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I absolutely love Elseworlds, and in fact, for the longest time the only comics I had were crossovers (mostly with Aliens and Predators) and Elseworlds. I loved The Doom that came to Gotham (Lovecraft fan here), and the more I learned about the DCU, the more I understood it, which is always fascinating. One thing I think The Doom that came to Gotham has over most of the other ones is the length, it's three 48-page books so it has the space to develop a solid story, while Gotham by Gaslight and Master of the Future, while I enjoyed them, both felt too short to me, they didn't have the space to tell a good mystery like they wanted. The Batman: Vampire trilogy was pretty good, the end of the third volume is certainly one of those endings you don't really expect (though those purple suits the team wore were the silliest and meshed poorly with the action and story). The Batman/Lobo Elseworlds was... a thing. It's a manic story where it's prestige format doesn't hurt it because there's not a whole lot there to begin with. It does some Elseworlds things (Batman's loyal butler James Gordon and Commisioner Pennyworth, Jimmy Olsen alias Superman, though he's merely mentioned, things like that), and I enjoy reading it but I can't possibly call it good. The art is insane, the story refuses to be serious even when terrible things happen, it has a completely ludicrous twist at the end... At some point I intend to pick up The Nail and Red Son.
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Sep 3, 2013 06:05
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I just remembered another one that I loved, Batman: Nosferatu The art was weird as hell and to be honest I never understood fully the story but drat if wasn't cool as hell. I understand that it was part of a trilogy of Elseworlds on that same style but here Nosferatu was the only one published.
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Sep 3, 2013 06:10
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I love the insane lengths some stories will got to have Kal-El end up as an American citizen named Clark Kent no matter where he starts. Take The Last Family Of Krypton. In that Jor-El and Lara went with him to Earth, there's no reason for him to be adopted by the Kents. But Lara decides growing up in the spotlight (The El family are celebrities and even own a company) is bad for him and so dumps him at the age of six with John and Martha. And despite the kid being raised in the public eye the glasses fool his classmates. And actually the Nosferatu one did get sequels, Superman: Metropolis (where Kal landed in Fritz Lang's Metropolis) and Wonder Woman: The Blue Amazon. Sequels in theme if not plot;. Mind Loving Owl fucked around with this message at 06:16 on Sep 3, 2013 |
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Sep 3, 2013 06:11
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My favourite Elseworlds is the Planetary/Batman crossover, which has a great cold-opening that very succinctly describes the Wildstorm version of Gotham and introduces two familiar faces.  Later on, this happens. 
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Sep 3, 2013 09:58
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SynthOrange posted:Forever ago I picked up What If?: Wolverine fought Conan? The best part of that Conan What If is the last word in the story before the universe is eaten is Conan shouting "CROM!" Fitting. On the topic of What Ifs? it's not a major departure, but one I always loved was issue #41 of volume 2. Basically the What If has the Fantastic Four dying in their rocket instead of landing on Earth. As a result of that one action, we get no Johnny Storm so he never finds and revives Namor. No Namor means No Captain America. But all that is window dressing, the main story is that Galactus is coming to Earth, so we get a issue spanning brawl between all the Avengers against Galactus and the Silver Surfer. The highlight of the story (and something which I'm sure is in the Badass Panels thread) is Utah deciding to break all his vows and takes on Galactus in the way that only cosmic beings can do. Both throwing perfectly timed punches that collide against each other. Oh and for some reason Dr. Doom and Nick Fury team up to shoot communists. It's the little details you have to love. Edit: I knew it was in the Badass Pannels thread, courtesy of Gavok. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3280398&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=11 The Question IRL fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Sep 3, 2013 |
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Sep 3, 2013 12:53
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Interestingly enough both Superman and Captain America had stories about them being revived/coming to Earth at the time of publication rather than a decade or two before. Captain America's What If had a pretender to his identity turn America into a authoritarian nightmare, and features Captain America actually calling America trash in an awesome speech. The Superman one had him stop a nuclear war. That was kind of cool.
