Reviews, comments and observations on stories that feature DC Comics' best detective (cough, afterbatman, cough) and the sensational Sue, his spoiled wife. I'll be pointing the best ones, the key ones and the lousy ones.
In a
previous article, I made the personality profile of The Elongated Man. Knowing
what makes a character tick is what makes them interesting. The bad (or the
badass) seems to be the flavor of the day since the late 80s. Everybody needed
to be like Rorschach, Batman or Wolverine to be cool. But that’s not good
writing, just selling fool-proof hooks that can be pulled even by the lesser
writers.
Good
writers know how play with personality traits in order to sell any character.
Take Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, as instance, Tolkien and Jackson,
managed to make a pop cult icon out of Gollum, a petty worm who is the very
antithesis of any type of alpha male. The most read book of all times is about
a loon that sees windmills as villains. The most popular sitcom is about four
neurotic misfits… The trick is to know the character and to know how to exploit
his personality traits.
With that
in mind, I give you a list of sketches the most notorious members of the
Justice League. My focus is on temperament, which I consider the very core of a
person’s attitude.
Aquaman: His personality has wildly changed in some
media; however, in comics, he’s most commonly portrayed as a tough yet
melancholic, no-nonsense guy with a lot of weight over his shoulders. That crown is heavy.
He has an
old soul. Like Batman, his eye for detail is just as sharp as his eye for the
big picture. He’s extremely loyal and noble, but he doesn’t waste time on lost
causes.
Within the League he sits among the other "kings": Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter. I just happens.
Other
versions have him as a merrier guy. Batman: The Brave and the Bold even gave him
a loud, bigger than life personality, very similar to the Thor of the 2011
movie. It’s not the original deal, but I kind of like this better, even if
toned down a bit.
The Atom: It is ironic, but the smallest man alive, often feels like a small man inside. Despite being a genius and having one of the greatest super powers, he tends to feel guilty and undeserving, making him the most typically melancholic member of the team. He’s very creative and escapes everyday life through science and superheroics. He pulled the whole superhero thing for a woman, who doesn’t seem to appreciate him that well, which doesn’t speak well of his self-esteem. Hawkman, his best friend is also bossy and overly confident. The second he gets out of his lab, Ray Palmer tends to give a lot, expecting nothing in return.
He loves his role as the idea guy of the JLA, he's no tactician, but when it comes to tehnical matters, hes the go-to guy. However, he is sometimes portrayed as an absent-minded genius with little interests outside science; your average Egon Spengler, Gyro Gearloose or Mr. Fantastic.
Batman: A
compulsive melancholic who is obsessed with perfection. Fueled by survivor’s
guilt, makes sure he’s the best at everything he does, including being the ultimate
alpha. He’s very methodical and needs to control people and information alike.
Years of practice have made him faster when it comes to acquiring new skills.
He is able to act like a very social person as Bruce Wayne, but that’s all it
is, an act. He has deep trust issues and can’t communicate affection properly
to his loved ones (even though he is not that bad at hinting it). His most significant love affair is with Catwoman, who is just as distant in her own way.
Working with the JLA, he arrives late at the Watchtower, takes charge, solve the problem and goes back to Gotham. During the silver age, both as Batman and as Bruce, he was more civic-minded, polite and preachy. This characterization was reused with some added coolness in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
Black Canary: She’s an overachiever, focusing all her dedication and discipline in continuing her mother’s legacy as a superhero. Mother issues and poor taste in men are perhaps the biggest aspects of her personal life. Opposed to Green Arrow, she’s also a strong, independent woman with feminist values. She works her ass off; Hal would just get the job done right with the best tool available, and then hit the bar; by contrast, Dinah would do hours of exhaustive practice, almost as intensively as Batman. She plays hard to get, but she is no Catwoman. Ollie is her weakness; she demands a lot of herself only to fall for the resident ladies man. Her temperament is a bit melancholic, but phlegmatic enough to have great people skills, which makes her a perfect field leader.
The
Elongated Man: The guy is all about doing what he loves and getting some
attention while he’s there, by far, the most laid back out of the classic
leaguers; a perfectly sanguine type. He’s quite diligent but wastes no extra
energy to get the job done; he’s so practical that in his debut, he proved to
be a faster crime-solver than Flash himself. He can solve anything Batman does
– only with fewer resources and more lateral thinking. He's often the one who humbly presents a practical solution when the team seems to be up against the wall (even more often when Batman is not around).
Out of the entire league, he’s the one that makes
the most assertive life-choices and avoids drama the best. Ralph is a fun guy
who managed to get the money, the girl, the fame and the status on his first
day and then saves the world merely by “stretching at the right time”.
Firestorm: Ronnie is frat guy with a heart of gold. Being analytic never worked for him, so he focused on fun and what makes a male kid popular, but then, he got a challenge and was forced to change his ways. His fusion with Professor Martin Stein is like a permanent, intensive and forced mentorship that forces him to overcome that one aspect of his life he used to neglect. The way he acts, he looks self-secure, yet, he’s overcompensating for his lack of intellectuality, which he is overcoming as Firestorm. The JLA became even more reinforcement. Starting with Superman, they believe in his potential. He's the rookie of the team and when it came to fitting in, Ralph often took him under his wing.
The Flash:
One of the hardest to define for many people. He’s all about diligence and a
huge sense of civic duty. His temperament is somewhere between phlegmatic and
melancholic. He feels the need to complete great task and to do it step by step
and by the book, often missing the forest for the tree. However, he can still
be very creative. He’s very similar to Superman, only less bold, more humble
and more of a side thinker. And while Clark pretends to be boring, Barry is the
genuine article.
