Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Poll Results!

The last poll asked which member of the Justice League was your favorite... There were 10 possible choices, and here's it turned out:

First place (with 38% of the vote) Aquaman!


I would have been surprised if my favorite hero hadn't come in first, as this blog is very Aqua-centric. I'm sure part of what draws visitors here are my Aqua-related items. It's also nice to know that I'm not the only one who thinks Aquaman is the coolest!

Second place (with 14% of the vote) Green Lantern!


I was a little surprised Green Lantern came in second place, as I thought other members would place higher. As a long-standing JLA member, I expected him to do fairly well, but did not anticipate a second place finish! I wonder if the popularity of the Sinestro Corps War and the relaunched Green Lantern book play into this?

Third place is a 3-way tie! Welcome Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman, who each garnered 9% of the vote! Frankly, I didn't expect any of these characters to wind up in one of the top three spots, but that just shows you what I know!


Green Arrow was the first non-charter member of the Justice League. Denny O'Neil transformed the Emerald Archer into a liberal superhero in the pages of Green Lantern/Green Arrow. That characterization continues today and has always added liveliness to those boring meetings in the Justice League's satellite HQ.


While not my favorite, I have come to like the Martian Manhunter. When I started reading the Justice League of America, the Manhunter had left the League and didn't reappear until shortly before Crisis on Infinite Earths, so it seemed kind of odd in the 90's when he's referred to as the 'heart and soul of the Justice League'. He next appeared as part of the 'Bwaa-Haaa-Haaa' Justice League by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire. Rumor has it the Martian Manhunter will be a casualty in the upcoming Final Crisis mini-series.


Wonder Woman is the first of the 'Big Three' characters at DC Comics to place in the poll. (For those wondering, the other two are Superman and Batman). I know Wonder Woman has fans, but was surprised by the support she received. I suppose this is a good time to remind you that results of this poll reflect the popularity of heroes according to the visitors of my blog, and not the popularity of these heroes in general.

Next up, a 4-way tie for fourth place! Atom, Batman, Black Canary, and Flash each end up with 4% of the vote.




Batman and Flash were founding members of the Justice League, and the Atom and Black Canary joined the team very early on. I honestly expected the Flash and Batman to be more popular than they show in this poll.



And finally (and perhaps most surprisingly!) coming in dead last with no votes whatsoever, is Superman.


I really expected the original superhero to do better than he did, but that's the way the chips fall sometimes. As I've mentioned before, people coming to this blog are most likely fans of the less popular heroes, as my comics entries generally focus on Aquaman.

Thanks for voting and check out the new poll, this time with a Star Trek theme!

Sunday, April 20, 2008

More NYCC Aqua-News!

Courtesy of CBR:

"Any chance Geoff Johns or Grant Morrison can bring us back a kick-ass Aquaman?" Morrison said in Final Crisis #6, Aquaman fights the Deep Six from NEW GODS.

Always good to have confirmation! I'm looking forward to it! And then there was this:

Why aren't characters like Aquaman and Hawkman given more high profile creative teams? "They'd still only sell fifteen copies!" Morrison said.

I respectfully disagree and dare DC to put Geoff Johns on a new Aquaman book! Please?

Friday, April 18, 2008

New York Comic Con Aqua-News!

Courtesy of Newsarama:

Any plans for Arthur Curry Aquaman? "Who is that?" joked DiDio.

DiDio then asked the crowd to describe Arthur Curry - "blonde hair," "orange shirt" and "two hands" led the list of descriptors. Some said "one hand," which led to DiDio explaining the harpoon-handed, long-haired Orin Aquaman is often confused with Arthur Curry, and made sure that wasn't the Aquaman the fan wanted. The fan clarified he wanted the orange shirt, green pants, "Superfriends"-esque one, and DiDio said he'd keep that in mind.

A former "devout Marvel fan" that said "DC is now my favorite" said that the solution to the "Aquaman problem" was to get Geoff Johns to write the character.


I've been saying that for months now! I'm glad Dan DiDio (Executive Editor, DC Comics) is hearing it directly from the fans! Thanks, anonymous Aquaman fans!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Dawnstar Revealed!!!

In an earlier post I mentioned how it would have been cool if the Legion of Super-Heroes animated show had made it to another season because it might have seen the introduction of Dawnstar and Wildfire???

Well, hold on to your flight rings kids, because Dawnstar has already appeared!!!

Check this out:


There's no mistaking the only winged Legionnaire in that shot! If anyone finds Wildfire, please let me know!

For the curious, this image was taken from the final episode at the 19 minute and 34 second mark.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Aqua-Talk!

From an interview with Artist Ethan Van Sciver, courtesy of Newsarama;

Any other DC Characters that you’d really like to take a swing at?

