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watsondcsj · 1 year

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Hot on the Heels of the Nightwing 2022 Annual Reveal of Heartless, It's Time to Gather all the Seeds in Son of Kal-El!!

Without spoiling the annual, the identity of Heartless was seeded in Nightwing #78, Tom's first issue on the run. I've already written an essay attempting to prove something is going to drop and bring Jon back to being a kid that is no longer entirely accurate to what I feel is coming, but just for posterity, here's a list of things that could be referencing other bits of information throughout the run.

Superman: Son of Kal-El #1, Jon is born in the Fortress of Solitude

Action Comics #976 (Superman Reborn), Jonathan Samuel Kent is born in the Fortress of Solitude

Superboy (2011) #19 , Jonathan Lane Kent born in the Fortress of Solitude

2. Superman Son of Kal-El #2, Jon's new identity Finn Conners where Jon puts on a bad blonde wig. "Finn" is an Irish name meaning "fair." Connors is also Irish.

Teen Titans (2011) #23, Cassie asks to call Kon "Conner" before going in for a kiss

3. Superman Son of Kal-El #2, no parties with Damian at the Fortress.

Superman & Robin Special, a party with Damian at the Fortress. Jon and Damian beat up Nazis. They also find an alien who rapidly ages before dividing and leaving.

Legion of Super-Heroes (2019) #3, Damian is rumored to become akin to Adolf Hitler.

Shadow War Omega, Damian: "Heroes don't kill!"

What of the aging alien?

4. Superman, Son of Kal-El #4, Jon reminisces about visiting his grandparents as a toddler. As far as we were shown in Superman and Action Comics during Rebirth, this never happened.

Doomsday Clock #12 (Dec '19), Jon and Martha Kent are reintroduced despite not being present since Flashpoint. Jon is not present for this story aside from a single mention in an earlier issue. This combined with Superman Reborn could explain the panels in SoKE, but that's kinda lame if you ask me especially if they were really about to push Jon into the role of Superman soon after this.

Superboy (2011) #19, Jon Lane Kent falls deathly ill just before the age of 4. Notice the choice of white is consistent between this panel and the ones in SoKE. Also notice the farmhouse in the background. Is this what Jon is remembering?

5. Superman Son of Kal-El #4, backstories of The Aerie and Wink retconned to have been caused by Bendix

Suicide Squad (2019) #8, The Aerie reveals their backstory and The Post-Human Project to be a faceless evil. This change in SoKE #4 causes Jay and Aerie to share more than a few similarities, and they share a creator. Both runs were written by Tom Taylor.

Superman Son of Kal-El #6, Jay was Gamorran First Family

Suicide Squad (2019) #10, The Aerie’s mother is a deposed president as well

Superman (2018) #6, Jon returns to Earth 7 years older after 5 years of abuse and only 3 weeks have passed

Action Comics Annual #12, Chris Kent ages rapidly in the Phantom Zone. Note how these text boxes describe a similar description to what happened to Jon in that Earth-3 volcano.

Tom Taylor has also commented on famously poorly-received storylines in Son of Kal-El and Nightwing, namely Event Leviathan and both Devin Grayson and Scott Lobdell's runs on Nightwing.

6. Superman Son of Kal-El #5, the kiss

Teen Titans (2014) #12, Kon 2 says goodbye to Tim and WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?

7. Nightwing #89/SoKE #9, Jon flies at age 9 and gets lost in a flashback. Dick in his N52 suit.

Superman (2016) #8 & 9, Jonathan Samuel Kent can't fly at age 10.

Super Sons #10, Jon masters flight

Superman #668, Chris Kent fully capable of flight in his early appearances

8. Superman Son of Kal-El #12, Henry Bendix calls Jon an "abomination" for the first time

Superboy (2011) #6, Kara gives the Superboy the name Kon-El, which translates from Kryptonese as "Abomination in the House of El"

Superboy (2011) #33, Kon 2 is reborn in the mind of Jon Lane after dying in the Superman event Krypton Returns just months before this was published.

Either of these last two issues could also explain how Kon 2 would have the memories of Jon Lane Kent or the memories of the people the psychic (and psychotic) Jon would have been in contact with. Kon 2 is shown images of Krypton as Kara remembers them through touch in Superboy #6 as well as learning to speak and understand Kryptonese.

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ufonaut · 1 year

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I know this kind of comes out of nowhere so feel free to ignore this but you're the only one that I think might understand. I've seen so many self proclaimed jsa fans that love infinity inc hate on johns' writing of the current jsa ongoing and stargirl for doing the same things thomas did (retconning, adding ocs) and I genuinely don't get why. Why are they like this. Can't they see the irony. Maybe this is just more of infinity inc fans being kind of dumb. I can't stop thinking about it.

PLEASE ALL INFINITY INC COMPLAINTS ARE MORE THAN WELCOME HERE AT ALL TIMES but also i agree with you completely, and i think they're being complete hypocrites about this!

what's funny is that roy thomas and geoff johns' approach to the jsa is not only similar but their jsa-related careers have also followed an identical trajectory -- roy was the only person writing anything with the justice society for the entirety of the eighties and the only one keeping the team alive after the levitz/conway asc cancellation, the exact same can be said for geoff as the only person keeping the jsa going from 1999 to 2010 (when the 2007 ongoing ended) and then bringing them back with doomsday clock in 2017 and then finally with the current ongoing.

if i hate the 2007 ongoing for having a billion members, i can't legitimately complain about it because i love squadron for that exact reason. same thing applies to our resident infinity inc lovers & geoff's original characters, and that's without even getting into the fact that roy thomas was the first person in comics actively discussing retroactive continuity as a phenomenon lmao.

like, there are bad retcons out there in the world! i'm ambivalent towards roy's work because he retconned alan into being straight! yet geoff isn't going anywhere near that level or doing anything more than adding the possibility for new & exciting stories set during the golden age and everybody's out here acting like he's committing war crimes. well i'm a geoff enthusiast <3

#i also legitimately think all of geoffs original characters are like. impeccably written bc hes insanely autistic about the golden age of #comics. like outside of maybe jen roy failed at delivering interesting characters imo but geoff is out here making 100 people id die for #asks #anon

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danman007 · 9 months

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Geoff Johns sabotaged the DCEU. What for? His own ambition or perhaps professional jealousy? Maybe both. The photo of him recreating Green Lantern Vol.3 #49 is really telling. The Wonder Woman movie(that first WW film is a clash of visions) should have told everyone how much the theatrical cut of Justice League was going to be a Frankstein monster.

The Flash was intended to be a soft reboot(Retcons are Johns' modus operandi) of the DCEU which I explained in a post earlier this year.

The is Damon Caro and John "DJ" Des Jardin's reaction to a fan bringing up a comic(Doomsday Clock) written by Geoff Johns.

The clip above from Zack Snyder's Full Circle event during the Batman v Superman Q&A panel.

#Geoff Johns #DC Comics #DCEU

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innestahtinen · 2 years

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Transcribed from the original message to friend

I hate DC sometimes.

they can't leave well enough alone

the end of the Flashpoint Beyond series had setup for the new Justice Society series that Geoff Johns is doing next, and a watchmen spinoff thing, and a potential continuation of the story itself

the last page is someone, wearing a variation of Ozymandias' costume while talking to Ozymandias weird cat thing, saying that they'll have to find 'The Watchman' another way, after fiddling with an Intrinsic Field subtractor

we get it, you own the rights to Watchmen, because you're a dick, leave Alan Moore's legacy alone

I'm fine with the Justice Society, if it was characters I'd heard of, but it isn't

It's; Betsy Ross, the Golden Age Mr. Miracle, Molly Pitcher, Ladybug, the Golden Age Legionnaire, Quiz Kid, Salem the Witch Girl, the Golden Age Aquaman, Cherry Bomb, the Harlequin's Kid, Judy Garrick, the Golden Age Red Lantern and John Henry Jr.

that's directly from the page itself, it's just a stupid choice

and it's all retcons, assuming that it's not taking place in an elseworlds, it says 'reintegrate back into the 1940s' so I assume that it's retconning the previous Justice Society; the Jay Garrick, Spectre, Dr Fate, Wildcat one

it is a good idea, i guess, if they bring it forward to a newer war, like Vietnam or something to do with Korea, they could have it be not weird that these century old characters are still running around and fighting bad guys, without having space or magic taking them out of the timeline, like what has happened previously

they just have these characters instead of the originals in WWII, fighting an eternal battle against the Nazis, until the next big Crisis, potentially the 'Secret Crisis' teased in Doomsday Clock, brings them forward to a more modern day, then the timeline'll get changed for the worse and they'll be stuck in the modern day and it'll be bad

but I wouldn't expect that from Geoff Johns, oh wait

#dc?#flashpoint #i still dont know how these work

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splooosh · 4 years

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DOOMSzzDAY clawwWCKK

#doctor manhattan #Doomsday Clock #Gary Frank #Multiversity #Metaverse #Hypertime #Retcon

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januswally · 5 years

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Even with how depressing the story of HiC has gotten...

