Cultivating new fans is a great idea, and a needed idea.  However, doing it in a way that pushes existing fans away isn’t the right approach.  Done well, attracting new fans and maintaining the interest that is already there will be a win for the character from a business standpoint.  Simply trading out fans does nothing for the character or the business.  With the current approach on Power Girl, it seems clear that the plan isn’t working.  There just isn’t the outlet for the character to be seen by this younger audience.  Not enough of them are in stores to see or hear about the character.  Word of mouth on the internet is almost all negative as well.  Without a more extensive distribution model it’s tough to get new comic fans for any character.  But, that’s a whole different problem.

Why Williams’ Power Girl Isn’t Working

     The biggest obstacle for old fans with the current comic is the overall approach. Just like the “Ric” Grayson debacle, while Kara’s history is supposedly intact, none of the substance of those stories matters.  Furthermore, that history continues to be referenced.  The blog on the DC website insists that this is the original pre-Crisis Power Girl from the original Earth-Two and it’s not the New 52 Power Girl from the New 52 Earth-2. 

     The idea of Power Girl having an identity crisis with imposter syndrome could’ve worked.  However, the way it’s being executed doesn’t.  The character’s history has to be integrated as more than just a mention.  The substance of that has to be center to the character beats of her journey.  The basic idea for this has actually already been done back in JSA: Classified #1-4 and collected in both the 2006 TPB Power Girl and the more recent Power Trip.  What she’s going through now is superfluous.  For anyone whose ready any of those previous editions, this current situation doesn’t make sense- it neither follows logically as “what comes next,” nor as a new challenge, she did this already.  And here’s why-

1. This is the original Earth-Two Power Girl and none of the substance of her previous stories is coming through in this current run, she’s being treated as a brand new character with no experience living on Earth, which is patently incorrect as demonstrated with the references to past stories and the “Everything You Wanted to Know About Power Girl But Were Afraid to Ask” on the DC website.
2. Her characterization, personality, attitude are unrecognizable as the character.  This contributes to the confusion for longtime fans and for potential new readers it’s just sort of boring, there’s nothing interesting about it.  Strange in a strange land is not a new idea, and nothing about this series provides any sort of interesting twist on it.
3. There’s no alignment with her appearances in Justice Society of America which present the Power Girl that longtime fans know and love.

     So, how could this “fish out of water” idea work for Power Girl?  The story has to connect the dots.  It has to explain how the Power Girl that’s always been around is having a new “crisis.”  Power Girl returned to continuity with the Justice Society at the end of Doomsday Clock.  This means that her history should have been returned as well.  Just as the world “remembered” the JSA and their history, as part of the JSA people would’ve remembered Power Girl as well.  That means people would’ve remembered who Karen Starr was, that she had the Starrware computer software company.  Her history was not wiped out.  The current take claims that Karen Starr is a “dead” identity, why?  Why would Karen Starr not be remembered if the rest of the JSA is remembered?  Even the “lost children,” the lost sidekicks of the Golden Age introduced in Stargirl and the Lost Children are remembered by the world once they are returned.  Judy Garrick is remembered- why not Karen Starr and her company?  For old fans to understand what’s supposed to be happening, these issues have to be resolved IN STORY.  And that’s the story that needed to be told to reintroduce Power Girl, not simply ignore the substance that had come before.  Even thinking from a business perspective, if you get new fans that get older trades with the character, she’s not going to be recognizable- her personality, attitude and characterization are a complete 180 degree opposite of how she’s always been portrayed.

What Could’ve Worked…

     The story that should’ve been told should’ve looked something like this…

     Power Girl retuned with the JSA at the end of Doomsday Clock, but unlike the JSA, no one remembered Power Girl.  Maybe because she was a holdover from the original Earth-Two, her history was not remembered.  This would’ve provided the opportunity to do the “stranger in a strange land” type of story.  She really would’ve felt like an imposter because NO ONE would’ve known who she was.  Except maybe the Psycho-Pirate as the ONLY character who remembered the Multiverse before Crisis on Infinite Earths. (Although this is part of the story told in the aforementioned JSA: Classified).

      This doesn’t mean changing her personality would’ve worked, though she could be more vulnerable.  Nor would she have not known what it was like to live as a human on Earth.  However, it allows for a story to be told about a Power Girl that doesn’t have a viable identity, a Power Girl that doesn’t know how she fits in on this earth, despite having the memories that prove she already lived here.  Maybe she would’ve sought out the original Earth-Two.  Maybe she would’ve joined the JSA at this point…maybe Huntress would’ve sought her out and that would’ve connected to Power Girl’s memories of the original Earth-Two Huntress who was her best friend? 

Where Is Editorial?

     The real problem is that Leah Williams has admitted that she didn’t know much about the character and couldn’t possibly have developed this type of story because she didn’t know enough to know that something like what I’ve suggested matters.  Editorial clearly doesn’t care, otherwise Williams stories would not have appeared as they have.  As they are they are a complete non sequitur.  They don’t follow from what’s come before either narratively or as a logical step in character development. 

     For a great character like Power Girl, it’s a shame and disappointment to see such an utter failure both creatively and financially.  The existing Power Girl audience hasn’t been run off entirely, yet.  Can we course correct and get a great Power Girl comic on the stand, soon?

The post The Return of Power Girl…How Leah Williams’ Take Could’ve Made Sense appeared first on DC Comics News.

This version known to fans as the “Retro-boot” Legion can be seen on the cover of the forthcoming Justice Society of America #11.  Due out on July 24, 2024, this Legion can be seen fighting the JSA.  Cover artist Mikel Janin shared the cover on Twitter/ X after the solicit for issue #12 was released.

Foremost, demonstrating that this is the “Retro-boot” Legion are the depictions of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl.  They appear as they did when the “Retro-boot” Legion was “reintroduced” back in “The Lightning Saga.”  Amongst others are Dawnstar, Ultra Boy and Cosmic Boy in their “Retro-boot” character designs.

The Legion of Super-Heroes has been plagued with reboots both total and soft ever since the Crisis on Infinite Earths back in 1985.  The Crisis reorganized the DC Universe, part of which eliminated Superman’s time as Superboy and thus his time with the Legion of Super-Heroes.  After a “pocket universe” story that fixed this paradox the Legion continued for about five years.  It then relaunched with a “5 years later” storyline that took the once bright and hopeful future in a darker direction.  This led to a couple soft reboots of Legion history along the way.  With the Zero Hour event in 1994 the Legion completely rebooted.  The Legion would again reboot in 2004.  Finally, the classic Legion returned in the aforementioned “Lightning Saga” in 2007.  This time, the Legion history picked up from the pre-Crisis Legion continuity and restoring Superman’s time with the Legion as Superboy.  This Legion would continue up through Flashpoint and into The New 52.  Just before Flashpoint they were appearing in their own title as well as the relaunched Adventure Comics.  It seemed like a new golden age for the team.  However, sales were not enough to sustain the title far into the New 52.

The Legion was set to return during “Rebirth” within the pages of Doomsday Clock.  A young and classic Saturn Girl was a large part of it until the team finally returned at the end of the 12-issue series.  Instead of a classic Legion returning it was Bendis’ new Legion.  It’s still my opinion that the delays on Doomsday Clock were mostly due to Gary Frank having to redraw the classic Legion as Bendis’ Legion.

It’s possible that the Legion on the cover of Justice Society of America #11 is just a ruse, but there has been another reference to classic Legion lore in “House of Brainiac.”  Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) mentions that once upon a future she was very close to a Brainiac.  Pre-Crisis, Kara and Brainiac 5 were a romantic pairing.  Brainiac 5 was devastated when she died in Crisis on Infinite Earths.  taken together, this reference and the cover to Justice Society of America #11 indicate that this is not just a one-of situation.  With the impending fall of the United Planets in Green Lantern we only need Jon to go back to being 13 and DC can finally be rid of the plague that was Brian Michael Bendis.

The post Are the Classic Legion of Super-Heroes About to Make a Comeback? appeared first on DC Comics News.

Who are Jade and Obsidian?

Jennie-Lynn (Jade) Hayden and Todd (Obsidian) Rice first appeared in All-Star Squadron #25 cover dated September 1983 as part of a time travelling team of Justice Society of America characters who were mid controlled by the Ultra-Humanite to interfere with events during World War II.  Jade and Obsidian are twins and they make their most important entrance in Infinity, Inc. #1 when they along with other sons, daughters and proteges of the Justice Society burst in on the team and petition them for admission.  The pair believe that Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern is their father.  This storyline plays out over the first year and a half of Infinity, Inc. with the full story revealed in Infinity, Inc, Annual #1 from December 1985.

Alan Scott had married Rose Canton, the Golden Age Thorn who was operating under an alias.  On their wedding night the personality of The Thorn took over.  She disappeared that night not knowing she had become pregnant.  When Canton realized that The Thorn was a threat she put the twins up for adoption.  Alan Scott never knew what happened, including that the woman he married was in reality one of Jay (The Flash) Garrick’s adversaries.  The twins were adopted separately and each developed powers. Jade had a similar power set to the Green Lantern except that the green energy manifested directly from her body without the need for a ring or lantern for recharging.  It also caused her flesh to turn green when using the power.  Obsidian had the power of shadows and darkness much like The Shade.  He could engulf an opponent in the darkness terrorizing the individual.  He could also manifest a shadow self which was intangible.  

Jade and her father hit it off right away.  Obsidian and Alan Scott had a difficult relationship right out of the gate.  Marc Andreyko utilized this friction to expand on Todd’s character revealing him to be gay in the pages of Manhunter #18 in 2006.  The relationship between Alan Scott and his children was a long running subplot throughout Infinity, Inc. and subsequent JSA titles all the way up to the relaunch of the entire DC publishing line in September 2011 with the New 52 initiative. 

Where did they go?

