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I think im going crazy. But the martian who lives in my head assures me I'm not

man is the warmest place to hide!

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this series is a hope for comics tbh its another level in dc.

absolute martian manhunter john jones available on inprnt here

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he really trusts his friends in his final moment. Abin sur has got to pay by the end of this run

can’t get over how at peace john looks here. breaking my heart man

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the way the dark and light seems to be speaking to them is a real cool divergence. Despite having "entities" light and ring have never been like that before

having the power of the green lantern come from alien magic rather than alien cosmic power is such a fun change here. i’m really excited to see just how this factors in later down the line

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so ive been reading the kyle rayner run

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Batman Beyond S01E13 “Ascension”

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Bruce googling “Top Ten Clues Your Teammates Know Your Secret Identity” There was that post going around about members of the justice league playing “fuck, marry, kill” with Bruce Wayne in the mix, and, well.

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I still think it’s hilarious that the reason nobody ever figures out Superman’s secret identity or where he lives or what he does when he’s not saving the planet, is because he already told them all the Kryptonian stuff that can’t be tied to any of his human friends or family. I guarantee you the in-universe wikipedia article on Superman lists his name as Kal-El and the “personal life” section says that he lives full-time at his private fortress of solitude at the north pole. Nobody in the world looks at Clark Kent and thinks “oh my god, maybe he’s superman!” for the same reason nobody ever starts to suspect that their coworker who looks KINDA like Barack Obama is actually secretly Barack Obama – They know who Barack Obama is and know what he does and they know their coworker Greg is Greg and not Barack Obama. They have no reason to assume Barack Obama secretly moonlights as Greg The IT Guy at their workplace even though they’ve never seen Greg and Obama in the same place. At best, “Greg is secretly Obama” would be a running joke at the office, and the same is true at the Daily Planet. “Kal-El of Krypton, who lives in a CRYSTAL PALACE at the NORTH POLE and whose dayjob is SUPERMAN, sometimes puts on a suit and pretends to be a clumsy reporter and lives in a one-bedroom walkup in Metropolis” is a ridiculous concept to anyone who doesn’t already know it’s true

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Granted with only 2 issues of the second wave of absolute dc comics out but i think i have my order

#1 absolute Martian Manhunter

#2 absolute Batman

#3 absolute Wonder Woman

#4 absolute Superman

#5 absolute Green Lantern (i have high possible hopes though)

#6 absolute Flash

Martian Bat and WW are must reads while Superman GL Flash rang from real good to if you are a fan youll like it a bunch

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it’s a shame that after Tom King’s Strange Adventures clearly positioned Mr Terrific as the clear avenue character for DC to do modern sci-fi adventure stories, they still never choose to do anything fun or worthwhile with the guy outside of the short lived Terrifics and lame ass JSA stuff. he’s SEVERELY underutilized and i’d love for Waid to have him be a big part of the new JL run. personal thoughts on the guy?

I love Holt because he’s such an American character.

We Americans love our trash talkers. Oh we publicly make a big deal about the need to stay humble and respectful, but don’t believe that for a second. Look at our heroes and icons! Only thing Americans really respect are winners, and we love winners who can walk their talk. Michael Holt comes from the proud tradition of American heroes who can do just that. He’s incredibly smart and he knows it. He’s fantastically competent and he shows it. He’s Mr. Terrific! - able to cut through the bullshit with his mind or his fists as need be. And he doesn’t take crap from anyone.

Like Hal Jordan or Barry Allen before him, Holt might not be the first character to hold the mantle, but he’s the one who made folks respect the name. No offense to the Terry Sloane fans out there (if you exist), but there’s a reason Holt is the only Mr. Terrific who ever gets used. He’s simply cooler than his predecessor in every way. His backstory, his design, his attitude, his powers, despite sharing the name I even hesitate to call Holt a “legacy character”. He’s more in the vein of a Hal Jordan, taking the title but reinventing the concept, than a Barry Allen or Wally West who is steadfastly trying to live up to a pre-existing ideal. How many people even know that Holt wasn’t the first Mr. Terrific? Who would care if they did know?

Holt is living in the timeline that John Stewart fans wish they had gotten after the DCAU. Far as the general public is concerned, there’s only one Mr. Terrific. Which I would be happy to see DC continue to act as if that were the case, I know this rubs against how most people view legacy as central to DC, but I don’t believe that any story about Holt “struggling” to live up to his predecessor’s example will ring true. Besides, it’s unnecessary.

