Dave-El's Spinner Rack: New History of the DC Universe: The Dakota Incident (And President Luthor?!)

Today's comic book post is wibbly wobbly timey wimey.

The post is happening in June.

For a book I bought in April.

That came out in February.  

The book is the New History of the DC Universe: The Dakota Incident #1.

Spinning out of the pages of Mark Waid's New History of the DC Universe, this special recounts an heretofore untold moment in DC history, where a murder leads to an all-out war between the  U.S. government and the heroes of Dakota City!

What in the world is Dakota City?

Dakota City is the central locale for the heroes of the Milestone Comics imprint?

And what in the world is Milestone Comics?  

Milestone Comics, an off shoot of Milestone Media.was launhed in 1993 by a coalition of African-American artists and writers, such as Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, Derek T. Dingle and Christopher Priest. 

The Milestone books were published and distributed by DC Comics.  The line began with  four titles: 

Hardware

Icon

Blood Syndicate

Static

Static was the best known of these features, gaining an animated series called Static Shock produced by Bruce Timm as part of the DC Animated Universe.  Batman and the John Stewart Green Lantern made guest appearances.  

Due to various escalating pressures hitting the comic industry in the late 1990's, Milestone Comics was shuttered in 1997. But the characters were not forgotten.  In 2008,  the Milestone Universe and characters were revived and merged into the DC Universe proper. 

• Static joined the Teen Titans
• Static, Icon, Rocket and Hardware appeared in the Young Justice TV series
• Static got a new solo series as part of the New 52 launch in 2011 but only lasted 8 issues.   

The new special retells the history of Dakota City and its citizens within the reborn timeline of the mainline DC universe.  

Dakota City's Big Bang and the birth of the "Bang Babies", the super powered denizens of the city,  were first glimpsed in New History of the DC Universe #3. That same issue also mentions the disappearance of the Dakota City heroes.

So what happened to them? 

This story fills the gap between the "original" Dakotaverse events and the current DC continuity, explaining why its characters never appeared between the DC Rebirth and All In eras.

Things start to go bad for Dakota City with the murder of Edwin Alva, a man with a reputation as a philanthropic genius and the savior of Dakota City.

Alva was not as good a man as his pubic persona would suggest. He was also in deep and dirty with the U.S. government's Superman Project.  

The Dakato City super hero Hardware is framed for Alva's murder.

Which gives President Lex Luthor the excuse to-

Wait! Did I say "President Lex Luthor"? Yes. Yes I did. 

It was a thing. More on that thing later in the post.

Where was I?

Alva's murder gives President Lex Luthor the excuse to send in troops as well as a contingent of Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad to take control of Dakota City and seize it's metahuman population.

Any similarities to the real world and events in Minneapolis, MN under the Trump administrations is just a coincidence. WINK!

I couldn't also help but draw comparisons to historitcal accounts of white men marauding into black communities to engage in violence and wipe them off the map. Click here for my post on that subject.  

Dakota City has no intention to capitulate to President Luthor and his invading forces and chaos ensues.  

The Big Three from the Justice League (Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman) intervene to broker something of a truce. 

The brokered peace between Luthor and the heroes of Dakota City results in those heroes retreating from public life.   

It is a bad deal but it's the best the heroes can do to protect their city and their loved ones from Luthor's sinister agenda.  

And Lex Luthor may be the President but he can't stop being Lex Luthor. He not so subtly lets Static know that he's really Virgil Hawkins and Lex knows where his family lives.  

Nice family Virgil has; shame if something happened to them.

Some time after these events, tired of the oppression of Dakota City, Virgil asserts himself to stand up and have Static return to save his city.  

New History of the DC Universe: The Dakota Incident #1 can be a complex read if you're not completely up to speed on these Milestone characters but it does present a compelling and seriously relevant narrative.   

NOW....

President Lex Luthor? 

Yeah, that is a thing that actually happened in the DC Universe.

Back in the year 2000, while the real United States was grappling with the question of Al Gore (Dull!) or George W. Bush (Dullard!) for President, Americans in the DC Universe had a 3rd option: Lex Luthor.

