As if the grouchy Batman and swimming-pool-appearing Aquaman aren't enough to make you love Medeiros - creator of the webcomic Sopa de Salsicha ("Sausage Soup," if Google's translatobots are to be believed) - there's also his cute take on Star Wars' second-greatest double act to win you over:
Get this man working on a Star Wars comic immediately! Or a Batman comic! Or anything, really.

Parte 1 de 5 (Story continues from there) [Hellatoons]

Looking like a bulkier, meaner version of a Kubrick, the new range of toys from DC Direct - due to debut next year - is explained thusly by the company:

Kick off 2010 with a powerful and cute new look for your favorite DC Comics heroes - BATMAN, GREEN LANTERN, AQUAMAN - and more. Blammoids, a new wave of boldly designed toys from the team at DC DIRECT are unlike anything you've experienced before, but you'll definitely want to experience them again. A striking, energetic and kinetic take on the heroes you hold dear, how could you not want to collect them all? They bounce. They BOOM. They're collectible. They're Blammoids. They're fun.

I have to admit, I kind of love the weird cubiness of the Superman, and the other characters are if anything even better (Come on, look at that Aquaman):
Also, it's worth noting that Blammoid Superman is apparently a mean son of a block - Look what he's done to poor Blammoid Lex Luthor:
Blammoids will invade your lives starting next year. Watch your arms.

We already knew that Superman (Earth-2 Superman, if you want to be exact) was going to be one of the undead "Black Lanterns" returning in Geoff Johns' big summer spin-off from Green Lantern, but the second teaser image for the story released on DC's new blog The Source this week was a surprise - Aquaman. Some of you more zombie-conversant than I will have to help me here: How do zombies do with water? Wouldn't the currents just make him fall apart?

Take A Sneak Peak At The First Blackest Night Teaser, One More Blackest Night Teaser Ad [The Source]

Barry Allen, the Flash of the Silver Age of comic books and generally considered the most iconic version of the character, gave his life in 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths. His return in last year's Final Crisis was just the latest and biggest in a recent spate of resurrections from both DC and Marvel that have restored long dead characters like Captain America's sidekick Bucky Barnes and the second Robin, Jason Todd. (Really makes a mockery of the old saying, "Nobody stays dead in comics except Bucky, Jason Todd, and Uncle Ben." Well, at least Uncle Ben is still dead. Unless you count that alternate reality version from a few years ago. Which I won't.)

First of all, I really should mention the four most notable dead comic book characters: Captain America, the Wasp, the Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman. (And no, I'm not forgetting Batman. If I understood anything that happened in Final Crisis – and that's a pretty big if – it's that Batman isn't really dead.) It's a fair bet that all four of these characters will be revived eventually, despite Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada's claims that death is now a more permanent thing on Earth-616. Oh, and there's always Jean Grey, but considering she's already on her fourteenth death, it's probably a reasonable conclusion that she'll be back soon enough. But none of these characters have been gone more than five years – what about some heroes and villains who have been gone long enough for us to miss, maybe even to forget? Let's consider only those who died in that most ancient time known only as…the twentieth century.

Since writer Geoff Johns has already promised all four Flashes will figure prominently in The Flash: Rebirth, perhaps he could find time to bring back Johnny Quick as well, who merged with the Speed Force way back in 1996. One of the three Golden Age speedsters (along with the original Flash and Max Mercury, who met a similar fate in 2002), Johnny got his powers from reciting the mathematical formula "3X2(9YZ)4A." Since his death, his daughter Jesse has kept up the family business as Liberty Belle, but if there's one thing we all could use more of, it's geriatric speedsters.

