Howdy

Have fun and enjoy your time. icon made by @PleasentlyPony :3

[blacknbluejustice]

Who should I draw with Martian Manhunter Next?

Batman (again)

Hawkwoman

Rose Wilson (the movie)

Scorch

M'yri'ah

J'en (throw back to the old comics)

someone else??? (drop it down below)

Voting ended onAug 7, 2023

[blacknbluejustice]

[grezzirossi]

They're besties for me <3 Bonus:

[blacknbluejustice]

Yeah! Which road?!

[dinoraye]

Sigh...

[inksweater]

Stupid Twijack and their stupid adorable dresses made me stare at my laptop all Saturday

[sisaloofafump]

His home got blown up while he was sleeping :/

[discount-supervillain]

[jesncin]

The Potential of Asian Lois Lane: An extra addition

A bonus addition to my Asian Lois essay. I know Lois Chaudhari isn't technically a Lois since the premise of the comic she's from is where the Superman mythos is fictional and the characters in it happen to be named Clark/Lois etc. But since she's a Lois stand in and romantic partner to the Clark Kent of that story, I figured she deserves an honorable mention at least.

Here's where I position her in my Spectrum of Asian Lois Lane chart. And I'd like to talk about her!

Compared to American Alien, this Lois is actually specific and textually Indian in Superman: Secret Identity. Unlike American Alien Lois (that never specified what kind of Asian Lois was), she can't be replaced as a white woman because the text acknowledges her Indian identity (her name, lines of dialogue like this, etc.) hence she's not interchangeable with whiteness. So this take has that going for it.

Where Lois Chaudhari still falls behind Girl Taking Over (and what it shares in common with American Alien) is yet again a sense of missed opportunities narratively.

In Superman: Secret Identity, a man named Clark Kent from Picketsville suddenly has Superman's powers. After years of being made fun of for his namesake, he suddenly is what everyone has been making fun of him for- and as he lives through life he slowly understands why fictional!Superman is the way he is. It's a great story but where it misses the mark for me is its failure to recognize Superman as an immigrant. Secret Identity's Clark isn't an alien immigrant, or a human immigrant, and is instead ostracized because of his name. Government baddies want to do experiments on him so he has to hide from them too. But then he meets city girl Lois Chaudhari, and they connect because people keep teasing them for their names and Lois knows what it's like to keep secrets because she,,, committed a crime as a teen once.

"I guess we're both dangerous felons, then. Public menaces."

Being hunted by the government and being experimented on isn't really the same as being caught shoplifting.

It works well enough as a connection but to me is a huge missed opportunity to have an Indian American relate to your Superman stand-in as an immigrant. To connect on a deeper level other than "people make fun of us for sharing names with fictional characters". Later in the story, Clark and Lois have twin daughters who are visibly Indian. They too, have Superman's powers. While we're treated extensively to the narrative showing us why Clark would hide his powers from the government wishing to seek harm on him, we never get to see what Clark's daughters have to deal with on top of being visibly non-white.

Superman as an alien immigrant is an anecdote in this story. Because after all, that's not what a white American man from Picketsville would find relatable about him, is it? I have the same thing to say about Secret Identity that I did with American Alien: "Clark isn’t the only American Alien in American Alien, if you catch my drift."

I think this story is the perfect encapsulation of the limits of a white writer. One of my hottest takes on Superman is that the best and most holistic take on his character doesn't exist in the white imagination. Take a look once more at the Spectrum of Asian Lois Lanes chart that I made. All save for Girl Taking Over were headed by white men (MAWS may have Asian directors and writers on their team but ultimately its pitch and main ideas are the brain child of Jake Wyatt, a white man).

People have taken issue with me saying this and assume that I mean white people can't write a good Superman story, and no. That's not what I'm saying. I like Superman: Secret Identity. I even like American Alien. But it's been 80 years of predominantly white writers of all backgrounds getting the chance to write Superman- and already multiple attempts at an Asian Lois- and yet it took until Gene Yang (and artists Gurihiru) with Smashes the Klan and Sarah Kuhn (and artist Arielle Jovellanos) with Girl Taking Over that I felt Superman's themes as an immigrant finally took center stage and weren't just a mention or anecdote.

In no way do I want to imply that getting writers of color or Asian writers specifically will mean you'll be guaranteed a great Superman story. I'm against promoting the idea that diverse talent is infallible or tokenizing and essentializing them in such a way. What I am saying is that the best and most holistic story on Superman as an alien immigrant isn't even a goal in the white imagination. Immigrant Superman doesn't live in that mind. He doesn't pay rent there. He doesn't stop by to visit. And no, Superman creators Shuster and Siegel wouldn't have written that story either. Superman may have been the "Champion of the Oppressed" from another planet under their pen, but he would never have related to or have had immigrant solidarity with America's perpetual foreigners the way Smashes the Klan portrayed him as having. Superman's creators were too busy writing Slam Bradley to be able to write that kind of Superman.

The appeal of these cape characters for me, is the process of adaptation. Seeing them be handed off to someone else with different life experience. Seeing them bring a whole new perspective that surpasses even the creator's intentions on their character. That's what makes these characters rich and worthy of constant revisits. I just think that people of different backgrounds should be able to get as many chances as white men have with writing Superman and his cast of characters.

[discount-supervillain]

[alexdnn-art]

you look beautiful, honey…

[blacknbluejustice]

Soul Enemies (based on a reddit prompt)

"While there is no such thing as a soul mate, there very much is such a thing as a soul enemy." The confused scientist looked down at the results while looking at Superman and Lex Luthor. "Studying you two and several other dozen pairs help proves it..." The look of disgust was palpable.

Lex Luthor tried to hold it in, he really did, but it just lined up so perfectly to what he told Superman before, they can never be friends because what they are is too diametrically opposed... and now there's science to back it up.

