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Topic: JB: any "classic characters" you just don’t get? (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 30 August 2007 at 2:20pm | IP Logged | 1  

Brandon makes a good point. The "evil twin" concept has been used in almost every comic and TV show ever created. Think of any TV show, whether it be Knight Rider or The A-Team, think of any comic character, whether it be Superman or The Flash, the chances are that at one point or another, the "evil twin" storyline has been done.

And yes, it is amusing that there was a need for Marvel to create an evil twin character for the evil twin character.

On the subject of characters I don't get, for some reason I just couldn't get into Nova. But I am willing to give him a chance, perhaps I just read tales that I didn't enjoy. If I buy the Essential Nova, or a back issue or two, maybe I'll warm to him. I'll at least give him a chance.

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Bruce Buchanan
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Posted: 30 August 2007 at 2:30pm | IP Logged | 2  

I agree that Martian Manhunter's powers are simply too broad and ill-defined - it seems like he can do a little of everything, depending on the situation.

However, I like him as a character, particularly as the stablizing influence on the JLA. He's at his best when he's a calm mentor to younger, more emotional, heroes.

He's also a father who has lived through the death of a child. That makes him an extremely sympathetic character, in my mind.

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Stephen Robinson
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Posted: 30 August 2007 at 2:34pm | IP Logged | 3  

I don't like the Martian Manhunter because he's too powerful and, more importantly, his powers are such a hodgepodge.  He feels like a "kitchen sink" character.  As if telepathy, shapeshifting, and intangibility weren't enough, he also has to be (nearly) as strong as Superman and have laser eye beams? 
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SER: The JUSTICE LEAGUE cartoon handled this well by focusing more on his "unique" powers (telepathy, shapeshifting, and intangibility). He was nowhere near as strong as Superman and rarely engaged in fist-fights while in battle anyway. I also never saw him use vision powers.

If you take that tact, then Superman is the primal character and MM is distinctly different.

 

 

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Joel Biske
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Posted: 30 August 2007 at 2:37pm | IP Logged | 4  

I was never partial to the "old" DC characters and the JSA... although when I did Nathan's little game on here I found I was actually pretty even between old and new. I've always preferred the new versions to the old. I think maybe it was as simple as my reading the DC origins trade paperback from the 70's that I liked the art in the newer ones better, so my 10 year old mind was just bored by the stories.
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Flavio Sapha
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Posted: 30 August 2007 at 3:39pm | IP Logged | 5  

In an interview, Barry Windsor-Smith told that when he did work for Image, he looked into the characters and "couldn´t get them"...so, he did some more reading and researching, and, finally, realized there wasn´t anything to "get"...
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Flavio Sapha
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Posted: 30 August 2007 at 3:46pm | IP Logged | 6  

I confess I didn´t "get" the Demon in the latest series.  It seemed that Etrigan wanted to be evil, but ended up doing good in spite of himself...?  For instance, I get the impression he wanted to roast people with his fire-breath...unaware of the cleansing effect his flames were having...?  Of course, it seems he was always fighting somebody worse than he.  Was it a case - kind of like Tomb of Dracula - of making the protagonist the lesser of evils?
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Paul Greer
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Posted: 30 August 2007 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | 7  

The only character I never "got" was Ghost Rider. It didn't matter who was doing the book, he just never clicked with me. He looks so cool, but nothing else about him has any appeal to me.
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Victor Rodgers
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Posted: 30 August 2007 at 4:14pm | IP Logged | 8  

On the subject of characters I don't get, for some reason I just couldn't get into Nova. But I am willing to give him a chance, perhaps I just read tales that I didn't enjoy. If I buy the Essential Nova, or a back issue or two, maybe I'll warm to him. I'll at least give him a chance.

****

The first comic I ever read had Nova as a guest star. So I think of him as a classic character even if he isn't. Same goes for Booster Gold. He was in the first DC book I ever read.

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Brian Tait
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Posted: 30 August 2007 at 4:39pm | IP Logged | 9  

I never had much of a problem with the "classic" characters. I never "got" the Punisher though. Never understood the point of the character.

Newer characters- Venom and all that followed. The character does not belong in a Spider-Man book.
I never had a problem with the alien symbiote angle, but that stupid "demonic" character he evolved into - I just can't stand.

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Chad Carter
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Posted: 30 August 2007 at 5:06pm | IP Logged | 10  

 

Looks like that Kalibak toy is Big Bear from the Forever People. Even Big Bear looks more threatening.

Aquaman is some kind of weird new obsession with me. I feel like if you took away the insistence on everything being filtered through Atlantis, and just made him a tough superhero with a brain who happens to be able to live under the waves, you'd have something. No barbarian, no King, just a regular joe who's super strong from swimming under tons of water. Kind of like, well, as he was originally created, only with yellow gloves. I think the earliest issues, he doesn't even talk to fish.

Personally, I think he doesn't need to command sea life, either. I'm more interested in a Race Bannon who breathes water myself. Make him a badass super agent or something. Codename: Aquaman!

 

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David Barker
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Posted: 30 August 2007 at 5:49pm | IP Logged | 11  

Sorry Gerry, Doctor Strange...while always visually interesting and I liked Clea and Dormamu I could never get into the character of Stephen Strange.  I think maybe because I read his adventures later in life--the entire tragic hero thing I suppose was wearing me thin a bit--he always seemed somewhat aloof as well.

I dunno...I did prefer the Stern stuff to the original, but even so--I never "got it".
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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 30 August 2007 at 6:19pm | IP Logged | 12  

I think I've only ever read 3 solo Dr. Strange tales in my life. Perhaps I picked the wrong tales to read, but in those 3 tales, Strange seemed to have things too easy, I never felt he was ever in any danger from his opponents. Of course, I hear that Dormammu has given him a run for his money so I probably should seek out some Strange VS Dormammu tales.

Funnily enough, I did like Dr. Strange in The Defenders, though. I'm no expert on exactly what his powers are, but in The Defenders, he did seem to have a tougher time fighting foes. He didn't seem like this "all-powerful" hero in that, he was still a hero but I felt that he had a tougher time of it in that book.

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