Toaster's Ramblings... Heroclix Edition

Jonny Prophet and I like the collectible figurine strategy game Heroclix by Wizkids. For those who don’t know, the game is like chess if all the pieces had super powers. These pieces are based on characters from various sources, mostly Marvel and DC comics. However, as of late Heroclix has expanded to include licenses from Street Fighter, Star Trek and Lord of the Rings. The game has come a long way in the decade it has been around, but I still think there are some major missed opportunities of which Wizkids failed to take advantage.  Here is my highly opinionated list of missed Heroclix opportunities…

1. Image Comics Clix: Years ago Wizkids came out with Indy Clix as an attempt to appease fans of comic book characters outside of the “big two.” The problem? (Aside from the mostly crappy dials) There were very few characters from Image Comics. While the series represented franchises like Hellboy and Judge Dredd, there was a glaring omission called Spawn. Now, I have heard that a deal could not be reached with Todd McFarlane. Okay then, but what about other Image characters like Savage Dragon, Shadowhawk, Super Patriot, Firebreather, or the rest of Cyberforce (as Cyblade was the only one of that team made in Indy Clix)? Hell, even Youngblood is back in the fold! Combine those Image properties with updated dials of Hellboy and Judge Dredd characters and I bet you would have a hit!

1.5 Kirkman-verse Clix: No, I am not talking about Walking Dead Heroclix, though they might be awesome. I am referring to the numerous characters and titles that over-achieving comic writer Robert Kirkman has created from Image… titles like Invincible, Astonishing Wolf-Man, Super Dinosaur and the Guardians of the Globe. A few years ago a mini-set of Invincible was released featuring the title character, Atom Eve, Robot, Omni-Man, Titan, Angstrom Levy and Allen the Alien. However, those seven are just scratching the surface. Not only would I love them to be redone in the newer “carded” format but add to them Immortal, Dupli-Kate, Rex Plode, Bulletproof, Darkwing, Doc Seismic, Powerplex, Kid Omni-man… the list goes on and on! Wizkids could easily fill a smaller set or even a full set using just Kirkman’s characters!

2. Wildstorm Clix: This was a missed opportunity that I still don’t get. During the entire life of Heroclix, Wildstorm was under the DC umbrella. I would have thought those characters would be free to be used. (Maybe I’m wrong.) I know I would have loved Heroclix based on Wild C.A.T.s, Gen 13, Stormwatch and the Authority. That could have easily been a mini-set. But now, Wildstorm seems to have been absorbed into the main DC universe, except now the characters are a lot different. While it will be cool to get Grifter, Fairchild and DC’s Stormwatch (which might as well be the Authority given the line-up) it will always make me wonder what might have been.

3. Smallville Clix: With Heroclix currently making so many movie based sets (Avengers, Dark Knight Rises) it stands to wonder why in the entire span of the long running WB/CW series that there were never a set of Smallville Clix. The show had a decent enough following, enough to have comic book tie-ins and action figures. Why was there never a mini-set based off the “Justice” episode featuring Clark Kent, Green Arrow, Impulse, Aquaman and Cyborg? What about one of Lex or the Callum Blue version of Zod? It’s really suprising to me since I’m sure any Smallville Clix would have sold well.

4. Missing Iron Man Movie Characters: In speaking of movie based Heroclix, why in the recent Avengers movie tie-in line were there not characters from the Iron Man movies? Sure we got Tony Stark and Iron Man, but where were his villains or supporting cast? Other characters from Captain America and Thor were represented, so where were my movie Heroclix versions of Iron Monger, Whiplash, “armored” Whiplash, Justin Hammer, all three Hammer Drone models or even Rhodey and the War Machine armor? I’m especially mad about Whiplash as we have never in the decade that Heroclix has been around gotten any form of that character. Who knows, maybe there will be a micro-set released for next year’s Iron Man III that will atone for these sins. We will wait and see. (For note, I could make the same complaint about Hulk movie figures but the recent comic version Hulk series gave us everyone from the movie I would have wanted… except maybe a Tim Roth.)

