Just Girls Talking About Comic Books
"You know," Twilight Sparkle said, looking up from her study tablet at her friends, specifically at Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, "there's one thing I just don't get about all those comic books."
The other girls looked around in interest. "You read comic books?" Rainbow asked incredulously.
"Not really, but I've glanced through some," Twilight said. "I've done a ton of research on them online to find out what makes them so fascinating, and my brother has huge boxes of them up in the attic. He's always been obsessed." She adjusted her glasses. "There's a lot of things wrong with comic books, especially the way they keep having to restart every story from the beginning every ten or twenty years because they write themselves into corners." She snorted disdainfully, then continued, "but what really bothers me is how redundant and unnecessary a lot of comic book characters are."
"Redundant?!" Rainbow cried defensively. "Whaddya mean?"
"Well, look at Supergirl," Twilight pointed out. "Supergirl is just Superman in a skirt. I mean, she doesn't add anything new, she's just there. And then you've got Power Girl, who's just Supergirl with a bigger chest!"
"Yeah, butâthey've got stories!" Rainbow insisted.
"Yes, but when their stories get resolved, they're still just there, being copies of Superman. And what about War Machine?" Twilight demanded. "War Machine's just a second Iron Man with a different guy inside and more guns. Even if you count him as a sidekick, he's still just a second Iron Man with more guns! Redundant!"
"Ooh, that's a good point," Pinkie said. "Any time they're not doing an Iron Man versus War Machine thing, War Machine's pretty much useless."
"Not to mention all Iron Man's redundant suits," Twilight continued. "Some of them at least have specialized functions and equipment that make them make sense, like the Hulkbuster, but Iron Patriot? Why is that even a thing?"
"It...looks cool?" Rainbow offered uncertainly.
"What about all the different Spideys?" Sunset said, warming to the discussion. "I mean, you've got the original, then you've got the Scarlet Spider, Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Silk, Spider-Woman, and I don't even know how many others. The only one that even makes sense is Venom, because Venom's, well...Venom."
"Y'know, she's right," Pinkie said. "There's way too many Spidey knockoffs running around."
"And what about Green Arrow?" Twilight put forth. "Green Arrow is just Batman with a different gimmick and a political agenda!"
"Eh, I'll give you that one," Rainbow said sourly, cheeks puffing up. "Green Arrow sucks anyway."
"It just seems to me like for every relatively unique character comic writers come up withâlike, say, Cloak and Dagger, they're almost totally unique in their powers and dynamicâyou get five watered-down copies of Superman or Black Lightning." Twilight shrugged. "Even in the cases where they created a new character similar to one they couldn't use for legal reasons, they could've put more originality into it and not made it just 'this character but with a different name'. It's even worse with all the Spider-Man copies running around because they have them all running around together at the same time sometimes, right?" She shook her head. "I just don't see the point. It's lazy."
"Eh, they do stuff with all the Spideys," Rainbow said somewhat petulantly. "Y'know, the Spider-Verse...stuff..."
"And it's usually exactly when they start doing those things that the writers have screwed up the continuity so badly they have to reboot the entire line," Twilight said. "But every time they reboot the line, they bring back all the redundant characters because the fans expect the redundant characters, even though only the comic historians and deep nerds even know why those characters are there in the first place!" Her eyes had taken on a slightly manic sheen; she took a few deep breaths, then continued, "So you end up with a few dozen characters who have almost the exact same powers as Superman, a whole host of clones of one really popular character, or five or six sidekicks who all have different backstories and stuff but they're still in the same costume, with the same name, and have the same skills and powers."
"But they're different characters and they do that stuff different ways," Sunset pointed out. "I'm assuming you mean the Robins, right?"
"Yeah. And I'll grant that, but it's still kind of dumb to just keep making new Robins all the time. I mean, why not retire Robin and bring in a new sidekick entirely?"
"Hey, while we're on the subject," Pinkie said slowly, "it's not just heroes and sidekicks. Villains too! I mean, if you look at Flash's enemies, any foe of the Flash who isn't a speedster is just a lame copy of someone else's enemy, right? Usually Batman's."
"Good point, Pinkie," Twilight said. "But really, it's more that there are so many heroes and villains whose powers either break down to 'really good martial artist who lifts and is super smart' or 'has super strength and super speed and is invincible and can fly'. I mean, there's a lot of room for improvement on those basic power sets, but look how often they just do the same thing over and over again? Like, Starfire for example."
"Hey, don't diss Starfire! Starfire's cool."
"Starfire's an alien who can fly, has super strength, and shoots energy blasts," Twilight pointed out. "Sound familiar?"
Rainbow clamped her mouth shut.
