As usual, I don’t cover movie news in this column but I just had to comment. RE: Wonder Woman. I told you so! I’ve said time and again the movie just wasn’t going to happen and viola! I was right. It’ll be like Superman Returns and take about 10 years to make it to the big screen.
As for the Flash, how does from the director of “Big Liar†sound to you? Cause to me…not so much.
A Simone Quadruple Shot
If you last picked up DC’s Birds of Prey say, just prior to Infinite Crisis or at the start of the series’ “One Year Later†issues, or heck – if you’ve never picked it up, issues #100-up feel like a brand new series.
Sure – Oracle (Barbara Gordon) is still there, calling the shots, and the Huntress is around, but Black Canary is gone, and the team is made up of Big Barda, Judomaster, Manhunter, and Gypsy, with more promised in the wings. Currently, the team is on a mission which involved rescuing a mob boss’ daughter (Tabby) from a Mexican prison. While the old Birds may have done it with stealth and guile, not alerting anyone until they were miles away, this version – not so much. The prison’s a wreck, and Manhunter is still there, fighting alongside Gypsy.
On top of that, Spy Smasher is hunting Oracle with a unique weapon – Lois Lane. Oh – and there’s this teleporting kid called Misfit around, who dresses in a Batgirl outfit.
Intrigued? Scratching your head at least?
Over the coming days, we’re going to be talking to Birds of Prey writer Gail Simone about all of her projects, so to kick the miniseries of interviews off, we sat down with her to talk some BoP.
There’s a heaping plate of lady power at the Newsarama buffet
Of all the taglines that have appeared on the cover of The All New Atom, the most appropriate one hasn’t shown up yet: “Not What You’re Expecting!â€
Nope – not even if you’re an Atom fan.
The series kicked off with Ryan Choi filling Ray Palmer’s former faculty position at Ivy University. Ray Palmer’s the previous Atom, by the by – hasn’t been seen since the end of Identity Crisis. Don’t know why he went missing? For this article’s sake (and the sake of the discussion derailing into one about Identity Crisis) it really doesn’t matter.
Choi’s a physics prodigy and colleague/fan of Palmer’s. Once in Ivy Town, he quickly found Palmer’s shrinking belt that the former Atom had (presumably) left for him, got a back-up brain trust to help him figure out how to use it, and found himself caught in the middle of a war between reason and chaos, as Palmer’s shrinking had caused reality around Ivy Town to warp to a near untenable degree.
Oh – and there’s a civilization made up of microscopic beings called The Waiting living on his dog, Copernicus. They were on the “reason†side of the war.
Did we mention that one of the Waiting, a giant, floating head, now lives with Choi?
Or that in the most recent issue, he was attacked by cowboys?
Oh, and earlier, he was put into a ball and swallowed by Giganta – a thirty foot tall naked woman.
You know – and that’s just the pretty normal stuff.
Anyway – in our continuing series of interviews (which we’re already beginning to regret ever pitching), we talked to the Atom’s writer Gail Simone about the series, it’s roots, and where things just might be heading.
Bring a magnifying glass because things are getting tiny at Newsarama
It’s where heroes move to slow things down a little – to kick back and take it easy. To spend their Golden Years in comfort and…
Tranquility.
Oh, like you didn’t see that one coming.
Continuing our series of conversations with Gail Simone about her different books, we hit Welcome to Tranquility, from Wildstorm. With art by Neil Googe, the new ongoing series (two issues out, third on the way) is set in Tranquility, where the heroes of the Greatest Generation have come to spend the respective autumns of their lives. Should be calm and easy, right?
Tell that to Mr. Articulate, who was killed in issue #1.
Given that the series is still new, and there’s little background to get rolling on, we’re going right to Gail from the start.
All is calm and relaxing at Newsarama
Honestly, Gen13 can be kind of déjà vu-ish.
Written by Gail Simone, with art by Talent Caldwell, the recently relaunched series tells the tale of Caitlin Fairchild, Percival Edmund Chang (Grunge), Sarah Rainmaker, Bobby Lane and Roxy Spaulding – five teens who were products of IO’s Tabla Rasa program. Formerly living in homes with people they thought were their parents, the five woke up one morning to find everything had changed, and they were now the property of – and being pursued by – Dr. Cross, the leader of Tabla Rasa, and his small army of IO guards. Oh, and in issue #4, John Lynch showed up.
So – it’s kinda the same, and yet, kinda different from the original Gen13 which was one of, if not the breakout book for Wildstorm in the ‘90s.
So – how do you come on to a series like that and make it unique?
Good question. We asked Gail.
Talk talk talk about your generation at Newsarama
The sample pages in the Birds of Prey article look great, but there is bad news. To me, it seem fairly clear that, given the set up here, Manhunter’s run as part of the Birds of Prey is to end very shortly. So, so much for that monthly dose of Kate being available somewhere at least.
Of course, I could be wrong. I hope I am. But… I don’t think I am.
What’s most cool about the Birds of Prey article though is the lovefest that proceeds it in the talkback section. It is weird, but I can’t remember the last time I had such a wholly positive series of fan comments. Plus creators being friendly and accessible. I damn near lost my mind.
It’s too bad this article about the Atom did not come out before last week’s Who’s Who. Then, I just could’ve linked it there in reference to the question about Morrison’s credit in the first issue and not had to do any work at all.
More Mike Norton in Atom is all sorts of alright with me, even if there seemed to be something just a bit off with his work last issue.
Oooo and the arc he’s doing is called “The Hunt for Ray Palmerâ€. Oooooooo.
My favorite bit of any of the interviews though comes from the Tranquility one, “Right, in this world, Frederic Wertham got laughed out of town as a goofball, and comics became a huge, massive media. Orson Wells wrote Citizen Kane as a graphic novel, not a film. Comic stores are in every small town, and hardback editions are rented like dvd’s at a video store. It’s a huge business, and the heroes from WWII were paid solid money for the use of their likenesses. In some cases, the adventures were fairly true to life, but in others, they were simply made up out of thin air.
The characters in those comics are treated like movie stars, and many of them went on to the usual celebrity embarrassments; bad pop albums, weird licensed products, humiliating public fiascos.â€
That’s just awesome to me. How come we’ve never seen that before. I love it.
Fun bit of meta here: Simone quotes us at one point, “ComicsNexus said it was the “Best Alan Moore book in years, and it took Gail Simone to write it,†which, yikes, feels weird even to type, and other sites were just as enthused.†That’s cool because it means she reads our site. Fiesta! However, it is also interesting because the bit she’s quoting is actually Jeff Ritter (Welcome to My Nightmare) quoting another writer’s review. So we make a big time interview but only by quoting others (I believe for the purposes of mocking them no less). Man…we are so messed up.
Ion Matters!
Kicking off a sort of series of articles that will be attempting to piece together clues of the bigger picture in the DCU, we head on over to last week’s Ion #10.
What happened, and why would Ion be a place where stuff might be going down? Well, as we mentioned the last time we spoke with Ion writer Ron Marz, the Tangent Universe’s Green Lantern – the physical object – which survived Infinite Crisis had showed up, along with what appeared to be the Tangent Universe’s Flash and Atom, and, at the end of #9, Green Lantern.
In issue #10…
Oh, let’s hit this button here…
SPOILER WARNING
Honestly, it does. Newsarama said so.
Well, this is unexpected. Who’d thunk Ion would end up being such an important book? Especially given its bizarre format (miniseries, but reads like an ongoing) and what I’d estimate to believe the rather low reader count.
Titans (Articles) Together
“It had to happen sometime, it’s just happening a little sooner than we planned. The “Titans East†storyline beginning in today’s TEEN TITANS #43 will be our last.
So whenever you leave a book there are two questions: 1) Why are you leaving? And 2) Who’s taking over?
Johns leaves his Dear Newsarama letter out for us to find.
Nobody said being a parent was easy.
When Geoff Johns fathered the new Teen Titans comic four years ago, he had a handful of young kids to mold and guide through their difficult teenage years. And over his tenure on the title, the characters evolved, much like any group of kids tend to do.
But kids also tend to grow up and move on to something else — and there’s no doubt that many of the characters Johns wrote in the series have matured. And like any good father, at some point, a parent has to let go, no matter how hard it may be to walk away.
Yesterday, Johns announced he was leaving the Teen Titans title along with artist Tony Daniel after Issue #46, handing over a team to writer Adam Beechen that has been re-invigorated by a slew of fresh, new characters Johns created for DC’s One Year Later event. As he reflects on what he’s done with the series, Newsarama sat down with Johns to talk about his favorite stories, what it felt like to watch these kids grow up in front of his eyes, and how he came up with all those endearing new characters that will now add to the legacy of one of DC’s most iconic teams.
Newsarama goes more in-depth with the departing writer
In 2003, Geoff Johns adopted the Teen Titans.
