Dash of Mystery to go with Misery

Tim *in tears*: WE DIDNT, we’re taking a break…

Jason: Yeah, like that is gonna solve anything, at the end of the day you’re still gonna be in love with Superboy.

Tim: I KNOW! I’m betraying Bernard and it’s horrible because I still love him too…I don’t know what to do! *storms out of the living room*

Jason: We are just the best help in the world, aren’t we?

Damian: If he wanted emotional help, he should’ve went to Richard, but we truly can give him the best solution to his problem.

Jason *squints*: …how?

Damian: Well Connor is a very adventurous individual, especially in intimate endeavors and Bernard is somehow weirder than Gotham citizens, which I still don’t know how is possible.

Jason *very confused*: Okay…what does that have to do with anything?

Damian: Have you ever watched The Challengers before?

Jason: No, why am I supposed to?

Damian: Jason…Tim has two hands.

So. Localization, right. This happened a lot back in the day, when english wasn't such a widespread language. I'm talking specifically the localization that happened for Batman, when his comics came to Brazil for the first time in like, the 40s-50s.

So, like... at that time, english was not a common language to know. like, in general. if you studied a second language, it was probably the (at the time used by all) french. So when they brought these very American superheroes to Brazil, they had to localize their names, which is. fine. Like, most of them are even used to this day. Spiderman became Homem-Aranha, Superman became Super-Homem, Wonder Woman became Mulher Maravilha (eventually. she had a rough start with "miss america" for a while, then "super-mulher", but then Lynda Carter's show saved us all by being localized as Mulher Maravilha).

Batman had a rough time. Nowadays, batman is just called batman, because there is physically no way to translate "Bat Man" into portuguese without creating a mouthful. Bat is Morcego, which is not a good, snappy word like Aranha for spider, or just. "Super". So, for the first few editions, batman was translated as MORCEGO NEGRO (Black Bat, funnily enough).

But they didn't stop there. I wish they did, but they didn't. Because they were worried, you see, with these characters and their extremely American names. The common Brazilian in the 50s had no clue what a "Bruce" is, let alone a "Wayne"! So, they 'fixed it'.

Bruno Miller, o Morcego Negro.

Didn't stop there. They changed Gotham too. And that was the worst crime they did.

Gotham. Roll around that word in your mouth. It invokes a feeling, right? Gothic. Spooky. Tall buildings and gargoyles and grotesques and old castles. Very appropriate for the Bat Man.

They renamed it Rio Doce.

That means "Sweet River". Sweet, in this case, refers to how we refer to potable drinking water in portuguese - we call it sweet water (as a contrast to salt water). Now, there are plenty of cities named after rivers here. but Rio Doce also invokes a vibe, and its not. fucking gotham.

Do you know what I think when I see a city named Rio Doce? I see Águas de Lindóia. I see Brotas. I see several cities in Brazil who are named after cool water springs whose whole economy is based on tourism for their, yknow, WATER SPRINGS. Beautiful waterfalls! Beautiful nature!!! Yknow!!!

I dont think. the Gotham River. counts as a tourist attraction. Not the "natural swimming" kind of tourist attraction, anyway, unless you want to catch a billion diseases and a few mutations.

And the funniest part? They did all of that for Bruce (Sorry, Bruno). All of that. And they kept Dick Grayson exactly the way he was. Bruno Miller and fucking Dick Grayson. Sure, they translated "boy wonder" to "menino prodígio", but. Nothing else. I am telling you, it was Bruno Miller and RICHARD JOHN GRAYSON. they didnt even name him ricardo or anything.

I wanted to buy this print but last I checked on his site it was sold out. Here’s his shop though:

Also Triangle is one of my favorites

1895 Afternoon jacket by House of Worth (attr. to Charles Frederick Worth and Jean-Philippe Worth)

silk, beads

They take him home. They give him the Hebrew name Kal-El and the American name Clark so he will fit in. They know what it is to be different. There is no Hebrew school in Smallville so they teach him at home, and study Torah together. When he shows special abilities, they wonder to each other if he is the Moshiach. Not for the strength of his body, but for the strength of his kindness. He always seems to be helping others, delivering them from harm, as he was delivered to them. They never tell him this, but they teach him about the obligations without measure. He's a natural.

At school, he is side-eyed for being different. When he displays eccentricities, the villagers shrug and say "maybe it's a Jewish thing." The Kents make sure he values his education, and is always home for Shabbas dinner.

His is bar-mitzva'd at the nearest shul, a few towns over. They didn't know his birthday, so they chose one near Parshat Shemot. Now they worry that was too on-the-nose, but he gives a moving d'var about the obligation to speak truth to power.

As he comes into his own and tries to be a hero, he hides his identity from the public, not out of shame, but to keep his adopted parents safe. They've been persecuted enough.

When he moves to the big city for a job at a newspaper, Pa is so proud he cries. Clark uses his journalistic skills to expose corruption, give voice to the neglected and oppressed, and research his own origins. When he learns the truth about Krypton and his birth parents' desperate bid to send him to safety, Ma and Pa are not at all surprised that they were right.

When Clark brings Lois home, he assures his parents she is a nice Jewish girl, but they're just glad she's a mensch. They step on a glass to remember the destruction of Krypton, and stand under a chuppah quilted by Ma.

A white billionaire spews lies about him, trying to spread fear of the stranger in their midst. He comes out in public and says "There's nothing more American than being an immigrant."

When the government turns against immigrants, he stands on the side of the protestors and protects. Tear gass does nothing to him. He makes himself a shield. He writes article after article in the Daily Planet, making sure the public knows what their government is doing, that immigrants know their rights, that the powerful are put on notice. When they start rounding people up, he says "Never again."

They were! Superman was created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two Jewish boys, sons of immigrants.

From a reverse image search, I found the website Show Your Stripes, run by the University of Reading in the UK, which is likely where the above graph originated. It provides temperature data for various regions of the world from approximately 1900-2025. For example, here are graphs for Canada, India, and Papua New Guinea: