Rated G for ‘Gore’

Superboy-Prime’s bloody battle with assorted Teen Titans, Doom Patrol and Justice Society members has attracted its share of controversy. (Although few tears have been shed for Pantha and Wildebeast, despite their recent high profile on the Titans cartoon…)

Although the Fortress Keeper is no fan of needless gore, in the case of Infinite Crisis extreme violence is being used to make an important point.

Mainly, it’s tough to be Superman.

The scene graphically displayed how much restraint the Man of Steel must exercise to avoid killing nearly every one he meets. Such self-control doesn’t come easily, and was only achieved through countless years of practice and wise guidance from his foster parents.

Those years spent developing self-discipline were undoubtedly the only thing that spared Batman’s life when Superman was under Max Lord’s control.

Superboy-Prime, on the other hand, led a normal life on his Earth until he suddenly found himself with powers. Before that drastic shift in status truly sunk in, his world was destroyed and he ultimately found himself in “paradise” with Alexander Luthor, Golden-Age Superman and Golden-Age Lois.

It’s a safe bet that he didn’t spend the past 20 years honing his skills.

When push came to shove, Superboy-Prime lost control and created untold carnage. Without the sacrifice of The Flashes (yay Barry!), more lives would have undoubtedly been lost.

Perhaps the next time critics say Superman should “cut loose” or act more “aggressively,” Superboy’s bloody rampage will serve as an effective rejoinder.

No Wonder

In this corporate era, even superheroes are vulnerable to the commercial Kryptonite known as “branding.” New characters popping up these days bear names more reminiscent of cleaning products than heroic archetypes.

Despite the artistic merit (or lack therof) of the resulting books, characters sporting tags like “Breach” and “Gravity” sound more like products on a grocery store shelf than mythic titans leaping buildings in a single bound.

Old-school hero names left little to the imagination. Readers who first encountered characters named “Superman,” “Batman” or “Spider-Man” pretty much knew what to expect from the get-go. Such simplicity played a major role in the eventual elevation of these creations into cultural icons.

Or, to put it another way, it’s no surprise nobody’s talking much about “Wildstar,” “Breed” and “Shaman’s Tears” these days.

Is this due to limited imaginations, or are all the good names already taken?

Well here’s a name that has already been claimed but could stand some rehabilitation: “Wonder Man.”

To date, the name has most memorably been used by three characters with limited success - a quickie Superman rip-off from 1939 that was sued out of existence by DC Comics after one appearance; “Brad Spencer, Wonderman,” basically a generic golden-age super sort powered by a “secret current;” and Marvel’s own Simon Williams, a great one-off character from the early days of the Avengers who was unfortunately resurrected several times later sporting progressively worse costume designs and vanilla powers based on “ionic energy” (a fancier term for “secret current”).

Like all Marvel characters, Simon Williams has experienced his share of doubts over the years, culminating in a notable encounter with the Hulk where our intrepid hero cries like a newborn infant the second the misunderstood monster touches him.

Way to go, dude.

Given Brad Spencer’s probable residence in the public domain, perhaps some enterprising Brit could reinvent (excuse me, “reimagine”) the character for the new century.

Unfortunately, the likely outcome of all this is some Image Comics reject envisioning a gun-toting mutant anti-hero named “1Der.”

So, we’ll probably have to remain content with Simon, along with such variants as Wonder Girl, the Wonder Twins, Wonder Dog, Wonder Bread and, of course, the Amazing Amazon who could kick all their butts - Wonder Woman.