With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

Ohh, shit, so Alan was the one that got shot.

Ha!

You will ne er live that down.

I don't think the spider fucking is that widely known outside of Vega.

 

I don't know what it is, but something about how Paul just calls up people really amuses and entertains me.

It's somehow so mundane in such a fantastical setting. I can't imagine other heroes doing it.

 

...This is a surprisingly good defensive option, if not a moral or easily established one.

 

Ah. It wasn't OL getting shot at that time. I'm guessing the Guns either have him pegged for something (probably from wartime) or they've decided any ally of their target is as culpable as the target themself. Either way, this isn't great.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Unlike you, OL, he can't easily divide his concentration between talking and fighting...

Bad idea, kitty-kat. That'd just give Avenger a free shot at you. And you haven't got nearly the defences a Lantern does.

Not to mention god knows how many Amazons and cops. Good grief, the Guns have a target-rich environment...

Trust him, he's lasted this long without AI. With an AI, he's practically unbeatable, because nothing's stronger than Hope. Especially when it's touched by his Will.

Ugh. I bet he's got millions of hits. Like a Google search for one word. Might wanna try narrowing it down?

Huh. The things you learn when you make a random search... But this is no time for a wiki-walk, OL!

And that will seem like a total non-sequitor to Ted. Not helping your reputation as 'scatter-brained', OL.

Except most of her targets wouldn't fit either of those cases. Regular people can get up to some pretty bad things.

Ah, the wisdom of age. Good luck finding anyone from that era, though.

The 1940's and -50's, folks! Cas-u-al rac-is-um!

Not ringing a bell. But I can assume they're a legacy hero...

So, what comic misunderstanding will this be?

Ah, the 'poorly-timed telemarketer cold call.' A classic.

Man, how many times must he have had that call... Today?

...Yes, sure, the 'Cake Guy.' I assume you enjoyed your slice.

Never living it down, OL. Get used to it. I'm amazed the Legionnaires didn't greet you as 'The Cake man'... But they did come from a different timeline. Bet he'll get that reaction from their local counterparts if they ever turn up.

Yes, rather 'Oh'. Good to see he can guess just how bad this could be.

<ShockedNickCage.jpeg> No, really? We'd never have guessed!

Hey, at least it isn't a cursed motorcycle gas-tank cap. And yes, that is the 90's Ghost Rider's origin. Still better than Ghost Rider 2099...

More than that, but he can be excused for Mister Travis not being entirely truthful.

I'm betting that's why he invented the gas-gun he would later use. Sort of a Sandman-lite.

And yes, those costumes are terrible. Presumably done after Batman caught on big.

Well, he can but try.

More likely it'll be the Guns that end up destroyed. Or at least separated from their host and contained.

Which is legally true. Now, falsifying evidence and possibly later lying about it in court? Not so innocent.

Come on, if he has to sit down and count, it'll take all day.

Yeah. Still not public knowledge that he wiped nearly an entire race from existence. They weren't nice people, but still...

As detailed here. For those who want to read ahead and aren't already familiar with the plotline.

I'm sure Wildcat will be giving us a full run-down tomorrow. Still, best make it quick, since the lady is still running amok with magic guns down there. Ironic, isn't it? The Guns have probably killed more people by missing than they ever have directly. Not that the spirit in them would care, I bet. As long as they get their target, no-one else matters... Sloppy.

 

I could be wrong but didn't Grayven mention once that Alan and the JSA killed a villain that found out their secret identities?

 

In this timeline, the manner in which Golden Age Ragman died happened. As such, the guns may consider Alan a valid target.

If you're talking about the Citadelians, Paul didn't wipe them out. He left a sizable amount alive, partially so that the Tamaranean princesses can earn Vega's good will by hunting them down.

 

That's interesting, because the last time I checked it was something like 2/3. Another third were murders, and a percentage or two for accidents.

I guess the Sheeda chaos and the aftermath might drastically increase the murder numbers and/or lower the suicides, if only because more people get killed before they can kill themselves.

 

I think he told those video game developers, but it may not have spread to everyone else

Though now the only ones that are probably alive are the dozen that work for Amalak.

 

I know. It's such a stupid gimmick. Maybe if the bullets only hurt the guilty and passed harmlessly through innocent bodies, or never missed and always hit their target? It's magic, ain't got to explain shit.

Fucking bargain bin bootleg Ghost Rider. She doesn't even have a flaming skull. How can you be possessed by a Spirit of Vengeance and not have a flaming skull?!!

 

Mr Zoat, I was rereading some of the old stuff you posted, and I was wondering if you still had plans for future crossover with Ame-Comi and Green Lantern: The Animated Series?

 

Ame-Comi, no. GL:tAS, yes.

 

So we will no longer see the version of Paul who ended up in the former? Pity, I was hoping to see him interact with Power Girl and Supergirl, with people mistaking their relationship due to him being good friends with the two. At least we'll see him in the latter. Though I wonder which ring he'd get there?

 

"Must be a slow year."

Plus DC is wildly more violent than RL, so more gun violence too.

 

You might if someone who's actually read Ame-Comi writes it.

 

The one from GT may not he an original Paul, but just Future Paul.

I think Zoat once mentioned that we'd be seeing Razer and he'd get a different ring, so maybe Future Paul rill recruit him.