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Sep 3, 2013 13:02
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Gavok posted:One Elseworlds that always bugged me was JLA: Destiny by John Arcudi. It's an okay miniseries with an awesome hook: Jor-El and Thomas Wayne survived instead of their sons. That on its own could sell a story. Its a really weird book because, as you said, there are so many characters that are different for no apparent reason. Probably the stupidest thing in the book though is the Manhunter/Manhunter reveal where you find out that the guy who was Manhunter had actually died and was replaced by J'onn pretending to be him.
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Sep 3, 2013 15:58
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The Question IRL posted:Utah deciding to break all his vows
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Sep 3, 2013 17:01
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Mind Loving Owl posted:And actually the Nosferatu one did get sequels, Superman: Metropolis (where Kal landed in Fritz Lang's Metropolis) and Wonder Woman: The Blue Amazon. Sequels in theme if not plot;. You actually have the order wrong, and they WERE sequels in plot as well: Metropolis, Nosferatu, Blue Amazon. (You see some mention of it in Nosferatu, but by Blue Amazon it's VERY CLEAR this is all in the same world and these heroes are becoming A Thing.) Apparently a fourth was at least pitched but never scripted/approved.
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Sep 3, 2013 17:09
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Syrg Sapphire posted:You actually have the order wrong, and they WERE sequels in plot as well: Metropolis, Nosferatu, Blue Amazon. (You see some mention of it in Nosferatu, but by Blue Amazon it's VERY CLEAR this is all in the same world and these heroes are becoming A Thing.) Apparently a fourth was at least pitched but never scripted/approved. Yeah, it was kind of weird when the Super-man came out of nowhere on Nosferatu and they started to reference a previous adventure of his. The fight between him and Nosferatu was awesome, though.
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Sep 3, 2013 17:26
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My personal favorite little known Elseworlds would be the Batman of Arkham, where a turn of the century Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham after studying under Freud to run Arkham Asylum and Batman on the side. The reason I like it so much is that it spends a lot of time with Bruce treating the patients of Arkham and actually making progress in helping people like Killer Croc. Because in Elseworlds, you're allowed to give the mentally ill assistance that sticks. Another favorite was Green Lantern: Evil's Might. It isn't all that good but tells the story of Kyle Rainer using a magical lantern stolen from leprechauns to fight Tammany Hall, a concept so mindbogglingly dumb it pulls out the other end to interesting.
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Sep 3, 2013 20:03
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One of my all time favorite What Ifs is What if Wolverine Became Lord of the Vampires? The X-Men fight Dracula, but lose and get turned into vampires. Wolverine, being Wolverine, resists and kills Dracula:  Logan then himself becomes king of the vampires, slowly turning all the heroes and villains into vampires. Juggernaut takes out Dr. Strange by punching him so hard in the face his neck snaps, and the Eye of Agammotto and his cloak find the only man able to take the vampires down:  Then a bunch of this poo poo happens:  If you haven't read this, pick it up.
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Sep 4, 2013 01:18
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I haven't read a ton of Elseworlds, but a really good one I read was Batman: Detective #27. It's a very old fashioned, pulpy version of Brucee becoming Batman by joining a secret society of detectives which also includes the Pinkertons and Teddy Roosevelt. There's a really cool, if somewhat predictable, twist, and a ton of little details like the implication that Bruce trained under the Shadow. It was also written by the guy who wrote the screenplay for Batman Begins.
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Sep 4, 2013 01:50
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Mr. Maltose posted:My personal favorite little known Elseworlds would be the Batman of Arkham, where a turn of the century Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham after studying under Freud to run Arkham Asylum and Batman on the side. The reason I like it so much is that it spends a lot of time with Bruce treating the patients of Arkham and actually making progress in helping people like Killer Croc. Because in Elseworlds, you're allowed to give the mentally ill assistance that sticks. I loved that one. Even take away the "turn of the century" crap and you have a great concept in "What if Batman's parents were killed by a lunatic instead of a common criminal?"  
