#chels writes

Intro: I was first introduced to Damian Wayne when I started watching as many DC animated films as I could find. I came across the animated film Son of Batman and, while he was rather difficult towards his family in that film, I found Damian’s story sympathetic and compelling. Shortly after, I read Robin: Son of Batman and I decided to adopt him as my own (amongst the 50 or so other fictional characters I’ve adopted over the years). Damian adores animals (just like I do), isn’t quick to trust and, once someone finds their way into his circle of trust, he is fiercely, sometimes violently, protective over them. Damian can be a prickly one but, at his core, he’s very passionate, determined and good. Although, it took quite some time for him to find his way.

Beginning: Damian Wayne’s first real appearance was in Batman #655. He was a small boy, around 9 years old, that had spent his life being trained as an assassin. Destined to one day lead the League of Assassins. He spent years asking after his father, but would never get the answers he wanted. Talia al Ghul, his mother, was either there throughout his training and observing, or not there at all until he was introduced to her on his 8th birthday (there are conflicting stories, both written by Morrison, strangely enough). At the start, Ra’s al Ghul intended to take over Damian’s body, as his own was disentegrating after years of using the Lazarus Pit to prolong his life.

Batfamily: Damian had a rather tumultuous start with his father’s other children. Upon meeting Tim Drake, Damian attacked him. Upon meeting Alfred, Damian tells him to fuck off. Upon discovering Ra’s al Ghul’s plan to take over his body, Damian flees to the Manor. Tim and Damian are kidnapped by Ra’s men. In an attempt to stop this, Dick Grayson meets Damian for the first time. Their interaction isn’t quite violent (at least, not towards each other), but they certainly aren’t friendly. Upon meeting Jason Todd, Jason tries to kill Damian in an attempt to wrest the Batman title for himself. Upon meeting Stephanie Brown, she accidentally freezes Damian. As I understand it, Damian would not meet Cassandra until Rebirth when she was no longer one of Bruce’s wards. Damian’s meeting with Duke is one of the only that was not really an altercation. 

After the initial animosity, Damian would later form close relationships with Dick Grayson

And Alfred Pennyworth. 

Bruce: Damian’s relationship is strained from the start. Partially because Morrison wrote that Damian’s conception was non-consensual. In an encounter in which Talia drugged Bruce for the sole purposes of creating an heir. Bruce was unaware of the child until he encountered them and Talia sent Damian to live with his father. From the start, Damian’s lessons conflicted with Bruce’s beliefs: no killing, no unnecessary violence, use your talents to protect and serve Gotham’s citizens - not for glory. Damian soon decided that he would rather be a part of the Batfamily than continue down the path set out for him by his mother and grandfather. Around the time this decision was made, Bruce was taken away from him. 

Becoming Robin: After Bruce’s death, Dick Grayson, reluctantly, took over the cowl. Immediately taken responsibility for Damian, Dick saw fit to try to keep Damian out of trouble and reverting back to his old teachings. One of his methods for doing that was to give a title he’d previously held, Robin, to Damian. This did not go over well with Tim Drake. 

Brief interlude to talk about Tim and Damian - This is one of the Damian’s most turbulent and volatile relationships in Damian’s life. With their first meeting resulting in a violent fight and subsequently finding out that Dick had replaced him with Damian, Tim did not warm to Damian at the start. Even going so far as including him on a database of potential threats. When Damian discovered this, he was incredibly angry. 

Their relationship continues to be rocky in the pre New 52 era. By Tim’s understanding, Damian never really tried to get along with anyone. By Damian’s account, others don’t seem to notice when he tries. This is outlined in this scene after Damian’s short tenure with the Teen Titans (pre Rebirth).

While they don’t get along all that well, they don’t come to blows again... until Rebirth.

Batman & Robin - Morrison returned to write a Batman & Robin series starring Dick as Batman and Damian as Robin. This is one of my all time favorite runs. Through consistently trusting Damian, protecting him and teaching him his own unique way of crimefighting (a Batman more prone to smiling, acrobatics and joking), Dick worked his way into Damian’s small circle of trust. Damian would later come to look back on that time with the fondest of memories. 

Damian’s Death - Dick and Damian would come to see Talia again after some time being Batman and Robin. During this encounter, Talia would tell Damian that he was now an enemy of the al Ghul family. 

After Bruce returns, he continues working with Damian as his Robin. 

Talia and the League had been working to create several clones of Damian to be “worthy” heirs. In attempt to fight hordes of Leviathan, Damian escapes being “grounded” in the Batcave. He suits up as Robin and goes to join the fight. One of the clones, Heretic, kills Damian in the fight. He is laid to rest and the Batfamily grieves.

