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roguestorm · 1 year ago

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deeply sorry for the length of this ask. feel free to ignore. just contributing 2 cents on the manga/comic distinction as a primary manga reader who transitioned into comics! my limited experience has given me the impression that US comics are episodic while manga are serialized.

Within the sample of 80s-90s Marvel and a scattershot of indie/Wildstorm, comics have tended towards self-contained arcs of 1-5 issues, each issue hewing quite closely to the status quo-rising action-setback-climax-falling action plot diagram. Character development continues, but greater plots are spread thinly as hints that culminate in a crossover every 30-odd issues.

The inertia of shared canon comic continuity/the transition between writers resets or undoes development at regular intervals. So, each issue feels more episodic because any attempts to serialize will be undone in the next personnel shuffle. Even big 'never be the same again' changes like HoXPoX, the deaths of Jean Grey, Crisis on Infinite Earths, N52 will get undone in time and revert.

There's definitely a tendency to long arcs in contemporary comics compared to old comics, so my reading history here doesn't give that accurate of a view of the state of things. I've found that old comics write self-contained issues while post-90s-crash/post-digital comics employ longer story arcs and 'write for the trade'--possibly because that's the point at which trades become more accessible than issues?

Indie comics tend to have a more continuous plot without the constraints of shared canon, but are often planned for a limited run. These 5-12 issue runs can be structured in advance. This defined scope can lead to a more episodic series where each issue accomplishes a set goal, compared to the haphazard rushing-to-the-deadline manga flow that can leave chapters as abortive or half-finished.

By contrast, the sole-authorship/independent canon of manga allows permanent story changes without the status quo reset. This lends itself better to serialization. There is a lot of overlap between manga and indie here, and big magazines (WSJ) can exert significant control over mangaka. However, few manga are planned and executed as limited series and almost no manga have co-writers. The schedule pressure and lack of chapter limits means that mangaka can push events into/out of chapters, adjust pacing, change plot direction on the fly, and these changes aren't likely to be overruled.

There's less ability to keep chapters self-contained (you hand in what you physically can hand in, whether or not it's a complete story) and less motivation to do so (you have as many chapters as you want to write your arc, you don't need to shoehorn your arc into the three issues you have left before someone else comes on to the book). Manga work in arcs that last anywhere from 5 to 50 chapters or longer, with each arc representing a permanent change in status quo.

From my reading, manga tells a single overarching story with arcs split up into relatively small chapters of a larger whole (any big shounen e.g. HxH or Haikyuu, a lot of seinen e.g. Berserk, most big shoujo e.g. Ao Haru Ride or AkaYona). Because of the length of manga arcs, it's difficult for all of 30+ chapters to each be a self-contained story while contributing significantly to the main plot. US comics on the other hand tell a series of short, tight stories. These legally have to end where they started if published under the Big Two or another shared universe. In other words, a manga is a log of cookie dough cut into chapters while a US comic is a row of individually formed balls of cookie dough, some of which are grouped together.

This is all limited though--the big exceptions to this rule are indie comics, which don't have the shared-universe limitations, and non-romance slice-of-life manga, which do have to return to exactly the same status quo. And the definition of episodic I've used here is less about the proportion of 1-issue/1-chapter arcs and more about the change of/return to status quo at he end! My conclusion based on my reading was that SFF manga are almost all singular, large-scope stories that change continuously (serialized) and SFF comics are largely repetitive, small-scope stories that resolve to a status quo (episodic)--so it's interesting to see that there's still solid evidence for it being the other way around!

This is exactly the kind of reply I was hoping for! I think it's interesting that you are using this other definition of episodic, based around the overall trajectory of the stories, and then kind of working backwards from there to how it affects the single-issue level. The status quo argument only really affects the long-term episodic-ness (and it definitely does make like any deviation from the status quo into an episode that can be picked up or ignored as you choose), but it's interesting how that can end up making a difference on the issue-by-issue level as well.

Using The Walking Dead as my Western example did I think skew the argument because it was a very particular type of comic in that it was not Big Two, written by a single person, and always intended to be this big sprawling epic that just keeps going. It is perhaps more like a manga than a typical Big Two comic in that way. As you say, it's certainly true that a lot of Big Two comics do change hands regularly enough that it prevents any real long-term arcs from forming.

#asks #daisyachain #lots to think about. sorry this isn't the most in-depth response

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theconstitutionisgayculture · 2 years ago

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Sorry the comic anon again

I know we mostly focus the woke shit but comics also fall apart because

1. Rampant big events that cause more damage than good

2. Rampant character assassination and development erasure that cause serve damage (don’t get me fucking started on Dan Didio 5G plans and how that effect a character I was invested in)

3. PAINFULLY obvious writers who don’t check the characters they are writing past unless it’s a certain run.

4. And keeping the same godawful status quo that keep a endless cycle of the same shit again and again.

There more, but marvel and dc purposely put them into the landmines and refuse to properly adapt their stories and money making ways to modern era. I can’t blame just the wokies, I have to blame th embodiment of a strawman manchild like Dan didio

I know this long, but hear what the head of dc comics from the early 2010’s to 2020 said

https://www.omega-level.net/2013/09/09/frown-dcs-dan-didio-says-heroes-shouldnt-happy-lives/

Oh, absolutely mainstream comics have been shit for decades. I love that you made a numbered list because I have things to say and this makes it easy to organize, XD

FUCK EVENT COMICS. God, I used to love these things when they were rare. They felt meaningful and they were the only time you got to see some characters interact with each other, and it felt special because it was unique. Secret War, Crisis on Infinite Earths, No Man's Land, and Age of Apocalypse are some of my favorite comic stories ever. Reading the No Man's Land novelization was actually what got me into Batman comics in the first place, and from there into DC itself (eventually). Until then, the only comics I'd read were Marvel staples like X-Men and Spider-Man (which, believe it or not, used to be the only two Marvel characters 90% of mainstream fans liked) and Spawn. But event comics also completely killed my interest in DC and Marvel. Civil War ruined pretty much every character I liked, along with everything I enjoyed about the Marvel universe. And Flashpoint killed DC for me, while the New 52 dug up its grave and did unmentionable things to the corpse. Now, event comics happen all the time. Hell, DC rebooted its main universe I think three times in a 10 year span. And dear God don't get me started on multiverses. They used to be an interesting concept, but now they're just a receptacle for every idea that was too shitty for even modern Marvel/DC editors to green light for the main continuity.

Yeah, way too many comics these days are written by people who hate the character they're writing for. It's vandalism, pure and simple. Taste, quality, respect for the character and its history, satisfying the fans, all gleefully thrown into the fire. It makes it impossible to get into any character, because the moment the writer changes so will everything good about the character. Even new characters aren't immune. The moment Bendis took over writing Jon Kent he artificially aged him up, completely changed his character, and basically did everything he could to ruin the magic of Tomasi's Super Sons run. Pissed me off to no end, because I was actually considering dipping my toes back into DC just to read more Super Sons than the stuff I saw on tumblr until that happened. Still makes me mad thinking about it.

I know this is kind of similar to the last point, but Batman writers constantly do this with Damian Wayne. It seems like every new writer has to throw out all his character development and reset him back to being a barely functioning murder baby. Though, that's also a problem with Batman, too. How many times has he cut himself off from his family and friends because "he works better alone" only to realize that he needs other people? 20, by now? 30? I mean, fuck, they did the "Batman needs to be a loner oh wait actually he needs his family" storyline twice in three years. No Man's Land in 1999 and Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive in 2002. I get that long running serials are going to repeat storylines, but fuck try to keep things consistent for a decade, at least. I don't think that's asking too much. Aside from the vandalism and wokeness, I think the major problem with American comics is that they have no idea how to write a character or a story long term. They just do whatever they think will boost sales or get people talking, find out they wrote themselves into a corner because they didn't think further than, at best, a year out, and then reboot their entire continuity again because they can't figure out any other way to get out of the whole they dug themselves into. Why would anyone get invested in a product like that?

This is where I'm going to disagree partly. I don't think the status quo is necessarily a bad thing. I think about it a lot when people won't shut up about how killing the Joker would prevent countless deaths, and actually Batman is an idiot for prioritizing his own morality over the lives of others by not killing him. In real life, that might be true. "Do the ends justify the means" is a moral problem humanity has been wrestling with since we invented morality. But comics aren't real life, and they're not supposed to be. In comics, there are good guys and bad guys. The good guys stop the bad guys from doing bad things, usually by fighting them, and then arrest them. Good guys follow a moral code, one that usually includes a no killing rule. They do this because if Batman kills off his rogues, or Superman rips Lex Luthor's heart out, you can't tell anymore stories with those characters. Heroes are defined, in many ways, by their villains. Batman without a Joker, or Two-Face, or Riddler, or Scarecrow, is less of a character. Not to say that he can never face any other bad guys, or that they can't be cycled in and out now and then, but you can't just kill them off. You can't have Batman kill them off. Especially when comic book deaths are meaningless anyway. Once you break one of the central pillars of Batman's morality, he is immediately a different character. Less of a character, in my opinion. Especially these days, where morals are more about whether or not a character supports the popular new slacktivist cause and less about the fundamental questions of universal human morality. So, I very much advocate for good status quos to stick around as long as possible. But you also need to recognize when the thing you're doing needs to change. It's a delicate balance, and one that's completely beyond most comic writers today.

Ugh, don't even get me started on that "characters can't be happy" bullshit. I'll be here all day. Suffice to say, it's a garbage line that only exists to excuse bad writing and the most shallow interpretation of drama. Super heroes can be happy and still be entertaining and have personal strife. Reading constant misery and knowing that every bit of happiness a character does find will be temporary is what's boring.

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afaimsarrowverse · 2 years ago

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The Top 25 Things the Arrowverse gave us:

25. Elseworlds

This Crossover-Event will always remain extra special, because it saw Oliver and Barry swap identities, an evil would-be Superman, the introducting of both Gotham City and Kate Kane to the Arrowverse and Kara finding sisterhood with another version of her sister Alex by just knowing her. Oh and Gary was there too, totally random in the Elseworld Version of Earth-1 but still totally Gary, while Cisco was kind of evil and Oliver’s enemies were all cops.

24. Crisis on Infinite Earths

„Crisis of Infinite Earths“ was the biggest Crossover-Event of Television, because not only did it crossover all Arrowverse-Shows including the not-yet-green-lit „Superman & Lois“ and the first footage from „Stargirl“, it did crossover all of DC Television and Film. We had „Lucifer“, „Smallville“, „Birds of Prey“, „Titans“, „Doom Partol“, the 60s Batman-Show, the 90s Flash-Show„Superman Returns“, the Burton-Verse and Ezra Miller in there, as well as Kevin Conroy and a lot of previously unfilmed Comic Stories on the top of that.

23. The Annual Crossover Events

Starting with the launch of „The Flash“ the Arrowverse started doing crossover episodes and most of them did occure just before the Mid-Season Break and featured episodes in more than one of the shows. Soon more and more shows got invovled in these crossovers, and they got bigger. The Annual „Autumn“ Crossover Event was something to look forward too as long as it existed.

22. The Olivarry Friendship

When it got announced that Stephen Amell would return to „The Flash“ for its final season the Internet almost broke. This shows how much the friendship between Oliver and Barry did impact the viewers and how special it was for everyone, who got to watch it grow and change over all these years. And why we will never forget it.

21. Ray Palmer

Brandon Routh may have played Superman, but the superhero who really had an impact on the cultural landscape was his Arrowverse Role, Ray Palmer aka the Atom. Introduced in „Arrow“, becoming a main character in „Legends of Tomorrow“, Ray showed up in almost every Arrowverse-Show, and the likeable nerd was very much missed when he was written out of the Arrowverse. Since then he has returned, but sadly the end of Arrowverse does also mean that we won’t ever see him again.

20. Steelatom

The Arrowverse presented us many forms of male friendships, but out of all of them the friendship between Ray Palmer and Nate Heywood undoubtable was one of the most special ones. Two soft male nerds becoming BFFs and in many ways much more each others significant other than their respective better halfs is still not something we are used to see.

19. Black Lightning (The Show)

Yes, „Luke Cage“ came first, but without „Black Lightning“ the MCU Show would have been the first and only not-animated Superhero Show with a black lead involving the Black Community. „Black Lightning“ did for DC what „Luke Cage“ did for Marvel, and it even got to go out own its own terms. So „Black Lightning“ will always be that Black Superhero Show with a Lebsian Female Lead, that came, did what it set out to do, and finished the narrative despite everything.

18. The Power of Goodness

Certain so called fans tend to see DC as this dark and broody and egdy Anti-Marvel Brand. The Arrowverse however did very much not fall in this trap. Yes, early episodes of „Arrow“ might have fooled you into thinking they were going there, but as soon as Barry Allen speed into the show, the Arrowverse showed us that, no, no matter how dark life becomes these shows and that whole franchise actually is a story about how in the end there is more good than evil out there, and how goodness can inspire other people into becoming good themselves. In all the shows our heroes did inspire others to do better to become more and to never give up. Instead of an edgy story about gloom and doom the Arrowverse was a story about how one’s inate goodness can overcome anything and can inspire everyone around to listen to the goodness inside themselves.

17. Soft Males

Sure, we got Alpha Males like Oliver Queen or Mick Rory, but the Arrowverse also held a significant number of Soft Males, that were even more fun and frankly more inspirering to watch. In the end people like Barry Allen, Ray Palmer, Winn Schott, Cisco Ramon, Nate Heywood, Behrad Tarazi, Querl Dox or Luke Fox do appeal to people much more than the typicial male macho, we get to see everywhere else. And when people like John Constantine, Oliver Queen or Mick Rory find it in them to also step out of their own shadow and discover their softer side, it is even more beautifiul.

16. Female Friendships

Many ensemble shows treat us with outstanding male friendships but not all of these shows are „Friends“. Most shows have to fight for their female characters to have a relationship with each other. So it is an accomplishment to actually see a postive female relationship outside of familial bonds and sexual interest flourish. Most of the Arrowverse managed to produced more than a couple of strong female friendships over their run. Bookclub matters, and so does the fact that, no Kara does not want to pounce her female friends, that Ryan is not ready to give up on Mary, this shows us that women actually care about each other. Something that especially male writers often forget about.

15. An Ace Superhero

The biggest moment of seventh season of „Legends of Tomorrow“ was the moment in „The Fixed Point“, when Spooner came out to Zari as asexual. After admitting that she did not think about anyone „that way“, Zari explained to her that she is probabyl ace and that there is nothing wrong with that, and that there are many people like her and many of them still have happy relationships. This moment is even bigger because it was a latinx woman coming out, and it did give us the first asexual superhero on screen ever and one of very view openly ace main characters on a Television Show.

14. A Trans Superhero

Season 4 of „Supergirl“ did introduce Nia Nal, who would go on to become the superhero Dreamer, the ancestor of Nura Nal from the Legion of Superheroes. Played be Nicole Maines Nia Nal is the first transgender superhero on our screens, serving us an inspiration for many by coming out about her true self in the show and fighting hate and even her own family for who she really is.

13. Sara Lance

In the beginning there was Sara Lance. Long before characters like Nia Nal or Spooner Cruz or even Alex Danvers or David Singh would grace the Arrowverse Laurel Lance‘s little sister kissed boys and girls on screen, fought and overcame trauma, and never gave up on finding herself. Sara Lance proofed to us that you can come back from everything and that strong bi-sexual females can be lead characters on action shows.

12. Avalance

Because of the rotating cast „Legends of Tomorrow“ did not really have a central romance for its long run. Changing up characters and romances, there was however one that stuck with us and the Arrowverse for most of its run, and that is the relationship between Sara Lance and Ava Sharpe, which did include getting married and having a baby. Even more important while same-sex-relationships were only secondary ships on „Supergirl“ and „Black Lightning“ Avalance, since it involved the lead character of the show, was the central ship of the show.

11. Westallen

People tend to overlook that taking after the New 52 Idea of making the Wests Black during casting was a gamble for „The Flash“. But it also was one that payed of. The only Arrowverse Show that actually had their central couple for all of its run, took an iconic couple from the comics and made it real and did stick to it. Westallen is also a mixed race couple in Prime Time Television and sadly that is still not something viewed as normal today.

10. Diversity

The CW did make „Dare to Defy“ their motto, but in the end they did give in, gave up their identity even before they were sold, because no one would buy them, if they would actually live up to their motto. Which is why half of the Arrowverse Shows was cancelled when they were. However while it was alive and prospering the Arrowverde did dare to defy. The Arrowverse had women, POCs, LGBTQ+ Persons, Non-Americans, Aliens and Non-Confermists as their protagonists and antagonists from the get-go. So of course I could not stay around.

9. Same Sex Weddings

Having celebrated their first Same Sex Wedding Of Screen during Season 1 of „The Flash“, the Arrowverse did feature no less than 3 [!] Same-Sex Weddings between Females in the year 2021, with Anissa and Grace getting married on „Black Lightning“, Sara and Ava finally tying the knot at the end of Season 6 on „Legends of Tomorrow“, and Alex marrying her girlfriend Kelly Olsen in the Finale of „Supergirl“.

