Latest Posts by jack-pot-hat - Page 3
Pygmy marmoset completely fascinated by a leaf looking insect.
Damian Wayne NYCC 2023 Remarks & Commissions!
Patrick Gleason
Jorge Jimenez
Dan Mora
Jorge Corona
Simone Di Meo
Dike Ruan
Spooky Jason Todd fic recs
Some of the best Jason Todd fics featuring the supernatural and the unsettling, the dark and the dreadful, in the spirit of the Halloween season. Reminder: read warnings and author's notes carefully.
"Six of Swords" by campitor https://archiveofourown.org/works/37046005 - Six of swords: upright, symbolic of a rite of passage, of change and transition; reversed, a symbol of unfinished business. Six vignettes detailing the birth of the Red Hood and the deaths of sons, from UTH to Lost Days.
"The Hollow Man" by sister_wolf https://archiveofourown.org/works/121473 - He didn't even know that it existed until it showed up in Gotham one night, this-- this thing that's wearing Jason's body like a costume. But not his body as it was when he died-- older, no scars, no marks at all. How is that even possible? (Or, the one where Red Hood meets the ghost of his fifteen-year-old self.) This story was written back in 2005, when Under the Hood was the one and only Red Hood Jason storyline, and fans were still speculating about how Jason came back to life and transformed from Robin to Red Hood.
"Bloodstains Won't Make It Matter" by skylarkblue https://archiveofourown.org/works/40999275 - Jason returns to Gotham to find another dead Robin. He steals away with the body and resurrects her, but there begs the question: what will they do? Destroy Gotham. That's what they'll do. It's ALIIIIVE! In which the second Robin resurrects the fourth. This is a story about friendship and tender acts of care, and this is a story about revenge and destruction and being fabulously unhinged. Come for the spooky resurrection horror, stay for the Dead Robins toxic friendship. [dark fic, graphic violence CW, resurrection horror]
"Ghost Story" by InsaneTrollLogic https://archiveofourown.org/works/14624928 It starts with the phantom sound of laughter, glimpses of motion just out of sight, a boy in a tattered Robin suit, and the sneaking suspicion that not all of Jason made it back from the dead. Maybe the real monsters are the family we made along the way... [graphic violence, depressing family dynamics, extreme supernatural harm inflicted on a child]
"No Lazarus" by join_the_conga https://archiveofourown.org/works/11307267 - Jason Todd is the second Robin to Batman. He was savagely beaten and killed by the Joker, and was subsequently replaced by Timothy Drake, the third Robin. Jason comes back from the dead and regains his faculties with the aid of Batman’s enemies abroad. This is a version of that story where Jason has nothing to bring his mind back to his body but Bruce Wayne—and the figment of the Robin that Jason once was. Every detail is unsettling and hostile to human life. Everyone hurts, and everything is awful. [content warning for some medical horror, canon-typical Gothic horror sensationalism about insanity and disfigurement]
"The Daughter of the Water" by chucklesbuckles https://archiveofourown.org/works/46605205 - “To walk the world!” it croons, bright gold spilling over its cheeks, highlighting the springy white curls crowning its head. It bends, cold wet hands cradling Talia’s face, wiping her tears away. It places a soft kiss to her forehead, tucking a loose curl of hair behind her ear, torchlight eyes burning. “Thank you for the body.” Creepy and wet!
"Haunting" by the_authors_exploits https://archiveofourown.org/works/7392994 - It makes a strange juxtaposition, the Batman so dark and frightening, crying over a dead boy behind a dumpster. An alternative scenario in which Jason meets his extremely sweet, extremely creepy Batdad. Obvious horror elements, but somehow the atmosphere is soothing instead of horrifying.
"promises" by sunspikes https://archiveofourown.org/works/40731531 - After a nightmare Jason's on the hunt for tea to soothe his sore throat. It turns out to be with Bruce, and he finds comfort in more than the just the tea. You've heard of hurt/comfort, now get ready for comfort/hurt!
