DC Hot topics

[Nestlé]

Well, it doesn't explain him being Nightwing.

But thanks for the tip maximal, I'll wiki it.

Cool Danial, can you tell us more about... What ever the heck it is?

[AdyCarter]

Fudge I meant #50

whatever the next one to come out is, stupid backwards numbering, and I by explain I mean more "talks about the fact he was nightwing for a bit then back to the red hood"

[Reideen1313]

Fudge I meant #50

whatever the next one to come out is, stupid backwards numbering, and I by explain I mean more "talks about the fact he was nightwing for a bit then back to the red hood"

Yep. IMO, the arc wasn't very good. As compared to other arcs in Nightwing's history, this one was pretty low on the must read scale.

Personally, most of the OYL stuff was great in concept, but really lost me as a reader after about 4 issues in. Even Green Arrow - who I've collected pretty religiously sine Grell was on the title way back when. Poor planning, poor writing, poor execution all = loss of readers. We'll see if DC can continue with the momentum they've gained with the end of 52 and WWIII. Initial reviews of Countdown are less than appreciative.

[Nestlé]

Damn you Ady and your time traveling!!

[lastmaximal]

these Carter boys sure get around.

[Danial]

Cool Danial, can you tell us more about... What ever the heck it is?

In Pre-Crisis history, there were a couple different futures that dealt with a post apocalyptic world. It was never specified what happened, but a great disaster took place. There were hints that the disaster happened on different fronts. They talked about some sort of war that might have taken place, probably nuclear in nature. There was also mention that nature had gone haywire also. After the disaster, the earth became very different. Groups of intelligent dogs, gorillas, tigers, and other animal species ruled the world now. There were also some robot cities that continued to flourish. Most humans however were basically de-evolved, like in Planet of the Apes. This future earth became known as Earth A.D. (After Disaster).

Kamandi is probably the most known character from this earth. He was one of the last intelligent humans left since he escaped the disaster by living out the first half of his life in an underground shelter called Command D, which is where he gets his name from. Kamandi is also the grandson of Buddy Blank, the original OMAC. An interesting thing to note is that there was also an alternate future where the disaster never happened and the boy who grew up to become Kamandi instead grew up to become a space hero named Tommy Tomorrow.

The Atomic Knights are another small group that survived the disaster. They use giant mutated dalmations like horses and protect what's left of humanity, in order to rebuild someday. They are kind of like a post-apocalyptic Knights of the Round Table.

What I find really interesting is that if you look at what DC is doing now, they are starting to seed in things like this. The Atomic Knights appeared in Bludhaven to protect the people after Chemo destroyed it. After what was left of Bludhaven was destroyed by Captain Atom, they retreated into a secret underground bunker called Command D.

There was also an ad for Countdown which showed the DC characters in front of a destroyed Statue of Liberty. This is very similar to the cover of Kamandi's first book.

Last, if you look at the ads for Countdown. One of them has Darkseid with the words "Unto Man Shall Come... A Great Disaster.)

Pretty interesting stuff.

[Cappy]

Personally, most of the OYL stuff was great in concept, but really lost me as a reader after about 4 issues in. Even Green Arrow - who I've collected pretty religiously sine Grell was on the title way back when. Poor planning, poor writing, poor execution all = loss of readers. We'll see if DC can continue with the momentum they've gained with the end of 52 and WWIII. Initial reviews of Countdown are less than appreciative.

Yeah, they need to stop shaking up the universe and settle down to storytelling, now. It'll be, what, three years of universe makeover by the time they're done? And confusing makeover stuff at that. Interest is bound to wane. Come on, DC, show us the new universe, let us play in it, don't just tell us an overview!

[boonimusprime]

Yeah, they need to stop shaking up the universe and settle down to storytelling, now. It'll be, what, three years of universe makeover by the time they're done? And confusing makeover stuff at that. Interest is bound to wane. Come on, DC, show us the new universe, let us play in it, don't just tell us an overview!

