|
|
Post by Cheswick on Dec 14, 2018 9:39:21 GMT -5
I like the idea of Prometheus as the inverse-Batman. Morrison clearly drew inspiration from the '80s villain, The Wrath (from Batman Special #1),who had essentially the same origin: criminal parents killed by cops, leading to him carrying out acts of vengeance against law-enforcement officers.
|
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on Dec 14, 2018 11:02:50 GMT -5
The only New Year's Evil title I bought was Scarecrow. I probably didn't realize this tied in with JLA, or was even by Morrison.
I love Prometheus and his crooked house though.
|
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Dec 15, 2018 8:47:15 GMT -5
JLA #16-17 “Prometheus” (March-April 1998)
Issue #16 “Camelot”: Lois Lane joins the WGBS media team which teleports to the moon for the unveiling of the new JLA roster. The villain Prometheus is also there, disguised as contest winner Retro. He catches the members of the JLA alone in hallways and picks them off one by one. One of you drew the connection between Prometheus and "anti-Batman, " and he is indeed doing to the heroes what Batman did to the villains back in issue #3. Issue #17 “Prometheus Unbound”: Superman and Prometheus stare at each other angrily for a while, until Catwoman shows up (she was disguised as one of the journalists) and defeats Prometheus with her bullwhip, since only he was only prepared to defeat JLA members, not unpowered anti-heroines. (Defeated by an unfamiliar/depowered foe was the resolution of the previous Starro and Epoch stories as well.) He teleports back to his Ghost Zone to avoid capture. Does that mean that next time he materializes in our dimension, he will be back in the JLA satellite?  Takion brings Barda and Orion from New Genesis and announces that they have been assigned to guard Earth from a coming threat, whether the JLA want them around or not. My Two Cents: The title “Camelot” refers to the Watchtower as a status symbol, a gathering place for the heroic elite. As a Scot, Morrison probably isn’t thinking of how the Kennedy clan was talked about in the same reverential tone with the same reverential term in the 1960s. Prometheus is one of Morrison’s favorite tropes personified: the self-made man. In two senses: first, he has no innate super-powers and became a paragon of intellectual and physical prowess simply by force of will. He is the Charles Atlas fantasy, personified. Second, his discs allow him to alter his physical attributes at will, even adopting the body language of other people. This sort of role play is a favorite Morrison theme as well, shamanistically becoming other people. Lois Lane says that her childhoood heroes were “Colette and Dorothy Parker.” Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette was a French actress and writer of the early 20th century, author of the 1944 novella “Gigi” which was made into numerous films and stage plays. Parker was an American “wit” and part of the Algonquin Round Table celebrated in the 1994 film “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.” “You’re going to throw you’re (sic) hammer and cause some serious damage,” says Prometheus to Steel. I haven’t seen a lot of typographical errors like this in the lettering, thankfully. Morrison spends a double splash page on a map giving us the layout of the JLA Watchtower, which is one of the most Silver Age things I can think of for a comic book to do.  “Oxygen is highly combustible,” says Prometheus. No, the oxygen itself is not combustible. But it does permit combustion of other substances to occur. OK, so Prometheus' power is that he has compact discs that he can use to download information or skill sets into his brain. He has a disc full of the skills of martial artists, including Batman. Just how did he get Batman’s martial arts skills onto a disc? Like Epoch in the WILDc.a.t.s crossover story, Prometheus finds the simultaneous information too much to handle and ultimately defeats himself. This isn’t quite what happened to the mythological (I first typed “historical,” ha!) figure of Prometheus.  Batman suggests that Flash impart some of his super-speedy metabolism to Green Lantern to heal a bullet wound. Is that a thing? And if Green Lantern is seriously wounded, won't that just make him bleed to death super-quickly?  Originally, Steel was one of the ersatz Supermen who arose after the “Death of Superman” story arc. I never read those stories, but I thought he was a Colossus-type guy made of metal. But in this story, he’s more an Iron Man type with an armored exoskeleton. What happened there? Is it like when The Thing lost his rock form and decided to wear a super-suit that looked just like it, for old times sake? Takion says “The New Gods move in mysterious ways, their wonders to perform.” This is almost verbatim from the first stanza of William Cowper’s 1733 poem “Light Shining out of Darkness” which was made into a popular Christian hymn as well as being the inspiration for U2’s song “Mysterious Ways”:  In taking on legacy heroes as members, the JLA have some distinct neophytes on the squad now. Green Arrow (Connor, son of Ollie Queen) appears to have left for the moment. Kyle Rayner is a very inexperienced Green Lanter, which reduces the effectiveness of a ring that makes his thoughts into reality. Hippolyta has replaced Diana as Wonder Woman and lacks her decisive approach to combat. Steel is a family man who isn’t sure he ought to be heroing in the first place. Now that Morrison’s JLA squad is more or less complete, let’s run through the deity matchups: Superman – Zeus Wonder Woman – Hera Batman – Hades Big Barda – Athena Orion – Ares (Orion calls himself 'God of War' repeatedly) Steel – Hephaestus Plastic Man – Dionysos Green Lantern – Apollo Huntress – Artemis Flash – Hermes Based on her appearance in this story, I’d be tempted to cast Catwoman as Venus, but she doesn’t show up again later. I’m not sure where Zauriel fits in. Daedalus perhaps? Or perhaps we should be content to identify him as a visitor to Olympus from Hebrew religion.
