1. 

   ross on April 11, 2011 at 4:46 pm

   ninja turtles la la la

2. 

   1979semifinalist on April 12, 2011 at 12:04 pm

   I thought you’d enjoy that!

3. 

   LAndrew on April 14, 2011 at 8:49 am

   Oh man, I sure hope that Aquaman/WW thing is so not what they’re going to be doing.

   I get quite a strong “Black Panther/Storm” wedding vibe off that idea and it sure didn’t take long for that to prove an empty stunt that damaged both characters, dinnit?

4. 

   Keith Bowden on April 15, 2011 at 2:24 pm

   Why do I imagine outrageously offensive jokes at the meeting where they came up with the Aquaman/Wonder Woman idea? >:(

   As for Bat retcons, comics are all over that – especially Batman! Usually bad ideas are simply ignored (e.g., Bat-Mite), though brought out every now and then when someone wants to have fun, usually outside of continuity. But Batman has a long history of having continuity tweaked (Joe Chill, Two-Face) or flat out rewritten (Jason Todd, Bruce and Jim’s various offspring). When it makes sense for a story, it works as an evolution and it’s simple enough for writers and readers to ignore old storylines that were dumb (’50s aliens stories), from a “simpler time” (the original Bat-Woman, Bat-Girl, Bat-Hound and Bat-Mite) or just not working (the original Jason Todd origin and character). Considering that Jim Gordon even having a son is a retcon in itself, I see no problems with the current tweaking in Detective Comics.

   Then there’s the other side of continuity change, epitomized by Wonder Woman. It seems to have started with the ’60s de-powered mod version. Ever since then DC has made changes every few years.

   White pantsuit, no powers, martial artist.
   Re-powered, star-spangles back in traditional costume, unsure, makes the men of the JLA test her before she would/could rejoin the League.
   WWII adventures (Earth-2 Diana), to coincide with the initial version of the TV series.
   Back to the present, standard super-hero stories.
   Replace eagle with Wonder Woman Foundation logo, maybe/kind-of/sorta focus on women’s issues.
   Complete post-Crisis reboot by George Perez, focus on women’s issues and utilizing the Greek gods and Amazons.
   Post-Perez series – get away from the Greek mythos and Perez cast! (The Messner-Loebs material was good, although the end suffered from the introduction of Deodato and his 3-spotlight boobs – patented by Image – and the butt-floss costume.)
   John Byrne relaunch.
   I lost track of WW after that, and I’m not sure where the “Attack of the Amazons” crap comes in, but then you have Rucka, Picoult, Simone and Straczynski, and Flashpoint I guess.

   Basically, they haven’t had any consistent ideas of what to do with her in 45 years, and seem to think that supporting or tweaking passionate takes on the character is the wrong approach, they have to shake it up completely every time, and usually not with passionate investment in the character but with some radical (and at times misogynistic) reworking of the character; instead of building from a workable foundation they turn it over to a Syd Phillips to torture and maim the toy.

   Sorry, this comment has gone waaaay too long and i’m starting to rant.

5. 

   1979semifinalist on April 16, 2011 at 6:14 pm

   @LAndrew: Yeah, a “Stunt Marriage” is probably never a good idea – be it in comics, television, film, or real life. Bah.

   @Keith Bowden: Yeah, I don’t want to be in the room when that WW/Aquaman Wedding idea gets floated.

   I feel mixed about retcons. On the one hand my knee jerk reaction is to hate them and think they are bad ideas…but there are plenty of examples of them working well – usually when the people involved really cared, were really invested, and had the backing of editorial (and more perhaps)…but it’s a very fine line. I’ve ended up in the grey area here. I can’t say they’re definitively bad or good, and I have to take them on a case by case basis…but I will admit to raising an eyebrow (and probably narrowing my eyes suspiciously) when they get suggested…

6. 

   Keith Bowden on April 16, 2011 at 6:58 pm

   It is definitely a fine line in shared-universe characters. Is it a good idea or lazy writers/editors wanting to take over the sandbox? Mostly I think the best way of handling a bad idea that got published is to simply ignore it. Usually. Rather than “developing” or “reworking” it. (Why torture the readers a second time?) Ah, comics. How do I love thee?

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