One Perfect Moment - Pied Piper

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

As requested, my personal favourite Pied Piper moment;

Wally and Hartley (Piper's real name) are chatting. Wally has been working as an IRS agent to pay off some accumulated taxes he owed (long story, long forgotten)





I was sorely tempted to break my own self-imposed 2 page limit to include the next page of Wally's complete (ahem) lack of being flustered by this news, which of COURSE he knew, and of COURSE it doesn't bother him, and goodness gracious is THAT the time, and he really HAS to be somewhere else.

Of course, since Hartley has an IQ which is above single digits, he isn't fooled for a moment, but he finds it rather amusing and somewhat adorable, since he knows Wally just needs a little time to adjust (And, of course, remember that wild weekend in Aruba with Dick, 200 feet of good quality duct tape, and a simply INSANE quantity of tequila)

Comments

[runespoor7.insanejournal.com]

C'mon, a wild week-end with Dick just proves that you're sentient.

Also, this is my first introduction to Piper beyond Countdown (specifically, flipping past all the pages but those relating to Jason Todd), and I like this a lot. Thank you for posting it.

[timemonkey.insanejournal.com]

You skipped Piper parts? Those are usually the best parts!

[runespoor7.insanejournal.com]

Context: I was just getting into comics, Countdown was in trades and I knew how the Piper-Trickster arc ended, and I was trying to avoid getting the evil eye from the the LCS woman, so that led to rushing. I'd be more savvy today?...

[stnls_steel_rat.insanejournal.com]

"But you knew that, right?" -- Yeah, the next page was wonderful.

The only thing I didn't like about this run was the inconsistant art portraying Piper. Sometimes he was young and pretty, sometimes he was middle-aged with a double chin; sometimes he had a nice cuddly chunky physique, sometimes he was downright tubby. It's not even consistant within the same issue, let alone the series. Given that it was the same artist, I'm not sure what to think. OTOH, this is the artist who gave him the cloak, man-cleavage and thigh-high sex boots, so I'm prepared to offer a measure of forgiveness ^__~

(Yeah this is me, Katzedecimal, posting from my RP account because, well, the icon :3 )

[truxillogical.insanejournal.com]

THANK you. It kind of drives me not just a little bit crazy, especially when I'm trying to draw him. Honestly, the only other (human-type) character I can think of who's gone through so many different changes in face/mouth/nose shape is freaking Toad, and at least he sort of had an excuse.

Actually, that profile of Piper looks a wee bit like Morty from the X-men Forever storyline.


Doesn't mean this who scene isn't just straight-up hilarious.

Well, maybe not the best choice of words.

still cosplaying

[stnls_steel_rat.insanejournal.com]

Inorite? Considering how he 'retro-aged' in later issues, I tend to consider the 'polka-dots & sex boots' to be his youth and thus consider the pretty depictions to be the ones to go with. Yes I'm justifying, sosume XD As far as his physique went, I like him thick-set. Men in comics tend to be portrayed about as uniformly as women, with the 'average man' typically portrayed either as slight (to contrast with the over-built heroes) or overweight (again to contrast with the overbuilt heroes) The times that Piper was portrayed as thick-set, but not overweight, were a very pleasant change and also cuddly.

[kagome654.insanejournal.com]

So, I guess Wally's gaydar is working about as efficiently as Kyle's. Good to know.

I've always loved Wally's face in that last panel. 'Dur?'

[timemonkey.insanejournal.com]

Wally spent his life running around with attractive men in spandex in highly homoerotic situations, any gaydar he had would have overloaded loooong ago.

[kagome654.insanejournal.com]

Good point.

[neotoma.insanejournal.com]

I love Wally's double-take. He is so adorably shocked here. (And has the worst gaydar ever...)

And Piper is totally messing with him, just because he can.

[janegray.insanejournal.com]

Aww, Piper! ♥

Though I have to admit, I really miss the hood and the Scary Shiny Glasses^TM. This version of him looks too... nice. While Piper is nice, and I love his niceness so, he is still an ex-supervillain and should look the part.

...Plus, growing up watching anime gave me a Scary Shiny Glasses^TM kink ^^

[neotoma.insanejournal.com]

He *looks* nice, which means you forget he was a successful extortionist and armed robber...