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Sep 4, 2013 02:55
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That last page reminds me of that scene in Justice League where the Flash returns to his home town and takes out a baddie by simply checking if he's on his meds, and escorting him back home. He even offers to play darts. Does anyone know some elseworlds or what ifs where things turn out really well?
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Sep 4, 2013 05:30
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"What if Spider-man's clone had lived?" is pretty light-hearted and ends amazingly well.
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Sep 4, 2013 05:36
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What If J Jonah Jameson Adopted Spiderman is also cool and one of the rare What If's that lets Spidey live. It also has a great cover.
Mr. Maltose fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Sep 4, 2013 |
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Sep 4, 2013 06:02
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Mind Loving Owl posted:Does anyone know some elseworlds or what ifs where things turn out really well? Superman: The Dark Side both ends well and doesn't end with the "Kal-El must become Superman and end up with Lois Lane" stock ending that so many others fall prey to. Also, it does a far cooler and more interesting thing than simply set things up with "what if baby Kal's rocket landed on Apokolips instead of Earth?", but more broadly interprets the scenario as "what if Superman were an integral part of the Fourth World saga?", with very satisfying results for all involved.
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Sep 4, 2013 06:22
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Mind Loving Owl posted:Does anyone know some elseworlds or what ifs where things turn out really well? - What If the World Knew Daredevil was Blind? - What If the Avengers Fought Evil in the 1950's? (the origin of Agents of Atlas) - What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor? - What If Rick Jones Had Become the Hulk? - What If the Avengers Fought the Kree-Skrull War Without Rick Jones? - What If the Hulk Had Become a Barbarian? - What If Daredevil Became an Agent of SHIELD? - What If Spider-Man's Clone Lived? - What If Dazzler Became the Herald of Galactus? (ignoring that Earth is inexplicably destroyed in the future) - What If Iron Man was Trapped in the Time of King Arthur? - What If the Thing Continued to Mutate? - What If Spider-Man's Uncle Ben Had Lived? - What If Wolverine was an Agent of SHIELD? - What If the X-Men Had Stayed in Asgard? - What If Vision of the Avengers Conquered the World? (there's two stories, a good and a bad) - What If the Silver Surfer Had Not Escaped Earth? - What If Namor Had Joined the Fantastic Four? - What If the Fantastic Four's Second Child Had Lived? (again, a good ending and a bad ending) - What If Spider-Man Had Kept His Cosmic Powers? - What If Spider-Man Had Kept his Six Arms? - What If Venom Had Possessed the Punisher? - What If the Silver Surfer Had Possessed the Infinity Gauntlet? - What If the Punisher Became Captain America? - What If Rogue Possessed the Power of Thor? - What If Peter Parker Had to Destroy Spider-Man? - What If J. Jonah Jameson Had Adopted Spider-Man? - What If Daredevil was the Disciple of Dr. Strange? - What If Impossible Man Had Possessed the Infinity Gauntlet? - What If: Starring Spider-Girl - What If Wolverine was the Horseman of War? - What If Iron Man Became Sorcerer Supreme? - What If Dr. Doom Had Become the Thing? - What If Jessica Jones Had Joined the Avengers? - What If Daredevil Had Lived in Feudal Japan? - What If: Planet Hulk (the story where Hulk lands on the correct planet) - What If: Civil War (the story where Iron Man tries talking things through with Cap) - What If: Spider-Man vs. Wolverine - What If: New Fantastic Four - What If: Newer Fantastic Four - What If: World War Hulk (Thor intervenes) A lot of the other ones are gray areas. The good guys win in the end, but a lot of people get killed before that. Gavok fucked around with this message at 07:05 on Sep 4, 2013 |
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Sep 4, 2013 06:47
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There was this What If where Namor joined the FF. Susan got together with him instead of Reed but Reed got a scientist lady and they lived happily ever after. Oh and Namor got the Mole-Man to stop mole-manning.
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Sep 4, 2013 06:49
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As opposed to What If Spiderman Joined The Fantastic Four, where Sue leaves for Atlantis and Reed becomes a genocidal maniac.
