Returns and Revitalizations

[Tron Bonne]

I've been thinking recently about comic series and character I would like to see come back that have kind of been defunct or not used much in a good while. Got me to thinking, what series and characters would you like see return with some fresh life or take? And how would you like to see these things come back? Total reboot, simple continuation, reinvention but in normal canon, separate universe, etc.? I'm not restricting this to Marvel comics, either, or even American comics, just being very general. I mostly put it here since I know this is where the majority post. If Corp sees the need to vanquish me to the barren and lifeless Misc. Comics section, I guess that's appropriate ()

Anyway, for me, here's the stuff I would like to see:

Angel Love: A relatively unknown series that DC published in the 1980s (don't even think it's been released in trades). The story is oft told, but a good one for telling oft. A young, good natured girl getting overwhelmed in big city life. It's a great premise, and probably wouldn't need a huge amount of updating (outside some of the lingo and such). It could either be a complete reimagining, or it could start off from the end of the original maxi. I would prefer the former, just to kind of see a modern take on it. Getting exposed to things she wouldn't have much in her sheltered small town life like drugs, alternative sexual habits/lifestyles, more diversity, more crime etc. I could see it being a light-hearted Vertigo series that keeps the general humor the original series had, and retain some of the somewhat cartoon-ish look, though maybe not full out Archie feel.

Wonder Woman's Golden and Silver Age Rogues: The possibilities are endless here. A lot of the gal's rogues from that time period were totally discarded in Post-Crisis and either haven't been seen at all, or had a brief and pale representation. I think it's partly contributed to her state in some ways (they say a hero is defined by their rogue gallery after all), and modernized versions of these would be a bunch of deprived freaks and weirdos on par with some of Batman's rogues.

Sailor Moon: A tough one. I want to the series back pretty deeply, but I'm unsure how to go about reintroducing it. I guess it wouldn't be all that bad to just start up again, but after so long of that formula, it seems like a shame to really just do that again. Needs something a little more fresh, but I wouldn't want to see a full reboot and throw all that history out, though it may be the only option. Perhaps an alternate universe type of situation would be a better. Not sure why, but for some reason I'm envisioning an Umbrella Academy-esque take on the characters and their world. And, though it's totally and completely a fanwanking idea, Amy Reeder doing the art would be the greatest thing ever

Tomorrow Woman: I want this. I don't care how (ongoing, back-up, team position, whatever), but I want to see this character. Never have I been as captivated by a character with such few appearances. She returned in the weekly Trinity series apparently, but has never been seen since.

Swamp Thing: Yeah, I don't know if the magic caught from the '80s stories with Moore and Veitch will ever truly be captured again, but I have grown very attached to the character and hate to see ST fall into limbo like it has.

 

[imdaly]

- Shriek from Spider-Man.
- Ben Reilly's supporting cast (Jessica, The Daily Grind Crew, etc)

 

[runawayboulder]

Sleepwalker

 

[runawayboulder]

- Shriek from Spider-Man.

She's the new Carnage

 

[kguillou]

Yeah whatever happened to Ben's supporting cast anyway? There were some good characters there.

Personally, i would love to see that Kryptonian kid return to the Superman books. Obviously DC doesnt want Supes to be a daddy but i thought those stories were great.

 

[imdaly]

She's the new Carnage

Are you serious?? I haven't read that yet!

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Ben's supporting cast was on par with Peter's. Sure, his boss was a little nicer but her son sure made up for that. Plus they had untapped potential with Desiree Winthrop when they casually hinted that she might have some psychic powers (See: Sensational's SWARM arc). Plus I'd've liked to seen some conflict between Elizabeth Tyne and Jessica Carradine.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Young Justice: A reimagining of the fan favorite series with Damian Wayne, Irey West, and Chris Kent, a homage to the original founding members of Young Justice. If Lian Harper were still alive, I'd include her

But just imagine the amounts of awesomeness that would result with the clashing of personalities between Damian, Irey, and Chris.

Justice League Elite/Outsiders: Yeah, the Outsiders are still around, but I think it's time to retool them away from Dan DiDio's horrible direction and take a direction that is exactly like the Justice League Elite's. They do the missions that the Justice League cannot. Under the control of the Justice League with Batman giving them missions Black Lightning, Geo-Force, Katana, Looker, Sister Superior, Metamorpho, Manitou Dawn, and Dr. Light conduct missions to bring those to justice that others cannot.

 

[venom892]

She's the new Carnage

Wouldn't her powers hurt the symboite?

