jla37

Earth – - Without A Justice League

Jan 27th

Posted by darren in Comics

No comments

Our story opens on Earth-Two where Johnny Thunder is receiving a message via the mail (snail mail that is) inviting him to a meeting of the Justice Society of America.  Once Johnny is excited about the prospect, but then realizes he needs to patch up his relationship with the mystical Thunderbolt, his partner in crime fighting.

Johnny summons the Thunderbolt by saying “Cei-U” and the Thunderbolt appears but reluctantly so.  The apologizing goes badly as Johnny flubs it and Thunderbolt threatens to go to Earth-One where that Johnny Thunder would not treat him so callously.  Johnny calls Thunderbolt’s bluff and wishes for Thunderbolt to take him to Earth-One to meet his doppelganger.  There, the two heroes of Earth-Two discover that the Earth-One Johnny Thunder is evil and quickly knocks the Earth-Two Johnny Thunder unconscious and takes control of the Thunderbolt.  With the Thunderbolt as his lackey, Johnny Thunder begins his crime spree only to find Thunderbolt come up against The Flash of Earth-One.

Johnny Thunder gets a good idea and decides to send the Thunderbolt back in time with the command to prevent the Justice League from becoming heroes.   Thunderbolt intercepts the lightning bolt that created The Flash and then stops Krypton from exploding by changing the core of More >

jla30

The Most Dangerous Earth Of All

Jan 20th

Posted by darren in Comics

1 comment

As the Justice League remains helpless on Earth-Three the JSA begin to plot how they will repel the Crime Syndicate’s invasion of Earth-Two, when the Earth-Three villains transport into the JSA headquarters via the globe Doctor Fate used to view where the JLA are being held captive.

Remembering the JLA’s warning to the JSA that they should not let the Crime Synidcate touch them and say their magic word of “Volthoom!” the JSAers are forced to find ways to defeat the villains in unique ways.

Johnny Quick uses his speed on Hawkman to get the winged wonder to get back down to Earth.  As Hawkman resists, he decides to instead fly full force and knock Johnny Quick out with a massive punch.  Unable to say the word, Hawkman believes he has won this battle.

Doctor Fate defeats Power Ring with the animals of the zodiac while Dr. Mid-Nite uses his blackout bombs and a bit of brain power to finish his battle with Owlman.

Black Canary is able to use one of her “freeze pellets” in her cameo (yeah cuz its really got room for a whole bunch of crime fighting equipment up in there), and put that down Superwoman’s throat, causing her vocal cords to “freeze up” so Superwoman cannot say “Volthoom!”  Black More >

jla29

Crisis On Earth-Three

Jan 16th

Posted by darren in Comics

No comments

 

It is that time again when the Justice League of America title is home to another earth-shattering Crisis tale.

This time the tale introduces another Earth and another group of analogues to our mainstay characters.

Earth-One

Earth-Two

Earth-Three

Superman

Superman Ultraman Wonder Woman Wonder Woman

Superwoman

Batman

Batman

Owlman

Flash Flash

Johnny Quick

Green Lantern Green Lantern

Power Ring

Before we get into the meet of the story, let us make sure we understand a few things.

Analogues are those characters that are duplicates of another character in another Earth or Dimension.  They share enough traits that they may seem identical or similar to another character.

Superman of Earth-1 and Earth-2 are both depowered by Kryptonite while Ultraman of Earth-3 is powered up when he is exposed to Kryptonite.

Wonder Woman of Earth-1 and Earth-2 are both wielders of amazing amazonian strength, so is Superwoman, but her name has changed.  In addition Superwoman carries a lasso with powers completely different than Wonder Woman’s.

Batman of Earth-1 and Earth-2 are both very similar, as is Owlman.  The main difference is the symbol that each chose in order to don their costumed persona, instead of a bat flying through a window, it was an owl.

Flash of Earth-1 and Earth-2 have similar powers but dissimilar costumes.  Johnny Quick of Earth-3 has a costume similar More >

JLA22

Crisis On Earth-Two

Jan 10th

Posted by darren in Comics

No comments

At the end of the last issue the Justice League and Justice Society both finally meet up and decide to trade worlds in order to defeat their home turf villains who had also traded worlds.