8. Strong Female Characters

Yes, it all started with a man, but even the late great Anne Rice noted that she was intrigued that Oliver was surronded by women rather than men after the Pilot. Since then „Arrow“ always tried to aim for a strong female presence as well as female characters in general. The same is true for the other Arrowverse Shows, most notably of course for „Supergirl“ and „Batwoman“, but with Season 2 „Legends of Tomorrow“ switched Rip Hunter with Sara Lance as their main protagonist and Captain, and more than one critic has noted that „Black Lightning“ actually is much more about Jefferson’s daughters Anissa and Jennifer than about Black Lightning himself. And „The Flash“ tried really hard to keep both Candice Patton and Danielle Panabaker around until the very end, adding more female characters to their main cast over the years. And let’s not forget that the never picked up Backdoor-Pilot „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ would have centered around the daughter of Green Arrow and no less than two Black Canaries.

7. Season 8 of „Arrow“

Sometimes fans get something back. The short final season of „Arrow“ was very much a season tailored for the fans, a homage to the show’s history, that also aimed straight at the future of both the show and the franchise. Not as strong as Season 2 and not as shocking as Season 5, Season 8 of „Arrow“ still was something very special, which only the Arrowverse at that point of its existence would ever give to the viewers.

6. Season 1 of „The Flash“

While everyone might have their own personal favorite Arrowverse Season, Season 1 of „The Flash“ ist arguable the best out of all of them, most people would agree. The first real Superhero Show since „Heroes“, „The Flash“ paved the way for the rest of the more comicbooky Arrowverse, DC- and MCU-Shows, and probably even stuff like „The Umbrella Academy“. The show made people, who are not really interested in superheroes, interested in watching the show by putting the characters and their feelings and relationship first, but backing it up with an engaging story that relies on superpowers and time travel to work.

5. Legends of Tomorrow

The Arrowverse had a whole bunch of very different shows appealing to different audiences, but the one ouf of all of them that stood out was „Legends of Tomorrow“. After a luck-warm first season the writers threw out everything that didn’t work and went full in, embracing the fact that this was supposed to be a time travel show with superheroes and villains about a bunch of screw ups. They did not shy awawy from the crazy any longer but ran towards it instead. They made an outsider show for outsiders, that was beautiful and unique und very much not your average television show.

4. Coming back from Trauma

„Arrow“ very much had the message that in the end, no matter what happened to you, you can not only learn to live with it, you can come back from it. Oliver Queen’s whole journey is about becoming a new person, that is not ruled by his past anymore. And he isn’t the only one. When „The Flash“ started we learn about the murder of Barry’s mother and how he was able to come back from that, and how he had to learn to stop looking back and start looking forward. Supergirl’s whole planet was destroyed, almost everyone she ever knew died. And still she managed to go on after that und flourish. In some shape and form most Arrowverse Characters are shaped by trauma – and their shows tell us that this does not have to rule them.

3. The One where they are stuck on TV

The best Arrowverse Episode out of all of them probably was „The One Where We‘re trapped on TV“ from „Legends of Tomorrow“s fifth season. Not only that, it was also the best Television Episode of the year 2020. Honoring TV that came before as well as the main character of the show, the episode also did include a valuable lesson. In the end that little TV Episode did more than most shows are capeable doing in years.

2. A Voice

If we are talking about the question what the Arrowverse gave us, we should not forget to menton the most important thing it gave us: A Voice. Yes, the producers listened to the fans, but that’s not what I mean. The Arrowverse gave us a voice – the not privileged not white not straight not cis-males who were not brought up by a loving parental figure - it gave a voice to everyone else, to the damaged, the overlooked, the ridicouled, the bullied, the loners, the persons on the fringes. It gave a voice to those, who think no one ever listens to them, by having the heroes listen. For those magicial years of television all of us were heard. By going for Green Arrow, the Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, Black Lighning and John Constantine the stories told by something with the DC Lable on it were finally about us.

1. Hope for a better Tomorrow

When Oliver Queen came back to Starling City, he was a broken man, but when „Arrow“ ended he had been healed, something he never would have thought possible. Kara Danvers might have lost her planet, but she found a new home on earth, a new family and her calling. Barry Allen might have lost his mother and his father, but he found a future, where he has a new family, that flourishes and grows. Gotham may be a crap hole, but the Batwomen stepped in, when no one else did and made it a better place. While the Pierce Familiy fought to do the same for Freeland. Everyone who ever stepped foot on the Waverider came out stronger and more whole when they left the ship again, even those who did not leave alive, ironicially enough. In the end the most important thing the Arrowverse gave to us, is hope – hope that this will also pass, hope for a better tomorrow. Hope for a tomorrow, periode.

The franchise saved lives – with every show, ever episode at a time, probabaly many more lives than most people realize. And then it all came crashing down after a decade, when it became clear it had all been a lie.

So maybe they shouldn’t have bothered to give us ten years of lies in the first place. Or anyhting else on this list for that matter, because giving someone something only to take it away again without warning or reason is cruel, but giving someone hope and then taking that away, well that is just criminal. So in the end the Arrowverse was just that: A Crime against Humanity, because they told us life could be a certain way, only to end with the clear notion, that it actually in reality can’t.

#Arrowverse #Arrow #The Flash #Supergirl #legends of tomorrow #Batwoman #Black Lightning #Constantine

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daydreamreality · 4 years ago

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Thinking about actor availability, and how that affects my perception of Jess and how strongly I feel about shipping Literati.

Really thought this would only be a few paragraphs going over the points where Jess could have disappeared never to be seen again, but it turned into a freaking essay so LONG POST warning if you decide to click ahead.

If the last we saw of Jess was hanging up the phone in the season 3 finale: "Well, it was fun ride while it lasted. That's about how I thought this would end." Still have a lot empathy for this kid and wish him well, but you screwed with Rory's heart like I knew would happen. Was that intentional? No. But he was so immature, out of control with his emotions, zero communication skills, not trusting in others...the list of reasons why he wasn't ready for a serious relationship, even if the feelings were serious, goes on. There was no way Rory wasn't going to end up as collateral damage in his personal breakdown that I could feel was going to happen. And this is the thought I had as a teenager with no dating experience watching this show for the first time. Did I want to date him? Hell no! I could see that trainwreck from a mile away. Rory was naïve to put her heart in his trust but that's part of her good qualities - she's sees the best in people and champions for them. I could go on a tangent about why exactly Jess was such an important character to me when I first watched the show (and probably why he stuck around unconsciously until I decided on a whim to rewatch GG in lockdown) but...I don't know, maybe some other time.

In the context of the entire show, I would look back at the relationship as my favorite one to watch of Rory's in the series (The build-up! The connection! Their deep belief in and respect for each other! The angst!) and Jess being a really fun character to root for (and yell at) but endgame? It was a short lived but important relationship. It’s fun to think about what ifs and how circumstances could have changed to make it work, but we can move on.

The ill-fated spin-off: I have no idea what this show would have been about except focusing on Jess and Jimmy and I’m not about to theorize. I still like Jess at this point so it would probably make me like him more since we’re getting a deeper dive into his character, but in regard to shipping him with Rory, this opinion would not change unless he all of sudden showed some great maturity. But I doubt this show would have even gotten a whole season so that probably wouldn’t happen. And then he’s living in California…this is too much, moving on.

If the last we see of Jess is in season 4: About the same feeling as above. Life, as expected, has not been treating Jess well. At all. His jadedness and hostility is at an all-time high when he shows up to get his car. Do I see the reasons informing his behavior and have empathy (once again, for a KID)? Yes, but he's also being a jerk. "The years don't seem to have hardened you." Well this year sure has!

I love the "I love you" scene but too little too late, buddy. That's probably why I love it, it's all a bit hopeless. Just keep shoveling the angst at me. I do like fics where this scene is reimagined with Rory running after him to give him a piece of her mind or Jess finding some other words to say (I really feel like he had more to say there but got overwhelmed), and coming to a tentative reconciliation: exchanging numbers, "don't fall off the face of the earth," but getting back together? No. You hurt her and you're feeling the consequences. Rory is not obligated or responsible to reciprocate those feelings, nor is she in a place to do that right now.

But season 4 does cement that Luke and Jess's relationship is one of my favorites in the entire show. There's probably a whole other post in me regarding that so I'll keep it brief. Because of his respect for Luke, Jess makes tentative steps towards maturing in interpersonal relationships. He shows some vulnerability and honesty with a veil of sarcasm and awkwardness because, well, it's JESS.

But then of course this all goes to hell when applied to Rory. Sometimes I like to think how this dorm scene would have gone down if Rory stepped back for a second and went, "Hold on. You're not making any sense, chill out," and they could have talked a bit and had a similar reconciliation like I said above because I really think that’s all he was going for - to talk to her, apologize, and make an attempt at reciprocation like he did with Luke. But getting back together here? Canonically, he hasn't made enough progress. He set aside his personal feelings to be in his mother's wedding and used the knowledge from the self-help book to apologize to Luke, but I don't think the book's message has sunk in all the way yet and he’s still got a massive chip on his shoulder preventing him from making a good life for himself. Getting rejected by Rory here is an important moment and I really like it. It's fun to think about the AU if Rory had said yes (hello road trip!), but it's very in-character for her to not be able to handle Jess's crisis and just shouting "NO, make it stop." This is one of my proudest of Rory moments: Protect your heart girl, he ain't ready. The seeds have been planted that Jess will continue to grow and I wish him well on his journey. Endgame material? Nah. Goodbye forever, take care my friend...

Even though this scene doesn't feel like closure at all, I really thought this was the end of Jess Mariano. So imagine my surprise when -

SEASON 6: HE'S BACK. Coming out of the shadows, [literally] it's Jess Marianoooo *air horns* *confetti* *jazz hands* *Jess rolls his eyes at the fanfare*

Alright, that's out of my system. But for real that's what my mind did at this point. For context, the way I watched this show for the first time was getting the DVDs from the library while a couple of seasons were still on the air; when a new season was available to borrow, I would rewatch all the seasons up to the current point so my memories and favorite parts of the show are seasons 1-4. Because I was not bingeing the show all the way through, seeing Jess here seemingly so different didn’t feel out of place. A shock, yes! A happy surprise. But nothing about him seemed OOC. A year had gone by, we’d seen some signs of maturity in him, and getting rejected by Rory was a big kick in the ass for him to start making bigger changes in his life. I really cannot emphasize how satisfying and sensical his positive character development felt to me.

The slight maturity we see in season 4 in its full potential. Jess is still Jess: guarded, self-deprecating, and a bit prickly but he shows a sense of calm and feeling more comfortable in his skin. This is really satisfying to see as someone who always "knew" there was a kind and capable heart underneath the exterior just like Rory did, and that tough guy, must protect myself at all costs posturing has melted away. But that side of him isn't gone, it's not like the writing did a complete 180 on his character. I love this. He's just...more at peace with himself but he's not a different person, and he's found something to direct his focus and intellect on. He's made his peace with Luke, and now he has something of worth to show Rory to try to mend that hurt as well.

Yes, it would have been nice to see how and why he decided to write a book and work in publishing but this course of events is not out of left field, nor is Jess enough of a main character at this point for scenes like this to be necessary to the show unless they were tied to Luke and showing another side of him. Jess has shown in the past that he has a good work ethic if he feels it is worth it. The problem wasn't him being lazy, just poor decision making and focusing on RIGHT NOW, "I need to get out of Stars Hollow and live my life," and not considering the consequences of his actions. Which as an immature kid whose life had told him he can only depend on himself...not out of the ordinary. The dude’s life passion is literature and has probably read every book he can get his hands on, it’s not crazy that he had his own story in him.

Here is where Literati becomes endgame material for me. Prior to the revival it was always my feeling that post-series they would reconnect while Rory was on the campaign or afterwards. It would be low drama (except for Lorelai criticism), slowly gaining trust in each other again, and eventually starting a committed relationship within a year or two of being friends with sexual tension (lol). They made their adolescent mistakes, hurt each other, but learned from it and started over on infinitely better footing.

The match just makes sense to me at this point for many reasons; I don't feel like I need to list them all out because you can go to any pro-Literati post and I'll probably agree with the majority of the points. The biggest issue they had was timing: “Right heart, wrong time.” I like especially how they even out each other's more extreme personality traits. For example, Rory learning from Jess to consider her own feelings instead of sacrificing herself for others, and Jess considering others before himself all the time. Or professionally, I can see Jess encouraging her to step away from her ultra-organized, “everything has to be just so” ways when it benefits her to seize an opportunity right now, don’t worry about the details, you got this. Maybe Jess has another book in him, but his self-deprecation and disorganization prevent him from getting it done but Rory helps him be more objective and focused. There’s this…synergistic energy I feel with the two of them: they’re great by themselves, but form something better together.

Judging from Rory's reactions towards him in this season, I don't think it's OOC for her to have romantic feelings for him again. She's extremely proud of his accomplishments and not unhappy to see him (not holding a grudge). They fall back into their comfortable dynamic even if it makes them both a bit nervous. Now some could argue that this means that Rory only wants to be friends with him but...when have Jess and Rory ever been just friends? If "Another Year in the Life" comes out (I've got serious doubts but would love to be proved wrong) and Rory rejects him or he's not even a part of it, fine! But I just don't see anything in canon that says explicitly she'll never feel romantic towards him again.

Now the kiss...there's a lot of ways to read that scene. Do I think Jess was in the right to assume "everything is fixed" as a go ahead? No. But that's part of why he is such an engaging character: he's impulsive and acts in accordance to his feelings, and yes, this gets himself and others in trouble.

Do I think Rory purposefully went to the open house to "use" Jess to get back at Logan? No. I think she genuinely wanted to support him, and Logan being out of town meant she wouldn't have to explain why it was important for her to go. I see the kiss paralleling the one in 2x22 but instead of Rory not being able to hold her feelings in any longer, Jess initiates. The way I see it is she was unaware she still had lingering feelings towards him (not out of nowhere, I mean their relationship has "unfinished business" written all over it) and that scared the crap out of her, just like at the end of season 2. So she runs away to the "safe space" that is being with Logan. Because she's in love with Logan, she has a sense of obligation towards him, and Rory has shown many times that she does not react well to change and highly emotional situations.

Is this scene a deal breaker for a future relationship between them? I don't think so. Jess says that he isn't sorry she came, which I take as "I'll never be sorry to see you no matter the context." Yes, this hurt him and made him pretty mad, but I don't think he's holding a grudge against her for this; even in the moment he's more concerned that someone cheated on her and her safety getting to her car. He sets a boundary that he doesn't deserve his feelings to be pushed around like this and Rory agrees. Not that I condone this sort of tit-for-tat hurting of each other (which I don't think Rory was going for in the first place) but it's almost like...that cycle is now broken. The whole scene is so open ended, it doesn't feel like a "good bye forever" to Jess.

"But Rory is so in love with Logan!" I don't know about you, but that "I'm in love with him despite all the bad he's done..." sounds so defeated and sad. It's almost like she's resigned herself to being in love with Logan. The first time I watched this, I thought this was foreshadowing that the relationship was on its last legs. To keep them together, Logan almost dies so Rory will bury her hurt out of guilt for holding a grudge against him. She is completely entitled to feeling hurt by Logan's actions, and I hate that she feels like she has to do this. But it happened, moving on.

"But Rory is a cheater!" When I think about Rory's characteristics, "cheater" doesn't make the list. She feels entitled to the men that she's loved and this isn’t super great behavior, but I don't view her as inherently unfaithful or okay with cheating. I give her leeway on the season 2 Jess kiss because she was a teenager with a lot of conflicting emotions and everything around her was pushing her to stay with Dean. The season 4 Dean debacle...she was still very young and naïve. I put most of the blame on Dean for manipulating her; I say most because if Rory really wanted to be with him, she should have been more sure of the status of his marriage, but I repeat: he manipulated her and she was very young and naïve. I dare to say she has been conditioned to view Dean as nothing but safe and trustworthy so why wouldn't she believe him... Season 4 was all about her being out of sorts when away from the Stars Hollow bubble and trying to reclaim some normalcy. Narratively, I see why this makes sense and I don't think the intention was to say “Rory is okay with cheating,” but to show very explicitly that Rory isn't perfect. This show goes to extremes, at this point I kind of just accept it and don't jump to "this person/character is terrible!" Certain characteristics and behaviors I have less patience for (mild) or will make me lose all respect for a character (extreme - honestly very few GG characters fall into this category for me); you may feel differently and that's fine. When other plot points in this series are much more bizarre and OOC, while this turn of events makes me uncomfortable and angry, at least it makes sense to me.

