Deadpool Week Day 4

Deadpool seems to make sense (or lack thereof) in any story, doesn't he?

Deadpool Week Day 3

Deadpool Week Day 2

Yeah, really, I'm not going to be saying much - I think these posters speak for themselves.

Deadpool Week Day 1

Because why the hell not?

What If we lived in a comic book universe? Part 79

Your Moment of Funny

Not to be "That Guy" but...

Alright, so some people are complaining that in "Superman: The Last Family of Krypton" just about everything in Kal-El's life remains the same (i.e. is still raised by the Kents, wears the costume, works at the Daily Planet, Lois Lane, fights crime, etc.) despite the major difference of his parents being alive and having younger siblings. Not that they are wrong, but they're missing the point.

The story isn't about Kal-El. It's about Jor-El.

When you strip down Jor-El to his basics, what do you have? He's a renegade scientist who defied his world's norms and performed whatever experiments he saw fit.

You know who else that describes?

Lex Luthor.

From what I've seen in the previews and in online discussions, the entire narrative arc isn't really "OK, so this is what would happen if advanced Aliens landed on Earth" as much as "What is the difference between Lex Luthor and Jor-El?" Is the only reason Lex evil because he didn't have something other than "destroying Superman" to guide him? Is the only reason Jor-El is even viewed as a heroic, if not saintly, figure because he was right about Krypton's destruction? And what happens to this brilliant scientist when his vanity gets the better of him? Will Jor-El, not Lex, ultimately become Superman's greatest threat in this world?

At least, that's how it seems to me.

Plot Devices that Need to Go Away #11

Plot Devices that Need to Go Away #11

THE DYNASTY


Also known as: The ______ Family, the ____ Corps, League, etc.

What is it?

It's a group of of a characters based around a primary "Classic" character, with multiple versions of the same powerset/personality/narrative arcs with only moderate tweaks.

Why Do Comic Companies Do It?

Multiple reasons:

1) Nothing succeeds like success and excess.
2) It's easier to come up with a variation of an old character than to create a new character or to modify/retcon the old one to fit the new variation.

3) Because creators increasingly keep their most original ideas for their own projects.

Recent Offenders Include but are not limited to:

Superman - Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, Powergirl (yes she counts), Steel, The Eradicator.

Flash - Barry, Wally, Jay, NuImpulse, Jesse Quick, Max Mercury, Bart/Kid Flash

Green Lantern - Hal, Kyle, Guy, John, Alan (I don't count the non-Earth ones here).

Batman - Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Azrael, Red Robin, Robin, Batwoman, Batgirl, Spoiler, and I'm sure there's a couple more I'm missing.

Green Arrow: Oliver Queen, Connor Hawke, Arsenal, Speedy, Arrowette (sorta counts?)

Oh, and if you think this is just a DC thing...you're wrong, because Marvel is jumping on this bandwagon like it's going on out of style.

Captain America - Steve Rogers, Bucky, Patriot, Nomad, USAgent (sorta counts if you ask me) and I could make a case for Jack Flag

Iron Man - Iron Man, Rescue, War Machine

Hulk - Red Hulk, Green Hulk, the three She-Hulks, A-bomb, the other two Hulk kids...

Wolverine - Logan, Daken, X-23

Spider-Man - Peter Parker, Venom, Anti-Venom, Spider-Girl/Arana, Spider-Woman, Arachne/Julia Carpenter

Patient Zero

While the SHAZAM Marvel Family are certainly the first "family" of supercharacters, I don't count them as part of this particular phase.

No, I think Patient Zero is the 90s "Batfamily" and "Superfamily" of comics where most of these guys (Superboy, Azrael, Nightwing) really started spawning their own separate titles.

Why does it have to go away?

Redundancy, pure and simple - guys like Superman and Batman aren't unique if there are 9 other people in the same universe who can do almost the same thing.

Angles for Redemption of the Device:


OK, I admit that the Kon-El/Conner Kent clone Superboy is a guilty pleasure of mine, but that said? The best thing to do is to phase out a lot of these unnecessary variants or at least start making larger distinctions and differences - and keeping them apart from each other wouldn't hurt either.

A recruitment poster for "Batman Inc"

Something's...not quite right, is it?

Gamer Post On!

What if we lived in a comic book universe? Part 78

Your Moment of Funny

Words Fail

Pick the best...Poster Macro?

Alright people, I'm going to need your help on this one - I want your opinion as to how to prioritize my poster-making macros.

Most of you already know that my default has been DIY.DISPAIR.COM. However, recent changes means that they no longer scale down long titles, so now "GUNSLINGER WALK" is too long a title to use even in landscape for most font choices. These others though? I find the image quality and size too small for my tastes, and not nearly as versatile when it comes to cropping the images. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Sick Week Day 5

Sick Week Day 4

Sick Week Day 3

I think we can all agree that Marvel Adventures: Avengers was awesome, no?

Sick Week Day 2

Sick Week Day 1

Sick this week - so will just be putting up random posters until I'm better.

Your Moment of Funny

Pick the Best Caption

Dammit, what's wrong with me that it's been this long since I put some Kirby stuff up here?

Yeesh.