It’s a long way to go to make a simple joke.
Shortpacked! by David Willis
Toys are serious business.
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Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
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Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
Butt-Taco
Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Dresden Codak
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Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
Intrepid Girlbot
Legend of Bill
Medium Large
Not Invented Here
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Overcompensating
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Power Nap
Questionable Content
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Rob and Elliot
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Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
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Yuuuuummmy
FIRST!!!!!!!
How is it that they have not noticed each other? So many wasted opportunities to share Candies…
Taffy? Man. I. want.Taffy.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IndirectKiss
Ok, not the first to post, but definitely the first to laugh my ass off at the green lantern joke.
I don’t know is that really a Green Lantern joke? In terms of the comics that doesn’t really add up.
Or am I totally missing what might be reference to the “uproar” reaction to the GL movie trailer that they “turned him white”?
Green Lantern was white from about the 40s to the 80s. John Stewart was introduced in the 80s for reasons I don’t know because I wasn’t reading comics back then.
Anyways, it’s only like DC comics if Manly was introduced by another writer for a one time gag and another writer decides to promote him during a big storyline that will change everything forever, until they hire a new writer to win back all the fans that walked away during the last storyline.
Because DC wanted to be socially relevant. And people were complaining that Green Lantern featured every possible color for skin except black. And we all know that aliens are white guys, so the black guy had to be an Earthman.
Heck, that complaint was famously voiced within the comic.
John Stewart debuted in 1971. Hardly a child of the 80′s.
It’s a Brightest Day reference with specific impacts on Ryan Choi and Firestorm.
More like an Atom joke. Firestorm may apply as well, though I believe the current Firestorm is sometimes white and sometimes black.
Batgirl too, kinda. Where she’s gone from an Asian woman to being a blonde haired, blue eyed one.
Not that Steph Brown is a bad character, it just has unfortunate that they’ve taken the decision that Batgirl, Supergirl and Wonder Girl all look exactly the same now.
Damn, I just realized I haven’t had taffy in 5 years O_O
Is that a Green Lantern reference, or a Firestorm reference?
…OR BOTH?
At the raste they’re going it is more like an ‘Everyone in DC’ joke. Through the retcon powers of ‘Darkest Night’ they brought back a fair amount of older characters to replace their newer versions. It did not always mesh well.
And one of the complaints in several instances is that the newer version is not white, while the older version…is.
I think it’s been a decade since I tried taffy.
Also, nice.
Is the second panel supposed to be “How long has some hot chick been right next here next to me?”, or is it a typo? Just curious.
I believe it to be a humorus intentional thing added for humor. And because The Almighty Willis is perfect.
I think it’s actually meant to be ‘How long has some hot chick been right here next to me?’, though whether it’s Willis who meant to write that or Manley who meant to say that is unclear to me.
It’s tough eating taffy and talking to hot chicks at the same time.
That’s some fancy psuedo-meta humor you got there, David.
Is it just me or does Jacob reek of Walky right here?
I don’t think so, Walky isn’t gay.
The two Jacobs will then fight to the death on who gets to be in the comic.
Zing!
Something smells like taffy. Oh, it’s just me.
What are the odds neither Jake Manley nor Robin know/use the Congressional Subway that runs between the legislative office buildings and the Capitol?
Robin’s probably faster than the subway. Even if she knew about it, she’d never use it.
Then Jake is also Faster then the Subway and would not use it
I think Jake is more of a Quizno’s guy.
Um, uh…yeah…I don’t get it. Which DC character is Robin talking about? (I only read Batman books and Ratchet&Clank.)
cassandra cain got screwed over in an effort to bring babs back as batgirl, and there was such a backlash from fans of both characters we ended up with spoiler as batgirl.
Yeah, in retrospect, I think I got hung up on the “black” part and didn’t realize it meant POC in general. My bad.
As others have pointed out, there’s a laundry list of non-white legacy characters that have been replaced with white characters.
Granted, most of the characters were replaced with “classic” versions of the characters. Like Ryan Choi being replaced with that other guy who used to be the Atom.
It possible that the motivation was out of nostalgia. Fan debates will rage on anyway.
Specifically, DC has thrown a bunch of legacy heroes under a bus in favor of restoring their original characters, most of whom died or were otherwise changed so dramatically as to be unusable. A large number of these characters were non-white characters, which some fans have found troubling.
Firestorm – First restored original Ronnie Raymond version, then merged newer African-American version into him, effectively sidelining him.
The Atom – Dr. Ryan Choi, a.k.a. Atom III, is killed off brutally in a terrible mini-series after his own series is cancelled, reinstating the original silver age Atom.
