Comic book geek highlights of the day, before I begin today's post... which like yesterday, comes thanks to John B of the Gentlemen's Guide to Comics group!
- Having my girlfriend not only watch the latest episode of "The Flash" without rolling her eyes TOO much, along with her asking me questions about the "Reverse Flash" concept.
- Starting my reading of the second volume of Ed Piskor's "Hip Hop Family Tree". Man... If there's ANY comic series that is a MUST-READ for fans of music history, this would be one of those ESSENTIAL reads! Plus, the style is decidedly vintage-Marvel in artistic charm! (It also makes me want to pull out my compilation CD of "Sugar Hill Gang VS Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five"!
In an unusual way, today's blog entry offers you a BIT of a sneak-peek for my intentions for postings 99 and 100. Consider today's writing to be the "lead-in" issue to the anniversary spectacular! I discussed today's topic... again, WHOLLY suggested by John B... with my girlfriend, trying to process whether the concept is more "homage" than "rip-off", but the argument could be made either way. What IS undisputed is these concepts helped create some TRULY excellent stories, and even in some cases, left some genuine comic book legacies! I speak of the "bleeding-over" of certain recognized teams in other comic universes... WITHOUT involving true crossovers. Today, we speak of the "homage" teams of Marvel and DC! And what better place to start than with one of the most recognized homage teams in all comics history...
Squadron Supreme: Originating in "Avengers #69" as a creation of the Grandmaster in one of his galactic games, the Squadron was THEN recognized as "Sinister", with the core members consisting of Hyperion, Nighthawk, Doctor Spectrum, and the Whizzer. Eagle-eyed comics readers may have noticed some... slight "similarities" between another particular super-team in the DC Universe with some of these characters. I can offer you some of my "theories":
- Hyperion = Superman
- Nighthawk = Batman
- Doctor Spectrum = Green Lantern
- The Whizzer = The Flash
That didn't EXACTLY change when the PROPER Squadron Supreme was introduced in "Avengers #89", and expanded upon later with some other cases of, "Didn't I see this guy/gal somewhere else?" Such as with:
- Amphibian = Aquaman
- Power Princess = Wonder Woman
- Arcanna = Zatanna
- Blue Eagle = Hawkman
- Golden Archer = Green Arrow
- Lady Lark = Black Canary
- Nuke = Firestorm
- The Shape = A kinda "special" version of Elongated Man
- Tom Thumb = MAYBE a crossover of Atom with Oberon?
One of the main gimmicks of the Squadron's appearances is that they seemed VERY susceptible to mental manipulation, in terms of battling with their oft-opponents, the Avengers. That was later explained to be caused by the Squadron's main nemesis, the Overmind. In a battle that nearly destroys their home world... because the Squadron Supreme exist on an ALTERNATE Earth... the Overmind is defeated, along with his influence. This then launches one of the most MEMORABLE comic mini-series of ALL time, the 12-issue "Squadron Supreme" series written by Mark Gruenwald. I speak with no small hyperbole in saying this series was essentially "Watchmen", in terms of the exploration of superheroes as fallible human beings, before Alan Moore launched his big legacy piece. I REFUSE to spoil anything about the "Squadron Supreme" series, because this 12-issue masterpiece is ESSENTIAL reading for any comic book fan! Seriously, I don't care if you've never read an appearance of the team prior to, or following, this series. YOU. MUST. READ. THIS. STORY.
After Gruenwald's magnum opus on the team, along with a following graphic novel sequel, the team remained dormant until about the 90's, when they appeared in "Quasar", and was integral to a story for the Kurt Busiek/George Perez "Avengers" run after the HIGHLY faulted "Heroes Reborn" period for the Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Another incarnation of note for the team is due to the "Supreme Power" series run for Marvel's "Ultimate" universe, created by J. Michael Straczynski... he who REFUSES to finish any project he starts. I personally have not read this run, because for the most part, I am personally ambivalent towards anything in association with the Ultimate Marvel Universe... something I SHOULD explore in a future blog entry... but the Squadron Supreme managed to dip their "familiar" toes into another aspect of the Marvel Universe, as well. Heck, to prove HOW influential the Squadron Supreme concept was, the team earned their own "Marvel Zombies" mini-series! When you're zombified, you've made it, team that KIND OF resembles another company's "heavy hitters".
But it's not like the "Distinguished Competition" was above such "homage" creations, as well, because not only did TWO of Marvel's superstar teams get the "tribute album" treatment, but as we'll also explore, they even hosted FANS of the "House of Ideas" in their conflicts, and we start things off with...
