Clonus

The Vengeful One Disturbed LYRICS He is observing the chaos, taking in the lack of raw humanity
It's as if the entire world's fallen in love with their insanity
Hear the innocent voices scream
As their tormentors laugh through all of it
No forgiveness from all I've seen
The degradation I cannot forget   So sleep soundly in your beds tonight
For judgement falls upon you at first light   I'm the hand of God
I'm the dark messiah
I'm the vengeful one
(Look inside and see what you're becoming)
In the blackest moment of a dying world
What have you become
(Look inside and see what you're becoming)   As the violence surges
And the teeming masses have been terrorized
The human predators all gone mad
Are reaping profits born from their demise
The rabid media plays their roles
Stoking the flames of war to no surprise
Only too eager to sell their souls
For the apocalypse must be televised   So sleep soundly in your beds tonight
For judgement falls upon you at first light   I'm the hand of God
I'm the dark messiah
I'm the vengeful one
(Look inside and see what you're becoming)
In the blackest moment of a dying world
What have you become
(Look inside and see what you're becoming)   When you die
You'll know why
For you cannot be saved
With all the world enslaved When you die
You'll know why You'll die
You'll know why
For you cannot be saved
This world is too depraved
When you die
You'll know why I'm the hand of God
I'm the dark messiah
I'm the vengeful one
(Look inside and see what you're becoming)
In the blackest moment of a dying world
What have you become
(Look inside and see what you're becoming) I'm the hand of God
I'm the dark messiah
I'm the vengeful one
(Look inside and see what you're becoming)
In the blackest moment of a dying world
What have you become
(Look inside and see what you're becoming)
(Look inside and see what you're becoming) Songwriters: Dan Donegan / David Draiman / Kevin Churko / Mike Wengren

The Skinny:  Batman and Nightwing are chasing Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue who have teamed up for a scheme that threatens all humanity and perhaps all life on Earth.  They decide to get Harley Quinn (who has apparently abandoned crime) to help them find Ivy.

The Good Bits:  The fight between Harley and Nightwing and how it ends.

Harley's closet filled with special purpose costumes.

Nightwing's mutter to himself after Batman finds him in bed with Harley.  "It's not like you've never made out with a supervillain."

The henchmen bar.  The guy dressed like a Catwoman goon from the Adam West series doing the batusi to try to mock Batman.  The inevitable fight to get out.  Biff!  Pow!  Ow My Balls!

Swamp Thing's scene.

Harley is a really good person to sing a Blondie song.

The Bad Bits:  Why are they talking about Harley's parole officer? *Harley has never been convicted of a crime*.  It's...curious that Gotham State has such an assumption that anyone who commits crimes in a costume is non compos mentis, but they do and if Harley has been released it's because she'd been judged to no longer be a threat to the public.  At most they should be talking about a halfway house she walked aways from.

It only makes sense to get Harley if they already know where she is.  If they're going to have to spend hours finding Harley then that's hours they could have spent finding Ivy.  It's no longer a short cut.  And it was just dumb luck that Nightwing found her at all.  He stumbled across her just looking for a sandwich after failing to find any leads.

Bruce Timm is clearly making the most of no longer being constrained by TV ratings.  I don't mind that Harley was working at a Hooters-like restaurant called "Superbabes" in a more sexualized version of her costume or most of her gyrations while singing.  But the part where she shakes her tits...there's just no dignity to it.

The ending.  Living plants aren't that much flammable than people. Maybe the point of mentioning that Batman has a "dehydrating agent" earlier is to explain what actually happened, but if so they were being overly subtle.  I'm not sure whether explaining it that way is reading between the lines or just fanwanking.
 

I've forgiven lots of people in my life...doesn't mean I still hang out with them.

From the makers of the tv show my mother the car
 
 
My Mother the Star Destroyer

Wait...she's Web-enabled?  

There's this little thing I've been working on, here and there.  Writeups for an an atlas each of which is inspired by a distinct science fiction author.
 
Morana:  A pre-oxygen world where virtually the entire population live in a single arcology built on a geologically stable plateau while the rest of world is being developed and terraformed by the robots who are the planet's main export.  
 
New Virginia:  An airless mining colony notorious in the rest of the sector because of it's rejection of virtually all sexual taboos and it's use of exile as a means of punishment for repeat offenders who aren't considered serious enough to be executed.  As a result they have been stereotyped as incestuous inbred criminals.
 
Illumination:  This highly volcanic world was colonized by a cult-like society who use proprietary technology to erase any traumatic memories believed to get in the way of their members optimum functionality
 
Summanus Alpha:  A moon orbiting a gas giant in the habitable zone of a red dwarf.   The native life all consists of invertebrates and arthropods in part because of the low gravity.  Scattered over the world are relics of ancient civilizations dating back millions of years but many humans have mysteriously disappeared,or emerged physically and mentally changed, some driven mad, or physically reshaped into disturbing creatures.  
 
Harmonia:  Once a thriving and prosperous colony that gave all of its citizens computer brain implants to increase their mental ability, a strange computer virus infected the inhabitants and their cybernetic systems with uncontrollable suicidal or homicidal urges.  It has been quarantined despite a radio message indicating that there was one surviving sane man on the planet who warned off ships from approaching.
 
