DP09-AP(e) Retro Stories During The Giffen Period

.....Barring cameos I haven't yet discovered or which may yet surface before the Flashpoint to-do plays out (we'll see how long DC's readers can sustain nostalgia for The Age Of Apocalypse, if at all), this was the last of the Doom Patrol appearances during Giffen's run that take place in earlier periods. During the most recent Doom Patrol title there were three issues which each focused on the history of an individual member, giving a coherent account of their passage through all the prior periods. I haven't included those because they'll be reviewed here in the context of the rest of the series at some far future date after the preceding periods have been reviewed.

.....The topic of this post is DCU: Legacies, a ten-issue limited series that ran #1(07/10) to #10 (04/11). Each of the first five issues covered a period of roughly ten years from 1935 to 1985 and the last five issues each covered a period of roughly five years from 1985 to 2010. Each issue has a serialized main story in which a retired policeman named Paul Lincoln recalls the history of DC's super-heroes and his occasional brushes with them (not unlike the photographer in Marvels). The chapters are written by Len Wein with short framing sequences drawn by Scott Kolins, but a different art team for the main body every two issues who also provide the standard cover. Each issue also has a short back-up story featuring a different group of related characters by yet a third art team who provide the variant cover for that issue. I mention this because Cliff Steele appears on the cover of issue #4(10/10), but only on the standard cover.

.....The Doom Patrol don't appear in the back-up stories, but their brief significant inclusion in issue #4 shouldn't be discussed without first mentioning something about #3. DCU: Legacies #3(09/10) "Powers And Abilities!" is the first of two parts drawn by José Luis García-López and inked by Dave Gibbons. The cover blurb, "The Silver Age Is Here!" pretty much gets the main point across with the standard cover being a white background and the sedately posed seven founders of the pre-Crisis version of the Justice League of America. Although Superman and Batman almost never appeared on the covers of early JLA comics, they had made cameos in the stories since the three trial issues in The Brave And The Bold #28(02-03/60)- #30(06-07/60). I say "almost" because they appear as chess pieces on the cover of Justice League Of America #1(10-11/60), as miniature background figures on #5(06-07/61), as Felix Faust's fingers on #10(03/62), as smoke in bottles on #11(05/62) and finally fully visible on the cover of #19(05/63), long after they had become fully active in the stories. However, that lack of visual presence translated into a total absence when the JLA's origin was reformulated after Crisis On Infinite Earths. One of the major effects of the Crisis is that after the surviving worlds and their respective histories were combined into a single synthetic Earth, Wonder Woman passed into legend, a final gift of the Gods when it became clear to them that they couldn't prevent her from being wiped from physical existence (and subsequently people's memories). The original Golden Age Wonder Woman became fictional in the post-Crisis Earth and was remembered that way by everyone. A younger, otherwise identical Wonder Woman emerged at the end of the Legends mini-series who didn't recognize any of the characters who had been her predecessor's teammates in the JLA. In the new scheme of things, Black Canary took Wonder Woman's place in JLA history and Superman and Batman were eliminated from the origin completely, joining a short time later. Similarly, Supergirl never existed in post-Crisis history (until several variant versions were later introduced) and so the Doom Patrol adventures with her in Superman Family #191(09-10/78)- #193(01-02/79) and Daring New Adventures Of Supergirl #7(05/83)- #10(08/83) would thereafter be remembered as having happened, but with Power Girl in the role of Supergirl. For DCU: Legacies #3 to return Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman to the origin of the Justice League calls into question exactly to what extent these post-Crisis revisions are being dismantled. Did the story in Legends not happen? Did the Doom Patrol have adventures with Supergirl or Power Girl? Both? Neither?

.....DCU: Legacies #4(10/10) begins with the right half of an interlocking García-López/Gibbons cover, indicated only by the edge of Superman's cape and shadow. Even without the continuation of images, though, issues #'s 3 and 4 are clearly parts of a whole. The cover of #4 also has the white background, the parallel blurb "The Next Generation Has Arrived!" and seven heroes, in this case the five founders of the Teen Titans in c.1965 uniforms plus Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) and Robotman (Cliff Steele). Curiously, and I don't know if anyone else is disturbed by this and I don't know if it was intentional, but Aqualad's hair here is straight. Short, matted or tousled, but straight. It appears this way in the interior pages as well. In his earliest appearances in Adventure Comics beginning in 1960 his hair was not only straight but light brown. After Bruno Premiani drew the first teen sidekick team-up story in The Brave And The Bold #54(06-07/64), Garth's subsequent appearances with his peers were (a) drawn mainly by Nick Cardy, (b) under the name Teen Titans and (c) sporting black hair in thick curls. Actually, for much of the 1960's Cardy drew Garth in both Teen Titans and Aquaman. On Teen Titans he would even ink the pencillers who took over (Irv Novick and George Tuska) as well. When Jim Aparo took over the art on Aquaman's interiors, Cardy continued to draw or paint the covers. In the 1970's, Garth appeared less often in Teen Titans and Aparo continued Aquaman's feature in Adventure Comics (including covers) before following him back into his revived title which was closed out with Don Newton pencilling. I haven't seen Garth's back-up feature drawn by Carl Potts, which ran in Adventure Comics after the Aquaman feature vacated, but if it was anything like the various art teams that worked on Teen Titans when it returned in the late 1970's, it would have adhered to Cardy's thick, curly precedent. George Pérez certainly did for occasional New Teen Titans guest spots and the first Aqualad Who's Who page. In fact, Pérez added visual detail to individual curls and gave Garth's hair more of a perm or afro style. The thinking must have been that his origin (coming from an underwater civilization akin to Atlantis) would imply a look more common to Mediterranean cultures (Greece, Italy, Ethiopia) than the freckled Midwestern boy he resembled when Ramona Fradon drew him. As prolific as García-López was at DC since the mid-1970's, it isn't easy finding an example of him drawing Aqualad in a story. These two examples seem to have been prepared for promotional or merchandising purposes. They're both dated 1982. Note Garth's hair:

http://comicartcommunity.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=34464&mode=search&sessionid=3fafb5a444eb83579edde842da559c10

http://comicartcommunity.com/gallery/details.php?image_id=34463&mode=search

.....Garth's hair seems black and wavy. It's consistent with Cardy, if not Pérez. It's Aqua-Dondi. So why the change in the look for what is meant to be a period-specific portrait? I doubt that it's Gibbon's inks. Ten years earlier, during the "Silver Age" one-shot event, Gibbon inked Cardy himself on the cover of the Silver Age: Teen Titans #1(07/00). Garth's hair looks straighter than Cardy's ever drawn it, but still thick past the ears. But Pat Oliffe's interior pencils make him look more like his modern Tempest identity, short with small tight curls. Whatever the reasoning was for the look used on DCU: Legacies #4, it couldn't possibly have the same impact on Doom Patrol history as would restoring Wonder Woman to JLA history. By relaunching Wonder Woman in the 1980's, Donna Troy's already murky personal story became notoriously impossible to reconcile, impacting not only Beast Boy/Changeling from their time together in the New Teen Titans, but Robotman, Mento and both the new and old versions of the Brotherhood Of Evil, who returned to activity between 1981 and 1986 in New Teen Titans, Teen Titans Spotlight and other Titans related titles. Extraordinary hoops were jumped through to accommodate post-Crisis continuity without throwing out some of DC's best-selling work since the start of the Comics' Code Authority. By restoring Wonder Woman to the Silver Age it becomes necessary to sift through the dozen or so existing Donna Troy origins to find one or more that enable us to retain the 'Gar Logan on Paradise Island' subplot from 1981.

.....Before the DP actually show up there's a full-page illustration, page 6, with 37 villains representing the Silver Age and not one of them with a connection to the Doom Patrol (the giant gorilla in the back is Grodd, not Mallah). What's even weirder is that prominently in the foreground we see Mongul, who first appeared in 1980.

