All posts by ElongatedJ
All, plus JSA. If she is the leader of the JLA or JSA (she’s been both!) she may need to scale back her other activities. She’s currently leader of the Birds of Prey but it’s a smaller operation that kinda works on her time, so it probably revolves around her schedule. Obviously if she’s on a bunch of these she may not do as much solo work, but I think she’s shown in the past that she has the ability to multitask.
Human Target!!
Though his Mister Miracle run is up there too.
And probably about 80-90% of his Batman run, but that was pretty long so a few things I wasn’t as into shouldn’t ruin it all.
And, while I’m not sure I always like his take on Wonder Woman dialogue, I’m liking the rest of his current Wonder Woman run so far.
Haven’t read his Onega Men run yet, but thanks for reminding me I should read it. And I really should go reread his Strange Adventures. I kinda read it really spread out and don’t have a good feel for how it fit together.
But yes, I liked Woman of Tomorrow a lot (once I got over one alarming thing he did early that I interpreted one way and didn’t understand why it wasn’t a bigger deal, but realize later that I hadn’t interpreted it correctly and it made more sense…)
I was excited about Cyborg joining the League pre-New 52… at the same time that Dick, Donna, Kory. Now, that membership didn’t really stick. James Robinson changed his plans seemingly after deciding he had chosen too many members. Cyborg got a few nods as a member in backups and other books, but ultimately that all was a little interesting and a lot messy, and then the universe reset before anything could really play out with those short term members who were supposedly coming back later.
My point is… I’m fine with Titans characters becoming Leaguers (although, right now the current Titans story is that the Titans are the premier super team, but they are NOT the Justice League, and that has some merit too). I just don’t like Titans characters being stripped of their Titans history, and I think that was the biggest problem with Cyborg becoming a founding member in the New 52 JL. I think Cyborg is a great character… but a lot of how he became a great character is because of his friendship with Gar Logan, his teamwork with the Titans, his backstory as revealed as part of Titans adventures, etc. Without that, he’s basically a brand new, unknown character. I definitely appreciate the need for representation, and find it a bit awkward (but sign of the times) that the original founding members all either look like white men (even if one of those is from outer space, and another has gills), except for one who looks like a white woman, and one who is a green alien. It definitely makes sense to consider which other characters are prominent and dynamic enough to be featured among these icons. But every icon is iconic in part because of their story. And adding Cyborg to the League from day 1 deleted his story.
… and Wally and Dick have, for a long time, referred to each other as best friends, even outside of Titans. I’m pretty sure that Dick was Wally’s best man (in a goofy blonde wig), right? Been a little while, but… I think that was the real wedding and not some mixed up dream sequence or something…?
Babs! But if you’re going to give me the bromance option… 🤷🏻♂️😂
One thing you could do is look for the tpbs that RogueWhistler mentioned on eBay. Between eBay and Half-Price Books, you can sometimes find out of print tpbs. To get the tpb titles, you can look on Wikipedia for “Green Lantern (comic book)” and skim through the “Collected Editions” section. Kyle’s run happened in Volume 3, and starting with issue 50, so any collected edition that has issues after that would focus on him.
I searched eBay for “Green Lantern: Baptism of Fire” (one example of a tpb from Kyle’s run on the book). It looks like you can find some copies that aren’t crazy expensive, while others cost a lot for a standard tpb.
All that said, if you’re into reading comics digitally, the other advice given here could save you some effort hunting them all down.
Option C… less of a car crash than the other seasons…? 🤷🏻♂️ But that’s just my opinion.
Look, I enjoyed parts of all the seasons, and I really, really liked the casting for pretty much everyone in the show… but those first 3 seasons were an absolute mess. The 4th was… less messy. And it even got in a few “shoulda/coulda/woulda” moments that we missed out on because of the show’s particular continuity and because it was cut short before another season.