Mr. Terrific already has plenty of baggage on his own to deal with. His unresolved trauma over the deaths of his wife and their baby, his mentally disabled older brother dying young also, his need to excel at anything he sets his mind to, his atheism in a universe where the gods are not only real but actively involved, the all but stated fact that he might be smarter than Bruce and Lex, but put himself in third place to not attract attention, and leading his own team the Terrifics. Returning to OP’s statement, I too bemoan Holt being trapped on the Boomer Squadron. Yes it’s expected given Geoff Johns created him to be part of the team in the first place, but like Wally on the Titans, Holt has outgrown his original team.

Making him the leader of his own team simply makes sense. Unlike most of his peers you can justify all sorts of adventures for Holt on the basis of SCIENCE! or simple adventure-seeking. The JL are not wont to taking field trips but the Terrifics have no problem doing that. Holt became an Olympian athlete simply to prove he could. He’s exactly the type of character who can easily justify a trip to space or through time simply because he felt like doing that. DC made it explicit but Holt always has been the natural counterpart to Marvel’s Reed Richards.

DC struggles to create teams that don’t languish in the shadow of the League. No matter the protestations to the contrary the Titans and the JSA absolutely are stuck in said shadow. Mr. Terrific and his Terrifics however don’t have to be. Market them as explorers and adventurers rather than crime fighters and they would have a niche that isn’t covered by anyone else at DC, with a mandate to go anywhere and do anything.

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Silver thoughts: Metamorpho: The Element Man (2024) #1-5

Lets start off with a recent pick up. If I'm being honest when I saw the preview page for this series a while ago I was unimpressed. Metamorpho is a weird hero in a weird place and he really always has been. Kind of just another shapeshifter, but he's way more powerful than the others because he can turn into different elements and compounds. So while he's potentially godlike and can do sort of anything, he's usually nerfed or not capitalized as a big gun because he's just hard to write like that. However that dosn't matter at all, I love this comic it's a joy. What's Different: This is comic has sold completely into being a silver age super hero story and it works so damn well. The Tone just works, the Dialogue feels so retro and silly in that way, and it's just funny and puts a smile on my face. I went from being unimpressed to bought in like 5 pages.

*chefs kiss* Against all odds Mad Mod is here and is a content scrapper too

Broadly speaking the plot flows only ok which is a problem many minor character limited series face with dc canon, especially like this one when they have an unknown end date. This comic could have been longer and the creator would have liked that too, but sales have kept it down and it'll end when #6 comes out. It's all a little disconnected but there IS a big sort of goal on this fun little ride What is the Same: Metamorpho has been in a few things in this era, The Terrifics (2018) and Batman/Superman: World's Finest 2022 the arc with the robot take over come to mind. As always he's with Saphire stagg and Simon stagg her dad hates him and nothing era happens to change this. (probably the worst part about keeping everthing the same tbh) If this comic went on I could see that changing. While in The Terrifics he never got great screen time or development beyond "imma monster" This comic has at least glanced at the idea that "hey it sucked when you melted in that pyramid but you kind of did become immortal action hero?" Which is interesting. Metamorpo here has a few actually interesting pieces of Cannon piecing together. I had no idea who This character was.

"one elment kind of guy" lives in my head now but what is really interesting is that we actually brought together the "Fab Freak Family" with additional cast of Element dog, the ancient locked away metaporpha guy from the Terrifics, and GOD DAMN

Element Woman! from the formation of the expanded Justice league around new 52 that they didnt explain AT ALL. She later got recruited for a hot second for the doom patrol after Chief told her the justice league hated her (#HuntNilesCaulderForSport) and now we are here here you are caught up. In all honesty of all super hero copy families I kind of like metamorpho's here. which is really weird to say considering they are all the most minor character stitched together. Other than that, the comic gives a little explanation on what the heck metamorpho's powerset means in dc context. The short version is: the meteor sometimes gives powers to people so they can be agents for Gods from space that are Suns? sometimes? / not the normal greek ones or the New God ones. It sounds insane. and it is. but I kind of like it... somehow.... better than "he got powers from an artifact / lab experiment or whatever" at least there is context? Im genuinly not sure It probably wont matter too much since comic is ending but its a thinker. like maybe it sucks and is dumb, or it's a great explination for the magic of how he works since its obviously not science anymore All in all highly recommended fun short read that put a lot of things things together in ways I wouldn't have expected to work or be so fun for Fab Freaks like me

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Only real goats can understand me like you do, bringing up dc:gods and monsters will magnus :")

HATE

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It's like the universe is just barely not making him a metal men in the mainline comics

Veridium！

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JUICE