Who's Who In The DCU

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Man, is it Wednesday already? This past week has been a whirlwind of post election depression and Dilly Barsâ„¢ (trademark of Dairy Queen Inc.). B, I hope your week went better.

It was kind of a comedown week after the excitement of the Sox victory and Megan visiting, but I went to go visit my best friend in Jersey, so I had a lot of fun”¦and a lot of driving”¦which meant lots of calling Jamie Hatton to bug him to keep me from being bored! Did you know that there’s some law in New Jersey that you can’t talk on a cell phone while driving because you need both hands on the wheel? Talk about backwards and unhip! –B

Super Mario’s Links!

This week; by way of what I should be ashamed of owning, liking or viewing.

Ishtar

DC Direct Aquaman & Aqualad Deluxe Set

Ducktales

Best Week Ever

Synchronized Swimming

And of course DOL and the The Finals of the DC vs Marvel Tourney

B, what would you like to link?

My column continues the Avengers bios, and if anybody isn’t digging it, please let me know, because there are many more to come. I also popped up in Wrestling to contribute a Mean. But if you don’t want to read just me (meaning you’re insane or from New Jersey), Tim is always a safe bet. –B

Last Week’s Reads!

The Intimates #1: Read my review

Superman/Batman #13: I can’t say enough bad things about this issue. But I’m not too keen on Loeb killing Harbinger and resurrecting Kara. Two of the better aftereffects of Crisis are gone, and I’m pissed. For the record I didn’t get the Supergirl cover, out of protest!

I got the Supergirl cover, but only because the other one looked too similar to every other cover of this arc. Speaking of said arc, it started strong and then just died a horrible death. I’m hoping the next arc brings this title back to its former greatness. Also, I have a feeling Harbinger will be back by the end of 2005, just a hunch. –B

Y The Last Man #28: Answers, kind of. And more questions are raised. 355 vs Hero? I can’t wait until next ish.

Majestic #4: Review forthcoming.

Swamp Thing #9: Creepy. The return of Arcane. But way creepy.

The Question #1: A headscratchingly good read. Tommy Lee Edwards is one of my favorite artists. The issue requires multiple readings, in a good way.

Fallen Angel #17: Review forthcoming, but you need to buy this book!

JLA Classified #1: I picked up the Ultramarines cover. Good read, good art, fun book. But why isn’t it called “Legends of the Justice League?”

I picked up the JLA cover”¦we’re canceling each other out, M. Very fun; I missed reading JLA on speed. –B

Hard Time #10: Read my review.


Well I guess I should begin answering questions.

Tim Stevens you get to go first, because of that lyric thing.

Again Stevens got the lyric? Was last week’s lyric 50s doo wap or something? –B

How about some Ultramarines information since they are back in JLA: Classified #1? Who are they? Where have we seen them before, if not in the JLA storyline from which the Ultramarines come? Powers, origins, etc? Whatever you got basically.

Ok here’s a brief rundown on the Ultramarines.

4-D, Warmaker One, Pulse 8, and Flow were original Ultramarines. They were under the charge of Wade Eiling, of Captain Atom fame. The Ultramarines first appeared in JLA #24 and fought against the JLA. They did that until they realized that Eiling was off his rocker (they realized this, of course, when Wade took over the body of Shaggy Man.)

At that point the Ultramarines kept the name, but ditched Wade. They set up shop in the floating city of Superbia, which is usually hovering over the former site of Monte Video. Superbia was open to anyone who wanted to live there.

If you’re wondering why it was above the former site of Monte Video, it’s because Vandal Savage blew up Monte Video with a nuclear warhead during DC 1,000,000,000, so the Ultramarines figured it was a good place to be if they wanted to remember to stay ever vigilant. –B

Some notable folks who did want to live there, Vixen (from JLA Detroit), Jack O’Lantern (the third one, from Primal Force), Goraiko, and Knight & Squire.

Now it’s origin time! Lt. Colonel Scott Sawyer, Major Dan Stone, Captain John Wether, and Captain Lea Corbin were all exposed to Proteum by Eiling. Of course they gained super powers!

Sawyer got a nifty energy form, which is housed in a battlesuit. His new name; Warmaker One! Corbin has the ability to tap into the fourth dimension, hence the name 4-D! Stone became an intelligent liquid form, of course he can control it, thus his name is Flow! Lastly Wether linked with the “unified field harmonic”, whatever that is. He’s now Pulse 8!

