Flashback Universe Blog: 2025

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Denny O'Neil's Bat-Bible

In 2021, Scott Peterson, writer and former assistant editor to Denny O'Neil, posted O'Neil's Batman Bible from 1989. It was a writer's guide to the character and his world for that era of comics and from the perspective of O'Neil.

Obviously, the mythos has evolved over that time and some of O'Neil's takes would not have been universally accepted by other writers at the time (like, "he never kills"), but it's a good distillation of the understanding of the character and his world from a man who did a whole lot to shape that mythos over the years.

Check it out here.

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Collections I'd Like to See

There are so many runs in the Bronze and early Modern Ages of comics that haven't been collected or haven't been collected recently. Here are five I'd really like to see:

Dominic Fortune: This 30s pulp adventurer created by Howard Chaykin also managed to have some adventures in the modern day. Chaykin even came back and did a series in the 00s but let's end this collection in the 80s. Includes material from Marvel Preview #2, Marvel Super Action #1, and The Hulk! #21-25; Marvel Premiere #56, Marvel Team-Up #120, Web of Spider-Man #10, and Iron Man #212-213.

DC Comics Presents: While we're on the subject of Superman, where's our Superman: DC Comics Presents Bronze Age Omnibus? Sure, the series was collected in Showcase Presents volumes, but we need them in color omnibus to balance the Batman team-ups in Brave and the Bold. I don't know how many omnibuses it would take, but we need the whole series: DC Comics Presents #1-97 and annuals #1-4.

Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja: This one isn't likely to be high on most people's lists (it was meant to last 24 issues but only went 16), but I appreciated what Hama and Wagner were trying to accomplish, which was something like G.I. Joe meets Akira. Even if it's a failure, it's an interesting one and deserves to be seen by more eyeballs! A collection could include material from Marvel Comics Presents #25, Nth Man #1-16, and Excalibur (vol. 1) #27.

Superman and the Forgotten Heroes: The Forgotten Heroes, a minor team in the 80s of short-run characters from the Silver Age, are once again, mostly forgotten--except maybe for Animal Man, whose inclusion I'd argue help raised his profile for better days to come. This would include Action Comics #545, 552-553, and DC Comics Presents #77-78. It could be rounded out with earlier Bronze Age appearances of the individual characters with or without Superman: Showcase #100, Detective Comics #486, Wonder Woman #268, Action Comics #536, and Action Comics #540.

Cover mockup by Catspaw Dynamics

Barren Earth: This sci-fi epic by Gary Cohn and Ron Randall about the survivor of an expedition of spacefaring humans to a post-apocalyptic Earth working to reunite the remnants of humanity ran as backups in Warlord, then got a limited to tie things up. It has never been collected. A collection should include material from Warlord (first series) 63-74 and 76-88, Who's Who vol. 1 #2, and Conquerors of the Barren Earth #1-4.

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Late Bronze Age Superman

In my readings of 80s DC Comics from 1980 to Crisis, I've noticed DC slowly shedding its Bronze Age character and developing greater similarities with Marvel--at least as far as mainstream superhero titles. In some important ways DC fostered experimentation that would be instrumental in establishing the "modern age" of comics. But as titles like Firestorm, the Teen Titans, and to some degree Justice League of America become less distinguishable from Marvel's output, I feel like Superman retains a character uniquely its own.

It's hard precisely to define. I think Marvel boosters would pounce on the Swan art and the plots based on tricks or surprise reveals and say they're old fashion--and sure, those things are holdovers from earlier eras. But the content of these stories hasn't stayed static. Superman doesn't become grim or gritty by any means, but the sophistication of its plot elements or concepts is no less than the average of other DC or Marvel Comics of the era.

What's most noticeable is that there is less violence in the Superman titles than probably any title at Marvel or the more Marvel-like DC titles. This doesn't mean there isn't any action. Superman is all the time doing some sort of physical feat and he does fight with villains/threats, but violence is seldom the solution and sometimes Superman takes the course of taking some licks instead of fighting back.

The oft-repeated belief of a lot of (non-Superman) fans is that it's hard to tell stories with him because he's too powerful, too strong. I don't think this is the case. Let's be honest: handbook-style strength quantification is a new thing and a haphazardly applied one. Any strength-as-their-main-schtick character has fairly broad parameters to be as strong or as weak as they need to be for any given story. The Hulk is no less "strong" in the narrative sense than is Superman. If the writers wanted Superman to be "the strongest there is" they could throw a whole bunch of punch 'em up villains at him of escalating levels of astronomical strength. It's not like that has never happened in Superman's history, but that isn't the approach taken in these years by Wolfman, Bates, and Maggin, and I think they are perhaps wise for not doing so.

That sort of story wouldn't really showcase Superman as a guy defined more by not using overwhelming force. He's Superman, not Strongman. She instead, they write stories where super-strength can be displayed and may even be useful but isn't the best solution. Superman overcomes his obstacles by smart and judicious application of his powers. He couldn't prevail without them, but neither their multiplicity nor potency is the primary factor.

The other thing is they aren't afraid to have allies show up and make trouble for him. Occasionally Superman engages in the old trope of fighting another hero, but usually he's taking their blows to by time to figure out what's going on. The arrival of Vartox or deep cuts like Valdemar takes some diplomacy on Superman's part. He can't just beat them to unconsciousness and call it a day.

All of this sort of went away to a large degree with the Byrne revamp, I feel like. Could this have been viable, alternative style for a modern Superman? I'm not sure.

Thursday, January 9, 2025

DC Comics in 1983 (part 2)

Here are links to second half of my week-by-week reviews of the DC Comics published in 1983 by cover date. It was a real turning point that saw new characters, new directions, and a lot of experiment. Part 1 was last week.

Friday, January 3, 2025

DC Comics in 1983 (part 1)

1983 in many ways was an important year for DC Comics. New superheroes titles (Batman & the Outsiders, Omega Men, and Infinity, Inc.) with some new characters hit the stands in the wake of the success of New Teen Tians. At the same time, they took chances with different content in various (mostly limited) series (Ronin, Camelot 3000, Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld, Thriller, Nathaniel Dusk). And of course, a British writer by the name of Alan Moore took over the writing of Saga of Swamp Thing.

Here are links to my week-by-week reviews of the DC Comics published in the first 6 months of 1983 by cover date:

FBU Menu