Captain America is HYDRA and Everything Wrong with Big Two Comics

Captain America has been revealed to be a HYDRA agent all along and doesn’t this emphasize everything wrong with superhero comics today?

When The Outhousers released the spoilers for Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 the night before its release last week, fans clamored to discredit the website citing it as “unreliable,” “the comic version of The Onion,” and “satire” in an effort to brush aside the original spoiler panel of Steve in full Captain American uniform saying, “Hail HYDRA.” Understandable, this is a huge retcon of Steve Roger’s overall character and the name of Captain America. A legacy of a name built up over 75 years — in fact, Captain America just celebrated his 75th anniversary recently — and fans feel rightly protective.

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Bernard Chang is Giving Away Original Green Lantern Corps Art

We are a couple months out from DC Comics’ soft reboot of their entire line up. One of the changes that will be coming this summer is that long time DC artist — and friend of the NOC — Bernard Chang will be shifting from Green Lantern Corps to art duties on Batman Beyond!

To celebrate the Green Lantern Corps fans and reward them for their loyalty for the last two years, Bernard will be giving away original interior art from his run on the book on Instagram!

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No 52: The New Era of DC Comics Looks Promising

Can it be? Am I actually excited about DC Comics? Again? I’ve made no bones about my aversion to the company-wide reboot of 2011, but it seems that starting this summer, DC is dropping the The New 52 branding and starting fresh with all-new books, and a diverse and wide-ranging roster of talent, including — full disclosure — several friends and alums from the SIUniverse! So maybe I’m a little biased.

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How to Get Away with Casting Amanda Waller

Last night, El Mayimbe of Latino Review broke the news that Viola Davis was in final negotiations to portray Amanda Waller in Warner Brothers’ upcoming Suicide Squad movie. Back when the cast was first announced a few weeks ago, it was reported that the studio was interested in Davis for the role of Amanda Waller — who could play a key Nick Fury-like role in the upcoming DC Cinematic Universe — but reports also had Oprah Winfrey and Octavia Spencer circling the role as well.

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Why is No One Talking about How Diverse Gotham Academy Is?

I’ve been excited for Gotham Academy since the book was first announced back in July. While the revamped Batgirl got most of the mainstream media attention, my sights were set on what I thought was one of the most interesting and out-of-the-box books in all of DC Comics. Now that it’s out, I can confidently say that I am all in on Gotham Academy!

In just 22 pages, Becky Cloonan and Brendan Fletcher have accomplished what the rest of the DC brain trust have not been able to do since the company rebooted in 2011; namely, make the DC Universe an interesting and relevant place to visit every week. It helps that Karl Kerschl’s art is gorgeous and 180 degrees from the “house style” the publisher has employed post-New 52.

The best thing about the book, though, is — interestingly — the one thing that hasn’t really been covered in all of the hype surrounding it. The cast of characters of Gotham Academy is one of the most diverse in mainstream comics.

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With Batgirl, Is DC Comics Finally Getting It Right?

I have made no bones about my dislike of the direction DC Comics has taken in the last several years. From the sameness of the “DC House Style” aesthetics to the many narrative and PR missteps along the way, the New 52 has been divisive to say the least. While I’m not a fan of the overall strategy, I will admit that it hasn’t been all terrible. Most of Scott Snyder’s Bat books, Greg Pak on the Superman booksCliff Chiang on Wonder Woman, and Bernard Chang on Green Lantern Corps were highlights, for sure1.

As a longtime DC fanboy, it’s always pained me to hop on the DC Comics bashwagon, but sometimes it was hard to root for the publisher that let this and this and this and this happen. Over the last several days, though, news of DC’s plans for the last quarter of 2014 and beyond are proving that maybe on my world,  the DC logo means hope, too.

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Capes and Quivers: Superheroes on TV

Keith (@the_real_chow) brings on Rodrigo (@rscspokenword) and ODU prof ‘Shawn to talk about superhero televisions shows, specifically the upcoming Iron Fist on Netflix and The CW’s Arrow.

As a special guest, we have Arrow costume concept illustrator Andy Poon to talk about designing the superhero look of the Arrow-verse.

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The Live Action Superhero Costume Problem

I’ve already written about how my love of G.I. Joe and Batman comics informed my entry into NOChood. But I’d be disingenuous if I continued to assert that comics are still my nerdiest obsession. Don’t get me wrong, my shelves are still filled with trade paperbacks and graphic novels, and my parents’ house is still full of longboxes that contain issues belonging to me and my brother. But when I think of what makes me a nerd, it isn’t really comics. Or video games. Or sci-fi/fantasy.

No, I’m really only a nerd for two things: live action adaptations of comic book superheroes and action figures. (And candidly, most of those action figures are based on those same live action adaptations. Movie Masters forever, yo!) The irony is that while I will always identify first as a DC fanboy, I’ve come to the realization that when it comes to my nerd vehicle of choice — the live action adaptation — “Make Mine Marvel!

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Wednesday Comics: Special Greg Pak Edition

It’s a special all-Greg Pak edition of Wednesday Comics as two — count ’em TWO! — of Greg’s Superman titles are available at your local comic shop today. Both Batman/Superman #7 and Action Comics #27 hit stores and you can see a preview of B/S at Newsarama and read a review of Action #27 at the blog Too Dangerous for a Girl.

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Jim Gordon, DC’s Next Multimedia Star

Yesterday, FOX TV announced it is developing a new DC Comics-based drama for the 2014-2015 television season. Called Gotham, the show, created by The Mentalist‘s Bruno Heller, will focus on the exploits of Detective James Gordon and his early days in the Gotham City Police Department. Since this is an origin story for Gordon, Batman and his Rogues Gallery will not feature into it — though the announcement mentions Gotham’s colorful villains, I’m not sure how you include them if this is a pre-Batman time period. While I’m always down for more TV shows based on comics, I’m actually not sure what to think about this.

At least the show already has a theme song:

I’ve long been a proponent for a television series based on one of my favorite Batman books of all time, Gotham Central. The book reads like a crime procedural and spotlights a diverse cast of characters, including Renee Montoya, Crispus Allen, Maggie Sawyer, and Josie Mac. Unfortunately, the book’s initial run did not sell very well — probably because Commissioner Gordon and Batman, though their presence is felt throughout, were not the focus of the book — and the series ended after 40 issues. And though there were rumors of a potential Gotham Central television show in the early 2000s, it never materialized. Silver lining? We got Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy instead. So the idea of a show based on the Gotham police department isn’t a new one. How they shoehorn Jim Gordon’s origin into this remains to be seen.

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Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox

Vitals: Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is an 81-minute feature-length animated movie based on the major DCU crossover event called Flashpoint, which happened two years ago and was helmed by writer Geoff Johns that resulted in a universe-wide reboot called “The New 52.” It can serve as either a stand-alone movie, or a primer for those who want a quick recap of how “The New 52” came to be without having to read all of Flashpoint in collected trades.

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