Vixen and Jack O’lantern are old news. Goraiko is pretty much unknown. But when it comes to Knight and Squire things get interesting.

The original Knight and Squire appeared in Batman #62. Knight was like England’s equivalent of Batman, with Squire of course being Superman (I’m kidding Squire was Robin.) They were a father and son team. Of course like many of those old stories people thought they were tossed out after Crisis, or even the 70’s.

So a new Knight and Squire were recreated Post Crisis. The Post Crisis Knight I and Squire I appeared in Young All Stars #22. He was part of the Dome, which was like a precursor to the Global Guardians. The Squire, Cyril, took over as Knight when his father was killed. He first appeared as Knight in Infinity Inc #34.

Now Knight II and his daughter, Beryl, the new Squire, are heroes in Superbia. So there you have it. They were supposed to have been forgotten, but they came back. Just like Bat-Mite!

Fun fact: in early descriptions, JLA/JSA: Virtue & Vice centered around the Ultramarines rather than around the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man as it eventually came to be. –B


Andy, do you have something that’s bothering you?

The DC Comics Encyclopedia states that Sue Dibny died a horrible death at the hands of Dr. Light. Published before more relevant information came out in ID Crisis? Blatant mistake? Or spoiling the ending, which would be a hell of a swerve, bringing it back to Dr. Light.

That is the question isn’t it? I don’t think that it’s too far off to think that Dr. Light didn’t kill her. Clearly we see Calculator is sending villains to kill these folks. Now maybe he sent Dr. Light to kill Sue, not knowing their history. Or maybe even knowing their history.

I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ANY MORE!

Identity Crisis is taking way too much of my brain. I’ve decided to just let it play out. I’m not trying to figure it out. Ray Palmer would have been great, but it’s not him. I give up. B, what are your thoughts: printing error or editorial genius?

I can’t rightly judge until my copy is in my hands, which it isn’t yet thanks to Amazon. Instead, I’ll just read Identity Crisis #6 with the rest of y’all today. –B


Charles Hargrove, do you have a question related to last week?

I seem to remember that the current Flash’s costume is made up of speedforce. I thought that that came out after Wally had some breakthrough connection with his powers. Is that my imagination?

It is made of the Speed Force. It’s one of those cool things about having connections. Some people can get into restaurants with no wait. Some people get good jobs. Some just get costumes composed of an other dimensional power given substance. His first Speed Force costume was a monstrosity, but he’s since made the force look more like the costume we’re accustomed to. That costume answer last week was more about Barry’s suit.

B, you’re friends with Geoff Johns, does a costume of Speed Force ever ride up or chafe?

Does it ever! Let’s just say that Geoff doesn’t ride too many roller coasters in which you have to strap your legs down”¦-B


Julian L Smith, who claims to be the most electrifying engineer in the world of chemical management today, (I’m hard pressed to find a reason to argue that assertion. –B) do you have a riveting question?

After a story where the JLA fought Darkseid The JLA faced The Shaggy Man. This was Shaggy Man #2, since Shaggy Man #1 had been imprisoned at the bottom of the ocean…and later became The General. SM2 was shot into space. Has he been seen since?

No, no he hasn’t. He still out there. Rumor has it, space is infinite. So in theory he could go on forever. But I’m betting that he’s just going to bump into Major Force’s head and crash-land on Mogo. There a wacky sitcom or harsh reality show will develop. What does happen when a decapitated head of a villain and a Shaggy Man try to live on a sentient planet that used to be a hero? Featured guest stars include, Captain Comet, Malvolio and Kid Amazo?

Coming this summer from FOX.


Brian Pittenger, do you have a question that requires a lot of speculation?

I’ve read recently that a major “Crisis”-like event was being planned at DC for 2005. Do we know any details? Is it just a summer thing, or would it be year-round (like Crisis on Infinite Earths was in ’85, or Identity Crisis has been this year)?

Well we don’t know too much right now. All we really know is that something big is going to happen in 2005.

I think that the first real hit of this is what we got from Luthor at the end of the first Superman/Batman storyline. In that infamous quote Luthor refers to an upcoming “Crisis.” Most folks (myself included) thought he was talking about Identity Crisis. But looking back I’m thinking that he’s just talking about what’s happening in 2005.

