The Rec Center #7
Hello everyone! We’ve got lots of great stuff for you this week, including Elizabeth’s first fic recs list (Harry Potter!) and an explanation of WTF is going on at DC Comics. — Gav
new stuff
“Misha Collins talks about launching the SPNFamily Crisis Support Network for Supernatural fans” by Samantha Highfill at Entertainment Weekly
“But if you are part of a community and you know that that community is offering help in a certain way and it’s something that you know is there, I think it might be really helpful.”
“Back-room revisions to TPP sneakily criminalize fansubbing & other copyright grey zones” by Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing
The Trans Pacific Partnership might mean bad news for some transcultural fan practices.
This is hideously recursive BUT: here is an interview we did with Fangirl Magazine about The Rec Center, the newsletter you are reading right now.
[here is an excerpt from one of the 1,000 emails we send to make this newsletter]
Elizabeth: we need Kanye in here somewhere
how about https://twitter.com/Deibikun/status/699768623586549760
Gav: Im v interested in kanye. He is the bnf of his own fandom.
old(er) stuff
Fan musician Alice Marie’s albums for Hannibal, Supernatural, and more
Alice Marie isn’t exactly “old stuff” but she has been around for a couple of years. She writes folk/pop/Lorde-ish kind of music about her favorite fandoms, including three entire albums inspired by Supernatural, and one inspired by Hannibal.
tumblr and beyond
“Therese, Arthur, Curt, Carol, Brian, Tommy and Shannon” by amapofthecountry
Elizabeth has FINALLY seen Carol so she can share this great piece about parallels between Todd Haynes’s Carol and Velvet Goldmine, and queer initiation as fandom.
Here’s a great Avatar: The Last Airbender vid set to “Wait For It” from Hamilton. It’s all about Zuko, and contains SPOILERS right to the end of ATLA, you have been warned!
“SHIP WARS: A Simple Guide for Fandom” by shinykari
“Agatha Christie is not a mass murderer, despite having fictionally killed over 100 people.”
“Bicepsual curls ft. Rey Finn and Poe” by fernacular <3
fanfiction
If you’ve heard me talk about fanfic recently you’ve heard me banging on about how I returned to my OTP, like if “OTP” was literal and binding and you only were allowed to pick one forever. Remus Lupin/Sirius Black is one of those pairings with *a lot* of firmly-defined subgenres, but most of them are isolated a few decades before the primary action of the books. So I thought I’d pick one that’s a little more accessible outside R/S—the “Raising Harry AU,” which is exactly what it says on the tin. — Elizabeth
“Stealing Harry” by copperbadge. 100K words, rated Mature.
The ur-Raising Harry fic? I was going to write “the granddaddy of all Raising Harry fics” but that felt super weird (and I still just did it). A misdirected owl sets off a chain of events that keeps Sirius out of Azkaban, so he and Remus spy on Harry until they realize what’s actually going on at the Dursleys. A funny, beautifully-plotted, self-contained novel, and I just read it for the 15th time and it was still a joy.
“Common Woodbrown” by imochan. 36K words, rated Mature.
Totally haunting and absolutely gorgeous, this one is all Remus, grappling with his ongoing internal struggle (there’s a “cure” for werewolves that’s as upsetting and moving as any I’ve seen over the years) as he fights for custody of baby Harry. If you read it, look for the moment when Harry receives a black envelope—I *cannot* get that scene out of my head.
“Maddest House” by busaikko. 42K words, rated Explicit.
The sort of AU that digs so deep that you look up halfway through and realize you’ve completely forgotten what happens in the original books. Sirius raises Harry, with Remus as their secret-keeper, and this is the story of their daily struggles, completely isolated with very little money. Like many Raising Harry R/S stories, Remus and Sirius have to rebuild trust *very* slowly after the events of Halloween 1981, which I love, because I enjoy pain.
“Unified Theory” by montparnasse. 3.9K words, rated Gen.
Since I’ve returned to the R/S fold, montparnasse is hands-down my favorite ‘new-to-me’ author, with some of the most staggering prose I’ve seen in fic in a long time. This one-shot is beautiful, just a single scene, with Remus, Sirius, and two-year-old Harry in Remus’s childhood home. And if you like the pairing, read the rest of their works IMMEDIATELY. :-)
“Scenes from Another Life” by helene. 11K words, rated PG-13.
