greekmythcomix

You Are Odysseus

So

I’m a teacher of Classical Civilisation that has taught the Odyssey for over a decade and studied pretty much every myth and story with Odysseus in it.. I think

and I’m writing an Interactive Fiction (choose your own path) version of the Odyssey, inspired by the Homeric phrase “he turned his great heart this way and that”, where you are Odysseus, allowing you to follow his decisions or make your own

and it already has 500 sections to it - written to emulate modern translations of the Odyssey, including the literary features of simile, formula, epithet, and the rest - and 21 different ways to die, and quite a lot of period and theme-appropriate alternatives

(and if I get time, the option to be Telemachus or Penelope, although that might have to wait because it’s already a monster)

and I’ve tested what I’ve made so far on my pupils, other Classics teachers, and some of the leading (and best-read) Greek Mythology podcasters and YouTubers, all of whom have universally loved it (yay!)

(EDIT: Oops and I presented on it at the Classical Association conference last year)

I’m trying to finish it this summer, but need a bit of encouragement to do so

EDIT: and I forgot to say that ideally I’m planning on it being a beautiful BOOK with an old-fashioned cover and lots of ribbons to mark your place ❤️ (ex-bookseller ofc)

so, please let me know if you’d like to know more!

(EDIT: or sign up here go get notified directly when it’s ready: https://ljenkinsonbrown.wordpress.com/you-are-odysseus-signup/ )

phanboyo

pastrycurses

QUEER ALLEGORY QUEER ALLEGORY QUEER ALLEGORY QUEER ALLEGORY

pastrycurses

the scream i scrumpt... is this not like one of the most popular tropes? 😭💕

pastrycurses

BAHAHAHAHAHA--

pastrycurses

YES YES YES VALERIE IS FUCKING HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE GIRLS STAY WINNING!!!!!!

pastrycurses

SIR...

pastrycurses

pastrycurses

Look at these cute dorks!

pastrycurses

Last one so I don't get into super spoiler territory, it's just a minor thing about the book itself.-- the binding on the hardcover is green with a purple spine! Like it's got such ghost zone vibes! Love at little attention to detail!!

pastrycurses

I AM NOT EVEN DONE AND HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THIS IS EVERYTHING I'VE EVER WANTED AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

pastrycurses

THIS IS EVERYTHING!!!! This book is THE MOMENT!!!!

angryraptor13

megapope-deactivated20220531

god damn this is a QUILT ('late day shadows' by nancy messier)

cyber-seagull404

THIS IS A QUILT?!?!?!?

teaboot

ITS A FUCKING QUILT GUYS

lemonlinelights

@the-chaotic-book-nerd RIGHT???

weirdfishy

nerdpoe

Wait the King is how old??

Constantine has heard something weird.

The old High King of the Infinite Realms is out, and another one took his place.

So he asks around; a few ghosts here, a demon or two there, and learns something horrifying.

The new King is only one and a half, maybe two years old.

The new King is a baby.

He calls an immediate Justice League and Justice League Dark meeting to discuss how the actual fuck do they appeal to a toddler.

Danny is very, very confused-but grateful!-as to why the offerings that occultists made him changed from buckets of blood to teething rings. He has decided to start a collection of teething rings for shits and giggles.

This...does not help the misconception.

@simplestoryteller

hdgnj

The first time they summon him and see a teen they are confused. It's John who steps forward.

John: You King Phantom?

Danny: Yup!

John: Forgive the confusion. We were told you were 2?

Danny: I mean, years dead yeah. I was 14 when I died though. So overall 16?

John: .. Why did you accept the teething rings?

Danny: Fangs are growin in man. My teeth and gums itch like a mofo.

John: Right. Ok. Fuckin fair. We were wonderin what sort of trades you'd accept for help from. Ya know, universe endin threats?

Danny: Space rocks. And shiny things. Oh! Learning stuff! I uh. Well. School as a ghost isn't uh. Yeah...

John: You can NEVER meet Bats....

Danny: Could I meet Martian Manhunter? He's super cool!

John: I can... ask him?

renwilson

Alternatively

John: Why did you accept teething rings?

Danny: It make cultists stop offering me disembowelled sheep and stuff like that. If you had to choose between the sheep corpse or the teething toy which would you pick?

hdgnj

John:... The last one never had an issue with the blood though?

Danny: The last one was a power hungry maniac who got LOCKED AWAY. Of course he accepted that shit. I'm a protector spirit!

John: Well. What would you like then?

Danny: I dunno man? I'm like 16. Whatever shiny new cool shit there is I guess? A new gaming system? I figured out how to get electronics working in the Realms now. So...

John: ... Yeah sure. I guess I'll ask the kids team then?

Danny: Eh. Sounds fair!

renwilson

John: Also sorry if this is rude... But you could barely pass for a 13yo.

Danny: Physical aging kinda stopped with my heartbeat. Plus was malnourished when I was alive so...

John: We can't let you near Batman

hdgnj

Danny: Why not?

John: He'd try to adopt you. Sad small child in need of feeding up? Yeah....

Danny: Hahaha. No. Absolutely not! Keep him far, far away from me. I don't need feeding up. I'm dead. It's all good.

backupstardust

Batman, father of several teenagers: *sends several bags of Taki and Dorito type chips*

Danny: okay forget what I said about not needing to eat, can I get more of those snacks plz

hdgnj

Alfred would make him sed over a basket of real food too. Danny eats it and is just like. That was the best food ever! Alfred gets a little thank you note appear by his bed side.