Green Arrow: This one is all about character. He’s sanguine like Hal, only with a shorter temper, savvier and more stubborn. He relies heavily on common sense and cynical observation to the point that he is perhaps the best judge of character in the League and, even though he’s about as old as the rest, he’s seen the “old devil” of the team.
He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and yet, he’s so stubbornly liberal that he became the most socially aware JLAer; he’s the guy that often keeps the rest grounded. To him, watching out for the little guy is way more important than defeating the bad guy and his teammates appreciate him for that. That being said, he can also be patronizing, flawed and a bit chauvinistic. The fact that he’s an idealist doesn't mean that his behavior is perfect as a person, especially when it comes to women.
Green
Lantern: The guy is the epitome of the charming alpha male. He likes, he takes.
He shoots, he scores; very good at saving the day, getting the girl and having
a great time. However, like a good sanguine (and unlike Ralph), he is not that
great on the long term. Hal can’t keep the girl and doesn't really climb the
job ladder, even when he has all the opportunities there. He probably feels a
bit undeserving under all that cockiness.
Hawkman: He is a tough alpha male; nerves of steel, sharp, to the point; never misses a thing and he is always talking with authority. He never backs away from his frame. His views are often the toughest of the team. He and his wife might walk around bare-naked, yet he is very conservative (Republican in fact), overprotective with women (at least one time with Black Canary and often with his wife) and he takes the most aggressive stands on punishments.
As serious as Katar is, the ones that get close to him like Hawkgirl, the Atom and Elongated Man, can get him to show his lighter side. That being said, he can’t stand Ollie.
Superman: I always say, when your father treats you as
if you were Superman, you end up flying. This is literally the case with Clark.
He comes from two great sets of parents, the first gave them his genetic
characteristics and the double gift of life and the second raised him as an
assertive man with great values. He might feel the weight of the World when it
comes to do the right thing with his powers (especially in the last decades),
but classically, he does good because he truly likes and believes in kindness,
Midwestern, all-American kindness.
The big
difference with Barry, is that he is not as pressured by guilt, and that, as
Clark, he only pretends to be a square. When it comes to Lois, he barely minds
her aggressive exterior; he can only look at her great fiery heart.
In general,
he’s easy going and calm. Modern interpretations have him more introspective,
early ones had him self-righteous and the ones from the silver age, had him more easy going and even more chivalrous, with a slightly geeky sense of fun.
Wonder
Woman: She is like Athena or King Solomon: graceful, merciful, assertive, proper,
respectful, wise, kind and as self-secure as the archetypal good monarch.
Generally calm and nice, she has no trouble being aggressive and taking the
bull by its horns when the situation requires it. I would say that she is the best
leader a team can have (keep in mind that leadership rotated in the original
JLA).
With so
many attributes everybody is in love with her; yet, she has something that
prevents most from hitting on her. At some points she has been attracted to the
idealist Superman, and at least an interpretation has had her with a thing for
the more magnetic Batman; however, the guy that gets her heart (Steve Trevor) is a suave gentleman with the right cause.
Zatanna: She is a crowd pleaser, loves the attention and manages to get that with her charming personality. Since she was created, there has always been constant drama on her life, she is always missing something, which tells me that she is a bit codependent. She’s mostly sanguine, having fun and going with the flow; however, she also has some supine and melancholic characteristics. Between the lines, I have noticed some daddy issues in her persona.
Did you like the character profiles? Here are some more:
Know your Super Buddy! Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Sue, Maxwell and the rest of the late 80s gang!
What gets a 30 years old dude obsessed about comic books? At least enough to make him to blog about his favorite character. Well, that's complicated. My bet is that nerd psychology is a very complex topic; one that I'm sure I'm not professionally qualified to discuss. I could research it and post some references and quotes -- but I don't wanna. Instead, I'm going to give you my top reasons for sticking with comics.
It is not really ranked according to a measurable rationale. A lot of simplistic reasons might be ahead of great art just because they came at the right time in my life. I hope you enjoy reading about them:
20. The Venture Bros.
Pure fun for nostalgic adults, showing sad versions of characters from DC, Marvel, Hanna-Barbera, VH1 Classic, pulp fiction and sci-fi films gone hilariously and pathetically wrong. The Venture Bros. made me realize that super beings are not black and white they are probably just losers trying to feel relevant. The characters, normally failures and shadows of what they used to be, go trough their existential crisis surrounded by a surreal remix of everything I watched on TV while growing up. They also save the day now and then, but that's mostly incidental.
Created by Jason Publick, a Tick alumnus, The Venture Bros. is like The Simpsons for geeks; every line is not only loaded with sarcasm and jokes but also a condensed of vintage pop cult references from the 70s and 80s (yes, even more than Famiy Guy). With so many Venture cosplay already happening in comic conventions, I can't wait to see how are mainsteam comics going to react to to it. 19. Identity Crisis, Hush, Batman/Superman and 52
After Batman: No Man's Land I was bored with DC Comics for a while. Understanding Comics reinfused me with love for comics, but not for DC. Our Worlds at War was so cloying, I gave up. What was Batman going to do next, anyway? Gotham was running out of disasters. But then, out of nowhere, everybody started to talk about the murder of Sue Dibny, and how great the mystery was, so I had to see what the fuss was all about. So I read it, and I loved it. It was a pull back, making the satellite era cool and relevant again. The characters that were most commonly associated with DC were at the front center again. To me, it looked like the actual DC Comics Super Friends facing their own secrets, fears and flaws.
