Pop Culture Chronicles

Superman of Earth 23

I enjoyed the return of the Earth-23 Superman in the latest Action Comics, vol. 2, # 9. He was introduced in the mini series Final Crisis 7 (2009) in which all the Supermen of the multiverse came together against a common threat.

On Earth-23, Superman is President of the United States and also black. In Action Comics we learn of a potential controversy surrounding his place of birth. This echoes the controversy involving Obama's birthplace which is nothing more than his political enemies grasping at straws. While some did not appreciate the parallel to the Obama controversy, I thought it was well done. Imagine the uproar if it were discovered that a President was born off planet.

The Earth-23 Superman's alter ego is Calvin Ellis. It took me a while to realize that this name is derived from Kal El. I'm slow like that sometimes.

It was good to see the return of Earth-23's Wonder Woman, who is also black, and Ellis' assistant, Courtney. I'm glad that not every concept introduced in Final Crisis was scrapped with the coming of the New 52. Once a new Multiverse was introduced in the 52 series, DC published a list of earths cataloged thus far. Earth-23 was not yet on the list, and was not yet named as such in Final Crisis. I look forward to a complete catalog of Earths in the new 52 universe and I suspect there will be 52 of them.

The multiversal take on this story was underscored by the appearance of the Lois Lane and Clark Kent of yet another parallel earth. We haven't met these folks before and the Kent of this planet is not Superman. I look forward to more back story on these characters. And it was great to see the use of the Superman robots on Earth-23 which caused me to reminisce about some old Silver Age stories. Overall, I was pleased with Action Comics # 9 and I hope the title can be a place to introduce even more Supermen of the multiverse.   

Favorite Earths, Part 3

I've been listing my favorite earths in the new DC multiverse. The next two are earths which could have had great potential. [Spoiler Warning for those who haven't read Countdown].

Earth 15 This earth debuted in Countdown # 30. The cover was the first thing that excited me. Here was a Batman looking very Bronze Age and a Wonder Woman looking a bit Golden or Silver Age. On this world of heroes realized, Jason Todd is Batman following the demise of Bruce Wayne. Donna Troy is Wonder Woman. The Atom is the 18-year-old Jessica Palmer. An interesting twist is that Zod is Superman and one of the good guys.

In issue 24, Superman Prime destroys this earth. Disappointed that it's not the perfect earth, he began his reign of terror by wiping out the Justice League of this world.

Earth 51 This earth debuted in Countdown # 19. On this earth Libby Lawrence-Chambers is President of the United States and Clark Kent's identity is out in the open. It's a near perfect world in which the newspaper makes no mention of crime, war, poverty, or disease.

The Ray Palmer (a.k.a. The Atom) of New Earth (the post-crisis earth) has traveled to this earth and taken the place of his deceased doppelganger on this world. Here Palmer found a home, and presumably a future, with Jean Loring, this earth's version of his ex-wife. Ray Palmer had found happiness.

Palmer attends a Christmas Eve party in issue 18 where his circle of friends include Ralph Dibny (a.k.a. Elongated Man) and his wife, Sue, and Barry Allen (a.k.a. The Flash) and his true love, Iris. All are alive and well. Until issue 17 where all Palmer's friends are wiped out. So here's a rundown of how things go for Earth 51:

Issue 16 - Monarch and his army take this unsuspecting and unprepared world by surprise. The Monitor of this world tries desperately to save it. The Batman of this earth never retired with the rest of the League after they obliterated crime, but he hung out in a "Bat Bunker" where he waited for the other shoe to drop.

Issue 15 - This is where we learn that that the JLA had declared war on criminals and wiped out all the rogues. They had also once met a JSA from another earth (from which earth?--I wonder).

Issue 13 - Superman Prime damages Monarch's armor, releasing quantum energy that wipes out earth 51 and its entire universe. And yet, a green plant survives. Where there is life there is hope.

Issue 7 - The Challengers had been transported to another earth by a Monitor. But which earth is it? They assume it was their own until they realize that either this isn't their earth or they've been erased from existence.

Issue 6 - Here is the outbreak of the chaos-producing morticoccus virus on Earth 51. The Green Lantern of this world goes into deep space unknowingly spreading the virus throughout the galaxy.

Issue 5 - The Challengers escape through a boom tube. Narrator Buddy Blank and his grandson take refuge in the Command D bunker where he had worked on the defunct Brother Eye project.  Meanwhile, world leaders suspect one another of the havoc that has been unleashed and so resort to nuclear weapons. It seems obvious that Blank's grandson will be Kamandi, Last Boy on Earth.

Issue 4 - This issue seems to indicate that this world was a reconstituted Earth 51.

