Horror Prompts’ Gillian Church is hosting another horror drabble challenge: 31 prompts for 31 creepy tales throughout March. This time, we can decide on the length of the piece but I’m sticking to the 100-word default.
Can you do it?
The Prompt: Ruminant
The Submission: Iris couldn’t believe her ears; she couldn’t be dead. That was crazy! She still had so much life left to live, and to think she’d be snuffed out by Roger, of all people. But Grandma Beth had greeted her, told her what’s-what, and she’d been dead for fifteen years now.
Dejected, Iris lingered in the house she’d called home, unable to interact with anything or anyone save for a brief chill in the air. When she saw Roger bring another girl home, her rage boiled; in that moment, Iris rejected becoming a mere ruminant and vowed to make him pay.
What did you think to the prompt for today’s drabble challenge? Did you submit anything for it? Have you ever written any flash fiction before? I’d love to know what you think to my snippets and writing prompts, so feel free to sign up and let me know what you think below or leave a comment on my Instagram page. You can also follow Gillian Church to take part in her Weekly Writing Prompt challenge.
So, for no better reason than “Mar.10” resembling Mario’s name, March 10th is widely regarded as being “Mario Day”, a day to celebrate Nintendo’s portly plumber, an overalls-wearing mascot who literally changed the videogame industry forever and shaped the home console market of the nineties. To commemorate Mario Day this year, March is once again “Mario Month” and I am spending every Thursday of this month celebrating everyone’s favourite Koopa-flattening plumber.
Released: 2011 Originally Released: 21 April 1989 Original Developer: Nintendo R&D1 Also Available For: Game Boy
A Brief Background: In 1989, Nintendo were preparing to release their handheld console, the Game Boy, a machine that would go on to pretty much define portable gaming. To coincide with this release, they needed fun, appealing titles to attract players and Super Mario was the obvious candidate given how wellSuper Mario Bros. (Nintendo EAD, 1985) had sold some years prior. The first game in the series not to feature the input of Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, the game was also significantly shorter and smaller than its home console counterpart. While this has been reflected in reviews, Super Mario Land sold over 18 million copies, kickstarting an entire sub-series for Nintendo’s portly plumber that was exclusive to its handheld devices. Naturally, it was eventually ported to the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console with some minor revisions, which is the version I’ll be looking at today.
The Review: Though functionally the same game as Super Mario Bros., there’s plenty of differences between that game and its handheld counterpart to help Super Mario Land stand out…and not all of them are good, to be honest. Like its bigger brother, Super Mario Land is a 2D sidescrolling platformer in which players control Mario as he runs, jumps, and blasts his way through four distinct Kingdoms. While the game sacrifices a lot in terms of length and graphical quality, Mario actually controls far better in his Game Boy debut than in his more famous title; for one thing, he’s far less slippery, which is a Godsend as it’s much harder to slip and randomly fall off platforms down a bottomless pits and to your death. Mario can still jump, bouncing off enemies’ heads and gaining more height and momentum as he does so and from running by holding down the B button, and he feels like he has a bit more weight to him; not enough to make him plummet like a rock like some of his contemporaries but also not so little that he goes flying off the screen. The game is simplicity in itself; you start on the left side of the screen and run and jump to the right, taking out enemies, collecting Coins for points and extra lives, and taking your chances down the game’s various pipes to find hidden areas full of these aforementioned Coins. As in pretty much all Mario games, and most videogames at the time, you’re also racing against a time limit and can protect yourself from death by bashing blocks to randomly unearth a collectable Super Mushroom, which will transform you into Super Mario.
Despite its understandable simplicity, the game’s Kingdoms are distinct and varied.
While Super Mario Land has only four stages, referred to as “Kingdoms”, it mixes up its gameplay significantly from other Mario games of the time with the inclusion of two autoscrolling shooter stages; one has you piloting the “Marine Pop”, the other the “Sky Pop”, a cute little submarine and bi-plane, respectively. While autoscrolling stages can be a pain in the ass, and it easy to get crushed to death if you don’t blast blocks quickly enough, these are actually quite fun and it’s just a shame that the developers didn’t program a couple more stages like these in there to help keep things interesting. Additionally, rather than jump atop a flagpole at the end of each Kingdom, Mario exits each stage by entering a doorway; if you direct him to the top exit, you’ll be taken to a Bonus Game where you can earn anywhere between one and three extra lives or a power-up by stopping the fast-moving ladders. Extra lives are rather plentiful overall, to be honest, meaning you generally have an abundance of chances to tackle the games more troublesome and difficult sections, which usually involve making a few tricky jumps over an endless void, jumping to moving platforms, and using rolling boulders to safely cross spiked platforms.
