#comicships

[co-mixed]

Ship Week: Billy x Teddy

Couple number six. Any Marvel fan would’ve called it, and the closer we get to finish line, the more it makes sense that they’d be here.

No introduction needed: Billy and Teddy Kaplan-Altman.

They’re the example of a couple who can make it through anything, they know each other better than anyone else ever could. But the main thing is… they like each other’s families (well, Billy’s family likes Teddy). Either way, that last one basically screams “meant to be”.

Оther than that, they have a pretty strong and healthy relationship with just enough drama, so that it’s still fun to watch them. All the tough stuff seems to only bring them closer, and after Empyre they’ve been happily married. Unless I missed any updates, because I haven’t been following everything. But I believe if anyone can make it, they can.

Writers seem to value their marriage as much as the value Sue and Reed’s, Northstar and Kyle’s, Jessica and Luke’s. Notice how I mentioned everyone who didn’t become boring after tying the knot (I’m looking at you, Romy)? 

I’m definitely here for it.

And if they get a solo for a little getaway with an adventure, that would be just right.

[karolinasdeans]

Favorite Comic Ships → Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain 

[co-mixed]

Ship Week: Mystique x Destiny

Couple number four is just me going back to what I know and love i.e. Marvel. These couple had a crazy tough road, but they finally made it. 

Imagine being kept apart by censorship. 

They’re the definition of “they were just really good friends”. Ok if you still don’t know who they are I’ll say it.

Mystique and Destiny.

Destiny is more of a supporting character, there are only a few stories where she’s an active participant and that’s a shame. Especially now with everything Krakoa has. However, she is also one of the main threats to Moira.

Mystique is Mystique, do I really need to say more? I love stories involving her, and her occasionally conniving, occasionally selfish personality.

But then there’s the problem: while we know Destiny and Mystique have been on and off for ages, we have only glimpses of their time together. We saw them as “really good friends”, sure. But we haven’t seen them properly, not nearly enough. Because if you take away all the censorship, that’s a crazy beautiful story about them sticking together through everything, Mystique staying the same age while Irene gets older, their kids and family drama. I kinda wanna see that.

So while I really love this pair, it’s the potential that I really see in them. Give them time together, give them a family.

Give Mystique her wife back.

[co-mixed]

Ship Week: Reylo

The fifth couple has to be from Star Wars, and it’s hard to pick, because there are three iconic ones, but we’ve only seen two of them get the well deserved screen time. Luckily, I set the rules well enough so that I can throw Reylo into the mix. So it’s Rey and Ben (you may call him Kylo as well, all the same to me).

I wrote enough salty posts after tRoS, which was a disaster. But let’s focus on the good things. The dynamic that we saw un The Last Jedi, the chemistry and the getting to know each other without reaching for a lightsaber.

The idea of star-crossed, the ones and the inevitability is essential to Skywalkers/Solos. And the Force bond or as TLJ fans branded it, Force-skype, gave us a few incredible scenes. Before anyone reminds me that it’s a movie, and we’re doing comics, I’m gonna pretend I’m talking about graphic adaptations. 

There’s always something I find interesting about love stories that grow out of enmity. Because the theory is, true hatred isn’t real but true love is. Two sequel movies are a great example of both characters who are supposed to hate each other (tell me again the legend of how the Jedi are balanced), going against that expectation. Then the war backdrop makes it even more dramatic. Sure, I might be making this up right now, but that’s the episode 9 I wanted to watch. I still want to, that’s why I’m adding Rey and Ben to the list as a couple.  

[co-mixed]

Ship Week: Angelus x Darla

Couple number three came to us from (drumroll) Buffyverse.

It’s natural to assume that I would pick a classic like Buffy and… Parker (kidding, and either one of her vampires), or Willow and Tara (still hurts, huh), or Willow and Oz. But I’m picking the couple that is most exciting and in their own way more fun than any other (if you’re into slaughter and stuff). So it’s gonna be Angelus and Darla.

Now before you start throwing quotes in my face and backing up Angel’s statement that he never loved Darla, I’m going to defend our boy Angelus. Because he most definitely did, and she loved him too. Yes, their love was twisted and dysfunctional, like a pretty vicious game. But it worked for both of them, so it works for me.

You can’t spend a hundred years with someone without forming an attachment, and theirs was pretty strong.

Sure they betrayed each other left and right: Darla left Angelus to deal with Holtz, he payed her back with the same coin, they cheated on each other, spent time apart. But in the end they cared for each other enough to always go back.

But the positive side in all of this, is that to them it was all a game, that excited both Darla and Angelus.

That’s why out of all the couples in The Show (“The Show” being Buffy & Angel), they seem most likely to make it.

All the other relationships crashed and burned, even Dru and Spike, I mean he was too much of a romantic and then got a soul (then died but that never sticks). But had Darla succeeded at taking away Angel’s soul in season 2, they’d get their happy evil eternity. Wouldn’t that be lovely (unless you’re Buffy, or live in LA, or basically any human).

[co-mixed]

My involuntary break from comics is actually a torture, because I can’t wait to dig back in and find out what’s going on here, and where is it going. Give me all of my classic ships (except for Jean & Scott).

[co-mixed]

Ship Week: Luke x Jessica

Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. I’m going to go with them for day 7. I know that the status of the first Marvel’s family belongs to Reed and Sue, but my favorite one is probably this. Through several limited runs, and ongoing series they’ve made a journey that’s been most enjoyable. They’ve been through Purple disaster several times, they survived Civil War, they manage to live as a superhero and a private investigator, while being parents. They keep things very lively. There’s always enough trauma and drama to make their being complicated, and they don’t always deal with things together. I’d call them the realest couple for their mistakes and secrets. All in all, here’s to love (twisted and crazy)! 

[co-mixed]

Ship Week: Emma x Scott

Starting with the classics — Emma Frost and Scott Summers.

At this point I would agree with anyone who said that Emma’s outgrown this relationship. But while it lasted it was one of the most interesting and well developed relationships in the X-men.

They got together through a very disturbing plot. And sure, it was conventionally wrong on so many levels. But, and that’s important here, it was pretty great storytelling. Because if we take out all the disturbing and wrong, we would be left with simple and very similar plots every time. And I don’t want that.

When they were a couple, they both had an interesting past, that occasionally came in and affected them. Like occasional Jean resurrections or references, because she was a huge part of Scott’s life and pretty much the whole driving force behind his development. Like Emma’s struggle with her past and her more emotional vulnerable side. 

That’s actually what I love about her most — Emma has a way more deep personality than Jean, and I’ve already covered that here and here.

And then when they were over, we got to see that happen, and we got to experience the aftermath. They were not the same, but they still had the spark. This is the kind of relationship that’s not naive and romantic, but mature and dramatic, thus more deep. I guarantee you, I’ll use this exact argument but in reverse to defend another one of my picks. This is the kind of relationship that maybe deserved another chance. But maybe not.

In the end we got a complete story from start to finish. A story that feels well planned out, despite being a patchwork of different writers having a go.

What I like about Emma and Scott isn’t as simple as them being just enough to make one well functioning leader. It’s the drama and trauma, and how they approached it. Before Hickman (or Before Krakoa for that matter), they were very affected by their shared past. So in every decision and every action that was an essential element. It still is but in lesser proportions.