.....On page 11, panel 1, we see the Original Period Doom Patrol (Cliff, Rita and Larry) in their 1960's style uniforms battling the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man. Cliff is tossing a lime green Volkswagon covered with a peace sign and numerous flower decals, for anyone who's been reading this far and is still not absolutely certain what decade this was paraphrasing. The accompanying narration tells us:

• "But the Metal Men weren't the only ones inspired by the example of the Justice League... In Midway City, a group of super-powered misfits calling themselves the Doom Patrol made their presence known."

.....In a previous post, DP05-AB "The Wilderness Years", I list Doom Patrol activity between the end of the series under the Vertigo imprint and their relaunch by John Arcudi. Part of that activity was tentative reintegration into DCU continuity and a significant part involved long overdue looks back into the group's history before Crisis as seen through a post-Crisis lens. JLA Year One placed their formation before the JLA's in a story originally published in 1998, only to have that order reversed just two years later in a lowly text piece in Secret Files & Origins Guide To The DC Universe 2000. It's hard to argue that this story is establishing anything other than consensus regarding who came first. And after this summer's Flashpoint reboot there's no telling what history will look like. And aside from tying into the Doom Patrol's guest spot on the animated television show, "Batman: The Brave And The Bold", I don't see the point of devoting two whole pages to reenacting the Original group's 1968 death scene. While pains are taken to get the name and population of the targeted fishing village correct-- Codsville, Maine and 14-- there are still goofs. Cliff is standing at the end, despite being depicted with the glowing halo of the magnetic charge that paralyzed the tiny servo motors in his legs. Madame Rouge is not mentioned and appears only as an indistinct figure in the background of one panel (page 21, panel 5), despite being instrumental to the original story. Finally, as seems to be the case increasingly, Zahl introduces himself as "General Zahl". He was actually Captain Zahl when he commanded the submarine that attacked the DP. He promoted himself to General Zahl while on land years later, some time between disappearing at the end of Doom Patrol #121(09-10/68) and reappearing in New Teen Titans #13(11/81)- #15(01/82). Even if someone didn't know that particular bit of trivia they ought to know that the title 'general' means nothing on a ship. Captains, admirals, ensigns (maybe) but not generals would be in charge of a ship. He might as well be calling himself 'pope' or 'your waiter for this evening'.

.....Closing out 2010 are DCU: Legacies #5(11/10) and #6(12/10). This time the interlocking standard covers are by George Pérez, depicting a chaotic moment during Crisis On Infinite Earths. Not that it's germane to the Doom Patrol, but I have to stop here to point out the cover to #5 is a scene that actually takes place in the comic book. On page 19 you'll see many of the same characters in the same poses and engaged in the same activities but seen from a different angle. Except for the two pages of framing sequence drawn by Scott Kolins in each issue, most of the serial chapter in #5 was pencilled by Pérez and inked by Scott Koblish. For #6, Pérez and Koblish split the inking chores on Jerry Ordway's pencils.

.....In the framing sequence of issue #5 narrator Paul Lincoln cites the death of the Doom Patrol as the catalyst that led to darker, grimmer moods in later metahuman adventures. On the splash page he holds up an old issue of Timeline Magazine with the DP on its cover. To bolster his point he cites the Joker's return to senseless murder, which was actually deemphasized while he had his own title in the mid 1970's. It was only after that title was cancelled that he became part of Englehart's and Rogers' return to classic villainy in Detective Comics. It's also worth finding his arc in the Huntress back-up feature in Wonder Woman a few years after that. It was in those appearances that the Joker was reestablished as a dangerous killer. More convincing is when Lincoln next refers to the Fleischer/Aparo Spectre stories from Adventure Comics. Those stories raised eyebrows and 'led to meetings', as they say. They are conveniently available as the trade Wrath Of The Spectre, which has been in and out of print but often offered both new and used. Lincoln is on to something; comics did get darker long before Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. Unfortunately, as a character within DCU super-hero continuity he is uniquely unqualified to present the evidence that falls outside of that continuity. The early 1970's in comic book publishing were notable for sword & sorcery fantasy, horror and supernatural anti-heroes, jaded cosmically aware demi-gods, dystopian futures and black and white magazines not subject to the Comics Code Authority. All true, but nothing of which he would be aware. The death of the DP was certainly an unusual way to end a comic book series, but 1968 was practically a bloodbath compared to the "Summer Of Love" the year before. In fact, that issue would have been released in late July and still on the stands when protesters outside the DNC were brutally murdered. This was after the assassinations of MLK and RFK, as well as Prague Spring and the Situationist riots in Paris. The next few years were drenched in Altamont, Kent State, the My Lai Massacre, slum riots, prison riots and well-connected persons rigging the military draft so that the poor would die in their place. It's hardly fair to say that the 1970's began with a dark mood because the Doom Patrol made the ultimate sacrifice. It wasn't just comic books that became grimmer. Books, movies and music did as well. There was an over whelming sense that persons in authority were not only failing to guide civilization into peace and prosperity but were actually committed to preventing them. If Spiro Agnew sneering that he didn't have to pay taxes because he was better you didn't convince people of that, Richard Nixon ordering burglaries of his political enemies certainly did.

.....Of course, the Doom Patrol's story didn't really end in 1968 and the nine-year gap until their return becomes a one-issue gap in DCU: Legacies. Gar shows up without comment with the New Teen Titans on page 7 of issue #5. On page 10, he's with the slightly revamped (1984+) NTT, which is portrayed as contemporary with the debut of the New Doom Patrol. It's clear this is meant to be the Showcase #94(08-09/77), from General Immortus attacking in a one-man flying saucer to Robotman's temporary ROG-2000-esque body. It's especially temporary here, since it's drawn correctly in panels 2,5 and 6, but then reverts to a conventional 1960's head for an inset panel portrait. Also, Lincoln's comment "Yes, the Chief's widow had found the remains of Robotman and rebuilt him-- even as she gathered together a brand-new team of misfits." makes one wonder how much of the Doom Patrol's adventures is known to the public and how much is presumed. Cliff was rebuilt by Doc Magnus, not Celsius, but that information might be classified. The general public might assume otherwise or might have been told otherwise.

.....A very public event, the COIE, fills the end of issue #5 and the start of issue #6. Negative Woman passes through page 20, panel 1, while Gar manages to finally get a line in on page 21, panel 1. Both make the cover of issue #6, although Gar has switch from an elephant carrying Nightwing to a pigeon carrying the Atom in his barbarian warrior phase. Tempest appears as well. Only Gar appears inside though, in a recreation of the conclusion to Legends on page 18.

.....The whole DCU: Legacies series will be available as a hardcover trade this fall. Barring delays, it is scheduled for release August 24th, 2011. I'm debating whether to look to other media to cover all the other retro period depictions during the Giffen Period, such as the animated Batman team-up mentioned earlier or even action figures. As it is I'm going to collect my thoughts, dive into my comics and look for a new thread. Here's hoping all the links work!

Retro Denouement Interlude

.....To paraphrase Oprah, "YOU get a link, and YOU get a link, and YOU get a..."

