Your DC-Only controversial opinions...

[FishyZombie]

Here's an opinion that might be controversial.

I want to see big budget, Pixar-like animated movies for superheroes. I enjoy the live-action stuff, and the direct-to-DvD animated movies DC does are.....okay-ish (the ones Ive seen anyway). But I would kill to see a big, colorful Superman movie done by a studio like DreamWorks or Pixar, and I think DC and Disney are missing out by not trying this.

I mean, these guys do movies like Zootopia or Kung Fu Panda, films that my kids watch to death that my wife and I can also enjoy......its the perfect formula for superheroes. Just look at The Incredibles or Mega Mind! Imagine if those films had been about the Fantastic Four or Batman? Mountains of cash money right there! And even though it takes years to do a big, full-length animated feature, I doubt it takes that much more time or costs more than the live action stuff.

I agree, I also think it's the best way to do green lantern, even with good cgi, the constructs are gonna look a little too weird in live action.

[Ascended]

I've enjoyed SHAZAM! best in its 1970s form...a slightly older Billy Batson (late teens/early twenties) righting wrongs on the highways and byways of the land alongside Mentor in a Winnebago RV, regularly consulting the Elders for advice. It's the way I first encountered the character and franchise (via the TV show and comics of the time), and still the way I like it best, even if it represents a highly irregular characterization.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

What is all this? I have never heard of this era. How long did it last? Has it been collected? Who were the creators? How the hell did I miss this?

You have my attention good sir. Tell me more?

Or PM me if you dont wanna fill up the thread.

[Ascended]

I agree, I also think it's the best way to do green lantern, even with good cgi, the constructs are gonna look a little too weird in live action.

Well, Disney did great things with Big Hero 6, and that's a property so unknown even I had no idea it originated at Marvel (and Im a pretty big comic nerd). I think they could do a lot with stuff like Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel, and The Runaways (especially since they can never find space for Runaways in live action) and DC/WB could do wonders with stuff like the Legion, Titans, Batgirl of Burnside, or even the big names like Superman, Flash (wouldnt that be a hell of a thing?) or, if they want to be really daring, something like Swamp Thing (if it worked for the Lorax....) or Jonah Hex.

[upgrayedd]

What is all this? I have never heard of this era. How long did it last? Has it been collected? Who were the creators? How the hell did I miss this?

You have my attention good sir. Tell me more?

Or PM me if you dont wanna fill up the thread.

I remember it as a live action TV show, followed by Isis... not the terror group, but a Egyptian goddess.

[Jim Kelly]

Hard to believe that anyone wouldn't know about the SHAZAM! Saturday morning TV show. What are they teaching kids in school these days? Mr. Mentor would be disappointed.

[phantom1592]

Hard to believe that anyone wouldn't know about the SHAZAM! Saturday morning TV show. What are they teaching kids in school these days? Mr. Mentor would be disappointed.

I remember "A" Shazam Saturday morning cartoon... but I don't remember it very well if he was supposed to be in his 20's... Captain Marvel versues alligator headed guys is still burned in my memory... that and his constantly squinting eyes...

[batnbreakfast]

Amy Wolfram's Teen Titans Year One is the only time I liked those guys. Why not use that angle on them again DC?

[The Lonely Man]

Perhaps this may prove to be controversial but I've always disliked seeing Batman in the Justice League. He doesn't belong there, he never has. The Justice League are tackling world threatening events and ever more dangerous and spectacular villains. Batman works best in the dark and dangerous streets of Gotham.

I totally understand why he is there, he is DC's biggest star and has been for years but I just don't like him being in the Justice League.

[Lorendiac]

Perhaps this may prove to be controversial but I've always disliked seeing Batman in the Justice League. He doesn't belong there, he never has. The Justice League are tackling world threatening events and ever more dangerous and spectacular villains. Batman works best in the dark and dangerous streets of Gotham.

I totally understand why he is there, he is DC's biggest star and has been for years but I just don't like him being in the Justice League.

I understand that point of view, even though my own take on it is a bit different. I've always disliked seeing the rest of the Justice League in "Batman"!

Here's what I mean by that: I don't object to having Batman, as one of the most high-profile superheroes in DC's stable, be a member in good standing of the Justice League in a team book where anything can happen. But I do feel, similar to you, that "Batman works best in the dark and dangerous streets of Gotham" when he's starring in his own stories.

In other words, when he's working on a solo case (hunting down Two-Face again, or whatever), I don't want his superpowered buddies to be popping out of the woodwork to remind us that they can do all sorts of incredible things, using super-strength and super-speed and telepathy and so forth, which Batman simply cannot do. In any book that's dedicated to telling us all about Batman's solo adventures (or "Batman and Robin" working together, or whatever), Batman should be the star of the show, doing the sort of things which any normal human being could -- in theory -- learn to do, and achieving one hard-fought victory after another, by the skin of his teeth, without needing to scream for help from his teammates in the League.

So I wince whenever I see Superman or Zatanna or some other high-powered Justice Leaguer making a guest-star appearance in a Batman comic book. (But it's fine and dandy with me if Batman gets to participate in a team-up story that's published in an issue of a "Superman" or "Zatanna" comic book series.)

[phantom1592]

Perhaps this may prove to be controversial but I've always disliked seeing Batman in the Justice League. He doesn't belong there, he never has. The Justice League are tackling world threatening events and ever more dangerous and spectacular villains. Batman works best in the dark and dangerous streets of Gotham.

I totally understand why he is there, he is DC's biggest star and has been for years but I just don't like him being in the Justice League.

I'm usually the opposite.

