#i love it when krypto gets his own little backups

[nikrei]

I'm not sure it counts because they are all dogs, but they are all v different dogs, so maybe?

(Superboy 161) (1966)

Find five different animals in one panel.

See pinned for details.

[nikrei]

November Comics Round-Up

Lets goooo!! Starting out with the Fourth World we love to see it!!

Action Comics (409-443) (1972-1975)

Action is starting to use characters and events from Superman and vice versa! Exciting to see. Attention! Issue 440 has Krypto & Green Arrow backup! Important! He's lost his memories and Dinah names him Demian! He's extremely cute!

Superman (248-283) (1972-1975)

They really doubled down on the "every six years on their birthday kryptonians go thru The Agonies due to cultural sadness reasons" But! We do now know that Kal's kryptonian birthday is the 35th of Eorx, and Clark's earth birthday is June 18th! Also we've gotten more into the significance of headbands on krypton, but it is specifically noted as a gender neutral origin (this is important for future reasons).

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen (140-163) (1971-1974)

Holy shit they revived Lucy Lane as an old lady with like three issues left to go what. Okay two issues to go and they deaged her again (but kept the silver hair) (but she still dumped him). Also, there's a "Jimmy had doubles" storyline and it's like everyone has forgot that there was quite a large storyline just two years ago about Jimmy and and his clones. Luthor is explaining what a clone is all over again. The end of the Jimmy Olsen run! They deffo were not expecting it, there was a blurb for "find out in future issues". Overall I'd say that it's a pretty unnecessary read, except for the Kirby bits, unless you really want a Jimmy deep dive. You get a good view of Jimmy as a man of action which isn't really obvious in the main super comics.

Forever People (1-11) (1971-1972)

I have solidified Forever People as my fave part of fourth world (I love u Scott and Barda, but!) Like, sure the storylines are sorta disjointed, and there's an odd little Deadman detour, but I love these kids so much, they are my children!

New Gods (1-11) (1971-1972)/Even Gods Must Die! (1984)/The Hunger Dogs (1985)

Last time I was reading the fourth world, I didn't realize that the 84 run was just reprints with the concluding chapter at the end, so I read it a couple of months after the rest of new gods. It does indeed make more sense when you read it as a part of new gods. Also this is the first time that I've read hunger dogs, and it was fun in that apocryphal way. It is being sad about Essak hours tho!

Mister Miracle (1-18) (1971-1974)

A little after I read this i was watching a truly iconic piece of 90s television that explains how magic tricks work, and everytime they did an escape trick I was like "escape trick?? Like my boy? This is just like my boy!" Of course Barda and Oberon are better assistants than all of those dancing skinny goths combined, so there is that. Shilo is my baby boy, and it got me excited all over again that he becomes Mr Miracle in the early 90s.

Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane (119-137) (1972-1974)

I'm really liking the thorn and rose backups and how they often cross over a bit with lois's own adventures. 1972 sees Lois quitting the planet to be a freelance writer after Lucy is revealed to be working for the 100 (!!) and dies (!?!?!). They also put her into a roommate situation with three other women which does have its moments (and also it's bads, 70s stop being fatphobic challenge). There's something really fucked up about Lucy being brought back to life in Jimmy and never showing up in Lois. And with that its the end of the Lois Lane solo! For this one at least they new the end was coming, with a note for lois showing up in the super family mag.

Supergirl (1-10) (1973-1974)

Kara goes to gradschool! She's got into a drama program at a place near San Francisco! This makes sooo much more sense rereading it after reading the rest of supergirl's history!

Superman Family (164-174) (1974-1976)

Okay I am eating my words re: Jimmy getting canceled, this superfam run takes up where his left off at issue 164. Also, I am getting slightly annoyed about everyone jerking Kara around meta-wise. She went to undergrad for ??? (never revealed) got a job as a camera operator for a news show, then they dropped that for her solo, putting her in a graduate drama program and now that her solo's over she's getting a job as a highschool advisor??? And wanting to quit being supergirl with absolutely minimal lead up. Like... have even an ounce of consistency for her! Lena is back though! So she still exists! Then, extremely confusingly the issue after her issue Jimmy has to deal with a small blond psychic boy named Val, who, despite all these traits being exactly the same, is Not Lena's son Val. (Btw Lucy has not showed back up)

World's Finest Comics (210-227) (1972-1975)

I'm generally pretty lukewarm about the imaginary superman jr and batman jr stories... but man.... 222 was one of the grossest, most racist things I've ever read. Its like. Bad bad. Bob Haney when I get you.....

Superboy (182-206) (1972-1975)

Superboy has become comboed with the Legion! Very fun, I like that the members are actually calling each other by name now, too. Also I love Luornu's wedding outfit it's awesome. They just killed off Lyle, what?? Hey. Hey hey hey. As long as we are talking about cloning ethics. What the fuck. Superboy 206 what the fuck.

Adventure Comics (415-437) (1972-1975)

This has gone from Supergirl to an anthology once more! Got to see the origin of black orchid, then it went to Spectre stories with aquaman backups. The Spectre is soooo fun these days he's murdering anyone in horrifying new ways all the time! Garth is still nameless, but the artist is also drawing him like he's 30 (I'm so sorry buddy go back to Scotland).

The Brave and the Bold (100-116) (1972-1975)

Batman gets shot in the heart and is inches from death in one issue and it literally is never mentioned again that's the biggest issue i have with this series is that they know it has a low readership compared to the flagship titles so basically nothing that happens in them matters except maybe to the supporting character with no regular mag appearances. Okay, now a few issues later he's been shot in the chest AGAIN and also has sold his soul to the devil?? And the devil is maybe Hitler?? Buddy.... comics.... what.

Teen Titans (38-42) (1972-1973)

Okay, Garth is at college near Loch Ness and he's wearing a kilt as part of the uniform and i don't care if this is never ever mentioned again this is a cornerstone Garth moment for me. I've made it to the TT hiatus! Things don't quite line up right timeline wise, but I actually put snowbirds don't fly here as far as TT goes. It just makes sense for me that there is just one more support system ended as part of Roy's spiral. I sorta sorta head cannon that he started with painkillers a while back, and then after the peace prize winner is killed that spiraled into more serious use and maybe even starting the heroin, then things get a little better in the Jupiter era when they give themselves their uniforms back, but then they fall apart/drift away and he super falls apart, cause Ollie has gone off at the same time.

