This is pretty embarrassing to admit for a guy who's running the world's first and only Suicide Squad blog but up until earlier today I had no idea that Owen was dead. If you were as clueless about this as I was you can refer to the comment in yesterday's posting (Manhunter#34) made by my buddy Dan from the world famous blog site It's a Dave's . . I mean Dan's World (see blog role) in which he breaks the whole Blackest Night Boomerang story arc down. I was able to find some corresponding clip art on the matter fortunately. Some sites on the matter you should find interesting are http://www.comics66.com/?p=1608 in which we basically get a synopsis of FLASH #3 Blackest Night of his actual death. It's filled with lots of clip art. Then there's also a site that includes the pages of the original Boomernag's Blackest Night Resurrection which took place while Owen was visiting his father's grave site: http://comicrelated.com/graphics/pages/dc/120209/bnf
lash1/bnflash1-9.jpg Then there's a post Owen death wrap up in which a fully resurrected Digger and Flash ponder on Owen's death and Digger's literal new lease on life: http://www.comics66.com/?p=1918 If your familiar with all this you must know this speaks to a bigger issue of the offspring seeking that eternal fatherly approval. Owen was never really a bad guy and he was never especially fond of his old man. But when it came down to having a second chance with his father he did some pretty gruesome stuff to seize it. It's actually pretty sad to see a guy like Owen compromise his morals that badly in which you kinda feel like he had this horrible fate coming to him. Wow look at this last panel, now that's what I call tough love! Darth Vader's got nothing on Blackest Night Boomerang when it comes to being a shitty father. I mean Luke just got his hand cut off.
I loved this. In the relatively early days of Geoff Johns' fame being built on The Flash, novelist Brad Meltzer asked to have use of Captain Boomerang, promising he'd return him a better character. It's not like Johns was in a position to really refuse, and so Identity Crisis turned Digger into a chubby loser who got himself killed by Robin's dad. Meanwhile, we had this silly looking super-speed Boomerang Junior with so little personality folks couldn't even figure out whether to play him as hero or villain. Cut to half a decade later, and Johns utterly shits all over Boomer Jr. and heralds the return of vicious ol' Boomerbutt by having him ace his own misbegotten child killing son. Not a word usually in my vocabulary, but this one time it feels appropriate: Served!
ReplyDeleteno love for Owen huh? by the way just for the record i really think the Blackest Night series was inspired by Marvel Zombies. just as i always suspected Who's Who was from The Marvel Universe Handbook series back in the 80's.
ReplyDeleteActually I don't agree with Diabolu.
ReplyDeleteOwen's character was worked on at Outsiders and Supergirl and he was a nice guy.
People just wanted him to be a Villain and he wasn't.
Even when he decided to join SS it was because he was fed up of always being compared in a negative way to Digger and always being asked to prove himself over and over again, and Waller told him he'd belong there.
That being said, David, Owen did love his father very much, even though they were together for a small period.
Digger had left him for adoption and hadn’t had the courage to contact him sooner, but somehow the newspapers had half knowledge about Owen’s parentage and exposed him. (they also said the mother was Golden Glider)
So Digger had come to his son to explain himself. Read identity Crisis. This is a very nice scene.
It was Digger that taught him how to throw a boomerang and he was very proud at how quickly his son got the hang of it.
It was at one of this trainings, that Owen playing with a razor boomerang, almost killed Digger (Too out of shape to run out of the way) and found out he was a speedster when he ran and hold his father out of harm’s way. The boomerang was stuck on a nearby tree.
Owen knew then he had to have a speedster in his family and asked if his mother was indeed Golden Glider to which Digger answered she was not and we only see later in a flash book that he was taken to the future and met Meloni Thawne.
When Digger was killed, his body was stolen and he revived so the Feds could get some information or other from him, but the only person that was with him when he briefly woke up was this woman, wife of someone I don’t remember, to whom the asked she’d say Owen how much Digger Loved him, and not to say to anybody who his mother was, or the rogues would kill him.
Digger toke the name and suit for himself on his father’s honor and in a rather corny Christmas story he goes to the same movies theater as Robin to see what was both their father favorite movie, on their honor.
And then, when Blackest Night begun, Digger was another undead. Mind that hero or villain, none of the blacklantern undead characters were loving ones or acted on the living ones best wishes. They were controlled by Nekron and wanted to feed on emotion, caused they were really shells with no emotion of themselves.
In Owen’s case, no one expected, that a character like him would lost it and I think it could have been written other way, but you read what he did to have his father back.
Has for Digger, it was his Blacklantern version that killed his son, the same way Aquaman killed Tempest. They could not control themselves.
Digger doesn’t seem to want to think about it now, and who can blame that?
Also, only Firestorm said he can remember being a blacklantern. We don’t know if the other resurrected ones do.
I hope there will be stories on when he’ll have to deal with what happened, not only with Red Robin, but also with Supergirl, who was a dear friend of his son.
Another testament hum?
You know I love the Boomerangs.
Aliera...you rock. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you Random... (blush)
ReplyDeleteYou too.
I was feeling lonely here. :)
Thanks again for the shout out Dave!
ReplyDeleteThe Boomerang's I actually think both could've lived at the same time. Owen was a great part of the Outsiders and having him trying to be a hero while his father lived it up as a Rouge would've been really cool.
Sure that would've meant there was two people with the same name running round but on a planet of 6billion or more like that's not gonna happen!
that was an awesome bit of commentary Aliera i'm sorry i didn't let you know sooner. if i was married to you i'd get some trick boomerangs and get dressed up for you in a overcoat and scarf for Valentine's Day.
ReplyDeleteDan, i wouldn't do all that for you like with Aliera but i do agree with you about both Boomerangs.
Dan I agree you completely.
ReplyDeleteDavid, I'll have to resign to the Teddy Bear my husband gave me for Valentine's Day. Who knows if I can convince him to do that next year :p
bah! he blew it. he should have gotten you that cool Captain Boomerang action figure you sent me the link for. that's what i did in that alternate universe where you and i are married. there's another alternate universe where i'm married to randomnerd instead. there's also yet another alternate universe where Dan is married to Craig but the less said about that one the better.
ReplyDeleteYeah. Shush. Don't spread.
ReplyDeleteThey're very happy there.
I don't think the Action Figure is out for sale yet.
I knew there was a reason I wanted to read through all the responses. I'm sure the comment was well-deserved as I've been told I can be a bit of an a-hole from time to time. Cold my friend, cold but well-played. Like I expect any less from you.
ReplyDeletethanks for being a good sport folks you all know i love each and every one of you as if you were all the children i never had. if you think i'm bad here you should have seen me and my guy friends back in high school. our friendships basically consisted of us taking turns terrorizing each other with all sorts of pranks. there was nothing sacred or off limits. don't worry Craig your cool and in this reality i know your one lucky s.o.b given the woman your married to. and just for the record, around here i'm the number one asshole :)
ReplyDeleteI gotta say, it would have been really cool to have Digger's son running around as a good guy, with Digger himself alive and incorrigible as ever :)
ReplyDeleteSigh.
Now, wouldn't it?
ReplyDelete