Want another clue? Pick up Adventures of Superman #630. There, the aforementioned Myxyzptlk warns Superman about the future, alluding to various storylines and concepts, including Zero Hour, Crisis, Hypertime, Secret War, No Man’s Land, and Obsidian Age.

Want another one? Pick up JLA Secret Files & Origins 2004. Johnny Quick of the Crime Syndicate takes a trip to the future (roughly our present). He returns and warns his partners in crime that there’s not a future.

Let’s also look at some of the pieces and players that are in place:

Grant Morrison and Mark Waid, the two men who came up with Hypertime and gave us a glimpse at the Golden Age Superman, are both working for DC right now.

A Kara Zor-El Supergirl is back in the DCU, despite the fact that Peter David couldn’t keep her in the DCU just a few short years ago.

Superman’s past is in a state of flux as a result of Birthright.

Both the Doom Patrol and Legion of Super Heroes have been “rebooted.”

Harbinger, one of the few relics of Crisis is dead (which I personally think could be used as a catalyst for the big event.)

DC Direct has more “artist signature” figure lines coming out (can anyone say a Crisis Line based on the art of George Perez, for the 20th anniversary?)

Hal Jordan is returning as Green Lantern.

Has anyone heard about the creative teams on the Super-titles after the current creators’ year is up, just a few months down the line?

DC has a Batman and a Superman movie that could be released within that “anniversary” period, which would lend DC motivation to streamline the books to entice new readers.

So what we basically have is a convoluted DCU, which was one of the reasons for the original Crisis almost twenty years ago.

And does anyone think that those rumors about an Ultimate DC line, could spring out of this alleged event?

Of course this could just be the rambling of a rabid fanboy, but I think it’s going to be a huge event of Crisis like proportions. B, do you think that DC has something up it’s sleeve for the 20th anniversary of Crisis?

Look M, if I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times, just because I know Geoff Johns doesn’t mean I know”¦oh, never mind. –B


Josh Garvey, do you have a question that’s going to require some serious brain work?

What’s up with Kryptonian surnames? Supes is Kal-El. His dad is Jor-El. His mom is Lara. Not Lara-El. Just Lara. I thought that to mean that women don’t have surnames, such as “El,” but then I remembered, Supes cousin? Kara Zor-El. Zor-El being her father, I believe. So how does this work? The only theory I have is that the father’s full name is present until marriage, at which point, as part of joining with her husband or whatever, the father’s name as suffix is dropped. Is my theory right?

Yes your theory is exactly right. Names are passed down by the men on Krypton. It’s really not so different from how it goes here on Earth, except on Krypton women knew their place!

I keed, I keed!

But yes, women did take their father’s name. Kara Zor-El is Kara, daughter of Zor-El. However women did take their husband’s name upon marriage. Lara, is Lara Jor-El, Lara, wife of Jor-El. Which would make Lois, Lois Kal-El. But it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. B, aren’t you glad I got my minor in Kryptonian Culture?

Yeah, now convince Megan to let me name our first born, Zod. Come on, how cool would it be when on the playground after elementary school he demanded that his teacher ‘kneel before Zod!’ rather than coming in at the end of recess?! –B


Juan Francisco Gutiérrez Santiago, do you have a very detailed related question?

Which are the best 10 and the worst 10 DC Multi-crossovers a la
‘Crisis’? Not the ones between one or two characters or between “familiy” characters (i.e. Batman family crossovers like War Games) but total crossovers even if they are not published independently, like Panic in the Sky (only published originally in Superman titles but nonetheless a multi-crossover).

Better yet, could you give us a little description of ALL DC Multicrossovers since crisis? Which are good, which are bad, which are gold or which just suck. Not only on how they affected the DC but how they were read and how enjoyable are by themselves, if ignoring continuity, if not; if ignoring characters’ development, if developing characters; if the concept is bad but the reading is good, if the premise is good but the execution is bad. You now not just ‘it is bad because of the little significance it has, even if it reads like a charm’ or it ‘is good because of the great significance it has but read just like junk’. I don’t want another disappointment as War of the Gods but I want some great surprises like Underworld Unleashed.

As for actual Crossovers here goes a list (check out John Babos dissecting the tradition of yearly events in the DCU), a very brief description.

Crisis on Infinite Earths The DCM (that’s DC Multiverse) has to team up to save all reality from a huge threat.

Legends The major members of the DCU have to deal with an unlikely and subtle threat from Darkseid, who tries to turn Earth against it’s heroes.

Millennium The DCU has to fight the evil Manhunters in order to help mankind evolve.

Invasion Several alien races (commonly known to readers of the Legion, but showing up primarily for the first time in 20th Century) team up to take over Earth, and surprisingly the heroes fight them.

War of The Gods The gods go to war. And the heroes try to break it up.

Zero Hour Hal Jordan tries to “fix” the universe, and time itself. The heroes try to stop him (don’t they ever get tired of that?)

Underworld Unleashed A devil tempts villains and heroes both.

Final Night The sun goes out. And the heroes have to crawl to Hal Jordan to help them. How the mighty have fallen.

Genesis Powers stop working, and the heroes have to find out why.

DC One Million The future of the DCU needs help from it’s past (our present) to save itself.

Millennium Giants Some giants are walking around messing things up. A few heroes have to deal with them.

Day of Judgment The dead have arisen! Heroes have to put them back in their place.

Last Laugh The Joker infects other villains with his madness. Hilarity, mayhem and forced stories ensue.

Our Worlds At War The world is at war with a huge alien. Lots of folks, die. But most come back.

You forgot the Annual Events, which on at least a few occasions were major crossovers:

Eclipso: The Darkness Within Eclipso amps up his power level and starts amassing an army of heroes under his control.

Bloodlines Parasitic aliens attack Earth and DC’s heroes are forced to team with ‘New Blood’ heroes created by the aliens.

JLApe Grodd turns all the JLAers (except Batman) into gorillas.

There you have a good list of the major crossovers. I didn’t include Trinity because it was really only a three book crossover. (I also didn’t include crossovers that only crossed over with annuals, nor did I do “fifth week” events. If you want me to cover those, just fire me off a request and I’ll make it happen.)

So I’ll put them in order from what I think was the best to what I thought as the worst.

Crisis This is the one that exposed me to the DC Multiverse. Up until this point I had only read Green Lantern sporadically. I remember seeing an ad for #5, the cover with all the faces on the characters, with the Earth 2/Earth 1 counterparts split down the middle (I’ve always been a sucker for duality.) I had no idea what was going on, but I figured it out. I saw beautiful art, and watched heroes die. I didn’t know who they were, but I still felt for them. Not only was this the first one, but it really “mattered.” Worlds and heroes did die.

It reads very well and has plenty of charactization. Like poor Kal-L crying about losing his wife. Man, that’s making me sad just thinking about it.

Invasion! I liked this one because it had an epic feel. The three issues were also huge issues. The metagene bomb that activated powers, the laying of the groundwork for the 30th Century, this book had it all. Plus the art was solid.

Three epic issues. Some folks died, some were MIA. This was the first time there was a war type event in the DCU. It also laid the had the spin off L.E.G.I.O.N. ’89

Underworld Unleashed This was just a cool idea. And it wasn’t too invasive as crossovers can be. Villains getting powered up, and heroes having to stop them? The reason this ranks so high is because of two crossover issues; Aquaman #14 and Starman #13. Aquaman featured Major Disaster, which is the issue that made him so cool. Starman featured Dr. Phosphorus vs Ted Knight. Both issues didn’t seem like part of a crossover, which is what made the crossover so good.

Great characterization in the crossovers. The mini itself made Blue Devil, likeable.

DC One Million I’ve never actually read the miniseries, but the strength of the crossovers is again what matters. Chase, Chronos, Starman and The Creeper all had solid glimpses into the future. Resurrection Man did too.

Zero Hour Yes it made Hal Jordan a really bad guy. Yes it killed off the JSA. Yeah, it messed up Hawkman. But the Zero issues were a neat gimmick. And it also had a spin off, Starman.

I liked the reveal of Parallax. I was surprised, and happy. I liked how characterization of Hal and Impluse were done. And Jay and Alan giving up the hero gig was a powerful scene.

Legends This was cool because of the subtlety of the series. The heroes were fighting something they couldn’t really see, fear. It was cool, but none of the books that I read now had crossovers with it (The Flash spun out of it as did Justice League and Suicide Squad.)

