Comments on: A Year of Cool Comic Book Moments – Day 176

By: wwk5d

wwk5d — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:44:36 +0000

Looks like a fun story. Seriously, DC screwed up this couple why, exactly?

By: Dean

Dean — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:06:02 +0000

@ Carl

And this, in my opinion, is what’s wrong with Identity Crisis. Even if you ignore the massive retcon, it simply takes the characters too far outside their milieu. It’s not that you couldn’t do a serious story with them. It’s just that they’re not suited for a tragic one.

Exactly!

In their origins, DC characters tend to have classical tragedy and comedy masks put on them. Stories about tragic heroes are about death. I never mind when those titles turn grim. Batman is a tragedy, so is Green Lantern. Their origins set their eventual fates in motion. I mean, Abin Sur wasn’t retiring to some resort planet.

Conversely, Superman and Wonder Woman are classical comedies. From the very beginning, they are dealing with the attraction between men and women. There are tricks and mistaken identities. They are dealing with the same themes as something like “Sex and the City”. So, I am never bothered by sexual content.

The Dibnys are very clearly under the comedy branch. It is just wrong to drag them through a grim, tragic story. It has nothing to do with what makes them interesting. Mark Waid does a nice job encapsulating the appeal in the scans above. Ralph is a bit of an odd duck, but Sue finds his quirks exciting. There is a vulnerability, since she is way out of his league in the looks department. They are just a great, great pairing.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 05:41:14 +0000

nice nipples

By: MrMGU

MrMGU — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:37:03 +0000

My favorite part here is J’onn’s off-panel “Sorry.”

By: stephen cade

stephen cade — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:25:17 +0000

Ralph & Sue were one of the best parts of JLE–done very well in many issues.
I loved their mini series as well.

By: Sallyp

Sallyp — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:26:42 +0000

Ralph and Sue were always the Nick and Nora Charles of the Comic Book World, and we need them back.

By: chad

chad — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:37:38 +0000

i always went with sue look of shock that ralph figured out the mystery right away mostly because martian manhunter was posing as sue using his right hand. sad that dc sent ralph and sue to the after life

By: Chris Bloom

Chris Bloom — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:12:49 +0000

I don’t know … my favorite part was misreading the “Duckhead Detective” line.

“Truly you ARE the DICKHEAD DETECTIVE!”

“Thanks, Dimitri, you stupid piece of #$%^!”

Bwah hah hah …

By: Gopher

Gopher — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:00:05 +0000

What I always liked about the Digby’s and the early Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne stories, was they were screwball comedies and happy couples. Oh well. Both the MU and the DCU are sadder places since they decided there was no place for this type of story and this type of characters.

By: Ricardo

Ricardo — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:52:30 +0000

JLIQ was probably the last decent JL book after Giffen & DeMatteis had left. And I always enjoyed it. I mean, The Conglomerate has always been a favorite of mine and certainly the direction I would have taken Booster Gold if I ever got writing it.

By: Michael P.

Michael P. — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:15:54 +0000

“By the way, I just realized that comics had the goofy guy married to the hot woman who’d normally way out of his league long before it became a sitcom standard.”

Not really. That one goes all the way back to the original sitcom, The Honeymooners.

Hell, I Love Lucy was that same dynamic, only with the genders switched.

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:51:33 +0000

Yeah! I think this story really summed up the Dibnys for me. Ralph IS the World’s Greatest Detective…

Never realised it was Mark Waid who wrote it, but it does make a lot of sense now, seeing as he’s so good at writing strong couples…

By: Matt K

Matt K — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:51:10 +0000

I loved the use of the Dibnys in Starman and was upset to find out about Identity Crisis. Next chance I get I’ll have to track down this issue.

By: Carl

Carl — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:36:16 +0000

And this, in my opinion, is what’s wrong with Identity Crisis. Even if you ignore the massive retcon, it simply takes the characters too far outside their milieu. It’s not that you couldn’t do a serious story with them. It’s just that they’re not suited for a tragic one.

By the way, I just realized that comics had the goofy guy married to the hot woman who’d normally way out of his league long before it became a sitcom standard.

By: McD

McD — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:20:12 +0000

Hmm… so is Sue’s expression in the last panel telling us the Hippos in top hats were her REAL birthday mystery?

By: Lt. Clutch

Lt. Clutch — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:16:04 +0000

I agree, Sue never looked better than she does here. Barreto draws the loveliest women. I’ve always enjoyed his European art style on anything he does. Very realistic, elegant work.

By: Axel M. Gruner

Axel M. Gruner — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:33:22 +0000

Barretto’s art is always loveable, especially the ladies.

By: Gavin

Gavin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:37:18 +0000

You should have picked the part of Secret Wars II where they Beyonder makes himself up like Michael Jackson.

By: Kelson

Kelson — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:06:29 +0000

IIRC this is one of the few issues of Justice League Quarterly that I kept when I got rid of most of them.

If not, it should have been.

By: The Crazed Spruce

The Crazed Spruce — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:02:39 +0000

I used to own the first dozen or so issues of JLQ, and as silly as that story was at some points, it was still pretty damn entertaining. (And I didn’t catch the bit with the envelope ’til the second or third time I read it.)

My favourite issue, though, was the one where they go up against the mad scientist Ira Quimby, who exposes six of the heroes to a gas that turns one in six people into a homicidal maniac. The story ended with a really cool Blue Beetle moment that definitely belongs on this list.