Robin's Double Standards

The recent Worlds' Finest Annual featured the young Helena Wayne as Robin battling some crooks and taking one out in a particularly nasty manner:

That's an iron poker right through the chest and stomach, killing the guy. Self defence could be argued, sure, but she still kills him.

Later on she, Supergirl and Wonder Woman battle Fury who had previously killed someone that Supergirl was sweet on. Fury gets away through a Boom Tube, leaving Robin to report back:

"She's a killer."

Yes, Robin, she is. Just like you.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #207

Hawksmoor paraphrasing Oscar Wilde. A Haaaawwwksmoooor?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #203

The new Green Lantern ingratiates himself to the Justice League.
Well . . . most of them.

Who Was Who Is Who #38

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 Roving Ranger's chance.

THE RED TORNADO AND THE CYCLONE KIDS - while Ma Hunkle had something of a revival as the housekeeper for the reformed Justice Society, I can't see her making an appearance in the new Earth-2 series.

RED TORNADO - he's an android! He's blown apart! He's the Tornado Champion! He's blown apart! He's the Tornado Tyrant! He's blown apart! He's a wind elemental! He's blown apart! He glimpses the multiverse! He's blown apart! Blimey, poor old Tornado's had it rough over the years. Don't think we've seen him yet (I'm writing this at the start of April) though hints about his creator T.O. Morrow were dropped in Justice League early on so while he may show at some point, I don't think it'll be before the end of 2012.

Earth-2 And Worlds' Finest Covers

DC have revealed the covers of the forthcoming Earth-2 and Worlds' Finest series, so what do we have:

Earth-2's variant cover gives us Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman fighting against Parademons which makes me wonder (as it's a variant) whether this is meant to echo the recent battle of the Justice League against Darkseid and his minions in their title, or whether it is actually story related. Either way, the cover gives us no clue as to when the story will take place or whether the Earth-Two heroes are connected to either World War II or the Justice Society.

Why So Scared?

Last week I mentioned next year's Lego DC Super-heroes game that features not just Batman but a whole host of other DC characters. Over at the Bricktuts site, they've got pictures of some of them:

I'm kinda wishing Lex Luthor came with a detachable wig, and note that you get either peace loving or warrior Wonder Woman, but the one that made me chuckle (and gave me this post's title) was Robin:

Why is his extra/alternate head so scared?!

What else can we expect? Hal Jordan being hit on the head with a variety of objects? Aquaman with a detachable hand? Pantha with a spring-loaded head?

This Looks Like Another Job For...

There's been one major thing bugging me about the New 52 / DC Relaunch / Reboot / DCnU or whatever it's being called this week and it can be summed up in one word:

Continuity.

We've learned that the new stories from September will take place five years after the dawn of the superhero - five years from the start of Superman's adventures and the formation of the Justice League.

But we've also been told that many things that have happened over the last few years in real time are also part of the timeline. Obvious examples are The Killing Joke and Identity Crisis but there's also been mention of the more recent Blackest Night still being part and parcel of DCU history.

What about the original big summer event, Crisis on Infinite Earths? Did that still happen? If so, did Infinite Crisis happen? Then there's a whole bunch of other things - Batman's crippling by Bane; Superman's death by Doomsday; Wonder Woman being turned into a goddess; were Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown all Robin within those years?

It's a whole mess of things which fanboys like myself will bitch and moan about. The Killing Joke's in continuity but the Justice Society aren't?

Retroactive - The 90's Part 3

As DC Comics are celebrating the creators that made an impact in the 70's, 80's and 90's, I thought I'd wander through the same decades and pull out my favourite comic of each year.

And here we are, finally at the end of the 90's.

Retroactive - The 70's Part 2

As DC Comics are celebrating the creators that made an impact in the 70's, 80's and 90's, I thought I'd wander through the same decades and pull out my favourite comic of each year.

Any excuse to look at old comics, eh?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #115

Zatanna makes a whole lot of sense

Friday Night Fights - The Dynamic Duel

It's a New Year, a time for resolutions and things to change but not over at Spacebooger! Oh no, the New Year simply means new fights to that guy.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #111

Is it wrong to find a centuries old immortal blue man throwing up funny?

Christmas and New Year delayed me getting hold of my comics hence the bumper delivery today!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #108

This is the grim and gritty future; Power Girl doesn't do hugs

Delayed Cocktail this week as I was away for the weekend with a bunch of writer friends.

• GREEN ARROW #6 - Ollie goes up against the Queen and hears some unconfortable truths about his dad. Maybe now we can move on to finding out more about that forest?
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #14 - Captain Atom gets bumped into the future and meets various future versions of current heroes, including a grim and gritty Power Girl (you can tell she's like that as she's dressed in black.) By the end of the issue, Atom's back in the present with the knowledge that Max Lord is planning to kill Wonder Woman which in turn will send the world on the road to the terrible future he's seen.
• JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #45 - anyone remember when this title used to be fun? Flash turns out to be sorta/kinda responsible for the villain du jour and Green Lantern Alan Scott remains paralysed. Wasn't Alan discovered to be composed entirely of the Starheart at some point and thus pretty much non-human/able to survive anything? Ah, it's all gone a bit miserable round here.
• TEEN TITANS #89 - the introduction of the annoying Damian Wayne as the Teen Titans' new Robin seems to be a great idea; he and Ravager are quickly at each others' throats. He's brash and not used to being a team player and messes up his first time out. This should be good.

And what made me smile:

Robin's complete obliviousness!

Friday Night Fight - Tears Of The Batman

Another Friday Night, another Fight where the bad guys win as decreed by Spacebooger.

This week we're off to another world, an Elseworld, where for the sake of a nail, all sorts of crap goes down.

Ask and you shall receive, Joker - Robin and Batgirl to the rescue of Batman who's been captured by the Clown Prince of Crime's new high tech wristbands. But wait! What's this?

Damn that infernal technology of his!

The Joker's out for some twisted form of revenge, killing Robin and Batgirl as Batman looks on until . . .

Oooooh, something tells me he's not going to sleep well tonight . . .

This mind-snapping torture first appeared in Justice League of America: The Nail #1, cover dated August 1998, written by Alan Davis with art by Davis and Mark Farmer, though the scans come from the trade paperback.

And remember, friends:

Friday Night Fights - How To Use A Crowbar

Spacebooger demands One Panel of Pain for these fights, so that's what you get.

Twenty years seems like nothing in the world of comics; events that happened on a four colour page still seem fresh today to my mind. Browsing through some old trade paperbacks I came across something that I thought was worth putting into the FNF - the beating, and subsequent death of Jason Todd aka Robin:

Ah, that Joker - even when inflicting mortal wounds, he still can't help cracking wise.

Remember to head over to Spacebooger and vote for your favourite fight.

This piece of child brutality was taken from the Batman: A Death In The Family trade paperback, published in 1988, written by Jim Starlin with art by Jim Aparo and Mike DeCarlo.