DC Comics in the 1990's

[SUPERECWFAN1]

This is the same as the Marvel thread. A lot of the posters here hear only the bad things about comics in the 1990's. But there were good and bad moments and here I am to go thru what I can.


DC 1990-1991 : The Missing Years.....

In 1990 DC Comics was 4 years past its big reboot from Crisis on Infinite Earth's. They also were busy trying new ideas and letting creators take thier turns on books.

One of the big changes from Crisis was Justice League. Or Justice League International. In the JLI , Kieth Giffen and J.M DeMattis had taken the League and turned it upside down and into part comedy , part action.

The success of the Justice League had DC scrambling to milk the franchise for what they could. So Giffen was asked to do a Justice League Europe title as a spin-off and he obliged. It too went straight as a hit and for much of the late 80's the Justice League books were pretty solid reads.

In 1991 however times were changing. Giffen was leaving the Justice League books and plans had to be made to give them to new writers. Justice League Europe had morphed into JLI after 25# and JLI had morphed into Justice League America.

The finale of Giffen's JL run for both series was the " Breakdowns" arc in 1991. In it Despero takes on both Leagues who aren't at full power. Its a decent read for those who care .


Of course the Justice League books may have been good in the early 90's but in Batman there was a change taking place. In 1990 DC finally decided it was time to kill that little bast-rd Robin , Jason Todd. In major papers DC had a phone call in so you could vote to snuff him out or to let him live. Todd , even with a revamped post Crisis origin lost.

This threw the Bat-Editors into a massive problem because they needed a Robin. Dick Grayson was kept as an adult Post-Crisis and was in a tug of war with the Titans editors for his control. The final solution was to introduce a new Robin in the Titans/Batman cross-over " A Lonely Place for Dying ." In this tale Marv Wolfman and Jim Aparo would create Tim Drake who would slowly go on to earn a relunctant, sad ; Bruce Wayne's approval as Robin.

Titans....we have a problem:

Before Crisis , one of the key books at DC Comics was Titans. It was such a perfect hit that it made Marv Wolfman a bigger star than he already was. The sad thing was...that by 1990 and 1991 the book had went thru several name changes and was losing readers. The team had little to no changes for years and Wolfman seemed to be running on empty.

Titans needed a jolt. Jason Peterson was hired as an Editor and pushed for the team to be changed and to take chances. The final result was a Marvelish type storyline called " Titans Hunt " which would run thru 1991/1992.

There was 3 types of Arcs set. Each arc was gonna lead into the big changes at New Titans 100# it was guessed. Peterson also wanted Deathstroke to have his own book and plans to expand the Titans line started. But alas , after the events of " Total Choas" which was supposed to be the spin-off of Team Titans , the Peterson/Wolfman connection was lost and Peterson was gone.

The Titans however was the least of DC's problems in 1990 and 1991. The Legion of Superheroes were relaunched yet again with the " 5 Years Later " idea by Giffen and others. The idea behind 5 Years Later was to help the writers get around the brain f-ck called Superboy who was removed from thier tales Post Crisis.

The 5 Years later story approach was pretty smart. But fans were trying to get back into the drak LSH stories that were happening and in LSH 24# , Giffen introduced the SW6 Legion. It was believed to be clones of the original LSH but 4 years later this would change.

Total Impact !

DC had an idea that with thier regular line that they could introduce a new line of comics ala Marvel's " New Universe ". In this they had gotten a few heroes who no longer had books at Archie comics and started publishing them with new 1#'s. Less than a year in DC pulled the plug on the entire line and charactors like The Shield,Web and Comet were assigned to footnotes in the 1990's.


Armaggedon 2001:

In 1991 , DC had this unique Idea for thier Annuals. In this they had the " Armageddon 2001 " storyline where 10 years in the future a hero would turn bad and go rogue. This idea was pretty intense as Captain Atom was selected as the bad villain.

But word slipped out and DC decided to turn the tables and run a swerve. So they picked Hank Hall ( Hawk ) as the bad guy who becomes Monarch. This puzzled readers because Hawk was the type who seemingly wouldn't turn but DC used the excuse that Hawk would see Dove's death by Monarch and it would flip him over and without his balance of Order , he'd go off his rocker.

