"I can't wait to see someone do annotations on the first issue"--Geoff Johns
At your service. Before I start my own annotations, I should note that Michael Grabois over at The Legion Omnicom has been gearing up to do some scarily complete annotations for this mini (from which I am stealing lots of information)--even before the appearance of this issue, he'd already posted lists of the first appearances and creators of every character in all three incarnations of the Legion.
Three incarnations? Right. The Legion of Super-Heroes has three separate continuities: the first set is the stories published between 1958 and 1994, the second ran 1994-2004, and the third is 2004-present. They're sometimes called the "pre-ZH Legion" (ZH being ZERO HOUR, the miniseries that reconfigured the timestream), the "reboot" and the "threeboot." For the purposes of notes on this mini-series, I'm just going to call them L(I), L(II) and L(III) when distinctions are necessary.
On top of that, Lo3W builds on "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes," which ran in ACTION COMICS #858-864, and featured an older version of L(I) that nonetheless hadn't lived through the events published in the LEGION series that ran from 1989 to 1994. "Superman and the Legion," in turn, builds on several Legionnaires' appearance in "The Lightning Saga," in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #8-10 and JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #5-6. And, in JSA #6, Superman refers to the "Legion of Three Worlds" being "one of the Legion's greatest adventures." That title is of course a riff on "Flash of Two Worlds", the first story to propose the existence of "Earth-Two" (and the source of Libra's headquarters).
Confused yet? This story will allegedly be how all that stuff gets un-confused. We'll see. And, for all that, this is a fairly self-explanatory story; in the same interview linked up top, Johns claims that "[y]ou don't need to know who Superboy-Prime is when you read issue #1. You don't need to know who the Legion are, and you don't need to know anything about their world. You don't even need to know who Superman is when you pick up issue #1." Nonetheless, it's got more Easter eggs than a PAAS factory.
Also, I'm not noting everybody in every group shot, partly because life is short, and partly because Timothy Callahan's annotations already did all the heavy lifting there. Also, you should read them because they're funnier than mine.
Pg. 1:
This is the Time Trapper, created by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, who first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #318 in 1964. (He later retroactively became Time Master, who had appeared in WONDER WOMAN #101 in 1958. This sort of thing happens a lot when he's around.) "The Legion will live no longer" is a riff on the team's catchphrase, "long live the Legion."
Flour beetles are actually likely to survive longer than cockroaches, but the point is made.
The Time Trapper's headquarters may well be Vanishing Point, the HQ of the Linear Men, which is also on an asteroid and also at the end of time; I don't have visual reference for that on hand, though.
Pg. 2:
As far as I know, none of these years (or the ones elsewhere in the issue) have specific DCU implications.
Smallville is Superman's boyhood home, and this sequence isn't just a parodic replay of Superman's origin, it's a parodic replay of a previous Johns parodic replay--ACTION COMICS #858, where the hyper-xenophobic Jun (originally "Juun") and Mara first appeared. Their names, I suppose, are also 31st-century equivalents of Jonathan and Martha. Kind of amusing that cup/saucer/utensil design hasn't changed in a thousand years, I guess, but Jun and Mara seem like traditionalists anyway. "Boys and girls" may be a riff on the "Attribute Boy" Legion naming paradigm.
Michael Grabois identifies the newscaster as Marella Tao, created by Paul Levitz and Greg LaRoque, who first appeared in 1987's LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #36.
Pg. 4:
Ah, Superman-Prime. (Although is this the first time Superboy has been called by that name in a new DC comic since the Superboy lawsuit?) Created by Elliot S! Maggin and Curt Swan, he first appeared--as Superboy-Prime--in DC COMICS PRESENTS #87 in 1985. That 1985 is significant: Geoff Johns writes him as an "evil fanboy" who wants everything to be the way it was when he was reading comics in the mid-'80s...
Prime was last seen, I think, in COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #13, destroying moving part 51. Not sure how he got from there to here.
Pg. 5:
Prime looks rather Li'l Abner in panel 7, doesn't he?
The "Welcome to Smallville" sign should, by rights, be in Interlac, but it was established as being in English in ACTION #858. The sign in the final panel, though, is in Interlac: it says "Superman Museum."
Pp. 6-7:
The golden statue in the middle is of course a riff on the cover of ACTION COMICS #1, with exploding Krypton and the Discovery of the El Child behind it. Left, top row, we see Ma and Pa Kent with little Clark; Clark and Lois on their wedding day in SUPERMAN: THE WEDDING ALBUM; Jimmy, Perry and Clark at the Daily Planet offices; Lex Luthor being led away. The second row is an early Joe Shuster-style Superman, the DC One Million version (wait--isn't that still in the far future of this timeline?), the Kingdom Come version, and the TANGENT COMICS: THE SUPERMAN version. Bottom row: Jonathan Kent, Martha Kent, Pete Ross and Lana Lang. Anyone know who that is in the crystal structure?
Right, top row: Power Girl, Steel, Lori Lemaris and the seven core members of the Justice League. Middle row: Krypto, Superwoman (as seen in the pre-Crisis DC COMICS PRESENTS ANNUAL #2 and #4), some version of Supergirl, and Connor Kent/Superboy. Bottom row: Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White.
Pg. 8:
"Strange visitor" is a phrase that dates back to the very early days of Superman. Apparently the Jimmy-guide speaks in 21st-century American English.
"Hall of 1,000 Olsens" is a riff on JIMMY OLSEN #105--"The World of 1000 Olsens!" In evidence: the Super-Brain Olsen from JIMMY OLSEN #22, the Elastic Lad incarnation of Jimmy who first appeared in JIMMY OLSEN #37, Jupiter Jimmy from JIMMY OLSEN #32, the Wolf-Man of Metropolis from JIMMY OLSEN #44, the Giant Turtle Man from JIMMY OLSEN #53, the Human Octopus from JIMMY OLSEN #41, the Human Flame-Thrower from JIMMY OLSEN #33, the Human Porcupine from JIMMY OLSEN #65, the Fat Boy of Metropolis from JIMMY OLSEN #49, Jimmy the Gorilla Reporter from JIMMY OLSEN #24 although the cover of its reprint in JIMMY OLSEN #116 is funnier, and... who else? Anyone recognize the chicken-footed one or the tornado-like one?
Pg. 9:
The caped figures are Nightwing and Flamebird, from SUPERMAN #158 and many times thereafter, although, as Jimmy indicates, that's now out of continuity. Ow.
Interlac in Panel 2: "Olsen Photo..." In panel 8, the portrait gallery says "Portrait Ga...," and below the Supermans in the case: "...ster," "Boring," "Swan," "Garcia-Lopez," "...ne," and "L...feld." Those Supermans are drawn in approximations of the styles of Joe Shuster, Wayne Boring, Curt Swan, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, John Byrne--although mostly obscured--and... could the one where almost all you can see is feet be dedicated to Rob Liefeld? [ETA: I misread it: it's actually "H... feld," a tribute to Al Hirschfeld, apparently inserted by inker Scott Koblish: there is a "Nina" on each foot. Thanks to Michael for catching it...] Below the left figure, "Bu..."; below the right figure, "Pérez."
Pg. 10:
Panel 2: the Interlac does indeed say "...hantom Zone" and "on loan."
Panel 3: L(I), in the incarnation that appeared in "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes."
R.J. Brande first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #350, by E. Nelson Bridwell and Curt Swan, referred to only as "the richest man in the universe"; the story of his attempted assassination (and the beginning of the Legion) appeared in SUPERBOY #147, a few years later. Leland McCauley (only two Cs!) first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #374.
Panel 7: This is the Legion as they appeared in the late '80s, before the "five years later" period. Which segues nicely into reader Joe G.'s question: "Is 'five years later' no longer in continuity? When in Legion continuity (by which I mean assuming 5YL is tossed out) does 'The Lightning Saga' start? When are these Legionnaires from? I guess the Levitz Baxter-paper run?" Glad you asked, Joe G.! I have no idea what the answer is. In ACTION COMICS #864, Batman notes that this Lightning Lad was the one he'd met in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #148--as opposed to the L(II) version from THE FINAL NIGHT and the L(III) version from Waid/Pérez's THE BRAVE & THE BOLD. On the other hand, supposedly "every Legionnaire to have ever existed" is going to appear in this story. Which means that once we see, e.g., Kent Shakespeare and Laurel Gand, things may become clearer. See also the note on Karate Kid II, pg. 22 below.
My best guess right now is that the three Legions are from parallel universes, but the Johnsverse version, the 5YL version, and the original Jim Shooter "Adult Legion" story from ADVENTURE COMICS #354 (which incidentally includes an offhanded reference to Dr. Light!) and #355 are all alternate timelines from a single universe. But who knows? Any speculation is welcome.
Pg. 11:
Panel 1: Steel's hammer, Superboy's jacket, the Guardian's shield, various varieties of Kryptonite.
Panel 2: Gaston Dominguez-Letelier co-owns Meltdown Comics in Hollywood. Interlac: "...olitude." The exhibit is the key to the Fortress of Solitude, and I think that's Dubbilex in the lower left-hand corner.
Panel 7: He's looking past the Cyborg, Toyman, and... is that the Psycho-Pirate?
Pg. 12:
That "parallel Earth long dead" is our world!
The fight with the Titans happened in TEEN TITANS #32 in 2006; he actually killed Connor Kent in INFINITE CRISIS #6; the fight with Sodam Yat happened in GREEN LANTERN CORPS #18. Prime is considerably tougher than Jimmy is letting on here. And Neutron is, really, fairly minor, although I'll take this opportunity to link to the cover of his first appearance, ACTION COMICS #525, by Marv Wolfman and Joe Staton.
Pg. 13:
The diorama is Connor/Superboy out in front of the Titans.
Pg. 14:
Helmets: "SPD." Vests: "Police." Since when is freezing-breath one of Prime's powers?
Pg. 15:
Panel 3 includes insets of Comet the Super-Horse, Mary Marvel or Captain Marvel's cape, and some stuff I don't recognize.
Pg. 16:
Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl were all created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, and debuted in ADVENTURE COMICS #247.
Pg. 17:
Interlac in panel 9: "Saturn."
Pg. 18:
This sequence, with Mon-El being yanked out of the Phantom Zone, is sort of a recurring motif in Legion comics. In current continuity, he first went into the Phantom Zone in ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #10, and has spent a lot of time in there; as of "Superman and the Legion," he's been re-banished to the Phantom Zone by the Justice League of Earth.
Phantom Girl, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney, first appeared in ACTION COMICS #276. Lightning Lass, created by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #308. Shadow Lass, created by Jim Shooter and Curt Swan, first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #365.
General Zod, created by Robert Bernstein and George Papp, first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #283. Ursa first appeared in the 1978 SUPERMAN movie, although she didn't appear in comics until ACTION COMICS #845 in 2006.
Pg. 19:
Mon-El, created by Robert Bernstein and George Papp, first appeared in SUPERBOY #89. Brainiac 5, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney, also first appeared in ACTION COMICS #276.
Pg. 21:
Sun Boy, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney, was yet another ACTION COMICS #276 debut. Polar Boy, created by Edmond Hamilton, Buddy La Vigne and John Forte, first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #306.
The structure in panel 6 is a building, loosely based on the Legion's original "clubhouse," that appeared in "Superman and the Legion."