Yeah, I think it’s fine I guess, but feel like it’s an unnecessary power to add to his already impressive power-set. I like the idea that he’s a magic superhero, but that unlike Zatanna or Doctor Fate, his magic is mostly of physical and mental attributes. And I think that it’s a little weird that he and Flash both gained zappy powers when 1) their power sets are already extensive and 2) they never really needed them for years. I like creative uses of powers they already have, so if the Flash were to build up a crazy electrical charge using his speed, that would have a similar effect without actually adding a power. It feels like, with both Captain Marvel and Flash they thought “well, it just looks cool” especially in a time when visual effects are a part of them being in movies and shows, and for Cap, it feels like they wanted to do something to further differentiate him from Superman, when for me… the fact that his power base is magic, and the fact that he’s a kid that transforms into an adult are more than enough for him to be unique. I was on board with the old transformative lightning being used in dire circumstances, in a “I can call it down to zap someone, but I better watch out because I’ll be vulnerable as soon as I turn to Billy” kind of way, but I think even that should be used sparingly for emergencies only.
The newer zappy lightning doesn’t bug me too much though… it’s not a terrible jump in my opinion… but if I were writing the character I’d probably use it less than it’s used these days. It’s just not what I think of when I think of the character. Not sure if I’d write them out though. But I’d be happy to bring in Black Lightning or his daughter or someone if he needs the zappier version for a mission.
Oh I get why they changed it. I just have yet to see her portrayed in comics (or even, frankly, in the movies outside of her solo movies) in a way that makes me think, yup, she’s been around in “man’s world” since the 40s (or 20s!).
I must admit, I usually think the initial event that complicated continuity is problematic, but I kind of have a weak spot for (and enjoy the hell out of) stories where clever writers take the awkward continuity they were handed and do something creative with it.
Hippolyta as Wonder Woman, Fury I as the after-the-fact, retconned, pseudo-G.A. mother of Lyta Trevor, and Miss America as a sometimes-stand-in for the G.A. Diana are all… just… the best. It’s an absolute shame that there aren’t more stories to flesh them out… or action figures… or mini-series… or whatever.
I didn’t HATE them re-introducing Diana as the Golden Age WW… it makes some sense, but… I don’t think it matches well with how the character has been portrayed since… the 70s? Definitely since George Perez’s legendary run (which I loved, but also… most post-crisis relaunches started with a new origin mini-series or story arc, and then followed with “and then time passed,” so some pre-crisis stories fit in that gap, and others didn’t… and your headcanon and future writers could figure all that out later… and that was smarter than Wonder Woman and Hawkman, who reset with no gap and have always been some of the most confusing characters continuity-wise since crisis).
It was also just the most interesting takes on… Hyppolyta, Lyta Hall… Miss America… it was the perfect example of taking lemons and making lemonade!
I’m not sure my brain will ever fully let go of that as continuity. Heck, Hippolyta recently taking Diana’s role in the JL is a perfect reprise to that.
Also, if Diana was the G.A. Wonder Woman, why is she never there when the modern JSA gathers? She should be besties with Jay and Alan. She, or maybe Donna (as a legacy member) should be part of the JSA every time out, but that just feels weird. Cassie should be in line for membership but that feels weird too. But if Diana is JL and her mom is JSA? That just kinda feels right. (But Diana would still be on Alan’s short-list for basically every single membership drive…)
Well, I mean, Hal’s been touching his hair up and blaming it on a yellow space bug since Geoff Johns wrote him, so Superman gets a pass, I think. Although, it was kinda a good look for Clark…
@ABSTRACT ROZE i mean, I’d check out a few issues of Pogo Death (depending on who the writer was) before I read more than an issue or 2 of “The Flash, but make him look grim and dark and have him terrorizing people he’d usually care about,” but then I also just think Kirby’s take on death is one of those things that makes the 4th World a bunch of trippy fun. I’d also read a series where death is a bubbly, compassionate woman who takes your hand if you’re afraid, and usually takes you through a final bit of introspection before sending you on your way. (And I luckily, have read a few of those, in fact!)
You say Black Racer is dumb. I say he’s genius. You think Flash as the Black Racer is cooler. I think it’s a a played out, a little tired, and a fairly depressing concept. But that’s why different comics, writers, and stories appeal to different people, and not every comic is written for every reader.
