mansion as her powerful library of magical books and artifacts, San Francisco was her base, he tried to give her a Rogues Gallery beginning with Brother Night, he showed Zatanna and Zachary interacting for as well as their history and he established a supporting cast for her, including love interest (Dale Colton) and the trans stage hand Mickey (who appeared in a flashback in a male body).

You could easily imagine a tv show with this premise. Dini is also the only writer since 1993 Come Together mini to reference Sindella, as her classic self and he would even reference the Hidden City much later in another series 'Zatanna/Black Canary: Bloodspell'.

He also summed up the character and her mission perfectly in the first issue:

And unwittingly wrote the coda for the character in this dream sequence:

Zatanna lost her father and her mother, she may have saved the world countless times but she couldn't save the people closest to her. Which adds an interesting element to her relationship with Zachary. Being the only family she has left, she must feel protective over her cousin.

That said, Dini's run isn't perfect. His plots can feel a little shallow and is largely saved by the character interactions and he was often too reliant on defining Zee as her father's daughter. Yes, Zatara is important and the idea of him raising her as a single dad and teaching her everything she knows is an important facet of her character but we don't need a flashback to her father every time Zatanna casts a spell nor does every enemy need to tie back to him.

Also, between Spectre Vol #7, Reign in Hell, JLA Vol 2 #39, Zatanna #2, she’s said goodbye to her father’s ghost 4 times now under 4 different writers.

The ultimate problem with the Zatanna ongoing is that its late. She should have gotten one soon after her debut in the 60′s or at the very least during the late 80′s or early 90′s when DC could sustain ongoings for B-D list characters like Question, the Ray, Starman and slowly turn them into fan favorites. By the New Tens, most audiences who remember her exploits in the Satellite era had faded away. We saw that she has a good supporting cast (her father, mother, Jeff Sloan, Mickey, Zachary), a descent rogues gallery that just needs a few tweaks (Allura, the Druid, Warlock. Adam, High Lord, Caligro, Brother Night) and she is very well connected to a lot of heroes (Atom, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Batman, Elongated Man) but the only thing that really eluded her and kept from shining is the lack of an going for her.

Now, onto JLD and YJ: lets look at what worked and didn't work with the version of Zatanna on JLD and YJ.

What worked on YJ:

Her personality is true to the comics. I like her design both her stage magician outfit and her normal clothing. I also like the friendship she has with Artemis Crock. In the Golden Age comics, John Zatara often clashed with a villain called ‘Tigress’ who had no magical powers of her own and was more of a super powered. This character had not relation to the Paula or Artemis Crock version of Tigress/Huntress that would be introduced later on but Zatanna being friends with a version of Tigress is a nice sly reference.

Lacey Chabert is also one of the best voice actors she’s had. I mostly hear Jenifer Hale (who voiced her on JLU) but Lacey is a close second. She infuses her character with a sense of playfulness and charm.

I also appreciate the fact that the show didn’t kill off John Zatara (as of this writing) because that would have felt repetitve.

What didn’t work on YJ:

I wasn’t a fan of deaging her and putting her in Dick Grayon’s generation. I was reluctant at first but I was willing to roll with it if the show had done something amazing with her. But after 4 seasons, I’ve got to give this version a thumbs down.

Look, John Zatara is one of the cooler Dads in the DCU but Zatanna is the one with actual history with the League. Putting him on the League robs her of her relationship with her peers. Sure it’s a different universe and all but Ollie, Hal, Dinah, even Red Tornado are all depicted as akin to their Satellite era selves and their history and relationships are all acknowledged. Dick Grayson still becomes Nightwing and a great leader consistent with the comics even if the details are different, same goes Batman and Green Arrow quitting the League to do their own thing.

Scenes like WW proclaiming that the League needs more female heroes is doubly jarring when you’re aware that they outright replaced one of their female members with a man.

There seems to be this presumption that Zatanna doesn’t have anything worthwhile to adapt from the comics. Either the writers were ignorant of her history (which is part of why I’m writing this) or they didn’t think it was good enough for their universe.

Yes, some of the comic book stories are flawed or silly but comic book adaptations are full of examples of characters being revamped into being more bad ass and to be given more pathos. Look at Mr Freeze before ‘Heart of Ice’ or Kiteman before Tom King’s Batman run or even in YJ itself, characters like Sportsmaster are revamped to be more bad ass. I’m sure the same could be done for Allura, the Druid, the Warlock of Ys, Hellrazer and even Adam.

Also, Sindella is reduced to *just* being a bystander who died on cancer with no lines whereas in the comic books, her story is what introduced us to the term Homo Magi. In the show, all the relevancy of the Homo Magi is given to Vandal Savage. That’s just....not right.

Zatanna herself was barely a main character in her own arc. It was largely about her sidekicks and Vandal Savage. There is also the implication of her grooming her sidekicks to be the next Dr Fate even though she says it’s a choice at the end. The fact that there was a flashback showing that she got the idea long after she was training her side kicks but at the same time she doesn’t answer Khalid asking her about it, is a case of writers wanting to have their cake and eat it too.

Even if she wasn’t grooming her side kicks it still reduces the Zatara’s to just being the Dr Fate of E-16. If its a choice between Zatanna borrowing someone else’s lore vs her having her own, I would rather choose the latter.

As for her relationship with Dick Grayson, like I said above deaging her comes at the expense of her canonical relationships in the comics. At least with Bruce/Zee we saw that relationship play out in the comic books, knowing that the Zataras trained Bruce revealed that they had talent that even normal humans could learn and pairing them didn’t undermine her history. Whereas putting her in Dick Grayson’s generation displaces Raven who is supposed to be the magic user of Dick’s generation. I also much prefer Dick with Kory but the modern narrative is that Kory was his first love/crush and Babs is his true love. In the YJ verse, the spot of first love is given to Zatanna and we don’t even get to see how that played out on screen. We just know that they broke up for whatever reason and Dick is with Babs now (maybe the latter half of Season 4 will give us answer but honestly, I’m over this show). I honestly have no idea how Starfire or her relationship with Dick could be done justice on this show or how Raven will fit in to this world. I thought the latter might be one of Zatanna’s proteges but nope.

But hey, we may not have gotten any of Zatanna’s own lore on the show but we still got this sizzling scene of her kissing Dick Grayson in front of everyone to show how much of a stud he is:

Source: Young Justice #20

::groan::

And really, Babs is sleeping with him but won’t commit to a relationship with Dick because he’s too much of a horn dog. If it was any other guy, I would have said to Babs that she was getting scammed. And is Dick really such a manwhore that he can’t go a week without hooking up with someone?

Now, on to JL Dark:

What worked on JLDark: Normalizing Zatanna wearing pants, Zee getting cred for defeating Prayala and the Upside Down Man, singing bohemian rhapsody backwards to summon a lightning storm, teaming her up with Wonder Woman in Rebirth and bringing back her connection to Batman. Plus I like her interactions with Bobo and Ragman.

