Grace’s Mind Palace

some quick notes for high fantasy au:

rules a kingdom called lexor alongside erica del portenza

had erica killed erica tragically passed sometime after the birth of their daughter, lena

eve is either his mistress or his royal concubine, they get on better than lex and erica

circe is his court mage and some believe she has "bewitched" lex

mercy is the head of the royal guard

joker is his court jester. self-explanatory really. other members of the legion of doom are part of lex's court too but I'll iron those details out later.

lusts after/covets the house of el's son and their lands/power (like he does in every universe smh) and managed to get a strand of hair or blood or some other personal effect of kal's and, with circe's magic and his own blood, created a "homunculus" that he could control and use to challenge the house of el's line of succession. this creature turned out to be more cognizant/"complete" than they intended and lex elected to raise him as a son and named him leon (it's kon we all know it's kon).

leon has the legendary strength of the house of el, was trained by mercy in hand-to-hand combat + weaponry, and has learned some magic courtesy of circe.

That is all.

Yeah, you'll find a lot of early comics with ads and activities aimed at kids. But as those comics grew with their audience and Seduction of The Innocent dropped a huge censorship wave in US comics- cape comics went out of their way to prove they weren't for kids.

The genre's rejection of the Comics Code Authority led to so much edgy adult material. And while that was somewhat necessary to free this medium from censorship, it led to an over course-correction when they're proving how "not for kids" they are.

One of the reasons the middle grade/ YA graphic novel boom happened was because cape comics (and those like it in Image or Dark Horse) left this huge hole in a medium that greatly improves literacy for kids. And so the US comic market shifted, and now you see cape comics with middle grade and YA imprints featuring aged down superheroes in self contained graphic novels to appeal to the youth.

All I'm saying is, it's easy to remember your vivid childhood memories of Powerpuff Girls, Static Shock, The Raimi Spiderman films, Teen Titans, and think that superheroes were always for kids. Both those adaptations actually went out of their way to rework superheroes into relatable settings for a younger audience. It's why Spiderverse Miles Morales and Moon Girl Devil Dinosaur resonate so well today.

I told my dad I wanted to know more about Supergirl at like age 7 cause he’s the closest thing you’re gonna get to Bibbo from the Superman comics and he just so happened to have the Batman/Superman:Apokolips film he saw at Game Stop.

Love my Dad, fantastic man. But looking back at how the first time Supergirl lands on earth and almost gets assaulted by two dock workers and then her friend dies? Yeah maybe he should have looked the rating over a bit first? Safe to say my dad immediately turned off the TV and started researching…. After comforting me cause that was the first time I learned a character could die and not come back.

He found Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade and double checked anything and everything he gave me. I fell in love with this series. Looking back it was cheesy as all get out with Scrubs style daydreams and the inclusion of Mr. Mxyzptlk (whom I do adore) but it made me fall in love with comics to where I asked my dad for his iPad every Wednesday to get a new issue of something. I begged to watch the og movies, I got him to dig out his grandpa’s comics, I learned who Lena Luthor was before the Supergirl TV series even included her.

Looking back, I remember still loving supergirl but preferring Supergirl in the Eughth grade to Apocalypse because it felt like something made just for me. Yeah it got dark at the end. Spoiler but I was very worried about Lena Linda for a good minute there. But it was still like a dark I could process and maybe made me seek out the more grungy stuff as an adult. But it was still bright and colorful and simplified a lot of the topics in the “adult” comics for my little elementary school brain.

I’m still in the design phase for the non-Superman ones but I got to J’onn and I was like “crap… idk what to do for the skirt”

Like Superman I gave a basic A-line with a slit, Batman I basically did a Morticia-esque mermaid design, Flash got the asymmetrical one with short in front and long in back (for running lol) and Diana’s whole thing is very Greek inspired but J’onn… idk what to do for him? A friend suggested a Sarong?

Anyway, Martian skirt advice pls?

This is deeply important! Gosh there was this celebrity who wore this dress that I thought was so J'onn core but I can't find it! Urgh but! It had this vibe:

It's imitating J'onn's iconic red X shape into a dress. There's also dresses with X's on the back, but we all know J'onn would be wearing the X in the front lol. If it could be accompanied with a gown cape train thing! It'd get eyes turning.

Here’s current design ish cause I like to overshare! (Pardon my drawing skills I’m doing this on my phone with my thumbs. Also when I was making them I went off the “if I know what they are when I buy fabric and patterns that’s all that matters” mentality)

To follow up here’s the photos of what I got done so far for the Superman dress (the logos are drying rn)

and the rest of the current designs. Aquaman is on the way (thinking full queen/king ballgown) and hawkgirl is still developing but there shall be feathers everywhere. Please if you or anyone has ideas I’d love them!

it's like you're simping for spikes when you think about it. behold their child: