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[Image description:

Gif from a Batman cartoon: Bruce opens the door of a luxury car and gestures to a group of five to get in. Subtitles: Bruce Wayne. If you need a job, I think I can help.

Another gif, same cartoon: Someone bald, wearing a suit, is sorting through some papers, throws them aside in surprise, and shakes Bruce’s hand.

Another gif, same cartoon: A very muscular character in a torn suit walks into a room and is shocked to see someone sleeping in a hospital bed with a redheaded person sitting on a chair nearby.

Comics: Batman is shielding Joker from Punisher, who’s approaching with one fist raised and the other on his gun.

Punisher: How many times have you put this maniac away? I can end it right here and now.

Batman: Joker?

Joker: Yes?

Batman: Run.

Closeup on the Joker’s face.

Joker: Huh?

Off-panel character: Run for your life.

The final panel is Batman, still costumed, with his thigh exposed. In the background, someone runs away.

Comics: Bruce and Robin hold up a novelty check.

Bruce: --This certified check for $4,999.99!

Photographer: Smile big for the camera, Mr. Wayne.

A gif (still the same cartoon, I think): Harlequin says, to Batman, “There’s one thing I gotta know. Why did you stay with me all day risking your butt for someone who’s never given you anything but trouble?”

Comics: A shadowy hand, dripping bright fluid, shows a Wayne Tech business card to a person wearing heavy makeup. The person with the card says, “I hear these people are hiring reception girls. Don’t let me see you on the streets after tonight.”

Comics:

Batman, panel 1: It doesn’t have to end like that. I don’t know what it was that bent your life out of shape, but who knows?

Maybe I’ve been there too.

Maybe I can help.

Panel 2, Batman, off-panel, continues talking to the Joker: We could work together. I could rehabilitate you. You needn’t be out there on the edge any more. You needn’t be alone.

We don’t have to kill each other.

What do you say?

Comics: Batman stands in a cage near a young child sitting on the floor. He says, “I’m stepping a little closer now, okay? You were so brave. You made it through everything all by yourself. And tonight, you got yourself free where we could find you. That took a lot of strength.”

Comics: A masked villain, spinning a chain in one hand, approaches Batman, saying, “I’ve seen how you treat your prisoners. Forgotten and scared. Can it be you actually care for those creatures?”

Comics:

A masked person in a purple hooded cloak: You told me you had a whole new way of helping Gotham. Something different than the path Batman offered.

Someone in a red outfit whose face and hair seem to be made of gold: Would Batman have had you steal those Epipens and deliver them to the people who need them most?

Purple: Literally, yes. Like, every week. How did you think I knew how to bust into Penguin’s narcotics warehouse?

How come every time I try to do this different than Batman, I just end up doing exactly what Batman would do?

Comics: Bruce says, “I have no interest in not caring about people. I have no interest in giving up the mission I started when I was eight years old. You’re sick. There’s a part of you that’s broken and you’re angry that it’s not broken in me.”

End image description.]

Does anyone know which issue the second-to-last comics panel came from? I’d like to read it.

Also, I didn’t do a great job identifying characters. Feel free to copy this and edit it into something more useful.

why does anyone in Gotham even bother doing crime like you KNOW the second you leave the bank with the money you just stole Bruce Wayne is gonna be chilling on a bench on the other side of the street in his bat fursuit like “hey bitch u better not be breaking the law”

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@crowofstarlight Thermotabs doesn't have stevia or sugar. (It's basically just a pill that you swallow, so it doesn't have to try to taste good or anything.)

For asker: Canned refried beans have a remarkable amount of salt.

Also, you can add soy sauce to pretty much anything - baby carrots, scrambled eggs, rice cakes, popcorn.... Same with cheese.

hi. my friend was recently diagnosed with pots and is really struggling with how they’re going to raise their salt intake. i was wondering if you had any tips?

I literally just add it to everything, including my drinking water. I put it on ice cream the other day. If I’m symptomatic enough I just eat it from the shaker, but I usually prefer to put it on potato chips or something.

