Comics discussions, with flair…
Archive for February, 2010
Legion: Crash Course Part Four
Feb 28th
Four more Legionnaires up to bat.
Here we have Sun Boy, the stylized Sun pictograph, Bouncing Boy, who is the bouncing ball, Mon-El, who is the interlac version of the letters M, E, and L, as well as Matter-Eater Lad who is represented by the tooth.
Sun Boy is Dirk Morgna of Earth. The son of a solar physicist and quite the junior scientist in his own right, Dirk was trapped in a nuclear reactor by his dad’s rival, Doctor Regulus. Instead of killing Dirk, it imbued him with the ability to project light, heat, and even fire. Sun Boy is one of the Legion’s best pilots and scientists however, he does have a bit of a tendency to be a womanizer, he has not settled down with any of the Legion ladies.
Bouncing Boy is Chuck Taine of Earth. As an errand boy, Chuck was charged with delivering a serum to a laboratory, well Chuck wanted to also watch the Moopsball game. So, Chuck went to the game with the serum and of course, mixed up his serum with his refreshment. His body naturally inflated and he began to bounce like a big rubber ball. Chuck is the morale officer of the Legion, he’s always the one to keep everyone’s spirits light. He lost his powers twice during his career but gained them back, eventually left the Legion when he and Duo Damsel got married. Together he and his wife run the Legion Academy where they train the next generation of Legionnaires.
Mon-El.. Hmmm, “El” Where have you heard that before? Well, Mon-El landed in Smallville in the 20th Century and because of his abilities duplicating those of Superboy it was assumed that Mon-El was Superboy’s older brother, of the house of El. Of course, Mon-El had amnesia and had no recollection of his true origin. Superboy named Mon-El this because of Monday, the day Mon-El landed and El, for the house of El, Superboy’s last name. Mon-El was revealed to be immune to kryptonite but was poisoned by Lead instead. To save Mon-El’s life, Superboy placed Mon into the Phantom Zone where he lingered for 1,000 years. In the Legion’s time, Brainiac Five found a cure for Mon-El and he emerged from the Zone to become a full time Legionnaire.
Mon-El is actually, Lar Gand of Daxam, where under a yellow sun the Daxamites duplicate the Kryptonian powers, but suffer from severe lead poisoning if exposed that is irreversible. Mon-El takes a daily dose of serum to stave off his poisoning. Mon-El is involved with fellow Legionnaire Shadow Lass.
Matter-Eater Lad is Tenzil Kem of the planet Bismoll, where all the inhabitants have evolved to be able to eat solid matter due to the poisonous nature of all organic matter on the planet. One of the oddest names for a super-hero Tenzil is rarely in an adventure unless the writer needs them to escape from some prison that Tenzil can eat his way out of and then comment on how tasty the substance is, like “mmm, these iron bars sure are filling.” yuk yuk.
Tenzil leaves the Legion once it starts getting a bit serious to be drafted into politics on his home planet, however he comes back to perform a very important service to the Universe. He eats the “Miracle Machine”, a machine so powerful it makes your every wish come true. This has caused Tenzil to go a wee bit loopy and so the Legion checked him into the “nervous hospital” until Brainy can cure him.
Next on the list: A mysterious lad, a cross dresser, and a buxom beauty.
Legion: Crash Course Part Three
Feb 27th
Here we are again, ready for the next ones? I hope so, because here they are.
These would be Superboy, Ultra Boy is the large “T” or very stylized bird, Star Boy, and Shrinking Violet.
Superboy is the junior high-high school version of Clark Kent prior to his leaving Smallville and going off to Metropolis. The Legion became a plot device to get Clark out of the rather boring Smallville scene and into the future for some sci-fi stories, and the Legion has existed ever since. Clark is an outcast in Smallville due to his powers and the Legion comes back in time to be his friends. The Legion winds up teaching Clark what it means to be a hero, which they learned by watching historical records of what Superman did. You have to love time travel loops, huh?
(the awkward implications of X-Ray vision.. and why are the guys checking each other out? Poor Lana never had a chance.)
Ultra Boy is Jo Nah from the planet Rimbor. While piloting a space cruiser, Jo Nah was swallowed by a space whale (Jo Nah and the whale? easy to remember huh?) While in the space whale he became imbued with Ultra Energy which he can use to duplicate most of Superboy’s powers, the problem is Ultra Boy can only use one of those powers at a time, making him much more vulnerable than Superboy. Also, Ultra Boy’s version of X-Ray Vision known as Penetra Vision can see through lead, unlike Superboy’s. Jo has a long standing romance with Phantom Girl/Tinya Wazzo. Jo does things his way, which makes him the rebel of the Legion, and Phantom Girl’s practicality helps to serve as a foil for Jo’s impetuous nature.
Star Boy is Thom Kallor of the planet of Xanthu. Thom got his powers from being in the wrong place at the wrong time as he passed through a comet which imbued him with cosmic powers, at first able to do everything Superboy could do, that was later scaled back to the power to increase the gravitational pull on objects making them “super-heavy” Thom is in ga-ga love with Dream Girl of the Legion. Thom is frequently called the unluckiest Legionnaire as he has lost his most impressive powers, killed a man when there was a way to capture him without killing him, was kicked out of the Legion, and recently it’s been revealed that Thom is a little touched in the head. It is during the era that I started reading that Star Boy acquired his facial hair and that star field costume is inspired.
Shrinking Violet is Salu Digby of the planet Imsk. This is a planet where all the inhabitants developed the power to shrink their natural size. Violet is of course a wallflower in the Legion’s early adventures. Only later on does Violet come out of her shell and she plays an important part in missions. Violet goes through some serious challenges and emerges a strong female character. She is frequently shown carrying tools and weaponry that shrinks with her and she eventually takes martial arts training from fellow Legionnaire Karate Kid to improve her combat skills in hand-to-hand. She proves that you do not have to be a man in order to kick arse. Due to Violet’s abilities she is a permanent member of the Legion Espionage Squad.
Next time: The Bright One, The Bouncy One, The Older Brother One, and the .. well fine.. Matter-Eater Lad.
Legion Crash Course Part Two
Feb 26th
Well seven members down and we are going to cover four more, ready?
So here we have Colossal Boy, Invisible Kid I, Supergirl, and Brainiac Five.
Colossal Boy is Gim Allon of Earth who was exposed to the radiation of an asteroid (which has to be one of the top 10 most common origins of all times) which gave him the ability to grow to immense proportion, which matches his symbol which is the overly large “male” symbol. He has a crush on fellow Legionnaire Shrinking Violet, but has not been able to win her heart yet.
Invisible Kid is Lyle Norg or Earth who created an invisibility serum for himself. He is one of the Legion’s best scientists and leaders. Unfortunately, Lyle was killed in battle by the Legion foe Validus.
Supergirl.. *wha*? Yes Virginia, there is a Supergirl. Kara Zor-El, from Argo City which was a large part of Krypton which flew off the planet relatively intact. Eventually Argo City was also doomed and Kara’s parents who were related to Jor-El, rocketed Kara off to Kansas to meet her cousin. Kara can do all the things that Superman can do, just usually in a skirt.
We’ll talk about the turn the male superhero into a female hero comic conceit a bit later.
and finally Brainiac Five, who is the good descendant of Superman’s evil villain Brainiac. Querl Dox of the planet Colu has a 12th level intelligence which is way smarter than yours and he is not shy about telling you so. Brainy usually employs a force shield belt while on the battle field to protect him from injury. Being smart has its drawbacks as Brainy has had bouts of insanity and holds a large torch for Supergirl.
Brainy invented the Legion Flight Rings allowing all their members to fly and the telepathic ear plugs which allow them to communicate across mentally while in the vacuum of space.
As we begin our study of the Legion here at this time, Invisible Kid is deceased, Supergirl is a Legion reservist, and Colossal Boy and Brainy are active.
Next time: The farmboy, the rebel, the unluckiest one, and the shy one.
Legion Crash Course Part One
Feb 24th
Okay.. so I have hesitated to get into the Legion for a few reasons.
- It scares people. Too many characters, locations, and things going on.
- The goal of this site is to ease you into these concepts, so how do I boil it down to the essence when we are talking about a cast of 30+?
Here’s how. First off, I will have faith in your comprehension skills and hopefully you will have some faith in my ability to convey this team to you. And there ARE some shorthand methods we can use. In any team book there are typically shortcuts you can use to “decode” the world we are in.
- It’s the 30th Century, so it’s all futuristic at the same time it is Super-Heroes so it’s a mingling of Star Wars/Star Trek and other sci-fi tropes along with the 20th century heroes.
- It’s about the characters. Heroes fighting villains is great, but why should you care? The reason: These characters for a true legion are all different, conflicts occur, relationships begin and end.
- The writer and artist in this era of the Legion, Mr. Paul Levitz and Mr. Keith Giffen gave us a “short-hand” in the form of symbols that represent each of the Legionnaires. Like the “S” shield represents Superman, these icons represent the Legionnaires.
So, that being said, let’s dive in! You’ve already met Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, and Saturn Girl in the previous Legion post. Their icons are as follows…
Pretty intuitive huh? Well, we are going to meet some more Legionnaires now before we start getting into the stories. The next Legionnaires to join the LSH were
and
Any guesses? Well, the first one is Duo Damsel, the next is Phantom Girl, and Chameleon Boy.
Duo Damsel was originally Triplicate Girl with the power to split into three different girls, however one of her selves was killed in battle resulting in her renaming herself to Duo Damsel. Her name is Luornu Durago of the planet Cargg. All individuals on Cargg have the power to triplicate themselves, usually when one triplicate dies, they all do, but Luornu survived the death of one self. Maybe there is more to her than it seems? And here she is snuggling up to her husband, Bouncing Boy.
Next up is Phantom Girl who is Tinya Wazzo from the planet of Bgtzl. Bgtzl occupies the same space as Earth, but in a Phantom dimension to Earth. Tinya has the ability to turn intangible and walk through solid objects. All individuals on Bgtzl have this ability. She has a long standing relationship with Ultra Boy and due to her more subtle powers is a member of the Legion Espionage Squad.
The last one in this group is Chameleon Boy also known as Reep Daggle of the planet Durla. Durla is populated by a race of shape shifters. Cham’s antennae send out radiation waves that “remember” the shape of an object and then Cham can mimic that object, person, etc.., and while he can duplicate the appearance of Superman, he cannot duplicate Superman’s powers. Cham is a natural detective and is the permanent leader of the Legion Espionage Squad.
Hopefully those symbols make sense now. We’re going to be doing this for all the Legionnaires now, so you’ll get a few new ones now each day until we are going to get through the roster and then we’ll do the plots.
So next time.. A big man, a man who isn’t there, an enemy no more, and a super… girl?
Commies, Idols, and Disruptors!
Feb 23rd
Well, here we are back in the New Teen Titans world for a little bit.
We’re going to buzz through New Teen Titans #18-20. Keep in mind we’re in 1982.
In New Teen Titans #18, a Russian woman is infected with a disease that could infect and kill millions. Her boyfriend is the Russian hero named Starfire, who after this story is rechristened Red Star. Red Star is Leonid Kovar and he becomes an on again off again supporting player for the Titans. He appeared first in the original run of Teen Titans.
Wait. What did I say just then?
“the original run of the Teen Titans.”
Well that makes sense right, if these are the “NEW” Teen Titans then there must have been an original set of Titans right? Well there were an original set of Titans and we’ll be covering them soon.
Needless to say, Leonid is trying to help his girlfriend and misunderstanding runs amok, especially as Leonid and Kid Flash have a large ideological difference. Imagine sitting down Reagan and Lenin, and expecting them to play nice…and frankly in 1982, no American seemed to have a pleasant view of the U.S.S.R. or at least was not that brave to publicly voice it.
Unfortunately, despite all the best efforts Raven’s healing abilities are unable to cure the woman and she dies in Leonid’s arms. Informing Kid Flash and the other Titans that this woman was not a KGB spy, but his fiancee. Cue the sad walking away music from The Incredible Hulk while Kid Flash is forced to eat his slice of “damn, I’m an American jackass” pie.
In issue #19, we get a guest appearance from Hawkman, the Winged Wonder who is working as a curator for a tour of idols of the Hindu Gods. Well, not so easy you see the old mainstay villain Doctor Light is crashing the party and he’s here looking for some easy cash.
