RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I'm surprised that there's no thread for this yet.
Backing away from their previous promise, DC is now deciding to make one of their 'reboot' heroes gay, apparently when he was previously straight.
Current odds on favourite is the Nu Alan Scott (Green Lantern). If true this bothers me for 3 reasons.
- They make a big press release, then use a golden age character that's being rebooted, the Pre-boot character was happlily married for years, and has children. (see below)
- In the Pre-boot universe, Jade (Jenny Lynn Hayden) is his daughter. She's also one of my favourite non-Titan heroes.
- Likewise in the Pre-boot, Obsidian is Alan's son, and is gay. So we're erasing (yet another) character who happens to be gay, to get a press release for a slightly less obscure character.
Also, why?
Now if I wanted to make a Nu-character 'switch sides' there's an obvious choice.
Superboy.
- He's clearly not Conner Kent, so it won't infuriate anyone (like me) who enjoyed the pre-boot version.
- Conner's love interest (Cassie Sandmark/Wondergirl) was also mauled by the reboot so there's no emotional bond there.
- Being an artifically aged clone, it would be an interesting story thread for him to 'explore' human sexuality, especially with post-boot Cassie on the team, as well as Bunker.
- It doesn't erase characters in the process.
As to Marvel's latest headline grab, I wrote this elsewhere.
Whether it will ‘get there’ or not is moot to the complaint that caught my eye, which is ‘why now?’
I read the Alpha mini-to-a-series-to-a-truncated-mini and that was the first I’d heard of Kyle. Does he have any backstory? Was he created because someone in editorial went “Crap, we have Jean-Paul gay and not dating, we can’t have that!” To use another couple, Rictor and Shatterstar are established characters, who have history and backgrounds. Neither was created so the other would be ‘dating someone.’
I don’t mind characters having relationships. Even with ‘background characters’ (Lee Forrester, I’m looking at you). That’s realistic, that not everyone in tights has a love who also wears spandex. Heck, Jean-Paul’s former teammate Snowbird had a perfectly normal mortal husband and son, and Heather wasn’t a superhero until *after* James died. (More on that below)
Even if you don’t agree with SSM (I prefer domestic partnerships) there are a lot of subplots that come from a dating a hero when you’re mortal.
Jean Paul’s history also brings others.
But it looks like Marvel is going “We’re hip and cool!” rather than exploring the story potential.
One thing I enjoyed about the Alphans was the sense of family. James and Heather, Walter and Jean Marie, Madison and Lil, Madison basically being a foster dad to Kara. Kara adopting Laura and Goblyn like sisters. In that universe, Jean Paul settling down doesn’t bother me, political overtones aside. This just feels forced, a marriage for headlines, rather than the growth of the characters.
The Alan Scott thing would bother me, but at this point it's pure speculation. It wouldn't make much sense considering Obsidian, as you have said.
Your Superboy examples I can agree with. I never liked his character pre-reboot regardless, so it wouldn't change any feelings toward the character.
Marvel on the other hand, I couldn't care less. Since the "Civil War" storyline, they have been pretty much crap for me. I only read daredevil at the moment and that will likely change as soon as I get to my comic shop for this week's books. Marvel continues to butcher their characters every month and the "House of Ideas" hasn't had a good idea for a decade or so. YMMV.
I don't see how Northstar getting married is a headline grabber. He hs to settle down sometime. And he's been gay since I was a kid.
My take on it is this.
Leave the established superhero community alone. I don't think anyone is ready for a gay batman or superman.
D.C. should take a page outta marvels book and develop NEW heroes.
I thought the idea behind Wiccan and Hulking was great and I enjoyed them as characters. Turning northstar gay and then having to scramble so he wouldn't be the lone gay in a sea of hard bodied spandex clad men seemed forced and unneeded.
As much as I love DC the only time I can remember reading about homosexuals were in the Wonder Woman series when one of the amazons was asked about the sex life on the island and said matter of factly that as a sisterhood they were very close "after all 3000 years is a long time"
and then the brother of Diana's agent was gay.
The opening in a issue of the titans where the villain saback was using the deadly sin of lust on an all male prison population including the guards was amusing.
The reason I use these examples is to show that normal everyday problems or social issues can be addressed in ways that don't upend the entire universe. As much as I would love to see a more inclusive mindset for the comic community just say no to batman as a rainbow costumed crime fighter.
I don't see how Northstar getting married is a headline grabber. He hs to settle down sometime. And he's been gay since I was a kid.
Ditto.
Plus, Northstar (heck Alpha Flight for that matter) has always been a B-grade character, maybe even a C. Even when Alpha Flight had their own book for abit, other members were way more interesting (Vindicator, Puck, Marina). Come to think about it, the siblings were my least favorites in that book. TBH, Aurora's mental state made her a hair more interesting than Northstar.|
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I don't see how Northstar getting married is a headline grabber. He hs to settle down sometime. And he's been gay since I was a kid.
