Magnificently explained, @Firehawk242. I honestly cannot currently think of anything to add to that explanation that could give additional context to the tension-riddled mess that was the late 80s and early 90s United States in regards to the LGBTQ+ community (other than a bit of gentle ribbing for forgetting to mention Xena: Warrior Princess along with Buffy and Babylon 5).
Fair, and I accept my scolding for forgetting that one.
About the only thing I left out was that Stonewall happened in 1969, which radically changed how LGBTQ+ movements worked. Had AIDS not hit in 1981, they might have accomplished quite a bit. Instead the movement was in many ways strangled in the cradle, though the organizations that formed in the 1970s would serve as a much needed structural framework and backbone for the movements of the 1990s.
Fair, and I accept my scolding for forgetting that one.
About the only thing I left out was that Stonewall happened in 1969, which radically changed how LGBTQ+ movements worked. Had AIDS not hit in 1981, they might have accomplished quite a bit. Instead the movement was in many ways strangled in the cradle, though the organizations that formed in the 1970s would serve as a much needed structural framework and backbone for the movements of the 1990s.
And let's not forget, our October Daye put an absolutely wonderful Marvel spin on Stonewall earlier in this story, blending the LGBTQ+ struggle with the Mutant plight in a way that was just...
The actual events make for some very educational reading. Personally, it genuinely boggles my mind that there wasn't a single recorded death. Hospitalizations aplenty all around, but as near as I can tell, not one fatality can be attributed to Stonewall for the duration of those clashes with New York law enforcement.
The actual events make for some very educational reading. Personally, it genuinely boggles my mind that there wasn't a single recorded death. Hospitalizations aplenty all around, but as near as I can tell, not one fatality can be attributed to Stonewall for the duration of those clashes with New York law enforcement.
It's one of the things that's almost miraculous, if you ask me. Things would have gotten far, FAR uglier for everyone involved if there had been a death — a death at police hands would have escalated response from the patrons, which would have resulted in greater reprisal, and then more deaths… and if an initial death had been on the police's part?… oh dear, I'm scared to consider.
The one death in PtT actively prevented all the arrests and basically all the hospitalizations, along with providing a martyr and rallying point for two minorities that hadn't initially had cause to side with one another. Sadly, it's the kind of thing that people in power also want to scrub from history as fast as possible, so the demographics who KNOW about what happened at the Stonewall and what came of it are… the queer community, and those mutants who've had reason to interact with it since the start of the 70's.
The events also led to a very "hands off" approach to things happening in those parts of town ever since for the NYPD in particular, because the people in charge now remember the Stonewall, and they are NOT willing to try and fuck around again, only to find out worse. They got LUCKY that the one mutant willing to doubly out herself back then was operating on a defensive posture, because she could've killed all of them, and they KNOW it.
While the cops are much more hands-off with the NY queer community in this timeline, though? When they DO have reason to get hands-on, it's substantially nastier for all involved. Here's a bit of Word of God for you?
Noa has been approached multiple times by fellow patrons of the Stonewall, asking if she can either represent them or find someone to help them with a police brutality claim. Due to conflict of interest (personal connection), she can't represent them, but she is indirectly responsible for costing the NYPD at least 5 million dollars over the past decade to settle these claims & make them go away quietly.
but she is indirectly responsible for costing the NYPD at least 5 million dollars over the past decade to settle these claims & make them go away quietly.
Given she's "indirectly responsible", I'm guessing she simply refers people to other lawyers that would be sympathetic. Can't be made a target when you're not actually the one clowning the cops. fingertaps_forehead_smart.gif
Given she's "indirectly responsible", I'm guessing she simply refers people to other lawyers that would be sympathetic. Can't be made a target when you're not actually the one clowning the cops. fingertaps_forehead_smart.gif
I got ninja'd, but no. Noa is despised by the NYPD because she's a very successful defense attorney with a penchant for reminding them to tie their shoelaces next time they pile out of the clown car.
Her being outed as a mutant made it worse. Her having a friend in the FBI she prefers to call instead of the police makes it even worse.
Her coming out of the closet as lesbian would make it somewhat unsafe for her to ever call 911, to be honest. (… then again she always calls Cate, or Sam, or Stephen, or Erik…)
The thing that really hits the pocket books and pisses off the office people isn't the accountants: It's the insurance. Because whenever a police department gets hit with a settlement like this, the department has an insurance policy for it. A policy the people who own and run the biggest office buildings in just about every major city are going to revise and adjust the payments for, because the PD is a much bigger risk than the company initially thought.
