#retired superhero

[nelkcats]

Danny's "boo-tiful" parlor

After college Danny decided to open his own business, but he couldn't do it in Amity Park with so many people doubting his parents businesses or methods.

So he went to Gotham and set up a nice ice cream parlor downtown. Technically he wasn't invading any territory because he was in all of them at once. Both the Bats and the Rogues wondered if that made it a neutral area.

Everything was going well, Red Hood stopped by for pistachio ice cream every Wednesday, Harley came for bubble gum ice cream on Monday nights, ¡even a giant Crocodile came to buy him! (Croc was very surprised to be treated like another customer and it became his favorite establishment)

Until Batman decided to ruin it and investigate the harmless ice cream parlor; which unfortunately for Danny worked with his own ghost ice and sometimes could look a little too green.

He thought it wasn't fair for them to judge his ice, he had been very careful not to mix ectoplasm with his food, he didn't want alive cookies and cream or liminals running all over the city; except Hood, his pistachio ice cream might have a little ecto-dejecto, but it was to heal him ¡healing ice cream!

That's how Monday morning, the owner put up a "No Batman's allowed" sign in front of the establishment, his business was good without disrespectful furrys.

If the bat wanted to investigate, it should do so away from his respectable business and his new Boo-berry flavor. Maybe he needed to rename the place, but Sam and Tucker banned calling it "I-scream" and "Phantom's haunt" was not that obvious ¿right?

[rainedropsart]

Trying to figure out an Arrowette design, so here’s some art after like. Months

[chernobog13]

I hate to admit, I was sucked in by this ad, despite the horrific Hawkman costume.

It's an hour of my life I desperately want to get back, but never will.

Stupidly, my brothers and I tuned in to watch the second part, thinking that it couldn't be any worse than the first.

Oh, but it was! IT WAS!

And we remain in therapy to this day because of it!

[animatejournal]

Batman Beyond Creators: Bruce Timm, Paul Dini & Alan Burnett Studio: Warner Bros. | USA, 1999

[kingoftieland]

The LEGO Deadpool minifigure was notable for a few reasons. For one, Deadpool has a notorious reputation as a violent mercenary with a puerile sense of humor. Also, this minifig was released during the first wave of LEGO Marvel sets back in 2012, long before he became the household name he is today.

“Wolverine’s Chopper Showdown” is still the only set he’s ever appeared in, and given Deadpool's standing now as a decidedly R-rated hero, LEGO is unlikely to release another set starring the Merc with a Mouth. Fortunately, I recently got my hands on this highly-sought after collectible. It’s exceedingly hard to find him in mint condition, but this one definitely meets the criteria! 🔞

[krdaaaa]

Since the Batman mantel can technically exist outside of Bruce Wayne, since it isn't strictly tied to Bruce as a person and it's more of a symbol, do you guys think if in some alternate universe or even some time in the future DC fully retires Bruce (either he gets replaced or willingly moves away from it) could Bruce find himself under a different superhero persona? And if he did what would it be?

I'm asking this because I personally don't like the idea of Bruce retiring from superheroing or just stepping into a support role. I think it would be a cool evolution of his character and give some positive representation of it never being too late to change and get Bruce on the path of being a better hero like those he aspires to be (Superman/Nightwing).

(Like if Batman can't become an inspiring hero like Nightwing or Superman, maybe Bruce Wayne can be?)

Idk these are just my random thoughts.

[on-leatheredwings]

im begging bruce to stop , begging dc to stop

[tenacious-minds]

I hate when I’m in the mood for something very specific in which searching tags is basically useless.

[seafoam-icecream]

“What you do is admirable, but we both know that no amount of good deeds can clean the blood off your hands.”

[princessmarionette]

hear me out guys

[thenixkat]

Shout Out to Vic Sage/The Question who encouraged Ted to try maybe retiring for awhile to figure himself out b/c living in Dan's shadow was clearly fucking up Ted's mental.

[theshadowrealmitself]

It is always in the back of my mind that Olivia Octavius was the Doc Ock of Miles’ universe, like they were in the same universe the entire time!! That’s his Doc Ock!! Was she like a well known supervillain throughout his childhood? Did anyone have any clue to her identity (outside of the Parkers)?? Was it like a big deal to Miles to suddenly learn of this supervillain’s identity even if they hadn’t fought before because everyone in New York knows about Doc Ock??

Even if he had no personal connection to her, had never fought her before, had never met her civilian identity (I think), that’s still a big deal to suddenly find out what a supervillain looks like/is called outside of their costume, right??

[totally-not-an-awkward-okapi]

The recent Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero conversation once more got me thinking about my old pitch for if SubZero’s existence hadn’t been so violently rejected, so here’s a model sheet that’s Totally Definitely 100% Official.

[superman86to99]

Superman: The Man of Steel #36 (August 1994)

"WORLDS COLLIDE" continues! Somewhat out of order, due to the way we're covering this crossover, but let's face it: if you were reading this in the '90s, you probably would have read the issues in some weird order, too (or, more likely, skipped some and been just as confused). So, in a way, we're being faithful to the original reading experience.

