Mr. Freeze and humility

I've been playing a lot of Arkham City when I've had a little free time here and there, and it's reminded me of a bit of weirdness surrounding one of my favorite Bat-villains, Mr. Freeze. Why "Mister"? Freeze legitimately has a doctorate. Intellectual supervillains are typically more than happy to lord their advanced degrees over society and its protectors--Doctor Octopus, Doctor Light, Doctor Double X, Doctor Sivana, Doctor Phosphorus--even when they don't actually have those degrees (I'm looking at you, dropout Doom). Looking through Wikipedia's list of fictional doctors, the only other villain who does the same is Marvel's Mister Hyde, and he took his name from a story.

Is Victor Fries the most humble supervillain in the DCU? Is this just another part of his tragic life story? Was his doctorate revoked? If so, why is Doctor Light allowed to keep his?

Curioser and curioser, the politics of comic book academia.

Putting the call out

I'm trying to track down a comic for a reference, but all my attempts to do so have, so far, been in vain. Here's what I can remember:

• It's a comic from the last fifteen years or so, I'm guessing mid-to-late '90s
  
• I thought it was a Superman comic, but I could be wrong about that
  
• I'm pretty sure Ron Frenz did the art
  
• The plot goes something like this: a big alien monster is tearing stuff up, but is eventually stopped by the hero, whereupon an alien in a spacesuit comes to retrieve it. Turns out the big monster is the alien's pet. The hero remarks that it's kind of like a dog, after which the alien removes its helmet to reveal a very canine-looking face, and says "something like that," or something like that.

At this point, I could probably draw the alien from memory. I remember the panel where it appears vividly, and especially the clearly-photoreferenced dog face, but I can't for the life of me figure out what comic this was in. Google has been no help, and flipping through random issues may take me several more days. Anyone know what this was off the top of their heads?

Superboy's Age

An amusing post over at Thoughtballoons poses the question of Superboy's age, which is kind of an interesting nexus of problems that only comic book characters face. To wit:

1. Superboy is a clone who emerged fully-formed from his test tube, physically sixteen years old when he was 'born.'
   
2. Several years in real-time, and an unknown amount of comic book time, passed, during which Superboy learned that he would not age beyond 16.
   
3. In the "Sins of Youth" crossover, Superboy was artificially aged, then restored, but this (as I recall) fixed his inability to grow older.
   
4. A few years in real time, and an unknown amount of comic book time, passed, and Superboy was taken one thousand years into the future, where he spent several months of real time and an unknown amount of comic book time with the Legion.
   
5. Superboy returned to the present, around the same time that he left.
   
6. A few years in real time, and an unknown amount of comic book time, passed, and Superboy died.
   
7. Superboy's corpse was placed into a sort of suspended animation/regeneration matrix, where it remained for a thousand years of comic book time and a year or two of real time.
   
8. After that thousand years or so, Superboy was revived by a different Legion of Super-Heroes, and he returned to the present.

So how old is Superboy? A few years? Nearly eighteen? That, plus a thousand?

In any case, I imagine he and Bart Allen have quite a lot to talk about. Frankly, they've got so much in common that I think we ought to see a lot more of Conner and Bart hanging out than Conner and Tim.

Wait, what?

I like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," but I was a latecomer to the series, only really starting to watch it in the last several years. I really enjoy it, but I still haven't watched the last two and a half seasons or so. Now that I have both the complete sets of "Buffy" and "Angel," I figure I'll go back and watch both all the way through (with all the appropriate tie-in episodes and whatnot) at some point in the near future, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Avoiding the show as I did means I also avoided a great deal of Whedon fandom; my first real encounter with him was "Astonishing X-Men," and I'm pretty sure I watched the entirety of "Firefly" before I saw a single "Buffy" episode. So while I haven't exactly been entirely untainted by spoilers, I've been mostly untainted by prevailing fan opinions.