Stonehenge:  An airless world only rendered interesting by strange circles of rectangular crystal growing out of the ground that have become the subject ofpilgrimages by those who claim that a chosen few who come into contact with the crystals will be communicated with and endowed with new mental abilities.
 
 
 

Energy blasts are a super power.   Marksmanship is a skill.  

Or to put it another way, "The laws of nature are really more in the way of guidelines"
 
"Civilians have the attention span of drunk ferrets.  Wait 15 minutes and the way you saved the world is ancient history."

Never bring a gun to a swordfight.  
 
Don't fly higher than you can fall.
 
Terminal velocity is your friend.
 
Growth is the amazing power to make yourself an easy target.
 
Never call someone "dead" until you finish the autopsy.
 
Being dead doesn't necessarily stop people from making trouble
 
There is no idea so stupid that it can't be used to hurt people.
 
You can't mass produce awesome.  
 
Always make your capes detachable.
 
Always know which walls are load-bearing.
 
 
 

edit: The Myth of Summer is now considered apocryphal.

edit: I can delete this entirely if by chance D Shomshak wants to BE the God of Sumer.  
 
 
 
 
This is pure mythmaking, I am not exercising any options in this post.
 
The following myth is subject to fact-checking and approval by the Gods referenced. It implicates them in certain relationships that may be mythologically appropriate but are not inevitable. If they repudiate the tale, the relevant passages will be amended and any priests, scribes, or minstrels found trafficking in deleted mythical matter will be declared heretical and soundly mocked.

Earth and Sky have much in common - the entire horizon just to begin with - and so it was that they came together, and their joining bore fruit, and the fruit of their union was Summer.
 
Summer was a lovely God, and Arepo the Goddess of Death and Rebirth found Him fair to look upon, and craved to do more than to look.
 
One day Summer had wandered to the edge of the His Father's demesne, and trod the beach taking pleasure in the seashells and starfish he found. He heard a sweet song and looking about, spied something like a woman with the tail of a dolphin afloat on her back, lazily flexing her tail, and of course singing. "I know You" He said, for He was a God and could see Who it really was, "You are Arepo! Is something about to die or be reborn in the Sea?"  She laughed and said "I certainly hope so! Come into the water with Me, Beautiful God, I will show You wonders."
 
Now Summer knew that Water was a Realm with its own Deity, and by swimming He would put Himself beyond HIs Parents' easy reach. "Can you not bring wonders to Me?" He asked,  "Wherefore do you call Me out beyond the seeing and hearing of My Mother and Father?"
 
"Would you have Mother Sky and Father Earth see your first kiss?" teased the amorous Goddess. Summer flushed hot and shot back "What would You know of My first kiss? How do You know I have not kissed a hundred mortals, or perhaps several among the Gods?" "Have You?" She asked curiously. "I have kissed....My Mother," He said, looking Skywards as if He hoped She would put in an appearance and put an end to this embarrassing conversation. But Arepo had chosen Her time well and Summer's Divine parents were busy with One Another and in fact hoping their son would not interrupt Them at Their most pleasant business. "A mother's kiss is not like a paramour's" said Arepo, "But if You have no wish to learn the difference, stay there and admire the starfish." She lay back and gazed upwards and resumed singing as if She cared little what He might do.
 
Of course He was in the water before She finished the first stanza. When at last They broke the first kiss, She began to say "Come with Me to the grott- OH!" and there in the waves as the tide rose about Them, They went beyond kissing.
 
She took Him to the grotto as promised, then to a Temple on one of the floating Islands that was home to an order of priestesses devoted to Her, and always She veiled Him carefully from the Sight of the other Gods. She tried to feast Him on delicacies of the sea, salmon and krill-cakes and the roast claws of sea scorpions, but He betrayed an appetite only for more of Her and claimed to have no taste for food not from the Realms of Sky or Earth. . At last He spoke of visiting His parents, for surely They would be seeking Him by now, and He wished to let Them know what joy He had found. Then Arepo secured thirteen enchanted and very potent seeds of the sacred poppy and tempted Him into eating of them, so that He fell into Dreams. And She joined him in Dreams, where even Time becomes confused and lost, and She bound Him there so that He forgot His Mother and Father and Dreamed only of Her.
 
She could not always Dream with Him, for She was Lady of Death and Rebirth, but when not about Her business or Dreaming, She would often sit and admire His sleeping form, for even drowsing He was superbly beautiful. And the priestesses would bring messages, "War wishes to know when He might see You again, Lady," or "Winter would like Your leave to come for a visit soon." And She would say "Tell Him I have much to do and do not know when next I will have time for Him." But then Winter came unannounced and found her gazing upon the slumbering Summer, for She had never rescinded Her order that He be allowed even into her innermost Sanctum.
 
