DCZzzzzzzzzz... But First...

These are the new McFarlane Walking Dead figures of Rick and Michone:
Wait a second! You mean, I've been reading this book for this long and never realized that Michone was a FUCKING HOOKER?! Are you kidding me?! Okay, so I get that toy designers are probably not fashionistas, but FER SERIOUS?! Some idiot thought, "You know what a zombie apocalypse survivor would most likely choose to wear? A purple pleather tiger-stripe miniskirt and a plunging purple pleather vest. DONE!" That's not even classy call girl gear, that's back alley crack ho wear! Michone, GURL, 99.99% of the world is dead. That means all the department stores are abandoned. You don't HAVE to shop at Hustler Hollywood! That is a fucking disgrace and Robert Kirkman, if you approved that shit, you need to bow your head in shame! GODDAMMIT! You know how much I would love a Michone action figure?! An indecent amount... but not Power Action Street Walker Michone! Nuh uh!!! (Finger waggle!)

(Damn, I get sassy when I get all riled up!) Anyhoo, here are DC's latest revelations... except for the first one, they tend to be kinda Vertigo-esque.
Batwing - Starring the Batman of Africa. M'kay, I was complaining about the lack of ethnicities, but... okay, really, is that a PINK suit of armor?! I mean, I'd rock the shit outta that, but I can hear the jabs already. Wurq it, Gurl! (Whu Knu U was the sassiest letter in the alphabet? I shur didn't... u?)

Animal Man

Demon Knights (set in the Middle Ages, so that should have fuck all to do with the rest of the line)

Frankenstein

I, Vampire

Resurrection Man (Sorry, I don't give a shit about any of these, so no comments...)
Justice League Dark... some of DC's supernatural characters teamed up, including MAYBE Zatanna in the corset with fishnet arm band. The biggest surprise is John Constantine (star of Hellblazer), returning a la Swamp Thing to the mainstream DCU proper.

The biggest surprise was...

Voodoo, a character who appeared in the 90s Image-then-Wildstorm series WildC.A.T.S. Yeah, DC bought Wildstorm, but there's been little co-mingling of the two companies. Now suddenly, one of its characters gets her own series in the (revamped) DCU? Well, HELL! What else do they have up their sleeves? (Some Milestone characters better pop up with the quickness!)

WTFriday?! - More Post-Flashpoint News

Well, since my last post, more news has surfaced about the upcoming relaunch of the entire line of DC Comics. #1 is that Nightwing will be getting his own book back... it is possible that they'll pull some shenanigans and it won't be Dick Grayson, but I kinda doubt that, what with all the other shenanigans they're pulling, that they'd like, y'know, slip Jason Todd into the role or something. So I predict Dick will be Nightwing again, since with like 25 years under his belt, he's established himself pretty firmly in that identity. This negates my guess that the original Teen Titans would be returning to their old sidekick roles in keeping with the Young Justice cartoon. Which is fine by me.


I also assume this means Tim Drake will drop the "Red" and just return to being just plain Robin. Damian Wayne proved pretty popular (for such a nasty little shit), but I'm guessing he'll either be negated or he'll be like five years old or something. Sadly, I think the same goes for the various Batgirls that are not Barbara Gordon.

DC's solicitation for The Flash #1: Rising superstar Francis Manapul, fresh off his acclaimed run on THE FLASH with Geoff Johns, makes his comics writing debut in THE FLASH #1, sharing both scripting and art duties with Brian Buccellato. The Flash knows he can’t be everywhere at once, but what happens when he faces an all-new villain who can? The cover to issue #1 is by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato.

Hmmm, well it's no surprise that this Flash is Barry Allen, as his was the most unexpected and controversial resurrection in comics since Bucky over at Marvel. They certainly wouldn't reintroduce him and just cast him aside. But that begs the question, what about Wally West?


Wally has served as The Flash for almost as long as Dick Grayson has been Nightwing. He was featured on the Justice League animated series. What are they going to do with him? Rumor has it, he'll be spearheading a book called Speed Force. Once again, this disproves my guess that DC would actually use this as an opportunity to simplify their continuity and establish that there is just one of each big name character. I mean, I love Wally, not to mention all the various Green Lanterns, but it's confusing. This was the reason for the very first Crisis in 1985, to establish that there is just one Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, etc. We've got three Flashes running around right now (pun intended) plus Kid Flash, Jessie Quick, XS, Wally's kids... eh whatever, what do I know?

