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Topic: Who has time been kind to- superheroes Post Reply | Post New Topic
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Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2390
Posted: 25 December 2024 at 12:24am | IP Logged | 1 post reply
This topic didn't have as many answers as it deserved, I thought, so I've been wracking my brain going through the majors (and some "minors") seeing if we've missed anybody.  Wow!  So many favorites are almost unrecognizable from when I first discovered them!

Howard the Duck?  Nope!  Miss the big bill (and more).
Aquaman, Power Girl, Huntress, Hawkman?  I don't even know their origins anymore.
Green Arrow? We'll never see poor old Ollie (the Neal Adams version) again.
Superman and Batman? Both dads (and both psychologically far from the iconic versions).
Hulk and Thor? Which version? Which MIND?
Moon-Knight? Not anywhere close to the Moench/Sienkiewicz masterpiece.

Tigra?  Is Tigra the same?

I think I've come to the conclusion that the creators/publishers are going out of their way to fundamentally change all these icons, whether the changes are good or not.




Edited by Eric Jansen on 25 December 2024 at 12:26am
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John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133711
Posted: 25 December 2024 at 1:10am | IP Logged | 2 post reply
A question I grew tired of asking when using a character was “Who is s/he these days?”
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Peter Hicks
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 30 April 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 1996
Posted: 25 December 2024 at 1:12am | IP Logged | 3 post reply
How about Man-Thing ?  Did some idiot start him talking and wearing a costume?
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Jason Scott
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 06 August 2012
Location: Scotland
Posts: 1178
Posted: 25 December 2024 at 11:20am | IP Logged | 4 post reply
Over the span of my career I’ve said many times that writers tend to fall into two groups. One group, offered the job on Captain Amazing will ask “Can I tell good Captain Amazing stories?” The other will ask “Can I use Captain Amazing to tell my stories?”

Spider-Man has been visited a lot by the second group.

------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------
Yes, just recently I was reading again an article with J.M Dematteis on the origins of his 'Kraven's Last Hunt' story and he admitted that it started off as a Simon Williams tale, which was rejected, then he tried pitching it a couple of times as Batman story, which were also rejected. Then he finally got it approved as a plot for Spider-Man.*

Made me wonder how often that sort of thing happens? Pitches for one character that end up getting used for another.

*Admitedly I really liked Kraven's Last Hunt though. As it did seem to work well for Mike Zeck's artwork on Spider-Man with the Black Costume of the time. (I don't think the one off 'horror vibe' of the tale would have worked quite as well with the regular Spider-Man costume.)
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Jason Scott
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 06 August 2012
Location: Scotland
Posts: 1178
Posted: 25 December 2024 at 11:35am | IP Logged | 5 post reply
In terms of characters who don't seem to have been changed much it is a struggle to find any.

The only one I can think of, off the top of my head, is DC's Stargirl. And I'm not sure if folks would consider her as being around long enough, to qualify as a suitable answer to this topic's question. (1999? I suppose that is 25 years now.)

I have the sneaking suspicion though that because of the real life origins for the character's inspiration (As a tribute to Geoff John's tragically deceased sister, Courtney) that this may have waranted a hands off policy for other creators in messing with her.

Of course she is something of a legacy character herself. So I suppose it could be argued that she already is the altered version of the original character.
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Brian Floyd
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 07 July 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 8684
Posted: 25 December 2024 at 5:32pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply
I like that Stargirl is a double legacy character: She's a female Starman AND Star Spangled Kid rolled into one.

(And I think Stargirl was the best CW DC show in the long run.)
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