#tim zom

[jekyllandhamlet]

Vamp au Jay Merrick!

[saturnxlust]

HEYYY :P ik its been awhile my bad😔

Injured!Proxys+ben x Doctor! Reader

Tim Wright/ Masky

So this man is closed off, all of the proxys are😞

But hes not a idiot, he knows when his body has had enough and when he needs help

The only way you’d be able to help him is if its a severe wound or if your close with him

Im talking at least 2+ years of either dating or being friends..

Lucky you if you’ve made it this long!

Now actually helping him is difficult

Hes stubborn and doesnt like to admit hes in pain so when you stitch his sorry ass up or disinfect it, he winces but swears hes fine

Hes not fine

He also complains the entire time about how he could do it himself

Knowing full well he couldnt he just likes to be a pain in the ass

Brian Thomas/hoodie

Hes more lenient, he’ll let you help him even though we all know this man could do it himself

It wouldnt be good but as long as he isnt bleeding out he doesnt really care

Although hes the more lenient one hes still closed off and it takes atleast a year or more to be able to help him

The first time you actually clean up a wound he falls deeper in love

Its not covered in dried blood or anything!

Hes amazed at how gentle you were and found it cute if you were concerned about him

It gets to the point where he would make small bruises or cuts just to have you put a little bandaid on his finger or put pain cream on his bruise

He would totally make you kiss the bandages after, no matter how big or small😭

He has dinosaur bandaids and unicorn bandaids.

Toby Rogers

Oh boy buckle up

So he cant feel pain

Good luck☺️

He doesnt know hes hurt and most likely you wont either

If you somehow get him to wash his fuckass sweatshirt and seem to see a wound, he too, would be confused and surprised

He would find how concerned you were funny and laugh as you clean him up

If you yelled at him while he laughed he’d tell you to relax and that hes fine

Hes not fine

Like brian he would make small cuts and or bruises to have you patch him up

Back tracking a little, it would take a few months but not because hes closed off

He trusts you completely to not hurt him physically

It was just getting to see him without his sweatshirt on that was difficult

He keeps that thing on all the time no way your getting a peak at his scrawny ass unless you rip that sweatshirt off him or if you get…spicy.. with him..

Eyeless Jack

HAH

Good luck

He went to medical school

This man knows what hes doing

But like the others finds it funny that you want to help him

He doesnt need it but honestly

Hes too smart to get too badly injured, if he does it’s because he went awhile wothout eating and became reckless

I think that if he were to go more then a fee weeks without eating he would get reckless with how he got the kidneys

He wouldnt leave the victims alive and leave them in their bed naked with incisions on their stomach

When that happens he usually comes home with a bruise or scratches from the victims fighting back,

If you’ve gotten to the point that you know about that and accept it, not only will you be helping clean him up

You’d help clean his clothes up

Hes a clean guy dont get me wrong but after eating i think he would just need to sleep

And if your like me theres no way that 7’ tall demon is getting in my bed soaked in blood and possible guts ☺️

Jeffery Hodek

God i wish you luck if your with this man

He will let his wounds get infected for fun and he will enjoy it when you get upset (COUGH COUGH MOUTH CUTS COUGH)

He honestly couldnt care less and again, finds it amusing when you yell at him

Lets be honest his story is written awful so im gonna tweak it a litte

He did not get bleached, there was a explosion and some of his hair burnt off, it has since grown back a little but the burn scars are still there

So if you want to help him clean his mouth he’ll complain and tease you and taunt you but he’ll let you do it

..if you even want to after all that.😒

Benjamin Lawman

So he can’t actually get hurt…i mean unless hes like a zombie but he isnt, this guys a ghost

So i mean, unless he has some power to be human magically theres really nothing that can hurt him

Even you..

But you should find a way to hurt him, whether it be physical or emotional causr hes a jackass

And will make fun of you just to see you cry😒

Either bring up something from his past(he might get a little angry at that🥰) or threaten to throw him into a lake

You can’t actually throw him but..he..doesnt need to know that😇

[pinkykitty11]

zombeh tim

tw: blood, zombie thibg uhh, and some bones showing um uhhhh idk

omg, it’s OCT-OBER

zom zom tom

extra

[DO NOT REPOST]

I gave him livor mortis

bonus

(4-10-24: uh here’s an update, my utau cover is going good so far, I slightly know what I’m doing now and I stopped using Fushi Murasaki, I’m using Acme Iku instead. Yes I know this news isn’t relevant to the post but I just wanted to put it here)

[dyketectivecomics]

hey, i have a question, how would you write Cassie and Jinny's relationship?

would jinny be on young justice, will it be long distance, what would their dynamic be?

My gut instinct was to say that I’d probably want to focus on them in those first/awkward stages of dating? Half the fun of reading for me sometimes is just enjoying the journey of two idiots figuring things out. Sometimes ya just want some sickly sweet fluff!

But the more that I think abt Cassie having a fraught history dating Kon/Tim, the metas abt comphet & okay also CassieRose visits my mind a LOT, not rent-free just as a surprise guest atm… also Jinny still on the heels of finding her last gf cheating & when we last saw her doin the road-trip thing with her friend (now kinda-sister???)

