Happy Reboot Eve!

So after all the hype, doom-decreeing, dread, scorn, speculation, confusion, misinterpretation and pants turning into shorts, tonight at the stroke of midnight, a giant DC logo --> will descend from the heavens and Clark Kent will go to kiss Lois Lane, who will then slap him (possibly breaking her hand in the process) because they aren't married (and may never have been) and she has a new fella. Yup, the dawn of the DCnU is nigh! Let's cut the bullshit. This is gonna be huge! We're going to see record numbers on these books. NO ONE, no matter how pissed off they are, is NOT going to buy the shit outta these books! I mean, we can't complain if we don't actually read the books, right? Yeah, a certain number of fans have already made up their minds... they're either all on board or leaving DC forever. Those that will be exiting Earth left, have already decided that these are abominations and that's exactly what they'll see when they look at Justice League and Lee's stylized, hyper-detailed art and they will decry that Geoff Johns is an overrated hack and just Dan DiDio's goon.

Where do I fall in the spectrum of DC has always been lame! It's about time they updated their characters! and Fuck this new shit!? I dunno... in the middle? I'm not thrilled with it, let's just get that out of the way. I'm not! But DiDio's been pretty frank that they were hemorrhaging readers as-is. People were leaving the hobby (and technically, it is just a hobby) in droves. A lot have transitioned from monthly "floppies" to "wait for the trades." I do that with certain titles, because it's nice to have the whole story there for the enjoyment. Then there's the recession. Let's face it, money doesn't stretch as far as it used to, and at $4 a pop for something it takes you fifteen minutes to read (at most), comics are kind of an indulgence.

So, I suppose SOMETHING had to be done. And let's face it, when was the last time DC has EVER generated this much buzz? Have they ever? The death of Superman, maybe? But EVERYONE is talking about this and reacting to it. Marvel attempted to drum up interest in its current crossover, Fear Itself, by offering comic retailers the option of tearing the covers off of their unsold DC Flashpoint (the lead-in to this relaunch) titles in exchange for an ultra-rare Fear Itself book, that they could sell at a considerable mark-up. Every comic message board and fansite... THIS has been the leading topic of conversation since its announcement, yea or nay.

I'm in a weirdly zen place with all of this. I love my classic DC Universe... including tons and tons of classic, silly Silver Age tales. I have a small collection of Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane comics, many of which consist of Lois turning into some monstrosity or traveling through time or gaining super powers... none of which "really happened" in the (until midnight) current DC Universe. See, I came of age during the Crisis on Infinite Earths era. I started ravenously reading comics, old and new around the age of eight, so I quickly discovered the long and rich history of DC Comics and how it was explained that any stories prior to the early 50s took place on Earth 2, so there were two Supermen, one old (Earth2) and one young (Earth 1). Only the young one had his own comics. The older one just popped up in guest appearances every so often. Ditto Wonder Woman. There had been two Batmen, but the older one died, and his daughter continued fighting crime on Earth 2 as The Huntress (-->). There were also older parallel Earth versions of The Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom and Hawkman, but those were different people altogether, with different alter egos, costumes and powers. Black Canary was originally from Earth 2, but came to live on Earth 1 (yet she remained remarkably youthful compared to her former allies). Ah! It was then revealed that Black Canary was actually NOT the original heroine from Earth 2, but rather her daughter! Thaaaaat's better!

And there were MORE! There was Earth 3, where instead of a Justice League of America, there existed a Crime Syndicate of America, featuring evil doppelgangers of Superman and friends! And the stars of that Shazam! cartoon I watched on Saturday morning? They lived on Earth S (later renamed Earth 5, which looks like an S in comic book font) and occasionally met up with the heroes from the mainstream DCU. In one of my earliest comic books, Wonder Woman teamed up with other female heroes from different Earths, including Phantom Lady, who it turned out, lived on Earth X, a world where the Nazis had won World War II!

And so forth and so on. Then came Crisis on Infinite Earths. DC streamlined its continuity, removing all parallel Earths... not only did they no longer exist, but they never existed to begin with. Extraneous characters like the older versions of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman were removed from all continuity. There never had been a Superman or Wonder Woman or Batman in the 1930s-40s. Period. All those wacky adventures the heroes had had during the 50s and 60s? Never happened. In fact, Wonder Woman's ENTIRE history was wiped out and she debuted as a brand new characters that no one had previously encountered! The Huntress (and Earth 2's Robin) were killed... then quickly vanished from everyone's memory... they never existed either.

