Beta Ray Ben
LightNews LightNews
banner
betarayben.bsky.social
Beta Ray Ben
@betarayben.bsky.social
3.2K followers 1.8K following 32K posts
Short fiction writer. Queer in his bones (menacing), not always safe for work. Nerd trash who reads too many (but not enough) comic books. White settler Canadian living on lək̓ʷəŋən territory (Victoria BC). He/they

Telegram: @betarayben
Discord: beta_ray_b
Posts Replies Media Videos
betarayben.bsky.social
Drop a lawyer
She Hulk, a giant green woman, bursts through a stone wall with a summons to appear thrust out at you.
December 10, 2025 at 12:11 AM
betarayben.bsky.social
I got a belated birthday gift from my straight boy bestie and my heart is swooning.
My hand holding up an LP featuring radio plays starring Plastic Man and Metamorpho.
December 9, 2025 at 8:54 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
You will be visited by three spirits
Three members of the TV version of the Doom Patrol in a dingy space with a burnt out car: Negative Man (long fur lined coat, bandages), Robotman (big shitty robot in leather and jeans) and Crazy Jane (short woman in conflicting thrift store patterns).
December 9, 2025 at 5:17 AM
betarayben.bsky.social
December 8, 2025 at 11:00 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
Happy Monochrome Monday from a sleepy lil guy. 😘
Black and white photo of a white man in his forties with a shaved head and glasses. He has a salty beard and AirPods in. He’s in a desk chair, wearing a dark quarter-zip sweater.
December 8, 2025 at 4:34 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
Frank Quitely drawing Alfred Pennyworth, a balding older man, holding up Batman’s empty cowl like Hamlet lifting Yorick’s skull as he says, “Think of Batman as a great role, like a Hamlet, or Willie Loman…or even James Bond. A play it to suit your strengths.” (Script by Grant Morrison)
December 7, 2025 at 6:33 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
It’s so good!
Five wide screen panels by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant showing Dick Grayson has Batman facing down a number of circus assassins. When he is abandoned by Robin, one of them says, “So much for teamwork!” Dick responds with “Everyone’s a critic,” while blasting a flaming villain with a fire extinguisher.
December 7, 2025 at 5:54 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
The absolute needle scratch when I get to BATMAN AND ROBIN and Frank Quitely parachutes in to save me from despair.
A Frank Quitely illustration of Dick Grayson as Batman (black and grey costume) and Damian Wayne as Robin. They’re standing next to each other on an all yellow background with a new Batmobile with a bat-shaped, red windshield with tail fins.
December 7, 2025 at 5:36 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
We’re hanging out with a cute boy and going to a nerdy craft fair this afternoon. 🥰🥰🥰
A white man in his forties with salt & ginger beard. His head is shaved and he’s wearing glasses. He’s wearing a grey hoodie under a black jacket with a teal t-shirt poking out.
December 6, 2025 at 9:04 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
The gift I brought—a copy of Aimee Bender’s AN INVISIBLE SIGN OF MY OWN—was the only gift anyone stole from someone else, which I am chuffed about. Aimee Bender is great.
A light blue cover depicting a white woman only partially visible. A SIGN OF MY OWN, a novel by Aimee Bender.
December 6, 2025 at 4:24 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
I was reminded of ‘Mazing Man just now and I will not be able to think about anything other that this weird little series about caring for people in your neighbourhood and the joy of weird little guys has never been fucking collected, my god. Any time I’ve stumbled upon an issue it’s made my day.
A little man in black and yellow costume with a horned helmet is surrounded by friends including a talking dog named Denton. The cover of the first issue of ‘’Mazing Man.
December 6, 2025 at 4:19 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
My spoils for the white elephant gift exchange at the writers’ holiday party last night.
Ninja bread men - gingerbread men cookie cutters shaped like ninjas!
December 6, 2025 at 3:59 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
What perfect album came out the year you turned 16?
If you’re feeling sinister, Belle and Sebastian.
December 6, 2025 at 8:01 AM
betarayben.bsky.social
Got a new sweater, going to a winter gathering in a couple hours. How you doin’, sport?
