In the DC Universe of the 90s, Wally West was the Flash, Kyle Rayner became Green Lantern, Connor Hawke took over as Green Arrow, Aquaman got the metal harness-thing and harpoon-hand...and so on, yeah? The landscape looked very different. And now in 2010, most of the Silver Agers are pretty much back in the saddle, back to their Silver Age status quo. For better or for worse, for better or for worse!
Now, this usually gets traced to Geoff Johns and Green Lantern: Rebirth, and he's done an awful lot of Rebirthing, true enough. But I was thinking about it...
...does it really start with Kevin Smith on Green Arrow in 2000? Was Oliver Queen the first Silver Ager to reclaim the role from his Modern Age successor? Did that kick down the door for Hal Jordan and Barry Allen to come back? Did Smith start this thing? There's even a bit in there with Ollie telling Aquaman that he should go back to the orange shirt, and Black Manta's back in his classic gear.
Considering that Smith's Daredevil launched Marvel Knights, which got Joe Quesada the Editor-in-Chief job at Marvel that he still holds...wouldn't it be damned weird if he was, somewhere up the chain, a huge influence the other company as well?
Are superhero comics the way they are in 2010 all because of Kevin Smith?
...
It's probably nothing...
3 comments:
yeah, go ahead. Let Kevin Smith share credit with Geoff Johns for those "great ideas." Shortly after Green Lantern Rebirth is when I stopped buying DC superhero books.
The definitive version of the character is the one you grew up with, which probably means the role will be more of a rotating thing as new generations retcon each other.
Also fuck Kevin Smith.
Poor Kevin Smith! The years have not been kind, have they? Ten years ago, he was a director that the critics still paid attention to, and comics publishers would buy whatever he was interested in writing.
Now...? I don't know, those movies don't age well, do they? I was a big ol' View Askew fan same as anyone in the late 90s (I still have a worn Bluntman and Chronic T-shirt a friend picked up for me during a pilgrimage to the Secret Stash in NJ). He was ahead of his time in some ways...R-rated youth-directed comedies weren't a guaranteed seller in the late 90s like they are now. But I think a lot of the NOVELTY of Smith's films has worn off. I can remember how incredible it was to hear someone name-drop Wolverine in a major motion picture...but, of course, now Wolverine has been the SUBJECT of four feature films.
Anyway. You're totally right, and I do hope that when 2021 rolls around, DC will keep me in mind to write "The Return of Wally West and Kyle Rayner: Two Rad Dudes Rock The House." I do rather think that Kyle and Wally provided a unique perspective in the JLA that's missed with Hal and Barry back in the saddle, but as someone who grew up with Morrison's run, of course I WOULD say that...
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