#Metropolis Illinois

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Mike Hixenbaugh at NBC News:

METROPOLIS, Ill. — The pastor began his sermon with a warning. Satan was winning territory across America, and now he was coming for their small town on the banks of the Ohio River in southern Illinois. “Evil is moving and motivated,” Brian Anderson told his congregation at Eastland Life Church on the evening of Jan. 13. “And the church is asleep.” But there was still time to fight back, Anderson said. He called on the God-fearing people of Metropolis to meet the enemy where Satan was planning his assault: at their town’s library. A public meeting was scheduled there that Tuesday, and Christians needed to make their voices heard. Otherwise, Anderson said, the library would soon resemble a scene “straight out of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The pastor’s call to action three months ago helped ignite a bitter fight that some locals have described as “a battle for the soul” of Metropolis.

The dispute has pitted the city’s mayor, a member of Eastland Life Church, against his own library board of trustees. It led to the abrupt dismissal of the library director, who accused the board of punishing her for her faith. And last month, it drew scrutiny from the state’s Democratic secretary of state, who said the events in Metropolis “should frighten and insult all Americans who believe in the freedom of speech and in our democracy.” Similar conflicts have rocked towns and suburbs across the country, as some conservatives — convinced that Democrats want to "sexualize" and indoctrinate children — have sought to purge libraries of books featuring LGBTQ characters and storylines. Republican state legislatures have taken up a wave of bills making it easier to remove books and threatening librarians with criminal charges if they allow minors to access titles that include depictions of sex.

To counter this movement, Illinois Democrats last year adopted the first state law in the nation aimed at preventing book bans— which ended up feeding the unrest in Metropolis. Under the law, public libraries can receive state grant funding only if they adhere to the Library Bill of Rights, a set of policies long promoted by the American Library Association to prevent censorship.

Many longtime residents were stunned when these national fissures erupted in Metropolis, a quirky, conservative city of about 6,000 people that has a reputation for welcoming outsiders. Because of its shared name with the fictional city from DC Comics, Metropolis has for the past half century marketed itself as “Superman's hometown.” Tens of thousands of tourists stop off Interstate 24 each year to pose beneath a 15-foot Superman statue at the center of town, to attend the summertime Superman Celebration, or to browse one of the world’s largest collections of Superman paraphernalia at the Super Museum.

“Where heroes and history meet on the shores of the majestic Ohio River,” the visitor’s bureau beckons, “Metropolis offers the best small-town America has to offer.” But lately, the pages of the Metropolis Planet — yes, even the masthead of the local newspaper pays homage to Clark Kent — have been filled with strife. Unlike in comic books and the Bible, the fight in Metropolis doesn’t break along simple ideological lines. Virtually everyone on either side of the conflict identifies as a Christian, and most folks here vote Republican. The real divide is between residents who believe the public library should adhere to their personal religious convictions, and those who argue that it should instead reflect a wide range of ideas and identities.

During his sermon in January and in the months since, Anderson has cast his congregation and their God as righteous defenders of Metropolis — and the Library Bill of Rights and its supporters as forces of evil. If Christians didn’t take a stand, Anderson warned, there would soon be an entire children’s section at the library “dedicated to sexual immorality and perversion.” And before long, he said, the town would be hosting “story hour with some guy that thinks he’s a girl.”

[...] A week later, the board went into a closed session and presented Baxter with an ultimatum: If she wanted to keep her job, she needed to sign a performance improvement plan. It stipulated that she would abide by the Library Bill of Rights, seek state grant funding and discontinue praying aloud with children and other religious activities at the library. Baxter refused to sign and began to criticize the board. Voices were raised, according to three members. After a few minutes, James, the board president, slammed her fist on the table. “This is not up for debate, Rosemary,” she said. “Either sign it, or don’t.” Baxter stood up and left. Minutes later, the board came out of closed session. By a vote of 5-3, they terminated Baxter’s employment. Baxter’s departure left the library in turmoil. Four employees resigned soon after, and the board got to work picking up the pieces.  They brought on a former library employee to serve as interim director and embarked on top-to-bottom reviews of the library’s catalog and finances. “Our focus,” James said, “is making sure our library is strong and healthy and there to serve everyone.” Then, on March 19, the story of Baxter’s firing was picked up by Blaze Media, a national conservative outlet. In a column titled, “A librarian’s faithful service is silenced by a secularist takeover,” conservative talk radio host Steve Deace interviewed Baxter and Anderson and reported that both had come under fire for their Christian beliefs.

