Beryl vs Saphir

 

So Sailor Moon is a series with a pretty dramatic power creep, with almost anyone in one arc being massively stronger then characters in a prior arc. One of the few exceptions to this is the first and the second arc which has at least nebulousness with how exactly they scale powerwise. So to give my thoughts on how they should compare I wanted to make a blog on who'd win between a very definitive High Tier of the first with a very definitive Low Tier of the second.

For a quick background on the two, Beryl was an Earth witch back during the Silver Millennium. She fell in love with the Prince of the Earth only to discover he was in a forbidden romance with the Princess of the Moon

The Goddess of Darkness Metaria stirred this envy in her, offering her rulership of the Earth and the Prince if she would lead the Earth people against the Moon, bestowing dark power on her

The Black Moon Clan are the descendants of a people who left Neo-Queen's Serenity reign in the future, decrying the immortality granted by the Silver Crystal as heresy against God. Saphir is the belabored supergenius scientist younger brother of the crown prince of the Black Moon Clan, Demande who demands great things from his brother and threatens him when he questions his orders

Unable to hate his brother, Saphir transfered the blame in his mind to Serenity, the woman whose interference with the Earth in his mind threw human history off its proper course.

Scaling in power between arcs is always tricker in Sailor Moon due to the lack of neutral comparison points with the Senshi usually getting an unexpressed amount stronger between arcs. That said I think I can make a pretty convincing profile for how Beryl and Saphir would compare in terms of raw power.

First off I should address whether Saphir is in fact a low tier of the second arc. After all he seems to be depicted as high ranking in the Black Moon Clan. That said, assuming this is Saphir without Wiseman's power, that is quite honestly the only argument for him to be stronger, an argument that doesn't really hold up when there's several more direct points showing that he's actually relatively weak by the standards of the Second Arc as well as there being more reasons why he would be high ranking rather than raw power such as his raw intelligence, his importance as chief scientific engineer, or the fact that their leader is his older brother.

Saphir calls the energy droids use to time travel "tremendous"

He relied on two of his droids to restrain Usagi in her civilian form instead of being able to do it himself and was planning to kill her using a Black Crystal Shard suggesting he couldn't do it with his own raw strength

Compare for instance the fact that a single droid was threatening civilian form Makoto 

Now granted Makoto was sick during this act from Petz's disease, weak to the point of collapsing

However not only was Usagi weakened by being on Nemesis where her power was being drained

But you're also comparing Usagi, arguablly the physically weaker Senshi with Makoto the strongest. It seems like a fair comparison but there's more things to cement it. The Droids not only can threaten civilian form Senshi, they in groups can at least somewhat threaten transformed Second Arc Senshi.

In the second scan you can see that even though multiple droids are in the process of attacking Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus only one each are physically affecting them at that moment and it still seems like they are causing at least a mild threat. In general Droids, even though they are fodder are at least somewhat of a physical threat to people like the second arc Sailor Senshi while Saphir has no feats of that or any reason to think he would be as the Black Moon Clan's tech guy.

So establishing the relationship to the Senshi is important because they are for the most part the only shared fighters between the two arcs which brings up a statement that's very helpful for this particular scaling. Luna says at the beginning of the second arc that she can strengthen them because the moon castle was restored to how it was back in the Silver Millennium

This is often read as meaning that as of the second arc, the Guardian Senshi have the same power as they had back in the Silver Millennium. Combined with the fact that when Sailor Venus killed Queen Beryl via the Holy Sword, Metaria wonders if this means if the people of the Moon Kingdom have grown stronger

that this would mean Queen Beryl is stronger then the second arc Senshi. Now in fairness, the first statement doesn't neccesarily mean that the Guardian Senshi haven't grown stronger then they were in the Silver Millennium. It could just mean that the Silver Millennium Senshi were being strenghtened by the Moon Castle, the Guardian Senshi eclipsing that power-up but not eclipsing the power-up so dramatically that having that power added onto their own would not make them notably stronger.

However I think that interpretation is inconsistent with how its presented. It's not like it's a vague energy being added to their existing powers, it's a new henshin and described as a stronger power that they can utilize with Rei exclaiming her power "overflowing"

It's treated like that this power is replacing their old power that they sacrificed against Metaria and is definitely superior. As such I think the most reasonable interpretation is that with the rebuilt Moon Castle the Senshi can access their old Silver Millennium powers.

Now in fairness, I can totally understand the argument that these gaps might not be as large as one might expect, particularly if you use Endymion scaling.

