Appearance Spotlight: Black Lightning

The second season of the CW's Black Lightning premiered last night, so today is a perfect time for this post.

Black Lightning getting his own show was a big deal. Not only because he's the first black superhero to headline his own show on tv, although that's certainly a big deal, but also because for a long time, DC wasn't able to use him in adaptations. There was a dispute between DC and Tony Isabella over royalties, so DC would ignore Black Lightning in adaptations or use a stand-in character (such as Black Vulcan). By 2009, the dispute was apparently resolved because he appeared on Batman: The Brave and the Bold and then numerous adaptations after that.

The show (which debuted January 2018) was a huge hit with both fans and critics, although it did get some flak for the bulky suit Cress Williams had to wear. I understand the criticism, although it does make sense within the world of the show; as an older superhero who's been out of the game for almost 20 years, he needs to wear a costume that gives him more protection than a younger hero would.

His most recent outfit in the comics prior to the show was the one he got during The New 52, which, like so many other New 52 re-designs, is pretty hideous.

To coincide with the show, DC released a miniseries called Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands in November 2017 (cover date January 2018) that gave Black Lightning a suit that looks an awful lot like his tv version.

It's not exact, but it shares several elements in common: the goggles, the blue top/yellow bottom lightning bolts, the blue "belt buckle", the blue streaks on the forearms, the fingerless gloves, to name a few.

You're probably thinking right about now that the math doesn't add up. If this suit debuted in November and the show didn't premiere until two months later, what am I on about? Well, Black Lightning was in development for a long time, first at Fox and then at the CW. So the first time the public saw the suit was all the way back in March of 2017, almost a full year before the series first aired.

The Ray’s Sexuality

The Ray has a long history in comics, and has gone through a lot of changes throughout the years.

The first Ray was "Happy" Terrill, who was published by Quality Comics. Quality was bought by DC Comics in 1956, and in 1973, the Ray was grouped with other Quality characters as the Freedom Fighters, superheroes from Earth-X, a world where World War II never ended. Following Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), the Freedom Fighters were established on the new Earth as active during WWII.

In 1992, DC introduced a new Ray, Ray Terrill, who was the son of the original Ray. He went on to join the Justice League, and has also been on teams such as Young Justice and a new incarnation of the Freedom Fighters.

Following Infinite Crisis in 2005, DC introduced a new Freedom Fighters and a new Ray named Stan Silver. He's not very important. Another new Ray, Lucien Gates, was introduced in The New 52, but he's not very important either.

A couple years ago, Grant Morrison redesigned the DC multiverse in a series called Multiversity (2014). He brought Earth-X back, but made a few changes; in addition to the world being called Earth-10 and now having a Justice League, albeit one that works for the Nazis, the Freedom Fighters were made up of people targeted by the Nazis. With that in mind, the Ray was now homosexual. It's not clear which Ray this is, but he's dressed like the original Ray.

In August 2016, DC announced it would be making an animated series called Freedom Fighters: The Ray, set on Earth-X and part of the multiverse that the other DC CW shows (Arrow, Supergirl, et al.) belong to. They also noted that this Ray would be Ray Terrill and the art they released with the announcement showed him wearing a version of Ray's classic outfit.

Surprisingly, Freedom Fighters: The Ray didn't debut until over a year later - December 8, 2017. This version of The Ray actually made his first appearance in the Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Earth-X" the week before (November 27-28, 2017). That's why I noted when the show was announced, because in January 2017, DC released Justice League of America: The Ray - Rebirth #1, which introduced Ray Terrill to the new Reborn DC Universe - a Ray Terrill that happens to be gay.

Now, you may be thinking this could just be coincidence. Maybe the show and the book independently decided to base their Rays on the Multiversity one. That's possible...except check out which characters got Justice League of America spotlights:

The Atom is on Legends of Tomorrow (and that suit is based on his appearance in the show). Killer Frost is on The Flash. Vixen is on Legends of Tomorrow and Vixen (and that suit is based on her appearance in the show). And The Ray is on Freedom Fighters: The Ray. All CW shows, all part of the Arrowverse. I don't think that's a coincidence.

Costume Spotlight: The Atom

This is The Atom, aka Ray Palmer.

This is The Atom, aka Ryan Choi. Choi first appeared after Ray Palmer disappeared following the events of Identity Crisis (2004).

