Characters you like, think were given opportunity, but just didn't break out

[Agent Z]

It is all about perspective. It does not matter what the fans find appealing because a large part of the time the fans would take things in a terrible direction. It sounds like you just want them to do more of the same, old tired thing. Growth happens.

I fail to see how giving chances to lesser used characters instead of almost exclusively relying on everyone created before the late 80s is doing the same tired old thing.

[Tzigone]

It is all about perspective. It does not matter what the fans find appealing because a large part of the time the fans would take things in a terrible direction.

We may not lets fans create because of that, but it does matter what they find appealing - if they don't find something appealing enough to buy, it matters a lot.

[Ascended]

That's not what won me over at all - I though the Reach were great - but were a one-and-done villain and should not return.

Oh Im not saying the Reach is what made Jaime work. Not at all. But they *were* interesting foils for the first two years of his existence, and fans seemed to like them (as far as I can tell anyway). And changing something as fundamental as the origin of the scarab seems a questionable choice when there didn't seem to be a problem with the original version. It was a miscalculation, I think, to switch it up.

The first run was his chance.

And I think that first run was handled about as well as it could've been. DC did things as right as they could with that series (in my opinion anyway) but it didn't catch on. But I dont resent them trying again; sometimes it can take a minute for a property to catch fire for whatever reason and Jaime *does* have potential. Considering how reactionary DC can be, it was nice to see them put some faith in a new character and not give up instantly.

It is all about perspective. It does not matter what the fans find appealing because a large part of the time the fans would take things in a terrible direction. It sounds like you just want them to do more of the same, old tired thing. Growth happens.

Ha! You don't know me very well, huh? I'm not a slave to nostalgia at all. But you're very wrong; what the fans find appealing is the most important thing there is. If they don't find something appealing they don't buy it, which means DC doesn't make money. It's also a bit naive to say the company doesn't make mistakes. Every company makes mistakes, and DC is no exception. I'm not saying every direction or book that doesn't catch on is a mistake; creative industries are alchemy, not science, and you never truly know what'll work until it happens. But there's a difference between making a product that doesn't work out (which happens no matter how well crafted and marketed) and doing something that is just a straight up miscalculation and mistake.

[DrNewGod]

The Power Company. I felt they got hyped up enough for their debuts, but readers didn't seemed swayed, alas.

Yeah, this was another one that I loved that didn't make it. DC doesn't even carry it on DCUniverse

[Ascended]

Yeah, this was another one that I loved that didn't make it. DC doesn't even carry it on DCUniverse

I think DC maybe didn't push the concept far enough. The idea of the Power Company was great, but I think the execution of the narrative didn't go far enough into the idea of corporate superheroics. There was a WildCats book....volume 4 maybe? that did this to tremendous effect. But I think Power Company ended up feeling a little too much like a standard superhero team that had official backing, and we've got teams like that all over comics; even the League and Avengers have been funded by the UN, yknow? I dont know if DC made the Power Company stand out as much as they should've. Of course, with a book like this, with the roster it had, there's no way to tell if DC's choices were actual misfires or if they did stuff right and it just didn't fly.

The roster probably maybe could've benefited from a few familiar faces too. I loved most of the characters and was happy that DC pushed some new faces, but for marketing purposes it wouldn't have been the worst thing to put a couple long-running B- or C-listers (Booster perhaps) in there.

[DrNewGod]

I think DC maybe didn't push the concept far enough. The idea of the Power Company was great, but I think the execution of the narrative didn't go far enough into the idea of corporate superheroics. There was a WildCats book....volume 4 maybe? that did this to tremendous effect. But I think Power Company ended up feeling a little too much like a standard superhero team that had official backing, and we've got teams like that all over comics; even the League and Avengers have been funded by the UN, yknow? I dont know if DC made the Power Company stand out as much as they should've. Of course, with a book like this, with the roster it had, there's no way to tell if DC's choices were actual misfires or if they did stuff right and it just didn't fly.

The roster probably maybe could've benefited from a few familiar faces too. I loved most of the characters and was happy that DC pushed some new faces, but for marketing purposes it wouldn't have been the worst thing to put a couple long-running B- or C-listers (Booster perhaps) in there.

Booster would have been a natural fit. Others might have included Arsenal, Dr. Occult and Power Girl. I've read, tho, that Busiek had already created all the characters some time before, and he adapted a couple of them (Bork and Manhunter) to ground them in DC's history, but kept the others as designed.

[Ascended]

Arsenal, Occult, and PG would've been great fits, yeah! And I can totally believe that the new characters had been created before hand and adapted into the DCU. Makes sense. And most of them were pretty good characters (always happy to see new faces). But DC's fandom isn't nearly as accepting of new people (generally speaking) as I am.

I mean, just looking at the business/marketing side of things, and considering the era this book hit, there probably really should've been a Bat in there somewhere. Not sure who would've made sense (probably none of them) but that sort of creative authenticity only gets you so far when the accountants start looking at income statements.

[bretmaverick2]

I’ll give you three:

Damage (original) - his ties to both JSA and Teen Titans, I thought, would have bolstered his popularity. Wish he was still around.

