Negging in the Negative Zone (FANTASTIC FOUR #399-#400)
Oct. 3rd, 2025 09:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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At
iamrman’s request, I’m doing a few posts this week picking up where he left off in the DeFalco era of the Fantastic Four.
I will not be doing this issue by issue because I value my sanity. But #399 included an exceptional scene that brought a long-running sub-theme to a close, so I will throw a spotlight on that, and its follow-up the issue afterward.

( What the double-dash INDEED! I didn’t even know 'death-struggle' was a VERB! )
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I will not be doing this issue by issue because I value my sanity. But #399 included an exceptional scene that brought a long-running sub-theme to a close, so I will throw a spotlight on that, and its follow-up the issue afterward.

( What the double-dash INDEED! I didn’t even know 'death-struggle' was a VERB! )
Spider-Man ‘94 #1
Oct. 3rd, 2025 01:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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"The 1990s Spider-Man animated series has become a beloved part of Spidey lore—it was the introduction to Peter Parker and his universe for an entire generation—and I’m delighted to be diving back into that universe. We’re treating this as the next season of the show, which means introducing new villains, new challenges, new adventures for Peter—while doing our best to remain true to the creative spirit that John Semper and Company established with the original show." -- J.M. DeMatteis
( Scans under the cut... )
Fancake Theme for October: Uncommon Settings
Oct. 3rd, 2025 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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This theme runs for the entire month. If you have any questions, just ask!
It's October, and you know what that means
Oct. 3rd, 2025 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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The SCBF used to be physical comics, and is where you'll have seen books like I see a Knight by Xulia Vicente, the story of a woman followed throughout her life by a headless knight that only she can see. It is excellent. Or Joe Sparrow's Homunculus, which made me cry in a coffee shop. Or Lissa Tremain's Minotaar, about two friends confronting what lies at the heart of a Scandinavian influenced flat pack furniture store.
SBCF has made the move to digital only, as their official bluesky says Over 140+ all-new, original comics created by artists from around the world, gathered exclusively in one place -for October only!
And it's all online, with all digital comics: no shipping, no waiting, no travelling.
You can, if you wish, buy the entire catalogue at the touch of a button. It only costs £997.89!
My first browse of the store has yielded a basket of 13 books for the bargain price of £92. Maybe I'll prune that list, maybe I'll add to it.
It includes...
Knightfall by Rowan Fartousi
The plan was simple: sneak into the Knights’ headquarters, steal what they need, and get out before sunrise. On the run and running out of time, Blue clings to a crumbling plan and a partner who barely believes in him. But when the past catches up in the form of the boy he left behind, Blue must confront the memories that refuse to stay buried.
I do love a heist. And I DO enjoy knights.
War and the Maiden by Riotbones
War and a historian meet in a library at the end of the world: what follows is a reckoning between memory and myth. As ruins smoulder beyond the walls, they trade stories—the historian, relentless in remembering and cataloguing every atrocity, while War, ageless and unrepentant, offers only more questions.
In the previews for SBCF, this book stood out as an obvious buy on sight.
Wide Open Spaes by Lara Joven
A coming of age short comic about two friends facing adult life in two very different ways, so different that it tears them apart without them even knowing. A story not only about friendship but also about how insecurities can blind us.
Summer of the Wondrous Salamander
A narrator's reminiscence on a strange childhood summer spent with a creature that eludes both definition and the authorities. Also a story not-quite about a grandmother, and a house.
Now THAT's how you title a comic book!
Laura by Marty Tina G
Ten years after the vampire Carmilla has been killed, Laura (her former prey) continues to be haunted by her ghost. How vivid can an apparition get? What do you do when you can’t find escape from grief?
Laura is a gothic horror comic directly inspired by the 1872 vampire novella Carmilla. It can be enjoyed as a standalone story even by people who haven't read the book.
Marty Tina G is AKA Geezmarty. She's very good. I've commissioned a few pieces from her in the past and always been delighted with the results.
Ladies of the Living Princess by Theo Stultz
The ladies of the living princess serve their mistress in the cloistered halls of the mysterious innermost castle. Ursa, ostracized by the others, carefully tends to the most respected young lady among them, Genevieve, who has been abandoned by her friends after being struck with a sleeping curse. But when those responsible for the curse seem to turn their attention to Ursa, a strange power makes itself known…
The Queen of the Underworld is dead, the dead spill vengefully upon the living. A medieval haunted-house fairytale about weird girls winning.
This looks weird, and maybe a little bit Ninth House. I love it.
