The most important—even critical—revision necessary is to the portrayal of Val throughout the novel.

Until he stumbled across the plot to assassinate Delgado, Val led a professionally satisfying—and materially success-ful—but emotionally sterile life. He must therefore not refer to or otherwise acknowledge his own emotions and regard those of others with an analytical detachment in the early chapters so that the reader is jarred when the cracks start appearing in his stoic facade.

Thanks to his empathic powers, Val spent his childhood and adolescence drowning in others' emotions, often adult emotions he was not mature enough to understand. Because these empathic experiences sometimes made him physi-cally ill, he grew to fear strong emotion over time and guarded against it in himself. Though a prodigy intellectually, Val was thus reserved in social situations, almost withdrawn. His experience with Judy—the first time in his life he had reached out to someone on that level, only to be deeply hurt—made him hate his empathy. Even after making the life-altering discovery that living in New York negated this power, he avoided personal relationships for fear that any sort of serious emotional involvement would trigger another incident. He used Lash House’s security requirements as his justification for losing himself in his public persona of crusading journalist and upright role model.

The first and most obvious of the changes is Val’s reconnection in spite of himself to the people whose love and affec-tion filled his childhood. But it is a dishonest and selfish reconnection, based as it is on his exploiting their relationship to jump-start a career he perceives as stalled. It’s not until he meets Suzette that he begins to question his motivations. Nevertheless, his promise to the General is meaningless because he has every intention of returning to his career and leaving Lash House and its culture of secrecy behind.

There is a point in the story where the reader should be thoroughly pissed at Val. He worries more about the size and significance of his role in the investigation than he does

The fictional universe in which the events of Lash House occur differs from all previous incarnations of the DC Uni-verse in several significant ways:

1. No characters, concepts or events originating in comics published by Charlton, Fawcett or Quality are included in the world of Lash House with the exceptions of Blackhawk and Plastic Man (who appeared in DC-published Silver Age incarnations of their Quality titles).

2. No characters, concepts or events introduced by Jack Kirby during his 1971-1975 tenure at DC are included in the world of Lash House. This includes not only the New Gods of New Genesis and Apokolips but also the Demon (Etrigan), the Bronze Age Sandman, the Cadmus Project, Mark Shaw and the Manhunter Corps, Omac and Kamandi as well as all characters, concepts and events deriving from them.

3. No characters, concepts, events or retroactive continuity introduced under the Vertigo, Milestone, !mpact, Wildstorm or Pirahna Press imprints or as part of an intercompany crossover are included in the world of Lash House.

4. No retroactive continuity affecting Golden or Silver Age characters introduced after publication of Crisis on Infinite Earths applies to the world of Lash House.

5. The Lash House counterparts of most DCU characters are not as powerful as the originals. For example, none of the Flashes or other super-speedsters can even approach, let alone surpass, light speed. The general public, however, believe the exagerrated accounts of their activities that appear in the media.

6. Time travel is a physical impossibility in the world of Lash House. Only certain sorcerors are capable of piercing the time barrier and even then only at great cost to themselves. Thus the question of whether the Legion of Super-Heroes exist in the future of the Lash House universe is irrelevant. There is no access to Hypertime and contact between interdimensional neighbors has been almost non-existant.

7. Events are generally assumed to occur in the world of Lash House simultaneously with their initial publication in our own reality. Characters age in real time, though those with alien or magical physiologies may age at a slower pace.

The key event in the world of Lash House is the Battle of Metropolis on March 24, 1986.

Beginning in early 1984, the immortal villain Vandal Savage—aided and abetted by The Brain, Hector Hammond, Lex Luthor, Rupert Thorne and The Wizard—began organizing all of the super-villains and costumed criminals then active in the United States, as well as hundreds of other criminals, into a massive army. (A comparative handful of villains declined participation.) The twin goals of this force were the eradication of all super-heroes and costumed adventurers and the overthrow of the American government.

Over the course of the next year, a number of active and retired heroes were the object of assassination attempts—some successful, some not—by various agents of Savage’s army. At the same time, Savage’s organization was infiltrated by a number of spies and double agents.

With the element of surprise gone, Savage and his allies challenged the combined rosters of the Justice League of America, Infinity Inc, the Young Titans, the Outsiders, the Doom Patrol, the Metal Men and the Challengers of the Unknown plus the surviving members of the Blackhawks, the Justice Society of America and the Seven Soldiers of Victory (as well as various independent operatives) to a showdown. The consequent battle resulted in the deaths of 39 superheroes, hundreds of super-villains and criminals, and thousands of civilians; the permanent injury of many more; and the near total destruction of the city of Metropolis. (It should be noted that no super-heroes of other countries, such as the Batmen of Other Nations, the Global Guardians, B’wana Beast or Red Star participated in the battle.)

In the wake of the Battle and the consequent huge drop in the super-villain population through death, injury and imprisonment, many heroes chose to retire and all of the superhero teams, the Challengers excepted, disbanded.