What didn’t work on JLDark:

Apparently the only Zatanna stories that matter now are the ones with John Constantine in them. Chiefly Swamp Thing #50 and Books of Magic #2. Like, that’s it, that’s the basis for the entire character and story arcs now. This was the case in JLD Vol 1. Rebirth did better by drawing influence Morrison’s Seven Soliders and Dini’s ‘Tec plus her own ongoing but it’s not perfect.

The problem is pairing her with Constantine and taking their relationship to the extent of turning her into an extension of John Constantine culminating to the point where you get crap like JL Dark Apocalypse where she gets fridged just to progress John’s arc. Not to mention DCeased where her role is to just sit back and let Constantine save the day. As though every other magic user is ineffective or undeserving of their ability.

To give you some perspective, Zatanna was created in 1964, John Constantine debuted in 1985. Thus she had been around for 21 years longer than he did and has her own lore. The reason why Alan Moore paired them in Swamp Thing #50 is because Constantine was a new character and Zatanna was a more established character thus by establishing a past relationship between the two, he could further entrench John into the DCU. Even throughout the issue John is manipulating the various players into joining the seance, he tricks both Sargon and Baron Winters into being there, Mento had no idea what he was getting into and is left insane afterwards (he becomes a Titan villain ) and he was leveraging his past relationship with Zatanna and her father’s protective instinct so he would come along as well.

She also told John to crawl under a rock and die. We don’t see Zatanna’s reaction or her mourning her father. Constantine is the one who suffered the least in the entire ordeal. Yet in her subsequent appearances in Books of Magic and Hellblazer she is strangely friendly with him. This makes no sense if you think about it from Zatanna’s perspective. Her father, who raised her from birth as a single father figure and whose heroic journey is kicked off by searching for him, is indirectly murdered by an old boyfriend.

The folks who like the JohnZee seem to be either:

-ignorant of Zatanna’s broader history.

-are Constantine fans who Zatanna to comfort the bad boy. Eugh.

-or just like the aesthetics of the two together.

Dini handled it right in ‘Everyday Magic’, she doesn’t hold a grudge against but she can’t stand him either. She helped him out of trouble but doesn’t pine for him either. Plus she is the undisputed main character of the one shot .

In JLD Vol1, in order to justify the John/Zee relationship, Zatanna’s own knowledge of magic and cleverness is cut down so he can contribute, she cant be effective and is taken down like a glorified red shirt just so once again she has to rely on John to help save the day and post Nu52 all her other relationships are erased (except Batman) and implied to be terrible at relationships with a bad boy fetish to justify her coming back to John.

The ‘bad boy fetish’ or her being bad at relationships things is simply not true. Yes, she described herself as falling for losers in Seven Soldiers but that’s because she was in a bad place at that point and had low self esteem. Look at her actual on panel relationships, some of which we’ve covered here; she was mature enough to break things off with Barry and she liked Bruce because he stayed at her bedside after she was injured and she accepted and moved on when he said he wasn’t ready for a relationship. As we saw with Jeff Sloan, any normal guy would be comically inept when it comes to the stuff that she deals with on a daily basis. In Come Together, she dumped Ron the jerk so she could hook up with the much nicer Joshua. In ‘Everyday Magic’ a guy she was dating asked her to use magic to pay for their bills at a diner but she refuses and leaves the guy to wash his own dishes. She has never been somebody who makes bad decisions at relationships.

Also all her supporting characters; Zachary, Mickey, is practically non existent now. Last time we saw Sindella in JLD, she had dark hair and none of her tragic backstory is acknoweledged. John Zatara is treated like the only relevant parent she has.

Rebirth was a little better because it brought back some of her relationships like Batman and Wonder Woman. However it came with the caveat that John Zatara and John Constantine had a secret history together wherein Constantine did Giovanni’s dirty work for him and that the two hatched the plan that ended up getting Zatara killed:

Once again, we are stuck with a Zatanna who *has* to rely on John Constantine to save the day. What worse is that in trying to force this terrible pairing DC is also tainting John Zatara from a wholesome father figure (who made mistakes in the past, true) and renders Zatanna into little more than pawn of her father and Constantine and a plot device to defeat the oncoming Big Bad.

The main problem with the YJ and JLD versions is not utilizing anything she can call her own from her canon stories and only relying on her father and in JLD’s case defining her entirely by her father and John Consantine.

It’s also not fair to John Constantine either. Much as I hate his Nu52 and Rebirth versions, he is not supposed to be the ‘Magic Batman’ of the DCU or a blonde Dr Strange in a trenchcoat. Zatanna appeared in what 2 issues of his 300 issue long ongoing? John Constantine is suppposed to be a horror characters who lives in the fringes of the DCU where writers can tell storylines that normally wouldn’t be permitted in the regular DCU.

Although, yes, the gross double standard of John Constantine getting an ongoing almost immiedietly after his debut in Swamp Thing and said ongoing being allowed to run for 300+ issues (Vertigo titles can keep running even if they dip below cancellation numbers) while poor Zatanna who had much more build up in her JLA years had to wait 40 years to get hers makes this all the more worse. And even after appearing in JLD, Zee still doesn’t get a sniff at an ongoing beyond a feature in DC’s New Talent Showcase, of course Consantine very briefly got his own ongoing in addition to JLD. Nevermind a tv show, cartoon shorts and DTV movies where he gets to be obnoxious and make every other magical character looks like chumps. And if you think Zatanna gets it bad, maybe try looking into the stories of Dr Fate, Phantom Stranger, Madame Xanadu, Spectre, Zauriel they all have rich, unique histories and they’ve all been turned into chumps in front of John Constantine as well.

The stories by Gerry Conway, Lee Mars and Paul Dini may not have been perfect but there were trying to set up Zatanna as her own character with her own setting, supporting characters and villains.

I also don’t blame Peter Milligan, Jeff Lemire for her depiction in Vol 1 nor James Tynion IV or Ram V for her depiction in Vol 2. James Tynion wrote a Zatanna who resembled her pre Nu 52 self in ‘Tec but had to switch writing a Zatanna who was darker and moodier for JLD Vol 2. This take seems to be what DC wants and it sucks. Plus writers are more likely to follow up whatever the most recent writers are doing. Just like Joe Cavalieri was following up on Gerry Conway’s take when he wrote the Hallrazer issues in JLA or Matthew Sturges following up on Paul Dini, writers pairing up John and Zee are only doing so because the previous writers did it as well and feel that the two *must* be paired together. To Tynion IV and Ram V’s credit, they are drawing from Dini’s work and Seven Soldiers but still, I think more references could be added to their library.

Ultimately the problem lies with DC, from their long standing reluctance to giving their female heroes their own ongoings to their need to define their female heroes entirely by their romantic relationships.

Anyway, this post got really long. I will be making individual posts for some of the stories mentioned here as well as some that I had to skip over.

