NEW Squadron Supreme #3 --the good and the bad of the Blur

[alschroeder3]

Yes, I was ticked when a bunch of Justice League rip-offs killed Marvel's oldest character without a "heritage" replacement, Namor, the Sub-Mariner. I'm only reading it because it's a substitute series to finish out my subscription to the late lamented Fantastic Four comic. But there was a good AND a bad moment in the latest issue---involving the Blur, late of the New Universe's DP7 comic book.

Blur is initially very impressed by the Marvel Universe, reflecting how it's much more fantastic than the "New" Universe he used to be a part of. But he did stop at one place which is very different from the New Universe from our--or the Marvel universe.

Pittsburgh is still around.

Pittsburgh was memorably destroyed in STAR BRAND by the orignal Star Brand's misuse of power.

The pausing for him to see the restored city is a really clever way to emphasize the changes he's gone though, the world he was once part of, and the world he is now in.

But a few pages later, the Uncanny Avengers Unity team gangs up on the Squadron Supreme, and Blur is paired off with Quicksilver.

Quicksilver says, "It's rare I get to fight with another speedster--"

Wait, WHAT?? The Blur's top speed is 300 miles per hour; he can maintain a running speed for long periods of 150 mph. He has to eat five or so times the normal caloric intake just to keep moving. I believe, if I remember Mark Gruenwald's initial MARVEL UNIVERSE index, that Quicksilver's old speed used to be a running average of 600 mph, but able to reach or exceed the speed of sound for short bursts.

He recently got an almost Flash-level upgrade due to exposure to Terrigan Mists, I hear, but...

Wait. London? Pisa? Tokyo? Quicksilver could MAYBE do that, given his "upgrade" (although not before) but there is no WAY the Blur can do that...

I think it's a mistake to make even Quicksilver that fast. Realistically, hardly any DC foes should have a chance against the Flash, since he can basically disarm them before they can blink. To make Quicksilver fast enough to circle the Earth in just a few minutes is a mistake.

But the Blur????

Uh huh.

Remember how much faster Flash was than Quicksilver in Busiek and Perez' Avengers/JLA four-parter? Quicksilver should be at least that much faster than Blur.

BTW, Nighthawk, facing Steve Rogers, thinks, "Rogers. I'll need all I have to beat him..." despite Cap being over seventy years old???

I get it, they're trying to make Squadron Supreme as a pseudo-Justice League. But...there already is a Justice League. So why...?

Just...bizarre.

So--thumbs up for remembering one key point of New Universe continuity.

Thumbs DOWN for totally screwing up another.

Comments

[crinos]

To be fair, the reason Flash was faster than Quicksilver was because Flash had speed force (at least in his universe he did). Quicksilver even commented that he intended to figure out the speed force to match him (I don't know if he did, I don't think he did).

[alschroeder3]

Oh, right. It wasn't a criticism of Quicksilver. It's just that Flash often goes to tachyon-speeds, and Mark Waid invented the speed force as a pseudo-scientific exlanation of same. Quicksilver is more or less limited to the laws of physics as we know them. More or less. Kinda. Perhaps...

[lonewolf23k]

I think the simplest explanation for Blur's ability boost is "Secret Wars Happened, and as a result of the Universe being booted back up, Blur got a serious power-up."

And so what if Steve Rogers is in his 70s now? He's STILL in impressively good shape for his age, and has decades of combat experience. Arnold Schawrzenegger is 68 this year, and he can STILL pull off impressive action scenes. The fact that Steve is in his 70s now just means he can invoke "Ancient Master" badassness now.

[alschroeder3]

Yeah, but Nighthawk is supposed to be Batman-level. Captain America might be able to beat Batman in a good hand-to-hand fight if they were close to the same physiological age, although it'd take a while---but I don't think a 70-year-old Captain America would have much of a chance against a Batman in his prime.

