Look, Batfandom had to be on here, because it's so much classic hero/villain stuff. Batman/Catwoman, of course, which goes way, way back. Bruce/Talia, which produced a kid. Bruce/Harvey. Various other villain ships and traitorous lovers for Bruce, of varying levels of canonicity.

I just, I gotta admit I don't ship any of them? Bruce/Selina is, in theory, excellent, but in practice, canon has fucked it up so many times and in such a variety of ways, not to mention failing to settle on any sort of stable characterization of Selina, that I just can't make myself care. The other villain ships are fine, I guess? But again canon is just so interested in making all of his villains The One Real Enemy that none of them are any fun anymore. The closest he has to a nemesis is Joker, but honestly Joker is just sort of pathetic, not interesting or really a match for Bruce, and also super gross.

The Nolan movies tried very hard to make Batman/Superman an enemyship but I don't buy it, They are not enemies, they are Batman and Superman! They are best friends to the point where if they do get in a Mandated Hero Fight they just automatically assume one of them is under mind control or something, and they're always right.

Honestly though I think the real issue is that I settled a long time ago on a Bruce Wayne characterization where he doesn't fall in love. Like, Bruce the Socialite dates a lot, and so many people have tried to get under the shallow mask and find the real Bruce, but even if they manage it all they find under there is a somewhat befuddled polyamorous aromantic who is never going to fall in love or be want exclusive with them no matter how much he loves them. People who try it with Batman end up in the same place, just from a different direction. Bruce should be sleeping with half of Gotham and having complicated sexual/emotional entanglements with half of the Justice League and otp with nobody except Batman.

(That said, I enjoy the crap out of Bruce/Lex where Bruce is 100% doing it just to fuck with Lex and Clark, and Lex thinks he knows what's going on but is very, very wrong and will never find out. I also love Bruce/Lois in a similar way, except that Lois is smarter than Lex and will absolutely figure it out, and they unionize against Clark but they are still enemies because girl reporters and eccentric billionaires have a natural predator/prey relationship. But both Bruce/Lois and Bruce/Lex are ridiculously rare.)

(Okay, Bruce/Harley is also good, mostly because fuck the Joker, and also because Harley and Bruce would both enjoy dating someone who understands them on a deep level and also is in 0 danger of falling in love with them.)

ANYWAY. the point is, I don't really have recs for any of that because most of the limited fic I can think of is by people who I have already used elsewhere.

So instead I am going to rec Robins. I would try to explain Robins, but Robins are complicated. But they are complicated in delightful chewy ways that hit all of my bells for antagonists who love each other.

• Heart, Humble (7791 words) by Betty
  Fandom: DCU - Comicverse
  Rating: Mature
  Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
  Characters: Tim Drake, Jack Drake
  
  The one where Jack Drake meets Robin.



• Take It Back Now Y'all (82815 words) by TimTheToaster
  Chapters: 22/?
  Fandom: Red Robin (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
  Characters: Tim Drake, Original Characters, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Waylon Jones, Oswald Cobblepot
  Rating: Mature
  Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
  Additional Tags: Time Travel, to call this a fix-it is disingenuous but it is in the spirit, other batfam will apear, tim just has to figure his stuff out first, the OCs are kind of filler but also not if that makes sense, more tags as the situation develops, i'm just gonna slide in the, Slow Burn, tag because this is going to be a long build-up to Something, Canon-Typical Violence, but more like Tim's normal than Bruce's, Just So We're Clear, BAMF Tim Drake, Tim Drake-centric, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution
  
  The one where Tim gets trapped in the past and decides the obvious solution is to set himself up as a supervillain and take over Gotham's crime scene so that the Time Cops will notice him and send him home.



• Panic Room (15912 words) by envysparkler
  Chapters: 2/2
  Fandom: Batman - All Media Types
  Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
  Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
  Relationships: Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne
  Additional Tags: Whump, Hurt/Comfort, Batfamily (DCU), Panic Attacks, Strangulation, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Broken Bones, Hugs, Hurt Tim Drake, Hurt Damian Wayne, Enemy to Caretaker
  
  The one where Damian locks Tim and Jason in a room together.

