reading superman up in the sky moodboard

It is okay to like Homelander.

This isn’t a very structured essay but it was something that has been bothering me for awhile.

I’ve been a huge fan of The Boys and have watched all the seasons and frequently browsed for content of the The Boys from Tumblr, Reddit, to Facebook. But something I noticed within more mainstream spaces is this certain type of gatekeeping and morally virtuous stance a lot of the more common fans tend to have. 

I’m not going to ignore the type of show The Boys is and their stance on certain political issues especially with current events. And in a way, I think this connection to real life creates vitriol inside the fandom. Especially the effects it has on fans and their ability to enjoy certain characters in the show. Like the character Homelander. 

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First, lets take a look into an overall view of The Boys, politics, and how it ties into Homelander.

The Boys is a show available to be watched on Amazon since 2019. So far it has three Seasons under its belt. It grew in popularity ever since the increase rise in the ‘evil superman’ trope and an attempt to create a world where if superheroes existed in our current climate. This is a very simple idea but was executed very well and the show gain monumental popularity. 

But by the start of Season 2 where the show started to introduce more political issues, that is where the majority of the disagreement between fans began to emerge. Storefront and what she stood for created a lot of discourse. Her character is not a good person and her views are considered to be unacceptable and inhumane both in actions and in ideologies. She was meant to be hated and the show succeeded in that. But like Homelander, there are going to be fans of hers and who like her for various reasons that I won't get into today. 

But the politics began to ramp up in Season 3. Instead of nazis, The Boys took a lot of inspiration from current events. According to Kripke, Homelander was supposed to be a caricature of he previous sitting President, Donald Trump, and his supporters the Republican/Conservative people. 

There are of course much needed criticism for the Republican Party, but the blatant favoritism and antagonism towards the other half of the American population creates a division between people. By showing Republicans and Republican talking points as black white and only used for the morally worse characters is no longer satirical and actually frames millions of people as the wrong ones. 

I am not going to speak on which party is wrong or not because there are issues in both, but the inclusion of current events and the demonization of one party over the other pits fans against each other which is something that should never happen. It has reached levels of no longer simple disagreements but a pure hatred for those who even have an inkling of such views. This full on display of hatred carries over to even casual fans who just want to enjoy the characters. 

As how for the end of Season 3, Episode 8, Homelander murdered a man who threw a can at Ryan during a rally/speech event. This prompted other’s to cheer for him, which is Kripke’s way of satirically showing the supposed cult-like evil of the party (Rep/Conservs) and Homelander (Trump). 

This stance is further displayed during the scene where a fan of Stormfront murdered someone in her name or when Ashely notified Homelander that his base rose with people in more Red States. The Boys in general are meant to a social criticism on what America stands for and the ‘fraudulent’ show they put on to the world in order to hide their atrocities through Homelander. 

According to Reddit and Facebook posts, when Republican fans of The Boys point out criticisms they have of being openly mocked and associated to nazis, other fans claim they are offended because the show is just telling the truth of their nature. No one wants to be seem as evil and this type of accusatory language towards one another will not lead to the endgame that many people think it will lead to.

The majority of fans and watchers are usually okay with such blatant satire, but the current climate has created discord amongst the American population. 

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Homelander’s Fans

During Season 1, many people who enjoyed Homelander and his antics weren’t met with as much antagonism. Compared to other villains from other stories, he was a unique take and is a complex character. The Boys did an amazing job at showing how his background and his development turned him into the insane, insecure man he is today that still craves for affection he never got. Where all his life he chases after love that he doesn’t even know how it looks like. Through that aspects of Homelander, I think they did a great job at truly showing how broken he is. 

But the issues started once Homelander started becoming Kripke’s projection or ideas of what he believes is the sins committed of the Red Party. And The Boys taking inspiration from current events. In a lot of people’s eyes, those who like Homelander are just as vile as he is because why would you like a murder, an insane person, didn’t argue against Stormfront’s ideas, Trump-personified, rapist, manchild? Because he is so vile, the only people who like him must support such people and are therefore not worthy of respect. 