[an FA link!! Do you know how much time I’ve spent on FA recently? And using the Wayback Machine?? ANYWAY.] After all that doom and gloom, this one’s a lot lighter, and very charming: the exposition of the story is framed by Ron and Harry’s first conversation on the Hogwarts Express.
“These Young Lions” by enjambament. 26K words, rated Teen.
This one’s less “raising Harry” and mostly just “plotting to physically see Harry and also prove Sirius’s innocence.” Beautifully written, and employs one of my favorite tropes, “seeing your OTP from a third person’s perspective.” A bonus points: a fully-drawn OMC, who is kind and thoughtful and a major player in the story.
FINAL THOUGHT: WTF IS GOING ON WITH DC COMICS?
Elizabeth: OK Gav honestly what is going on with DC? The...DC...Cinematic Universe? Do they call it that? I used to really like Batman the animated series….??? In middle school! I just get this vague sense that DC are doing Everything Wrong but I’m curious about why exactly.
Gav: DC’s animated universe is fine, AFAIK! The thing people are complaining about is actually to do with the comics.
This summer, DC is semi-rebooting its comics universe with an event called “Rebirth.” DC and Marvel do this fairly regularly, in an attempt to “simplify” continuity and bring in new audiences. (Marvel just did this with its “All New, All Different” relaunch, following a crossover event storyline called “Secret Wars” last year.)
I’m kind of dubious about the efficacy of these reboots. In theory it should be more accessible to wipe the slate clean and start a “new” continuity with #1 issues across the board, but DC kind of already did this after ending the New 52 (DC’s controversial 2011 reboot) last year. As someone who only started reading monthly comics in the past couple of years, I find it somewhat offputting — including really basic stuff like how the announcements are worded.
“You won’t be too lost.” How encouraging!
Possibly I’m just a dummy, but I see this kind of confusion from many people who recently started following comics—ie, the exact audience Marvel and DC are trying to court. For example, last year’s Marvel relaunch meant a few comics like Squirrel Girl and Howard the Duck were launched and then relaunched in the same year, meaning a) they had two #1 issues in 2015, and b) the second time round, they existed within a new continuity that was barely relevant to their individual storylines anyway.
With Rebirth, something similar appears to be happening. From my own POV, I’m sad that neither of the comics I was following (Prez and Midnighter, both of which began in 2015) are on the Rebirth list—although Prez will finish its 12-issue run. All the new Rebirth titles are ~traditional superheroes like the Justice League, plus Constantine. In other words, comics that play to DC’s core audience and fans of DC movies & TV. Which is fine! But I feel like it misses an audience brought in by more diverse, offbeat titles like Doctor Fate, Bombshells, and yes, Prez and Midnighter. (Prez is a smart and funny political satire about a teen girl who becomes president by mistake; Midnighter is a violent action comic about a gay superhero.)
Elizabeth: Ahhhh oh man. This is *very* interesting! (I’m surprised to see this is wholly unrelated to the constant complaints about their films, but I guess a company can fail with the public on multiple levels.) The thing that strikes me is it sounds...kind of insidiously gatekeepy. Like it’s dressing up as “starting over” and “more accessible but it’s actually baffling and therefore even MORE intimidating to newcomers. People might argue with this, but I see comics as the most gatekeepy of all fannish mediums…?
Gav: It’s a complicated situation. (And unrelated to the movies, because they’re controlled by Warner Bros.) The comics community does have problems with discrimination and gatekeeping, but there are plenty of fans and creators who are incredibly welcoming. Things like Rebirth are more business-oriented—and I do think DC wants to find a wider audience, even if they often don’t get it right.
Reboots and event storylines are designed to grab people’s attention and boost sales, and this particular relaunch includes some pricing changes as well. DC comics will now sell for $2.99, a cheaper and therefore more accessible price. BUT some of those comics will now be released twice a month, meaning you’re actually paying $2 more per month to keep up. And it’s unclear how long those comics can be, because artists can only draw so fast.
Basically, much like their movie franchises, the creative direction of DC and Marvel comics is heavily influenced by behind-the-scenes industry stuff. And it often feels like there’s a big disconnect between those decisions and what fans actually want.
postscript: calling all femslash fans!
I’m working on an article about femslash, and would really like to interview one or two more fans (hopefully Clexa or SnowQueen, but any femslash pairing will do!) about their experiences in fandom. If you’re up for this, please let me know by replying to this email, tweeting me, or emailing me directly at gavia@thedailydot.com. — Gav
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