Tim, the final season of The Wire is around the corner. Have you caught The Wire Prequels on Youtube yet?
I have. And it is my belief that their excellence shall be discussed, in hush tones, forever more.
Links
Our DC Boards has reaction to the conclusion of the Sinestro Corps War and good news for Blue Beetle fans!
Tim, anything you want to link this week?
Sure…why not enjoy a healthy slice of Connecticut politics and watch my fiancée in action at the same time? The video is quite long, so I’d just suggest going to about an hour and fifteen minutes in to watch Janelle answer a flurry of questions without breaking a sweat. She’s all sorts of great, she is.
What I Read Last Week
Stormwatch PHD Armageddon – I’m glad we get a last look at the future of the characters and how things turned out for them. I’m really glad that Gage got a final chance to write the characters and we even got some storylines tied up, though rather abruptly.
It was great to see it again, but…I just wish we had more time, you know.
Simon Dark #3 – Ok, I’ll admit it; I wish that Gotham always had such cool and creepy characters. Niles is giving the decently developed Gotham yet another facet and I like it. This book is highly enjoyable.
Loveless #21 – I have no idea where Azzarello is going, but I’m loving the ride. He’s clearly got a story he wants to tell and I trust him completely.
Green Lantern #25 – Where to begin? I love how Sinestro had everything planned out. I love how Sinestro wasn’t afraid to knuckle up. I love the Hope Corps costumes. I don’t even hate the multiple hued Corps. I even found the Coast City stuff, which bordered on cheesy, endearing. I loved how Henshaw got his wish, almost. This issue lived up to the hype and wait.
Several weeks later, I’m still working out my feelings for this book. On the one hand, we had a climatic battle that actually lived up to the rest of the series (Civil War, I’m looking at you), great moments for the earth Lanterns (not sure if I can forgive that “stay black” thing that John had to say earlier in the series, but he did get a better role here), the Coast city stuff, Henshaw’s not-so-final fate, and a boost for Black Hand (via that awesome teaser). On the other hand, I’m still not sold on this all the colors of the rainbow, Lantern meets Power Ranger thing. As I once said about the darkening of Space Ghost (courtesy of that Joe Kelly book a few years back), it feels like something you’d create when you were a kid imagining yourself as a comic book writer. “If there are Green Lanterns,” you’d say, “why not blue ones. Oooo, or red ones.” The proof, of course, is in the pudding and I’ll be waiting to see if Johns can make me shake that particular comparison out of my head.
Ion #1 – Glad to see Nero again. Nice to see Kyle in the elder statesman role. Good issue.
It was nice to Marz (another) last word on Kyle, but by in large, I could’ve missed this one with very little sadness on my part.
Green Lantern Corps #19 – Tomasi is amazing. He made Guy, not only tolerable, but likable. I loved every scene with Guy this issue. The stuff with Kyle, the stuff with Ice was touching and the stuff in the storage unit felt so genuine. I also dug how honorable Vath was.
Worth it for the Vath moment, but overall, another “eh” epilogue.
Black Adam #5 – Tomasi is on fire! Why is this only a mini? Why can’t I have Tomasi/Mahnke/Alamy/Black Adamy goodness every month forever?
Suicide Squad #4 – I love Amanda Waller. I love how she played the General. I can never get enough Waller.
Great to see the General back. I’ll take any Morrison JLA elements returning, thanks. The ending though…color me skeptical.
Countdown Arena #2 – Really good issue. I dug the intros to the various characters. I liked the Ray battles, but Apollo got played like a chump. The Blue Beetle fight was so sad. And I liked the Bruce’s line about being the “Damn Green Lantern.” Great nod there.
All the more “chump-y” since Apollo is totally a Superman, not a Ray. I’m glad I’m not buying this thing because…it just makes me sad (and very confused).
Salvation Run #2 – Great portrayals of two iconic villains. The Joker was scary and Lex was so presidential I almost voted for him, again. I think our Battlesuit days are over. I hope.
I hope too, but…I doubt it.
Booster Gold #5 – Rip Hunter is the mentor of the year in my book. I mean the guy uses torture and allows people to make the same mistake over and over again. I’m pretty sure he’s part of G-Dub’s cabinet.
Zing!
