Tim Drake is a gift to humanity and I will fight you over this

Alright, so I was going to do a post about something important, like my realizations about how some things are intrinsically evil, but now I'm going to talk about comics.

Because there's a rumor going around that DC comics is going to kill off my favorite Robin and I'm bracing myself for it with tomorrow's comics delivery. And maybe they won't, and heck, the original Tim Drake has been gone for like...three reboots? But Tim is my favorite, I grew up with him as Robin and I may riot. I don't know.

And then there's this piece of goodness:



*grabs everyone and shakes them*

THIS CHILD IS MAKING TIM DRAKE'S STORY FOR REAL AND HE IS GLORIOUS

GIVE ME THIS, UNIVERSE. GIVE ME TIM DRAKE IN THE DCEU.

I know people complain about Robin not being a hero in his own right but these people are wrong in all their life choices and I will fight them.

Give me my small, genius child in live action. Give me Nightwing. Heck, give me Red Hood (though explaining all of that would probably be awkward). Give me Damian, though again, that would require a LOT of explanation and some reworking of the al Ghul's.

But most of all, GIVE ME TIM DRAKE. Give me THIS Tim Drake.

Also, bts video because I can:



And eventually I'll make the post about intrinsic evils.

Possibly after my period of mourning.

Wed ETA: Jesus, DC, what are you DOING?

You're going to make me buy comics on a regular basis again, aren't you? AREN'T YOU?

Captain America: Winter Soldier concept art

Once again, possible spoilers contained herein.

Though (again) your spoiler free bunker must be very nice if you don't know this stuff. It's not a secret. Really.

Here, have a puppy:

This is a Shiba Inu puppy. The cutest, fluffiest, best kind of dog around. This is the breed that my dog Baby is. Only this is not a picture of Baby. Baby is white and full grown and still the best dog ever, but less cute and more handsome devil of a dog. God I miss having a puppy.

Right.

The sequel to Captain America is titled Captain America: Winter Solider.

For anyone who knows anything about Marvel comics canon, we know what this means.

We know who the Winter Soldier is, and we're all chomping at the bit for this. We want it. We've wanted it since Sebastian Stan was cast to play Bucky Barnes.

Because. Well.

Sebastian Stan. Really.

With Chris Evans.

Where's a drooling smiley when you need it...

Yes, this is the only picture I could find of him.

I swear.

O.O <= This is my innocent look.

Right.

Winter Soldier.

I know that the MCU has to redesign some of the costumes to make them a little less comic book crazy, but let's look at the Winter Soldier's original costume:

Fairly realistic, not really brightly colored or skin tight spandex or anything like that.

Now let's look at one of the pieces of concept art that's been released for the CA: Winter Soldier film:

What the fuck is that mask? Seriously. What? I just...I don't even know. It looks stupid.

There. I said it.

I understand that the idea is (probably) to make it believable that Steve won't recognize Bucky right away, but you're telling me that this seemed like a good way to do that? Rather than using, I don't know, Bucky's canonical assassin/spy skills to keep Steve from getting a good look until the final show down?

The second bit of art is better, but I can see that he still has that stupid mouth-mask on.

Bionic arm! :D

And yes, the fangirling is going to go on forever.

You've been warned.

One month until IM3.

*throws confetti*

And Then I Decided to Have This Conversation

Mostly in my head, but whatever.

So.

In The Avengers, there is a scene where Thor has just flown in and Loki-napped his brother out of the Quinjet. Iron Man has already flown off to try and get Loki back and Captain America is about to jump out of the plane (with a parachute) to get in on the fight as well. Black Widow tells him to stay about of it:

Black Widow: "You better sit this one out, Cap. They're from Norse legends! They're basically gods!"