...I’m still hoping that the last issue will have some sort of positive ending.

I’d rather theorize that this is all a giant simulation caused by Hunter to try and break Wally than take this event at face value. Or maybe they did the whole merge of bodies thing that Red Death was suffering from and it was Hunter in control of his actions and powers.

Anything to rationalize this whole mess cause right now I’m still emotionally raw and not thinking clearly.

#wally west #dc comics #hic spoilers #or at least hope that doomsday clock retcons this to a distant memory #that said #the idea of wally will be tarnished for some #and that hurts so much to think about as well

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thecomicsnexus · 2 years

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FLASH FORWARD #1-6 NOVEMBER 2019 - APRIL 2020 BY SCOTT LOBDELL, BRETT BOOTH, NORM RAPMUND, LUIS GUERRERO, TROY PETERI AND EVAN SHANER.

While Wally West awaits for his sentence, he is summoned by Tempus Fuginaut, to help him save the Multiverse from the corrosion of the Dark Multiverse... a mission only Wally can help with... because he is the one that caused it.

SCORE: 8

It is not hard to write something continuing “Heroes in Crisis” when you think of it. Sure, you have to try and make sense of it... but in comparison, your story will be much more welcomed.

I think that is the main point from this story. “Heroes in Crisis” was so destructive, you can only build from it.

Now, while “Flash Forward” tries to “rebuild” Wally West, there are some elements to it that... do not make much sense. It doesn’t help that the story has an epilogue in the Flash title. Sadly, I am way behind with that title, so the epilogue will have to wait... but you really need to go ahead and read that, because his story ends in a cliffhanger.

So, long story short, Wally is summoned by Tempus Fuginaut (the character created for that Spider-man rip-off from a few years ago), because some kind of goo is corrupting the multiverse. It is then explained that the dark multiverse is made of the nightmares of the vanilla multiverse (just in case you haven’t read any DC titles since 2017), but this goo was caused by a planet that wouldn’t die. The reason it doesn’t die, is because it was created after Flashpoint, from the fear of Wally losing his family.

This means his kids are there now... I am not sure how that worked. But it is implied that at that point, Wally became “unmoored”. He is no longer anchored to something (except to Barry, that was the whole point of Rebirth... right?), and he is connected to everything at the same time.

But then he realizes that he has to destroy this planet (a.k.a. his fears), by sitting on the Mobius chair... now... I gotta be honest with you here... things stopped making sense way before this moment. I assume that by sitting on the chair, Wally would now have the knowledge on how to destroy the planet... but there is a “defect” on this implementation...

See, the whole point of Wally destroying this planet, was to “move on” from his trauma... the very thing that put him into that stupid sanctuary. But by sitting on the Mobius chair... his feelings got suppressed... he started acting rationally only. Kind of like a big anti-depressant. So while he had to make the choice before he sat down... doing the thing was not entirely his doing.

Anyway, Wally asks Tempus to introduce his kids to continuity... and this is where it got confusing for me. The Earth were the kids reunite with Linda is Earth-0... which is technically the main Earth during New 52/Rebirth. This means, I assume, that Linda now got retconned to pre-Flashpoint Linda. I assume. This will probably get clearer once I catch up with the Flash title, but it was very confusing because... well... because DC’s multiverse has the tendency to become confusing. When you read Earth-0 you start overthinking things, and start doubting which Earth that was.

As for Wally... this whole thing kind of connects to the events of Doomsday Clock, but it’s been so long since I read it, that it is now kind of confusing. Wally’s personality gets kind of replaced once he joins the Mobius chair... and he is now wearing a Doctor Manhattan logo on his forehead.

I guess I will just have to continue reading...

#evan shaner #brett booth #norm rapmund #the flash #wally west #dc comics #comics #review #flash forward #2019 #2020 #post modern age

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flashfuture · 3 years

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hello do you mind explaining all the amazons?

All of them????

Okay uh I'll break down the ones i at least know about anyone who's deeper into the WonderFam please jump in I don't really interact with them that much.