Where as the 1st part of the storyline had kicked ass , once it was revealed as Hawk it became lackluster. This story-arc would be retconned in a funny way years later in JSA.

Justice Society Returns ? :

In 1990 the Justice Society was brought back to the DCU finally and the team got a regular series. Of course it didn't last long due to DC Editor Mike Carlin who insisted fans weren't interested in these old geratic heroes.

Even those sales were good Carlin canned the series . Its little shock fans of the old heroes slowly started to hold a grudge against the New DC . It also shouldn't shock anyonre that in the next 3 years DC would throw the balls to the wall and go younger as well as change popular heroes !



( end of part 1)

[stealthwise]

I think that the choice of Hawk as Monarch didn't puzzle readers so much as piss them off completely. I mean... it's Hawk. He was a fairly weak character compared to the likes of Captain Atom, and there was no real good reason to have him turn other than to shock the readers. It had less to do with characterization and more to do with making a completely illogical move.

In today's terms it would be like having Loose Cannon or Aztek or Wildebeest (if he wasn't already dead) turning into the threat behind Infinite Crisis. One thing that DC is doing properly with IC is keeping the focus on the main characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Luthor, etc. When you have a mega-crossover you need to make sure that the main story revolves around those huge characters that most readers can easily identify and care about. While Captain Atom wasn't exactly a top-gun in the early 90s, he was certainly a more plausible threat and more recognizable than freaking Hawk.

[JulianPerez]

You only really need to know SEVERAL things about that awful, awful decade that is thankfully over, at DC:

Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN, the comic of choice for Goth girls, guest-starring Prez, the First Teenage President, which sported an incredible imagination and sense of humor, with jokes like... MORTAL: "You know, they say all dreams are about sex." MORPHEUS: "Then what happens when you dream about sex?"

Roger Stern writing SUPERMAN, the one and only time the Byrne/Carlin Superman 1986-2003 ever had a moment where he was interesting and played with space opera and panache (though even here he was neutered by the stories of the rest of the Carlin lackeys - just going to show that you can never create anything by committee)

The Morrison Justice League, which was cheesy and cool and had a sense of history and style;

The Tom Peyer HOURMAN, a mindblowingly original series with great concepts like "time vision" and "frictionless half bird, half cougars," a series that was tragically canceled before its time;

The IMPACT! comics JAGUAR, featuring a wonderfully characterized female superheroine fighting tons of monsters, written by the incredible Bill Messner-Loebs;

STARMAN, which despite its slacker hero, was nonetheless supercool in a Tarantino way, with warm, real family ties.

Everything else in the nineties at DC? BOO! HISS!

In today's terms it would be like having Loose Cannon or Aztek or Wildebeest (if he wasn't already dead) turning into the threat behind Infinite Crisis. One thing that DC is doing properly with IC is keeping the focus on the main characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Luthor, etc. When you have a mega-crossover you need to make sure that the main story revolves around those huge characters that most readers can easily identify and care about. While Captain Atom wasn't exactly a top-gun in the early 90s, he was certainly a more plausible threat and more recognizable than freaking Hawk.

While I agree with you overall, it was great to see that the hero of UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED be the Trickster, and the Trickster played true to form as someone with their heart in the right place who tends to be up to no good, who triumphs because they have a mind like a steel trap and are wily as hell. And the whole business about Captain Marvel being perfect and pure was one of the best uses of Marvel, once he was placed on the combined Earth, when he tended to phase into the background, standing in the back of JLA crowd scenes in Alex Ross posters.

Actually, I'd say the best thing in INFINITE CRISIS has been the use of OBSCURE characters; Detective Chimp, Catman, the Omega Men, Dr. Psycho, Alex Luthor, Superboy-Prime, and so forth. Power Girl, at least for me, has only really been likeable come this minseries.

[Aaron King]

I hope this thread continues. There are other good things that came out in the nineties:

RESURRECTION MAN immediately comes to mind. Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Butch Guice chronicle the adventures of Mitch Shelley. Every time he dies, he simply comes back to life with a different super power. Watch as he discovers how little he actually knows. Featuring Vandal Savage, Deadman, Phantom Stranger, Supergirl and...