It’s funny, Death (of the Endless) is the other in my top 2… I love the character, and the entire Sandman comic (and prequels, and several spin-offs)… but maybe it’s just so classic to me, that it’s weird that you say it “is that weird”. To me it’s epic, and human, and whimsical, and profound, and deep… and there’s something just kind of natural about it all.
For me? The Jack Kirby’s 4th World take on death is that weird. I mean, the Source reached out to a paralyzed Vietnam vet, and told him he could stay alive as long as he was its avatar of death. So the Black Racer, who wears a suit of armor (that sometimes is all black and other times is a crazy combo of colors like I posted above) and travels at the speed of death via levitating, cosmic skis… is my other top pick for this.
And, of course, in my head… they’re kinda partly the same person! It’s the look/method that she puts on when interacting with the New Gods. Morpheus definitely looked different based on what species or individual he was talking to, so why should Death be any different?
DC has a bit of a reprieve in that Mickey Mouse comes up first. And Disney isn’t going to let Mickey Mouse… even “Steamboat Willy” Mickey Mouse… slip to public domain. So Disney will have their army of lawyers and their political donations ready to do whatever they need to do to adjust the laws and set the precedent, so it’ll likely all be settled by the time Superman and Batman come up.
I could see a scene where the Justice League or Titans are sitting around discussing all the different aspects of death…the Black Flash, Death of the Endless, the Black Racer, Thanatos… and you have Batman or Cyborg with images up on the monitor screen, trying to catalogue them as literal people with scientific explanations, and you have Flash or Beast Boy asking questions and joking about how it’s all a little beyond their perspective… and then you have Zatanna or Raven saying…
I feel like a lot of the polls recently leave out some obvious ones. This guy should be top 2 for sure! I kinda imagine that there could be one scene where a character dies, and depending on who is witnessing the death, each of them sees a different version.
I’m pretty sure he’s not “Black Superman”… he’s just Superman. There are a few Supermen who are Black in the multiverse. A couple of them have garnered a bit more attention than others, including Val-Zod of the current Earth 2, and Kalel/Calvin Ellis of Earth 23. I know the Superman of Earth 47 is also Black, but in group shots of multiversal Supermen, I’m pretty sure others have appeared?
I’ve mostly read stuff featuring Calvin Ellis, who is President on his earth. Definitely some cool stories. Would be interested in seeing more. Haven’t read a lot about the version of Earth 2 that was introduced during the New 52, but I’m looking forward to seeing more about Val-Zod in the upcoming Jon Kent story!
@Leader Vladimir , I’m not the one saying he SHOULD be called The Captain, I’m just telling you what was said in an interview about the upcoming Shazam book, because (like most people who have been reading the character for more than 12 years) the writer will always think of Billy Batson’s alter ego as Captain Marvel. And I’m pointing out that, Mary’s code name has changed back and forth and back and forth. If you look at the DC vs Vampires books, The New Chsmpion of Shazam, and the Lazarus Planet books, all of which came out within weeks of each other, her name swaps back and forth between Shazam, Lady Shazam, and Mary Marvel.
MY suggestion is just to stick with Captain Marvel. That’s not “doing something weird” with the characters. His name was Captain Marvel from 1939 through 2011, with maybe a little confusion around the point where he was acting as the Wizard and Freddie was running around as the main champion. That’s over 70 years AND it goes into pretty recent history. The “weird” thing was to call him Shazam, the name of the wizard who grants him his powers and the magic word that triggers the lightning. It would be like if The Flash just suddenly started going by “Speed Force” when Adobe created their media player software, or Disney changing Donald Duck’s name because they want to avoid “advertising” for other famous “Donalds”.
No one is stopping calling multiple characters at multiple companies Sandman. Marvel doesn’t always un-abbreviate District of Columbia every time they refer to the city the US Capitol is in to avoid “advertising for their competitor”, etc.
Yeah, all from the John Byrne run during the early days of the post-Crisis Superman book relaunch. I could look to be certain, but I imagine @Kyletheobald checked his work.