But we've got

Diana Prince: Wonder Woman

Our Golden Age Princess of the Amazons. During the Golden and Silver ages she came from Paradise Island. She was truly animated clay here and several hundred years old by the time of WWII. During the Golden Age Diana married Steve Trevor and they had a daughter named Hippolyta "Lyta" Trevor. (My break down of Lyta would be an essay in itself and she's not really an Amazon so). Diana was a member of the JSA here.

During the Silver Age Diana also married Steve but no kids. She rescued Donna Troy from a fire and sent her to Paradise Island to be raised by Hippolyta making Donna and Diana sisters. This is the first timeline to mention Ares is her grandfather technically as he made Hippolyta. Diana lost her powers at some point. She got really really good at martial arts and then two years later got her powers back. She supposedly died during Infinite Crisis but then you know didn't. During Convergence she killed a vampire Joker. That was fun. In this timeline Diana was a founding member of the JLA.

Okay and post crisis New Earth Diana is the first one to say Diana is from Themyscira. It was still called Paradise Island sometimes. She was molded from clay. Diana in this time was not a founding member of the JLA but came to America after it was founded. (I think Infinite Crisis retconned her to be a founding member but idk) Diana has become a member of the Trinity alongside Batman (Bruce Wayne) and Superman (Clark Kent).

The Prime Earth Diana is the one from Flashpoint and onwards. She’s now the daughter of Zeus. In New52 if I recall right she was made much much younger like in her 20s and explored mankind in the modern era. The Doomsday clock thing reestablished her WWII origins. She was also said again to have been born during probably the Hellenistic Period (they said classical antiquity and that’s you know just a few thousand years) She just helped out in Death Metals and is now doing something with Infinite Frontier unclear I don’t really know what Prime Earth Diana has been up to lately.

So on Earth-Two, Earth-One, and New Earth Diana was the granddaughter of Ares and as such her life span was greatly extended. On Prime Earth as the direct daughter of Zeus she is immortal.

Donna Troy: Troia/Wonder Girl

Donna is a tricky one. She was introduced real quick to fill the girl role on the Teen Titans cause the boys were getting a little too gay. So started Silver Age Earth 1. Okay so basically her origin kept changing but the one that’s ‘canon’ is she was created to be a playmate for Diana but was abducted and kept being cursed to live tragic lives in New Cronus. Right around the Titans era okay Donna was rescued by Diana and brought back to Earth. Donna was the one to suggest the Teen Titans name. Donna is a member of the Fab Five along with Robin/Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Aqualad/Tempest (Garth of Shayaris), Kid Flash/Flash (Wally West), and Speedy/Arsenal (Roy Harper)

Donna married Terry Long when she was 19 and they had Robert, got divorced, they died in a car crash.

After Crisis on Infinite Earth Donna sorta realized all those ‘lives’ she led were other version of her which she was all of now. And also Donna was believed to be the Goddess of the Moon. She had to stop a sun-eater or whatever but failed (Hal came in with a clutch it it’s cool)

Donna also had to fix some shit during Infinite Crisis and ended up on a Universe Hopping road trip with Kyle Rayner and Jason Todd to find Ray Palmer for Final Crisis or something. She was killed by a Superman Android during the Teen Titans/Young Justice Crossover. (Edit thanks to that anon for this I legit couldn’t remember how she died)

And Prime Earth Donna was made to destroy Diana. She you know didn’t.

Look I’ll be real I know next to nothing about what the New52 tried to do with Donna. I just go by her original origins of being Diana’s sister.

On Earth-One and New Earth Donna’s life span was greatly extended and on Prime Earth she is stated to be Immortal as on Prime Earth Amazonian’s on Themyscira were granted immortality.

Nubia:

She is like Diana’s twin made from darker clay on Earth-One which is the silver age Earth. Nubia was actually slightly older than Diana but she was stolen as a baby by Ares who was going by Mars. Mars/Ares is Nubia’s grandfather and he wanted her help in taking down the Amazons. Nubia was raised on Floating Island (or slaughter island as Mars/Ares called it). Nubia fought Diana and hesitated to kill her leading to a draw. Nubia returned to Floating Island and at some point Supergirl had to save her life from poison of some sort.

On New Earth she went by Nu’Bia and was just a random Amazon, her job was to guard the Doom’s Doorway which is an entrance to the River Styx. She was not Diana’s sister.

