Lurker > scarletspeed7

Honorable Mention: Brutale
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/8/5/AAblU3AAD4Hd.jpg
The man who would be #111.

Brutale was the chief interrogator for a junta government in the banana republic of Hasaragua in South America until he was run out on a rail by an angry populace that retook control of the country and demanded independence. Brutale turned his trade to good use in the United States, where he found a position with the Demon-God during No Mans Land. Developing a close kinship with Artemis the Dog, Brutale and Artemis went their separate ways after the No Mans Land edict ended. Years later, Artemis came across Brutale as he sought resources for his new boss, El Presidente Bane. Brutale has since joined the Convoy, where he has proven to be a valuable asset to the 50,000 men, women and children attempting to make their way to Zonn Zorr.

Boy, do I love playing Brutale. He's just so easy to slip into in any situation, regardless of whatever cosmic nonsense is around him, whether it be OMACs, Darkseid, or even a talkative bird. In fact, ever since No Man's Land began, I knew that I was going to pull Brutale out of his canonized position with the Society and move him over somewhere, simply because I'd hate to let him go to immediate waste as yet another city warlord in Iowa or some such fiddle-faddle.

In all honesty, this ranking is more reflection of his more background role this go-round. Veteran characters are so important to this campaign; the actions and interactions of the past lay such a meaningful and emotional baseline for players. In fact, I had to reel myself back and make sure that not every big reveal was the return of a character. In some ways, the campaign is a lost and found, digging through the chaff to find old friends in unexpected places. But instead of allowing that to overwhelm the rest of the campaign, it's important to let those reveals enhance the detective story - because that's what this campaign is, ultimately. It's a detective story.

I think, having been placed as the interrogator of the holding facility, Brutale could conceivably achieve great things as the campaign progresses, however, Exploration of that delightful, devilishly dirty little secret (most people believe that torture is necessary deep down, in that primitive ape brain of ours to some extent, even if they think it is morally repugnant) and its connection to truth-telling can be integral to some of the philosophical moments of the campaign that I find most enjoyable.

The next honorable mention is a blast from the past as well!

Honorable Mention: Green Arrow
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/0/0/AAUHRBAAEdns.png
Here's a picture for the next time you run into the man who would be #112! Uh-oh...

Since Arrow is another character with a recent write-up, I'm going to cheat and repost once more.

And in their darkest moment, their newest, greatest ally stolen from them, the party was left bereft, hopelessly adrift, transported to the furthest reaches the Grid would allow. It would be here that hope would be unexpectedly renewed - the Green Arrow, a modern-day Robin Hood, revealed. Oliver Queen, one of the most well-known heroes of this or any other age, was the right-hand man to the leader of the Justice League, his fiancee Black Canary. Here aboard the Justice League Satellite, believing the world all but conquered by the forces of Darkseid and the Society, had been grimly holding vigil for the end of the world. A party arrived inspired new confidence. Suddenly, these stoic vestiges of a bygone world became animated once more.

And boy howdy, did Green Arrow get animated in a big way. Oliver Queen was boisterous, loud-mouthed, full of vim and vigor and a hint of vinegar. He was about as liberal as you could get, taking every possibly jab he could against Darkseid, the former United States government, people who voted for Lex Luthor, the corporate elite... Ollie was having none of it. But he also was gung-ho on getting back to Earth and taking the fight right up the ass of Darkseid. I think he wooed the party, won them over with his trademarked obnoxious dadisms and sense of humor. Then, he rallied them. To a man, every player in that group seemed enchanted with the Emerald Archer.

And then he went and made the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.

After a teleporter malfunction left the party scattered and, in many cases, grievously injured, Green Arrow bought precious moments for Silhouette, allowing himself to be captured by the recently-indoctrinated Justifier which used to be Black Lightning. As Silhouette inched his way to safety, he watched on in muted horror as Green Arrow was forced to accept the Equation, all the while shouting out - as his the Green Arrow way - liberal platitudes and angry dissertations on how this was all wholly fascist. And with that, an ally was turned into an unwilling accomplice to the enemy.

