Comics discussions, with flair…
Posts tagged Hawkman
Groovy Daddy-O
Aug 25th
Oh the hippie, dippy, trippy, late sixties gave way to the love, peace, flower child which traveled through the remainder of America’s struggling civil rights adolescence. While America had passed a civil rights bill, their first Catholic President was assassinated. While desegregation moved forward more violence against African Americans continued in the social holdouts of racism. When some college students followed the Hippie life and dropped out, they became icons of a social war as the younger generation told the older generation, stop sending us to die in your wars. Young men burned draft cards and ran to Canada to avoid the death machine that was Vietnam. A later President would soon be exposed to be criminally implicated in campaign tampering and would resign in disgrace. No one over 30 would ever be trusted again.
It is in this backdrop that the Teen Titans are created.
While Robin, Speedy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Aqualad had existed for a while now, they had rarely teamed up. In fact, Wonder Girl’s admission is an editorial flub as when she first appeared she was a younger version of Wonder Woman, not a separate character. Eventually, to make the two characters completely distinguishable, Wonder Girl a.k.a. Donna Troy got this new snappy costume change cover and ditched the golden eagle and blue star spangled shorts.
To mirror the characterization that Aquaman was receiving in Justice League of America, Aqualad began to feel more like a fish out of water as well and summarily left the group.
As the time went on for the Teen Titans they needed new members and they got them and they mirrored the times of their creation.
Brothers Hank and Don Hall were selected to become the spirits of war and peace in America. Whenever Hank and Don are in danger or need to respond to danger they are able to say their names “Hawk” “Dove” and they transform into their distinctive costumes. Hawk is the aggressor. Hot tempered. Strong. Shoots first and asks questions never. Dove is the peaceful one. Calm. Agile. Defensive.
While in battle Hawk will concentrate on brutal close combat, Dove tends to play “dodge ball” with anyone who targets him for attack.
Lilith Clay and Gnarrk
Lilith Clay is a psychic sensitive girl whose free spirit and love for mankind leads the Titans down towards the path of enlightenment. Lilith plays a major role in helping tame another titan, Gnarrk, a large cro-magnon whose brute strength is only tempered by Lilith’s soothing voice and attention. Both Lilith and Gnarrk only wear street clothes and are not seen in costumes in this era.
Aquagirl
Of course, where there is an Aqualad, there must be an Aquagirl. Though not a member of the Titans, Tula became the major love interest of Aqualad over the years and she would be a supporting player in Titans tales for years to come.
Mal Duncan and Bumblebee
Mal Duncan is the first African American Titans character. Hanging with the Titans Mal served as a regular guy, although I guess at this point in the DCU, his blackness could be considered his super power. Along with Lilith, he served as a Greek chorus member to point out when the more iconic titans would not see things from a more street/real point of view. Eventually Mal would gain the identity of The Guardian and be given a horn that he calls his Gabriel’s Horn and would become known as The Herald.
Karen Beecher becomes Mal Duncan’s girlfriend and acts as a calming effect to Mal’s hot headed tendencies. While black males in comics were traditionally introduced as the “angry black man”, black women had not been that explored in comics with Karen being one of the first of DC’s ethnic females.
However Karen wasn’t just a pretty face, she was a scientist and an inventor. She used her skills to create her costume that enabled her to fly, shoot stinging rays, a honey gun to glue up the works, her antennae picked up police scanner bandwidth and other sounds from a fair distance away. She manages to win her own place on the team and stands alongside Mal with the Titans.
Harlequin
Harlequin is (we think) Duela Dent and in her many, many appearances she has stated that she is the daughter of Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, Two-Face, Scarecrow, well, you get the picture.
Originally created as a Joker foil for Robin and Batgirl, Duela proved very popular and moved quickly from villain status to “misunderstood heroine.” Ditching the female Joker clothes and moving towards a more traditional Harlequin outfit, Duela carried any number of joke like gag gadgets with her and continuously played pranks on her teammates and villains alike. She carried seltzer bottles, a pipe that blew bubbles of glue or tear gas, roller skate shoes, and had a natural unpredictability in combat.