"Look, I'm not saying all these different characters are a bad thing," Twilight said. "I mean...actually, yes, I am, because it makes comic books too complicated to get into. But I just don't get why comic book writers and artists have to keep making different versions of the same basic character type over and over again, with the only difference being name, gender, and backstory! Because once you get into all these big crossover events and the things that collapse and restart the entire universe, you end up with an army of fifty heroes with the exact same powers fighting fifty villains with the exact same powers and what's even the point of that?"
A brief silence fell.
"I...guess you have a point," Rainbow said begrudgingly. "I mean, the way you put it just now, it sounds like my problem with fighting games. You know, where you've got thirty characters to pick from and twenty of 'em are Ryu?"
"Oh god Ah hate that," Applejack grumbled. "It is so obnoxious when it's like that."
"I still think you're missing the point of all those other characters," Rainbow added defiantly, "but...I guess...if you stop to think about it, there are way too many dudes and dudettes in comics that all do the same stuff."
"Absolutely," Deadpool agreed from where he was lounging on Rainbow Dash's bed, wearing fluffy slippers shaped like turtles. "Hey, you girls wanna go see my movie?"
The girls looked at each other and shrugged...all except for Pinkie Pie. "Sure," the girls minus the pink one said.
Pinkie frowned. "Hey, wait aâ! How'd you evenâ?! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"
"Calm DOWN, Pinkie Pie," Sunset said, rolling her eyes. "It's just Deadpool."
The girls all left the room, chatting eagerly, leaving Pinkie Pie standing in the middle of the room, spluttering. Deadpool walked past her; he paused, resting a hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner.
"Hey," he said placatingly. "If it helps? What you're feeling right now is how you make everybody else feel all the time." With that, he left the room, whistling aimlessly.
Pinkie Pie let out a frustrated little whine and sat down with a haughty sniff.
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Well, that was a thing.
My best guess is that they get hacked or wrecked a lot. Or Tony just likes tinkering.
Jokeâs on you, Iâve seen both. And they were exactly the kind of batshit insanity I expected. And it was amazing.
A very sound point about the comic book creativity, but I guess as long as people are enjoying them, they don't care that much.
Also that ending.
Iâm surprised you didint make a my hero academia reference
But still I agree
To many American comic book characters have similar powers
The ending of that was PERFECT.
Iâm mildly disappointed that Pinkie wasnât thinking fast enough to accuse Deadpool of being a ripoff of Deathstroke...
No, Iâm not a Teen Titans nerd, I just saw it in a YouTube video.
Villains are one of the most important aspects of comics. JOKER IS BEST BADDIE!!!
9008536 That would have been awesome.
Just like watching the world cup and all players are good at soccer. I mean, where's the variety?
I don't read DC, but I think Duke Thomas is currently Batman's sidekick, and the current Robin is doing his own thing with Superboy? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Anyways, my actual opinion: I don't have a problem with people with similar power sets, as long as the writers remember they are writing their own characters and not the OG guys. I mean, if it's an established universe with several ways to get superpowers, it's normal that several people got power from that same source and thus got the same powers.
If Superman is a survivor of Krypton, it's easy to think there are more. And if he got his powers from exposure to our sun, then others of his biology get the same.
I'm sure there are people (not me, but there must be) who don't get all the human Green Lanters mixed up.
I loved that ending. XP
In regards to the commentary, I can agree. I have to. There's this Japanese series I really love, and it repeats a lot of powers and motifs; even if the overall stories change. It'd be rather hypocritical if I called out comic books without admitting the thing I love has the same faults.
Congratulation, Deadpool. You broke Pinkie
The fact that you added in Deadpool at the end just made this one of the greatest chapters ever, of all time.
That said I was kind of expecting you to bring up the whole SJW agenda and how it's ruining the comic industry. But this was better.
Personally I don't mind some rip-offs if they are executed right or are just interesting enough. Like X-23.
I think it's more a case of "too many chefs spoil the soup." Big-budget comic-verses like Marvel and DC can have nearly a dozen different writers at a time, and each of them wants to do their own thing, but if someone-else does something similar or mutually-exclusive with the character they want to use, they have to either come up with a Suspiciously Similar Substitute or else re-work their idea for someone with a completely different personality and powerset (three guesses which one most writers pick).
Meanwhile a smaller team who actually coordinates and focuses on making each character unique can come up with wonders such as the lava-belching grampa frog-man from Incredibles 2, or just about any super in Worm (the main character's power is to control bugs, one of the villains is an ungodly fusion of the Hulk and American Dragon Jake Long, and even the Kaiju have superpowers).
