Dan DiDio OUT at DC Comics

[Leo656]

I guess I should have said "A POTENTIAL end" or "A LOGICAL end".

I definitely didn't foresee it going on forever, was my point. Thought it was clear. ((shrug))

[MikeandRaph87]

The Comic Beat credited Didio with bringing back the original Supergirl after the trip to Six Flag noting the complicated origin. If he brought Supergirl back then Linda Danvers would be back from the grave. Just made Supergirl the blood cousin of Superman is all.

Who is responsible for Hal Jordan's return in 2004? I always credited Geoff Johns.

[Leo656]

Matrix Supergirl was always way more interesting than Kara. I wasn't a huge fan of that decision. They spent twenty years establishing and making a big deal out of the character, and then a snap of the fingers and suddenly, "Nah, she never existed, nevermind." Like she didn't have a solo series that lasted over 80 issues, or anything.

Like, I got the reasoning but I felt like the Kara Supergirl character had its day and Matrix was well-established enough that going backwards felt like... well, going backwards. Kind of a Barry Allen/Wally West deal. Similar timeframe, too, although Wally's run as Flash lasted a couple of years longer than Matrix/Linda's run as Superigrl did.

Sure was a lot of "Try and ignore the 90s" going on at DC after 2005, for a while.

[myconius]

it'd be truly awesome if DC did a complete 180 and quickly retconned this whole Ric Grayson nonsense, Wally West's HiC incident, as well as Lois & Clark's marriage crisis.

i'd love to see the look on DiDio's face when the sale numbers started to come back up.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by myconius

it'd be truly awesome if DC did a complete 180 and quickly retconned this whole Ric Grayson nonsense, Wally West's HiC incident, as well as Lois & Clark's marriage crisis.

i'd love to see the look on DiDio's face when the sale numbers started to come back up.

Maybe Marvel will hire him. Can't wait to see Scott Summers get shot in the head and start going by Scot instead.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Matrix Supergirl was always way more interesting than Kara. I wasn't a huge fan of that decision. They spent twenty years establishing and making a big deal out of the character, and then a snap of the fingers and suddenly, "Nah, she never existed, nevermind." Like she didn't have a solo series that lasted over 80 issues, or anything.

Like, I got the reasoning but I felt like the Kara Supergirl character had its day and Matrix was well-established enough that going backwards felt like... well, going backwards. Kind of a Barry Allen/Wally West deal. Similar timeframe, too, although Wally's run as Flash lasted a couple of years longer than Matrix/Linda's run as Superigrl did.

Sure was a lot of "Try and ignore the 90s" going on at DC after 2005, for a while.

I like the pre-crisis Supergirl. The Matrix/Angel thing was a headache even in comic book standards. Linda Danvers never really returned outside the Deadman Christmas story a few year later and the final issue of the Matrix Supergirl.

How to Didido get hired at DC without any comic credentials to his name?

[myconius]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Maybe Marvel will hire him. Can't wait to see Scott Summers get shot in the head and start going by Scot instead.

hahahahaa!!!! OH NO!! if actually hired by Marvel, he'd probably WOULD do that!

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

I like the pre-crisis Supergirl. The Matrix/Angel thing was a headache even in comic book standards.

Eh, not really. Everything is complicated when it's being explained third-hand rather than actually reading it as it happened.

The hardest thing I think to wrap one's head around is/was, "She was originally a shapeshifting mass of protomatter that came from a parallel universe." And that's definitely "out there" but no more or less so than anything else. And it's definitely not very complicated. Just... weird.

Her solo book was almost over by the time I got around to reading it, and I expected the whole Linda Danvers/Earth Angel of Fire thing to be a lot more complicated than it actually is. It explains itself reasonably well in-story, however.