And speaking of the Green Lanterns, they're all safe too. Hal will continue headlining the main Green Lantern book, Guy and John will be featured in GL Corps and Kyle will be leading The New Guardians, a team composed of Lanterns from each spectrum, including I would assume St. Walker (below), one of my favorite characters from the Lantern pantheon.
Guy Gardner will also be featured in Justice League International. Here is DC's solicit: A team of internationally-drafted superheroes fight each other and their bureaucratic supervisors as much as they do global crime in JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #1 from writer Dan Jurgens and artist Aaron Lopresti. The cover to issue #1 is by Aaron Lopresti.

Hmmm, Vixen. And Fire & Ice. I am a fan. I'll check this book out. I expected Blue Beetle to be included... one of them at any rate. Maybe that's coming up? However, I think Vixen should be in the MAIN Justice League, not some off-shoot. (The lady in the black and gold costume is apparently a new character.)

DC is making it hard to stick by my "not buying monthly comics anymore" declaration when they keep sticking creative dream teams on these books like Wonder Woman which will now be drawn by the absolutely fantastic Cliff Chiang! Solicit: New York Times bestselling writer Brian Azzarello, author of The Joker and 100 Bullets, teams up with the immensely talented artist Cliff Chiang (Neil Young’s Greendale) for WONDER WOMAN #1, an exciting new series starring the DC Universe’s greatest superheroine. The cover to issue #1 is by Cliff Chiang.

Cliff Chiang draws some of the best women in comics! He's up there with Amanda Conner! He even makes this ridiculous Jim Lee-designed mess passable. But are they fucking kidding me with those goddamn navy boots? Fuck! Have you learned nothing, DC?!

Geoff Johns, one of comics’ greatest storytellers, reunites with GREEN LANTERN and BRIGHTEST DAY collaborator Ivan Reis to bring you a thrilling new take on the fan-favorite hero of the sea in AQUAMAN #1. The cover to issue #1 is by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado.

Johns loves Aquaman and his cast and did a fantastic job depicting them in Brightest Day and Ivan Reis is just amazing, so... you couldn't ask for a better team to assign to an ongoing Aquaman book! Once again, I just can't NOT buy this book! It's everything I could hope for as an Aquafan! (But to quote RuPaul, "Don't fuck it up.")

I forgot to mention this last time, but it seems like DC has just decided to abandon the name "Captain Marvel" since they can't use it on anything they release, not even toys and such. Fun fact: In his very first appearance, the hero-that-cannot-be-released-as-Captain Marvel was actually named Captain Thunder. DC also attempted to launch characters named Captain Thunder at various times, including a black version of Captain Marvel. So now... they've just decided the Shazam-powered hero is called just that, Captain Thunder. This character may or may not be in the new Justice League, but it seems highly likely that he will get his own series. (Also, everyone is talking about how He-Man-ish that transformation sequence looks. "I have the powerrrrrrrrrr!" I mean look at Mr. Tawky Tawny in Battle Cat Armor!!!)

It looks like when they said they were trying to diversify their ranks, that they didn't just mean that Cyborg was now going to be in the Justice League. Another hero of color, Mr. Terrific is getting his own book.

The world’s third-smartest man – and one of its most eligible bachelors – uses his brains and fists against science gone mad in MISTER TERRIFIC #1, the new series from writer Eric Wallace and artist Roger Robinson. The cover to issue #1 is by J.G. Jones.

I am not familiar with the creators on this book, but I have long thought Mr. T, rotten name and all, should star in his own book. He's like Black Batman! He was even banging Batman's ex, Sasha Bordeaux! I wonder if that will change, however, since they made a point of stating that he was an "eligible bachelor"... which I find odd in a listing for a super hero comic. I hope that this doesn't mean the book is in any way like The Bachelor. Or do I?

When this announcement was first made, they stressed that this wasn't a hard reboot from the ground up, that they were just stepping back a few years so that the characters were younger (translation: single and ready to mingle), but their solicitation for Firestorm clearly indicated that this IS a hard reboot with no connection to established continuity.

Welcome to a major new vision of the Nuclear Man as writers Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone team up with artist Yildiray Cinar to deliver THE FURY OF FIRESTORM #1. Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond are two high school students, worlds apart – and now they’re drawn into a conspiracy of super science that bonds them forever in a way they can’t explain or control. The cover to issue #1 is by Ethan Van Sciver.

It LOOKS like Jason and Ronnie are two separate Firestorms (and who is that in the background?), which if that is the case, sucks, because the two-people-fused-together thing was the main thing that made Firestorm unique. And those costumes look awful all in one solid color. Boo! Did you learn nothing from Superman Red and Superman Blue?

There were also solicits for Hawkman, Green Arrow and Captain Atom, none of which I care about, so I won't really discuss them too in-depth. Hawkman looks stupid. Hate the new helmet and no word on Hawkgirl/woman. Green Arrow sounds like Green Arrow. Captain Atom sounds like Dr. Manhattan. And there's a new anthology book called Braver and Bolder, which features Deadman on the first cover. Keep in mind there are going to be 52 new books, so this is just the beginning.

They did say there will be a Teen Titans and Birds of Prey, but no specifics. I'm guess in the case of Birds it's because they don't want to ruin the "surprise" (that everyone already knows about) of Barbara Gordon returning as Batgirl. And who knows about Titans. I really hope they leave that as close to the way it is now as possible, Robin (Tim), Superboy, Wonder Girl (Cassie), Kid Flash (Bart)... I'd add Aqualad.

Just to keep track, that's...
1. Justice League (or America, presumably)
2. Action Comics
3. Detective Comics
4. Wonder Woman
5. Aquaman
6. Green Lantern
7. GL Corps
8. GL: New Guardians
9. Green Arrow
10. Hawkman
11. Flash
12. Captain Atom
13. Braver & Bolder
14. Nightwing
15. Batgirl
16. Justice League International
17. Mr. Terrific
18. Justice Society of America
19. Firestorm
20. Teen Titans
21. Birds of Prey

Also, rumored/presumed:
22. Speed Force
23. Shazam/Captain Thunder

I image a 5,035th revamp of Legion of Super Heroes is in the mix. But geez, so much for that diversity declaration. ONE African American hero getting his own book? (Okay, so Jason Rusch is HALF a hero and John Stewart is sharing Corps with Guy, so that's HALF a book, so add them together to get ONE additional, so that equals TWO.) And Cyborg and Vixen are parts of teams, so that doesn't count. And only TWO females on top of that, Wonder Woman and Batgirl! I get that there are more titles to be announced. I assume Batwoman is still in the works, so that's one more woman and a LGBT character on top of that. I would assume that Supergirl will also be getting her own series. I'm not sure how the sales on Zatanna were, so she may or may not be coming back in her own title. Black Canary will, I'm sure, be part of Birds of Prey. It would have been really bold for DC to make the new Captain Thunder the original 70s African American version. If there's a time to take some chances, it's now. I'd have loved to have seen Vixen in her own book or Dr. Light in the JLA or JLI lineup.

Oh, I almost forgot! Speaking of female heroes, they have declared that ALL of their females will now be dressing more modestly. I'm not quite sure what their definition of modest is, as Wonder Woman's suit is still the skimpiest in the Justice League. But THANK HERA, that we'll soon be rid of this:
Not to mention this...
And this...
But what about *GASP*, THIS?!:
Would they really cover up the most famous breastestess in all of comics?! Or what about Black Canary?
Those fishnets are the closest thing she has to a signature logo! Ditto Zatanna!
What equals skimpy? Honestly, not to go off on a whole different topic, but let's look at Supergirl for instance.
As drawn by her suit's designer Michael Turner, she looks like a mangy crack whore who's never eaten in her life and loves the shit outta some mascara. And hair bleach.
As drawn by her current illustrator, Jamal Igle, she looks perfectly healthy and modest. Her skirt is nearly knee-length and she wears "bike shorts" underneath, so no Britney/Paris/Lindsay peakaboo moments. He even lengthened her outrageously dated belly tee to cover more. (If only they could ditch that look altogether and give her a full shirt!) I mean, yes she has some skin exposed, but she's Supergirl and doesn't need outer garments to protect her. I don't really see anything wrong with this costume, minus the belly tee. And look at those lustrous locks as compared to the Turner illustration where she apparently has straw growing out of her head! She could do a Pantene commercial now! (Sorry, did this just turn into me bashing a dead artist... yeah, sorry, but I gotsta call 'em as I see 'em!)

