James Cromwell explaining how he contextualized Logan and Ewan's backstory in preparation for the funeral/eulogy. (x)

The reference to Ewan bringing home dead animals is (I think) from a deleted scene in Season 1, except below the cut.

Interview excerpt from an interview with James Cromwell with Vulture - May 25, 2023

Script excerpt from a deleted scene in "I Went to Market" in Succession - Season One: The Complete Scripts

Too big to care

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in BOSTON with Randall "XKCD" Munroe (Apr 11), then PROVIDENCE (Apr 12), and beyond!

Remember the first time you used Google search? It was like magic. After years of progressively worsening search quality from Altavista and Yahoo, Google was literally stunning, a gateway to the very best things on the internet.

Today, Google has a 90% search market-share. They got it the hard way: they cheated. Google spends tens of billions of dollars on payola in order to ensure that they are the default search engine behind every search box you encounter on every device, every service and every website:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/03/not-feeling-lucky/#fundamental-laws-of-economics

Not coincidentally, Google's search is getting progressively, monotonically worse. It is a cesspool of botshit, spam, scams, and nonsense. Important resources that I never bothered to bookmark because I could find them with a quick Google search no longer show up in the first ten screens of results:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

Even after all that payola, Google is still absurdly profitable. They have so much money, they were able to do a $80 billion stock buyback. Just a few months later, Google fired 12,000 skilled technical workers. Essentially, Google is saying that they don't need to spend money on quality, because we're all locked into using Google search. It's cheaper to buy the default search box everywhere in the world than it is to make a product that is so good that even if we tried another search engine, we'd still prefer Google.

This is enshittification. Google is shifting value away from end users (searchers) and business customers (advertisers, publishers and merchants) to itself:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/05/the-map-is-not-the-territory/#apor-locksmith

And here's the thing: there are search engines out there that are so good that if you just try them, you'll get that same feeling you got the first time you tried Google.

When I was in Tucson last month on my book-tour for my new novel The Bezzle, I crashed with my pals Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden. I've know them since I was a teenager (Patrick is my editor).

We were sitting in his living room on our laptops – just like old times! – and Patrick asked me if I'd tried Kagi, a new search-engine.

Teresa chimed in, extolling the advanced search features, the "lenses" that surfaced specific kinds of resources on the web.

I hadn't even heard of Kagi, but the Nielsen Haydens are among the most effective researchers I know – both in their professional editorial lives and in their many obsessive hobbies. If it was good enough for them…

I tried it. It was magic.

No, seriously. All those things Google couldn't find anymore? Top of the search pile. Queries that generated pages of spam in Google results? Fucking pristine on Kagi – the right answers, over and over again.

That was before I started playing with Kagi's lenses and other bells and whistles, which elevated the search experience from "magic" to sorcerous.

The catch is that Kagi costs money – after 100 queries, they want you to cough up $10/month ($14 for a couple or $20 for a family with up to six accounts, and some kid-specific features):

https://kagi.com/settings?p=billing_plan&plan=family

I immediately bought a family plan. I've been using it for a month. I've basically stopped using Google search altogether.

Kagi just let me get a lot more done, and I assumed that they were some kind of wildly capitalized startup that was running their own crawl and and their own data-centers. But this morning, I read Jason Koebler's 404 Media report on his own experiences using it:

https://www.404media.co/friendship-ended-with-google-now-kagi-is-my-best-friend/

Koebler's piece contained a key detail that I'd somehow missed:

When you search on Kagi, the service makes a series of “anonymized API calls to traditional search indexes like Google, Yandex, Mojeek, and Brave,” as well as a handful of other specialized search engines, Wikimedia Commons, Flickr, etc. Kagi then combines this with its own web index and news index (for news searches) to build the results pages that you see. So, essentially, you are getting some mix of Google search results combined with results from other indexes.

In other words: Kagi is a heavily customized, anonymized front-end to Google.

The implications of this are stunning. It means that Google's enshittified search-results are a choice. Those ad-strewn, sub-Altavista, spam-drowned search pages are a feature, not a bug. Google prefers those results to Kagi, because Google makes more money out of shit than they would out of delivering a good product:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/2/24117976/best-printer-2024-home-use-office-use-labels-school-homework

No wonder Google spends a whole-ass Twitter every year to make sure you never try a rival search engine. Bottom line: they ran the numbers and figured out their most profitable course of action is to enshittify their flagship product and bribe their "competitors" like Apple and Samsung so that you never try another search engine and have another one of those magic moments that sent all those Jeeves-askin' Yahooers to Google a quarter-century ago.

One of my favorite TV comedy bits is Lily Tomlin as Ernestine the AT&T operator; Tomlin would do these pitches for the Bell System and end every ad with "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the phone company":

https://snltranscripts.jt.org/76/76aphonecompany.phtml

Speaking of TV comedy: this week saw FTC chair Lina Khan appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It was amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDTiWaYfcM

The coverage of Khan's appearance has focused on Stewart's revelation that when he was doing a show on Apple TV, the company prohibited him from interviewing her (presumably because of her hostility to tech monopolies):

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/apple-got-caught-censoring-its-own

But for me, the big moment came when Khan described tech monopolists as "too big to care."

What a phrase!

Since the subprime crisis, we're all familiar with businesses being "too big to fail" and "too big to jail." But "too big to care?" Oof, that got me right in the feels.

Because that's what it feels like to use enshittified Google. That's what it feels like to discover that Kagi – the good search engine – is mostly Google with the weights adjusted to serve users, not shareholders.

Google used to care. They cared because they were worried about competitors and regulators. They cared because their workers made them care:

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/4/18295933/google-cancels-ai-ethics-board

Google doesn't care anymore. They don't have to. They're the search company.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

Hi! I've never done this before but I'm new to comics (started with WFA and Zatanna and the Ripper) and I've basically got most of my information from posts on tumblr and r/hobbydrama (including yours.) I think I have a general idea of what Jason Todd is like, but I believe a lot of people are unhappy with his new characterisation.

So, if you were the one in charge, how would you write him? Would you write him with a team or as a solo character? Would you have him use the All-Blades or a crowbar or his guns? Would you have him properly rejoin the batfam or not?

Thanks!

Hi! Welcome to the fandom! I hope you're enjoying your time here.

In general, I think DC (and the fandom) has spent too much time milking Jason's death for trauma porn. They have refused to allow him to find closure, move past that, and exist beyond his daddy issues drama with Bruce. When DC has allowed him to have stories outside of that, they were often written with little consideration for what should be done with Jason beyond making him "badass."

None of this has been conducive to creating any kind of satisfying and coherent narrative or character arc for Jason, especially when both writers and editorial seem more obsessed with stealing traits, relationships, and stories from other people to give to him (most prominently Dick, Selina, and Helena). My hottake is that DC should move beyond "Red Hood" as an identity for Jason entirely, because it drags his character down and keeps him inherently tied to the same problems that have kept his character stagnant for years.

However! I don't think he's unsalvagable. I simply think DC needs to put a decent writer on him and commit to a character direction for more than 2 years at a time. I'm unsure of what Shawn Martinbrough is currently doing with Jason in his The Hill arc, as I'm not reading it, but I've heard that there might be some forward momentum finally happening there?

Anyway, my personal conception of Jason's future (as lovingly brainstormed by me and my friends in our comics discord server) is effectively this: he becomes a street-level paranormal detective who solves cold murder cases by talking with the victims' ghosts and providing closure to restless spirits. Think Lockwood and Co. meets Pushing Daisies with a superhero twist; basically, a supernatural detective noir book.

There's a lot of concepts and lore drops tied into this idea, but basically it was born out of a discussion where I was talking about Jason's many connections with the supernatural and occult across all continuities and how it's kind of a mystery why DC hasn't just formally connected him to the mystical side of the DCU. So I was like "they should just reveal that Superboy-Prime’s reality punch resurrection left him LITERALLY undead, make the event where he finds this out also spark his ability to see and communicate with ghosts, and make him an occult detective. Let him close cold case murder files and put those spectres to rest."

Which is also a great premise for a Bat book and a great unfilled niche for a Batfamily member. Kate's supernatural stories are much more high concept and connected to her family drama. Damian's supernatural/occult connections are traditionally very heavily tied to his family history and the Lazarus Pits. Dick's semi-regular magic encounters are usually stuff he deals with alongside his teammates in the course of working with the Titans. None of the other Bats have enough regular encounters with the supernatural and magic side of the DCU for it to encroach on their shtick, and a Gotham-based supernatural book is well within DC's ability to publish and market given books like Gotham by Midnight.

In terms of how that direction affects all the other questions you asked...I think Jason's relationship with the rest of the Batfam should be complicated. I personally don't think "good/bad relationship with the Batfam" is a particularly useful way to look at it because I think there are people he should never see eye to eye with, people he realistically shouldn't and doesn't have a problem with, and people he should get along with just fine. I don't think everyone needs to or should be friends or enemies with him, but his morals and past actions will (and should!) complicate those relationships in interesting ways.

And re: what weapons I'd like to see him use...using the All-Blades would certainly factor into my proposed narrative direction, as that would lean into the supernatural connections, but I generally prefer the concept of Jason using knives as his preferred weapon over guns/a crowbar/etc. That way he can still be a marksman without using guns, and I think that fits more with his character trajectory as someone attempting to be less lethal but also has no problem roughing people up when he thinks they need to be.