This site was really helpful in tracking down Zatanna's appearances: https://dcuguide.com/w/Zatanna_(Zatanna_Zatara)_Chronology There are separate sections for her chronological and non chronological appearances.

In the past, I have talked to fellow fans about my issues with JLD and YJ versions of Zatanna but it's not easy explaining all this comic history in a conversation. I hope this post gave y'all a greater understanding and appreciation of Zatanna's character and history. :) Maybe serve as a resource for future writers (maybe, I don’t know). There is more to come in the future.

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motherwasapapafucker · 3 years

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Justice Legion Delta: 'The Legion of Doom'

Initially known as Danny’s Legion, the original members of Justice Legion Delta vanished during a Violent Unknown Event, earning the group the ‘Legion of Doom’ sobriquet and a superstitious reputation within the larger structure of the Justice Legion. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, Delta has gained a reputation for being well-equipped to handle the strangest of fringe threats facing the many worlds of the United Systems.

Members

L.exe: Created in the Memory Bardos of the 549th Century, L.exe was designed as the final weapon in the Crime Biographers’ war against that century’s Superman. A living biography, L.exe’s positronic certainty generator allowed it to develop and enact new chapters dedicated to how a long-dead master criminal would have challenged the current Superman, it’s own existence fueled by waging this constant, unending war against Superman on behalf of its creators.

However diminishing resources, a lack of time and a scarcity of information regarding the source mind resulted in a bug laden, factually dubious weapon whose every action was undermined by an artificial intelligence cobbled together from half-a-dozen sources tenuously conflated by the Crime Biographers’ due to shared initials. As a result, L.exe’s burning hatred was matched by an all-encompassing love for Superman, the two extremes cancelling each other out and leaving it almost completely neutral on the subject of his descendants. Discarded and forgotten, L.exe would eventually be unearthed in the 853rd Century by Bill ‘Billion’ Magnus, a data-archaeologist who made a name for himself restoring long-dormant machine intelligences. Together, the two debated L.exe’s function in life now its creators and their war had long since ended, L.exe eventually convinced to embrace Magnus’ stance that it should forge a new path in life rather than its initial plan to stage an all-out blitzkrieg on the Justice Legion and the United Systems.

As the Justice Legion Delta’s self-appointed “head-man,” L.exe subverts the power of its own Maliceware in service of the never-ending battle for justice, even if it does struggle with frequent intrusive thoughts regarding universal domination and elaborate marriage schemes.

Shattered Visage: An early example of living marble technology, the Shattered Visage was the Venusian Amazons’ first attempt at creating a new Wonder Woman for the new century. Boasting a spiritual core drawn from one of their best and brightest, the Visage was intended as a perfect representation of the hallowed Amazonian magi-science that had been the cornerstone of their culture since the dawn of the age of heroes.

With a functionally impervious body, a glut of superpowers well beyond the Amazonian standard, and wielding the latest in thought-weapon technology, the Visage was perfect in almost every sense of the word save one, a tiny almost imperceptible flaw within her living marble body that only she could perceive. On the eve of the bonding ritual that would link her to the Goddess of Truth, the Shattered Visage attempted to talk about the growing uncertainty that had been eating away at her across years of training and development, only to have her concerns dismissed as nothing more than nerves. Instantly rejected by the Goddess, the Amazons doggedly attempted to continue the ritual, forcibly entwining the two for the briefest of nanoseconds. Truth’s proximity externalising the Shattered Visage’s fears and self-doubt, her body irrevocably damaged as her marble skin cracked and reformed to reflect her self-perceived truth. In the political turmoil that followed, the Visage abandoned her homeworld. Joining the ranks of Amazonian Wandering Women that sought self-discovery on the fringes of inhabited space. Returning to Venus to fight in a civil war that threatened to consume the planet, only to discover upon her arrival that the conflict had been brought to a peaceful end by the new Wonder Woman, the forces responsible for her trauma now facing justice at the hands of a true Amazonian paragon. Finding no comfort in this, the Shattered Visage fell into darkness. Spending years as an operative for hire, she eventually came into conflict with her younger sibling during an alliance with OWAC’s Injustice Brigade. Confronting Wonder Woman, the Visage’s attempts to battle her sibling were hampered by Wonder Woman’s refusal to do more than defend herself. As the other members of the Justice Legion and the Injustice Brigade battled in the Magnetic Cloud beyond OWAC’s Death Wheel, the two spoke openly, Visage finally given a chance to confront the Goddess of Truth for her role in the events that had led to her creation. Betraying the Brigade, the Shattered Visage fought alongside her sister, earning amnesty in the process and a place within the ranks of the Justice Legion. Joining the Justice Legion Delta as its resident tactician, she continues to work to move beyond the expectations forced upon her.

Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man: A groundskeeper within the Pangea Collective, Barney Blanc spent his days tending one of 700 primordial tesseract worlds preserved within the collective's archives. The brainchild of Gulliver Larsen, Pangea sought to preserve ecologies found on soon to be terraformed worlds, reconstructing them within tesseract space and allowing them to develop independent of the now controlled environments of their sources. Groundskeepers such as Blanc charged with the observation of a single world-space, ensuring that it remained free from contaminants and outside influence. Larsen urging a dispassionate approach to the work in order to lessen the potential risks associated with the observer effect. Blanc however, could never adapt to Larsen’s demands, in time appropriating a Virtual Interface Headset in order to experience life within the tesseract world. As Blanc’s actions became increasingly commonplace among the Collective’s groundskeepers an embittered Larsen decided the project was no longer fit for purpose, seeking to erase what he felt were tainted worlds and begin anew, he approached the United Systems’ environmental authority with his plans to restart, only for his request to be denied and the Pangea Collective ordered to continue the preservation and observation of the tesseract worlds within its care. In a final, desperate bid to maintain his vision for the project, Larsen covertly hired the Lords of Lighting, data-erasure specialists from Winath, to covertly destroy the worlds. Detonating an electrical overcharge device that wiped over three quarters of the Collective’s archive before the overseer’ A.I. could process what had happened. In a blind, desperate bid to save the remaining tesseracts, the A.I. launched their data packets at the only remaining storage space available within the facility, the interfaced Barney Blanc. By sheer providence, Blanc’s presence inside one of the tesseract allowed his mind to survive the process even as his body was altered to host some 80 worlds on a genetic level. Blanc returning to an externally unchanged body that was permanently interlinked with the biospheres of the tesseracts now contained within him. Subsequently discovering that he could morphologically draw on the structure & abilities of anything found on the worlds within him when he survived Larsen’s attempts to decapitate him by taking on the properties of a particularly resilient carrot. Avenging the destroyed worlds, Blanc now operates as Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man alongside his allies in the Justice Legion Delta. Continuing to support the nurture and development of the remaining worlds when and wherever possible. The Known Soldier: A shifting, always familiar presence to those in their company, the Known Soldier would be an eternal enigma if anyone could hold their memory for more than a second after their departure. To meet them is to know them, to leave them is to forget. Forever viewed as the old friend you can’t quite place, the Soldier’s origins are seemingly unknown even among their compatriots within the Justice Legion Delta. Clad in a feature-obscuring living polymer skin-sheath, even the most basic of the Known Soldier's physical identifiers wildly vary from person to person. The JLD first encountering them during Sigmund Elsswhere’s assault on the Babel Inforum, readily accepting the masked figure as a member of the team even as the exact reasons behind the Soldier’s presence within the system remained a mystery. Among the Justice Legion, the Known Soldier is one of the few serving members capable of wielding Negatron, the Living Weapon without incurring sizable damage to their mental health. The negative spirit residing with the machine equally numb to the Soldier’s memory resistant qualities leading to the two forming a firm friendship. In truth, the Known Soldier is in fact the self-inflicted amnesiac alter-ego of Minos Zero, the Infiltration Ace. Their quantum-superposition abilities operating on subconscious instinct as they carry out an unknown mission on behalf of the shadowy super intelligence that rules over the distant Spyral Galaxy. The exact role the Justice Legion Delta plays in these machinations remains to be seen, however as the team grows increasingly resistant to the Soldier’s abilities it is clear their ruse will be discovered sooner rather than later... Super Sane: A distant scion of the Superman Dynasty, Cris Alis’ was born on the world of Rimbor and became its soul survivor at the age of 14 when the planet was consumed by a hypertime storm generated in the wake of a Qwardian’ incursion led by the Clockworker, sinister antimatter counterpart of the Justice Legion Alpha’s Hourman. Trapped within an endlessly branching nightmare, Alis’ powers and her half-Rimborian physiology combined to gift the child a super-adaptability that allowed her to survive within the storm. As time within it snapped and rebuilt, so too did Alis. Her mind effectively building a new personality from the ground up, each gifted a single power drawn from the considerable genetic legacy of the Superman Dynasty.For nearly a decade Alis’ lived within the storm, nestled within an endless series of alter egos blissfully unaware of both their situation and each other. The illusion shattering when an alter emerged possessing 5-D hypervision, instantly alerting the alters to each other’s presence. Sent into an existential crisis, each alter vied for control until her super-adaptability once again emerged, collapsing each personality in on Alis’ and causing a brief rupture within the hypertime storm that allowed members of the Superman Squad to finally recover Rimbor. Free of the storm, Alis’ continues to display wildly varying personalities and powers. Seemingly reinventing herself each day, her original personality only occasionally resurfacing, it has been hypothesized that near constant exposure to hypertime has evolved Alis’ into a new type of superhuman. Despite this, each alter has shown a consistent dedication to the Superman Dynasty’s ideals and unwavering loyalty to her allies in the Justice Legion Delta. Negatron, the Living Weapon: The total destruction of Negative Space during the Fifth Dimensional Angle-Wars of the 599th and 601st centuries was believed to have driven the Negative Spirits to total extinction. However a single entity survived, crash landing in the 853rd century where it was subsequently captured by that era’s Toyman. Specialising in the design of exotic art-weapons, the Toyman bound the last negative spirit to a living gun, transforming its negative energy into a highly potent ‘Ennui Ray’ that would drive its targets into a crippling depression. Hoping the weapon would be capable of destroying Superman, he was completely unprepared for the true extent of the weapons power. Pulling the trigger causing the Toyman to suffer a total emotional collapse. Cured only when his memories of the weapon were erased as an act of mercy on the part of his intended target. Free of its creator, the machine intelligence and the negative spirit reached an understanding and with the aid of Starfire, the Tyrant Sun’s Daughter & Resurrection Man dedicated their service to the Justice Legion. Partnered with the Known Soldier - one of three beings capable of wielding Negatron without major risk - Negatron, the Living Weapon is an indispensable member of the Justice Legion Delta. The Eye of Doom: In the distant past the Eye was Rhea Jones, a superhuman known as Lodestone who served in the second iteration of the original Doom Patrol. Slipping into a coma during one of the periodic attempts to curtail earth’s booming metahuman population, Jones awoke transformed. Reborn as a being that transcended then acceptable definitions of both humanity and superhumanity. Briefly resuming her role within the Doom Patrol, she would subsequently depart for a then distant star in order to further develop what she realised was a pupal stage in her ongoing transformation into something larger than herself. In the centuries that followed, Jones became something of a modern myth. Her infrequent appearances on the edge of cosmic events & interstellar disasters earning her the name the Eye of Doom. Jones’ was last seen in the twilight of the 114th century, observed entering the temporal eddy left in the wake of the Quantum Superwoman’s apotheosis. With no official connection to the Justice League Delta, the Eye’s tenuous role within the group can be best described as an observer. The team returning to their extrasolar headquarters to discover Jones’ simply waiting for them. Since that time, she has done little but observe their activities, intervening only to prevent L.exe’s erasure at the nebulous hands of Please, Mister Nobody was my Father. Call me Darren. Despite evolving beyond the very concept of loyalty, the Eye has in fact returned from a point beyond the 853rd century in order to prepare the Justice Legion Delta for their role in the coming war against the Anti-Danny.

#dc one million #doom patrol #legion of doom #Justice Leauge #grant morrison inspired #fic

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atrophiedcompassion · 3 years

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the final episode of the falcon and the winter soldier

or should i say...captain america and the winter soldier!!!! was a rush of adrenaline and emotion, like one of the best marvel movies to date.

there were literally no bad parts for me, not even the yes i agree somewhat jarring decision on cap’s side to engage karli when sharon was bleeding on the ground

but even that makes sense, because he was there to stop karli from hurting others and herself. and he gotdamn tried his best, in true cap fashion

the suit is *chef’s kiss* jesus christ it is so good. and the wing functionality as shields my goodness. wakandans know their shit (shuri!!!) and sam knows how to use them to perfection.

obvi the pieta/angel scene was DGMSFGSJFGSBFSF.

sam throughout displayed captain america and captain america as a black man qualities and his speech vs the grc idiots was moving and perfect.

the scenes with isaiah were amazing, the man finally had some of the weight lift off his shoulders

the acting in this ep was top notch from everyone. love JLD <3 she can be the baddie/morally grey whatever/madame hydra char, i will always love her

loved bucky and his remorse in telling yori the truth. loved john finally taking to heart what sam says, he was fucking listening and he understood. to me, he finally understood that he himself could not be captain america (but he could be us agent), because someone else actually embodied the mantle/title

as for sharon. you know what, i want her to be the power broker as sharon carter. i want her to not be a skrull or something. the world was in disarray after the snap/blip and steve rogers had not one moment for sharon? she was left for dead and she made a new life for herself.

maybe sharon’s not corrupted morally. maybe she too thinks she can change the world, like karli did. just using different methods.

or maybe she’s on the phone with fury at the end, because the avengers and the govt no longer work together. why shouldn’t she/them have a handle on what is going on in the structures of power?

and even if she’s in it just for the power, why the hell not. it’s time for the fall from grace arcs, we’ve had enough of redemption arcs.