Speaking of which, there's a bunch of Justice Society old-timers who deserve a comeback. To be sure, some of them, such as original Starman Ted Knight and original Sandman Wesley Dodds, lived full lives that were brought to fitting conclusions, and are in no need of resurrections. Specifically, the heroes lost in 1994's ill-fated Zero Hour event – the original Atom, Dr. Mid-Nite, and Hourman – deserve a reprieve, if only because they surely deserve a more better end than Zero Hour. Hourman has actually already been saved following a switcheroo with an android duplicate from the 853rd century (long story), but that still leaves Al Pratt and Charles McNider. To be honest, there probably isn't much use for a second Dr. Mid-Nite, but the original Atom would fill a much-needed niche – namely, the short dude who works out a lot, doesn't take crap from anybody, and packs a little something called an "atomic-punch", which is like a regular punch except it's radioactive. Frankly, I'm not sure how the DC Universe has managed without him.

It's kind of strange to think that Betty Ross has been the romantic lead in not one but two failed Hulk movies, and yet she's been dead since 1998, when the Abomination poisoned her with gamma radiation. Of course, if either Ang Lee's Hulk or last year's The Incredible Hulk had been a smash hit, there's a pretty decent chance Betty would already be back among the living. The Hulk's story has always been defined by personal tragedy, so it makes sense the deaths of his loved ones tend to be more permanent than most, but isn't it about time something finally goes Bruce Banner's way?

I doubt anyone other than me is clamoring for the return of B'wana Beast, who died in a 1992 issue of Animal Man. Technically speaking, his companion, the gorilla Djuba, is also in need of resurrecting (the fact that his sidekick is a gorilla is a key reason why I think he needs bringing back to life). Although his identity as a white superhero representing Africa is admittedly troublesome – something Grant Morrison acknowledged when he used the character in Animal Man – that shouldn't necessarily take away from the awesomeness of his powers, which include the ability to combine two different animals into a chimera that he can then control. And I'll admit it – my love of B'wana Beast may have something to do with this episode of Justice League Unlimited.

When you're an X-Man, death isn't so much a risk as it is a rite of passage. At this point, it would probably be quicker to name the X-Men who haven't miraculously come back to life at one point or another. Which makes it all the more surprising that neither Cypher, who took a bullet for his beloved Wolfsbane in 1988, and Synch, who died saving children from a bomb in 2000, have yet to return from the great mutant beyond. To be fair, the cybernetic alien Warlock does retain all of Cypher's memories and has even shown traces of his personality on occasion, but I'm pretty sure the original Cypher would argue that's not quite the same thing as being, well, alive. And for a character whose power was copying the abilities of other mutants, you'd really think Synch would have been able to pick up from his fellow heroes what Magneto has called a "survive anything" power.

The first major death of an active superhero was probably the Kree warrior Mar-Vell, known for copyright-protecting reasons as Captain Marvel, who died of cancer way back in 1982. At one point, it looked as though he had been given a semi-reprieve, plucked from a point in the time stream before he became ill and brought forward to the modern day. Unfortunately, this Captain Marvel turned out to be a Skrull sleeper agent, but that does leave the path clear for a proper return by the real Mar-Vell at a later date. Of all the heroes who died in the eighties, he is by far the biggest name that hasn't yet returned.

Thought not nearly as famous, it sure would be nice to bring back Sylvester Pemberton, The Star-Spangled Kid (or Skyman, depending on which you prefer). Killed in 1988, Pemberton is notable if only because no one ever has anything bad to say about him. He's one of the most universally missed superheroes, and if both Jay Garrick and Alan Scott say he didn't deserve to die, that's more than enough for me to say he should return.

A rather more controversial case is Vigilante, specifically the Adrian Chase version of the character. Essentially DC's answer to the Punisher, this New York district attorney turned amoral crimefighter took his own life in 1988 when he could no longer handle the guilt he felt for his actions. Adrian Chase went so far over the edge that he occasionally made Rorschach look sane by comparison, going so far as killing innocent cops who just happened to be in his way. There aren't too many people in the DC Universe who miss Chase – the current claimant to the mantle recently dismissed him as a "fool" – but if there was ever a good man who was warped by a series of increasingly bad decisions and tragic twists of fate, then this is it. He's at least as deserving of a second chance as Jason Todd.