Do you think Superman ever found out about Superboy trying to drown himself?

so this is one of those thorny questions that rises out of the way dc editorial was like, well superboy and superman are separate books and we don't want superman all over superboy's story all the time. because in the text, there's absolutely no acknowledgment of it from clark, even when mae shows up and rips the s-shield patches off kon's jacket for misrepresenting what superman's crest stands for. if mae's heard of what's going on, surely clark should have heard about it too, right? but that never actually is shown to have happened anywhere in the aftermath of knockout arc.

it goes back to the attitudes prevalent in karl kesel's writing (and in general at dc in the 90s, i mean), with stuff happening to kon that SHOULD make any adult with a degree of common sense and responsibility go "hey! wait a minute!" but that has no real impact because karl kesel as the writer thinks it's nbd. like in superman jr and superboy sr, when clark is written as thinking kon and tana dating is just fine.

like, it's a discrepancy. because superman, the character whose entire thing is like. caring about everybody ever, and who IS shown to care for kon even before they're as close as they get later, ostensibly should have heard about superboy getting tangled up in something with a villain, and gone to investigate, and the fact that he didn't is entirely because editorial didn't let him, and because karl kesel didn't think this was a predatory situation. like yes knockout was written as manipulating and abusing kon, but not in a predatory way - just in the "manipulative and evil woman takes advantage of kind and naive boyfriend who wants to believe her" way. which is insane because she's also written calling him jailbait and all sorts of shit, but. that's just how kesel thinks sexual women are, and that's what he thinks teen boys fantasize about, etc., so it's not written in a fashion that even remotely condemns that behavior as Maybe Not Great.

because like. the thing is. if superman heard that a kid who fights crime wearing the crest of his house got manipulated into defending a villain and then tried to kill himself to take her down, of COURSE he would step in and say something or do something. in annual #2 he literally shows up just to talk to kon about how he's feeling about the paul westfield revelation - the idea that he wouldn't step in re: the knockout situation is absurd. it's completely out of character for him.

so like, no, i don't think he knows. it's the only way to explain him not showing up at any point. which is still hard to actually reconcile with the fact that mae did know, but... when working within the confines of what we're given with by a flawed canon that reflects its authors flawed views, we kinda have to bend stuff here and there a little, right? it's kind of impossible to make sense of, otherwise.

my personal interpretation of events is that clark was kind of avoiding too much news about kon in the early days because he needed some time to process the whole "being nonconsensually cloned while he was dead" thing, but also was in denial that he was upset or feeling violated at all, because he knew it wasn't kon's fault and because he was already fond of kon, and felt quite guilty for having any hangups about how kon came to be. it still takes a little fiddling (for instance, his appearance in annual #2) but it's the best way i've found to keep clark in character while having kon's story remain as it is. (i do find kon's narrative of exploitation and suicidality compelling. he's so kind and so full of joie de vivre and so independent. and at the same time those traits keep getting him taken advantage of. he's a vulnerable child in the spotlight. ough.)

What does canon suggest about Riven and his background? I will share some of my thoughts about Riven's background and potential socioeconomic status in this post. As always, these are just my opinions. (If anyone's wondering: no, this is not the meta post that I was talking about in one of my other posts.)

I'll start by saying that my following thoughts are based on the RAI dub and the first four seasons (S1-4) as I don't consider anything past season four canon. However, I'm mainly going to focus on seasons one and two in this post.

As pointed out by many, the one-on-one scene between Sky and Riven in 2.08 is the closest we get to Riven directly confessing that he is (or has been at some point in his life) from lower-class origins.

Riven: Must be nice being a prince. You spend your whole life learning from the best.

I agree that this does give us some indication of his social class, mostly because this line fits with the rest of his characterization that's established in the earliest seasons, but even on its own, it does imply that Riven isn't nearly as privileged as Sky. He wouldn't make a comment specifically about Sky's access to highly qualified teachers if he didn't feel like he lacked them in some capacity. In other words, when we take into consideration his character as a whole, it's implied that Riven has not had as many resources growing up. This hints at him being from the lower class or relating to the struggles of someone from the lower class.

It's important to note here that this isn't the first instance Riven has expressed distaste or a mocking attitude toward privilege. It is also equally important to understand why he reacts so strongly to it. It's not that he hates or dislikes anyone who's above him in wealth or opportunity. I think he primarily has an issue with the injustice of being looked down on, of not being treated fairly, of not performing well enough. He's sensitive to people being ignorant of their privileges, which is why he often calls it out, but it's not necessarily out of resentment toward the person or their social class, but rather an indicator of his roots and how he feels about privilege in general. 2.21 is a good example of this, which I will get into later.

The reason Riven is so aggressive and abrasive in the first season has to do with a myriad of things, but it makes the most logical sense that he's likely had a bad childhood (aka trauma) and experienced being treated unfairly by either the system or people above his status. Riven wouldn't otherwise feel so strongly about privilege in season two or make patronizing remarks that are directly about one's social class in season one.

Sky (Brandon): What Riven means is that perhaps it would be best for you to go back to Alfea while we try to capture that animal. Riven: We don't need your editorial comments, Your Highness.

Brandon (Sky): Riven, you've gone too far! Riven: You're just Prince Sky's yes-man, Brandon. Why don't you go clean up his stables?

In season one, Riven likely projected a lot of his personal issues and insecurities on Brandon and Sky and their class dynamic as a whole—primarily his trust issues and feelings of inferiority—but after the infamous monster scene in 1.22, he goes through a ton of humbling and character development. He grows as a person and learns to trust and appreciate the boys, and most importantly, he starts to embrace himself. He also finally feels accepted by the group, which makes him want to clean up his act even more.

By the time we get to season two, Riven is relatively calmer and significantly lacking in condescension. The comments he continues to make about privilege are mostly a nod to his background and how he feels about unfair advantages. This is why we see a much more mature and open version of Riven in season two where he continues to make remarks about privilege on several occasions, but he's much more reasonable about it.

I want to thank @skylaryozora for mentioning the following scene in 2.21 because it ties in perfectly with what I've been explaining so far.

Riven: Well, I think it's high time you girls get a taste of what life's like where you don't have magic powers, and all you can count on are your wits and your muscles.

In this episode, Bloom says she finds it hard to get used to not having magic powers, which leads to Riven making the aforementioned comment. Similar to 2.08, he indirectly calls out the privilege (albeit a different kind) but doesn't make a big deal out of it. He's most likely talking from personal experience and having had to count on his "wits and muscles" as a kid. He isn't angry or insulting in this scene, but he does acutely notice the difference between himself and others when it comes to having unearned advantages or a better upbringing or better circumstances, and again, he wouldn't continue making these types of remarks if it wasn't deeply personal to him.

Riven's comments based on 2.08 and 2.21 alone suggest that he's had to work hard on his own to get to where he is. It's blatantly obvious he knows what a lack of privileges (and likely economic instability) feels like, probably more than anyone else because the writers make it a pattern to have Riven point out these things.

Let's talk about Riven's skills and what they mean for his character

I don't think it's a coincidence that Riven is good at creating lock picks from scratch . . .

. . . or that his stealth and wilderness survival skills are impeccable compared to others

. . . or that he's exceptionally resourceful and adaptable

. . . or that he's good at spying

These are generally not skills someone randomly picks up or excels in after a year or two of training. These are skills usually associated with people who've had to look after themselves, watch their backs, and protect themselves—people who are more likely to come from the lower class than the upper class. These "street smarts" skills might not hold a lot of weight on their own but together they form a bigger picture as to what Riven has possibly gone through to obtain these skills. (Yes, I'm sure they teach all these skills at Red Fountain, but what I'm getting at here is that Riven's expertise lies in these skills, and I think it was an intentional decision on the writers' part to showcase these particular skills.)

It's also important to consider Riven's fighting style in season one. It's not very polished. It's rushed. It's rough. It's very direct and brutal. He's not afraid to play dirty. Riven almost seems inexperienced compared to the other guys when it comes to technique and formal training, which suggests that Riven has likely been self-taught for the most part or lacks some private or selective education.

Incidentally, and this is more of a personal note, I think one of the primary reasons why Riven seems to always lose to Sky in one-on-one combat is because Sky has an edge over Riven when it comes to technique. But when it comes to other skills, like racing and wilderness survival instincts, Riven is better than Sky—the former being canon, as witnessed in 2.01. In spite of this, Riven feels a little insecure and bitter about not being as good as Sky. That lack of technique, coupled with a lack of opportunities, might be what he thinks is holding him back from being one of the best students in Red Fountain. The balcony scene in 2.04 is interesting in that regard because Riven appears to feel some type of way about the fact that Brandon and Sky were chosen to accompany the girls to a mission instead of him. He doesn't express it outright, per se, but you can tell by his tone and posture that he wishes he was included.

While the show deservedly gets a lot of criticism for its bad writing, season one is mostly decent in terms of character portrayals and has some of the best writing in the series. As I mentioned before, I think the writers were intentional with their decisions to paint Riven in a certain way, to have him say certain things, to give him certain skills that set him apart from the other characters, and in several ways, the narrative of his story gives us many details hinting at his background.

All in all, it's not strictly canon that Riven grew up financially lower class as we don't have any direct statements in the show about his background. However, I think there are more than enough allusions pointing to Riven having had to be independent and live in less-than-ideal circumstances with limited resources, so the idea of him having had a rough childhood (economically and otherwise) or being from the lower class at some point or another in his life is not unfounded. Personally, I think it's heavily implied.

Wait wait wait if spinaraki is one of three pillars what are the other two

(Re: my tags on this post.)

Ahahaha, well, actually, what I was referring to there was my quip about betting on friendship in a Shonen Jump manga—one of the three pillars of Shonen Jump:

If you google those three terms + Shonen Jump, you can find more in-depth discussion, but basically, they're the themes that manga serialized in SJ generally aim for, not necessarily because it's a strict editorial mandate or anything, so much as because those are just viewed as the most key themes that make a Shonen Jump manga—well, a Shonen Jump manga. This sense of identity accounts for a lot of the traits of the “Shonen Jump main character” archetype, as well as the expected presence of “nakama”-type characters, and plenty of other tropes that you might think of as being synonymous with shonen manga in general.

The importance of this ethos factors into some of my frustrations with Deku, actually. While he had to put in lots and lots of hard work in the early parts of the manga, since acclimating to OFA, there’s been considerably less Effort going into his victories.  It’s part of the conflict between his relationship with his classmates and the secrecy All Might demands, too, a tension that comes to a head in the Deku vs. 1-A fight, but that doesn't really continue on to a better place, I don't think.

If you look at where the three tenets are in that fight, it’s clear from the beginning who’s going to win.  Deku might be putting in Effort, but so are the rest of the kids, and it’s really obvious where the Power of Friendship is between the kid trying fiercely to go it alone vs. nineteen kids working together for a single goal and with the value of their bonds burning in their hearts.  Effort + Friendship = Victory, see?

Even after having proven the supremacy of friendship-based teamwork, though, the characters in-universe (especially the adults) continue putting Deku on this pedestal as the character who'll solve their Shigaraki problem and the kids just kind of—let this happen.