Which is why I was surprised by a throwaway line in a recent Blog@Newsarama post, referring to Riley as "the character’s most-loathed ex-boyfriend." I actually quite liked Riley, and generally enjoyed the whole Initiative storyline.

So now I'm curious: why is Riley the "most-loathed" of Buffy's boyfriends? Why does he provoke the wrath of Whedonite fandom so much that his getting a one-shot comic is cause for controversy?

And is there any chance that we could see Whedon's proposed TV series prequel about young Giles done as a comic? Has it already been done? Because that would be the thing that gets me buying Buffy comics.

Who's Afraid?

So, "Fear Her" has this reputation for being the worst episode of the new Doctor Who series. I decided to give it another look recently, just to see what inspired all the hate. And really, I just don't get it. It's a fairly forgettable episode, all told, and ultimately it's trying to accomplish the same thing that "Vincent and the Doctor" did: tell a moving, down-to-Earth story about a character in emotional turmoil, and somehow involve a massive alien threat. In that regard, "Vincent and the Doctor" is clearly the better episode, even if the alien threat never feels as necessary to the story as the one in "Fear Her."

The story is...weird. The "alien who just wants to be loved" plot feels like it would fit better in "Sarah Jane Adventures," while the "little girl wishes people to the cornfield and brings her abusive father back from the dead" angle would almost fit in better with "Torchwood." All that combines to give a very schizophrenic story, which never seems to be able to decide what mood it has, and ends with the people of the world sending their love energy to power an alien spaceship.

But the worst episode of the series? Worse than "The Idiot's Lantern" or the "Daleks in Manhattan" two-parter? I've always thought that the only real value in "New Earth" or "Gridlock" was the Face of Boe stuff (but I haven't watched "Gridlock" in awhile). I don't get why the excesses and bad ideas of "Fear Her" trump basically the same bad ideas (and without the attempt at emotional grounding/fright) in "The Idiot's Lantern." Why does this episode get all the fanhate?

On the other hand, "Love and Monsters" is one of my favorite episodes, so your mileage may vary.

Da Fug?

I tried reading "Seaguy" again. I got from the first page to the last, for the second time, and I still have no idea what it's about. I feel like it's written in a foreign language that I haven't taken classes for in years; I can pick up a thought here or there, but it's mostly incomprehensible.

I want to like it, I really do. There's a lot of cool ideas in it, and I love Morrison and Stewart, but both of the times I've read it, I've felt utterly and completely lost. The best idea I can come up with is that Morrison is trying to provoke in the reader the confusion a new comic reader might have when picking up their first shared-universe comic, referencing plots and characters and events that you don't know about.

But even then, there's got to be more to it. I just really don't know what. I can't really follow the story, it appears to end really abruptly, and there's a tragic "The Prisoner" vibe I get from it that I can't fully appreciate because I don't understand it.

So, do you understand it, or is this an "Emperor's New Clothes" scenario, where everyone pretends to understand and love it because no one wants to look as stupid as I look right now?

Putting the Call Out

I have quite a bit of the Adventures of Superman radio program, but I can't quite track down some key episodes, or any real information about them. Specifically, I'm looking for the 1942 two-parter "Superman Comes to Earth" and "Eben Kent Dies in a Fire, Clark Kent Goes to Metropolis", and the serial "The Meteor from Krypton" from 1943. As far as I can tell, both stories retell Superman's origin, and the latter includes the first appearance of Kryptonite in any medium.

Unfortunately, the best I've been able to do is get part three of the latter seven-part serial, which is a start, but isn't quite where I'd like to be.

On the plus side, it'll be at least a month before I get to 1942, so I have some time. But if you know where to look, or even who to ask where to look, I'd be very appreciative. On the other hand, if you happen to have those episodes in an easily transferable format, I'd be even more appreciative.

Thanks!

Original Commentary

I've been on a bit of a Superman kick lately. If you've been reading my late-night tweets, you know that I've been watching a lot of "Lois and Clark" recently, greatly revising my opinion of the show. It actually holds up quite well, and it's a lot better than I thought it would be, based on my decade-old memories.