Captain America: "There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that!" *and then he jumps*

So. a) There is nothing wrong with the way Loki and Thor dress. Let he who is not wearing a spangly outfit cast the first stone Steve. Yeah.

b) I know a lot of people (okay, fannish people so you non-fannish have no idea what I'm talking about) were surprised at this line because of Joss Whedon's public atheism. Well as the man himself said in the commentary (and trust me, Joss Whedon should make commentaries on every movie, ever. Even the ones he had nothing to do with.) *he's* an atheist but Cap isn't.

c) People take this as hey, proof that Captain America's a Christian!

What I'm addressing is point 'c'. Here's how this all happened: I commented to Heather, once upon a time, that I was considering writing a fanfic (for the uninitiated amongst you a fanfic is a story that is written by a fan of a certain movie/book/tv show/etc. about the characters and/or events/universe. No money is made and it's purely for the love of the characters. Please, for your sanity, do not go Googling fanfic. There's...it's a whole world that the non fen will not understand. I will not be responsible for any brains broken if you disregard my warning.) based on this quote and the idea that Captain America a/k/a Steve Rogers, rather than being a Christian was a Muslim. The fic has never materialised because um...I have been busy writing other things.

Then, Heather comments on a FB post with this meme:

And makes reference to the whole Steve Rogers as a Muslim idea. Of course it's been poohpoohed in a couple of the comments that he can't have been a Muslim. Once, which I totally don't understand, was that he can't have been Muslim because he was frozen in ice for a long time.

Um. Okay? Sure.

I maintain that it is entirely possible for MCU Steve Rogers to be a Muslim and I shall tell you why.

1. Arguments that comics-verse Steve Rogers in a Christian are not valid in my opinion because MCU is *not* 616 or Ultimates or any other comics canon that we've been presented. It is it's own universe with it's own history and canon. We already know that MCU's events are not the same as comics.

2. All we know from Cap's statement is that he is a monotheist. 'One God'. Period. Until such time as he is shown going to a church or a synagogue or a mosque and worshipping there, or he details his beliefs in some other way that's all the clue we have. He's a monotheist.

3. Steve Rogers grew up in Brooklyn in the 1920's and 30's. He was old enough to join the Army when America joined WWII but was rejected due to having every ailment and disease known to man. This would be in 1941.

4. The first mosque built in New York is believed to have been one belonging to the American Mohammedan Society. It was built on Powers Street in Brooklyn in 1907.

5. The Islamic Mission of America built their own mosque, in Brooklyn, in 1939. They purchased a brownstone in 1947 that remains the Masjid Daoud today. In Brooklyn.

6. But Amber, I can hear you saying, the Muslims in these mosques were all African American or Middle Eastern immigrants or...*waves hands* whatever. They weren't *white*. White people didn't start start converting to Islam until fairly recently. Unto you I say, well, bah. The first 'prominent' Anglo-American convert to Islam is (by many historians - they're not doubting his conversion, just whether he was the 'first' prominent individual or not) Alexander Russell Webb. Who converted in 1888. Now he encountered it in the Philippines where he was the American ambassador but my point remains: just because they weren't the majority of the population doesn't mean that there weren't white converts to Islam long before the rest of the country or the world decided to take notice of them.

7. Amber, Amber, what is your point again?

My point, if you want to call it that, is this: There is *nothing* that prevents me from imagining that Captain America is a Muslim. Nothing. It's even plausible from a historical standpoint. 

I've seen this portrait of what a 'good' Muslim looks like, as far as characteristics go - I believe it comes from Mohammed's final sermon, but I could be wrong about this. You know what it says?

They are known for doing only lawful and righteous deeds. They have good morals and treat other people with respect. They are pure of heart - they neither hate other people nor are hypocrites. They are charitable, whether that's monetarily or in time given or whatever each individual can do. They are offensive to no one, they do no harm to others and they respect other peoples' rights.

You know one person (fictional) that all reminds me of?

Captain America. That's who.

Fandom

can make me love things.

For instance, I've never previously cared much about Hawkeye (let's leave aside the fact that my entire love of the Avengers is a new and shiny thing - I did previously collect Avengers comics. For Iron Man and Captain America and the slash. Because they are married.), but thanks to fandom and all the awesome fics getting written about him in movie verse, I'm kind of loving Clint.