I’m like 👀 there’s some messy potential here AND I LOVE IT

But to circle back & try to answer in mostly the same order:

If DC were to give me the reins to write a run today, I’d def want to know what Outsiders is gonna do with Jinny first & make sure I’m not stepping on too many toes obvsly. I rlly hope that they’re picking up on the road trip from the end of her Special, but the premise isn’t leaving me super hopeful that there’s any editors left at DC to pay attention to that kind of thing 🙃 also there’s speculation rn abt a new YJ book with a diff cast so I don’t think either of them are gonna be part of YJ here pretty soon 😅

For fic writing tho, the beauty is that we can Licherally do whatever we want, so I can be as canon-compliant or noncompliant as possible so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ in that respect it’s a matter of when I would want that potential fic to take place (or ig what setting 👀 YJ college au request in my inbox I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOUUUU)

Long distance I think doesn’t really factor when one of the pair is able to fly so uh 😅 change in setting would have to be more of a factor to consider that? (Again, college AU I might consider it for its conflict potential 🤔) (also what qualifies as long distance bc I’ve got a friend who’s dating a guy that’s like 3hrs away, but that’s Texas distance so it’s nbd for them to see each other on weekends but I know some ppl would consider Not Living in the Same City as long distance so aksjsks) idk, distance just isn’t a big deal to me in Gen tho too. Like, You Find A Way to make it work or you don’t and that’s where delicious Conflict™️ can take root lol

And ahh dynamic… that age-old question… who’s Red/Blue, the Grump/Sunshine, who falls first vs who falls harder, god there’s so many things to consider. I do think I fall back on thinking of them as the Opposite Worlds Attract kinda dynamic (wait no, now I’m thinking of night at the museum and zom made that gemhex, not wonderhex I’m 😭😭😭)

It’s FINE, there’s not much new under the sun 😂 but yea, wonderhex is something I love a lot, would love an excuse to write for them 👀👀👀 I just need a nudge 👀

[doctorstrangereview]

Strange Tales #158

Cover Date: July 1967 On-Sale Date: April 11, 1967

It's been four years and two days since Doc debuted back in 1963. Stan Lee has once again passed the writing chores back to Roy Thomas. Dialogue gets very stiff and wordy with lots of exclamation points. For his anniversary, we get a story without a villain, at least in the traditional sense. Instead Doc gets a lot of flashbacks and a test. Does he pass?

Doc is still at Stonehenge at the feet of the Living Tribunal and watching his precious Cloak of Levitation go up in flames. Trib-y has sentenced the Earth to destruction because of Doc's actions freeing Zom. (It was The Ancient One's idea, but he's stuck in a big rock so Doc is the next best thing.) Trib-y goes on about how beneath his notice Doc is and then proceeds to tell Doc everything! Way to go, three-visaged one!

Trib-y starts with some recent flashbacks featuring Umar and Zom. It's only one line of panels fortunately and doesn't waste too much time and space. Time and space are better used for Trib-y to tell us all about who he is.

He's an all-in-one tribunal. The three faces give judgements. I don't think we ever learn exactly how this works as the judgement is unanimous. Is it majority rule so 2 out of 3, or does it have to be unanimous. Perhaps we'll learn someday.

Trib-y then starts with a more encompassing show. He starts to show Doc the birth of the universe. An immensely powerful cosmic being shows this to Doc and Doc chooses to look away. This isn't your most brilliant moment, master of the mystic arts?

Trib-y goes on to explain how each universe/dimension has one supreme master of sorcery. This appears to be the origin of the concept of the sorcerer supreme. This actual phrase won't be mentioned for about another year and codifying it as an official position and title that Doc ascends to is another seven years away. But, the seeds have been planted.

Releasing Zom has caused an imbalance to this concept and that's what Trib-y is attempting to correct. He doesn't care about "good" and "evil," just the balance. He never does say how releasing Zom upsets this balance, but does show the effects. A bunch of naughty people with latent mystic powers have just have their abilities awakened and this is specifically demonstrated by someone who looks like Ebenezer Scrooge. Run Tiny Tim!

This seems to be purely an Earth phenomena and Trib-y thinks that the bad dudes are gonna get together and wreck up the place. Thus Earth must be destroyed before that can happen. Yes, let's destroy it before it destroys itself. That makes sense!

Trib-y then goes on to describe how he plans to make Earth shuffle off this mortal coil. I must say, Ms. Severin gives us the best image yet for this series.

Doc attempts to fight Trib-y. Trib-y flings the spell back at Doc who gets trapped in it. Fortunately, Doc has recently inherited the Ancient One's power and is able to free himself. Trib-y seems mildly impressed.

This doesn't mean Trib-y rolls over and goes away. He merely repeats the spell to entrap a weakened Doc a second time. Oops! Doc didn't think about that!

Doc distracts Trib-y by telling him that he and the Ancient One fought evil while Trib-y was just a voyeur watching for where a Living Tribunal goes when court isn't in session. Trib-y forgets about his spell and Doc frees himself from it. Doc and Trib-y go back and forth and the tortuous logic leads to Trib-y mentioning the destroyed cloak of levitation lying on the ground. It looks so sad; just the collar remains. Doc must be very persuasive because the fate of the Earth rests on Doc's ability to fix his overcoat.

Of course, Doc succeeds and looks grand again in his spectacular outerwear.