Green Lantern – Subject to argument, really. Jon Stewart, while a Black Green Lantern, wasn’t the current main GL when Hal Jordan was restored to the title. All of the GLs remain active, but are no longer the stars of the show, so to speak.
Batgirl – Cassandra Cain, the half-Asian Batgirl introduced in 1999, was abused and wasted as a character for several years before being booted from the name in favor of another long-standing character, Stephanie Brown (introduced in 1992, also previously The Spoiler and the fourth Robin).
People are constantly worried about Jamie Reyes, the third Blue Beetle, for this very reason.
Truthfully, almost all of the legacy heroes DC has introduced have been sidelined or kicked from the post in favor of the Silver Age heroes returning, which is pretty lame. Wally West has been the Flash since 1988…but he was kicked to the curb for Barry Allen to return in a fairly unnecessary and uninspired stunt.
Ryan didn’t get the DIGNITY of being killed off in a mini-series. They killed him off in a ONE-SHOT.
Yeah, but while people are worried about Jamie, Ted Kord coming back would be met with a lot more joy than Hal or Barry. Ted Kord has ALWAYS been one of the most beloved B-list heroes since his JLI days. Jamie is fantastic, but Ted is one of those characters who people wouldn’t mind as much seeing, because unlike Hal and Barry, he was fun.
Shift, that’s the kind of thinking that got us Hal and Barry back. I grew up with both (especially Barry– the 1960′s Flash comics by Gardner Fox are freaking awesome!) and I was crushed when Barry died in the original Crisis. Unlike many of his fans however, I didn’t spend all my time writing hate mail to DC. He died saving the universe, it was a good end to a great character. I felt even more so about Hal’s death. Both of them were replaced with strong characters that really carried on the legacy w/o being cheap copies of their predecessors- very much in the DC tradition. After all, Barry and Hal are remakes of the golden age Flash and GL.
This resurrection crap is terrible, and its the result of 50-60 year old Editors-In-Chief who can’t let go of their @%$#^& childhoods.
Yeah, I’m looking at BOTH of you, Didio and Quesada!
To sum up: LET TED KORD STAY DEAD.
Did I say they SHOULD bring him back, Lokitsu? No I didn’t. What I said, was that if they brought him back, there would be fans who actually WANT him back. See, like you, nearly all the fans felt that Barry died appropriately, and that his story had been properly told. He died at the high point of his popularity (he still had a book that was selling well) saving the entire world, and was replaced by a strong replacement who made the Flash his own mantel.
Ted however was DC’s punching bag. For some reason, because of the comedic tones of the JLI stories, many of the characters in that series weren’t exactly respected. Ted and Booster seemed to be the ones who suffered the worst. DC then finally uses Ted in what looks to be a proper story. Fans of the old JLI are excited because it looks like one of their characters is finally going to given the proper respect that we all thought he should get… and they shoot him in the head.
I remember the outcry about this. It wasn’t that he died so much as it was that his death was purely a shock value plot point like they’ve done for EVERY major plot in DC. He didn’t die saving the world. He was the first victim of Infinite Crisis. All the big storylines these days start with a character being murdered (i.e. Sue, Ted, J’onn, Carter…)
Ted didn’t get to die at his high-point period in comics like Barry did. Its why fans are always excited for when Booster Gold comics show Ted.
This isn’t to say that Jamie isn’t a great character. I love his book in fact and am still pissed its canceled. But it still feels like Ted was just fodder and didn’t get the send of he deserved. I don’t want Ted to come back mind you. I feel dead should mean dead sometimes.
“People are constantly worried about Jamie Reyes, the third Blue Beetle, for this very reason.”
I want Ted back damn it! And I’m latinamerican.
-airfox
Hey-o!
(This is the only reason I think I can be okay with the heavy implication that Ted Kord is gone forever. Jaime’s fab, and shouldn’t get replaced.)
Psh, she should be so lucky.
LOL. Gotta love the shot at DC.
Ya know, despite my love Robin’s joke, when I think about it, I can’t honestly think of that many non-white characters who have been replaced with white characters.
Batgirl: Asian Cassandra Cain replaced by white Stephanie Brown
Atom: Asian Ryan Choi replaced by white Ray Palmer
Green Lantern: John Steward KINDA replaced by white Hal Jordan (as a JLA member)
When I think about it, hasn’t DC done more replacements of white character with non-white character?
