March 31, 2009 1

On Crises, Flashes and Jar Jar Binks

By Scott Cederlund in comics, movies

What happens when you give three geeks some free time on Twitter?  Well, I think Ty from Boxwatcher , Jason from Phoning It In and I answered that question pretty good today.  There’s even a cameo or two by other comic bloggers in this discussion.

  • boxwatcherComics peeps, has Crisis on Infinite Earths lost it’s luster with the return of the multi-verse, Supergirl, and now Barry Allen?
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher No.
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher I think it still provides some good thrills that work independently of anything that’s been done since.
  • jason1749@boxwatcher Though I love the art, I’ve alway looked at Crisis as being a giant mess, a pretty one for sure, but a mess.
  • SCederlundCameo is going to be performing at the Taste of Chicago this year! Word Up!!!!!
      • Note:  This had nothing to do with the conversation but it’s CAMEO!!!!!!
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund I can see where it can still be considered a great story, but I thought the thing that really made it was all the sacrifices
  • jason1749@boxwatcher That said, I think I would have rather had Barry stay dead. I just don’t know why he needs to come back to life.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund and changes that came out of it. But now it’s all been undone, it’s nothing different than an Elseworlds story now….
  • boxwatcher@jason1749 Me too, I always liked Barry but become a big Wally guy, especially during the first half of Waid’s run on the book.
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher So? You’re focusing too much on crap like continuity and not enough at looking at the story and judging it for itself.
  • boxwatcher@jason1749 I’ve also never been a huge C.O.I.E. fan. I’ll take the Secret Wars any day.
  • jason1749@boxwatcher Dude, the original Secret Wars is the bomb, I love that book.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund True, but to me that is always what made 80′s comics great, that the events in the books I read mattered in the long run.
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher Have you honestly gone back and reread Secret Wars since it first came out?
  • boxwatcher@jason1749 Word up my Beyonder Brother!
      • Note:  Ty makes a Cameo reference!
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher The story still exists in and of itself. What else happens around it 20+ years later shouldn’t matter.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund Many times, the story is somewhat simplistic at times, but is still a great “Heavy Hitters” type story.
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher @jason1749 Give me Crisis anyday over Secret Wars.
  • jason1749@SCederlund Secret Wars is the comic book equivalent of COMMANDO. Kinda stupid, very 80′s but incredibly enjoyable.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund Yeah, I don’t know, it seems like it didn’t mean anything more than any random issue of say Batman and The Outsiders.
  • RichLovatt@boxwatcher I LOVE Secret Wars!
      • Note:  Hey, everyone look!  It’s Rich Lovatt from Comic by Comic .
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund I always got the impression that people held Crisis on a pedestal because of what it meant, now it doesn’t mean as much.
  • boxwatcher@jason1749 @RichLovatt All Right! I’m down with The Secret Wars love. Gonna have to pull the trade off the shelf tonight!
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher I like Crisis because I still see it as a starting point for many things, even stories unrelated to DC.
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher But I think it’s still important for what it meant at the time and for how it shaped DC for years. DC has always been more…
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher … cyclical than Marvel has. That’s like saying nothing Superman mattered before 1986 because that’s not Byrne’s Superman.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund I know I’m being jaded here, but when I look at it I see the birth of the out of control crossover everyone does.
  • jason1749@SCederlund I started reading comics right when Crisis ended, so it was very nice of DC to reboot their whole Universe in my rookie year.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund Kind of like how Star Wars sort of birthed the summer blockbuster with Merch tie ins…
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher Then do you blame Alan Moore and Frank Miller for everyone who didn’t get Watchmen or Dark Knight?
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher And I know how much you despise Star Wars because of that.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund I think its akin to Marvel wiping out 20 years of Spidey history with One More Day.
