Unwinnable

In 1994, DC Comics decided to clean up their numerous alternate futures and correct some continuity gaffes left in the wake of their monumental 1985 crossover event Crisis On Infinite Earths.

How did the powers that be propose to do this?  Oh, simple – kill off half their Golden Age Justice Society characters, annihilate the Green Lantern Corps and drive Silver Age Green Lantern Hal Jordan batshit insane. All of this happened in a miniseries called Zero Hour: Crisis In Time.  After this whirlwind of editorial mismanagement, DC rolled out… ZERO MONTH!

Zero Month was a pretty simple concept.  Since the DCU’s timeline had been subtly altered, every book published the month after Zero Hour # 0 (the final issue) was numbered with a 0.  The event gave writers and artists a chance to retell, tweak or clarify characters’ origins and reboot some classic characters for the 90s.

Let’s take this opportunity to look at some of the new status quo we saw in Zero Month:  (more…)

BY IAN GONZALES

Given the recent Internet buzz over Tom Hardy’s casting in Christopher Nolan’s next Batman film, I thought I’d take a look back to when Batman movie “news” wasn’t so promising. Dear Reader, let me take you back to 1997…

In 1997, the Bat Gravy Train came to a bloody, screeching halt. Joel Schumacher’s toy porn, Batman & Robin, brought the Batman film franchise to a quick, neon soaked end. It was the early days of the World Wide Web and Batman & Robin was one of the first Hollywood blockbusters to fall victim to the dial-up Internet’s never ceasing offensive line of Computer Chair Quarterbacks. Still, that same group kept championing a fifth Batman film as they tore down the fourth. Each was after their own vision of Batman, each of them sought a Batman who wasn’t there. (more…)

Cyberpunk cities stand over the crumbling dystopia we know as New York City. The word “shock” replaces the word “fuck” as society’s chosen swear word. Spider-Man, the X-Men and Doctor Doom roam the Marvel Universe.

Welcome to the year 2099 – over one hundred years in the future and the 90s still suck. (more…)

By IAN GONZALES

During the mid 1990s, superhero comics were pretty awful. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at some of them…

Spider-Man’s creative team decided to remake Multiplicity.

Aquaman lost his hand, grew a beard and threw a shirts-off party.

Superman died, came back, wore a mullet and then did the Electric Slide.

The Justice League consisted of a brooding Booster Gold, Tribal Tattoo Guy Gardner and a host of forgettable superheroes. So much for the World’s Greatest Heroes, huh?

Meanwhile, at Avengers Mansion, Iron Man was a murdering, psychopathic traitor under the influence of Kang the Conqueror while Captain America’s Super Soldier Serum was killing the Star Spangled Avenger. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were neither heroic nor mighty.

Aside from the occasional glimmer of hope, mainstream superhero comics wallowed in mediocrity. That all changed in 1997. (more…)