Champions of Angor: Serendipity creates some interesting crossbreeding, because while Roy Thomas gave Marvel the Squadron Supreme, Mike Friedrich introduced in "Justice League of America #87" a team of Champions from another planet called Angor that also seemed to "resemble" another team of heroes for the opposite side of company fencing! Roll call for this introductory team, along with my "BEST GUESSES" for who they seemed to be modelled after:
- Blue Jay = Yellowjacket
- Silver Sorceress = Scarlet Witch
- Jack B. Quick = Quicksilver
- The Bowman = Hawkeye (Though to be fair, ANY "super archer" is equally sort of a riff on either Hawkeye or Green Arrow. NO. ONE. was going to riff on Shaft from Youngblood, though.)
- Wandjina = Thor
Later additions to the team, via an issue of "Justice League Quarterly #3" include other "tribute" characters like:
- Tin Man = Iron Man
- Bug = Spider-Man
Unlike the Squadron, the Champions were NEVER influenced by mental manipulation for their clashes. LIKE most Marvel characters, though, they often clashed with the Justice League, due to simple misunderstanding. But also LIKE the Squadron Supreme, it was later revealed that the world of Angor was also devastated... but the MAIN difference is that the Champions were unable to regain control of order, when they were ultimately defeated by their opposite number team, the Extremists.
Might the Extremists also look a little bit familiar? That may be because they KIND OF "resemble" some of Marvel's most infamous villains, such as:
- Lord Havok = Doctor Doom
- Gorgon = Doctor Octopus
- Doctor Diehard = Magneto
- Dreamslayer = Dormammu
- Tracer = Wolverine, with SOME Sabretooth mixed in
What's interesting is that the Extremists seemed to have a MUCH lengthier creative life than the Champions of Angor, but there's no denying that the Champions fulfilled their niche spot as DC's none-too-subtle Marvel analog. But that's not all, because one of Superman's greatest foes... later to become a thorn in the side of the Green Lantern Corps... began life as a "nod" to Marvel's "First Family"...
Hank Henshaw: I know, I know... "Hank WHO?!?". I do not aim to mislead you readers, because before Hank entered life as the Cyborg Superman, in "Adventures of Superman #466", himself and his fellow crewmates of the doomed space shuttle
Excalibur were affected by solar radiation, before crashing back to Earth. You could say that this even "four" of a crew's chances of survival after such a crash was "FANTASTIC", but alas, fate was not terribly kind to this foursome. (Maybe if they were only JUST exposed to garden-variety cosmic rays?) The pilot of the ship was transformed into a behemoth made up of ship parts and the ground they crashed into, the youngest member of the crew became a living entity of cosmic energy, Hank's wife started phasing out of our reality at intervals... becoming "invisible" in streaks..., and Hank suffered premature white hair, along with an accelerated rate of body decay. Heck, there was a point in the issue where he was STILL working on curing the crews' conditions, despite being little more than a skeleton with some stray bits of flesh attached to his frame! So what's the end result of this issue? The cosmic energy being goes mad from the power, and seeks solace in the depths of space... where he essentially fizzles out of existence. Our "Thing" of minerals and ship parts decides to commit suicide in a particle dispersal unit. Hank's wife IS restored to our reality, without phasing out, but is driven insane by the entire experience, and later commits suicide due to being unable to cope with the tragedy of her life. And Hank Henshaw DID "die" at the conclusion of the issue, but a spark of his existence still lived in in the LexCorp mainframe, where he was able to construct robotic forms to maintain a physicality. Superman would later give Henshaw the ability to explore the cosmos, after being rejected on Earth, via installing Henshaw's "spark" into the ship that launched Kal-El to Earth.
But the blame game is what Henshaw decides upon with Superman, after travelling the universe, and when Superman dies after his battle with Doomsday, Hank Henshaw decides to undo the legacy of the Man of Steel by turning into the Cyborg Superman! And to think, all this started with a rather "fantastic" first appearance!
Now, to spice things up, we see "kind of" appearances by the Marvel luminaries in various DC books, and it was all thanks to a Halloween tradition of a famous Rutland, Vermont comics fan, Tom Fagan!
"Batman #237" not only featured the now-classic "Night of the Reaper" story by Dennis O'Neal (who ALSO had a cameo in the issue!) and Neal Adams, it also featured an appearance of the Rutland Halloween Parade, which was started by Tom Fagan in 1965, when he and a group of friends started a parade in mixed Marvel/DC character costumes. Marvel TECHNICALLY first recognized Fagan's Rutland tradition in an issue of the "Avengers", but the DC books were the first that featured people dressed as characters from the opposing company. Note this panel, where somehow "Thor" and "Spider-Man" happen to show up!
And in "Justice League of America #103", SOMEHOW, thanks to the mystical schemes of DC's Sorcerer Sinister, Felix Faust, some of Rutland's costumed partiers end up with magic power enhancements, along with mental manipulations! So we get to see "Thor", "Captain America", and "Spider-Man" battle with the JLA! And as all current convention goers know, sometimes imitation really IS the best form of flattery!
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