Previously in Worlds Collide #1: Rift, a god-like being who thinks the DC Universe and Milestone Media's Dakotaverse are parts of his imagination (meaning he's taking credit for the work of Siegel/Shuster/McDuffie/etc.), grabbed an island populated by thousands of people and just dropped it into the ocean, causing a tsunami that threatened Metropolis. The tsunami has been dealt with (spoilers for Superboy #7, which we haven't covered yet), but now Superman has to break it to his new allies at Milestone's Blood Syndicate that everyone they loved drowned pretty gruesomely. Luckily, Rift emerges from the ocean and saves Superman from that awkward conversation... while musing about destroying Metropolis, too. Well, destroying it even more.

Superman doesn't like that idea, obviously, so he tries to fight Rift, but Rift thinks that a fight scene between a god-like being and a mere superpowered mortal would be pretty boring. So, he summons Superman's closest analogue in the Dakotaverse, Icon, and tells him and Superman they have to fight each other if they don't want Metropolis to go down the toilet too. Rift even blows up the midtown part of Metropolis to prove he means business (but I'm not sure anyone there noticed, considering Metropolis' current state).

So, Superman and Icon start punching each other as hard as they can...

...while trying to direct the fight towards Rift without him realizing it. Meanwhile, Rift sees Lois Lane on a boat and grabs her to tell her he used to be her mailman, Fred Bentson, and compliment himself on doing such a great job creating her. Superman attacks Rift, causing him to drop Lois from a dangerous height (nothing she isn't used to by now, though). Lois is saved by Icon, but Rift realizes he was worried about her, which means she must be real.

Rift reasons that Superman has to be real too... but he doesn't give a crap about who's real or fake anymore. They're all his puppets anyway, and he announces he's gonna "up the ante" on their fight as he transports Superman and Icon to the latter's city, Dakota. TO BE CONTINUED! IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE!

Plotline-Watch:

This issue also features appearances by Superboy, Static, Rocket, Steel, and Hardware. We'll go into more detail on their storylines once we cover their issues, but I want you to know three important things: 1) turns out some scientific knowledge did rub off on Superboy while he was growing up (or being grown) at Cadmus...

...2) Static's full name is Virgil "Electromagnetic" Hawkins, and 3) Steel, like his main inspiration, is also a boxers man (you'll have to wait until another post to find out why he's in his boxers, sorry).

Rift forcing Superman and Icon to fight so their cities don't get destroyed is like a lower-stakes version of the main plot from the DC vs. Marvel crossover (though the stakes are about to get higher). More evidence that they should have included Rift in that crossover, as we were saying in another post's comments.

Jeb-Watch: Rift isn't the biggest villain in this issue, since it also features the return of Jeb Friedman, the ponytailed douchebag who kissed Lois when everyone thought Clark Kent was dead. Don Sparrow says: "God bless Jimmy for giving Jeb the side-eye all readers want to give that loathsome character."

Jeb says he's organizing a charity concert for the homeless people of Metropolis (so, pretty much everyone in Metropolis right now), featuring Jimmy's old would-be rocker friend Babe, whose band Shredding Metal apparently hit the big time. Last time we saw Babe, she had a centuries-old vampire living inside of her. That must have done wonders for her metal singing voice.

The Daily Planet's publisher, Franklin Stern, thinks they should suspend publication because of the "everyone's homeless" thing (plus, their building blew up and stuff), but Perry White refuses to stop putting out the dang paper. Don says: "I like seeing Perry’s commitment to informing the people of Metropolis, even at the risk of financial profit, but it might also explain why the Planet always seems to be on the brink of bankruptcy. Weird to see Lois swearing in that scene."

Whit cameo up there! Also: wonder if that's Alice the intern sleeping in the temporary office, for old time's sake.

Speaking of which, the other Alice in Perry's life (his wife) is volunteering at a medical center in Metropolis. There, she meets Superman's pal Keith the Unlucky (Probably) Orphan, who's trying to reunite another kid with his mom. Keith recently lost his second mother figure, Myra the Orphanage Lady, while Mrs. White lost her son Jerry Luth-- uhh, White some years ago. Hmmm...

The fact that Rift blows up part of Metropolis isn't really acknowledged by the other characters, probably because we all know that, like Paris Island's gruesome fate, it's gonna be undone by the end of the crossover. That makes me think they might as well have gone ahead and made Rift undo Luthor's damage on Metropolis, while at it -- it'd still be kind of a cop out, but I think it would have been a bit more organic than what we actually got.

Shout Outs-Watch:

Rift-sized shout outs to our supporters, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, Dave Shevlin, and welcome aboard Dave Blosser! Join them (and get extra articles; we have a Byrne Superman-related one coming next week) via Patreon or our newsletter’s “pay what you want” mode!

Also, have you checked out our friends at @fortressofbaileytude recently? They haven't updated their Tumblr in a bit (9 years) but there's some seriously awesome stuff going on at their other sites, like a whole week of fascinating articles about Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey (including the action figures) and holy crap a podcast interview with Mike Carlin! Like us, they're also in BlueSky.

And now, more from the great @donsparrow.bsky.social...

