Near Mint Memories: Silver Dawn – Part 2

DC’s love affair with the Silver Age continues – 2004 feels like 1964. Superman is being rebooted a la Superman: Birthright back to its SA all-powerful influences, the Teen Titans has embraced its super-hero sidekick legacy and popularized it (again), and John Byrne is hitting the “refresh” button on the Doom Patrol franchise – 2004 is Year One for the DP.

While my column co-contributor Chris Delloiacono and I have had this 4-part NMM series planned for sometime (parts 1 & 2 on DC and parts 3 & 4 on Marvel), the extent to which DC was to embrace its SA heritage was far from certain or clear. It is true that this feature primarily compliments the release of Darwyn Cooke’s DC: The New Frontier, but Marvel also seems to be foraging through its early years for contemporary legacy titles. Their upcoming Invaders series looks interesting.

After the detour we took last column to spotlight John Byrne’s DP and its SA roots, we’re back on track this week with Part 2 of our Silver Dawn feature. We’ll take the DP mythos a bit further and also look at the Suicide Squad – one of my all-time favorite franchises.

THE DOOM PATROL

As I wrote in Doom Patrol Detour:

The Doom Patrol debuted in the Silver Age of comics in 1963’s My Greatest Adventure #80. The team revolved around a wheelchair bound genius benefactor, Niles Caulder a.k.a. the Chief. He brought together a group of misfit youngsters to make a difference for a world that found them to be freaks. A noble, but ironic calling.

The team and series met its end years later, but the team was redebuted in 1977 in Showcase #94. The team name and Robotman were the only vestiges of its Silver Age precursor. This was a “tradition” that would continue in two other iterations of the DP would emerge over the years. “New” DP series launched in 1987 and 2001 respectively. Both were doomed, literally. (More on this in a moment.)

Fandom Speaks!

Many readers responded to my previous Doom Patrol (DP) piece. While the brief ones were more positive in nature, the longer ones were a bit more critical. A few key concerns revolved around my perceived ignorance of the industry impacts of 1) the DP’s sacrifice in DP #121, and 2) Grant Morrison’s run on the title.

While I appreciate all types of feedback, I find most readers make the time to drop me a line when they disagree with me or catch a mistake. I can only imagine what its like to be a creator. I mean, have any of you visited DC’s message boards? Check out the DP one. Since word broke that John Byrne was helming a new DP reboot, all types of critics (I’m being polite in that reference) have come out. These types of folks remind me that the word “fan” comes from another word. That word? “Fanatic”.

There was a time (pre-Internet) when, I believe, many of us would wish the best for comics. Now, many of the vocal “fans” are eagerly awaiting failures with “I told you so” gloats. I still believe that these are a vocal minority. Sadly, I’ve seen too many readers with balanced views or, heaven forbid, positive ones scared away from message boards by these “critics”. It’s these “trolls” or “flamers” that fuel the stereotype of the basement-dwelling middle-aged portly comics fan. Comics readers aren’t portrayed well in society because the vocal “fans” are predominantly negative.

However, that’s far from being wholly accurate. The appeal of comics is wide. One need look no further than the plethora of successful comic-based movies making it to the silver screen these days. There is a broader appetite for comics’ concepts. Yet, comic collectors and fans are still stigmatized. Now is the time for reasoned fans to chime in and take back the medium (online anyway) from the vocal minority of “critics”. That’s not say criticism isn’t important. It is. However, rarely have I read respectful criticism on comics-related message boards. We can change that together.

I would argue that the comics forum at 411 mania and 144 anima are models of respectful debate (although they could use more traffic). That spirit can extend further to DC to newsarama to comicon and beyond. In the end, it’s all up to you – the reader.

The darts and laurels I received for the last DP-centric column were, at their roots, getting at important points. While it was indicated that a more robust column on the DP (and the Suicide Squad) was in the works (i.e. the column you now read), I could have been clearer.

Industry Impact?

While the DP debuted in My Greatest Adventure #80 that series was renamed Doom Patrol with issue #86.

This franchise has had its fair share of ups and downs, but it has, for the most part, been about accepting difference and tolerance. Even though the DP actually debuted a few months prior to the X-Men (although they were likely both in development at the same time), the X franchise has been a more popular comics vehicle that has gotten the acceptance message out.

Putting popularity aside, although it is an important measure of industry impact, the DP’s sacrifice in 1968’s DP #121 was the first of its kind mass death of a series-starring super-team.

