It kills me when I see old DC Comics '60s-80s memorabilia without the Martian Manhunter present, which is pretty near all of it. J'Onn J'Onzz got a little play thanks to the Super Powers Collection in the 1980s, and some random action in the '60s, but he really didn't get represented until the late '90s. I don't know about you, but nostalgia for Slobodan Milošević, Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace just hasn't quite kicked in yet. I do appreciate that art created for 70s/80s style guides has slowly started popping up on "weathered" pseudo-vintage t-shirts, but that's as fabricated as The Blair Witch Project.
Flash forward to the present, and SuperHeroHype has scans from the June 2010 Global License! Magazine featuring an ad soliciting licensors for DC Comics properties. Obviously, between current sales and a 2011 projected summer blockbuster movie, Green Lantern took the fore. More curiously, Superman and Batman played second fiddle. Downright queer is the prominence of Zatanna in the third roll, flanked by... the Manhunter from Mars?!?! What hath JLA, Justice League Unlimited and Smallville wrought? Growing up, Martian Manhunter was on the bottom tier of market recognized super-heroes, below Super Chief, Samurai and Black Vulcan, while just a smidgen above Golden Pharaoh and Cyclotron. Today, he's largely obscuring Wonder Woman!
Name brands Flash and the impressively current Aquaman are also quite visible, but things take a turn for the strange when Blue Devil and random villains start popping up. Still, it's a very attractive image, vaguely recalling numerous artists. J'Onn looks like Mike McKone's most recent style guide turnaround, but for all I know this was all one artist, referencing as needed.
My, the times they have a changed. That said, can we please get Nickelback off the radio already?
This post is full of wonderfulness.
ReplyDeleteI second giving the five cents back. It ain't worth it.
Also, can the top 3 songs by every '90s act that I've heard a minimum of 1,325 times each be replaced by federal statute with an alternative album cut? Urge to kill the DJ-- rising...
ReplyDeleteGlad to see some many old school DC heroes in the photo.
ReplyDeleteHeck Blue Devil is near the front and what look like his Superhero duds.
Neat.
And what's Barbara Gordon doing in there, too? My this is strange. And Booster Gold? Did Dan DiDio finally get my letter?! Is this DC's new Trinity?
ReplyDeleteI hope J'onn doesn't get TOO popular. I'm one of those annoying people who can't like anything trendy, and I don't want to drop one of my favorite heroes due to overexposure. Plus popularity runs the risk of mishandling by writers, IMHO.
The aughts can definitely have its nickel back. I'll trade all the music produced within the last ten years for an all-Elton John radio station any day.
Brian, the only explanation I can come up with for Blue Devil is that the DC Universe toy line just produced the best classic style figure yet. I guess it makes more sense than showing him in a t-shirt, and maybe the late 70s/early 80s restoration of late will extend to him (pleasepleaseplease.)
ReplyDeleteLiss, I started my first Martian Manhunter web site because hardly anyone online, even myself as a modern age fan, didn't know much of anything about the pre-1980 J'onn J'onzz. If you didn't grow up reading Detective Comics and/or Justice League of America before 1965, he was pretty obscure. Now I live in a world where the Atom is the niche character, and schoolchildren know the Post-Crisis Manhunter origin. Also, with education I learned that unpopularity never saved J'Onn from bad writing (quite the opposite.) I figure he's better off in that middle ground between respect and flexibility.
I like plenty enough music from the last decade. I just wish I didn't have to have an mp3 player on me to hear it.
Man this is wonderful! Maybe DC will finally get wide spread recognition.
ReplyDeleteAnd everyone seems happy. For me, what could be better than Supergirl in the center and at the top of the pyramid!
Fantastic!
1-2 rows up, as Supergirl deserves to be among the heaviest hitters. Then again, this is Kara in the belly shirt, so I guess she needs to chill with the more famous villains until she starts dressing like a proper young lady again. :)
ReplyDeletenostalgia for Slobodan Milošević, Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace just hasn't quite kicked in yet.
ReplyDeleteOh, its coming.