Okay, I know — big new vision, modern relevance, publisher fanboys out to change the word …
But, damn, the DCnU is a grim place.
Superman, the “Big Blue Boy Scout,” is in two series — one in which he’s an angry (and feared) young Clark Kent, just sorting out his powers and mission and wearing a t-shirt and getting all righteously angry on political and business bosses; one in which he’s an angry (and feared) Superman of 5 years later, who wears ceremonial Kryptonian armor (no undies on the outside) and punches things a lot. No wife, no girlfriend, and Lois is being shtupped by some handsome rival.
Now, Superman is sometime serious. Sometimes even angry. But the core of the character has for decades been a reassuring, not-quite-paternal smile — a man of nigh-infinite power who, raised by loving parents who taught him compassion, restraint, and a love of truth, justice, and the American Way.
Not any more.
And this week we learned that, over on Earth 2, the Superman there was hooked up with Lois — but she’s now dead, an event that torments and grieves him and will probably make him a much more grim and violent character over in that vibrational plane, too.
Then there’s Wonder Woman. Now, I like the current run of WW — but she’s certainly a lot more broody warrior woman than the smiling, kindly, slightly naive, definitely determined Princess Diana whose been the emissary of Paradise Island to “Man’s World.” This WW is caught up in the rivalries of gods, has seen her homeland suffer from same, and is a much more fierce character. Which is wholly in keeping with the vengeance-addled WW of the Flashpoint series, the young, wandering amnesiac WW of the previous JMS-scripted series … and, we learned this week, the vengeful “Last Amazon” of Earth 2.
And now Captain Marvel, the “Big Red Cheese,” the always kind of goofy magic-based equivalent to Superman. The 10-year-old in a nigh-omnipotent body, guided by the wisdom of the gods, but still primarily a good-hearted kid.
Except, it seems, now, when he’s Grimace McZapster, wearing a hood and buckles and looking really, really angry.
Batman is pretty much Batman; the Batbooks only soft relaunched … except that we also find out that over on Earth 2, the Batman there has killed in order to protect his daughter. So even the grim-n-gritty Batman can get more grim-n-gritty.
Now bear in mind, I’m not looking for Hostess Fruit Cakes / Super Friends here. There’s room for a bit of the edgy, for some anger and some conflict and some unhappiness that can drive even a happier character. Nobody wants a protagonist who’s always serene.
But DC’s new overlords seem to have decided that, as far as the comics are concerned, a smile is only for villains, and a “happy” ending is merely one in which the good guy survives, or even prospers with a rage-induced roar.
Is that more realistic? Is it more entertaining? Will it bring in new readers, old readers, and retain current readers? I have my serious doubts … which, I guess, makes me a good model for a DCnU character, too. #ddtb
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The New Shazam Looks Like Shazit – Topless Robot
If there’s one superhero who shouldn’t be emo, shouldn’t it be Shazam?
To me, Superman was always defined not by his status as the last survivor of an alien world but by his upbringing in Kansas. Lois began calling him “Smallville” for a reason. A couple issues of the “new, improved” Superman were enough for me to drop him from my reading list.
In fact, I don’t really care about any of the characters in the DCnU. Too many of the heroes seem to share the same attitude, with only their power sets and costumes to distinguish them. Barbara Gordon, once one of my favorite characters, was far more interesting as Oracle than as the standard female-version-of-a-male-hero. There are no compelling heroes left at DC, it seems.
@Avo – Agreed. The theme of Superman was always his humanity, not his … um … kryptonianity.
I’m planning on dropping the main Superman title; Grant Morrison is just barely enough interesting in the “five years earlier” title to warrant the expense. Barely.
I’m enjoying Batgirl a lot — but, as you note, it’s not a unique instance of the character. Supergirl’s been interesting (better than the previous instance, in fact), but not compelling. Batwoman is gorgeous and interesting, but I don’t salivate over the next issue arriving. I am really liking Wonder Woman a lot, and Birds of Prey is solid entertainment for me.
It may be of note that the preceding list are all female heroes, which was not intentional, but I do find it interesting. There are some other DC titles I read, but nothing that makes me go wow.
I hate to be “that guy” — it really annoyed me when fanboys were all up in arms about Wally West not being in the NuDC. I don’t care about Wally, especially, so shut up why dontcha?
But now? Now my beloved Lois has been killed off in Earth 2. Not cool, DC, not cool at all. She’s one of the great comics characters — and possibly the greatest and most important female character ever created in comics.
I am bitter. And it WILL keep me from buying Earth 2, a book I was quite a bit excited about. In fact, I have grown bored with NuDC in general. I guess I am a comics reactionary at heart.
@Derrick – Don’t you understand that the purpose of female characters is to be threatened and/or killed so as to provide motivation to male characters (a/k/a “The Heroes”)?
We’ll stretch the rule a bit for Wonder Woman, but make up for it by (on Earth 2) wiping out all the other Amazons. Again.