Pg. 1:
Frankenstein! This incarnation of the character first appeared in SEVEN SOLDIERS: FRANKENSTEIN #1, created by Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke; besides the obvious Mary Shelley source, the first version of the Frankenstein monster to appear in a DC comic was in DETECTIVE COMICS #135, back in 1948.
S.H.A.D.E., the Super Human Advanced Defence Executive, first appeared in SEVEN SOLDIERS: FRANKENSTEIN #3.
Apparently Darkseid has managed to burn out Puff Daddy's body.
Pg. 2:
In keeping with DCU New York's being full of planned-but-not-yet-executed architectural projects from our world, the building Überfraulein is crashing through here is 200 Greenwich Street.
Pg. 3:
"Know evil": the bit with the moving finger writing is similar to the way the mysterious hand used to write messages on the Source Wall. This time, though, the digit in question is more... digital. (In the comments, Renegade Photography also notes the should've-been-obvious Biblical allusion.)
Father Time here is the version we saw in FRANKENSTEIN (who had his face ripped off by Black Adam during World War III II), not the reborn version(s) we saw in UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS. Curious.
Taleb is Taleb Beni Khalid, the Black King of Checkmate, created by Greg Rucka and Jesus Saiz; he first appeared in CHECKMATE #1 in 2006.
I'm guessing what they found is the Spear of Destiny, not the Ark of the Covenant, but that doesn't stop Taleb from making a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" joke. (You know, that movie Philip Tan thinks is nothing special... amusingly, an actor named Philip Tan appeared in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom"...)
Down in the comments, Matt/Kyle makes the excellent point that the Question's involvement with S.H.A.D.E. could be a nod toward the faceless Global Peace Agency operatives from Jack Kirby's OMAC.
Pg. 4:
You'd think, given the extra week this issue took for production stuff, somebody could've fixed the computer-font problems here. Which is to say: this isn't "berfraulein," it's gotta be "Überfraulein"--the Nazi Supergirl. What she's saying, translated from German, is "No. It's the... the bleeding heavens. Hell... is... is here." Which is probably a reference to the red skies as the Bleed from THE AUTHORITY, if that recent Morrison interview is any indication. Also, Chris Eckert unpacks the run-up to "Nazi superheroes from Earth-10" over at Funnybook Babylon.
Pg. 5:
Calvin "Cave" Carson and his team (Bulldozer Smith, Christie Madison and Johnny Blake), created by France Herron and Bruno Premiani, first appeared in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #31 in 1960. The "cave art" is the Metron design/sigil, and doesn't it look like the scales of justice too? In fact, since the "director's cut" of FC #1 notes that the Anthro sequence happens in what is now New York (so the Statue of Liberty bit is a time fluctuation, not time-and-space), this might well be the version of it we saw Anthro drawing near the end of #1.
Nix is about to get recruited by Zillo Valla, one of his old Monitor comrades; we'll see her again on pg. 13.
Pg. 6:
The woman with gray hair is Jay's wife Joan Garrick, created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert, who first appeared in FLASH COMICS #1 in 1940.
Pp. 8-9:
"Red-shifting toward the speed of light": This is almost certainly a reference to the relativistic Doppler effect and an allusion to the red/black color scheme, but wouldn't it be great if it had something to do with the Khunds from SUPERBOY AND THE RAVERS?
I totally love the line "it's a little-known fact that death can't travel faster than the speed of light."
Pg. 10:
Oh hey, it's the Hall of Doom! (But why have Libra and crew relocated here from the community center/strip club? Per Dwayne McDuffie's Injustice League storyline in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, the Hall is located in Florida swampland, which is quite a commute from Central/Keystone City.)
The helmet is a variation on the one that Glorious Godfrey's Justifiers wore in FOREVER PEOPLE #3. The Justifiers aren't named here until the flyer on the last page, but it's clear that's what they are.
One of Luthor's bodyguards may be Mercy Graves (created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini for Superman: The Animated Series; first appeared in comics in CATWOMAN #74 in 1999). (Or maybe not; E points out in the comments that they've had a falling out in INFINITY INC.) Anyone recognize the other one?
Pg. 11:
See Glorious Godfrey's banner in FOREVER PEOPLE #3: "Judge others! Enslave others! Kill others! Anti-Life will give you the right!"
