Cancellation Blues

Today I found out one of my favorite television programs and one of my favorite comic titles have been canceled. Pushing Daisies appears to have halted production with it's thirteenth episode, and Blue Beetle will probably be ending in a few months.

Aside from being a kick in the head, this comes after several other kicks in the head as no less than seven other comic titles I've been following are ending over the next four months, and another show, King of the Hill, has been axed as well. And on top of all that, two other comics I've enjoyed a great deal, Justice League Unlimited and Checkmate, have ended over the past few months as well.

To be fair, a few of the titles ending are being relaunched in some form or another -- Birds of Prey, the Flash, Nightwing, Robin as Gotham Girls, Flash: Rebirth, Red Robin, and Batman and Robin -- but it's not the same. Kick in the head is what it all is I tell you.

You know...

...I was just thinking about the Tangent: Superman's Reign comic book (issue 6 on sale now), and I'd probably buy a "Brave and the Bold" style title by Dan Jurgens and Jamal Igle. Don't know if Igle's going to stick with the title once his run on Supergirl starts up or if they've ever worked together before this title, but they're really gelling as a team and I'm really enjoying their takes on Green Lantern and the Flash (John Stewart and Wally West, specifically).

...I tried watching "Gossip Girl" Monday night, but couldn't make it more than ten minutes into the episode. Not that it seemed to be a bad show or anything, and not to say I don't enjoy the prime time teen soap (I watched a lot of the first season of "The O.C."), but I really couldn't get past the fact that the teenagers on the show looked older than I am. Is it really too hard to find actors to play teens that actually look like teens or are *gasp* teenagers themselves?

...Salt and vinegar Pringles aren't that great, especially after having the salt and vinegar Lay's Stax chips. Those are pretty good. The Pringles... not so much.

...The Daily Show and the Colbert Report are in reruns at the moment, which is a kick in the head, but on the bright side they seem to have picked up on this so there's fewer reruns these days than in years past. I'd still prefer they not just rerun the prior weeks episodes during a repeat week though. But I still watch it all the same, so who am I to complain?

Thoughts on "Flash: Rebirth" (warning: nerd alert)

You'd almost think DC Comics had totally given up on the idea of moving their stories and characters forward with the announcement that they're giving recently resurrected Flash, Barry Allen, his own "Rebirth" title by the same creative team that relaunched similarly deceased and boring silver age character Hal Jordan as "the greatest Green Lantern of them all" (notwithstanding the fact that the other four major Green Lanterns have more character in their worst stories that Hal Jordan's had in any of his his, excluding the time he went nuts and destroyed the Green Lantern Corps, a wealth of material for character development of stories down the line that got wiped away because DC decided they didn't like it).

I didn't have a problem with DC bringing Barry Allen back in their Final Crisis series (and preferably only for the duration of the Final Crisis series, I add), but I take issue with making him their star of the Flash comic. 'Current' Flash, Wally West, is a great character and very undeserving of the expected shuffle aside that then-current GL Kyle Rayner got when Jordan returned, and even if the book with Allen is great and exceeds all expectations, it all begs the question that if DC was capable of doing this great relaunch, why didn't they do it in the first place with Wally West?

Despite what DC might say, this is likely the end of the line for Wally West as the main Flash, and as someone who grew up with the character and has really come to like him over the years, it's a real kick in the head. And I assure you, I'm not adverse to change -- I followed the Flash title when it looked like Wally was out of the picture and replaced by his former sidekick, Kid Flash. But this isn't change, not really. It's turning the clock back twenty-three years to bring back a character aging writers and editors liked way back when instead of actually moving the stories and characters forward along with the audiences. You think a new reader knows who Hal Jordan is? Not when they've been exposed to Green Lantern John Stewart in the Justice League tv show and video games (not to mention his inclusion in the on-again, off-again Justice League movie). Similarly, Wally West is the Flash of this generation and my generation before it. That's two generations going on three who know this character as THE Flash, and as recognition for our love of the character we're seeing him shunted aside so a character who's been better handled after he died nearly a quarter of a century ago can appear in some books for reasons I can only think of as being short-sighted.

Again, don't have a problem with DC doing something with Barry Allen. I liked him in JLA: Year One (coincidentally the only place I've ever liked Hal Jordan), I like the stuff they did with him in the Flash title from a few years ago. But I think it's an awful idea to have him come back as DC's main Flash.

I think Graeme Burke commented on this very nicely, over at the Comics Should Be Good blog:

"I loved the Barry Allen Flash. One of my favourite superheroes. And I am against this series for every reason you just said and more. I’m tired of comics being written to an agenda of bringing things back they loved when they were kids. It’s not 1971 anymore. Stop it."

Well said.

So... Has DC Cancelled Justice League Unlimited or Not?

Because if they have, well, that'd be a real kick in the head. The latest issue was a lot of fun. Great story by Justice League Unlimited TV writer Matt Wayne, great art by Dario Brizuela, and is was a neat follow up to the bit in the JLU series finale when Giganta (pictured above), kissed the Flash (pictured running away from Giganta, above). It was a cute story too, and a solid entry in a pretty solid series.

I'm not 100% on this, but I think DC is cancelling the series. I got the impression they were also axing the Teen Titans animated-style comic, but I think they're keeping it around for a while. I don't see why they can't do the same with JLU. Unless sales are just awful. It's too bad really, especially since they seem to be cancelling it and replacing it with a new "Superfriends" title, based on the kid-friendly Mattel toys. I don't want to get ahead of myself or anything, but it looks terrible.

I also got a copy of the latest Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man with the Mary Jane-on-white variant cover. I asked about the other white variant covers and if there was one for the last Amazing Spider-Man. Not that I'd ever seen that particular Spider-Man-on-white variant in the three shops I've been in since it came out. Turns out they had a few copies in my local shop and I'd been passing by them since the reordered copies came in. So I'm glad. Just hope I can snag a copy of the last white variant cover with Peter Parker. It looks neat.

And now I'm just rambling.

"Who is the Best Flash" Poll

There's a neat poll going on over at the Occasional Superheroine site, asking readers which Flash would like to see take the lead if DC Comics were to do a fresh-start reboot of the character. The question comes from the fact that there've been about four different Flashes over the years.

The first Flash, Jay Garrick, who first appeared in the 1940s and is still around today thanks to some complicated explanation that probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

The second Flash, Barry Allen, who first appeared in the 1950s, killed his arch-enemy the Reverse-Flash, retired to the future, and died saving the universe in the first DC Crisis.

The third Flash, Wally West, formerly Barry Allen's sidekick Kid-Flash and assumed the mantle after Barry died, and who, thanks to some wacky explanation, has ten year old kids while still being in his mid-20s.

And the fourth Flash, Bart Allen, named for his grandfather Barry, formerly known as Impulse, then Kid-Flash to Wally's Flash, and who briefly assumed the Flash identity when Wally went missing until he was beaten to death.

I voted for Wally. True, Wally was the Flash when I started reading comics so there's that kind of attachment to the character, but he's a really great character besides. Wally's just an average guy who's a superhero because he loves being a superhero. He's a bit of a smartass and makes mistakes here and there, but he's also a good honest guy. I really, really hate to say it since it's a total cliche, but Wally's the everyman of the DCU.

I could defend the other Flashes and give reasons why any of them could head up a reboot of the character -- there are valid points for all three -- but Wally's my pick. Why not cast your vote here:

http://occasionalsuperheroine.blogspot.com/2007/10/poll-who-is-best-flash.html