Friday, February 29, 2008

Another bird dude and another bowman

Arsenal (Roy Harper)- Angel

This pairing revolve around the X-Men- Titans rule cited below.

Harper is fairly notorious as the character writer Denny O’Neil rendered as a junkie during the celebrated “relevant” Green Lantern/Green Arrow series. He’s been written as something of a pussyhound in the past ten years. Note that I don’t refer to him by his current moniker, “Red Arrow.” Why? Because I think it’s dumb.

Don’t have much to say about Angel…

Commonalities:
Just that their temperaments line up, and are both key to their respective teams/franchises.

Differences:
One has enormous wings and is thus a mutant; the other is a bowman and weapons specialist with abilities commensurate to his mentor.

Alternate histories:

AR: Wealthy and preternaturally gifted archer Roy Harper attends a small school that trains aspiring meta-human operatives. He drifts in and out of the Titans, once serving with the Outsiders. He is transformed for a time into a quasi-demon before reverting to his prevailing form.

AN: Mutant orphan Warren Worthington is adopted by Hawkeye, and the two combat crime before Worthington meets up with other similar young mutants; they form the X-Men. He becomes addicted to drugs, but has since been in recovery. He fathers a child with an assassin, becomes a government operative and then takes part in various iterations of the X-Men and the Defenders. He has recently joined the Avengers.

Friday, February 15, 2008

The blue and the green

Changeling- Nightcrawler


Upcoming posts will indicate that, for the most part, members of the X-Men from 1964 to the late ‘80s will be paired with Teen Titans from the same period. Therein, one rule will be observed (sidekicks are too numerous in the DCU) and another will be broken (Kounterparts must come from a similar place of origin). This is because the X-Men and Teen Titans books in the 1980s are dear to me and many many other nerds (TT writer Marv Wolfman has said that his book took no inspiration from the X-Men, which is very hard to believe) and thus I’m wedded to pairing them up —there will, however, be some exceptions…

But here we speak of Gar Logan, of whom I insist on referring to as Changeling as opposed to Beast Boy, and Kurt Wagner. Logan was introduced as a kid sidekick in the 1960s Doom Patrol, and is now known to lots of real, live kids via the early aughts cartoon the Teen Titans. Wagner, on the other hand, was glimpsed briefly in the 1990s X-Men cartoon and in the second X-Men film only. He also has been foolishly established by Marvel PTB as the son of Mystique and a demon of some sort—why they can’t leave it with him as a mutant that resembles a demon is beyond me…

Commonalities:
Both are immediately distinguishable without exhibiting extraordinary abilities: Logan is green, Wagner is blue. Both provide levity to their teams, but these goofball exteriors mask tortured interiors.

Differences:
Logan shape-shifts into animals; Wagner teleports, has a prehensile tail and blends into shadows. Wagner is German, whereas Logan was born in Africa to his scientist parents.

Alternate histories:

CH: Teenage circus performer Garfield Logan is ostracized in his community, first for his green hair and skin and then for his shape-shifting abilities. He joins the Teen Titans and serves therein on and off for many years.

NC: Young mutant Kurt Wagner loses his parents and is adopted by Reed and Susan Richards of the Fantastic Four. After the apparent demise of the FF, Wagner joins the X-Men for a number of years.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

The best and the brightest—or darkest

Batman- Captain America

This one is very problematic…but I can’t quite let go of it…

Here we have the two characters that represent the upper limit of human capability —meaning capabilities unenhanced by extraordinary means. Of course Steve Rogers was enhanced by “vita rays,” but he was always played as having achieved the pinnacle of what one man can do unassisted by means common in comic books.

As has Bruce Wayne. Since 1986’s Dark Knight, however, Batman has been characterized as a dark, obsessive and, frankly, not a very pleasant individual. Whereas Rogers has always been written as a sunny, ineffably decent man specific to an idealized “greatest generation” (the “Ultimate” iteration differs, in that Rogers is a hard-bitten, quite violent soldier).

In the last couple of years, writer Grant Morrison has evidently reverted the Batman character to the somewhat dark but not at all psychopathic iteration known from Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams run in the early 1970s. So it is this version paired best with Cap—certainly not Frank Miller’s “Goddamn” version. In any case, in both 1995's DC vs Marvel event and 2003's JLA/Avengers series, both were seen as each other's equivalent.

Commonalities:
The above said “upper limit of human capabilities.” Both are respected in their respective diasporas for that quality and for their unparalleled tactical cunning.

Differences:
Wayne is one of the richest men in the DCU with deep roots in Gotham society, and is motivated to avenge his parents murder. Rogers is motivated purely to fight for right and the American Way. He has also often been depicted without much of a personal life, a perpetual “fish out of water” coming to terms with living in a world so different from the World War II era. In pure rich guy terms, “Bruce Wayne” = “Tony Stark” would be much more apt. In pure "dark avenger of the night" terms, Daredevil might be better…but whatever…

Alternate histories:

BM: Bruce Wayne is born in the 1920s and receives special training as a young adult to work as the U.S.’s most feared operative overseas against the Axis Powers. He is joined in these efforts by orphan Dick Grayson and allies like Aquaman, until he is thrown into suspended animation. He is revived by the Justice League of America, which he joins as its longest-running leader and is universally respected as the most inspiring in the super-hero community. Wayne partners with Black Lightning for a time and struggles to forge a personal life in a time much different from the one in which he was born. After he leads opposition to an effort to register superhuman and costumed operatives, he is assassinated.

