[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Kelly Thompson
Art: Leonardo Romero
Colors: Jordie Bellaire
Letters: Clayton Cowles

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

Dinah (Black Canary) Lance has to put together a team to rescue her sister, Sin.  Who will she recruit and will they all say, “yes?”

Positives

The art by Leonardo Romero is simply fantastic.  Romero has a clean, uncluttered style that looks great.  There are some great action sequences that he approaches in different ways and they all work.  It’s clear what’s going on and he brings a dynamic flair to the pages.  In the quieter moments he also shines as he is able to communicate emotion effectively through body language and an economy of line.  Plus, there are some interesting angles he chooses in telling the story.  Jordie Bellaire chooses lighter tones of colors that compliment Romero’s style, which elevates the look of the issue as well.

Thompson focuses the story around Dinah and her character and it works well.  The play here uses DC continuity with the inclusion of Sin who hasn’t been seen since before the New 52 line wide reboot.  It’s a nice touch that makes the series feel connected to the DC Universe as a whole as well as the greater history of the DC Universe.  The character that contacts Dinah for this rescue mission is a well-played surprise that will remain such.  However, the inclusion of this character is a fun and interesting reveal that brings about more questions than it answers.

Positives Cont’d

There was a lot of speculation and internet discussion of this new line up when it was first teased teased.  The proof is in the pudding, and with Birds of Prey # 1 in stores, we get to examine that pudding, now.  As stated above, it’s great to have Dinah be the focus.  Thompson puts her and her family at the center and this works well.  Cassandra is a logical and believable choice for a rescue mission.  She’s stealthy, a known quantity to Dinah and maybe THE best fighter in the DC Universe.  As stated in the opening pages, Dinah needs a team that will make the adversary, “$@#% their pants.”  Cassandra fits this bill.

Next up we have Big Barda.  Barda is definitely a heavy hitter.  For a fight she’s a good choice, but on the stealth side of things, maybe not.  She could’ve learned some things from husband, Scott (Mr. Miracle) Free in this area.  Even so, she’s the muscle of the team and that works well enough.  This is a solid start to the team and the path that Dinah takes to recruit these two is done well, especially as it continues to rely on Dinah’s relationship to the target, Sin.

Negatives

Things start to go in a different direction with the next two choices Thompson has included for this story arc.  Zealot is totally unknown to me, and as a longtime fan of Dinah and the Birds of Prey, it’s seems odd that Dinah would go outside her previous teammates for a mission that is this important and for one she herself says she needs people who are “impeccably trustworthy.”  Cass fits that, and Barda ‘s been in the Birds of Prey before.  It’s alluded that Zealot owes Dinah a favor, and while she may think that Zealot has the skills (whatever they are) for the mission, is Zealot the best choice if it’s only a favor?  Is Zealot really invested in Dinah’s sister or anything that matters to Dinah?  The details in Birds of Prey # 1 are not convincing in this matter.

Thompson herself admitted in the release publicity for this book that she knew Harley Quinn would be divisive.  As with Zealot, the argument Thompson makes for her inclusion is not only unconvincing, and illogical, but…laughable.  It would be one thing to have a character argue that some element of Harley’s skills make sense for the plan, but Thompson has put the team before the plan, so it’s not clear how Harley would fit into this.  What makes even less sense is the argument we do get for her inclusion.

Negatives Cont’d

Cassandra shares a story with the others claiming that Harley is such a good fighter that Harley almost beat her in a confrontation recently.  It’s simply bad writing to suddenly imbue Harley Quinn with this sort of skill level.  It’s just as hard to imagine that Dinah would believe it.  So, even if Cass has an ulterior motive in convincing the team, Dinah should see through that fairly quickly.  It also doesn’t make sense that Dinah would go against her instincts on Harley’s trustworthiness that Thompson does include in the issue.  The bottom line is that Harley will always feel forced when included on a Birds of Prey roster.  There’s an argument coming up below that will claim this isn’t the Birds of Prey, just a team Dinah’s putting together for a mission.  However, Birds of Prey or not, like Zealot, Birds of Prey # 1 doesn’t make a convincing argument for Harley being on the team or for Dinah to go against her instincts. 

The idea that Harley is a “wildcard” is nothing more than Thompson not having a real reason to include her that makes sense.  It sounds cool, but is ultimately shallow.  Unless of course, like her newfound fighting ability Cassandra describes, Harley manifests whatever Thompson needs for the plot to work!  Thompson wants to use Harley, but it doesn’t add to the plot in any way or even make sense.

Here’s a real wildcard for you:  The individual that contacted Dinah about Sin’s abduction claims she can’t tell Barbara.  which is then the in-story reason for Barbara not being included.  What if, the Harley they recruit isn’t Harley at all, but Barbara in disguise as Harley?  That’s about the only way that it would make sense for Barbara not being on Dinah’s handpicked team, or Harley being on it!

Negatives Cont’d

Perhaps, the single greatest negative with this issue is that Barbara Gordon is not part of the team Dinah puts together.  I’ve argued before that Barbara is essential to the Birds of Prey, she’s what makes the team THE Birds of Prey, otherwise it’s just a collection of female heroes/anti-heroes or whatever. (The Birds of Prey aren’t always female either, just ask Hawk, Savant or Creote). 

Additionally, and as mentioned above, it doesn’t make sense that Dinah wouldn’t include her closest allies.  She’s got Huntress marked off the list on page 2!  While the final reveal of who’s abducted Sin implies that Dinah needs some heavy hitters, it also suggests that this team will need to be committed to Dinah (trustworthy!) and it stands to reason that those closest to her would be the best choices, friends and former teammates like Babs, Helena, Nightwing, Ollie and Roy, Zinda (Lady Blackhawk) Blake etc…. 

Verdict 

This issue is a bit of a mixed bag.  The art on Birds of Prey # 1 is  great.  The plot and focus on Dinah is interesting and engaging.  It’s the details that detract from the overall big ideas.  The line up of the “team” is obviously the biggest with some of the sub-details that go along with that which logically follow, the inexplicable reasoning for including Harley for example.  The line up ends up being confusing instead of exciting.  This line up might be interesting if Dinah fell into the situation and had to make do with them to get the job done.   This suggests that if this were not called Birds of Prey, it would get a higher rating because it could be viewed as its own thing.  Or, if Barbara Gordon (as Oracle OR Batgirl) and Helena (Huntress) Bertinelli were in the line up it would feel like the Birds of Prey and  it would’ve been a 9/10.

The post Review: Birds of Prey #1 appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Geoff Johns

Art: Mikel Janin, Jerry Ordway, and Scott Kolins

Colors: Jordie Bellaire and John Kalisz

Letters: Rob Leigh

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

The mystery deepens for Helena Wayne as she meets the Justice Society in 1940.  Dr. Fate tries to “share” her memories with the rest of the team, but things go haywire!