The Phantom Stranger (18-34) (1972-1975)

Love that Cassandra and the Stranger have adopted Tannerac as their pet villain and he's just like ??? ??? about everything they do, like hold his hand and save his life. I cannot believe that not one issue after I was getting all excited about this polycule they killed off Tannerac and sent off Cassandra believing that the stranger was dead too. Can't have shit in DC. Now its more and more it's falling into "satanic panic was right" bullshit I'm so tired.

All-Star Western/Weird Western Tales (10-33) (1972-1976)

Little known fact, ever since I first saw the Jonah Hex episode of BtAS I have been low-key obsessed with him, so now I'm picking up the Hex run! Jonah is the OG tsundere it is absolutely ridiculous I love him. I can't believe they have him a wolf buddy and then killed him off not two issues later, so rude. Also, El Diablo is here too, but this ain't about him. So Jonah wears the confederate uniform but also it was teased for a while that he betrayed them in a big way, leading to a large union victory, but honestly I thought that the reveal of what actually happened was pretty.... lukewarm. I know mainstream opinions on the civil war were way more forgiving back then but it was still disappointing.

Shazam! (1-16) (1973-1975)

Excited for Billy time!! V amused that the 20 year break in comics is an in-universe 20 year break as well, with the Marvels and the Sivanas on suspended animation. It is disappointing that it's aimed at younger audiences and is determined to ape the golden age storytelling as well as art.

And that's that for November. Did I think that I had an extra day? Yes. And I Do Not, so here's how the spreadsheet is looking now:

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

i’m an idiot. i screw everything up.

Titans 3.03

still here, still doing this. these reviews take a fair bit of time that i cobble together across days (like, ten minute chunks during breaks, etc) and i tend to struggle to keep up with episodes as they come out. this means that by the time i’m done with one, most of my stuff is jossed (or geoffed in this case? idk) or outdated and the post sinks like a stone into oblivion. so! i’m going to change things up a bit with this one and write as i see the episode rather than collecting my thoughts later. in my experience with spn, that was a faster way to get them done. 

anyway. let’s see how it goes! *shadowboxes*

SPOILERS ahead.

1. an auspicious start with some grave-digging!

digging up a grave and breaking open a coffin is some serious, back-breaking work--that dick did it on his own, likely straight after that fight with red hood, is a testament to the sheer intensity, stamina and discipline that he’s capable of. like, we like to joke about dick cooking cauliflower crust pizzas and making gar and rachel spar and memorise sun tzu--and despair at the obvious consequences of some of bruce’s parenting skills--but imagine crime-fighting almost daily without any superpowers, performing some of the most intense parkour in bulky, uncomfortable armour, doing detective work, pushing through every last barrier of exhaustion and then getting up to repeat it all over again the next day. dick probably thought he was going extra-easy on rachel and gar.

1.5. then again, dick probably had a hundred different easier ways to confirm whether jason was still buried or not, from using equipment to merely asking connor to have a quick look with his x-ray vision. but, no, he’s too caught up in confusion and terror, not really having come to terms with jason’s death in the first place, leave alone the possibility that he could be alive after all. he can’t possibly let the others know until he’s confirmed it himself, even if it means digging all through the night until his arms are jelly, thinking over and over again about jason’s eyes, jason’s voice, from behind that red mask. 

... besides, dick has good reason to believe that he could’ve been hallucinating. wouldn’t be his first psychotic episode, after all.

that just imbues this sweaty, desperate, fingers-scrabbling-in-gravedirt scene with that much more poignancy, and a fair bit of bone-chilling terror. dick is horrified to realise that jason’s grave is empty, but a part of him is also probably relieved.

1.75 (... also it’s curious that we’re never shown any of the team asking to see jason’s grave after they come to wayne manor. i guess it’s because the writers--and the audience--know that jason is actually alive, but these people don’t know that. i don’t know if it’s sad or infuriating or both that they’re barely shown mourning him.)

2. oh GOD the sheer TENSION in kory saying, “i don’t want to say it, but--” and dick quickly interrupting, “it was jason. i saw him,” and hank giving him this loaded sidelong glance. i love how dick’s precarious mental health from last season is still this big elephant in the room but at least nobody’s blowing up in his face and questioning his every decision yet

2.25. i love the relative matter-of-factness with which they’re discussing a possible resurrection. and, of course, ra’s al ghul is brought up and quickly dismissed

(still wouldn’t put it past this show to bring him up at the very last second as the real real mastermind)

2.5. “maybe they can bring donna back” OH KORY

2.75. didn’t they have this same conversation about killing/not killing rose last season? man, the og titans make me tired.

and i don’t know if it’s just hank, but there’s a definite in-group/out-group vibe going on with the og titans, where they’re not only ready to consider killing anybody who threatens the group but makes it difficult for new people to fit in. donna and kory got along well with each other, but the dynamics between hank/donna/dawn and gar/rachel/rose were somewhat strained, and with jason, they were really fucking terrible. it makes sense when you think about how the titans started and how they broke up the first time--both were fairly disruptive events, i’d imagine, in that they probably got together to break away from their mentors and strike out on their own, and when they split up, it was the first time they felt directly responsible for the loss of an innocent life.

but the titans that dick is leading now is explicitly about mentoring a young generation of heroes, about second chances and found family. dick definitely wants to reach out to him first, and i have a feeling he’s going to be forced to make some sort of terrible Choice later on in this episode. 

2.8. (honestly tho, this also seems like hank struggling with his own guilt re: jason; if red hood is not the kid that he failed, it’d be easier to fight him.)

3.

HANK NO

4. honestly this season is already ticking off so many things on my wishlist, but i really wish dick would sit down with the newer members of his team and trust them with important information the same time that he’s telling them to the other members. gar searching for help and reassurance from a man who just dumped all of his responsibilities on his son overnight and went AWOL is a sad sight

4.25. has it only been just 48 hours????? wow! jason’s definitely been planning the red hood gig for a long time now...

5. ezekiel, my man! shady looking guy gets into your cab without a destination in mind... no problem, get right in! said guy gets a call to go to the observatory when he’s barely even looked out of the window so far at gotham... yep, a damn tourist! i want more ezekiel in this show.

5.25. (of course jason has upturned table lamps all along the floor... we have to *gritted teeth* balance the TEAL with the ORANGE don’t we?)