Back in the Silver Millennium, Prince Endymion was the strongest of anyone before Metaria granted Beryl dark powers.

yet upon considering the possibility that Endymion had turned evil, Sailor Venus suggest that he would be a difficult opponent to beat. 

Now while this does support Endymion being stronger then the Guardian Senshi, Minako doesn't seem to think it would be impossible for them to beat him. It's possibly she is considering outwitting him somehow, Minako is known for being a bit of a trickster who beats opponents by guile, that said it doesn't suggests the difference between them is astronomical. This is supported when they actually fight Dark Endymion, Endymion given dark power by Metaria like Beryl was, stated by Beryl to be the greatest warrior of the Dark Kingdom

While Dark Endymion is clearly stronger then the Senshi, they are able to somewhat block his attacks 

Suggesting the difference between them is more likely factors then it is orders of magnitude. 

After Metaria's influence is expunged from Mamoru, he would still have the power of Endymion yet he actually suggests he's dramatically weaker then the Senshi in the early second arc. However this seeming paradox can be resolved if one recognizes the point of the scene is to show Mamoru is underestimating the powers within him and is being overly humble as the Heavenly Kings point out

This would however also support that Endymion isn't massively stronger than the Silver Millennium/Second Arc Senshi, who in turn are not massively stronger than the First Arc Senshi. 

Beryl fits in her as stronger then the Second Arc Senshi and likely relative if not stronger then base Prince Endymion as she killed him in the Silver Millennium 

Although again the gap between her and the Senshi might not be THAT dramatic as she called Dark Endymion the greatest warrior of the Dark Kingdom, suggesting she thought he was stronger than herself, and the first arc Senshi were able to somewhat survive Dark Endymion's power. 

If you imagine all of those characters in a cluster, droids are mild threats to Second Arc Senshi, the semi-mid tiers of that cluster, and Saphir is weaker than then droids as he called the energy of time travel that they withstood to be tremendous. Queen Beryl in the second arc hierarchy is probably closer to one of the Ayakashi Sisters, an actual special agent of the Black Moon Clan, then their tech guy. 

In a bloodlusted enraged brute force battle Beryl shoots a magic blast which vaporizes Saphir, the same way a second arc guardian senshi, weaker then Beryl, can fire attacks that can destroy multiple droids, each stronger individually than Saphir by a good margin

Now in all fairness to Saphir, a bloodlusted brute force battle is the opposite of what he would do if forced to fight. Saphir is an intelligence based fighter and it shows so it's more interesting to consider an in-character confrontation between te two. I do this mostly as a showcase of what the scaling between the first and second arc looks like for Sailor Moon as well as to give the impression of the sheer gap in power between these two.

So with that I think it's important to go over what these two characters skills and abilities are. I'll start with Beryl as her abilities are generally easier to sum up. Beryl is a skilled witch who demonstrates several magical abilities some classic witch abilities such as using a crystal ball to see distant events

semi common witch abilities like being able to fly and then things that are more unique to the Sailor Moon universe like being able to survive in space

as can also be seen here she can also entangle weaker enemies in her hair as a form of binding, a witches hair typically being viewed as a locus of her power.

Queen Beryl can also teleport, and in Sailor Moon Crystal approved by Naoko Takeuchi she is also seen teleporting other people alongside her

However Beryl's most feared ability is her curse that allows her to control the bodies and minds of others across the cycle of reincarnation 

Given that Beryl essentially created the Heavenly Kings' new bodies, it is very likely she bestowed on them their powers and as such its very possible she could replicate those same abilities which would give her access to far more magical powers.

Saphir in contrast has actually no magical abilties whatsoever while not controlled by Wiseman. He relies entirely on his own technology, his superhuman intellect, and the natural physical capability his people possess from having lived generations on planet Nemesis. Unlike the other members of the Black Moon Clan he does not even adorn the Black Crystal Earrings given to them by the Wiseman, as Saphir was suspicious of Wiseman's motives the entire time, keeping him from using the flight, teleportation and mild spacetime warping and energy draining provided from them. 

The Black Moon Clan due to their natural physical development can withstand being on Planet Nemesis, a planet compared to a black hole with immense gravity that traps even light with intense radiation and negative energy coming from it, that absorbs all nearby matter-energy to make itself grow 

and the Black Moon Clan are tough enough to tank being on its surface and make their base there. Now any level of raw durability this would give Saphir, Beryl just scales above, but it does show his level of resistances.

