Pages Tagged “DC”
Blog Posts
- I Gave the New 52 a Try
But over the past two years I’ve dropped half the series I was collecting, and the others (the ones I liked) have been canceled. I’m down to one DCU series. (Again) The New 52 DC universe no longer feels like the same DC universe I used to follow. The tone is off (though to be […]
- Crisis of the New 52
I think my biggest disappointment with the New 52 is that they didn’t go far enough. They had a chance to completely reinvent the DC Universe to an extent that we haven’t seen since the dawn of the Silver Age. Instead, we have the same basic characters: Superman is still Clark Kent, Batman is still […]
- To the New 52
I’m completely uninterested in the mainstream part of the DC Comics relaunch, but then DC’s been slowly killing off my interest, dismantling everything I liked about the DCU for the last several years, so it’s more of a final nail than anything else. I checked out Justice League #1, which basically confirmed my opinion. I’m […]
- Marvel or DC? It’s the Universe
I’ve always considered myself a DC fan. I think it’s mainly that it’s where I got started, so I got invested in the DC Universe. That’s what’s familiar, while Marvel always seemed like I’d need to do a ton of research just to get started. (Not necessarily true, of course, that’s just how it seemed.) […]
- DC Comics Goes Digital
DC Comics has launched a digital comics program, starting with the iPad/iPhone and the Playstation network. And by launched, I mean launched. As in, you can download the app and buy comics right now. I’m really looking forward to the day when they expand this to more platforms (desktop PCs, Android and Windows–based tablets, etc) […]
- National Park Service vs. Robots From Space
If you went out to the movies in the US during 2009, there’s a good chance you saw a turn-off-your-phone PSA in which a movie about “robots from space” tries to negotiate blowing up Mount Rushmore. In a case of life imitating art, the National Park Service is currently battling Transformers 3 — a movie […]
- Sex-Linked Brand Names
DC Comics recently canceled its Minx line of graphic novels aimed at teen girls, leading to much discussion amongst comics bloggers. I don’t want to talk about why the line folded, but why the line existed in the first place. Why did DC create an entirely new brand in order to go after this audience? […]
- Essential Graphic Novels
DC Comics has posted a list of 30 Essential Graphic Novels (that are published by DC or one of their imprints). I’ve read: Watchmen The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1 & 2 V for Vendetta Sandman vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes Sandman: Endless Nights Fables vol.1: Legends in Exile Batman: Arkham Asylum Batman: The […]
- Comics I’m Reading – 2008
6 ongoing monthly series, 3 monthly miniseries, 1 weekly, and 5 that are sporadic.
- Flashes in the top 50
Last month, Comics Should Be Good ran a fan poll for the top 50 DC characters and top 50 Marvel characters. They’ve been posting the results over the last few weeks, finishing on Friday. The four main Flashes all made it to the top 50, and one even made it to the top 5. #3. Flash: […]
- Flash vs. the Pirate Torpedo
Arr! Barry Allen may not know how to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day, but he do celebrate Jog Like a Pirate Day! From Showcase #13, it’s “Around the World in 80 Minutes,” a tale of the Flash. (Mostly he runs around the world, helps people out, and gets kissed by women. Aye, it be […]
- After Final Crisis
I doubt Final Crisis will be the last big DC Comics event. But if this one’s Final, what are you going to call the next one?
- Who Named Impulse?
Superman, Batman, and Max Mercury have all been cited as giving comic-book speedster Bart Allen the name Impulse. Batman most famously in Impulse #50, and Superman just recently in the previews for next month’s All-Flash #1. But who named him originally? The name first appears on the cover of Flash #93 (August 1994), with an […]
- Flash Foreshadowing
The very first issue of Flash: The Fastest Man Alive starring Bart Allen features the Black Flash and a hint that death may already be stalking the hero.
- Dead Flash Covers
The Flash has a long tradition of appearing dead on the covers of his comics, and most of the time he gets back up again.
