Panel Vision - All-Star Squadron #38-40

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As we enter the middle point of January, depictions of racism and marginalized races, especially black people, has become something of a running focus in the popular discourse.  This particular subject has been at the forefront for a while, ever since the Internet-enabled marginalized fans to demand greater representation on panel and behind the scenes in superhero comics, but this is somewhat unique.  

With both Black Lightning and Black Panther poised to remake the superhero genre in their own image, DC Comics has announced plans for screenwriter John Ridley (12 Years A Slave, Let It Fall) to write a new comic chronicling the stories of DC’s marginalized entitled The Other History of the DC Universe.  This is a great idea and it’s got me thinking about the VAST number of DC heroes who fit this dynamic and I settled on one story, in particular, that’s unique even among the annals of DC comics: All-Star Squadron’s Detroit is Dynamite.

Static Thoughts - In A Mirror Darkly

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It seems these days that alternate realities and parallel universes are everywhere.  That’s actually kind of to be expected as nerdy media becomes more and more of a dominant genre.  Back in the day geek material struggled for mainstream relevance unless it stripped out as many of its big ideas as possible but these days people are making movies and shows out of Ant-Man and Dr. Strange.  As such, digging into more complicated ideas like the Multiverse, pocket universes, or altered continuity are becoming more and more widespread. 

The Flash has really embraced this idea with the Multiverse and Flashpoint, Legends of Tomorrow had its own altered universe episode, Stranger Things was built on a dimensional foundation, and Agents of SHIELD has found serious success with an altered continuity story set in a world where the bad guys won called ‘Agents of Hydra.’  As I’m eager to capitalize on this trend I thought I’d look back at hands down my favorite altered reality story, coming to us from the most hated Star Trek series of them all Star Trek: Enterprise- this is ‘In A Mirror Darkly.’

Panel Vision - Justice Riders

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ne of the more surprising trends of the 2010s is that the Western is back from extinction.  This is mainly due to Tarantino re-introducing us to the versatility of the genre in 2012 with Django Unchained but it’s spread well beyond that.  There were more Westerns than superheroes movies in 2015 and now we’re gearing up for a double dose of the old west with the twin remakes of Magnificent Seven and West World.  This is hardly the first time Westerns have impacted the cultural landscape but the revival and the genre versatility it’s brought with it have certainly cast a new light on an old style. 

Even though this current crop of films are set in the Old West and feature cowboys and gun fights they all come with additional genre elements like Bone Tomahawk’s position as a horror movie, Hateful Eight is an Agatha Christie mystery, Ridiculous 6 was a comedy (hey I’m just talking about Westerns, not GOOD Westerns.)  All this genre crossover reminded me of my favorite Western comic book courtesy of DC Comics- the late ‘90s oddity that was The Justice Riders. 

Static Thoughts - Is CW Planning the Death of Superman?

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Edited By Robert Beach

There’s no denying that Supergirl season 1 is the biggest success story for the Superman brand since Smallville. It’s a knockout show that captivated audiences and embodied the spirit of the Superman mythos in a way we haven’t seen in live action since 1978’s Superman. The show embraces pure heroism and the fantasy of being able to make the world a better place, a pair of ideals both in tragically short supply these days (and lacking from the DC movie adaptation of Superman). I need to preface all of that because I’m about to suggest a very un-Supergirl thing about what we might expect from the upcoming season 2. It’s my suspicion that Supergirl is planning to kill off newly introduced Superman Tyler Hoechlin in the season 2 mid-season finale. 

1st Details on Flash/Arrow/Supergirl/Legends of Tomorrow Crossover

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This fall marks one of the largest media endeavors we’ve seen on TV since the heyday of Star Trek in the ‘90s.  CW, the kings of television superheroes, will be launching 4 individual series this fall, each one interconnected with the other 3 and all building towards a massive 4 crossover that will add up to a week long event.  This is the culmination of years of work and building, starting with Arrow in 2012, building into The Flash in 2014, launching Legends of Tomorrow in 2016 and now taking on CBS’ Supergirl show.  This will be the third such crossover for CW and, in the tradition of these multi-show team-ups, it’s aiming to handle a pretty hefty task. 