Okay, nobody told me to stop, so I'm going to try this! 100 days of recs in enemy-ship fandoms. That should take me about to Halloween. Let's see how far I get! Feel free to follow along however you would like. Or unfollow for the duration, whichever. (I am vaguely inspired by the current 100ships challenge but I am not going to use their guidelines.)

Setting myself rules anyway because everything is easier with constraints-
1. Get a randomized enemyship fandom off the list every day. "Fandom" and "enemyship" as defined by me.
2. Rec 1-3 fanworks on the theme in the fandom + a little fandom intro.
3. At least one fanwork rec'd each day must be each of: complete, novel-length, use the canon enemies dynamic, shippy, on AO3.
4. No duplication of authors over the 100 days. (This may end up being the hardest part)
5. Prioritize posting today's recs over answering yesterday's comments if you have to.

Day One the random number was 20, so the fandom is: Captain Cold!Leonard Snart/Barry Allen!The Flash. A very good place to start.

This pairing is based almost entirely from the first three seasons of the Flash TV show in the current DC TV continuity, which I have not watched a single minute of (in any of the shows.) So my opinions on it may seem entirely wrong to somebody who knows canon! (In particular I get the impression the canon het is pretty cute.) But I knew enough of Flash comics going in that I knew I was interested in Captain Cold/Leonard Snart. Captain Cold is really one of the first examples in US superhero comics of the "Anti-villain" - the reverse antihero. Somebody who takes pride in being one of the bad guys, but when you look closely has more honor and a stronger moral center than the hero, is probably better-adjusted and has more fun. Flash is pretty well known for having a Rogues' Gallery pf supercriminals that are not at all grimdark and are nearly as likely to team up with him as oppose him, and Captain Cold is their leader. Comics canon (and Flash continuity) being what they are, this never stayed stable very long, but he is still a favorite!

Not a whole lot of fic for Flash though. Until they put Leonard Snart in the TV show and gave him an arc that really, really played up the "Villain, but not really all that bad, and teams up with the hero" aspect, and then gave Flash an unusually morally grey storyline to start. And cast Wentworth Miller. That helped. Also puns and flirting.

(Besides being pure gold enemies-to-lovers, this pairing also provides the best of identity porn. In canon Len finds out the Flash's secret identity fairly early and then makes a private pact with him to help keep the secret. It's great.)

After the first couple of seasons of the show, Captain Cold went off to a spin-off where he didn't fare very well (and then showed up as a guest star always-a-hero canonically gay AU version which is admittedly pretty cool) but most of the coldflash fic doesn't really worry about that much, except for occasionally bringing him back from the dead.

Recs!

• Lesser Evils (7307 words) by tipsybluetips
  Rating: Explicit
  Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
  Relationships: Len Snart/Barry Allen, Captain Cold/The Flash
  Additional Tags: DC - New 52, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Secret Identity
  
  This is based on a comics storyline I know less than nothing about, but it is the only comics-based fic on AO3 that ships him with a hero, which is a shame! It gives a good impression of comics!Len and Barry as they're older experienced villain and hero and it has the hero/villain thing one of the best ways - Len is at a very very low point and Barry, who is also not doing real well, drags him (literally) out of the gutter and takes him home, because when all your friends have betrayed you who else can you turn to but your favorite enemy? Really satisfying identity porn too as this Len doesn't know who Barry is.
  


• Okay I am going to cheat on my own rules already and sneak in two Nirejseki recs here (but really you should read all of their stuff in all the fandoms.)
  
  Unexpected Development (19802 words) by nirejseki
  Chapters: 9/?
  Fandom: The Flash (TV 2014)
  Rating: Not Rated
  Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
  Relationships: Mick Rory/Leonard Snart, Barry Allen/Mick Rory/Leonard Snart, Barry Allen/Mick Rory, Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
  Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Old Married Couple, Leonard Snart is a secret hero and he will deny it to his dying breath, but everyone knows the truth, especially Mick Rory
  
  “So, wait, let me get this straight,” Allen interrupts, looking thoughtful. “You want me to join a supervillain group in order to – and let me be sure I’ve got this right – protect people from the Families and keep them from doing drugs and possibly also to promote upward social mobility and economic stability for downtown Central?”
  
  This is a wip that sadly hasn't updated in years, but it is SO GOOD and if you want an introduction to this fandom that will leave you wanting more I have to suggest this one! Also it's poly because Leonard's canon partner Mick is invited along, but I promise that just makes it better.
  
