Sperg about comic books here

[Conspiracy Mawile]

Don't know if this is the right spot to post but this comic was just brought into my place of work and holy shit it feels like satire. Jesus no wonder the comic book industry is in shambles if this is what gets published nowadays lmao.

Hilarious

I cannot get over this panel from the book. It looks like something hastily thrown together with some free image editor.

 

[Clyde Cash's Left Teste]

Jack Kirby was good with concepts and creativity. He just needed a writer to work with. Unfortunately a lot of these guys didn't understand this.

I think if Kirby did the New Gods with Stan that would have been regarded as one of the greatest comics over produced

 

[ArthuriusMartyrius]

I always got the vibe that Wondy was a lesbian…….. until man’s world became a thing in her life, the situational sexuality thing.

Bisexuality isn’t real, these faggot writers are just furthering the lie.

As someone who was friends with and dated a girl who went to an all-girls school, I can confirm that the conceit that “Wondy was raised in an all-women society, therefore she must be a lesbo/bi” is total nonsense. Those chicks are actually more cock-obsessed than girls in mixed schools.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Neal Adams is a good artist but as a writer? Hell yeah, his shit is pretty damn awful and hilarious.
Batman Odessy is crap, but in a fun way. It is one man vision.
A vision that is full on autistic.

already quoted but Batman Odyssey really did have some ideas that needed a good writer/editor to help out.

I think if Kirby did the New Gods with Stan that would have been regarded as one of the greatest comics over produced

If they had let Thor and his cast die out for it, it'd probably have been a worthwhile gamble.

This requires Stan to okay the idea of Thor's cast going through Ragnarok and then the 4th World popping up in Marvel. If they pulled this together, ideally, it could have been the first "event" comic.

As someone who was friends with and dated a girl who went to an all-girls school, I can confirm that the conceit that “Wondy was raised in an all-women society, therefore she must be a lesbo/bi” is total nonsense. Those chicks are actually more cock-obsessed than girls in mixed schools.

there's also the thing that happens in the modern day interpretations of ancient greco-roman female writers that all women of the time were "Sapphic"

 

[ChampFantana]

I'm currently reading a volume of Jonah Hex written by Joe Lansdale and drawn by Timothy Truman. It's genuinely great Western Horror stuff.

Tim Truman is one of my favorite comic writers/artists. His work on Grimjack and Scout is excellent.

 

[Clyde Cash's Left Teste]

I'm currently reading a volume of Jonah Hex written by Joe Lansdale and drawn by Timothy Truman. It's genuinely great Western Horror stuff.

Tim Truman is one of my favorite comic writers/artists. His work on Grimjack and Scout is excellent.

His Conan run is wonderful.

I need to revisit his Star Wars comics as well

 

[Mayor Cody Travers]

That's how Showcase worked, right? I'm tired of having an entire team-book's worth of heroes crammed into every major DC book. The Flash, pre n52, already had a barely workable 3-5 (Jay, Barry, Wally, Wally's Twins. Jesse Quick and Bart Allen were on teams seperately). Giving me a Flash book with like a dozen named superheroes just doesn't work. Give me either a Barry or a Wally focused book.

Reminds me that so many superhero family members, indeed a lot of team ensemble heroes, indeed a lot of superheroes in general are superfluous. I've already sperged on it enough, but in an ideal world DC reducing to about five-six solo hero titles (Supes, Bats, Wondy, Flash, Lantern, mebbe Aquaman) and a couple team books (JLA, Titans) and anthologies (Action, Detective Comics) lets you focus on the heroes and teams MEANT to lead books, give them all the best plots and baddies, not spread gimmicks and themes thin across so many characters, and keep continuity and interactions easily trackable.

More directly to your point, I've always thought the Robins and Kid Flashes were the ONLY sidekicks that could truly work in such a "reduced" setting and it's telling the Bat and Flash families are the biggest ones due to them being so successful. Dick and Wally had the most unique and coolest costumes as Robin and Kid Flash, received the most unique personalities once they began to be developed, and were the first to graduate from sidekicks into new roles as their own hero (Nightwing) or true successor (Flash), complete with them leading the charge into "families".