And I'll be damned but the storyline running in the Superman titles had the son of a bitch WIN! 

And the rest of the DC line had to follow along.  

Lex made it to the White House! 

He asked for the Oval Office to be steam cleaned as the previous occupant left it smelling like pork rinds.

Also the semen stains. 

President Luthor? Superman was SO happy about that.

Well, I'm glad this is just comic books! I mean, there is NO WAY in real life we would let a narcissistic criminal sociopath become President of the United States, am I right?

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! 

Whoops! Sorry.  Got carried away there a bit.

As I noted earlier, Lex Luthor can't stop being Lex Luthor and he got up to some bad shit.  Superman and Batman were about to bust him for it but President Lex got them designated as enemies of the state.

Don't worry. Superman and Batman came out on top and Lex Luthor got his ass impeached!

Hey, did you know that if you do let a narcissistic criminal sociopath become President of the United States, you don't have to put up with it? They can  be impeached for doing bad shit! Did you know? Did you know? Huh?

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! 

Sorry about that. 

I think I'm done for the day.

Dave-El's Spinner Rack: DC K.O.

 And we're back for a 3rd week of spinning around Dave-El's ol' spinner rack.

Since comics are sold out of comic book shops, the concept of the spinner rack is an antiquated one from my kidhood when I first got into comics.

In my small southern town where I lived, there were two spinner racks, 1 at a convenience store called the Pantry and another at a drug store downtown. 

Both racks made a loud "SQUEE-AWK!" sound when you turned them. All the better I assume to let some clerk know some kid was messing with the comic books and be on high alert in case someone decided to bolt out of the store with a handful of free comic books.  

I dutifully paid for all my comics. 

I kind of miss the thrill of turning the spinner rack and being surprised by what comics I might find on sale that week. 

Well, that's all nostalgia and this post is about new comics I have purchased recently.

Today's post is about DC Comics' big event comic DC K.O.

The "KO" in DC K.O. does NOT stand for "Knock Out" but refers to "King Omega".  

King Omega is an ultimate source of power that is needed to stop Darkseid who is returning to our universe after being banished outside our dimension where he created his own universe.  (Stories set in the universe are chronicled in DC's Absolute line.)   

To earn the right to obtain the power of King Omega, various heroes and villains have to fight each other until only one remains, the one who will be come King Omega.

There are various obstacles along the way as the field of heroes and villains is winnowed down. 

For example, the mind controlled heroes of the Absolute Universe show up to cause some problems. 

The Batman of our universe thinks the Batman of the Absolute Universe has an ugly Bat emblem. (And he's right!) 

One battle after another (hey, that would be a great title for an Oscar winning movie) ensue along with various shenanigans and betrayals and twists and what have you and finally the field is narrowed down to....

Superman and Lex Luthor.

Big blue boy scout that he is, Superman suggests teaming up with Lex to take the King Omega power and stop Darkseid.

Lex remembers that them's not the rules and ambushes Superman. 

There can only be ONE winner!

And Lex Luthor declares himself King Omega!

If DC K.O. seems an RPG in comic book form, writer Scott Snyder points that out with a flashback subplot to a game night at the Kents where Clark and Lois welcome Diana and Bruce to play a board game based on their super hero exploits. 

Bruce gets all the best dice rolls.  Clark asks if Bruce is cheating.

Bruce replies he's not cheating. He's Batman.

Those interludes are a lot of fun and I would like to see more of that sort of interaction in the DC Universe.

Meanwhile, back to the brouhaha that is the main event of this book.

A prime rule in the DC Universe, let's call it Rule #1: when Lex Luthor thinks he's winning, he's not.  

Ultimately, Darkseid's opponent is who we kind knew it always had to be: Superman.

The knock down drag out between Darkseid and Superman crosses different Crisis events of of the DC Multiverse such as 2011’s Flashpoint and 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. 

All of this is brought to life by some spectacular art by  Javier Fernández and brilliant colors by Alejandro Sánchez.

