#maybe i'm thinking too hard about it but it seems. like maybe a deformed version would be in bad taste.

[prospectivehero]

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS - Written by Frank Miller, Illustrated by Klaus Janson

If I have an associate's degree in Batmanology, my dad has a master's degree. In his own words, he has a detailed understanding of characters and their classic stories but doesn't have the expertise of lore or newer stories. He's the guy you'd want to have a deep conversation about Batman, or any classic DC hero, without being gatekept. Because of this, I'm always willing to hear his comic recommendations, especially when he is as excited to talk about this comic as he was.

The story starts with a retired Bruce Wayne. He may have aged well, but Gotham City has not. The many familiar rouges have aged past usefulness or passed away. They are replaced by more colorful thugs and dangerous characters. Gotham seems in worse shape than it has been, but its people don't want to change. Batman no longer stalks the streets in a city doomed to repeat itself. But not even apathy can keep Bruce Wayne away from his calling forever. His conviction calls him back when threats from the past and a new protege reinspire him to change Gotham before it's too late.

Even with my dad's recommendation, I was apprehensive about this comic. Much like The Last Ronin, this is a story of a character I love being written in the context of a darker future. On top of that, this is a story about Bruce Wayne, a character whose darkness and tragedy are often misrepresented. This is a topic for a future episode, but Bruce Wayne is misunderstood as a doomed character in a doomed city. Maybe that's an interpretation of this character that's valid, but I always thought that Batman stories were about hope. Bruce is trying to find light in a dark city. This is best represented in this comic through Carey Kelly, his new Robin. He could die any day, but she has a future that Batman must protect.

The writing and illustration of this comic is masterful. The span of this story is depicted through different media. Bruce's story is interrupted and overlapped by interviews, press conferences, and other relevant narratives. What could easily be a distracting means of storytelling flows smoothly. All of it serves the purpose of questioning Batman and his choices. The reader is challenged as anchors, psychologists, politicians, and citizens argue whether or not Batman is doing the right thing. While the comic comes to its own conclusion, it's realistic about the kind of people who live in Gotham and what those people have to say about a man in a bat costume who takes the law into his own hands.

I am now in my dad's big shoes, recommending this comic. I tend to think that a theme that superhero stories should include is "hope." That's not to say that every good hero needs to be in a universe of sunshine and rainbows, but it is to say that superhero stories are about the future and finding a foothold in it. To borrow from a different universe, superhero stories aren't about falling. They are about getting back up. The Dark Knight Returns is about choosing to get up from a very long fall.

TRIGGER WARNINGS (with potential spoilers) -

1) Implicit Violence - While I wouldn't categorize the violence as gratuitous, it's intense. Gotham's darkness is reflected in how easy it is for a random citizen to find trouble. It gives a distinct picture of how commonplace death and violence are in this version of Gotham.

2) Disturbing Character Designs - The art style represents a dirty and doomed city, and the character designs of a Tom, Dick, or Harry aren't appealing to look at. Even so, some character designs cross the line into gratuity with warts, scars, and other deformities that are hard to stomach.

#dc comics #batman #superman #bruce wayne #clark kent #carey kelly #robin #dark knight #batman dark knight returns #dark knight returns #frank miller #klaus janson #future hero theory

[obscureother]

ima call you echo

tell me your favorite thing about 3 of your F/Os!

-@the-selfship-corner

yo i love echo. im down for that, thx for the name offer, anon 👀

thx for the ask too btw!! If you get comfy and dont feel so shy, I'd love to hear your favorite things about your f/os too!! Or you could dm me if you dont want people to know. 🖤 💙 Anyone else who wants to babble about their favorite things is also welcome to reblog or comment or something :00 i want to know everyone else's favorite things too, maybe ill post about it even. .

anon youre so inspiring.

