Superman Goes Communist

National Review Online ^ | May 4, 2004 | Alexander Rose

[mhking]

JL Unlimited is basically the League, but with lots of "guest stars."

[Qwinn]

I LIKE IT!

Haven't seen Dr. Fate in a looong time. Always liked him, almost (almost) as cool as Phantom Stranger :)

Testing my knowledge, left to right: Etrigan, Zatanna, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Supergirl (?), Dr. Fate... and I have no clue who those last two are.

Qwinn

[mhking]

Testing my knowledge, left to right:

You're pretty good! The last two are Captain Atom (from the old Charlton line; DC inherited them in the early 80s - Captain Atom, Blue Beetle & The Question most notably; all of which were tied to Watchmen, albeit under different names -- BTW, THAT screenplay is pretty close to getting off the ground after almost 20 years), and Orion (as in son of Darkseid, from Jack Kirby's New Gods series).

[Qwinn]

Oh, and a correction - Specter was not under Vertigo (tho a lot of people thought it should have been, heh). But it was around the time that Swamp Thing was Vertigo, that's where my confusion came from.

Qwinn

[Qwinn]

That's Captain Atom? Freaky :) Don't feel bad about missing him. I -should- have recognized Orion though, dangnabbit. And I'm surprised - I never thought they'd introduce Darkseid characters into an animated TV series, heheh, them was pretty -dark-.

Qwinn

[mhking]

I agree; Spectre should have been a Vertigo book, especially since both Swamp Thing and Animal Man (not to mention Doom Patrol and Hellblazer) were.

[mhking]

And I'm surprised - I never thought they'd introduce Darkseid characters into an animated TV series, heheh, them was pretty -dark-.

Don't forget the entire multi-episode arc of Adventures of Superman with Darkseid and Supes going to Apokalips. And Darkseid killing off Dan Turpin at the end of the arc - I agree, it was a bit much for a "kids" show, but well written, nonetheless.

[Qwinn]

Don't forget the entire multi-episode arc of Adventures of Superman with Darkseid and Supes going to Apokalips. And Darkseid killing off Dan Turpin at the end of the arc - I agree, it was a bit much for a "kids" show, but well written, nonetheless.

I missed that! Although, now that I think hard about it, I -do- kinda sorta remember catching a glimpse of an animated Darkseid at -some- point. Could be my imagination. Huh. Will have to look for it.

Hellblazer used to be one of my all time favorite books, especially during the Garth Ennis run. Seemed to go way downhill after he left though. Finally gave up on it around issue 100 or so (turning Ellie bad was the last straw for me). Haven't picked it up for a long time.

The Books of Magic was also a really good book - for a while, then it went to crap too. That pretty much sums up most of the Vertigo line, actually - heh.

Qwinn

[mhking]

Hellblazer used to be one of my all time favorite books, especially during the Garth Ennis run.

From what I understand, the Constantine movie will use some of the Ennis storylines as part of the plot for it.

I can't quite stomach Keanu Reeves in that role though; I thought James Marsters or some other appropriate brooding British type would have worked better in the role.

[Qwinn]

From what I understand, the Constantine movie will use some of the Ennis storylines as part of the plot for it.

I can't quite stomach Keanu Reeves in that role though; I thought James Marsters or some other appropriate brooding British type would have worked better in the role.

CHOKE! COUGH! WHEEEEEZE!!!!!! You've -got- the be kidding me. Okay, first off, I didn't even -know- they were doing a Constantine movie, and when I read the first line of your post, I was thinking -woohoo-! And then I read the second line. KEANU REEVES?! That's got to be the singular WORST casting decision I've ever -heard- of. Hell, casting Bill instead of Ted would've been a better choice! Tell me that's not -confirmed-. Please. I'm begging here. Not only doesn't he even remotely look like him, but he is a -horrible- actor! What a lamebrain *(&#$*#&(@&*(#@&...

To me, my -first- choice off the top of my head would probably be Sting. Second choice? Hmmmm. James Marsters certainly isn't a bad idea. Hell, I think David Bowie could pull it off. But KEANU REEVES? -hurl!- I can't think of anyone -worse-.

Qwinn

[Qwinn]

I'm going through the posts on the movie forum now. Seems just about -everyone- shares our opinion on this.

Dear Lord, this is awful. From what I'm reading, they're turning Constantine into an American, and turning Chas into a -kid-?!?!?! Lemme guess, since he won't have a cab driver anymore, he'll be driving himself through L.A. freeways (sigh)

Reading the forum is lifting my spirits a bit. At least everyone else is just as upset about this. Some of the comments regarding the "Hollywoodization" of Constantine that I've found are pretty damn funny.

"or ther'd be 4 Hellblazers -

#1 - john's teenage clone on drugs,
#2 - Map, who dons a trenchcoat and takes up smoking because J.C> saved his life
#3 - Demon Constantine who comes back from hell to continue the legacy
#4 - Cyborg Constantine - reassembled at UK's STAR labs, it's john with plastic lungs, metal middle finger for sticking it to the devil, ttianium liver...

..and then there's the Gemma spinoff"

"Where we finally learn for the past 10 years she's been a clone of the real Gemma, captive of Nergal. And now starts the battle to free her.

Comes complete with holographic cover!"

"my brain hurts from the thought that an overzealous DC editor might read this and think this is a good idea.. "The Reign of the Constantines" aaaaaaaaaaaaack!"

Pretty amusing... but I'm still in shock. This may take a lifetime to get over.