Issue 1 - Brother eye transforms Blank into Omac. Two universes are said to have perished under the watch of Nix Uotan, Monitor of Earth 51.

Okay, so like many other fans, I'm scratching my head wondering what the point was of this whole Countdown series. I can't tell that too much has changed apart from a new Kamandi origin and learning that the Challengers will now monitor the Monitors. Whatever. (Check out this review from Snell).

But the whole point of this post is my lament of the demise of a couple of earths that had great retro and storytelling potential. Earth 15 was retro in a Bronze Age sort of way. And on both Earths 15 and 51, some heroes had their dreams realized. Palmer finally found happiness.

But along comes Superman Prime destroying both these worlds in his search for the perfect earth. Is there no such thing as a happy ending in the DC Universe? Why wasn't Palmer allowed happiness with his wife and friends? Why couldn't Todd and Troy of Earth 15 continue to fill the shoes of their predecessors?

I recall the good ol' days with happy endings and the good guys always won. So I lamented right along with Superman and Lois of Earth Two and Superboy (can we call him that?) Prime in Infinite Crisis when they mourned over what the singular Modern Age universe had become. Grit, grisly violence, death, corruption, and so fourth; heroes dying and being maimed. The Modern Age was a complete loss of innocence for the DC Universe.

I at first thought that Superman Prime, in his search for the perfect earth, was a parody of us nostalgists who long for a return to the good ol' days. But Mark Engblom at Comic Coverage, in a post titled August Can't Get Here Soon Enough has identified Superman Prime a parody of fan boy entitlement.

This is evidenced by Prime's disgust for the multiple earths concept in Countdown 23. So I guess all fans boys are fair game and not just those who long for a return to days of old which includes a return of the multiverse.

Okay, this is long, but I hope it makes sense. My question now is "What's next?" Well, next is Final Crisis, in which we're told that evil wins. Oh, great! Just what a retro guy like me wants to hear.

So will I be on board? Of course. I've followed the DC Universe saga this long, so why not see where it goes? And this promises to be the FINAL Crisis. I can't say I'm sorry. Earth shattering changes are okay every twenty years, but enough is enough! And I, for one, will be royally peeved if any more of my favorite earths get destroyed. Long live the multiverse!                

3 Questions About Comics and Me

I am honored to have been tagged by Stephen. This means that at least someone is reading this blog. So here are my answers to the three questions:

1) What was the first comic you remember reading?

The first one I actually remember reading (and not just looking at the pictures) was Wonder Woman 215. Having searched the racks in vain at Piggly Wiggly, all the Batman titles were sold out. But thumbing through this Wonder Woman issue I discovered that Batman had a cameo, as did several members of the JLA.

This was during a run in which a different member of the JLA was special guest star each issue. This time Aquaman had a major role. More heroes for the money seemed like a good deal. So I bought it and read it numerous times. The plot was pretty sophisticated for a fourth grader.

2) What was the first comic that made you realize that you might be in this for the long haul?

That would be Batman 263, published a few months after the Wonder Woman issue mentioned above. This was another Piggly Wiggly purchase. One evening at the supermarket my two younger sisters and I begged our parents to spring for a comic for each of us (though they had gone up to a whopping 25 cents). I remember that one sister (the middle child) chose an issue of Shazam with a talking frog on the cover. I don't remember what our youngest sibling chose--probably some Archie or funny animal comic.

We rode home in the back of our family Oldsmobile trying to read our comics by the glow of the street lights. Those were the days when comic book heroes spent one page ads selling Hostess cupcakes, fruit pies, and twinkies.

I was introduced to Batman via television before I could read. This issue had the Riddler who I recognized from the TV series. I immediately concluded that the comics had become far more sophisticated than the campy TV show. But Robin was absent, which I was not happy about. Well, this issue led to semi-regular purchases of Batman, Detective Comics, and Justice League of America. From there I kept branching out.

3) If you had to make a snap decision to take one comic or comic run to a desert island, what would it be? Don't think too hard!

It would be the Elseworlds limited series, now collected as a trade paperback, called JSA: The Golden Age. Earlier printings are merely called The Golden Age. I picked up the trade while vacationing in a rainy Albuquerque. I had been out of the comics scene for a while. Not caring to commit to any regular titles, I'd occasionally pick up a one shot or a trade.

The Golden Age appealed to me because I am so retro. The cover pictured many of the heroes I had grown to love reading Roy Thomas' All-Star Squadron. The Golden Age might even be better. I was engrossed in this book and could not put it down. Not having read it in seven years, I think I'll read it again.

Here is the part where I'm supposed to tag five people. But I can't even think of five other bloggers who I know read this blog. The ones I do know about, I have not seen respond to tags. But if you have a blog, and you're reading this, consider yourself tagged. If you do a post on this, please comment here so I'll know you did.   