Also, Coulson. The little short films Marvel's put out starring him? Adorable and genius and I want to put him in my pocket, but he'd probably go ninja badass on me.

TV Update + bb!Loki

Dropped Ringer because it bores me. Which is sad.

Dropped Secret Circle because I can only take so much teen angst and I want to keep watching Vampire Diaries.

I just don't care about Person of Interest even though it was well done, so I'm dropping that.

I'm loving Playboy Club and Pan Am. Okay, that may have a *lot* to do with the women and the clothes. I'm shallow.

In absolutely more important news: I'm getting excited for the steampunk!Three Musketeers movie.

And in yet MORE important news:

Why did no one ever tell me that Marvel had made Loki into a kid?

wee!Loki is the bestest thing ever. And...yeah. I'm obsessed. Damn you Hiddleston for being so awesome that I had to go looking at the comics and now I'm doomed. DOOMED!

X-Men has eaten my brain

Specifically, the First Class movie and the Charles/Erik, epic tragic gay love story. Because that's what it is, and you cannot convince me otherwise, okay?

And I'm devouring the damn kinkmeme. I even already wrote a little fill! Don't judge me!

But now I'm looking at the comics and thinking about picking them up again, trades, of course, but I *know* that the Professor X/Magneto relationship isn't the same thing and it will crush me!

Unless there's shippy comics for them. I doubt it. But I know nothing about X-Men, really.

Yes I did just spend 20 minutes on the phone at work arguing over whether or not the Clark Kent persona is a commentary by an alien being on the human race or a necessary and completely believable fiction to remove attention.

Guess which side I was arguing.

Fic: Geekery

Note: Just for the record, if you see this at the meme, don't rat me out! I'm anon from shame for a few of my fills over there. That's the joy of anon, I can write with abandon and have no fear of being judged...

If you'd asked me what I'd be doing tonight I would have said something about staying home, reading a good book, maybe playing around down in the lab. Normal every day stuff. Being trapped inside a basement with Marcone and Billy the Boy Werewolf would not have been on the list. But here I was, nine o'clock at night, warded into a fairly cramped basement with Marcone against the far wall and Billy semi-naked beside me.

Marcone had handed Billy his suit jacket when he shifted back into human form so at least he was mostly covered. So there we were, safe enough behind the ward, but stuck until sunrise. Marcone was just sitting there, eyes closed. Hell, he might have even been asleep. I, on the other hand, was very much awake. And very much bored. We'd been here for an hour already and I was not going to fall asleep braced against the bare stone wall and the scratchy concrete floor. Billy didn't look like he was going to get any rest either.

"So. Wanna talk about baseball?" Billy shook his head and laughed.

"Hell no." There was another minute or so of silence. "Did you hear about the villains for the next Nolan Batman?"

"Huh. No."

"Right, right. No internet. So they've cast Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as Bane."

"Anne Hatha- isn't she that Princess Diaries chick? How'd she get cast as Catwoman?!?"

"Not a clue. I'm actually more concerned that you've seen the Princess Diaries right now. Look, she's a good actress. Did you see her in Brokeback Mountain? Or what about the new Alice in Wonderland? I don't think you're giving her enough credit here. Every actor starts out in less than Emmy worthy movies."

"Hey. I can't sit in a theater without blowing out the projectors. I have to take what I can get at the drive-in. And sure, she's a fine actress. But sexy? Not so much. Catwoman is a predator. She goes toe to toe with Batman and holds her own through sheer freaking attitude sometimes. I don't get that vibe off of Hathaway. And who the hell is Tom Hardy?"

"I think you'll be surprised with her. You've just got to trust Nolan on this one. Hardy was...uh...have you seen Inception?"

"No." I said it sullenly. Everyone was talking about it and then when they realized I hadn't seen it they'd shut up because they didn't want to 'ruin it' for me. "As soon as I can, I will. But I haven't had the chance."

