Three People Who Have Never Been In My Kitchen
Recently I wrote about a few prominent DC characters returning to action, and the apparent roll-back-the-clock attitude behind bringing them back. Along the way I might have given the impression they were better off dead. While that's not necessarily true, here's how I remember them, and how I hope DC treats each in the future.
Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
"Professional" is the first word that Hal Jordan brings to my mind, because he was always a very take-charge kind of guy. When he showed up in Justice League of America or as a guest star in Flash or Superman, you knew he'd have something positive to contribute. It's been weird for me to see Hal as Green Lantern again, because by now he is a man from another era. Sure, it's only been a couple of years in DC time, but seeing him shake hands with Kyle Rayner in Green Lantern Rebirth #5 was, I imagine, like a Jay Garrick fan reading Flash of Two Worlds, or even a Captain America situation. At the risk of diving into the deep end of fanboy nerdishness, it reminds me a lot of the "Shatnerverse" Star Trek novels where Kirk is revived in Picard's time.
Accordingly, I hope Geoff Johns takes advantage of this strangeness. Consider: ever since the Denny O'Neil era, Hal's writers wrung drama out of the tension between his Earthbound programs and his duty to protect the rest of his sector. You'd think that Hal's death (and Carol Ferris' marriage) would have erased all his ties to Earth -- it's definitely made his secret identity common knowledge.
Even if that's all rolled back to the pre-death status quo, I'd expect his peers to treat Hal cautiously until he, and they, get used to his coming back from the dead. I especially hope Johns acknowledges this in Hal's relationship with John Stewart, and builds this into Hal's new relationship with Kyle Rayner. Both men have been Earth's GL for significant periods of time after Hal was out of the picture, so neither should feel obligated to take back seats to him now.
I'm also a little bothered by Johns' need to suppress Hal's moments of soul-searching and self-doubt. To me this suggests Johns regards Hal's most significant character developments as the weaknesses which allowed Parallax to control him. On the contrary, those moments helped illustrate how commanding and decisive Hal is normally. For example, Hal's surrender to the Manhunter in JLA #140 was shocking because in a situation which ostensibly called for action, he did nothing. In fact, it pointed up another of Hal's good qualities -- he knew when he was wrong. Confronted with social inequalities in the Denny O'Neil era, he was just as quick to admit his own complacency and work to make things right. Admitting that you had done something wrong in order to do the right thing isn't a weakness -- it's a recognition that you know what's right. Johns needs to tone down the rhetoric a little, because Hal will be better for it in the long run.
Troia
Donna Troy's problem was that she never was Wonder Woman's sidekick. While the other Teen Titans were regularly paired with their mentors, Donna almost never shared adventures with Wonder Woman. In fact, "Wonder Girl," like Superboy, started out as Wonder Woman's teenage self. It is therefore tempting to say that but for Teen Titans, Donna never would have had a career of her own.
With that background, it's hard to imagine Donna having a unique dramatic role. She started out as the Titans' lone girl, and by the time the New Teen Titans came along, she was "the stable one" -- virtually the Monica Geller of the group. She had a thriving career (as a teenaged fashion photographer -- whaa?), a supportive older boyfriend, and no parental issues. (Foster mother Queen Hippolyta was nice enough to provide a swanky Manhattan penthouse apartment.) For the Titans' first few years, her biggest storyline was being mind-controlled into turning against the Amazons and forgetting about Terry, the boyfriend. Although The New Teen Titans #38 began an investigation into her origins that would eventually be exploited beyond belief, at the time it was only a touching character story which reinforced her relationship with Dick Grayson and added emotional heft to her wedding to Terry a year later in Titans #50.
Ironically, though, George Perez's 1986 reinvention of Wonder Woman called Donna's entire story into question. No longer was she affiliated with the Amazons -- in fact, at that time one could easily suppose that WW's lasso-and-bracelet schtick was copied from Donna! When Perez returned to the Titans a couple of years later with New Titans #50, the first orders of business were reconnecting Donna to Greek mythology and giving her the new heroic identity of Troia.
Things settled down for a while, origin-wise, until John Byrne took over Wonder Woman in 1996 and further explained Donna's origin. Going back to Wonder Girl's original Superboy-like role, Byrne had Donna retconned into a part of Diana's soul, stolen from Diana and fated to live a series of tragic lives. Byrne also retconned Hippolyta into the Wonder Woman of the 1940s, serving with the Justice Society and becoming the inspiration for Donna's Wonder Girl identity.
Through all of this Donna was still "the stable one," always ready to support her friends. She's been Dick Grayson's and Wally West's confidant and Roy Harper's and Kyle Rayner's girlfriend. And yet, when she "died" in Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, the reshuffling of those teams didn't seem to allow for her. By then the new Wonder Girl, created by Byrne and nurtured by Peter David, had supplanted her as Wonder Woman's first true protege.