"What Ho?" cried the Chill God, "Is that not the missing Son of Earth and Sky? Now I know why You have been leaving Me out in the cold!" "You are ALWAYS out in the cold, You old frost giant" said the Goddess of Death and Rebirth, "now You know My secret, let us lie together to celebrate Your promise to keep it!" But He responded "And shall We Lie Together to Summer's parents? Neither Your charms nor Your power can stop Me from restoring Their child to Them."  And Winter took up Summer and bore Him away in His arms, to summon the Gods to Council, and the Goddess of Death and Rebirth made no move to interfere, for She knew better than any God that all things with a beginning must have an end. Still She defied the assembled Deities, and would not give up her claim upon the sleeping God. "It is I Who hold the key of HIs dreams" She proclaimed "And what I have taken hold of is held in the grip of Death."  And soon all voices were raised in quarrel, Earth and Sky were laying violent hands upon She they saw as their son's abductress, and Peace barely restrained War from drawing His terrible Sword. Mortals knew their world had gone amiss, for the time was marked by great sudden storms and earthquakes. No one noticed that Summer was beginning to stir.
 
Then All fell still and silent when Summer sat up and looked around and blinked and said "Is everyone fighting over ME?" His parents let go of His paramour to embrace Him, and the Goddess of Death and Rebirth looked more surprised than Anyone had ever seen Her. "How are You awake?" She asked, "I gave you thirteen poppy seeds, one for each turning of the Moon in the course of a year."  Summer said "I did not eat them all. I had said I was hungry only for more of You."
 
Now that Summer could speak for Himself, it seemed that speaking for Himself was to be demanded of Him. Wither would He go now, back to His family or back to the Goddess of Death and Rebirth? He looked thoughtfully at She who had led Him into Dream and sought to keep Him there. "This is what You meant to spare Me by keeping Me in Dreams, isn't it?" He asked. "You meant Me to taste some of the joys of adulthood but not face the making of hard choices." She confessed "I had to try, although I of all Gods know all things arise and pass away and arise again." Summer turned then to Time and Wisdom and said "I think the choice is made already, at least in part?" They nodded, and Time said "For each seed eaten, You belong to Her for one month of the year. But if all the Gods agree, I can undo even that and restore You to full freedom." Earth and Sky then clamored for that to be done, but Summer said "No. Beloved Mother and Father, I will stay with You for part of the year and with She I have chosen for the rest. It is My right to make this choice, and even You cannot dispute that."
 
And so it is that for some months each year Summer is with Earth and Sky and the world and all living things rejoice and celebrate and only Winter's hard land remains cold all the time. And during that time the Goddess of Death and Rebirth distracts Winter from His pursuits of brewing blizzards and covering the world with bitter cold. And then for much of the year Summer is hidden away and Winter rages and stalks the land with cold and hunger, as if sending Her more souls would win Her over to His side from that of the God of Warm Days.
 
And while Summer has few Temples to Himself alone, in each temple of moderate size belonging to Arepo, there is a small shrine to Summer and a similar shrine to Winter.
 
Wow, that took longer than I thought.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
Copyright Palindromedary Enterprises

For my fauna pick:  Sky Sharks.  
 

 
Because I'm very offended that those humans are just flying above my oceans and failing to pay proper tribute to me.

For my fauna pick:  Sky Sharks.  
 

 
Because I'm very offended that those humans are just flying above my oceans and failing to pay proper tribute to me.

The existence of a major winter god but no major summer god implies that our peoples define summer as "the absence of winter" and the things that happen outside of winter are presided over by gods with aspects like sky, fertility, agriculture, and even water.  (I can only bring rain when the temperature is above freezing)  Worship given to Winter might come from people who live in more polar climes and rely on the god to help them survive and lead them toward the equator at regular interval...or it might be propitiatory worship to get Winter to go home after its visit.  

Oh  I intend for my deity to be gender-fluid.  

In an 80s cartoon inspired setting a mad-scientist villain grows his disposable super-agents in vats.  But one of his more valued and effective recurrent agents is the stealthy Shadowgoyle who is constantly stealing maguffins from the heroes.  

...if they're rich beyond counting. 

Your "no-nonsense" solutions don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel.  

Even if you've never heard of the Punisher...it's still a skull.  If your headquarters is shaped like a skull,if you wear skull masks, if there are skulls insignia on your uniform, if you have skulls on your vehicles...
 

Even if you've never heard of the Punisher...it's still a skull.  If your headquarters is shaped like a skull,if you wear skull masks, if there are skulls insignia on your uniform, if you have skulls on your vehicles...
 

Even if you've never heard of the Punisher...it's still a skull.  If your headquarters is shaped like a skull,if you wear skull masks, if there are skulls insignia on your uniform, if you have skulls on your vehicles...
 

Even if you've never heard of the Punisher...it's still a skull.  If your headquarters is shaped like a skull,if you wear skull masks, if there are skulls insignia on your uniform, if you have skulls on your vehicles...
 

Isn't that naive extrapolation?   It doesn't matter if the nature of jobs changes, if people can't change to fill the new jobs any better than machines can.  Machines improve.  People don't. 

"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel" Superman.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
These aphorisms of yours just don't fly in a complex environment of palindromedaries and indoor heated variable power pools