InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Stay groovy, mkay?"

runespoor7 (runespoor7) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-05-15 17:32:00

Entry tags:

char: batman/bruce wayne, char: martian manhunter/j'onn j'onzz, char: superman/clark kent, creator: mark millar, group: justice league of america, publisher: dc comics

A Kryptonian, a billionaire, and an undercover Martian walk into a bar...
JLA 27 - 3 pages

(For those of us who had to google Hino Rei before getting the joke, this might be helpful.)

(Post a new comment)

	nagaoka 2009-05-15 11:21 am UTC (link)
	The best thing about that is that Bruce is apparently familiar enough with Sailor Moon that he recognized Sailor Mars' full name... I can only imagine how J'onn found the name XD (Reply to this) (Thread)

	selenesue 2009-05-15 11:42 am UTC (link)
	It was probably a toss-up whether to dress in Sailor Mars' customary red and white or in J'onn's skin-tone green. Hee! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	danielolsen 2009-05-15 11:48 am UTC (link)
	Or in Miss Martians case. Both. (Reply to this) (Parent)

shadeedge
2009-05-15 12:07 pm UTC (link)

I like the idea that Batman's dislike of magic has led him to read up on any fictional magic-using superteams, just in case they get sent into his universe. There's a thing to be on the big screens in the Batcave.

"Bruce, what the hell are you doing?"
"Research."
"Because it looks like you're watching some magi-"
"Research."
"Fine, fine, I get the hint. See you later."
".....At least he didn't find the fanfic."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	cainofdreaming 2009-05-15 12:36 pm UTC (link)
	"Is that a... fanfic?" "Tactical plan." "But it looks like a..." "Tactical. plan. Hh." (Reply to this) (Parent)

	thokstar 2009-05-15 12:48 pm UTC (link)
	Honestly, if I was a superhero who frequently ran into Mr. Myxlpltx, I'd be sure to keep up to date on any and all fiction. You'll never know when he'll suddenly decide to do a Twilight reenactment or rewrite the world to be Tron. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	nagaoka 2009-05-15 01:59 pm UTC (link)
	Oh you just know he was all over Twilight. sigh "What fanfiction you reading THIS time, Master Bruce?" "This isn't fanfiction. It's a book. I'm studying a new type of vampire." (Reply to this) (Parent)

	lieut_kettch 2009-05-15 12:43 pm UTC (link)
	J'onn is an active super-hero in Japan, where he uses the name Bio Armor Jade Warrior, IIRC. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	philippos42 2009-05-15 09:12 pm UTC (link)
	:Goes outside to scream at Morrison. Remembers that the necessary volume for Word Salad Boy to hear me is sufficient to bring the Sentinels back. "Don't deafen the Eastern Seaboard again, Mr Cassidy...." Comes back inside.: (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	trueredorion 2009-05-15 09:38 pm UTC (link)
	Morrison didn't come up with it. It was Ostrander in J'Onn's solo series. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	philippos42 2009-05-24 09:24 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, well, it's OK, then. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	q99 2009-05-17 10:12 am UTC (link)
	I've heard Morrison didn't intend it as a SM reference, it's just both he and Sailor Mars' name use the same obvious reference :) Hino Rei means something like spirit of Mars or something else directly referencing Mars. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

nagaoka
2009-05-17 11:48 am UTC (link)

That would be a stretch. It very indirectly could possibly maybe reference Mars.

Rei is indeed something like "spirit" and hino is "of fire" so "spirit of fire". The link is that Mars is called "fire planet" in Japanese (Kasei, ka being another way to read the character "fire"). With no Sailor Moon link it references a volcano (kazan) as much as it references Mars and even less so because it's "hi" and not "ka".

So you COULD justify it...maybe...but it doesn't really make sense. If it has nothing to do with Sailor Moon then I could maybe imagine Bruce just thinking the name isn't a normal japanese name...but J'onn choosing Hino Rei specifically as opposed to something more direct well...I don't buy it. Sailor Moon explanation is WAY too much fun and makes sense too.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	q99 2009-05-17 02:44 pm UTC (link)
	I agree it's far more awesome that way :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	jlbarnett 2009-05-24 05:52 pm UTC (link)
	what I heard was he asked how to translate something into Japanese for a name for J'onn and was given an intentional mistranslation (Reply to this) (Parent)

	box_in_the_box 2009-05-15 12:17 pm UTC (link)
	... Ahhh, back when the JLA was well-written. I remember this - Wait. Mark Millar wrote this? Oh, yeah, that's right; I remember him writing some issues of Morrison's Flash run that were pretty good, too. What the hell happened to him, to turn him into such a vast ANTI-talent? Did he catch the same virus that infected Byrne and Bendis, or what? (Reply to this) (Thread)

filbypott
2009-05-15 12:43 pm UTC (link)

What the hell happened to him, to turn him into such a vast ANTI-talent?

