DC Comics General

Is the Superfriends comic actually any good? I've actually been interested in checking them out, and from what I've heard, they're at least better than the show. But still... it's Superfriends.

edited 5th Jul '14 9:44:49 AM by kkhohoho

Other than the novelty factor of seeing the show going into places where it never could go to in TV (that is, those of an average seventies comicbook), I'd say it's So Okay, It's Average.

It has its good points—the comics version of Superfriends is much more coherent and logical than the cartoon—but that's not saying much. There are some nice touches, like one donor to a heart charity being "Anthony Stark of New York", and the proto-Global Guardians characters who gave some much needed ethnic diversity to DC Comics. On the other hand, there was the whole having to shoehorn in Marvin, Wendy and Wonderdog/Jan, Zayna & Gleek, so they would actually be useful in a given plotline.

This was, after all, a comic book for children. Yes, even with the mass murder.

You might want to see if you can get the Showcase volume through your library for reading purposes.

There was also a more recent Super Friends comic book, which is easily spotted by the chunky character designs. (It was based on a short-lived toy line.) It dropped Robin and subbed in Wally West and John Stewart—the first couple of issues were subpar, but it quickly found its feet, and the heroes acted more like "themselves" than the then current mainstream DC comic book versions did.

So in a crossover fanfic, I decided to see if I could fix the issues facing New 52 villain Harvest.

A few of the things I did;

• Show him preparing. While his preparations don't always work, it actually shows the work and that he's not saving face.
• His motivation is given very early on - he's with the Big Bad's Villain Team-Up because 1) he wants his son brought back to life and 2) he wants to win a war in the future by getting rid of people who will either become ancestors to his enemies, or become his enemies. He's just went a bit crazy because of the methods involved.
• He has a mental power that lets him make people perceive hostile intentions and words from one another, explaining why people would fight each other in his Games - they think the other guy is getting ready to rip them apart. "The rest of my game is simple psychology."
• Plans are much smaller scale, and involve far less implausible "I planned for this" word use.
• We actually see early why he's a threat, and not in a God-Mode Sue / Villain Sue way.
• We see why his Ravagers are with him - he's got some internal bomb collars in them. Misbehave or strike out? You go boom.
• The problem with his Villain with Good Publicity Plan is addressed - its normal where and when he comes from to look...the way he does.

Does this sound like it would work?

edited 5th Jul '14 7:37:14 PM by NickTheSwing

I remember the 70's Super Friends comics. The funny thing is that they were supposed to be in continuity- in a "let's-not-openly-admit-it" way. For example, when Black Canary overexerted herself in one JLA story, this was mentioned when she guest-starred in the series. The reverse almost never happened though, the only major exception being when Superman teamed up with the Global Guardians in DC Comics Presents; this was clearly intended as a way to salvage the international heroes of SF before the comic was cancelled. Too bad they also didn't save The Elementals (another hero group introduced in the series, and more sophisticated than the usual Fantastic Four rip-offs.)

Another interesting fact about the Superfriends comic is that they also had occasional featurettes starring other characters! Both the Israeli hero The Seraph and the Irish hero Jack Ó Lantern had several adventures, and so did The Wondertwins, who even went to school under secret identities.

i only remember the global guardians as the complete joke they were in giffens jli

Everyone in the Giffens League was treated as a joke, that was his approach. But trust me, the GG tales in Super Friends were surprisingly good- there was a Seraph story based on the historical Masada Massacre, for example. Not the kind of stuff you'd expect to find in a kids'comic, eh? ;)

In another forum elsewhere, as well here a few times, i have voiced my fear that Marvel comics has begun to outdo DC comics in terms of TV and movies. After putting more thought into it, i now realize that this fear stems from Marvel being a bit more straightforward with their stories than DC in recent years. Granted, Marvel does have a certain cynical edge to it, that i find overly harsh, but in recent days, their shows and movies have been pretty straightforward with their action and fight scenes. Also, Marvel seems to handle the topics of foreign Monarchies and Alien civilizations better.

DC tries to use said topics, but most of the time, it feels like they're being overshadowed by something else. DC rarely delves into the topic of Foreign monarchies as deep as Marvel (Marvel has Latveria, the Vampire ruled land of Transylvania, Wakanda and more. The most DC has ever used is Themyscera, Kasnia and Atlantis), and when it does delve into the topic of alien civilizations, it's usually pushed into the background in favor of something else. For example: the Apocalypse Invasions of "Superman TAS" were overshadowed by the plot-lines involving Dan Turpin and Rogue Superman, the Thanagarian invasion of JL was overshadowed by the plot about Hawkgirl's betrayal. Even with Teen Titans this is the case, whenever the team encounters and alien threat, it's usual pushed into the background in favor of Starfire's drama with her sister or Robin. It's kind of distracting, to be perfectly honest.

