Jab’s Builds! (Whomp 'Em! Plumbers Don't Wear Ties! ToeJam & Earl!)

[Batgirl III]

The cold, hard, objective fact is that the Marvel Studios MCU films are absolutely swimming in profits, Scrooge McDuck style. Adjusted for inflation, the worst performing MCU flick to date, The Incredible Hulk still had a domestic gross of $170+ Million USD.

Meanwhile, Marvel Comics has been doing so poorly year after year that even mainstream press like Hollywood Reporter and Market Watch are reporting on it.

The MCU is a hit for Marvel, but they don’t publish comics that reflect that tone and style. The CW DC shows are hits for DC and their DCEU films have flopped, but they publish comics that mirror the flops.

It’s like the comic book arms of these conglomerates aren’t being run by people who actually like comic books.

[Ares]

It’s like the comic book arms of these conglomerates aren’t being run by people who actually like comic books.

Disturbingly, this literally seems to be the case.

[Ken]

It’s like the comic book arms of these conglomerates aren’t being run by people who actually like comic books.

I've gotten the feeling that not only does the WB not like comic books, I suspect that don't even like the DC properties. And have put in people who feel the same way in the top spots at DC.

[Batgirl III]

I’ve been saying for years (go ahead search my on AtomicThinkTank) that Marvel writers didn’t seem to like superheroes; these days, I think they just plain hate the medium.

[BriarThrone]

I’ve been saying for years (go ahead search my on AtomicThinkTank) that Marvel writers didn’t seem to like superheroes; these days, I think they just plain hate the medium.

That happens when you hire a bunch of people who have never read comic books to create comic books, because hiring them earns you Moral Superiority, which you then use to defend yourself from people asking why you aren't putting out good stories any more.

Way easier than hiring real comic book nerds with ideas.

[Ares]

And we're getting into the point of derailment where we need to appease Jab with a hot milf. So.

[Jabroniville]

LOL at poor Genis being almost totally ignored in favor of his short-lived sister. Poor guy just can't catch a break, in comics OR in our little community .

But yeah, Marvel & DC keep making bone-headed decisions. It seems like the writers either dislike the medium or think they're too good for it- a far cry from the golden years when it was sci-fi fans doing it, or the days when the nerds who read the first stuff were doing it (Roy Thomas, etc.). Both companies were putting out some of their best stuff when the creative teams were real students of the medium.

I don't normally mind throwing in some "never wrote comics before" people on a minor book or two, but they did it WAY too much and too frequently, and like the "Ladies Comics" push Marvel did in the '70s, they threw in unprepared people, watched the sales tank, and shrugged their shoulders and went "Gee, why didn't that work?". Except there's this weird thing where they seem to be actively trying to destroy the medium, burn the genre behind them, and then move onto the next thing to ruin. A weird "Scorched Earth" kind of a plan. Hell, they did such a bad job that the very "SJW" fans they were trying to appeal to still got bothered by it (there's no appealing to the terminally offended, honestly), so it failed to impress ANYBODY.

I dunno- they're gonna look back on this era in 10-20 years, and just shake their heads at the bust period that was created.

PS: *DROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL*... Invisible Woman...

[Jabroniville]

TRACER I (Richard Bloom)
Created By: Evan Skolnick & John Hebert
First Appearance: Deathlok Annual #2 (1993)
Role: One-Off Villain, '90s Gun Guy
PL 8 (107)
STRENGTH 2/6 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Deception 4 (+5)
Expertise (Business) 2 (+7)
Insight 3 (+4)
Perception 5 (+6)
Technology 2 (+7)

Advantages:
Equipment (Cameras & Microphones)

Powers:
"Tailor-Made Armor" (Flaws: Removable) [27]
Enhanced Strength 4 (8)
Protection 4 (4)
Flight 7 (250 mph) (14)
"Radar" Senses 3 (Radius Accurate Hearing) (3)
"Targetting Gear" Ranged Attack 4 (4)
-- (33 points)

"Equipment Array" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [14]
"Lasers" Blast 6 (Extras: Multiattack) (18) -- (23 points)

• AE: "Stun Rays" Affliction 8 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Ranged) (16)
• AE: "Plasma Rifle" Blast 8 (16)
• AE: "Gas Pellets" Sleep 6 (Extras: Area- 15ft. Cloud) (18)
• AE: "Steel Net Launchers" Snare 6 (18)
• AE: "Hacking Darts" Communication 2 (Technology) (8)