The 6x18 kiss I've already said that I don't think Rory had premeditated intent to cheat on Logan judging from the fact that Jess initiated it; yes, she went with it nor was it a complete surprise, I get this. The "I couldn't even cheat on him..." line I think is an outburst of guilt and regret, not her saying she had a plan in mind. Maybe I'm being too soft on her, I don't know...she did stay there late but maybe she just got lost in the book while waiting to say bye. We've seen her not know how to deal with conflicting emotions and change to her status quo, and attempt to distract herself when life isn't panning out the way she wants and not think about the consequences in the moment, so I don't find this scene OOC or intentionally cruel. The revival...I don’t think I can even go there right now because it would just be me screaming incoherently about how much I hate "full circle" and how bizarre the entire thing was. Maybe something of value would eventually come out with a lot of editing. XD

This isn’t to say I’m 100% on Rory’s side all the time. Pretty much every character in this show has at some point made me smile, made me laugh (generally with them, but some characters it’s more like at), made me want to give them a hug, made me roll my eyes, and made me want to throw something at them. That’s why I love it so much! Even if the drama is turned up to 1000, I still get the sense that these characters are human. My favs end up on my “will protect at all costs” and “shit” lists throughout the series, no one is immune. Except Lane. She really is the best person in this entire show. #JusticeForLaneKim

If ASP had written season 7: (Remember there being some sort of theme to this post? Only two episodes in s6, but Jess sure does make an impact.) I bet Jess would show up at some point. MV is loyal to the creators and not the show, if it was important for Jess to be there I’m sure his shooting schedule would have been accounted for. Storyline would have been similar to the revival because AYITL is ASPs season she didn’t get to do without considering how time passing affects the characters (I’M STILL SALTY) except Rory is at Yale and I think the book was a new idea. Shipping as endgame doesn’t change, and I bet there wouldn’t be a nice little Literati ending because we’ve got to end it the same way, right? I don't even need them to be together at the end because Rory has greater plans to focus on, but just a moment! One moment is all I asked for... I don’t know if this makes me mad because I felt like the narrative had been pushing us along this path for so long even if actual "endgame" was going to be offscreen or if I kind of like just having it in my imagination. Little bit of column A, little bit of column B. In any case, it could have been cool to see Jess present for the birth of his half-sister and giving Luke some support.

Like I said, I'm not touching AYITL right now. The whole starting point of this was, "huh, if MV never came back to the show, how would I feel about Jess and Literati?" And he was in it so it doesn't really fit into this even though we've gone on a meandering journey as pieces of discourse that have never sat right with me but didn't quite know how to express that disagreement until now popped in my mind. So there you go. If you’ve made it to end, claps to you, what a champ.

At the end of the day, Literati is the ship that makes me feel the most things, it's kind of just a gut thing. This really isn't any sort of argument just an outpouring of love for the show and these characters. I don't know how well that's communicated, but hey, I try. I’ve got a lot of nostalgia for the pairing and I always viewed Jess as being Rory’s, and only Rory’s, choice.

#Gilmore Girls #Literati #rory x jess #Jess Mariano #I've been writing and editing this for 2 weeks and just accidentally pressed post and uhhhh #I don’t think there's more you can do self #Just run with it

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davidmann95 · 5 years ago

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Superman’s 10 Best of the ‘10s

Good Miracle Monday, folks! The first third Monday of May of a new decade for that matter, and while that means that today in the DC Universe Superman just revealed his secret identity to the world on the latest anniversary of that time he defeated the devil, in ours it puts a capstone on a solid 10 years of his adventures now in the rear view mirror, ripe for reevaluation. And given there’s a nice solid ‘10′ right there I’ll go ahead with the obvious and list my own top ten for Superman comics of the past decade, with links in the titles to those I’ve spoken on in depth before - maybe you’ll find something you overlooked, or at least be reminded of good times.

A plethora of honorable mentions: I’m disqualifying team-ups or analogue character stories, but no list of the great Superman material of the last decade would be complete without bringing up Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye #7, Avengers 34.1, Irredeemable, Sideways Annual #1, Supreme: Blue Rose, Justice League: Sixth Dimension, usage of him in Wonder Twins, (somewhat in spite of itself) Superior, from all I’ve heard New Super-Man, DCeased #5, and Batman: Super Friends. And while they couldn’t quite squeeze in, all due praise to the largely entertaining Superman: Unchained, the decades’ great Luthor epic in Superman: The Black Ring, a brilliant accompaniment to Scott Snyder’s work with Lex in Lex Luthor: Year of the Villain, the bonkers joy of the Superman/Luthor feature in Walmart’s Crisis On Infinite Earths tie-in comics, Geoff Johns and John Romita’s last-minute win in their Superman run with their final story 24 Hours, Tom Taylor’s quiet criticism of the very premise he was working with on Injustice and bitter reflection on the changing tides for the character in The Man of Yesterday, the decades’ most consistent Superman ongoing in Bryan Miller and company’s Smallville Season 11, and Superman: American Alien, which probably would have made the top ten but has been dropped like a hot potato by one and all for Reasons. In addition are several stories from Adventures of Superman, a book with enough winners to merit a class of its own: Rob Williams and Chris Weston’s thoughtful Savior, Kyle Killen and Pia Guerra’s haunting The Way These Things Begin, Marc Guggenheim and Joe Bennett’s heart-wrenching Tears For Krypton, Christos Gage and Eduardo Francisco’s melancholy Flowers For Bizarro, Josh Elder and Victor Ibanez’s deeply sappy but deeply effective Dear Superman, Ron Marz and Doc Shaner’s crowdpleasing Only Child, and Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine DeLandro’s super-sweet Mystery Box.

10. Greg Pak/Aaron Kuder’s Action Comics

Oh, what might’ve been. In spite of an all-timer creative team I can’t justify listing this run any higher given how profoundly and comprehensively compromised it is, from the status quo it was working with to the litany of ill-conceived crossovers to regular filler artists to its ignominious non-ending. But with the most visceral, dynamic, and truly humane take on Clark Kent perhaps of all time that still lives up to all Superman entails, and an indisputably iconic instant-classic moment to its name, I can’t justify excluding it either.

9. Action Comics #1000

Arguably the climax to the decade for the character as his original title became the first superhero comic to reach a 1000th issue. While any anthology of this sort is a crapshoot by nature, everyone involved here seemed to understand the enormity of the occasion and stepped up as best they could; while the lack of a Lois Lane story is indefensible, some are inevitably bland, and one or two are more than a bit bizarre, by and large this was a thoroughly charming tribute to the character and his history with a handful of legitimate all-timer short stories.

8. Faster Than A Bullet

Much as Adventures of Superman was rightfully considered an oasis amidst the New 52′s worst excesses post-Morrison and in part pre-Pak, few stories from it seem well-remembered now, and even at the time this third issue inexplicably seemed to draw little attention. Regardless, Matt Kindt and Stephen Segovia’s depiction of an hour in the life of Superman as he saves four planets first thing in the morning without anyone noticing - while clumsy in its efforts at paralleling the main events with a literal subplot of a conversation between Lois and Lex - is one of the best takes I can recall on the scope on which he operates, and ultimately the purpose of Clark Kent.

7. Man and Superman

Seemingly geared on every front against me, built as it was on several ideas of how to handle Superman’s origin I legitimately hate, and by a writer whose work over the years has rarely been to my liking, Marv Wolfman and Claudio Castellini’s Man and Superman somehow came out of nowhere to be one of my favorite takes on Clark Kent’s early days. With a Metropolis and characters within it that feel not only alive but lived-in, it’s shocking that a story written and drawn over ten years before it was actually published prefigured so many future approaches to its subject, and felt so of-the-moment in its depiction of a 20-something scrambling to figure out how to squeeze into his niche in the world when it actually reached stores.

6. Brian Bendis’s run

Controversial in the extreme, and indeed heir to several of Brian Bendis’s longstanding weaknesses as a writer, his work on The Man of Steel, Superman, and Action Comics has nevertheless been defined at least as much by its ambition and intuitive grasp of its lead, as well as fistfuls of some of the best artistic accompaniment in the industry. At turns bombastic space action, disaster flick, spy-fi, oddball crime serial, and family drama, its assorted diversions and legitimate attempts at shaking up the formula - or driving it into new territory altogether, as in the latest, apparently more longterm-minded unmasking of Clark Kent in Truth - have remained anchored and made palatable by an understanding of Superman’s voice, insecurities, and convictions that go virtually unmatched.

5. Strange Visitor

The boldest, most out-of-left-field Superman comic of the past 10 years, Joe Keatinge took the logline of Adventures of Superman to do whatever creators wanted with the character and, rather than getting back to a classic take absent from the mainline titles at the time as most others did, used the opportunity for a wildly expansive exploration of the hero from his second year in action to his far-distant final adventure. Alongside a murderer’s row of artists, Keatinge pulled off one of the few comics purely about how great Superman is that rather than falling prey to hollow self-indulgence actually managed to capture the wonder of its subject.

4. Superman: Up In The Sky

And here’s the other big “Superman’s just the best” comic the decade had to offer that actually pulled it off. Sadly if reasonably best-known for its one true misfire of a chapter, with the increasing antipathy towards Tom King among fans in general likely not helping, what ended up overlooked is that this is a stone-cold classic on moment of arrival. Andy Kubert turns in work that stands alongside the best of his career, Tom King’s style is honed to its cleanest edge by the 12-pager format and subject matter, and the quest they set their lead out on ends up a perfect vehicle to explore Superman’s drive to save others from a multitude of angles. I don’t know what its reputation will end up being in the long-term - I was struck how prosaic and subdued the back cover description was when I got this in hardcover, without any of the fanfare or critic quotes you’d expect from the writer of Mister Miracle and Vision tackling Superman - but while its one big problem prevents me from ranking it higher, this is going to remain an all-timer for me.

3. Jeff Loveness’s stories Help and Glasses

Cheating shamelessly here, but Jeff Loveness’s Help with David Williams and Glasses with Tom Grummett are absolutely two halves of the same coin, a pair of theses on Superman’s enduring relevance as a figure of hope and the core of Lois and Clark’s relationship that end up covering both sides of Superman the icon and Superman the guy. While basically illustrated essays, any sense of detached lecturing is utterly forbidden by the raw emotion on display here that instantly made them some of the most acclaimed Superman stories of the last several years; they’re basically guaranteed to remain in ‘best-of’ collections from now until the end of time.

2. Superman Smashes The Klan

A bitter race for the top spot, but #2 is no shame here; while not quite my favorite Superman story of the past ten years, it’s probably the most perfectly executed. While I don’t think anyone could have quite expected just *how* relevant this would be at the top of the decade, Gene Yang and Gurihiru put together an adventure in the best tradition of the Fleischer shorts and the occasional bystander-centered episodes of Batman: The Animated Series to explore racism’s both overt and subtle infections of society’s norms and institutions, the immigrant experience, and both of its leads’ senses of alienation and justice. Exciting, stirring, and insightful, it’s debuted to largely universal acknowledgement as being the best Superman story in years, and hopefully it’ll be continued to be marketed as such long-term.

1. Grant Morrison’s Action Comics

When it came time to make the hard choice, it came in no small part down to that I don’t think we would have ever seen a major Golden Age Superman revival project like Smashes The Klan in the first place if not for this. Even hampering by that godawful Jim Lee armor, inconsistent (if still generally very good) art, and a fandom that largely misunderstood it on arrival can’t detract from that this is Grant Morrison’s run on a Superman ongoing, a journey through Superman’s development as a character reframed as a coherent arc that takes him from Metropolis’s most beaten-down neighborhoods to the edge of the fifth dimension and the monstrous outermost limits of ‘Superman’ as a concept. It launched discussions of Superman as a corporate icon and his place relative to authority structures that have never entirely vanished, introduced multiple all-time great new villains, and made ‘t-shirt Superman’ a distinct era and mode of operation for the character that I’m skeptical will ever entirely go away. No other work on the character this decade had the bombast, scope, complexity, or ambition of this run, with few able to match its charm or heart. And once again, it was, cannot stress this enough, Grant Morrison on an ongoing Superman book.

#Superman #Miracle Monday #Opinion

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bigskydreaming · 4 years ago

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Big Jason stans on twitter have been talking about a character named Eddie Bloomberg being Jason's friend, and since you know more about older comics than most I was wondering if you had any thoughts about it.

Eddie Bloomberg is a character known as Kid Devil, the sidekick of relatively low-profile mystical/supernatural hero known as Blue Devil. Though ironically, for a large part of both characters’ existence, their personas were only thematic and they had no actual mystical/supernatural powers or connection - those were added to both characters in later years. Originally, Blue Devil was a stuntman who just designed his own devil-themed costume to fight crime because like, why not, basically. LOL. And Eddie was basically a fanboy who snuck into his workshop and designed his own Red Devil/Kid Devil costume/armor along similar lines. Years later, long after Jason’s death and return and completely unrelated to it, Eddie made a literal deal with a devil, aka Neron, to get actual powers. And this resulted in him gaining a demonic appearance and related powers.....though later on it was also revealed that his powers weren’t actually given to him by Neron, rather he’d had a dormant metahuman gene all along that Neron just activated and kinda tweaked to make the resulting powers seem supernatural/occult related.

Eddie’s a fun character and there is actual canon basis for him and Jason being friends, going way back, and so I vastly prefer people going with him as Jason’s BFF over say, Roy......like, back in the day, Jason and Eddie were literal pen pals. And I do mean literal. Like we’re talking pre-email days, old school letter writing back and forth pen pals. We saw very little of their actual friendship, but like I’m always talking about with the relative lack of interactions between Dick and Jason back then....this isn’t truly indicative of anything other than a lack of places to SHOW these relationships.

There were waaaaay fewer titles back then, there was no solo Robin title to show what Jason was up to when he wasn’t with Bruce, and thus the only instance I can ever think of when we actually saw Jason and Eddie teaming up together, actually happened in one issue of the Blue Devil comic book from way back when. But again - purely logistical. Doesn’t mean they weren’t actually good friends, and there’s really nothing standing in the way of assuming they had a ton more interactions just like that but offscreen, as it were.

Also, this limited interaction took place BEFORE Jason was retconned to have his street kid origin, but that doesn’t actually mean Jason and Eddie’s friendship was ever retconned at all.

See, it was actually pretty confusing, but while post Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jason’s origin was definitively the one where he was jacking the Batmobile’s tires, and then after this point only spanned less than twenty issues before his death in ADITF......this doesn’t mean that Jason’s tenure as Robin was ever limited to JUST the events of those twenty or so issues. When they retconned his origin, they did it in such a way as to allow for pretty much every single story Jason had already been in PRIOR to that....to still have happened. Literally the only stories of his that were ever ACTUALLY retconned were the ones that pertained directly to his pre-Crisis origin as another circus kid like Dick.

Basically, the way they pulled this off was via the usage of one single caption box. At the start of the issue where Dick and Jason ‘meet for the first time,’ post-Crime Alley retcon. That issue, which is basically right at the start of Jason’s ‘new’ run as a street kid turned Robin, opens with the caption box “One year ago.” By doing this, they basically just inserted that new origin for Jason as one book-end to his time as Robin....with ADITF twenty or so issues later being the other book-end to his time as Robin obviously.

But IN BETWEEN those book-ends was contained not JUST the twenty issues between them.....but ALSO, every Jason-as-Robin story from pre-Crisis, except for his actual pre-Crisis origin story. The proof of this lies in the fact that even long after ADITF, hell, even after Jason’s return as the Red Hood.....canon kept citing specific stories of Jason’s from pre-Crisis. Like when he fought Tim at Titans’ Tower and he mentioned having briefly been a Titan...that was a definitive reference to the pre-Crisis stories where he teamed up with the Titans, once with the Fab Five in Dick’s place, and then again not longer after, to help the Titans rescue Dick and Raven from the Church of Blood. Those are the literal only two stories where Jason was ever a Titan or associated with them, and they’re squarely smack in the pre-Crisis era......but they remained canon even after Jason’s origin was retconned, because THEY weren’t retconned with that origin....they were just kinda...shuffled around a bit.

Same thing with Jason and Eddie. Even after Crisis and the Crime Alley retcon for Jason, they still were definitely friends during his time as Robin, though this never actually came up in any of the issues between Jason’s new origin and ADITF. But it was referenced once or twice since then, by Eddie I believe, so again, like the missions Jason made with the Titans and the times Dick and Jason did hang out and get along, etc, etc....these things were always definitively part of canon and were never once actually retconned before the New 52 Reboot as a whole.

So yeah, its true, Eddie was Jason’s friend and there’s canon basis for that. I’m gonna be totally honest here, my main gripe with the Jason and Eddie BFF connection is purely petty - it bugs me slightly, Jason stans’ awareness of it at all, because although it was there, we’re talking a time literally concurrent with the stories where, y’know, Dick fluffed Jason’s hair and told him if Bruce gives him any grief about sneaking out to go help the Titans rescue him, just ‘let the old man know it took you and all the Titans to pull my butt out of the fire,” and was happy to take the fall to keep Jason out of trouble. So the fact that people could remember all along something as obscure as a friendship with a character as low-profile as Kid Devil, that only appeared in all of four pages in all of comic-dom, but still loudly insisted not that they just preferred writing takes where Dick didn’t like Jason back then but rather that these were the only takes that existed in the comics.....it makes me go mmmm, shenanigans! And sadly sours me a little on the Jason - Eddie friendship just by extension. *Shrugs* Hey I’m not proud of it, lol, but ngl, that’s basically the big reason I don’t engage with it much.