Deace presented the local saga as a warning that evil forces were now coming for small-town America and blamed the problems in Metropolis, in part, on “a California transplant who is living with another man,” referring to Loverin, the library board member. Three days later, Metropolis Mayor Don Canada — who in 2021 had appointed Anderson, his pastor, to an open seat on the City Council — took a stand of his own. In letters addressed to James and two other board members, Canada announced that he’d “lost faith in the Board in its current state.” As a result, he was removing James and two others who’d voted to terminate Baxter. 

In Superman's alleged hometown of Metropolis, Illinois, the town has been engulfed with strife over conflicts on the direction of the town's public library, with Eastland Life Church Pastor Brian Anderson leading a war against the library as part of the faux moral panic about LGBTQ+ books that right-wingers falsely claim such books "sexualize" children.

[superman86to99]

Superman #92 (August 1992)

Massacre, a big red alien who goes around the universe punching people, comes to Earth to steal some ice cream... and punch Superman, while at it. The ice cream thing isn't a joke, by the way. The issue starts with a space mobster called Chadda telling Massacre that he owes him for punching too many people to death "from his direction," so he has a mission for him. Massacre is ready to punch him to death too, until Chadda mentions that the mission involves going to Earth.

Earth, as you might know, is where Superman lives. Massacre feels like he owes Superman some punches from the last time they met, so he agrees to take the mission as a flimsy excuse to do that. He turns himself into energy and lands in some island in the Southern Hemisphere, where he instantly yells out for Superman to "reveal himself," but the only people around are some confused locals.

Massacre draws an honestly pretty good rendition of Superman's symbol on the sand (has Massacre been drawing the S-shield on his notebooks for months? omg he's just like me) and the islanders point him in the general direction of the USA. Of course, the USA is actually pretty big, so Massacre ends up asking directions from a random cowboy, who tells him he's "gots to go" to Metropolis to find Superman. And so, Massacre goes to Metropolis... Illinois.

Meanwhile, in the correct Metropolis, Superman is hard at work rebuilding the city's water purification plant after it was destroyed by Lex Luthor's missiles (along with most of the rest of the city), probably because he just wants Lois Lane to take a damn shower for the first time in a week. Unfortunately for the increasingly stinky people of Metropolis, Massacre finally finds his way to the city and distracts Superman from his job with, you guessed it, punching.

While Massacre keeps Superman occupied by burying him in cement, the little "Skimmer" alien who follows him around completes Chadda's mission: filling up a spaceship with an exotic substance that only seems to be produced on Earth called "ice cream." Superman breaks free from the cement, but Massacre throws him towards the ice cream-filled spaceship, causing it to come crashing down and explode. Did the little alien guy survive? Did the ice cream? Will Lois ever shower?! You'll have to wait to find out, because this is the part where I say TO BE CONTINUED!

Plotline-Watch:

Massacre kept his promise to Superman from his previous appearance that "We will meet again -- on Earth!" Now he needs to fulfill the second part, which is that he'd kill all of Superman's friends. Or at least Jimmy Olsen. C'mon, Massacre. You can do it!

Despite the insalubrious conditions in Metropolis, Superman feels like he can't fly off to some other city with Lois for a little romantic vacation because the last time he did that, their work friend's child was murdered by the Toyman. That's an understandable concern, but look at it this way: what if Jimmy is the one who gets killed this time? C'mon, Superman. You can do it!

Speaking of which, there's a subplot about Jimmy and Lucy Lane looking for clean clothes because all the ones they owned were blown up by Lex Luthor. I don't remember where this storyline goes, if anywhere, so I'm just going to assume it leads to Jimmy trying on a sweater that's two sizes too small and accidentally choking. Fingers crossed.

Don Sparrow points out that Massacre is part of a trend where villains were built up as the next Doomsday. They're not subtle about it, either. Superman already remarked during their first fight that he hadn't been punched that hard "since Doomsday," and now Lois says "That Massacre looks so tough! Almost as tough as... Doomsday!" You know one thing Massacre could do to elevate his status in Superman's rogues gallery and surpass Doomsday? Killing Ji-- okay, that's enough dead Jimmy jokes, sorry.

I like how Massacre says "Today, someone dies!" right before the Doomsday reference. That's right, kids! This one could be another collector's item!

