Interestingly, my last several reviews have all dealt with the concept of the legacy hero (both Nite-Owl and Jay Garrick are the progenitors of an identity, while Tommy Watts is dealing with the spectre of his dead brother.) It got me thinking about the nature of the “Legacy Hero,” which then made me realize that the most successful ones have all been returned to their secondary roles. Even Dick Grayson’s much-publicized step up to the big cape has been reverted, which says something about permanance in comics (though that’s probably a different MS-QOTD.)
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) is the Sensational Character Find of 1940, asking:
Which Legacy Hero should be allowed (or should have CONTINUED to be) in the big leagues?
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Dick Grayson as Batman. Morrison’s run on “Batman and Robin” was the first thing to get be reading Bat books in a long time and I really enjoyed a different take on the Batman and Robin dynamic. Dick should have been allowed to continue as Gotham’s Batman through Batman Inc., but, oh well.
Though no one will agree with me and this will probably be the end of it, I’m going to say all of them (you have no idea how temping it was to put the last 3 words in capital.).
The point of a legacy is that it passes from person to person (at the very least). It would make for more interesting comics if a character could retire or move with his life while leaving the title to someone else. I know that I am guilty of wanting XYZ character back in the mantle when I have the replacement or how he came into being, but I regret that action. It would have been far better to have some writer make us like the replacement by writing good stories.
Strong agreement! Part of story-telling is wanting to see what happened next.What has become of the Conner Hawkes, and Stephanie Browns? There are enough to populate an Earth-3.
DC: Seriously, bring back Stephanie Brown already!
HELL NO!!!!!!!!!!! KEEP STEPHANIE BROWN DEAD…FOREVER!!!!!!!! She was a disgrace to the Robin costume, thank god she only had it for about 3 or 4 issues, which equates to about 15 minutes in comic time…lol. I hated her as spoiler, and I hated her as robin. I hated it when she was dating Tim. She was just an overall bad character. Good riddance to Stephanie Brown and lets hope this is one character that STAYS DEAD.
You really shouldn’t hold these things in. It’s not healthy…
Wally West. He wasn’t just Barry’s sidekick or the next Flash. He was The Flash, and for a long time. I was happy to see him actually get to grow and become more of a person and hero. He was what defined the concept of a legacy hero. And he is the best legacy that was put away.
A close runner-up would be Blue Beetle, but Ted’s been put to rest and Jaime is a great character, so less disappointed on the legacy front there, though I do miss Ted.