In the series epilogue by  Joshua Williamson, Xermanico and Wes Craig, we get a glimpse of the future with more universe shattering events and perhaps more changes to the canon that was just established in Mark Waid’s New History of the DC Universe.

Such is the state of modern comics: the only constant is change. 

Speaking of Mark Waid’s New History of the DC Universe, I don't think I've made note of my impression of that series.

cover by Chris Samnee 

Props to Mark Waid for trying to forge a cohesive narrative to a comic book universe riddled by decades of revamps, reboots, revisions, ret-cons and contradictions.  

The unifying thread to this narrative is Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash whose time travelling and dimension spanning super speed provides a unique and very human perspective on the various crisis level events that have struck Earth and the surrounding universe.  

Points to Mark Waid for trying but there's still too much that has gone on in DC's near century existence to not make this a bit of a slog to get through. 

It can be a bit of fun for a trivia obsessed nerd like myself but as a coherent story of DC's definitive history, it doesn't quite stick the landing.

And since the events of VDC K.O. opens the door to that "definitive" history already being re-written mere months after it was published, well, what was the point? 

I also took issue with shifting artists on New History of the DC Universe which undermines the idea of some kind of unified historical narrative.  

For truly dedicated trivia nerds, the back pages of each issue is an illustrated glossary that reference the specific comics Mark Waid used in his history story. 

Variant cover by Scott Koblish  

And that is that for this edition of Dave-El's Spinner Rack. 

I began this post with an exercise in nostalgia. Next week's comic book post is ALL nostalgia as I take another look back at comic books I bought 50 years ago.

What did Dave-El buy off the spinner rack in March 1976?

"SQUEE-AWK!"

We'll find out next week.  

Doomsday Clock: The Living Universe

Yesterday, I intended to write a post about comics in general. Heroes In Crisis was only supposed to be a part of it.

It became the whole damn thing.

So today, it’s Doomsday Clock.

Do I think a sequel to Watchmen was necessary? No.

Do I think integrating the Watchmen characters into the DC Universe was particularly vital? Nope.

But if someone is going to do a sequel to Watchmen and integrate the characters into the DC Universe, at least do it right.

For the most part, I think Geoff Johns and Gary Frank having been doing it right with Doomsday Clock.

Yes, it’s moved too slow, it’s been choppy and disjointed at times.   

Issue #10 brings us up to speed on what the hell has been going on, not just in this series but in the totality of the DC Universe.

Over the course of this series, we’ve seen snippets of a crime noir film about a private eye named Nathaniel Dusk played by an actor name Carter Colman.

*Nathaniel Dusk starred in a pair of mini-series back in the 1980s, created by writer Don McGregor and artist Gene Colan. Have those stories been collected?

In issue #10, we explore the life of Colman and how it intersects with a glowing blue man from a world beyond.

Doctor Manhattan arrives in the DC Universe. 

Over the course of Colman’s life, Manhattan explores this strange new version of Earth, a world where on a spring day in April 1938, a super powered man in red and blue first appears.

Doctor Manhattan tinkers with time and now Superman doesn’t appear until the 1950s.

Or is it the 1980s?

Each time Doctor Manhattan makes a shift in the development of this world, Superman himself changes. When he arrives in Earth. How he grows up. How other super beings come into existence.

Doctor Manhattan concludes this Earth is not just another Earth in a multiverse of infinite Earths. It is a metaverse and changes here affect the entire continuum of the multiverse. At the center of those changes is Superman. Anything that affects Superman and his place in this metaverse ripples outward.

Doctor Manhattan creates a world where Superman loses his human, adoptive parents at a young age and never meets the Legion of Super Heroes. This Superman is further removed from his humanity. This is a Superman that Doctor Manhattan relates to. This is the Superman of the New 52 era. 

But Doctor Manhattan’s changes are not going unchallenged.

Wally West pushes himself out of oblivion to re-assert himself back into existence.

A senile old man named Johnny Thunder  vaguely remembers heroes that no one else remembers; he remembers a lamp, a green lamp of incredibly powerful magic.