I'm still wondering where ROGUES' REVENGE fits into this timeline: when does Luthor start "eating out of [Libra's] hand"? There's only a sub-24-hour window when that might have happened before the transformation of the world, and you'd think that telling Luthor to "renounce science" would be the very best way to tick him off.
Pg. 12:
I'm pretty sure a Metropolis Memorial Hospital has only previously appeared in fan-fiction.
Dirk Armstrong is a conservative opinion columnist for the Daily Planet, who first appeared in 1996 in SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF TOMORROW #6.
Jimmy knew that Clark is Superman as of a few issues into COUNTDOWN, right? Has anything reversed that?
Pg. 14:
The Celestials, created by Jack Kirby, first appeared in THE ETERNALS #1--no, wait.
Pg. 15:
Hey, Black Lightning finally gets a speaking part! So now I get to mention that he was created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden, and first appeared in BLACK LIGHTNING #1 in 1977.
The All-Star Squadron first appeared in 1981's JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #193, but I'm pretty sure this is the first we've heard of Article X. I thought FDR assembled the A-SS the way all subsequent super-teams have been assembled: by spreading out a bunch of photographs on a tabletop.
Pg. 16:
Oracle, as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, was created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino, and first appeared in 1967's DETECTIVE COMICS #359. She became Oracle in 1989's SUICIDE SQUAD #23, by John Ostrander and Luke McDonnell. As for the mysterious new Aquaman... he's mysterious. But perhaps he's the one who turned up in REQUIEM. (The original version, created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris, first appeared in 1941 in MORE FUN COMICS #73.) Is the seahorse he's riding Storm?
Ah, here's Mr. Tawky Tawny, created by Otto Binder and C.C. Beck, who first appeared in 1947's CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #79. I know of no Marvel Family story involving "tiger tea"; maybe he's thinking of this? (And can someone please document his jet pack? That would make me happy.)
Freddy used to be Captain Marvel Jr. (created by Ed Herron and Mac Raboy; first appeared in WHIZ COMICS #25 in 1941) and is now going by Shazam (thanks to DCUboy for the correction). "Billy's gone": well, actually Billy Batson, the original Captain Marvel, is occupying the old job of the wizard Shazam now, per THE TRIALS OF SHAZAM! The "change to somebody stronger than me... and never come back" routine really is amazingly reminiscent of the Kid Miracleman business, isn't it? And is his magic word "Shazam" or "Captain Marvel" these days? (If it's the latter, would that be Mary's lips in the inset?)
Pg. 17:
Wait, so they need to round up all the superheroes they can in a hurry... so they send a printed draft notice? In the mail? Nightwing got practically every superhero in the DCU off-planet in about 20 minutes in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD two weeks ago...
There have been a... whole lot of variations on Supergirl over the years--the Wikipedia page on her does a decent job of untangling the Kara Zor-El - Matrix - Linda Danvers - oh whoops we meant Kara Zor-El after all mess. For brevity's sake, let's just say that she was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino and first appeared in ACTION COMICS #252 in 1969, and that this version of the character first appeared in SUPERMAN/BATMAN #8 in 2004. (The Linda Danvers version turned up in REIGN IN HELL #1 last week.)
Morrison has mentioned that his take on Supergirl was inspired by Jessica Abel and Dylan Horrocks' Supergirl story, "The Clubhouse of Solitude," in BIZARRO COMICS, which features Mary Marvel in a very different sort of role from the one she has this issue.
Streaky the Supercat, created by Otto Binder and Jim Mooney, first appeared in 1960's ACTION COMICS #261, and also popped up in our old friend ANIMAL MAN #24. This version of Streaky first appeared in SUPERGIRL #10. I don't think she's super yet.
Pg. 18:
I suppose event comics aren't really event comics without crowd scenes, huh? Let's see:
Top corner: dunno, Bombshell (who, as E points out in the comments, was evil, de-powered and throat-slit the last time we saw her).
First full row: Cyclone, Firestorm, Raven, Blue Beetle, Starfire, Batgirl, Metamorpho, Geo-Force, Blue Devil.
Second row: Red Devil, Amazing-Man, Zatanna, Mysterious New Aquaman, Red Arrow, Supergirl, Thunderbolt.
Third row: Wildcat (Jr.), Green Arrow, Liberty Belle, Hourman, Black Lightning, Vixen, Mr. Terrific, Animal Man--hey, I guess Morrison wasn't quite done with him after all!--Enchantress, Ragman.
