So I was excited when Max Carnage and I stopped into our local comic shop, seeing that DK2 Issue three was out. So I grabbed it. I had kind of enjoyed the first two issues, they were odd, but had a charm about them. I figured the whole thing would wrap up well in the third issue. Well, it blows. At least I think so.
Not sure what happened to Miller, but this thing is terrible. I’m still not sure what the heck the storyline is. Oh well.
What a putrid piece of putrescence.
Me no like.
It was able to both blow and suck at the same time!
< SPOILER WARNING >
ROBIN was the character that was acting like the Composite-Superman? WHY? Why was he running around in all those Legion costumes? If Braniac and Luthor were holding Kandor hostage, why didn’t Superman just fly at lightspeed and grab th’ damned bottle? Why was Plastic Man “the most powerful character ever”(paraphrased)? Why was Batman portrayed as an ineffectual asshole and Superman as an ineffectual moron?
Why am I wondering about this piece of shit?
Fenris, pissed to have wasted however much money this cost.
I was stunned by how awful this was. Stunned. It read like something a thirteen-year-old would write.
And what was the deal with the Question? Was he just around in that one issue or does he come back. He was always one of my favorite characters.
I haven’t picked up #3 yet so clue me in!
The comes back and was written as a Republican, which Ditko would have hated as much as he would have hated O’Neill’s zen, leftie treatment. The Question was Ditko’s ‘Ayn Rand’ character. (He went on to do “Mr. A” as an even more Ayn Randian character. Now you get the joke of Roarschach’s costume being stark black and white!)
All The Question does is quibble with Green Arrow. Miller’s brilliant, witty message? “Being a leftie extremist and being a rightie extremist are BOTH dumb.” Haw-haw-haw! HOW did Miller come up with that? :rolleyes:
The art was bad, the story went beyond “flawed” and out the other side.
I am so disappointed.
I am on record being skeptical as to whether Miller would be able to pull it off, but he doesn’t seem to have even tried…
I admit that I found this bit from the Question:
“I wished to sit at this table. Custom requires this glass of poison to be placed in front of me. It does not require that I drink it.”
That’s a quality line.
I mean, he was going for something noble here…you got this faux sense of majesty from the whole Green Lantern thing and Captain Marvel’s sacrifice…
But nah, it sucked. Read like a reeeeeally bad Warren Ellis story.
I was talking with my used-to-be-local comics shop owner about DK2 and told him that I really didn’t like the first two and I didn’t get what the hell Miller was aiming for. He told me that Miller had said in a private interview that DK2 was supposed to be a satire.
A satire of what, I never found out.
I didn’t buy the 1st 2 issues and I’m not gonna buy the last one, I’ll just read it in the store.
One thing I have to say in Miller’s defense.
There is no way in hell that the story could have lived up the hype.
No way.
I’ve always thought that Plastic Man was the most powerful character in the DC Universe. Most people believe that he merely takes on the shapes of other objects or people, but that isn’t exactly true. When he becomes a balloon, he floats. When he becomes a lightpost, he emits light. When he becomes an elephant, he weighs as much as an elephant does. When he becomes a jet, he can fly at supersonic speeds.
He doesn’t just change shape, he actually becomes whatever he wants to change into. Without limit! If it weren’t for the fact that he was off his rocker and hasn’t figured out for himself exactly how powerful he was, he could become the most dangerous person in the DC universe, imho.
[edited for atrocious spelling error-Czarcasm]
< Comic book geek powers: ACTIVATE! >
Czar, I’ll grant you that he’s powerful, but “the most”? C’mon. The Flash moves at lightspeed. Plas (even a sane one) is normal speed. Before he can even decide what to change into, the Flash should have him tied up in a knot…
Superman can hover from orbit and use heat vision to melt Plas like an ant under a magnifying glass.
Martian Manhunter can turn him into a vegetable.
Duplicate Boy from the Legion of Super-Heroes (actually the Heroes of Lallor) can do all the above at once while duplicating Plastic Man’s OWN powers. And what if Duplicate Boy got ahold of the Miracle Machine? Hmmm? What then, Mr. Cazm? What then?
And that doesn’t even get into DC’s cosmic characters like Darkseid or the wizard Shazam or the Guardians.
And what of Mordru, or the Time Trapper or the Infinite Man or the Spectre, man? OR Dream and the rest of the Endless?? You didn’t consider THEM when you made your little comment did you? DID YOU!!!
I hope this resolves this issue once and for all.
< Comic book geek powers: DEACTIVATE! >
Fenris
PS: Czar, you DO realize the reason I’m even having this discussion is simply to impress the Doper-chicks. ALL chicks dig guys who know their obscure comic book trivia and can use it in a hoo’dwin thread. 
PSS: I own “The Green Team”, the original “Brother Power: The Geek”, “Spider-Man Chapter 1” and every Marvel issue of “Street-Poet Ray” and a bunch of the pre-Marvel issues. DK2#3 is far worse than all of them…put together (except maybe Spider-Man Chapter 1.) At least “Street-Poet Ray” was coherent…sorta.
