A Comic About Fix-it Fanfics

a comic about fix-it fanfics

Madara Uchiha

"The best thing we can do with power is give it away" - On the leftist critique of superhero narratives as authoritarian power fantasies:

The ongoing "Jason Todd is a cop" debate has reminded me of a brilliant brief image essay by Joey deVilla. So here it is, images first and the full essay text below:

"A common leftist critique of superhero comics is that they are inherently anti-collectivist, being about small groups of individuals who hold all the power, and the wisdom to wield that power. I don’t disagree with this reading. I don’t think it’s inaccurate. Superheroes are their own ruling class, the concept of the übermensch writ large. But it’s a sterile reading. It examines superhero comics as a cold text, and ignores something that I believe in fundamental, especially to superhero storytelling: the way people engage with text. Not what it says, but how it is read. The average comic reader doesn’t fantasize about being a civilian in a world of superheroes, they fantasize about being a superhero. One could charitably chalk this up to a lust for power, except for one fact… The fantasy is almost always the act of helping people. Helping the vulnerable, with no reward promised in return. Being a century into the genre, we’ve seen countless subversions and deconstructions of the story. But at its core, the superhero myth is about using the gifts you’ve been given to enrich the people around you, never asking for payment, never advancing an ulterior motive. We should (and do) spend time nitpicking these fantasies, examining their unintended consequences, their hypocrisies. But it’s worth acknowledging that the most eduring childhood fantasy of the last hundred years hasn’t been to become rich. Superheroes come from every class (don’t let the MCU fool you). The most enduring fantasy is to become powerful enough to take the weak under your own wing. To give, without needing to take. So yes, the superhero myth, as a text, isn’t collectivist. But that’s not why we keep coming back to it. That’s not why children read it. We keep coming back to it to learn one simple lesson… The best thing we can do with power IS GIVE IT AWAY." - Joey deVilla, 2021 https://www.joeydevilla.com/2021/07/04/happy-independence-day-superhero-style/

Hour 6: Monsoon

Summary: With an unseasonably late monsoon sweeping through the compound, the Uchiha are too busy to light the bonfire at the end of Obon that would light their ancestors' path back to the Pure Lands. One unfortunate accident later, and the bonfire is late for sure.

But Izuna has some concerns about the ghosts of his ancestors getting lost - or, worse, staying here with him. While he's alive.

Author: Dawen Rating: General Fandom: Naruto Relationship: Uchiha Izuna & Family Other Tags: Warring Clans Era (Naruto), Canon Compliant, Uchiha Clan-Centric, Obon, Ghosts, Natural Disasters, Rescue Mission, Angst with a Happy Ending, Kid Izuna, in which two clan civilians are Rescued from a Flood, paying proper homage to your ancestors, calamities which seem so much more severe when you're like ten Word Count: 1,853

Izuna took a moment to wring his hair out, water flowing in a steady stream to puddle on the engawa before dripping through the cracks between the boards. The urgent tasks were done – elders and young children taken up to the healing ward, which was built on high ground specifically so that the injured wouldn’t need to be rescued during monsoons. Their food stores were secured. Most of their livestock had been taken from the pastures; the chickens had fled to their coops, which teams of shinobi had raised to be a bit higher when the rain started. Izuna’s job, checking on the civilians under evacuation and offering help to anyone who could benefit from a touch of chakra to get through a waterfall’s worth of rain, was nearly done. He’d just finished checking this house; the family had already evacuated.

One last family to check on. With a sigh, he braced himself and ran into the rain again, suppressing a flinch at the heavy drum of incessant water on his armor.

Read the rest on AO3.

And remember: To be continued, under next year’s Lamplight…