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Triumph was inspired by Neal Pozner who was gay and responsible for recruiting talent like Phil Jimenez, Stuart Immonen and Gene Ha. Based on the wiki, it sounds like he was a much more admirable person than the character he inspired:
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Comics writer Christopher Priest, who worked with Pozner at DC, based the personality of the character Triumph on Pozner, describing him this way:
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Neal was, likely, the sharpest tool in the shed. He dressed better and had better hair than anybody on the floor, veeps included. He was aggressive, passionate about his convictions, willing to stick his neck out for his ideals and for the people he was charged with defending. Neal swung a (political) bat at the major-major Powers That Be at DC on my behalf once, a political move I didn't expect Neal to survive. I marveled at his courage and his dignity, even as some braced against him for being very direct and headstrong and for always being right. Neal, write this down someplace, was always right. He was. At the end of the day, Neal would be proven right. That fact, more than anything else, annoyed many staffers beyond reason. Not that Neal would rub your nose in it — you'd rub your own nose. That's how right he was. [Italics in the original.][/QUOTE]
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[url]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Pozner[/url]
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I wouldn't mind seeing him again if he's written as gay like he was supposed to be.
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The aspect of Triumph that actually intrigues me is the aspect that would make him being gay problematic. I remember this one issue of JL I read wherein Triumph instigates a fight with the then young hot shot League members in order to whip them into shape and.....it didn't work out the way he hoped. The fact that he is the son of a supervillain and the fact that he was a frustrated hero who was later busted for selling super villain tech to the highest bidder makes him an intriguing flawed anti-hero. Instead of another evil Superman, he could easily be Superman's equivalent of John Walker; the well meaning guy who couldn't quite cut it as a hero, made some big mistakes which disgraced him and now he works as an anti-hero.
Instead of being a 'lost' founding member, you could do a twist on the Neron story, where he makes a deal with the devil to rewrite reality so that he is a founding member. This would of course back fire on him.
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[QUOTE=Ascended;5732221]Ha, I knew I was one of the few who didn't hate Triumph.
But that's just the idea of him; the execution was gods awful. And the major problem with the character is that he had no purpose beyond his initial debut. So yeah, the idea of a founding Leaguer being forgotten in time is a pretty interesting concept, especially for the team made up of *the* big names who're known and respected across the galaxy. But once you bring Triumph back....then what? DC didn't have an answer to that, and I don't think they even considered the question. The guy has no hook other than "I was there at the start but everyone forgot about me" and that's got really limited range.
If Triumph were to ever return I'd very much want a reboot of the entire concept, because the character we got didn't match up to the novelty and creativity of the raw idea. But comics are full of popular characters who were lost in time and there's nothing wrong with Triumph on a conceptual level, DC just didn't think anything through or put in the effort to turn him into a compelling character. Lots of potential, none of which was ever realized.[/QUOTE]yeah, the start of the idea was pretty good But... the ending..... nope... no thank you! In some ways, he reallly didn't act like a hero.
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[QUOTE=nx01a;5727727]I remember him from that JLA story. Poor guy.
[IMG]https://media.agonybooth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/jl-11-e1501659140956.jpg[/IMG]
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Heh, hello Titanium Rex :P
[IMG]http://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/stg.ign.com/2015/09/SM_T-Rex_V1.0_SM.jpg[/IMG]
Now the big question is looks Rex the way he looks by accident or was his look inspired by that Triumph?
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[QUOTE=marhawkman;5733235]yeah, the start of the idea was pretty good But... the ending..... nope... no thank you! In some ways, he reallly didn't act like a hero.[/QUOTE]
Still don't get why Priest made him such a douche
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[QUOTE=The Cool Thatguy;5734372]Still don't get why Priest made him such a douche[/QUOTE]There's a simple obvious explanation. that seems mind blowingly stupid, but.....
The story outline required Triumph to fight Superman. Therefore Triumph needs to be a "heel". why/how?... yeah not an easy question.