. 🌑 .

oh jee, my favorite things about my f/os heehoo- One of the first things that comes to mind is Smiley's accent. He's got a sort of cockney sound to him (at least I think it's called Cockney, I'm not the most knowledgeable on accents lolol). Definitely love listening/thinking about it. If he wasn't supposed to be cockney, the f/o version of him for me is now lmao.

Dracula's aesthetic and the things he's become associated with for me is also super comforting. I love everything Bela does with his character but the overall theme of him is just the most lovely thing. I also like Burton Horseman's aesthetic too, and Disney Horseman's laughter. Hold on you said three, those dont count-

Picking a third one is hard RR- but if I were to choose one I would be most excited to pull someone over to point to and go "look at their thing!! i love their thing. their thing is so cool. look at their cool thing. <33" it would have to be either Gerik's face (ironic? maybe. I just think it's neat, even the deformed side) or that he has this really cool glowy aura to him that I haven't been able to easily notice on other f/os. . I'm not sure why he has it, it's golden, but I've never seen it on f/os before him, so I don't know where it came from. It's very bright though, literally looks like a heavenly glow thing going on. Angel of Music, you there??

. . the longer i think about it, the more im starting to wonder, cos it seems like some kind of relation to how long theyve existed or how strong their existence is for being one of my f/os. everyone has different colors. . anon i think youve also made me more aware of how they function for being f/os lolol.

#🌑 obscure f/o: ⛓ #🌑 obscure f/o: 🦇 #🌑 obscure f/o: 🥔 #🌑 obscure thoughts 🌑 #🌑 obscure f/o 🌑

[princesssarisa]

Character ask: Hercules and Megara (Disney's "Hercules")

Tagged by anonymous

Hercules

Favorite thing about them: His innocence and likability. While he does have a touch of macho swagger at times – which is more "acting the way he thinks heroes act" than any real arrogance – he's basically just a normal, friendly, slightly goofy, kindhearted teenager who happens to be a musclebound demigod. He's as free of toxic masculinity as any version of Hercules/Herakles can be, and I love the way he blends courage with sweetness and vulnerability, especially in his romance with Meg. (I'm fairly sure that when he mourns Meg's death, he's the first adult, human, non-deformed male Disney hero to ever be shown crying.) His boyhood feelings of being a "freak" and not fitting in are poignant and relatable too, so his quest to rejoin the gods on Olympus, where he thinks he'll "belong," is an engaging one. So is his arc of learning that a "true hero" means something different than being a great, famous fighter, and that his birthplace isn't necessarily "where he belongs."

Least favorite thing about them: Two things. (1) The way he lashes out at Phil when the latter tries to convince him that Meg is a fraud. (2) The earlier moment when he's happy to hear that two little boys are trapped under fallen rocks, because it gives him the chance to prove his heroism by saving them. Even though it's played for laughs, it's still selfish of him. But I suppose that's part of the whole point of his character arc. While he's a good person and genuinely does want to help people, his deeds are always partly driven by the self-serving goal of earning back his godhood, which is why they don't prove him a "true hero." That he only becomes when he shows true selflessness for others – first when he faces near-certain death at the Cyclops's hands to save Thebes from destruction, and ultimately when he chooses to sacrifice his life for Meg.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I often feel like a misfit.

*I tend to be innocent and trusting.

*My greatest strength is my love for others.

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I don't have godlike physical strength.

*I've never fought a monster.

*I'm female.

Favorite line: The lyrics to "Go the Distance."

brOTP: Phil and Pegasus.

In crossover-land, I also like the idea of him befriending Aladdin (as he did when their spinoff TV series had a crossover – their movies are especially similar in tone out of all the Disney canon, and Hercules's brawn combined with Aladdin's brain really would make them a good team), Ariel (a similarly naïve yet friendly, brave, and likable misfit – and if King Triton is the Triton from Greek mythology, then Ariel and Herc are first cousins once removed!), or Don Bluth's Anastasia (their respective movies have virtually the same plot in different trappings, so he would identify with her.)

