Monday, January 24, 2022

Can you catch lightning in a bottle twice? Well, no.

I was curious enough to order the trade, though: from 2013, Threshold #4, featuring "Small Wonder" Written by Keith Giffen, art by Phil Winslade and Matt Raney; and "A Step in the Right Wrong Direction" Written by Giffen, art by Scott Kolins.
This was another of DC's periodic attempts to relaunch some of their classic space hero stable--well, not Adam Strange, he still does okay here and there. Feel like the last time they tried this, was the 2006 Mystery in Space with Captain Comet and the Weird; but this time features the New 52 versions of Stealth from L.E.G.I.O.N, Star Hawkins, and Captain Carrot? Sort of? Here we have K-Rot, who is very very much in the Rocket Raccoon vein; a more traditional Captain would appear later in Multiversity. The other lead was Jediah Caul, a new Green Lantern.
Best guess, but I really think this might've been DC trying to recreate what Giffen had done with Annihilation: Conquest--Starlord back in 2007: take a bunch of third-string, barely remembered characters, and somehow transform them into a massive multimedia franchise. Didn't take this time! Still want to read the whole thing, though. It's got good artists, and the back-up feature was Larfleeze, with the Star Rovers!...nobody remembers the Star Rovers, Space Ranger, Tommy Tommorow! I think the last time most of them appeared in a comic was Twilight, and that was over twenty years prior! Again, DC does this sometimes, but I think it might help to get some reprints out there ahead of time, drive up some interest; and they never do.

EDIT: I did get the trade this afternoon; and hated the ending! And other parts were a little too like Giffen's own last issue of Doom Patrol, a little too meta about getting cancelled. And just about all of the characters are jerks, at best.

2 comments:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

Oh yeah, it's BEYOND obvious that DC was trying to do that. At least try to use other characters that aren't direct analogues if what you're trying to copy if you're going to go that route. Jesus...

H said...

I remember Tommy Tomorrow. Then again, I'm more into the Golden/Silver Age when he was most popular.

The Larfleeze back-up was pretty good- I followed that when it went to the maxi-series. It was Giffen and DeMatteis doing the JLI thing again but I enjoy it when they do one of those.