Pre-Crisis Primer: No Love for The Flash

The Flash 334-336

“Trial of The Flash Part 3”

Even flash's lawyer thinks he's slime. Plus he's trying to pimp.

The villain behind the destruction of The Flash museum last issue is revealed! It's anticlimactic: the Pied Piper. Piper is a master of aural technology who dresses in a stupid costume and hat to use special weaponized whistles and pipes. With these instruments of doom, Piper can either hypnotize others into doing his bidding or he can outright kill a man. Angered at Central City's mayor's continued support of The Flash even in the face of the impending murder trial. Makes Pied Piper angry!

While Piper takes control of the mayor and sends him on a binge of Flash-trashing tactics, Barry has problems of his own: namely his lawyer hates him. All this before we even get to the start of the trial. It's not divulged why Flash's lawyer hates him so much, in fact she only took the case because her partner urged her too, thinking her the best person to get an acquittal for the Scarlet Speedster. Whenever the question is brought up regarding why Flash's lawyer, Cecile Horton, might have distaste towards him, she becomes cryptic and clasps a medallion around her neck between her fingers. It looks to me like she's just daring the Flash to rip the necklace from her and figure out the damn reason already. The mystery is show-horned in and poorly played so far. Instead of being intriguing, it's mostly boring and sometimes annoying. It's not much a of a mystery: it'd be solved if Flash and Cecile could just act like adults and discuss their differences instead of all the maudlin hand-wringing.

Although, all will be forgiven if Cecile reveals herself to be the long-lost sister, friend, whatever of Fiona Webb. That would make sense to me.

Busted by the cops.

Why the sub-plot weakly percolates in the background, the main thrust of these issues is Pied Piper taking control of the mayor and using him to tarnish the Flash's name. Denying Flash privileges of the city, speaking out against him in public, and also sending him on wild goose chases like the one that ends with Flash man-handling a TV news anchor live on-air. Instead of explaining himself, Flash just takes off. So of course public opinion takes a shit on the immature hero.

I'm not really sure what's up with this series, I was very excited about the premise when the story began, but now it's just treading water and stretching sub-plots that could be wrapped up in an issue or less to almost a year in length. This series as been disappointing, but I'm holding out final judgment for the start of the trial. With luck that will bring back some of the story-telling that was present when the story started.

Pied Piper is very, very secure.

DCU Danger Zone

DCU Danger Zone

Let's get topical for a second. Currently the East Coast of the United States is bracing for hurricane impact. Hurricane Sandy is making its way up north through the Atlantic ocean for a meeting with a high-pressure zone and an early winter storm moving south that apparently will wipe the Eastern coast off the map in a holocaust of wind, rain, and media over-hype.

All set to fuck up my Halloween. Dick move weather.

All joking aside, if not the biblical event being sold by news outlets, it's going to be a shitty time. I live right outside of Philadelphia and I'll admit, I moved the TV and electronics out of the finished basement, tested the sump pumps, moved the comics collection out of the attic (all I need is a tree plowing through the roof to destroy that collection), and have the generator ready to roll if I lose power (gotta keep those pumps going). I hope I'm not acting crazy, but I probably am. At least my neighbors are doing the same thing, so if nothing else, we're all crazy. CrazyTown, USA.

Regardless, this impending disaster preparation had me thinking about how the denizens of the Post-Crisis DC Comics Universe (DCU). While we're still working through the Pre-Crisis Primer with this blog and aren't into the meat of the Post-Crisis (only the entire point of this site) yet. So I'll jump ahead a bit and point out the kind of shit the DCU puts up with, using the 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' as our start point.

Just another day in the DC Universe.

 1985 – 1986: 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'--In terms of the Post-Crisis continuity, this crisis (is it a pun if I use the same word?) built-up much like a storm with skies turning red and then black until the whole planet is plunged into darkness. Bad enough, but then the darkness explodes into million of shadow forms who wreak havoc across the planet while the dimensional fabric is torn asunder.

1986: 'Legends'--Less of a disaster and more of a covert campaign by alien forces to shake the planet's belief and trust in their superheroes.

1988: 'Millenium'--Alien beings descend to Earth claim that ten citizens of the planet are based to ascend to the next evolutionary rung of human existence. Angry, ancient robots appear and start punching the hell out of people in hopes of finding the ten. Not a good story, and not much of a disaster.

1989: “Invasion!”--Not content with attacking Earth one at a time anymore, multiple alien races form an Alliance to kick Earth out of the galaxy. Open warfare persists and Australia is even annexed by the Alien Alliance at one point. Lots of fun destruction and spaceships appearing in the sky.