Saphir was able to somehow invent technology that could siphon off the immense energy of Nemesis for Black Moon Clan technology, particularly the creation of the droids and time travel

These droids are beamed down from Black Moon Clan UFOs to anywhere in spacetime the Black Moon Clan can transmit too

These spaceships being faster than the senshi and able to beam people up like an episode of Star Trek

Saphir also creating a monitor to watch over any transmission of any energy through time

The Black Moon Clan have also developed numerous highly advanced weapons and technology capable of absorbing and emitting cosmic levels of energy like bombs capable of threatening the second arc Guardian Senshi

or reactors whose meltdown can threaten even Prince Demande and make all of Nemesis break out into massive fire

Saphir has created all of this technology along with his two personal droids, Aquatici and Veneti which resemble ghosts

showing the scale and breadth of Saphir's intelligence.

So going over a hypothetical battle, truth be told it's pretty hard to make a compelling argument for Saphir. You have to really lean in to his intelligence being able to defeat Beryl, which is already somewhat questionable while he's obviously vastly smarter scientifically and is far more rational and tactical not only is Beryl a skilled witch whose magic is somewhat that would defy scientific explanation, she's also a better manipulator, so it's not even like Saphir manipulating Beryl is a good strategy.

Saphir could try using bombs but it's unknown if they could kill Beryl and even if they can, Beryl can probably avoid them like second arc Moon and Venus did. The Reactor Meltdown would easily be able to kill her since it could kill Demande, but that only applies if they're fighting at the Reactor on Nemesis and even if they are Beryl can teleport away from the danger and Saphir has little means of escaping outside beaming away on a UFO.

Speaking off, if Beryl tried to bind Saphir with her hair, it's reasonable to think he could escape via a UFO beaming him up, so that's not a viable tactic for Beryl. That said Beryl could pretty easily kill Saphir at any time for superior speed, enough AP to one-shot, or via her curse. At most you could say Saphir might have some level of resistance to matter manipulation from being able to withstand Nemesis but he's never shown mental resistance. Saphir could maybe summon droids in to try and stop Beryl but things like teleportation or just vastly greater power and ability to control them means this isn't a tactic that's super helpful. And all this is assuming Beryl can't use the powers of the Heavenly Kings. If she can use Zoisite's technopathy, she can quite literally shut off all of Saphir's powers. 

Truthfully the most likely situation if the two were to get into a fight is that Beryl blitzes and vaporizes Saphir in one attack, boring as that is. The second most likely is Beryl, teleports behind him and binds him with her hair like she did to Sailor Moon. Saphir, realizing he's overpowered beams aboard a UFO and flees back to Nemesis, faster then Beryl can react and outside the range of her crystal ball. From there he can come up with a plan to defeat her, which would probably suceed giving his tactical acument. It's a clear example of losing the battle to win the war, although a neccesary part of that is to lose the battle, as this scenario involves Saphir fleeing from Beryl. So in both scenarios Beryl is far likely to win a battle with Saphir, it's just that in the latter Saphir survives the loss and uses prep time to win the war. 

You could also use the period Saphir was controlled by Wiseman if wanted. This version had powered up Black Crystal Earrings and the Death Hands technique. This version reliquinshes all of Saphir's intelligence since he's basically a mindless thrall of the Wiseman but given the fact that he overpowered late Second Arc Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars making them stronger then Early Second Arc Sailor Moon (as they were not damaged signifigantly from the Evil Eye that knocked out earlier Sailor Moon) which would be far above Queen Beryl. That said that doesn't really feel fair as this version of Saphir is basically a different character and it's moreso Wiseman acting through Saphir vs Beryl which is really not fair given that Wiseman is just a massively stronger character.

Overall I just wanted to make this blog to give an impression how the late first arc of Sailor Moon compared to the early second arc in terms of power and hax through two characters. 

Intelligence Levels explained via Supervillain Schemes

A comedic blog idea I thought up, demonstrating levels of intelligence by what kind of inventor type supervillain scheme they could create with the level of technology they can make. Hopefully this will be funny and/or give an inutitive feel for the Kardashev Scale, at least as far as my understanding of it goes.

Type 0.1 Level Intellect: Can use basic tools. Below Average Human. 

• "Grung smash your in head with club unless you do what Grung say."
• "Grung hide into darkness and stab him with sharp stick Grung made."

Type 0.25 Level Intellect: Can create technology like that of a continental-sized empire (like the Roman Empire) with a demonstration of scientific principles of large empires pre-gunpowder. Above Average Human, Clever.

• "This building was made before modern fire codes. If anyone takes a step forward, I'll drop this match setting the whole building alight!"
• "This device will catapult the message into that window over there."
• "We want to poison the water supply enough that people get sick but not die so they will blame the Water Company Preseident so that's about THIS much!"