Pg. 22:
Panel 3: Karate Kid II, here, was created by Paul Levitz and Steve Lightle, and first appeared in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #13. But he didn't actually join the Legion until the Five-Year Gap period, which indicates that the Lo3W history diverges sometime after that.
Panel 7: Ah, Dr. Gym'll. Created by Paul Levitz and Pat Broderick, he first appeared in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #284 in 1980.
Panel 8: Taltar is the home world of Spider-Girl (!), although I don't know if Taltarians have previously been established as having green skin. (The Taltarian in ADVENTURE COMICS #368 doesn't, anyway, which is not to say that others don't.)
Panel 11: Nullport appeared in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #285.
Panel 12: Kaffar appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #343. Durla is a can of worms, as we'll see.
Pg. 24:
Takron-Galtos first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #359; it was destroyed in 1986's LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #18. Hence, it's been rebuilt.
Pg. 26:
Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen and Cosmic King, created by Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan, first appeared in SUPERMAN #147 in 1961. They all turned up relatively recently in an alternate-future-history story in SUPERMAN/BATMAN #14-18.
Just as Superboy inspired the LSH, Prime inspired the LSV...
"A dark being whose name was never spoken": Interesting. Cain? Darkseid?
Pg. 27:
Uh, Earthgov has kind of made "the American way" as a phrase obsolete, hasn't it?
Pg. 29:
As we all know, when you kill a Skrull, they turn back to their--Durlan. Durlan, sorry. R.J. Brande, by the way, was initially revealed as a Durlan in SECRETS OF THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #3, back in 1981. (Which also revealed that he was indeed Chameleon Boy's father.)
Pg. 31:
It's time for a big round of the "begats." Colossal Boy, created by Otto Binder and Wayne Boring, first appeared in ACTION COMICS #267, and the same goes for Chameleon Boy. Night Girl, created by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS #306; Hamilton and Forte also created Element Lad (ADVENTURE COMICS #307), Dream Girl (ADVENTURE COMICS #317) and Timber Wolf (ADVENTURE COMICS #327). Shrinking Violet: Siegel, Mooney, ACTION #276 again. Invisible Kid II, created by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen, first appeared in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ANNUAL #1. Ultra Boy, created by Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan, first appeared in SUPERBOY #98. Blok, created by Gerry Conway and Joe Staton, first appeared in SUPERBOY #253. Dawnstar, created by Paul Levitz and Mike Grell, first appeared in SUPERBOY #226. Wildfire, created by Cary Bates and Dave Cockrum, first appeared in SUPERBOY #195.
Also on the screen in the last couple of panels: the White Witch, Duo Damsel, Bouncing Boy... is that Rond Vidar?... Quislet... Sensor Girl/Projectra?... Tellus and Tyroc.
Pg. 33:
Superman got the "ripcord" ring in ACTION #864.
Pg. 34:
Prime killed one of the Guardians in GREEN LANTERN #25.
Pp. 35-36:
The Legion on the left is L(II); the one on the right is L(III). And no, I'm not going to name all the characters this time. I note, though, that L(III) includes Supergirl in the same outfit she's wearing on pg. 7. And the proposed redemption of Prime is an interesting parallel to the proposed redemption of Inertia over in ROGUES' REVENGE.
Then there's the matter of "a long time ago" (perhaps that was the first "Legion of Three Worlds" adventure), and "the first Crisis." Wasn't Psycho-Pirate the only one who remembered CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS? I'm sure this has been tweaked over the years; can anybody explain it? In "The Lightning Saga," Superman also notes "the last time I saw [the Legion] was after the first Crisis, and they never came back." Maybe he means 1987's SUPERMAN #8?
*****
Bits of Non-Legionnaire Business: There are three, count 'em, three Final Crisis-related titles being published next week: ROGUES' REVENGE #2, SUPERMAN BEYOND #1 (there is still no sign of a #2 in the solicitations for November; perhaps it's been abridged back to a one-shot?) and DC UNIVERSE: LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to post anything here until the following week (when there are no FC-related titles scheduled--and here I was hoping for a roughly one-a-week pace), since I will be on my annual vacation, very far away from the Internet (and comic book stores). In the meantime, I bet David Uzumeri over at Funnybook Babylon will have something interesting to say about SUPERMAN BEYOND, at least. See you in September.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Final Crisis: Revelations #1
By way of transition, let's start out with a quote from Darkseid in FOREVER PEOPLE #3, the source of the original Justifiers: "I like you, Glorious Godfrey! You're a shallow, precious child--the Revelationist, happy with the sweeping sound of words! But I am the Revelation! The tiger-force at the core of all things! When you cry out in your dreams--it is Darkseid that you see!"
I have to confess I'm disappointed that the Powers That Be ended up going with "Revelations" instead of "Revelation" for this--what people think the book of the New Testament is called, rather than what it actually is called. And now it shares a foreboding subhead with THE PHOENIX RESURRECTION: REVELATIONS, SOLAR, MAN OF THE ATOM: REVELATIONS and the uncomfortably recent WILDSTORM: REVELATIONS. (The only American comic that's ever gotten it right, as far as I can tell, is WOLVERINE/THE PUNISHER: REVELATION.)
Pg. 1:
Great opening line. The scene here is the memorial statues of Superman and Superboy in Metropolis that were unveiled in 52 #1; what's being broadcast is Superman's funeral oration for J'onn J'onzz from FC #2. "Homicide: we work for God" is probably most familiar as a line from a 1993 episode of Homicide: Life on the Street.
Pp. 2-3:
We seem to have moved away from Metropolis, since the rain raineth chiefly on the just. Arthur is, of course, revising his involvement upwards. And he has more specific tastes in his victims than we ever knew: check out the oversized bracelets on "Donna."
The implication is that Light's party is happening at the same time as, or immediately after, the memorial service, but Light is still around in Libra's entourage as of the scene after the funeral in FC #2. Maybe he's just gone on a multi-day bender. (ETA: The solicitation for #4 mentions "a Justifier siege," so that issue apparently happens after FC #3.)
It's worth mentioning that Dr. Light hasn't always been Mr. Rapey-Rape--I don't think that was part of his profile until IDENTITY CRISIS, actually. For a long time, the deal with him was that he had no particular arch-enemy: he got his ass handed to him by everybody in turn, first by the Justice League, then the Atom, then Green Lantern (although now I have to wonder if a "Missouri mule" would be some kind of sicko sexual reference), then the Flash (on one of those famously wide Central City sidewalks), and eventually Superman and Batman together, Superman on his own, Batman with Supergirl, Aquaman, Teen Titans both old and new (he's totally checking out Starfire's butt there, the bastard)... the punch line to all this was a story I still remember from FLASH #12 in 1988, in which he gets taken down by the children of Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys.
Pp. 4-5:
Well, this one's been a long time coming. (And, of course, now Arthur's revising his involvement downwards. Weasel.) The out-out-brief-candle bit is another example of the Spectre's fondness for punishments that fit crimes; Dr. Light has been given the same weakness that J'onn had...
But, if you'll forgive a bit more Dr. Light biography: he is well familiar with the DCU afterlife's revolving door, because this is in fact the fourth time he's died. A Parademon killed him in SUICIDE SQUAD #36, which you'd think would have taught him not to mess with Apokolips; having gone to Hell, he was resurrected three times (and killed twice more) in the course of SUICIDE SQUAD #52.
Pg. 7:
St. Faustino (and his friend St. Giovita) are the patron saints of Brescia, Italy; Faustino was a 15th century martyr who's often considered the patron saint of singles, too.
I don't think Dr. Tochioka has appeared before.
Pg. 8:
I also couldn't tell you who Sister Clarice is (or, uh, was). But one important Clarice in the Spectre's life was Jim Corrigan's fiancée Clarice Winston; the Spectre had been keeping her alive for a long time, and severed her lifeline in 1995's SPECTRE #30. Also, thinking of "Clarice" and "Spectre" together led me to think of the author Clarice Lispector.
Pg. 9:
Martyn Van Wyck was Effigy, the flame-based villain who helped kill the Martian Manhunter in FC #1. First Cris snuffs the candle, then he snuffs the wick...
Pg. 10:
I really wish Cris would avoid conflating the concepts of crime and sin. (Crimes are committed against secular laws, sins against divine laws. Jaywalking is a crime; violating the Sabbath is a sin; murder is both.)
Effigy burned the "Hollywood" sign in, I think, 1999's GREEN LANTERN #113.
Pg. 11:
Montoya became the leader of the Order of the Stone at the end of what I prefer to think of as THE QUESTION: FIVE LESSONS OF BLOOD (a.k.a. the CRIME BIBLE miniseries, which led out of the "crime religion" plot of 52).
Pg. 17:
The Hangmen--Killshot, Shock Trauma, Provoke, Stranglehold and Breathtaker--were created by Jay Faerber and Paul Pelletier, and first appeared in 2000's THE TITANS #21. They were roundly mocked by Scipio in 2005, and apparently killed by an angry mob under the direction of Dr. Psycho in 2006's MANHUNTER #21.
Pg. 19:
How many mortal shells has the Spectre worn? Was there anyone before Jim Corrigan? Anyone know?
Pg. 20:
You know, killing off characters loses something of its dramatic impact when they were already dead last time we saw them.
Pg. 23:
I know I've been crying wolf about this particular artifact a lot in the course of these notes, but I'm going to guess once again that what we're seeing here is the Spear of Destiny, which was introduced to the DC Universe in 1977's WEIRD WAR TALES #50, by Steve Englehart, Dick Ayers and Alfredo Alcala. "In the ocean off the coast of England" isn't something I'd previously imagined as a likely spot for the Spear, seeing as how the last time it popped up it had been hurled into the sun; is there a story I missed? [ETA: Yes there is. Commenter narm00 points out that the Spear ended up in the ocean in JSA CLASSIFIED #8-9.]
The business with the "First" etc. is the standard invocations of the Crime Cult. The First is Cain (although more the Biblical Cain than the keeper-of-the-House-of-Mystery Cain, although that house appeared in 52); the Red Rock is not actually named in Genesis 4, although it's semi-traditional that Cain killed Abel with a rock. Commenter Ragtime points out that red + rage could be cues toward "Rage of the Red Lanterns."
Pg. 26:
Cris, as the Spectre, killed his son (who had killed the crooked cop, coincidentally named Jim Corrigan, who had killed him) in CRISIS AFTERMATH: THE SPECTRE #3--a story that, as Rucka has noted, doesn't exactly echo Genesis 22. Which leads Cris to echo Matthew 27:46 here.
The "mercy/vengeance" thing that's being batted around this issue, in combination with the reference to the "Angel of Mercy" in that interview and Rucka's mentioning a new character who'll show up in #2, makes me wonder if the mysterious Clarice might not turn out to be a Spirit of Mercy of some kind.
(ETA: The solicitation for #4 mentions a character called Radiant; the light-vs.-shadow implications of that name w/r/t "Spectre" makes me think such a character might be something along those lines, too. DC already has a different character called the Radiant, but that's never stopped anyone before.)
The DCU's Hell, of course, has its own problems right now--cf. REIGN IN HELL.
Pg. 30:
Hey, it's the old GOTHAM CENTRAL team back together!
