Phoney Bone and Uncle Scrooge

This was a suggestion from a friend and I thought it made for the perfect pairing.  You just know that Scrooge McDuck's riches would be just the temptation for Phoney to concoct one of his schemes.  Jeff's Smith's Bone shared a lot of the things that made Carl Barks' duck stories so great - simplified yet expressive characters set against lovingly detailed scenery in stories packed with action, humor and heart.  It's another reason why I really look forward to the eventual CGI films chronicling the Bone story line.  Hopefully the first film is still on track for a 2013 release.

Deadman and Thor

DC has undergone a lot of changes in the past few years, some welcome, and some that just make me scratch my head.  One thing that I do really like is the higher profile that Deadman has received.  I have always loved the character and felt that he deserved to get a lot more exposure.  I've heard rumblings of a Deadman TV show in the works, and that could be really cool.  I just hope he will maintain his red suit and ghostly look from the comics.  I mean seeing Deadman in traditional clothes would take a bit of the cool factor away for me.  It would be like having a live action Thor that never wears his helmet.... oh, wait...

Batgirl and Hellcat

I always wanted to see these two redheads together, just so they could discuss their mirror image uniforms.  Their similarities don't end there though.  They each don't possess any superhuman abilities, but still considered to be valuable allies to the more heavy hitting superheroes around them.   They would probably have a lot to talk about given the tragedies they have been through and overcome.  Barbara Gordon came back from being crippled and Patsy Walker came back from Hell itself!  Le'ts hope that the dark days are behind him and these two can return to being the fun characters that they were created to be.

Black Canary and Black Bolt

I was glad to be able to finally feature the artwork of Alex Toth on this blog.  He is one of the most amazing illustrators that the comics medium has ever seen.  The strength of his Super Friends designs cemented in my mind early on what a superhero should look like.  I wasn't sure how well his style would mesh with Kevin Nowlan's, but I think that they work OK together here.

We'll be seeing a new live action iteration of Dinah Lance in the new Arrow TV series.  She has appeared previously on Birds of Prey and Smallville, but neither version really captured the feeling of the comic character for me.  Hepefully the third time will be the charm.

Nightwing and Spider-Man

There have been a couple of Batman/Spider-man team-ups actually published, but I think that this pairing might be even more cool to see.  They are closer in age and both like to make jokes at the bad guys' expense while taking them down.  I'm looking forward to the Amazing Spider-Man film coming out this summer.  I'm still not sold on the look of the Lizard or retreading the origin again, but the trailer did look cool. I really liked the organic shooters and the fact that Spidey is wisecracking again!

Captain Carrot and Flaming Carrot

I have to admit I have only a passing knowledge of Flaming Carrot, but I always got a kick out of his design, and what little I have read was genuinely funny.  Captain Carrot and His Amazing  Zoo Crew was an interesting attempt by DC to tap into the cartoon animal market.  They were smart to tie the characters to the main DCU through the concept of the multiverse, and it has been nice to see them return briefly here and there.  The new DCU seems to have steered away from fun characters so who knows when they will pop up again.  I think the Saturday morning animated DCU shorts that have been airing recently would be a cool place for them to appear.

The Outsiders Vs. The Sub-Mariner

I love the original line-up for The Outsiders, and the farther subsequent Outsiders series have strayed from it the less well I thought the team worked.  I'd love to see them show up in the new DCU, because for now it seems like there is no home for characters like Black Lightning, Geo-Force, Halo and Metamorpho.  Katana is around in a birds of prey title, but almost unrecognizable from the character I knew from her Outsiders days.  It looks like yet another iteration will show up in the new Beware the Batman CGI series that is set to begin soon.

Namor is always a fun character to team folks with because he always clearly has his own agenda.  You never know whether he's going to be with you or against you until it's too late to do anything about it.  He'll strut in with his speedo, kick your butt and take your woman too, if you aren't careful.  Namor don't care! He's the honey badger of comic characters!