This is on the tail end of the aids epidemic, it was a fairly wide belief that being gay was contagious and would get you killed. You see basically the same belief in transphobia today, with the "groomer" and "social contagion" allegations
There is a fairly decent docuseries "The 80's" about big events of the decade, and the episode on the AIDS crisis is, like, awash in crazy bigotry from the news reports of the time.
Like, not really? Being a lesbian was just as bad in the West, it was just less of a stigma if two unmarried women lived together. Like, Ellen DeGeneres had her namesake sitcom canceled due to the backlash from her coming out on the show. If there was any less stigma, it's because, unlike gay men, it was thought that is was possible to "correctively straighten" lesbians out of their misguided beliefs.
About the only thing I left out was that Stonewall happened in 1969, which radically changed how LGBTQ+ movements worked. Had AIDS not hit in 1981, they might have accomplished quite a bit. Instead the movement was in many ways strangled in the cradle, though the organizations that formed in the 1970s would serve as a much needed structural framework and backbone for the movements of the 1990s.
The movement was not "strangled in the crib", it spent the 80's fighting with the US government and the medical community to get meaningful and affordable treatment for people dying.
Like, not really? Being a lesbian was just as bad in the West, it was just less of a stigma if two unmarried women lived together. Like, Ellen DeGeneres had her namesake sitcom canceled due to the backlash from her coming out on the show. If there was any less stigma, it's because, unlike gay men, it was thought that is was possible to "correctively straighten" lesbians out of their misguided beliefs.
I said "weaker", not nonexistent. It was still fucking awful, in the same way getting stabbed with a knife is only marginally less bad than getting stabbed with a sword.
A lot of this goes back to the differences between the gay and lesbian movements of the prior decades, as the idea of a unified queer front didn't really get much traction until later. The gay movements had very strong ties to communist groups, while the lesbian ones did not. This meant a lot less direct action from the various alphabet soup agencies.
The movement was not "strangled in the crib", it spent the 80's fighting with the US government and the medical community to get meaningful and affordable treatment for people dying.
And losing vast amounts of ground everywhere else. To be clear, they 100% had their priorities straight, but outside of surviving to provide institutional knowledge and experience for the '90s movements, this is pretty much all they accomplished. AIDS ate up pretty much all of their resources and that really stifled their other efforts.
The thing that really hits the pocket books and pisses off the office people isn't the accountants: It's the insurance. Because whenever a police department gets hit with a settlement like this, the department has an insurance policy for it. A policy the people who own and run the biggest office buildings in just about every major city are going to revise and adjust the payments for, because the PD is a much bigger risk than the company initially thought.
On one hand, not exactly tripping over friends in the NYPD.
But on the other hand she has an FBI agent on speed-dial, has the ear of Doctor Stephen Strange, and multiple contacts with the Avengers. I imagine that Police Commissioner Lee Patrick Brown (or whoever his Marvel equivalent is in this time period), occasionally sends out notices to the various police captains in certain precincts that if they call down Attention From On High due to any interactions with certain individuals that may or may not be mutants with legal backgrounds, they are on their own. He might even advise that if any of their uniforms cause such a situation that they think very carefully on what may or may not happen. And if he's forced to get involved, they better pray.
Her coming out of the closet as lesbian would make it somewhat unsafe for her to ever call 911, to be honest. (… then again she always calls Cate, or Sam, or Stephen, or Erik…)
On one hand, not exactly tripping over friends in the NYPD.
But on the other hand she has an FBI agent on speed-dial, has the ear of Doctor Stephen Strange, and multiple contacts with the Avengers. I imagine that Police Commissioner Lee Patrick Brown (or whoever his Marvel equivalent is in this time period), occasionally sends out notices to the various police captains in certain precincts that if they call down Attention From On High due to any interactions with certain individuals that may or may not be mutants with legal backgrounds, they are on their own. He might even advise that if any of their uniforms cause such a situation that they think very carefully on what may or may not happen. And if he's forced to get involved, they better pray.
Yup. Noa is extremely protective of her own, and Cate herself has inflicted the tender mercies of Internal Affairs onto police officers multiple times based on what fellow Stonewall patrons have heard. Remember: Noa and Cate first met under adversarial circumstances, and became friends afterwards because they encountered one another at the Stonewall. (... that first meeting also had a drunk Noa blubbering and apologizing to Cate, telling her she and the FBI were right, and regretting what she'd done immensely... sometimes being a good attorney lets others be very, very bad people)
And also remember that at some point between May 1989 and July 1990, Cate got promoted to Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Manhattan field office. That is a big fucking deal. Cate has quite a bit of power in the law enforcement sphere, so if she's the one raising an issue with NYPD, it will get listened to.