Don says: "I appreciate the line of dialogue explaining that Clark will shave before jumping into action as Superman, so that no one connects their matching stubble." My question is, won't they end up looking alike anyway once Clark shows up again with a clean face? And won't the other Metropolis survivors be like "Hey, man, where'd you find shaving implements? You holding out on us?" The logical solution would be for Superman to glue some hair to his face once he goes back to being Clark.

I'm not clear on what Chadda the ice cream-addicted space mobster means when he says, in his weird Yoda speak, that Massacre owes him for "Kills you have from my direction." Is he saying he gave Massacre directions to people he could kill? Or that Massacre killed too many people in his general direction? We need a Chadda miniseries to clear this up. (Or someone could ask Dan Jurgens, but I doubt he'd remember.)

I feel bad for the cowboy who kindly told Massacre about Metropolis and got killed as thanks. Based on his attire, he'd apparently survived since the 1800s, only to die in such a senseless way. If only that had been some other member of the supporting cast...

Shout Outs-Watch:

Ice cream-flavored shout outs to our supporters, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, Dave Shevlin, and Dave Blosser! Join them (and get extra non-continuity articles; we just finished covering all of the 1994 Superman Elseworlds annuals) via Patreon or our newsletter’s “pay what you want” mode!

And now, more from Don!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We start with the cover, and it’s an absolute beauty, combining the talents of two of my all time favourite pencillers (making up two out of four on my comic art Mount Rushmore), Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway (though on this cover, Ordway handles inks).  There’s always a greater sense of depth and texture from Ordway’s detailed signature hatching, and it elevates a fairly static cover into a really gorgeous piece.  As the story continues, we’re thrown into an alien tavern, with some imaginatively diverse creatures within, which must have been fun to design.  [Max: Speaking of which, the guy on the far right here looks familiar... where have we seen him before, or at least his race?]

It’s on page two that we’re re-introduced to Massacre, the new big bad in the Superman mythology (who we saw briefly in Adventures #509, murdering the loose end known as Auron).  Full disclosure: I never really warmed to this character.  To me he was emblematic of a bad trend in Superman comics of the time, to try to recapture the heat of the Doomsday storyline by adding characters who could go toe-to-toe with Superman, requiring the telltale comment that the new character was “almost as tough as Doomsday”.  Massacre was one of these types, completely devoid of personality, other than confidence, making him read like a humourless Lobo (right down to the dreadlocks, it seems).  [Max: I'll admit I did warm up to Massacre, but mainly because I had the action figure and thought he looked pretty badass as he punched my other toys.]

It’s in these early pages that we’re reintroduced to Skimmer, inexplicably our narrator for this issue, as he was in Adventures #509.  He looks like an earthtone version of a Ralph Bashki design from Heavy Metal, and of all the one-off characters I’d like to see more of, this guy is not high on my list.  As the story continues, I appreciate the look at bomb ravaged Metropolis, especially the detail that the terrain is uneven, really making it seem like a disaster area. 

Quite a nice drawing of Lois Lane on page 7, in profile.  I always felt like Dan Jurgens generally drew her as resembling Geena Davis (Ordway’s Lois always looked like Julia Roberts to me) but in this instance she looks like Emma Caulfield as intrepid 90210 reporter Susan Keats).  The world tour Massacre takes as he hunts for Superman is an interesting way to fill the time, a nice detail that not every alien lands in the continental USA right away.  I appreciated the subtle hints through language and attire that Massacre’s second stop in the outback, interrupting what must have been a Foster’s Lager ad with Paul Hogan.  [Max: I always assumed it was somewhere in the US, because otherwise that'd mean the islanders pointed Massacre in the wrong direction and they strike me as honest folks.] Given that our real-world Metropolis Illinois is the home of the biggest Superman convention in the world every year (I gotta make it out to that one of these times!) it’s neat to see it mentioned in these pages.

The fistfight that occurs once Massacre finally does find Superman is well-drawn, even with the irksome dialogue establishing just how deadly this guy is.  The push that Massacre gets through Superman’s lines like “Too fast” and “how can anybody be so fast” or “I missed? Impossible!” put me in the mind of Poochie’s first appearance on Itchy and Scratchy.  And Massacre is totally in my face.

Superman bursting out of Massacre’s concrete trap is a killer image, and I like the Neal Adams style rim lighting on the next page as Superman gets blasted backward by Massacre’s wrist gauntlet.

SPEEDING BULLETS:

The revelation that Skimmer is on Earth to stock up on ice cream is cute, but perhaps a bit out of place in a story that is otherwise so violent.  [Max: Ice cream is never out of place, Don.]

Proof that I read too many comics—I had remembered Jimmy and Lucy being broken up already (maybe back during the Cerberus storyline?) so maybe they’re scavenging as friends? Or maybe that was just a blip? [Max: Maybe Lucy couldn't resist his manly stubble... which, in his case, I'm pretty sure he did glue to his face.]

I wonder what Elliot S! Maggin would say about Superman rebuilding things like water treatment plants, given the point of view espoused in the now classic “Must There Be a Superman?” story.  On the one hand, creating infrastructure seems beyond the normal “catch them when they fall” Superman parameters, but on the other hand, I felt a little uncomfortable seeing Clark just chilling out and barbecuing in the disaster area earlier in the issue, and not doing more to help.

Another pet peeve of mine (which happens more in the movies than in the comics) is where super-beings use props to fight each other, when their fists would be more durable and do more damage than, say, the i-beam Superman uses to bat Massacre with on page 13.  The baseball looking hit is a nice visual I suppose, and breaks it up from just being a boxing match, so maybe that answers that.

There’s some dissonance in the placid expressions these middle-aged concrete workers wear as they stand feet from a monster named Massacre, and casually discuss that “Supes ain’t got a chance.”  Maybe we should run a caption contest for what else they could be saying with those benign faces. 

[Max: Let me give it a shot...]

[toyastales]

Chicago, Illinois

[juxieboxie]

I like the idea that merchandise with the Superman logo on it is Metropolis' "I ❤️ NYC" shirts. When a metropolitan area sees someone in it, it's like an immediate "yeah, tourist.". 

[stephaniesays06]

sufjan stevens was right we have a lot to give one another!

[animememe]

Look, I’m not saying Goku is guilty. But I am just wondering where he was yesterday.

[incentiv0]

Went a bunch of places yesterday. I was with my dad. We went to this Asian market in Noble Square where my apartment was in college. Super cool place. Been wanting to go there for a while. They had ramen and boba and asian chips and shit. Then we went to the beach. And I added a photo of me with my Preme shirt cause I love that cross box logo. Looks so good with my taper. Seriously though, if that Asian market was there while I was in college, I woulda been there with my friends every day.

[petnews2day]

Melon: The loving street cat looking for a family to start a new life with | News

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/TbaQf

Melon: The loving street cat looking for a family to start a new life with | News

METROPOLIS, IL — He’s not edible, but his name suits him well because Melon may just be the sweetest cat around! Project Hope Humane Society Melon is an adorable cat at the Project Hope Humane Society in Metropolis. He’s about 4 years old, and he has some luscious long orange and white fur. Don’t let […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/TbaQf #CatsNews #Cat, #ForeverHomeFriday, #Illinois, #Melon, #Metropolis, #PetAdoption, #ProjectHopeHumaneSociety

[greenglowinspooks]

Honestly I think the fics where Danny’s a Kryptonian have a lot of potential, so here’s me throwing my hat into the ring

Danny was born a human. He was born to two loving (though slightly neglectful) human parents in the painfully mundane state of Illinois.

Then, he died, but he didn’t do it right. He became a Halfa; too alive to be a ghost, but too dead to be human.

Then, through strange, uncontrollable circumstances, that changed as well.

He had been heavily injured, missing a large percentage of body mass, and was at the cusp of either dying fully or just fading from existence.

(Perhaps it was an ordinary fight. Perhaps it was the GiW, or his parents. Perhaps it was a simple accident. That didn’t matter now.)

He fled, phasing through the ground, trying to bury himself as deep as possible.

(Perhaps he didn’t want to be unmasked in death. Perhaps that was already too late, and he just wanted his body be able to rest in peace.)

Unfortunately for him, he was in Metropolis, and ended up in a secret genetics lab below the earth.

Danny detransformed, completely exhausted, falling onto a table covered in different labeled specimen containers. He closed his eyes, and prepared himself for what would happen next.

And… nothing.

Slowly, cautiously, he opened his eyes.

Danny sat up, brushing off the foul-smelling liquid from the specimen jars, petri dishes, and assorted vials.

He felt…fine.

No, better than fine. He felt normal. Healthy.

He felt like he wasn’t missing most of his internal organs anymore.

Danny looked down at his stomach, and saw that the wounds that were killing him had completely disappeared.