Frankly, I've always sided with Byrne on the "Last Kryptonian" thing. Kal-El is the last one, that's the entire point. Kara Zor-El was always a very one-dimensional character in the Silver Age; ironically enough, the story which gave her the most depth was the one where she was killed off. Dying was literally the most interesting thing she ever did, as harsh as that sounds. I don't hate the character or anything, I like "Supergirl" as an idea, it's just I don't think we need any extra Kryptonians flying around and she simply wasn't ever done well. I own several of her solo books from back in the 70s/80s; they're awful. She was never a "character", she was a marketing tool to sell comic books to little girls, nothing more. And that's fine, but I never felt any urgency to see her again. I also didn't care for the 2005 reboot version, because in typical DC fashion, "adding depth" meant turning her into a whiny, spoiled brat and teasing that she was a secret sleeper agent sent to kill Kal. That's... better? I mean... it's something. I haven't read any of her books since before New 52, though, so maybe it got better, but I can't speak to it.

Using Matrix changed the entire character and her dynamic as relates to Superman, however. Having her own completely unique power set helped her stand on her own, and I really liked her existential crises about her origins, her personality/identity (or lack of one), her reason for being, etc. All of that was really well done and she went on quite a journey over those 15 or so years. "Complicated" or not, she was infinitely more interesting than Kara Zor-El, just as a character in general. She had a whole different set of baggage than "Superman's my cousin." And I appreciated that the writers went out of their way to do all that work to make her unique and different. I did NOT appreciate it all being handwaved away because editors assume that people can't read.

Marix/Linda had reached a point where she didn't need to be a sidekick to Superman or have him guest-star in her stories in order for her to be interesting. Kara simply hadn't gotten to that point in anything I'd ever read up to 2009.

I think it says a lot about Kara that in the TV series - arguably the very best interpretation of Kara Zor-El that's ever been done, the show's many flaws aside - the supposed best episodes are all rewritten Superman stories that simply plug her into his place. She walks through HIS stories, she has most of HIS supporting cast, she fights HIS villains... she's still just an accessory, "Superman with a skirt", even in her best portrayal. Whereas Matrix/Linda almost never fought Superman's villains, she had her own, mostly. There was the whole Silver Banshee thing towards the middle of the series, I think - going from memory here - but otherwise the villains and supporting cast were all unique to her. I really liked that.

Matrix/Linda felt like evolution, Kara feels like moving backwards for the sake of "simplicity". That's how I see it, anyway. Obviously nobody has to agree, but to this day I'm far more emotionally moved by the Peter David series than anything anyone else ever did with the character. But then, he's generally pretty good.

[myconius]

in an interview about DC's Scooby-Doo comic years ago, DiDio was so gleeful as he blurted out that the (then) upcoming issue was going to kill-off Freddy.

as if this was going to somehow DRUM UP sales.

[ZariusTwo]

Didio will have his say at London Film and Comic Con

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/03...-as-san-diego/

[myconius]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Didio will have his say at London Film and Comic Con

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/03...-as-san-diego/

'DiDio yells at cloud'

[MikeandRaph87]

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/03...em-off-for-5g/
Jim insist that the characters will not be aged up and pushed out. Looks like a line of books in what DC is stating is the future at the moment.

Also, Lee mentions names I never heard of Hank Kanalz, Bob Harras, Courtney Simmons and Jake Hogan. I heard of Harras, but no nothing about him. None of them are actual writers or artist are they?

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/03...em-off-for-5g/
Jim insist that the characters will not be aged up and pushed out. Looks like a line of books in what DC is stating is the future at the moment.

Also, Lee mentions names I never heard of Hank Kanalz, Bob Harras, Courtney Simmons and Jake Hogan. I heard of Harras, but no nothing about him. None of them are actual writers or artist are they?

Hank Kanalz was in charge of Wildstorm went it went under, also Vertigo when it went under. No idea who Courtney Simmons is... a Google search just turns up some attorney. No idea who Jake Simmons is, either. A Google search reveals him to be a former villain on Arrow, "Deathbolt."

[myconius]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Hank Kanalz was in charge of Wildstorm went it went under, also Vertigo when it went under. No idea who Courtney Simmons is... a Google search just turns up some attorney. No idea who Jake Simmons is, either. A Google search reveals him to be a former villain on Arrow, "Deathbolt."

[MikeandRaph87]

It appears Jim is referring to executives who not have anything to do with creative. When referring to experienced people I think of the creators themselves not marketing executive or trade paper back editor company legal adviser,etc.

