Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case File #31: The Huntress

Offhand, I could not tell you which Huntress is in this picture.

Superheroes, for the most part, don’t age.  Marvel and DC have their superhero universes set in some sort of sliding scale timeline, where almost everything that’s happened since the superhero line was created somehow only occurred over a ten to twelve year period.  That means that even though there are Fantastic Four comics depicting Reed Richards and Ben Grimm in the trenches of World War II, today neither of those gentlemen are that old.  Aside from a handful of World War II era heroes and villains who have managed to stay active and keep their ties to the war (Captain America, the original Justice Society), or even the rarer other type (Frank Castle is a Vietnam vet), heroes are pulled from eras they existed in to avoid explaining how Batman swings through the streets of Gotham without a walker.

But there are ways to allow heroes to age, and one of them DC used to have was Earth-2.  Originally the home of the Justice Society of America, Earth-2 was the place where the Golden Age heroes did their thing.  And while none of them quite reached the state we’d consider “elderly,” some of them did marry and have children.  One of them was the Earth-2 Batman, and he had a daughter, and oh man, is this one messed up history.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Convergence: Week Eight

I’ll admit I ran out of steam and interest with the release of Convergence #8.  It took me awhile to get around to completing my reading of the tie-ins, and it didn’t help they were some of the weaker tie-ins of the bunch.  Plus Secret Wars was full steam ahead over at Marvel and I was excited to move onto that.  As such, this final post on DC’s big early summer event got lost in the shuffle.

But since I am contractually obligated to finish these posts, I’ll make a very late attempt to clue things up after the break.

Be sure to catch up on all the Convergence happenings with coverage of:

Week One: Part One, Part Two
Week Two: Part One, Part Two
Week Three:Part One, Part Two
Week Four:Part One, Part Two
Week Five: Part One, Part Two
Week Six: Part One, Part Two
Week Seven: Part One, Part Two

Read on for Week Eight spoilers after the break for Convergence #8, Convergence Action Comics #2, Convergence Detective Comics #2, Convergence Blue Beetle #2, Convergence Booster Gold #2, Convergence Crime Syndicate #2, Convergence Infinity Inc #2, Convergence Justice Society Of America #2, Convergence Plastic Man And The Freedom Fighters #2, Convergence Shazam #2 and Convergence World’s Finest Comics #2.

DC and Marvel Character “Similarities”

Marvel and DC both have many characters that share strong similarities with their cross-company rival.  Sometimes it is a coincidence.  Two people have the same idea, no matter how novel, independent of each other.  Sometimes it is just because there are only so many archetypes.  Of course there is going to be some nearly identical characters.  Sometimes they aren’t even that similar.  We just want to make this list longer.  Other times, they are 100%, complete rip offs.  When DC/Marvel did the Amalgamation back in the 90’s, they could have just used the original.

See what you think after the break.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Convergence: Week Five Part One

I’m back baby!  (Editor’s Note: Jimmy, you used that two posts ago.)  As Convergence continues its trek towards being the most forgettable crossover event ever.  The tie ins are not bad, but seem to have little to no bearing on the main book and vice versa.  If you like a particular DC character from a particular era, pick up those books.  Otherwise, just pick up the main mini-series, which may be of interest.

Be sure to catch up on all the Convergence happenings with coverage of:

Week One: Part One, Part Two
Week Two: Part One, Part Two
Week Three:Part One, Part Two
Week Four:Part One, Part Two

Read on for Week Five spoilers after break for Convergence #5, Convergence Batman And Robin #2, Convergence Superman #2, Convergence Nightwing Oracle #2, Convergence Batgirl #2, and Convergence Harley Quinn #2.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Convergence: Week Four Part One

It’s nice to see Convergence actually take itself a bit seriously this week and not just seem like the old Marvel “Assistants Editor’s Month” where it was just a free for all with no care or consequences.  They even make attempts to address recent events in the DCU and incorporate them.  Particularly interesting because they involve the former New 52, which to this point, outside of Superman’s appearance in issue #0 and the small Superman: Doomed tie-in, has been kept at a distance.

