Safe and Unsafe States

 States That Have Superhero Cities

Here's a game for fun. Can you guess which cities I based this map on?

Disclaimer: locating where cities are in the DCU is, at best, an inexact science.

Endorsement: Metamorpho

 Okay, now it starts to get WEIRD. Because now I am endorsing Metamorpho.

The tone is quite light-hearted but they don't shy away from any of Metamorpho's intrinsic weirdness.  The historic cast of oddball characters is there (Rex "Metamorpho" Mason, billionaire Simon Stagg, his daughter Sapphire, and his assistant Java the Thawed Out Neanderthal).  

Java is a Neanderthal. The only other Neanderthal left in the DCU is Vandal Savage.  You'd think they'd, you know, at least meet for a drink at some point.  

They even brought back Element Gal Urania Blackwell (after what Neil Gaiman did to her) as her original vivacious,  Rex-hungry espionage agent self. 

Not saying there was anything WRONG with what he did. That was an amazing read and remains one of the most moving comic books stories I have ever read.  But ... it still IS, whether it's "retconned" or not.  Readers really deserve to get over that hang-up.

And throw in some appropriately oddball additions, like Prince Ra-Man.

Linking the otherwise long-unused legend of Prince Ra-Man with Metamorpho's still mysterious origin in discovering the Orb of Ra is a smart move in dynasty-building for Metamorpho.

Rex Mason's transformation into Metamorpho is synopsized in the most elegant origin recap since the one Superman got in All-Star Superman:

Efficient alliteration.

The characters have been updated a tad, in good ways.

Stagg is still a ****, of course, but he's now a much more pro-active one, not always expecting others to save him (and his stuff).

And they give Simon his due. He's not merely an unscrupulous billionaire. He's a BRILLIANT unscrupulous billionaire.

Sapphire is no longer merely a brainless heiress, she's a talented internet sensation in her own right.  Java still works for Stagg, but the man's got some backbone now and is now longer the toady he originally was.

In fact, he seems to be the only person who gets away with back-talking Stagg, which is a welcome change.

As for Metamorpho himself, he's charming, funny, and loaded with chemical interactions, which have always been the character's stock in trade. 

On the one hand, Metamorpho is and always has been goofy and stupid. On the other hand, I have learned something from nearly EVERY Metamorpho story. How many characters can you say that about?

OTHER than Tennessee Tuxedo, of course.

 The creators gave him a power-appropriate opponent in "Mister Three" and a shadowy evil organization (CYCLOPS) to threaten him. They also cleverly give him his own city to work in (Jump City) and make it clear that it is very much its own place and one that sets the context and tone of Metamorpho and his adventures.

This makes it clear that, although obviously a contemporary setting, Jump City's vibe is a '60s-style go-go check one, rooted in the same era that the character of Metamorpho is.

Calling it "Jump City" is clever.  Anyone who knows Jump City as the location of the Teen Titans cartoon of the early 2000s will understand that this comic is going for a similar light-hearted tone (but with sufficient 'serious' action and challenge).  Besides, having your own fictionopolis is nearly essential to being a dynastic centerpiece in the DCU and it helps put Metamorpho on firmer footing.

Might not be a bad place for Plastic Man; although his roots are in a different time period, his surroundings need to be wacky-proof.

Even if you don't (historically) like Metamoprho, this comic is a master class in tone and timing.

Here is the comic showing "cinematic style" done right, since this action and motion, even if only implied, in each of these panels.

Here is the comic, in a mere two panels showing every major character, and their relationships with one another, while setting up the entire plot going forward.

Metamorpho is just about as good as Metamorpho can possibly be; I endorse completely.

P.S. I am endorsing not merely Metamorpho per se.  It's more than that; it is a repudiation of the Procrustean approach to editing and comics publishing. Metamorpho is a prime example of DC letting each character have its own world, its own genres, its own tone, rather than trying to stuff them all into some template for the sake of having a universe perfectly consistent in tone and type.

That universal "house-style" approach does have its benefits.  Marvel masterfully made the most of those by creating a shared universe and creating characters within it.  It makes crossovers (and cross-over appeal) easier and more powerful.