I have to confess I'm disappointed that the Powers That Be ended up going with "Revelations" instead of "Revelation" for this--what people think the book of the New Testament is called, rather than what it actually is called. And now it shares a foreboding subhead with THE PHOENIX RESURRECTION: REVELATIONS, SOLAR, MAN OF THE ATOM: REVELATIONS and the uncomfortably recent WILDSTORM: REVELATIONS. (The only American comic that's ever gotten it right, as far as I can tell, is WOLVERINE/THE PUNISHER: REVELATION.)
Pg. 1:
Great opening line. The scene here is the memorial statues of Superman and Superboy in Metropolis that were unveiled in 52 #1; what's being broadcast is Superman's funeral oration for J'onn J'onzz from FC #2. "Homicide: we work for God" is probably most familiar as a line from a 1993 episode of Homicide: Life on the Street.
Pp. 2-3:
We seem to have moved away from Metropolis, since the rain raineth chiefly on the just. Arthur is, of course, revising his involvement upwards. And he has more specific tastes in his victims than we ever knew: check out the oversized bracelets on "Donna."
The implication is that Light's party is happening at the same time as, or immediately after, the memorial service, but Light is still around in Libra's entourage as of the scene after the funeral in FC #2. Maybe he's just gone on a multi-day bender. (ETA: The solicitation for #4 mentions "a Justifier siege," so that issue apparently happens after FC #3.)
It's worth mentioning that Dr. Light hasn't always been Mr. Rapey-Rape--I don't think that was part of his profile until IDENTITY CRISIS, actually. For a long time, the deal with him was that he had no particular arch-enemy: he got his ass handed to him by everybody in turn, first by the Justice League, then the Atom, then Green Lantern (although now I have to wonder if a "Missouri mule" would be some kind of sicko sexual reference), then the Flash (on one of those famously wide Central City sidewalks), and eventually Superman and Batman together, Superman on his own, Batman with Supergirl, Aquaman, Teen Titans both old and new (he's totally checking out Starfire's butt there, the bastard)... the punch line to all this was a story I still remember from FLASH #12 in 1988, in which he gets taken down by the children of Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys.
Pp. 4-5:
Well, this one's been a long time coming. (And, of course, now Arthur's revising his involvement downwards. Weasel.) The out-out-brief-candle bit is another example of the Spectre's fondness for punishments that fit crimes; Dr. Light has been given the same weakness that J'onn had...
But, if you'll forgive a bit more Dr. Light biography: he is well familiar with the DCU afterlife's revolving door, because this is in fact the fourth time he's died. A Parademon killed him in SUICIDE SQUAD #36, which you'd think would have taught him not to mess with Apokolips; having gone to Hell, he was resurrected three times (and killed twice more) in the course of SUICIDE SQUAD #52.
Pg. 7:
St. Faustino (and his friend St. Giovita) are the patron saints of Brescia, Italy; Faustino was a 15th century martyr who's often considered the patron saint of singles, too.
I don't think Dr. Tochioka has appeared before.
Pg. 8:
I also couldn't tell you who Sister Clarice is (or, uh, was). But one important Clarice in the Spectre's life was Jim Corrigan's fiancée Clarice Winston; the Spectre had been keeping her alive for a long time, and severed her lifeline in 1995's SPECTRE #30. Also, thinking of "Clarice" and "Spectre" together led me to think of the author Clarice Lispector.
Pg. 9:
Martyn Van Wyck was Effigy, the flame-based villain who helped kill the Martian Manhunter in FC #1. First Cris snuffs the candle, then he snuffs the wick...
Pg. 10:
I really wish Cris would avoid conflating the concepts of crime and sin. (Crimes are committed against secular laws, sins against divine laws. Jaywalking is a crime; violating the Sabbath is a sin; murder is both.)
Effigy burned the "Hollywood" sign in, I think, 1999's GREEN LANTERN #113.
Pg. 11:
Montoya became the leader of the Order of the Stone at the end of what I prefer to think of as THE QUESTION: FIVE LESSONS OF BLOOD (a.k.a. the CRIME BIBLE miniseries, which led out of the "crime religion" plot of 52).
Pg. 17:
The Hangmen--Killshot, Shock Trauma, Provoke, Stranglehold and Breathtaker--were created by Jay Faerber and Paul Pelletier, and first appeared in 2000's THE TITANS #21. They were roundly mocked by Scipio in 2005, and apparently killed by an angry mob under the direction of Dr. Psycho in 2006's MANHUNTER #21.
Pg. 19:
How many mortal shells has the Spectre worn? Was there anyone before Jim Corrigan? Anyone know?
Pg. 20:
You know, killing off characters loses something of its dramatic impact when they were already dead last time we saw them.
Pg. 23:
I know I've been crying wolf about this particular artifact a lot in the course of these notes, but I'm going to guess once again that what we're seeing here is the Spear of Destiny, which was introduced to the DC Universe in 1977's WEIRD WAR TALES #50, by Steve Englehart, Dick Ayers and Alfredo Alcala. "In the ocean off the coast of England" isn't something I'd previously imagined as a likely spot for the Spear, seeing as how the last time it popped up it had been hurled into the sun; is there a story I missed? [ETA: Yes there is. Commenter narm00 points out that the Spear ended up in the ocean in JSA CLASSIFIED #8-9.]
The business with the "First" etc. is the standard invocations of the Crime Cult. The First is Cain (although more the Biblical Cain than the keeper-of-the-House-of-Mystery Cain, although that house appeared in 52); the Red Rock is not actually named in Genesis 4, although it's semi-traditional that Cain killed Abel with a rock. Commenter Ragtime points out that red + rage could be cues toward "Rage of the Red Lanterns."
Pg. 26:
Cris, as the Spectre, killed his son (who had killed the crooked cop, coincidentally named Jim Corrigan, who had killed him) in CRISIS AFTERMATH: THE SPECTRE #3--a story that, as Rucka has noted, doesn't exactly echo Genesis 22. Which leads Cris to echo Matthew 27:46 here.
The "mercy/vengeance" thing that's being batted around this issue, in combination with the reference to the "Angel of Mercy" in that interview and Rucka's mentioning a new character who'll show up in #2, makes me wonder if the mysterious Clarice might not turn out to be a Spirit of Mercy of some kind.
(ETA: The solicitation for #4 mentions a character called Radiant; the light-vs.-shadow implications of that name w/r/t "Spectre" makes me think such a character might be something along those lines, too. DC already has a different character called the Radiant, but that's never stopped anyone before.)
The DCU's Hell, of course, has its own problems right now--cf. REIGN IN HELL.
Pg. 30:
Hey, it's the old GOTHAM CENTRAL team back together!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Final Crisis #3
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?
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?
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge 1
Cover: The sliver cover is based on, or at least inspired by, George Pérez's image of the dying Barry Allen in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #8. The portrait cover bears some resemblance to FLASH #193 from 1969, which Johns has noted was the first Flash comic he ever read.
Pg. 1:
Here's that lightning again!
The Flash they killed was Bart Allen, in THE FLASH: THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #13.
Pg. 2:
"Uh" isn't really a Scots-accent way of saying "a," is it? It just reminds me of Captain Beefheart.
Pg. 3:
"Lex Luthor eatin' outta his hand": guess Luthor was impressed by the explosion in FC #2 after all, so this scene dates this issue to some time after that one. "You better not be dealing again": in Johns-written comics, Captain Cold is vehement about his no-drugs rule for the Rogues (and he beats up Mirror Master for doing cocaine in FLASH #213). So the Rogues' coke scene COUNTDOWN #50 provoked a reaction from him...
Pp. 4-5:
It's maybe not quite correct to say that they "murdered Kid Flash"--Bart was the full-on Flash at that point, and had only gone under the name Kid Flash briefly--but the general cadence of the descriptive blurb is very much like the top-of-page-1 blurbs that used to run in Marvel comics in the late '70s and early '80s. The "Gaspar" on the Daily Planet clipping has to be a reference to Gaspar Saladino, the longtime DC letterer who for a few years did the lettering on every DC splash page... and "I hate running"--of course they would.
Pg. 6:
"Climate is what we expect...": this is often attributed to Mark Twain, but I've yet to see an identified source. (As "Climate is what you expect...," it was used by Robert A. Heinlein in Time Enough for Love in 1973. It's also sometimes attributed to meteorologist Edward Lorenz.)
Pg. 9:
The first Trickster, James Jesse, was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, and first appeared in FLASH #113 in 1960. The one we're seeing here, Axel Walker, was created by Johns and Kolins, and first appeared in FLASH #183 in 2002.
Pg. 10:
James Jesse was killed by Deadshot in COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #22. Tar Pit was a Johns/Kolins creation who hasn't appeared in a while. Zoom turned up in FLASH: THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #10, hired by Iris to attack Bart in order to protect him from Inertia. Not sure how the Flash Museum enters into that scenario. Computron, I'm guessing, is Colonel Computron (now there's a name I haven't heard in a while); the Rogues were indeed banished to the "war planet" in SALVATION RUN. Double Down is another Johns/Kolins creation; Bart was tight with the Titans, so of course their enemies would assume that the Titans would take some kind of revenge.
ETA: Commenters point out that a new floating-head Computron was introduced in FLASH #217... and was killed in CHECKMATE #11.
Pg. 12:
"Gambi" is Paul Gambi, the Crime Tailor, who's made occasional appearances since 1963. But what would he do with a bunch of heavily used villain suits?
As David Uzumeri points out in the comments, that's really not how Bart's death happened. Although, of course, the Rogues have tremendous capacity for self-deception--and the Pied Piper noted in that issue that he had his own agenda.
Pg. 13:
Jared Morillo and Fred Chyre, created by Johns and Kolins, first appeared in FLASH #171 in 2001. The Pied Piper, created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, first appeared in FLASH #106 in 1959. He had reformed as of FLASH #20 in 1988.
Pg. 17:
Iris Allen was married to the second Flash, Barry Allen, as of 1966's FLASH #165; created by Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert, she first appeared in good ol' SHOWCASE #4 in 1956. She was born in the future, died, came back to life, etc. ... long story. As good an explanation as you're going to get is here.
Pg. 19:
"This is a rock." The rock-as-first-murder-weapon is one of the central symbols of the Religion of Crime--see 52 and CRIME BIBLE: THE FIVE LESSONS OF BLOOD. And see David Uzumeri's comment for who some of the folks Libra is talking to are. "Evil's skin is the tool of murder": Squashua notes that Darkseid's skin is rocklike.
Pg. 20:
"One of my... shaving mirrors" would be funnier if Light hadn't vehemently refused Mirror Master's offer of "Peruvian flake" in FC #1 ("No, no! Do I look like some junkie?").
Pg. 21:
Inertia, created by Todd DeZago, Grant Morrison, Mike Wieringo and Ethan Van Sciver, first appeared in 1999 in IMPULSE #50. He was frozen into statue form in last year's ALL-FLASH #1.
This, sadly, creates some difficulties with the timeline, as David U. points out. The Flash Museum was badly damaged by a fire in FLASH #241, so Wally retrieved Inertia from it; by then, though, Iris West was no longer in the condition she's in on pg. 28.
Pg. 22:
Gregory Wolfe (the warden of Iron Heights), created by Johns and Van Sciver, first appeared in 2001's THE FLASH: IRON HEIGHTS. Apparently he didn't actually die in OUTSIDERS ANNUAL #1 after all.