Although he briefly had to step in for Thor during one of Loki's mindbending pranks, Eric Masterson carved out his own identity as Thunderstrike before his death in 1995. Betrayed by his lover and slowly poisoned by the curse of the Bloodaxe, Masterson was forced to go on a murderous rampage before he ultimately sacrificed himself, leaving behind his young son Kevin. I'm having a hard time imagining a set of circumstances more tragically deserving of a return.

Many Green Lanterns have died in the line of duty, as is only to be expected in an intergalactic police force. Some of the most notable include Katma Tui, Tomar-Re, and Ch'p (who I'm including because he was a talking chipmunk with a power ring, which still might be the most awesome thing in the history of comics), who have since been more or less replaced by Soranik Natu, Tomar-Tu, and B'dg. We also shouldn't forget Abin Sur, whose death was what began the entire Green Lantern mythos in the first place (well, other than the Alan Scott part). Still, I wouldn't expect to see any of these dead Lanterns again anytime soon. It's not as though there are any huge upcoming events where the dead will rise and fight the living in an epic battle that will span galaxies. Wait a second…

But maybe you're the type who likes resurrections to be impossibly controversial. Well, try these last two on for size…

If one of the big reasons behind both Green Lantern: Rebirth and The Flash: Rebirth was to restore the most iconic versions of beloved superheroes to their proper place in the DC Universe, then it's high time we had The Sandman: Rebirth. It's been a good twelve years since the Dream of the Endless that we all know and love was killed, leading to his replacement by Daniel Hall. Sure, it would serve no clear dramatic purpose and almost certainly destroy everything Neil Gaiman was trying to do with his Sandman series, and, sure, the whole concept doesn't really make sense, considering Dream is meant to be endless, so it was only one aspect of Dream that was killed, but still…I bet the fight scenes would be pretty cool. And isn't that really the most important thing?

The last couple years of Spider-Man comics have been spent desperately trying to reset Peter Parker to his most iconic version, including erasing his marriage to Mary Jane and the public's knowledge of his secret identity as well as reverting his powers back to their traditional levels. After a lot of upheaval and one very notorious deal with the devil, Peter Parker is back where everyone remembers him being…so isn't it about time we resurrect his clone Ben Reilly, the Scarlet Spider? What better way to say Spider-Man is back and firing on all cylinders than to revisit the Clone Saga? Aren't there so many questions from that storyline that still desperately need answering?

OK, I'll admit it – even I have my limits when it comes to comic book resurrection. But how about it? What long dead characters would you most like to see return from the grave?

Tonight's episode, "Journey To The Center Of The Bat," marries the sci-fi appeal of the Atom - whose size-changing powers come from a supersuit powered by an white-dwarf asteroid (Don't think about it too much) - and the mysticism of Aquaman, boastful king of Atlantis. The result is something for everyone - especially when you learn that the villain of the week is The Brain, the disembodied brain of a scientific genius from 1960s classic comic The Doom Patrol. Is there any way this series can get any more awesome?

Batman: The Brave And The Bold airs tonight at 8pm on Cartoon Network.

DC Executive Editor Dan Didio explained what he sees as "the Aquaman problem" to the LA Times' Geoff Boucher:

There have been so many twists and turns [in how we portray the character]. It's left the character confused; we try to build a strong foundation for the characters and Aquaman does not have that right now. We have to get him back to a core conceit so we can build him back up again. We need to build on what is recognizable and draw people back in. And everybody wants to try to take on the character. I have a running joke: In all my dinners with the talent at conventions, I get three or four writers who will lean into me and say, 'I know how to fix Aquaman.' Everybody says that. It's become a cause célèbre. It's a running joke but, really, it's not a joke because I know people do love the character. We're going to be very cautious from this point forward because I want to make sure it's perfect. I don't want to add to the confusion when we take another pass at him.

It's true; depending on how old you are, Aquaman is either Arthur Curry, son of a lighthouse keeper and a mermaid who likes to wear an orange sweater and green tights, or he's Orin, son of the Queen of Atlantis and a mysterious wizard who may or may not be the god of the sea, who happens to be missing a hand but has a scary-ass hook there instead... or, perhaps, he's Arthur Joseph Curry, the premature son of two humans who - because of a freak accident - can breathe water and happens to have some of Orin's soul attached to him, magically. Or something.