A white man in his forties with salt & ginger scruff. He’s shaved his head and has on glasses. He’s wearing a black half-zipped sweater with a light blue top underneath.
December 6, 2025 at 12:47 AM
betarayben.bsky.social
Sup?
A white man in his forties reclines on a couch. He’s wearing glasses with a blue and grey baseball tee with a clawed hand catching a snake. His beard is salt & ginger scruff and he’s shaved his head.
December 5, 2025 at 12:54 AM
betarayben.bsky.social
Post Bluesky’s vibe
Simpsons screen cap of a magazine ad for the Corey hotline, showing a cute teen idol with Luke Perry hair glaring at a phone, wishing a girl would call him. He’s surrounded by stuffed animated.
December 4, 2025 at 11:44 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
Without downloading any new pics, describe your vibe for today using an image from your gallery
Two panels written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Duncan Fegredo, depicting a a man with short standing next to the driver’s side of a brown hatchback while a longer hair man in a cape emerges from the passenger side. Man 1: I mean, you didn’t just think hey! I’m gonna base my life on this comic book. Man 2: actually that’s more or less exactly what I thought.
December 4, 2025 at 7:46 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
I bullied @baccibloo.bsky.social into reading Milligan & Fegredo’s ENIGMA so I suppose I should reread it as well. Still a banger first page.
The painted cover to Enigma 1 by Duncan Fegredo. A mysterious masked and cloaked figure haunts the cover with a superimposed image of a grotesque figure’s back and a hovering lizard. The words LIZARD, THE HEAD and THE ENIGMA surround it. A sketchy splash page depicting a smashed well and a wooden fence, very rural. Captions read: It was an ordinary sort of farm in Arizona. The kind of place where you’d have sexual relations with your parents and end up shooting someone.
December 4, 2025 at 5:11 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
But Daddy, I love her!
Chris Sprouse drawing of Donna Troy in her Troia mode: ridiculous golden boots, red and blue knee guards, a Grecian skirt, Starfire bathing suit, golden bracers, epaulettes—
December 3, 2025 at 5:51 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
Personally, I think if you’re going to name yourself after your killer’s abortive first attempt at a secret identity, you need to go all in and wear his weird stupid first costume too.
Mike Mignola illustration of Batman and Robin surrounded by a flurry of question mark cards as the Red Hood — a tall man in a tailored dark suit and tie with a long billowing red cape and a smooth bell jar of a red helmet.
December 3, 2025 at 7:22 AM
betarayben.bsky.social
Thinking specifically about Rusty Collins’s olde-timey football uniform X-Terminators outfit. That slutty shirt!
A young redheaded man with red headgear and high-waisted, belted pants paired with tall brown boots and a slutty, deep V red and yellow long sleeve shirt that covers his hands.
December 3, 2025 at 12:59 AM
betarayben.bsky.social
For the record, the MVP of the Eating Out franchise is my queen Mink Stole, a reminder that trashy gay movies are part of lineage including John Waters’s filmography.

This icon was in Pink Flamingos.
Mink Stole, an older white woman hugging Jim Verarros, a cute white twink.
December 2, 2025 at 9:34 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
The cast from the first one is my favourite, the story is strongest in the second one, I appreciated trans characters when they brought them in.
The cast of Eating Out 1, including Ryan Carnes, Jim Verraros, Rebecca Kochan, Scott Lunsford and Emily Stiles.
December 2, 2025 at 9:14 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
I picked up the first issue of Matt Kindt and David Rubin’s SPACE SCOUTS because it looked interesting and I love Rubin’s artwork. I wasn’t expecting a love letter to the Legion of Super-Heroes (that works even without that context) as hundreds of aliens vie for a spot on a galactic super-hero team.
Sergio Aragones cover to Sailor Scouts 1. An alien woman prepares to leave her Tattooine coded homeworld. She’s sad about it. Alien children and animals abound.
December 2, 2025 at 3:59 PM
betarayben.bsky.social
Buzz buzz buzz 🐝
A soft white man in his forties with salt and ginger beard. He’s freshly trimmed with a buzzed head. He’s shirtless with glasses, making a doofy peace sign. You can make out snatches of tattoos on his arms.
December 2, 2025 at 4:51 AM