Identity Crisis lead me to follow up with what seemed like a great DC bonanza of awesome stories in the same spirit: Batman/Superman, Hush, For Tomorrow and Formerly Known as the Justice League from before, and then with I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League, Green Lantern: Rebirth, Countdown, The Dark Knight Strikes Back, All-Star Superman, All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder, Infinite Crisis, 52, Dark Detective, Brad Meltzer and Dwayne McDuffie's Justuce League of America run, Paul Dini's 'tec run, Grant Morrison's Batman runand Final Crisis. (Note that at the same time they were airing Justice League Unlimited). DC was shuffling it's greatest properties with the greatest talent available: Meltzer, Lee, Morales, Miller, Morrison, Dini, McDuffie, Waid, Hughes, Giffen, DeMatteis, Cooke, Johns. Yes, a lot of bad things were happening to some of the best characters: Sue, the Elongated Man, Rocket Red, the Question, Blue Beetle II, Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter and the original Ventriloquist died; Wonder Woman and Batman did some questionable things and Captain Atom and Maxwell Lord became villains. However, at the time it seemed to me that they were just making things darker before dawn. The return of Supergirl and other silver age elements seemed to indicate that with Infinite Crisis or Final Crisis
they would reboot DC to make it a brighter place with a reset. That never happened (to his credit, VP Dan DiDio did try, but he was blocked by higher powers); it was done out of time, too little, too late, too half way with Flashpoint and "the new 52" and I ended angry and disappointed, but I had a nice run and that's hard to deny.
18. Supreme
I used to think that, unlike Batman, Superman never really got his quintessential story in comics (maybe they should just adapt the Mario Puzo script and be done with it); that he doesn't have a Year One or The Dark Knight Returns. However, in the mid 00s I had the pleasure of discovering that I was wrong. Well, kinda. We can always squint and pretend that the Supreme stories by Alan Moore are it.
It seems like, at least by the 90s, Moore was a bit sick of torturing heroes with realistic tragedies that challenge their vision of what's right and wrong, so instead of a grim Superman, he made a pastiche of all the previous portrayals of Superman there had been so far.
Supreme is basically like Byrne or Jurgens' Superman facing everything he did under the most notorious writers that came before, mainly Otto Binder. In the story, we get a new Supreme entering reality after a revision; he goes through all the aspects of his past as he fixes loose ends and fights returning villains (part of the fun is trying to identify the DC characters that the supporting characters are supposed to represent). This way, the entire run, along with Judgement Day and other isolated issues, are the ultimate tribute to the process of comic superhero revision.
17. The Tick
SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONN!!!
I wish I could say that I know the character through its comics, but I was actually among the wave of fans that met the character through the animated series, which was part of a hype of superheroes in other media. After the success of Batman: The Animated Series, X-men and comics events like the The Death of Superman, Knightfall, Maximum Carnage, there was an era in which superheroes took over Saturday morning cartoons, now with a more serious tone than the series of the syndicated era (Thundercats, He-man, etc.). And The Tick did the exact opposite, showing a metropolis overcrowded with guys in tights so tight that their butt cracks were actually visible, only they were all neurotic, delusional and utterly incompetent and impractical nutjobs. And among them, generic within their own diversity, the Tick, whose name and costume didn't even make sense, was king. He was a nice, overwhelming, bigger than life, blue block with a Quixote attitude and a really small brain concealed by a really small head.
This cartoon was the first to show me that even humor has a place within superhero comics. Ever since The Tick, I've always been a fan of comedy with superhumans, which is probably why I just fell in love with JLI.
16. Freakazoid!
I can't believe nobody turned this property into an actual comic book! What are you waiting, DC?!
I still remember watching that first episode in shock: It was half Batman: The Animated Series, half Animaniacs, a bit Spider-man, and all surreal. Three of my favorite FoxKids shows in one!
It was fairly obvious from day one, but, eventually, I learned that it was originally about Bruce Timm, the creator of Batman: The Animated Series, pitching a series about a superhero version of the Joker, which then became more like Spider-man (which is why they have an unused Archie-like cast in the early episodes), ended as another Tiny Toons or Animaniacs type of show after he bailed and was then turned into a Monty Python type of thing. The best of the humor was done by Paul Rugg (who voiced Freakazoid) and good friend of the blog, John P. McCann.
It had it all: comedy, action, parodies, a terribly great rogues gallery, excellent art and even Henry Kissinger. What else could a kid want in a show? Laugh with me. Laugh with me!
15. Tim Burton's Batman
The 1989 Batman film directed by Tim Burton caused an epidemic wave of batmania among my generation. I got it and I got it pretty bad. I still remember the first time I saw it. I was siting a hammock with my brother and my cousin. My aunt, a good hearted spoiler by nature, was afraid that it might be too shocking for the three buggers, which is the reason we had to wait for the Betamax (it's a real thing, look it up) to come out. Along with Superman, Batman Returns, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Wayne's World any Star Wars and Back to the Future, it has to be one of the movies I watched the most.
Dark = cool. Although I still watched the wave of reruns of the 60s Batman show and Super Friends that came with the '89 batmania, anyway, but the lesson was pretty clear: the darker, the better. In the eyes of moviegoers, Burton's film lend credibility to superheroes. After it, both Batman and Superman had serious and acclaimed portrayals outside their original medium. Animation followed the example with Batman: The Animated Series and X-men, both of which inspires a lot of similar series. There were also the Batman film sequels and the similarly dark and serious (for the 90s) TV series of The Flash and Lois and Clark.
14. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
As a kid, it was the awesome cartoon about charming turtles that fight other animal mutants lead by a ninja and an alien; as an adult it became an awesome pastiche of vigilante, ninja and sci-fi genres with an over the top B-movie type of title. Reading the original comics, wonderfully redone in the 2003 cartoon, feels like a roller coaster of never ending weird adventures; an aspect that the 80s cartoon never quite capture. Batman, Spider-man and most superheroes tend to fight the same villains in the same settings all the time, the the turtles went from ninjas on rooftops, to robots in the sewers, anthropomorphic triceratops in outer space and demons in medieval times. It doesn't get more surreal than that, which is why I love that the TMNT keep returning since I first watch them as an 8 years old kid.
13. Daredevil and Batman: Year One
I don't now if they are more "realistic", but the serious tone that Frank Miller added to classic vigilantes certainly increased their coolness and the sense of danger that we get from their adventures. Pulp fiction goes greatly with vigilantes. The Batman that I got when I started reading comics in the early 90s was mostly an echo of Year One. I didn't read the real deal (Year One, The Dark Knight Returns) until the late 90s and I just read Daredevil throughout the last decade, which is why I don't rank this higher.
I'm not sure how to describe them, although Miller went over the top with DKR, these works made superheroes feel solid, grounded and badass; something that is really hard to get from other writers. Besides, without Miller, we wouldn't have so many great stuff: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Burton and Nolan Batman movies, the post-Crisis Batman, Batman: The Animated Series, and, I dare to say, the British invasion and Vertigo.
12. Angry comics of the early 90s.
After the first time they ran Batman: The Animated Series and X-men, somebody from my classroom showed up with the Knightfall and Death of Superman translated trades (none of us understood English back then). They were Batman and Superman, the guys from Super Friends but they were "serious stuff", the "official versions", not for kids anymore (ha, ha, ha, ha, ha); which was really cool and mind blowing for the pack of pre-teenagers taking turns to read it in the class room. Knightfall caught my eye a bit more, with the run against all the villain characters I knew from BTAS and the 60s show. Then there was Maximum Carnage, The Reign of the Supermen, Fatal Attractions, Emerald Twilight and a number of trading card series, describing cool, tragic and really violent events in the lives of DC and Marvel characters, most of them incredibly pumped with skin tight costumes with lots of utility belts and coats. Yes, most of those stories are better forgotten, but all in all, they are what introduced me to comics.
11. Batman
I have to be fair with Adam West, Burt Ward, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, Vincent Price and the rest of those guys. That show was my first impression of DC Comics and the only concept I had of Batman until I first watched the Burton film (when I was 8).
I know it seems really silly now, but to a 5 years old, it looked about as interesting as it gets. And we shouldn't be too harsh on it, if something was proven by Batman: the Brave and the Bold, is that every interpretation of Batman is equally valid. Batman wasn't that different from the comics or even other TV shows of the era and it was even done by some of the finest Hollywood talent of the late 60s!
I sustain that it was a great gateway to DC comics. Bizarre villains with flashy costumes, over the top fight scenes, mortal traps and lots of riddles, what else could a kid want from a live action TV show. I liked Hulk and Wonder Woman as well but, without the colorful antagonists, I used to fall asleep after the first 10 minutes. I for some reason really liked the later when I was 14, though...
10. X-men
The power of "As seen on TV".
18 years ago, this animated series introduced me to the world of comics. As I mentioned before, it came along with a wave of trading cards and comic events that got me hooked on DC and Marvel. Batman: The Animated Series reintroduced me to superheroes, but it was too alienated within its own gorgeous and timeless universe. X-men, on the other hand, benefited from adapting the vast and wonderful body of X-men stories from the books; consequently, it was more of a middle ground between TV animated series and comics. Its art, continuity, stories and even its season format was a lot like the X-men comics of the time, which is something that was never done before and, now that I think about it, was rarely done afterwards in another series. About every character I saw in that series had an almost identical story in the comics, so, once I fell in love with them, it made a great transition to comics, where I could get even more of that candy.
9. The Dark Knight
I must have seen this one like 5 times in theaters. Batman (1989) was great, but it missed something. I love Michael Keaton's "I'm Batman" Batman, but it wasn't quite the Batman from comics (for starters, he killed). Batman Begins captured the best aspects of the contemporary Batman mythos, but didn't cause much of an impact. Now, TheDark Knight, hat it all. It captured the best aspects from the comics, it had the perfect Batman (well, save for the voice thing), caused a huge deal of an impact and on top of that, gave superhero movies a lot of recognition. Unlike Batman Begins, to me, this sequel not only lived up to Batman: Year One, it as actually better!
8. Bwahaha
I discovered it too late around 1995, but it was so awesome to see DC Comics characters acting almost as if they belonged to a sitcom or The Tick universe (both franchises were created about the same time), that I starting collecting whatever Justice League International (JLI) issue I could throughout the rest of the 90s. Formerly Known as the Justice League (2003) and I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League (2005)became my favorite and I completed Justice League Europe eventuallyafter that.
Just like the DC-Vertigo characters make the DC Universe more exiting by having a really serious, surreal and eerie corner; the stories of Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis do the same by adding a silly side. While guys like Moore or Miller deconstructed the superhero genre by grounding its world to realism, the JLI team kinda deconstructed it with the funny aspects of reality: our daily life comic situations, incompetency, gossip, vanity, bureaucracy, etc.
