Character Spotlight: Eve Teschmacher

Eve Teschmacher first appeared in Superman: The Movie (1978) as Lex Luthor's attractive assistant. She hasn't appeared in comics much because that role is filled by the much more capable Mercy Graves - also a canon immigrant - but she has been seen here and there. The first such appearance was in JLA: Earth 2 (2000).

Characters Spotlight: Jay and Raven

Jay and Raven are part of a trio of molls that work for the Penguin; they first appeared in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "The Ultimate Thrill" (1997). They made a few sporadic appearances but were never major characters. They later appeared, along with their partner Lark, as working for the Penguin in Detective Comics #5 (March 2012), also in a non-major role. Although Lark also appeared in the animated series, her first appearance was in a 1990 comic.

Character Spotlight: Protector

Protector (real name: Jason Hart) first appeared in "New Teen Titans Drug Abuse Awareness" #1, a 1983 PSA comic sponsored by Keebler. Protector was a stand-in for Robin, who was licensed by Nabisco at the time. He became a real deal member of the Titans in Team Titans #24 (September 1994), which happened to be the last issue of the series, so he never appeared again. He's made some cameos here and there, such as in the Infinite Crisis hardcover (2006), but never had much of an impact.

Bane's New 52 Appearance

DC's "New 52" initiative promised a ton of new stuff, but it seems like the only things that have had any real change is the characters' costumes. With that in mind, Bane's clothing also changed, and it changed to the paramilitary look of the character in The Dark Knight Rises (2012). You know..."new". At least they didn't change the mask. He made his New 52 debut in Batman #23.4 (October 2013).

Left top: Original Bane

Right top: Dark Knight Rises Bane

Bottom: New 52 Bane

Gadget Spotlight: Tumbler

I've mentioned the Tumbler - Batman's pseudo-Batmobile from Batman Begins (2005) and its two sequels - before in a previous post, but that was just as a background element. An inside joke that, while still counting for the purposes of this blog, is pretty unofficial. But it made its full-page, actually-get-to-see-Batman-using-it debut in the pages of Detective Comics #20 (July 2013), which is part of the "Zero Year" storyline, and therefore a fitting appearance.

Cross-Universe Immigration: A Rarity

It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while, sometimes things from an alternate reality gets brought over to the mainstream universe. Maybe it's because the character is popular, or maybe it's a creator's pet, or it could be any of several other reasons. I've touched on this before here. Today, we have three new examples, this time from Marvel (and one from DC).

The first is Monica Chang, who first appeared as the new Black Widow in Ultimate Comics Avengers #3 (December 2009). She later appeared in Avengers AI #1 (September 2013) as a SHIELD agent.

The second is Geldoff, who first appeared as a Latverian mutant villain in Ultimate Spider-Man #40 (July 2003). He later appeared in the 616 universe as an Avengers Initiative trainee named Proton in Avengers Initiative #8 (February 2008).

Number three is Sophia Sanduval, aka Chat, who first appeared in Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #53 (September 2009), as a mutant who can talk to animals. She later jumped to the mainstream in Spider-Girl #4 (April 2011).

And finally we have Carrie Kelley, the future Robin from The Dark Knight Returns (1985). She made her debut on Earth-Zero as a student at Gotham Community College who had been giving Damien Wayne acting lessons; her first appearance was Batman and Robin #19 (June 2013).

Gadget Spotlight: Thing Rings

Back in the 60s and 70s, adapting comic books into cartoons was really popular, but actually staying true to those comics wasn't. And possibly the best example of this is the late 1979 cartoon "The Thing", one half of the cartoon series Fred and Barney Meet The Thing. In the cartoon, The Thing is a kid named Benjy Grimm who can turn into The Thing when he touches two magic rings together as he says, "Thing Ring, do your thing!" (The jury's still out on whether he needs to say it or if it's just an affectation.)

Someone - Matt Fraction, to be exact - finally found a way to incorporate those into the comics in FF #1 (January 2013) with the introduction of Darla Deering, aka Ms. Thing. Deering uses two decidedly not magical rings created by Reed Richards that release Thing-shaped unstable molecules when she touches them together. She too says "Thing rings, do your thing!" but it is definitely not necessary.