"You are seriously deprived, man. Anyway. Hardy's in that, and he was in Nemesis way back. Oh! And Black Hawk Down."

"Don't know 'im." I could feel Billy roll his eyes even though I couldn't see it in the dim lighting.

"Right. Well, I'll find pictures for you sometime. He's good, though I wonder how they're going to do Bane with him. Bane's a huge guy in the comics."

"Didn't they already have Bane in the movies?"

"Schumacher." Billy could put a lot of scorn into just that one word and he added on a spitting sound, just for effect. "Those don't count. They're a travesty and an insult to the characters."

"Don't hold back, let us know how you really feel about it." I grinned, laughing. "What do you want to see in this one? It's gonna be Nolan's last, right?"

"That's what he says. I kind of hope not though. The man's done beautiful work. Oddly enough, I think I want to see them introduce Robin. They've had the major villains, or will have - Joker, Scarecrow, Two-Face, Ra's al Ghul..."

"Can he be a major villain if no one who's not a Batman geek knows who he is? Everyone knows the others even if they aren't fans, but al Ghul is sort of obscure."

"Hey, he's a major player in the comics, so he counts. Hell, he's taken on Superman and come out in one piece. Immortal, crazy, obsessed with fixing the world...hey! I think he might actually be one of your enemies!"

"So funny." I flipped him off good-naturedly. "But really, Robin? The kid in the short-shorts?"

"Robin's suit has had pants for at least twenty years." Billy's mouth had been open, but it wasn't him speaking. We both turned our heads to stare across the room at Marcone. He had opened his eyes and was leaning forward, just a bit.

"The short pants were last used by the second Robin, Jason Todd. His successor's suit was redesigned, adding in armour and greater weaponry. One of the changes was pants, similar to those on the Bat suit. If Nolan was to introduce a Robin character to his canon it would need to be an amalgamation of at least two of the comics canon Robins. I cannot picture the original Grayson Robin faring well in Mr. Nolan's darker world. Todd would fit with the violence and grittiness, but his popularity has always been questionable. I suppose that might not be an issue in the films given that he wouldn't be the replacement for Grayson. Drake would do nicely - he's unquestionably the smartest and arguably borderline sociopathic in addition, but his back story would have to be utterly altered given that his entry into the Batman mythos is predicated on Grayson's story.

"Brown wasn't Robin long enough to make an impression, though I suppose the allure of having the first female Robin on screen might make her a possibility. Damian is simply out of the question. His back story would require changes to the canon of the movies already established and a rather large leap forward in time to make it feasible. Given my choice I would have a version of Drake appear, but I suspect that they will stick with the name of Grayson and tweak the character to fit better in universe."

I couldn't even talk. I was just staring. Billy leaned forward, intent.

"How do you get 'borderline sociopathic' for Drake? He's brilliant, and intense, no question. But he's a good guy."

"He is a stalker. Why does everyone dismiss that particular fact? He focused on one person to the extent that that person took over his entire life. Everything he did from early child hood on up was designed to allow him to be close to the focus of his obsession. I'll grant you that he didn't turn violent, but Jason's death and Batman's decline prompted him into action, allowed him to actually be with the object of his desires during the earlier stages of puberty. There is no telling what twists he might have taken if left to his own devices. It's really rather good for the DC universe that he obsessed with Batman and Grayson rather than Luther or some other villain. His focus is laser tight - the Mission. Do you doubt that he would do anything that Batman asked, if it was for the good of the Mission? I don't. His morality is almost entirely tied up in what Batman has said is good and evil. Drake is the perfect successor for the mantle. He is also the perfect fail safe for Batman. Would Grayson have the strength of will to kill Wayne if it came to that?"

Billy paused. "No." It was admitted with great reluctance.

"So Drake it is. He would, if it was necessary, kill Wayne to spare the legacy and the Mission of the Bat. He would kill one of the few people on earth that he feels anything for because it would be what that man wanted. How is that not outside the realms of normal mental function?"

"Fine, fine. Drake's a ticking time bomb. But he's a weapon on the right side. The good guys would never let him go too far."

