Retro Comics are Awesome

[andersonh1]

Random retro comic that I ran across today while browsing back issues.

The Brave and the Bold #13, 2008
Mark Waid and Jerry Ordway... okay, two reasons to pick it up right there.

Teams up Batman and the Jay Garrick Flash... two more reasons to buy the issue.

They used one of the Flash logos from the 40s? Sold. Hey, I'm a graphic designer, logos are part of my vocation.

Batman is investigating a murder when an assassin almost kills him from behind. He fights back and learns quickly that it's an android. The thing begins to disassemble right in front of his eyes. Batman knows that it's someone fast enough to be invisible, but while he suspects Clark or Diana, he's surprised to see that it's Jay Garrick, who came to town to investigate the murdered man, a friend of his named Philip Lerner. It turns out that the man was killed and Wayne Enterprises is being bullied by someone trying to buy some rare chemicals used for the AI that controlled the android attacker. Batman actually invites Jay along to help him investigate. How long has it been since Batman was anything but arrogant and always insisting he works alone? It's good to see a different approach.

Meanwhile T.O. Morrow and the Penguin are working together to activate an army of robot samurai that Morrow had created once. Yeah, robot samurai. I love the absurdity of comics. And of course it's the Penguin who's been trying to get the chemicals from Wayne Enterprises. He plans to send the Samuriods to kill Bruce Wayne.

There are some good character scenes between Bruce and Jay as they discuss drawing his enemies out into the open. Jay has had a number of proteges both in and out of his superheroics. He talks about not being able to go on forever and about being comfortable passing the baton, but Bruce won't engage him on the topic. Jay goes to patrol the grounds of Wayne Manor when the Samuroids attack en masse. They retreat to the Batcave, where Jay decides to try making a chemical concoction that will counteract the microchemicals controlling the robots. Batman gives him a slightly sarcastic "yes sir" when Jay suggests a plan of action. Batman fights a losing battle against the Samuroids while Jay prepares the attack, and it works. They deactivate the androids and trace them back to T.O. Morrow and destroy the factory and all his androids. We get a nice final scene where Batman tells Jay how much he respects him, and Jay tells Batman that he's a great sidekick.

And herein lies the value in a team-up book like this: the writer gets to throw two disparate characters together and bring out some different aspects of their characters than we'd normally see. People don't earn Batman's respect easily, and we don't see him express it often. It's a good story, with some great Jerry Ordway art, and it's nice to see Batman not behaving like a complete jerk for once.

edit: ah, I see where Mark Waid got the Samuroids, and that the Batman pose on the cover is a visual tribute to Flash's pose in this cover: http://speedforce.org/2015/07/digital-samuroids/

[andersonh1]

Sparky, here's another random bit of Green Lantern continuity that I picked up from reading the GL omnibus: the ring that Hal Jordan destroyed during Emerald Twilight and which was remade by Ganthet for Kyle Rayner was not Hal's original GL ring. The original is destroyed by Evil Star in his first appearance in GL #37. The Guardians give Hal a replacement at the end of that story. This isn't a significant incident by any means, but it's the type of trivia that's interesting to learn simply because it's probably long since been forgotten, and modern writers treat Hal's GL ring as the same one he got when Abin Sur crashed and bequeathed it to him.

[Sparky Prime]

Sparky, here's another random bit of Green Lantern continuity that I picked up from reading the GL omnibus: the ring that Hal Jordan destroyed during Emerald Twilight and which was remade by Ganthet for Kyle Rayner was not Hal's original GL ring. The original is destroyed by Evil Star in his first appearance in GL #37. The Guardians give Hal a replacement at the end of that story. This isn't a significant incident by any means, but it's the type of trivia that's interesting to learn simply because it's probably long since been forgotten, and modern writers treat Hal's GL ring as the same one he got when Abin Sur crashed and bequeathed it to him.

Yeah, I think Hal actually had a few replacement rings over the years after his was destroyed for one reason or another. And it isn't just modern writers that treat the replacement as the same one that Abin Sur gave him. Just 4 issues after that one, in Green Lantern #41, they reveal Abin Sur captured a villain known as Myrwhydden within his ring, yet despite that ring being destroyed, he's somehow still imprisoned within Hal's replacement ring.

[andersonh1]

Sparky, here's another random bit of Green Lantern continuity that I picked up from reading the GL omnibus: the ring that Hal Jordan destroyed during Emerald Twilight and which was remade by Ganthet for Kyle Rayner was not Hal's original GL ring. The original is destroyed by Evil Star in his first appearance in GL #37. The Guardians give Hal a replacement at the end of that story. This isn't a significant incident by any means, but it's the type of trivia that's interesting to learn simply because it's probably long since been forgotten, and modern writers treat Hal's GL ring as the same one he got when Abin Sur crashed and bequeathed it to him.

Yeah, I think Hal actually had a few replacement rings over the years after his was destroyed for one reason or another. And it isn't just modern writers that treat the replacement as the same one that Abin Sur gave him. Just 4 issues after that one, in Green Lantern #41, they reveal Abin Sur captured a villain known as Myrwhydden within his ring, yet despite that ring being destroyed, he's somehow still imprisoned within Hal's replacement ring.

I haven't made it that far, but I have to say, that's a poor memory on the writer's part!

[andersonh1]

Thanks to Kitchen Sink Press and later IDW, we have the full run of Superman’s color Sunday newspaper strips from the decade of the 1940s, and about a third of the daily strips so far. Prior to a few years ago, I hadn’t paid much attention to the newspaper comics, being more interested in the actual comic books themselves. But that was a mistake, particularly since the newspaper strips contain not only the most expansive early version of Superman’s origin, but also end up going off in their own direction as a separate continuity to the comics.

One of the things that we’re now able to do is see how the approach to the character changed in just ten short years. I've griped about the constant state of upheaval in modern DC comics, and the 1940s weren't as drastic in that regard, but there are three distinct approaches to Superman and how he was written.

The early 40s – Here is where we see the social crusader and crime fighter that Siegel and Shuster originally created. When we think of “Golden Age Superman”, this is the version most people are familiar with: the guy who can’t fly at first and who isn’t completely invulnerable. He fights a few supervillains, but he's mainly concerned with crime and corrupt businesses and politicians. He's also something of an outlaw.

World War 2 – The newspaper strips delve into the war in a way that the comic books really didn’t. There’s a nearly two year long series of stories with the umbrella title “Superman’s Service to Servicemen” where he takes letters from troops serving in WW2 and answers their requests. From what little I've read of mid-40s comics, they skip the war almost entirely and start the "sitcom mixed with adventure" storylines much earlier than the newspaper strips. In the newspaper strips, this is the period where Superman is suddenly a well-respected hero and public figure rather than a vigilante.

The late 40s – The storytelling really lightens up and there’s a mix of goofy plots along with a few more traditional crime and human interest stories, as well as a few returns to the "Service to servicemen" plots as the veterans try to adapt to civilian life after the war. In the intro to the reprint volume, Mark Waid speculates that post-war America was ready to relax and laugh and leave the heavy drama behind for awhile. That approach is reflected in the newspaper storylines. The first Sunday strip after the Service to Servicemen storylines end is a retelling of Superman's origin, which makes the adventures that follow feel almost like a modern reboot. None of the character's history is jettisoned, but it's almost like the writers wanted to plant the flag and recap just who the character was before moving forward in a new direction. And while the early and middle eras are fairly consistent in tone, this late 40s section varies pretty wildly from goofy sitcom plots (Superman housecleaning for Lois) to more traditional crime dramas (Superman filling in for a wounded police trainer and teaching a small-town police force his methodology), to out and out science fiction, with Superman traveling in space and visiting aliens, something the social justice vigilante would never have done.

[Sparky Prime]

The Final Night tpb

New Tamaran is going through an environmental disaster with the light and heat from their sun cut off. They believe an alien named Dusk is involved but Starfire defends her. Eventually Starfire helps her escape the planet which explodes shortly after.

Dusk arrives on Earth and thanks to the Legion (who are currently trapped in the past) successfully translates her warning about the Sun-eater. The heroes of Earth quickly form two plans. The first is to boomtube the Sun-eater to the Source Wall, but the tube cannot handle the creature due to it partially existing between dimensions. The second plan involves the heroes creating a second sun, to lure it away but they underestimate how quickly the Sun-eater absorbs energy.

Lex Luthor and Brainiac 5 start to work together to solve the problem, using Kyle Rayner to help gather data about what's happening in the sun, although he leaves as soon as Brainiac 5 says they got what they need. Meanwhile, the other heroes turn their attention to keeping the peace as the world begins to freeze. Eventually Lex and Brainiac 5 figure out while the sun is loosing energy, it's not loosing mass and will eventually go nova as a result.

