Yes, that's right, Superboy Has Two Daddies.

Y'know, I've read that in this thread. Several times in fact. I must've suppressed the memory.

User experience research is interesting, goddammit! I have spent good hours on the "why do people click on 'home' on the home page" question!

Also, Harvey Birdman did a great, great riff on how Black Lightning* originally just wanted to be called Vulcan, but he ended up being tokenized by The Man. Eventually he became part of a new superhero group called the Multicultural Pals, including The Faygeleh and The Reverend Jesse Jackson, among others. God, I love Birdman.

• I think they used a slightly different name -- whatever the character was known as on "The Superfriends"

Black Vulcan.

t edited to include link

Okay, uh, so. Now I seem to be addicted to The Authority in addition to all things Bat. I think I fell in love at:

Midnighter: "Hello."
Jack: "Welcome to Los Angeles."
Midnighter: "We're here to hit you."

The Authority was sooo good for its Warren Ellis/Bryan Hitch run, when reading each arc was like watching a kickass movie.

I know Millar is comics' golden boy at the moment, but every book I read from him has the vibe of a surly teenager misbehaving to get attention.

Congrats Plei, you hooked me on The Outsiders. I just went and bought the last 3 issues, and will be adding it to my file.

I know Millar is comics' golden boy at the moment, but every book I read from him has the vibe of a surly teenager misbehaving to get attention.

The Ultimates, Vol. II was like a gigantic superhero action movie in comic-book form. It was great. And comparing the Hulk to a nuke? Ha!

The Authority was sooo good for its Warren Ellis/Bryan Hitch run, when reading each arc was like watching a kickass movie.

I've only read the first two volumes, so I still have some of that sooo good left, thank goodness.

Congrats Plei, you hooked me on The Outsiders. I just went and bought the last 3 issues, and will be adding it to my file.

Victor's like, an addict grandsire who knows how many times over now.

Outsiders = raar.

The Ultimates, Vol. II was like a gigantic superhero action movie in comic-book form. It was great.

Polter-Cow, I *just* read that. And, well... I don't know. I have a whole rant about how the Ultimates don't work.

I think the reason I don't like the Ultimates, or much of current Marvel, is that they spend too much time skewering old-fashioned Golden Age heroic stereotypes by making all the characters incredibly dysfunctional and messed-up, and not enough time making them, you know, sympathetic or even heroic. The Ultimates are just kind of annoying as people, and reading Vol. II I wondered why they even became superheroes in the first place. They seem so enmeshed in their own problems that the fact that they're supposed to have dedicated their lives to protecting humanity has become secondary.

Maybe I'm missing the point, or misreading it. But what I thought they were trying to do was cast the Avengers-- and superherodom in general-- in a new light by exposing their flaws, and they kind of missed the mark. They wanted a superhero team that's just as petty and bicker-y and has as many problems as any other group of people, right? But, you know, they're superheroes. Making Captain America into, basically, a bully, and Hank Pym an asshole, and Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch into bored, bratty Eurotrash-- it made me wonder what these people are even doing being superheroes in the first place, when they abuse their powers this much.

Is it just me? I mean, aren't these people supposed to have a higher calling? At least the DC crowd has the courtesy to repress their massive psychological problems, so they stay bottled up where they belong and mostly don't interfere with fighting crime.

Oh my god, I'm geeky. And pedantic. What have you people done to me?

Technically, Holli, Ultimates is a reboot, seperate from the rest of Marvel.

Shrift, you have read the first two collections of Authority? That is all the Warren Ellis stuff. The next two collections are Mark Millar, with a rotating cast of artists. Some issues are brill, others less so.

Stay away from the current incarnation of Authority.