I don't think we will have another "shake-up" on the scale of Infinite Crisis. The writers have this great fantastic playground to use, and with Paul Dini as head writer I don't think we will be disappointed.

It's funny how one can look back on these events. I just started re-reading the works leading up to Infinite Crisis, starting with Day of Vengence. I recall not being incredibly impressed, but now after all that has happened, I have developed a renewed appreciation for the story. For me, it was exciting because this is the first major comics event I had witnessed first hand, whereas I only read Crisis on Infinite Earths years after it was first published.

[you_will_forget]

Yeah, I've been a little less than impressed with most of the OYL stuff. I'm reading in trades, so I'm a little behind, but the only good one I've read so far has been Teen Titans (for the record, I'm not counting newer books like Blue Beetle, Green Lantern, Checkmate, Shadowpact and a few others - which are all great). JSoA and JLoA both look to be pretty good, and I was a huge fan of Geoff Johns' JSA, so that comes as no surprise. But so far the Flash trade was rubbish, the Batman stuff was sub-par at best and Superman was just bleaurgh. That's a real word. Aquaman's been interesting, but he's almost a new character to me as I only know his background from the Superman TAS/JLU version.

We seem to be getting a settling down now, with the sensational but not-that-good writers being dropped from titles to replace them with, y'know, people who can write comics. I really can't wait for Gail Simone to start writing Wonder Woman later this year.

As for Countdown, hmmm. My LCS won't have sorted the comics until tomorrow, so I haven't read #50 yet, but why is Duela now a villain and Red Hood a hero? Isn't he a wanted murderer? I've seen the character in four places now (Batman: Under the Hood 1 and 2, Teen Titans: {can't remember the name of the trade}, Nightwing; Brothers in Arms and now Countdown 51) and each time he's been a completely different character. Is this a Marvel-esque lack of editorial control or is something happening with the character to explain his multiple personalities?

That's my rant done for the minute - off to lunch!

Jo

[Nestlé]

Jason Todd is Red Hood right now.

Several people have carried the name in the past (Including the Joker!)

[you_will_forget]

Ugh. Currently struggling through Hawkgirl: the Maw.

Big Hawks fan, but don't like Chaykin's art, so I was prepared for that. However, I'm really struggling with the writing. It's just really bad. There's no real character to any of them, and the story seems to skip from panel to panel, almost like a poorly recorded film.

Also, who is Khimaera (not at home, so I'm pretty sure that's spelt wrong)? She appears to be an established character, but not one I've ever heard of. Is this just an OYL thing or was she introduced in part of the story that hasn't been collected in trade? Help me please *flutters eyelashes*

Sorry for the rant, but I was really looking forward to reading this. Oh well.

Jo

[Templar]

Well, it doesn't explain him being Nightwing.

I may be able to help here... Nightwing's one of my all time favorite characters, so i've been following him for years...

The biggest problem with all the Jason Todd/Nightwing shenanigans... is that Dick Grayson was supposed to DIE during Infinite Crisis.

They actually decided... fairly last minute... that due to the legal uncertainty surrounding DC's use of "Superboy" that they should just kill Connor and not have a "superboy" any longer (and since they lost, we probably won't have a "Superboy" ever again)... problem solved... This is why at the end of Infinite Crisis, it's Dick and Connor you see going off to face Alexander Luthor.

(this is also a sub-plot in both Countdown and elsewhere in the DCU... Dick Grayson was supposed to buy the farm, and the Monitors don't immediately know why he lived)

So this left the writter of Nightwing's new "One year later" arc in a terrible spot... See... After the Crisis, "Nightwing" was going to be Jason Todd... 'cause Dick would be dead. But now that Dick's survived... and the writer has already *FINISHED* a huge chunk of his story well in advance of publication... this created a huge problem. Two Nightwings.

