Type “i Am” In The Tags And Whatever Comes Up First Is Your New Mandatory Kin

YOU hates terfs

Tiny god damn dolphin

Sky in a cowboy hat as requested on reddit

I beseech you for your Garth insight, wht personality of his do you like? Bc every version of him I've read is a little alienating to me (part of the reason why I prefer Jackson is bc Idk which Garth I'll get or wht even his backstory is now) so if I started to try and get invested in him wht stories or version would you recc?

Okay for absolute full disclosure here I’m currently getting into Aquaman comics chronologically. Primarily through the lens of Garth. And there are some things I had already read at some point, but in my current venture I’m just a little bit post-Crisis, so my knowledge of the Aquaman side of things in general is still relatively limited. 

But I can definitely talk about Garth.

First things first, absolutely anything featuring a man calling himself Garth from any point later than the year 2011 is a completely different person. I can say that with full confidence even having read, like, no more than 2 comics including the Rebirth iteration of his character. It’s just not the same guy on seemingly any level, which can definitely account for the alienation aspect, and it’s very disappointing.

But on the topic of OG Garth. Let’s discuss his personality.

Something that stands out to me immediately about Garth is that he is very emotional. (Apparently a common theme among the characters I like.) But more than that, he’s emotional in like a shockingly healthy way? He does not bottle things up, if something hurts or upsets him he makes it known, if he feels betrayed or disrespected by someone he takes it up with them, and he’s not at all afraid of direct confrontation if it’s warranted. 

But despite that, he remains consistently reserved, sensitive, and gentle, which is kind of a miracle among male comic book characters. He can have a temper too, but it only really comes up if something is stopping him from helping someone in trouble, or if he feels mistreated past a certain limit, and it never really feels like he’s lashing out unnecessarily. His continual willingness to stand up for himself in spite of his “softer” personality sticks with me.

And tying into all of the above he’s textually acknowledged for his talents in communication and later diplomacy, which, again, not usually traits emphasized in Superhero Men. This example is very cute:

Not that he doesn’t enjoy fighting. He definitely does. In fact, a few of his notable outbursts have been explicitly about his beef with pacifist philosophies LOL. Although he notably doesn’t go out looking for fights or starting them without good reason by any means. (I think this is a point of diversion between him and his imposter-self. Maybe. From what I’ve heard.) 

Now backpedaling a bit, part of why all of his fairly healthy emotional and communicative traits are so charming to me is that he definitely is NOT without his issues. Idk how much you know about his backstory but for starters, he was abandoned and left to die as a baby, initially thought to be due to an Atlantean superstition regarding his purple eyes, surviving (mostly) on his own for a while and eventually being found by Arthur. Due to this, as well as the ambiguous and changeable state of his relationship with Arthur (whether they see each other as friends, brothers, or a father-son duo is. Complicated to say the least. It’s almost like a Jedi-Padawan type thing if you’re into star wars LMAO), Garth is kind of a walking hotbed of abandonment issues, theoretically at least. Like I said, he’s pretty healthy when it comes to expressing his needs and feelings. He's definitely more well-adjusted than Arthur ends up being.

Loneliness and a lack of belonging/identity are also huge themes with him as well. This is why the Titans are so important to Garth, even if his responsibilities and limitations prevent him from being a consistent member of the team. During maybe the first period where he genuinely doesn’t know where he stands with Arthur anymore, he goes off on his own to seek out his (purple-eyed) people and try to find his parents to give himself some sense of personal identity and find out who he is--as it turns out, he has immense trouble relating to them or even being civil with them at points, and ends up feeling like as much of an outcast with them as he does in Atlantis, ultimately realizing that his identity and who he fundamentally is are things that only he can decide for himself! Go Garth!

Some other issues he deals with are general insecurity and anxiety--these are mostly shown within the context of the Titans, where he’s often the odd one out as an Atlantean and severely limited in his abilities and effectiveness outside of the water (i.e. nearly suffocating to death all the time.) At the end of the original Teen Titans, Garth quits the team because he felt so deeply inferior and useless to them that it was making him actually severely physically ill to the point of passing out multiple times and people genuinely worrying he was going to die. That is a lot of anxiety. Though he doesn’t have nearly as much insecurity when he’s in the water, he's still shown to be A Worrier, and Tula makes fun of him for being too vigilant or in his own head, unable to loosen up and so on. Also, in his very first appearance, he is deathly afraid of fish!!!!!

Now for recs. First of all, if you’re insane or plan on being so in the future, this is a link to a complete reading order, which is what I’ve been loosely following. More specifically, Garth’s first appearance is in Adventure Comics #269. I would also recommend Adventure Comics #270 and #278. It’s some of the cutest shit ever, but it has little bearing on his later appearances.