A young woman named Imra claims to be from the future and can read your thoughts as easily as one might read  a book.

The metaverse is pushing back against Doctor Manhattan, reasserting histories and legacies he tried to remove.  Almost like a living thing, the metaverse is fighting Doctor Manhattan’s intentions.

The New 52 era was a controversial one for DC. In a big, bold move, DC cancelled all their titles and relaunched everything, 52 titles, in September 2011 with a brand new #1. It also relaunched a NEW DC universe that was new and completely reborn. Everything you knew was different now.

It was a fresh start that enjoyed some immediate success with DC capturing some significant market share from chief rival Marvel Comics. But the price of that “fresh” start was high, the loss of DC’s most valuable asset: it’s history, the legacy of it’s characters. The price paid did not seem worth what was gained from this new universe, a view shared by creators and fans alike.  


What we have here in Doomsday Clock is an in universe, in canon representation of that repudiation of the New 52. 


If Doctor Manhattan, cold, distant and dispassionate, represents the corporate cynicism that stripped the DC Universe of its history, its legacy, this "metaverse" represents the will of creators and of the still loyal fanbase that asserts that the history and legacy of DC is still important.


The force that guides and shapes the destiny of the denizens of the DC Universe... is us.

Doomsday Clock#12

Doomsday Clock#12 came out last week and I was there at Acme Comics (the best comic book shop in the world) to buy it.  

Over the last couple of years, there's been a lot of tap dancing around Doomsday Clock in terms of the quality of the series, it's impact on the DC Universe and it's very reason for existing. 

As a sequel to the legendary Watchmen series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Doomsday Clock would seem to be regarded by some fans as tantamount to sacrilegious. a defiling of a sacred text or something. 

Yes, Watchmen is a great work in comics. It deserves all the lauding praise this seminal work as received over the decades. It is very much a complete work with a beginning, middle and end. It does not need a sequel.

It is, however, not a sacred work. 

If someone thinks there are more stories that can be drawn from Watchmen's well, then fine. If these stories are good, then readers have gained something. If these stories are not good, Watchmen still stands unsullied by such efforts.  

Damon Lindelof's HBO series shows something new and good can come out of the Watchmen world. 

In the case of Doomsday Clock, writer Geoff Johns I think has made a good case of his take in the Watchmen universe. The story Johns tells is as much a story about the enduring and endearing power of what we know as the DC Universe as it is a sequel to Watchmen.

Watchmen posited a world fraught with realpolitik problems along with super heroes. How would one affect the other? What Alan Moore presented was a world that was dark and conflicted. 

What would happen if that darkness and conflict affected the DC Universe the same way?  

Well, it would be different and the reason for that difference is Superman. 

Dr. Manhattan is bemused by Superman and his affect on the Earth of this particular universe. Using his reality bending powers, Manhattan travels through time, making changes subtly here and there in history. For example, a simple move of a certain magic lantern by mere inches results in Alan Scott dying, not becoming Green Lantern and ending an inspiration for the Justice Society of America.  

Other changes make this world darker. Superman still comes into being and serves as a beacon of hope. Manhattan keeps changing things, resulting in a version of the DC Universe we readers came to know as the New 52. It's a colder place, devoid of relationships that have made the heroes of the DC Universe a more effective force.  

Whatever Manhattan does to change this world, Superman still prevails. This universe is a metaverse that bends and molds itself to whatever changes affect the legend and history of Superman.  

Which is a problem for Dr. Manhattan. He's seen the future. Superman confronts him and then all his darkness. Dr. Manhattan cannot see beyond that moment. He reasons there are two alternatives: 

Superman kills him.

Or Dr. Manhattan destroys everything. 

In Doomsday Clock#12, the long foreseen confrontation arrives. And Superman gives Dr. Manhattan a third alternative. 

For all his powers, the main strength of Superman is his ability to inspire us to a better nature, to a better path. And this is what Superman does for Dr. Manhattan. 

After the confrontation that isn't, the DC Universe begins to open and expand as Superman remembers the Justice Society of America from the past and the Legion of Super Heroes of the future.  