Also noteworthy is that when the average hero of the late 80s was pessimistic, violent and snarky, the Justice League, despite their flaws, were kind and, deep down, idealistic. They might joke about it, but in the end, even their sleazeball manipulative boss had a heart of gold. Ralph, Sue, Max, Ted, Michael, Tora, Bea, Guy, J'onn, Karen and Dmitri are some of the best characters DC has ever seen and Giffen and DeMatteis are geniuses for this take. It doesn't matter qhe other writers did with them, I'll always go back to those stories. (By the way, their recent Booster Gold run and Justice League Retroactive:the 90s, rocked just as much).
7. The DC-Vertigo characters.
Pushed by the success of X-men and, mainly, Daredevil, DC Comics responded by hiring some serious writing talent from wherever they came. First Len Wein discovered Alan Moore, then they brought Frank Miller from Marvel (not a Brit, though), and later, after they lost both, they headhunted Jaime Delano, Neil Gaiman, Peter Milligan and Grant Morrison. The body of work these people created, constitutes a dark and very sophisticated corner of the DC Universe.
When I was 20, it seemed to me that comics had nothing to offer. It was just Batman, Superman or Spider-man going over their rogues galleries over and over in adventures that every time seemed more dull to me. But then, I got a series of great tips that lead me to the works of Moore and the guys that followed in: Swamp Thing, Sandman, Animal Man, Doom Patrol, The Books of Magic, DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore, Hellblazer, Shade, etc. Along with the wave of new stories that followed Identity Crisis, these collections allowed me to keep enjoying DC Comics for many years.
6. The New Frontier
Good doesn't mean postmodern and dark. If the guys that can make great contemporary stories with superheroes are few, the ones that can make them also heroic and bright are even fewer. I'd say that Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis, Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, Paul Dini, Dwayne McDuffie (R.I.P.), Alan Burnett, Bruce Timm, Alan Moore (after the 80s) and Darwyn Cooke are among the few storytellers that insist on the perpetuation of the modern (modern as in "before postmodern") and heroic portrayal that the DC superheroes originally had. Few of them work with the canon of DC Universe. There's Waid's The Silver Ageand Ross' Justice, but to me, Cooke's DC: The New Frontier is the flagship story. It was relevant, multi-layered and captured the true spirit of the DC superheroes.
I actually hoped that after Final Crisis the DC Universe would be rebooted to be more like The New Frontier or the Diniverse.
5. Scott McCloud
I'm telling you, this guy is the messiah of comics! Reading Understanding Comics opened my eyes to the full possibilities of the medium and made me a proud reader. Comics went from just being my guilty pleasure, to a form of art that I follow enthusiastically, "sequencial art". After years of being fed whatever DC and Marvel put on the shelves, I was finally able to appreciate the greatness of a number of writers and artists: Gaiman, Moore, Spiegelman, Miller, Moebius. And I still have a long way to go; DC has occupied way too much of my time.
Now, the day the mainstream industry realises that they need to do exactly what this guy described in Reinventing Comics, (oh, boy!) the medium will start reaching its potential. We need diversity!
4. Maus
Right after reading Understanding Comics, around 2001, I decided to get on the right path and read a monthly dose of decent comics, and this was on top of my first stack. McCloud couldn't be righter, Maus is pretty much the piece of storytelling that proves that comics can be great. In somebody else's words it is "at one and the same time a novel, a documentary, a memoir, and a comic book." It's the Godfather of comics; few or no movies are as tuching or compelling as this humble story of a Jewish survior of the holocaust, written and narrated by his own son during the last days of his life. Once I started, I wasn't able to drop the book and I think I made averybody in my family read it, ha, ha.
At the same time, it's a homage to the possibilities of comics and its redemption. Its style is quite cartoony (they are all cute animals), which makes a high contrast with the harshnes and realism of the narration. Incidentally, this way it becomes the utter proof that comics and cartoons can be an effective vehicle for trascendency.
My weird obsession with this couple doesn't go that far back. Formerly Known as the Justice League and Identity Crisis made me notice the non Plastic Man guy that was always hanging with the league in the big events of the early 90s. I was like "yeah, I remember that guy". I didn't even knew his real name before that - Spanish translations he was known as el Hombre Elástico (Elastic Man). The DeMatteis / Giffen / Maguire made me like the Dibnys and [ïronically] Brad Meltzer made me care about them. Once I realized that the Elongated Man got his powers from a fictional fruit that grows in my native Yucatan, I got really interested and, after reading Showcase Presents: the Elongated Man, it was decided: the Dibnys became my favorite characters. Handled directly by Julius Schwartz, John Broome, Carmine Infantino, Gardner Fox and then Len Wein, they were rooted at the heart of the silver age. As eclectic, eccentric and hedonistic as they are, they are the best examples of emotinal intelligence DC has to offer, which is something I deeply admire. They are honest, goodhearted, creative, generous and, unlike most of the average DC characters, they are not just reactive to to the drama, they are proactive, love what they do and live a plenty life.
See what I mean?
1. Batman: The Animated Series and the DC Animated Universe
(a.k.a. BTAS and the DCAU)
Can you believe that Bruce Timm was once rejected from DC comics? Yet, somehow, he managed to revolutionize aimation in a series that marries the Batman tradition with a sophisticated retro but fresh style. As far as I'm concerned, Bruce Timm, along with Paul Dini, Eric Radomski, Alan Burnett, Stan Berkowitz, Glen Murakami, Andrea Romano, Darwyn Cooke, Dwayne McDuffie and many others, created an universe that is actually better and more elegant than the regular DC Universe. Superhero cartoons were never taken seriously until this series came. The content of BTAS is not just for kids, but for all ages.