★ "Rise Up With The Sun" by blacklettered https://archiveofourown.org/works/19053271 - His son came home on a Wednesday evening and Bruce did not call for the slaughter of the fattened calf but it was a close thing. A quiet and heartwarming reconciliation between father and son. (Also there’s a bunch of freaky Edgar Allan Poe shit happening in the background because lowkey Jason Todd walks the earth as if living and yet remains irrevocably connected to the forces of death and decay—but that’s not as important. Happy yet creepy ending!) ★
"Sealing the deal" by orphan_account - In which Bruce Wayne is kidnapped and it’s somehow not the most difficult part of anyone’s day. Or, in which Jason Todd is a selkie. One of the few really upbeat stories on this list!
"Down to Dust" by Sparkypants https://archiveofourown.org/works/47407291 - It's not the warehouse that Jason has nightmares about. It's Bruce. Bruce deciding to cremate him instead of bury him. Because if he had, what would Jason be now? An infinite number of pieces, cast into the wind. Smoke hanging in the air and never whole or home again, part of him always missing.
"bird of winter" by knowsphere https://archiveofourown.org/works/4992139 - There is a ghost in the manor. Damian meets a friendly ghost, who has returned in a new form to the world of the living. Based on Batman: Gotham Knights #34. This little story is soft and wintry, like a spoonful of mint ice cream. Damian is a sweetheart, and Jason gets a happy ending. A nice cleanser after reading too much horror.
"oh, just hangin' out" by mikkal https://archiveofourown.org/works/42365103 - Jason doesn't remember agreeing to imitate a dead butterfly, but here he is. | No. 3 A HAIR’S BREADTH FROM DEATH | Impaled - A Whumptober special, featuring gruesome gore and spooky Lazarus Pit side effects. And also an adorable Damian. Happy ending.
"Confessional" by Temeritous https://archiveofourown.org/works/45307363 - The woman grabbed him by the arm and snarled nastily, “A nice boy like you deserves to know what everyone thinks of him.” Then her eyes pulsed from dark brown to bright purple and she disappeared between one blink and the next. There is a witch here, so this story counts for Halloween. [content warning for a random bystander frankly confessing an extreme sexual fantasy while under the effects of a truth spell]
"Ghostgirl and Zomboy" by shauds https://archiveofourown.org/works/16476446 - "You don't make demands of the ghost, asshole, the ghost makes demands of you." He should have known better than to make his big comeback in October. Perfect time to read a mostly upbeat ghost story set during Halloween.
"(No Sense of) Preservation" by crying_jaybird https://archiveofourown.org/works/26959063 - Sometimes, Jason thinks about how if Bruce had made a slightly different choice, he would have been embalmed. [content warnings for trauma including obsessive thinking and death idealization]
"One Foot in the Grave" by samiraxlula https://archiveofourown.org/works/25047856 - Dying can be the birth of something new and awful, to make the worst of the living wish they weren't. But what happens when you steal from the dead? There are forces in this world that are unknowable and unstoppable.
"Osiris" by Sparkypants - The Joker killed him once, but Jason Todd had died over and over again, waiting for Batman to save him. Resurrection or not, Jason's death still haunts the corridors of Wayne Manor. It waits in the shadows, threatening his entire family. Bruce would go to hell and back to his protect children. This time, that may not be enough. Love can transcend everything, even if it can't overcome everything.
"between heaves of storm" by pendulum_north https://archiveofourown.org/works/49817317 - There were unnatural changes happening to him, he has no idea when it started, or how long it's been occurring. The opposite of life is not death, but a state somewhere torn between the two falsely-erected poles.
"suicide is the highest form of self love" by XanthosSamurai https://archiveofourown.org/works/30094071 - Every single night, Jason Todd dies. Every single night, Red Hood kills him.
"Never Come Back" by Wisetypewriter https://archiveofourown.org/works/32436694 - Bruce Wayne wakes up in Arkham Asylum. [RHatO (2016) #25, psychological suspense]
"Mask Of Blood" by Kieron_ODuibhir https://archiveofourown.org/works/20964923 - “Jason!” Batman had shouted, arm desperately outstretched as if to catch what was no longer there. He’d sounded wrenched apart. As though having experience losing this one of his several sons made no difference at all to the shock and pain of it, or even made it worse. Desperate to save his son, Batman consults Gotham's resident occult expert, Jason.
