#temujin

Tatjana Wood died the other day, at the age of 99. Born to a Jewish father in Germany in 1926, she emigrated to New York City in 1947, where she met and married Wally Wood and began working in the comics industry. They'd divorce before he killed himself. She became a prolific colorist for DC Comics, perhaps now most associated with Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing. Due to how comic book production works, much of the coloring credited to her in the trade paperback collections do not match her original contributions, composed for the printing and paper of the day, and not preserved on film the way the lineart was. Scans of the original issues capture her artistry. Here are some examples, all written by Alan Moore and lettered by John Costanza:

From the DC Comics Presents issue presenting a team-up between Superman and Swamp Thing, "The Jungle Line." Pencils by Rick Veitch, inked by Al Williamson.

From Swamp Thing 44, penciled by Steve Bissette and inked by John Totleben.

From Swamp Thing 53, penciled and inked by John Totleben.

From Swamp Thing 63, penciled by Rick Veitch and inked by Alfredo Alcala. These later issues were printed in DC's "New Format," rather than on newsprint, and the colors are more vibrant. Another book Tatjana colored for DC printed in the New Format around this time was The Question, written by Denny O'Neil and penciled by Denys Cowan, lettered by Willie Schubert. Later in the run it was inked by Malcolm Jones III. Here is a two-page sequence showing Tatjana's coloring on that series:

In the nineties, comics color changed its production process further. This page from the series Brainbanx shows Tatjana Wood working with the computer color separation house Heroic Age:

♥️🌸

Hehehe thank you for the ask! 🖤

He was generally pretty sweet with her throughout all three pregnancies 🖤 although... Certain foods did require a lot of trips back to the Northern part of China specifically, because she missed certain dishes!

*(continues from part 1 - part 2)

Another batch of random characters that probably nobody else but me cares about, not even remembers XD. I just like naming people to make them feel like they matter, even when they don't, ok?

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41. Aburame member: Koorogi 蟋蟀

He appears in episode Sh.162 to fight Konan. Since the clan's theme is insects, Koorogi means "cricket".

42. Akimichi member: Yoshihiro 佳大

Yes, I can give characters normal names too, thank you very much (:p). Not everything has to be a weirdly concocted thing, geez!

This man guarded Sakura's medical tent during the war, when the stuff with white Zetsu happened (ep.Sh.296). The first kanji means "good/excellent/skilled" and the second "big/large". Hence the main meaning translates as "good size", which I think fits him very well.

43. Chuunin exams female examiner: Chisue 血末

She's a member of Ibiki's torture and interrogation squad, so her name means "blood trail".

44. Ebisu's partner: Sachie 幸笑

This random kunoichi appears in Ebisu's memory when he's giving his speech about Naruto to Jigokudō. She's smiling openly, thus I used the kanji for "happiness/fortune/blessing" and "laugh/smile/joy".

45. Kusagakure team: Sougen 草原, Yomogi 善萌草 and Josou 除草

A prim-and-proper looking team of genin that appeared in the co-joined chuunin exams between Konoha and Suna; sadly, they didn't get in time for the second test and were disqualified.

Since they come from Kusa, I gave them names related to it: Sougen means "grassland" (the tall one), Yomogi means "good sprout of grass" (the girl) and Josou means "weeding" (the shorty).

46. Amegakure girl: Urami 怨

In filler episode Sh.171, this girl was teammate of Samidare and Suiu. Together with many other Ame genin, they performed a jutsu called "Rain of grudge" (uramiame). I took her name from that.

47. Kumogakure Edo Tensei: Nagai Kuchibashi 長い 嘴

In episode Sh.307, Hayate Gekkou is revived alongside two other ninjas, one from Sunagakure (that I already used for my Suna filler teams) and this one from Kumogakure. Inspired by his particular mask, his name and surname translate as "long beak". It works nicely because it's also common for Kumo-nins to have names based on adjectives.

Also, don't ask me why, but somehow the idea that this man had been Yugito Nii's sensei got stuck in my head.

48. Kumogakure kunoichi: Seiun 青雲

Considering Orochimaru's hobby of snatching bodies around to use as vessels, I have no doubt that this kunoichi existed for real. She was put on guarding duty of Blue B and the Hachibi, so no wonder dear Oro killed and replaced her in order to get close to them (Sh.318). Maybe she was even somehow friends with Blue B? I mean, seeing as she apparently had free access to his room...

Anyway, I chose this name because the second kanji means "cloud", but the overall sense of the name is abstract and vague (just like her, then). It can be translated as such different things as "blue cloud", "erudition", "detachment from the world" or "high rank". Which, strangely, all of these are fitting descriptions of Blue B, uhm...

49. Unknown shinobigatana #1 and #2: Kazumitsu Ishikawa and Iekazu Sakurai

Now wait a moment, before you start calling me lazy, this was done on purpose, ok? It's a homage, not a matter of laziness!

One of the inspirations for the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist was this group of vassals that served Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the Seven Spears of Shizugatake. While it's usually depicted as been made of seven people, other sources point at them being actually nine, hence I decided to name these two guys after the two usually forgotten warriors to bring them up to light.