Finally, my biggest gripe in recent days is that it feels like DC isn't giving their Greek mythological figure, Wonder Woman, as much emphasis in terms of background as Marvel is with their Norse Mythology figure, Thor. In Thor's case, his background, along with related stories, is pretty straightforward: it sticks to the whole "armies, heroic battles and Norse pantheon" thing. But with Wonder Woman, the feminist messages and references to sexism kind of distract from the Greek Mythology. I can't even say that Marvel doesn't even touch Greek mythology, because it does. I can't even say that DC has Atlantis and Arthurian legends on its side, Marvel has them too.

From what I'm getting here, it seems like you prefer straight action over character development and themes, which I can't really agree with. Straight action can be fun, but it's even better with a bit more meat to it, such as character development or themes. Just my two cents.

I'm not really against character development, in fact, i actually do like it in certain instances. But in recent years, certain character development just gives me too much to think about and in my case, that's not a good thing.

srebak is saying DC doesn't use it's mythology as well as Marvel.

He's also saying a lot of other things. He only really brought up Mythology in the last paragraph.

Those "other things" are also mythology, comic mythology.

I guess my real problem stems from me not seeing enough love for DC these days. Marvel just seems to be everywhere these days, especially since it's allied itself with Disney. I've tried to compensate this by comparing Marvel's shows to DC shows that i like, but it's just not working, mainly because of three main reasons: 1.) Like i said, Marvel does things that DC didn't really touch upon 2.) Marvel's frequent overly cynical nature just rubs me the wrong way and 3.) Whenever i think of DC shows, my mind works in the PSA style corniness (the "remember kids" kind of thing), or just plain corniness (the characters winking at the screen), into the scenes, and that's just embarrassing.

What's worse, i'm a budding writer, and whenever i visualize fan fiction action scenes, Marvel is usually the main thought i have. As i've said before, i have nothing against Marvel, but if i had to choose, i'd probably choose DC.

...Still not seeing a problem with that. Well, I can see a problem, but it's a bit complex for me to put into words.

Whenever i think of DC shows, my mind works in the PSA style corniness (the "remember kids" kind of thing), or just plain corniness (the characters winking at the screen), into the scenes, and that's just embarrassing.

This is just plain silly, because these shows haven't been that way in over two decades. Even Teen Titans Go is more like Ren and Stimpy in superhero form than corny childishness. If anything, Marvel's current cartoon lineup, like Avengers Assembled, Agents of SMASH and Ultimate Spider-Man, is far more infantile than anything DC has poured out over the last decade. And yes, I'm even counting Legion of Superheroes and The Batman.

You'd have to give some specific examples of DC's Animation output having PSA/"Knowing is Half the Battle" overtones. Other than that one episode of The Teen Titans (the one with the alien hero-guy who kept referring to Starfire by a racial slur)I can't think of anywhere in their recent output (by which I mean the last 15 years or so) where they've done this.

It's happening!

edited 29th Jul '14 11:30:03 AM by NotGrantMorrison

What's happening, if I may ask?

Something my no hotlinking no external posting self will just have to say aloud

MULTIVERISTY!!!!

The map is crazy cool.

Just a page from Sandman that strikes a cord with a lot of folks. Has anyone ever felt that unwelcome at the comics shop?

Half of the comic book store owners I have met are women, actually.

In Venezuela, that's an incredibly small and niche business, so those who are in it do it in a large part as a labor of love. And many of those are actually primarily manga and anime based, and those forms of entertainment tend to be more appealing to female demographics, so...

The comics store owners I've met have either been very friendly or have ignored the customers entirely unless they were paying for something, in which case they only interacted with them as much as was necessary. I've heard from women, though, who have reported such experiences, though.

So Secret Six is officially a thing that is going to start happening again.

So, I recently finished Crisis On Infinite Earths. Great story, but I can’t wrap my head around the continuity changes.

I understand that the New Earth takes parts of Earth-1 and Earth-2, combining them into a single reality. And I'm also aware that the the various heroes got new origin stories in this New Earth (Year One, The Man of Steel, ect).

But the heroes still remember the events of the Crisis because they participated in it. However, the Crisis happened before New Earth, so wouldn’t that mean that they’re still the Earth-1 versions?

I've also considered that after the Crisis, the New Earth is populated with that reality’s versions of the heroes, but what happened to the Earth-1 heroes, then?

I am so confused. Am I missing something?