At this point, Jade and Obsidian ceased to exist as there was no Justice Society in the New 52 and when the Earth 2 comic launched it was with new versions of Alan Scott, Jay Garrick and such on a new parallel Earth.  In this reality, because the elimination of Todd Rice as a representative of the LGBT community no longer existed, writer James Robinson wrote the Alan Scott of Earth 2 as gay in order to maintain representation.

At the end of Doomsday Clock the pre-New 52 JSA returned to continuity.  Around the same time, James Tynion IV penned a story for the Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100 Page Super Spectacular.  This story recounted Alan Scott’s origin from All-American Comics #16, but with a twist- he wasn’t just on the train when it crashed, he was hidden away in a car with another man having a romantic encounter and subsequently blamed himself for the man’s death.  This led to Alan Scott coming out to Jade and Obsidian in the pages of Infinite Frontier.  However, it did not address any other aspect of Scott’s past including his marriage to Rose Canton, or his second marriage, this time to Molly Mayne in the pages of the aforementioned Infinity, Inc. Annual #1.  It now seemed incongruous that Scott as a man in his ’60’s would enter into a second marriage when he married Molly Mayne if he was indeed, gay.   It raises lots of questions about Scott’s integrity and honesty.  It’s certainly believable that Scott would have tried to live as straight and marry Canton earlier in his life, but a second marriage as an older man when no one would have any expectations of him to marry at that age doesn’t really make sense.  Nor does it make sense that he would have finally come out at over 100 years of age, which is what we see in Infinite Frontier.

The New Golden Age

In November of 2022,  DC Comics finally brought the JSA back in a big way.  Under a banner of “The New Golden Age,” a mini-series, Stargirl and the Lost Children and the current Justice Society of America series were launched along with The New Golden Age #1 one-shot that served as an introduction to both titles.  Writer Geoff Johns introduced a number of new characters including a number of “forgotten” Golden Age sidekicks.  He also reintroduced the Golden Age Aquaman who hadn’t been seen since two brief appearance in All-Star Squadron #59 and #60.

Two of Johns creations were The Harlequin’s Son and the Red Lantern.  The Harlequin’s Son is exactly who he sounds like he is, the son of Molly Mayne, the Golden Age Harlequin.  Nothing has been revealed about his father yet, but some of the pertinent facts we have are that Michael Mayne is gay and that he used his mother’s gagets and he started out as a villain.  We also know that Sylvester Pemberton attempted to recruit him to Infinity, Inc. when he was forming the team.  This is not how it happened back in Infinity, Inc. #1, however, as that team was formed by Hector Hall and Lyta Trevor.  Pemberton was a member of the JSA at the time and sitting at the table when the youngsters broke in on the JSA meeting.  It’s not clear who else was recruited to this team now, but if Pemberton was doing the recruiting, it seems that Hector Hall and Lyta Trevor may not have been there at all.  The Harlequin’s Son’s Who’s Who entry in The Golden Age #1 also indicates that his relationship with his mother remains complicated.  

Johns also introduces readers to a new Golden Age arch-nemesis for Alan Scott- The Red Lantern.  In the early ’50’s the Red Lantern would have a daughter who would go missing.  This daughter is Ruby Sokov.  In Justice Society of America #1 we see that in the future, Helena Wayne as the Huntress along with Power Girl have resorted to recruiting villains to join the JSA due to dire circumstances.  We see Ruby and she appears much like Jade, only red instead of green.  Like Jade, Ruby manifests her power directly from her body.  Both she and her father are powered by the Crimson Flame, something similar to the Starheart which powered Alan and Jade.

As I wrote the review for the forthcoming Justice Society of America #7, I realized that Johns was playing with an element associated with Jade back in Infinity, Inc.  In this new comic, Johns is associating this relationship with a different character.  It got me thinking, and I realized Jade and Obsidian haven’t been seen for a while.  In fact, despite all the JSA characters that have been seen in this new series, Jade and Obsidian haven’t been seen at all.  I went back through The New Golden Age #1 and the first 6 issues of Justice Society of America to determine if I had missed a background appearance.  I  hadn’t.

post-Crisis– Iron Munro, Helena Kosmatos Fury, Flying Fox and…Helena Bertinelli

If they weren’t there, where were they?  As I pondered, it occurred to me that Michael Mayne and Ruby Sokov have some of the same energy as Obsidian and Jade.  Obsidian and Michael are both gay and both have had difficult relationships with the one parent they know.  Jade and Ruby are both powered organically though their respective father’s used a ring to direct their energy powers.  Also, both characters skin color is affected by the energy they wield.  Ruby and Jade are also names of precious stones that suggest the colors associated with their powers.

It struck me at this point that these new characters may have been designed to replace Jade and Obsidian in continuity, much like what was done with the Earth-Two Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and original Helena Wayne after the Crisis on Infinite Earths.  After all timelines were merged into one single Earth at the end of the Crisis on Infinite Earths,  some characters were deemed redundant and others simply couldn’t exist.  For doppelgangers, characters who were identical to their Earth-One counterparts like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Green Arrow, the Earth-One versions were retained.  Characters with unique identities like Jay Garrick and Alan Scott who didn’t resemble their Earth-One counterparts Barry Allen and Hal Jordan remained as the first generation of heroes from the 1940’s.  Helena Wayne could no longer exist because her father the Golden Age Batman no longer existed.  Helena’s best friend, Power Girl, was unique in her identity as to be unrecognizable as Supergirl and remained though she was given a new back story and origin unrelated to Superman (this truly is a separate story for another time!).

With these characters gone, there was an in-story void and energy that needed to be filled.  Roy Thomas came up with most of these replacement characters inserting Iron Munro for Superman, Flying Fox for Batman and Helena Kosmatos who would be the Golden Age Fury.  Helena Wayne was reimagined as Helena Bertinelli and retained the Huntress identity as well as a tenuous connection to the Bat-family.  Having thought it through, it seems like Michael Mayne and Ruby Sokov are taking the place of Obsidian and Jade in the new timeline.`

Despite the Pain…It Makes Sense

One of the biggest questions about the retcon of Alan Scott being gay was how it would affect his children and his history and his marriage to Molly Mayne.  It hurts to see Jade and Obsidian go, but in this new history with a gay Alan Scott it makes sense.  One can imagine that this time around Alan Scott has never been married.  This means he didn’t misrepresent himself and marry two different women under false pretenses.  The exact nature of his relationship with Molly in the Golden Age is still in question, but we do know that she still had a career as the Harlequin.  A close reading of the Harlequin’s Son’s Who’s Who page indicates she wound up on the side of the law eventually.

Eliminating Jade and Obsidian clears Alan’s past of any inconsistencies so that it is free to be explored without having to over explain what happened.  This has always been an issue in retconning Alan Scott’s sexuality.  It truly makes no sense if you keep his history, but you also lose what was there with the character if you rewrite the entirety of his history.  You lose Obsidian and the dynamic between father and son with whom through difficult years searched for common ground and a positive relationship.  It leaves Alan Scott as mostly a blank slate as all the character work done with him through the Bronze Age up to the New 52 just isn’t.  Without it, though- Who really is Alan Scott?  We get some glimpses in Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #1 and his inclusion as a gay man is driving that series as even his membership in the JSA if forced by blackmail.  It’s certainly a different vibe than what Johns shows of the first JSA meeting in The New Golden Age #1 which while referencing Alan’s concerns subtly also shows him to be involved and cognizant of the magnitude of the event with no apparent misgivings.

I could be wrong.  I could be seeing things that aren’t there.  But, I don’t think I am.  

One clue that points in the opposite direction is the image on the Who’s Who page for The Harlequin’s Son.  One of the background images shows Michael Mayne in combat against Jade and Obsidian.  However,  when reading the page, it’s clear this could never happen.  The text explains that after being cleared of murder, he turned to acting and refused to join Sylvester Pemberton on Infinity, Inc. when Pemberton was putting the team together. Jade and Obsidian would have debuted at that time, so there couldn’t be an era in which Mayne was active as a villain and Jade and Obsidian were operating.  It’s not a friendly fight either as Jade and Obsidian are clearly interrupting him as he commits some sort of crime.  

RIP Jade and Obsidian.  Comic book limbo welcomes you.  

The post Have Jade and Obsidian Been Eliminated from Continuity? appeared first on DC Comics News.

Here’s the whole story, direct from Thought Bubble / Hanglands:

THOUGHT BUBBLE FESTIVAL
LEEDS & ACROSS YORKSHIRE
6th – 12th NOVEMBER 2023

THOUGHT BUBBLE COMIC CONVENTION
HARROGATE CONVENTION CENTRE
11th – 12th NOVEMBER 2023

 https://www.thoughtbubblefestival.com

Acclaimed comic art festival Thought Bubble are all set for their week-long festival & convention championing comic art and culture, taking place across Leeds & Yorkshire between 6th – 12th of November. Teaming up once again with partners LeedsBID, Thought Bubble Festival 2023 has a programme packed full of talks, workshops, exhibitions, public art installations, film screenings, venue takeovers and much more.

Getting Leeds in the comic book spirit ahead of the festival is the city-wide Art Trail installation, which opens today. A large-format exhibition celebrating all of the images commissioned by the festival each year by renowned and ground-breaking artists including Becky Cloonan, Tula Lotay, Choo, Natalie Andrewson and many more; the 2023 Art Trail will be hosted across sixteen independent and much loved venues throughout the city centre.

The Art Trail aims to introduce the city to comic art whilst encouraging visitors to explore and experience the best that Leeds has to offer, with large-scale, high-quality prints installed at Miles and Co., OK Comics, The Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen, Kapow Coffee, Crash Records, Northern Guitars, Water Lane Boathouse, The Bookish Type, Nation of Shopkeepers, Jumbo Records, Travelling Man, Fred Aldous, North Taproom, Eat Your Greens, The Social Bar, and Outlaws Yacht Club.

