the great comic book clash, issue 3: knights in satan's service

[Jeritron]

I think the gimmick of having superhero gimmicks passed onto other characers is shit. It's been done to death in the past 10 or 15 years. I never liked it, and that's not going to change. It's the comic book equivalent of having lookalikes take on the Diesel and Razor personas.
Either that, or it's a cheap shakeup by having another established character don their costume and powers, as if it were a position in the workplace that had openings. In most cases, the hero persona and the real person behind it are intertwined, and defined by eachother. It's part of what makes the characters compelling.

[Fignuts]

Originally Posted by Jeritron I think the gimmick of having superhero gimmicks passed onto other characers is shit. It's been done to death in the past 10 or 15 years. I never liked it, and that's not going to change. It's the comic book equivalent of having lookalikes take on the Diesel and Razor personas. Either that, or it's a cheap shakeup by having another established character don their costume and powers, as if it were a position in the workplace that had openings. In most cases, the hero persona and the real person behind it are intertwined, and defined by eachother. It's part of what makes the characters compelling.

It's always sucked in the past, but to be fair the passing of the Captain America mantle was awesome. Ed Brubaker should write everything

[Kane Knight]

Originally Posted by Jeritron I think the gimmick of having superhero gimmicks passed onto other characers is shit. It's been done to death in the past 10 or 15 years. I never liked it, and that's not going to change. It's the comic book equivalent of having lookalikes take on the Diesel and Razor personas. Either that, or it's a cheap shakeup by having another established character don their costume and powers, as if it were a position in the workplace that had openings. In most cases, the hero persona and the real person behind it are intertwined, and defined by eachother. It's part of what makes the characters compelling.

It may have been done to death recently, but when legacy characters were fairly rare, it could be pretty damn cool. Not to mention the concept of other Spirits of Vengeance and Hellspawn are both fairly well-established in the backstories of both.

I don't know about modern times so much, but it's no more or less than any other plot device. Used frequently, it sucks. Used well, it's awesome.