HITMAN. Everyone should at least know of its existence. Gotham City's assassin with a conscience. The crappy nineties crossover BLOODLINES left Tommy Monaghan with x-ray vision and telepathy, so he moves up from scrubbing mob bosses to taking out supervillains and zombie zoo animals. Garth Ennis and John McCrea (is this the same guy doing TEEN TITANS GO! now?) create something funny and touching while exploring the morality of a killer for hire.

CHASE went, very sadly, unnoticed. DEO agent Cameron Chase starts her new job (keeping track of the world's superhumans) while dealing with a rocky relationship, a sister who's had to leave Gotham, and a dirty family secret. J.H. Williams III provides amazing art for this everywoman look at the superhero world.

SUPERGIRL was reinvigorated by Peter David in 1996. Previously a shape-changing alien in love with Lex Luthor's clone, she became a woman with a past, a family, responsibility... and Comet the Superhorse. Sort of.

And if you want to talk about Batman in the nineties, you need to go read BATMAN ADVENTURES. It's not surprising that the comic based on the amazing animated series was doing better than the lagging DCU detective. Kelley Puckett and Mike Parobeck brought the Dark Knight to amazing life and wrote an invigorating supporting cast.

There's a weird thing these titles all have in common, and that is strong female characters. I don't know if this means anything, but the gender dynamics in all of the above titles were above and beyond anything that had come before. Even BATMAN ADVENTURES had Barbara Gordon running around and making a name for herself. Welcome to the feminist movement, DC. You're only twenty years late.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The threads will continue. I'll do more parts to DC since theres so much to touch on. Vertigo....ect ect. Its only 2 years thus far... ;)

[Agentum]

I don't agree that the 90s was all bad, especially DC had a lot of good comics, i would say that Marvel was a lot worse overall.

DC didn't go all the way in that collectingmarket and artist that draw whole books without any story just looking nice(there ar of course some of those too Superman 75).
Some like Image was all in that, and Marvel bancrupted.

Books like Ostranders Spectre and later Robinsons Starman is and will be considered 2 of the best books ever, even if they didn't sell that well.

But of course DC had bad books, but i have bought thousands of books from this era in recent years and i say they was not worst in the market, there are early 90s books that is plain unreadible.
One big thing with DC in the early 90s is that crazy crossover mania they seemed to have "you must buy this and this and this to find out what happened", can't have been fun for the readers then.

[Apathy Boy]

DC was awesome in the 1990s. I suspect that most of the people who think otherwise were the ones who were buying 20 copies of ruby-encrusted BLOODBLOOD #1 back then.

Some of the highlights:

-Ostrander and Mandrake's THE SPECTRE, the best ongoing series of all-time
-Robinson's STARMAN, the second-best ongoing series of all-time
-Ennis' HITMAN
-the heyday of Vertigo (SANDMAN at its peak! PREACHER! HOUSE OF SECRETS! SHADE THE CHANGING MAN! TRANSMETROPOLITAN!)
-brilliant and could've-been-legendary-if-they'd-lasted books like CHASE, CHRONOS, RESURRECTION MAN, MAJOR BUMMER, VEXT, XERO.
-seminal books from Paradox Press like STUCK RUBBER BABY and A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
-great mini-series like THE GOLDEN AGE, VIGILANTE and KINGDOM COME (which I hated, but everyone else loved)

Man, what a ridiculously good decade for comics. Maybe the best ever.

[Rylon]

Justice Society Returns ? :

In 1990 the Justice Society was brought back to the DCU finally and the team got a regular series. Of course it didn't last long due to DC Editor Mike Carlin who insisted fans weren't interested in these old geratic heroes.

Even those sales were good Carlin canned the series . Its little shock fans of the old heroes slowly started to hold a grudge against the New DC . It also shouldn't shock anyonre that in the next 3 years DC would throw the balls to the wall and go younger as well as change popular heroes !I think you're confusing a mini-series with a short-live ongoing series. In 1991 there was a JSA 8 issue mini-series set in the 1950s. It stared the original Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Black Canary, and Star Man. Mike Carlin had nothing to do with that seires, as it was essentially done by the creative team that did Impact. (Imact was taking longer than planed to get off the ground, so the editor got the idea to do an old JSA story.)

