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I wanna clarify; despite obviously including bits from Miles O'Brien's Wikipedia page, this isn't necessarily a dig against his character as a whole. Moreso this zine was made in anger towards the way showrunner and actors talk about the character — and the idea of a "default" kind of human existing to begin with. It's an uncomfortable reminder that Star Trek was, despite it's reputation as a very politically progressive show, made by a bunch of middle-aged American men and a handful of people who still felt that they had to cater to that group as the "default."

In my opinion, Miles O'Brien is the least relatable character on DS9. Yet, he's apparently the one I'm meant to relate the most to. His very bro-dude relationship with Julian is the only "real" relationship on Star Trek, that is to say, the only one the writers or actors felt they could personally relate to — therefore the only one that matters, I suppose. It's upsetting to realize that a lot of people spend their whole lives squinting at the screen, trying to find some way to relate to the straight white men that star in every movie, to then be told that the "stranger" or more "unique" characters are unrelatable and Star Trek needed an "everyman" to ground it, even if this everyman comes off as comically conservative in his post-scarcity space utopian society.

I think it speaks to a lack of practice, when seasoned sci-fi writers creating a world full of aliens completely fail to "relate" to a character because they aren't human enough; much in the same way that white men struggle to relate to characters of color or characters with a different gender or sexuality, while the reverse is expected as the norm, and calls for representation of the wide spectrum of human existence is treated as whiny. This is also very noticeable with characters of different neurotypes; hence I guess why it's supposed to be a funny gag when O'Brien can't listen to his friend talk about their special interest for five minutes without complaining. Then again, I guess middle-aged allistic Americans who kind of hate their wives deserve to be represented too...

Either way, hearing all this out of the mouths of widely loved actors and writers of a show that's otherwise very good at making me feel seen is... A rude reminder that DS9 was made in the 90's, lol. And, this goes without saying, I may be a little extra sensitive to this kind of thing due to how personally tired I am of having to be patient and understanding with incredibly privileged people while they continue to throw hissyfits every time you ask them to please stop pulling their favourite microagressions. I don't wanna have to "relate" to another everyman. I never wanna have to consider the emotions of the Everyman ever again, real or fictional. I'm so burnt out on patience. But I guess that's a me thing.

(And, because I can see this one coming; no, I'm not interested in discussing why Miles is actually really cool or totally bi-coded or how he wants to fuck Bashir, or whatever. You're completely free to those headcanons and I understand that it's hard for me to post an artwork like this and not leave at least some people feeling accused, but I really don't want to fight. I don't like the character, but we don't have to feel the same. We all have different interpretations. I'm not calling you racist for liking Miles O'Brien as a character, yeah? This is a meditation on the way the writers and directors talk about Miles, and the way they seem to interpret him.)

Also, yes! I did cut a hole in one page to work as a TV. Demonstration (ft. my cat) below:

Everyone knows that Kon and Clark's relationship, if it could be defined, is more sibling-like most of the time. But, and here's the question... who wanted it that way? How did it come to be? Did anyone want something different, once?

Let's go back to the beginning.

Right from the get-go, we're presented with a character who wants to prove himself as a "man", who seeks validation and to help, who's impulsive and who doesn't understand exactly how healthy intimacy looks like (I'm sure this won't be a problem later... I need to make a meta on how sexuality is used to manipulate him and how everyone is out there trying to use him one way or another).

Knowing this, let's look into his first interaction to who he belives to be Superman, the man he's based his identity on.

He's joking, trying to give a good first impression, attempting to form a relationship with an almost innocent glee. Take note of the "pops" joke, which screams "I want to be accepted". He's then backstabbed tremendously in an incredibly traumatic way, but that's neither here nor there.

Now let's see how he acts around the actual, real Superman. This time, he has his doubts over the authenticity, which is understandable.

He's once again joking around, almost more than previously shown. He's almost desperate in how blatant he is in his attempt to be liked... And it very much doesn't work. Not only is Clark not that impressed by him (which, I mean he just came back from the dead), he doesn't even react when Kon apparently sacrifices himself to save the world. Poor Steel has more of a reaction.

Now to be fair, let's see how their relationship develops. Which, surprisingly, is quite slowly. Clark did not really interfere with Kon's life at all... And except when he needed him due to an intergalactic threat or whatever, he very much did not call him, and never looked into his personal life at all. Who needs supervision when you're a celebrity and have no secret identity and no name and also are getting beat up in your public school or getting fucking groomed by so many fucking adult women, am I right? You'd think every adult in Kon's life wouldn't be incompetent, yet here we are.

Back on track, he's the one to officially give him the name Superboy (to get him off his case in a way, since they had trademarked the name Superman for Kon, but still there's no denying he cares in his own way), which makes Kon think, understandably, he will inherit the Superman mantle one day. This will be a problem when he finds out he cannot age anymore, but don't worry it'll get fixed later on.

It's obvious he wants to belong really badly. It's also obvious he wants his independence, as it has been shown he doesn't take well when given orders outside of battle.

Needed to put this panel cause this is a barely disguised desperate cry for companionship. And Clark very much misses the point... or does he.

The thing is, Clark is shown to be... not too good with handling Kon's grief or emotions. He's far too... pragmatic.

Another panel that I needed to include cause LOOK HOW CUTE KON IS WHILE HELPING OUT. MY SWEET BOY.

Even though he's reticent to being... controlled, to call it something, he's shown repeatedly to be in awe of Superman. He greatly admires the guy.

Fun fact: Kon was not invited to Clark's wedding. Neither was Supergirl or Steel, to be fair, and that's because Clark keeps his identity very much a secret from them. I don't even think Bruce was there.

The division Clark creates with his civilian identity and superhero one could make me write another meta.

As a side note, this is what Clark had to say about the relationship between a 15 year old and a 21 year old, maybe older. Every fucking adult fails this kid. Oh, Kon, the tragedy that you are.

Now let's get back on track. When in a nightmare, this is Kon's worst possible fear: not being good enough for Superman.

On the other hand, this is Clark's opinion on Superboy: Impulsive and young, def not impressed. Ignore Clark's design on that first panel, it was the 90's.

But let's jump up a bit. Remember how I said Superman kind of gave him the name Superboy? Well, it's not the only name he gave him... A name he gave to, arguably, make sure Kon would spy on Cadmus on his behalf, which is something not many people mention.

Notice how Clark is the one defining the terms of the relationship.

Talking about that, here is young Clark once again defining the relationship. Here, Kon is hurt cause he was literally lied to, and yet young Clark says he did so cause he would probably like to be a father figure? I guess? Let's be honest, Kon could have really used a responsible paternal figure, so where was that energy when push came to shove? If anything, he's been nothing but polite and distant.

And after that, we jump some issues straight into this very emotive scene... Where he's still lying to Kon through omission. Notice a pattern, people? That's right: once again, Kon has no say in what the relationship is. And also, is it just me or does this come from out of nowhere?

Can't believe I still need to keep going. There's so much I haven't touched upon yet.