In said "reduced" setting I can easily imagine a basic yet good, well-written story with Batman and Dick-as-Robin-OR-Nightwing contrasting and complimenting one another in personality and combat, and the same for Barry (the amicable nerd who uses speed to, paradoxically, take his time fighting) and Wally (living up to the utter stereotype of a speedster rushing in, snarking, punch first ask questions later). I can't quite think the same for the Speedies, Wonder Girls, or Aqualads/girls in the same vein, you know? Like what truly do they do uniquely versus their mentors? They got invented just because of the kid sidekick fad both in the Golden and Silver Ages. Sure, Wally was too, but at least he literally stood out in the KF costume. And conversely I think Wondy, Green Arrow, and Aquaman don't really need a sidekick for their kinds of stories. So yeah, in a streamlined DC I see just Robin and Kid Flash and then joining the Titans with the version everyone cares about, the New Titans, and they're only missing Donna. Except that only streamlines the Titans as they probably should be anyways.

 

[Tor Lugosi]

It's funny, because Wolfsbane was my favorite of the group (Dani being a close second), and weirdly enough, everyone I talk to seems to hate that character.

Yeah, she's one of my favorites as well, probably my third in the book. Her arc of becoming comfortable with not just her powers but herself as well in general has been nice. Her attachment to Moira as her surrogate mother is also very sweet. The only things that bother me even a little have been the romance stuff (I dislike romance in comics 99% of the time in general, given that it either goes nowhere or quickly gets abandoned when a creative or editorial changeup happens) and the religious aspects of the character sometimes come off as a little too fedora-tipping euphoric atheist as Claremont often just uses it as the reason why she so self-hating rather than exploring any other aspect of it. Which is weird because he writes Nightcrawler fine.

Are you talking about this? Because that's the only recent example I could dig up.

That looks interesting, but no, it wasn't it. It was a lot older. I think the story was that the New Mutants were going on a vacation or a retreat, which of course goes wrong, and it was narrated via Magneto's thoughts. At this point I'm pretty sure I'm just conflating different stories into one and the story I'm thinking of doesn't exist.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Reminds me that so many superhero family members, indeed a lot of team ensemble heroes, indeed a lot of superheroes in general are superfluous. I've already sperged on it enough, but in an ideal world DC reducing to about five-six solo hero titles (Supes, Bats, Wondy, Flash, Lantern, mebbe Aquaman) and a couple team books (JLA, Titans) and anthologies (Action, Detective Comics) lets you focus on the heroes and teams MEANT to lead books, give them all the best plots and baddies, not spread gimmicks and themes thin across so many characters, and keep continuity and interactions easily trackable.

More directly to your point, I've always thought the Robins and Kid Flashes were the ONLY sidekicks that could truly work in such a "reduced" setting and it's telling the Bat and Flash families are the biggest ones due to them being so successful. Dick and Wally had the most unique and coolest costumes as Robin and Kid Flash, received the most unique personalities once they began to be developed, and were the first to graduate from sidekicks into new roles as their own hero (Nightwing) or true successor (Flash), complete with them leading the charge into "families".

In said "reduced" setting I can easily imagine a basic yet good, well-written story with Batman and Dick-as-Robin-OR-Nightwing contrasting and complimenting one another in personality and combat, and the same for Barry (the amicable nerd who uses speed to, paradoxically, take his time fighting) and Wally (living up to the utter stereotype of a speedster rushing in, snarking, punch first ask questions later). I can't quite think the same for the Speedies, Wonder Girls, or Aqualads/girls in the same vein, you know? Like what truly do they do uniquely versus their mentors? They got invented just because of the kid sidekick fad both in the Golden and Silver Ages. Sure, Wally was too, but at least he literally stood out in the KF costume. And conversely I think Wondy, Green Arrow, and Aquaman don't really need a sidekick for their kinds of stories. So yeah, in a streamlined DC I see just Robin and Kid Flash and then joining the Titans with the version everyone cares about, the New Titans, and they're only missing Donna. Except that only streamlines the Titans as they probably should be anyways.

I'd also add on that the JLA-Titans-JSA team trio works really well for DC. Bring in the Legion of Superheroes or Outsiders as a limited series.

In-universe, it's always stated that the JLA teaches you how to fight, the Titans help you grow up in a family-esque environment, and the JSA teaches you how to be a hero.

Superman's Family exists, but Conner Kent can go to the Titans, Steel can be a backup feature, Supergirl's either a backup feature or on a team. Jon Kent belongs in a Super Sons revival. Those are the ones anyone cares about, right? Eradicator's niche, but workable if one does it right. Noone cares about all the others.

The Flash Family works, but a lot of it is the work that the creators put in the '90s and '00s to build it. Jay, Barry, Wally, Bart. All flashes. Wally's Kids are a great "kid hero" duo. Jesse/Johnny Quick are either on teams or "in the speed force" (aka Johnny being sorta dead"). Max Mercury? Probably best left retired and mentoring Bart or showing up at the JSA for some story. There's also a bunch of other Flash family speedsters, but they kinda don't matter. Chinese-American Flash Girl, Aborigine Amputee Speedster, god knows how many other sidebar ones.