Well, I could elaborate on that more, but EH. That's not why I nor you are here. So to refocus, one of the things that makes the League of Villains so interesting and unique as SJ villains go is how they interact with the three pillars. Villains don't, as a general rule! A key part of having protagonists that express Friendship, Effort and Victory is contrasting them against villains who express the opposite of those things. And, indeed, many villains in BNHA work in exactly that way: AFO has to work for very little, Overhaul is very much not here to make friends (though some of his minions are a different story; the trash trio are very interesting in this context), and so on.

The League, however, is different. That’s most clear in the My Villain Academia arc, with Shigaraki being emblematic of Effort, with hints of Friendship here and there, Spinner’s Friendship taking the form of devotion that powers his Efforts, and Twice being a beacon of both.  Mr. Compress’s faith and self-sacrifice (Friendship+Effort) are instrumental in the villains’ escape from Jakku.  Toga’s grief over losing Twice (Friendship) is pivotal in her endgame arc.  Dabi is pretty bad at the Friendship angle (it’s what most clearly sets him apart from the rest of the League), but he’s a monster when it comes to Effort, pushing through a lifetime of pain because giving up might as well mean dying (and dying absolutely means giving up).

Looking more closely at Spinner and Shigaraki, you can read large chunks of their character arcs through this lens.

Shigaraki starts the story as a cranky and entitled manchild, unpleasantly demanding towards the few people he’s close to; he also bails on USJ once the odds turn against him.  Having thus no Friendship to speak of and being disinclined to bother with Effort, of course he can’t obtain Victory.  His lack of determination is one of the things Deku critiques in their mall encounter; during the training camp, Kurogiri asks if he views the Vanguard Action Squad as merely pawns.  Losing AFO at Kamino deprives Shigaraki of his reset button, meaning he will need to put in more Effort to secure Victory, since there will be no one around to mitigate his defeats anymore.

In the Hassaikai arc, we see him develop an understanding of his team and begin to clarify his ideology, demonstratively opening up to Toga and Twice, and trusting in their Friendship and Effort as the basis of the plan that culminates in the highway attack.  A few months later, Gigantomachia pushes him to extremes like never before, with the place of belonging he offered Twice in particular being key in the League overcoming the MLA.

This arc of finding comrades (Friendship) and discovering the beliefs he’s willing to fight for (Effort) delivers him to a decisive victory (you get the gist) at Deika.

This arc is also why I find the possession plot so frustrating and underwhelming—Shigaraki being subjugated by All For One, his friends scattered and used, feels violently at odds with the way Shigaraki engaged with the three tenets up to this point.  Like, why did we even spend so much time on Shigaraki’s Efforts and Friendships if him spending two years and 85 chapters of the climax as a damsel thanks to AFO is all it was going to amount to?  So I’m very much hoping him taking back control will get us in a better spot going forward, even if I’m skeptical that it’ll be able to wholly undo the damage.

As to Spinner, his arc begins with him being inspired by Stain’s willingness to strive even when he’s one man against the whole world; this admiration of Effort is what leads Spinner to the League, while his sense that his Effort is being wasted is what drives his confrontation with Shigaraki in Chapter 220.  He’s struck to empathy after hearing Shigaraki speak of being empty, however, and seeing Shigaraki’s Efforts lead to Victory in Deika solidifies his loyalty (Friendship). That keen understanding of Shigaraki leads to him being able to wake Shigaraki at Jakku, avoiding a defeat if not securing a victory; his enduring loyalty then leads him into AFO’s hands.

In the last scene we’ve gotten of him thus far, all three tenets are on display: his dedication to Shigaraki drives him to power through heroic opposition and his own fragmenting mind to wake Kurogiri with a plea that’s based in his love of Shigaraki and the League; Kurogiri being woken is directly responsible for Shigaraki being returned to full power just as he also returns to his own mind.

Friendship mixed with Effort leads to Victory—that progression is what I was specifically thinking about when I said I felt pretty good about betting on Friendship in a Shonen Jump comic, and made the quippy tag about the three pillars.

That's the serious answer. See here for the funny/fannish one.

responding to @levitatingbiscuits reply here because this post is already way too fucking long and I am not subjecting your dashboards to all that, but I do think this conversation is interesting enough to continue it (albeit under the cut):

I agree that roach work’s comment was annoying, and if you were responding to that, I get why you said what you said. this person regularly adds replies to my posts that are completely unrelated to the original point I was making, effectively derailing my argument and getting a bunch of reblogs from their followers who don’t have the common sense to ignore their pointless (and in this case, editorializing) additions. but everyone reblogging my post with your addition attacked me in the notes, as if I had said/implied all that you were arguing against, when I quite literally did not. and they said some quite nasty things, as if I couldn’t see their comments! I don’t go seeking out ppl saying shit about me ever, but if you do it in my house, we’re gonna have a problem.

as for your points...

I 100% agree that defending katara against people who unfairly vilified her, especially during the [vomits] atla renaissance (netflix you will rue the day...) is justified! I quite literally said aloud just last night, “anyone who hates katara can die,” and I fully fucking meant it. I don’t know why you seem to think we don’t agree here. maybe because I don’t think the solution to combatting idiotic, racist & misogynistic fans is by extolling katara to the point where you can’t appreciate her for her flaws. her flaws make her who she is as much as her virtues, and I would never negate the depth of her character just because I love her. I don’t “stan” katara, I appreciate her as a character who inspired me as a child for her strength and growth and brilliance, who is stunningly well-written and compelling.

meanwhile, the older I get, the more I’ve come to appreciate sokka. yes, I too was obsessed with katara the moment she came onscreen, especially when she showed the full depth of her anger over sokka’s misogynistic comment. I’d literally never even seen misogyny addressed before, let alone been given permission to be angry with it. katara knows her worth, and that makes her so fucking important!!! and yes, I know what it’s like to raise misogynistic brothers; it’s a thankless job!

katara was immediately inspiring to me, but appreciating sokka and the full depth of his character has been something earned with time. i think it's incredibly easy to misread him, dismiss his underlying motivations, and just generally discard him for the sake of the more exciting and shiny characters (in my case katara, azula, toph, iroh. truly appreciating aang has also been something i needed to grow older to do, but i think the more my maternal instincts develop, the more i want to pinch his baby cheeks and wrap him up in a big hug and kiss his forehead and put him in my pocket... i digress). i have come to forgive sokka for his sexism, and even excuse it. does that mean i think katara isn't in the right to challenge patriarchal ideas? of course she fucking is! just because sokka was deeply misguided in his gender essentialist views for logical reasons (before meeting suki, that is) it's not like katara should excuse him for it. katara has every right to get mad, every time she gets mad, and i love that her anger is treated as a virtue, because it is! her anger is righteous and sympathetic and revolutionary. she is so fucking important.

by "delicate touch" i didn't mean "sokka isn't acting like an airport dad" because i would never deny his grumpiness. sokka can be a massive cunt most of the time, and i love that about him. he is a miserable, neurotic, curmudgeonly little freak, and frankly, that rules. i think we need more teenage jewish grandpa representation always.

^ literally sokka

i think by delicate touch (again, i wrote this post like 3 years ago, i don't even remember writing it) i just meant that as much as he does kvetch, he also knows how to engage them in a way that gets them to do what he wants. when he makes them go to the library, he frames it in their terms, as if he's taking a vacation (frankly, taking a vacation to a library is something i've actually done, and it was awesome, but we all know how their library excursion turned out, so, yknow). or just how the only time he ever actually even reveals like a fraction of his insecurities is in "sokka's master," because as much as he complains, he never actually wants to burden them with his internal problems (which is not why aang bottles up his shit, and i think we all know that). as much as he complains, he also tries as hard as possible to preserve their innocence whenever he can, especially when it comes to aang. he could've been way less indulgent of aang's antics, but he isn't, because he knows how important it is for aang to be a kid despite the enormous loss he's suffered. anyway, since i know how hard it is to wrangle twelve year olds and try to convince them to do something when they'd rather do something else, sokka is fucking jesus on the cross for that, and you can't change my mind.

and by "de facto chief" i don't mean that sokka was the one taking care of the whole tribe. obviously kanna and the other adults were the ones in charge of making sure the community functioned smoothly, because again, sokka was like thirteen, and thirteen years olds are fucking useless. what i meant was that sokka took what hakoda said to heart, and thus considered himself the first and last line of defense should the fire nation ever return. it's not remotely a reach to think sokka was prepared to die for katara, because a) his mother literally did and b) his father all but told him to? maybe he was just trying to placate his kid, because i really doubt hakoda would actually be in favor of letting his son get himself killed, but it's clear that sokka took that to heart in the way in which he prioritizes katara over everything else. also, it's clear that hakoda does respect sokka a lot. he calls him a "great warrior" and a "genius," and it's not in vain, sokka is those things! hakoda sees his son better than he sees himself.

and i would never claim that katara talks about her issues for attention or sympathy from others. that's absurd. anyone who does so is plain wrong. but empathizing with others isn't emotional labor, it's healing for her, it's cathartic. when she talks to haru, jet, zuko, hama, aang, etc. about her trauma, she's doing so from a place of healthy emotion and vulnerability wherein she is exchanging empathy between them, receiving comfort and comforting in return. sokka doesn't know how to do that, which is a shortcoming to be sure, but the fact that katara is so open about her trauma does signify that she never felt a need to bottle it up the way sokka clearly does. (i would argue sokka's arc in the entire "swamp" episode is about the spirits all but taunting him for being so repressed about his trauma, but that's for another post.)

sokka wanted a bag to carry supplies in, not because it was fashionable. he enjoys that the bag matches the belt he got from the earth rumble tournament (he had no intention of purchasing such a belt), but katara is the one who shows an interest in fashion. and to be clear, i'm not saying that sokka would immediately know how and what to forage in unfamiliar terrain; foraging is fucking hard, and that's when you already have any kind of guide. katara is definitely the one buying the groceries, i won't argue that. whenever sokka is in the vicinity of a grocer while wearing blue, they tend to dismiss him with outright hostility, while being much more sympathetic to katara. it's a running joke that throughout the earth kingdom adults are far kinder to katara than to sokka. but this isn't actually an issue when they're hiding out in the fire nation and both disguised in red, curious! i wonder why adults fed imperialist rhetoric their whole life might internalize the idea that a young water tribe girl is harmless whereas a water tribe boy is a threat to be treated with hostility... but yknow, it could also just be vibes. katara does generally have a more pleasant attitude. it could just be that. who can say!