Third time this year.

1991: “War of The Gods”--Every god of every mythological pantheon arrives to start kicking the shit out of each other on Earth. Mind blown.

1992: “The Darkness Within”--Eclipso, whom we've met here in some respect, is actually revealed to be a previous Angel of Vengeance. When god asked Noah to build the ark, because he was going to kill the planet with a flood, Eclipso was the being who actually did the flooding. Technically he's killed the planet once and is ready to try again by possessing both heroes, villains, and ordinary citizens and turning them against one another. Probably the closest the DCU has come to a zombie apocalypse.

1993: “Bloodlines”--Another alien invasion, this time from blood-sucking parasites who love the taste of human blood. Inexplicably, their bite has a 1 in 1000 chance (or something stupid) to turn a regular human into a superhero). Destruction abound.

1994: “Zero Hour”--Time is destroyed. Not much more of a disaster than that.

1995: “Underworld Unleashed”--No shit, The Devil comes to Earth to offer villains increased power and wealth for the measly price of their souls. Destruction abound part deux.

1996: “Final Night”--The sun goes out. Literally the sun is completely extinguished and the planet begins to freeze as everything dies.

1997: “Genesis”--The entire universe, thanks to a passing 'God-Wave' that originates from the edge of the universe, experiences a crisis of faith. The means, strength, and instinct to go on living slowly ebbs from people as the become more and more obsessed with taking their own lives. Yes, the universe sits down collectively to mope and listen to The Cure.

1998: “DC One Million”--a virus from the 853^rd century (I love you comics) is unleashed on our present. The virus is lethal, incurable, and the last-ditch effort from a malevolent entity (a self-aware, sentient sun) in the future to ensure his own existence by forcing his creation in the present. Grab your paradoxes, this one is destruction cubed.

1999: “Day of Judgment”--The Devil returns and his plan this time is to just raise the dead and send them against the Earth. The second zombie apocalypse to hit the DCU.

2000: “World War III”--A weapon hidden deep within the universe, designed specifically for killing Gods, blazes a trail to Earth. The anti-sun warhead promises to obliterate all life in the dimension once it detonates.

2001: “Our Worlds At War”--More aliens attack. Kansas is wiped off the map.

Not a joke, just the commute home. Avoid I-95.

I'm going to stop here for now, it's easy to get the point that shit happens in the DCU. The above is only the yearly multi-title, get-all-the-heroes-together disaster that would plague this fictional planet Earth, not including any dimensional rifts, alien invasions, or other evil shenanigans that might occur in between each 'event.'

So that's definitely a list of comics where some shit happens and the point is I was thinking of this in regards to me own real-life preparation against something as mundane as a hurricane. I move furniture from my basement to protect it in case I do get water. What would a citizen of the DCU do when the skies turn red? Would the news constantly update viewers on the supposed track and timing of the attacking alien armada or the leftover god-killing weapon from the edge of the dimension? What are insurance rates like on this planet: Do clauses for invasions, superhero possession or demon spawn attack factor into policies? Does the 'act of God' clause of a contract really cover damage if cause by an actual God?

Another aspect: Look at the timeline; at least one major disaster a year in publication time. What about the compressed timeline? Batman debuted in 1939. No way he's 90 years old, so in terms of the DCU, a compressed timeline is assumed; for example, if one issue of Batman features the hero tied to a death trap as a cliffhanger, the opening of the next issue, published in a month's time, will show Batman escaping from the trap. He didn't spend a month tied up, the assumption is that while a month passed for us, the reader, a second passed for Batman in the DCU. Easy enough.

Anytown, USA. The heartland of the country.

With this in mind, how often is the DCU besieged? Once a week? Twice a week? Does one month have time completely ending and then three weeks later The Devil appears to stage an invasion. A month after that, the sun is extinguished?

How does anyone get anything done: the entirety of the planet must be on Xanax or some other anti-anxiety medication. Is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder common? Therapists in the DCU must be a dime a dozen and continuously busy. It's insane. I can't even imagine such a society being able to accomplish anything with the amount of near-destruction they deal with. The end of the world has to be blasé by this point. Another alien invasion, ho-hum. All I have to deal with is the weather. Not so bad right? Too bad I'm real and the DCU isn't.

Pre-Crisis Primer: Little Man, Big Sword

Sword of Atom 1-4

“The Sword of The Atom”

The Toad appears, don't worry.

