Reviewer: John Babos
Story Title: History Lesson – part 2 of 2
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Batman created by Bob Kane
Written by: John Byrne
Penciled by: John Byrne
Inked by: John Byrne
Colored by: Alex Sinclair
Lettered by: John Byrne
Editor: Mike Carlin
Publisher: DC
If you haven’t read any of this Generations series or its predecessors, but you’d like to get the 411 on what’s gone on before, a recap has been provided for you. Look for the bolded heading RECAP: in the body of this review, under which you’ll get a brief history of more than 600 years of John Byrne’s Generations series spanning the current maxi-series and the previous two mini-series.
CURRENT ISSUE: Issue 8: The year 18xx?!?
Attempting to travel to the future, Superman ends up in the past, in18xx in Smallville. He meets his future adoptive parents (after they themselves have just met) and two New Gods on the lam. A misunderstood Jonah Hex is featured as well.
Time travel stories are always hard to do. This entire maxi-series is based on regular 100 year jumps forward in time, but this issue throws a monkey wrench into the plans and thrusts readers back in time.
There are some interesting moments here and when readers presumably and finally return to the year 2525, by issue’s end, we get a lesson in temporal mechanics from Darkseid – an explantion of his plan to destroy Earth and its heroes, and why the Parademons we’ve encountered in previous issues have done what they have.
The coloring is also something to remark on as the 18xx moments are colored using earth tones while 2525 is colored using more vibrant hues. That was a nice touch.
As I’ve said in the past, everything that readers love and hate about John Byrne is in this series. I fall into the Byrne-fan category and am enjoying the Generations saga, for the most part.
Overall this is a great issue for veteran DC fans, but not very accessible to new readers.
This is vintage Byrne goodness.
RECAP: If you’re new to John Byrne’s Generations saga, a recap is provided below.
Generations, building on the previous two mini-series, chronicles a story about how Superman and Batman interact in a DC Universe where they have aged in “real time” from their respective introductions in comicdom in 1938 and 1939. They grow older, have kids, some of whom become heroes, heroines, villains, etc. Like the previous two series, this Generations 3 (G3) maxi-series will span various time frames. It is expected that, for the most part, G3 will jump ahead 100 years every issue. The last issue, #12, is expected to have readers arrive in the 30th Century world of the Legion of Super-Heroes .
Here’s what you should know about John Byrne’s Generations saga prior to G3:
Superman married Lois Lane, and had two kids, Joel in 1950, and Kara in 1953. Bruce Wayne, the original Batman, retired from crime fighting in the late 1940s. He married, and had a son, Bruce Wayne Jr. We don’t who he married or who Bruce Wayne Jr.’s mother is. Superman’s son Joel was corrupted by Superman arch-villain Lex Luthor and killed his sister Kara on her wedding day to Bruce Wayne Jr. We don’t know if Bruce Jr. had any kids. However, a corrupted Joel did have a son, Clark, who would be raised by Bruce Wayne Jr. Clark eventually becomes the hero Knightwing and sires twin daughters Lara and Lois, Supergirl Blue and Supergirl Red respectively. The original Batman, rejuvenated by Ra’s Al Ghul’s Lazarus Pit in 1999, becomes an immortal and returns to crime fighting after his son Bruce Wayne Jr. retires. Jr. appears to be an immortal which gives a clue about who his mother may be – possibly an immortal herself.
Here’s what you should know about what’s happened in the previous issues of G3:
The key villains, so far, appear to be more sophisticated Parademons from a future planet Apokolips. They believe that they can more successful alter the future, and prevent a war, the farther back in the past they go.
1925 – A mortally-wounded Saturn Girl, from the Legion of Super-Heroes, traveled back in time to warn Superboy about the “destruction” of Earth in 2025. She is followed through time by Parademons. A young pre-Batman Bruce Wayne uses his wits to help Superboy save the day in a battle with the Parademons. Prior to her supposed death, Saturn Girl wipes the minds of everyone (including Superboy and Bruce Wayne) within a thousand miles so that the “alien invasion” of the Parademons is forgotten.
2025 – Superman and Batman recall parts of the “invasion” in 1925 despite Saturn Girl’s mind wipe. As such, Superman travels to New Genesis, the sister Planet to Apokolips, to find out about these Parademons. New Genesis and Superman are seemingly destroyed as a result of the detonation of an Apokolips “doomsday” device. On Earth, an OMAC orb or Brother Eye, the source of the hero OMAC’s power, is detonated by the futuristic Parademons and the mechanically animated brain of arch Superman villain Lex Luthor. The explosion “blacks out” all of Earth rendering all technology useless.
2125 – Superman and New Genesis are still missing. Knightwing assumes his grandfather’s mantle and dons a modified Superman costume. On an Earth recovering from the technology black-out in 2025, vagabond low-tech “Morlocks” live aboveground, while the “Eloi” live underground in an emerging-technology world, where Batman and the “new” Superman reside. The Morlock Kamandi buries his differences with the Eloi and Batman, and commits to helping recreate Project OMAC.
2225 – Queen Diana assumes the Wonder Woman (WW) mantle after her daughter is severely wounded and can no longer continue in the WW role. Diana battles along side Earth’s army of OMACs and defeats the resurfaced Parademons, leaving only four to travel back in time. Readers also discover that New Genesis, their New Gods inhabitants, and Superman have not been destroyed, but are trapped in a pocket-universe. Superman gains more clues, with the help of the New Gods, as to the real reason behind Saturn Girl’s travel back to 1925.
2325 – Batman’s son BJ has been wounded in battle against the time-travelling Parademons. Readers also discover that Bruce Wayne and Queen Diana have been lovers for a century — lucky guy! While BJ is tended to by physicians, Bruce regales Diana with a truly pointless story about his unnamed dead wife, BJ and himself from 2008. While we don’t learn anymore about the “original” Superman on New Genesis, his son, Earth’s current Superman and his daughters’ (Supergirl Blue and Supergirl Red) discover that the effects of Lex Luthor’s black-out bomb from centuries ago may be starting to dissipate.
2425 – Supergirl Blue falls in love with Ator, a Green Lantern (GL), and she willing exposes herself to Gold Kryptonite, that strips her of her super powers, so that she can grow old with her GL love. However, in a battle between the GL Corps and the yellow cyborg housing Lex Luthor’s brain, Ator is badly wounded shielding an atomic bomb blast and saving the city. He calls on the assistance of his super powered girlfriend to save him, but she can’t as she’s now powerless and mortal, and must watch him die. Meanwhile, the New Gods of Apokolips scheme to bring their Lord Darkseid back to life.
NEW and UPDATED:
2525 – Much has transpired in the last 100 years. Lex Luthor, set off a powerful Green Kryptonite bomb that killed Earth’s “current” Superman (son of the “original”, and formerly known as Knightwing) and his daughter Lois, Supergirl Red, while sparing Lara, Supergirl Blue – whose power were stripped and DNA altered in 2425 by her exposure to Gold Kryptonite. During this issue, Supergirl Blue drink’s the Gold K antidote and returns to full power, and using Kryptonian technoly imbues the already immortal Batman with super powers of his own. Meanwhile, the “original” Superman escapes the pocket-universe where New Genesis and its New Gods had been trapped.