Mario’s new vehicles really help to spice up Mario’s classic platforming action.
As you explore and bop blocks through the game’s Kingdoms, you’ll collect a number of Coins; collect one hundred and you’ll be awarded with an extra life, which can also be found sporadically throughout the game (this time in the form of a heart). Mario’s chief power-up in this game is the Superball, which allows him to toss a projectile similar to the Fire Flower but with the added bonus of the Superball bouncing around the screen to damage multiple enemies and even collect Coins, though you can only ever throw one at a time. If you take a hit while holding a Superball, you’ll revert right back to little Mario, but you can also grab Stars for a temporary period of invincibility. Unlike other Mario games of the time, you cannot play as Luigi or any character other than Mario; as a result, the primary additional features you’ll find in this game are the aforementioned autoscrolling and bonus stages. However, after you beat the game for the first time, you’ll unlock a “Hard Mode” that adds additional enemies to the game’s Kingdoms and, after clearing that mode, you’ll unlock a stage select feature. Otherwise, the 3DS version also allows you to create one save state to dramatically reduce the game’s difficulty and challenge (I remember owning this game as a kid and never being able to clear the Easton Kingdom but, thanks to the 3DS’s save feature, I beat the game in about an hour without really trying that hard).
The game renders its many familiar and unique enemies as best as possible.
Given that it was a launch title for the Game Boy, a handheld console not exactly known for being the most powerful or graphically interesting amongst its peers despite its immense popularity, it’s important to set your expectations quite low for Super Mario Land. Graphics are painfully simple and monochromatic, with Mario helpfully standing out thanks to his iconic cap and moustache as, without these, he may as well have just been Mr. Game & Watch. The game’s enemies, for all their variety, don’t exactly fare much better but, thankfully, the bosses are much bigger and more indicative of the superior sequel. Similarly, while each of the game’s four Kingdoms feels distinct, they’re not exactly teeming with detail; most opt for a plain, empty background with some simple elements (pyramids, mountains, clouds, Easter Island-like heads and the like) and an abundance of blocks, platforms, and pipes. As you progress through each Kingdom, the stages take on more distinctive and detailed environments, such as exploring inside a pyramid, with hieroglyphics etched into the background layer, or traversing the block-and-platform-ample mountaintops of the Chai Kingdom. The game also separates itself from its bigger brother by having a mostly unique soundtrack; some familiar Mario tunes are present but, for the most part, Hirokazu Tanaka’s music is distinctive enough if a little off-brand for what the franchise was known for at the time. Super Mario Land also features around thirty different enemies, most of which are distinct to each of the game’s four Kingdoms and many of which return from, or are directly inspired by, enemies encountered in the bigger, better Mario titles. As such, you’ll be stomping on Goomba heads, blasting Piranha Plants as they pop out of pipes, and knocking Bullet Bills out of the air but will run into a devious little trap after smacking a Koopa Trooper as their shells now explode a few seconds after they are defeated!
Bosses might look tough but they’re easy to get past if you don’t feel like fighting them.
As mentioned, each Kingdom features their own distinct enemies: you’ll encounter spear-throwing Bunbuns and fireball-spitting Gaos in the Birabuto Kingdom; a variety of skeletal fish and fireball-spitting aquatic enemies in the Muda Kingdom; spiders and sentiment rocks and Easter Island heads in the Easton Kingdom; and zombie-like Pionpi, deadly chickens, and relentless bi-planes in the Chai Kingdom. Each Kingdom concludes in a boss battle that is, in essence, the same as battling Bowser in Super Mario Bros. but much more varied: you’ll encounter a fireball-spitting, jumping sphinx-like lion, a large, fireball-spewing seahorse, and a rock-throwing sentient Easter Island head rock monster. Regardless of the arena or differing environment or the attacks the bosses use, your tactics pretty much stay the same until the final showdown with Tatanga: avoid their projectiles and either blast at them with Superballs or dodge behind them to take them out with a switch at the cost of some bonus points. You’ll battle Tatanga in the Sky Pop but, before you can fight him, you’ll have to take out Biokinton, a chicken-throwing cloud that bounces around the screen. Afterwards, Tatanga rises into the sky, incessantly firing cannonballs from his Pagosu warship. While easily the toughest boss of the game, Tatanga’s shots are easy to avoid once you spot their pattern and, while he can absorb more shots than his counterparts, he still goes down fairly easily to allow Mario to literally rocket away with the true Princess Daisy.