5.5. “dick’s a fucking psycho--he could be following you right now.” hank... has no objection to that lol

5.25. hank, hank... this is bad-decision-palooza. i can’t imagine that hank actually thought that jason was reaching out to him for help, given that the last time hank and jason had any substantial interaction hank had been one of the people accusing jason of sabotaging the team. but for him to go seek out jason and go along with his demands without any backup, weapons or equipment? not the best idea he’s ever come up with.

(add to that getting into the swimming pool of a condemned gym... oh yuck.)

((yes, i have enough self-restraint to not cap his ass.))

(((cap his ass! HA!)))

5.5. do you think jason has bugs/monitoring equipment planted in wayne manor to monitor the titans, or remote access to the cave’s systems? wouldn’t put it past him.

6. oh man, hank came back before dick and the others could meet ezekiel! this is TRAGIC

6.25. i mean, it’s plot-convenient that connor was able to give so much information about the bomb from just looking at it once, but i also like to think it’s the luthor-side of him coming to the fore. it also reminds me of that (in)famous scene from the new52 run of Nightwing comics, where a bomb was attached to nightwing’s heart and luthor disabled it by killing nightwing (temporarily). it’s a neat little callback. 

6.55. “where i come from, you go after family? there’s no mercy.” BUT THAT’S THE PROBLEM ISN’T IT

6.75. i mean, dick’s making sense: this is a game, and they need to get it off playing out on jason’s terms. but having a member of his team in his face, doubting his reasoning and every decision? a very familiar sight. 

6.8. krypto with an a+ sense of humour? also a very familiar sight.

7. wayne enterprises... providing the military with... bombs that can be implanted in humans? a BIIIIG yikes. i guess it’s not too many steps above developing clandestine intra-dermal trackers and implanting them in your own sons, and bruce probably thought they could be used as part of negotiation tactics, but still... YIKES.

7.5. on the other hand, conner being asked to build a deactivation advice seems part of a growth arc that started from last season... he knows so much, but part of growing is learning, and part of learning is using what you know to create something new.

8. oh man, my heart broke at hank going “i’m an idiot... i screw everything up.” like. for him to go like this, after being brought down to such a low last season? struggling with pain and addiction and his relationship with the love of his life? it’s so sad.

9. oh, oh, oh! ronnie from schitt’s creek! i love her!

9.5. “one of jason’s minions” took his body out of the morgue... how deliciously morbid that he planned out his own death like this!

10. TALK TO HANK, DICK

honestly, tho, i’m quite impressed with dick here. trying to think beyond just the most alarming part of the crisis at hand, keeping his cool, delegating tasks, frequently touching base with different members of his team... well done. 

10.25.... whoops, spoke too soon. i’m genuinely confused here, tho. where did the van full of gold bars come from? why did they stop there and get out? how did dawn even know about this?

on the other hand, it’s cool to know dove has bulletproof feathers!

10.5. eh... curran walters isn’t really selling red hood’s menace to me so far. but then again, if titans version of red hood is vulnerable-kid-with-father-issues-trying-to-overcompensate, then yeah! yeah, it makes sense. 

11. “when bats have sex, they gotta have something to hang from” OH GOD HANK

... because i want smiley!gar on my blog :)

11.5. awww. i feel sorry for hank but NONE of these fuckers deserve gar except maybe kory

12. ohhh FUCK! look at jason being exactly one step ahead of the titans at every turn. nice.

no really, i love the building stakes and the building mystery - i feel like the deathstroke arc from last season should’ve been more like this. the flashbacks about jericho and rose came too late and after too much build up, which resulted in a very underwhelming and confusing season throughline.

13. HANK AND DIIIIIICCCKKK

“you’re doing your best by me. always have.” WAILING HERE

it also kills me to think that hank thinks that his imminent death is because of his failure to keep the team together (when he was clearly struggling with his own issues and was spiralling towards rock-bottom) and his fear that he will once again be the cause of the team falling apart. 

also:

14. “i grew up... you can, too. you just have to face your fear.”

yep, got scarecrow’s grubby little fingerprints aaaaalllll over this. 

14.25. nightwing’s got specialised batarangs! yay! (somehow i can’t see this universe’s dick calling them “wingdings”)

15. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

oh man, that was devastating. well done, show. fuck, well done, jason.

this is going to bring up all sorts of “if onlys” for the team. i can’t wait for some fucking aftermath. 

[talesfromatabletop]

RP Headcanons: DC Edition, pt 1

Batfam

Bruce cares, tries, and fails, but generally keeps trying for his kids.

Baby Terry McGinnis is the cutest thing ever and his dinosaur t-shirts reinforce this.

Slade Wilson - terrible person, great assassin, loving (if strict) parent.

Dick and Bruce fight constantly! Once Dick gets mad about something, everything makes him more angry until he and Bruce eventually resolve the first problem. It's sometimes big stuff... sometimes really petty shit.

Steph loves waffles. She will trade Tim for a 4-stack with chocolate chips.

Everybody wants to pair with Bruce on Gotham patrols. He gets the best fights and he brings snacks in the belt - it's a 50/50 if it's protein bars or trail mix, though.

Nobody wants to pair with Bruce on Gotham patrols. He won't let you make Social Media posts or stop for a hotdog at Rico's corner stand.

Jason and Dick actually fight a lot, still. Jason knows how to push Dick's buttons and he uses that as a self-defense tactic when he doesn't want to talk. ("Get Dick mad and he won't ask if I'm okay!")

Cass loved Steph before Steph loved Cass. Stephanie figured it out... eventually.

Lucius Fox only helps with the really weird shit because Bruce trades him Alfred's secret holiday recipes sometimes. Alfred's recipes are the true treasures of Earth.

Duke does his best not to get swept up in the weird, wild lives of his batsiblings tbh.

Tim doesn't babysit, he gets babysat.

Ace is the Good Boy™ but he will try and take Krypto down.

Titus is trained, we swear, but he's goofier than a ferret on drugs sometimes. 10/10 derp.

Sometimes Dami gives Batcow walks through the garden to help her relax.

Every Batfam member will stab the other for the last piece of Ma Kent's apple pie. Even Alfred.

Superfam

90s Kon and YJ Kon both deserve to exist. What better combo than the Insta-famous, outgoing showboat and the blunt, introverted buffbaby?