On Prime Earth Nubia is the daughter of Hippolyta and the half-sister of Diana not her twin. Nubia went undercover pretending to work with Darkseid before Themyscira could recover and rally to fight. Nubia is currently the Queen of the Amazons. She was given the crown by her mother, Hippolyta during the Dark Metals event.

As with Donna on Earth-One and New Earth Nubia had a greatly extended lifespan and on Prime Earth Amazons are immortal.

Cassie Sandsmark: Wonder Girl

She is a New Earth entry who was for the new Young Justice team. She is the daughter of Zeus and Dr. Helena Sandsmark. Here as Ares is Cassie’s half-brother and technically the father of the Amazon’s this means Cassie is Diana’s great-aunt.

Cassie as a girl was able to request a Boon of Zeus who she didn’t know was her father at the time I believe and demanded real superpowers. Her mother Helena was able to turn off Cassie’s superpowers at the start as well. Cassie was trained by Artemis for awhile. Cassie became Wonder Girl in honor of Donna Troy who handed over her old suit. Cassie joined Young Justice as a teenager and would later be on the Teen Titans. Cassie has become a part of the Core Four for Young Justice alongside Robin/Red Robin (Tim Drake), Superboy (Kon-El/Conner Kent), and Impulse (Bart Allen).

Cassie’s best friends outside of the core four are Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) and Cissie King-Jones (Arrowette). Cassie and Conner Kent used to date as well and she was in love with him before he died during Infinite Crisis.

On Prime Earth Cassie is the daughter of Lennox and the granddaughter of Zeus. In this version Diana is Cassie’s aunt not the other way around. Cassie is still a member of the Young Justice team here. I don’t exactly remember what was happening during the New52. She was still Cassie unlike Kon and Bart who’d been replaced. But during Rebirth she went with the other members of Young Justice to rescue Conner Kent from Gemworld. She is currently still a member of the Titans.

On New Earth as the daughter of Zeus, Cassie is an immortal who would not age further once she reached her prime age (like 27 or so). On Prime Earth as the granddaughter of Zeus and the daughter of Lennox Cassie’s life is extremely extended.

Artemis Grace:

Artemis of Bana-Mighdall comes from a separate group of Amazons not on Themyscira or Paradise Island. Bana-Mighdall is a tribe of Amazons in Egypt who left Greece millennia ago.

On New Earth Artemis left her home at 14 and wound up working for Ra’s Al Ghul before returning to her home. There was a competition to see who would be the next Wonder Woman as Hippolyta foresaw Wonder Woman die and wished to spare her daughter the fate. Hippolyta ensured Artemis won the competition. Artemis was shunned by most of the world including the Justice League who refused to see her as the true Wonder Woman. Artemis was also thought to be too violent. Artemis would later die in a battle with a demon fulfilling the prophecy of Wonder Woman dying.

Artemis got out of hell eventually and was given the job of training Cassie Sandsmark by Diana and would later train Supergirl in combat as well.

On Prime Earth Artemis was raised being told she would be Queen of the Amazons. She was desperate to prove herself and wanted to be the Shim’Tar of the Bana Amazons. Artemis’ best friend and lover Akila was chosen instead. Without Akila by her side Artemis felt her home had nothing left to offer and set out on her own. She helped stop an invasion of Qurac into Bana as well.

Artemis then joined the Outlaws and worked with Red Hood (Jason Todd) and Bizarro, a botched clone of Superman.

On New Earth Artemis had a greatly extended life span. On Prime Earth he Amazons were gifted immortality but those who left for Bana-Mighdall lost this gift so it is most likely that Artemis has the same extended lifespan from New Earth.

Grace Choi:

Grace on New Earth comes from the same group as Artemis in Bana-Mighdall. Grace’s mother is an Amazon but her father was a Korean American. Grace grew up in America in the foster care system. She ran away at 9 but was kidnapped and sold into a child prostitution ring. She managed to escape at age 12 after her powers kicked in. Grace began fightining both for pay and for fun and worked as a bouncer at a meta club in Metropolis.

Grace worked for the Outsiders for awhile at the request of Roy Harper an ex-fling and good friend of hers. She helped rescue Lian from the same child protsition ring she was in as a child and generally had lots of adventures with the Outsiders.

Later it was revealed she had Bana roots but Grace refused to join them as they were currently you know sieging down the US. Batman was briefly worried about her loyalties but Grace proved she had no loyalty or ties to the Bana Amazons.

