The world's most controversial Avengers dream roster - DC fan, don't look away...

I know, I know, some of you are DC exclusive, but there are some easter eggs even for you in this post as well. In celebration of Marvel's relaunch of Avengers, I decided to reveal my current dream line-up of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

It's controversial for a number of reason. Chief among these is the fact that I have omitted these guys:
Captain America
Iron Man
Thor
Hawkeye

Some might call me a hypocrite for picking a non-classic Avengers line-up, since I’ve said that you can’t have a JLA without Supes, Bats, WW, Flash, Martian Manhunter, and a GL.

Here's my current Avengers dream roster:

Vision

My love for the synthezoid Avenger is well-known. On this roster, Vision will be the team's co-leader.

Black Panther

My pick as the other co-leader of the team: Master strategist and someone who thrives when he has to pull his team out of the fire. Where Captain America is the inspirational leader (as "we'll follow this guy to hell and back.") and Iron Man is the Charismatic leader (as in "what shellhead said really appealed to me...let's do what he says..."), the pair of Black Panther and Vision are pragmatic leaders.

Black Knight

Dane Whitman is probably the most popular under-appreciated superhero in the Marvel U. Yes, he's been an Avenger before, but the writers haven't capitalized on his awesomeness. I mean he's a scientist whose origins are locked up in Arthurian lore. That, and Black Knight genetically engineered himself a flying horse - more than once!

Spider-woman (Jessica Drew)

She's a current fan fave and pretty useful in a tight spot. Spider-woman I is actually my second favourite person to assume the identity, which brings us to my next pick...

Spider-woman (Julia Carpenter)

I knew of her before I knew of Jessica Drew, even though Jeesica is the original Spider-woman. Okay, now you realise that I've got two spider-women on my roster. Look, the characters hit different notes for me. Hey, psionic webbing is much better than Spidey's real webbing, which looks gross while it dissolves and poses a slip hazard. Spidey is going to get sued one of these days. Back to Julia: Every team needs a government operative and Spider-woman II is one of the cooler ones around (think more and less Captain Atom).

Darkhawk

Darkhawk is another underappreciated hero who fought his way onto this roster. I've always liked the character and he's always looked so menacing. Here's an extremely summarized version of his life story.

Nova

Why isn't Nova running the Marvel U? Here's a hero career summary for your conveniance. Like GL, but not. And that's a good thing. In addition, check out some snazzy Nova covers brought to us by the biggest Nova fan in the entire comics Blogosphere. By the way, Marel has just made this dude a Secret Avenger. About time, I say.

Paladin

If your name is Lissbirds, you should propose to this guy. Now. What? You mostly go for non-powered guys? Well, Paladin has superstrength and superspeed, but only slightly more than Captain America. Oh, did I mention he's detective/mercenary (weird combo, but you like weird). Paladin will flirt with any woman who moves. Any woman who moves. All comic blogger gals are mad for that type, aren't you? It gets better. He wears purple. Nuff said. Another satisfied customer of the internet's premier superhero matchmaker. No thanks needed.

Argent (of Clan Destine)

This team needs a long-lived member, but not an arrogant one like Thor. Samantha Destine is a loner and every team needs one of those as well. Then every team needs a character with family baggage. Check. And then some. Argent's also a real artisit. I dig artistic women. I think GL Kyle Rayner would dig her too. Wow. That's two in one day. The matchmaker is on fire!!!!

Intra-team relationships:

Black Knight dislikes Paladin (ever so slightly), because while team mates Paladin has been a Master cock-blocker (what with getting in the way of Black Knight hooking up with Wasp and others).

I can’t wait to see Paladin and the ladies of the team interact. Some will of course find his charm endearing while others are likely react negatively to his attentions.

Darkhawk and Nova are former teammates from The New Warriors (which was a teen superhero team that was different to the Titans in that none of its members were sidekicks. These guys built their reps on solid heroing and didn't have sidekick passports

Darkhawk and Spider-woman (Julia Carpenter) are close friends and former founding teammates of the Secret Defenders. Darkhawk has also been a reserve member of the West Coast Avengers of which Spider-woman had full membership.

