TPWW Forums - DC Universe Thread

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I am currently reading Adventures of Superman... will comment on the issue when I reach it.

I'm with Fignuts, man.

At first I thought the dialogue was gonna be another 'World of Cardboard' thing for Superman and he puts the Clown Prince of Crime in his place, but then things got seriously meta enough to take me out of the story and I know the writer had to have had some kind of issue with Joker as a fictional character.

There's been tons of moments in comics where one character lays in to another with a 'Why You Suck' speech. Many of which delivered from Emma Frost. I have no qualms with a nice stinging deconstruction. That's fine. But those panels up there is a writer burying, HHH style, one of the greatest villains of all time. Maybe he's just a Superman fanboy. Maybe he hates the Joker character. Who knows... But consider the implications of this, as well as why I think DC should have asked for a rewrite:

- When you have a scene where it goes from 'Why You Suck' to 'Why this character fucking sucks balls', you undermine a character and remove his validity as a threat in his home Universe. Yeah we get it; there's a ton of villains that Superman would absolutely mop, and that's why certain heroes simply have to stay their lane. Clark can go to Central City and clean it up; so what? Let's toss Big S in every city. DC Universe is cleaned up sans the truly powerful threats - the Luthor's and the Darksieds. That's nice.

- This also has the side-effect of making Batman out to be just as invalid a hero. A major theme is how he does what he does without magic or being meta-human. He deals with some of the most chilling villains ever seen. "But if it was Superman he'd handle it." Right? Right? Fuck Batman and his toolset, why don't he make an Iron Man suit that does everything a Kryptonian can. Right? It pisses on Batman, pisses on his rogues gallery, all for this writer to mock up some Kryptonian porn.

- "Get the hell out of my city" might as well be "Get the hell out of comics" with a speech like that.

- The Justice League cartoons and even before that, the Superman/Batman crossover movie of the DCAU era, also used the fact that Clark can handle Joker - often to a matter of fact effect. But under no circumstance did they 'bury' the Joker. He was a threat. And he even carried one JL episode as the sole threat. For the Justice League. That's not Joker fanboyism, that's just the danger of a 'crazy genius' guy like the Joker. His menace is not just that he can gather "cheap gasoline" and plant it in semi-random places. If that was the case Bruce wouldn't take his schemes so super-seriously.

So yeah I didn't take kindly to that above scene. Not as a Joker, Superman, or batman fanboy - as a comic fan. It does serious disservice to several characters and comic tropes at once - including Superman himself. What does "Anybody could play you/write you" even mean in a comic universe setting? How does that not clue you in that the writer's trying to make some point?

Just passive aggressive and blatant and counter-productive.

I'm sorry, but no. One out-of-continuity comic where a writer goes meta does not bury or destroy a character. And frankly, after seeing a hundred different writers take their turns tearing Superman down and dragging him through the mud, it's refreshing to see someone turn it on one of the bad guys for once. If the Joker is so fragile that he can't take one monologue in a non-canon story without being undermined and destroyed forever, then to be honest he probably wasn't all he was cracked up to be to begin with.

As for heroes having to stay in their box or risk ruining the fun for other characters, that pretty much applies only to Gotham City. Non-S villains like Sinestro, Grodd, Black Adam, Ares, Malefa'ac, et al could put a serious hurt on Clark, so I really don't have a problem with Superman dropping into Central City or wherever to lend a hand. Hell, people fight each other's villains all the time in the Marvel universe without it being a problem. It's only Gotham that causes this division, without having to ramp up character favoritism.

I love me some Batman, and I love me some Joker, I really do. But the protective bubble that writers have placed over Gotham, to where no other characters are ever allowed to look cool or effective in the presence of someone in the Bat-Franchise, is fucking ridiculous. Time and time again, they make this huge deal about how hey, fuck superpowers, just get Batman to handle it while all the mega-powered demigods and aliens are tripping over their own feet. For the sake of making sure Batman and Gotham City as a whole are never made out to be anything less than the coolest thing ever, the rest of the entire DC Universe is made to look weak and ineffectual.

So no, I don't mind Superman trouncing Joker and making Batman's job look easy. God knows if there's one franchise that needs to be taken down a peg or two, it's that one.

Enough in-fighting. Let us all ridicule a villain we can all hate.

http://www.shortpacked.com/comics/2011-01-31-blind.png

Celebrating Batman's 75th Anniversary, Bruce Timm will produce a new animated short, which may or may not be set in the DCAU. And if that's not enough, a Batman Beyond animated short is being produced as well. There may also be a historical short like the Superman one a few months ago.

Did you really have to post it in both threads?

I... didn't know where to post it.

Superman's 75th anniversary vid was better.

But that was good as well.

I really miss the DCAU.

Dick Grayson is now a super-spy in the New 52, in a new on-going simply titled "Grayson".

Well, at least he's not dead.

Dick Grayson should not under any circumstances be pointing a gun at us. I already hate everything about this.

Well he was a cop in Bludhaven for a bit. Probably pointed a gun at some point in that profession.

Don't get me wrong, this is ridiculous.

Son of Batman is now online.

That is awesome news

Good movie but not great. Way better than JL:War. Something I'd buy/want to own but not at 19.99 or anything.

Daaaamn. Really did need to be longer.

Just so we're clear; that is Kevin Conroy, Tara Strong, and CCH Pounder returning for their characters (Tara replaces Arleen as Harley for all media - including a cameo on Arrow).

Troy Baker reprises his Origins Joker role, Hammil sits this one out.

The story is essentially on the outskirts of a typical Batman vs Joker event, which is a unique perspective.

Oh this is gonna be awesome. Well minus Tara replacing Arleen. I do love Tara Strong but she'll always be Bubbles to me.

However you feel about him; Zack Snyder is indeed going to direct Justice League after Batman vs Superman. It's a lock.

Kind of a bummer that Man of Steel was more a vehicle for a DC Cinematic Universe than kick starting his own series. WB may be going at this in a linear way rather than MCU's converge/diverge film style. That might be a good thing, but I'm not so sure they know what they're doing right now.

Honestly have no beef with Zach Snyder.

Efrem Zimbalist Jr., voice of Alfred of the DCAU, died at the age of 95. For a lot of us he was the Alfred, guiding Bruce with his sarcastic wisdom.

http://league.jmkprime.org/wp-conten...-Part-1-06.jpg

Damn. RIP. The best Alfred.

Got it covered:

http://www.tpwwforums.com/showthread.php?t=126525

What may be very interesting discussions now have a home thread. This thing developed fast. Just yesterday we were copy-pasting rumors of this thing.

CW officially orders The Flash and iZombie for the upcoming 2014-2015 season, while NBC does the same for Constantine.

So many comic book tv shows....

Most from a single source. DC is really reaching out, and it helps that their TV record is actually pretty good.