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[QUOTE=marhawkman;5734780]There's a simple obvious explanation. that seems mind blowingly stupid, but.....
The story outline required Triumph to fight Superman. Therefore Triumph needs to be a "heel". why/how?... yeah not an easy question.[/QUOTE]
No, the scan from above is from a Grant Morrison arc, where Triumph had really hit rock bottom.
Before that, he was in Justice League Taskforce, written by Priest. Who wrote him as very unlikable, to the point he bragged about it on his website
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[QUOTE=The Cool Thatguy;5734911]No, the scan from above is from a Grant Morrison arc, where Triumph had really hit rock bottom.
Before that, he was in Justice League Taskforce, written by Priest. Who wrote him as very unlikable, to the point he bragged about it on his website[/QUOTE]Oh, ok, yeah, that makes less sense then.
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[QUOTE=marhawkman;5736006]Oh, ok, yeah, that makes less sense then.[/QUOTE]
JL Taskforce is where Triumph got most of his characterization, written by Priest. Looking back, the damn thing was a pointless mess and I think Triumph got the worst of it. IIRC, he and Manhunter even got into a fight so bad that Will got his spine broken.
Hell, I think his villain arc in Grant's Justice League was the most sympathetic writing he'd gotten in a while. Plus, he showed up in Kurt Busiek's Trinity mini.
I think he oughta be brought back. A good costume and powers, but they definitely need to make him sympathetic (which shouldn't be hard, but...).
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As always it is not about the character but how you write it. Triumph may nhave not the best rep or background or development, but still could work. Maybe put in a low profile title team (there has been newer new short series around in the last time) and maybe something interesting could be done with him. It is difficult but not impossible. Every character can be redeemed.
(Except the Brown Bomber. The Brown Bomber was and is irredeemable)
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[QUOTE=The Cool Thatguy;5736197]JL Taskforce is where Triumph got most of his characterization, written by Priest. Looking back, the damn thing was a pointless mess and I think Triumph got the worst of it. IIRC, he and Manhunter even got into a fight so bad that Will got his spine broken.
Hell, I think his villain arc in Grant's Justice League was the most sympathetic writing he'd gotten in a while. Plus, he showed up in Kurt Busiek's Trinity mini.
I think he oughta be brought back. A good costume and powers, but they definitely need to make him sympathetic (which shouldn't be hard, but...).[/QUOTE]Now that I think about it... 90% sure that Grant JL arc is the only Triumph story I ever read.
"Cranky guy who means well" may a trope as old as cinema, but it's a classic for a reason.
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[QUOTE=The Cool Thatguy;5736197]JL Taskforce is where Triumph got most of his characterization, written by Priest. Looking back, the damn thing was a pointless mess and I think Triumph got the worst of it. [B]IIRC, he and Manhunter even got into a fight so bad that Will got his spine broken.[/B]
Hell, I think his villain arc in Grant's Justice League was the most sympathetic writing he'd gotten in a while. Plus, he showed up in Kurt Busiek's Trinity mini.
I think he oughta be brought back. A good costume and powers, but they definitely need to make him sympathetic (which shouldn't be hard, but...).[/QUOTE]
I Like Preist, but JL Task Force was kind of a mess in terms of charactarization. Gypsy becoming kind of bitchy, Will a jerk, Despero (L-Ron) and Ray seemed lacking in personality, the lightning passage of Mystek (also portraited as quite a jerk) through the book, even J'onn was kind of an asshole in that book. I really wanted to like that book, it's the kind of book a normally like, but the way the characters were being portraited really made that hard.
Peace
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^ ^ ^
Yeah, once Waid left the team just seemed like a chronically dysfunctional family (emphasis on the dysfunction).
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[QUOTE=SJNeal;5737196]^ ^ ^
Yeah, once Waid left the team just seemed like a chronically dysfunctional family (emphasis on the dysfunction).[/QUOTE]
Priest joked on his website that he wrote a taskforce that 'was given no tasks'.
All I could think was 'You're the writer. Have J'ohn walk into the room and declare that they were given a job to do'.