.....After the previous two posts I had to get some much needed sunlight. The timing was right; here in the northeast U.S. it's been a bright, humid, summery first week of June, during which I cleared out several barrels of yard clippings, filled several (non-DP) holes in my comics collection and took a belated look at the solicitations for August. I still don't see any indication of Doom Patrol's future. Flashpoint will apparently be carrying on into September, unless absolutely everything ships on time, with the last day for all titles being August 31. With next month's Comic-Con there will undoubtedly be tons of news available about DC's direction while Flashpoint is still on the stands. In the meantime, we mere mortals have the blog "Too Dangerous For A Girl", whose recent posts as of this writing have been sifting through what look like press releases. The home page should be here:

http://dangermart.blogspot.com/

.....I checked in earlier today to monitor any possible comments (none today) and post one last 'retro' entry before devoting the next few days to editing a massive music entry for my other blog. I checked the stats, mostly to see if publishing the previous post had gotten any better reaction than the first few days. When you publish infrequently as I have in the previous year, people just don't bother to check you out every day. A new post can result in a spike in activity, either several people looking for something new or else a few people flipping backwards. In the past month I've been getting closer to a weekly schedule and was curious to see if the rate of pageviews would continue to spike and drop or begin to level off. Wellll... neither. The total pageviews for Wednesday were more than ten times the average for LGC: Doom Patrol. All day. The lion's share of referring URL's (i.e., the last page someone was on before coming here) were from tamaraorbust's blog, "Histories Of Things To Come" with the rest coming from the Doom Patrol-related blogs to whom I always link on the left side of this page. I wasn't at all surprised to see the "Histories..." URL's, given that we are mutual followers and have on more than one occasion referred to and endorsed each other's blogs. The curious thing is that "Histories..." is dramatically more prolific than this blog and deals with every topic under the sun (and behind it and probably in it, too). Many of its posts are not about comics, let alone Doom Patrol specifically. Otherwise it would have a permanent link with the others instead the occasional one, like this:

http://historiesofthingstocome.blogspot.com/

.....The readers for all those (or these, as those numbers are still coming in) views come from several countries, so I can't just dismiss this as one guy on a meth binge going back and forth between the two blogs for 24 hours straight. (For the record, the management does not endorse nonprescription amphetamine use. Try it with a pot of coffee, though.) If there are new readers out there, be advised that after the next retro post I'll be picking another theme for Doom Patrol stories to examine. I'm leaning towards the post-Crisis appearances that led to the Kupperberg series in 1987 and then the mini-series that tied into it, mostly because they've not been compiled into trades to my knowledge. If there are any other pieces of Doom Patrol-related knowledge or insight which you're having trouble locating on the web I could probably give you an answer, a helpful link or possibly a post detailing my reasons for an educated guess on the matter. Just leave any questions in the comments area and I'll be notified of them.

.....One last item: they technically aren't whole stories, but I've been enjoying the mash-up covers of the blog "The Brave And The Bold: The Lost Issues" (currently retitled "Marvel Two-In-One: The Lost Issues") for a long time now. Check out Ben Grimm's imagined adventure with the Original Period DP here:

http://braveandboldlost.blogspot.com/2011/05/thing-and-doom-patrol.html

.....And this earlier Batman excursion into Gypsy Period 1 here:

http://braveandboldlost.blogspot.com/2010/08/this-is-one-of-very-first-covers-i-did.html

.....Or Ben with Danny's roommate:

http://braveandboldlost.blogspot.com/2010/11/thing-and-ambush-bug.html

.....In a few days I'll have the post intended for this slot and try the following week to maintain a weekly pace.

DP09-AP(c) Retro Stories During The Giffen Period

.....There are several kinds of period pieces in comics. Some are written to offer explanations for glitches in continuity or unresolved questions about a character's background. Some are pastiches or satires that are more about the period itself than the characters. In DC, where the Silver Age stories occur in an entirely different timeline from the post-Crisis stories, a period piece might be a way to operate outside the constraints of modern continuity, such as the Silver Age one-shots from about a decade ago. Last year we got a period piece that seemed to hope that we would become nostalgic for the future.

.....The Brave And The Bold #34(07/10)- #35(08/10) The story "Out Of Time" brings together four teams from the 1960's in what could only be a post-Crisis account of pre-Crisis events. This two-issue story arc is part of a larger thematic arc called "Lost Stories Of Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow" on the covers. The previous Straczynski issues (#'s 27-33) in this arc have been solicited as a trade paperback Team-Ups Of The Brave And The Bold to be released on August 24, 2011. These two issues were the last in the series; coincidentally (?) the last issue of the most recent Doom Patrol series was also omitted from the solicitation for the trade Fire Away, also scheduled for August 24. Of course, that's a bit more bizarre than the case of "Out Of Time" because the last issue of Doom Patrol was the conclusion of a story, not self contained. First, the credits:

• Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
• Artist: Jesus Saiz (including covers)
• Letterer: Rob Leigh
• Colorist: Tom Chu
• Assistant Editor: Chris Conroy
• Editor: Joey Cavalieri

.....The four teams make up nearly the entire cast. Except for two pages, there are no 'innocent bystanders' anywhere in the 44 page story. The selection of team members doesn't necessarily fix each team in a particular time, but strongly implies a certain era. First, the three founding members of the Legion of Super-Heroes [LSH]:

• Cosmic Boy (Rokk Krinn)
• Saturn Girl (Imra Ardeen)
• Lightning Lad (Garth Ranzz)

.....Their contemporaries in the 30th century are the Legion of Substitute Heroes [Subs]:

• Chlorophyll Kid (Ral Benem)
• Fire Lad (Staq Mavlen)
• Night Girl (Lydda Jath)
• Polar Boy (Brek Bannin)
• Stone Boy (Dag Wentim)

.....The LSH first appeared in comics in 1958 and were introduced as coming from the 30th century. From the beginning it was always implied that these three weren't the only members and subsequent appearances would add new members, so many in fact that early on it became impractical to include them all on each mission. Ergo, this line-up could have been active throughout most of the feature's history with a few glaring exceptions. For a long time Lightning Lad was missing an arm and appeared with or without a metal prosthetic. Also, each of the three have worn a variety of costumes, including Cosmic Boy's very daring 1970's mostly-skin outfit. If pressed, I'm guessing most fans would place these uniforms in the early to mid 1960's. The Subs, on the other hand, were a smaller, closer-knit organization whose line-up stayed close to the list above from their 1963 debut until the introduction of Color Kid in 1966. The incarnation of the Doom Patrol also seems to come from a 1963-1965 time frame, since Caulder is not using his "Action Chair", introduced in Doom Patrol #94(03/65). Their line-up [DP] is:

• The Chief (Niles Caulder)
• Robotman (Cliff Steele)
• Elasti-Girl (Rita Farr)
• Negative Man (Larry Trainor)

.....Last (and it could be argued, least) is The Inferior Five [I5]:

• Merry Man (Myron Victor)
• Awkwardman (Leander Brent)
• The Blimp (Herman Cramer)
• Dumb Bunny (Athena Tremor)
• White Feather (William King)

.....The I5 were introduced in Show case #62 (05-06/66)- #63 (07-08/66) and 65 (11-12/66). The other three issues with 1966 cover dates featured The Spectre and both features moved on to their own titles in 1967. Both titles lasted ten issues, as well. The Spectre, of course, continued to find a variety of outlets for years after that. Not so, the I5. After two reprint issues in 1972, their only appearances tended to be 'summary' or 'taking inventory' type stories:

1. Showcase #100 (05/78)- A single story incorporating as many characters as possible from the first 93 issues of the series.
2. Ambush Bug #3 (08/85)- While COIE and Who's Who were being published, Irwin naturally provided his own guide to the DCU.
3. Who's Who...#11 (01/86)- Speaking of which...; they're on page 3.
4. Crisis on Infinite Earths #12(03/86)- Yes, incredibly they survived the 'event' in issue #10. They can be seen running behind Lois Lane while she makes a television news report from New York City (on page 15).
5. Oz-Wonderland War #3 (03/86)- I'll have to reread this carefully, but this might be an alternate Earth version of the group.
6. Animal Man #25 (07/90)- In the final Grant Morrison arc, Animal Man finds that the characters killed in COIE are materializing from Psycho Pirate's memory. I don't want to give away too much more, but I would highly recommend that any comics fan (well, mid-teens and older) read the three trade paperbacks compiling #'s 1-26 (plus the Secret Origins story). This story obviously implies that the I5 didn't make it, but since this issue and COIE #12 are both canon, let's just assume that this I5 is the one from Oz-Wonderland War.
7. Angel And The Ape #1(03/91)- #4 (06/91)- We learn Angel and Dumb Bunny are sisters. We also learn Sam Simeon is related to Gorilla Grodd. This Phil Foglio story (and his other from two years later, Stanley And His Monster), are long overdue for compilation.