Kicking off officially on Monday 6th November, the week-long Thought Bubble Festival includes exclusive events such as Vice Press presents: Batman (1989) in partnership with Everyman, which sees the renowned printmakers bringing an exclusive selection of limited edition art posters and prints alongside a special screening of the film; the official UK Launch Party of radical new comic publishing house DSTLRY who aim to create a more sustainable and equitable future for creators, and an informative and empowering talk in collaboration with Leeds Arts University’s Creative Networks series featuring the multiple Eisner Award-winning ND Stevenson and Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Molly Knox Ostertag.

Thought Bubble will also be taking over the newly renovated Hyde Park Picture House for an animation inspired all-dayer in partnership with Leeds International Film Festival, The British Book Awards Illustrator of the Year Dapo Adeola will be hosting a family-friendly comic book character draw-along and Free Comic Day makes a welcome return on November 10th when, thanks to Diamond Comics, libraries across Yorkshire will have a wide selection of all-ages graphic novels to give away.

Thought Bubble Festival leads up to their internationally acclaimed Comic Convention. Now in its sixteenth year, Thought Bubble is taking over Harrogate Convention Centre over 11th – 12th of November to gather together some of the most influential writers, artists and creators in the world, whilst also celebrating Britain’s own grassroots comics community.

Alongside iconic guests including Jeff Lemire, Jock, Zoe Thorogood, Jason Aaron, Becky Cloonan, and Michael W. Conrad, Thought Bubble Convention 2023 will be packed with panels on everything from classic comics to contemporary offerings as well as invaluable Q&As for budding creators and seasoned aficionados alike and, of course, more artwork and memorabilia than you can imagine.

Tickets for Thought Bubble Comic Convention are on sale now with under 12s, carers and over 65s tickets totally free. Tickets give access to all events within the comic convention weekend; panels, workshops, guest signings, as well as the three huge halls of over 400 exhibitors, publishers and much more.

For full programme, guests and events please visit:
https://www.thoughtbubblefestival.com

Three writers from the DC Comics News/Dark Knight News/Fantastic Universes team will be there, so please come and say hello!

Images and Press release Courtesy of Hanglands / Thought Bubble. Photos by Simon Godsave.

The post Thought Bubble 2023 Is Here! appeared first on DC Comics News.

One can’t blame those writers for following the entertainment trends of the era, it only makes sense.  Except when it doesn’t; when the approach doesn’t fit the core essentials of the character.  Those writers were crafting tales that fit popular trends because it’s what they thought would sell, they were not, however, focusing on the elements that had made Batman popular to begin with.  And, this is where we are today.

It’s not hard to see how many of today’s comic book writers are  writing for the time and not for the character.  It’s not easy to always balance that.  You can’t write Batman like he’s still in 1940, unless it’s a period piece of course.  The trick is to keep the character grounded at his core while exploring relevant issues that make the story feel contemporary while losing nothing of what makes Batman who he is.  Unfortunately, it seems many writers in comics today are making these same mistakes.  DC Comics as a whole seems to not understand the difference at times.  There are some recent examples we can look at to see what’s going on as we explore what makes a character that character especially ones with a long publishing history.

Alan Scott, The Green Lantern  

There are different kinds of changes that can be wrought on a character, marriage, children, death of a loved one, loss of powers, etc…..  Sometimes, characters can be reinvented, though it seems that it’s rarely for the better as a reworking that eliminates the core elements of the character most likely will alienate fans of the character.  There’s a lot of this going on at DC Comics in a number of titles, and the most recent example is Alan Scott, The Green Lantern.  This is easily the most incendiary topic in this editorial.  It would’ve been such even had writer Tim Sheridan not gone on X (formerly known as Twitter) to essentially call anyone who did not support the book as a homophobe or bigot.  He has actually completely overlooked the larger issue, which is the topic here- Is Tim Sheridan actually interested in the character of Alan Scott and his 80 year history?

Alan Scott first appeared in All-American Comics #16, cover dated, July 1940.  That first story presents the origin of The Green Lantern.  While there was very little deep or nuanced storytelling during the Golden Age for the character, writers did eventually pair up Alan with an adversary, the Harlequin, a criminal who would not only match wits with the Green Lantern, but who was also interested in his romantic affections.  This should be familiar to readers as Batman and Catwoman have had a similar relationship since their first meeting back in Batman #1 (Spring 1940).  While Bruce and Selina never dated or got married in the Golden Age, the two flirted with Selina even trying to put aside her criminal ways at times .  Batman let her go on more than one occasion because he was so enamored with her, including that first appearance.  It wouldn’t be until the Bronze Age that Bruce and Selina got together, got married and had a daughter in continuity.  It was the continuity of Earth-Two, but it’s a very similar situation to Alan Scott and Molly (The Harlequin) Mayne.

Like the Bat and the Cat, Alan and Molly finally got married in the Bronze Age.  Both pairs of characters had a similar dynamic as hero/villain/love interest.  Bruce and Selina’s marriage resulted in daughter, Helena Wayne, the Huntress, but ended in tragedy as Selina died trying to protect her family after a false claim by a former confederate.  Devastated, Bruce was never the same and died in action a few years later.  Alan and Molly got married only after Alan learned that his first marriage had resulted in the birth of twins that his wife had hidden from him.  When Alan and Molly got married in their twilight years (Infinity, Inc Annual #1) they had a ready-made family.  Not to say it was always easy (Alan had to rescue her soul from Hell at one point), but the couple remained happily married until Flashpoint and the launch of The New 52 in 2011 when all previous DC continuity was restarted.

By the time The New 52 launched, fans of Alan Scott had more than a costume and power set to like about the character.  Heck, even more than just the fact he was a traditional hero!  During the Bronze Age, writers, chiefly Roy Thomas filled in the gaps between the Golden Age and “the present” to develop a more complex Alan Scott with compelling story elements in his long life.  Not only had Alan been duped into marrying Rose Canton (the Golden Age Thorn) but he’d fathered two children with her in their short marriage whose existence she’d hidden.  It was a surprise to Alan when he found out and it provided a whole new avenue of stories and character nuance to explore.  Alan’s relationship with his children Jennie-Lynn (Jade) Hayden and Todd (Obsidian) Rice were central to Alan’s character from the mid ’80’s until Flashpoint in 2011.  When Todd was revealed to be gay, it provided a whole other level to the friction between father and son that had been present since their first meeting.  Even if it wasn’t intended by creators Roy Thomas and Jerry Ordway, it was a natural interpretation of his character that writer Marc Andreyko seized upon when he outed Todd in Manhunter Volume 3 #18.  This insightful reading of the character by Andreyko was not only a contemporary element for inclusion, but yet another addition to Alan Scott’s story that grew the character deeper and more complex.  Scott is a man of the 1940’s and homosexuality was viewed very differently than it is today, or in the ’80’s when Rice was first created.

Even outside those aspects of Alan Scott specifically related to his sexual orientation, he was shown in the Bronze Age and beyond to have a very close friend in Jay Garrick, the original Flash.  Their bonding extended to their respective wives as well.  This was 80 years of storylines and character development when all was seemingly thrown away when James Tynion IV retconned Alan’s sexuality in the Green Lantern 80th Anniversary issue.  

With the launch of The New 52, DC Comics presented a new take on the concept of parallel Earths and the multiverse which had played a significant role since its introduction in The Flash #123.  In Earth 2 #1 (2012) we meet Alan Scott, a young man unencumbered with any history as he is a brand new version of the character who has yet to become Green Lantern.  This Alan Scott is gay.  Writer James Robinson wanted to have a gay character since Obsidian had been wiped from existence with Flashpoint.  Making Alan Scott this new gay character makes sense in a metatextual way. 

The New 52 Earth 2 characters were last seen with any sort of significance in Earth 2: Society #22 in 2017.  In a matter of five years, the New 52 Alan Scott was obsolete as DC had already launched the Rebirth initiative with the promise that the original Justice Society of America would return “soon.”

After a time travelling appearance in Justice League #32 (2019), the Justice Society of America including Alan Scott and Power Girl (more on that later) returned not only to continuity, but the present in Doomsday Clock #12.  It would’ve seemed that the original Golden Age Green Lantern was back with his history and character intact.  It was then a surprise that raised many questions about Alan and his history and family when the aforementioned Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super-Spectacular retconned Alan’s sexuality.  

With the publication of Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #1,  this mini-series serves to re-contextualize Alan’s history.  With that being the purpose, how much are DC Comics interested in the substance of the character of Alan Scott?  When you eliminate a character’s history and motivation, relationships etc, what’s the interest in the character then?  All that’s left is the superficial aspects, a name, a costume, a power set?  Is Alan Scott: The Green Lantern writer, Tim Sheridan actually interested in the attributes that made  Alan Scott a founding member of the JSA?  The stories that have shaped him?  The substance of his character as a founding member of the JSA and one of the first heroes of the DC Universe?  The established history with his teammates, and family?  Or, is Sheridan interested in the idea of Alan Scott?  Is he just a JSA character that can provide representation?  Is he invested in the established history and depiction of Alan Scott or simply writing the story of a gay man in the 1940’s?

If the substance of Alan Scott’s history and character attributes are changed is it really still the same character, or is it the substance of a new character wearing the superficial particulars we associate with Alan Scott?    We can’t see how much history has changed, because very little has been done with that so far.  We’ve seen Jade and Obsidian in Infinite Frontier, but there’s no guarantee they are still in play.  The same goes for Molly Mayne-Scott.  Is that marriage still something that’s part of these characters’ history?  In this recontextualization will we learn that Alan lied and misrepresented himself to both his wives?  Is this an heroic action? We’ve seen a retcon in Justice Society of America and The New Golden Age that indicates Molly had a son who has grown up into a character known as The Harlequin’s Son.  This is new, so what else has changed?  A quick examination of Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #1 depicts what we do know has changed.

