Superheroes! In Which Dr. inkenstein Handles The Dark Knight

Super Heroes! 

 

Really, Dr. Inkenstein got this idea from friend Susan, and we thank her for it.

If you were a superhero, what fountain pen would you use?  (or even BE, as a weird alter ego)?

　

Because of course superheroes use fountain pens.
 

What, you never named your fountain pens?   This trio of Superheroes just happen to be my heaviest, costliest, most 'significant' pens.  Ones you've even heard of.  Coincidence?  I think not!

Well....ladies first:
 

Wonder Woman had no trouble picking out this one. The Waterman Carene matches her favorite nail color, tomato red, and its inlaid nib has the elegance of a freshly-manicured fingernail.  


This sleek, well-balanced pen has no trouble fitting into any magic belt, and its cartridge/converter versalitity makes it the perfect choice for the heroine on the go.


The ink?  Why, Noodler's Black Swan In English Roses, thank you for asking.

 

 

 

Take the Batman Pen: a Sailor 1911 M, given to Dr. Inkenstein by children’s book author Steve Light.  Many thanks!


Like The Dark Knight, this Sailor is all silver and black and stealth.


The ink is none other than Everflo True Blue, which apparently only the likes of Batman can tame.

 

　

 

Now for the Superman Pen, in brushed gold, just right for those long days journaling in the Fortress of Solitude. Dr. Inkenstein’s second ‘real’ (ie: costing more than twenty bucks) fountain pen, the Sheaffer Legacy was ordered with a bold and suave B nib, and is heavy enough that only Superman can comfortably wield it. 

Writes with Skrip King's Gold, naturally.

　

 

And as for the nemesis.... The monstrous Model "Tageschlicht X-530."

This is the biggest pen Dr. inkenstein owns.  It is one of the biggest pens we have ever seen.

This weighty silver torpedo features a glittering clip jewel capable of blinding an unsuspecting foe, and a mirror finish that defies radar, sonar and even Superman's x-ray vision.  

With a bevy of unknown and arcane powers, it uses a black ink, Chesterfield Obsidian, to confound its foes.   Its code name is... Bairasu, after the giant flying squid-lookin' Daikaijuu, or Japanese monster.

Not to worry, though.  With the likes of Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman on its tail, this nemesis will not achieve world domination.

Trade Secret: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Posts a YYH Fic

Disclaimer: Kenshin does not own the Yuu Yuu Hakusho characters or The Batman (they are the property of Togashi Yoshihiro and Bob Kane/DC), and does not make any money from said characters.

What Kenshin does own, however, are all the original characters

in this work, such as Father Brian and 'N.' Any attempt to "borrow" these characters will be met with the katana, or worse.

The events in Idiot Beloved take place shortly after the Dark Tournament; Firebird Sweet directly follows that timeline. For reference, I use a combination of the subtitled YYH anime and the American manga, plus some of the CD dramas.

This particular tale takes place about a year after the events in Are You Loathsome Tonight...and the 'Batman' we see here is a combination of 'Batman: The Animated Series' and one or two other sources, including the earliest Detective Comics.

Title: Trade Secret: Prologue

Author: JaganshiKenshin

Genre: Action/Adventure, Humor

Rating: K+/PG-13

Summary: When an old friend asks Hiei to take an assignment at odds with his secret dread, Hiei balks at the fence.

A/N: Thanks for reading this, and I appreciate your reviews!

Dark Knight-meet Flying Shadow

Trade Secret (a Yuu Yuu Hakusho/Batman crossover: Prologue)

by

Kenshin

"No," said Hiei.

Ah, well, thought Father Brian McCormick. It's to be expected.

The carpet was soft and deep, and pale, milky light streamed in from the tall bank of windows opposite Father Brian's chair. But sure and these Agency offices are just the thing of a glorious September morn, he mused.

A pity it is that we are all four of us gathered under such unhappy circumstances.

Mr. Narita Shun (whom everyone called 'N') and Father Brian comprised two of the quartet. Hiei, the third. And though Father Brian knew full well the reason for Hiei's refusal, he kept his mouth shut.

Not so N.

A distinguished, portly gentleman, and head of the Agency's Tokyo branch, N was trying to persuade Hiei. Alas, thought Father Brian. The lad won't persuade. No, you need a different tactic with that one. Maybe pleading.

Just now, N assumed an expression of long-suffering, because Hiei was saying to him, "Is this a matter of national security?"

"It is not," admitted N.

"Has it caused Godzilla to rampage through the streets?"