The Summary: It’s easy to forget about Super Mario Land; not only is its sequel worlds better in every way but so is the far more memorable and popular Super Mario Bros. It’s a great little burst of fun and a decent enough distraction for short car journeys but it’s not really got much to it, even for a Game Boy launch title or a product of its time. Still, this was the first Mario title I ever played so I have a decent amount of nostalgia for it and finally beating it after all these years was cathartic, though I’d still rather play the sequel of one of Wario’s many spin-offs on the same console.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
What are your memories of Super Mario Land, if any? How do you feel it holds up compared to Super Mario Bros. or the other Mario Game Boy titles? What was your first ever Game Boy title and which is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts on Super Mario Land, Mario, and or the Game Boy in general, feel free to leave a comment below.
Horror Prompts’ Gillian Church is hosting another horror drabble challenge: 31 prompts for 31 creepy tales throughout March. This time, we can decide on the length of the piece but I’m sticking to the 100-word default.
Can you do it?
The Prompt: Speech
The Submission: Ted awoke to find himself bound tightly to a chair; barbed wire chewed into his wrists and ankles and a piercing, numb pain throbbed from his left ear. Eyes blurry, he saw he was in a musty, filthy garden shed. An array of rusty tools were spread across the nearby workbench.
The door creaked open and Ted saw his captor enter. Ted tried to speak and half-gagged as a geyser of warm blood burst from his lips and something heavy and leathery dropped from his mouth. As his vision steadied, Ted heaved when he saw it was his severed tongue.
What did you think to the prompt for today’s drabble challenge? Did you submit anything for it? Have you ever written any flash fiction before? I’d love to know what you think to my snippets and writing prompts, so feel free to sign up and let me know what you think below or leave a comment on my Instagram page. You can also follow Gillian Church to take part in her Weekly Writing Prompt challenge.
Horror Prompts’ Gillian Church is hosting another horror drabble challenge: 31 prompts for 31 creepy tales throughout March. This time, we can decide on the length of the piece but I’m sticking to the 100-word default.
Can you do it?
The Prompt: Grass
The Submission:
the GRASS keeps growing no one believes me but i swear i cut it everyday and it just GROWS right back i’ve been out there and ran the mower over it again and again and within seconds its back GROWING AND BLOSSOMING right under my feet i even put grass killer down but it just grew thicker i lay in bad last night and could HEAR it growing going now i can HEAR it growing laughing taunting at me even as i dump petrol over it sloshing around my feet and light the match to stop the grass growing evermore
What did you think to the prompt for today’s drabble challenge? Did you submit anything for it? Have you ever written any flash fiction before? I’d love to know what you think to my snippets and writing prompts, so feel free to sign up and let me know what you think below or leave a comment on my Instagram page. You can also follow Gillian Church to take part in her Weekly Writing Prompt challenge.
Gillian Church posts Writing Prompts every week on her Horror Prompts Instagram account and I like to take part with a few snippets and pieces of flash fiction.
The Prompt: What did you do to my patient?
The Submission: “Johnson!” Dr. Janisse barked. “What did you do to my patient?!”
“Nothing” the intern blubbered. “He was in regression therapy and begging for his dool, so we brought him his doll.”
Dr. Janisse raised a surprised eyebrow and peered through the viewing glass, where Mr. LeBeau was sat staring at a small porcelain doll. “He’s never mentioned a doll before.”
Johnson nodded solemnly. “He seemed pretty insistent.”
Dr. Janisse rested his forearm on the glass and sighed deeply. Mr. LeBeau was brought to them five years ago, covered head to toe in blood and screaming bloody murder. Five years of therapy, counselling, and even hock treatments and he remained a babbling, incoherent wreck who had no idea of how brutally his mind had snapped.
Mr. LeBeau rocked back and forth in his chair, mumbling to the porcelain doll; its creamy-white cheeks were cracked, its rosy-red pouting lips faded, and its curly blonde locks were hanging in clumps. Suddenly, he gripped the doll tightly around the middle and started ranting; spittle flew from his lips, his teeth gnashed together so hard that he was practically chewing off his bottle lip, and his eyes bulged alarmingly.