Ego, and a general appearance of being ashamed of writing superhero comics. Seriously, just like Bendis and other high-profile Marvel writers, everything he's written since Superman: Red Son has read more like a wide-screen movie than a comic book.

But still, his Superman work is of consistently high quality. Especially Superman Adventures, the tie-in for the '90s Superman cartoon.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	mullon 2009-05-15 12:22 pm UTC (link)
	They're giving off this creepy secret world leaders kind of vibe. (Reply to this)

d_moonbeam
2009-05-15 01:03 pm UTC (link)

rotflmao
First, I'm amused at J'onn's usage of the name of Sailor Mars.
Second. my amusement is only amplified by the fact that Batman gets it, but then again, he *is* the goddamn Batman... but still... I can see Bruce getting into anime like Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop, Death Note (Bruce would *totally* be a DN fan).
... and of course no meeting would be complete without the Batman/Superman Banter. Poor J'onn- I mean, Hino ^_^

(Reply to this)

	jcbaggee 2009-05-15 01:39 pm UTC (link)
	"The accent's flawless J'onn, but screw you. (Reply to this)

geoffsebesta
2009-05-15 02:10 pm UTC (link)

This is fairly bad standing-around-talking art, though the artist definitely has a grasp on likenesses. The composition is just terrible.

Panel one: weak, nothing like tokyo
Panel two: girders draw the eye but it's not exactly subtle, is it? It's hard to draw people from that perspective, as this panel clearly shows
Panel three: this is a normal device so badly executed it breaks the story. Bruce is standing with his back to Hino. This is as normal and natural for comics as it is for movies, when they're showing three people in a car, to have the person in the back seat sit in the middle. But because Bruce is standing with his shoulders turned away from her, and he looks enough like Clark as it is, you get very confused as to who is speaking and who they are speaking about. Joke gets lost a bit.
Panel four: Perfect.
Panel five: What the fuck.

Second page panel five: his eyes focus the attention on that bubble. It would be alright if they were saying something important in that bubble. But it's not.

Page three panel one: starting to get the hang of it.
last panel: clark's steepled fingers do not do very well with the napkins, the tie, his lapels, and the glass all cluttered together. Although I salute the artist and colorist for avoiding tangents in that clotted mess, I still think there could have bee a better solution, and that green stuff on the table does not make a whole lot of sense.

(Reply to this)

	sistermagpie 2009-05-15 03:08 pm UTC (link)
	I love the way Clark and Bruce seemed to be leaning forward and squinching up their noses at each other in the last panel. (Reply to this)

	dustbunny105 2009-05-15 03:34 pm UTC (link)
	I love J'onn's "..." when Bruce recognizes the name. Granted it could be a response to the criticism as a whole but I like to think it's because Bruce recognizes the name. I'd have thought J'onn would know better than to grab a name out of a popular anime, though. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	sianmink 2009-05-15 03:51 pm UTC (link)
	J'onn must have assumed that Bruce is far too busy to be well-versed in Magical Girl Anime Shows. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	dustbunny105 2009-05-15 04:08 pm UTC (link)
	A perfectly reasonable assumption, really. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	parsimonia 2009-05-15 03:49 pm UTC (link)
	Batman watches Sailor Moon! Ahahahaha. Sometimes, you have to wonder if Bruce really is paranoid, or if he's just an elitist snob. But then you can just throw it in his face that he's a Sailor Moon fan. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	aaron_bourque 2009-05-15 04:28 pm UTC (link)
	IIRC, he once justified pop culture knowledge by bringing up The Riddler. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	parsimonia 2009-05-15 04:33 pm UTC (link)
	Sure, Bats, sure. Like he wasn't singing "fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight, never running from a real fight! I am the one named ~~Sailor Moon~~ Batman!" every night to himself while out on patrol... (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bluefall 2009-05-15 04:53 pm UTC (link)
	Of course he wasn't. The man speaks Japanese. He's not even a sub snob, he insists that any deviation from the original release whatsoever, including any attempt to graft a different language onto it in any way, is an inexcusable bowdlerization of the true art as originally conceived. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	parsimonia 2009-05-15 04:58 pm UTC (link)
	..but...Fighting evil by moonlight! Winning love by daylight! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bluefall 2009-05-15 05:06 pm UTC (link)
	Personally, I find the idea of Batman singing "Because of my naivete, what will I do?/My heart is a kaleidoscope" far more hilarious. MIRAKURU ROMANSU! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	parsimonia 2009-05-15 05:26 pm UTC (link)
	Okay, I am clearly out-fanned by you when it comes to Sailor Moon. I take it that's what the Japanese lyrics are translated as saying? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-05-15 07:09 pm UTC (link)

Indeed. Fansubs often do alternate openings, so with one episode they'll sub out the lyrics in basically phonetic anglicization, and then the next episode they'll sub out the translation. And, y'know, you marathon with certain types of roommates, and they never let you skip the intros or the stock footage, ever, so you get to know Moonlight Densetsu pretty damn well that way. ^_^

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	parsimonia 2009-05-15 10:34 pm UTC (link)
	That's your angelfire Sailor Moon page, isn't it, Bluefall? :P Actually, both sets of lyrics could work amusingly for Batman. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-05-16 11:14 am UTC (link)

Ha! I never had an angelfire page. I never even had a *geocities* page with ZOMG flashing icons and hideous purple text over pink backgrounds. I'm such a bad nerd.