They could also try getting things like salt chews from vitassium.

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Image description: This is a traditional-media black-and-white comic.

A glass of water sits on a table.

A child (the artist at a young age) reaches for it, but is interrupted by a frantic cry: “Wait! Don’t drink that!”

Brother Bart (a weird little Catholic monk) cups his hands around his mouth, saying, “It could be poisoned.”

The child says, “I’m eight. Who would poison me?”

Bart shrugs. “Enemies? IDK.”

Standing directly behind the glass of water so that it magnifies his eye, he continues, “What matters is that you must decontaminate it with a ritual.”

The child retorts, “Well that doesn’t sound very scientific.”

Bart, who is suddenly much taller than the viewer, replies menacingly, “That so?”

A magical girl transformation sequence ensues. Bart presses his hands together in prayer. He’s surrounded by sparkles. His silhouette dances among polynucleotide chains and viruses. Finally, he magically dons a shiny black glove.

“Well, how about now?” Bart says. He’s now dressed as a mad scientist, with a stethoscope, goggles, protective clothes, and the aforementioned gloves. His tonsure now stands up on end.

Bart’s hands move as he performs the ritual. The child copies him, saying, “Pttchheouh!” and complaining, “This is so stupid.” Bart replies, “Yes but if you don’t do this you won’t be able to neutralize the poison and you will DIE.” He adds, “Trust me, I’m a scientist.”

not a scrupulosity thing but how could I resist drawing a magical monk transformation scene

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Image description: This is a traditional-media line-art comic.

Brother Bart, a weird little Catholic monk, stands silently over the artist, his arms crossed. The artist, who’s lying on the floor, says, “Why are you looming like that? I did the objectively right thing!”

There’s a close-up on Bart’s face as he says, “Well, yes…”

The perspective flips to over Bart’s shoulder as he continues, “In this time line, you did. But what if you hadn’t?”

Bart puts his fingertips to his temples and closes his eyes, as a montage plays: A hand stabbing someone with a knife. A mug-shot of the artist. A mushroom cloud. Someone sobs into a phone. Bart says, “Just imagine how easy it would have been to make a different choice and do the wrong thing…”

Bart concludes, “…so easy, in fact, that you are morally accountable for things you could have done but did not!” Pushing themself up on their arms, the artist says “wait go back”

His hands on his hips, Bart grins, saying, “Let’s repent for the sins of our alternate timeline self!” The artist leans over, asking, “go back. did I get a nuke. tell me more about that”

what if instead of doing the right thing I had done the wrong thing, wouldn’t that be bad?

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below-average art quality on this one is due both to being out of practice and running out of micron pens… ultra fine point sharpie is a bad look

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Image description: This is a traditional-media line-art comic.

Brother Bart, a weird little Catholic monk, stands silently over the artist, his arms crossed. The artist, who’s lying on the floor, asks, “Why are you looming like that? I did the objectively right thing!”

There’s a close-up on Bart’s face as he says, “Well, yes…”

The perspective flips to over Bart’s shoulder as he continues, “In this time line, you did. But what if you hadn’t?”

Bart puts his fingertips to his temples and closes his eyes, as a montage plays: A hand stabbing someone with a knife. A mug-shot of the artist. A mushroom cloud. Someone sobs into a phone. Bart says, “Just imagine how easy it would have been to make a different choice and do the wrong thing…”

Bart concludes, “…so easy, in fact, that you are morally accountable for things you could have done but did not!” Pushing themself up on their arms, the artist says “wait go back”

His hands on his hips, Bart grins, saying, “Let’s repent for the sins of our alternate timeline self!” The artist leans over, asking, “go back. did I get a nuke. tell me more about that”

what if instead of doing the right thing I had done the wrong thing, wouldn’t that be bad?

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below-average art quality on this one is due both to being out of practice and running out of micron pens… ultra fine point sharpie is a bad look

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Image description: This is a traditional media ink comic.