As I said before, Batman: The Animated Series, made me rediscover the DC characters and was my main reason to start collecting the comics; however, I never loved them as much. After the third episode I saw I was officially obessed. For over ten years I only drew imitating the style of Bruce Timm. I made tons of turnarounds trying to adapt classic DC characters to his style. A lot of people still do the same, and even DC decided to change characters like Metallo, Supergirl or the Parasite to look like Timm's designs. I only read comics because they were the best next thing after reruns.
One of the greatest things about the BTAS universe, is that it kept coming back with different angles. First it was Batman: The Animated Series, then, with more Robin it became The Adventures of Batman and Robin, the next series; Superman: The Animated Series, repeated the original formula with a new main character, The New Batman Adventures had Batman leading a team of Gotham Knights (Robin II, Nightwing and Batgirl); Batman Beyond deal with their distant future and Batman's legacy, The Zeta Project expanded that futuristic universe; Static Shock, a series about a teenage hero dealing with juvenile gangs,became linked to this DC animated Universe (DCAU), and finally, they did Justice League, which became Justice League Unlimited and tied all the events and characters of the previous series.
There were also four movies: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-zero, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker; and Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman.
Justice League Unlimited was like going out with a bang. It featured a really large cast that included almost all the DC characters I wanted to see, a lot that I'd have never expected and a bunch that I didn't even know. It was like a child fantasy come true. Like Super Friends, but with better art, better writing and a hundred times more characters.
One of the coolest aspects of the DCAU is that it actually had epilogues, unlike the reguar DC universe, it told the full story of a lot of its protagonists: Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Lex Luthor, Darkseid, the Joker, Harley Quinn, Superman, Grodd, John Stewart and Amanda Waller.
All this work was produced in 14 years, and all that time I kept returning and being further introduced to the characters of DC. BTAS could have been a fad, like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or The Ghostbusters before it, but it kepts returning with series lived up to the established quality, so, the DCAU kept me hooked, loving the wonderful world of DC.
The other day, I saw a thread in the DC message boards that got me thinking about the kind of endings that I'd like for the characters of the current DCU. Here's what I came up with:
Green Lantern Sinestro finally gets Oa destroyed, but he loses his own life in the process. Kyle, John, Kilowog, Soranik, Salaak, Arisia, Ch'p, Katma, Tomar Re, and Sodam become the new Guardians of the earth battery, which only survived because Hal merged with the light.
The Flash Barry Allen returns after surviving the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Realizing that Central City has long moved on after he disappeared and that Earth is safer than ever, he moves to the future with Iris [so that his climax is CoIE but he still gets his happy "silver age" ending]. The Rogues retire and Wally remains the guardian of the city.
The Atom Ryan and Ray find a way to cure Jean from her Jimbaran relapses. Ray decided to retire as the Atom to focus on his marriage.
Justice League International Booster Gold makes the ultimate sacrifice, which only a resurrected Ted will ever acknowledge. Ted becomes the new "Maxwell" of the last JLI [it's a switcheroo deal topped with a "Greatest story never told" situation], which also has Fire as its field leader. Ice retires to have a family with Guy... What none of them ever find out is that Maxwell's actual brain remains in his old cyborg body; he retired long ago and has lived with L-Ron and Wanda managing a Manga Khan space resort ever since.
Wonder Woman Wonder Woman saves USA from the wrath of the Gods, her body becomes a statue at Washington and Zeus gives her soul, along with Steve's a place in Mount Olympus [CoIE + Greek tragedy].
Batman The Joker and a small gang of old time criminals push Damian betray his father and Terry. Damian sacrifices taking the Joker with him. Eventually, Bruce dies by Selina's side surrounded by Terry, Barbara, Dick and Tim [It's a legacy thing, he made a difference]. He's buried by them, along with the remaining leaguers and the Batman Inc. Corps.
The Elongated Man Ralph and Sue keep solving DC mysteries forever [Quantum Leap, anyone?]. Billy Warner becomes the best detective of his generation, the Detective Chimp invites him to join the Croatoan Society.
The Martian Manhunter The Martian Manhunter retires to live with a single mother and her daughter [is, he embraces humanity]. They die at the same time from natural causes.
Green Arrow Dinah and Ollie remarry, only to get divorce the next year after that. They remain a couple. They have a daughter; she becames a registered Republican and wants nothing to do with superheroes.
Hawkman It took a thousand reincarnations, but Hawkman and Hawkgirl finally complete their lives without early tragedies.
Zatanna Zee finally starts a drama-free relationship with a normal guy and retires [she got over her daddy issues]. She becomes a hot soccer mom. Her kid is teased because there are a lot of "glamour" pics of her mom all over the Internet.
Starman Not an important character, but Starman sacrificed himself to save Earth from his own race [Ziggy style], which were actually mutants created by the Spiders from Vega.
Aquaman After Aquaman achieves great peace between Atlantis and the rest of the World, and a lot of prosperity emanates from his county, he dies in a fight against One's son, who was then killed by Garth, who was, at the time, considered a traitor to the kingdom. This way, Garth gets this way his redemption, as well as the forgiveness of Meera and Atlantis. He is finally allowed to reunite with his Atlantean wife: Arthur's daughter.[something Arthurian without making Mera a **** or dragging swords and lakes into it].
