So It’s Known That I Am Crazy About Mythology, And I Couldn’t Find A Graphic Challenge Of Any Sort,

I. This is Not a Game

II. Here and Now, You Are Alive

-Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

Words of wisdom from the Great God Om on this Glorious 25th of May

you know what i don’t see enough of? circus kid dick grayson critiquing the joker because he’s a bad clown. not like, bad, and also a clown. but bad at being a clown. i want to see dick grayson taking the existence of this horrible clown very personally as a matter of professional pride. he has known clowns, and you, sir, are no clown. the joker is an insult to the legacy of emmett kelly and this shall not stand.

Dress

Yves Saint Laurent, 1966

Kerry Taylor Auctions

Posters for National Theater of Korea's production of Macbeth, designed by Yuni Yoshida and photographed by Noh Juhan. [1][2]

I think the major reason why so many depictions of Batman rub me the wrong way is because, imo, the major character trait of Bruce shouldn’t be his anger or his darkness or his inability to move on from the death of his parents or whatever. It should be his empathy. His compassion. Those are his major flaws. No, seriously. They’re the reason why everything keeps going wrong in his life.

Because he can’t seem to delegate and prioritize? He has that sort of wide-ranging empathy that covers everyone, and it leaves no room for the people closest to him in his life. He cares, and that’s the issue, because he cares too damn much and it’s spread so thin that it goes right back to making him look cold and emotionless and detached. There’s no way he can save everyone, to be what every single person needs, but he tries anyway. And he can’t stop doing what he does because there’s always something going on, and he doesn’t have time to take care of himself or take care of those around him because that’s selfish! Because there’s always someone who needs him, someone who needs saving, and what right does he have to slow down? What right does he have to take a breather, to take a rest from The Mission when he can be out there making a difference?

And that’s probably the reason why so many people keep flocking to him, especially those in vulnerable positions like orphaned kids, because they see it. They see his kindness, his compassion, his genuine desire to help, and they know that it’s real. They know, because Bruce takes the effort to show them. Because Bruce is great at being kind to strangers! We’ve seen it demonstrated over and over again in every piece of media he appears in. He’s great at winning people over, great at getting them on his side, but it soon becomes apparent that they’re not his priority? And it’s okay when they don’t really know each other, but then he becomes a friend, a father, and he still doesn’t make time in his day for them. Still doesn’t hold them in higher standing than the rest of the world, because he can’t prioritize the people he likes. What right does he have to choose?

I just… I can’t see Bruce as being inherently selfish. I can’t see him being cold and unemotional when he wakes up every day (or night) and keeps fighting for a city that doesn’t seem to want to get better. That doesn’t scream logic to me? That screams of someone who feels deeply and intensely, who values hope against all else. Even if he’s pragmatic and pessimistic and a bit (a lot) of a mood-killer, there has to be faith holding him up.

And yk… emotional doesn’t mean he’s good at showing them. Doesn’t mean he knows how to show them. Bruce seems to have that neurodivergent and/or PTSD thing where the stronger, more intense his feelings are, the harder it is for him to actually show them. Maybe because he’s scared, or maybe they just paralyze him, whatever. So you’ve got this odd dichotomy where he can comfort strangers, he can make little kids smile both in and out of costume, but the closer you get to him the more he seems to withdraw from you. Because he feels too much. Because the words get jumbled in his head, and they don’t come out right, or heck, they just sort of… stop, somewhere, or maybe they just don’t even form. We’ve got so many examples of him saying the right thing to strangers, to acquaintances he only knows the name and face of, and so many examples of him phenomenally fucking up when it comes to his kids or anyone that he loves.

Dick Grayson Comics Timeline

Alright upon request (and after much compiling) I’m finally done with this pre New 52, fully referenced, Dick Grayson timeline @chestnutcats. It’s super long, so a short version here:

Parents die; becomes Bruce’s ward & Robin. Age: somewhere from 8-13, but usually on the younger end of that scale

Forms Teen Titans. Age: …teen?

(Barbara becomes Batgirl. Could be swapped with the above.)

Teen Titans split up. Age: <=18

Goes to college. Drops out of college. Age: college.

New Teen Titans form in NYC. Age: 19ish

Fired as Robin. No longer taking to Bruce. Fully living in NYC with the Titans, if he wasn’t already. Becomes Nightwing. (Jason becomes Robin.) Age: 19; Jason is 12

(Barbara shot. Jason killed. Tim becomes Robin. Talking to Bruce again. Age: 19 + however long Jason was Robin, so maybe 22. Tim is 13. Does Tim’s backstory make sense if he’s 9 years younger than Dick? Probably not, but writers don’t do math!)

New Teen Titans split up. Age: early 20s

Chillin’ as Nightwing, location unknown

Briefly Batman, with Robin Tim. Age: 20s, and age no longer matters. Tim is 14 or maybe 15, and the only hope we have of keeping the years straight.

Chillin’ as Nightwing, pt 2

Moves to Bludhaven. Helps out when things ultra-suck in Gotham.

Titans re-form.

(Gotham ultra-sucks for a while because Earthquakes and Government. Cass becomes Batgirl.)

Officially adopted by Bruce.

Titans split up. Reluctantly joins the Outsiders.

Everything Is Very Bad. Age: Tim is 16 by now, but comic book math is whatever you want it to be, and you needn’t be beholden to things like “numbers.” Dick is in his 20s, as he will be forever.

(Tim has to quit Robin; Steph becomes Robin; Steph fired; Tim Robin again; Steph “dies”.)

Jason returns, and then vanishes again.

The universe kind of explodes and then un-explodes. Bludhaven explodes and remains exploded. (Age: Tim is still 16, but eons have passed.)

Bruce & Dick & Tim go travelling for a year because fuck it.

Moves to NYC again. (Tim adopted. Damian first introduced. Age: Tim logically must be 17, and Dick is logically in his mid 20s, but logic never helped anyone.)

Leaves Outsiders.

Titans re-re-form.

(Steph returns, revealed to be not dead. Cass adopted.)

Leaves Titans.

Universe explodes again. Bruce (apparently) dies.

nananananana BATMAN (ft Damian as Robin). Tim off as Red Robin. Jason causing mayhem. Age: just about the same age Bruce was when he met Dick, and ain’t that a trip

Bruce returns.

The long version is under the cut, and by long version, I mean like 20 pages which is…possibly more than you wanted and surely more than you expected, but here we are.

This is half timeline, half reading list. The comics referenced here have occasional notes based on quality, but they’re mostly chosen based on giving you the major points and the best understanding of continuity. This is all firmly pre-flashpoint, because I Do Not Know the new52 or anything beyond, and also comes with the disclaimer that my chronological read-through has only reached 2009 and so the last section of this is suddenly a lot less thorough than the rest.

If anyone reading this wants more detail on any bit of it (whether specific comics and issues, timelines, character relationships, or what have you), or more info on a different character, I am happy to answer questions!!

If read mores don’t work for you, a person seeing this post…I am so sorry and just start scrolling.

Keep reading

coat ca. 1970 via The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ensemble

Azzedine Alaïa, 1985

The Museum at FIT

Red means life.

Central Florida Emergency Trans Care Fund

Equality Florida

ACLU Florida

Tampa Bay Abortion Fund

Coat ca. 1939 via The Meadow Brook Hall Historic Costume Collection

And while Cinderella and her Prince did live happily ever after… the point, gentlemen, is that they lived.