Christmas Collection

One of my fondest childhood Christmas memories is sitting at the foot of our tree with my brand new copy of Christmas with the Super-Heroes. I was probably in fifth grade. This comic was special. It was before reprints appeared as trade paperbacks or hardcover archive editions. In the mid-seventies DC reprints appeared in such collections as Limted Collectors' Edition, of which Christmas with the Super-Heroes was number C-43. Here was a collection of DC Comics Christmas stories that had appeared through the decades.

The book was also special because it was over-sized, what they called "tabloid sized" back then. And it was available for the whopping price of a whole dollar. I didn't think my parents would spring for it, but they did. When I saw it on the magazine shelf of our local supermarket, I just fell in love with the cover.

I am pleased to say that my copy is still intact (albeit with rusty staples, somewhat yellowed pages, and activity pages completed by yours truly). Now my own fifth grade son enjoys reading it in anticipation of the holidays. It's just one more special tradition that we can share.

So I recently re-read it as a way of recapturing that nostalgic Christmas spirit. I recall the thrill of reading the opening story for the first time--Superman and Santa Claus--two of my childhood heroes together! How cool is that?!?!

But this opening story isn't too sophisticated by today's standards. A couple of old codgers dubbed Dr. Grouch and Mr. Meaney react from their own tortured childhood to destroy Christmas for everyone. They take an air ship to the North Pole where they attempt to destroy Santa's workshop. They use gas guns, rendering his reindeer unconscious, which means Superman must save the day by flying Santa all over the world on Christmas Eve. The most laughable moment had to be when the two bad guys are simply let off the hook after they apologize for the kidnapping and attempted murder of Lois.

I wondered if all Golden Age comics were as plot-thin as this story. But then I discovered that this was reprinted from a 1940 Macy's department store promotional. But it's great for kids! 

Other stories include such stars as Wonder Woman, a.k.a, Diana Prince, army nurse and Nazi fighter. Wonder Woman befriends two Hummel-figurine-looking children whose home was broken when their mother was falsely accused of having an affair with a Nazi. Since their father has forbidden Christmas, the children get lost in a blizzard while attempting to deliver gifts to their estranged mother. Wonder Woman stories were ahead of their time from the start.

There's also a Batman story which would be totally out of character today. The Dark Knight sings carols on Christmas Eve with the Gotham P.D. Come to think of it, that would be out of character for any P. D. that I'm familiar with. But what happens on the streets of Gotham while Batman takes the night off is a bit more sophisticated story telling--and without dialogue!

My first introduction to Sandman was in this book, a reprint from the days in which Wesley Dodds had traded the gas mask and overcoat for yellow tights and a youthful sidekick. It was of comparable caliber to the Superman story. The most laughable moment is when a baseball bat is broken over Sandman's head and he wakes up with nothing more severe than a headache.

This special edition also included lyrics to Christmas songs. It was the first time I ever knew that Jingle Bells had more than one verse.

This wasn't DC's only foray into the Christmas season. In 1983 Superman and Santa met again in DC Comics Presents 67. My son picked up this back issue in a comic shop for maybe a buck. It's billed as a "fairy tale." Would that be an "imaginary tale" in today's lingo? While the plot lacks sophistication, the most interesting twist is when Superman discovers that Santa is his neighbor. The Fortress of Solitude is in the North Pole after all.

A couple of years later, The Outsiders did their version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol with super heroes masquarading as the various Christmas ghosts.

The goal was to persuade a Christmas- hating old miser to blow the whistle on some shady characters with whom he had done business. The most redeeming thing about Outsiders # 5 was its cover. A super hero version of the Dickens classic has unlimited potential. If done well, it could make a great graphic novel; perhaps an Elseworlds (or alternate earth) story set in the Dickens era.

But my all time favorite super hero Christmas occurred just a few years ago when the original members of the Justice Society teamed up with Santa in JSA 55.

It's rare to find a story that is self-contained in a single issue. Geoff Johns really pulled it off. This "whatever happened to?" story celebrates the return of Ma Hunkle, the original Red Tornado, appealing to my sense of nostalgia. But the story is moving and even surpasses today's comic standards for incorporating drama and emotion into the medium.

And the art team of Kirk, Champagne, and Grawbadger is excellent! I love it when the characters look real as opposed to looking like residents of cartoon land. The expressions on the faces of Ted Grant and "Santa" are at times priceless. But I can get pretty sentimental about the JSA.

The issue not only celebrates the holiday season, but also sixty years of comic book history. The back issue or trade paperback reprint is worth tracking down.    

So there you have it. My Christmas Eve review of super hero comics in the collections at my house. Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas!