Knight of Alpha, the featured guest from Episode 2, returns as a special guest for this week’s podcast, as we discuss villains in comics. Who are our favorites? What makes a good villain? What are the differences between the types of villains in the Marvel and DC universes? And why is the new Wonder Woman series so awesome?
As always, let us know what you think in the comments!
Hello Moar Powah readers! Every year around this time, men and women all around the world celebrate a day of love with their special someone. For those of us who have no one, well, we can always cuddle up with a work of fiction so that we can imagine that noxious cheesy bliss only people in relationships get to feel. But what about the fictional people who would make terrible significant others? Well, let’s look at the lads and ladies who’d you be better off not never being bed-fellows with.
With Valentine’s Day almost here, I figured I’d try and help out everyone who’s thinking about relationships. I’ve figured out that there are seven different types of people everyone is destined to come across and possibly even date. This list compares those people to famous superheroes, so without further ado let’s dive in!
Recently, I checked out Knightfall Volume 1, the classic story where Bane broke Batman’s back and Jean-Paul Valley became the new Batman. Though I’m not a huge fan of Cyber-90s-religious-fanatic Batman, I decided to keep reading to see where the story would go. Let’s dive into Knightfall Volume 2: Knightquest.
Comic book death is a topic that once had weight, but is now horrendously lampooned. Long ago, when a character died, it was a momentous event with lasting influences on continuity. In more recent times, however, comic book death has become utterly meaningless: a character will only stay dead for a brief span (maybe four years, tops) before his or her resurrection, usually in a manner deemed, for want of a better term, total bullshit.
I believe that comic creators have become too frightened of fan backlash and subsequent lost sales to stick with the character’s demise. Those same fans, however, will complain when their favorite character returns “too easily,” which always seems to be the case with few notable examples (see Barry Allen the Silver Age Flash who stayed dead for a whopping 23 years).
I will say that character death is something that should be struggled with. Nowadays fans expect a character to return shortly after his or her death. Such an expectation cheapens the character’s passing and makes the event seem for the sole purpose of garnering increased sales. I do believe, however, that there are a number of key characters that should be killed and remain dead, at least for an extended period of time (a decade or more). I’ve chosen characters whose deaths would lead to good stories, rather than simply characters I dislike.
Obviously, for this list I’ve only selected characters that are sufficiently well-known and popular to warrant meaningful passing; I’m not going to disparage people who are fans of Image, Dynamite, or other non-mainstream heroes, but for this list I’ve stuck with Marvel and DC given that their characters are more widely known and carry longer histories which make killing them off for a long time (or better yet, permanently) carry greater weight. I’ve tried my best to explain why this character should be killed off, what manner befits his or her passing, and how his or her death could influence future stories.
Now, onto the candidates!
Knightfall is one of Batman’s most famous storylines. DC sought to change its comics in the early 90s, and many characters saw utter overhauls or elimination including Green Lantern Hal Jordan (Emerald Twilight) and Superman (The Death of Superman). Knightfall focuses on a villain called Bane as he pursued his lifelong goal: defeat Batman and take complete control of Gotham City. Though The Dark Knight Rises took cues from this arc there were still numerous great plot threads within the comics.
Wow, hard to believe it’s been over a year since DC’s relaunch known as The New 52. Since then, we’ve seen the cancellation of a few series and the introduction of some others which have varied in quality. Today, I’m going to discuss the series I liked and others I disliked or avoided. I’m also going to talk about what I think worked and what didn’t, and where I’ll be looking ahead as DC continues into its second year of The New 52.
Silverwolf: Hello everyone! Silverwolf here with another exciting edition of Objection! Some of you may remember Starshine’s intriguing article concerning the future of comic book movies a few weeks ago (and if you haven’t read it yet, you really should). While I thought she made some great points, I’m here because I think that some of her assessments aren’t entirely accurate, or are just plain wrong. Starshine, would you care to give a brief synopsis of your position on these films?
Starshine: Sure! While I think that comic book films are great, and the fact that they are gaining some serious attention, not just from audiences but also from filmmakers, is fantastic. But my greatest fear is that in the wake of the Avengers is that we will adopt a more comic book style format for movies – ie that we will have contuinity driven mess, alternate universes when the actors get too old, and a lack of original films in the wake of making popular adaptations.
Grant Morrison is not just a famous comic book writer. As I found out recently, he also writes regular books from time to time. Not too long ago, Morrison wrote Supergods, an account of the evolution of superheroes juxtaposed with his own life experiences. I’ve been enjoying Morrison’s Action Comics run, but could he successfully write a realistic, semi-autobiographical book just as well?
Make sure to check out our pre-launch thoughts of the film as well as our review.
Silverwolf: Hello everyone! Silverwolf here with another exciting edition of Objection! One of the big buzzes on everyone’s mind is the film The Dark Knight Rises, the final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy. Judge and I both had the chance to watch the film recently, and we’re here today to discuss our differing viewpoints. I for one thought it was a stellar film.
Judge: And I thought it was just a good film, definitely not a masterpiece and definitely the weakest of the three.
Silverwolf: I agree it wasn’t the best of the series, but it wasn’t the weakest either in my eyes. What are some of the problems you had with the movie?
Judge: Haha many things. A jumbled mess of a story, terrible pacing, some really disturbing plot holes, and fail character development, to name a few. Continue reading »