The first CW crossover between The Flash and Arrow in 2014 took on the job of more or less completely redirecting CW’s style of superhero production, making it more light and fun rather than drab and dreary.  The 2015 crossover between the two shows acted as a prequel episode to Legends of Tomorrow, setting up team members Hawkman and Hawkgirl as well as series villain Vandal Savage.  Now, this new crossover takes on the new big issue facing CW’s superhero universe: how do you solve a problem like Supergirl?

Static Thoughts - What to Expect from Stranger Things Season 2

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Edited by Robert Beach

With the summer season drawing to a close, the time has come to look back on the many success of the last few months and inexorably ask: what’s next? For some, that may be a difficult question for Netflix’s Stranger Things, the breakout TV success of the summer. The answer is obvious: Season 2.  

As anyone who’s seen the show knows, there was a lot of dangling elements left in the retro sci-fi adventure series to be developed for the second season. Netflix has already announced plans for a follow-up to the massively popular series. Even though there are some obvious places to go with things, the question of what the second season will be about looms large over the production. As such, I’ve come up with a list of 5 major possibilities for what Stranger Things season 2 could be about. Obviously, there are spoilers to follow.

Panel Vision - History of Lois Lane

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Yesterday, Noel Neill tragically passed away at the age of 95.  Though Ms. Neill enjoyed a long and storied career, her most famous role was as the very first actor to play Lois Lane, appearing initially in a pair of serials and on the Superman radio program.  Later, Neill would continue her role on the first live action Superman television series The Adventures of Superman and cement her place as one of the most iconic figures in comic adaptations. 

Seriously, alongside Dana Delany on Superman the animated series and Margot Kidder in the 1978 film series Noel Neill is one of the three women who define Lois Lane as a character and helped shape her history in the comics and the public eye.  Given that, and the fact I haven’t seen The Adventures of Superman, I thought I’d focus in on that history and break down the strange evolution of Lois Lane from girl reporter to the wife of Superman. 

Who Was That At The End of the Season Finale to Legends of Tomorrow?

Edited by Robert Beach 

CW’s ambitious superhero team time travel show Legends of Tomorrow has completed its first season and what a wild ride it was.  The show opened strong with a series of top-notch 2-episode storylines that used the time travel gimmick to explore a number of unique genres like ‘50s monster movie, ’70 spy thriller, and post-apocalyptic action adventure. Overall, the action and adventure of the series was top notch even as the later episodes tended to lose focus and slip a little in quality, falling into a much more syndicated approach than the early 2-part story collection.

In the end, Legends of Tomorrow’s ambitions were probably bigger than its abilities. Despite that, strong performances and amazing technical acumen made the show a damn fun ride and earned it a second season alongside CW’s 4-night superhero line-up.  Legends of Tomorrow was already gearing up for its second season with a surprise reveal at the end of the season 1 finale. Who gave the titular Legends a grave warning at the end of season 1?  

Panel Vision - DC Multiverse Guide

Edited by Robert Beach

This week marks a major milestone for superhero adaptations. This is the week CW’s The Flash takes a trip to Earth-2. While the Earth-2 of TV is markedly different from that of the comics, I figured now would be a good time to pen my guide to the DC Multiverse. It’s pretty much confirmed Flash will be travelling the other realities of DC’s parallel Earths. 

So I’ve put together a collection of Earth’s to watch out for and what you need to know about them should they pop up. This is also a pretty fundamental baseline for understanding why the DC multiverse exists and how all these parallel universes came to be in the first place. With that said, here’s your guide to the DC Multiverse. 