It was a jumbled mess, but fans rolled with it and DC saw sales skyrocket with the reinvention of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. Both Superman and Batman had their pasts revised to make them more contemporary and realistic. Gone were some of Superman's goofier powers like Super Ventriloquism. Batman's history was darker, grittier and more urban. (His supporting cast was likewise grounded. The former "bored socialite," Catwoman, was now a former prostitute.)

It all made sense with time... okay, some of it never made sense, but they did what they could to explain away the loss of Superman's time as Superboy and its impact on the Legion of Super Heroes. If Wonder Woman was just debuting as a hero, then what's up with her sister Wonder Girl who still has a history with the Teen Titans? Power Girl was the Supergirl of Earth 2. Now there's not even a Supergirl of Earth 1! They cooked up their "Pocket Universe Superboy" who served with the Legion and revised Wonder Girl's origin, removing Wonder Woman and instead making her a disciple of the "Titans of Myth" and renaming her Troia. And Power Girl was the descendant of "an ancient Atlantian sorcerer."

But ya know what? All those silly old stories from the 50s and 60s? They still existed. They didn't magically vanish into the either like The Huntress and Earth 2's Robin. I kept buying and reading those quirky, charming old tales and enjoyed the hell out of them, just as much as I did the modern comics of the time. Okay, so the "real" Superman and Batman never had to deal with that time Bat-Mite gave Batwoman super powers and she made a mess out of things. But A Superman and Batman did. They were a more jovial and friendly pair. They smiled a lot and had barrel chests and told kids to drink their milk. What can I say, I'm a sucker for nostalgia (even for a time from before my parents were born) and Americana. Heck, I was a kid! I was still reading Archie comics and these wacky tales were certainly no more silly than those!

What's more, the Super Friends comic, the one that got me into comics to begin with, that was its own universe! The Dark Knight Returns, the blockbuster book of the late 80s that everyone was fawning over? That was also not part of DC's official continuity. So even though they'd eliminated parallel worlds, they kept popping up, to the point that in the 90s, DC established its own imprint called Elseworlds, which featured alternate takes on its heroes, such as a Batman in Victorian times, matching wits with Jack the Ripper. And several characters like Swamp Thing and the Sandman, that had existed in the mainstream DC Universe, were then established as living in a separate comic line, Vertigo and were no longer part of the DC Universe. What's more, suddenly they never had been!

But I'd read the story where the Justice League interacted with Swamp Thing. Suddenly, that no longer happened? It was still a great story. So were all those Justice League stories that included Wonder Woman... they weren't cannon, but that didn't make them not exist. The Super Friends wasn't "real?" I still loved them.

And thus in a few short hours, everything that has happened since Crisis on Infinite Earths until the present will suddenly "no longer have happened." Or "maybe happened, maybe didn't." Or "happened, but in a different way." Been there. Done that. Further more, got over it. I survived the first Crisis and DC's slightly bungled aftermath. I think I can handle this. Worse case? Shitty comics. I can just not read those. Best... hell even just okay... case? Good comics. Fun comics. Fresh comics! Maybe even... great comics? Could that happen? These heroes have endured one continuity Crisis after another and they always manage to come out okay in the end. Supergirl? Died in the first Crisis. She's back. Different, but back. Batgirl? Paralyzed after the first Crisis. Oh hey, look who's back in her own book! Huntress? Back times two, actually. It might take years, but these guys are tough. They can handle it. Can we?

The Global Guardians

I wasn't paying much attention to the new Justice League International comic, featuring members of the old JLI from the late 80s and 90s, or in the case of Rocket Red, his replacement. No, not even Vixen's inclusion had me interested. Then they revealed that in addition to Fire & Ice, another former member of the Global Guardians, Godiva would be a member. (The Mystery Woman in black is still a mystery.)

Who were the Global Guardians? In actuality, some of them were among the earliest super heroes I encountered in comics... years before I learned of the existence of The Elongated Man or Zatanna, in Super Friends #25, I encountered Tasmanian Devil, The Seraph and the woman who would eventually be reinvented as Fire, then going by the moniker Green Fury. That's right, these characters actually originated in the out-of-continuity Super Friends comic book. And yet, while the Super Friends concept never actually existed in the mainstream DCU, the Global Guardians do!

The majority of the team first showed up in a thrilling two-part adventure, penned by E. Nelson Bridwell and illustrated by the amazing Ramona Fradon, which actually depicts The Wonder Twins' arrival on Earth and their replacing Marvin, Wendy and Wonder Dog as the Super Friends' teenage charges. The Twins arrive on Earth to warn its heroes that Silver Age Superman foe, Grax, has planted 12 bombs across the world. Even the combined power of the entire Justice League isn't enough to defuse each bomb before it detonates. Therefore, the JLA puts out a call to heroes around the globe to assist them on their mission.
In Israel, Superman teams up with the Biblical-powered Seraph, who has long hair that grants him super strength like Samson, his suit is made from the Mantle of the prophet Elijah and he wields the staff of Moses, which he uses to part a field of darkness and the ring of Solomon, which allows him to teleport. I personally find it pretty fascinating to see a hero with Christian-based powers, what with all the heroes based on other mythologies like Thor and Wonder Woman.
Near Stone Henge, Elongated Man encounters British (and apparently cockney) hero, Godiva, who can shape her long hair into any form and harden it, as she does in the above picture, creating wings.
In South Africa, The Flash teams up with Zulu hero Impala, who has the speed and leaping ability of the animal he after which he is named.
Back in the good ol' U.S. of A., Hawkman and Hawkwoman join forces with Native American Owlwoman, who, as her name suggests, can fly, see in the dark and wears sharp talons on her gloves.
The Atom teams up with the solar-powered Rising Sun from Japan, who is sadly rendered in an old-fashioned racist manner with big teeth and orange skin. He probably had a tiny penis inside that Elvis-y jumpsuit, too but at least he was great at math.
Green Lantern journeys to Ireland, where he encounters a fellow lantern-wielding hero, Jack O'Lantern, whose powers are derived from the local fairy folk. Jack O'Lantern and Seraph were both later given their own backup strips in the Super Friends comic and it is established that he also has a leprechaun sidekick! No seriously!
Red Tornado gets sucked through time and must battle dinosaurs alongside New Zealand's resident hero Tuatara, named after a three-eyed reptile indigenous to that area. With his third eye (why does that sound dirty?), Tuatara can see through time.
Venuzuela's you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me-ly named Bushmaster possesses no super powers, but has crafted a suit mimicking the abilities of various amphibians, like "flying dragon wings" after the Malaysian Lizard, long toe-like appendages on his feet that allow him to run across the surface of water like a basilisk and so forth. He is joined on his mission by Batman and Robin.
Black Canary adds her super sonic Canary Cry to the "booming" vocal powers of Taiwan's Thunderlord.
Green Arrow encounters Australia's monstrous hero, Tasmanian Devil (no relation to the Loony Tunes character). I really hate the giant T on his chest. Especially after artists started drawing him as a furry man-monster, not just some dude in a black bodysuit. It's like a really detailed skunk stripe!
Aquaman joins forces with Denmark's teenage hero, The Little Mermaid, who can either sport legs or a mermaid tail and can also fly!
In Greece, Wonder Woman teams with fellow mythologically-powered hero, The Olympian, who wears the legendary Golden Fleece, granting him the powers of all the legendary Argonauts, who sought it in The Iliad, including the ability to see through stone like Lynkeus, the super strength of Herakles, the speed of Euphemos and flying ability of Kalais and Zetes.
Finally, Norway's Icemaiden assists the entire Justice League in diffusing the final bomb.
The characters either proved popular or possibly, Bridwell just liked them, so he brought several of them back in subsequent Super Friends stories. As I said, Seraph and Jack O'Lantern starred in their own backup stories in the book. In Super Friends #25, Tasmanian Devil and Seraph both battle the Super Friends who have been brainwashed. In the same issue, a new International hero debuts.
Brazil's Green Fury has a variety of magical powers, most notably the ability to breath fire or ice and flight. Green Fury popped up several more times in the Super Friends book, including the final issue.
In another subsequent tale, the Super Friends are assisted by African immortal Doctor Mist, who joins forces with the team to battle a radioactive menace and later "the Mindless Immortal."
The Super Friends comic was set outside of the "real" DC Universe's continuity, therefore these original characters didn't exist in the real DCU... until Bridwell crafted an issue of DC Comics Presents, a book very much inside of DC's continuity, wherein Superman joins forces with a handful of these international heroes, referred to for the first time as the Global Guardians. It is also revealed that Doctor Mist is the team's leader and founder. So now, even though the Super Friends didn't exist in the mainstream comics, the Global Guardians did.
This was cemented when these heroes joined forces with the rest of DC's heroes in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Soon afterward, they teamed up with Infinity Inc. In this adventure, Green Fury suddenly became Green Flame, so as not to be confused with II's resident heroine Fury.
Green Flame and Icemaiden, who was suddenly no longer blue, joined Justice League International and have proven to be the Guardians' most famous alumni. Soon after joining, they switched their monikers to Fire & Ice. However, I'm not sure who to blame for this, but in the Super Friends comic, Icemaiden's real name is listed as Sigrid Nansen, and like I said, she was blue. Now, however, the JLI writers, J.M. DeMatteis and Kieth Giffen stated that her name was Tora Olafsdotter. More on that in a bit...