This was a moment where the emotions of the party where palpable. A few players have said that Arrow's sacrifice hit them extremely hard, and I could tell that Arrow's capture by former ally Black Lightning legitimately fucked with feelings.

He was Green Arrow. A hero to the last. Let not his sacrifice be in vain, you agents of Checkmate.

The next honorable mention is a bottom-half pick in the draft!

Johnbobb posted...

Woah, I thought for sure Alice was top 10

Not having scenes since 2022 will really hurt you in the top half of the list. I mean, the entire Top 20 is really, really tightly packed.

#34 - Black Alice
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/5/8/AAOJ0pAADbTS.png
The face of the Eighth Age.

Alice is a magical leech: she can borrow the powers of other nearby magic users. Inexperienced and quick to anger, Alice is in desperate search of both her own role and a place to belong. After A-Day, Alice isolated her neighborhood in Dayton from the rest of the world in order to protect her father. But after Checkmate agreed to return Carl Zechlin to its prison for safekeeping, Alice (with some difficulty) agreed to join the resistance, where she developed fast friendships with Pepper Spray and Nightshade. Alice recently, after being spurned by a callous non-suitor, attempted to contact God himself in an effort to end the rampage of the Spectre, only to be scarred with a crucifix by the Saint of Killers. Recovering both mentally and physically, Alice has devoted herself to the efforts of Checkmate.

The story of magic in this campaign is often a generational one, and Alice represents the natural evolution of mankind throughout history - all of the product which came before, none of the wisdom that produced those gifts. Alice couldn't take her powers more for granted if she tried, and in that arrogance is her weakness - but also the weakness of youth. It's often been said that youth is wasted on the young, that those who would most value the exuberance and vitality of youth are those who have spent theirs already. Wisdom mourns the loss of that which cannot be had again, you might say. Alice, for her part, is getting smarter every day.

Alice lacks limits and restraints without her father - we've seen that in practice, as Alice is only ever tempered by her own faults and her own mistakes. A concussion is as good as any form of punishment Alice can receive, the school of hard knocks meting out more education than even Eve is able to do. In a way, Alice is a beast - she can be corralled, but taught? That's something far more difficult. Alice is so fiercely independent that any attempt at tutelage doesn't exactly land. Perhaps that is why Eve chooses to simply mete out harsh criticism at times instead of nurturing Alice - Alice has evolved much like her closest friends in Z'onn Z'orr. Brennus is bull-headed and it takes a lot to get him to change his convictions, and Pepper as well rarely seems willing to break out of her worldview unless it's on her own terms. So between those twin influences, Alice has herself become a bastion of brazen stagnancy. She exists like Rover does, unevolving and oddly complacent in her tenuous place in the universe. She's found a safe haven and a time and a place where, with her father left in a paradoxical position where he both provides Alice comfort by existing and yet leaves her trapped in the denial stage of grief, Alice has become a brick wall of sorts. And it might take drastic changes to get her to change.

Sadly, Alice's closest friend in Z'onn Z'orr really doesn't spend time with her any more, so she's really suffered from what could have been an easy Top-5 position. It's been months and months since Alice had participated in a meaty scene - although she did provide a chapter to Paul Lincoln's book. I think that was one of my favorite little pieces I put together in the entire campaign. Just fun, fun stuff.

With a third of the list to go, we're back to Honorable Mentions, kicking off with a character from the last list!

Awesome to see Mass Effect 2 still going strong on lists like these!

#35 - Eve Manners
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/0/5/AAUHRBAAETOJ.png

Once again, I very recently did a write-up for Eve, so I'll cheat and re-post it here for the time being!

The entire campaign may just hinge on one single session, one single story as told by one single woman. Eve Manners, who gave the last bits of her life to tell the party the story of Area 50. I... don't know if I can do Eve justice in a write-up. I've been turning over in my head how to tell her story. She meant such a great deal to me, so much more than I could explain in simple words. Here was a woman whose only crime was to love the wrong person in the eyes of a fearful, culturally stunted society. She was captured, dragged away by anti-communist goons and forced into a firing line. Eve Manners was killed - and that was where the torture truly began. Brought back to life just to see if it was possible, Eve would spend the next chapter of her existence in a 58 year-long half-life.

