Who'd Like A Cocktail? #243

Glass half full, man.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #215

It's the car.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #192

And that's got to count for something, right?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #189

Jordan and Sinestro - the DCU's Odd Couple

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #183

Frankenstein wants it concisely!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #175

Yeah, you can joke, but here's why you don't want Ray Palmer ticked off at you.

Who Was Who Is Who #4

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, and with DC's New 52 well under way (how long are they keeping that title do you think?) I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see who's made it over to the new DCU, who might make it and who hasn't got a Big Bear's chance.

BEAUTIFUL DREAMER - oh, Jack Kirby you old hippy. Beautiful Dreamer, along with the rest of the Forever People, are great examples of how embedding characters' looks, behaviour and speech patters in a particular time frame utterly date them. I can't see any of them coming back any time soon.

BEN BOXER - another Kirby character, this one's tied in with Kamandi and the Great Disaster so unless he turns up on Earth-51 as part of Mutiversity, I don't think we'll be seeing him, either.

BIG BARDA - with the first villain of the relaunched Justice League's title being Darkseid, there's a good possibility that the New Gods may be viable characters once more. That is unless some version of Final Crisis took place between the start of the League and the current Year 5 or so which is when most DC titles are taking place. If Final Crisis didn't happen (and I hope that's true) then the New Gods aren't dead - and yes, that includes Beautiful Dreamer - and so could be brought back, which means Mr Miracle and Big Barda could be back in business. I'm going for a possible on this one.

BIG BEAR - same applies here as with Beautiful Dreamer above: the Forever People really are just too dated a concept to be brought back, I think.

Friday Night Fights - Black Who Now?

I know the whole point of Minimum Clonage is that we fighters don't repeat the same characters, but I have to hope Spacebooger will forgive me using another Green Lantern in this week's fight. The reason?

After annotating Blackest Night over the last few months, I'm kinda sick of hearing how powerful and spooky Black Hand is, how he's the embodiment of death and the end of everything and the manifestation of the black and blah, blah, blah.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the series, but I think it's good to be reminded of how some characters have changed over the years. Having pointed out how lame Hal Jordan can be, I thought I'd turn my attention to his latest, greatest adversary.

So, without further ado . . .

Yep, that's the big threat to the world.

That's the man it took a whole army of different coloured Lanterns to defeat.

That's the man who finds out it's not a good idea to interrupt Guy Gardner when he's having an argument with Ice because this happens . . .

One punch, into the side of a car.

Short and sweet this week as I'm rushed off my feet so I will merely remind you that you need to head over to Spacebooger, check out the other fights and vote for your favourite!

This illustration of how much Geoff Johns had to do to make Black Hand a worthwhile villain first appeared in Justice League America #28 cover dated July 1989, written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, with art by Mike McKone and Joe Rubinstein.

Friday Night Fights - Good Bad As Gold

These days, following Green Lantern: Rebirth and the success of Blackest Night, Hal Jordan's pretty much one of the golden boys of DC. Of course, that wasn't always the case. Times was, he was getting his arse kicked on a regular basis by a guy wearing a gold suit!

And that full page spread's the opening punch!

The most powerful weapon in the universe and it's no use at all!

And just when Jordan thinks he's got the upper hand, there's that two-fisted punch.

Goldface - a villain so, so in need of the same reboot that Black Hand, Hector Hammond and other Green Lantern villains have had.

Enjoy the fight? Make sure you head over to Spacebooger and vote for your favourite!

Jordan's beat down first appeared in Green Lantern #145, cover dated October 1981, written by Marv Wolfman with art by Joe Staton.