Type 0.5 Level Intellect: Can create technology single-handedly like that of the Industrial Revolution and early Modern technology. Full knowledge of a scientific field, genius intellect.

• "Yes my fellow citizens. Those mongrels somehow cut off all your electricity, but see how I have restored it with my transistor? You can trust me!"
• "You may notice a sense of paralysis...the chemical poison you have just consumed is temporary but I doubt you will live long enough to celebrate the fact!"
• "What's this? This, you primitives, is a firearm I have just fashioned. With a press of a button, any single one of you will be blown away no matter your might or your armor!"

Type 0.75 Level Intellect: Modern Earth is ~Type 0.73. Can create modern to Near Future Technology single-handedly. Peak Human intellect, smartest people in a realistic world like ours now. 

• "The modern world REQUIRES the internet to function....what would happen if someone could shut...it.....off?"
• "Hmmmm...I gave you a quick scan....no weapons, heart signal normal, no spy bugs on you....very well you may see my most secret plan." 
• "He's on our tail, deploy the mini-mines in the trunk!"

Type 1 Level Intellect: A civilization that makes our look like the Industrial Revolution or the Industrial Revolution like the Roman Empire, a vastly primitive imitation. Technology of a Type 1 civilization is generally technology understandable to our current understanding, but as of present unfeasible due to sheer cost, time, and energy requirement.

• "My Robot army is stronger, faster, and far more rebuildable then any human army. With them I can take over the world!"
• "They called me mad, but I have created new life. My child...they will call you an abomination but I all you the next step in human evolution!"
• "With my weather machine, I will call down a furious storm that will devastate this town unless I am paid the sum of my choosing!"
• "They've discovered my base....quick! Retreat to the Lunar Base!" 

Type 2 Level Intellect: From this point, each civilization makes each Type prior a whole level before look like a Type 0 Ape Tribe. Technology that stretches our current understanding, which can be understood as hypothetically possible but are at the limits of our scientific ability to understand.

• "With a press of a button, I can use relativistic mass to shift the space around me...teleporting seemingly faster than light! It will be child's play to teleport inside the bank, tank the money, and warp out."
• "No! The AI I built to destroy...its become fully aware and now it seeks vengeance on me for creating it!"
• "Muahaha, I lured the colonists to the planet I terraformed to make it habitable...and with a burst of antimatter, I will erase their whole settlement in one titanic explosion!"
• "Call for her all you like, but her mind is uploaded into my virtual reality machine...and if you try to intervene I will delete her mind completely!"

Type 3 Level Intellect: Can create structure the sizes of and can manipulate celestial bodies like planets or stars. Cosmic scale inventions. Technology that defies or manipulates the laws of physics as we currently understand. Creating technology that can affect higher planes of reality.

• "My FTL drive means by the time they come searching for me, I'll be halfway across the galaxy!"
• "Little do they know that it 24 hours the bomb I implanted on the planet will be set off and turn the planet to dust!"
• "My Ghost Blaster operates on manipulation of ectoplasm and will allow me to detect and destroy any meddlesome ghostly heroes!"
• "My matter condensor will warp gravity to create a small black hole, that should keep the guards busy quite nicely while I figure something out!"

Type 4 Level Intellect: Can create technology working on a macro-cosmic scale, affecting galaxies or the whole universe. Manipulation of the physical laws of the universe. Complex manipulation of higher planes of reality, or can affect transcendent planes of reality like the conceptual or the metafictional. Technology indistinguishable from magic. 

• "My super science is advanced enough, I can control all the wills in the universe just by saying 'Alakazam!' "
• "Fool! Your galaxy was already doomed but I have just designed to speed up the collision with the Andromeda Galaxy by orders of magnitude!"
• "The Progression of time....what a pointless thing. With this remote's pause button I can pause time, giving me all the time in the world!"
• "I have not forgotten my old arch-nemesis that you are an embodiment of the concept of justice. That's why I have designed this instrinsic field destroyer. Soon your "justice" will fade from the universe, and Injustice will reign!"

Type 5 Level Intellect: Can create technology indistinguishable from divinity, manipulations incomprehensible to humanity or do incredibly complex esoteric effects. Manipulation of an entire multiverse or any form of infinity. Control of conceptual or metafictional forms of existence. Civilizations of conceptually or metafictionally intelligent gods who embody intelligence or are metafictional constructs of awareness.

