Category Archives: Comics

“What’s more, we added a few new members [to the Justice League] to adhere more closely to the lineup of Greek gods: Superman was Zeus, Wonder Woman, Hera; Batman, Hades; the Flash, Hermes; Green Lantern, Apollo; Aquaman, Neptune; Plastic Man, Dionysus; and so on.” (Grant Morrison, Supergods: Loc. 4985)

Moon Knight: sometimes you want to stand out.

When I started reading comics again, I started with the New 52, because I knew who the characters were, and I figured a reboot meant that newbies like me would find it less confusing to follow. I had also liked a lot of Marvel lines: Daredevil, the Avengers, Spider-Woman and Moon Knight. I’m still trying to decide how I feel about Spider-Woman, but Moon Knight is great.

Although he is often dismissed as Batman with multiple-personality disorder, Moon Knight is actually a complex and interesting character unto himself. They do have their similarities.

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Aquaman: No more fish jokes.

I know I’m not the first person to comment on this, but I’m really pleased with the new Aquaman. Anyone who watched the old Super Friends show no doubt wonders what the point of our finny friend is: he can swim, right, and communicate with fish? To anyone who just watched the show, Aquaman must have seemed only marginally more useful than Bouncing Boy. (A true Ronseal hero, the name said it all.) There’s even a song, Aquaman’s Lament, in which the hero bemoans his general uselessness.

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Hawkman: They should have stopped at reincarnation.

I wrote this post back in January 2015, when this blog was just getting started. It was inspired by my disappointment that the new Hawkman comic wasn’t better. Let’s hope that the new TV character inspires someone to try again. In the meantime, anyone interested in Hawkman should really check out the Geoff Johns comics.

I thought it would be interesting for the show to bring out the romance between Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and the show did start with that angle, before killing Hawkman off. He’s been dead a lot, though, so who knows.

I grew up reading reprints of the old JSA comics – every so often I had to resurface and remind myself that the Nazis were history. Some of the characters from that era did survive to join the Justice League – including Hawkman, who is a remarkably durable character considering how much he’s been through.

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