"two headed calf." by feliform https://archiveofourown.org/works/35118601 - Based on the "Two-Headed Calf" poem by Laura Gilpin. The Lazarus Pit heals Jason incorrectly, but at least he gets to die loved by a mother. [body horror, child redeath]
"Satin in a Coffin" by InsaneTrollLogic https://archiveofourown.org/works/24745558/chapters/59825830 - At the behest of several dead Robins, Stephanie Brown kidnaps a Robin. Steph sees dead people; Steph-centric.
Aliens have captured you, and placed you in one of their nature preserves. However, they have sorely miscalculated on two issues: The amount of calories needed to keep a persistence predator sated, and the lethality/brutality of a hangry human.
In 1944 a kitten named George (short for General Electric) was saved from drowning by a U.S. Navy crew member. George was then photographed and given a liberty card and detailed health record. Source.
mice are having sex in my walls :(
YOU hate JK Rowling!
I am a(n):
⚪ Male
⚪ Female
🔘 Writer
Looking for
⚪ Boyfriend
⚪ Girlfriend
🔘 An incredibly specific word that I can't remember
i’m screaming
DICK?!?! What is he up to???
Tim Drake: Robin (2022) #10
Some of My Favorite Batfam Fic Tropes
In no particular order:
- The batfam have their own language of chirps, trills, tweets, and whistles, and they use it in front of other ppl (civilians, the jla, whatever) and the other ppl go “what the actual fuck”
- Bruce throwing the batarang at Jason Todd’s neck actually Does Damage™, and eventually the other members of the family find out and lose their shit
- “Hey Tim?” “Yeah?” “Where’s your fucking spleen :)” “Lost it.” “LOST IT??”
- Damian calling his brothers Akhi :)
- “How many kids do you HAVE??” -The entire Justice League
- Jason going to Titans Tower, seeing Tim, saying “is anyone gonna parent that” and then not waiting for an answer.
- Literal Toddler Tim Drake informing the Batfamily that yes he knows everyone’s identity, and really if you didn’t want people to figure it out you should stop showing off your extremely niche skills during patrols Nightwing.
- “Dude your son is a crime boss.” “Ex-crime boss :/”
- A Batfamily member hearing someone talk about their civilian identity (bc, yknow,, they’re famous) and just having to Deal With It because what the fuck else are they supposed to do??
- The Justice League hearing about Batman and assuming he (& his family) are demons or vampires or some other cryptid, and then meeting him and finding out he’s just Some Guy.
- The batfamily learning the origin of the name Robin
- The Justice League meeting the Batfamily and specifically learning who Red Hood is, and one of the heroes nervously asks “Didn’t the second Robin.. die?” and Jason just goes “yeah lol”
ref... obvi....
batman...
more people need to consume media how dedicated comics fans consume their media of choice
i know its the mets, but this is the coolest shit i’ve ever seen a human being do
DEAR ARTISTS, PLEASE READ THIS POST I STUMBLED ACROSS
IF YOU ARE NOT DOING THIS ALREADY, YOU SHOULD TRY IT
I even tested it out myself, it works great
TIM DRAKE READING ORDER
For those who, like me, when they like a character they need to read every single comic the character appears in, I have compiled a list of all of Tim Drake’s appearances from his debut up to the 2011 Flashpoint reboot (not including New 52 continuity).
pasta la vesta
I Read Nearly Every Appearance of the Lazarus Pit Before Flashpoint and All I Got Was A Headache: A Meta Commentary
So! The Lazarus Pit!
The Lazarus Pit is obviously an iconic part of the Batman Franchise. We encounter it everywhere, from the Under the Red Hood movie, to the Lazarus Planet event which just ended.
But has the Lazarus Pit always been this way?
It's comics. Of course not.
Very long comic rant with citations below!
The Nu52 and following reboots obviously overhauled Lazarus Lore so completely they're functionally a different thing, so I'm not talking about them. Today, instead, we're talking about post-crisis/pre-Flashpoint Lazarus Pits, their contradictions, and what we can make of them.