"It has not."

Hiei folded his arms. "Then which of the two syllables making up 'N-O' has escaped your understanding?"

Seated at his black lacquer desk, N tried to stare Hiei down. Father Brian knew this also was an exercise in futility.

Yoshikawa Industries was the name on this suite of offices, situated in a Shibuya district hi-rise. That was merely a front. The firm dealt not in electronics, but espionage.

Sometimes, the Agency had a hand in wrangling the inevitable youkai who decided a life of crime in the human world was their calling. The existence of such creatures was not generally known, even to some of the agents. But it was known to Hiei.

N pinched the bridge of his nose, while Hiei glowered at all and sundry, including Father Brian.

To the untrained eye, here was a good-looking lad in his middle twenties, with bristling black hair, keen crimson gaze, and a build for swift combat.

Except that Hiei wasn't exactly human.

For one, humans didn't come equipped with a third eye, for all that Hiei's Jagan was an implant and hidden behind his white headband.

On permanent duty in Tokyo by way of Boston, Father Brian had watched Hiei grow over these last few years from a sullen loner with a sense of honor, to a sullen loner with a sense of honor and a bulging caseload.

Give the boy credit. He griped, but always got his man. And there is far more to the heart, human or youkai, than presents itself on the surface.

No doubt Hiei's interior life was as surprising and varied as anyone else's, while the house of his spirit contained a nobility that he himself would vehemently deny.

Ah, the dear little pissant.

Father Brian shifted his attention to the fourth person in the office: a tall man, caped and costumed, a mystery wrapped in an enigma, apparently absorbed in studying the view of Tokyo.

Hiei turned an almost comically-wounded gaze on Father Brian. "Aren't you always telling me I have the right to refuse any of your so-called assignments?"

Father Brian played his trump card. "Ah, sure an' I got nothin' t' do with this one, lad."

"Then why are you here?" Hiei demanded.

"Me? I just wanted to meet The Batman." Father Brian waved a hand. And in between the time that he turned toward the Caped Crusader and the time he turned back, Hiei had gone.

Disappeared. Vanished. Exited in an eyeblink.

Not so much as a doorknob had clicked, not a curtain had stirred. Father Brian chuckled, shaking his head in fond exasperation. The lad could move like greased lightning itself when so inclined.

N sighed. The Batman grumbled in disgust.

But Father Brian settled deeper into the easy chair. "Oh, he'll be back," Father Brian assured them. "Count on it."

-30-

(To be continued: What sort of job could be hellish enough to make Hiei bolt?)

Read the rest here.

Spring Green! In Which Dr. Inkenstein Tests Color and Shape

Spring has sprung (or so the calendar says!  the Actual Real Life Weather has other ideas), and so has Dr. Inkenstein's ink supply.


 It's that time of year when you want to move from the dark, brooding browns and burgundies of winter toward something lighter and brighter.

One day I found myself staring at three new, untested green inks. So I grabbed some pens for dipping and went to work.

Of all the dippers, a cheap little Wing Sung 285 (or maybe 235, it's hard to read...) proved the best and most pleasant to use, writing up to a half a page on a single dip. 

Thin paper beware.  These inks, tested on Clairefontaine's nice little Twin Book, do not show through, but will show through on Bagasse paper, except for Noodler's Zhivago.

 Despite not being light and bright at all,  Zhivago happens to be Dr. Inkenstein's favorite of the new greens, with its blackety-greenish undertones that show especially well when the ink is diluted.  I have been using the ink in a Nemosine Singularity (see previous review) for sketching.  It adds an intriguing glimpse of now-you-see-it, now-you-don't color in an ink that otherwise reads as black.

Many of you know Dr. Inkenstein as the Chief Engineer on the Cheap, Cheerful Pen Express.  So when I discovered this little oddity while surfing fleabay, I snapped it up.

The Papermate DJ uses standard international cartridges (and came with a free one from the dealer).  It comes in a few different colors, and this one was sold as green, labeled blue, and definitely looks a green that leans just slightly toward blue.  The Skrip Green in was IT for this pen.  A perfect pen/ink combo, owing entirely to laziness and luck.

At first, Dr. Inkenstein came away with green fingers and thought this little fountain pen leaked.  Later on, it was discovered to be Operator Error.  This has turned out to be a nice, wet, smooth writer that is yes, obviously cheap, but very comfy to hold and write with.

It has rubber-ish trim rings, and the translucent black cap does post (though not all that securely), and has the extra added advantage of two little 'relief''  hearts displayed on the clip if you are into cute.  I am.