• "You stand against me? Do you not know with a wave of my hand I can erase every version of you that has ever existed from every version of the universe with my technology?"
• "You see...I put the universe itself into my hyper-spatial box. And even with your infinite speed...you'll never escape. The space inside is infinitely big!"
• "I can never seem to win against those wretched heroes. This machine will let me go through every possible universe at one to find the greatest chance of success."
• "I've got it! They only win because they're the hero....but if I construct a machine that can make ME the hero of the story.....heheheheHAHAHAHA!"

My intuition is that feats can be measured in terms of scale, versatility, and fundamentality, and that feats can be compared in the same type by having greater degree of these. That is to say a feat of creating a machine that can destroy infinite space is not as good as a feat of creating a machine capable of warping infinite space in any way one imagines, which is not as good as a feat of creating a machine that can warp infinite metafictional space in any way one imagines.

Ocean Master Reading Guide

 

I made one of these for Brainiac when I made a death analysis on him and I said after I wanted to make one for comic characters I do death predictions/analysis blogs for. 

That said Ocean Master is signifigantly harder to do one for. First off he's just not a character that's as central to DC and until the New 52 didn't really have an overarching narrative of his own, instead showing up as an ocassional Aquaman villain. The biggest problem though is that Pre-Flashpoint Orm and Post-Flashpoint Orm are so clearly not the same character even though DC currently has them both as canon. Even Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis Orm are kinda hard to reconcile, unlike Brainiac where different versions reference each other consistently and there's been numerous explanations for how they're all the same. There's also just not as much Ocean Master content. 

To resolve the biggest problem, I'm going to be dividing this into "Classic" Ocean Master (Pre-Crisis to Post-Crisis) and "Modern" Ocean Master (New 52 and Rebirth.) Like my Brainiac reading guide, this is not every Ocean Master appearence, this is just something I made to try and focus on the "story" of Ocean Master ignoring what amounts to "filler" and brief cameos in stories he's not really a part off. Bold means the issue is plot important, Italics means something I think is just a particularly good issue, both means I consider it a must-read and neither means I just suggest it to make it flow naturally. Most of these are gonna be bolded as almost all the Ocean Master appearences are plot important or they wouldn't be included as they don't contribute to his story. 

The whole thing is 56 issues, 32 for Classic Ocean Master and 24 for Modern Ocean Master, both divided into 3 "arcs" you can read like seasons of a television show. If you want to get into Ocean Master and learn his "story", this is what I would recommened. 

Classic Ocean Master:

Anti-Villain Introduction Arc:

1: Aquaman (1962) #29

2: Aquaman (1962) #32

3: Aquaman (1962) #35

4: Aquaman (1962) #37

5: Aquaman (1962) #50

6: Aquaman (1962) #51

7: Aquaman (1962) #52

8: Aquaman (1962) #53?

9: Aquaman (1962) #62

10: Aquaman (1962) #63

The Silver Age is pretty disconnected but I think the first 4 appearences of Ocean Master can be linked as a general sort of introduction of his character, an envious anti-villainous supergenius scientist that despite his villainous nature still protects children and won't take advantage of Aquaman being weakened culminating in the first apperance of Black Manta which is a pretty good issue for the time period overall. It leads nicely into the 2-parter at the end which I think is pretty good in itself and has the sense of finality to end an arc. Unfortunately Ocean Master finds out Arthur is his brother in the 4-parter starting in Aquaman #50 which I don't think is very good. Ocean Master doesn't even appear in part 53. That said recommending you read just the first 3 parts of a 4-parter doesn't make sense and skipping it entirely means you'd be confused how Ocean Master knows Aquaman is his brother. 

Mystical Rebirth Arc:

1: DC Comics Presents (1978) #5

2: Action Comics (1938) #517B

3: Action Comics (1938) #518B

4: Action Comics (1938) #519B

5: Action Comics (1938) #520B

6: Aquaman (1986) #1

7: Aquaman (1986) #2

8: Aquaman (1986) #3

9: Aquaman (1986) #4

10: Underworld Unleashed #1

An odd hybrid. Basically the last Pre-Crisis Ocean Master arc mixed with the first Post-Crisis Ocean Master arc. I also threw in DC Comics Presents 5 just because I think it's a cool issue that shows how dangerous Orm can be, and sorta leads into the Action Comics 517 arc. I don't think those 4 issues are particularly good, but it does set up the weirdness of Orm's identity and starts setting up for his magical rebirth at the start of Post-Crisis. The first Post-Crisis arc of Orm is actually my favorite Ocean Master arc, I think it's really good and it's really plot important given it introduced Orm's magical powers. Underworld Unleashed doesn't have much Ocean Master but it's how a bunch of villains come back to life including Orm so it's important, including Ocean Master's new magical source from Neron.