Positives

With The New Golden Age #1 and Stargirl: The Lost Children, Geoff Johns and DC Comics have begun reinvigorating their Golden Age legacy characters.  In the Silver and Bronze Ages, these characters lived on a separate parallel earth known as Earth-Two.  With Justice Society of America #2, despite taking place on the main DC Earth and ostensibly “in continuity,” it genuinely feels like the creative team is carving out its own corner of the DC Universe that feels like a separate timeline.

In Stargirl: The Lost Children, Emiko Queen and Oliver Queen are part of current continuity, yet Oliver’s time in the past as the Golden Age Green Arrow is such a different feeling character from the traditional Earth-One Green Arrow.  Likewise, Helena Wayne in the Justice Society of America is a character that channels not only her own pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity, but brings her dad (yes, main continuity, Prime Earth) Bruce Wayne along for the ride.   

As she wakes up  in an infirmary at the beginning of Justice Society of America #2, having arrived in 1940 at the end of last issue, she thinks she hears her father’s voice.  It’s a small thing, but a detail that connects the ideas in a meta way.  Readers know that Batman was originally part of the JSA, but his history doesn’t show that after all the reboots.  It’s how Johns is able to connect the past with the present in a way that acknowledges the characters histories.  Sliding Helena’s timeline forward is the same sort of thing.  

Positives Cont’d

These elements point to great world building.  It’s honestly ok if it doesn’t feel like the main DC Universe.  That’s what was always special about Earth-Two and the JSA- it didn’t feel like the main DCU.  They could co-exist and here we have it again in a new way.  It helps that most of the characters are different, but more so in this case it’s the fact that we are getting elements of the past woven into the present continuity .

This makes new characters like Judy Garrick and Salem, the Witch Girl who we see more of in this issue more likable and feel more appropriate.  Like issue #1, there are other glimpses of events at the end of the issue that readers may remember.  Alan Scott in his Sentinel days is seen 8 years ago, 13 years ago, Selina Kyle stepped out on a balcony in her Catwoman garb for the first time and Khalid Nassour gained the helmet of Fate just a year in the past.  

Mikel Janin, Jerry Ordway and Scott Kolins combine on art again, each providing wonderful visuals for a distinct part of this time travel story.  Jerry Ordway’s work always recalls the Earth-Two stories of the ’80’s in All-Star Squadron and Infinity, Inc.  Besides being a fantastic comic book artist, this adds another nostalgic element to the series that is greatly appreciated.

Per Degaton is finally revealed and named in full as Selina Kyle Wayne plays an important role in the story.  The plot is developing nicely, but it is moving at a measured pace in order to provide space for the character development and world building that is so critical to a comic like this.  This isn’t “villain of the month,” and it shouldn’t read like it.

Negatives

The real question here is will this series based on so much history bring in new readers?

Verdict

The world building continues as Johns, Janin, Ordway and Kolins deliver another great issue of this new series.  The details bring out so much in the story as the nostalgia anchors the new elements.  This book looks great, it’s fun and by having Helena on a journey of discovery, it allows readers to see things through her eyes.  So if you don’t know what’s going on, neither does she and even a new reader can discover this corner of the DC Universe with her.

The post Review: Justice Society of America #2 appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Geoff Johns
Art: Todd Nauck
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Rob Leigh

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

Courtney and Emiko follow the clues to the Arrow Cave and Starfish Island.  Their ocean voyage leads to another mystery a deeper connection for Emiko.

Positives

In just the first few pages of Stargirl: The Lost Children #2, Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck completely sell the idea that Oliver Queen and Roy Harper time-traveled back to the Golden Age as the Green Arrow and Speedy.  Perhaps, part of it is a desire for all those Golden Age tales to have a place in DC continuity.

While it’s a completely different method, it incorporates an era that feels incongruent with the modern take on the character much like Grant Morrison’s placement of the Batman of Zur-en-Arh into Bruce Wayne’s canonical adventures.  Additionally, Johns also acknowledges the criticism that the Golden Age Green Arrow was just a Batman ripoff complete with Arrow Cave and Arrow Car.

We even get a glimpse of the Golden Age Green Arrow’s Joker-styled, clown-themed nemesis, Bulls-eye. The fun nostalgia doesn’t end there, as Chapter 2 is titled, “More Fun,” referencing More Fun Comics, the title in which Green Arrow made his first appearances and was his home for his first five years.  

Johns develops the relationship between Emiko and Courtney as Emiko shares the story of her difficult youth in captivity on Starfish Island.  It not only lets the reader in on Emiko’s backstory, but it ties in nicely to the plot of missing children and gives her personal motivation on this mission.  For Courtney, it brings out her compassion as she sees the connections between Emiko and the missing sidekicks.

Along the way, we get some of the histories of these missing sidekicks that develop the world a bit.  The more that is revealed, the more the concept seems to work.  Truly, Johns is developing a new Golden Age.  Combined with his approach to the historical Green Arrow, he’s not looking to rewrite, but rather bring together existing aspects from the Golden Age with new concepts and ideas,  There’s just enough contemporary continuity to connect it to current DC events.

Negatives

It’s unclear at this point how niche this will be.  For those fans of DC’s Golden Age and legacy characters, it should ring true.  The question remains if there is enough here for a more conventional DC Universe audience.  Stargirl: The Lost Children #2 and indeed the series so far, relies on a lot of existing love for the Golden Age and its legacy.

Verdict

Stargirl: The Lost Children #2 is “more fun” than issue #1.  After the drama of the setup, Emiko and Courtney’s visit to the Arrow Cave as their journey begins gives the issue a light-hearted start.  The plot moves along as the duo finally gets confirmation that they are on the right track.  It’s the right combination of fun and adventure with a touch of drama and world-building that is geared toward the Golden Age/ legacy fan.

The post Review: Stargirl: The Lost Children #2 appeared first on DC Comics News.

In the aftermath of the devastating events of Dark Crisis and DC Universe: Lazarus Planet, the DC pantheon of heroes will once again find itself at a crossroads. Fittingly, the event christened Dawn of DC will begin with Action Comics #1051 and will feature iconic characters while introducing new heroes over twenty new titles.

Unlike previous relaunches, such as The New 52, the publishing company will instead build on the foundation already established. Fans can also expect the return of Oliver Queen in his first ongoing Green Arrow series since DC Rebirth. There will also be a new volume of Batman: The Brave and The Bold, featuring a rotating creative team to unveil new chapters in the crusades of The Dark Knight, and lastly, the team of Mark Waid and Dan Mora will reunite to bring back the lightning of Billy Batson’s adventures as the champion once more in Shazam! Further, from preview art, apparently, Mora is going with a more classic look for Shazam but still retaining some accouterments of his New 52 costume. Connor Kent will also be returning to head Superboy: Man of Tomorrow and fellow Death of Superman alum John Henry Irons will forge forward in Steelworks. 