Doctor Fate sent the Justice Leaguers to Earth-Two and the Justice Society stayed on Earth-One, while the Green Lanterns both went off together to find each team’s Flash, both of whom were missing.

Hourman and the Atom run off and appear to tackle the Fiddler, who quickly attacks the pair by animating the taxidermy samples in the mammal hall.  Hourman manages to set off a beep that interferes with the sonic resonance of the Fiddler’s fiddle and the two heroes give him the old “high-low” maneuver.

The Icicle meets his match as he attempts to encase Doctor Fate in a wall of ice, but the Doctor’s magic is too strong and it looks like it is going to be lights out for Icicle when he hits a wall.

Hawkman and Black Canary meet the Wizard outside and the Wizard commands Hawkman’s wings to take off, taking Hawkman into outer space, while the Wizard animates a bunch of rocks into fighting the Black Canary.  The Canary has a trick of her own More >

jlajsacover

Crisis On Earth-One

Jan 6th

Posted by darren in Comics

1 comment

As is the tradition it’s time for the ROLL CALL:

Justice League of America – Atom, Aquaman, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, J’onn J’onzz(Martian Manhunter), Superman, and Wonder Woman

Justice Society of America – Atom, Black Canary, Doctor Fate, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and Hourman

versus

The Crime Champions – Chronos, Doctor Alchemy, and Felix Faust of Earth One and on Earth-Two Fiddler, Icicle, and Wizard

Firmly set at the bang up beginning of the Silver Age of Comics, this comic is the one that started the “Crisis” stories that would involve these two teams teaming up and fighting the good fight against common threats, more importantly it also gave us a few more ideas about what the idea of the multiverse means.

We had seen the two Flashes meet, and in the interim other team ups occurred, including the two Green Lanterns and the two Atoms, etc.., but this is the time when we get a bit more information on the status quo of Earth-Two.

The only Justice Leaguer who is missing from this story is Snapper Carr, who is away at college while the JLA are meeting due to challenges being issued to them by Chronos, Doctor Alchemy, and Felix Faust.

Lets just take a moment and remember the good More >

flash2worlds

A Flash Of Two Worlds

Dec 26th

Posted by darren in Comics

No comments

It is time to address the first story that leads DC Comics to the inevitable Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline which truly does change everything for the DC characters.

Barry Allen is late meeting Iris West (soon to be Iris Allen) which is a fairly standard way to start a Flash comic in this era.  Iris is at a benefit concert for orphans and the magician she has hired has failed to show up (wouldn’t it be interesting if that was supposed to be Flash’s foe Abra Kadabra?).  Seeing the problem, Barry excuses himself lamely and then comes back as The Flash to entertain the kids with some speed tricks.

While the Flash is climbing a suspended rope he starts to spin so fast that when he stops he finds himself no longer on a stage but in the middle of a field.  As Flash runs towards the nearest city, he sees it is a city known as Keystone City.  If this is Keystone City, Flash knows exactly who to go to for assistance.  The Flash.

But, he is the Flash.  Right?

Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth-Two

Well, yes and no.  As we have established in the past, the DC Universe is made up of More >

mmanhunter_showcase

Through The Mirror Quizzically..

Dec 19th

Posted by darren in Comics

1 comment

The DC Multiverse was not created as an idea across the publishing line at the office of DC Comics, rather the ideas pop and simmer as time moves on until we get a theory espoused by a few DC Characters which becomes the foundation of DC Comics Cosmology for years to come.

We need to examine a few key cases here as we examine the lead into the revelation that there is a DC MULTIVERSE, as opposed to a UNIVERSE.

Case # 1 – The Martian Manhunter – first appearance:  September 1955

Say what you want about J’onn J’onzz, his appearance in the DCUniverse is a strictly Earth One affair.  He has no significant dopplegangers on any of the other established Earths, though there are other characters in the Earth-One universe that appear to mirror him to one extent or another like Jemm, Son of Saturn.  J’onn’s appearance and his strict identification with Earth-One, calls into question retroactively as to whether or not the Martian Manhunter’s first appearance should be the first appearance of the multiverse.