You may be beginning to see DiDio's problem. And, yet, I don't think that that's really "the Aquaman problem," but a symptom of it. The real Aquaman problem is that... well, everyone thinks that he sucks.

Admittedly, that whole "He talks to fish and can swim really fast" thing doesn't help his case; we all dig Michael Phelps - who, interestingly enough, can also talk to fish, although he likes to keep that quiet - but no-one really wants to see him in tights fighting crime, you know? The potential of Aquaman is entirely lost on his potential audience, leaving him open to be the butt of jokes on Entourage and having his show cancelled out from underneath him before it was even broadcast on the CW. But here's the thing: Aquaman should be awesome.

No, really; no matter what version of Aquaman you want to look at - and, to be honest, my personal preference is that Atlantean Royalty one with the hook - there's all kinds of potential there. You could go all-out mystical with the "lost civilizations under the sea" angle, you could go scientific exploration considering how little we know what's going on in 70% of the planet. You could point out that, in order to be able to swim in the depths of the oceans, Aquaman has to be pretty strong, and that his sight must also be pretty keen to be able to make out things in all that murk. Add that to his telepathy, and he's a one-man X-Men... one that could, if you so choose, be at the very least a Prince of Atlantis. There's so much potential in the Aquaman concept, whichever one you choose, that it should be impossible to fail. There's just one thing that you'd have to do to make it work; one essential thing: Lose the name.

There is, sadly, no way to get around it. "Aquaman" not only has such a weight of bad expectations and failure around it, but it's also, let's face it, a kind of shitty name. It doesn't have the iconic effect of "Superman" or "Batman," it's missing the descriptive qualities of a "Spider-Man," and the pizzaz of "The Flash." Who'd call himself "Aquaman" in this day and age? Someone who's sponsored by Aquafina? It just doesn't work anymore, so ditch it. Keep everything else - the backstory (or backstories), the powers, even the costume if you have to - the same, but give it another name, and just you wait; he'll be swimming to success in no time.

And if you can get Michael Phelps to play him in the movie, that wouldn't hurt, either.

Michael Bay
The Transformers director offers egomaniacal musings on vegan grub, explosives, and beach volleyball. What’s not to love?
Soundbite: “Right now, I am combing my hair. Holy hell it's a breathtaking mane.”

William Shatner
Apparently the real Shat has started his own official Twitter feed, but we’ll always have a soft spot for his original, macho imitator.
Soundbite: “Khhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannn!!!!! There. I said it. Happy?”

Captain Picard
Ooooh, it’s on! At the risk of mixing metaphors, thus far fake Jean-Luc Picard has secured the lead over fake former James T. Kirk in the wackadoodle division.
Soundbite: “Captain’s Log: Did Horatio Hornblower ever have to put up with this?”

Dr. Walter Bishop
The brilliant/nutty doc from Fringe makes for bountiful fodder for satire in this more-creepy-than-deadpan offering.
Soundbite: "When given the option I prefer human test subjects as opposed to animals, simply because humans can better describe the type of pain."

Darth Vader
Or as he’s come to be known: nerd comedy gold
Soundbite: “Just realized I could totaly [sic] go SCUBA diving right now if I wanted to, no special equipment needed. It’s good to be me.”

Bad Horse
The Evil League of Evil leader riffs on villainy and reveals that he's a gadget hound.
Soundbite: “Developing a new superweapon; gathering ingredients. Wondering if I should make this hoof-triggered or telepathically controlled. Decisions.” (Meanwhile, we’re eagerly waiting for his spitfire take on Harry Potter’s provocative turn in Broadway's Equus.)

David Hasselhoff
Oh, ex-Knight Rider. Why are you so easy to make fun of?
Soundbite: “Deciding which leather jacket to wear.”