.....Since then it's been Elseworlds cameos and Crisis event crowd scenes and other appearances that can be argued as taking place outside regular continuity, such as Dumb Bunny and Ambush Bug waking up after their Las Vegas wedding in Ambush Bug: Year None in 2008.

.....For DP fans not familiar with the abundant continuity issues plaguing the Legion Of Super-Heroes, there's good news. By using a c.1964-ish version of the team many of those problems become irrelevant. However, since this is unlikely the only place you'll be reading about/discussing this story, I should mention that the basic problem was that the LSH were created pre-Crisis and said to be inspired by Superboy, who traveled through time to join them. After COIE, DC went back to the basics of the Golden Age when constructing a new origin and history for Superman; i.e., he started his costumed career as an adult when he left the family farm and there never was a Superboy. Rather than cancel the immensely popular LSH title(s) or pretend their Gordian Knot of a history just didn't happen, a succession of mutually contradicting explications mounted until Zero Hour in 1994 and around the time of their Fiftieth Anniversary in 2008 it started getting unnecessarily freaky all over again. When this story gets discussed elsewhere any number of contentious plot points from the last three decades may surface in the conversation. To better grasp what these problems are and how to comprehend how Legion chronology works I'll have to refer you to Get-A-Life Boy's LSH Blog, specifically the following page:

http://sakerslsh.blogspot.com/2009/09/fixing-legion-chronology-for-last-time.html

.....I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention the excellent blog The Legion Omnicom at

http://adventure247.blogspot.com/

.....and the LSH area of Cosmic Teams at http://www.cosmicteams.com/legion/index.html

.....In the next post I'll take you through the two parallel time travel stories page by page and event by event, both in real time and as they are experienced by the cast.

DP09-AP(b) Retro Stories During The Giffen Period

.....The next selection is cover dated February 2010 but shipped December 9th, 2009.

.....Once the Giffen Period was under way in the summer of 2009 I felt as if I was holding my breath every time I read the new solicitations. Under the last four writers the feature veered in and out of continuity over twenty years: Morrison (in), Pollack (out), Arcudi (in) and Byrne (out). More importantly, the decision to operate in or out of continuity was never up to the writer in question. It was an editorial or administrative decision. By the end of Infinite Crisis it was known that they had returned to the fold, so to speak, but it had taken three years for them to be granted a title again. I was anxious to see how the team was treated as guest stars in other titles, under other writers. Any differences between Giffen's handling and another's might yield a clue as to what editorial stipulations were the ground rules, the operating parameters within which the writers were allowed to play. ("Yes, you can use that forgotten old mad scientist villain and place them on Oolong Island. No, you can't kill Dusty the Pilot.") We were told in advance that Giffen would be surgically reintegrating errant characters and plot elements into the title, which could take years to do correctly. Any hope of a short cut was worth following up on. There were guest appearances, but for that first year at least they were flashbacks to the Original Period.

.....From DC [Universe] Holiday Special '09 #1 (02/10) is a six-page story that goes by one title on the contents page ("Beast Boy & Doom Patrol In The Christmas Of Doom") and another title on the actual splash page ("The [Beast] Boy Who Hated Christmas!"). The credits were as follows:

• Writer: Sterling Gates
• Artist: Jonboy Meyers
• Colorist: Chuck Pires
• Letterer: Travis Lanham
• Editors: Adam Schlagman & Eddie Berganza
• (the present-day Gar also appears on the painted cover by Dustin Nguyen)

.....As far as I can discern, the story takes place at Christmas (of course) at about the time of Doom Patrol #105 (08/66)- #106 (09/66). The cast is Beast Boy (in mask), Elasti-Girl, Mento, Negative Man, Robotman, The Chief and Galtry. If you're trying to find this on commercial sites or fan databases, be aware that the word "Universe" only appears on the cover, not in the indicia. You might have to search for the name with it and without it.

.....In the story, after defeating a glass-domed giant robot on the corner of Drake St. and Premiani Dr., Beast Boy complains to the others about Christmas. Rita follows him home to find Galtry mistreating him and convinces Steve to adopt him. She tells Gar that the accident that gave her her powers also made her unable to have children. That's the closest thing to a bombshell here, since I don't recall that being mentioned in the original series and she's only just come back in the past decade. I haven't found anything to contradict or confirm it post-Crisis, but I'm still looking. Another possible bone of contention is that they give Gar's age as fourteen. It is true that in the last year of the series Rita and Steve referred to him as a teenager and he has always been short for his age. But it's also been well established that he was sixteen during the original New Teen Titans series (1980-1985). That would mean that his entire television career came and went in less than two years, to say nothing of the remaining third of the Doom Patrol series that would have followed the Christmas story had it taken place where I suspect it did. During Doom Patrol #105 there is a scene much like the one in the story in which Rita follows Gar home. When the issue begins the team suspects, as they have since his joining the group, that Gar has been exaggerating his mistreatment by Galtry. By the end of the issue they've learned otherwise. By the end of #106, Rita and Steve announce their intention to adopt Gar, which they eventually succeed in doing in #110 (03/67). The intervening issues are an unrelated multi-part story that occasionally cuts away to note the progress that Steve's lawyers and detectives are making in building their case. Since the Christmas story can't reasonably be shoe-horned into the existing scenes in the original series we're left to assume that this is yet another post-Crisis account of pre-Crisis history and that the original scenes are among the many things changed by COIE in the 1980's.

.....In the next story, continuity within DCU becomes a cakewalk compared to continuity within the story itself. Wear a helmet.

DP09-AP(a) Retro Stories During Giffen Period

.....In the various Period synopses early in this blog, beginning with "The Wilderness Years", I began to designate period pieces with the symbol [P]. The phrase "period piece" here means the same as it does in theater and film: a whole work that noticeably takes place in an earlier, distinctly different period. There's a qualitative difference between those stories and ones that include flashbacks to earlier periods for exposition purposes or ones that simply take place earlier in continuity within the same period.

.....At the time that I put together the synopsis for Gypsy Period 2 and the accompanying Trade Survey that follows it, I wasn't aware that Ambush Bug was going to play such a significant part of the current series. It's hard to think of him as a team member, since so much of what he is seems to be conscious and willing on his part, while the common bond among the Doom Patrol's members is that they were the results of tragic accidents. Irwin's parents may beg to differ with me, but that's my first impression. Had I known, I would have included the TP SHOWCASE PRESENTS AMBUSH BUG on both lists, early in 2009 (March 25th), right before the first DP volume and after the issues of TRINITY. Incidentally, the issues of TRINITY, which take place in an alternate timeline, pose a question of judgement for me. I've decided to judge them as I would Elseworlds stories. The Doom Patrol have experienced different states and different senses of existence often enough that it isn't immediately obvious which versions are 'real' and which aren't or even what 'real' means. The one time I've cut myself some slack in the 'comprehensive' aspect of these searches was when I decided to dismiss out of hand the Tangent 'Doom Patrol', not because of any concerns I had about the quality of the stories but for the simple fact that they were unrelated characters in a unrelated timeline in unrelated circumstances who were given the same name for Maximum Obfuscation Purposes best understood by DC's Marketing Department and whoever prescribes their medication. Not my kids, not my problem.

.....Speaking of kids, the last entry on the Gypsy Period synopsis is where we should start when considering period pieces, with some careful qualifications.

