Sunday, October 09, 2022

Lazarus Planet

During its "Explore the Universe Panel" at New York Comic Con on Thursday, DC announced its first 2023 event: Lazarus Planet.

Gee, a giant crossover event based on the signature magic wand prop of Batman's least interesting foe, a Fu Manchu rip-off who, despite limitless time and resources, is less effective in his eco-goals than Greta Thunberg.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, the Martian Manhunter could become mentally unstable. 
But, as Dorothy Parker said when Calvin Coolidge died,
"How can they tell?"

Quite a lot, I'm sure. I can already tell from the solicits that this will follow a familiar pattern. To wit: DC wants to make some big line-wide changes, so instead of just, you know, doing them...

If Kanigher were here, he'd just shove Damian Wayne
and "Sideways" in a drawer and that would be it.

they are building them into a story that makes the changes happen diegetically. DC loves doing this. 

DC invented doing this.

So, they take a throwaway device that was introduced for convenience for one story, one which has grow monstrously overused in the 50 years across all continuity since, and they blow it even more wildly out of proportion so they can use it alter the status quo.

Literally.

In Crisis on Infinite Earths, the device was the parallel universe concept introduced in the Flash of Two Worlds story shown above (which grew monstrously over the years with each 'crisis' crossover with Earth-2,-3,-S,-X,etc.).  

The anti-matter universe from Green Lantern was piled on, too, because Hal Jordan can always be relied upon to tagalong on Barry's nonsense.

In Zero Hour, it was the Time Trapper, who had become a recurring and increasingly powerful foe of the Legion of Super-Heroes. 

Courtesy of the Legion of Superbloggers: The Time-Trapper being waapped by the imbecilic Wonder Twins, in the days before he used to casually alter all of reality repeatedly.
I hope he didn't land on any universes in his pockets when he fell.

In Infinite Crisis, the device was Superboy Prime, a throwaway character from Crisis on Infinite Earths, who was blown up into a being of nearly limitless power into order to accomplish the editorial aims of the crossover from inside the boundaries of the story. 

Actually, Superboy Prime was introduced the year before in DC Comics Presents 87,  but who cares about him any more? In one version of reality, he BECAME the Time Trapper, but the less one thinks about such things, the more sleep one gets.

In the Flashpoint/New 52, the device was the key figure in the concept of the multiverse: Barry Allen (or, more accurately, his ability to alter the timeline, a power that grew monstrously since its introduction). 

Always remember that, appearances notwithstanding, Barry Allen is DC's greatest monster.

Then All Known Heroes will be thrown together in grab-bag combos to deal with the situation, including: 

Highly Iconic Ones (the JLAers and such), 

Congratulations, DC; that's Batman's third-most ludicrous hat.

Niche Characters That Somebody Likes (Harley Quin, Poison Ivy, Power Girl, Raven)

"On this week's episode of Our Man, Hal, hilarity ensues when Karen uses Hal's power battery in one of her personal pleasure devices."

Characters DC Always Insists You Like (Cyborg, Firestorm, Natasha Irons);

Of course, it could always be worse.
Actually, if they ever used this sassy queen of the quantumverse version instead of the Silver Surfer knockoff, I'd be willing to give him a try. Um, I mean as a part of the DCU.

New Characters The Publisher Wants to Jumpstart (Monkey Prince, Dreamer, City Boy, The Twins); 

So, they both have queues? Oh, that won't be confusing to readers at all. They aren't old enough to have even grown their hair that long yet, unless they are ghosts in an Asian horror movie.
I guess now that we no longer have a child-from-nowhere in the Superman dynasty, two cropped up to take his slot (who are of course twins). Sigh--comics.

and Existing Characters The Publisher Wants to Revitalize (Mercy Graves, Question, Super-Man, Connor Kent, Supergirl).

I love these designs, but there is NO way they will last because there is MUCH too much muchness going on there. Stop hiring Alan Scott as as a costume consultant; Tim Gunn he ain't.

It will be an insane mess, but impossible to ignore because major changes will hinge upon it, including important changes to the status quo and elements of the origin of new characters.  Regardless, in time, storytellers will distance themselves from its stupider ramifications and start ignoring it, directly or indirectly undermining the roots of the new status quo.

Example:  I am pretty sure that Superman's secret identity is secret again, isn't it?  And yet, Jon Kent's first date with, um, that reporter kid with pink hair, was interrupted by Some Villain dropping a bomb on them at the Kent Farm and blowing it to smithereens because everyone knows the Kents are Superman's parents and that's how Jon finds out his boyfriend (Johnny Nelson, cub reporter?) has powers.  