Things aren't quite wrapped up. For Earth to remain in one piece, Doc must undo the things Zom's presence has unleashed. Of course he has a limited amount of time to do this. How will this be measured? By a giant hourglass of course. What's it called? The Sands of Death. Peter Griffin must be smiling like he does every time a movie title is used in a movie. Doc heads back to his Sanctum Sanctorum to plan his next move. Just wait until he sees what Umar has done to the place!

I doubt anyone realized this would be published on Doc's anniversary, but it's still a bit special. We get details on a character that will big impacts on the Marvel Universe in the ensuing decades. I kinda like that. There's no real villain. The Tribunal is merely carrying out his function. Doc is supremely outclassed and must think his way out of the situation as brute force simply won't do. He does that masterfully. Roy, your Doc may be a pompous ass most of the time, but at least he's a smart pompous ass. It's an entertaining interlude between the Zom arc and the next one.

[jobbygoblin]

Hiii welcome to my blog, it's basically just a mishmash of the stuff I like. I'm 20, Taken, a Demigirl and go by she/they. 🩷💜💙 Bisexual AF.

I'm really into Goth, Scemo, and other Y2K aesthetics/fashion. I also enjoy the music as well! I need more friends so please don't be afraid to interact 🤗 I'm trying to put myself out there lol

I also am into colorful makeup as well, my favorite colors to use are Purple 💜, Blue 💙, Green 💚, Pink 🩷 and off course a little bit of Black 🖤

My interests: Tim Burton movies (any of them) currently building a collection of them.

Anime: Fairy Tail, One Piece, BLUE EXORCIST, Fire Force, Zom 100, SOUL EATER ect

Video games: Halo, X BLADES, Legend of Zelda (ALL GAMES, but I really like Twilight princess and tears of the kingdom), Mario kart, Kirby's adventure, ULTIMATE BAND, I can't think of anymore

[allcrush]

tomi more like tim tom tom tim

tom bom fom com pom rom wom zom

[seveneo]

Trong một thế giới nơi mà tất cả đều sẽ bị cuốn trôi theo dòng nước, thì thứ mà t phải đối diện đầu tiên là sự chia ly. Trong thế giới này, tôi và em đi loot đồ.Đạp tung mọi cánh cửa, tôi sẽ lấy mọi thứ em mún.Nhưng hầu hết là vô bụng hai đứa, vì chúng tôi đều là những con người có tâm hồn ăn ún. No say, em và tôi lại lên đường. Nhìn ngắm mọi thứ trước khi tất cả biến mất.Tất cả những gì đang hiện hữu, những nơi mà ta đã qua, những kỉ niệm rồi cũng sẽ trôi theo dòng nước. EM NHỚ MẸ, tôi đưa em về.Như lẽ thường tình, ta đều mún ở bên người thân ở những phút giây cuối cùng. Ba anh quyết định ở lại, nhường cơ hội cho người con gái mà ba đã yêu. Tôi tôn trọng quyết định đó, (con sẽ đưa mẹ đến nơi an toàn). Mặc dù tôi mún cả gia đình sẽ ở bên nhau. Nhưng tôi muốn được thấy em, bỏ lại tất cả.( Con sẽ sống và nhớ về nơi này và những kỉ niệm của gia đình mình) Y B con của ba.Trên đường những gì anh thấy khiến hi vọng của anh bị thử thách, em đâu rồi. Đã nhiều ngày chuyến xe cuối cùng đã rồi đi, mẹ đã lên tàu trước.Tôi tự hỏi, em bây giờ thế nào.

Tuuuuuuu. Tiếng tàu réo lên, tim tôi như quặn lại. Tôi ko thể chờ được nữa, tàu sắp đi rồi. Đến giây cuối cùng, chắc em đã lên tàu rồi. HI VỌNG LẠI MỘT LẦN NỮA, ANH PHẢI SỐNG. Lên con xe tự động, thấp thỏm nếu mình không làm được thì sao. Chả có thời gian để sợ hãi, xe đã bị lật. Zombie ở mọi hư��ng, tôi không cam tâm. Anh muốn được nhìn thấy em lần cuối, máu zồn lên não.Tôi làm mọi thứ có thể, tôi sẽ bị cắn và biến thành một con zom hay sẽ chết vì bị xé xác trước khi việc đó kịp xảy ra. Lửa lan ra khắp nơi

BOOM chiếc xe đã nổ, tai tôi đau, đầu như mún nổ ra, máu ở khắp nơi. Tôi chưa chết , chớp lấy nó, ít ra việc tôi chạy bộ mỗi tuần đã phát huy tác dụng. Zom sao mà chạy lại anh, mừng hơi sớm. Một đàn zom khác ở trước mặt, trước sau là những thứ mún gặm tôi tới xương, hai bên là biển. Giá như tôi biết bay nhỉ, thì tôi có thể bày đến bên em rồi. Chậc không bay đc thì xuống vậy, chạy đến gần mép cầu.Tôi phát hiện hai bên cầu có cấu tạo như những cái lồng, nó giúp tôi di chuyển giữa bầy không não này.

haha có cc ăn được bố m

Tủi lol

Vui mừng quá sớm thì gặp một bầy thỏ điên to vc

, chúng chiu vào được vào mấy cái lồng 🌚.

Như chết lặng

Chẳng làm đc gì ngoài việc tiếp vừa bò vừa đạp vào mỏ nó

Cuối cùng cũng tới

Những người gần đó phát hiện ra tôi và đến giúp, có mẹ luôn ở đó chờ tôi.