.....[juv.] Batman: The Brave And The Bold #7 (09/09) "The Secret Of The Doomsday Design!" by J. Torres (script) and J. Bone (art) with a cover by Scott Jeralds and edited by Rachel Gluckstern and Michael Siglain is an original story in the style of the Cartoon Network series. This is made for children but that would only be implied by the cartoon art of the cover. There's little in the way of trade dress that would suggest that to the casual observer. For instance, the checkerboard Cartoon Network logo is not present and DC's kids titles have dropped the Johnny DC logo and imprint identity, although they continue to use the character as the 'voice' of the editorial content. Below the UPC box there is printed "dckids.com", but that's less than an inch from the bottom of the page, almost literally beneath notice. It's been a long time since Helix, Piranha and Paradox were absorbed into DC or Warner Books' other imprints, but the past year has been an exercise in streamlining with the dismantling of Wildstorm/ABC and Zuda. A casual flip through a recent Diamond Comics Distributor catalog shows that the super-hero titles are now under a "DCUniverse" imprint and Vertigo is still there, but everything else, from Tiny Titans to Resident Evil, comes under the generic sounding "DC Comics" imprint.

.....This is clearly not DCU continuity, but anyone who has seen the animated television series that the comic book is based on would agree that it's a weird synthesis of periods whose result is something unique to the show, something it doesn't even share with DC's other animated projects. Starting with Batman himself, he doesn't resemble the versions from "Batman Adventures", "Justice League Unlimited" or "Young Justice". He doesn't even jibe with the tot-friendly "Super Friends" from the 2008 comic (or the 1970's cartoon for that matter). If anything, he calls to mind the animated opening sequence of the live-action 1960's "Batman" series, a fact they've actually played with when peppering the current animated series with visual in-jokes. In a way that's not entirely inappropriate. The show usually takes place in the present day but Batman's personality is generally like his comic book counterpart in the late 1960's, a period comparatively overshadowed by the campy TV show contemporary to it and the fantastic Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams issues that followed. While I personally prefer the O'Neil/Adams stories, the late 1960's stories weren't bad at all. They tended to distance themselves from the celebrity villains and pop-art self-awareness of the TV show and opt instead for straight-forward self-contained detective stories. In fact, the silliness of the TV show villains seemed to have soured both writers and readers on Batman's fetishistic rogues' gallery. They rarely appeared in the 1970's in either Batman or Detective Comics until Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers brought them back with a vengeance nearly a decade later. Despite the fact that the Batman of the current cartoon is fighting colorful villains, both he and the 1960's comic version are tight-lipped without being grim, relentless without being ruthless, perfect for kids who won't stand for something babyish but aren't quite ready for the Christian Bale version.

.....For their part, the Doom Patrol here are a synthesis as well. This story shipped over a year before the team appeared in the episode "The Last Patrol" (October 8th, 2010). A "B:TB&TB" spot was only a matter of time, since there had already been appearances by The Brain ("Journey To The Center Of The Bat", January 30th, 2009) and Mallah ("Gorillas In Our Midst", April 16th, 2010). But the version of the Doom Patrol who eventually surfaced in that episode was very close to the Original Period line-up: Cliff, Rita , Larry and The Chief. Shockingly, they even updated the 1968 self-sacrifice scene. The version in this comic book story not only adds Beast Boy but uses a version of Gar closer to that from the "Teen Titans" animated series, which preceded "B:TB&TB". The squad as a whole most closely approximates the "Homecoming" incarnation of the group. "Homecoming" was a two-part season premiere of "Teen Titans" (September 25th and October 1st, 2005) broadcast during the waning days of the Byrne Period. The premise is that Beast Boy introduces his current teammates to his adopted family, the Doom Patrol, when they are kidnapped by the Brotherhood of Evil. The remaining five episodes in that season's first leg (through November) use the Brotherhood as villains. In "Homecoming", The Chief is nowhere to be found and Mento is the leader of the group. The following spring that team configuration was featured in the comic book counterpart to the series, Teen Titans Go! #28 (04/06) and again months later in #34 (10/06). The cartoon version almost seemed coordinated with the DCU version from Teen Titans #34 (05/06)- #37 (08/06), the "One Year Later" story that immediately followed Infinite Crisis. In that story Gar has returned to the Doom Patrol and they decide to have Mento be their new leader after reassessing Caulder's people skills.

.....When the Doom Patrol eventually appeared in Batman: The Brave And The Bold #7 (09/09) the roster was Cliff, Rita, Larry, Beast Boy and The Chief. Mento isn't mentioned, but curiously although the team is wearing uniforms in the same style they used in the 1960's, the color scheme is Mento's purple and black instead of Original Period red and white. One can only assume that was done in the hopes of carrying over readership from Teen Titans Go!, where Gar has always worn those colors for some reason. The plot of the issue involves Cliff, Rita and Larry being kidnapped by the Mad Mod, who intends to cannibalize the material of their costumes (or in Cliff's case his body) to custom design a battle suit that takes advantage of the materials' adaptability to the DP's powers. The Chief, based on experience no doubt, assumes General Immortus is responsible and dispatches Gar to recruit Batman's help. The scene in which Gar finds Batman shows him swooping into the Batmobile in the form of a green bat crying, "Daddy! Daddy! I've been looking all over for you!" That line is particularly jarring to anyone who knows the personal histories of both characters, even by the standards of Gar's filterless humor. In his own life Gar watched his natural father (and mother) die, was stolen from the African king who adopted him and then was adopted by Rita and a reluctant Steve who years later tried to kill him. Batman not only watched his father (and mother) die but was himself a proxy father to at least three boys: Dick Grayson was his ward for years (for decades to readers) without ever being formally adopted; an adult Dick then stood by and watched Bruce adopt Jason Todd relatively quickly; Jason was killed shortly after that while in Bruce's care; Bruce then took in Tim Drake while Tim's own father was incapacitated, leading to complications when Tim's father recovered; and finally learned that Tim's father was murdered during Identity Crisis as a direct result of Tim's activity as Robin. And then there's Damian. Gee, Gar, why not invite Scandal Savage or Orion of the New Gods and make the adventure a 'daddy issue' trifecta?

.....The choice of Mad Mod as the villain should also be acknowledged as a nod to the animated "Teen Titans" TV show as much as the purple and black costumes. Between the cartoon and the Teen Titans Go! comic book, I can't recall him appearing anywhere else in the past decade. Having made only two outings in pre-Crisis comics, both while the Original Period Doom Patrol was being published in the sixties (the second just barely), it could be that he and the DP's roster were chosen to evoke that period, at least among older readers. Yet, I'd wager his use since being revived for animation in 2003 has caused most fans to forget his turn as a reformed supporting character in Dan Jurgens late 1990's Teen Titans comic book series. So then, is this issue an Original Period story, albeit from the Original Period of an alternate timeline? Only with that conditional 'out' could I feel comfortable saying yes. To argue in defense of that choice I should point out that neither Batman or Beast Boy mention Robin or the Teen Titans even as they're fighting a TT villain. If they had I might have reconsidered what possible analog DCU continuity period the story could have fit. There are few other clues, although there is a wink on the last page as the team are enjoying their restored uniforms. Larry says, "I've been considering a makeover. How do you think I'd look in a trenchcoat?"

.....The 2010 retro stories are next.

DP02-06 Beast Boy and Mal Duncan Part 3

[Apologies for the delay, but this had to be rewritten a few times. Big chunks that were extracted from this, mostly to make it manageable to edit and read but also for the sake of maintaining coherence, have been distilled into a much more practical 'reading list' for a future post. Likewise, the Part 4 post about Mal has been rewritten into a similar list of appearances so that the more ambitious essay I wanted to write will be easier to understand (and shorter).]