Qwinn

[Constantine XIII]

Movie? What? :)

[Qwinn]

THIS is the best one I've found (I'll leave the Constantine thing alone after this, thanks for putting up with my whining, heh :)

"No, really! Imagine Bendis or someone similar, doing the whole Damnation Army/Fear Machine/Dangerous Habits/Rake AT The Gates storylines in under 40 issues...? Chaz wouldn't be a cab driver, that's lame... he'd be a hacker - John calls him when he needs transport, and Chazzy hacks and prints him airline tickets or whatnot...there would of course be CONSTANT current pop-culture references, like the latest season of Buffy or Janet Jackson's tit... 'course, John Constantine (maybe Jack? Jack has a better ring to it "Just Jack"...) wouldn't be addicted to nicotine, but to cellphones, which would give him brain cancer (as seen in The Ultimate Dangerous Habits 3-parter, sponsored by Siemens, and soon in Constantine The Movie)... He goes to Brendan, his hip gay pal for help, but finds out he's dying of aids (gotta have the angsty preachy "serious subject matter" to justify the critical acclaim)... Kit will be changed to Keith, Brendan's gay lover, who comes to live with John, Azzarello style (cue the constant Will/Grace references and character dynamics)

"when Keith leaves John, and goes back to his native Scotland (didn't you hear? Ireland's out these days, too much IRA... too much Bono...), Jack has a nervous breakdown and ends up on the street, a heroin addict - remember, you must CONSTANTLY show your readers how mature your run on the book is...

"anyone want to tackle some other storylines? C'mon, people, it's fun... this must be how all those hollywood execs feel..."

Too freakin' funny. God I hate Hollywood.

Qwinn

[Qwinn]

Heheheh :)

Qwinn

[7thson]

I have read some of the Ultimate XMen series. I see some of your points. I also see a slam on liberal politics. Professor X is a bleeding heart liberal whose ideals are more important than his marriage or his son. When his son escapes and goes on a rampage, he taunts his father's dreams and ideals. Even though this kid is extremely powerful, Professor X - as a bleeding heart liberal - only wants to contain him. It takes Colossus - who is now gay - to kill him.

While it is true that it is a military-industrial complex group that experiments on Wolverine and other mutants, it is a renegade bunch. The Nick Fury in this series, while still black, is more James Bondish than in Ultimate Spiderman or The Ultimates. Nick Fury, a friend of Wolverine who owes his life to him, rescues the XMen.

While the Ultimate series do have some leftist leanings, I thought the idea of recreating these characters in todays time frame was great! I also liked how the Kingpin is portrayed and Spidey's first encounter with him.

[7thson]

For your viewing pleasure -

[Qwinn]

"I also see a slam on liberal politics. Professor X is a bleeding heart liberal"

Oh, I didn't get that impression at -all-. This Xavier is more Machiavellian than he is liberal. The way it's come across to me, his "bleeding heart"ness is every bit as much about manipulating the people around him as it is any kind of moral convictions.

"whose ideals are more important than his marriage or his son."

Well, that -does- come across, but I don't see that as having any particular political leaning.

"When his son escapes and goes on a rampage, he taunts his father's dreams and ideals. Even though this kid is extremely powerful, Professor X - as a bleeding heart liberal - only wants to contain him. It takes Colossus - who is now gay - to kill him."

Er, I don't think only "bleeding heart liberals" would feel hesitant to kill their -child- (geez). As for Colossus being gay now... *rolls eyes* Go figure. He has of course always been portrayed as the nicest and most moral of the X-Men too. But that's just a coincidence.

"While it is true that it is a military-industrial complex group that experiments on Wolverine and other mutants, it is a renegade bunch."

They have way too many resources and manpower at their disposal for me to think of it as just some fringe outfit analogous to that of the original Canadian version. Was there a particular reason to change the original storyline in this regard, other than to paint the Americans as the bad guys?

"The Nick Fury in this series, while still black, is more James Bondish than in Ultimate Spiderman or The Ultimates. Nick Fury, a friend of Wolverine who owes his life to him, rescues the XMen."

I see it as the very same Nick Fury character across all of the series, one just dealing with a different context. He doesn't have the need to be James Bond when he's having a fatherly sit-down-and-face-the-facts with Spidey.

"While the Ultimate series do have some leftist leanings,"

"Leanings?" Come on. Be honest. It's pretty blatantly one sided. Your Xavier bit was the only counter-weight you gave to that "leaning", and frankly I disagree - "bleeding heart liberal" he most definetly was not. Cold logical manipulator -posing- as a liberal was more like it.

"I thought the idea of recreating these characters in todays time frame was great! I also liked how the Kingpin is portrayed and Spidey's first encounter with him."

I agree, it could just have been done with the constant America-bashing. And yeah, his Kingpin was fairly well done, you'll note I didn't state any objections over him when I mentioned him.

Qwinn

[Hawkeye's Girl]

Now I hear they're gonna toss all of the recent GL continuity and bring Hal Jordan back to life

Good! I don't read GL or anything, but I know that will make at least one guy I know happy.

[weegee]

...a rather insipid, passive-aggressive racist anti-mutant President

The dominance of mutant titles at Marvel has really taken the fun out of a lot of their comics. The contituity is below juvenile logic. If there is a mutation in a gene, why do some sibling mutants have totally different abilities?

And is Cyclops really a mutant if his dad is from outer space?

The notion of trying to link mutants to lectures on racism is misguided. The mutants (good and bad) regularly violate humans' civil rights and rights of privacy. They engage in identity theft, they read their minds, they easedrop on them (spying while invisible).

The evil mutants show that some of the fear humans have towards mutants is justified. Magneto is a terorist and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants is a terrorist organization. Some mutants fight for the cause of good while even Prof. X will team up with a known terrorist at times.