Villains Madame Rouge and Captain Zahl were intent on humiliating and destroying the team. Zahl gave them a choice – their deaths in exchange for the lives of 14 strangers in a New England fishing town or vice versa. Zahl so believed that the DP would choose to save their own skin, he was broadcasting the whole ordeal across the world. A fitting humiliation, except that Zahl underestimated the team. It was a remarkably easy choice for the noble heroes. That was the day the DP died as they lived… as heroes. While, by today’s standards, it would seem odd that Zahl would keep his word – i.e. not kill the 14 folks anyway, after the DP’s sacrifice – he did. The town was so grateful for the DP’s noble act that its citizenry renamed it Four Heroes.

DP #121 was also one of the first “call to action” issues in comics too. It was the series’ “virtual” end at the time, but readers were encouraged to tell their friends and spur sales of the issue. If sales spiked, the title would continue. If it didn’t, the series would in fact be doomed. Reprints of previous issues of DP followed #121, but no new issues were commissioned as sales didn’t soar. The series actually ended with issue #124.

An All-New, All-Different Doom Patrol

While a new ongoing DP series didn’t come about until the late 1980’s, a new DP team did debut, as previously mentioned, in 1977’s Showcase #94.

Robotman had somehow survived death, but was badly damaged. He was gifted with a new body from Doc Magnus of Metal Men fame and encountered a new team making the DP’s old lair their home. This new team was made of up Celsius, the Chief’s “secret” wife who had control of both heat and ice, Tempest, a power-blast hurling hero, and Negative Woman with Larry Trainor’s powers.

What made this team interesting was its cosmopolitan nature. While the original DP was pretty much an all-white Anglo-Saxon team, this new DP was made up of a South Asian (Celsius), an African-American (Tempest), and a Russian (Negative Woman).

The DP appeared to be keeping step with the X-Men, who had also introduced a more diverse membership a few years earlier. That new X-team debuted in Giant Size X-Men #1, but became series regulars in 1975’s X-Men #94. Showcase #94, with a new a new DP team, followed X-Men #94, with a new x-team. Hmmm. An homage by DC? A few years a part, but this was another interesting “connection” between both teams.

Regardless, DP would still not reach the interest or success of its X-counterparts. This new multi-cultural, yet horribly garbed DP team, would bounce around the DC Universe, with an appearance in DC Comics Presents, among others, but that was it.

Dooming a franchise…

Ten years after their Showcase debut, this “new” team launched a series in which they were the heart. They were joined by newbies in the form of Karma, a neuro-pulse powered mohawked misfit, Lodestone, a super-strong naive Amazon-type heroine with some real “magnetism”, and the heat wielding Scott Fischer. Continuing the X-connection, this DP team would don very X-Men-like costumes.

That “traditional” super-hero format lasted through issue #18. From issue #19 Grant Morrison would helm the series from his writer’s perch and turn the franchise on its head through issue #63. From #64 the series became a mature-readers only title under DC’s Vertigo imprint and eventually ended in 1995 with issue #87. While many laud the Morrison years as break-through and visionary, and the Vertigo-years as cutting-edge, I can’t help but feel that Morrison and others really accentuated the oddball or misfit elements of the title and were more consumed by generating buzz and shocking readers as opposed to being true to the franchise’s roots of acceptance and tolerance of those who are different. Making the Chief evil, among other things, showed a lack of understanding of who these characters were and what they stood for. In my opinion, DC would have been better off ending DP with issue #18 and relaunching a Morrison-penned “Misfit Brigade”, or whatever, instead of allowing years of DP history to become his toilet paper.

While, I have some reservations about a reboot of the DP by John Byrne in 2004, anything that will wipe away the Morrison and Vertigo years is a blessing for the DP franchise.

A blip in comics history

Sadly, the most recent DP series was a quirky little number that launched in 2001 and lasted only 22 issues. Robotman was again at the core with new misfits to lead – Fever, a heat-generating heroine, Kid Slick, a force-field generator, Freak, with some odd darkness-type-manipulation powers, and Flash Forward, who could see a few seconds into the future (he was taunted and dubbed Negative Man by his team members due to his, um, constant displays of negative attitude – funny stuff).

While the series was well drawn and had some interesting comments on commercialization, the book did not catch fire. It was doomed from the start with no real promotional push by DC.

John Byrne = Doomed?