.....Putting aside the encapsulations typical of the Who's Who and Secret Files publications DC has done at different times (for now), Garfield Logan's origin story explaining how he turned green and gained the ability to change into animals at will has also been retold several times within the comics he's graced. I've found detailed origin stories in the following issues:

1. Doom Patrol #100 (12/65) "The Fantastic Origin Of Beast-Boy"(8pp) and "The Origin Of Beast-Boy Part 2"(8pp). In the main story, Gar's legal guardian, Galtry, refers to him as "Craig" throughout. At no point elsewhere in the story does anybody else refer to him by any name, except for Doom Patrol members calling him "Beast-Boy", hyphen included. Bizarrely, in the four page origin flashback his parents Mark and Marie (no last name) call him "son", "boy" and even "the child" but never give him a name. In the previous issue (his first appearance) he was called merely "Gar" exactly once and by a female classmate. In the following issue he's called Gar by both Galtry and the DP. The misnaming in this story is therefore commonly dismissed as a clerical error or (if a writer is in a mood to tie up loose ends) explained as evidence of how unconcerned Galtry is about Gar's welfare, that he doesn't even bother to get his name right and Gar has given up on correcting him. For the record, he gets the last name Logan in issue #102 (03/66).
2. Doom Patrol #112 (06/67) "Waif Of The Wilderness"(10pp). The first installment of four back-up features explaining how Gar came to be under Galtry's supervision. At first glance it looks as though much of the four page flashback from #100 was reformatted with some new panels added, but in reality the story was newly redrawn with those same scenes (complete with paraphrased dialogue) integrated into an expanded story. Both versions were drawn by Bruno Premiani and written by Arnold Drake. An important detail added was the location of Mark Logan's research lab: Upper Lamumba. Because he healed and befriended the local King Tawaba, Gar was adopted by Tawaba when the Logan's died and is legally a prince of Upper Lamumba.
3. Doom Patrol #113 (08/67) "The Diamonds Of Destiny"(8pp). Crooks Kurt and Stokes arrive in the village to loot the tribe's diamonds from an underground cavern. A struggle with Gar leaves the boy unconscious and the cavern caving in. Unable to take the diamonds in time, the crooks kidnap the boy.
4. Doom Patrol #114 (09/67) "The Kid Who Was King Of Crooks" (8pp). Kurt and Stokes teach toddler Gar to steal gold and diamonds in Johannesburg. Bored, Gar decides to play a joke on them and hides the loot while they're out of the apartment. The joke backfires when each return separately and suspect the other of cutting out with the goods. When they find each other a shootout leaves both of them dead; Gar has lost his third 'family'.
5. Doom Patrol #115 (11/67) "General Beast Boy-- Of The Ape Brigade!" (8pp). Now on his own, Gar is kidnapped while in the form of a gorilla by neo-Nazis rounding up gorillas and brainwashing them into becoming an army. Gar changes shape before the processing takes place, observes the scheme and helps the yet unprocessed gorillas overthrow the Nazis. At that point Galtry finally catches up with Gar's trail. Galtry was aware of Gar's inheritance and needed to have physical custody of the boy to secure power of attorney (and the access to the money that goes with it).
6. The New Teen Titans #10 (08/81) On page 5, Gar (now called Changeling) narrates a truncated version of his pre-Titans life to relatively new teammate Cyborg (Victor Stone). It correctly recalls the name of the disease sakutia responsible for his father resorting to the drastic experiment that saved his life by inducing the animal transformations that we know as Gar's super power. That incident and his parents' deaths (from Doom Patrol #100) are mentioned but the details of the backup stories (in #112 to 115) are omitted. I'd concede they're unessential for a one page sequence, but Galtry isn't mentioned at all and he claims that when his parents died "I was about ten at the time" and "a year later, I was found by Niles Caulder". Given his behavior and speech in his first appearance, it sounds about right that he would be eleven or twelve years old at the time. The problem is that he was obviously much younger when his parents died, both in the first version (#100) and expanded version (#112). Also, he sought out the Doom Patrol and repeatedly begged to go on missions with them in his early appearances. Caulder didn't 'find him', and initially balked at having Gar join them. At the end of this issue Gar receives a potentially lethal attack from Deathstroke, prompting Wonder Girl to take him to Paradise Island in the hopes that the Purple Ray could save his life. When he emerges from a coma in The New Teen Titans #13 (11/81) his powers have expanded to include changing into extinct and mythological creatures, not just animals he has seen. In a way, that parallels his origin story which an emergency medical procedure results in a super power.
7. Tales Of The New Teen Titans [LS] #3 (08/82) [no title] In this four-issue mini-series, Gar and the three new characters created for the 1980 New Teen Titans series each get a spotlight issue featuring their origin. The framing sequence that links the series has original members Dick, Wally and Donna camping in the Grand Canyon with Gar, Vic, Koriand'r and Raven as a bonding experience. It takes place between issues #20 and 21 of the regular series. This is now the fourth formal retelling of Gar's origin that I could find, and in each case Gar is narrating them. In Doom Patrol #100 he told the story to the DP; in #'s 112-115 he told the story directly to the readers (and a dictation machine); in The New Teen Titans #10 he told the story to Vic and here he tells it to the rest of the team. With 25 pages to work with all the salient details of the previous versions are included: Upper Lamumba; sakutia; becoming a mongoose to save his mother from a black mamba; his parents dying in a waterfall; King Tawaba; Kurt and Stokes (unnamed here but described) and finally Galtry. This version adds the detail of him being eight years old when Galtry found him, meaning that he couldn't have been ten when his parents died. It then mentions his girlfriend Jillian Jackson, who had appeared briefly in Doom Patrol #99 and 108 before her role expanded in #118, just before the end of the series. This is so that, after a two-page spread depicting the DP and Titans West (from 1977), Wolfman and Pérez can fill in the gap between the cancellation of Gar's TV series, "Space Trek 2022", and the formation of the NTT with a new story in which Galtry kidnaps Jillian disguised in the armor of an old DP villain, Arsenal, demanding a ransom. Gar defeats him, but Jillian is unsettled by the violence in his life and their relationship temporarily ends. For what it's worth, Mal and Karen appear in the two-page spread.
8. Tales Of The Teen Titans #55 (07/85) On page 7 Gar narrates his life story yet again, this time to himself. This time the events are described in generalities, not specific names: "taken to Africa"[not Upper Lamumba]; contracted "some damned tropical disease"[not sakutia]; "adopted by an African King"[not Tawaba]; "kidnapped by criminals"[not Kurt and Stokes]; and "a thief became my guardian"[not Galtry]. It hasn't escaped me that Marv Wolfman has at this point done not only one full issue devoted to Gar but two pages like this that dutifully check off each of the few solo stories he's had in a twenty year career with one exception: the Nazi plot to brainwash gorillas into forming an army. Too silly? For a company that's made talking gorillas its own meme, brainwashed gorillas can't be that much of a stretch, can it?
9. Legends Of The DC Universe 80-Page Giant #2 (01/00) Gar once again ruminates on his origin story for two pages of "Passenger 15B", a 10 page lead in to the four-issue mini series Beast Boy, also by Ben Raab and Geoff Johns. It really functions more as a hasty introduction to the character. It does add odd details I couldn't recall seeing elsewhere, for example: "I'd always wanted to be a superhero. Ever since I saw The Flash in Central City." I don't know if that is meant to be a call-back to some post-Crisis event, but I haven't found any stories with flashbacks to the time between Galtry taking custody of Gar in Africa and keeping him a virtual prisoner in the States until Gar finds the Doom Patrol. Seeing The Flash on TV is more plausible, but seeing him in action in Central City before becoming a costumed hero himself seems improbable. In fact, during the Legends LS Gar and Wally are the only active Titans. Wally has only been wearing the red Barry Allen costume for a few months since Crisis and is agonizing over whether he's made the right decision. At no point does Gar ever mention that Barry was his inspiration for being a hero. Gar passing up an opportunity to comfort a grieving friend is unlikely; Gar passing up an opportunity to talk about himself is inconceivable. I'm reluctant to believe this little bit of trivia until I see some kind of flashback or period story corroborating it. The first issue of the LS explains the source of his powers again (on page 13), but it falls short of being even a capsule origin story. The LS also introduces Matt Logan (Gar's previously unmentioned cousin) and Gemini (Madame Rouge's previously unmentioned daughter).
10. Teen Titans #13 (09/04)- #15 (11/04) "Beast Boys And Girls", the story that lent its name to the paperback containing these three issues and the four issue mini-series mentioned above but for some reason omitted the "Passenger 15B" lead-in story. Here some major liberties are taken with the origin, adding Dr. Samuel Register to the Logans' tiny Upper Lamumba lab. He even replaces Mark Logan in a panel redrawn from the 60's stories. In this version the Logans are doing research funded by a grant, but in the original Mark raised the money by selling patents before he even went to Africa. According to the story, Register went on to become a S.T.A.R. Labs abnormal disease specialist obsessed with duplicating the accident and treatment that gave Gar his powers. While working with mutations of the sakutia virus he became infected gained the same animal-based shape-shifting powers, but turned purple rather than green.

