Wonder Wednesday - Props! - Phil Jimenez

Today, I wanted to pay my respect to another of my favorite creators in comics, super star illustrator Phil Jimenez!
Jimenez's hyper detailed line work, without a doubt makes him the heir-apparent to George Perez, whom Jimenez is unabashedly inspired by. Like me, Perez's New Teen Titans run was a huge influence.
One of Perez's most legendary runs as a creator was on Wonder Woman, and like his idol, Jimenez also enjoyed a celebrated run on that title. (More on that later...)
And also like me, Jimenez is actually an even bigger fan of Donna Troy, originally Wonder Girl, and has shepherded her through many of her recent travails at DC, including returning her to life after she was unceremoniously killed off in a Teen Titans miniseries.
He redesigned her costume, melding the lines of her old Wonder Girl costume with the "space"/"stars" motif she'd worn in more recent years, in her identity as Troia. As a fan of hers, it makes me happy that she has such a champion in comics looking out for her.
This is one of his earliest published works for DC, a pinup from the 80s miniseries War of the Gods, depicting Wonder Woman, Troia and Captain Marvel, the three biggest name heroes to derive their powers from the gods of legend.
It was, however, another former sidekick/Teen Titan, that helped Phil make one of his earliest big splashes, Aqualad.
In 1986, DC exec Neal Pozner wrote a miniseries starring Aquaman, in which, he ditched his classic orange and green suit for a mostly blue "underwater camouflage" costume. Despite the audacity, the look was embraced by fans and the miniseries sold well enough that a sequel was developed but due to editorial shifts, was ultimately scrapped. As beautifully rendered as the camouflage suit was, by Craig Hamilton in the miniseries, it was too complicated for most artists, and in his subsequent appearances, Aquaman reverted to his classic costume.
Phil Jimenez and Neal Pozner were romantically involved until Pozner's death in 1994. Jimenez dedicated the miniseries Tempest to his memory. By this point, many of the original Teen Titans had grown up. Robin became Nightwing. The Flash died and Kid Flash adopted his mentor's role and as previously stated, Wonder Girl became Troia (and lost all connection to Wonder Woman, due to continuity conflicts). Now, Aqualad became Tempest and gained vast magical powers, differentiating him from his mentor. His new suit, though, is an obvious homage to the blue camouflage suit worn by Aquaman in Pozner's miniseries.
His intricate art style continued attracting fans, despite it not fitting the normal exaggerated art style popular during the 90s. He achieved a career high drawing the massive Justice League vs. Titans miniseries that found two generations of heroes battling it out, with either the fate of the world OR Titan Cyborg's life on the line.
The above image is an homage to Perez's original illustration for Justice League versus Avengers from the 80s, before the project was scrapped. That image however had been reprinted often over the years. I think George would've been proud.
As I said, a crowning moment came when Jimenez took over both writing and drawing Wonder Woman, after a lackluster run in the late 90s. His love for the Amazon Princess was obvious on the page as he lovingly rendered her and her cast, drawing on characters from throughout her history, including of course, Perez's run.
In one cool move, he redesigned Themyscira into this magical fantasy locale, not just an island in the ocean.
While his run was respectable and vastly superior to the run before it, it had its problems. One was that during an important storyline, he was forced to suddenly deviate from his plot to tie into a company-wide crossover featuring The Joker. That was out of his hands, really, but even so, one thing that may have hampered him was his sheer love and respect for Wonder Woman, which sadly came across as him making her his "darling," completely flawless and yet uninteresting. It's a matter of taste, I suppose. A lot of fans seemed to hate how curly he drew her hair, calling it "mall hair." I... I mean, I've seen worse and it's not like it was all poofed in front! It was just curly band long!
In another Perez-like move, Jimenez drew Infinite Crisis, the sequel to Perez's 1984-85 history-changing Crisis on Infinite Earths. Possibly the most controversial moment from the story (which actually occurred BEFORE the series began) was Wonder Woman killing criminal mastermind Maxwell Lord on live television. The move haunted Wonder Woman for years and soured many in the public's perception of her. Then she started wearing pants and I think this all went away... maybe?
His most recent work was on Legion Academy, a Legion of Super Heroes tie-in, featuring the homolicious Power Boy and Gravity Kid.
Once again, JUST LIKE ME, Storm is his favorite X-Man, so when he became the artist on one of their 27,000 books, he reintroduced her as part of the team, after she'd been absent for several years.
In this image, he pays tribute to one of John Byrne's legendary classic X-Men covers... although why the fuck is Iron Man on there?!
He also took a stab at the X-Men's Canadian counterparts, Alpha Flight.
Phil Jimenez is one of the most skillful and respected illustrators out there. His work isn't flashy or stylized, it's hyper detailed and realistic. I think sadly, though, that because his work is so similar to Perez's fans haven't quite embraced or recognized the quality of his work, because they see him still as a student to the master.

