All In Good Fun, Prove You're An Open-Minded Old DC Fan

[exile001]

A huge Bat-Family, with multiple Robins and Batgirls, does not break the premise of Batman and instead gives us tons of great characters and unique interactions.

Batman no longer being one of the world's richest men is a massive step forward. It was an escalation of the power fantasy that was never needed.

People like Mariko Tamaki writing heroes as people first, with deep and complex relationship to their fellows and often putting character interactions before action, is a lot of books have lacked for a long time. I really want more of it. Her 'Tec run was a breath of fresh air. Sophie Campbell has been doing similar work on TMNT. Taylor's Nightwing, too.

Bendis' Batman Universe is a version of Batman I want to see more of.

Tom King's Black Label stuff is the most interesting and enjoyable uses of most of those characters in decades (in some cases ever). His Joker is best Joker.

The energy, life, fun and pure joy of Taylor's Nightwing and Waid's World's Finest, and DC seeming to take cues from them in recent books (Green Lantern, Superman, SHAZAM, Blue Beatle, etc), is making me read more DC than I have in years as I'd grown sick of the miserable slog. Many of DC's books are now actually enjoyable to read.

[Filbert]

Modern girl-next-door Lana Lang is better than Pre-Crisis nutty Lana Lang.
I thought 5G was a good idea, it's a logical way to deal with legacy characters. Of course, then we got the details.

[king81992]

Terra, Silver Swan, and Mr. Freeze are long overdue for redemption arcs and would probably work better as antiheroes.

Cir El needs to be brought back.

Teen Jon is a gold mine of untapped potential and needs a team of his own to lead.

[Jim Kelly]

Many of these open minded contributions seem to trigger the cranky fan in me. But owing to the spirit of the topic, I am unable to respond to them as I'd like.

[marhawkman]

Modern girl-next-door Lana Lang is better than Pre-Crisis nutty Lana Lang.
I thought 5G was a good idea, it's a logical way to deal with legacy characters. Of course, then we got the details.

I personally think they should have done a Batman Beyond version of the main universe.... instead of "One Year Later".

[Jim Kelly]

Since the Crisis, my favourite comic book publisher has been a ghost of its former self; however, it's not all doom and gloom. Here's a sampling of some post-Crisis comics I thought were quite upbeat and made me hopeful.

upbeat post-Crisis releases:

'MAZING MAN 1 (January 1986) - 12 (December 1986), 'MAZING MAN SPECIAL 1 (1987), 2 (1988), 3 (1990), by Bob Rozakis and Stephen DeStefano with Karl Kesel and a parade of stars.

SECRET ORIGINS 1 (April 1986) - 50 (August 1990), SECRET ORIGINS ANNUAL 1 (1987), 2 (1988), 3 (1989), SECRET ORIGINS SPECIAL 1 (1989)

ANGEL LOVE 1 (August 1986) - 8 (March 1987), ANGEL LOVE SPECIAL 1 (1987), by Barbara Slate

JUSTICE LEAGUE/JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL/JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA 1 (May 1987) - 60 (March 1992)--by Giffen and DeMatteis et al
JUSTICE LEAGUE EUROPE 1 (April 1989) - 35 (February 1992)
JUSTICE LEAGUE QUARTERLY 1 (Winter 1990) - 17 (Winter 1994)

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1 (April 1991) - 8 (November 1991)--set in 1950, this was a try-out for the writers and artists who would lauch the !mpact imprint
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1 (August 1992) - 10 (May 1993)--a continuation of the previous series, but set in modern day

!mpact Comics, 1991 - 1993, especially--
THE FLY 1 (August 1991) - 17 (December 1992), by Len Strazewski and Mike Parobeck
THE BLACK HOOD 1 (December 1991) - 12 (December 1992), by Mark Wheatley and Rick Burchett

THE BATMAN ADVENTURES 1 (October 1992) - 36 (October 1995)--based on the animated series, featuring art by Mike Parobeck and others
SUPERMAN & BATMAN MAGAZINE 1 (June 1993) - 8 (March 1995)--from the Welsh Publishing Group, a children's magazine, with art by Mike Parobeck

STARMAN 0 (October 1994) - 81 (August 2001), by James Robinson and Tony Harris plus fellow travellers

ADVENTURES IN THE DC UNIVERSE (April 1997) - 19 (October 1998), by Steve Vance, John Delaney and Ron Boyd--ostensibly set in the animated universe

YOUNG HEROES IN LOVE 1 (June 1997) - 17 (October 1998) and 1000000 (November 1998), by Dan Raspler, Dev Madan and Keith Champagne

LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE 1 (February 1998) - 41 (June 2001)--the format gave different writers and artist the chance to write about different characters; Gil Kane did some of his last work for this title

VEXT 1 (March 1999) - 6 (August 1999), by Keith Giffen, Mike McKone and Mark McKenna

HOURMAN 1 (April 1999) - 25 (April 2001), by Tom Peyer and Rags Morales--one of my favourite comics of all time