Between that and rereading some Superman trades, I've decided that I'd like to do a running commentary on the various origin stories that have been told over the years. Especially as "Superman: Secret Origin" is drawing to a close, I have a burning desire to revisit "Man of Steel" and (groan) "Superman: Birthright," so I might as well bring in some of the other versions as well--especially since some of them are such interesting departures (see: the radio version).

So I'm going to try another series, albeit one with an expiration date. Each week, I'd like to look at a new Superman origin, with my usual sort of commentary.

What I'm looking for from you is input: I think I've got a fairly exhaustive list of retellings of the tale, but I know there are some missing variations (in particular, I know there was one where Superman crashed to Earth in the 1960s and it speculated what his life would be like in the '90s-'00s) that I'd like to catalog. Presented here is my list of origin stories; the ones in bold are the ones that I already have access to one way or another. I'd like to limit this to official stories and main-line "imaginary stories" (i.e., no Elseworlds), but other than that, please feel free to add any versions of the story you're aware of.

Here's the list in rough chronological order:

• Action Comics #1
  
• Superman Daily Comic Strips
  
• Superman #1
  
• "Adventures of Superman" Radio program
  
• Fleischer Superman cartoons
  
• More Fun Comics #101
  
• "Superman" 1948 serial
  
• Superman #53
  
• Superman #61
  
• Action Comics #158
  
• "Adventures of Superman" 1952 Series
  
• Superman #146
  
• "Superman" 1978 film
  
• "World of Krypton" (vol 1) miniseries
  
• "Superman: The Secret Years" miniseries
  
• "History of the DC Universe" miniseries
  
• "Man of Steel" 1986 miniseries (and related miniseries)
  
• "Superman" 1987 cartoon series
  
• "Superman" post-Zero Hour issues
  
• "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" 1993 series
  
• "Superman" 1996 Animated Series
  
• "Superman: For All Seasons" miniseries
  
• "Smallville" TV series (though I'm not totally sure which episodes to go to for specific origin material)
  
• "Superman: Birthright" miniseries
  
• "All-Star Superman"
  
• "Superman: Secret Origin" miniseries

Please offer advice on amending or editing this list as necessary. I don't have an ETA for the first post on this subject, but seeing how "Action Comics #1" gives like, two pages to the origin, it'll probably be soon.

Quick Question

Anyone know if it's still canon that Peter Parker's parents were government secret agents who were killed by the Red Skull? Because that doesn't get mentioned enough.

Seriously, Peter works with Nick Fury often enough that it'd be interesting to see Nick trying to groom Peter into a spy like his parents.

December with the Doctor: A Capital Idea

So, is it "the Doctor" or "The Doctor"? Same question for "T/the Master."

Bat-Month: "Curious Stirrings in my Utility Belt"

It's another audience participation day here at the Batcave of Soliloquy. I put it to you, dear readers: Who should Batman settle down with? Who is his ideal mate, his life partner, his love interest? What lucky girl or guy would you most want to see walking down the aisle with an enormously expensive ring shaped like a bat?

Bat-Month: Those Wonderful Toys

All right, Bat-Fans. We're all aware of Batman's seemingly infinite bat-arsenal of bat-shaped and bat-adorned bat-gadgets for every bat-occasion. So, of all these myriad devices, which one's your favorite?

For me, the choice was tough, but I ultimately decided to go simple yet obscure. In the Animated Series, Batman had two major types of Batarang--the classic version, and ones that appeared to be razor-sharp, and shaped more like shuriken:

The DCAU wiki calls these "Bat Stars," which is as good a name as any. I've always really liked the look of them, and they're a nice alternative to the more traditional Batarang.

So what's your favorite bat-gadget?

A pressing Who-related question

I mentioned before how much I enjoy listening to the Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas, in particular the ones featuring Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor. The series, despite lacking a visual component (or perhaps because of it) has cemented McGann as one of my absolute favorite incarnations of the Doctor, and as I'm catching up to Charley's departure, I feel compelled to begin listening to the plays where she joins up with the Sixth Doctor as well.