Homelander is not a good person. But he is not the worst compared to other characters like Frieza, Griffith, Dio, Voldemort, and many others. Frieza commits mass planet genocide which is nothing compared to Homelander’s actions but he is seem in much more positive light and has a high amount of fans who love him for his power and for his memes. Homelander doesn't get that treatment and that is because of the issue surrounding him and the politics in the show. Because of the divisive nature of the political side he represents, many people view those who even like him or sympathize with him as evil as well, nazi sympathizers and the like. A show should be an escapism and I think too many tv shows and movies are trying to bring real life into media which just causes people to argue just like they do in real life. 

As a long-time lurker and contributor to many fandoms, I hate to see a show as amazing as The Boys fall into the trap of judging other fans for liking evil characters. The majority of people who like Homelander do not support nor justify his actions. But he is a villain, has a tragic backstory, and is written well which draws people towards him. No one should be seen as evil for liking a fictional character that has done questionable things. 

Of course there are going to be people who create apology posts for characters like Dabi or other tragic characters. Even then, they don’t deserve hate. It is just another way of interacting with the fandom and creating interpretations for their actions. Civil disagreements are important but calling for their death or harm on them for having questionable or unusual takes makes you no better than what you are accusing that person of. Just like fanfiction and many types of manga. People write a variety of taboo subjects but they are fictional and they need to stay that way. Bringing real-life issues into what is supposed to be a sort of escapism will just push for more divide in the fandom. 

Homelander with all his flaws and personifications doesn’t deserve to be the scapegoat for those who aim to villainize his fans. People should be allowed to love him in all his glory and create all the fan content they wish to make without feeling like they are committing a crime. 

What Makes Hal a Great Villain?

Okay, I’m saying it upfront: this one is going to get a little dark and very real.  Potential triggers for harassment, stalking, sexual predation.  Nothing graphic or heavy, of course, but if these are especially highly sensitive subjects for you, please proceed with caution.

Also, SPOILER ALERT for anyone who has not yet watched the animated awesomeness that is Megamind.  (If you are that person, the DVD is on sale on Amazon, and the movie is available to stream on NowTV.  Go watch it.  I’ll wait.)

We all know Megamind is an awesome protagonist--multi-layered, relatable, and surprisingly complex-- but, truthfully, his antagonist is just as interesting.  In fact, when compared with other animated villains of the early 2000′s, he’s by far the most memorable... and the most terrifying.

Many may question my assessment.  I mean, let’s be honest: this guy doesn’t exactly look like the face of evil.  But make no mistake: Hal, who later becomes Titan, is an extremely scary person.

I don’t want to leave readers with the impression that this character is one-sided, however, so before we get started on just what makes this fellow complete nightmare fuel, let’s look briefly at a few of the other reasons that Hal makes a fascinating Bad Guy.

One of my favorite things about Hal’s character arch is that it defies expectations.  Superhero comics have a long tradition of Average Nobodies who somehow receive extraordinary powers and go on to save the city.  Or the world.  Or the universe.  You get the idea.  Many comic book fans, upon watching Megamind for the first time, probably expected Hal to do the same, but he doesn’t.  In fact, he goes rogue, choosing to use his newly-obtained gifts for wanton destruction.  Thus the film inverts the established trope.

Like the protagonist he faces, (and is thankfully conquered by,) Hal is complex, and his true nature reveals itself slowly.  I’ve heard some people say that they actually felt a bit sorry for him in the first scene he appears, as he awkwardly tries to express his feelings to reporter Roxanne Ritchi.  At first he seemed like nothing worse than a socially inept and sexually frustrated nerd.  Only as the move progressed, and the aforementioned viewers saw his creepiness more clearly, did they begin to revile him.  One of the many clever things about the movie is that the gradual development provides audiences with the experience of slowly getting to know the characters.  While Megamind is the somewhat anarchical Goth who worries you a little at first, but whose heart of gold has you loving him once you really understand him, Hal is that guy you really, really regret talking to at a party.  You know, the one who quickly starts sending your internal Creep-o-Meter off the scale and persistently follows you around for the rest of the night.  This is, indeed, part of what makes Hal disturbing; just like real villains, he hides in plain sight, wearing the guise of an ordinary fellow.