Damian is later brought back to life in a story involving Lazarus Pits, Boom Tubes and stolen sarcophagi. All was well! My boy was back! Damian briefly had superpowers afterwards.

Super Sons: With Rebirth came a new title: Super Sons. Damian Wayne, concerned that Jon Kent’s abilities were out of control (and after finding out Jonathan accidentally killed the family cat), kidnaps Jon and interrogates him. Upon finding them, Clark and Bruce force Jon and Damian to complete a scavenger hunt/quest of sorts and learn how to work as a team. Of course, they both hate this (or at least they claim to). But, eventually, Jon and Damian become the best of friends. So close that Damian actually refers to Jon as his friend and goes to extreme lengths to protect Jon when a deranged Tim Drake from the future comes back and tries to kill Jon. 

So, where to start? Here are a few titles to check out if you want an easy jumping off point:

- Robin: Son of Batman by Peter J. Tomasi. when Damian was around 8 years old, he went on a year long quest called the Year of Blood. During which, he was made to steal several cherished items from nations around the world, kill several people and creatures, and returned the trophies to a vault. After his resurrection, Damian went of a quest of atonement. This was the series that made me truly love Damian the most.

- Batman & Robin - by Grant Morrison. While I’m not a fan of Quitely’s art, this run is amazing! It’s Dick Grayson’s Batman and his first days with Damian by his side. You see Dick struggling with taking over Bruce’s mantle and managing Damian who’s a bit of a handful. It’s truly wonderful! 

- Super Sons - I truly adore this series! It was so much fun and the relationship between Damian and Jon is quite possibly my favorite to explore in all of the DC comics I’ve read as of late. Tomasi did a lot to make their differences clear, those boy’s have very distinct voices and they complement each other just as well as Bruce and Clark did. The art is is truly wonderful and I’ve read through this run about three times now - it never gets old!

Honorable mentions - Batman: Streets of Gotham, Red Robin: the Hit List, Teen Titans (2003) vol. 14 and, of course, New 52 Batman & Robin. Of course, if you want a truly comprehensive list of every single one of Damian’s appearances, you can find that here. So, hope this helps! I adore this character and believe me, this was me trying to keep it short. I could talk about Damian forever! 💚

I leave you with one of my all time favorite moments from Robin: Son of Batman: Damian Wayne still has baby teeth.

Intro: Where to start with these 2? Well, I’ll start with why I got interested in shipping them. A guy at my local comic book store (we called him best friend because we went every weekend for over a year and never learned his name 😬). Anywho, best friend knew I adored Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye series and recommended I read Fraction and Aja’s Immortal Iron Fist series. Partially so I’d get the jokes about them looking similar (Danny and Clint - and boy did they!) but also because it was awesome. He was right! I loved it. But, there was this panel that got me into the pairing:

Of course, there’s also this moment in Jessica Jones 

And this moment in Doctor Strange

And all the comments like these from Jessica Jones:

It’s a running gag that Luke and Danny are in love. 

So, you might be wondering why that is? Well, because they do love each other. They’ve had a long history and, for quite a bit of it, they were partners working together and it didn’t leave much room for other people. Aside from their romantic relationships (Luke with Claire Temple, Danny with Misty), they were mostly seen together. Danny is Luke’s boy and Luke’s very protective over him. 

And in return, Danny’s always been incredibly protective over Luke. So much so that, during Pulse, Danny tried to protect Luke from Jessica. Luke was injured as part of an attack on Jessica. Danny refused to tell Jessica where Luke had been moved and expressed doubt that she was actually pregnant with Luke’s child.

Basically, in Danny’s mind, it’s him and Luke v the world and that’s the way it would always be. This caused a rift that seemed to be mended... but as far as 2016′s Power Man and Iron Fist, it seemed clear that Danny thought Jessica never liked him. 

Danny needs Luke. In 2016, when Luke and Jessica’s marriage was on shaky ground during the CWII mess, Danny blamed himself for their separation.

So, I could honestly talk about those 2 for days but let’s get to the other stuff:

Universes: 

616 - which is the start of everything. 

Ultimate Spider-Man (animated) - 

(source)

Netflix Marvel - Introduced in Defenders and Danny also shows up in s2 of Luke Cage

Still in love with Luke, of course

So, how to get started? Comics - David F. Walker’s 2016 Power Man & Iron Fist run is my all time favorite! Easy to jump into, hits on the 70s blaxploitation vibe and the art is awesome! I met the artist at Comic Con last year and he’s such a sweet guy! 

Power Man & Iron Fist Epic Collection - collects their meeting in Power Man #48. These old comics were crazyyyy but a lot of fun!

Fic recs - these are a bit harder to come by. Not only because LukeDanny is a rarer pair but because you’ll run across quite a few Luke/Jess/Danny fics. It’s even harder to find fics where Luke/Danny is the main pairing and then even harder to find fics over 500 words. 