Let’s take a second and talk about Doctor Arthur Light. He started off as a fairly important Justice League villain. Then as time went on he began to face the Leaguers in single adventures or in team ups. Eventually the Teen Titans wiped the floor with him and he went from dastardly villain to criminal joke. And there is a very good reason for that change, and I will explain that much, much later.
Hawkman ambushes Dr. Light and Dr. Light’s laser refracts some light onto some statuary that becomes… ALIVE!!!!
The statues are Matsya, the fish; Varaha, the boar; Narasimha, the man-lion; and Parasharama, the man with axe. The Titans and Hawkman manage to defeat the deity avatars and apprehend Dr. Light in the process, further humiliating the mad scientist gone costumed villain.
So, The Disruptor. This is probably the issue of New Teen Titans that I liked the least. Well, they can’t all hit 100% on all points all the time. That’s asking a lot of anyone in any job, isn’t it? I think part of the reason is that I managed to get this book later. I didn’t have the money so I missed it on the rack. I swore I wouldn’t miss another one and so I started mowing lawns for some extra cash. To this day, I hate yard work. I have a brown thumb. Plants hate me. It’s not entirely mutual, I can appreciate a good plant, I just can’t grow one.
So the Disruptor is a guy with a suit that disrupts super powers so they no longer work. It would be a big problem to deal with except that the Disruptor was a bit of a nimrod and inexperienced and the Titans, well, most of them have been kicking butt for some time now. Boom! Done! Jail sucka!
Three very easy done-in-one stories, not bad eh? Well that’s cool because the next two villains the New Teen Titans introduce are truly bad ass and go on to this day to cause significant troubles in the DCU.
Next up: Time for a Time Warp as we see what’s going on with the Legion.
Enter the Royal Flush Gang
Feb 22nd
So.. you’re thinking to yourself.
“The Royal Flush Gang? You have GOT to be kidding me.”
Nope. The Royal Flush Gang. Interesting premise and over the years the writers tend to get more inventive with them and because they are villains, they are more changeable than our heroes. They are a natural team in a world populated with Brainiac, Cheetahs, and Jokers.. well, could this card themed group really have been far behind?
The Royal Flush Gang employ weapons based on their card motifs. Spade shaped grenades, illusion scepters, lasers, hypnosis, and they ride flying cards. Come on, Flying Cards! It’s like surfing!
Aquaman and Firestorm open up our adventure on the open seas, where Aquaman is giving Firestorm a test. While Firestorm is a JLAer, he’s still the rookie and so the other Leaguers try to help him along a bit with his training. Unfortunately, the two JLAers are ambushed by people wearing outfits that look like playing cards and they are riding playing cards. Weird, huh?
Before long, many JLAers fall to the Royal Flush Gang. Superman. Wonder Woman. Green Arrow. All the JLAers who are zapped by the Royal Flush Gang’s weapons go into a sort of debilitating coma.
We eventually get to meet the Royal Flush Gang.
Ten is a female Hal Jordan, disgusted with the open sexism in the field of test pilots. Jack is a gigolo who stopped at nothing to get a score. Queen is a washed up actress looking for the role of a life time. King is a “King of the Road”, a hobo dying of cancer. Finally Ace is revealed as a robot working for an unnamed master who has hand picked his Royal Flush Gang due to their moral failings.
The JLA enters the House of Cards to fight the Royal Flush Gang and all of them fall but Black Canary whose wiles have turned the Jack against the rest of the deck. With the Flushers in custody all Black Canary can do is hope that the rest of the JLA snap out of it.
(nice to let the ladies have the bed, eh? who says chivalry is dead?)
No fear however. Firestorm’s body may be still but his mind’s half isn’t as Professor Martin Stein sees the unseen mastermind, a Green Lantern villain named Hector Hammond. Hec is a man born with a freakishly large head that gives him grand psychic powers. Professor Stein and Hammond fight on the astral plane and Hector is banished and without Hector around to suck up the energy of the JLAers, they all awake safe and sound.
Next up, we’ll check and see why those Titans are having fights with Russian heroes, living statuary, and the Disruptor.