“Shit!” Dr. Janisse spat. He pressed the call button to get some security in there but was fascinated by Mr. LeBeau’s sudden outrage. “Where did you say you got the doll from?”
Johnson, unable to tear his eyes away from the guards struggling to wrestle Mr. LeBeau to the ground, answered: “His mother brought it in.”
Dr. Janisse snapped his head around sharply. “His mother?! His mother’s been dead for five years!”
He gazed back through the glass and watched as Mr. LeBeau clawed at the guards, his face bulging with pulsating purple veins, his eyes wide and bloodshot, blood foaming around the remains of his mouth. He leapt at them, clutching and squeezing and ripping, chewing into the flesh of their necks and spraying geysers of blood over the padded walls.
The porcelain doll laid on its side in the corner of the room, watching on with a stoic approval.
What did you think to this week’s writing prompt? Did you submit anything for it? Have you ever written any flash fiction before? I’d love to know what you think to my snippets and writing prompts, so feel free to sign up and let me know what you think below or leave a comment on my Instagram page. You can also follow Gillian Church and Horror Prompts to take part in the Weekly Writing Prompt challenge.
Horror Prompts’ Gillian Church is hosting another horror drabble challenge: 31 prompts for 31 creepy tales throughout March. This time, we can decide on the length of the piece but I’m sticking to the 100-word default.
Can you do it?
The Prompt: Teeth
The Submission: Paul sat at the water’s edge, sipping beer, a dull ache in his back. He was about to give up for the day when the line gave a sudden tug. Paul leapt into action and a pike, glistening and glaring, sprung from the water.
Delighted, Paul fumbled with the thirty-inch fish, and barked in pain as teeth, sharp and smooth, stabbed into his flesh. The fish wrenched with a desperate thrash, taking two of Paul’s fingers with it.
As Paul lay on the grass, weeping in agony, the pike lashed its tail and inched its way towards his anguished face…
What did you think to the prompt for today’s drabble challenge? Did you submit anything for it? Have you ever written any flash fiction before? I’d love to know what you think to my snippets and writing prompts, so feel free to sign up and let me know what you think below or leave a comment on my Instagram page. You can also follow Gillian Church to take part in her Weekly Writing Prompt challenge.
Released: 23 January 2007 Director: Patrick Archibald, Jay Oliva, and Frank Paur Distributor: Lionsgate Budget: Unknown Stars: Marc Worden, Gwendolyne Yeo, Fred Tatasciore, Rodney Saulsberry, and Elisa Gabrielli
The Plot: When cocky industrialist Anthony “Tony” Stark’s (Worden) efforts to raise an ancient Chinese temple leads him to beseriously wounded and captured by enemy forces, he builds a mechanised suit of armour to escape and ends up embroiled in an ancient prophecy regarding a supernatural despot known as “The Mandarin” (Tatasciore).
The Background: Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) took cinemas by storm, Marvel had some notable success in the field of animation. While the X-Men animated series (1992 to 1997) remains one of their most celebrated efforts, other Marvel properties came to be adapted into cartoons, including ol’ shellhead himself, Iron Man. I used to watch the Iron Man cartoon (1994 to 1996) as a kid and, for the most part, this was my primary window into the character as I was more into Peter Parker/Spider-Man at the time. In 2004, perhaps as preparation for their upcoming series of live-action adaptations, Marvel entered into an agreement with Lions Gate Entertainment to produce ten direct-to-video animated features. The success of the Ultimate Avengers (Richardson, et al, 2006) features led to a solo feature for Iron Man and, while this film made notably lessthan its predecessors and was met with mixed reviews, this did little to deter Marvel from producing more animated features or their live-action efforts.
The Review: The Invincible Iron Man is an interesting twist on the Iron Man formula that many may be accustomed to in that it’s perfectly happy to mix the supernatural and mystical with the character’s more technological aspects. While these elements have often been intertwined in the comics and led to many a story pitting science against magic, I have to say that I was a bit surprised to find the film having such an oriental flavour right from the get-go and intertwining Iron Man’s origin in with that of the mystical and prophecy regarding an “Iron Knight” opposing the entity known as the Mandarin.
Tony’s brazen attitude is a serious point of contention amongst his friends and family.