False King Arc:

1: Aquaman (1994) #18

2: Aquaman (1994) #19

3: Aquaman (1994) #20

4: Aquaman (1994) #63

5: Aquaman (1994) #64

6: Aquaman (1994) #65

7: Aquaman (1994) #66

8: Aquaman (1994) #67

9: Aquaman (1994) #68

10: Aquaman (1994) #69

11: Aquaman (2003) #26

12: Aquaman (2003) #27

During the Post-Crisis period after Orm's resurrection he gets up to a bunch of stuff, a lot pretty inconsequential to be honest. I decided to try and take the sub-arcs that had thematic importance, all centered around him as a false king envious of his brother, and string them together. You've got the 3-parter that reintroduced Orm as he becomes a false king of his own people, you've got the 7-part fairly long sub-arc of Orm manipulating a war between Atlantis and the surface so he could take charge. It's a pretty alright sub-arc with a good ending. Finally you've got the weird 2-parter where he switches lives with Aquaman, which I think is a pretty good way to end this particular arc and the Post-Crisis Orm's run. 

Modern Ocean Master:

Throne of Atlantis Arc:

1: Aquaman (2011) #14

2: Justice League (2011) #15

3: Aquaman (2011) #15

4: Justice League (2011) #16

5: Aquaman (2011) #16

6: Justice League (2011) #17

7: Aquaman (2011) #17

This one was kinda obvious. Throne of Atlantis is widely regarded as one of the best Aquaman arcs, was made to be accessible for new readers, prominently featured Ocean Master, and was meant to introduce the new Ocean Master to a wide audience. It's good, although I personally prefer the first Post-Crisis arc. It's meant to be read basically in itself. You could read this right after the last arc, although expect to be confused by how much it does not connect to what you read right before.

Atlantean Civil War Arc:

1: Aquaman (2011) #23.2

2: Mera: Queen of Atlantis #1

3: Mera: Queen of Atlantis #2

4: Mera: Queen of Atlantis #3

5: Mera: Queen of Atlantis #4

6: Mera: Queen of Atlantis #5

7: Mera: Queen of Atlantis #6

8: Ocean Master: Year of the Villain

This was also fairly natural, excising some minor cameos. You have Ocean Master's escape and his settling briefly on the surface, his call back to action and the pretty good Mera: Queen of Atlantis miniseries where Orm and Mera strive to help resolve the Atlantean Civil War. Year of the Villain is not only a good conclusion given it shows Orm's response to the end of the Civil War, but also sets up the next arc with him finding Lernaea and setting himself up as King of Dagon.

King of Dagon Arc:

1: Aquaman (2016) #57

2: Aquaman (2016) #58

3: Aquaman (2016) #59

4: Aquaman (2016) #60

5: Aquaman (2016) #61

6: Aquaman (2016) #62

7: Aquaman (2016) #63

8: Aquaman (2016) #64

9: Aquaman (2016) #65

The latest Ocean Master Arc. I'm not a huge fan of it, but it's obviously massively important showing his incursion into Mera's reign. It's also a very fitting ending arc to the Modern Ocean Master story, for now as it ends symbolically with the defeat of his idealogy.

 If you're going to read any of these, I'd suggest the Throne of Atlantis arc and the Wizard Ocean Master Arc (Aquaman (1986) 1-4.) Those are I think the best depictions of Post and Pre-Flashpoint Orm respectively and will give a good feel for both.

Ranking every Codename: Sailor V Chapter

I just recently re-read Codename: Sailor V and wanted to make a quick blog ranking the chapters while it's fresh in my memory.

16: Minako in Game Center Crown:

This is the chapter where Minako fights the misogynist Taku. I'm gonna be honest, Taku is the sole reason this is my least like chapter. Even though he's clearly the villain, I'm mildly uncomfortable at scenes of Sexual Harrasement. If you like that type of humor, that's fine I'm not gonna shame you or anything. I just don't like it. I also just in general don't like villains like Taku where they aren't threatening because he's just a human, the only purely non-supernatural antagonist in the entire series, and because he's just meant to be hate-able you don't find him particularly entertaining or compelling. I generally like villains that are JUST there for the audience to hate them. It doesn't help that it has basically no story relevance. It's got a cute intereaction or two between Minako and Artemis, but so does every Sailor V Chapter.