There’s a close-up on the artist’s gloved hand holding a sheet of paper titled “House-Sitting Instructions.” It reads, “1) Wear new gloves at all times. I have left you a box of 1,000 for the week.”

The artist, looking at the paper, says, “Hm.” Bart, a weird little Catholic monk who’s standing next to them, echoes, “Hm.”

A lightbulb pops up over Bart’s head: He’s had an idea.

There’s a close-up on Bart saying, “This could be YOU. You could be a 24/7 glove guy.”

Zoom in even further on his face, which has an intense expression. His pupils are dilated, and the lines under his eyes are exaggerated, like he hasn’t been sleeping.

Bart says more about gloves, but is interrupted by a loud “NO” from off-panel.

A second monk charges forward, fists extended, saying, “The pathetic uselessness of your existence does not justify the use of excess consumer products and the creation of superfluous waste!”

His hands on his hips, the first monk starts to say, “There are germs everywhere,” but is interrupted with, in all-caps, “The planet is dying.”

The first monk shoves the second backwards with one hand, and raises his other hand in a fist. The second monk has his fist similarly extended. “We will not be complicit in the end of the—“ “Dirty hands!!!” “Slob!” “Wastral!” At the side of the panel, the artist sneaks off, hands held limply in front of them. Neither monk notices.

when one neurosis gets nipped in the bud by a larger, more powerful neurosis

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Image description: This is a traditional-media black-and-white comic dated 8/21/23.

The artist, a white dyke, is sitting up in bed looking at their phone.

They wince, still looking at their phone.

Brother Bart (a weird little Catholic monk) looks up at them from where he’s lying on their bed and says, “Penny for your thoughts.”

The artist says, “Lately I’ve noticed that more people seem to bring up having moral OCD or scrupulosity during arguments. Like it’s a get-out-of-callouts-free card.” They continue, “…and I worry that I may be partly responsible.”

Bart says, “Of course you are. Your comics have had a lot of reach. You’ve introduced a lot of people to the concept for scrupulosity disorders.”

Bart cups a hand around his ear as, with an audible “pop,” a second head sprouts from his neck.

The second head, now grown to full size, says, “Don’t be absurd. Who do you think you are? The center of the world? You goddamn megalomaniac. You’re nothing.”

The artist leans forward and says, “If sharing my experiences has helped people, I guess that’s a good thing. But what if I’ve helped people come up with deflections and excuses? What if I’ve just given white people more tools to coddle their own fragility? What if the net harm of my art is greater and more tangible than the net benefit for me and others?” There’s another “pop.”

A third head of Bart says, “Oh, so you think only white people can have OCD?”

Placing a hand on their forehead, the artist says, “On one hand, scrupulosity is a very easy thing for other people to exploit and abuse. It’s a very real kind of psychological vulnerability.” They continue, “On the other hand, it’s still your own responsibility to manage. You can’t ask people to cater to your fragility, or use it as an excuse not to learn and grow.”

The artist looks skyward. “Am I forever in a mental Hell of my own creation? Yes. Does that make me rather vulnerable to manipulation? Also yes. But it doesn’t give me diplomatic immunity to accountability!”

Gesturing with both hands, they conclude, “I want people to understand, not to walk on eggshells.” There are two “pops.”

The fourth head responds, “And you think this comic will absolve you of responsibility?” The fifth head adds, “You used the term ‘megalomaniac’ six panels ago. That’s probably ableist!”

The artist narrows their eyes in silent exasperation.

They ask, “Is there maybe a less grotesque part of my psyche I could talk to…?” The heads of Bart reply, off-panel: “Haha! No.” “Nope.” “No!” “No!” “Nope.” “No.”

I feel like a many-headed hydra monk of contradictory but all-encompassing self-criticism is a pretty good representation of moral OCD.

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[Image description: 4-panel digital comic of a protest. Trans Pride flags are visible in the background of every panel.

