#hal jordan is in fact my SECOND favorite dc character

[jade-jupiter]

My Top 10 DC vs Vampires covers:

Some of these are variants and others are just the normal covers but it’s just the ones that have been released so far, so nothing past issue 9 and I also have killers (couldn’t find hunters, but it didn’t make the list anyways) because I love it, but it’s all my opinion so yeah!

10. DC vs Vamps 8 (Regular Cover)

Okay, so this cover? I adore it, Ollie’s facial expression in the knife and Canary looking all cool and shit? Cool as hell. I just feel like it’s a normal cover and there’s not a lot going on compared to the other ones, so 10th in the list of favs.

9. DC vs Vamps AOW 4 (Variant)

I am a sucker for Batwoman, have been since Bombshells, and she looks so cool here. The fact it’s also because she plays a major role in the issue itself and the horns just sprouting out of her head instead of the normal little bat ear-things from her mask is so cool. The only reason its number 9 is because there’s cooler variant covers in my opinion.

8. DC vs Vamps 4 (Regular Cover)

This cover is so very muah, showing off a vampire Superman and Wonder Woman restraining a human Batman? Sign me up, it looks so cool. Looking at it upside-down is all the more funny, actually, and yes, I have done that with my actual physical copy. Once again, it’s not a bad cover, I just think there’s cooler ones, hence why its 8 on the list

7. DC vs Vamps 1 (Regular Cover)

Such a badass cover to start off the series, holy shit, I love it so much. I am a sucker for Green Arrow, and Ollie looks so very cool here dude, holy crap he looks so good here. The way his mask scrunches and also Mr. Batman himself also front and center, he looks so very cool, such a cool cover to start the series, but they only get better as the series goes on, so 7th.

6. DC vs Vamps 2 (Regular Cover)

Okay, so tell me that BATMAN holding a LITERAL BATTLE-AXE ISN’T THE COOLEST THING?! It is, he looks so cool, and I’m now realizing as the list gets closer to one, my reasonings are all just “this looks cool and that’s why I like it” BUT THAT’S KINDA TRUE

5. DC vs Vamps 3 (Regular Cover)

Fun fact, I’ve never been the biggest Green Lantern fan. Not because I disliked them, I was just never as interested as I was in like, Batman or Nightwing or whatnot. HOWEVER, what this run has done to me is make me fall madly in love with Hal Jordan as a character and as a vampire because DUDE HIM AS A WHOLE IN THIS SERIES?! Gorgeous gorgeous man, holy cow. I adore it’s a sneak peak of his fight with Diana and the cover itself is from Hal’s POV, which is such a cool concept. This is only at 5 because I have more thoughts on the last remaining 4 covers

4. DC vs Vamps 6 (Regular Cover)

When I first like, saw the cover I was like “Woah, that’s looks like Grodd’s chompers, that’s so cool, and Bab’s like, with blood on her hands, this is such a cool cover” NO, I KNOW NOW WHAT IT IS! SO, when Babs finds out that the Vampire King is like one of the Batfam, THAT’S why there’s blood in her hand, she realizes it’s a betrayal from the inside and like, SHE’S THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS AT FIRST! But the kicker, THE COOLEST PART, that shadowy vampire set of chompers ARE DICK’S! And I think that’s so cool, because he’s the shadow that she’s realizes and I literally love this cover so much from a story standpoint, the other 3 remaining are all for art, so YEAH!!

3. DC vs Vamps 5 (Regular Cover)

I don’t even have to explain this. I am madly in love with Vampire Hal Jordan as said before, this cover IS literally sexy man, and I don’t need to explain further.

2. DC vs Vamps Killers (Variant)

I love at this emulates the older-comics feel and just the look of it is so MUAH, I literally impulsively purchased it after buying the normal version of Killers when I first saw it because it’s so cool, literally one of my favorite covers of all time (even though we’ll never get a Vampire Bruce) so it’s second!

Honorable Mention:

Swimsuit Wonder Woman on DC vs Vampires All Out War 2, I am limited to 10 images but that cover is so cool. Like, first off, double W in a swimsuit looking so cool. The fact she has a hat on and the parts of her body not under the shade of the hat are like steaming to show she’s burning in the sun?! Such a cool little detail that people could overlook because she’s designed to look sexy. Also the red eyes and fangs and a little bit of blood? Muah, amazing cover, I also impulsively purchased it with my variant copy of killers.

1. DC vs Vampires 2 (Variant Cover)

Once again, no thoughts, head empty, vampire Hal Jordan. I would commit so many crimes to get my little hands on the foil version of this cover, it’s by far my favorite of the series and that may be because I am A) madly in love with Vampire Hal Jordan and/or B) A sucker for a cool looking vampire comic where the detail and colors just look so badass.

Feel free to leave your favs, fight my thoughts, and leave your own opinions. This series is by far one of my favorites if not my favorite, and I adore it so yeah!

[milesonthenet]

The Green Lanterns of Earth: Who are they?

Ah, green is my favorite color. Not to wear, actually, that would be black. However, I love green because it has so many vibrant shades. To me, it has always been a pretty color, even after it when away from being my favorite.

Today we celebrate one of the greenest heroes of the DCU. On House of MilesVerse, we will talk about the iconic Green Lantern. More than that, we will talk about his symbol and what it means for the DC Universe.

DC’s universe is vast in size, and with that comes a variety of characters. Because of this, many people have donned the title Green Lantern one way or another. Today, we will focus on the most prominent ones.

NUMBER ONE: ALAN SCOTT

We start our list off with Alan Scott, one of DC’s earliest heroes. Chronologically, Alan Scott is one of the first to wield the symbol. In particular, Alan was one of the chief members of the Justice Society of America, a predecessor to the Justice League who fought in World War II.

One of the most notable changes to Alan Scott was his sexuality. At first, Alan Scott was conceived as a straight character. However, when DC rebooted their universe, they instead made Alan gay. This change was then added to the primary Earth version of him.