Cyborg and Deathlok

I always wanted to see these guys get together due to their visual similarities.  Even though they have found themselves in similar predicaments, their backgrounds and personalities could not be more different, so it would be cool to see them interact with one another.  Cyborg is front and center with the JLA these days, but I lost track of Deathlok after he showed up in a Marvel Zombies mini-series a while back.  I hope he returns soon as he is one of Marvel's coolest characters.

Wildcat and Daredevil

I hope there will be room for a character like Wildcat in the new DCU.  Sure, there's the Earth 2 series, but they seem to be de-aging all the characters there.  Moreso than most, this will take away a lot of the charm of Ted Grant.  His decades long career in which he has trained numerous other heroes always made him very unique, and I would hate for that to be lost.

Red Tornado and The X-Men

Here's another pairing that nobody was really asking for but I thought might make for a fun tale.  Has Red Tornado made an appearance in the new DCU yet?  I hope they haven't shuffled him off to limbo with Ralph Dibny and Rex Mason!  I recently watched X-Men 3: The Final Stand again and while I appreciated the nod, the use of a Sentinel robot is so wasted in that film.  I hope that with the new X-Men First Class sequel coming up, we can see the Sentinels much more fully realized on screen.

The Demon and Doctor Strange

The Demon is one of those characters that brings out the best in artists.  His hellish appearance allows them to take plenty of creative licence while still retaining the classic look of the character.  Jack Kirby, John Totleben, John Byrne, Mike Mignola, Bruce Timm, Val Semeiks and others have given us many varied takes on Etrigan, each one cool in its own way.

This would be a fun match up to see, I think.  They are each well versed in the mystic arts, but have vastly different styles of utilizing that knowledge.

Atom and Hawkman Vs. Doctor Doom

Back in the Silver age, DC took The Atom and Hawkman from their solo series and paired them together.  It was a strange combination that shouldn't have worked, but for me it did.  I always liked the characters together and the friendship they have maintained in the decades since.  Has that friendship transferred over to the new continuity, or have the characters even met?  Since Ray Palmer looks to be sidelined in the JLA, perhaps he can find a home in Hawkman's current title.

Adam Strange and Warlock

This was another case where I was just looking for a couple of  images that would go together before hitting on the natural connection.  Two space-faring heroes that share the same first name?  That's enough to hang a gigantic story around in my book!  Especially if you could get heavyweight artists like Kevin Nowlan and Jim Starlin to illustrate it - those guys know their way around a space battle!

Mr. Terrific, Mr. Fantastic and Mr. Incredible

I put this one together as a goof, but now that I look at the three of these guys together, it occurs to me that they would make for a formidable team!  I love all of the Pixar films, and  The Incredibles is one of the best, hopefully Director Brad Bird will give us a sequel one day.  Mr. Fantastic will get a second chance at cinematic life if for no other reason to retain Fantastic Four movie rights, it seems - hopefully the stretching effects will be a little better realized this time around.  The solo Mr. Terrific title was one of the first cancellations from the New DCU.  That's too bad, because I like the Michael Holt character.  Perhaps he can find another place to shine in the upcoming Earth 2 series.

Martian Manhunter Vs. The Human Torch

I remember being fascinated by the Fantastic Four cartoon that was part of  The Amazing World of Hanna-Barbera.  I had seen the Super Friends, but this was something different - it was the first time I had seen a cartoon show that adapted actual stories from the comics.  Add in the Kirby design work and it was like a comic book coming to life.  Unfortunately, the FF was part of a rotating cast on the show and I only caught a few episodes.  It would be decades before I tracked down some shaky VHS copies and was able to see all the episodes (and I'm still waiting for a nice DVD/Blu-Ray collection).  I remember being excited  when I heard the FF was returning to Saturday mornings a few years later, but to my dismay there was no Human Torch in the new version due to a rights dispute.  It took a long time to see Martian Manhunter on the small screen, but he has made up for it by appearing on multiple shows since his debut on Justice League.