#the falcon and the winter soldier #tfatws

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steampunkfan · 6 years

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Entrepreneurs On Fire: January 2018 Income Report

January 2018 Income At-A-Glance

Gross Income for January: $205,842

Total Expenses for January: $66,463

Total Net Profit for January: $139,379

Difference b/t January & December: -$4,114

Why We Publish An Income Report

This monthly income report is created for you, Fire Nation!

By documenting the struggles we encounter and the successes we celebrate as entrepreneurs every single month, we’re able to provide you with support – and a single resource – where we share what’s working, what’s not, and what’s possible.

There’s a lot of hard work that goes into learning and growing as an entrepreneur, especially when you’re just starting out. The most important part of the equation is that you’re able to pass on what you learn to others through teaching, which is what we aim to do here.

Let’s IGNITE!

**We’ll receive a commission on the affiliate links below.

Josh Bauerle’s Monthly Tax Tip

What’s up Fire Nation, my name is Josh Bauerle. I’m a CPA and the Founder of CPA On Fire, where we specialize in working with entrepreneurs to minimize their tax liability while keeping them in line with the ever-changing tax laws.

I’ve been working with JLD & Kate at Entrepreneurs On Fire for years now, and they’ve included me in these monthly income reports with unlimited access to all their accounts so I can verify that what they report here is complete and accurate.

And because they believe in delivering an insane amount of value to you, my job doesn’t stop at the verification level; I also provide a new tax and accounting tip every month!

Josh’s January Tax Tip: How to handle the 1099’s you receive

Well Fire Nation, it’s that time of year again: tax season.

As I prepare to go into my tax season hole to grind away at 500+ tax returns, I wanted to give you one last tip to make sure you don’t get hit with an unexpected IRS letter this year.

I want you to ensure the 1099’s you receive are addressed properly.

This may seem like a minor issue, but incorrect 1099’s are one of the biggest reasons we see clients get audited by the IRS.

What happens most often is one of the wonderful people who paid you money over the previous year sends you a 1099 made out to you personally instead of your business. Then, you claim it in the business, and the IRS thinks you failed to claim the income altogether since they expect to see it on your personal return.

Next thing you know, you’re receiving a love letter from the IRS demanding thousands of dollars for unreported income.

Here are a few scenarios that could easily cause this to happen:

You switch your sole proprietor to an S Corp mid-year and either don’t update your clients who issue 1099’s, or they fail to make the change.

Your business is a partnership, but your clients use your personal info for the 1099 not knowing the details of the entity.

You mistakenly fill out your W-9 with your personal info instead of your business info because you weren’t quite sure what they were asking.

I’ve seen incorrect 1099’s issued for all the reasons above – plus many more.

Here are4 steps you can take to make sure you aren’t getting a surprise letter from the IRS due to an incorrect 1099.

1. Check every 1099 you receive to make sure it is issued to the right name and tax ID number.

Unless you are a sole proprietor using your SSN as the business tax ID, your name and/or SSN should never be used on the 1099.

2. If you find a 1099 incorrectly made out to you personally, immediately contact the person or company who sent it and ask them to issue a corrected 1099.

Make sure they send the corrected version to both you and the IRS.

3. If they refuse to issue a corrected 1099 (and some will) you’ll need to note it very carefully on your tax returns.

Assuming the 1099 was made out to you instead of the business, you will claim the 1099 on your personal return Schedule C, and then put an expense for the same amount with the description “Claimed on 1120’s (or whatever business return you file) EIN XX-XXXXXXX”.

Hopefully if you own a business you are using a professional for your taxes, in which case you can simply make sure they’re taking the steps above.

4. Now that we are into a new year, make sure that all your clients who issue 1099’s have your accurate W-9 on file.

You should have one on file at all times with the correct info so you can be sure you are giving new clients the correct info to prevent mistakes in the future.

No more love letters from the IRS, especially ones that could be avoided with some simple due diligence!

By making sure the 1099’s you receive are accurate you can drastically reduce your chances of receiving a nasty letter from our good friends at the IRS.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you’d like to discuss what would be best for YOUR business. I LOVE chatting with Fire Nation!

*Bonus* Claim your spot in Josh’s FREE Course on Business Entities!

David Lizerbram’s Legal Tip

How to Hire a Lawyer for Your Business – Part II

For Part I of this series check out our November 2017 income report

Sooner or later, every business is going to need legal representation. A lawyer can either be:

An expensive line item, or

A huge asset for your business.

As an entrepreneur, it’s up to you to make that choice.

If you haven’t hired a business attorney before, the process can be intimidating. I’ve seen the process many times, having been hired by hundreds of clients to represent them over the course of my career.

When the client (that’s you) is informed and knows what they’re looking for, there’s a much greater likelihood of having a positive result for both sides – the lawyer and the client.

Ultimately, we both want the same thing: a mutually-beneficial, long-term business relationship.

To help you achieve that result, I’ve put together this list: 7 Keys to Choosing the Right Lawyer for Your Business. (For the first 4 points, be sure to check out our November 2017 income report!)

5. Choose a lawyer who brings other resources to the table

Let’s be honest: good legal services aren’t cheap.

Here are some questions you can ask to help get the most bang for your buck:

Does this law firm host regular events for their clients to meet and network? (These may take the form of live events, webinars, or other virtual resources.)

Do they have a network of other attorneys and professionals they can refer you to when you have specialized needs?

Are they members of trade associations or other groups you can benefit from?

Are they willing to make introductions to other clients, potential customers, and strategic partners?

Don’t be afraid to ask these types of questions and dig for detailed answers. But approach this line of inquiry with a bit of skepticism: beware the attorney who over-promises.

Use your best judgment.

6. Do you need a lawyer in your city or state?

This one can vary depending on your specific needs.

Of course, it’s great to be able to meet face-to-face on a regular basis, but I find that even with my local clients, the vast majority of our contacts are through phone and email rather than in person.

If you live in a small town or a place without a lot of lawyers (how depressing!), you may not have easy access to a local attorney who has the skills and experience that you need. And often, that’s not really a problem.

Now, if your attorney has to go to court, he or she may have to live near you, or at least in your state. But for many business law needs, an attorney who lives in another state may be able to serve you just as well. This means that you can cast a wide net and seek out the best legal counsel for you.

So feel free to look for legal counsel outside of your geographic area, but be sure to let them know where you are and confirm that they’ll be able to handle the transactions you require.

Tip: If your business has customers, vendors, or partners in another country, be sure to ask if the firm has relationships with attorneys in that country.

7. Make sure you’re comfortable with their fee structure

Your potential lawyer should not be afraid or nervous to discuss fees with you, and you shouldn’t be hesitant about bringing it up. Whether you’re a solopreneur or seeking legal advice for a big company, you still need to be able to plan for your legal costs.

