The "Official" Superhero & Comic Book Thread!!!

[wolfsfang]

Marvel trademarked the name. Marvel is very jerkfaced when it comes to copyright, I mean they sued the WWF for Hulk Hogan. In fact Marvel's Captain Marvel was pretty much just made so they could trademark the name and prevent DC from using the name on a comic cover.

Ah now that makes sense. "We can't use the name because it has been trademarked by another company" is a whole lot better than "We decided to call him Shazam because that is what a lot of people already call him"

[Mr. Shokoti]

I guess Billy Batson is no longer a little kid...

[MegaGearMax]

Captain Marvel is getting a new costume (please let Jim Lee have nothing to do with it; he's a good artist but awful with costume designs) and will now be called Shazam from now on. I don't know how many more dumb moves I can take from them.

Until Superman and Batman go on vacation and hunt dinosaurs in Skartaris?

Jim Lee created those iconic 90's X-Men costumes, that everyone and their mother tried to emulate--from the Avengers to Youngblood. Although I don't see the point in redesigning the DC heroes when their old costumes worked, I can see why they would conceivably get him. Some of the other legendary costume designers like Jack Kirby or Dave Cockrum are no longer with us.

I can also see why DC is calling Captain Marvel "Shazam" -- lots of casual people know Captain Marvel as Shazam.

[BCI Guy]

Jim Lee created those iconic 90's X-Men costumes, that everyone and their mother tried to emulate--from the Avengers to Youngblood.

All all of his new designs still look like they were designed in the 90s...

[guitargod694]

All all of his new designs still look like they were designed in the 90s...

True story.

And yeah, from a fan perspective renaming Captain Marvel to Shazam doesn't feel right,
but I understand why DC would want to do it. And if they're going to, this is probably the right time for it.

Does no one else want to ***** about the Watchmen prequels with me?
I really wish they'd leave that alone. But I dunno, maybe some good books will come of it?

[BCI Guy]

Does no one else want to ***** about the Watchmen prequels with me?
I really wish they'd leave that alone. But I dunno, maybe some good books will come of it?

We've been talking about them here:

http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/...ls-and-sequels

[guitargod694]

We've been talking about them here:

http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/...ls-and-sequels

Ah, thanks... I'll take my whining there and we can continue to talk about DC's other missteps in this thread.

[Mr. Shokoti]

Does no one else want to ***** about the Watchmen prequels with me?
I really wish they'd leave that alone. But I dunno, maybe some good books will come of it?

To be honest, as much as I feel Watchmen is pefect, I'm indifferent about the whole thing. First of all, Alan Moore has lost some brownie points with me over the years due to some less than stellar comics and his increasingly odd & anti-social behavior(he's always had it but he's gotten even worse). Secondly, what he did with Swamp Thing totally changed Len Wein & Bernie Wrightson's creation. While I liked it, I don't feel his creations should be untouchable either. Granted, his maxi-series was meant to be finite, but, as a prequel, I feel there's less a chance of "ruining" his work then there would be with a sequel.

I'm not excited about it(I'm not a fan of Azzarello & JMS is hit & miss with me), but I might flip through them. The one thing that's happened at DC since Paul Levitz stepped down is that everything that Didio has been chomping at the bit for over the years is now happening; DC reboot, DC characters stuck at Vertigo came back, Watchmen 2. I just hope he doesn't start reconsidering his desire to kill off Nightwing again.



As a huge Archie fan, I found this funny...







John Severin (December 26, 1921 – February 12, 2012)

I'm so sad about Mr. Severin passing away. He was one of the best comic artists working(still putting out great work in his nineties). He not only started Mad Magazine with 4 other artists, he kept Cracked Magazine going long after all of the other humor magazines died off. I will miss him immensely and am proud to share a birthdate with him.



This was my first issue of Cracked Magazine and my introduction to Mr. Severin's wonderful work...

[BCI Guy]

As a huge Archie fan, I found this funny...

DUDE! He's totally standing on Man-Thing's forehead on that first page!

[Mr. Shokoti]

DUDE! He's totally standing on Man-Thing's forehead on that first page!

I didn't notice that, but it does look like it. I don't know whether it was intentional or not. Considering it was from a magazine published by DC, it's either a coincidence or the artist's editors didn't notice it either.

[BCI Guy]

I didn't notice that, but it does look like it. I don't know whether it was intentional or not. Considering it was from a magazine published by DC, it's either a coincidence or the artist's editors didn't notice it either.

I'm sure it was coincidence, but it was all I could see from the moment the page popped up.

[Mr. Shokoti]

Am I the only one who's going to check this out next month?