I mean, the other reasons are simply that Eddie’s not super in my wheelhouse, y’know? The original Blue Devil comic was just never one I was really all that familiar with, I think I just read the one issue that Jason showed up in BECAUSE he showed up in it, lol, and although fun, Eddie never really grabbed me outside of that connection with Jason. Nothing wrong with him, just so many characters, so little time, kinda thing. And then he was in comic book Limbo unused for a loooong time, until brought back to prominence by Geoff Johns, who I’m just not really a big fan of. So he’s mostly just never really been present in the books I actually read and know really well, and so although I’m ALL for giving Jason his own friends and not just shoehorning him into his older brother’s dynamics with other characters more commonly associated with Dick.....I tend to default to doing that with characters who I’m already a fan of in their own right.

Like, my personal preferred BFF for Jason is Grant Emerson aka Damage. Because for a period in the nineties, Roy really took him under his wing and was a surrogate big brother and even guardian figure for Grant, and they had suuuuuch a great relationship, and in a lot of ways it mirrored the relationship I remembered seeing hints of between Dick and Jason and wanting more of for them, so it just makes a natural parallel. Roy and Dick as BFFs and then Grant and Jason as BFFs and with somewhat similar relationships with the older two. Plus, Grant has a lot in common with Jason, such as an abusive childhood and surprise revelations/upheavals regarding his parents that have massively affected his life. Grant is a big old softie, and not nearly as abrasive as Jason often is written as, but when paired with how much else they have in common, to me this creates a natural dynamic wherein Jason likely WOULDN’T be that abrasive with Grant, especially not when its just the two of them, because so much of that behavior for Jason is a defense mechanism and shield against being seen/viewed in ways Jason is not down with, but would never be an issue with Grant, because like....they’d both know where the other stood there and where they were coming from, and thus if Jason were going to just completely let his walls down with someone in just a totally casual way, IMO it’d be with someone like Grant. And Grant in turn I think could really benefit from having a friend he can relate to like Jason, who happens to be very confident about like....validating a lot of his own personal struggles which mirror a lot of Grant’s personal struggles where he really COULD use more validation, particularly of the external kind.

Course, I mean plus, Jason’s still Jason so also there’s the factor that Grant’s meta power is literally to blow things up with his brain, and I refuse to accept any characterization of Jason wherein he learns hey there’s this dude who can blow shit up with his brain and DOESN’T immediately follow that thought with “I must hunt him down and make him my best friend AT ONCE for clearly we are soulmates and this is DESTINY.”

(On a similar note, the other third of my preferred trio for Jason is Courtney Mason aka Anima. Like, if I were creating a Red Hood and the Outlaws style team/book from the ground up, I would hands down go with Jason, Grant and Courtney. A brief summation of Courtney from wikipedia:

“Rebellious teenage runaway Courtney Mason acquired her miraculous powers following an attack by parasitic aliens: one of many New Blood superbeings created in this way, as part of the Bloodlines crossover. Seven extraterrestrial predators had come to Earth and slaughtered thousands of humans by feeding on their spinal fluids. On the run in New Orleans, Courtney was kidnapped by a cult that sacrificed her to two of these insatiable parasites, knows as Pritor and Lissik. But Courtney did not die. Instead, the parasites' bites unleashed the Animus, a sentient-energy creature that can absorb the spirit essences of the living and the dead, which was now able to enter the world through Courtney. She became the embodiment of mankind's rage and masculine drive, and quickly developed awesome physical powers of her own. As Anima, Courtney sought revenge against the cult. She also met the Teen Titans and battled a variety of supernatural menaces. Anima remains a wanderer, traveling from place to place and helping those in need by calling upon the fearsome primal force inside her.”

Like, I’m just saying. The Jason and Courtney BFF show basically writes itself. Also, Courtney’s got her own share of sibling issues given that her little brother Jeremy eventually ends up becoming the host for the Animus entity’s ‘little sister’ Eris, the spirit of strife, so.....dot dot dot.)

But yeah, anyway, Eddie is still very much a fun character worth looking into, and his friendship with Jason pre-New 52, at least back during Jason’s Robin days, is very much a thing, even if we never got to see all that much of it.

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salvatoreschool · 5 years ago

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‘Legacies’ 2×09 Review: “I Couldn’t Have Done This Without You”

Hiatus is over and classes are back in session at the Salvatore Boarding School. Thanks to Josie’s perfect Christmas present, Hope isn’t the only person roaming the halls of the very different school in Legacies 2×09 “I Couldn’t Have Done This Without You.”

It is a good thing Ric is back at the Salvatore School, because he didn’t seem to know what his daughters were up to until it was nearly too late earlier in the season. Josie and Lizzie are allowed to make their own decisions that lead to their own mistakes and/or triumphs, however, they are still minors who could use the guidance of their father.

Most of the distance between Ric and the twins over the past few episodes could come down to certain stories needing to be told in a timely manner. It’s hard to believe the ridge between the Saltzman family won’t lead to something greater.

It is confirmed that psychotic Uncle Kai will be making his way to Legacies at some point next month, so maybe the distance between Ric and the girls along with Josie’s flirtations with black magic will result in a likely catastrophic visit from Kai Parker.

With Kai’s appearance around the corner, it’s hard not to look for connections in the Necromancer’s schemes. Although, Malivore looks to be the overarching big bad for the series so far, so the Necromancer’s weird death competition with Malivore may be the main story in the end. It would be pretty epic if all of the big bads intersect into one giant event though.

Fans of the TVD universe are sure to know that these shows do villains oh so well. Whether it be Damon Salvatore, Katherine Pierce, Klaus Mikaelson, or Kai Parker, Julie Plec and her talented team do a great job of pulling viewers in to the lives of these antagonists. So much so, viewers get just as caught up in the manipulation to like them as the characters within the universe.

2×09 serves as a nice reset to the Necromancer’s origin story, and its budding star is a dude named Chad. Chad seems pretty shallow at the start of the episode, and some may say he remains that way until the end.

Chad is someone who believes in things, even if, like the Necromancer, they are misguided. Chad’s life is taken from him to progress the evil schemes of someone who possesses more power than him and over him. Even though Chad agrees to follow the Necromancer and support him in finding his way in the world, it is clear Chad is uncomfortable with the Necromancer’s deceitful tendencies.

Now, Chad is unlikely to be all that relevant in the expansive world of Legacies, but his manipulative and odd relationship with the Necromancer is comparable to Lizzie’s relationship with the mysterious Sebastian.

Sebastian and Lizzie aren’t the perfect picture of a healthy couple by any means. I haven’t been on their side for quite some time, and the moment Sebastian choked Lizzie in 2×09 solidified my dislike for the pair. Lizzie Saltzman works tirelessly to better herself, and Sebastian wrecks that intentionally or not.

It becomes evident that he knows he isn’t good enough for her when the witches pull it out of him with a special orb. Yet, instead of the doing the work he needs to do to be a better person and partner to Lizzie, Sebastian gives up any chance of redemption. That is if viewers trust that Ric doesn’t kill him by the episode’s end.

Even though, he sort of deserves it. Obviously Sebastian says the inappropriate things to Ric to get a rise out Ric, but Sebastian does not do much to prove that he doesn’t actually believe those things. Sebastian makes Lizzie sound like a conquest to get under Ric’s skin and a cover up to act like he’s evolved.

Sebastian is actually a perfect case study of how vampires are a result of a toxic and dangerous culture that fetishizes the lack of consent and violence. Legacies delves into these issues every time someone like MG questions the status quo and presses the issues of compulsion. Sebastian, on the other hand, exists in that culture and finds it difficult to move through the world outside of it. This is why he can’t align with Ric’s rules, but his complete resistance to even try makes him all the more dangerous.

Sebastian’s main goal as of now is to test the limits of the modern world by manipulating Lizzie. He revels in his ability to control her mind, to have her wrapped around his finger. Lizzie is not a toy Sebastian can play with like an emotional yoyo. When the Saltzman sisters fall, they fall fast and hard. Lizzie deserves someone who will return the favor and treat her with the respect she deserves. Sebastian is not that person. Not yet.

Landon makes a great point when he says, “Sometimes people just need a chance to get things right.” He’s right. But how long do you wait for a person to do so? What if other people could get hurt in the process? That’s why Ric’s choice of whether to kill Sebastian or not is a difficult one.

Alternatively, Hope, Landon, and Josie finally have a chance to make things right in 2×09. They even share a group hug after decorating Hope’s bedroom. It is so great to see Legacies squash the trope that women can’t be friends after dating the same man. Josie and Lizzie are better than that, and their friendship is more important than that.

The show could’ve fallen into a pit and resorted to Hope and Josie glaring at each other from across rooms for the rest of the season. Instead, Legacies once again prioritizes female friendships over the things society assumes will dismantle them.

Legacies is doing so many great things. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season brings.

Other Spelltacular Moments:

Ric calls Lizzie “Liz Bear,” and I’ll never forget it.

Lizzie reads Crisis on Infinite Earths while MG reads The Flash comics. This show is made for me!

Ted the Necromancer working at an ice cream shop with a giant pinky ring is a choice.

The Necromancer calls Ric “the man with the anger issues and the impressive jawline,” and he’s not wrong.

RIPPER. MG.

The Originals fans, did you catch that Vincent namedrop? I know I did.

Kym is back and I couldn’t be happier.

The Salvatore School witches are my favorite.

What did you think of this week’s Legacies? Let us know in the comments below!

Legacies is new Thursdays at 9/8c on The CW.

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thecomicsnexus · 6 years ago

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The Summoning

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #1 APRIL 1985 BY MARV WOLFMAN, LEN WEIN, ROBERT GREENBERGER, GEORGE PEREZ, DICK GIORDANO, TOM MCCRAW (RE-COLORED VERSION) AND ANTHONY TOLLIN

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC DATABASE)

At the beginning of time, the Big Bang occurred, forming the universe. However, where there should have been one universe, there were many, each one a replication of the first, with their own separate histories.

At the present time, a great white wall of pure anti-matter energy stretches out across the cosmos. It pervades the Multiverse, consuming entire galaxies. On an unknown parallel world, a being named Pariah arrives. He is forced to witness the death of multiple worlds in multiple dimensions. He disappears as he is transported to the parallel world known as Earth-Three. On that world, the Crime Syndicate, in a rare demonstration of heroism, strives to save their beleaguered planet. However, even their combined might cannot prevent their deaths at the anti-matter wall.

The planet's sole hero, Lex Luthor, retreats to his home where his wife, Lois, holds their infant son, Alexander, in her hands. Luthor places Alexander into an experimental rocket capsule and launches him from the planet Earth. As Earth-Three dies, Alexander's capsule pierces the vibrational wall separating dimensions. It lands on the abandoned Justice League Satellite orbiting Earth-One.

On board another satellite, a being called the Monitor summons his assistant Harbinger. He instructs her to travel to various alternate Earths and bring together a select group of super-powered beings. Harbinger uses her power to create replicant versions of herself and sends them to the various Earths. The Monitor meanwhile, prepares to gather Alexander Luthor's space capsule.

The first of Harbinger's replicants travels to Earth-One and gathers King Solivar from Gorilla City. Another travels to Earth of the 30th century and summons Dawnstar of the Legion of Super-Heroes to her cause. A third replicant journeys to Earth-Two of the year 1942 to enlist the aid of Firebrand. One version gathers the Blue Beetle from Chicago. Another version of Harbinger collects the Psycho-Pirate from Earth-Two's present timeline. She brings him to Earth-One where they encounter Firestorm and Killer Frost. The Psycho-Pirate uses his Medusa Mask to make Killer Frost fall in love with Firestorm. Another replicant travels to Pre-Cataclysmic Atlantis to find Arion the Sorcerer. However, a Demon-Shadow attacks her and takes possession of Harbinger. The possessed replicant finds Arion and brings him back to the Monitor's satellite.

When they arrive, they find a room full of heroes and villains from alternate realities. Before the assemblage has a chance to acclimate itself to their foreign environment, a horde of Demon-Shadows attacks them. They fight them off until the Monitor arrives. He casts a brilliant burst of light, which dispels the shadows. Introducing himself, he tells the impatient gathering that the Multiverse may soon be destroyed.

EDITORIAL

NOTORIOUS DEATHS IN THIS ISSUE

Ultraman

Owlman

Super-woman

Power Ring

Johnny Quick

Alexander Luthor Sr.

Lois Luthor

Earth-3

FIRST APPEARANCES IN THIS ISSUE

Alexander Luthor Jr

Pariah

Blue Beetle (Ted Kord, first appearance on Earth-4)

REVIEW

Do you know why Crisis on Infinite Earths is the best comic book event of all time? It took 3 years of research to start with. It didn’t matter who they were killing (for the most part) because they were restarting the whole thing, so they managed to do proper endings for some characters. And most importantly, it mattered. Up to these days, even with Flashpoint in the middle, the Crisis is still a milestone in the DC Metaverse. Whatever came next would be cool, but in the end wouldn’t be as important as the first crisis.

In Crisis, you have memorable dialogues, a lot of heroic sacrifices, and some characters changed forever (or until DiDio came along). Marv Wolfman’s idea was very simple. Do whatever you need to do, and every ten years, restart the whole universe. That way, the whole line remains accessible for new readers. They didn’t listen to him (although, ten years later, DC would go through a soft reboot), but if they had, I don’t know, some things would have worked better. But to be honest, Marvel never needed to reboot and they are the best selling company. Still, there was a time after Crisis, that DC really shined bright. That’s a period of time that gave us some of the most iconic stories and characters that we can read even now. The Vertigo line was one of those things that came out of this period. And while continuity wasn’t perfect, it was pretty tight.

So Crisis on infinite earths has a special place in the hearts of comic book fans of the modern age. It doesn’t hurt that George Perez (and Jerry Ordway) made an excellent job with the amount of characters DC had to use.

In this issue, we finally meet the Monitor. This characters has been hinted as early as July 1982. Appearing everywhere, even the 19th and 30th centuries. Well, the mystery is over, after three years of suspense, we finally see the monitor, and we already know he is going to be killed by Lyla.

Marv Wolfman once said that the reason he opened the series with the death of the Crime Syndicate, was to show the readers that even powerful beings that look pretty much like the classic Justice League, can die. And another thing he made sure of, was to not show the main trinity of earth one right away, as to show new readers how big the DCU was.

The debut of Blue Beetle in this issue was one of the reasons Alan Moore had to change the characters in the upcoming Watchmen. DC had plans for the Charlton characters after Crisis and Moore’s approach would have left them... unusable.

You get the feeling that something really extraordinary is happening. A whole (known) universe dies in the first few pages. And before you ask, Lois Lane was married to Alexander Luthor, yes... Super-Woman was an amazon in the pre-crisis Earth-3. It does look confusing for modern fans as it seems like Super-woman should be Lois as well.

I am not going to score the individual issues, as this story is better scored as a whole. I will score the tie-ins, though.

#george perez #dick giordano #dc comics #comics #review #1985 #modern age #crisis on infinite earths #the monitor #harbinger #alexander luthor #blue beetle #psycho pirate

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britesparc · 6 years ago

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Weekend Top Ten #386

Top Ten Coolest Things About SDCC 2019

So another SDCC has come and gone, and with it a cavalcade of nerdy news. This was a weird year, as there were some simply huge pop-culture-defining announcements, but for my money it was all about Marvel, which was to be expected; other epoch-shaking revelations were thinner on the ground, I feel. There was less of a comics presence, which I know is often a criticism of SDCC nowadays, as it has become an arm of the movie business really. But all the same, without a cinematic DC presence, and with choice animated fare such as My Little Pony essentially taking a year off, the sheer gravity of the MCU consumed almost all else.

However, what a gravity! And there was stuff, great stuff, surprising stuff. So here we go: my top ten things from SDCC.

Marvel Rules the Universe: I mean, this was it really, wasn’t it? A lot of stuff we knew, a lot we sort-of knew, but plenty that was an outright surprise. Biggest moments? Natalie Portman back as The Mighty Thor; Mahershala Ali as Blade; “The Multiverse of Madness”; What If…? I could go on. I expected it to be supreme, and it was. Make Mine Marvel.

Picard’s Triumphant Return: Unquestionably the TV event I’m most excited for, seeing Sir Patrick Stewart as an older, sadder Picard is a highlight. Intrigue, action, and Seven of Nine. And Data! Data! I’d long predicted the plot would centre on Picard trying to save/resurrect Data, and that sure seems to be the case, doesn’t it? although I’m still holding out for Q…

Tremendous Transformers Toys: Absolute Unit Unicron is just phenomenal. The scale of it, the accuracy, the price… but I’m just as giddily happy that Rung has a toy. Rung, the creation of James Roberts, who first appeared in his own fan-fiction. That’s just lovely.

