Let's Talk About: Teams in the DCU.

Hey yo X-Maniacs, it's your beloved blog master X here with a special little bonus post. See, back in the day(you know, like five whole months ago!)I used to do these “Let's Talk About...” posts where I, you guessed it, talked about comic related stuff! Man am I creative or what?! Anywho, school, life and blog-related duties got in the way(as they often do), which led me to forget all about those “Let's Talk About...” posts. That is until DemonHunterCole reminded me about the forgotten “Let's Talk About...” posts, AND gave me a topic for one of the posts! So with the hard part out of the way(actually thinking up a post subject), I promised that I'd get a “Let's Talk About...” up and posted once I have some time. Well guess what, I finally have some time!

Which brings us to today and this post. I don't think there is ANYBODY out there who is pleased by the current incarnation of the Justice League, DC's #1 super-team. I mean, Congorilla is on the team!!! So, what would be my ideal DC teams? And why would I put said characters on said teams? Before we start, a few ground rules. I'm going to try to keep the teams to sensible numbers, so don't expect to see teams in excess of seven characters. Also, no doubles! Sorry, but Superman can't be on EVERY team! As always with these “Let's Talk About...” posts, feel free to voice your opinions in the comments section below.

Let's start off with DC's premier team, the Justice League of America.
Leader: Batman(Bruce Wayne): Um, he's Batman, how could he NOT be on this team?
Superman: See above, and simply replace “Batman” with “Superman”.
Wonder Woman: You've GOT to have DC's Trinity on the JLA.
Flash(Wally West): I like Wally and the humor he brings to a team, so he's in.
Green Lantern(Kyle Rayner): I like the banter between Wally and Kyle, so Kyle gets the nod here.
Green Arrow(Oliver Queen): If nothing else, Ollie brings some headaches to any team he's on.
Gypsy: Why not? Give Kyle a love interest on the team.

Next up is the Justice Society of America.
Leader: Green Lantern(Alan Scott): You NEED Alan if you're doing a JSA team.
Flash(Jay Garrick): See above.
Wildcat(Ted Grant): Once again, see above.
Green Arrow(Connor Hawke): As a legacy hero, he fits the bill here.
Liberty Belle: I like Jesse. I just do. *shrugs*
Mr. Terrific: I like Terrific. If Alan was to become incapacitated, Terrific could fill in as leader.
Dr. Midnite: He's another character who deserves better than he's currently getting.

Birds of Prey.
Leader: Oracle: Duh!
Black Canary: Needless to say, Dinah would be serving as the field leader.
Huntress: Damn skippy Huntress is on the team! If I could, she'd be on half the teams I'm putting together!
Catwoman: Yeah, cats and birds don't get along, but Huntress and Catwoman on the same team? Yes please!
Lady Blackhawk: I don't really like her, but I'll keep her around for transportation purposes.
Batgirl(Cassandra Cain): Come on, she deserves to be SOMEWHERE!
Jade: She's another character I just wanted to put somewhere.

Outsiders.
Leader: Geo-Force: After DC Universe: Last Will and Testament, I've got a soft spot for Prince Brion.
Looker: She is SO underutilized it's nearly criminal!
Katana: One of the only good things to come out of Blackest Night was the added depth to Katana's character.
Black Lightning: Yet another criminally underutilized character.
Captain Marvel(Freddy Freeman): Not Billy Batson. I can't stand him. I'm probably the only one, but I'd MUCH rather see Freddy get a push here.
Hawkman: So long as he stays away from Hawkworld, I'm fine with him.
Hawkgirl: Not the current incarnation, the pre-Blackest Night Hawkgirl.

Titans.
Leader: Nightwing(Dick Grayson): Total no-brainer.
Donna Troy: Once again, a no-brainer.
Arsenal: DEFINITELY the pre-Cry For Justice version!!!
Tempest: He rounds out the original Teen Titans(except for Wally).
Damage: He seems like a really good fit for this team.
Ray: Same as Damage, he just seems to fit here.
Starfire: She can be the team whore! :P

Teen Titans.
Leader: Red Robin: I needs me my Timmy running this team!
Superboy: If Tim is here, you KNOW Superboy would be on the team too!
Kid Flash(Bart Allen): I'd be tempted to go with Bart as Impulse, but I'll stick with the Kid Flash version.
Wonder Girl(Cassandra Sandsmark): Why not? She fits well with the prior three team members I mentioned.
Spoiler(Stephanie Brown): Since I gave Cassandra Cain the Batgirl title back, Steph gets to be Spoiler again.
Ravager(Rose Wilson): She'd be here simply to stir the pot.
Supergirl: I wanted to put her somewhere, and she probably fits best on this team.