But regardless, he IS a master on his own and I will continue to look forward to whatever work he puts out!

Wonder Wednesday - DC Reboot Part 2

So here is the full cover of Justice League #1, revealing the core of the team. No J'Onn J'Onzz, but Cyborg is there, having joined recently alongside fellow former sidekicks/children of heroes Nightwing Batman, Donna Troy, Jessie Quick and Jade. He's also apparently a central figure in Flashpoint, but I haven't read that, so I don't know much about it. The fact that I had no interest in Flashpoint, DC's central crossover this summer should have been a red flag. I've been all wrapped up in the other recent crossovers like Blackest Night, but this one held no appeal from the first teaser images they released.

So anyway, DC is relaunching 52 books all with new #1s, controversially including the two longest running comics in existence Action Comics, home of Superman and Detective Comics, which is responsible for the name of the company and also served as the launch pad for Batman. They've revealed that they are turning back the clock and the characters will be younger than they are currently. Hmmmm, so now everyone's speculating whether recent controversial events will be erased and whether certain characters will be returning from the dead. They claim that they will also be diversifying their universe, which you can't really tell from the above illustration.

This may or may not have anything to do with matters, but there has been a long-running legal battle between DC and the families of Jerry Seigle and Joe Schuster, the two men who created Superman. Recently, the families were awarded the intellectual rights to Action Comics #1 which detailed the origin of Superman. I'm not sure what it all means, but I've read that this means that the bulk of what happens in this issue now belongs to the families, including Superman being from Krypton and that it could mean DC may not have access to those things, should the family decide not to play nice. Couldn't restructuring their universe be the perfect way to recreate a new Superman without the trappings of that first issue? Wouldn't it have been a bold move to give him another skin color, like GASP! brown? DC's been whoring itself to the media for ages now, and that would have given them their biggest reaction yet!

Who's coming back from the dead? Jonathan Kent? Ted Kord (Blue Beetle)? Ralph (Elongated Man) and Sue Dibny? Kent Nelson (the original Dr. Fate)? Arthur Curry Jr. (Aquaman's baby son)? (Or for that matter Tula/Aquagirl and Garth/Aqualad/Tempest?) Lian Harper?

OR will the former original Teen Titans be de-aged back into their classic sidekick roles? Will Dick Grayson not only not be Batman, but will he not even be Nightwing? What does this mean to his successors Jason Todd and Tim Drake? It may sound crazy, but they are depicting Dick as Robin on their current Young Justice animated series, so it would make sense for them to try and reflect that in the comics. And, though it's doubtful that Robin will appear in any upcoming Batman movies, IF they were going to use a Robin, it's going to be Dick.
It seems unlikely that Garth/Aqualad would be used, since they just introduced Kaldur'ahm/Jackson Hyde as the new Aqualad. They could mimic the show's continuity and still have Garth and Tula alive, though, just with Kaldur/Jackson as the active Aqualad. It APPEARS that The Flash on the JLA cover is Barry Allen (blue eyes), which begs the question, what about Wally West, who was The Flash for the last two decades+? He's been reduced to part-time hero, but do we need two Flashes? (Three, if you count the original who is still with the Justice Society.) On YJ, he's Kid Flash again. Will DC be so bold as to take that step, putting him back in the classic yellow and red suit and... erasing Bart Allen (the current Kid Flash) from the equation all together?!