15: Sailor V vs DeVleene:

This is the weird one where the villain's plan is to make everybody fat. DeVleene is very much not a threat even if she does have powers and the chapter inspired one of the worst eps of the SM anime. It's not uncomfortable like the last one, and it's got some actual plot relevance with Phantom Ace's first appearence. That said, the lack of menace and the really dumb plot means I can't put it any higher.

14: The Youth Bets on the Hachimaki Stone:

The villain of this one is one of the weirder enemies that came in the odd period where Minako was fighting people outside the Dark Agency but while Mike Makii is as weird and as goofy looking an enemy as Chuu-Chuu, the narrative treats him like she's some treat despite her karaoke powers. Minako's devotion to her lastest crush is endearing as is Artemis' meta joke about how there's always a new first love, although I found Otonaru to be a rather cold person. Granted he has good reason, and I think this chapter is signifigantly better with it's more quiet contemplation of human morality. But I didn't find it enjoyable to watch Minako strive to win a bunch of contests for this guy only to find out her's engaged. Also he's a middle schooler how is he engaged?

13: Pet Stories 1: Nyan-Nyan's Plot:

The first of the Pet Stories three-parter. Codename Sailor V has two three-parters or mini-arcs and the first is the worst and the second is the best in both cases. This one is mostly fine. Minako comes off kinda whiny and entitled demanding Artemis give her a new weapon, but in fairness she is supposed to come off that way since the lesson was about treating Artemis with respect. That said I don't think the "punishment" is proportional. Nyan-Nyan is a fine villain, she's got a relatively amusing gimmick of slipping in cat onomotopoeia.

12: Pet Stories 3: Chuu Chuu's Plot:

I've heard some people think one is transphobic and that seems really confusing to me. Chuu-Chuu is not trans, she was just wearing a disguise that happened to be male. Regardless this chapter has some pretty funny gags from Artemis imagining Hikaru as Sailor V or Minako asking the doctor coyly if it was time for a full body inspection. Chuu-Chuu's not a particularly threatening villain but the narrative treats her as such. 

11: Sailor V's Vacation! The Hawaiin Plot!

This one is another pretty funny one, with a bunch of hijinxs of getting on wrong planes from Hawaii to Greece with hijinxs from Natsuna or the one poor guy that keeps getting accidentally screwed over by Sailor V and is given superpowers by Hibiscus-y for vengeance only to immediatly get beaten when Minako turns into a sexy form to make him pass out from blood loss. It's a fun time. Hibiscus-y is barely more of a threat then Chuu-Chuu but she actually is a Dark Agency member and somewhat forwards the plot.

10: [Channel 44] Pandora's Plot:

The first in the Dark Idols three-parter where Minako goes up against dark agency members who have taken the form of idols to brainwash people across Japan and take over the world. As you might be able to tell it's much more exciting with Minako turning into a policewoman to into a secure area, fighting for the fake of the world against Pandora. Pandora has way more menace, having a monsterous true form seen in mirrors and using hordes of brainwashed humans to try and weak down Sailor V. 

9: Pet Stories 2: Wan-Wan's Plot:

The best of the period where Minako was fighting non-Dark Agency threats. Wan-Wan is at least in atmosphere a much bigger threat then his siblings and before Chuu-Chuu copied it comedically had the serious motivation of avenging his sister. However the main draw to the chapter is the fun meta-story going on with Minako taking a job as assistant to a manga writer writing what is basically "Sailor Moon" and Naoko having fun basically writing about her own job. It leads to fun stuff like Sailor V announcing herself as the heroine who jumped out a manga panel.

8: Sailor V is Born!

The first chapter of Sailor V and by extention Sailor Moon as a franchise. This chapter somehow manages to including comical exaggerations like Minako flying out into space and seeing her castle orbiting Venus or Narcissus being a threat to all of Japan with more subtle things like the building tension of learning that non-humans walk among us disguised or the quiet moment near the end with Minako cries at the loss of her first love before accepting her responsibility. You also have a very important moment character-wise where Minako states that she never cries setting up her lack of sentimentality and a moment in the series finale. Overall an atmospheric, imaginative, cool relatable introduction to the concept of Sailor Senshi and to the Sailor V series.

7: The Dark Agency Conspiracy Chapter

The third part to the Dark Idols three-parter. This chapter has a lot of cool plot stuff going on with the introduction of the enemies nature as a non-human organization trying to steal human energy for nefarious purposes, you learn of a deep conspiracy and Minako is just in top form this ep, turning into a lady commando with a machine gun, beating one of the clones of Flourite off screen before taking her place, dramatically revealing herself with a straight up Cutie Honey intro and then making her enemies heads explode with her attacks. I almost see this chapter as a straight up homage to Cutie Honey given how Minako acts this chapter and if it was then well done.

