Category: JLA

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Boo$ter Gold: Future Lost


By Dan Jurgens, with John Byrne, Steve Englehart, Joe Staton, Mike DeCarlo, Ty Templeton & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: ?978-1-7795-0672-6 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: The Shape of Fun to Come… 8/10

After the cosmos-crunching Crisis on Infinite Earths re-sculpted the DC Universe in 1986, a host of characters got floor-up rebuilds for the tougher, no-nonsense, straight-shooting New American readership of the Reagan era. Simultaneously, a number of corporate buy-outs such as Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and The Question joined DC’s roster with their own much-hyped solo titles. There were also some all-new launches for the altered sensibilities of the Decade of Excess – the superb Suicide Squad and Shiny, Happy Hero Booster Gold.

The cobalt & yellow paladin debuted amidst heaps of hoopla in his own title (February 1986 – and the first post-Crisis premiere of a freshly integrated superhero line), presenting wholly different approaches to DC’s army of old-school costumed boy-scouts.

Created, written and drawn by Dan Jurgens, the saga featured a brash, cockily mysterious metahuman golden-boy jock who had set up his stall as a superhero in Metropolis, actively seeking corporate sponsorships, selling endorsements and with a management team in place to maximise the profit potential of his crusading celebrity.

Over fraught, fight-filled months we learned Michael Jon “Booster” Carter had been a rising sports star in the 25th century before falling in with a gambling syndicate and fixing games for cash pay-outs. When he was caught and banned from competition, he could only find menial work as a night-watchman in The Space Museum. Whilst there, he struck up a friendship with automated tour-guide/security-bot Skeets and devised a bold plan to redeem himself.

Stealing a flight ring, force-field belt, energy-rods, alien super-suit and wrist-blasters, Booster used the Museum’s prize exhibit – Rip Hunter’s time machine – to emigrate to the fabled 20th Century Age of Heroes where he might earn all the fame and glory his mistakes had cost him in his own time…

Initial success led him forming a multi-faceted company where Business manager Dirk Davis and company PA Trixie Collins later hired hotshot scientist Jack Soo to construct a second super-suit that would enable Booster to hire a camera-friendly, eye-candy girly sidekick…

Accompanied everywhere by sentient, flying, football-shaped robot Skeets, the glitzy showboat soon encountered high-tech criminal gang The 1000 and a host of super-villains, earning the ire of many sinister masterminds and the shallow approbation of models, actresses, headline-hungry journalists, politicians and the ever-fickle public…

Created, primarily written and drawn by Dan Jurgens with inks usually by Mike DeCarlo, colours from Gene D’Angelo and letters by Steve Haynie, this glittering prize of a compilation covers the end of his early days, in Booster Gold volume 1 #13-25, Millennium #3, 4, 6 & 7 and Action Comics #594, plus material from Secret Origins #35 and Who’s Who Update ’87 #1 (collectively spanning February 1987 to December 1988).

The saga resumes in the aftermath of a conclusive victory. With the threat of the 1000 ended ‘The Tomorrow Run’ (inked by Gary Martin) finds Booster at death’s door, not because of his numerous injuries but because his 25th century body has succumbed to 20th century diseases.

Set during the Legends publishing event – which saw the public turn violently against costumed heroes – the dying Carter is rescued from a mob by Trixie wearing Soo’s completed super-suit. With no other options they take Michael back to the future where he can be properly treated, even though Booster’s offences carry a mandatory death penalty in his home era…

Recruiting young Rip Hunter (destined to become the Master of Time) Trixie and Dr. Soo accompany the distressed hero to a time where ruthless Darwinian capitalism rules and everything Michael Carter once dreamed of has turned to bitter ashes. ‘A Future Lost’ (inked by DeCarlo) follows Booster and Trixie as they search for a cure (and his missing twin sister Michelle) whilst Hunter and Soo seek a means to return them all to 1986.

Booster’s illness is only cured after they are arrested: the authorities believing it barbaric to execute anybody too sick to stand up, before ‘Runback’ (inked by Bruce D. Patterson) concludes the saga in fine style with the missing Carter twin saving the day and retreating to the 20th century with the time-lost travellers.

Booster’s close call has a salutary effect on his attitudes and character. Inked by Bob Lewis, ‘Fresh Start’ sees a kinder, gentler corporate entrepreneur re-establishing his heroic credentials with the celebrity-crazed public of Metropolis, to the extent that Maxwell Lord offers him membership in the newly re-formed Justice League, just as sultry assassin Cheshire raids a biotech company recently acquired by Booster Gold International…

‘Dream of Terror’ (inked by Arne Starr) reveals all as new owner Booster learns his latest corporate asset has been making bio-toxins to eradicate all “undeserving” individuals (for which read non-white and poor) and that its creator is currently loose in Mexico City with the lethal bug. Moreover, the deranged biochemist has bamboozled militant hero Hawk into acting as bodyguard while his plans to “save humanity from itself” take effect…

DeCarlo returned to ink ‘Showdown’ in #18, as a relentless lawman from Booster’s home-time tracks him down through history, resolved to render final judgement before ‘Revenge of the Rainbow Raider’ (Al Vey inks) pit the Man of Gold against the colour-blind and utterly demented Flash villain in a 2-part thriller that sees our hero rendered sightless and his future-shocked sister go native amongst the 20th century primitives.

The tale concludes with ‘The Colors of Justice’ as Dr. Soo saves Booster even as Michelle is being kidnapped by extra-dimensional invaders…

Up until this moment the art in this volume, whilst always competent, had been suffering an annoying hindrance, designed as it was for high quality, full-colour comic books, not stark, black and white reproduction. Although legible, discernible and adequate, much of the earlier art is fine-lined, lacking contrasting dark areas and often giving the impression that the illustrations lack solidity and definition.

With Booster Gold #21 the marvellous Ty Templeton became regular inker and his bold, luscious brush-strokes brought a reassuring firmness and texture to the proceedings. As if to affirm the artistic redirection the stories became a tad darker too…

‘Invasion From Dimension X’ has Booster’s search for his missing sister impinge on a covert intrusion by belligerent aliens first encountered and defeated by the Teen Titans. To make matters worse these extra-dimensionals are using Michelle as a power-source to fuel their incursion, resulting in ‘Tortured Options’ for Booster who must choose between saving Michelle or the city of Minneapolis when the invaders open their assault with a colossal kaiju attack…

Guest-starring Justice League International, the astounding battle climaxed in public triumph and personal tragedy after which the heart-broken, embittered Booster seemingly attacks Superman in ‘All That Glisters’ (Action Comics #594, November 1987, by John Byrne & Keith Williams): a terse, brutal confrontation that crosses over and concludes in Booster Gold #23, displaying ‘Blind Obsession’ (Jurgens & Roy Richardson) as the real Man of Gold crushes a Kryptonite-powered android doppelganger designed by the world’s most unscrupulous businessman to kill Superman and frame a commercial rival…

If only they had known that at that very moment Booster Gold International was being bankrupted by a traitor at the heart of the company…

After Crisis on Infinite Earths and Legends, DC’s third mega-crossover Millennium saw Steve Englehart, Joe Staton & Ian Gibson depict how robotic Manhunters had infiltrated Earth to abort the next stage in human evolution.

Billions of years ago the Manhunters had rebelled against their creators. The Guardians of the Universe were immortal and worked towards a rational, emotionless cosmos – a view not shared by their own women. The Zamarons had abandoned the Guardians at the inception of their grand scheme but after countless millennia the two factions had reconciled and left our reality together.

Now they had returned with a plan to midwife a new race of immortals on Earth, but Manhunters had infiltrated all aspects of society throughout the universe and were determined to thwart the plan, whether by seduction, connivance or just plain brute force. The heroes of Earth gathered to protect the project and confront the Manhunters in their own private lives… and their own comics.

In its original form each weekly instalment of Millennium acted as a catalyst for events which played out across the rest of the DC Universe titles. In addition to the miniseries itself, Millennium spread across 21 titles for two months – another 37 issues – for a grand total of 44 comic-books. Issues #24 and 25 of Booster Gold were two of them and are supplemented here by pertinent excerpts of the miniseries taken from Millennium #3, 4 & 6 before ‘Betrayal’ reveals that one of Michael Carter’s inner circle has been a Manhunter agent all along. It bankrupted the hero at the most propitious moment simply so that the robots could buy his loyalty during their assault on humanity and led to all-out battle bout ‘Down’ from Millennium #7 before the series came to a shocking climax in ‘The End’ as the scheme succeeds and Booster actually switches sides …or does he?

After the surprisingly satisfying and upbeat denouement, Booster became a perennial star of Justice League International where, with fellow homeless hero Blue Beetle, he became half of the one of funniest double-acts in comics.

As “Blue and Gold” the hapless, cash-strapped odd couple were always at the heart of the action – pecuniary or otherwise – and the final tale here ‘From the Depths’ (by Jurgens & Tim Dzon, as originally seen in Secret Origins #35, December 1988), reprises the early tragic days of Michael Jon Carter in a brief and exceedingly impressive tale played as much to tug the heartstrings as tickle the funny-bone…

This compilation then closes with the entry from Who’s Who Update ‘87 #1.

As a frontrunner of the new DC, Booster Gold was a radical experiment in character that didn’t always work, but which exponentially improved as months rolled by. Early episodes might be a necessary chore but by the time this volume ends it’s a real shame that the now thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable ride is over. Perhaps not to every Fights ‘n’ Tights fan’s taste, these formative fictions are absolutely vital to your understanding of the later classics and will make any fan happy and every reader a fan.
© 1987, 1988, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Green Lantern John Stewart: A Celebration of 50 Years


By Neal Adams, Dennis O’Neil, Len Wein, Steve Englehart, Christopher Priest, Jim Starlin, Ron Marz, Judd Winick, Geoff Johns, Tony Bedard, Peter J. Tomasi, Van Jensen, Robert Venditti, Stuart Moore, Derek Fridolfs & Dustin Nguyen, Dave Gibbons, Joe Staton, Gil Kane, Mike Mignola, Darryl Banks, Dale Eaglesham, Ed Benes & Maros Marz, Tyler Kirkham, Fernando Pasarin, Igor Lima, Rodney Buchemi & Geraldo Borges, Pat Broderick, Doug Mahnke, John Delaney, Eric Nguyen & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-1125-6 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Making Wishes Come True… 8/10

Now a cornerstone underpinning the entire DC Universe, the many heroes called Green Lantern have waxed and waned over eight decades and are now much more Concept than Character. This stunning compilation – part of a dedicated series introducing and exploiting the comics pedigree of veteran DC icons – offers a brief but astoundingly enticing sequence of snapshots detailing how one particular Emerald Gladiator broke many boundaries whilst battling evil and injustice for the entertainment of millions across many generations.

This book features material from Action Comics #601, Batman Beyond Unlimited #4-5, Cosmic Odyssey #2, Green Lantern (volume 2) #87, 182, 185, Green Lantern (volume 3) #74, 156, Green Lantern (volume 4) #49, Green Lantern Corps #211, Green Lantern Corps (volume 2) #60, Green Lantern Corps (volume 3) #9, Green Lantern: Futures End, #1, Justice League #1 (volume 4) #6, 40, Justice League Adventures #22, Justice League of America #110 and Secret Origins (volume 4) #9. These tales span cover-dates January 1971 to April 2020), with the groundbreaking appearances are preceded by brief critical analysis of the significant stages in his development, beginning with Part I: 1971-1985 – A Sign of the Times and a revelatory essay by legendary activist and comics iconoclast Neal Adams who shares the secret origin of the first Green Lantern of colour before we enjoy that seminal classic…

Originally created by Martin Nodell & Bill Finger, the first Emerald Avenger – Alan Scott – debuted in All-American Comics #16 (July 1940), just as superheroes started to take hold, and supplanting newspaper strip reprints and stock genre characters in still primarily-anthologised comic books. He was a white guy with a magic ring and an icon of his era.

After superheroes vanished and returned in the early 1950s, another GL was created: once again a symbol of his era. After the hugely successful revival and reworking of The Flash, DC/National Periodicals were keen to build on the resurgent superhero trend. Showcase #22 hit the stands at the same time as the fourth issue of the new Flash comic book (#108) and once again the guiding lights were editor Julie Schwartz and writer John Broome. Assigned as illustrator was action ace Gil Kane, inked by Joe Giella.

