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Brian Hague
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Posted: 18 November 2019 at 1:11am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Lee originally kept the secret identity trope in place for the Human Torch in early issues of Strange Tales. While the FF didn't seem to have secret I.D.'s in their own mag, just as the Challengers, Sea Devils, Rip Hunter's team, et al, didn't, over in Strange Tales, Johnny was said to be keeping his identity as the Torch on the down-low. Those guys he was working on that hot rod with in FF #1? Trusted pals who were in on the secret, sworn never to tell a soul! His sister, the famous Invisible Girl? Well, yes, everyone knew who she was, but no one knew the Torch was her little brother! For the first few episodes of his series, villains tried to figure out who the Torch really was, and Johnny worried about his flame going out and people being able to see his real face. 

The idea that Stan and Co. junked the idea of the secret identity from the get-go is yet another Marvel Myth.

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Koroush Ghazi
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Posted: 18 November 2019 at 5:03am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

 Eric Sofer wrote:
Mr. Byrne... that was sarcasm, wasn't it? :P




"Are you kidding me? This baby's off the charts!"


As for me, I think it's edgy, but not edgy enough. I believe it's time for that story... you know, the one which reveals that Superman is actually a Kryptonian female. And she's pregnant. With Batman's baby. Beat that Bendis!
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Brian Miller
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Posted: 18 November 2019 at 8:18am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

It’s now being explained to me that the plan is for EVERYBODY to find out the secret identity. 
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Phil Kreisel
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Posted: 18 November 2019 at 11:02am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

I thought that the best story in which a hero's secret identity was discovered was when Batman visited the apartment of Silver St. Cloud.  I can't recall right this second the reason he did it, but she didn't say anything, but she knew up close he was Bruce Wayne (who she was dating).  It made total sense, actually, given that she was intimate with him.

It seems to me that the only people who should ever suspect a hero's secret would be someone who interacted with the hero and his alternative identity.

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Brian Tait
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Posted: 18 November 2019 at 11:16am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

That's Bendis' speciality, though. He can take a story that could be done in two issues and milk it for a lot longer.
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Admittedly, I'm not buying anything new anymore......... However, that is why, for the first time ever, I am not picking up the new Legion series. Dialogue drives me crazy.
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Greg McPhee
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Posted: 18 November 2019 at 12:26pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

But...most people in the DC Universe assume Superman has no other identity as he doesn't wear a mask.
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Andrew W. Farago
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Posted: 18 November 2019 at 12:35pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

One of my favorite aspects of Bendis's tenure so far has been the focus on the Daily Planet and its staff, really getting into the nuts and bolts of what goes on behind the scenes in a contemporary newspaper office. Between Action Comics and the current Lois Lane series, we've seen disciplined, motivated reporters who treat their jobs as a calling, to serve the public good. I don't know why you'd want to toss all that away just to do the kinds of superhero stories you can do with just about any other character.

Spider-Man really lost its way about fifteen years ago when he joined the Avengers and stopped working for the Daily Bugle. Superhero with regular, everyday problems in his secret identity is a great story; superhero who only has superhero problems...I think we've got enough of that already.
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Adam Schulman
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Posted: 18 November 2019 at 1:48pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

That's Bendis' speciality, though. He can take a story that could be done in two issues and milk it for a lot longer.

***

This is precisely the critique I've heard of EVENT: LEVIATHAN. Also that the whole series didn't even tell a coherent story. Which lines up with what he's been writing in SUPERMAN.

People were mentioning Chris Claremont in another thread. Even if you didn't like Claremont's work he knew how to write a coherent story. The worst thing about Bendis isn't that he makes bad story choices -- it's that he's become an incompetent writer. And yet he's a "star." WHY? His DAREDEVIL run was 20 years ago. So was ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN.

(Yeah, he created Miles Morales. I still don't find Miles a compelling character, and I really hate that he's "Spider-Man." The Marvel Universe isn't the DC Universe, where there can be multiple Earth-born Green Lanterns and such. The only "mainstream" Spider-Man who should exist is Peter Parker.)
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Vinny Valenti
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Posted: 18 November 2019 at 4:40pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

"But...most people in the DC Universe assume Superman has no other identity as he doesn't wear a mask."

--

Has anyone done a scene cementing this besides JB? Like say Superman flying in civilian clothes like he did in MAN OF STEEL#2, doing mundane things like buying apples from a fruit stand, and then flying away?

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Greg McPhee
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Posted: 18 November 2019 at 5:07pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Vinny, I don't think so, but since the 1986 revamp most writers have just taken it this way. I think until this Bendis nonsense the closet we saw was Jimmy Olsen seeing Superman wearing a wedding ring circa 1999, and assuming he had a life beyond Superman.
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