JL have to summon him for help and are debating what to offer? Batman whips out a basket from Alfred with a note on top asking for help, and offering a meal a day from the chef every day for a month? Danny turns up before the ritual is even over.

Danny: I don't need to eat. But that was amazing! Absolutely! Yes! Hi! How can I help?

weirdfishy

nerdpoe

Radioactive Hero (but not really) au

Danny moves to Gotham, hear him out! There's really good jobs there that pay through the nose and the cost of living is cheap!

Plus, the city is riddled with heroes and vilains! It's so easy to slip under the radar!

Unfortunately, there are so many civilian casualties. Like, all the time. Even in Metropolis!

So Danny, for his first year in Gotham, opens small portals to the Far Frozen and gets schooled on being a field medic. None of his powers can really be used for healing, but they can make people feel better. He just has to be careful to be as far removed from the Phantom moniker as possible, so he can't use any obvious powers.

He gets a bit of a reputation in Gotham; a small time hero of the people, for the people. A hero not invested in fighting, but in dragging civilians away from the danger. He doesn't even have a moniker; people are too busy arguing over the best one for him.

So while aliens are attacking both Metropolis and Gotham, Danny is out in full kit; a gas mask to hide his face, all black, repurposed kevlar from the vests the GCPD did not properly dispose of, no identifying markers.

But one of the clean up crews notices something insanely worrying; the geiger counter they have to point at alien spaceship parts? Yeah. Yeah, it's going off when they point it at the new small-time hero.

That hero's power is radioactivity. Holy shit. It's not at a level that will hurt people, but when he's dodging through fighting the level goes up.

The clean up crew concludes and shares via Twitter that the medic-hero is only a danger to others if he gets too stressed.

Word spreads fast, and pretty soon the absolute second Danny shows up on a scene, all fighting stops.

After all, no one wants to piss off the living Nuclear Bomb.

Basically, Danny's ghost-everything sets off Geiger counters, and now absolutely everyone is convinced that the medic-themed hero only refuses to fight because his meta power is just...being radioactive.

But he isn't.

So now, because it's the perfect cover and completely disassociated from Phantom, he has to play along and pretend like yes; that is his power.

freakofyournature

whenever the fighting gets real bad he lets himself glow ecto-green which looks a lot like what people think radiation looks like (it doesnt but what matters is what people think) and pretends to get more worked up so that the fighting dies down a little (b/c even the bad guys and heroes can agree to a temporary cease-fire in the name of not getting nuked) so he can finish getting the civilians away from the fighting and stuff before "calming down" and not glowing

as for names, i propose the MAD Medic, (MAD for Mutually Assured Destruction, and "mad" b/c the guys crazy for putting himself in dangerous situations just to help people)

hdgnj

I love that. Just Danny going. Yes. I am a human nuke. So stop hurting people. Or you might just regret it.

emmawrites1

Unfortunately, there are a few people in the DC verse that could both tank a nuke and are evil enough to want to nuke a major metropolitan area.

So imagine Darkseid coming down with the explicit purpose of using Danny to nuke the league. They cause a minor attack to get his attention before kidnapping and then torturing him live right in front of the league.

Only, Darkseid stops when he notices the glow. That's not radiation, no, that's something far worse. He smiles. This will be an interesting subject of study. He goes to call for a minion to take him away.

Only for Danny to sock him full in the face and goes flying. If his options are pissing off the US government or becoming Darkseids plaything, its not even a question.

So the league are just baffled. This tiny twink of a medic just threw a punch to rival supes. They look over to where MAD medic landed, but he's not there. He's still in the air, a ring of light appearing around his middle. For a horrifying moment they think he went off, but then the light splits and goes over MAD, leaving him there, but his colors are inverted, his ears are pointed, and he's glowing Lazarus green, a green lantern ring on his finger and a frozen aura borealis over his head.

"I am Ghost King Phantom," he says, and the less magical league members in the area start bleeding from their ears. "High king of the infinite realms, Protector of the balance of death and life, Lord of all that is dead, Ancient of Space, Steward of every afterlife from every religion from every species from every universe, and vanquisher of Pariah Dark the Bloody Tyrant. I'm told that the two of you met in the past, Darkseid. I am told you fought every so often for millions of years as you tried to win the throne by right of conquest. And you never beat him, not once. And yet I did on my first try. Do you want to know how I did it? Let me show you."

And 30 minutes later when Darkseid manages to crawl his way back to Apocalypse, Danny just turns to the League, conjures a throne made of ice for him to sit on, shifts back, and says, "So. Any questions?"

hdgnj

John: Yeah. Why have you been. You know. Playing human?

Danny: The U.S.government declared my species illegal. I still have friends and family here. So. I've been lying low.

Batman: But the meta human protection act..

Danny: Only covers sapiant species. Which they decided my kind were not.

John: Are the fucking morons?

Danny: Yes. Please fix that? I've tried to reach out in the past. Given your response? I'm guessing they were blocking the calls.

John *excessive and long winded swearing*

Superman: Thank you for your aid your Majesty.

Danny: No worries. I like helping others avoid my realm.

azulhood