But DC is, and always has been, a colorful crazy quilt of different types of characters and storytelling.  They do (loosely) occupy the same universe, but that universe encompasses wildly different storytelling environments. To try and 'iron out' those differences and force them all to fit into one mode does a disservice to them all, gaining little and losing much; it disrespects the intelligence of the readers to think they cannot understand, accept, or enjoy this variety; it deracinates characters and IP from their original contexts, only to wither and die.  Books like Metamorpho signal that DC is finally playing to its own strengths, rather than stumbling over itself in a vain attempt to acquire the advantages of its competition.  In a healthy DCU, there might be a place for ANY type of storytelling that has previously happened in any DC comic (provide the market will support it).  

Except "The DC Challenge!"; just **** that.

I (and I believe most DC fans) love the DCU precisely because it can be a place where a Speed Saunders, a Plastic Man, a Metamorpho, and a Justice League Unlimited can all co-exist for our enjoyment and amazement.  It's nice to see that DC finally seems to believe that, too.

Blue Beetle: La Pellícula

 I saw Blue Beetle today, and enjoyed it.

Some of the beats were a bit worn for me. "!FAMILIA!" is nearly inevitable for a film with Jaime Reyes at the center, but has "FAMILY IS EVERYTHING!" beaten to death as a pop culture message in the last 15 years, or what?

Pictured: The Supreme Importance of Family

Even WITHOUT "The Fast & Furious" films. Really, you can't have followed any longer-form pop culture saga without this theme having been anviled on your head incessantly.  Gods help you if you don't Have Family, because It's The Only Thing That Matters, and so most popular narrative is designed to make you feel like you have NOTHING.

When you love your family so much,
you have to marry them.
BTW, only two of three people in this picture survive the ceremony.

It's convenient for long-form narrative, because it lets writers define their cast of characters As A Family and then justify anything around that.

And you don't abandon family,
even if they aren't perfect.

This is why it is so overused.  BUT it's a theme that actually DOES belong in Blue Beetle, where it is handled, well, not subtly, certainly, but solidly.  

As for the rest of the film, 

The CGI was good and believable, which is impressive given how difficult the Blue Beetle III concept is to visually represent.  The film also has the coolest set of stairs since The Exorcist.

Which are quite vertiginous, btw.

Jaime and the other characters were likable and (broadly) believable (except for the villains, who were neither).  

Having a likable and believable hero as your protagonist should not be taken for granted.

The characters are pleasant enough, if a bit stock-y: the Saintly Supportive Father, the Weepy Attentive Mother, the Perky Nana, the Sassy Sister. I missed Paco Testas and Brenda Del Vecchio, who I (and even CBR) think of as Jaime's real supporting cast.

They were sacrificed in favor of family, because family is all.

The plot was pretty tight (if vague: the Scarab doesn't seem to me like something Whose Code You Can Download, but many hands were waved in the making of this film) and proceeded at a good clip; I never felt the movie dragging at any point.  Except in the Afterlife, but you know how leisurely people in the Afterlife are.

Blue Beetle history fans have every reason to be pleased, given how accurately and respectfully Dan Garret (Blue Beetle I) and Ted Kord (Blue Beetle II) are incorporated into the plot.  

I mean: Ted Kord foe CARAPAX? Who expected THAT?!

Delightfully, even though Ted doesn't appear, his tech DOES and it is very satisfying, because it represents him perfectly. It's goofy, amazing, impressive, and not always reliable.  As one of the characters says, "He was like Batman, but with a sense of humor."  Ted Kord doesn't cast a shadow on the movie, he shines a light on it.  This is perhaps the film's most impressive feat.

Fans of broader Ted Kord lore should pay very close attention to where his daughter is from.  True fans will understand the significance of it.

It's pretty sweet.

The film even climaxes on Pago Island.  I didn't expect that amount of comics-accurate respect.

That one; in the DCU.
Not Pago Pago; that's in Samoa.

Mercifully, while the film includes much Blue Beetle history, it spares us any mention of The Reach or The Bleed, which have always been tedious with their Invader Zim bit. The Scarab is "alien combat tech", period.

There are plenty of familiar (and familial) aspects of Latin culture (even more specifically, Mexican) that those in the know will be tickled by (I was slain when the film embraced The Red Grasshopper).  It also does a good job of reminding us that the old people in your life have entire decades of living underlying them that you just know nothing about.  

