- Location
- Canada
It's hard enough to find a good lantern SI fic beside this one without even going into details.
With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Twelve)
- Thread starter Mr Zoat
- Start date
- Status
- Location
- texas
Although it's making me think of that Guy Gardner storyline in which he had a yellow ring and discovered that he needed to recharge his ring by absorbing the residue of green lantern energy use.
So of course I'm picturing a yellow lantern Paul who therefore needs to troll the green lantern corps whenver his ring starts getting empty.
So of course I'm picturing a yellow lantern Paul who therefore needs to troll the green lantern corps whenver his ring starts getting empty.
The only good BLC member is a dead one!
...
Wait a minute.
- Location
- united states
Can we send Bug to Graven?
Fool's Canon (part 8)
- Location
- Hampden Park
1st April
18:34 GMT -5
"Polling data."
I raise my eyebrows. "Polling data?"
"Market analysis. People keep buying Superman comics, Batman comics… Heck, they've been buying them for seventy years. Name one comic about socioeconomics."
"Spice and Wolf."
I think he's frowning. "Name. Two. Or name one that's seventy years old!"
"Okay… I can't."
"War and Peace is fine, but this just isn't the War and Peace universe."
"No, it's Universe Sixteen."
"Right, Young Justice. You gotta keep the ratings up, gotta move the merch, or you get cancelled. What people like is what they spend money on."
"And you think my being here is creating a genre shift that is going to drive people away?"
"Obviously. If Reed Richards isn't useless then you end up with a setting people can't relate to. One that doesn't look like what they see out of the window."
"Watchmen sold perfectly well, and that has electric cars everywhere, Nixon serving three terms-."
"And it was a limited run thing!"
"And a film-."
"And the prequel series and now I hear they're doing a TV series! Now you wanna tell me how many series Batman's had since Watchmen got published?"
Um. Animated, Brave and the Bold, The Batman, Beware… "Four?"
"You wish. People like what they like. And you're a threat to that. Skeets?" The robot floats up a little.
"Wait a second. Wait a second. You think I'm an SI right? The author embodied in the story?"
"Yah huh."
"But if I die, why would the author carry on writing it? I mean, if I'm their window on this world…"
"Nice try, but this universe will just fold back into the real Young Justice. We probably won't even remember you ever happened by the time season two comes around."
Oh dear. "But the competition in the Superhero comic market is so great that this might well get cancelled anyway. And if that happens, aside from the occasional reality jumping thing no one will hear from us again."
His arms shoot up. "I know that! But what can I do?! I have to go for the route that gives us the best chance!"
"Oh, come on! Do you know how meta you made this episode? Self indulgent cleverness turns people off like nothing else."
"Only from your point of view. From everyone else's, they got a quick lesson on the Antarctic's environment and an awesome fight with robots and pirates! And that Grayven guy, for the niche crossover appeal."
Who? No, never mind. "But maybe a different approach would work better."
"Like what?"
"You know… Probably better than I do, how many different superhero comics there are. Lots, right?" He nods. "Okay then. Why should people buy this one over the others?"
"Greg Weisman?"
I frown. "The Street Sharks guy?"
"Don't let him hear you say that."
"But… You think… The me who's.. outside.. is writing this. So even if Greg Weisman is the original writer, that doesn't have any impact on the quality of.. what we're experiencing now. Right?"
I think I'm getting a bit out of my depth now.
"It's his setting. He's got a series bible, it's got good fundamentals. The setting's coherent. Lotsa stories start in worse places."
"Okay, but… Even if it's a good example of the superhero genre, it's inevitably going to be retreading a lot of ground, right?"
"I.. guess..?"
"So what's unique about it? See, what I'm thinking… What if all the things I'm doing are what make it stand out? I mean, on a newsagent shelf there are going to be a dozen comics about a superhero punching someone in the face. How many uplift comics are there?"
"None! They wouldn't sell!"