Ultraa and Alternate Earths
Feb 17th
Okay, well in the second JLA story I ever read, it was a very simple done in one story which featured JLA members Superman, Flash, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, and Black Canary versus a misunderstood hero that has been around and been not an enemy of the JLA for the most part, but is a character that tends to let his naivety get in the way of his ability to do good things.
Ultraa is the hero in question, the man with the bright red hair and purple outfit.
And as you can tell, he packs quite a punch.
Now, this story is fairly simple, Ultraa duped by a con man named Joe Parry is tricked into helping Joe commit some robberies and the JLA gets involved as the police can’t handle Ultraa. Ultraa realizes at the end that even though Joe offered him friendship it was not worth his soul and recants. All is forgiven, for the most part.
Now, the REAL juicy part of this story is that Ultraa is not from the Earth that our heroes are from, but instead is from an Earth designated Earth-Prime.
Okay, here is where we get our first piece of DCU Cosmology.
There are multiple Earths in the DC Universe, all are vibrating at slightly different rates and have slight to major differences in their histories.
The Earth that the heroes we have been talking about to this point are all from Earth-One. On Earth-Prime there are no super-heroes on Earth-Prime and in Ultraa’s first appearance he self-exiled himself to Earth-One as he perceived his Earth as not ready for individuals with powers.. yet.
Earth-Prime in DC Lore is the world in which, we, the readers exist. Instead of writers and artists and other comic pros being insanely talented original people (which they are) on Earth-Prime apparently the writers go to sleep and dream and while they dream they see the adventures of the other Earths.
It also turns out that Ultraa was rocketed to Earth as an infant from his dying home world, he landed in Australia and has super-strength, super-speed, and stamina. Hmmm. he sounds familiar, doesn’t he? So is Ultraa the Earth-Prime universe version of our Earth-One universe Superman? It seems that way doesn’t it?
So, let’s make this really simple.
Earth-One: Our modern day heroes such as the Justice League or the Teen Titans.
Earth-Prime: No active super-heroes and the location of the readers of DC Comics.
Now, the implications of all this is an unlimited amount of variations for the writers and artists to draw from in order for stories to occur that couldn’t normally in a world that strongly mirrors our own.
The downside? Well.. the unlimited amount of variations for the writers and artists to draw from in order for stories to occur that couldn’t normally in a world that strongly mirrors our own.
It’s a double-edged sword.
Instead of just ONE world to keep track of, there are now two here, Earth-One and Earth-Prime. And a lot of different writers working in the same universe possibly telling conflicting stories.. leading to a complicated continuity.
Are you still with me here? I’m betting your eyes just glazed over.
Go get a drink. It’s okay. I’ll wait.
The next few JLA stories were fairly simple, a done in one sci-fi story in which Batman turns into a monster and the other JLAers attempt to cure him, don’t worry, Bats is fine.
Next up: A 3-part epic of the Justice League of America versus the Royal Flush Gang. Our first real villain team!
Long Live the Legion
Feb 15th
So there I am, looking at the comics on the rack again. My escapism in full throttle and my diving into this world of colorful heroes continuing with abandon.
The next comic I bought with my hard earned funds mowing lawns, my first job, which I grew to hate with a passion. I found this cover which featured Superman on it, but he was lying unconscious and there were all these other heroes that I had no idea who they all were.
You see him right? He’s over there on the left lying in front of a woman in a green outfit, while these two fiery guys are fighting it out and an alien guy with antennae and another girl with white hair are unconscious on the other side of the two fighting? Yeah, I figured that was Superman.
WRONGO!
That’s Superboy. Turns out in the DCU, Clark Kent had adventures when he was a teenager in his home town of Smallville, Kansas. Most likely you are familiar with Smallville, eh?
It is one of the WB’s consistently highest rated shows and nothing against the cast, but it looks like Tom Weiling is going to be collecting Social Security before he puts on that cape, huh? Well, that just goes to show the enduring myth of the Superboy and eventually Superman.
So, what’s up with this Legion of Super-Heroes? To put it simply, they are a group of teens from around the galaxy in the 30th Century, who were inspired by Superboy’s example of all the good youth can do and came back in time to recruit Superboy to the Legion in Adventure Comics #247.
Well, okay, maybe they didn’t let him in the first time, eh? Teenagers can be so cruel. Here’s the facts that you need to know about the Legion of Super-Heroes or LSH from here on out.