Old World Blues by Renne | Luke/Danny/Jessica  Summary: After a fight, Danny finds himself swapped out with his counterpart from an alternate reality. A reality where he's in a relationship with Luke and Jessica. - Luke/Jess/Danny but I really, really love this one. The tone is wonderful finding home by CapnShellhead | Luke/Danny Summary: Danny helps Luke through his divorce - this is a fic I wrote. It’s amazingggg (I’m kidding). This features Danielle Rand, Luke and Jessica’s daughter. Basically Luke and Danny trying to find a routine while Luke is getting divorced from Jessica after the CWII mess Partners-But-Not-Really by until_monday | Luke/Danny Summary: Something was off about the kid. Quite a lot, in fact.A take on how Luke and Danny eventually become Heroes for Hire. Canon is a mixture of the Netflix series and comic books. - I haven’t read this one but it’s over 25k which really intrigues me! This is next on my reading list.

So, I hope this helps! I hope you check out some of the comics. I really love these two and when Luke Cage and Iron Fist’s Netflix shows got the axe along with the rest of them, I was really bummed. I’m still holding out hope that we’ll get a Power Man & Iron Fist show in some form. They had the chemistry down. 

Steve Rogers was the first Marvel character I really loved.

I know – I started out with the campy Fantasic Four movies and came out of those with a love for Chris Evans and nothing else. I started really reading Marvel comics in college (I’d read DC when I was younger because my dad was a big fan). Part of the reason for this was that the night before my friends dragged me to Avengers, I wanted to catch up on what I needed to know before seeing that film. I read a post online that said “you definitely need to watch Cap: TFA and Thor (2011)”. So, I did.

I fell in love with Steve Rogers.

This scrawny, 5 ft nothing kid with several ailments and medical conditions that fought and lied and forged his way into every army recruitment office because he hated bullies. This guy that got his ass kicked in several allies across NY because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut when he disagreed with something. This guy that jumped on a grenade to save a bunch of strangers because he valued their lives more than his own. This guy that had every door shut in his face and never, ever gave up.

Of course, I loved that guy.

I saw a lot of myself in Steve. No, I don’t think I’m this selfless idol that several people would follow into war. I related to Steve’s stubbornness and his inability to stay quiet in the face of injustice. Everyone who knows me knows how hard it is to change my mind when I think someone is doing something wrong. I’ve written close friends off because they were the kind of people that intentionally try to hurt others. I’ve always been this way.

To me, Steve Rogers stands for the ideal of what people can be. He believes in an America that doesn’t exist and consistently gets his heart broken when he realizes that fact (several times over the past few decades). But he never stops fighting for the people. He’s always sticking up for the little guy.

All this is great and everything everyone already knows about Steve Rogers. After losing my father last year, I really latched onto the best part of this character: his perseverance. Steve Rogers lost everything he’d ever loved and the world that he knew. He went down in the ice to save millions of people and woke up 70 years in the future. How do you move on from that?

He spent months just training in the SHIELD gym. He barely spoke to anyone. The first time he really got back out in the public, he was being drafted for another war. As far as we know, he never went to therapy. He never got close to any agents to talk about what he’d experienced. He channelled everything into training and work. This was his life – just moving onto the next fight.

This was incredibly similar to how I dealt with my grief. Even knowing it wasn’t what was best for me. Even knowing that, if asked, I would dissuade others from similar patterns, this was how I dealt with it. Channeled it into work and writing and exercise and anything I could do not to focus on it. I did my best to move on and, after some time, gradually let people in. The same way Steve did with Nat and Sam and Tony and Thor, etc. Gradually, the weight lessened and I felt more like I had a place here again. It took a really long time but I found a way to move on.

I wouldn’t have made it through that without someone like Steve to latch onto. Like Steve, I know what it’s like to have my issues overlooked because, for all appearances, I’m fine. We don’t lash out, we don’t cry, we hardly ever talk about our issues. Sure, we support/uplift other people and we share if we think it’ll help them some, but we keep our emotions bottled up. It’s not the healthiest but we get through it because we have to.

So, I come into this movie with all of that baggage, and to preface: I understand that MCU Steve is not required to be for me what 616 was. I understand that some people really enjoyed this ending. I understand that some people think this was the only way for Steve to find happiness: but that’s why this ending hurt so much. The fact that Steve needed a time travel solution to go backwards (something no one in the real world can do) in order ot be happy, is a hopeless ending. Because Steve isn’t moving on; he’s just going back to retrieve what he’d lost. What message does that send?

To me, Steve Rogers has always been an example of how you can lose so much and survive. You can suffer insurmountable grief and find a way to move on. Sure, it’ll be hard, it’ll take time and work, but you can do it. Even if you have to pull yourself up on your own, you can do it.