Despite several attempts at resuscitation, the most successful DC franchise of the ’80s had gone several years without being relevant in the absence of past caretakers like Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. But Johns, along with artist Mike McKone, brought the teen team supreme back to prominence when they relaunched Teen Titans.
Nearly four years later, after plenty of triumph and tragedy, it’s time for Johns to leave his children and let another “fatherâ€â€”in this case Robin writer Adam Beechen—see them along the road to adulthood.
As Johns gets set to make his exit with April’s issue #46, he took the time to reflect on the good times, the rough patches and what could have been—and still could be.
Ben does it better though over at Wizard Entertainment
As we helped him announce yesterday, Geoff Johns will be leaving DC’s Teen Titans at the conclusion of the current “Titans East†arc. Current Robin and Justice League Unlimited writer Adam Beechen will be filling Johns’ chair, co-writing the second half of the arc, and then, taking it all over, starting with issue #47 in May.
While Robin definitely gives Beechen the cred to handle at least one teen character, skeptical Titans fans will breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Beechen has handled the team before – writing three episodes of the animated Teen Titans series that ran on Cartoon Network: “Mad Mod,†“Only Human†and “Haunted†– the last being a particularly intense episode pitting Robin against Slade in a battle of wits – and sanity.
We spoke with Beechen about the upcoming gig.
Beechen swoops in to heal fandom and Newsarama’s poor, broken heart
I think Johns reasoning makes sense to me. No reason to hang around to #50 purely for the sake of reaching #50. On the other hand, he was wrong wrong WRONG about the Flash. Man, we needed those five issues to be good so the book would go out strong. Instead, it was so very weak. I know it wouldn’t be “artistically correct†but come on! We needed you! Sacrifice your integrity damn it!
Sorry…a little off track there.
I love that the Newsarama interview starts off with “Point blank, Geoff- why leave Titans now?†as if they are nailing him to the wall with this question. It is an oddly adversarial way to start an interview, especially one where you are just talking to the person about why they are leaving a writing assignment after being there for about four years. Oh, and especially after the man released a statement that pretty succinctly told us why he was leaving. I get a kick out of odd things, I admit.
It’s funny, Johns describes the series at one point about being kids v. adults, but really the only time I ever felt that that was the case was the Titans Tomorrow arc, the issue where the JLA came in and pushed them around a bit and a touch in the opening arc. Beyond that, I never got that sort of struggle from the book. I think it’d be interesting and when it popped up it was well done, but it never reached the point of ongoing theme to me.
I would’ve loved to have seen that sequel to the Titans Tomorrow arc…damn you Didio for your love of killing Superboy!
It’s nice to hear that people like Mathan and I aren’t the only ones who wish Bart was still young and on the Titans. Even Johns wants it that way. Sigh…
I also would’ve loved to have seen Aquagirl and Static (in particular) join up. Aquagirl was a good character (even if she was derivative) who now appears to be forever lost and Titans would’ve provided a home for her where she could’ve avoided that fate. Static would’ve been cool if for no other reason than it would open the door to DC reviving the Milestone line. Alas…we shall never know.
I think Beechen is a fine choice and there is nothing in the interview that persuades me otherwise. He’s done a great job with Robin, he has Johns in the beginning in a mentor/show ‘im the ropes type of role, and the book is in need of some new blood (it has been a little OYL we can all agree, right?). I think they call that synergy. Or, at the least, a good call.
I Don’t Want to Gossip, but I Hear Didio’s Just a Big Tease
Last week Newsarama got you a close-up look at the teaser image DC Comics distributed hinting at a future storyline or storylines. We also got DCU Executive Editor Dab Didio to agree to answer 20 of your best questions about the image…
We solicited, you asked and following is Didio’s responses to those 20 questions that made the cut – and a quick note – the questions asked were those that occurred over and over again in the thread, so no one poster is credited.
I read all about on the Newsarama bathroom stall.
So it is multiple storylines being represented? Gooooood. I’m not sure my heart could take another event so quickly. I’m in a bit of an evented out mood, you know what I mean?
I do so hope to see a villain piece as well. That would be very neat.
Some images are literal, some are symbolic? Boy, I can’t wait to find why Batman is “symbolically†dressed as a pirate. Or why Red Robin (from Kingdom Come) is “symbolically†standing in the ruins of Statue of Liberty’s head.