"Internet. I know there's never going to be the same size of market for things like that, but it's possible to have perfectly successful niche players that just run and run. Even if we never make this continuity equal Earth One-"
"Ahhhbout that-."
"-if we put ourselves in a position no one wants to compete with, that will do more to assure our survival than being one of a crowd. There should be at least enough people interested to support one uplift superhero story. One that tries to be both realistic about the consequences of superheroic actions without being all grimdark all the time. Where characters can make lasting changes to the setting for the better, and have them stick. In a setting only written in by one author, that can happen! And it can attract a loyal enough audience to keep it going!"
"You got Ted Kord and those other guys working on that, right?"
"Yes?"
"Skeets."
Transition!
I'm on the other side of the room as the little robot's beams send chunks of floor… Somewhere. "What the hell was that for?"
The pod thing swivels around. "It's a good idea, but there's no way DC'll okay something like that with characters they don't own! You're still an SI so you've still gotta go!"
"How do you know I'm an SI!? How do you-" Transition. "-know I don't have media awareness like you do?! Have you-" Transition. "-checked every comic in every setting DC owns!?"
"Of course not! That's what the wiki's for."
Transition. "But that only works for named characters!"
"Skeets, knock it off for a second." The robot stops, and Ambush Bug's pod floats in my direction as I head for the door to the kitchen. "What d'ya mean by that?"
"What if I'm a minor character who got promoted?"
"How d'you mean?"
"How many Orange Lantern Corps characters can most fans name? Larfleeze, Sayd, Glomulus, maybe Blume… Then it's that butler guy…" I shrug. "But in theory anyone can get a power ring. What if rather than being an SI, I'm a reference to an old DC property. Greg Weisman.. or one of the artists read something years ago and thought 'hey, why don't I put that guy in it'? If that's what happened, then I'm fully owned by DC." I land and spread my arms out. "I mean, it wouldn't exactly be out of character. Who heard of Queen Bee or Sportsmaster or.. Nylor flipping Truggs before this?"
"I…" Ambush Bug looks thoughtful, his right hand going to his mouth. "So are you saying you are a minor character?"
"How would I know? For all I know, we're having this conversation to establish that social battles can work for final showdowns just as well as violent battles. But whatever I am, this is my home. I don't want it to stop existing, but I'm not prepared to abandon everything I've wanted to do to make it better. That would be denying my heroic identity."
He vanishes from the pod and appears next to me. "I see where you're coming from… But the only way to know for sure…" I activate the bug and pull open the kitchen door. He looks into the room I just revealed. "Oh no."
It's not the kitchen. Videos, DVDs, film reels and out of date radios litter the various available surfaces. But more than anything else, there are comics. Stacks, piles, drifts of them, reaching up to the heavens and off into infinity. Everything DC ever produced, every published work and unpublished author's note.
Ambush Bug shrinks back from it. "You can't… Ask me…"
"It's the only way to know for sure. You have to check.. everything. Because if I'm in there at all, I'm canon. And if I'm canon, then I'm authorised. And if I'm authorised, this deviation from the normal tropes has been authorised by DC Editorial. And if you go against that… Well, who knows?"
"I'm too pretty to go unpublished for years again!"
I look into the room again. "Then you know what you have to do."
He stares at the monstrous piles of comics. Then he reaches into his belt and pulls out a remote control. One click and the pod, Skeets and the other robots all vanish. "If I gotta, then I gotta."
He takes a deep breath, then marches into the comic cave and closes the door behind him.
18:34 GMT -5
"Polling data."
I raise my eyebrows. "Polling data?"
"Market analysis. People keep buying Superman comics, Batman comics… Heck, they've been buying them for seventy years. Name one comic about socioeconomics."
"Spice and Wolf."
I think he's frowning. "Name. Two. Or name one that's seventy years old!"
"Okay… I can't."
"War and Peace is fine, but this just isn't the War and Peace universe."
"No, it's Universe Sixteen."