 The Atom shrinks. How is this a power: the ability to go from 6 feet tall to 6 inches tall? What's he going to do, save someone's car keys from under the couch? What happens if the family cat takes a liking and starts swatting around a 6-inch tall man in spandex? All good questions, no doubt, and the answer to the questions above, in the order asked are: Yes, he shrinks; yes, he'd save your car keys, and yes, he becomes kitty chow. While The Atom shrinks, he does have an even better super power, a more interesting super power: His real name is Ray Palmer, he's a physicist, and his super power is science.

The DC Universe, both Pre- and Post-Crisis, is rife with all kinds of scientists. Mad scientists like Prof. Ivo, a genius obsessed with immortality and willing to do anything to achieve this goal, even turning himself into a monster; T.O. Morrow (great name) a specialist on artificial intelligence, able to create synthetic gods whom he only has the foresight to send on criminal errands; and Dr. Sivana, a troll of a scientist who delights in creating monster men and other such afronts to life. Scientists of a more altruistic bent are also in supply: Dr. Will Magnus, the medicated madman who gives life to The Metal Men, superheroes destined to die again and again and John Henry Irons, engineer who created a suit of armor to give him power like Superman in a time when the world needed a hero. And then there's our boy Ray Palmer.

Physicist Ray Palmer works at the prestigious Ivy University in idyllic Ivy Town, a quaint hamlet nestled somewhere in New England. Think New Hampshire or Massachusetts. Aside from being a brilliant man of science, Ray also finds himself married to successful lawyer Jean Loring. Ray has everything a normal man can want, but he wants more. He wants adventure. Using the myriad powers of science at his disposal, as well as matter from a white dwarf star, Ray is able to fashion himself a uniform that allows him to control his size. Not wanting to be a useless six-inch man, and using all the gifts of physics his powerful brain can muster, Ray is able to ensure that even at six-inch height, he packs the power of a 170-pound, pissed-off scientist in his punch. Hell yeah!

Um, fighting rats is superheroic, right? Also, a fantasy-genre staple!

 Ray is successful at his career as an adventurer, whether it's foiling the time-strained plots of Chronos; master of time; out-witting The Thinker, his super-scientist adversary; or even our old pal, The Floronic Man, the tree who hates meat. Ray is able to secure himself a place on the Justice League of America where he is able to act as science consultant on many cases. Success comes to Ray Palmer in all forms, but it's never really enough for him and superheroing does talk him away from home a lot. Away from Ivy Town and away from his wife.

It's at this point where 'The Sword of the Atom' picks up. Ray stumbles upon his wife in the midst of an ongoing affair. He's never around or if he is around, he's always screwing around on more ways to make his dick smaller. Low blow for sure. Ray can't even really argue this point with Jean so they agree to a trial separation. If ray were a normal man, this would mean he gets an apartment in downtown Ivy Town and lets his wife keep the house for the time being. He at least has the decency to let her keep the house, but being the overzealous superhero he is, Ray decides to go on an expedition to the Amazon. And this being a story from the 80s, of course he runs into drug-runners and of course his plane is shot down and of course Ray is soon believed dead by everyone he knows.

This harkens back to being friends with members of the Justice League as kind of useless. They wouldn't help the Flash with his shit and they just happen to buy that Ray is dead. What's the point of being friends with a premier super team if they can't even take a weekend to confirm a corpse?

Anyway, Ray's believed dead, stuck in the Amazon, and, to make matters just spectacular, he's 6-inches tall and can't revert to his original height. This is when Ray meets the stranded yellow (meaning these terrors can take out a Green Lantern) aliens who are themselves 6-inches tall. Crazier coincidences have happened in some fiction somewhere. I just don't know where off the top of my head. 

Alright, Atom just fights animals other superheroes would have no problem with.

  As wild as the Amazon jungle has to be, 6-inch yellow aliens, Morlaidhans, probably aren't on the menu of naturally-occurring fauna and flora, so where did they come from? Big breath: The aliens were surveying this planet when they crashed, with no means of contacting their home world and the ship badly damaged, they set up a city, Morlaid, in the surrounding jungle around it's remains and they eventually grew more and more savage with jungle living, forgot the knowledge of technology required to make any kind of repairs and splintered into warring factions. Whew!

Ray, of course, stumbles into this civil war and in true swashbuckling fashion discovers corruption with the leaders of Morlaid, joins and becomes leader of the rebel faction, swings a bitching sword, falls in love with the deposed princess, Laethwyn, rides a might Toad steed, fights lizards in the jungle, and saves the goddamn day. Saving the day for Ray Palmer, now known to the Morlaidhan freedom fighters as 'Atom' means heroic sacrifice. The fighting in the city led to a catastrophic break-down in the previously-inert power source of the long destroyed ship: white-dwarf star material, the same material responsible for Ray's shape-changing.

