tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post2355177292176549398..comments2024-03-21T19:12:11.065-07:00Comments on Every Day Is Like Wednesday: Suicide Squad, starring Ronald ReaganCalebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-15044549516689568172011-08-06T05:25:35.870-07:002011-08-06T05:25:35.870-07:00thanks for posting this. The Suicide Squad is awes...thanks for posting this. The Suicide Squad is awesome!Shlomo Ben Hungstienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238927958290618109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-18255982379595436562011-03-26T16:29:26.478-07:002011-03-26T16:29:26.478-07:00...but Captain America doesn't have the same p...<i>...but Captain America doesn't have the same problem and he's more tied into WWII than any other superhero.</i><br /><br />That's true, and I guess I've never really sat down and thought about why it works for one and not the other.<br /><br />I would guess it was because Captain America basically took 1945-Whenever He Gets Defrosted off, and was taken off the board for decades. So while his origin is tied to WWII, he's simultaneously a contemporary of the "current" generation of Marvel heroes, and fits into their sliding timeline as a peer of Iron Man and Spider-Man and whoever.<br /><br />Wonder Woman's in a more difficult place because the desire seems to be to associate her with Batman and Superman as a member of the "current" generation of heroes, who would have debuted "10-15 years ago," no matter what year the calendar says, although her real-world creators created her as a WWII combatant. In that respect, she seems to have more in common with Jay Garrick and the old man JSA guys, but they're decidedly second-class in the DCU hierarchy. (Also, that would maker Wonder Woman and older, more experienced hero than Batman and Superman, instead of their peer).<br /><br />Maybe in her next reboot SHE should get frozen in a block of ice for a few decades, and the Justice League can defrost her...Calebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-5388802737915013472011-03-25T21:41:18.058-07:002011-03-25T21:41:18.058-07:00Interesting thought about Wonder Woman, but Captai...Interesting thought about Wonder Woman, but Captain America doesn't have the same problem and he's more tied into WWII than any other superhero.Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08136938300859457956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-83219846654074505452011-03-25T17:48:28.407-07:002011-03-25T17:48:28.407-07:00You think this is crazy, you should read the first...<i>You think this is crazy, you should read the first Deadman arc from Action Comics Weekly, where Deadman and another ghost jump around a room full of people, finally ending in a fight between Gorbachev and Reagan.</i><br /><br />I did! I've been blogging my way through those old <em>ACW</em>s, but it's been a while since I've done one. Where I left off (blogging) Deadman just got invited to that party. <br /><br /><br /><i>Yeah, I think it's the floating timeline problem.</i><br /><br />Good point. I know that the "Bloodlines" crossover event took place during the Clinton administration, which would put Tim Drake in his late twenties.<br /><br />This will be an eternal problem for DC insofar as they keep the JSA around, and it's kinda weird how specific this Suicide Squad story was—the JSA didn't just disband after the war or in the fifties, but in 1951 exactly.<br /><br />This is way off-topic, but I think the eternal, almost insurmountable problem with Wonder Woman is that she was created to be inextricably linked to WWII, and thus doesn't "float" as well as Superman and Batman....Calebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-25009165621934380452011-03-25T06:17:02.781-07:002011-03-25T06:17:02.781-07:00Yeah, I think it's the floating timeline probl...Yeah, I think it's the floating timeline problem. I could imagine lawyers getting spooked by the Tony Twist "right of publicity" case against Todd McFarlane, but if so, they're nuts. As the Bluewater bios and the endless Sarah Palin comics show, the right of publicity pretty rarely applies, and basically never applies to public officials.* Simply depicting Reagan like this is no more legally problematic than Doonesbury.<br /><br />But the floating timeline means that references date incredibly quickly. If DC still has, say, a 16-year modern timeline (and I don't think they've ever admitted it to be longer than 13), then this scene has to have happened in 2003 or so.<br /><br />(IIRC, not only did Suicide Squad stay current with things like the end of the Cold War and developments in the Soviet Union, but it also shifted to depictions of George HW Bush in due course.)<br /><br />*But see the Schwarzenegger bobblehead case-- if you were a celebrity with a right to profit from your likeness before you were elected, you have at least a plausible enough claim to retain it after election that you can force a favorable settlement.Jacob T. Levyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02575549001627195334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-24034300564602587742011-03-25T00:03:59.872-07:002011-03-25T00:03:59.872-07:00You think this is crazy, you should read the first...You think this is crazy, you should read the first Deadman arc from Action Comics Weekly, where Deadman and another ghost jump around a room full of people, finally ending in a fight between Gorbachev and Reagan. <br /><br />I think what changed is a need for "timelessness" in comics pushing out the public figures. That being said, Greg Land would be perfect for a book based on a president, much like the one Joe Casey pitched to Marvel in 2008.<br /><br />Late 80's/early 90's Marvel also has some examples of this kind of thing: serpent Reagan in Captain America and George W. (and Thatcher if I remember right) appeared in a Nicieza issue of Avengers.Nicholas Ahlhelmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05651416360488414615noreply@blogger.com