I always felt that Linda Danvers was just gaining more to her character when she was sacrificed to make Clark the sole Kryptonian. I own all of her and Batgirl's team ups and have a trade of the short lived Daring Adventures. We don't need Clark, Linda, Zod,his two stooges, possibly a son with his female stooge/wife, Streaky, Krypto, Kandor, and more. I do like her also being a surviving Kryptonian as well as Zod. I also like the innovation of Brainiac being from Krypton opposed to Colu. I think that is all that is necessary. This current Kara, Kryptonian cousin is not the same level of effectiveness. The tool of Darksied and tutoring by Wonder Woman did not go anyway.

[Leo656]

I'm iffy about Brainiac's origins. I guess having him be from Krypton doesn't hurt anything, but what was wrong with Colu? Again, that was well-established for many years. Not all roads need to lead back to Krypton, in my personal opinion. Kinda makes things feel too "small" when they're so intimately connected. In the end, I guess it doesn't really matter where Brainiac is from, other than, Colu is still kind of a big deal in-universe, except if Brainiac isn't from there, there's kind of no reason for Colu to even exist in the DCU at all, since it was specifically created to be his homeworld. That'd be like if some writer decided that Hawkman wasn't from Thanagar, he was from, I'unno, Mars or something... but Thanagar was still a thing. Why would it still be a thing if it was only created to be the homeworld for that specific character, who now isn't from there anymore? If Superman came from Mars, would we still even need Krypton for a plot device? Now it's just story clutter. I'unno.

What I did like a lot with Brainiac, though, was when Johns retconned it so that all the different iterations of him we'd ever seen before were all basically just proxies. That fixed SO many plot holes and stuff with just a couple word balloons. Like with Milton Fine's "possession" by Brainiac (and then just physically turning into him later on, which was kind of batsh*t nonsense at the time - why is this guy suddenly green now?) being explained away by nanomachines. And the fact that his physical bodies seemingly wore out so easy and often. And the whole "Dead Again" thing where he was seemingly in a coma and showing no vital signs or brain activity or whatever, yet still managed to pull off the whole "fake Superman corpse" hoax and "magically" snap out of his "coma" out of nowhere to fight Superman at the end... didn't really make a ton of sense at the time, but if he's a "probe droid" or whatever it kinda sorta makes more sense. At least a little. I always liked Brainiac, but he wasn't always done well. Johns's retcon retroactively made a lot of the earlier stories fit better, and it didn't take much. So that's one time he got major points from me.

Regarding Kryptonians, I generally prefer there only to be Superman and the three main Phantom Zone villains, since him having some kind of scuffle with them is pretty much "hard canon" in almost any universe, even if the names change (there were even "Zod"-like characters in the comics and elsewhere before General Zod was even created!). Like Zod is essential - as the "Anti-Superman" he's kind of the ultimate Superman villain, arguably - and he's a "general" so he kinda needs "soldiers", at least the first time out, after that they can die or get sent to the Zone or whatever, but there should be those three to start with. After that, I don't think you need any other Kryptonians, except maybe the Kandorians, but it's not like they should be used too much either (I'm perfectly fine with the continuities in which Kandor either gets destroyed or he simply fails to return them all to normal size). I don't think Krypto the Superdog "works" as a concept, and it's been proven that you can have a perfectly effective Superboy and Supergirl without having them be from Krypton. So I really just don't see any Kryptonians as "essential" to the larger story except for Superman and Zod; Zod's goons are what I'd call "necessary", but not essential. When I was a kid, they went through a lot of trouble to establish Superman as the only Kryptonian while still managing to incorporate some of the other characters and concepts in a familiar and satisfying way, and I really enjoyed it. Taking it all back, no matter the reason, kinda just feels like a cheat, like they wasted their time and mine with those stories.