DC’s New Dawn – What Will It Mean And What Can We Expect?

Publisher and CCO Jim Lee has described the oncoming year as one of renewal and rejuvenation:

After the near-Multiverse-ending events in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths and DC Universe: Lazarus Planet, the DC Universe will be heading toward the [light. With] brand-new series and story arcs from some of the top creative members in comics, Dawn of DC is one of our most ambitious initiatives ever and is a chance for us to tell bigger and bolder stories across our line.

Below is a list of oncoming titles to be released along with their creative teams:

• Superman #1 (Joshua Williamson and Jamal Campbell) – February
• Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent #1 (Tom Taylor and Clayton Henry) – March
• Unstoppable Doom Patrol (Dennis Culver and Chris Burnham) – March
• Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow (Kenny Porter and Jahnoy Lindsay) – April
• Green Lantern: Hal Jordan (Mariko Tamaki and Artist TBA) – April
• Green Lantern: John Stewart (Philip Kennedy and Artist TBA) – Release Date TBA
• Green Arrow (Joshua Williamson and Sean Izaakse) – April
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold (Tom King, Mitch Gerads, Guillem March, Gabriel Hardman, Dan Mora, Rob Williams, and more TBA) – May
• Cyborg (TBA) – May
• Shazam! (Mark Waid and Dan Mora) – June
• The Penguin (Tom King and Stefano Gaudiano) – June
• Steelworks (TBA)

The format for Action Comics will also change with issue 1051 with three new stories in each installment going forward. The writing team will include Dan Jurgens (The Death of Superman), Philip Kennedy Johnson, and Leah Williams (The Amazing Mary Jane).

More information will be revealed in the coming months.

Official Source – “Dawn of DC” Starts in January 2023 | DC

The post Dawn Comes For DC Comics Post-Dark Crisis In 2023! appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Scott Godlewski

Colours: Ryan Cody

Letters: Dave Sharpe

Reviewed By: Matthew Lloyd, Derek McNeil

Summary

Justice League Vs The Legion of Super-Heroes #6: The blockbuster shocking conclusion to the Gold Lantern Saga. Which legendary DC Villain is behind this great darkness that is about to destroy all the ages of heroes all at once? Find out right here all this AND the future of the Legion of Super-Heroes is revealed!

Positives

Derek: If you can think of any positives, Matt

Matt: LOL!

Actually, the smaller moments aren’t bad.  Vandal Savage explaining his plan to “Bruce” thinking he’s won, and then the surprise…that’s actually quite good.  It’s like finding the one unspoiled apple in the bunch.  The inclusion of Jonah Hex is a nice touch and, and then there’s uh…well…yeah, that’s about it.  Godlewski does an admirable job of doing what he’s there to do, but he doesn’t have a lot to work with.

Derek: That was a neat bit of foreshadowing. It was clear that there was something up with “Bruce”.  Godlewski cleverly drew the cowl as if it were empty. At first, it had me guessing that Batman had escaped and left a stuffed Batsuit to trick Savage. And I agree that it was great to include Hex. There were a number of great cameos in this series, such as Kamandi and Alan Scott. It’s just too bad that Bendis didn’t really do anything with them. They just served as window dressing.

Positives Cont.

Matt: And, of course, the biggest positive is that this abominable series is over, and with it, hopefully, Bendis’s time at DC.  One would hope that the powers that be see the horrific impact he had on the entire DC Comics Universe and that it’s a mistake that has to be actively undone.  If only Vandal Savage was attempting to wipe out Bendis’s tenure at DC instead of the Age of Heroes.  The entire time Bendis has been at DC, the entire line has suffered.  One would think it would simply be on the characters he was trying to ruin, Superman, the Legion and the Justice League, but somehow DC found a way to create a synergy with the entire line.

I’ve seen online in more than one place that Bendis gets $1000/page.  I hope DC considers suing him on some grounds, because at his best at DC, he was never worth more than a couple hundred.  It’s a long road ahead for DC, but with books like Nightwing, The Flash, Batgirls and Wonder Woman readers can find some good comics in hopes the rest of the line rights itself.  We are a far cry from “Rebirth” when it seemed almost every DC Comic was very good to great.

Derek: I take your point about the ending being a positive, but it would have been better if it had come earlier. It was evident fairly early into this series that it wasn’t going anywhere, and I honestly don’t think most readers would have noticed or complained if DC had just quietly cancelled the series halfway through. I am guessing the only reason to let him finish was so they could complete a trade collection.

While I agree that Bendis’ work for DC has been overall lacking, I doubt that DC will take drastic action to right the damage he’s done. It’s unclear whether or not this is Bendis’ final work for DC, but I’m hoping it is, at least in any capacity where he is empowered to change the status quo of any characters he’s writing. I hope that the next continuity adjustment will undo some of his more egregious changes to the DCU and the Superman mythos.

Negatives

Matt:  It’s pretty obvious that the biggest negative here is that the most critical and exciting part of the story happened off panel.  That’s right, the united League and Legion defeat the Great Darkness (haha!) entirely off panel.  The writing is so bad that it genuinely feels like we’ve missed an issue.  This issue is all denouement.  This should’ve been the last half of a final issue.  It’s like a blockbuster film that skips the third act and goes right to the wrap up before the credits.

The really sad thing is that this is not new for Bendis in his DC work.  Supposedly, Bendis was a really good writer over at Marvel a while ago.  I wouldn’t know, but judging from his work at DC, and in particular, this series, he shouldn’t even be employed as a comic book writer.  It’s arguable whether or not Bendis’s dialogue is bad, or his decompression of story is effective, but skipping the resolution because you ran out of pages is just bad writing.

Derek: That pretty much fits with how he wrote last issue. He was arsing about for the first 4 issues, flitting from one “cool” idea to the next, losing sight of the core story. Then he had to rush to tell that story with a tidal wave of exposition. And he probably figured he was capitalizing on that “success” by doing the exact same thing again this issue. A commonly accepted rule of writing is “show, don’t tell”. Bendis seems to think that doesn’t apply to star writers like himself. His believes that he writes so engagingly that his exposition is superior to actually including any action in the story.

I feel sorry for Godlewski. DC tapped him to draw a major team-up of DC’s tentpole teams. But does he get to draw much action? No, he’s stuck drawing them standing around talking to each other for the bulk of the series. And lettering all that inane dialogue must have been a laborious task for Dave Sharpe.

Negatives Cont.

Matt: This leans into editorial at this point.  DC gave Bendis carte blanche to ruin their comics.  This is utterly senseless.  Any editor with any skill should’ve realized that this story is terribly plotted and scripted.  They wouldn’t let a new writer be this bad.  There’s a lot more going on than we are privy to, but it doesn’t mean that Bendis or DC get a pass.

