I was watching one of my favorite cartoon shows called the Venture Brothers and I thought to myself, "How can this not be a comic?". As many of you know it was intended to be a comic and the show shares some of the creative talents from the Tick. The odd part is that it was never made into a comic itself. Not one issue. So, great characters like Brock Samson and 21 don't have comic pages on comicvine. This is made even worse when characters like John (whoever he is) has his own page. This bummed me out so I ask you who deserves a comicvine page but doesn't fit that oh, so, needed criteria of actually being in a comic. Is the Venture cartoon the only exception?
Superman changed it all. He was not the first Superhero. He may not even be the best Superhero but he is the icon. Every hero that came before and after has at one point compared with Superman. Superman seems to have met just about everyone. Both fictional characters and real people. One of my favorite things in the comic world is the crossover. We get to see Batman meet Scooby-Doo, Punisher meets Archie and even the X-Men meeting the characters from Star Trek. With this in mind it should be easy for us to play the 6 ° of Superman game. The obvious goal to this game is to connect a character on comicvine in the shortest way possible. Ultimately, the best is to have both characters in the same frame. Like when the Hulk fought Superman in Superman Spider-man #1 (1981)
Here are the rules
You must list the comic, number and year for each degree
You cannot use anything over that comics to make a connection.
The user who solves the separation in 6 degrees or less gets to toss out the next challenge.
It cannot be a piece of fan art or promotional art.
They have to share the same frame as the next degree character in the actual story.
In the last twenty years Aquaman has changed drastically and yet somehow not at all. Aquaman has been on the edge of being one of DC's top characters and yet even he is subject to the whims of an their unsure vision. In 1993 Aquaman was about as exciting as a bowl of white rice. He couldn't even sustain his own book. That was until Peter David wrote for the character and changed his look and character for better. Aquaman soon looked more like an ancient king with his beard and long hair. He was like a super-powered King Arther. He got rid of his orange shirt and wore armour like a gladiator. He also did something that I am normally dead set against. He lost his hand. The reason this was an exception is because what was done with the character afterwards. He was interesting again!
Aquaman looked and acted like the character always should have. He also had interesting supporting characters. Remember when Dolphin wore his orange shirt as a dress. It was a more heroic look then the daisy dukes outfit albeit not as revealing. Last but not least was Aquaman's hand was not replaced by some overly cybernetic technological prosthetic that is somehow only available to superhero characters in the DC universe. His hand was basically a hook. Not only was it simple and elegant it was appropriate for his character. He had a unique look now. He stood out. He no longer looked like a blonde Superman. He was a man handicapped by his missing hand and yet still a powerful hero. No matter how cool his hook arm was it was still a hook. He may of had other powers but he was still handicapped and that made him relateable. In the DC Animated Universe the loss of his hand was an even more powerful story when he cuts it off his own hand to save the life of his son from the otherwise certain death at the hands of his own brother. That is a biblical story of epic proportions worth of a superhero.
The series started by Peter David lasted 77 issues not counting annuals and specials and was the longest run the character ever had. The decision was made to cancel the book and this was the last nail for the peak of Aquaman. After that Aquaman was changed again and again piece by piece reverting him back to the stale charter he was when it all started. Now it is 2011 and Aquaman, Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are back like it is the 1960's again. Character's need to change and grow but it needs to be done well and the long standing implications need to be considered. Why change Aquaman back to the boring character of the 1960's? He was a successful, modern, appealing and needed to grow. Why revert Aquaman back? Why bring back characters like Hal and Barry when you have correctly replaced them with Kyle and Wally? And can someone tell me why we still have Superhero's wearing panties on the outside of their spandex tights?
DC is rebooting many aspects of it's universe. I hope they get it right. Unfortunately, I don't think they will.
