CBR: JMS Gets Brave & Bold with Archie Gang

[CBR News]

Fan favorite writer J. Michael Straczynski confirms The Shield, The Fly and Black \r\nHood will be the first three Archie Comics superheroes folded into the DCU fabric \r\nin the pages of “The Brave and The Bold.�


Full article here (http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18636).

[AdamYJ]

I thought there was some sort of legal magilla regarding The Fly. Like, his rights were secured by Joe Simon or something like that.

[celticguy]

this is great but when does Jughead join the GL corp.

[Pinnacle]

I enjoyed the Impact! line very much as a kid. I hope the characters are somewhat similar to those versions. But I think it's closer to the Archie versions which I fear may appear dated. But I'll give it a shot to see if I'm interested in following these new versions of the characters.

[tridon]

Marvel really f'ed up bad when they screwed over JMS. Now DC is going to pull in the profits! Congrats DC, you now officially have me on an ongoing book that isn't from Vertigo or Wildstorm.

[Ghost Shark]

I'm looking forward to seeing what JMS does with these guys. Between this and the Milestone deal, it's nice to see some new blood in the DCU.

[Kissyboots]

I really liked the Impact version of the Fly and the Black Hood. Those comics were some real good super-hero stories. The Fly was fun and BH was fun and a little dark ( not Vertigo dark). Too bad they're using the original takes.

[Green Lantern wannabe]

Isn't he the producer of Babylon 5? That guy is talented.

[Lupek]

I've been interested in these characters since I picked up a Red Circle Comet book in the early 80's and I am a big fan of JMS's work on Bullet Points, Supreme Power, The Twelve and Thor. So I will be checking this out for sure.

But I don't understand why right out of the gate DC has JMS working on these characters when so many of their higher profile characters need help or rehabilitating. Wonder Woman, The Marvel Family,Green Arrow, Aquaman, Hawkman and many others could either use someone to straighten them out and/or boost their lagging sales. Obviously he could still potentially do that, I just find it odd that JMS' first gig for DC is this.

[dblanchard]

>> Created by the legendary team behind Captain America, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby introduced The Fly under the Red Circle Comics banner in “The Double Life of Private Strong” #1 in June, 1959. <<

No, that's not right. DOUBLE LIFE and ADVENTURES OF THE FLY were published under the Archie Adventure Series banner; Red Circle came along much, much later in the game.

Dave Blanchard

[celticguy]

>> Created by the legendary team behind Captain America, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby introduced The Fly under the Red Circle Comics banner in “The Double Life of Private Strong” #1 in June, 1959. <<

No, that's not right. DOUBLE LIFE and ADVENTURES OF THE FLY were published under the Archie Adventure Series banner; Red Circle came along much, much later in the game.

Dave Blanchard


a lot of these companies ate eacher up so it may be true if archie bought Red Circle or Red Circle was an imprint of Archie.

[BeastieRunner]

But I don't understand why right out of the gate DC has JMS working on these characters when so many of their higher profile characters need help or rehabilitating. Wonder Woman, The Marvel Family,Green Arrow, Aquaman, Hawkman and many others could either use someone to straighten them out and/or boost their lagging sales. Obviously he could still potentially do that, I just find it odd that JMS' first gig for DC is this.

I believe he's doing some "Brave and the Bold" issues with Swamp Thing and John Constantine, too (not necessarily in the same book).

Perhaps he's going to dabble a bit in the DCU before getting an ongoing?

:confused:

[the-wolf]

I think it's the right way to go. Much better plan than putting them in their own universe. JMS also has it down right when he talks about simultaneously updating, but not changing, the origins.

[NickPheas]

I really liked the Impact version of the Fly and the Black Hood. Those comics were some real good super-hero stories. The Fly was fun and BH was fun and a little dark ( not Vertigo dark). Too bad they're using the original takes.

I seem to remember the Fly being a bit meh, only really worth it for the Mike Parobeck art, but the Impact Black Hood was superb.

[carloshll726]

This is fantastic news! I can't wait until they use The Comet!

[AdamYJ]

But I don't understand why right out of the gate DC has JMS working on these characters when so many of their higher profile characters need help or rehabilitating. Wonder Woman, The Marvel Family,Green Arrow, Aquaman, Hawkman and many others could either use someone to straighten them out and/or boost their lagging sales. Obviously he could still potentially do that, I just find it odd that JMS' first gig for DC is this.

Well, I think that, for one, DC and Didio don't really think those characters need that much help. A lot of those characters always get low sales no matter who is put on to write them. I'm not saying they're bad characters, it's just that sometimes you have to accept certain limitations.

Anyway, as I read it in one of those article thingies at the back of a DC comic, it just started with the idea of putting JMS on Brave and the Bold. After giving him the title, JMS starts talking with Didio and getting all nostalgic about when B&B was used as a way of introducing and reintroducing characters. Apparently, in addition to stuff like the JLA, Hawkman and the Teen Titans, Brave and the Bold would be used even into the team-up days to introduce characters that DC had just brought back, reimagined or acquired. So, that sends Didio's mind going and he decides to up and license the Archie superheroes for the purpose of letting JMS "reintroduce" them to people.