If the timeline is so bent out of shape you're starting to notice...you might be a Legionnaire.

This issue is the first of a six-part crossover, but it's mislabeled as "End of an Era: Conclusion" on the cover. But, that'll be the least confusing part of it! From 1994, Legionnaires #17, "End of an Era, part one: History Lesson" Written by Mark Waid, pencils by Chris Gardner, inks by Dennis Cramer.

If you're not up on your Legion history, this would be a dive into the deep end; as it was the start of the crossover with the main Legion of Super-Heroes title and Valor, that would wrap up about five years of the "Five Years Later" storyline begun by Keith Giffen, as well as about 36 years of continuity as they headed into their first reboot. By this point, there were two versions of much of the 30th century team: the somewhat bleak older versions, and the "SW6 Batch" younger heroes that had been found when they escaped from the Dominators during their occupation of earth. (Which had since been blown up! The moon too.) There weren't still two versions of everybody, though: after three Legionnaires capture a deranged Rokk "Cosmic Boy" Krinn trying to rebuild earth, most of both teams had gathered on the funeral asteroid Shanghalla, to mourn the loss of the younger Laurel Gand. (Who was a post-Crisis continuity patch replacement for Supergirl!) Unfortunately, the mourning period is stepped on by the arrival of both Brainiac 5's and Invisible Kid. (One Brainy looked much, much older; after a battle with time-travelling baddie Glorith.) They've got some bad news, about the end of the universe...

Put simply, both in-story and in publication, the Legion's timeline was completely flarked; and they appeared to be turning into the skid here pre-Zero Hour. Long-time supporting character and time-travel researcher (and secret GL!) Rond Vidar points out recent changes, like the sudden and unexplained arrival of young versions of Star Boy and Dream Girl: everyone had been acting like they had been there the whole time, but if they really thought about it, they maybe just showed up last week? And another more recent supporting character, former P.I. Celeste McCauley had Green Lantern energy powers previously, now she was a Darkstar? (She's drawn to resemble a female version of the bald, reddish-skinned one from the Travis Charest ads for that brief series; even more than just having the elaborate costume!) The Legionnaires aren't really shaken by this yet, feeling that "the heart of the Legion still holds!" Until, the older Brainy leads them to a funeral marker, for Superboy, whom half of them don't seem to remember. (That wasn't across old/new lines, either, just some did and some didn't.)

The Brainy's explain, the timeline keeps shifting, but since they keep shifting with it, they aren't necessarily aware of it. To illustrate his point, the marker for Chemical King is briefly replaced by Chameleon Boy, as Chemical King switches with him for a moment. The timeline problems had started--allegedly, we know they'd been around longer--when the SW6 entered stasis; which brings up a sore point: so far, it had never been firmly determined what the SW6 was. The obvious answer would have been some kind of clones or duplicates created by the Dominators, but they weren't. There was even some proof that pointed at the younger versions being "real" and the older versions "knock-offs," as Leviathan indelicately puts it.

Before a fight can break out between the two versions, some actual villains appear from nowhere, and a pretty powerful lot: Satan Girl, Urthlo, and the adult Legion of Super-Villains Cosmic King, Lightning Lord, and Saturn Queen! (Sun Boy--the younger Sun Boy, who might have been using the name Inferno? He gets popped in the mouth before he can point out 'Satan Girl' was a duplicate of Supergirl--who, in the updated continuity, would've been Laurel Gand, but that wouldn't work without a lot of rejiggering: Satan Girl was created by Supergirl being affected by Red Kryptonite, and the Daxamites didn't have an analog to that...ah, continuity.) The adult LSV from Superman #147 might even be one of the first Legion continuity problems, as they had attacked an adult Superman, but were stopped by adult versions of the original three Legionnaires. By the way, big shout out to DC's old digests like Adventure Comics and Best of DC Blue Ribbon, since that's where I read reprints of a lot of the classic Legion stories referenced!

The brief fight is just a distraction, as the new power couple Mordru and Glorith have captured Rokk Krinn, and disappear. Luckily, the Legion had Dawnstar--minus her glorious wings, but she still had her tracking power! She could find Rokk anywhere in the universe...except she just disappeared mid-sentence. Super. There's a slight bit of logic to Dawnstar disappearing, beyond "narrative convenience," but get ready for way more of that as the story continues! Some characters will get final moments or big goodbyes, and others will just poof! Be gone, off-panel, when you weren't looking. Which maybe feels like a metaphor for the Legion, somehow. Read more!

"The End" Week: Valor #23!

