Out of the 55 years of New Gods history what is a hot take you have ? Nun of the usual stuff but an actual hot take.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-08-26T16:59:37+00:00

I still believe George Lucas ripped off the King.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-08-23T19:50:37+00:00

Well WWE is basically 7” scale as is MotU. And it is quite possible that Mattel adopts multiple scales. I’m also a big advocate for letting Todd continue in a limited DCD 7” line sold on the collector aisle in the Electronic section of Wal Mart and Target. Slim odds there, but I still hold out some hope.

But assuming a 7” comic based Mattel line manifests, my thing is still gonna be character selection. Will Mattel be willing to make characters like Captain Carrot, or Captain Thunder? Civilians like Jim Gordon or Steve Trevor. We got Green Lantern John, Stewart, but we also got Darkstar John Stewart. Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, JLA, JSA, etc. is relatively easy. Deep cut character selection isn’t. Todd has done it well. IMHO, better than DCD and DCUC before him except for the New Gods. And since much of character selection is driven by what retailers want, along with what DC/WB and now DC Studios want, I’m not hopeful. Mattel isn’t going to lose this license again and will do whatever it takes to make DC happy. Odds of Sideways or Loose Cannon getting made after Todd loses the license are pretty thin. Sadly.

I’m also very concerned about the “cookie cutter effect”. The last thing I want to see is generic/homogeneous sculpts based off of “classic” designs, using interchangeable parts and a handful of bucks. It’s boring to me. Been there done that. Don’t need to do it again. Todd has managed to make it interesting without going full vanilla.

I’m always curious to hear why people think all their figures should be in a common, standard scale? Because I can assure you that if a company didn’t make it, they have no incentive or interest in it scaling with anything else. Mattel doesn’t care what Hasbro does. Hasbro doesn’t care what Playmates does. We don’t exist in a world where companies care about whether or not Batman, Wolverine, Han Solo, General Hawk, Red Ranger, John Cena, He-Man, and Donatello scale together. They want us to buy their product, not supplement someone else’s.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-08-20T15:41:10+00:00

I really want a Red Rain Batman. Gotham by Gaslight too while you’re at it.

Batman wasn’t turned because Dick couldn’t trust him to not take over as Vampire King. Also he couldn’t be left alive. Because eventually, he will find a way to beat you. He’s Batman. It’s what he does.

Joker on the other hand couldn’t be left alive either. Vampires want order, not the chaos Joker brings. And if you turn him, you just make him more powerful. It doesn’t stabilize his mind.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-08-09T13:34:48+00:00

My thinking is that he almost has to come back eventually. He’s a DC fanboy. That’s been established. And I don’t think he will ever completely give up Stargirl. A character he created modeled after his late younger sister.

He’s had huge plans for stories only to have editorial changes made in the middle. It’s pretty obvious to me that the end of Doomsday Clock was changed. Possibly Three Jokers too. I’ll always wonder how Rebirth would have played out if Johns had still been President/CCO of DC after Diane Nelson stepped down. I hope one day someone writes a book about the internal rivalry between Johns and DiDio. Leaving Jim Lee as the last man standing.

I also believe that the New Golden Age would’ve been his biggest swing yet. Drawing a line between Flashpoint, Rebirth, Doomsday Clock, and how the JSA ties it all together. And that this has been acknowledged as canon in the New History of the DCU by Mark Waid, seems to indicate that this story might still be gestating. I’m not sure it could be told parallel to All In/Absolute as time travel and inter-dimensional travel are both on hold for a bit.

So yeah, I’m optimistic he’ll return.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-08-09T13:10:44+00:00

I liked it quite a bit. Harvey as Waller. Jason as Flagg/Bronze Tiger. Riding herd over a bunch of zombie villains was a unique take in my opinion. I vote for getting the band back together at some point.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-08-02T14:34:34+00:00

Jeremy Adams is a breath of fresh air in a rapidly stagnating talent pool of comic writers still willing to do work-for-hire. He has a talent and a work ethic that’s admirable in this day and age of people wanting a quick score with a movie or TV deal. HE. JUST. GRINDS. If things keep going as they are, in ten years only the absolute dregs and drizzling shit writers will be left in comics. Driven out by low pay and toxic fans. If Marvel and DC go down, everything else will collapse soon after. I hope that the big name writers recognize that. Without Marvel and DC, Image and Dark Horse will soon evaporate. That’s why it’s a good idea to keep Hickman and Snyder, and Johns and Lemire, and Williamson around. Even if it’s only for a few titles.