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We start with the cover, and it’s a good one, another piece in the puzzle that makes up this crossover with the Milestone characters.  Our heroes are slightly crowded by all the trade dress graphics, but not excessively so, as the DC and Milestone heroes fly out of a rift.  I always love yellow rim lighting, so it’s a winner for me.

For the most part I’ve found this crossover a bit hard to follow, especially since it has, in certain chapters, barely touched on the already seismic events of the destruction of Metropolis, so it can be hard to know how much we’re supposed to care about it.  While the story has been something of a letdown for me, the art in this issue is not, as Bogdanove and Janke are bringing their best work to this chapter.  Right from the opening splash, with Superman running ahead of various Milestone heroes, we’re off to a dynamic start.

We are so used to seeing Superman flying, it’s a pleasing change to see him running, especially when he’s drawn so well, in all his Shuster/Fleischer studios looking glory.  Only a couple pages later, we get another poster-worthy image, also a full page splash, of Superman soaring through the clouds toward the reader.  I especially like the white halo effect around Superman’s edges, defining his torso in front of his cape.  It may not be realistic, but man, does it pop.  As Superman surveys the damage on Paris Island, there’s a treasure trove of Easter eggs, that are worth the research.  Under the water, Superman finds himself at the cross-streets of Vesey Avenue and Prosser Boulevard.  These are references to real-life former slaves Denmark Vesey, and Gabriel Prosser, who both separately raised insurrections against slavery with deadly consequences.  [Max: I did not know that! In my ignorance, I kinda wondered if they were the names for Milestone creators...]

There’s also a reference to “Big Otto’s”, a Polish soul food restaurant.  At first I thought this was a shout out to famed comic writer Otto Binder, but Wikipedia informs me Binder was of Austrian descent, not Polish.  So maybe it’s just a gag, as it’s hard to imagine the Polish form of Soul Food.

Our first look at Rift, the villain of the piece, is a real showcase for the colouring techniques of this age, with very little of his form defined by the black lines of the rest of these pages, giving a bright, glowing look to his shape.

With Icon’s flowing cape, Bogdanove seems born to draw the character, and it’s hard to think of a time the character looked better.  Hardware also looks great in these pages, but he’s overshadowed artwise by the great penumbra image of Steel on page 16, which is just a terrific drawing.

The image of Superman and Icon speeding toward Rift, who is menacing Lois Lane is a good one, and it’s fun to see her caught by someone other than Superman for a change as Icon is the one who makes the grab here.

SPEEDING BULLETS:

Nice to hear Babe Tanaka and Shredding Metal mentioned, if not shown here.

Speaking of “shown here” it’s odd that they have Ron Troupe in this scene without him speaking at any time. [Max: He hates Jeb so much that he can't even speak. I sympathize.]

Is Jimmy being sarcastic, or does he think that a concert is really a good idea?  I’m betting on the latter, but I’d say a concert would be pretty low on the priority list at that present moment.

Static and Superboy make a very dynamic teen team, and wouldn’t be out of place on a Saturday morning cartoon together.  [Max: Superboy and His Amazing Friends, co-starring Static and Rocket! I believe they did appear together in Young Justice, but that show doesn't sound very Saturday morning-ish...]

It’s interesting that Superman’s Milestone counterpart is named Icon, since, many years later, Ra’s Al Ghul adopts that nickname for Superman himself, the Man of Steel version of Ra’s’ insistence on calling Batman exclusively “Detective”.  “Icon” is an absolutely terrible fit to describe Superman, essentially meaningless, but that issue is beyond the '86 to '99 timeline, and handled by a writer whose work on Superman I hated, so the less said the better. 

Is the Alice who is washing dishes, and who meets Keith and Lucan the same Alice that works at the Planet?  It’s hard to tell without her glasses, but she has a similar body shape. [Max: C'mon, Don, that's Alice White! How could you forget such a memorable character... who, based on our tags, hasn't appeared since 1992?]

I can’t find much information on Lucan.  His name seems so unusual that I wondered if he’s a regular character or something from the Milestone stories, but I haven’t unearthed much.  His design looks similar to a character from the cartoon, Richie Foley, but under the name Lucan I can only find references to Shining Knight or a character in Image’s Invincible. [Max: The DC wiki doesn't even list him in this issue, so I'm gonna assume he was a one-time character and an excuse for Keith to talk to Alice... but then again, the wiki doesn't list Keith or Alice either.]

I still can’t believe the cosmic power behind this storyline is a nebbishy mailman.  

[kingoftieland]

When will Mark Ruffalo RETIRE from the Hulk? 👴🏻

[nonuggetshere]

I never made a superhero AU before so bear with me but I have some ideas, specifically about Flower's family

I don't generally subscribe to evil villain PK idea but I think it'd be fun if he's a retired supervillain here. Retired early-ish because doing evil wasn't really his vibe anymore and he just wanted to be a normal guy. He now lives somewhere secret with his wife and lab-created children, just trying to live out his life but his ex nemesis Radiance will not leave him the fuck alone.

Flower's carrying on his legacy because I find the idea of a gigantic sweetheart "supervillain" who's literally only evil on the title to be very funny