"Right, Young Justice. You gotta keep the ratings up, gotta move the merch, or you get cancelled. What people like is what they spend money on."
"And you think my being here is creating a genre shift that is going to drive people away?"
"Obviously. If Reed Richards isn't useless then you end up with a setting people can't relate to. One that doesn't look like what they see out of the window."
"Watchmen sold perfectly well, and that has electric cars everywhere, Nixon serving three terms-."
"And it was a limited run thing!"
"And a film-."
"And the prequel series and now I hear they're doing a TV series! Now you wanna tell me how many series Batman's had since Watchmen got published?"
Um. Animated, Brave and the Bold, The Batman, Beware… "Four?"
"You wish. People like what they like. And you're a threat to that. Skeets?" The robot floats up a little.
"Wait a second. Wait a second. You think I'm an SI right? The author embodied in the story?"
"Yah huh."
"But if I die, why would the author carry on writing it? I mean, if I'm their window on this world…"
"Nice try, but this universe will just fold back into the real Young Justice. We probably won't even remember you ever happened by the time season two comes around."
Oh dear. "But the competition in the Superhero comic market is so great that this might well get cancelled anyway. And if that happens, aside from the occasional reality jumping thing no one will hear from us again."
His arms shoot up. "I know that! But what can I do?! I have to go for the route that gives us the best chance!"
"Oh, come on! Do you know how meta you made this episode? Self indulgent cleverness turns people off like nothing else."
"Only from your point of view. From everyone else's, they got a quick lesson on the Antarctic's environment and an awesome fight with robots and pirates! And that Grayven guy, for the niche crossover appeal."
Who? No, never mind. "But maybe a different approach would work better."
"Like what?"
"You know… Probably better than I do, how many different superhero comics there are. Lots, right?" He nods. "Okay then. Why should people buy this one over the others?"
"Greg Weisman?"
I frown. "The Street Sharks guy?"
"Don't let him hear you say that."
"But… You think… The me who's.. outside.. is writing this. So even if Greg Weisman is the original writer, that doesn't have any impact on the quality of.. what we're experiencing now. Right?"
I think I'm getting a bit out of my depth now.
"It's his setting. He's got a series bible, it's got good fundamentals. The setting's coherent. Lotsa stories start in worse places."
"Okay, but… Even if it's a good example of the superhero genre, it's inevitably going to be retreading a lot of ground, right?"
"I.. guess..?"
"So what's unique about it? See, what I'm thinking… What if all the things I'm doing are what make it stand out? I mean, on a newsagent shelf there are going to be a dozen comics about a superhero punching someone in the face. How many uplift comics are there?"
"None! They wouldn't sell!"
"Internet. I know there's never going to be the same size of market for things like that, but it's possible to have perfectly successful niche players that just run and run. Even if we never make this continuity equal Earth One-"
"Ahhhbout that-."
"-if we put ourselves in a position no one wants to compete with, that will do more to assure our survival than being one of a crowd. There should be at least enough people interested to support one uplift superhero story. One that tries to be both realistic about the consequences of superheroic actions without being all grimdark all the time. Where characters can make lasting changes to the setting for the better, and have them stick. In a setting only written in by one author, that can happen! And it can attract a loyal enough audience to keep it going!"
"You got Ted Kord and those other guys working on that, right?"
"Yes?"
"Skeets."
Transition!
I'm on the other side of the room as the little robot's beams send chunks of floor… Somewhere. "What the hell was that for?"
The pod thing swivels around. "It's a good idea, but there's no way DC'll okay something like that with characters they don't own! You're still an SI so you've still gotta go!"
"How do you know I'm an SI!? How do you-" Transition. "-know I don't have media awareness like you do?! Have you-" Transition. "-checked every comic in every setting DC owns!?"
"Of course not! That's what the wiki's for."
Transition. "But that only works for named characters!"
"Skeets, knock it off for a second." The robot stops, and Ambush Bug's pod floats in my direction as I head for the door to the kitchen. "What d'ya mean by that?"