Pg. 25:
The patented Geoff Johns Gross-Out! Yeah, that's quite a myth: the intestine's unstretched length is usually between 20 and 28 feet, and it might be able to stretch a few feet beyond that, but it's really not all that elastic.
Pg. 26:
The Pied Piper's real name is Hartley Rathaway, so he's in the family estate here. (His father paid for Will Magnus to cure his childhood deafness, according to FLASH #190.)
Pg. 27:
The "I'm not a murderer" speech here reprises Cold's dialogue in FLASH #182.
Pg. 28:
Jai and Iris first appeared in FLASH #225 (although we didn't learn their names until ALL-FLASH #1). Their mom is Linda Park-West, created by William Messner-Loebs and Greg LaRoque, who first appeared in FLASH #28.
Pg. 30:
Zoom showed up in DC UNIVERSE ZERO, so I'm sort of wondering what took him this long. His deal is that he "challenges" heroes to make them better... although he tends to be pretty homicidal about it.
*****
Looks like, thanks to the FC #3 delay, I probably won't be posting here again until August 6 or so. In the meantime, if you happen to be in San Diego for Comic-Con International, why not come by one of my panels? I'll be moderating six of 'em:
July 24:
1-2: The Future of the Comics Pamphlet, Room 32AB (with Joe Keatinge, DCU 0 namesake Carr D'Angelo, and other luminaries to be announced)
6-7: The Comics Blogosphere, Room 32AB (with David Brothers, Jeff Lester, Laura Hudson and Tim Robins)
July 25:
5-6--Teaching Comics--Room 4 (with Phil Jimenez, Matt Silady, James Sturm and Steve Lieber)
July 26:
11:30-12:30: Image Comics/Tori Amos--Room 6B (with Tori herself and a cast of thousands)
2:00-3:00: Lettering Roundtable--Room 8 (with Todd Klein, John Roshell, Tom Orzechowski and Jared K. Fletcher)
4:30-5:30: The Story of an Image--Room 4 (with Kim Deitch, Jim Woodring, Jim Ottaviani and Kyle Baker)
And, on Friday the 25th at 11:30, I'll be giving a talk called "Against a Canon of Comics" as part of the Comic Arts Conference in Room 30AB, and probably signing Reading Comics somewhere afterward.
Pg. 1:
Here's that lightning again!
The Flash they killed was Bart Allen, in THE FLASH: THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #13.
Pg. 2:
"Uh" isn't really a Scots-accent way of saying "a," is it? It just reminds me of Captain Beefheart.
Pg. 3:
"Lex Luthor eatin' outta his hand": guess Luthor was impressed by the explosion in FC #2 after all, so this scene dates this issue to some time after that one. "You better not be dealing again": in Johns-written comics, Captain Cold is vehement about his no-drugs rule for the Rogues (and he beats up Mirror Master for doing cocaine in FLASH #213). So the Rogues' coke scene COUNTDOWN #50 provoked a reaction from him...
Pp. 4-5:
It's maybe not quite correct to say that they "murdered Kid Flash"--Bart was the full-on Flash at that point, and had only gone under the name Kid Flash briefly--but the general cadence of the descriptive blurb is very much like the top-of-page-1 blurbs that used to run in Marvel comics in the late '70s and early '80s. The "Gaspar" on the Daily Planet clipping has to be a reference to Gaspar Saladino, the longtime DC letterer who for a few years did the lettering on every DC splash page... and "I hate running"--of course they would.
Pg. 6:
"Climate is what we expect...": this is often attributed to Mark Twain, but I've yet to see an identified source. (As "Climate is what you expect...," it was used by Robert A. Heinlein in Time Enough for Love in 1973. It's also sometimes attributed to meteorologist Edward Lorenz.)
Pg. 9:
The first Trickster, James Jesse, was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, and first appeared in FLASH #113 in 1960. The one we're seeing here, Axel Walker, was created by Johns and Kolins, and first appeared in FLASH #183 in 2002.
Pg. 10:
James Jesse was killed by Deadshot in COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS #22. Tar Pit was a Johns/Kolins creation who hasn't appeared in a while. Zoom turned up in FLASH: THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #10, hired by Iris to attack Bart in order to protect him from Inertia. Not sure how the Flash Museum enters into that scenario. Computron, I'm guessing, is Colonel Computron (now there's a name I haven't heard in a while); the Rogues were indeed banished to the "war planet" in SALVATION RUN. Double Down is another Johns/Kolins creation; Bart was tight with the Titans, so of course their enemies would assume that the Titans would take some kind of revenge.
ETA: Commenters point out that a new floating-head Computron was introduced in FLASH #217... and was killed in CHECKMATE #11.
Pg. 12:
"Gambi" is Paul Gambi, the Crime Tailor, who's made occasional appearances since 1963. But what would he do with a bunch of heavily used villain suits?
As David Uzumeri points out in the comments, that's really not how Bart's death happened. Although, of course, the Rogues have tremendous capacity for self-deception--and the Pied Piper noted in that issue that he had his own agenda.
Pg. 13:
Jared Morillo and Fred Chyre, created by Johns and Kolins, first appeared in FLASH #171 in 2001. The Pied Piper, created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, first appeared in FLASH #106 in 1959. He had reformed as of FLASH #20 in 1988.
Pg. 17:
Iris Allen was married to the second Flash, Barry Allen, as of 1966's FLASH #165; created by Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert, she first appeared in good ol' SHOWCASE #4 in 1956. She was born in the future, died, came back to life, etc. ... long story. As good an explanation as you're going to get is here.
Pg. 19:
"This is a rock." The rock-as-first-murder-weapon is one of the central symbols of the Religion of Crime--see 52 and CRIME BIBLE: THE FIVE LESSONS OF BLOOD. And see David Uzumeri's comment for who some of the folks Libra is talking to are. "Evil's skin is the tool of murder": Squashua notes that Darkseid's skin is rocklike.
Pg. 20:
"One of my... shaving mirrors" would be funnier if Light hadn't vehemently refused Mirror Master's offer of "Peruvian flake" in FC #1 ("No, no! Do I look like some junkie?").
Pg. 21:
Inertia, created by Todd DeZago, Grant Morrison, Mike Wieringo and Ethan Van Sciver, first appeared in 1999 in IMPULSE #50. He was frozen into statue form in last year's ALL-FLASH #1.
This, sadly, creates some difficulties with the timeline, as David U. points out. The Flash Museum was badly damaged by a fire in FLASH #241, so Wally retrieved Inertia from it; by then, though, Iris West was no longer in the condition she's in on pg. 28.
Pg. 22:
Gregory Wolfe (the warden of Iron Heights), created by Johns and Van Sciver, first appeared in 2001's THE FLASH: IRON HEIGHTS. Apparently he didn't actually die in OUTSIDERS ANNUAL #1 after all.
Pg. 25:
The patented Geoff Johns Gross-Out! Yeah, that's quite a myth: the intestine's unstretched length is usually between 20 and 28 feet, and it might be able to stretch a few feet beyond that, but it's really not all that elastic.
Pg. 26:
The Pied Piper's real name is Hartley Rathaway, so he's in the family estate here. (His father paid for Will Magnus to cure his childhood deafness, according to FLASH #190.)
Pg. 27:
The "I'm not a murderer" speech here reprises Cold's dialogue in FLASH #182.
Pg. 28:
Jai and Iris first appeared in FLASH #225 (although we didn't learn their names until ALL-FLASH #1). Their mom is Linda Park-West, created by William Messner-Loebs and Greg LaRoque, who first appeared in FLASH #28.
Pg. 30:
Zoom showed up in DC UNIVERSE ZERO, so I'm sort of wondering what took him this long. His deal is that he "challenges" heroes to make them better... although he tends to be pretty homicidal about it.
*****
Looks like, thanks to the FC #3 delay, I probably won't be posting here again until August 6 or so. In the meantime, if you happen to be in San Diego for Comic-Con International, why not come by one of my panels? I'll be moderating six of 'em:
July 24:
1-2: The Future of the Comics Pamphlet, Room 32AB (with Joe Keatinge, DCU 0 namesake Carr D'Angelo, and other luminaries to be announced)
6-7: The Comics Blogosphere, Room 32AB (with David Brothers, Jeff Lester, Laura Hudson and Tim Robins)
July 25:
5-6--Teaching Comics--Room 4 (with Phil Jimenez, Matt Silady, James Sturm and Steve Lieber)
July 26:
11:30-12:30: Image Comics/Tori Amos--Room 6B (with Tori herself and a cast of thousands)
2:00-3:00: Lettering Roundtable--Room 8 (with Todd Klein, John Roshell, Tom Orzechowski and Jared K. Fletcher)
4:30-5:30: The Story of an Image--Room 4 (with Kim Deitch, Jim Woodring, Jim Ottaviani and Kyle Baker)
And, on Friday the 25th at 11:30, I'll be giving a talk called "Against a Canon of Comics" as part of the Comic Arts Conference in Room 30AB, and probably signing Reading Comics somewhere afterward.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Final Crisis: Requiem
I confess that this is the one announced-to-date issue in this entire project that made me think "let's just get this over with" before I'd even seen it. So... let's get this over with.
Pg. 2:
Clockwise from top left: Dr. Mid-Nite (I think), Wildcat with somebody or other behind him, Wonder Woman, Grace, Wonder Girl, Black Lightning, looks like Captain Marvel, Superman with somebody else behind him, Mr. Terrific, Firestorm, Hawkgirl, Booster Gold, Starman, Plastic Man, Bulleteer (who never to my knowledge even met J'onn), Green Arrow, Stargirl, Aquaman--
Wait a second! Aquaman's dead! What's he doing here??
--Anyway. Donna Troy, Starfire, Batman, somebody whose white legs I don't recognize, Red Arrow, Geo-Force, Flash/Wally West, Ion/Green Lantern/Kyle Rayner (who was alleged in MARTIAN MANHUNTER #1,000,000 to have been a key player in a moment in J'onn's life when "everything seemed darkest," although that issue also presents J'onn as being alive and having his consciousness unified with Mars 853 centuries in the future--but then again BOOSTER GOLD #1,000,000 just came out this week, so I'm assuming that future is still in play), Power Girl, Adam Strange, Supergirl, Hourman, Damage, a boot that appears to belong to Dr. Light/Kimiyo Hoshi, Blue Beetle, Sand, Zatanna comparing fishnets with Black Canary, Green Lantern/Alan Scott, Huntress, Red Tornado, Steel, Flash/Jay Garrick, Hawkman with somebody behind him I can't identify, a green boot that might well belong to Green Lantern/John Stewart, Cyclone, a totally unidentifiable figure, Green Lantern/Hal Jordan, Vixen, Nightwing and Robin with Beast Boy and Raven behind them, Metamorpho. [Thanks to Adan and Don MacPherson for correcting some of my more egregious errors.]
Moving on--
Pg. 4:
A flashback to FC #1, obviously. But there's still a missing bit of information here: what led up to this, to recap, was that J'onn went to the prison planet in SALVATION RUN to see what was going on, disguised as Blockbuster; he saved Catwoman's life (in her own series), for which she repaid him by betraying him to Luthor; Luthor imprisoned him in a flaming cage, then left him behind when he brought everyone else back to Earth; and J'onn disappeared via boom tube in JLA #21. Who called up the boom tube and delivered him to Effigy and Dr. Light? And if that was Libra, what does he need Effigy and Dr. Light for?
