T.h.u.n.d.e.r. Agents At Dc

[johnnystorm]

DC announced today they have the rights to the T.H.U.D.E.R. Agents, and they will be appearing soon in various DC titles before spinning into their own books. I'm glad to see them back- a shame they were tied up in legal tangles for so long.




Dynamo is here, Lightning, Menthor- but why no NoMan? He's critical to the team!
Not sure who the girl is...looks like she might have wings on her back, so maybe she is a new version of the Raven flight suit?

[aquatroy]

Ugh. I love the TA, but if DC is serious about using them then they need to shipped to one of the 52 earths and not stuck in the allready over crowded DCU proper. Characters like this become cannon fodder for the next Crisis and they're deserving of much better treatment then that.

and, yes, there will be another crisis

[thunderbolt]

The girl is probably Iron Maiden. And yeah, do they have to integrate them into the DCU? They are already shoehorning the Red Circle and Milestone characters into it.

[The Toyroom]

Yeah enough already with the acquistions and having them all mix it up with the established DCU. I predict the Red Circle heroes are going to be a bust. They've been away far too long and the only people that would care about them are old-schoolers but DC isn't keeping them old-school so what's the point. The same fate seems in store for the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents I fear. And the Milestone characters aren't even a blip on my radar....

[Action Martin]

Dynamo is here, Lightning, Menthor- but why no NoMan? He's critical to the team!

From Newsarama:
"Noman and Dynamo you'll see. You'll see Lightning, Raven. Everything you love about these characters will make this book great," Dan Didio explained and teased that there was a reason Noman wasn't in the preview art.

[60'schild]

Definitely a big vintage Thunder Agents fan but I am not entirely sure how I feel integrating them into the larger DC universe.. I think I'd feel happier if they had their own Earth.

[Action Martin]

I agree with you. The Agents, Crusaders, Marvel Family, etc. should all have their own Earths. By putting them all on the same Earth as the DC proper, you take away their special uniqueness.

[johnnystorm]

The girl is probably Iron Maiden. And yeah, do they have to integrate them into the DCU? They are already shoehorning the Red Circle and Milestone characters into it.

Not sure that's Iron Maiden...the costume design seems to fall in line with the other T-Agents. And if it is "Rusty", then what a crying shame to redesign that character, and yet another reason this revamp will tank rapidly.

And I agree big-time on this sticking every line into the DC universe. It's too overcrowded as it is...but then again, after about a year the Milestone characters will disappear because no one cares about them, ditto the Red Circle stuff. Look at the big Charlton aquisition years ago...only Blue Beetle actually amounted to any type of continuing major player in the DCU, but the majority faded into oblivion once the series ran their course. They still appear, but as second or third tier heroes. They have no idea what to do with Captain Atom, Question & Judomaster were gender changed, new Blue Beetle 'nuff said, Peacemaker, Thunderbolt, Nightshade, & Son of Vulcan gone.

DC did the same with the Quality heroes, the Fawcett heroes- they buy 'em up and use them for a year, lose interest and they get relegated to a guest-shot every year or so, mostly showing up again to die in a Crisis and/or be "reborn anew". Rinse & repeat.

DiDio should work on straightening out the mess he's made of the classic DC heroes like Aquaman, Hawkman, Deadman, Wonder Woman, Legion, Teen Titans.

[The Toyroom]

Look at the big Charlton aquisition years ago...only Blue Beetle actually amounted to any type of continuing major player in the DCU, but the majority faded into oblivion once the series ran their course. They still appear, but as second or third tier heroes. They have no idea what to do with Captain Atom, Question & Judomaster were gender changed, new Blue Beetle 'nuff said, Peacemaker, Thunderbolt, Nightshade, & Son of Vulcan gone.

I think they lost the rights to Thunderbolt because Peter A. Morasi took them back....

DiDio should work on straightening out the mess he's made of the classic DC heroes like Aquaman, Hawkman, Deadman, Wonder Woman, Legion, Teen Titans.

I think at least Legion seems to be on a safe path (for now) since the Legion of 3 Worlds mini-series under the guidance of Geoff Johns. But you're right, they need to fix what they already have before they acquire new stuff.

Or better yet, just fire Dan DiDio and I betcha about 80% of your problems will go away right there....

[The Toyroom]

And I agree big-time on this sticking every line into the DC universe. It's too overcrowded as it is...but then again, after about a year the Milestone characters will disappear because no one cares about them, ditto the Red Circle stuff.

They never should have revived the Milestone characters IMO because they were never big sellers and they smell of '90s over-expansion to me. Incorporating them with the DCU proper is probably the only way people would show the smallest amount of interest this group. But even that is stretching it I think....

As far as the Red Circle heroes under the pen of JMS, I'm not too impressed. I think he's one of those guys that is hyped quite a bit but isn't worth all of the buzz he gets. I liked his take on the Squadron Supreme but he left. His Spider-Man was not impressive IMO, maybe the first couple of issues, up 'til the identity reveal to Aunt May. I was liking The Twelve but who knows if that'll ever be finished. His Thor is cool but he's leaving that book. His track record hasn't been stellar IMO. The only way I'd be interested in the Archie heroes is if DC did them as the originally were. Keep them in their own uinverse. Don't try and integrate EVERY property into the main DC Universe.
Put them on their own alternate earth. THESE are the types of characters that DESERVE an alternate earth, not the mockery of 52 "Elseworlds" earths that Grant Morrison () will be exploring eventually in Multiversity.
("The new Earth-2 is LIKE Earth-Two but it's not Earth-Two" ...What th'?)

[thunderbolt]

Charlton never did own Thunderbolt, Morisi always did own the rights. DC used him mistakenly and later had to license him from PAM.

[johnnystorm]

Charlton never did own Thunderbolt, Morisi always did own the rights. DC used him mistakenly and later had to license him from PAM.

I did know that but neglected to mention that in my rant...thank you for bringing it up. I should have said that T-Bolt was a solid character that DC evidently did not think was worth the effort in pursuing further after the series ended (which series I did indeed buy & like).

Anyone know of anything happening on T-Bolt through PAM?

[thunderbolt]

^^^ He died, and his family thinks they have a gold mine with the chracter and want too much for the rights to it. At least that's what was going on. I imagine we will eventually see an archive from Dark Horse or somewhere.

This mining the Gold and Silver ages for unused characters is an interesting trend. Dark Horse picked up the Gold Key line and have Jim Shooter producing it.

[johnnystorm]

Shame then about Thunderbolt...I always liked him, and I always liked Morisi's style- clean & uncluttered. An acquired taste, for certain.

I heard about that GK/Dark Horse thing...can't say I didn't expect it, DH has been publishing the Archive books. I always thought Russ Manning's Magnus was a great series, beautiful art. Solar was ok...Turok didn't interest me much, I thought every issue was the same. And Mighty Samson had that atrocious Sparling art so I skipped that one completely. Interesting that Space Family Robinson is nowhere to be seen...is that one screwed up with the Lost in Space rights somewhere? And under the auspices of Jim Shooter...wonder how long that will last? I give it about a year until personalities clash and Shooter goes.


I also wonder if we'll be seeing a Harvey revival from DH down the road, since they've been doing the Casper collections (but apparently they deem these unworthy of an Archive book). A new Hot Stuff comic would be great (providing they remain true to the material and don't turn it into some semi-comedic horror book).

[The Toyroom]

This mining the Gold and Silver ages for unused characters is an interesting trend. Dark Horse picked up the Gold Key line and have Jim Shooter producing it.

Wasn't this called Valiant? Seriously....2 times to the same well with the same guy in charge?