It's Jay Nakamura, by the way.
I think DC could have tried to make Jon's relationship a bit less yaoi.
Maybe give the kid, you know, red hair and a bow tie, like a regular reporter.

Even if I'm not (yet) right about that exact example, there are plenty of others (I'm sure you can cite them!)  Tying character origins or changes into crossover events that will inevitably become dated is always a bad idea. And yet.

Oh, I'm sure there will be lots of changes from this I will enjoy.  I've always thought that Batman should run around Gotham City fighting muggers with the Helm of Nabu!  That what the Superman Family lacked was twin members who looked liked they worked on building the transcontinental railroad. That Power Girl should shoot energy blasts from her pelvic region.  That Mercy Graves needed to become the next Harley Quin.  That you just can't have enough Trigon Family.  That all Supergirl needs is another new costume. That Monkey Prince was going to be the Sensational Character Find of 2022.


Drawing from myth and folklore can work but this is WAY too on the nose.

Seriously, it looks like they are giving Jon Kent Electric Blue Superman power(s), which might be an interesting way of distinguishing him from his father.  But keep everything else I've said here about Lazarus Planet in mind because it's going to come in handy elsewhere pretty soon....

11 comments:

  1. I thought Marvel was the House of (Recycled and Terrible) Ideas, but DC seems determined to out-awful them.

    Any Superman line that relies on the ... talents ... of Johnson and King is just asking for mediocrity and trouble. Given King's history, if I were Perry White, I'd be looking over my shoulder for Van Benson.

    Does anyone in Burbank know what they're doing?

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  2. I would not have expected energy blasts from Power Girl's ... pelvis. Seems a bit off-brand.

    Are these twins new somehow? Are they Wally West's twins who've decided to legally emancipate from the Flash Family and join the Super Family? At least the Flash Twins have been around, off and on, for a while now.

    Oh, wait. Weren't there some new Kryptonians on War World? Maybe those are the kids? That storyline went on for a good 12-13 years (at least in my perception) so they could have been zygotes when it started and ready for middle school now.

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  3. Dave, are you telling me Tom King, writer of "Supergirl: Disaster of Tomorrow", "Superman: Crap in the Sky", and "Comics Without A Justice League" is going to be writing these new Superman books? Is there something in the announcements I didn't see?

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  4. Niche Characters That Somebody Likes (Harley Quin, Poison Ivy, Power Girl, Raven)

    Hey, I like Power Girl - even if she seems to be shooting kryptonite from her (ahem) pelvic area.

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  5. "Wonder Woman as a daughter of Zeus makes sense to me " If is, in fact, the ONLY time Wonder Woman has made sense to me. The seventy years preceding, when she was essentially Galatea, always seemed... wrong. Like Diana wasn't real. Like she was Pinocchio. When she got her new origin, everything fell into place for me. I knew what she was (a demi-god); I knew why she was more powerful than the other Amazons; I understood why there was a 'cover-up' story about her origin, so that they didn't need to really retcon it, just reveal the truth to her and to us.

    But that didn't need a universal reboot. That just needed... a Wonder Woman story.

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  6. " Van Benson." Even I had to look that one up. You win this round, Campbell.

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  7. " War World? Maybe those are the kids? "
    Yes, The Twins are the kids Clark brought back from War World.

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  8. Gary:

    Hey, I didn't call Power Girl a Character Nobody Likes. She's definitely a character with a fanbase. She is neither new nor obscure. But she's not Universally Recognized and Beloved like the Leaguers or the Phantom Stranger or Vibe.

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  9. The other thing they did with Wonder Woman as child of Zeus is, they introduced us to some of Zeus's other offspring. They didn't have to, but I'm glad they went there. It built a cast that, at least for that three-year story arc, was well-used.

    I see why people don't like that Wonder Woman gets her powers from her dad, but I think they're also walking themselves into a logical trap. If people want Wonder Woman as a feminine symbol to look up to, well, what mortal woman didn't have a dad who provided half her genes? Zeus was a crappy absentee dad, and all he provided was potential that Diana acted on. I feel like that's a more relatable role model than Ol' Milky, but I guess it's not my call.

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  10. Scipio:

    It was mu mistake. I saw "Taylor" and read "King." That said: "Po-tay-toh, Poh-tah-toh."

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  11. Now, Dave; there is a world of difference there. Taylor's writing may lack vigor, but King's work is toxic and putrefying.

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