Atom: White Ray Palmer replaced by Asian Ryan Choi
Batgirl:>/b> White Barbara Gordon replaced by Itallian Helena Bertinelli replaced by Asian Cassandra Cain
Firestorm: White Ronnie Raymond replaced by African American Jason Rusch
Green Lanter: White Hal Jordan replaced by African American John Stewart
Aqualad: White Garth replaced by African American Jackson Hyde
Question: White Vic Sage replaced by Latino & Lesbian Renee Montoya
Aquagirl: White Tula replaced by Latino Lorena Marquez
Blue Beetle White Ted Kord replaced by Latino Jaime Reyes
The Spectre: White Jim Corrigan and White Hal Jordan replaced by African American Crispus Allen
Mr. Terrific: White Terry Sloane replaced by African American Michael Holt
Possibly because there were originally a disproportionate number of white characters in comics, period, hence there are more of them around to replace?
True. I’m just wondering if there are any other ethnic group characters that have been replaced by white heroes aside from the ones three already mentioned. Robin’s line seems to imply its a pretty constant thing for DC to do.
The problem is, due to the time period that most superheroes were created, most of them are white dudes. So over the years there have been valiant attempts to create diversity by creating more female and minority characters. However, the sort of person who reads ongoing stories conceived for children into their forties is the sort of person who is resistant to change, therefore there have been strong counter-movements to revert the fictional universe to an older and (coincidentally) whiter state.
Italians aren’t white now?
They’re European White, which is different from the standard “All-American” White heroes.
And I’m not saying that in a bad way. I’m talking in the sense that originally super-hero characters were were “just american” never showing what their cultural or family origins were.
Well, it kind of has to do with this: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AffirmativeActionLegacy
Virtually all of the original heroes were white heterosexual men (with a few white heterosexual women), so later on they added minority legacy characters. But then either out of racism or nostalgia, they replaced those characters with the originals, creating a sort of retroactive white guy syndrome, which is the importance of Robin’s “who’d been there all along.” That last part is still in the process of happening, and it’s pissing some fans off. The biggest argument in favour of it is to say that nostalgia and longtime fan attachment makes the originals the best incarnations. For instance, as someone else said, having Ted Kord come back and replace Jaime Reyes wouldn’t need to carry any implications of racism because everyone loved Ted Kord, or at least everyone loved Blue Beetle/Booster Gold bromance. But the most egregious example, which DOES feature a specifically black character, was John Stewart. That one was terrible because they didn’t even kill off John or write him off convincingly, they just sidelined him and replaced him with another white guy until they could bring back the original white guy, at which point all three of the white green lanterns became main characters while John retreated into slight obscurity, popping up once per storyline. It’s annoying because HE’S RIGHT THERE! For instance, he had only a brief appearance in the main series of Blackest Night, despite being basically a GL event (although his appearance did imply a Herculean feat that went unmentioned, so perhaps it’s forgivable). Plus, a lot of 90′s kids grew up with Stewart in the animated series, so there’s maybe not the same level of nostalgia but he certainly represents more fan love than Kyle Rayner.
AAAARGH I just argued about comic books in the Shortpacked! comments! What have I become?
Its that DC is suddenly removing the new characters (some WASP, some not) and reinstating their predecessors who are ALL WASP. I would understand this more if the new characters hadn’t panned out, but most of the legacy heroes were really well written.
Oh and they’ve replaced Tim Drake with Batman’s obnoxious bratty son. That kid is on the fast track to a visit from the Joker.
Already happened. The kid knocked a ambulance with the Joker in it off a bridge wih the batmobile.
I assume you mean in the Jason-Todd Sense.
Already happened sorta, in that Damian tried to beat the shit out Joker with a Crowbar, and then Joker poisoned him with Joker Venom, and then used him and Batman as pawns in a vendetta against another villain.
He survived? Darnit!
And Shift, my apologies for jumping on you. Your reply to me was dead on and well-spoken. The whole “replacing Legacies with the dead originals” has really been a sore spot with me and I jumped to conclusions.
BTW- I liked Ted Kord too. And you’re right, he’s rarely ever been given the respect he deserves.
Mr. Terrific used to be a white guy? Dude, that is just…wow, that’s just weird.
He’s a man who enjoys his taffy.
I didn’t read all the comments on the last strip, so its possible someone already pointed it out, but thinking about Jacob Manley being the male version of Robin makes me wonder… will it turn out Jacob shows interest in Robin and then goes, “but she’ll probably be a lesbian, like every other girl I’ve ever been interested in…” …?
At least they didn’t drop a bridge on him.
Or even worse, dropping a bridget.
Well played, sir.
I’ll take a Bridgeting.
Worse? That would be hilarious!
Is Jacob gone from the comic?
Man, great green lantern joke! LOL
For the last time, he’s not Green Lantern! If he were, he’d be wearing green!
