speaking of fucked up overly hated female twdg characters i find it Super Interesting how people will say carver was the best villain in the whole series, but when lilly is literally just a successful carver (iron fist leader of a community turning children into soldiers) suddenly shes a bad/lame villain for some reason 🤔

Justice League Spectacular #1 (1992)

Just off-panel: Bibbo's ice cream truck.

I probably shouldn't be reading this or Justice League Quarterly before I read the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League but what can I do? That's the order they were placed in the short box! It would be a different story if free will were not an illusion but since it is, my hands are tied. It's either read this or, um, I don't know. Die from a temporal paradox? I won't risk it! I was looking through a bunch of my old writing and art last week and discovered a bunch of the kind of sentimental and sort of intellectual crap young people write. It's the kind of stuff you hide away and never show anybody ever and hope that when you die, it'll just get tossed in a dumpster with your old porn and Magic the Gathering cards. But it got me thinking about how brave I am! So brave! The kind of brave you wouldn't hesitate to call some jerk who signed up for the military because he couldn't live as a civilian. No, no. More braver than that! And being this super brave kind of person, I thought that maybe I should share some of this old poetry with everybody! But not yet! You have to work up to being truly brave! So instead, I'll share this piece of artwork I did that was supposed to be the first in a lengthy and disgusting series. It's of Lord Fondlerot, a character I created for the Dwarflover online comic I used to do. He was really into fucking things and I thought, "Hey! I should do a series of drawings where he fucks every creature in the monster manual!" But instead of doing an entire series, I drew one picture and grew either bored or disgusted with the concept. So here's that one picture:

Lord Fondlerot fucking an Axebeak.

Now you're probably wondering just how terrible my poetry must be if I'm opening with that! Well, you'll see soon enough! This issue begins with Sue Dibny still alive and visiting a Florida theme park with her husband, The Elasticated Man. Wow, remember when Sue Dibny was killed and all the heroes freaked out about their secret identities and considered doing intense brain damage to every single person who ever knew any of their identities until they found out that The Atom's ex-wife Jean Loring had gone cuckoo for Atom's cocoa puffs? She wanted them back so bad that she began threatening and murdering the loved ones of all the super heroes. It was the kind of story DC sometimes does where you read it and think, "Well, the twist at the end of that mystery was definitely worth the destruction of the most stable marriage in the DC Universe and also the death of Firestorm and Captain Boomerang! So good!" I mean it doesn't make you think that. It makes you think the exact opposite. Tom King would eventually do pretty much the same thing in Heroes in Crisis but instead of Jean Loring fucking up by accidentally killing Sue Dibny and murdering more people to cover her tracks, Wally West fucks up and kills Poison Ivy and some others and then tries to cover his tracks. But at least Tom King's had all of those entertaining scenes where the heroes are doing therapy and we get to see how much they're all suffering from PTSD. That's always a fun aspect of super heroes we never get to read enough about. Dammit! I keep doing it. I meant it was the opposite of fun! Although I still liked it because sometimes I just like seeing other people in pain. Not in a sick perverse way where I pop a boner or something! Just in that way where you sit around all day thinking, "My life is terrible and everything is wrong and I hate my parents for bringing me into this wretched existence and the only thing that might make me feel better is to learn that Superman sometimes feels the same way." Oh, remember when Tom King was writing Batman and he had that two issue Booster Gold arc where we got to see how fucking insane Booster Gold was from living through all of those horrible, wretched, dark alternate timelines? And the only way he can deal with the trauma and the PTSD is by making a joke out of everything? I'll have to think of that as the canon Booster Gold when I'm reading Giffen and DeMatteis's Justice League. Maybe it'll make all of Booster and Beetle's inappropriate joking more appropriate. Back to the story, Sue Dibny, alive and well, and her husband Ralph "The Elasticated Man" Dibny are busy showing a bunch of European diplomats around the non-Disney World theme park.

See? You can tell they're European because they're all smart and shit.