In China, James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Saulsberry) is overseeing the work on unearthing an ancient city. As if superstitions weren’t bad enough, the work is threatened by potential geological issues, and Tony Stark constantly letting Rhodey down in regards to supplies and resources for the project. Even worse is the constant threat of a terrorist group known as the Jade Dragons, who attack the site with bazookas. Frustrated, Rhodey tries to force Tony into action; Tony is aghast at the idea of sending munitions to help defend the site since he doesn’t want any bloodshed but, despite promising to fly out to support him, Tony finds himself more distracted by a gorgeous redhead. Tony’s cavalier attitude and arrogance aggravates his Board of Directors, who disagree with his excavation of the temple and have grown tired of his egotism and the secrecy regarding his scientific endeavours and even his father, Howard (John McCook), reluctantly agrees to cut Tony’s funding and influence off.
Tony is critically injured but kept alive to undo the raising of the Mandarin’s resting place.
At the site, a bombardment of sonic vibrations expand “liquid steel” to safely raise the entire lost city up to ground level. The Jade Dragons’ leader, Wong Chu (James Sie), adamantly opposes this and vows to kill anyone who gets in their way; though Li Mei (Yeo) openly defies this order, the attack is successful and Rhodey is taken prisoner, which is finally the kick up the ass Tony needs to get over there and get involved. However, this is all part of the plan for the Jade Dragons to ambush Tony’s convoy and, in the attack, he is not only also captured but critically injured as well. This presents another interesting twist on Iron Man’s origin where Tony is held captive alongside Rhodey as well as Ho Yin (Unknown/Unclear), and also that his entire capture was by a group of extremists trying to return the Mandarin’s tomb to the ground.
Tony’s armour comes in handy in battling the supernatural Elementals.
Unlike traditional depictions of the character, The Invincible Iron Man’s Mandarin is a purely mystical and supernatural entity of myth and magic; he is protected by the four Demon Elementals, which take the form of armoured, Samurai warriors. Thanks to Ho Yin and Rhodey’s background as an army medic, Tony’s life is saved by a crude iron lung, of sorts. After Ho Yin informs them of the legend of the Mandarin and is executed by Wong Chu, they construct an elaborate suit of armour to stop the Elementals, who are causing destruction all over the world in search of the ten rings that will resurrect the Mandarin.
The Nitty-Gritty: If there’s one thing holding The Invincible Iron Man back, it’s the quality of the animation; while it’s okay, for the most part, and has a bit of a pseudo-anime flavour going on, it’s all very rigid and basic and a bit blurry around the edges. Similar to the Iron Man cartoon of the nineties, it also features an abundance of CGI animation, particularly in the depiction of the Demon Elementals, which lends them an otherworldly quality and helps realise them as creatures of magic. Rhodey is initially incensed to find out that Tony has secretly been constructing various armours behind his back; believing that Tony has betrayed his anti-weapons ideals, his concerns are set aside as all of those armours come in handy not only for tracking down the Mandarin’s rings but battling the Elementals. The CGI work on the armours is good, if maybe a little too “fluid” at times, and there are a decent array on show here, from the bulky grey armour to the submarine suit and the familiar red-and-gold armour that’s become Iron Man’s standard.
The armours look pretty good and are quite varied but aren’t featured that much.
Unlike other depictions of Iron Man, the actual construction and capabilities of the armours is of little consequence here; we don’t really learn anything about the Arc Reactor technology or the Repulsor blasts and there’s no allegorical scenes of Tony building the armour. They simply exist because he built them prior to the film, which is good on the one hand as it lets the film get to the fights a lot faster but also a little disappointing as seeing the construction and evolution of the armours is always a fun aspect of the character. Still, thanks to the Mandarin’s rings being hidden all over the world, Iron Man’s battles against the Demon Elements get to take place in such animated locations as the bottom of the ocean and inside a raging volcano. While the CGI in these fights can be a little jerky and wonky at times, they’re decent enough, for the most part, and add some visual variety to the proceedings (a fact helped by the inclusion of actual dragons for Iron Man to fight!) There’s also a couple of competing sub-plots at work in the film, including a bit of corporate intrigue surrounding Stark Industries and Howard’s insistence on directing the company (and Tony’s genius) towards weaponry. This leads to him running afoul of Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate (S.H.I.E.L.D.) Agent Drake (John DeMita), who is potentially a prototype for Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg), and him and Rhodey finding themselves fugitives. It is also the cause of a great deal of animosity between Tony and his father as Howard is indirectly responsible for Tony and Rhodey’s capture and Ho Yin’s death since it was he (as in Howard) who supplied weapons to the site and thus armed the Jade Dragons.