One change that sets Alan apart from the other heroes is his costume. By now you are probably used to the lanterns wearing shades of green, white, and black. Alan’s suit included bright reds and greens, and a cloak not unlike Doctor Strange’s in design.

Another change is that Alan Scott’s powers do not come from the same source. Alan uses the Starheart, an experiment by the Guardians of Oa that pools all the random magic energy of the universe into a weapon. This weapon was found by Alan and then shaped into the trademark lantern design.

Despite being detached from the normal cosmic background of the mythos, Alan still remains relevant. He has on more than one occasion, assisted the original lantern. In addition, he also mentored Kyle Rayner, a later addition to our list below.

NUMBER TWO: HAL JORDAN

Our next entry goes to Hal Jordan, an iconic character in the Lantern mythos. As with other DC products at the time, the silver age was an attempt to reboot some of their old products. Green Lantern and The Flash were both rebooted, and these versions of the characters have remained prominent in people’s minds since.

Hal also helps to introduce almost every element of the Green Lantern’s mythos. He is at the center, the heart of the Green Lantern’s universe. He has fought in many conflicts for the Guardians of Oa in the name of justice. Hal’s trademark moniker also fits his daredevil personality, he truly is a man without fear.

Hal was not always a Green Lantern. After losing Coast City to Mongul, Hal was traumatized. Disillusioned with the Guardians, Hal became Parallax and destroyed the Green Lantern Corps. He would then attempt to remake the universe to create a peaceful place.

However, Hal would redeem himself in the end by sacrificing his life to reignite the sun in Final Night. He later became the host of Spectre, an avatar who represents God’s vengeance. Then, Hal returns to the green light as a hero once more.

I think Hal’s tenure as the Lantern is interesting. He learned from his mistakes as Parallax and redeemed himself. Hal is not defined by being just a green lantern. He is defined by his fearless personality and wanting to use that power to do good.

NUMBER THREE: Guy Gardner

A Baltimore police officer, Guy Gardner was the second choice to be the Green Lantern. Because of Hal Jordan’s proximity to the ring when it sought out a host; Guy Gardner is seen as Hal Jordan’s backup Lantern, in case he is off duty as the green lantern.

Guy Gardner’s most distinct element is his personality. He acts like a rude, hot-tempered jerk to almost everyone he sees. Because of his foul-mouthed behavior, Guy Gardner is disliked by everyone.

In fact, one of Guy’s most infamous moments is a scene from Justice League International. In that story, Guy Gardner tried to challenge Batman in a fistfight for leadership of the league. Just after he takes off his ring, Batman knocked him out with one punch.

I love Guy Gardner’s antics, and they never seem to get old. I think Guy Gardner’s attitude definitely fits his Green Lantern attire. Unlike Hal or John, Guy proudly wears his iconic vest.

Despite being a jerk to almost everyone he meets; Guy Gardner is not just a lantern for show. He proves that he is competent and ready to fight for his friends. This quality, alongside his explosive willpower, makes him a lantern fan favorite.

NUMBER FOUR: JOHN STEWART

John Stewart is probably the lantern that you are most familiar with. Outside of Hal Jordan, John has gotten the most exposure. People nowadays recognize him from his role in the Justice League series, and its follow-up, Justice League Unlimited.

Unlike the others here, John Stewart is a more by-the-books lantern. He comes off as cautious, dutiful, and strategic. John prefers to win battles with his mind than just with his ring.

I think it shows the skill that one has to be a part of the Corps. Stewart’s been following orders since he was trained in the Marines. In addition, Stewart is an experienced architect. Both of these tools further illustrate just how skillful John Stewart is.

Despite his discipline, John Stewart’s overconfidence in his abilities has caused him problems. He was the cause of the destruction of Xanshi, a planet that was attacked by the Anti-Life Equation. That action scarred John Stewart and still haunts him to this day.

Rather than remain in the past, John has chosen to move forward like all other Lanterns. He still remains a member of the Justice League. In addition, John is also slated to get his own TV show.

NUMBER FIVE: KYLE RAYNER

Now, we reach the torchbearer of the lanterns. Kyle Rayner’s destiny started when he was approached by the dying guardian, Ganthet. Ganthet passed on the Green Lantern’s ring to him.

After Hal had gone crazy, DC decided that they wanted to reboot the Green Lantern brand. Instead of having three lanterns, they decided to focus on just one. Parallax’s actions directly lead to Kyle Rayner inheriting the green light.

Kyle Rayner has a few distinctions over other lanterns. For one, Kyle’s constructs are formed from his creative imagination. As an artist, he can naturally come up with a variety of interesting ideas. This lantern can summon giant robots to beat enemies up.

In addition, Kyle also was host to otherworldly powers. Every lantern corps has an emotional entity that is derived from their specific emotion. For this example, the green light of will is powered by Ion. Kyle became Ion’s host, and he used his abilities to cure the world’s problems.

Kyle’s suit also has a different style from the other lanterns. He has a mask with a different shape. He also has less green than every other lantern on this list.

Kyle Rayner played a pivotal role in recovering Hal Jordan’s body. With the Green Arrow’s help, he managed to revive his predecessor. Even after Hal Jordan’s return, Kyle Rayner still maintains a steady flow of appearances. It goes to show that despite being his successor, Kyle is worthy enough to be his equal.

NUMBER SIX: SIMON BAZ

The New 52 was a line-wide relaunch that would reset the DC Universe. At that point, more than 25 years of continuity were erased. This was an attempt to be like Ultimate Marvel and the MCU, by streamlining their comics to set up a film universe. As you can probably guess that attempt did not work.

Simon Baz is one of the mainstays from the New 52 series. He is a Lebanese American child from Detroit who was persecuted for his ethnicity. However, Simon still made good grades in high school and graduated.