YJ Kon is way more of a "Conner" than 90s Kon. 90s Con is now "Carter."

Carter + Tim = Flashy Disaster Couple

Conner likes Wally's freckles.

Ma and Pa Kent accept any and all grandkids, time-travel or dimension-hopping be damned because "They're our boys, now, Clark, of course we want to see them!", and there are family trips to the farm.

Clark will bribe his friends and teammates with his mother's cooking. He can't bribe with his own, though, because he's terrible at it.

Jon would happily fly to Gotham for dinner before eating what his father burned made for them.

Krypto would probably go, too.

Clark doesn't know what to do with all of his sons but at least they aren't like his cousins.

"It's not about whether the boob window would look good or not, guys! It isn't happening!" is still something he's had to say before, though, and Clark's mildly ashamed of it.

With three superboys up to bat, the real issue is that none of them want to share the name. Jon had it first and that's fine with his brothers, really. Conner looks and feels like practically an adult, so he's meh about it. Carter wants something catchier to say. The result? Superboy, Kon and Rao.

Jor-El had a conniption when Carter named himself "Rao" as a hero. "You named yourself after OUR GOD?!? You disrespectful little-!"

Lex thought it was hilarious.

The boys are constantly in the background of Carter's posts and there's a few Insta vids of Lex trying and failing to hide that he's mildly amused by his son's shenanigans.

Flashfam

Barry is face-blind (has prosopagnosia). He can gradually memorize specific elements of a person's face ("Uh... Ollie's hair is like mine, right? So he's blond! And I know he has facial hair.") but has trouble associating them together unless he's had long periods of exposure to the person.

Wally is a nervous bundle of anxiety. All of the time.

Barry is practically incapable of looking on the dark side of things, and tends to believe the best of people - this extends to his villains.

Cisco is his bro, Caitlin is like the ditzy aunt, and Harrison is the exasperated father-figure that just wishes his kids didn't drink so much coffee.

Speaking of coffee - Barry doesn't drink it on the job. It makes him antsy.

Captain Boomerang - Digger, to his friends - is always on the edge of getting out of the game. Raising Owen ("Little Diggs") is a higher priority than his Rogues work. He waivers between retirement and always that "last" job that'll set him up to take care of his son.

Little Diggs is too pure for this world, and a fan of Flash even though he knows his father is a villain.

Wally isn't as forgiving with the Rogues as Barry is. This is especially true for Heatwave, Glider and Cold, since they've all double-crossed the Flash before.

Cold isn't fond of Kid Flash. Barry earns his respect and, in some ways, his admiration - this doesn't extend to Flash's smartassed sidekick.

Lisa and Mick are a surprisingly functional duo despite their dysfunctional dynamic. Lisa is generally in charge in their relationship, and Mick knows Len would ice him if he ever raised a hand to Lisa.

Len and Mick are best friends, despite the friction from their clashing personalities.

Lisa keeps pushing Len to either date or pick a favorite hooker - anything to get him laid and chilled out for once.

Len is practically addicted to puns. Not even just cold- or ice-related puns, either! He will make puns out of anything when given an opportunity, and genuinely is amused by them.

Arrowfam

Oliver is never in control of his daily life. He's barely in control of his personal choices most of the time.

Felicity runs it all - the team, the company, organizing his assignments from the League... everything other than doing the hard stuff herself.

Ollie really is a capable hero, but he doesn't believe it. He also doesn't particularly believe that the League needs or wants him there, but couldn't tell you why exactly they keep him, then, if questioned about it.

Roy has totally given up the flash and mystique of heroism tbh. Trucker hat? Check. Bow, arrows, and backup guns? Check. Flip-flops? All the better to chase people with. The slapslapslap of justice will strike terror in the hearts of muggers everywhere.

Oliver spoils Lian relentlessly.

Artemis is glad to avoid the weird shit that Roy and his clones get up to when Ollie isn't paying attention. She's never been more thankful that she isn't one of the adopted sidekicks.

Jim: Big, friendly, easily guilt-tripped, the pretty one.

Will: Mature, down-to-earth, does the guilt-tripping, the mom/dad friend.

Roy: Trash, amger!!!, can't be guilt-tripped but can be blackmailed, has no clue what he wants in life yet.

Lian will either murder you in your sleep or you are now a member of her family. There is no in-between.

No pets. Ever. They will get shot with an arrow by accident and nobody in the house is willing to deal with that emotional burden.

Oliver wants exactly 0 people in the "Arrowfam" but will kill you and/or himself over losing any member of his Arrowfam.

[davidmann95]

Two questions: 1. What your dream Superbook line up look like? What's included and what do they focus on? Would you bring back Adventure Comics? 2. How different would Amy Adams' portrayal of Lois Lane be if she, the actress, were in fact a centaur?

I have to say anon, this is sincerely the weirdest ask I’ve ever gotten. Is this a test of some sort? A gag? Do you consider those questions to be of equal importance?

…or…or was there no hint of madness to it at all? Is this instead the brilliant exercise of cold logic? Did you observe from afar, discerning my habits and interests so you could calculate how best to strike? Knowing I’d be polite enough to tackle the centaur topic if it were the rider to something I was invested in, and that my vanity simply wouldn’t permit me to pass up your lead-in? Did you, anon, seeking the answer to the one question that mattered to you - the particulars of Amy Adams’ career as a centaur - simply deduce the most direct path to your goal? Is that what this is, you sick, genius motherfucker?

Fine. But I won’t like it. Everyone gets outplayed sometimes, but you don’t have to be so goddamn showy about it.

Superman: The Man of Tomorrow: The big line-leader book, in the same way Batman and Robin was during Morrison’s tenure for the Bat-books. Long-term plots, huge threats, major consequences.

Action Comics: Essentially Superman Family Adventures, focusing on Lois, Clark, and Jonathan, with other members of the Super-Family dropping in as needed. Lots of day-in-and-day-out Daily Planet and family stuff for subplots, most major adventures wrapped up in 3-6 issues, fairly classic and lighthearted.

Superman: Centered on the guy himself and his solo stories, deliberately continuity-lite and with most stories lasting no more than 1-2 issues, 3 at the outermost limit for huge adventures, in line with the understanding that this is what the casual reader is most likely to buy and should as such be as familiar and accessible as possible. In the vein of stuff like Superman Adventures and Supreme and of course All-Star.

