#wearing the cape

[dvandom]

Velveteen vs. Wearing the Cape

Finally getting around to reading Seanan Mcguire's "Velveteen vs. the Early Adventures" a few years after reading the crossover story in one of the later Wearing the Cape novels by Marion Harmon. It's interesting how similar the two worlds start off in terms of the letter of the law about superhumans (licensing requirements, superheroes being contract hires for cities or states, sprawling government-affiliated organization keeping track of things, ranking system that's of dubious utility, etc)...and how severely they diverge from basically the same starting point.

In the Capeverse, the Department of Super-Human Affairs is basically a well-meaning but heavily realpolitik-riddled bureaucracy. They can get in the way of heroes Doing The Right Thing, because they're often more concerned with following procedure and avoiding Incidents than other considerations. When Astra finally breaks away from their direct supervision, it's not really acrimonious, she's simply tired of having to accept the judgement of people who aren't at the point of the spear, and who would rather evil flourish on the other side of an imaginary line than risk an international incident.

In Velveteen's world, instead of "bureacracy that gets in the way," they have a mostly private company running things (with permission of and support from most governments), and it's all Horrors of Capitalism. Super Patriots essentially buys children from their parents and turns them into disposable child soldiers unless they've got enough media juice to be more valuable as merchandising. The Marketing Department is outright evil, to a parodic extent at times. Velveteen's anger at this overcomes her extensive childhood conditioning and she leaves as soon as she turns 18...and Marketing will not let her go, despite all the legally binding promises to the contrary.

Taken together (and they do get taken together when Astra visits Velveteen's world), it's a clear message that while Big Government may not be as helpful as we would like, Big Business will send children to their deaths to make a buck.

[improbable-implosions]

Need something to do tonight? Try my stream!

We're taking another bold step outside the public domain on Paper Cuts tonight, this time with Marion G. Harmon's Wearing the Cape!

I absolutely loved this book from the first time I read it in high school, it's got an absolutely fascinating take on superheroes and how they'll enmesh with celebrity culture in a world not unlike the one we knew then. The series at large poses some fascinating questions about duty, legacy, and just what it means for these cities to court powerful superteams, and this first book in particular focuses on the difficulty of "coming out" into hero society.

Want to hear more? Need specifics on some of what I pointed out there? Come drop by tonight, 8pm pacific time, and I'll be reading it aloud, live!

(That's April 5th, 8pm pacific, and if you miss it, there'll be a VOD, too!)

And if you want to grab the book to read along, you can find it here:

Last but not least, if you like the sound of a live audiobook, go check out the podcast, available in your favorite podcatcher! I'd suggest looking for titles that sound interesting, I name the first episode of each book after the title!

[mickey-bees]

welcome back @therealjacksepticeye glad u remembered ur password

[jonathanpongratz]

Book Review: Wearing the Cape (Wearing the Cape #1)

  Hello Caped Crusaders! It’s time for another book review! This time I read Wearing the Cape (Wearing the Cape #1) by Marion G. Harmon. This has been on my TBR for ages, so when I saw this was available at my library I just had to give it a try. Let’s see how it went!   Blurb WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO? Hope did, but she grew out of it. Which made her superhuman breakthrough in the Ashland…

[8crimson]

My Superhero team #4

The Question- Vic Sage, reporter, detective, and conspiracy nut.

Powers and tools: Intellect, investigation, journalism, unarmed combat, and acrobatics. Wears a mask made of the material "pseudoderm" which can only be removed with a special "binary gas" that is also used as a smokescreen.

first appearance: Blue Beetle (1967) #1

The Spirit- Denny Colt, private investigator, criminologist, and pretend-dead person.

Powers: Intellect, investigation, athletics, unarmed combat, and longevity.

first appearance: "The Origin of The Spirit"

The Shadow- Kent Allard, spy, aviator, legend.

Powers and tools: Intellect, spycraft, hypnosis, jujutsu, and master of disguise. Girasol Ring used as a focus for his hypnotic abilities. Arms himself with a pair of Clot .45s.

first appearace: Detective Story Hour

Night Thrasher- Dwayne Taylor, vigilante, leader, and skateboard enthusiast.  

Powers and tools: Enegineering, acute computer literacy, acrobatics, and, maritial arts. Wears a light weight bulletproof, fireproof, and knifeproof armored suit geared with cloaking tech. Along with a helemet with multi-vision goggles, breathing apparatus, voice scrambler, and other accoutrements. Gauntlets that could fire pepper spray and sleeping gas. Main weapon of choice is a pair of Escrima sticks. Uses a high tech armored fiberglass skateboard to get around.

first appearance: Mighty Thor #411

Knight Watchman- Reid Randall, seasoned hero, widower, and fashion designer.

Powers and tools: Olympic-level athlete, martial arts, ninjutsu and investigation. Known to use night-sticks.

first appearance: Berzerker #1

Artemis-Jacky Bouchard, P.I., day walker, master barista.