This isn't to say that Donna deserved her fate. Quite the contrary -- although Donna never engendered much (if any) controversy, the world needs as many sweet, likeable heroines as it can get. Donna might have grown more disconnected from her roots as the years wore on, but just about everyone who worked on her seemed to do so with genuine affection. DC will have to find a place for her in the new scheme of things, so I hope it's a good one where she can thrive.
Robin II (Jason Todd)
Jason was also a victim of circumstance -- specifically, the circumstances of his origin being identical to Dick Grayson's. It's therefore a little surprising to me that he survived for several post-Dark Knight issues of Detective (#s 569-74) doing Dick's traditional Robin routine of exuberance and bad puns. These were Denny O'Neil's first six issues as editor, with the new creative team of Mike W. Barr and Alan Davis.
Barr and Davis presented Jason/Robin as a kind of idealized kid sidekick, as boisterious as his mentor was grim. It was a good fit with the rest of their retro sensibilities, which they contrasted with Batman's grimness and determination. Fittingly enough, Jason's last Barr/Davis Detective appeared the month before his origin was redone by Max Collins over in Batman. After that, there was no going back. Jim Starlin took over Batman and made Jason into a sullen teenager, perhaps overcompensating for having to wear the green briefs and elf shoes, but at times even darker and grimmer than Batman. Nevertheless, his fate was sealed by a voting margin a Floridian could appreciate, so even at the end he still had some support, albeit perhaps only for the costume.
That other essay talked about the effects of Jason's death. I like to think that if Jason had lived, he'd have evolved into the kind of protege Tim Drake has become. He might have turned his bad attitude into a sardonic streak neither Dick nor Tim possesses. In fact, he'd probably be at the Dick Grayson crossroads, trying to decide between growing old as Robin or creating his own identity.
In a way, becoming the Red Hood is an eerie parody of Dick's becoming Nightwing. Both the Red Hood and Nightwing were names from the past currently unused, but where Dick picked a Kryptonian hero, Jason has apparently chosen the former identity of the man who tried to beat him to death. Jason obviously can't become Robin with Tim currently in the position, and it's unhinged him to the point that he wants to run Gotham's underworld despite his mentor's (and foster father's) crusade.
Or he could just be Clayface. Either way, I've still got those old Detectives.
Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
"Professional" is the first word that Hal Jordan brings to my mind, because he was always a very take-charge kind of guy. When he showed up in Justice League of America or as a guest star in Flash or Superman, you knew he'd have something positive to contribute. It's been weird for me to see Hal as Green Lantern again, because by now he is a man from another era. Sure, it's only been a couple of years in DC time, but seeing him shake hands with Kyle Rayner in Green Lantern Rebirth #5 was, I imagine, like a Jay Garrick fan reading Flash of Two Worlds, or even a Captain America situation. At the risk of diving into the deep end of fanboy nerdishness, it reminds me a lot of the "Shatnerverse" Star Trek novels where Kirk is revived in Picard's time.
Accordingly, I hope Geoff Johns takes advantage of this strangeness. Consider: ever since the Denny O'Neil era, Hal's writers wrung drama out of the tension between his Earthbound programs and his duty to protect the rest of his sector. You'd think that Hal's death (and Carol Ferris' marriage) would have erased all his ties to Earth -- it's definitely made his secret identity common knowledge.
Even if that's all rolled back to the pre-death status quo, I'd expect his peers to treat Hal cautiously until he, and they, get used to his coming back from the dead. I especially hope Johns acknowledges this in Hal's relationship with John Stewart, and builds this into Hal's new relationship with Kyle Rayner. Both men have been Earth's GL for significant periods of time after Hal was out of the picture, so neither should feel obligated to take back seats to him now.
I'm also a little bothered by Johns' need to suppress Hal's moments of soul-searching and self-doubt. To me this suggests Johns regards Hal's most significant character developments as the weaknesses which allowed Parallax to control him. On the contrary, those moments helped illustrate how commanding and decisive Hal is normally. For example, Hal's surrender to the Manhunter in JLA #140 was shocking because in a situation which ostensibly called for action, he did nothing. In fact, it pointed up another of Hal's good qualities -- he knew when he was wrong. Confronted with social inequalities in the Denny O'Neil era, he was just as quick to admit his own complacency and work to make things right. Admitting that you had done something wrong in order to do the right thing isn't a weakness -- it's a recognition that you know what's right. Johns needs to tone down the rhetoric a little, because Hal will be better for it in the long run.