Superman couldn't wrap his head around it. Its not like they haven't teamed up to save the world- hell the MULTIVERSE together. Its not like they haven't found common ground on even civil things... this had to be an elaborate troll of some sort. This couldn't be right, could it? Its not like Lex hasn't paid scientists for specific results before... but even his reaction couldn't be appropriate if he bought them off.

Lex continued to laugh before clearing his throat. "And how did you, and the others of your field, discovered this?"

"Well, since the discovery of the soul and interactions with souls like Jim Craddock, aka the Gentlemen Ghost, and studying folks who have, now been proven to have reincarnated like Katar Hol, aka Hawkman, we looked for what can bind souls either to their bodies, or the world in general." The scientist pulled out a specific chunk of her papers, a good 186 pages of the 300 pages she held. "We found a thread that binds two specific souls together and thought this was the soul mate."

"Given that Katar and Shayera keep getting together it would make sense, but you claimed it wasn't the case." Superman couldn't wrap his head around this.

"Exactly! We were absolutely shocked and horrified." The woman was clearly distraught enough that even Lex's smug smile faded. "Their souls have no bond that can be recorded. How they find each other every life and still marry may simply come from familiarity... Every soul we could record... they- they don't have bonds unless their enemies! You two! Batman and Joker- back when he was alive, even Martian Manhunter and his own brother-" She dropped her papers by that point. "HIS OWN BROTHER! The undeniable hatred and vitrail that comes from these bonds are insane!"

Lex decided it would be beneficial to help pick up these papers, give them a good look while he was at it. "And so Soul Enemies are very much real and recorded."

"Yes and the more and more we look into it, the more proof we find."

"And how many souls have you've recorded having soul enemies."

"Sixteen dozen of the 18 dozen we studied." The scientist sighed until Lex caught the one page she didn't get to yet. "And yes, that includes a singular mailman and 3 dogs... their souls are so spiteful when they cross each other... which would be funny if wasn't so scary."

"Scary indeed." Superman helped picked up even more papers. As much as he hated it, the science was there... but maybe, just MAYBE, the science was wrong. They only been studying souls proper for 2 years and if the papers are somethign to go by, they barely are over 200 different souls studied. Can this even be conclusive as a whole? "But maybe there's something more to it. Keep up the good work and don't let this deter you."

"I'll be sending over a couple million." Lex's smile returned. "I trust you and your team would be able to put it to good use studying more souls."

"Thank you, thank you both." The scientist took the papers. "We'll continue to study the souls and hopefully that grant can help us expand our search."

"Of course. I can't wait to see more." Lex and Superman left the scientist so she can go back to her peers and Lex couldn't wait to get his new check book to give them a good couple million. "So this proves we can never truly be friends."

"I don't think so." Superman made sure Lex could hear him clearly. "There is good in you Luthor, we've worked together before."

"Only because it helped push my goals, if you weren't beneficial, I would have killed you off by now." Lex bluffed.

Superman knew it.

But neither of them were ready to face the truth, soul enemies are far more complicated and intertwined than they would ever realize and the beauty of this complexity is what they need to live...

[insertlogo]

Why is he called slime boy

Like genuinely why?

ANYWAY since i gave slimeboy new magic and mentioned the incident, im going to elaborate.

The incident in potions class was just him accidentally letting loose a modified slime he was practicing on, said slime attached to slime boy thus his name. Of course the potions teacher fixed this but he finds the form fun and often uses his magic to just be slime!

Its helpful when he need to fit into small spaces to get information or hide when sneaking out.

[blacknbluejustice]

The show mentioned he got caught with Inkles, a type of small slime monster from their world. Likely covered in their slimes, he has been given that name. He mentioned it in his intro.

Also this is super cute.

[aspureasamelody]

Master Fung is allergic to comforting Omi when he's sad

No emotional support for Omi, ever. At least not from him

[thelightattheendofthistunnel]

lex would have been justified to kill him right then and there

[blacknbluejustice]

FUCK YOU CLARK!

[iamurako]

[heckyeahponyscans]

The fact that “dolls having a tea party” has stuck around in the public consciousness is fascinating to me.

Like, back in the Old Days that would be a way that women would actually socialize.  So if a girl had a doll tea party, she was imitating her mom / other contemporary women.

But these days contemporary women don’t have tea parties. So now, the idea of “dolls having a tea party” is an echo of an extinct behavior, only repeated and referenced because it used to be so prevalent.

So a Barbie in a big hat themed for a tea party is a bit like if they made Transformers that turned into stagecoaches and horse-drawn buggies.

[mysticsybil]

Like I wouldn’t buy the fuck out of stagecoach transformers

[heckyeahponyscans]

the circle is complete

[blacknbluejustice]

Give me your best MLP G3 Halloween Headcannons!

Let's fill the air with spoopiness!

[jesncin]

The Manō kupua encounters a lost haole

Hellweek25 "Ships" prompt.

Giving characters the queer dimension they aren't afforded in canon shouldn't be limited to the white ones who get more chances at being written with depth. Often times in the push for Constantine's queerness to be depicted with dignity, there's a call to remove how his sexuality interacts with the Other. Whether it be inhuman characters, demonic entities or demigods, monster loving is a staple of gothic queer literature. To erase that part of John because it's "gross, perverted and flanderizing" would be to engage in the very sanitization that harms the character's transgressive history. Even when it's flawed.

Queer Hawaiian culture is rich, broad and functions outside of the frameworks for sexuality known to the west. To learn about it is to gaze into the unknown. What would it mean to an outsider critical of the empire he was born into, to look into the eyes of the so called "savage Fish People of Innsmouth" and see something beautiful and familiar staring back?