Plaz can only move at normal speed? Not when he changes into a jet! What I’m saying is that he could, with no effort, change into any of the people you describe. When he turns into an elephant, he weighs as much as an elephant. When he changes into a lamppost, he actually emits light. We have no idea what the limit of this ability is, but we do know that he automatically takes on the abilities of whatever he is imitating.
PS: I own every issue of DC Currents, was a member of the Merry Marvel Marching Society(MMMS), I earned two No-Prizes, I have every issue of both the Inferior Five and the Secret Six, and I own an issue of Tomb of Dracula drawn by Steve Ditko. Ladies, if you want to make it with a REAL comic book geek, ignore the wannabe in the last post and come on over here. 
But we know he can’t turn into green kryptonite, since he’s always yellow and red. Given that, Superman could beat ‘m up and all he could do is turn into red K and give Superman a giant ape’s head or turn him into a super-ant or somethin’.
**
Nice, I suppose for a beginner, but you see, I own a number of Man From U.N.C.L.E. comics featuring Napoleon Solo, I own every appearance of Duo Damsel, I’ve got either reprints or originals of every appearnce of the Terrible Trio, I have (in reprints or originals) Fantastic Four #1 up, I also own all issues of Inferior Five (even the Showcase ones) I have both the original and new (yuk!) series of Secret Six and I own every appearance of Salem’s Seven. And I can’t think of any “eight”, “nine”, “ten” or “eleven” team. But I do own all the appearances of Evillo and the Devil’s dozen (even if there were only 5 of 'em). So there.
In addition, I have ALL Tomb of Draculas, INCLUDING the Ditko one and the John Byrne one but more importantly, I have every Ditko appearance of Hawk and Dove, as well as the Blue Beetle and The Question, even the Charleton Bullseye issues! I even have a couple of issues of Ditko’s underground comic “Mr. A” (Ayn Rand. The Comic Book. Who else but Ditko could be so kewl!)
I also have a (mostly) complete run of all of Tower Comics books: T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Dynamo, No-Man, U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent and I’m only missing a few issues of <gad> Tippy Teen.
Plus, like I said, I have non-Marvel* issues of STREET-POET RAY. Sorry Czar. The No-prizes and being a member of the MMMS are cool (were you a RFO?), VERY cool, but STREET-POET RAY tops them.
Sorry man, but when the DoperBabes come around, they’ll HAVE to flock to me.
Fenris
Not fair to involve the Endless. I mean, technically they’re in the DC universe, and the Vertigo kids do cross over regularly, but they’re kind of gods among men, even supermen.
Speaking of Vertigo heroes versus Plastic Man – good ol’ Johnny Constantine doesn’t need to beat crap outta Plastic Man to screw with him…all he needs to do is be within speaking radius. Ditto with Jesse Custer, tho for different reasons.
And given a few days, I’m SURE Batman could come up with some sort of talent for whupping PM’s az. He’s done it with Supes before.
And yes, I was eager as hell to read DK2’s first issue. I had my local comic/game shop put a copy in my folder. The day I was going to buy it, I flipped through a copy in the rack.
Sucked. Where had Frank’s characterization gone? Whither subtlety, Mr. Miller? Whither coherence?
Now if Alan Moore could regularly find a decent artist to do his stuff (currently it’s Tom Strong and the Watchmen that are actually readable; I TRIED with From Hell, I really did, but he seems to be hiring from the disabled when it comes to artists, and I do wish that the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen would get a better artist, it’s SO DAMN GOOD!)
Ahem.
Hullo, comicDopers.
Athene: Czar said "I’ve always thought that Plastic Man was the most powerful character in the DC Universe. "
“most powerful character”
Not “most powerful non-Godlike character.”
So he’s WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!
And I really like whatshisname…the artist on League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Fenris
But all our Big Johnny C needs is about 10 seconds where PM can hear him. And JC’s not godly at all. He’s just a jerk
And I don’t like the art much in there…some of the stuff gets rendered OK, but I don’t get a lot of subtle emotion in the scribbly art.
Continuing the hijack.
No, he couldn’t(as far as we know-the coloration might just be a byproduct of his psychosis) change into kryptonite. Why bother when he can turn into a copy of Superman himself? He seems to change instantaniously, so switching between the Flash and Superman would give him a distinct advantage. Batman has worked with Plaz before, and hinted that there is a damn good reason why no one has tried to cure him of his delusions.
Fenris, cute little collection you have there. Need a spare copy of X-Thieves or Buck Godot?
But he’s NEVER been super fast. Or invulnerable. He’s still stretchy, no matter what. And, per either Morrison’s issues or Waid’s issues he can be A) Melted and B) Frozen and shattered. So Superman COULD take 'm.
Nyahhh.
No (and Buck Godot rocked!).
Do you need a copy of Foglio’s D’Arc Tangent? HmmmmmMMMM?
Or (God help me) Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters?
Or (double-God help me) Reagan’s Raiders?
HMmmmmMMmmMMMM???
Fenris
And you think YOU’RE so clever? Well answer THIS, Mr. “I was a member of the MMMS”
There was a late Golden-early Silver Age story about “The First Batman” about how Thomas Wayne, on his way to a costume party/masked ball, dressed up in a proto-Batman suit.
A) What did Martha go as?
B) What was the theme of the party/ball?
HHHmmmmmMMmm?
Fenris