Which brings us back to the scary part.  Even before he gets superpowers, Hal is bad guy deep down.  He’s a creep and a stalker.  He harasses Roxanne at work and keeps pestering her for a date no matter how many times she says no.  Either consciously or unconsciously, he assumes that she’s shallow, and that once he has a muscular body and a bevy of godlike abilities, she’ll fawn on him.  The idea that he himself might be the problem never seems to occur to him.  In fact, he seems to feel that she will then owe him her affection.  This is because, even before becoming Titan, Hal appears to have an overblown sense of self-importance and an unrealistic concept about what he deserves.  (I go into detail about that in an earlier post, Megamind and Identity, which you can read here.)  The fact that he doesn’t get what he feels is his right seems to have created a deep-seeded bitterness in him that rises to the surface once he obtains power.

But Hal really is the problem.  His combined possessive harassment and complete lack of empathy are exactly why Roxanne neither likes nor trusts him.  And she’s right to feel that way.  Almost immediately after gaining his powers, now feeling that he is above society’s rules, Titan begins revealing just how terrible of a person he really is.  He uses his supervision to spy on Roxanne while he and Megamind (disguised as Space Dad) are in the park, and that must not be the only incident because he later tells Roxanne: “I know everything about you.”  This is just before he grabs her off of her balcony, without her consent, and begins throwing her around like a rag doll, terrifying her and putting her life in real danger because, apparently, he thinks she’ll be impressed.

Yeah.  This guy is pretty much human garbage.

Once he finally understands (more or less) that Roxanne really means it when she says she’s not interested, Hal/Titan reveals himself to be a man-child.  He  begins by using his abilities for selfish and criminal reasons, essentially stating that he doesn’t feel heroism is worth his time.  When he learns that Megamind has been dating Roxanne, (albeit in disguise,) he reacts with violence.  This is because Megamind, like Hal himself, is an outsider: unpopular, unwelcome, and considered unattractive by most of the population of Metro City.  In Hal’s mind, this revelation highlights the fact that none of these factors were the cause of Roxanne’s rejection, leaving only he himself to blame.  (In fact, the movie contrasts Megamind, who, although imperfect, respects Roxanne’s wishes and intelligence, with Hal, who basically views her as an object to be won.  Again, you can read more about that in Megamind and Identity.) Hal can’t handle that.  He can’t accept it.  So instead he turns his rage on the city as a whole.  (This is despite the fact that, deep down, Hal knows he is the problem, hence why he rejects his identity as Hal and fully embraces the new one as Titan.  That’s illustrated by his final line before abandoning Roxanne on Metro Tower: “It’s Titan, not Hal!”)

Hal abuses his power, and society suffers as a result.  Even then, however, Hal/Titan still tries to lay claim to Roxanne.  He accuses Megamind of “stealing his girlfriend,” and later tells Roxanne: “Let me guess, after seeing how awesome I am, you’ve come to your senses.”  All the way to the end, Hal still can’t quite seem to accept that reality is not following his design.

If the idea of a man who lets power go to his head, objectifies women, won’t take “no” for an answer, and reacts violently when denied what he feels he’s owed sounds familiar, that’s because it is.  Humanity has a huge problem with these sorts of behaviors, ranging from sexism and sexual predation to unfeeling abuses of power.  The Sarah Everard case in London, and the fact that several officials essentially blamed the victim, asking why Sarah was walking home alone rather than asking why some guy felt he had the right to attack her, is the most recent well-known testament to this, but it’s sadly far from the only one.  A.J. White said it best in his YouTube video, The Terror of the Incel Superman, when he expressed that news archives are full of stories about women being murdered by the sort of overgrown boys who can’t accept their refusals.  And although men of that sort do not have the ability to fly or shoot lasers out of their eyes, some of them do rise to social and political power.  They are Hals. 