As an adult, Simon was on the wrong side of the law. In an attempt to make money, he started stealing cars and selling them. However, the car he stole was full of explosives, and after a high-speed chase he was arrested. While being interrogated, a defective green lantern ring flew into his room and found him a suitable candidate.

The one thing I like most about Simon Baz is how different his lantern suit looks from the others. I like the sleeveless look combined with his green and black mask. I think it helps to make him look distinct.

In addition, I also like the arc Simon Baz went through in Green Lanterns. At first, Simon used a gun because his lantern ring would sometimes not work. After a talk with Batman, however, Simon found the faith in himself to use his gift. That faith enabled him to ditch the gun and put more reliance on his ring.

NUMBER SEVEN: JESSICA CRUZ

Now, we move on to Jessica Cruz, the New 52′s second green lantern. Jessica’s journey started on a hunting trip with her friends. They find two men burying a body, who then attack Jessica and her friends. Although both of Jessica’s friends die, she escapes and develops severe anxiety.

That is when the ring of Volthoom, the mystical ring worn by Power Ring of the Crime Syndicate, corrupts Jessica. Using her fear, the ring transforms Jessica into the new Power Ring.

However, being Power Ring is not the only thing that happens. Over time, Jessica joins the Justice League in their battle against Darkseid’s forces. Jessica is able to don the green lantern’s ring after Volthoom is finally destroyed.

Jessica Cruz is an awesome character, and she is my third favorite lantern. Because she is able to push past her fears to help her friends. Jessica always chooses to aid those who need it most.

Her outfit is very derivative of the common Green Lantern suit. However, Jessica has one minor add-on that I think gives her suit more personality. A smaller version of the Green Lantern’s symbol is placed over her eye as a tattoo. 

NUMBER EIGHT: SOJOURNER MULLEIN

Sojourner, ‘Jo’ Mullein is the most recent addition to the Lantern’s mythos. Unlike the others, Sojourner’s not always a fighter. Rather, Jo is more akin to a detective who prefers to investigate crimes than just outright bust them.

Another difference that sets her apart is her debut comic. Rather than be a main-line DC book, Jo debuted in Green Lantern: Far Sector under the Young Animal imprint. Following Infinite Frontier, Jo would join the mainstream DC books.

In addition, Jo’s outfit is very different from the other lanterns. I think it helps make her stand out from the rest of the crowd. In particular, I like that her outfit uses a decorated vest. I like the way her glasses are shaped, and I think it adds personality to her design. What I love the most about Jo is that she is modeled after a real person. The real creator behind Jo’s image and design is Jonelle Monet.

CONSENSUS:

There are still a dozen Lanterns that I left out. Either because I do not count them, or they are not a part of the main universe. Characters like Teen Lantern, Jade, and Tai Pham fit into these categories.

Overall, I think all of these Lanterns bring something unique to the table. Whether it be their years of experience, their differing powers, or their various personalities. In a way, everyone has a favorite Lantern, even if they are not one of these guys.

I feel like DC neglects its cosmic corner, whereas Marvel has so many cool cosmic things going on. Even outside of the Guardians of The Galaxy you have the Silver Surfer, the Eternals, Nova, Darkhawk, Moon Dragon, and Quasar.

Meanwhile, DC has many interesting ideas for cosmic characters. Yet it seems like only a few of them get books at a time. I hope that DC decides to expand the Green Lanterns to more than one comic.

That is it for the House of Milesverse...for now!

[foolbo]

told my friends hal was actually my second favorite dc character and they were all in shock like babes you know what my tumblr is and one of you follows me do you not see my tim drake themed blog

[lilygrants]

How YJ and GLTAS Fit (Or Don’t Fit) Together

Because why do something productive with my time?  In general, the Green Lantern franchise is probably the least-utilized of DC’s major properties in YJ, for two very simple reasons: 1) No “young” characters, and 2) They’re OP as hell. Seriously, one of my first exposures to the Justice League was an episode of the Superfriends cartoon where the Legion of Doom went back in time to wipe out the Justice League’s three strongest heroes: Superman, Wonder Woman, and... GREEN LANTERN. Greg Weisman, one of YJ’s two executive producers, has been very upfront about the GLs being OP as hell, and cited this as a reason that they’re often written as being away from Earth (ref: Coldhearted, all of season 2). They wanted their Justice League to exude power, yes, but they also want the kids to be useful! Even with Weisman and Vietti writing around them as much as possible, their overpoweredness STILL got them into trouble with the “missing 16 hours” plot point. Even today, you can check the “Ask Greg” archives or the YJ TV Tropes page and find a bunch of fans whining about why John Stewart didn’t just ask his ring where he’d been for 16 hours. Green Lantern is the definition of “story breaker power.” You think Superman is boring with his 96 billion super strengths and super senses? Green Lanterns can create basically anything they can imagine-- and Earth has FOUR of them in YJ, as of season 4. (Though we don’t know who the fourth one is, technically. It is prooooobably Kyle Rayner, but it could just as easily be any of the other Earth-based lanterns. I’m currently pretending it’s Aya.)    First, let’s take a list of characters we know exist in both series. 

Hal Jordan (main character of GLTAS, occasional, mostly-silent cameos in YJ) John Stewart (YJ’s favorite GL with bit parts in a couple of episodes and the video game, namedropped in GLTAS’ final episode) Carol Ferris (recurring character in GLTAS and Hal’s love interest, bit parts in one episode of YJ: Invasion and tie-in comic)  Guy Gardner (recurring character in the 2nd half of GLTAS, bit player in YJ-- speaks more than Hal but only because him being a jackass is funny)  Kilowog (main character of GLTAS, currently guest starring in YJ) Razer (main character of GLTAS, hijacked one episode of YJ and proooobably won’t be back, since he didn’t even touch the actual current plotline)  Tomar Re (bit character in both shows so far)  Mogo (bit character in GLTAS, namedropped in YJ)  Aya (main character of GLTAS, namedropped in YJ) 

So, let’s start with Hal.  Hal has spoken two words in YJ. (Technically, he spoke one word twice-- “No,” in response to Guy Gardner joining the Justice League.) 

https://youtu.be/MvAgVSamZe8?t=15

This is for the best, as there’s very little to contradict his actions in GLTAS. “Four years ago” places it during season 2, and all we know about Hal’s actions that year is that he spent January - June away from Earth. Presumably, most of that time was on Rimbor, but there’s still plenty of room in the second half of the year for GLTAS to happen. His personality is also a blank slate in YJ. His character design was also updated for season three, giving him a slightly different uniform, distinguished Mr. Fantastic gray temples, and some lines to his face. The law of conservation of detail suggests they did this for a reason, but I’ll be damned if I can imagine what that reason is, given that Hal is basically a nonentity in YJ.  