Traditionally, most business lawyers work on an hourly basis. This means that each attorney has an hourly rate, and the attorney bills in increments of that rate (for example, 1/10 of an hour, with a minimum of 2/10 of any hour for any particular task.)

Some lawyers have moved away from hourly billing entirely and only bill a fixed amount for each service.

The most common approach is a hybrid of hourly and fixed fee billing, depending on the project. For example, if your business needs help with a complex contract negotiation, it can be very difficult for the attorney to estimate the amount of time involved, so billing based on the clock might make the most sense.

But if they’re doing the type of filing that they’ve done many times before, and they know pretty much what it’s going to take, both sides might be better off with a fixed fee for that project.

The most important part of this conversation is to be sure that the arrangement works for you, the client. If you prefer one or the other – hourly, fixed fee, or some other type of arrangement – be sure to communicate that to the attorney.

As long as you’re upfront about your expectations, he or she should be able to work with you; if not, this probably just isn’t a good match.

And that’s OK: as I said at the top, not every attorney-client pairing is a good match. Hopefully, applying these 7 Keys will speed up the process of finding the right match for you and your business.

Bonus Tip: This is not a “Till Death Do Us Part” decision.

Ideally, you’ll establish a relationship with a lawyer that will last for the life of your career. Maybe you’ll even become good friends. But just like with any other type of business relationship, there’s no way to know that on Day 1.

It’s possible the day will come when you have to tell your lawyer “It’s not you, it’s me.” Or whatever your preferred breakup line might be.

Nobody wants to hear this from a client. Believe it or not, lawyers are people too. We have feelings like anyone else. But, for the most part, we’re also professionals, and we know that not all client relationships are going to last forever.

If you get the feeling that you and your lawyer aren’t on the same page, the best thing you can do is pick up the phone and express your concerns. I suggest you avoid doing this over email – despite all the advantages of technology, when things get sticky, it’s best to talk it out whenever possible to avoid escalating the situation.

If you can get together in person, even better.

If that doesn’t work, and the situation just can’t be reconciled, your lawyer is, in most circumstances, obligated to return your files to you or forward them to your new attorney.

If you have funds remaining in the firm’s client trust account (also referred to as a “retainer account” or “IOLTA account,”) those must be returned to you as well.

If you have a legal question that you’d like me to cover on a future Income Report shoot me an email with your request! I’ll be sure to give you a shout-out when I join John & Kate to talk about your legal questions!

*Bonus* Download David’s FREE Checklist on Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs!

What Went Down In January

Memoir is LIVE!

I’ve always loved biographies, and with Memoir, I have a great excuse to dive deep into the lives of the men and women who changed the world.

The first feature is Alexander the Great, and let me tell you, this man packed a LOT into 32 years.

Visit Memoir.one to listen or visit iTunes here :-)

We hired a Tech Marketing Strategist

Making the decision to hire a tech / marketing strategist on retainer was a big decision – and an even bigger investment.

We’ve always run a super lean team here at Entrepreneurs On Fire, and with our focus shifting towards unraveling the complexity of what our business has become, bringing another consultant on retainer on board wasn’t a quick or easy choice.

This brings our monthly consultant retainer to five (our CPA, our accounting team, our designer, our web guy, and our tech marketing strategist).

But one thing John said during the many conversations we had about hiring a strategist is that being good always keeps us from being great.

One month into our contract we’re feeling great about the decision, and we wasted no time getting straight down to business.

Since she came on board we’ve:

Initiated a full website redesign (with the goal of making the UX 10x better)

Focused in on our campaign conversions

Started to revamp our quiz to more closely relate to our ideal customer

Identified our top 5 focuses for the next 6 months

We’ll keep you posted as we continue on with these exciting projects, and be sure to check out JLD’s Facebook page every once in a while: that’s where we post behind-the-scenes looks at our active projects!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 2018 Income Breakdown*

Product/Service Income: $153,835

TOTAL Journal sales: 882 Journals for a total of $32,992

The Freedom Journal: Accomplish your #1 goal in 100 days!

TheFreedomJournal.com: $1,836 (38 Hardcovers & 12 Digital Packs sold!)

Amazon: $16,068 (429 Freedom Journals sold!)

Total: $17,904

The Mastery Journal: Master Productivity, Discipline and Focus in 100 days! +2

TheMasteryJournal.com: $1,671 (33 Hardcovers & 14 Digital Packs sold!)

Amazon: $13,417 (382 Mastery Journals sold!)

Total: $15,088

Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 Podcasting community in the world!

Recurring: $28,218 (237 monthly, 4 annual)

New members: $14,814 (34 new members)

Total: $43,032

Podcast Sponsorship Income: $72,500

Podcast Websites: $5,000 Your all-in-one podcast website peace of mind

Skills On Fire: $30

Podcast Launch: Audiobook: $228| eBook: $53

Free Courses that result in the above revenue:

Free Podcast Course: A free 15-day course on Podcasting

Free Webinar Course: A free 10-day course on Webinars

Free Goals Course: A free 8-day course on Setting & Accomplishing Goals

Funnel On Fire: A free 8-day course on Creating a Funnel that Converts!

Kickstarter On Fire: A free 5-day course on going from Idea to Launch on Kickstarter!

4 Days To Mastery: A Free 4-day course on how to master Productivity, Discipline & Focus!

Affiliate Income: $52,007

*Affiliate links below

Resources for Entrepreneurs: $37,682

Audible: $512

BlueHost: $600 (Step-by-step guide and 23 WordPress tutorials)

Click Funnels: $25,741

Coaching referrals: $2,747 (email me for an introduction to a mentor for overall online business or a Podcast focused mentor!)

Easy Webinar: $0

Mentorship: $7,500

ConvertKit: $356

Disclaimer Template: $49 (legal disclaimers for your website)

Fizzle: $128

LeadPages: $0

Infusionsoft: $0

SamCart: $49

Courses for Entrepreneurs: $10,546

Create Awesome Online Courses by DSG: $0

Webinars that convert by Amy Porterfield: $485

Copywriting Academy by Ray Edwards: $1,318

10k Readers by Josh Turner: $94

The Amazing Seller by Scott Voelker: $0

Self-Publishing School by Chandler Bolt: $8,500

ASK by Ryan Levesque: $149

Resources for Podcasters: $1,949

Pat Flynn’s Smart Podcast Player: $82

Podcasting Press: $519

Libsyn: $1,246 (Use promo code FIRE for the rest of this month & next free!)