I don't know if this is NOS or just new, but I had never seen the like, and jumped on it.  I'm sure if you searched for 'Papermate DJ Fountain Pen' you'd find it.  I think if you're a fan of inexpensive and cheerful writers this will be right up your alley.

One of these days: Superhero Pens.  Really.

Finding Nemo: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Explores Singularities

Submitted for your approval:  The Nemosine Singularity presents itself in triplicate.  Muahaha.  Left to right: Ivory, Granite, Black.

Available from xfountainpens, this re-tooled Chinese number offers splendid possibilities.

Admittedly, the Nemo nibs are nails.  Across the board.  No spring, no flex.  But sometimes, you just need a nail.

Dr. Inkenstein already owned a Nemosine Singularity in Granite (read: shiny gray), with a small cursive italic nib.  Actually the nibs themselves are huge.  The point is the smaller of the offered cursive italics. 

And this brings up another good point about the Nemo: all nib (point) sizes are available at no extra cost.  And there are quite a few.  Two cursive italics, and Fine, and Extra Fine, and Medium.

Nemo also fits Dr. Inkenstein's personal quirks.  It's a large-ish, fattish fountain pen but lightweight.  Another good thing about these x-pens is that they usually come with free shipping above a certain dollar amount, and this time, they came with about eight free ink cartridges of assorted blue and black to get you started writing.  But they also come with a free converter, if you wanted to use bottled ink.  In either case, they allow you to dive right in.

With Dr. Inkenstein being on a fine-nib kick, it seemed important to order two new Nemos: an Ivory with an F nib, and a black with EF.  They also come in blue and red and a few other finishes with silvertone trim.

And they are fifteen dollars each.  Come on, now.  Fifteen bucks!

As usual, they were tested under worst-case conditions.  I did not flush the nib or section, but yanked the pens out of the box (yes, they come with a light card box and instructions, great for first-timers) and heedlessly made them guzzle Noodler's inks: Black Swan in Australian Roses for the ivory F (yes, Dr. Inkenstein is indeed a ledge-walker) and Zhivago for the black EF.

And they wrote far better than they dipped.  Dipped, they were somewhat scratchy.  Filled, they were smooth nails, producing a fine, firm line. 

In short, these make great ink testers.  Or beginner pens.  Or starter pens.  Or just I-Want-One-In-Every-Color-And-Nib pens. 

From Lemon To Love: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Goes on Safari

Once upon a time, early in Dr. Inkenstein's Pen Collecting and Using Life, there was a yellow Lamy Safari with black clip and black medium nib.
 

But it never wrote all that well.  Scratchy.  Stingy.


Crash of thunder.  Flash of lightning.  Ooo, scary!


Dr. Inkenstein gave the Safari away and never looked at another one until, for some unknown reason, a Charcoal Safari with 1.1 italic nib found its way here.


Still don't recall why I bought it.  But I inked it up.  Hey.  It wasn't bad.' It had GOOD ink flow!  Wasn't scratchy or nothin'!


Then I began reading all sorts of Safari and AlStar-related posts on the Fountain Pen Network.

And then, I discovered the Nexx.  And all was lost.  Or found, depending on your perspective.  I started buying Lamys again.  They are sturdy, inexpensive, come in a variety of nibs, and best of all, COLORS galore.  Each year Lamy puts out a Limited Edition color.  And they are collectible' (translated to English: wayyy expensive on fleabay).


The Pink Nexx, F nib:

 

 

 

The Coral Nexx (M), and the Pearl (color looks like Champagne, really) AlStar (B):

 

 

 

Lamy family, top to bottom (Coral Nexx, Pink Nexx, Pearl AlStar, Yellow Safari, Apple Green LE Safari, Aqua LE Safari, Ocean AlStar, Blue Safari, LE Pink Safari, Red Safari, Charcoal Safari.  Unable to make it to the photo shoot was my blue Lamy ABC):





The really sad part of this tale is that the original 'lemon' was probably fixable.  And that the yellow with black nib/clip combo is now selling for hundreds of dollars on fleabay.

One of these days Dr. Inkenstein will actually return with the Superhero Pens post.

