I’m Gonna Walk That Stage Next Month, I’m Gonna Look Principal Higgins Dead In The Eye, I’m Gonna

it’s gonna be absolutely soul crushing when (inevitably) one of the main characters dies in vol 2. but imagine one of them actually dies the same way vecna’s other victims did.

it’s going to be so gruesome to watch. absolutely traumatizing. seeing a character we love so much die in such a brutal way.

but what’s going to be even worse is seeing the other people’s reactions. we’re watching a beloved character die like that. but they’re watching their friend, their family, get murdered in such a cruel fashion. and it’s going to be absolutely heartbreaking.

greek mythology | more cursed images

Important PSA: going to watch the movie Shang-Chi in theatres is NOT the only way you can support the movie! 

I’ve been getting a ton of replies saying “I can’t watch it bc of covid” which are very valid reasons. If you can watch it safely then please do that, if you can’t then you can’t. But this isn’t a group chat where I need to hear all your weekend plans of why you can’t watch it. and from the tone most people have, it feels very performative.

So how can you support Shang-Chi outside the movie theatre?

Hype it up!! Talk about how excited you are to watch it when you can do so safely!

Create content! Fanart, gifsets, fanfics, all are important and a great show of how much people like the movie! 

Engage with content! Reblog/retweet trailers, clips, posters, interviews, all the fan content listed above, anything!

Box office numbers are meaningless without fan engagement! Please show support for Shang-Chi! 

Anyways saw jason being brought into a titans post recently because it seems fandom has this idea that Dick didn't mourn Jason/didn't care about him/whatever.

So anyways. Let's talk about post-crisis because that's the standard when ppl bring up Robin!Jason.

Fanon myth #1: When Dick mourns Jason, he's grieving someone he didn't know.

Canon: Post-crisis didn't have a ton of time to establish the new version of Jason's character, but they dedicated a whole issue to Dick reacting to Jason being Robin, had Jason show up in The New Titans, and frankly set things up so that their relationship was pretty much unchanged from pre-crisis (which was a good relationship).

The issue I just mentioned has Dick start out as annoyed in the beginning because Bruce didn't tell him there was a new Robin and Jason messed up a case he was stalking out. He's a bit harsh with Jason at first, but it's not meant to be something unforgivably mean - it's understandable. By the end of the issue they've given each other like 3 nicknames a piece (shorty, old-timer, kid, Mr. Nightwing, Mr. Robin, etc) and end by bonding over kicking the crud out of some dudes. It takes Dick all of one day to warm up to Jason lmfao, he's mildly harsh on day 1 and day 2 he gives Jason his old costume and contact information and it ends like this:

Batman (1940) #416

Now if that's the only issue you read, I too would be a bit skeptical, like "oh he showed up one time, everyone knows he had to at least pretend to try" and if you're reading through a reading list for Robin!Jason and are uninterested in Dick, you'll miss this next thing.

This is Danny Chase, a member of the Titans. He's searching for reserve members of the Titans because he's bored as he got left home alone when the Titans went to space without him.

The New Titans #52

Remember that there wasn't a ton of time for them to set up Jason's new characterization, but in universe, he still was Robin for about 3 years. In pre-crisis times, Jason did appear in the New Teen Titans, most notably helping save Dick and Raven from Brother Blood. This is something that is implied to be carried over from pre-crisis into post-crisis continuity, as Danny (who wasn't even on that mission) knows about Jason, has a nickname for Jason, and talked to him the week before he died - ergo the Titans, including Dick stayed in contact with Jason after that mission.

So yes, even in that tiny sliver of time that we got post-crisis Jason, the writers went out of their way to establish Dick and Jason's relationship. They couldn't do it more because it was literally like. A year.

Fanon myth #2: Dick didn't mourn Jason.

Canon: This likely comes from Dick being pretty much okay by the time A Lonely Place of Dying comes around. That's Bruce's arc, but that doesn't mean that Dick didn't have one - he, literally did.