Be sure to catch up on all the Convergence happenings with coverage of:

Week One: Part One, Part Two

Week Two: Part One, Part Two

Week Three:Part One, Part Two

Read on for Week Four spoilers after break for Convergence #4, Convergence Booster Gold #1, Convergence Blue Beetle #1, Convergence Detective Comics #1, Convergence Action Comics #1 and Convergence Shazam #1.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Convergence: Week Three Part One

I’ve come to the realization (not surprisingly) that I may be taking Convergence too seriously.  Trying to make sure it makes sense and ties into the history of the DC universe and multiverse…and it just doesn’t.  There are just too many continuity problems here that if I continue down the rabbit hole, I’ll never enjoy the 60+ (Dear God) remaining issues.  So I will make comments on such things, but if DC isn’t going to put in the effort to at least attempt to have things make sense, then I’m not going to bother either.

Be sure to catch up on all the Convergence happenings with coverage of:

Week One: Part One, Part Two

Week Two: Part One, Part Two

Read on for Week Three spoilers after the break for Convergence #3, Batman And The Outsiders #1, Adventures Of Superman #1, Superboy And The Legion Of Super-Heroes #1 and Wonder Woman #1.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Convergence: Week Two Part One

Convergence #2

Welcome to Convergence Week 2.  If you read my coverage of week 1 of Convergence you saw that my Pre-Flashpoint DCU knowledge was nothing impressive.  Thanks to Tom Kelly for filling in some knowledge gaps and for an extensive comment on the Extremists of Angor.

Hopefully this week is a little more in my wheel house as the main combantants are Metroplis from the pre-Zero Hour universe and the world of Kingdom Come.  It’s been awhile but I have read Kingdom Come, and pre-Zero Hour would be right around the time I was actually collecting some DC books with the Death of Superman and Knightfall.  One of the side universes in the spotlight this week is the San Diego of Jim Lee’s Wildstorm universe, from which I read a handful of books back in it’s Image Comics days.  So things are looking up, time will tell.

Be sure to catch up on all the Convergence happenings with coverage of Week One: Part 1, Part 2

Read on for spoilers after break for Convergence #2, Batman Shadow Of The Bat #1, Supergirl Matrix #1, Green Lantern/Parallax #1, and Superboy #1.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Convergence: Week One Part One

Convergence #1

Let the multiversal insanity begin.  Spoilers after the break for Convergence #1, Batman and Robin #1, Nightwing Oracle #1, Batgirl #1 and Speed Force #1.

Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Convergence: The Prequel

Convergence #0

I’m a sucker for big crossover events.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe they appeal to the collector/OCD/completist side of me.  I have to have check lists of all the tie-ins and make sure I read every single one.  As such, I have read A LOT of crap over the years.  Nothing worse than picking up a branded crossover issue and it having little or nothing to do with the main event.  But I never learn.  I’ve even tried the “I’ll just read the main story and not bother with the tie-ins” schtick…and I always fell like I’m missing something and end up getting all the tie-ins anyway.  I’ve also tried the “I’m not going to read this crossover” approach…with minimal success.  I wasn’t going to read Forever Evil…totally did.  Avengers and X-Men: Axis…I have no interest in that…read the whole thing.  You get the picture.  (Side note: one of my few success stories of recent years is not reading The Black Vortex Guardians/X-Men crossover…don’t tell Jenny!)

With all that said, I am gearing up in an attempt to read all of DC’s Convergence as they are released.  May is going to be real tough as I’m also going to attempt to read all of Marvel’s Secret Wars and if I can manage to lift the keys to my cell from Watson’s belt, I might escape for a weeks vacation in there as well.  I’m sure there will be hits and lots of misses in both events.  But it seems hypocritical if I don’t read them, seeing as they are what 80% (Editor’s note: 90%) of what my Gabbing Geek posts so far have been about.

So let’s get to it.  Spoilers throughout for Convergence #0, New 52 Future’s End #48 and Earth 2: World’s End #26.

Comics Watson Actually Liked

It is often said on the Gabbing Geek podcast (listen to it!) that I don’t read comics.  Well I did once.  So in talking to my buddy Phil Ray the other day, he asked me to write a post on my ten favorite Trade Paperbacks ever (“other than Watchmen, of course”). I would tell him writing for a website is not like being a DJ at da club because we don’t take requests, but he did introduce me to my ex-wife (thanks,jerk) so here we go…