I'm willing to bet that you can credit that mini-series for showing DC that the JSA was a viable propertiy on its own.

There was an ongoing JSA series that started in 1994 and ended after 10 issues. 1994 was around the time Carlin took over as Editor-in-Chief, so you might be able to blame him for that cancellation. But I don't know.

The 1990s is when I switched from Marvel to DC. The new Robin, Tim Drake, was my way in. The clincher was, however, Superman. When I came to Superman I found a Superman I had never seen. Lois and Clark were in engaged, she new his secrete identity, Lex Luthor was posing as his own son, and Supergirl was an alien shapechanger. I loved it. The 1990s are filled with my favorite Superheros:

Tim Drake as Robin
Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern
Connor Hawke as Green Arrow

Those are the heros I loved. I hope that, some day, DC comes-up with new repacements and new people get to have thier own Robin, Green lantern, and Green Arrow.

[Mr. Palmer]

1990 was the year of the Jason Todd vote? Wow. Time does fly.

Anyone remember the timeline for that event; ie you could call from January to March and the outcome would be revealed in "x" month?

[Gingold]

1990 was the year of the Jason Todd vote? Wow. Time does fly.

Anyone remember the timeline for that event; ie you could call from January to March and the outcome would be revealed in "x" month?

The Jason Todd vote was in the fall of 1988.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The Jason Todd vote was in the fall of 1988.

I was wrong on a few dates.I always thought the 1st JSA series was done in 1991. And the vote I thought was in 1989 or 1990.

[Agentum]

I it true that is was only 70+ votes more on the side who wanted him dead?
Today it seems 80% at least wan't him dead.

[Kid Kyoto]

"The Legion of Superheroes were relaunched yet again with the " 5 Years Later " idea by Giffen and others."

Worth noting this was the first real relaunch of the LSH. It had been published unbroken since Adventure 300 in the early 60s (granted sometimes as a backup features, sometimes as a reprint back up features but still) and this was the first time the LSH closed up shop and launched a newish continunity. Originally other than the 5 year gap there were supposed to be no changes but meddling editors said they had to rewrite history to eliminate superboy (just forgetting him wasn't enough) so Giffin and Bierbaums were left not only with filling in the 5 year gap but also with rewriting things without superboy all the while being blamed by fans for continuity changes.

[shaxper]

I adored the premise of Armageddon 2001 when it first came out. Only last year, I realized that I'd never read the conclusion and still didn't know who Monarch was. As I went around, scouring the local stores for the issue, I decided that there were only two ways the story would end in a satisfying way:

1. It ends up being a major hero we'd never suspect. Of course, DC would never sacrifice a major hero.

2. It ends up being Waverider himself. Damn good time paradox.


Instead, it ends up being Hawk. Man, Hawk or Captain Atom, either way, I didn't give a crap about either one of them. Major disappointment.

[stealthwise]

I adored the premise of Armageddon 2001 when it first came out. Only last year, I realized that I'd never read the conclusion and still didn't know who Monarch was. As I went around, scouring the local stores for the issue, I decided that there were only two ways the story would end in a satisfying way:

1. It ends up being a major hero we'd never suspect. Of course, DC would never sacrifice a major hero.

2. It ends up being Waverider himself. Damn good time paradox.


Instead, it ends up being Hawk. Man, Hawk or Captain Atom, either way, I didn't give a crap about either one of them. Major disappointment.

What DC should have done was determine that it was a major hero like Hal Jordan or Green Arrow, left it wide open for a while. Hell, they ended up corrupting the former and killing the later anyways, so the tie to Armageddon would have made some sense later on.

[NotSuper]

Despite buying a lot of comics in the decade, I don't have fond memories of the nineties today. The things I liked back then seem pretty bad to me now. Case in point: "The Death and Return of Superman." Somewhat of a polarizing storyline today, but as a kid I ate it all up (and, to give it credit, it did get me to start regularly collecting Superman's books--although I stopped when everything went to hell). Now, as an adult, I wonder why I liked it in the first place. Doomsday was not a good (or even decent) villain, any way you slice it. In hindsight, not having one of Superman's big guns kill him was a critical failure, though I can understand why it was done at the time. But I dislike the Cyborg Superman even more, possibly because he was originally a Reed Richards clone. Plus, Mongul was his slave--and that really sucked. That being said, I look forward to him getting turned into scrap by Green Lantern (he should do what Kyle did to Major Force). I have heard that the novelization by Roger Stern is much better, though, and I've actually read some of it.