Yeah, I’d like to work on Aquaman. But the only way I would do it is to take the original Aquaman and restore him. I’d want to re-present him in away that’s accessible to more fans. I really believe that all of these characters have a pure essence to them. You can go back and read the first ten issues of a character’s first appearance and then just use that [as a starting point]. If you’re going to do Batman then go back and read “Detective Comics” #27 on up for a little while and bring him back to his roots, for God’s sake.

The original intent of the creator is what I’m most interested in. So take Aquaman and just bring him back. Just straiten him out and untangle him. Give him to the audience as simply as possible and in a refined manner that people will find appealing.

And then, I always add a little touch of horror. There is always something a little scary about what I do. I believe in creepy, scary villains. I believe in dark shadows and really contrasting good and evil in my comics. Because I’m a DC Comics artist, I think that line is very definite in our books. So a character like Black Manta would be great. It would be an awful lot of fun to work on. I get shivers. I have goose-bumps right now just thinking about it. So I’d like to do an “Aquaman” book and work on our boy Arthur.


See?? I'm not the only one who thinks Aquaman is an A-list hero! C'mon DC, bring Arthur back soon!

And also from Newsarama, this from Grant Morrison, writer of Final Crisis, DC's next big event:

"Everybody is in it. In addition to the big guys, the third issue has Captain Marvel Jr., Supergirl, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Green Arrow and Black Canary. It's got everyone. Pretty well from #4 to #7 is one big battle royale. I want to leave lots of room for the fight. There's about ten issues worth of fighting," said Morrison.

Even though he doesn't specify which Aquaman will be seen, I'm happy an Aquaman is included in this big event. And I thought Captain Marvel Jr. was now going by the name Shazam? Is the Trials of Shazam! limited series being ret-conned already??

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Legion Questions Answered & Aqua-News!

Courtesy of Newsarama.

According to this interview, a third season of the Legion of Super-Heroes would have seen the introduction of Dawnstar and Wildfire! Tucker goes on to verify my suspicions that the inspiration for Kel-el came from wanting to add Mon-el to the Legion. After reading the interview, I can only reiterate how much of a shame it is that we didn't get a third season...

James Tucker is also the producer behind the new animated Batman team-up show titled Brave and the Bold. Speaking about the teaser image released with the press release picturing Batman, Green Arrow, and the new Blue Beetle, Tucker said: “They are some of the guest heroes but there are tons more. It’s not just them,” said Tucker, who when pushed, added “We love Aquaman.”

Cross your fingers! I really hope it happens!

Saturday, April 05, 2008

A Beginning and an Ending

Today I watched a series finale for one TV show and a season premier for another. Both were excellent, and left me wanting more, which is not necessarily a good thing.

Last night, Battlestar Galactica Season 4 started. I like the new text in the opening credits, and had forgotten how much I liked this show. Season 3 ended with the four newly revealed Cylon models dealing with their real origins and also a back-from-the-dead Starbuck appears in a pristine Viper, saying she's been to Earth.

There was a lot of good character stuff going on for everyone, Colonel Tigh got one of the best gotcha! moments of the show. Anders and his tete-a-tete with the Cylon Raider was the other one.

I'm not sure how Starbuck came back or even how she got to Earth, but I think a certain Light Ship might be responsible. In the original show, the Ship of Light made everything everything look white and seem brand new. Certainly, Starbuck's ship looks brand spanking new! I think it's a clue, Scoob.

So the questions I'm left with now? The obvious, who is the final Cylon? What's going on with Starbuck? When are they getting to Earth? What will they find there? What's going to happen with the four new Cylon Models?

And the series finale for the Legion of Super-Heroes was today. It was the end of a two part episode that saw the entire team and the Substitute Legion get in on the action. I didn't guess the ending at all, but it made the connection to the Legion of Super-Heroes in the comics seem much more real.

I was expecting the time-travelling Kryptonian, Kel-el to take the hero name of Mon-el, providing an interesting twist for the animated version of the character, but it didn't happen. We got to see the return of Triplicate Girl's third self, which would have been interesting to follow up on had there been a third season. Also, would Wildfire and Dawnstar have joined the team had there been another season? That would have been so cool! Would we have seen the return of Ferro Lad in the third season (as hinted at in the season finale for the first season)?

It was such a well done show. The voice cast really get into the show. Wil Wheaton has posted about it on his blog... and he's a comic geek too! Way cool! I loved it when less frequently seen Legionnaires like Sun Boy, Blok, Element Lad, Tyroc, and Colossal Boy charged into the thick of the action! The first season of this show reminds me of the Adventure era Legion, while this last season reminds me the Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes time frame. Would the Giffen/Levitz era have been the next direction the third season would have taken had the show continued? Interesting to note that in the first season the animated team's Headquarters looks like the Adventure era one. In this show, we see the orange building of the Superboy and the Legion era's HQ. It's really too bad we didn't get another season... it would have been very, very cool to see the Giffen/Levitz era in animated form.

Bravo to all the creators and talent associated with both shows! I've been thoroughly entertained, thank you!