The Lazarus Pits have been around nearly as long as Ra's and Talia have been, and even before they appeared, it was clear that Ra's had some method of extending his life.
Batman (1940-2011) #235
The first Lazarus Pit itself seems to be in a chalet in Switzerland, and it's very different than what we will later associate it as. It is instead, a mortuary slab that lowers itself into a pit of "bubbling liquid"
Batman (1940-2011) #243
In these early versions, the Lazarus Pit is portrayed as a medical invention that Ra's has used to extend his life.
It is shown to have consequences, which fandom has, of course, latched onto.
Batman (1940-2011) #244
Here, we see the Lazarus Madness described as including "the strength of ten men", and he is able to be able to resist nearly all attacks from Batman and Lo Ling.
In addition, Ra's claims that he has used the pit too often, which is shown to be the driving force behind his interest in Bruce and his legacy.
Batman (1940-2011) #244
Later appearances of Ra's and the pit throughout this era add a few more interesting tidbits.
He claims that only he can use the Lazarus Pit... but puts Talia in it in that same issue, claiming that it's okay if it's just a quick dip.
Batman (1940-2011) #335
Is Ra's lying about no one else being able to use the pit? Almost certainly. He will start putting anyone he wants into the pit soon enough.
Those with a keen eye might notice that the Lazarus Pit is already going through some aesthetic changes: we're still seeing a slab being lowered into a small pit, but now the liquid within is orange! This will come up a lot!
Next up we have the storyline Grant Morrison refused to read: Son of the Demon.
In Son of the Demon, Ra's claims that there was an earlier version of the Pit, before the final version Bruce has already encountered. In this version, he claims that Mellisande, Talia's mother, was pushed into this proto-pit, and it killed her.
Batman: Son of the Demon (1987)
Denny O'Neil will later retcon this in 1993, claiming that Talia's mother died of a drug overdose, and Ra's refused to bring her back.
But it is consistent in early versions of the story that Lazarus Pits, if not entered with proper care and with the right preparations, can be dangerous.
Bride of the Demon is the next storyline, and Ra's BRINGS the Lazarus Pits in this one. Ra's finds himself a hot MILF girlfriend and puts her in the Pit to make her younger so she can give him kids.
Batman: Bride of the Demon (1990)
This Lazarus Pit is shown to be more experimental than past versions, with Ra's and Dr. Weltmann attempting to prevent the Lazarus Madness factor.
Ra's later puts a child in the pit as a bribe to his father, but the kid had possibly been dead too long, and it was hinted there were going to be long-term consequences for the actions... which were dropped. As was the wife, who was supposedly pregnant at the end of this story. Comics!
This is the first time that limits on the Lazarus Pit are presented, but it is certainly not the last. This idea that there's an upper limit on how long someone can be dead for before a Lazarus Pit doesn't do anything will come back again.
Batman: Birth of the Demon finally brings in a more mystical aspect to the Lazarus Pits, which so far have been vaguely scientific. In this story, we are introduced to the fact that Lazarus Pits are located on the convergence points of leylines (which in-universe have something to do with the electro-magnetic field). Ra's's approximate age is revealed, and it is shown that Bruce and Ra's have been fighting a real-estate battle over sites where Lazarus Pits can be built.
Batman: Birth of the Demon (1992)
In flashbacks, we learn that Ra's figured out how to build a Lazarus Pit, and was not actually the first person to use it. Instead, it was for the son of the Sultan Ra's worked for as a physician.
After the Sultan's son went mad, killed Sora, and blamed Ra's for it, Ra's had his vengeance... by putting the son in a false Lazarus Pit.
This pit was sabotaged by not being built on a Leyline. So uh... be careful with those, I guess!
So in short: by the end of this era of Denny O'Neil/Mike Barr Lazarus Lore, we know that anyone can use a Lazarus Pit, but Ra's controls them with his knowledge of how to create them. Bruce can find where they should be by tracking leylines, and will pass this knowledge on to others over time.