I watched Beneath the Planet of the Apes again recently: I first saw it when I was 6 or 7; and I think every time I've seen it since I can't help but hope it will somehow end differently. It never does, and neither did this one; as I finally read two parts of the crossover that wrapped up the "Five Years Later" era: from 1994, Valor #23, "Infinite Valor" Written by Kurt Busiek, pencils by Colleen Doran, inks by Dave Cooper.

This was, like Team Titans #24, another Zero Hour crossover/last issue; but more importantly it was part 5 of the 6-part "End of an Era" crossover with Legion of Super-Heroes and Legionnaires. Yeah, the Legion basically had three titles then! "Valor" was Lar Gand, the post-Crisis version of Legion powerhouse Mon-El, finally returned to the 30th century, pretty much just in time for it to fall apart. Among other things, time seemed to be erasing the Legion and their friends, with heroes seemingly randomly disappearing; a fate Valor had avoided only with the help of Tasmia Mallor, Shadow Lass. She remembered them being married, and they were able to keep each other in place. Mostly: when Lar starts to slip out of reality again, an old friend lends a helping hand...

Meanwhile, sort of, since time was breaking; Rokk "Cosmic Boy" Krinn faces one of the Legion's oldest foes, the mysterious Time Trapper. Who tries to explain, that wasn't what he had been trying to do, at all: the Trapper had been trying to save the future, but, well, mistakes were made. He references three attempts to help that went south, and three tries to rebuild the timeline that also failed; and also cops to creating the SW6, the younger version of the team that had been discovered in Dominator pods. The SW6 had been a time paradox, which didn't help matters. Nor does the reveal, that the Trapper actually was Rokk Krinn! Also, on the planet Talus, the remnants of both Legion teams, were getting clobbered by Mordru and Glorith, who had stolen the power of the Infinite Man. Confused and demoralized, the Legion is on the verge of defeat, when Lar and Tasmia arrive with help: Superboy! Classic pre-Crisis version.

Lar is able to distract Glorith with a bit of dirty pool: offering himself to her, if she'll spare the Legion. She really seems into that, until Superboy punches her out; and the Dream Girls play a hunch, knocking Lar into absorbing the power Glorith lost. After fighting Mordru on equal footing for a bit, the Brainiac 5's tell Lar to release the power, let Mordru have it: the infinite power is too much, which gives them the chance to exploit his weakness: burying him. The plan isn't a complete success, since Mordru buries himself within Pocket Earth, which had been pulled into that dimension in a previous issue, but was going to explode soon...Worse, Tasmia had caught a stray blast. She has time to tell Lar--Mon--she loves him, before disappearing. Lar tells the others, fix this, he was going after her, and disappears as well.

It's a brutal loss, but before the Legion can fall into despair, Superboy rallies the team, one final time, before disappearing himself. Still, even without him, the team stays rallied, for one last push...

I had read the final chapter when it came out, and I knew Superboy wasn't in it, so I knew what was going to happen here and there was no avoiding it. I don't think I had warmed to Valor before, since Mon-El's final battle--against the Time Trapper, if I recall correctly!--was surprisingly affecting. I think I liked this better than some of his other, modern appearances; but then I like the character: keep giving him shots. Read more!

"The End" Week: Team Titans #24!

This was purchased specifically for "The End" week, but also seems to be a great example of this year's unintended theme: it's a Zero Hour crossover, basically an invitation for new readers to check out the title, which is now cancelled, sorry. From 1994, Team Titans #24, "All Good Things..." Written by Jeffrey Jensen and Phil Jimenez, pencils by Nigel Tully, inks by Andrew Pepoy, Rus Sever, and Dan Davis. Cover by the series' previous regular artist, Terry Dodson, who I had hoped to see here. And some stones using that title, just a few months after the Next Generation finale did!

Going into this one, about the only thing I knew about Team Titans was its first issue had five variants, with a different back-up story and cover for each, but the same lead story. That crossed a line from 'gimmick' to 'scam.' Anyway, the Team's deal was they were from a possible future, ruled by Lord Chaos, and had travelled back in time to try and stop him from getting power. (Chaos was Donna Troy and Terry Long's son, so of course he was an abomination...) Or were they? A shadowy figure does a lot of monologuing and evil laughing; it's Hank Hall again, Monarch! This issue would continue in Zero Hour, where the Team Titans' possible future was erased or never formed, so the last twenty-some issues are kind of moot, then.