(The blood blossoms, if there had been any, were still there, but they no longer hurt. At most, they itched a little, or maybe just tickled a bit.)

He wanted to question what in the hell had just happened, but he didn’t want to jinx it. He just quietly changed back to Phantom, going invisible and phasing out of wherever he had found himself in, ignoring the loud alarm system that had begun to blare when he broke the samples on that table.

Life mostly went back to normal after that.

If, like Danny, you ignored all the physical changes in a valiant effort to remain in denial that something was horribly wrong.

His skin was tougher, now; he didn’t get scrapes or cuts, even when he accidentally fumbled a knife while trying to cook. His ghost form was stronger, too; he was barely knocked down by his old rogues anymore.

He could fly, even in his human form. Though, admittedly, the flight was much different. It was like using a muscle he hadn’t known existed beforehand. He didn’t just ignore gravity or wind resistance, though he felt more graceful in the air now than he ever did as Phantom.

There were more powers popping up, lasers and cold breath, x-ray vision and super strength. His lungs and heart were larger, and he could handle temperatures much easier. He didn’t have to transform to handle the pressure and cold of space anymore.

His reaction time had improved, becoming much faster than ever before. His senses were much stronger, and he had even seemed to gain a sense of electric fields, like a shark.

The only thing that separated him from a Kryptonian was that he had developed electrokenesis, which he had never seen any of them use on TV.

So, surely, he was fine.

Everything was normal, he hadn’t been transformed by alien DNA in a sketchy lab, he had just had a really weird and specific metagene activation.

—

Clark Kent, Kal-El, was panicking.

It had been around a month and a half since a particularly brutal fight between Intergang and an unknown assailant, and it seemed that Intergang was determined to draw out whoever had scorned them.

Their method of doing this, of course, was trying to level the city.

He and Jon were doing their best to stop them, but with both Kon and Zor-El away on their own business, it was difficult.

And by difficult, he meant almost impossible.

Slowly but surely he was driving them back, but not without massive amounts of damage to the city, especially with only Jon on dedicated rescuing duty.

He was distracted, trying to draw a group away from a heavily occupied building, when a projectile hit him in the back of the head.

The world spun for a moment, and then it went black.

(It was, probably, then, some sort of Kryptonite-metal alloy. Intergang at its finest.)

He woke slowly, forcing his eyes open. He felt like he had been hit by an eighteen wheeler.

Clark jolted up, preparing for the worst.

To his shock, though, the city hadn’t been reduced to rubble while he was out.

Jon seemed to still be working on evacuation, either unaware that he had went down or forcing himself to focus on the task at hand.

Then, a lightning-quick figure flew into view, and Clark’s mind went blank.

He thought, for a moment, that Kara was back. But, no, that wasn’t right, she was supposed to be off-planet for another week or so.

Besides, this new figure didn’t move like her. They were lankier and more slender, and they flew quicker than any member of his family.

Their powerset was different, too; they focused mainly on using blasts of ice and electricity to drive enemies back, only occasionally using their strength or lasers—ones which came from their hands instead of their eyes.

He had woken up at the tail end of the fight, it seemed. The remaining Intergang members were fleeing from the mysterious metahuman.

They stayed in the sky, motionless, watching them leave.

As if they could sense him staring, they turned.

They were small, still clearly young. Probably around Kon’s age, or maybe even younger.

Instead of the colorful clothing he had inherited from his family, the stranger wore black and white clothes which looked similar to a hazmat suit, their face covered by some sort of gas mask.

Interestingly enough, instead of the S-shape crest that he was so used to seeing, the stranger wore the letter D on his chest.

Kal’s heart sped up.

From up in the sky, he heard the stranger’s heart, on the left instead of the right, speed up in return.

But before he could say a word to them, they sped off, disappearing into the deep blue sky.

[kaijutegu]

IL is having a contest to replace our not-very-good state flag and there are some amazingly good unserious submissions. I'm gonna show you my three favorites first and then put up a read more because this is a long post but you should click the read more anyways because laser Lincoln is too good to pass up.

If you want to see all of them, the PDF is here- but be warned, it's 1,878 pages long. However, there are some REALLY cute and well-thought-out kid designs towards the end- I think my favorite one from the kid-submitted ones is the one where there's our state mushroom releasing spores. Or maybe the one where the description says "We have the cubs and they suck."

Anyways, flags!