In this first issue, Alan is blackmailed by FBI head J. Edgar Hoover in joining the JSA.  This is a massive change from the established origin of the JSA.  The JSA formed when British Agent Intrepid asked The Flash, Green Lantern (and Batman in pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity) to help with a mission in Europe which was first told in DC Special #29 (September 1977).  It led to all the founding members coming together with a final save of Washington, DC from a special Nazi bomber and stopping the assassination of U.S. President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Is this still the JSA’s origin?  If so, was Alan Scott involved?  

While some of the ideas that Sheridan introduces are compelling and fitting for the story of a gay man from the 1940’s, it doesn’t fit Alan Scott ‘s 80-plus year history.  Changing something about a character that fundamentally changes the character’s history and make up does not honor the substance of the character or engage the fanbase that’s built up around the character over the years.  For Alan Scott, that’s 80 years.  There have been so many stories with so much consistency in Alan’s portrayal, changing things doesn’t  genuinely fit.  He’s now a reluctant hero not that interested in using his power to fight evil and and is being controlled through blackmail.  It’s a change that seems to be there for other reasons and is not pertinent to the core of the character.  What if Superman was Superman only because he was being blackmailed over the fact he was an alien.  What if that was the mitigating factor in his decision to be on the JL and/ or to be a hero at all?

It’s this that raises my question about Sheridan’s interest and even DC Comics’ interest in the character.  It doesn’t make sense to move a character away from the aspects that brought the character appeal over the years.  Ignoring these established things in favor for traits that are topical would logically turn fans away as seen with Batman in the ’50’s and ’60’s.  It’s something we’ve seen recently with another well established character that has since changed back.

“Ric” Grayson

The reasons behind the “Ric” Grayson era of Nightwing may be different from the motivation for changing Alan Scott’s sexuality, but the results are the same.  When Nightwing was struck with amnesia he developed a new personality that severed all his relationships with the Bat-family- Bruce, Alfred, Barbara Gordon, his brother Robins, etc.  Not only were these relationships severed, but “Ric” forgot his history and his personality shifted somewhat.  Without Dick Grayson as part of the Bat-family, memory of his history or friendships and his past as a blank slate…he was no longer the character people liked.  He was no longer the character that appealed to readers.  “Ric” was a different character, with a different outlook on things and different relationships.  While this direction may have garnered new fans, and kept some, readers were ecstatic to have Dick return. 

Essentially, everything people liked about Dick Grayson was gone with “Ric.”  Dick is a character that has a long history and to eliminate that takes away what people like about the character.  It’s no different than what’s being done with Alan Scott.  The change to “Ric” was an in-story change, but the results were the same.  This situation is different when compared to Alan Scott because it doesn’t appear that DC or the writers didn’t care about him.  Instead, it felt like they wanted to either kill time or have a reason to change his name from “Dick.”  It’s important to remember, however, that like Batman before him in the 60’s, readers lost interest in Nightwing because he was divorced from the elements that had made him popular.  There are some other DC Comics characters that are suffering the same treatment as Alan Scott.

Power Girl … Paige Stetler ?

Alan Scott isn’t the only JSAer suffering an identity crisis that suggests the writer isn’t really invested in what made the character popular.  Power Girl has recently been relaunched in a new eponymously titled ongoing series from DC Comics.  Power Girl has been around for nearly 50 years, like Alan Scott, the New 52 resulted in a new version of the character.  Unlike Alan Scott, the New 52 version had minor changes to the character.  Especially notable is that Power Girl maintained her personality, attitude and a very similar history with one of the most significant aspects being retained, her friendship with Helena Wayne, the Huntress.  This is of course the New 52 version of the Huntress who managed to be very similar to her original incarnation with all the essential elements intact.  While there is now a third version of Helena Wayne appearing currently in Justice Society of America, it’s her bestie Power Girl who’s suffering at the hands of writer, Leah Williams.

The chief element of Power Girl’s characterization that fans point to for liking the character is her personality.  From the outset, she was portrayed as a brash, confident, outspoken young woman.  She’s always wanted to be her own and make her own way and not rely on her cousin, Superman.  More than anything this has defined her character.  Her history after the Crisis on Infinite Earths suffered, but her original origin was returned to her in 2005.  Through it all she maintained her personality that had won her fans.  It is very perplexing then that despite professing that the Power Girl in current continuity is this original version when the most glaring inconsistency is her personality in this new series by Leah Williams.  It’s diametrically opposed to what readers have come to love about the character.  It’s like seeing Batman as a snarky, wise-cracking, bombastic street acrobat.  It just isn’t who the character is.  Furthermore, the writing itself contradicts the stories that are referenced in the comics themselves as well as the official DC Comics blog that servers as a primer for readers on the character and this series.

The blog states that this version of Power Girl is the original pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths, Earth-Two version.  It references her first appearance in All-Star Comics #58, her changing back story and return to form in JSA: Classified.  What’s confounding is that while these new stories by Leah Williams reference her past, including the Karen Starr identity and supposedly her job as a Tech company entrepreneur, Williams doesn’t appear to understand the substance of them.  

In the back up stories from Action Comics #1051-1053, PG is being attacked by Johnny Sorrow.  He claims that he and Power Girl are the last two survivors from their universe.  If PG is from the original Earth-Two, this doesn’t make any sense.  It’s well established that Psycho-Pirate is the only other survivor from Earth-Two as well as the only one who remembered the Multiverse for decades after the Crisis on Infinite Earths wiped out the multiverse.  Furthermore, Johnny Sorrow was never an Earth-Two character.  He appeared in Earth 2: Society, but the blog makes it clear that the Earth 2/ New 52 Power Girl is a different character, and these new stories aren’t about her.  In fact, Johnny Sorrow made his first ever appearance anywhere in New Earth continuity (post-Crisis, post-Zero Hour) in Secret Origins of Super-Villains 80 Page Giant #1, (December 1999).  He would have no memory of any life on Earth-Two, since he never appeared in that continuity.

The blog explains that Power Girl was raised in a simulation on her symbioship, however the title scrawl from Power Girl #1 says she was sent to Earth to watch over baby Kal-L.  Both Kryptonians were sent as infants so PG could certainly not look after baby Kal-L as she was a baby herself.  Her ship took longer to arrive, and thus she was raised by it arriving on Earth as a young woman when it took longer than anticipated.

The blog states that she doesn’t wear the “S” symbol because she didn’t work long with Superman on Earth-Two.  This is patently false for a number of reasons.  Her reason for not wearing the “S” can be found in All-Star Comics #64, her 7th appearance ever as seen in the image below.

And interestingly, the blog clearly indicates that the All-Star Comics stories are part of her past, a past that did include time together plus she made the decision about the “S” BEFORE she revealed herself to the world.  Also, the title scrawl mentioned above claims she DID work along side Superman.  

One of the most curious and off-putting aspects of Power Girl’s portrayal in this series is her 180 degree personality shift.  The blog claims the biggest thing for PG is her identity:

“A Power Girl so far removed from her point of origin, so many worlds and continuities away, that anyone would have a hard time telling who she’s really supposed to be—much less herself. This is a Power Girl who needs to undergo some serious soul searching to find out what she’s really about, which is where we find her today.”

It’s not clear how PG got to this point.  We have the Karen Starr identity referenced so we know that part of her history is intact.  The blog says she has returned with the rest of the JSA during Doomsday Clock.  The quote from the blog above tries to make readers believe that she’s having some sort of identity crisis, but as it states elsewhere in blog, that was resolved in Infinite Crisis and the JSA: Classified storylines.  Leah Williams suggests these identity issues in her stories, but never explains how PG went from a confident, independent woman insecure, unsure of herself and dependent on Superman for an identity (she wears the “S” now).  When did that happen?  It’s diametrically opposed to how she’s always been portrayed.   It doesn’t make sense and it appears that Williams (and blog writer Alex Jaffe) isn’t aware of the substance of the character.  To Williams she’s just an alternate Supergirl, instead of a distinct character that has always behaved differently from the main universe Supergirl.  In fact, it appears that is the length and breadth of Williams’ understanding of Power Girl.

There’s another bizarre quality to Williams’ portrayal of Power Girl.  She writes Power Girl like she’s new to Earth, like her rocket landed, she met Kal-L and a few days later found herself lost and showed up on the main DC Earth.  She seems wholly unconnected with her past with the JSA which is currently on display in Justice Society of America which is currently publishing.  That book acknowledges Power Girl’s past and provides a depiction that is in line with her established personality.

The question remains: Is Leah Williams actually interested in Power Girl as a character?  Does she understand anything about her history or personality?  These are the elements that won Power Girl fans over the years.  Williams seems to be ignoring them outright, or she’s just ignorant of them to begin with and has made no attempt to make them make sense.  Either way, it points to a lack of interest in the character other than the most basic superficial description, simply an alternate Supergirl, like Sheridan’s Alan Scott, a version of the character that doesn’t utilize the history of the character and shows no interest in the substance of the character.

And, There’s More…

This situation isn’t confined to Power Girl and Alan Scott.  The new Wonder Woman series from Tom King’s pen indicates much the same.  King is known for his controversial takes on characters, more often that not bending characters to fit the stories he wants to tell.  The new Wonder Woman is no different, and in this case the intent from the outset seems less rooted in an interest in Wonder Woman, but a desire to tell a story that requires great leaps in status quo and characterization to make work.  When did all those Amazons emigrate to the U.S.?  Are there even enough Amazons on Themiscrya to be statistically significant even if they ALL moved to the U.S.?  Why would Diana sit by and wait if the killer was identified as an Amazon immediately?  Why wouldn’t she investigate immediately?  The real reason is that that is not the story King wants to tell.  He doesn’t even seem to want to tell the story from Diana’s POV as The Sovereign is narrating the tale.  Very little so far indicates that King is interested in Wonder Woman outside the broadest definition of her.