After the party cracked open Area 51, there came a message through back channels, Morse code, that lured them back to the scene of science's greatest crime. There, they learned of Eve Manners' tragic life. Of a woman whose comfort she relied upon for strength - a woman who was then killed, her brain scooped out of her skull and strung up inside of a house that began to lumber into animation thanks to her sentience. A house that so desperately wished to remember her past life, the happy memories, the music - yet because of prodding, trauma inflicted by Dowling's men, she could not sing.

Eve spoke of Randall Dowling, a man from another Earth, who began to incubate the first stirrings of a disease called Morticoccus, which functioned much like the Anti-Life Equation. This Randall Dowling, under orders from Tex Thompson, seemed to lay the groundwork for so many projects that have since found their way to Darkseid's hands. Randall Dowling - who also is from Jenny Sparks' world.

Eve spoke of the first Hunger Dogs. Of a Robotman who silently watched over these projects before their end - a Robotman which now lays in pieces within Z'onn Z'orr's robotics laboratory. So many threads, spun together by Eve as she walked the party through the ruins, like a ghost through her old haunts. And in the end, Eve Manners bid them farewell. For 58 years were over. The half-life was complete. Eve's last act was one of a hero - and the inspiration for a new act in this campaign. Without Eve Manners, I think the emotional impact of what Darkseid's deeds have wrought wouldn't be so visceral, so deeply meaningful. Eve Manners led a life entire comprised of loss and grief, love stolen and pain endured. Yet she persevered until the last possible moment she could to provide just one iota of meaning to her existence. Sometimes, that's all we can hope for. Sometimes, that's all we have in us. Sometimes, the greatest heroes leave just a single, almost invisible mark, to carry the torch, to let out that last gasp, that final cry. It's up to the rest of us to hear it, to know it, to never let its call be denied.

Another Round One draft pick falls here at #34!

#36 - Freddy Freeman
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/4/9/AAOJ0pAADYRZ.jpg
A few letters short of a magic word.

Freddy Freeman, along with Mary and Billy Batson, made up the team of youthful superheroes called the Marvel Family. Together, they spent years defending Fawcett City from the perils of Doctor Sivana, Black Adam, and others. Left powerless after the Rock of Eternity exploded, Freddy was essentially held captive by his Equated step-parents until Checkmate intervened, rescuing him. On their way, Freddy discovered a tiny fraction of his magic still remained, and he hunted down Billy - now the new wizard Shazam - in Salt Lake City for answers. Freddy instead received a quest to regain his powers by uttering the name Captain Marvel, and has begun to travel the world, receiving boons from Chiron, Ale, Nanaue, Vyndktvx and Marvel himself along the way. Time is running out, however - a mysterious rival, Sabine de la Croix, has begun to amass similar blessings to become the next Captain Marvel. Freddys next target appears to be the desert nation of Egypt, near the pyramids of Giza.

Freddy commands a solo storyline for himself, and I think he will continue to rise as time goes on. Right now, he doesn't have a particularly large amount of starring screentime that I think really illuminates us on who Freddy is and what makes him tick. There is a lot of complexity to Freddy, at least for a character that I DM. He's leaving his youth and entering adulthood, but at the same time I think Freddy, as a superhero, has never endured the hardships of Billy Batson. He hasn't been galvanized by prophecy and forged in battle. Freddy needs a rite of passage because he was in danger of becoming unremarkable, living in a world where everyone forgot his name.

Sadly, Freddy goes through long bouts of background status, oftentimes disappearing for months in real-time. Fortunately, the current story arc with Herr Starr seems to be propelling Freddy back into prominence - the only question remains this: just how much of a corruptive influence is the Grail on the next Captain Marvel?

#35 comes from Round 3!

Never forget that the Beastie Boys saved the universe.