50. Fox-masked ANBU: Uriken Yomeiri 瓜犭 嫁入

Ha ha ha, oh man, how much fun I had with this name XDDD. He was the guardian of Yakumo Kurama.

Did you know? The kanji for fox (狐 kitsune) is composed of the radical 'animal/dog' and... 'melon'. Yeah, I kid you not! So I switched the order to get an uriken reading. Yomeiri means "wedding" or "marriage", because in Japanese culture a "fox wedding" refers to the climatic circumstance where it rains in a totally sunny day.

51. First raikage: Enshento エーンシェント (ancient)

Boy, was this hard... you wouldn't believe it X_X! I desperately wanted to give the raikages a proper name, but they simply refused to cooperate! I had to literally do language acrobatics to find something that could fit in with all the rules.

It had to be an adjective, because that's the most common pattern in Kumogakure. Of course, it had to start with letter A, but (here is where the problems began) it happens that the katakana writing starts with E, because this is western-based... And while English has no shortage of A adjectives, very few of them transcript with an E sound in katakana. In fact, I was able to locate ONLY four. Fortunately that's all I needed, and hence I assigned the names by sheer force of which one would be the most logically related to the bearer.

Therefore, shodaime gets to be named Enshento because he's the eldest, obviously.

52. Second raikage: Emiabaru エーミアバル (amiable)

Because nidaime was described as being friendly.

53. Third raikage: Eburu エーブル (able)

Because sandaime was a beast of a man capable of fighting one-to-one with a bijuu.

54. Fourth raikage: Emuresu エームレス (aimless)

Because yondaime was known for his wild and volatile temper, throwing punches at the smallest provocation.

55. Fire daimyō: Hamaguri 蛤

His wife, madame Shijimi, is named after a type of clam, so I named him after another. Now they match! :-)

56. Kabuto's orphan friend: Mafura

She was one of the children that lived in the orphanage when nun Nonou Yakushi found Kabuto. All known kids were named after a characteristic, so I named her Mafura for her "winter scarf".

57. Kumogakure swordman: Akarui Ken 明るい 剣

Hey, honorific mention to the guy that lasted all five swings of his sword against the one and only Madara Uchiha, show him some respect! ò_ó

Jokes aside, this one came very easy. I was interested in what jutsu he used to wrap his stylet-like katana in green vapor (likely some kind of fuuton). His name and surname literally translate as "bright sword".

58. Kirigakure praying kunoichi: Shinkousha 信仰者

I took an interest on her because it was a curious sight, that's all. Her name means "believer", in a religious sense.

59. Temujin's friend: Jamuka

Another very easy one. Temujin was the real name of Genghis Khan, you know? And his best friend/rival was Jamuka. Ergo...

60. Unidentified Inuzuka member+dog: Kegawa 毛皮 and Nishikimaru 二色丸

From Ultimate ninja storm 3, during Hiruzen's battle against Kyuubi. Man's name means "fur", because Inuzukas are named after body parts, and dog's name means "bicolor". Both their names work as a combo.

Also, who knows if this could actually be Kiba's father? He looks quite a bit like him, and all the other fathers were present in that battle... Tsume couldn't attend because she had recently given birth.

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*Bonus: this time, the seiyuu used are for Konohamaru's parents, who only appeared in a single panel in an omake that was never animated.

- Konohamaru's father: Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice.

- Konohamaru's mother: Biwako Sarutobi's voice.

Happy Audio Drama Sunday!!!

I didn't keep track of what I listened to this week (even though I should have because Killjam XXX? Vesta Clinic??? Hallowoods????? Englewood After Dark????????), so I thought I'd zoom in on another thing that happened this week: Temujin released a supercut and a talkback episode.

What is Temujin?

Temujin is a historical audio drama, already a rare beast amongst this medium (with some of my favorite exceptions being Bronzeville, Cry Havoc! Ask Questions Later, Divorce Ranch, and Harlem Queen). It's also a rare beast among historical adaptations in general because it tells the story of Genghis Khan, a giant of history who is notorious outside of Mongolia and The Historical Guy inside.

What's it about?

Temujin is an epic sweeping story, a tragedy (depending on how you look at it) about our man Temujin, as he struggles to fulfill his destiny to be Khan, and his closest friend Jamukha, who bears witness to his struggles. It hits like a frikkin train. Based on the oldest Mongolian historical document, The Secret History of the Mongols, Temujin takes this close, intimate look at a single relationship and provides a window into this huge swath of history.

Why do you like it?

Oh man dude, the sound design? The writing? The foley? The music? The tiny wrenching little moments where people debate the virtue of brotherhood vs. their own wants or needs for power? There's nothing I don't like about Temujin. It's glorious. Beyond that, it's also unpretentious. In the talkback episode, the writer, Roshan Singh Sambhi (who also composed the music), talks about how he didn't really know anyone in the audio drama scene when they made it. Sometimes with these one-off productions, especially the ones outside of the typical indie scene, you get folks who are convinced that No One Is Doing It Like Them, and they get weird about that. But Roshan said their goal was only to give it the significance they could give it, and I think that shows through. It doesn't try to be important, it tries to be true. And it succeeds.

In conclusion, listen to Temujin, boy