In my expert opinion, he looks pretty upset about Jason dying here... and this is his initial reaction, not retconned or anything - this is a direct response to "A Death in the Family". Basically Danny goes "hey i think Jason died" and it sets off this chain of events

The New Titans #55

And that's just the initial reaction. Later in the issue, after taking time to think things through, he fires Danny from the team with part of his reasoning being:

"I've been thinking about what happened with Jason and I honestly don't know if we should be taking responsibility for someone as young as you."

From here, chronologically speaking, he visits Jason's grave and expresses guilt over giving Jason his old costume and notes that Bruce didn't even try contacting him about the funeral, which he had missed.

Next we have a not super well known Secret Origins issue where he confronts his feelings about Jason while stuck hallucinating in limbo, and this issue actually acknowledges the incident with Brother Blood and Jason helping out, which confirms it was brought along into the new continuity. Basically these panels sum up the incident.

Secret Origins Annual (1987) #3

So yeah the "recent emotional turmoil" is Jason dying and Dick's conversation with Bruce (where Bruce blames him for making him need a partner, blames him for Jason's death, punches him in the face while Dick is still injured from the space mission, and kicks him out of the house). And the "drug-induced slumber" is because Dick at some point has started taking sleeping pills, and he feels like shit at the start of the issue and takes one so he can get some rest (which then backfires). Also in this issue, he mentions that he's seeing a therapist (he hallucinates and is like hmm maybe i should call them, before being like, no it's probably fine, I'm just on edge... which rip).

In The New Titans #57, which takes place after this, we see him talking to his therapist, and going to confront Bruce, which now kicks off A Lonely Place of Dying with him in a better place now that he's had some time to talk things out with his therapist and such.

However he still doesn't like bringing up Jason

Robin (1993) #0

Here they brought him up for exposition, but let's not forget the time Dick beat the Joker to death because he brought up Jason's name. He thought Tim had been killed by the Joker too, but the clown saying Jason's name sends him over the edge.

Last Laugh #6

After this he's incredibly upset with himself and locks himself in his apartment and when Wally comes to talk to him he finds him looking at a bunch of old photographs, one of which Dick picks up at the end and stares at, which is labelled "Me and Jason". And further on the grieving ends of things, in Nightwing Secret Files #1 the first story features him hallucinating Jason who leads him through his life story (again exposition time lmfao). And in Gotham Knights #26, when Tim brings up Jason in an argument, Dick looks crushed and Tim just apologizes at that point, because he knows he crossed a line. So yeah. Dick grieved Jason.

Fandom myth #3: No one even cared Jason came back and they were incredibly mean and out of line, especially Dick who threw him in Arkham three doors down from the Joker!!!! Jason was pit mad he deserves none of this mistreatment!!!

Canon: Jason came back right before another crisis, the one Dick was supposed to die in, and actually gloated about Dick dying to Bruce's face, while trying to become a drug lord and trying to force Bruce to kill the Joker. Jason then proceeded after the crisis (which had left Dick in a three week coma - he pretty much didn't have the time/opportunity to respond to Jason being alive right away) to dress up as Nightwing and run around New York City killing criminals and through a bizarre series of events, Dick ends up saving him from being eaten by a tentacle monster and then Jason himself becomes a tentacle monster, and Brothers in Blood is an arc that exists...

Dick is conflicted about Jason coming back considering that Jason is you know, going around murdering criminals as Nightwing. He talks to a therapist but when Jason does ask for help, he does decide to go and save him. So he does well... care, it's just complicated because Jason as Red Hood isn't the Jason Dick remembers.

Jason has actually gone to prison twice. The first time Tim in his infinite wisdom decided now, right after Jason tried to start a gang war where his grand plan was "use the kiddie gangs as fodder" and uniting the gangs under the "good cops", would be the perfect time to give him a second chance.

Now the Arkham thing: when Dick became Batman, he decided to renovate Arkham and get ride of all the torture and shit that was going on, because he had spent some time there undercover and was like, getting tortured fucking sucks.