There may have been a few, regular Teen Titans in this issue, though; like Bumblebee, Malcolm, and Aqualad. The Terra here I think was from the alternate future, but she has turned up here and there since. Along with the usual Team Titans, there were a ton of others like the Human Mystery, Hellebore, Murder Master, and Green. Good luck finding anything on them anywhere! A lot of them seemed like the usual 90's pick-a-noun-that-hadn't-been-used-before heroes--there's a Battalion in here somewhere--but Human Mystery almost feels like a Golden Age oddball trying for a revival.

Anyway, there's a Studio 54 cameo, and a particularly hapless hero gets eaten by a pterodactyl off of the Space Needle, neither of which are as fun as you'd hope.

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I really thought this "Zero Hour" tie-in might tie in at some point...

When we looked at the Demon's Zero Hour crossover issue a couple weeks back, I was going to take a gander at another one from that crossover. Not this one, actually, but it still works: from 1994, Wonder Woman #0, "The Contest, part 2: The Blind Eyes of Time" Written by William Messner-Loebs, art by Mike Deodato Jr. With a Brian Bolland cover!

If I ever read this issue, it's probably been about twenty years; but the first page confirms my guess that this was building up to Artemis replacing Diana as Wonder Woman. Replacing heroes, either long-term or temporarily, had paid off big for DC so far with Superman, Batman, Green Lantern (I was going to count Flash, but Wally was well-established by this point) so why not Wonder Woman? Diana is not thrilled when her mom Hippolyta tells her there will be a new contest for the title of WW, in part because they felt Diana was getting too manlike, as in violent. Hippolyta acts as if Diana had been getting too big for her britches, and tells her she's not irreplaceable in the role. Later, Diana's friend Mala softens that blow a bit: this contest really isn't any different than an election, re-confirming her status; and maybe Diana might not want to be Wonder Woman forever? Diana has to at least admit that's a possibility.

There's a brief flashback to the first contest, in which Diana had been forbidden to compete, but had done so while masked and won. Here the mask is the fancier Mask of Proteus, with which she looks like a completely different Amazon; it may have been felt an ordinary mask wouldn't have fooled Hippolyta long enough for Diana to compete. While Diana is helping set up for the contest, and noting she currently only has her normal strength; Artemis shows up to tell her that won't be a problem, since Hippolyta has announced that any that have warred against her and not shown the proper "loving submission" couldn't compete, namely her. That's at least the second time "loving submission" has come up this issue (and it would again before the end) and it's a bit of a throwback to WW's oldest stories, I don't think it's seen much anymore.

To find out what's what, Diana accompanies Artemis to her village: I'm not sure about the politics at this point, but they were a splinter faction, "cast out" at some point in the past and living a rougher, more violent life than Hippolyta's Amazons. Still, the aged wise woman Mala (Diana notes she has a friend with that same name...) tells Diana of their "first mother," Hippolyta's sister Antiope: they still had a sculpture of her from three thousand years ago...and it looks exactly like Diana! She barely has time to ask what that was about before she disappears...

Diana seems to wake up moments later, about three thousand years ago, as Antiope. We see her sister, a much younger and flightier Hippolyta, giddy with joy, since Herakles had proposed to her. In Wonder Woman continuity, Herakles enslaved the Amazons for some time; and while Antiope doesn't trust "ol' cudgel-brains" Hippolyta has spilled all kinds of beans about the Amazons' immortality. Antiope has to marry Herakles' friend Hylas, who turns on her on their wedding night: she fights free to warn her sister, but is tricked by Herakles wearing the Mask of Proteus, and clubbed on the head--as is Diana in the present!

Best guess; I think this plotline was laying down that maybe Hippolyta wasn't always right in her decisions, which was going to make Diana consider if it was right for her to be Wonder Woman. Artemis would have the costume for a bit, but it may have been a briefer stretch than I had thought. Well, at least Artemis would get an action figure out of it years later! And Deodato's art is nice--probably the best art the book had since George Perez--it's very, um, male gaze-y, let's say. I don't know how that would be received today...
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It's an "Everything you know is wrong" story, but this was the time to do it.

We've seen a number of Demon appearances here over the years, and in them his level of badness has varied from Chaotic Good to eat-a-baby, full-on Belichick evil. Today the knobs go up to 11. From 1994, the Demon #0, "Zero Hour" Written by Garth Ennis, art by John McCrea. Despite the title and the tie-in, this didn't have much else to do with the crossover...

