And Right Now That’s Creating Fanart And Fanfiction For Reasons I Don’t Understand. Oh Well. I’m

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i have not slept and it's like 2AM and im now feeling tired but i locked tf in to draw this i just HAD to finish before bed i will be more coherent tomorrow anyways. gay superbat. have

authors jason todd can talk about who are NOT jane austen or mary shelley

okay SO. a couple of people indicated they would be interested in this which was honestly all the encouragement i needed. my credentials are that 1.) i love jason todd 2.) i love literature 3.) i got my bachelors degree in english like a week ago and am now in that awkward space in-between school and employment and am looking to fill my time with inconsequential geeking out. amen.

incomplete list of authors and works (romantic to modern) you could write about jason todd being invested in under the cut!!:

SOME DISCLAIMERS:

this list is not even a little bit exhaustive and there are authors big and small i elected not to include because i either felt like i didn’t know enough about their work to comment or i felt their work didn’t relate to jason todd, who is ostensibly the subject of this post

there’s also not a whole lot of detail on the history and context behind these authors and their works, because again, this is a silly tumblr post about the hypothetical reading preferences of a comic book character

while i do have a brand spanking new bachelor's degree in english i cannot claim expert knowledge, especially because most of my education was broad strokes in literature survey classes. i just have access to a lot of overpriced lit anthologies and a dream

also i need to say i LOVE jane austen and mary shelley. i’ve written jason referencing them before and will do it again but come on. there’s a whole world of english lit out there and most of this post is a transparent excuse to get people–including myself–to read more cool poems and stories 

NOW LETS FUCKING GOOOOO

william blake: (1757-1827) blake was a weird fucking guy. he was an artist and poet and he was very preoccupied with religious and esoteric imagery. check out his paintings; they’re all bleak and occasionally grotesque but deeply evocative and honestly?? rad as hell. i think jason would really get a kick out of them. blake’s most famous poem is probably "the tyger", but "london" and "holy thursday" from songs of experience do a great job of invoking a really grimy urban feel that would slide right into gotham. 

lord byron: (1788-1824) a guy described as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know;” which he certainly was. this guy got up to so much dark and broody bullshit that they named a whole character type out of him–byronic hero, anyone? he’s mostly on this list because jason could certainly be called byronic and the connection is too good to pass up, but i do think jason would really vibe with the apocalyptic imagery in "darkness."

okay FINE this doesn’t really have anything to do with jason but "ozymandias" is one of my favorite poems ever and well worth reading

john keats (1795-1821) possibly one of the most romantic out of all the romantic poets, right down to dying tragically young of consumption. i mean, just look at "bright star." i am personally of the opinion that jason is secretly a HUGE romantic, so he’d probably dig keats quite a bit. i would also be remiss if i didn’t nod to “ode on a grecian urn.” 

note the biographical links for the victorian authors direct to victorianweb.org, which is kind of an old reference but it is one i got directed to in one of my first lit classes, so i feel comfortable linking it as a jumping-off point. 

elizabeth barrett browning: (1806-1861) i actually already wrote a fic where jason referenced barrett browning but i’ll reiterate here. barrett browning was HUGELY influential within the victorian time period, probably best known for her verse novel, aurora leigh, about a brilliant young woman working to become an artist against the strictures society has placed on her. lots of really fascinating stuff about womanhood, art, and the intersections thereof within the victorian era. sonnets for the portuguese is another big work of hers, written for her future husband robert browning (a very talented and influential poet in his own right) during their courtship. sonnet 43 is probably the most well-known out of these, but i’m personally a big fan of sonnets 14 and 24. sonnets are great for if you need to write about jason being a weird sappy romantic or just if you want to read cool love poetry. 

alfred, lord tennyson: (1809-1892) there’s a LOT i could say about tennyson’s influence and impact on the victorian era and on poetry at whole that can’t fit into a tumblr post about the reading preferences of a semi-niche comic book character. for jason specifically, "in memoriam", written over the course of about three years after the sudden death of tennyson’s close friend, is a deeply moving meditation on grief, loss, and recovery that jason would likely find really impactful. cantos 54 and 56 are particularly impactful. how am i not supposed to resonate with a banger like “nature, red in tooth and claw”??? huh???

