Grumpy Beastie's Other Lair

Or more accurately, Batman adjacent things. Most of this might actually be Jason Todd. These are all little things that were originally going to be there own posts, but I have collected them together into one big post so, that they would actually get posted. Enjoy!

~ Batman's 85th anniversary is this year. When it is most appropriate to celebrate is debatable, but I'm still kicking myself for not doing anything for the 80th anniversary. I have no ideas though. If you have any, please let me know.

~ It was recently Jason Todd's death day. My Instagram was flooded with wonderful fan art and I had planned on finally watching my interactive Blu-ray of Death in the Family, (it was not meant to be). It got me thinking about if their are any other fandoms where they commemorate a character's death day, but also I think Jason is the only member of the Batman that has a single established birthday. I could be wrong on this, but I know Dick Grayson has 5 official birthdays, Bruce has 2, I think, and several characters just don't have one. Also, logically it's a little weird we don't also celebrate his coming back from the dead day, but there are so many different variations on how that happened, I don't think any date was ever established. Did anyone else do or plan to do something for Jason's death day?

~ I was on a Taylor Swift kick for a couple days and it struck me that Shake It Off by Taylor Swift would be the perfect karaoke song for Bruce Wayne when he is in Brucie Wayne mode. Please look up a YouTube video with the lyrics and envision the near himbo Brucie Wayne alter ego performing it while you listen.

~ Looking for some input: I am working on a couple collages, one for Jason Todd, and a SuperBats one, both are in the collecting materials stages. I am trying to go for the 2000s fandom graphics/Blingee/Myspace vibe, but in a physical format. Any ideas are welcome.

~ I do not know how or why, but for nearly a week, my Instagram recommends were full of Batman/Hello Kitty artwork. Not Batman being a Hello Kitty fan, not Hello Kitty dressed as Batman, but Batman/Hello Kitty as a shipped pair. And it was multiple different artists. I've refrained from interacting with it enough that it's mostly gone away, but my brain is still unsure what to do with this information. It did give me a surprisingly not cursed fic idea though (with Vexed's help).

~ I no longer have the article (pretty sure it was Screen Rant), but someone suggested a live action fan casting of Jensen Ackles for Batman and Timothee Chalamet as Robin. I really wanted to hate it, but damn, I like it. (The specified Robin was Damian Wayne.)

~ Panda Redd's April Tik Tok compilation videos came out on YouTube and unexpectedly, he has his own theory justifying Jason Todd having an autopsy scar. I was not expecting him to be pro-autopsy scar. To be fair, I am also pro-autopsy scar, mostly for aesthetic reasons, but I also know it doesn't make sense for him to have one, and frankly, the logic part of my brain can't get past some horrifying implications. If you want me to do a post on this, let me know.

~ kibar.art for #nationalsuperheroday put up a guide on how to light a face from different angles using Batman on Instagram and it tickled me.

~ impyssadobsessions on Tumblr made an adorable fanart called My Neighbor Batman that shows the bus stop scene from My Neighbor Totoro, with Batman as Totoro and Dick!Robin & Jason!Robin as the kids, that needs to be seen.

I actually have 6 more things, but I think I will stop here for now and do a part 2 later.

Challenge #6

In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a show, a specific TV episode, a storyline, a book or series, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much.

It was really hard to pick something, but I am going to go with a mystery from the 1950s live action Superman series, Adventures of Superman - Why can’t Jimmy stay home alone?

This is an issue that pops up repeatedly throughout the six seasons of the series. I know that the real reasons are “the plot necessitates it” and that, despite being an adult character, Jimmy Olsen was also a stand in for the children viewers, generally having the same problems and limitations they would have and they would never be allowed to stay home alone. But it’s still kind of fascinating.

They establish from the beginning that Jimmy is, in fact, an adult. His age is a bit in question as continuity was not something this show was particularly concerned with. Most of the time that his age comes into question, its simply left at under 21, (I tend to think of him as 19/20), but there is an episode in the last season that Clark confirms that Jimmy is 22, for at least that episode. He has a full-time job. He travels alone for both pleasure and work. He owns his own car. He goes places like baseball games, nice restaurants, and double features alone. The one time his mother is concerned he stayed out late, wasn’t because he was out late, but because he doesn’t normally stay out that late (after 1am) without checking in. There is even at least one episode (possibly two) where he briefly has his own apartment. Jimmy very much has the social markers and responsibilities of an adult, even with the child stand in coding.

All that being said, he does live with his mother the vast majority of the series, which isn’t unusual (they never establish what happened to Jimmy’s father), but every time his mother goes out of town, Jimmy has to stay with someone. Of the three times this is an important plot point, two of them he stays with Clark and the other, he housesits for an elderly friend of his mother’s who is also out of town at the same time.

These differences are kind of important. When he stays with Clark, he kind of becomes Clarks little temporary “wife” – he does all the cooking and they talk about him doing at least part of the cleaning, on top of just taking care of himself. Now, Jimmy’s cooking skills are pretty basic, but he has them and there are no mishaps regarding anything his domestic endeavors or taking care of himself. More importantly, when he is housesitting, he is completely alone in that apartment. He does not know the neighbors and no one is scheduled to check on him. The only reason anyone does is because Jimmy has been unwittingly placed in the middle of an art theft ring and the noises they make at night freak him out, so he calls Clark to come over.

So, he is in fact capable of taking care of himself, and unless his mother really hates her friend for some reason, trustworthy enough to live alone for at least short periods of time.

Which all begs the question, what exactly did he do? He had to have done something for his mother to not let him stay home alone and knowing Jimmy, it could have really been anything. I mean the man accidentally created an anti-gravity formula while trying to bake a chocolate cake.

It’s one of my favorite fandom mysteries to ponder.

This is my general wishlist of things that I am generally afraid to ask for. It will be updated regularly.

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last edited Dec 21, 2023