Millennium I actually enjoyed this one. It spun out of Green Lantern, how could I hate it? It was a mystery. I really wanted to know who were Manhunters and who were their spies. I cared! That’s why it’s not at the bottom of the list. And if not for this book, we wouldn’t have had New Guardians.

The mystery was built very well. There was tons of drama. I liked it!

Our Worlds At War I read some of the one-shots. The world was at war. Superman’s father in law died, but mostly everyone else made it out ok. Superman did have that Kingdom Come-esque symbol on his chest for awhile.

Day of Judgment I didn’t read this one. Even the promise of Hal Jordan, couldn’t draw me to it. It’s this high, because Hal Jordan became active in the DCU as a result of this.

Final Night Never read it. I know it’s the partially the reason why Superman went “electric.” But I’m not really interested. It may have had something to do with the fact that I knew there was a sun in the 30th century, so I wasn’t too worried about the outcome. Hal Jordan saving the day is why it’s not lower.

Unfortunately, to me at least, the rest of these books don’t have anything redeeming about them.

War of the Gods I don’t remember any of this series and I had it. Wait, I remember it came with posters. I also remember Hermes and Mercury racing in The Flash. George Perez and posters are what keep this from being at the bottom of the list.

Last Laugh Ok, I understand how Joker infected The Spectre/Parallax, but how did he infect Gravyen? This was just a bad idea that actually got produced. It did show us Nightwing’s dark side, where he killed the Joker, thus foreshadowing his turn to evil on the pages of Identity Crisis. I’m kidding, I’m kidding”¦or am I?

Millennium Giants This was awful. Worse than that it was boring. The giants weren’t running! It was like if Godzilla was taking his time to get to Tokyo. “Oh my god! They’re walking – very – slowly – towards – us.” It did get rid of electro Supes, so that’s good.

And the worst of the worst is;

Genesis Not even an issue of Starman could save this one. A godwave? You’ve got to be joshing me? This is the book that made me wary of John Byrne’s writing. For goodness sakes, Takion was a star. “Who’s Takion” you say? Exactly.
It was so bad that I couldn’t finish read it, and I collected all of Titans and the current Aquaman’s first 12 issues!

B, this is just like “Food Chain” on Pardon The Interruption, now you make your list!

I agree with your top three as Crisis is far and away the king with Invasion! being a fun second and Underworld Unleashed being an underrated third. I have DC One Million and The Final Night running neck and neck for fourth as both were clever premises that produced excellent tie in issues from writers who were up to the task. Legends comes next with some very emotionally intense tie-ins and excellent John Byrne art on the core mini-series. Zero Hour after that because of more great central art by Dan Jurgens and more cool tie-ins as well as a twist I never saw coming at the time with Hal Jordan as the principle villain (even if everybody else hated it) and one of the best climactic battles of all time (Spectre and Green Arrow both get to be bad ass). After that is Our Worlds At War, which I really didn’t think was bad. This is where I’d sneak in Eclipso: The Darkness Within, which didn’t live up to its full potential, but was still pretty good. I wouldn’t rate Millenium nearly as high as you did; the premise was decent enough, but the art was awful and the New Guardians should never be spoken of again. War of the Gods was impossible to understand, but had great Perez art and featured enough cool characters to redeem it a little bit. Bloodlines was too all over the place to really gauge. And yes M, you are correct, Genesis wins the booby prize as the worst DC crossover of all time. The rest mentioned I didn’t read and thus don’t feel fit to judge. –B


Ryan Albrecht do you have a question that I purposely saved for after the election?

At the end of the world what happens after the end of the world? I honestly have no idea so I chose to ask the higher ups of Mathan and B what their thoughts would be.

I don’t know, but with four more years of Bush, I’ve got an idea that we’ll find out soon enough.

B, do you have any ideas?

No matter what happens, I have to believe that this column will live on in some form and Aquaman will still be given yet another series. –B


And on that note, we’re going to end the column. Upcoming columns: New Gods spectacular, Vertigo special, Reader’s Feedback, and Titans everywhere. Send me your comments by email, or visit the forums (they’re a blast.) My question to you; What do you think DC is planning for the anniversary of Crisis

“Just a stupid neighbor complain’, keep it up I’ll call the block association.”