#37 - V
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/8/7/AAOJ0pAADaen.jpg
Verily, victory via vigilantism brings vaunted valor to the villagers of London, those voicing vexation in the villainy of the Prime Minister and his vainglorious vagabonds. Yet, the vox populi is vindicated in the veracity of V's vaccaination from vacuousness, vacilating between a venerated vantage of valediction and versatility in verbiage, a verifiable visionary in vivid violence.

V seemed to be quite beloved as a protagonist of sorts in the fascist state of England, and I think going forward, he will remain front and center in the greater injustices of the world under Darkseid. But for now, V enjoys his theatrics, his dramatics, his ability to engender a certain amount of anger within those with any virtue in their hearts. After all, the man that strikes a match is equally important as the one who uses it to light the flame, and the fires of revolution must be stoked by the party if there is any hope in overthrowing the man who turned the end of the world into an opportunity to take over his control. Fortunately, they have a friend in V, and a that alone turns the dark, dreary complacency of the people of London into a droll and perhaps even mirthful opportunity to introduce a little anarchy into the world. Anarchy - the very epitome of everything Darkseid seeks to destroy.

The opportunity to explore the fascistic tendencies of a 1984 London has proven an excellent bookend to the Story Line - though we haven't had opportunity quite yet to touch on exactly why. Still, the hidden history of Britain goes hand-in-hand with its present day, a warning that was born as a part of a wave of British works during the early Thatcher years, about life in dystopian and authoritarian societies. Its distinctive visuals, themes and complex narration made it a classic, both in film and in comics, and the mask of Guy Fawkes, of course, inspired the early days of anonymous by encouraging anarchical expression. V himself talks always in quotes, parables, references and metaphors - and his mask makes him inscrutable. In that, he is the very definition of Theatrum Mundi - often delivering his lines loudly, dramatically and always from the classics. Yet, he's certainly not a good guy; there is a ruthlessness to V's motivations. He never hesitates to trigger chaos, and his fanaticism in the name of true liberty leaves him viewed as much an evil terrorist as a genius-level freedom fighter.

Yet, there's a clockwork precision to his intricate planning. Such formidable mental resources in the face of a stacked deck leaves him the sort of underdog one can root for - especially against this Thatcherized 1984 Tory London in which he is so deeply rooted. He doesn't fight the Nazis, but there are parallels to V and someone like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who plays a role elsewhere in this campaign. But it is V who ultimately rises to the occasion, his smirking visage the antidote to the common totalitarian - a totalitarian whose vision for an empire has already begun to show its cracks. And that fragmentation is ripe for an explosion that will break the seal of the UK's civilization and allow an even greater tyrant to pour through the defenses, putting a stake into the heart of the most storied civilization on Earth when all is said and done.

#36 is our first round one drop!

#38 - Crazy Shy Lolita Canary
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/2/0/AAOJ0pAADbBg.jpg
Oh this ranking makes me feel so shy...

Crazy Shy Lolita Canary or Shy Crazy Lolita Canary (depending on the day) was a member of Super Young Team and the owner of the Canary Superstore. Always desiring a larger amount of social media influence, Canary betrayed her teammate Shiny Happy Aquazon and announced that she was dating Singing Dairy Girl during Shiny Happy Aquazons engagement livestream, propelling herself to the number one trend on Twitter for a brief moment before Thom Kallor pulled Burrito out of his ass.

Now, Canary is obsessed with her superstore in Z'onn Z'orr, a location that, once a week, can unveil a new product for the party to purchase if they so desire. Fluttering about within the confines of her new, growing department store, Canary is money-hungry and obsessed with sealing any deal thrown her way.

The Canary, the soulless bloodthirsty commercial vampire that sucks every bleeding dollar dry from her customers until they have to take out loans in order to serve as her functional capitalistic pay pigs, is pretty cool. I mean, she's almost unscrupulous, and a lot of charm comes from being a tiny diminutive China doll who relies upon the carefully crafted, focus-tested persona to smooth over any morally repugnant wrongdoings. I love it. The Canary can't be blamed really for being the Canary. She was designed to be what she is - but that's not stopping her from relishing the success her perfectly designed brain provides.

