Howdy all, I’m glad that you could make it back this week. How’s your week been thus far?
I can’t really talk about that right now Mathan. Little busy.
*scrubbing*
*scrubbing*
*scrubbing*
God”¦who knew there would be so much blood.
That’s good or not. I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t really paying attention. I was too distracted by”¦
Linkin Haze
Could we even have a column if we didn’t link The Amalgam Tourney and DOL?
Tim you’re a guy with net savvy, anything you want to link?
Sure I do. Why not?
First up, we have this spooky weird puzzle site that I have nyslayer to thank/blame for getting me addicted to.
Then, visit VillainSupply to stock up on all your evil needs.
Take a little break and gaze at some art from Josh Ferrer, a co-worker and all around good fella.
Finally, for laughs, stop off at Home Star Runner and (though it pains me so to do this) 144 Anima to see Mathan getting his funny on.
Stale Comics
Deadshot #1 Be Patient.
The Monolith #10 Review Forthcoming, seriously.
It was a good book before it was cancelled; it remains a good book with its cancellation on the horizon. My only problem with this issue is that Alice acted a bit out of character at a key moment. Otherwise, everything was great.
And where is that review, anyway? I’m supposed to edit that thing.
Swamp Thing #10 Zombie Sex
I don’t actually read this book, but let me be the first to say, “Zombie sex? Zombie sex?! Hmm, color me”¦intrigued.
Hard Time #11 Read my review
Fallen Angel #18 Read my review
When did we make you the official reviewer of critically well received but under bought books? I count 3 in this column alone (Monolith, Hard Time, and Fallen Angel). How about you share with the rest of us, huh?
Y The Last Man #29 Read my review
Outsiders #18 Sometimes Judd hits, sometimes he misses. For me, this is the latter.
The Question #2 Interesting
Overly verbose. The book I mean, not your review. Your review is remarkably succinct.
Intimates #2 This book has way too much going on for my liking. The pages just seem “busy.”
Superman/Batman Way good. I’ve almost completely forgotten about that horrid Supergirl arc.
Firestorm #8 I really enjoy this book. But I’m a sucker for the “rookie hero” angle.
You can check out my review for this baby right here at Comics Nexus. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I think everyone here will get a kick out of the third paragraph.
Well I suppose we should start answering questions.
Well, I was thinking we’d just make quiche, but your idea has merit, too.
Ryan, you correctly placed the lyric, ask away.
First of all with the rumor that there could be a revisiting of the CRISIS from 20 years ago next year I was curious about whether or not the Psycho Pirate is still in continuity of the DC Universe.
Yup, the Psycho Pirate is still in continuity. Y’know the Psycho Pirate, the only guy who actually remembers the Pre-Crisis reality. He even tried to bring that reality back, which eventually caused him to vanish into nothingness. (Animal Man #10)
But he came back into existence during Underworld Unleashed after getting his powers amplified by Neron. He battled the Chase Lawler version of Manhunter.
He was most recently seen during the mediocre “Last Laugh” crossover.
Tim, you don’t suppose DC is keeping him under wraps because he plays a huge role in the alleged “Crisis 2” do you?
Hmm, possible, but I’d hope not. I might be cool with a second Crisis (although wasn’t Zero Hour supposed to be that), but I am not cool with it simply being a rehash of the first go-round. For my money, Psycho Pirate disappearance in Animal Man is really where the character should have ended.
Oh, and to call Last Laugh “mediocre” is charitable. I love Dixon huge, but even I have to admit that that comic reading experience was tres poor.
Neil, do you have a bittersweet question to ask?
The YJ issues of “Our Worlds at War,” Robin makes reference to Superboy becoming a National Security Risk due to something with the Guardian…what, prey tell, was that whole affair about?
Mwahahahaha…miss me yet? – Comic Insider Big Shot Ben Morse
B, you have no idea.
You do realize I’m standing right here, correct?
Let me explain something to you readers; one of the great things about B is that he loves Guy Gardner and Superboy. Why is that so great? Because I don’t really care for the characters.
Feel free to skim previous columns, whenever those two heroes come up, I type two lines and hand the rest of the answer over to B.
But now he’s gone.
To answer your question in Superboy #88 Young Justice finds out that Supeboy has effectively kidnapped a Jim Harper clone, and basically stolen government property. This was when Superboy left Project Cadmus.
Um, Tim? Little help? Change the topic? Anything?
Oh no, you don’t get to come crawling back to me now.
Chaos, do you have some Starman questions, because you know Starman is my favorite?
I was reading all of the Starman trades and I have a few questions
that have left me scratching my head…
In one volume, Jack mentions fighting Clay Face but that it wasn’t on TV –
did this fight happen in continuity and was it any good?
Also… the annual talking with David stories, there’s a ’95, a ’96, a ’97,
and then the next one in the trades is Talking with David ’99 when he visits
Mikaal – now at first I tried to explain this as a side effect of Mikaal and
Jack bouncing around through time in the beginnings of their space adventure
– but I think I’m stretching it. So uh, dude, what happened to Talking to
David ’98?
The fight with Clayface did happen, it just wasn’t shown in the comics. Jack had some mundane adventures (oxymoronic speech) that didn’t make the comic. It was James Robinson trying to make it seem like Jack had a life outside of the story. In reality it was just background.
As for “Talking With David ’98” it never happened. But don’t feel gypped. It was just odd numbering. Look at it like this. “Talking With David ’95” was in Starman #5 (March 1995). “Talking With David ’96” took place in Starman #19 (May 1996) a full fourteen months later. Then “Talking With David ’97” appeared in Starman #37 (November 1997) a whopping year and a half later. Yet “Talking With David ’99” showed up in Starman #49 (January 1999) a mere fourteen months after the last one.
And look at all that happened during those fourteen months; a Mist showcase issue, a team up with Captain Marvel, three “Times Past” issues, a JLA appearance, Starman #1,000,000, and Jack taking to the stars. Looking at all that, it sounds like you want to have your cake and eat it too.
Tim, are you a fan of Jack Knight, and before you answer I’ll remind you that I have the zodiac logo tattooed on my back, so your future could depend on this answer.
Even before you made that thinly veiled threat, I was a Jack fan. Sadly, I missed the boat on the beginning of the series, so I read it now in trade format. Of course, since DC releases those trades with the speed of molasses flowing down a tree, I’ll probably be done reading the entire series sometime around 2016.
Speaking of tattoos, my friend Ku has a giant octopus on his back. Why? In his words, “Well, I’d been thinking about for awhile and”¦octopuses are really adaptive animals.” Best reasoning for a tattoo EVER.
What does it have to do with anything? Now if I told you that, it would spoil the surprise, wouldn’t it?
Nalydpsycho, do you have a question that serves as a follow up to last week’s column?
What, in your opinion, is/was the biggest problem with Green Lantern that needs fixing?
For the “was” I’ll say that The Powers That Be neglected Hal Jordan.
In many ways Hal lost his way with the reintroduction of Guy Gardner and John Stewart. When Hal gave up his ring (in G.L. #181) it was proven that he could be replaced. He was no longer unique.
Even when he got his ring back he still wasn’t the same. When the Guardians left in Green Lantern #200, he lost the aspect of a hero torn between doing what he’s supposed to do and what he wants to do. The Guardians always chastised him for spending so much time on Earth, and neglecting his sector. Without that power structure in place, his character diminished.
The popularity of Guy Gardner also hurt him. Before Guy got his ring, readers could think “Man, if I had a ring I would do xyz.” But when Guy got his ring, and later his own book, readers could actually read about it, making Hal look that much stiffer.
I think that the biggest problem with the concept “Green Lantern” was when there were 8 Green Lanterns on Earth. That really hurt the concept.
It’s like the idea of snow; it’s cool on postcards and mountaintops, and even in on the ground in moderation. However if you have to deal with the reality of snow on a daily basis 4 months out of the year, the novelty wears off.
The concept of having 3600 Green Lanterns wasn’t bad; they rarely teamed up. However having seven Green Lanterns living in one house is absurd.
As for what “is” the biggest problem I’d say Hal Jordan’s credibility or lack their of. DC painted themselves into a corner my making Hal Jordan go way rogue, a corner quite frankly I’m not even sure Geoff Johns can get them out of.
DC also appears to be pulling support away from Kyle Rayner, a guy a mere decade ago they touted as “the one true Green Lantern.”
Another problem facing Green Lantern is a comic fanbase who are reluctant to accept change. Refusal to accept changing the past (like Birthright) I can understand. But the refusal to even acknowledge the forward momentum of progress because character A isn’t superhero B (like Firestorm, Green Lantern strikes me as foolish.
Tim what are your thoughts on this subject?
In fairness to GL fans, I think most comic fans, on the whole, have trouble dealing with change. GL fans are hardly unique in this way. They do, however, seem to be a bit more organized, given the reign of terror that HEAT spread throughout the internet in those early days, 10 years back or so.
As far as biggest problem”¦hard for me to say right now. I think, as we discussed last week, the rogues gallery needs to be fixed up. There also needs to be an effort to give Hal a personality and an aura of importance to counteract those issues of the past that you alluded to up above (stiffness, lack of distinction). Beyond that, I think the issues are the same for any character: crafting dramatic, interesting stories to keep readers with the title even after the initial excitement of Hal’s return dies down.
Jerry Hizon, do you have a topical question?
Any news on the Deadshot mini-series?
Yes, issue #1 hit the stands last week. And it was”¦eh.
I didn’t like the opening. I don’t like his new costume. The art was cool, but the story didn’t really grab me. And that tag “The Hit Man who goes where super heroes can’t.” screams “cheese!” But that said, I’m on record as not understanding Deadshot’s allure.
Perhaps our own Tim, and provided a different point of view.
As Ben and I were talking about (see, you do sort of get your precious “B” in this column) what makes Deadshot interesting is the clash of his complicated inner self (death wish, death of a child) with his simplistic problem solving model. For him, there are two ways to fix things: throw money at it or shoot it. If one does not work, he’ll do the other and vice versa. I think Gage nailed both aspects of that nicely, which is why I liked the first issue.
So, yes, the tag line was weak. Yes, the costume is not exactly inspired (he is essentially just wearing his mask with street clothes), but the characterization worked for me and that is all I need to be sold on the book.
George do you have a mortality question?
Are the Kents dead or what? Pa Kent died in the original Superman, I read in my local paper that the Kents were killed in the fifties at some point, but Jonathan was alive for Superman’s funeral. What the hell is going on, and if the new Superman is an origin movie, do you think the Kents will be okay?
George, you are a sweetheart. I think that it’s very caring of you to actually care about the Kents. Myself, I’ve never really given them a thought. But to answer you bevy of questions;
Yes the Kents are alive. They’ll probably show up after the current creative teams depart the Super titles next year. They can occasionally be seen on the pages of Teen Titans, because they’ve adopted Superboy. He’s “Conner Kent” (which I don’t really care for, mostly because in Teen Titans #17, when the future Batman is talking to “Conner” I assumed he was talking to Green Arrow, because he was Conner first.)
WARNING: WACKY SILVER AGE ALERT!!!
The Sliver Age Kents did die. They had gone on a cruise in the Caribbean after Clark’s graduation from high school. Once there they the encountered a pirates treasure chest, and contracted some sort of fever plague from it.
Superboy tried to save them, but to no avail. Martha died first. Jonathan, on his deathbed, made Clark swear to go out into the world and be a hero. Up to that point Superboy had done most of his heroic stuff in Smallville or the 30th Century. Upon Jonathan’s death, the Superboy became a Superman.
END WACKY SILVER AGE ALERT
I’m betting that when the new Superflick gets made, (provided it’s a new movie continuity, and that’s not a given) that we will see Jonathan and Martha alive. I think it adds a lot to Superman’s character that he isn’t driven to be a hero by loss, but rather by responsibility. Spidey lost is uncle, Bats is one big revenge fantasy, but a Superman with two alive adoptive parents makes for a more optimistic character.
Sure Krypton exploded, but Clark couldn’t have prevented that. If you have dead parents, you have angst, and Supes doesn’t need angst. Of course you’re talking to a Man of Steel fan, who thinks that the finest thing John Byrne ever did was fixing Superman.
Tim, The Kents: “Worm Fixin’s” or “Alive and Kickin'”?
I concur with your evaluation. Clark is a hero because of the way he was raised, not that his parents died. The man in blue just does not wear angst that well.
Plus, that whole pirate treasure thing is”¦ummm”¦best left in the Silver Age.
George do you have the logical follow up?
Why are so many heroes orphans? I mean it’s like bad luck or something. It seems like it’s up there with being sidekick. Wanna die, bear a superhero.
Now I’ll go out on a limb and say that it’s not nearly the epidemic you make it out to be. Barry Allen, Wally West and Bart Allen (barely) aren’t orphans. Tim Drake just became one, but wasn’t one for most of his career. Jack Knight lost his father relatively recently. Aquaman’s parents were both alive to see him act heroically. Kyle Rayner’s parents are both among the living. Both Firestorms have living parents.
Although, amusingly enough, not both Firestorm are currently living.
My point is that we remember those characters who lost both parents, like Batman or Nightwing. But for the most part, unless the death of your parents inspired you to become a hero (Bruce Wayne and to a lesser extent Hal Jordan), or a hero tried to prevent the death of your parents (any Robin), if you’re wear a costume and fight crime you’ve to a decent shot of sending out both Mother’s and Father’s Day cards out.
There are probably more heroes who aren’t orphans than those who are. Am I wrong about that Tim?
No, Mathan, I don’t think you are. As you pointed out, those heroes whose parents have passed away tend to have their parents’ death as a significant portion of their origin. That’s why the fate of Batman’s, Nightwing’s, and Aztek’s (okay, maybe not his) parents stick out so much to us. Those who grew up with parents and/or still have them don’t tend to make as big a deal about their folks and thus, we, the fans, don’t tend to think about them.
However, if we change to list to heroes who have had one parent die or abandoned the family the size of the list increases quickly. We could add Kyle, Connor Hawke (for awhile, at least), Jason Todd, Tim Drake, the current Firestorm (Mom is MIA), Stargirl (Dad’s in prison and/or just not allowed to visit anymore), the current Hourman (again, for a time), Jade, Obsidian, Oracle, to a name a few. If again expand the list to include siblings, spouses, and significant others, the list jumps even higher. In other words, death of both parents might not happen to a lot of heroes, but death in general does.
Andy Campbell, do you have a question about my least favorite class in high school?
Do you know where all of the DCU’s fictional cities are meant to be located?
Short answer; no. Long answer, no, but I’ll try.
Awhile back I actually answered a similarly themed question.
From the 6/5/03 column
Opal City (Starman)
St. Roch (Hawkman) I’m pretty sure this is in Louisiana
Metropolis (Superman)
Gotham City (Batman)
Gateway City (Wonder Woman)
Midway City (Hawkman)
Ivy Town (Atom)
Fawcett City (Captain Marvel)
Keystone City (Flash) I forget but I’m thinking Midwest like Missouri.
Central City (Flash)
Star City (Green Arrow)
Coast City (Green Lantern) I’m betting on California
Vanity (Aztek)
Blue Valley (Kid Flash, Star Spangled Kid) Nebraska
Portsmouth City (Dr. Midnight)
Delta City (Heckler, Vext)
Evergreen City (Green Lantern Mosaic) This was in Washington.
Looking back, I’ve got to apologize for that answer. It’s woefully short and I missed a few cities.
Here is what the DC Atlas says.
Metropolis: Delaware
Gotham City: New Jersey
Star City: far nothern California
Coast City: on 101 near Sausalito between San Francisco and Oakland [Now destroyed, but based on maps shown in the Superman titles, seemingly moved to midway between LA and SF.]
Middleton (where J’onn J’Onzz first operated): suburb of Denver
Littleville (Robby Reed): Wyoming
Blue Valley (Kid Flash): northwest Nebraska, near South Dakota
Central City/Keystone City: a bit north of Kansas City, Central is in Missouri while Keystone is in Kansas on the other side of the Mississippi
Calvin City/Ivy Town (Atoms): both in Connecticut near New Haven
Dos Rios (El Diablo): 65 miles south of San Antonio
Fairfax (2nd Dial H for Hero): suburb of Bangor, Maine
Midway City (Doom Patrol, Hawkman): Michigan, just east of Sault Ste. Marie
Smallville: Kansas, 50 miles west of the I-70/I-35 interchange on I-70. The population is given as 90,000 btw.
The population of Smallville is 90,000?! That’s like 7 times the population of my town. This cannot possibly be right, can it?
Metropolis – This has got to be an East Coast city. It’s clearly the positive aspect of NYC. Delaware is absurd.
Gotham City – Ditto. Gotham is all that’s negative about NYC. New Jersey is a cruddy state, so Gotham could realistically be located there.
Bludhaven – Close to Gotham, and equally cruddy. I can accept NJ.
Gateway City – I’m pretty sure this is supposed to reside in California.
Fawcett City – I have no clue. I really can’t place this one.
My guess is somewhere in the center of the country, perhaps amongst the Great Lake States
Star City – This is supposed to be in the Pacific Northwest, right? I’m pretty sure about this one.
Vanity – Um Tim, you love Aztek, wanna try your hand at this one?
I could tell you that Vanity has the highest suicide rate of any of the DCU’s made up cities, or that the founder of the city might have built in its unique shape to tap the powers of the occult. However, I suppose you don’t really care about that. So, I’ll just say that Vanity is located in the Pacific Northwest, placing it, most likely, somewhere in the Oregon/Washington area.
Happy Harbor – This is supposed to be in Rhode Island.
Delta City – I think this one’s in Louisiana.
Hub City is allegedly in Illinois.
Portsmouth City- There are a few real Portsmouths. The comic one is pretty grimy. For some reason I’m getting a Penn vibe.
Brick City – This is supposed to be in Ohio.
Manchester is in Alabama.
Leesburg is in Virginia.
Hourma is in Louisiana.
Opal is a very interesting case. It resides in Turk County, which had a Wild West element in it’s past. Yet Opal is a city with real flair, history, a bit of claustrophobia, and a sense of architecture, implying East Coast. My answer; Opal is where the heart is.
Wow”¦so deep”¦so touching.
Tim, what are your thoughts on those amazing fictitious DCU locales? Any place you’d be keen on moving to?
Seeing as I just found a new place to hang my hat, I’m pretty happy where I am right now. However, if I had to choose, it would have to be an East Coast locale. Sorry, that’s just how I roll. Maybe Happy Harbor and Snapper Carr and I can cruise the town wearing witty vintage t-shirts and drinking java by the gallon.
Confusion411 (I did not make that up) do you have a question?
Hey what do you think about the show Smallville? Do you like it? I ask because there are some people who bash the show because it screws with the Supes mythos or whatever. What do you think about it, if you even watch it that is.
I enjoy the show. It’s good fun. The key is not to think about it too much. If I thought about it I’d get irked that:
Metropolis and Smallville are in the same state.
A place called “Smallville” has a remarkably advanced scientific community.
Then again, its population is apparently 90,000 people, so it seems to me that Smallville has not been entirely upfront with us from the start.
The government isn’t suspicious about all the weird happenings in Smallville.
No one else notices that Clark is usually at the center of everything weird in town.
Jason moved to Smallville with Lana, they live together, and she’s still a virgin?!
But like I said, I try not to think about it too much. I just sit back and enjoy the show. It’s providing some interesting takes on Superman mythos. The idea of a Clark struggling and ultimately rebelling against his Kryptonian heritage was touched upon in the comics (Day of the Krypton Man), but it goes into more detail on the show.
I also enjoy the idea of Clark and Lana as true loves. I enjoy it so much, that despite the fact that we know who Clark eventually ends up with, I keep hoping they will hook up.
The Lex/Clark dynamic as also a strong draw for me. Seeing Lex slowly become more deceitful is oddly rewarding.
I also really enjoyed Superman finally having a member of his inner circle who was Black; Pete Ross. But sadly Pete left the show, leaving Smallville as white as it was in the 1950’s.
Uh oh. It’s Tim’s turn to talk about Smallville. I say “uh oh” because I recall a rant about the show a few weeks back. Tim, take it away.
First, from a comic book fan aspect, I suggest you not try to match it to the comic book continuity. Your head is liable to burst.
As for how I feel about the show”¦I watch it and I like it. But I tend to like it for its little moments, whether it be Clark discovering a new power or Lex struggling against his inner nature. As a whole, the show is often crippled by a complete lack of forward progression, plot or character wise.
The loss of Pete was regrettable in theory. However, Pete never really lived up to his potential and was often reduced to spouting off needless (and awkward) slang or barely appearing at all. His actual leaving of the show last year merely mirrored the fact that the writers had long ago decided they were not going to get him to work in the Smallville universe.
Finally, is Lana a virgin? This is not to say it is my business or anything, but you brought it up first and I don’t remember that particular announcement. I always kind of figured it was like comic code approved comics back in the day. The heroes were obviously sleeping with their ladies and/or gents, but it was all off panel. That was kind of my assumption here too.
Chaos, do you have a very deep and thought provoking question?
Given DC’s huge scope of characters, do you think they limit themselves in terms of possible readership by not showing more of this huge tapestry? Do you think titles like Brave and the Bold or Showcase might serve a higher purpose in reaching more readers of different backgrounds by looking away from those characters that have been viewed under a microscope for so long, especially within today’s more varied market?
Um, “yes” and “no.”
‘Yes” in the fact that both books that you mentioned could serve as spotlights on various corners of the DCU. It would be refreshing to visit and see how Captain Comet is doing with L.E.G.I.O.N. or how Black Condor is patrolling the streets of Opal. I think that those books would be fun to read, and a tread to the fans.
However I’m going to say “No” a bit louder.
I honestly don’t think that these books would attract a more diverse audience. Let’s look at some current books; Firestorm, Bloodhound, The Monolith, and Manhunter. All of these books have launched in the past year. I don’t think any of them are huge successes. In fact one has even been canceled. Readers who don’t read DC books, probably aren’t going to support a book that they feel is pandering to their tastes. Pandering is a best case scenario; worst case it’s perceived as a gimmick like the “New” Avengers or Young Avengers.
We can look into the recent past to see DC trying to utilize its huge cast with “Legends of the DC Universe” a book that showcased various creators and various characters. The book was canceled.
The problem with a book that doesn’t have a main character is that there isn’t really a “draw.” “Brave and The Bold” would sell with Batman attached, but it would stretch Batman’s believability a bit thin, with him appearing in four titles, plus JLA every month.
Again just look at H-E-R-O a book with no true main character, it didn’t last two years.
Given the examples that I’ve shown, DC probably isn’t going to spend any money on a book showcasing a little known character. I mean, unless Grant Morrison is behind it, touting it as a huge event.
Tim do you think that Chaos’ idea is viable?
Oh that it were. Sadly, I feel that the days of the comic book “spotlight” book or anthology series are largely behind us. DC has made some attempts at it in the Bat universe with the back-up stories it ran in Detective for a time, but Josie Mac is the only character I can recall to go on to a different title, as part of the Gotham Central ensemble. I think your reasoning above is sound on the topic.
There are two things that may (and I hope do) disprove my cynicism. The first is Solo from DC that features several stories with one creator (Tim Sale, Richard Corben) and assists by several others. This, however, is more of an exercise in “Follow your Favorite Artist” than exposing the reader to the vast richness of the DCU.
The second is Marvel Team Up. If this book can catch on beyond the opening Spidey/Wolvie team up, it may inspire other publisher to attempt universe-wide titles with a rotating cast and/or rotating talent. We shall see.
Julian L. Smith (my bad about the Phantom Zone oversight), do you have a query?
Mr. Mind & Brainwave Jr.? Can someone explain that story arc and give me some issues to read. I know Black Adam had reformed (thus I bought his t-shirt) but now he is part of a ‘zero tolerance’ group that terminates villains? How did this unfold…along with Northwind now looking suspiciously like the Hawk God from Kingdom Come?