Fourth row, by which point my definition of "row" is getting a little ragged: Black Canary, Wildcat, Sasha Bordeaux, Dr. Mid-Nite, Katana, Hawkgirl.
Fifth row: Steel, Damage, Nightwing, Wonder Girl, Red Tornado.
Sixth row: The Atom, Robin, Stargirl, The Flash/Jay Garrick, Power Girl, somebody who looks an awful lot like Jade who was still dead last I checked (kevings suggests this might be Argent)
Front row: Donna Troy (shouldn't she be off monitoring the Monitors?), Huntress, Captain Marvel, Hawkman, Detective Chimp, and of course Green Lantern/Alan Scott out front
(Thanks to Blogenheimer, Jmizz505 and kevings for the assist!)
Pg. 19:
"I crawled out of my own grave": see the end of SEVEN SOLDIERS #1.
Pg. 21:
The Wonder Wagon: yes! Guess that's the upgraded version of the Whiz Wagon from JIMMY OLSEN #133 etc.
Pg. 22:
Renfield is also the name of the bug-eating freak from Bram Stoker's Dracula--a good name for a street in Blüdhaven.
Sgt. Grayle has to be Gardner Grayle from the original Atomic Knights stories.
Pg. 23:
Marene Herald appeared in those stories too, along with her brother Douglas, who we'll see in a few pages.
Pg. 24:
Duncan, commenting over at Funnybook Babylon, points out that Replika appeared in SEVEN SOLDIERS: FRANKENSTEIN #3; Strange Visitor, in the same comments, notes that Wonder Woman did indeed see someone turned inside out in WONDER WOMAN #247.
And speaking of Otto Binder creations, Mary Marvel was created by Binder and Mark Swayze, and first appeared in 1942's CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #18. Her story has been a mess for the last few years, but as far as I can tell, she was de-powered thanks to the death of Shazam in DAY OF VENGEANCE #6, although for some reason Black Adam wasn't; he gave her his powers, and she turned all bad and stuff and started wearing a black costume. She lost those powers in a fight with Eclipso, then turned all good and stuff again, got back her original set of powers and a gray costume, then met Darkseid, got Black Adam's powers, got the black costume again... this would mean, by the way, that her current set of powers come from Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury, Shu, Heru, Amon, Zehuti, Aten, Mehen and Isis. Her outfit here takes her costume's evolution to its logical conclusion and riffs on Jack Kirby's designs for the Female Furies; not bad! (Although this scene does make me wonder where all those "she's never really killed anyone, not reaaally" conversations during COUNTDOWN were meant to go.)
Pg. 28:
By "the world," does Mokkari mean "the Fourth World"? And does this make him the King of All Spammers?
Mr. Terrific here was created by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake, and first appeared in 1997's SPECTRE #54. He's got ties to the first Mr. Terrific, created by Charles Resizenstein and Hal Sharpe, who first appeared in SENSATION COMICS #1 in 1942.
Pg. 29:
David Uzumeri points out the visual resonance with the opening of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS here.
Pg. 30:
So we've got the Four Dogswomen of Apokolips here, in the roles of the original Female Furies from MISTER MIRACLE #6. Catwoman's obviously in the Lashina role, Giganta (I guess) is Stompa (compare the skull-and-crossbones motif on their foreheads), Wonder Woman is Bernadeth, and... would that be Batwoman as Mad Harriet? Looks like a similar bat motif on her chest, and long red hair. (The original Mad Harriet was killed in COUNTDOWN #11.)
Anybody recognize that vehicle up in the sky?
Okay, what'd I miss?
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64 comments:
Thanks for these annotations.
Here are three of the heroes you missed on page 18. They all currently appear in JSA.
Second Row, Second from the left is Amazing Man.
Third Row, First from the left is the new Wildcat, who is the original Wildcat’s son; Third from the left is Liberty Belle, formerly Jesse Quick.
Blogenheimer got the JSA characters, good.
I caught a few omega symbols through the issue. Obviously that's pretty deliberate.
Also, that surely was THE definitive line of Green Arrow dialogue, right?
I'm pretty sure the Stompa-avatar is Rita Farr, of the Doom Patrol.
The virus Mary Marvel uses to infect Wonder Woman is probably the Morticoccus virus from the old Kamandi series (and featured in Countdown, supposedly). In Kamandi it was said to be a big part of what caused the Great Disaster.