A vivid Space Age origin revealed how young test pilot Hal Jordan was plucked from his Californian aircraft factory by an alien policeman who had crashed his spaceship on Earth. Mortally wounded, Abin Sur commanded his power ring – a device to materialise thoughts – to seek out a replacement officer who was honest and without fear. Scanning the planet, it selected Jordan and brought him to the crash-site. The dying alien bequeathed his ring, lantern-shaped Battery of Power and his professional vocation to the astonished Earthman.

In six pages ‘S.O.S Green Lantern’ established characters, scenario and narrative thrust of a series that became the spine of DC continuity, leaving room for another two adventures in that premiere issue. Unlike the debut of The Flash, the editors were now confident of their ground. Two more Showcase issues carried even greater exploits, and six months later Green Lantern #1 was released.

For the new iteration, emerald ring-wielders were a members of a universal police force and Jordan’s “beat” – which included planet Earth – was Space Sector 2814. Having introduced the cosmic peacekeepers, Broome, Gardner Fox and others expanded the concept throughout the 1960s, adding alien and even female GLs, and alternate human Lanterns like Charlie Vicker and Guy Gardner. They even brought back the original as Alan Scott (now designated Green Lantern of alternate world Earth-Two) became a semi regular cast member…

Over many traumatic years, Jordan grew into one of the greatest members of a serried band of law-enforcers. For billions of years, the Green Lantern Corps protected and served the cosmos, policing countless numbers of sentient beings under the severe but benevolent auspices of immortal super-beings who deemed themselves Guardians of the Universe.

These undying patrons of Order were one of the first races to evolve and dwelt in sublime, emotionless security and tranquillity at the very centre of creation on the small world of Oa.

Primarily chosen for their capacity to overcome fear, Green Lanterns are equipped with a ring that creates solid constructs from emerald light. The miracle weapon is fuelled by the strength of the user’s willpower, making it one of the mightiest tools imaginable.

For eons, a single individual from each of the 3600 sectors of known space was selected to patrol his, her, their or its own beat. Being cautious and meticulous masters, the Guardians laid contingency plans and frequently appointed designated reserve officers to inherit the office of their peacekeeping representatives.

Jordan’s usual substitute was quiet, steadfast PE teacher Gardner, but when the other white Guy was critically injured and required long-term recuperation, the Guardians’ fallback option was somewhat worrying to staid, by-the-book Hal. In #87 (cover-dated December 1971/January 1972 and crafted by Adams, his scripter of choice Denny O’Neil & inker Dick Giordano), ‘Beware My Power!’ introduced a bold new character to the DCU, conceived at a time when non-Caucasian heroes could be counted on the fingers of one hand…

The time was more than ripe for change. With superhero titles in decline, O’Neil & Adams had been asked to try something different to save the title and responded by assaulting all the traditional monoliths of contemporary costumed dramas in tightly targeted, protest-driven stories. The book was re-titled Green Lantern/Green Arrow with the Archer constantly mouthing off as a hot-headed, liberal sounding-board and platform for a generation-in-crisis, whilst staid, conservative, quasi-reactionary Hal Jordan played the part of the oblivious but well-meaning old guard.

America was a bubbling cauldron of social turmoil and experimentation. Everything was challenged and with issue #76 (April 1970 and the first issue of the new decade), O’Neil and comics iconoclast Adams utterly redefined superhero strips with their relevancy-driven stories; transforming complacent establishment boy-scouts into uncertain, questioning champions and strident explorers of the revolution.

Race had been the crux of the creators first outing. ‘No Evil Shall Escape My Sight!’ (not included here) broke the mould of the medium, utterly re-positioning the very concept of the costumed crusader as newly-minted ardent liberal Oliver Queen challenged Jordan’s cosy worldview after the lofty space-cop painfully discovered real villains wear business suits, operate expense accounts, hurt people just because of skin colour and would happily poison their own nests for short-term gain…

In GL/GA #87, that tone and strident attitude gelled into John Stewart: an unemployed architect and full-time “radical” activist. This angry black man was spoiling for a fight and prepared to take guff from no-one, making Jordan certain his bosses had grievously erred when selecting rash, impetuous Stewart as Sector 2814’s official GL stand-in. However, after seeing how his proposed pinch-hitter handled a white supremacist US presidential candidate trying to foment a race war, he was delighted to change his tune…

Once established, Stewart was almost immediately forgotten. His next appearance came in Justice League of America #110 (March 1974) where Len Wein, Dick Dillin & Giordano delivered a delightful and potent seasonal present as Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary and Red Tornado had to adapt to the abrasive substitute mid-mission, when the team gathered to hunt down ‘The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus!’ Murderous psychopath The Key had set up the heroes for ambush with the callous assassination of an actor hired to cheer orphaned kids, but his horrific deeper scheme was only foiled thanks to the supernatural intervention of almost forgotten Leaguer The Phantom Stranger, after which rebellious Stewart “finessed” his bosses’ cosmic rules and protocols to give the destitute and impoverished ghetto dwellers a Christmas present that changed their lives forever…

Time passed and Stewart popped up occasionally as the Guardians’ motives and ineffability increasingly came into question by many of their once-devoted operatives and peacekeepers. Frequently, the grunts began seeing their formerly infallible little blue gods exposed as venal, ruthless, doctrinaire and even capricious…

As his repute grew, headstrong Hal Jordan enjoyed an extremely tempestuous and fractious relationship with the Guardians, which eventually led to them accusing him of neglecting his space sector to concentrate on Earth’s problems and criminals. When he couldn’t reconcile his love for Carol Ferris with his offworld duty to the Corps, Jordan quit…

In Green Lantern #182 (November 1984), Wein, Dave Gibbons & Mark Farmer confirmed a landmark reshaping of the legend as ‘It’s a Dirty Job, But…!’ saw the now merely mortal Jordan second-guessing his decision as he revisits Abin Sur’s remote resting place. Meanwhile, across the universe, the Guardians have moved swiftly, promoting Stewart to the full-time position in Space Sector 2814. At this time, the architect was working on rebuilding the shattered Ferris Aircraft complex and had no idea that Jordan was the alter ego of his abruptly “retired” predecessor, nor that his predecessor’s old enemy Major Disaster was back and looking for a fight…

In Green Lantern #185, Wein & Gibbons took another brave step as ‘In Blackest Day…!’ found the latest ringslinger for 2814 fully acclimated to his responsibilities. An overnight celebrity and media sensation, Stewart is courted by TV reporter Tawny Young but only earns her enmity after refusing to divulge the circumstances of his origin and promotion. Meanwhile in the wings evil energy entity Eclipso lays his own plans…

At the time, many fans and critics felt that the substitution of Jordan with Stewart was little more than a PC stunt, but time and the quality of the stories proved the decision to be brilliant one. It certainly offered a cruelly under-served portion of the readership another solid role model but as time progressed and the different personalities and approaches coalesced, the move led to an expansion and re-evaluation the nature of being a DC hero…

Part II: 1987-1996 – More Than Just the Back-up Guy opens with John (12 Years a Slave; The Other History of the DC Universe; Future State: The Next Batman) Ridley’s discussion of Stewart’s evolution from experiment in “measured progressiveness” to uniquely individualist major character prior to another tantalising tranche revolutionary tales.

In the mid-1980s, DC’s editorial hierarchy felt their vast 50-year continuity was deterring new readers. The solution was a colossal braided-mega series to streamline, redefine and even add new characters to the mix. The worlds-shattering, reality-altering Crisis on Infinite Earths resulted in such spectacular commercial success, those movers-&shakers must have felt more than justified in revamping a number of their hoariest icons for their next fifty years of publishing. As well as Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, and Justice League of America, the Green Lantern franchise was earmarked for a radical revision, with the Guardians removed from existence and most of their surviving agents setting up a far smaller shop on Earth. Stuart, Jordan and Gardner were joined by a number of alien GLs, and John found unlikely romance with his former training officer Katma Tui of Korugar in Steve Englehart, Joe Staton & Farmer’s ‘Pink Elephants’ (Green Lantern Corps #211, April 1987). However, doom lurked in the wings in the form of Hector Hammond and Star Sapphire/Carol Ferris…

Signature DC title Action Comics became a weekly anthology in May 1988, with the GL’s a key feature. Pulling no punches, first chapter ‘…And the Pain Shall Leave My Heart’ (#601, by Christopher Priest – as James Owsley – & Gil Kane) opened years of heartache for Stewart as Star Sapphire murdered his beloved…

Thanks to Jim Starlin, Mike Mignola & Carlos Garzon, the Emerald Gladiator’s troubles peaked as the year ended. Cosmic Odyssey was a stellar melodrama teaming Superman, Batman, Doctor Fate, a cadre of alien superheroes and many of Jack Kirby’s greatest DC creations in an interplanetary slugfest to save the Milky Way galaxy from malevolent sentient concept The Anti-Life Equation. Here Book Two of the 4-part miniseries reveals how the Green Lantern’s arrogant overconfidence causes the obliteration of inhabited world Xanshi…

Years later, after the GL Corps was utterly destroyed by Hal Jordan as Parallax, only one hero remained. Youthful Kyle Rayner wielded the last power ring to keep the green flame burning until the peacekeeper force could rebuild. During that interim, Stewart joined rival paramilitary organisation The Darkstars, and in Ron Marz, Darryl Banks & Romeo Tanghal’s ‘Stand’ (Green Lantern volume 3, #74, June 1996) unites with Rayner, Donna Troy/Troia and space veteran Adam Strange to save planet Rann from annihilation by Grayven, son of Darkseid…

Screenwriter and comics author Geoff Johns (JSA, Superman, Green Lantern, Stargirl) then discusses Stewart’s modern major league status in Part III: 2003-2020 – The Identifiable Hero, which begins here in the aftermath of many changes to the history of DC’s first black superhero.

Courtesy of Judd Winick, Dale Eaglesham & Rodney Ramos, Green Lantern volume 3 #156 (January 2003), Stewart is again ‘Walking Tall’: a restored, reactivated ring-wielder freshly healed from wheelchair-bound paraplegia thanks to arch enemy and understandably aggrieved Xanshi survivor Fatality. Sadder, wiser and resolute, he’s ready to resume the duties he was born for….

Ongoing continuity revisions had remade him as a former elite soldier, and ‘Semper Fi’ (Green Lantern #49, February 2003 by Johns, Ed Benes, Marcos Marz & Luciana del Negro) samples epic event Blackest Night as combat flashbacks and fallen Lantern buddies seek to wear him down, after which an increasing breakdown of trust between the Guardians and their agents leads to all-out rebellion as seven different shades of the emotional power spectrum clash.

With Rayner empowered by blue hues of Hope and Stewart employing the indigo shades of Compassion against reborn rogue Oan Krona, the odd couple embark on a suicide mission to assassinate a beloved green comrade suborned to ultimate evil in ‘War of the Green Lanterns, Part Eight’ (Green Lantern Corps #60 July 2011, by Tony Bedard, Tyler Kirkham & Matt Banning).

Months later DC rebooted its entire line for a second time in high profile stunt “The New 52”. The mostly cosmetic changes barely affected the assorted GL boutique titles, which had been merrily dismantling and rebuilding the Master & Servant relationship between ring-wielders and their obsessively controlling bosses. With civil war rending the organisation, ‘Alpha War: Tried and True’ by Peter J. Tomasi, Fernando Pasarin & Scott Hanna (Green Lantern Corps #9 July 2012) saw rapidly ascendant figurehead John Stewart railroaded and held for judgement by the Guardians’ new secret police, and gain ultimate victory by embracing his sins and accepting his guilt…

In 2014, as the New 52 staggered to its conclusion, a company-wide event offered a speculative glimpse at the eventual demise of all its heroes. Green Lantern Corps: Futures End #1 by Van Jensen, Igor Lima, Rodney Buchemi, Geraldo Borges & Ruy José detailed how five years from “now” Stewart had gone rogue: ruthlessly enforcing a Green Peace as ‘The Death Dealer’. He had no inkling of how one last sanction would change him…

Secret Origins #9, March 2015, by Jensen & Pat Broderick related his latest modified backstory in ‘The Architect’, after which Robert Venditti, Doug Mahnke & Richard Friend bring us relatively up to date with Justice League #40 (April 2020) and the ‘Invasion of the Supermen Part One: Impact!’ with Stewart taking point for his earthly teammates when the eradicator leads an army of modified Daxamites (each mightier than Superman) in a war of eradication and conquest…

This celebration concludes with a personal memoir from celebrated actor Phil LaMarr who played Stewart in TV shows Justice League and Justice League Unlimited: discussing the hero’s out-world impact in Part IV: The Animated Years – Voicing an Icon.