Green Arrow & Black Canary #3 – Chiang continues to deliver. I liked the explanation for the whole plan. I liked the character moments. I’m a bit scared about the ending of the issue. Not for me, but for the people who actually care about Connor.
Like me? I’m trying to be upset about the whole thing, but mostly…I’m just shrugging. A cloud shoots Connor? Oh, why the hell not, really.
Nightwing #139 – I loved seeing Robin succumb to temptation. I liked the battle between Dick and Tim, it was a fine brotherly moment. And Tomasi starts next issue!
I’m interested in how Tomasi will do, but boy oh boy was this crossover a bust for me.
CP:TSFRP: Red Son – Eh. I don’t think that Burnett found the voice of the Russian characters. But I did like the art.
Scalped #12 – I loved how Leon switched up his style a bit for this issue. I also liked the portrait of Dash’s neighbors. For a “dream issue” this was a pretty strong issue. The glimpses into Dash’s past were pretty telling. I liked the issue a bunch.
This is the book that is making Y’s end a little easier for me to handle.
After the Cape II #2 – These minis always feel so brief. The art is amazing, but the build up is so short. It’s frustrating to enjoy this story.
X-Factor #26 – I couldn’t even read this issue. It made no sense. Peter David, the guy who complained about being forced into crossovers on Aquaman, Young Justice and Supergirl: you’ve sold out completely.
I submit to you that, much like in those above noted instances, David is going along begrudgingly with this crossover, not with a smile on his face.
Countdown #20 – The ads this issue were spectacular! And that paper it’s printed on, so soft to the touch.
Most accurate review ever!
Fallen Angel #22 – Peter David- the Anti-Tomasi. Twice this week I’ve looked forward to your book and twice you’ve let me down. I’m really, really hurt.
You guys aren’t splitting up, are you?
Wonder Woman #15 – Normally I’d say that Nazis and Amazons don’t mix, but I didn’t hate this issue. I really liked Diana asking the other Gods for help. Nice touch Gail.
That Bootleg Guy knows that loose lips sink ships (and storylines)
I’m familiar with the Captain Atom/Monarch/Hawk story. I’m wondering if there have been other DC storylines that have been altered due to the leaking of a major plot point?
The Shade knows that too… on a much smaller scale
Has there ever been any cases of a story changing last minute for any reason (not including the Monarch from Armageddon)
First off I want to say that with Captain Atom in full Monarch mode, I don’t think that story was “changed” so much as put on hold…for 15 years.
That’s right! This has been DC’s plan all along. Like Bart becoming Flash only to die a year later!
But that’s neither here nor there.
I can’t think of anything too major being shifted around. There are a few examples of things being tweaked and whatnot.
Obviously if we look at the last six months of Nightwing prior to OYL we can see that Devin Grayson’s storyline was altered for some reason. The solicits for some issues show different covers and different synopses for issues.
And given the mess that was Nightwing OYL we can safely assumed that Nightwing was supposed to die in Infinite Crisis and a decision at the 11th hour saved his life but scarred him with a Bruce Jones run.
Emerald Twilight wasn’t supposed to happen, at least not the way Ron Marz had it happen. Gerard Jones, who was writing Green Lantern at the time had a big event planned for Green Lantern #50. It wasn’t deemed drastic enough an event for the powers that be so they cobbled together a plot and had Marz script it.
Here’s what Jones had planned. So let’s cut those H.E.A.T. guys some slack since Hal’s fall was far from natural. Kyle as Parallax was a plot point, whereas Hal as Parallax was a rash decision by proxy.
But AWESOME!
And I know that we referenced it before but Hellblazer #141 was pulled completely because the story, which dealt with school shootings, was deemed insensitive after Columbine. But if you’re interested….
And there was that when Major Force claimed to have put Kyle’s mom’s head in yet another kitchen appliance, it was later made completely clear that Major Force was just yanking Kyle’s chain. That prankster.
Did I ever tell you about the time Major Force told me that he put my puppy down the garbage disposal? It turned out that he didn’t; he put my goldfish in the garbage disposal. We had a good laugh. Good times, good times.
But those are the only major examples that I can think of. I may be missing some, but I have been under the weather.
So Aaron; not that I can think of. The Shade; absolutely!
Tim, can you think of any other examples of story shifts?