[laughing_tree]

There's more to a fight than power. It's been downplayed in recent years, but Cap's schtick, more than any other Marvel character, used to be defeating much more powerful opponents through strategy -- finding a way to win no matter the odds. There's a reason he was made leader of the combined teams in Avengers/JLA.

[sagrada]

Supreme Power Nighthawk is nowhere near Batman-level. There's a pretty good reason he mostly fights street crime and his big enemy was a mostly normal Evil Clownmans, and it's got nothing to do with his character's bizarre pseudo-racism under Straczinsky.

But this is Secret Wars Nighthawk, so who even bloody knows?

[bruinsfan]

My impression of Nighthawk was always that he was a Batman expy but nowhere near as actually competent as Bats, even if they shared the same millionaire playboy secret identity schtick. (Though to be fair, Batman couldn't fly, only use swinglines.)

[alschroeder3]

Well, that would be true of the Nighthawk who joined the Defenders, the Marvel-Earth Nighthawk, who was full of insecurities. The other-dimensional Nighthawk(s) struck me as much more competent.

[theflames]

the only dumb thing mentioned in this entire post is how fast the flash actually. that character is broken. I can live with what we're seeing here though.

speedsters are fast, whats shown here doesn't feel like much of a crime haha

[icon_uk]

I'm still more pissed that the Blur can stand still, otherwise the name isn't actually that relevant. (I'm also still mad that he was the only survivor, not that I don't like him but dammit, I LIKED that team)

I'd also rather that he was more comfortable being called "Jeff" than "The Blur", which was a name he hardly used at all in the DP7, none of them really used codenames unless they had to when on the run (Well, apart from Scuzz, but that was his nickname already)

[obsidianwolf]

I agree to me it honestly reads more like this is the supreme power Blur with just Jeff's name and background details slapped on.

I mean there really isn't much to tie him to the New Universe DP7 character at all.

[alschroeder3]

You're absolutely right. They took away everything that is unique about the character--so why use that character?

[beyondthefringe]

I agree. This is Blur in Name Only. The DP7 version was fast...but New Universe fast, which is a far cry from Marvel Universe speed levels. And as noted, he literally couldn't stop moving/shaking/blurring unless exhausted or tranquilized by his teammate... he needed her power drain just to sleep comfortably. And he ate CONSTANTLY to keep up his metabolism... it was a running (hah!) plot point to keep him fed.

This, along with the mishandling of Zarda, makes me think that Robinson is liberally adapting the existing characters while preying on our nostalgia. Unless there's a reason for them to be this different. Otherwise, stop pretending these are the Gruenwald versions, dammit!

And yeah, I'm holding out hope for Randy, Dave, Steph and the rest to be alive somewhere, somehow.

[alschroeder3]

I always liked Psi-Force perhaps the best of the New Universe group. But considering what they did to Blur, perhaps it's just as well that Psi-Hawk and his component selves never survived.

[laughing_tree]

At this point, there've been so many hints that Zarda isn't who she claims that it's pretty much a given.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

The question is she not who she claims to be, or simply keeping secrets? Because my money, sadly, is on the second.

[laughing_tree]

I disagree. For me, the clincher is how Modred referred to her as "Power Princess" with the scare quotes recently.

[beyondthefringe]

So Quicksilver is running at... VERY FAST Speed. Mach something.
And he runs into an invisible polymer barrier of some sort... it looks like a wire.
He hits it with his face, or in such a way that his head is knocked backwards before he... goes forward, under it? Into a roll?

How the fuck is he not dead from this? How did the invisible polymer wire not slice through him like a hot knife through warm butter? How did he not break his neck or something? Wikipedia has something about him being able to resist kinetic impact, but seriously, that looks like a straight-up "murder the speedster" trap and I can't even suspend disbelief at him bouncing off of it without any injuries.

[philippos42]

All speedsters are the Flash, all flying bricks are Superman, all magic-users have limitless undefined powers, welcome to comics.

It's a shame. Honestly, I think the artist went for rule of cool.