  • jason1749@SCederlund I think of Crisis as DC’s send off to the Silver Age, but, “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” was a better one.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund Not really, crossover and summer blockbuster can be great things. I’ve just never felt that Crisis was as “good” as
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund Watchmen or Dark Knight.
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher Well, that’s just your anti-Crisis bias showing through. :)
      • Note:  Ty doesn’t like Crisis because he has no soul.  It’s a fact.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund I do resent much of what George Lucas has become, but I still separate the artist from the art.
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher I just don’t think you can judge Crisis by the way that DC’s trying to dismantle it 20 years later.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund touche, but thank you for a lively debate. I guess after all these years I’m still trying to understand the acclaim for Crisis.
      • Note:  See?  No soul.
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher I can see the OMD relation but I think the value of both has to be judged by their execution.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund You could be right, I don’t think less of The Matrix because of the sequels, same thing?
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher Yeah, we’ve had this discussion before, haven’t we?
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher Or do you look back at Empire Strikes Back and think that it sucks because Jar Jar Binks is somewhere in a grave hopefully?
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund Probably, with the release of Flash: Rebirth it made me think of Crisis and stirred all that up.
  • jason1749@SCederlund I watch Empire with a giant smile, knowing, somewhere in the galaxy, Jar Jar is dead.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund No, in fact if Lucas does special editions of the prequels I want a scene in Ep.3 where he kills Jar Jar and Ahsoka!
  • SCederlund@jason1749 I keep watching Return, looking for a stuffed Jar Jar head on Jabba’s palace wall.
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher Watch your mouth about Ashoka!
  • boxwatcher@jason1749 @SCederlund Maybe Jar Jar’s ears hanging from Boba Fett’s belt?
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund I actually like Ashoka, but I don’t want them to wuss out on her fate. Anakin wipes out the Jedi, except Yoda and Obi-Wan.
  • boxwatcher@SCederlund she needs to die to serve the story…
  • jason1749@boxwatcher Knowing Lucas, he wanted to CG Jar Jar into Jedi so he could be the one to knock Boba Fett into the Sarlacc Pit.
  • jason1749And that is by far the nerdiest, dorkiest tweet I’ve ever tweeted. No wonder I’m single.
      • Note:  I look forward to meeting this dork… I mean Jason someday soon.
  • jason1749@boxwatcher You know she’s going to die in the end of the Clone Wars, right? there’s no way she lives through that series.
  • boxwatcher@jason1749 I feel your pain, I just argued for the violent death of two kiddie characters. I’m feeling like geek Hitler…
      • Note: Practically admitting that he doesn’t have a soul.
  • SCederlund@jason1749 Actually, I’d like to see an Ewok drumming on a Stormtrooper’s helmet and have Jar Jar’s head fall out.
      • Note: And this tweet proves that I’m no better than Jason.
  • boxwatcher@jason1749 That would make sense, but I’m afraid George won’t follow through….
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher I thought it was a given that she was going to die but I don’t wish the same fate on her as I do on Jar Jar.
  • SCederlund@boxwatcher I want to say one of the producers have pointed out that she’s seen no where else other than in the cartoon for a reason.
  • jason1749@SCederlund Maybe we’ll get lucky and his death will be in the live-action series that’s coming. T
  • boxwatcher38 years old and every conversation still goes back to Star Wars….
      • Note:  I’m 39.  It doesn’t get any better as you get older, Ty.
  • boxwatcher@jason1749 @SCederlund I think she’ll die a heroic death and it will be seen as another reason for Anakin to turn..
  • jason1749@boxwatcher I’ve had it on the brain lately since my 6 year-old just got addicted. At least that’s this week’s excuse.
  • boxwatcher@jason1749 After the Hawks game tonight I’m going to have to watch A New Hope, read Secret Wars, and listen to Rush. 1980′s Deja Vu!

And that seems like a good place to leave this conversation.  The scary part is that I think all of this back and forth took place over 30-40 minutes.  This, folks, is your social media at work.

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One Response to “On Crises, Flashes and Jar Jar Binks”

  1. Jason says:

    See the sad thing is that I got home, ate dinner and spent 3 hours watching a horrible Hawks game, all the time thinking to myslef, “Man, I could be watching some Star Wars right now.” And then the shame came.

    Although, at no point did I ever think about listening to Rush.

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