Once Upon A Geek – Blue Devil #2 (July 1984)

7 responses to “Once Upon A Geek – Blue Devil #2 (July 1984)”

1. Daredevil and now the blue devil what’s next maybe you can cover the project super powers one shot about the golden age devil . Any ways great episode . And if can give myself a cheap plug on my YouTube channel Bucky749 I’ve some videos up reviewing a few issues of furry of fire issue 5 from volume 1 and issue 15 from volume 2 I choose those two cause one have physical copies and 2 they both have the same villain. Hey shag I don’t if you will this part on your show or not if you do here’s a fire storm trivia question for you and no coaching from Frank please . Which villain is in both issues and what is his power ?

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2. Is Frank being positive and enthusiastic one of the signs of the Apocalypse?

   At least we have Blue Devil comics to keep us warm in the long dark night.

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3. At the risk of compounding Frank’s “mistake,” I must echo his affirmation of both Caroline Dhavernas and Wonderfalls. I would add to that one of Bryan Fuller’s other cancelled-too-soon shows, Pushing Daisies (which *also* features Lee Pace aka Ronan the Accuser).

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   1. I’ve never seen Wonderfalls, but it sounds as twee as Pushing Daisies, which I did not like at all… it started at -10 the second I heard a narrator. Narrators are terrible.

      And yet I know you to be a person of taste, Mark…

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4. On Frank’s casting of Caroline Dhavernas and getting namechecked there, I’m really the wrong person to know who contemporary Quebec actors are. But I guess I gotta watch Wonderfalls too?

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5. What a great issue! The whole creative team was clicking on the story and the art. You guys discussed it plenty, so I’ll just say “ditto.”

   I’ll have to side with this liking the “reluctant hero” plot. It’s the main point of Blue Devil, and I’m not sure if I saw many stories like it before this series. A good thing done in the issue is the TV and radio reports about Shockwave rampaging through the city, and Danny is ignoring them. These things happen all the time in Metropolis, let alone the DC Universe, and Danny never had reason to care before. Why would he suddenly take notice now? It makes perfect sense for him to go on with his life, rather than jumping into heroics just because that’s been the trope in comics forever.

   Oh, I can say confidently that Shockwave will be back in the future. At the rate this coverage is going, let’s see, divide by 3, carry the one, check my horoscope, maybe in 2027?

   Thanks for this excuse to revisit this series!

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6. Thanks for another great show, apologies for not leaving a comment last time, I was probably off on a secret mission. Which meant I didn’t get to suggest my fan casting for Marla Bloom… I give you Wendie Malick, but playing her Hot in Cleveland character Victoria Chase playing Marla.

   So who should play Wayne? Probably half of Hollywood’s male actors could do a decent job, he’s not a deep character. Matt Le Blanc, he’ll do.

   On the casting front, Shag, do you have to edit out a lot of Frank going ‘la la la I can’t HEEEEAR you’ when you try to explain that in casting a Blue Devil film we can pitch anyone, from any stage of their career. NO MOVIE IS BEING MADE, this is just fun! The only other explanation is that you, Frank, are being deliberately obtuse, which can’t be the case, obviously.

   Shag and Frank, to answer the question from a couple of shows ago about whether Blue Devil ever got to be in any UK comic after Heroes, my memory says no. Even though we actually had a book named Shockwave. But at least I gave him the cover of Heroes! As for why we used that panel for the Shockwave story on the front of Heroes #8 – well, I was editing the comic but artistic decisions were in the hands of my pal Rob Sharp our design director. Rob’s an excellent designer and a huge DC fan.

   Regarding Shockwave, are we sure his costume is mainly white, rather than metal-shiny?

   It was a bit insensitive of Paris to write ‘Terry Austin sought’ on the newspaper when he’s being inked by Gary Martin. Unless Gary wrote it…

   I don’t get why Jock Verner doesn’t just tear up the official Blue Devil film publicity plan and cash in on Dan’s antics.

   As regards Blue Devil #2,: Frank was talking about how Blue Devil didn’t do that classic superhero landing… but was that really a thing before the Marvel movies? In ‘real life’ it’s solving a physics problem, how to land without falling over; there’s no such problem in comics.

   I remember scratching my head when I heard the name ‘Blue Devil’ could be a deliberate link to some college called Duke University. How very niche. Still, Blue Devil is a better name than Booster Gold.

   I’m with Shag, Frank, this modern notion that superheroes have to be fundamentally connected to the super villains is bunk. Flash has several villains who have more claim to being his arch foe than Reverse-Flash. The Joker isn’t Batman’s opposite, both relied on fear in their early years, and these days the Clown Prince of Crime is probably less nuts than the Gotham Guardian. Frank mentioned that Bullseye is intrinsically connected to Daredevil, Ian and Young? Why? Because DD is blind and B has good eyesight? And why are animal foes such as the Vulture supposedly so right for Spidey? Surely Spider-Man’s arch enemy should be The Giant Boot?

   (Speaking of DD, how cheeky to have Shockwave call Dan ‘hornhead?)

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