Then Johns describes future events in the DC Universe where the universe may be rebooted again but Superman is always there, at the center of it. 

And Superman's Earth is not the only one changed. 

As we saw at the start of the Doomsday Clock series, the world of Watchmen was not in good shape as Ozymandias' scheme to trick the world into uniting to face an alleged alien threat has been exposed. The world is spiraling towards destruction. 

Inspired by Superman, Dr. Manhattan returns to help save the day. Doomsday Clock#12 ends on that world in a bright and hopeful future with a young man with super powers named Clark.  

Is Doomsday Clock a worthy successor to Watchmen? That may be open to debate. But I will say as it's own thing, 
Doomsday Clock is a very well put together series.  Geoff Johns is clearly inspired to elevate his game as a writer, seeking to emulate the complex plotting that Alan Moore employed in Watchmen. 

And the artwork of Gary Franks paired with colorist Brad Anderson is simply a wonder to look at it. While freed from the panel grid constructions of Dave Gibbons work on Watchman, Franks is follows patterns of layout and design to tell a rich and complex story. 

This series features appearances by almost every hero and villain in the  DC Universe and Franks draws all of them with precision and style.  

The downside for Doomsday Clock is how long it has taken to get here. As impactful as the ending might be to the DC Universe going forward, that impact is dulled a bit by the two years it took to get here.  I'm concern that many fans gave up waiting for this to come out and won't be as moved by what Geoff and Gary deliver here. 

Which is a shame because ultimately, Doomsday Clock is a very good comic book. 

Watchmen good? Your mileage may vary.

Doomsday Clock is Doomsday Clock good. 

______________________________________

Coming up tomorrow: 

It's Hanukkah Time!

And a post on Superman#18 and the secret revealed.  

Comic Book History: A Society and League of Justice.

In yesterday's post about the new DC super hero TV series Stargirl, I referenced a super hero team known as the Justice Society. If you're knowledge of the DC Universe is limited to movies and TV and what not but does not include comic books, you might be confused. Isn't DC's big super hero team known as the Justice League? 

Well, the answer is DC has both a Society AND a League of Justice. Herein is a brief history to cover all of that. 

In 1940, the Justice Society of America first appeared in All Star Comics #3.  The team was composed of Doctor Fate, Hour-Man, the Spectre, the Sandman, the Atom, Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman. 

Here's a fun fact: not all of these characters belonged to the same company. The entity we know today as DC was actually two companies, National and All-American. So All Star Comics #3 was not just the first super hero crossover, it was the first intercompany super hero crossover nearly 4 decades before DC and Marvel would have Superman and Spider-Man meet for the first time.  


Here's another fun fact: the Justice Society of America did absolutely diddly squat in their first meeting. Basically the JSA got together for a meet and greet at a hotel banquet room and swapped stories. All Star Comics#3 is filled with a variety of solo stories of the assembled heroes with a framing device of the heroes handing off one to another to tell a tale of one of their adventures.  

The next issue, All Star Comics#4, was their first JSA mission. 

The JSA would continue in All Star Comics until issue #57.

By this point, super heroes were past their peak popularity and comic books were looking to other genres. Crime comics were particularly popular.  You may notice with the above cover how the guy with the gun has prominence over the much smaller figures of the heroes. 

Another popular genre for comics back in the early 1950's were western comics. So with issue #58, All Star Comics was renamed All Star Western and that was bye-bye to the Justice Society of America.

For the next few years, the only super heroes at DC to survive what we now call the Golden Age were Superman, Batman & Robin and Wonder Woman with Green Arrow and Aquaman holding down back up strips. 

Then editor Julius Schwartz decided it was time to try super heroes again. In Showcase#4, writer Bob Kanigher and artists Carmine Infantino & Joe Kubert introduced a new version of the Flash. 

The Flash reboot was a big success and Schwartz worked with writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane do a reboot of Green Lantern.  

Eventually Schwartz paired up writer Gardner Fox (who wrote most of the JSA stories in All Star Comics) with artist Mike Sekowsky to launch the Justice League of America in Brave & the Bold#28.   The assembled JLA fought Starro, a giant starfish from space.