Quay lại thực tại, khi không thấy em đâu cả.

Nhìn tàu chuẩn bị rời đi

Tôi tuyệt vọng nhìn về phía xa

THƯ ƠI EM ĐÂU RỒI

Và rồi em đã đến

Vỡ oà

Chạy đến và bế em lên tàu với đống đồ em mang

Haha con thấy rồi

Con thấy cô gái của con rồi

Hahahahaha

Em👥🐆Anh mẹ em và mẹ anh

Hi vọng là thật anh không thể mất em đâuu

Tuy chỉ là giấc mơ và có vài thứ không rõ ràng lắm

Nhưng anh rất vui khi có em ở bên

Sau đó thì chúng ta được sắp xếp vào những lớp học .Những đôi mắt nhìn về phía em

Let any ball touch her and u kill u with my hand

Anh thức dậy 4h10p nghĩ về em

4h18 note lại và . Em một cái...

Không thể chỉ chọn những điều mình thích

Bởi vốn dĩ những điều đó phải đi cùng nhau

Như việc nghĩ về em đôi khi lại cười

Nhưng khi nghĩ quá nhiều thì nước mắt lại rơi

Nên luôn có cái giá phải trả

Và anh trả bằng tấm chân tình

Đổi lại chỉ được yêu bản thân mình

#dream

[mostlyskateboarding]

[texwiseword]

Tim Zom, Marseille/2

[sevenplyrotterdam]

Drop by for some coffee and grab the new NOISE mag!

[ghoulo-o]

My comic is nowhere near finished but I still wanted to try and make a cover for it (I’m barely done scripting part 1 of it :’3) Anyway, characters, some you might recognize, others are mine.

Left side (top to bottom) Masky/Tim Hoodie/Brian Jack Ben

Right side (top to bottom) Jane Jeff Liu Zom (my oc)

Middle Evelyn (girl on the left side, my oc) Jasper (boy on the right, also my oc)

So, yeah, I wanna post more about this project in the future, so if you’re interested, stay tuned. (Once again, all these designs are my personal headcanons except my own characters of course)

As always, click for better quality :)

[multiverseforger]

In the novel, It is a shapeshifting monster who usually takes the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, originating in a void containing and surrounding the Universe—a place referred to in the novel as the "Macroverse". It arrived on Earth during an asteroid impact and made its home under the land which Derry would be built on, initially preying on indigenous tribes. It would sleep for millions of years, then, when humans appeared in Derry, would fall into a 27-year slumber and wake for about a year in order to feed on human fear, often assuming the shape of what its prey fear the most. It has a preference for children since their fears are easier to interpret and adults are harder to scare, in a physical form. It can manipulate people with weaker wills, making them indifferent to the horrific events that unfold or even serve as accomplices.

In the novel, It claims that its true name is Robert "Bob" Gray, and is named "It" by the Losers Club. Throughout the book, It is generally referred to as male due to usually appearing as Pennywise. The Losers come to believe It may be female (because it lays eggs), and perceiving It's true form as a monstrous giant spider. However, It's true appearance is briefly observed by Bill Denbrough via the Ritual of Chüd as a mass of swirling destructive orange lights known as "deadlights", which inflict insanity or death on any living being that sees them directly. The only person to survive the ordeal is Bill's wife Audra Phillips, although she is rendered temporarily catatonic by the experience.

Its natural enemy is the "Space Turtle" or "Maturin", another ancient dweller of King's "Macroverse" who, eons ago, created the known universe and possibly others by vomiting them out as the result of a stomachache. The Turtle appears again in King's series The Dark Tower. Wizard and Glass, one of the novels in the series, suggests that It, along with the Turtle, are themselves creations of a separate, omnipotent creator referred to as "the Other" (possibly Gan, who is said to have created the various universes where King's novels take place).

Throughout the novel It, some events are depicted from Pennywise's point of view, describing itself as a "superior" being, with the Turtle as an equal and humans as mere "toys". It's hibernation begins and ends with horrific events, like the mysterious disappearance of the Derry Township's 300 settlers in 1740–43 or the ironworks explosion. It awoke during a great storm that flooded part of the city in 1957, with Bill's younger brother Georgie the first in a line of killings before the Losers Club fight the monster, a confrontation culminating in Bill using the Ritual of Chüd to severely wound It and force It into hibernation. Continually surprised by the Losers' victory, It briefly questions its superiority before claiming that they were only lucky, as the Turtle is working through them. It is finally destroyed 27 years later in the second Ritual of Chüd, and an enormous storm damages the downtown part of Derry to symbolize It's death.

Pennywise makes a tangential appearance in King's 2011 novel 11/22/63, in which protagonist Jake Epping meets a couple of the children from It, asks them about a recent murder in their town, and learns that the murderer apparently "wasn't the clown." It also appears to Jake in the old ironworks, where it taunts Jake about "the rabbit-hole," referring to the time portal in which Jake moves from one time to another.

Film and televisionEdit

In the 1990 miniseries, Pennywise is portrayed by English actor Tim Curry. One original guise is made for the miniseries: Ben Hanscom's deceased father (played by Steve Makaj).