"What if I'm a minor character who got promoted?"
"How d'you mean?"
"How many Orange Lantern Corps characters can most fans name? Larfleeze, Sayd, Glomulus, maybe Blume… Then it's that butler guy…" I shrug. "But in theory anyone can get a power ring. What if rather than being an SI, I'm a reference to an old DC property. Greg Weisman.. or one of the artists read something years ago and thought 'hey, why don't I put that guy in it'? If that's what happened, then I'm fully owned by DC." I land and spread my arms out. "I mean, it wouldn't exactly be out of character. Who heard of Queen Bee or Sportsmaster or.. Nylor flipping Truggs before this?"
"I…" Ambush Bug looks thoughtful, his right hand going to his mouth. "So are you saying you are a minor character?"
"How would I know? For all I know, we're having this conversation to establish that social battles can work for final showdowns just as well as violent battles. But whatever I am, this is my home. I don't want it to stop existing, but I'm not prepared to abandon everything I've wanted to do to make it better. That would be denying my heroic identity."
He vanishes from the pod and appears next to me. "I see where you're coming from… But the only way to know for sure…" I activate the bug and pull open the kitchen door. He looks into the room I just revealed. "Oh no."
It's not the kitchen. Videos, DVDs, film reels and out of date radios litter the various available surfaces. But more than anything else, there are comics. Stacks, piles, drifts of them, reaching up to the heavens and off into infinity. Everything DC ever produced, every published work and unpublished author's note.
Ambush Bug shrinks back from it. "You can't… Ask me…"
"It's the only way to know for sure. You have to check.. everything. Because if I'm in there at all, I'm canon. And if I'm canon, then I'm authorised. And if I'm authorised, this deviation from the normal tropes has been authorised by DC Editorial. And if you go against that… Well, who knows?"
"I'm too pretty to go unpublished for years again!"
I look into the room again. "Then you know what you have to do."
He stares at the monstrous piles of comics. Then he reaches into his belt and pulls out a remote control. One click and the pod, Skeets and the other robots all vanish. "If I gotta, then I gotta."
He takes a deep breath, then marches into the comic cave and closes the door behind him.
Last edited:
- Location
- Hampden Park
Thank you, corrected.
I have half a mind to Tweet Greg Weisman and have him canonize this universe.
- Location
- madison
well good thing paul has an alien enough mindset he can just chose not to think about the horrifying implications about the conversation he just had.
hance1986
The One Above All.
I had originally meant to post something about Paul throwing a lighter in after Ambush Bug to set all the comics on fire because you can't check canon on ashes. But then I realized that would be stupid and he would just come back.
Will the comic cave recursively update to have a Paul in some capacity in there somewhere to back up Paul's story? Or by the time Ambush Bug comes back out Paul's changes will have been so pervasive to Earth and the wider universe that they stack and can't be moved?
- Location
- Chile
He's probably gonna come out next year's April Fool's in-universe.
Rem
fite me
Bug's got a point. Trillions of lives are at stake.
- Location
- South of North
...you know, I think I sprained my meta-gene.
This chapter kind of hurts to think about.
This chapter kind of hurts to think about.
- Location
- Canada
Weird, this link doesn't seem to be leading anywhere Zoat, nowhere at all, nuh uh, just a deeeep black void of nothingness.
SparraNova
Dead Account Walking
- Location
- Some Wasteland
... He's going to figure out Young Justice was canned while he's in there, isn't he?
Ganurath
Literal Enthusiast
- Location
- A Valid Location
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Zoat has been known to canonize Omakes.
hance1986
The One Above All.
We can only hope that to normal comic characters great o small who don't have meta awareness or are not SIs conversations touching on metafiction and the so-called 'real world' and cancellation sounds the same as Cthulhu-speech. That is to say painful and unintelligible, and that recording mediums smoke and spark and fail to engage upon hearing the words 'superman' 'batman', or 'comic book' in the same sentence.
- Status