Pg. 7:
Yeah, I didn't like that new uniform either.
Pg. 8:
Panel 3: The stretchy guy at left is the Elongated Man, who is also presently dead.
Pg. 10:
Panel 1: I guess he really is a "hairy-chested love god"!
Pg. 13:
"Malacandran": Martians call Mars "Ma'aleca'andra," as in "Malecandra" from C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet. "I know how it all ends": might that be some kind of reference to DC ONE MILLION?
Pp. 14-15:
I see that Superman is talking to himself again, and that he's still forgetting his participation in THE DEATH OF THE NEW GODS. And perhaps he should have kept a closer eye on Lois, you know?
The invisible chick in the bottom tier is Gypsy, created by Gerry Conway and Chuck Patton, who first appeared in 1984's JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ANNUAL #2--one of J'onn's teammates from the mid-'80s "Justice League Detroit" era; after her own death, she was resurrected thanks to J'onn's intervention with his god H'ronmeer in MARTIAN MANHUNTER #12. And you thought Superman was a "proactive God"! Squashua points out that she's a human/Martian hybrid.
Pg. 17:
The Rose Center for Earth and Space exists in the real world, believe it or not.
Pg. 18:
Wait, so they kill J'onn in Central City (which I think is generally considered to be in the Kansas City sort of area) and then transport his body to New York City just so they can staple it to a model of Mars in the Hayden Planetarium? Seems like kind of an excessive gesture.
Pg. 19:
I'm betting all the framed pictures in panel 2 are redrawn versions of old JLA covers; anyone want to identify them? UPDATED: top row is something that looks fairly unidentifiable, JUSTICE LEAGUE #1, and a variation on THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #28; lower row is something that's sort-of-but-not-really like JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #258, and two I can't identify, although something keeps calling Darwyn Cooke to my mind in conjunction with the middle one. [Thanks to Don MacPherson again.]
Pg. 21:
A Turkey Tearror Broadhead is a very nasty-looking (but reportedly sort of ineffectual) arrowhead for shooting turkeys with a bow.
"My Favorite Martian."
Pg. 22:
Oh Jesus, Batman's a Skrull too?
"Green and white tore each other apart": the division between Green and White Martians first came up in the first Justice League series (as Garrie Burr points out), and reappeared in the early issues of Grant Morrison's mid-'90s run on JLA.
H'ronmeer was first mentioned in the 1988 MARTIAN MANHUNTER miniseries, I think. Ma'alefa'ak turned up in MARTIAN MANHUNTER #0, ten years later. These five pages are more or less a recap of the John Ostrander MM series.
Pg. 24:
The Josh Johnstone thing happened in MARTIAN MANHUNTER #20. The Bronze Wraith and the rest of the Justice Experience first appeared in CHASE #6.
Pg. 27:
The Fernus business happened in JLA #84-89, which Mahnke drew.
Pg. 28:
J'onn's fondness for Oreos was a running gag in the Keith Giffen JUSTICE LEAGUE series. They became "Chocos" as of MARTIAN MANHUNTER #24, an issue that is yet another example of the plural form of "Revelations."
Jeff notes that the Spectre moved J'onn's ancestral home to a pyramid in the Gobi desert--where there aren't actually pyramids, so I bet it won't be missed now that Superman's re-relocated it to Mars--in MARTIAN MANHUNTER #23.
Pg. 30:
Interestingly, the first Martian Manhunter story that Peter J. Tomasi wrote--back in SHOWCASE '95 #9--was also on the theme of death reuniting people with their loved ones.
*****
In other news, FINAL CRISIS #3 has officially been bumped to August 6. Congratulations, everyone who guessed that issue in the contest! Email me at finalcrisis [at-sign-goes-here] douglaswolk period com, and we'll figure out what your prize is.
Pg. 2:
Clockwise from top left: Dr. Mid-Nite (I think), Wildcat with somebody or other behind him, Wonder Woman, Grace, Wonder Girl, Black Lightning, looks like Captain Marvel, Superman with somebody else behind him, Mr. Terrific, Firestorm, Hawkgirl, Booster Gold, Starman, Plastic Man, Bulleteer (who never to my knowledge even met J'onn), Green Arrow, Stargirl, Aquaman--
Wait a second! Aquaman's dead! What's he doing here??
--Anyway. Donna Troy, Starfire, Batman, somebody whose white legs I don't recognize, Red Arrow, Geo-Force, Flash/Wally West, Ion/Green Lantern/Kyle Rayner (who was alleged in MARTIAN MANHUNTER #1,000,000 to have been a key player in a moment in J'onn's life when "everything seemed darkest," although that issue also presents J'onn as being alive and having his consciousness unified with Mars 853 centuries in the future--but then again BOOSTER GOLD #1,000,000 just came out this week, so I'm assuming that future is still in play), Power Girl, Adam Strange, Supergirl, Hourman, Damage, a boot that appears to belong to Dr. Light/Kimiyo Hoshi, Blue Beetle, Sand, Zatanna comparing fishnets with Black Canary, Green Lantern/Alan Scott, Huntress, Red Tornado, Steel, Flash/Jay Garrick, Hawkman with somebody behind him I can't identify, a green boot that might well belong to Green Lantern/John Stewart, Cyclone, a totally unidentifiable figure, Green Lantern/Hal Jordan, Vixen, Nightwing and Robin with Beast Boy and Raven behind them, Metamorpho. [Thanks to Adan and Don MacPherson for correcting some of my more egregious errors.]
Moving on--
Pg. 4:
A flashback to FC #1, obviously. But there's still a missing bit of information here: what led up to this, to recap, was that J'onn went to the prison planet in SALVATION RUN to see what was going on, disguised as Blockbuster; he saved Catwoman's life (in her own series), for which she repaid him by betraying him to Luthor; Luthor imprisoned him in a flaming cage, then left him behind when he brought everyone else back to Earth; and J'onn disappeared via boom tube in JLA #21. Who called up the boom tube and delivered him to Effigy and Dr. Light? And if that was Libra, what does he need Effigy and Dr. Light for?
Pg. 7:
Yeah, I didn't like that new uniform either.
Pg. 8:
Panel 3: The stretchy guy at left is the Elongated Man, who is also presently dead.
Pg. 10:
Panel 1: I guess he really is a "hairy-chested love god"!
Pg. 13:
"Malacandran": Martians call Mars "Ma'aleca'andra," as in "Malecandra" from C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet. "I know how it all ends": might that be some kind of reference to DC ONE MILLION?
Pp. 14-15:
I see that Superman is talking to himself again, and that he's still forgetting his participation in THE DEATH OF THE NEW GODS. And perhaps he should have kept a closer eye on Lois, you know?
The invisible chick in the bottom tier is Gypsy, created by Gerry Conway and Chuck Patton, who first appeared in 1984's JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ANNUAL #2--one of J'onn's teammates from the mid-'80s "Justice League Detroit" era; after her own death, she was resurrected thanks to J'onn's intervention with his god H'ronmeer in MARTIAN MANHUNTER #12. And you thought Superman was a "proactive God"! Squashua points out that she's a human/Martian hybrid.
Pg. 17:
The Rose Center for Earth and Space exists in the real world, believe it or not.
Pg. 18:
Wait, so they kill J'onn in Central City (which I think is generally considered to be in the Kansas City sort of area) and then transport his body to New York City just so they can staple it to a model of Mars in the Hayden Planetarium? Seems like kind of an excessive gesture.
Pg. 19:
I'm betting all the framed pictures in panel 2 are redrawn versions of old JLA covers; anyone want to identify them? UPDATED: top row is something that looks fairly unidentifiable, JUSTICE LEAGUE #1, and a variation on THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #28; lower row is something that's sort-of-but-not-really like JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #258, and two I can't identify, although something keeps calling Darwyn Cooke to my mind in conjunction with the middle one. [Thanks to Don MacPherson again.]
Pg. 21:
A Turkey Tearror Broadhead is a very nasty-looking (but reportedly sort of ineffectual) arrowhead for shooting turkeys with a bow.
"My Favorite Martian."
Pg. 22:
Oh Jesus, Batman's a Skrull too?
"Green and white tore each other apart": the division between Green and White Martians first came up in the first Justice League series (as Garrie Burr points out), and reappeared in the early issues of Grant Morrison's mid-'90s run on JLA.
H'ronmeer was first mentioned in the 1988 MARTIAN MANHUNTER miniseries, I think. Ma'alefa'ak turned up in MARTIAN MANHUNTER #0, ten years later. These five pages are more or less a recap of the John Ostrander MM series.
Pg. 24:
The Josh Johnstone thing happened in MARTIAN MANHUNTER #20. The Bronze Wraith and the rest of the Justice Experience first appeared in CHASE #6.
Pg. 27:
The Fernus business happened in JLA #84-89, which Mahnke drew.
Pg. 28:
J'onn's fondness for Oreos was a running gag in the Keith Giffen JUSTICE LEAGUE series. They became "Chocos" as of MARTIAN MANHUNTER #24, an issue that is yet another example of the plural form of "Revelations."
Jeff notes that the Spectre moved J'onn's ancestral home to a pyramid in the Gobi desert--where there aren't actually pyramids, so I bet it won't be missed now that Superman's re-relocated it to Mars--in MARTIAN MANHUNTER #23.
Pg. 30:
Interestingly, the first Martian Manhunter story that Peter J. Tomasi wrote--back in SHOWCASE '95 #9--was also on the theme of death reuniting people with their loved ones.
*****
In other news, FINAL CRISIS #3 has officially been bumped to August 6. Congratulations, everyone who guessed that issue in the contest! Email me at finalcrisis [at-sign-goes-here] douglaswolk period com, and we'll figure out what your prize is.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Final Crisis #2
Pg. 1:
None of these characters are anybody in particular, as far as I know, although most of them allude to various DC characters. I'm pretty amused by the Robin-logo bag slung over the jacket that reprises the cover of BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE. And I'm not sure what to make of the young woman in a variation on Mary Marvel's costume having exactly the same pose as the guy in the variation on Midnight's costume standing a few feet behind her.
Somebody with better Japanese than mine want to translate the signs? [ETA: See severefun's comment. Thank you!]
ETA: David Uzumeri points out--and, like him, I can't believe I didn't catch this--the allusion to the cover of 1966's FLASH #163. (See also 2004's DC COMICS PRESENTS: THE FLASH.)
Pp. 2-3:
Big Science Action was fleshed out a bit in the FC Sketchbook, but in the top panel, left to right, we're seeing Boss Bosozuko, Rising Sun (the only member of the BSA not created by Morrison: he first appeared in SUPER FRIENDS #8 in 1977, and was created by E. Nelson Bridwell and Ramona Fradon), Junior Waveman, Hammersuit Zero-X, Ultimon (flying), a monster I'm going to assume is Fushikuraje, Cosmo Racer, and Goraiko (who first appeared in JLA #26).
(I also note that the description of BSA in the FC Sketchbook mentions Sunfire. Whoops: wrong company!)
Note the rays-of-rising-sun motif of the page layout. The members of Super Young Team are identified in the Sketchbook too: in the lower left-hand panel, clockwise from lower left, we're seeing Shiny Happy Aquazon, Shy Crazy Lolita Canary, Most Excellent Super Bat, Big Atomic Lantern Boy and Well-Spoken Sonic Lightning Flash.
