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Post by berkley on Nov 24, 2020 15:24:20 GMT -5
When were Jim Starlin's Titanians - Thanos, etc - changed into a branch of Jack Kirby's Eternals and who was the writer responsible? Was there a story or series about it or was it just mentioned in passing in somewhere or other? And how, do you think, have Marvel readers reacted to the whole idea over time? Actually, I think I already know the answer to that last question: with indifference, since Thanos is the only really popular character from the Titanians, while the Eternals have never caught on with the readership as a whole. I believe it was first established in the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, but it wasn't depicted in a comic story proper until What If? #28, one issue after Marvel Boy's Uranians were also identified as Eternals. If memory serves, the idea was Mark Gruenwald's but Roy Thomas may also have been in on it.
And while I can only speak for myself, I really liked the change. Still do.
Cei-U! I summon the transplanted family tree!
Thanks for the info, as always. What do you like about it - just the idea itself, or some specific story or stories that deal with it?
Like it or dislike it, my impression is that it hasn't made much of an impact on Thanos, by far the most prominent character - unless I've missed something, which is quite possible, since I haven't read the vast majority of whatever's been done with the Titanians or Thanos since the late 70s, and have barely heard of the Uranians.
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Roquefort Raider
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Nov 24, 2020 20:32:43 GMT -5
When were Jim Starlin's Titanians - Thanos, etc - changed into a branch of Jack Kirby's Eternals and who was the writer responsible? Was there a story or series about it or was it just mentioned in passing in somewhere or other? And how, do you think, have Marvel readers reacted to the whole idea over time? Actually, I think I already know the answer to that last question: with indifference, since Thanos is the only really popular character from the Titanians, while the Eternals have never caught on with the readership as a whole. I believe it was first established in the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, but it wasn't depicted in a comic story proper until What If? #28, one issue after Marvel Boy's Uranians were also identified as Eternals. If memory serves, the idea was Mark Gruenwald's but Roy Thomas may also have been in on it.
And while I can only speak for myself, I really liked the change. Still do.
Cei-U! I summon the transplanted family tree!
That was a beautiful retcon, in that it doesn't diminish the original stories in any way, makes for an interesting new one, and explains things that needed explaining (like how there are people living on Titan and Uranus, which we know aren't exactly proper worlds for living beings to appear on... let alone humans). That's continuity used right, as far as I'm concerned. Many years later, Peter David would do a similar thing with all the Atlantis stories from DC, in The Atlantis Chronicles (a series I really enjoyed).
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Post by berkley on Nov 24, 2020 22:43:39 GMT -5
I believe it was first established in the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, but it wasn't depicted in a comic story proper until What If? #28, one issue after Marvel Boy's Uranians were also identified as Eternals. If memory serves, the idea was Mark Gruenwald's but Roy Thomas may also have been in on it.
And while I can only speak for myself, I really liked the change. Still do.
Cei-U! I summon the transplanted family tree!
That was a beautiful retcon, in that it doesn't diminish the original stories in any way, makes for an interesting new one, and explains things that needed explaining (like how there are people living on Titan and Uranus, which we know aren't exactly proper worlds for living beings to appear on... let alone humans). That's continuity used right, as far as I'm concerned. Many years later, Peter David would do a similar thing with all the Atlantis stories from DC, in The Atlantis Chronicles (a series I really enjoyed).
Well, I would say that it waters down the original concept by mixing it up with a (vastly inferior, IMO) set of characters and ideas that have no intrinsic connection with it. It may have helped explain something about the MU's Titanians and Uranians but it did nothing for the Eternals apart from adding a lot of extraneous baggage that undermine or at least distract from the underlying themes of that concept.
It just struck me that if Gillen succeeds in making Thanos the Eternals' "big bad" it'll be kind of the mirror image of what DC's done with the New Gods: there, they've extracted Darkseid from the context of the original concept that gave rise to him and without which I would say that character is emptied of most of its significance, to make it a JLA/DCU villain. Gillen apparently wants to accomplish something like the converse: bring in an outside character, a Darkseid analogue that is a major MU/Avengers villain, and try to make it an intrinsic part of a concept that, as originally conceived, had no need of and in fact allowed no room for such a figure.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2020 7:39:37 GMT -5
I should know this, I’m embarrassed to ask.