In convincing the Morlaidhans to flee the impending destruction of their city, Ray is affected by the white-dwarf tar energy and regains his ability to return to his original size. Six-feet tall again, confused, Ray stumbles away from Morlaid before it explodes, the entire city wiped from the map. Eventually Ray is found, rescued and returned to his friends and family in Ivy Town where he refuses to rejoin the Justice League, dreads reuniting with Jean Loring, his estranged wife, and dreams only of returning to Laethwyn's arms. Though the fate of the Morlaidhans remains unknown. Did they survive the destruction of their city? Ray vows to find out.

He does have sex with yellow women too, just to make GL jealous.

 'The Sword of the Atom' is not only a great introduction to, especially at the time this came out, a second-string character who easily fades into the sidelines. Take a scientist, give him a sword, dump him in the jungle and drop all the supporting cast from previous stories and adventures? Sounds like a revamp to me, and a damn good on at that. Seek these stories out.

Pre-Crisis Primer: A Moss-Man's Hero's Journey

Swamp Thing 29-31

Swamp Thing Annual 2

“Love and Death”

Don't worry Abby, it'll just get worse from here. Trust me.

Last we left Swamp Thing, he had buried the spectre of his previous identity and Abby had begun patching things up with her estranged, telepathically-powered husband (ah, comics) Matt Cable. Things are looking up. Sadly, because the rule of story tells us if we have characters in the midst of both personal happiness and zero conflict then there is no story, both are unaware the Matt was nearly killed in a car accident before entering into an agreement with an unnamed demon spawn. Rule of story being what it is, 'Love and Death' are where sub-plots come home to roost.

Matt Cable was not just possessed by any demon, in fact, he technically wasn't possessed by a demon, but instead by the disembodied spirit of one Antone Arcane. Arcane is to Swamp Thing what The Joker is to Batman: the arch nemesis to end all arch nemeses. Arcane first encountered Swamp Thing shortly after his 'birth' back when Swamp Thing was still assumed to be Alec Holland. Arcane planned to capture the muck-encrusted hero and trade bodies: take the Swamp Thing's body for himself and restore the hero to Alec Holland. Not that it would have worked, but still, Swamp Thing considered the bargain before finding out that Arcane was evil and planned to use the immortal plant body for evil. Since then Arcane and Holland clashed several times, the last of which ended with Arcane, now in a genetic- and magick-enhanced insectoid body, plunging to a fiery doom. Ah, comics.

Arcane and his cronies just love to party with Abby.

 It's hard to keep a good villain down though, especially when he's so goddamned evil that Hell can't hold him and he happens to posses the near-death body of a cast member. Add in some truly heinous evil spirits that happened to hitch a ride out and this is a big problem for our favorite moss-covered superhero. Arcane's opening salvo is to torture, kidnap, and render comatose his niece (yeah, in typical soap opera fashion, the villain is the uncle of the superhero's friend) Abby. This guy is probably a lot of fun at family gatherings.

This story is low on plot and low on story. Arcane is back, again, and his only plan is to screw up Abby and Swamp Thing's lives. He has no long game here. It's not surprising that this plan falls apart almost immediately when Swamp Thing literally pulls a levitating Arcane out of the air and smashes is stupid undead face into the ground. It's not much longer before Arcane and all of his hellish cronies are sent back to Hell. Problem solved right, happy endings all around. Swamp Thing wasn't quick enough with the face-smashing: Abby Arcane is alive, but her soul has been sent to Hell.

Watch a plant squash a bug.

 No worries faithful readers, the most stable and loving couple in comic books are not over and done with this early in the game. Abby dies halfway through the story, which leads to an excellent second half that riffs on Virgil's journey through Hell. Meeting up at the cusp of the afterlife, Swamp Thing finds two of the more enigmatic characters in the DC canon: Deadman and The Phantom Stranger. Deadman was an acrobat  who had the misfortune to be shot in the middle of his act by an assassin and now acts as an emissary between the living and the dead while The Phantom Stranger, well, The Stranger is an unexplained phenomenon, but a badass-looking fella in a cape and fedora.

I'm swooning.

