Superhero comics: What insane story/character developments do avid followers take for granted but would blow the minds of anyone only peripherally aware of them?

Something something Wonder Woman something something leather jacket something something 2010.

Immediately reminded me of the '90s costume, though that was more ridiculous I guess - could be worse. The only thing that looks a little out of place is the jacket clashing with the classic top (though I think might as well have ditched that too, for these purposes). I'm kinda surprised they didn't go with a cleaner looking illustration. More bothersome is the idea that she almost has Superman's origin now (thanks JMS). Do wonder if she'll ever have curly hair again.

Holy shit, Jeph Loeb wrote Commando?!

Yes, Tuomas said that but I thought I'd repeat for emphasis.

And am I the only one who thought of he mid-90s Avengers bomber jacket costumes with the new WW costume?

Giving Wonder Woman Superman's origin story and turning Superman into Kwai Chang Caine is some straight up bullshit.

Wonder Woman has an origin?

So...Mark Waid, what's on your pull list?

blimp

Black Panther - now no longer king of Wakanda, he is now running a diner in NYC.

what part? hell's kitchen? or is he in brooklyn?

He's the new man without fear, as Daredevil has gone walkabout.

this thread's amazing

so hell's kitchen then

Yep.

http://images.brighthub.com/f5/8/f58cb81263945d7b16705b8506e3847f1265da4e_large.jpg

I still think they should have done some sort of audition for Daredevil, or maybe it's a rehabilitation program for superheroes who have done terrible things, they have to go through a year of being the most put-upon and abused hero in the MU.

Basically, I just think Cyclops would make a great Daredevil.

I know one of the things we missed in this thread; Ben Grimm died and was dead for the best part of a year iirc and was brought back to life when the other three went to Heaven and persuaded God to change his mind.

That's all grist to the mill, I suppose, but God turned out to be JACK KIRBY.

Oh, and it's revealed God has a collaborator which it's not that hard to work out is supposed to be Satan.

So the Devil is STAN LEE.

Also: one of Gwen and the Green Goblin's twins currently has his own miniseries.

?

ALF - that lovable alien from the planet Melmac who brought the comic hi-jinx to tv screens during the 80s?

He's part of the Marvel Universe.

That's not at all true.

FUN FACT: The High Evolutionary hypothesizes that the Phoenix was responsible for the destruction of Melmac.

Roy Thomas probably knows.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel_Girl

Squirrel Girl is originally from the Los Angeles, California, area. She is first seen ambushing Iron Man in a forest. She hopes to impress the veteran hero, wishing him to take her under his wing as his sidekick. The 14-year-old mutant introduces herself and her pet squirrel, Monkey Joe, and displays her abilities (all squirrel-themed).

After announcing the character's role at the 2010 Comic-con panel, Bendis described the audience's reaction citing "...it was so loud, the applause went on for so long... the place went nuts for a while". He went on to describe the applause as comparable to Stan Lee walking into the room.

i didn't know Squirrel Girl dated back that far, though she was a '00s creation

Steve Ditko is also co-creator of Squirrel-Girl, which is one of the reasons some writers like Dan Slott to point out her apparent exploits "HAVE" to be in-continuity.

canon!

Batman has a son? And he's dead?

― there's a better way to browse (Dr. Superman), Friday, September 11, 2009 3:17 PM (3 years ago)

this is true now, right?

yep

Squirrel Girl became the Avengers' nanny a few years back! Only caught the first few issues of that but it was pretty entertaining. Mainly I loved the audition issue with dozens of sad Avengers hangers-on coming out of the woodwork, including a particularly desperate D-Man.

i didn't know Squirrel Girl dated back that far, though she was a '00s creation

Originally, Squirrel Girl only appeared in that one 1990s story, which was just a 10 page story in anthology title... Still, it seems to have been kinda memorable for some folks, because the humourous tone was so different from your regular 1992 superhero comics, and because she was such an awesomely bizarre character: in her first appearance she ends up saving Iron Man and defeating Dr. Doom with only the help of her squirrels. Apparently Dan Slott was one those people who still remembered her, as he revived her for the Great Lakes Avengers mini (which by the way is a great comic that everyone should read), with her gimmick now being that she's able to defeat the biggest badass villains in the Marvel Universe (like Doom and Thanos) despite her goofy and limited powers. I guess her subsequent popularity is partly due to that gimmick, partly because Marvel doesn't have too many funny and innocent characters anymore. (I really, really, really hope no one tries to make her more "dark", like they did with Speedball.)

http://webcomicoverlook.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/glipenancejpgix7.jpg

fun developments with speedball and squirrel girl

love it

Can he see out of that helmet?

he's trying to headbutt Squirrel Girl

Started listening to the Rachel and Miles X-plain the X-Men podcast this week. It's insane story development after insane story development, the whole point pretty much being to make these more intelligible for the layman. As my own X-Men knowledge is somewhere between novice and intermediate, I'm enjoying the hell out of it.

I'm not following the X-books anymore, but I read somewhere that Wolverine is gonna "really", "actually" die this year. Did that happen already?

It's kinda funny how, whenever there's a big superhero movie around, it seems the hero of that movie is dead and/or replaced by another character in the comics. No wonder the movies haven't managed to attract new audiences for the comics, this stuff must seem incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't been reading superhero comics for years already.

no one ever really dies in comics

and yeah superhero continuity is totally incomprehensible to me these days

Yeah, I know, hence the scare quotes.

one of my favorite crazy X-Men stories is how the entire original+ team was captured by a living island

do you mean the original Giant Size X-Men #1 that introduced Wolverine and Storm to the team, or the wacky do-over with the secret team and the secret evil Summers brother

Unfamiliar with that comic, but there's an episode of Rachel and Miles that discusses it intensively.

I meant GSXM #1, forgot about the secret evil Summers brother do-over which basically is like putting frosting on frosting

I think they're teasing a huge change with Wolverine but death is a red herring?

Isn't the living island now their lawn?

It's a progeny of the living island, I think!

God bless you, X-Men; God bless you, each and every one

I thought that had been, and it turned out that he was just mortal (IN A COMPLETE COINKYDINK like he was in the film that came out just sfterwards). And dead in which book? He's got about 5, all with separate continuities.

Anyway, other current potential candidates for the thread title:

Daredevil now lives in San Fransisco (for the first time, conveniently erasing the two years in the 70s he lived there shagging Black Widow)
J Jonah Jameson is mayor of NYC
Doctor Octopus had a blistering affair with Aunt May
Doctor Octopus displaced Spider-Man from Spider-Man's brain but not before he had made him feel what it was like to shag Aunt May
Doctor Octopus was better at being Spider-Man than Peter Parker
Hank Pym and the Wasp miniaturise and crawl about in each others genitals for sexy fun times
The Human Torch was dead for a couple of years
Amy's Crack from Doctor Who destroyed Earth-4
Supergirl is now a Red Lantern, who are led by Guy Gardner (looking like he's in Mastodon)
John Constantine is in the Justice League
Jonah Hex went to the future and got his face fixed up, now he's back in the Old West and nobody believes him when he says who he is

Daredevil now lives in San Fransisco (for the first time, conveniently erasing the two years in the 70s he lived there shagging Black Widow)

I don't think that earlier time in SF was retconned away! I'll check...

Doctor Octopus displaced Spider-Man from Spider-Man's brain but not before he had made him feel what it was like to shag Aunt May

No. Please, no.