3AMDrabbles

General Nerd and Very Tired Adult He/Him

[3amdrabbles]

Panel Layout Appreciation

You know, people are always praising the story and the art in comics, but I rarely see genuine love for the Panel Layouts.

The paneling of comics is incredibly important. Bad paneling can ruin the pace, immersion, and even narrative of a comicbook. While creative panel layouts can elavate a story immensely and make the whole thing super fun to read.

So I'm gonna start sharing and celebrating amazing and creative comic panels, where it is absolutely clear that the Artists had a great time making it!

Starting with:

Midnighter and Apollo (2016-2017)

Art and panel layout done by Fernando Blanco, who was praised for his ambitious and complex layouts during this run.

This is one of the very first things you see in this run, and it just grabs your attention. And you immediately get a sense for the types of tricks Blanco uses. The movement is broken up with smaller, floating panels that continue throughout the run to emphasize details and certain motions. And the layout of the train is unbroken, only the characters move inside it.

This is one of the more ambitious layouts. Midnighter has to fight his way out of layers in a bunker and the way this round layout works to emphasize that point is absolutely peak. It feels claustrophobic and brings this sense of desperate hurry with it.

This is my favorite layout of the entire comic I think. It's less busy but it uses those floating panels perfectly to bring out the movement and it looks so clean and well thought out. I just love this one so much. Blanco owns my soul for the whole run tbh.

Same as with the train, the scenery doesn't change, only the people inside the scene change, giving this super cool effect of how people move throughout the scene. The small floating panels brings emphasis on just how narrowly Midnighter makes it, as the candle going out meant he would not have been able to return. (Also I live for the yellow coloring in the bottom)

A simple 3x3 grid for a simple conversation. But bringing the image through the full bottom row and the last most image of the second row makes the whole thing feel more dynamic, and Neron (the devil) takes up more space and thus looks and feels more like a threat.

I'll probably do more of these for other cool uses of panel layout I find, but I felt the need to share how amazing the comic medium is thanks to panel layout!

[3amdrabbles]

Midnighter and Apollo: A (slightly in depth) comic breakdown by someone who originally misunderstood the themes.

While I have always adored this comic, there was something that always bothered me a bit. But having re-read the series now that I am older and better understand media / media literacy, I can firmly say I was wrong about being bothered, and this comic deserves more praise and recognition.

Spoilers for a decade old comic

First things first, the part that made me uncomfortable when I was younger: The fact that Apollo ended up in Hell in the first place.

One of the few openly gay characters in DC gets killed and sent to Hell, pretty unceremoniously and suddenly. And while it worked from a narrative standpoint, having Midnighter go to Hell for his love, it did strike me as uncomfortable as a young queer kid struggling with my self-worth because of being queer.

And it’s implied, if not outright said at times, that it weren’t Apollo’s ‘normal’ sins that brought him to Hell. Pride, Murder, that kinda stuff. Yes, this is mostly said by Apollo himself, but the comic frames him as being in the right about this, and so we as an audience are pushed to believe this.

So then, why did he end up in Hell?

And that is where I originally went wrong. I shouldn’t have felt uncomfortable about the fact DC sent one of their only queer characters to Hell. Because that was the whole point of it. It wasn’t condemning and it wasn't some thoughtless, empty decision that just happened to have some negative connotations attached to it.

This comic is a beautiful, metaphorical representation of the queer experience

This story is one of love and accepting those around you (and yourself) as who they are, while helping them be the best version of themselves.

Apollo talks about how he has already gone through his own kind of Hell before, many times. From how he got his powers to his unaccepting father. Yet he persisted. He stayed true to himself, he didn’t break and he didn’t give in to what people wanted of him. Apollo being in Hell is nothing new, this time it's just more literal.

And we see that he persists. We see him fight and overcome because he knows that he deserves better than the sentences and punishments pushed onto him by other people. He knows that he doesn’t deserve this Hell of someone else's making.

And while he can survive, or even escape this Hell, on his own, it becomes easier with someone there at his side. Someone willing to risk anything, because Apollo is his everything.

In the beginning of the story, Midnighter refuses to accept Apollo is gone. He knows there must be something he can do, something to try or someone to beat up to get his love back. While Apollo is in a literal Hell, Midnighter goes through a personal one. The worst kind of Hell for someone like Midnighter; he feels helpless. He wants to protect the man he loves, but he simply can't. He doesn't know what to do.

And where Apollo's side of the story deals with being sure of who you are and persisting through the bad times, Midnighter's side is about the consequences that come with being who you are.

An enemy from Minighter’s past wanted to hurt him, and did so by way of targeting Apollo. The hate and anger pointed at Midnighter is what killed Apollo.

Apollo became a victim for loving Midnigher.

At the end of the comic, Midnighter explains to Apollo that he is, and always will be, a killer. That he is sure of himself and he hopes Apollo can accept. This scene, while likely not intended as such, reads so much as a way of coming out.

I know I probably read too much into it, and that Steve Orlando likely just wanted to write a fun and heartfelt story reminiscent of Greek mythology between these two lovers.

But to me, this story really represents the queer experience. The Hell forced upon you by others, watching those you surround yourself with get hurt because of who you or they are, but also the steadfastness of knowing who you are, the love and support that comes with being yourself, and knowing there's always the light to pull you out of the dark.