Li Mei ends up being used as a pawn in the Mandarin’s resurrection.
While there isn’t a great deal for Virginia “Pepper” Potts (Gabrielli) to do other than offer dry witticisms and cover Tony’s escape and actions in her own way, Li Mei is a pivotal part of a crucial sub-plot in the film; initially depicted as a reluctant follower of Wong Chu, she is burdened by having been born a woman and thus judged as being insufficient to opposing the Mandarin in a strictly patriarchal society. There’s a bit of a brief romantic angle teased between her and Tony but, rather than being reduced to a mere prize for Tony to earn or a damsel to save, Li Mei strikes back against her oppressor when she shoots Wong Chu dead to help Tony and Rhodey escape and even travels to America to help Tony track down the last of the rings. Li Mei’s story turns out to be one of deception as, after Iron Man retrieves all of the rings, she claims them for herself and reveals that she tried to keep him away since she is destined to be the vessel for the Mandarin’s resurrection. Although despondent at her fate, and Tony’s decision to stand by her and thus fulfil the prophecy of the Iron Knight battling the Mandarin to the death, she nevertheless willingly allows the Mandarin’s malevolent spirit to posses her body for the finale. Thus, in another twist on the traditional depiction of the Mandarin as a Fu Manchu-type, the sorcerer is instead rendered as an ethereal force that inhabits and surrounds Li Mei’s naked body and wields incredible elemental powers. Ultimately, though, Iron Man is able to dispel the Mandarin not through brute force or technology but by appealing to Li Mei’s humanity, though she dies in the process. Having learned the value of responsibility and self-sacrifice, Tony returns to America makes amends with his father by buying a controlling interest in Stark Industries and giving ownership to Howard (who immediately fires the entire Board).
The Summary: The Invincible Iron Man is a decent enough animated feature; it’s not exactly the most action-packed cartoon I’ve ever seen but there’s some interesting twists on the classic Iron Man formula that make it an entertaining watch, at times. The decision to tie Iron Man’s origin in with the Mandarin is a fascinating one; the two have always had a violent and storied history and represented the dichotomy of technology versus the supernatural and, to me, the Mandarin has always been Iron Man’s greatest foe. It’s disappointing, then, that the Mandarin doesn’t really show up until the final few minutes of the feature and in a greatly altered form; while the Demon Elementals fill the void on his behalf, a lot of the film seems like needless filler. The Invincible Iron Man seems to primarily function as a prequel to the Ultimate Avengers animated movie and, in that regard, it does help shed a little light on the character but there’s not really much Iron Man action for my liking and Marvel definitely did a better job representing the character in the nineties cartoon and the subsequent live-action films.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
What did you think to The Invincible Iron Man? How do you think it compares to the other Iron Man cartoons, Marvel’s other animated efforts, and the character’s live-action movies? Did you like the twists presented in the film, specifically regarding Iron Man’s origin and the depiction of the Mandarin? Would you have liked to see more animated films in this style or were you never a fan of Marvel’s feature-length cartoons? Whatever your thoughts on The Invincible Iron Man, leave a comment below and check in next Monday for more Iron Man content.
Horror Prompts’ Gillian Church is hosting another horror drabble challenge: 31 prompts for 31 creepy tales throughout March. This time, we can decide on the length of the piece but I’m sticking to the 100-word default.
Can you do it?
The Prompt: Linen
The Submission: I swept open the cupboard and frantically spilled towels and bedsheets onto the floor, tears running down my trembling red cheeks.
“Oh God, oh Jesus,” I muttered over and over, realisation finally sinking in.
I finally grabbed a handful of linen; I wound it into a bundle to avoid tripping as I made my way downstairs on legs worse than jelly.
His lifeless body stared up at me with those accusing eyes. Bone, jagged and shining white, jutted from his mangled flesh and his head was half-twisted around on his neck.
I unravelled the linen and began wrapping the body.
What did you think to the prompt for today’s drabble challenge? Did you submit anything for it? Have you ever written any flash fiction before? I’d love to know what you think to my snippets and writing prompts, so feel free to sign up and let me know what you think below or leave a comment on my Instagram page. You can also follow Gillian Church to take part in her Weekly Writing Prompt challenge.