In the 2017 film adaptation, It Chapter One and its 2019 sequel It Chapter Two, Pennywise is portrayed by Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård.[5] The second movie slightly deviates from the book in It's final form being a drider-version of Pennywise and is motivated by revenge on the Losers Club. Will Poulter was originally cast as Pennywise, with Curry describing the role as a "wonderful part" and wishing Poulter the best of luck, but dropped out of the production due to scheduling conflicts and first film's original director Cary Fukunaga leaving the project. Spanish actor Javier Botet was cast as the Hobo leper in both movies and the monstrous form of Ms. Kersh in the second film. Two original guises were made for the first film: the Headless Boy, a burnt victim of the Kitchener Ironworks incident (played by Carter Musselman), and the Amedeo Modigliani–based painting Judith (played by Tatum Lee).[6]

Pennywise will also appear as a supporting character in the upcoming live-action/animated film Space Jam: A New Legacy, which will also be distributed by Warner Bros.[7]

Reception and legacyEdit

Several media outlets such as The Guardian have spoken of the character, ranking it as one of the scariest clowns in film or pop culture.[8][9][10] The Atlantic said of the character; "the scariest thing about Pennywise, though, is how he preys on children's deepest fears, manifesting the monsters they're most petrified by (something J. K. Rowling would later emulate with boggarts)."[11] British scholar Mikita Brottman has also said of the miniseries version of Pennywise; "one of the most frightening of evil clowns to appear on the small screen" and that it "reflects every social and familial horror known to contemporary America".[12] Author Darren Shan cited Pennywise as an inspiration behind the character Mr. Dowling in his 12.5 book serial Zom-B.[13]

The American punk rock band Pennywise took its name from the character.[14]

Association with 2016 clown sightingsEdit

Main article: 2016 clown sightings

"I suspect it's a kind of low-level hysteria, like Slender Man, or the so-called Bunny Man, who purportedly lurked in Fairfax County, Virginia, wearing a white hood with long ears and attacking people with a hatchet or an axe. The clown furor will pass, as these things do, but it will come back, because under the right circumstances, clowns really can be terrifying."

—Writer Stephen King's reaction to the recurring clown scare phenomenon.[15]

The character was suggested as a possible inspiration for two incidents of people dressing up as clowns in Northampton, England and Staten Island, New York, both during 2014.[1][16]

In 2016, appearances of "evil clowns" were reported by the media, including nine people in Alabama charged with "clown-related activity".[17] Several newspaper articles suggested that the character of Pennywise was an influence, which led to King commenting that people should react less hysterically to the sightings and not take his work seriously.[18]

The first reported sighting of people dressed as evil clowns in Greenville, South Carolina was by a small boy spoke to his mother of a pair of clowns that had attempted to lure him away.[19] Additional creepy clown sightings were reported in other parts of South Carolina.[20]

Evil clowns were reported in several other U.S. states including North Carolina,[21] Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming[22] Later the same year, "clown sightings" were reported in Great Britain, Australia, and Latin America.[23][24][25]

One hypothesis for the wave of 2016 clown sightings was a viral marketing campaign,[26] possibly for the Rob Zombie film 31 (2016).[27] A spokesperson for New Line Cinema (distributor of the 2017 film adaptation of It) released a statement claiming that "New Line is absolutely not involved in the rash of clown sightings."[28]

[incorrectgrayson-toddquotes]

Day 24 of Quarantine

*11 am, sleep time for Batman*

Tim: *furiously knocking at the door of Bruce’s bedroom*

Bruce:

Tim, enters anyway: Bruce! Bruce I have been thinking-

Bruce, pulls the blanket over his head: Go... find Dick.

Tim, climbs on the bed: No, no, Bruce I have been thinking, what if we’re in the wrong universe?

Bruce: ...What do you mean “wrong” universe?

Tim: I mean like, like the universe where the Third World War happens, or the universe where human goes extinct, or a zom-

Bruce: We are NOT in a zombie apocalypse.

Tim: You know what I mean, WRONG UNIVERSE!

Bruce: ...Tim, you have to stop thinking about the multi-universes.

Tim: But maybe there’re solutions out there, you can’t blame me for trying!

Bruce, sighs: Please, just go find Dick. We will talk after lunch.

Tim, getting off the bed, murmurs: I’m building a time machine.

Bruce: And do not build a time machine.

[carolinesiede]

My 2019 Writing Roundup

Not to get too New Age-y, but 2019 felt like a very ~transformative~ year for me. I turned 30, got a literary agent, and became a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. After feeling like I’d hit a plateau in my late 20s, it was nice to experience a sense of forward momentum again, even if the lack of financial stability in this career is a constant background stress. Still, on the whole my sixth year as a full-time freelancer felt like a time where I kinda, sorta figured out what I’m doing. Instead of struggling in murky waters, I’m at least actively swimming in them.

I continued to write for The A.V. Club, The Spool, and Consequence of Sound, plus took on new outlets in The Verge and Polygon. I also had an article about romantic comedies published in Southwest Airline’s in-flight magazine and was asked to talk about Hallmark Channel Christmas rom-coms on Canadian radio. Speaking of rom-coms, 2019 was the second year (and first full-year) for When Romance Met Comedy, and I feel like the column really came into its own this year. It’s by far the biggest undertaking of my career (I’ve covered 47 films in total so far!), and I’m really excited to continue shaping its voice in 2020.