We then enter a new era! The Chuck Dixon era, to be specific.
Chuck Dixon has surprisingly few retcons for us. We first really encounter his take on Lazarus Lore in his mini series Bane of the Demon, where Bane works with Ra's and co.
We get a brief recap of the lore here:
Batman: Bane of the Demon #3 (1998)
We are now introduced to an interesting new layer: the Lazarus Pits can be predicted, not just detected. Ra's has headquarters set up all over the world, in places where Lazarus Pits not only are, but will be. Some pit locations appear to remain the same throughout the years (Ra's has built numerous pits on the location of the first site: at least three that we know of), but generally, Lazarus Pits seem to be a one-time deal.
Ra's clearly has dedicated most of his life to these pits; to acquiring their locations, to predicting where they will be, experimenting with how to make them better... so obviously, he guards the formula for how to make them extremely closely, right?
Well. Not according to Chuck.
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (1989-2007) #145
And if you've noticed that head of green hair on the ground there, that's right folks! BRUCE WAYNE PUT A DEAD JOKER IN A LAZARUS PIT HE MADE HIMSELF.
Bruce justifies it by telling Alfred that if he does this, it means Ra's can't use it later. However, it does not change the fact that Bruce put the Joker in a Lazarus Pit. No I'm not going to be over this ever. Jason might have a point, actually.
Ra's decides, after this, that he wants another wife. And he picks Dinah Lance! But whoops, as it happens, Dinah was tortured and can't have kids (also lost her Canary Cry), way back in Green Arrow, before Ollie died! So Ra's decides to throw her in a Lazarus Pit. It... doesn't go well. Lazarus Madness + Restored Canary Cry = one destroyed building.
Birds of Prey (1999-2009) #33
Oh look! We've got locations! And of course every other Lazarus Pit we've seen or will see except Birth of the Demon is nowhere near any of these convergence points!
So! To recap the current state of the lore: Lazarus Pits are a combination of science and magic. They are an alchemical creation, built on leyline nodes. Generally, they are one-use only, or at least they require centuries to be re-usable. They can resurrect the newly-dead, but but Ra's is very cautious about letting other people use them, probably because he's a control freak, and he doesn't have too many of them left.
We depart the Dixon era and enter... the Nyssa Raatko era.
Nyssa is introduced in Death and the Maidens, with Greg Rucka, who is a huge fan of Denny O'Neil, still sticking pretty close to the original lore.
Here, we see that Bruce has still been on his kick of preventing Ra's from building more Lazarus Pits by buying up real estate where they could be. This forced Ra's to try to reconcile with his daughter Nyssa, who he gave a Lazarus Pit to sometime in the 1700s.
Batman: Death and the Maidens (2003-2004) #1
"But hey!" I can hear you say. "Isn't part of the thing that you mentioned earlier is that they're one-use?"
Well they are! For Ra's.
Nyssa, however, is a smart lady.
Nyssa, at some point in her life, figured out how to make a Lazarus Pit reusable. So she's been getting a lot of mileage out of this baby, and has been since the 1700s.
This story also presents an explanation for why the Lazarus Pit is sometimes green and sometimes orange: Nyssa's is orange and Ra's has green ones. I guess maybe the earlier orange pits that Ra's had were him trying to make them reusable like Nyssa? Hmm.
Batman: Death and the Maidens (2003-2004) #4
When questioned about it, Nyssa tells Talia that there used to be more pits, so he was less protective of them when he gave her this one.
Batman: Death and the Maidens (2003-2004) #6
At the end of this storyline, Ra's is dead, Nyssa is the new Ra's al Ghul, and according to Bruce, she has the only Lazarus Pit left.
Batman: Death and the Maidens (2003-2004) #9
Nyssa pops up again in Batgirl, facing off against Cass, and brags about her special pit again. Cass and Shiva both get dips in it. Fun times!
Batgirl (2000-2006) #69
Yes, the torture hooks are a reoccurring feature of Nyssa's pit. I don't know why.
But wait! A brief interlude!