Now, Noa's major case with Jacques Canter did a LOT to rehabilitate her reputation among the rank and file of the NYPD. After all, she's the woman who saved sports, 'mutie' or no. Among the newer members and the lower ranks? She's beloved for that.
The moment you get to people who've been there long enough to have heard horror stories from responding officers and detectives about the unholy hell that this tiny little Jewish woman has rained down, though? Yeah, they don't care that her case was hugely important for the continued well-being of professional sports.
They only remember her as "that fucking bitch who busted Jerry's balls in open court back in '86", or something along those lines.
And also remember that at some point between May 1989 and July 1990, Cate got promoted to Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Manhattan field office. That is a big fucking deal. Cate has quite a bit of power in the law enforcement sphere, so if she's the one raising an issue with NYPD, it will get listened to.
How realistic would it be for a queer woman to get that kind of job during the Bush Sr years? Even if Cate is carefully closeted at work, a single woman her age who never dates men could raise questions.
How realistic would it be for a queer woman to get that kind of job during the Bush Sr years? Even if Cate is carefully closeted at work, a single woman her age who never dates men could raise questions.
Welcome to the scars of the Cold War, they run deep in the American psyche. Well, that, and the AIDS epidemic at this specific point. And actually the Civil War too. Let's break it down.
This post is excellent, but I wanted to add a note or two to what was elided under the heading "Cold War Propaganda."
Background: one thing to realize about American politics is that our constitution favors a dual party system due to first-past-the-post voting in nearly every election. Appealing to a simple majority wins elections, so we have two parties each shooting for 51% of the vote.
In 1948, the Democrat (conservative) president integrated our armed forces. That threw shockwaves into his party, and caused the reactionary southern states to split. These so-called Dixiecrats (Dixie being a nickname for our rebellious slave states in the Civil War) would throw hissy fits for the next twenty years or so, over the Democratic party slowly growing more and more liberal. The national Democratic party slowly discovered that they didn't need the support from their racist allies, as they passed more popular legislation to the left of what the south would allow.
Eventually, the formerly more liberal Republican party would face a crisis of identity in 1964. Following the Civil Rights movement and the assassination of former president John F. Kennedy, his vice president Lyndon B Johnson would win an election that looks like this:
Ouch. That convinced the last holdouts of the old Republican party to either abandon ship or fully embrace what would be called the Southern Strategy. Their plan was to appeal to outrage among racists for the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The Democrats are becoming a moderate party of unity and progress? Fine! Let 'em! The Republicans will go hard right.
It worked.
The Dixiecrats actually held on to the core southern states, because even when you appeal directly to their sensibilities, racist southerners are stupid and stubborn as all hell. Didn't matter. The Republican party made an explicit appeal to the United States electorate's fear and hatred, and so began the reign of Richard Nixon.
Since then, nothing has fundamentally changed. One of our two political parties is defined by reactionary contempt for minorities, and the only thing that differs from decade to decade is what moral panic they embrace at any given time. At the time, it was racial integration of universities. Then, it became abortion, an outrage that was invented from whole-cloth in an attempt to motivate church-goers to vote against the integration of universities. Then it became fear-mongering against sexualities, to the point where THE derogatory term during my own childhood in Oklahoma was 'gay'.
This wasn't an accident of culture but a deliberate invention, an appeal to divide part of the electorate against the rest. There is so, so much money being made stoking fear and hatred. It's because the United States is wealthy that there's so much fuel for the flames.
But why did I go into so much detail about the southern strategy and the persecution of minorities? Because nobody in the United States cared one whit about trans people until the Republican party seized upon it as a new moral panic. (The British Tories, may they burn forever, provided proof-of-concept.) Anti-trans legislation is just the newest way to stir up fundraising and voting efforts in rural America.
Before the Republican Party decided to make a big deal about it, gender-affirming care was discussed with a sense of novelty when it was discussed at all.
How is the Western world so much worse than us Serbs on this until like the late 2000s/early 2010s? And to be clear we have never been good to our non-Straight/non-Cis people.
I only want to add, "politicians have put a lot of time, money, and effort into making it that way, in order to win votes."
