Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Heroes Case Files #64: Dex-Starr

If the first image I pull is this one, this story is probably not ending well.            Sorry, Jenny.

The basic concept of the Silver Age Green Lantern was that the Guardians of the Universe created an intergalactic police force that would patrol various sectors of space, armed with a ring that could do more or less anything the wearer wanted it to with sufficient willpower.  All the energy in the ring came out looking green, and that was that.  Originally, a single yellow ring was worn by former Green Lantern turned bad guy Sinestro.  Writer Geoff Johns explored that concept, and came up first with the idea of another Lantern Corps armed with yellow rings like Sinestro’s.  And hey, if you’re going to have rings that work off green (willpower) or yellow (fear), why not try some other colors?

That’s where Dex-Starr comes in, one of the most tragic anti-heroes in recent comics.  Yes, it is tragic.

DC’s Rebirth: In Your Best Arnold Voice, “It’s Not A Reboot!”

DC gets a lot of flack from some for their various reboots of continuity.  Some of which is justified, like the mess that the New 52 left DC continuity in.  Marvel claims to have never rebooted their continuity.  Not on a grand scale like DC’s Crisis anyway.  But what do you call something like One More Day Marvel?  Besides a slap in the face to fans.  (IMO).

While Marvel seems to get a free pass on the whole “reboot” thing, they are constantly relaunching their line and doing soft reboots along the way.  How many of your favorite Marvel books have had new #1’s in the past couple of years?  I think Spider-Gwen which debuted in 2014 has already had 9 #1 issues!  (That’s possibly an exaggeration.)  The point is, Marvel is just as guilty in their own way.

And DC is hoping that by following the “Marvel model” with #1’s, a soft reboot and not a Crisis/Flashpoint/New 52 style reboot, fans will cut them some slack as well.

More on DC Rebirth’s “it’s not a reboot” after the cut.

Good Performances in Bad Superhero Movies

It would have been a bad movie, but Cage would have been amazing!

Today we celebrate the roses that grew out of a steaming pile of horse manure. It’s easy to bask in the accolades of a strong performance in an epic superhero flick. Chris Reeve got us all started with his turn in Superman. Ledger was all-time in the brilliant Dark Knight. RDJ was amazing in the transformative Iron Man. But what about the people who rise to the occasion in a real stinker? Let’s give them their moment in the sun!

The New 52 Is Dead. Long Live The…New 49?

Not to be outdone by whatever Marvel announces on The View today, DC is trying to make waves of their own with huge changes to their entire line of comics in the wake of Convergence.

Up first, RIP New 52 branding.  It hasn’t made sense in a long time and I guess we are back to it simply being the DC universe.  (Unfortunately it doesn’t sound like we’ll be back to the Pre-Flashpoint DCU.  Sniff.)