"Only because he's too dangerous to be left to chance. I would love to see his character done right in a film." Marcone was leaning his elbows on his thighs, intent on the conversation. I bit my lip, grinning. The look on his face was usually reserved for hostile takeovers - planning out attack and counter-measure.

"So, Johnny...how big is your geek room?" I tried to make my voice sound normal, to repress the unvoiced laughter, but it was impossible.

"I have-" Marcone stopped and his eyes cleared suddenly. I could hear his teeth clack together he shut his mouth so fast. I scooted forward a bit, so I could see him better. There was a faintly darker color creeping up his throat and his ears, coloring his cheeks. I couldn't help it. I laughed.

Billy shook his head as I flopped back onto the floor, smacking my head in the process and just let it roar out. Marcone huffed and stood, shoes scraping against the concrete.

"Really, Dresden. Am I not allowed to have hobbies?" And then he moved past me and pushed my legs out of his way to take my former space beside Billy. The two of them eyed me for a second and then bent their heads together, arguing point and counterpoint.

NaNoWriMo Begins Soon!

So, I'm going the fanfic route again this year. But instead of doing Anita Blake fic, like I usually do, or comics fic, I want to do Dresden Files fic.

Remember that awesome prompt where Marcone takes over the supernatural world? I want to write that. Since it's not *actually* like a prompty prompt, sent out on a community or anything but something posted on a personal lj under the heading of 'fics that need to be written by someone who is not me' I just posted asking the author if they mind if I try to write it. Hopefully they won't mind and I can try my hand at it. If not I've got a couple of other ideas. But not in Dresden-verse since this one has sort of taken over my Harry/Marcone muse.

*kicks feet idly*

Batman: Under the Red Hood

For the win. Seriously. Haters? To the left.

I do not care if you don't like Ackles on SPN (though if so, I think you're *wrong*, but whatever). He did justice to Jason's voice. The art is awesome, the action and pacing and dialogue is awesome, even though the story is edited from the comics original, and there is a distinct lack of TIMMY! (Why is Timmy left out? Lo, Tim is awesome, and you all had best realize that.)

Anyway. Jason Todd is...he was my first Robin, okay? I wasn't around for the Dick Grayson era. I picked up comics here and there as I could, and Jason was my Robin. And then, then, the first trade I picked up, in some mall somewhere in Wisconsin, I believe, was A Death in the Family. And so comics killed me.



But then, then came Tim, and A Lonely Place of Dying, and Tim became my Robin. Also, he's just that freaking good, okay? OKAY?

But I never lost my love of Jason, and I mourned him, got it? I *mourned* Jason in all his anger and pain. And then DC brought him back. (And proceeded to fuck him over, alternating with doing awesome things with him, so just...just stop being dicks, okay? Bring Jason back properly, so I can see him work with Tim properly. The two of them would *decimate*.) But the storyline had Jason, and *TIM*, and Dick, and Bruce, and all of them being smishy and angsty and *boys*, and fights, and Ra's al Ghul, who is my favorite Bat villain ever, and I loved it when it was Jason, got it?

So this movie takes a lot of that, and animates it for me, and yeah, I'm that easy. Plus, NPH is Nightwing, and that's just...well...fitting, really. But whatever. It's not about the voice actors!

Jason kicks ass, and he's suitably fucked up, and a hug just ain't gonna fix that. Joker's head on a pike might be a good start, though.

One minor quibble: Where's Jason's white stripe in the hair? I have a love of that.

Is Jim Butcher a Secret Supernatural Fan?

I can't believe I forgot to include this last night!

This section:

'I drew the eighteenth-century German dragoon pistol from the open drawer beside my left hand, aimed, and fired. The ancient flintlock snapped forward, ignited the powder in the pan, and roared, a wash of unnatural blue white fire blazing forth from the antique weapon. I almost fancied that I could see the bullet, spinning and tumbling, blazing with its own tiny rune.'

What's that remind you of?