It’s not new though, Human Target depicted all the Justice League International characters wildly out of character except for Guy Gardner.  He was already broken so King didn’t have to break him.  Strange Adventures turned the hero, Adam Strange into the villain.  King does it in nearly all of his stuff, the most notable outlier being Superman, “Up in the Sky” which perfectly depicts the Man of Steel.  If a writer has to change the fundamentals of a character is his/her interest really in the character or the idea of the character?

Even the new Birds of Prey comic doesn’t seem to really be interested in the core concept of the Birds of Prey.  Kelly Thompson is approaching the book like the concept is just a team of women.  She isn’t including founder Barbara Gordon, or centering the series on the relationship between Barbara, Dinah (Black Canary) and Helena (Huntress) Bertinelli.  In fact, Dinah is the only one of these characters in the comic.  Combined with the fact that the series reads like Thompson was looking for an excuse to write Harley Quinn, a character who has zero business being involved with the Birds of Prey, it again appears that the writer isn’t actually interested in what the made the Birds of Prey concept popular to begin with.  Instead, it’s being rebranded as something else, which would indicate that this rebranding is what Thompson is actually interested in and not the substance of the concept as it was developed over the years.  For Thompson, Birds of Prey is just a team of women characters, and again that’s the absolute basic definition of the concept with no substance.

The Balance Between Character and Story … Both Matter

I won’t say that some of the the stories mentioned above don’t have compelling aspects.  However, the big question is whether or not they work for the characters with which they are associated.  At one point comic book writers understood they were writing characters.  Characters that had histories, personalities, ways of operating….  Readers were following these characters because of how they had been built up and developed over he years.  Readers followed the continuing stories because they were invested in the substance of the characters.  Like people in the real world, we are attracted to substance, not color, gender or any other superficial element.  It’s the person inside that matters, and if that changes, that’s when relationships break down.

Even Alan Moore when writing Watchmen created his own characters instead of using the recently acquired Charlton characters that he had originally intended to use.  That story would have destroyed them for further inclusion in the DC Universe.  And, that’s what a lot of these writers are doing.  Adam Strange can’t be used in the DC Universe if Strange Adventures is “in continuity.”  The same goes for the characters in Human Target.  Everything readers liked about Power Girl has been removed from her characterization.  Fans just want to forget this run already, especially since they are getting the Power Girl they love over in Justice Society of America.  Alan Scott is completely out of step with his history and characterization and Sheridan’s aspersions about the JSA make this series inaccessible to existing fans of the team and Alan Scott.  

Creating new characters is the best option if one is not actually interested in existing characters but just the ideas of the characters and not the substance of the characters that have been developed through the years.  There’s got to be a balance.  Create a new character if necessary to tell a story, but don’t destroy or bend existing characters unrecognizably in order to tell a story.  We can only hope that some of these takes get cancelled and return the characters who were beloved to begin with.  We can also hope that writers will have the opportunity and means to tell their stories in a manner that will allow them to be judged on their own merit.  With long standing characters it’s difficult to separate the quality of the story, the writing, the themes if they do not fit the character.  It’s a balance, and the pendulum is swinging away from the importance of the substance of characters to simply the broadest definitions of them leaving the stories that MADE these characters left out in the cold.

The post Are Today’s Comic Book Writers Actually Interested in the Characters They Are Writing? appeared first on DC Comics News.

Tarzan and Family

Tarzan is a character whose initial adventures written by his creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs, are published from 1912-1947, a period of 35 years. But, how old is Tarzan? Does he age? It fairly easy to figure out how old Tarzan is when the first novel Tarzan of the Apes is first published. Though serialized in 1912, it’s not collected as a novel until 1914. With that in mind, we can look at the story itself to determine how old he is at the time of publication- 1912. In the story, Tarzan’s parents are shipwrecked off the coast of Africa in 1888. When Tarzan first meets other Caucasians he is 21. It’s safe enough to assume that when Tarzan meets Professor Porter, his daughter Jane and D’Arnot that the story is taking place in the present of 1912- the time of writing. This places Tarzan’s birth in the year 1891, meaning a reasonable 3 years passed from the time of his parents’ shipwreck to his birth.

Surprisingly, Burroughs introduces Korak, Tarzan’s son quite quickly.  His first appearance is as an infant in The Eternal Lover (aka The Eternal Savage) in which Tarzan and family make a guest appearance.   Korak appears next in The Beasts of Tarzan, the third of Burroughs Tarzan novels.  The fourth book in the series, The Son of Tarzan, features Korak (Jack Clayton).  This novel is set 10 years after The Beasts of Tarzan (1914).  This puts Tarzan himself in his early 30’s assuming that Jane became pregnant pretty quickly after they wed.  By the end of The Son of Tarzan, a number of years have passed and Korak is 18 which puts Tarzan about 40.   So, within the span of the first four novels, Tarzan has aged quite a bit.  But, there are 20 books to go!

It might be easy to place some of the later stories earlier in Tarzan’s career, except that there is a sense of continuity from story to story.  Not only does Korak get married and have a son himself, Jackie Clayton.  Korak is a supporting character in Books, 8-10, Tarzan the Terrible, Tarzan and the Golden Lion and Tarzan and the Ant Men.  These three books are all from the first half of 1920’s.  At this point, Tarzan is now a man in his 40’s having the adventures one would normally associate with a younger person.  As ludicrous as it sound, Tarzan is a grandfather at this point with Korak’s son Jackie being mentioned in these three books.  Without going on about the quality of the storytelling, the inclusion of children and grandchildren adds something to the Tarzan lore.  Tarzan’s family provides another level of drama, but also an additional aspect of relatability.  While Tarzan does not age out of his effectiveness, he’s still an older man.  As a perfect physical specimen he’s still believable in his adventures, or at least one can suspend disbelief enough so that he can still be the protagonist of these stories and still have a family, he’s not permanently stuck as a 30 year old without the story beats of growing older.

James Bond and the MCU

On the other side of things we have film.  A character like James Bond is perpetually stuck in his prime with very little character development.  The same tropes are recapitulated over and over to varying degrees of success.  With comic book films characters like Superman, Batman and Spider-Man are rebooted and/ or recast so that the issue of age can be bypassed.   This creates a situation in which the same stories tend to get told over and over.  The same villains are reused in each new series of films. 

Conversely, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has attempted to show that these characters can age.  Hawkeye’s children have been shown to grow, Cassie Lang has aged and Peter Parker has graduated high school.  A number of characters have died, and Tony Stark was shown to have married and had a daughter in Avengers: Endgame.  However, recasting and rebooting seems inevitable, it’s hard to imagine a character like Steve Rogers never appearing on the big screen again.  In Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy he attempted to give a proper ending to his set of Batman stories.  The effectiveness and quality of that ending s debatable, but it doesn’t change the fact that Bruce Wayne’s arc as Batman came to an end, giving the sense that he had grown and moved on and wasn’t stuck in the same spot in his life.  It’s a tricky balance, giving characters the opportunity to change and grow opens up story direction, while holding them prisoner to a set age range leads to reused stories and this tends to detract from the overall interest over time.

Milton Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates

Looking back at some early newspaper comic strips, we can see the value in letting characters in serialized fiction age, develop and grow.  In Terry and the Pirates, Milton Caniff allowed his characters to age in essentially real time.  When we first meet Terry Lee in 1934, he’s 10 years old.  As the strip progresses, we see Terry , not only aging, but maturing.  Without Terry aging, many of the high points of the strip would not come to pass.  He goes through puberty, discovers girls and experiences love.  Caniff explores a unique and surprising sexual tension between Terry when he is in his mid teens and Burma.  Burma, as readers know has been around the block and is at least 10 years older than Terry.  The strip is always topical.  Terry goes on to join the Army Air Corps when the United States becomes embroiled in World War II and he continues to learn more about love and about life.  If Caniff had not allowed Terry to age, the strip could not have become as renowned as it is, and it would not have reached the same heights of artistic greatness.  The best parts stem from it’s topical nature as well as how Terry matures as a person in that world.  

Peter Parker and  Dick Grayson

There are two excellent examples of what happens when traditional comic book characters are allowed to age and grow and experience real life- Spider-Man and the original Robin, Dick Grayson.  They are both characters that go from teenagers (pre-teen in Dick’s case) through college to adulthood.  From the outset of the “Marvel Age of Comics,” Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby attempted to create characters and tell stories that had a lot more grounding and interpersonal drama than the static lives that had been portrayed since the late ’30’s/ early’40’s.

Peter Parker has a monumentally important character moment in the course of his first appearance and origin from Amazing Fantasy #15, that is well known to the general population- with great power comes great responsibility.  With the death of Uncle Ben, Peter learns that he has to use these powers with a purpose, and for the greater good.  The burden of responsibility becomes a core element of understanding Spider-Man’s motivation.  While this character growth as Peter Parker is essential to Spider-Man’s origin, it’s an example of how a character can grow and change emotionally.

More importantly, Peter Parker who  started out as a  high school student in 1962, graduates in 1965 in Amazing Spider-Man #28.   He subsequently enters Empire State University.  With the first few years of his existence, the character has aged in nearly real time.  His college years slow down to a crawl as he doesn’t finish college until Amazing Spider-Man #185 published in 1978.  Along with the supporting cast, A LOT happens to Peter in those years.  Imagine if he had just remained a high school student with the same problems.  It may be forgotten, but before Gwen Stacy died in Amazing Spider-Man #121, Peter had been considering proposing marriage.  He got a job as a staff photographer at the Daily Bugle and was trying to get settled so he and Gwen could have a life together.  This happened in Amazing Spider-Man #99 and it really sets things in motion for their relationship as it leads up to her death almost two years later.  