Horror Prompts’ Gillian Church is hosting another horror drabble challenge: 31 prompts for 31 creepy tales throughout March. This time, we can decide on the length of the piece but I’m sticking to the 100-word default.
Can you do it?
The Prompt: Stubborn
The Submission:
He always was a pig-headed, stubborn brute of a man.
Everything had to be HIS way.
He ALWAYS had to have the last word.
He could NEVER be wrong.
At first, I could accept this; the sex was amazing, after all, and he brought in good money…but none of that matter when you’re constantly belittled.
Accused of everything under the sun, every little word or action or mistake criticised.
Something snapped that morning and I just went for him.
I can’t help but feel relived at the sight of his broken, twitching body lying at the bottom of the stairs.
What did you think to the prompt for today’s drabble challenge? Did you submit anything for it? Have you ever written any flash fiction before? I’d love to know what you think to my snippets and writing prompts, so feel free to sign up and let me know what you think below or leave a comment on my Instagram page. You can also follow Gillian Church to take part in her Weekly Writing Prompt challenge.
Story Title: Technically untitled, but commonly known as “The Cat” Published: March 1940 Writer: Bill Finger Artist: Bob Kane
The Background: Following the huge success of Clark Kent/Superman, National Comics Publications set Bob Kane to work creating another masked crimefighter to add to their repertoire. Thanks to the long-suppressed influence of artist Bill Finger, the “Bat-Man” soon became not only one of DC Comics’ most popular characters but also a mainstream cultural icon. In the years that followed, the Batman matched wits against numerous costumed supervillains, but none more alluring or enticing that Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Debuting in Batman’s first solo comic book, Kane and Finger collaborated on the creation of a femme fatale who would add some sex appeal for their readers; originally calling herself “The Cat”, Catwoman began life as a beguiling and wily burglar and jewel thief whose inspirations were actresses like Jean Harlow and Hedy Lemarr. Following this inauspicious debut, Catwoman would go on to be a constant thorn in Batman’s side; their on-again-off-again relationship has been explored in both mainstream and non-canon stories and the character is often cited as one of his greatest adversaries and a powerful feminist icon in her own right. Naturally, Catwoman has featured in many of the Dark Knight’s forays into videogames, cartoons, and live-action, and even starred in her own dreadful standalone feature film before being brought to life in a far more comic-accurate portrayal in The Batman(Reeves, 2022).
The Review: Our story opens to find a luxurious yacht, the Dolphin, out on stormy seas, where Dick Grayson/Robin is currently working undercover. We learn that, some days prior, wealthy philanthropist Bruce Wayne spotted in the newspaper that Martha Travers arranged for a select group of guests to join her on a yacht party and get a glimpse of her ludicrously expensive emerald necklace. Bruce has a hunch that this will attract every crook in town; however, since he has a prior engagement, he requests that his ward take point on this investigation, something Dick is only too eager to sign up for.
Dick discovers plenty of suspects willing to steal from wealthy Martha Travers.
Thanks to Bruce’s connections, Dick is easily placed onboard the Dolphin as an unassuming young steward and sets to work eavesdropping on Martha’s conversations for any hint of any potential threat to her. However, he overhears nothing more suspicious than the affluent lady’s “favourite nephew”, Denny, introducing her to the wizened and hobbled Mrs. Pegg, but one of the other stewards shares a titbit that Denny is little more than a shameless moocher who’s no better than all the other guests and constantly leeching off Martha’s vast fortune and generosity. Later, Dick overhears a heated argument between Martha and her brother, Roger, where she vehemently refuses to lend him the money he desperately needs to pay off his stock losses and he makes a thinly veiled threat against her as a result. Dick’s suspicions are raised even further when he spots a letter from the mysterious “Cat” in which the villain is colluding to steal the necklace and, sure enough, the Cat makes good on their threat and Martha is devastated to find that her necklace has been stolen from her room!
The Batman has Robin teach the thugs, and younger readers, a lesson about relying on guns.
