Heroes and Villains of the Spectrum - Blue

Our next stop on the spectrum tour comes with the color blue. These folks think there's something cool about having "Blue" in their name...

Blue Beetle

Like Green Lantern, there have been several versions of this character. Focusing on the one who carried the title longest, Ted Kord was basically an athletic guy with a great sense of humor and some of the coolest gadgets on Earth. 

Hovering above the city in his "Bug" (a flying ship), he was the inspiration for the Nite Owl character in "Watchmen". His death at the hands of Maxwell Lord was a catalyst in the eventual discovery of the OMAC project.

Blue Diamond

One of the original members of the Liberty Legion, Blue Diamond appeared in the 40's for real as one of the earlier obscure heroes in print.

His skin was diamond-hard (thus the name) which allowed him to take a lot of punishment on the way to dishing it out. He still appeared in comics up until the 80's, showing up in a Marvel Two-In-One comic.

Ultimately, he was turned into an actual diamond to help preserve his body since he was getting so old and traveled through space with an alien. Back on Earth, now he's pretty much disappeared from the radar.

Blue Devil

This DC character has a strange origin. Originally, a stunt man put on the costume, only to find he couldn't remove it after an encounter with a real demon in a cave.

The character was originally played as a light-hearted Booster Gold type character, but that changed. The Blue Devil had his own series for a while, but has pretty much stayed in the background as a secondary character. As of late, he's joined up with some of DC's more supernatural crew (including Detective Chimp, who we never expected to see again) called Shadowpact.

He even made a quick cameo in the JLU figure line and has recently had a fairly nice DCU figure made of him.

Bluebird

Sally Avril wasn't around for long as a superhero, but she had spunk.

Originally deciding to become the official photographer of Spider-Man (until she found out Peter Parker had the job), she decided instead to become a hero of her own. She teamed up with Spidey a couple of times (not his choice) before he was finally able to talk her out of the dangerous profession.

Unfortunately for her, she was killed in a car wreck after giving up the superhero job while on her way to take more photos of Spider-Man in action.

Blue Eagle

This character was a member of the Squadron Supreme in their first incarnation during the maxi-series of the 80's. He had originally appeared as American Eagle before taking on his colorful moniker.

Unfortunately, his term as Blue Eagle was very short-lived. He was killed during a battle when Lamprey drained his wings of their power. He fell to his death.

Blue Shield

This character is actually pretty cool, though mostly forgotten.

He has the ability to create a force field around himself and others, and is currently the director of the Pegasus Project, a position held by Quasar, among others.

He's probably the coolest thing to come out of the Dazzler comic series of the 80's (his origin was told in issue 5). Hopefully we'll see him pop up sometime in the future, though given Marvel's treatment of their older characters it's probably best he stays hidden for now.


Next week, we look at the absolute mother lode of comic book color name titles: Black!

Fight Night!

I've talked about dream fights before, but let's look at some match-ups that would win their own awards.

Most Pompous Fight: Darkseid vs. Thanos

These two would spend the entire time talking about how regal they were, and how they were feared on their homeworld, and how they would not tolerate rebellion, and such. 

It would be a fairly even match, but I think it would be filled with so many word balloons it would seem like an issue of "Ultimate Spider-Man" during the Bendis years.

Most Confusing Fight to Narrate: Captain Marvel vs. Captain Marvel

Think about it: "Captain Marvel throws a punch and sends Captain Marvel flying. Cap flies into Cap, but Cap is too fast and speeds out of his way..." It would go like this indefinitely.

But then again, if you think about it, this might be a pretty cool battle. I'm talking the original Marvel Captain Marvel here, not any of the others who have held the title since his death.

Most Egotistical Fight: Lex Luthor vs. Norman Osborn

Both men consider themselves perfect. Both men consider themselves flawless leaders. Both men consider themselves victorious time and again against their enemies. And both men have that one thorn in their flesh: the main hero they can never stop. 

They'd spend a lot of time bragging about how they outsmarted this hero and that, and how they won this political victory or that, and then they'd both get ugly and start screaming "Look, it's Spider-Man" and "Hey, there's Superman" at each other.

Most Evenly-Matched Fight: Scarecrow vs. Scarecrow

Let's see, both men dress up in scarecrow outfits. Both men deal with fear, and neither is a trained fighter or anything. As a matter of fact, both men are basically punching bags when the time comes for fisticuffs.

Marvel's version has been beaten down by the Falcon, a c-list hero if that. DC's Scarecrow has been beaten down by...well, just about everyone. The only thing that could possibly turn the tide to his favor would be if he gets to use his fear gas on Marvel's version. Other than that, I predict this one to be a one-punch knockout for whoever gets to throw the first punch.

Most Paranoid Fight: Rorschach vs. The Question

Both men are brutal when it comes to fighting. Neither man would hesitate to do whatever it took to win. Both men would have awesome trenchcoats and hats going for them, and even an artist with horrible drawing skills would be able to do this one.

Both men would probably spend their time spouting government conspiracies and secret society machinations. In the end I think they'd just break down and find enough common ground to go grab a cup of coffee (or a can of beans). Still, you have to admit it would be a really fun read just for the conversations!