Okay, here's the list of superheroes on page 18, according to your notes, with most of the unidentified characters:
Top Corner: Cyborg(?), Bombshell
First Row: Cyclone, Firestorm, Raven, Blue Beetle, Starfire, Batgirl, Metamorpho, Geo-Force, Blue Devil.
Second Row: Kid Devil, Amazing Man, Zatanna, Mysterious New Aquaman, Red Arrow, Supergirl, Thunderbolt.
Third Row: Wildcat II, Green Arrow, Liberty Belle, Hourman, Black Lightning, Vixen, Mr. Terrific, Animal Man, Enchantress, Ragman.
Fourth Row: Black Canary, Wildcat, Sasha Bourdeaux (?), Dr. Mid-Nite, Katana, Hawkgirl.
Fifth Row: Steel, Damage, Nightwing, Wonder Girl, Red Tornado
Sixth Row: The Atom/ Ryan Choi, Robin, Stargirl, The Flash/Jay Garrick, Power Girl, somebody who looks an awful lot like Jade who was still dead last I checked
Front Row: Donna Troy, Huntress, Captain Marvel, Hawkman, Detective Chimp, and of course Green Lantern/Alan Scott out front
P.S. You got most of them right, but I'm trying to help out where I can.
My guess for the "character who looks like Jade" is that it's Argent, who appeared in the Teen Titans back in the 90s.
http://www.titanstower.com/source/whoswho/argent.html
There's a picture there that looks like the character on page 18
I believe kid devil now calls himself RED devil, hence the new suit (he wears a vest, if you look closely), as of this month´s teen titans #61
Page 2: Note the shape of the smoke in Panel 4.
Page 4: Uberfraulein, a German counterpart of Supergirl, lies injured and broken on the ground. It evokes Supergirl's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths #7.
Page 7: Orion's hair is miscolored black. He always had red hair.
Page 13: Lois's hospital bracelet reads "LOUIS" or "LOUISA." Odd.
Page 29: Flashes Barry Allen and Wally West have re-emerged at the same spot where Barry met the Golden Age Flash back in the Silver Age in a story that introduced the concept of the multiverse.
Page 30: The new Female Furies are riding big dogs. Initially, I suppose we're to think of the Atomic Knights' steeds, but given the Fourth World concepts running through the book, these are no doubt new Hunger Dogs.
It might be important that a sketch of Uberfraulein shows up in the exiled monitor's sketchbook in #2.
I was a bit confused by the Clark/Lois bit. So is he keeping her alive with heatvision? Wouldn't that get the doctors' attention? Also, I'm not sure how that would work since electrical pulses (like in a pacemaker) is what would help in our reality. Hold on, let me suspend my disbelief higher. =)
More weird continuity. Bombshell was evil, de-powered, and had her throat slit in Teen Titans. I'm really not sure why she's in that spread.
Also, Mercy and Luthor had a major falling out and she was hiding from him in Milligan's Infinity Inc. She left that group, but it's unlikely she'd go back to Lex.
The "Mysterious new Aquaman" is in all likelihood Arthur Joseph Curry who first appeared in Aquaman:Sword of Atlantis #40, at the start of "One Year Later".
Has the Hall of Doom showed up in the comics before or am I just thinking of Justice League Unlimited?qcvtnez
I don't have a copy close at hand to doublecheck, but the vehicle overhead on the last page looks awfully similar to the ship Darkseid arrives on Earth in about halfway through Rock of Ages, and more generally the ships Darkseid's forces use throughout the original Kirby Fourth World material.
Just remembered I do have a copy of RoA nearby and doublechecked: the ship isn't an exact match; the one in RoA is more, for want of a better word, sharklike in shape, not boxy like this one. Still fairly sure it's a close match to the craft the Justifiers used in Forever People #3.
"Jimmy knew that Clark is Superman as of a few issues into COUNTDOWN, right? Has anything reversed that?"
At the Superman panel in San Diego, Johns and Robinson both made it emphatically clear that Jimmy "forgot" that. They didn't bother explain *how*, mind you. I think the assumption is basically that Countdown didn't happen.
I think Jimmy "forgot" when he lost all his other powers when the New Gods "souls" were removed from his body. Him knowing things like Jason Todd was Robin and Clark was Superman was just another power.
God, I hate Countdown.
"...would that be Batwoman as Mad Harriet? Looks like a similar bat motif on her chest, and long red hair. (The original Mad Harriet was killed in COUNTDOWN #11.)"
Could be; the hair made me immediately think of Starfire...