Since I'm just meandering all over the place now, you know who needs a helluva redemption? Mary Marvel!
Will she be named Mary Thunder now? Hmmm. But anyway, once the purest, most innocent of super heroines, she became corrupted when she embraced the powers of Black Adam.
And was then possessed by the masochistic DeSaad and turned into this:
I mean... how... why... I mean, point A to Point Fucked Up. I really felt like her character had been just ruined for life, but with all this rebooting, she needs a fresh start like WOAH! Hmmm, that reminds me, another Shazam-related character, Isis could potentially get a fresh start as well. Maaaaan, an all-new Isis comic book? Sign me up!
A woman and she's Middle Eastern! Two Birds, DC! Just sayin'!

Throwback Thursday - Justice League Unlimited: The Toy Line

At New York's annual Toy Fair a few weeks ago, Mattel announced that after eight years, the Justice League Unlimited toy line was ending. THANK GOD! I felt like I was finally being unchained from an enormous rock! As much as I loved the cartoon and enjoyed having toy versions of the HUGE cast, including a number of characters that have never been made as action figures before (or since), it was also one of the most frustrating lines I've ever gotten myself mixed up with. For starters, the first wave only included Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern. At least Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman were scheduled for release in the second wave, but poor Hawkgirl wasn't set to be included AT ALL! Mattel, there are only SEVEN characters and you can't bother to include them all?! After fan outcry, Hawkgirl was added to the line's fourth wave, after most of the male characters had been re-issued two or three times!

The first figures featured very limited movement, with only shoulder, hip and neck joints. (The girls, because of their long locks, didn't even have neck joints.)

Later on, Mattel added knee joints, twisting waists and even resculpted a couple of them like The Flash, to make the figure sturdy enough for snap on accessories. (I prefer the original skinny Flash, as it more closely resembles the way he actually appears on the show.

Wonder Woman, while not given knee joints, did receive a twisting waist and her face was tweaked, making it rounder and given a more pronounced smile (see right). (The first one, to the left, appears more stoic.)

The same figures were repainted in various color schemes and given a plethora of different accessories and re-released over and over.

Guest stars Aquaman and Dr. Fate were also added to the line as well as villains Darkseid, The Ultra-Humanite and Lex Luthor.

When the show was rebranded as Justice League Unlimited, the team's roster was expanded to include dozens of additional character. The toy line followed suit and began issuing figures of many of these characters.

But in an infuriating move, in order to GET these new unique characters, you had to buy them in three-packs with re-releases of existing figures. I collected all the duplicate Supermen, Batmen, GLs, etc and handed them out at Halloween. It was especially annoying when you only got ONE new figure and two old ones! GAH!!! Occasionally, you'd get a pack with two new characters and only one old one, which was okay. RARELY, you'd get a three pack with THREE new characters. It happened, but not very often.
A common cost-cutting measure used by toy companies is the use of "bucks." Basically, they only make a few unique bodies and just paint them differently to turn them into various characters. Black Canary's body was reused as Zatanna's, since they both wear jackets. The hand-on-the hip thing makes sense, because when you raise that hand up, it cups the side of BC's mouth, to indicate she is using her "Canary Cry" power. I GUESS it works for Zatanna, the magician, who speaks mystical incantations... that's what I'm going with, anyway.
Occasionally, a character requires new sculpting, which costs more money, but companies do it to faithfully recreate the character. Usually if this was the case, as with Vigilante and Steel, they were issued individually as single-carded figures. This was fine. I certainly don't mind buying them individually. In fact, I PREFER it! But oddly, Mattel would also ship re-issues as single-carded figures, so case assortments included some all-new figures and some repeats! Which of course, NO ONE bought! So these reissues would linger on pegs and stores wouldn't reorder the newer assortments because they still had old stagnant product hanging around not selling.

Don't get me wrong, at times, Mattel clearly had fans in mind. They DID issue a ridiculous number of characters and as I said, many had NEVER been made as action figures before in any line.













After the cartoon series ended, the toy line continued on as a Target exclusive and whereas in the past the line was aimed at both adult collectors and children, the focus was shifted to almost entirely to adults. Also, the line expanded to include characters that weren't on the show.

They switched from insane repaints like this Wonder Woman to ones that paid homage to DC's history, like this Batman painted in the color scheme in which he appeared for decades, from the late 60s until the mid 90s.

They also made toys based on specific fan favorite episodes, for example "Wonder Pig" from the episode in which Wonder Woman was changed into... yep, a pig by the sorceress Circe.