This is serious business, people! Starro is a giant TELEPATHIC starfish from space bent on world domination. 

Fun fact: Schwartz opted for the name "League" over "Society" for the new team due to the popularity of major league baseball.  

Another fun fact: Starro is a serious omega level threat as a giant TELEPATHIC starfish from space bent on world domination and should not be mocked. 

Over in the Flash's own comic book, writer Gardner Fox tells the story of who a super speed stunt propel's Barry Allen's scarlet alter ego into a parallel Earth that's like the one he knows but slightly different. In this alternate Earth, the Flash is Jay Garrick, the Flash of the Golden Age and a member of the Justice Society.  

Fun fact: this issue introduces the concept of the multiverse to DC. The current Flash and the heroes of the current line of DC heroes are designated to live on Earth 1. The Jay Garrick Flash and other heroes of the Golden Age are designated to be on Earth 2. 

Another fun fact: Barry knew who Jay Garrick was because he used to read Flash comic books when he was a kid. It seems the adventures of the Golden Age heroes on Earth 2 were duplicated in comic book form on Earth 1. 

And another fun fact: this issue established writer Gardner Fox as a character living on Earth 1 who picks up mental signals across the vibrational barrier that separates the two Earths and uses that info for the comic books he wrote when Barry Allen was a kid.  

You're not still laughing about the starfish, are you?  

Jay and Barry would team up some more including this classic issue where Vandal Savage instigates a revenge plot against the Justice Society. For the first time in over a decade since All Star Comics#57, the JSA appears in a new comic book adventure.  

Which leads us to Justice League of America#21 and the first ever JLA/JSA team up.  

In the 1970s, All Star Comics would be revived and the JSA once more had a regular berth of all new adventures on Earth 2. This revival lasted until the infamous DC Implosion of 1978.  

The JLA and the JSA would cross the dimensional barriers once a year until Crisis on Infinite Earths brought an end to the multiverse.  

Post crisis, the Justice Society became a World War II era precursor to the modern Justice League. Which meant the heroes of the JSA were really, really old. 

Explanations of comic book super science and/or strange magic explained some of the unusual longevity of these heroes. Around 1992, nearly 50 years after they first gathered in a hotel to swap stories, the Justice Society of America got their first ongoing series actually called Justice Society of America.

Reason for still being alive aside, these heroes were still really, really old and apparently upper management at DC wasn't keen on producing a series about really, really old super heroes and the series was unceremoniously dumped after only 10 issues.  

Spinning off from James Robinson's popular Starman series at the time, JSA took a more expansive approach to the team. Some of the old guard (such as Jay Garrick's Flash) were still active but the rest of the team were legacy characters, children and grandchildren of various classic JSA members.  

Fun fact: James Robinson is a writer and producer on the new Stargirl TV series. 

And... when Robinson left the JSA title as a writer, he would be replaced by Geoff Johns, the creator and showrunner of the new Stargirl series. 

This expansive legacy approach would continue with a relaunch of a new Justice Society of America series helmed by Geoff Johns. 

The Justice Society of America was written out of existence when the New 52 relaunch in 2011. With the Rebirth initiative a few years later, bits and pieces of the JSA legacy have peaked through the cracks. Doomsday Clock#12 shows the team restored but in what context, it's not completely clear. 

A recent issue of Justice League recently sent Green Lantern John Stewart and the Flash (Barry Allen) back in time to World War II where they are surprised to encounter the Justice Society of America. In current continuity, there is no knowledge of super heroes existing during WWII.  

Perhaps with the notoriety the JSA has in the current Stargirl series, perhaps DC will finally give the Justice Society of America a well deserved and respected place once more in the DC universe. 

In this old world, I think we can find room for both a society and a league of justice.  

Fun reminder: Starro is a SERIOUS omega level threat as a giant TELEPATHIC starfish from space bent on world domination and should not be mocked, EVER!

Yes, it's a starfish! Stop laughing.  

Remember to be good to one another.