Brandon Routh’s Back Behind the S: Now this was a surprise: the Arrow-Verse is doing Crisis on Infinite Earths, and low and behold, Brandon Routh – who was brilliant in the often weird and a bit disappointing Superman Returns – is back playing the Man of Steel. Return he very well will. It’s the Kingdom Come version of Superman apparently, so we’ll see what that’s like.

Will the Real John Connor Please Stand Up: Who is the Terminator franchise’s John Connor? After Edward Furlong gave one of the greatest child-star debuts in Terminator 2, he’s been played by a different actor in every film. But now, surprisingly, OG John is back, back, back, in the increasingly-curious Dark Fate. Also nice to see Arnie on stage!

Party Like it’s 1984: I have a funny feeling that Transformers ’84 might have been teased or something beforehand, but all the same it’s great to see Simon Furman back writing a Transformers book, with classic artist Guido Guidi too.

Nice Job, Agents: Agents of SHIELD is ending, which is to be expected. Rumoured, I think, before the conference, and confirmed on stage. From a rather inauspicious and derided first season, it rallied, producing some great TV and very fine character arcs. I think at this point any pretence it’s set in the main MCU is out the window, but it was a good show with a good run.

Trailermageddon: Blimey, where to start? Not including stuff I’ve already mentioned, we’ve got The Witcher, His Dark Materials, the new Harley Quinn animated series… I have to say, the calibre was high and the majority of the trailers dropping in SDCC week was very impressive.

Kylo Rises: This was a surprise: the story of Ben Solo’s fall to the Dark Side will be told, not in a mainline Star Wars movie, but in a Marvel comic. The Rise of Kylo Ren will – presumably – fill in all the blanks. I’m actually quite pleased we don’t need this in a film; it should either have been the spine of the trilogy or ignored entirely, along with Snoke and Rey’s parents…

I Really Need to Watch Duck Tails: The rebooted Duck Tails remains one of the best-looking shows I’ve not seen yet, and the teaser poster for the upcoming season is bananas. With characters from Darkwing Duck, Tailspin, Rescue Rangers, and more, Duck Tails is looking like the MCU of ‘90s Disney animation. Goofy’s there, too, looking very Goof Troop, although I don’t see Max. Anyway, this is incredible and I really need to watch it.

As I was sorta saying earlier, it was a funny year in that a lot of it was predictable, and yet also surprising. As far as my predictions went from a few weeks ago, I was on the money in the broad sense, although my specifics were a little off. Yes, Marvel announced a slew of Phase Four goodies, showing footage from Black Widow and giving us firm release dates and parading their A-list cast around; but we didn’t get a Loki trailer, for instance, and my out-there picks (Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel!) were out-done by other weirdness (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a title I guarantee no one predicted). Yes, we did sorta get the tiniest tease of Discovery season three; we sort-of have new Transformers (especially with the confirmation that the Constructicons-centric mini is now an ongoing focusing on side-characters); and there were plenty of trailers, although nothing yet from the Thrones spin-off. SHIELD is wrapping up, but I think the writing was on the wall there. And my predictions for Teen Titans-related stuff were, I think, pre-empted, although I didn’t know it at the time; we are indeed getting a straight-to-video movie starring the Teen Titans Go! cast as well as the OG Teen Titans from the noughties. Two Robins with one stone.

Anyway, maybe not the most vintage of vintage years, but when a company the size of Marvel Studios is putting out films with titles like Thor: Love and Thunder, you’ve got to tip your hat to them. We’re past the Endgame now, people. Who knows what comes next?

#top ten #sdcc #sdcc 19 #marvel #mcu #picard #transformers #disney

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darkspellmaster · 6 years ago

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Young Justice Theory: Connections to the Crisis Quartet....

So about this rather interesting spoiler I discovered thanks to the CBR board... Better safe than sorry on this one because if this turns out to be true then it’s a doozy of a situation that the crew is going to be put into. So a fair warning before you dive in...there are spoilers below to several DC comic events: Identity Crisis, Count down to Infinite Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Identity Crisis, Crisis on Infinite Earths, 52, Countdown to Final Crisis and Final Crisis.

These stories contain: Death, some gore, and at least one has a rather unpleasant factor of rape being involved as part of it’s story. Because I’m going to be discussing the above things partly in this and there will be pictures that might upset some people I just want to give people a heads up. You have been warned going in.

Okay so what the hell am I going on about and honestly when I was reading this I was freaking out. So a post of so ago I mentioned some theories about this season and talked about the possibility of the Anti life equation factoring into the story. Thanks to the gallery for the next three episodes, this wonderful post here from Spitfire or Bust, the Behind the scenes footage from this season on the DCUniverse, a post on CBR’s forums, and a link to young justice.tv spoilers, I can almost 90% say Seasons 3 and 4 and possibly 5 will be dealing with the Crisis Quartet, or at least three of them, from DC’s main comics.

We know that this is going to be a thing as Greg already confirmed in season 2 that season 3 was going to deal with Apokolips, just not how much directly (as this story can’t be told in 26 episodes, no way in hell it would be horribly paced).

We also know that the names of the episodes have been pretty much confirmed as Episode 11 is Called Home Fires and the Behind the Scenes image confirmed the title in the image that we see with Iris and Bart.

The site in question has it as episode 9, however this confirms it as Episode 11. However they have the others right so far, so either BTS got the number wrong or the site did. Doesn’t change the factor that there’s some thing interesting in the titles.

Take each of the first letter of the first word of the names of the titles, and you get:

Prepare the Anti Life Equation.

This little message, has ties not only to Apokolips and Darkseid, but it also has ties directly to the Crisis Quartet and the fall out that happened after.

So first what is the Quartet? Well it is a group of four Crisis that happened in DC comics, three of which were between 2004 to 2010, while the first happened in 1985 -1986 and affected all stories that followed going forward after it.

So to simplify things. Here’s a fast rundown on the important factors about these Crisis and their connections to YJ Season 3, 4 and maybe 5 if things go well.

So Way back in the 1980s DC was having issue with keeping up with it’s own continuity because there was so many books and worlds. Because of this and their own anniversary coming up they tasked then Teen Titan’s writers Marv Wolfman and artist/co-writer Jorge Perez, to come up with an event that would solidify the DCU’s continuity. These two came up with:

Crisis on Infinite Earths:

Now this story while really important as the backbone in the main DCU going forward doesn’t have as much to do with YJ in the long run as of yet. But it does have some important factors that will be coming into play I think later on, and we already saw a part of this happening in Season 2 with Walley vanishing. So bullet points ahoy for only the things that are important in this story for later in comments.

Short and long of it is that a being named the monitor trying to stop another creature named the Anti-monitor from destroying the Universe. All the different DC worlds come together to fight him, Super-girl dies, along with several other characters, during this event where all the worlds in DC merge into one world with a over all collected history. (This collection is still in print and you can find it at your local bookstore or comic shop.)

- Barry Allen vanishes as he’s running from the future or from an event that is coming from the future to warn Batman and the others an disperses into the speed force.

We’ve already seen this with Wally in his run where he vanishes in season 2 following a pattern of what happened to Barry.

- Superman from the Golden age, his Lois Lane, Alexander Luthor (son of Lex Luthor from another earth where the Villain versions of the JL resided and Lex and the others there are heroes), and Superboy Prime ( a superboy that is the lone hero of his world) all are put into a pocket dimension as the worlds are merged into one.

We haven’t had that yet, but it’s an important point in later stories. The reason I bring these guys up is because of their role and how other characters can easily fill in for them in the coming events.

Fast forward several years. The DC Universe has been remade and during the later part of the 80s and into the 90s we saw the whole “let’s go dark and gritty” thing happen. Characters like Batman had their back broken, Superman died and was reborn, Wonder woman had to figure herself out. There were light spots, JLI for example and parts of the Teen Titans, but a lot of things grew darker. Like the Outsiders and the whole Judas contract. While things did lighten up a lot in the late 90s and into the 2000s, we got Lois and Clark married by then, Jason died and came back to life, Babs got shot by Joker, YJ and a lot of other books that were more upbeat came about in the mid to late 90s, However DC decided that there was still a lot of things that could be fixed and decided to create, basically for the upcoming Anniversary of CoIE, a new set of crisis to happen.

This started with Brad Meltzer’s quasi thriller:

Identity Crisis

This story actually has importance. While not as exact as the other stories in regard to what’s happening there are enough key things going on here. The major plot point is that someone has murdered Elastic man’s wife, and the JL has a dark secret revealed that rocks every one. (Again you can find it still in print.)

One of the main reasons that there is significance to this story is not only does Batman leave the Justice League but also there is some tie in to characters in the past and their actions. What’s interesting here is how this narrative can be woven into the recent events of Season 2 and could become significant in season 3 and 4 given what’s going down now.

-Zantana mind wipes Dr. Light and several other villains, and does the same for Bruce when he discovers what’s been going on and is against the altering of Dr. Light’s mind.

Connections here may not be obvious as its clear the story line is taking Bruce leaving from the creation of the Outsiders. However there is significance here in that Batman doesn’t trust the league at this point, which adds into his paranoid view of the world at times.

While it’s clearly not Zantana in this case, Megan has been showing similar actions in season 2. We saw her changing Conner’s memory in the past season, and we know she did the same to Psimon, and Kaldur. We can’t be sure if these were the only cases, as Greg does like to play with expectations.

It would not be too much to buy into the idea that Psimon could play the part of Dr. Light in this story and eventually come back to form a group of villains that were mind altered by M’ggan. Now while I don’t think it will be exactly the same I feel like there’s going to be backlash from people when they find out what she did two years ago. As shown when Gar mentioned that it wasn’t cool what she did to Conner when he found out. And you know that Batman will be pissed by this, wondering if she did the same to Dick, not to mention Kaldur and wondering if he’s compromised.

-Deathstroke takes on the League and beats them by himself.

Deathstroke is known for being a bit OP at times, but in this story he outdid himself when he took down the whole league. We haven’t seen this happen yet as he’s only been in a handful of scene’s but given that there are hints of him returning, what with Tera missing, it wouldn’t be that hard to buy into the idea with the titles we have of one of them leading to a defeat of the whole YJ team, and pretty much protecting whatever investment he has been hired to protect.

Not sure how he’s going to fit in or who’s he’s protecting as of yet, because he was hired by Dr. Light in the original, but I feel certain that he’s going to end up causing a lot of issue for others in this case, more than likely Aquaman and possibly Geoforce.

-Events cause Batman to create Brother Eye, leading to the OMAC project

So because of the fact that Bruce figured out he was mind wiped by Zee, he decides to create the Brother Eye satellite that eventually goes rogue because of Maxwell Lord and Alexander Luthor mucking about with it. The main goal was to have the Satellite watch Metahumans because of the mind wipe that Batman and other had had.

Now we recently saw the appearance of Brother Eye, don’t believe me, just look at Oracle’s eye at the moment. It’s purple and it’s the same shape as the Omac logo. Thing is, Omac’s colors, along with Brother Eye’s are purple, Oracle’s are traditionally green.

This means that Bruce already may have built the Brother eye set up, since we don’t know if Babs could have built that sort of set up. This seems more like a Bruce thing. In addition to this, if he already has the Brother Eye project going this means that he probably knows about M’ggan doing her mind things, but isn’t telling anyone that he’s keeping an eye on them. Why? Well it’s Bruce, he’s paranoid.

So what would this mean for this season and upcoming ones? Well...

Countdown to Infinite crisis

In this case the story line was covering Ted Kord -Blue Beetle, who had tracked down a mystery which ended up getting him killed by his former friend Maxwell Lord who had taken over the Omac project and brother eye.

-OMAC project lead to the death of Ted Kord via Maxwell Lord and then this allowed Checkmate to take over Superman and have him nearly kill Batman and Wonder Woman and the other JL members. Leading to Wonder Woman to snap his neck and kill him to stop the whole thing from going down.

So one key thing here, Maxwell Lord was sort of the “Charlie” to the JLI’s “Angels”. He sent them on missions and the like, and while he wasn’t exactly a bad guy, he wasn’t exactly a good one either. By the end of the series he had realized a lot of his own faults and dealt with some issues that would take a while to discuss, so let’s say that he redeemed himself...

Then DC said screw it, we need a villain and made him become the head of Checkmate, a black ops/Shield like organization in the DC universe. He killed Ted Kord when he found out that Max was going to basically use a bunch of cyborgs and take over Superman’s mind.

Now while we know that Ted died when he stopped Sportsmaster and Deathstroke from obtaining the scarab, and we assume it was the Light that sent them to get it in the first place, there may be some connection to this part of the story given that we may see the play out of the mother box and possibly Ted having found out info prior to his death about certain things happening. I don’t think they will go for the “Wonder woman snaps necks” but it’s possible that something else will take it’s place.

(Okay strike that...given what happened recently with Halo in episode 6, I can see them allowing this if it’s within the reasons for the story.)

It is important though to note that if Brother Eye is involved this could lead to an additional army for Darkseid. Brother Eye and Omac did eventually control Superman, which could be something that may happen in YJ as an option. They also became a dangerous group that attacked everyone on earth trying to protect them from Metahumans.

And what are we seeing a huge backlash against in Markovia? Metahumans.

-During events prior to Infinite Crisis several events happened that caused a lot of issues. Among them being a point where Superboy (Conner Kent/Kon-El) was triggered by Lex to attack the Teen Titans at the time.

While this hasn’t happened yet, we do know that Conner has DNA that links to Lex, and in this story line Lex allowed for the triggering of his DNA to basically cause Conner to shave his head and become a villain that went on to try to decimate the teen Titans.

It’s not that hard of a guess that this could be something that could happen to him given that we’ve seen them pair up Brion with Superboy and it seems if anyone can take him on head to head in regard to raw power it’s Brion. This could lead to a moment of Brion trying to help his mentor.

-Following Identity Crisis and during the lead up to Infinite Crises we had Day of Vengeance, where the Rock of Eternity that housed the powers of Shazam was shattered by the Specter due to breaking from Hal Jordan.

Here it’s less about the Specter as we have not seen him in YJ proper, but the idea that someone could attack the Rock of Eternity is a rather big thing. Remember we have two powerful geological users here, and it could come down to Terra doing that over Specter in this case. Either through use of her own powers or possibly enhanced by New God equipment.

Reason I at all bring this up is the focus on Billy in Episode one and how no one yet knows his secret ID. This may become important later as if that Rock breaks, Shazam and all his power are gone and Billy would be revealed to be a kid. This would be something Greg would do to weaken the JL and lead to Superboy having to take on something more powerful without the Big Red Cheese to help him out. (For those that don’t know that’s the nickname of Captain Marvel -Shazam.)

Billy falling from the sky leads to the start of Infinite Crisis, which would be a very strong opening to possibly season 4 or towards the end of season 3.

Villains United

The reason I bring this up is because this group seems to be likely the new Light. Humor me here for a moment. In Villain’s united,follows a series of events where an individual by the name of Mockingbird groups together the organization that will be later known as the Secret Six to stop the Secret society of Super Villains that seems to be run by Lex Luthor. The story goes on to have ties to the events of Infinite Crisis, but also build up to some very interesting revelations in regard to Lex and Alexander Luthor. (You can still get this run at the book store.)

The thing about this mini series is that there’s a lot of things going on in there that could easily show up in the next few seasons of YJ.

-Lex Luthor who is the president amasses an army to stand against the super heroes.

We’re already seeing that Lex as Secretary has plans and is playing against the Justice League with the UN. We’re also seeing that there’s an army being made for fighting via Darkseid, but it’s clear that there’s more to it than just them giving him kids. We’re also seeing the Lex is helping to get others to dislike the Metahumans, the JL and possibly heroes.

Now while there is no Alexander Luthor (as far as we know), we also know that Lex, like Ra’s isn’t a man that just would let Darkseid walk all over his world. So I’m curious about this. If he’s playing up the dislike for Metas and heroes as a means of using them against something bigger.

-the Secret Society of Super Villains consists of Dr. Psycho, Deathstroke, Talia al ghul, Black Adam, Calculator.

Of these characters we’ve seen at least three on the show so far. Talia was just shown this season, though I don’t know if she’s going to have any role working with the Light. She could easily be replaced by Queen Bee, DeathStroke we know is probably connected to the League of Assassins and could be representing them for the Light group (though that could be another person as well) and was on the show in season 2, Black Adam was shown in Season 1 and as for the other two, we know Count Vertigo is working with them still, so you can take out Dr. Psycho, and since we now have Oracle, I would expect them to get Calculator to counter her at some point in time.

-Cheshire, Vandal Savage’s daughter and other characters that have played parts in YJ play a part in this story and here we learn about opposing groups in that story to the villains group. More importantly we learn that Lex may be playing more than one side.