Derek: The general assumption is that it was Dan DiDio that gave Bendis this carte blanche. I do have to wonder why DC didn’t show Bends the door immediately after DiDio departed. I suspect that there was some sort of contractual obligation to keep him on.

Matt: Just in case you were thinking his dialogue got better somehow, the League and Legion remain uncharacteristically quippy and speak when they don’t need to.  Does Dinah really need to say she might stay in the 31st century?  No.  And, not only that, she’s not going to.  It’s just an example of the inane things Bendis has characters say.

Derek: Generally, nearly everything that happens in this story seems rather pointless. There are no real consequences, despite the cosmic scale of the story. Everything just reverts back to the same status quo. Nominally, this is a tie-in to Dark Crisis, but the only effect it seems to have on that story is a single reference in Justice League #75 where Green Arrow saying that they’ve already faced the Great Darkness and beaten it. I suspect that this miniseries was make-work to keep Bendis too busy to stick his fingers into the main Dark Crisis event.

Matt: Finally, there is a ring Savage uses to generate the Darkness, a ring not unlike a Green Lantern ring.  It’s a mystery to everyone, the League, the Legion, the Elders of Oa…and, we never find out anything about it.  I’m guessing that this and the creation of the Gold Lantern Corps was originally intended for further issues of Bendis’s Legion of Super-Heroes.  We are all probably glad to be spared of this, but leaving this dangling plot element is yet another example of the poor writing in the series.

Derek: You might be right that he was trying to cram every idea he had for the Legion into this last story. Much like Geoff Johns tried to shove about 5 years of storylines into a single year of his Shazam series. Or perhaps Bendis is still assuming that he’s going to get another Legion series to flesh out these ideas in full. All things considered, I would rather see these threads left dangling than for Bendis to attempt to weave them into further stories.

Verdict

Matt:  This is a flat out awful comic.  It’s one of the worst endings to a mini-series/ story arc I’ve ever read.  Vigilante: Southland was probably better had it been published.   It seems clear that Bendis just isn’t capable of executing big ideas.  He can do Batman and Vandal Savage in a room, but the larger scope escapes him, and we all suffer for it.  His underwhelming Superman work and abysmal Leviathan mini-series also show this.   I’d like to say that Godlewski’s art elevates it on the whole, but that only works if you look at the pictures.  You might have a more enjoyable overall experience if you do that for the whole series.

Derek: This series may be Bendis’ swansong for his DC work. And it’s somehow appropriate, as it exemplifies the main problem with Bendis’ work for DC. Bendis is good at coming up with ideas. But he has no filter to tell the good ideas apart from the bad ones. And he seems to have lost the ability to do anything with these ideas. So, he falls back onto his supposed strength: “witty” dialogue. I’ve enjoyed some of Bendis’ pre-DC work, so I know he can do better than this. I will give Justice League Vs The Legion of Super-Heroes #6 two stars, but they are entirely for the lovely art.

Matt’s Score:

Derek’s Score:

Average Score:

The post Review: Justice League Vs The Legion Of Super-Heroes #6 appeared first on DC Comics News.

Ever since the series of finale of Arrow, John has been bouncing around the remaining Arrowverse shows to determine the nature of the alien box that fell out of the sky. Although it seems Diggle has left this mystery behind, David says differently.

It’s not [resolved. When Eric Wallace] called me, showrunner of The Flash, and he had a pitch for me to end the saga, the Green Lantern Saga, within the Arrowverse. The reason why he did is because the Arrowverse was ending, right? It’s gonna end with Flash and all the other shows would go.

 

We knew, not at the time, I knew but you didn’t know yet, that Todd [Helbing] was going to reveal in Superman & Lois that the Superman & Lois-verse, if you will, exists on another planet, on a different Earth, and these characters are still alive.

 

The idea is perhaps there’s a world where we can explore the Flash, or maybe just Barry Allen. Maybe he is Flash, maybe he isn’t. Is Oliver Queen alive? Maybe he is. Maybe the ring is still there.

David As Green Lantern – Journey Thus Far And Could It Happen?

From Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and to Batwoman, Diggle has been on a two-year journey to every scientific mind he has worked with. Comic book fans have been clamoring for this to be John – whose stepfather has the surname “Stewart” – going on to becoming the CW’s Green Lantern. Besides that tease, The Flash of Earth-90 (John Wesley Shipp) had seen Diggle in “Elseworlds” and wondered why he wasn’t wearing his ring.

What has also driven this quest is the continuous mental attacks from an unknown voice repetitiously telling him “Worlds await.” However, it was not until he circled back to The Flash, turning to the incarcerated Reverse-Flash (Tom Cavanaugh), that he finally got answers. In “The Man In The Yellow Tie,” Eobard Thawne, with future knowledge, revealed this extraterrestrial box may only open if John wills it to. When this mindset finally opened the box, Diggle was bombarded with galactic imagery of what he could become, but ultimately rejected whatever this “offer” was. With the box seemingly transported back to its point of origin, Diggle resolved to get back to his family, since none of those realities he’d witnessed revealed he would.

Again, it’s not over. Rather, it’s just beginning.

Now that it has been established that Superman & Lois is not part of the slowly dying Arrowverse, Ramsey suggests this revelation is a whole new beginning:

Superman & Lois allows us to reboot the Arrowverse in a way that we didn’t really think [before. When Todd initially revealed that, there were a lot of moans and groans about “Oh, we’re no longer in the Arrowverse.” I think it was smart. It was [Greg] Berlanti’s brainchild and I think it was smart because it allows us to grow outside of the Arrowverse, which we weren’t allowed to do.

 

So, to answer your question is that the ring is still around. It exists in Superman & Lois, it’s been denied in the same way it was in the Arrowverse, but [John Diggle] didn’t go through the same thing.

Ramsey has directed two episodes of the series thus far, first appearing last year as Diggle and acknowledging Superman had worked with Oliver. By doing so he acknowledges that there is a Green Arrow in that dimension. If Oliver, indeed, is not dead, then it opens the door for Stephen Amell to perhaps play the role that made him famous.

Diggle returned in the second season finale to approach John Henry Irons (Wole Parks) with a request to help him go after Intergang. Could this also lead this version of John Diggle on the path to becoming Green Lantern? Will the box fall out of the sky on this world and present the same offer to Diggle? Will John make a different choice? Time will tell.

The third season of Superman & Lois has recently begun filming in Vancouver, and is set to premiere in January 2023 on The CW.

Official Source – Arrow Star David Ramsey Says Diggle’s Green Lantern Tease Isn’t Resolved (comicbook.com)

The post David Ramsey: “Green Lantern Arc Isn’t Resolved”, Actor Claims appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Scott Godlewski

Colours: Ryan Cody

Letters: Dave Sharpe

Reviewed By: Matthew Lloyd, Derek McNeil

Summary

Justice League Vs The Legion of Super-Heroes #5: With the reveal of who is behind the great darkness that is tearing the galaxy apart, the Justice League and the Legion of Super-Heroes are at odds over how to handle the incomprehensible evil that has brought them together.

