- Writer: Steve Englehart
- Penciller: Joe Staton
- Inker: Ian Gibson
- Colorist: Carl Gafford
- Letterer: Bob Lappan
- Cover Penciller: Joe Staton
- Cover Inker: Bruce D. Patterson
- Editor: Andrew Helfer
Cover: The silhouettes in the centre are the Chosen. The top three, left to right, are Extrano; Ram; and Jet. The bottom three are Gloss; Harbinger; and Floronic Man.
In the foreground are Superman; Wonder Woman; Flash; and Batman.
Page 1: First page, first big group shot. I’ve numbered the heroes clockwise from the top, placing the numbers as close to the hero’s head as possible while trying not to obscure other characters. Here’s the key:
1) Nadia Safir 2) Batman 3) Martian Manhunter 4) Captain Atom 5) Firestorm 6) Blue Beetle 7) Wonder Woman 8) Hourman 9) Obsidian 10) Harbinger 11) Nuklon 12) Wildcat 13) Dr Midnight 14) Brainwave 15) Mr Bones 16) Skyman 17) Jade 18) Celia Windward 19) Xiang Po 20) Betty Clawman 21) Gregorio de la Vega 22) Takeo Yakata 23) Tom Kalmaku 24) Floronic Man 25) GL Kilowog 26) Aqualad 27) Aquaman 28) Booster Gold 29) Hawkgirl 30) Flash 31) Black Canary 32) Green Arrow 33) Hawkman 34) GL Guy Gardner 35) GL Arisia 36) GL Katma Tui 37) GL John Stewart 38) GL Driq 39) GL Hal Jordan 40) Superman 41) Mr Miracle 42) Herupa Hando Hu.
The previous issues of MILLENNIUM had issue titles of Over, Under, Back, Forth, In, Out, and the previous issue was Down, so you’d expect this issue to be called Up . . . but that clearly wasn’t grand enough.
Note the caption in the bottom right that is a call back to the first caption of issue #1, Page 1 – Panel 1.
Page 2 – Panel 1: The captions refer to “Floro” – this was a name the Floronic Man took for himself in GREEN LANTERN CORPS #221 in Crossovers Week 7; call me old fashioned but I’ll continue referring to him as Floronic Man.
Page 2 – Panel 2: Herupa Hando Hu and Nadia Safia now look incredibly old.
Page 2 – Panel 3: Nadia refers to the fourth and third concepts, part of the Teaching that was imparted to the Chosen in issue #5.
Page 2 – Panel 5: And this is what the Millennium Event has been building to, the creation of new heroes for the coming age.
Page 3 – Panel 1: Herupa mentions that “once there were many universes“, another reference to the multiverse which, following CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, no-one should remember.
Page 3 – Panel 4: Because she’s been Chosen to transform first, Xiang assumes she will lead.
Page 3 – Panel 5: There’s been a couple of mentions of Xiang and Takeo being attracted to each other throughout the series and here they have their first kiss.
Page 3 – Panel 6: Wonder Woman refers to her own birth where she was formed of clay by her mother and given life by the Olympian gods.
Page 4 – Panels 1 and 2: Herupa and Nadia combine their powers and implant them in Xiang who becomes . . .
Page 4 – Panel 3: Gloss, the first of the new heroes among the Chosen.
Page 5 – Panel 2: In a not at all stereotypical sort of way, the Chinese woman who has become Gloss now declares she can access the power of the dragon lines of feng-shui.
Page 5 – Panel 3: The rest of the Chosen note that Gloss no longer considers herself a part of “the Chinese” but rather a part of everything.
Page 5 – Panel 4: Booster Gold makes a slightly ribald remark and Flash rebukes him; odd as it wasn’t that long ago that Flash was making the same sort of remarks.
Page 6 – Panel 1: Up in Olympus, the gods are watching. At the top in red is Artemis; in blue at the bottom is Athena.
Page 6 – Panel 2: And in the Amazon, the Parliament of Trees is also aware of what’s going on.
Page 6 – Panel 4: Takeo is the next of the Chosen to be transformed.
Page 6 – Panel 5: The other Chosen are happy for him – isn’t that nice?
Page 7 – Panel 1: As they did with Gloss, Herupa and Nadia combine their powers and turn the CEO of an electronics company into . . .
Page 7 – Panel 2: . . . RAM. Not at all cliched. Oh no.
Page 7 – Panel 3: He demonstrates that he’s able to interface with the Green Lanterns’ computer from where he stands, the “data spiral through the ether” – did Steve Englehart just predict wireless computing?!
Page 8 – Panel 1: “The Japanese haven’t been able to act directly, as men, since 1945!” RAM declares, clearly forgetting the automotive industry where Japan had a large market share by 1988, not to mention his own field of electronics where Japanese companies were synonymous with well made and reliable goods.
Page 8 – Panel 2: On Apokolips, Darkseid is informed of the creation of RAM.
Page 8 – Panel 3: It’s DC shorthand that if Darkseid appears in a comic for just a couple of panels, he has to mention his quest for Anti-life!
Page 8 – Panel 4: On New Genesis, Highfather is also aware of what’s going on. The son he mentions is Mr Miracle.
Page 8 – Panel 6: As Nadia and Herupa begin to suffer, she falls into the arms of Mr Miracle, actually referring to him as the “son of Highfather” just in case there was any doubt.
Page 8 – Panel 7: And Gregorio is up next.
Page 9 – Panels 1 and 2: But he has doubts because, while it’s never been explicitly stated on the page, Gregorio is clearly gay and is aware of the damage that may cause the team from some parts of the world.