Knockaround! In Which Dr. Inkenstein Writes Blue-Black

Sometimes, you can’t manage a Big, Important Involved Post, like Superhero Pens, but you want to post something because you got some new inks to test.
　
Also sometimes, you just want a knockaround ink, you know? An ink that doesn’t come in a ‘collectible’ bottle, an ink that doesn’t cost a fortune, an ink that is easy to open and isn’t overfilled and doesn’t tip too easily and you don’t have to approach with fear, awe, and trembling.
　
You inks out there know who you are.
　
　
To this end, Dr. Inkenstein sent for a bottle of New Formula Skrip Blue-Black ink, as opposed to the vintage formula that came in the inkwell bottle and was impossible for me to open. This came to about ten bucks…could have found it for less money in Real Life, but was impatient. Will never again order from this particular vendor; the tiny box was un-padded and bulging, but the ink miraculously arrived intact. And NO. The dealer was not isellpens, Jetpens or Goulet Pens. Rest assured of that.
　
　
Also ordered a bottle of Hero Blue-Black ink from fleabay. At about five bucks shipped, this is the Bargain of the Bunch.
　
Why is Diamine Denim included? Because it’s in a Knockaround Pen, one of my trusty and well-loved Platinum Preppys. And because I had a test bottle of Denim on hand, bigger than a sample, far less than a full bottle. We hates these small bottles. Hard to squeeze a nib into, all too easy to tip over. Diamine isn’t exactly Knockaround Ink, but the full-sized bottles are at least stable, easy to open, and difficult to tip.
　
I dip-tested the Skrip and the Hero inks using different pens, shown here on a Clairefontaine Grid Pad and shot with a very bad digital camera of sorts with no close-up feature:
　

　
　
Then I further disgraced myself by dip-testing all the inks with a horrible, no-name glass pen. This pen would make a professional calligrapher write like a cross-eyed monkey tanked up on espresso, so it had no difficulty whatsoever in making Dr. Inkenstein’s southpaw scribble resemble blue worms on a plate.
　

　
　
I also tried diluting each ink with first a water-dip, then a cotton swab smear. The Diamine Denim seems to have the least green undertones of the three tested inks, and may be the ‘truest’ blue of the bunch. But I kind of favor the Hero ink at this point, for a combination of price, bottle, and just because.
　
　
As for each ink’s shading properties, it’s too early to tell, and besides, it’s snowing. And there’s a loose chicken in my yard.

Happy New Year: In Which Count Sockula Goes Giant

Greetings, my fellow fiber fashioners. 

Long time no yarn.   A combo of perfectionism and a thing called Sandy has kept the Count from blogging.  But now Count Sockula returns, after a fashion.

With something of a caveman thing.

Count Sockula has been studying The Art of Black-Belt Tightwaddery and Cheapskate-ism.  Not to mention De-Clutterfying!  Come on, tell me that's not scary.

I've been doing a lof of 'sloshing.' That is to say, moving things from one location to another, and sometimes the result is Temporarily Mess-tacular. 

 So, as a result, Count Sockula had some yarn culled for giveaway: a smallish bag full of random balls and scraps, and even an already-started project.

One day I was de-clutter-inating the all-purpose room and felt the need for background entertainment.  So I put in an Annie's Attic crochet video.  The setting was so beautiful (a grand old Victorian house) and the basket-intensive storage so appealing that I reclaimed the poor sad abandoned project and yarn, and grabbed a Q-hook.  This is something resembling a plastic broomstick.  The only larger commercially-available hook is the mighty and terrifying S-hook.

 

Count Sockula hastily retrieved the abandoned project and studied it.  There were already about a dozen rounds executed in Bernat Mosaic yarn (the Psychedelic colorway, which is a rainbow of muted jewel tones).  

The nearly-abandoned square was already about a foot in diameter and done in one of my favorite patterns.  I call it The Guatemalan Square.  There is no reason for the name.

ThenGuatemalan Square is worked  from the center out, like a granny square, but instead of double crochet clusters and chain  spaces, you work a single crochet, chain one.  For the corners, sc, ch2, sc.  (Sometimes I chain 3 instead.  Doesn't really matter all that much. ) Work corners in corners and the sc-ch 1 in the ch-1 spaces of the previous round.

And that's all.  Mindless crafty fun.  Just keep going until you run out of yarn or get sick of it.

I kept adding in balls and scraps of this and that, trying to harmonize with the dusty-rainbow colors of the original.

It's a lapghan.  It's a shawl.  Stop!  You're both right...

Also a shapghan?  A scrapghan... or a scrawl?

A product of black-belt tightwaddism.  Warm, soft, drapey.  Works up like lightning.

Quick.  They don't call it the Q-hook fer nothin.

Coming some day:  Superhero Fountain Pens!  Until next time.  Muahaha.