It’s not just Peter but his supporting cast.  Gwen goes through the death of her father and subsequent mourning, Mary Jane continues in and out of the group as Harry Osborn’s sometimes girlfriend, and Flash Thompson goes to Vietnam, does a tour and comes back a changed man.  All these play upon the life of Peter Parker.  At one point, Gwen even convinces Aunt May to ease up on Peter so she won’t continue to treat him like a child.  Ultimately, these stories aren’t possible without Peter aging and growing into a man.  Since “One More Day,” the storyline that retconned his marriage to Mary Jane, Peter has regressed back to seeming younger and things just happen to him without any sense of real growth or development.  He’s trapped in a cycle of his own bad luck.  Without Peter continuing to age and grow he will never get out of it.  Keeping Peter mired like this for the supposed sake of relatability only works if one expects readers to turn over every few years.  That was the philosophy about comic readership for years until the “Marvel Age of Comics” launched with Fantastic Four #1.  However, DC Comics did aging and character growth better, especially with Dick Grayson.

The original Robin, the Boy Wonder is the poster child for why characters should be allowed to grow and age.  From his first appearance in Detective Comics #38 in 1940, he was essentially unchanged for twenty-nine years.  Something finally happened in Batman #217, Dick Grayson went to college, Hudson University to be exact.  In the second half of the sixties, starting with the “new look” era for Batman, Dick had obviously had been shown to be older.  He wasn’t twelve anymore, he was certainly around 16 or 17.  While it didn’t happen overnight, it was a significant shift for the character.  Since then, Dick has been shown to continue to mature and age, including stepping into his own identity and out of Batman’s shadow as Nightwing.  This was chronicled chiefly in New Teen Titans, with his first appearance in his new identity in Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (July, 1984).  Since then, Dick has continued to be his own man.  He’s always part of the Bat-family, but there’s not way to take him back to being Robin.  So much has transpired in his life that regressing him would be a huge disservice to the character.  His current solo series by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo is without question one of DC’s best titles and has received numerous awards and nominations.  And, to think, Dan Didio wanted to kill him back in 2006 because he didn’t think characters who aged work.

How Slowly Should the Clock Move?

Along with Dick Grayson, fan favorite Wally West has shown personal and professional growth since he took over the mantle of The Flash at the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths.  In addition to maturing as a person into a husband and father, he had massive character development into the role of The Flash.  He went from someone not sure he could be The Flash to an iconic version of the character.  Fans decried his erasure from continuity in The New 52 so vociferously, that he was the prime mover for Rebirth occurring.  None of that would’ve been possible had Wally West not been allowed to age and grow.  It took around twenty years for wally to age up around ten years in story.  It’s easy enough to follow Dick Grayson’s journey with about four years per every in story year when analyzing his college years.  There’s not a hard and fast timeline, and some characters may age faster, but the development of characters and the ability to grow like people do is critical to good storytelling.  Readers almost always say they want characters to grow, what they don’t want is inorganic change, change for the sake of change and retcons that don’t fit the character.

What Happens Next?

At the time of this writing, Dick Grayson is enjoying critical and sales success.  Peter Parker is mired in a war between editorial and fans.  Spider-Man may still sell, but it’s not getting any accolades for the stories, whereas Nightwing is arguably the best book of the Big Two and just won an Eisner Award for best ongoing series.  What do you want to see?  Would you rather have Dick back as Robin?  Would you like Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage reinstated?  

Over on the original Earth-Two, DC Comics devoted a whole Earth to the concept of characters aging and growing in real time.  After the Crisis on Infinite Earths it became harder to do so with the legacy characters who were still around.  There’s a middle ground, but I think it’s essential for characters to be allowed to age and grow to give stories the sense that they matter, to make characters seem real as they go through their lives and to continually move things forward as opposed to keeping them in an unchanging status quo that doesn’t reflect real life changes.

Perhaps, it’s time to have a parallel Earth that reflects the characters as they move forward like the original Earth-Two.  Perhaps, there should be an imprint of timeless stories, but not written down to a younger audience.  Perhaps, there should just be some series set in the past that allow earlier points in continuity to be explored and clarified.  Ideally, there would be a way to keep classic versions of characters in a timeless manner, but also keep characters growing and developing to keep them interesting.  Given a choice, it would be best to allow characters to grow and develop and move forward in their lives, just like real life.

The post Should Comic Book Characters Age? appeared first on DC Comics News.

Along with the passion, love and enthusiasm of any fan base comes the ever growing negativity and that unfortunately can be much more powerful. It consumes corners of the internet spreading like a virus, people feed on it and unfortunately it has become popular to talk down, step on, and spread negativity when it comes to DC films. Within a short period of time, some of these people have becomes CGI experts, story telling geniuses and casting agents (mind you – every time Batman has been cast, the general negativity against the actor at the time has been nothing short of ill placed). Unless you’re working in the industry directly you have no idea what is going on with the production of a film, the “he said, she said, I have a source” is a rope that we pull on that at the end of the day is nothing more than click bait. I respect that people have the right to voice their opinion as I am here, however the growing negativity around DC films has become tiring!

I’m not here to talk about the story of the Flash, the CGI, casting, or the story. The Warner Bros’s revolving door of organisational restructures and cost cutting measures has had a direct impact on its films and they have directly contributed to the box office stumble that we’ve seen with the Flash.  We know and understand the Flash is a representation of what was left from Snyder’s world and in business timing is everything.

The timing of the restructure at Warner Bros, the introduction of James Gunn and the reboot of the DC Universe personified the Reverse Flash approaching Barry Allen from behind and stabbing him in the heart. Executives and board members are paid significant sums of money because they are tasked with making key decisions that have a global impact on an organisation; Warner Bros yet again failed to execute. The plan to restructure who was going to come into Warner Bros (James Gunn and co.) to lead the DC Universe,  and timing of the public announcement was nothing short of a disaster. All of this created a whirlwind amongst the DC fan base, all while the promotion of The Flash kicked off. Warner Bros decided to end one universe, reboot it with a new slate of films with James Gunn as the face of it all while we were meant to get behind the pending release of The Flash. This created a collision course, confusion, debate, twitter conversations with Gunn, and a film slate of random films that has did nothing but distract us from The Flash.

Once again the planning and execution from Warner Bros has been the cause of its own demise. All while James Gunn is partially involved in the promotion of his last Marvel film.  Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Ridiculous! Warner Bros didn’t have control of Gunn’s contractual commitments to promoting Guardians, but they did have control over when he started his new role!

Without additional context as to why the timing of these key events plaid out the way they did, the public announcement of James Gunn’s arrival & DC universe reboot could have been planned post the release and promotion of The Flash giving it a proper runway allowing Barry Allen to generate enough speed to truly run!

Read more DC news here

Check out our partner site here for the latest Dark Knight News!

The post How the Flash tripped over at the Box Office appeared first on DC Comics News.

“Afterworlds”

Cloonan and Conrad came out of the gate with a 10-part epic story, “Afterworlds.”  While it does pick up with Diana in the afterlife where she left by Scott Snyder at the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal, it wasn’t the afterlife as seen in Greek Mythology.  Instead, Diana was in Valhalla, where warriors in Norse Mythology are taken by the Valkyries after dying on the field of battle.  Diana would make a friend and lover (YIKES!) of Sigfried, Teutonic hero of The Ring of the Niebelung in Valhalla as a little voice in her head urged her to make her way back home.  Diana’s trek through the “afterlives” of different cultures finally saw the Amazing Amazon return to Earth.  

While this first story arc succeeded in returning Diana to her life on Earth, along the way Cloonan and Conrad added some new characters to Diana’s supporting cast, chiefly Sigfried and they also allowed “Afterworlds” to touch on the major core aspects of Diana’s character- connection to Greek Myth/Legend, fierce warrior, loyal, caring friend and advocate for peace.  Some aspects of Diana can seem like a contradiction, but that’s one of the reasons she’s so interesting.  As Diana fights along side Sigfried in the endless glory of battle in Valhalla, the reader is reminded of the martial aspect of Diana’s character.  Known chiefly for her magic lasso, Diana is also pretty good with a sword and shield.  

Diana’s trip through the afterlives leads her to Olympus and the confrontation with Janus as Cloonan and Conrad remind the reader that Diana always has one foot in the world of Greek Mythology.  This in turn leads Diana to a trip through the multiverse as Diana and Sigfried stick together through thick and thin.  This jaunt through worlds of the DC Universe demonstrate the integrity of Diana to the shared continuity as one of the three pillars of the Trinity along side Superman and Batman.

Finally, the new characters that Diana meets along the way reveal her caring and loyal nature as well as how she engenders the same in others.  Be it Sigfried or Ratatosk, the squirrel from Yggdrasil, the world tree. these new friends become as close to Diana due to the quality of her character.  Her caring, love and compassion shine through all her interactions with friend and foe

Back In Man’s World

When Diana returns to Earth she wastes no time in trying reconnecting with her friends, Etta Candy, Steve Trevor and the members of the Justice League as well as Cassie Sandsmark and Donna Troy.  Once again, Diana’s loyalty and caring nature are highlighted as she sees her friends and colleagues.  It’s a reminder that it’s OK for comics to be happy, and it’s OK to feel happy.  This positivity echoes Diana’s outlook on life.  At this point, Cloonan and Conrad turn to a different aspect of Wonder Woman’s 80 year history.  In a genius move, the writing duo begins exploring many of the original themes present in the original Golden Age Wonder Woman stories by Diana’s creator, William Mouton Marston.

While in Asgard, Diana had an encounter with Dr. Psycho, and upon her return she learns that Psycho is peddling a “macho man” campaign.  Throughout the storyline he manifests his powers exactly as he did in his first appearance way back in Wonder Woman #5 (1943).  Additionally, he utilizes the International Milk Company a company that can trace its first and only (?) appearance to Sensation Comics #7 (1942).  Dr. Psycho is playing the long game as its slowly revealed he has some shadowy backers who seem to be behind the whole thing.

Marson’s Themes

Cloonan and Conrad use Psycho’s campaign against women as a way of addressing a theme from Marston’s Wonder Woman’s stories.  Marston created the character to to be an heroic feminine alternative for girls in the early comic book industry dominated by male heroes.  However, upon inspection of those early issues of Wonder Woman and Sensation Comics, it becomes apparent that Marston isn’t just putting a female character in a male hero’s story, but rather suggesting a completely different approach to viewing the world.  This isn’t new, Marson’s agenda is well documented.  Marston suggests that love, understanding and compassion are more powerful and more effective than aggression, violence and corporal punishment, approaches typically associated with a masculine bent.  Cloonan and Conrad use this theme throughout the run, not only as evidenced by Diana’s personal relationships with friends, but her real belief that she can rehabilitate Dr. Barbara Minerva, the Cheetah.  It’s something that goes back to the Golden Age as Diana and her Amazon sisters believe that the original Cheetah (Priscilla Rich) and Paula Von Gunther can be rehabilitated through Amazonian methods based on love, compassion and understanding.

The deeper and subtler themes are paired with some more overt references to the past.  Cloonan and Conrad reintroduce Etta Candy’s classmates from Holliday College, the Holliday Girls for a modern audience.  As in the Golden Age, the Holliday Girls take no prisoners and are always capable and up to whatever task they take on.  We also get to see Barbara Minerva show up in the Golden Age Cheetah costume of Priscilla Rich.  Even one of Diana’s earliest foes, the Duke of Deception was brought back in a storyline.

The most interesting reference to Wonder Woman’s past occurs when Sigfried joins Diana on Earth and Steve Trevor takes the legendary warrior on as a roommate.  While Steve and Sigfried never do more than become great friends, they are written with a certain sensitivity.  At this point, Diana is essentially stuck with two suitors, Sigfried and Steve.  The two men maintain a friendship knowing that they both love Diana, but they never let it get in their way.  And, Diana, never treats one more intimately than the other.  Cloonan and Conrad have developed the mirror image of Marston, his wife and his live in lover.  Marston, despite being a professed feminist had no problem having a wife and mistress in an open relationship.  Diana, Steve and Sigfried never engage in any sort of romantic encounters all together, or separately, but it’s clear that Cloonan and Conrad are paying homage to Marston and his unique view of the committed relationship.

Wonder Woman Interrupted

During their tenure on Wonder Woman, Cloonan and Conrad were required to navigate two events that impacted the stories they were in the middle of telling.  It’s important to note that even though they gave their all and backed both events with enthusiasm, these events clearly interrupted what they were doing on Wonder Woman.   However, they never gave any indication how they felt about!  “Trial of the Amazons” split up the first part of the Dr. Psycho storyline.  The death of Hippolyta in that story seemed odd as Diana had just gone through the whole “ascension” bit herself recently.  More importantly, it distracted from the main Wonder Woman title.  It didn’t flow easily back and forth and the event truly felt forced.

The more recent Lazarus Planet event didn’t just distract, it seemed to truncate what would’ve been a much longer and incredibly interesting third act to a story arc.  Wonder Woman #795 ends on a surprising cliffhanger/ turn of events in which the population of Washington, D.C. has been affected by Eros into loving Diana…TOO much.  The pace of the arc certainly feels like this will be explored over a few issues, perhaps even right up to a resolution in issue #800.  However, it’s wrapped up really quickly in issue #796 with that issue heading right into Lazarus Planet.  As the next two issue serviced the Lazarus Planet event, it doesn’t take a lot to figure out that Cloonan and Conrad were being team players despite their final story arc being truncated.

Dawn of DC?

Wonder Woman #800 the last issue to feature Cloonan and Conrad as the writers with DC Comics having decided to go in a different direction for the  Dawn of DC.  Tom King’s first story also appears in issue #800 with his first full issue in a relaunch in September with a new #1 (Legacy #801).  The Dawn of DC banner is supposed to indicate a sort of “back to basics” for characters with good jumping on points.  Having already seen the solicit for new Wonder Woman #1, it doesn’t sound much like  “back to basics” for Diana.  If anything, it sounds like a rehash of themes in “Amazons Attack” from 2007.  One can’t criticize king for nostalgia for a favorite era, but that wasn’t an even that went over that well at the time, and it certainly is about as far away from a “back to basics” approach that one could imagine.  Diana as Public Enemy #1 is more along the lines of King’s tendency to deconstruct the characters he writes (there are a few exceptions)  rather than lean into what makes them tick.  Ironically, the entirety of Cloonan and Conrad’s run WAS a “back to basics.”  After restoring her to the world of the living from the afterlives, the writing duo brought back themes rooted in the essence of the character as well as restoring classic elements to the series. 

The same can be said for Jeremy Adams on The Flash.  Adams spent his entire run undoing the damage to Wally West perpetrated on the character in Heroes in Crisis (by Tom King!) and returning the character to the status quo for which fans had been clamoring.  This is evidence that DC Editorial doesn’t really know what it’s doing, it struggles to tell what’s good and what fans want.  King’s Wonder Woman may sell, but it’s won’t be because it’s a good interpretation of the character (it may or may not be) but, rather because King is a polarizing and controversial writer.  More people will pay to watch a traffic accident than an act of kindness.

“Whatever Happened to the Warrior of Truth?”

Wonder Woman #799 and #800 conclude Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad’s run on Wonder Woman.  cleverly they channel a classic Superman tale as they adapt the format of “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”  (Neil Gaiman did the same thing for Batman with “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?”).  This final tale by the duo revisits the character not so much as events in a life or a history, but rather an exploration of the themes that make Wonder Woman who she is.  It’s fitting that their run ends with the themes that have made it so good.  Perhaps, the cleverest bit is at the end of Wonder Woman #800 is when Conrad and Cloonan appear to have stealth restored Diana’s original clay figure origin.  It’s subtle, but Hippolyta gives Diana what amounts to a “pep” talk and the language references the original clay figure origin.  It’s smart.  It works on two levels, reminding the reader that love and compassion are at the core of the character.  Whatever comes next for Wonder Woman, this run will stand as a unique, interesting and intelligent run by creators who truly understand the character.

The post Cloonan and Conrad- A WONDERFUL Run appeared first on DC Comics News.

When the Birds of Prey first appeared in Black Canary/ Oracle: Birds of Prey #1 (one-shot) in 1996, it was the beginning of a unique team concept.  Dinah Lance and Barbara Gordon (Black Canary and Oracle, respectively) are two of DC Comics most important female characters.  They are a natural pairing in that regard, Dinah is one the DC Universe’s most accomplished hand to hand fighters and Barbara in her days as Batgirl, was the first costumed Bat-family character outside the Dynamic Duo themselves to have a lasting impact.  Together, Babs and Dinah forged a friendship and a team unlike any other in the DC Universe.  

Last week, the line-up for a new Birds of Prey series was first teased and then revealed slowly on social media.  Each day, Kelly Thompson, writer of the series set to debut in September 2023, shared a drawing of each member of the team for her first story arc.  Thompson asked fans to guess the line up, which was essentially fans giving their hopes for who would be on the team.   Fan participation provided a few surprises for Thompson as well, before the final unveiling she shared that there were just as many responses against the inclusion of Harley Quinn as there were hoping for her inclusion.  The first to be revealed was Black Canary, followed by Cassandra Cain, Big Barda, Zealot and finally Harley Quinn.   

Thompson also admitted the support for traditional Bird of Prey, Helena Bertinelli (The Huntress) surprised her.  The reveal of Harley Quinn as the final member also prompted Thompson to share that she knew putting Harley on the team would be divisive.  I’ve already rallied against Harley Quinn being a part of the Birds of Prey when the 2020 movie was released.  Pondering the merits of the announced line up has taken me from why people don’t want Harley Quinn on the team to being able to pinpoint why Barbara Gordon is essential to the Birds of Prey.

Batgirl to Oracle

Barbara Gordon first appeared in Detective Comics # 359 (January 1967) when she debuted in her origin story as the new Batgirl.  Barbara was the daughter of Commissioner James Gordon and worked as a librarian in her day-to-day life.  Dressed up as a “female Batman” for a costume party she stumbled onto a kidnapping caper and went into action on the spot.   She found she liked it and began rigorous training which led to her permanently taking up the mantle of Batgirl.  Over the next two decades, Barbara would feature in stories with Batman and Robin as well as solo tales. The librarian even became a congresswoman in the ’70’s, however, she never carried her own ongoing title.  Everything changed in 1988 when The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland depicted the crippling of the character by the Clown Prince of Crime as part of an attempt to push the Batman beyond his limits.  

The seemingly impassable obstacle of paralysis was addressed by John Ostrander and Kim Yale in the pages of Suicide Squad #23 (January,1989).  Barbara makes her first appearance as Oracle, a technical advisor, computer expert/ hacker and information broker.  With Barbara redefining herself after the terrible events of The Killing Joke, she becomes something altogether unique and different.  She’s now a true handicapped hero.  Unlike Daredevil who isn’t bothered by his blindness because his other senses more than compensate, or Professor Xavier whose skill was always of the mind, Barbara Gordon found a new skillset to develop and use to fight the same criminals that she did as the acrobatic Batgirl.

Oracle to the Birds of Prey

After Ostrander and Yale revealed Oracle as Barbara Gordon in Suicide Squad #38, the character would continue to work with the Suicide Squad and other heroes, specifically Batman.  Eventually, Ostrander and Yale would reveal the details of Barbara’s journey from victim back to hero in “Oracle: Year One” from from The Batman Chronicles #5 (1996).  She doesn’t give up on her physical abilities.  She trains with Richard Dragon, and learns to use eskrima, though wheelchair bound.  While training physically, she continues to develop her computer network and information contacts.