And now I can't help but think of this one mini-series where shortly after Green Arrow gets resurrected (of course,) Batman is giving him a lift, and Ollie asks about what happened to all his stuff while he was dead.
"The Arrow Cave? The Arrow-Mobile?"
"Did you ever have an original idea?"
In any case, an understandable discussion. Clowders of copycats coming together will lead to all kinds of complications. Kind of spun its wheels and never really went anywhere conclusive, but the ending was still worth it. (And now I can't help but wonder if Wade is somehow actually human Discord...)
Okay, that was funny.
That was the best ending ever
DEADPOOL!
Out of freaking nowhere
pics.me.me/spiderman-out-nowhere-http-t-co-4kngy13ek7-11412020.png
I don't fully agree with Twilight's rant, but she makes some damn good points - especially when so many of these knockoffs don't get anything that really sets them apart from the originals. I mean, Starfire and Supes share a lot of powers and have some other similarities (being idealistic extraterrestrials, among others), but they're still very different characters at anything more than a passing glance, but a lot of these characters either don't get the attention and development to differentiate them, or are treated as blatant expies.
Pinkie has met her match in randomness when it comes to Deadpool.
I can see how so many similar characters in comics can get out of hand and a little confusing, but I personally donât care about that too much. I just read whatever I have an internet in and try to have fun with each story. The more characters to read the merrier.
One word.
Genius~
At the very least with Iron Man, it's noted that he has so many suits because he feels the need to constantly improve and innovate. Pushing boundaries is just what he does, from an engineering standpoint. And given that more than a few get wrecked or otherwise become unusable, having extra suits is far from a bad idea.
They bring back the extra pointless characters not because of fan demand, but because the mother corporation wants to keep the trademarks fresh. Every superhero character is a potential revenue stream down the road.
9008594
Well Pinkie Pie (Pony Version that is) met Deadpool in a Death Battle and they, well I think I'l let YOU and everyone ELSE figure out what happened.
9008567
What's the SJW agenda?
9008666
I saw that death battle. It was hilarious. Though to be fair, that was the pony version and this was the human version.
The funniest thing about this "Hey, if you just subtract everything unique and special about a comic book character, they're just a boring copy of some other character," manifesto is that it is being delivered by an alternate-universe copy of the original Twilight Sparkle!
Yes, she does have a bit of a point in some cases, but if you reduce every comic character to just their bare power set, and ignore their varying backstories and personalities that cause them to act and react differently in similar situations, then you've abstracted away too much and undermined your own argument. You might just as well say that all people are exactly the same, because they all have a head, two arms and two legs (some exceptions notwithstanding) and therefore everybody is redundant.
To be fair, Iron Patriot was originally Norman Osborn's way to try and get good PR during a time when he was in charge of SHIELD and had access to a bunch of Tony's old suits. Heck even in the MCU Iron Patriot was the War Machine armor with a patriotic paint job done as a PR stunt. So basically Iron Patriot is a thing because of PR.
To be fair this has always technically been true...but it was only starting with Smallville and now Arrow that he's really started showing as a Batman clone, because they keep using him in place of Batman a lot of the time.
"Robin" has mostly become a legacy title for Batman's main sidekick at this point. Most of the Robins have moved on to other identities at various points. Except for Tim, who couldn't let go for some reason and goes by 'Red Robin." (And makes everyone wonder, assuming the restaurant chain exists in the DCU, if they've tried to sue/cash in yet?) Speaking of Batman, he at least took advantage of the '50 guys who are basically the same hero' thing to start his own global Batman crime-fighting organization.
9008684
Oh, the usual: not being a racist, misogynist, homophobic asshole. Some people feel really threatened when they have to see others acting like decent human beings. This usually manifests in psychologically revealing rants about "having things shoved down our throats!!!"
Hehehe that ending!! Ah thanks i needed that laugh.
9008690
True, but did you ever see this one blooper of Equestria Girls where Pony and Human Pinkie swapped places, how do we know that it was PONY Pinkie that fought against Deadpool.
9008718
So...wait, I'm confused. Are you saying comic characters acting like decent people is a bad thing, or...?
*~ Deadpooooo-oooooo-ooooool
DEADPOOL~*
Wonder what's the Rainbooms' reactions of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?
Wow the whole thing of Flashâs enemyâs being rip offs of Batmanâs villains is true, but Captain Cold>Mr. Freeze. This is a fact stated by Mr. Freeze himself. I am also shocked that you didnât mention magic Superman Shazam/Captain Marvel. Still we all should know, as other people have pointed out, that Deadpool is a ripoff of Deathstroke, but completely outclasses him when given a good comparison.
I had to rescind my upvote after reading this chapter...
Purely because I wanted to upvote it again
Very well done
9008737
No, I'm saying that there are people who feel personally threatened at the mere thought that being a decent human being might gain widespread, mainstream acceptance in the media or even â god forbid! â real life. You can usually recognise them by the way they talk about "SJWs" and their nefarious "agenda" whenever a female or a person of colour gets to be the protagonist (or somewhat significant side-character. Or any visible role at all, really) in a piece of media, be it movies, TV, games, or comics.
It's a bit upsetting for me, because I used to really like the term "Social Justice Warrior", back before it was utterly devalued. There is a real need for a term to describe the kind of people who believe themselves to be Great Warriors for Justice, because they made yet another tediously overwrought Tumblr post â while in reality they just make you facepalm and groan, "Please stop 'helping'âŚ"
9008764
Ah
Reboots happen because writers can't create compelling new characters and universes to carry a story, or corporations don't think people will buy comics that don't have familiar characters or universes. Or, more likely, both.
9008718
Ah, we used to have such grand visions, of a liberated, solidaristic humanity. Now we've settled for a few more individuals not being assholes. When did we give up on our dreams?
Deadpool at the end was just hilarious.
9008764
Iâm confused by the downvotes... it looks like people think youâre saying the agenda of âdonât be an assholeâ is a problem? When it sure doesnât look like thatâs what you meant.
Some one make a comic panel of this I want to see the look on pinkies face but in Supermans defence he can make mini clone out of his hands though star has that kiss thing but so does Superman though his makes you forget and not learn a new tounge and why can hulk see and or hear the dead? O look a kittie...
9008803
Times change and what we look for reflects those times, Extra Credits does an interesting series on how Sci-fi and Comics came to be, and there's a Film Theory on the Three Joker Theory that delves into the three main eras of Comics and gives a lot of context for how our taste in comics evolved.
Extra Sci Fi Playlist (1-6 involve a look at how Frankenstein founded Sci-fi and how the times reflected upon Mary Shelly's work, 21-25 are specifically on Pulp and Comics)
Three Jokers Theory and the Three Ages of Comics
9008511
My Hero Academia? Most people's quirks that we see don't have much in common with others. One for All doesn't count, since that's passed down from bearer to bearer, but past that? There's Todoroki's "Half-Cold Half-Hot", which combines his parents' quirks and is also similar to Dabi's flames, there's Iida's "Engine", which again, genetic since his brother has a similar quirk, and then there's Kurogiri's "Teleportation", which was similar to a quirk All For One uses. Oh, and Kirishima's "Hardening" and Tetsutetsu's "Steel". That's not too many quirks that we see that are similar to each other, out of like...dozens of named quirks. In a world where 80% of the population has super powers, there's a surprisingly large amount of diversity.
The fact that Deadpool shows up makes this chapter absolutely wonderful.
9008909
Agreed
9008511
To expect a reference to a Japanese manga series in a discussion about American comic books is not logical.
9008536
I deliberately didn't get into the "X ripped off Y from company Z" thing because then we'd be here all damn night with the way DC and Marvel keep ripping each other off...
9008803
November 8, 2016.
9008824
A significant portion of the readers on this site are EXACTLY the kind of people JtB is talking about, which is probably where the downvotes came from. And disturbing, to have that kind of people in a community for a show about the magic of friendship.
9008785
There's also the fact that if the reboot happens after about 15-20 years, then what they're doing is trying to appeal to a whole new generation with new stories that reflect how they see the world around them. Nothing wrong with that.
It would just be nice if they continued the fan-favorites for the older community, rather than just abandon them.
You know what the sad thing is?
Whenever the Big Two actually come up with something interesting/new, they don't know what to do with it after the initial "new and shiny" wears off.
I mean, Cypher. Cypher was basically walking proof that not everyone with the X-gene wins the superpower lottery. Cypher's mutation was that he could understand and speak all the languages.
Do you know what they did with him? They basically made him a willing blood-doll for a techo-organic alien. That's pretty much it before he died. Then, 30+ years after that, Selene (who is a vampire and implied to be the First Vampire) somehow rezzes him and makes him a Taskmaster knockoff with the justification of "Body language is a language and martial arts are just different dialects"
Do you know how rare True Omniglot characters are? I'm not talking "Learned all the languages", I'm talking "Throw an alien who only communicates with light pulses and musical chords at them and instantly, they will be having an incredibly detailed and intricate conversation about another race's political structure"
9008756 Well the thing is, Deadpool started off as a pale imitation of Deathstroke/Slade Wilson. And when Marvel realized he sucked because of that, they completely retooled him into a fourth wall breaking, psychopathic man child, and his popularity exploded as a result.