"The green background color represents our State's beautiful prairies. The goblin represents the uplifting spirit of our citizens, always hungry to achieve our dreams and goals. The "State Seal Dish" represents our state's government and the guidance and support it provides. The state of Illinois that is being consumed represents the nourishment that this State provides to its people. The text simply displays what is true."

"My flag represents the great turtles of our state. Illinois is home to seventeen different turtle species! This flag shows what Illinois is all about."

(There's nothing unserious about this, this SHOULD be our flag.)

"the laser beam projects a powerful image of Illinois. I believe my design is so powerful it does not need to be discussed."

"The blue-heeler cartoon dog represents the below-average rate of dogs in Illinois and the need for more. It also represents Australia's looming takeover of young America's minds. The blue background represents Illinois's blue sky. The word "Illinois" written in Hello Headline font represents Illinois and the clouds. The scroll has the words "State Sovereignty, National Bluey" written on it, which serves as a tribute to the old flag."

"The white and blue color is inspired by the Centennial flag, while the brown represents the Dave Matthews Band incident which is fondly remembered to Illinoisians. The bird is a Norhern Cardinal, the Illinois state bird. It destroying Chicago skyline represents how the city is often overrepresented and other cities didn’t get the representation deserved. The CGpog emojis pays tribute to Gavin Atack, which is the most legendary Chicagoan and symbolize how Illinois is a very POG state."

"This flag depicts Abraham Lincoln riding a woolly mammoth. Abe, who is the subject of our state motto "Land of Lincoln", represents honesty and virtue. The mammoth is an example of one of the most impressive creatures that roamed our state in its prehistory. The white background is an homage to the previous state flag, where the white separated it from the typical "seal on blue bed sheet".

This one is just AI slop- but it did make me laugh because I found the pretentious artist description to be hilariously at odds with the fact that this is AI slop: "StreetVanGogh: The Paintbrush that Binds Chicago and Illinois"In the heart of Illinois, where the wind whispers secrets through the prairies and the river runs like ink across a page, lies a city born from fire—Chicago. StreetVanGogh, an artist molded by this urban forge, wields a paintbrush not just as a tool, but as a compass that draws the lines connecting his city to the state he calls home.Chicago is the pulse of Illinois, a metropolis with a skyline that scratches at the stars," Hey, StreetVanGogh? Illinois famously does not have mountains. And Chicago famously does not have two Sears Towers. Try harder next time.

"It's a glistening NUTS though"

"The flag has a rainbow background, celebrating the vibrant LGBTQ culture in Illinois as well as the racial and ethnic diversity that makes this state great. The Chinese text is there to represent our fantastic Chinese community, the largest in the midwest. It reads, "Peace and joy, independent nation" which is what this state should aspire to be. In the center, is an outline of the great state itself with our most famous person, Abraham Lincoln, blushing to honored to be on this flag." I would love to know what those characters actually say.

"16th US President and Illinoisan Abraham Lincoln is a symbol of our great state and his work in quashing The Confederacy in the American Civil War cannot be understated. The background color is meant to evoke that of a Union Army uniform of the period, with the red representing the blood he shed defending our democracy to the bitter end. Lincoln would be proud to fly this beautiful banner commemorating his achievements."

"The colors represent the proud Chicago style hot dog. Beige for the bun and celery salt, carmine for the tomato and vienna beef, chartreuse for pickles and sport peppers, citrine for the mustard, white for the onions, and kelly green for the relish. The 21 black dots represent poppy seeds, as well as Illinois' inclusion as the 21st state. The citrine stripe of the mustard also represents corn and Malört."

There were a couple of hot dog flags, but this one gets a special dishonourable mention for mentioning Malört.

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Danny was annoyed. Who were these people? Vlad hadn't even been dead for a week before these people with cameras began stalking him. He could understand paparazzi in any other city. But this was Amity Park. Nothing ever happened here...except the ghosts but that wasn't too unusual compared to other places like Metropolis and Gotham.

Speaking of Gotham, most of these reporters seemed to be form there. What were people from New Jersey doing all the way in Illinois? And why were they crowded around his house? Why were they asking about Bruce Wayne? Did Vlad do something before his death that put him at odds with the Gotham Billionaire playboy?

Danny heard the security system shoot another one of the reporters and sighed before activating the Baba Yaga protocol. It was hilarious to see the looks on thier faces when the house grew legs and walked away.

