A Wave and A Pic, Take 2

[browngirl]

(The HTML on Take 1 was munged somehow.)

I'm still insanely busy (amusingly enough, less so today than in previous days, since today is the day when some of the events I've been working to bring about are actually happening). I wanted to wave hi, and share a pretty picture.

http://pics.livejournal.com/rubynye/pic/00013k8q/s320x240

I really love this picture. It's from the back of the issue where Kory and Dick's wedding erupted in disaster, and it's so much of what I love about them. (I do love Dick/Kory. I also love Dick/Babs. And Dick/Tim, and Dick/Roy, and... amusingly enough, I'm like this about all my favorite characters, not just Dick, though he does make it easy.) They're up on some dizzyingly high place above the cith, Dick is being all Battishly broody, and Star is quietly and supportively glowing beside him. *swoons*


OK, this took me way too long to write, around the adventures of my day, so I'll post it before anything else happens. Hopefully I should be back soonish, with several fics and some discussion (stay tuned for this DC girl's dip into Marvel!)

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

They're on top of the Chrysler building. Or, Gotham's equivalent thereof.

http://newyorkpictures.com/photo_gallery/index.php?pageId=100&id=33&start=0

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

Pretty much every big building in Gotham has that kind of decoration.

[brownbetty]

There's some really nice concept art of Gotham, here

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

oooh, spiff. thank you. nicely done, if those are yours.

My main criticism of most depictions of Gotham is that they all assume that construction in Gotham stopped some time around the 1930s; that the city fell into disrepair some time during the Great Depression, and *nothing* was ever constructed since. Even in the most dystopian of American cities--say, Detroit, or 1970s-80s New York--that isn't true.

In most visual depictions of Gotham I've seen, the architecture has lots of Beaux-Arts and Art Deco features. All of it, of course, is in a suitable state of disrepair due to decades of disinvestment in the city and the actions of petty criminals, mostly vandalism and graffiti. The extreme example of this is Tim Burton's depictions of Gotham, where the entire city looks like it has been designed by Nazi architect Albert Speer in what might be termed "Art Deco From Hell."

However, cities are organic. No matter how decrepit they get, there's always *some* construction going on, and some tear-down of the old to make room for the new. There's plenty of room in a depiction of Gotham for depressing *modern* styles of architecture. Brutalism, for example. If you've ever seen a building that looks like nothing but a concrete slab, that's likely Brutalist architecture. Boston's much-maligned City Hall, constructed atop the ruins of the red-light district formerly known as Scollay Square, is perhaps the best known example.

What would be interesting would be coming up with depressing examples of Post-modern architecture. I'm sure some of the more crappily constructed post-modern stuff of the 1980s already looks run-down and decrepit.

And I have just put *way* too much effort into this.

[brownbetty]

Hah! No, that's not my drawing, if you put a pencil in my hand I'm liable to injure myself with it. They're by Anton Furst, better known for his work on Tim Burton's Batman set design. But despite that, his pencils look much less Early Gothic Madhouse than the movie did.

And the real problem is, it's //canon// that Gotham's been heavily built in the last few years, following the earthquake. But most buildings look like they were built in the eighties, at the latest.

[gloss]

In Robin #38, Tim's sitting on that eagle, too. His narration says, "I come up to here think".

And now I have happy thoughts of Dick and Tim running into each other there. ;)

[http://users.livejournal.com/__marcelo/]

*waves 'hi'*

Kory looks like she's thinking "There, there, pretty boy..." The whole Bat-vibe doesn't really impress her, which is one of the reasons why I love her *g*.

[gloss]

Aww, that picture is lovely. I just finished the Dick/Roy "Cheshire Contract" story in Action and it ends with Kory picking Dick up at the airport and he tells her he loves her. *schmoopy!*

[red-eft.livejournal.com]

hey again- I got your call, but I think by now I've missed your hours (I called, but just got a message and wasn't sure where to go from there)- and today's Friday (or it is if I haven't completely lost track of time), so I doubt you'll be at work tomorrow. I can't remember whether you left another number or not, because, like a genius, I accidentally deleted your message. I would have called back earlier, but a couple hours after I made my last post I came down with a nasty case of food poisoning and have been more or less sleeping ever since. If you call back sometime tonight, though, I'll be around recovering, so I'll probably pick up. Hope you're well and such!