DC Hero Who Used To Be A Big Deal Now Doesn't Seem That Big Anymore

[Babylon23]

The Warlord is now largely forgotten. Once upon a time he had a series that ran for 133 issues and 6 annuals. Plus his own He-Man inspired action figure line.

[Multiverse]

My Top contenders would be:

Captain Atom + Firestorm (both have interesting history, and a good supporting cast and rogues gallery)
Green Lantern Kyle Rayner (my first GL, has been forgotten about post-Blackest Night, I feel)
Challengers of the Unknown (DC New Frontier and Jeph Leob's run made me enjoy this team)
Metal Men (the series "52" made me a big fan of this team)

[Holt]

I think Kyle never really recovered from no longer being “Last of the Green Lanterns.” When Green Lantern was a strong enough brand to support multiple titles, there was still a place for him, but the implosion of the franchise after the movie bombed kind of left everyone fighting over scraps that usually wound up going to Hal, John or Jessica.

Oh well, we’ll always have Omega Men. I was hoping he’d be in Tom King’s Titans since I like him as part of that generation.

[Johnny]

The GL franchise does come to mind and the Hal Jordan character in particular. Yes I know he's still prominent in the comics and is getting a new series and all that, but the damage that movie did to him is irreversible. He'll forever receive the kind of disrespect he's gotten for the past 12 years because of that one crappy movie and his treatment in the newest GL animated movie tells you everything you need to know. WB took this gold mine of a franchise at the time and turned the closest thing that brand had to an A list character into a laughing stock. I will never forgive WB for what they did with that 2011 movie. They can go screw themselves.

[Frontier]

I think Kyle never really recovered from no longer being “Last of the Green Lanterns.” When the period where Green Lantern was a strong enough brand to support multiple titles, there was still a place for him, but the implosion of the franchise after the movie bombed kind of left everyone fighting over scraps that usually wound up going to Hal, John or Jessica.

Oh well, we’ll always have Omega Men. I was hoping he’d be in Tom King’s Titans since I like him as part of that generation.

Now that Jeremy Adams is writing Green Lantern, I'm hoping he has access to Kyle now and has him show up in his Flash run.

[DrNewGod]

There have been a great many flashes in DC's pan. But AFAIK, none have risen and fallen as many times as The Spectre...
Spectre01.jpg
...which, I suppose, makes sense for a resurrected dead guy.

[Bruce Wayne]

His story basically ended with the Ostander run. Hal!Spectre and Crisus Allen was just beating a dead horse. Less said about the New 52 ideas by Fawkes, the better. The gist of Crisus Allen is understandable, but I don't think it was enough justification for an ongoing or even a mini. Hal's Spirit of Redemption was trying to split a baby in half and pleasing absolutely no one.

[Riv86672]

I think Kyle never really recovered from no longer being “Last of the Green Lanterns.” When Green Lantern was a strong enough brand to support multiple titles, there was still a place for him, but the implosion of the franchise after the movie bombed kind of left everyone fighting over scraps…

^^^I loved Kyle as GL. His book had a real Spider-man vibe to it.
And on the JLA, it was a nice dynamic seeing him and Wally stepping up to Big Seven status.

[BatmanJones]

The Linda Danvers Supergirl had a series that went on for eighty issues, and now it's debatable if she ever even existed.

I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know... (a) she never did exist because she isn't real but (b) that series that went on for 80 issues or whatever it was did exist and anytime one reads a Linda Danvers comic book she will exist as much as she ever has.

I know what you mean though and I know that's not it. Continuity has become a necessary evil when it comes to serial storytelling. (It wasn't always, re: DC.)

For me though, my relative enjoyment of a comic has nothing to do with continuity so questions of what exists/happens/counts don't even register with me. If I loved a comic, I very likely have that comic or can get to it very easily digitally so it existed and exists and will always exist and 'count'.

Doing away with questions of continuity was what I was hoping Infinite Frontier's 'it all happened' angle was going to do but nobody used it--the person charged with using it line-wide used it maybe less than anyone--so it turned out not to be anything. It was just another day at the office.

I was excited for the additive storytelling possibilities inherent to an 'it all happened' approach, but I was almost equally excited about creators not being bogged down by continuity or whether or not something is allowed to count and editors not wringing their hands so hard about those questions, none of which have anything to do with making great comics but often result in bad ones.

