It’s been a long week, and I always kept my eyes open for good weekend Chinglish to share
Without further ado:
Some grassy poetry
I am so ready for the dribbling!
Lastly, while this is not Chinglish I do find it both amusing and amazing. A bootleg Wonder Woman Lego figure, and they seem to have gotten something wrong about those Marvel-Avengers films…
Previous: DC Comics – 2000s
It’s been said that the comics scene — American superhero comics specifically, at least –is too much of a boy’s club. There are some legitimate criticisms in that, and I hope the field will prove more inclusive in the future.
I did like Louise Simonson’s 80s X-Men spinoffs, and Ann Nocenti’s Daredevil. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi in the more indie vein. I grew up with Rumiko Takahashi’s Ranma 1/2 as for Japanese manga. Japan has always had plenty of female-friendly markets, and independent comics are surely more diverse.
Yet I have to admit that throughout the 2000s, the largest bulk of my reading centered on mainstream comics (mostly DC) by these authors: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, and Mark Waid.
Do allow me to add one more to the list: Gail Simone!
And I hope I’m not coming across as too affirmative actiony here, I really am a big fan.
Ms. Simone started out gaining prominence in the scene with her Women in Refrigerators blog, making the point that violence against women is often a plot point to motivate the male protagonist. And that’s not a very cool thing if you want to get more readers of the other 50% of the population.
She started writing Deadpool for Marvel, though I never read it I have heard good things, helping to build up the popularity of the character who is getting a movie. Deadpool is dark comedy, which is one of Simone’s best styles.
She truly has a brilliantly sick sense of humor.
For me, it began with Birds of Prey by Chuck Dixon. The series was great, as previously mentioned Barbara Gordon had become crippled and turned her talents towards being a sort of superhero tech operator. She mainly sent Black Canary on Bond-esque missions.
Gail Simone took over the writing, and Oracle was further joined by Huntress and Lady Blackhawk. The series actually became even better.
There was a hiatus, and at the Brightest Day event she returned to Birds of Prey with a new number 1 and it was most certainly on my pull list. Although that only lasted 12 issues, because of Flashpoint. See why I don’t like reboots?
I enjoyed Birds of Prey plenty, and then I became a rather hardcore fan during the Villains United minseries as as part of Infinite Crisis crossover.
The premise was that all the villains were teaming up into a grand secret society, with an inner circle led by Deathstroke, Black Adam, Lex Luthor, and Talia al Ghul.
Villains United wasn’t actually about the society, it was about a ragtag group of villains who wouldn’t play along. Deadshot, from the old Suicide Squad I loved, and a re-amped Catman, Rag Doll, Bane, and the new character their leader Scandal Savage — the daughter of Vandal Savage They became the mercenary group Secret Six (I’d list all six, but it wasn’t stable as some died and were replaced).
I knew something awesome was in the works. Best antihero villains-themed cover ever. The Six eventually got another miniseries, and then a long-running series that I followed to the bitter end. More below.
Simone wrote Wonder Woman for a while there by the way, and it was very well-received. So rarely is the character done right, a lot of those mythological epics are hard to do well. The new mega-villain Genocide was introduced. With a tweaked origin and a barbarian saga in mind, ’twas no George Perez but still quite good.
And then I moved to China in late ’08.
I continued to read Secret Six throughout my time in China. I brought all my back issues with me. Bought the new ones at my comic shop in Hong Kong.
Met at comic shop opening L.A. Comic writers are always such nice guys.
Geoff Johns largely WAS the face DC Comics of the 2000s, in my twenty-something resurgence as a hardcore comics geek I basically read every single one of his books that entire decade.
Note: Goodreads Shelf: Geoff Johns — that 68 at last count
Johns is not going to win any big literary awards and change your life, and that’s not the point. He is a great entertainer, a great storyteller, never dumbing down and utilizing the best aspects of the superhero genre. Throughout the 2000s, he was particularly skilled at taking complex continuity and streamlining into a way that pleased hardcore fans and newcomers alike. Nowadays is a different story, but that’s what it was like at the time.
I remember first discovering the former screenwriter’s first published Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. at the very beginning, a certain humble 12-issue series about the Star-Spangled Kid, an update on old Golden Age retired heroes. It was the perfect start. Nothing grim and gritty (although later I’d learned the main character Courtney Whitmore was based on Johns’ deceased sister), just fun comics with respect towards history.
This also concerns Starman. Written by James Robinson in the 90s, Starman was one of DC’s finest works. Another legacy comic about a modern take on the Golden Age, Starman was very different from the norm. Jack Knight might be called a hipster hero today. His dad was the original Starman, and he was a normal, cultural guy with tattoos and good taste in movies, forced into the life.
Ultimately James Robinson ushered in the new JSA: the Justice Society of America. Thanks must also go to the success of the JLA at the same time, and DC was trying harder with classic team books.
Geoff Johns wrote from issue 5 and up to the end, and it was something special indeed. Unlike previous incarnations of these characters in Infinity Inc., the new book was ambitious and quickly became the centerpiece of the DC Universe. Arguably more crucial than the Justice League themselves. The society saved the world, introduced new mythos, let the original Flash and Green Lantern and Wildcat mentor the next generation, and not to mention a return to glory for Hawkman.
As for solo heroes, Geoff Johns took over The Flash…
This was back in the Wally West days, not Barry Allen like the new show currently airing. Barry had died way back in the Crisis on Infinite Earths event in the 80s, long replaced by his now grown sidekick. Wally was more of an everyman hero, without a secret identity, but still very much in the mainstream superhero scene.
Flash already had very high standards, thanks to the extremely talented Mark Waid, and Johns – joined by artist Scott Kollins – focused on Wally as a sort of working class hero in a pseudo-Detroit. The villains were given the utmost important, with the Rogue’s Gallery often being the stars.
The Flash became my favorite hero of all.
I still really miss Wally West…
Geoff Johns was gaining traction, and got noticed by Marvel Comics. He had a brief run over on the flagship title The Avengers, as well some other miniseries such as The Vision and The Thing. He did as well there as expected – he was perfectly suited to Captain American in particular. Sadly, it was over all too fast and Johns signed on to be exclusive with DC and the run abruptly ended after a mere 20 issues. Avengers after that became New Avengers by Bendis and I was no fan; that was point I cut off all Marvel and focused only on DC.
Geoff Johns kept going. Teen Titans debuted, fusing the 80s Titans fused with Young Justice. I didn’t love the art and I kinda missed Peter David, but it was very much worth reading. Robin, Superboy (now revealed to be… spoiler ahead… Lex Luthor’s clone!), and Impulse took up the mantle of Kid Flash.
This would not be a post about Geoff Johns however, if I did not speak of his epics of epics: Green Lantern!
(Note many of the pics below I simply took myself, as I thought these comics worth saving in my China apartment right now)
Previous: DC Comics – 90s
I think we can all agree that the 80s was among the top decades ever. In the world of comics (at least, American mainstream superhero comics), it was the decade the medium finally matured into a respectable art form for adults.
I definitely grew up on Marvel, but in my later teens I chose to focus on DC, and from my early and mid-twenties I spent untold hours scouring for back issues to fill in the historical gaps.
The truth is, Marvel was revolutionary in the 1960s but DC — that stuffy old company famous for square-faced Superman and Adam West-era Batman — did catch up. Green Arrow/Green Lantern by Dennis O’Neil in the 70s comes to mind. By the 80s, there were plenty of literary books.
As for Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, and The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, it says a lot those seminal tomes were published by DC. But you’ll have to wait until my inevitable Alan Moore and Batman-themed posts for more on those. Same bat-time, same bat-channel!
Allow me to skip ahead in the timeline of the DC Universe, whereas the centerpiece would definitely be 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. The mega-crossover revitalized the entire multiverse, with a cosmic menace requiring the heroes of all the different earths and time periods and planets, and an ending that took all the realities and put them into one big universe. RIP Supergirl and Barry Allen Flash…
Written by Marv Wolfman and illustrated by George Perez, it was a masterpiece.
Speaking of which, to go a bit further back on that creative team: Wolfman and Perez tother first came to prominence with the New Teen Titans. We forget now, but for a time they were the rivals to Marvel’s X-Men. That successful.
Sidekicks Robin, Kid Flash, and Wonder Girl were joined by newcomers Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven. Changeling/Beast Boy too. You may know the cartoon.
Cyborg was futuristic-transhumanist science fiction, Starfire was space opera, and Raven was supernatural horror. All the neccesary genres for superhero adventures. Add that to character development and the occasional soap opera storylines, and the formula made for solid great comics. Too bad the Titans have never been able to live up to that pre-Crisis era since.
Pre-Crisis DC, that was back when there were all those numbered Earths. The Golden Age 1940s continuity was called Earth 2, with the Justice Society and the original Action Comes #1 Superman. Writer Roy Thomas, who might be the most knowledgeable man in all the field, wrote about the WWII-ea in All-Star Squadron. It was followed up Infinity, Inc., which wasn’t as good but interestingly showcased the sons and daughters of the Justice Society in modern times. I do like my superheroes generational, a sense of history.
Then Crisis happened. All those Earths were now one. History was rebooted. Earths 1 and 2 had the same timeline all along. It’s confusing, I know.
The first post-Crisis crossover to introduce this new streamlined universe was Legends, helmed by Marvel’s popular writer-artist John Byrne and John Ostrander. It pitted DC characters against Jack Kirby’s Fourth World, which the ultimate epic villain of Darkseid.
Then, the Suicide Squad grew out of Legends. This ragtag team of supervillains employed by the government was, in a word, awesome. Very cool, very badass. Who knew corny DC villains could be written with such edge? Captain Boomerang, Deadshot. And a lot of the characters died in these suicide missions, some of them not even coming back to life. And who doesn’t love Amanda Waller?
Apparently there will be a movie of the squad soon enough.
Most important of all, the new Justice League evolved out of Legends. It was the latest incarnation, the Justice Leauge International, most often referred to as the “Bwahaha! era.
Believe it or not, it was a comedy comic. Cowritten by esteemed writer J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen, it kind of showed what it was like to hang out as a superhero in the off time of saving the world. It had Guy Gardner as Green Lantern, who was refreshingly a dick for a superhero, Martian Manhunter as elder statesmen, best buds Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, girlfriends Fire and Ice, and of course Batman being super cool Batman.
I tracked down every single one of those issues. I still have the full run to this day, including Justice Leauge Europe. They did fight supervillains like Desparo and had crossovers with the extremely serious Suicide Squad, but mostly it was a return to comics being fun. Unfortunately, after Giffen and DeMatteis left the League became convoluted through the 90s until Grant Morrison revitalized the franchise with back-to-the-basics JLA. But that is a post for another day.
“One punch…”
Ray-Comics 