#if you see any GOOD zeus depictions in any media send them my way

[sworeontheriverstyx]

have zeus as your favourite greek god, they said. it'll be fun, they said...

[maverick-werewolf]

Random Werewolf Fact #5 - Becoming a Werewolf

So how does someone become a werewolf, anyway? Ask almost any Hollywood movie, video game, TV show, novel, and what-have-you, and they’ll say: “Being bitten, of course!” And there are always tons of other wild answers people come up with, too. Here’s a coherent list of some from legend - and some that aren’t, just to point out a few more of those pop culture creations.

I’m going to preemptively say please don’t trust any of the silly lists you see everywhere on the internet or consider them a reputable source. Those make werewolves cry and then go eat someone out of frustration.

Also, this list will obviously not include quite every obscure possibility inside or outside of folklore. There are simply too many around for me to list all of them here (especially some of the wacky things in more obscure legends - as well as some of the even wackier things in pop culture today). Feel free to send me an ask about something if I left it off!

Did NOT appear in folklore:

You’ll notice the majority of this list associates them specifically with disease in some way and turns being a werewolf into an infection. (Keep that in mind for next week’s werewolf fact.)

Being bitten - Some scholars claim there were a few old, obscure legends in which claims were made that a werewolf’s bite could spread the curse - and I’ve seen some around, myself (including some French ones that seem to possibly actually have some basis behind them). But the real question is, are they reputable? I’m personally going with probably not, which is why “being bitten” is exclusively in the section of NOT appearing in folklore. Werewolves transferring their curse via bite was almost certainly created by Hollywood (namely Cut Siodmak again) and then picked up by every form of media imaginable. This is just another of those generally modern ideas that brought them closer to being a disease instead of a curse (looking at you, rabies).

Being scratched - This one is very, very recently contrived (and as you may have noticed honestly kind of irks me for various reasons; more on that later). There’s not a lot to say about it other than that. I’m not sure who exactly made it up or when, but I wish they hadn’t. It’s become quite prolific.

Werewolf sex - Rawr. It’s fine (I mean unless you wanted it?), ladies, having hot werewolf sex won’t give you your partner’s curse, unlike what some pop culture would tell you. This is just another one of those things popular media made up to make werewolves more closely associated with “infection” of various types (yes, including STDs), and to try to associate them more with sex in some way. So have all the werewolf sex you want! You can even get kinky with scratching and biting (disclaimer: depends on your lore, also the werewolf might transform and eat you in a not-fun way during it in most modern media)!

Drinking/otherwise being exposed to werewolf blood - Once again an association with disease, nobody exposed to werewolf blood in folklore was ever at risk of becoming a werewolf, themselves.

Genetics - And lastly, an equivalent to a hereditary disease. This was never a thing in folklore, either. There were no werewolf “genes,” for assorted obvious reasons. All of this is very Hollywood, and very “let’s make monsters into science.”

Appeared in folklore:

Magic skins - A very common one, especially in Scandinavian folklore, someone could always just don a wolf skin and become a werewolf. Usually the skin is in some way enchanted (blessed or cursed, depends on your story and viewpoint). Most often they were wolf skin cloaks, though belts also made some appearances. The hard part, sometimes, was getting them back off, such as what Sigmund and Sinfjotli went through (Sinfjotli himself was later accused of being a werewolf, in the Poetic Edda).

Potions, salves, etc. - Another relatively common one, though this appeared much more often in the late Middle Ages and Early Modern period than any other time frame. One could drink a potion to become a werewolf, or else rub a magical salve all over their body to immediately transform.

Curse from a witch - Watch out for those witches, because they can turn you into a werewolf if they don’t like you. And when it comes to a witch’s curse, you might not necessarily be turning back into a human until you break it.

Curse from a god - Much like the witch’s curse, a curse from a god could result in a permanent or semi-permanent werewolf form, with little (very well spaced out, over a matter of weeks) or no regular shifting back to a human form. For example, Zeus cursing Lycaon to be a wolf - Lycaon was never turning back from that. This isn’t always the case, though.

Performing certain rituals - This is a very broad category, because plenty of werewolves became werewolves after they did some ridiculous ritual or another. For instance, in Arcadia, you had rituals that required someone to swim all the way across a lake under the light of a full moon and they would emerge a werewolf on the other side. Note that none of these rituals involved anything sexual, and generally didn’t even involve violence either (sacrificing virgins has nothing to do with werewolves), unlike modern depictions.

Gift from God - This is an unusual one, pretty much only exampled by the court case of a man named Thiess who came to court admitting he was a werewolf, after multiple eye-witnesses saw him turning into one. However, Thiess said he is a Hound of God. He was released from the court because no one could find fault in him. (You’ll be hearing about Thiess in more detail here in the future! I love his story.)

