No Freedom Fighters Yet

Despite splendid mini-series featuring the Ray, Phantom Lady, Doll Man and the Human Bomb, this Q & A session about the New 52 offered up the following concerning a possible Freedom Fighters series:

"[Editor-in-Chief Bob] Harras said there are no plans for "Freedom Fighters" at present. "That would have to be a little further down the line," he said."

Which isn't a complete no so maybe there's still hope. And who knows - maybe we'll get one or two more minis before then. A new Firebrand? Red Bee? Heck, maybe even Plastic Man?

Fingers crossed.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #206

Break it to him gently, Jen

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #202

Not something you read every day.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #197

Alien infiltration will start in the strip clubs, people.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #193

Ummm, because he's a bloke?

Lost In Translation

I am genuinely looking forward to the new Phantom Lady miniseries out this week; I've long been a fan of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray's work and this, coupled with their recent Ray miniseries, gives me hope for a new Freedom Fighters series someway down the line.

However, I've just read the blurb in the Source article and something made me chuckle / wince:

"When she was very young, Jennifer Knight watched her parents get killed by Metropolis’ oldest and strongest crime family: The Benders. Cut to years later and an adult Jennifer is following in her father’s footsteps by taking on the crime world as a reporter … and as a super hero! Phantom Lady to be exact. But will she experience the same fate as her parents when she tries to infiltrate the next generation of Benders?"

You see, I grew up in 70's Britain and while we had some good things like Action and 2000AD (along with other things that should be consigned to the darkest pits of hell, like the Bay City Rollers) we also had our own particular slang terms that, maybe, Americans aren't aware of.

In Metropolis, calling someone a Bender obviously implies they're in the "oldest and strongest crime family" and may, by some, to be seen as something of a compliment.

In Britain, calling someone a bender is less likely to win you any favours.

So when I read the new Phantom Lady's trying "to infiltrate the next generation of Benders" I can't help but utter a guilty chuckle.

Who Was Who Is Who #35

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Pig-Iron's chance.

PHANTOM GIRL - one of the perennial Legion members, even I'm aware that Phantom Girl is likely to be included in most versions of the team and a quick check on the internet reveals that she is alive and well in the latest Legion of Super-Heroes series.

PHANTOM LADY - at the time of writing (start of April) none of the versions of the Phantom Lady appear to have survived into the post-Flashpoint world. The last page of The Ray series, though, hinted at a possible return for Uncle Sam and, by extension, the Freedom Fighters so maybe they'll be back at some point. For that reason, Phantom Lady goes in the possible column.

Phantom Lady's Quality Sword Fighting

I mentioned in my last Perusing Previews post that I was tempted by the Quality Companion as I've a fondness for the heroes such as Uncle Sam, Human Bomb, Phantom Lady and the other Freedom Fighters and figured, with my birthday coming up, that I'd treat myself.

It's a handsome looking book, no doubt, filled with lots of info both about the characters and the creators that worked at Quality, even detailing how the characters have fared since they became DC properties.

At the start of the book are reproductions of various Quality comics featuring the above characters as well as Black Condor, The Ray and the cross dressing Madam Fatal but one thing that caught me by surprise was the Phantom Lady story.

New Phantom Lady Miniseries Announced

And it's written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, two of my favourite writers!

"Phantom Lady and Doll Man is an exciting return to the roots of the characters as pulpy, street level crime fighters with a few new twists and some heavy sci-fi overtones,” Justin Gray told THE SOURCE. “We took the best of their original core concepts and updated them with no relation to our previous work on Phantom Lady and Doll Man in the Freedom Fighters. You're getting in on the ground floor of the origin story of two people whose lives intersect and a common threat that transforms them into pretty amazing and engaging superheroes."

Having recently completed a miniseries starring the new Ray (which was very good, by the way) and now Phantom Lady and Doll Man appearing in another, this just increases the chances of a new Freedom Fighters team and/or series.

DC's all about world building at the moment, right? What's the chances the same official guy who arrived at the end of The Ray and handed Ray a card saying "We Want You" in red white and blue letters, will turn up at the end of this miniseries?

Freedom Fighters in 2013, anybody?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #128

Deadshot espouses his own particular outlook

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #116

Power Girl explains the problems of dating Kryptonians

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #105

See, there are worse things than pelicans

• THE BOYS #48 - with one of the best pastiche covers ever, the new Boys storyline gets underway. The Homelander's plans seem to be underway and Butcher's previous bastardry comes back to haunt him.
• BRIGHTEST DAY #13 - a Hawkman-heavy issue is never a bad thing even when all he's doing is beating the crap out of things which, let's face it, is what he does best. A quick cameo by the Resurrection Man reminds us that Deadman still has a mission to find the Chosen One and as a certain Batman has recently returned, there's no prizes for guessing who next issue will feature.
• CROSSED: FAMILY VALUES #5 - for a moment at the start of this issue there was a flash of what the Crossed world offers to writers: an exploration of how normal people deal with the extreme crap they find themselves in. Then they had to go and bring the corseted and stockinged mother into things as a cartoon villain out to get them. Ah well, not long to go now.
• DOOM PATROL #16 - would it be remiss of me to mention that I've met Brian Keene, author of this issue? And that he's a good friend of my mate Tim? Probably, so I won't. Even though it's something of a fill-in, this is still a good fun issue with some wonderful Giffen artwork. It manages to further Robotman's character as well, pushing him towards the horrible realisation that he may be turning into the Chief. Talking of Robotman, just about any other issue would have ended with that wonderful splash page of the alternate reality Cliff roaring in and I'd have been happy with that. Carrying on with an excellent next panel was just laugh out loud funny! A damn fine issue.
• FREEDOM FIGHTERS #3 - Phantom Lady turns out to be the ace in the hole to get rid of the renegade shamans before Firebrand's conspiracy theories take over. And hey, Miss America's back! Another cool issue of paranoid politics and superheroics.
• JSA ALL-STARS #12 - despite the cover depicting a big space battle, the vast majority of this issue deals with Cyclone and her attempts at leading a normal, de-powered life in university. Until not one but two apparent clones of her super-powered self turn up . . . or do they? Neither Roxy nor one of Cyclone's university friends seem to notice the doubles . . .
• LADY MECHANIKA #0 - finally managed to get my hands on this even though it's been out for a couple of weeks. The art's gorgeous and the steampunk genre is one I enjoy so I'll be sticking with this. The only slight quibble is Benitez's dialogue. Mostly it's okay but every now and then it's just a bit clunky and forced. But hey, it's an introductory issue so here's hoping it'll improve.
• SECRET SIX #27 - both teams go berserk in Skataris and Catman makes a passable Warlord. It's all a bit hectic, to be honest, and I'll be glad once they're back in the real world again.

And what made me smile:

Recipes at the back of Lady Mechanika! This is what we want!