Creepiest thing for me about the image? Max Lord’s head is backwards. I don’t know why (and it makes sense given the why he died) but that makes me skin crawl.
We start off this week by revisiting that old chestnut I like to call “How Chuck Dixon Feels About Gay Peopleâ€.
I found something interesting about your commentary on [Chuck] Dixon’s Newsarama interview. You, unlike many commentators, steered completely clear of Connor Hawke. That is noteworthy on its own, but I found it particularly so given your often espoused affection for Queen’s son and protégé.
I guess I am asking, what’s up with that?
-Garrett Kent
Alright, so you caught me…kind of.
The reason I did not bring up Connor specifically was a.) that really wasn’t the issue (I was not trying to prove that Dixon was not a fan of homosexuality in comics or indulge in any other game of “gotchaâ€â€¦I think that record is pretty clear on Dixon’s feelings) and b.) my feelings on Connor might’ve muddled the issue a bit.
The thing about Connor is this: I didn’t want him to be gay either.
I know you are ready to play the hypocrite card, but hear me out here (and then, by all means, play it). I never would’ve dropped the book if Connor turned out gay and I certainly wouldn’t have blown my top. But, I would’ve been disappointed, honestly.
When Connor took over from his dear old (absentee) father, I was just starting high school and only peripherally into comics. It would be, approximately, another 2 years until JLA would make a monthly and then weekly comic shopper of me. However, I still bought the occasional book and read damn near anything anyone would loan me. Around the same time, I had really started to hang out with the man who would become my closest friend, Tim Sheridan, for the first time. Tim was a huge Green Arrow fan and really liked Connor Hawke in particular. Tim even knew one of the editors on the book. So, I had easy access to oodles of GA comics and quickly became a fan of Oliver Queen and Connor, too.
When the “is Connor gay†questions started, I seem to remember being about 15 or 16, but I could be wrong. It should be noted, however, that the idea of Connor being gay came looooooooooooooooong before Kevin Smith wrote jokes about it when Oliver Queen returned to life or Winick took over the title. The nonsense about Winick wanting to “turn†Connor gay (and being the first ever to think it) is just that. Yes, Winick has a certain sensitivity to “gay†issues (although, really, they are people issues) and likes to write about them. I doubt the man would deny it. That said, not everything is about being gay in his comics. So, please, for the love of god, bury that old chestnut.
Anyway, back to the point at hand…
At 15, you may have heard, relations with the opposite sex really become a big deal. Sure, you’ve got your front runners in middle school, but high school, late freshman/early sophomore year is when things really get started for most of us. But not all. Myself, I was pretty typical. I was a bit shy (or standoffish depending on who you spoke to) early in high school, but I went to a few dances and starting having my heart broken around the same time as most. However, I had several friends who did not seem to go in for the whole dating/dance thing that a lot of us had suddenly found our lives revolving around. They were too shy or too religious (I mean that in terms of overruling their libidos not in terms of making a judgment call about how religious one should be) or just not all that interested. There was nothing wrong with it, but in high school, being different often means (social) death and several of these guys were mocked soundly for it. And the most common form of mockery? Calling them gay.
For me, these kids were Connor Hawke. They weren’t gay, they just weren’t ready. They weren’t where most of us were in terms of interest. They might have been thinking about women (I’ll guess the majority were) but they weren’t quite to the point where they were wanted to or felt comfortable acting on those thoughts. And that’s how I read Connor. He liked the ladies just fine and when the time came, he’d have no problem crossing the bridge. But he wasn’t at that bridge yet.
So when the buzz on Connor became that he might be gay, I very much did not want him to be. Because, to me, I didn’t see anything that would suggest he was gay, just a lot of things that suggested he was not ready to be anything. Thus, like the jerks who decided that lack of interest in sex equaled gay, it seemed those talking about Connor’s sexuality had fallen into the same trap. To say Connor was gay just because he hadn’t done anything “straight†was the laziest sort of correlational logic.
So that’s why I didn’t bring up Connor. Because it would’ve taken several more column issues to explain and we would’ve been wildly off topic by the end. That’s the truth though. I never wanted Connor to be gay because I knew a few Connors and I liked that there was a character out there like them that was cool and competent and that even if they weren’t reading about him (which none of them were…they weren’t nerds like me) I was and it gave me the smarts to cut them a break.
Until they went on their first dates, of course. And then, oh boy, what a nuisance I was.
And there you have it. E-mail: parallax2@juno.com. Message board: see link below.
Un Gajje Equals MC(squared)
