Old Unique Geek Post
Shag
Below is one of my old posts from the Unique Geek forum in January 2005 (thanks to Ed for reminding me of it). It represents the beginnings of my frustration with DC. It’s interesting that only recently have I gotten back onboard with DC’s direction. So it only took 3 and ½ years for DC to reach a place I’m more satisfied with. J
The Irredeemable Shag
DC Going Down the Wrong Path
Warning: This extremely long rant includes “Green Lantern: Rebirth” #3 Spoilers.
As a fan of DC Comics, I’m extremely frustrated with the recent trend of trying to remake the DC Universe into what it was 20 – 25 years ago. I apologize for the length below, but I just felt that I had to get this off my chest. For the last few years, it seems the writers at DC Comics have been focused on bringing back the DC Universe THEY grew up with (i.e. Geoff Johns, Judd Winick, Mark Waid, Jeph Loeb, Kevin Smith, etc). Forget about moving forward, changing and growing – they want to roll everything back the way it was. I grew up in the same era as most of these writers, but I’m willing to accept change and growth in my comic books. Below are several examples of their attempt to bring back the past. Don’t get me wrong, taken individually almost all of these were really enjoyable reads (in fact, some of these were the most compelling comics I’ve ever read) – but combined they steer a course that I’m not particularly happy with as a fan. Many of them take old concepts, update, and expand upon them in interesting ways – but it doesn’t change the underlying motivation of rolling the clock back.
Teen Titans – The roster in the early 1980’s was Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Changeling (Beast Boy). Gosh, that roster sure sounds familiar. There may be different folks under the costume, but the idea is the same. Geoff Johns writes a very interesting and compelling comic each month, but they’ve just basically rolled the clock back again. I’ve also heard rumors that the new Speedy and Aquagirl will be joining the Teen Titans in the near future – that’s an innovative concept.
Supergirl from Krypton – Supergirl’s back and she’s Superman’s cousin from Krypton again! Yay! Forget the other three Supergirls we’ve had recently, this is the real girl of tomorrow. This happened in “Superman/Batman” and they basically just updated the Silver Age origin. This wasn’t necessary. Supergirl from Krypton died in “Crisis on Infinite Earths” 20 years ago, and was then removed from continuity completely. A perfect example of the writers trying to turn the clock back. In the post-Crisis continuity, DC always intended on Superman being the only remaining Kryptonian. Whoops.
Krypto from Krypton – Krypto’s back too and Superboy is raising him! That’s the best. What the heck does the DC Universe need a flying dog with heat vision for? Another example of turning back the clock for no good reason.
Green Arrow – Ollie is Green Arrow again. Remember Ollie? He’s the guy with all the trick arrows that died, and then his son took over. Now Ollie is alive, young again, and he’s back slinging arrows. Kevin Smith wrote a great story that brought Ollie back, but it’s just another example of un-doing the last 20 years. Oh yeah, Ollie’s also got a new sidekick named Speedy – very original.
Infinite universes – Remember when they got rid of all the infinite alternate universes (Earth-2, Earth-3, etc) during “Crisis on Infinite Earths”? Well, they’re back! They may have changed a bit, but there are alternate universes around every corner. Yay! Thank you Hypertime!
JLA – The roster in the early 1980’s was Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, the Atom, and some others. Once again, this sounds vaguely familiar.
JSA – The ultimate retread comic (not to mention probably my favorite). They are taking characters from the 1940’s and updating them. This is pretty much the modern day equivalent of Infinity, Inc (which was published … you guessed it … 20 years ago).
Outsiders – Not really worth mentioning (because the writing is weak), but once again, the Outsiders were very popular about 20 years ago. Shocker. Also, lots of similarities in the line up to the original.
Legion of Super-Heroes – I don’t really read this comic anymore, but it appears that they’ve rebooted this series for the second or third time. Twenty years ago, the Legion of Super-Heroes were a bunch of super-powered teenagers (Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, etc..) battling supervillains in the far future. In the new series, the Legion of Super-Heroes are a bunch of super-powered teenagers (Brainiac 5, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, etc..) battling supervillains in the far future. Déjà vu.