Beyond finding a regular fitness routine and seeing Cats onstage for the first time, the biggest personal project I undertook in 2019 was immersing myself in the world of film and film criticism—something I started in mid-2018 and really amped up this year. My goal was to watch 300 new-to-me movies this year, and I wound up watching 355! (Including 129 new releases.) Regular access to CFCA screenings and screeners allowed me to be a bigger part of the film critic conversation than I’ve been in the past, which was exciting. I also tackled a bunch of blindspots from the past decade and put together a list of my 50 favorite films of the 2010s, which you can see right here:

Over on the TV side of things, I bid farewell to the Netflix Defenders universe with binge-review coverage of the final seasons of The Punisher and Jessica Jones. Those Marvel binge-reviews were a big part of my early career, so seeing that universe come to a close was bittersweet. It’s always nerve-wracking when a semi-regular assignment ends, but I’m hopeful that new projects will pop up to take its place.

Putting together this year-end retrospective also made me realize I was on a lot of podcasts in 2019, including jumping in as a regular guest on the Cinematic Universe podcast in the latter half of the year. Podcasting is something I really enjoy (I find talking so much easier than writing!), and I’d love to do more of it in the future.

With that, I’ll leave you with wishes for a Happy New Year and a roundup of all the major writing I did in 2019. If you enjoyed my work this year, it would mean a lot if you would support me on either Kofi or PayPal. Or just share some of your favorite pieces with your friends!

My 15 favorite TV shows of 2019

My 15 favorite films of 2019

Op-eds and Features

“Rom-Com Revival” for Southwest The Magazine

Avengers: Endgame doesn’t earn its big “girl power” moment

An MCU breakup could be a terrific step forward for Spider-Man

“What is a weekend?”: A catch-up guide to Downton Abbey’s cast and characters

Nope, seeing Cats the musical will not help you understand Cats the movie

Let’s talk about the ending of Greta Gerwig’s Little Women

TV Coverage

Doctor Who’s 2019 New Year’s Special

The Punisher S2

Jessica Jones S3

The Crown S3

This Is Us S3 and S4

Supergirl S4 and S5

Rent: Live

Jane The Virgin fill-in

The Tony Awards

The Little Mermaid Live! 

When Romance Met Comedy

27 Dresses doesn’t deserve your hate and neither does Katherine Heigl

Bride & Prejudice weaves an impressive cultural critique into a Bollywood-inspired Jane Austen update

How does the original What Women Want hold up two decades later?

In 1990, Pretty Woman changed romantic comedies forever

For one brief, wonderful moment, Eddie Murphy reinvented himself as a romantic-comedy star

20 years later, 10 Things I Hate About You remains a model for how to do the teen rom-com right

Lloyd Dobler is Cameron Crowe’s original manic pixie dream date

We're just not that into He’s Just Not That Into You

Romance is the weakest aspect of one of the most celebrated rom-coms of the ’90s

To All The Boys and Netflix reminded the world why it’s smitten with rom-coms

Imagine Me & You gives a lesbian love story the classic rom-com treatment

Queer resilience thrives in this rom-com about love in the time of the AIDS crisis

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is bubbly and smart, just like Marilyn Monroe

The Best Man capped off one decade of black rom-coms and inspired another

Nicolas Cage romanced Cher in one of the weirdest rom-coms ever made

After a decade of discourse, (500) Days Of Summer is basically the Fight Club of rom-coms

It’s No Strings Attached versus Friends With Benefits in a rom-com showdown

Adam Sandler’s sweetness makes The Wedding Singer a rom-com worth growing old with

The Philadelphia Story delivered one of the most star-studded love triangles ever

13 Going On 30 made Jennifer Garner a rom-com star—and gave tween girls a sleepover staple

Celebrate Halloween with Warm Bodies, the film that tried to make zom-rom-coms a thing

In the 2010s, rom-coms went indie and saved themselves in the process

Sandra Bullock became a rom-com star with a cozy love story about crushing loneliness

With just two storylines, The Holiday paid tribute to the entire rom-com genre

The A.V. Club

The maudlin Five Feet Apart anoints a new pair of winning young stars

After thinks it’s beautiful, that’s what makes it tiresome

Teen Spirit has plenty of it

Ramy is a Muslim millennial comedy with impressively big questions on its mind

Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson’s new comedy The Hustle pulls an inelegant con

The Sun Is Also A Star turns a compelling premise into a lackluster teen romance

The Art Of Racing In The Rain is a doggone mess

You don’t need to love Springsteen to like the thoughtful crowd-pleaser Blinded By The Light

The well-meaning Brittany Runs A Marathon can’t quite go the distance

Renée Zellweger zings in a Judy Garland biopic that clangs

The Downton Abbey movie is as pleasant as a cozy cup of tea

Tall Girl’s familiar teen love story fails to reach new heights

The new Lady And The Tramp feels like a ’90s update of a ’50s classic

The Verge/Polygon

Tigers Are Not Afraid puts a Pan’s Labyrinth spin on a poignant Mexican drug war story

The gloriously surreal space epic Ad Astra is half a great movie

An AI affair fuels a midlife crisis in the eerie science fiction drama Auggie

The painfully generic new animated Addams Family deserves no snaps

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is boldly bonkers

Netflix’s apocalyptic teen comedy Daybreak is an exhausting sugar rush

The Current War is basically Amadeus for electricity

Is Playmobil: The Movie just a reskinned Lego Movie?