At the cinema I saw the film at

The Alamo Drafthouse, which has really made Going To The Movies a special treat again.

a trailer interview with Blue Beetle's director (Angel Manuel Soto, famed chronicler of Menudo) ran before the film that was elucidating.  What struck me most was his understanding that shifting the setting from El Paso (where Jaime originally was in comics) to a fictionalized version of that city ("Palmera City") is a "promotion" for Blue Beetle, because tentpole heroes in the DCU have Their Own Cities and lesser ones generally do not.  It's one of the most clear reinforcements of one of my favorite concepts, the idea that The Fictionopolis matters and it's one of the DCU's advantages over the Marvelverse.

Palmera City was created FOR the film, but appeared in comics at least half a year earlier, because comic books not written by Frank Miller come out faster than movies do.

P.S. Because sometimes The Fat Funny Friend is FAMILY, the film has George Lopez in it. Prominently. But I still recommend that you see it, which is high praise, indeed.

Tragically, his character survives.  
Truly, a failed promise.

A rising Star City!

Speaking of Green Arrow...

One of the most interesting things I have even seen in comics is happening (as predicted) right now in his comic: a real world city is being overwritten by a fictionopolis.

Built around a star. 
A teeny tiny star.

How did this happen?

When Green Arrow was brought back in Rebirth, he was left in the hands of his late-New52 writer Benjamin Percy.  With 12 issues of Green Arrow under his belt, Percy was already an accomplished expert in botching Green Arrow. And "botching Green Arrow" is not a phrase I use lightly.  

And bite it did.

So, naturally, being That Type of Writer (you know, the kind who grounds Green Arrow in gritty realism by making him a werewolf), Percy set the Rebirth versions of Green Arrow in the real-world Seattle.

Which is, admittedly, not as bad for Green Arrow as the Real World San Francisco turned out to be.

This ran strongly counter to much of the point of Rebirth, which was to the recalibrate the DCU and its icons back to their basic core features from which they had wandered far too quickly in the aborted New52 universe.

Oh, gods help me, I'm calling Green Arrow an "icon" now someone please me get back to my native universe...

Clearly in Green Arrow's case one of the essential features should have been the restoration of his personal fictionopolis, Star City.  Not only was it his base of operations for the bulk of his adventures from 1959 through 2011, it's also the setting of his long-running hit televisions series that's the bedrock of a major network's primetime programming.

Who has trapped me in this madhouse world? Lord Morpheus? Mxyzptlk? Cary Bates?!

As any reader of this blog knows, I am big fan of fictionopolises.  I believe that they are not only desirable but necessary settings to a thriving superhero icon in the DCU.  In its very early days, most DC heroes were in unnamed cities or, in a few instances, Manhattan.  Green Arrow himself lives in Manhattan in his first story.

Pictured: the Manhattan city limits.

The advantage of using real-world cities as superhero settings is supposed to be that it lends the stories a grounding in reality (in the same way that the stories are set in "the USA" and 'on Earth').  

See how much more realistic that seems?

And in the short run, perhaps it does. But over time as the character and his mythos grows, a hero's first sport-coat becomes a confining straight-jacket: significant landmarks cannot be added or removed, people and events in the city don't match, and there's too much tension between the fantasy of the hero's life and the reality of the real-world city.

Welcome to Earth-616.

You can't tailor a real-world city around its hero the way you can a fictionopolis.  Metropolis and Gotham City aren't the cities that Batman and Superman happen to live in; they are cities DESIGNED for them to live in. So, if you want Green Arrow to thrive -- I mean, in a comic book, as opposed to all other media -- he deserves to have his own fictionopolis.  

But Rebirth stuck him in Seattle with no Star City in sight; what's to do?  Well, I'm sure that Geoff Johns at some point called Percy into his office, tented his fingers (covered with the Green Lantern rings of all previous DC editors) and told Percy, in a loving and supportive way that would have made Mort Weisinger proud, that Green Arrow needed to be (1) not set in Seattle and (2) set in Star City. Now.

"I need loyalty. I expect loyalty."

Percy, master of the subtle approach (which is, no doubt, why he was given Green Arrow), has chosen, therefore, rather than to move Green Arrow to a newly introduced Star City or retcon him there, to DESTROY SEATTLE and OVERWRITE IT with 'Star City" taking its place on what I like to call 'RebEarth'.

At first I thought this was lunacy (at which Percy seems to excel).  And to some degree it is.  But I see now that it is beautiful, brilliant lunacy, for a reason I'll get to at the end of this post.

