Panel Vision - Great Ten

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As the 21^st century prepares to exit its adolescence and enter its quarter-life crisis period, the idea that this will be the Chinese century seems more and more assured.  Chinese tastes and interests have grown into a major box office force for American blockbusters, Chinese industrialism drives a lot of the global economy, they’re the only people with the billions to dictate commands to the likes of Apple or Google, and recently they’ve established themselves at the forefront of the Green Energy push. 

This means that everybody has to adjust, hence why we see a larger Chinese presence in US blockbusters like Transformers 4 or Iron Man 3.  Comics are usually slow to adapt to these kinds of trends save for one exception at DC comics, who got on board the China train as early as 2006- 2 years before their coming out party to the world stage that was the Beijing Olympics.  They did it with a new prestige team of superheroes meant to embody various aspects of Chinese culture known as the Great Ten.

Dichen Lachman Cast as Roulette in Supergirl S2

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One of the interesting things about Supergirl is that they’ve done a good job of introducing villainous super women to compliment all their heroic women.  Woman super villains are actually still a pretty major rarity in the world of superheroes and especially in comic book adaptations.  I mean, across the vast gulf of superhero movies we’ve had since Superman in 1978 there are only about five female villains of note in the entire run.  What's more, a good chunk of those women are henchwomen like Ursa from Superman 2, Faora from Man of Steel, Mystique from X-Men 1 and 2, or Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Meanwhile, Supergirl featured General Astra as its main antagonist along with classic Superman foes like Livewire and Silver Banshee plus some more obscure woman counterparts to Superman foes like Indigo instead of Brainiac and Bizarro Supergirl.  Now, the show adds another woman villain and one of the truly vile and the villainous master criminals of that niche genre- Roulette, played by Dichen Lachman.

Panel Vision - Superman & The Legion of Superheroes

Edited by Robert Beach 

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As I currently write this, the political world is in something of a weird place. Honestly, “weird” feels like an understatement. American politics are blighted by vicious strains of white supremacy and xenophobia; the world is still gripped in the midst of a refugee crisis, and the UK is deciding whether or not it wants to drop out of the EU (Editor's Note: they did). It’s a tumultuous time, and the elements of racism, hatred, and general petty bigotry that inform the political climate are hard to ignore. 

While all of this is an issue to be dealt with through political action, it’s also a massively stressful and emotionally taxing ordeal to live with. The situation that fiction can exist to reflect and give us some semblance of ease through. And where some of the ugliest beliefs and ideologies of humanity can rear their head with pride and a legitimate chance at power, there’s no greater fictional reflection of our current state than Superman and the Legion of Superheroes.

Cover Story - Top 17 Bizarro Covers

This week marks the live action debut of Bizarro on CBS’ Supergirl.  Granted this is Bizarro Supergirl as opposed to the standard Bizarro Number One of the comics but it’s still a pretty big deal all things considered.  I’m a massive Bizarro fan so this is a pretty big deal for me and I’ve chosen to celebrate by taking you through the best Bizarro covers I could dig up from across the characters very long history.  

This is going to be one of those Cover Stories where the cover collection doubles as an excuse to talk about Bizarro’s exceedingly weird history so in case you ever wanted to know what the deal was with the chalk white rocky Frankenstein Superman that is Bizarro, here we go.

Panel Vision - Legend of the Hawkman

Previously on Panel Vision I discussed the 1989 comic Hawkworld, a dark, gritty reimagining of the Hawkman characters and mythos that was informed by the stylistic trends and affects of Judge Dredd, Bladerunner, and Soylent Green.  However, despite being critically well regarded and establishing a handful of still relevant things Hawkworld really didn’t leave that big a footprint on the comics landscape or Hawkman in particular.  It spawned an ongoing comic that lasted for a few years followed by a new Hawkman comic in 1993, which has been rightfully forgotten by all good and descent comic fans, and then that was it. 

By 1997, when DC made a major shift in writers and series spearheaded by Grant Morrison’s relaunched Justice League of America comic, Hawkman had more or less passed on from continuity and would stay there for about 4 years.  In 2001, Hawkman returned with a back to basics look and a strained attempt to combine all the most popular elements of his mythos at the time.  Though interesting that Hawkman is pretty inhospitable to new comers, which is a shame given how much he incorporated from the Silver Age character while elevating the material through modern writing sensibilities.  Thankfully, in 2000 there was an exceptional mini-series that did just that: Legend of the Hawkman.

Comic Rainbow - Flash Family

Welcome back to Comic Rainbow, the show with a pointedly vague brief so I can focus on pretty much whatever I want so long as I’m indulging my color obsession.  In the spirit of undefined focus this week we’re looking at another topical subject: The Flash.  In case you don’t know CW’s The Flash premiered its 2^nd season on Tuesday of this week at the time of writing.  The show had a rocky start but rocketed into the hearts of nerds and common folk alike through its winning combination of comic book craziness and engaging character and story.  I personally love CW’s The Flash, it’s the only DC adaptation of the 2010s to rival the works of Marvel and is the best comic show currently on TV.  This new season is primed to continue the show’s broadening horizons by introducing both the multiverse and a collection of Flash allies such as Wally West, Jay Garrick, and Jesse Quick.  This has got me thinking about the Flash Family, a group of heroes who all draw their power from the speed force, which I discussed previously in “Would You Like To Know More.”  So, this is your full spectrum look at the Flash Family in all its shades, shames, and successes.

Flash Family coming to The Flash Season 2?

Edited by Robert Beach

For my money, CW’s Flash is the best DC Comics live-action adaptation of the decade. In the mangled and mishandled quagmire of grim and gritty tripe like Man of Steel, broken films like Dark Knight Rises, and abysmal failures like Green Lantern, Flash stands above the rest as a stunning achievement. The show is a great blend of well-acted drama, light-hearted adventure, and an infectious exuberance for the source material, which has been greatly lacking from DC’s other endeavors. 

Simply the fact Flash approaches its first season with the gonzo, go-for-broke, mindset that gave us time travel and psychic gorillas right out of the gate speaks volumes about its confidence and passion.  Now the ramp up has begun for season 2, and it seems we’ll be seeing the start of the Flash Family as Jesse Quick, Wally West, and Jay Garrick have all been confirmed.