That is exactly what makes this character so especially scary.  Unlike more farcical supervillains, he is based upon something that truly exists.  Preternatural abilities aside, Hal is terrifying because he is very real.  Let’s just hope our world will see more Megaminds willing to stand up to them. #BeMegamindNotHal

the P in Penny stands for (V8′s) Protagonist

So Monstra! Interesting name! Reminiscent of Monstro, the name of the whale from Disney’s Pinocchio (1940).

This confirms that the whale is indeed, here to complete Penny’s Pinocchio allusion. In other terms, Penny is the protagonist of this volume. The main conflict is her conflict; taking down the whale is her endgame and her turning point.

More undercut because apparently I am cursed with not knowing how to make brief and to the point meta

We know that RWBY uses the narrative beats of the original allusions (with some decisive tweaks that align with its overall hopepunk vision and themes), going as far as having direct visual parallels to the source material (Adam vs Bees fight/the original Beast vs Gaston fight anyone?). 

In the original Pinocchio movie, Pinocchio is tested three times before finally achieving becoming a little boy, and I think, likewise, Penny faces three tests before becoming a fully flledged huntress and maiden:

- Setback n°1: Pinocchio, still new to the world, the very concept of morality but eager to “do good” and willing to listen to Jiminy Cricket’s guidance, is tricked by a duo of conmen; in the movie, it’s into captivity, but the original story takes a much darker turn where the evil cat and fox - one pretending to be blind (Emerald and her perception bending Semblance) and one pretending to be a cripple (Mercury) - actually cause Pinocchio’s “death” through hanging (the author abhorred naughty children and was very...extreme about it). This is V3 Penny in a nutshell, discovering friendship and bonds and values through her own Jiminy, which is Ruby, but being set up by Mercury and Emerald to fight a losing battle that ends in her apparent “death”.

- Setback n°2: Pinocchio is embarked on a trip to Pleasure Island, an apparent playground especially catered for everyone to be happy! and have fun! but oh wait they’re actually being turned into jackasses geared for labor or sold to the Dust I mean the salt mines! You’ve guessed it, this is Penny’s V7 arc. Atlas Academy is Penny’s Pleasure Island, masquerading as a safe place where  but the veneer of Ironwood’s civility and apparent conflicted utilitarianism finally cracks to reveal how it’s ultimately a place of indoctrination, producing no actual people-serving Hunters but perfect soldiers concerned more with following orders than doing right, and where the disadvantaged and the poor are ostracized, taken advantage of and ultimately sacrificed. Pinocchio escapes Pleasure Island with Jiminy’s help, but not unscathed, having grown donkey ears and a tail. Likewise, with Ruby’s help and constant strong supportive presence, Penny proves herself fit to receive the maiden powers and escapes Atlas, but she’s still not completely free of Ironwood’s hold, still having to grapple with his and the AceOps’ manipulation tactics, still not sure what her role, who she is and how she fits really are. Which bring us to the third and last test:

- Setback n°3: the Whale. In the original movie, Gepetto gets swallowed by the whale when he tries to follow Pinocchio to Pleasure Island to save him. Pinocchio then dives in, saves Gepetto and, in the process, apparently “dies”, before finally earning his existence as a “real” little boy after that show of bravery and self-sacrifice. And I think these are the beats to look for in Penny’s V8 storyline. As of Episode 3, Penny is about to join Pietro and Maria, and there have been strong hints (and by that I mean we were basically hammered over the head) that she’s about to be “hacked” by Watts. How do the original narrative beats play out? Here’s how I think it fits:

Gepetto is swallowed by Monstro: After Penny is effectively “hacked” and by that I mean that while her soul and spirit remain unchanged, Watts hacks into the mainframe and forces her to surrender control over her body the same way we’ve seen her do (but willingly) for Pietro. Penny essentially ends up trapped inside her own body as it follows Watts’ commands. I suspect Watts will force her to take Pietro and Maria (who’s of interest to Salem by being one of the last remaining SEW, and I strongly suspect her soul/aura could be used to make more of whatever the Hound is, but this is a whole other matter to delve into in a separate post) to Salem.