Argent is a bit of an outsider here, but every team needs an outsider or at least a detached observer. In addition, her longevity gives her a unique perspective. To those of you who are anti-superteam-member-hook-up, I don’t think Argent would join the Avengers with a hook-up in mind. However, there is a built-in “hook-up that will/can never be” that I have in mind between her and Black Knight, because Dane has been burned by the magical type before in the past. Maybe I’m being a little too Elektra in my thinking with Argent’s dad being a knight and Black Knight being…well…a knight.

I’m curious to see if Argent makes any friends – she’s artistic. Is there someone she’ll be drawn to as a friend or confidant? Which Spider-woman will she like best or tolerate? My money’s on Julia Carpenter, but I could be wrong.

I'd be interested to see how Panther and Vision deal with such an unpredictable line-up. Knowing them, they could make it work.

Controversial post to follow...

Controversial...post...to...follow...in...the...next...few...days...Stay...tuned!

Young troublemakers can become explosive older troublemakers, sometimes in a good way...

Inspired by this post from The Cool Kids Table about Damage, which reminded me about Arsenal’s (Roy Harper’s) “You’re not good enough to be a hero/titan!” mentoring treatment of Damage.

Given what has happened to Roy in recent time (specifically his arm), wouldn’t it have been interesting if Damage were alive, suddenly popped up in front of Roy, pointed at his robo-arm and said, “ Haha!” (ala Nelson from the Simpsons).

[Of course, this scene could be extended to include the following: “Or that’s what I could’ve said, but I’m better than that. Remember that, old mentor. I could’ve kicked while you were down, but I chose not to…”]

Okay, I said interesting not nice or mildly appropriate.

Heck, I only mention this weird scenario, because that what I saw Damage as back in the Titans days: A young adult, ever so slightly more mature version of Nelson with the power to explode.

Compare…

This is Damage's original look:

This is Nelson:

There a few similarities. Both have explosive personalities. There’s the brown hair thing and bit about their dads not being around.

That’s seals it: DC owes Matt Groening some dough!

More DeviantArt stuff: Six different takes on the World’s Greatest Heroes...

It’s time to show the artists of DeviantArt some love. Click and enjoy!

A good line-up is featured in the artwork presented by Adamwhithers.

This piece by genesischant makes me want to say, “Those cats are cool.”

Those readers with Unlimited love, I’ll direct to this, courtesy of Apollorising. No, the ‘Unlimited love’ remark doesn’t mean that it’s slash fiction-inspired.

Laurie B give us a slightly stunned (or just a little wide-eyed) interpretation of the Justice League. Only Batman seems to be unphased by developments...as usual.

Some might say that Douglas Shuler gives the JLA more depth in this special work.

This work by DeaviantArt user JPRart is just plain beautiful, in my opinion.

The Firestorm Revelation...

Okay, here goes...I’m a Firestorm fan. In fact, Firestorm may actually have been the first in-comic-book-discovered DC hero that I found awesome.

For some inexplicable reason, I’ve only mentioned Firestorm once in passing on this blog and equally as worrisome is the fact that one of my few comics-loving offline friends had no idea I was a Firestorm fan. We’re talking about friends since the early 90s here...Strange.

Firestorm and Human Torch, dynamically drawn by Adam Kubert.

This little disclosure session was brought on by Firestorm’s...er...Ronnie’s return to the ranks of living heroes. Basically, I’ve always seen Firestorm as a hero with a lot of promise and someone who should always be on the shortlist for Justice League membership.

Speaking of which, if we ever get a JLA (the big guns) and JLI (Booster and co) co-existing on a permanent basis, Firestorm should have membership on both teams (in an “inter-team liaison” capacity).

Just bear with me out for a minute while I attempt to explain my thinking.

Some of you might rightly point out that if such a situation came about, J’onn would be the natural choice for inter-team liaison since he has history with both incarnations.

Such a point has merit, but Captain Atom will likely lead the JLI and he has never seen eye to eye with J’onn on League matters. That won’t be a smooth relationship and will likely be seen by Cap as some elitist interference from on high.