We’ve seen last season that Lex is willing to play around a lot in regard to the side he’s on. This story line could be used as an explanation to where Cheshire is at in YJ and maybe show that there’s more going on that the kids and the JL doesn’t know about. It would certainly fit into the idea of more information in coming seasons and also could be used to push Luthor into becoming President. Which is honestly where I think Greg is going with this.

With all the new information coming out with these last three episodes, I think there’s more clues showing up for the option of Infinite Crisis happening and how that is connected into Final Crisis.

Infinite Crisis

This long event series, written by several of DC’s best writers at the time, covered various events that had linked to the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths. This story was coinciding with the anniversary of COIE, and heavily mirrors it but also acts as a book end to the after math of the more hopeful ending of that one with a mixed bag of an ending with this one. Several well known character’s end up dead, we get a new villain, and some massive changes happen to the characters that it would take another Crisis to undo.

The important thing about Infinite is it’s sort of the middle event, or Empire like story, for these Crisis. It also plays a role in leading up to events in Final and setting the ball rolling for Darkseid to make his moves.

We have a number of important characters that play a huge role in Infinite Crisis and then later Countdown to Final Crisis and Final Crisis itself already on YJ and it seems like this story has aspects that could easily fit in with this season or the next.

-Actions taken by the main trio of bad guys in this lead to the destruction of the Watchtower, and the trinity fighting with one another. Superboy Prime kills several people including Superboy, Kal -L (Earth two Superman) tried to get batman on their side but he refuses, They’re trying to use earth as a tuning fork to create a paradise and reshape the many different worlds.

While there are a lot of things in this story that I don’t see happening, I do see a few that can be used to effectively lead into Final Crisis. For one thing having M’comm replace Superboy Prime and also have him act as the instigator in various fights and wars by having the Martians go and pretend to be other characters.

We’ve already seen that Conner is engaged to M’ggan and her brother try to enlist her the same way that Kal tries to get Batman to join him. We’ve also seen the images of brother eye in the form of Oracle’s set up, and that the Mother boxes are being used in some way. M’comm is arguing for a revolution to make a paradise like world and we know that he is extremely strong and could easily play the part of Superboy Prime if he wanted too. We also see he’s willing to kill, something that SBP was more than willing to do, and blamed others for his actions.

These smaller items could lead into more dramatic moments later in the series, including Superboy’s death as a possibility.

Important events by the end hint that Bruce goes off with Dick and Tim to train, Diana returns home to find herself, and Clark has to lay low and rest to get his powers back after the events in the story. Given what we’ve been seeing with the recent episodes, we may be seeing similar things going on here. Bruce leaving to train with Dick and Tim seems likely as the story line seems to be invoking Judas contract as well and probably will be affecting Dick, who more than likely will have issues with the fall out of Brion and Tara, and Tim is going to be dealing with whatever happens with his new little crew.

Diana is a hard one as we don’t know her relationship with Cassie or Kaldur, so it’s up in the air, but Kal may take Diana’s role of leaving to find himself after the events in the story. And if Superboy doesn’t die, then he may step up for Clark in this case, or we’ll see other Super’s come into that role. Unless Conner is the one to lose all his powers.

52, World War III, and One Year Later

Following in the wake of Infinite crisis there’s the story of 52 which covers the time span of the 52 weeks between the end of the Crisis and the start of the countdown for Final crisis. While I don’t think 52 and the companion piece One year Later, is going to feature in this season I do think that we may see it feature in the next building up to the idea of a Final crisis like story and eventually into another time skip.

-52 worlds come out of the Infinite Crisis and Booster Gold learns about it with another time traveler Rip Hunter, oh and his robot friend goes evil.

It’s unknown if Booster is going to show up in this season, but there have been rumors. However, if he doesn’t show up this story line could go to a number of different characters, including Traci 13, Impulse, Flash, or even one of our new characters.

-Cult of Superman

While the story line regarding the Cult will probably drastically change, I do think that there are a few things that may come about from it. I think that it could be Zee working with Fate to deal with Neron, and Faust if he becomes involved.

-The Everyman project that Lex creates, which leads to Steel and Natasha Irons playing a large role.

This I can see happening in the wake of us losing members of the JL that depart for various reasons. Either because of the fight or they have to step down for some reason. I could easily see Lex using this in later seasons to grow his own mini power struggle with the Light and it would fit in with the idea of the Government wanting to regulate the Metahumans that are now showing up. Though I feel like this would be next season over this season.

-Jason Todd taking over as Nightwing and Supergirl returns from the 31st Century.

We already can assume a Red Hood story will come out of this recent revelation with Jason showing up, and we have Wally missing much like Supergirl was, and it’s not that hard to buy into the idea of Wally returning from the future feeling completely unsure of himself and talking about things that can happen due to what’s going down now. Jason, more than likely, could take over Dick’s costume and screw with stuff just because he can and probably feels a bit left out of things.

-Donna Troy takes over as Wonder Woman and Arthur becomes the Dweller of the Depths.

In the actual story there are reasons for both, but I think that Donna may take on the role if they have Wonder Woman kill Maxwell Lord. On the other hand I think Arthur may have saved Sub Diego during the two year jump and the reason we don’t have him is because he’s become this creature known as the dweller of the Depths. This would have lead Kal to becoming a leader while Mera acts as ruler underwater while Kal acts as leader in place of Arthur.

-J’onn comes to a different conclusion about being a martian on earth after being mind linked to Black Adam.

While I don’t see this coming into play during this season or during the time skip in the future, it may explain where M’ggan’s new look comes from. Maybe she’s changed to her new look due to some sort of event that plays with what happened to J’onn. While I don’t think that it will happen exactly as in the comic the precedence is there as an option for the two year time skip.

Other aspects that could play into the story and season 4 as a possibly: the trinity step down from their roles, Aquaman allies himself with Dweller of the Depths and King shark, New Doom Patrol, Hawkman goes missing, Jason and Dick both are Nightwing, New Birds of Prey is formed, Oliver Queen becomes the Mayor of Star City, New crew of Teen Titans, Vandal Savage starts up plans to regain his immortality, New JSA, Bart becomes the Flash, Tim Drake tries to clone Superboy to bring Kon back....

Not all of this will happen, but a number of these seem like givens.

Given how the UN is treating Meta humans, I can see the Trinity being forced out of their roles for a period of time. Kaldur may have to make deals to protect his friends if Apokolips is setting up for something dark and in doing so he may get in over his head. I can easily see Greg building up a new Doom Patrol in a one year later situation, and we don’t know where Hawkman is as of right now since he’s in the Rann shot.

Babs forming the Birds as a means of dealing with the Light and the League would make sense, Oliver could step into role of Mayor allowing for Conner Hawke to come into YJ as the new Green Arrow, and we know that the younger crew of YJ is going to come more into play. We also know that Vandel is working with Darkseid and into whatever plan he has for the Anti life equation. Bart becoming Flash could be an option if Wally isn’t brought back till later, and I have no doubt that should Conner die M’ggan will more than likely try to pull off Tim’s clone game to bring him back.

Would be interesting in lieu of Conner coming back we get Kara and have her show that there is more than just Superman.

Countdown to Final Crisis

So now we have come to the part where things become interesting. Countdown to Final Crisis covers the events that were supposed to lead to Final Crisis, but some of it doesn’t go anywhere. So I’m just focusing on Darkseid in this case, and if any hints of other stories shows up later in the show I’ll point it out.

-Darkseid is planing on being the Architect of the universe, and his brother Drax, aka Infinity man (who can be summoned by the Forever people) is killing the New gods.

Given the images we have so far and what we’ve seen in the episodes, it seems that this could be something that could play out in some way. We know Darkseid is working on creating something, probably the Anti life equation. We have Forager who comes from this story showing up in the show so far. The thing is that in this case we know that the with Infinity Man killing off the New Gods this leads to events in Final Crisis.

Honestly I can see some of this playing out here slightly. We do have the Forever People around and it would fit into the possibility that a New God is the one that is inside Halo.

I think for the sake of lenght that I’m going to tackle Final Crisis as it’s own thing over going forward with this one as it’s already really long.

See Final crisis theory of YJ for the rest. :)

#yjo spoilers #yj season 3 #yj #yj spoilers #yj:o #young justice #young justice: outsiders #young justice season 3 #young justice theories #young justice theory #darkseid #final crisis #infinite crisis #identity crisis #dc universe #dc comics

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x5red · 6 years ago

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Supergirl: Where to start reading her older comic series?

With the Melissa Beniost’s Supergirl show about to relaunch for its fourth season, it seems an apt time to revisit the oft asked question: Which of the old Supergirl comicbook series is the best starting point if you’re a fan of the show..?

It’s an interesting question. Many tv fans have some familiarity with Kara’s most recent comicbook adventures -- Sterling Gates, etc. -- but they harbour a desire to explore beyond the most immediate decade, into the murky misty depths of the classic Kara Zor-El and Matrix eras. But where to begin..?

Detailed below, for your rumination and delectation, are the four classic titular Supergirl series -- Supergirl Volumes 1 to 4 -- ranked by merit from best to worst, with particular regard to accessibility by the modern tv/comic audience.

So, without further ado, let’s begin...

1st - Supergirl Vol. 2, aka The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl: (Nov 1982 -- Sep 1984, 23 issues)

The bright micro-chip fuelled optimism of the early 1980s was the backdrop for Supergirl’s second eponymous title. Linda Danvers makes a new home as a mature student studying Psychology in Chicago, where she hopes she can find a balance between her superhero duties and her personal life. She immerses herself into student life, immediately acquiring a collection of enthusiastic friends and a hectic social calendar. It isn’t long, however, before criminal elements in the city require the attention of her alter ego, Supergirl.

Writer Paul Kupperberg gives us a Supergirl for the 1980s, clearly aimed at the more mature audience that was starting to dominate comicbook sales thanks to the direct market of specialist stores. Kupperberg’s Linda Danvers is sassy, intelligent, confident, and witty, while her costumed alter ego is strong but compassionate. For the first time Kara Zor-El is allowed to have a proper boyfriend, and (shock!) actually go to bed with him. The story lines devote equal time to Kara’s heroic and everyday identities, surrounding her with a diverse cast of supporting characters.

The book’s adventures largely constrain themselves to Chicago, with a parade of monsters and supervillians showing up each issue to challenge the Girl of Steel, but there’s still plenty of variation between stories, and some particularly bold ideas towards the latter part of the series’ run.

Pros: Equal prominence is given to Linda Danvers and Supergirl, and the series is all the better for it. Giving Kara a life outside of her Supergirl antics rounds her character, a device used 30 years later by the tv show. Paul Kupperberg’s scripts are intelligent, imaginative, and not afraid to sometimes tackle tough subjects. Industry legend, Carmine Infantino, pencils almost every issue, and captures the 80s fashions well.

Cons: The comic’s witty and headstrong Linda Danvers is a radical departure from Benoist’s often goofy and adorkable portrayal, which may be off-putting to some tv fans.

Conclusion: This is a nice set of uncomplicated stories with a basic structure that has many parallels to the tv show (sans DEO.) Highly recommended.

2nd - Supergirl Vol. 4: (Sep 1996 -- May 2003, 81 issues + 2 annuals)

Peter (Allen) David, usually known in fan circles as PAD, took control of Supergirl after her misguided Matrix run, and immediately morphed the character into something more interesting. In an act of supreme selflessness, the Matrix Supergirl merges with satanic cult member, Linda Danvers, saving Linda’s life by becoming a hybrid made up of Linda’s memories and feelings coupled with Matrix’s protomatter shape-shifting superpowers. Such is the starting point for Supergirl’s fourth volume of adventures.

Early stories deal with Linda haphazard attempts to cope with her new status as superhero, but pretty quickly it becomes apparent that her transformation is part of a bigger tale involving battling satanic and angelic forces. The series mixes superhero action with occult and religious symbolism, playfully referencing Old Testament lore and even writing God in as a supporting character. PAD’s storytelling doesn’t shy away from examining matters of belief head on, with subplots examining how faith can be lost and restored, but also misguided and abused. Other themes include the ethics of free speech, and the power of unintended consequences.

After fifty issues the series was soft-rebooted, with Matrix being un-merged from Linda Danvers and captured by dark satanic forces, and 'God’ teaming Linda up with a reforming demon to help find and rescue her. A second reboot (#75, Dec 2002) saw a youthful Pre-Crisis Supergirl take an unplanned detour into the Post-Crisis universe during her trip from Argo City to Earth.

Overall the series holds to classic old-fashioned good-versus-evil storytelling, told with humour and quirkiness.

Pros: The series has a good balance of humour, drama, and superheroics. The main characters are well defined, often quirky, and immediately likeable, with a healthy mix of darkness and light in the main cast, which leads to some engaging interactions. The spiritual elements are mostly well handled, and never pander or proselytise.

Cons: The heavy use of lore and mythology, plus occasional course-altering soft reboots, make the main plot arcs more than a little convoluted. There’s not much variety in the types of story told: it’s angels versus demons pretty much every issue. The series was initially conceived in a world before 9/11, before The God Delusion, before Catholic priest scandals, before the overt linking of evangelical Christianity with neo-conservatism -- as such its benign treatment of organised religion may seem a little naive and dated to some.

Conclusion: Enthusiastically told and funny, although occasionally a bit of a slog, PAD’s fusing of superheroes and the celestial provides for novel storytelling.

3rd - Supergirl Vol. 1: (Nov 1972 -- Sep 1974, 10 issues)

The early 1970s were an era of student politics and campus sit-ins, so it’s no surprise that Supergirl’s first self-titled series is set in the heart of academia. Linda Danvers heads off to San Francisco to study Drama at Vandyne University, and gets involved in all manner of adventures typically involving college life and romance. Stories vary in style from issue to issue, sometimes spooky supernatural, sometimes B-movie sci-fi, sometimes inner city gang violence -- but there’s invariably a square-jawed hunk involved for Kara to swoon over and rescue.

The initial issue was edited by Dorothy Woolfolk, but issue two saw Robert Kanigher take up editing duties. In the 1950s Kanigher had transformed William Marston’s feminist Wonder Woman into a lovelorn heroine who spent much of her time fretting over Steve Trevor. But thankfully by the early 70s Supergirl’s inevitable romantic adventures are complimented by her exasperation at the male chauvinism all around her. Although affairs of the heart are prominent, the Maid of Might is always shown as being as tough as any male superhero -- this is girl power... just a version of girl power that happens to include lipstick and hot pants.

Pros: The stories are certainly fun, even if they lack depth or complexity. The artwork has a certain quaint charm, and the groovy mod fashions of the time add to the curiosity value.

Cons: There’s a lot of repetition: almost every issue has Linda Danvers falling for a different campus heartthrob, who ultimately requires the help of her super powered alter ego.

Conclusion: Very much of-its-time, innocent and fun, but the heady 1970s mix of pulp romance and cartoon feminism may be way too dated for some modern readers.

4th - Supergirl Vol. 3: (Feb 1994 -- May 1994, 4 issues)

When Supergirl was re-introduced after Crisis on Infinite Earths, she took the form of a shape-shifting protomatter blob named Matrix, originally from a pocket universe. The Lex Luthor of her home universe had been a hero, so when the innocent Matrix encounters the regular Lex Luthor (nemesis of Superman), her confused and child-like mind instinctively trusts him, and she becomes his female companion. Lex, of course, is only interested in learning the secret of his girlfriend’s protomatter powers.

This four part series finally, slowly, sees Matrix wake up to the fact that Lex Luthor has been using her. It’s a slow build towards the final chapter, that meanders through a lot of self-denial before it gets to its inevitable finale. The ending is clearly signposted from the start, but the plot does a decent job of stretching out the journey across four episodes.

Pros: The idea of the hero playing the role of so-called useful idiot is a novelty, as least within the annals of American comicbooks.

Cons: This is a lacklustre story which brings to an end one of the more regrettable periods in Supergirl’s history -- despite often displaying immense courage, the Matrix Supergirl became nothing more than a plaything for Lex Luthor, and a pawn in his game against Superman.

Conclusion: There’s apparently a giant pit out in a desert somewhere filled with unsold Atari E.T. game cartridges -- if we can find it, maybe we can add every issue of the Matrix Supergirl run(?) Avoid!!

#supergirl #supergirlcw #melissabenoist #comics #dc #kara zor-el #dc comics #matrix #silver age #bronze age

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wits-writing · 7 years ago

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BOOKENDS: Morrison/Porter JLA

I wanted to do something Justice League related before the release of the movie this week. Part of me wanted to do a full reread and analysis of Grant Morrison and Howard Porter’s run on JLA, but I wouldn’t have the time. Only looking at one story arc from the run was something else I considered, but picking one story from one of my favorite comic runs wouldn’t give me as much space to talk about broader themes. So, this will be a little experiment.

Welcome to “Bookends”: A series of essays where I take the opening and closing stories from a longform serialized narrative in any medium talk about the story’s evolution over time and how each story works as a beginning/ending respectively.