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Sep 4, 2013 07:15
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Lurdiak posted:"What if Spider-man's clone had lived?" is pretty light-hearted and ends amazingly well. I think that one turned out badly for the readers. 
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Sep 4, 2013 12:51
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McSpanky posted:Superman: The Dark Side both ends well and doesn't end with the "Kal-El must become Superman and end up with Lois Lane" stock ending that so many others fall prey to. Also, it does a far cooler and more interesting thing than simply set things up with "what if baby Kal's rocket landed on Apokolips instead of Earth?", but more broadly interprets the scenario as "what if Superman were an integral part of the Fourth World saga?", with very satisfying results for all involved. Well I'm reading this one, haven't gotten very far, so the only comment I can make is Jesus Jor-El has a big loving head. Is he evil? He just has an evil looking head. And it's funny reading really old Superman elseworlds because you get glimpses of all the weird ideas Bryne introduced. Like Kryptonians hating sex and reproducing through magic eight balls.
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Sep 4, 2013 13:01
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Mind Loving Owl posted:Well I'm reading this one, haven't gotten very far, so the only comment I can make is Jesus Jor-El has a big loving head. Is he evil? He just has an evil looking head. Amazingly, both of these things play significantly into the plot of The Dark Side.
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Sep 4, 2013 13:30
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McSpanky posted:Amazingly, both of these things play significantly into the plot of The Dark Side. Really, Jor-El's big loving head is a plot point? And the magic eight ball wombs? Heh. Also as someone who isn't as knowledgeable about the Fourth World as I should, are all people from the two planets supposed to be super or just like the aristocracy? Also surprised Darkseid never considered enslaving a bunch of Kryptonians before. I think he did once take control of Daxam so that's one thing. Also good to know Apokolips has a yellow sun. Mind Loving Owl fucked around with this message at 13:46 on Sep 4, 2013 |
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Sep 4, 2013 13:40
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One of my favorite Elseworlds is the Secret Society of Superheroes where a young Clark Kent was inspired by the Freemasons and when he put the Justice League together, he decides that they'd work in the shadows with nobody ever knowing they existed. Basically, a Justice League of Batmen. That leads to some major morality problems because it's not like Superman can grab a criminal and bring him to the police for punishment if nobody knows he exists. Nor is there any authority keeping them in check. In other words, FBI Agent Bruce Wayne is obsessed with how the man who murdered his parents simply vanished without a trace, just like countless others. Little does he know that Superman and the others tossed them into the Phantom Zone without any due process. Wayne searches for the truth along with Lois Lane, who works at a tabloid and has some vague insight.
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Sep 4, 2013 16:29
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That's a great Elseworlds because the viewpoint character for most of it is the Flash, who's a teenager and pretty much Impulse but now he's invisible and expected to go fight crime and save people. Also Hal Jordan is a dick and crashes the stock market.
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Sep 4, 2013 19:38
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Probably the worst "Superman must become Clark Kent by the end" Elseworld is Superman, Inc. In that one Superman is adopted by the Suderman family and named Dale. When his powers start to manifest he accidentally causes his mother's death. The trauma causes him to subconsciously repress his powers so instead of being superhuman he instead is just slightly faster, stronger and tougher than average. He uses his abilities to become a basketball superstar nicknamed Superman (he also just happens to use the "S" shield as his team logo.) There's this whole thing about Luthor exposing him as an alien while J'onn helps him through the trauma of his adopted mother's death. Earlier in the book Superman's best friend Marcus Clark is killed in a plane crash and also Superman meets the Kents when they help him recover after an injury. In the end Superman leaves a message stating that he's going to go look for his home world and is leaving all of his money to charity. All in all an okay story, a little heavy on the coincidence but whatever. That's all ruined by the last page where we see Superman, wearing glasses, signing up for a journalism class under the name Clark Kent.
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Sep 4, 2013 21:06
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I was replaying Batman: Arkham City the other night and it got me thinking. Has there ever been an Elseworlds story where Batman takes up Ra's al Ghul on his offer to become his successor?