Oddly enough, though, one of my favorite Superman mini-series was The Phantom Zone, where Superman and Quex-Ul get trapped in the Zone while all of the many Zone villains were set free on Earth and started running amok and killing people. That was some bad-ass sh*t. In defense of my seeming hypocrisy in this, it was a Silver Age/Pre-Crisis story, in which the status quo of there being many survivors of Krypton was established and had never been challenged or retconned, yet. It also made great use of some "deep cuts" of continuity and what was the established Kryptonian lore at the time. Steve Gerber did a masterful job with it; here's an article about it which goes into great detail, if you've never read it:
https://confessionsofasupermanfan.wo...ne-miniseries/

Even though it runs against my personal preferences insofar as general Superman lore, it's a masterpiece of its era by any objective measure so I don't feel bad at all for being a huge fan of it. I highly recommend it, in case you couldn't tell.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I'm iffy about Brainiac's origins. I guess having him be from Krypton doesn't hurt anything, but what was wrong with Colu? Again, that was well-established for many years. Not all roads need to lead back to Krypton, in my personal opinion.

What I did like a lot with Brainiac, though, was when Johns retconned it so that all the different iterations of him we'd ever seen before were all basically just proxies. That fixed SO many plot holes and stuff with just a couple word balloons. Like with Milton Fine's "possession" by Brainiac (and then just physically turning into him later on, which was kind of batsh*t nonsense at the time - why is this guy suddenly green now?) being explained away by nanomachines. And the fact that his physical bodies seemingly wore out so easy and often. And the whole "Dead Again" thing where he was seemingly in a coma and showing no vital signs or brain activity or whatever, yet still managed to pull off the whole "fake Superman corpse" hoax and "magically" snap out of his "coma" out of nowhere to fight Superman at the end... didn't really make a ton of sense at the time, but if he's a "probe droid" or whatever it kinda sorta makes more sense. At least a little. I always liked Brainiac, but he wasn't always done well. Johns's retcon retroactively made a lot of the earlier stories fit better, and it didn't take much. So that's one time he got major points from me.

Oddly enough, though, one of my favorite Superman mini-series was The Phantom Zone, where Superman and Quex-Ul get trapped in the Zone while all of the many Zone villains were set free on Earth and started running amok and killing people. That was some bad-ass sh*t. In defense of my seeming hypocrisy in this, it was a Silver Age/Pre-Crisis story, in which the status quo of there being many survivors of Krypton was established and had never been challenged or retconned, yet. It also made great use of some "deep cuts" of continuity and what was the established Kryptonian lore at the time. Steve Gerber did a masterful job with it; here's an article about it which goes into great detail, if you've never read it:
https://confessionsofasupermanfan.wo...ne-miniseries/

Even though it runs against my personal preferences insofar as general Superman lore, it's a masterpiece of its era by any objective measure so I don't feel bad at all for being a huge fan of it. I highly recommend it, in case you couldn't tell.

You are more into Superman than I ever well be. An appreciator who likes to read him in Justice League. There is nothing wrong at all about Brainiac being from Colu. Its just making him of Kryptonian origin gives him a more perosnal connection to Superman, the way retconning Harvey Dent into being an inspiration and crusader in Gotham, a friend of Bruce Wayne, before the incident that brought out his scarred inside.

That was innovative of Johns bringing the different designs of Brainiac from his '58-83 design,'83-88, Dox,etc. Same with making sense of the jester Toyman and Chuckie-esque Toyman.

While I see it is important for Zod to nix the idea of Clark being the only Kryptonian to have an anti-Superman. Okay so, Bizarro is technically that, but one from Krypton and has different ideals. As for leading an army, I can see that. Its just do they have to be Kryptonian? Maybe he can mourn his troops or attempt to take Sodom Yat's race as a mind controlled army or try to recreate the Krpytonian race and have them take over the planet. Just some ideas.

So for me Clark and Linda both settling on Earth as heroes from Krypton, Zod as the antitheses of Krypton's memory and Brainiac having origins on Kryton works. Just one individual opinion. I just thought if Supergirl is brought back as Superman's blood cousin, than why not restore Linda Danvers? I would have liked to have seen her interact with the Titans.

[Leo656]

For Brainiac's part, he's a machine; why would he need a personal connection (or feud) with anyone? For Superman's part, Brainiac stole Kandor, so the beef is already plenty personal on his end no matter where Brainiac's from.