as for "jet," as i've already stated, i don't think the gaang has a leader. but katara does grow to trust sokka's instincts more and more over the course of the show. and sokka only tells katara not to trust jet once he has evidence! he tells her that he beat up a harmless old man, and katara still takes jet's side, even though he's obviously lying. as for aang, i really don't think sokka's instincts not to trust a person who for all intents and purposes should not currently exist and suddenly waltzes into their life while ignoring their current reality are that contrived. katara thinks she's in a story that she is the narrator and hero of (which, metatextually speaking, is true), but sokka thinks he's in a war and is thus suspicious of magical little manic pixie dream boys. and not for nothing, aang does set off the fire nation flare that alerts zuko to the location of their village, so sokka's instincts were actually correct here, even if aang is of course an angel.

and katara calms aang down from the avatar state, what, twice? and once she's literally just talking to him from behind a rock. her act in "the desert" is 100% a testament to her bravery and the unique bond she shares with aang, i'm not denying that whatsoever. sokka simultaneously shields toph in this moment, which granted is far less dangerous than what katara does with aang, but is also a subtle moment that demonstrates the nature of his bond with her (i don't really have a point here, i just love aang & katara and sokka & toph's relationships). i don't remember katara comforting aang for burning her, i just remember her reasonably telling him that he can't let his guilt get in the way of learning firebending, and showing him that she's healed to calm him down. and the comics are stupid, so i'm not even gonna address this point. anyway. sokka does come to trust her to fight her own battles as the show goes on and she gets demonstrably stronger, but he still worries about her whenever she's in trouble, and would do anything to protect her. he's still her big brother.

katara's idealism is inspiring & beautiful & heroic. but yes, it is also naive. that's not even a bad thing! katara fighting to preserve her childhood wonder and innocence in the face of incalculable loss is deeply moving to me. aang and katara show sokka and toph how to become more awe-inspired and vulnerable over the course of the show. sokka never would've suggested a beach party in "sozin's comet" if not for aang and katara's influence. that's growth. but that doesn't mean that katara was right to trust zuko in the crystal catacombs, or that she was right to trust jet, or aunt wu, or hama. i understand why she trusts these people (especially jet and especially hama), and it's hardly a bad thing to see the potential good in everyone, but zuko's betrayal hits her so hard because she had mistakenly put so much faith in him right before he turned around and helped azula kill aang. of course she sees potential in both aang and zuko, though. she's the heart of the show, and they're both mirrors to her character in significant ways. sokka is not a part of this central thematic triad, and he doesn't care that he's in a story, he just wants to make sure that his friends and family don't get murdered. they have different narrative priorities, but katara's are admittedly much prettier.

also, of course sokka wouldn't say he sees himself as a sacrificial lamb. even if he realized this about himself (which i also don't think he does), he wouldn't say it. saying it would negate the entire point. but i do think it's justified by the text. katara clearly carries the guilt of knowing kya died for her, and it's what inspires her to try and be her own mother for herself and her family, and to be the best waterbender in the world. sokka doesn't have that guilt. while katara feels it her duty to remember, to carry on her mother's legacy so that her sacrifice was not in vain, sokka feels it his duty to repress, to tamp down any shred of humanity that is not relevant to the war and to making sure his sister isn't killed for who she is. i don't think it's a reach for him to want to emulate his parents in this regard, since he clearly idealizes them and their bravery in defending their home, their culture, and their family.

no, i don't think sokka acts like a mom or a dad or even a wacky uncle (a grandpa, maybe). my point was to illustrate how neither of them are parents. they may try to emulate their parents in many regards, but they are still both very much kids, who happen have both seen far too much for their years. and katara mourns kya differently (more, as she claims, which i believe to be true) because her death was deeply personal to katara, in a way that it just wasn't for sokka. like i said, sokka represses his trauma. he claims that he thinks about yue all the time, and yet he barely ever talks about her. a defining moment in his life, which is hakoda leaving him behind, is only revealed to us in a flashback that occurs while he's sitting quietly by the fire watching over katara and aang as they sleep. katara's way of mourning kya was to try to become her in her guilt over her sacrifice. do you really think sokka doesn't understand the implications of this?

sure, he dismisses the domestic labor she does, which sucks of him for sure, though i'd argue it's just as much his cerebral stem bro attitude that prioritizes ideas and theory over those little manual tasks as it is straight up sexism. but yeah, it sucks. i know very few men who appreciate the work that goes into those "feminine chores," and it's absolutely because what is categorized as feminine is devalued by society. but yes, i think if the binary established is between "mom" and "servant", sokka sees katara as someone who is simply better at feminine labor, and that's not great of him, but katara does enjoy being feminine, so i understand why he'd make that assumption, seeing as the only thing she doesn't seem to enjoy is doing his laundry for him, which, yknow, checks out. do your own laundry, sokka.

again, katara has a more personal connection to the events surrounding kya's death. it's why her saying "you didn't love her the way i did" is both deeply hurtful, and something she clearly believes to be true. what she really means is, "you didn't grieve her the way i did," and it's because sokka doesn't feel like his very existence was responsible for her death. "the southern raiders" is a deeply personal episode for katara, and zuko is the one who understands her trauma, more intimately than sokka can, because kya did not sacrifice herself for him, but ursa did with zuko.

and yes, katara's seemingly throwaway line about how she's lost her childhood innocence hits really hard. it's why she's so immediately drawn to aang. because she wants to have fun again, but no one is there to encourage her, certainly not her depressed as fuck brother who only cares about being a better warrior. aang and katara inspire each other to preserve their innocence and they get to be kids together, which is what makes their friendship such a beautiful thing.

katara has a lot of skills and roles sokka doesn't. he can't midwife, he can't heal (obviously), he can't shop for groceries in the earth kingdom without being abused by vendors. he could probably cook and sew if he set his mind to it (we never actually see katara clean, but we do see sokka clean appa) but katara seems pretty confident in those areas, so why step on her toes. but sokka also has a lot of skills and roles katara does not. he reads maps, makes schedules, strategizes in battles, helps invent new technology, is able to fight without bending, is able to sense red flags that katara refuses to see, etc etc. they balance each other out, both emotionally and practically. considering that they basically raised each other, and didn't have parents to do things for them, it makes sense that they each have their own skillset, and function as a codependent team.

"the desert" puts her in a new situation to show that she's the group's heart. not just the group's heart, but the show's heart. she is the narrative center. that's what i mean by "the desert" being a trial for katara. it's not that no one else will step up, it's that they can't. aang is in the first stages of experiencing an immense grief, toph is feeling guilty and scared and lost, and sokka's attempt to quench their thirst put him out of commission for the rest of the day (though granted, he was trying to be helpful). katara is always there. she will never give up on people who need her. that's a core tenet of her character, and it is what makes her not only so kind and giving, but also a revolutionary leader. it's why i think she should go on to be chief, because while sokka wants to be like hakoda, he's not actually a warrior at heart, but katara is an inspiration to many, and her connection with people and the way she sees the best in them is what makes her the pride and joy of her people, just as much as her waterbending skill.

toph and katara are both in the wrong in the chase. katara comes from a communal society where everyone pitches in, so she sees toph as a spoiled brat for not helping her. toph came from a family that acted as if she was useless and helpless, so she thinks by letting every member of the group carry their own weight, she is affording them the basic respect her parents did not afford to her. it's a classic miscommunication, which escalates because katara and toph are both very loud, assertive middle schoolers who don't enjoy compromising their beliefs. they eventually do, which we see illustrated in the spa episode. but katara clearly wants to go to the spa and enjoys every second of it, she's just taking toph with her because she thinks toph needs a shower. for the most part, they both have a good time, katara because she enjoys feminine activities and relaxing, toph because she likes mud and spending time with her friends, and both of them because they got to do violence to some mean girls.

aang also gets mad at toph because he's prone to take katara's side in arguments, and also she insults appa, which is the final straw for him, even though toph is fully right about appa's shedding being how azula tracks them. toph leaves because she thought she was joining people who would make her feel respected, but they don't. katara literally mocks toph for being blind. i also got bullied for being disabled when i was their age, and i don't blame toph for not taking that shit. it's downright cruel. iroh helps her adjust her perspective, but ultimately sokka is the one who makes her feel most welcomed and seen, and while she loves katara and aang, it's clear that sokka is her best friend. he's also the only one who doesn't interfere in their fight in "the chase" (because he knows there's no winning against two extremely stubborn, sleep-deprived powerhouses).

katara didn't sacrifice her childhood for the sake of her family, her childhood was robbed from her. there's a crucial difference. she doesn't sacrifice her own emotional needs to comfort others, she engages in fruitful dialogues. the only person she actually sacrifices anything for is aang, you're right, and i do think that's extremely important as an aspect of her character. she believes in the power of the avatar, and she loves aang deeply. it's why if aang is the soul of the show, she is the heart.

zuko isn't a dad to aang, that's just a ridiculous thing to say, sorry. i don't think sokka is a dad to aang either, if anything they're brothers. zuko acts as a brother to aang and katara too. he's their older, grumpy, kind of an airhead, kind of a jerk brother. sort of like sokka 2: electric boogaloo, except unlike sokka, he's a wide-eyed idealist just like they are! idk where i was going with this. my point is i love this trio. lol

you're right to criticize what roach works said, but you were wrong not to specify the target of your criticism. just because someone adds a dumbass comment on my post doesn't mean i endorse it. and just because i make a post appreciating sokka doesn't mean i don't love katara. i mean, i think it should be pretty obvious that i love her a lot. it seems like we grew up in fairly similar circumstances, and while i know what it's like to grow up with a cerebral math bro misogynist brother who gets far more credit for doing far less work and is utterly fucking useless at taking care of himself, that doesn't mean i resent sokka, a fictional character, for whatever commonalities they may share.

katara and sokka are both flawed, multi-dimensional, well-written fictional characters, and i've given a lot of thought to their motivations, nuances, and the unspoken symbolic undertones of their dynamic and its relation to the themes of the narrative. we don't have to agree on what every unspoken detail signifies, but i don't appreciate being misinterpreted, and i especially don't appreciate the implication that i don't love katara, because i absolutely fucking do, with my whole heart, and anyone can see that. she means a lot to me!!! her virtues, her strengths, her flaws, and her failures. she doesn't have to be perfect to be amazing. in fact, if she were perfect, i doubt she'd be amazing at all.

