The Phantom City

The DC Universe will be experiencing a Final Crisis next year, with a crossover series that appears to be the end of the Crisis on Infinite Earths > Identity Crisis > Infinite Crisis chain. Now, given the fact I was kind of disappointed with the results of Infinite Crisis (aside from 52), what could make me interested in this one?

It’s going to be written by Grant Morrison. Well-played, DC…well-played indeed.

Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but the characters pictured above — from left, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Superman, Hawkman, and Batman — are all close to the original Silver Age Justice League of America. Everyone except Hawkman was in the original lineup, and he was one of the first ones to join. So where’s the Atom, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter? (Okay, so right now Ray Palmer’s Atom and the original Aquaman are indisposed, but I don’t think it’s a good sign for J’onn J’onzz.) Just as long as we don’t get Snapper Carr (”Snap, snap!”).

Looks like Warner Bros. wants another $8.50 from me. Jonah Hex — hard to explain if you don’t already know — may get his own movie soon. I wonder if it will end with him running across his own stuffed body?

While growing up, I was always a big costumed hero fan, reading a lot of Superman, Batman, and the Legion of Super-Heroes. However, I also really liked the “real-world” comics DC was putting out at the time, usually dealing with various modern wars or the American West. Jonah Hex was one of my favorite characters, along with Hans von Hammer (Enemy Ace), largely due to the moral complexity of the stories.

Of course, then he got pushed into the post-apocalyptic future in Hex. Not quite as good, but he did get to see himself dead.

Link courtesy of Bureau 42. Image courtesy of the Grand Comic Books Database.

Just to show I’m a huge nerd, when I saw this news about Seth Adams being the likely starting quarterback for the University of Mississippi, I read it as Teth-Adam. Not too bad, but then I was unreasonably intrigued by the idea of a killer supervillain/hero with the power of seven ancient gods playing in the SEC.

“The line collapses and Dempsey’s getting a free shot at the quarterback…OH…Oh my! Teth-Adam just threw Dempsey’s head to the receiver! The receiver drops it!”

“Well, Brad, normally he’s got great hands, but there’s a limit to the amount of horror you can withstand on the field.”

“Even if he had caught it, there’s a flag on the field, and I have to assume it’s against Ole Miss. Let’s go to Paul Maguire for his view from the sideline while we wait on the call.”

“GUYS, THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN! Dempsey’s arm landed right in front of our cart!”

“The referee has made the call…It’s a personal foul…unnecessary roughness against the Rebels.”

“Bob, it looks like Teth-Adam is going out to dispute the call…Our producers are telling me it’s a good time to cut to a commercial break.”

That all being said, I hope Seth Adams is successful, but how did Ole Miss get to the point of needing to start a transfer from Delta State who never started a game at his old school?

Link courtesy of Every Day Should Be Saturday.

Ah, rugged, deadly, sensitive, pretty, fuzzy. Sounds like someone we all know and love, right, Interested Cat?

No, seriously, I’m talking about me. Can’t you see it? Stop laughing.

Your results:
You are Dr. Doom

Dr. Doom 71% Lex Luthor 66% Apocalypse 63% Magneto 58% The Joker 58% Mr. Freeze 52% Mystique 49% Venom 49% Green Goblin 45% Riddler 44% Kingpin 44% Dark Phoenix 43% Juggernaut 41% Two-Face 37% Poison Ivy 35% Catwoman 24%

Blessed with smarts and power but burdened by vanity.

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz

Seriously, Hawkman, no one wants to see what’s under that mask.

Those things have weirded me out ever since I was a kid. A giant bird is bad enough; a giant bird with an expressionless human-shaped mask is a lot worse. Thanks, DC!

That being said, Showcase Presents: Hawkman, Vol. 1, is out, featuring the Silver Age Hawkman, Katar Hol. While I like the Golden Age Carter Hall version better, you can’t go wrong with a hero whose automatic response to danger is to pick up a mace and start whaling on it. Twenty-foot-tall dinosaur attacking? Mace. White-collar criminal absconding with the pension funds? Mace. Roaches? Turn on the light, watch them scatter, and then it’s mace time.

Update: Seven Hells: “I DON’T HESITATE!”

…you probably don’t really want to know.

Courtesy of What Were They Thinking?

…hit it with a tiger.

Courtesy of The Absorbascon.

Yes, it has come to this. I have reached the conclusion that Marvel’s last two big events — House of M and Civil War — have actually served their purpose, despite less-than-stellar plotting and shaky characterizations. Their purpose was to get me excited about this summer’s event, World War Hulk, by making me hate the Marvel Universe so much I’ll enjoy seeing Hulk taking his revenge on it.

I also find it interesting that after the eight-issue House of M, and the delays in shipping the seven-issue Civil War, World War Hulk is only set for five issues. C’mon, there’s more smashing to do than that. Hulk Smash Earth-616!!!

See the trailer.

(I wonder if they’re taking a lesson from DC Comics, where they worked out a lot of their character mistakes by have Superboy punch them?)

This is one of those things that is unlikely to appear on television vignettes for Black History Month, but it’s interesting nonetheless: Dell Comics published the first comic book series featuring an African-American hero. Lobo had a fairly usual Western backstory, being accused of a murder he didn’t commit, but in 1965 he broke new ground. Unfortunately, due to retailers returning the comic bundles unopened, Lobo only lasted for two issues. They’re hard to find now, but I picked up issue #1 a while back, and I’m still looking for the second one.

Cover image courtesy of Comics.org.