Wonder Woman's "family" exists by accident, sort of, and she's never really been shown to be as close to them as the others are to their sidekicks. Donna came to exist as a sort of accident, but wound up sticking around to be kinda convoluted. Cassie's been stuck as the 4th one out of the Young Justice characters. Nobody gives a shit about Nubia. Artemis is only really seen as a sorta Jason Todd to Diana's Batman. Hippolyta's been used to fill in gaps, like her status as a JSA member and etc.

Speedy and Aqualad aren't really super important in the grand scheme of things. Roy's been an adult and is currently a dad. He's best as a backup feature or as a supporting character. GA's other supporting "heroes" include his son, Conner, Mia aka Speedy II, Emiko Queen, and technically the whole Arrowette shit got brought back recently.

GA doesn't "need" his extended familia, but they're all scaled to being human level and weave in and out of the story as needed. Unless you're Arrowette, then you're written off until a writer really wants to make use of you.

Aquaman's supporting "heroes" are basically like, Garth the OG Aqualad, the black aqualad, 2 aquagirls, and like lagoon boy or some shit. His supporting cast is pretty barren, so it's not a bad idea to let his supporting "heroes" stick around. Maybe don't outright have them jump into teams or codenames asap if this is a pseudo reboot.

I'd also say that we should generally keep the "classic" elements that have been steadfast. Not the bullshit extra flashes or whatever, but keep the Metal men, Shazam Fam, Blackhawks, JLI, Outsiders, and etc. The world needs its own texture, and it's a lot easier to see Doc Magnus and his Metal Men be used for a story arc instead of inventing some niggerfaggot mary sue kryptonian that only exists for the writer's ego. Use Plastic Man and Zatanna instead of giving us another Signal or Bluebird or whatever (anyone remember these Bat-family members?)

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

In regards to X-Factor, I actually don't really mind that they made Rictor and Shatterstar gay. Unlike Iceman for example, it has been hinted at numerous times in the late 1990s up to the reveal. Rayne's response struck me as totally ooc despite the trauma she went through growing up. You would expect Nightcrawler to react like that or something. That 2000s series was fucked up in how Siryn was treated. I recall she was kidnapped, bound, gagged, and had the shit beaten out of her (and that was in the beginning of the series iirc)? It was scary to me as a teen.

So the second incarnation of Justice League Dark is recommended then? I admit I will miss Constantine. Loved his dynamic in him appealing to both men and women and being a snarky asshole. He and Zatanna reacted off each other well. (There's a fun comic of Zatanna from the early 2000s that Paul Dini worked on that Constantine shows up in) Having Man Bat and Swamp Thing and Wondy on a team is just so random, so out there, that it sounds perfect.

Come to think of it...have people like Strong Guy, Feral, Multiple Man, Banshee, etc shown up in the past 10 years?

 

[Alexander Thaut]

In regards to X-Factor, I actually don't really mind that they made Rictor and Shatterstar gay. Unlike Iceman for example, it has been hinted at numerous times in the late 1990s up to the reveal. Rayne's response struck me as totally ooc despite the trauma she went through growing up. You would expect Nightcrawler to react like that or something. That 2000s series was fucked up in how Siryn was treated. I recall she was kidnapped, bound, gagged, and had the shit beaten out of her (and that was in the beginning of the series iirc)? It was scary to me as a teen.

So the second incarnation of Justice League Dark is recommended then? I admit I will miss Constantine. Loved his dynamic in him appealing to both men and women and being a snarky asshole. He and Zatanna reacted off each other well. (There's a fun comic of Zatanna from the early 2000s that Paul Dini worked on that Constantine shows up in) Having Man Bat and Swamp Thing and Wondy on a team is just so random, so out there, that it sounds perfect.

Come to think of it...have people like Strong Guy, Feral, Multiple Man, Banshee, etc shown up in the past 10 years?

I think it's the first series to draw the line between characters that are magic-adjacent like Wondy versus ones that are actually in DC's magic community (Zatanna, etc).

Man-Bat is interesting as a choice. But he's always had potential. Swamp Thing is the big guardian of the green. The rest of the cast is fine. Goes into the theme of "magic always costs a price".

Anyways it's also good for Blue Devil and Detective Chimp fans.


X-Factor's a fine team book in most incarnations. Rictor/Shatterstar being gay worked because it was low stakes and hinted at it.