Noda Satoru's interview with Asahi Shinbun

original here. as always, you can share anywhere but please credit me and stop posting screenshots of my translations on twitter without crediting. this fandom is pea-sized. and i do see when you do that, you know. it's very disrespectful and rude.

Q: Golden Kamuy has completed its serialization in the April 28th issue of the magazine, and the final 31st volume is scheduled for release on July 19th. With the total sales of previously released volumes exceeding 23 million copies, the series ended up being a huge hit.

Noda: It's embarrassing to hear it being referred to as a huge hit, but it is true that I was granted the Japan Cartoonists Association Award upon its finalization. Looking back, I have gotten a fair share of acknowledgement, including the Manga Taisho award, the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, and being selected for the key visual for an exhibition at the British Museum. So I think it's appropriate to look at my own work with pride.

I am very grateful to my editor, Ookuma Hakkou, and the rest of the editorial team for allowing me to end this story when I wanted to end it. I was able to finish this story without thinking too much about other things - such as the TV anime or the live action movie - and without stretching it out unnecessarily. Ending long-term serializing projects is always extremely difficult, so when, after the last chapter was published, all previously released volumes went into reprint, and then shortly after went into reprint once more, I took it as a sign that a large amount of readers were pleased with this work.

I think that the strategy set by the editorial team of creating a buzz around it by releasing all of the chapters online to read for free and announcing the live action movie worked exceptionally well. It's a team victory, certainly not something one person could have accomplished alone. This work was created with the help of so, so many professionals.

On a personal note, having experienced the serialization of 31 volumes was huge for me. I now have a general idea of how much effort is needed for 20 or 10 volumes, and can use this knowledge in the future.

Q: Please tell us about your goals and thoughts behind the inclusion of Ainu people in your work, and what you were especially careful about and kept at the back of your mind in your depiction of them.

Noda: I decided to include the Ainu because their culture isn't talked about much. I'm sure that despite being casually aware of it, many people fail to realize how interesting and appealing it can be. If you tread around the subject always worrying about avoiding controversy, it feels insincere and your work won't be taken seriously, so naturally I sought out the advice of Ainu people and various experts. The first thing the Ainu Association told me was, 'There are so many novels and comics with miserable, pitiable Ainu, and we don't want to read about that anymore. Draw us some strong, bold Ainu'. That was very big for me.

After the last chapter was published, Fujiya Rumiko, a person with Ainu roots who has helped me out in my research before, has written me a letter for the first time in a few years. She told me, 'Thank you for showing Ainu culture in a good light. It's become easier for Ainu to admit that they're Ainu thanks to that'. The letter also stated, 'I have a friend, a grandma who is over 90 and has Ainu blood in her. Up until now she didn't speak of it to her grandchildren and has kept that part of her a secret, but thanks to Golden Kamuy she started teaching her grandchildren simple Ainu words. She was so happy when telling me this'.

This work is an adventure manga serialized in a mainstream youth entertainment magazine, so I never intended to touch upon subjects such as human rights and the governamental recognition of Ainu culture more than strictly necessary, but the story of that grandma reminded me strongly of those words, 'We don't want to read about miserable Ainu anymore'.

If I made a show out of the discrimination directed towards her people, I think that the grandma's words about Ainu being able to admit that they're Ainu would have come to naught. And I've been told things similar to her words by various other people with Ainu roots, so it's not that she's an isolated incident.

Still, I don't expect everyone with Ainu roots to be satisfied with this work. Ainu people, just like the Japanese, follow diverse ideologies and are not a monolith.

All I can say is that I know that many Ainu people want to have a fair relationship with Japanese people. I drew the last chapter in hopes that we can share our lives together.

There are many different approaches when it comes to fighting. If you want to take action, I think it's only fitting to start from scratch and convey what you consider is right using your own name.

Q: Please tell us about your goals and thoughts behind making Hokkaido, your birthplace, the main scene, and what you were careful about depicting specifically because it's your birthplace.

Noda: The history of Hokkaido is not widely covered, and late Meiji era Hokkaido in particular is an unexplored subject. I don't have a fixation on Hokkaido at all, but there's so much manga in the world I felt like my own would end up buried under the rest if I don't do something fresh.

If I had to give a specific example of an achieved goal, it would be the depiction of Blakiston's Line. Readers all across Japan seem to have received well the fact that there are animals that live only in Hokkaido. Especially the brown bears and the deer and their sheer size - if you compare them to the rest of their species in Japan, they would be like a large dog being compared to a medium-sized dog. I think that part was received especially well.

Q: There are many unique and fascinating characters in your work. It seems that the main character, Sugimoto Saichi, was named after your own great-grandfather. Was he modelled after a specific person, or were you using someone as your inspiration? How about the other characters, such as the 7th Division ones?

Noda: On a general basis I don't use a specific person as a model, but rather different elements from different sources combined together. In Sugimoto's case, there was a soldier named Funasaka Hiroshi, of whom there is an anecdote that no matter how mortally wounded he'd get, he was still running on the battlefield the next day. I used it for Sugimoto's immortality factor.

For First Lieutenant Tsurumi of the 7th Division, I have a feeling I was channeling Sherlock Holmes through him in the beginning. Holmes is a sharp-minded gentleman type of character, yet he did drugs and was good at boxing. That scene where Tsurumi goes on all fours and is sniffing the ground, and the slicked back hair - I think those were also borrowed from Holmes. I do love the original a lot, so I was inspired by the illustrated versions.

Q: As the catchphrase "Japanese-style, melting pot Western" suggests, one of the main attractions of your work is that it is packed with a variety of elements. However, did you have any rules you could or would not compromise on, or things that you were decidedly against portraying?

Noda: I wanted to make absolutely sure that Asirpa would not be seen in a sexual way, by either the readers or the other characters. There's a lot of perverts in the story, to be sure, but I didn't want her to sway in that direction. Her being a young girl is part of it, but I was always uncomfortable with women being shown explicitly sexualized to begin with.

There's also that trope of a female character being on the verge of getting attacked, and!… wait for the next week's issue! I am not a fan of such things, both as a reader and as a writer. So I figured that things that I personally find repulsive have no place in my manga.

On the other hand, when it's a bunch of naked muscular macho men on the verge of being attacked, throwing in a tease of "what will happen next week?", yeah, I'd do that. Though I think I've done it once or twice or more already.

Q: Tell us about your next project.

Noda: The work that preceded Golden Kamuy was an ice hockey manga set in Tomakomai, Hokkaido. But Supinamarada! was discontinued due to being unpopular. I'm personally very fond of it, so now that I've finished Golden Kamuy I'm preparing for re-releasing Supinamarada! in full, hoping that I can improve its quality somewhat. I'm very thankful to Young Jump for allowing me to work on it. I'd hate to leave my own work unfinished, so I want to focus on finishing it, and then I could concentrate on an entirely new project.

It's Golden Kamuy that has dedicated fans, not the author Noda Satoru. For this reason I'm not sure how my next project would be received. Therefore, in order to attract new fans to a new work, I will draw each of them like I'm a newcomer.

The Perfect (Editorial or Agent) Match

Hey there, Yogi Bear! 

To start out today's blog, I wanna talk about a kinda fun recent thing. Steve Lieber, who I've mentioned before for having his 12 point portfolio review critique without even looking, asked about the writing review equivalent. Jim Zub took a stab at it and his list is pretty good. And Chip Zdarsky's were also recommendations! And all of these are from Bluesky, so hope you can read 'em all! But, while I liked the other lists, I also had some thoughts. So my 12 critiques are here, which I consider pretty supplemental to Jim's! 

And now that you've taken all this advice and are feeling really comfortable with your script, writer-type, what're you gonna do with it?! 

What Does an Agent do? 

Before I get too far, let me make explicitly clear--I do not have an agent. I've worked with a number of agents. I know lots of creators who have them. But I don't have one myself, so I can only provide so much guidance. Okay, that disclaimer out of the way, what is a literary agent and what do they do? 

It's a lot like other forms of agents you might've heard of. Your agent is a person who supports you and represents your interests in business. They are an advocate on your behalf. This means everything from reading your manuscripts to help refine/sell them to reviewing paperwork for you to making sure you're getting paid what you're worth and more. In the book market, there are certain publishers that will almost exclusively review agented submissions--you need to have someone who has been trained to know what the publisher might want and who has access to contacts there to advocate for your work. The reason for this is often to cut down on submissions that otherwise just have to go unanswered and to preserve some level of privacy for editors. Having an agent might not work for everyone, but if you can find someone who you like working with and can afford, they're going to be a lot of help. Agents can get your work to more potential buyers, help identify where your work will best fit in the marketplace, and, again, generally advocate for you.

But just like publishers and editors, not every agent is looking for every type of story. Specific agents, and even whole agencies, can have niches that they are interested in working in and representing. This is really important when we're talking comics. There are some agents that don't really represent cartoonists because they don't do art representation. There are some agents who only do art representation and might not be the right fit if you also wanna write. There are agents who primarily focus on books for middle grade or young adult readers. There are agents who just plain don't do comics. So how do you find an agent who might be a good fit?

Manuscript Wishlist

Manuscript Wishlist (or MS Wishlist) is *an* option for finding your agent, but it's one that I think can be really helpful. The basic idea of MSWL is that the website version has vetted agents and editors who have submitted profiles explaining what they are looking for in submissions. It's built off of a Twitter system where agents and editors tag posts #MSWL to flag the sort of work they're looking for from writers. One of the things I really like about the site is that in addition to details on what the agents and editors are looking for, and how to go about querying them, a lot of folks also take advantage of the sidebars that include things like lists of "what I like" so you can get an even clearer idea of if your work will mesh well with their interests and if your personalities will mesh well while looking to work together. 

There are a ton of other resources out there for how to write good queries and each agency/agent/publisher/editor is going to have their own submission guidelines that you'll have to look up and follow--so I won't get into those--but this is a way to start seeing who might be interested in building a relationship with you. 

Also, keep an eye on Publishers Marketplace. This is a primary source for what publishing deals are happening. Maybe you want to submit a query to an agent about a talking dog. Might be good to check publishers marketplace to make sure that agent didn't just sell a book about a talking dog. 

MSWL Editors

MSWL also includes editors and for similar reasons. Editors have things they're interested in working on and it helps clarify to agents and to unagented folks what sort of titles they might be interested in acquiring. I *do not* currently have a MSWL set up on my own because I am not currently seeking submissions (sorry), but next time I think I might be, I'm going to be looking into it because I know what sort of stories I like to tell and what I would like to see from other folks. 

Obviously, if you don't have an agent, double-check that the editor you're submitting to accepts unagented submissions. That's hugely important. But especially in comics, only taking agented submissions is uncommon. And if an editor is making clear what they'd like to acquire, you wanna get it in front of them because that is the most direct pipeline to traditional comics publishing. But it's also worthwhile to remember that because of how agents and editors work together, there's a lot of outreach between the two where editors are searching for talent, but only want to reach out, not be reached out to--especially if you're looking to do work on an existing property, rather than an original. 

Now I'm gonna go batten down the hatches and prepare to ride out the rest of the coming storm! 

See ya next time! 

What I enjoyed this week: Blank Check (Podcast), Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), Craig of the Creek (Cartoon), Honkai Star Rail (Video game), My Adventures with Superman (Cartoon), The Broken Room by Peter Clines (Book), Crime Scene Kitchen (TV show), Dumbing of Age (Webcomic), Shortpacked (Webcomic--though some of these pop culture strips sure are dated and/or in poor taste!), Solve This Murder (Podcast), Praise Petey (Cartoon), the acoustic Sonic Symphony performance at the Speed Cafe (see below), at time of posting having power and not a lot of rain/hurricane weather, owning (but not having watched yet) the Venture Bros finale movie, getting 3 5-star (the best possible) character pulls in a row in Honkai (but not the character I really wanted, who I only have like 9 days to get now if I can...). 

New Releases this week (8/16/2023): Brynmore #2 (Editor) Godzilla: The War for Humanity #1 (Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog #63 (Editor)

Final Order Cut-Off next week (8/21/2023--last day to get your preorders in): Brynmore #3 (Editor) Godzilla: The War for Humanity #2 (Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog: Amy's 30th Anniversary Special (Editor)

New Releases next week (8/23/2023): Godzilla Monsters & Protectors: All Hail the King TPB (Editor--on the latter half)

Announcements: Becca is at Cartoon-a Palooza in Temecula on 9/15 & 9/16. It's a cool free all-ages little con, so come on out and see them! 

Wanna support me? Consider joining my Patreon! This week, in addition to this blog (but without the Patreon plugs!) and one of my legacy blogs, I shared for the $10 and up members the script (and some extras) for my Beast Wars 2022 Annual story, "Rhinox's A-Maze-ing Adventure". You can only see it there! And I'll have more scripts, pitches, comics, etc going up in the weeks and months to come! Also coming soon, just coordinating with Becca, we'll be releasing a tease of a new comic we're working on together. It'll be on both our Patreons, but if you like art and adult art in particular, definitely don't miss Becca's either! 

Or, you can buy something from my webstore! A lot of what is there is no longer in print and won't be going back to print anytime soon to my knowledge. The stock I have up is pretty much the stock I have. And you can get it signed and personalized and sent to you for a pretty reasonable price which includes shipping.  Alternatively, I still have a few things up on eBay and I'm going to be adding a few more! 

Sorry to be hyping ways to send me money so much recently, but between rising rent and utility and gas costs, not so rising work hours/pay for Becca and I, and us also trying to plan a wedding for a year from now, money's been tight a lot! I know that's the case all around, and if you have been supporting me in any way, it has not gone unnoticed at all! This week, Becca and I checked out a venue that we really like for the ceremony and reception. So, hoping we can make that happen! 

Pic of the Week: I referenced it earlier, but the Sonic Speed Cafe pop-up here in San Diego did a special mini acoustic performance of the Sonic Symphony that's about to be touring the whole world! So we had three musicians in the restaurant playing some Sonic hits! It was a lot of fun! 

#brain is very: gotta tell all my favorite episodes and also make little editorial notes on my least favorite episodes

Please don't hold yourself back from sharing them!

ok as far as episodes go, bear with me, there are seven season of this show lol...

There are some episodes that are among my favorites because of small side plots that happen in them, but most that are on here take their place because of main plots. I'm going to bold my very top picks:

Pilot (it's rough, as most pilots are, but important set up)

The Yellow Truck (because heartwarming Christmas)

It All Happened So Fast (Jim 😭)

I'm Still a Cop (just stanning Pete ok)

A Dead Cop Can't Help Anyone (Ed is 🙃 and Pete is incredible)

Good Cop Handle with Care (some journalists just shouldn't)

Pig is a Three Letter Word (😩 but Jessie Smith is The Best)

Baby (stanning Jim, the moron)

Once a Junkie ( 😭 TJ)

Hostage ( PETE 😭😭😭)

SWAT (just a good intense episode I guess?)

A Rare Occasion (plot is ok, I'm here for the Reeds+Pete bit 😍)

Vengeance (solid plots, plus Walker Edmiston ok)

Attempted Bribery (my boys are Good. Boys.)

Easy Bare Rider (mostly just that part lol)

Elegy for a Pig (hhhhhh vignette of the death of an officer)

IAD (in which we stan and hug Pete)

The Search (kajdflsdjg 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭PETE)

((^^^aka the show realized in Hostage that Martin did a great job acting in agony and decided they should make as much use of it as possible through the rest of the show.)))

Ambush (any episode that puts the boys in direct peril, right?)

Assassination (same as above)

The Princess and the Pig (JIM 😭)

Back-up 1L20 (Mac deserves the world ok and Pete knows it)

Badge Heavy (😒 Charlie. 👏 Jim)

Clear with a Civilian 1 and 2 (solid, solid, we stan the Civilian lol)

Killing Ground (hhhhhhhhhhhhh don't hurt my boyyyyysss)

Suspended (JIM AND PETE ARE SO IMPORTANT TO ME)

A Fool and His Money (ehehehehe)

Keeping Tabs (this one is just so unexpectedly sweet???)

If the Shoe Fits (ehehehe plus cute kid)

Trouble in the Bank (JIM 😭)

Suspect Number One (this one hurts so much, why do i rewatch)

Excessive Force (😣😣😭😭 but so important too)

Christmas (I'm here for the tree escapade)

Operation Action (can we...can we stop trying to kill Pete please)

Something Worth Dying For 1 and 2 (...please???! also finale 😭😭)

There are so many other episodes that have little bits that are my favorite - like the toothbrush snake, all of Jim's little sideplot life capers and attempts to get Pete married, how I totally ship Pete with Juju at least to some degree, lots of other random funny incidents they have to take care of, Jim directing the drunk guy directing traffic, Pete's face whenever he encounters child abuse, Pete's spidey sense... I love Jim but clearly I'm here for Pete alright.

*"Elegy for a Pig" is hard to watch ok - I know this show is pro-lapd propaganda but it's good propaganda 9/10 times, this one just Hurts (and isn't even a proper episode really).

**Excessive Force is also very very hard to watch on the content level. This show is not overtly graphic or gruesome and it's the 70s, they don't show much. But the writing knew they didn't have to show or say much at all most of the time to get the point across.

This is already very long so I'm not going to go episode by episode for my least favorites, but the one where they end up in a ridiculous confrontation with a wrestler? Yeah that is way down low on my list lol. Essentially, when the writers wanted to show a Situation (generally based on real life incidents) but didn't have a good way to justify it happening to the characters, it loses points with me. Those boys had weapons and backup, and they're not idiots, so those episodes are not my beloved.

Also, dealing with racial issues is sometimes iffy. For example, the episode "The Militants" is... a weird one. I don't hate it. I think the writers meant well, but it doesn't come off very well and has some pretty cringe moments and dialogue where it had the opportunity to be important. Often, episodes like this feel more like they are missing the nuance and other side of the truth they're telling. (Sometimes they hit the mark better: for example, "Pig is a Three Letter Word" has the saving grace of the Jessie Smith character in an otherwise very not-nuanced look at very complex issues.) I do appreciate that the show repeatedly displays stupid racist characters being stupid and getting their just desserts.

You have to accept the hippie slang too. You just gotta roll with it and laugh a little at deliveries ok? To their credit, Pete and Jim stand up for the hippies roughly the same amount of times they end up arresting them for drugs. XD

Some people are bothered by the portrayal of female characters in the show. I'm somewhere in the middle. I think it portrays them mostly honestly as the world went at the time, and a few have genuinely great roles and characterization - sadly, not many of Pete's girlfriends are in this number. 🙈 Pete is also a bit of a womanizer but he's also pretty respectful still, he just needs help ok. Jim is great for him that way. 👏 However, there are definitely episodes where a woman has been threatened or victimized and is not treated with the concern she should be in those situations and I do yell at my tv during those moments. XD

Lastly, this show has no filler. It starts to get there a little in later seasons, but mostly it's just pop pop pop action to action. This is great, I actually love the pacing of the show. It just... it means... well it means we don't get nice little comfort scenes with the boys after most of their hard days and I would personally like a little more of that ok? (rip the end of the often cute/relaxed little credit scenes after the first couple seasons)

[end ramble, more out of steam than thoughts]

tysm for ur text post about noel... I'm seeing SO many people immediately hating on him and it's exhausting. he's not usually the type of person to speak up about things like this really (at least from what I've seen) so I doubt he's gonna say anything, but his comments on insta are now turned off/limited so its safe to say he knows what's happening and is probably horrified :/

Yes of course! Like I said in my previous post, I think it's incredibly dangerous to start condemning people purely by association and vague connections you've made in your own head without having any actual substantial evidence. I'm not going to assume Noel's current thoughts on the matter as much as I hope that he is indeed horrified, but I do know that it's fairly par for the course to close off public lines of communication and take longer than most would expect to formulate an official statement on something as sensitive as this because to do it right one should be consulting with their lawyers and agents and other knowledgeable people to make sure the statement is as airtight and well-informed as possible without room for further misinterpretation or complicating any possible legal endeavors at play, so it is absolutely not evidence of guilt that he hasn't said anything yet. As much as it would be nice to see him formally denounce Russell and support the victims, I agree with you that it's definitely not guaranteed and we shouldn't be holding our breath since he's generally such an offline and private person with very good reasons for mistrusting the tabloids still looking to demonize him whenever possible, and if he does end up not saying anything there's a million other reasons besides him being complicit as to why he did not speak out. And yeah, people assuming that the comments being turned off means he's definitely hiding something is absurd. First of all I think it's worth noting that most celebrities don't have exclusive access to their social medias and often have whole teams helping them run things because they themselves have better things to do, so it's very possible the comments being shut off wasn't even done or directed by Noel himself. Second, it would be extremely unwise right now for him to start responding off the cuff to random people in the comments just because they demand it. And third, my initial thought when I heard about it was well wouldn't anyone turn the comments off if they were being bombarded with harassment lobbing horrible accusations at them and pressuring them to speak publicly about something before they were ready? But hearing from multiple people that the comments were shut off after Russell's supporters started flooding the posts arguing Russell's innocence makes it make even more sense why the shutoff was done and less evidence of guilt. Also while I'm here something else I wanted to speak on is that since my previous post, a clip from BFQ 2007 has been going viral and reported on by tabloids as ~evidence~ of Noel being involved because rape jokes were being made that involved him, even though the only thing Noel says in the clip is "how dare you, we're not rapists" in response to Jonathan deciding for Lily that she needed to be forcibly kept away from Noel and Russell. (and if I may editorialize for a moment, news sources reported on Lily looking uncomfortable in the clip as a condemnation of Russell and Noel, but personally I think she seems more annoyed that Jonathan has declared this decision for her rather than letting her decide what she felt comfortable with, especially since later in the show she giddily brings up crimping and is clearly somewhat of a Boosh fan.) I hate to pull out the "it was a different time" excuse but I need y'all to remember or understand what things were like back then for context of what was going on there. Me Too hadn't happened yet and actual accusations of sexual misconduct were generally spread in whispers and kept pretty hush hush, it was unusual for such things to be made super public because public blame was much more likely to fall on the accuser than the accused. Since the recent accusations have come out, multiple people close to Russell at the time have gone on record as saying that while they were well aware of the scope of Russell's aggressive sexuality, they had no idea at the time that it was veering into nonconsensual behavior and were horrified to find out.

Rape jokes were, unfortunately, very common at that point, with the word "rape" being used pretty flippantly and not always accurately to how serious of an act the word is meant to convey. The push to eradicate rape jokes from comedy didn't start until several years later, my memory says somewhere around 2010-11? And at the time, "slut" (and similar terms) was one of the worst things you could call someone and promiscuity was highly demonized in popular culture. Again, the concept of "slut shaming" and push to normalize safe and consensual promiscuity didn't come up in popular culture until several years later. So what I see in that clip is Noel and Russell, who were both known for being sluts at that time, being demonized for that behavior (which was well known and well documented in the documentary) with what was meant to be a lighthearted joke that they wouldn't be able to help themselves around Lily, and Noel's internal thought process at that point was most likely something like "Well, I'm a slut who's been demonized for it but I'm not a predator, so I assume the same is true for Russell." I don't believe this clip shows any reasonable guilt or association on Noel's part.

I understand the impulse to not want to support anyone who's done anything terrible, but if we're deeming people guilty by association so anyone who's ever worked or been friends with someone who did something bad is also bad just purely by that association with no other hard evidence, soon you'll have boxed yourself into a corner of having nothing that's safe to enjoy or interact with, and that's no way to live. Like I said previously I'm fully ready to jump ship if actual problems directly involving Noel do arise, but for the moment I do believe the panic and vitriol towards him is unjustified and I'll be continuing business as usual until further notice.

It’s always been weird to me that while the Fab Five (Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Wally West, Roy Harper and Garth) are rightly too old for the Teen Titans and have all “graduated” so to speak, the same seemingly isn’t the case for the New Teen Titans generation as well? Like Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven should all be in their early twenties at least? Vic and Kory moved on in the New 52, but Gar and Raven seem perpetually stuck where they started, when frankly I’d rather see how they could work in other team dynamics - say, Raven in the Shadowpact/Justice League Dark and Beast Boy with Justice League International. What do you think?

Calling what happened to Kory in the New52 "moving on" is pretty generous. like she worked with a different team, but like. she was there to be eye candy to male readers (which has been a problem in titans comics too, but generally titans comics give her a bit more... purpose???) This is beside the point though.

The thing to me is - the titans aren't just a team, they started out as friends in the og series, they lived together (under Mr. Jupiter), and helped each other grow up, and eventually it seemed like they outgrew one another and went their separate ways - as you do when you grow up, you leave your family.

Then Raven brought together a new generation of the Titans, bringing along some of the old ones (Dick, Wally, Donna) and adding in some new ones (Gar, Kory, Vic) and i think in this iteration of the Titans, they grew closer than they had before, partly because out of this generation - a lot of them didn't have anywhere else to go. Like Raven - who brought them together - couldn't go home to Azarath, so Titans Tower, effectively became her home. Kory couldn't go home - she started living with Donna soon after. Dick was on the outs with Bruce (for different reasons pre and post crisis), Dayton sucks as a parent to Gar, Donna's got the Amazons but she's outgrown them (and at least in the first titans series, they left her behind at one point and she was living in the titans cave until Roy was like "guys you know she's living here right" and they found her an apartment), Vic's dad dies soon after the series starts, and Wally is mr. normal because marv didn't like him. The characters at this point were mostly adult, and found family in one another. And eventually everything blew up because *gestures vaguely at DC editorial making stupid decisions*

Now from here we have The Teen Titans (1996) as the next iteration of the Titans which is it's own unique team with all new characters. After that there's The Titans 1999 which has the fab five + Vic + Kory + Jesse + Toni + Grant. And they directly formed because the fab five missed each other, they missed being with their family. And of course this also ends in disaster - Donna and Lilith die and they split again, leading to Teen Titans (2003) and Outsiders (2003) and eventually this generation of the titans don't come back until The Titans (2008)

To me, though. The titans aren't something you outgrow. They're a family - they're messy as hell, yeah, but they all love each other and they need time away from one another, but they're family. One of the reasons I dislike Teen Titans (2003) so much is because the core four doesn't feel like family to me (they feel like a friend group in the middle of their break up era), they're there out of obligation of fucking things up with Donna (and they shit on the old version of the Titans more than I like). Kory, Vic, and Gar are there as mentors, they're there because it's the titans and they'll always be there for the titans. And the arcs it gives Raven and Joey i just... they literally understood the characters so poorly. This is also the comic that started de-aging Raven and Gar, and forced them together to match the shipping that went on because of the cartoon *blegh* I would also like to point out, that I feel like this comic does have Kory and Vic as older - so at this point they join the fab five in graduating age wise

Now in Titans (2008) which is a comic that is. such a mixed bag (flaming dumpster fire, with some occasional sweet issues). We have a lineup that has: Dick, Roy, Donna, Raven, Vic, Kory, and Gar. Raven and Gar are younger, due to de-aging, but again, it's a team brought together in crisis because their family is being attacked. And they fall apart again, Deathstroke makes his own version of the Titans *blegh* and the reboot happens erasing the Titans all together up till Titans Hunt. The rebirth line ups are pretty ehhh in my opinion

I think one of the issues with the Titans stems from the fact that they think Robin is replaceable, and they can just slot which ever one they want in, mostly match up with the lineup on the cartoon and boom success. Yeah no. The appeal of Titans to me is the found family dynamic, and having a Robin younger that's not Dick, erases all that messy family history, and while you can successfully start writing new dynamics, a lot of the writers do so... poorly. Like I only read the first 30 issues or so of Teen Titans (2003) before giving up, and Tim felt out of place on the Titans - they didn't really do much to build up Kory and Vic's relationship with him, and had him as the de-facto leader of the core four, despite them previously voting him out of the role (because he's Robin and Robins get to be the leaders or something). Then you have Damian kidnapping 4 characters that are stronger than him to start off his Teen Titans Rebirth run, which i thought was super dumb. They may have different Robins on the Titans at different points at time, but the Titans are Dick's family, they're part of his history, they're where he grew out of the Robin role (which frustratingly was erased by NW: Year One) and became his own man/hero. They're people he grew up with, they're people he helped grow up, and so on. Just swapping him out and expecting things to work is silly to me, there's a reason the other titans heroes listen to Dick and that respect was built up through decades of comics, you have a lot to build off of rather than starting from scratch

Now another issue as i've mentioned, is this idea that they have to match the cartoon to get people to read. And it's so frustrating!! The titans were popular as a comic first! The cartoon totally shaved down the characters to make them easily identifiable to the kids watching the TV shows and Kory and Raven's characters especially never recovered. Like all you need to do is read the first issue of the Starfire SOLO to see how badly her character was impacted - yeah she got to grow up, but at what cost 😭. i think you're equivalating growing up and moving on as a character to getting good content but you can't look me in the eyes and tell me Kory's been treated better outside of Titans comics (at best she's treated the same, at worst the comics make me so uncomfortable i have to put them down). The show also spawned the stupid as fuck ship between Raven and Gar, which would have never happened between their comic book counterparts, and requires constantly aging Raven down to messily slot them together. I think yeah, Gar was always going to be a bit younger than the Titans, because he started out roughly 3 years younger than most of them. At this point i feel like the comics have just shot themselves in the foot by insisting the two must be a pair at all times, and that Raven must follow her personality in the cartoon (single word: goth). I don't think just putting them on new teams is going to fix that. i think a writer is going to have to do actual research on their characters, stop just referencing the toon, and commit to writing them older and possibly broken up. putting them on different teams or giving them solos would be an opportunity to define them outside of one another and the titans, but as we saw with the Starfire solo, unless they actually commit to doing the "hard" work of doing research, you're just going to get the same old garbage as a result

TLDR: i don't think the Titans is something you graduate, i think it's a family, and i don't putting Gar and Raven with different teams would automatically "fix" their de-aging issue

I know you must hate talking about this subject and you've given some really good advice for ignoring things, but just wondering if you have an opinion on the new sofia coppola interview/article on the movie from a day or so ago? I'm trying so hard to not care, but it really broke my heart. There's already so much bad press about elvis and this is killing me and making me so sad. It just seemed so different than the article from last week in tone it surprised me and took me off guard.

it's okay, i'm touched you trust and confide in me, even though i know there's not a lot i can do to assuage this as a whole, just having someone listen can help sometimes. tbh i'm not following press about this at all, so i only know anything when someone tells me. i'm not completely sure which interview you mean? in the most recent one that came up, she said:

"“I didn’t want to villainise him,” says Coppola, but she has been fairly honest about his flaws. “It was the most non-Elvis movie about Elvis. But I didn’t want [the film] to be about a drug addict. I like to leave things to the imagination. It’s just not my style to be in your face.”"

the article itself is what characterizes him in a particularly negative framing, but sofia doesn't actually say that? (and editorializing in articles like this is simply so annoying - when i googled this interview, a different article about the film came up which included a sentence saying elvis "blatantly stole his music," which is totally untrue and an incorrect framing, and i've read enough terrible/inflammatory/poorly fact-checked/unkind articles at this point that my brain shuts off when i see something i know is inaccurate or coming from a place of bad faith).

additionally, she said: "She was reminded of “my mom’s generation, and how my mom grew up with a big force of a husband”, but also the feelings that surround an early love. “All those stages of transition, from girlhood to adult womanhood. I felt it was relatable,” she says."