5. Age of Apocalypse Collector’s Set: A couple of years ago we got a pretty good (but not perfect) Watchmen set of Heroclix. Now fans are clamoring for more collector sets, ones that will give a complete set without buying tons of boosters. Among the biggest of these wants is for an Age of Apocalypse set comprising a 25 figure set of characters representing the alternate reality where Xavier never founded the X-men and super villain Apocalypse conquered much of the world. While we have gotten a handful of characters from the storyline, fans like me would love a more comprehensive set featuring AoA versions of Weapon X, a Sabretooth and Wildchild duo, Sunfire, Magneto, Blink and Nate Grey. Just so long as Wizkids stops at the original series and skips the bad sequels.

6. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Clix: Why? Because Alan Moore’s works haven’t been raped enough… okay, I’m really just trying to piss of Jonny Prophet.  

7A. Red Son Superman Micro-Set: Everyone was shocked that Red Son Superman failed to show up in the Superman Heroclix set from last year… especially considering the addition of various alternate reality “chase” Superman pieces. I was so bummed I painted up on of my extra Supes into his commie outfit. Seriously, this was one of the most popular Elseworld stories ever… why no Clix? In addition to Superman, you could have that world’s Lex Luthor, Batman, Wonder Woman, Bizarro, Hal Jordan and Brainiac. Maybe even include the bottled city of Stalingrad as a special object! It would sell like hotcakes I guarantee!

7B. Elseworlds Clix: Aside from Red Son Superman, DC has many other great alternate reality stories under the Elseworlds moniker. Some of these have received Clix in the past, but it would be awesome to have a whole set of them. In addition to updating the Kingdom Come line, imagine Clix from Liberty Files, Thrillkiller, Speeding Bullets, Son of Superman, the Batman – Vampire collection… the list goes on and on. There’s a lot of potential for some really cool Clix.

8. What If/Alternate Marvel Realities: In the same vein as a DC Elseworlds set, Marvel has its fair share of alternate reality stories and series that could be made into an entire set of Heroclix. Besides the aforementioned Age of Apocalypse, there could be characters representing 1602, Mutant X (remember that one?), House of M, the X-men storyline “Here Comes Tomorrow,” Age of X, Heroes Reborn, Exiles, MC2, 2099 and more. Plus imagine “What If” Clix like a Russian Fantastic Four, the White Skull, Galactus herald Thor, and a Deadpool possessed by Venom!  It would be unbelievably cool.

9. Astro City Clix: This one is just for Jonny Prophet… not that I wouldn’t be interested in the series myself. Kurt Busiek’s ode to classic comics was a breath of non-extreme fresh air in the “dark” 90’s world of comic books. Throughout the book’s sporadic history (it seems only when the planets align that an issue comes out) it has featured numerous creative, unique and outright fascinating characters such as Samaritan, the Confessor, Winged Victory, Crackerjack and the Hanged Man. While I doubt a set would sell very well given that the series was never super popular, I will say that a micro-set or collector’s set could be enough of a hit to warrant production. It would certainly brighten Jonny Prophet’s day.

10. Amalgam Clix: I can honestly see why this one was never made. How hard would it be to get DC and Marvel to work together again to make plastic their amalgamated characters from that 90’s crossover event? I imagine pretty damn difficult. Still, who wouldn’t love an entire Amalgam Heroclix set featuring Spider-Boy, Darkclaw, Thanoseid, Dr. Doomsday, Iron Lantern, Super Soldier, JLX and so on? It would be awesome… I just wonder who would buy the set. How many players today even remember the Amalgam age of comics? Sigh.

So there you have it Wizkids. Sure, some of these are far fetched or just plain past it’s time, but several of these are still do-able. Make it happen! Don’t make me Critical Hit you!

It's that time again...

So what’s up with DC Comics as of late? I mean it seems like there must be a board meeting where DC’s higher ups all get together and say “Hey, what can we do this month to piss off Ol’ Jonny Prophet?” 

My complaints actually start from back a couple years ago when they hinted at return of one my favorite characters from the Batman universe… Jean-Paul Valley (who by the way should have been Hush’s secret identity… hell, even the clues pointed in his direction. He knew all of Bruce Wayne’s secrets and could conceivably hold a grudge. Plus he has been shown to be unstable. But no, they create some character to conveniently be retconned into Bruce’s past. By the way, I also would have accepted Jason Todd as Hush, which they really should have done since they brought him back shortly after anyway!)   I know that JPV wasn’t the most popular Bat-family member, but he had loads of untapped potential.  (If he had gotten his own rogues rather than Batman’s scraps, Azrael could have been a great book.)  So instead of the return of Jean-Paul Valley as Azrael, we get some suck-job named Michael Lane as a crappy whiny emo lame-ass excuse for someone with that mantle.  Better yet (sarcasm alert!) we get to see JPV as a Black Lantern despite the fact that NO BODY WAS EVER FOUND.  

