TF Views

Dominic wrote:Fern is from one of the Earths listed in the "Multiversity Guidebook". (Earth 40---something or another).

I may forget which Earth she is from. But, I distinctly recall Morrison saying that the new Earths were not going to be used as fodder for events. Hahahahahah. I believed him. Silly me.

Joking aside, pre-CoIE Earth 6 (or modern Earth 40-odd) is one of the settings I wanted to see *something* done with.

Earth-48, but then that guide book is for the 52 multiverse. All of the cities in Convergence are from the previous universes that no longer exist, so this Princess Fern should be the Earth-6 version from CoIE, not the Earth-48 version.

Could be. If nothing else, the real reason for "Convergence" is to fill shelves with something easy while DC moves its offices and cuts staff. Even by event standards, it is not meant to stick.



Speaking events, I am *really* enjoying the lead-in to "Secret Wars". Even putting aside the high-concept stuff that Hickman has been doing in "New Avengers", it has been a hell of a ride.

Marvel has been consistently misdirecting and outright lying about their plans, making it difficult (if not impossible) to be sure what they are going to do next. And, dammit, that just makes speculating more fun.

Is Marvel keeping the multiverse? What does this mean for books like "Spider-Gwen" or "Spider-Girl"? Is Marvel re-marrying Spider-Man and Mary Jane? Might that impact "Spider-Woman"? What about the non-Marvel movie characters?

Remember when Marvel was planning to cancel "Fantastic Four"? They want us all to forget!

Are Inhumans the new mutants? Are they the New Mutants?

"Guardians 3000" seems to be an unbranded lead-in to "Secret Wars" that is otherwise just taking up shelf-space. (If not for the terrible art, it would be good filler. But, one book out of dozens with terrible art is not that much of a problem.)


None of these questions have any practical implications for me. None of them are particularly high-concept or meaningful. But, Marvel has made speculating about comics (and the direction of a company) fun again.

Why? How?

They are doing something relatively unique and they have a track record (built over the last 10-15 years) of competence. Even their worst stuff, ("Civil War" comes to mind), has been readable. It may not be clear what they are doing or planning. But, that is not a problem because there is reason to expect it to be.....good. Yes, the Marvel books I am reading now are likely to go away. But, it is safe to assume that Marvel will be producing at least 3 or 4 books that will be just as good in the fall.

In contrast, IDW "Transformers" have been getting more generic and less focused over the last two years. DC has been flailing around, looking for direction, for the last 3 or 4 years.

I might be curious about what all 3 companies are going to do next. But, with Marvel, there is a sense of giddy anticipation. *That* is why I am buying in on a Marvel event.

I'm about halfway through "Supergods" and have arrived at Morrison's thoughts about the two types of comic book writers. His thoughts about "the tourist" who visits the "world" the superhero inhabits explain an awful lot about the thinking behind Multiversity. The book seems to be moving away from an encapsulated history of comics from Morrison's point of view and more into his own experiences and thoughts. It's an interesting read. It does confirm that Morrison probably did a few too many drugs at one point, but whatever.

Did you get to the part where he describes the universe as "a big ball of sphincters"?

Marvel is announcing that Iceman of the X-Men is gay.... At least the Iceman from the past, while the present day Iceman is still straight? Dunno how that's supposed to work.

Another week, another batch of Convergence issues for me. And this week, it's early 80s, pre-Crisis characters. I picked up Adventures of Superman (pre-Crisis Superman and Supergirl), The New Teen Titans, the Flash (Barry Allen), Hawkman, Green Lantern Corps, and the odd book out this week, Batman 66 #22. I'm still reading through the issues, so I'll add reviews as I get to the books. Marv Wolfman writes Superman and the Titans, so we get a rare instance of a writer returning to the work he wrote at the time.

The scenes of Telos dropping the domes and pitting various cities against each other are definitely feeling repetitive at this point, but they're minimized in some issues this week, and used to good effect in others, but I do find myself skipping the very familiar speech.

Convergence Adventures of Superman #1
Bronze Age Superman and Supergirl plan to try and escape from the dome via the Phantom Zone, with the technical help of Lucius Fox. And it works. Superman and Supergirl are able to enter the zone, regain their powers, and begin searching for another exit back into the real world, which of course they don't realize no longer exists. In the meantime, the dome comes down and the inhabitants of Gorilla City attack Gotham, much to the dismay of Fox. Superman and Supergirl are attacked by the many Phantom Zone criminals who were imprisoned there by Jor-El and Zor-El. This is where the pre-Crisis history of the two characters comes in useful, with all the emphasis we got on Krypton during the Bronze Age. Superman is overwhelmed (and considering this is essentially the version we saw tossing planets around in the Silver Age, even if he was scaled back for the Bronze Age, that's no mean feat). Supergirl escapes and meets at their agreed upon meeting place. When Superman doesn't show, she goes back to find him, but not before she hits a region where the dimensions are bleeding together, and she gets a glimpse of her death during the Crisis. Marv Wolfman apparently decided to take the opportunity to augment the series he wrote and give Supergirl some foreknowledge of her death, which adds to the general feeling of doom about this story. The cliffhanger sees the apes overrunning Gotham, while Superman and Supergirl are surrounded and badly outnumbered by the Phantom Zoners. I haven't read a lot of this era of Superman, but I enjoy seeing the close relationship between Superman and his only living relative, a relationship we lost in the post-Crisis DC universe. Even when Kara Zor-el was introduced in the Superman/Batman series, it wasn't the same.