Troia
Donna Troy's problem was that she never was Wonder Woman's sidekick. While the other Teen Titans were regularly paired with their mentors, Donna almost never shared adventures with Wonder Woman. In fact, "Wonder Girl," like Superboy, started out as Wonder Woman's teenage self. It is therefore tempting to say that but for Teen Titans, Donna never would have had a career of her own.
With that background, it's hard to imagine Donna having a unique dramatic role. She started out as the Titans' lone girl, and by the time the New Teen Titans came along, she was "the stable one" -- virtually the Monica Geller of the group. She had a thriving career (as a teenaged fashion photographer -- whaa?), a supportive older boyfriend, and no parental issues. (Foster mother Queen Hippolyta was nice enough to provide a swanky Manhattan penthouse apartment.) For the Titans' first few years, her biggest storyline was being mind-controlled into turning against the Amazons and forgetting about Terry, the boyfriend. Although The New Teen Titans #38 began an investigation into her origins that would eventually be exploited beyond belief, at the time it was only a touching character story which reinforced her relationship with Dick Grayson and added emotional heft to her wedding to Terry a year later in Titans #50.
Ironically, though, George Perez's 1986 reinvention of Wonder Woman called Donna's entire story into question. No longer was she affiliated with the Amazons -- in fact, at that time one could easily suppose that WW's lasso-and-bracelet schtick was copied from Donna! When Perez returned to the Titans a couple of years later with New Titans #50, the first orders of business were reconnecting Donna to Greek mythology and giving her the new heroic identity of Troia.
Things settled down for a while, origin-wise, until John Byrne took over Wonder Woman in 1996 and further explained Donna's origin. Going back to Wonder Girl's original Superboy-like role, Byrne had Donna retconned into a part of Diana's soul, stolen from Diana and fated to live a series of tragic lives. Byrne also retconned Hippolyta into the Wonder Woman of the 1940s, serving with the Justice Society and becoming the inspiration for Donna's Wonder Girl identity.
Through all of this Donna was still "the stable one," always ready to support her friends. She's been Dick Grayson's and Wally West's confidant and Roy Harper's and Kyle Rayner's girlfriend. And yet, when she "died" in Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day, the reshuffling of those teams didn't seem to allow for her. By then the new Wonder Girl, created by Byrne and nurtured by Peter David, had supplanted her as Wonder Woman's first true protege.
This isn't to say that Donna deserved her fate. Quite the contrary -- although Donna never engendered much (if any) controversy, the world needs as many sweet, likeable heroines as it can get. Donna might have grown more disconnected from her roots as the years wore on, but just about everyone who worked on her seemed to do so with genuine affection. DC will have to find a place for her in the new scheme of things, so I hope it's a good one where she can thrive.
Robin II (Jason Todd)
Jason was also a victim of circumstance -- specifically, the circumstances of his origin being identical to Dick Grayson's. It's therefore a little surprising to me that he survived for several post-Dark Knight issues of Detective (#s 569-74) doing Dick's traditional Robin routine of exuberance and bad puns. These were Denny O'Neil's first six issues as editor, with the new creative team of Mike W. Barr and Alan Davis.
Barr and Davis presented Jason/Robin as a kind of idealized kid sidekick, as boisterious as his mentor was grim. It was a good fit with the rest of their retro sensibilities, which they contrasted with Batman's grimness and determination. Fittingly enough, Jason's last Barr/Davis Detective appeared the month before his origin was redone by Max Collins over in Batman. After that, there was no going back. Jim Starlin took over Batman and made Jason into a sullen teenager, perhaps overcompensating for having to wear the green briefs and elf shoes, but at times even darker and grimmer than Batman. Nevertheless, his fate was sealed by a voting margin a Floridian could appreciate, so even at the end he still had some support, albeit perhaps only for the costume.
That other essay talked about the effects of Jason's death. I like to think that if Jason had lived, he'd have evolved into the kind of protege Tim Drake has become. He might have turned his bad attitude into a sardonic streak neither Dick nor Tim possesses. In fact, he'd probably be at the Dick Grayson crossroads, trying to decide between growing old as Robin or creating his own identity.
In a way, becoming the Red Hood is an eerie parody of Dick's becoming Nightwing. Both the Red Hood and Nightwing were names from the past currently unused, but where Dick picked a Kryptonian hero, Jason has apparently chosen the former identity of the man who tried to beat him to death. Jason obviously can't become Robin with Tim currently in the position, and it's unhinged him to the point that he wants to run Gotham's underworld despite his mentor's (and foster father's) crusade.
Or he could just be Clayface. Either way, I've still got those old Detectives.
posted by Tom Bondurant @ 7:17 PM
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