6: The Puchi Pandora Scheme

I think the second chapter of the Dark Idols three-parter is my favorite. Introduces Natsuna and Toshio, their antics being giving a lot of charm to any chapter they're in. Puchi Pandora is the first villain in the series to try and avenge their dead siblings at Sailor V's hands way before Wan-Wan and Chuu-Chu. This chapter is where I think the meta gags also start really coming into Sailor V with stuff like chapters noticing the narration at the start of the chapter or messing with the text panels and those are pretty fun and feel right for Minako. There's also the cute gag where Minako basically pulls a Bugs Bunny and changes into a pretty boy to trick Puchi Pandora into capturing her only to reveal her true self. Just a classic Sailor V chapter.

5: Showdown! Sailor V vs Electronic Fighter Girl Lurga!

This chapter always stuck in my memory even though in more objective terms it doesn't really do all that much differnet. It's basically "character gets sucked into video game" plot that happened all the time in the 90s to early 00s when one of the Dark Agency members is some kind of living video game that actively hurts people and makes them obsessed with playing. It's still a basic world domination plot but just the different in aesthetic and the fact that Lurga actually fights Minako instead of trying to overwhelm her with brainwashed civilians before getting one-shotted makes it really stand out.

4: Sailor V in a Pinch?! Kaitou Ace Appears!

This is I think the closest I think Naoko came to doing civilian drama right. After Phantom Ace arrived the Dark Agency... for whatever reason ;) .... isn't active and so it seems like he has everything handled. As such people stop caring about Sailor V. Minako gets into an internal conflict about whether she even wants to be Sailor V and begins the conflict leading into the series finale, the conflict of Minako being torn between love and duty. You get Minako and Natsuna's fun little friendship, and you actually meet Phantom Ace who is absolutely not anyone else in the series. They also try to make Founde seem threatening having her be the Dark Agency "Trump Card", that said in practice she goes down like any other random enemy which is probably my biggest gripe with the chapter.

3: Love on the Tree-Lined Road-Tearing Along at Turbo Full Throttle!

It's hard to describe what makes this plot good succintly. The plot in general is that Dark Agency member Vivian is brainwashing street gangs, making them even more violent and taking money from people. Minako gets involved with a noble-hearted deliquent Saitou and his love for his old teacher Okappi. Saitou's story is both cool and heartwarming, even if it in more objective terms it's pretty small and Minako gets her first kiss this chapter which is pretty cute to see. This chapter reminds me a bit of Yu Yu Hakusho which is not just a really good thing, but also kinda fitting and sweet given who Naoko would eventually marry.

2: A New Journey Begins-Part 1:

The penultimate chapter of Sailor V starts getting closer in tone to the final chapter and you can feel the mood change while still being recognizably Sailor V. There's a fight with another themed Dark Agency member Princess Lin-Lin who has brainwashed all of China this time. Minako is called away to be in a movie being produced in China after she uses her magic to make herself look like a model which is a fun foreign location for a Sailor V plot. However there's also Ace. You start seeing the beautiful imagery that Sailor Moon would be known for such as the Drop of Venus, the jewel formed as a drop from when goddess Venus came from the foam of the ocean. Ace confronts Minako on her devotion to duty over love, and you can almost feel her memories start to awaken, especially combined with Minako's internal turmoil.

1: A New Journey Begins-Part 2:

I'm gonna be honest, none of the other chapters are even close to as good as the final chapter of Codename: Sailor V in my opinion. This is the chapter where it starts being Sailor Moon, my favorite series of all time. As Minako sees everything start being destroyed from the last chapter, she flashes back to her past life, yelling in panic that it can't happen again, an incredibly emotionally intense moment of suddenly awakening to her true identity as Sailor Venus. And that's just the start. The final battle with Danburite is a thing to behold, and the resolution of Minako's internal conflict is tragic and beautiful; that the Goddess of Love to protect all love would be cursed to never find it herself. After the battle Sailor Venus' determination is felt in every line on the page and her statement that everything she thought she was just a brief disguise, the true battle begins here and she must find her princess and allies is the kind of intense gravitas and pathos I love for as well as the cosmic science-fantasy concept of immortal beings living and remembering many lives is an example of that which makes me love Sailor Moon. This chapter is beautiful, intense, full of amazing moments, psychologically interesting, symbolically fascinating and exactly why the SM Manga has been my favorite series since the first time I read it.