The first stop in the park is to Alice's Wonderland where the diplomats are attacked by the Royal Flush Gang. They are a gang whose theme is playing cards and not expensive toilets. Their powers are the ability to ride on gigantic cards and to make poker puns.

If looking good in tight fitting costumes is also a power, it's my new answer to the question of which super power would I choose..

Ten's outfit reminds me of the days when nipples were allowed to show through tops without being erased away through some kind of editing software. The 70s were a wild decade! Sure, there were also nips on television in the 80s but the 80s, generally speaking, sucked and were a huge contribution to the downfall of America.

The King of Spades mansplaining their entire concept to the Queen of Spades.

It's true that the royal flush beats any other poker hand but I doubt Superman is going to surrender after this concept is explained to him because, in the end, they're not fucking playing poker. It turns out Maxwell Lord paid the Royal Flush Gang to make a little trouble so the Justice League could beat them up and get some media attention. But the Justice League has apparently broken up and The Elasticated Man just isn't hero enough to save the European delegates all by himself. He might have been if the Royal Flush Gang had done what they were told and not really fight back. But why would they do that?! Wouldn't they still be in trouble with federal agents?! Booster Gold finds Blue Beetle busy pouting in the old Justice League cave headquarters. Booster has decided to try to cheer his old buddy up although why wouldn't Booster just travel to a timeline where Ted Kord is already cheered up? Is that how time travel works in the DCU? Or did Booster already try that, it went horribly sideways, and now he's a little more fucked up in the head when he returns to the "real" timeline?

For some reason, Ice and Fire have also come down to the cave. Probably to accidentally go on a double date with Booster and Beetle. Booster and Fire and Beetle and Ice hear a news report about the Royal Flush Gang and decide to go save Ralph. Superman also hears about the situation and heads to Florida where he's almost immediately defeated by The Royal Flush Gang. Not because they're dangerous and competent super villains but because some mysterious benefactor has give them weapons capable of knocking out Superman's powers. Maxwell Lord is not that benefactor so who could have done it? Certainly not Guy Gardner, right?! What would he want with getting the Justice League back together. Isn't he busy being Warrior or something by this point? Power Girl, Metamorpho, and Guy Gardner all join in on the fight. The guy behind it all is that Weapons Master dude who is desperate to get a new weapon for his arsenal: a Green Lantern ring. The attack on the Royal Flush Gang fails to get him the ring so he decides to attack directly. But not in this issue! He has to wait for a regular series issue. Ice uses Guy's ring to contact Hal Jordan because somebody finally decided this Justice League wasn't really a big league Justice League. Everybody reading it knew it for years. But I guess Dan Jurgens was assigned the task to get a new, more believably powerful League together. So Hal Jordan flies around to pick up some new members to save the day. He chooses The Flash and Aquaman which seems about right. But he also chooses Crimson Fox which seems like sliding backwards into goofy Justice League territory. Not that I totally approve of Aquaman but I have to admit he's a "serious" choice for the League.

Doctor Light also joins the party. Although why she'd keep the name of a pedo, I couldn't guess. Just become Lightwoman or something. But no! Once some jerk earns their doctorate, they just have to demand to be called Doctor.