Fine. Whatever.  Then there was the crappy Countdown story line. Mary Marvel turning evil… cool right? It wasn’t.  It was so bad you start to wonder if you haven’t wasted your life by collecting and reading comics or starting to care about the characters.  What was so terrible about Countdown you ask? (To be fair, I doubt any of you are asking that since it is universally despised by fanboys anywhere.)  How about Monitors who discuss taking action but never actually taking action? What action? Nobody knows. Or Jimmy Olsen becoming a horrible superhero with a costume that made Blankman look like a badass? How about building up “the Great Disaster,” even putting together a group of heroes like Donna Troy, Jason Todd and dumbass, er I mean Kyle Rayner, seeking out the help from the missing Ray Palmer, the Atom… and what was this disaster? It was a virus on Earth-51. Wow. Riveting. Still not convinced? Mary Marvel returns to her home to find Darkseid sitting on her couch. No, I don’t think you got that. Allow me to repeat. Darkseid, the unquestioned despot of planet Apokolips, pure evil incarnate that even Satan himself bows before, was just “chilling” on Mary Marvel’s couch. Ugh… does anyone know what a brain hemorrhage feels like? 

However I soldiered on in hopes of greener pastures.  But there were only more mixed bags to follow, and by mixed bags we are talking flaming bags of dog crap! We had the unending boredom that was The Trials of Shazam, the “Grant Morrison must be downing cough syrup” train wreck that was Final Crisis and Brightest Day or as I like to call it ‘Let’s get rid of everything Alan Moore created in the DC universe.’ Then we had Flashpoint which led to the reboot of the entire DC universe (cause normally this was done with a ‘crisis’ but Final Crisis was suppose be the last one) which is odd because didn’t we reboot the universe like 6 or so years back with Infinite Crisis? But whatever, we need to get rid of time traveling Bruce Wayne and Superman being married to Lois Lane.

Flashpoint was hit or miss; when it hit it was pretty good (Legion of Doom, Grodd of War – which should have been a miniseries, not a one-shot), but when it missed, it really sucked. My best example of this was The Outsider. We are led to assume that he is that world’s equivalent of Lex Luthor (who was killed as a child by Krypto, one of the more creative moments of the Flashpoint event) but with an unspecified superpower that is never defined and always seems to be exactly what is needed at the moment. Seriously, I have no idea what his powers were! It didn’t matter because The Outsider used his evil genius more than metahuman abilities anyways. They made him out to be a total badass from the get go. Yes folks, he took down Black Adam by doing a ventriloquist trick. Apparently magic has nothing to do with it, if you can mimic Teth Adams’ voice, you can control the power of Shazam! What the hell? If that were the case why hasn’t Superman done this every time to any member of the Marvel Family that challenges him to a fight?  What an amazing ending to Kingdom Come that would have been, the climactic showdown of Superman versus a mind controlled Captain Marvel… “Shazam.” Oh look, the fight’s over. Yay.  Also, they expect me to believe that Black Adam will act like a little bitch to The Outsider after he killed Teth’s wife Isis? Apparently nobody at DC read 52 and World War 3 a couple years ago. 

How about in Project Superman when Project Zero, an insane soldier given the DNA of Doomsday, gets loose and only Kal El can stop him from killing everyone? What an amazing climactic battle that was. Surely if Doomsday killed our Superman then this scrawnier, inexperienced Supes will really have the odds stacked against him? Nope. Superman punched Project Zero once and he disintegrated. Scrawny, pale, emo Superman punched Project Zero one time and it made him explode or something. Wow. Money well spent.