"Armor Under The Skin" Protection 2 [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Armor +6 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Lasers +8 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Plasma Rifle +8 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Gas Pellets +6 Area (+6 Affliction, DC 16)
Stun Rays +8 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Net Launchers +8 (+6 Ranged Affliction, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +2 (+8 Armor), Fortitude +4, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Killing Superhumans)- Richard believes that superhumans targetted his father, and wants to kill all of them.
Power Loss (Fighting & Defenses)- Richard requires Prep Time to fight his opponents effectively- only his present target meets the full breadth of Tracer's capabilities. He suffers penalties when fighting others.
Responsibility (Half-Hearted)- Richard ultimately doesn't want to kill anyone himself, and this holds him back... as a superhero-killer.
Relationship (Cassandra)- Richard's former therapist is also his girlfriend- she believes that "Tracer" is just him acting out his internalized aggression.

Total: Abilities: 46 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 1 / Powers: 43 / Defenses: 9 (107)

1993 saw the production of a series of Annuals in the Marvel Universe, each of which featured a brand-new character, and was packaged with a trading card featuring that character. In almost every case, these characters were horrible one-offs and almost none of them ever reappeared. Most are extremely dated to their early-1990s point of creation.

-Richard Bloom worked for his father- a kind man who allowed his company to go into debt rather than lay off the employees he felt responsible for. When his father died in the crossfire between superhumans, Richard discovered he'd been researching superhuman powers, using the information of companies like Stark International and Roxxon- blaming superhumans for his father's death, he became a one-man army against them. He became "The Tracer", a man with custom-made super-powers designed for each unique mission. Using a special team of loyal anti-super scientists, Bloom plotted to become a freelance assassin, because of course that's what you do if you want to kill super-people.

-Deathlok was chosen as his first target, and was defeated- however, Bloom was horrified to learn of Deathlok's origins as an innocent man placed in a war machine, and decided to put him out of his misery. Deathlok recovered and Bloom apologized, at least. He would reappear in a Spider-Man story, being hired by the Chameleon (in disguise, naturally) to kill Spider-Man. Spidey, in a rage over discovering his parents were robots (LONG STORY, okay?), beat the hell out of him, and eventually the truth was uncovered. Bloom turned on Chameleon, and has never reappeared since this 1994 appearance. There has since been another "Tracer"- a Spider-Man villain.

-Tracer is a guy in a suit of armor with some cybernetics beneath him that lets him interact better with his gear. It's a bit hard to say where one ends and the other begins with guys like this in terms of Cybernetics (vs) Devices (vs) Easily-Removable Devices, but it's really not important to get RICHARD BLOOM 100% correct based off of his two appearances, y'know? He shows up with different gear to each fight, and he NEVER engages without a crap-ton of Prep Time (tm), so he's a bit more dangerous than many PL 8s would otherwise be.

[Jabroniville]

Oh, neat! The Angry Video Game Nerd did a full review of Earthbound!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ5nX0FTH6Q

I see his reactions to the Final Boss Battle more or less match my own. It's almost a pity the game became kind of a lost classic, though it's so beloved online that it's hard to imagine it being a bigger deal if it was SUCCESSFUL.

[M4C8]

Genis I guess is just an untouchable character at this point- his sister Phyla had some luck with Guardians of the Galaxy, but that book soon shifted to the "Movie-Only" roster, getting rid of her entirely.

They killed Phyla-Vell off way before the films, and the event in which they did so was pointless bullshit. Curious how the writers seem to think that the queer characters are the most disposable ones. They even introduced another lesbian Quasar recently only to promptly kill that one off as part of the fucking Secret Empire nonsense.

There's a reason that this is a page on TV Tropes.

I don't believe writers think gay characters are disposable, I think they treat them the same as they do other shitty characters, it's just that because there's less of them it seems to the people that obsess over such things that they get killed off more often. It's a similar viewpoint to that which featured in the article posted about Infinity War concerning the treatment of black characters

I've always liked the original Quasar, he has the potential to be a great character similar to the original Nova (they're awesome when partnered together for kick-ass space adventures) so his recent treatment baffles me to be honest, to replace him in such a casual way and with a literal nobody felt really disrespectful and pointless.

[Yojimbo]

Genis fell victim to Peter David's penchant to write characters he doesn't like, understand, or care about.

I really dug how Busiek used Captain Marvel in Avengers Forever, but when Peter David took over the character in his solo book, it became a Rick and Marlo Jones book (where Marlo inexplicable owns a comic shop, so David could make comic shop jokes) guest-starring Genis. When David finally tried to give Genis a personality, that personality was "insane because of cosmic awareness." Dull before, dull after. David really had no handle on the character or any real interest in creating something worth reading about.