 

Oh how I wish the far future bondage elves just looked at OL and promised him that if he makes a very fine celebratory cake then they'll allow him to be the last to die. Completely dismissing him in every other category!

Like to see Ghost Rider give those things the Penitence Stare.

 

It is true that spirits of vengeance tend to have something wrong with their head and I don't mean figuratively: Headless horseman, flaming skull, 'Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner' etc etc

 

Reminds me of settings where some people can project their emotions, and particularly one who is constantly near-suicidally depressed. He knows how to function with it. Anyone else he targets with it? Not so much.

Paul doesn't have to re-experience the emotion to do it, either, which makes it more usable.

 

Probably the same some of the big monsters of DC have

 

Now I'm reminded of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where Marvin blasts all those people with the Point of View gun.

 

To be clear, the statistic in question is firearm-inflicted deaths (not firearm-related injuries or incidents) in the US in the year 2011 on Earth 16.

I can't find the specific statistic for 2011, but in 2010 on Earth Prime it was 61% -- that is, more than the 1/2 cited by OL, but less than the 2/3 you're remembering. In either case, it's close enough that as a rough rounding it's not inaccurate for OL to have said that.

(It also seems plausible that Earth 16 might have a somewhat higher rate of firearm assaults than Earth Prime, or perhaps firearm incidents are more deadly when they happen, because 75% of firearm injuries in US Prime are related to assault even though less than 40% of the deaths are.)

 

Or the time he plugged himself into the onboard computer of a police vehicle or the time he plugged himself into the opening circuit of brand new bridge that was meant to revitalize the economy of the planet of Sqornshellous Zeta.

 

The villain in question is Rag Doll, who was originally a Flash villain, one of Jay Garrick's rogues from the 1940s (both real-world publication history and in-universe time). He's patterned after a children's toy - think a kind of acrobat/contortionist Joker analogue with less humour and more criminal mastermind elements. Ragman is a different DC character, a superhero/vigilante with a magic costume made of patches and scraps of fabric, who first appeared in comics circa the 1970s.

In pre-52 comics canon, the original Rag Doll started... what amounted to a cult or mass violent movement in the 1980s (in-universe time, not real-world publication date). Rioting, crime sprees, et al. So the original JSA guys went after him. When they finally caught Rag Doll, he taunted the heroes, telling them that even if they put him in prison, he'd still be able to command his army from behind bars. And then he specifically threatened their families. At that point, in-universe, Ted Knight (Starman), Alan Scott (Green Lantern), and Jay Garrick (Flash) all attacked him. So the guy got energy-zapped twice and superspeed-whacked once, ending up very dead, and none of the JSA are clear who technically killed Rag Doll. Ted thinks he shot first, but Alan and Jay dispute this (and the way Alan and Jay see it, even if Ted's right, they all basically killed the guy).

In real-world publication history, the above was written by James Robinson for Starman #9 to #11 in 1995, which focused a lot on Ted's relationship with his son Jack, the titular Starman of the series. The trigger point for the Rag Doll backstory coming up was that... in the decade-plus since the Rag Doll riots, the image of Rag Doll's mask, red string hair, big smile, became an iconic thing in-universe. It was a design plastered on cheap t-shirts, like Che Guevara's face. Jack Knight didn't wear a costume when he was Starman, so initially one of the t-shirts he went out superheroing in was a Rag Doll shirt - visible for several issues even before the Rag Doll reveal, since the 1990s Starman comic was very good at seeding plot elements ahead of time. Which eventually prompted a conversation, because that wasn't just bad branding, it was personally traumatic for his father. Jack had no idea about the real story, of course, because the JSA kept the details quiet.

And, obviously, the original Rag Doll comes back from the dead many years later in the pages of Starman, because that comic was very good at seeding plot elements ahead of time. I'm not very fond of anything else by Robinson I've seen, but the 1990s-2000s Starman is one of the best superhero comics ever written, and it's worth looking up if you're not familiar with it.

In terms of relevance to this fanfic, Zoat's made some passing references to Ted Knight, but the main element from the Starman comics is the Shade. The characterisation of the Shade as an incredibly powerful immortal who eventually does a full heel-face-turn to become a hero is purely from the pages of Starman. The Shade was just a random golden age Flash rogue before that, and even relatively recent media like the DC Animated Universe shows still use the 1940s jobber version of the Shade (the Shade appears in Justice League, JLU from the 2000s, well after Starman's publication).

 

I thought Wildcat didn't know about that? Or did he suspect and never say anything? Or perhaps he just put the pieces together after Paul mentioned it?

Also, I noticed you spelled the villain's name wrong. I found one other place where you misspelled it.

Those should say 'Rag Doll'.

 

'His name was'

'have squat'

'So I move some'

'of it, someone'

Settle down you hornd...ehh, horncat.

 

He knew that Rag Doll died there. He didn't know the details.

Thank you, corrected.

Thank you, corrected.

No, I think that's correct.

 

' Diana and I '

' interested '

 

The second example wasn't edited. Or is it only on the story only version?

 

That sentence about Durham is a bit hard to parse.

Durham killed his sister in law and her kid and then Durham's brother got blamed for it, yeah?

Also surprised that comment about "if I were 40 years younger" didn't cause Paul to offer rejuvenation