Source: (1st) Comics Greatest World: Golden City (1994)
Type: Analog
Every superhero universe, it seems, needs its Superman - the invulnerable, super-strong, god among men who flies to the rescue, cape flapping behind him. For Dark Horse's mid-90s attempt at its own shared super-hero universe (Comics' Greatest World - Dark Horse being very confident right out of the gate), that meant Titan. However, despite the powers and overall look, Titan seems to barely qualify as a Superman analog. His origin does not make him a visitor from another world, nor does he have a meek secret identity (even if he was bullied and abused as a kid). However, he was still sold (in-world) as an "American icon", and Golden City is built on the Metropolis model (just as Arcadia is loosely based on Gotham). If there's a "Superman story" told here, one which can't easily be told with the actual Superman (the function of analogs), it's that Titan falls from favor, and the symbol for a new era is hero newcomer Rebel. The writers may have been telling a Rise of the 90s story, like that of Kingdom Come, though at the time it read like the PR Victory of Booster Gold, with whom Rebel shares some traits. The downward spiral would turn Titan into a villain and ultimately cost him his life.
Type: Analog
Every superhero universe, it seems, needs its Superman - the invulnerable, super-strong, god among men who flies to the rescue, cape flapping behind him. For Dark Horse's mid-90s attempt at its own shared super-hero universe (Comics' Greatest World - Dark Horse being very confident right out of the gate), that meant Titan. However, despite the powers and overall look, Titan seems to barely qualify as a Superman analog. His origin does not make him a visitor from another world, nor does he have a meek secret identity (even if he was bullied and abused as a kid). However, he was still sold (in-world) as an "American icon", and Golden City is built on the Metropolis model (just as Arcadia is loosely based on Gotham). If there's a "Superman story" told here, one which can't easily be told with the actual Superman (the function of analogs), it's that Titan falls from favor, and the symbol for a new era is hero newcomer Rebel. The writers may have been telling a Rise of the 90s story, like that of Kingdom Come, though at the time it read like the PR Victory of Booster Gold, with whom Rebel shares some traits. The downward spiral would turn Titan into a villain and ultimately cost him his life.
Comments
* No,no "porn" involved!
Roger
This was an era when everyone was trying to create a new superhero universe: Malibu's Protectors, Ultraverse, Impact, Defiant, Milestone, Image (just starting up) CGW, John Byrne's Legend continuity (also adt Dark Horse). The market just couldn't bear it and the result is a lot of abandoned universes and characters. Maybe nostalgia will bring them back, maybe even in DHP.
That's why I enjoy reading your Reign entries. Makes my brain work. And if CGW was released in B&W like DC does with Showcase, I'd but it.