Doom Patrol – Because NO ONE demanded it – they retconned Doom Patrol! Yay! They’ve rolled the clock back on these guys even further than 20 years. What the heck were they thinking? They didn’t just update the team with similar characters from the old days, they flat out changed their history so that they never existed prior to a few months ago. That pretty much messes up Beast Boy’s origin. Oh well, what’s a little continuity between friends.
Flash – Remember when the Flash died twenty years ago in “Crisis on Infinite Earths”? You know the Flash I’m talking about - the guy who was the fastest man alive, had a secret identity in which he worked for the police department, and was married to a reporter. In case you haven’t been reading recent issues of the Flash, Wally now fits the description above also.
Firestorm – The new Firestorm comic book is about a teenager who unexpectedly gains nuclear powers, fuses with another person to form Firestorm, argues with his single father all the time, tries to balance superheroics with the part-time job of his secret identity, and battles Killer Frost. Sorry, I read that comic 20 years ago. To be honest, I’m not sure this comic could have been a success for me. I feel the current comic is basically just a rip off of the original series – with a few updated twists. However, if they had published a new series about the Ronnie Raymond Firestorm, I’d probably be arguing they were just trying to capitalize on a hero that was popular 20 years ago.
Aquaman – Over the last twenty years, Aquaman has gone through some big changes. Changed his costume a few times, lost a hand and replaced it with a hook, grew a beard and long hair, became a real loner, and got involved with lots of different aspects of Atlantis and the water-based world. Now he’s back in his original costume, has his hand back (it’s made of water, but it’s still a hand), cut his hair and shaved his beard. He’s also basically back to spending most of his time near the coastline being a superhero. So, we’ve come full circle. He’s basically the Aquaman from about 20 years ago.
Hawkman – Hawkman came back in the last couple years. They actually made lots of changes to this character’s backstory (basically due to necessity with all the retcons). However, on the surface, he’s basically become the exact same person he was 20 years ago.
Identity Crisis – This year’s big storyline. While they didn’t turn the clock back, the focus of this entire series was about the Satellite Era of the Justice League – which was … you guessed it .. 20-25 years ago.
Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman – The current DC writers haven’t really un-done much with these characters, however, there really hasn’t been a tremendous amount of permanent growth or change over the last twenty years. That’s okay with me because there has to be some level of consistency with the Big Three (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman). These are American icons and you really can’t change them too much. Don’t get me wrong, there has been some change – the best probably being the marriage of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. There is one item they have un-done recently that bothers me. In the new retelling of Superman’s origin (Superman: Birthright), Clark Kent and Lex Luthor once again grew up in Smallville together. Over the last twenty years, this wasn’t part of the Superman mythos; Clark didn’t meet Lex until adulthood. I’m not sure if this was brought back because of some tribute to the Silver Age pre-Crisis origin (in which Clark and Lex did know each other as teenagers), or if this was done because of the Smallville TV series. Regardless, it’s another example of the writers un-doing history to replicate the DC Universe of 20 years ago.
Green Lantern: Rebirth – This is the most recent example of un-doing history from the last twenty years; I’ve also included some of my personal opinions on this series. Hal Jordan is back and he’s Green Lantern again. The Green Lantern Corp is back also. Along with Hal, Guy Gardner is a Green Lantern also (never mind all the physical and mental changes made to Guy over the years). Wow, all of this is exactly as it was 15 – 20 years ago – Neat! Additionally, Hal was never really evil at all. Apparently Parallax was some yellow energy creature that was the living embodiment of fear. Sinestro freed this creature and it joined with Hal Jordan. This yellow “fear” creature is what manipulated Hal into doing all those evil deeds. Ummmm…. sure, whatever you say Geoff. Hal’s not such a bad guy, the devil made him do it. With the energy creature purged, Hal can be absolved of all guilt. Yay! So if we can prove that Charles Manson REALLY does hear voices, that means he’s innocent also. Apparently the Spectre chose Hal as a host in order to purge Hal of the Parallax creature - never mind that whole redemption thing they’ve been hung up on for the past few years. Oh yeah, they also explained where the Green Lantern rings weakness to yellow comes from – never mind that this has been explained a million different ways over the years. I realize there are tons of Hal Jordan fans out there, but for the last 10 years Kyle Rayner has been Green Lantern. Bringing back Hal in this way basically says that the last 10 years of Green Lantern comics don’t matter. This just shows how the creators at DC Comics are trying to bring back the DC Universe of 20 years ago.
