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mygif

I’ve also felt the novelizations of both story arcs (especially the Stern-penned Superman one) were also quite strong.

But Bibbo? Bibbo is darn funny.

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Farwell3d said on May 26th, 2014 at 8:04 pm

I know you ripped on Bibbo, but, man alive the moment when he kneels down in his bar and asks God “why did you take Superman and leave a washed-up palooka like me?” just absolutely WRECKED me as a kid, and still stands out as one of my favorite comic book moments ever.

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mygif

The whole Death of Superman arc is great, but it serves to remind me of how badly DC fucked up Doomsday afterward.

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LordRiven said on May 27th, 2014 at 11:24 am

In a perfect world Azrael would have been eaten by grues the moment Knightfall ended: he is, hands down, the absolute worst part of No Man’s Land. He’s story is nonsensical, rambling, and brooding in a goofy, angst way. And the art is foul. It’s in every way terrible, and I despise the character forever.

Also in this perfect world, it goes without saying, Cassandra Cain was never shat on by DC, Man of Steel was never made, and I am a billionaire for having invented singing toilet paper. You all wonder how you ever wiped without it.

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Aussiesmurf said on May 27th, 2014 at 8:02 pm

I really enjoyed both novelizations, and particularly remember the bleak ambiguity of the “Knightfall” ending :

Tim Drake : “Bruce, is there a Batman?”
BW : “Damned if I know.”

END

I also loved that the new Batman villain actually studied the situation and CAME UP WITH A GOOD PLAN THAT ACTUALLY WORKED.

I think Knightfall was really hurt for not having an in-story reason why Bruce wouldn’t at least consider Dick Grayson as the obvious replacement. I know they tried to address this in “Prodigal” but IMHO it was too late.

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Walter Kovacs said on May 29th, 2014 at 12:49 pm

Reign was what got me into comics. I was hooked by Cyborg, as I read the books, I went back and got the death and funeral for a friend stuff, and by the end of it, I was getting all the Superman books, and never looking back. I eventually got into the Batman stuff, and it’s good as well.

Bane has fared a lot better than Doomsday (or Cyborg Superman), but they do all suffer from decay. You can’t really bounce back from “killed Superman/broke Batman/blew up a city” . It’s especially goofy with Doomsday since despite explaining him as being evolution personified and being harder to beat each time, he ended up being easier to beat in each follow up (although often using science instead of beating the crap out of him).

The best stuff with Bane since his debut has been the stuff that actually deals with the fact that he ultimately failed in his master plan, and so you have stuff like his time with the Secret Six, or his attempt to take over Gotham during Forever Evil, where he gets to focus on something else. The stuff revolving around him being a hulking Venomized brute are often week.

I’m still catching up with the new 52 stuff, but their retcon of Doomsday as being created by Zod, and the Cyborg as Supergirl’s father might give them a chance to do something new, especially since, in the new continuity, they won’t have that first massive success hanging over them making all their follow up appearance pale in comparison.

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mygif

“It’s especially goofy with Doomsday since despite explaining him as being evolution personified and being harder to beat each time, he ended up being easier to beat in each follow up (although often using science instead of beating the crap out of him).”

(Bad) Pro Wrestling 101: Build up monster heel, have him cripple your top face, and then job him out to make other characters look good/gain instant credibility (at least until it stops working, which happens quickly, and it pretty well has in Doomsday’s case).

The Imperiex thing (next to Dr. Doomsday) is my least-favorite Doomsday moment, and is the point at which the character started degrading beyond repair.

“The best stuff with Bane since his debut has been the stuff that actually deals with the fact that he ultimately failed in his master plan, and so you have stuff like his time with the Secret Six, or his attempt to take over Gotham during Forever Evil, where he gets to focus on something else.”

I NEED to read this shit. Gotten so many positive reviews from my DC friends.

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Prodigal said on June 11th, 2014 at 10:55 am

I have to second what Farwell3d said about Bibbo. Hell, that scene still wrecks me 20 years after the fact.

Bibbo started out as this washed-up nobody, a skid row bum. Then one day Superman saves him, and he catches a lucky break, and he begins rebuilding his life. He treats others with respect and dignity because when he had none of those, Superman showed him that everybody has them, even if sometimes they forget they do.

We can’t be Superman – we’re not faster than a speeding bullet, we’re not more powerful than a locomotive, and we can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound – but we can live up to Superman’s example by helping out those who need it and by being kind and decent to each other. We can be Bibbo.

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