Panel Vision - History of Uncle Sam & The Freedom Fighters

Over this last weekend Amazon released an original blockbuster streaming series entitled Man in the High Castle, an adaptation of the Philip K. Dick story of the same name about an alternate history in which the Axis powers won World War 2.  I haven’t watched it yet but I’ve heard a lot of good things so far and I’m already a pretty big fan of alternate histories in general.  However, alternate histories are actually pretty rare outside of literature.  There are plenty of historical farces but as far as alternate futures crafted by changes in history that’s actually pretty rare and the ones there are usually come from comic books.  

Which leads us to today’s subject, the most enduring and popular alternate history in comic books, the world of Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters.  The heroes of an alternate timeline entitled Earth-10, Uncle Sam and his Freedom Fighters live in a world where President Roosevelt suffered a fatal heart attack at the height of World War 2 and the resulting instability cost the allies the war.  Now working in the underground Uncle Sam leads a small team of super heroes in a never-ending insurrection against the Axis Empire.  

Jay Garrick's Costume Revealed

So CW’s Flash, the best live action superhero show on the air right now and possibly of all time, started its second season this past week.  The first season started slow and rocky but picked up incredible speed to turn in an incredibly excellent and jam packed extravaganza of comic weirdness and well written characters.  There was compelling human drama amid all the time travel and psychic apes to say nothing of all the DC Universe shout outs and cameos.  I’ve written about the possibilities of season 2 previously but I wanted to take one more look now that CW has officially revealed Jay Garrick’s costume.

Jay Garrick in the comics was the original Flash, created by Gardner Fox in 1940s during the so-called Golden Age of comics.  He was later reintegrated into the mainstream living in a parallel reality called Earth-2, which was populated with other heroes from the Golden Age DC was no longer publishing.  So far his role has been pretty unclear on the show but this costume speaks volumes about what will be happening with him and even though I know this is old news keep reading because ‘Would You Like To Know More’ isn’t just a column about reporting news, it’s a column about wild speculation and in-depth nerdy explanations. 

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 of Two Worlds Poster

Early in the year I reported that Jay Garrick, the original Golden Age Flash, would be coming to CW’s Flash show in its second season. At the time, this raised a lot of questions. It had been announced that Jay Garrick would be on the show but now word about his abilities or how he’d be portrayed.  The only thing we’d heard was that he would be playing an older mentor figure to Barry, filling the boots of Dr. Harrison Wells from season 1. Well, we have our first major confirmation that CW is planning way more than that with this amazing Flash of Two Worlds reveal poster.

As you can see from the poster, Jay Garrick will have super speed in his appearance on the Flash and even be sporting a costume drawn directly from his Golden Age depiction. This is pretty good news as it confirms that CW will be working with the classical costume design for most of the JSA as they slowly introduced them over the course of season 2, instead the New 52 costume redesigns. More importantly, this poster confirms that CW is planning to introduce Earth 2 this coming season. 

Constantine Coming to Arrow

Edited by Robert Beach

W’s superhero TV universe is, by a wide margin, the best live-action DC Comics adaptation since Dark Knight. It started rough with the early seasons of Arrow adopting the horrible aesthetic of gritty realism in the setting but cartoonishly grim and one-dimensional characterization; however, ever since the third season of Arrow and about ½ way through season 1 of The Flash, CW has been knocking it out of the park in their shows. Arrow has developed into one of the best Green Arrow adaptations where they still embrace the idea of Green Arrow as a bit of a Batman rip-off and now drawing from the highly underutilized era of ‘70s globetrotting Batman. 

Meanwhile, The Flash has turned into a powerhouse combination of engaging characters and superhero adventure. In a lot of ways, The Flash ends up a rip-off of its own as so much of the show is grounded in the style of ‘70s Spider-Man. Given that Spider-Man hasn’t been good in 10 years, The Flash copying his aesthetic and winning combination of melodrama and superhero action is fine by me. Now, they’re looking to rescue another hero as John Constantine has been confirmed to appear in a crossover episode with Arrow.