CA: Child of privilege Steve Rogers trains himself to be the defender of both the metropolis of his birth and the nation at large and the ultimate opponent of terrorists and superhuman criminals extant. He mentors a number of younger operatives, works closely with police and the military and helps found the Avengers.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Two Belligerent Bowmen

Green Arrow - Hawkeye

Fairly obvious…

“Batman with a bow” was clearly what Mort Weisinger was after with Green Arrow. Like Weisinger’s other creation Aquaman but unlike most of DC’s super hero characters, GA stories were published throughout the ‘50s. Come the late ‘60s, Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams gave Oliver Queen a personality: he was now to be a man renouncing his riches in order to be fully invested in the plight of the “working man” and the downtrodden (more or less serving as O’Neil’s finger-pointing mouthpiece). Although his new persona is best displayed in the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series, he often antagonized his fellow JLAers along these lines from the ‘70s onward.

Thing is, this characterization seems inspired by a character across the pond that was directly inspired by Green Arrow—Hawkeye. Initially a crook bedeviling Iron Man, Clint Barton joined the Avengers as a member of “Cap’s Kooky Quartet,” and thereupon was played as a rough around the edges everyman given to challenge Iron Man and Cap. For four decades, he was a key Avenger.

Commonalities:
Both are often belligerent w/r/t to authority but are down to earth dudes with hearts of gold. Both the best bowmen in their respective disaporas, and both have “died.”

Differences:
Oliver Queen is an off and on again rich guy, whereas Clint Barton is a carny-turned-crook-turned-Avenger (here we must observe the “rich guy” rule stated below) . Unlike Queen, Barton has never been shown to have much in the way of a social conscience, but, also unlike Queen, he adopted another identity and accompanying abilities.

Alternate histories:

HE: Clint Barton is washed ashore on an unpopulated island and trains himself to become an unparalleled archer in order to survive. He returns to society and becomes a premiere crime fighter, joining the Avengers shortly after its founding, often serving as the group’s sociopolitical conscience. He travels America with another super-powered operative in order to address social ills and also fathers —but does not take part in raising— a child. While serving with the Avengers, Barton takes on a number of professions in his civilian guise —he “dies” for awhile but is revived. He is eventually betrothed to another crime-fighter and also joins another team, the Defenders.

GA: After antagonizing another crime-fighter, supremely gifted bowman Oliver Queen joins the Justice League of America with two others as a replacement for some of the more powerful founding members. He serves as a key member for many years, adopting size-changing abilities briefly and eventually heads up a West Coast satellite group w/r/t to the largely East Coast-centric team. Queen “died” a few years ago, has since been revived and is now working with a group opposing government registration of superhumans.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Everyone loves robots!

Metal Men- Six Marvel Robots

Another pairing in which I cheat…

The Metal Men were created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru in 1962. They were initailly intended for one and only one story, but fans dug ‘em enuff for a long run in Showcase Comics: the MM is much beloved by Silver Age aficionados.

So…what if a bunch of prominent MU robots banded together?

Gold- Machine Man
Platinum- Jocasta
Iron- Awesome Android
Lead- Rover
Mercury- Warlock
Tin- H.E.R.B.I.E.

In MU Continuity:
Machine Man: created by Jack Kirby and scientist Abel Stack in the late ‘70s, longs to be human, an Avenger briefly…
Jocasta: created by Jim Shooter and Ultron, longs to be human, an Avenger briefly…
Awesome Android/Awesome Andy: created by Lee/Kirby and the Mad Thinker, fought against FF before becoming largely benevolent…
Rover: A robot/ship created by Hank Pym: it is enabled with the temperament of a dog, so as not to go berserk like Ultron…
Warlock: creatd by Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz, a transmuting alien robot from the X-men franchise, likely a bitch to draw…
H.E.R.B.I.E.: a “cute” R2D2 clone that replaced Johnny Storm in the lousy late ‘70s FF cartoon, brought into MU continuity as a companion for Franklin Richards…

Alternate histories:

Marvel’s Metal Men: Created by Abel Stack, assorted robots possess artificial intelligence and are trusted allies of the superhuman community.

In the alternate DCU…
Gold: created by scientist Will Magnus , longs to be human, a Justice Leaguer briefly…
Platinum: created by evil robot the Construct, longs to be human, a Justice Leaguer briefly…
Iron: created by a mad scientist, fought against the Doom Patrol before becoming largely benevolent…
Lead: A robot created by a super hero scientist to be named later……
Mercury: a transmuting alien robot from the Teen Titans franchise…
Tin: a robot companion serving the Doom Patrol…