Grace has returned to the Prime Earth in Infinite Frontier and in Festival of Heroes and it seems like nothing has changed with her so far.

Grace has increased longevity of her life. She is listed as half-amazon because only her mother is a Bana Amazon but all Amazons only have their mother who are Amazons so I don’t really see why she isn’t a full Amazon. Anyways increased life span.

Jason:

He is Diana’s twin on Prime Earth. He was sent away cause you know no men on Themyscira. Jason was raised by Glaucus who was a member of the Argonauts crew and worked under the original Jason of Greek Myth. Who Jason was named for.

Jason was raised on the Aegean Coast by Glaucus and became a Fisherman. Jason was trained in his youth by his half-brother Hercules.

Jason worked briefly with Diana but wasn’t sure how to be a hero. There was a period where Darksied’s daughter tricked him but Diana talked him down. And Jason saved Diana’s life during the Dark Metals event.

He is currently in the Dark Mutliverse living with a boyfriend on the Aegean Coast.

As the son of Zeus, Jason is an immortal.

⚔️ Also for fun the Weapons:⚔️

Lasso of Truth: Wielded by Diana Prince

Originally imbued with it’s power by Aphrodite and Athena later after crisis forged by Hephaestus and powered by Hestia, this lasso forces the truth from whoever it has ensnared. It is indestructible.

Lasso of Persuasion: Wielded by Donna Troy

This Lasso forces someone to do what the wielder demands. This requires Donna’s or whoever wields the lasso to have a stronger will then who they’re using the lasso on. It is indestructible.

Lasso of Lightning: Wielded by Cassie Sandsmark

This lasso was created by Ares and gifted to his half-sister Cassie Sandsmark on New Earth. This lasso channels Zeus’ lightning and can make someone experience intense rage if they are caught by the lasso. The power of the lasso is directly correlated to Cassie’s rage levels.

Lasso of Submission: Wielded by Artemis Grace

Originally from Earth-3 this lasso has the ability to make someone obey any commands even those to inspire false love. After Superwoman (Lois Lane) of Earth-3 was killed Diana took the lasso and gifted it to Artemis.

Bow of Ra: Wielded by Artemis Grace

The Bow of Ra was a gift from the Egyptian sun god, Ra to the Bana-Midghall Amazons. This bow goes to the Shim’Tar and forges a special bond with them. Those who are not the Shim’Tar cannot wield the bow and further if you are not a candidate to be a Shim’Tar the bow will harm or even kill you. The bow requires intense willpower to use or it can drive the wielder mad. Akila was driven mad with the power of the bow and had to be killed by Diana and Artemis. It is said to have the power to destroy stars so this bow is incredibly dangerous and powerful if not wielded by the right person.

(Bonus Donna used to use a lasso that was golden but held no specific magical properties.)

#dc comics #ask #amazons #long post #sorry this took so long bestie #hope it's helpful #wonderfam

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augustheart · 2 years

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the terrible doomsday clock firestorm retcon that luckily everyone ignores (much like the rest of doomsday clock) is especially stupid because it essentially completely retcons all of ostrander's firestorm #deeplore. and like... i won't pretend i love all of it, a lot of turning firestorm into a mythical being kind of turns me off from the character, but it's really important stuff for the entire history of the character. it also just fundamentally misunderstands the relationship stein and ronnie have and the way that stein's specific brand of asshole manifests (and why it manifests) but i generally don't expect characterization to be good when geoff johns sits down to write a comic and he's already proven himself inept at remembering even the most basic details of firestorm characters (hello, jason's mom suddenly being dead when it was a plot point that she was alive) so i don't know why i bother at this point

#johns when i see you you're DONE #firestorm

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spiderwest75 · 2 days

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Retcon Doomsday Clock!

The Watchmen deserved better.

Alan Moore deserves better

#Watchmen #dc comics #watchmen #dc universe #retcon doomsday clock #retcondoomsdayclock #alan moore #dc rebirth #geoff johns #retcon #comic books

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knights-past · 3 years

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Stargirl Spring Break Special: Reaction

This will not be a full review of the Stargirl Spring Break Special, but more a quick capture of my immediate thoughts after reading it. Keep in mind, there will be spoilers.