I don't know. It was first retconned for the cartoon show as a way to simplify things, and it made sense, but I don't think it adds much. Like it's kinda nice to have a definitive explanation as to why Krypton exploded, and having Brainiac be the reason definitely ups the stakes a little bit in having him clash with Kal-El, but at the same time, I kinda prefer it when Krypton's destruction was a simple, tragic "act of God" or act of nature or whatever you wanna call it, and not just one more thing that Superman later gets to punch someone in the face over. The great drama of Superman stories is always in that he can't just punch out most of his problems even though he punches the hardest out of anyone. To me, it kinda cheapens Krypton's destruction if it becomes something Superman can physically retaliate against; the tragedy of it is that he couldn't, and can't, ever do anything about it, but if he can go beat up Brainiac and thus feel better for a minute about his planet being dead, well... I don't know, just seems cheap. It shouldn't be a "revenge" type deal, at least in my estimation.

Like, I don't think every bad thing that happens in these stories needs a face and a villain attached to it, y'know? By the same token, when Johns retconned Brainiac, in the same story he essentially had him kill Pa Kent. And that just felt lame. I'm not a huge fan of killing Clark's adopted parents off anyway, but I especially don't like it when it's as contrived as "Act Of Super-Villain". Not everything needs to be so small or connected. In another story Johns wrote, they died in a car accident, and that's fine. Back in 1992 they teased Jonathan dying of a heart attack; that's also fine. Having one of them die during Superman's fight with Brainiac or some other villain feels too much like a cartoon. I don't know. It just doesn't feel "right", just like having Krypton be destroyed because someone literally blew it up doesn't feel quite "right".

I mean, I guess everyone has their own opinion, and that's the whole reason these things get so many retcons in the first place.

Regarding Zod, why would anyone who's not from Krypton even follow him? He's a well-established lunatic; the only reason Faora/Ursa/Non/Quex-Ul/Your Name Here ever went along with him was out of their pre-established loyalty having served under him on Krypton, along with the fact that they're just as nuts as he is. He's also a xenophobe who treats anyone as inferior who isn't from Krypton, so he wouldn't even want any sidekicks who weren't from there. So yeah, his lackeys, should they exist, have to be from Krypton too. But like I said, I'm fine if they get killed off or scuttled early on. Zod's one of those Alpha-level threats that shouldn't be used too often, anyway. The problem with the "good" villains is, writers can't resist using them too often and then they're not special anymore.

[Lord Nightwalker]

I'm not interested in any of the Gen five concepts that are flying around out there. I have some issues with it. For instance, in the case of Batman. Ever since they put it out there that " anyone can be Batman" there's been this false notion about that statement. Bruce Wayne IS Batman. His knowledge. His Skill. His will. His Drive and focus. His ability. His anguish. His joys. HIS. Anyone else in that suit is playing dress up. Unless he himself passes the torch, they can get bent. And it had better make God damned sense. It's like saying anyone can be Sherlock Holmes. Same deal with Clark Kent. He IS Superman. Unless he passes on the torch....

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by Lord Nightwalker

I'm not interested in any of the Gen five concepts that are flying around out there. I have some issues with it. For instance, in the case of Batman. Ever since they put it out there that " anyone can be Batman" there's been this false notion about that statement. Bruce Wayne IS Batman. His knowledge. His Skill. His will. His Drive and focus. His ability. His anguish. His joys. HIS. Anyone else in that suit is playing dress up. Unless he himself passes the torch, they can get bent. And it had better make God damned sense. It's like saying anyone can be Sherlock Holmes. Same deal with Clark Kent. He IS Superman. Unless he passes on the torch....

Exactly. Also the Sherlock Holmes example is a good comparison because he actually has a successor built in who would make the mantle his own and make perfect sense. Dr. John Watson. Dick Grayson proved this with Prodigal and defined it with Life After Death.

I don't understand why heroes can't be married and can't be happy at the expense of the mission. Didio and Quesada are wrong about that,but what do I know I am just a fan.

Why was there not enough creators standing up to the New 52 and reader frenzy enough to shrink the effects like with 5G?


Funny enough when looking for more information on Didio and 5G Kevin Eastman's name popped up. I did not know he was still involved with Heavy Metal, then again the magazine has never been on my radar. Eastman apparently didn't know that he was no longer involved with the magazine either.
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2020/03...etal-magazine/