Panel 1: Sign decorated with the trans flag and the rainbow flag that says, "If You Aren't Willing To Accept a Trans or Queer Child, Don't Have Kids"

Panel 2: Someone with light brown skin and brown hair holds up a sign that says, "HRT is older than:

Viagra

LasiK

Heart transplant

"Stop calling it 'experimental'"

Panel 3: A Progress Pride flag waves behind an orange sign that says, "More People Regret Getting a Harry Potter Tattoo Than Gender-Affirming Care"

Panel 4: Someone with dark brown skin holds up a black sign that says, "If gender is biological, why does it need a police state to enforce it?"

The artist's name, Sophie Labelle, is in the bottom right corner of the comic.

End image description.]

Happy anniversary, Stonewall riots! Stay revolutionary!

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We are well beyond canary in the coalmine warning levels with the way trans people and particularly trans women are treated on this site.

Maybe you've heard the metaphor of allowing wolves and sheep to share the same space, welcoming everyone. You end up with just wolves because allowing them in that space makes it unsafe for any sheep. Or the story about how a nazi goes into a dive bar and is refused service. The bartender then explains to someone else at the bar that if you serve them once they tell their friends and before you know it you're the nazi bar they all go to and normal customers don't feel safe.

Terfs and other bigots are seeing these targeted harassment campaigns succeed against trans women and rejoicing. They see Tumblr ban them and officially stand by those decisions as endorsement for their harassment. It's a sign to bigots across the internet that Tumblr is a good place for them.

And what's more is that a lot of us probably don't realize just how much trans women contribute to Tumblr. The women banned recently were sources of site-wide memes and posts I wasn't even aware originated from them.any years old memes and references can be traced back to trans women on this site.

How many of these folks have to be removed before this is no longer a site you want to be a part of it? Sure you cultivate your own experience, but you can't follow or interact with people who aren't here. And if I wanted to interact with the nazis and terfs I'd go to reddit.

I encourage everyone to reblog this. Trans women shouldn't have to be the only ones speaking out against the bigotry they're experiencing. They shouldn't be the only ones risking their blogs being nuked by staff. We have to stand with them.

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[image description: Digital comic.

caption: My world is built from pain.

Image of someone playing a video game, with elbows and hands highlighted in red. Caption: Hobbies Hurt

The same person sweeping the floor, with elbows and hip highlighted. Caption: Chores Hurt Caption: Standing Hurts

The same person sitting down, with knees and back highlighted. Caption: Sitting Hurts

The same person walking, with hip and knees highlighted. Caption: Standing Hurts Caption: Walking Hurts

The image melts into the word “Hurts” written over and over again in red and gray with a black background.

Against the same black background, the following captions, which start small and red and become larger and paler:

Yet everyday.

I wake up.

Get out of bed.

Make coffee.

And face the world.

The black background melts into a white background, with an image of a steaming mug of coffee.]

Living with chronic pain.

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[image description: #okay so #me and my sister are my grandmother's favorites #but my mom is her least favorite child #whereas my uncle is her favorite child but his daughter/my cousin is her least favorite #so idk man]

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[Image 1: A photo in an old newspaper of a person holding a sign that says “U.K. Feed the Starving Now.”]

[Image 2: An old newspaper in a cardboard box. Transcription:

Peace News

This Week: 2 special features on war-economy & war-psychology pages 2 & 6

Friday 14 March 1969

One Shilling

Headline: Squatters family given rent-book

Subtitle: GLC climb-down

Kevin McGrath writes: The first solid—and vital—victory of the growing squatter movement in London came last week, with the decision of the Greater London Council to give a rent-book to Maggie O’Shannon.

Maggie, who is a widow with two children, became the first actual squatter of the current wave when, with the backing of the Notting Hill Squatters, she moved on January 18 into a GLC-owned house in Camelford Road, Notting Hill.

She had been living in a squalid, leaking basement flat a few doors away. This has now been condemned as unfit for human habitation. She was joined a few days later by the Matthews family, escaping from similar conditions.