Honestly, while that story arc wasn't very good... i really have to hand it to Bruce Jones for trying to rescue the plot now that he was thrown such a ringer at the zero-hour (heh, uh... no pun intended there).

They fought... Dick won... Jason left and stopped using the name and stopped using the costume. Then the book went to Marv Wolfman (infamous Teen Titans writer)... and became covered in awesomesauce once again.

[Templar]

Ugh. Currently struggling through Hawkgirl: the Maw.

Big Hawks fan, but don't like Chaykin's art, so I was prepared for that. However, I'm really struggling with the writing. It's just really bad. There's no real character to any of them, and the story seems to skip from panel to panel, almost like a poorly recorded film.

Also, who is Khimaera (not at home, so I'm pretty sure that's spelt wrong)? She appears to be an established character, but not one I've ever heard of. Is this just an OYL thing or was she introduced in part of the story that hasn't been collected in trade? Help me please *flutters eyelashes*

Sorry for the rant, but I was really looking forward to reading this. Oh well.

Jo

so far as i know, Khimaera is indeed a new character introduced in Hawkgirl's OYL.

Yeah... i had to drop Hawkgirl too, what really bums me though is that i freakin LOVE Walt Simonson... his old run on Thor for Marvel was *definitive* (So much love for Beta Ray Bill! zomg!!1). But Hawkgirl was not... good...

i mean... seriously? a giant tattooed woman, who worships an over-sized glowing/talking vagina, who's primary method of attack is... apparently... to tear Hawkgirl's shirt off and force her to fight in her (ridiculously lacy and non-supportive looking) bra?

... what?

I'm not sure if it's a blessing or not... but Hawkgirl's been canceled with issue 66

[Nestlé]

I've read about the decision to kill Superboy instead of Nightwing, but I hadn't heard about any "legal issues." Can you go more in depth on the Tmeplar?

[you_will_forget]

I'm not sure if it's a blessing or not... but Hawkgirl's been canceled with issue 66

That's sad really. I loved the first three trades, and, even though I was annoyed that the intervening issues weren't collected, I liked Golden Eagle as well.

I hope that losing the title will make way for a new Hawkman (or Hawk family style). History has not been kind to the Hawks. At least when JSA finally starts coming out in trades we'll have a little Hawkman.

If only they'd scale back a little on Batman titles and put some work into the others. What with Green Arrow getting cancelled (and no, a Year One story doesn't do anything for me) and

Batman taking over the Outsiders

(it's in DC's August previews, but I thought I'd spoiler it just in case), I'm rapidly losing interest.

I just ain't a big character guy.

Jo

[Templar]

I've read about the decision to kill Superboy instead of Nightwing, but I hadn't heard about any "legal issues." Can you go more in depth on the Tmeplar?

The short version is that Jerry Siegel pitched the idea of a "young superman" to DC prior to going off to WW2, which they rejected... but while he was off fighting the war, DC had published "superboy" anyway using ideas directly from his original pitch. In 2004 a federal judge awarded the Siegel estate the right to revoke their copyright assignment of "Superboy"... which they apparently have now done. (additionally the name of the current Legion of Superheroes cartoon, was supposed to be "Superboy and the Legion"... just like the original comic books. but had to be changed) Warner Bros. has challenged the Siegel's claim to the character and name "superboy" pretty much from the get-go.

Dan Didio insists that killing Kon-el off in Infinite Crisis was not due to the legal issue... and that if they'd really wanted they could have just changed the name of the character... but that sounds pretty fishy to me... seriously, what else would you call a young teen-of-steel? Superlad? Superteen? totallynotsuperboynoreallyweswear!?

You'll also notice that no where in 52... was Conner outright referred to as "superboy". Always kinda bothered me that suddenly the public knew his real name a'la "the Cult of Kon-el".

[Nestlé]

Hmmmm... Ineteresting stuff.

But it is common knowledge Superman's real name is Kal-el.