So now we have the “New 52” that relaunches almost everything from the DC universe for better or for worse. It’s been a crap-shoot to say the least. Wildstorm has been merged with the DCU, but not exactly seamlessly. Where’s Astro City? Is that just going to be forgotten or will it be a random metropolitan area somewhere in the DC United States (i.e. Fawcett City)?  You have Grifter, but now he’s just Punisher-lite with the power to hear Daemonite thoughts. Where the hell is the rest of the WildC.A.T.s? There’s Voodoo, but she is completely different from her previous character. What about Zealot? Or Maul? Or Warblade? Do we just not need them? I guess we are to assume that Grifter isn’t part Kherubim, so is that just not going to exist either? You have Helspont and Daemonites but not the Kherubim? Or is this just more of DC’s efforts to eliminate anything Alan Moore ever contributed toward?

They eliminated the Vertigo universe with only a few characters ending up in the DCU to no doubt be bastardized into the mainstream. DC apparently forgot that the whole point of the Vertigo line was to create a prestige line, grown up comics if you will. Where will all those great books that follow in the footsteps of 100 Bullets, Sandman, Preacher and Transmetropolitan be published?

You have Fairchild, but where are the rest of Gen 13? You have Stormwatch, not the Authority, except they have gone out of their way to basically make Stormwatch into the Authority. They were already on a big ass ship in hyperspace and now any character that wasn’t with the Authority has been written out. It’s the same team of Jack Hawksmoor, Midnighter, Apollo, Jenny Quantum, the Engineer and I guess Martian Manhunter instead of the Doctor and Swift.

Which leads us to the Justice League comic… It’s Earth’s greatest heroes… and Cyborg. I guess he’s the new Martian Manhunter. Now if I had the option of picking up a super strong super fast telepathic shapeshifter versus a guy who can hack computers and make guns out of his hands, I’m pickin’ the green guy. But I guess that’s just me. I won’t bash the comic, it isn’t bad, but some of the dialogue isn’t great. Batman and Green Lantern tend to banter like children, Superman comes across like a dick and Wonder Woman seems like a violence craving airhead. I am interested to see what they do with Shazam in the next story arc. No, not Captain Marvel, he’s just Shazam. I guess he and the wizard can share the name. And make way for Shazam Jr. and Mary Shazam (which is totally not a stripper name).

Then there are just plain puzzling things. Where is Wally West? He just doesn’t exist? Was it revealed he had ties to Al Qaeda or was part of the Penn State scandal? Why was he just erased from existence like a photo of Marty McFly? Apparently Starfire is a apathetically violent slut who can’t remember people now? And in her place on the Teen Titans is Solstice who can fly, has long energy hair, a bubbly optimistic personality but is totally not Starfire, she’s an all new character. (Right.) Why have Mr. Terrific but no Justice Society? Static was the only representative of the Milestone universe and now his book is canceled? Are we just going to ignore him along with Icon and Hardware? I even hear they are getting rid of Power Girl’s “boob window” on her outfit! Not to sound sexist, but she kind of needs it. It’s a part of her character. Before all comic women had triple D breasts, her large rack was made her own. There are numerous jokes made about her bust. Come on, people got all up in arms about Wonder Woman wearing pants; let’s get some love for the boob window!

This leads us to the present and the upcoming event of Before Watchmen for which I’ve already made my comments about.   I now have to ask the powers that be of DC Comics… do you enjoy pissing me off? Do you want me start reading Marvel and Image comics instead of yours ? Do you want me stop reading comics altogether?  You seem to want nothing more than to take everything I have ever loved from your universe and piss all over it! Why? Are you just out of ideas? Do you need to rehash old stories to sell comics now? Do you really need to make prequels to classic books? What is your legacy worth to you?

Like an idiot I’ll be waiting around for the next thing you do to piss me off.  Heck I’ll even get the ball rolling for you too.  Reintroduce Black Adam as Pink Adam, complete with pink tights, a lisp and have him get a gay crush on Superman. Then have him hook up with a long bearded weirdo from England named Callen Boore and they go off to perform sodomy on each other and watch a movie marathon of From Hell, Constantine, V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the Watchmen… then it’s back to Sodomy.

Toaster's Ramblings... Before Watchmen Edition

I decided I’m going to sort of piggyback off of Jonny Prophet’s previous post about the new DC Watchmen prequels. Jonny and I agree on most things when it comes to the Watchmen graphic novel and properties… though Jonny is a lot more of an Alan Moore “purist” than myself. For instance, I didn’t hate the movie. Yes, it has a lot of flaws, but I found it to be pretty good (not great). I finally got Jonny to agree that the movie is “alright” after I showed him the Watchmen – Ultimate Cut, which at almost 4 hours long is as comprehensive and close to the graphic novel as possible. (Jonny still hates the theatrical version though.)

