Then, not long after I started this almost five years ago (Jesus Christ, how have I been doing this for five years? It's a sad state of affairs that this blog qualifies as my most successful relationship), a couple of things happened: First, almost across the board, comics kind of started to suck, and it was often hard to discuss them without being overly-negative. Second, I found it was just more fun to talk about horror films and complain about people on the Metro.
But I've always tried to think of ways to write more about comics without resorting to doing regular reviews or feigning interest in the various goings-on in the comic book industry just to have something to comment on.
So I've come up with a new bit: D.C. Comics. Not DC Comics. D.C. Comics.
Washington, D.C. historically hasn't been a major hub of comic book activity. The Marvel characters almost all operate out of New York, and the DC characters mostly have their fictional cities like Gotham, Metropolis and Central City.
Sure, there have been some exceptions: Hawk and Dove went to Georgetown University. The JLA have their headquarters in Washington (although they rarely venture outside of it, and given that they have transporters, it's not like they have to take the Metro in). Wonder Woman lived here for a while.
But by and large, Washington, D.C. is just a place superheroes come to when there's a disaster to avert or to visit the president or something.
So I thought it would be fun and interesting to show the better instances where comic books and D.C. have intersected over the years. And of course, by that, I mean fun and interesting for me. I suspect most of you people who read this blog couldn't care less about comic books. But on the off-chance you also happen to find this sort of thing fun and/or interesting, well, I'm happy if you're happy.
Let's get started!
The Comic: Infinite Crisis #2 (2005)
The Set-Up: Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters (yes, this is actually the name of a superhero team) are investigating a supposed supervillain base of operations outside of Metropolis.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have occurred to them that the supervillains might actually be home. And waiting for them.
Black Adam. Sinestro. Bizarro. Deathstroke. Professor Zoom. The Justice League could have taken them. The Teen Titans would have at least put up a good fight.
The Freedom Fighters?
The next day at the Daily Planet...
Thoughts: Okay, so admittedly, almost all of the action took place in Metropolis, not D.C. In fact, the only part of Washington you can actually see here is on that TV set over Perry White's head. So maybe this wasn't the best comic to start this bit off with.
But come on, tying dead superheroes to the Washington Monument is a great villain move. And I have to admit, I do feel a certain sense of civic pride that when it came down to choosing a location to display their corpses, the Secret Society of Supervillains chose D.C., as opposed to, say, the Statue of Liberty or the Gateway Arch. This is why a good board of tourism is essential.
Effect on D.C.: Well, you have to figure the Washington Monument was probably closed for a while. I mean, it was a crime scene. And it just seems like it would have been the decent thing to do. I'm sure there was a memorial service at the monument. Maybe a plaque. But let's be honest: These weren't exactly A-list superheroes, and on top of that, they weren't even from here.
Are the fictional D.C. residents in the DC Universe sorry they're dead? Of course. Is it something that most of them dwell on? Even the ones who saw the bodies before they were cut down? Probably not. I'm sure that on every anniversary of their deaths, Jim Vance says something nice about them on the evening news, just because that seems like something Jim Vance would do. But that's probably about it.
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