Why....this! Of course...



Sooo...new, cracky theory? 'Marcone' is Dean Winchester, all grown up. Mmmmm... I need to think about that one some more.

It's not the first time that fandoms have imitated each other. I think that American Gods is closely related to the serial killer convention from The Sandman comics. And Supernatural borrowed the cutest hell hound on earth from Gaiman's Good Omens for Yellow Fever, and the Hammer of the Gods ep was very echo-y of American Gods itself. And let's not forget Crowley! I don't care what you say, he's related to Crowley from Good Omens! You can't prove otherwise!

Oh! Because I *can*, cutest hell hound ever!



And unrelated to above, I finally watched Sunday's Leverage. It's Christian Kane singing! *sigh*

And Nate said, 'I love it when a plan comes together!' Oh, A-Team reference. You come so naturally in this show. I need a fic where the A-Team meets the Leverage team. I'm certain it exists. How could it not?

*ALSO* There is apparently a cap on how many labels one can use on a single post. What's up with that?

Red Robin #14

My love for Tim Drake continues to grow. I like what Nicieza's been doing, so far.

Damian...meh. I wish that the Demon Spawn was more someone who I could see growing into Ibn al Xu'ffasch from Kingdom Come. Mostly because I really like that character. And he's not, which makes a little nerd part of me weep, because there is not enough Ibn love in the world. Anyway, Damian's grown on me since he first showed up, and he and Tim are going to be smacking each other up and down Gotham City forever. That's quite all right with me. :)

The hit list, both of them, are very Tim. And in being very Tim, why is anyone surprised at the fact that it is also very Bruce? It's been said before, and will be said again, Tim is more Batman than Batman.

You take a kid who was what? Four? And his entire life becomes about *one* thing - Batman. We've seen what the loss of his parents did to Bruce, and he was older. Tim's entire world is Batman, and the Mission. That's all. He's made himself *useful*, and any part of himself that's not useful, he shunts off to one side and either makes it useful, or keeps it battened down. I'd almost call him sociopathic, except that it's not that he doesn't feel emotion and understand it, but that he has no use for it, and so has managed to compartmentalize himself so much that it's effectively the same thing.

*Except*, for his one, big, gaping blind spot. It's vaguely Dick Grayson shaped. I mean, really, Tim, no file on Dick? I don't believe it. You know better. Heck, I'd almost bet that the files Damian found are dummy files, and his real stuff is elsewhere. I mean, no, Conner is another blind spot, but not like Dick. Tim loves Conner, they're best friends, and his death killed something in Tim (but he got better!). Dick...Dick was Tim's...everything, for so long, I don't think that Tim even thinks about it any more. Which is weird for someone like Tim.

As for the Tim/Damian fight, well, hell yeah! Let's not forget, much as Damian was trained by the League of Assassins, he's *ten*, and Tim's first teacher was *Lady Shiva*. He cut his teeth fighting King Snake, Joker, Two Face. Tim has beaten all of them. He beat Lady Shiva the last time they fought. He's spent time all over the world, with masters of all sorts. And don't tell me he didn't just pick up some new moves from Ra's and the League. (Which, okay, Tim and Ra's together? Makes me a happy camper. I want evil-Timmy! Give me an Elseworlds!)

Also, don't think I've forgotten that Ra's wants Tim to father his new heir. I haven't. Bloody well get on with that story line already! I want more Ra's/Tim interaction.

On a completely non-comics related front, Parker and Hardison are *so cute*. And Parker is jealous. So cute! It's like she's a real girl!

'You don't like it when he talks to other women.'

'I don't care who he talks to.'

'What you're feeling is called jealousy, Parker.'

'*snort**laughter* I'm not jealous, no. I'm not jealous. It's just that when I see them together...I. Don't. Like. It.'

Oh, crap, the 'pretzels'! Freaking kiss already, damn you two!

Hey, preview for next week, it's Jo from Supernatural! And John Schneider! Hi, Pa! I haven't seen you since you died on Smallville!