The Spool

The LEGO Movie 2: Everything is About Half as Awesome

Isn’t It Romantic: An Instant Postmodern Rom-Com Classic

The Aftermath: Sumptuous but Surface-Level Melodrama

Late Night: A Sparkling Comedy With a Lot On Its Mind

Plus One: An Indie Millennial When Harry Met Sally

The Farewell is A Poignantly Funny Goodbye

Where’d You Go, Bernadette: A whimsical mid-life crisis

After the Wedding: A grown-up drama that doesn’t trust its own story

Falling Inn Love: Love, New Zealand Style

Paradise Hills: Harajuku Gossip Girls

Consequence of Sound

Brexit Takes An Engaging But Ultimately Shallow Look At the 2016 Vote

What Men Want Flips the Script and Finds Mixed Results

Dumbo Delights Without Ever Fully Taking Flight

Someone Great Continues Netflix’s Romantic Comedy Revival

Aladdin Has the Animated Classic’s Songs, But Less of Its Personality

MindMeet Interviews

Nadine Hack and Global Citizens Circle: Creating Connectedness

Podcast Appearances

Filmography: When Harry Met Sally

Filmography: Tim Burton’s mature films (Ed Wood, Sweeney Todd, Big Fish, Big Eyes)

Debating Doctor Who MCU Edition: Avengers: Endgame

Cinematic Universe: Alita: Battle Angel

Hall of Faces: Friends

Cinematic Universe: Joker

Hall of Faces: The West Wing

CBC Radio: Hallmark Christmas movies

Cinematic Universe: The Wolverine

Cinematic Universe: Awards Special—The Cuppies 2019 (Part One)

And here are similar year-end wrap-ups I did in 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013.

[dalekofchaos]

My biggest problems with the Tim Burton Batman movies

Batman 1989 and Batman Returns are viewed as classics and helped restore Batman as a dark hero. And they are far better than the Schumacher movies.  Today, most people remember Schumacher as having ruined the legacy of the cinematic Batman, and with good reason. After all, he is the one that put nipples on the Batsuit, gave Batman a credit card, and showed us all the Batsmile. He took a tortured, haunted character with psychological issues and turned him into a real life cartoon. The absurdity of Schumacher’s films also retroactively made Tim Burton’s films better in the minds and memories of fans. Compared to the colorfulness and camp of Batman Forever and especially Batman & Robin, Burton’s films were suddenly remembered as having been dark and brooding affairs that treated the material seriously. But not really. Tim Burton is a legendary filmmaker, a visual genius whose work has changed Hollywood. He brings strange and offbeat but lovable characters to life within universes that look like something from our imagination. Edward Scissorhands and Big Fish alone are a treat for the eyes. Yet his two films set in Gotham City, 1989’s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns, were not nearly as profound — or as good — as your recollection would have you believe. They’ve aged poorly, yes, but they were not all that good when they were released. It puzzles me that anyone finds any of these movies better than Batman Begins or The Dark Knight. These are my biggest issues with the Tim Burton Batman movies.

The villains are more focused than on Batman. I don’t like it that we know more about The Joker than we do about Batman. We are never supposed to get a definitive origin for The Joker. And we have less focus on Batman as a character, I mean he’s reduced to a side character in Batman Returns. We barely know ANYTHING about Keaton’s Bruce Wayne, let alone his Batman. Burton not understanding the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman is one thing, but he doesn’t even care about him. Perhaps the biggest issue with the films is that he is completely focused on the supporting characters. There are three origin stories in those two films — one in Batman, two in Batman Returns — and none of them tell the story of Bruce Wayne/Batman. All we learn about Bruce Wayne is that his parents were murdered through a flashback and a scene of Alexander Knox and Vicki Vale reading old newspaper articles. Who is Bruce Wayne? What role did his parents play in his life? When did he dedicate his life to fighting crime? How did he come up with the symbol of the bat? When and how did he construct the Batcave? Does he have any training?  We know virtually nothing about the titular character. Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins goes to great lengths to explain how Wayne got his hands on all of the gear and gadgets that he would use in his war on crime, but Burton never once takes the time to analyze how Bruce Wayne turned himself into the Caped Crusader.  I think the worst thing about these movies is Burton doesn't care about Batman as a character. There is no origin movie so we do not see why he chooses to become Batman, the only reason we get is "just something I have to do" no mention of training his entire life. We meet him as an adult Batman and all we know is he likes to play dead, he's rich and a bit crazy and he iis what the plot needs him to be. Every time Michael Keaton tells people “I’m Batman” I cringe, Keaton you were not Batman, you were Burton Murderman.

The Joker is an eccentric mobster, not The Joker. While I enjoyed Jack’s Joker, he just seems like a mildly crazy eccentric mobster. In my opinion The Joker should be a psychopathic killer clown who symbolizes the randomness of crime, who thinks life is the joke and death is the punchline, with Jack’s Joker we get the twisted sense of humor, we don’t get the randomness of a crime we get a crazed eccentric mob boss. And when I think about it, Jack Nicholson just did not play The Joker. He changes from scene to scene, with no defining characteristics. The only really clear thing about him is that he is pining after the same woman as Bruce Wayne AND Batman. Worst of all, we are given a definitive origin of his character, including a name, an explanation for why his skin is white and his hair is green. And in giving him these characteristics, we never get a fully-formed Joker. He always remains nothing more than a mentally-ill gangster, out for revenge. Sure, The Joker is the same villain whose identity is ever-evolving. But here, he doesn’t even seem to remember that he IS The Joker. And this is tragic, as he’s being portrayed by Jack Nicholson. Imagine if Nicholson had the chance to play a version of The Joker who made sense, and who matched the villain we know from the source material.