John and Guy present the first real contradiction between the two-- ie, GLTAS depicts Hal as the only GL on Earth at start, while by the analogous time period in YJ, they’ve both been GLs and Justice Leaguers for years.  So “The New Guy” did not happen in YJverse (or if the plotty events did, it wasn’t Hal and Guy’s first meeting-- they’ve known each other for an absolute minimum of 5-6 years by this point, and likely longer). There’s also the fact that Guy was also tied up in the Rimbor stuff. 

Guy is also very different-looking between the two. GLTAS is almost a note-for-note translation of his usual comic character design, while YJ goes for a modernized update of a similar idea. He also has a different voice actor, owing to the fact that he was most likely cast before the decision was made to include the GLTAS-inspired events. I also suspect that he will keep his YJ voice if ever used in future episodes-- one of the ways Weisman and Vietti initially differentiated their shows from other DC properties was by avoiding reusing actors. They’ve since relaxed on that front (and reused Bruce Greenwood to start with, anyway), but I imagine they like their version of Guy well enough to keep him the way he is.  

John very politely spent that time period actually on trial on Rimbor, so he presents no real conflict of events, except Hal didn’t get to make a Daily Show joke about him, since they’d known each other for years by this point. 

Carol’s the one it actually gets interesting for. In YJ, Ferris Aircraft seems to be focused on spacecraft-- her two appearances show her at NASA. She looks very different between the two shows, and again, has a different voice actor. The main question about her is whether or not she has a power ring in the YJverse. YJ Carol is very aware of aliens (her big appearance shows her attempting to broaden communications with Mars). Carol’s appearances in GLTAS were few, but memorable. I suspect she’ll also retain her YJ voice actor, not least because Kari Wahlgren also voices both Saturn Girl and Phantom Girl. 

Kilowog and Razer were lifted from GLTAS pretty much exactly as they were, voices included-- Jason Spisak, the workhorse of DC Nation, was already voicing Forager, and Kevin Michael Richardson was already voicing Vykin and Martian Manhunter. 

My gut instinct is that they were left in GLTAS form primarily as fanservice. Razer peaces out the first chance he gets, and I personally doubt we’ll see him again any time soon, much as I’d love to be wrong. Kilowog is sticking around for the moment, but he doesn’t seem to be hugely involved in the plot just yet. Weisman and Vietti didn’t feel the need to really personalize their version of him, because he’s not a major player-- or at least that’s my theory.

It is interesting to me that Tomar Re was cast as Dee Bradley Baker. His GLTAS voice actor, Jeff Bennett, is another one of those versatile men-of-a-thousand-voices that huge casts like YJ rely on-- off the top of my head, he voices all of the male Reds, T. O. Morrow, Alfred, and Abra Kadabra. He was also in Gargoyles, so very dear to Weisman’s heart! They could have cast him-- if they wanted to. It isn’t like Guy and Carol, where they made their choice before deciding to incorporate GLTAS. But they chose Tarrlok instead. Obviously, Dee Bradley Baker is a good choice. I suspect that (unlike Kilowog and Razer) Tomar Re is going to be Involved from this point forward, and so Weisman and Vietti made him their own. I mean, he IS on the poster for this arc. He’s gotten some pathos regarding Krypton. Kilowog parented his spacekid and otherwise has not done anything worth mentioning.

Mogo’s only been mentioned as less than Guy Gardner’s ass, and Aya as the subject of Razer’s quest, but questions remain. Could any of the characters YJ actually follows have known or known of Aya? I rather doubt it, much as I would looooove to be wrong here. I remember back on the old YJ Anon fic meme, there was a prompt about Hal bringing Aya to the cave and having her join the team as his sidekick-- but her lack of representation in the grotto leads me to believe she wasn’t known to them. 

[erinhime83]

Since it’s been a day and my muse has shifted back into being interested in this story again (seriously, yesterday it did not want anything to do with WfS, which was annoying, because all I could think about Friday was potential details about the third, fourth, and fifth books. Nothing concrete – I have a plot for the third, and possibly for the fourth, but the fifth is just minor stuff right now), I figure it’s about time I do some sort of reflection on this damn thing. It’s not going to be very long (I think), because I’ve forgotten most of what I wanted to say about this because of course I have.

I had realized that I needed to do with story back when I was redoing ISoF, since this is the only story I’ve ever not won a NaNo with. Even though I didn’t finish the first version of ISoF, I still managed to get my 50,000 words in.  Here, I got something like 17,000 or 26,000, not sure. I had attempted to work on it right after I found out I was pregnant, and I got all depressed because I thought I couldn’t be creative anymore.  But in all honesty, this was actually a good thing, because the story I had was all shades of not going to work very well.  Which is sort of why I struggled with it to begin with.

I’m not sure why I didn’t think to try it sooner, other than my muse was on different stories before this. So when it somehow shifted to WfS to the point where I decided to tweek the first book a little, I instantly knew I had to attempt July camp with it.  And seriously, attempt.  Like, I got it in my head earlier that I should try to go back to how I used to be with writing, popping out book after book, and I wanted to see if I could do it in a NaNo month, since the schedule I had used for November with the girls was still in place.  And it worked!  It really worked!

RIiighht up until Covid decided to shut everything down and I absolutely panicked to the point where I couldn’t write anymore.  It didn’t help that I was plantsing the book, using the basic outline I had but also making it up as I went along.  I, like, lost steam right at the end there, so yeah.  I might have been able to continue with it if I had an idea of what I was doing.

And the same could be said about my April Camp attempt.  Sure, I had my tooth issue that made it impossible to write and then, since I had lost a couple of days, I just couldn’t continue.  Because I had no idea where I wanted to go with it (I have since figured it out potentially, and considering I do really want to get into the new Cosmic Dreamers, I may finish that one soonish). So even though I could have finished it later, I haven’t yet.

I did go into this one nervous as hell that something would happen and I wouldn’t be able to finish again.  Except this time, I did have a full outline, I wasn’t plantsing it, so I might have been able to finish it regardless.  But no. This time it went to @callistochan87.  So…I guess we gotta keep an eye on @anijeltaventry in November. Or if I want to write again.  (I feel bad being grateful that it was her and not me this time, and I feel like I might be able to since it was a crazy easy fix, she wasn’t in immense pain, and it sounds like her vision might not be completely damaged?  I hope).

In any case, its sort of funny how tweeking just a couple of thing from my original idea completely changed what I had planned, but also changed my view on this one.  Like I said, the original idea I had was garbage, and I never fully finished the outline because I couldn’t make it work very well.  I was bound and determined to bring the other Volturnians from the crossover story into this one, and once I determined it was simply not possible, everything fell into place.  I mean, just like the whole thing with Techna.  I want Techna to be a thing, but she doesn’t do much.  She’s really not useful in the story.  So when I did away from her, again, everything just fell into place.  More so than taking out the Volturnians.

And taking out the Volturnians was made possibly simply by creating Alan.  See, one of the reasons why my muse was on WfS in the first place was because I wanted to watch a couple DC films.  Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen are my favorite, since they focus on the Lois/Superman relationship, and obviously I am all about that.  And one of my favorite aspects of the new animate universes is that they always have Hal Jordan and Barry Allen be, like, BFFs IRL before the Justice League is formed.  So I was like, I should do that.  I should create a speedster character, and then have him be BFFs with Specter.

Except originally, Specter was an alien.  That’s actually why he looks so opposite of Greg, with the pale skin, pale hair, and pale eyes.  His species was supposed to be the anti-Volturnians.  Also, the idea behind Spectrum was that they were all blind, and were able to ‘see’ thanks to the bracelets, but they could only ‘see’ basic colors.  So if something was kinda red, they’d see it as straight red, that’s sort of thing.  Oh, and Specter was supposed to be the villain. 

Yep, what was supposed to happen was that he himself was going to arrest Greg for being a Volturnian on Earth.  And then Lane would convince Roselyn to take her to Volturnas to get him back.  And Miles was supposed to end up with Roselyn’s half-brother.  Yep. 

But giving Jordan a human BFF made me decide to make him human as well, and I think it works out so much better!  I mean, I didn’t know anything about Spectrum until I was literally writing about it, but now I had this world-building thing that I can expand on for the next book, so yay!  I was actually going to make it so he was blinded by the accident, but I sort of liked the idea of him being born blind, so the suddenly seeing thing would be more of a shock.  Plus, if he had been blinded, then really, he could just always use his powers and never tell anyone he was blind.  So...yeah.

(Also, I still love their names.  Like, literally, I named Jordan what I did because Green Lantern’s last name could be a first name.  Which is why it’s Jordan Halstrom.  So I had to do the same with Alan.  Alan Barnett instead of Barry Allen.  Also, the name Speedy comes from Green Arrow’s sidekick, which I always thought was a better name for Kid Flash then, you know, Kid Flash.)

Looking at what I had originally planned and how much I ended up like Livianus, I realize that I could have had Miles end up with him instead of Jordan.  I mean, I’m sort of mad at myself for deciding to make the rainbow superhero gay, but I randomly picked him instead of Alan. Which I think makes more sense. Alan is fricking nineteen.  Miles might be only twenty-three, but I think the press would have an absolute field day with that. At least with Jordan, there’s only a three year age gap there. >.<

Let’s see, I’m not sure if there’s really anything else to mention.  I mean, I sort of had fun at the beginning of the book, because it really looks like it’s going in a completely different direction than it took. But the thing is, when I was first planning WfS, I had two storylines I could have one with.  The first one is the one I wrote, where Greg is a superhero and blah blah blah.  The second storyline involved Greg being taken back to Volturnas when he was a teenager, and returning when they invade, and reuniting with Lane then.  And then he and Lane attempting to stop the invasion and stuff.

And I guess after doing WfS, I realized I could still use some of the ideas of the second storyline. Like where Greg is taken back to Volturnas and Lane sneaks on the ship to go back with him, and her becoming one of his concubines.  Sort of. So that’s where the whole plot of WCBH came into play.  But as a result of the first act, I know what I want to do with the third yet-to-be-named book. 

And also a Specter and Speedy prequel, and I’m like, damn, am I going to have time for all these books? Yeesh.  Like, the prequel will be weird because Lane and Greg wouldn’t be in it, Miles will be mentioned, and, oh yeah, it’ll be told from a guy perspective. >.<  But I still want to do it someday!  *cries*

I did like how there was only one day where I had to play catch up, which is actually unusual for me.  I always look at my days off when I’m not feeling writing a chapter and go ‘well, it’s easy to write a twofer or a chapter and a half those days!’, like I give myself an easy out.  BUT thanks to convincing @callistochan87 to review the chapter after she read it, it motivated me to not only put a chapter out, but having it done before she got on so she could have a chance to read it.  Which I severely miss.  I was seriously sad on Friday night knowing that was the last time she was going to do it. Unless she, like, decides not to write in November.  Then I could look forward to that then.  But I doubt it.  ;_;

I think the worst thing that came out of all this was, despite not thinking about it ALL DAY YESTERDAY, my muse decided last night to give me breakthrough with my idea of rewriting WfS where Greg didn’t ghost everyone when he decided to become Ultro.  Like, I love the idea, and I was struggling to make certain parts make sense, but now I really want to do it.  And the even worst bit is the back that my breakthrough makes it really stupidly easy just to go back, rewrite the first couple of chapters, and then just edit the rest of it.  So, like, now I really, really want to do it!  And I might! Because it means I don’t have to rewrite the series and be really annoyed that I can’t have Miles and Jordan together already.  :D

So yeah, that’s where I’m at at the moment.  Fun times with the muse.  Bleh.

Still, I know I’ll look back on this book and be happy with it (except for the fact that I’d have to go back and tweek some things thanks to the rewrite of WfS).  There were some things I struggled with, some ideas that I thought were stupid but had to use to move the plot forward.  But that’s the best thing about first drafts!  I can rework it all later to make more sense.  I’m so happy that I’ve gotten this one under wraps! It only took over three years to do. XD

Thank you so much, @callistochan87, not for taking one for the team, but rather motivating me to write this and keep going with it.  I know you think you didn’t do much, but just the fact that you were reading it helped so, so much, and that’s pretty true for all my stories!  So I’ll always thank you for that.  :D

I probably missed some things I wanted to say.  I always do, it seems.  ^^;

[knifeonmars]

Capsule Reviews - May 2020 - The Cape Stuff

I read a lot of comics in May. Here’s what I thought of some of the superhero and superhero-adjacent comics I read.

Arms of the Octopus

A nostalgia pick, the collection of several annual issues containing a crossover between Superior Spider-Man, The Invincible Hulk, and the All-New X-Men. It is an artifact of a very specific and bizarre time in Marvel Comics, when Doc Ock was Spider-Man, the Hulk worked for SHIELD, and the original five teen X-Men were stranded in their own future. For a pure, relatively straightforward crossover romp, it's quite enjoyable. Spider-Man is a jerk, the Hulk fights a robot, the X-Men are befuddled by the present, all of the major beats for that particular moment in the Marvel Universe are there, and it's got some really great art. Jake Wyatt, during his regrettably short-lived stint with Marvel and the great Kris Anka unfortunately overshadow the other contributors, but it's all very good, if not the most accessible comic.

Maxwell's Demons

I came to Maxwell's Demons having heard a lot of critical buzz and with my expectations set rather high. I did not care for this book at all. Ambitious is the best word for this series, and that's not a bad thing. It's got ideas, about the craft, about the genre, about philosophy in general. It never quite manages to carry things off though; it's not as smart as it wants to be, and the high-minded ideas are never incorporated in particularly elegant ways. Three of the story's five chapters are essentially extended monologues in which the main character rambles on about some glorified shower thought for 20-plus pages. The first and second chapters are the exceptions to this pattern, and are quite solid as far as pointedly derivative superhero riffs go, even if the second chapter's riff on "What if Miracleman #17 was significantly less intelligent" is more than a little shameless in its lack of originality. The fourth chapter, by contrast, is the nadir of the series, easily the most embarrassing Manic Pixie Dream Girl tripe I've seen played straight in literal years. I'm reminded a lot of Translucid, another superhero pastiche, which essentially sought to do for Batman what Maxwell's Demons seeks to do for Lex Luthor. I warmed to Translucid significantly on my second read and I wonder if the same will end up being true for Maxwell's Demons, but I find that Translucid simply did a better job of incorporating original ideas and stating its themes in ways less stupefyingly clunky than Maxwell's Demon's ever manages. I hate to call a book pretentious, especially an ambitious one, but at present that's how I feel about this book.

Twilight

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Howard Chaykin's Watchmen-for-mid-century-space-heroes epic. It's good. Fabulous art, some really interesting ideas and a great premise. It's also more than a little Chaykin-y, with most of the male characters having fraught but amiable relationships with their much-too-good-for-them-and-they-both-know-it ex-wives. It has this particular brand of low grade misogyny that idealizes women but in doing so denies them interiority and, ultimately, humanity. Leaving that aside, though it is a major point to leave aside, it’s story of humanity rotting over eons of immortality, mad space gods, and humanity’s proclivity towards colonialism and genocide, it's great. It’s not an altogether pleasant book, it can be nasty and strange, in ways both intentional and unintentional, but it’s original and engaging and decidedly well made. Something of an overlooked classic of that era’s DC output.    

Green Lantern: Earth One

Literally the only one of DC's Earth One graphic novels that's worth a damn. Where most of the other Earth One books choose to start things off in a world resembling our own, Green Lantern starts off in a scifi future resembling something along the lines of Ad Astra or The Expanse, with Earth controlled by an only alluded to totalitarian government, humanity colonizing and mining the solar system, and Hal Jordan as a spacefaring roughneck who dreads the prospect of returning to Earth. Earth One is the rare Green Lantern story that manages to make Earth as interesting as the rest of the universe. The bulk of the action leaves this behind to focus on unearth the lost legacy of the Green Lanterns and refits their mythology in a clean way which will be unsurprising for anyone with a passing familiarity with the original comics but is still satisfying ad fresh. Fabulous art, fun take on the mythology, I'm left both wanting more and being satisfied with what we got.