  Here is a complete one by the same author as an apology for reccing a wip:
  
  An Internal Affair (133686 words) by nirejseki, robininthelabyrinth
  Chapters: 23/23
  Fandom: The Flash (TV 2014)
  Rating: Not Rated
  Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
  Relationships: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
  Additional Tags: Coldflash Weeks 2018, Role Reversal, Cop!Leonard Snart, Identity Reveal, Disabled Character
  
  This is a cop AU - well, canon Barry is a cop. The AU here is that Leonard Snart, instead of being a master criminal, has been a master criminal who is also an undercover cop, and when his cover is blown for good, he uses his connections to get himself put in charge of the police department's internal affairs department, and uses all of his formidable abilities against police corruption and abuse. It is a cop AU with the thesis that all cops are bastards, a few bad apples can rot through an entire police force, and the criminal justice system is fundamentally broken. And it does this while also being a rollicking good adventure/crime/superhero story, saying some really smart things about Flash canon, and building a great romance. It's amazing.
  


• A Week on Rogue's Mountain (65744 words) by Chichirinoda
  Chapters: 32/32
  Fandom: The Flash (TV 2014)
  Rating: Explicit
  Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
  Relationships: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
  Additional Tags: Survival Horror, tropey as fuck, Auctions, Collars, Rogues Being Rogues, Humour, Threats of Rape/Non-Con
  
  In the world of this fic series, every Christmas Captain Cold gets the Rogues together for a supervillains' retreat in the mountains, since none of them have any other family they're interested in holidaying with. Instead of a gift exchange they each bring something they've stolen that year to auction off to each other. Unfortunately, this year, someone decides to bring the Flash himself as his auction item - and as the only one who knows his secret identity, Len has no choice but to win the auction to keep him safe from the others. And then pretend to do unspeakable things to him for the rest of the week (pretend only of course, he'd never take advantage of a captive. No matter how much he might wish--) Also there is a locked-room horror story going on, as the ghost who is haunting their mountain lodge starts taking out the rest of the Rogues one at a time. It's pretty great. The 'tropey as fuck' tag is fully earned. The Rogues as fucked-up found family are really well done. I have re-read the whole series every Christmas for... several years.

...okay, that hypothetical crossover meme has reached levels of ludicrosity previously unattained on this journal.

Here is a list of fills so far:

Dresden Files/Vorkosigan Saga for isis (consisting of some extra bits of canon for the crossover I already wrote for this.)
Temeraire/Princess Bride ideas for finch
Pinkwaterverse/Cthulhu mythos for seekingferret (in which I fail miserably; surely *somebody* can come up with a better one?)
--seekingferret does Major League Baseball/The pirate Rabbi and Thor/Star Trek to my prompts
White Collar/Pirates of the Caribbean and DCU/The Lone Gunmen for elf. (Somebody needs to write a pirates/white collar crossover actually. Desperately. Also need fic now where Frohike tangos with Barbara Gordon, but that's a given.)
some flailing as regards Temeraire/Sherlock Holmes for ellen_fremedon
British Comedian RPF/Vorkogisan Saga for marginaliana (This one got kind of out of hand after lannamichaels tapped in. It probably helps to note that we were borrowing some of the characterization from a previous conversation regarding Aral Vorkosigan, Epic Troll. Also: this article on how traditional Chinese stand-up has fared under communism which I incidentally already had bookmarked, yes I did background research for this bit.) marginaliana asked for a British Comedy RPF crossover and I'm afraid in the elaboration we focused almost entirely on the Barrayar part, but I promise if I actually wrote it there would be a bunch of scenes of David and Charlie and Jimmy and Dara and so on meeting in hidden, poorly-lit back rooms at the university and playing at revolution.
Avengers/Sesame Street for lannamichaels. An excuse to write fic for the Teeny Little Super Guy! Yay!
Homestuck/Colbert Report for erinptah, featuring unbridgeable idealogical differences. And stabs. Mostly stabs.
Homestuck/Vorkosigan Saga for biichan. In which there are fantrolls.
Homestuck/Ranma 1/2 for terajk, featuring brownbetty and biichan contributing their own versions as well, which we must encourage them to write. yes.