There is the aforementioned (by me) quickie death of Bart that was absolutely not the plan when that storyline started but the came about when the fans didn’t cotton to him in the scarlet as quick as DC brass expected or wanted.
Besides that, I have a change after the fact. When the Infinite Crisis hardcover was released it greatly strengthened the hint of new Earths whereas, upon the last issue’s previous release, it seemed that there was no new Earths still in existence.
Soak1313 loves himself some fiddling.
I’d like some background on Alex Nero and what exactly happened with him and Kyle.
Alex and Kyle go way back. Alex and Kyle were actually sharing a moment on the beach in Green Lantern #48 Kyle’s first appearance. Of course that was before Major Force killed her and stuffed her in a fridge.
Oh wait, you said Alex Nero. I was talking about Alex DeWitt, the first in a long line of women in his life that Kyle couldn’t save.
Alex Nero is someone completely different.
Alex was a mentally disturbed dude. He was institutionalized for numerous things: paranoid delusions and schizophrenia chiefly among them. (What we call, in the biz, schizophrenia, paranoid type.) He claimed to have a horrific childhood full of abuse, but given his diagnoses his claims were pretty much ignored. (If they were true, however, it would mean he suffered from reactive schizophrenia, paranoid type).
Now the Qwardians had a major beef with the Green Lantern Corps, the Guardians and Earth. So when the found out about Kyle, the last Green Lantern, they saw their chance to snuff out a legacy. First they enlisted Fatality, a woman who’s pretty much known for her grudge against Green Lanterns. They gave her a ring to take out Kyle. She failed.
So then Qwardians decided to tweak their approach. They figured that Kyle needed someone who could match him completely, be his opposite number. And since Kyle’s an artist with imagination they needed someone to counter that. So they turned to Alex Nero whose imagination was equally impressive, if much more disturbed.
Nero was powerful and crazy. But he was beaten by Kyle every time the met.
In the Ion maxi series, Nero actually masqueraded as Kyle for a few issues before he was found out and imprisoned.
And that is the story of the unfulfilled promise of a Kyle rogue. It’s pretty much the same for all of his “rogues.” Interesting character that goes nowhere (see also: Grayven and Effigy.)
Tim, if a hero is only as good as his foes, isn’t Kyle lame?
Only if you’re willing to label Hal superlame (Sonar with lapels, anyone?).
In all seriousness, I don’t think Kyle’s rogues are lame. A bit thin, yes, but not lame. Grayven, for instance, was utilized for a great storyline. It is a shame that he got no decent follow up, but he was still a great villain in a great storyline.
Effigy is still out there, waiting to be well utilized. And the pieces are there for that utilization.
Nero has been interesting, if defeatable in his appearances.
Fatality continues to be a strong villain, if appearing a bit too often for my tastes.
So, there is good stuff there. It just needs to be better utilized. My first suggestion? Remember the guy that Kyle briefly “healed” of his paralysis who went on to make a deal with Neron so he could take his revenge on Kyle? Bring him back. From there, the sky’s the limit.
That Bootleg Guy is all about surprises, good and bad.
One of my favorite things about the entertainment industry is the “unexpected success” story and, conversely, the “box office bomb”. I’m curious if DC has had any notable equivalents in either area. Perhaps a title that was initially pretty lightly regarded, only for it to become a success and the converse – a title that was hyped to the heavens only to be met with low sales and a critical pounding?
I can think of a couple examples of both.
If you look rather recently you’ll find both Manhunter and Blue Beetle as “success” stories.
Manhunter may have been tied to Identity Crisis but it was far from a certain hit It starred a female unknown as the lead and had two relative unknowns as creators. But the book developed an insanely loyal fanbase and was allegedly saved from cancellation twice. I think.
Granted we’ve not seen an issue of Manhunter in quite some time, I’ve been told that the book will be returning in the future. At some point. Down the line.
Please?
Blue Beetle faced different challenges. Sue the book launched after Infinite Crisis but it featured a non-white male taking over for a beloved C-lister who was killed in a less than dignified manner. (Jason Rusch faced a similar challenge and the ensuing flamefest on DC’s Firestorm board is why I abandoned those boards.)
Still those of us who actually tried the book out found something refreshing; a fun title set in the DCU and one of the best teen-aged hero books since Spider-man. It’s funny and fun, yet it’s also got some great and powerful emotional moments. And it’s about to enter it’s third year shortly.