Dannys parents had long since chased off any potential babysitters, so they just made an AI to babysit him when they were away. Said AI was taking care of him for the two weeks his parents were away and his older sister was at summer camp. Danny actually preferred this because the AI could cook way better than his mom and better at driving than his dad.

With everyone gone and the AI hacked by him and his elementary school on summer break, this seemed like the perfect time to go to this Bruce guy and ask him whats going on.

Aka one of the bats has a kid out there and the press learns about it before the bats do. Danny is an overconfident little kid who feels untouchable in his parents mad science house.

Is Danny still Phantom in this au? Who's son is he? Was vlad still obsessed with him and maddie and made him his heir? So many questions. You decide.

[tiny-space-platypus]

Hehe thanks for the idea!! Part 2

Tim is going insane. He put a tracker on that guy that really, really looked like his brother and the tracker didn't make sense. He's been watching it all morning, for a while it would move normally then suddenly he was across Gotham or in metropolis or in Illinois??? How did he keep jumping back and fourth from Jersey to Illinois in seconds.

The worst when the tracker would just stop for like an hour and be entirely undetectable then pop back up again. Tim was growing grays thinking about it. He couldn't focus on that now though he had to be a CEO right now. He'll have Babs look into him.

Babs was also going insane. She had figured Tim was just being dramatic about this guy just disappearing and reappearing randomly but that's exactly what he did and he really did look like a much friendlier Jason. There was another problem whenever the cameras focused on him they'd suddenly glitch out which was Infuriating. That shouldn't be possible this computer and those cameras were the best you could and couldn't buy. They were better than the most high tech government devices so why are they freaking out now?? What is wrong with this guy. She sent Tim a text.

Babs: (video of computer glitching out as soon as she zooms in on Danny) I don't know what this guy is. I can't even get a good enough read on his face that won't crash my computer. Which should not be possible.

Tim: meta maybe?? He doesn't seem dangerous just odd.

Babs: possibly keep an eye on him though.

Tim: was the plan.

Part 3

Part 1

[justheretodump]

this is going to be dc x danny phantom x miraculous ladybug x spiderman

pt 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

for those who aren't familiar with every show, here's a lore explanation

---

when marinette had reached out to cat blanc, her heart bled with conflict. she had been wrong to give adrien the gift, wrong to use her powers for selfish reasons. regret coursed through her veins, sadness clouded her face with tears, and hatred brewed at the man gabriel agreste chose to be. her last visage was that of cat blanc kneeling in pain and her heart hurt for him.

---

peter parker had not survived his encounter with the vulture on the beach. he had enough time to tie the man up but amongst the scattered debris and plane cargo on the sand, he had slowly fallen to one knee, and then the other, before slumping forward with a last breath.

his only thought was that may parker would have dinner alone, and what kind of nephew was he to miss family dinner?

---

red robin did not trust many people. his family and his titans, undoubtedly. in a professional capacity, a few of the justice leaguers and close colleagues like gordon. outside of that, he tended to tread with caution. like every robin before and after, it was hard to refuse batman's particular brand of paranoia. dick had always stood out by sometimes (the key being sometimes) refusing bruce's hardheaded wariness. jason had the emotional intelligence of a pumpkin, though he would cooperate with "untrustwrothy allies" just to spite bruce. it fell on to tim, then, to be a carbon copy of his mentor. c'est la vie, and all that.

when batman received a call from constantine asking for technological help, red robin eyed the comm warily. justice league dark needed every member available due to the recent ghost cases and the australian running off had been bad timing.

"batman," the man's voice was serious and fast-paced in the echo of the cave, "jazz called from illinois, the call cut out, bad signal or something. she was panicking. i need you to try and trace it."

batman hadn't needed to say anything, red robin had already begun to search for all state phone towers emitting a weird signal.

"springfield isn't turning up anything."

"no, no," constantine denied bruskly, "she mentioned another place, amity park. i don't know where the fuck that is, she's never talked about it."

oracle, from her corner of the computer wall, piped in, "jazz fenton was transferred to springfield's house for wandering girls when her family passed away in a house fire in amity park."

"why would she visit her family house after all this time?" batman mused.

"well," barbara continued, "says here the house was passed to her name when she came of age. maybe she finally wanted to check on it."

"she wouldn't just leave," constantine pressed, "she was obsessed with the ghost cases we've got going on."

red robin stopped his typing to read the silenced comm link blaring at the edge of the screen. "batman, we've got zatanna online."

