Author: Gary

100 Issues Ago June 2011

I came across this “100 Issues Ago” panel in an old JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and thought I’d tidy it up and re-purpose it. If one month = one issue, what was I reading 100 Issues Ago?

Palmiotti and Gray had been doing some sterling work with the Freedom Fighters over several series in the years running up to this, bringing the team together in INFINITE CRISIS AFTERMATH: THE BATTLE FOR BLUDHAVEN before a couple of FREEDOM FIGHTERS titles that was coming to an end with this penultimate issue.

Here Uncle Sam battles and finally defeats the Jester who had been trying to take his place as a more tyrannical spirit of America. The celebrations are muted due to the death of one of the team and the issue ends with the President having to shut them down.

I enjoyed the team’s dynamics and, following FLASHPOINT and the rise of the New 52, Palmiotti and Gray would try to launch other versions of these heroes: Phantom Lady (with Doll Man), the Ray, and Human Bomb had their own mini-series but it went nowhere, sadly. It wasn’t until the recent FREEDOM FIGHTERS title that the characters reappeared – but that’s set on Earth-X and features different versions again.

Looking at the other comics in my collection from this time shows various series starting to wind down as something big was around the corner . . . which we’ll have to address next month.

Mash-Up #146 Strontium Dog vs Stardust

I think I’ve mentioned before that when I was a kid here in the UK, I read the short-lived STARLORD comic before 2000AD – it was only when the former was cancelled and merged with the latter that I started reading that. Thankfully, they continued the excellent Strontium Dog stories illustrated by the late, great Carlos Ezquerra.

Mash-Up #145 Captain America vs Hourman

I liked this version of Hourman though unless DC do something akin to CONVERGENCE again, we’re unlikely to see him any time soon, no pun intended.

DC’s New Timeline

At NYCC last week, DC unveiled their new timeline – or rather put it up on a big projector very briefly without letting anyone get a real good look at it.

The Hollywood Reporter article has some more info on it, but not much beyond some basic headlines. Apparently there will now be four generations in the DCU:

  • “Dawn of the Heroic Age,” which DiDio explained begins with the arrival of Wonder Woman in Man’s World, before the Second World War
  • “The Space Age,” which begins with Superman’s debut
  • “The Age of Crisis,” which spans the period between the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book series and 2011’s Flashpoint
  • “The Flashpoint,” which was characterized as the current era of DC’s output.

There’s mention in the article about DOOMSDAY CLOCK finishing in December and how that “might formalize a new continuity for the company’s comic book universe” but I doubt that, for reasons given in my post a couple of weeks back.

There are vague rumours of something big happening next year – could it be a company wide crossover that results in time resetting again (ZERO HOUR, anybody?) and introducing the new timeline? I wonder if they’ll go down that route given Didio’s quote from the Hollywood Reporter article:

“We’re starting to figure out how continuity works,” DiDio said about the process, noting that reboots and complicated retcons are what happens when “things stop making sense.”

Wait, you’re only just NOW figuring out how continuity works?