Yesterday at DC's The Source blog, Joey Cavalieri was singing the praises of J. Michael Straczynski's run on The Brave And The Bold. In doing so, he writes:
Well, sure. I was glad to be reminded that I loved Dial H for Hero because Robby Reed would be a total coward and deliberately allow someone else to die in his place. A true Silver Age story would never have a hero figure out how to "cheat" fate, or, you know, act like a hero.
And hey, we all fondly remember that we loved Blackhawk so much for all the stories that never, ever even show a single drawing of a plane, let alone showing any flying or feats of daring-do.
And of course, Barry Allen's Flash endured because of all the stories where he wasn't able to run at all, and instead moped around about whether it was right to pick up a gun and kill people. Because Silver Age Barry Allen never, ever used super-speed tricks to incapacitate villains, and allied soldiers only killed Nazis, never took them prisoner after rendering them unconscious.
(Uhhh...and how is Barry Allen operating in WWII Europe without falling under the influence of the Spear of Destiny?? Just asking...)
Yup, JMS has really captured the essence of the Silver Age, all right...it was all dour, depressing, navel-gazing!! How foolish of me to forget...
One thing they do get right: by showing the Flash running and the Blackhawks flying, this cover fits very well in the Silver Age tradition of DC covers blatantly lying about what happens on the inside...
If you love these Silver Age characters, JMS will remind you why you do! If you never did, or you’ve never heard of them, these new stories will show you why people still talk about them…and why they endure!
Well, sure. I was glad to be reminded that I loved Dial H for Hero because Robby Reed would be a total coward and deliberately allow someone else to die in his place. A true Silver Age story would never have a hero figure out how to "cheat" fate, or, you know, act like a hero.
And hey, we all fondly remember that we loved Blackhawk so much for all the stories that never, ever even show a single drawing of a plane, let alone showing any flying or feats of daring-do.
And of course, Barry Allen's Flash endured because of all the stories where he wasn't able to run at all, and instead moped around about whether it was right to pick up a gun and kill people. Because Silver Age Barry Allen never, ever used super-speed tricks to incapacitate villains, and allied soldiers only killed Nazis, never took them prisoner after rendering them unconscious.
(Uhhh...and how is Barry Allen operating in WWII Europe without falling under the influence of the Spear of Destiny?? Just asking...)
Yup, JMS has really captured the essence of the Silver Age, all right...it was all dour, depressing, navel-gazing!! How foolish of me to forget...
One thing they do get right: by showing the Flash running and the Blackhawks flying, this cover fits very well in the Silver Age tradition of DC covers blatantly lying about what happens on the inside...
3 comments:
I don't know who is worse at this point, where it concerns current comics: the "professional" critics or the "professional" talent on the books themselves. Because somehow there is a conspiracy between the two to completely invalidate the Silver Age, Bronze Age, or whatever Age by the very act of their approach. The critics and talent change the Silver Age just by looking upon it, down to an atomic level. It's the most bizarre epidemic of slavish pandering (that distorts the very material being "homaged") that I've ever seen. And gets worse every year!
I've yet to see any evidence that any pro writer other than Mark Waid really, REALLY "gets" what we like about the Silver Age. My son (age 13) is a big Robby Reed fan and we ran across that new issue at Borders the other day (along with 2 issues past it!) and we both looked through it and decided to pass on it entirely. I've always been a big Blackhawk fan too so now I know to avoid that also. Wow.
The thought that this was nominated for an Eisner and Jonah Hex #50 was overlooked is just saddening.
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