Anyway, there were some titles in the nineties that I still think are good (or even great) today. But many of them have already been mentioned by others.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

What DC should have done was determine that it was a major hero like Hal Jordan or Green Arrow, left it wide open for a while. Hell, they ended up corrupting the former and killing the later anyways, so the tie to Armageddon would have made some sense later on.


I think the planning for A2001 was in the tank for 1990 or 1989 more than likely and DC in 1991 relaunched Green Lantern with a new 1# after Emerald Twilight. And in 1991 , GA was pretty much left alone in his own corner of the Mike Grell Universe til DC opened him up in the mid 90's.

[stealthwise]

I think the planning for A2001 was in the tank for 1990 or 1989 more than likely and DC in 1991 relaunched Green Lantern with a new 1# after Emerald Twilight. And in 1991 , GA was pretty much left alone in his own corner of the Mike Grell Universe til DC opened him up in the mid 90's.

You mean Emerald Dawn right?

Yeah, I don't mean to suggest that DC actually planned that far ahead, but it would have been nice to see a "big event" have some real repercussions for the characters later on. Besides, they could have used something like that to make a good reason for Hal going nuts almost out of nowhere.

[Tennoarashi]

The Perez Wonder Woman lasted until 1991.

That's definitely worth note.

[Rylon]

I it true that is was only 70+ votes more on the side who wanted him dead?
Today it seems 80% at least wan't him dead.It's been my experiance that characters are never as hated or loved as people think. :D

[LoneWolf21]

Other gems of DC in the 90's: Impulse, Kesel and Grummet's Superboy, and Young Justice (in my opinion, far superior to Geoff John's Teen Titans)

[Calybos]

"The Legion of Superheroes were relaunched yet again with the " 5 Years Later " idea by Giffen and others."

Worth noting this was the first real relaunch of the LSH. It had been published unbroken since Adventure 300 in the early 60s (granted sometimes as a backup features, sometimes as a reprint back up features but still) and this was the first time the LSH closed up shop and launched a newish continunity. Originally other than the 5 year gap there were supposed to be no changes but meddling editors said they had to rewrite history to eliminate superboy (just forgetting him wasn't enough) so Giffin and Bierbaums were left not only with filling in the 5 year gap but also with rewriting things without superboy all the while being blamed by fans for continuity changes.

And if there's any justice, they'll pay for their crimes against the Legion. I still have nightmares about the Five-Year Crap, when even my shiny, heroic Legion was sucked into the blood-and-pain fad of bad Watchmen imitators.

[Agentum]

And if there's any justice, they'll pay for their crimes against the Legion. I still have nightmares about the Five-Year Crap, when even my shiny, heroic Legion was sucked into the blood-and-pain fad of bad Watchmen imitators.
Was your older LSH books destroyed when this happened?

Those where times when they wanted to change everything and everyone it seems, but as we can se the older variants most often comes back again.

They wanted to sell more comics, thats what they do for living.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

In the 1st section we looked at 1990 and 1991 in the DCU. Besides a small error on the JSA mini-series and Jason Todd death vote ( 1994/1988 respectively) I'm glad people liked it. This time I'll strive to not make any or as much errors.


Vertigo : The other DC !

In the late 80's Alan Moore had pretty much revolutionized Swamp Thing. The series was so unlike anything DC put out and was geared so much for adults , that before long the comics code was removed from it and a " For Mature Readers " was slapped on.

As Swamp Thing took off , DC decided to branch thier adult line out. By the early 1990's the line was renamed " Vertigo and books like Swamp Thing , John Constantine: Hellblazer , and Sandman became big parts of that imprint.

Niel Giamon's " Sandman " became such a classic read for comic fans and others that it won numerous awards. The series became the Vertigo book by the end of its run and after 75 beautiful issues it had its ending. A spin-off called " The Dreaming " lasted a few years soon after.

1992-1995: The Era of Change.....

DC approached 1992 with a new passion. Not only would thier biggest iconic change push others in the company , but it would cause tons of controversy and lead DC down the path to change.

It all started with " The Death of Superman " which threw the industry and world into choas. The comic became the biggest selling event of the 1990's and News Stations covered it heavy. Superman had fallen and who would save the DCU now that the most powerful was gone ?

Thru late 1992 and 1993 we saw the return of 4 Supermen. In this storyline it had the Cyborg Superman ( who still shows up....Green Lantern #12 is his next appearance ) Eradicator , Superboy , and Steel ! All 4 claimed to be the departed hero and finally DC would have the real ones return months later.

As the real Superman returned another Icon at DC was under going his change. Even after Tim Drake had became Robin in 1991 , Bruce Wayne still pushed himself hard and beyond his limits. Using a sub-plot passed over from a Legends of the Dark Knight story where Wayne took a steriod called venom to enhance himself , the result had a Bruce Wayne who was a bit weak .

The storyline in Batman would last for 2 years.In " Knightfall " Batman runs himself ragged as he battles a flu as well as watching a new nemesis named Bane make him run a challenge of locking up all his escaped rogues from Arkham. The result near the end had Bane break the Batman as Wayne recovered .

A new Batman rode in and this one was Jean Paul Valley as he started by making his Bat-Costume into an Iron Man type suit. At the end of Knightfall , Valley would destroy Bane and send him off to Blackgate .

Then Knightquest and KnightsEnd had Valley slowly losing his mind and finally killing a rogue as Bruce had to come back and re-learn how to fight. The end came as Bruce won the Batman mantle back and passed it to Dick Grayson while he again took off. After the " Prodgical " storyline , Bruce would return and Dick Grayson would go on to a Nightwing series.

The reason Nightwing was back in the Bat-Books by 1994 ( KnightsEnd,Prodgical) was that after years away , the Bat Editors had gotten him back. Its not like the charactor complained because he has now went on to a 118+ issue series while his former Titans team would get thier final book cancelled in 1996.

Wonder Woman was also changed in the same fashion. Unlike the mega-crossover ala Knightfall , the mighty Amazon lost her role of Wonder Woman to Artemtis after her mother didn't like her role in man's world. What helped the storyline was when artist Mike D. came on ! The final end saw Diana win back her role as Wonder Woman with issue 100#.

But the biggest change and the one that invoked much anger was what happened to Hal Jordan. 3 years after getting his own series a decision was made that Hal Jordan needed to be gone and a new hero take his place. This totally flew in the face of what DC had originally planned for the charactor as advanced previews had already went out ! So Ron Marz was brought in and told that Green Lantern #50 would be the big change !

Spinning outta the events in the Superman books , Hal Jordan watched as his beloved hometown " Coast City " was decimated by the Cyborg Superman. Overcome with grief and rage , Jordan would try to revive Coast City.This would lead him into a showdown with the Guardians who wanted to make thier loyal soldier know his place in the Corps.

Hal would destroy it all which would lead into years of anger. In issue #48 a young man named Kyle Rayner would get showed and 2 issues later with #50 , he would become the new Green Lantern. With no Corps and no other G.L's , Rayner was threw in as the everyman type who would fail at times. Its little shock that some grew to accept the Peter Parker esque Rayner who as a artist did a lot with the ring.

Not only did this change piss off older G.L fans , the debate would range for years. DC seeing that they had made Jordan into a villain named Parallax , decided the best was yet to come for the Jordan fans. Much to thier chagrin.

I'm sure most are asking...why didn't Ganthlet go to Guy Gardner ? At that time Gardner was set to be revamped as the " John Wayne of Superheroes " . His own series was becoming Guy Gardner: Warrior and he wasn't gonna have the yellow ring anymore. In fact the genuis's at DC decided to make him a half alien living weapon who created guns and all. Plus he was supposed to act like John Wayne . ( don't ask me....I thought it was the stupidest thing to do to loveable jerk and asshole Gardner )

Legion of Superheroes : The End ? :

By 1994 a decision was finally made that the only way to fix the continuty knot was to go ahead and relaunch the series from the ground up ! This was part of what led to Zero Hour's proposal.