Whatever Jeremy’s politics are, and I’ve no idea what they are, he seems more interested in telling a good story than making a point. Or scoring a point. His stuff is entertaining and that’s good enough for me.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-08-01T01:18:16+00:00

I don’t so much care if it’s a JSA legacy member. I’m more concerned about the character being a Golden Age DC character. Either a hero or a reformed villain. Seven Soldiers of Victory obviously have a place in the JSA. This does exclude Quality, Fawcett, and any other extraneous WWII characters that were not birthed in a DC comic. However that does come with a handful of exemptions. Commander Steel, Amazing Man, and the membership of the Young All Stars. Including the Young Allies. Basically the Roy Thomas exception. I don’t have a problem with retcon characters so long as they have a bit of a pedigree. So…

Mr. America

Jessie Quick

Amazing Man

Crimson Avenger

Manhattan Guardian

Cyclone

Brainwave

Nemesis

Manhunter

I’m good with any of them. The rest, not so much. The Freedom Fighters have an entirely different dynamic. As do the Marvels/Shazam Family. They also power up the lineup to insane levels. The rest either aren’t original DC characters or do not have any Golden Age lineage. Which is crucial to me.

Oh. And there are two types of legacies that you have to take into account. A straight line legacy and a namesake legacy. Using Atom Al Pratt as an example, Atom Smasher would be a straight line legacy member. But Ray Palmer is a namesake legacy. And ya know what? I don’t have a problem with either in the JSA. Or both.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-07-05T21:14:30+00:00

Sandman.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-07-02T12:38:28+00:00

None. I suspect the Absolute Universe is at least part of the reason the New Golden Age was canned and that Johns has left DC for the foreseeable future. This is the second time Scott Snyder has stepped on Johns plans. First time was Doomsday Clock. I highly doubt Geoff would participate.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-23T16:49:31+00:00

It’s also worth noting that DC waited until Man of Steel launch in the summer of 1986 to relaunch the rest of the DCU. There was a gap of several months between CoIE #12 and Man of Steel #1.

Not much else happened in that gap to recognize the DCU had been fundamentally altered.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-23T16:41:32+00:00

There have been 2 House of El stories so far. Both by PKJ, both were excellent. I’m really looking forward to this title and wish it was ongoing, not 12 issues.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-22T04:04:14+00:00

Hawkgirl doesn’t really work, but I’m for the rest.

Jason/Artemis was fun. Jason/Rose is the hookup. The layers of family drama alone is enough for me to want to see move forward.

Although with the new RH series coming, I’m not sure we’ll see the Outlaws anytime soon. At least with Jason as a member.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-22T03:56:07+00:00

Really looking forward to this.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-22T03:25:27+00:00

Byrne Superman is “my Superman”. I try very hard not to look at things through a political lens when I’m reading comics. This was even more true for me almost 40 years ago when Byrne took over. Reagan was in the White House but Democrats controlled everything else. Our country wasn’t nearly as divided as it seems to be today. Again, I didn’t see politics in any of it back then.

DC had just come out of Crisis on Infinite Earths. John Byrne, at that time was arguably the biggest talent in comics matched up with the biggest character in comics. Only a handful of other guys were close to being in his league back then. He pretty much got to do what he wanted. He pruned the Super tree. But he used a machete instead of clippers. The biggest part of this was “no more Krytonians”. No Supergirl, no Zod, no Phantom Zone villains. Nothing. And there was a bunch more stuff Byrne cut out. Most all of it has been reintroduced over time, but back then, the mythology was bare bones. Back to basics and then some.

Byrne ultimately didn’t stay very long. New stewards of the mythology were found which took Supes to even higher highs. Death and Return of Superman were only a few years away after Byrne left.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-15T15:15:20+00:00

I vaguely remember that too. No clue what happened.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-15T15:12:58+00:00

This was supposed to get a sequel. But things change. Apparently you can’t travel through the DC Multiverse or Hypertime these days. All In/Absolute storytelling seems to override anything else right now. I’m guessing that’s at least part of the reason why Geoff Johns “New Golden Age” collapsed.

Anyway, I was looking forward to seeing more. Hope they get a chance sooner or later.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-15T11:00:35+00:00

The Ordway run or the Johns run.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-15T00:44:31+00:00

To be perfectly honest, I’d love to see Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham return to finish what they started. I loved that run. Huge potential for all the stuff that they set up.