 

[Union Jack]

i must be one of the few to want to see the sentry again..i thought he had loads of potential to be a great hero,have him at thor levels powers but not stupidly overkill and no bloody void or manic depression.

i'd also like to see ben reilly return if just for a story arc...i loved scarlet spider and thought it was great pete having a "brother".

i'd also like to see more union jack and more cap britain and mi13.

 

[runawayboulder]

Wouldn't her powers hurt the symboite?

They haven't gotten into that yet. Issue 1 ended with her about to be exposed to the symbiote. She can shoot sonic energy from her hands and surround herself with a sonic shield so that could come in handy after she becomes Carnage. She can protect herself with the one thing that could kill her, so if someone shot her with a sonic blast it would be negated.

The 1st issue is kinda fuzzy to me, I gotta look it up.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The android Hourman, a great Aquaman series, a great Martian Manhunter series, and Batgirl being normal again. Those are the things I most want to see. They're all DC, but whatever.

 

[runawayboulder]

Ok, so the issue basically consists of Tony at some medical expo demonstration at the start with a guy Michael Hall showing off some new tech. Tony thinks the guy is playing out of his league and asks Pepper to dig for some info.

He changes to IM and comes across the doppelganger from Infinity War chasing down a van (containing Shriek) saying "motthtar" or "mother". Tony calls Spidey and they intercept the creature. Spidey recounts the events of Maximum Carnage to Tony (who should have been aware of the doppelganger, since Tony was around during Infinity War and not dead......bad job by Wells there....).

Two guys called Royal Blue and Fire Brick show up sporting the same tech as Hall was showing off earlier and kill the creature (I actually kinda felt bad for the poor bugger) and some woman riding in the truck.

The truck escapes and Shriek is shown inside as a prisoner with the symbiote. It was a good issue and sold pretty high, #25 on the top 100 I believe.

 

[Phaedrus45]

*As it's been said, Sleepwalker. (Although, he is just SO early 90's.)

*Tomb of Dracula (which can be done easily, spinning off from Curse Of The Mutants)

*Camelot 3000 - (Wasn't this the first Maxi Series even done? I LOVED this book when it came out, and it still holds up decently.)

*OH! Dang, what's the name of that awesome book from the 80's? Here! Strikeforce: Morituri. If you haven't gotten your hands on this title, you should really do yourself a favor and check it out. Awesome book.

*Rom!!! Why can't Marvel get their hands on some of these old licenses. Dynamite puts out all this crap, and you'd think Marvel could afford whatever kind of price they are paying. (And, it would fit so nicely into their new Cosmic line of books.)

*Micronauts - With Hulk, old fans are only getting the slightest taste of how great this comic used to be. Too bad they screwed things up by cancelling the first series and putting out another that went in another weird direction.

*DC tried this book again, and I never got a chance to read it..even though I own it..but, I loved Night Force from back in the 80's. It would fit nicely into the Vertigo line of books.

*Marvel put out a line of books in the 90's that were a great idea...but, didn't catch on with readers. They were large reprint books called Megazines, and there were two main ones. One was Spider-Man Megazine, and did reprints from the various moments in Spidey's past. You'd get, like, four or five good reprints per issue. Also, they had Marvel Superheroes Megazine (I think that was the name), and they'd reprint some classic issues from various books, like Byrne's Fantastic Four run. (Also, there were a couple special books, like Elektra Megazine, reprinting her classic stories from Daredevil by Frank Miller.) Best of all, they were reasonably priced...and, all the reprints were great classics.

*What If? - I know..they put this out...but, I want it Monthly (or, like in the 80's, Bi-Monthly)...AND, I want it to be a double-sized story, again like they used to have in the 80's. (The first volume was so much better than the second volume.)

*Epic! We almost got this title back, but Marvel screwed up with a bad launch. (Wasn't the book, Trouble, part of the line?) Marvel has Icon now; but, they need something like DC's Vertigo line.

*For that matter, I miss the old Marvel Graphic Novel specials we used to get in the 80's and early 90's. And, I don't want crap. How many of you remember The Death Of Captain Marvel when it first came out? For that matter, we even got such great follow-ups, like X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills (one of the GREATEST X-Men stories EVER told) and New Mutants. I have been able to get many of these classic books; but, they are so hard to find. Great books! (Heck, I even loved Dreadstar back in the day, and it began with the Marvel Graphic Novel.)

*I want the big company crossover, like we have had in the past between DC and Marvel. Going back to the 80's again, one of my favorites we Teen Titans and the X-Men. What a good book that was! (Heck, how good both teams were back then, too! Today's product just can't compare to what we used to have.) Sadly, many crossovers today suck eggs! I mainly blame that on so many bad Image/Marvel crossovers that lack any imagination. (Image with ANY other company usually was bad. Let's never forget how awful Image/Valiant's crossover was.)