Pg. 4:
Sonny Sumo, created by Jack Kirby, first appeared in FOREVER PEOPLE #4 in 1971. (God, what great cover copy.) He was last seen a few issues later, when he was lost in time; apparently he got found again. [ETA: Or maybe he didn't. See this intriguing Morrison interview.] Interestingly, Sonny also contained part of the Anti-Life Equation. I don't know of any earlier references to Megayakuza, although obviously it's an allusion to the Yakuza, the Japanese organized crime group.
Pg. 7:
And, once again, fire is associated with contact with gods. This version of Mister Miracle is Shilo Norman, another Jack Kirby creation, who first appeared in MISTER MIRACLE #15 in 1973; he was the star of SEVEN SOLDIERS: MISTER MIRACLE.
Pg. 8:
Mother Box--or Motherboxxx, as SEVEN SOLDIERS: MISTER MIRACLE put it in a nod to OutKast--is a device that appeared throughout Kirby's Fourth World comics; they can heal the injured, and they make a "ping ping ping" sound. Sonny Sumo managed to get the Forever People's Mother Box back to them in Kirby's story.
Pg. 9:
Panel 1: Nix Uotan is reading through the dictionary, and some of the words he's reading have Kirbyverse resonance. "Bedazzle" could be a reference to Lightray; "bedlam" to Baron Bedlam; "cathexis" just has to do with the investment of emotional energy in a particular idea or thing (like... comics); "cathode" is an electrical term that might allude to Mother Box, although that's stretching it. ETA: Chris Harrison points out that The Cathexis are a sixth-dimensional race that turned up in JLA #52!
Panel 2: He's riding the L train between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Hey, ex-Monitor, what's on your iPod?
Panel 3: Big Belly Burger is a chain with a longstanding history at DC; it first appeared in ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #441 in 1988.
Panel 4: "Finding the magic word"--and systematically going through possibilities--suggests the Marvel Family, and specifically the business with Black Adam trying to find his magic word at the end of 52.
Panel 5: I'm guessing the Overman on the lower sheet is some kind of scary alternate-world Superman, with a lightning-bolt-as-S logo. (ETA: There's a similar creepy übermensch-type, also called Overman, who appeared in this Morrison-written ANIMAL MAN storyline from 1990. Look on the bottom of that cover, and you'll see FLASH #163 too... also: Overgirl! And the screaming face looks a bit like the J'onn-on-fire drawing from the FC SKETCHBOOK.) On the top sheet, the hydrogen-atom-on-forehead thing suggests Captain Atom by way of Dr. Manhattan. Not sure which Monitor young Nix is drawing. Of the possible magic words here, "criminal" is pretty broad, "crinkle" doesn't have a specific resonance I can think of, and "crimson" might allude to the Crimson Avenger, one of the very earliest DC superheroes, or just to the "red skies" effect of a Crisis--back to the "red and black" motif. (Thanks, Gary.) (ETA: squashua points out that he hasn't quite gotten to "crisis" yet.)
Pg. 10:
The guy Turpin is pounding to hell is the Mad Hatter, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger (and obviously modeled on the Lewis Carroll character), who first appeared in BATMAN #49 in 1948.
Pg. 11:
Panel 1: "President Horne": Jonathan Horne first appeared, I think, in SUPERMAN SECRET FILES & ORIGINS 2004, and was created by Geoff and Jeremy Johns and Jim Fern. The recent history of the DCU Oval Office is sort of a mess: Lex Luthor was elected in 2000, but impeached in 2004, and replaced briefly by Pete Ross, who pulled out of that year's race and was replaced (successfully) by Horne. The next election--maybe the DCU has Presidential elections every two years?--was won by an evil robot called Gonzo posing as Senator Frank Knight, per UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS, but Horne seems to have ended up back in the office by some kind of "whoops we elected an evil robot by mistake" clause.
Panel 4: Note the combination of the broken mirror and Turpin's forehead. Remind you of anyone?
Pg. 12:
Panel 1: Booster Gold with Skeets, Mr. Terrific, Green Lantern/Hal Jordan, Zatanna, Vixen, Ion, Red Tornado, Stargirl, Wonder Woman.
Panel 2: Green Lantern/John Stewart (providing air for everyone, evidently, since this is happening on Mars), Wildcat, Black Lightning, Doctor Mid-Nite, Hourman, Superman, Green Lantern/Alan Scott, Geo-Force, Black Canary, Flash.
Panel 3: Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Green Arrow, Firestorm, Metamorpho, Batman, Red Arrow, and... Power Girl, maybe?
"Pray for a resurrection": no superhero seems to stay dead forever, of course, and as noted below, we've already seen J'onn alive in the distant future.
It's sort of an open question which Batman we're seeing in this issue, given recent events in his own title, but his little "Hh" on pg. 20 suggests that it's probably still Bruce Wayne.
Pg. 13:
The growling guy in panel 3 is Clayface--specifically the first Clayface, Basil Karlo, created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, who first appeared in DETECTIVE COMICS #40 in 1940.
Pg. 14:
The end of this page is a rather Alan Moore-like "dun dun daaaaah" moment, don't you think?
Pg. 15:
Panel 2: J'onn impersonated Blockbuster in SALVATION RUN.
Panel 3: Alpha Lantern Kraken first appeared in GREEN LANTERN #25 last year; she's one of the Green Lanterns of Space Sector 38. Relevant panels on her background appear here; the short version is that before becoming an Alpha Lantern, she rescued her partner, Raker Qarrigat, "from Darkseid's clutches," and is rumored to have been "targeted by the Female Furies of Apokolips." (Unrelatedly, it occurs to me that the Alpha Lanterns might have something to do with the Alpha Bullets from FOREVER PEOPLE #7--although it might just be alpha vs. omega symbolism at work in both places.)
Hal is responsible for Space Sector 2814, which does indeed include the city-in-space Heliopolis, seen in GREEN LANTERN #166 in 1983, as well as M'Brai, seen in GREEN LANTERN #153 in 1982, and Athmoora, seen in GREEN LANTERN #16 in 1962. [Thanks for the clarification, DRMOUSE2814.]
Pg. 16:
Panel 4: Commenter fcfanatic points out the Kirby krackle where Wonder Woman touches Kraken, as well as the panels on pages 18 and 21 where other characters touch her.
Pg. 17:
Opto309V first appeared in 2007's 52 #41. [Thanks for the clarification, t67443 and DRMOUSE2814.]
"Theotoxic" is quite a neologism! Per Kirby, "radion" is the substance New Gods are vulnerable to. You know, like "frostonite." Curiously, Radion is also the name of a DC villain who was most recently seen in Geoff Johns & Kurt Busiek's "Up, Up and Away!" storyline in SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS, hired by (fellow Kirby-creation) Intergang to kill Clark Kent. I don't know if there's a connection, but there could be.
Pg. 18:
"Say goodbye to your eyes": I have no idea if this relates somehow to the business with Alan Scott's eyes, Adam Strange's eyes, and the Emerald Eye of Ekron in 52, but the scene's confusing enough that I'm grasping for anything. And it's very strange that we don't see the ring on John's right middle finger in panel 4--and that it's so mysterious about who's attacking John--given page 21.
Pg. 19:
"No Lantern escapes the Alpha Lanterns": a riff on "no man escapes the Manhunters," the slogan of the robot crimefighters created by the Guardians before the Green Lanterns--see JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #140, as well as the about-to-be-reprinted MILLENNIUM miniseries, for details.
Pg. 20:
Panel 2: The Purple Ray is Amazon healing technology, invented by Wonder Woman in her very first appearance, ALL STAR COMICS #8. Its cousin, the Purple Death Ray, introduced in INFINITE CRISIS #3, was subsequently redacted from the collected edition of that series...
Panel 5: Hal Jordan's possession by Parallax happened in GREEN LANTERN #50 in 1994.
Pg. 21:
Panel 1: I believe this is what one of Barbelith's commenters referred to as a "NUH MUH BRAIN!!!!!!" moment. Kraken's got John's ring imprinted in her hand (apparently he does have a hell of a right hook), although his ring seemed to have disappeared immediately before he hit his assailant? What?
Pg. 22:
Kraken's "a new plaything for Granny" echoes Superbat's "Spirit into toy!" on pg. 3.
Pg. 23:
In the background of the first panel: the Atomic Knights, riding their Dalmatians. The Knights were created by John Broome and Murphy Anderson, and first appeared in STRANGE ADVENTURES #117 in 1960. I love them, and wish DC would just reprint all of their stories already. (There was supposed to be a SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE GREAT DISASTER FEATURING THE ATOMIC KNIGHTS volume published last year, with all of their stories--which centered on the aftermath of a nuclear war in 1986--plus HERCULES UNBOUND in its entirety, various "The Day After Doomsday" shorts from horror and war titles, etc.; it was yanked from the schedule for unexplained reasons.) This incarnation of the Knights first appeared in THE BATTLE FOR BLÜDHAVEN in 2006.
[ETA: The Morrison Newsarama interview notes that the giant dogs also imply "an immediate connection to the Dog Cavalry of Apokolips."]
Pg. 24:
"The air out there": maybe Blüdhaven still smells like the remnants of Chemo. Has Turpin's son been mentioned before? What matters here, actually, is that Kalibak is Darkseid's son... which means that Turpin is now a host for Darkseid. (Note his face.) And the place where all this is happening is Command D.
In Jack Kirby's original KAMANDI #1 in 1972, "Command D" was the bunker where Kamandi was found, giving him his name. As of the end of THE BATTLE FOR BLÜDHAVEN, there was a Command D located under the ruins of Blüdhaven. There's also a bunch of Kamandi stuff in COUNTDOWN, but I have no idea if that's even relevant to FC, so until I see otherwise, the heck with it.
Pg. 25:
Simyan and Mokkari, created by Jack Kirby, first appeared in SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN #135 in 1971--the original "Evil Factory" story. Who's the tiger on the table? Morrison's said that Tawky Tawny is involved in FC, but this looks more like one of the Tiger-Men from KAMANDI; we know from 52 that Intergang is in the business of making beast-men. [ETA: The Morrison interview at Newsarama confirms that this isn't Tawky Tawny; it's Kalibak's new body.]
Pg. 26:
Perry White, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, made his first comics appearance in SUPERMAN #7 in 1940 (he'd appeared on the radio show The Adventures of Superman first). Siegel and Shuster also created Jimmy Olsen (who was also on radio first, then in SUPERMAN #13 in 1941) and Lois Lane (who goes all the way back to 1938's ACTION COMICS #1).
"Hamburger Hegemony." Ha!
Pg. 27:
Sundoller Coffee was first mentioned in 52 #2, I believe. You'd think that somebody who was faster than a speeding bullet could catch on to what was happening with an explosion like this before it did much damage...
Pg. 28:
Panel 1: The Flash on the left is Wally West, created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, who first appeared in THE FLASH #110 in 1959 and became the Flash in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12 in 1986. The one on the right is Jay Garrick, created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert, who first appeared in FLASH COMICS #1 in 1940. Wouldn't the relevant delay here be load time?
Panel 3: Looks like I was right about Twisters (or Duele Dlite? Perhaps it's got both names!) being the former Central City Community Center, not that it was that tough a deduction--see DC Universe 0 notes.