Page 9 – Panel 3: He is convinced, however, and again Herupa and Nadia combine their powers to produce . . .
Page 9 – Panel 4: . . . Extrano
Page 10 – Panel 3: Extrano calls himself a witch, giving the Chosen a magic wielding team mate.
Page 10 – Panel 5: And “somewhither” the Phantom Stranger makes the same old pun on his name.
Page 11 – Panel 1: Even the Weaponers of Qward are aware of what’s going on, and assume that Sinestro can do something about it.
Page 11 – Panel 2: As seen in GREEN LANTERN CORPS #221 in Crossovers Week 7, Sinestro is currently captured on the Moon. Here he is on the right, with the magician Myrwhydden on the left.
Page 11 – Panel 3: As Herupa calls for Betty next, Nadia brushes off Mr Miracle’s attempts to get help.
Page 11 – Panel 4: Betty says she’s ready to leave, just as she did way back in issue #2 when Herupa and Nadia first found her in the Australian outback.
Page 12 – Panel 1: Nadia and Herupa combine their powers and . . .
Page 12 – Panel 2: . . . Betty sinks into the Earth.
Page 12 – Panel 5: Nadia explains that Betty has now become one with the Earth and will communicate with her fellow Chosen via Extrano.
Page 13 – Panel 1: In Hell, Etrigan spins a terrible rhyme that basically sounds like he’s saying “Eeew, girls smell!”
Page 13 – Panel 2: The spirits of Salima Baranizar and Nikolai Latikov, two of the Chosen who were murdered before they could join the group. Salima was killed in BLUE BEETLE #20 as shown in Crossovers Week 2, while Nikolai was killed in issue #3.
Page 13 – Panel 3: Despite Nikolai’s thirst for revenge, the Spectre appears to stop him.
Page 13 – Panel 4: A random glimpse of the Creeper here.
Page 13 – Panel 5: Celia Windward is picked next.
Page 14 – Panel 1: As before, Nadia and Herupa combine powers and . . .
Page 14 – Panel 2: . . . Celia has become Jet.
Page 14 – Panels 3 and 4: She too is now in control of Earth-based powers.
Page 15 – Panel 2: When we first met her in issue #2, Celia was not impressed by even the idea of costumed heroes.
Page 15 – Panel 3: While simplistic, her reasoning of “if you have power, use it to do good” isn’t a bad outlook on life.
Page 15 – Panel 4: The Challengers of the Unknown, from top to bottom, are Professor Haley; Matthew “Red” Ryan; Lester “Rocky” Davis; and Kyle “Ace” Morgan.
Page 15 – Panel 5: It’s not completely clear who this is; the caption about “if they’ve case their minds towards the heavens” hints at space travel so this might be Adam Strange.
Page 15 – Panel 6: This is Sarge Steel.
Page 15 – Panel 7: And this is Deadman.
Page 16 – Panel 1: Herupa and Nadia clearly aren’t faring very well. If they’re this close to the end after five transformations, how would they have managed with their original plan for ten?
Page 16 – Panels 3 and 4: Surprisingly, Floronic Man takes one for the team and doesn’t need to be altered as he’s already happy with himself.
Page 16 – Panel 5: So Nadia turns to Tom who . . .
Page 17 – Panel 1: . . . turns them down.
Page 17 – Panel 6: This is Tom’s wife Tegra and, on the left, their son Keith, and on the right, their daughter Kari. Tom’s reasons for refusing the transformation are straightforward enough that I don’t feel the need to add anything to them.
Page 18 – Panel 2: Hal Jordan realises that Tom has to do what is right for him and accepts that Tom’s not going to go through with the transformation.
Page 18 – Panel 3: And the rest of the Chosen are happy for Tom, too.
Page 18 – Panel 4: What Nadia says that they can manage with seven, Tom’s confused as, discounting him, the Chosen currently number six.
Page 18 – Panel 5: But then Nadia surprises everyone by picking Harbinger as another of the Chosen.
Page 19 – Panel 1: However, Harbinger’s not so pleased to be Chosen out of the blue and refuses to accept that she is part of it more so than any of the other heroes who’ve helped out.
Page 19 – Panel 4: Despite Herupa and Nadia trying to convince her, Harbinger splits into her twenty bodies and flies off.
Page 19 – Panels 6 and 7: So they turn back to Tom and bathe him in the same light as the others.
Page 20 – Panel 1: Nadia says they “sincerely respect [Tom’s] wishes” but force his powers on to him anyway, claiming that he now needs to be protected. If Harbinger hadn’t flown off, would they still have granted him his powers in a latent form?
Page 20 – Panel 3: Remember Janwillem Kroef? He was the South African racist who was part of the Chosen only to leave in issue #6 as he violently disagreed with Herupa and Nadia’s plans.
Page 20 – Panel 5: Kroef has now embraced his villainous side and, using some of the insights he gained during his time with the Chosen, is planning to fight against them.
Page 21 – Panels 1 to 3: Their work finally finished, Herupa and Nadia die.
Pages 22 and 23 – Panel 1: Actually, Booster, it was the Beatles who said it’s been a “long and winding road.“
Pages 22 and 23 – Panel 2: Jet’s thoughts that it’s anti-climactic could sum up this issue – there’s been no conflict, just a string of new heroes being created.
Pages 22 and 23 – Panel 4: Superman’s had enough and is heading home.
Pages 22 and 23 – Panel 6: And so the heroes head off, leaving the Chosen with the Green Lantern Corps.
Pages 22 and 23 – Panel 7: The last words, “they’re ready for you now” are a call back to the first words spoken in this issue on Page 1.
Crisis on Earth-Prime 