***SPOILER ALERT*** Everybody dies. But in comic books it rarely lasts that long. Sometimes They Come Back, Again. Even DC’s euponymous (used incorrectly) hero Dead Man, who’s power is being dead, has come back to life. (Ironically, DC’s Resurrection Man has been killed due to poor sales.) The problem is that death is rarely permanent, and thus it has lost its impact. So, with the recent deaths of Damian Wayne and Professor X (again) and rumors about the impending demise of Green Lantern Jon Stewart, we here at Comical Musings proudly present a special post-Easter Top 5, saluting the Top Five Comic Characters that have Stayed Dead.
This morning, as I was trying to wake up my wife to go to work, she suddenly sat up and said: “Let’s go!” “Okay,” I agreed. Then, with a tone of sincere confusion, she asked, “Go where?”
Married life doesn’t always make sense, but even in those moments it can still be enjoyable. The same can be said of comic books, and Prophecy published by Dynamite Entertainment is a prime example.
You may recall from previous posts that last year there was a gay-off taking place between the two dominant comic book publishing companies. Basically, Marvel and DC were competing to prove who was the most homosexual-friendly comic book publisher. (I would have said that they were trying to “out-gay” each other, but I have to be careful with the terminology.) It seemed like most of the characters in the Marvel universe showed up for the wedding of Northstar, a long-standing member of the gay super hero community. And DC re-introduced Alan Scott, the classic golden-age Green Lantern, as a Homosexual in their new Earth2 series. So, it really wasn’t much of a gay-off, but it got media attention.
One would think that in this climate of diversity and inclusiveness, the peace and good-will would persist for a while, at least until the next reboot of a super hero movie franchise (Man of Steel, June 14, 2013.) But no. And now Superman has been pulled into a controversy that has made the fruits loopy.
Wake up. Vomit. Immediately have to fight for your life. Wander through the wilderness. Steal some monkey meat to eat. Get romantic with a giant alien bug. And then get a job shoveling poo.
Sound familiar?
Well, then you’re probably having a better week than John Prophet. I am too. Hi, I’m Hal, welcoming you back to Comical Musings for my follow-up post on Image’s Prophet series.
Based on my previous post, it might come as no surprise that John Prophet would have a bad time, as would anyone who happened to read his name-sake comics. And you might be wondering why I would continue reading, not to mention why I thought it merits a second blog article.
My friends this isn’t Liefeld’s Prophet. Earlier this year, in a stroke of utter genius, Image Comics re-introduced the Prophet series by letting writer Brandon Graham and artists like Simon Roy and Farel Dalrymple take it in a COMPLETELY different direction. Apparently the title’s history wasn’t a problem, because the previous issues were utterly forgettable, and Prophet #21, which kicked-off the relauch, sold out at a distribution level before the issue hit stores. Continue reading
As the summer movie season draws to a close, and the phrase “back to school” becomes an objective reality rather than a prophecy of future doom for students (or promise of reprieve for parents), it may seem like opportunities to derive joy from this summer’s comic book movies are running out, but there is still some fun to be had. With this in mind, I proudly bring you the top 5 ways to spoil the ending of The Dark Knight Rises to your friends.
This is our second top 5 list this month, because Comical Musings does not officially condone or encourage the spoiling of comic-related movies, but I, Hal, wanted to give you a few ways to chase away the end-of-summer blues. And I was bored.
***SPOILER ALERT – It should come as no surprise that this post contains spoilers. If you zealously guard your ignorance of movie plots and you haven’t seen The Dark Knight Rises, then you should go read some other post. Punk Rock Jesus sounds interesting… Continue reading
In early July, astronomers announced that they had discovered a “grotesque twin” of our solar system. Twin worlds and parallel universes continue to be a popular theme in the comics realm. And because the fourth issue of DC’s Earth 2 hits stores this week, I thought I would take this opportunity to review the latest developments in the Green Lantern’s favorite alternate reality.
Hi. This is Hal, professor of universal comparative studies, welcoming you back to Comical Musings. In case you’re just joining us, we’ve been following the reboot of DC’s parallel world, Earth 2, and speculating about upcoming revelations.
The recently discovered planetary system is described as “grotesque” because while its structure is similar to our solar system, the planets are larger and less hospitable to life as we know it. This begs the question, which of DC’s worlds, Earth 1 or Earth 2, is the “grotesque” twin? Since its New 52 reboot, the DC universe has undergone some noted beautification projects. But with the reintroduction of Solomon Grundy and some exceptionally clunky dialogue, the third issue of Earth 2 makes me suspect that this might actually be more of an ugly step-sister.
It can be difficult to tell a complete Spider-Man story in three or less issues, at least one that is original. Without several issues of back story or a grandiose ongoing story arc, most Spider-Man tales can be summarized as “Spider-Man cracks wise as he fights a familiar, animal-themed villain and deals with personal issues.” The first three issues of Spider-Man’s Tangled Web were a valiant attempt to escape this paradigm, but ultimately they failed.
Spider-Man’s Tangled Web was created to be an anthology series of unrelated stories that involve Spider-Man. The series was ambitiously initiated with the well known creative team of Garth Ennis, John McCrea, and James Hodgkins providing the story arc which spanned the first three issues. In order to make their story unique, they introduced a new villain, called The Thousand (Legion would have been more appropriate, but it was already taken.)