At the Source Wall, Parallax has finally tracked down Hank Henshaw and seemingly kills him out of revenge for Coast City. Kyle arrives and asks for his help but Hal just teleports him away. But Hal decides to see what the trouble is for himself. He visits various people on Earth as a farewell and releases Ganthet, before he explains to the Justice League he's there to help. Entering the sun, Hal sacrifices himself to destroy the Sun-eater and restores the sun, as well as the Earth.

--
I've been looking for this tpb for a while, happy I finally found a copy. I'm leaving a fair bit out of the summery here. It's a bit surprising how short this story actually was, yet I felt it covered a lot of ground, perhaps even more than some modern day crossovers. And there would be a fair bit of fall out from this story that would last a while. Of course the big thing was Hal's last heroic act, sacrificing himself to save the Earth, at least until Rebirth came out nearly a decade later. And Kyle would eventually abosrb the Green energy left over in the sun to briefly become Ion for the first time. Superman would also develop his electric powers after the sun was restored.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. There was more to it than I was expecting and did a great job focusing on different elements.

[andersonh1]

I've only read the fourth issue of Final Night. It came out while I was in college and had little or no money for collecting, so I had ignored it until issue 4 which seemingly wrapped up the whole Parallax storyline for Hal Jordan. I bought that issue and the Parallax one-shot, and was glad to see Hal killed off, if for no other reason than we'd be spared any further character damage. And he at least got to act heroic one last time defeating the Sun-Eater.

[andersonh1]

Green Lantern #40 (1965)
Continuing through the GL Omnibus vol. 2 and I've reached the story from this issue, "The Secret Origin of the Guardians". And if you've read Green Lantern for any length of time, most of the details from this story are familiar parts of GL lore, but it's still worthwhile to read the original. This issue marks the first appearance of Alan Scott in the Silver Age GL series as well as the first appearance of Krona, who of course is currently a character in GL Lost Army and has been a major GL villain in numerous storylines.

The story begins on Earth 2 where Alan Scott and Doiby Dickles are attending a party at Gotham Broadcasting where Alan is president. Doiby is driving Alan home afterwards when they spot a meteorite heading for the city, and Alan heads up as Green Lantern to stop it. His ring is unable to do so, but two things happen. The meterorite crashes harmlessly, and the ring's inability to affect wood is seemingly gone, as Alan finds out when a tree is about to fall on Doiby's cab and he is able to stop it using the power ring. His first thought is to cross the dimensional barrier and tell Hal Jordan what happened in the hope that the yellow weakness from that universe's GL ring might be similarly removed.

However when he arrives, he finds that his ring's weakness is back, but Hal is intrigued enough to investigate. Alan commands his ring to tell him what actually happened, and here's where the origin of the Guardians comes in. The ring begins to relate the story of the Oans, immortal beings who lived in a virtual paradise. But one of their number, Krona, was obsessed with seeing the creation of the universe, and he built a machine to allow him to observe it, despite an Oan legend that the universe would be destroyed if that secret was uncovered. Here's where the famous image of the hand holding a galaxy first appears, and we've seen it crop up several times in the various GL series over the years. It's even in the GL animated series from a few years ago when Aya goes back in time to try and avert the creation of the universe in the first place. Krona's attempt is stopped before the truthfulness of the legend can be verified or not, but he does unleash evil on the universe with his attempt. The story has a bit of a mythological "Pandora's box" feel to it.

Krona is stopped and his sentence is to be converted to energy and sent out into space to orbit the universe forever. Perpetual imprisonment/exile, in other words. Sounds like what the Guardians tried to do to Sinestro in one of his first appearances. Krona exists like this for billions of years while a group of Oans, feeling guilty for one of their own unleashing evil, become the Guardians of the Universe and found the Green Lantern Corps. And I think this is a bit of continuity that shouldn't have been forgotten, because the Guardians trying to atone for such a drastic action by Krona is a lot different than the Guardians just enforcing their idea of order on the Universe because they have the power to do so.

Long story short: the meterorite that Alan encountered was actually Krona in energy form, and he used contact with the power beam to escape and hide inside Alan's mind. He returns to his own universe where he kicks out Alan's mind and takes control of him, and then proceeds to capture the Guardians and attempt to resume his experiment to observe the beginning of the universe, keeping Alan's ring even after he retakes his original form. He reasons that even if the universe is destroyed, Alan's ring is from a different universe and will enable him to escape there. Alan still exists mentally, and using Hal's ring, the two of them are able to surprise Krona and keep him occupied long enough for the Guardians to free themselves, destroy the machine, and send Krona back out into space, imprisoned once again. Supposedly his orbit will never intersect anything this time.