Case #2 – Wonder Woman of Dimension X – first appearance – August 1958

A quick story that appears in Wonder Woman #100, the main Wonder Woman travels through a portal More >

allstarcomics57

And There Came A Crisis…

Dec 18th

Posted by darren in Comics

No comments

There is perhaps no word more evocative of the DC Universe experience than “Crisis”.

Crisis as defined by Dictionary.com is as follows

cri·sis

 [krahy-sis]  noun, plural -ses [-seez] adjective, noun

1. a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, especially for better or for worse, is determined; turning point. 2. a condition of instability or danger, as in social, economic,political, or international affairs, leading to a decisive change. 3. a dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in a person’slife. 4.  Medicine/Medical . a. the point in the course of a serious disease at which a decisive change occurs, leading either to recovery or todeath. b. the change itself. 5.the point in a play or story at which hostile elements are most tensely opposed to each other.

In the DC Universe, the word Crisis is reserved for a specific type of story that is going to change the status quo.  As with serialized fiction, like soap operas, literary series or movie franchises, it is sometimes rare that anything will happen of significance to the main characters.  This is especially true of comic book characters.  While actors on soap operas may leave and be replaced by another actor, or tv.movie franchises replacing their leads like with James Bond or Doctor Who, with comics the characters have a look and they never seem to change.

Sure for a lark, you may see a new costume on a character, or the character might move to a new city or a new focus for the series may occur, but these usually come and go with a change in writer, artist, or editor on the book in question.

The Crisis stories start off rather tame and then go off into more intense tales as they move forward.

The great majority of the Crisis stories comes from More >

jlalovedones

The Wives Club

Dec 13th

Posted by darren in Comics

No comments

Lets do a little examination of the romances of the Justice League.

Superman has Lois Lane.

Wonder Woman has Steve Trevor.

Aquaman has Mera.

Batman has.. well..

Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, bad example.

Lets talk about the lady loves of the JLA.

Flash’s first wife Iris West is a reporter in the vein of Lois Lane and Flash is always there to help get her out of trouble in the nick of time.  Iris is also the aunt of Wally West, who would become Kid Flash and the Flash’s sidekick.

Iris and Barry married, but one of Barry’s villains, Professor Zoom killed Iris leaving Barry to mourn his love.  While brief romantic flings occured with Fiona Webb and a near disastrous pairing with Zatanna, Barry’s heart remained with Iris, who was revealed as not having been killed, but living in the future.  At the end of The Trial of the Flash, where Barry was put on trial for killing Professor Zoom, Barry was exonerated and went into the future to live with Iris.. for a time.

For Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, love never seemed to be in the cards.  He worked many jobs over the years but his most stable was as a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft and was instantly under More >

wonderwomannstevetrevor

Amazons and Atlanteans

Dec 5th

Posted by darren in Comics

No comments

For the Supporting Cast of Wonder Woman and Aquaman our examination will move heavily towards those outward forces that have influenced our heroes.

Wonder Woman is first and foremost a product of her character’s origins.

After all, it is the Greek Goddesses who create the Amazons, a race of women warriors so brutalized by men that they seek to live alone in peace and harmony away from the warring men.

The basic Greek pantheon includes the following Gods and Goddesses who show up from time to time to help and/or hinder Diana:

  • Zeus – Father of the Gods, the Sky, and the Ruler of Olympus, Husband of Hera and the sire of many lesser Gods and heroes. His Symbols include the lightning bolt and the eagle.
  • Hera – Mother of the Gods, Marriage, and Jealousy. Hera is constantly on guard for her husband’s dalliances and acts upon them with great vengeance. Her symbol is the peacock.
  • Poseidon – The God of the Oceans. Poseidon rules over the seas, the creatures of the seas and earthquakes. He is also the patron god of sailors and those who travel by ocean. His symbol is the trident.
  • Demeter – The Goddess of the Harvest. Demeter is the ruler over agriculture More >
12345»10...Last »