charlotte brontë: (1816-1854) charlotte brontë is best known for her 1847 novel jane eyre which, as a personal aside, is one of my absolute favorite books of all time. jane eyre is the one about the governess and the madwoman in the attic. (obviously, it’s more complex but i’m not getting into that in a tumblr post). jane eyre and brontë’s other two novels, shirley and villette deal with emotionality and strong feeling in ways jason would find very compelling, even if he probably spends most of jane wanting to (rightfully) punt edward rochester and st. john into the sun. jane is the most famous out of the three, but i think shirley is very underrated–i’m still thinking about shirley keeldar saying, and i quote, “bon voyage” after she rejects a proposal. shirley keeldar queen of my heart <3<3. i can’t mention charlotte without also mentioning her sisters emily and anne, but i’m less familiar with their work and can’t comment on it (but probably jason would be a big fan of the gothic leanings of wuthering heights). 

gerard manley hopkins: (1844-1889) hopkins does some REALLY fucking fascinating things with language in his poems. he plays around with sound and meter in ways that dip into modernity. "god’s grandeur" and "as kingfishers catch fire" are particularly good examples of this. "carrion comfort" is the kind of poem everybody should read at least once, and it’s also the kind of poem that jason todd would read and then lay down for a really long time about. 

william butler yeats (1865-1939) an extremely influential modernist poet, deeply associated with the modern irish independence movement and identity (for example, see “an irish airman” or “easter 1916”) which i just think is neat. yeats also wrote a lot about cycles of time and history and idk. i think that would really resonate with the guy who died that one time. i especially recommend checking out “the second coming” and  “sailing to byzantium.” 

t.s. eliot (1888-1965) pretty easily one of the defining modernist authors and critics of the era. “the love song of j. alfred prufrock” is another one of those poems everyone should read at least once and another one of those poems that jason todd would read and then lay down for a really long time about. “the waste land” is long but also really worth reading; but if you’re reading for jason todd specifically, you should take a look at sections i and v. 

there are so SO many more but this post is ah. long enough as is!! if you have any comments or thoughts or questions please feel free to reach out to me!! i’m not ever going to claim to be an expert on the subject, but i do love talking about this stuff :))

The fact that I can write an 1800 word oneshot in under three hours really makes me wonder why it was so hard to write a 2000 word essay in highschool. My brain is so much more alert now.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

it may take me a month to put out a chapter but at least im not using ai to write it.

IT MAY TAKE ME A MONTH TO PUT OUT A CHAPTER BUT AT LEAST IM NOT USING AI TO WRITE IT

A non-comprehensive list of wrong words I've seen in fics:

Rogue and Rouge - very common in superhero fics

Offal and awful - only seen this twice, both in Harry Potter fics

Weary and Wary - to be WEARY is to be tired, worn out. To be WARY is to treat with suspicion.

Definitely and defiantly - I do this all the time and have to go back to fix it

Bare and bear - The character probably doesn't have a bear chest. Probably.

Passed and past - Also guilty of this one

Manner and manor - lots of Batman fics have this one

Bubble, bauble, bobble - I can't remember the fic but I saw all three of these used in a paragraph to describe Christmas ornaments

Dual and duel - Another common one for Harry Potter

Chord and cord - also weirdly common?

Scalding and scolding - Scalding hot, scolding voice

Loosing and losing - You can loose a knot but you lose a fight

Threesome and trio - I KNOW what the fic writer was trying to say but these days the two have very different connotations

Cryptid and cryptic - So often. SO OFTEN. Especially in Danny Phantom fics

Waste and waist - This always shows up in character descriptions and it transcends fandom

We all make mistakes but some of these are so common I actually googled to see if I was wrong XD

BEGGING Batman/Batfam ff authors to learn the difference between rouge and rogue. For my sake. Please. (I use a screen reader and it switches it into French half the time)

jaydick symbolisms like. red and blue. the adrenaline of falling from the sky and the dirty nails from clawing out of your grave. forgiving, never forgetting. the intimacy of a lethal weapon. revenge, the chase, the flirtation. oh dick grayson and jason todd, i adore how you drive each other insane.

@thebibliosphere Just saw this on reddit. (From Batman #58) ("punchline" panel after the "keep reading")

I have no idea how I’m gonna make this part of one of my fics but by god I’m gonna find a way

Spellcasters hate this fact but if you just stick your fingers in their mouth while they're casting a spell with a verbal component it's literally more effective than a counter spell.

What I think each Batfamily member eats in a day:

Bruce: anything Alfred prepares. Something super dense in protein and fats that follows his detailed nutrition plan to support his vigilante activities. Taste is secondary. He burnt off his tastebuds years ago during a training exercise.

Jason: Diners or takeout. Balances it with a fruit. He knows the best places in Gotham where it's cheap and filling where he can eat his weight's worth of food and no one is glancing at his laptop where he is definitely NOT orchestrating any illegal activities. He does know how to cook a few basic things like eggs but he's got things to do and he'll cook when he has peace. Except. It's him so he doesn't do peace. Now if you throw him in the tundra or a difficult terrain? He'll be able to find something and grill it to cook it properly but otherwise, he's not going to bother.

Tim: he lives in a houseboat. He never considered the kitchen in his renovation and now the stove got replaced with a Bunsen burner to test samples he found on a crime site so he has no place to cook anymore. The cupboards are just makeshift armory and have like first aid kits, menus for takeout even though the delivery driver has sworn not to waddle in the middle of the marina with Tim's noisy neighbors and Tim's sketchy house that just looks slightly off to a civilian but Tim tips well so what can the poor lad do. There's only one cupboard dedicated to food and it's Zesti cans, Dick's nutrition drinks because Dick swears by them, and dog treats for strays and to bribe Titus. I don't think he ever learnt how to cook but he will figure it out if ever ends up in that situation where he needs to.

Stephanie: ramen with veggies and eggs thrown in for nutrition, Mac and cheese, anything basic with a skillet. She had to take care of herself when Crystal couldn't and her father didn't. She is highly self sufficient so she learns by watching Barbara or any YouTube tutorials for nutrition packed foods that taste good and are easy to make.

Cass: a pan to her is better as weapon to take down a mob. Food though is a rare indulgence she gets to keep so she goes to different places to try out different dishes. She doesn't cook but she likes to watch Steph hum while she's cooking and her body sways-dances contentedly to 90s punk rock.

Dick: whenever he gets time, he meal preps the quickest meals ever. Stuffs everything he made in the freezer for like three-six months if not longer because he'll forget. Is it probably expired? Maybe, but his stomach has withstood much worse. He'll have a bunch of nutrition bars and those meal replacement nutrition drinks stocked. He's used to cooking in bulk and the lesson in cooking is: if it tastes bad, you aren't adding enough herbs and spices. Luckily for him, he can store dried herbs and spices in airtight containers and use them for months.

Duke: home cooked meals with food that ISN'T seasoned by a former MI6 British butler. These are family meals made with love and care. He is living his life.

Damian: when he first came to Gotham, he ate whatever Alfred made though he did complain like a fussy kid. He still eats everything and values the high nutrition density but he will sneak in extra pepper and salt and make requests occasionally for halwa to sate his sweet tooth.

Barbara: no one taught her how to cook and she and her father ate takeout while he went through his case files and she listened on the police scanner and called in the tip lines to help solve cases pre-batgirl. She learnt how to cook during college because surviving on a diet of just pizza and ramen wasn't sustainable as Batgirl and she values being able to do things for herself. After becoming Oracle, she pushed harder to learn how to cook very well but even if she knows how to cook now, she is still bad at avoiding takeout (if she's not forgetting meals in favor of working that is).

Oh the ideas

I read somewhere that its common in Arab culture to refer to someone close to you as your organs, implying you can’t live without them. Like how in english someone would say “my heart” (qalbi), in Arabic someone would also use “my liver” (kabidi) “my lungs” (riati). Notably, “my blood” is “Dami” which is funny bc it’s Damian’s shortened nickname.

Damian’s brothers have been using the nickname for years with or without knowing. I propose that as Damian gets closer to them, and Tim in particular, he responds in kind.

He starts to refer to Tim as “tuhali.”

…it means “my spleen.”

(Edit: this has now been confirmed by several Arabic speakers! Except the pronunciation of Dami (as in my blood) and Dami (shortened) are different which is sad. But my spleen idea works! So I’m happy!)