Now, Seattle is not, as the plot now dictates, built over any star-based pattern.  Not like SOME artificially designed cities I could name.

This may explain that black goat I keep seeing on the North Lawn.
Or it might be Spicer.

But Percy is not letting reality stop him!  He's wisely destroyed Seattle's only landmark recognizable to anyone who doesn't live there (the cheesily named Space Needle)...

Seattle broadcasting assigns reporters based on how well they color-coordinate with what they are covering.

... is putting the city's rebirth in the hands of private corporations (setting up for traditional storylines like "Green Arrow calls people corporate fat cats" and "Ollie runs for mayor")...

Seriously: "Let's privatize everything instead of trusting the federal government!"
is delightfully current and cogent political satire, and Green Arrow is a good place for that.

... and is ham-handedly shoehorning "Star City" in as having been there all along, just waiting to be discovered.

Discovered through the transformative power of bad prose.

And you know what? GOOD FOR YOU, PERCY.  I still hate your writing. But this is a bold approach to bringing back Star City, which succeeds on several levels:

• It finally gives Star City the unique identity it has always lacked;
• That identity is particularly keyed to Green Arrow's personality and history;
• It clearly mimics the 1998 Batman storyline "Cataclysm", and Green Arrow should always baldly imitate Batman;
• and, most important, by having Star City supersede Seattle it makes it impossible for any subsequent writer ever to return Green Arrow to Seattle.  No matter what horrible literary things you have done or will do with Green Arrow, I shall always revere you for this.

P.S.   Mr. Percy, thank you also for ripping off Batman villain Black Mask to create the newest member of Green Arrow's crime calvacade, Pizza-Face:

And burns it does.

Fictionopolis Skylines #3

Here is the final poster in the series, "Fictionopolis Skylines #3", which includes Wonder Woman's Washington DC and Aquaman's Amnesty Bay.

I had to think a while before figuring out how to represent the invisible plane and aquatelepathy. The Bat-Signal is a lot easier, conceptually.

So now the entire series, once printed out and hung on my wall should look something like this (depending on how I arrange them; what do you think?):

Fictionopolis Skylines #2

The second in a series. This is, as I hope you will recognize, Metropolis and Central City.




If anyone thinks, by the way, that I am exaggerating the Central City skyline: you're wrong. That skyline is directly copied from a Carmine Infantino-drawn Flash story.

You'll notice that I am using similar styles, colors, and effects across the series to help them tie in together. I think this will improved the effect when the entire triptych is hung.

Fictionopolis Skylines #1

You may remember that a while a go, I made some "travel posters" for famous DC cities. I enjoyed those, but lately I've wanted to revisit the idea, amp it up a bit, and use it as the basis for some art for my home. I have some BIG EMPTY walls crying out for some oomphy art.

This is the first in that series: "DC Fictionopolis Skylines #1".


It's not two sideways posters; it's one 2'x3' poster with two panels. The resolution here on the blog may not be ideal, but they are designed at print size, so I know that the images will be crisp when I have them actually made.

As I'm hoping I don't need to tell you, it depicts Gotham City and Coast City. There will be two more in the series. I'm either going to print them as posters at PosterBrain or just go straight to print-on-canvas.

Why do people live in Gotham City?

Gotham City is always portrayed so bleakly (at least during the post-Crisis era), that it's a wonder anyone lives there.

In the 1960s, we knew why people lived in Gotham City. It was always sunny with fair weather (except when Mr Freeze was in the neighborhood). The museums were brimming over with interesting exhibits of mammoths stuffed with postage stamps and priceless collections of Etruscan snoods. Despite a large population, the traffic was so great that even the Batmobile could roar unimpeded down the streets at its top speed of 40 mph. Unless, of course, there was giant cookbook or giant umbrella blocking the way at 5th & Cedar; but that's what detour signs are for, after all.

But in the 1970s, Gotham City became New York City. I mean, yeah, it always kind of was, but it was ... very different. It had seemed smaller, more colorful and contrasty, and cleaner. This was true even in the 1940s, when Gotham was clearly a dangerous place. But it wasn't just "NYC in the DCU". Heck, the giant props alone told you that.