The Daily Planet: An anthology title; the lead is a Lois Lane-centric (but still very much an ensemble) street-level view of Metropolis living in the same atmosphere as Gotham Central, with two backups in the form of Jimmy Olsen with his wacky escapades and a rotating feature based on whatever the creators are interested in doing.

Superkid, Son of Superman: The “Son of Superman” could be dropped when Jon’s properly established, but this would in any case be his own book of solo adventures - often with Krypto in tow - with a relatively Silver Age-childish feel to them as he does his best, learns wistful childhood lessons, and gets in over his head as he ventures far beyond home. All-Star Superman meets Little Nemo meets Franklin Richards: Son Of A Genius. And while I don’t especially consider Superboy taken as a name - don’t much care about Conner - I’d prefer something a little different and more playful for Jonathan.

Supergirl: Uh…exactly what it sounds like? It’s working really well right now, no need to mess with success.

P.R.O.J.E.C.T.: The home of all the fun Kirby shit between Cadmus and Guardian and the Newsboy Legion and maybe some version of Conner Kent if you really wanna bring him back to draw attention to the book; maybe throw Steel in here too.

Superman: Man of Steel: An ongoing flashback title set in Superman’s earlier years, with more low-key adventures and the love triangle with Lois intact - as well as backups set in other past periods of his career - so fans and creators who prefer those setups have a place to play without needing to interfere with the other titles to get this status quo (there’d be similar titles for Batman, the Justice League, the Teen Titans, and probably the Flash, for the same purpose).

SUPERMAN!: The all-ages book, all fun, non-condescending done-in-ones.

The Adventures of Superman: Same principle as the last real-world volume but going much farther, with bigger names being told to do literally whatever they want with the character, whether that means a mature-readers take, stylistic deviations editorial probably wouldn’t permit on the main books, weird Imaginary Stories, and so on and so forth. The Solo/Wednesday Comics/Batman: Black and White/Strange Tales spirit as applied to Superman, his official ‘prestige’ book.

Plus assorted miniseries and somesuch, and allowance for growth if these took off - I have a Smallville-era Clark book vaguely in mind, and while I don’t know that Superman Squad or Superfolks of the Multiverse titles would be guaranteed hits, I sure wouldn’t mind seeing someone try.

As for your other question, if we lived in a world where centaurides have integrated enough into mainstream society that they can be nominated for Oscars, I have to imagine her role as Lois would go largely unchanged, aside from needing a wider escape pod in Man of Steel, and the bath scene with Clark maybe getting a little more complicated in BvS.

[popculturebuffet]

Long Live the Legion!: Legion of Super Heroes (Bendisboot) #1: “Here We Are in The Future”

One of my two faviorite dc comics teams returns at long last! Under Bendis.. oh dear. The Legion heads to Planet Gotham since it dosen’t have a goddamn Batman and fight a Wizard for Aquaman’s old stuff .  Meanwhlie Jonathan Kent tries to adjust to the future and his teammates struggle to shut the fuck up.  See you in the 31st Century under the cut.

Welcome to Long Live The Legion, the new segment where I talk about various Legion of Super Heroes Comics... but before we get to the latest... I feel a little personal history is in order.  Years ago a middle school aged me went to the library to stock up on stuff to read for the weekend. My Dad had me for the weekend, loved to go and at the time had no cable so it was either his vast collection of dvds or reading, which I alternated between. It was thanks to this I checked out a book that looked kinda intresitng: The Legion of Superheroes Archive Volume 2. This was my first introduction to the team:... from tales of a backup team with powers that didn’t quite work deciding to fight anyways, to the return of lighting lad from the dead at a time in comics when they didn’t have Goldballs for that, to a giant telepath in a bubble, the stories were dated and cheesy as they were awesome to young me. So I became a fan of the team for life. And that’s what leads us here, to an issue that i’ve waited 5 years for.... but before we can look towards the future, we must look towards the past, a little history for the unfamiliar and a refresher for you fellow legionarres.  The Legion was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino for the series Adventure Comics, which followed Superboy, at the time Clark Kent as a teenager. In their debut Clark met three mysterious teenagers with super powers of their own who  invited him to join their team of super powered rag tag teenagers. 

No not that one... that’s a decade off

Not not that one either. 

Eh i’ll take it, it’s the closest you’ve got so far.

So naturally the team was the legion, and after a rather poorly thought out test of character where they made the poor isolated teen think he failed when he in fact was given a secret test of character in a move that would make Albus Dumbledoore proud, he got in. This was supposed to be just a one off, as most things were in the silver age except that yearlong storyline about Krypto the superdog stealing Superman’s sanwitch or the 6 month quest of Jimmy Olseon to get a cure for space scabies after his time with an alien princess.  But the team was a hit, and understandably so: At the time most teen superheros were sidekicks: it wouldn’t be till spider-man that was fixed and even Superboy himself was just a past version of a current hero. Meanwhile most superhero teams were just  collections of pre established heroes or one off oddities like the league of batmen, which are awesome and grant morriosn rightly used.   The Legion were a whole diffrent animal: Set in the future,  having a giant roster with unique, for the time and in some cases even now, powers, romance, and plenty of room to work with. Even today the large roster and future setting set them apart from most comics, and JOnathan Hickman has adotped the plus sized team approach for 2/3 of his major runs to great success. The team’s basic premise, which also has remained unchanged with one big exception, is that a group of teens, inspried by heroes past usually superman, fight evil under the jurisdiction of the united planets, basically a united nations IN SPACEEEEE, and thus come from all sorts of diffrent worlds and save them from all manner of threats. 

While the stories were as I said, goofy, I ddin’t even mention the one where one rejected possible member has the team’s three strongest members mind swapped with nero, al capone and hitler. And yes he ends up in the exact body you think he would. 

Have I mentioned I love this team? But the had charm as the above panel can attest, as noted above the team had an actual death with founding member lightning lad dying and having to be brought back at a time when again, we didn’t have plant islands, skrulls or satan to paper over that. 

The team continued onto the 70′s, getting skimpier outfits, including this thing...