I’ll be honest, it’s kinda weird that the Seven Soldiers of Victory are this idea that keep getting revisited in the context of this character. I get why, and it worked when they were revisited in the original Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., but how much mileage can we really get out of a team who, while all being interesting characters on their own, don’t really have much of a *thing* when they gel together. Still, this brings back some characters who had been lost to limbo like Greg Saunders/Vigilante, Sir Justin/Shining Knight, and the second Crimson Avenger, the latter of whom made me more interested than anything else as she was a character that never really caught on when introduced and was sadly left to flounder.

One thing that I though was interesting is the way the presence of Green Arrow and Speedy is addressed. While the post-Crisis takes opted to simply retcon them away (replaced by the Spider and Stuff the Chinatown Kid respectively), in the spirit of the post-Death Metal, “everything counts/it all matters” stance, it’s established that the contemporary Oliver Queen and Roy Harper were sent back in time early on in their careers. In fact, it’s even posited that the events of that time travel are what eventually lead to their growing apart as seen in the events of Green Lantern/Green Arrow by O’Neil and Adams. Admittedly, I’m not entirely sure that works, timeline or meta wise, but hey.

Beyond all that, it’s a fairly simple story featuring the Seven Soldiers reuniting in an effort to save Lee Travis the original Crimson Avenger from a time-travel plot involving Clock King and Per Degaton’s time machine. It’s worth noting that Emiko Queen/Red Arrow fills in for Roy Harper much like how Courtney fills in for Sylvester. And honestly, that’s one element that I really like and will probably appeal to some fans who are in this for the young heroes of DC - Courtney and Emiko’s meeting and forming of a relationship. The pair bond over their shared experiences as younger heroes, particularly after the Crimson Avenger bars them from participating in the mission for fear of their safety. I admit, I’ve not read much with Emiko Queen, so I can’t say how much it resonates with her character in other books, but it works here. It retreads some ground we’ve already seen with Courtney, but as this is supposed to somewhat serve as an introduction to the character for new readers, it makes sense to revisit.

In fact, that aspect of “the dangers of superheroics for young people” is kind of at the forefront of this issue, with the topic of the original Crimson Avenger’s sidekick/Eight Soldier Wing (who for some reason is drawn with a question mark on his chest) and his sacrifice being a key plot point and the revelation that Wing, Secret from Young Justice, and Dan the Dyna-Mite all being trapped by something called the “Childminder” along with other lost children. Obviously this is set up for a future plot point that will be continued in the teased Stargirl #1. Now when will we see that? Only *time* will tell.

Speaking of teases, the book ends with Per Degaton appearing before Clock King and revealing that he has a plan that will hurt the JSA - in not one, not two, but THREE iterations!

And of course we see a fancy group shot of our new JSA, featuring several of the members that returned during Doomsday Clock (though not all of them; Ted Grant/Wildcat I, Sandy Hawkins/Sandman, and Jesse Chambers/Jesse Quick/Liberty Belle are all absent). And several members also have updated designs, most likely designed to reflect upcoming media appearances. I’m a bit mixed on them, but easily the worst are Mister Terrific and Hourman.

Overall, while I enjoyed this issue as a fun superhero one-shot, it felt more like a “Seven Soldiers of Victory Spring Break Special” than a Stargirl Spring Break Special. While it makes sense to use Courtney as a viewpoint character to learn about these older characters, it places far more import on those characters than Courtney herself. And frankly, when it *is* placing the focus on Courtney, she comes off rather flat, more akin to how she was in the early bits of Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. than as the more rounded, take-charge character she became throughout that series and her later appearances. It’s emblematic of Geoff Johns (*sigh*) and his tendency to focus on past stuff rather than building new things going forward, a tendency that only got worse with Rebirth. And with the tease for Stargirl #1 hinting that it’s gonna be all about Courtney looking for Wing and the others, it looks like that streak will continue. Even the teaser for the new JSA story focuses more on the JSA’s past than on building a new future. Don’t get me wrong, I love my continuity bs, but after a while it becomes old hat.

Oh, also of note: this issue sees a number of elements from the Stargirl TV show have made their way into the DC comics canon, the biggest of which being the semi-sentience of the Cosmic Staff. Now they also continue to reference Sylvester Pemberton as “the Star-Spangled Kid” and never address him as Starman or as the previous owner of the Staff like the show (and the New 52) presented. Given that they also make references to stuff from the original Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. run, this implies Jack Knight was still the one to give her the Staff and the mantle. Will this be followed up on? Probably not, but it’s at least interesting to think about.

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