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Topic: Q For Mr Byrne: De-Uniquing’s Legacy Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Ted Downum
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Posted: 12 June 2018 at 11:20am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Robert Shepherd: "I get the whole sidekick craze, and I'm not opposed to having sidekicks for the heroes, but that still is not my preference."

*****

When it comes to de-uniquing, I give classic Golden Age sidekicks a pass, even the ones who are "kid" versions of the main hero (Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Aqualad). I put the Marvel Family in the same category. Because they're explicitly secondary to the main heroes, they don't diminish those heroes. Same thing with evil dopplegangers. They enhance the original by providing a contrast to the original, making our heroes that much more heroic.

De-uniquing bugs me in two ways: it diminishes the original, and it produces a "de-uniqued" character who is, by definition, a gimmick, a knock-off.

It's also (in my view, anyway) kind of...childish. Over in the Wolverine's New Powers thread, somebody wondered if Charles Soule, father of Wolverine's new hot claws, was five years old. That's the level on which most de-uniquing seems to operate: "What if the Hulk was still the Hulk but he was RED instead of GREEN?" "So there are Green Lanterns, but what if we had lots of OTHER colors of Lanterns?" "One Spider-Man is great; what if we had 62 MORE?" It all strikes me as vaguely juvenile, or (at very, very least) lazy as f**k.

But, hey, I loved She-Hulk, Beta Ray Bill, and old Pre-Crisis Earth-2 stories, so what do I know.

(edited for correct quote attribution)



Edited by Ted Downum on 12 June 2018 at 11:32am
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Ronald Joseph
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Posted: 12 June 2018 at 11:29am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Ronald Joseph: "I get the whole sidekick craze, and I'm not opposed to having sidekicks for the heroes, but that still is not my preference."


That was a Robert Shepherd quote.
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Ted Downum
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Posted: 12 June 2018 at 11:32am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Fixed. Sorry, Ronald!
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Peter Martin
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Posted: 12 June 2018 at 11:33am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

There may be laziness behind some de-uniquing but some of it is, sadly, driven by the imperatives of protecting the IP. For example, Marvel will have felt impelled to always have a Spider-Woman for fear that DC might might otherwise be able to create a character with that name (I believe that was also the rationale with She-Hulk).

I remember reading how Stan Lee felt sore about DC introducing Power Girl when Power Man was a Marvel character.
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Adam Schulman
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Posted: 12 June 2018 at 11:39am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

I think we're back to Hulk (Banner) and She-Hulk (Jen Walters) now.

Amadeus Cho is still green and super-strong but -- so I've read -- is no longer as powerful and will no longer be going by "Hulk."

Everyone else has been de-powered or killed. 
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Ronald Joseph
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Posted: 12 June 2018 at 11:55am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Fixed. Sorry, Ronald!

No worries! 
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Steven Myers
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Posted: 12 June 2018 at 2:05pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

I liked Spider-Woman more then She-Hulk because though she had similar powers and name, she had nothing else in common with Spider-Man.

One of the reasons I enjoy Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel. No real connection but the name.
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Michael Murphy
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Posted: 12 June 2018 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Some times the legacy thing bugs me other times not. To be sure, some of it is my own bias - do I like a character or not?

I think the Batman family is too large but because I like some of the legacy characters (Nightwing, Tim Drake/Robin, Batgirl) I am forgiving of some of them.

Green Lantern Corps & Nova Corps make sense but the multi-colored other Lantern Corps bug me.

To many Thor knock-offs but I like Beta Ray BIll.

To many Spider-Men (or is it Spider-Mans?) but I am OK with Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman




Edited by Michael Murphy on 12 June 2018 at 2:42pm
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Adam Schulman
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Posted: 12 June 2018 at 3:25pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

"Objectively" I know that Dick Grayson should've never stopped being Robin. And yet I like him as Nightwing. And I think Tim Drake is great. Paradoxes abound in this world. 
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Mike Norris
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Posted: 12 June 2018 at 5:39pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

I like the idea of a Green Lantern Corps. I don't like the idea of six humans being Green Lanterns. 
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Karl Wiebe
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Posted: 12 June 2018 at 6:06pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Just throwing a radical idea out there, I am thinking some might think it is not great.  When the Spider-Man Clone Saga in the 1990s was in full swing, I thought it would have been interesting if Peter Parker died (for real) and Ben Reilly took over as the real Spider-Man.  Kind of like Golden-age Green Lantern vs. Silver-Age Green Lantern (one ended and the other begins).  I was OK with Wolverine dying and replaced with X-23.  Wolverine had 4 decades of stories, which is a lot (just don't bring him back.)

I guess what I am saying is, I think some of the "copycats" come into play because writers might be running out of ways to tell new stories with the same old characters.  I personally am OK with a secondary character, if they get rid of the original.
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Charles Valderrama
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Posted: 12 June 2018 at 7:43pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

When writers run out of ways to tell new stories with the same old characters, it's time for a new writer... with a fresh approach to the
original character*.

-C!

*Flame claw Wolverine or electrical Red & Blue Superman isn't my
ideal examples either!


Edited by Charles Valderrama on 12 June 2018 at 7:45pm
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