I like the Japanese version better for Batman because of the theme - the English version is all about what a hero Sailor Moon is, which means that Bruce is imagining himself as a pretty princess fighting evil on the rooftops, which is great. But the Japanese version is about the "epic" romance between Usagi and Mamoru, and how confusing and thrilling it is to be a young girl in love, and there's nothing about heroics at all, it's just straight longing to be loved and cared for as he's destined to be, which is even better.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

parsimonia
2009-05-16 06:30 pm UTC (link)

Hey now, don't dis the purple text. (In fairness, mine was usually purple/pink text over a black or blue background, sans sparkles, because I'm classy like that.)

the English version is all about what a hero Sailor Moon is, which means that Bruce is imagining himself as a pretty princess fighting evil on the rooftops

Well, yes, the pretty princess aspect of it is fun, but the daylight/moonlight dichotomy was what especially had me thinking Bruce could relate, along with the hero stuff.

Usagi and Mamoru

Sailor Moon/Serena and Tuxedo Mask/Darien? Oh, Darien. I had almost forgotten about him.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-05-16 06:59 pm UTC (link)

Ah, see, I think it's funnier when he can't relate at all, and the song has nothing to do with what we normally imagine as Batman.

Oh, Darien. I had almost forgotten about him.

BECAUSE HE IS SO BLOODY FORGETTABLE! The thing I love most about Mamo-chan is that he is "the Chick." There's, like, absolutely nothing whatsoever to him except being Usagi's destined OTP and the token male in the ten-female main cast. Like being "the boyfriend" was sufficient and they didn't need to actually give him a personality. SWEET DISTAFF JUSTICE!

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

parsimonia
2009-05-16 08:49 pm UTC (link)

Okay, I had to go and track down an episode online and watch it. (English, not subs, so I had to tolerate the obnoxious voice actor chosen to play Serena's school friend, Molly.)

It was apparently the second episode and in it, Darien is seen as having a bit of a personality, but yeah, Tuxedo Mask is just all ~*dreamy*~ and saving-the-day.

But yeah, the show would definitely fail the Bechdel test if applied to men.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	trueredorion 2009-05-15 09:41 pm UTC (link)
	But if he was that much of a snob wouldn't he want to read the original manga since the anime had so many deviations itself? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bluefall 2009-05-16 11:05 am UTC (link)
	Eh, the anime wasn't really "based on" the manga. They developed concurrently, and in fact the anime even got ahead of the manga and they had to do a whole filler arc while it caught up. Neither has a greater claim to being the real story. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	psychop_rex 2009-05-16 01:28 am UTC (link)
	Well, everyone has to have interests outside of work - some of which you'd never expect. Superman once admitted to Superboy that he's a huge fan of Metallica, and owns every one of their CDs. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	aaron_bourque 2009-05-16 02:55 am UTC (link)
	. . . Ironically, music from St. Anger appeared in Smallville as background music. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	psychop_rex 2009-05-16 03:41 am UTC (link)
	That is one of their CDs, yes? I must confess, I know bugger-all about Metallica; I just thought it was funny that Superman listened to them. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	aaron_bourque 2009-05-19 12:41 am UTC (link)
	Opinions differ on whether that was Metallica or some horrible joke on their fans. I kinda sorta like one song on that album (Some Kind Of Monster, if anyone's curious). Musical taste is always subjective, but I simply must offer: Beatallica. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	psychop_rex 2009-05-19 04:08 am UTC (link)
	Wait, are they an actual band? Or was that a spoof page? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	laurapetri 2009-05-15 05:22 pm UTC (link)
	LOL OMG Bruce watches Sailor Moon!!!!!!!!! (Reply to this)

	sailorlibra 2009-05-15 11:38 pm UTC (link)
	Batman needs to start throwing roses. I mean, he's already got Tuxedo Kamen's quick disappearance thing down, so all he really needs are the roses. Also I had assumed that he recognized J'onn because of what the name means ("spirit of fire") rather than because of who the name belongs to. But I really prefer the Sailor Moon theory. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	aaron_bourque 2009-05-16 02:55 am UTC (link)
	I think you mean Tuxedo's got Batman's quick disappearance thing down. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	autumn_lily 2009-05-16 10:35 pm UTC (link)
	J'onn taking the name of 'princess of mars' out a manga / anime aimed at grade school girls. Stuff like this makes me miss him! (well that and the whole choco addiction arc) I want a non-zombified J'onn to come back! (sob!) Also? The videos were probably Robin's and Batman just stumbled across them. (pick whichever Robin you think would be funnier) (Reply to this)