I'd stopped listening to the shows for awhile. I was spending less time in the car, so my podcasts tended to last longer. More to the point, I'd gotten into the season where the Doctor and Charley were trapped in another universe. While there were some good episodes in that season ("The Natural History of Fear" is a positively brilliant story that uses the audio format in some really surprising ways; it's one of those rare stories that could only possibly work in that particular medium), most left me flat (especially the bizarre "Scherzo," which failed biology forever in its headbangingly awful use of something called but bearing no resemblance to "evolution"). After "Natural History," I took a break, which I unbroke recently. I've been on a marathon run through the Eighth Doctor stories, mostly because I wanted to get out of the "alternate universe where no one had a concept of time but time clearly existed anyway" arc. Right now, I'm listening to "Time Works," which is part of the (Spoiler text) "The Doctor and Charley don't realize that C'rizz is a death-worshipping sociopath" story arc.

Anyway, the reason for all this rambling is because this episode features a particularly well-fleshed-out world called Industry, where the people are kept constantly working by a totalitarian clockwork regime. Among the many clock-based euphemisms and phrases abounding in the story is the derogatory term "clockstopper" for someone who wastes time. Now, this struck a chord (or perhaps a chime) somewhere in my memory, of the same (or a similar) term being used as part of some moderately Randian philosophy or self-help fad. Particularly the notion of avoiding people who waste your time by not working or preventing you from working. I know that's vague, but I thought maybe somewhere out there in Internet land could give me an idea of where I'm remembering this from.

And if not, well, just take a couple of hours out to listen to the story. It's pretty good.

¿Cómo se dice?

So, the current Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes...how do you pronounce his first name? I've heard most people use the English version, "Jay-mee," but typically that's spelled "Jamie" as opposed to "Jaime." It makes sense to use the Spanish pronunciation, "Hi-may," but I've never heard anyone say it that way.

So, what do you think?

Déjà Joe

While the habit is nowhere near as pervasive (or expensive) as it used to be, I still collect a few toys here and there. When I'm out shopping at the big box retailers, I inevitably pass through the action figures aisle and thumb through the Transformers and DC Universe figures--and the 25th Anniversary G.I. Joes. I never really got into the Joe toyline as a kid--most of what I have is from the really gimmicky end times of the Real American Hero line, with space suits and Play-Doh armor. The most recent revival of the line has given me the opportunity to collect my favorite characters (and the coolest figures) with the best sculpting, paint jobs, accessories, and articulation I've ever seen in the Joes, and some of the best in toys period. About the only figure I want that I haven't gotten is the black-suited Baroness, because it's only available in a too-expensive Cobra 5-pack.

But I digress. Anyway, I've noticed something strange at some of my local stores, and I'm curious if it's some kind of widespread phenomenon. The first one I noticed was General Hawk. I saw a General Hawk figure, but he looked odd. He was kind of amorphous, kind of short, kind of bulky, and kind of crudely articulated. Also, he was wearing bright orange instead of the more muted/realistic colors of the modern line. He looked like a figure from the '80s series, here on a 25th Anniversary card. I didn't think too much of it, just filed it away as a weirdness (and it helped that I didn't remember what the modern Hawk figure looked like).

But then, a few weeks later, I encountered a Cobra B.A.T. with a weird lenticular animation sticker on its chest. Now, I'd bought a modern B.A.T., so I was pretty familiar with what it looked like--which was pretty different from this. I also noticed that neither the figure nor its accessories quite fit into the bubble, even though the bubble had been reattached well enough to not look like it'd been tampered with. I've looked since then, and discovered that it was the fourth version of the figure, from 2003 (based on a 1991 mold). Here's the modern version for comparison.

Hawk, as it turns out, was the 2005 version of the figure. The modern one looks considerably different.