This time-spanning epic stars all your favorite superheroes from two different time periods! Batman! Saturn Girl! Superman! Brainiac 5! Naomi!, and dozens more race into battle to save the galaxy from being pulled apart… but at what cost? Will everyone survive this?

Positives

Matt: The fact that something actually happens in this issue is a positive.  It’s not well placed or paced, for the overall story, but something indeed does happen.  How it happens is another matter entirely, but we’ll get to that.  I’m not usually one to spoil big stuff in a review, but it’s about the only positive that we can discuss- the JLA and LSH figure out who’s behind this “Great Darkness.”  Turns out it’s none other than Vandal Savage!  This could’ve been really interesting if the story had been put together better.

Derek: Having Vandal Savage turn out to the villain is actually a brilliant idea. As an immortal, Savage would presumably still be around in the 31st Century. So it’s actually surprising that he hasn’t been a major presence in the Legion’s history before this. Unfortunately, as is typical with Bendis, this great idea is let down by a lacklustre execution. Bendis didn’t give the slight hint to foreshadow this ending. Savage’s appearance should have engendered a reaction of “oh, it all makes sense now”. But instead, it seemed more like random happenstance.

Positives Cont.

Matt: Despite Bendis’s time at DC Comics being not only completely forgettable and an unmitigated mistake of Biblical proportions (dozens of people should be fired for it), it is interesting that Bendis has managed to tie in all his DC work into this story.  You may, or may not recall that early in his tenure at DC Bendis wrote a Batman story called, Batman Universe which was serialized in the Walmart exclusive Batman Giant 100-Page Super Spectacular.  Ironically, this Batman story is probably Bendis’s best DC work.  Bringing all of this together somehow gives a connectivity to the stories like they should matter, even if they aren’t really that interesting or well executed.

Derek: Bendis is not a bad writer, per se. But I agree that his work for DC has not been his best work. I loved his Ultimate Spider-Man for Marvel. That Batman story you mentioned was pretty good as well. And although his general direction for the Superman books was disastrous, he still did occasionally produce a decent story. Overall, his work for DC has been pretty hit-or-miss. And while I wish it were otherwise, this series is not one of the hits.

Negatives

Matt: Like I’ve said in previous reviews of this series, Bendis just can’t seem to execute the interesting ideas he does have.  This should have been issue #2 or #3 of this series, not #5.  If the two teams had been through a bunch, figured out the clues and uncovered the identity of the villain with three issues remaining for the capture of Savage and resolution of the trouble he’d caused it would’ve been a lot more enjoyable and well-executed a story.  Instead, it’s all got to wrap up in a single issue.

Derek: It seems to me that Bendis was flitting around from one “cool” story idea to the next for the last four issues and suddenly realized that he hasn’t progressed the story very much. So, to catch the story up to where it should be, Bendis relies on what he believes is his strength: dialogue. And so, Justice League Vs The Legion of Super-Heroes #5 is pretty much a special all-exposition issue. There isn’t a whole lot of action here, but the characters standing around, reasoning out the plot.

And saying “reasoning out” is being generous. The dialogue is presented as if that’s what they are doing. But the dialogue is more like a random stream of consciousness that eventually stumbles onto the truth.

Negatives Cont.

Matt: A well-written story would’ve revealed clues along the way instead of relying on a large information dump in a single issue.  The use of Thorn in Bendis’s stories seems to have been leading up to this one moment as a MacGuffin that allows her to solve the mystery of the temporal perpetrator.   She played almost no role in his Legion of Super-Heroes series.   It’s all too quick and pat to be interesting.  Batman couldn’t figure it out.  Brainiac 5 couldn’t figure it out, but Rose Forrest could?  Yawn.  She didn’t even figure it out in an exciting way.  It’s all off panel, in her own mind.  “Hey, look what I’m thinking!”  Bendis’s script didn’t even give Godlewski something interesting to draw in this sequence.

Derek: Bendis clearly intended Thorn to be a major part of his Legion story originally, but he seems to have forgotten about her. Thus he hasn’t prepared a proper role in this story for her, and now he’s struggling to cram her into the story anyway. And it’s actually not surprising that neither Batman nor Brainiac 5 never figured out what was going on. They are logical thinkers, and Bendis’ plot doesn’t really make a whole lot of logical sense.

Verdict

Matt: This may be one of the weakest comics I’ve read in a long time.  Bendis almost is able to cover a few interesting ideas with Triplicate Girl and Jo Nah’s personality, but it’s very minimal and nearly forgettable as the overall story is deeply flawed and ultimately uninteresting because of Bendis’s inability to put a decent story together.  Even if you’re still reading this series, I can’t imagine that anything in this issue is going to bring you back for a finale that is already obsolete.  We already know what happens next, and Bendis hasn’t put the work in to make the journey engaging.

Derek: Despite Bendis’ attempt to get the story back on track, it seems like a lost cause at this point. I strongly doubt there’s any way Bendis can turn this all around in the one issue left to him. And that’s a shame. There’s a great story here struggling to get out. If DC had assigned a more capable writer to take Bendis’ basic plot, weeding out the distracting diversions and pointless dialogue, this could have been a great story.

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The post Review: Justice League Vs The Legion Of Super-Heroes #5 appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Scott Godlewski

Colors: Ryan Cody

Letters: Dave Sharpe

Reviewed By: Matthew Lloyd, Derek McNeil

Summary

Justice League Vs The Legion of Super-Heroes #4: Now it’s the Legion of Super-Heroes’ turn to get stuck in a time they don’t belong in, the 21st century. Time for the greatest heroes of the future to see the reality of their heroes of the past. All this is happening because the Great Darkness is coming, and even as the truth behind it is about to be revealed, it may be too late to stop all from becoming nothing. It’s the heroes of two eras in ways you’ve never seen them before!

Positives

Matthew: Let’s be honest, there aren’t a lot of Positives as we hit issue 4 of this series.  Scott Godlewski continues to keep things interesting in the art department, but he’s not given a lot of interesting material to work with in Bendis’ script.  There are a couple of interesting lines from Bendis that are worth mentioning.

Positives Cont.

When Brainiac 5 walks into the bunker he automatically attempted to connect to the computer with his voice only.  Cleverly, Bendis has Brainy admit he’s only ever been in a world that has computers that are voice recognition enabled.  This feels like a genuine experience that someone from the future would have.

Derek: Yeah, Godlewski is basically carrying the book. Unfortunately, while a great story can sometimes save poor art, the reverse isn’t true. This series is great to look at, but it has little else to offer.

Matthew: In another part of the issue, the Gold Lantern who’s been thrown further into the past meets Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern.  It’s a neat moment, but way too short.  Well the idea is cool, but it’s not executed very well.