25 Comments
Look, we fans have little control over the comic book world minus our voting with our hard earned cash. So, like it or not there will be 52 books next year. In a perfect world what would be your 52? Keep in mind you can reboot if you want. Do you have what it takes to make up your own list of 52 books? Here is mine
Superman
Superboy
Supergirl
Steel
Power Girl
Batman
Nightwing
Robin (Tim Drake as the last Robin. No others after him.)
Catwoman
Oracle (with the Birds of prey Huntress, Black Canary, Power Girl, Thorn, Judomaster, Misfit)
Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)
Wonder Woman
Billy Batson
Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)
Flash (Wally West. Barry is still dead.)
Aquaman
Green Arrow
Hawkgirl (Hawkman as sidekick)
Martian Manhunter (Leader of Justice League starring Hawkman, Jesse Chambers, Starfire, Gypsy, Nightwing, Billy Batson, Conner Hawk, Supergirl, John Stewart, Raven)
Atom (Palmer)
Booster Gold
Blue Beetle (Back from the dead Ted Kord teaches Reyes how to be the next Blue Beetle)
Firestorm (Ronnie)
Donna Troy (Leader of Titans also starring Superboy, Kid Flash, Robin (Drake), Arrowette, Wonder Girl (Brunette), Secret, Bombshell, Miss Martian, Mary Marvel)
Wildcat (A rebooted young Wildcat)
Cyborg (Beast Boy as sidekick)
Adam Strange
Animal Man
Raven
Blackhawk (with his squadron as modern day jet pilots)
Rock (Modern Soldier and commander of Suicide Squads with Flag, Waller the other characters from EZ Company and various badguys)
Captain Atom (leader ot the international Justice league also starring Guy Gardner, Ice, Fire, Rocket Red, Booster, Blue Beetle, Ragman, Maxima Crimson Fox the twins)
Tarzan (In the modern world)
Black Lightning
Swamp Thing
Blue Devil
Miss America (Leader of the Freedom Fighters starring Unknown Soldier (Modernized), G.I. Robot, Agent Liberty, Liberty Belle (New), Shield)
Black Terror (reimagined)
Crimson Avenger (Travis in a modern world)
Nightshade
Spirit
Ray
Phantom Lady
Question (Vic)
Vigilante (Original Chase)
Static
Spartan (also starring the rest of the W.I.L.D. Cats)
Hello friends. Far be it for me to know everything (some may say anything) about comics but I can not seem to find story on this website or any other that can tell me what is going on with the DC reboot/relaunch. If there is a blog like this and I missed it I am sorry. There is a bunch of stuff that explains some things or partial list of what is coming up but I am always the last to know when ever there is any new information. So, Comicvine maybe you can help. My questions as follows....
What are the 52 new titles?
Does everything start at issue #1 even books like Detective Comics?
Are there any books that will be made besides the 52?
Why 52 anyway?
Will there be other universes like Vertigo and Wildstorm or is everything under the same umbrella.
Is this a real reboot or relaunch?
What is being rebooted or changed?
What are the rosters for the new teams and how many are on these teams? Answer: My Greatest Adventure will star (Tanga and Garbage Man)
How many Firestorm's are they going to be and who?
Who will star in Green Lantern, Batgirl and Flash?
Who is going to be OMAC? Is it a team?
I am asking you to help a guy out. I'm starting to feel like a clueless old man. Here is a partial list of the books I think are coming out. Please let me know if I am wrong or update me if I am missing some or when the new one's are released.