Young Justice.
Leader: Robin(Damian Wayne): Yes, the little hellspawn itself. If nothing else, he'll keep this team on their toes.
Static: I wanted to put him somewhere, and with him being relatively new, he fits here well.
Speedy(Mia Dearden): Yet another character with tons of potential being squandered.
Abuse: You know, that kid from the Zsasz story in Streets of Gotham. He seemed to get along well with Damian, so he fits well here.
Osiris: He'd make a good addition as the resident powerhouse.
Aquagirl: Well, I needed at least two girls on the team, so she's it!
Tomcat(Tomas Bronson): Who? Wildcat's son from the JSA.

Secret Six.
Leader: Deathstroke the Terminator: Slade can run my team of tweeners.
Red Hood(Jason Todd): He should be with Slade in the current Titans series!
Deadshot: Watching him interact with Deathstroke would be worth the price of the comic.
Catman: Where Deadshot goes, Catman follows...
Cheshire: She fits REALLY well on a team with both Slade and Catman.
Knockout: I need a powerhouse here, and she fits the bill.

So there you have it, the teams I would put together if I was running DC comics. Right away you'll notice that I left off several DC mainstays(Hal Jordan, SAINT Barry Allen, Beast Boy, Raven, Billy Batson, to name a few), mainly because I either hate those characters, or I'm sick of seeing them. So now that you've seen my lists, how's about you post your own ideal DC teams. I'm sure you guys have your own ideas as to what the ideal DC Universe would look like, so please, feel free to fire me a couple of comments telling me who you'd put on each of your teams. That's going to do it for me, until next time, X out.

Let's Talk About: Comic Book Cities

Hey X-Maniacs, it's time for me to throw out another quickie post in lieu of some reviews. I'll get the requested reviews up here eventually, but I really haven't had the time to just sit back and read oodles of comics. As a matter of fact, I didn't read a single new comic last night! Trust me, that's rare! Before I pass out tonight I plan on reading the two Shadowland titles that came out this week, as well as Brightest Day #8. That way I'll be able to put together some sort of review by Sunday night.... Hopefully.

So that's the story with the reviews(or lack thereof). Now let's get to the purpose of this post... As any comic book fan worth their salt knows, each super-hero has a city that they call home(well, most heroes anyway). Superman resides in Metropolis. Batman protects Gotham City. Spider-Man swings through New York City. Some heroes are beloved in the city they protect(there's an entire Flash museum in Keystone City), while other heroes are scorned by the public they try to protect(depending on the way the wind is blowing, New Yorkers either love or hate Spidey on any given day). The relationship between heroes and their cities got me thinking the other day... Which city is the out and out dumbest when it comes to the treatment of it's heroes? In the Marvel Universe, the main city is New York. Most of the top heroes and teams in the Marvel U are based out of the Big Apple. For the most part, the Marvel version of New York seems to love its heroes. The Avengers are revered, Daredevil was left alone(until recently)and the Fantastic Four are seen as heroes of the highest regard. The only reason I even mention NYC is because of the way it's citizens treat Spider-Man... No matter how many times Spidey saves the city, he's STILL looked at as a menace. It doesn't seem to matter what Spidey does, or how many times he saves the city, the majority of New Yorkers just don't seem to like the guy. I'd call Marvel's New York bi-polar, not necessarily dumb.

That leaves us with the DCU. Gotham City and Keystone/Central City treat their various heroes the way I'd expect, so I'll cross them right off the list. The same holds true with DC's version of New York. When the JSA was living in NYC they were treated well by the people they were protecting. So where does that leave us? Metropolis. The home of both Superman and Clark Kent. Clark has managed to keep his identity secret from the denizens of Metropolis for YEARS by simply donning a pair of glasses, slouching and fixing his hair slightly different. My problem with that is the fact that he works for THE major newspaper in Metropolis! He's surrounded by journalists, and for some bizarre reason, none of them seem able to figure out that Clark and Supes are one and the same. Sure, Supes has had shapeshifters appear with him to disprove that he was Clark Kent, but come on, are the journalists in Metropolis THAT naive? And to make matters worse, Superman's greatest enemy is possibly one of the smartest men on the planet, and yet not even Lex Luthor can look at Clark Kent and say, “Hey, that's Superman!!!”. So it sounds like I'd consider Metropolis to be THE dumbest city in all of comic books, doesn't it? Wrong! For my money, there is NO dumber city then Star City. Star City, where Green Arrow fights crime, occasionally without a mask, and yet most citizens remained blissfully unaware that Green Arrow and Oliver Queen were one and the same. Better still, Oliver Queen was once elected MAYOR of Star City, and yet nobody was able to connect the fact that Green Arrow and Oliver Queen were one and the same! Unlike Clark Kent, Oliver Queen does little to nothing to hide the fact that he's Green Arrow. I mean the goatee itself should probably be a dead giveaway! Yet until Ollie was arrested for the murder of Prometheus, the people of Star City had no idea that former mayor(and high profile public figure)Oliver Queen and Green Arrow(another high profile public figure)were indeed one and the same... So for that reason, I grant the title of Comicdom's Dumbest City to Star City of the DCU. They sure earned it! As always, if you can think of a city that's even dumber the Star City or if you just feel like shooting the breeze, drop me a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts. That's it for tonight, X out.