Derek: That pretty much wraps Bendis’ writing in a nutshell. He comes up with some really good ideas, but rarely goes anywhere with them. When I saw Alan Scott, I thought this could lead to something interesting. But Alan does nothing to contribute to the story during his brief appearance.

Negatives

Matthew: I don’t think it’s a stretch to ask if anyone even cares about this series at this point.  It doesn’t help that the series has gone bi-monthly.  However, it seems to be the overall pacing of the series that’s the biggest issue.  Everything is taking so long to develop that it’s hard to feel any sort of tension or drama with the events.  The first issue had a decent set up, but not much has happened since.  It feels mostly like a set up for something else.

Derek: I know I’m finding it difficult to stay interested in this story. The story ends with the caption “To Be Continued…?” as if the series might not carry on past this point. And I thought to myself “Why bother continuing it?”. It doesn’t really seem to be adding anything to the overall Great Darkness story being told in the Dark Crisis event.

Matthew:  All the talk of the “great darkness” isn’t really paying off.  For those readers who know what the Great Darkness really is this story feels aimless.  Even within the confines of the story itself, there’s no real development of the darkness for a reveal with some sort of payoff.

Negatives Cont.

Derek: And what’s worse, is that we already know how this story ends, thanks to the delays this series has encountered. In Justice League #75, Green Arrow states that the League has recently encountered the Great Darkness and defeated it – evidently referring to this series. We already know that the League will be back in their own time and at their proper ages by the end of this series. By the story’s end, the status quo will have come full circle. You could cut this piece of the overall Great Darkness story and it wouldn’t make a lick of difference.

Matthew: It’s hard to believe, but the dialogue seems to be getting worse.  There are moments that the dialogue is confusing from a storytelling standpoint as well as dialogue that is just there because Bendis thinks he’s being clever.  I don’t think he has any clue as to how Black Adam should speak.  It’s more of a distraction than anything effective in any capacity.

Derek: Bendis has always been a little too impressed with how clever his dialogue is. Yes, occasionally he will come up with witty things for his characters to say. But more often than not, it’s just something inane. And you’re absolutely right about him not having a good grasp on how the characters should talk. There were multiple instances in the main Justice League title where he put words in Batman’s mouth that the Dark Knight would never utter.

Verdict

Matthew: It’s not worth following this series.  There’s literally nothing of interest going on and there’s almost no chance anything of significance will happen.  Coupled with the fact Bendis’ Legion is uninspired, it’s best to just put this away and hope we get a classic Legion reboot and let Bendis leave the DC Universe well enough alone.

Derek: I suspect that Joshua Williamson and the other plotters of Dark Crisis and Flashpoint Beyond arranged it so that this story would be ultimately separable and irrelevant to the overall Great Darkness story. It’s likely just meant to keep Bendis occupied so that he doesn’t mess up the overarching Dark Crisis storyline. While I’ve been enjoying their new Great Darkness Saga very much, readers could very easily skip it. In fact, they probably should.

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The post Review: Justice League Vs The Legion Of Super-Heroes #4 appeared first on DC Comics News.

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Scott Godlewski

Colors: Ryan Cody

Letters: Dave Sharpe

Reviewed By: Matthew Lloyd, Derek McNeil

Summary

Justice League Vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes #3: The Justice League is trapped in the 31st century with the Legion of Super-Heroes, while the looming terror of the Great Darkness hovers over both time period simultaneously. Even as the great heroes of the 21st century get to experience the fantastic far-flung future, the mysteries behind the Gold Lantern and the Great Darkness threaten all of existence. What is the secret behind the Great Darkness? And will the greatest heroes of two ages be able to stop it before it’s too late?

Positives

Matthew: Much like the previous two issues, there are some interesting ideas in Justice League vs. the Legion of Super-Heroes #3.  Pulling pairs of characters to different time periods is neat concept with a lot of potential.  We don’t get more than an introduction to it, but it certainly seems like it could be interesting.  The inclusion of Kamandi is a great choice in particular.

Derek: I totally agree. There are some great ideas in that story that just beg to be explored further. I loved the idea of the smaller groups lost in different eras. And the guest appearance the Batman of the future, Terry McGinnis was also a great idea. I wonder if there will be more guest-stars from other eras next issue.

Matthew: Out of the pairings we get, there’s a moment with Aquaman and Jo Nah that is quite nice in the beginning.  It doesn’t last long as Aquaman’s characterization hasn’t been stable since the beginning of “Rebirth.”  We’ve all of a sudden got angry  mid ’90’s Aquaman again.  Maybe he got time travelled in as well.  There are moments where I really want to like this Legion of Super-Heroes, I’ve been a fan for a long time.  There are moments that almost shine, but it never really coalesces.   Brainy’s characterization seems right on for the most point, but few of the other Legionnaires feel right.

Derek: I actually liked the angry 90s Aquaman, but I have to agree that DC needs to establish a solid characterization for Arthur – and then stick to it. However, Bendis has a general problem with writing characters that actually stay in character. So, even if Aquaman was clearly defined, Bendis still might have had Arthur acting strangely.

Positives Cont.

Matthew: Scott Godlewski does his best to keep the issue looking interesting.  The scenes inside the Darkness when they are forcibly time travelled look cool and he’s able to provide a lot of dynamic poses despite a lack of action during a lot of the issue.

Derek: I have to agree with this. Scott Godlewski’s art is honestly the best part of this book. But great art can only do so much. It can’t really save a flawed story. This series has a lot of potential. It features two of DC’s premier teams with fantastic art. And Bendis has some great ideas with lot of potential – but Bendis isn’t using that potential.

Negatives

Matthew: After another two-month gap and a storyline that should’ve wrapped up before the death of the Justice League in Justice League #75, one has to wonder if anyone even cares about this series anymore outside of Bendis.  It always felt like this “darkness” had some sort of tie in to the upcoming Dark Crisis.  But, one fears that series will be half over when this one finally wraps up.  One can only wonder if Dark Crisis will manage to spoil the end of Justice League vs. the Legion of Super-Heroes.  It wouldn’t be the first time Bendis has given away an ending in advance.

Derek: Justice League #75 did vaguely spoil the ending. Black Adam states, “We already fought the Great Darkness and defeated it”, referring to this story. It’s debatable how much of a spoiler that is, as their victory would have been inevitable anyway. But the book’s  lateness does upset the flow of the overarching story leading up to Dark Crisis. The buildup to that event has been carefully planned. But I don’t think it will effect that story very much, if at all.

Negatives Cont.

Matthew: It shouldn’t be a surprise that Bendis’s dialogue is again a detriment to the issue.  Everyone just seems too quippy.  Not everyone talks like Spider-Man.  Bendis makes Green Arrow sound like an idiot, and not in a good , endearing way.  At least two times I found myself skipping ahead because the dialogue was just cumbersome and uninteresting.  The further along this goes with references to this event as “the great darkness,” the less significant it seems.  It’s certainly not anything like the original “Great Darkness Saga,” and to continue using that phrasing feels more and more misplaced in this series.

