Everyone else has to be a notch lower. Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, others, I believe, are seen as needing to be diminished because I feel that it threatens Superman and other characters threaten Batman. So, there must be a flaw, Billy has to be a perpetual childish hero (not smart enough or mature enough to handle the things Superman does). Captain Atom has to be military obsessed, seeing only what order gone to extremes can do.
I've proposed on this board that if that is the way DC sees this character, then let him go into the Supernatural. Stay in the DCUniverse, but let the family operate in a humor/magic universe, kind of like the strip series Supernatural Law that came out a few years ago. Or a ghostbusters type of family doing what Superman clearly has a weakness against. Keep them apart instead of just using Capt as an Anti-Superman that he's played that last several years.
--Previous Message--
: It is sad. I don't really believe they don't
: know what to do with them, I think its more
: of a fear of committing to permanent changes
: needed by the characters in order to survive
: in today's world. Whether that is out of
: fear or lack of respect, I don't know.
: Perhaps they are afraid of the reaction of
: hardcore fans of the more
: "simplistic" Marvel Family if they
: made real sweeping changes to modernize the
: characters. Anything they seem to do to the
: characters ends up being temporary.
: Personally, while I have nothing but respect
: for the past, and the old tales will live
: forever in my heart, I am a firm believer in
: change and evolution. Sometimes you need to
: shake things up. Of course, I also believed
: that they should have allowed Alan Moore to
: use the Charlton characters for the
: Watchmen. But, no, there's that fear of
: change.
: Every now and then, they happen across
: something decent, then slink away. For
: example, I really enjoyed the alternate
: universe Marvel Family that appeared in the
: JLI mini a few years ago. Odd as it sounds,
: that depiction of Mary as a kinky fetish
: queen was refreshing and so over the top it
: actually felt new. Of course, they utilized
: something similar in the indecipherable
: Final Crisis nonsense, but there she just
: came off as a goofy evil wannabe.
: We've seen Jr. evil. That's what Miracleman
: was about. Changing Mary made sense and
: would have truly shaken the Family to its
: core. She certainly had good reason to turn
: bad after being abandoned by Billy and
: Freddie, and her and Eclipso was an
: interesting pairing. That storyline actually
: was working for me until Darkseid got
: involved.
: Alas, all good things end.
: But, perhaps the fresh slate they get as a
: result of Final Crisis will be the
: opportunity for someone with guts and vision
: to take control of the characters.
: One thing is for sure, if they don't hammer
: out definitive roles and characterizations
: in the comics, there is no way a movie will
: be successful. It'll just be a mess.
:
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: Yeah, I read all the stuff about Cap, also a
: recent issue of 'Back Issue' magazine covers
: similar territory.
:
: DC has had a lot of opportunities to do
: Capt. Marvel right, and except for the stuff
: by Jerry Ordway, Bridwell/Newton, and Alex
: Ross (OK, maybe a few Kurt Shaffenburger
: stories from the 1970's) it has all been
: terrible.
:
: The new series would be tolerable if they
: were running a parallel series aimed at an
: older audience, or aimed at all ages as were
: the original Fawcett comix.
:
: It's sad, but seeing that Ross had good
: ideas that were dismissed, as was a late
: bronze age concept by the great Don Newton,
: it just kind of fits. DC just doesn't know
: what to do with most of the characters it
: has swallowed up from other companies, i.e.,
: Blackhawk, Plastic Man, Blue Beetle, etc.
:
:
:
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