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Some things just go together. Like peanut butter and chocolate, Peter Parker and Mary Jane (yeah, right) and green men and the JLA. But that bond has been irrevocably broken now that DC has contrived to kill J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter…well, kill him for the time being, at least…or, put him on hiatus…or, wait until it’s really cool to have a big green man walking around in his underwear in a comic book again. Anyway, you get the idea. The JLA is now green man-less, and some comics fans out there think there is a perfect solution to this (admittedly lame) dilemma; just add Swamp Thing to the roster.
Before you roll your eyes and start chewing your beard the way Alan Moore must every time someone destroys a property that he made cool, read the full article. I’m not convinced, but it could be interesting.
I logged onto Xbox Live this afternoon, and – surprise of surprises – there was the Star Wars: Force Unleashed demo just sitting there, waiting for me to give it a spin. So I did. And it was monstrously entertaining, for as long as it lasted.
It’s not particularly original gameplay, to be honest, and in fact the closest comparison I can make is to God of War. Still, if you’re going to copy another game, you could do worse than the Kratos powerhouse. It is immensely satisfying to finally wield a wild array of force powers from the very start of the game. Just the simple act of bursting through a doorway or bulkhead made me giggle with glee. And tossing Imperial troops around (and around, and around, and around) was equally joyous.
The test for the title when it ships, though, will be seeing whether these vicarious thrills continue throughout the game, and not just during the early, opening moments. Regardless, consider me sold.
Ahhh…the Doom Patrol, my all-time favorite team…a team of misfits gathered together to learn to deal with their powers, and led by a brilliant man in a wheelchair…(no, not the X-Men). The original series, begun in My Greatest Adventure and continued in its own title, was written by Arnold Drake and drawn by Bruno Premiani. What a masterpiece! This was a weird comic…different from your average Superman or Justice League book. Yet it was fascinating. Even more fascinating was the final issue (#121) where the Doom Patrol members were blasted to smithereens and killed. Things like this just didn’t happen much in the 60’s.
Years later, in an issue of Showcase, the Doom Patrol was re-formed with a brand new team. Robotman, who survived the explosion, teamed with Celsius, Tempest and Negative Woman. This led to a new Doom Patrol series in the 80’s by Kupperberg and Lightle. Erik Larsen took over as artist after Steve Lightle left. A few issues later, Grant Morrison and Richard Case began their legendary run, creating new characters, and turning the team on its head. By the time Morrison left and Rachel Pollack took over as writer, The Chief was literally a talking head, and the book was at an all-time weirdness.
So, a few years ago, Robotman formed a new team. Written by Arcudi and drawn by Tan Eng Huat, this series was fantastic. Unfortunately, no one read it, and it ended after a little less than two years.
Shortly after that, DC decided to bring back the original team in a retro-style book written and drawn by John Byrne. They made their first appearance in a Justice League arc written by Claremont and drawn by Byrne. And this was the first DC universe appearance of the Doom Patrol. Huh? You mean, every Doom Patrol appearance previously never actually happened?
You bet. Here’s where I have a HUGE problem with re-imaginings. Forty years of continuity down the drain. And for what…Did DC think their previous history was too confusing and cluttered? Maybe so. But to wipe it all out of existence without any explanation as to why none of the DC heroes remembered the original teams??? The new title also featured new members. One of them was an ape called Grunt. Did anyone expect Byrne’s series to actually last? No offense to Byrne. He’s a legend. But his recent series simply don’t draw tons of readers anymore.
Boy, was I excited that DC at least explained why the previous teams never existed. Superboy Prime altered continuity while trying to punch his way out of his prison in Infinite Crisis. Okay, so I wasn’t excited. But at least there was SOME explanation.
Since then, Geoff Johns has created another Doom Patrol team, closer to the original, and even stated recently that he’d like to write a Doom Patrol book. I’ve wet my pants if he did! Well, maybe not…but if I did, it’d be worth it.