|
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 15, 2018 9:26:52 GMT -5
I remember really liking Steel being added.. he made SO much sense to be the tech guy... of course, under Morrison Batman is the tech guy, but Steel is a better choice.
Steel was always an Iron Man type character... he built the suit himself in the aftermath of the death of Superman.. his real name is John Henry Irons.. hence the hammer (since he was named after the John Henry of the fable).
He solo title was actually quite good when under Priest... his daughter, Natasha, is one of the best supporting characters ever, IMO. (until they ruined her trying to give her superpowers)
MUCH later, he gets sucked into a New Gods story and his armor becomes their tech and might be permanent, but that's been undone with the last couple rebirths I think.
Kyle really isn't new at this point.. he's been Green Lantern for a good 4 years... but that was something of a theme in his book.. they did like 3 or 4 stories where he had to prove himself worthy. I wonder if that was the case with the early Wally West issues (I haven't read those as much)?
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2018 11:06:25 GMT -5
Now that Morrison’s JLA squad is more or less complete, let’s run through the deity matchups:
Superman – Zeus
Wonder Woman – Hera
Batman – Hades
Big Barda – Athena
Orion – Ares
Steel – Hephaestus
Plastic Man – Dionysos
Green Lantern – Apollo
Huntress – Artemis
Flash – Hermes
Based on her appearance in this story, I’d be tempted to cast Catwoman as Venus, but she doesn’t show up again later. I’m not sure where Zauriel fits in. Daedalus perhaps? Or perhaps we should be content to identify him as a visitor to Olympus from Hebrew religion.
This is the beauty of Morrison's idea and that's why I liked this book so much ... nice job on JLA #16-17 “Prometheus” (March-April 1998) ... rberman
|
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Dec 15, 2018 11:57:00 GMT -5
I remember really liking Steel being added.. he made SO much sense to be the tech guy... of course, under Morrison Batman is the tech guy, but Steel is a better choice. Steel was always an Iron Man type character... he built the suit himself in the aftermath of the death of Superman.. his real name is John Henry Irons.. hence the hammer (since he was named after the John Henry of the fable). Steel does get to do some tech stuff at points in the series. He should be the guy building teleporters, not Batman. The role of Huntress, GL, and Flash in Morrison's JLA is to gawk and tell us how awesome Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are, as well as all the cosmic foes they are encountering. Huntress in particular does a lot of that in upcoming issues. This doesn't fit with their more confident portrayals elsewhere, but Morrison recognizes the need to set the characters on a big team apart from one another, and also someone to voice his "Superman is a god" theme. |
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 15, 2018 15:30:48 GMT -5
Also, how many Marvel heroes can you identify in this Wonderworld scene? I bet that was Porter's doing, not Morrison's. I doubt Morrison would deliberately write a scene in which the Marvel Universe dwarfs the DC Universe.  So you inspired me to pull these out to re-read (and get back to my own review thread...) I had forgotten about this scene, which goes back to you talking about Howard Porter adding in Marvel characters.. I think Wolverine is toast.. but maybe there's still time for Doom...  Also, going on your theme of having GL, Flash and others just point out how awesome the others are... that happens in issue 2... Kyle asks Wonder Woman for back up to help hold off the bad guys, ahd she say 'call me Diana, we're in the same league' And Kyle answers 'Yeah, right'. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2018 15:36:44 GMT -5
I was stunned by this image here ... I would never, ever see the day of Marvel Characters in a JLA Book ... I'm still shaking my head with this image and rightly so. |
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Dec 15, 2018 15:43:46 GMT -5
I was stunned by this image here ... I would never, ever see the day of Marvel Characters in a JLA Book ... I'm still shaking my head with this image and rightly so. I missed that detail in my own reading. There are more Marvel homages to come in JLA, but I won't spoil them yet... |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2018 16:15:21 GMT -5
Understood ... and thanks for letting me know what coming ...
|
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on Dec 15, 2018 19:20:43 GMT -5
Prometheus' defeat was lame.