- Relaunching the Flash—again
Well, now we know why DC has been infuriatingly vague about what happens in Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #14-15. The answer: Nothing. That’s right, nothing happens in issues #14-15 — because they don’t exist! In an interview with Newsarama, Mark Waid revealed that DC is canceling the current series after #13, and relaunching it […]
- Extinguishing a Speedster’s Smokes
Comic Coverage recently posted a humorous look at the role smoking had in the Golden-Age Flash’s origin. Jay Garrick was working late, took a cigarette break, and knocked over a beaker of “hard water.” Interestingly, later retellings of his origin downplayed and finally deleted the cigarette. First, here are the original 1940 panels from Flash […]
- Teen Titans Body Count
With current and former Teen Titans dying by the handful in DC’s big events, Infinite Crisis, World War III and Countdown, I’ve decided it’s time to take a look at the comics’ body count. Going back to the beginning of the team, which members have died? Which have come back? Here’s a list of all the […]
- Comics and the World War II Home Front
Two months ago I picked up a copy of the comic book All-Flash #15 (Summer 1944), published during the thick of World War II. In the bottom margin of each page is a slogan, in rhymed couplet form, on how children could help with the war effort: Bottom Lines on Following Pages Tell What to […]
- Showcasing the Flash
The first volume of Showcase Presents: The Flash came out today, reprinting ~500 pages of Silver-Age Flash stories in black-and-white for cheap. If you’re familiar with Marvel’s Essential line, it’s the same concept. I took a look at it to see what stories were included. (DC’s solicits didn’t say.) As expected, it features the first […]
- Flash: Greatest Stories and Off on a Tangent
DC Comics released their July solicitations today, along with some of the books due in August. They managed to say absolutely nothing informative (or, to be honest, particularly interesting) about Flash #14—just that it’s going to be big. C’mon, show, don’t tell! On the plus side, we now have a cover and a confirmed date […]
- I Wonder where that Woman is?
For all the griping and complaining about the way DC Comics managed the Flash relaunch, I’m beginning to think maybe Wonder Woman fared even worse. At least Flash has stayed monthly, and has never been delayed by more than a week (unless you count the shipping mishap in December that prevented the book from reaching […]
- Flash: The Greatest Stories Ever Told?
In 1991, DC released The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told, part of a series of hardcovers collecting classic stories about their signature characters. It was reprinted in softcover a few years later, but both editions have been long out of print. When DC started releasing new “Greatest Stories…” books last year, I figured it was […]
- Smallville Flash
With Bart Allen returning to Smallville tonight—alongside Cyborg, Green Arrow, and Aquaman—I find myself wondering about the best way to hang onto just a few episodes. Last night I went looking for my tape of “Run,” the first episode in which he appeared, and I couldn’t find it. I have no interest in buying full […]
- The Longest-Running Flash
A post on the Comic Bloc Forums the other day made me think about the question: Which Flash had the longest solo career? It depends on how you measure it. The original Flash, Jay Garrick, has of course been around the longest: 1940–today. He’s got more than 65 years on his successors. But a more […]
- Infinity, Inc. and Beyond!
In 52 Week 21, Lex Luthor’s super-heroes were finally given a team name and code names: Infinity, Inc. About half of the individual names are recycled from former members of the real Infinity, Inc.: Fury, Skyman, Nuklon, etc. Interestingly enough, it turns out that a month ago, someone posted a different set of names [update: […]
- DC Catches up on Fallen Angel
All right! DC has announced that they will be releasing a second collection of Peter David and David Lopez’ Fallen Angel! The creator-owned series lasted for 20 issues at DC before low sales finally did it in. After the cancellation, IDW approached Peter David and offered the series a new home at their company. With […]
- Comic Thought of the Day
Adam Strange started out as an archaeologist. Which means he probably had a PhD. Which means, on Earth, his proper form of address would be Dr. Strange.
- Continuity Punches, Earth-Prime, and Plotting Power
While writing an article on Earth-Prime yesterday, I had an interesting thought linking Superboy Prime’s “continuity punches” from Infinite Crisis with the early appearances of Earth Prime. DC Comics established Earth-Prime as the reader’s world. It was basically the same as the real world, with no super-heroes, and allowed DC characters to interact with a […]
- Double your Angel, double your fun!