Pinocchio dives in to save his father and takes down the whale: I think Pietro and/or Ruby will appeal to Penny/be in enough danger that she will snap out of Watts control on her own, effectively reclaiming her bodily autonomy on her own and then creating a mayhem big and terrible enough with her powers that will take down the whale and give everyone else enough time to escape. This will be Penny’s heroic moment and her stand. Right now, everyone is making the mistake of having people protect the maiden powers. Penny realizes what makes her a maiden is to use those powers to protect the people; it’s a decision she makes on her own that cements her as a true Maiden and a hero of the people.

Pinocchio “apparently dies” but is then granted his wish and becomes a “real” little boy: Here I think Penny takes down the whale but goes down with it. We don’t see her die again onscreen (I think it would be overkill to show her “corpse” a second time and would cheapen her dying at all. In general I am wary of the resurrection trope being overdone or coming without a cost because it severely undercuts the emotional payoff of a death), but I think by the end of V8 she’s MIA (which would make her the second person Ruby loses that way, but also the first to return to her so). I think Penny uses her powers to stall Monstra, and I’m willing to bet good money that whatever Penny does next has to do with the Gravity dust that keeps Monstra afloat. The thing with Gravity dust is that, it does push things off the ground, but it can also pull things towards it. I think whatever number Penny pulls on the gravitational field ends up pulling her down in that sillage as well.

I know the popular theory is that Penny “dies” again and Pietro sacrifices his life to resurrect her one last time, and I can see it happening, but here’s the thing: RWBY subverts popular tropes, exploring new (and more hopeful!) paths. Just look at Qrow: RWBY said, oh the mentor figure, scarred and haunted by his past? is not just another stepping stone whose death cements the hero on his journey, but becomes a character with a drive of their own, and an arc of their own, and who gets to pass the torch and live to see it burn well and bright and to the end. Gepetto lives and mourns the apparent death of his son but is there to welcome him home when, rewarded for courage and abnegation, Pinocchio earns the right to become a human boy. I think Pietro, too, will live, and get to welcome a Penny that has finally earned the right to call herself Mantle’s Protector, no longer Ironwood’s puppet (heh) nor an extension of her father but an actual established hero of the people, around whom Mantle can rally and who can work with the right people (Robyn and the Happy Huntresses) for the right reasons and outcomes, people and reasons she herself chooses and decisions she herself makes and a power she’s reclaimed and accepted and knows how to use. 

Penny’s quest has always been one of identity, slowly transforming from getting her bearings and realizing what makes her humanity is her soul, her ability to develop and deepen and protect her bonds to people and her natural empathy and kindness (V3′s ”am I worthy of calling myself human, too?”); to navigating morality, the nuances of doing good and the need to make her own calls and judgement of what is right and wrong (V7′s “who should I protect? what should I follow?”); to now, having established that she’s worthy of being one, Penny still has to find how to be a maiden, what that role entails for her and how she can finally fit as herself and into this new role, 100% reclaiming herself, her body (even from Pietro!!), her title and her mission. V8 (and maybe onwards) is the culmination of Penny’s identity journey, and I see it playing very much as an Iron Giant moment.

“You are who you choose to be,” says RWBY (and Ruby!) to Penny.

“Superman A human, and a hero, and a maiden” will be her answer.

And just like the Iron Giant, Penny saves the world, and rises again.