I'm sorry. I was too distracted pointing out that Doctor Light joined the fight and how her namesake was a pervert to comment on Metamorpho acting like a huge fucking pig. Crimson Fox beats up some guys dressed as cards and admits that she's a boring idiot whose favorite part of the game is shuffling the cards. I understand the need to think up some kind of goofy one-liner when you go into battle but shouldn't you at least try to think up one that doesn't make yourself sound like a pathetic asshole? Weapons Master's plan failed but he figures he has enough information to get Green Lantern's ring next time. He'll then sell it to a Dominator for a few bucks and maybe some slaves. The big hitters talk it over and decide they should start a new Justice League without the approval of the United Nations. Yeah! Who needs some stupid Earthly authority when you've got an invulnerable Kryptonian, an all powerful space cop, and the king of the seven seas! All they need is a Greek Goddess and a mentally ill furry with a long history of violent behavior and they'll have the big team back together! Booyah! I mean, without that stupid Booyah shit because Cyborg is basically a toaster at this point. Maybe. I don't know! What am I, Johnni DC, Continuity Cop?! The heroes make one more decision: split the group into two Leagues. So once again, they're forming Justice League America and Justice League Europe. How come I don't remember this shit?! Did the comics get canceled in '92 and then immediately fired back up? I don't seem to remember two different incarnations of these teams. Maybe I should have stored my comic books in chronological order so it would all make sense. Justice League Spectacular #1 Rating: C. I just read the letters pages and it looks like this comic book takes place between JLA #60 and JLA #61! So editorial decided the teams needed to be shaken up and the best way to do it was to disband the League in the regular series, have a special one-shot comic that gets them back together but with a different roster, and then send them back to work in the next issue of the regular series. I guess I should just shove this comic book into the middle of the regular series so when I reread it all again in my 80s, it'll make more sense! Let's close with the worst drawing of Aquaman I've ever seen:

Actually, he looks a little bit like Grunion Guy.

Gary Ridgway (1949-?)

Gary Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer, is an American serial killer who was initially convicted of 48 separate murders and is believed to be responsible for more than 90. As part of Ridgway’s plea bargain, an additional conviction was added, bringing the total number of convictions to 49, making him the most prolific American serial killer in history though confirmed murders alone. He murdered many women and girls in Washington State during the 1980s and 1990s. The majority of Ridgway’s victims were alleged sex workers and other vulnerable women, including underage runaways. The press nicknamed him the Green River Killer after the first 5 victims were discovered near the Green River and the killer’s identity was unknown. He strangled the women, usually by hand but sometimes by using ligatures. After strangling them, he dumped their bodies in forested/overgrown areas in King County, often returning to the corpses to have sexual intercourse with them. On November 30, 2001, as Ridgway was leaving the Kenworth truck factory where he was employed in Renton, Washington, he was arrested for the murders of 4 women whose cases were linked to him via DNA evidence. As part of a plea bargain Ridgway agreed to tell police the location of women who were missing and was spared the death penalty, instead receiving a sentence of life imprisonment.

Gary Leon Ridgway was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on February 18, 1949, the 2nd son of Mary and Thomas Ridgway’s 3 sons. His home life was troubled, with relatives later describing his mother as domineering, saying that young Ridgway saw more than 1 violent argument between his parents. His father was a bus driver who often complained about the presence of prostitutes. When Ridgway was just 16, he stabbed a 6-year-old boy, who survived. He led the body into the woods and then stabbed him through the ribs into his liver. Ridgway graduated from Tyee High School in 1969 and married Claudia Kraig, 19, his high school girlfriend. He joined the U.S. Army and was deployed to Vietnam, where he served on board a supply ship and saw active combat. During his time in the military, Ridgway began having frequent sexual encounters with prostitutes and contracted gonorrhoea – despite being angered by this, he continued having sleeping with sex workers without protection. While Ridgway was away in the service, Kraig had an extramarital affair and the marriage ended within a year.

When friends and family were questioned about Ridgway after his eventual arrest, they described him as friendly but strange. His first 2 marriages ended in divorce because of infidelity on both sides. Ridgway’s 2nd wife, Marcia Winslow, claimed that he had once placed her in a chokehold. Ridgway became religious during his 2nd marriage, going door-to-door trying to convert people, reading the Bible aloud at work and at home, insisting that his wife followed the strict teaching of their pastor. Ridgway would frequently cry after sermons or reading the Bible, but he also continued to use the services of sex workers during this marriage. He also tried to convince his wife to participate in sex in public/inappropriate places, sometimes even in areas where his victims’ bodies were later found. The women in Ridgway’s life said he had an insatiable sexual appetite. His 3 ex-wives and numerous ex-girlfriends reported that Ridgway demanded sex several times a day, often wanting to have sex in a public area or in the woods. Ridgway himself admitted to having an obsession with sex workers, claiming to have a love/hate relationship with them. He often complained about them being present in his neighbourhood, but also used their services frequently. It has been speculated that Ridgway was torn between uncontrollable lusts and staunch religious beliefs.