It seems that there will be two Fallen Angel collections on the shelves this August. To coincide with IDW’s book collecting the first story arc of their series, DC is reprinting their TPB of the first few issues of the original series. Fallen Angel started as a creator-owned book at DC and ran for 20 […]
- Nightwing must be ticked off
DC Comics’ April releases have been announced, among them Crisis Aftermath: The Battle For Blüdhaven. (That’s the city Nightwing decided to protect when he went solo, downriver from Gotham and even more corrupt.) But the cover doesn’t make me think of Nightwing, or of Batman: Let’s see, there’s American Maid/Captain Liberty, not sure about the […]
- Infinite Crisis as Metafiction
I read Infinite Crisis #2 today, and everything—including DC’s turn toward the dark over the past few years—is starting to make sense. Infinite Crisis isn’t just following up on plotlines from Crisis on Infinite Earths, it’s actually making a statement about the past 20 years of comics. Potential spoilers ahead!
- Retcon Restoration
Over the past few months, DC Comics has attempted to straighten out the origins of two female characters who were left with screwed-up origins after Crisis on Infinite Earths: Donna Troy and Power Girl. The two origins, however, took opposite approaches.
- Crisis Lead-ins: The Verdict
Well, all four miniseries leading into Infinite Crisis are out. I’ve also read The Return of Donna Troy and the JSA Classified arc settling Power Girl’s origin. Verdict: Villains United: Fun adventure book with bad guys. Last-issue revelation was interesting. Cheshire is genuinely insane—I can believe this is the woman who nuked a small country […]
- Ta’veren of the DCU
I was idly wondering about the way super-heroes and villains are named—not the code names, but the actual names like Clark Kent, Matt Murdock, etc. Was Hunter Zolomon destined to become Zoom? Was Roy G. Bivolo doomed to become the Rainbow Raider the moment his parents named him? And why do so many people with […]
- Deadly Nightshade After Closing Time
Comic Cavalcade was an anthology series that ran from 1942 until 1954, publishing super-heroes and other adventures for the first six years. Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Green Lantern were the headliners. Earlier this year, DC reprinted the first three issues as The Comic Cavalcade Archives, Vol. 1. (At 100 pages per issue, it’s still […]
- Supporting Messner-Loebs with Green Arrow
I just discovered that this week’s Green Arrow #53 is actually written by William Messner-Loebs. (DC’s website still says Judd Winick.) Messner-Loebs and his wife have been in terrible financial straits for some time. An article about their plight last January led to fan mobilization complete with donation drives, benefit auctions and books, and—most importantly—a […]
- Tamaraneans: Cosmic Kick-Puppies of the DCU
The Teen Titans’ Starfire is an alien princess from the world of Tamaran. A virtual paradise, populated by a proud, but beautiful and sensual warrior race. (Think of co-ed Amazons without the attitude.) When Starfire—or, rather, Koriand’r—was a child, the world was invaded. The war went badly, and the king ultimately agreed to sell his […]
- Fallen Angel Returns – For the Moment
In the first week of March, Peter David’s series Fallen Angel returns from hiatus with issue #19, the first part of a 2-part crossover with Sachs and Violens, a classic pair of Peter David/George Perez characters. Fallen Angel follows the enigmatic title character through the city of Bete Noire, Louisiana. Lee—known to some as the […]
- Speaking of Green Lantern: Untangling Hal from Parallax
At the comic store this week I actually flipped through the current issue of Green Lantern: Rebirth. And I was shocked to find that it made sense. I’ve been avoiding the miniseries because, in general, I’m of the opinion that it’s better to move on than to go back. Yeah, it took me years to […]
- Super-Hero Weddings
Over the past few weeks I’ve been going through the Silver Age Flash series, cataloging character appearances. I’m almost done – only 25 issues left – but it reminded me of something: Why is it that super-hero weddings are almost always interrupted by super-villains – even when the hero’s identity is secret? Is it just […]