Best of DC: Week of January 29th, 2020

Best of this Week: Justice League #39 - Scott Snyder, Jorge Jimenez, Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, Alejandro Sanchez, Hi-Fi and Tom Napolitano

Talk about a Cosmic Sandbag.

Shayne, the alt-future son of Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter, gave his life and essence so that his father could return from the darkness. This book opens with the amazing return of Martian Manhunter as drawn by Jorge Jimenez with colors by Alejandro Sanchez. Manhuner hasn’t been seen since Justice League #28 when Lex Luthor absorbed him to become Apex Lex, so this return had a monumental feel, especially as the rest of the League looks upon him with awe. Jimenez makes this moment feel powerful as J’onn stands tall against Perpetua with his reds glowing vibrantly thanks to Sanchez.

As soon as Perpetua takes notice that J’onn has returned, she lunges after him. This is likely due to the fact that Martian Manhunter is legitimately one of the most powerful telepaths in the DC Universe and in the subsequent pages, he makes the choice to connect the minds of the people of Earth with his and the rest of the Justice League to try and swing them all toward the side of hope. 

This results in a wonderful double page spread where Jimenez poses Martian Manhunter like he’s about to use the Solar Flare from Dragon Ball and speaks to the people. Jimenez and Sanchez show the people on the streets and various members of the League looking towards the sky with smiles on their faces. Snyder scripts this amazingly by having Manhunter give the rousing speech of goodness and rising above that Superman would normally give. What makes this even better is that Manhunter, who usually suffers disillusionment from living amongst humanity, does an amazing job.

J’onn’s speech manages to rouse enough people that the Totality, the macguffin that could imprison Perpetua once again, begins to glow and surge with energy. Perpetua, starting to feel the fear of loss orders an onslaught of the League. Jimenez emphasizes the anger on her face, the fear on Lex’s and the intensity of the battle happening on the steps of the Hall of Justice.. Sanchez makes sure that the colors almost surge off of the page with flashes of red and blue.

As the hope of the people of Earth continues to grow, the tendrils of the Totality wrap themselves around Perpetua’s spindly body as she screams in anger and hatred. Tom Napolitano places Martian Manhunter’s thought balloons perfectly throughout these pages as Snyder ends J’onn’s speech with the people of Earth joining together in the feeling of heroism and hope. The Sigil of Doom begins to fade away and Perpetua has failed…

And then “KRA-KOOM,” Napolitano’s powerful lettering cracks across the page as Jimenez draws the Sigil of Doom firmly seared into the sky and made even stronger by the overbearing hum of Sanchez’s vibrant green. This is the kinda trope that Scott Snyder does well, but also kinda overuses in his grand scale stories: The Cosmic Sandbag. The heroes were on the very cusp of victory and it seemed like the people of Earth were actually believing in the hope that Martian Manhunter was talking about, but instead they gave into their fear, hatred and base instincts just like Perpetua thought they would.

Snyder utilizes this bait and switch technique to show just how influential Perpetua’s evil is and how at the end of the day it will take more than just a flowery speech to turn people, especially since they watched the Justice Leagues battle the forces of Doom and lose massively. Snyder used this in Dark Nights: Metal anytime Batman thought he had a chance in defeating The Batman Who Laughs and Barbatos. They would just pull nonsense out of nowhere and further plunge our hero into despair because he couldn’t anticipate the villain’s very next five moves. I love it and hate it because it helps to show hopelessness, which I am a fan of, but Snyder does do it a bit too much for my tastes (See The Batman Who Laughs mini-series).

The next thing we see is a Rita Repulsa-esque cackle from Perpetua and honesty this might be my favorite of Jimenez’s panels because he just makes Perpetua look so petty. She’s basically saying, “Bitch, you really thought!” before explaining how everything was by her design. She wanted to give humanity a choice to hear both sides and they still chose Doom. Manhunter tried to hide his mind from her, but he failed to realize that as the creator of the Multiverse, he could never think fast enough to avoid her. Perpetua is far more powerful than these heroes could ever have anticipated.