It’s supported by tales from assorted DC comic books based on animated shows adapted from the original DC comics – Whoa! Infinity moment! – beginning with ‘Second Contact’ from Justice League Adventures #22 (October 2003). Here Stuart Moore, John Delaney & Robin Riggs reveal how John leads a JL squad against the Shayol, perpetrators of a Green Lantern massacre five years previously and which only he survived. They claim to have changed, but can he trust himself to trust them?

The compulsive comics classics close with a yarn from 2012, culled from the thrilling and expansive sub-universe based on the animated Batman Beyond show. Set in the days when Gotham’s Dark Knight is troubled teen Terry McGinnis, it includes an elderly Superman and a new Justice League populated with the children and legatees of the originals. Taken from Batman Beyond Unlimited #4-5, back-up strip ‘Beyond Origin: Warhawk’ by Derek Fridolfs, Dustin Nguyen & Eric Nguyen details the doomed love story of Stewart and Thanagarian teammate Hawkgirl, his rebound romance with African superhero Vixen and the tragedy and terrors that led to the birth of his son and heir…

Closing with a ‘Poster Pinup’ from Green Lantern: Mosaic by Cully Hamner & Dan Panosian and immeasurably enhanced throughout by a superb collection of covers by Adams, Giordano, Gibbons, Banks & Tanghal, Ariel Olivetti, Benes, Kirkham & Banning, Fernando Pasarin & Scott Hanna, Francis Portela and Bryan Hitch, this is not a sop to minorities or appeasement to diversity, but a solid reminder that heroes and superstars come in all colours.

Green Lantern has a long, proud history of shaking things up and providing provocative, dynamic drama wedded to outstanding artwork. This compelling assortment of snapshots is staggeringly entertaining, titanically tantalising and a monolithic testament to the inestimable value of a strong core concept matured over decades of innovation.
© 1971, 1974, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988,1996, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Crisis on Multiple Earths Book 2: Crisis Crossed


By Mike Friedrich, Len Wein, Martin Pasko, E. Nelson Bridwell, Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Paul Levitz, Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, Frank McLaughlin, Joe Giella, Dick Giordano & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-77951-342-7 (TPB/Digital)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: utterly Unmissable Entertainment… 9/10

As I’ve incessantly mentioned, I was one of the “Baby Boomer” crowd growing up with Julie Schwartz, Gardner Fox and John Broome’s tantalisingly slow reintroduction of Golden Age superheroes during the halcyon, eternal summery days of the early 1960s. To me, those fascinating counterpart crusaders from Earth-Two weren’t vague and distant memories rubber-stamped by parents or older brothers – they were cool, fascinating and enigmatically new. And for some reason the “proper” heroes of Earth-One held them in high regard and treated them with obvious deference…

The transcendent wonderment began, naturally enough, in The Flash; pioneering trendsetter of the Silver Age Revolution. After successfully ushering in the triumphant return of the superhero concept, the Scarlet Speedster – with Fox & Broome writing – set an unbelievably high standard for costumed adventure in sharp, witty tales of science and imagination, always illustrated with captivating style and clean simplicity by Carmine Infantino.

The epochal epic that literally changed the scope of American comics forever was Fox’s ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ (Flash #123 September 1961, reprinted in many places, but not here): introducing to an emerging continuity the concept of alternate Earths and, by extension, the multiversal structure of the future DCU as well as all the succeeding cosmos-shaking yearly “Crisis” sagas that grew from it.

…And, where DC led, others followed…

Received with tumultuous acclaim, the concept was revisited months later in Flash #129 which also teasingly reintroduced evergreen stalwarts – Wonder Woman, The Atom, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Doctor Mid-Nite and Black Canary: venerable members of the fabled Justice Society of America. Clearly Editor Schwartz had something in mind…

That tale directly led into the veteran team’s first meeting with the Justice League of America and the start of an annual tradition. When ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ brought us the notion of Infinite Earths and multiple iterations of costumed crusaders, fan pressure had begun almost instantly to agitate for the return of the Greats of the “Golden Age”. Editorial powers-that-be were hesitant, fearing too many heroes would be silly and unmanageable, or worse yet, put readers off. If they could see us now…

These innovative adventures generated an avalanche of popular and critical approval (big sales figures, too) so inevitably the trans-dimensional tests led to the ultimate team-up in the summer of 1963. This second gloriously enthralling volume celebrating Infinite Diversity in Infinite Costumes gathers more summer double-headers starring the JLA & JSA and includes a number of revivals and outreach tam-ups designed to set young hearts racing and pulses pounding. The alliances encompass Justice League of America # 91-2, 100-102, 107-108, 113, 123-124, 135-137, 147-148 and 159-160: stunning superhero wonderments which never fail to astound and delight. Also on offer are Len Wein’s context-conveying Foreword ‘Too Much of a Good Thing?’ revealing how the landmark anniversary team-up he scripted came about, and colourist Carl Gafford’s Introduction discussing the incredible achievements of the series’ illustrators such as the criminally underappreciated Dick Dillin who pencilled every story here… usually with his long-term inker Frank McLaughlin, although there are few other old friends here.

In terms of narrative, the writing – by a formidable cohort of writers nurtured and mentored by “Julie” – consists of nothing more and nothing less than bunches of beguiling mystery men getting together to deal with extra-extraordinary problems…

From the early 1970s, DC started methodically reintroducing lost and forgotten characters from other companies and pantheons DC had bought out over the years, at last convinced that costumed heroes were not a fad but here to stay. With hindsight, it was all also about sales and the attempted revival of so many super-characters during a period of intense sales rivalry between DC Comics and Marvel was just sound business sense…

The dramas resume with Mike Friedrich, Dillin & inker Joe Giella’s Justice League of America #91 (cover-dated August 1971), the hero-heavy opening chapter of the annual get-together. In ‘Earth… the Monster-Maker!’, the Supermen, Flashes, Green Lanterns, Hawkmen, Atoms and Robins of two separate Realities simultaneously but ineffectually battle an alien boy and his symbiotically-linked “dog” on twin planets a universe apart.

The result is pointless carnage and imminent death until ‘Solomon Grundy… the One and Only!’ gives all concerned a life-saving lesson on togetherness and lateral thinking…

Justice League of America #100 (August 1972) heralded a move away from relevancy and social hot-button topics that had dominated the industry for a number of years and a return to full-on Costumed melodramas, beginning with a colossal 3-team collaboration that also featured almost every hero in then-DC’s pantheon.

‘The Unknown Soldier of Victory!’ saw debuting scripter Len Wein assemble champions of two Earths to facilitate a monumental hunt through time and retrieve forgotten heroes the Seven Soldiers of Victory: not simply out of common decency, but also because the vanished vigilantes held the answer to defeating a criminal mastermind literally holding the world of Earth-Two to ransom.

Inked by Giella & Dick Giordano, the quest continued in ‘The Hand that Shook the World!’ before ending in one adventurer’s gallant final sacrifice in ‘And One of Us Must Die!’…

A year gone by, Justice League of America #107 by Wein, Dillin & Giordano proclaimed ‘Crisis on Earth-X!’ as the opening chapter of another landmark crossover. Following the successful revival of a lost team in their previous get-together, this time the annual shenanigans reintroduced another band of Golden Age warriors – from corporate acquisition Quality Comics and newly rechristened The Freedom Fighters…

It begins when a recreational trip across the dimensional barrier is accidentally sabotaged by android stowaway Red Tornado, depositing Batman, Green Arrow and Elongated Man from Earth-One and Superman, Sandman and Doctor Fate from Earth-Two into another alternate universe – one where the Nazis had won World War II.

Trapped and outnumbered, the seven displaced heroes were rescued by the last liberty-loving champions of a world dominated by fascist super-science and a secret dictator. Joining forces with embattled champions Uncle Sam, The Ray, Doll Man, Phantom Lady, Black Condor and The Human Bomb, the newcomers ended the fascist threat forever in sinister sequel ‘Thirteen Against the Earth!’…

With everybody returned to their home planes, #113 (September/October 1974) proved how desperate times were the for the spandex set as the epic annual collaboration was restricted to a single issue. Nevertheless, ‘The Creature in the Velvet Cage!’ proved to be one of the very best tales as a JLA visiting party to Earth-Two (Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Elongated Man) share the shame and horror of The Sandman, when his greatest secret is catastrophically revealed.

Years previously, the Master of Dreams had accidentally transformed his sidekick Sandy, the Golden Boy into a ravening silicoid monster during an attempt to modify their crimebusting technology. Dreading a holocaust, Wesley Dodds been compelled to sedate and imprison his best friend for years…

Now after three decades the beast was awake and free, seemingly intent on destroying the world. At least, that’s what Hourman and the Golden Age Flash and Wonder Woman believe] when they join their old comrade on his tragic manhunt…

For the next annual yarn, Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Dillin & Frank McLaughlin stepped far off the reservation with ‘Where on Earth Am I?’ and ‘Avenging Ghosts of the Justice Society!’ (#123 and 124)….

In Flash #179 (‘The Flash – Fact of Fiction?’: May 1968) Bates & Gardner Fox first took the multiple Earths concept to its illogical conclusion by trapping the Monarch of Motion in “our” Reality of Earth-Prime, where the Sultan of Speed was merely a fictional comic book character.

For this sequel, Bates and co-scripter Maggin revisited the notion, as a story conference in Editor Julie Schwartz’s office leads to the oafish goons playing with the Flash’s hastily-constructed Cosmic Treadmill. Inevitably their meddling sends one of them hurtling between dimensions…

Transformed and empowered by the journey, Bates becomes the most dangerous villain alive, leading Earth-Two criminals The Wizard, Shade, Sportsmaster, Huntress, Icicle and The Gambler in a lethal assault on JSA heroes Robin, Hourman, Wildcat, Wonder Woman, Johnny Thunder and Dr. Mid-Nite.

Maggin, meanwhile, has followed his friend but ended up on Earth-One. Undaunted, he recruits Batman, Black Canary, Aquaman, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Flash to save three imperilled universes, but it takes the Divine Might of the supernal Spectre to truly set everything back to its assigned place and time…

Plotted by E. Nelson Bridwell and scripted by Marty Pasko, 12 months later the get-together attained epic proportions with the inclusion of venerable champions of the recreated Shazam! Universe – imaginatively dubbed Earth-S. It opens with a ‘Crisis in Eternity!’…

One of the most venerated and loved characters in American comics, the original Captain Marvel was created by Bill Parker & C. C. Beck: the best of a wave of costumed titans devised in the wake of Superman’s blockbuster 1938 debut.

Although there were many similarities in the early years, the Fawcett character moved early into fanciful light entertainment and even comedy, whilst as the 1940s progressed the Man of Steel increasingly left whimsy behind in favour of action and drama.

Homeless orphan Billy Batson was chosen to battle injustice by an ancient wizard who bestowed upon him the powers of six gods and heroes. Billy transforms from scrawny boy to brawny (adult) hero by speaking aloud the wizard’s name – an acronym for the legendary patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury. At the height of his popularity Captain Marvel was published twice a month and outsold Superman.

However, as tastes and the decade changed, sales slowed and a court case begun by National Comics citing copyright infringement was settled. The Big Red Cheese disappeared – as did many superheroes – becoming merely a fond memory for older fans.

As America lived through another superhero boom-&-bust, the 1970s dawned with a shrinking industry and wide variety of comics genres servicing a base that was increasingly founded on collector/aficionados, not casual or impulse buys. DC needed sales and were prepared to look for them in unusual places: opting to tap into a proven, discriminating fanbase…

After the settlement with Fawcett in 1953, DC secured the rights to Captain Marvel and Family, even though the name itself had been taken up by Marvel Comics (via a circuitous and quirky robotic character published by Carl Burgos and M.F. Publications in 1967). In 1973, riding a wave of nostalgia, DC brought back the entire beloved Fawcett cast and crew in their own kinder, weirder universe. To circumvent an intellectual property clash, they entitled the new comic book Shazam! (With One Magic Word!) the trigger phrase used by most of the many Marvels to transform to and from mortal form, and a word that had entered the American language due to the success of the franchise the first time around…

In Justice League of America #135, the usually stand-alone Shazam heroes meet other costumed champions when antediluvian dictator King Kull (a bestial despot from a pre-human civilisation who held mankind responsible for the extinction of his race) invaded the Wizard’s home on the Rock of Eternity.

From this central point in the Multiverse, Kull intends wiping out humanity on three different Earths and commences by capturing the gods and goddesses who empower Billy and his magical allies Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel.

Thankfully, fleet Mercury is able to escape, warning Earths-One and Two, even as lesser heroes Bulletman & Bulletgirl, Ibis the Invincible, Spysmasher and Mister Scarlet & Pinky take up the fight without the missing Marvels…

Recruiting an army of super-villains from three worlds, Kull unleashes a plague of unnatural disasters in ‘Crisis on Earth-S!’, unaware that Mercury, Shazam and dim-witted magic-wielder Johnny Thunder are undertaking a devious counterattack to bring the vanished Marvel Family back into action, just in time to avert a cataclysmic ‘Crisis in Tomorrow!’…

The cross-collaboration protocol resurfaces one year later in brace of double-length sagas guest-starring Silver Age DC’s second-most popular superteam…

Once upon a time, a thousand years from now, a band of super-powered kids from many worlds took inspiration from the greatest heroic legend of all time, founding a club of champions. One day those Children of Tomorrow came back in time and invited their inspiration to join them…

Thus began the vast, epic saga of the Legion of Super-Heroes, as first envisioned by writer Otto Binder & artist Al Plastino when the many-handed mob of juvenile universe-savers debuted in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958), just as the revived superhero genre was gathering an inexorable head of steam in America.

The coalition grew and prospered, becoming a phenomenon generally attributed with birthing organised comics fandom. After years of slavishly remaining a closely-guarded offshoot of Superman’s corner of continuity, the Legion finally crossed over into the broader DCU with this saga wherein Paul Levitz & Martin Pasko united to detail ‘Crisis in the 30th Century!’

It begins when ultimate sorcerer Mordru drags a handful of JLA and JSA-ers (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Black Canary from Earth-One plus the other Green Lantern, Doctor Fate, Power Girl, Flash and Hawkman from E-Two) into the future to replace a band of ensorcelled Legionnaires he has somehow lost contact with…

Mordru’s previous slaves had been tasked with retrieving three arcane artefacts that were in the JLA’s keeping a millennium past, but with the pawns lost, the wizard now expects his new pets to finish the task. Naturally, the ancient heroes have other ideas…

Even after linking up with the lost Legionnaires, the 20th Centurians cannot prevent the return of demonic triumvirate Abnegazar, Rath and Ghast, but happily, their eons in stasis have affected the eldritch horrors’ psychological make-up and their consequent disunity gives the puny humans one shot at saving the universe from a ‘Crisis in Triplicate!’

This monumental melange of metahuman mayhem concludes with another time tempest and more forgotten stars as five legendary warriors are plucked from history by a most malevolent malefactor for the noblest of reasons. They are then pitted against the greatest superheroes of two worlds in ‘Crisis from Yesterday!’ by scripter Gerry Conway and artistic dynamic duo Dillin & McLaughlin.

In his zeal to conquer and plunder, the nefarious Lord of Time has accidentally created an omnipotent super-computer which is counting down to permanently ending the passage of time. Unable to halt or avoid an impending cosmic catastrophe, the temporal terrorist extracts Jon, the Viking Prince, English freebooter Black Pirate, Revolutionary War heroine Miss Liberty, western gunman Jonah Hex and WWI German enemy ace Hans von Hammer: supercharging them with eerie energies and programming them to attack the united Justice League and Society.

The Time Lord’s logic is simple: after suffering a shattering defeat, the teams – fired with determination and righteous fury – will promptly track him down, invade his Palace of Eternity and destroy for him his unstoppable computer. Or at least, the survivors will…

Surprisingly, that convoluted plan seems to work out in ‘Crisis from Tomorrow!’, but only after the chronally kidnapped quintet overcome their perfidious programming and revert to their valiant true selves. Even as the beleaguered superhero teams sacrifice everything to thwart the Lord of Time, the time-lost warriors prove their mettle against the errant computer…

This staggering panoply of multi-manned calamities and alternate Armageddons is rounded off with an instructive contextual lecture in John Wells’ Afterword ‘Those Were the Days’, augmented by all the rousing front covers by Neal Adams, Giordano, Nick Cardy, Ernie Chan, Frank Giacoia, McLaughlin, Rich F. Buckler, Jack Abel & Dillin: supported by full creator biographies and a ‘Cover Gallery’ from Alex Ross, featuring his painted delights from earlier collected editions.

These tales won’t suit everybody, and I’m as aware as any that in terms of the “super-powered” genre, the work here can be boiled down to bunches of heroes formulaically getting together to deal with extra-extraordinary problems.

Thankfully, I don’t have to be mature in my off-hours and for those who love costume heroes, crave cunningly constructed modern mythologies and actually care about fun, this is simply a grand parade of straightforward action, great causes and momentous victories.

…And since I wouldn’t have it any other way, why should you?
© 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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JLA: Year One


By Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn & Barry Kitson with Michael Bair, John Stokes, Mark Propst, & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-512-8 (TPB)

If the chop-and-change continuity gymnastics DC have undergone in recent years gives you a headache, but you still love reading excellent superhero team stories, you could just take my word that this is one of the best of that breed and move on to the next review. If you’re okay with the confusion or still need convincing, though, please read on.

With then-partner All-American Publishing, in 1940 DC published the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics from #3. Cover-dated “Winter Issue”, it spanned the year end and was on sale from November 22nd until January. The JSA were the first superhero team in comics.

In 1960 after a decade largely devoid of superheroes, the now fully-amalgamated publisher sagely revived the team concept as the Justice League of America, and gradually reintroduced the JSA ancestors as heroes of an alternative Earth to a fresh new caped and cowled world. By 1985, the continuity had become saturated and overcrowded with so many heroic multiples and close duplicates that DC’s editorial Powers-That-Be deemed it all too confusing and a deterrent to new readers, and decreed total change. It resulted in maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths and the events of the groundbreaking, earth-shattering saga led to a winnowing and restructuring of the DC universe…

With all the best bits from past stories (for which one could read “least charming or daft”) having now occurred on one Earth, and with many major heroes remade and re-launched (Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash et al.), one of the newest curses to readers – and writers – was keeping definitive track of what was now DC “History” and what had now never actually happened.

Thus 12-issue maxi-series JLA: Year One presented the absolute, definitive, real story of the formation and early days of the Justice League, the World’s Greatest – but no longer first – Superheroes…

Of course, since Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis and all the other subsequent publishing course-correcting extravaganzas (such as 52, Countdown, Dark Nights: Death Metal and so on) it’s not strictly true anymore. Still. Again…

None of which impacts upon the superb quality of the tale told here. Way back then – January to December 1998 and in the wake of Grant Morrison & Howard Porter’s spectacular re-reboot of the team – Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn & illustrator Barry Kitson (plus assorted assisting inkers) produced a superb version of that iteration’s earliest days. It’s still one of the best and most readable variations on the theme, even if DC have inexplicably let it slide out of print…

It begins “ten years ago” in ‘Justice League of America: Year One’ as a hidden observer gathers files on an emergent generation of new costumed heroes. When an alien invasion from Appellax brings inexperienced neophyte heroes Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter together to save Earth from colonisation, the media scents a news sensation, but the real story is the hidden forces hovering in the background of the event…

The Canary was reimagined as the rebellious daughter of the JSA original who had been active during WWII, and the others, like the Sea King and J’onn J’onzz, had undergone recent origin revisions too…

The main action begins after that initial victory, as the heroes – novices all, remember – opt to stick together as a team, only to be targeted by secret super-science society Locus, who begin snatching up alien invader corpses for genetic experimentation…

The second issue sees the new kids as media sensations overwhelmed and out of their depth, with everyone wanting a piece of them. Older outfits like the Blackhawks, Challengers of the Unknown and even officially-retired JSA veterans are watching with apprehension whilst Bruce Wayne wants them far away from Gotham City as they establish their ‘Group Dynamic’. Even trick archer Green Arrow is constantly hanging around, clearly angling for an invitation to join, but that’s never gonna happen…

Immortal villain Vandal Savage targets the inexperienced heroes with a squad of veteran supervillains – the Thorn, Solomon Grundy, Clayface and Eclipso – as everywhere, more new superheroes are emerging. Savage is resolved to stop this second Heroic Age before it begins…

In #3, Locus’ bio advancements lead to alliance with Savage, but their schemes are sidelined as the team struggle to work together. Every man there seems distracted by Black Canary, but their “chivalrous impulses” in combat are not only insulting but will get someone killed – if not by enemies, then by her…

The team is fully occupied playing ‘Guess Who?’ after accepting funding and resources from a mystery billionaire. The influx of cash results in a purpose-built secret mountain HQ, a covert personal communications network, live-in custodian/valet/tech support Snapper Carr and a security system designed by maverick teen genius Ted Kord.

At least the heroes are starting to bond, sharing jokes, origins and trade secrets, but tensions are still high and trust in each other is fragile…

Inker Michael Bair joins with #4 as ‘While You Were Out…’ sees Locus at last launch their campaign of conquest: picking off lone hero Dan Garrett, whose mystic Blue Beetle scarab proves no match for alien-enhanced bio-weaponry, even as the heroes are all singled out for close observation by mystery operatives…

The merciless Brotherhood of Evil unleash Locus-designed horrors on Manchester, Alabama in #5, leading to a tenuous team-up of Justice League and Doom Patrol that ends in disaster and defeat. Maimed and deprived of their abilities, they are ‘A League Divided’ until the DP’s resident genius Niles Caulder provides stopgap powers and weapons in ‘Sum of Their Parts’ (inked by Bair & John Stokes), enabling the heroes to rally and restore themselves…

In ‘The American Way’ the JLA suffer a shock after their greatest inspiration – Superman – declines an offer to join, even as Locus’ endgame begins.

The dispirited heroes barely notice, as ‘Loose Ends’ exposes treachery in the ranks, further distracting the heroes who discover a trusted ally has been spying on them in their private lives. They have no idea what’s really going on…

With unity shattered, the JLA turns on itself, missing Locus’ attempt to terraform Earth and literally ‘Change the World’…

‘Heaven and Earth’ (inked by Bair & Mark Propst) finds all humanity’s helpless and all its many heroes subdued in a superpowered blitzkrieg that catches the planet napping. Crushed, defeated and interned in ‘Stalag Earth’ all hope is lost until the reunited Justice League lead a counter-offensive, turning tragedy into triumph and ensuring ‘Justice for All’…

A brilliantly addictive plot, superbly sharp dialogue and wonderfully underplayed art suck the reader into an enthralling climax that makes you proud to be human… or at least terrestrially-based. This saga of our champions’ bonding and feuding under extended threat of rogue geneticists, planetary upheaval, and the mystery of who actually bankrolls the team, all added to continual, usual, everyday threats in a superhero’s life, is both enchanting and gripping.

When it’s done right there’s nothing wrong with being made – and allowed – to be feel ten years old again. In-the-know fans will delight at the clever incorporation of classic comics moments, in-jokes and guest-shots from beloved contemporaneous heroes and villains such as the Sea Devils, Metal Men, Atom and such, but the creators of this revised history never forget their new audience and nothing here is unclear for first-timers. The finale is a fan’s all-action dream with every hero on Earth united to combat all-out alien invasion! …And of course, the rookie JLA save the day again in glorious style.
© 1998 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Crisis on Multiple Earths Book 1: Crossing Over


By Gardner Fox, Dennis O’Neil, Mike Sekowsky, Dick Dillin, Bernard Sachs, Sid Greene, Joe Giella & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0753-2 (TPB/Digital)

As I’ve frequently mentioned before, I was one of the “Baby Boomer” crowd which grew up with Julie Schwartz, Gardner Fox and John Broome’s tantalisingly slow reintroduction of Golden Age superheroes during the halcyon, eternally summery days of the early 1960s. To me those fascinating counterpart crusaders from Earth-Two weren’t vague and distant memories rubber-stamped by parents or older brothers – they were cool, fascinating and enigmatically new.

…And for some reason the “proper” heroes of Earth-One held them in high regard and treated them with obvious deference…

The transcendent wonderment began, naturally enough, in The Flash; pioneering trendsetter of the Silver Age Revolution. After successfully ushering in the triumphant return of the superhero concept, the Scarlet Speedster – with Fox & Broome at the writing reins – set an unbelievably high standard for costumed adventure in sharp, witty tales of science and imagination, always illustrated with captivating style and clean simplicity by Carmine Infantino.

The epochal epic that literally changed the scope of American comics forever was Fox’s ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ (Flash #123 September 1961, reprinted in many places, but not here): introducing to an emerging continuity the concept of alternate Earths and, by extension, the multiversal structure of the future DCU as well as all the succeeding cosmos-shaking yearly “Crisis” sagas that grew from it.

Moreover, where DC led, others followed…

Received with tumultuous acclaim, the concept was revisited months later in Flash #129 which also teasingly reintroduced evergreen stalwarts – Wonder Woman, the Atom, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Doctor Mid-Nite and Black Canary: venerable members of the fabled Justice Society of America. Clearly Editor Schwartz had something in mind…

That tale directly led into the veteran team’s first meeting with the Justice League of America and the start of an annual tradition. When ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ brought us the notion of Infinite Earths and multiple iterations of costumed crusaders, fan pressure had begun almost instantly to agitate for the return of the Greats of the “Golden Age”. Editorial powers-that-be were hesitant, fearing too many heroes would be silly and unmanageable, or worse yet, put readers off. If they could see us now…

These innovative adventures generated an avalanche of popular and critical approval (big sales figures, too) so inevitably the trans-dimensional tests led to the ultimate team-up in the summer of 1963.

This gloriously enthralling volume is the first in a sequence of collections celebrating Infinite Diversity in Infinite Costumes, gathering the first eight summer double-header JLA/JSA convocations (Justice League of America #21-22, 29-30, 37-38, 46-47, 55-56, 64-65, 73-74, and 82-83) plus pertinent excerpts from other places: stunning superhero wonderments which never fail to astound and delight. Also on offer are a context-conveying Introduction ‘1 & 2 – Crisis’ by wonder-scribe Mark Waid detailing even more cool facts behind the phenomenon and Martin Pasko’s erudite Foreword ‘Crisis Behind the Scenes’, revealing how the loss of stalwart originators Gardner Fox & Mike Sekowsky led to a new way of telling stories, offsetting in many respects the genuine dilemma of readers’ changing tastes…

The comic book catharsis commences with the landmark ‘Crisis on Earth-One’ and ‘Crisis on Earth-Two’ (from Justice League of America #21-22, August & September 1963) combining to form one of the most important stories in DC history and arguably one of the most crucial tales in American literature: at least the stuff with pictures in it.

Written by Fox and illustrated by Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs, the yarn finds a coalition of assorted villains from each Earth plundering at will, meeting and defeating the mighty Justice League before impertinently imprisoning them in their own secret mountain HQ…

Temporarily helpless, “our” heroes contrive a desperate plan to combine forces with the champions of another Earth to save the world – both of it – and the result is pure Fights ‘n’ Tights majesty.

It’s impossible for me to be totally objective about this saga. I was a drooling kid in short trousers when I first read it and the thrills haven’t diminished with this umpty-first re-reading.

This is what superhero comics are all about!

The buying public clearly agreed. One year later ‘Crisis on Earth-Three’ and ‘The Most Dangerous Earth of All!’ (JLA #29-30) reprised the team-up after super-beings of a third alternate Earth discover the secret of trans-universal travel.

Unfortunately, Ultraman, Owlman, Superwoman, Johnny Quick and Power Ring are villains on a world without heroes who see costumed crimebusters like the JLA and JSA as living practise dummies to sharpen their evil skills upon.

With this cracking thriller the annual summer get-together became solidly entrenched in heroic lore, giving fans endless entertainment for years to come and making the approaching end of school holidays less gloomy than they could have been.

The third annual event was a touch different; a largely forgotten experimental tale wherein the educationally-challenged and extremely larcenous Johnny Thunder of Earth-1 wrests control of the genie-like Thunderbolt from his otherworld counterpart: employing its magical powers to change the events which created of all Earth-1’s superheroes. Catastrophically altered, in #37 it became ‘Earth – Without a Justice League’, and it was up to the JSA to save the day in a gripping battle of wits and power before Reality was re-established in #38’s concluding chapter ‘Crisis on Earth-A!’.

Veteran inker Bernard Sachs retired before the fourth team-up, leaving the amazing Sid Greene to embellish a gloriously whacky saga: one springing out of the global “Batmania” craze engendered by the first Batman television show…

A wise-cracking campy tone was fully in play, acknowledging the changing audience profile and this time the stakes are raised to encompass the destruction of both planets in ‘Crisis Between Earth-One and Earth-Two’ and ‘The Bridge Between Earths’ (Justice League of America #46-47, August & September 1966).

Here a bold continuum-warping experiment drags the twin sidereal worlds towards an inexorable hyper-space collision. Making matters worse, an awesome anti-matter being uses the opportunity to break into and explore our positive-matter universe whilst the heroes of both worlds are distracted by the destructive rampages of monster-men Blockbuster and Solomon Grundy.

Peppered with wisecracks and “hip” dialogue, it’s sometimes difficult to discern what a cracking yarn this actually is, but if you’re able to forgive or swallow dated patter, it is one of the very best plotted and illustrated stories in the entire JLA/JSA canon. Furthermore, the vastly talented Greene’s expressive subtlety, beguiling textures and whimsical humour add unheard-of depth to Sekowsky’s pencils and the light and frothy comedic scripts of Fox.

The same can be said of the next year’s outing as the wise-cracking campy tone was still fully in play for ‘The Super-Crisis that Struck Earth-Two’ and ‘The Negative-Crisis on Earths One-Two!’ (JLA #55-56; August and September 1967).

Opening on Earth Two, it boasted a radical change as the JSA now included an adult Robin instead of Batman, although Hourman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Wildcat, Johnny Thunder and Mr. Terrific still needed the help of Earth One’s Superman, Flash, Green Lantern and Green Arrow to cope with an invasion of superpower-creating black spheres bestowing upon mere mortals uncanny abilities enabling them to satisfy their darkest desires.

Things went from bad to worse after the harried heroes used the ebony invaders to augment their own abilities and turn half the combined team evil too…

By 1968 the second superhero boom looked to be dying just as its predecessor had at the end of the 1940s. Sales were down generally in the comics industry and costs were beginning to spiral. More importantly, “free” entertainment, in the form of television, was by now ensconced in even the poorest household. If you were a kid in the sixties, think on just how many brilliant cartoon shows were created in that decade, when artists like Alex Toth and Doug Wildey were working in West Coast animation studios.

Moreover, comic book stars were appearing on the small screen. Superman, Aquaman, Batman, the Marvel heroes and even the JLA were there every Saturday in your own living room…

It was a time of great political and social upheaval. Change was everywhere and unrest even reached the corridors of DC. When a number of creators agitated for increased work-benefits the request was not looked upon kindly. Many left the company for other outfits. Some quit the business altogether.

Fox ended his magnificent run on the Justice League with a stunning annual team-up extravaganza. Creative and perfectly professional to the very end, his last story was yet another of the Golden-Age revivals which had resurrected the superhero genre.

JLA #64 and 65 (August- September 1968) featured the ‘Stormy Return of the Red Tornado’ and ‘T.O. Morrow Kills the Justice League – Today!’, with a cyclonic super-android taking on the mantle of a 1940s spoof “Mystery Man” who appeared in the very first JSA adventure (if you’re interested, the original Red Tornado was a brawny washerwoman named Ma Hunkle who escaped comedy feature Scribbly by Sheldon Mayer and became our earliest crossdressing masked marvel…).

The plot here involved a cagy time-plundering thief creating an artificial hero to help him defeat both JLA and JSA, before realising too late he had built better than he knew…

Fox’s departing thriller was also the series’ artistic debut for former Blackhawk artist Dick Dillin: a prolific draughtsman who would draw every JLA issue for the next twelve years, as well as many other adventures of DC’s top characters. He was inked by Greene, a pairing that seemed vibrant and darkly realistic after the eccentrically stylish, nigh-abstract Sekowsky.

Next up from August and September 1969 is Denny O’Neil’s first shot at the yearly cross-dimensional crisis as #73 and 74 offered ‘Star Light, Star Bright… Death Star I See Tonight!’ and ‘Where Death Fears to Tread!’

The tense, brooding tale introduced Aquarius; a sentient but insane star, who magically destroys Earth Two until Earth One’s heroes (with their surviving Golden Age counterparts) manage to restore it, but not without some personal tragedy. Black Canary loses her husband and opts to emigrate to our world, handily becoming the JLA’s resident Girl Superhero and picking up a new if somewhat unreliable power in the process.

This splendid exercise in fantastic nostalgia ends with another grand get-together as perfidious property speculators from space seek to raze both Earths in ‘Peril of the Paired Planets’ (#82 August 1970 by O’Neil, Dillin & Joe Giella) and only the ultimate sacrifice by a true hero averts trans-dimensional disaster in concluding chapter ‘Where Valor Fails… Will Magic Triumph?’

This volume also includes a few beguiling extras: covers by Sekowsky, Sachs, Greene, Murphy Anderson, Jack Abel, Dillin, Joe Kubert and Neal Adams, the front and back covers of Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-46 (by Neal Adams from August/September 1976); a double-page pin-up of the JSA by Anderson from Justice League of America #76 (October 1969) and previous collection covers by Alex Ross and Jerry Ordway…

These tales won’t suit everybody, and I’m as aware as any that in terms of the “super-powered” genre the work here can be boiled down to two bunches of heroes formulaically getting together to deal with extra-extraordinary problems. In mature hindsight, it’s obviously also about sales and the attempted revival of more sellable characters during a period of intense rivalry between DC Comics and Marvel.

But I don’t have to be mature in my off-hours and for those who love costume heroes, who crave these cunningly constructed modern mythologies and actually care about fun, this is simply a grand parade of straightforward action, great causes and momentous victories.

…And since I wouldn’t have it any other way, why should you?
© 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1976, 2002, 2003, 2020 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Adam Strange: Planet Heist


By Andy Diggle, Pasqual Ferry & Dave McCaig (DC Comics)
ISBN: 9787-1-4012-0727-4 (TPB/Digital)

As the Silver Age began in 1956 – reintroducing superheroes to markets overflowing with cops and cowboys and cosmic invaders – try-out vehicle Showcase #17 (cover-dated November/December 1958) launched a true hero for the space-age in a feature entitled ‘Adventures on Other Worlds’.

An instant success, it debuted as the lead in Mystery in Space #53, beguiling and enthralling a fresh generation of thrill-starved, starry-eyed  kids under the title Adam Strange.

Strange was an Terran archaeologist who, whilst fleeing from enraged tribesmen in Peru, jumped a 25ft chasm only to be hit by a stray teleport beam from a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri. He rematerialised on another world, filled with uncanny monsters and fabulous civilisations, and was rescued by a beautiful woman named Alanna.

Rann was a world of constant danger: non-stop peril for which brains, not brawn, were the best solution, but Strange was only able to stay on the atomic-war scarred planet for as long as it took the teleporting Zeta Beam radiation to dissipate, whence he would fade away to reappear on Earth until the next beam struck. He found true love with Alanna and unparalleled adventure, but the universe seemed determined to keep them apart.

After years of travail and turmoil Adam finally relocated permanently to Rann, but his new homeworld grew no less dangerous…

This smartly compelling rollercoaster ride (collecting an 8-issue miniseries acting as a prequel and introduction to the many story-strands forming the astoundingly ambitious Infinite Crisis crossover mega-event) finds the former academician on Earth to wrap up his affairs. However, when he is ready to depart, the Zeta beam fails to arrive…

After months of increasingly desperate research, his Justice League contacts reveal that Rann is gone: while he packed trinkets and underwear, a supernova wiped out everything he ever knew and loved…

Desolate and off the rails, Strange’s life goes swiftly downhill – until he is attacked by alien bounty hunters. In the wake of the resultant destruction, he knows something is not kosher, and the only logical conclusion must be that Rann still exists…

This is a breakneck-paced science fiction conspiracy-mystery that finally revives the rational, intellectual hero fans haven’t seen since the end of the Julie Schwartz days: an indomitable fighter who thinks things out as he roars through the universe, accused of destroying the very world he seeks, meeting – and usually pursued by – a legion of DC’s outer space icons such as Vril Dox, bellicose Thanagarians, the Omega Men and paramilitary space cops the Dark Stars, as well as an unexpected surprise über-villain…

Deducing a greater threat to all reality, avoiding the guns of a billion bloodthirsty foes and the machinations of many malignant masterminds, Adam Strange fights to regain his family and world and in so doing unravels a plot to shake the very stars…

Bombast and hyperbole aside, Planet Heist is a superb thriller (regrettably still not available in digital form) heavily draped in DC’s convoluted history and continuity, yet somehow still fresh and streamlined enough to entertain the most clueless neophyte and seasoned canon-feeder equally.

British writer Andy Diggle (Green Arrow: Year One, The Losers, Deadpool, Daredevil, Shadowland, James Bond 007, Star Wars) shines, blending astral wonderment with the gritty realism he’s famed for. The forceful illustration of Spain’s “Pascal” Ferry (Thor, Superman, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Tom Strong) – whose actual name Pasqual was apparently too tricky for English speakers – combines with colourist Dave McCaig’s lush, painterly hues to make even the most fantastic moments utterly authentic. This brilliant tale only falters on the last page, and that’s because the solution leads inexorably to another book…

Gripping and fun, this rocket-paced riot is well worth the time and attention of every fan of fantastic fiction, but be warned: for final resolutions you’ll need to read Rann-Thanagar War and Infinite Crisis… so you might as well line them all up as well as the other Infinite Crisis prequel series…
© 2004, 2005 DC Comics.  All Rights Reserved.

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Super-Friends: Saturday Morning Comics volume 1


By E. Nelson Bridwell, Denny O’Neil, Ramona Fradon, Kurt Schaffenberger, Ric Estrada, Alex Toth, Joe Orlando, Bob Smith, Vince Colletta with Dick Giordano & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-9542-4 (HB/Digital edition)

Once upon a time comics were primarily created with kids in mind and, whilst I’d never advocate exclusively going back to those days, the modern industry has for the longest time sinned by not properly addressing the needs and tastes of younger fans these days. Happily, DC has latterly been rectifying the situation with a number of new and – most importantly for old geeks like me – remastered, repackaged age-appropriate gems from their vast back catalogue.

A superb case in point of all-ages comics done right is this massive (and frankly, rather expensive) tome. And don’t stress the title: it may celebrate the joys of past childhood shows but this book is definitely a great big Sunday “settle back and luxuriate” treat…

The Super Friends: Saturday Morning Comics volume 1 gathers the comic book tales which spun off from a popular Saturday Morning TV Cartoon show: one that, thanks to the canny craftsmanship and loving invention of lead scripter E. Nelson Bridwell, became an integral and unmissable component of the greater DC Universe.

It was also one of the most universally thrilling and satisfying superhero titles of the period for older fans: featuring the kind of smart and witty, straightforward adventures people my age grew up with, produced during a period when the entire industry was increasingly losing itself in colossal continued storylines and bombastic, convoluted, soap opera melodrama.

It’s something all creators should have tattooed on their foreheads: sometimes all you really want is a smart plot well illustrated, sinister villains well-smacked, a solid resolution and early bed…

The TV show Super Friends ran (under various iterations) from 1973 to 1986; starring primarily Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and a brace of studio-originated kids as student crimebusters, supplemented by occasional guest stars from the DCU on a case by case basis. The animated series made the transition to print as part of the publisher’s 1976 foray into “boutiqued” comics which saw titles with a television connection cross-marketed as “DC TV Comics”.

Child-friendly Golden Age comicbook revival Shazam!- the Original Captain Marvel had been adapted into a successful live action series and its Saturday Morning silver screen stablemate The Secrets of Isis consequently reversed the process by becoming a comic book.

With the additions of hit comedy show Welcome Back Kotter and animated blockbuster Super Friends four-colour format, DC had a neat little outreach imprimatur tailor-made to draw viewers into the magic word of funnybooks.

At least that was the plan: with the exception of Super Friends none of the titles lasted more than ten issues beyond their launch…

This massive mega-extravaganza (part 1 of 2) collects Super Friends #1-26 (spanning November 1976 to November 1979), includes promo comic Aquateers Meet the Super Friends and reprints material from Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-41 and C-46. It also opens with a lovely and moving introduction from illustrator Ramona Fradon (Aquaman; Metamorpho the Element Man; Brenda Starr, Reporter).

The fun begins a crafty two-part caper by the wondrous E. Nelson Bridwell and illustrators Ric Estrada, Vince Colletta & Joe Orlando. ‘The Fury of the Super Foes’ finds heroes-in-training Wendy and Marvin – and their incredibly  astute mutt Wonderdog – studying at the palatial Hall of Justice, even as elsewhere, a confederation of villains prove that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery… if not outright intellectual theft.

Having auditioned a host of young criminals, The Penguin, Cheetah, Flying Fish, Poison Ivy and Toyman are creating a squad of sidekicks and protégés to follow in their felonious footsteps. At last Chick, Kitten, Sardine, Honeysuckle and Toyboy are all ready and willing to carry out their first caper…

When the giant “Troubalert” screen informs our heroes of a three-pronged attack on S.T.A.R. Labs’ latest inventions, the champion team split up to tackle the crises, but are thoroughly trounced until Wendy and Marvin break curfew to help them. As a result of the clash, Chick and Kitten are brought back to the Hall of Justice, but their talk of repentance is a rascally ruse and they secretly sabotage vital equipment…

Thankfully, Wonderdog has seen everything and quickly finds a way to inform the still-oblivious good guys in issue #2, but too late to prevent the Super Friends being briefly ‘Trapped by the Super Foes’…

Aided and abetted by inker Bob Smith, the incomparable Fradon became penciller with #3, as ‘The Cosmic Hit Man?’ sees 50 intergalactic super-villains murdered by infernal Dr. Ihdrom, who blends their harvested essences to create an apparently unbeatable hyper-horror and utterly overwhelm Earth’s heroic defenders. However, he falls victim to his own arrogance and Wendy and Marvin’s logical deductions…

‘Riddles and Rockets!’ sees the Super Friends overmatched by new ne’er-do-well Skyrocket whilst simultaneously trying to cope with a rash of crimes contrived by King of Conundra The Riddler. Soon a pattern emerges and a criminal connection is confirmed…

Author Bridwell (Secret Six; Inferior Five; Batman; Superman; The Flash; Legion of Super-Heroes; Captain Marvel/Shazam!) was justly famed as DC’s Keeper of Lore and Continuity Cop thanks to an astoundingly encyclopaedic knowledge of its publishing minutiae and ability to instantly recall every damn thing! ‘Telethon Treachery!’ gave him plenty of scope to display it with a host of near-forgotten guest-stars joining the heroes as they host a televised charity event whilst money-mad menace Greenback lurks in the wings, awaiting his moment to grab the loot and kidnap the wealthiest donors…

The Atom (Ray Palmer) plays a crucial role in stopping the depredations of an animal trainer using beasts as bandits in ‘The Menace of the Menagerie Man!’ before a huge cast change is unveiled in #7 (October 1977) with ‘The Warning of the Wondertwins’…

You know TV is very different from comics. When a new season of Super Friends aired, Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog were abruptly gone, replaced without explanation by aliens Zan and Jayna and elastic-tailed space monkey Gleek. With room to extrapolate – and in consideration of fans – Bridwell explained the sudden change via a battle to save Earth from annihilation whilst introducing the newest student heroes’ in memorable style…

At the Hall of Justice Wendy and Marvin spot a spaceship hurtling to Earth on the Troubalert monitor and dash off to intercept it. Aboard are two siblings from distant planet Exor: a girl able to transform into animals and a boy who can become any form of water from steam to ice. They have come carrying an urgent warning…

Superman’s alien enemy Grax has resolved to eradicate humanity and devised a dozen different super-bombs and attendant weird-science traps to ensure his victory. The weapons are scattered all over Earth and even the entire Justice League cannot stretch its resources to cover every angle and threat. To Wendy and Marvin the answer is obvious: call upon the help and knowledge of hyper-powered local heroes…

Soon Superman and Israel’s champion The Seraph are dismantling a black hole bomb whilst Elongated Man and titan-tressed Godiva perform similar service on a life-eradicator in England. Flash (Barry Allen) and mighty-leaping Impala dismantle uncatchable ordnance in South Africa. Hawkman and Hawkwoman join Native American avenger Owlwoman to crush darkness-breeding monsters in Oklahoma whilst from the Hall of Justice Wendy, Marvin and the Wonder Twins monitor the crisis with a modicum of mounting hope…

The cataclysmic epic continues in #8 with ‘The Mind Killers!’ as Atom and Rising Son tackle a device designed to decimate Japan, even as in Ireland Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Jack O’Lantern battle multi-hued monstrosities before switching off their technological terror.

In New Zealand, time-scanning Tuatara tips off Red Tornado to the position of a bomb cached in the distant past and Venezuela’s doom is diverted through a team-up between Batman and Robin and reptile-themed champion Bushmaster, whilst Taiwan benefits from a melding of sonic superpowers possessed by Black Canary and the astounding Thunderlord…

The saga soars to a classic climax with ‘Three Ways to Kill a World!’ in which the final phases of Grax’s scheme finally fail thanks to Green Arrow and Tasmanian Devil in Australia, Aquaman and Little Mermaid in the seas off Denmark and Wonder Woman and The Olympian in Greece.

Or at least, they would have if the Hellenic heroes had found the right foe. Sadly, their triumph against Wrong-Place, Right-Time terrorist Colonel Conquest almost upset everything. Thankfully, the quick thinking students send an army of defenders to Antarctica where Norwegian novice Icemaiden dismantles the final booby-trap bomb.

However, whilst the adult champions are thus engaged, Grax invades the Hall of Justice seeking revenge on the pesky whistleblowing Exorian kids. He is completely unprepared for and overwhelmed by Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog, who categorically prove they’re ready to graduate to the big leagues…

With Zan and Jayna enrolled as the latest heroes-in-training, Super Friends #10 details their adoption by Batman’s old associate – and eccentric time travel theoretician – Professor Carter Nichols, just before a legion of alien horrors arrive on Earth to teach the kids that appearances can be lethally deceiving in ‘The Monster Menace!’

‘Kingslayer’ then pits the heroes against criminal mastermind Overlord who has contracted the world’s greatest hitman to murder more than one hundred leaders at one sitting…

Another deep dive into DC’s past resurrected Golden Age titans T.N.T and Dan, the Dyna-Mite in ‘The Atomic Twosome!’ The 1940s mystery men had been under government wraps ever since their radioactive powers began to melt down, but when an underground catastrophe ruptures their individual lead-lined vaults, the Super Friends are called in to prevent potential nuclear nightmare…

The subterranean reason for the near tragedy is tracked to a monstrous mole creature, and leads to the introduction of eternal mystic Doctor Mist, who reveals the secret history of civilisation and begs help to halt ‘The Mindless Immortal!’, before its random burrowing shatters mankind’s cities. Bridwell built a fascinating new team concept that would come to support decades of future continuity…

Super Friends #14 opens with ‘Elementary!’; introducing four ordinary mortals forever changed when they are possessed by ancient sprits and tasked by Overlord with plundering the world. When the heroes scotch the scheme, Undine, Salamander, Sylph and Gnome retain their powers and become a crime-fighting team – The Elementals…

The issue also contains a short back-up illustrated by Kurt Schaffenberger & Bob Smith. ‘The Origin of the Wondertwins’ at last reveals how the Exorian genetic throwbacks – despised outcasts on their homeworld – fled from a circus of freaks and uncovered Grax’s plot before taking that fateful voyage to Earth…

Big surprises come in ‘The Overlord Goes Under!’ (Fradon & Smith) as the Elementals begin battling evil by joining the Super Friends in crushing the crook. All the heroes are blithely unaware that they are merely clearing the way for a far more cunningly and subtle mastermind to take Overlord’s place…

‘The People Who Stole the Sky!’ in #16 is a grand, old-fashioned alien invasion yarn, foiled by the team and the increasingly adept Wonder Twins whilst ‘Trapped in Two Times!’ has Zan and Jayna used by the insidious Time Trapper (nee Time Master) to lure the adult heroes into deadly peril on planet Krypton in the days before it detonated, and future water world Neryla in the hours before it’s swallowed by its critically expanding red sun.

After rescuing the kids – thanks largely to Superman’s legendary lost love Lyla Ler-Rol – the Super Friends employ Tuatara’s chronal insight and Professor Nichol’s obscure chronal methodologies to hunt the Trapper in a riotous yet educational ‘Manhunt in Time!’ (art by Schaffenberger & Smith), by way of Atlantis before it sank, medieval Spain and Michigan in 1860CE, to thwart a triple-strength scheme to derail history and end Earth civilisation…

SF #19 sees the return of Menagerie Man in ‘The Mystery of the Missing Monkey!’ (Fradon & Smith) as the animal exploiter appropriates Gleek: intent on turning his elastic-tailed talents into a perfect pickpocketing tool, after which Denny O’Neil (writing as Sergius O’Shaugnessy) teams with Schaffenberger & Smith for a more jocular turn.

Chaos and comedy ensue when the team tackles vegetable monsters unleashed when self-obsessed shlock-movie director Frownin’ Fritz Frazzle uses Merlin’s actually magical Magic Lantern to make a “masterpiece” on the cheap in ‘Revenge of the Leafy Monsters!’…

Bridwell & Fradon return in #21 where ‘Battle Against the Super Fiends!’ has the heroes travelling to Exor to combat super-criminals who can duplicate their power-sets, after which ‘It’s Never Too Late!’ (#22, O’Shaugnessy, Fradon & Smith) reveals how time bandit Chronos subjects the Super Friends to a chronal-delay treatment rendering them perennially too late to stop him – until Batman and the Wonder Twins out-think him…

The Mirror Master divides and banishes teachers from students in #23 but is ultimately unable to prevent an ‘SOS from Nowhere!’ (Bridwell, Fradon & Smith) to the Flash. This episode also spends time fleshing out the Wonder Twins’ earthly secret identities as Gotham Central highschoolers John and Joanna Fleming…

With” O’Shaugnessy” scripting, ‘Past, Present and Danger!’ sees Zan and Jayna’s faces found engraved on a recently-unearthed Egyptian pyramid. Upon investigation inside the edifice, the heroes awaken two ancient exiles who resemble the kids, but who are in truth criminals who fled Exorian justice thousands of years previously. How lucky, then, that the kids are perfect doubles that the villains can send back with the robot cops surrounding the pyramid… once they’ve got rid of the Earthling heroes…

Enjoying promotion through treachery, the habitually harassed “Underling” has seized power at last in Bridwell’s ‘Puppets of the Overlord’, and uses forbidden technology to mind-control the adult and junior heroes. Happily, international champions Green Fury (later Fire), Wonder Woman’s sister Nubia, Tasmanian Devil and Seraph can join Green Lantern and Queen Mera of Atlantis in delivering a liberating solution, after which this splendid selection of super thrills pauses with #26 as Bridwell, Fradon & Smith bring back some old friends and enemies for ‘The Wondertwins’ Battle of Wits!’ as a scheming former Bat-foe enacts an infallibly murderous plot…

Rounding out the frenetic fun is a features section that includes the Alex Toth cover from Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-41,and new material from sequel C-46: a comic strip collaboration with Bridwell on introductory tale ‘Super Friends’ which was a star-studded framing sequence for a big reprint issue of Justice League classics.

The wonders are further augmented by Toth’s comprehensive pictorial essay on creating ‘TV Cartoons’ (with contributions from Bob Foster), plus his ‘The JLA on TV’ model sheets, and designs of The Hall of Justice’ by Terry Austin. Toth was the lead designer on the characters’ transition to TV animation.

The extras go on with mini-comic Aquateers Meet the Super Friends – a 1979 promotional giveaway included with every purchase of Super Friends Swim Goggles. An uncredited framing sequence (which looks like a Continuity Associates project that Dick Giordano & Frank McLoughlin had a hand in) segues into ‘The Greatest Show on Water’ – an Aquaman short originally published in Adventure Comics #219, December 1955.

That’s followed by ‘ “Super Fans Letters” Letters Pages’ from Super Friends #1-3, offering potted histories of DC heroes and villains, ‘The Super Friends Subscription’ house ad from #26 and Alex Ross’ painted cover from 2001 book Super Friends!

With covers by Fradon, Smith, Schaffenberger, Colletta, Ernie Chan and more, this initial compendium is superbly entertaining, masterfully crafted and utterly engaging. It offers stories of pure comics gold to delight children and adults in equal proportion. Truly generational in appeal, they are probably the closest thing to an American answer to the magic of Tintin or Asterix and no family home should be without this tome.
© 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 2001, 2020 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Crisis on Infinite Earths


By Marv Wolfman & George Pérez, with Jerry Ordway, Dick Giordano, Mike DeCarlo & various (DC Comics) 
ISBN: 978-1-4012-5841-2 (HB/Digital edition) 978-1-56389-750-4 (TPB) 

Once more I’m compelled to dash out another swiftly modified reprinted review to mark the passing of one of our industry and art form’s most prolific and irreplaceable master creators. George Pérez died on May 6th from the complications of pancreatic cancer. He was 67 years old.  

His triumphs as penciller, writer and an always in-demand inker made him a force to be reckoned with and earned a vast number of awards in a career spanning almost fifty years. Pérez worked for dozens of publishers large and small; self-published his own creations, redeemed and restored many moribund characters and features (like the (New) Teen Titans), Nightwing and Wonder Woman) and co-created many breakthrough characters such as The White Tiger (first Puerto Rican superhero), The Maestro, Deathstroke the Terminator, Terra, The Monitor and Anti-Monitor.  

He will be most warmly remembered for his incredible facility in portraying big teams and cataclysmic events. Pérez probably drew every DC and Marvel superhero of his era, with major runs on The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, The Justice League of America, Legion of Super-Heroes and numerous iterations of Teen Titans as well as stints on The Inhumans, X-Men, JSA, All-Star Squadron, Thunderbolts and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. He will be immortalised for the comic book series covered below. A fuller appreciation will follow as soon as I can sort it… 

In 1985 the Editorial Powers-That-Be at DC Comics were about to celebrate fifty years of publishing, and enjoying a creative upswing that had been a long time coming. A crucial part of the festivities, and purported attempt to simplify five decades of often conflicting stories, was a truly epic year-long saga that would impact every single DC title and reconstruct the entire landscape and history of the DC Universe, with an appearance – however brief – by every character the company had ever published. Easy-peasy, Huh? 

Additionally, this new start would seek to end an apparent confusion of multiple Earths with similarly named and themed heroes. This – it had been decided – was deterring (sic) new readers. Happily, since then (primarily thanks to movie rom-coms like Sliding Doors) we’ve all become well aware of string theory and parallel universes and can revel in the most basic TV show or kids cartoon proffering the concept of multiples incidences of me and you… 

Way back then, the result of those good intentions was a groundbreaking 12-part miniseries that spearheaded a vast crossover event: eventually culminating in a hefty graphic novel collection (plus latterly three companion volumes reprinting all the crossovers). 

The experiment was a huge success, both critically and commercially, and enabled the company to reinvigorate many of their most cherished properties: many of which had been in dire need or some regeneration and renewal. Many fans would argue that DC have been trying to change it back ever since… 

Plotted long in advance of launch, threads and portents appeared for months in DC’s regular titles, mostly regarding a mysterious arms-and-information broker known as The Monitor. With his beautiful assistant Lyla Michaels/Harbinger he had been gauging each and every being on Earths beyond counting with a view to saving all of Reality. At this juncture, that consisted of uncountable variations of universes existing “side-by-side”, each exhibiting differences varying from minor to monumental.  

Building on long-established continuity collaborators Marv Wolfman and George Pérez – aided and abetted by Dick Giordano, Mike DeCarlo and Jerry Ordway – began by tweaking things fans knew before taking them on a journey nobody anticipated… It transpired that at the very beginning of time an influence from the future caused Reality to fracture. Rogue Guardian of the Universe Krona obsessively sought to unravel the secret of creation and his probing cause a perfect singular universe to shatter into innumerable self-perpetuating cracked reflections of itself… 

Now, a wave of antimatter scythes through the Cosmic All, eradicating these separate universes. Before each Armageddon, a tormented immortal named Pariah materialises on an inhabited but doomed world of each Existence. As the story opens, he arrives on an Earth, as its closest dimensional neighbours are experiencing monumental geo-physical disruptions. It’s the end of the World, but The Monitor has a plan. It involves death on a mammoth scale, sacrifice beyond measure, a gathering of the best and worst beings of the surviving Earths and the remaking of time itself to deflect cosmic catastrophe and defeat the being that caused it… 

Action is tinged with tragedy as many major heroic figures – from the nondescript and forgotten to high, mighty and grand – perish valiantly, falling in apparently futile struggle to preserve some measure of life from the doomed multiverse. 

Full of plot twists and intrigue, this cosmic comicbook spectacle set the benchmark for all future crossover events, not just DC’s, and is still a qualitative high point seldom reached and never yet surpassed. As well as being a superb blockbuster in its own right and accessible to even the greenest neophyte reader, it is the foundation of all DC’s in-continuity stories since 1985, the basis of a TV phenomenon and absolutely vital reading.  

More than any other work in a truly stellar career, Crisis on Infinite Earths is the magnum opus George Pérez will be remembered for: It might not be fair, but it’s inescapably true… 
© 1985, 1986, 2001, 2008, 2015 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. 

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Showcase Presents Adam Strange


By Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, Carmine Infantino & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1313-8 (TPB)

Oooh, look! Married With Jetpacks. It’s a glimpse of true heaven…

For many, the Silver Age of comics is the ideal era. Varnished by nostalgia (because that’s when most of us caught this crazy graphic bug), the clean-cut, uncomplicated optimism of the late 1950s and early 1960s produced captivating heroes and villains who were still far less terrifying than the Cold War baddies which troubled the grown-ups. Boy. look how much things have changed today…

The sheer talent and professionalism of the creators working in that spectacularly vivid world resulted in triumph after triumph which brightened young lives and still glow today with quality and achievement.

One of the most compelling stars of those days was an ordinary Earthling who commuted to another world for spectacular adventures, armed with nothing more than a ray-gun, a jetpack and his own ingenuity. His name was Adam Strange, and like so many of that era’s triumphs he was the brainchild of Julius Schwartz and his close team of creative stars.

Showcase was a try-out comic designed to launch new series and concepts with minimal commitment of publishing resources. If a new character sold well initially, a regular series would follow. The process had already worked with great success. Frogmen, The Flash, Challengers of the Unknown and Lois Lane had all won their own new titles or feature spots in established books, and Editorial Director Irwin Donenfeld now wanted his two Showcase editors to create science fiction heroes to capitalise on the twin zeitgeists of the Space Race and current popular fascination with movie monsters and aliens.

Jack Schiff came up with the future crimefighter Space Ranger (premiering in issues #15-16) and Schwartz went to Gardner F. Fox, Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs to craft the saga of a modern-day explorer in the most uncharted territory yet imagined.

Showcase #17 (cover-dated November/December 1958) launched ‘Adventures on Other Worlds’. It told of an archaeologist who, whilst fleeing from enraged villagers in Peru, jumps a 25 ft. chasm only to be hit by a stray teleport beam from a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri. He materialises in another world filled with giant plants and monsters, and is rescued by a beautiful woman named Alanna who teaches him her language.

‘Secret of the Eternal City!’ reveals that planet Rann is recovering from atomic war, and the beam was in fact a simple flare: one of many sent in an attempt to communicate with other races. In the four years since (speed of light, right? – Alpha Centauri is about 4.3 light years from Sol), the Zeta-Flare travelled through cosmic radiation, converting it into a teleportation beam. Until the radiation drains from his body Strange will be a very willing prisoner on a fantastic world.

