Posted by darren in Comics
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 >
Posted by darren in Comics
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 >
Posted by darren in Comics
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 >
Posted by darren in Comics
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 >
Posted by darren in Comics
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 >
Posted by darren in Comics
Time to just go over Batman’s Supporting Cast a wee bit.
Now we’ve already talked about a few of these folks prior to now so lets go down that list really quickly.
And you would think with that full a cast, we would not have that many more people to discuss, well you would be wrong.
Lets start with Batman’s parents, Dr. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne. Two of Gotham’s most loved philanthropists and through their foundations and Dr. Wayne’s lifesaving worth, there are very few Gothamites who have not been touched by their good deeds.
The parents of Bruce Wayne may not appear in every story, however there is no doubt that the two of them are the driving force in Batman’s world. Upon leaving a movie theater the family walks through an alley to get to their vehicle. On the way they meet a lone gunman in the shadows, Joe Chill. Joe’s robbery attempt goes wrong when Thomas fights back and Chill shoots and kills him. This causes Martha to cry out More >
Posted by darren in Comics
Over in the Outsiders world, the Outsiders face the first established DC Comics threat, Kobra.
Kobra believes that he is the bringer of the Kali-Yuga, the end of the age of men and order and ushering in a new era of chaos over which he will rule.
To that end Kobra has thousands of thralls all willing to die in his cause. Hail Kobra! and Hail Naga-Naga! are phrases frequently uttered by these weak minds, for those lieutenants of Kobra, they are much deadlier as they have been allowed to keep their personalities intact. They are there for a high reason, nihlism.
Along the way to Kobra’s defeat the Outsiders meet a young woman named Emily Briggs. She is non-descript, even mousy and is married to a man named Greg. She works as a banker and is as dull as they come, however she does feel some feelings of inadequacy for not looking good enough for her husband.
It turns out Emily is a descendant of a group of subterranean dwellers known as the Abyssians. Emily is the descendant of a long line of royalty in Abyssia and once the Haley’s Comet passes the Earth, her latent powers will come out to fruition. Greg discovers More >
Posted by darren in Comics
Raven is missing.
The incoming evil is palpable.
The Titans know Trigon is coming.
In the fight against Trigon, Raven’s mother, Arella, served on the front lines it is through her that we see where Raven is.. walking a column of rocks and bodies writhing in eternal torment. Arella catches up to her daughter to try to prevent what has already occurred, but it is too late. Raven is now Trigon’s daughter, body and soul.
Wonder Girl flies from New York to Titans Tower to join her teammates. In Raven’s room, Nightwing is gathering clues including Azar’s rings that have been left behind by Raven. She always wore these rings, and now without them, the last of the remnants of Azarath are now gone.
Cue Lilith Clay to enter the story. As the earlier Titans’ precognitive Lilith offers her assistance in order to help the Titans locate Raven. Azar’s rings go to Lilith and the world goes fairly mad for a bit. Raven’s quarters attack the assembled Titans and it is only through the evil energies dissipating that the Titans escape the room.
Lilith offers to do a seance to contact Raven using the rings as the contact point for her soul, however Lilith needs the connection point More >
Posted by darren in Comics
We are gathered here today in this fine house to recognize the comic book union of this man and this Wonder Girl…
After all the Titans have gone through it was time for a bit of a rest and to enjoy a happy event. Donna Troy weds Terrence Long in their anniversary 50th issue which features some guest appearances from some surprise guests.
The groomsmen are all Terry’s family and friends, and his sons acting as ring bearers. Donna’s entourage include Sharon a former roommate and her newly found half-sisters, along with ex Titans Lilith Clay, current Titan Starfire, and Diana Prince, Wonder Woman.
Amongst the company we see Dick Grayson (Nightwing), who gave Donna away, Wally West (Kid Flash), Frances Kane, Garfield Logan (Changeling), Victor Stone (Cyborg), Garth & Tula (Aqualad and Aquagirl), Roy Harper (Speedy), Bette Kane (Bat-Girl), Joe Wilson (Jericho), Mal & Karen Beecher (Guardian & Bumblebee), and Duela Dent (Harlequin).
We discover that Mal & Karen have since retired from super-heroics and gotten married and Lilith’s old flame Gnarrk has died. Dick Grayson actually confronts Duela Dent who has gotten quite old and portly in the time between now and when the old Titans were together, he claims that she is far More >
Posted by darren in Comics
There really is not a lot to say about the next story in the Outsiders which features the Outsiders traveling to ancient Egypt to save Metamorpho from the machinations of Simon Stagg.
But hey, cool looking covers eh?
Mostly, these stories are a cool little two parter while the truth about a certain amnesiac teen comes to light. As Halo rejoins her hometown, we discover that the Violet Harper who woke up in Markovia with powers is a far cry from the original Violet Harper.
Back in Gotham, Geo-Force’s college friend Denise is having some issues of her own as a professor makes unwanted sexual advances towards her. Of course, this stirs up the hot head of the group and it results in Superman stopping by Gotham to team up with the Outsiders. Geo-Force gets rid of the scummy professor by the way.
I wish I had this ornament for my tree.
Back in Anytown, USA, life is swiftly become unbearable for one Violet Harper. That is okay though as her life is exactly what is up for grabs.
Syonide apparently killed Violet and her boyfriend and left them in the ruins in Markovia shortly before Batman found Halo. She was sent due to the bad drug deal More >