Some further facts have shaken loose from DC’s corporate tree on Byrne’s new DP series. Veteran inker Doug Hazelwood will complement Byrne’s pencils on the summer-debuting series.

In addition, with news that new members will round out the core 4 (the Chief, Robotman, Elasti-girl, and Negative Man), there is some speculation that 2 characters that debuted in part 1 of the JLA’s “Tenth Circle” arc will be those members – Nudge, a mind-controller, and Vortex, able to generate “vortexes” (its too early to tell what they are made of) from his mouth. It appears that current JLA’er Faith may round out the new DP, but stay tuned. We won’t know for sure until DP #1 ships in the summer.

Continuing the X-connection, the new DP debuted (in shadows) in JLA #94 – remember the number “94” – X-Men #94 and Showcase #94 anyone? Plus veteran X-Men super-team John Byrne and Chris Claremont are collaborating on this “Tenth Circle” JLA arc.

Maybe, finally, the DP will live up its potential, not its name.

THE SUICIDE SQUAD

DC’s Suicide Squad (SS) may not have had has many incarnations as its morbid contemporary, the Doom Patrol, but it has had its own fair share of… doom.

The SS debuted in 1959’s Brave and Bold #25. This non-super-hero team was introduced in a story titled “The Three Waves of Doom”. The elite government team, under the banner of Taskforce X, but codenamed the SS, was made up of military flyboy Captain Rick Flag (or Flagg – his name has been misspelled over time at DC), space-medicine nurse Karin Grace (later retconned into a doctor from a nurse), astronomer Dr. Hugh Evans, and physicist Jess Bright (later it was “Jeff”).

They fought all manner of creatures – dinosaurs, Godzilla-like monsters, a giant Cyclops, among others. I would argue that their most memorable adversary was an ordinary bird (after the team was shrunken). Well, I found it amusing anyway.

The Brave and Bold series featured two try-out runs for a potential SS series – B&B #25-27 and B&B #37-39. Alas, no ongoing series would materialize, although the team did pop up elsewhere – in the Star Spangled War series as an example.

The SS and its members were virtually forgotten until the mid-80s. Rick Flagg (with an extra “g” in his last name now) reemerged in the pages of 1984’s DC Comics Presents #77-78 as part of the Forgotten Heroes alongside other old DC properties such as Cave Carson, Dolphin, Immortal Man, Congo Bill, Rip Hunter, and Animal Man. Superman (the star of DCCP), alongside these heroes, were going up against the Forgotten Villains, a bunch of no-name DC baddies which included a blonde-haired Enchantress. It was a forgettable story, but notable only because art legend Curt Swan penciled it.

Death Becomes Them

With the darkening of comics following 1986’s popular Dark Knight Returns, a new SS emerged in pages of DC’s 1986-87 Legends mini-series.

The origin of the SS was retooled prior to the team’s self-titled series’ debut. Secret Origins #14 linked the B&B issues and the DCCP “Forgotten Heroes” issues and expanded on the “legend”.

We would learn more about a hidden love between Rick and Karin, as well as the fates of Jess Bright and Dr. Evans. At the end of a mission where the original SS were in the Cardamom Mountains in Asia, they stumbled upon a narrow flimsy ice bridge. A Yeti attacked them and only Flag and Karin were able to escape, with Bright and Evans presumably perishing in a fall with the Yeti.

Readers were also introduced to a diminutive, strong and smart black woman named Amanda Waller – who would become the new SS’s off-field leader and government liaison.

The SS concept was further retooled – it was now, in essence, a super-villain community service program. Super-villain Plastique coined it best in 1987’s SS #1: “You take this mission and your sentence is changed to time served. Provided, of course, that you survive and you keep your trap shut afterwords.” It was a simple concept – a good one at that.

And villains did die. There are even a few websites of the Internet that include body counts for the various SS incarnations. During the Legends mini, and the new SS’s first mission, super-villain Blockbuster died. In their series’ first issue super-villain Mindboggler died. It was a start that symbolized a new way of storytelling at DC. Readers learned that the SS was the real deal. It was unpredictable which made it quite the page-turner (well, for almost 40 issues at least – things went downhill after that, but I’ll get to that).