Considering the Global Guardians' innocent beginnings in the child-targeted Super Friends comic (hell, pretty much EVERY comic back then was child-targeted!), with their semi-educational bent, things got remarkably bleak for them in the 80s and beyond. What's really strange about this is that a lot of the dark story lines took place in the Justice League International title(and its spin-off book Justice League Europe) which are remembered for being funny and light! Sigh... but the years haven't been kind to these slightly stereotypical ethnic super heroes.

First, the United Nations, who had funded the Guardians, withdrew its support in favor of the JLI. This led to the Guardians allying themselves with Middle Eastern terrorists, notably the Queen Bee. After a battle with the JLE, Jack O'Lantern was left to die in a sewer. Queen Bee replaced him with a man named Marvin Nirosa. Owlwoman, who was dating Jack O'Lantern, then killed Nirosa. Owlwoman, Jack O'Lantern (the original), Seraph and Dr. Mist helped free the rest of the Global Guardians from the Queen Bee's control.

Jack O'Lantern later died of "natural causes." He has since been replaced by his cousin, Liam McHugh.
Little Mermaid was killed in battle with the Queen Bee. However, whoopsie, someone messed up and she popped up in a later story, thus it was explained that the Little Mermaid that was killed was actually an "evil clone."

In a subsequent story, Dr. Mist leads his team against his ancient enemy Fain Y'Onia. In battle, Fain Y'Onia kills Thunderlord and Bushmaster. Tuatara is left in a coma and Impala seemingly loses his powers. They returned at some point, as he is later seen battling for his life in Roulette's gladiator-style super hero death matches. He, um, lost. He has since been succeeded by Kid Impala.

Wild Huntsman body mysteriously appears in a prison cell in an issue of Suicide Squad.

Doctor Mist was killed by mystical forces, however, um... like with Little Mermaid, someone missed that and he later popped up alive with no explanation. He was killed AGAIN when Mordru the sorcerer threw him into a vat of acid.

Godiva was recently depicted as the victim of "organ-nappers"... the organ stolen from her? Her prehensile hair.

Ice was killed off during her time with the Justice League. At this point, the original Icemaiden, Sigrid Nansen returned and took her place in the Justice League. She was gravely injured escaping the exploding Justice League satellite during the invasion by White Martians. She recovered and joined a new, unsanctioned Justice League Europe, but was fooled into leaving by The Mist, who disguised herself as Icemaiden and killed three of her teammates, Crimson Fox, Blue Devil and Amazing Man. Icemaiden herself was later skinned alive by the villain Dolores Winters. She's still alive. Yuck. (Ice, Tora Olafsdotter, recently returned to life.)

In another mix-up, I suspect, at one point, Tasmanian Devil became the sole member of Justice League Australia. The JL's civilian liaison there was an openly gay man, however he only had one appearance that I know of. In subsequent appearances, it was established that Tasmanian Devil himself was openly gay. (Maybe the implication is that the two were a couple?) Anyway, TD went on to be one of the few openly gay heroes in the DCU and actually served as a member of the Justice League for a bit. He was recently killed and skinned to make a rug by the villain Prometheus, although he was later restored to life via Ra's Al Ghul's Lazarus Pit. He has begun dating the Justice League's Starman. He appears to still be active with the Global Guardians.

In addition, a member who joined later on, Gloss, was decapitated by Prometheus. Prometheus boasts about building up quite a head count among the Global Guardians, so it's unknown who else may have died at his hands.