Oh, and one quick edit... Paul C of the Last of the Famous International Fanboys blog has a wonderful defense of the citizens of Metropolis here that you should definitely check out. He made a believer out of me!

Let's Talk About: Your all-time favorite comic book character.

Hey all, quick confession time... I've been EXTREMELY lazy since my last day of summer school last Thursday. Sure, I did put up a few posts on Sunday, but since I'm off from school(for another 6 days at least), I feel I should be putting a bit more work into this blog. Now, I could have finished the Robin post that's been sitting half done in my files for like two weeks now, but nuts to that, that's too much work! Instead, I'm going to do the easiest post imaginable, a post talking about my favorite comic book character. And in order to keep this post from becoming a rambling mess, I'm going to state who my favorite character is and why in one paragraph. Trust me, it's better like that... Early on in this blog I did a post about this character and it wound up being 3 pages and 1600+ words long, and I don't think ANYBODY wants to sift through a post like that! As always with these “Let's Talk About:” type posts, any and all comments are appreciated. If you're taking the time to read this post, why not take a few seconds to let me know who your favorite comic book character is and why. Trust me, I'd love to know.

So who is my all-time favorite comic book character? Well, it's pretty obvious, but allow me to state it anyway. Out of the thousands upon thousands of comic book characters I've read about, none of them grabbed my attention the way Nate Grey/X-Man did. Nate was the ultimate outsider. Even amongst his fellow outsiders(mutants), Nate stood alone. He is temperamental, irrational, impulsive and short-tempered, but still able to come across in a sympathetic manner. Nate came from a hellish environment, had to deal with the failings of his own body, and yet continued to soldier on. Sure, for the most part, the stories from the X-Man series ranged from okay to horrific, but it wasn't the stories that caused me to collect that entire series, it was Nate himself. For me, he's that rare breed of character that you can see some of yourself in. That's why Nate is my favorite character. I can relate to him. It's really as simple as that.

Now I figure I'll throw a few pictures into this post to show just what I like most about Nate...


He's got an awesome sense of fashion. I mean, check out that blue leather jacket with the yellow trim! Sweet!


He's a jerk!


And much like me, Nate has a way with words.


So there you have it, that's why Nate Grey is my favorite character. But what about you guys? Which character is your favorite? Drop me a comment, because I'd love to read which characters tickle the fancy of you guys. Until next time, X out.


Pfft, you all wish! I'M an X-Man!

Let's talk about: Blackest Night characters!

Hey there X-Maniacs, tis your loyal servant X with a quick post. I'm going to try a new type of post tonight, so we'll see how it goes. See, I really don't have the time to do a lot of review type posts until the latter part of the week, because I'm usually buried with homework Monday through Thursday. So instead of doing a bunch of reviews, I'm just going to list a topic, and let you guys, my most loyal and wonderful X-Maniacs, Nerds of Prey and LoL's give this post life. I'll pick the topic, give my thoughts, and then throw the floor open to you guys. So if you want to put your two cents in, please feel free to do so. There are no right or wrong answers here, this is just to create some conversation. All right? All right then!

So what's the first topic? How about an easy one... I've made no bones about the fact that I hated the way Blackest Night ended. It started with such promise, and instead of ending with a bang, it ended with a whimper. One of the things that really bugged me about the way Blackest Night ended was the characters that were(and weren't)brought back to life. So here's your mission, should you choose to accept it... Which character who returned to life at the end of Blackest Night do you think should have stayed dead, and conversely, which character do you think DC should have brought back but didn't? Here's my picks... I say Reverse Flash should have stayed dead, since as a time traveler he could have just come back to menace Barry Allen from before he was killed. Time travel is funny like that. As for the character I think DC should have brought back to life but didn't, I'm going to go with Damage. He was a young character with a chip on his shoulder who, I think anyway, had some serious untapped potential. So there you go, those are my picks, what do you guys think?

Let's talk about: the DC Universe!

It's been a while since I've gone and done a “Let's Talk About:” post, mainly because most of the comic related stuff I've wanted to say I've been able to say during one of my other MANY posts. Lately though, I've been giving a lot of thought as to the current direction of the DCU, especially in light of the conclusion to Blackest Night. Before I really begin to get rolling here, be warned I WILL begin to rant and rave, so be prepared...