When I was introduced to Batman in the 70's and 80's... it was always as 'part of the team.' Whether it was the Superfriends cartoon, Super Powers toys, or even the comic/coloring books.... or even the DCAU version of the league... When I see a JLA WITHOUT Batman I have a hard time considering it legitimate.

Part of that is because of the way they write Batman. He is the perfect detective. He's the smartest one around. He's the pinnacle of human achievement... and on his own his accomplishment is what? Punch a clown? Two Face? Riddler?

It takes a truly fantastic writer to make ANY of Batman's solo rogues actually seem like a threat without nerfing Batman completely.

Therefore, I don't blink an eye when he has to go against a Parademon or robot or darkseid or whatever. Anyone with Batman's abilities... can't really be challenged by mere mortals anymore.

[Francisco]

I'm usually the opposite.

When I was introduced to Batman in the 70's and 80's... it was always as 'part of the team.' Whether it was the Superfriends cartoon, Super Powers toys, or even the comic/coloring books.... or even the DCAU version of the league... When I see a JLA WITHOUT Batman I have a hard time considering it legitimate.

Part of that is because of the way they write Batman. He is the perfect detective. He's the smartest one around. He's the pinnacle of human achievement... and on his own his accomplishment is what? Punch a clown? Two Face? Riddler?

It takes a truly fantastic writer to make ANY of Batman's solo rogues actually seem like a threat without nerfing Batman completely.

Therefore, I don't blink an eye when he has to go against a Parademon or robot or darkseid or whatever. Anyone with Batman's abilities... can't really be challenged by mere mortals anymore.

They just need to nerf every member of the league to make Batman relevant. Specially in the more recent cartoons and comics.

[phantom1592]

They just need to nerf every member of the league to make Batman relevant. Specially in the more recent cartoons and comics.

Meh....

The league has always been a mix of high and low powered heroes. On any team with Black Canary, Green Arrow, and even some versions of Hawkman, aquaman or even wonder woman... Batman is more then relevant enough.

Superman is the big one that has a hard time justifying needing a team. Him and martian Manhunter literally could save the world by themselves every single time.

[Buried Alien]

What is all this? I have never heard of this era. How long did it last? Has it been collected? Who were the creators? How the hell did I miss this?

You have my attention good sir. Tell me more?

Or PM me if you dont wanna fill up the thread.

Check out this Wikipedia link about Bronze Age SHAZAM!, when DC first revived the franchise after driving it into decades-long hiatus at the end of the Golden Age. This was the Earth-S era, which for a time in the mid 1970s, at least, mimicked the live-action TV program that Filmation had produced during that time.



Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Jim Kelly]

The thing about the TV SHAZAM!--it seems to me--is that they were going with the whole relevancy trend. Even though that trend was exhausted in the early '70s DCs--and the trend was turning in 1974. The comic book revival of Captain Marvel was really against that whole relevancy vibe--even though Mr. Relevancy, Denny O'Neil, was the original writer on the revival series--and tried to be whimsical and childlike. Not everybody liked that choice--but I did.

The TV show had Billy and Mr. Mentor (played by Golden Age Radio great, Les Tremayne) as hard-travelling heroes a la O'Neil's Green Lantern/Green Arrow--which in turn took some inspiration from EASY RIDER's Billy (Dennis Hopper) and Captain America (Peter Fonda).

When the TV show appeared on our screens, the comic book was being illoed by Bob Oksner and by Kurt Schaffenberger (two of my all-time favourite artists) and written by the likes of Elliot Maggin and E. Nelson Bridwell. Despite using Jackson Bostwick's likeness on the tabloid LIMITED COLLECTORS' EDITION C-35 (April-May '75), the TV show was virtually ignored by the comics for most of the time SHAZAM! was originally on the air. And the comic even fell into a hole, where almost no new material was being produced for nearly a year.

It was only just before the beginning of the third season, that DC tried to work the TV show into the comic. While I'd say that Les Tremayne looked more like Sterling Morris--the boss at WHIZ radio--clever E. Nelson Bridwell worked it so Uncle Dudley (aka Uncle Marvel) was Mr. Mentor. It was an okay compromise that didn't stop Bridwell and Schaffenberger from doing their usual fun yarns about the Big Red Cheese and his family.

This new trend only lasted for about a year, before another new trend took over that tried to update Captain Marvel's look--but that was put on ice when the comic book was cancelled. A few months later--thanks to the DC Explosion*--the Marvel Family found a new home in WORLD'S FINEST COMICS.

*The timing seems to suggest that putting the Whiz Kids in WORLD'S FINEST was part of the DC Explosion. As the "DC Implosion" happened immediately after that, it might seem like the Rock of Eternity residents were victims of that, but I don't think so.

[Agent Z]

Meh....

The league has always been a mix of high and low powered heroes. On any team with Black Canary, Green Arrow, and even some versions of Hawkman, aquaman or even wonder woman... Batman is more then relevant enough.

Superman is the big one that has a hard time justifying needing a team. Him and martian Manhunter literally could save the world by themselves every single time.

Not really. If anything, that's merging the rest of the world heroes which includes Shazam, Dr Fate, Wonder Woman, Zatanna, the Green Lanterns etc just to make Superman and the Martisn look good. As for Batman, I tend to notice no other non powered or low powered hero is ever allowed to be as competent as he, not even other members of the Bat family.

I guess that's my controversial opinion. Superman is not the most powerful hero in the DCU and Batman is not the smartest. Nor should they be written as such as it is utterly absurd.

Also it would be nice to see asexual heroes in the DCU. I nominate Wonder Woman and Starfire.