Since then, I've seen a 2004 Cobra Trooper and a figure I couldn't identify on a Crimson Trooper card. With the exception of the last one (which I saw in a different part of the state), the only real sign that the figure didn't belong was that nothing quite fit in the bubble. Someone took some serious time and care to reattach those bubbles.

So, what's going on? Initially, I thought that replacing dime-a-dozen new figures with vintage '80s ones was an exercise in insanity (or at least poor financial planning or ignorance of eBay); now that I know they're 2000-era reissues, it makes more sense financially. I can understand the impulse to scam big box retailers by returning old figures on new cards, effectively getting free toys, but is it really worth that much effort? Are toy collectors really so hard up for $8 and so drowning in 2000-something reissues that they need to engage in some illicit bartering? Mightn't that be a sign that they need to take a break?

Or am I way off-base, and is this perhaps some crazy Hasbro contest that I've missed out on winning three times? What's up?

Battle of the Bands!

Who would win: The Misfits or The Misfits?

A Question of Tremendous Importance

I love The Who, but I'm not too keen on the "Best of The Who" pack for Rock Band. The included version of "My Generation" is awful, and I really only know "Eminence Front," "Amazing Journey," "Baba O'Riley," "Behind Blue Eyes," "Going Mobile," and "Who Are You." I feel no particular yearning for a live cover of "Summertime Blues," and I'm just kind of ignorant about the other tracks.

So, should I drop the 1600 Points on the full pack, or should I just spend 800 on the ones I want?

Comic Compromise

I haven't said much recently about the cancellation of Manhunter and Blue Beetle (and Birds of Prey, though that looks like it might be a temporary, R.I.P.-related thing). For one, I'm not caught up on either book (though I've been buying them regularly), so I'm not sure what's going on yet. For two, while I won't dismiss the arc without reading it, I wouldn't be entirely surprised if cancelling the Sturges Blue Beetle was an act of mercy--the way it was for Shadowpact and Remender's All-New Atom. And for three, it's not surprising. Books I enjoy keep getting cancelled, and The Outsiders keeps going; there is no justice in the world.

So, I understand that there's not enough of an audience to support a monthly Manhunter book, or a monthly Blue Beetle book, or a monthly All-New Atom book, or a monthly Catwoman book, or a monthly Firestorm book, or a monthly Chase book, or a monthly H-E-R-O book. And I understand not selling titles that don't sell well; that's just good business. But what about an anthology book or two? Mightn't there be enough support for an Adventure Comics featuring 12-page stories about Blue Beetle, the Atom, and Firestorm? Mightn't there be enough support for a Showcase Comics featuring Manhunter, the Question, and Chase? Wouldn't there be enough support for 48-page monthly or bi-monthly anthology books, featuring characters linked by a common theme, with finite arc-based stories that could be easily collected in trade forms (a la Doctor 13) featuring characters who can't support solo titles? Might that not be a better way to debut new stories or characters than the endless stream of miniseries? If I were buying a book for Blue Beetle and Firestorm, and there were an additional story about El Diablo, I'd be a lot more inclined to follow that story in the book I'm already reading than to pick up the El Diablo stand-alone miniseries.

I know it's been proposed before, and I can see reasons for not doing it, but isn't it at least worth a try?

Supermonth: A Totally Hetero Thought

So, most representations suggest that Superman has indestructible hair. It makes some sense (though not a huge amount), though it depends on how Superman's powers are supposed to work.

One thing I wonder, though, is what the texture must be like. I mean, I'm sure the hair on his head is relatively normal, but depending on the artist, Superman's often been shown to be pretty hirsute. Body hair, at least in my limited experience, is generally fairly coarse; would body hair of steel in turn be like steel wool? If Clark Kent's showering, does he wear holes in the washcloth with his indestructible man-fur?

If I were to guess, I'd suspect that his hair is the same texture as human hair, but much stronger, but what does that mean for his plumbing? I imagine the super-mullet was hell on his drains.