 The Stranger leads Swamp Thing through Hell, moved by his quest to find Abby and free her soul from its pre-mature damnation. She was damned unfairly and against the 'rules' so to speak, so she deserves to be free. Here, 'Love and Death' makes up for being low on story by being high on horror. Images of torture, horror, and malice are paraded before Swamp Thing as he descends. Hell in this story is not a fiery, red, bright cavern with dancing demon, but a cold, rocky, frozen tundra devoid of light and life where demons not just torture, but demean and rape their charges. One of the harshest punishments is reserved for Arcane himself as he sees Swamp Thing's appearance as a victory. Why would this be a victory? Arcane's body has been used as a gestation vessel for all kinds of demonic insects that uses his copious flesh for food upon hatching. Seeing Swamp Thing in Hell, he believes the hero has finally died after mourning Abby's loss for decades, because, of course, given the pain and the torture he'd endured, that's how long Arcane has been in Hell. When Swamp Thing corrects him, revealing it'd only be one day, the villains screams echo off the vile rock walls much to the delight of the spawn charged with his agony.

Because heroes don't screw up, and this is very much a classical hero story, Swamp Thing is able to rescue Abby's soul, fighting off demons before they can corrupt her and escaping with the help of The Phantom Stranger and another celestial being, The Spectre, an embodiment of God's wrath.

Abby's body awakens on Earth and the first thing she sees is Swamp Thing standing over her, tears of joys welling from his eyes.

She ends up dating him for his sensitive soul and not the face-smashing.

Pre-Crisis Primer: Batman Loves Endangering Children

Batman 368

Detective Comics 535

'A Revenge of Rainbows'

Welcome to the team Robin, hope you survive the experience. Spoiler: It's just barely.

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!

 But wait, Jason Todd isn't Robin yet, he was coming up with all kinds of other nicknames: Cardinal, Red the Acrobatic Kid, Green Robin! As we're aware, Dick Grayson had recently taken up the new identity of Nightwing and while he succeeded in saving the Teen Titans from H.I.V.E. And Deathstroke the Terminator, his debut could have gone better. Death of a teammate notwithstanding, and much to Jason's joy, Dick still finds the opportunity to show up just at this time to not only return the Robin costume to Bruce but also give Jason his blessing in taking over the role. Considering this was Bruce's major hurdle as far as Jason taking over the role, it looks like we have a new Robin!

In an amazing coincidence, D-grade psychopath Crazy Quilt has escaped from Arkham Asylum and is back on the streets. Crazy Quilt is a dream of a premise: He was a painter by day and a crime-lord by night when an assassin from a rival syndicate up and shot him in the head, blinding him. Doctors were able to partially restore Mr. Quilt's vision, but only so that he could see in bright, vivid, primary colors. Ironic injury alert! Because of this injury, Quilt decided on a stupid name, a stupid costume and a stupid gimmick (a helmet that produces a strobe effect of primary colors that screws with people). I'm not sure who's worse: Crazy Quilt or Rainbow Raider. I think there's a story at some point were they team up. I'm giddy at the prospect.

In an event that can be seen as indicative of Jason's Todd life and career as a superhero, Crazy Quilt has it in for Robin. Dick Grayson as Robin caused an accident that struck C-Quilt blind completely. In wiring his optic nerves to the super-special color-strobe helmet, vision was yet again restored to the pigment-obsessed villain, a boon Quilt wants to use specifically to kill the shit out of Robin.

Robin takes glee in blinding the mentally ill.

 After all his guffawing about Jason not being a superhero, not being a sidekick, not wearing a costume, and specifically not being Robin, the last few stories has seen this stance lessen and lessen until finally we have the debut of Jason Todd as Robin. Jason has been staying with Bruce for a while a this point, and has been training Jason, but I'm uncomfortable with how easily he forgets the reason he didn't want Dick Grayson, an 18-year-old man, being Robin anymore in the first place: The Joker shot him and, oh holy shit, kids can get killed doing this crap. This story does deal with the consequences of a child fighting crime, to both Jason and Batman, because Crazy Quilt, straight-up almost kills Robin. He ambushes Jason in an alley and smashes the kid's face again and again. Only the appearance of Batman saves Robin's life.

Robin recovers fairly quickly, shrugging off the injuries as not as serious as they looked and taking the fight back to Crazy Quilt. Robin blinds the villain again, for what must be the fourth time in his life, and proves to Bruce that he can hack it as Batman's sidekick.

I don't know who to be more embarrassed for.

 This all seems a fairly unbelievable about-turn in Batman's stance on the existence of Robin. I don't understand, when benching an adult for being injured on the job, why Bruce is allowing Jason to continue on this path. This story ultimately fails for not being clear or providing good reasoning for the resolution of the central conflict. Regardless of what reservations the characters or readers had with the new Robin, everything is swept neatly under the rug. Too bad for Jason.

Pre-Crisis Primer: The Kids Aren't Alright

Tales of the Teen Titans 42-44

Tales of the Teen Titans Annual 3

“The Judas Contract”

They get captured pretty often.