Now, can the Canary stop Darkseid? Fuck no. Not a chance in Hell. Frankly, I'm not even sure she necessarily provides a positive impact on Castling. But boy, it's going to be entertaining as hell to find out the upshot of all these machinations, the wheelings and dealings, the cute puppy dog eyes and the springy pigtails. Spirit may be enabling a sociopath, but as far as sociopaths go, you have your Jokers, and you have your Shy Crazy Crazy Shy Lolita Lolita Canarys. I'd rather live in the world where the latter reigns supreme. But... will she actually reign supreme? Shiny Happy Aquazon stands in her way. Can the good witch overcome the evil one? Or is this an Aliens vs . Predator situation... no matter who wins, we lose. Our at least our pocketbooks do.

But if losing means we'll get to witness a six-inch winged girl battle against sentient horses made of carrots and Patroklos' nibbling curiosity, then I guess defeat ain't half-bad.

#37 is our third-highest ranked undrafted! But maybe should be fifth, after some due consideration.

#39 - Ragdoll
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/6/6/AAOJ0pAADaOq.jpg
Clown.

Peter Merkel, Jr. is the son and successor of the original Ragdoll, Peter Merkel, Sr.. Given that his father was a sociopath and a cult leader, his was probably not the most conventional of upbringings. He indicates that his father was abusive due to disappointment at his not being born double-jointed. He has a sister, an extremely brutal (and insane) crime lord who goes by the name Junior. At some point he began thinking about having his bones altered to mimic double-jointedness. When Peter reached adulthood, he began having his joints replaced one by one with fully-rotating, self-lubricating prosthetics. After twelve years and hundreds of surgeries, he achieved a level of flexibility that his father could only dream about. Needless to say, the original Ragdoll didn't like the competition. Through unknown circumstances, Rag Doll joined the Secret Six, and helped them throughout a variety of adventures. His role in the Six is that of the demented smart-ass and is constantly trying to prove he is the weirdest and funniest of the bunch.

Don't let the comedy fool you - the tears of this clown are well-hidden, perhaps, but they certainly exist. Perhaps that's what draws me most to the eloquent, carefully self-sabotaging Ragdoll so much. Born into a world that presented pain as his only opportunity, Ragdoll both rebels from his father's sadistic behavior and embraces it at the same time. In fact, maybe very little separates the younger Ragdoll from the elder; both are unrepentant killers, after all. Yet the spoonful of sugar - in this case, a heaping helping of dark humor - makes the medicine that much more palatable. Knowing that Ragdoll's home life as a child and teenager was built on loneliness, abuse, and isolation allows the players to hopefully find sympathy. And even his wiles practiced upon the party are something simple and distracting from the darkness outside of Z'onn Z'orr. That said, Ragdoll is man of unique but unalterable convictions - something that is best represented in choosing to break from his father and sister by eschewing the Society's mandates. Much like Scandal, Ragdoll refuses to follow tradition, and he forges his own path in a world where such free-thinking has become quite literally outlawed.

Though they've been sidelined far too long, I have hopes that PCs will soon begin to send out the Secret Six as a unit to wreak havoc against the Society, and hopefully - HOPEFULLY - that will allow Ragdoll to hunt down his father, whilst also playing stepfather to the adorable Isabelle Rose Mahkent.

#38 Drops a top-third draft pick!

#40 - I, Spyder
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/7/6/AAOJ0pAADYvg.jpg
Oh, what a tangled web we weave.

Born into a heritage and legacy of hatred, a single-minded familial blood animosity that stretched over one hundred years, Thomas was the black sheep of his family, blind and considered useless. But when he began to have visions, a short while before A-Day, Thomas turned his back on his family and began to fight for something he could see, something he could believe in. After being rescued from a local jail in Bristol Township, I, Spyder aims to weave together a tapestry of a better future, starting by gathering those heroes that fate decrees must stand against a great, dark threat.