Derek: Bendis is too overly impressed with his ability to write clever dialogue. He doesn’t realize that it works better when used sparingly, rather than cramming as much as possible into every single character interaction in the story. And it only sounds right if coming out of mouths of certain characters. If it were more judiciously applied, his dialogue could be an asset to the story, but he overdoes it.

Matthew: Bendis also manages to spoil a reveal  in the issue.  We are told that Epoch warned the League about a Gold Lantern and then we get to see the flashback.  Besides being redundant and wasting page space, it’s done in a way that spoils the more dramatic second time it’s revealed.   It’s very awkward, and if you remember this happening, it’s got to feel even more wasteful.

Negatives Cont.

Derek: I get the feeling that Bendis couldn’t decide whether to reveal this in the flashback or when Batman dramatically realizes one of the Legionnaires is a Gold Lantern. I’m guessing that he thought either was a good way to make the reveal. And then he leapt to the conclusion that using both would be even better. This is really a rookie writing mistake that a professional writer should be able to avoid making.

Matthew: The Justice League roster itself is a concern in Justice League Vs The Legion of Super-Heroes #3 as well.  Black Adam and Naomi were always head scratchers, and it becomes more clear this issue.  Crossovers like this are usually exciting because a Leaguer meets a Legionnaire and it’s interesting.  Brainiac and Batman fit that bill mostly, but Black Adam is completely out of place here.  He’s not League material and hold no cache for a meetup with the Legion.  Even Brainiac can see he’s useless when he tells him to not shoot any ore lighting bolts into the darkness.  Of course Black Adam can only come back with a meaningless quip.  Quip, quip, quip.

Derek: Actually, I think Black Adam’s presence on the Justice League has a lot of potential. And I think Bendis may have not been given a choice about his being on the team. With a Black Adam movie imminent, DC is trying to force a redemption arc for the character, so that Adam lines up with his movie counterpart. The problem is that Bendis doesn’t really seem to know what to do with the character beyond having him be brash and arrogant. We really need to see some character growth for Adam, but Bendis has yet to show any.

Negatives Cont.

Matthew: Naomi wanders around like “little girl lost” in the issue.  Not only is she not a bona fide legend from the Age of Heroes, creating zero excitement when she encounters a Legionnaire, she repeats whatever Brainy and Mon-El say to her.  Even Bendis’s nepotism can’t save her from an embarrassing appearance.   Bendis even throws in an appearance of the forgettable Leviathan.  No cared about it then, no one cares about it now.  It’s laughable that this is supposed to make the characters quake in their boots when the Leviathan sigil is displayed on a door in Kamandi’s era.

Derek: Naomi… sigh! Honestly, I have no idea why she’s even in the League, other than Bendis trying like crazy to make her a huge breakout star. She’s a good enough character to merit her own miniseries or two, but she’s not as special as Bendis wants us to think.  She might make for a good member on another team. But the League is DC’s premier team and usually features their biggest stars. She has a long way to go before she’s Justice League material.

Matthew: Lastly, from a storytelling perspective, we are half way through this series and we don’t understand what the stakes are yet.  we don’t know what the darkness is, why it needs to be stopped or anything really.  We can infer of course that it will destroy reality with these temporal events, but it just doesn’t come across as dangerous and exciting as it should for a crossover between these two teams.

Derek: I don’t think we even really care what the stakes are. Thanks to the delays in the title, we already know that the League and Legion will overcome the Great Darkness in this series. And we know that the Great Darkness returns almost immediately and is not the least bit diminished as a threat. That knowledge seems to indicate that the stakes in this encounter are irrelevant. The Justice League avoided being killed along with the Legion, just to die with the Justice League Incarnate instead.

Verdict

Matthew: If you’re buying this series, ask yourself why.  Based on this issue, it’s not going to get any better and like Event Leviathan before it, it’s impact will be obsolete before it’s completed.  At the current rate, that’s November.

Derek: It’s impact is already obsolete thanks to the events told in Justice League #75. I doubt anyone’s buying this for the writing. Perhaps for the art. Or perhaps in the belief that this series is required for fully understanding Dark Crisis. However, I suspect it could be easily skipped without impacting their enjoyment of that event.

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Derek’s Score:

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The post Review: Justice League Vs The Legion Of Super-Heroes #3 appeared first on DC Comics News.

His devoted wife, Marilyn, confirmed he passed away in New York this past Thursday, April 28th due to complications from sepsis. Besides Marilyn, Neal is survived by sons Josh, Joel, and Jason, as well as daughters Cory and Zeea, grandchildren Kelly, Kortney, Jade, Sebastian, Jane, and Jaelyn, and great-grandson Maximus. (Cory and Zeea are daughters from his previous marriage to Color artist Cory Adams).

Legendary Legacy – Neal’s Art, His Causes, And His Legacy

Neal was born on June 15, 1941, into a military family in New York City. After graduating from the School of Industrial Art in 1959, Neal immediately thrust himself into the comics world. Although more renowned for DC work, Neal began his run in the industry at Archie Comics under editor Joe Simon. Simon, himself, is the co-creator of Captain America alongside Jack Kirby for Timely Comics, the precursor to Marvel.  Assigned to The Adventures of The Fly in 1960 as an inker, he soon progressed to penciler and editor as well. After leaving Archie Comics for a brief period in commercial art and advertising, Neal simultaneously worked on the comic series Ben Casey for Newspaper Enterprise Association Syndicate.

It was later in 1967 – the tail end of the Silver Age – that Neal began his association with DC with covers for Action Comics #356 and Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #79. His breakout character for the business was Boston Brand, aka Deadman who first appeared in Strange Adventures #205 drawn by co-creator Carmine Infantino. Adams took over the art chores with issue #206.

After a brief stint on Marvel Comics’ X-Men and The Avengers,  Neal returned to DC. He was immediately partnered with writer and journalist, Denny O’Neil. Under the guidance of editor Julius Schwartz, as part of his revitalization plan for the company, they were tasked with building on the work being done by Frank Robbins and Irv Novick taking Batman away from the camp fad and back to darker territory.

Starting with “Secret of The Waiting Graves” for Detective Comics #395 in 1970, they left the Adam West era behind and brought back the intense, loner vigilante created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. In their story “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge” in Batman #251, Neal noted:

We took a harder edge. We decided that Joker was just a little [crazy and] it was no secret that we were doing Batman [right.] It was as if the memory of [DC] went along with the statements that both Denny and I were making, that we want it to be more realistic, more gritty and that’s how we remember [that] Batman should be and when we did it, everybody went “Ah, that’s it. We don’t need comedy anymore.”