|
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Dec 16, 2018 9:14:57 GMT -5
JLA #18-19 “Synchronicity/Seven Soldiers of Probability” (May-June 1998)
Creative Team: Mark Waid wrote it; Porter and Dell are still on art. The Story: The JLA deal with a streak of “7” themed hazards, like seven aircraft trying to share the same airspace. It’s all the work of mad scientist Dr. Julian September. He has split seven photons and harnessed their quantum entanglement to generate hex fields like Scarlet Witch. The JLA itself gets whittled down to seven members; the others dissolve into vapor. The Atom shrinks everyone down to the quantum level, where they push the broken photons back together, ending the synchronicity field that was causing all the hexing.  My Two Cents: Waid is shooting for actual science fiction, taking a then-current scientific discovery (entanglement, though no one says that particular word) and spinning a story that allows him to work in extended exposition from Ray Palmer the Science Guy. We also get a patient explanation of how both “Julian” and “September” refer to the number seven. Just another one of those crazy coincidences! Look how feverishly Batman paces back and forth as he unloads his dumptruck of exposition.   I like Atom's red jacket; kinda reminds me of Wonder Man. Waid is also diligent to include a “personal struggle” story: The JLA members are turning to vapor because the probability field is re-writing their personal histories so that the definitive moments (often tragedies) in their backstories never come to pass, such as the death of Batman’s parents. How can she help to reverse the undoing of Bruce’s tragedy? And what if the bullet that crippled Oracle could be unwritten too? She’s torn, and Waid makes it like a campfire ghost story by having non-orphan Bruce Wayne tapping the wall as he approaches her door… don’t open the door, Oracle! Aaaah!   The title of the second issue is a pun on the Seven Soldiers of Victory. These soldiers don’t have Destiny on their side, only statistical likelihood.
|
|
|
|
Post by chadwilliam on Dec 16, 2018 21:06:01 GMT -5
Something which really stands out upon re-reading these two issues is how The Martian Manhunter is the one guy you really don't want to piss off. When it becomes clear that Oracle is stalling for time when her service to the team could prove invaluable, he outright accuses her of trying to manipulate events for her own benefit.
Martian Manhunter: No thanks to you, we've located September - too late.
Oracle: Don't take that tone with me Jonn, I'm-
Martian Manhunter: Gambling the fate of the world against your personal gain! My disappointment in you is limitless! How dare you? You withdrew from this case hoping that history would continue to change and erase the gunshots that shattered your spine!
Of course, as it turns out, Oracle is thinking only of the impact fixing things will have on the now un-orpahned Bruce Wayne (nicely depicted as a chubby, moustachioed, pipe smoker) rather than herself.
The exchange reminded me of a similar one between J'onzz and John Stewart when the latter's hubris in believing that he could save a world by himself led to that planet's destruction in Cosmic Odyssey. "Thanks to you, I've now seen two worlds die. I will never forgive you for this." (or words to that effect). While J'onzz anger was well placed in Odyssey, it's undeserved when directed at Gordon which makes me wonder whether or not the two had even met prior to this storyline. I can't imagine The Manhunter accusing, say, Superman of such selfishness.
On another note, though I was still a big Batman fan at the time, in revisiting this storyline, I can see how the hero worship some of the other members of the team have for him could have grown a bit tiresome for anyone not reading this as simply another Batman title.
Green Lantern: Who else but Batman is going to explain why the world's gone wack?
Flash: If you're not around to explain things, we're screwed.
Flash (to Plastic Man): He always has all the answers. Don't know what we'd do without him.
Even Electro-Superman explaining that Batman doesn't pair up when the team goes out on missions suggests that Batman's the most capable adult in the room.
Also; I remember there being a text piece at the end of either 18 or 19 in which someone, possibly Waid, went into some detail about synchronicity in real life - how the study of Quantum Mechanics has resulted in some baffling observations scientists can't explain. I can't find the piece online, but I recall the experiment which involved separating two protons by seven miles and having each proton to choose a path seemingly without being able to communicate with one another and then duplicating each other's exact movements, being brought up. Further reading on this sort of thing has led me to discover that much of what Waid wrote here about extraordinary coincidences has a basis in real life as rberman pointed out. Kind of interesting to see such a smooth transition from Morrison to Waid's style of storytelling from "Prometheus" to "Synchronicity" when one is dealing with ancient Gods and the other up to the date scientific research. Makes me wonder if the two just naturally have the same ideas about these characters (I know that the collaborated on a Superman proposal shortly after this time) or if they're comparing notes.
