{"id":26877,"date":"2012-03-06T23:01:57","date_gmt":"2012-03-07T06:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/06\/why-is-nobody-happy-in-the-dc-new-universe.html"},"modified":"2013-04-03T07:32:23","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T13:32:23","slug":"why-is-nobody-happy-in-the-dc-new-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/06\/why-is-nobody-happy-in-the-dc-new-universe.html","title":{"rendered":"Why is nobody happy in the DC New Universe?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Okay, I know — big new vision, modern relevance, publisher fanboys out to change the word …<\/p>\n

But, damn<\/i>, the DCnU is a grim place.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Not any more.<\/p>\n

And this week we learned that, over on Earth 2, the Superman there was<\/i> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Except, it seems, now, when he’s Grimace McZapster, wearing a hood and buckles and looking really, really angry.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Embedded Link<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

The New Shazam Looks Like Shazit – Topless Robot<\/a>
\nIf there’s one superhero who shouldn’t be emo, shouldn’t it be Shazam?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading “Why is nobody happy in the DC New Universe?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,11],"tags":[107],"class_list":["post-26877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-media-comics","tag-ddtb"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133349,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/04\/26\/superman-returns.html","url_meta":{"origin":26877,"position":0},"title":"Superman Returns","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 26-Apr-17 9:43am","format":false,"excerpt":"If I look over the last few decades of comic books, esp. from the Big Two, there's been an ever-increasing cascade of Big Events that change around continuity in some fashion, each change then undone or revised or magnified by the next Big Event. This gets added into the trend\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":160129,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2023\/08\/15\/dceu-rewatch-batman-vs-superman-dawn-of-justice-2016.html","url_meta":{"origin":26877,"position":1},"title":"DCEU Rewatch: “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 15-Aug-23 12:04am","format":false,"excerpt":"There are so, so many things wrong with this film. So many things.","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"Batman vs Superman","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Batman-v-Superman-poster-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Batman-v-Superman-poster-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Batman-v-Superman-poster-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":134713,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/15\/whos-upset-superman-stopped-killing-undocumented-workers.html","url_meta":{"origin":26877,"position":2},"title":"So who’s upset because Superman stopped a killing of undocumented workers?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 15-Sep-17 4:46pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I read the issue. And I actually saw the angry tweets (and bilious Fox News opinion piece) lambasting DC for having Superman stop a mass shooting. Which sounds insane, but the target was a group of (accused) undocumented workers, and the shooter was a white guy, with a American flag\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Superman-saving-immigrants.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":51751,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/15\/making-a-good-superman-movie.html","url_meta":{"origin":26877,"position":3},"title":"Making a good Superman movie","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 15-Jul-15 10:18am","format":false,"excerpt":"Ultimately, a good movie is a good movie. I think it's a valid artistic choice to do a movie about Superman as a godlike \u00dcbermensch -- as long as the story is then not about him, but about how people relate to him (or not).Now, that's quite a bit difference\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39955,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/12\/09\/a-superman-movie-id-like-to-see.html","url_meta":{"origin":26877,"position":4},"title":"A Superman movie I'd like to see","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 9-Dec-13 10:05pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The challenge is not for Clark. It's for Jonathan and Martha.Reshared post from +George WimanDid you see Man Of Steel? Here's the Superman movie I wish they had made instead\u00a0\ufeff How to make an interesting movie about Superman Superman - you know him, right? Super-powerful, super-nice guy. He's so super\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32372,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/01\/ruining-superman.html","url_meta":{"origin":26877,"position":5},"title":"Ruining Superman","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 1-Feb-13 3:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Of course, bear in mind that this list of \"Things That Ruined Superman\" goes all the way back to things that happened in the 30s and 40s. \u00a0Plus when you mix both comics and movies, and deal with things from eleventy-dozen eras of comics, you can probably come up with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26877"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33028,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26877\/revisions\/33028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}