Unfilled, still to do (list mostly for my reminder):
Avengers/Young Wizards and Vorkosigan/Avengers (I really need to watch that movie, I guess)
Something Sutcliff/Rihannsu-ish (Every time I poke at this I just come out concluding I need to re-read Rihannsu more. Tragic!)


This is actually an interesting way to find out what fandoms my commenters care about! Avengers yes (kind of obviously) but there's lots of Vorkosigan and Homestuck and Temeraire on there too, hmm.

And yes, I will still fill prompts if people leave them. Not crossovered out yet!

And as usual, all bunnies and notfic posted by me here are completely available for other people to pick up and run with, if you should chance to be so inspired.

1. I refuse to write, or post, or even start, a dear yuletide letter when nominations aren't even open yet. Sorry! (Well, I did do the relevant astronomical calculations, but that doesn't count.)

I have gone through and figured out what I'm offering, though. Since the time is significantly shorter this year, I decided I'm only offering fandoms that make me go "Ooh, yes! I want an excuse to reread/rewatch that in a hurry!" (as opposed to the usual criterion, which is "Ooh, I wish that had more fic, I bet I could acquire canon by the deadline." As a result, I'm only offering somewhere around 115 fandoms this time (depending on how the final list handles duplicates.)

2. A couple of days ago I got my sign-ups and induction stuff to be an AO3 tag wrangler. Which, yay? But I thought they weren't signing anyone up until after yuletide? And in fact wrangling is closed until after yuletide? So other than read through the docs, I am not sure what I am supposed to be doing about my new tag wrangler status. Other than continuing to lurk the chatroom, obvs. (Oh, AO3, your communication skills at the moment are so inspiring.)

3. I don't know how helpful this will be, but the long-running rift between two segments of fandom (with other segments chiming in from the sidelines) which has suddenly broken off the scabs and started bleeding again, hurts. I see it in a split down fandom communities; down my own circle of friends; and down my own self. So, I want to do this, if only for myself; and I would love to see other people do it, too; I don't know if it will help heal the rift, but it might help some of us across it.

I am a fan, I am a geek. I have always been. You may, reading this journal or my comments, get the impression that I am a slash fan and/or a media fan - and I will admit, my primary allegiance is to that community. But that's not all I am. That is the last, and in some ways the least, of my fannish IDs. What else am I? Well, in roughly chronological order:

( I am a fan of genre fiction. )

( I am a math, science, and tech geek. )

( I am a science fiction fan. )

( I am a comics fan. )

( I am an anime/manga fan. )

( I am a media fan and a slash fan. )


...wow, I totally didn't intend that to be the effect, but I am kind of filled with love and awesome and sparkles now after writing that. Love and awesome and sparkles to all fans everywhere, regardless of what kind of fans you are!

In exchange for killing my back carrying longboxes on Monday, I am now in possession of "Diana Prince: Wonder Woman #202", featuring the white jumpsuit and Catwoman, written by Samuel R. Delany and guest-starring Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.

I can't decide which part of that sentence is awesomest, there is so much awesome in it.

(I also pulled out #203 while I was at it, because it is a "special women's lib issue". I tremble in anticipation.)

Will I post scans? I don't know! Do you know? Maybe I will liveblog it as I read!

So I got a Wacom tablet this spring, and recently I started actually trying out some of the features in GIMP that are awesome with a tablet, like the inking tool and quickmask, instead of just using the same old tools I'd started with six years ago. And I've been practicing with old files because I really want to be able to do nice-looking fanart, now that I can't blame it on my tools.

So, here's a (more-or-less) finished piece on the tablet. It's inked, colored, and lettered on computer, but it was done over a scan of the pencil drawing that I originally did for Project Rooftop's Draw Supergirl thing.

Yeah. That long ago. That's how long it generally takes me to finish a fanwork. (On the other hand, finished fanwork! Yay! That's rare, for me.)

( Supergirl redesign )

This is the Highlander The Series / Batman-between-the-crises amalgamverse crossover genfic. About 3500 words and in need of some fact-checking still, but otherwise done. Until I start another section.

( Observe and Record: In Which Timothy Drake is given his first field Watcher assignment, and Adam Pierson has a conversation with Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Broody that doesn't end in drawn swords. Quite. )