"oracle, patch her through."

while zatanna spoke to oracle through her headset, red robin frowned at the messages on the terminal. signals across the town were poor, barely enough to reach springfield. anything further than that was a miracle connection. citizens would have to direct all communication to springfield before accessing the wider world. red robin tried pingponging the signal to other stronger towers but they were incompatible. his frown deepened. what obscure provider did they contract for the town?

"batman," oracle called, voice steely, "we've got news about arabia.

the pit disappeared."

---

"superman," spoke red robin's voice through his earpiece. clark winced. sudden calls with no warning were the bats' specialty, no matter how disliked it was.

"hello to you too."

"busy in metropolis?"

clark stared from his place in the sky at the traffic jam on the expressway. he shrugged, "no, not really."

"great, i'm sending you coordinates to jazz fenton, she works with the jld. 45 minutes ago her call to constantine cut off. it's the first time she's talked to him in two weeks, gone missing somewhere in illinois."

clark darted through the air, red robin's no-nonsense voice cluing him in on the severity of the situation. he didn't know jazz fenton nor constantine very well, but a fellow hero in need of help was always an important matter.

he zoned in on the blinking dot of his wrist watch - a justice league perk from the bat himself.

"any idea what i'm going to get?"

"not really," red robin drawled, "all we know is she sounded like she was in a panic. the location isn't hers, it's her phone signal before it cut off."

"alright, be there in 5."

---

tucker foley blew a bubble with his gum, letting it pop in boredom as he walked down the sidewalk. it was a sunny weekend afternoon, and the record store had sold out of chappell roan albums already. probably paulina again. he couldn't be too mad, it was probably the lesbian gods favoring an actual lesbian.

the town was a bit more busy than usual. it was thanksgiving week and all the out of state family members were passing by to reunite.

nobody in the hustle of the square really stood out; there went the baxters arguing about how many potatotes were needed for dinner, and mr. lancer with his new partner (a boston dentist, mrs. babette had whispered over the grocery aisle last week).

pulling out his phone, he dialed sam. they were meeting later tonight, but tucker felt it was important to pass on that the dentist was wearing gothic clothing.

just as sam muttered a clipped "what do you want?" from the receiver, two very strange things happened before tucker foley.

one, a weird object whizzed through the air, too fast for the naked eye to fully figure out. tucker thought it was superman, which would've been pretty cool, but it was probably a fighter jet from the nearby base. they'd never taken their jets out before, but what did tucker know about military operations?

secondly, and perhaps the most important one, was a flash of ginger hair out of the corner of his eye. he turned to look, and the figure hurrying down the street made his breath catch. distant memories of a boy's laughter rang in his head as he watched jazz fenton, older and looking harried, basically speedwalk with her phone in hand.

he choked as he swallowed his gum.

"sam," he whispered, the girl replying with a worried "tucker?"

"sam, i think i just saw jasmine fenton."

[loving-n0t-heyting]

the IL flag design competition entries are reminding me of the farce official illinois propaganda needs to maintain for some reason that we are a midwestern small town and farming state that happens to have a particularly large city in the northeastern corner rather than a metropolis plus some surrounding hamlets and farmland

proposal to simply rename the state "chicago (state)" like in NY and be done with this tedious rural-pandering

[burritowitch]

i feel like yj should do something like the titans and go find a city to make their own since theyre all kind of trapped at the moment. keeping them in gotham/metropolis/new york/san fransisco would be boring so heres a bunch of other cities in the U.S.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

This 1901 Victorian in Metropolis, Illinois has a surreal magical feel. It has 4bds, 2ba, and all this magic is only $275K.

When you walk into the main entrance hall, doesn't it feel like a magical place?

There is a lovely sitting room with an arched doorway and beautiful original fireplace.

The 2nd sitting room is also lovely.

The carpet and walls matche so perfectly in the dining room.

The kitchen appears to still retain the original footprint, woodwork and windows, but was fitted with white Shaker cabinets.

Cute vintage bath #1.

The gold theme continues on up the stairs.

The principle bedroom is so spacious and has an origianl fireplace.

It appears that all the bedrooms are very large.

Upgraded vintage bath #2.

The finished attic.

It appears that they're in the middle of finishing the basement.

Large workshop down here has a nice workbench.

Looks they might've used the garage for a rummage sale.

There's a nice fountain on the side of the house.

Beautiful porch and gated corner property.

It looks like this property includes the access road behind the house, also.

Just a magical home with the upper porches and octagonal room at the top.