At this point, Jason, with his second chance decides he's going to use it becoming the "Batman Gotham needs" nearly kills Tim (who literally gets away by playing dead using a bullshit technique to slow his heart rate) and shoots Damian in the chest, and also attacks Dick as well (he's not messing around he literally sprays Dick with fear gas in this fight). He then becomes the Red Hood again and kidnaps Dick and Damian in a ploy to unmask them in front of the internet. The police capture Jason, and Dick pulls some strings to get Jason sent to Arkham - he has to pull strings because Jason doesn't actually belong there

Batman and Robin (2009) #23

And note: the joker just attacked everyone so like he's not in Arkham, he broke out a while ago. And also note: Jason's sane, he's passed all evaluations, he calls himself sane, he is making these decisions not out of pit madness, but because it's what he wants to do. So, why did they pull strings to put him in Arkham? Simple:

"He won't be safe in a conventional prison... there will be a list of enemies a mile long locked up in there with him. Unless he's in twenty-four-hour protective custody, all he'll be doing is fending off attacks."

- Dick Grayson, Batman and Robin (2009) #23

So yeah. He was in Arkham because Dick cared enough not to let him just die. Their relationship isn't by any means good in this period, but Dick very clearly, still cares.

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3

I hope that clears things up. @not-your-regular-nerd, tagging you because you recently seemed to have some confusion about how Dick could grieve other people but not Jason. I'd recommend reading some of the comics I mentioned if you don't think Dick cared about Jason. Him caring about Donna dying is not mutually exclusive to caring about Jason dying.

“ITS OkAY BECAseE HE’S ON VaCATIOn”

The greatest dynamic duo. [Batman and Robin]

I have some thoughts on Batman (Arkham Batman, but Batman in general) vs Spider-Man (mostly from the new game because games), in terms of characterization and how you can level with them.

When you play the Arkham games, they say they make you FEEL like you’re Batman, and that’s true… to a point. But certain elements of the character simply are not there, at least not properly. Batman’s the World’s Greatest Detective. Batman is supposed to be able to do old school forensics, deductive reasoning, yet in the games, the Batcave’s computer does almost everything for him remotely. I know it was done in the name of focusing on action but it’s an aspect that’s missed.

In Spider-Man, though… you get it all. You get to feel that strength, that unnatural agility. You can pummel thugs into oblivion and stop two delivery trucks with one arm each, but you can also be stealthy. You can quietly take down an entire outpost of enemies one by one and slip in and out without raising so much as an alarm. You also experience his intellect, you help identify various chemical elements and hear him explain what they are, you help him rewire circuitry. It’s all done through some mini-games, sure, but it still makes you feel like you’re part of it, like you’re a genius recognizing these patterns. You also see him create and improvise new gadgets and weapons on the fly. And it feels so organic too!

Another aspect is the relationship they have with their villains. In the Arkham games, Batman often comes across as… stoic. There’s no real investment, no tension, no emotion. It’s just Batman kicking ass, taking names, shutting out emotion. He’s just dealing with criminals after all, and criminals who are where they belong. Why should he be invested right now? But then even the people he saves he’s curt and blunt with.

With Spider-Man, he seems to genuinely care; not just about the people he saves, whom he’ll tell where to go to get help, whom he’ll check to make sure they’re ok, but even his villains! He shows genuine concern for Black Cat when she appears to be slipping back into crime. He has a genuine interest in the Shocker and his intellect and ingenuity when it comes to his suit tech, and even makes a plan to visit him in jail to talk shop. In this game, he clearly sees these people as still being people. Misguided, sometimes awful people, but people/ It humanizes both him and the characters he interacts with, right down to the NPCs, and it shows that he really is your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

But what really struck me is the relatability aspect. A lot of folks like to sell Batman on the idea that he’s a “realistic” superhero, that because his powers are just being smart and an expert fighter, he could conceivably be real. But… I’d actually argue that makes him less realistic and in no way makes him relatable.