Spider-Man: Life Story

In a just world, Chip Zdarksy, one of Marvel’s best writers these days, would be writing both Spider-Man and Fantastic Four, instead of having been relegated to shortlived spinoffs. Because life just isn’t fair sometimes, instead he was given this admittedly ambitious project, his all-encompassing take on the Spider-Man story as played out in real time. In the end it’s bold and engaging, but more than a little clipped in execution. Each issue is a snippet of Peter Parker's life as we catch up to him in a new decade so readers only get a quick glimpse of the action and are left to fill in the substantial gaps by drawing on our knowledge of continuity. The obvious comparison is John Byrne's Superman/Batman: Generations, but where that story really only took the broad strokes of those characters' continuity into account in writing its decades spanning story, Spider-Man: Life Story is dedicated to the remixing of Spider-Man's publishing canon. So it can’t just take an archetypal view of Spider-Man and play that out to its logical conclusion, instead it’s stuck trying to incorporate version of prominent Spider-Man stories like Kraven's Last Hunt, Venom, and Civil War. The result means that there’s a ton of exposition in each issue, and frequent use of shorthand to gloss over things which have happened since the previous issue, and it never manages to explore the series’ original ideas in detail. Also, I'll die mad that Michel Fiffe, the genius behind COPRA and one of my favorite cartoonists, public pitched basically this exact story a year or so before this project was announced, and even if Marvel didn't actually steal the idea, I'll forever pine for Fiffe's take on this premise.

Star Wars: The Crimson Empire Saga

Long before the Disney's take on Star Wars, with their codified takes on the mythology and careful curation of the franchise, there was the old Star Wars Expanded Universe, where seemingly anyone could tell any story they wanted using the mythology of Star Wars. While it resulted in some good stuff, like Timothy Zahn's fondly remembered Thrawn books, the vast majority of it was workmanlike or even bad. Crimson Empire falls firmly into the category of bad, a dumber than dirt story about an extremely cool space guy and his code of honor. It's the kind of story where multiple characters say "He's just one man!" right before or right after seeing their legion of anonymous flunkies getting demolished by the hero. It's got an inexplicable and bad love story. In the three miniseries collected here it spends about two pages total dealing with the idea that maybe, just maybe, the fact that it's main character is dedicated to the lost honor of Emperor Palpatine, a space fascist, maybe his code of honor is completely fucked. Of those three miniseries, only the first story is anywhere near something that could be called good. I wouldn’t called Crimson Empire utterly abysmal, but it’s not unironically good. If the name Kyle Katarn means anything to you, you might get something out of this as a nostalgia trip, but otherwise it has no redeeming qualities.

Deathstroke: Legacy

The first of the New 52 Deathstroke stories, which was never well regarded until Christopher Priest took it over with Deathstroke: Rebirth, I was driven to read this by a conceptual fondness for this era's Deathstroke basically looking and acting like an action figure. Through that lens, it's quite enjoyable. It's not as obviously in on the joke in the way that the classic Taskmaster: Unthinkable is, but it's over the top, has fun designs and baddies, and Joe Bennett (years before his career best heights in Immortal Hulk) provides consistently good art. As a pure action comic, it's good.

Wolverine MAX: Permanent Rage

Here's the thing about Wolverine: There are very few good Wolverine solo stories. Wolverine is a genuinely good character, but most of his solo stories are dumb action affairs, and there's literally never been a Wolverine comic that's even halfway as good as the Logan movie. Permanent Rage, the first storyline from the Wolverine MAX series though, is actually pretty decent. It plays out a lot like you might imagine a Wolverine movie made around 2004, with no superheroes, a Japanese setting that allows for some distracting orientalism, unrelenting violence, and a noir-inspired storyline. The present day storyline is all well and good, not great, but solid and relatively low-key, but what makes the book is the presence of Sabretooth as the main villain. His relationship with Wolverine, fleshed out through flashbacks drawn by some really talented artists, is probably one of the best takes on that relationship that Marvel has ever put out. The casting of Wolverine and Sabretooth as two lonely immortals, bound together by hate and the knowledge that they are each other's only true companions, absolutely makes this book. Is it great? No, but it's got enough interesting things going on that fans of dark superheroes stories would probably find something to enjoy. Subsequent volumes of Wolverine MAX moved even further from the character’s superhero trappings and supporting characters, which is a pity, but this one remains readable and enjoyable on its own.

Marshal Law Omnibus

A collection all of the non-licensed and non-text-only Marshal Law stories. It's weird, it's punk, it's violent, it's sick of superheroes but self-aware about it own silliness in a way that Garth Ennis' work like The Boys has never been (Incidentally, the fifth story contained here, Super Babylon, is just every self-righteous complaint Ennis made about superheroes in The Boys but presented with a modicum of good humor). It's quite fun as a mean-spirited anti-superhero romp, but anyone who is particularly invested in the moral rectitude of, like, the Flash, might find it an unpleasant read so I would advise avoiding it if that's you. It's also not perfect, even for what it is: it's approach to sex work and kink is very dated, it relies on sexual violence a little too much, and by the time you get to the final story, Secret Tribunal, it's come to revel in its previously ironic fascist and misogynist imagery and characters just a little too much. The third installment, Kingdom of the Blind, is for my money, the strongest of the lot, featuring both the most straightforward premise and the most incisive satire the collection has to offer.

[norahjakobs]

For the blorbo ask OBVSLY gonna ask for dc bro 👏👏👏 hell yea

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

Honestly Jason Todd, the Under The Red Hood movie is what truly got me into DC and I even took his name when I decided to change my name. He means a lot to me and I really hope for him to get a better on going than Outlaws someday.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

Digger Harkness, I think it'd be fun to put him through a playdoh extruder.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

Eddie Bloomberg, for someone that was a main member of a teen titans team he gets forgotten so often and DC's latest uses of him were to traumatize him and kick him off a team then kill him off for shock value in heroes in crisis.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

Zach Zatara, I'm still not over the fact we could have had him in a suicide squad comic even tho i'm 70% he would have been killed off if he were in it. Also Eddie Bloomberg but he's a little less obscure but not by a lot.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

John Constantine, he's pathetic, he could kill god, he'll betray every superhero for his family's stake, he'll have over a dozen evil exes, he's my poor little meow meow.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

Ok I find Rick Flagg having to deal with the ridiculousness of the squad really fun but he's not my answer. The Riddler, give him unsolvable riddles or ones where the answer is a pun.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

Bruce Wayne for so many freaking reasons, just, show your children love dude, please. that would such a good start. Also Hal Jordan.