Powers and tools: Investigation, gunplay, supernatural strength, mesmerizing gaze (magnified through drinking blood), and mist transformation. Known to use handguns or advanced tasers called "E-lasers".

first appearance: Wearing the cape

ShadowHawk-Eddie Collins, vigilante, legacy, teenager.

Powers and tools: Unarmed Combat. Wears a helmet known as Nommo which holds the spirits of all the previous ShadowHawks, and grants him a suit. The suit provides enhanced strength, speed, agility, and stamina; along with metamorphic weapon and tool manifestation.

first appearance: New Man #4

[koszmarnybudyn]

Monster John is something that can be so very special.

[thebrainrotsreal]

Was pondering how Mark’s rigid ass mask/lens is prob a Budget Thing (since squishy, bendy lens are pretty much a mandate for all hero animated series, like JL, BTAS, TNBA, Spider-Man, etc), and then I was slapped with a vision of Mark in a more JL/BTAS-ish style and I had to see it through. I am a genius btw.

[dollopheadedmerlin]

I actually love how ugly Merlin's outfit is in Merlin. BEFORE YOU YELL AT ME - I love his outfit, I think it's fun, but when you look at every other character, even other peasants, he literally is wearing ill fitting rags. Everything is too big on him (despite being like six foot but whatever) and his silhouette reeks of boring character design.

But like!! Yeah!! He is just Some Guy. I love how they never give him som epic mage robes or a cool outfit for more than thirty seconds. He is unassuming. He's over here, commanding dragons and controlling the weather in the medieval equivalent of stained sweatpants and a night shirt. It's great.

[erandraws]

The world is frightening.

But you’ve seen it now.

And it’s filled with so much beauty.

And you’re part of that now.

You’re part of what makes it beautiful.

[ziseviolet]

If the coats with hoods aren’t historically accurate, what coats did Chinese people wear prior to the modern period?

Hi! Thanks for the question, and sorry for taking ages to reply!

By "coats with hoods", I assume you're referring to the doupeng/斗篷 (cloak/cape) commonly seen in modern hanfu and guzhuang (drama costumes), like the one below (x):

Chinese people did wear doupeng prior to the modern period, along with other kinds of coats. However, as I mentioned in my post here, historical Chinese doupeng did not have hoods attached to the cloak/cape. That is why many modern doupeng aren't considered historically accurate - because they have hoods attached. Below are examples of more historically accurate, hoodless doupeng (1/2):

In the image on the above left, the model is wearing a separate, detached hood/hat called fengmao/风帽 (wind hat) which was historically worn to keep warm. Below - examples of fengmao (1/2):

Historically, fengmao was often worn with doupeng when travelling during cold weather (x). Below - women wearing doupeng & fengmao in historical art (top row), and Chinese opera performers wearing doupeng & fengmao as part of their costumes (bottom row) (x):

Oftentimes the doupeng & fengmao are matching, which can give the impression that they are attached - but if you look carefully, you can see that they are separate. Below - Chinese opera costume (x):

Below are historical photos of women wearing doupeng in 1920s Beijing - note how they are hoodless (1/2):

Hooded doupeng, in contrast, are more similar to historical western cloaks, such as the below American/European cloaks from the 18th century (1/2):

The hooded doupeng of modern hanfu are likely based on those seen in guzhuang dramas - another instance of drama costumes not being the most historically accurate (x):

An example of a drama with a historically accurate depiction of doupeng & fengmao is the 1987 TV adaptation of Dream of the Red Chamber. As seen in the below images, the characters wear hoodless doupeng & occasionally matching fengmao as part of their winter wardrobe (1/2/3):

The 1994 TV adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms also depicts historically accurate, hoodless doupeng & matching fengmao worn by men (x):

For more references, please check out my doupeng, fengmao, and winter wear tags.

Hope this helps!

[hiyogdh]

the winds of the north are cold, royal advisor

[zarla-s]

I think we all need more skeles with tails in our life

Resurrecting this ancient ask out of nowhere with a long tail! I also love the goat family having long tails so why not combine the two, haha.

[index] [patreon]

[doctorsiren]

Summertime Rainstorm

[coatl-cuddles]

Idk if I ever posted the full of that one drawpile here yet, but here it isssss

[rubyfunkey]

GitM -> @venomous-qwille

one day soon ill be able to draw something unrelated to this fic

[drenched-in-sunlight]

the golden ring on Messmer’s crest is from the symbol on the eye Marika blessed him with + it’s on the ring he wears as well (remember what I said about in Palmistry, wearing ring on the middle finger implies responsibility, devotion and justice, so it’s something the head of the family would wear).

even though he took out the eye, he still wore the ring in his Base Serpent form. and if you look closely, every plate on his armor is engraved with that golden ring symbol as well.

it’s poetry to me 😭

(render from Zlofsky on twitter)