The Dark Good Years

While there were many recurring characters over the SS’s 66 issue, 1 annual and 1 one-shot cross-over with the Doom Patrol, the core team that developed included: Rick Flag (with one “g”), Batman arch-villain Deadshot, Flash arch-villain Captain Boomerang, a now dark-haired Enchantress, Charlton heroine Nightshade, with forgotten DC do-gooders including martial artist Bronze Tiger, and masters of disguise Nemesis and the Black Orchid, rounded out. In addition, SS alumnus Karin Grace was part of this new team’s support personnel.

The team worked out of Belle Reve penitentiary in Louisiana – a functional meta-human prison that doubled as SS team headquarters and bad-guy fodder supply.

While Amanda Waller was the brains of this SS, Rick Flag was its heart, until his death in issue #26 – Karin Grace would also die during the tenure of this SS title. Following Rick’s death, the Bronze Tiger became the soul of the team. Through it all, Deadshot was arguably the most recognizable (and popular?) team member, and the only one that made it into the SS series’ next incarnation in the new millennium.

Anyhow, the villains on the team, back in the 80s, were furnished initially with an explosive bracelet. If the villains didn’t do what they were told, betrayed the SS, or tried to flee, they’d lose an appendage. Another cool concept.

There were many memorable adventures – the foray into Russia that included Batman villain the Penguin as a team member, an interesting trip to Apokolips, the multi-issue crossover with Checkmate and other DC titles during the Janus Directive, among others.

Its also a little known fact that Oracle of Batman fame, debuted in SS #23 – it was the SS that breathed new life into a post-Killing Joke Barbara Gordon who now is the lead with Black Canary and Huntress in the Birds of Prey monthly series.

Other notable Squaders would include Vixen of JLA infamy and Shade: The Changing Man.

It was a great series that stuck to its basic “super-villain work release program” concept for a long time, but sputtered around issue #40 when it veered away from it.

Doomed…

Issue #39 marked a status quo change for the series. Amanda Waller was arrested for murder and plea-bargained a manslaughter conviction. The issue ended with her behind bars.

Issue #40 began a year later with Amada Waller sprung from prison to do a favor for the government. It also marked a change for the series, as it became virtually a costume-less book about for-hire troubleshooters.

Issue #50 marked the return of Jess Bright (now “Jeff”) in the form of the walking dead villain Koshshei: The Deathless. He was looking to exact revenge on Flag for leaving him behind to die and for “stealing” Karin from him. The Flag and Grace-less SS subdued Koshshei and saved their child (given up by Karin and unknown to Rick).

Convolution aside, the series painfully crawled to issue #66 when it lived up to its name – DC’s editorial team helped writer John Ostrander and his late wife Kim Yale euthanize the title. The title had lost its way and many of its fans. However, this SS series includes some of my favorite all-time reads. The first year of this title measure up against any 12-issue comic series run before it and after. Period.

Another blip in comics history

Another incarnation of the SS debuted in 2001 and lasted a meager 12 issues. The only recognizable member of the team was Deadshot. The new brains behind the new team belonged to General Rock (of Sgt. Rock fame).

There were many more deaths in this series’ year-long run, in which we also learned that Amanda Waller had a disgruntled daughter.

In any event, the series was not at its heart a real SS series. It was too humour-filled with excessive banter. The series seemed like it was trying to mimic the formula of TV’s the West Wing with none of the success or critical acclaim. Also, the art on the book was too cartoony.

In the end, death was the best thing for this SS series.

Final Thoughts

As I said in our last column, ”I would encourage all fans and detractors of John Byrne or the Doom Patrol to wait until the series hits the stands so that any debate on it can be judged on what’s out there. Heated debate over speculation, while entertaining, is unproductive.

I will however agree that the first two parts of “Tenth Circle” have so far been slow moving, but I am thrilled with the DP cameo. Hopefully things will pick up soon.

With the love affair with the Silver Age at DC today, hopefully a Suicide Squad series can emerge that is faithful to its SA roots and the rock-solid concept that launched its most successful run in the late 1980s.

These are two franchises that deserve monthly titles helmed by top industry creators.

The Reading Rack

The early Silver Age adventures of the Doom Patrol can be found in DC’s Doom Patrol Archives: Volume 1 and Volume 2.

“Tenth Circle” is a bi-weekly 6-part arc currently underway in the JLA series with issues #94 and #95 available.

Regrettably, none of the Suicide Squad adventures have been compiled yet.

However, you should be able to find many of the 1980s and beyond DP and SS series issues in either your bargain bins or back issue bins. Happy hunting!