SUPERMAN AND BATMAN: WORLD'S FUNNEST (2001)--a one-shot prestige format book written by Evan Dorkin, with a who's who of comic book artists
BIZARRO COMICS (2001)--hardcover anthology of funny stories from independents

DC: THE NEW FRONTIER 1 (March 2004) - 6 (November 2004), by Darwyn Cooke--set in the 1950s, the plot manages to include a laundry list of vintage characters

DC COMICS PRESENTS, 2004 tribute to Julius Schwartz--especially
DC COMICS PRESENTS: MYSTERY IN SPACE (September 2004)--1st story, "Crisis on 2 Worlds" by Elliot S! Maggin and J.H. Williams III (features Ralph Dibny, Sue Dibny, Adam Strange and Alanna of Rann)

SOLO 1 (October 2004) - 12 (August 2006)--issues dedicated to Tim Sale, Darwyn Cooke, Mike Allred, Sergio Aragonés and others

BIZARRO WORLD (2005)--another hardcover anthology of funny stories from independents

Grant Morrison presents--
SEVEN SOLDIERS, including several other titles, 2005 - 2006, by Grant Morrison and crew
ALL-STAR SUPERMAN 1 (November 2005) - 12 (October 2008), by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
FINAL CRISIS: SUPERMAN BEYOND 3D (October 2008) by Grant Morrison, Doug Manke and Rodney Ramos

TINY TITANS 1 (April 2008) - 50 (May 2012), by Art Baltezar and Franco Aureliani

Viking children's books by Ralph Cosentino--
BATMAN: THE STORY OF THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
SUPERMAN: THE STORY OF THE MAN OF STEEL (2010)
WONDER WOMAN: THE STORY OF THE AMAZON PRINCESS (2011)

***

upbeat classic re-releases:

Topp's 1966 Batman cards, 1989 re-issue--featuring art by Bob Powell and Norman Saunders, some of the best Batman stories I ever read, finally all collected in one box

DC Silver Age Classics, 1992--when the World Color Press--in Sparta, Illinois--closed down in 1992, the publisher ended their long association with the printer by issuing ten reprints of classic titles, one of those was an added issue of SUGAR AND SPIKE 99 (new material, albeit work that Sheldon Mayer had previously done for the foreign market).

Millennium Editions, 2000 - 2001, 62 issues in all of reprinted classics, a treasure trove of reading material

THE SPIRIT ARCHIVES, Vol. 1 - 26, 2000 - 2009--I bought so many Archives, but these days I don't really care for the production style of these reprints or other reprint collections; however, the quality of production for the Spirit is something different

SHOWCASE PRESENTS . . . , 2005 - 2016--because it's in black and white and on cheap paper, I like this style of reprint much more!

THE ORIGINAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COMIC BOOK HEROES, Vol 1, 2 & 3, by Michael L. Fleisher, 2007 re-issue of my favourite encyclopedias

THE DC VAULT (2008) by Martin Pasko--so many cool things included in this binder
THE BATMAN VAULT (2009) by Robert Greenberger and Matthew K. Manning

DC COMICS CLASSICS LIBRARY: THE BATMAN ANNUALS, Vol. 1 (2009) & 2 (2010)--re-presents the Annuals from the early 1960s

over-sized hardcovers:
BAT-MANGA! THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN (2008)--compiled by Chip Kidd, this features the Japanese version of the Death-Man story--a chance to have more 1960s Batman comics that I never knew existed!
SUPERMAN VS. MUHAMMAD ALI by Neal Adams (originally published in 1978) 2010 re-issue
THE BIBLE by Sheldon Mayer, Joe Kubert and Nestor Redondo (originally published in 1975) 2012 re-issue
JACK KIRBY'S SPIRIT WORLD (originally published in 1971 and 1972) 2012 re-issue

[JThree]

the Bible by Sheldon Mayer. Old Cranky Guy thinks you have excellent taste, Mr. Jim Kelly. Have to track those DC Silver Age Classics Sugar and Spike reprint.
Excellent suggestions. But I still wish there were more "regular" humor comics. Does anybody know if the Mad Holiday Stocking Stuffer has been reprinting the same material for the past several years?

It seems to me like they do.

==jthree

[j9ac9k]

I'm all good with Superman losing the trunks. I mean, he even has a belt for them which would look weird to anyone if not for the fact that we're so used to it we don't even notice. It kinda made sense when they were for modesty because his "tights" are so tight, that ... well, it made more sense then and the trunks were usually depicted as being a bit more loose-fitting. But I don't think they're needed anymore.

[Agent Z]

I didn't have a problem with Superman killing Zod in Man of Steel.

The sword is not an issue with how Diana is written. The DCAU and David E. Kelley versions were infinitely more violent and arrogant - and in the case of the Kelley version, outright sadistic - than any heroic Wonder Woman that used a sword.

Cyborg being on the Justice League doesn't bother me.

I like the idea of Starfire being on a team other than the Titans.

[Jim Kelly]

I mean, he even has a belt for them which would look weird to anyone if not for the fact that we're so used to it we don't even notice.