Sure, Archie already has a number of superheroes collecting dust & I've grown weary of Stan Lee putting his name on more things than Gene Simmons but...wait a second...bad hair, healthy ego, puts his name on anything for a payday, legally changed his Jewish birthname to something more Anglo sounding, appeared in Archie Comics this year...they might be the same guy.

Anyways, in spite of that, this book looks like a Marvel Comic from my youth. It will be nice to read a superhero comic that probably won't be full of gore and doom & gloom like the "big 2" are so fond of these days.

[Wonderboy_JMB]

I respect Stan Lee's accomplishments, but after the "Just Imagine" books he did for DC, I am convinced he needed to stay retired and never write another thing. That weird reality show he did, didn't help matters.

[Mr. Shokoti]

A friend of mine emailed this to me...



I might actually buy a Hasbro toy. I'm not a fan of most of their properties & really have no love for the way they treat them, but it's hard not to like Mr. Potato Head. Mix him with the DCU and I'm right on board. I especially love that it's Superman's classic costume & not one of the 2 from the New 52 DCU.




I wonder if this affects Mattel's relationship with DC?

HERE'S CAPTAIN MARVEL...errr...SHAZAM!!!

[Wonderboy_JMB]

I can't tell from the pic... is he black?

[wolfsfang]

Oh great another angry superhero

[wyldman11]

Oh great another angry superhero

Another reinvention of a bright and happy character into a dark and angry character because obviously we need more of that.

[wolfsfang]

I have said it before (mainly in the chat) but unless the comic was always intended to be dark and gritty I like my superhero comics to be kind of light hearted with decent heroes who don't brood all the damn time and perhaps even crack a witty one liner or two and who face off against an equally colorful villain who has some strange new plan to take over the world (or New York) by sinking buildings or turning ppl into crab men or something really stupid that can only work in comics. The hero defeats them in the end and then swings / flies / walks off to fight more crime

I am sick of this incessant need that comic companies have to turn bright and cheerful superheroes into dark characters who inflict serious injuries on villains, act all moody and angsty and generally act NOTHING like the character we know and love.

Oh and I still hate and detest marvel for killing Ultimate Spider-Man and replacing him with that god awful Spider-Man wannabe (no I still haven't got over that)

[wyldman11]

I don't mind a reinvention. The problem is there whole reason behind it is based on, some success with characters who are that way. Then when they change the character and it fails they are like people just don't like the character, the fact we have been phoning in the writing has absolutely nothing to do with it of course.

[wolfsfang]

I guess it depends on how much of a reinvention it is. Ultimate Spider-Man worked for me because it was a new version of Spidey but also kept his personality recognisable just with a few new twists like him starting work at the bugle as its web designer instead of a freelance photographer.

I don't like it when they reinvent a character to be pretty much the opposite of what we know them to be

[MegaGearMax]

The 2010's are the new 1990's.

The mandarin collar is the new leg belt and shoulder pads.

[Mr. Shokoti]

I expected more of Geoff Johns & Gary Frank. I've always felt Johns had a great feel for the characters of the DCU. This looks like Static with a hood. I feel this may be one of the worst *******izations of a character through an update I've ever seen(at least based on one picture & what Johns has said about his interpretation of Captain Marvel). Depending on the storyline, it might be right up their with turning Hawkeye into a blood thirsty ninja.

While there are still some good books in it, I'm starting to think that the New 52 DCU is not for me. Or at least not the "me" of 2012. It might have been for the me of 1992. I may be wrong, but I feel taking what makes the DCU unique(heroes who have strong moral codes, bright colorful costumes, an optimistic universe, family friendly) and turning it into a mixture of 90's Marvel & JoeyQ's Marvel is leading them to failure. Once the freshness of the New 52 has worn off and people stop reading them and/or go back to other companies, what's left? I think DC might have already scared off a lot of the "old school" readers(people in their 40's & up) like JoeyQ did. Unfortunately, DC was dealing with a smaller number than Marvel was to begin with.

**A word right out of the dictionary is censored?

[MegaGearMax]

Ugh...is it me, or are comics books trying their damndest not to be comic books? It's like the WWE being afraid of being called "wrestling". First the New 52 revamped Power Girl gets rid of all of the elements that made her distinctive and now Carol Danvers is generic too. Oh, well...I think this costume will pass too.



RIP, Classic Ms. Marvel Costume. I like this costume because Carol looked superhero-like. I was really hoping in her last series that she was going to become that number one hero that she was in House of M (or at least become Marvel's Number #1 Super Female).




If they are going that conservative and functional, Carol might as well have gone back to her armored and geared up Warbird duds.

[wolfsfang]

That's Carol Danvers?

Funny it looks more like a bad redesign of a short haired blonde Wonder Woman to me with those zigzag yellow stripes bordering the red of the shoulders

[BCI Guy]

Yeah that doesn't look at all like a Miracleman rip off...