I kinda wish we got a more in depth arc about Layla Miller, but I'd assume writing someone who knows the future is a hassle. I did like the Peter David X-Factor issue with Quicksilver explaining how irritating and impatient he got over shit due to living at super-speed.

 

[Tor Lugosi]

I really liked PAD's X-Factor Investigations for like the first year or so. Then my interest started to wane when it began to focus on a really weird love... square?... between Maddox, Siryn, Monet, and Layla. Then I think I dropped it completely when Maddox got Siryn pregnant, she had the kid, Maddox touched it and it got absorbed into him, essentially killing the child, which just felt needlessly cruel and mean spirited. Plus by then I think I was just really bored with the book and I think it was also around the time the X-Men books were slipping back into the 'every book is a part of a single storyline' mega event crap.

 

[Mayor Cody Travers]

Wonder Woman's "family" exists by accident, sort of, and she's never really been shown to be as close to them as the others are to their sidekicks. Donna came to exist as a sort of accident, but wound up sticking around to be kinda convoluted. Cassie's been stuck as the 4th one out of the Young Justice characters. Nobody gives a shit about Nubia. Artemis is only really seen as a sorta Jason Todd to Diana's Batman. Hippolyta's been used to fill in gaps, like her status as a JSA member and etc.

Aquaman's supporting "heroes" are basically like, Garth the OG Aqualad, the black aqualad, 2 aquagirls, and like lagoon boy or some shit. His supporting cast is pretty barren, so it's not a bad idea to let his supporting "heroes" stick around. Maybe don't outright have them jump into teams or codenames asap if this is a pseudo reboot.

I'd also say that we should generally keep the "classic" elements that have been steadfast. Not the bullshit extra flashes or whatever, but keep the Metal men, Shazam Fam, Blackhawks, JLI, Outsiders, and etc. The world needs its own texture, and it's a lot easier to see Doc Magnus and his Metal Men be used for a story arc instead of inventing some niggerfaggot mary sue kryptonian that only exists for the writer's ego. Use Plastic Man and Zatanna instead of giving us another Signal or Bluebird or whatever (anyone remember these Bat-family members?)

Fantastic post overall. These are the ones that stuck out to me I'll comment on:

-Wonder Woman's family, like her rogues gallery, feel like a mishmash of surprisingly good and/or fun varied ideas that just need development instead of being abandoned after a single story arc. Donna should keep her origin as an orphan rescued by Diana and empowered by the Purple Ray/Amazon magic - a mortal origin lets her comment on Amazonian culture or Diana's viewpoints a la Robin being used as an exposition excuse for Batman, and I believe she has a "valley girl" (if I remember right?) or at least airhead personality that could be fun to contrast to (Golden Age, OG, etc.) Diana's serene and unflappable goddess persona. Make them close by Donna considering Diana her savior and Diana considering Donna her biggest success story as a heroine. Cassie and Artemis work just fine in their teams... though Cassie feels like she's meant to be THE Wonder Girl and nothing else the way Tim struggles being anything but THE Robin, but I do think Artemis being The Angry One actually works nicely in any Wonder family and a good running element would be them having to hold her back from wrecking shit. Agree on Nubia, and I always really liked the retcon of Hippolyta being the JSA's WW (especially if she keeps the Golden Age costume versus Diana's modern ones). It can slide in nicely to her blessing Diana as Wonder Woman the title, revived, as she goes into Modern Man's World.

-Aquaman's primary supporting Aqua-hero seems to be Mera alongside Garth. Really, it seems most of them exist to be the Aqua member on every generation of Titans, not that I mind that, but I want them each having a niche in the Aqua 'verse itself. I struggle to figure that out for them save Mera as the wife/main partner and Garth the sidekick grown up. Hmmm... Garth is supposed to use Atlantean magic, right? Flip the "exposition" so Aquaman, who was raised on land, turns to Garth for knowledge of Atlantean history, magic, ancient evils (that they're conveniently fighting that very story), etc. Perhaps Lorena (Tim's gen) or Jackson (Damian's more or less) act as the human/reader viewpoint to Atlantis as well?

-I actually agree 100% on those elements being part of a mainstream DCU, but using them as supporting heroes in an A-list hero/book's story arc as you mentioned is exactly what they should be used for, and their own focused stories if a writer gets an idea as part of the said anthology books, back-up strips, miniseries here-and-there, etc. And I am willing to bet you know this, but it's funny you mention Plastic Man since Elongated Man was created to fill his niche as a Flash backup strip character till they realized they owned Plastic Man anyways.