However, on their first mission, guided by a vision to Slaughter Swamp, it was revealed that I, Spyder's prophecies are in part influenced by Gloriana Tenebrae, the foul, terrible queen of the fae - and soon-to-be wife of Darkseid. In a bid to gather the Seven Soldiers and cut off their hands, making them part of the bridal dress of Gloriana, Zor the Time Tailor had used these unsure visions as bait, luring and nearly killing Spyder and Boy Blue in the process. Now, I, Spyder seems unsure of his path forward, but resolute that he must subvert these false prophecies - his only goal to bring down the woman who nearly led to the death of his innocent friend, Boy Blue.

For the rest of the world, Final Crisis is an ending, but for I, Spyder, this is the beginning, the origin, like the edges of a web, coming into focus, a weaving of destiny in threads still wet with the unsure dew of tomorrow. Spyder stares at this growing web - the only thing he can see - and allows its shimmering sheen to guide him through the darkness of today. It's a heavy burden, and while he hides his trepidation at the overwhelming nature of things, I, Spyder has been tasked with a great and difficult task - one that may change the tide of the war, all on its own.

Changing the threads of fate itself. Will the blind lead the blind in this mission of prophecy unraveled?

#39 is a bottom half pick, garnering top-half points!

#41 - Shiny Happy Aquazon
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/0/AAOJ0pAADbFk.jpg
"We find love... build it on the rocks, build it in the sand. You and I are here, what from love demand? Being every friend, peace and happiness abound. Everyone is lost, everyone is found."

The resident Japanese pop idol superhero of Z'onn Z'orr, Shiny Happy Aquazon has quickly become a powerful force for change, cloaked in the guise of superheroics but entirely self-serving as she works hard to change the narrative of Castling to suit her own agenda. The most skilled brand ambassador in the whole of the Tokyo megalopolis is Kim Kimura, daughter of Junior Waveman Kimura and a master of the trending topic. Kim is known for her bold and blatant disrespect for the older generations and her anti-traditional sensibilities, going so far as to even call Rising Sun a wank pheasant at one point. However, after she was dethroned by Burrito on Twitter, Kim began to go through a crisis of confidence, and she reunited with her estranged father - only briefly - before he commanded her to flee to safety when the dome around Japan came down. Tearfully, she bid him farewell as Rising Sun and his Equated cronies marched on the summit of Mount Fuji. This is how Kim Kimura returned to Z'onn Z'orr with the party, and ever since then, her entire focus has been on raising a ruckus in order to suit her own agenda.

In this campaign, there may be many, but they are so often looming at the edges of the players' reality, threats existential and dire, but also distant in their way. Darkseid, Mother Miracle, Thanagar. Instead, we contend with the worst of humanity, the dregs, the opportunists, mass murderers.

Shiny Happy Aquazon is kind of, sort, maybe just a little bit, the greatest threat to the stability of Z'onn Z'orr. Waller should fear her. Etta should stay far away. If not for Canary, there's a very real chance that Shiny Happy Aquazon would already rule the last weary segment of free humanity. Antarctica would be Aquzontica in the snap of her fingers. After all, every thing Aquazon does is perfectly calculated. Her pulse is the pulse of the people. Her words are the narcotics which drug and stupify an easily swayed populace. The world is ready to bend at Aquazon's feet, if not for one tiny pesky little feeling. Remorse. Regret at the treatment of her father. Isolated and alone now, without a real friend in the world, there is a very real kryptonite that Aquazon is exposed to, and its not laying the medbay. It's that great fallibility in the heart, a daughter still yearning for her father and his approval. Will that tiny hint of humanity be enough to stave off Aquazon's consumption of the willfully provided hearts of Z'onn Z'orr's populace? Only time will tell.

Minerva, strangely enough, may be the person best positioned to prevent Aquazon from becoming the master of Z'onn Z'orr. After all, their closeness has revealed a softer side to Aquazon's personality. Kim has a real weakness for seeing happy fathers and daughters. In fact, she spends a great deal of time watching Vari Dzerchenko take care of TNTeena in the Scrapper Lanes. There's a true kryptonite to be exploited there - a pang that Minerva herself has revealed is not entirely unknown to her, given the struggles she's had with her own parentage. Perhaps it's there that an access point can be reached with Aquazon.

