#comics au

The Dead of July by whimsicule ( @whimsicule )

Being an Avenger means continuing to be Captain America and smiling and being honorable for the public and Harry does his best. But it doesn’t give him time to figure out who he is supposed to be once he takes off his uniform and puts the shield to the side. Just being Harry had always involved Louis, and Harry fears he doesn’t know how to exist without him.

@sigmaleph @moral-autism​ @ellieintheskywithdiamonds​ @hyperionnebulae​ :

so there are a handful of facts that are relevant here: 

- in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Edward Cullen left his “family” to become a Dark Avenging Vampire Vigilante. He had some disagreements with Carlisle, left in a teenage snit, and proceeded to eat people and brood for a few years before getting lonely/homesick and going back home.

(yes, this is twilight canon. yes, it is a much more interesting story than the ‘main’ twilight plot. this is a recurring thing with twilight.)

- Robert Pattinson is playing Batman in the newest Batman TV show. 

- Thomas and Martha Wayne- at least the Elseworlds versions of them that keep cropping up in the comics- were completely batfuck insane. 

- “Ned” is an old-timey nickname for Edward. I tend to use it to refer to my!Edward, as distinct from the canon version. 

the AU proper takes place in the BTAS-style “year of the Rat”. it’s not exactly the ‘30s, but it’s not exactly modern-day America either. 

Alfred Pennyworth, in addition to being ex-military/ex-CIA/ex-a lot of scary things, is a Twipire. when the Wayne parents died, he spirited Bruce away, never to be seen again. Ned knows this, on account of “there aren’t very many Twipires, so the scene is pretty small and rumours get around quick, even to the kinda-isolated Cullens”. 

A few years later, Ned has his snitfit and leaves the Cullens. The Cullens know a guy who fakes them identity paperwork, so he goes to him with a slightly ... ambitious request.

There are a couple things a vampire vigilante needs: privacy, $$$, and enough social position that no one questions what the fuck you’re doing.  “Bruce Wayne”, with his money and privilege, would be a perfect fit. 

With fake ID documents, Ned makes his way to Gotham. he makes up some cock-and-bull story about having ~studied in Asia~. Gotham’s corrupt enough that no one cares about whether his paperwork is fake, and he is soon instated as the master of Wayne Manor. 

Ned’s plan is to stick around for maybe ten years max- save lives, donate large amounts of money to hospitals out of guilt, and take a literal bite out of crime- fake his death, leave ‘his’ money to himself, and move on to another city. the bat-costume is a slightly bitter joke as well as a way to further hide his identity.

you know what they say about the best-laid plans. 

Ned really only needs to eat one person a month or so, so he does a lot of Actual Crime Fighting on top of everything else. the boy has a case of Catholic guilt that makes Daredevil look well-adjusted; he’s trying to expiate his other crimes.  

so the first problem is the costumed crooks that start popping up after a costumed crimefighter starts doing his thing. Ned mostly tries to deal with them humanely, because ... like, a bank robber isn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things, and most of them are tragic and/or ridiculous. but it makes Batman much more of a public figure than Ned ever intended him to be. 

the next problem is Dick Greyson, Age 12. Dick Greyson Age 12 is a small human battering ram. he is suicidally brave and stubborn, and no matter how hard Ned tries to get him away from the case of his parents’ murder, he insists on helping. Ned feels bad for his fellow orphan, and eventually winds up adopting Dick, against his better judgement. 

things progress from there pretty similarly to how they do for ‘regular’ Batman. fighting crime, adopting children, hOW MANY KIDS DO YOU HAVE NOW “BRUCE” PUT SOME OF THEM BACK. he is very much a brooding hero

It's gonna get a little weird

Gonna get a little wild

I ain't from round here

I started reading the comic and this was the very first paragraph:

“Both grew up safely under the watchful eye of Odin, learning from his benevolent wisdom.”

Me: *Remembering all the things that happened to Thor and Loki because of Odin's so called benevolent wisdom*

Are you serious right now!? When do they stop portraying Odin as a damn hero?

Needless to say my mood soured after reading the first paragraph and my expectations lowered considerably. And it didn't change when Jotun's culture showed as brutal and savage. I don't understand why they show Jotuns, a whole race like this in comics. If it was only Laufey I wouldn’t have a problem with it. But it’s a whole damn culture!!! I don't know why am I bothering with Marvel comics at this point. Even our folklore and fairy tales are less black and white. And that's saying sth about Marvel. Oh, right, I'm reading them because of Loki.

However, If I want to rate this comic, I'll give it a 3 out of 5. The story has its flaws but it's not without merits.

The comic reminded of a fanfic with a somehow reverse story line called "The Prisoner" by ladyofmidgard . It's unfinished and hasn't been updated for two years. But I enjoyed reading it a lot. In fact, it’s so much better and compelling than the comic. I wish I could read more of it.

*Spoilers for the comic under the cut*

How Things Could Be by Going Quietly

“I wouldn’t choose you first, I’d only choose you.”

"Woah Betty, it's me, Jughead!" He began backing up. "What are you doing?"

Jughead from the comics mysteriously appears in the TV version of Riverdale, and he realizes what he's been missing.

If you haven’t read this fic yet, do yourself a favour and give it a read, fair warning it is unfinished, but if you enjoy it let the author know, there is always hope.

This Multiplicity of Powers by HelloAmHere ( @helloamhere )

Maybe in another universe he isn’t different. Maybe he hadn’t been given an impossible choice. Maybe he wouldn’t have lost everything and broken everything and then fallen impossibly, irrevocably in love with the first next thing that was kind. Maybe in that universe he doesn’t feel like he’s never breathing, always pretending, teaching the kids even though they all have to learn alone, trying hard not to read the headlines, and so afraid, every day, that he won’t be a good enough teammate to the superhero he can’t live without. He knows that love isn’t supposed to feel this way, slid secret under your skin like a surgical razor, an invisible war held close over the tender vein that keeps you alive. On the other hand, Louis wonders, had he ever known how to do it any other way? Maybe there’s a universe where he doesn’t have to keep all his secrets on the inside. But this isn’t that universe. //an X-Men AU.

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