There is a current Global Guadians, led by a new Crimson Fox (France) and including Jet (Jamaica), Manticore (Greece... although Olympian is still alive, as he recently appeared in Wonder Girl's miniseries), Sandstorm (Syria... possibly deceased) and Tasmanian Devil.
Like I said, kind of a bleak ending for characters from such a sunny, light origin! But Godiva's inclusion in Justice League International, I'm hoping for a renaissance for these characters. I'm hoping they pull a Mera with Godiva and she suddenly becomes super popular! And I always loved Fire & Ice, so I'll enjoy seeing them in a comic again. (Dr. Light would seem to be a great fit for this team, too. She should be on it!) I'll give it a shot at least!

Artist Bill Walko has done some really nifty images. Check out his Deviantart page. He's got quite a few really nice Teen Titans illustrations and I was DELIGHTED to see his take on The Power Squad, the aborted all-female super team that I discussed here.
Looks like I'm not the only one who found this idea delicious! Here are a couple more images from his page that I particularly enjoyed!

Modernized Wonder Twins!
The Spider Friends!
The Herald and Bumble Bee! (This was later integrated into a larger Teen Titans group scene, which you can see on his site.)
Best of all... Jem & The Holograms!
This one is entitled "Who Is He Kissing:"
I like how Rio actually looks Latino here! All of his stuff is super adorbz! I think I'm actually going to order prints of a couple of these!

Alex Toth/Super Friends Week - DC Universe Classics Super Friends

The one bright spot to getting home on Saturday and finding our basement had been ruined was that also waiting for me was the latest assortment of DC Universe Classics, nicknamed by fans as "The Super Friends Wave." And properly so, as you can see above, the set included El Dorado, Samurai and Black Vulcan along with the not pictured jester Toyman. The wave was rounded out by two characters that have nothing to do with the Super Friends, Bronze Tiger and a scuzzy looking Captain Boomerang. (I'd have vastly preferred a more classic, Silver Age interpretation. This is the way he looked in Identity Crisis, which is one of my least favorite developments in the DCU in the last decade.) Each figure in the wave included a piece of the giant Apache Chief! (Collect 'em all, kids!)
I think it's interesting that Alex Toth originally intended Apache Chief's costume to be yellow and white! That would have been an... interesting take.
Ugh, sorry that's blurry as hell! (It's hard to tell on an iPhone! This is why I stick to borrowing pics from the web, normally). Here's the FULL line up from Super Friends. Well, except Rima, but that's one I'm resigned to NEVER seeing in this line. Y'know, even after they did The Wonder Twins as a ComiCon exclusive, I STILL never thought I'd see the ethnic Friends. This is indeed a red-letter day! A (pretty much) FULL roster of the Super Friends in one collection! (Well... I didn't include Green Arrow and I don't have the Plastic Man they did as last year's ComiCon exclusive, but they were in that first season only and honestly, in my mind, I kind of consider that a different continuity.)
Another full team shot. Sigh! I hate how Hawkgirl's hunched forward like that. She's always looking down. Hey, notice The Atom on Apache Chief's shoulder?
Poor Atom and Hawkgirl were the only Justice Leaguers from the comics that were not included in the epic Challenge of the Super Friends season. Speaking of...
I'm a tad short on the Legion of Doom. Bizarro and Scarecrow were offered as part of the DC Super Heroes line, which preceded DC Universe Classics, which I didn't collect, so I don't have them! I'm hoping they'll reissue them soon, otherwise, I'll have to pony up the $$$ for the older figures. (Not related, but I'm also hoping they redo The Penguin and make him fatter and funnier looking than the skinny, grotesque one they issued in Wave 1 of DCUC.)
Speaking of The Penguin, both he and Orion were in Wave 1 of DCUC, which I initially didn't buy because the lineup was overall lackluster. But then, when I started buying the later waves, I was hooked! Here we have a mashup lineup, featuring the full Super Friends, plus all the heroes (minus Orion and Plastic Man) they made for the Super Powers collection, including totally made up character Cyclotron and... oh whoops, I left the Golden Pharaoh out. Guess I'll have to reshoot this later! I also added Black Canary and Zatanna, as they SHOULD have been included in the SP line, but their vaginas made them ineligible.
Woops! Lobotomized Apache Chief! You know I'm pretty excited when I actually take my toys out and PLAY with them! Good times!