Although I have grown up exclusively reading Marvel Comics, the recent BENDISization of the Marvel Universe has caused my interest in Marvel to wane to the point where I'd consider DC my favorite comic company... At least for now. However, it really wouldn't take much for me to switch allegiances again, which is what this post is really all about. While Marvel seems to be getting it right(bringing back the REAL Avengers, while still holding onto the character development they've spent the past several years cultivating, be it good or bad), DC has been sucked into some sort of bizarre time warp. And the man responsible for DC comics vexing current direction? Why none other then the guy I've voted as my favorite comic writer for the past two consecutive years, Geoff Johns.

Let's take a look at what I'd suspect the year 2011 is going to look like in the DCU. Superman will be patrolling the streets of Metropolis, while Bruce Wayne will be Batman. The main Green Lantern will be Hal Jordan and the number one Flash will be SAINT Barry Allen. Other notable DC heroes would probably be Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow... Now let's hop in the old time machine and go back a mere 10 years to the year 2000... The Trinity of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman was intact(as it always should be), while the secondary DC heroes were actually different and interesting. Wally West was the main Flash, having taken over the role from his former mentor, SAINT Barry. Kyle Rayner was the prime Green Lantern, with Hal Jordan having gone insane and then sacrificing his life to save the Earth. Aquaman had gone through several changes which included him losing his kingdom and his hand, while Oliver Queen, Green Arrow, died saving Metropolis and was replaced by his son, Connor Hawke. The Martian Manhunter was still the Martian Manhunter, although even his usually boring origin was spruced up with the advent of the evil White Martians. Since I have the old time machine out, let's travel all the way back to the 1960's next. The Trinity was still in place, while the main Flash was SAINT Barry Allen with Hal Jordan serving as the prime Green Lantern. Other notable heroes included Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow... Sound familiar? It should, it's the exact same as what I figure 2011 will look like.

Now, I have to ask myself why this is... Why is DC(under the stewardship of Geoff)undoing YEARS of stories and character development and bringing us all to the 1960's? And the thing is, it's not only the big name characters who are suffering DC's bizarre flashback-itis, it's the secondary characters as well. Take Roy Harper for example. Back in the late 70's, Roy was a childless former sidekick who was struggling to find his place, while resorting to drugs to help him along. In the mid 00's, Roy had become a member of the JLA, was a father, had kicked his habit and was standing on his own two feet. Now? Roy's a childless former hero with no place, resorting to drugs to help himself along. I wonder how long it is before Dick Grayson is back in the speedo, hopping around Batman while shouting, “Holy machine gun umbrella, Batman!”. Marvel went through a similar phase back in the early 00's, but they handled it in a much more sensible way. They created a line of comics(the Ultimate books)that took their most famous franchises and rebooted them, while still allowing the mainstream Marvel Universe to continue to grow, change and expand. So you were able to read about dead/older characters from back when they were younger. Peter Parker was no longer a married man trying to make ends meet, he was a timid high school student living a double life once again. Cyclops wasn't the leader of all things mutant, he was still a student at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, trying to get his powers under control. DC DID actually do something similar with their All-Star line, but instead of growing it, they allowed it to fall into disarray, or maybe they realized since the mainstream DCU had BECOME the All-Star world, they didn't need to continue that line anymore.

I'm not saying it's all good over at Marvel, because it most DEFINITELY isn't! Marvel has their fair share of problems/gaffs(mainly the whole, “No more Mutants” decree), but they seem to be slowly attempting to right them while moving forward, not trying to completely turn back the clock like their Distinguished Competition. It's sad because I have enjoyed becoming a fan of the DCU. I've enjoyed reading about its myriad of heroes from the 1930's to today, but I just don't think ignoring the past 30 years worth of stories is the way to go. I will admit that some characters(such as Hal Jordan)do deserve a second chance at life because of the unsatisfying way they met their fate, but that doesn't mean EVERY major character who has died in the past 30 years also needs to be returned to life! Some deaths fit, were hugely important and should have had some permanence to them. My favorite example of that is of course the Flash, SAINT Barry Allen. SAINT Barry died in an attempt to save the multiverse. He died the hero's death, he was mourned and was replaced by his sidekick, everything seemed in order, it all made perfect sense story wise and didn't at all seem forced, shouldn't that have been the end of his tale? The same can be said for the Martian Manhunter and Aquaman. Sure they have their own legion of fans(I'd consider myself a fan of the latter), but DC KILLED them off. Shouldn't that mean something? Now they're back, for very little reason that I can fathom, probably to continue doing what they were doing 40 years ago... Umm, eating cookies and talking to dolphins I guess... Am I saying that we should ignore the Silver Age DC heroes, and only concentrate on the DC heroes who were active in the 90's/00's? No of course not, but we should also move forward, not back, which is unfortunately the only direction Geoff Johns and the current brain trust over at DC seem capable of heading... Well there we go, I've stuck my head in the hornet's nest and am ready to be stung!