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Whatever the DCU proper is I guess after Final Crisis.
Got this from Newsarama. Sorry no link...on a very slow wireless connection.
DC plans to integrate the Milestone heroes and the Archie heroes. From what I understand it won't be much of a integration as an introduction. Atleast I hope so. Don't want any major retcons just have them visit from their own timelines.
I'm a fan of both Milestone and Archie heroes. Milestone has Icon, Hardcase, STATIX while the Archie heroes have Shield, the Fly, Jaguar, Blackjack, etc.
From: Tampa | Registered: Mar 2004
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Both sets will be folded into the regular DCU from what I've read. The Archie heroes will be appearing initially in Brave & The Bold along side "regular" DCU heroes. These appearances will serves as their introduction to the DCU.
As for Milestone...Statix will be joining the Titans apparently and the others will inhabit the DCU as well. Their home city will be part of the geography along with Coast City, Keystone City, Metroplois, Gotham, etc.
-------------------- "Hey Jim! Get Mon out of the Zone!! And...when do we get Condo back?"
From: Paragon City on patrol | Registered: Jul 2003
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I like the characters, but I don't want more intermingling. It makes things more complicated, there will be another crisis to explain it all, and dilutes the characters.
From: Denver, CO | Registered: May 2004
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I hate to say it but I think DC is doing this to alleviate some of it's diversity issues. The Milestone characters are some beautifully rounded characters with major power levels that happen to be black.
The archie line brings up The Shield, a patriotic character that DC is also in short supply of.
-------------------- I take pride in my mental instability. Go! Figure
From: New Mexico | Registered: Jun 2006
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Didn't DC already have the Archie Heroes? Their Impact! line of the early 90's was pretty badly done IIRC. But still, I like the heroes.
For Milestone, its worth it for Static alone, but I remember Hardware and Icon--and those series weren't exactly stellar either. But that had more to do with the creative teams then rather than the heroes themselves IMO.
Like CJ, as long as this doesn't overcomplicate things or flood the DCU with even more never-ending streams of heroes to 'dog-pile' on the bad guy du jour. I like that the Milestone heroes are all in the city of Dakota. It sets them apart but not too far apart.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Honestly, I would prefer to see the Archie heroes in their own universe rather than part of an already crowded DCU.
Registered: Aug 2004
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Name one good musical band in the DCU? Batman could seriously use a little Bang-Shang-A-Lang
From: East Toledo | Registered: Jul 2003
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So, from sales reports, it looks like the Shield and the Web have been a bust and are on the verge of cancellation--DC is now trying to add in new things to hype them up. From the talk on this website (re: nonexistent) it appears no one here really took an interest either.
I bought some of the issues and recently caught myself up so I'll review:
- The Shield - I picked up the Shield one-shot and was unimpressed...almost causing me to skip the comic. I'm glad I didn't. The Shield has been surprisingly pretty good! For someone predisposed to say "meh" to a military-oriented superhero (been there, seen that too many times) it was going to take some effort to pull me in and not bore me, particularly if it starts getting preachy. Luckily, it has been good and I'd like to see it continue. I recently started a thread on Keith Giffen's Magog series, which started off with me on the fence (Magog appears in this initial storyline)--I think ultimately, I will cancel Magog and keep collecting the Shield, which is superior.
- Inferno back-up - the Inferno back-up in this title started off kind of dragging a bit and not really interesting me at all; however, its begun to heat up and I'm actually looking forward to it. I would never have bought Inferno if it was on its own, but as it is, it serves as a good back-up thus far.
- The Web - the Web was what I considered the best of the Red Circle one-shots by JMS. Great introduction of the concept and series and I was looking forward to it. Plus, the artwork and covers are gorgeous. Yet, its the opposite of the Shield: great one-shot, but the ongoing series is pretty bland and uninteresting. And the Web himself is a bit of cry-baby and suffers from "little rich boy syndrom" (re: rich kids deserve at least one good beating in their life, two if they complain about the first one). Interesting, Robert Kirkman and Todd McFarlane's Haunt debuted at the same time, and is very similar in the set-up of the series; its one of the rare occassions where an Image comic and a DC comic are very similar and the Image comic is a far superior product. Now, I know Matthew Sturges is coming on with #5 so I'm willing to dip back in the #5 and see what he can offer--I like House of Mystery but I'm not necessarily following him around from title to title like I would with some other writers.
- the Hangman back-up in the Web is actually really good thus far and better than the actual story its backing up. Still, its not enough to get me to buy the whole comic, so I'll likely drop the comic unless Sturges can improve the quality up front.
I'm pretty sure the back-ups for both comics are switching with #5 or #7 or something, and I don't mind that. I would mind either back-up continuing in the main story down the line. Really looking forward to Mike Avon Oeming coming on board too to revamp the Fox as well, as his type of energy could be used in these titles.
One final note--its well-known that when you license comics you lose another percentage of the profits because you have to pay the owners of the franchise. I suspect DC is losing money on these two titles. Yet, there is almsot zero promotion for them. Why even bother licensing them? What the hell is DC thinking? The same thing with the Milestone characters. Is this what they plan to do with Thunder Agents? Despite the praise I gave above to the Shield, unless DC does something to keep these titles going, this will be yet another failed revamp of these characters--going on 3 or 4 and counting.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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I think they needed to introduce these characters slowly in other titles, as part of a larger storyline perhaps. (something that would develop over years, not just an event) The sudden influx of new titles with brand "new" characters is too much, too soon and with *no demand* for it.
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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I think it had more to do with the disconnect with the past. If they had launched them the way Red Circle did in the 80's, I think there would be more excitement.
As it is, the Archie characters are just more re-invention of the wheel rather than building upon the past to create an exciting & fascinating future.
From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Jul 2003
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