I would say, there’s no wrong way to write a smut scene but there are some big no’s for me:

1) Terminology varies. An interesting note: fandom collectively decided to abandon usage of certain words in smut scenes. I rarely see the word “penis” or “dick” in m/m fics and we all avoid using the word “vagina”. Its part of why I think it’s harder to write f/f scenes because, in my experience, there’s such a smaller variety of words you can use without killing the mood and making it sound clinical. 

2) Keep track of the body parts. Sounds simple right? But if you start a scene and you want it to end somewhere, on a bed or against a wall or in a moving vehicle, make sure you envision every single part of it and know when you have to be very detailed about the sequence of events. Sometimes I’ll read something back and realize I never said they went over to the table or that Steve moved his hand from Tony’s face to his ass. And just like that, Steve can teleport and he has 3 hands. 

3) Keep it realistic. I can’t tell you how many times I re-read fics I loved when I was younger and realize just how unrealistic they were. *** There is always time for lube! *** Sure, sometimes we want the characters to just jump into things in the heat of the moment but its quite difficult (and rather painful) to try anal penetration without lubricant. Readers will accept things like Tony always keeping a packet of lube in his wallet or there being a secret lube compartment in the suit for the sake of the scene. Your characters will thank you. 

* Research can do wonders! (I had to research what types of lubes they had in 1800 when writing 1872 SteveTony and that was an experience.) 

** Also keep in mind when you have sex scenes in confined spaces. Car sex sounds great but (I write a lot of Stony) 616 Tony and Steve are both around 6 ft tall, if they’re trying to have sex in the backseat of a convertible, an elbow is going straight through a window (Steve) and someone’s throwing their back out (Tony). Which brings me to:

4) Have fun with your characters! If they’re in a cramped space, use that. If they’re awkward with each other, use that. If it’s the first time for them, use that. Sex scenes don’t always have to be serious. They can be fun, messy, chaotic. Go all out and have some bad sex. Break a penis! (I’ve written this)

5) Be descriptive. Sure, it is possible to over describe and, when you’ve written more than a few smut scenes, they all start to feel the same. When I find myself stuck on one, what helps is to slow everything down. Focus on how your character is feeling: if they’re nervous, if they’re eager, lustful, etc. Describe every touch, the taste, their partners’ scent, the size of them (in general, not just if they’re well endowed, lol). I find it helpful to put myself in the place of whoever’s POV I’m writing. General rule: Better to go overboard on a first draft and have to cut some descriptions out than write a bland sex scene and try to fix it later. It can be hard, especially if you’re no longer in the mood. 

General tips: 

- Music helps a lot. I actually have a smut playlist I listen to with songs for different tones: angry sex, rushed sex, sex between established couples, etc. 

- Think about what you like to see in smut scenes and try to apply those themes. Don’t copy word for word, of course but I learned a lot from reading others’ writing than just going in blindly. 

- If you find a sex scene is interchangeable between your pairing and another, change it up. Not all characters engage in sex the same way and not all pairings mesh with each other the same way. 

** for example, a sex scene between Steve and Tony is very different from a sex scene between… Thor and Tony. Steve and Tony’s dynamics are usually fraught with some sort of angst and the release of years of hopeless, mopey pining so it’s a lot more emotional or needy than Thor and Tony who I always picture as more fun and adventurous (unless it’s 616). One of the most fun things about Marvel and DC fandoms is that sex scenes get the added bonus of thinking about their superhuman abilities + sex. Think about what would be involved in having a sex scene with Superman? All the differences in biology when having sex with Namor? This is partially why I have rarely written a Steve/Tony sex scene without Steve breaking something. 

To be honest, I don’t want to be thought of as a smut writer (although, these days, my smut fics get the most recognition which is a double edged sword). I just started writing explicit sex scenes last year and when I re-read that fic, I’m honestly embarrassed because I have no clue how anyone read it and didn’t think Steve had 5 arms and twenty hands. They changed positions way too many times and barring a dumpster outside a Jacksonville Florida Applebees, it was the least sexiest location for sex. My point is: everyone starts somewhere. 

Write a draft, read it over, rewrite and read it again. I recommend finding a beta reader who will be brutally honest (within reason of course) and will tell you if they think it’s too clinical, if it’s hard to follow, where it could be stronger, etc. 

The most important advice I can give is: slow it down. I know, “Chels, you’ve already said this!” but I cannot stress it enough. Even if the scene is supposed to be rushed and your characters are in the throes of passion, slow it down and consider everything they’re feeling (the setting, their emotions, the surfaces, the anticipation, the need, the hunger). That, more than anything else, helps your reader get a great sense of what’s going on.