Panel 5: "I hate anything to do with time in all its forms": well, Jay is artificially youthful thanks to an encounter with Ian Karkull in ALL-STAR SQUADRON ANNUAL #3, but he's still a fairly old man. (And maybe this is to set up an opposition to Barry, who did rather a lot of time traveling.)
Pg. 30:
And, as the issue began with "Stop!," it ends with "RUN!" The guy hotfooting it away from the Black Racer is the second Flash, Barry Allen, whose return has been teased since DCU 0. This is also the fulfillment of the prophecy in Johns' FLASH comics that Wally would see Barry again three more times, on the three worst days of his life; the second was FLASH #225, and evidently this is the third. Not to mention the payoff for the "starter's bullet" line in DCU 0, and maybe for its red-and-black imagery, as well.
Comments, corrections, etc. are welcome. Those who are as trainspottery as I am may enjoy looking at J.G. Jones' original black-and-white art for #1, at this site.
None of these characters are anybody in particular, as far as I know, although most of them allude to various DC characters. I'm pretty amused by the Robin-logo bag slung over the jacket that reprises the cover of BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE. And I'm not sure what to make of the young woman in a variation on Mary Marvel's costume having exactly the same pose as the guy in the variation on Midnight's costume standing a few feet behind her.
Somebody with better Japanese than mine want to translate the signs? [ETA: See severefun's comment. Thank you!]
ETA: David Uzumeri points out--and, like him, I can't believe I didn't catch this--the allusion to the cover of 1966's FLASH #163. (See also 2004's DC COMICS PRESENTS: THE FLASH.)
Pp. 2-3:
Big Science Action was fleshed out a bit in the FC Sketchbook, but in the top panel, left to right, we're seeing Boss Bosozuko, Rising Sun (the only member of the BSA not created by Morrison: he first appeared in SUPER FRIENDS #8 in 1977, and was created by E. Nelson Bridwell and Ramona Fradon), Junior Waveman, Hammersuit Zero-X, Ultimon (flying), a monster I'm going to assume is Fushikuraje, Cosmo Racer, and Goraiko (who first appeared in JLA #26).
(I also note that the description of BSA in the FC Sketchbook mentions Sunfire. Whoops: wrong company!)
Note the rays-of-rising-sun motif of the page layout. The members of Super Young Team are identified in the Sketchbook too: in the lower left-hand panel, clockwise from lower left, we're seeing Shiny Happy Aquazon, Shy Crazy Lolita Canary, Most Excellent Super Bat, Big Atomic Lantern Boy and Well-Spoken Sonic Lightning Flash.
Pg. 4:
Sonny Sumo, created by Jack Kirby, first appeared in FOREVER PEOPLE #4 in 1971. (God, what great cover copy.) He was last seen a few issues later, when he was lost in time; apparently he got found again. [ETA: Or maybe he didn't. See this intriguing Morrison interview.] Interestingly, Sonny also contained part of the Anti-Life Equation. I don't know of any earlier references to Megayakuza, although obviously it's an allusion to the Yakuza, the Japanese organized crime group.
Pg. 7:
And, once again, fire is associated with contact with gods. This version of Mister Miracle is Shilo Norman, another Jack Kirby creation, who first appeared in MISTER MIRACLE #15 in 1973; he was the star of SEVEN SOLDIERS: MISTER MIRACLE.
Pg. 8:
Mother Box--or Motherboxxx, as SEVEN SOLDIERS: MISTER MIRACLE put it in a nod to OutKast--is a device that appeared throughout Kirby's Fourth World comics; they can heal the injured, and they make a "ping ping ping" sound. Sonny Sumo managed to get the Forever People's Mother Box back to them in Kirby's story.
Pg. 9:
Panel 1: Nix Uotan is reading through the dictionary, and some of the words he's reading have Kirbyverse resonance. "Bedazzle" could be a reference to Lightray; "bedlam" to Baron Bedlam; "cathexis" just has to do with the investment of emotional energy in a particular idea or thing (like... comics); "cathode" is an electrical term that might allude to Mother Box, although that's stretching it. ETA: Chris Harrison points out that The Cathexis are a sixth-dimensional race that turned up in JLA #52!
Panel 2: He's riding the L train between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Hey, ex-Monitor, what's on your iPod?
Panel 3: Big Belly Burger is a chain with a longstanding history at DC; it first appeared in ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #441 in 1988.
Panel 4: "Finding the magic word"--and systematically going through possibilities--suggests the Marvel Family, and specifically the business with Black Adam trying to find his magic word at the end of 52.
Panel 5: I'm guessing the Overman on the lower sheet is some kind of scary alternate-world Superman, with a lightning-bolt-as-S logo. (ETA: There's a similar creepy übermensch-type, also called Overman, who appeared in this Morrison-written ANIMAL MAN storyline from 1990. Look on the bottom of that cover, and you'll see FLASH #163 too... also: Overgirl! And the screaming face looks a bit like the J'onn-on-fire drawing from the FC SKETCHBOOK.) On the top sheet, the hydrogen-atom-on-forehead thing suggests Captain Atom by way of Dr. Manhattan. Not sure which Monitor young Nix is drawing. Of the possible magic words here, "criminal" is pretty broad, "crinkle" doesn't have a specific resonance I can think of, and "crimson" might allude to the Crimson Avenger, one of the very earliest DC superheroes, or just to the "red skies" effect of a Crisis--back to the "red and black" motif. (Thanks, Gary.) (ETA: squashua points out that he hasn't quite gotten to "crisis" yet.)
Pg. 10:
The guy Turpin is pounding to hell is the Mad Hatter, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger (and obviously modeled on the Lewis Carroll character), who first appeared in BATMAN #49 in 1948.
Pg. 11:
Panel 1: "President Horne": Jonathan Horne first appeared, I think, in SUPERMAN SECRET FILES & ORIGINS 2004, and was created by Geoff and Jeremy Johns and Jim Fern. The recent history of the DCU Oval Office is sort of a mess: Lex Luthor was elected in 2000, but impeached in 2004, and replaced briefly by Pete Ross, who pulled out of that year's race and was replaced (successfully) by Horne. The next election--maybe the DCU has Presidential elections every two years?--was won by an evil robot called Gonzo posing as Senator Frank Knight, per UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS, but Horne seems to have ended up back in the office by some kind of "whoops we elected an evil robot by mistake" clause.
Panel 4: Note the combination of the broken mirror and Turpin's forehead. Remind you of anyone?
Pg. 12:
Panel 1: Booster Gold with Skeets, Mr. Terrific, Green Lantern/Hal Jordan, Zatanna, Vixen, Ion, Red Tornado, Stargirl, Wonder Woman.
Panel 2: Green Lantern/John Stewart (providing air for everyone, evidently, since this is happening on Mars), Wildcat, Black Lightning, Doctor Mid-Nite, Hourman, Superman, Green Lantern/Alan Scott, Geo-Force, Black Canary, Flash.
Panel 3: Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Green Arrow, Firestorm, Metamorpho, Batman, Red Arrow, and... Power Girl, maybe?
"Pray for a resurrection": no superhero seems to stay dead forever, of course, and as noted below, we've already seen J'onn alive in the distant future.
It's sort of an open question which Batman we're seeing in this issue, given recent events in his own title, but his little "Hh" on pg. 20 suggests that it's probably still Bruce Wayne.
Pg. 13:
The growling guy in panel 3 is Clayface--specifically the first Clayface, Basil Karlo, created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, who first appeared in DETECTIVE COMICS #40 in 1940.
Pg. 14:
The end of this page is a rather Alan Moore-like "dun dun daaaaah" moment, don't you think?
Pg. 15:
Panel 2: J'onn impersonated Blockbuster in SALVATION RUN.
Panel 3: Alpha Lantern Kraken first appeared in GREEN LANTERN #25 last year; she's one of the Green Lanterns of Space Sector 38. Relevant panels on her background appear here; the short version is that before becoming an Alpha Lantern, she rescued her partner, Raker Qarrigat, "from Darkseid's clutches," and is rumored to have been "targeted by the Female Furies of Apokolips." (Unrelatedly, it occurs to me that the Alpha Lanterns might have something to do with the Alpha Bullets from FOREVER PEOPLE #7--although it might just be alpha vs. omega symbolism at work in both places.)
Hal is responsible for Space Sector 2814, which does indeed include the city-in-space Heliopolis, seen in GREEN LANTERN #166 in 1983, as well as M'Brai, seen in GREEN LANTERN #153 in 1982, and Athmoora, seen in GREEN LANTERN #16 in 1962. [Thanks for the clarification, DRMOUSE2814.]
Pg. 16:
Panel 4: Commenter fcfanatic points out the Kirby krackle where Wonder Woman touches Kraken, as well as the panels on pages 18 and 21 where other characters touch her.
Pg. 17:
Opto309V first appeared in 2007's 52 #41. [Thanks for the clarification, t67443 and DRMOUSE2814.]
"Theotoxic" is quite a neologism! Per Kirby, "radion" is the substance New Gods are vulnerable to. You know, like "frostonite." Curiously, Radion is also the name of a DC villain who was most recently seen in Geoff Johns & Kurt Busiek's "Up, Up and Away!" storyline in SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS, hired by (fellow Kirby-creation) Intergang to kill Clark Kent. I don't know if there's a connection, but there could be.
Pg. 18:
"Say goodbye to your eyes": I have no idea if this relates somehow to the business with Alan Scott's eyes, Adam Strange's eyes, and the Emerald Eye of Ekron in 52, but the scene's confusing enough that I'm grasping for anything. And it's very strange that we don't see the ring on John's right middle finger in panel 4--and that it's so mysterious about who's attacking John--given page 21.
Pg. 19:
"No Lantern escapes the Alpha Lanterns": a riff on "no man escapes the Manhunters," the slogan of the robot crimefighters created by the Guardians before the Green Lanterns--see JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #140, as well as the about-to-be-reprinted MILLENNIUM miniseries, for details.
Pg. 20:
Panel 2: The Purple Ray is Amazon healing technology, invented by Wonder Woman in her very first appearance, ALL STAR COMICS #8. Its cousin, the Purple Death Ray, introduced in INFINITE CRISIS #3, was subsequently redacted from the collected edition of that series...
Panel 5: Hal Jordan's possession by Parallax happened in GREEN LANTERN #50 in 1994.
Pg. 21:
Panel 1: I believe this is what one of Barbelith's commenters referred to as a "NUH MUH BRAIN!!!!!!" moment. Kraken's got John's ring imprinted in her hand (apparently he does have a hell of a right hook), although his ring seemed to have disappeared immediately before he hit his assailant? What?
Pg. 22:
Kraken's "a new plaything for Granny" echoes Superbat's "Spirit into toy!" on pg. 3.
Pg. 23:
In the background of the first panel: the Atomic Knights, riding their Dalmatians. The Knights were created by John Broome and Murphy Anderson, and first appeared in STRANGE ADVENTURES #117 in 1960. I love them, and wish DC would just reprint all of their stories already. (There was supposed to be a SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE GREAT DISASTER FEATURING THE ATOMIC KNIGHTS volume published last year, with all of their stories--which centered on the aftermath of a nuclear war in 1986--plus HERCULES UNBOUND in its entirety, various "The Day After Doomsday" shorts from horror and war titles, etc.; it was yanked from the schedule for unexplained reasons.) This incarnation of the Knights first appeared in THE BATTLE FOR BLÜDHAVEN in 2006.