Ragman- another one that has had a few attempts but just doesn’t seem to catch on.

The Thorn - But this May change with her most recent appearances. Really enjoyed Gail Simone’s limited series a few years ago.

[Jim Kelly]

They did try to link Manhunter and Bork to Batman and Nightwing in the Power Company one-shots that (re) introduced those characters. But maybe they needed to try harder to hammer the point home.

[Vampire Savior]

Hawkman

Martian Manhunter

New Gods

These are concepts that just about every fan of American superhero comics will recognize, and they are given good exposure and regular attempts at solo comics, but they just can't seem to comfortably stand on their own. They have very, very infrequent hits, though, like Hawkworld and Tom King's Mister Miracle, still, they aren't enough to stabilize the properties, and DC never capitalizes on them properly.

For me, it's easy to see why these properties don't work though.

Hawkman:
Nearly everything about him is incredibly confusing and conflicting. Their are conflicting versions of the character with wildly different backstories, and DC can never seem to stick with one iteration. You can count the rogues he has that are worth anything on one hand, and even they aren't THAT great. He only has one or maybe two stories that are revered (The Shadow War of Hawkman and Hawkworld), despite being around in comics for about 1000 years.

New Gods:
Similar to Silver Surfer, it's a very creative idea, but I believe many readers will have difficulty finding anything to relate to. There are exceptions some times, but generally speaking, I think this is a huge problem for this property. They work well as Superman characters because they're a great idea and setting, and Superman is much easier to relate to and he fits in with them surprisingly seamlessly. I guess because the New Gods have been intertwined with Superman since their beginning.

Martian Manhunter:
Like the New Gods, he isn't easy to relate to for most readers. You can certainly explore interesting themes with him, but at the end of the day, he's a solemn green martian. Now, if you want people to get into a character like that, the content has to be ESPECIALLY AWESOME! Like Demon's Crest, a Super Nintendo game in which you play as an evil red demon. On the surface, he may be a difficult character to relate to, but the presentation is so great and the world so immersive that becoming this demon and exploring his world becomes cool:

[Jim Kelly]

There's a certain category of DC character that I've come to accept over the decades, which is a consequence of 1) DC books not selling as well as Marvel and 2) DC having so many characters that it's impossible for them all to have a series going at the same time. So these characters don't just have one shot and then they're done with no more seen of them, but neither can they have a series that keeps going indefinitely. These would be characters like the Creeper, Deadman, the Demon, Mister Miracle, Martian Manhunter, Black Lightning, et al.

Sometimes characters I thought were doomed to be on this cycle of boom and bust actually break through and become top shelf, like Green Arrow or Aquaman. And then others that seemed like they were on top for a long while get busted down to this in and out level of stardom, like Blackhawk, Plastic Man or the Shazam (Marvel) Family--that were all big stars when they were published by other companies. Hawkman seems to be stuck in this position--but he gets more chances than others, probably because Geoff Johns likes him.

I don't really feel that bad for any of these characters, because they get to come back enough to stay known. I feel much worse for the characters that become forgotten and unknown.

[HandofPrometheus]

Damage- Grant sadly didn't break out but the JSA never had a chance to break out their newer members besides Stargirl

Kate Spencer- She actually can break out now with a DCU show behind her. Her concept is relevant in today's time and a good show runner with good execution can pull it off. She's also not cost heavy

Dr. Light- She's been in every era and is still unknown. (I blame DC since they STILL handle her poorly and never stuck her on a committed team. She should be a JL mainstay)

[Frontier]

Damage- Grant sadly didn't break out but the JSA never had a chance to break out their newer members besides Stargirl

Now that you mention it, Jakeem, Cyclone, and the other JSA kids never seem to get as much love as Courtney does.

Although I guess it's not a surprise considering she was probably the most prominent of them and the closest to Johns.

Dr. Light- She's been in every era and is still unknown. (I blame DC since they STILL handle her poorly and never stuck her on a committed team. She should be a JL mainstay)

It kind of boggles the mind how little DC has done with Dr. Light. It's not like they have a fairly prominent Asian heroine otherwise with as little as they do with Cass.

[DrNewGod]

...others that seemed like they were on top for a long while get busted down to this in and out level of stardom... Hawkman seems to be stuck in this position--but he gets more chances than others, probably because Geoff Johns likes him...

Hawkman also has one of the best looks in all of comics going for him. Still, the character has struggled since his Silver Age refurbishment. Even tho the pre-Hawkworld Katar is my personal favorite version, I have to admit that his relatively modest power set didn't balance well with the idea of him as a cop from an interstellar civilization. Everything done since to improve the character has merely made the mess worse.

[Agent Z]

Now that you mention it, Jakeem, Cyclone, and the other JSA kids never seem to get as much love as Courtney does.

Although I guess it's not a surprise considering she was probably the most prominent of them and the closest to Johns.

It kind of boggles the mind how little DC has done with Dr. Light. It's not like they have a fairly prominent Asian heroine otherwise with as little as they do with Cass.

In fairness, I think that's about to change with Cass appearing in Birds of Prey but yeah Kimiyo should get more use.

Though, not having the same name as a villain who is still running around would be nice.