Bigger Than Life (1987) // dir. Matt Sterling

Cort Jensen and Trent Reed in Wild Horses (1994)

Wild Horses (1994) dir. Matt Sterling

Ricky Price and Jordan West in On Your Knees (1997) dir. Matt Sterling

The New Lord of The Jungle

I remember in the audio commentary that Matt Weiner said “You’re wife’s drunk” was the worst possible insult that you could say to another man in the ‘60s.

Being The Dark Order Ep 1

↳ I love this so much. I don't doubt there will be a moment where The Elite 'regain control' but this means so much to me. I love that they will properly be able to showcase each of their personalities. I'm very much a Uno fangirl first but all 3 are so talented and so interesting. Also more Uno makes Mel very happy.

Cover of the Day: Daredevil #148 (September, 1977) Art by Ron Wilson and Frank Giacoia

Late Arrivals- 2024 SAG AWARDS

NEW OC DUMP GO BRRRRRR

Bigger Than Life (1987) // dir. Matt Sterling

I know it’s no Oc,,,, but

🌾🌹

+ Spike Skullovitch

🌾 What would they be like if they were evil. Or if they’re already evil what would they be like as the good guy?

🌹 Do they have any scars? How and when did they get them?

Well, keeping to at least some semblance of the rules, let us go along with Putty!Spike, so we can have some fun~

🌾=

If he were evil, it would be in large part because of either forced indoctrination by Master Xandred messing with his genetic makeup or some part of his clay from Finster corrupting him that came completely out of left field.

I would like to think that the human part of him would not allow him to be completely demonic and cruel as any other demon and monster out in the world. True, he would be able to send down the wrath of gods because of his being probably the most supreme version of a putty that has ever been or would ever be--like, seriously, boy could turn into a monster from the darkest wilds and slaughter a city if goaded into it--but there is just something about having been around the Power so long amongst his family that would make him incredibly wary about engaging with the Rangers for longer than needs must.

Also, he is bound by the form he inhabits, and every monster has some soft, weak spot, somewhere. A cat playing with a mouse before swallowing it can still be poisoned by any pellets the mouse ate filled with cyanide; or drown crossing a river. For Spike, he'd be INCREDIBLY susceptible to fights with a Purple or Blue Ranger. Which means if he did go rogue, his Uncle Bulk or Samurai Ranger Kevin would have to take him out. Which for Kevin would hurt; he did get to know the guy in their teens when he and Lauren were in ice skating and swimming competitions--and also while Spike was spying on the Samurai team for Lauren without walking about in human form. But for Bulk...he would try his best only to hurt the young man as needs must, but it would be tantamount to cutting himself with a scalpel each time.

🌹=

When he was born through an act of the most revolting cruelty inflicted on Skull on the moon, Finster made his disapproval plain by poking the infant with his sharp fingernail until blood was drawn along his left side and Spike made his discomfort known--by which point, Finster got his leg broken basically in half and his face bashed to a bloody pulp for his trouble. When he was not even two weeks old, his grandmother finally decided to pay Skull and the infant a visit where they were recuperating at Angel Grove's Promethea. She already had an incredibly low threshold of empathy and affection for Eugene, so it really shouldn't have come as a surprise that she despised the infant on sight. Since Spike still had a bandage wrapped around his middle from the cut Finster inflicted, Madame Skullovitch could not resist pressing into the bandage until the cut reopened--and then deepened it until she almost grazed into newly formed bones. Right before Grace Sterling sucker punched the bitch and Terona snatched Spike up to stop the bleeding and sooth him as best he could.

At fifteen, there was an out of control teen that came into Angel Grove High to air past grievances with an automatic weapon. While everything and everyone was going into lockdown, there were a couple of freshmen that got caught out in the halls that made easy targets for the shooter's rage--but Spike had gotten a pretty good handle on his shifting abilities. The gun fired one round, but Spike had already gotten between the freshmen and the shooter as a bull moose that took up most of the hallway. He took the one bullet to the right side along the thickest rib, and it hurt like a bitch; but by that point he'd already turned his head to ram his not inconsiderably sized antlers directly into the shooter--which knocked the gun out of hand, the shooter to the floor, and gave Spike the opening to slam his massive hoof down on the asshole's belly. (Fortunately, nobody saw him transform, so after the freshmen ran out of the front doors to get the cops, Spike stomped the shooter once more in the belly, broke their ankle so they couldn't run away, kicked the gun over towards the doors where he could hear feet running towards them, then turned into blue-gold bushtit to fly out into the parking lot and wait for his dads. Of course Billy and Matt were freaking the hell out over the blood that was gushing from his side, but Eugene was mostly just incredibly proud while wrapping his son's ribs so they could go home and take out the bullet.)

When he was eighteen and still keeping his identity confined to various animals to guide and spy on the Samurai rangers in Lauren's stead, they came up against a demon that forced them into the ocean, had them pinned, would have ripped apart their megazord so the lot of them would drown, Spike intervened in the form of a Shishigami-Deidarabotchi mix (very fluid, face without features like a mannequin, branching antlers forming all along his long, fuzzy neck like stalagmites, legs like an upright walking hare, and arms so long ending in sharp points he was both beautiful and terrifying) and held off the demon until Lauren could make her grand entrance in her fox folding zord. The demon managed to tear into both of the scars along his sides, because the bastard fought dirty and mentioned something about "making them symmetrical" so they were deeper than ever, split off into three points at his hips, and made Spike scream even without a proper mouth--but he did not let go until Lauren was on the scene to help the Rangers and kick ass. He had to flee back to Shiba House property as a coyote, then a rabbit, then a tiny corn snake that barely made it under the porch, where Lauren found him bleeding and in agony. She brought him into the kitchen to set him into a large bowl, setting another bowl of milk mixed with her blood off to the side for him to drink, and made a call to Bulk and Kim at their shared dojo/youth center in Panorama City. (If Kevin had been freaking out that his best friend was actually the Shiba Heir and the first Black Samurai Ranger in history, he almost lost his mind when the tiny corn snake transformed into a slightly worse for wear Spike Skullovitch once Bulk showed up with food for the Rangers and clothes for his nephew.)

@skyland2703

New Crusaders: Rise of the Heroes #1: Ashes to Ashes (Part 1): Reunions

Cover Credits

Regular Cover Art: Ben Bates

Variant Cover Pencils/Inks: Ryan Jampole

Variant Cover Colors: Matt Herms

Blue Ribbon Comics Hero Variant Cover Art: Ben Bates

Story Credits

Writer: Ian Flynn

Pencils: Ben Bates

Inks: Gary Martin

Colors: Matt Herms

Letters: John Workman

Editorial Team

Editor/Line Editor: Paul Kaminski

Assistant Editor: Vincent Lovallo

RED CIRCLE Braintrust: Ian Flynn, Paul Kaminski, Alex Segura, & Mike Pellerito

BTDO + @screenshotsofdespair

x x x x x x x

Cover of the Day: Ghost Rider #20 (October, 1976) Art by Gil Kane and Klaus Janson