Passing legislation that makes life better for everyone is difficult and expensive, but it's relatively cheap to make life more difficult for a minority, then convince bigots that this is what they really want.
(Edit: or, as Lyndon B Johnson himself put it, "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.")
My thoughts at the moment are along the lines of whatever precinct that has jurisdiction concerning Noa's place of residence/new office gets a new captain, and almost immediately ends up having a sit-down meeting with not only his commander/chief, but also Commissioner Brown himself and perhaps couple of other captains from neighboring precincts that have had officers with 'encounters' with Miss Schaefer in the past.
This is entirely because Miss Schaefer, more than many lawyers, is high profile enough and connected enough that politically she is a Concern (especially given the mess with Judge Andrews and Da Young), and that's not even touching on the 'people' that she openly associates with.
And by people, Commissioner Brown isn't referring to muties and pick-your-slur-of-choice-for-gay folks. He's referring to Doctor Stephen Strange, who three months ago put down some kind of monster made out of teeth and eyeballs in Central Park. And apparently is fond enough of Schaefer to drop his brand of mojo right onto the head of a costumed hitman. Before that, Steve goddamn Rogers, a living legend from WW2 and leader of the Avengers, shamed the justice department of New York after the outcome of one of Schaefer's cases. Maybe Captain America knows her, maybe he doesn't, but Commissioner Brown isn't about to gamble on yet another famous hero or scary super-powered person getting their undies in a twist because one of his cops gets caught taking a shot at her. If she gets caught doing something illegal, by all means, slap her in a new pair of shiny bracelets. But do it the right way and make 100% sure the officers underneath you do it the right way, or he will absolutely make the officer or officers involve discover religion anew.
The last thing Brown wants or needs is for the Fantastic Four or Strange or the Spider-Man or the Avengers or worse, that burning skeletal freak with the motorcycle or that psycho Castle to decide that one of his police departments require a personal visit.
And this brand new police Captain, who's actually in the closet, will nod and smile and say 'yes sir.'
I'm also considering a throwaway comment about how convictions involving Spider-Man have been going up thanks to the webslinger finally using his head and realizing that it's better all around for everyone if he does a little more than just leave his catches smothered in webbing for the police to grab later. 🤔
Actually, I might include references to the Gay Officers Action League, assuming that it came into existence in October Daye' s version of Earth 616 as it did in the real world. If so, then it'd be operating for about 8 years now in-story. Still... Hrmmmmm... 🤔
Edit: so instead of my end-of-shift paperwork, I guess I'm writing this now. Curse my fickle Muse.
My thoughts at the moment are along the lines of whatever precinct that has jurisdiction concerning Noa's place of residence/new office gets a new captain, and almost immediately ends up having a sit-down meeting with not only his commander/chief, but also Commissioner Brown himself and perhaps couple of other captains from neighboring precincts that have had officers with 'encounters' with Miss Schaefer in the past.
This is entirely because Miss Schaefer, more than many lawyers, is high profile enough and connected enough that politically she is a Concern (especially given the mess with Judge Andrews and Da Young), and that's not even touching on the 'people' that she openly associates with.
And by people, Commissioner Brown isn't referring to muties and pick-your-slur-of-choice-for-gay folks. He's referring to Doctor Stephen Strange, who three months ago put down some kind of monster made out of teeth and eyeballs in Central Park. And apparently is fond enough of Schaefer to drop his brand of mojo right onto the head of a costumed hitman. Before that, Steve goddamn Rogers, a living legend from WW2 and leader of the Avengers, shamed the justice department of New York after the outcome of one of Schaefer's cases. Maybe Captain America knows her, maybe he doesn't, but Commissioner Brown isn't about to gamble on yet another famous hero or scary super-powered person getting their undies in a twist because one of his cops gets caught taking a shot at her. If she gets caught doing something illegal, by all means, slap her in a new pair of shiny bracelets. But do it the right way and make 100% sure the officers underneath you do it the right way, or he will absolutely make the officer or officers involve discover religion anew.
The last thing Brown wants or needs is for the Fantastic Four or Strange or the Spider-Man or the Avengers or worse, that burning skeletal freak with the motorcycle or that psycho Castle to decide that one of his police departments require a personal visit.
And this brand new police Captain, who's actually in the closet, will nod and smile and say 'yes sir.'