I’ll be looking at JLA: New World Order and JLA: World War III from writer Grant Morrison and artist Howard Porter. Their JLA run gets touted as one of the best in the team’s 57-year history and it’s easy to see why, despite some problems I’ll get into later. In the aftermath of Crisis on Infinite Earths, due to some editorial problems about what was going on with different major characters in the new status quo of the DC Universe, they couldn’t start with the A-List heroes many expected on the team. The new Justice League book would start in 1987 and mostly be a team of second string heroes that would go on to be the basis of the fondly remembered Justice League International era. It wouldn’t be until 1997 that the group fans refer to as “The Big Seven”; Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter, would take center stage of the new on-going Justice League of America comic.

[Full article under the cut]

The Series:

That comic, simply titled JLA, ended up being headlined by Morrison and Porter with inker John Dell. Part of Morrison’s reason for doing the book, which they state in their novel Supergods, was to remind publishers that they were capable of more mainstream work than the mind-bending fringe titles they were mainly known for at the time and still are to an extent. Their high-concept for the series was superheroes as larger than life mythical gods. Approaching the League this way lead to stories on a scale that usually gets reserved for event comics or multi-book crossovers as the order of the day for these adventures. Stories sent the League through space, into their own minds, the future and across dimensions and pitted them against foes both new and familiar. These stories also hit key points in Grant Morrison’s grand DC Comics metanarrative that plays at least a small part in every book they’ve done for the company.

These stories get as superhero as comics can be while still feeling accessible. New World Order, despite a little continuity cleanup from the previous Justice League run at the start, let’s the familiar iconography work to help the reader keep pace with everything going on.

The Beginning:

New World Order (JLA #1-4) shows the recently teamed-up Big Seven fighting against the threat of the Hyperclan, a team of alien superheroes, each with Superman-level powers of their own, claiming they’ll save humanity from the Earth’s environmental decline. It’s revealed quickly that the Hyperclan are up to no good as the JLA realize that facilities they’ve built on Earth are being used to send out mind control signals to humanity. The team splits up and goes across the globe to disable these devices to save the world. In the end, it’s revealed that the Hyperclan are the warmongering White Martians (making their first appearance in the DCU) and merely the forerunners to a larger invasion. The JLA stop the invasion before it begins by using the villains’ mental broadcast equipment against them to tell all of humanity about the Martian weakness to fire.

The Ending:

World War III (JLA #36-41) brings the run to an end with the JLA’s battle to stop the Anti-Sun Mageddon, an ancient cosmic weapon designed to kill gods. Before the League can take any pre-emptive actions, Lex Luthor’s Injustice Gang strikes at them. Meanwhile, the heroes of Earth are all brought in to manage the chaos on Earth caused by Mageddon’s influence. Elements from every story in the run, plus some Morrison material outside of it, leading up to this are brought in to add to the scale of this story, character arcs for individual members are concluded and a climax that brings into full view how much these superheroes have been able to do for humanity.

Parallels:

On the surface the main villains in these stories present different kinds of threats to the JLA. From theme to names to character design, the Hyperclan are perversions of what it means to be a superhero. Direct action on the issues facing humanity are a major part of how they initially sell themselves to humanity as faux-saviors. They turn deserts fertile and publicly execute supercriminals. Showy displays of “might makes right” force that Superman calls out as spectacle. Pitting the classic heroes of the DC Universe against characters that represent a modern take on the concept is a trick that didn’t start here and would go on to make other comebacks in future stories, notably in the Superman story “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way.” In the case of New World Order, the device is used to show why these superheroes shouldn’t simply use their powers to overhaul the Earth’s problems. It’s their job to be exemplars for the rest of humanity to follow and it’s a key theme throughout Morrison’s JLA that people can reach for those impossible heights and beyond. The Hyperclan underestimating what humans without powers, including Batman, are capable of ends up their undoing as Batman pieces together their Martian nature and uses it against them.

Mageddon in World War III presents the JLA with a threat that takes the capacity people have to stand stronger together and twist it to create chaos. The Anti-Sun’s form is never seen in full, the closest the story comes is a shot of what appears to be its face barely contained in a full-page spread with Earth in the foreground for scale. It’s a cosmic, existential threat as much as a physical one. For the first half of the story, Mageddon is only spoken of and the influence it has can be felt in everything the heroes are trying to stop. The first thing we see of this primordial weapon is the aftermath of its strike against the supergods of Wonder World, turning what was supposed to be existence’s first line of defense against each other and destroying themselves. The early parts of the story mainly consist of dealing with Mageddon’s slowly increasing influence over Earth with every nation on the planet prepared to go to war with each other. The other key threat in this story is Lex Luthor’s Injustice Gang, which includes himself, Prometheus (a villain created during this run), Queen Bee and General Eiling. They think they’re in control in their plot to destroy the League by sabotaging the moonbase Watchtower and take credit for the building conflicts on Earth, only for Luthor to discover they’re pawns under Mageddon’s influence. The Injustice Gang ultimately serve Mageddon’s purpose by keeping the League occupied during its approach.

Both threats are ultimately defeated through methods that reinforce the key theme of the JLA under Morrison and Porter, that superheroes are at their strongest when inspiring people to stand together. Humanity’s potential to become something greater recurs throughout Morrison’s body of work, probably taking on one of its more literal forms by the end of this run. The White Martians and Mageddon each work to undermine that potential. Protex, leader of the Hyperclan, refers to humanity as “stunted slaves” that should be ruled over by the superpowerful during his final showdown with Superman. The White Martian talks about how they were able to manipulate primordial life on Earth and humanity will never reach what they could’ve become. Superman understands that humanity believes in him and he believe in them. It’s why he needs to be the one who sends the message to humanity about how to exploit the White Martians’ weakness, so the invasion can end before it begins. Humanity can’t be forced into greatness, that can only be accomplished by a steady climb to always get better and the JLA will be there, as Superman puts it, “To catch them if they fall.”

How they’re ultimately able to defeat Mageddon comes back to this idea in a big way. Over the course of World War III, many forces that could help the League, including Heaven itself (I’ll get back to that), are already convinced that Mageddon’s assault spells the end for existence. The power in this massive ancient weapon brings even Superman to his knees when he tries to assault the Anti-Sun from the inside, subjecting him to the full force of existential dread and depression it broadcasts. Thanks to multiple elements from the Morrison/Porter’s JLA run, the League broadcasts their own signal that unlocks all of humanity’s dormant potential and none of them hesitate to help their heroes. It’s being told about humanity standing together against the end of existence that frees Superman from Mageddon’s influence and leads to them cancelling the apocalypse.

Superman and Batman’s friendship and respect for each other plays into both conflicts as well. In New World Order, Superman is certain the Hyperclan are going to lose the second he realizes they’re underestimating Batman, tying into the theme of that story. It’s because Batman works out the Hyperclan’s Martian nature that Superman can break out of a mental trap they’ve put him in. That gets paralleled in World War III when Bruce, using Martian Manhunter as a mental go-between, reminds Clark about why they fight against all odd in a universe that couldn’t care one way or another. This results in a great panel by Porter and Dell featuring a mental image of an amalgamated version of the tragedies that define Clark, Bruce and J’onn’s origins.

The similarities between the main threats of these stories and how they resolve was a key inspiration for why they serve as a testing ground for “Bookends.” New World Order ends with Superman affirming that they’ll always be there to pick humanity up and keep them on the path to become better. World War III resolves when Superman realizes that humanity will likewise be there for him if he ever fell. Morrison’s bibliography often comes back to the power of ideas over reality and the concepts of inspiration and belief in each other are the ideas that manage to save the world in JLA.

Development:

Most of the development over the course of this run occurs in Howard Porter’s art. His linework at the beginning reflects a lot of art trends of mid-90s superhero comics and not just because Superman sports his post-Death/Return mullet. It has a sharp angular quality that works in favor of dynamic action sequences and the designs of the Hyperclan members, especially once they revert to their white Martian forms. Character emotions and other beats are usually served for the worse. There are some key exceptions in New World Order, most notably the smile on Superman’s face when he realizes that the Hyperclan have underestimated Batman’s capabilities. By World War III Porter’s art shifts to an overall cleaner style, human figures are more evenly proportioned and expressions are more recognizable. Helping matters is that the inking by John Dell seems less heavy by the end of the run as well.

The shifts in Morrison’s writing style between stories are subtler, such as the lack of narrative captions to emphasize the mood of the scene by the time World War III begins. Otherwise the shifts aren’t as much in style as in what elements are brought into JLA between the beginning and the end. Morrison and Porter created multiple new concepts and characters through the run that make major comebacks by the end. New villains like the previously mentioned White Martians and Prometheus would go beyond this run to play key roles in other major DC Comics stories (for better or worse.) The run also got more cosmic as it ran on in the buildup to the final story, with concept like Wonder World and the enlistment of the New Gods, namely Big Barda and Orion, among the JLA’s membership. The lineup expansion also included new heroes like Zauriel, the angel who fell to Earth so he can protect the woman he loves, and Aztek, a Grant Morrison and Mark Millar created hero who was designed to stop Tezcatlipoca (which turns out to be one of Mageddon’s other names.)

Beyond new concepts and expansion into a cosmic scope, Morrison would also start bringing in elements from the DC Universe like Barbara Gordon as Oracle managing the JLA’s tactics, John Henry Irons as Steel working as the Watchtower’s main engineer, Helena Bertinelli as Huntress working to prove herself a hero to Batman, and finally Plastic Man. Even all of that is only the stuff introduced in this run that’s most relevant to the bookending stories. So much of this comes into play in World War III that there’s so many moving parts involved and how the story keeps transitioning between all of them can make losing track in certain spots understandable.

The Big Seven themselves are mostly left to stand as the mythic icons Morrison intended them to be in this run, reacting to threats as they arise. The ones who show the clearest development between the two stories are Wally West as The Flash and Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern. Kyle Rayner was still a relatively new creation at the time of this series, first introduced a mere three years earlier, so his rookie status and having to live up to the legacy of Green Lantern are the main sources of internal conflict for him. Wally starts off the story incredulous at this young guy who’s taken up a major legacy out of nowhere, when he was a superhero for years before taking up the Flash’s cowl. Wally does manage to gain respect for Kyle as a teammate by the end and Kyle fully steps into the role of Green Lantern in World War III by stepping up to help lead the heroes of Earth against Mageddon.

Revisiting New World Order and World War III does a lot to reaffirm why these characters are so interesting when they’re allowed to exist in these stories on their own terms. They’re the types of stories that work best in a serialized format like superhero comics. People are weary of continuity for multiple reasons, some of which I’ve gone into here, but stories like the ones in the Morrison/Porter run on JLA are some of the best arguments in its favor. To paraphrase Kyle Kallgren’s video essay on Buckaroo Banzai, no other genre would try and no other audience could buy into it without the context continuity creates.

Morrison/Porter’s JLA ends one of my favorite ways for serialized narratives to end, a reminder that things don’t end. As they’re winding down from fighting against a godkilling weapon, they receive a new report that Doctor Destiny has a new plot brewing and spring back into action, even if it’s a smaller threat. I love this type of ending because in life, even when things seem to be at peace, we always have to face the next day and we have the strength to get through it.

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ramajmedia · 5 years ago

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Smallville Season 5: Best & Worst Episodes, Ranked | ScreenRant

Smallville, the ten-year-long story about Clark Kent (Tom Welling) before he became Superman, told the Boy Scout’s origin story from high school all the way to adulthood. But as the high school phase of the series came to an end, an even bigger one began in Smallville’s fifth season. This was also the last season to air on The WB before the channel merged with UPN which together became The CW, the home of all the Arrowverse shows and more.

RELATED: Smallville Season 1: Best & Worst Episodes, Ranked

The fifth year of the Clark Kent drama became the first true season where the deeper Superman mythology came into play. From a couple of Justice League characters coming to life as well as one of Kal-El’s most iconic villains, season five had a lot in store for their viewers. These are the best and worst episodes of Smallville season five.

10 WORST: Fanatic (Episode 10)

The fifth season gave Jonathan Kent (John Schneider) one of his biggest storylines of all time as he was running for senator. But what is a hot race without some Luthor competition as Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) was running against him.

However, the tenth episode gets a bit nutty when it’s revealed that a woman named Samantha Drake (Annie Burgstede) shows her deep devotion to Lex. Samantha begins harassing Jonathan so he will drop out of the race. The fanatic status comes full circle when Lex later finds her, with a shaved head, hoping he will recognize her devotion for him.

9 BEST: Solitude (Episode 8)

One of the best big bads in the whole show was the iconic Superman foe Brainiac (James Marsters) who became one of the main threats in season five. Posing first as a human teacher named Milton Fine when Clark began attending college; Brainiac was playing the long game. But in the eighth episode, Brainiac finally reveals who he really is to Clark.

As he gets Martha (Annette O’Toole) seriously sick, Brainiac tries to trick Clark into destroying the Fortress of Solitude, insisting that Jor-El is the one killing her. But the plan was to use Clark to get General Zod out of the Phantom Zone instead.

RELATED: Smallville Season 2: Best & Worst Episodes, Ranked

8 WORST: Fade (Episode 20)

One of the final episodes of the fifth season slows things in a weird way except for Lex as Brainiac is preparing him for the big finale twist. In “Fade”, it mostly deals with Clark having to take on Graham Garrett (Alex Scarlis), a dangerous metahuman who can turn invisible and is a hitman.

Being one of three final episodes of the season, it wasn’t just a filler episode; it was a weak episode in general.

7 BEST: Hidden (Episode 3)

After being without his powers for almost two episodes, the third episode becomes one of the most unforgettable hours in the whole series. Gabriel Duncan (Johnny Lewis), who is planning on taking out every meteor-infected person in Smallville through a dangerous missile plan, ends up killing Clark by shooting him. Clark has been shot before, but without his powers, he ends up dying in the hospital.

However, at this point in the season, Jor-El takes Lionel (John Glover) out of his catatonic state and uses his body as a host by taking Clark to the Fortress of Solitude. Clark gets resurrected with all of his powers back as Jor-El, through Lionel, tells his son that there is no way his destiny can’t be sacrificed. The episode only gets bigger as Clark goes after Gabriel’s missile by super-jumping onto it and stops it in space.

RELATED: Smallville Season 3: Best & Worst Episodes, Ranked

6 WORST: Tomb (Episode 14)

Chloe (Allison Mack) gets an incredibly weird episode in the middle of the season. The threat in “Tomb” is a teenager’s spirt that possesses Chloe so she can go after her killer. But because Chloe was possessed, it gave viewers some very dark scenes with her.

The only memorable takeaway is the emotional ending when Chloe goes to see her mother who we find out has mental problems.

5 BEST: Arrival (Episode 1)

The season premiere is where Clark’s next chapter in his journey to becoming Superman took a massive step. Following the season four finale, Clark activates the Crystal of Knowledge that becomes the iconic Fortress of Solitude that is important in the Superman mythology.

But that is just tip of the iceberg of all the insanity that is going on. Smallville is being invaded by two Kryptonians who are searching for Clark who finds out what is going on. But as he saves the day, Clark fails Jor-El who ends up taking his powers away which is what gets Clark killed two episodes later.

RELATED: Smallville: Every Single Season, Ranked

4 WORST: Hypnotic (Episode 16)

The sixteenth episode is perhaps one of the few all-time cheesy episodes in the whole series. Clark ends up being hypnotized by a magical charm that belongs to a woman named Simone (Nichole Hiltz.) She gets Clark to fall in love with her while also making him go after Lex to kill him.

“Hypnotic” feels silly and unnecessary as it was done to basically break him and Lana up.

3 BEST: Reckoning (Episode 12)

The 100th episode of the series is both pivotal and heartbreaking all at the same time. While Clark decides to tell Lana his secret, he doesn’t stop there as he also proposes to her! But this episode is the one where Jor-El’s warning comes to fruition. Because Jor-El resurrected Clark in “Hidden”, the life of someone he loves would be taken in exchange. As Jonathan wins the senatorial race, things go all wrong when Lana dies in a horrific car accident after Lex chases her, as he finds out that she knows Clark’s big secret.

Heartbroken, Clark asks Jor-El for help and is given a crystal that allows him to reset the whole day, despite being warned by his father that someone will still die regardless. After using the crystal, Clark decides to not tell Lana his secret nor does he propose to her. But Clark’s darkest hour hits him as Jonathan, after fighting Lionel, pushes his heart to his final limits and dies in front of his family. All of this is why the 100th episode of Smallville became such an unforgettable milestone.

2 WORST: Thirst (Episode 5)

A guest appearance by the late iconic Carrie Fisher couldn’t save the fifth episode from being a disaster. “Thirst” was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-esque episode, with the main villain being named Buffy Sanders as an homage to the Joss Whedon drama.

The episode was even written by Steven S. DeKnight who wrote for Buffy and Angel. But it still doesn’t change the fact that “Thirst” didn’t work, especially by turning Lana into a vampire temporarily.