The new Aquaman definitely isn't Arthur Joseph; Morrison's last Newsarama interview implies that he's related to the breakdown of the Orrery. As for the last page, by process of elimination I'm pretty sure Batwoman is Mad Harriet. It seems odd from our angle, but remember we really still don't know anything about Batwoman due to DC being ... oh, who the hell knows? Either way, there could be a reason for that once we actually find out more about her.
Actually, Freddy Freeman is NOT going by the name Captain Marvel, Billy Batson still uses that name despite having the wizard Shazam's old position. Freddy goes by Shazam now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Marvel_Jr#Final_Crisis
Also I am pretty sure the replika you speak of is that monster from another dimension that worked with Father Time in either Battle for Bludhaven or Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters.
Page 19 Note about Shilo Norman:
3 Days is how long it took Christ to rise from the grave and ascend to heaven.
Note if if Grant is having a go with us or there is something more there.
Minor point: Streaky (in all variants, I think) is a male cat.
Great job again...
I don't believe the big Female Fury dogs are Hunger Dogs -- that was always metaphorical, right? Big dogs were the ride of choice in Steppenwolf's old Apokolips Dog Calvary (see New Gods #7 or Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 3).
Ruff!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tiger_Who_Came_To_Tea
I would love it if Morrison or someone else at DC came out and posted the literal list of items that Morrison needed to have "done by Countdown" by the end of the year. Because either his notes weren't good enough, or someone working with Countdown just didn't get the plot intent.
Thanks to everyone for their comments and corrections so far!
Don, Überfraulein is specifically Nazi--see her armband.
Suzanne, this version of Streaky is definitely a girl kitty, per SUPERGIRL #10 and #14.
Page 3 - "Ark of the Covenant"
I'm guessing what they found is the Spear of Destiny, not the Ark of the Covenant
To me, Father Time is just making an amusing joke at the expense of the guys having found the Digital Source Hand, not anything else.
Page 10
Luthor's other guard is simply Generic Guard #12. I would have expected Mercy's comic-book counterpart Hope, but she's been gone for a long while. Coincidentally, the comic book Mercy is rumored to be an Amazon.
Page 13
You're not looking overtly enough, or you'd have noticed that Lois' medical bracelet reads "Louis". I mean, it's right there next to where Superman says "Lois" twice. {notes; ah good, Don caught that}
E - Based on the cover of the issue, Bombshell comes back in an upcoming (or just-past) issue of Teen Titans (which I've stopped reading).
I think Mad Harriet is Oracle (Batgirl :) ), not Batwoman, but I've been wrong before.
Kevings is right; that is Argent.
You're definitely onto something there with Metron and Libra being connected. At the end of Rock of Ages, Metron mentions that though Good and Evil continuously alter the cosmos, the *balance* in preserved.
Justifier Recruitment Flyer on last page mentioning debt was also interesting commentary on American society.
AT the end of the first Uncle Sam and The Freedom Fighters mini Father Time was reborn again into what we see in Final Crisis.
In Freedom Fighters Father Time had something/someone called Replicant 15 which could shape shift and multiply.
I don't know if this will play out in FC but the glasses Father Time is wearing is actually the villain from the mini-series; Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard. Time was able to trap him in a yellow orb which he then turned into a pair of glasses. He also said Gonzo is now "an endless wall of Source code" which he will use against "them." Them being "Mathmagicians of the Anti-Life Equation."
Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #8(2006)
I'm thinking that Cave Carson finding the symbol under New York's Subway system has some Seven Soldiers connection. Lots of hijinks in the NYC Subway in that series, and a portal to Klarion's Croatoa...
Also? I think you did see Tawky Tawny earlier - and that he was altered by Simyan and Mokkari. That special Tiger Tea was probably poisoned (or worse) in an attempt to take Freddie out. Except he said his magic word and flew off, leaving Tawny behind. He probably needs that Jet Pack to pursue and wait for another shot at killing poor Freddie... that, or to report to Darkseid.
Paul, Grant says that the tiger-man on the table in #2 was Kalibak, not TT (see http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080721-MorrisonFC02.html), and that they'd meet up in #5, though it doesn't sound like it'll be for tea.
I'm thinking page 3 is a nod to the Global Peace Agency from Jack Kirby's OMAC series. It would make sense seeing as how all the operatives in Kirby's GPA have featureless masks which conceal their identities in order to protect them from reprisals. Father Time wanting Montoya to play a role in Global Law Enforcement essentially gives you some future history into the formation of the GPA. Question masks and all...