Okay, so why Firestorm? Well, it has to do with Firestorm’s new status (both Jason and Ronnie being Firestorm) and the way both are being written (so far). Since Ronnie is a frat boy-ish, brash dude now and Jason is more mature, Ronnie should take control while at JLI and Jason should take the wheel at JLA. Sure, Batman didn’t exactly make Jason feel at home when he was on the team, but at least he didn’t get one-punched. Ronnie might not be so lucky. Also, Ronnie didn’t cover himself in glory when he last followed Captain Atom’s orders. Maybe Ronnie has something to prove to Cap? Of course, I’m assuming Ronnie and Jason will be able to do the “You like it there, so you drive” thing. Big assumption.

Another thing, I liked Martin Stein as the floating head, but the Jason-Ronnie combination presents a lot of possibilities in terms of commentary. Firestorm is one of the characters that can get away with saying one thing while thinking another on a continual basis and not be thought of being disingenuous, because it’s two people in there. Add to that both Ronnie and Jason are opinionated (although in different ways) and a comic writer has got Firestorm-other-interaction gold. I mean, I get the feeling that Ronnie and Jason admire or dislike or are indifferent to different leaguers.

Of course, they have a lot of fall-out to work through before any of this could happen...

I’d like to dedicate this song to Seafire...

As mentioned before, Keane is my all-time favourite band. So, I was taken aback when my local radio station featured ‘Somewhere only we know’ (incidentally Keane’s most covered song) in their Old School, New School segment (where they compare songs by the original artists with covers done by other artists and open the phone lines to listeners).

Anyway, my first reaction (before even listening to the New School version by Laura Michelle Kelly) was “Sacrilege!” (I’d never heard the two versions played back to back before)

By the way, Miss Kelly has gotten rave reviews for her role in the production of Mary Poppins on London’s West End and that’s no mean feat. So, she's not talentless...

Anyway, judge for yourselves.

First listen to the Old School version (by Keane):



Then, listen to the New School version (by Laura Michelle Kelly):



My thoughts afterwards: I still prefer the original, but I’m biased.* I liked parts of Miss Kelly’s performance, but it sounds more like the opening number of a musical than anything else. In addition, she may have had really good musicians and arrangers working with her, but Keane consists of a lead vocalist with a very distinctive voice who’s also a great songwriter (Tom Chaplin), a genius composer/songwriter on keyboard/piano (Tim Rice-Oxley), and a talented drummer who knows how to elevate a song with his contribution (Richard Hughes).

Okay, so what does this have to do with comics or Seafire for that matter?

I just realised that considering Kelly’s musical theatre background plus my opinion of the three members of Keane, it was tantamount (at least in my eyes) to taking DC’s Trinity (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) as a collective and comparing the group with Marvel's Dazzler.

VS

Seafire, as you may or may not recall, was a commenter who really came out to defend Dazzler when I got down on her a while back nad I'd like to read seafire's blog. So, this is an attempt to say, "Seafire, dude or dudette, you defended Dazzler with such passion that I'd like to read your comics blog."

Trading Card Regrets and random thought linkages

I have a few trading card sets lying around the house and one of my big regrets is that I didn’t buy more of the DC vs. Marvel collection, because (a) they were awesome, (b) they were drawn by a variety of top-notch artists, and (c) some of those two-character images might never be seen again due to respective continuities (characters dying or being replaced).

Case in point:

Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) and Spider-woman (Julia Carpenter), as drawn by Jim Calafiori.

Speaking of Spider-woman, in a post in which I referred to the Jessica Drew version of Spider-woman, I misquoted the Great Spider-man Paradox. By the way, both Spider-women exist at the same time on the same Earth with no trouble at all and there is/was even a third Spider-woman in the Marvel U – hint, hint, DC? Cough...Blue Beetle...cough...

Anyway, I went through an old file (really a big collection of pieces of paper) and discovered the Hypothesis’ original formulation. For one thing, it’s not called the Great Spider-man Paradox, but rather The Great Spider-Hawk Exception. There are extra hawk bits that I omitted.

Here is The Great Spider-Hawk Exception:

Spider-man is a great (some say iconic) spider-themed character. Hawkman is a great (some say iconic) hawk-themed character. Once a great themed character exists, it is nearly impossible to create a similarly themed character (whether related or unrelated to the original great themed character) that works at even a minimum level. However, the vast majority of spider-themed and hawk-themed superheroes (of just about every comic book universe) work exceedingly well.

Until next time, make mine multiple heroes with the same name!