Faerietale They/them

I think visually the instructions are easy to follow: You use one of the dot eyes, then use the top eyelid as the eyelash, the bottom eyelid as a double eyelid, the top eyelash as an extension to the top lash, and the bottom lashes as a lower eyelid. You use the eyeshadow as the "white" of the eye. You can optionally use a mole as a nose.

I tried it on a character I was struggling to make, and holy shit! Holy shit!!!

happy pride

My dudes (gender neutral). My people. My fellow nerds. Superman initially rejecting his clone because he doesn’t smell right. The kid was in a soup of artificial, clone-making chemicals and he doesn’t smell like he should. But what the fuck is he supposed to smell like? Superman having no frame of reference for this crazy feeling, for this intense dislike of a person with his face, and struggling internally with it because he knows logically that this deep revulsion doesn’t make sense. Problem is, he physically can’t help it. Something about this kid makes his teeth itch and his fingers twitch.

Then the kid takes a shower and changes his clothes and oh. Why would I push him away? That’s my baby. Hate him? How could I hate my baby? My baby. My sweet, perfect, amazing angel baby. My baby. My baby. My baby. Mybabymybabymybabymybaby.

And it’s probably hilarious from the outside looking in, because Superman looked ready to light the kid on fire a minute ago and now he’s all gooey-eyed. No thoughts, just sappy smiles and burying his nose in the clone’s hair. He’s ready to pluck the moon from the sky and hang it on a string for his kid. It’s sweet and adorable.

It’s also completely, utterly terrifying. Seeing how quickly one of the strongest beings in the known universe fell victim to his own biology, how wildly the pendulum swung from one extreme to the other. Batman’s immediately planning a trip to the Fortress to gather intel on this reaction. How long does it last? Is it normal? Is it supposed to be like this? Does it have anything to do with the clone being a teenager and not a newborn? Would it be worse with a newborn? Does the League, does he need contingency plans for this?

And Superman—Clark recognizes the sudden shift, but can’t do a thing about it. He should be scared of how every concern in his mind gets swept away by this out-of-control hormonal response, but he doesn’t want to do a thing about it. He can’t help the smile plastered on his face when Kon—what a perfect name, a beautiful name for my baby, mybabymybabyMYbabymyBABYMYBABYMYBABYMYBABY—sighs contently in his sleep or scrunches his nose in disgust at new foods, new sensations.

Yuu, who cowers when Riddle starts to go red.

Yuu, who hates the feeling of sand and avoids brushing shoulders with Leona.

Yuu, who panics when they’re too deep in the water, never trusts the Leech twins at the beach, and get scared by too many limbs.

Yuu, who shrinks away when Jamil looks them in the eyes a little too long.

Yuu, who rushes to compliment Vil, lest he get upset.

Yuu, who clings to Grim a bit tighter and doesn’t like going to Ignihyde alone.

Yuu, who stays awake until they physically cannot because they’re scared they won’t wake up.

Give me the boys feeling genuine guilt over what they've done and how they can't fix it

Give me the boys knowing that no matter how they may change and grow they've permanently scarred someone

Batfam head turn around

Full image under cut

w*rk killed my ability to draw but ara is my first priority so

As you may know, there was recently a DC Comics boycott as a part of the DCSoWhite movement since DC has not had a mainline ongoing solo with a Black lead for over 1200 days. You can read more about this here, here, here, and here. The boycott has been cancelled (link), but that doesn't mean we can't still show support for Black comic creators!

One of the things the movement called for fans to do was to "[Support] Black creators through independent and creator-owned projects." So this post is meant to provide tips on how to do this.

Check out other works of Black creators you're already familiar with

The Black comic creators you're already a fan of who have made comics for DC or Marvel have likely also made comics for other publishers too. You can usually find out about other comics they've worked on through their Wikipedia page, social media pages, and their own website if they have one. And it's a good idea to follow their social media to learn about any of their projects in the future!

Look through indie publisher websites

A great way to find out about indie comics is to check out indie publishers' websites. There will almost always be a page on their websites with all their comics so you can easily look through them and the creators will be listed so you can look into the creators too. This is one way to find out about Black comic creators who you might not already be familiar with.