The ZH proposal was also to fix the knot that had tied around Hawkman. The charactor since the Post-Crisis had numerous different charactors show up. From Isabella's Hawkman series in 1986-1987 , to Hawkworld by Truman ( Mini-series) and Ostrander ( series) to the latest in 1993.

Hawkman was being revamped yet again and this time as Zero Hour happened , he would become a Hawkgod. It was learned that some chronol anomilies had made various Hawkmen flash in and out of the DCU for years.


( not finished yet.....so please wait....til 2nd post is done)

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Zero Hour was supposed to do more but it failed on a lot of levels. Hawkman was never fixed at all and more than 1 year later it too faded away as the charactor would dissapear til the Hawkman revamp by Geoff Johns in JSA years later.

Also the effect on the JSA was alarming. If older fans were pissed at DC for what happened to Hal Jordan and the JSA series , this was like pouring salt on thier wounds. Jordan was revealed as the big bad guy behind Zero Hour who wanted to recreate the Universe in his image.

Also a few JSA members were killed or retired in this series. It would take years and Geoff Johns to fix this damage. Its little shock that a lot of older fans do not have good memories of the 1990's DCU and how it impacted Green Lantern and the JSA.

In the end as the Zero Hour counted down to its final issue #0 the best part happened. For years Oliver Queen was Hal Jordan's friend. In that issue it showed a down on his luck Oliver Queen bonding with another version of Barbara Gordan. As she died after a miss-timed Hal Jordan blast , Oliver knew what needed to be done. The 2 shared a look and Hal let his arrow go as Rayner grabbed Jordan at that same time. Queen , thinking he just killed his best friend went on to smash his quiver in a fit of grief. The real end of Zero Hour was Green Lantern #0 though.

Oliver Queen was undergoing some changes. Leading into Zero Hour , the hero was given a new outlook and brought back into the DCU prime after years of being in his own title by Mike Grell. The series " CrossRoads " had Oliver Queen questioning his role in the DCU and as GA. At the end of ZH , he would go back to the Monastery and find his son there. The bonding experince didn't last long as Oliver Queen went on his final mission in " Where Angels Fear to Tread " and was seemingly killed in GA #101.

The DCU also seemed into changes as new series and others were revamped. New Titans was givin a new roster featuring Impulse and Kyle Raynor. It would end up finally being cancelled at #130 by 1996.

The biggest hit to come out of Zero Hour was the James Robinson " Starman " series. The concept of the title Starman had been tried in the late 80's and early 90's and the Will Payton series was cancelled 2 to 3 years before this one. Unlike the Payton series , this one had darker tones and seemed more geared towards the Vertigo crowd.

In Jack Knight , the relunctant hero collector who just wanted to run his shop and not fight super villains , DC had a smash. This series unlike Primal Force ,Anima , Gunfire, Manhunter and Fate lasted for the rest of the 1990's until Robinson finally retired the charactor in Starman #80 in 2001.

Fate however in Jared Stevens wasn't so lucky. The Kent's who had wielded the amulet of Dr.Fate were killed off after Zero Hour. This led to Jared Stevens getting the role and fans were less than enthused. The series lasted a little over a year and dissapeared. Stevens as Fate was killed off in the 1st JSA arc in 1999.

Legion of Superheroes was relaunched with #0 issues and the history began anew. The relaunch was ok but soon after it became about redoing past LSH stories set in a new era more than less at times.

The only problems was that DC in thier wisdom decided that the big problem with the Justice League of America was that there wasn't enough JLA series ! So they created a 3rd title called " Extreme Justice " and had Martian Manhunter redo Justice League Taskforce with new members like Ray , Truimph and Gyspy. Wonder Woman picked the new Hawkman and kept the Flash around as her team.

Its little shock that by 1996 things would change. All 3 titles would be cancelled and a new JLA series was being planned by Grant Morrison.

1995 also saw the debut of the Impulse series. Bart Allen had 1st debuted in Flash #92 and didn't seem to like Wally West. Aged by V.R Technology in the far future , Allen was a speedster who had gained his own fun series.