However, when the Bronze Age started, it became important to editors/writers to distance Batman from his campy '60s image. One way they did this was to identity Gotham City very closely with New York City. If Gotham City was in a Bronze Age story, you can bet that a caption box mentions at least once that it was "a city of 8 million people" (or 10 million, depending on the year). Whoa, that's WAY bigger than Gotham City as I knew it! How the heck does Batman get around? Certainly not by swinging around rooftops, because Gotham City was suddenly characterized by hundred-storey skyscrapers everywhere. Those are very impractical for swinging around on, because you can't reach one building from the next (believe me, I've tried, which is how I got that scar on my forehead). That's a skyline like New York City... not like the Gotham City we knew, where all the action took place on the rooftops of medium sized office buildings, atop abandoned factories, and within construction sites.

Now, the "What Kids Don't Know" here is that in the 1970s, New York City had a pretty bad image problem. It was having a difficult time with budgets, crime, cleanliness, civic apathy; Manhattan in the 1970s wasn't exactly the Wonderland it is today. And the big burg's problems were magnified under the lens of popular culture. If you want to know the picture that most non-New Yorkers had of the Big Apple in the 1970s, rent "Escape from New York", "The Warriors", "Fame", "The Panic in Needle Park", or "Taxi Driver".

It was no coincidence that the "I love NYC" campaign was begun in the late '70s, by a city leadership desperate to polish up the town's image and improve tourism. And so they did, helped by an amazing turnaround for the city in the '80s and '90s. Times Square used to be "Crime Square"; but nowadays, even Anderson Cooper spends his New Year's Eve there.

Gotham City, however, went the other direction in the post-Crisis era. As New York City became brighter and shinier and more giant-propish, Gotham City became darker, grimy, and more squalorifferic. Writers indulged in an escalating arms race to portray Gotham as, well, crappier and crappier. The advent of *sigh* the ridiculous "Bludhaven" exacerbated this game of civic limbo, with each city trying to outdo the other in its irredeemability. Eventually, Bludhaven "won" by being wiped off the map by Chemo, which I chose to view as a very amusing meta-statement. The Silver Age pretty much told the Iron Age, "Okay, enough is enough, and we're going to have one of our most absurd characters put an end to this right now." Once again Silver Age inventive lunacy trumps Iron Age "gritty realism". But not before Gotham City had upped the ante by having not-one-but-two plagues, an earthquake, and a federal condemnation and cordoning. Because that's realism.

In the Geoff Johns era we know live in, where the DCU is shinier (except for the occasional decapitation-caused bloodspurt -- and even that is a lovely shade of red), a brighter Gotham City is long overdue. We can discuss that further and when we do, this may be food for thought...

Why Do People Live in Gotham City?

Economy. In short, the economy of Gotham City rocks. It practically oozes money. It must, because, unless you're a thug, you're probably a millionaire. You can't swing a Jokerfish in Gotham without hitting a millionaire square in the face. Its diversification is prodigous, it's an economic rainforest; you can get anything you want in Gotham City, and probably wholesale (including purple kangaroos). Ask yourself what kind of economy can fritter away money on working giant props atop every friggin' factory, and you'll see what I mean.

Real Estate. Have you noticed you no longer read that "city of 8-10 million line" in every Gotham story? Say what you want about the "No Man's Land" storyline, it certainly paved the way for a leaner, meaner Gotham City. But the city isn't physically any smaller so... there's lots of property. Property is cheap is the most economically powerful city in the DCU. Its a buyer's dream there. Everybody -- including desperadoes -- can afford a nice big apartment in a high rise (unless the story requires them to be an improverished orphan, who'll just wind up being swept up at some point into the largess of the Wayne Foundation anyway). And no matter how bizarre your hideout is, it doesn't attract attention because it's lost in the sea of realty. Abandoned warehouses, theaters, and factories, why you can practically buy them on Craig's List in Gotham City.

Culture. C'mon, this goes without saying. Metropolis, it has lots of science and Superman tschotskes, but that's it. Even Metropolis museums are all 'natural history' museums, existing only to house that one piece of kryptonite meteorite from Ethiopia they've all got. But Gotham City? It drips culture. There's a museum or a theater on every corner (as evidenced by the fact that, though one appears in every other story, it's never the same one twice). Famous writers, like Kaye Daye, live there; hipsters throng to Gotham Village; there's a charity ball every night of the season. It's a hub for theater, cinema, and performance art. Heck, I almost assume that that's why so many super-criminals live there: their bizarre appearances and shenigans are camouflaged by the prevailing weirdness.