'The Judas Contract' is the climax for all the stories and most of the sub-plots that have been running through the Teen Titans title covered thus far in this blog.

Deathstroke the Terminator has taken a contract offered by the would-be criminal organization H.I.V.E. requiring the Titans delivered alive and in chains. Having failed his first attempt, The Terminator has come up with a new plan: plant a spy within the Titans, discover their secret identities, and take them down when they least expect it. His weapon: new Titans member Terra.

Terra, as has been covered before in this blog, is the spunky, secretive, blond 16-year-old teenage powerhouse with the ability to control and form rock and earth. She joined the Titans weaving a story of political assassination and intrigue, her parents lives at stake, and claiming to be the brother of another superhero, a low-tier character not yet covered in this blog, Geo-Force; a character possessing super-strength. While the Titans didn't quite believe her story, they eventually did come to trust her, letting her in on their greatest secrets: where they live, their real names, the people they love, everything. Readers have known for a while that Terra is working with Deathstroke, feeding him this information. Even more shocking, Terra, certainly 30+ years The Terminator's junior, is also his lover. 

Arrrggghhh, goddamn windows, Deathstroke hates windows!

   

Even more chilling, the assumption is that Terra is being manipulated by the older assassin and is as much a victim as the Titans. Not the case: As has been shown in an ever-increasing manner, Terra's hatred for the Titans far outweighs Deathstroke's. In fact, Deathstroke has no hatred for the Titans; their death is just a contract for him to fulfill. It's a matter of honor. In fact, not only does Terra hate the Titans, but she's also shown an inability to control her own powers and on different occasions has almost killed both Changeling, a member of the Teen Titans, as well as Deathstroke himself during a training session. He later wonders what it is he's unleashed.

This story opens in a very 'slice-of-life' manner. Terra is staying with Changeling, Garfield Logan, who, just for a bit of back-story, as a green-skinned shape changer, was abandoned by his parents and adopted by an ex-member of the odd superteam The Doom Patrol, Mento, a telepathic hero. The Doom Patrol have been dead for years now, having sacrificed their lives to save a handful of innocent people, and Mento has lived in his mansion, atoning for his inability to save the team by taking care of the young Changeling. This is all info that Terra is feeding back to Deathstroke. Terra and Gar bounce around New York City, meeting up with various members of the Titans on what amounts to a day off. Dick is with Donna and Terry as they plan their wedding, Starfire is shopping around the city, and Cyborg on a skating date of all things with a neighbor. Incidentally, I do enjoy the portrayal of Cyborg in this series. Far from being the grim, scarred, bruiser of the team, he's extremely sensitive, and while emotionally distant at times given the horrible accident that predicated him having cybernetic implants, his optimism trumps any cynicism he may play at.

After their day bouncing through New York City, Terra and Gar part ways, but not before she leaves him with a sunset kiss by the East River. One might even begin to think Terra might have had a change of heart.

Awwwwwwww

 No such luck, Deathstroke and Terra strike hard, attacking the team when they least expect it and subduing them with relative ease. The only member to escape being the currently codename-less Dick Grayson, having abandoned the Robin identity.

Deathstroke delivers the captured Titans to H.I.V.E while Dick receives aid from an unlikely source: Deathstroke's own family. Ex-family more likely, his ex-wife Adeline Kane, herself an ex-military spy, reveals that she has been hunting Deathstroke ever since his actions lead to the death of one son and the maiming of the other. Joseph Wilson is the surviving son, a throat injury having removed his ability to speak. The boy also has powers: make visual contact with him and he can possess a person's body for a limited amount of time. Adeline convinces Dick of her sincerity to stop her ex-husband and he agrees to her help. Fighting a traitor to the team, a super-powered assassin and a clandestine criminal organization sans superhero costume and codename would be tres gauche so Dick reveals his new identity and Nightwing is born. The costume sports an absurdly high collar too which transcends lame to become radical again. Not to be left hanging, Joseph takes the name Jericho and officially joins the Titans, now reduced to a two-man squad.

I love these outfits. Jericho's mom is in the background, how cute.

Dick freeing his teammates in the Titans is never in doubt: they make short work of the H.I.V.E goons, and Cyborg is able to take Deathstroke down hard. The tables have turned in dramatic fashion and it looks like the Titans finally have the upper-hand; too bad that's when Terra loses her shit.

