I don’t write often, mostly because my fellow partners in Unshaven Comics chain me to the art desk. But like that wonderful passage “opinions are like assholes, everyone’s got one”, I have an opinion. Mostly on legacy characters in comics as of late. With the return of certain characters in the recent Blackest Night story conclusion, one of my favorites makes a comeback.
I like it when comics are progressive enough to acknowledge that characters are getting older and that younger people need to step up. They take over a mantle and live up to the predecessor, sometimes even surpassing them. That should be the mark of truly great comic character with Legacy. Allowing somebody else to fill the role and seeing if they do it better.
Captain America carries a gun now? So what. Dick Grayson is Batman? Seems like a natural progression. At some point, I hear the wonderful line at all Cons: "That’s not my Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Captain America, Etc...”


You're right, it’s not.
I’m a Firestorm fan from years back. It took me years and a couple cons, but I’ve managed to collect the whole first series, including the five part mini that was part of DC’s Explosion in 1978. (DC’s “Implosion” of that same year, dubbed such by the fans saw several new characters including Firestorm canceled.)
He was then placed in the Justice League as a background player. After a couple years, he gained enough popularity to get a second shot. He returned to his own series for a great long run from 1982 - 1990. He appeared in several team books as a backup character again from then on. During the Identity Crisis storyline, Firestorm is killed and the powers transfer to a new host.
I loved it.
I didn’t like that they “killed” Firestorm, but I did like that they gave a new character a chance to play around with the powers. Jason Rusch is an early 20 something African American. He’s going to college (or trying to) and struggling to get a job. He’s become the Peter Parker of the DCU for awhile. The everyman I related to, Jason on many levels grew and I with him during some of his more “real” troubles. (Job, girlfriend, family issues, etc.) He spoke to me at my demographic as somebody I could relate to.

Ronnie Raymond is the original host of Firestorm and he’s been around since 1978. They wrote him to be a product of his time as a teenager and then later as an adult during the 90’s. He was a popular jock getting by on a C – D average in life. When he “died” as Firestorm, he was in his early 30’s. He’s returned from the dead (in Brightest Day) and now seems to be depicted as same age as Jason. What the HELL?!?!
Jason was learning to use his powers in effective ways to further the development of Firestorm as a character. Ronnie didn’t know what he was doing half the time and he even said so.
Ronnie Raymond is not my Firestorm, Jason Rusch is. But when it comes time for a new character to be Firestorm, I’ll gladly step aside and let them play in the sandlot.

My point with this long back story is not to show my love of the character, but my love of continuity when it comes to legacy. 

Is Bucky now Captain America? Awesome, I can relate to Bucky now because he’s depicted as being mid to late 20’s. He’s insecure on being this icon and making the best of a shitty situation. I love that Bucky is being HIS Captain America and not everybody else’s. Steve Rogers was pushing 40? 50? He was stuck in his ways already as this World War Two vet with WW2 values.
Wally West was a hell of a Flash and in some people’s opinion, better than Barry Allen. But Wally made a mark as the Flash HIS way and for that, the Legacy of the Flash is that much greater.
Dan Garrett, Ted Kord and Jamie Reyes are or have been the Blue Beetle. Jamie is the current “Beetle” and tries to live to the legacy of the previous two. In fact, within his limited series, Jamie made it a point to preserve the legacy of Ted Kord through his actions as the Blue Beetle.
When a different person becomes a character icon, it offers up a breath of fresh air creatively for the writer/artist, as well as for the character itself. We as a comic community need to embrace change. Otherwise we’re all just waiting for that forgotten hero to punch a wall wearing a super ring that crashes the time/space continuum bringing about another secret crisis war.
What are your thoughts on Legacy characters?
As stories go on it's only natural that they build up a history. New milestones will come, a persons path changes course, new things will always come about. As years go by and a character's story continues it can become difficult to keep everything straight. This problem can become even more difficult in comics when we have characters that are handled by different writers.
Its hard to find a final answer when it comes to things like continuity and how it should be handled. DC comics has found ways to undo or rearrange the very universe every few years. The 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' allowed them to reorder all of reality so that things were easier to handle. The can also re-write a characters personal history like in 'Superman: Secret Origins' which is currently updating and making minor changes in Superman's past so it all makes more sense for readers today.
On the other hand Marvel Comics has stood by whatever happens in their universe. This can lead to some difficult questions after a enough time, such as the Punisher. He's a Vietnam war veteran eventually they are going to have to deal with his age or face him fighting organized crime with a walker. You also encounter some very bizarre explanations such as how Nick Fury hasn't aged in decades because he drank the Infinity Serum. No joke. What Marvel seems to be worse at is just hoping the fans forget about things instead of resetting them. To the best of my knowledge there should still be a ship worth of alien refugees that came back with Dr. Banner at the end of 'World War Hulk'.
In these situation the burden truly falls on the shoulders of the writers and editorial staff. Those taking the responsibility for telling the story have an obligation to keep the facts straight and even try to work around the difficult bits of history. In the beginning of Garth Ennis' run on the Punisher he addressed that Frank Castle had been offered a chance to become a Angel. He quickly dealt with it and moved past it so he could tell the story he wanted.
What should really matter is the quality of the storytelling. If the story is entertaining it shouldn't matter that Poison Ivy had mentioned she likes lilies more than violets 40 years ago. Just try to keep it straight that she's a killer plant lady.
There is a very specific trick the major comic publishers like to pull and no matter how hard I try I inevitably fall for it. I'm referring to trick where they take a comic title I very much enjoy and place a story arc in order to get people to purchase a new or less popular title.
I fell for this hard a few years ago when DC had a story arc called "Checkout" that crossed "Checkmate" (which I loved) and "Outsiders" (which I've never been on the boat for no matter how hard I try). Again later DC got me with an even worse attempt when they crossed not two but three titles ("Titans", "Teen Titans" and "Vigilante") in the story arc "Death Trap". Most recently Marvel even got me by cross the "Dark Avengers" with the "Uncanny X-Men" for the "Utopia" story.
Marvels attempt got to me a little more than DC primarily because they used this one on me and it worked. I've never really bought any X-Men books before but I thought I would give it a few issues since "Utopia" does leave many questions open after the end. The problem can a few issues later when I realized that they were leading right into another title crossover with "Second Coming" in almost all of the X titles. So after being sucked into one crossover story to know whats going on I was in the line for another on in books I've avoided before.
There really are two ways to take all of this. The first is that both companies are just telling stories to entertain the fans. I like to think these story ideas were proposed and done specifically because writers thought the fans would enjoy them. The second, and more likely, reason if that this is just done to get more fans onto new or unpopular titles by involving them with better known titles. I understand that at the end of the day these companies want us to buy books to make money, but making us watch every super team out there fight the "Agents of Atlas" isn't going to make up think we should be reading them to.
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