Oh, IIRC he was always meant to be gay, just 'ambigiously so' in the 80's. That said, there are a lot of clear signs. Perhaps my favourite was Aurora* wanting to design a costume for Madison Jeffreies** and replying to Northstar's cynicism "Since when have you complained about well dressed men?"
IIRC, Northstar was supposed to have died of AIDS in issue 50, but Marvel chickened out. (I think PAD said words to the effect of "Yes, instead of killing him from AIDS you said he was 'half fairy'. MUCH better.")
And it apparently is a headline grabber since they've been touting it. My complaint is more 'who the hell is Kyle' and 'why now?'
Like I said above, the reprecussions of the act are rife with story material, but only if someone pays attention to the Flight's history.***
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- Mind controled into making Box-bots
- Mis-representing his powers from an 'ability to rebuild and control machines' to 'I can talk to machines'.
- Forgetting he can build Box out of just about any device (from USAF spare parts to a train car) and he phases into the armor, not wears it.
- Making him conviently useless whenever a cybernetic foe attacks.
- Deciding to make him fall in love with a machine, apparently because he can talk to them.
Edit: Alpha Flight was my first 'super hero' comic, so I'm a bit passionate about my Alphans.
I was on the fence about Northstar dying. It would have been an interesting move, but I would have missed the arrogant twerp. I loved his storyline with omerta back in x men (they had no problem killing *him* off, btw), and he was there for anole when he needed help, which helped both characters development.
And, unfortunately, box was overpowered and a possible Gary (*sigh*) stu. It doesn't make what happened to his character over the years okay though.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I was on the fence about Northstar dying. It would have been an interesting move, but I would have missed the arrogant twerp. I loved his storyline with omerta back in x men (they had no problem killing *him* off, btw), and he was there for anole when he needed help, which helped both characters development.
And, unfortunately, box was overpowered and a possible Gary (*sigh*) stu. It doesn't make what happened to his character over the years okay though.
Like he'd have stayed dead. *laugh* I do wonder what 14-16 year old me would have thought about a favourite dying back then.
Jefferies-as-Box was powerful, heck, Jefferies-as-Jefferies should be powerful. I liked him as a character though. His relationships with Lil and Kara (and Roger) are what 'sold' me as a fan. (I wasn't keen on the Heather/Madison pairing though)
Again, going back to his original powerset, he would have been fine. Sure he could take out Omega with a VW bug, but that's because his power was moving it, he didn't turn the bug into an autobot, it was a puppet. Roger Bochs was the mastermind behind Box*, turning Delphine Courtney into the Vindicator Battlesuit etc. IF they'd limited him to designs he understood (Box, Vindicator) and the ability to control/assemble/disassemble machines, he'd be fine.
Back to the Wedding. If the cover art I'm seeing is right, I see Jean Marie as his best woman/bridesmaid.** Which, unless it's Auora and Jean Marie is VERY angry or there's a panel about her being there as a supporting sister and not accepting it, is going to be a waste.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Avenger EMH vs Young Justice is a tough call. Ultimate Spiderman vs Young Justice? No contest YJ by a mile.
@GM Elton I'm curious how much of AvX will carry over into the 'post' world. I mean Thor/Colossus/Magic destroyed the pyramids, there's been massive changes, etc etc.
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I think their focus is on movies right now, where they're kind of beating the snot out of DC. (OTOH, I think DC has it all over Marvel on the TV cartoon front.)Marvel's had more movies, but the Batman series has done very well for DC.
No question, but other than that they haven't done much. The last Superman movie was OK, but it was six years ago. Green Lantern looked like someone had drawn all the wrong lessons from the success of Iron Man; OK, it earned out and beat estimated production by about $20M (~10%), but Iron Man (e.g.) had a worldwide gross that was over four times production cost.
A little Wikipedia searching for other movies based on DC titles led me here, and I have to say that most of the recent ones except for the Dark Knight movies are IMHO neither good nor popular. OTOH, Marvel has three different outfits licensing their various properties, and all three have turned out some pretty good (and very popular) films. Well, there were a couple of dogs in the X-Men franchise, but nobody's perfect.
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Avenger EMH vs Young Justice is a tough call. Ultimate Spiderman vs Young Justice? No contest YJ by a mile.
@GM Elton I'm curious how much of AvX will carry over into the 'post' world. I mean Thor/Colossus/Magic destroyed the pyramids, there's been massive changes, etc etc.
I have no idea.
it has been announced that the original Silver Age X-Men (yes that list includes Jean Grey) will come from the past and STAY!