.....The scarcity of post-Crisis origin stories could be attributed to an increased reliance during the late 80's and 90's on text pieces. The Teen Titans Spotlight issue featuring Changeling doesn't give an origin sequence, nor does the 1987 Secret Origins Annual featuring the Doom Patrol or the 1989 Secret Origins Annual featuring the Teen Titans. The ongoing series covered Hawk and Dove, Nightwing, Speedy and even the Titans Tower-- yes, the building they used as a headquarters gets its own origin,-- but not Changeling. Actually, with the 60's stories in B&W Showcase Presents formats and everything before 1985 in Archive format there's little impetus to retell the story yet again. If anything, fans will probably be referred to an online database in the future.

.....ERRATA:

.....If you were to click on the comments section below you'll see that the shout-out for corroboration about the Flash incident in "Passenger 15B" was answered, and much faster than expected. ToB [Tamaran or Bust; now that's a Titans call-back] found a scan on a fan-site devoted to Gar and maintained by Lady Timedramon. I not only followed the link to the scan, I zipped around the rest of the site and it definitely rates a link for "Following History" on the left of this blog. I've recommended ToB's own blog before and it's worth your time to follow her icon to "Histories Of Things To Come" and add yourself to the 'follow' board while you're there.

.....The story in question was from Secret Origins #50 (08/90) "Flash Of Two Worlds" by Grant Morrison and Mike Parobeck, a post-Crisis retelling of the story by the same name from Flash #123 (09/61). The original was the story that first posited the theory that the DC universe was made of alternate, parallel worlds where the Golden Age heroes have aged and in some cases retired. In the earliest appearances of the Barry Allen (or Silver Age) Flash, he's seen reading comic books of the Jay Garrick (Golden Age) Flash's adventures. As Allen grew in visibility, he inevitably caught the attention of people who were aware of the original and prompted demand that the two meet. This became a critical point in the company's direction; they could say "screw continuity, this will be popular" and have Jay show up out of the blue, ignoring the fact that they had established that he was fictional to Barry; they could have said "that horse has left the barn" and ignored the requests; but instead editor Julius Schwartz stood by his life-long dictum, "pseudo-science is always the answer!" and the established science fiction premise of parallel worlds was introduced to comic books with explosive consequences. It's difficult to overestimate the impact this one story has had on pop culture. Not only has the cover been parodied repeatedly (including on Dark Horse Presents and The Overstreet Price Guide) but a copy of the issue was the coveted object of a wager on an episode of the TV series "The Big Bang Theory".

.....In the original version of the story Barry is entertaining children for the Picture News Orphan Fund Group. While vibrating he hits a sympathetic harmonic and is transported to Earth-2. After Crisis OIE, there not only wasn't an Earth-2, but there never was one. A New Earth was created with a synthesized history in place, incorporating parts of various alternate Earths but not the totality of any of them. In the Morrison rewrite, Barry senses the tone while he's vibrating and follows it to the source: Jay's hometown of Keystone City, hidden for years by The Fiddler, The Thinker and The Shade (the same villains from the original story) who keep it out of synch with the rest of the world with a giant vibrating violin. The whole story is told by a young Gar Logan on three-ring binder stationary, drawn in crayon and signed "Garfield Logan age 8". The conceit here is that Gar (pre-sakutia) is on summer vacation while his parents are in Africa and he's in the audience of orphans. There's no indication of whose custody he is in while he's in the States, or why he's with a group of orphans while his parents are still alive. What this story really establishes is that Gar's infection and transformation and all the known events leading up to his meeting the Doom Patrol would have to take place between the ages of eight and ten. This is only plausible if the dialogue in the 60's stories (especially Doom Patrol #'s 112-115) is radically different. However, in the "Beast Boys And Girls" story Gar is only six when he's infected. Where's Jonni DC when you need her?

.....Of course, I can't go without pointing out that a story in which a boy tells his own story using hand-drawn comics is a device Grant Morrison has used several times. At least two examples, Cliff Baker's Kannibal Kid in Animal Man and Wally Sage's Flex Mentallo in Doom Patrol, were published roughly contemporaneously to the story in Secret Origins.

.....[END ERRATA; any further additions or corrections are always welcome in the comments ]

.....Next up, where to find Mal.

DP02-04 Beast Boy and Mal Duncan in "Teen Titans" Part 1

.....While the Doom Patrol were experiencing a revival of sorts in Showcase in 1977, several other DC titles were experiencing more explicit revivals, not the least of which was the Showcase title itself. In the previous year, Blackhawk, Plastic Man, All-Star Comics, Metal Men, Green Lantern and Teen Titans all resumed publishing at the issue numbers following their respective points of prior cancellation. [The actual details are a bit more complicated than that; DC Super Special was also revived, but only for one issue, which was neither super nor particularly special, and All-Star Comics had previously run from #1(Summer/40) to #57(02-03/51) when it changed title (and motif) to All-Star Western #58(04-05/51) to #119(06-07/61). When it was brought back as All-Star Comics #58(04-05/76) to #74(09-10/78) as a vehicle for the Justice Society once again, instead of beginning with issue #120, it may have been to draw attention away from the fact that in a different era it published more issues in a shorter period as a western.]

.....Joining Showcase in 1977 at the 35 cent price point were Aquaman, New Gods, Mister Miracle and Challengers Of The Unknown. Today all those characters still persist in one form or another, although we know that by 1978 only Green Lantern survived the axe as an ongoing title. As befits revivals there was a streak of nostalgia running through most of these titles, using old villains, picking up unresolved plot threads and dusting off fellow M.I.A.'s as guest-stars: Green Arrow and Black Canary did double duty in the JLA and Green Lantern, Bruce Gordon/Eclipso shows up in Metal Men and Challengers Of The Unknown integrates Swamp Thing, Deadman and even Rip Hunter"... Time Master!". For its part, Teen Titans put together a West Coast version of the team from existing characters, some of whom had appeared in the original run of the series.

.....For those less familiar with Titans history, the first ten years were relatively simple. It only gets migraine inducing in the year leading up to Crisis On Infinite Earths and increases exponentially after that. The folks at titanstower.com (linked on the left) make it all... well, if not easy, at least sane and orderly. For graduate studies focusing on Wolfman/Perez and Geoff Johns stories, I've found posts on those (and every other thought provoking topic) at historiesofthingstocome.blogspot.com (while not DP-centric enough to necessitate a permanent link, its author ToB and I are mutual followers; as of this writing she maintains the Aeon Flux icon at left and if you think this blog does its research you owe it to yourself to check out her blog; it's the "Aquaman Shrine" of xenophilology). To follow the 1977 revival one only need to know that the feature launched in The Brave And The Bold #54(06-07/64) (with art by Bruno Premiani!) when the title had settled into pairing heroes (mostly JLA members) but not yet resigned to becoming "Batman and... ". The concept was simple, even obvious. So many of the JLA had teen-aged sidekicks who did not accompany them on JLA adventures that they could form a team themselves. That began with Kid Flash, Aqualad and Robin. A second B&B appearance one year later added Wonder Girl and a team name, followed by a Showcase issue and on-going series months later. During those first three years (#1-17) there were two guest appearances by Speedy (the pre-heroin Roy Harper) and one by Beast Boy [noted in the Original Period synopsis, post DP01-AA]. Ultimately it is decided that Beast Boy is too young for the team after Robin breaks the 'fourth wall' in the last panel and asks the comic's readers directly if they want Gar to join the team. He didn't at the time, so we would have to assume most voted no if at all. If that seems cruel, the terms 'Robin' and 'readers poll' in conjunction usually conjure much worse.