The one poor original Titan that deserves a reboot the most is Roy Harper/Speedy/Arsenal/Red Arrow, if just to get rid of all those damn aliases. In the last year or so, he had his arm ripped off, replaced with a cybernetic arm, had his young daughter killed, his city destroyed and relapsed into drug addiction. Let's let this poor sap go back to being a cocky kid sidekick when times were simpler.
DC's had trouble with replacing "classic" characters in the past. Most notably Green Lantern. They wrote out Hal Jordan and replaced him with Kyle Rayner, who gained his own significant fan base. But the decision to replace Hal caused one of the hugest backlashes in its history and eventually, they were forced to return him to the role. But what about Kyle who was a hugely popular character on his own now? Not to mention the two other Earth-based GLs John Stewart (one of the only big name African American heroes in its roster) and Guy Gardner (a member of the cult favorite Justice League International)? DC's choice... just use 'em all. They're all still Green Lanterns and they all still operate under that name and Hal and John were even in the Justice League at the same time. (Also as it is on the YJ cartoon, so that could remain.) As with The Flash... this is kinda confusing. Could DC really have the ballz to eliminate one or two of these guys?

I'd say probably the second situation similar to this is Wonder Girl. Donna Troy, in her classic origin, was Wonder Woman's younger sister. But in 1985, Wonder Woman was relaunched as a brand new character just making her debut. This would essentially negate Wonder Girl's entire existence, but DC rewrote Donna's origin so that she was no longer an Amazon, but rather given her powers by the Titans of Myth (the precursors to the Greek gods) and adopted a new code name, Troia. A few years later, a new Wonder Girl debuted, Cassie Sandsmark, the daughter of Zeus, the king of the Greek gods and a human mother. Cassie followed in Donna's footsteps and joined the current Teen Titans and has proven popular on her own, her romance with Superboy being a particular favorite among fans. Donna's overly complex origin has since been mended so that she is Wonder Woman's sister again. Despite Cassie's success, many fans still think of Donna as the quintessential Wonder Girl, though. IF DC is de-aging their characters and, as I suspect, returning a lot of the modern day successors to their original sidekick roles, Donna would certainly be among them, right?

In recent years, DC HAS attempted to racially diversify their ranks. BUT in order to do so, rather than introducing brand new characters, they've chosen to replace existing characters with new racially diverse versions. Firestorm was replaced by African American Jason Rusch, The Atom with Asian American Ryan Choi and most controversially, the care-free, fun-loving Ted Kord/Blue Beetle (left), whom they had KILLED BY A SHOT TO THE HEAD, and replaced with Latino Jaime Reyes. All three were included on Batman: The Brave & The Bold, especially Jaime who has probably proven the most successful of the replacements. However, none were popular enough to sustain their own comics and Ryan Choi has already been killed off, with the prior Atom, Caucasian Ray Palmer returning to the role. What will be these characters ultimate fates? I can't believe DC won't bring Ted Kord back, seeing as how outraged people were over his death. On Smallville, Ted Kord was alive, but Jaime was the Blue Beetle. Could DC pursue a similar storyline?

I GUARANTEE one thing that is being eliminated is Lois Lane's marriage to Superman, and probably her knowledge of his secret identity. (There are already rumors of a Superman/Wonder Woman romance!) This is one of those matters that has been handled EXTREMELY well since it occurred, but let's face it, no one cares about old married couples. That's why movie are all about falling in love, not maintaining love. That's why couples on TV shows are always will-they-or-won't-they and don't get married until their series end. Marvel's already wiped out Spider-Man and Mary Jane's marriage. Expect DC to follow suit. I just hope Lois remains a vital character. I love her and she doesn't deserve to be relegated to the sidelines.