Overall: Clearly, this is an important world building story in Green Lantern continuity. There is a lot here that's been built on over the years, not just in providing the Guardians with a motive for the creation of the Green Lantern Corps, but also in giving their actions a mythic scope. The life and death of the universe is a lot bigger than Hal stopping some bank robbery in Coast City. And of course Krona is a major threat that will return time and time again.

[Sparky Prime]

Day of Judgement #3
A rebel angel named Asmodel has taken over control of the spirit of vengeance, Spectre, and is unleashing hell on Earth. Meanwhile, a group of heroes have traveled to Earth's orbit to find the Spear of Destiny, while another group has traveled into the afterlife. Now in Purgatory, they find the soul of Hal Jordan. Alan Scott is happy to see Hal, knowing he is one of few with the Willpower to control Spectre although Wonder Woman is unsure it is wise given Hal's history for him to have that kind of power. Hal assures them he only wants to help like he did in the Final Night, and returns to his Green Lantern costume to symbolize this. But first they have to find a way to escape Purgatory, which they do thanks to Zauriel's sword. Back on Earth, Batman is uneasy about Hal's return, and Hal wishing to prove himself jumps right into the fight but is immediately turned to glass by the Spectre, and shattered...

Day of Judgement #4
Hal's shattered soul is restored into one piece thanks to Dr. Fate. Hal realizes he'll need some help and Alan assures him he never had to do it alone. Getting a power boost from various magic users, Hal summons the dead Green Lantern Corps to take on Spectre. Meanwhile, another group of heroes who'd gone into the after life looking for Jim Corrigan and ended up trapped in Hell find a way to escape, which also releases Hellfire from Spectre causing him to loose his demon army. Captain Marvel takes the time to injure the spirit, and Hal finds his way inside. But just as he does, a possessed Superman announces the Spectre's power will be his along with everyone's soul.

Day of Judgement #5
Inside Spectre, Hal finds a combination of the Spirit and Asmodel who begins to fight him. Outside, Superman expels Neron from his body. The heroes begin to attack him, but he gets the upper hand and takes the Spear of Destiny with him into the Spectre. With three souls all trying to control him, the Spirit instead separates from Asmodel and captures all of them demanding to know why they each think they should have his power. Asmodel and Neron both claim to be on the same mission as the Spectre, but Hal breaks down, believing his should be punished for what he did. The spirit agrees and thus chooses Hal to give him the punishment he deserves while the other two are expelled from the Spectre. Spectre begins to enact his brand of justice on Neron but Hal takes control only for Neron to suddenly vanish. The spirit of Jim Corrigan appears explaining Neron and Asmodel will be dealt with. He tells Hal his joining with the Spectre has been blessed and that he can either use it for vengeance or redemption. Alan and Kyle start to thank Hal, but he stops them telling them he has work to do.

Saw these in a used book store today and figured it'd complete my little collection of Hal's journey from Parallax to his eventual Rebirth. Never really been a fan of stories that take heroes to places like the afterlife personally. I just feel those types of stories become such a cop out. But considering this story is dealing with controlling the Spectre, it makes sense this story would go there, and it's not really Hal's return, not yet at least. I was a bit surprised to find out this was one of Geoff Johns first works for DC Comics. Makes me wonder if he'd already had any plans for Rebirth or not given that wouldn't be published until around 6 years later. Either way, while I think it was a bit odd to make Hal the Spectre, I do like that Johns decided to give the character more of a chance to redeem himself before he eventually restored him. Also nice to see Hal breaking down and saying he doesn't deserve that power which ultimately makes the Spectre choose him. Overall, not really my preferred type of story with all the fire and brimstone to it, but it was a decent story.

[andersonh1]

Thanks for the plot recaps. I haven't read Day of Judgment. I do have half a dozen issues from near the end of the Hal Jordan/Spectre series, so maybe I'll dig those out and post some summaries. It's an interesting attempt to blend the Green Lantern and Spectre concepts. And of course at the time Sinestro had actually been killed by Hal during Emerald Twilight (this is before the GL Rebirth retcons that changed that), so Sinestro's spirit turns up to harass Hal. If I remember right, there's some Norm Breyfogle art in some of the issues, and he's always been a favorite of mine.