It is finally in Black Canary/ Oracle: Birds of Prey #1 that we see Barbara reach out to another character to be her agent on the ground for a situation she’s uncovered that needs to be addressed.  In this first issue, we see the core of the Birds of Prey concept- Barbara Gordon works behind the computer running the mission remotely while her operative(s) have feet on the ground and execute the mission.  It’s a paradigm that will later be seen in television shows like Arrow and The Flash.  Oracle and the Birds of Prey were first!

The Birds of Prey would appear in more one-shots, a couple mini-series before earning their own ongoing series with Birds of Prey #1 (January 1999).  This series ran for 127 issues before being relaunched with volume 2 in 2010 as part of the “Brightest Day” publishing venture.  This volume was cancelled with the line-wide New 52 reboot in 2011.  The next volume as part of the New 52 ran for 36 issues.  The Birds of Prey would next appear in their own series in 2016 as part of the “Rebirth” initiative in Batgirl and the Birds of Prey which ran for 23 issues. 

Over the years, the core membership of the team has been Oracle, Black Canary and the Huntress.  This developed over the years chiefly under the pens of Chuck Dixon and Gail Simone.  Simone plays with the line up with guest stars and even adds fan favorite, Zinda Blake, Lady Blackhawk as the longest lived fourth member.  Through it all, Barbara, Dinah and Helena are the center of the book.  Even in the New 52 run that begins with Black Canary putting an entirely new team together, Barbara Gordon with a miracle cure of her spinal column shows up as Batgirl within a few issues and it’s not long before Dinah and Barbara are at the center of the book, again.  Batgirl and the Birds of Prey sees Barbara and Dinah welcome Helena to the team in the New 52 continuity.  Writers Julie and Shawna Benson find the spirit of the team as they integrate the New 52 version of Helena and capture the magic of the relationship between the three women that Gail Simone had developed in her time with the characters.

Who Are the Birds of Prey?

I have no problem saying that the Birds of Prey are Barbara, Dinah and Helena.  The core concept is rooted in the friendship and camaraderie between these three women.  Barbara as Oracle (and sometimes Batgirl) is almost always working the mission from behind the scenes while Dinah and Helena are the agents taking the physical fight to the bad guys.  It’s easy for me to die on this hill, but there have been other characters on the team- Poison Ivy, Starling, Big Barda, Strix, Hawk and Dove to name a few.  And, of course, in accordance with Birds of Prey, the misnamed Harley Quinn solo film, Harley was forced into two different comics that were released around the time of the film.  Like the movie, these comics (Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey, Birds of Prey (2020)) leave Barbara out, suggesting that she was not an integral part of the team, despite the fact the entire history of the comic demonstrates the exact opposite.  The Birds of Prey ARE Barbara’s team.  It was her idea to find a way to make a difference by recruiting agents to execute the missions she identified, planned, designed and ran behind the scenes as Oracle.  Taking Barbara off the team is the first step in rebranding the concept as simply a group of female heroes.  Interestingly, on more than one occasion the team has included men, but it’s always been Barbara’s team.

Upon reflection, there is something even deeper than the in story reasons that Barbara is important to the team.  As already mentioned, Barbara Gordon as Oracle is a handicapped hero.  It’s not simply representation, her journey after the events of The Killing Joke are an inspiring example of how to face adversity and overcome seemingly devastating personal obstacles.  Her depression is real at the beginning, but she perseveres and reinvents her identity and becomes even stronger.  The Birds of Prey, the team that Barbara founded and led are part of this journey.  In fact, the Birds of Prey are inextricably linked to Barbara’s journey because the Birds of Prey are the end result of Barbara moving beyond the assault by the Joker and subsequent physical, emotional and mental trauma.  The team is a symbolic manifestation of her healing and getting back into the world.  When Barbara is removed from the team it diminishes the significance of her healing journey.  When the team is no longer hers, it minimizes the journey her character has been through.  It takes all her hard work and effort away from her character and gives her success either to someone else or it simply eliminates her significance as a handicapped hero.

Barbara Gordon IS the Birds of Prey

I don’t think for one instant that either Kelly Thompson or DC Comics are doing this on purpose. But, often there are unintended consequences.  It’s difficult to imagine the Birds of Prey concept without Barbara as the leader of the team.  It even becomes difficult to consider this line up of characters as the Birds of Prey without Barbara.  The team IS Barbara’s, to see it as “just” a group of female characters demonstrates a real misunderstanding of the core concept of the Birds of Prey.  Would DC launch a title called Superman if it starred Martian Manhunter, Lois Lane, Snapper Carr and Lex Luthor?  Perhaps, the line up that Thompson has assembled would be a better fit for a different title, because without Barbara Gordon in her role behind the computer leading the team, the Birds of Prey concept ceases to be recognizable.  A group of canaries is an opera.  Perhaps, Black Canary’s Opera would be a more fitting title for the forthcoming comic.      

It didn’t take Barbara long to be included in the New 52 version of Birds of Prey.  She reclaimed her identity of Oracle in Batgirl and the Birds of Prey.  The two titles that tried to shoehorn Harley onto the team in lieu of Barbara didn’t go anywhere, and the movie that spearheaded the move failed to garner a sequel or develop the concept further in any other projects.  It’s not because Harley isn’t a popular character, there’s no doubt about that.  Does she sell comics?  That’s debatable.  She certainly doesn’t seem to sell movie tickets.  She also doesn’t inspire fans of the Birds of Prey.  That’s what Barbara Gordon does.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it here again, Barbara Gordon may be the iconic Batgirl, but Oracle is the iconic Barbara Gordon.  And, Barbara Gordon cannot be separated from the Birds of Prey because the team is the culmination of Barbara’s journey from crippling injury to heroic rebirth.  To take Barbara away from the Birds of Prey is tantamount to erasing Barbara’s entire courageous and inspiring triumph over the mental and physical injuries inflicted by the Joker in The Killing Joke.

The post Why Barbara Gordon is Essential to the Birds of Prey appeared first on DC Comics News.

Having a Batman/Gotham City-themed restaurant in the heart of London is something that excited our entire UK-based team, and this particular Bat-Nerd HUGELY.

Thanks to my amazing wife, Jacqueline, I finally walked through the doors, sampled the gorgeous food, experienced the atmosphere, and met some of the wonderful people working there.

This isn’t a barbecue or burger joint, the food here is of a far higher class and style. You really do get what you pay for.

Here’s how the venue’s described on the company website:

Park Row is London’s first DC-inspired restaurant experience, created by Wonderland Restaurants in partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products and DC. as part of the Wonderland Restaurant group, a rich melting pot of some of the finest creative minds and storytellers from the world of food, film and magic.

 

Our company’s vision is to bring curiosity and wonderment to the dining experience in a way never seen before, and build an international portfolio of immersive food concepts around iconic brands, stories and characters.

1939 - Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics #27

Beware...

... The Court Of Owls

Enter The Batcave

From the moment you see the restaurant you’re greeted with a structure that screams style and class. The windows bear the legend “Gotham City” and even have Court Of Owls imagery on them. The canopy and door reminded us both of the Art-Deco entrance to New York’s Empire State Building; a theme that follows you into the restaurant itself.

Every Batman era is represented, from the Adam West and Burt Ward TV show, Tim Burton’s Batman ’89, all the way to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy.

We were greeted by Daniel. He gave us a warm smile and welcome, clearly prepared to regale us with the history of Park Row and Gotham City. Sadly, with my child-like enthusiasm after spotting a Shakespeare bust, just like the one seen in the vintage Adam West Batman ’66 TV show, I blundered straight past him announcing at the top of my lungs, “Wow! That’s what Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson used to get into the Batcave in the 60s!”

Daniel simply said, “Give that a try, and see what happens.”

Well… you didn’t have to tell me twice.

Upon lifting the bust the bookcase ahead of us swung aside, revealing a dimly lit, but brightly colored set of steps that led to the restaurant below. There we were met by Claudia, who took our coats and gave us a Joker Token with which we could retrieve them later.

This is not Planet Hollywood or TGI Friday, this is a million miles away from those places. This restaurant handles the Batman theme with grace and utter class. It’s not tacky or brash, it’s understated… and excellent. Patryk guided us around the restaurant and showed us the many faces of Gotham City, while telling us about the full 10-course taster menu, with paired drinks and the full, interactive, immersive Monarch Theatre experience. We’ll be back for that at the end of February, though Dark Knight News assistant editor, James Attias, has already experienced it.

There’s theatre, flavor, atmosphere, and fun, all in equal measure. We went for a quiet lunch but the place soon started filling up. Sine and Lucy served us and they were both fantastic.

Pure class

Selection for those that don't drink

Pumpkin soup and squid-ink risotto

Sea bass with Jerusalem artichoke puree and artichoke crisps. Beef cheek with parsnip crisps and parsnip puree

Gotham Desserts

"Everything Burns - The Joker card is made from tempered white chocolate and the ice cream is burned chocolate and whisky

No, it isn’t cheap but it’s far from expensive. Jacqui and I are real foodies, and have eaten in Michelin Star restaurants; Park Row is on the same level as many of them. Three-course meals start from as little as £35 per person and the venue also offers a-la-carte options, Afternoon Tea, and the world-famous full 10-course taster menu and immersive theatrical experience which is truly a feast for the senses.

The food is exquisite and there’s a great selection for vegetarians, vegans, and those who don’t drink alcohol.

We loved every minute.

Let's make some art!

The Bard may be in two minds about this one

The changing...

faces of...

Gotham City

Images May Be Subject to Copyright

The post Venue Review: Park Row London appeared first on DC Comics News.