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  1. #1
    Obsessed & Compelled Bored at 3:00AM's Avatar
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    Default New DCU concepts/characters/retcons that were DOA...

    Not every new creative idea is a hit. When you take big swings, sometimes you're going to miss and there's nothing wrong with that. I'd rather creators be trying to come up with new stuff and failing than simply regurgitating the same reheated comics over and over again.

    However, I think it'd be fun to shine a spotlight on some of these failures to launch. Not out of spite or mockery, but to show just how hard it is come up with something new in the DCU that sticks.

    Even top writers like Geoff Johns, who has created so many great new stuff for the DCU, has also thrown out some stinkers that landed with a thud almost immediately. Among his more notable misses were his ignored and forgotten retcons like Superman's inability to be around technology, Barry Allen being the creator of the Speed Force, and Wonder Woman's superfluous secret twin brother. I suspect that Johns's recent retcons in Three Jokers will also be ignored, but it's too early to tell...

    Peter David once attempted to explain away Hal Jordan's fearlessness by retconning Abin Sur lobotomizing Hal to remove his ability to feel fear. This idea was tossed so quickly, it was forgotten almost as soon as it was introduced, lasting only one or two stories in Action Comics Weekly.

    Another notable DC flop was, like the recently failed and ignored New Age of Heroes, another well-intentioned attempt to launch a bunch of new characters at once--the Bloodlines crossover. This event saw more than a dozen new DC characters introduced that were almost universally considered failures right out of the gate, with the notable exception of Hitman.

    Another fascinating failure was Priest's attempt to retcon in Triumph, a deliberately unlikeable and abrasive new superhero, into the history of the JLA as its unknown founder. This character was so despised and the hate heaped upon him was so immediate, I can't think of another character at DC that was so decisively rejected. Preist's recent revelation that Triumph was also gay only adds to this failed character's mystique in my mind.

    What about you guys? What are some of your favorite failures and immediately ignored oddities within the DCU?

  2. #2
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  3. #3
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    Well, I doubt we'll ever see Telos again.

    New Age of Heroes didn't seem intriguing to me conceptually (aside from perhaps The Terrifics, but I don't count that because those characters weren't new), but perhaps the biggest problem with it was that the creators and company didn't seem to genuinely care (or not care [i]enough[/i) about the concepts. There just wasn't nearly enough commitment there to get anything truly off the ground.

  4. #4
    Unstoppable Member KC's Avatar
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    Pandora of the New 52. She showed up a couple of times but nothing was really done with her until she was killed by Doctor Manhattan.

  5. #5
    Ultimate Member Gaius's Avatar
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    The Emotional Spectrum being a finite reservoir.

    Diana's deadbeat brother Jason has already been mentioned and Daddy Zeus has stuck around but the sex-pirate Amazons has at least been tossed out.

  6. #6
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
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    Wonder Woman wearing pants.

  7. #7
    Invincible Member Vordan's Avatar
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    Bane being Batman’s half brother.

  8. #8
    duke's casettetape lemonpeace's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vordan View Post
    Bane being Batman’s half brother.
    uhmmm....excuse me?
    THE SIGNAL (Duke Thomas) is DC's secret shonen protagonist so I made him a fandom wiki

    also, check out "The Signal Tape" a Duke Thomas fan project.

    currently following:
    • DC: Red Hood: The Hill
    • Marvel: TBD
    • Manga (Shonen/Seinen): One Piece, My Hero, Dandadan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, Reincarnation of The Veteran Soldier, Oblivion Rouge, ORDEAL, The Breaker: Eternal Force

    "power does not corrupt, power always reveals."

  9. #9
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lemonpeace View Post
    uhmmm....excuse me?
    I think he's referring to this.

  10. #10
    Astonishing Member Tzigone's Avatar
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    Bane being Batman’s half brother.
    uhmmm....excuse me?
    Yeah, that's the Joker's role!

    Seriously do not like. I don't even remember when we got that story on Bane (so thanks, Frontier). It's like the Hal lobotomy thing - I'm aware that it existed, but have not read it myself, and it wasn't important enough to remember the details. Which is rather the point of the thread, I guess.
    Last edited by Tzigone; 10-27-2020 at 06:58 PM.

  11. #11
    Incredible Member Twice-named's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gaius View Post
    The Emotional Spectrum being a finite reservoir.
    I actually liked this concept. And the corps being lost in the previously existing universe.

  12. #12
    Spectacular Member Aramis's Avatar
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    Something in Teen Titans (New 52) that I always remember. This happened in only ONE issue.
    Tim kissing Solstice, and then Cassie. Then, Raven is revealed as working for her father to destroy the TT from the inside. A the end of the issue, Tim is revealed as possessed by Trigon. This whole story was literally forgotten from next issue onwards.

    Actually, now that I remember, "Tim Drake not being Tim's real name", also from the New 52.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Twice-named View Post
    I actually liked this concept. And the corps being lost in the previously existing universe.
    I understand why a lot of people had difficulty with the idea that the supposed heroes were actually destroying the universe every time they used their powers. I figured the writer would have some solution to that...but, nope! They were just wrecking the universe every time they used their rings.

  14. #14
    Ultimate Member Riv86672's Avatar
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    The female Crimson Avenger. I didn’t find her interesting, and she hasn’t gone to do much.
    Personally I’d rather something be done w. the Lee Walter Travis version. He has connections to Nanda Parbat, which gives him good fight skill cred, a connection Rama Kushna and Deadman, a way to come back in younger body, and he saw the future there after WWI (specifically Superman), which inspired to become one of the first mystery men. Him looking up his sidekick Wing’s descendants could be a whole plot thread in itself.

  15. #15
    Obsessed & Compelled Bored at 3:00AM's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SecretWarrior View Post
    This is a good one. I think this character was doomed from the get-go.

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