Kyle
Hey, does anyone know - is the Hall of Doom *officially* called the Hall of Doom in the comics? Or is that carry-over from Super-Friends?
great job with the annotations! one question:
anyone else think supergirl is considering a costume change? on page 17 her skirt is red (compared to on the cover and pretty much every other appearance), which MAY be a coloring error, but maybe not (you can't see her skirt on the next page).
she's got drawings of a new costume spread all over her pad (the most prominent on is on the easel and is pretty different with the red skirt and short sleeves) and there's clearly some sort of sewing machine in the background...why else include those details unless to intone that she's thinking about it?
just a thought
On the final page, the animals seem to be Krypto, Ace the Bathound, and then some sort of black panther that the Catwoman is riding.
1. I find it interesting that Libra tells Lex to "Abandon Science and worship Darkseid."
Metron is the God of Science, and we know that he plays a fairly vital role in taking down Darkseid.
I wonder if in JLA-Rock of Ages Metron wasn't evil, but rather "running a simulation" of Darkseid overrunning earth. In that reality, Darkseid triggered the end of the Univers (if I remember correctly). I wonder if Metron has found a better way to resolve the problem.
2. Kirby's inspiration for the Source Hand is taken from the biblical "feast of Belshazzar."
However, given it's new form, I'm reminded of the Hand of Glory from the Invisibles. The Hand is a fourth dimensional cursor, used to move people through time.
In the big group shot, Alan Scott is wearing his ring on the wrong hand. He's left-handed.
"I would love it if Morrison or someone else at DC came out and posted the literal list of items that Morrison needed to have "done by Countdown" by the end of the year. Because either his notes weren't good enough, "
Close!
Oh man! These comments just keep getting better.
Paul, I don't think the Hall of Doom has been officially named in comics--in fact, I don't know if it's appeared in non-Super Friends comics before this.
Matt/Kyle, that's kind of a brilliant observation.
The gulag in Kingdom Come was fashioned after the Hall of Doom. Also, didn't they have something similar in the JLA books for the Society to play in, or am I thinking of the JLU cartoon? Did it appear in the Alex Ross JUSTICE series?
I think the Hall of Doom appeared in McDuffie's first (disappointing) JLA issues, yeah? Though not named as such.
Holy shit, the Global Peace Agency thing is brilliant, and almost definitely dead-on. I can't wait to see what role Buddy Blank plays in this series and how much they ignore the bullshit he did in Countdown.
Was the bald dude in the crowd around Nazi-Supergirl asking "What's she saying?" supposed to be Morrison?
The Hall of Doom appeared in some of the later issues of [i]Extreme Justice[/i], but I don't recall offhand if they called it that by name.
I've been talking about this over at FBB, but want to bring it up over here: Do people think there's a rhyme/reason to the cover order?
So far we have Green Lantern, Flash, Supergirl, Darkseid, Wonder Woman.
While each of these characters plays a part in the issue involved, I can't help but wonder if they pertain to any sort of astrological (planetary bodies? visible celestial objects? Morrison's called Superman a Sun God before) or chronological (days of the week?) lists or orders of seven.
Regarding Supergirl surrounded by drawings of different costumes: this is a homage to the Mike Sekowsky written and drawn run on the character in Adventure comics, where they ran a competition to design her a new costume. The cover can see be sere:
http://supergirl.astraldream.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=94&fullsize=1
In past interviews, Morrison has said he was a great fan of this era of the character, and especially the Bob Oskner drawn "hotpants" version!
am I the only one who'd love to see more of Morrison's take on the character?
Re: Tawky Tawny's Tiger Tea
As someone else here noted, "Tiger Tea" is a storied piece of Krazy Kat history -- an anomalous 8-week piece of continuous narrative in strip noted for its dreamlike, fragmented nature.
It has been associated with Krazy Kat kreator Herriman's notorious taste for "tea" (marijuana), which supposedly motivated his move to Arizona from NYC (the substance was more widely available in the Southwest during the 1930s).
In the strip, the tea was "brewed from a powerful catnip" and "turned the normally placid and equable Krazy into 'a pominint tidal wave in a notion of dynamite.' Tiger tea gives extraordinary courage to meek creatures. Even the worm turns on the early bird, and the elephant frightens the mouse." [NABOKOV AT CORNELL by Gavriel Shapiro]
Nabokov playfully name-checks "tiger tea" in his book PALE FIRE where it is mentioned as a curative for impotence. "One night when he tried tiger tea... hopes rose high."
