Retailers -- Don't just invest in Scarlet Spider comics! Diversify!
Going back once again to the early ‘90s, the next DC Casualty will be Gunfire, a series that perhaps doesn’t have the critical reputation as the previous entries. You might even say that this concept hasn’t aged particularly well. If someone were ingenious enough to finally look back to mainstream ‘90s comics as a source of ridicule, Gunfire might even be seen as an easy target.
Okay, let’s face it, people like to make fun of the guy.
I wasn’t even aware of this title’s existence during its run, and only discovered it through house ads in a couple of cheap back issues I purchased a few years ago. And, yeah, it’s certainly “of an era” you could say. However, the initial creative team isn’t bad at all, and I am interested to see how exactly the gun-blazing/armored hero concept played out in the mainstream DC Universe. Now, shall we take bets on whether Gunfire has been killed or merely mutilated in the past ten years?
Gunfire's death was actually pretty funny, since it was in Garth Ennis' Hitman. He went to scratch his rear & accidentally activated his powers, turning his cheeks into a grenade. Oops. Any other title, it would have been obnoxious, but this was the same book that gave us Dogwelder & "Zombie Night at the Gotham Aquarium", so it fit.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Prometheus kill him around Infinite Crisis?
ReplyDeleteThis is great, excited to see what you find with this series. I've got Damage, Ray and Valor that I've just finished getting all the issues for and am looking forward to reading. Gunfire and Anime were on my list but decided against both. I'm about 70% done with getting all the issues to Deathstroke, Justice League Extreme and Justice League Task Force.
ReplyDeleteThe era around and after Zero Hour are really interesting to me. This period of DC was interesting, either it was really good or really bad. Most of it was really bad but there were a few highlights in there.
Do you mean Anima, instead of Anime, Scott?
ReplyDeleteI eventually decided to give the series a chance, and actually found it pretty enjoyable.
Lots of references to early-90s American pop culture, like the Grunge music scence.
At heart, it's all about Jungian archetypes. It has depth to it.
I really liked Ray and Valor. Both of those were fun series. It's a shame Valor got axed so quickly.
I thought Ray resembled the critically acclaimed James Robinson Starman. It wasn't quite at that level, but dealt with a lot of the same themes.
Mela, I haven't read it in a while, but that wasn't ACTUALLY Gunfire in that Hitman issue (#1,000,000)? Wasn't it someone who had Gunfire's powers, or am I misremembering the issue?
ReplyDeleteIIRC, in Hitman #1,000,000 these obnoxious teenagers in the future had a machine that would give you the powers of a former hero if you had a piece of their costume. ("For instance if I had Anarky's hat I could... Um... Bad example") Someone who had Gunfire's goggles crashed through the window, injuring himself. He then grabbed his first aid kid which he accidentally turned in to a gun, shooting himself. He then turned his ass in to a hand grenade.
ReplyDeleteAnima is what I meant, thank you, the series sounds good, I would be interested in checking it out. Funny thing is that I was thinking that I needed to spell this correct in my first post and obviously that failed.
ReplyDeleteI read the Spectre series from this time period and it was interesting - Dark for sure, but interesting.
Legionnaires was amazing until it hit Zero Hour and I had no idea who these new people were and I dropped it there. I have the full series now and plan on reading it eventually.
I tried reading Starman when it came out month to month and I just couldn't get into it, I think I was too young.
I have both the JSA mini's from this time but never have read them though it is on the list of books to read through.
I love getting full collections of books, reading them and then selling them on eBay. It's fun going through the journey of finding the books and then being able to pass them on after I have enjoyed them.
Anima was cut in half by the "original Prometheus" and Gunfire had his hands cut off by the same in Prometheus's Faces of Evil one-shot, so 2 years ago, I think.
ReplyDeleteFellow 90s heroes who got their own short series like Black Condor and Firebrand fared about as well thanks to Geoff Johns. If you need some cheap in-continuity cannon fodder, just harken to the 90s, I guess :)
Oops, thanks for the corrections. For some reason, I thought that was the real Gunfire, since that was my only exposure to the character (I didn't know he ever had his own title). It's been too long since I read Hitman, obviously.
ReplyDelete@scott you're really going to enjoy deathstroke that series was underrated in my opinion especially the first 12 issues or so.
ReplyDeleteValor was cool but you could tell the storyline was cut short. Mark said was out on the title to wrap it up but not even he could salvage the last few issues.
Whoops! Meant to say, "Mark waid was put on the title to wrap it up but not even he could salvage the last few issues."
ReplyDeleteStill getting used to typing on my iPad :p