|
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Dec 17, 2018 6:46:31 GMT -5
On another note, though I was still a big Batman fan at the time, in revisiting this storyline, I can see how the hero worship some of the other members of the team have for him could have grown a bit tiresome for anyone not reading this as simply another Batman title. Green Lantern: Who else but Batman is going to explain why the world's gone wack? Flash: If you're not around to explain things, we're screwed. Flash (to Plastic Man): He always has all the answers. Don't know what we'd do without him. This was mostly dramatic irony setting up Batman's cliffhanger vaporization immediately after Flash says "Don't know what we'd do without him." It turns out that what they'd do without him is get help from the even more capable Atom, the only JLAer in a position to lead them on a subatomic quest to reunite the split protons. It's all intended to say that the JLA needs specialty players who can be called in for specific tasks which are not germane to either Batman's cunning or Superman's noble brawn. |
|
|
|
Post by rberman on Dec 17, 2018 6:57:59 GMT -5
JLA #20-21 “Adam Strange” (July-August 1998)
Creative Team: Written by Mark Waid; Pencils by Arnie Jorgensen; inks by David Meikis. I suspect Morrison stepped off of JLA for these four months (counting Waid’s previous story arc) so that he could put together the DC One Million avalanche that’s coming in November 1998.  The Story: Adam Strange kidnaps the JLA to Rann and fits them with shock collars to prevent them from escaping. He forces them to build a series of monuments to his dead wife. When Superman and Flash try to use their speed to overcome Strange, Martian Manhunter stops them, becoming Strange’s lieutenant. The traitor! But eventually it’s revealed that Strange isn’t as crazed as he seems; he is secretly protecting Rann from an invasion by having the JLA build a defense system against the aliens, hidden in the monuments.  Strange’s wife isn’t really dead; she’s a captive of the aliens. Superman rescues her, and the alien fleet is banished to the end of the universe by a giant Zeta-beam. But the price is that Strange’s body is no longer full of the Zeta Waves that keep him on Rann. He fades back to Earth along with the JLA, leaving his daughter in the care of her mom.  My Two Cents: You guys know Adam Strange, right? DC’s Buck Rogers knockoff? I used to read his stories in those “52 big pages for 25 cents” reprint versions from the 1970s. He’s an Earthman who got zapped with a “Zeta Beam” from space that teleported him to another planet, where he fell in love with a local gal and defends its civilization, because none of the locals are up to the challenge. But the Zeta Beam periodically wears off, and he is transmitted back to Earth, to await the next alignment that can make another trip to Rann possible. This setup could be an allegory for all sorts of things, from Shazam! style “secretly awesome guy” wish fulfillment to a metaphor for a 1950s traveling salesman who can’t see his gal again until his route takes him back to Des Moines. Or perhaps WW2 soldiers recalled from the war, pining for the girl they left behind in the South Pacific. But in some previous story, Adam Strange has managed get enough Zeta Ray exposure to stay on Rann indefinitely. By the end of this story, that advance in his story line has been undone, as has his wife’s death, and we’re back to the Silver Age status quo.  Adam Strange is given the most crazed, contorted facial expressions throughout this story. This is his attempt to convince the aliens that he is on their side, and it also hides his true intentions from the reader. The emotional impact of a story like this depends upon your previous investment in the characters. If you’ve never seen Adam Strange as a good guy, then the sight of him torturing the JLA with pain collars just reads as “bad guy does bad thing” rather than as “shocking betrayal of all that Adam Strange holds dear.” This is true of “re-imagined heroes” stories in general.  As soon as I finished writing the story summary above, I realized where I had seen it before. In the 1978 Doctor Who TV serial “The Invasion of Time,” The Doctor assumes dictatorial powers on his home planet of Gallifrey. He’s acting maniacal, banishing his companion Leela to the wilderness as he gives a series of seemingly arbitrary and unreasonable edicts, so much so that he must foil a coup along the way. But it’s all part of a secret plan to construct a machine to banish an alien fleet. Sounds familiar! I would be very surprised if Mark Waid did not grow up watching this serial of Doctor Who; his Adam Strange story parallels it at numerous points. Here’s a fan-made montage which ends with the Doctor laughing maniacally as he apparently lets the aliens take control of his homeworld. However, it’s more likely that Waid is working directly with the Silver Age tropes “the pretend traitor” and “superheroes on the chain gang.”   Just as in the Hyperclan story, Martian Manhunter feigns treachery. This might be excused on the basis that Morrison wrote one story, and Waid wrote the other, but isn’t it the editor’s job to point out such narrative repetition?  This story also featured a whole lot of Orion “God of War” acting like a raging lunatic who has to be restrained by everyone. Meanwhile, Steel is put in the most Thor-like poses imaginable. Are both of these characterizations typical for those characters? I’m not enough of a DC buff to know. I mean, I know Thor himself was originally a Superman knock-off, but readers are taken out of the moment by images like the one in the panel below which hammer (bwahaha) home the similarities between Steel and Thor.  The respective issue titles “Mystery in Space” and “Strange New World” pay homage to Adam Strange’s appearances in the Mystery in Space comic book. 
|
|