I've seen trunks with belts. I may have even owned a pair at one time. It certainly makes sense if it's part of a circus strongman costume--since the belt is necessary for proper weight lifting. I make no secret of my love for the belt and especially the belt loops. That might be my favourite feature--maybe because as a little kid I was happy with myself when I learned how to draw that. And it makes more sense to have a belt that holds up something. The costumes that get rid of the trunks, keep the belt. But what's it holding up? Nothing. And there's no belt loops. It's just there, some big clunky thing. And worse yet, they get rid of that nice circular belt buckle and replace it with a clunky S shield--he's already got one on his chest--what does he need with more (some designs have the S incoporated into everything, even his boots, yeesh).

I would prefer that the trunks are not cut so high. I like it better when they hang down a bit like shorts. I've seen countless people running around in tights, with their shorts over the tights. In Canada, it makes no sense for at least half of the year to go for a run in just shorts, with bare legs. People wear tights and shorts over the tights. Even here in Vancouver--while it's warmer here than in most places, if you're running around the seawall at Stanley Park in the morning, you're exposed to high winds coming off the ocean, so better to have shorts and tights than not.

It's crazy to me that people think Superman's leg wear is silly, when this is exactly what so many athletes are wearing. Do they think that Superman is not an athlete? Do they think he's going to business meetings in his costume? Seems like those people are more detached from reality than Superman.

If I'm wearing shorts, I always use a belt to hold them up. Otherwise they'll fall down around my ankles.

[Agent Z]

It's crazy to me that people think Superman's leg wear is silly, when this is exactly what so many athletes are wearing. Do they think that Superman is not an athlete?

Yes, because he isn't one.

[Sutekh]

Random developments over the years that I like;

Dick Grayson becomes Nightwing, an identity that not only builds off of his mentor, Batman, but also another mentor, Superman, with a cooler costume, that's only gotten more streamlined and cooler over time (oddly, like Batman's costume, it seems like it works best for my eye with two colors, removing the yellow elements and letting the two colors, blue and black, carry it).

Jason Todd is revived as Red Hood. I never really cared for Jason, and thought his publicity-stunt death was exceptionally tacky. I would have been fine if they just swept it under a rug and never mentioned it again. And then someone comes along and crafts a really interesting 'Winter Soldier' style revival for him, and I'm impressed with how he's been a pretty fun character since then, that, IMO, he never was as 'Robin.'

Conner Kent's human DNA comes from Lex Luthor. Wow, that so fits Lex, and adds some interesting story potential to the Kid (which has even been explored in other media, like the Young Justice cartoon or Titans live-action show). And it's fodder for jokes at Lex's expense at super-villain coffee klatches. The Joker, "Wait, so people say *I'm* unhealthy obsessed with the Bat, and you had a kid with Superman? That's messed up, although I can totally see you as a mom..."

I could also list some developments that I don't like as much, but this is not the thread for that...

[Johnrevenge]

I'm ok with the idea of Alan Scott being closeted during the 40s.

Wally West is the best Flash followed by Jay Garrick.

Jessica Cruz is my favorite human Green Lantern.

I like the idea of multiple amazons tribes.

[Sutekh]

I'm ok with the idea of Alan Scott being closeted during the 40s.

Wally West is the best Flash followed by Jay Garrick.

Jessica Cruz is my favorite human Green Lantern.

I like the idea of multiple amazons tribes.

I'd swap out Jessica Cruz for Jo Mullein, who has replaced Kyle Rayner as my favorite human GL. (But only if we're limiting to human GLs. My heart belongs to Rot Lop Fan!)

But yeah, new stuff that's cool, is cool!

On the old fogey side of the coin, I like the pre-Crisis (experienced, competent, respected) versions of Hal and Barry much better than the more recent incompetent Flashpoint-causing Barry and impulsive fratboy Hal of the Johns years.

So sometimes I like the old things, and not all 'new stuff' is automatically better, for me.

[Jim Kelly]

My open-mindedness seems to already be too old, since I'm open-minded about stuff from the 1990s and early 2000s. Economic woes killed my comic book buying after that and the pandemic strangled what little interest was left.

But I did like the android Hourman much more than the previous Hourmen.

When Robinson's STARMAN came out it was during Zero Hour, when I was buying every single Zero Hour book, but didn't actually get around to reading any of them until two years later--mainly because I had bought so many comics around that time that there wasn't enough hours in the day to get through the stacks of comics I had acquired. I had assumed that STARMAN was one of those books that maligned the previous generation--when I finally did actually read the thing, I found it wasn't at all that.

I loved the animated Batman, but I think I loved the comics based on that version even more. Mike Parobeck was one of my favourite artists and would still be if he hadn't died so young.

Likewise Darwyn Cooke.

I liked the IMPULSE comic book run. I felt like if I was a kid, that's what I would have been reading. And I've always appreciated whenever the publisher remembers that kids read comics, too, That's why I supported many "Johnny DC" comics.