I.. have not words, just don’t look too close at his ab window or you’ll never stop looking. Trust me. But yeah as you can tell the legion went from teens to 18 to 19 year olds, with relationship problems, angst, and a building world. It was into this time we got the best creative team for this version: Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen, who’d later go on to write another faviorute of mine Justice League International. The team soared higher with some of i’ts best storylines and at the start of my legion loving was one of the verions I read the most of. I will be covering one of them, eye for an eye, eventually as it’s damn awesome if often overshadowed by the mega epic “The Great Darkness Saga. Then it all got flip turned upside down. 

Crisis on Infinite earths was an attempt to clean of dc continuity by destroying it’s parallel earths and changing it’s history.. and got rid of superboy and supergirl in the process, naturally fucking over the legions history and every attempt to either fix this or bring them back was shot to pieces, leaving the legions in shambles and at the mercy of a grim and gritty reboot by Giffen, who may be fucking great but like any creator is not perfect. I’ll also likely check that out too.  So with things a mess, the higher ups saw upcoming crossover Zero Hour, which was going to redit time and space a bit, as a time to just hit the reset button. And while retcons and reboots CAN be stupid, as we’ve seen with X-Men, sometimes a franchise needs a fresh coat of paint after serious negelct and mismanagment, and since unlike most properties dc could just restart it with no real effect on the present since the Legion rarely visted it and most of their ties had been shot off, they rebooted it, hence what I meant by versions.  With Mark Waid and later Tom’s McCraw and Peyer, with McCraw having some imput at the begining,helming the ship things were set back to teendome, but with more tension in the up, depth to the various worlds, and in general it was a hugely great run, even if it didn’t catch on at the time because the 90′s were a time when Rob LIefield got steady work, nothing made sense. It was damn good and while I have a special place in my heart for the original legion, I do love this one too. They lasted for a decade, were very good and their final major run was by future Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova creative heads Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, whose own run was darker but also really fucking awesome. But for whatever reason, low sales, being dicks, with another crisis on the way DC pressed the reset button.. and oddly Mark Waid was tapped to do it again. This last major out and out reboot, though there’s oen sorta reboot coming after it, followed the Legion not as an arm of the United Planets, but as rebleious teens in a future where teens are margnlizied and not given hardly any rights and most culture and creativity is sterile. It’s a great idea that makes it vastly diffrent from the previous two and feels warranted and I definitely need to reread it.  It sadly didn’t survive forever either, as after Waid left , after redefinting the new super girl and leaving her in a better place, the team hit the skids and a diffrent kind of reset button was pushed.. the old team was brought abck, though with the solo Giffen era retconned out since no one liked it> This move was... ehhhhhhhh, but the stories that came from it were decent and the renewed adult legion made it into the new 52... and then had a messy end, as sales were low, and were quickly retconned to be on earth 2. The Legion was dead and buried for several years despite said retcon leving the door open for a fourth proper reboot. 

Enter DC Rebirth, where the Legion was hinted at by having Saturn Girl show up in the present, but locked in Arkham due to people thinking she’s nuts.. even though this is a universe with the doom patrol... just.. the doom patrol alone proves that stranger shit has happened. Side note Legion of Super Heroes/Doom Patrol... come on Gerard Way. Make it happen. Make my dreams come true like Hall and Oates. Anyways, so I waited paitently for the past three years until a few months ago when the Legion’s return was finally announced... and I was happy.... then that quickly switched to a mixture of OH FUCK ME and PLEASEBEGOODPLEASEBEGOOOD once the writer was announced... Brian. Micheal. Benidis. I should...explain my reaction. 

Brian Micheal Bendis was one of Marvel’s premire writers: He brought spider-man and marvel back from the brink by creating the ultimate line with Ultimate Spider-Man, created Miles Morales, Jessica Jones, Ironheart and Goldballs, revitalized the Avengers and Luke Cage.. the guy is genuinely impressive in places and has runs I truly love. Buuuuut, the guy is hit and miss as hell. The man also wasted a great concept with All-New All-Different X-Men, had a really bleh Guardians run, the first after DnA no less that held up the team for years and was thankfuly followed up by Duggan and Cates, made every X-Man who wasn’t on scott summers side into a douche canoe, though THIS was remotley okay:

Okay so for context, All New X-Men was about the original class of x-men brought to the present. Here, towards the end, Bendis..decided to have young bobby drake come out as gay, and reveal the present day one was closeted. That.. was not the problem. It's not a terrible idea for a storyline or a way to add represenatation to the X-Men and many gay men and women hide in the closet for years and years, and Sina Grace later stuck the landing on it. The issue.. is more the above: That rather than, and he had 50 goddamn issues to do this, have a long storyline where Jean detects this and, rather than be gentle about it, since he DOES need to deal with it as his future self very clearly hasn't, and nudge him towards admitting it to her, she instead basically steamrolls him with his sexuality with all the subtlty of a sledgehammer, invades his thoughts, and then somehow makes herself look WORSE by saying "They say everybody is", which feels like a passive agressive jab against bi people and as a Bi man, fuck you brian, and not letting him explore his sexuality for himself. He IS in fact gay, not bi or pan, but that was for him to learn..  not for her to sledgehammer into him. And for those of you saying “Oh well she just was from a time where she didn’t know as much about that stuff”, she had two adults who were unrelated in any way to Bobby, one of whom is also a telepath and could double check her work, to turn to and she could also, given they have a technopath to mask their internet commuincations she could easily...

While this tirade in part is because that scene is awful, it also brings me to my point about bendis: The guy has genuine talent, good ideas.. but he has little self control and if he’s not reigned in, he can get lost in terrible charcterization, mis charcterization, nonseniscal plotting, and up his own ass.  He eventually ended up at dc where his hit or miss status shined: His Superman run is fairly contervirsial for reasons i’ll get into in a second, and his Young Justice and Namoi works.. are actualy well liked and what i’ve read of Young Justice is decent, mostly worth it for the character stuff which he does seem to do well there. And given he’s often strongest when he dosen’t have an established continuity to say “go fuck yourself” to, I was cautiously optimistc. But before I can get to how THAT panned out, we have  little bit more backstory to cover. Yes EVEN MORE. Shortly before Rebirth, Superman and Lois Lane had a son, Jonathan, a huge fan favorite, especially once Rebirth hit and he became Superboy, and that only doubled once he was given his own title and a great dynamic with Damien Wayne, batman’s son, no time to unpack that unaware as this review is mostly backstory at this point. He was 10... was being the key term as for Bendis run, he decided for whatever reason to shoot him up into space with his Grandpa Jor-El, who’d been plucked from Krypton’s destruction and driven mad, despite you know.. Jor-El having done some terrible shit and Clark should’ve said hell no to his son going with him no matter what Jonathan thought. Lois later returned, it’s own can of bullshit, and Jonathan did soon after.. as a teen. He and Jor El had gotten lost in time or something. Yeahhhh given this messes with his dynamic with Damien and it was a weird choice.. I questioned it till the Legion was announced.. and still do given Superman’s cousin KARA is out and about, and could’ve just as easily been set up in Jonathan’s place for the Legion, but wasn’t for no clear reason. But compared to the above, this is just mildly frustrating and obtuse instead of  making me want to take a turnip twaddler to his privates. 