Through the ‘80s and ‘90s, Ridgway is believed to have killed at least 71 women near Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. His court statements later reported that he had killed so many he had lost count. A majority of the murders occurred between 1982-1984. The victims were mostly runaways or sex workers picked up along Pacific Highway South, whom Ridgway strangled. Most of the victims’ bodies were dumped in wooded areas near the Green River, except for 2 confirmed and another 2 suspected victims who were found in the Portland, Oregon area. The corpses were often left in clusters, some of them posed, usually nude. He would sometimes return to the bodies and have sex with them. Because most of the bodies weren’t discovered until the remains were skeletal, 3 victims remain unidentified. Ridgway occasionally contaminated the dumpsites with gum, cigarettes and written materials that belonged to other people, even transporting a few victims’ remains across state lines into Oregon to confuse police. Ridgway began each murder by picking up a woman – usually a sex worker. He would sometimes show the women a picture of his son in an attempt to trick her into trusting him. After raping the victim, Ridgway would strangle her from behind, initially manually. Many victims managed to inflict bruises and wounds on his arm in an attempt to defend themselves. Out of concern that these injuries would draw attention, Ridgway began using ligatures to strangle his victims. Most victims were killed in his truck, home, or a secluded area. In the early 1980s the King County Sheriff’s Office formed the Green River Task Force to investigate the murders. The most notorious members of the task force were Robert Keppel and Dave Reichert, who interviewed incarcerated serial killer Ted Bundy in 1984. Bundy offered his opinions on the psychology, motivations and behaviour of the killer – he suggested that the killer would be revisiting the dump sites to have sex with his victims, which did turn out to be true, and if police found a fresh grave, they should stake it out and wait for the killer to return. John E. Douglas also contributed to the investigation, who later wrote a lot on the subject of the Green River Killer.

In 1982 and again in 2001 Ridgway was arrested on charges related to prostitution. He became a suspect in the Green River killings in 1983 and in 1984 took a polygraph test, which he passed. Quality control protocols that were developed by the FBI later revealed that Ridgway had actually failed this test, and on April 7, 1987, police took hair and saliva samples from Ridgway. Around 1985, Ridgway began dating Judith Mawson, who became his 3rd wife in 1988. Mawson claimed in a 2010 TV interview that when she moved into his house there was no carpet – detectives later told her that he had probably used his carpets to wrap bodies in. She also talked about how Ridgway would leave for work early in the morning, claiming the reason was for overtime pay. Mawson believed that he must have committed some of the murders while supposedly working these early morning shifts. She claimed that she hadn’t suspect Ridgway’s crimes at all before being contacted by authorities in 1987, and hadn’t even heard of the Green River Killer before then because she didn’t watch the news. Author Pennie Morehead, who interviewed Ridgway in prison, said that while he was in a relationship with Mawson his kill rate went down, and speculated that he had truly loved her. The evidence supports this, due to the fact that of Ridgway’s 49 known victims, only 3 were killed after he married Mawson. Mawson later told a local television reporter, “I feel I have saved lives...by being his wife and making him happy.” The samples that were collected in 1987 were later subjected to a DNA analysis and provided the evidence for his arrest warrant. On November 30, 2001, Ridgway was at the Kenworth Truck factory, where he worked as a spray painter, when police arrived to arrest him. He was arrested on suspicion of murdering 4 women nearly 20 years after being first identified as a potential suspect, when DNA evidence conclusively linked semen left in the victims’ saliva swab taken by police. The 4 victims named in the original indictment were Marcia Chapman, Opal Mills, Cynthia Hinds, and Carol Ann Christensen. 3 more victims – Wendy Coffield, Debra Bonner, and Debra Estes – were added to the indictment after a forensic scientist identified microscopic spray paint spheres as a specific brand and composition of paint used at the Kenworth factory during the time frame when these victims were killed.