Krazy fans have a fascination with Tiger Tea, as witnessed by the existence of this site:
THE TIGER TEA ROOM
http://www.krazy.com/tigertea.htm
"I'm on a mission from the gods" kind of echoes "We're not worthy" from #2... a total pop culture reference from the League of Pop Culture Heroes.
Kevin Huxford caught a pretty hilarious little easter egg over at http://www.schwapponline.com/2008/08/unintentionally-funny.html
Considering Mike S. Miller worked with Morrison's bro-b4-hos Mark Waid on JLA, G-Mo would probably be familiar with his... views.
Human Flame's "secret" I.D.: The character was created by writer Jack Miller, so maybe that's the origin of his surname... or maybe there's multiple references here.
The "Ark of the Covenent" line is also a crack at the Question's sartorial influence, surely.
I can see the supergirl/overgirl crisis homage
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k318/04nbod/crisis7ut5.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k318/04nbod/FC3p06.jpg
especially when montoya is over her body like superman is
I love reading these. Very insightful, except for that I'm surprised that you didn't know that Morrison has stated he is disregarding Countdown (and probably Death of the New Gods).
I think the printed draft letter was a decision to show how outmoded the heroes of DC are against the 'technologically advanced' emailing Darkseid.
Was it a good idea? Kind of clunky considering, but it seems intentional.
Maybe Green Arrow was the only one who got a hard copy, since maybe Ollie doesn't have an email address. I mean, the guy shoots arrows, how much more obvious could he announce a Luddite tendency?
I think the left-most female fury on the last page is supposed to be Starfire. She's got the big red hair, and with all the red on the page her skin still looks rather orange.
The woman in the top left corner isn't Bombshell; it's the Bulleteer from Seven Soldiers. I'm surprised no one else picked up on that.
Bill, I thought it was Bulleteer at first too, but I'm pretty sure it actually is Bombshell--check out her Captain Atom-logo T-shirt.
Monkeyinterrupted, I don't think Morrison ever said he was intentionally disregarding Countdown--only that the first issue of FC, and the plot of the rest, were written before Countdown (and therefore Countdown disregarded FC). In the same interview, he mentions that he made FC square up with DotNG.
OBSCURE THINGS I NOTICED:
At the end of #2, Perry White comments that "an editor's heart is cold as the ICE in a drink." Earlier that issue, Sonny Sumo decardiates (oh hell yeah I just made that up) Megayakuza with a glass of ice water. Hearts and ice...
Re Mary Marvel's virus: I don't think it's the morticoccus virus. The omega symbol makes me think that Morrison has created a viral form of "The Omega Sanction," used by Boss Dark Side in the Mister Miracle series. When MM proves immune to the anti-life equation, Boss Dark Side unleashes the Omega Sanction, which MM experiences as living his life over and over again, each new existence more degraded than the last.
Not a Kirby Easter egg, but...
I think that ship on the last page looks a lot like a "Firefly-class" spaceship from the show "Firefly".
Mr. Wretch -
That "Tiger Tea" thing had been nagging at me. Thanks very much for bringing it up! I haven't been keeping up on my kat-lore as well as I should, obviously!
Superheroes sending each other letters was a plot point in the Rogers/Albuquerque Blue Beetle.
Hey - first, thanks for these annotations so much. It's great that your blog will be around for years to guide new readers like me.
Second: I've noticed on both this blog and the other "main" FC annotations blog that comes up on Google the reference to Morrison's mentioning his take on Supergirl was inspired by a story from Bizarro Comics.
I can't help but think that either Morrison or the blogosphere (likely a combo of both) got confused; I think Morrison meant to say the Supergirl story in the second volume, Bizarro World, which is simply called "Supergirl" and is illustrated by Dylan Horrocks as well but written by Maggie Estep. The other Supergirl story, "Clubhouse of Solitude," only seems to compare to FC because of the Mary Marvel/Supergirl connection, but he reportedly said his take was based on Supergirl's interpretation, and this other story by Maggie Estep is more like a story for young women and even features Supergirl in her room at the end with paintings, a guitar, and "artsy" type stuff in her room, which is not only in line with Morrison's later comments about femininity in comics, but even echoes Supergirl's first appearance in her room in FC.
Anyway...maybe check out that second Bizzaro volume.
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