At first the Council blustered. But faced with a street united behind the squatters, and with the certainty of appalling publicity—at best—if they attempted an eviction, the accepted the inevitable and issued the rent-books.

Section header: More Concessions

More concessions have been wrung from Kensington and Chelsea Council, following the action of the squatters. The leader of the majority Tory group has announced that the Council will be introducing rate changes on empty property.

Moreover, five families on the Council waiting list have been moved into Council-owned properties that have stood vacant for up to two years.

But if the GLC has been forced to back-pedal in the name of suffering humanity and public relations in Notting Hill, it can be expected to hit back all the harder where this is politically possible. And the occupation last week of a derelict hope in Drury Lane, by the Arts Lab-oriented “Human Rights Group”, looks the obvious target.

Headline: ‘No one wants the war to end’

The text below is part of a letter sent to a Peace News reader by a nurse working for one of the aid agencies in Lagos, Federal Nigeria. We’d like to thank both reader and nurse for permission to use it.

The longer I stay here, the more frustrated I become. There is a large British expatriate community who discuss the price of fish, and when they’re next going to have their hair done.

The men (middle-aged husbands) are no better, and are only able to talk about the wickedness and corruption of the Nigerians.

Nigeria is certainly more racialist than South Africa, though not as blatantly so, the difference being that 50% of the African population is unemployed.

There are five servants in the house I’m staying in. They get £6 each a month, which is pitifully low.

Section header: Poverty

When I try to discuss the war, no one is interested, except to moan that all imported goods have gone up in price. But as far as I can gather, no one wants the war to end, since it partly solves the unemployment problem.

The soldiers are paid £18 per month, and given a pair of boots. However, when the order comes for them to go into the bush to fight, there is mass desertion.

The poverty in Lagos is horrible to see. Corrugated iron shacks, no water or light, housing 15 people at a time, face the Hosues of Parliament which have been empty for 2 and a half years.

Matches are split in half and sold singly, and children are deformed by their parents to make them beggars.

Oh, how I want to leave Lagos! Do write and tell me about life in London. It seems so far away.

Headline: Saigon: More Repression

A relief worker who was in Saigon till just after the recent Tet New Year holiday—i.e. before the new NLF offensive began—has had the following report forwarded to us by Susan Miles.

The markets were crowded with shoppers. The streets were filled with crowds of people, visiting and being visited, giving and receiving presents and good wishes for the New Year.

There were many Viet Cong in Saigon and the suburbs, distributing leaflets with Ho Chi Minh’s New Year Greetings and caring on the people to support the Viet Cong.

I was told that the distributors were surrounded by sympathizers, not necessarily Communist, so that the police could not arrest them.

Section heading: ‘Normality’

Behind the apparently gay normality is a different story, though many of the people themselves may not be aware of what is happening.

The Government—insecure—becomes more and more repressive. All but one of the committee of the Students Union at Saigon University were arrested at the end of December and the beginning of January.

The one who escaped is, of course, in hiding, but she has written a report which was given to me to bring out, though it has still to be translated.

The only crime of the students is that they discuss peace. A report of one of their meetings, attended by non-students as well, said:

“In a country where it is illegal to discuss peace, much of the discussion was about how to put our ideas frankly and still be lawful.”

A young Catholic priest and a layman, who have taken part in such activities, were called for questioning by the police many times during January.

Section heading: Dictatorship

In one instance, the layman was questioned for 24 hours without a break. The questions are about meetings. “Why did you go?” “Who are the organisers?" The assumption is always that if peace is discussed, then Communists are behind it.

I talked with a Buddhist monk, concerned with how to keep contact with the outside world in what he considered was going to be a very critical period for those who do not support the Government and the war.

He told me that on the radio, during Tea, President Thieu had said he was prepared for a military dictatorship and would destroy the “minority” who were in opposition.

All these people I talked to looked very tired and strained, but by no means discouraged.

Headline: ‘I want the war to end’

Black and white photo: A person is holding a sign that reads:

U.K.