Looking a little farther back Starman was an unlikely success. Starman launched out of Zero Hour alongside Primal Force, Manhunter and Fate. Jared Stevens became a laughingstock and Jack Knight became a star.
Must we always harass Jared. He is dead, you know.
Starman not only attracted fans, but it also was a mainstream super hero title that received critical raves in the mainstream press. Always intended to be a finite story, Starman ended it’s run after making Tony Harris a superstar and James Robinson comic book royalty.
And of course there are the failures.
All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder was supposed to be huge. It was written by Frank Miller, the guy who wrote Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One who was hot from Sin City. Plus it was being penciled by Jim Lee. The Jim Lee. How could this book fail?
The characterization? Some fans thought that Miller hated Batman, because he was writing him as a complete psychopath. The writing was so bad that it went from hardboiled to parody of Batman to parody of Miller. And then there was the delay of issues. Seasons would pass between issues. It was the opposite of 52.
I stick with the book because it’s a fun read. I also don’t think that Batman is sacred. But that’s just me.
Another Jim Lee project that failed to meet expectations was his run on Superman. Hot on the heels of a year long run on Batman, Lee teamed with Brian Azzarello for “For Tomorrow” a highly hyped year long run on Superman. Most people felt it was under whelming at best.
Azzarello’s writing style probably wasn’t the best fit for Superman. He’s a slow burn type of writer and very cerebral. And with the story essentially being touted as a follow up to the action packed “Hush” reader were in for a rude awakening. The story was far from action packed and save for an Omac reference and Mr. Orr, it’s been pretty much ignored ever since.
Of course as I mentioned last week Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating… was horrible. Let me reiterate; it was Stan Lee reimagining DC heroes with artists like Joe Kubert, Jim Lee, Dave Gibbons, Kevin Maguire and Gary Frank, among others, and I’m betting you’d be hard pressed to find anyone willing to recommend the tale.
Grant Morrison’s Wildstorm stuff has completely imploded. His Wildcats #2 (with Jim Lee, coincidence?) is over a year late. His Authority run, where the team visits the “real” world is stalled with fans waiting for #3. I don’t know if that counts as a “bomb” but I thought I’d include it.
Tim, can you think of any other examples for Aaron, and is Jim Lee actually comic book poison?
To anyone who’s read Divine Right, the query about Jim Lee being poison has an obvious answer.
As far as surprise successes or failures, I guess you could probably label the Dark Knight Strikes Back as a critical failure, but I’m not sure about its box office.
Coming off 52, I think Countdown could be consider a bit of a flop.
Busiek’s JLA fits into this category nicely, I would say.
Unexpected successes, though? I think you’d have to look Vertigo way for examples of that, sadly.
Luthen knows lame
What is the dumbest superpower in your opinions? I think the worst superpower would be turning into cheese. I currently write for Darkstar Comics and one of our comics has a character who does just that. (strangely, he’s named Irwin Cheeseman, go figure.) In the DCU, however, I’d say turning into water. I just honestly can’t see how it would be any good (unless you turn into water and drown someone or slither underneath doors).
Ok, turning into water totally rocks. Allow me a moment to defend turning into water as a power.
First off, if you add a bit of food coloring and you take the form of a puddle you look suspicious. You set yourself up in your victims’ house and when your victim bends down to smell if someone did indeed relieve themselves on his hardwood floors, bam, you punch him in the face.
Or maybe you become water on the stairs and make someone slip, fall and break their neck? Or you could become a mist and moisten someone’s armpits so it looks like they’ve got a glandular problem. Batman couldn’t do that, thus it’s cool.
So I don’t want to hear anyone talking about how turning into water is a lame power. I think that you just have the power of lame imagination. Wait, is that even a power? It seems more like a liability. Whatever.
For me the dumbest super power, aside from lame imagination, would be super breath. I mean holding your breath for a long time – totally cool. But the ability to blow really really hard is not cool. Maybe it’s because I’m a fan of food, which occasionally can affect my breath, but I don’t think that blowing is cool at all. Think about all of the salvia and whatnot that gets expelled with that? And when you factor in the freezing component you know that some of the condensation is actually coming from the mouth. It’s not 80% humidity every day.