*Which makes me remember one of the biggest returns I'd want...maybe more than ALL OTHERS! Malibu Comics!!! I want Prime! Rune!!! Exiles (the original!)!!!! I loved this line of books, and I'm still peeved at Marvel for ruining some great characters by burying them for life.

 

[Shawkur]

I want a team book for all the horror characters, like the Midnight Sons but in a single book with all the heaviest hitters of that genre (GR, Blade, Morbius, Werewolf by Night, Hellstorm or Satana, ect.) and a fresh start without bogging it down in past history. The could kick-start it with a crossover like they've been doing with cosmic characters the last few years but then they should pare it down to the team book and maybe a new Dr. Strange book.

 

[sandwraith]

The New Warriors. SERIOUSLY.

And not the ersatz Warriors we've been getting. The line-up for a decent team is there: Robbie's back to being Speedball albeit a lot more seasoned, Nova's easily the Thor-Ares of the team (if any writer could see that), Namorita's back for some hot Atlantean muscle, we've got a Night Thrasher (though a little unproven in my eyes), we've got Rage and if people started taking Firestar a little more seriously, she could be a strong female lead for the team.

Honestly, I'm sick of the whole AVENGERS tag to sell team books. The New Warriors were a great team with characters who should never have even considered comparing themselves to the Avengers cause fact is, if they got their **** together, they easily match them pound for pound. Its like comparing the Yankees to the Tigers.

Anyway, that said, I think Justice should NOT be a Warrior any longer. His Avenger-worship was starting to really piss me off. And I thought he was changing his ways in Initiative with Counter-Force.

 

[Nave 'Torment']

Some very good suggestions around here. I remember Marvel's Epic! , especially back in the '03 when they were open to submissions! No clue what became of that, I would certainly want that to return as some of the amateur comics they welcomed was outstanding.

For revivals, I miss reading Catwoman or even some of Superman's secondary titles like Superman's Pal or a full fledged, revived Adventures of Superboy/Smallville. With the current continuity offered by Geoff Johns I don't see how that isn't possible. Sort of like a Legends of the Dark Knight for the Man of Steel.

Since we're talking returns and not original introductions, some of the old Golden Age stuff could be drastically revitalised now such as The Invaders or the GA Justice Society. I miss those retro-look-backs.

Nice thread Tron, will probably be compelled to return to this

 

[runawayboulder]

BRING BACK BUCKY AS CAP!!!!!

 

[JewishHobbit]

1) Scarlet Spider

I'd like to see an ongoing where Ben is revealed as alive and the one who died was a clone switched by Norman. I'm thinking something along the lines of his being angry and goes it alone again and slowly build up his relationship as Peter's brother again. He'd go after Norman for a while and eventually continue or tie up plotlines from the Clone Saga, such as Baby May.

I'd also like it if something happened where he's the only one who remembers Pre-OMD continuity and seeing how he deals with that... but Marvel wouldn't touch that with a ten foot stick.

2) New Warriors

A REAL New Warriors relaunch!! I'm thinking Darkhawk finds his way back to Earth and informs Justice and Speedball of Nova's death. Speedball's been in a similar situation being trapped in another realm for a long period of time so he's determined to find Nova so Justice, Speedball, and Darkhawk recruit Night Thrasher (Bandit), Rage, and Firestar and they eventually find Nova and free him (facing Thanos or something) and the team is restarted with those people: Nova, Justice, Speedball, Firestar, Night Thrasher II, Rage, and Darkhawk. They can deal with the Darkhawk plots of the Raptors and his being wanted there as well.

2) Immortal Iron Fist

I don't have any plots in mind but I just want another ongoing!!! Mix in more of his Immortal Weapons and Mystical Cities plots, throw in his new sidekick Power Man as back up, imbed them into the Marvel Universe a bit more... I'd love it!

 

[BlackSymbiote]

The Ultraverse, nuff said.

 

[Dread]

A few comments:

- When last seen, Nova left Chris Powell/Darkhawk in the care of Dr. Necker at Project PEGASUS after he was injured battling an invader from the Cancerverse, including "Dark Quasar". So, technically, he is already on earth. The time-lost Namorita - literally yanked from a place beyond the rules of time/space by Nova, is mourning his loss with his brother.

- ROM was licensed from Parker Brothers, which is owned by Hasbro, which sells toys in competition with Marvel and would never agree to allow them to reprint or make new ROM comics even if Marvel offered 700 trillion dollars. That's just how companies operate; not only must I win, someone else must lose and if they don't lose I won't make anything easier for them. Marvel finds creative ways around writing ROM; part of me imagines they might change his name/design like they did with Fu Manchu in SECRET AVENGERS.