Jimenez and Sanchez absolutely kill the next few panels as Perpetua casts away the shackles of the Totality, breaking out of the tendrils as her black cape...hair(?) causes a gust of wind to shake our heroes while the background shows varying tones of blue, almost a mockery of their ideals of hope. She stands over the Earth while the void of space appears vast around it and with a flick of her wrist and a flash of yellow she wipes the Justice League from existence. Doom truly has won and she vows to create a new story from the ashes of Hope.

Though, the universe itself has other ideas. In the black of Space, green matter begins to coalesce into a form, then that form takes shape and appears to be Martian Manhunter. Daniel Sampere, Hi-Fi and Juan Albarran take over the art from this point and pose Manhunter as if he’s in a womb, reborn after being supposedly killed by Perpetua and saved by something else. I love that Snyder places such importance on Manhunter and his humanity. Despite the insurmountable odds that the League has faced up to this point, he still does everything in his power to call back to the Earth, to try to win the people back.

He is unable to, however, and it seems as though he’s not the only one unable to use his powers as the rest of the League shows up behind him. In an awesome splash page Sampere and Albarran show everyone as wearing black bodysuits, potentially symbolizing a loss of identity or power as none of them seem to be able to use their abilities. Hawkgirl seems to be the only exception because her wings are a part of her. Superman tries to rationalize that as long as they’re not actually dead then there’s still hope, but then he fails to fly, landing back on the moon.

Another awesome thing about this issue is how it calls back to the very first issue of the run with the Quintessence showing up. The Quinessence are a group consisting of Highfather, The Phantom Stranger, Hera, The Wizard Shazam, The Spectre and Ganthet of the Guardians of Oa. They are some of the most powerful beings in the universe and even they knew that this was how things were meant to be. They saw the same vision of Doom that Martian Manunter did and saved the League in the nick of time to prepare them for what’s to come, not just a war of Justice or Doom, but for Everything.

With everything that’s been hinted at as far as the next incoming Crisis, this is a really good inciting incident as far as things go. Perpetua wins and sets up the next true war for the Multiverse. Given there’s still things to sort out with The Batman Who Laughs, the conflict is set and the Justice League has to give their all to ensure that they can protect the Universe. Superboy Prime is coming back in the pages of Shazam, Wally West has found his kids and Dark Multiverse world of his own creation and this issue even references Doomsday Clock and kinda cements its place as an alt-Universe story, but acknowledges the importance of it.

Scott Snyder has set the stage for everything to come and thanks to his fantastic art team telling the story, he drums up the feeling that there’s still a way to see Geoff Johns original vision for Rebirth through. The hope is there, the League just needs to fight for it. I can’t wait to see what Robert Venditti can do as the writer for Justice League given the amazing work he’s done with Green Lantern and The Freedom Fighters series. Doug Mahnke also taking over as main artist is also a welcome change as he’s one of my favorite of DC’s regulars as well.

This was a high recommend and I can’t wait for the future!

Supergirl - S5 E1 - Event Horizon

You know that you mus be a super excited to watch a show, when you let not only two episodes accumulate on your DVR, but also two episodes from a companion series, and so far at least one from a third, before getting around to watching any of them.  Well, here we go, up, up and away.....