I have some sympathy to the companies themselves, surprisingly, in superhero bloat. Of course you need new ideas and characters to keep readers hooked, and you never know when you hit the next truly sensational character find of (X year). But DC never committing to a true reboot means it just keeps getting all messed up continuity-wise.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Fantastic post overall. These are the ones that stuck out to me I'll comment on:

-Wonder Woman's family, like her rogues gallery, feel like a mishmash of surprisingly good and/or fun varied ideas that just need development instead of being abandoned after a single story arc. Donna should keep her origin as an orphan rescued by Diana and empowered by the Purple Ray/Amazon magic - a mortal origin lets her comment on Amazonian culture or Diana's viewpoints a la Robin being used as an exposition excuse for Batman, and I believe she has a "valley girl" (if I remember right?) or at least airhead personality that could be fun to contrast to (Golden Age, OG, etc.) Diana's serene and unflappable goddess persona. Make them close by Donna considering Diana her savior and Diana considering Donna her biggest success story as a heroine. Cassie and Artemis work just fine in their teams... though Cassie feels like she's meant to be THE Wonder Girl and nothing else the way Tim struggles being anything but THE Robin, but I do think Artemis being The Angry One actually works nicely in any Wonder family and a good running element would be them having to hold her back from wrecking shit. Agree on Nubia, and I always really liked the retcon of Hippolyta being the JSA's WW (especially if she keeps the Golden Age costume versus Diana's modern ones). It can slide in nicely to her blessing Diana as Wonder Woman the title, revived, as she goes into Modern Man's World.

Donna's got a more sociable personality than Diana, but she's also someone that has a backstory that can be edited for a reboot because it's kinda in flux.

Wondy's rogues gallery is funky. Circe/Hades are the big myth related ones. Dr. Cyber/Poison are the science-fiction ones. Dr. Psycho hasn't had much in the modern times aside from the Infinite Crisis era Secret Society. Then you have Cheetah, the one villain that's been labeled as a major Wondy villain over the years. Also, the Duke of Deception was a recurring foe through the late golden age through the silver age.

Nubia could be repaired and be part of the whole multi-ethnic Amazon enclave. Toss her into the background of the DCU as a Global Guardian. The Latina Yera Flor seems to be a similar case.

Maybe they should just say fuckit and give us an Asian Amazon to round out the ethnicities. Have them pop up as background characters or in a tryout backup feature. It seems trying to give one-off characters their own book almost never works saleswise. On the other hand, Nubia was mishandled when they tried to make her a thing in the past few years, resulting in a lot of backfiring. The fucking black firestorm and asian atom didn't recieve this much vitriol from fans because they were portrayed as characters first and weren't shoved into the ESG spotlight.

-Aquaman's primary supporting Aqua-hero seems to be Mera alongside Garth. Really, it seems most of them exist to be the Aqua member on every generation of Titans, not that I mind that, but I want them each having a niche in the Aqua 'verse itself. I struggle to figure that out for them save Mera as the wife/main partner and Garth the sidekick grown up. Hmmm... Garth is supposed to use Atlantean magic, right? Flip the "exposition" so Aquaman, who was raised on land, turns to Garth for knowledge of Atlantean history, magic, ancient evils (that they're conveniently fighting that very story), etc. Perhaps Lorena (Tim's gen) or Jackson (Damian's more or less) act as the human/reader viewpoint to Atlantis as well?

They've let Garth be the magic guy in the Aquafamily.

Aquaman's the center, Mera's always there with him, Garth's the magician and old partner. Then you have Tula as a dead hero. Lorena's from the 00s, but she's also specifically created for the whole Sub Diego story. Jackson's the '10s one that's always shown to be super new these days.

If we want to expand the Aquatic heroes shit, there's also Neptune Perkins and Tsunami from the '40s Young All-stars that have been around. Dolphin's Garth's Wife (who may be alive these days? IDK). The Sea Devils are the sorta normal human sea adventurer group. Lagoon Boy was a late YJ hanger-on or sth. Red Torpedo was a golden age hero who had an advanced submarine and has been referenced in Aquaman stories before.

And, if you want to really grab other Aquamen, we have the '00s Aquaman that showed up after Infinite Crisis, only to be confirmedly kinda fucking off because he believed he wasn't worthy. We also have, recently due to Geoff Johns' Stargirl: Lost Children, the 1940s Aquaman being confirmed to exist now.

The marine hero sphere has enough to work with in all this. They also have enough supervillains between Ocean Master, Black Manta, Fisherman, and all the possible Atlantean ones they can make.

Topo the Octopus would be a hell of a revival though.

-I actually agree 100% on those elements being part of a mainstream DCU, but using them as supporting heroes in an A-list hero/book's story arc as you mentioned is exactly what they should be used for, and their own focused stories if a writer gets an idea as part of the said anthology books, back-up strips, miniseries here-and-there, etc. And I am willing to bet you know this, but it's funny you mention Plastic Man since Elongated Man was created to fill his niche as a Flash backup strip character till they realized they owned Plastic Man anyways.

I have some sympathy to the companies themselves, surprisingly, in superhero bloat. Of course you need new ideas and characters to keep readers hooked, and you never know when you hit the next truly sensational character find of (X year). But DC never committing to a true reboot means it just keeps getting all messed up continuity-wise.

Keep both Plastic Man and Ralph Dibny. Ralph's become his own character. He's not a major powerhouse like Plas, but he's confirmed to be one of the top detectives in-universe and his marriage to Sue was always very heartwarming. He's a dude from the '60s silver age that's always running around with his wife like they're a sort of superhero version of Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man).

Plas is someone that's really fucking funny in continuity. They haven't retconned his origin to be at the start of the modern age like they do with everyone that began in the Silver Age (and the trinity+aquaman/green arrow). He's still a Golden Ager in-universe. He's still officially worked for the FBI, JSA, All-Star Squadron, etc. Woozy Winks is somehow consistently also as old in-universe.

It's also fun because Plas is basically kinda stupidly powerful and might be immortal (Morrison JLA era sorta went into this).

DC has proven that they know how to raise the profiles of C and B listers before. They spent years getting the JSA, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow/Black Canary, and The Titans to be B lister books in the '00s and then proceeded to squander all of this with the n52. Then they basically tried to focus on getting the CW heroes a higher profile, which only really worked with The Flash, Green Arrow, and maybe Vixen.


I'm not sure what their priority has been in untangling the fucking idiotic need they seem to have for expanding the Bat/Super/Flash families. You have books, you have decently high profile characters that were selling pre n52 before you decided to "forget" the JSA/Outsiders/Titans sphere for almost no reason.

Pre n52, you dropped the idea of a Booster-led JLI right before fuckin' Flashpoint.

I don't know if it's Dan Didio's fault, ESG, or just idiocy, but how the fuck has DC let Marvel run off with seemingly everything in the '10s. The only reason Marvel didn't get very far is because of the retarded ESG-pushers and mishandlings of IPs. (The Fox- Ban, Spider-Man being shit since Civil War, 2010s pushing of every avengers related thing, trying to shill ESG heroes, the Inhumans push, death of Wolverine, Krakoa Era, MCu Phase 4 kinda bombing etc.)



I'm a lifelong JSA fag. One of the first comic book paperbacks I owned were the reprints of the JLA/JSA "crisis on earth 2" books. The whole legacy hero thing in DC is a good storytelling piece if handled right. I'd rather they not invent a dozen new Bat-family members and just focus on the cores of each legacy family as they were pre-n52.

Gimme a Hawkman and Hawkwoman that remember fighting the Amazons but never bring it up until we get another invasion and Wondy's like "you did what now?"

Man, the art from the DeMatteis Dr. Fate run is kinda fun.

 

[Mississippi Motorboater]

Demon Knights was fine. I wish DC would just pump out Anthologies based on different groups or time periods.

It would certainly give me an incentive to buy a DC comic for the first time in ages.

I'm one of those people who prefer Demon Knights and both classic and modern runs on Jonah Hex to Batman and Superman, because they provide a unique opportunity to immerse the reader in different eras, and actually have a Medieval or Western comic book in the mainstream. Usually, I have to scour the Franco-Belgian catalogue for those kinds of comics---or at least, comics that aren't saddled with inferior artists. That's the problem everytime a smaller publisher like IDW or Dynamite or Image tackles those genres; they often are stuck with Z-List artists because the top-tier ones are being reserved for McFarlane's latest promotional Spawn toy trash, or whatever.

I really wish someone like CrossGen was still around.

Yeah, she's one of my favorites as well, probably my third in the book. Her arc of becoming comfortable with not just her powers but herself as well in general has been nice. Her attachment to Moira as her surrogate mother is also very sweet. The only things that bother me even a little have been the romance stuff (I dislike romance in comics 99% of the time in general, given that it either goes nowhere or quickly gets abandoned when a creative or editorial changeup happens) and the religious aspects of the character sometimes come off as a little too fedora-tipping euphoric atheist as Claremont often just uses it as the reason why she so self-hating rather than exploring any other aspect of it. Which is weird because he writes Nightcrawler fine.

I guess the point was to depict two mutants with polar opposite experiences with religious upbringings, or at least different relationships with religion. I think it would be bolder to depict a mutant who has to suffer through the religious stifling and dogmatic oppression of growing up in a Muslim household, especially if that mutant was a girl. That would really home in on the heartbreaking reality of growing up as a girl in a family rotted by intense religious zealotry, which is the root of Muslim girls fleeing their families or enduring honor killings in the real world.

But of course, Marvel only makes caricaturized paragons of "empowered" Islamic women like Ms Marvel or fucking Dust from New X-Men, so the odds of them tackling a character struggling with the more unsavory or tragic elements of growing up in a rigid Islamic family are fairly small.

In regards to X-Factor, I actually don't really mind that they made Rictor and Shatterstar gay. Unlike Iceman for example, it has been hinted at numerous times in the late 1990s up to the reveal. Rayne's response struck me as totally ooc despite the trauma she went through growing up.

Well, it helps that Peter David has a greater grasp on characters and relationships than most of the people writing the trite and Wattpad-tier romance for the likes of Iceman or Jon Kent these days.

Gay representation happens a little more effectively when you have a writer that isn't Steve Orlando or Tom Taylor, who frankly write romance like a Tumblr Teen writing Supernatural fanfiction.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

Here it is. Zatanna: Everyday Magic. Fun little romp.

 

[Humble Architect]

As someone who was friends with and dated a girl who went to an all-girls school, I can confirm that the conceit that “Wondy was raised in an all-women society, therefore she must be a lesbo/bi” is total nonsense. Those chicks are actually more cock-obsessed than girls in mixed schools.

Oh I now that, these fag writers are obsessed with making fag shit look normal and common, I was just trying to explain my rationalization.

I get the amazons being rug munchers cause they’re consistently psycho bitches (remember when Superman expressed nothing but disgust and contempt towards them) but Diana’s reasonable and the “bi” thing is a label almost every coastal woman applied to themselves so they can be “part of the club” it’s not surprising they put it on a character who throughout her history has been in romances with Steve or two exemplars of truth and justice.

Girl has a type, if a non-cucked man ever writes Wondy again then there could be some humour in someone noticing her chad-chaser tendencies.

 

[Clyde Cash's Left Teste]

Wondy's rogues gallery is funky. Circe/Hades are the big myth related ones. Dr. Cyber/Poison are the science-fiction ones. Dr. Psycho hasn't had much in the modern times aside from the Infinite Crisis era Secret Society. Then you have Cheetah, the one villain that's been labeled as a major Wondy villain over the years. Also, the Duke of Deception was a recurring foe through the late golden age through the silver age.

I think why I've always wanted a Wondy cartoon in the vain of B:ATS because I've always felt her rogues gallary isn't as polished as Batman or Superman.

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

loThere’s an issue with comic villains where everyone tried to make every villain edgy as fuck rather than realizing the villains need a relationship with the hero for it to work.

Batman’s aren’t all psychos. Some are typically more people with goals and misunderstandings.

Harvey/ Two Face is on the knife’s edge and is a dark reflection of Bruce’s own dual life where Harvey developed a literal split personality due to trauma. He’s not wholly evil, he at times wants to overcome his issues.

Mister Freeze has a goal and honestly is only a criminal due to believing his wife is dead/ trying to keep her life support running at any costs. Either he’s willing to kill one guy, but cause immense damage to get to him, but he’s not a monster. He has the whole action caused by a single action out of love for someone.

Harley is a retard. She’s not a criminal mastermind, but a retard who possibly could be redeemed. She’s arguably in that weird area where she’s best written as a sort of rebellious daughter figure for Batman, if that makes sense.

Ivy is either a deranged environmentalist who will use people as fertilizer or a misanthropic bitch who leans on feminism. Sometimes she’s violent other times she’ll give people horrible allergies and send maneating plants to stop land developments. Bruce bargains with her at times because he can try to understand the perspective.

Jokers is is a gangster who does like killing if it’s for a joke. He’s beyond redemption, but Bruce still tries due to Joker being able to match him.

Killer Croc isn’t a mastermind and is an up jumped freak or a nigger with skin condition based on the iteration. (I like when he’s a freak who got used and is more or less trapped in his life). I like when Bruce comes to sympathize with him.

Clay Face is used by the mob or a wannabe gangster depending on if he’s a shape shifting actor or Clay Monster.

Zazzaz is just a serial killer.

Catwoman is a sometimes enemy and a love interest.

Bane is Batman, but South American poor and crazy. There’s respect between the two.