From then I would go to Aquaman v1 (1962). Specifically #17-18, #23, #25, #33 (Tula intro!), and #40-47 (this arc is really drawn out and silly and Garth’s segments are mostly separate from the rest of the plot so after the first one you can honestly just skip through most of it until you see Garth or Tula LOL). He’s also in Teen Titans v1 during this time, I would read the first issue and then skip to #19, #28-29, #30, #40 (kilt moment), #45-53. Also, The Brave and the Bold (2008) #10 is a very cute story that focuses on Garth and takes place during this era.

Sort of concurrent to the Titans appearances is maybe the first major Aquaman storyline which you can find as a trade paperback (on readcomiconline lol) called Aquaman: The Death of a Prince. Basically Arthur is put through a meat-grinder of facing a bunch of his villains back to back, being deposed as the King of Atlantis, losing Arthur Jr., and as a result, becoming estranged from Garth and Mera. This is where you also find the first real expansion of Garth’s backstory.

Then he pops up in New Teen Titans (1980) #23 and #33. Tales of the Teen Titans #45-47 + #50. New Teen Titans (1984) #6. And then Crisis on Infinite Earths happens wherein Tula is killed. It’s very minor and not worth reading the whole thing just to see that if you’ve never read it before. He sticks with the New Teen Titans (1984) team for a spell when almost everyone in the usual team is gone and/or going through a mental breakdown from #19-26 I believe, and the grief makes him very quiet and distant, but he breaks through it by the end. Basically right after that are the events of Teen Titans Spotlight #10 with a very odd psychedelic story where he has like a telepathic battle with Mento lol, and later in #18 of the same book. 

Congratulations, you are now caught up with me. This has also gotten disturbingly long, so I’m going to cut it off here. If you actually make it through all this and would like more recommendations for Garth past this point feel free to ask again. Or if you get sick of reading these older comics and don’t care about skipping ahead/potentially not understanding shit, he shows up pretty consistently in Aquaman v5 (and the excellent Tempest (1996) miniseries where he makes the moniker-switch takes place after I think #25 of that), and Titans (1999).

Dc crossover

veloci moves to Gotham or metropolis or [insert corrupt city here] to do more evil schemes

it syncs up with the squads school field trip (either out of convenience or because he’s trying to weed out who specifically is a dino), and the squad meet different heroes (more chaos if they’re teen heroes)

danny phantom crossover

ms Moynihan and victor veloci are halfas and the team ends up discovering that the ooze does some ghost thing that imbues them with the power and form of a dinosaur or something and theyre also half ghost as a result

they must then come to terms with the fact that if they remove the dino they’ll be seriously harmed and significantly weakened (cue mad scientist jack and madie)

You could have it so veloci teams up with them at fist, but they see him try to attack Danny because he recognises him, and they realise he’s a true, prehistoric dinosaur halfa, and as a result, a much rarer and more valuable test subject

fnaf au

the squad become the animatronics (victor veloci and ms Moynihan are the original ones, they’re like the fun time ones or security breach ones, but more dino versions)

Age swap au (can’t think of name)

the squad adopt ms Moynihan (child in this au) and must help her fight against the mutated animals as she deals with her school rival victor veloci (potentially got bit by a mutant dino animal and the ooze entered his blood, so he has more experience than Moynihan) (can play out as many genres, ideally (in my mind) a high school drama, or a horror (think ghost face, but velociraptor instead))

on a similar note;

Infection au

veloci made a batch meant to mutate humans, but messed up some genetic coding, so they have become mindless and moving with only basic urges (eat, drink, sleep, fight back), and the squad, having already come in contact with the successful ooze, must fight this

(Easy fix: their normal tech works, but repair tools must be aquired harder fix: tech brakes, turns out to be a state wide (or global) event)

Mlp crossover

they wake up in the world of Mlp, and chaos ensues

they remain unsure of how to get back (I had g4 in mind, but it’d honestly be funnier with earlier generations)

Warrior cats au

can be with or without powers

dino clan sounds awesome

ice age au

they become ice age animals instead of dinosaurs

and they get plot progression too

Monster high crossover

Any generation

they mistake one of the characters pets for a dino (or veloci turns animals into dinos) and they follow it to monster high

Keep Jackson Jekyll and holt Hyde in so they have someone kinda similar (turn from human to something else)

scream street (British kids show one) crossover

They get mistaken for monsters and dragged there, ms Moynihan assumed to be their mother

Ben ten crossover

he mistakes them for fellow omnitrix users, and copies the dna of one of them so he ends up able to turn into dinosaurs (likely ms Moynihan since she’s originally a dinosaur)

they help him with aliens, he helps them with their dino animals

Ninjago crossover

S1 specifically (my favourite season)

Also, veloci and pythor arguing sounds glorious

Edit: I added another

Xmen crossover

specifically x men evolution (high school setting)

they end up in separate classes, and buzz chills with the brotherhood for a bit and gives toad a confidence boost since he thinks amphibians are cool

the others get into the x men by pretending that they’re mutants

Fiona meets the morlocks

scenario in which they meet their future selves

scenario in which they get sent to the future

the squad meet past veloci and Moynihan, who are exactly like smart, immature crows

they end up stuck in dino for (or just one of them) and they find ways around it (or other wise get caught)

one of Caruso’s hair gels ands up very similar to the primordial ooze one night when he’s particularly tired, and he secretly uses it for a power boost, only to discover that it’s slowly making him more dino than human (he can’t reverse it)

Yall, Gimme Dino Squad Story Ideas

There is only around 30 fics on AO3 and that is a travesty so.