Ok, so obviously I don’t think that super breath is a “lame power” I think it’s a gross power. So allow me to come up with another power that is lame. The ability to survive Krypton’s explosion? Darn, that’s not technically a power.
Um, how about the Rainbow Raider’s powers? Here’s a quote from Who’s Who; The Rainbow Raider can project a variety of different-colored lights from his eyes, and each color provokes a certain emotion in it’s target..
Pretty lame right?
Red lights cause anger; yellow, cowardice; green, envy; blue, sadness; and purple, passion.
Really? When are any of those colors besides yellow going to come in handy when committing crimes? Not that just having the yellow vision would be by any means cool, but having the power to make people passionate or sad just compounds the lameness.
Plus some of those colors fly completely in the face of what Tim’s best friend Geoff Johns established in Green Lantern Corps #25 with the Color Corps.
Hmm…does it though? Red=anger is right according to Johns, cowardice is basically fear, so yellow is right too, the opposite of hope is sadness, so blue, I think, is reasonable, purple is often what violet is mistakenly labeled as so that works too. The only one that is no good is the green=envy thing, but I’m sure I could make it work if I thought more about it.
Yup, color vision is the lamest power in the DCU. Even though Roy G. Bivolo is dead the power is so lame that it can’t be held by the grave.
Tim, any powers you think are lame?
Generic energy blasts. I’m sure they’d be useful in “real” life, but in comics, they are just so lame. Oooo, your hands shoot energy. Wow…like 75% of super powered beings don’t too? Come back when you can identify if it is heat, cold, nuclear, or some other sort of specific energy. Until then, LAME!
Coren is a flip flopper
Does James Gordon only have a daughter (that crime fighting chick..Computer Girl or whoever)? Or does he actually have a son (as that seems to be referenced in multiple comics over the years) as well?
Actually, scratch that.
No, no, too late. I’m not going to scratch that. Coren, you can’t just type loosely and then take back what you’ve typed. It doesn’t work like that. Once you hit that button, there’s no taking that back.
I mean the reason why this question is to hurtful is because it takes me back to a column from earlier this year where we addressed Jim’s family tree. But in that same column I confessed my crush on Erica Hill.
Sadly things didn’t work out between us. According to wikipedia she’s actually married and marriage tends to put a damper on suitors. Usually. Although not in the case of Jim Gordon.
And getting back to Jim Gordon I’m going to answer your question, but not before I petition the court on Jim’s behalf for custody of Jiminy Jr or as I call him J.J. Yup J.J. from Chicago.
Y’see Jim’s wife divorced him and took their son with her. So now J.J. is growing up in Chicago in a single parent household. And let me tell you, that’s not good times.
The Nexus neither subscribes to or endorses Mathan’s views on single parenthood.
And Babs is only Jim’s adopted daughter. Probably. There is a chance when he cheated on his wife with his brother’s wife that one slipped past the goalie. But that’s only if you believe that a guy who’s reckless enough to go outside his marriage with his sister-in-law would be careless enough not to use protection. Personally I think that it’s just bad etiquette not to use something in a situation like that. I think I read that in Miss Manners one time.
What was the question again?
Oh yeah, this is the part of my answer where I hope that J.J. becomes a thorn in Robin’s side as an act of rebellion against his father. But I’m going to switch it up this time; I hope he becomes a Junior Investigator for GCPD Internal Affairs. Sure, because he’s only 15 he can only work for a few hours after school and he has to take the public transportation to interview people, but imagine how hurt Jim would be when his own son puts his career under the microscope.
Tim, c’mon, you wouldn’t trust Jim Gordon around your girl would you? Best case scenario he’s going to make a move on her.
You know what they say, sharks gotta eat, groundhogs gotta burrow, playas gotta play. So I don’t begrudge Mr. Gordon his…interests. That said, he is never allowed to visit my house when I’m not around. I trust Janelle and all, but Jim…he’s magic or something.
I’m kind of tuckered out so we’ll have to end the column here. But here’s what’s in your future: Bizarro Column, synergy, bad haircuts and rebooting the DCU?
Of course if you’ve got questions you can email them to me (mathan@4sternstaging.com) or you can post them on our thread.
Before I go here’s my question to you What was your favorite single issue from 2007?
“There’s a new Joe in town and it’s not Girardi.”