UDemy Podcasting Course: $102

Other Resources: $1,830

Amazon Associates: $711

Other: $1,119

Total Gross Income in January: $205,842

Business Expenses: $63,628

Advertising: $14,674

Affiliate Commissions (Paradise): $1,628

Accounting: $849

Cost of goods sold: $3,175

Consulting: $0

Design & Branding: $952

Education: $15

Legal & Professional: $560

Meals & Entertainment: $475

Merchant / bank fees: $1,190

Amazon fees: $9,081

Shopify fees: $36

PayPal fees: $260

Office expenses: $813 + 123

Payroll Tax Expenses / Fees: $2,016

Paradise Refunds: $2,573

Promotional: $0

Total Launch Package fees: $0

Sponsorships: $11,500

The Freedom & Mastery Journal: $5,000

Travel: $2,555

Virtual Assistant Fees: $4,523

Website Fees: $1,630

Recurring, Subscription-based Expenses: $2,835

Adobe Creative Cloud: $100

Boomerang: $70 (team package)

Brandisty: $24

Authorize.net: $70

Cell Phone: $202

Google: $45

Internet: $154

eVoice: $10

Infusionsoft CRM: $396

Insurance: $551

Libsyn: $258

Manychat: $65

Chatroll: $49

Shopify: $176

TaxJar: $19

MeetEdgar: $19

Taxes & Licenses: $523

Interact Quiz Software: $89

Zoom: $15

Total Expenses in January: $66,463

Payroll to John & Kate: $15,900

In our May 2014 Income Report and our June 2016 Income Report, Josh focuses on how to pay yourself as an entrepreneur. Check them out!

Wondering what we do with all of our net revenue? We share all in our April 2017 Income Report :)

Total Net Profit for January 2018: $139,379

Biggest Lesson Learned

Daily gratitude can go a long way

Have you ever had one of those days where everything is irritating and frustration is around every corner?

It doesn’t matter if you had a great night’s sleep, a kick-butt workout that morning, or the best breakfast in town – something just feels off.

It’s not only causing irritation with just about everything that’s going on around you, but it’s also affecting your productivity and motivation.

WHAT GIVES?

I’ve had more of these days over the past couple of months than I like to admit, and they aren’t fun. I don’t feel like ME, and I know it’s not the way I want to be living my life.

So I’ve done a considerable amount of research around this: what is it that makes these days different from others (besides the fact that I’m irritated and don’t feel very motivated?)

It’s my lack of gratitude.

It’s having a great night’s sleep, but neglecting to wake up and smile because of that.

It’s crushing a kick-butt workout, but then going on with my day like I’m owed that.

It’s making the best breakfast without taking the time to realize that not everyone can do that whenever they want.

Gratitude.

So next time your alarm goes off and you wake up, crush a great workout, have an amazing breakfast, get to kiss your loved one, take a few minutes to call your parents up to tell them you’re thinking of them – don’t take it for granted.

Be Grateful.

Alright Fire Nation, that’s a wrap!

Until next month, keep your FIRE burning!

~ Kate & John

Note: we report our income figures as accurately as possible, but in using reports from a combo of Infusionsoft & Xero to track our product and total income / expenses, they suggest the possibility of a 3 – 5% margin of error.

Click here for all of EOFire’s Income Reports

This post was written by Kate Erickson, Content Creator and Implementer at EOFire. Follow Kate on Social:

The post Entrepreneurs On Fire: January 2018 Income Report appeared first on Entrepreneurs on Fire with John Lee Dumas.

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dapperfvck-arc · 7 years

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🔥 The TV show... (Because I really want to know exactly why you don't like it [or hate it?] because i'm so freaking curious. Also I think in general a Constantine TV show would do best on AMC rather than NBC... FEEL FREE TO COMPLETELY RANT. I WANT TO KNOW. Please.)

Unpopular Opinion Time!

Oh boy. Hooooo boy. I’m still going to be relatively gentle, because honestly, I’m saving my true vitriol for the times that I must defend my choice not to RP it or for the hysterical consensus opinion from the fandom that TV show was an improvement over the film (lol nope, aside from Matt Ryan “looking the part” but that’s a whole other can of worms).

Note: Cut for length and maybe a bit of brutality in my honesty.

*sighs* Ok, I’ll first preface this with that I still have like four episodes to go. Obviously, I have massive issues in the needless changes made to the adaption of comic canon. It was unnecessary to make Chas American while retaining the fact that he’s John’s oldest and best of friends. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but who knows. Maybe it’s explained a little better in one of the last few episodes, but you know. My hopes aren’t high. I don’t like Chas’s virtual invulnerability, not just because it takes away the stakes of the danger he’s putting himself in, but also? It’s a plot device scarcely used? So why make that choice if it’s not going to be capitalized on with meaningful frequency? I hated that Zed was portrayed as a novice, and that the teeth were taken out from the Newcastle Incident. Now obviously, I understand why they’d have to alter a bit of it due to Network censorship, but at the same??? I mean child abuse and sexual violence are nothing new on shows like Law and Order: SVU and Criminal minds so…Idek, it kind of comes off as an excuse. It’s not a child’s show. Maybe it could be argued that it was marketed toward teenagers, but it’s not like they’re ignorant to those horrors in the world. I’m not asking them to show Astra’s rape, just to acknowledge the true horror of the situation instead of making it all about John’s failure. So yeah, I was annoyed by the occasional attempt to adapt source material and completely mucking it all up.

Now to begin with, I completely get the SP/N’s fandom bitterness more than ever. Before watching it I thought they were just trying to be like “whaaaat, another show about magic and exorcism? Of course it’s a ripoff because don’t you know our fandom invented those things?” I honestly believe the crux of the issue is that NBC clearly wanted their own SP/N as well as to cash in the popularity of comic book based media, so there’s that. To me, it comes off as a shameless cash grab. I honestly believe if I felt like there was some kind of passion from its creators, I could have dealt with some of those changes, but I don’t get that. It’s been a soulless experience overall. Like it’s not been a matter of me nitpicking like “oh this is wrong, this has been changed, boo hoo, it’s not all existential horror and fucking and drugs.”

Because frankly...I just think it’s a bad show. It’s poorly written, poorly made, poorly researched, poorly acted, it’s just bad. The main issue I have with it is that it’s a lot of telling and not showing. There’s not a lot of tension or foreshadowing, just “boom this is how it is” and so much exposition. John, for example, about half of his dialogue in any given show is verbal exposition. It’s frustrating, tbh. Like, it doesn’t make sense for me in this day and age for a TV show, even on a network channel, to be this bad. Over the past several years, television series have improved exponentially in content and writing. It’s not shameful anymore to start off on TV anymore. We’re in a very exciting time that television and cinema are almost completely on equal par of perceived quality. So yeah, it’s been an even greater disappointment for me because it’s not just that they fuck with the source material but because on top of that it’s literally a bad show. I’m not one bit surprised that it wasn’t renewed because there just...Isn’t enough to like about it. It’s not faithful enough to the comic to secure that base of fans and it’s not good enough to be taken for face value.