As time went on, additional Titans characters merged with some of the above to create Titans West to compete with Titans East which brings us to this great cover moment…
You know that Beast Boy is Changeling of the New Teen Titans, right?
The original blonde Bat-Girl, Bette Kane, who was the sidekick and niece of the original Batwoman. A teenage tennis prodigy, Bette is a natural athlete and has one heck of a backhand.
Golden Eagle is Charlie Parker who idolized Hawkman and through some hocus-pocus, Charlie was able to become a teenage version of Hawkman via Hawkman’s enemy, the Matter Master. Charlie found himself with a Thanagarian harness and wings, however without the past lives, Charlie did not have Hawkman or Hawkgirl’s affinity with weaponry.
The Teen Titans would sail into obscurity shortly after this cover was published and they would languish in comic book limbo for the most part except for guest starring roles for all the main sidekicks. Again, being gone does not mean that they are forgotten and New Teen Titans artist George Perez made sure to pay tribute to the original Teen Titans, featuring Mal in his Guardian outfit, Harlequin’s new outfit, and G’narrk (next to Lilith).
Next up, we visit a new earth and The Freedom Fighters!
Four More Lovely Ladies
Apr 12th
Often in superhero comics it’s all men all the time, but I have a great deal more respect for the lovely women of the DC Universe who can go toe to toe with the manly men. Here we talk about four additional ones. Two with powers, two without, but all are gutsy.
Introducing Mera, Queen of Atlantis and wife of Aquaman. Mera is the queen of another dimension and she becomes King Arthur’s consort and eventual wife and mother of Arthur, Jr.
Usually the stories of “happily ever after” end at the wedding, and there is a reason for that, and almost every married couple will tell you what that is…after the wedding comes the really hard work, the marriage. There are bumps in every marriage, but losing a child has to be one of the hardest to overcome.
Mera and Aquaman fall on tough times and are separated when I started reading comics and in fact Mera had left Aquaman to return to her home dimension, but like all good couples their love continues through the hard times. Mera like most of the undersea characters has enhanced strength, the ability to exist under water as well as on land for a limited amount of time, she cannot command marine life however, but she can create and shape water into “hard water” shapes that are rather powerful. She has been powerful enough to sink a submarine with one hit. Truly, she is Arthur’s Guinevere.
Hawkgirl or Hawkwoman as she was beginning to be called when I started reading comics is Shayera Hol or Sheira Hall of Thanagar. She and Hawkman came from Thanagar together and started fighting crime in Midway City as a married couple, though as Hawkgirl she was basically the femme version of Hawkman.
Adam Strange, Hawkman and Hawkgirl/woman in the first Rann/Thanagar War.
In later versions Hawkgirl/woman is viewed as just as vicious as Hawkman, just not as strong, to make up for this Hawkgirl/woman is frequently depicted as being more agile than the bulkier Hawkman. Armed with her wings, nth metal anti gravity laced costume, and medieval weapons Hawkgirl/woman is a very powerful adversary and even joined the Justice League of America. She did not appear so far in the JLA stories because she and Carter were ALSO on the outs when I started reading and Shayera went off for some “me” time. How 70’s huh?
Time for our first non-powered female to get a spotlight here, and I think it’s overdue…
Oh Lois.. will you ever learn? The intrepid investigative reporter who doesn’t have a CLUE who Superman is? Really?
From her early appearances to Noel Neill in the Adventures of Superman show, to the time when I started reading comics, Lois went from being a doggedly determined reporter to stereotypical 50s Donna Reed/Doris Day to Mod-Fashion challenged to the 70s reliant interpretation from Margot Kidder to the 80s when she started to emerge as that strong business woman thanks to influences like Gloria Steinem and the movie 9 to 5. It is important to realize Lois was a big enough draw that she did have her own book for a long time geared towards female readers and she does show up every now and then while investigating a story without Superman around, even better if Supes happens to be off planet at the time.
Oh, and did you notice the banner on the bottom of Lois’ comic? Rose and the Thorn? hmmm…
Rose and the Thorn is one in the same. Let me explain.
Rose Forrest is a woman whose father is killed by The 100, an organized crime group in Metropolis. Rose being a tender flower “loses it” and a second personality is born, that of the avenging Thorn. Rose is unaware of anything that Thorn does as Thorn is equally unaware of Rose’s activities yet they both house the same body. Even when Batman hypnotized Thorn, she only revealed “I.. Am… The.. THORN!” Even though Batman had correctly deduced her identity. A brilliant case of Do as I Say Not as I Do from the Batman there, eh?
Thorn is originally a Golden Age villain who fought the Flash, Green Lantern, and the rest of the JSA on a regular basis.
This edginess moved DC to make the new Silver Age Thorn a bit of a bad girl as well. Not afraid to hurt, maim, or even prevent from saving a bad guy, Thorn has vowed to put all the 100 behind bars or die trying. To that end Thorn has almost unbelievable skills as a fighter with no training. She fights as if possessed and certainly fights dirty. She carries thorn like gimmicks such as thorns full of smoke screens, bombs, or just sharp. Thorn carries a barbed whip and she wears a straight red haired wig to confuse others, Rose is a blonde with short hair.
There are a ton of more lovely ladies, but next time we’ll get into some of the male guest stars!
Next Time: Air Wave, Captain Comet, and The Creeper
Three Key Figures
Mar 30th
Ahh, it’s good to be back home. I had a great time on vacation and now it’s time to dig into some plot points regarding our heroes in the Justice League of America.
When you regard continuity in a comic book universe, there are several ways to stage a story that does not fall chronologically into the greater continuity. The first is the “flashback” often referred to as the “untold” story or tale. Then there is the “What if?” genre, where you can tell stories about these characters, but that these particular stories are separate from the regular continuity of the characters…such as Clark Kent landing in Russia vs. the U.S.A., interesting concept, but it’s not the way the origin plays out for the “real” version of the character.
When juggling the myriad characters in a team book, it is important to keep in mind that your “A” tier characters are going to bring in the money, but really the main changes to those characters should take place in their own books and let those changes later be reflected in the team book. For the “B” characters, changes can occur in the team book as there is no regular place that they appear outside of a scheduled mini-series, so there is not a lot of juggling to do when it comes to the “B” tier.
Well, for a period of time for JLA the writer at the time had to juggle a few things.
- In Green Lantern’s book, Hal Jordan had been exiled into outer space and so could not appear in JLA stories after #200 until that plot point was resolved around JLA #220 or so.
- The Atom had a new mini-series coming up called The Sword of the Atom which would rock the character and change his status-quo for a while to come.
- The Flash was undergoing a murder trial, so could he really be involved in the JLA while that was going on?
- The Batman quits the League to go to another team book title.
So Mr. Conway did what many would do knowing the limitations. He wanted to tell a story with Green Lantern and Flash in it and he did so by using that “untold tale” tactic. 
Notice we get a little Phantom Stranger action in this one as well. Sweet! This story is set prior to Zatanna joining the JLA, explaining her and Firestorm’s absence from such a big story. It turns out our heroes are forced by aliens to gather certain objects for aliens, but it turns out the aliens only want this one man who apparently has all the dna code of the world locked inside of him. Needless to say our heroes win all is saved. This carried our heroes through issue #210-212, leaving us time to go have some fun with the Atom in the microcosmos.
The Leaguers are attempting to find the Atom, which is like finding a needle in a haystack at the best of times. Batman, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Canary, and Red Tornado go after the wayward physicist and meet some crazy sword and sorcery societies which looked like a “pilot” episode for a new comic that did not materialize.
Unfortunately, the Flash is soon voted out of the Justice League.. notice that this takes place in Flash’s comic, not in JLA itself. Due to the fact that Flash is soon to be put on trial for killing a super villain named Professor Zoom, the JLA discover that he is a liability and since he has asked the JLA not to interfere, they have no choice but to expel him until his name is cleared.
Meanwhile, the tale of Atom in the Microverse may not have gone over very well, but Atom in a sword and sorcery sort of existence DID sell. Sword of the Atom is one of this Atom’s most popular incarnations. Take a Physics professor and add some native beings about 3″-6″ tall, and well, he becomes their default protector. Atom seems to not be as JLA involved after this direction pushes his character more towards Conan and less towards shiny sci-fi.
Next Time: Batman does it for himself!
Justice Society of America – Roll Call II
Mar 11th
Here we go continuing our look at the JSA.
Carter Hall, same name as our Silver Age version is NOT a Thanagarian, but rather the reincarnation of an Egyptian Pharaoh named Khufu. Khufu and his bride Chay-ara were murdered back in ancient Egyptian days and cursed so that they would live life after life after life. Doomed to find each other and fall in love all over again, however at some point when their love was at its zenith, they would each be murdered again to be reincarnated once again and the cycle repeats itself. In this time Carter and Shiera Hall married and had children and carried on crime fighting careers as Hawkman and Hawkgirl.
Gee, that’s funny. You would think if there is a Golden Age version of Hawkgirl, there would be a Silver Age one..? There is a Silver Age version, we’ll get to her shortly.
Hourman is Rex Tyler and he is a renowned chemist and has invented a drug called Miraclo. Miraclo will give Rex increased strength, speed, and stamina for.. (wait for it).. one hour. Eventually, Rex develops a dependency upon Miraclo and he becomes one of the first comic characters with a drug dependency issue, though not the most famous one.
He sure does look happy for an addict, doesn’t he?
Wesley Dodds is the enigmatic Sandman. One of the Mystery Men who truly did strike fear into people with his gas mask evoking imagery of WWI and II. His gas gun would mostly put his quarry to sleep, but sometimes they would be compelled to tell the truth in a lucid dream/almost awake state.
The Sandman is unique in that his sidekick isn’t really a sidekick at all but rather Dian Belmont is portrayed as an equal foil to Wesley and unlike Lois is aware of Wesley’s masked identity.
Eventually Wesley would ditch the scary pulp detective look for a more traditional super-hero costume and would take on a sidekick in the form of Sandy Hawkins taking the role of Sandy the Golden Boy. Wesley at some point in his career develops precognition as another power further tying him to his nom-de-guerre.
The Golden Age Atom is Al Pratt who is a boxer of great spunk and at a diminutive height being called The Atom seems like an easy pitch. At 5′1″ it could hardly be said that The Atom was someone to be reckoned with, that is until Al’s fist hit someone’s jaw. The Atom was the epitome of the little guy can win the fight and size doesn’t matter. Eventually The Atom does gain some measure of super-strength due to fighting an atomic powered villain during WWII.
The Atom’s 2 costumes, on the left the non-powered version, on the right, the atomic powered version.
Originally, Johnny Thunder was the team’s mascot character. A good hearted fellow with plenty of spunk to want to fight the bad guys. Then Johnny went and found himself a genie that was contained in a fountain pen. Johnny could call upon the genie, named Thunderbolt, when he said the magic word “Cei-U!” or “Say You!” It sounds pretty cool right? Well, Johnny while well meaning, had difficulty controlling the Thunderbolt, who took things literally and would sometimes complain in battle “well, maybe I wasn’t told the right thing to do.”
Next Time: The remaining Golden Age JSAers and McCarthyism.
Justice Society of America – Roll Call I
Mar 10th
Now, we’re here on Earth-Two and the counterpart to the JLA is the JSA. Not only the counterpart, but also the predecessor of the JLA. Back when I started collecting comics characters used to be numbered by order in which they appeared, so the original Green Lantern was Green Lantern I but he was from Earth-2. I am not going to do that here.
If any hard core comic book fans are reading this, I probably just moved to the heretic column. Oh well, I’ve been called an abomination before, and it will happen again, so bring it.
What I am going to do is typically use the character’s name and their real name to distinguish which character that we are talking about.
For the five heroes that kept being published from the Golden Age through to the Silver Age…
- Superman
- Batman
- Wonder Woman
- Aquaman
- Green Arrow
Only three of them joined the JSA. Wonder Woman was the secretary and Superman and Batman were honorary members. Neither Aquaman nor Green Arrow joined the JSA. Additionally between the Golden Age to the Silver Age no significant changes were made in the character regarding name, origin, powers, m.o., etc.., While some of these may have evolved over time there was not a distinct change that occurred along with a brand new introductory character. Since Superheroes as a genre were not commercially successful, most of those heroes went into mothballs until the powers that be decided it was time for superheroes to stage a comeback.
When that comeback occurred it featured a new character, new costume, new powers, new origins… the only thing that stayed the same consistently from character to character was the name of the hero.
With that in mind, we need to go back to the Golden Age a bit and spend some time with these heroes and heroines of the Golden Age.
The American propaganda was very important back in the days of WWII. For morale of the troops overseas and as a cheap entertainment for the kids at home. Remember, basics were scarce, so people typically read a comic and then sent it along with their magazines and newspapers to paper drives, along with scrap metal, old tires, nylons, anything to help with the war. People grew victory gardens to save money while dealing with war rationing. A coca-cola for Christmas was considered a splurge due to the sugar shortage.
So kids, needed their heroes just as much as the boys overseas. And here they are the roll call of the original JSA.
The Flash is Jay Garrick is a college student who inhales fumes from a hard water/heavy water experiment and when he awakes he discovers he can move at super speeds and he has amazing reflexes. He is easy to recognize due to the Hermes/Mercury helmet he wears.
(Barry Allen Flash of Earth-One on the left and Jay Garrick Flash of Earth-Two on the right.)
The Spectre is Detective Jim Corrigan who was murdered by mobsters. His body became infused with the “spirit of vengeance” and he became The Spectre. The Spectre starts off as just a man in an outfit with ghostly abilities, but he evolves eventually into one of the most powerful forces in the DCU as the “Wrath of God.”
The Spectre in one of his spooky tales in the Silver Age.
The good doctor who is a master of the mystical arts is Dr. Kent Nelson a son of an archaeologist who was in Egypt discovering all sorts of hidden treasures, unfortunately Kent’s father died leaving young Kent to be raised by a being named Nabu. Nabu is an ancient Egyptian sorcerer whose spirit lives in the Golden Helmet of Doctor Fate. When Kent puts on the Helmet, the power and personality of Nabu take him over to an extent and he becomes an agent for the Lords of Order to fight the never ending power of Chaos magicks.
(You have to admit, the helmet is a pretty intimidating look.)
Green Lantern is Alan Scott of Gotham City and is a top radio man in the business. Radio, right? According to comic book legend Alan was supposed to be named Alan Ladd (Aladdin?) but then a real Alan Ladd began to appear in movies and the name was scrapped. Alan’s ring and lantern are formed out of a mystical rock called The Starheart. He must charge his ring every 24 hours just like that other Green Lantern, however he has no connection to the space faring Green Lantern Corps except in name only. He was named an honorary member of the Green Lantern Corps after many duties he had performed over the years in the Earth-One universe. Unlike Hal, Alan’s ring was immune against wood, not against the color yellow.
Next time: More Classic JSA members!
Crisis on Earth-Prime
Mar 8th
Okay, we’ve eased into the idea of alternate earths correct?
Previously there was Earth-One, the earth where all our characters exist and…
Earth-Prime, the earth where all of us gentle readers live in a non-super powered world.
Well HANG ON FOLKS! We’re about to blow that idea up to the ceiling.
Just take a look at this cover.
Here are the keys I would like to point out:
- The 20th Annual team-up of the Justice Society of America and the Justice League of America.
- Guest starring the All-Star Squadron
- And who are those quasi familiar villains coming out of that cube?
All good questions… now, just park it for a second.
The Justice Society is the precursor of the Justice League. Originally published back in the 1940s primarily for kids and to be shipped overseas for the boys far from home. The Justice Society fought all sorts of Nazi saboteurs and their own super-criminals.
In the 40s most heroes veered on the “pulp” style of masked mystery men. The only main DC characters published at the time who did not appear in the JSA were those with their own adventures like Superman and Batman as those characters were “too busy” in their own books.
After the world had vanquished the Axis threat, superheroes waned in popularity due partly to not needing heroes so much any more during the idyllic late 40s and 50s. Additionally we can thank Dr. Frederick Wertham who wrote a snappy little dissertation called “The Seduction of the Innocent” in which comics (and a number of other things) are blamed for juvenile delinquency.
So, in the interim, the JSA declined and basically went away while the genres of the Wild West comic and Space Adventure (sounds very Toy Story, doesn’t it?) soared in popularity. The only characters to continue throughout this drought were Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman with Aquaman and Green Arrow appearing in backup features.
Eventually, Editor par excellance Julius Schwartz decided it was time to bring back the Super-Heroes. Instead of resurrecting the older heroes, he took their names and with various creators around DC Comics twisted them into origins that were less mystical and more scientific to relate to the new Atomic Age.
This is basically the break down of the Golden Age of Comics and the Silver Age of Comics.
The Golden Age heroes exist on an Earth called Earth-Two. They were active during World War II.
The Silver Age heroes exist on an Earth called Earth-One. They are active in the present day, for this story that is 1982.
Additionally on Earth-Two the Justice Society heroes got older, added some more modern characters, and exist in the present in 1982.
The JLA and JSA have met each other for 20 years at this point starting with this iconic comic.
NOW.. do you notice anything about this cover that looks.. odd?
Yeah, that’s Black Canary up there with the JSA, not the JLA.. WTF is going on here???
Well, okay guys, just calm down. There is a lot of things going on here and we’ll touch on all of it eventually. Here’s what you need to know.
DC COSMOLOGY:
Earth-One: The home of the Silver Age characters. These are the characters we read in “modern” comics and their official starting point at this point is the 1950s in the Atomic Age.
Earth-Two: The home of the Golden Age characters. These characters started in and around WWII but continue into the present day as well.
So, that’s all well and good. let’s go back to the next point…Who is the All-Star Squadron?
The All-Star Squadron is a World War II group that was formed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Earth-Two as a draft action to enlist every mystery man or woman into the service to combat the Axis threat. Formed and then disbanded after WWII concluded the All-Star Squadron includes every Golden Age hero that DC Comics owns, but their stories tend to focus on the five heroes shown above: Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick, Robotman, Firebrand, and Commander Steel.
Now, we also have to address those pesky villains coming out of the Transmatter Cube.
Ultra-Man, Superwoman, Owl Man, Johnny Quick, and Power Ring, together they are The Crime Syndicate from Earth-THREE!
On Earth Three, everyone who is good on Earth-1 is EVIL on Earth-3 and everyone who is EVIL on Earth-1 is actually good. The one hero left on Earth-3? Lex Luthor. The villains correlate directly to Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, and Green Lantern.
Wait! Darren, there can’t be two Johnny Quicks and two Green Lanterns? ARGH!!! Slurpee headache!!! Don’t worry, here.. breathe into this paper bag. Nice and slow.
Since, I have more than blown your mind with this nugget of DC history. So, rest your swollen noggins my peeps.
Next Time: The All-Star Squadron and The Spear of Destiny!!!
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.
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!
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.