Solo Titles: 01. Aquaman 02. Batman 03. Superman 04. The Savage Hawkman 05. Fury Of Firestorm 06. Captain Atom 07. Mr.Terrific 08. Green Arrow 09. The Flash 10. Wonder Woman 11. Grifter 12. Nightwing 13. Batgirl 14. Green Lantern 15. OMAC 16. Static Shock 17. Batwoman 18. Supergirl 19. Catwoman 20. Swamp Thing 21. Voodoo 22. Batwing 23. Batman:The Dark Knight 24. Demon Knights 25. Animal Man 26. Frankenstein: Agent Of S.H.A.D.E 27. Resurrection Man 28. I,Vampire 29. Deathstroke 30. Superboy 31. Blue Beetle
Team Books: 32: Red Hood and the Outlaws 33: Batman and Robin 34: Hawk And Dove 35. Teen Titans 36. Birds Of Prey 37. Legion Lost 38. Green Lantern Corps 39. Green Lantern:The New Guardians 40. Red Lanterns 41. Justice League 42. Stormwatch 43. Blackhawks 44.Sgt.Rock and his Men Of War 45.Suicide Squad 46. Justice League International 47. Justice League Dark 48: Legion Of Superheroes Anthology Titles: 49. DC Universe Presents 50. Detective Comics 51. All-Star Western 52. Action Comics
I was writing a review for one of the comics in the Star Trek: Early Voyages series by Marvel and I started going on about what could have been if the series had been made with Christopher Pike as Captain. That is what the series is about and it is really good. I highly recommend it. Well as I wrote the it sounded more like a blog. So here it is.
With only one episode it is hard to see why a character could be so impactful and it is not just because he was the first. The whole crew was great from the sweet young Yeoman J. Mia Colt to Spock himself. Spock being the only character from Pike's crew to go on to be a part of Kirk's crew.
Now without sounding sacrilegious I never liked Kirk much but thought Pike was what a Captain could really be. So, I would wonder what would have happened to the whole Star Trek Universe if the pilot with Pike was picked up instead of Kirk. One big thing is that the actor Jeffery Hunter died a few months before the last episode of the original series. This means that any movie that came after would either not exist, had stared another actor as Pike or made someone else as Captain like Spock for example.
The big thing that is for sure is there would be no William Shatner. Now, Shatner's personality had greatly effected what Star Trek was up until the first few seasons of the Next Generation. It does not matter if you like the actor William Shatner or his character on Star Trek but I strongly believe that he held Star Trek back from what it could be by his impact on how the episodes were made. There have been many comments made from actors and people who worked on the show such as writers who would portray Shatner as abrasive, arrogant and as an ego manic. Complaining he did not have enough lines, screen time and making it difficult to film anything that didn't really make him the star. In other words making it very difficult to have an ensemble cast. These traits kept most the other actors in the background.
If Pike remained not only would the interaction be different and in my opinion better it would also have many different actors. They still would have needed to add a few more characters such as a helmsmen, chief engineer communications officer and the nurse would be different as Christine Chapel and Number One were played by the same actress. Having a prominent female officer as second in command sure would have a positive impact in the 1960's for sure.
So imagine a crew of Pike as Captain, Number One as First Officer, Spock as Science officer, Jose Tyler as Navigator, Hikaru Sulu as Helmsmen, Nyota Uhura as Communications, Philip Boyce as the Doctor, Janice Rand as Nurse, Montgomery Scott as Chief Enginer, and J. Mia Colt as Yeoman. Is is a Pipe dream? Sure but, it is fun to imagine. All that said the comic series is a lot of fun. It really shows what it could have been.
15 Comments
This last Friday night/Saturday morning a dear friend of mine died and tomorrow is his funeral. This man cheated death twice. Once in Viet Nam and once twenty years ago when he faced a medical crisis. If he had died either of those times I never would have gotten to know him. The man was a hero and a mentor to me. Considering the differences in our age he was like a father figure to me. This is really tough considering I lost my grandfather less than a year ago. He was also really important to me. Both were war heroes btw.
When my grandfather died I had close people I could morn with but it is different this time. I feel completely alone and isolated in my grief. This is due to our unique friendship and the difference of age. I wrote this only to feel better. Forgive me for being pathetic. Right now my heart is broken and I feel very, very weak in my depression.
