Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Rationalizing My Non-Selections this Week:

 

If the Composite Huntress were actually in this, I'd be very on board.

Pretty sure it's not.

Eyeroll; Racer X. I mean, "Red X".  The Titans really only have three or four stories, so they just keep repeating them.

"Naomi".  Yeah, I can wait until the Non-Sensational Character Find of 2021 is gone.  And Bendis, too.

Can I just skip to the end where the universe will never be the same again? Although I suppose the point of I-F is that the universe will ALWAYS be the same again.

Uh-huh.  Wake me up when we reach the 30th Century.

Oh, once was quite enough, thank you.

Gosh, all the Conner-heads will be thrilled!

I can't even.

I thought this title had already been put out of our misery...?

Midnighter? Oh, THAT'll help.

You know, for immortals, Wonder Woman's gods die A LOT.


I really DO appreciate DC getting its act together on branding enough for:




this new style of branding that they are consistently using on all their books, as well as the clear (if inconsistently placed) age-ratings.  While I may not be moved enough by any of these titles to break down and buy them, the branding changes signal a more holistic and integrated approach to its universe than I've seen from DC since they gave all the Justice Leaguers tab collared uniforms.

7 comments:

John C said...

I think that I'm only really offended by "we're still trying to convince everybody that Black Adam works as a hero instead of just giving an Arab kid the power of Shazam like normal adults," "Darkseid is too a credible threat and the New Gods do so make sense," and "nobody cares enough about Amethyst to bother looking up a drawing reference"...

Bryan L said...

The only real mystery about Naomi is why Bendis didn't go ahead and name her Mary Sue.

Anonymous said...

Responding to John C ...

Darkseid's original deal was that he was a tempter; he didn't want to conquer this world, he wanted this world to welcome him. More and more, I think Jack Kirby was ahead of the game on how readily people embrace unthinking hatred. Anyway, Darkseid worked in that context; he doesn't work as a physical threat, because either he is unstoppable (unacceptable from a narrative perspective) or else he is stoppable (in which case he loses his prestige as a threat).

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DuAKw4CWsAEwBTj?format=jpg&name=large

As for Black Adam, I kind of think people don't want fictional heroes to challenge them to be better people, nor do they want villains who are clearly in the wrong. A lot of people seem to want everything to be in this morally underdeveloped area where good guys just happen to want some helpful things while villains just happen to want some harmful things, and there are no virtues or vices. I think I see that in too many people, who think that there should be no space between "I felt this way" and "therefore I acted this way".

Darkseid would probably approve.

Scipio said...

I call those people "Marvel fans".

John C said...

Yeah, there are certainly good ideas in the Fourth World. It just doesn't work in the way that Kirby fan-writers want it to. The idea of abstract, mostly unseen gods (that may or may not physically exist, somewhere) around which humans have been building cults could drive a fictional universe. Stocky folks in thigh-high boots and culturally-suspect headdresses stopping midtown traffic, because it "needs" to feel like a Thor sequel, are just alien warlords.

For Black Adam, I think my problem is more that the character doesn't have enough of a history to imagine a spark of goodness that could be fanned enough to reform the guy. If you'll pardon the cross-company comparison, in most appearances that people remember, Black Adam is basically Mumm-Ra, cackling with delight as he harasses the heroes. Plus, his rehabilitation seems like it overturns the premise of the franchise, that the heroes need to be kids. Nuance can work. Black Adam just isn't a good choice for nuance, as evidenced by how ham-fisted it ends up being.

Oh, and I meant to agree on the new trade dress. I kind of wish they'd get rid of the industrial-looking "DC bullet" and go back to the "page-turn" logo from about ten years ago, but it's nice to see a standard format that, hopefully, will allow the titles to develop better logos. That, and I'd definitely read a Composite Huntress book...

Bryan L said...

I also prefer Darkseid as a manipulator rather than an active combatant, Anonymous, but I think he's fallen victim to scope creep. As Superman has become more omnipotent, writers cast about for villains to physically challenge him, and Darkseid looks the part. It's how we got Mongul(s) and various Kryptonians. Darkseid has also increased in size tremendously from his premier, when he was roughly human-sized, presumably to make him more of a physical threat to Earth's heroes.

My personal take is that Darkseid peaked on Super Friends when he was trying to marry Wonder Woman all the time and dispatching minions to enact improbable schemes to make her his bride.

cybrid said...

"once was quite enough"? I get nostalgic for the comic books of the 1980s on a semi-daily basis.