The 1995 year saw DC trot out another series and this one was aimed at uppin the power levels of the bad guys. In this series , " Underworld Unleashed " , DC introduced its new version of bad guy Satan called , Neron ! In this tale heroes and villains were offered thier hearts desires to sell thier souls. A few take the offer. It was an intersting idea...



the end.

[shaxper]

I missed out on most of this era, so thanks for the concise synopsis!


Incidentally, Green Lantern (vol. 3) was not Hal Jordan's title. It began as a title for Jordan, Stewart and Gardner together and then shifted to a Guy Gardner title for a while before picking up with Hal Jordan as the sole main character.

[DDM]

Alan Moore wrote the Saga of the Swamp Thing starting in 1983-1984. Vertigo did not exist as an imprint until 1993. Doom Patrol(1987), Animal Man(1987), Shade The Changing Man (1990), & The Sandman (1988), The Books of Magic #1-4 (1990), Mister E #1-4 (1991), Kid Eternity (1990) existed prior to the Vertigo imprint's creation.

[Daniel]

"Niel Giamon's " Sandman ""

His name is Neil Gaiman, SUPERECWFAN1.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

"Niel Giamon's " Sandman ""

His name is Neil Gaiman, SUPERECWFAN1.


Always get the names screwed up. Never fails....

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Alan Moore wrote the Saga of the Swamp Thing starting in 1983-1984. Vertigo did not exist as an imprint until 1993. Doom Patrol(1987), Animal Man(1987), Shade The Changing Man (1990), & The Sandman (1988), The Books of Magic #1-4 (1990), Mister E #1-4 (1991), Kid Eternity (1990) existed prior to the Vertigo imprint's creation.

Heres the line I used. I had no clue what year Vertigo came into being so I refered to it as the early 1990's. Sorry if you thought I had said 1990 here....or lumped it into my 1992-1995 ..part #2 deal. But others had said I didn't mention Vertigo so I wanted to drop a line on it. ;)


As Swamp Thing took off , DC decided to branch thier adult line out. By the early 1990's the line was renamed " Vertigo and books like Swamp Thing , John Constantine: Hellblazer , and Sandman became big parts of that imprint.

[Pól Rua]

And if there's any justice, they'll pay for their crimes against the Legion. I still have nightmares about the Five-Year Crap, when even my shiny, heroic Legion was sucked into the blood-and-pain fad of bad Watchmen imitators.

Actually, I really dug the 5-years later Legion. I loved how they would hand out tiny snippets of information to let you know what had happened, but never as much as you WANTED to know.
The thing that annoyed me was when they changed it and lightened the tone. That, to me, marked the first of the many reboots which has rendered the team ultimately meaningless.
I mean, why bother about what's going on right now? In two weeks, it'll all be rebooted and we'll have a new 'Ultimate' Legion.

As for the five year gap being the beginning of the blood and pain Legion, what about Brainy's turning evil? Matter-Eater Lad having a nervous breakdown after eating the Miracle Machine? Nemesis Kid beating Karate Kid to death?
Seems to me it was a trend that had been building for awhile.

[Jolly Mon]

Actually, I really dug the 5-years later Legion. I loved how they would hand out tiny snippets of information to let you know what had happened, but never as much as you WANTED to know.
The thing that annoyed me was when they changed it and lightened the tone. That, to me, marked the first of the many reboots which has rendered the team ultimately meaningless.
I mean, why bother about what's going on right now? In two weeks, it'll all be rebooted and we'll have a new 'Ultimate' Legion.

As for the five year gap being the beginning of the blood and pain Legion, what about Brainy's turning evil? Matter-Eater Lad having a nervous breakdown after eating the Miracle Machine? Nemesis Kid beating Karate Kid to death?
Seems to me it was a trend that had been building for awhile.

Bad things had always happened to the Legion (Ferro Lad killed, Lightning Lad lost an arm and killed, Invisible Kid killed, etc) in addition to the ones you note. But the tone of the series was still bright and optimistic. After the 5 year gap, the whole future world was sucked into the "grim & gritty" trend that no comics writer could seem to resist. :(