Most Boring Fight: Watcher vs. Monitor

In this corner, Uatu the Watcher. In the other corner, the Monitor.

And then, for the next two weeks they just sit and stare at each other until the match is declared a draw.

'Nuff said.

Black Lanterns We'd Like to See!

Ok, so if you haven't read Blackest Night #1 yet, you might not fully understand what this is about. If you have, you know DC's throwing down the gauntlet by bringing back some of their best dead characters for some creepy moments on the heroes. You never really realize how many dead heroes there were out there until DC decides to bring them all back at once as bad guys! There were some incredible reveals in the first issue, and you need to grab it as I'm sure this is the story DC will consider its flagship for 2009.

Still, even with great returns like Superman 2, Aquaman, Firestorm, Blue Beetle, Hawk, Dove, and Elongated Man, there are several characters who deserve a shot at the return--even if they aren't a part of the DC Universe. With the digitally-enhanced Photoshop magic of my son, Khristian, I'd like to present my wish list if there were no boundaries to the Black Lantern power:

1. Rorschach - The guy was psycho-town when he was alive. He had no limits on what he'd do to criminals ("I'm not trapped in here with you...you're trapped in here with me!"). Now imagine what he'd be like with that whole "undead" thing going for him.

2. Captain America - I know "Reborn" is bringing him back, but wouldn't it be cool to see him coming back as a Black Lantern? He's fought with the best of the heroes, he knows their style, and I think he'd be next to impossible to beat. Take away his moral compunction against killing, and more than one hero would be joining the Black Lanterns before Cap was finished.

3. Gwen Stacy - Geoff Johns has said that the emotional impact of the Black Lanterns was what's important in the story. He didn't just want a "zombie book", and I can't think of very many folks who would fit that bill better for Spider-Man. Never mind the fact that she has no super-powers, just think about the emotional roller coaster it would be for Spider-Man as she tried to kill him!

4. The Question - I'm not sure if he's going to make it back or not in the series, but I would hope so. However, my only request is that he lives through it all and comes back as a regular hero to take Montoya's place. Vic was the much better version of the hero, and DC could really use that paranoid guy right now. There's so much going on behind the scenes, and he'd be the perfect one to bring it all to light.

5. Bill Foster/Giant Man - He died violently at the hands of a clone created by Tony Stark and Reed Richards. I think he'd have a good bit of anger to resolve if given the chance. Of course, he'd probably aim it all at Thor first off because he didn't know it was a clone who killed him, but after things were straightened out Mister Fantastic had better go on a quick vacation before Giant Man shows up at the Baxter Building.

6. Uncle Ben - Again, no powers here, but if you were looking to emotionally cripple Spider-Man you'd be hard-pressed to beat this choice--especially if you brought Gwen Stacy back too. Let Ben go after Aunt May (and kill her, please!) and you've got Pete in the middle of a madhouse.

7. Ultimate Wolverine - So Magneto completely reduces the guy to dust in Ultimatum #5, which is one thing he's not going to regenerate from. That means he's ripe for our wish list! We saw what a bad Wolverine could do in the "Enemy of the State" storyline. Now take that one step further and turn him into a killing machine that actually enjoys killing (as the Black Lanterns do) and you have the character who will have his black ring charged up faster than any other character out there.

And as for my prediction as to how it will all end...


What about you? If you could pick someone from any comic universe to come back, who would it be?

The Real Watchmen

We all know the movie is on its way this weekend, and I wanted to be a faithful comic blogger and jump on the bandwagon before it was too late. So here is my obligatory "Watchmen" posting.

You've probably heard this story a dozen times before, but Alan Moore's original proposal for the Watchmen was "Who Killed The Peacemaker?", and it used the Charlton Comics characters in what could only be called a never-before-seen brutality that would add emotional weight to the story. DC balked since they had just purchased the characters and had high hopes for their future, so they told Moore to create his own originals for the story. Moore, being the individual that he is, did just that by creating a series of heroes who were thinly-veiled versions of the originals. But did you ever wonder "What If?"

With that, I'd like to present a look at "The Real Watchmen"...

This story was so grim and dark that it would have definitely forever changed the way the Charlton characters were perceived from that point on (even though the story would have been considered an "alternate reality" or "Elseworlds" type tale). The good-and-bad were meshed into a deep gray murk that made the heroes human. So What If...

I've never seen this done before, so through the modern miracles of technology I'd like to give my readers a little treat: I will show you what one of the scenes from the book would have looked like if DC had left Moore alone and let him have the Charlton heroes for real.

Is it original, never-before-seen concept artwork kept from the world for decades? Nope, it's my son's amazing Photoshop skills. Still, it should give you a little taste of what might have been and what we missed.

The original scene appears in Chapter 1 as The Question (Rorschach) attempts to gain some insight into the death of Christopher Smith (aka "The Peacemaker"). Here we are with "Who Killed the Peacemaker?", chapter 1:So there's a feeling of what might have been. Thanks, Khristian!

Next it's time to look at some essential reading as we lead into our awesome guest-posts later this month!


Oh, and Happy Anniversary, honey! Thanks for marrying this crazy comic geek!