For quite a long time DC has been discussing a way to try to cash in on the Watchmen’s following beyond selling the classic graphic novel. Now Dan Didio has found a way. This summer DC comics is releasing several 4 issue miniseries about the “origins” of several characters from the Watchmen: Rorschach, Dr, Manhattan, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre and 6 issue runs about Ozymandias, Comedian and The Minutemen; All of these under the banner ‘Before Watchmen.’

Where to begin? The first thought that occurred to me was that half of the graphic novel was told in flashbacks, so what more of the origins can there really be? Given that writer Alan Moore has nothing to do with this new “cash-in” we can effectively rename this project ‘RetCon Watchmen’ because everything the new writers do will only add new details to these characters after the fact.

To DC’s credit, they have employed some of the best names in comics to write and draw these RetCons; names like Brian Azzarello, Darwyn Cooke, J. Michael Straczynski and Len Wein (an editor of the Watchmen and the only man from the original work involved in this project) write and a few of the artists include J.G. Jones, The Kuberts and Jae Lee (a personal favorite of mine).

What’s interesting is that Jonny and I have discussed who would best rape Alan Moore’s masterpiece if such a violation had to occur. Darwin Cooke was actually a name we brought up, but the names we wanted more were Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison, both of whom we consider Moore’s protégés, and of course Neil Gaiman. Gaiman is an easy choice considering how he has picked up where Moore left off before on the Miracleman series.

When it comes to the books about Dr. Manhattan, Silk Spectre, Nite Owl and Rorschach, I don’t really know what more we can learn. They had a great deal of time spent on their pasts throughout the graphic novel. (I suppose Nite Owl could have had more flashbacks, but his story didn’t seem that interesting. He was essentially the ‘average guy’ who became a costumed adventurer, hence why he was the main protagonist.) The other three books actually have some potential.

Ozymandias really didn’t have much time given to his back story so it stands to reason that he could have a lot to mine. How did he get to be a superhero? How did he get his fortune? How did he orchestrate his plan? It’s unnecessary for the actual Watchmen story, but as long as you have to go there, it could be a decent enough book.

The two books that I think have the best chances of not being anal-rapingly stupid are the Comedian and The Minutemen. Why? Because their careers were the longest and could really be explored. The Minutemen fought Nazis and gangsters. We know this from “Under the Hood” excerpts and some flashbacks, but it could be cool to have actual stories written about their exploits. It might also be interesting to explore the reactions to the many tragedies that the team suffered like the death of Dollar Bill, the institutionalization of Mothman and the revelation of Silhouette being gay, her ouster from the team and later her murder. Also add that Darwyn Cooke will be writing this book. Considering his excellent work on The New Frontier, writing about this group of Golden Age heroes should be right up his alley. The Comedian had a long career both as a costumed adventurer and later a mercenary. That right there has a lot of potential and given that Brian Azzarello has a gift for writing books with darker tones and anti-heroes, this miniseries gives me a glimpse of hope.

Honestly, The Minutemen and the Comedian books are the only ones I am somewhat interested in. However, I would be lying if I didn’t have some sort of morbid curiosity to check out the rest of the car wreck; will it just be a scratch, a fender bender, or a crumpled burning heap of metal with zero chance of survivors? Both Jonny Prophet and I predict that the initial first issue sales will be great… then the disappointment will set in (like the New 52?). In the end, though, it will have to be DC comics cleans up whatever debris is left from this project. History tells us that going back to add to an existing comic classic seldom turns out well (i.e. X-Men: Age of Apocalypse 10^th anniversary, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, The Kingdom… perhaps even Superman Returns?). Somehow I doubt this will fare any better. 

Dave Gibbons, the artist of the original Watchmen graphic novel had this to say of the Before Watchmen books: 

"The original series of WATCHMEN is the complete story that Alan Moore and I wanted to tell. However, I appreciate DC’s reasons for this initiative and the wish of the artists and writers involved to pay tribute to our work."

Let's be serious here. This isn't paying tribute to the work of Gibbons and Moore. This is all about dollar signs. If Dan Didio and DC comics were really interested in paying tribute to the Watchmen, they would respect the wishes of Alan Moore and leave the book as the stand-alone masterpiece that it is. 