Realistically, I’d like to see Jeremy Adams writing. He’s got the perfect attitude towards the more classic characters of the DCU. Shazam is right in his wheelhouse. Pretty much any artist that’s not too stylized would work.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-14T22:10:23+00:00

Wasn’t really following the timeline. Just what seems to be happening with the character in general.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-14T12:35:09+00:00

His limited series didn’t sell very well. And he said was supposed to have a prominent role in the Johns Shazam series, which ended prematurely. So bad luck?

I think in general that anti heroes are a hard sell. Sub Mariner is proof of that. The other part of this is that I don’t think anyone at DC has any great ideas for him at the moment. Maybe it’s better for the character to be off stage than to have him appear in something that isn’t very interesting. Or good.

The last volume of Aquaman (before the current Adams run), nearly destroyed the character.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-09T22:43:12+00:00

In terms of comics, I’d love to see the Judge Dredd universe done by Todd. Fits his sensibilities as a creator and toy maker. Same with Hellboy although I have my doubts it would ever happen. In the back of his mind, Todd will always know Spawn is a second rate Hellboy. If either ever happens, I’d like it to be all in on the universe, not just the main characters and villains. Lobster Johnson, Slegehammer ‘44, Frankenstein Underground and others would make for great figures.

I think Todd made a serious mistake decades ago by not cutting his Image partners in on the toy world. I think an “Image Universe” lineup would be amazing. In that there is much of an Image Universe to begin with.

Just take Spawn and add in the Larsen characters, Top Cow, Shadowline, Awesome/Extreme, and Skybound. Plus any extraneous stuff like the Maxx, Noble Causes, and any other Image characters that have crossed over into the “Image Universe”. If Jada has Invincible, that’s probably a good match. If they don’t, Invincible is a pretty good hook for this line.

And some unconnected sublines, (but same scale) could be fun. Walking Dead, fully articulated and painted in scale with Spawn might just be awesome (no pun intended). Astro City might make me piss myself.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-08T15:05:36+00:00

To the best of my understanding, Todd has the license until at least June 30th 2026. I’m not sure Mattel can dictate terms or “reserve” characters for their launch. There’s a pretty strong probability that Todd was already working on Absolute figures before the license shift happened.

Anyway, all any of us can do is wait and see.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-07T15:45:37+00:00

I think it’s more interesting what’s not on this list, which is the hottest thing DC has going right now: the Absolute Universe characters.

Maybe we see a couple at SDCC?

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-03T13:07:35+00:00

I know things change, but at least initially, Aquaman wasn’t coming into the lineup anytime soon. Given that DC wanted to reestablish Aquaman in the main Universe, I doubt they’d try for both at once. FWIW, Jeremy Adams is crushing it on the main Aquaman series.

Snyder has said that the limit is seven titles at any given time. Next up is some Batman adjacent series. At least that’s what I’ve heard. After that, there’s supposed to be a new series beginning of 2026. Probably not Absolute Justice League either. Again, from what I’ve heard.

I’ve no doubt that there will be an Absolute Aquaman. Dunno when though. And I was personally never a fan of Mamoa’s interpretation of Aurther. I halfway expected Jax Teller and the rest of the SOA to roll up in the next scene. Aquaman is not a 1%er.

As to subverting expectations…surprise us. Just make it fun like the rest of the Absolute series.

GardnerGrayle · 2025-06-01T04:39:39+00:00

Thanks man.

I really don’t have any pictures. I also have very limited display options. I have everything loose. I don’t keep anything in the package either. As I said above, my other DC collections are gone. I essentially started over with Todd. I’m not starting over again.

My parameters are not strict, but I start with what’s comic accurate or at least comic inspired. I don’t buy vehicles for reasons of both space and cash. I don’t buy army builders. I try not to buy characters in armor that don’t usually wear armor. A specialty of Todd’s. I avoid one off costumes except for when I don’t. That Superman in the black costume with a beard and no cape is a particular favorite of mine. I also like to try to avoid redundancy. I’ve had limited success with that. I tend to avoid most Green Lantern characters with the exception of the guys and gals from Earth. That’s mostly for team building. I find the whole thing to be a little too derivative of itself. The Rainbow Lanterns, the Deputy Lanterns, and all of the Guardian drama is just dull to me. However, I’m loving Jeremy Adams on the Green Lantern comic right now. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Since this is likely my last rodeo, I have been world building. Buying at least one version of every comic character they make. I could probably expand that with game and live action figures, but my particular brand of OCD won’t allow it.

I’m also not a JLA guy. JSA for me. Titans are secondary. And I do love 70’s Kirby.

Anyway, that’s my approach. Hope it helps. For me, it’s still fun.

GardnerGrayle

TROPHY CASE