Jason Blood has just drank an elixir prepared by himself and Merlin, removing the mental blocks Etrigan had placed on Blood. Having eleven centuries of memories suddenly return would probably be bad enough, but eleven centuries of his crimes and sins may be more than his sanity can bear. In the year 560, Jason was a family man, with no interest in the possible fall of Camelot; but Merlin hears his grousing as treason. Likewise, Merlin's half-brother Etrigan has not been a great deal of help against Morgaine Le Fey, and Merlin knows he'll soon be unable to control the ambitious Demon. So, Merlin kills two birds with one stone, trapping Etrigan in Jason; driving both of them completely insane. Jason kills his family, then the Demon murders his entire village; earning them the name Jason-of-the-Blood.

Since Jason had been a good, if cynical, man; Etrigan has work on him to make a good host. He alters Jason's thoughts and memories to make him more amenable; making Jason a willing partner. Using Etrigan's power, Jason quickly amasses a massive fortune; but Etrigan's also making moves to keep advancing in the hierarchy of hell. After the brutal murder of a cardinal, Jason confronts Etrigan, and tells him no more; Etrigan alters his mind again. After more centuries of atrocities, Etrigan and Blood are invited to Hell to see Lucifer. (Described here as "a million miles away from the flake who will eventually quit his post.") Blood asks Lucifer where to go for new experiences and opportunities, and is told simply "west." Blood and Etrigan go to America, and commit about every horrible thing ever done in this country; until in July 1917, at a party Jason almost literally says "hold my beer" and leaves to wrap up the first World War. (Partly because he could, mostly for a million gold sovereigns.)

On August 1, 1917; Jason Blood is moved to save "a regiment of virgins," sad, doomed soldiers; and unleashes the Demon against the Germans. And the Demon even brings back-up, partly because he has advanced in rank to rhymer, partly because he felt Jason's deal didn't really do anything for him. After slaughtering the Germans, he does the same to the English; leaving ten thousand dead in the trenches. Jason loses his mind again, and the Demon is forced to erase his memory, but goes too far: everything from when Merlin joined them is forgotten. Jason believed himself to be a good man, struggling to get separated from Etrigan; piecing together clues over almost eight decades. Now, with Etrigan planning to unleash his son on Glenda and her unborn child, Jason has forced Merlin to show him the truth. (And in truth, Merlin was responsible for much of it!) All that saves Merlin, is that Jason needs Merlin's help to kill Etrigan...!

There was less than a year left of this book, before Ennis and McCrea moved on to Hitman, but I don't think the Jason vs. Etrigan plot ran the whole distance. Still, not unlike Marvel's Ghost Rider, every so often the Demon is portrayed as evil who happens to occasionally take out other evil, but not necessarily good...
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Geez, Clark, no PDA's at work.

Looks like he's going to eat Lois's face there...worse, Lois isn't ready at all, since Clark isn't her husband! This one's from Zero Hour, and Adventures of Superman Alpha Centurion #518, "The Hero of Metropolis" Written by Karl "Claudius" Kesel, guest pencils by Peter "Caesar" Krause, guest inks by Jackson "Augustus" Guice.

With Zero Hour causing disruptions in the timeline, Superman returns to Metropolis to discover no one there remembers him or Clark Kent! The hero of Metropolis is now Alpha Centurion, who Supes met in Zero Hour #2, and is engaged in battle with one of his foes, Bloody Mary. With Supes' help, the Centurion defeats Mary, but gets shanked good, and has to return to his headquarters. (Superman notes that the Centurion's A-shaped building is where the Lexcorp building should be...)

After reviving in the "Aquavitae," the gregarious Centurion has his serving wenches bring out food and drink, so he can recount his origin: two thousand years ago, when he was Roman citizen Marcus Aelius, aliens arrive and propose an exchange of ideas and representatives. After a special series of games, Marcus wins the prize, and journeys to the aliens' homeworld for ten years of study.

However, "due to the vagaries of quantum physics," Marcus returns after twenty times that time, in the twentieth century. The arrival of his ship nearly causes an accident, so Marcus goes into action to save a damaged space shuttle, and a reporter gives him his heroic nom de plume. The story sounds familiar to Clark, and so does the reporter:

Clark is crushed: this timeline isn't his, and he sets out to correct it. Owing Superman his life, Alpha Centurion nobly joins him; although Supes points out correcting the timeline could wipe AC out of existence. The Centurion laughs that off: "My life spans twenty centuries, Superman. That's not an easy existence for time to eliminate."

Oddly, the end of this issue says it's continued in Zero Hour #2, while a footnote previously mentioned Supes met AC there. The timeline's more jacked-up than I would've guessed...I know the Centurion appears a few times in Zero Hour, with fellow timeline refugee Batgirl, as Parallax Hal Jordan tries to tempt them with the reality of their choosing.