The CW introduced Ray Palmer to the Arrowverse in the season 3 premiere of Arrow (October 2014). They originally wanted to use Ted Kord/Blue Beetle, but DC said he was tied up elsewhere. So they basically did a find-and-replace on all instances of "Ted Kord" in the script and called it a day. Instead of being a science professor at Ivy University, Ray Palmer is a technology CEO who builds himself an exosuit.

And if you think I'm being too harsh, check this out: Ray Palmer uses the ATOM suit in six episodes of Arrow season three and one episode of The Flash season one. We don't find out it can shrink until Arrow season four.

Anyway, last year DC ushered in Rebirth, which was supposed to accomplish several different things, one of which was bringing back fan-favorite characters that the New 52 had shuffled off. One of these was Ryan Choi, who appeared in DC Rebirth #1 (May 2015).

As you can see, Ray Palmer is still wearing his classic costume. But when Ryan Choi debuted (again) at The Atom in Justice League of America: The Atom #1 (January 2017), it was in a costume very reminiscent of the tv version.

Appearance Spotlight: Vixen (post-Rebirth)

DC's Rebirth initiative has two goals, which at first seem at odds with each other, but seem to be working so far. The first is to shake up the majority of their line, taking their books in new directions that feel fresh. The other is to make it feel more like the pre-New 52 DC Universe by bringing back fan favorite characters, iconic outfits, and popular backstories. I guess there's also a third category that falls in between these two, which is adjusting their books to better match popular adaptations. This falls under that third category.

Vixen has been featured on this site before for her wardrobe changes. You can read about that here. That post will bring you up to the New 52, but shortly after that, Vixen got an animated series on CW Seed (August 2015). So while in the comics she looked like this:

On the show she looked like this:

The series turned out to be fairly popular, to the point that the character made a live action appearance on Arrow, played by her voice actor. Another Vixen, the first Vixen's grandmother, appeared this season on Legends of Tomorrow as a member of the Justice Society. With all that exposure, it makes sense to update her costume again (especially to get rid of that plunging neckline), so in DC Rebirth #1 (May 2016), we got this:

Which was modified a little into this in Justice League of America: Vixen #1 (January 2017):

Character Spotlight: Eliza and Jeremiah Danvers

This is the type of thing DC's Rebirth should be doing. Bringing back elements from the pre-new 52 DCU is all well and good, but where possible, they should also be making their properties closer resemble their adaptations tv shows. And in this instance, they've done just that. But first some history:

When Supergirl first appeared, Kara Zor-El was an orphan that went by the name Linda Lee on Earth. After a few years, however, she was adopted by Fred and Edna Danvers to become Linda Danvers. That was the status quo until Supergirl died in Crisis in Infinite Earths.

Post-Crisis, Supergirl was a [long story] named Matrix. But when she got her own series in 1996, part of the premise was that she bonded with a teenage girl named Linda Danvers, and could switch back and forth between them. Linda's parents were Fred and Sylvia Danvers.

Eventually, a Kara Zor-El version of Supergirl arrived post-Crisis. She lasted into the New 52, but neither of these versions had adoptive parents (well, at first; more on this in a bit).

Last year (2015), Supergirl got her own tv series. In it, she was adopted by Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers and started going by Kara Danvers. As Supergirl, she would work for the Department of Extranormal Operations, and over the course of the first season, we would learn that Jeremiah did as well.

Supergirl Rebirth #1 (August 2016) continues the story of the New 52 Superman, but changes it to match the show as much as it can. Supergirl is now working for the DEO in National City (where she lives in the show), which is led by Cameron Chase (who also appears in the show) instead of Director Bones. She is given two DEO agents, Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers, to be her handlers and "parents". Therefore, Supergirl now has Kara Danvers as a secret identity, and has the same brown hair/ponytail/glasses look she does on the show. It's not exactly adoption, but maybe it'll be made legit down the road.

And no word yet on whether they have a daughter named Alex, but I'm sure she'll show up sooner than later.

Costume Spotlight: The Flash's TV Look (With Bonus Reverse-Flash!)

Just in time for the season two finale, I present the time DC changed the Flash's costume to be more in line with the tv show...only to have the tv show make the change irrelevant only a few months later! Of course, this isn't the first time the Flash's outfit has reflected the small screen, as I've covered before.

When The New 52 happened, every character got a design overhaul. Some were major, some were minor, but all of them involved a bunch of extraneous lines. Fortunately, The Flash came off looking pretty good since extra lines means more places for lightning to flow from. Here's how he looked beginning in 2011:

Not bad!