Jason Todd came back to comics in a storyline: Under the Hood, in 2005, which wrapped up in 2006. We weren't told how Jason came back in the story itself, but a few months after Under the Hood ended, we get Batman Annual #25, which shows Talia shoving Jason into a Lazarus Pit while Ra's was using it.
Batman Annual #25 (2006)
There's no discussion about if this is a weird dip. He's got brain activity again though!
This is revisited again in Red Hood: The Lost Days, but it doesn't really add anything from the point of Lazarus Lore, except that Ra's posits that Jason, having already been resurrected, could have suffered some long-term consequences, unlike literally anyone else who had a dip.
Red Hood: The Lost Days (2010-2011) #2
Anyways, enough Jason! Nyssa gets killed off-page in OYL, so she's gone now, Talia's running the show and oh fuck it's Morrison-era. And Morrison never bothered to read any other Ra's or Talia story because it wasn't Silver Age or something. So... retcon time!
The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul attempts to retell Birth of the Demon, but with a few retcons. The pits were discovered, not made, being the official point in which the Lazarus Pits become purely magical phenomena, rather than a work of alchemy.
Batman Annual #26 (2007)
Bruce also mentions that the Pits are connected to actual waterways, which is a massive difference from the shallow pits from earlier eras.
This era does however confirm the concept that older bodies, further along in the decay process, probably shouldn't be dipped in the Lazarus Pit. At least, Dick convinced Tim of this fact after a little while.
(Also White Ghost wants a perfectly healthy, alive Tim to bathe in the Lazarus Pit, and this is never explained. Maybe it was a distraction?)
Nightwing (1996-2009) #139
In this era, and the Batman: Reborn era following it, the Lazarus Pits are pretty absent, but the few references we do get from this point forward (including in Red Hood: The Lost Days, which are published in 2010-2011), tend to use the Morrison-era canon that the pits are natural. And also we're back to having a lot of them, instead of just Nyssa's singular one in the Balkans, and, since Ra's has a new young(er) body, there's no sense of urgency to buy up/prevent him from making new pits. Potentially, Dusan/White Ghost took advantage of the fact that the Bats thought Ra's was dead to buy back the real-estate and make new pits, but that's using the pre-Morrison lore. I guess in Morrison era, the Bats just... don't know where Pits are until they find one, and then they blow it up.
We also no longer see any one-time-use limitations. One could assume that Talia figured out the formula Nyssa used to keep the pits reusable and told Ra's, if we're trying to merge the canons.
And that's not even counting whatever is happening in the post-Flashpoint era. Lazarus Planet gives me a headache. Let's not talk about it just now.
Anyways, in short: I think the artificial, single-use Lazarus Pits are way more fun. But anyways, here's the citations to help you decide what YOU think Lazarus Lore should be!
ik I don't talk about fnaf much on this blog but the parallels between michael and cassie are driving me insane I NEED to talk about it. foxy and roxy being their respective favorites. the direct connection to helpy. but even beyond the surface level similarities, it's just. they were both dragging themselves through this horrible maze of death with the ultimate goal of saving someone they love.
their lives up until that point have been, admittedly, not great. and suddenly, someone that was declared missing/dead some time ago is quietly calling out to them, trapped deep below the surface. this individual (whether it be "elizabeth" or "gregory") is one of the only people they have- so of course, of course they answer. of course they'll help.
they venture forward with little regard for their own safety, being attacked by characters they recognize, animatronics their father worked with, all for this person. they do everything they're told. they do it all right. and all too late, they realize that it isn't them, not really. they are betrayed. they are (presumably, in cassie's case,) killed. and something horribly, horribly dangerous is released. their lives are nothing but collateral damage in a story they never wanted to be involved in.
Batman rogue coded
chimney swifts are so weirddd theyre like if birds decided to be bats.
thats bats. those are bats. to me
Tumblr makes sense to me bc if i see something i like i get excited and hit the button to show other people and theres no weird unspoken social conventions my autistic brain doesnt understand. I can literally sit here and reblog 150 niche shitposts about harvest mice in an hour just bc they make me happy and i dont have to explain myself to anyone and i'll actually *gain* followers instead of just being called weird and downvoted or whatever its so cool