It was one of the books that taught me that Peter David is not a writer I want to give money to.

[Ares]

Genis I guess is just an untouchable character at this point- his sister Phyla had some luck with Guardians of the Galaxy, but that book soon shifted to the "Movie-Only" roster, getting rid of her entirely.

They killed Phyla-Vell off way before the films, and the event in which they did so was pointless bullshit. Curious how the writers seem to think that the queer characters are the most disposable ones. They even introduced another lesbian Quasar recently only to promptly kill that one off as part of the fucking Secret Empire nonsense.

There's a reason that this is a page on TV Tropes.

I don't believe writers think gay characters are disposable, I think they treat them the same as they do other shitty characters, it's just that because there's less of them it seems to the people that obsess over such things that they get killed off more often. It's a similar viewpoint to that which featured in the article posted about Infinity War concerning the treatment of black characters

I've always liked the original Quasar, he has the potential to be a great character similar to the original Nova (they're awesome when partnered together for kick-ass space adventures) so his recent treatment baffles me to be honest, to replace him in such a casual way and with a literal nobody felt really disrespectful and pointless.

This. At least one article was crying racism because of the people killed in Infinity war, four of them were black (Heimdall, Black Panther, Falcon and Nick Fury). Never mind that two of those characters were originally white in the source material. Never mind that we lost almost all of Asgard, along with Loki, Starlord, the Scarlet Witch, Bucky, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man and Maria Hill.

It reminds me of when someone was claiming that the Kill Bill movies were misogynist because they featured The Bride getting injured quite a bit throughout both films. It's almost like heroes get hurt or killed when they fight bad guys, regardless of their gender, race or orientation. I want to say it was Bill Burr who said (or at least was where I first heard the phrase): "So are women strong, independent and just as tough as any man, or are they delicate flowers that need extra protection from the world, because you can't be both!"

Some people seem to want it both ways. They want more female, minority and LGBT heroes in comics, film and television, but then they also want them to be "protected" somehow. They want them to be part of the action, but they don't want them to actually risk getting hurt or dying like most other comic characters. I'm sorry, but if Marvel and DC are willing to kill off Superman, Batman, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk for any length of time, and are willing to keep characters like Barry Allen, Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen dead for decades, then I'm sorry, but anyone can die and no one is safe.

And I say this as someone who has had to watch many of my favorite characters die, including Karate Kid, Iron Fist, Captain America, Barry Allen, hell, I had to watch Billy Batson get violently murdered during Flashpoint in both comic and animation form. If these characters, regardless of race, gender or orientation, are heroes, then they run the same risks as other characters. If they don't, then they aren't heroes, they're civilians that need protecting.

As for anyone being disposable, I'm pretty sure if we tallied the number of characters who have been killed off in comics at various points, hetero-white-males would win by a landslide.

[Batgirl III]

It’s the difference between a good story and a bad story that matters.

[greycrusader]

I think a major part of the issue with gay/minority/female characters (in the case of the latter two categories, mostly if they are legacies or minor/supporting cast members) is twofold; first, since nearly all the major, big-name, heavily commercialized heroes and villains are white (and mostly male, save for WW and Kara Zor-El), they are much less likely to be killed off "for real", permanently retired, or character assassinated without hope of redemption. There is likely no way, given the current comics/entertainment market, that any new characters are going to reach the pop-culture icon status of Captain America, Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, and so on. And the ONLY characters created during the era when comics spawned those kinds of big names were white, and again, largely male.There are a few exceptions, with Black Panther being one, but BP couldn't sustain a solo title until the VERY recent era, and even now is questionable.

(Yes, even with MASSIVE box office and critical success of the movie-Marvel has been just as poor as DC at capitalizing on this, as extensively discussed above; they actively seemed to take the Iron Man and Cap books 180 degrees AWAY from the films, for that matter).

So as America has become more diverse, comics have mostly stated the same; of course minority readers want to see characters who represent them to some extent-but since new characters just tend to fail, and then get re-invented or cast into limbo or killed off for real, this tends to be their fate in comics. And since there are fewer minority heroes anyway, their fans are more sensitive about it, even if in absolute terms it happens to just as many white, heterosexual third-tier characters.

Just my take on the matter, for anything its worth. All my best.

[Batgirl III]

I don’t and never will understand the idea that people cannot enjoy a character who isn’t the same ethnicity or gender as themselves.