- Not touching Scarlet Spider with a ten foot pole.

I suppose if I was to offer a "revitalization", it would be for Moon Knight. No, I don't want him going crazier. He has some mental stability issues and that's fine. But while many writers dislike the whole Khonshu thing, I see it as a wealth of potential. Specter isn't crazy because he thinks he talks to an ancient Egyptian god; he's crazy because an ancient Egyptian god actually talks to him, and revives him from the dead, and heals his wounds, and gives him super-strength on occasion, and flat out possesses him on extreme occasions. I thought it was an interesting angle with Khonshu tempting Marc to be more violent and hardcore and Marc sometimes obliging and sometimes resisting - although there were times when both angles were done too bluntly or stupidly. Well, if Khonshu has a mortal avatar, then so do the rest of the other Egyptian gods - if the Norse and Greek gods can't stop meddling, why not the Egyptians? Seth already has been a major player in the Marvel Universe, but what about the other gods? Have them all have some mortal avatar somewhere, or searching for one. Maybe some of them are allies and some aren't, and some embrace it and others are crazier than Marc at his worst because of it.

Furthermore, I see Moon Knight as a pulp hero - akin to the Shadow or the Phantom, rather than Batman Lite. I actually LIKED the idea of his strength "waxing and waning with the phases of the moon". Why? So many super heroes have their power levels go up and down for no logical reason besides a writer's execution and a sense of drama. One day Spider-Man can lift a building to save his aunt and the next he's TKO'd by a metal comma. Well, Moon Knight had a perfectly good explanation as to why one day he could throw a motorcycle or snap chains and another he's no stronger than anyone else - the moon phases. I think this would better connect Specter to that pulp angle as well as allow him to fight a better range of opponents.

Pulp heroes fight pulp threats. While I certainly don't mind gritty stories against mobsters or gang members, or duels with other hero's super villains (usually Spidey's), I do think there is a lot of room for experimentation for MK's gallery. He could be fighting some of the **** that Hellboy fights, or you could take some forgotten villains from his past like Commadore Planet or Conquer-Lord and really go bat **** insane with them, spruce them up or whatever. In Marvel, you have types like Blade or Man-Thing or Ghost Rider who tend to fight monsters and supernatural stuff more often than criminals or super-villains. And then you have super heroes who usually fight criminals or super villains more often than supernatural stuff like demons or whatever; even if they do both. Moon Knight's gotta be the guy who has a foot in both worlds. One day he's fighting pirates off the coast of Somalia or some mobsters in midtown and the next he's fighting Sobek's crocodile themed avatar in a third world backdrop. His cast needs to grow past Frenchie and Marlene and some of those other avatars could help. Not make them Moon Knight Lites, but their own versions of whatever Egyptian god sponsored them.

Maybe I'm just brainstorming some silliness. But I think Brubaker & Fraction really cracked the walnut behind what was holding Danny Rand back with their IMMORTAL IRON FIST run, and I think if a writer embraced Moon Knight's pulp elements instead of fled from them, Specter might find a better niche then "Daredevil with a Cape/Batman only Crazy".

 

[Tron Bonne]

I had actually forgotten about this thread

Swamp Thing: Yeah, I don't know if the magic caught from the '80s stories with Moore and Veitch will ever truly be captured again, but I have grown very attached to the character and hate to see ST fall into limbo like it has.

Guess I'm kind of getting my wish here in a way with ST's return via BD. My feelings are mixed, though, because I don't have any real interest in the event. Maybe we'll still get a decent ongoing with the character, though.

 

[PaleRider]

The shadowpact. I loved this team, wish DC would use them more.

 

[JewishHobbit]

- When last seen, Nova left Chris Powell/Darkhawk in the care of Dr. Necker at Project PEGASUS after he was injured battling an invader from the Cancerverse, including "Dark Quasar". So, technically, he is already on earth. The time-lost Namorita - literally yanked from a place beyond the rules of time/space by Nova, is mourning his loss with his brother.

Wow, I'd forgotten about Namorita and Robbie. Namorita returning with Darkhawk would be a great fit, though I feel the team is getting too big at that point.

Darkhawk
Namorita
Night Thrasher II
Justice
Firestar
Speedball
Rage
Nova (once rescued)

Then again, I guess that pretty much IS the New Warriors cast, Darkhawk taking Turbo's spot.

 

[Roughneck]

Strikeforce Morituri