But the repeats continued. Audaciously, they issued a three pack last fall with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman... three characters that collectors had bought over twenty times each!

On the show, Hawkgirl had abandoned her code name and costume and fans clamored for a toy that reflected this change. A three pack with this updated Hawkgirl (or rather Shayera Hol, her real name) as well as never-before-produced The Ray was announced and appeared on the backs of the toy line's packaging. But it didn't arrive... and didn't arrive... and didn't arrive... until finally over a year later, Mattel announced they would release this set as a ComiCon exclusive, meaning that the majority of fans were SOL or would have to vastly over-pay to get the set off eBay. (That's what I did!)

Like I said, they issued a number of characters that hadn't appeared on the show, including the above Super Friends-inspired three pack (one of those rare, all-original three packs, I mentioned) and upcoming releases of Firestorm and Blue Beetle.
Following the runaway success of it's online only Masters of the Universe Classics line, Mattel attempted to create online only additions to most of its other lines, including JLU. Unfortunately, sales were sluggish. I blame character selection. The first set featured four Batman villains, Scarecrow (mostly sculpted from scratch), Harley Quinn, Clock King and Bane. Sadly, these were some drab figures. Scarecrow is mostly gray. Bane is in black and Clock King is just some dude in a suit. At least there was Harley Quinn. But for the most part, these four characters made only minor appearances on the show.

This set sold sluggishly. Following it were four of the Legion of Super Heroes, a Shazam set (with only one character, Captain Marvel, that actually appeared on the show) and the Doom Patrol, who never appeared on it. All of these sets sold out... eventually, but compared to the Masters of the Universe Classics toys which sell out in minutes, they were a disappointment and Mattel discontinued these online offerings. The final set were members of the Justice Guild of America, who appeared in a fan-favorite episode from Season One.
The unveiled final releases from Toy Fair include a number of big name characters that have, surprisingly not been made already, including massive world-conqueror Mongul, immortal mastermind Vandal Savage and a second "futuristic" set featuring the Justice League from the Batman Beyond time, Static, Aquagirl and Micron.
Mattel WILL offer one additional online exclusive, S.T.R.I.P.E., the step-father of the already released Stargirl. (Their defunct comic was entitled Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.) S.T.R.I.P.E. is an entirely new sculpt, requiring this type of release.
Also announced but not unveiled was a final boxed set that will allegedly complete the on-air team lineup. If so, this set should include Gypsy (above, far right) the only member of the Detroit-era Justice League yet un-produced. The other characters who appeared onscreen but have yet to be made are Crimson Avenger (an easy one to make, using The Question's suit-wearing body), The Creeper, Dr. Mid-Nite, Johnny Thunder and his Thunderbolt and possibly Speedy, a Teen Titans character who made an appearance in an episode which featured all of the characters that had, in the comics, been part of the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

There are a few other "gaps." The Shazam online set included the wizard Shazam, Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel and Black Adam, omitting the third member of the Marvel Family, Captain Marvel Jr. Likewise, the Justice Guild set doesn't include Catman. The futuristic Justice League from Batman Beyond still doesn't include Big Barda or Green Lantern. (The modern-day Big Barda is part of the line, however... but she uses the regular female body, so she isn't as BIG as she should be.) I doubt there's ANY chance of the rest of the Legion of Super Heroes popping up, but I could see a companion "finish up" set for the Legion of Doom. The last figures unveiled included Heatwave, Angle Man and (most notably) Killer Frost. There are still a handful that COULD be used, though.I guess ultimately, this line felt like a chore to collect. The distribution was terrible. I STILL don't get Target's toy stocking strategy. All I know is no store gets every single wave of every single toy line. I think it has to do with what I said before about lingering stock. If there are unsold quantities on-hand, they don't send more, even if it's just one or two figures still unsold. I probably had to eBay like... I dunno at least 35% and probably more of this line. Plus with the damn ComiCon exclusives, I probably paid like $40 for those. But, for the most part, I NEEDED them all. I mean, yeah, there are characters I think that DESERVE a figure in this line, whereas SO many of the ones that HAVE been produced never even had speaking parts!
Buuuuuut yeah, this line has been a pain to collect, but I AM pleased that there will be an attempt to complete at least the Justice League. Seriously, not having Gypsy drove me crazy! I can only hope for the others I mentioned. (Seriously, Catman! Make that happen!) Hope this pans out!