The New Teen Titans #1
This is the classic lineup: Nightwing, Wonder Girl, Starfire, Changeling, Cyborg and Jericho, with the addition of Kole, a character I'm not really familiar with. I actually read this series back in the day when it was The New Titans and had dropped the Teen from the title, so the character beats feel very familiar. We get opponents from the Tangent universe early on, but in a nice break from the usual Convergence formula, both sides are treated as fairly reasonable and heroic, with one of the Tangent characters being an exception. He wants the material that powers Cyborg and keeps him alive as a means to return home. This was back when I liked Cyborg, because he fits as a member of this group. He's not an A-lister and never will be, and his promotion to the Justice League hasn't changed that. In the year since they've been trapped, the Titans have continued to operate in costume to keep the city safe. Dick Grayson and Kory are married, Donna Troy misses her husband, Jericho is barely present in the story, and Gar Logan is worried about Vic, whose power is running down with no means to replace it, meaning he won't be able to survive. This is back when Dick Grayson and Donna Troy knew each other since they were kids, reminding the reader of the second generation of sidekicks who grew up together and were contemporaries. Something else modern DC has thrown out for no good reason. The issue ends not with a fight, but with the leaders of the two groups reaching out to each other, despite the warning from Telos not to try and find common ground. That makes two for two for Marv Wolfman this week.

Convergence: The Flash #1
Pre-Flashpoint, I'd have enjoyed seeing Barry Allen back in action, but considering how DC pushed Wally and Jay into the background when they brought him back, and then erased those characters entirely in the New 52, I'm not too fond of the Barry Allen Flash these days. I've read some Silver Age issues of his series, and they don't do a lot for me, with one or two exceptions. In this Convergence issue, set after Barry's trial but before he's captured by the Anti Monitor, Barry was visiting the past from his home in the future, where Iris is living, when the dome came up and he lost his powers. And he doesn't get them back until nearly 2/3rds of the way into the issue, so we get Barry out jogging in the park, working with the police, and having lunch with Bruce Wayne, and none of it is very compelling. I can't help but think that this version of the character isn't distinct enough from the modern version to warrant a Convergence slot that could be given to another character. This isn't a bad issue, but you'd have to be a big fan of Barry Allen to enjoy it I think. Jay Garrick is my favorite Flash, followed by Wally West. Barry Allen has never been that interesting to me, and this issue doesn't change that.

Sparky Prime wrote:Marvel is announcing that Iceman of the X-Men is gay.... At least the Iceman from the past, while the present day Iceman is still straight? Dunno how that's supposed to work.

Dude there's any number of ways that could work. I can think of three of the top of my head and it took about thirty seconds.

138 Scourge wrote:Dude there's any number of ways that could work. I can think of three of the top of my head and it took about thirty seconds.

Do tell. I mean, the comic itself offers a suggestion (the older one couldn't deal with being a mutant and gay so he suppressed it) and I see why they'd go that route, but I don't think that really works. Let alone that Jean apparently has to tell him for him to even seem to realize he's gay. It feels like they're forcing it rather than a natural character development.

The important thing to remember about Iceman is that this is all being revealed a month or two before a big ol' CoIE style reboot. Smart money is saying that the "young X-Men" are simply going to be "the X-Men" after "Time Runs Out" and "Secret Wars" ends up resolved. Nobody is going to ever mention the "current" X-Men again.

In other words, "What are you talking about? Iceman has always been gay."

Iceman is also the "safest" choice to make gay. Besides the fact that all of his relationships with women have failed, he is also the "cleanest" member of the original team. Jean Grey has the Phoenix baggage. Cyclops straight up killed Professor X. Angel worked for team "planetary genocide" and Beast not only helped kill a world but also totally jacked up the time stream to deal with his mid-life crisis.

The scenes of Telos dropping the domes and pitting various cities against each other are definitely feeling repetitive at this point, but they're minimized in some issues this week, and used to good effect in others, but I do find myself skipping the very familiar speech.

That is why I am skipping the fight book more or less entirely. Stuff like this is more interesting for the after-effects than anything else.

Dominic wrote:The important thing to remember about Iceman is that this is all being revealed a month or two before a big ol' CoIE style reboot. Smart money is saying that the "young X-Men" are simply going to be "the X-Men" after "Time Runs Out" and "Secret Wars" ends up resolved. Nobody is going to ever mention the "current" X-Men again.

In other words, "What are you talking about? Iceman has always been gay."

Maybe, maybe not. We still have no idea what shape the Marvel Universe will take post-reboot yet. For all we know, they could make this completely pointless if they decided to make him straight after the reboot.

Iceman is also the "safest" choice to make gay. Besides the fact that all of his relationships with women have failed, he is also the "cleanest" member of the original team. Jean Grey has the Phoenix baggage. Cyclops straight up killed Professor X. Angel worked for team "planetary genocide" and Beast not only helped kill a world but also totally jacked up the time stream to deal with his mid-life crisis.

Technically, these characters having come from the past, long before any of that happened, are all still "clean". But either way, I've got no problems with them making Iceman gay. I just don't think Bendis handled it very well. Having failed relationships with women is hardly enough to say "yup he's gay". And having Jean outing him like that, with Iceman acting like he didn't realize it himself and his older self still apparently straight, is just stupid.