Now that Comic Con has come and gone, much is being said about how it has lost much of its focus, and, let’s face it, its appeal. But the best articulation of this sentiment has to be a lengthy article from Publisher’s Weekly’s The Beat blog. I know I sound like a dyed-in-the-wool geek, but I think an era has passed in the con and comic book world, and I doubt it will ever return.
Read the eulogy here:
http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/08/01/boil-that-dust-speck/
io9’s recent story about Neil Gaiman’s upcoming Batman 2-part story got me thinking about Alan Moore’s send-off of the Silver Age Man of Steel, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? Sure, Moore can be a curmudgeon, but damn, can he ever write a conventional superhero story.
With Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? Moore proves that it’s not the character, the continuity or the costume that make or break the comic–it’s the writer, pure and simple. I mean, this is a story where you actually want to weep about the death of Krypto – KRYPTO! And Mxylptlyk is threatening (and disturbingly scary) – amazing!
I’ve never read Moore’s run on rob Leifeld’s Supreme, but if they are anything like his Superman stories, I might have to track those issues down.
As for Neil Gaiman, I admire him as a writer, but he has a hell of a task ahead of him if he thinks he’s going to approach Moore’s story.
Read the full io9 story here:
Tim Sale’s been making the rounds this year. His work on the NBC series HEROES has brought him even more attention from adoring fans and he’s been giving back. In May I was fortunate enough to meet Tim on Free Comic Book Day so my ears tingle when I hear him mentioned.
The most popular NPR station here in LA is KCRW. They’re popular because they run NPR news mornings and evenings and program nifty new music in between. They can be a bit pretentious at times (what else would you expect in LA?) but they do get more than their fair share of in-studio guest performances. This time, Tim Sale has appeared on the station and has discussed his favorite music and how it effects his comics work. It’s an interesting listen and it’s available free right here:
TIM SALE ON KCRW
Just don’t blame me when they talk all over the songs and fade them out without playing the entire tracks.
You ever read an upcoming solicitation about one of your favorite characters returning to the comic pages with a brand new series only to find out that the character’s being “revamped”, or “re-imagined”. In other words…the character you’ve followed in every previous series, mini-series or guest appearances is being wiped out of continuity only to be replaced by a “new hero of our times”.
Yes, comic companies (we’ll just call them Marvel and DC) for some reason feel the need to dumb-down the reader and assume we won’t be able to understand or want to learn more about previous stories featuring the character. In turn, a new character with the same name is created, slapping us in the face and ruining our hopes for the original to return.
It’s a shame that Marvel and DC feel we’re too stupid or uninterested to actually be able to understand a story featuring a character that’s been around for years but not used very often. When I was a kid, I actually loved to want to go back and read back issues to find out more. And I can honestly say I never had a problem understanding what was going on in a book. You know, a good writer can bring a character back and keep continuity going without rewriting the whole thing from scratch.
So…coming up will be a look at our favorite characters and how they’ve been re-imagined throughout the years, good and bad. For example, a few years ago, DC re-imagined Challengers of the Unknown with completely different characters. By Howard Chaykin, I imagine it would have been entertaining. But I never read it, and in turn, will not comment on it on this page. Any thoughts on your favorites will be welcome.
Far be it for me to praise ANYTHING MTV does this days; however, they have managed to cobble together a fairly interesting blog at Splashpage. The idea is to post stories related to the development of comic book films. Seems decent enough at the moment. Check it out when you get a chance.
**Oh – and note that none of their RSS feeds seem to be working yet. Hopefully this will be rectified within a day or two.
Couldn’t this have happened BEFORE he said, “I’d like to write AND direct the entire prequel trilogy”?
In a surreal, serendipitous moment while traveling about 10 years ago, I found myself (completely by accident) in Metropolis, IL. We were just looking for a good place to stretch and refuel. Little did any of us know that we had arrived in the official (as official as such a thing can be, I suppose) home of Superman. When we happened upon it, the town seemed all but abandoned, except for a large Superman statue in the middle of town square, and an open Superman museum.
So imagine my surprise when I happened on a recent story about Metropolis’ attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most people dressed as Superman at one time. And you thought something like this could only happen at Comic Con?
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