Personally, I’m fed up with the rolling back of the clock. However, we’re not in charge. In fact, people are buying tons of the comics where these types of roll-back events happen (myself included). Therefore the comic creators assume this is what we want to see. I disagree. If these same creators produced well-written entirely NEW stories, we’d be buying those instead and the DC Universe would be allowed to move forward instead of stagnate. However, we’re not in charge. Therefore, I guess we should prepare ourselves for the DC Universe to continue the trend of un-doing all the changes of the last 20 years.
I suppose I’ll go ahead and add new series for “Omega Men” and “Blue Devil” to my comic book subscription file now - just to beat the rush.
Michael Bailey
http://viewsfromthelongbox.blogspot.com
Hey, I have a Superman blog.
http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com
Shag
All good points. I guess I’ve just decided to allow myself to enjoy the comics I’m buying. There are really a bunch of great comics out there by DC. Also, they don’t feel as if they are trying to create the Pre-Crisis universe anymore. Sure, everything is tied up in legacy stuff, but it’s doesn’t feel like they are on a specific path anymore to recreate the DC Universe of 25 years ago.
There are a good handful of titles I’m enjoying. Much of the retread concept is still there for DC as they only seem to create legacy characters at this point. It would be nice if they created entirely new characters more often.
Some books I’m enjoying:
- Blue Beetle – Truthfully a legacy character, but still an original and fresh concept that is well executed.
- Shadowpact – Original concept. Even though it’s getting canceled, I have hopes for some similar series after Reign in Hell.
- All-New Atom – Again, a legacy character, but with an original and fresh perspective.
- Secret Six – I don’t consider this a legacy of Suicide Squad. This is a whole new fun concept.
- Batman & the Outsiders – While this does fit the exact mold of making the DC Universe as it was 25 years ago, it is really a good series.
- Birds of Prey – Original concept, still enjoyable.
- Booster Gold – Interesting that this could be considered fitting the mold of trying to make the DC Universe as it was 25 years ago. However, the original was technically post-Crisis, so I’m not sure it fits. Either way, fun series!
- Green Lantern – Even though the series started out as recreating the DC Universe of 25 years ago, it certainly went in original directions – The Sinestro Corps War. Great stuff!
- Teen Titans – The team has evolved away from the Wolfman/Perez formula. I still enjoy this book.
- JSA – Always great, even if it is all about the legacy stuff.
- Salvation Run – Original concept. Very cool and fun.
- Metal Men – Very quirky take on classic characters. Fun stuff!
I’ll address your specific issues below.
1) Titans: You are correct that it does bring together the Wolfman/Perez team again. However, I don’t think anyone expects the same feeling. Geoff Johns came close to capturing it on his run of Titans, but Winnick? C’mon. I don’t even think DC really cares about this book. In fact, on the NY Comic Con podcasts, they barely mentioned this book at all. Geoff Johns even makes a backhanded remark about the book that makes you think he’s not happy about it either. Also, this isn’t really the first time they’ve tried this reunion. They did something very similar for the Devin Grayson Titans book. While it wasn’t the exact same team, it was darn close.
2) Justice League – I’m not thrilled about the satellite. However, I don’t have much problem with the Hall of Justice. Shocking, I know. I don’t recall them ever having an Earth-based headquarters called the Hall of Justice except in the cartoon.
3) Superman with the Legion did tick me off at first. I hate that they are going to simply ignore Giffen’s fantastic “Five Years Later” run on Legion. In that post-Crisis run, Superboy’s inspiration had been replaced by Valor (Mon-el) and much of his 30th century activities had been done by Kent Shakespeare. However, with Geoff John’s writing it, I’m sure it will be compelling.
4) Not sure about the Superman stuff. Not reading those books (at least until James Robinson comes back).
5) Return of multiverse = crap. However, I’m hopeful that will be corrected in Final Crisis. If it’s not, I’m going to be pretty disappointed.
6) Not sure what Libra will be doing. I’ll reserve judgement for later.
There you go.
The Irredeemable Shag
http://onceuponageek.com
Michael Bailey
It all comes down to one very important statement.
"I guess I've just decided to allow myself to enjoy the comics I'm buying."