Feed the Starving

Now

In Nigeria

And Biafra

The person with the sign is light-skinned, with dark hair and bangs, and is wearing knee-length leather boots. End photo description.

America—One of about two dozen members of the Philadelphia Emergency Committee on Nigeria/Biafra who picketed the British Consulate on South 12th Street last month.

The Committee is just one of about 150 action groups in America concerned to stop the suffering and end the war. Photo by Peter Johnson.]

[Image 3: Section heading: ‘Normality’

Behind the apparently gay normality is a different story, though many of the people themselves may not be aware of what is happening.]

I randomly saw this old newspaper at work yesterday, and it sent me on a slight depressive spiral. It's some young person protesting the war, wanting peace and for all the hungry to be fed. It's just like the protesters on the campuses right now! And this newspaper is so old it cost ONE SHILLING. The UK hadn't even decimalized their currency yet!

We've really been protesting "the war" for a barely interrupted half century? Just every decade or so they switch up which war it is we have to protest.

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family portrait :D young sam and sybil are behaving themselves and vimes is throwing a hissy fit because they tried to make him wear the helmet

[id: a digital painting of three people sitting for a portrait in a domestic interior. young sam is standing with his hands behind his back and beaming proudly. vimes is standing behind him with his hand on his shoulder, wearing a shiny military uniform and a surly expression. sybil is sitting on the right with an arm around young sam, smiling at the viewer. a plumed helmet is sitting on a table on the left. end id.]

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This was a Christmas gift so I should have posted it half a year ago, but here's The Luggage, made as a gift for my aunt! Depictions of The Luggage with human legs seem to be the most common ones but I always imagined it having carved wooden legs like antique furniture.

In a prior year I made The Death of Rats for her, which you can see on my other art blog here.

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[Video transcript: This is a TikTok by @AbiClarkeComedy. Both characters are played by the same person in different clothes. The characters’ voices remain cheerful throughout the video.

[Name spellings are chosen arbitrarily by me, please correct me if you have additional insight on this matter or other matters.]

Tracey, pouring coffee and smiling hugely: Morning, Jayle!

Jayle, with identical smile, taking off a headset: Morning, Tracey!

Tracey: What’d you get up to this weekend?

Jayle: Oh, I had a lovely little breakdown.

Tracey: Did you?

Jayle: I did, yeah. Really treated myself. I felt on the brink all week, so I decided to stalk my ex just to push meself over the edge.

Tracey: Jonathan?

Jayle: That’s the one.

Tracey: Oh, he’s got a gorgeous new girlfriend.

Jayle: I know.

Tracey: Nice.

Jayle: And he’s just landed himself his dream job.

Tracey: Ah. And you’re here. [glances around] Ideal.

Jayle: And that idea got me tearing up, so I pushed it a little bit further and tried on a dress from five years ago.

Tracey: [gasps] You bugger.

Jayle: Then I grabbed a bottle of wine, boxed McVitie’s, whacked on the news, accidentally opened up my phone on selfie mode, and mwah

[Jayle does a chef’s kiss]

Jayle: Sobbing.

Tracey: Ah, that sounds good.

Jayle: It felt amazing. There’s nothing like a good cry.

Tracey: You must’ve felt reborn.

Jayle: Oh, I certainly felt like I was being rebirthed by that dress afterwards.

Tracey: Mmm.

Jayle: Mmm. How ‘bout you?

Tracey: Oh, I just saw some family.

Jayle: Huh. [tilts head]

Tracey: [nods]

Jayle: Oh, so massive breakdown.

Tracey: Huge.

End video transcript.]

[Image 1: Three photos of stop-motion characters with bags under their eyes grimacing hugely]

[Image 2: Two photos of Tracey making this same expression in the video]

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Your header is your persona right? That aeesome green dragon?

Is the phoenix(?) someone else or is it just a pretty birb?

Thank you! The phoenix is my housemate and qpp @huduvudu!