The publishers that are listed as examples in the webpages linked above are Image Comics, BOOM! Studios, Vault Comics, Ignition Press, and Stranger Comics.

Check out existing lists

There are already lists online that specifically recommend Black creators to check out and comics by Black creators. You can also find recommendations and lists on social media. This is another great way to find out about Black comic creators you're not yet familiar with.

Speaking of lists, I would like to point you to this post by @bimboopo which includes a list of many Black webtoon creators which you can go check out!

Full context for the nosy

"Unnecessary superpowers"

"Origin tied to a joker event"

"We have Tim Drake at home"

"Dukes powers don't help him solve mysteries, don't make for interesting fights, and are actually a detriment to act attempt at at stealthing"

"There really isn't a Duke story you couldn't have told using Tim"

"Speaking of representation, if that's so important--"

Alright, Mr. @lucas-deziderio, let me stop you right there.

It is beyond cool for you to not be into a character. If Duke Thomas doesn’t hit for you, fine. If you want to love Superboy Prime, go live your truth. Nobody is forcing you to care about Duke.

But you are not just saying “Duke isn’t for me.” You are making things up about a character you clearly do not understand so you can dress up your disinterest as objective criticism.

“Unnecessary superpowers” is already a wild place to start, because Duke’s powers are extremely useful for both detective work and stealth. Light manipulation, invisibility/camouflage, enhanced perception, and psychometry are not random useless add-ons. They are literally investigative and tactical abilities. Saying they “don’t help him solve mysteries” or “don’t make for interesting fights” does not tell me anything about Duke. It tells me you don’t know what his powers are.

Then we get to “Tim Drake at home,” which is just lazy.

Duke is not “smart funny Gotham boy sidekick.” Duke’s entire arc is about being a kid from Gotham proper (Which Tim is not) who lived through the city’s failures, organized with other disenfranchised youth, challenged the idea that Batman’s system was enough, and became a hero from the margins instead of from inside the Wayne Manor machine.

That is not Tim Drake’s story.

Tim comes from a completely different social position, a completely different origin, and a completely different relationship to Batman and Gotham. Tim is not the character whose story is about championing the people Gotham leaves behind. Tim is not the character whose heroism is rooted in collective action with neglected kids on the street. Tim is not the character whose existence critiques the limits of Batman’s approach from the perspective of someone Batman’s world repeatedly failed.

So no, there really are Duke stories you could not just tell with Tim. The fact that they both have brains and jokes does not make them interchangeable. That is not analysis. That is skimming a wiki and deciding you found the whole character.

And speaking of representation, “just make other Bat-family members Black” is not the sage answer you seem to think it is. Black lego (LEGO!) Batgirls and a truly mediocre-to-bad Black Tim Drake adaptation in a bad-to-unbearable Titans show, are not the same thing as having a Black character whose story, community, politics, and position in Gotham actually inform who he is.

Duke being Black is not a palette swap. It matters to the shape of his story. It matters that his arc is about Gotham’s neglected kids, civic failure, survival, organizing, and being failed by the very heroic infrastructure that supposedly exists to protect people like him.

So when you flatten all of that into “boring,” then turn around and say representation can just be solved by making somebody else Black in an adaptation, yes, that reads a certain way. And the way it reads is not flattering.

You can dislike Duke. That is your prerogative.

But “I personally don’t care about this character” is not the same thing as “this character has no purpose.” And if your argument requires ignoring his actual powers, ignoring his actual arc, ignoring his actual social context, and pretending Tim Drake can be dropped into his place with no meaningful loss, then your argument is not based in the reality of the fiction.

It is based in your lack of desire to engage with experiences that were not catered toward you.

And just to avoid misunderstanding: when your response to a Black character being defended is “well, if representation matters so much, just make other characters Black,” while also dismissing the actual Black character as boring, replaceable, unnecessary, and not worth understanding?

That is not good-faith criticism.

That is you telling on yourself.

So yes. You can like Superboy Prime. You can dislike Duke. You can think Prime is more interesting. Have fun.

But do not pretend this was some thoughtful literary argument when it was really just you adding your two centavos to a conversation you did not bother to understand.

Calling Superboy Prime lame was not an attack on you.

This is.

This post is an attack on you.

This post is me calling you racist and intellectually dishonest.