Come 2014, The Flash gets his own series on The CW, with a pretty accurate costume...with some exceptions. The main one being that instead of a white circle behind the lightning bolt, it was red. I've never been able to figure out why this is, since the pilot shows a picture of a future Flash that has the white circle, but that's the choice they made. (The other one being that he doesn't have yellow boots, which has never occurred to me before but now that I've noticed it, it's going to bug me big time).

So in The Flash #41 (June 2015), the Flash in the comics gets a new costume that looks very similar. Even the extraneous lines have been moved to more accurately reflect the extraneous lines on his tv costume. And this was definitely to tie into the show, because this storyline also introduces the Reverse Flash to the New 52, and he was the primary antagonist of The Flash season 1.

So yay, he looks more like the tv show! ...except that season two of The Flash changed the circle to white only three months later. Of course, now that DC Rebirth is happening, I have no idea how the two costumes will compare.

But hey, speaking of Reverse Flash! Here's what he looked like prior to the New 52:

Simple, clean, efficient. I dig it. Here he is in The Flash season one (2014-2015):

Pretty good. A little too much black for my taste, but it gets the job done. So, of course, when he's introduced in the New 52 an issue before Barry's new costume (May 2015)...

...there's the black! Arguably not as much as the tv version, and they changed the shape of his symbol to a diamond for some reason, but it's still clearly based on the tv version.

Just A Small Little Thing: Starling City

In Bizarro #2 (July 2015), Bizarro and Jimmy Olsen visit a town called Starling City:

Starling City (now called Star City) is, of course, the home of Arrow (now called Green Arrow) in the show Arrow. It first appeared in "Pilot" (October 2012). The "You Have Failed This City" refers to a repeated phrase spoken by Arrow on the show, and the arrows and their color should go without explanation

Now, let's be honest. This is mainly just a gag and we'll probably never heard about Starling City again. BUT, this series was in-continuity, which means somewhere out there is a Starling City in the DC Universe that has ties to something involving green arrows.

Character Spotlight: Felicity Smoak

This is another of those tricky ones.

Felicity Smoak has appeared in this month's Green Arrow #35 (October 2014). Now, even though Smoak is most well-known as Oliver Queen's techie sidekick on Arrow (first appearance: "Lone Gunmen", Oct 24, 2012), she was actually a comics character first. Specifically, she was the manager of a software company that eventually became Firestorm's stepmom, who first appeared in Firestorm #23 (April 1984).

However, as you can see from the pictures below, this new Smoak is clearly based on Emily Bett Rickards' portrayal on the show. So at the very least this is an Appearance change, but I'm willing to call this a full Character immigrant. I'll tag it as both, though. And 52 Shakeup, just to be thorough.

Important note: starting with this issue, Green Arrow will be written by two of the main writers of Arrow, so I fully expect more of these. Diggle and Smoak are just the beginning. They brought back Mia Dearden; I'm willing to bet we'll find out soon she's secretly Ollie's sister.

Character Spotlight: Tommy Merlyn

Tommy Merlyn first appeared in the pilot of Arrow (September 2012) as the party-going best friend of Oliver Queen. It's later revealed that he's the son of Malcolm Merlyn, a business partner of the Queens and also secretly the vigilante/villain known as the Dark Archer, a version of Green Arrow's archenemy Merlyn the Archer (real name: Arthur King).

Green Arrow #0 (November 2012) introduced Tommy Merlyn to the New 52 in a similar role as the show. Unfortunately, that's the only appearance he's made to date, and it's unclear what role he'll play in the future. Further complicating matters is the fact that the Arthur King version of Merlyn has made appearances elsewhere in the New 52.

Because the appearances are only separated by a few months, I should note that Tommy was in all likelihood created for the comics and then seeded into the show for exposure, like several other immigrants before him. But because he's not the first immigrant I've noted to have done that, and because at this point he's primarily known as a tv character, I still feel comfortable listing him.

Character Spotlight: Diggle

The second post today is John Diggle, who first appeared in the Arrow pilot, played by David Ramsey. He was originally presented as Oliver Queen's bodyguard and driver, but has since been brought into the secret and also acts as Arrow's muscle (and his conscience). We've also slowly learned that, being ex-military, he has ties to both ARGUS and the Blackhawks.

As perhaps the only original character in Arrow, it was only a matter of time before he made the jump to comics and he finally did so in Green Arrow #24 (October 2013).

His name is a reference to well-known Green Arrow author Andy Diggle, which is also the name of Diggle's brother.