In early August 2003, Seattle TV news reported that Ridgway had been moved from a maximum-security cell at King County Jail to an Airway Heights Minimum-Medium Security Level Tank. Other news reports stated that his lawyers, led by Anthony Savage, were working on a plea bargain that would spare him the death penalty in return for his confession to a number of the Green River murders. On November 5, 2003, Ridgway entered a plea of guilty to 48 charges of aggravated 1st degree murder as part of a plea bargain, agreed to in June, that spared him the death penalty in exchange for his cooperation in locating the remains of his victims and providing other details. In Ridgway’s statement accompanying his guilty plea, he explained that all of the victims were killed inside King County, Washington, and that he had transported and dumped the bodies of 2 women near Portland to confuse police. Deputy prosecutor Jeffrey Baird noted in court that the deal contained “the names of 41 victims who would not be the subject of State v. Ridgway if it were not for the plea agreement.” King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng explained his reasons for making the deal: “We could have gone forward with seven counts, but that is all we could have ever hoped to solve. At the end of that trial, whatever the outcome, there would have been lingering doubts about the rest of these crimes. This agreement was the avenue to the truth. And in the end, the search for the truth is still why we have a criminal justice system...Gary Ridgway does not deserve our mercy. He does not deserve to live. The mercy provided by today’s resolution is directed not at Ridgway, but toward the families who have suffered so much...” On December 18, 2003, King County Superior Court Judge Richard Jones sentenced Ridgway to 48 life sentences with no possibility of parole and 1 life sentence, to be served consecutively. He was also sentenced to an additional 10 years for evidence tampering for each of the 48 victims, adding 480 years to his 48 life sentences.

In 2003, Ridgway led prosecutors to 3 bodies. In August 2003 the remains of a 16-year-old girl were found near Enumclaw, Washington, 40 feet from State Route 410. They were pronounced as belonging to Pammy Annette Avent, who was believed to be a victim of the Green River Killer. The remains of Marie Malvar and April Buttram were found in September. On November 23, 2005, The Associated Press reported that a weekend hiker found the skull of 1 of the 48 women Ridgway admitted murdering in his 2003 plea bargain with King County prosecutors. The skull of Tracy Winston, who was 19 when she disappeared from Northgate Mall on September 12, 1983, was found on November 20, 2005 by a man hiking in a wooded area near Highway 18 near Issaquah, southeast of Seattle. Ridgway confessed to more confirmed murders than any other American serial killer. In a 5 month period of police and prosecutor interviews, he confessed to 48 murders, 42 of which were on the police’s list of likely Green River Killer victims. On February 9, 2004, county prosecutors began releasing the videotape records of Ridgway’s confessions. In one of these videos, he told investigators that he was responsible for the deaths of 65 women, but later claimed to have murdered 71 victims and confessed to having had sex with them before he killed them, a detail which he didn’t reveal until after he was sentenced. In his confession, he acknowledged that he targeted sex workers because they were “easy to pick up” and that he “hated most of them.” He confessed to having sex with the bodies of his victims after he murdered them, but claimed that he later buried the victims so he could resist the urge to commit necrophilia. Ridgway would talk to his victims and try to make them comfortable before murdering them. He later said: “I would talk to her...and get her mind off of the, sex, anything she was nervous about. And think, you know, she thinks, ‘Oh, this guy cares’...which I didn’t. I just want to, uh, get her in the vehicle and eventually kill her.” In a later statement Ridgway said that killing young women was his “career”.

Ridgway was put in solitary confinement at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla in January 2004. In 2005, Ridgway made more pleas with the Federal government and was transferred to Airway Heights where he was put in a minimum-medium security tank. On May 14, 2015, he was transferred to the USP Florence, a high-security federal prison east of Canon City, Colorado. In September 2015 after public disgust and discussions with Governor Jay Inslee, Corrections Secretary Bernie Warner proclaimed that Ridgway would be sent back to Washington to be “easily accessible” for open murder investigations. Ridgway was taken by chartered plane back to Washington from the High Security Federal Prison in Florence, Colorado on October 24, 2015.