This whole idea started with a couple blogs I read arguing who was the first superhero. Just like all the other blogs and forums it depends on what your definition of Superhero is. Are you looking for the first character with superpowers? Are you looking for the first superhuman? Are you looking for the first one in comics or the first one in history? It is all relative. To some Hercules, Samson, Robin Hood, and King Arthur are Superheros. All of these are nearly a thousand years or more old. Personally I think Zorro is the first Superhero but that is just me.
Well, after reading many insightful comments and then twice as many more moronic one's I decided to look into it myself and what I found is obvious. It is that all Superheroes are based on characters and stories that came before them. Superman was not born in a vacuum he was inspired by characters that came before him. They were built on the shoulders of past characters and real life heroes. They are an evolution. This led me to make lists of characters that inspired comic characters that came after them, and had the biggest impact on the comic world. The only prerequisites to the list were they had to influence the world of comics and appear in comics themselves.
I started making a list of the twelve greatest characters for each decade starting with the years between 2000 and 2009. Then I went back into time. The 90's, 80's, 70's and so on. I kept doing this until 1800. Out of all those there were only a couple of lists I couldn't fill. After that I made four more lists this time they were for two centuries. Like 1600-1799 and so on. This took me back to the year 1000. It is at this time that I made one more list for characters that have been around so long no one is sure when they first appeared.
On these lists I posted the very first appearance of each character. In doing so I came across wonderful pieces of literature. Many I had read. Many I had not. I found myself wanting to read many of the books and reread others. I also studied how comics came to be and how the whole thing started.
You see comics started out as collections of comic strips. Then someone got the bright idea to make new ones. This was the start of comics....or was it. Before comics there were pulp novels, dime novels, penny dreadfuls, gothic horror and many more. They were illustrated but mostly there were narratives. That said they carried the heart of what comics were.
After this I made these lists and took on my research. I told myself I was going to reread and in some cases read for the first time all the books that I listed for these characters....Or at least as many as I can. This is my New Years Resolution.
♠♣♥♦ Armageddon 2419 A.D. 1928 Buck Rogers, Wilma Deering
Weird Tales (Red Shadows) 1928 – Solomon Kane
Weird Tales (The Shadow Kingdom) 1929 – Kull
Weird Tales Magazine #1 1932 - Conan
Penny Dreadfuls
Varney The Vampire 1845 - Sir Varney
The String Of Pearls: A Romance 1845 - Barber of Seville
The Blue Dwarf 1961 - Blue Dwarf
Broad Arrow Jack 1866 - Broad Arrow Jack
Comic Strips
♥♦♣♠ Phantom February 17, 1936 - The Phantom
Dick Tracy October 4, 1931 - Dick Tracy
♥♦♣♠ Flash Gordon January 8, 1934 - Flash Gordon
Poems
The Epic of Gilgamesh 7th Century - Gilgamesh, Enkidu
The Life of Merlin 1150, Morgan Le Fay
Erec and Enide at about 1170- Sir Perceval, Sir Lanceelot
Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart 1170's - Lady of the Lake
Perceval, The Story of the Grail 1181-1191 -Red Knight, Elaine, Caradoc
Lancelot-Grail 1210 - Sir Galahad
Prose Tristen 1230 - Sir Galahad
The Post-Vulgate 1230 - King Pellanore - Sir Galahd
The White Book of Rhydderch in 1325 - Queen Guinevere, Sir Gawain
♥♦♣♠ A Gest Of Robyn Hode 1475 - Robin Hood, Will Scarlet, Little John
♥♦♣♠ Robin Hood And The Sheriff Of Nottingham 1475 - Fairer Tuck
♥♦♣♠ The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet in 1562 - Romeo, Juliet, Tibult
The Faerie Queen Book One 1596 - The Black Knight
The Faerie Queen Book Two 1596 - The Black Knight
The Faerie Queen Book Three 1596 - The Black Knight
The Faerie Queen Book Four 1596 - The Black Knight
The Faerie Queen Book Five 1596 - The Black Knight
The Faerie Queen Book Six 1596 - The Black Knight
The Faerie Queen Book Seven 1596 - The Black Knight
Tom a Lincoln 1599 - Gloriana Tenebrae
♥♦♣♠ Robin Hood and Alan-a-Dale 17 Century Alan-a-Dale
Newspapers
♥♦♣♠ Round River Drive 1901 - Paul Bunyan
Radio, Television, Film
The Detective Story Hour – First Episode 1930 - Shadow (If it still exists)
Lone Ranger – First Episode 1933 - Lone Ranger (If it still exists)
Green Hornet Radio Program – January 31, 1936 - Green Hornet
♥♦♣♠ Nosferatu 1922 - Count Orlock
♥♦♣♠ Star Trek: The Cage 1965 - Spock, James Kirk
♥♦♣♠ Batman the Animated Series: Joker's Favor 1992 - Harley Quinn