While Denny and the other guests console her, the cost guard quite conveniently come aboard to help, but are quickly revealed to be heavily armed gangsters looking to hijack the boat and steal the necklace for themselves. Although Martha convinces the captain to offer no resistance, she is driven to laughter at the demands and the crooks are stunned to find that the Cat has beaten them to their prize! Believing that the necklace must have been swiped by one of the guests, the gangsters begin accosting the passengers and Dick finally leaps into action, tackling and fighting the goons before diving into the water and shedding his guise to switch to his Robin persona. The crooks speed away from the Dolphin with their loot but are quickly apprehend by the Batman, who has finally showed up after the trail on his other case ran cold. Oddly, Batman decides to teach the thugs a lesson in humility by disarming them and having Robin pummel all four of them at once in a fourth-wall-breaking moment designed, I guess, to teach any young readers that armed criminals are all cowards deep down.
Batman unmasks the Cat, but is so captivated by her beauty that he allows her to slip away!
Anyway, Robin catches Batman up to speed and the Dark Knight immediately suspects that Denny is in league with the Cat, but has his own suspicions about who amongst the guests is the enigmatic Cat. He exposes the true culprit by making a splash at Martha’s costume party, handing over the stolen jewels and spotting that the elderly Mrs. Pegg is quite spritely (and shapely) for an old woman when she races off at the sound of a fire alarm. Mrs. Pegg tries to make a run for it but is collared by Robin and dramatically revealed to be a beautiful young woman in disguise. Batman then wallops Denny when he tries to take the necklace at gunpoint, but turns down the Cat’s proposal that the two of them join forces as partners in crime. However, when the Cat leaps overboard while being transported back to dry land, Batman makes no attempt to stop her and even gets in Robin’s way when the Boy Wonder tries to pursue her. Robin is less than impressed by how smitten Batman was with the Cat, and the issue ends with the Dark Knight musing over the beautiful thief’s captivating eyes.
The Summary: Well, this was certainly a short and whimsical tale full of the same ridiculous conveniences and elements you’d expect from a Golden Age Batman tale. I’ll never not be amused by the sight of Bruce Wayne sucking on a pipe, or the odd, corny inclusions in tales from this era. Just the fact that the story wastes so many panels on having Robin beat up unarmed thugs is incredible in so many ways; I get that the idea is to show that, deep down, bullies and criminals are cowards who hide behind guns but the message also seems to be “Hey kids, don’t be afraid to get into a dust up with adults as long as they’re not packing heat!” The Robin fan in me enjoyed how big a role the Boy Wonder played in this story, going undercover and building a healthy list of suspects and even being very hands-on with the crime busting and apprehension of the Cat. Unfortunately, his efforts are completely overshadowed by the Batman; after hearing all of Robin’s evidence, he immediately pegs the culprit as “Mrs. Pegg” despite the fact that other passengers actually seemed much more viable, and his explanation for figuring our Mrs. Pegg’s true identity is paper thin, to say the least.
While an alluring femme fatale, the Cat lacks everything that makes her later incarnations so iconic.
If you’re a big Catwoman fan, this probably isn’t the best issue for showcasing her character; we never learn anything about the Cat beyond the fact that she takes a perverse thrill in conning the wealthy out of their prized jewels, and we don’t even learn her real name. Additionally, she’s not technically Catwoman here either; she has no cat-themed accessories and is far from the sultry femme fatale she would come to be known as. Instead, this is a Catwoman at the very beginning of her career, one who relies on disguises and subterfuge rather than claws and agility. One thing that is very familiar about her, though, is the mutual attraction between her and Batman; she practically throws herself at him, impressed but his strength and charisma, and he is so captivated by her that he actively breaks his own code to let her go free. It’s pretty clear that the Cat would be inspired by Batman’s iconography to take on her more theatrical appearance in later stories, but in her debut she’s just another wily, self-serving swindler who presents a mystery for Batman to solve with his uncanny deductive abilities. The Cat is able to stand out from Batman’s other rogues by being an alluring, beautiful woman but I’d argue that seeing Batman so lovesick by her beauty actually makes him seem like a bit of a fool by the end, and I much prefer the more playful, physical back-and-forth the two would build up in subsequent meetings.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
Have you ever read “The Cat”? What did you think to Catwoman’s debut story and the mystery of her true identity? Did you guess who was behind the theft or were you surprised when Batman fingered Mrs. Pegg? What are some of your favourite Catwoman stories? Which interpretation of Catwoman, whether animated, pixelated, or live-action, is your favourite? Whatever you think about the Catwoman, sign up to share your thoughts below or leave comment on my social media, and be sure to check back in next Saturday for more Batman content!
Dr. K's Waiting Room 
You must be logged in to post a comment.