I'm also considering a throwaway comment about how convictions involving Spider-Man have been going up thanks to the webslinger finally using his head and realizing that it's better all around for everyone if he does a little more than just leave his catches smothered in webbing for the police to grab later. 🤔
Actually, I might include references to the Gay Officers Action League, assuming that it came into existence in October Daye' s version of Earth 616 as it did in the real world. If so, then it'd be operating for about 8 years now in-story. Still... Hrmmmmm... 🤔
Edit: so instead of my end-of-shift paperwork, I guess I'm writing this now. Curse my fickle Muse.
Absolutely gets a seal of approval for the idea, let me know once it's written and I'll take a look at the rough draft to correct any spelling issues / details that might have gotten lost in the interim (... aaaaaand to tack on any details you might wind up wanting to allude to that haven't actually come up in the story yet, but are tucked away in my notes as having happened and mattering).
My thoughts at the moment are along the lines of whatever precinct that has jurisdiction concerning Noa's place of residence/new office gets a new captain, and almost immediately ends up having a sit-down meeting with not only his commander/chief, but also Commissioner Brown himself and perhaps couple of other captains from neighboring precincts that have had officers with 'encounters' with Miss Schaefer in the past.
This is entirely because Miss Schaefer, more than many lawyers, is high profile enough and connected enough that politically she is a Concern (especially given the mess with Judge Andrews and Da Young), and that's not even touching on the 'people' that she openly associates with.
And by people, Commissioner Brown isn't referring to muties and pick-your-slur-of-choice-for-gay folks. He's referring to Doctor Stephen Strange, who three months ago put down some kind of monster made out of teeth and eyeballs in Central Park. And apparently is fond enough of Schaefer to drop his brand of mojo right onto the head of a costumed hitman. Before that, Steve goddamn Rogers, a living legend from WW2 and leader of the Avengers, shamed the justice department of New York after the outcome of one of Schaefer's cases. Maybe Captain America knows her, maybe he doesn't, but Commissioner Brown isn't about to gamble on yet another famous hero or scary super-powered person getting their undies in a twist because one of his cops gets caught taking a shot at her. If she gets caught doing something illegal, by all means, slap her in a new pair of shiny bracelets. But do it the right way and make 100% sure the officers underneath you do it the right way, or he will absolutely make the officer or officers involve discover religion anew.
The last thing Brown wants or needs is for the Fantastic Four or Strange or the Spider-Man or the Avengers or worse, that burning skeletal freak with the motorcycle or that psycho Castle to decide that one of his police departments require a personal visit.
And this brand new police Captain, who's actually in the closet, will nod and smile and say 'yes sir.'
I'm also considering a throwaway comment about how convictions involving Spider-Man have been going up thanks to the webslinger finally using his head and realizing that it's better all around for everyone if he does a little more than just leave his catches smothered in webbing for the police to grab later. 🤔
Actually, I might include references to the Gay Officers Action League, assuming that it came into existence in October Daye' s version of Earth 616 as it did in the real world. If so, then it'd be operating for about 8 years now in-story. Still... Hrmmmmm... 🤔
If you're going to involve Liability and how court-related expenses get paid, there's one big thing that is going to impact what the new Commissioner and the other Captains think, especially given there's now a "new organization". The FOP. Fraternal Order of Police. They are to the law enforcement world what the NRA is to the gun owning and manufacturing industry.
When the police can't get insurance from private sources and the local government doesn't want to be on the hook, the department gets its insurance policy from FOP. They're able to structure the policy to support the policyholder without having to worry about profit, because they are the socially acceptable and politically connected replacement for worker organization. They have both member dues and donation drives to solicit support from political bigwigs.
That's the big twist of the matter. The FOP leadership are the ones who hang out with politicians and ask for things that let police have more authority and freedom to act in exchange for the people in blue voting for the FOP's endorsed candidates. What the FOP says makes a big difference in what you're seen as in the group that view themselves as part of a wider blue community with a heritage of service.
So potentially for the context of what you're writing, there's definitely conflict in Blue World. FOP hasn't said they oppose what Brown's initiative is, but they've told him that the "supporters" of the Order aren't too happy with some of the costumed crowd. Maybe have more rumblings of going beyond the power categorization and into what will become The Registration Act. But there are also enough members in uniform that do like seeing the costumed vigilantes in action, so the closest commonality is "understand how things work even if you hate it, because that field isn't worth dying over."