Did the Bat-Phone, as seen in the 60s TV series, ever make the transition to the comics? I’ve probably read more Batman comics than any other hero (with the exception of Superman), but I can’t recall a red Bat-Phone in any story I’v read.
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Post by foxley on Nov 27, 2020 10:38:03 GMT -5
I should know this, I’m embarrassed to ask. Did the Bat-Phone, as seen in the 60s TV series, ever make the transition to the comics? I’ve probably read more Batman comics than any other hero (with the exception of Superman), but I can’t recall a red Bat-Phone in any story I’v read. Yes, but it was never major factor, but more of a background detail.
Here are the only cover appearances I could think of:
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Post by MDG on Nov 27, 2020 14:54:13 GMT -5
Also, wasn't the letter column called "The Hot Line" for a while?
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 27, 2020 19:30:13 GMT -5
Also, wasn't the letter column called "The Hot Line" for a while? Yup; in Detective, I believe.
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 27, 2020 20:31:06 GMT -5
Also, wasn't the letter column called "The Hot Line" for a while? Yup; in Detective, I believe. Technically, it was "Batman's Hot-Line" from Detective #328 (June '64) through #480 (November-December '78), so it both preceded and survived long after the TV show.
Cei-U! I summon the dial tone!
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Post by foxley on Nov 27, 2020 21:19:18 GMT -5
A specialized phone directly linking Commissioner Gordon to the Batcave first appeared in Detective Comics #328 (June, 1964). However, this phone was black, and not specifically given a name (I think it was referred to as 'the hot line' in later issues.) So the TV series crystallized an element that already existed in the comics.
Coincidentally, this issue also featured the 'death' of Alfred, and the first appearance of Aunt Harriet (despite the persistent myth, she was not created for the TV series).
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Post by Ozymandias on Nov 28, 2020 6:32:21 GMT -5
There was a landline going straight to Batman's hideout? Isn't that very conspicuous? I guess villains weren't really interested in exposing him.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2020 11:23:16 GMT -5
Look at the 60s Batman intro:
At 0:18 of the video, who is the villain with the green scaly head/glass dome atop his head?
And at 0:30 of the video, who is the masked man behind Catwoman?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2020 11:52:11 GMT -5
Look at the 60s Batman intro: At 0:18 of the video, who is the villain with the green scaly head/glass dome atop his head? And at 0:30 of the video, who is the masked man behind Catwoman? the villain at :18 is King Cobra. . adapted for the TV opening, from a character who appeared really once, in Batman #139
as to the guy behind Catwoman. . I assume you don't mean the one that looks like Clayface? so maybe a TV safe version of "Scarecrow" - just guessing based on the "sack" on his head.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2020 11:54:47 GMT -5
Thanks. Yes, not the Clayface lookalike, but the guy with the sack on his head.
Incidentally, there are intros/end credits that never represent a show. Two examples come to mind. Firstly, the intro of the 1982 THE INCREDIBLE HULK cartoon. That features two moments: Hulk saving Betty from a UFO, and Banner trapped in a room with the spiked walls closing in. Neither occurred in the show.
Secondly, the end credits of CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS. We see Scarlet sinking in a bog, tied up next to a venomous snake, trapped under rocks with dynamite near him, etc. As far as I know, none of those things occurred in the show.
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Post by beccabear67 on Nov 28, 2020 17:04:20 GMT -5
I was reading Captain America #401-402 and I see Demolition Man. I only know of him from the later Avengers: Forever series. Is there some reason he is wearing the original Daredevil costume? It looks like earlier he had a mask like Wolverine's too. It's okay if there is no reason for it but to make him derivative I guess.
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Nov 28, 2020 17:12:34 GMT -5
I was reading Captain America #401-402 and I see Demolition Man. I only know of him from the later Avengers: Forever series. Is there some reason he is wearing the original Daredevil costume? It looks like earlier he had a mask like Wolverine's too. It's okay if there is no reason for it but to make him derivative I guess. If memory serves, he intentionally made his costume to look like a DD/Wolverine combo because he thought their costumes looked cool. It should be mentioned he was a pro wrestler at the time who was also a big superhero fanboy.
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