Pick up Hawkman #23-25 and JSA #57-58 for the story. It was a great arc.
Basically Black Adam decided to take a more proactive stance on threats. He struck before they did. He gathered a band of like minded heroes, Brainwave, Northwind, Atom Smasher, Eclipso, and Nemesis, to help him liberate his native land. They ousted the dictator, ruthlessly. The JSA tried to confront their violent contemporaries, a battle became a war.
Black Adam gave Mr. Mind a place to hang out, and Nothwind just evolved. Trust me, read those issues and prepare for an amazing story.
Tim, you remember “Black Reign” right?
Of course. One of the best JSA stories to date, in my opinion.
Jerry Hizon, I know you’ve got a good question.
I heard Space Ghost is now a DC comic. Will they weave him in DC continuity, considering you guys have been talking about another “Crisis”? I remember Crisis on Infinite Earths happening after DC acquired the Fawcett and Charlton characters. Will the acquisition of the Hanna-Barbera heroes be one of the reasons to launch another “Crisis”?
Space Ghost doesn’t take place in the DCU. It is a good book though. Great covers by Alex Ross, a thrilling story and some great art. But it’s not in the DCU.
Sadly, weaving Hanna-Barbera’s characters into the DCU would do more harm than good. DC already ignores Black Condor and just got Hawkman straightened out, what would they do with Blue Falcon and Birdman? Elongated Man just got an ounce of respect, but the inclusion of Dyno Mutt would erase even that.
No, Hanna-Barbera characters need to stay out of the DCU.
If there is to be another “Crisis” here are some reasons why;
Too many Supergirls.
Superman’s confusing origin and early years.
To launch an “Ultimate” DC line.
And finally to release the Golden Age Superman from his prison.
But I could be wrong. Tim, should Hanna-Barbera’s creation overrun the DCU with their animated antics?
In a word: no. In a few: almost certainly no.
Granted, there is always the possibility that a pitch on a Hanna-Barbera character might prove cool, but I prefer them as they are at the moment. Showing up on my TV every Sunday in hilarious courtroom situations as part of the cast of Harry Birdman: Attorney at Law.
Actually, there you go. If DC wanted to do a Harry Birdman humor comic, then I might accept their inclusion in the DCU.
JohnBritton, wanna close out the column?
Why on earth doesn’t Plastic Man wear pants or shoes? Why long sleeves with no pants? Why that crazy plunging neckline? Is the costume part of his body, and he’s actually nude all the time?
John, some people have positive body images, and some have negative body images. I was teased as a kid, which caused such trauma that I won’t wear shorts to this day. Even in triple digit temperatures.
Now some people would question “hey, why is that guy taking a swim in some Dockers®?” But that’s just how I do things. Perhaps the reason why Plas doesn’t sports pants is because someone once told him he had fantastic legs and he decided never to cover them up?
I have no idea why he doesn’t wear shoes though. Man, I bet his feet are full of calluses. I’m sure he rips his sheets to shreds.
As for his wicked neckline, again, I’m going to say that Plas has a very positive body image. He is comfortable in how he looks, and he wants to show off his chest region. Or maybe he wants everyone to notice that he waxed, or doesn’t need to wax?
Your theory that he is indeed nude all the time, does hold some water. The costume is part of his body, (as witnessed in his amazing title, which everyone should be purchasing.) So I think you are onto something with his being nude.
Tim, what are your thoughts on Plas’ apparel?
When Nightwing wussed out in the late eighties, there was a sad lack of heroes with plunging necklines. It fell to good ol’ Eel to keep it real and he takes this charge very seriously.
Or he is naked and has one wicked tattoo covering his entire body.
But as wicked as that tattoo would be, it would still tremble before Ku’s highly adaptive Octopus ink, be assured of that.
That’s it. The column is over. You must stop over to the forums and post your thoughts. Or you can email me. Regardless questions and comments are welcomed. My question to you; As the years end draws near, what was your biggest comic surprise this year?
“If I was your one and only friend would you run to me, if somebody hurt you?”