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Sep 4, 2013 21:57
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eliotlucas posted:I was replaying Batman: Arkham City the other night and it got me thinking. Has there ever been an Elseworlds story where Batman takes up Ra's al Ghul on his offer to become his successor? Sort of: In a John Byrne Superman/Batman Elseworlds series called "Generations" they show Bruce become the new Ras for a while. He directs the group's criminal activity for decades, in a way that slowly phases it out in favor of legit businesses that make money by helping people. Then he hands the job off to his grandson so he can go be Batman again. (Which he can do because of the Lazarus Pit).
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Sep 5, 2013 00:21
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Yeah Byrnes Generations wasn't terrible. Honestly for all out crazy town I have to say I really did enjoy Earth X but it really went on to long. I had some crazy awesome ideas though. Captain America especially is a great design. All of the Alex Ross design stuff is pretty fantastic, the story is a little lacking but over all it's pretty great. Also, a lot of the ideas from this series are in current 606 continuity , which is kind of strange. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_X Whats really strange is I think their using the whole Black Bolt releases the Terrigan mists on Earth again in another upcoming book. Paradise X has a undying universe courtesy of Captain Marvel.
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Sep 5, 2013 01:48
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picosecond posted:Sort of: In a John Byrne Superman/Batman Elseworlds series called "Generations" they show Bruce become the new Ras for a while. He directs the group's criminal activity for decades, in a way that slowly phases it out in favor of legit businesses that make money by helping people. Then he hands the job off to his grandson so he can go be Batman again. (Which he can do because of the Lazarus Pit). Generations isn't bad but sometimes it seems to get off on making making everyone miserable.
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Sep 5, 2013 03:48
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Has there ever been any what if books from the ultimate universe?
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Sep 5, 2013 03:50
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The Ultimates universe is one big what if. Last I was reading the Reed of that Universe is a huge villian, Hulk is Giant Man or some crazy poo poo and half the world is dead.
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Sep 5, 2013 04:52
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Hollis posted:The Ultimates universe is one big what if. Last I was reading the Reed of that Universe is a huge villian, Hulk is Giant Man or some crazy poo poo and half the world is dead. Is this where I post that map again?
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Sep 5, 2013 05:24
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Lurdiak posted:Is this where I post that map again? A map, sure sounds fun. Also let's try not to get too far into an Ultimate derail. It's pretty much it's own continuity.
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Sep 5, 2013 05:32
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Mind Loving Owl posted:A map, sure sounds fun. Also let's try not to get too far into an Ultimate derail. It's pretty much it's own continuity. Also, it has it's own thread.
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Sep 5, 2013 06:04
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Has anyone read those Stan Lee writing the DC universe books? I'm reading the Superman one at the moment, and there's some good ideas it's obvious Stan Lee hasn't updated his writing style in fifty years.
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Sep 5, 2013 06:21
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They're not good, but it's Stan Lee allowed to get goofy with the competition so it's not noxious. Batman as Attitude Era Wrasslin' Badass got a chuckle from me, at the very least.
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Sep 5, 2013 06:26
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Mr. Maltose posted:Another favorite was Green Lantern: Evil's Might. It isn't all that good but tells the story of Kyle Rainer using a magical lantern stolen from leprechauns to fight Tammany Hall, a concept so mindbogglingly dumb it pulls out the other end to interesting. I actually enjoyed that one because it showed Rayner using the power ring to help out the Irish immigrant underclasses (of which it was stated he was one). Plus, it gave Carol Ferris a good story, an interesting take on the Ferris family (her father is shown as a social-climbing, nouveau riche railroad baron) and quite a bit of agency as a suffragette/union organizer and this is apart from the fact that she eventually became the Green Lantern after Kyle died in the ending fight with Alan Scott. Plus, the art and period setting were pretty well done, as well as the Nast-esque political cartoons. Troy Queef fucked around with this message at 06:44 on Sep 5, 2013 |
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Sep 5, 2013 06:41
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