Test from God - This also didn’t result in evil, feral werewolves trying to kill people. In this case, quite simply, people were either forced to turn into werewolves or even opted to turn into werewolves in order to test the goodness and humanity in others. There are multiple accounts from Christian monks on this subject, of werewolves approaching someone (often a monk, themselves, and the subject of the test) and asking for help, or else helping that person. Their reaction to this kind-hearted, gentle wolf would be the test of their goodness. Because if a man cannot treat a kind, gentle wolf the way he would treat any kind, gentle man, he isn’t really a very good person, now is he?

Deal with the Devil - This started up fairly recently, when werewolves took a turn into being evil - in the Early Modern period, well after the rise to power of the Catholic church (which, in later periods, decided werewolves were evil, unlike the medieval accounts told by the monks). Plenty of people claimed they made a deal with the Devil to receive a salve or a skin that would allow them to take the shape of a wolf. Since they were dealing with Satan, they of course wanted this shape so they could romp about and murder and cannibalize people with the power of a wolf - and also a disguise, since no one would recognize them.

Family curse - There were times, of course, when a family in legend was kind of ambiguously cursed - and this would result in someone being born a werewolf.

Being born on Christmas - Here’s some fun Russian folklore for you: if someone dared to share the birthday of Christ, they would be born a werewolf as punishment. Or, alternatively, according to one account, this was actually an awesome blessing (I’d take it).

Being conceived during a new moon - Again from Russian folklore, if you were conceived during a new moon, you would be born a werewolf. I was born on a new moon... does that count, I wonder?

Next week’s post will be all about this modern idea of lycanthropy as a disease as opposed to a curse (as you saw so readily exampled in pretty much all the newfangled ideas of becoming a werewolf that were recently made up by popular culture), how recent of a concept this is, how it’s become so predominant in werewolf media - and maybe even a little bit of why exactly this is a bad thing.

(If you like my werewolf blog, be sure to check out my other stuff!

Patreon --- YouTube --- Wulfgard --- Werewolf Fact Masterlist --- Twitter)

[hellacre13]

In what ways was new 52 better than rebirth?

New 52 Justice League stories were actually good and the team dynamics fresh and DC had a chance to build a modern take but they blew it. Have people actually read the crap that is Justice League Rebirth? Not even the most biased older reader can tell me Rebirth Justice League adventures or dynamics were good. Most of it was boring and built around a very forced and emotionally disconnected team. Origins, Throne of Atlantis, Trinity War, Amazo war, etc etc all were better stories.

It was nice to see a Superman and Batman with a more balanced friendship in the new 52. Batman is always depicted as a little disdainful of Superman preflashpoint. In the new 52 these two were like brothers and Batman never got a chance to walk all over Superman as he usually does. Go back and read the new 52. Compare it to other eras and media with BMSM. New 52 Superman had something most other Supermen lacked and its called a spine. He was also socially conscious. He never was about his comfort. Never put his love interests before the world nor sat on his butt to play house. He had a modern sensibility even while being idealistic. He was a little rough around the edges because he had a journey. He had no parents to run to and pet him. His upbringing helped mold who he was but his heritage was vital too and enhanced who he was. 

He viewed his biological parents and Krypton with reverence. The Els in the new 52 were more interesting. Lara was not just relegated to some woman sobbing over a baby she’s sending away where all the glory goes to Jor-El. New 52 Lara is Jor-El’s equal. She is a badass warrior. Jor-el is a genius scientist and we learned about them and Krypton to learn to care for the world as much as the Kents and Kansas. New 52 Lana was awesome as was Steel. Contrary to what some Lois fans claim, Lois did have page time in the new 52. Compare Lois’ page time to preflashpoint early Superman adventures and you’ll barely see her around. Even when he married her, she had a specific function like Rebirth. And that is just to be there as the trophy wife. It amuses me that some people claim Lois married to Superman is better Lois stories. It in fact is so far from the truth hence the reason why the Lois fans still bitch all through Rebirth.There is not one definitive Lois story around in all her years married to Superman. In the new 52 she actually did some stuff without being there to serve as a love interest. 

Jimmy was tons of fun and felt modern too. Cat also was not just relegated as a man eater. She was more layered and her and Clark’s attempt to modernize the journalistic aspect to Superman was a good idea. The idea Clark Kent keeps writing on himself, or still disappearing from his job to be Superman or giving Lois scoops etc in other verses shows how obsolete that part of Superman’s myth is and makes a mockery of journalism.But DC keeps going back to this and frankly it is not interesting nor does it represent truth or justice. All DC had to do was continue building new Superman’s world to flesh out all the other dynamics we know and try to fold him into the 21st century.