Poor Booster Gold. Then again, he’s still alive and his book outlasted Jaime’s.
Lets also not forget about Kyle Rayner, who passed off a ring to John Stewart at the end of the Brother’s Keeper arc. I hate having to explain to people that “the black guy” is not the main green lantern. Damn Justice League Unlimited makes everyone think they know something about the DCU. Falsehoods!!!
Of course he’s not the main Green Lantern!
That’s Guy Gardner.
Die.
No.
That last panel is awesome.
This comic is made of Win and Awesome.
I’m enjoying the actual stories that Geoff Johns is cranking out for DC, but it really bugs me that they felt the need to actively kill off new, interesting versions of their characters to bring back the Whitebread Brigade.
Everyone’s holding up Barry Allen as the One True Grand Iconic Character. Nobody seems to remember that they canceled his book first, because nobody was buying it, and only then did they decide to give him the Noble Sacrifice in the pages of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Barry was more interesting and heroic dashing through the pages of Crisis than he’d been in twenty years.
Hal Jordan? If all the people who spent the Kyle Decade whining for his return had actually bought his book in the first place, they’d never have had to cancel it. I’ve been a Green Lantern reader since the late ’60s, and let me tell you: if Hal’s really the “Greatest GL of All”, the Corps has a pretty low bar.
And … nobody missed Ray Palmer. Nobody even noticed when he was gone. There was just kind of a vague, undefined happiness when we didn’t have to put up with any more inch-tall sword and sorcery tales, or Suddenly a Teenager twists.
These “Iconic Characters” are more entertaining by their absence.
… and, yeah, I know Wally and Bart were also white, but they were interesting … and Wally, at least, actually sold well.
Yeah. I loved Wally’s stories. I was pissed when DC decided that SILVER AGE IS BEST BRAUUGGGHHH and brought Barry back.
I’m still so mystified by the choice to bring Barry Allen back. Because Barry died before I was born, and even two years later he’s still spent more time dead than I’ve spent alive. And I’m 21 now. When a character’s death is old enough to drink legally in the states, it’s probably best to leave ‘em dead unless you want to do something really interesting with them (like they did with Bucky over at Marvel), and from what I’ve heard, they haven’t done much of anything interesting with Barry at all. (I’ll admit I stopped reading comics very shortly after he came back, though not because of it.)
Hmmm … Hal’s title wasn’t cancelled. He just
went crazygot possessed by issue 50 and in 51 there was Kyle as a new GL.Don’t know about Barry, but it seems Flash #350 was published after CoIE started, so obviously the decision to cancel his title was made before CoIE.
I agree on Wally’s stories being better than Barry’s. I don’t blame his return on DC though, but on DiDio.
-airfox
I was a HUGE Barry Allen fan and I have to admit, his final arc (he was on trial for the murder of Reverse-Flash) was one of the most painfully boring stories ever.
At the same time btw, Superman was at an all-time low for sales and Batman was swinging between psychoses (don’t ask). Marvel was at the height of its X-Comics run (for quality at least) and independant publishers were really starting to cut into the market. Crisis was DC’s attempt to salvage market share. And it worked, mostly.
Anyone interested in a bit more backstory behind Robin’s comment about the DCU might want to check out this article Comics Alliance had on the subject a while back.
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/05/06/the-racial-politics-of-regressive-storytelling/
It’s worth noting that most of the white characters who’ve taken their names back from their successors are themselves legacy characters who aren’t the original bearers of their superhero identities.
With regards to Green Lantern, I think Hal Jordan has replaced John Stewart, though not in the comics. He seems to have taken John’s slot as the primary Green Lantern in media outside of comics. Not just the cartoon, but I think videogames and other merchandise at the time more frequently had John Stewart as Green Lantern rather than one of the causcasian GLs.
zuche wrote:
And:
I just wanted to add: WIN and WIN. You win the thread zuche! Twice.
-airfox
Thank you.
I have got to learn how you did that quoting trick, though, because that looks really cool.
It’s the blockquote tag. This blog has some sort of style applied that makes blockquotes look all fancy.
I have found the perfect drink for these two to share.
Speaking of race, did anyone notice how Batman Beyond went out of its way to make every character look totally not-generic-comics-white-guy, but as a result just about everyone was ugly as shit, including the honkeys?
I liked Batman Beyond
I love it <3
Is her last act as congressperson going to be to marry walky and joyce? that would be nice. or maybe introduce mike to some very..deserving..people
Nicely done.
Jeez, he’s like Walky in Congress!
…and, y’know, taller….
It’s slightly disturbing to see them eat taffy that’s the same color — and possibly the same consistency — as Singularkitty…