Will Luthor Join the Justice League?

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Recently, it’s been announced that in addition to the 7 Leaguers and the villain Steppenwolf, 2017’s Justice League film will feature Lex Luthor.  That actually makes a lot of sense, even if the idea never really occurred to anyone before the announcement.  Technically speaking Justice League will form the third leg of Zack Snyder’s DC trilogy so it makes sense he’d bring back Luthor from Dawn of Justice to really close things off.  What’s more, Luthor’s vague connection to the New Gods in that film, as suggested by his closing monolog, means he’s the only human currently on Earth with any knowledge of the infinitely powerful celestial beings.  

I’m not sure if he’ll end up in his classic green and purple power armor or if he’ll just be on hand for information but outwardly there’s enough there to justify this choice.  However, things are a little strange with Lex Luthor, especially lately and especially in the comics.  There’s been a trend with him recently towards heroism that has me wondering: will Lex Luthor join the Justice League? 

What the Spear of Destiny means for Legends of Tomorrow

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If you’re watching Legends of Tomorrow, the mid-season finale this year revealed a pretty significant plot point for both the show and the CWniverse as a whole.  It was shown that this season’s villains, the Legion of Doom, are in search of the Spear of Destiny, an incredibly powerful mystic artifact.  They explain in the episode that the Spear, more commonly known as the Spear of Longinus, is the same Spear that the Roman soldier used to pierce the side of Christ during the crucifixion. 

That fact has afforded it tremendous power, though Legends of Tomorrow was a little unclear what that power was.  Though the Spear of Longinus is a real world artifact of note, it also has a long and storied history in DC comics that hints at some major shake-ups and new additions to the Legends’ roster. 

Panel Vision - Medicine Soldiers

At the time of writing the US is paying witness to one of the most egregious miscarriages of justice and corruptions of the legal system we’ve seen in quite some time.  I’m referring of course to the native water protectors at Standing Rock facing down the corporate machinery and military police of the Dakota Access Pipeline.  

If you’re unfamiliar with the details, an oil pipeline was deemed too dangerous to go through the Dakota capital of Bismarck and so has been rerouted through native lands of the Sioux people against their will. 

Rather than just let a soulless corporation steal their land and poison their resources the Sioux have taken to non-violently blocking construction.  In response, authorities have responded with near deadly force- spraying protestors with freezing water and even shooting a woman’s arm off with rubber bullets.  

The whole thing is an absolute cluster and here are some links if you want to give support to the protesters, but we’re here to talk about comics.  Specifically, the entire situation reminded me of the comic that first got me interested in Native Rights, one of the best Batman stories of the modern era- Medicine Soldiers. 

Comics Rainbow - Invasion!

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So, this Friday marks the premiere of Independence Day: Resurgence and the return of the seminal alien invasion film to the big screen.  It’s a pretty major event, both as a major summer blockbuster and as an indicator of the growing force of nostalgia for the ‘90s.  We’ll see if the Independence Day lightning can really strike twice but for right now let’s talk about alien invasions in comics.  

The alien invasion is the perfect set-up for the world of the superhero and while both DC and Marvel have thrown together an impressive array of alien takeovers, today we focus on those from DC comics.  There’s no real reason I’m emphasizing DC, they’re just the company I’m most familiar with.  DC has a vast history of alien invasions, some of them amazing, some mediocre, and some absolutely terrible and today we’re going to get the full spectrum on all of them.

Panel Vision - Dr. 13: Architecture & Mortality

Edited by Robert Beach 

Well, May is almost over. The thermometer is headed skyward, and blockbuster movies are hitting the multiplex. It all adds up to one thing: Summer is officially here. For comic nerds, the arrival of Summer is more or less synonymous with the arrival of event comics, the massive cross-universe stories smashing heroes together and reshaping  continuity as we know it for about 9 months till the next one.  

Obnoxious and overused as they are, event comics are basically just a force of nature in comics, which makes our relationship with them a little complicated. While endless retcons and shock deaths are certainly tedious staples of the event comic, fans have become so inundated with them we’ve come to appreciate the subtle differences between garbage event books like Fear Itself and the at least interesting ones like Secret Wars (2015). 

For DC, their event comic this year is called DC Rebirth, a universe-reshaping retcon comic that’s already been spoiled. However, I’m not here to discuss those spoilers, but rather a sister comic to DC Rebirth. The actual plot of DC Rebirth is all about what happens to heroes who’ve been rendered non-canon by the events of a reality-reshaping crisis, a concept that was also explored by one of the greatest comics of all time Doctor 13: Architecture & Mortality, by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang. 

Comics Rainbow - Cavemen

Edited by Robert Beach 

As I write this, the Internet is awash in videos and praise for the most recent installment of the Far Cry franchise: Far Cry Primal.  Eschewing the contemporary setting of the series thus far, Far Cry Primal is a prehistoric adventure game dropping you right in the heart of my favorite under-appreciated genre: caveman fantasy. 

This recent caveman revival has given me cause to look over the role of caveman fiction in the realm of comics. Turns out, cavemen in the main two comic companies are weirdly represented minority spread across major roles, forgotten classics, bizarre experiments, and fondly remembered cult hits. Today, we honor them.