Part of what I really enjoy about this story is Terra herself. As mentioned before, when she displays moments of touching emotion, like when she surprisingly kisses Gar, who's pined after her for almost the entirety of her tenure with the team, it's easy to believe this confused 16-year-old girl will realize that what's she's doing isn't right and she'll come to her sense. No, not Terra, she hates the Titans. It's never explained why she hates them either. She had no history with the team before infiltrating them on behalf of Deathstroke. She hates them because they're good people. Terra hates the Titans because they're together, because they're friends, because they have a support group. She hates them because they're better than her in some ways. She hates them because she feels lost, adrift, left out. Possibly she even hates them because she believes she's not as strong as them, not worthy of their friendship.

She can't stop hating them.

Regardless of why, it's that hatred that proves her undoing. In an act of pure desperation, Terra lashes out with her powers, flinging rocks and earth around the H.I.V.E. Structure in an attempt to crush everyone, to silence her own hatred by killing those she holds responsible for it. She only succeeds in taking her own life. It's Garfield who finally finds Terra's body, small, crushed, and broken under so much rock.

Thus far it's the greatest loss that's rocked the Titans. Even in the end, they tried to reach out to Terra, they would have forgiven her, and for her part, she probably hated them even more for it.

Pre-Crisis Primer: Little Shop of Horrors

Batman 367

Detective Comics 534

“The Green Ghosts of Gotham”

Don't worry Batman, it's just foreplay, go with it.

 With Commissioner Gordon back on the job, things in Gotham City should be getting back to normal. Normal being that some psychotic terrorist will attempt to screw up as many people's day with as little amount of effort as possible. This time around, crazed botanist Poison Ivy is up to no good. Continuity alert, was a student of Prof. Jason Woodrue, he would become the Floronic Man. Ivy, then only known as Pamela Isley, would be experimented on by Woodrue until her body would not only be immune to any toxin known to man, but would also be possible of passing on any toxin by touch. Enter Poison Ivy.

While Batman, not happy that Jason put on Dick Grayson's old outfit and took the name of Robin, agrees to teach the boy under the guise of a new uniform and new identity. Using her knowledge of botany (fun fact: Poison Ivy is a doctor!) to create plant-based beings (not Swamp Thing) beholden to her every whim, Ivy kidnaps several prominent executives who happen to work for The Wayne Foundation, which is the charity run by Bruce Wayne specifically designed to provide aid to a lot of Gotham's citizens. While Batman punches criminals by night, Bruce Wayne might be helping them learn a skill or find work rather than languish in jail. Cool as hell.

They're just horny old bastards.

 Ivy's plan is to brainwash these various executives (who strangely don't number Bruce Wayne among them) and have them divert Wayne Foundation funding to her work, which boils down to unleashing mutant plants that will grow and overtake Gotham, leaving it a verdant wasteland. Perfect for Ivy, bad for everyone else.

Batman and the non-codenamed-but-clad-in-scarlet Jason Todd, while not able to save the Wayne Foundation executives from a heinous death, are able to stop Ivy. Stopping Ivy's mad plan involves a good degree of fire, kung-fu, and the presence of giant man-eating plants. If flora will stoop to breaking human laws, Batman is not above a good punch in the pistil. 

Yeah, no one will mistake him for Robin in that get-up.

 While all this is going on, Alfred Pennyworth, Batman's trusted butler, has to take a leave of absence from Gotham City. In one afternoon he receives a communique from a long lost daughter, Julia, and of course all is not well, this being a comic book and all, and the reason she's contacting a father she was aware of but chose not to pursue is because her adopted father has been killed She's sure his killers are after her and she has no one else to turn for help. Authorities be damned. Not wanting to bother Batman with such a task while Gotham is in need, angry plants and all, Alfred jet-sets off to France to help a daughter he never knew.

Just because there aren't enough sub-plots going on, Detective Harvey Bullock and Commissioner Gordon continue patching their relationship as well as learning a new-found respect for one another when Bullock lays on the table his theory regarding a new criminal menace, a new underworld leader, currently gaining ground on the streets. Bullock makes it his mission to put this new guy away.

This is the cliffhanger: what's Jason's codename going to be.

 This is all in 35 pages mind you. The pacing on this book is quick, but not bogged down nor too insane. Each story element has just enough space to breathe and while certain scenes may seem like the writer is presenting a snapshot of what happened, the end result is a fun adventure story with Batman and not-Robin Jason Todd but with the addition of some slow-burning sub-plots simmering in the background. This is a classic comic story and one I enjoyed reading a lot. Needed more Vicki Vale though, I'm interested in what she's been up to since her return from Guatemala.

Pre-Crisis Primer: Buried Alive

Swamp Thing #28

“The Burial”

You'll catch your death of cold Swamp Thing!