Wonder Woman has the issue where her enemies are just a bunch of weirdos. There’s no thematic reinvention to them or interesting relationships. I feel like it’d be interesting if you had certain characters that are reinvented to be her, but there to conquer the outside world, find love , destroy it, is escaping their paradise, or whatever. That’d be a good start, a dark counter part or misguided reflection.

 

[Alexander Thaut]

I think why I've always wanted a Wondy cartoon in the vain of B:ATS because I've always felt her rogues gallary isn't as polished as Batman or Superman.

they'd need really good writers because Wondy's rogues are either insane or mythological. They all have a chip on their shoulders.

loThere’s an issue with comic villains where everyone tried to make every villain edgy as fuck rather than realizing the villains need a relationship with the hero for it to work.

Batman’s aren’t all psychos. Some are typically more people with goals and misunderstandings.

Harvey/ Two Face is on the knife’s edge and is a dark reflection of Bruce’s own dual life where Harvey developed a literal split personality due to trauma. He’s not wholly evil, he at times wants to overcome his issues.

They've healed him like 2 or 3 times, only for it to get unraveled.

Mister Freeze has a goal and honestly is only a criminal due to believing his wife is dead/ trying to keep her life support running at any costs. Either he’s willing to kill one guy, but cause immense damage to get to him, but he’s not a monster. He has the whole action caused by a single action out of love for someone.

I recall that they tried to revive Nora and she came back as an insane monster? Mr. Freeze has the issue of the story needing to be tailored around him.

Harley is a retard. She’s not a criminal mastermind, but a retard who possibly could be redeemed. She’s arguably in that weird area where she’s best written as a sort of rebellious daughter figure for Batman, if that makes sense.

I liked the ideas of Harley getting redeemed in different ways. The issue is that addressing the idea of a woman getting herself in over her head is kinda something they wouldn't do nowadays.

Ivy is either a deranged environmentalist who will use people as fertilizer or a misanthropic bitch who leans on feminism. Sometimes she’s violent other times she’ll give people horrible allergies and send maneating plants to stop land developments. Bruce bargains with her at times because he can try to understand the perspective.

Ivy's a villain that has a deranged terrorist style agenda. She can be a "necessary" hero if forced, but unless they seriously give her a crazy character arc, she's gonna be an anti-villain at best.

Jokers is is a gangster who does like killing if it’s for a joke. He’s beyond redemption, but Bruce still tries due to Joker being able to match him.

Joker's been so overused in the past decade that they need to limit the fucker to one story a year or give him an ongoing.

Killer Croc isn’t a mastermind and is an up jumped freak or a nigger with skin condition based on the iteration. (I like when he’s a freak who got used and is more or less trapped in his life). I like when Bruce comes to sympathize with him.

He was in Suicide Squad as a big dumb brute that just wanted affection. Still a killer and kinda inhuman, but his little romance with Enchantress was a nice direction.

Clay Face is used by the mob or a wannabe gangster depending on if he’s a shape shifting actor or Clay Monster.

He's been someone that's also been tried at reformation, but wound up relapsing into villainy.

Zazzaz is just a serial killer.

Yeah, he's kinda just a standard serial killer without any special comic book gimmick. It's a fine idea to present and remind readers that even a more "realistic" one is still fucking dangerous.

Catwoman is a sometimes enemy and a love interest.

She's a picaresque character that really need to get out of Gotham. I'm surprised they haven't had her going on Oracle/Waller missions to steal stuff in an ongoing. Instead they give us criminal politics.

Bane is Batman, but South American poor and crazy. There’s respect between the two.

Bane has fucking massive potential. I want him to be available as a big bad or a "reluctant ally" done right.

Wonder Woman has the issue where her enemies are just a bunch of weirdos. There’s no thematic reinvention to them or interesting relationships. I feel like it’d be interesting if you had certain characters that are reinvented to be her, but there to conquer the outside world, find love , destroy it, is escaping their paradise, or whatever. That’d be a good start, a dark counter part or misguided reflection.

her rogues are

• Mythological (Circe, Ares, other amazons, monsters, etc. Cheetah falls under here too nowadays.)
• Have a chip on their shoulder and are insane. ( Silver Swan, Dr. Psycho, etc. All have a chip on their shoulder, get chips easily, and are insane)
• Mad Scientists- Veronica Cale, Doctor Cyber, Doctor Poison, some versions of Giganta too iirc.
• You also have shit like Angle Man, Duke of Deception, and The Blue Snowman that've been her villains for a long time.

I'd toss in shit like Queen Bee or Queen of Fables as potentially good villains for her. She just needs to not be fucking with Amazons gone rogue or mythological shit.