Round Seven: Superman vs. Hawkman
Feb 12th
VERSUS
Superman vs. Hawkman, seems like a no-brainer doesn’t it? Well, lets think about this, they can both fly, they are both aliens, and that’s pretty much where the similarities end.
This part of our saga opens with Hawkman gathering some ancient weapons and streaking for Greenland and we learn that a Parabolic Arc cuts down on the distance needed to travel. See? We’re learning stuff!!!
Hawkman gets to Greenland in time to see a red and blue blur and he puts a net over the speeding Superman and gives this Superman a quick mace to the side which reveals that this Superman is actually a robot.
Hawkman had correctly deduced that Superman could not retrieve his meteor himself due to the green kryptonite and that the Superman robots are familiar with fighting off laser fire and are not so adept at resisting ancient arms like maces and crossbow bolts. After getting rid of the second Superman robot a third one lands but this one is different…
This one was the real Superman and as Hawkman’s mace is useless, Hawkman winds up on the receiving end of a Super punch sending Hawkman into the upper atmosphere. Superman grabs his asteroid explaining to the reader that he is wearing a Plasta-Lead alloy so pure it’s almost transparent, and since lead stops the Kryptonite radiation, nothing was stopping Superman at that point from running the errand himself.
Hawkman meanwhile is drifting in space, unconscious until he disappears in a beam of energy.
The scene shifts to the planet Rann. Our first alien world that we actually get to see. Rann is in the Alpha-Centauri system and we see Adam Strange and his love Alanna. Adam is an Earthman and Alanna is a Rannian. Hawkman was apparently transported to Rann via a Zeta Beam which is how Adam Strange was transported to Rann a while ago.
Adam Strange is apparently aware of the Justice League and is an ally of the JLA. The Rannian’s siphoned the Zeta Beam energy out of Hawkman’s body which automatically returns him to the Earth area. Adam makes a comment about how the Rannians are not fans of the Thanagarians after the Rann-Thanagar War.
So, not only do we have comments here about a new race, but we also have a comment about two races at war, so perhaps the Super Friends are not so benevolent after all? Hmmm? Could be, we will have to go back and see what this event is that Adam and Hawkman were involved in at a later date.
Elongated Man manages to reach Hawkman and pull him back into the satellite relatively unharmed. The narrator comments that once Hawkman and Green Arrow were enemies as well, it seems the Hawk does not make friends easily, however at this point Green Arrow is the first to come to Hawkman’s aid once he is inside the satellite.
Hawkman, who has been unconscious since Superman slugged him reveals that he failed in his mission. All the meteors have been recovered by the original JLA.
At the original JLA HQ the JLAers are still wondering why they did what they did as the seven meteors continue to glow. As the meteors crack open the final memory breaks occur and the original JLA now know who they face.
The original seven meteors apparently had programmed a hypnotic suggestion in the original JLAers to gather the seven asteroids together and it would activate seed clones inside the asteroids. The seven seed clones of the original Appellaxians make plans to begin their trial by combat against each other but first the original JLAers attack.
The original JLAers are instantly angry that they have been played for such fools, but then they forget who they are fighting. Superman is taken out with the Rock God’s now Kryptonite eye beams. The Appellaxians begin to demonstrate teamwork as the Golden Roc intercepts Green Lantern’s beam and uses it’s sonic cry to knock out GL, while the Fire Lord blasts the Martian Manhunter with his fire breath.
Batman is blinded by the reflection of the Crystal Creature causing him to fall and lose consciousness, Flash disappears beneath the Mercury Monster, unable to gain any traction to run, the Wood King sucks the moisture out of Aquaman, which leaves who?
Wonder Woman. It takes three of them to take the Amazon out.
When Batman awakes he is facing an angry Green Arrow with a notched arrow. The original JLAers make their apologies to the new JLAers. The League divided is now reunited and it’s time to take on the aliens who did this to them.
When next we meet, it’s time for a reunited JLA to kick some butt and take some names.
The JLA vs. The Appellax Conquerors