1 BEST: Vessel (Episode 22)

The season five finale became a game-changer for the series as we go even deeper into Superman lore. After having been prepared by Brainiac, Lex becomes the vessel for General Zod as Clark accidentally releases the iconic foe from the Phantom Zone. Despite trying to save Lex, Clark’s plan backfire big time as everything goes absolutely wrong after that.

Before Clark realizes it, Zod banishes him to the Phantom Zone as the cliffhanger features Clark prisoned before he drifts further into space. Having started big, the finale wrapped the season up even bigger as it set things up for the next season.

NEXT: 10 Smallville Characters That Should Appear in Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover

source https://screenrant.com/smallville-best-worst-episodes-season-5/

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scarffile0-blog · 6 years ago

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Every New Character Coming to the Arrowverse This Season

We are just one month out from The Flash's fifth season premiere marking the return of all of The CW's Arrowverse shows and not only can fans look forward to new adventures for some of their favorite DC heroes, but there are a lot of new characters to look forward to as well.

All four shows -- Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow -- have announced some of the new characters who will come on board as enemies and allies to the heroes this fall. And while some of the announced characters are pretty big and exiting, such as Batwoman, some are a bit more obscure. Still others are completely original and, in at least one case, it's a familiar character being teased in a whole new way.

With so many new characters headed to the Arrowverse, we've decided to make a list of all of the new characters confirmed for the upcoming season. However, before we jump into the list we do have a few points to note. For starters, we're not going to get into characters who have been teased in casting descriptions but haven't yet had official announcements. We're also not going to break down characters for Black Lightning. While Black Lightning is a DC Comics-inspired show on The CW, it technically takes place in its own universe -- not the Arrowverse. We're also not going to detail, with one exception, characters returning after a few seasons absence as is the case with a few of the foes Oliver Queen will be facing on Arrow.

As with any list, it's possible that we've missed someone along the way so if there's a character that we don't mention that you think we should have, please let us know in the comment section at the end.

Are you ready to see what characters are coming to the Arrowverse? Then read on for more!

Slide 1 of 14'Supergirl': Agent Liberty

Best known by DC fans from his role as Smallville's Davis Bloome/Doomsday, Sam Witwer will be playing Agent Liberty. The character is said to be "the ruthless and terrifying leader of the Children of Liberty, a human-first hate group" and is described as "a brilliant orator in the guise of a family man", who can easily convince people that he's right."

The character may be a take on the comic iteration of Agent Liberty, who first debuted in 1991. Also known as Benjamin Lockwood, Agent Liberty is an ex-CIA agent who becomes disenchanted with the goverment, forming his own paramilitary group. Liberty eventually sees the error of his ways, separating from the group and assisting Superman and Justice League in the years that follow.

Slide 2 of 14'Supergirl': Mercy Graves

Lex's former bodyguard Mercy Graves will be a recurring threat on the new episodes, played by Rhona Mitra.

According to the report from Deadline, Graves has come into her own as a growing name in National City now that her former employer Lex Luthor is in prison. She becomes the face of the growing "human first" movement, teasing that the series will echo the current political climate in real life.

Given the fact that she used to be Lex's bodyguard, she's very lethal. But she'll also be very cunning, making her a threat to Supergirl on multiple levels.

Slide 3 of 14'Supergirl': Colonel Haley

April Parker Jones will play Colonel Haley, a character described as a hardline career military woman who lives and dies by the orders of her commanding officers. Haley's dedication ot her country leads her to always act in its best interest, even if that means acting against her own.

The character "Colonel Haley" doesn't have an exact DC Comics counterpart, but there are a couple characters the series could be drawing from, including Lauren Haley. A lieutenant in the United States Air Force, Lauren first appeared in Wonder Woman #325 from 1985 where she was rescued from the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca by Wonder Woman. However, Lt. Haley was erased from existence during the collapse of the original Multiverse in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Slide 4 of 14'Supergirl': Manchester Black

(Photo: DC Comics)

David Ajala is joining the cast as DC villain Manchester Black.

Black is a dangerous and manipulative psychic and telekinetic, and as the head of a team of self-styled superheroes called The Elite, he sought to upstage Superman and the Justice League in his first appearance. The story, titled "What's So Funny 'Bout Truth, Justice, and the American Way?," is widely considered one of the best Superman comics in the last 25 years.

Black was created by Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke, and a loose adaptation of "What's So Funy..." happened in the feature-length animated film Superman vs The Elite.

On the show, Black is the type of guy who brings a knife to a gunfight and still walks away the winner. With a dark past, he easily deflects the brutality of his mission with his charm and sense of humor.

Slide 5 of 14'Supergirl': Nia Nal

Also joining Supergirl this season is Nia Nal, a transgender superhero known as Dreamer who will be played by Nicole Maines.

According to her official character description, Nal is the newest addition to the CatCo reporting team. A soulful young transgender woman with a fierce drive to protect others, Nia’s journey this season means fulfilling her destiny as the superhero Dreamer (much like Kara came into her own as Supergirl).

The Dreamer becomes the first transgender superhero on TV, played by Royal Pains veteran Maines, a trans actress.

Nura Nal, the Legion of Super-Heroes member known as Dreamer in the comics, was an alien with precognitive abilities. The character was created by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte as Dream Girl in 1964, although the Dreamer identity debuted in 1996 in a story by Tom Peyer, Tom McGraw, and Lee Moder.

Slide 6 of 14'Supergirl': Agent Jensen

Almost Human and Witches of East End veteran Anthony Konechny will play Agent Jensen, a DEO agent recruited by Alex (Chyler Leigh) who struggles to find his footing at the DEO. His character will be introduced in the season premiere on Sunday, October 14.

Given that bio, it would not be hard to imagine him turning against the DEO, especially since Agent Liberty as the leader of a human supremacy group sounds like the setup for a season-long spy-vs-spy between his group and the DEO itself. That would track with a "more topical" season four, as has been teased in interviews.

Slide 7 of 14'Arrow': Roy Harper

(Photo: The CW)

Yes, Roy Harper isn't exactly a new character. However, it's been teased that while the Roy fans get this fall will absolutely be the real, Earth-1 Roy, the character is coming back in a way that actor Colton Haynes called "the craziest idea".

“I got a call from Greg Berlanti, and he said ‘Hey’." Haynes told ComicBook.com during San Diego Comic-Con. "I was shooting [American] Horror Story at the time. And he said ‘If you want to come back, you’re welcome to come back. We have a great idea.’ And it’s the craziest idea. Roy Harper’s coming back in a way that no one is going to understand. It’s amazing, and I was like ‘I can’t wait to be around my friends and my family!’ And so I, of course, jumped at that opportunity.”

Slide 8 of 14'Arrow': Longbow Hunters

(Photo: DC Comics)

Red Dart, Kodiak, and The Silencer will be joining Ricardo Diaz (Kirk Acevedo) in terrorizing Star City while Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) spends time behind bars at Slabside Maximum Security Prison for crimes committed as Green Arrow.

Red Dart, who will be played by Holly Elissa, first appeared as a member of the team in Green Arrow (Vol 5) #31 in 2014. The character, whose real name is unknown, is known for her use of trick darts and was part of The Longbow Hunters in comics.

Kodiak, played by Michael Jonsson, was the leader of Shield Clan, one of the eight Clans of The Outsiders. In comics, he had something called the Shield Totem, which granted its owner immortality and true enlightenment. Joining Kodiak and Red Dart, The Silencer will be played by Miranda Edwards. In comics, The Silencer, aka Honor Guest, was Talia al Ghul's most trusted assassin. The association may be a hint that Diaz could have ties with Talia on Arrow as well, which could provide an opening for the return of Colton Haynes' Roy Harper.

Slide 9 of 14'The Flash': Cicada

(Photo: The CW)

Chris Klein (American Pie, Election, Oz) has been cast as DC Comics supervillain David Hersch/Cicada. Described as "a grizzled, blue-collar everyman whose family has been torn apart by metahhumans, Cicada now seeks to exterminate the epidemic -- one metahuman at a time".

This description varies a little bit from Cicada's comic book origins, but hints that he will be an equally terrifying foe. Hersch, who was first introduced into the pages of The Flash in 2001, was a Catholic preacher who became consumed by guilt after abusing and murdering his wife. On the brink of committing suicide, Hersch was struck by a bolt of lightning, and was essentially given the power of immortality -- as long as he absorbed the life-forces of others.

This led Hersch to become consumed with his powers, ultimately forming a cult and taking on the moniker of Cicada. The cult of Cicada became committed to one goal, which was to use lightning bolt daggers to murder those who were saved by The Flash. The Wally West incarnation of The Flash tussled with Cicada for several issues, as Hersch resurrected his wife before ultimately being captured by the police.

Soon after, Cicada was put onto death row at Iron Heights, where his immortality proved to be a bit of a problem. He then escaped from jail as part of the Flash: Iron Heights miniseries, briefly joined the Secret Society of Super-Villains as part of Infinite Crisis, and was ultimately banished to the villain planet Salvation.

Slide 10 of 14'The Flash': Spin

Kiana Madeira has reportedly been cast in a recurring role for The Flash's fifth season. Madeira will be playing Spencer Young, a genderbent version of the DC Comics villain Spin.

Madeira is known for her role as Angel on Sacred Lies, as well as Dark Matter and Wynonna Earp.

In the comics, Spin is known only by the name of Mr. Auerbach, a journalist whose father owns a media company. Auerbach is eventually given control of the company, which he runs while moonlighting as the villain Spin. Auerbach keeps Edwar Martinez — a metahuman with the ability to turn people's fears into a reality — locked in a basement, using his powers to be able to manipulate public perception around The Flash.

Madeira's iteration of the character is a bit of a departure from her comic origins, described as "a young aspiring social media influencer who seizes the opportunity to make herself famous when she discovers there is a new hero in Central City."

Slide 11 of 14'Legends of Tomorrow': Charlie

Maisie Richardson-Sellers will be playing an entirely new role in Season 4 of Legends of Tomorrow. After previously playing Amaya Jiwe/Vixen on the hit The CW series, Richardson-Sellers will return as a new character named Charlie.

Charlie is British, and described as a "rebel without a cause" with ties to the mysterious portal of magic that the Legends opened. Apparently, the Legends stumble upon her and are unsure if she's a friend or foe. Either way, she will definitely shake up the ship again.

Slide 12 of 14'Legends of Tomorrow': Alaska Yu

(Photo: WB/Sergio Garcia)

Legends of Tomorrow has cast Ramona Young in its upcoming fourth season, as was revealed on the show's San Diego Comic-Con panel. Young will be playing Alaska Yu, a character who does not have a clear DC Comics counterpart.

Alaska is described as "a typical twentysomething easily swept up by romantic notions and fantasy novels, she’s something of an expert in the world of the magical creatures that the Legends encounter in season four. In the company of the Legends, she soon learns to get her head out of the clouds to become a kickass superhero."

Slide 13 of 14'Legends of Tomorrow': Hank Heywood

Tom Wilson, the comedian and actor best known for playing Biff Tannen (and his ancestors and descendants) in the Back to the Future trilogy, has been cast as Nate Heywood's father on DC's Legends of Tomorrow.

Wilson will recur as Nate’s (Nick Zano) father, Hank Heywood. With a lifetime in the military and Dept. of Defense, Hank is part of a long line of Heywoods to serve the country. Charming and charismatic, he’s left big shoes for Nate to fill — and it doesn’t help that Nate can’t tell him he’s secretly a Legend!

Slide 14 of 14Arrowverse Crossover: Batwoman and Lois Lane

Ruby Rose has been tapped to play Kate Kane/Batwoman, the first openly lesbian superhero to appear as a main hero on television, for The CW's Batwoman. Her character will debut in the upcoming Arrowverse crossover event on the network in December and a Batwoman series is currently in development.

Also coming to the Arrowverse crossover is Lois Lane. She will be joining Superman in the upcoming Arrowverse crossover event this December.

Source: https://comicbook.com/2018/09/09/arrowverse-new-characters-confirmed-fall-2018-/

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davidmann95 · 5 years ago

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So do you think Superman & Lois will be actually good in a Flash S1 way or just pure cheese like Legends of Tomorrow? What do you want from the show?

‘What I want’ is a little complicated to publicly assess, because I’ve already read the script for the first episode and thereby have something of a decent sense of the tone, basic setup, and several of the characters. It absolutely seems like it’s touching on just about every angle I’d want it to to one degree or another though, other than missing some levity that’s I think more than safe with a Superman show to assume will emerge over time. Judging by said script though, genuinely very good for the most part, so what I want at this point is for them to keep doing what they’ve been doing between that and his past appearances. Just throw on top the family getting into a hijink or two and fighting Solaris, and I’m golden.

Anonymous said: Why do so many people seem to dislike Tyler Hoechlin as Superman ? The major criticism is that he seems like a Christopher Reeves ripoff, but putting aside the fact that he really isn't, I thought people liked Reeves Superman.

It seems to break down into two major schools of thought (not that everybody who doesn’t dig him falls into these categories), both of which seem to have emerged gradually over time given when he first showed up the response was almost universally positive:

1. Folks who flatten out him playing a fairly classic-flavored take on the character into him doing a hollow Reeve riff. There’s a subset here of Snyder folks specifically who see him as not only essentially ‘stealing’ limelight and love from Cavill’s Superman, but believe he’s been built above all else around doing so. Suffice it to say, I think there’s way more to him than that.

2. Folks who consider him ‘weak’, whether resenting his position to date as a supporting character and how thereby in Supergirl she’s consistently positioned as an equal or greater hero, or literally critiquing Hoechlin’s physical condition as being insufficiently ripped to play Superman.

Uh...I guess I’ll concede that if you consider bicep size a barometer of quality in your Kryptonians - I do not, if his appearance had to be proportionate to his strength he’d probably dwarf Jupiter - he probably won’t be able to work out 6 hours a day every day for however many years his show runs to keep up with Cavill, but bro still looks like he could tear me in half. As for his narrative role, of course he says Supergirl’s better than him whether you agree or not, he’s Superman and he’s a nice guy who sees the best in people, and of course he hasn’t been getting the big wins yet when he hasn’t been a lead. They’ve still gotten his character right in ways no other mass-media adaptation has touched, the rest’ll follow.

(And for that matter: he fights on even terms with a future Christopher Reeve Superman while at a disadvantage, and of the 50+ superheroes who stick their heads in during Crisis on Infinite Earths is one of the *three* who manage to actually land a hit on the universe-devouring Anti-Monitor. I’d say he’s just fine in the power department.)

Anonymous said: Three part question: 1. The CW shows won’t be able to start their next seasons until at least next year; what would you like for them to focus on fixing either individually or as a universe in the meantime? 2. The next crossover will be between Batwoman and Superman; what do you hope that ends up being and if you had to pick one character from each other shows to join in, but NOT the mains, who would you pick? 3. On a scale of 1 - 10, how smoldering is Hoechlin in that Superman & Lois promo?

1. Okay, entirely non-spoilery: having read the script as I said, the main thing they need to do is get some 15-year-olds in there with red markers to take to the kids’ dialogue. It’s not a worst-case scenario, Jon and Jor and Sarah have good moments, but it’s clearly teens as viewed in shows about adults rather than teens as depicted in shows about teens, and if they’re gonna be co-leads that can’t fly.

2. This is 100% where they’re gonna debut Bruce. They could have teamed up Superman with Flash for that old-school JLA action, they could’ve returned to the World’s Finest dynamic they established with Supergirl and Batwoman, but instead they’ve paired up two characters where the only thing they have in common is that they both know Batman. Sadly they will probably be COWARDS and not use Conroy again EVEN THOUGH HE HAS SAID HE’D LIKE TO COME BACK, and that it’s a two-parter probably shoots down my theory that Bruce would be introduced via an adaptation of Metal (Batman being gone because he’s trapped in the Dark Multiverse being tortured by Barbatos and in need of rescue by Batwoman and Superman, the introduction of Batman to the universe introducing ALL the Batmen) - while an eventual adaptation of that seems inevitable, especially given Red Death has already been namechecked, it probably won’t be as a relatively measly two-parter.

My idea I’ve floated on Twitter however as a joke that I’ve become increasingly, quixotically serious about overtime however is still very much doable: since CW Oliver Queen is just Batman, make CW Bruce Wayne Green Arrow. Have him grow a Van Dyke and make offensively spicy chili and rail against the fat cats on Wall St.; seriously, him having divested himself of his assets because he realized it’s impossible to be an ethical billionaire is a better answer to what happened to Batman than whatever these shows will actually come up with. And I don’t know what a boxing glove batarang looks like, but I want to find out.

Or also someone suggested on Twitter that it could be Clark playing Super-matchmaker getting together Kate and Maggie Sawyer, and I’d also be fine with that.

3. I’ll give it a passable 6, but he’s clearly not really trying.

#Superman & Lois #Superman #Lois Lane #Batwoman #Tyler Hoechlin #Christopher Reeve #Henry Cavill #DCEU #Worlds of DC #Supergirl #Batman #Kevin Conroy #Dark Nights: Metal #Green Arrow #Opinion

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