Black Lightning Black Lightning reveals his identity and becames Mayor of Metropolis [he finally made the difference. Would President be too much?]. The Suicide Slum becomes the Suicide District, the cultural center of the city (real state agents keep trying to push for "Simon Heights", but nothing). He puts on his wig for one more fight along the League after that.
Metamorpho Java takes one of Simon's plan to the extreme, and kills Sapphire; Simon kills Java trying to save her. Although old habits die hard, Simon rejects his own selfishness for her and his grandson; Metamorpho accepts himself in order to provide a role model for his son, he gets Simon's frequent cooperation as a grandfather.
Justice League Unlimited The Justice League is carried on by Terry.
Superman Mr. Mxyzptlk puts Superman him through some ultimate test of morals and courage. He passes and the imp alters reality so that his enemies fade away. However, many years later, Luthor returns and things too far in order to destroy him (probably something involving the Anti-Monitor technology from Crisis on Infinite Earths). He is a shell of a man, merged with Brainiac, Amazon and Metallo technologies, and he makes Superman chose between sacrifice or the destruction of all reality. Superman chooses the former and dies. Right then, after realizing that he has lost his humanity and has almost destroyed everything he ever cared about in the process of eliminating him, Luthor commits suicide. It turns out this was Mxyzptlk's real test. He pops up again to restore everything, only this time he leaves Clark without his powers, thus lifting the overwhelming responsibility from his shoulders, so that he finally has no other choice than to spend the rest of his days living a normal life with Lois and their half Kryptonian son. Karen retires to lead her own life with her family. Kara married Jimmy and along with Krypto, she proudly carries Superman's legacy. The Kents retire to live in the old Smallville farm. Every day Clark looks more like Jonathan.
After a drastic change in censorship (courtesy of McCthyism and, specifically, one Fredric Wertham, of Seduction of the Innocent fame), the target audience became younger kids and what they were allowed to see; consequently stories were simpler and threats more unrealistic.
During the most classic years of the Silver Age, DC merged the concept of urban superheroes with double identities that was popular in the Golden Age with sci-fi themes that were common in the 1950s. The Martian Manhunter is the first and most obvious example of this. This time, instead of magic, fire-weapons and gimmicks, the new characters used powers based on "super science". Additionally, some of the most notorious characters were new versions of old golden age characters with different identities: the Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom, Hawkman, Clayface, Robotman, the Turtle, Red Tornado and Zatanna (daughter of Zatara). They lived in a different reality form the originals, so, the new Flash is often considered the starting point. However, a number of characters that appeared before Flash were kept as part of that continuity, like Superman, Batman,Wonder Woman and Aquaman, all of whom kept their series after the golden age, or like Phantom Stranger and the Martian Manhunter, who were created few years before the scarlet speedster.Most of the superheroes of these times were basically the same guy: a tall, classically handsome, square-jawed, white, muscular, single, honest, loyal, hard-working, all-American, God-fearing and law-obeying guy fighting crime with science-based super powers under a secret identity (the few superheroines were their relatives). Their main differences were name, powers, costume color and hair color. The Elongated Man comes exactly from this mold. Despite coming from it, the Elongated Man was the first to break the mold by getting married and giving away his secret identity. The Metal Men, the Doom Patrol, Zatanna, Metamorpho and Deadman were some of the earliest examples of characters created outside the stereotype and the first to follow tendencies established by Marvel Comics: tragedy, diversity, constant conflict, unique personality, etc. During most of this era, every issue had a self contained, stand-alone story (althought, there were occasional two-parters as well) and the status quo of the characters was kept intact. Towards the end, DC started doing some story arcs (Zatanna's Search, The Outsider) and there were some tragedies (like the deaths of Alfred and the Doom Patrol or the betrayal of Snapper Carr). These were also trends that Marvel Comics started.
1956
October:
The Flash, Turtle Man, Iris West (Showcase #4).
November: Lew Moxon, the reasons for the Wayne murder are changed from the Golden Age version, Chill is a hitman instead of a burglar (Detective Comics #235).
1957
February:
Challengers of the Unknown (Showcase #6).
June: Captain Cold (Showcase #8).
September: Professor Milo (Detective Comics #247).
1958
February: False-Face (Batman #113).
April:
Legion of Super-Heroes (Adventure Comics #247),
Mr. Element (Showcase #13).
July:
Brainiac (Action Comics #242),
Space Ranger (Showcase #15).
September: Calendar Man (Detective Comics #259). October: Bizarro (Superboy #8).
Felix Faust, Demons Three (Justice League of America #10).
May: Abra Kadabra (Flash #128). June:
Floronic Man (Atom #1),
Dr. Light (Justice League of America #12)..
July:
Sonar (Green Lantern #14),
Kru-El (Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #62).
August:
The Elongated Man meets Kid Flash (Flash #130),
Antonio Rocca (Superman #155).
September: Atom joins the JLA (Justice League of America #14). October: Carol becomes Star Sapphire (Green Lantern #16). November: Chronos (Atom #3).
1963
January: Catman (Detective Comics #311).
March: James Bond, Dr. No, Honey Rider, Three Blind Mice (Showcase #43). June:
Doom Patrol: Robotman, Negative Man, Elasti-Girl, Beast Boy and Chief, General Immortus (My Greatest Adventure #80),
Simon Hurt (Batman #156),
Dr. Polaris (Green Lantern #21).
August:
Crisis on Earths-One: The JLA meets the JSA , debut of Black Canary on Earth-1(Justice League of America #21),
Dexter Myles (Flash #138).
September:
Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash (Flash #139),
Tattooed Man (Green Lantern #23).