For years The Swamp Thing believed he was Alec Holland. Holland, the victim of corporate espionage and sabotage, was caught in an explosion and doused in the bio-restorative formula he had been working on, a serum that was designed to allow plants to grow in desolate, barren areas of the planet. The assumption was that the serum interacted with both the fire and Holland's body to save him from certain death at the cost of mutating him into the Swamp Thing.

As was later revealed, Swamp Thing actually never was Alec Holland. Instead, as the bio-restorative formula had no effect on human cells, it was revealed that the Eco-system of the swamp was effected and the Swamp Thing is actually plant-life that thinks it's Alec Holland. While Swamp Thing struggled tocome to terms with a lost humanity he never had, the question remains: if Swamp Thing was never Alec Holland, what happened to Holland?

Wah Wah Wah.

 I really didn't mean to make that sound all so dramatic, we know what happened to Holland: he died. His corpse is rotting at the bottom of the swamp, feeding the various flora and fauna that comprise that area. Probably a skeleton by now. But this a series where WhiteFear Monkeys are the order of the day, so ghosts should be no damn problem.

Along with her job at the Elysium Hospital, working with autistic children (as well as helping them cope with being made to suffer the their greatest fears over and over again) and patching up her marriage with Matt Cable, who we know (ah, dramatic irony) has made a deal, or was possessed, not quite sure yet, by some kind of demon. Since Abby is unaware of this fact, things are looking up for her. Even better, she's best friends with a monster/superhero, Swamp Thing. Although, also unknown to Abby, is that recently Swamp Thing has been haunted by something: an image of Alec Holland in the swamp who appears and then disappears just as quickly. She makes the mistake of referring to him as Alec which sends him off the deep end and into temper tantrum territory where he stomps off into the woods like a big baby. Swamp Thing, you were my example of a superhero who knew how to not be an ass!

Swamp Thing leaves Abby behind and stomps off to find the ghost of Alec Holland who turns out isn't haunting our moss-covered hero but instead simply wishes for the titular burial. His corpse has been rotting in the swamp and he seeks proper rest. With the act of retrieving and burying the long-dead corpse of Alec Holland, both Swamp Thing and Alec can achieve a measure of peace. 

Meeting Alec for the first time.

I tend to read this issue as less the literal ghost of Alec Holland haunting the jolly green moss man and more the conclusion to Swamp Thing dealing with his own feelings regarding his identity and not being who he thought he was. He has the thoughts, memories and emotions of Alec Holland, but they do not share the same body. A major goal of Swamp Thing was to become human again, the possibilty helped him cope with the reality of his new existence. Finally burying Alec Hollands body, holding the body he thought was his for so long is the very literal way in which the Swamp Thing can move on and finally accept his reality as a new being.

This issue is a very effective done-in-one that has a suitably vague script, which leaves the actions of the story open to interpretation as well incredibly emotive art which conveys feelings the script doesn't feel the need to put in words. Another aspect of the issue I enjoyed was that even though this issue is part of an ongoing storyline, it also works a single story on its own. Everything a reader needs to enjoy this one comic is available, which is sadly something more often ignored in modern comics.

Thanks for the fanfare.

Pre-Crisis Primer: No, Not Charlie Sheen, That's The Wraith

Batman Special #1

“The Player on the Other Side”

Squeal! Mirror-image villains!

Taking a bit of a detour from the regular Batman books, 'Batman' and 'Detective Comics,' this story is a one-shot special issue that has a good idea, fantastic art, and a thoroughly mediocre story. Because of this fact, I'm going to make this an art-heavy post. Who needs my words anyway right?

The good idea: Batman meets his doppelganger. Where it can be argued that The Joker, a malevolent agent of chaos, is the opposite for Batman's benevolent emissary of order, the character he faces here is a mirror-image opposite. The villain introduced in this story is The Wrath, a young boy who witnessed his criminal parents gunned down by police officers. The boy dedicated his life to crime and traveled the world to be the greatest hitman on the planet. Sound a little familiar? Batman sure thinks so.

Not your murderous boyfriend, but he can be.

Regarding the mediocre story? The context for this bitching villain is a plot to assassinate Commissioner Gordon that is foiled by the Batman. The Wrath learns Batman's secret identity somewhere around the middle, but it ceases to matter once the villain is immolated and tossed off a building. I'll just reproduce the entire fight below, it's that rad.

The story's forgettable, but the pictures aren't and that's how one makes a classic comic.

Fantastic art:

Wow. Not only pretty but expert story-telling as well. Beautiful.