"I just put myself totally in her perspective and tried to make a film about what if you were her. I didn’t think too much about all the different perspectives. Yes, it was a different time, different culture, but there are elements that remain the same."

we know he could have a fiery temper (yet was always quick to apologize), we know he could get into dark moods and low moments of creative frustration, we know about the issues he had in romantic relationships, we know he struggled with his health, both physically and psychologically, and with managing that in various ways, some tragically damaging, and none of that erases that he was also profoundly kind, generous, loving, funny, spiritual, talented. so i hope it keeps that dynamism. i'd imagine it has to in some way, coming from that feminine perspective that everything is noting, doesn't it have to in order to understand why she fell in love with and was captivated by him, why she continues to love him and speaks highly of his legacy to this day? i know i don't necessarily have a...favorable...opinion of the casting choice here, but if he really does turn out to be that one note figure, it will entirely eliminate the power of the story, even for priscilla too.

my best recommendation is not to read the negative and salacious press and be aware of preconceived biases and misinformation, but i understand curiosity gets the better of us sometimes and we want to know what's happening, even if logic is telling us it'll make us feel worse. i'm so sorry this is making you sad! i know i always go back to elvis and his outlook/relationship towards fans to try to offer comfort with this, but i truly believe he wouldn't want our hearts to break over things we cannot control or change, over perceptions of image (as he himself said: the image is one thing, and the human being is another). his goal towards fans was always one of connection and happiness and the power of music. the focus on highly personal, intimate details ultimately makes me a little uncomfortable because it wasn't what he wanted us to hold onto. like i've said before, you don't have to fight battles for him, you can just keep whatever joy and emotions you feel towards him for yourself. outside opinion on most anything is varied, even divisive, but it doesn't change what you find - that's the sacred thing.

Hello once again Ms. Campbell! Apologies for sending you so many asks, but this feels like the best way to provide feedback seeing as it looks like y'all aren't doing letters to the editor/creative team anymore (which is a shame, imo).

I just read 140 and while it feels a little... off? I'm attributing that to it having come out ahead of the issue that closes out the previous storyline. I'll give it another read through once Armageddon Game #8 comes out and I'm sure it'll feel better then.

Regardless, I actually really like the seeds you've planted here so far! Leo not really knowing how to be anything other than what he is, Mikey striving for more in his life, Raph's heartbreak over Alopex being expressed in anger and frustration at the current flux state the family is in, and Donnie spending a lot of time in the lab (I eagerly await to see what comes out of that... fingers crossed for magi-science turtle tots in the not so distant future).

Also Leo being like

is hilarious to me. (I suppose a bonus of doing this via social media is that I can share my silly little memes)

IRT Alopex... Do people think she only exists as an accessory to Raph? She has her own life, personality, and motivations. It's a disservice to her as a character to expect her to hang around with the man who murdered her entire family just because her boyfriend is working with him. This is an entirely reasonable boundary to have! I dunno about you, but I've dumped people over far less than [checks notes] deciding that the guy that objectively ruined your life is your uncle now, kinda. Even if Raph wasn't going along with it, it's entirely reasonable for her to not want anything to do with the rest of them because of this.

Anyways. Looking forward to the continued adventures of the Claw Clan. I hope the weasels have fun.

I saw some hints at Seri/Mikey, and while I don't want to dictate what other people do with their art, I DO want to say that if Seri/Mikey does end up happening, I hope it's not for a while yet. Seri is still pretty new to the world having been artificially aged up and all, and she has SO MUCH going on, I think she needs some time to figure herself out and come into her own before she starts anything. I liked Seri/Mikey when it happened in Vol. 4 I think it was? but with the added context of her being artificially aged, I think it needs more time before jumping into it.

Oh what else... did I assume right that the cop arresting Raph was Monty Moose? or inspired by him? Cool beans if so. Nice to see Bob show up and provide yet another perspective on the whole mutation thing. The person who attacked that poor cat lady looked very turtle like... my money is on evil clone. Of who? Slash, probably. (feel free to skip addressing this to avoid confirm or denying spoilers. I'm just tossing things at the wall to see what sticks).

I think that's it for now. Looking forward to July which I have been mentally calling TMNT's Hot Girl Summer since SO MUCH is coming out then.

Cheers!

I keep wondering if they'll bring back the letters column but I think editorial is too frazzled these days to respond to letters, haha. Maybe I'll talk to them about resurrecting the letters column.

Anyway thanks for the feedback! I love hearing your thoughts about Alopex, I totally agree!!!

No plans at the moment for Mikey and Seri to hook up, although it's crossed my mind, of course.

And yeah that was Monty arresting Raph. Monty had already showed up during 125-130, he was Raph's deputy constable. Originally in my script it was just a generic cop but either my editor or Nickelodeon (I forget who exactly!) suggested it should be Monty at the last minute, and I ended up writing Monty into the next issue too.

Thanks again for your thoughts! :)

Ohh definitely 11 and 14 for the fanfic writer ask meme! There were so many good ones but those jumped out to me 🥺🙏

Hi Ver!! ♥️ Thank you for the ask!!

(writer ask meme here)

11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

I will honestly say I avoid research like the plague. I don't enjoy it. This is why I much prefer writing in made-up worlds that I already have some understanding of (or can just say "this is how X works" without needing to be an expert in some real life discipline). I did recently learn though that the part of cat's eyes that creates that backlit glow in the dark is called tapete lucidum in Latin (just "shining layer") and it's a reflective membrane that reflects out the light that doesn't go into the retina to amplify ambient light and aid their eyesight in the dark. Very cool!

14. what’s your worst writing habit? 

It's for sure the ever-present temptation to edit before the first draft is even finished. I've been weaning myself off of that with varying success, because mixing up the stages of writing like that is a sure-fire way to burn out on the story before it's anywhere near done. I've also been practicing ignoring the editorial voice while drafting, just free-writing and then yeeting it onto ao3 without fussing over word choice too much. Usually, for short things like that, it's not like my drafts are that messy! It's fine if they're not perfect, they're still readable and enjoyable. Perfection is only relative to whatever was originally in my head, which nobody reading the written version knows about, so there's no room for comparison. An imperfect but finished story is better than a perfect but nonexistant one; i'm trying to learn that. Done is good enough!

Hello! I saw your post about wastewater treatment and thought you might like to read about what my city did during a major drought about a decade ago. To this day I still don't understand it, but it was apparently a big deal in treatment circles?

https://www.tpomag.com/editorial/2016/12/how_wichita_falls_turned_a_drought_into_enlightenment

Hey! I'm real behind on my inbox but this is real cool! Here's the link you shared.

Hmmm, let me see if I can explain what's happening here.

So one important thing to know is that drinking water, in very broad terms, comes from one of two places: 1) an aquifer (some kind of underground water source. might be a cave but is probably a crack in a rock or a sandy/gravely layer under the surface), or 2) a surface water body (lake, river, reservoir). In very general terms, surface water needs extra treatment. Most aquifers (though not the kind that are just caves) get their water after it's filtered through the dirt and rock above it, which filters out a lot of contaminants. This means that it can start out a lot cleaner. (Though not if the rocks it filters through are salty or high in arsenic--aquifers are preferred, but if they're not being used there's usually a good reason.)

Surface water, on the other hand, has shit in it. Literally. The fish shit in it. The birds flying overhead shit in it. Dirt washes into it. People dump stuff into it. Hopefully they have a permit for that, sometimes they don't. Algae grows in it. So surface water drinking water treatment plants usually need to have much more intense treatment than groundwater (aquifer) drinking water because there's more *stuff* to filter out.

So when the drought happened in the early 2010s, the lakes that were being used for drinking water got low. Enter secondary wastewater.

Secondary wastewater is wastewater that has already been through a first treatment stage. I believe--and someone can correct me on this if I'm wrong--that first stage is typically letting the water sit so that the majority of the solids (*cough*) can filter out. Secondary wastewater may or may not be clean enough to release, depending on various factors, but it is much cleaner than what came in.

So what they've done here is take that partially treated wastewater and run it to the drinking water plant. Very serendipitously, the drinking water plant already had microfiltration and reverse osmosis filtration set up for incoming water, because they'd previously used a brackish (salty) water source that needed the extra filtration. Both of those forms of filtration also happen to be the gold standard for filtering wastewater for drinking water. The only thing that could've made it better would be if they'd had UV treatment too. They then took this now doubly-pretreated water and mixed it with untreated lake water. Which meant that the water went through the whole regular lake water treatment process as well. And since lake water is surface water, we know that was extra thorough too. It also says in the article that they were monitoring the whole process extra carefully to make sure no wastewater contaminants were making it through. And no one got sick!

Not every water treatment plant will be lucky enough to have both extra filtration in place and access to secondary wastewater that's clean enough to use this way, but it's still extra cool that that was the case here! A lot of people are grossed out by direct potable reuse of wastewater (which is industry-speak for pumping watewater directly to your drinking water plant to treat and use). But honestly, I don't think it's any grosser than drinking treated surface water. In some ways, secondary wastewater is actually better, because you at least know basically what happened to it, while surface water has just been wandering free in nature, getting up to who knows what...

Thanks for the ask!