♥♦♣♠ Superman the Animated Series: A Little Piece of Home 1996 - Mercy Graves
♥♦♣♠ X-Men: Evolution: X-23 2003 - X-23
Creature From the Black Lagoon - The Creature
♥♦♣♠ Star Wars 1977 - Darth Vader, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker
Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981, Indiana Jones
275 books for 2011 It is a Lofty Dream. Happy 2011, Everyone!
************************First Amendment Well, I made this list and then found out the the books Le Morte Darthur and The Faerie Queen have multiple books Le Morte Darthur is twenty one books and The Faerie Queen has seven as well as others Think of it like the Bible. The Bible has about 66 books depending on your specific doctrine. Long story short I have more on my reading list than I thought. I am still trying to get it done but it is going to be harder. I will still keep to my 20 books a month. That means I could be 35 books off with 275 books on the list. I think I will be successful if I read between 240-275 books.
44 Comments
Welcome to Liberty's blog index! :D . 04/22/10: Are comics for kids or adults?............................................................................................................ (Gen. Discussion) 04/23/10: Proud to be on Comicvine................................................................................................................... (Off-Topic) 04/23/10: A-List Z-List Heroes............................................................................................................................. (not found in forum search) 04/25/10: Bring Back Ted Kord - Blue Beetle.................................................................................................... (Blue Beetle) 04/28/10: Do dead Superheroes sell comics?................................................................................................. (Gen. Discussion) 04/30/10: Superhero Panties!?!........................................................................................................................... (Gen. Discussion) 04/30/10: Michigan Comic Book Readers......................................................................................................... (Gen. Discussion) 05/01/10: Justice League International making a comeback!....................................................................... (Justice League International) 05/05/10: Ernie Harwell we will miss you!......................................................................................................... (Off-Topic) 05/10/10: DC Comics Relaunch - It is time to do it again.............................................................................. (not found in forum search) 06/21/10: Death and Dismemberment in Comics.......................................................................................... (Roy Harper) 07/01/10: Torn about Quests............................................................................................................................... (Quests) 08/12/10: How long should comic reviews be, and who reads them?....................................................... (Gen. Discussion) 08/12/10: On a character page what publisher should be used?................................................................ (Charlton) 08/24/10: What's so great about Hal Jordan?.................................................................................................. (Hal Jordan) 08/26/10: If I could buy DC Comics.................................................................................................................... (DC Comics) 08/26/10: Religion, Gods and Magic.................................................................................................................. (Gen. Discussion) 08/27/10: Stinky Comics....................................................................................................................................... (Off-Topic) 09/01/10: No love for Charlton in the shadow of the Watchmen................................................................... (Watchmen) 09/02/10: The X-Men Faulty Premise.................................................................................................................. (X-Men) 09/08/10: A Poor Spectre Story............................................................................................................................ (Spectre) 10/10/10: The Greatest lists and Reviews (Edit) =]......................................................................................... (Gen. Discussion) 11/05/10: How do you determine who are the greatest heroes of all time?............................................... (Gen. Discussion) . . Thanks for stopping in! :)
Log in to comment