In an unrelated bit of news, I can’t wait for Michael Bay’s new film Citizen Kane 2: Rosebud’s Revenge!

No No No No No!!!!

They have done it. Dc comics made a prequel to the Watchmen. None them written by Alan Moore.  The only way this could get worst is  Frank Miller wrote them with Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld drawing it. Well we all know my feeling on the subject.

Watchmen 2 ? WTF !

DC Comics is once again kicking around the idea to a sequel/ prequel to The Watchmen. This by all accounts is one the dumbest things in the world they could and would ever do. The Watchmen, written by that mad genius Englishman Alan Moore, stands as one of the best, if not the best, graphic novels of all time. It even made Time magazine 100 greatest novels along with other stand-outs like The Dark Knight Returns and Bone. Needless to say it is ground breaking and important to the comic book industry.

However “Marvel Family” hater (another topic, another time) and co-publisher of DC Comics Dan DiDio really wants to go forward with this. Of course DiDio has already brought us “continuations” of classic groundbreaking works with The Dark Knight Returns’ sequel (The Dark Knight Strikes Again) and what writer Frank Miller called it’s prequel (All Star Batman and Robin). And those were bad. Not just everyday bad, but the kind of mad that makes you actually start to dislike the good stuff that preceded it. Like, these couldn't possibly have been written by the same guy, bad! Seriously, if you’re lucky enough to have never read them, do yourselves a favor folks... avoid ‘em like the plague! (If morbid curiosity does get the better of you, at least check out the video reviews of TDKSA and ASBAR by Linkara. Hell, check the reviews if you have read them. They’re very amusing!)

The “extraordinary gentleman” himself Alan Moore wants nopart of this. I mean, why should he after his treatment at DC and its latest rounds of destroying everything he built over there? (For those keeping score, DC has in recent years systematically eliminated or retconned every character Moore created or reinvented. Seriously, if I was Sodam Yat, I’d watching my ass because more then likely he’s going to die.)  Did Moore’s lack of involvement (or blessing) stop Dan DiDio and Warner Brothers from making a big screen adaptation of The Watchmen? No, it was just a minor setback… a speed bump if you will.  That abomination of a movie was still released and we never got our squid. 

Now at this time you must be asking yourself who on earth could helm a sequel to The Watchmen if the Translucia Baboon (pen name of Alan Moore) isn’t going to do it?  I mean, if it has to be done (which it doesn’t) at least give the reins to a writer of comparable skill, right? Maybe his friends Neil Gaiman or Warren Ellis, both wonderful writers who have given us great comics, could give it a go. I mean, Gaiman even took over after Moore’s run on Miracleman (now back to Marvelman). What about Grant Morrison, DC Comics’ own crazy genius? Or how about DC’s golden boy Geoff Johns? Amazingly not one of their names has even come up for such a monumental task.

What about Frank Miller? He’s done an amazing job tarnishing his own legacy. Maybe he could start to ruin Alan Moore’s and from there work a swath of destruction across the legacies of his peers like a cancer until it affects the entire comic book industry? (Seriously, did you see The Spirit?) Thankfully Frank is busy writing about a Batman archetype fighting Jihadists.

John Bryne said (jokingly, I hope) that Rob Liefeld should do it. Are you high?! You want a man who has publicly slammed Moore for his writing to take a shot at arguably his greatest work? (Picture a massively muscular Rorschach covered in pouches and brandishing two gigantic guns. Wait, on second thought don’t.)  I mean, why not stick Todd MacFarlane on the book making it a whole tossed salad of bad 90’s wrong?

While names like Darwyn Cooke, JG Jones, Brian Azzerello, and J. Michael Stracznski have been tossed around in connection with this, nothing is set in stone as of yet. Clearly this is a motivation purely of dollar signs to attempt to continue off of such a cherished work clearly without an idea or story or even a plan.  In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I like most sane non-money grabbing people, think this a bad idea. I mean what’s next? Citizen Kane finally gets that sequel that no one is waiting for? Sequels/Prequels rarely if ever work out; please note the many failures of movies, comics, books and television shows. Those that do succeed tend to be built from a labor of love, not money; the cultivation of an idea or desire to add another chapter to the story.

So if Dan DiDio or anyone from DC Comics is reading this (which I highly doubt), please reconsider. No one wants this except idiots.