So after a long storyline I haven’t read, just the end of it, Superman beat the guy who destroyed krypton, terrible villain Rogoor Zaal, and to prevent things from getting this bad again, Jonathan suggested a united planets.... a clever idea.. and such idea caused the Legion to come back to invite him to join, a nice twist on them wanting the original super boy for their team. even though again why it’s not Kara who has more galactic knowledge and not so much fan baggage is beyond me, but apparently making her evil thanks to s and m batman is a better idea!  Before I have a coranary, there’s one last thing to discuss: Legion of Super Heroes Mllennium, a two issue lead up which was about Rose whose split personality Thorn is an anti hero and her living through every dc future, connecting them all together fairly well, and leading up to the legion. I bring it up here because she’ll likely be important later but the story was decent, just not what I wanted as well.. I wanted the legion back dammit. And now the Legion is back.  We open on the Planet Gotham, a mysterious artifical planet, specifically the...

Apparently all future vehicles are based of bat tech... because of course it is, and a bunch of thugs, part of some criminal group called the Horraz. Their being chased by Ultra Boy, a legionarre whose power is interesting: He has your standard superman flying brick power set, only instead of “Super” it’s ultra: ultra strength, ultra speed, ultra vision (basically super laser beam eyes), flight and invulnerability. What makes him interesting is that each power can only be used one at a time, so he has to think on the fly. Here it’s shown subtly, and that he’s likely not using his flight ring since flight ring flight isn’t as fast as his natural: He flies after the vehicle, lands on it, but is stuck on the ground after having to switch to invulnerability to survive the blast, then uses ultra speed for this awesome moment. 

After the tussle a weird purple cynlander pops out, only instead of containing mutagen or some sort of blob monster, it contains what Ultra Boy was trailing these guys over.. but before we can find out what it is he’s hit with a blast of light and we meet another familiar face legion wise....

This is Mordru. He's only shown up in 2/3 continuities but is out and out one of the Legion's greatest foes. A wizard, harry, he is massively powerful and being a sorcerer in a tech based future society, he has a leg up on our heroes by being outisde their normal range of foes and most times they've BARELY beat him from what I can tell. He's usually depicted as basically evil merlin, but thankfully Bendis  had sook give him a MUCH better new look, with a cool sinister looking mask. It really makes him LOOK the part of deadly ancient sorecerer far better than he has in the past. But before he can Avada Kadavra Ultra Boy’s ass, backup arrives. 

Of course Karate Kid knows you can win if you dare. Karate Kid is, again, kinda on the nose: He's a marital artist who's a master of thousands of arts and thus one of the few legionarres in most continuities to not have a power, but has more than enough skill to back it up. HIs surly pal, and a general favorite legionarre of mine and my favorite for this issue, is Wildfire a teen who got converted to pure energy and pure pissed off. The silent guy in the back is star boy, with a sweet new look and he controls gravity. Sadly he didn't bring the captain of outer space with him.The Legion tries to figure out what their supposed to tell him, and I love it. While Bendis teen writing can vary, here it feels real, like a bunch of super teens were duly deputized but with about 30 members,  they all likely don’t know what proper code is and are just winging it. Mordru however refuses to give in and turns into a fire monster. So while Ultra Boy plays keepaway the rest of the team fights back, but once he has it stashed, he uses the LInkara method to put Mordru down. 

With the dread wizard down for now, and i’ll admit a bit easily given how powerful he’s been in the past to the point i’m expecting a twist at some point in this first arc. The team banters some more which I have to admit.. works for me. Bendis does this in most stories.. but since he’s working from the ground up here it feels natural, while in other stories of his he has a BAD tendency to make characters Quippy that shouldn’t be, like X-23 or Damien Wayne.. and yes that just happened a few weeks ago, which makes it all the more telling when he does it right. Good on him. So we find out a bit more about the Horraz, that their intergalactic and that they outright slaughtered a full crew to get their hands on the thingamabob... which once it’s revealed expalins WHY everyone wants it:

The second most powerful thing he owned.. other than his marvelous singing voice.

We leave these 4 for now for this big old page tumblr’s probably going to have a fit processing, but is too beauitful, and too intricate, to cut up well. 

I"m with Jon, your taking him a thousand years into the future and NOT warning him of the diffrences right away or having Braniac 5, the team's resident genius and white sheep descendant of the original. That being said there's two things I like here: The first is the layout, it's beautiful, nice and dreamy and a nice way to transition from Jon and Irma time bubbling. The second is Saturn Girl. She reminds me of Bendis' Jean.. yes the same asshole above.. but UNLIKE Jean, she's an alien: it's unknown how Saturnians treat telepathy here and unlike ANAD Jean under his pen seems more absent minded about it than  willing to tear into people with a power she needs to reign in and even Charles "Enslaved a danger room, got 5 teens killed and covered it up and has a huge years long scheme that involved fucking a woman just to produce a super son and lying to his students" Xavier gets is necessary for telepaths. She's charming, has a nice design.. it COULD get grating but we’re only on issue 1. Anyways Jon is then brought into the future and it’s bright.. and full of legionarres in a page a bit too big to put on Tumblr, but it’s a nice shot as they all celebrate. 

We're then introduced to a new concept, the frichtman tag. While I admit it's weirdly placed behind them, so the reader can't see it, it is a good concept, tags that give the info a caption box would in other legion runs: name, powers, home planet. Makes commuincating easier espescially since most of their situations are crisis, so newbies like Jon would be at a disadvantage trying to figure out a power of an unfamiliar legionarre in a pinch and it helps break the ice, something Jon is greatful for. It's a nice thing, not a HUGE big part of the world but a little touch that shows Bendis IS trying here. He's trying to really build a world. The Planet Gotham thing was also a nice touch: While I will admit DC tends to overlove batman, it was always a glaring omisson that most of the heroes of the past just outright VANISHED, atlantians amazonians..  it's also something shown in the roster. While I haven't shown them the new legion has two fresh, neverbefore seen members among the reimaginings of many others: A kid wearing the helmet of DC's biggest sorcerer and another wearing what looks like a sinestro corps ring and uniform. The GLC was involved but not heavily and fate was just forgotten.. I like it as while it dosen't need to OVERWHLEM the legion's own lore, I like seeing what happened to these pieces of dc lore after a thousand years and i'ts a welcome addition. It's one of the strongest things of the issue: Bendis , surprisingly given his years at marvel, clearly loves DC continuity and likes playing with it and being far beyond continuity lets him really stretch that.

After the obligatory bird plane joke from Brainy, Jon notices they are not under a sky but glass.. and given the whole Braniac thing and his teammates, instead of helping calm him down, just go into a round of "Long live kandor" He freaks out and gets a proper look at new metropolis. Also there's rose. Hi Rose. Bye rose. 

Jon is distracted from his panic attack, which again guys i get whatever happened to Kandor is bad but jesus HELP YOUR NEW FRIEND WHEN HE'S CLEARLY WORRIED. Your lucky he didn't punch Braniac 5 in the face the second he realized "Oh SHIT it's a braniac!" if Kandor scares him that much, but I digress. Jon is awestruck and soon finds that HQ isn't in the city, it IS the city in this continuity. IN most they just have an HQ in New Metropolis, and in one their own fucking planet... and while this is a step back from that, I still love it. It's another great idea, as Saturn Girl poitns out there's a lot of them and they are a sizeable team and likely to only grow from here. As for why their under glass welllllllll.

Okay admitely I did have to chance the frustration for this: THIS is earth, with what little is left saved by various scientests.. but the legion calm john, who is mildly annoying here.. as is bouncing boy who wont' shut up about the orentation but I'm just glad he's a full member again so i'll allow it, that earth, after so many reboots and crisis, that it’s a miracle it’s still kicking even in this weird form. And I love it, like a lot of this. While sof ar the dialouge can be hit and miss, though nothing so bad I could mock or deride so far just some jokes or bits don’t land, the world building is top notch, with tons of great ideas. Now wether he does something with them remains to be seen. So Jon takes him in and the team is about to tell him about Gotham, they get an alert.. .but it’s thankfully just our quartet from the beginning 

IN order, no your not, you were not on the mission Rokk, shut up. And second, while she really SHOULDLN’T be so casual with it, as I said i’m fine with it for now and he’s giving her the “um nothing” excuse having come back from an off limits world. We get some exposition: In this continuity, Ultra BOy, or Jo Nahh as he got his powers in the first continuity from being eaten by a space whale, reveals he got the intel from his dad, a high ranked general in the UP who got him assigned to the legion to keep him out of hte planet’s constant wars. 

First off like Krilllin supes is everyone’s best friend. Even that weird horse what dated his sister, though that is accurate: They are each other’s best best friend. And it is adorable. Third.. yeah it’s time to adress the elephant in the room since we’re almost done here: Bendis Jon is goddamn annoying. The ten year old one , primarily written by Peter Tomasi, could be a little pipsqueak, but was also ten, noble, adorable and had his dad’s sense of honor. Here he’s just kinda cocky and annoying, like a lesser version of his cousin conner, who it feels like Bendis wanted to use for this and either couldn’t or didn’t want him to leave young justice. Hopefully he gets better with time or, even if he is fairly prominent, dosen’t detract from the rest of the cast.  Jo explains that he has no idea where the Trident came from, only that he heards his dad talking about it and tracked it from Rimborr... where it’s left a trail of bodies thanks to the Horraz. That’s part of why I don’t think Mordru is nearly as easy to take down as it looked: The Horraz can kill many, and while leaving a trail of corpses is something any hood can do, doing so and still existing despite causing terror on multiple planets isn’t. Even if the name phonetically sounds like Whores, they are a decent threat in both design and ominusness, though time will tell if htey hold up. As for why the Trident’s so valuable it’s revealed the Trident is rumored to be able to restore earth’s oceans, as it wasn’t the earth ending cataclys m that destroyed them, and possibly help earth itself go back to it’s natural state.. but before this can be tested or thought about, it’s revealed Wildfire left hte door open, okay interstellar portal... and the Horraz followed. 

We’ll see which one’s right next time as we cut to the united planets to finish. The president is annoyed at the legions actions, as bringing Jon here was a no no… but wonders why. And while the Legion told Jon it was for “Unity Day” The day the UP was created.. she simply shoots that idea down with “no seriously why”. This is a big offense, so it’s now clear the Legion has some other reason for bringing him here, and her expression only gets more annoyed when she finds out about the trident. And on that eh note that could’ve been put earlier in the issue, To BE Continued.

Final Thoughts: This issue is a decent start. As Analysis of X should make clear, i’ve seen BETTER, but the intresting ideas and Sook’s amazing art and creative as hell redesigns help elevate the issue, and the opening action scene is a highlight, with humor, well drawn action, and an interesting look at what’s liable to be the big bad for this arc and his minions. What holds it down is a rushed feeling, as it feels like Bendis takes no real time to set up a lot of things other than a base of operations and the earth’s status when there’s a lot to unpack for both new and old legion fans he hasn’t, though given his style he probably will eventually, it just might take some issues. And as I made clear his version of John, our viewpoint character, is annoying and will not shut up at times, though hopefully the big twerp will become more likable with time or at least less prominent. All that said... i’m still on board, and not just do to being legion starved: Bendis is trying to do something fresh with the team, something different than the past three versions but still familiar, taking bits and pieces here and there and making them fresh. And given how stagnant the first part of his iron man run and all of his guardians run felt, it’s nice to see him truly building out a world and truly giving a shit, even if he executed it a bit clumsy, it’s clear to me his heart is in this one. I also do like how the team’s operation is different; Their still with the up, but their clearly in over their heads a bit, which I like provided he doesn't take it too far. Overall it’s not the best start i’ve seen but it’s still far better than I worried it might be and still enough to hook my interest in issue 2.. after all Bendis likes to play the long game for better or worse. But for now here we are in the future, and it’s bright.