Saturday, September 24, 2016

Atom - Black Lightning - Firestorm - Flash television series

DC Comics Presents 15 - Atom - Wasn't a Ray Palmer fan growing up, but I did read him in team ups. Can't remember if I had this issue when I was a kid and the story does NOT ring any sort of bell...

I have been enjoying Ray's exploits on Legends of Tomorrow though - that is until I was down to watching the LAST episode of Season One when Hulu took it out of their lineup. :-( Hoping Netflix picks it (and Heroes Reborn) up.

Anyway, a good issue! Batman makes a cameo as well and Superman calls him 'chum,' then says 'chum' again later to Ray. Reminded me of Adam West.

I still remembered that the JLA satellite was 22,300 miles above the earth. I also remembered the teleportation technology and even when I was a kid I wondered how and when that was developed. Now, as an adult, I recognize it as a story element or plot device and can hand wave it just fine.



16 - Black Lightning - not one I remember reading - also, though the outside is in GREAT shape, several of the interior pages are 'bad' - not really faded, more like a bad printing job. I was able to see them okay, and I'm more concerned about having all the issues than having them in mint condition, but it's still a bit of a let down.

This was another character I don't think I ever read any stories of, so I knew nothing of his back story or anything. I did enjoy it though, and it was a good little team up. You might say it was a Black Lightning story that brought Superman in, rather than the other way around.




17 - Firestorm - WOW - another great issue! So much in this that has to do with the Flash television show...

When I was a kid, I remember Firestorm, but that's it. I didn't remember the secret identity or his powers or anything. Then when Flash Season One came on and "Ronnie Raymond" was mentioned it meant NOTHING to me. Then when they finally showed him and this 'device' that is used to help them meld into Firestorm, again it meant nothing. Now I see it's part of the design of his costume.

And of course you can't think of Flash and "Dr. Wells" without thinking of STAR Labs. This is also from the comics, and has been a part of Superman stories from way back. No Dr. Wells, not that I remember at least, but STAR Labs has always been there, so it was cool when that's where they took Barry Allen in the show.

Killer Frost was the villain in this issue, but it was NOT Caitlin Snow like in Flash. By the way, my FIRST introduction to Killer Frost was in the iPad game Injustice. I looked her up on wikipedia and found out her identity is Caitlin Snow and "ding ding."



This also brings me to another point... Being a comic book fan from an early age and being a reader, I've always compared movies and television to the source material (Stephen King, etc.) but as I've gotten older I've realized that it's a different media. Generally speaking, I enjoy books more than movies, but when it comes to comics I've developed a more open mindset.

When I was a kid, Superman The Movie with Christopher Reeve came out. It was a new telling of the Superman story. Fine. It wasn't completely true to the comic book, but I didn't care. Years later Flash come on television. The elements are there, but the back story and history, etc. are different. DIFFERENT - not 'wrong,' just a new telling. It's still Barry Allen - there's still an Iris West (though I was SHOCKED early on when they weren't together) - there's still a Captain Cold (one of my favorite villains, especially through Legends of Tomorrow) - etc.

I'm excited to see what Season Three: Flashpoint brings to the table. :-) The whole Earth 2 thing was VERY cool. Again, from the books, but not exactly. I'm sure Flashpoint won't be reproduced 100%, but that's okay! We've already seen the scene where Barry tries to 'recreate the circumstances of getting his powers,' so that's NOT needed. It leaves things WIDE OPEN though, and it's exciting!

Whew - that's enough ramble for one post... LOL




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