Staple characters in the Batman universe created during their run include the monstrous Man-Bat, the immortal ecoterrorist Ra’s Al Ghul, and his beautiful daughter, Talia. Neal’s unique style applied to The Dark Knight after a decade of Dick Sprang-inspired art always caused a stir in the office according to former Editor Paul Levitz. “In those days, if the work came in early enough, it would sit in flat files in production for maybe three or four weeks before anyone would actually pick it up and do the lettering [corrections. The great books that would always come in, people would come and they would look at it. And when they would come in to deliver their art, they’d stop off in production [and say,] ‘Do you have Neal’s last job?’ or ‘Let me see what’s in the Detective drawer’ and that becomes a ‘Can you top this?'”

“Neal Adams was an amazing illustrator, ” Jim Lee, fellow artist, and current DC Publisher and CCO lamented in response to the news. “[He] changed comics. I loved his take on Batman. It was lithe, acrobatic, and dynamic. Neal’s work continues to inspire me. This is a huge loss for the entire industry.”

When given the assignment of bringing life back to the floundering Green Lantern comics, Denny and Neal grounded Hal Jordan by bringing in Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow, as a counterpoint to what became topical discussions. Green Arrow also owed his trademark look to Neal’s radical visual redesign in The Brave And The Bold #80. Further, new characterization steered Queen away from the billionaire superhero status and made him a socially-conscious liberal activist character.

In a 2005 interview, Adams had remarked “It was Green Arrow’s job to say, ‘Hey, knock knock! You may think that’s right, but you have to think about it just a little bit more. Maybe it’s not.'” Retitled  Green Lantern/Green Arrow, O’Neil and Adams took a grounded approach to their stories, depicting the emerald duo tackling social issues such as racism, indigenous rights, overpopulation, and drug addiction. The latter of these issues was embodied in the popular two-part story “Snowbirds Don’t Fly,” in which it was revealed that Oliver’s sidekick, Roy Harper aka Speedy, had fallen into heroin addiction.

After decades of keeping drugs out of comics, Adams and O’Neil had broken that boundary and Neal even found out the later impact of that story. “I got a letter from a drug addict [who said] he stopped doing drugs because of that comic book. I mean, what do you [say? I have] to give Denny credit for changing the face of the comic book business. We now talk about that stuff all the time.”

For Green Lantern fans, the biggest contribution to the mythos was Neal and Denny co-created the first black superhero for DC, John Stewart, Hal’s then-alternate in case he was not able to perform his duties for his sector. Outspoken and proud enough not to wear a mask, John would go on to reach iconic status in the DC universe across multiple platforms.

One highlight of Neal’s career at DC was his infamous oversized one-shot Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali, showcasing a depowered Man of Steel squaring off with The Greatest for the fate of the planet. The mastery of Adams is easily conveyed to the reader through his perfect interpretation of Ali and action shots. Lastly, his cover shows not only the DC roster at ringside, but writers and artists in the bullpen can be found in the crowd. Christopher Reeve’s version was also in the audience.

After leaving Marvel and DC in the mid-70s, Neal launched Continuity Studios, responsible for creating independent properties like Ms. Mystic and Bucky O’Hare, the latter of which later received the animated treatment in the series Bucky O’Hare And The Toad Wars. Adams would later serve as a mentor for future legends such as Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz.

Adams would later prove a hero in his own right when it came to his fellow creators’ rights and representation. A trailblazer in this area, Neal consistently demanded compensation for himself and fellow writers and artists from publishers when their characters were adapted. In the late 1970s, Neal had caught wind of then-Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter distributing contracts asserting freelance artists and writers would not own copyrights to characters created for the company. This was in step with the new work-for-hire law. Outraged at this, Neal, in turn, distributed copies of this contract to the staff with his message at the top, “Do Not Sign This Contract! You will be Signing Your Life Away!”

The best living example of Neal’s warning – outside of Marvel Universe co-creator, Jack Kirby – were the men who started the superhero industry in the first place: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, cocreators of Superman. Long denied credit for the most iconic character of all time, a late 1970’s scathing letter from Siegel caught Neal’s interest. With Superman: The Movie on the horizon, Jerry had had enough after losing two lawsuits and ultimately being forced out of the company he and Joe helped build. With Neal’s influence, Jerry and Joe not only had their byline restored in time for the film’s release but a modest pension for the rest of their lives.

Adams helped found The Comics Creators Guild in 1978. He also teamed up with Marvel Comics’ Stan Lee to found The Academy of Comic Book Arts, an organization tasked with providing benefits for comic book creators and ownership of their properties. However, the team-up dissolved when Stan’s ambitions to build it into something mirroring  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences conflicted with Neal’s original objective. His biggest wins against “the man” were the abandonment of the publishers’ practice of keeping the original art by artists or destroying it, and, in its place, influencing new policies of returning it to its creators.

These policies allowed the aforementioned Kirby have pages of his art submitted to Marvel returned to him after years of aggravation following his departure.  He even extended his activism beyond the comics industry. In the early 2010s, he joined forces with Rafael Medoff (director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies) to champion the effort to get the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum to return original artwork to Dina Babbit, who had been coerced into completing it for Nazi doctor Josef Mengele in exchange for sparing her and her mother from the gas chamber. He even collaborated on a six-page documentary with Stan Lee and Joe Kubert about Babbit based on Meddoff’s information. He and Medoff also worked with Disney on a 2010 motion comic series, They Spoke Out: American Voices Against The Holocaust. However, Adams made it clear there was no comparison between his championing comics creators’ rights and Babbit’s ordeal, labeling it “an atrocity.”

Neal also made his presence known on the convention circuit. Fans who have greeted him for autographs and stories about the business always walked away satisfied and inspired by his take on either their art or comic history lesson.

Although Neal’s voice has been forever silenced, his legacy lives on in his family. Josh and Joel are both comic book artists like their father, while Jason specializes in fantasy toy sculpture. Josh, in particular, is well aware of the presence his father had in the industry. “My father was [a force. His] career was defined by unparalleled artistic talent and an unwavering character that drove him to constantly fight for his peers and those in need.

He would become known in the comics industry as one of the most influential creators of all time and a champion of social and creators’ rights. When he saw a problem, he wouldn’t hesitate. What would become tales told and retold of the fights he fought were born out of my father simply seeing something wrong as he walked through the halls of Marvel or DC and deciding to do something about it right then and there.”

Artist. Writer. Advocate. Teacher. Husband. Father. Grandfather. Great-Grandfather. Hero. Neal, we at the DC Comics Newsroom thank you and salute you for all you have done for the industry we all love. Our deepest condolences go to your family, friends, and colleagues. For all this and more, we thank you. Tell Denny we miss him as much as we will miss you.

R.I.P.

Official Source – Neal Adams Dead: Batman Comics Artist Was 80 – The Hollywood Reporter

The post Legendary Creator Neal Adams Dies at Age 80 appeared first on DC Comics News.