OTP: Meg.

nOTP: Hades.

Random headcanon: When he eventually dies, instead of going to the Underworld he finally will rejoin the gods on Olympus, and Meg will be granted immortality to join him there.

Unpopular opinion: Sometimes it seems unpopular to like him. Repeatedly I've seen him either dismissed as a bland protagonist overshadowed by the other characters (especially Hades) or hated for not being 100% selfless and perfect. So even though he does have his fans too, I'll list the fact that I like him as my unpopular opinion.

Song I associate with them: "Go the Distance"

Favorite pictures of them:

Megara

Favorite thing about them: In the first place, she's a fun character, with her sassy personality and all her clever, funny lines. I also love her complexity and uniqueness among the Disney heroines. A tough, jaded heroine who masks her inner pain with snarky humor? A morally gray heroine who starts out working for the villain and has a redemption arc? Maybe common in other movie genres, but not so common in Disney's animated canon! Family media is filled with the trope of "prickly cynic with a hard past and a hidden heart of gold meets and learns to love an innocent ray of sunshine who sees their inner goodness" – Disney has used that trope many times. But those pairings are usually "male cynic/female innocent," not the reverse, and I love that Hercules gender-flips that standard romance arc! That combined with Meg's playful wit makes her a favorite Disney heroine of mine.

Also, while she's far from the only Disney heroine or hero to temporarily "die" but then be revived near the end, she's one of the very few who explicitly really do die (not just lose consciousness or be put under a spell), in an especially brutal, self-sacrificing way too, and the only one revived by having her spirit physically brought back from the afterlife! That's fascinating stuff for child viewers in our culture where death is so often treated as taboo!

Least favorite thing about them: Well she does spend about 2/3rds of the movie (reluctantly) working for Hades and helping him try to bring Hercules down. But of course her redemption is part of the whole point of her character.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I'm a brunette female.

*I'm sometimes tempted to be cynical and untrusting.

*I like Hercules's innocence and kindness.

Three things I don't have in common:

*I'm not particularly sassy.

*I'm no good at flirting.

*I've never had a romantic partner dump me for someone else.

Favorite line:

In the clutches of Nessus the Centaur:

"I'm a damsel... I'm in distress... I can handle this. Have a nice day!"

Her self-introduction to Hercules:

"Megara. My friends call me Meg, at least they would if I had any friends. So, did they give you a name along with all those rippling pectorals?"

In response to Hercules being happy about the two trapped children:

"You're really choked up about this, aren't you?"

After Hercules escapes from his crazy teenage fangirls:

"It's alright. The sea of raging hormones has ebbed."

When Hades wants her to find out Hercules's weakness, because Pain and Panic couldn't handle him as a baby but Meg can "handle him as a man":

"Hey, I've sworn off manhandling!"

And her understated confession after her self-sacrifice:

"People always do crazy things when they're in love."

brOTP: Phil and Pegasus, once they learn to like her.

In crossover-land, I'd like to see her be friends with Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (another sassy, sexy and tough, dark-haired and purple-clad heroine, but one with a sweetness and idealism that would make her a good foil for Meg's cynicism), or with Dimitri from Anastasia or Flynn Rider from Tangled (two male heroes with wisecracking, morally gray personalities similar to her's, and who have similar character arcs of "self-interest to self-sacrifice" as they fall for their respective love interests).

OTP: Hercules.

nOTP: Hades.

Random headcanon: She's slightly older than Hercules (since he's 18, I'll imagine that she's 20 or 21), and in a reversal of gender expectations, he's a virgin but she's not. She's his first love, after all, and he isn't the type to have sex outside of a real relationship, but she lost her virginity to the earlier boyfriend who jilted her.

Unpopular opinion: I don't think I have one.

Song I associate with them: "I Won't Say I'm In Love"

Favorite pictures of them:

#character ask #hercules #disney #megara #1997 #animated film #ask game #fictional characters