And an incredibly unlucky one apparently, as no sooner has he started acclimatising than an alien race named The Eternals invade, seeking a mineral to grant them immortality. Adam’s courage and wits enable him to defeat the invaders only to have the radiation finally fade, drawing him home before the adoring Alanna can administer a hero’s reward. And thus was established the principles of a truly beguiling series. Adam would intercept a Zeta-beam hoping for some alone time with his alien sweetheart, only to be confronted with a planet-menacing crisis.

The very next of these, ‘The Planet and the Pendulum’ saw him obtain the crimson spacesuit and weaponry that became his trademarks in a tale of alien invaders also introducing the subplot of Rann’s rival city-states: all desperate to progress and all at different stages of recovery and development. This tale also appeared in Showcase #17.

The following issue featured the self-explanatory ‘Invaders from the Atom Universe’ and ‘The Dozen Dooms of Adam Strange’, wherein our hero must outwit the dictator of Dys who planned to invade Alanna’s city of Rannagar. With this story, Sachs was replaced by Joe Giella as inker, although he would return as soon as #19’s Gil Kane cover: the first to feature the title “Adam Strange” over the unwieldy “Adventures on Other Worlds”.

‘Challenge of the Star-Hunter’ and ‘Mystery of the Mental Menace’ are classic puzzle tales wherein Strange must outwit a shape-changing alien and an all-powerful energy-being. These were the last in Showcase (cover-dated March/April1959) as, with the August issue the former archaeologist took over the lead spot and cover of the anthological Mystery in Space.

As well as a new home, the series also found a new artist. Carmine Infantino, who had worked such magic with The Flash, applied his clean, classical line and superb design sense to create a starkly pristine, sleekly beautiful universe that was spellbinding in its cool but deeply humanistic manner, and genuinely thrilling in its imaginative wonders.

MIS #53 began an immaculate run of exotic high adventures with ‘Menace of the Robot Raiders!’ by Fox, Infantino & Sachs, followed in glorious succession by ‘Invaders of the Underground World’ and ‘The Beast from the Runaway World!’

With #56 Murphy Anderson became a semi-regular inker, and his precision brush-&-penwork made the art something of unparalleled beauty. ‘The Menace of the Super-Atom’ and ‘Mystery of the Giant Footprints’ are sheer visual poetry, but even ‘Chariot in the Sky’, ‘The Duel of the Two Adam Stranges’ (MIS #58 and #59, inked by Giella) and ‘The Attack of the Tentacle World’, ‘Threat of the Tornado Tyrant’ and ‘Beast with the Sizzling Blue Eyes’ (MIS #60-62, inked by Sachs) were – and remain – light years ahead of the competition in terms of thrills, spectacle and imagination.

Anderson returned with #63, debuting more recurring foes who employed ‘The Weapon That Swallowed Men!’ before #64’s chilling ‘The Radio-active Menace!’ and, ‘The Mechanical Masters of Rann’ both afford splendid thrills to feed young readers’ every sense – especially that burgeoning sense of wonder.

The far-flung fantasy and cosmic romance continued with ‘Space Island of Peril’ by Fox, Infantino & Giella: a duel with an alien super-being planning to throw Rann into its suns, followed in #67 by the sly ‘Challenge of the Giant Fireflies’, with Adam’s adopted home menaced by thrill-seeking creatures who live on the surface of our sun.

Murphy Anderson returned as inker-in-residence with ‘The Fadeaway Doom’, wherein Rannian General Kaskor made a unique attempt to seize power by co-opting the Zeta Beam itself. ‘Menace of the Aqua-ray Weapon!’ had a race from Rann’s primeval past revive to take possession of their old world, whilst #70 saw ‘The Vengeance of the Dust Devil’threaten not just Rann, but also Earth…

Inked by Giella, ‘The Challenge of the Crystal Conquerors’ was a sharp game of bluff and double-bluff with the planet at stake, but #72 was a radical departure from the tried-&-true formula. ‘The Multiple Menace Weapon’ found Adam diverted to the year 101,961AD to save his Rannian descendants before dealing with the threat to his own time and place. This was followed by the action-packed mystery thriller ‘The Invisible Raiders of Rann!’

The puzzles continued with #74’s complex thriller ‘The Spaceman who Fought Himself!’ – inked by Anderson, and leading to Mystery in Space #75’s legendary team-up with the freshly-minted Justice League of America against despicable Kanjar Ro. ‘Planet That Came to a Standstill’ is indisputably one of the best tales of DC’s Silver Age and a key moment in the development of cross-series continuity.

After that 25-page extravaganza it was back to 14 pages for #76’s ‘Challenge of the Rival Starman!’ as Adam becomes involuntary tutor and stalking-horse for an alien hero. ‘Ray-Gun in the Sky!’ is an invasion mystery inviting readers to solve the puzzle before our hero does, whilst ‘Shadow People of the Eclipse’ pits the interplanetary activist against a bored alien thrill-seeker. In #79’s ‘The Metal Conqueror of Rann’ Adam fights a more personal battle to bring adored Alanna back from the brink of death, and ‘The Deadly Shadows of Adam Strange’ sees an old foe return to wreak a bizarre personal revenge on the Champion of Rann.

MIS #81 tested our hero to his limits as the lost dictator who caused Rann’s nuclear armageddon returns after a thousand years to threaten both of Adam’s home-planets in ‘The Cloud-Creature that Menaced Two Worlds’, whilst a terrestrial criminal’s scheme to conquer Earth is thwarted as a result of Adam stopping ‘World War on Earth and Rann!’.

Issue #83’s penultimate peril pits him against the desperate ‘Emotion Master of Space!’ and this volume concludes with the return of relentless Jakarta the Dust-Devil who shrugs off ‘The Powerless Weapons of Adam Strange!’…

For me, Adam Strange, more than any other character, epitomises the Silver Age of Comics. Witty, sophisticated, gloriously illustrated and fantastically imaginative, and always fighting beside him, bold, capable, intelligent, beautiful and – for the pre-pubescent oiks comprising the majority readership – unattainable Alanna. The happy-ever-after was always just in reach, but only after one last adventure…

These thrillers from a distant time still hold great appeal and power for the wide-eyed and far-seeing. This tome carries a universe of wonder and excitement: by far and away some of the best written and drawn science fiction comics ever produced. Whether for nostalgia’s sake, for your own entertainment or even to get your own impressionable ones properly indoctrinated, you really need to go on his voyage of discovery.
© 1958-1963, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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DC Universe Illustrated by Neal Adams volume 1


By Neal Adams with Dennis O’Neil, Gardner F. Fox, Robert Kanigher, Howard Liss, Hank Chapman, Len Wein, Bob Haney, Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragonés, Joe Kubert & various (DDC Comics)
No ISBN: digital only edition

As the 1960s began Neal Adams was a young illustrator who had worked in advertising and ghosted some newspaper strips whilst trying to break into comics. Whilst pursuing a career in advertising and “real art” he did a few comics pages for Archie Comics and subsequently became one of the youngest artists to co-create and illustrate major licensed newspaper strip Ben Casey (based on a popular TV medical drama series).

That comics fascination never faded, however, and Adams drifted back to National/DC, doing a few covers as inker or penciller before eventually finding himself at the vanguard of a revolution in pictorial storytelling…

He made such a mark that DC have regularly curated and reissued his work in a series of commemorative collections. This is the first of a proposed series of eBook tomes extracted from heftier physical artefacts covering the artists’ minor efforts (those not starring Batman, Deadman or “Hard-Travelling Heroes” Green Lantern/Green Arrow) in themed original publication order.

Revisiting Teen Titans #20-22 and gatherings material from Detective Comics #369; Superman #254; Justice League of America #94; Our Army At War #182, 183, 186, 240; Star Spangled War Stories #134, 144; Fanboy #5 and Amazing World of DC Comics Special Edition #1 it cumulatively embraces November 1969 through July 1999.

Following a contextualising Foreword by Paul Levitz and Adams’ thoughts in his own ‘Superheroes Foreword’ the comic dramas commence with a tale of slinky sleuth The Elongated Man who solves a bizarre theft connected to the ‘Legend of the Lovers’ Lantern’ (scripted by Gardner F. Fox from Detective Comics #369, November 1969).

We then encounter a bold triptych from Teen Titans #20-22 (March/April to June/July 1969), written by Adams and pencilled by him and Sal Amendola with inks by brush-maestro Nick Cardy – one of the all-out prettiest illustration jobs of that decade.

Completing s a long-running plot-thread of extra-dimensional invaders by endowing everything with a counterculture twist, ‘Titans Fit the Battle of Jericho’ is a spectacular rollercoaster romp deftly blending teen revolt, organised crime, anti-capitalist activism, bug-eyed monsters and cunning extraterrestrial conquerors…

Symbolic super-teens Hawk and Dove briefly join the proceedings for #21’s ‘Citadel of Fear’ (Adams & Cardy): chasing smugglers, facing evil ETs and ramping up the surly teen angst quotient whilst moving the invaders story-arc towards stunning conclusion ‘Halfway to Holocaust’ wherein the abduction of Kid Flash and Robin leads to a cross-planar climax as Wonder Girl, Speedy and a radical new ally quash the invaders forever…

Excerpts from Justice League of America #94’s ‘Where Strikes Demonfang’ – specifically pages 1, 5, 20 and 22 – tie up loose ends from the Deadman saga seen elsewhere (in Strange Adventures of the Adams Deadman collections) before a modern pin-up of ‘Ra’s al Ghul’ brings us to a delightful treat scripted by Len Wein taken from The Private Life of Clark Kent backup series.

‘The Baby Who Walked Through Walls’ comes from Superman #254 (July 1972): scripted by Len Wein and deliciously detailing how even the mighty Man of Tomorrow is no match for a toddler determined to dodge her babysitter and go exploring…

Unpublished Superman pages and thumbnails culled from ‘Amazing World of DC Comics Special Edition #1’ (February 1976) segue into a selection of public service messages starring the Caped Kryptonian – specifically ‘Justice for All Includes Children 1, 2, 6 and 7′ – and are followed by a monochrome and a full-colour v ‘9/11 Tribute’…

Self-parody changes the tone as an excerpt from Fanboy #5 (July 1999) finds Mark Evanier & Sergio Aragonés joining the master of moody in an unlikely iteration of the Daft Knight…

A ‘Batman Sketchbook’ offers preliminary doodles for Robin’s new costume, Batman roughs and Joker redesigns, culminating in finished pin-ups of all before the tone twists back to hyper-realism and a ‘War Stories Foreword’ by Neal Adams begins a chronological excursion through the artist’s combat contributions to DC canon.

All recoloured in Adam’s lush modern manner, the lean sparse sagas commence with ‘It’s My Turn to Die’ from Our Army At War #182 (July 1967), with Howard Liss scripting the tale of an officer who’s reached his emotional limit, whilst ‘Invisible Sniper’ (Liss again from OAAW #183, August 1967) tracks an embattled GI hunting an infallible enemy with a killer gimmick…

‘The Killing Ground’ (Star Spangled War Stories #134, August -September 1967) is a Robert Kanigher moment from The War That Time Forgot, with PT Boat survivors striving against a succession of seaborne antediluvian atrocities, after which ‘My Life for a Medal’ – Our Army At War #186 (November 1967, by veteran scribe Hank Chapman) – holds a shocking lesson for a glory-hungry go-getter.

A visual triumph, Joe Kubert inked hot new penciller Adams on Kanigher’s ‘Death Takes No Holiday!’ (SSWS #144, April-May 1969) as another macabre death-dealing French aviator – dressed as a skeleton – terrorised and butchered Jagdstaffel pilots at will, forcing the Kaiser’s Enemy Ace Hans von Hammer into insane action to inspire his men and cure a young flier of fear-induced madness…

War takes a weird – and socially relevant – turn as we visit the future for our concluding clash in Bob Haney’s ‘Another Time Another Place’ (Our Army At War #240, January 1972) as an elite squad meet the enemy and get a sobering surprise…

Sadly short of Adams incredible canon of covers, we wrap up with only full ‘Biographies’ as a bonus, but this beautiful book still offers a look at less often seen gems that were in many ways more informative than all the big-banner achievements of a major force in comics. Now, if only DC would sort out his horror stories and truly lost gems like Jerry Lewis, we’d all be happy…
© 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1976, 1999, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.