Oh, great, I get to see the last couple of minutes of Batwoman..... yay..... Awe, the blonde girl wants to bond with her...sister... group activities are important to maintain family ties in adulthood.  I'm sure this whole "ruling Gotham together" thing will be really good for their relationship. Moving on. Or not, because of course there's previews.  "I know you don't want to be the city's next great hope...." What?  Then why the fuck is she running around in the bat-suit? I'm going to nope the hell out of this one. Okay, for real this time, the episode has started - glossing over the trope of trying to set a kitschy vibe by playing a well known rock song under unusual circumstances, like a school bus careening out control - what is wrong with the pack of apparently unsupervised kids crossing the street without bothering to check for traffic; which would have allowed them to see a bus hurdling towards them?  And when they do see the bus, they stop dead in their tracks like a dear in headlights. But you know, we apparently need Lena to leer at Supergirl being fawned over by those whom she just saved and other passersby, presumably to remind us that she's mad for not coming out to her..... as Kara....  Did Lena cut the brakes on the bus?  Please tell me she didn't cut the brakes on the bus. Ah, it was a simulation - so Lena made the...artistic (?) choice of playing "We're Not Going to Take It" during her fantasy sequence? And her AI offers to help her kill Supergirl.  Don't trust her Lena, because next she's going to ask you to help her off her mom, Rosie the robot from the Jetsons; in a "Strangers on a Train"-esque murder pack, which never ends well.... I hear.... Let's not gloss over just how quickly either Lena or not-AI-Karen has jumped to murder.  I mean, this seems like a pretty extreme response to finding out that Kara is Supergirl on Lena's part; especially since it's not like Kara went out of her way to hide it from one of the smartest people on the planet.  Once again, if anyone should have been able to figure it out on their own, it should have been Lena; she has the intellect and the frequent association with both Supergirl and Kara, unlike the vast majority of society, for whom passing familiarity with one or the other would make it more plausible for them to overlook the glaringly obvious resemblance.  And even if her not noticing can be excused, I can maybe understand being a little miffed, but Jesus tap-dancing Christ, she's leaped murder in a single bond. Let's not downplay the AI's part in this either, because an artificial intelligence so quick to accept and offer to help plan a murder is like a half step away from the rise of Skynet. But seriously, after all of the failed attempts by Lex to kill Superman, why should any reasonably intelligent person or piece of technology believe for a second that remotely think they'd be any more successful with Supergirl? Oh, good, she's just using the simulations of murder to "get it out of her system" - I....guess that's better. Yay, I was hoping Alex and.... I want to say Kelly (?), were still going to strong; it's not at all a living manifestation of Ambien... Is it the smartest move on Superman's part to donate the pod he arrived in as a baby?  I mean, for one thing, there's something odd about the general public know the exact specifics of how Superman arrived on earth.  I suppose it's plausible, but it seems like it flirts with giving too much away.  More importantly though, that's some super ass advanced tech relative to anything on earth to just be sitting around at a museum.  A replica, maybe, but the actual pod? Oh, and it can apparently be used to make a bomb, what with it using anti-matter for fuel....what the fuck Kal-El.  Why would you give them a pod that still contained FUCKING ANTI-MATTER??? Who the hell designs an entirely white+glass office?  The custodians must hate these people. "CatCo isn't the end all of what we can offer each other...."  Mmmm... I mean...

I really hope the new editor is... I don't know, evil monster from hell that Supergirl has to toss into the sun in order to save the earth.  That's not too harsh, is it? What the fuck kind of business transaction would allow the employees to be locked into a new 3-year contract without the employee's consent?  Don't get me wrong, I concede that it's probably not outside the realm of reality, along with the non-compete clause, but God damn, that's some bullshit. Damn. I gotta admit, Kara's reveal to Lena was well done; she said all the right things, it had all of the right emotions - and they're going to fuck it up by continuing to have Lena hold this absurd grudge..... I hear the words of Lena accepting Kara, but I don't believe it's sincere. "How do you guys change so fast?" I mean, yeah, I get how Kara and J'Onn change so quickly, but how did James? Okay, so J'Onn gets pulled into the black hole that Midnight opened and Kara follows to retrieve him - that means that when they get back, it's like 100 years later; what with the time dilation related to close proximity to black holes?  No?  Alright then. Come on guys, the greatest movie villain of all time is obviously Glinda the witch from the North in The Wizard of Oz.  It's so obvious how she orchestrated the plot to murder two of her rival witches and depose the so-called "Wizard" in order to consolidate the power and rule Oz herself; using Dorothy as a patsy.   Oh my God, Lena has an ulterior motive! I can't believe it....