Maybe that's why so many of my favorite DC comics have happened outside of continuity. Maybe it's also why such stories are so well represented in lists of all-time best DC stories, albeit with even more that are in continuity. When speaking of what "happened" or "counted," does it really matter whether Dark Knight Returns or Kingdom Come "happened?" Does it matter that Killing Joke didn't happen when it was published but DC has since decided it did happen/count/exist? Speaking of which, I don't even know how the new continuity/multiverse rules apply to something like Kingdom Come.

Did that happen or did it not? I don't know. Do I care whether it happened? I do not. It definitely happened to me when I read it and, whenever I re-read it, it happens again.

[Jim Kelly]

The Warlord is now largely forgotten. Once upon a time he had a series that ran for 133 issues and 6 annuals. Plus his own He-Man inspired action figure line.

This is true. Back in the day, THE COMIC READER would list which comics were top sellers in direct sales shops (as opposed to mass market sales) and it seemed like THE WARLORD was always in the top ten, along with a bunch of Marvel titles.

However, they did revive WARLORD after One Year Later. But it was so different from the Mike Grell original and not in a good way. It was put out of its misery after ten issues.

I don't know what the creative rights are on that. It seems like Mike Grell should own a piece of it. He created Travis Morgan just around the time when creative rights were becoming a thing. The AQUAMAN movie (which made over a billion dollars) kind of referenced Skartaris. And if they had gone ahead with more spin-off movies, I could see the Warlord as being introduced that way. Why they lost interest in doing more with Aquaman is one of those great mysteries--do I need to repeat myself--it made over a billion dollars!

[Robotman]

The Legion of Superheroes have always been active in DCU in one form or another but in the early 80s there was a time when they where on the same level as the X Men and New Teen Titans. That’s basically being the pinnacle of a comics (team books) era. Being relegated to mid tier ever since is a huge demotion.

[j9ac9k]

Yeah it was because of that movie it was so bad it hurt his brand. But he never fully disappeared. He was in Morrison JLA, he was one of the leads of 52, Morrison brought him into the New 52 early on in their Action run, right now Wole Parks is playing him in S&L (his second live action incarnation since that movie), he’s in the current Action Comics run and he’s getting his own mini with his niece Nat. He’s on the rebound right now.

Steel had a live action incarnation between the movie and "S&L?" It's not that surprising he's getting a bit more love these days - Conner's gone back to his original look with the jacket. Even Connor Hawke's back, and will be playing a part in GA's upcoming book. Current creatives likely grew up on the 90's stuff.

^^^I loved Kyle as GL. His book had a real Spider-man vibe to it.
And on the JLA, it was a nice dynamic seeing him and Wally stepping up to Big Seven status.

Kyle always drew comparisons to Peter Parker.(which to me was neither good nor bad, although some used it as a slight) Unfortunately, I think that unlike Peter Parker, Kyle was saddled with the "newbie GL living up to a legacy" baggage that seemed to define his character for way too long - even once he became established, some writers kept going back to that characterization for Kyle, which seemed to stunt his growth or make him look bad as a "perpetual newbie."

[Johnny]

1994 DC editorial meeting: So we want a new GL. Needs to be more relatable cause the fighter pilot stuff is so outdated. Hot chicks will still be into him tho. Think of Spider-Man with a power ring kind of thing.
Writer 1: I got it, how about a young white guy from New York?
Editor: The Spider-Man comparison wasn't meant to be literal, Ron...

[thefinalguy]

1994 DC editorial meeting: So we want a new GL. Needs to be more relatable cause the fighter pilot stuff is so outdated. Hot chicks will still be into him tho. Think of Spider-Man with a power ring kind of thing.
Writer 1: I got it, how about a young white guy from New York?
Editor: The Spider-Man comparison wasn't meant to be literal, Ron...

Well, his solo did start in L.A at first.

[Vordan]

Steel had a live action incarnation between the movie and "S&L?" It's not that surprising he's getting a bit more love these days - Conner's gone back to his original look with the jacket. Even Connor Hawke's back, and will be playing a part in GA's upcoming book. Current creatives likely grew up on the 90's stuff.


Kyle always drew comparisons to Peter Parker.(which to me was neither good nor bad, although some used it as a slight) Unfortunately, I think that unlike Peter Parker, Kyle was saddled with the "newbie GL living up to a legacy" baggage that seemed to define his character for way too long - even once he became established, some writers kept going back to that characterization for Kyle, which seemed to stunt his growth or make him look bad as a "perpetual newbie."

No Wole is the second actor to play Steel in live action, I worded that badly.