The LSH truly has a cast as large as a Legion, no need to worry about who is who right now.
While the LSH had Superboy as an inspiration, the LSH filled a void in Superboy’s stories by being able to get him out of dull as dishwater Smallville once in a while.
The LSH is older than the JLA or the Titans, coming on the scene in April 1958, beating the JLA who had their first appearance in Brave and the Bold #28, in Feb/Mar of 1960.
Now, I am a huge Legion fan. No, really. I love the Justice League and the Titans, but the Legion is where my heart is in the DCU. Let me explain why that is the case.
Growing up in the 80s, the spectre of nuclear war hung over every day life. The rhetoric between the Reagan White House and the Russian Commies (see how easy it is to stereotype a faceless enemy?) made everyone scared for every new day. In high school, I read the book Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, a book about what happens after a nuclear war breaks out. On tv, the movie, The Day After, was an event, with most of America glued to their sets watching a dramatic telling of the aftermath of nuclear war.
The Legion gave me hope.
Hope that humanity would make it through all this war talk and the headlong suicidal run into mutually self assured destruction.
Here were stories about the future. A future that was optimistic and uplifting, even when the Legion confronted darkness, and they did so, famously, they still rose to the occasion and beat back evil. So, what isn’t to love about these heroes?
The LSH has everything. Sci-Fi. Romance. Comedy. Drama. But best of all, it had..
Real stakes. Characters could die in the Legion. Characters did die. There were consequences to being a hero. While in the 80s no one would think of opening a book and watching Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman give up the ghost, these characters did so and no one was safe.
So who are the three founding members of the Legion?
Well, how thoughtful of you to ask!
Cosmic Boy is a man named Rokk Krinn from the planet Braal and on that planet all the natives have the ability to manipulate magnetism, repelling and attracting metal as needed. He left the relatively poor planet of Braal to go to Earth in order to earn money for his family back home.
Saturn Girl is Imra Ardeen, a telepath from one of Saturn’s moons, Titan. On Titan she was training to use her powers in law enforcement. She has a reputation for being a bit icy towards her fellow Legionnaires.
Lightning Lad is Garth Ranzz from the planet of Winath. He and his siblings were zapped by Lightning Beasts of the planet Korbal, which gave Garth, his twin sister Ayla, and his older brother Mekt electrical powers. On Winath it is standard to be born twins, Mekt was an outcast and left the planet for parts unknown. Garth went in search of his older brother.
The three teens wound up on the same space cruiser and foiled an assassination plot in Metropolis. (Wow, Metropolis still exists in the 30th Century.) The rich man was so grateful that he funded their organization and the Legion of Super-Heroes was born.
But you did catch them when they made their appearance on Smallville, right?
We will get more indepth on the Legion as well, but lets just take this as our early intro into this part of the DCU. The future. It is a great place to be. I wish I was there.
Next Time: A man named Ultraa, and the fly in the ointment reveals itself.
Titans Together
Feb 14th
So, the question posted last time was, “Where was Robin?” Well, I wondered that and I paid my local Magik Market a visit and found this on the shiny comic book spinner rack.
Well, you can clearly see Robin’s costume on the left side of this cover, so I figured this would explain were Robin was, it did that and so much more. This is issue #17 of the New Teen Titans, written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by George Perez. So, let’s run down the characters inside this comic really quickly.
First off, Robin, the Boy Wonder is the team’s leader and he certainly is the same protegee of the Batman as most pop culture has noted. Dick Grayson was a member of the Flying Graysons, and he worked in the Haley Circus. Due to a Protection Racket gone wrong the Flying Graysons, save Dick, were sent to their deaths by unpaid mobsters. Bruce took Dick under his wing as his ward and he began to train as Batman’s protegee.
In the present, Robin seems to be struggling just a bit with his relationship with Batman and how to get out from the Bat-shadow. Dick is the leader of the Titans and all of them instinctively look to him for his leadership. A most superb acrobat, detective, and tactician, Robin at this point is on the cusp of surpassing Batman in a few areas, most notably in his ability to forge lasting friendships with his fellow costumed heroes.
