RIP, Dwayne McDuffie

There's not a lot more I can add to the eloquent eulogies out there today for the tragically departed Dwayne McDuffie. His passing is a loss for the entire comics community.

I do want to add one thing that meant a fair amount to me, that seems to be missing from most of the remembrances of the man's work, and that is his brief but, in my opinion, spectacular run on the Fantastic Four:

It was a short run, only 12 issues. And it kind of got lost between the hype over JMS's Civil War break-up storyline and the much publicized Millar/Hitch run. But I think it displayed a lot of McDuffie's strengths as a writer.

After a fair amount of fan controversy regarding Reed's position in the Civil War, Dwayne found a way to moderate that to something the fans found more acceptable without completely retconning what JMS did. He took what could have been a cheap gimmick, and used Reed and Sue's problems to bring the Black Panther and Storm onto the team, and did it in a way that not only made sense, but emphasized the family concept of the FF.

And he put together the best Frightful Four story in probably 20+ years, and one of the best Doctor Doom stories ever. As a lifetime FF fan, I don't say that lightly.

And that, in a nutshell, showed Dwyane's strengths. When he wasn't creating his own characters, he still was usually able to see to the core of what made the characters great, and find new ways to emphasize that. He understood continuity and could use it without being enslaved by it. He could shake things up in a way that seemed like forward progress instead of hyped wheel-spinning. And he was respectful to the work of others, gently tweaking and massaging other people's plotlines, rather than ignoring them or declaring "that never happened."

I wish his run had been longer (especially given the tumultuous and difficult run at DC that immediately followed). And I wish that Marvel and DC had had the wisdom to see that here was a man who maybe was far better suited to shepherding their universes than some of the big-name writer-gods to whom they've ceded all power to days.

Hasta la vista, Dwayne.

And hey, Marvel, would it kill you to put out a collection of the various Damage Control series?

If You Can't Be With The Avengers You Love, Love The Avengers You're With

The Hulk is on a rampage with potentially devastating consequences, so Thunderbolt Ross calls in the Avengers for help. However, he's not too happy about who shows up:


Vaguely?? Really? I mean, Quicksilver was front page headlines all over the world when he joined in the first Avengers roster turnover.

And when the Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, and Hawkeye-As-Goliath show up, well, he's still going to be making snarky comments:

What an ungrateful buffoon, eh? You'd think the fastest man alive (Marvel version), a hyper-powerful android, a mutant with power over probability, a super-strong giant, and a master strategist and fighter (and king!) would be enough to satisfy him. And indeed, these "yardbirds" do manage to turn back the Hulk (although they can't capture or defeat him), despite Ross' misgivings.

Roy Thomas was writing both Hulk and Avengers at the time. I wouldn't be surprised if he meant Ross' whining to be a veiled response to the many fans at the time who were bemoaning that the Avengers "didn't have enough power" and "weren't stars" and wanted the Big Three back on the team. You got that a lot in the Avengers letters column at the time, and Roy using this team to beat back the Hulk may have been his answer to that.

Or, just maybe, Roy somehow saw through the mists of time to the distant future, when a writer of Justice League would be complaining loudly about not being allowed to use DC's Big Three, and attempting to demean the remaining Leaguers as "Cap's Kooky Quartet."

So Thunderbolt Ross--jerk, allegory for certain fans, or prophet of the future? Maybe all three...

From Incredible Hulk #128 (1970)

One Down, Two To Go?

Hey, remember back at the 2008 San Diego Comic Con, when DC announced the acquisition of the Milestone characters, and made a huge deal about integrating them into the DC Universe, and Straczynski's Brave & The Bold stories were just going to be a start of a glorious future? When Dan DiDio declared, "You’ll be seeing other characters show up in other series [outside of the JLA and Teen Titans]. It’s going to be very organic and very natural in the way that we bring them in...." Not to mention,

There is a depth to these characters, there is an awareness to these characters, there’s a strength in personality, and there’s great development in these characters. When you have characters like ICON, Static, Hardware, the Shadow Cabinet...these are great characters and great concepts in their own right. This isn’t about a diversity issue – this is about bringing great material into the DC Universe, and being able to add value to everything that we do.

And 13 months later?

5. kryptofan1 asked:
Do you have plans for the Milestone characters (other than Static in the Teen Titans) after the Brave and Bold stories?

DiDio: At this particular time, we have Static in the Teen Titans, and we're looking at a storyline that might be built around Static later in the run. But right now, no other plans.

Oh. Never mind.

So much for "value added," eh? So much for the grand plans of a mini-series wrapping up the old Milestone continuity, or DiDio's statement that the characters would be at the "forefront" of the "big storylines in the DC Universe."

I can't help but wonder if the canning of Dwayne McDuffie from JLA had something to do with this; maybe he took his toys and went home.

Or maybe the DC Borg Collective finally found a species it couldn't assimilate.

But let me remind you of a prediction I made three weeks ago: "I predict dismal, flaming failure followed by a thorough under-the-carpet sweeping for DC's attempts to integrate 3 disparate continuities into their recently re-convoluted universe."

One down, two to go.

A Great Leader Commands From The Rear

Hey, look, they've finally given Black Canary a scene showing her using her leadership skills as chairperson of the Justice League:

Oh. My. God.

I mean, Jesus, Ed Benes, are you really that much of an arrested adolescent? If this were Superman or Batman in charge, you would never draw them like that, and you know it. Great googly moogly, you idiot, Dinah finally gets a good JLA moment and you demean it by turning into a gratuitous ass shot! Really, Benes, what are you, 12 years old or something??

Here's a challenge...before anyone tries to defend this idiot, take a look through his JLA run...can anyone find me a male ass shot like that? I'll be waiting...a long time.

Questions for DC: Dwayne McDuffie--do you feel dirty having your dialogue put on this art? DC editorial--since all this T&A apparently isn't doing much for your sales, what's the point of allowing this?

As my rage dissipates, the are some SPOILER QUESTIONS coming...so bail on the post if you haven't read JLA #22 yet. SPOILERS COMING...
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Ok, #1--so the JLA Chairman has the power to unilaterally kick someone off the team? Really? Just askin'...

#2--Dwayne McD--I know you've been given crappy tie-in duties ever since taking over this mag (really, why did you leave the FF??). But I'm sorry, slack-cutting time is over. We're not even 2 years into this newest JLA incarnation, and we're already recycling stories. Red Tornado & Amazo...didn't we already do this story under Meltzer, less than 2 years ago?? What's the point of redoing it? Have you no fresher ideas?? We've seen the Secret Society of Injustice Gang twice, that damned Vixen's powers story has been going on frankly forever. C'mon, dude...this is the frakking JUSTICE LEAGUE. If we've already run out of story ideas before 2 years is up, well, maybe it's time to give the mag a rest. At this pace, you're making Bendis' Avengers mag seem like zippy serials...

Dammit, I hate hating comics I'm supposed to like...