[brevoorthistoryofcomics]

It was an unimaginable 41 year ago today, on Christmas day of 1976, that I finally got my hands on this much-desired beauty, a gift from Santa Claus. And actually, having asked for it specifically on the Christmas list that my mother would demand that each child write (usually sourced out of the Sears Christmas catalog, with an upper cap of $40.00 total), I wound up finding it among other gifts secreted away in our as-yet-unfinished attic, so I knew that it was coming at last.

To say that it was a treasure trove is underselling the situation. It’s unthinkable today, when so much classic material is readily available, either collected in book for or simply available digitally, but in the mid-1970s there wasn’t any way to read old comic book stories that you were interested in other than to find those old comics, or stumble across those stories being reprinted somewhere. So it was extremely difficult for a nine-year-old to make sense of the history of comics, as I was eager to do. Books like this one were invaluable and loved. Indeed, my original copy of this volume is in pieces, the cover and earliest pages having eventually fallen off--I had the paper cover edition, not the more expensive clothbound one. (I couldn’t for the life of me work out why anybody would spend the larger amount when they could have used that money to buy more comics. I get it now.)

SECRET ORIGINS OF THE SUPER DC HEROES was the follow-up to Crown Books’ successful collections of vintage Superman and Batman stories. But it was really a reaction to Simon & Shuster’s ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS and its profitable follow-ups. Carmine Infantino and DC certainly wanted a piece of that marketplace (even if Carmine would be ousted as DC’s Publisher by the time the final product reached the marketplace in mid-1976). So the book is structured remarkably similarly to ORIGINS, with chapters devoted to ten DC heroes reprinting their origin stories (in most cases, two different ones from over the years) and introductory chapters written by Denny O’Neil outlining the behind-the-scenes story as to how these characters came to be.

Sadly, Denny is many wonderful things, but he’s not Stan Lee, so his secondhand recountings aren’t as engaging or fun to read as Stan’s--they read more like a homework assignment. It’s mostly the editors that Denny speaks to and who comment on the genesis of these heroes, and while they’re appreciative of the gainful employment such characters have provided them, you can’t help but get the feeling that it was all just a job to these guys.

Remarkably, the introduction to the Superman chapter speaks of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, at a time when their byline was still stricken from the rolls at DC--this is notable in that, in that previous Superman collection that Crown had published years earlier, neither man was mentioned by name. Similarly, the Batman chapter talks about Bill Finger as well as Bob Kane--in fact, it mentions Finger’s name first. This was an extraordinary thing in 1976, and something that DC would walk back for at least a few more months on Jerry and Joe’s side, and for decades longer when it came to Finger. Whether this was due to Denny, or a desire to give a true accounting so as to mimic ORIGINS (whose accounting is far more compromised), it almost doesn’t matter.

The book also bridged the gap between the Golden Age and the more modern Silver Age, the Earth-1 and Earth-2 incarnations of the characters. In all but the final two instants, two stories were run featuring each character: their initial Golden Age appearance (or origin, in the case of Batman and Wonder Woman) and then either a more recent retelling or updating of that origin, or the origin or first appearance of the Silver Age incarnation of that hero. So you got Jay Garrick along with Barry Allen, Alan Scott besides Hal Jordan, and Al Pratt as well as Ray Palmer.

So, just walking through the volume a little bit, after some introductions and dedications (Sheldon Mayer!) it gets down to business with Superman, starting with a reprint of the first page of his initial story in ACTION COMICS #1 (which I’d already seen in the FAMOUS 1ST EDITION reprinting) followed by the expanded Origin of Superman from the AMAZING WORLD OF SUPERMAN special edition--this one I’d also previously read, in a SUPERMAN treasury Edition.

This is followed by the origin of Batman from BATMAN #1 (I’d read it) and then the well-regarded 1948 story in which Batman tracks down Joe Chill, the man who had killed his parents. It’s a story that packs a punch. Next came Wonder Woman, whose origin from the first issue of her comic was reproduced (Again, I’d read it in reprint before) followed by a more modern recounting by Robert Kanigher and Don Heck that also built up the mystery of Nubia, Diana’s long-lost sister.

Then came the main event, the reason I had jonesed over this volume for so long: the origin of the Flash. It began with a reprint of the first Jay Garrick story (read it already!) and then reprinted the inaugural Barry Allen story from SHOWCASE #4. And I loved it, boy, every nonsensical second of it. This was followed by the first Green Lantern story, featuring Alan Scott--Scott doesn’t don his costume until the very last panel in this story, which was a bit disappointing--and then the first Hal Jordan tale (in which he does wear his costume, but no mask yet.) The fact that so many of DC’s characters had debuted in anthology titles, and so their stories were shorter than their Marvel competitors made it easier to fit more stories into a single volume.

Then came two Hawkman origins (I’d read the first in the FLASH COMICS #1 Treasury, but not the Silver Age story) and a pair of Green Arrow stories, neither the Emerald Archer’s first appearance but both detailing contradictory origin stories for his costumed identity and mastery of the bow. I naturally concluded that the first must be the Earth-2 Green Arrow, which turned out to be true. The Atom came next, and he never even got a costume in his initial outing as Al Pratt, nor did Ray Palmer in his initial story. Still, these were all fun and inventive.

The final two slots in the book were devoted to DC “acquisitions” that had originated elsewhere. So next came the first Captain Marvel story from WHIZ COMICS #2 (the first issue had been an ashcan--and I’d read this story when #2 was reissued as a FAMOUS 1ST EDITION) and the first Plastic Man yarn from POLICE COMICS #1. This book is a treasured favorite, and I’ve replaced it twice over the years. It was also the start of what became a long Christmas tradition in which I would be given books on comics by my family, friends and relatives. And so it was a merry Christmas indeed.