While I firmly believe Midnighter and Apollo were at their best in the old Wildstorm/Authority comics, this run has really become a favorite of mine that I highly recommend to anyone even remotely interested in comics or these characters.

And I hope I managed to portray my thoughts semi-cohesively.

[3amdrabbles]

DC Comics has this issues where they'll introduce a new character, and then after a little while they drop that character and barely even acknowledge they exist.

They likely do this because the new character isn't as immediately popular as established characters, forgetting it took years to make those characters the powerhouses that they are today.

And it fucking sucks. The amount of characters that are so ripe with potential but get sidelined is too damn high.

(I don't want so many of my faves to be so niche, please...)

[3amdrabbles]

I really like the idea of Jason being trained by Ghost-Maker during his Lost Days arc.

Since Talia knew Minhkhoa, and how good he is, she'd send Jason his way probably at the end of his long list of trainers. (She knows Khoa wouldn't deal with someone who's insufficiently trained)

Minhkhoa, being who he is, would not want to deal with training some angsty teenager, even if it would be a good challenge and a fun mystery as to who this kid is and why Talia cares about him.

But when he learns he's Bruce's dead kid? Oh he would immediately start training Jason. He'd rub it in Bruce's face too given the chance.

[cluescorner]

New 52 Apollo: Oh no!!! My husband threw somebody off a building to avoid confrontation! I need to go catch them!!

Wildstorm/Authority Apollo: My husband threw someone off a building after brutally interrogating them. He is so sexy. For our next date, we are going to blow up a government building and if anyone survives we take turns killing them in increasingly brutal ways. I'm gonna make a heart out of a small intestine and give it to him as an anniversary gift. I love my life.

[3amdrabbles]

Midnighter and Apollo were both absolute (glorious) killers in the Wildstorm comics, Apollo just had better PR. That PR was so good, in fact, that DC as a whole fell for it and now Apollo is nothing like how he used to be.

In this essay I will-

[3amdrabbles]

Please ignore my drawing skills (and handwriting) but I re-designed Apollo's suit to work for a cosplay for my partner, since the normal skintight suit made him uncomfortable!

I'll also be making a halo and fuck around with some lights under the gloves for his solar powered attacks. I'm kinda happy with how it came out!

[3amdrabbles]

Midnighter calling Apollo beautiful with his dying breath while being cradled in Apollo's arms>>> anything else ever written

[garden-archives]

*takes long drag from my candy cigarette*

fanon superbat yearns to be the old canon midpollo.

[3amdrabbles]

*takes a swig from my tumbler filled with ice and apple juice*

Modern canon Midpollo yearns to be the old canon Midpollo.

[garden-archives]

*eats candy cigarette*

you're absolutely right. they're no longer the freaky murder husbands whose daughter is the spirit of the 21st century and arguably one of the strongest beings of the universe.

[3amdrabbles]

*crunches on the glass*

Your tags speak true, friend. These modern versions are washed down purely for the easy consumption for the masses.

Old Midpollo would gift each other the hearts of their enemies, raised their daughter with care and love, and were so disgustingly and unapologetically together that it annoyed everyone on the Carrier, as it should.

And while new Midpollo has some good moments. Such as Midnighter going to hell for Apollo with zero hesitation or a decent plan, it still pales. It falls short of the mark. It's like the rainbow without red. You see the intention, but I miss the passion.

[3amdrabbles]

The writers and producers of Venom 3 were absolute cowards.

Don't get me wrong. There were a lot of fun scenes and I genuinely laughed a couple of times too.

Where it really fell apart for me (asides the pretty bad writing) was how they handled the relationship of Eddie and Venom. I know not everyone is on board with them as a couple, which is fine, and the movie doesn't have to go into a queer alien relationship.

BUT they build up to it. They teased it and they lead you on the entire movie only for nothing. I'll be going into heavy spoilers from here on out.

- The tagline of the movie is 'till death do they part' which, come on.

- Eddie talks to a kid and Venom tells him he's would make a good dad. The way this scene plays out brings out this tender and very intimate feeling. (And in the comics they actually have a kid together too)

- The way Eddie goes from annoyed to reluctantly happy/at peace at the weird family sing along where Venom sings loudly in his head... It just screamed of this fondness for a partner and not just a friend.

- The immediate panic Eddie has the moment he wakes up without Venom in his body / The way he said he needed Venom when he woke up without Venom (He wakes up twice without the symbiote)

- A ton of little scenes/interactions that just felt out of place for it being just platonic (Eddie looking at a married couple in Vegas with longing, Venom talking to Eddie about how happy he is while they were parachuting, ect.)

- The whole ending fight and the way that went? No straight explanation. Their desperate talk thinking they would die... I thought they would kiss. They prolly should.

Some people will tell me I'm reaching for straws or something. I might be. But I still felt like it was a bit queer bait-y througout.

[3amdrabbles]

Little edit it did from my most recent cosplay at an outdoor con called Elfia. I'm still so proud that I managed to get my mask to actually glow and that I finished the jacket in time.

[3amdrabbles]

You've heard of enemies to lovers, now get ready for

Lovers to enemies.

No but for real I binge read the whole of this series and it is absolutely amazing and heartbreaking and just... Peak. So if you have the chance to, you should really check it out!