Aquaman
The curious trials and tribulations of superherodom’s most muscular swimmer gets immortalized. In yo’ face, Michael Phelps.
Soundbite: “Emergency over. Making some crab salad.”

Buffy Summers
The one-liners don’t even come near to rivaling Joss Whedon’s clever TV (or comic-book) scripting, but for sentimentality’s sake—and a quick Slayer fix—this will do.
Soundbite: “Ok. Seriously: Nigerian Masks and Hawaiian Tiki dolls are never a good thing to bring into the house.”

Zombie Attack
Which zombie attack? Well, any of them. Here, the walking-dead genre is imagined in a rather gripping play by play.
Soundbite: “I grab Greg and tear him away from the body. We run towards the exit as he tries to wipe the blood from his face.”

Originally planned as a Smallville companion series by that show's creators Miles Millar and Al Gough in 2005, Mercy Reef (also known as both Tempest Keys and just plain Aquaman at various points in its development) followed the template of both Clark Kent's series and the planned Graysons pilot: Young version of DC Comics superhero faces both the forces of evil as well as the forces of growing up as he slowly changes from an annoyingly selfish/stupid/dickish character into the hero that we know and love. Like the lead in The Graysons, Aquaman's alter-ego was also given a "cooler" initialled version of his name to try and cover up his age (DJ Grayson, AC Curry).

But where The Graysons offers carnie courage and hi-jinks on the highwire, Mercy Reef had much more up its conceptual sleeve (Arguably, even more than Smallville); instead of just being destined to one day watch his parents be killed and team up with a psychopathic, violent detective with a rodent fetish, Mercy Reef's AC had a mysterious past - What had happened to his mother when she disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle when he was a child? - as well as a grander destiny as future king of Atlantis to face up to... and a cast list that was both impressive and crappy to help him do so (Ving Rhames and Lou Diamond Philips were both onboard should the show get picked up).

The pilot didn't get picked up, although it did get released - retitled as Aquaman - on iTunes (where it was the most successful TV show for awhile, surreally) and as a Best Buy-exclusive freebie for the poor deluded fans who thought that it was worth picking up the sixth season of Smallville on DVD in 2007. The actor who played AC, Justin Hartley, graduated from the pilot to become Smallville's Green Arrow (That show, of course, already had its own Aquaman), and the idea of a companion series to Smallville went away... until this week.

So, while I'm unconvinced that The Graysons is anything other than a way of trying to cash in on the success of The Dark Knight without stepping on Christopher Nolan's toes, I'm not that worried about it turning out to be another Birds of Prey, either; after all, history has shown that a pilot order means little, and that calmer heads at the CW have a way of prevailing when it comes to trying to create another Smallville.

Of course, I'm also someone who actually enjoys Smallville, so you may want to take everything I say with a pinch of salt.

Besides the Justice gang, Souders also confirmed the return of Cyborg from the Teen Titans. Will he be a new addition to DC's Super Friends?

Souders also spilled what we've all been been expecting since featured characters have been jumping off the Smallville Titanic one after the other: this season will focus on the relationship between Lois and Clark. Clark gets a job at the Daily Planet (which was hinted at in the season finale). "The camaraderie as they work side-by-side that everyone loves from the DC Comics and all the Superman lore is going to come to fruition this year," Souders told TV Guide. "The two of them are thrown together in some unfortunate situations for Clark. She becomes a little bit of an obstacle to him saving the world, when he's on a deadline."

Sounds like a predictable year. Let's hope they switch things up and let Doomsday murder the doe-eyed Clark Kent and then have his way with feisty Lois.

[TV Guide]

It features the seven founding JLA members, including John Stewart as Green Lantern and Barry Allen as the Flash. We get to see how the A-list and B-list supers founded the League. Superman has "epic battles" with both Batman and Wonder Woman. Rich bastard Max Lord turns up. So does the One Man Army Corps, which transforms regular people into killer cyborgs. It sounds as though we won't have to wait for JLA 3 to see subplot overload rivaling Spider-Man 3 and X-Men 3.

More Justice League Plot Details [/film] Image by AbbyNormy