I know some fans struggled with the darker amazons in new 52 Wonder Woman. I can understand not liking them made into trading babies etc for weapons but trying to make an isolated homogeneous society a utopia is a fallacy. The idea the Amazons are just all sweet lotus eaters just does not interest me. I’d have preferred a balance. Living in a gilded cage doesn’t make you better than others. Especially if you doing it by excluding half of humanity. Just like any society the Amazons should have positive and negative attributes and like all societies need to grow and evolve. George Perez’s Amazons were more balanced than Rucka’s saccharin, vanilla Rebirth take. People give Azzarello a hard time but go back to Marston. His Amazons were not nice to men. Azzarello’s prob were closer to his. An ideal take for me would take Perex and Azzarello and fine tune them, while keeping some of either. New 52 Hippolyta to me is a bad ass who ought to have been given more exploration and Amazons like Dessa or Aleka are as interesting as Phillipus and Artemis . It’s just a matter of what the writer wants to say. But DC decide to once again throw everything out with Rebirth Diana. Going so far as putting her in a god damn asylum and saying she was deluded for 10 f**king years! 

Zeus being Diana’s father did not bother me because it adds a whole new dimension you do not get with clay baby. I enjoyed clay baby under Perez but I enjoy demi goddess too.  Her God family was one of the best takes on the Gods. All very creative. I miss them actually and find it a shame DC allows these versions to die and I find Rucka’s Rebirth take of Gods as “patrons” of Disney animals snooze worthy. New 52 Diana herself was compassionate, independent, fierce, wise, very powerful and enjoyed life. She wasn’t nerfed like she is being nerfed in Rebirth. Wonder Woman in Rebirth is usually whiny, confused, lost with as much charm as a stick in the mud. She has 3 people in her cast. An Etta Candy who I have no interest in. Give me Hessia any day. A whitebread Steve Trevor who is there to teach her about romance, though she slept with many sisters on her island and Conan. An a brother (no one asked for) who happens to be more powerful than she is. I saw a Diana taking on Darkseid, shoulder to shoulder with her male counterparts in New 52, and very capable. In Rebirth bullets are constantly taking her down Or other characters just punching her out.

Steve Trevor actually was better in new 52. He was out of Diana’s shadow and actually he not in hers. He served a purpose. For 30 + years Diana did not need Steve. The idea Rebirth tell us she needs him to be a complete character rings false. Their romance is forced in a couple of panels with the “easy” bs but we are told to accept it. Just like the crap by Jurgens that Superman was merged.

New 52 was a journey and building towards something. It was an unfolding verse. There was set up, there were stakes, and DC could have had payoff. They opted not to. Just messed up the entire verse and the momentum.. Rebirth is the equivalent of DC just plunking a status quo on a platter and readers are told to accept it.

Batman was DC’s top seller in the new 52 and he didn’t rely on wedding dresses to get a headline. While the Batcat wedding is a new dimension to the mythos, fact is Batman is character than sells no matter what. If Batcat broke up in ten years, Batman will still sell. Because his character drives his mythos, not his uniform, not who he bangs…HIM.

The new 52 kinda afforded this opportunity with the reboot. They could build and be free creatively. Rebirth imo writes you up against a wall. I believe other properties had interesting and fresh stories as well during the new 52 eg Aquaman, GL, Swamp Thing , Omega Men, Grayson, etc We lost good team books like new 52 Batman/Superman and Superman/Wonder Woman for that debacle called Rebirth Trinity. Rebirth Trinity’s crashing sales is a good metaphor for Rebirth. DC gave readers a book that features the three biggest heroes and you’d think it should be a best seller right? Rebirth Trinity sales in March 2018 issue #20 is down to 22,690 K. That is atrocious.

Just like everything else the Rebirth Trinity’s dynamics are very superficial and built on something that lacks true connectivity and emotion. DC thinks because it gives you a panel or two of characters saying 1+1= 2 then so it should be. They don’t seem to think it important to build something over a period of time to EARN it. It seems it’s their modus opernadi even in their cinematic verse too.And we all know how Marvel are kicking DC’s ass in the cinematic universe because they have what DC don’t and does what DC often will not, ie patience and take risks.

So in a nutshell. New 52 was show. Rebirth is tell. For me the Rebirth strategy, barring books like Batman or events books, that does not bode well for lasting or memorable stories. DC prob hope that with every retcon or renumbering people might forget that their foundation is crap and people will just buy into the hype. But that can only last for so long. New number ones and tons of variant covers to send up orders will only make them look good for a month until the next gimmick. Remember how they were preening in the early months of Rebirth because of double shipping and returnability? Those things just inflate numbers. They are not a sign that DC is growing its readership or a character is successful. Half of those books that seemed to do well in early Rebirth are at cancellation levels now.

People don’t have to take my word for it. Just go to any site that has sales data and compare. New 52 never had returnability or double shipping either. So people who try to hate on the new 52 , they do it a huge disservice, because it did the comic industry a huge favor while it was in a creative slump. Rebirth as far as I am aware has not saved anything.