Reasons to watch Justice League Action

Joker, voiced by Mark Hamill, and Trickster, also voiced by Mark Hamill, kidnap Mark Hamill (also voiced by Mark Hamill).

A giant cat attacks (long story). Everyone is struggling with it, and Batman just casually uses a laser pointer to distract it. Did I mention the laser pointer beam was bat-shaped?

Batman attempts to be the “good cop” and Superman attempts to be the “bad cop” when they interrogate Deadshot. As you can imagine, Batman offering coffee and a chocolate doughnut is absolutely terrifying.

Villains fear Batman and heroes are afraid to mess up in front of him, but he still has some really sweet moments.

Batman knows what a videogame called “Boulevard Brawler 2” is because “Robin plays it all the time on the batcomputer.”

Same episode, Batman’s trapped in the game and Toyman uses Wonder Woman to beat the hell out of him. Batman is lying on the ground, likely in pain, and he just glares at Toyman and says “Robin’s better [at playing the game].” This man is so proud of everything his children do.

Same episode, we get a peek into the Batcave. Along with some other costumes there is a Robin one, likely Jason’s (*cri*), which means the aforementioned Robin is Tim.

We get to see Batman on his first case (wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey), in which he watches his past self try and fail to use a grappling hook.

The Joker is such an icon in this. In most media I despise him (mostly the character, not the characterization) (except for in Suicide Squad, no more of that characterization please), but in JLA he’s hysterical. Goes to the watchtower to genuinely appreciate a tour.

Martian Man Hunter, turning to Batman after making a pun: [It was] my attempt at humor. How did I do?

Batman, deadpan: I’m the wrong one to ask.

Djinn, with a creepy and triumphant grin: I am Uthool!

Batman, ready to fight: I don’t care.

Zatanna, to Batman: Don’t underestimate yourself. Little secret: when goblins want to scare themselves, they tell Batman stories.

Green Arrow, to Batman: *sigh* I know it’s generous, but we’re both in the billionaire masked vigilante “making the world a better place game,” so I figure—

Batman: *ejects him from the batmobile*

Solomon Grundy: That’s how servants treat their king!

Batman, with narrowed eyes: You’ll forgive me if I don’t curtsy.

Superman: *briefly loses his powers, breaks his leg*

Batman, with absolutely no sympathy: Hurts, doesn’t it?

“I…. AM…. BATMAN!”

Wonder Woman. Just Wonder Woman being an absolute icon.

Booster gold wearing this:

And there are so many more hilarious interactions like this. If I had a week this post would be longer than the “color of the sky” post.

Mary:

Mary and food

Mary likes to eat stuff as the sergeant that she cant as mary, mostly stuff that would literally kill her on a good day.

it started with eating stray bullets, but now whenever the captain hears mary chewing on something, he has to tell her to spit it out like a dog. the justice league is very concerned for her wellbeing at this point

batman: What are you eating, seargent?

mary: just this kryptonite

in her defense, she is helping out all the kryptonians by lowering the amount of it left! That fact its being lowerd into her stomach is no ones buisness!!!

(semi/) AQUATIC VILLAINS 🔛🔝

I CONSUME YOUR ART STYLE

DC Supervillains is the best Lego game I've ever played. I needed to draw my custom character.

could you give me tips on how to draw furries? specifically like anatomy tips :3

your art is really cool btw!!

Thank ya! hmm the way i learnt was just drawing regular anime wolves but they lacked the expressiveness of humans and i slowly started making them upright without realising it xd So i suppose, if you know how to draw animals, study humanoid bodies, if you know how to draw humans, study animals, and if you dont know neither then start with the one you like drawing better : D There are as many furry varieties as there are animals so its hard to give specific tips but i gotta say a real favourite way of drawing furry bodies is

zootopia concept art, we hate disney but this is gold actually

especially thissss, i dont know anything theoretical about this but it may be because lots of mammals have reduced collarbones too? You dont have to stick to these guides, lots of people just draw very human bodies when it comes to furries but think its a nice touch

heres some more, one thing i often see is about fur tufts, it can give the character some nice shapes if you space them correctly

shout out to the silly creatures from scavengers reign‼️‼️