How to be a good human by MIUWN
Three tablespoons of flour, two-and-a-half cups of baking soda, and a teaspoon of butter... if only being human was as simple as following a recipe. The official human guidebook is rather complicated, but as long as the instructions are followed carefully, everything will turn out well, won’t it?
The blurb didn't inspire me, but the art does. Nothing looks like this. I'm delighted by the idea.
A Little Beauty by Laura Knetzger
After an ordinary woman brings home a huge ugly bouquet of flowers, her personality changes. Suddenly intensely interested in creativity, she throws herself into making art and worshipping the bouquet as her muse. As she spirals further into obsession, her son has to choose between destroying his mother’s joy or saving her ‘normal’ life.
This sounds weird. I love it.
The Friday Five for 3 October 2025: Senses
Oct. 3rd, 2025 01:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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These questions were originally suggested by
ardnaid.
1. Do you ever wonder if the way you see things visually aren't how other people see them?
2. What kind of sounds are the most annoying?
3. When walking through a store, do you shop with your hands by touching/feeling the texture of things?
4. If you could only smell three scents for the rest of your life, what would they be?
5. What sorts of things do you savor when eating them?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
**Remember that we rely on you, our members, to help keep the community going. Also, please remember to play nice. We are all here to answer the questions and have fun each week. We repost the questions exactly as the original posters submitted them and request that all questions be checked for spelling and grammatical errors before they're submitted. Comments re: the spelling and grammatical nature of the questions are not necessary. Honestly, any hostile, rude, petty, or unnecessary comments need not be posted, either.**
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1. Do you ever wonder if the way you see things visually aren't how other people see them?
2. What kind of sounds are the most annoying?
3. When walking through a store, do you shop with your hands by touching/feeling the texture of things?
4. If you could only smell three scents for the rest of your life, what would they be?
5. What sorts of things do you savor when eating them?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
**Remember that we rely on you, our members, to help keep the community going. Also, please remember to play nice. We are all here to answer the questions and have fun each week. We repost the questions exactly as the original posters submitted them and request that all questions be checked for spelling and grammatical errors before they're submitted. Comments re: the spelling and grammatical nature of the questions are not necessary. Honestly, any hostile, rude, petty, or unnecessary comments need not be posted, either.**
J'Onn J'Onzz, The Melted Marshmallow: MARTIAN MANHUNTER (mini) #1-2 (JLI 13/?)
Oct. 2nd, 2025 09:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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I'm not counting every JLI appearance as a "JLI story." (If I did, I'd probably start missing stuff around this point.) Can't skip this, though: J'Onn J'Onzz is central to the JLI, and what happens in this mini is central to J'Onn's later development. It's also one of the most effective and beautiful stories of J.M. DeMatteis' long career, so I'll do this with minimal snark.
There’s a lot of ugliness too, however: warnings for disease, mass death, frightening hallucinations, discussion of suicide, and child murder. Oh, and for strobe FX at the end of the accompanying video.
( It's the ol' 'everything you know is wrong' revisionist origin, except GOOD. )
Highlander: HLH_Shortcuts, the annual Highlander Fanfic Exchange
Oct. 2nd, 2025 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Sign-ups are now open for
hlh_shortcuts 2025, the long-running annual Highlander Holiday Shortcuts fanfiction exchange! (The name "Shortcuts" nods to the 500-word minimum, from the days when 1,000 words was the usual minimum.)
When:
How:
Yay, Highlander fun and friends! Come play with us?
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When:
- Sign-up: October 1 to 11, 2025 at 11:59PM CDT on AO3
- Receive assignment: By October 14, 2025
- Default deadline: November 20, 2025
- Submissions: By December 15, 2025 on AO3
- Stories revealed: The first on December 20, 2025 (the winter solstice, Duncan's birthday) and the rest a few per day as long as they last, per tradition
How:
- This year's collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/hlhshortcuts2025
- Guides: HLH_Shortcuts AO3 Sign-Ups + HLH_Shortcuts AO3 Submissions + HLH_Shortcuts AO3 Defaults + Find a beta-reader / be a beta-reader
Yay, Highlander fun and friends! Come play with us?
All-New Venom #10 (LGY#249) + #250
Oct. 2nd, 2025 07:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Will the World's Strangest Roommates weather the ultimate house meeting, or is this the beginning of the end? Meanwhile, what's going on with Toxin? And what's that Skrull spy doing out on the far edge of space? You won't find the answers in the snippets clipped out so the content-farmers can farm you for their precious rageclicks... -- Al Ewing
( Read more... )