Timber Wolf Vs. Wolverine

It is interesting that Wolverine became such a smash hit character, when he shared so many traits with the far lower profile character Timber Wolf, who preceded him.  The talented Dave Cockrum worked on both characters and he seemed to bring over the parts that worked best on the Legion of Super-Heroes member to the new bad boy in the Uncanny X-Men.  I do prefer Logan's brown outfit to the blue and yellow that he reverted back to - Cockrum had a keen eye for costume design.

Cyborg and the Fantastic Four

Cyborg joining the JLA in the new DCU is an interesting development.  There is definitely precedent for it, as he was featured with them on the final season of Super Friends back in the 80's.  He certainly is powerful enough and definitely lends a unique skill set to the rest of the team.  Still, it's another nail in the coffin of the classic New Teen Titans line-up.  Cyborg, Starfire, Changeling, Raven, Donna Troy and the rest of the team never worked as well as they did when they were teamed together, and once they got scattered around to separate titles they never seemed to shine as bright.  Cyborg joining DC's flagship title looks to break that cycle, I only hope the rest of those characters find as much success... or better yet, get back together!  They could learn a lesson from The Fantastic Four - cast changes are fun for a story line or two, but it's always good to get the original team back together again.

Ghost Rider and Evel Knievel

I haven't seen Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance yet but I think I will get out of it what I did from the first Ghost Rider flick - a thin plot and hokey performances with some cool looking Ghost Rider effects to make things a bit more palatable.  Hopefully the second film has a better villain, that's what really did the first one in for me.  Evel Knievel held a special  fascination for me as a kid.  I remember watching his jumps on TV and thinking he was about the closest thing to a real-life superhero that there was.  I also used to love the Evel Knievel toy bike that you could crank up and perform stunts with.

The Legion of Super-Heroes and The Man-Thing

One of the fun parts of this project is scouring over covers from every era of comics for images to use.  There are definitely some artists who really stand out at the top of the field for me when it comes to cover images that are both beautiful to look at and which really sell the story being told inside.  In my opinion, Marvel's greatest cover artist was Gil Kane, while the DC title easily goes to Nick Cardy, whose work I used here.  Whether it was a Superhero, Horror, Western or even Romance title, Cardy was always able to capture a pivotal moment from the issue and present it in a very enticing way.  I would see those covers and just had to find out what happened inside.  It's no wonder DC utilized him as their main cover artist for so many titles.

Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel

This cover comes at an interesting time.  After years of not being able to use his own name on the cover of the comics he appears in, the original Captain Marvel is finally giving up the title once and for all and will officially go by the name Shazam!  Of course. now he won't be able to say his name without transforming back to Billy Batson, so that's gonna be an issue.  I think a better solution perhaps would have been to rename him Captain Thunder.  This change leaves the Captain Marvel name free to use and now we find out the Ms. Marvel will be taking it on as her official superhero moniker (seemingly closing the door on a return of the Mar-Vell Captain Marvel).  To further confuse things, she will be sporting a costume very close to that worn by Marvelman, the character who started as a knockoff of the original Captain Marvel, whose rights were just bought by Marvel Comics.  I've been reading comics for decades and it makes my head spin, I can only imagine what this name and identity shuffling looks like to those outside of the hobby!

Power Girl and Power Man

I like Power Girl and I am glad to see that she will be getting another turn in the spotlight with the upcoming Worlds' Finest series, especially since that book will be featuring art by George Perez and Kevin Maguire.  Unfortunately, Power Girl is yet another victim of the New DCU's unattractive costume redesigns.  It seems off to me Supergirl now has a more revealing outfit than Power Girl!  But hey, at least she will have a recognizable costume, which is more than I can say for Luke Cage.  I can understand the desire to present him as a street-level hero, but the T-shirt and jeans look he has been sporting for the past decade looks out of place when he is fighting alongside the Avengers or Thunderbolts.  There have been a few recent tweaks to his look that are definite improvements, but what can I say - I'm a fan of his 70's threads.