The Joker kills Thomas and Martha Wayne. I feel like this was solely done just so Burton can have the excuse for Batman to kill Joker and criminals in general. Even screen writer Sam Hamm came clean and said he did not have Joker kill Batman’s parents, it was Tim Burton’s idea. You know it’s stupid when your own screen writer throws an incompetent director under the bus. 

Bad fighting. Batman isn’t that great at fighting. There are very few fight scenes in either film. When we see Batman fighting, we see a slow, lumbering, cumbersome Batman that throws a punch or two and maybe a kick before running away. He also loses as many fights as he wins, getting pummeled by the Joker’s henchmen and having his batarang taken away by a small poodle. Several times, he defeats the bad guys not with skill or training, but through gimmicks or luck. 

Batman kills. Batman kills. I don’t think Batman should ever kill. In both of the movies he’s a mass murdering thug. He  kills Joker’s thugs in Ace Chemicals without remorse and practically blows them up. Knocking that one Joker thug against the cathedral bell pretty much killed him and while he was trying to capture The Joker, he pretty much killed him. Oh god it gets worse in Batman Returns. He incinerates one of Penguin’s henchmen with the Batmobile and straps a bomb to another. Batman killing is boring. Batman not killing is what makes him so compelling, if he kills criminals, there is no moral conflict,  if he kills criminals, there is no moral conflict, he is no better than the Punisher, Wolverine or any other dark edgy hero. Burton making Bruce a killer, making the conflict as simply as Batman wants to stop and kill The Joker because The Joker killed his parents does not do justice to their fascinating dynamic.

I do not like how The Penguin have clown henchmen and The Joker has just regular thugs for henchmen. Seems like it’s reversed.

As much as I love Burtonverse Batmobile, I do not understand HOW the armor functions properly in real life, nor do I understand the pole in Batman Returns fits in the Batmobile like really? HOW?????

Batman and Gordon's relationship. Jim Gordon is made into such a completely irrelevant character. They took one of the most important aspects of the Batman myth and made him into a bumbling, slapstickish cartoon police chief. If Burton had treated his source material with more respect, Gordon wouldn’t be such an irrelevant character. Commissioner Gordon is one of the first two characters in Batman, ever. He and Bruce Wayne appear on the very first page of Detective Comics #27 together. He has a major role in every great Batman comic and graphic novel of all time. Instead, he is made into an incompetent joke who you probably don’t even recall being in Burton’s Batman. He also has virtually no interaction with Commissioner Gordon. Historically, Gordon, the only honest cop in Gotham, and Batman have had a strong bond, formed and fortified through their shared goal of cleaning up the city and their experiences therein, but in Burton’s films, Gordon is just another hapless cop that Batman largely ignores and occasionally tolerates. And in the Schumacher films, Gordon is a bumbling stooge who needs Batman to clean up his mess.

The complete waste of Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent. Has no interaction with Batman and never works with him. He barely has a presence. This could've been fixed by making him Two-Face, but Harvey Dent needed to have a presence in Gotham before becoming Two-Face for his fall to mean anything

The Penguin isn't his own villain. He is a puppet for Max and that's just dumb, as enjoyable as Walken was, his character really should not have existed at all. Being born with deformities is fine, but what is overkill is being thrown down a sewer and being raised by Penguins. Burton took Oswald Cobblepot, an overweight, but well-dressed criminal mastermind with a large vocabulary, and turned him into a dirty circus sideshow, an “aquatic bird-boy.” His vision of the Penguin bleeds black and green, has flippers for hands, lives in the sewer, wears a filthy onesie, rides a giant rubber duck, and is obsessed with sex. He also wants to murder sleeping children, but not before blowing off their genitalia: “Male and female! Hell, the sexes are equal with their erogenous zones blown sky high!” That’s an actual line of dialogue. The Penguin should be a gentleman of crime and mockery of high society with an affinity of birds.  Duplicitous mob boss. A guy who EVERYBODY knows is dirty, but he’s smart enough to make sure that there’s just enough deniability for him to get away with it. And JUST enough too, ‘cause he likes rubbing it in Batman’s face that nothing sticks to him. He is a criminal mastermind who is so smart that Batman considers him to be equal or smarter to him. Cares nothing for money or wanting to fit in, all he cares for is a complex caper, wanting to wet his beak and to rub it in Batman’s face.

Catwoman's origin. After being pushed out of a (tiny) window from the top floor of a building, Selina Kyle plummets to the concrete…only to be brought back to life…by cats? And then she goes home in a zombie-like state, rips her clothes apart, shoves her stuffed animals down the sink, spray paints her dollhouse, and sews together her suit? This is important, but knowing how and why Batman came to be doesn’t matter? Catwoman is a sleek, deceptive cat burglar, but Tim Burton decided to take the name literally, turning her into a half-cat, half-woman that drinks milk, eats birds, has nine lives, and doesn’t steal anything.