Batman has like, ten college degrees. He’s mastered every known style of martial arts known to man, and several known only to aliens. He mastered the art of ninjitsu and single-handedly struck a huge blow to crime rates in a city where he and those he’s trained are the sole heroes, with himself being primary. He’s accomplished all this… in about ten years, being active now for only about six or so. He’s also kinda inherited a multi-billion dollar fortune and company with bottomless funds, so there’s that. None of that is particularly realistic other than on a surface level, and certainly not relatable.

Spider-Man is… a kid who got bitten by a radioactive spider and attained super strength, speed, agility, and reflexes. He’s also a kid who, though perhaps not well-versed on official lab work, is not only a sponge for learning, but is also beyond a genius in terms of applied science; he can make high-tech gadgets after a dumpster dive, and run algorithms on his old laptop to find flaws in programs HE coded manually. He can spot a bad connector and fix it with parts from a hardware store and components taken from an old cell phone. Crime is still an issue, even in a city full of heroes, but he still does his part even when it sometimes seems pointless, hopeless. The guy makes do with what he has, faces overwhelming odds, and keeps pushing through it. Sure, on the surface it seems more fantastical, but in context, he’s really much more humanized.

And on top of that, he has the same problems you and I have. He’s behind on rent and even though he gets paid at the end of the week, his landlord wants it in three days… or else. He showed up late to work with a dirty, ripped shirt because he stops a mugging on the way in, or because he overslept due to being on patrol AND trying to get his studies done. He had to work for a boss he couldn’t stand so he could have enough cash to keep the lights on, food on the table, and his aunt cared for. He’s got relationship issues he has to work through, issues beyond his own hangups about letting people get close.

Hell, what really drives that home for me is a scene in the game where Peter actually gets evicted from his apartment and his landlord tosses his stuff in the trash. Peter has an actual panic attack as he realizes that include his Spider-Drive. A little USB Flash Drive that contains EVERYTHING, all his prototypes, research, dossiers on villains, every idea he’s had… all compressed and encrypted on one tiny flash drive accidentally tossed in the trash. While it’s not usually that extreme for us, we’ve all been there. We’ve all had something go missing of vital importance. And that, to me, hit home in a way Batman, with his remote access to his 200-exabyte storage supercomputer, just never can. That’s not even touching on how this man with superpowers manages to feel hunger fatigue, pain, etc. and has a story set over a period of weeks vs one man doing all this with little-to-no exhaustion setting in… all in one night. Peter is humanized, Bruce is idealized.

Spider-Man is one of the first superhero games to not only make you feel like a superhero but to show you that… the superhero there on the screen? He IS you. He is all of us in SO many ways.

And that’s why, to me, between this and the Arkham series… it doesn’t come close. Marvel’s Spider-Man IS the greatest superhero game, and one of THE greatest pieces of superhero media of ALL TIME.

Hermes is one of my favorite gods, as I'm a world traveler, and he's the patron god of Travelers. I think he embodies the joyful, serendipitous nature of wandering and discovery in a new land. Hermes, God of diplomacy, commerce, travelers and trade. He was the only one with the power to enter the underworld. Initially he was portrayed as middle aged with dark beard and long locks, but later he was portrayed as a beardless youth, which is what i went for. He created the first musical instruments, the LYRE and FLUTE, and, interestingly, was the father of Goat legged PAN. He also invented the alphabet and numbers. He was also the god of sleep, and could put mortals to sleep or wake them up with his wand.

The son of a celestial goddess Pleiad, he has connections to astronomy, (as can be seen in the constellations above), and astrology, (as can be seen in the zodiac signs surrounding his herald’s wand). As a psychopomp, he is tasked with leading dead spirits to the underworld, making him a true ally to humankind. His golden wing-tipped helmet and sandals, fashioned by Hephaestus the weaponsmith god, allow speedy travel on his errands. On the earth below are stone landscape markers, called Herma.

so the academy is reviewing whether or not to remove Will Smith’s award and here are some interesting tweets about that :)