The art this issue isn't the best; perhaps rushed, or perhaps the pencils and inks didn't gel just right. But the Centurion is an interesting character here: while he shares Superman's nobility and sense of duty, he seems to have waaaaaay more zest for life. I didn't like, however, that without Supes in the picture, Lois gets passed over to AC like she comes with the hero of the city job. While I don't have any of Alpha Centurion's later appearances, I imagine there's gotta be a story where he fights Superman over Lois. Unless maybe AC isn't a one-woman man, which I could kinda see...he seemed like he'd be a good Hercules to Superman's Thor.
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A bit of catch-up ball here:

So, a month or so ago we were talking about multiple Batmen display options, and I mentioned this issue, but couldn't find it. It was easier just to buy another copy: Superman: the Man of Steel #37, "Countdown to Zero" (which was probably the title of like three other Zero Hour crossovers) Story by Louise Simonson, pencils by Jon Bogdanove, inks by Dennis Janke.

Although it's pretty memorable for the gimmick, this one had the potential to be one of the best Zero Hour tie-ins, but it doesn't quite deliver. Perhaps valiantly, they keep their ongoing plotlines going, crossover or no. Still, one of those involves a vampire heavy metal singer playing a benefit concert for Metropolis, so while I appreciate the effort, I wish they had just gone with the A-plot.

Batman shows up in Metropolis, in person since the city had recently been nearly demolished by Lex Luthor; to warn Superman of a time anomaly that was causing people from the past to suddenly appear. This Batman's a Neal Adams-era version, who has no recollection of recent events like Bane breaking his back. Two more Batmen appear shortly, Dark Knight and Bob Kane models.

Somewhat surprisingly, they're all pretty cool with each other. I mean, if Zero Hour came out now, it feels like Batman would be the one to give his alternate versions the hassle; accusing them of being fakes or white Martians or thou shalt have no Batmen before me or something. I think the future Batman would be content to see other versions of himself that might have an easier time of things or come to a better end; while the past one would probably be thrilled to see he could be successful enough to have a legacy.

Still, despite a skirmish with the mutants from Dark Knight Returns (or not, they could be just lookalike vampire hunters...whatever) all the Batmen eventually disappear; as the current timeline's Batman shows up to warn Supes about that time anomaly. Supes is too polite to tell Bats he got the memo.

The issue ends with Metron showing up with his usual premonition of doom, while Jor-El and Lara show up at the Kents farm, probably to see why their son wasn't raised traditional Kryptonian or something. And I like Metron, but he's like the Phantom Stranger: does he ever show up when things aren't circling the drain? Could just stop by every once in a while and say everything's going great, Metron. Just a thought. Read more!

As usual, when Guy Gardner's making the most sense of anyone there, things aren't going well.


From Zero Hour #3, story and art by Dan Jurgens, finishes by Jerry Ordway.

I liked Zero Hour, and several of the accompanying zero issues, when they first came out. Everyone remembers Starman as the best thing to come out of it, and, well, they're right. Unless the upcoming Booster Gold #0 really brings it.

But this sequence jumped out at me the last time I flipped through it: why is Atom hanging out with Guy Gardner? Ray was in the Justice League for years and years, standing on the shoulders of Hawkman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Barry Allen; why is he there? The only interaction I can recall of Ray and Guy was a Power of the Atom issue where Ray declines an invitation to the 'Bwah-ha-ha' League; when Guy mocks they don't need a guy that gets small, Ray flips him onto his ass. (I don't have the issue handy, but the cover tells the story pretty well.)

So, the Atom and Warrior just happened to be standing by each other when they get the news of the past Hal Jordan's death in the future from Waverider, yet another sentence that makes me love comics again. Or...was Ray planning on keeping an eye on Guy, knowing that he would be tempted to take any opportunity to change recent history? Or, was Guy intentionally bringing Atom into his plan, knowing he had experience with time travel--those old stories with the time pool might not be common knowledge, but it's not inconceivable Guy would've heard about it. Or, again, they were the two characters in panel for a bit of dialog setting up a subplot that was either a red herring or a dead end.

By the way, the former Teen Titans all seem like big crybabies over the loss of Wally. And Roy/Speedy/Arsenal's costume is capital-T terrible. Worse than Donna's Darkstar phase.

Just a short one today, hopefully to build up to bigger posts. Got another pile of quarter books today, and it's time to get to reading. Read more!