Pedestrianism. Gotham City is designed as a pedestrian heaven. In Central City, people have to drive to their mailboxes; that's why you never see any people in the those giantic empty public squares where the Flash is always doing battle. But in Gotham City, people do not drive; they walk everywhere. Even if they are gadzillionaires coming home from the theater. The streets of Gotham are full of people, but empty of traffic. Which is why the Batmobile still never gets stuck in traffic. The only other people are the roads are armored car drivers and villains driving through the pouring rain on their way to kill all their former gangmembers.

Crime. Here's a statement that will crack the internet: Gotham City is comparatively free of crime. Before you freak out (particularly you youngsters raised on the idea that "Gotham is the Most Dangerous City on Earth-1"), think for a second. What kind of crime do we actually SEE in Gotham City? Murders, mostly. And it's mostly criminal-on-criminal violence. As long as you don't happen to get caught in the crossfire, or become the victim of some psychotic deformed villain, it won't affect you at all. Gotham City has crime of high "quality" not crime in high quantity. Street gangs, muggings, break-ins, home invasions, store hold-ups, etc. -- nearly non-existent. Why?

Because regular criminals are terrified to operate in Gotham City. You wanna rob a gas station where the Jokermobile might just happen to be gassing up? No. And eventually you're going to be "made an example of" by some supervillian or themed gangster, or get sucked into the thrall of goonhood where you'll be cannon fodder for some mastermind. There are no old criminals in Gotham City. For those of you who doubt this theory, remember that, to some degree, it's already in continuity. It's canon that Ye Old Crime Families were driven out of Gotham City by the costumed weirdos that followed in Batman's wake. Truly, Gotham City got the "better class of criminal" it deserved.

But if you're a regular person in Gotham City, you are statisically MUCH less likely to be a vicitm of crime than citizens elsewhere. Of course, if you do become a victim, you will suffer much more horribly (say, being eviscerated while alive or laughing yourself to death or being thrown into a vat of acid). But that's just part of Gotham's natural extremity... and charm!

Welcome to Atlantis!

Well, well, well.

Aquaman is getting his own title again. Kudos, Anax Orin!

I'll be talking more about Geoff Johns taking the seahorse reins of this new title later. For now just celebrate with this Atlantean travel poster:

Unlike in the previous poster designs, in this one I have depicted the city (kingdom?) from above. After all, that would be how you would approach it. Besides, Atlantis's traditional domes make a great abstract design. Aquaman is symbolized with the "Aquasymbol" in place of the 'A's in Atlantis and the overall color scheme. His silent invisible power is represented in the concentric circles that are the visual shorthand for his aquatelepathy, causing schools of fish to fall in line with his commands.

DCU Travel Posters

There's no bigger fan of the fictionpolises of the DCU than the Absorbascon. They are such a unique part of DC's world, I've always wondered why DC didn't put out more memorabilia and "souvenirs" from the cities their heroes call home. I used to wear my "Central City Track" shirt running for years, but no one ever caught on... Postercards, posters, mugs, maps-- heck, I'd rather have those around my house the some crap from, say, Jacksonville.

For example, remember those delightfully streamlined and powerful travel posters of the past? Artist Justin Van Genderen has done some amazing posters in that style for Gotham City and Metropolis. You deserve to buy them today.

I only wish I could convince Justin to do the same with my other favorite DC cities, like:

Coast City, the City Without Fear

Apex City, America's Madhouse

Fawcett, the City That Time Forgot

Star City, the City So Screwed Up that Green Arrow is the Best They Can Do

Opal City, the Gem of the Bay

and of course

Central City, Largest City in the Universe and Home of the Flash.

Foreign travel posters would be great, too! Think of all the special locales that could be posterized, such as Bialya, Qurac, Kandahq, Oolong Island, Themyscira, Santa Prisca, Markovia, Parador, and--- okay, maybe most of those places aren't really vacation spots. But it would still be great to have some city posters!

Maybe your purchases and letters can convince Mr Van Genderen to make us some more DCU travel posters. Meanwhile, while I'm no artist, here's what I hacked together today on Photoshop:

Why, that would make me want to dash out of Keystone across the river for a long and fast-paced weekend!

Oh, and before anyone criticizes me for exaggerating the skyline of Central City...

that's actually TRACED from a Flash story.