Going clockwise on this cover from Robin, there is a green dog, this is actually Garfield Logan, who is called Changeling here in this book. His skin and hair is permanently green and he has the power to change into any animal. Changeling used to be known as Beast Boy, and currently is going by that name again in the comics as he used to be a member of The Doom Patrol, oh look, another team to investigate! Yay!!!
Then the girl in the red with the long flowing black hair, this is Donna Troy, known as Wonder Girl here. The kid sister of Wonder Woman, so by extension she has the same power set as Diana, super strength, combat ability, she glides on air currents and has some degree of speed. Found by Wonder Woman in a burning building, Diana brought the infant to Paradise Island to be raised as one of their own. The Amazons imbued the new foundling with the name Donna and gave her part of their powers, when the time was right Donna returned to Man’s World, took the last name of Troy and entered the society that she had been born from.
Next, the woman in the long dark red hair, orange/gold skin, and purple bikini outfit is named Starfire. Princess Koriand’r of the planet Tamaran. She can fly, absorb energy from the sun, shoot energy blasts out of her hands, and can instantly understand languages after touching someone (she prefers to kiss a handsome man to use this power). Unlike Superman, her alien appearance is obvious as her eyes are a solid green color with no discernible iris or pupil. Starfire was given over into slavery at the request of the dogmatic Citadel in order to keep the rest of her home planet of Tamaran free. While in captivity Starfire escaped and came to Earth with the Citadel’s Gordanian guards on her tail and when she landed on Earth helped these new Titans repel the Gordanians.
The black man in the silver armor is named Cyborg. Victor Stone was caught up in an accident at S.T.A.R. Labs when a creature came through a portal killing his mother and injuring Victor. Victor’s father built this cybernetic grafting onto Victor’s body in an effort to keep his son alive. Victor was not pleased. But hey, points for being the first non-white character that I have met, so Vic gets his props there. Funny isn’t it how we’ve had Kryptonians, Thanagarians, Rannians, even Martians, but not one ethnic character yet. Perhaps, there is something there that we need to investigate further, hmm?
The woman in blue with the black bird emblems on her cloak is Raven. Raven is an empath who can feel the emotions of others but can never express her own emotions. The daughter of a demon named Trigon and an earth woman named Arella, Raven is forced to keep the evil in her soul at bay or else Trigon’s evil would be unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. Raven was raised in an interdimensional space known as Azarath and upon the death of Azarath’s founder, Azar, Raven sensed Trigon’s evil growing and she left her home to go to Earth to find warriors to fight Trigon, she found the Titans.
Standing next to Raven is Kid Flash, the protegee of the Flash in the Justice League, Wally West is a typical midwestern guy with midwestern values. He has the same powers as the Flash and is arguably the most conservative of the Titans.
The poor blonde girl in the center of the cover is named Frances Kane. Frances’ mother believes that her child is evil as things have begun to move around the house as if a poltergeist is in the house but it all appears to be coming from Frances. The Titans manage to get things under control in this issue and the reader has it revealed to them that Frances’ new magnetic powers are the result of a Green Lantern villain trying to escape a dimension he has been exiled to in a previous adventure. She becomes a romantic interest for Wally, but really is not that important in the short term after this story.
The Titans are heroes of a younger quality but are certainly just as competent as the JLA is, it seems this is more like a family feel than the JLA, which seems to be more like a King Arthur and his Knights feeling. While the JLA are certainly courageous and close, they do not give off that family feel like the Titans do. This depth of characterization really is the show here with the Titans.
Now, before I go any further with the Titans, the absolute BEST site for Teen Titans indepth is a link on the bottom of my page for Titans Tower. So, if you want the full story NOW, then go there and click and read the really indepth stuff on those characters. Now, while I will be going indepth after a while, that’s not how I want to bring you into these character’s lives. I am easing you into them, remember? And this is plenty of information for the first glance of the Teen Titans.
But still, my thirst for team comic books was not yet sated.. wait. what was that on the comics rack? You mean Superboy was a member of a super-team too? Sign me up!!!
Next Time: The Legion of Super-Heroes!
Justice League Reunited
Feb 13th
Well, the JLA is reunited and they break off into teams to go beat the bad alien conquerors into submission, so let’s get to it, shall we?
Team One: Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Zatanna take off to fight the Crystal Creature, the Wood King, and the Mercury Monster in the woods of the Vermont forest.