Come to think of it, what Noa's being asked to help with isn't too far removed from the NYPD's sweeper squad, AKA The Freak Beat. Warren Ellis' creation for the revamped Moon Knight in 2013. Unexplained and Paranormal crimes get dumped in the lap of one Detective Flint, who has the misfortune of crossing paths with "Mr. Knight" ever since the character's 80s outings. The sort of thing that're part of the cape and costume world, but not important enough for Dr. Strange, the F4, or even Spider Man. It'd be a big shift earlier on, or one that's eventually going to get pushback, because Flint's explicitly not the guy who gets the job of cleaning up after Web-head. He gets all the cases nobody else wants to touch. Which may also be enough reason to keep Flint out of this meeting, but would Noa insist on getting his squad that training?
My thoughts at the moment are along the lines of whatever precinct that has jurisdiction concerning Noa's place of residence/new office gets a new captain, and almost immediately ends up having a sit-down meeting with not only his commander/chief, but also Commissioner Brown himself and perhaps couple of other captains from neighboring precincts that have had officers with 'encounters' with Miss Schaefer in the past.
This is entirely because Miss Schaefer, more than many lawyers, is high profile enough and connected enough that politically she is a Concern (especially given the mess with Judge Andrews and Da Young), and that's not even touching on the 'people' that she openly associates with.
And by people, Commissioner Brown isn't referring to muties and pick-your-slur-of-choice-for-gay folks. He's referring to Doctor Stephen Strange, who three months ago put down some kind of monster made out of teeth and eyeballs in Central Park. And apparently is fond enough of Schaefer to drop his brand of mojo right onto the head of a costumed hitman. Before that, Steve goddamn Rogers, a living legend from WW2 and leader of the Avengers, shamed the justice department of New York after the outcome of one of Schaefer's cases. Maybe Captain America knows her, maybe he doesn't, but Commissioner Brown isn't about to gamble on yet another famous hero or scary super-powered person getting their undies in a twist because one of his cops gets caught taking a shot at her. If she gets caught doing something illegal, by all means, slap her in a new pair of shiny bracelets. But do it the right way and make 100% sure the officers underneath you do it the right way, or he will absolutely make the officer or officers involve discover religion anew.
The last thing Brown wants or needs is for the Fantastic Four or Strange or the Spider-Man or the Avengers or worse, that burning skeletal freak with the motorcycle or that psycho Castle to decide that one of his police departments require a personal visit.
And this brand new police Captain, who's actually in the closet, will nod and smile and say 'yes sir.'
I'm also considering a throwaway comment about how convictions involving Spider-Man have been going up thanks to the webslinger finally using his head and realizing that it's better all around for everyone if he does a little more than just leave his catches smothered in webbing for the police to grab later. 🤔
You forgot the devil in hell's kitchen, the fist of khonshu or even the daywalker, not to mention the heroes for hire, hellcat and jessica jones...
Also question miss daye related to this idea atleast, did Noa had a run ins with the heroes for hire like coleen wing, misty knight, power man and iron fist, and if so what was it, how long and substantial is that, and will this affect them since now the NYPD, the FBI and the politicians in new york city government are more or less watching her ass to "slip up" so that they would arrest her "legally" and "properly".
And what about jessica jones, is she still in her jewel days and especially if so did her existence atleast "derailed" the events with Jessica and kilgrave? If not then did she at least have her hired as a P.I?
Matt Murdock isn't Daredevil yet, as near as I can tell. Luke Cage and Iron Fist might be lurking around, but I don't know when exactly those two first teamed up. Misty Knight might even still be a cop with both arms at this point. As for Blade, Hellcat, Moon Knight and Jewel? I'll be honest, in the early to mid 90s I mostly just read X-men, Spider-Man and Hulk when I wasn't watching Power Rangers or playing Nintendo or Sega - that's what we called our consoles back then, because it was the style at the time. And when I wasn't doing that, I was either at the playground, passing time at the swimming pool that we lived next door to, or playing with Legos, all the while keeping an ear out for the ice cream truck, and there was nothing quite so frustrating as having to chase down that ice cream truck on foot, why I once chased one for four blocks, and I knew damn well that driver saw me but just wanted to see how much I wanted that ice cream. And I'll tell you what, my family didn't raise a quitter because I kept running until that ice cream truck finally pulled over but I damn near gave myself a heart condition.
Small nitpick, almost every country has first-past-the-post voting, the reason the US coagulates into two parties faster is because of the lack of a parliamentary system (or something similar) that supports parties. The founders wanted a system without parties but instead of putting in anything to prevent them forming just didn't include any rules about them at all.