The other massive issue I have is the portrayal of magic, which honestly extends to DC’s handling of Hellblazer and John as well. See, what you have to understand is that predominately, throughout the Vertigo series, it’s clear to me that most of its writers either have some awareness of how magic works or at least have done their research. I can follow the logic and ritual in what he’s doing. Let me tell you a little something about magic. It's all about focus and will. You can do and say whatever the hell you want as long as you're putting your intent behind it. The ritual of spell work, use of candles, crystals, incense, chanting, incantations, etc. are meant to be the focus of a magician's energy and will on a particular result, but it could be attempted without as well. To explain it in more fantastical terms, in Harry Potter casting without a wand is considered impressive. This implies that the wizard's focus and will is so strong that they no longer need a wand to draw out their intent. Now I get it. By this understanding magic doesn't make good TV viewing (I guess...), but my main concern with this series is there's no attempt to portray an iota of witchcraft's reality along with the fantastical. Now part of this problem is that they've removed a great deal of John's innate ability. He can no longer see spirits/ghosts and there is no mention to his connection to synchronicity (as far I’ve seen, mind). Instead of happening to end up where he needs to be or what have you, he's following a map, and he uses a lot of artifacts and other implementation to get the job done. Which bothers me on a few levels. For one, it imbues the focus, not the caster with the power, which is not how magic works (at least in the sense of portraying gritty urban fantasy), and for two, it's very much against character. Let me give you an example: In the two part story Newcastle Calling, at the end of it, John hands a dying man a twig, telling him it's the finger bone of St. Cavartigan and that it's known to bring relief to those in need. He tells him to squeeze it tightly and focus on the pain going away. Near the end of the scene, the young man tells John that it's working. A couple things can be taken away from this scene: John's will was that the dying man would believe as he was told and his instructions were rote ritual. By contrast, in the series, John would probably had actually given him a Saint's fingerbone. You see the comparison takes the power of the scene away, as well as the mystery. Is the power of John's suggestion so strong that he could make the guy believe by holding that twig his pain would do away? Or was he so desperate to believe in order to not die in pain? You can interpret it either way. Hell, I could invent other interpretations, but going by what I believe would happen in the show, it can only be interpreted in the most literal sense. Now, to be honest, most television shows portray magic poorly. Even movies do a better job while keeping fantastical elements. The Craft, for all it’s 90s cheese, is a great example of this. So I suppose I could be blamed for getting my hopes up to be dashed because it’s just following the formula of 95% of all TV shows that feature a magical element or theme, but I mean...it’s not like Buffy or Charmed that was working without a script, so to speak. The TV series had a ready made blueprint and still chose to take the mumbo-jumbo bullshit route. Now, I have a lot of theories on the why for this, but that’s another post altogether and this has already gone on for way too long and I still have more to say.

Now, I guess I should, at least briefly, touch on the elephant in the room: Matt Ryan as John. What did I think? Because a lot of people have told me that he’s the shining beacon of this show, even literally admitting that yeah, it’s a poor representation of Hellblazer but that Matt Ryan man, he’s great! The problem that I have is that it’s not a good a show, and so no, I don’t like him in the role. I’m not going to compare him to Keanu because that’s not fair for a number of reasons, and maybe I’m a little biased because I adore Keanu (there’s also that can of worms I mentioned earlier, which is honestly yet another separate post lol). The way John’s written for this show, he’s positively insufferable. He’s not charming at all, which is find the most offensive, because one thing that can be said across all series and iterations of the character is that John is magnetic even despite xyz (he’s dangerous, he can be an asshole, he’s unreliable, etc.). Here he’s just a know-it-all, condescending prick. Now I do think with better writing, in a better representation of John’s character and Hellblazer in general (and maybe with a voice coach or director to discourage that Welshy intonation because yeah, his accent does irritate the shit out of me, but I’ve been very vocal about that before and honestly, at this point, I’ve come to realize that Ryan’s vowels are the least of this show’s problem), I think he has potential to be a fine John. As it stands in the media he’s portrayed John in so far (idk, maybe he was good on Arrow, but I’m talking the TV Series here and the JLD animation, which I’ve admittedly not seen, but I hated the comic so I’m not real likely to give that a chance considering my disposition toward the source material), I’m not entirely sold on him. Like if they tried another TV series for Hellblazer and didn’t cast him in the role, I wouldn’t be upset over it.

I do agree that it probably could have been better on another channel, but here’s the rub, all the blood and gore and sex and loose censorship in the world could not save that show without better writing and direction. It could have been a fine show even on network if it had been crafted with some degree of caring. Let me give you an example off the top of head, namely the handling of the Newcastle incident. It was laid out pretty plainly within a few episodes. Alterations from canon aside, it doesn’t portray the horror of it at all and is one of the show’s many missed opportunities to really play up the scarier, more mysterious elements of John’s backstory. For example, instead of laying it out in a sloppy flashback with a laughable puppet, picture this scene instead: John is having a chat with someone, maybe Zed or Chas or some b-plot character. Something reminds him of the Newcastle incident and he gets a far off look in his eyes. The folly drops away to an eerie silence as the camera comes in tight on John's expression. Filling up the silence is a little girl's scream, then the voices of his friends, perhaps some sounds of violence, an inhuman sound or voice, it all blends together to become a hellish cacophony of sound as John's expression becomes more strained. Then suddenly the other person calling his name snaps him out of his reverie. The screams stop, the folly returns, and the scene appears jarringly normal. John shakes his head, makes a joke, and they move on. Yeah, that kind of scene has been done before, but the reason for that is it’s effective without giving away the whole story. It shows that this is a man haunted by something horrible. It’s also cheap and doesn’t necessitate straining the no doubt thin budget of a TV show that has yet to prove itself worthy of having more money thrown at it.

Honestly, the issues I have with this show are innumerable and I’m just scratching the surface here and laying out my biggest problems. I could nitpick for days, and that’s the reason I’ve stayed mum about my opinions. There are people that follow me and that I write with that really like and care about the show, and I don’t want to make them feel...you know, bad about it or that they can’t talk to me or whatever. You know, if they found it enjoyable more power to them. I just didn’t and that’s maybe on me. By no means am I trying to bash the show here (because lord if I wanted to, I could), but to offer up what was requested, and that’s my undiluted opinions and feelings about the series. Of course I’m sorry that I couldn’t share the joy and that I couldn’t even like it on a similar level that I do the film (as a very solid AU, which people have tried to sell the show as to me, knowing my previous understanding of some of the changes made that deviate strongly from canon. As I said, maybe if it had been better made and written, I could, but as it stands currently, I can’t and unless real changes are made in the future, I’m unlikely to alter my opinion of it).

So yeah that’s it. Apologies that this got so very long, but as you can tell, there’s been a lot that I’ve been holding back.

#idk some bloody punter ( anon )#do you need a light too? ( asks answered )#eyyyy so I got real honest here #probably a little more than I intended #I would not click the read more if you aren't prepared for me to be very frank on my opinions #by no means do I bash it #but I'm not kind to it either #so reader be warned and all that rot #unpopular opinion

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