October:
Mera (Aquaman #11),
Shark (Green Lantern #24).
November:
Heat Wave (Flash #140),
I.Q. (Mystery in Space #87).
December: Eivol Ekdal (Detective Comics #346).
1964
January: The Terrible Trio (Detective Comics #323).
March: Professor T.O. Morrow (Flash #143).
May:
The Elongated Man gets his feature (Detective Comics #327),
Chac (Hawkman #1).
June:
Teen Titans, Wonder Girl (The Brave and the Bold #54), Composite Superman (World's Finest Comics #142).
Alfred dies, Dick Grayson's aunt Harriet Cooper debuts and replaces him (Detective Comics #328).
July: President John F. Kennedy (Superman #170). August: The Crime Syndicate (Justice League of America #29). September: The Elongated Man meets Batman and Robin (Detective Comics #331).
October:
Zatanna (Hawkman #4, Zatanna's Search, pt. 1: "The Girl Who Split in Two"), probably the first crossover.
Sue does the first 'birthday mystery' for Ralph (Detective Comics #332).
November:
Mento (Doom Patrol #91),
Hawkman joins JLA (Justice League of America #31).
December:
Aquaman marries Mera (Aquaman #18).
The Outsider (Detective Comics #334),
Martin Beene (Detective Comics #334).
1965
January:
Metamorpho, Simon Stagg, Java, Sapphire Stagg (The Brave and the Bold #57),
Billy Warner, Elongated Man's #1 fan (Detective Comics #335).
February:
Enemy Ace (Our Army at War # 151),
Zatanna meets Batman (Detective Comics #336, Zatanna's Search, pt. 3: "Batman's Bewitched Nightmare").
March: Getaway Genius (Batman #170). May: The Riddler of Earth-1 (Batman #171).
June:
Immortal Man (Strange Adventures #177),
Evil Star of Earth-1 (Green Lantern #37),
Amos Hurd, the Millionaire Cowboy, and wife (Detective Comics #340),
Zatanna meets the Atom (Atom #19, Zatanna's Search, pt. 2: "World of the Magic Atom").
July: Goldface (Green Lantern #38). August: Johnny Thunder of Earth-1 (Justice League of America #37). September:
Animal Man (Strange Adventures #180),
the Phantom General (Detective Comics #343).
October:
Aquababy (Aquaman #23),
Krona (Green Lantern #40),
Egg Fu (Wonder Woman #157),
Johnny Witts (Detective Comics #344).
Lana Lang becomes the Insect Queen (Superboy #124).
November:
Judomaster (Special War Series #4, Charlton Comics),
Blockbuster (Detective Comics #345).
December: The Key of Earth-1 (Justice League of America #41).
1966
January:
Major Disaster (Green Lantern #43),
Dial H For Hero (House of Mystery #156),
Stanley and his Monster (The Fox and the Crow #95),
Zatanna meets Green Lantern (Green Lantern #42, Zatanna's Search, pt. 4: "The Other Side of the World").
April:
Enchantress (Strange Adventures #187),
The Elongated Man meets Green Lantern, the Elongated Man's red uniform, the Monarch of Menace(Detective Comics #350).
May: Cluemaster (Detective Comics #351).
June: Inferior Five (Showcase #62, they reside on Earth-12), Poison Ivy (Batman #181).
July: Dial H calls Plastic Man (House of Mystery #160, first time in a DC publication). August:
Chief Miles O'Hara (of the 60s Batman show fame) is introduced to Earth-1 (World's Finest Comics #159)
Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt (Peter Cannon... Thunderbolt #1, Charlton Comics),
Parasite (Action Comics #340),
Bug-Eyed Bandit (Atom #26),
Dr. Tzin Tzin (Detective Comics #354).
September:
Ocean Master (Aquaman #29),
Nightshade (Captain Atom #82, Charlton Comics),
The Elongated Man meets Zatanna (Detective Comics #355, Zatanna's Search, pt. 5: "The Tantalizing Troubles of the Tripod Thieves").
October:
It is revealed that Alfred is alive and that he's actually the Outsider, he resumes his dutties as the butler of the Wayne Manor (Detective Comics #356).
Amalak (Superman #190).
November:
Blue Beetle II (Captain Atom #83, Charlton Comics),
Peacemaker (Fightin' 5 #40, Charlton Comics),
Ultra, the Multi-Alien (Mystery in Space #103),
Barry marries Iris West (Flash #165).
December: Son of the Plastic Man (Plastic Man, vol. 2 #1, the character resides on Earth-12).
February:, Zatanna's Search ends: The Elongated Man teams up with the JLA (Batman, Hawkman, Atom and Green Lantern) to help Zatanna finally find Zatara (Justice League of America #51, "Z - as in Zatanna - and Zero Hour"),Scarecrow of Earth-1 (Batman #189). May: The Maniaks (they are a rock band like Josie and the Pussycats, Showcase #68).
July: Lion-Mane (Hawkman #20). August: Enigma of the Elongated Evildoer! (Detective Comics #367).
September: Black Manta (Aquaman #35).
October: Deadman (Strange Adventures #205), The Elongated Man teams up with the Atom (Detective Comics #368). November: Woody Allen (Showcase #71), the Awesome Threesome (Aquaman #36).
Notes: I used cover dates for this list (wich means you have to substract a couple of months).
Font types are modified according to the character.
Important character,
Character with an equivalent on Earth-2,
Character with an Earth-2 double,
Might have Earth-2 double, but their debut date makes it abiguous,
