Can We Come Out To Play?

Everyone has a favorite character who they see slowly fade away into that dreaded land of comic book limbo, that deep dark dimension where all the heroes and villains who didn't quite make enough of a splash or flagging sales caused their books to be canned. The cry goes out and another hero is lost. Popping up here and there or not at all these are the characters who everyone seems to know but no-one wants to buy. The names are familiar and you know what they look like but they just don't seem to make it. Captain Atom, Booster Gold, Fire, Blue Beetle, Guy Gardner, Power Girl, Animal Man, Firestorm and many more. These characters have either suffered from bad sales or never given a chance. Captain Atom and Firestorm were both great comics that were treated badly towards the end of their runs and Booster Gold was an entirely new character who's origin wasn't revealed until issue #4. These are great characters but several of them have bombed out more then once, Captain Atom starred in the ill fated Armageddon: The Alien Agenda which never received half the attention DC expected and had a miniseries coming out that was never released. Booster and Beetle both had their books canceled and went on to become two of the JLA's most popular members and the long promised Blue and Gold miniseries that never came about despite DC promising on several occasions that it would be released. These are the characters who are constantly asking, "Can we come out to play?"

Of course I do realize why comic are canned but do DC realize that just because a comic is canceled the character can go on? Even as supporting characters in another book these guys can show their potential and build up a fan base for a book in the future. Green Lantern features Jade, Obsidian, John Stewart and Donna Troy on a regular basis. Four characters who have never had their own books and are receiving more attention then established powerhouses who have the potential to become huge hits.

With all the new titles appearing wouldn't it be nice to see some of the old gang every now and again even in a couple of one-shots or a mini-series that allows us to catch up with a group of heroes who haven't been seen in a while, lets say Captain Atom, Firestorm, Fire and Booster Gold with one issue concentrating on each character featuring a common threat and then in the last two issues joining together to fight the menace that brought them all together. A lot like the Justice Society miniseries a few years back. This would allow DC to showcase many of their forgotten heroes but they would be taking less of a risk featuring four heroes in the one comic. Many heroes just pop back into the DCU without ever explaining where they have been all the time they were gone. Does everyone just assume that they were at the social security office until an opening in the JLA pops up and they are sent for an interview? What does an unemployed superhero do?

Characters who would used to be in the front line have suddenly taken a back seat. Captain Atom, former leader of Justice League Europe, Extreme Justice and Earth's superheroes during the INVASION of the Alien Alliance may now be selling pencils in a cup for all we know. DC teased me with a shot of the Captain on issue #4 of GENESIS but he failed to enter the fray. One of the most powerful of DC's characters we were told that a new Captain Atom miniseries would be heading our way last year but did the Captain turn up for work? Nope it appears that the good Captain has headed for a stay at Club Limbo.

Booster Gold and The Blue Beetle had their comics canceled close to 10 years ago now and since then have appeared in the JLA full time until the newer version came along and had a huge following from readers of the comic. For years the letter columns of the various JL comics promised a BLUE AND GOLD miniseries and several time we were told that it was on the way. What happened?? The Elongated Man got his own miniseries when he joined the JLE which helped set up the 'RED WINTER' storyline. Surely the same treatment could have been given to Blue and Gold. Will we ever see this series?

Firestorm is a character who I feel was canceled before given a fair chance. What I hear you ask his comic got up to #100 before it was canned. But ol' flamehead went through 4 changes in the last 1/4 of his run not allowing readers to connect with the character. Once you got used to him he was a different character this continued to happen over and over until people just said enough and stopped buying the comic. This was due to the writers and not the characters appeal. Now I agree that change is good for a comic every now and again but when you take a character like Firestorm who had a vibrant personality and turn him into a mindless blank slate you are just asking for trouble. With two Firestorms' out there will DC make use of this chance and bring out a new Firestorm comic with TWO main characters sharing the same title. With one of the Firestorms' roaming the universe this could be great. Will it happen?

Captain Marvel was given a miniseries in 1988 then left on the shelf for years doing nothing. Now he has an updated origin and a title of his own. If it can work for Marvel surely it can work for the others too. Marvel is a character who until his new series was released was trapped and cornered by an origin that never seemed modern. His new series shows a bright new version of his origin. If this can be achieved with a character who appeared in the 40's and 50's why not a character who is half his age?

These characters and many more are the heroes people want to see, the old favorites we grew up with and the ones who have been their all along. I am all for new and fresh titles without these we wouldn't have some of today's great comics like Preacher or Young heroes in love but every now and again seeing an old character with a new spin on it like Starman is just what the fans want. Do you have a character you miss? Well the only way that DC will know is if you tell them and who knows maybe we'll see the Blue and Gold or Captain Atom miniseries before to long.

Article by Steven Conroy

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