There's also a very strong chance that Barbra Gordon will be reverted back to before she was crippled and will once more serve as Batgirl. The fact of the matter is that Barbara remains to this day THE Batgirl. She's the only one that ever appears on any licensed merchandise, despite not actually serving in the role in over two decades. She's still the one EVERY fan depicts in the role, when they do drawings o f the women of the DC Universe... despite not actually serving in the role in over two decades. Despite the fact that there have been two replacement Batgirls in that time. Both replacements, Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown, have been depicted as capable characters and have their die-hard fans. But Barbara's stamp has proven indelible. She simply IS the ONLY real Batgirl to the general populace, comic fans included.

The hesitance to simply return her to the part full-time has always been her current identity of Oracle. Oracle represents a unique role in the DC Universe, a guiding information resource for all its heroes... and one of the only disabled heroes in ANY medium. The character of Barbara Gordon was never particularly well written as Batgirl. It wasn't until she became Oracle that she received any sort if depth or development.

Even so, after failing with Cassandra Cain and acknowledging that pretty much everyone considered Babs the real Batgirl, DC came super close to making her Batgirl again and then at the last second balked and put Stephanie Brown in the role, which has resulted in a well-written book... that no one reads. So I'd bet my LIFE that we're going to see Barbara as Batgirl again very soon.

What does this mean for Batwoman? It's no secret that her run on Detective Comics is my favorite comic in years. She's had her own comic "in the works" for something like four years now. It was supposed to be out already, but kept getting pushed back. Is it still coming out? Will it have to be retooled now, to fit into this new continuity? Will her established continuity still exist? Do we need a Batwoman alongside a restored Batgirl? (Once again, just my hypothesis.) Well... I do, at any rate!

Heh. Here's a crazy thought. What if I'm overreacting? (Moi?!) What if this is just a stunt? Or a finite storyline that will be wrapped up in a year or so? What if the concept tanks and DC just undoes it all like it never happened?

I said yesterday that this may be the straw that broke the camel's back and the reason I drop monthly comics. Is that an overreaction? I don't necessarily think so. I've been drifting further and further away from comics in the last year or so. I realized that with my toy collecting, I'm mostly only buying characters or versions of characters that I grew up with, like the Super Friends, Satellite Era Justice League, 70s and 80s stuff. I've continually read comics the whole time, but anything post-Crisis, 90s, modern... it doesn't resonate with me. I don't have any emotional attachment to it. I think maybe the time HAS come that I should just let go and move on.

But then I think, but Aquaman is getting his own series written by Geoff Johns and Batwoman may still happen... how can I not follow those titles? So... ha ha, maybe I won't drop monthly comics altogether, I'll just revamp which titles I follow.

Throw-Ahead Thursday

I spent all of last week looking backward, so today, I'm going to look ahead to some things I am looking forward to in the coming year. In no particular order...

Potential new growth in digital comics

I think eventually books will be the new CDs, i.e. I will look at them as clutter and junk and wonder why I have them lying around taking up valuable space that could be occupied by delightful fashion dolls and action figures. Just last week, I could not have cared less about digital comics, but... then I got an iPad. There are Marvel and DC aps, but you still have to buy the individual comics and they're all old and I think they're just random issues. There may not even be complete stories! I mean, I will still gladly pay full price for them, but to be able to d.l. them, read them and NOT have them junking up my house?! Perfect! But the publishers need to get on the ball and crank up their offerings, because I already have the collected Ultimate Spider-Man. I don't need to buy them issue by issue for $2 a pop!

DC Universe Online

Why READ a comic when you can LIVE one?! I was playing City of Heroes, which I enjoyed although it got repetitious. Then I saw the kick ballz trailer for DC Universe Online:

OH DAY-UM!!! That looks INCREDIBLE!!! In the game, you create your own character, hero or villain, and team up with and battle the characters of the DCU. You can go completely original or base your character on one of the existing heroes/villains. It was supposed to be out now, but got pushed back. At any rate, when it comes out... I may take a week off work. Just sayin'.

Thor and Captain America on the Big Screen... Shirtless
Green Lantern on the Big Screen... PERIOD!
This better not suck!

DC Universe Classics Wave 18 (Rumored)

Wave 18 of my favorite toy line is rumored to be a Super Friends themed assortment, including Black Vulcan, El Dorado, the jester-style Toyman from the Legion of Doom and Bizarro with a collect + connect Apache Chief!

That completes the Legion of Doom for this series and almost completes the Super Friends, with a few minor exceptions... and one MAJOR exception, Samurai. This is especially puzzling since Samurai was in the 80s Super Powers toy line and this past year, they highlighted the SP line by integrating almost all of the characters that were part of that series into DCUC. Rumor has it, Samurai will be included in a 5-pack along with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor. Like I needed more versions of THEM! Oh well, I'm a lock on getting ALL of them! (Wave 19 featuring all Justice Society members is also pretty much a sure bet for me!)

With all the excitement over DC video games, movies and toys, what about the comics? Welllllll....

The Continuing Adventures of Aquaman and Family

With Mera's rise in prominence in last year's Blackest Night and this year's Brightest Day and the addition of a brand new Aqualad, both in the comics and in the new Young Justice cartoon series, things are positively BOOMING for DC's King of the Seas! Diggin' it big time!

But... as for the rest of DC Comics... Sigh...
I'm looking forward to them getting their shit together. Get Superman back in the skies. Get Wonder Woman out of that stupid costume...

Get BOTH of them, along with Bruce Wayne, Green Lantern and The Flash back in the Justice League (at the very least!)... just... GET IT TOGETHER, DC! It appears they are shifting their focus to other media, but don't forget the foundation this house was built on... the comics! Time to get back on track!

Let's see what 2011 has in store!

Wonder Wednesday 12-29-10

Off topic, but first up, for anyone who isn't my friend on FB, here is the highly anticipated (by me anyway) DJ Earworm year end United States of Pop mashup, entitled Don't Stop The Pop. I believe this is the fourth one of these he's done and they are all genius! He takes Billboard's listing of the Top 25 songs of the year and mashes them all up into one song! I have been anxiously awaiting this year's edition for weeks now and it has finally arrived and is beyond worth the wait! It blew away every expectation I had! Part of that has to do with this being one of the poppiest, danciest years in pop music in a while, with multiple contributions from Usher, Taio Cruz, Katy Perry and others. But I actually think it's the neatest when he mixes in non-dancy songs like Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" and Train's "Hey Soul Sister." Check it out!

It's amazing all the way through, but I think my favorite parts come toward the end. I love the mashup of Alicia Keyes and Katy Perry "From New York... to California" and I think my absolute favorite is Katy singing, "No regrets..." followed by Bruno Mars, "There's not a thing that I would change..." Just brilliant! I've been listening to it on repeat! You can download it from DJ Earworm's site, and check out his other genius mashups, including all his previous United States of Pops.

The new Teen Tit... ahem, I mean Young Justice series is set to launch on 1-7 and Cartoon Network has released a new 7 minute promo.


I am so excited for this series! The first episode was exquisite and this clip looks equally amazing! The clip features Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash trying to convince Speedy to join them. I think that's a nice homage to the fact that these are the four classic teen sidekicks.
And the "trinity" at the center of this team are the three first teen sidekicks to join forces, even though this Aqualad isn't the same.
As previously discussed, Wonder Girl wasn't a real unique character and was only added to the Teen Titans as a mistake and Superboy and Miss Martian are both relatively recent creations. But I'm sure ALL the characters will be given their time in the spotlight. This show is too good and I haven't been this excited about a series in a loooooong time!

I'm still watching GI Joe Renegades and it's grown on me. It's a completely new take on GI Joe with nothing to do with any previous incarnation. In the newest episode, there was a lovely homage to the 80s series...
The voices of Duke's parents were provided by the original Duke and Scarlett! (I don't know the actors' names, shame!) Scarlett's voice was immediately recognizable. She has this unmistakable slight rasp in her voice. Duke's was slightly harder to recognize, but I'm sure it was him and what a neat little nod to the series that really launched this long-spanning franchise!

So... at least I have some TV goodness to look forward to in the new year!