The Appellaxians are already battling each other as Superman and Hawkman swoop in to break it up. The Wood King sticks his roots into it again and manages to grow an offshoot that catches Hawkman. Superman avoids the sneak attack and collides with the Wood King and smashes him into so many splinters. Unfortunately Superman failed to think ahead and the Wood King’s sap was full of Green Kryptonite.. (when will he learn?) Wonder Woman uses her golden lasso to pull Superman out of harms way of the other aliens while Green Arrow uses a saw arrow to trim the root still choking Hawkman.
While this drama is going on, Zatanna has encased the Mercury Monster in a bubble of super heated oil causing the monster to evaporate. Mercury boils at 357 degrees Celsius, so make a mental note, do not tick Zatanna off. Black Canary is running a decoy pattern on the Crystal Creature while Batman puts a batarang through the creature’s back side. Never turn you back on the bat.
Team Two: Aquaman, Elongated Man, The Flash, and Red Tornado
Off the Irish Coast a fisherman spotted the monsters going toe-to-toe and though the Fire Lord is much larger than the Glass Golem, they both seem fairly unharmed when the Leaguers show up. The Glass Golem blinds the Flash but fails to notice Aquaman who bursts out of the water behind him and drags him down into the depths. The Glass Golem’s last thoughts were of why the Fire Lord didn’t warn him, but one less contestant in their contest works for him, doesn’t it? Aquaman crushes the Glass Golem while Elongated Man decoys the Fire Lord using the class stretchy guy trope of taunting the villain. This gives Red Tornado the opportunity to create a vacuum around the Fire Lord to put him out. The victorious leaguers stand on the beach as the scene shifts to team three.
Team Three: Atom, Firestorm, Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter
As the Rock God and the Golden Roc are making a mess of NYC ala Godzilla and years before 9/11 entered our national vocabulary Firestorm makes the exclamation…
“Hey, this is New York! You’re wrecking My City!” As Firestorm uses his atomic restructuring powers to rebuild what the aliens have demolished, Green Lantern creates a jack hammer and takes out the Rock God with very little than a thought. Martian Manhunter had been holding off the Golden Roc but now needed assistance from the team. GL creates a cannon and Atom crawls into it and is fired towards the Golden Roc’s head. Atom impacts the creature and distracts it long enough for Martian Manhunter to seal the deal.
15 Leaguers vs. 7 Alien Conquerors.. victory to the JLA.
The Epilogue features Green Lantern and Red Tornado traveling to the dumping ground of every comic book story, the Sun. They toss any and all remnants of the Appellaxians into the sun to burn up, no longer keeping anything for a trophy. I hope there was not another subliminal suggestion that will send our heroes into the Sun digging for remnants of these creatures, heh.
Back on the satellite the Martian Manhunter and Snapper Carr say their goodbyes to their old comrades, with J’onn J’onzz contemplating coming back to the Justice League..someday.
Then Green Arrow begins to make his exit as Hawkman pleads with Green Arrow to stay with the League as they need him. Green Arrow rethinks his decision and rejoins the JLA ending some tension with Black Canary and the rest of the Justice Leaguers.
All in all, a very satisfying initial story, eh? Lots of heroes, conflict, wrapped up in a nice, neat bow at the end. Which brings me to Fanboyism #1
Fanboyism #1: Fans loving watching their heroes fight one another.
It’s just the way of things, which hero is better than who? It doesn’t matter what the answer to the question is, in this story all the original JLAers won, and the new JLAers lost, but that does not mean there isn’t a case to be made that any of the new JLAers wouldn’t have won against their older compatriots had the circumstances been different. So I would venture that no matter the two characters in conflict, any hero could beat another hero given the correct set of circumstances.
There will be naysayers to this theory however, who will say “Batman is prepared for everything.” or “Flash is so fast he can do anything.” Could be… but again, I could give a scenario that an equally savvy Wonder Woman or Atom could take either of those characters out, again it is about the circumstances of the fight.
One thing though.. did you notice who was a mainstay of the Super Friends cast who was not in this story…
Usually the back half of Batman and… So in this DCU, where exactly is Robin and what is he up to? We’ll take that up next time as we discuss the sidekicks.