If not, God help us all. We'll be living in the empire of Kim Kimura.

#40 was another character one no one saw coming - our fourth-highest non-drafted!

#42 - Oracle
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/0/2/AAOJ0pAADY9-.png
Barbara.

Barbara Gordon, daughter of Gotham Citys own James Gordon, gained the mantle of Batgirl, lost it, lost the use of her legs, and regained her confidence as the wheelchair-bound tactician and hacker, Oracle. A key force for change in Gothams No Mans Land, Barbara Gordon went on to serve as a specialist with the JLA and captain her own black ops team, the Birds of Prey. For the last few years, Barbara has courted the universe-traveling twin of Trish McKenzie (her best friend), Fields. But after his disappearance, she threw herself into her work. Oracle lost the ability to do any of her work on A-Day, when all networks were destroyed, but Oracle had enough foresight to listen to Ted Kord and reopen the late Stephanie Browns Spoilercave just before her private jet was attacked by Furies. Oracle has since moved her operation to Arkham Asylum at the urging of Checkmate, supporting Harvey Dents no longer one-man war against the OMACs.

I think there are great things in store for Oracle over the course of this campaign, as always there are. Firstly, digging herself out of a whole of utter despair is really just the beginning. Oracle needed purpose. She needed Batman. A Batman, at the very least. And despite her misgivings, of which there are many, Oracle seems to be returning to her mostly unflappable attitude of fixing everything around her, as often and repeatedly as necessary. But once you have the ultimate workaholic at work once again, what's the next step? How do you handle the underlying fear that permeates every corner of her mind whenever she thinks about her father?

How do you, furthermore, explain that her arch-nemesis, the repugnant Calculator, is one of the key reasons that she's may have survived this mess to begin with? Oracle is never a weak or sheepish woman, but there remain instances when the negativity overwhelms her, when being a broken human being peeks out from underneath her veteran exterior. This is a woman who's 25, after all. She's seen a lot since she started in this game - but that doesn't mean she's seen everything, or faced down every demon lurking in the shadows of the mantle of the Bat. A mantle which, among others, she could never take up again - because she's Oracle. And that's the role she must play.

#41 sees a Vis draftee drop.

Transcending history and the world, a tale of wills against conformity, eternally retold Now, ten souls are fiercely entangled in this intertwining of destinies.

Tomorrow, we'll pick up with an undrafted #41!

foolm0r0n posted...

What % of viewers truly care about the MCU? Is it significantly bigger than the % who care about the comics?

Considering comics rarely sell more than 100,000 copies, absolutely 100% yes. It's a much larger margin. The MCU's connective tissue certainly accounts for tens of millions of dollars, and actual comics fans account for, what? Two million dollars?

To put comics in perspective, actual comics fans are a very small (and all too vocal) minority, whereas the MCU has not seen a marked increase in sales for comics. In fact, comic sales generally trend a decline in the six months after a related franchise releases a film. Honestly, it's not been since 1989 that comics have seen a boost from a comic-related movie coming out.

What MCU fans cared about was the overarching narrative. Disney and Marvel Studios capitalized on that by demanding relatively little - less time than a TV series would on any network at least - and the serialized nature was compelling. It would be foolish to not suggest that the build of Thanos didn't at least guarantee 100-200 million dollars in ticket sales for each of those films globally. This is especially true for the Infinity War-Endgame period.

Still, that's NOT a majority. Just a plurality.

Guardians, however, falls outside of the Infinity War era. The interconnectedness likely guaranteed the strong opening to the film, but not the legs that would follow.

swirIdude posted...

Anyone reading any good books lately?

I actually just discovered that the fantastic Discworld series is receiving an audiobook upgrade with some truly amazing narrators. Bill Nighy reads the footnotes, Peter Serafanowicz is playing Death in every book, and the main narrators include Indira Varma and Colin Morgan. I've read the series in the past, but these audiobooks really give the entire series a fresh coat of paint.