[ETA: The Morrison Newsarama interview notes that the giant dogs also imply "an immediate connection to the Dog Cavalry of Apokolips."]
Pg. 24:
"The air out there": maybe Blüdhaven still smells like the remnants of Chemo. Has Turpin's son been mentioned before? What matters here, actually, is that Kalibak is Darkseid's son... which means that Turpin is now a host for Darkseid. (Note his face.) And the place where all this is happening is Command D.
In Jack Kirby's original KAMANDI #1 in 1972, "Command D" was the bunker where Kamandi was found, giving him his name. As of the end of THE BATTLE FOR BLÜDHAVEN, there was a Command D located under the ruins of Blüdhaven. There's also a bunch of Kamandi stuff in COUNTDOWN, but I have no idea if that's even relevant to FC, so until I see otherwise, the heck with it.
Pg. 25:
Simyan and Mokkari, created by Jack Kirby, first appeared in SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN #135 in 1971--the original "Evil Factory" story. Who's the tiger on the table? Morrison's said that Tawky Tawny is involved in FC, but this looks more like one of the Tiger-Men from KAMANDI; we know from 52 that Intergang is in the business of making beast-men. [ETA: The Morrison interview at Newsarama confirms that this isn't Tawky Tawny; it's Kalibak's new body.]
Pg. 26:
Perry White, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, made his first comics appearance in SUPERMAN #7 in 1940 (he'd appeared on the radio show The Adventures of Superman first). Siegel and Shuster also created Jimmy Olsen (who was also on radio first, then in SUPERMAN #13 in 1941) and Lois Lane (who goes all the way back to 1938's ACTION COMICS #1).
"Hamburger Hegemony." Ha!
Pg. 27:
Sundoller Coffee was first mentioned in 52 #2, I believe. You'd think that somebody who was faster than a speeding bullet could catch on to what was happening with an explosion like this before it did much damage...
Pg. 28:
Panel 1: The Flash on the left is Wally West, created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, who first appeared in THE FLASH #110 in 1959 and became the Flash in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12 in 1986. The one on the right is Jay Garrick, created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert, who first appeared in FLASH COMICS #1 in 1940. Wouldn't the relevant delay here be load time?
Panel 3: Looks like I was right about Twisters (or Duele Dlite? Perhaps it's got both names!) being the former Central City Community Center, not that it was that tough a deduction--see DC Universe 0 notes.
Panel 5: "I hate anything to do with time in all its forms": well, Jay is artificially youthful thanks to an encounter with Ian Karkull in ALL-STAR SQUADRON ANNUAL #3, but he's still a fairly old man. (And maybe this is to set up an opposition to Barry, who did rather a lot of time traveling.)
Pg. 30:
And, as the issue began with "Stop!," it ends with "RUN!" The guy hotfooting it away from the Black Racer is the second Flash, Barry Allen, whose return has been teased since DCU 0. This is also the fulfillment of the prophecy in Johns' FLASH comics that Wally would see Barry again three more times, on the three worst days of his life; the second was FLASH #225, and evidently this is the third. Not to mention the payoff for the "starter's bullet" line in DCU 0, and maybe for its red-and-black imagery, as well.
Comments, corrections, etc. are welcome. Those who are as trainspottery as I am may enjoy looking at J.G. Jones' original black-and-white art for #1, at this site.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
A note on Fourth World continuity, plus a contest update
There's been a good deal of chatter about this Grant Morrison interview, in which he addresses the inconsistencies between FC, COUNTDOWN and THE DEATH OF THE NEW GODS. (Worth reading: the Funnybook Babylon commentary, here, and its antecedent, here.) As Morrison tells it, the first issue of FC was written before the other two series were conceived of; the idea was that the New Gods would be off-panel and unlike hepatitis B for a few years (aside from the avatars that popped up in the SEVEN SOLDIERS project), so it'd be a shock to see Orion turn up dead in a dumpster at the beginning of FC #1. TRINITY, as I understand, was initially going to be the weekly series that followed 52; then it was bumped for a year by COUNTDOWN, which was intended to get certain ducks in a row for FC and provide a dramatic build-up to it.
Which ducks? That's not clear, but the non-Fourth World threads we've seen from COUNTDOWN so far are basically just the Monitors in general, Nix Uotan and Solomon in particular, the destruction of Earth-51, and the new background for Kamandi. Evidently, somebody in a position of authority radically misunderstood the premises of the project the whole line has been building up to since at least SEVEN SOLDIERS and 52 (I have a feeling that Montoya finding the Kirbytech gun in 52 #4 was one of the first major tremors of FC), and commissioned a 51-issue series and an 8-issue series to "set it up" in ways that directly contradict both FC and each other. The ducks are not just not in a row, they're randomly scattered across the multiverse. If DC is going to sell a complicated, serialized narrative on a week-to-week basis, it's entirely reasonable for readers to demand that it make sense on a week-to-week basis; it's a bad sign that the people reading the work have a clearer sense of how it's supposed to fit together than some of the people making the work.
Yes, the contradictions can be explained away with some difficulty, in a sort of No-Prize way, or simply ignored, as Morrison suggests. And it's worth remembering that the edges of Kirby's Fourth World canon were frayed from the start, and that by the time he wrote and drew the NEW GODS "conclusion" and The Hunger Dogs, there had already been a couple of other Fourth World series--not bad ones, either. There was a 1977 revival of MISTER MIRACLE, initially by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers, later by Steve Gerber and Michael Golden. The New Gods first reappeared in 1976 in the last issue of 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL--don't ask--and then in a not-bad series by Gerry Conway and the late, great Don Newton that lasted eight issues before ducking into ADVENTURE COMICS for a couple of issues' worth of "the last battle" and "the end of the war of the New Gods". (It's always the end with this crew.) For that matter, one bit of Fourth World mythology that generally gets taken for granted--the Source Wall, seen throughout DOTNG--wasn't even Kirby's: it was introduced in the distinctly out-of-continuity X-MEN/TEEN TITANS one-shot.
(FC and its associated titles, in fact, are something like the third full-scale post-Kirby Fourth World revival. In 1988, there was Jim Starlin and Mike Mignola's COSMIC ODYSSEY miniseries [and the Forever People's six-issue miniseries by J.M. DeMatteis and Paris Cullins], followed by NEW GODS and MISTER MIRACLE series; both NEW GODS and MISTER MIRACLE reappeared in the mid-'90s, then effectively merged into JACK KIRBY'S FOURTH WORLD.)
Perhaps a less frustrating way to deal with the contradictions is not to try to explain them but to accept them as a pesky but integral part of the story, a sort of continuity koan. Continuity is at least sort of mutable--rarely more explicitly so than in Morrison's superhero comics. The prolegomenon to FINAL CRISIS is SEVEN SOLDIERS: MISTER MIRACLE, in which Shilo Norman's many alternate lives both do and don't happen. "Hypertime" is one way of putting it; another is to say that all stories are more or less true, but better stories, more satisfying stories, are more true in the long term.
*****
Update on that contest: I've recently come into possession of a few boxes of good comics from the '80s, many of which duplicate stuff I already owned. The winners of each of the three parts of the contest will get to pick a batch for themselves. Again, the deadline to enter is June 25, and the three questions you're trying to answer most accurately are:
1) How many issues of additional FINAL CRISIS tie-ins will be announced after April 30 but before the end of the series? (Three have been added so far--although neither FC: SUBMIT nor FC: SUPERMAN BEYOND #2 appear on the September solicitations. "Aftermath" titles don't count.)
2) Which will be the first issue of FINAL CRISIS or its associated titles to be released later than its scheduled ship week?
3) When will the final issue of FINAL CRISIS be released? [This contest is now closed.]
Which ducks? That's not clear, but the non-Fourth World threads we've seen from COUNTDOWN so far are basically just the Monitors in general, Nix Uotan and Solomon in particular, the destruction of Earth-51, and the new background for Kamandi. Evidently, somebody in a position of authority radically misunderstood the premises of the project the whole line has been building up to since at least SEVEN SOLDIERS and 52 (I have a feeling that Montoya finding the Kirbytech gun in 52 #4 was one of the first major tremors of FC), and commissioned a 51-issue series and an 8-issue series to "set it up" in ways that directly contradict both FC and each other. The ducks are not just not in a row, they're randomly scattered across the multiverse. If DC is going to sell a complicated, serialized narrative on a week-to-week basis, it's entirely reasonable for readers to demand that it make sense on a week-to-week basis; it's a bad sign that the people reading the work have a clearer sense of how it's supposed to fit together than some of the people making the work.
Yes, the contradictions can be explained away with some difficulty, in a sort of No-Prize way, or simply ignored, as Morrison suggests. And it's worth remembering that the edges of Kirby's Fourth World canon were frayed from the start, and that by the time he wrote and drew the NEW GODS "conclusion" and The Hunger Dogs, there had already been a couple of other Fourth World series--not bad ones, either. There was a 1977 revival of MISTER MIRACLE, initially by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers, later by Steve Gerber and Michael Golden. The New Gods first reappeared in 1976 in the last issue of 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL--don't ask--and then in a not-bad series by Gerry Conway and the late, great Don Newton that lasted eight issues before ducking into ADVENTURE COMICS for a couple of issues' worth of "the last battle" and "the end of the war of the New Gods". (It's always the end with this crew.) For that matter, one bit of Fourth World mythology that generally gets taken for granted--the Source Wall, seen throughout DOTNG--wasn't even Kirby's: it was introduced in the distinctly out-of-continuity X-MEN/TEEN TITANS one-shot.
(FC and its associated titles, in fact, are something like the third full-scale post-Kirby Fourth World revival. In 1988, there was Jim Starlin and Mike Mignola's COSMIC ODYSSEY miniseries [and the Forever People's six-issue miniseries by J.M. DeMatteis and Paris Cullins], followed by NEW GODS and MISTER MIRACLE series; both NEW GODS and MISTER MIRACLE reappeared in the mid-'90s, then effectively merged into JACK KIRBY'S FOURTH WORLD.)
Perhaps a less frustrating way to deal with the contradictions is not to try to explain them but to accept them as a pesky but integral part of the story, a sort of continuity koan. Continuity is at least sort of mutable--rarely more explicitly so than in Morrison's superhero comics. The prolegomenon to FINAL CRISIS is SEVEN SOLDIERS: MISTER MIRACLE, in which Shilo Norman's many alternate lives both do and don't happen. "Hypertime" is one way of putting it; another is to say that all stories are more or less true, but better stories, more satisfying stories, are more true in the long term.
*****
Update on that contest: I've recently come into possession of a few boxes of good comics from the '80s, many of which duplicate stuff I already owned. The winners of each of the three parts of the contest will get to pick a batch for themselves. Again, the deadline to enter is June 25, and the three questions you're trying to answer most accurately are:
1) How many issues of additional FINAL CRISIS tie-ins will be announced after April 30 but before the end of the series? (Three have been added so far--although neither FC: SUBMIT nor FC: SUPERMAN BEYOND #2 appear on the September solicitations. "Aftermath" titles don't count.)
2) Which will be the first issue of FINAL CRISIS or its associated titles to be released later than its scheduled ship week?
3) When will the final issue of FINAL CRISIS be released? [This contest is now closed.]
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