.....At the end of 1968 the famous turnover in personnel at DC affected Teen Titans and Aquaman pretty dramatically. Arnold Drake had already left the cancelled Doom Patrol and Stanley And His Monster for Marvel's X-Men and Captain Marvel and the Charlton creators who had just been hired at DC brought an objective eye to the titles that remained. There was a lot of imagination and some valiant efforts at change, but of the twenty titles cancelled during 1968 and 1969 they were disproportionately recent. Only four of them began publishing prior to Fantastic Four/Justice League Of America : the aforementioned Doom Patrol and Stanley titles (which actually began as different titles and changed during the "12-cent" period), Blackhawk (acquired from another company in the 1950's and not quite "family") and The Adventures Of Bob Hope (which was a licensed property, meaning that the cost of using Hope's name must have been cutting into the profits). DC only introduced about 40 new titles during the 1960's. According to my calculations only 14 left 1969 intact. Of the titles that started prior to 1960 cover dates, DC began the decade with 32 precode titles and 14 more silver age. It ended the decade with 32 combined, plus the 14 that were introduced during the 1960's. I would have to do a great deal more blurry-eyed research to break that down into frequencies (i.e., the number of issues each title publishes per year; just because DC was publishing the same number of titles after ten years doesn't mean they were publishing the same number of issues per title, or selling the same number of copies per issue). Suffice to say that the readership provided the sales and the sales determined further publication and at that time publication heavily favored established characters in established titles and features. In spite of this, Teen Titans survived.

.....Teen Titans in 1968 brought on Dick Giordano as editor and the changes began immediately. Inheriting the last three scripts from George Kashdan/Bob Haney, the cringe-worthy faux-teen slang was dialed back a bit and the covers began changing logos with every issue, from the last of the original standard logo on #14(03-04/68) and (on a smashed window, tellingly) #15(05-06/68) until the first use of what would be the second standard logo on #19(01-02/69). As soon as the last of the leftover scripts had been used Giordano began using a variety of new writers beginning with one of the earliest published scripts from Len Wein and Marv Wolfman in #18(11-12/68) which introduced a new teen hero, the male Russian Starfire (no relation to Koriand'r). #19 followed with a teen costumed villain, Punch. It also brought in Speedy as a full-time member and ended with Aqualad returning to the Aquaman title. #20 introduced another teen hero, Joshua. #21 had a guest appearance by Hawk and Dove shortly before their own series would end. Then in #22 they open the biggest can of worms in Titans history: they point out that Wonder Girl doesn't have a real name. The character was originally created to simply be Wonder Woman herself as a teenager, then appeared in 'impossible tales' (as they were called in the 1960's) in which Wonder Woman would fight alongside the younger versions of herself (Wonder Girl and... Wonder Tot...yeesh). It was only in the Titans stories that she existed as a sidekick/younger sister/niece/adopted ward/mascot/whatever of Wonder Woman. That existence then retroactively worked its way into the Wonder Woman title under editor Robert Kanigher. [NOTE: When Dick Giordano took over editing Teen Titans Jack Miller took over editing Wonder Woman with Denny O'Neil on scripts and Mike Sekowsky on art. This was the famous 'new look' version of Wonder Woman with no Amazons, no powers, no costumes and no Wonder Girl. The series became a martial arts/detective title. Within a year Sekowsky was not only drawing the book but writing and editing it, too. I mention this because the entire time Sekowsky was doing the art on the book, Giordano was inking his pencils while editing Teen Titans. As he watched Diana getting further and further away from super-hero conventions he oversaw his writers bringing Wonder Girl closer in line with them, giving her a secret identity, a more adult, form-fitting costume, and an origin story. The culmination of the overhaul coincided with Sekowsky's full take-over of the Wonder Woman title. Both would remain editors of their respective titles for about two more years and leave right before the 'Bigger and Better' format is instituted at DC. Curiously, although Sekowsky left Wonder Woman, Giordano did not. He remained in varying capacities, pencilling and/or inking interiors and/or covers under the editorship of Denny O'Neil until Robert Kanigher returned with issue #204(01-02/73) and brought the super-hero motif back with him.]

.....After a year of shake-ups there were two scripts by Bob Haney (the only Titans author prior to issue #18) in Teen Titans #23(09-10/69) and #24(11-12/69) that were single issue stories with few entanglements in continuity (characteristic of his pre-Giordano tenure). This was possibly the last time the phrase "few entanglements in continuity" could be used without sarcasm when discussing the Teen Titans. Bob Haney's 'done-in-one' approach, which would continue to serve him well during his years of writing The Brave And The Bold, would reassert itself when he returned a year and a half later and Giordano left the editorship. Haney would in fact finish the original run of the series. However, he would have to be doing it under greatly altered circumstances. The Teen Titans during the 1960's had only ever been five specific people. They were friends because they shared highly unusual experiences as young counterparts to famous super-heroes. Despite their occasional protestations that they were not simply a junior JLA but their own people, a junior JLA was precisely what they were... up to that point. Beginning with the 1970 cover dates they began to taken on new members for the first time in years instead of random guest stars and engaged in activities in civilian clothes instead of costumes. The two men responsible for these stories would be once-and-future Wonder Woman editor Robert Kanigher and Aquaman author Steve Skeates.

.....The next post will contain Part 2, which traces the background of Mal Duncan, who would go on to briefly join the Doom Patrol as Vox after Infinite Crisis. Part 3 will examine the return of Beast Boy.

News and Irresponsible Speculation for the New School Year

.....The good news is that the technological problems that interrupted my flow here and on the "So, What Kind Of..." music blog I had been cobbling together have (I think) been overcome or at least circumvented by upgrade. The bad news, if there is any, is that, obviously (a) in technology there are no permanent solutions, only current situations and (b) no amount of technology can make me less lazy. And before some smart aleck out there adds that no amount of anything could possibly make me any more lazy, I just want to say while researching DC's publishing history leading up to the 1978 "Implosion" I got distracted by a more ambitious project that I set aside years ago-- and still will not have finished once I get back to analyzing the Showcase arc. Since the two research projects involve a lot of overlap and much redundant handwriting, I decided to combine them, at least until I follow them past the period where they dovetail. When I want to return to the larger project, its notes will be waiting, half completed. Well, I'm assuming we all live that long. It's a more of perpetual hobby than something that could conceivably bear fruit.

.....I mentioned news in the post title. Here 'tis: as of yesterday (September 13, 2010) I noticed that Amazon is offering pre-orders for the trade paperback "DOOM PATROL: BROTHERHOOD", collecting the second helping of the current series. Elsewhere on this blog I have a history of DP trades entitled DP08- AT Trade Format Survey that should link when you click on the "D". (Cross your fingers.) This entry will have to be updated soon since the Black and White trades of the Original Period apparently don't include the Challengers portion of their crossover, nor the Flash team-up from Brave And The Bold. However inexpensive the Showcase Presents... format is, I think it is extremely unreasonable to ask readers to buy both the DP volumes as well as the yet-unreleased third Challengers volume, totalling over sixty issues, in order to read a three-issue arc. If anyone at DC is reading this, could I respectfully suggest collecting the two DP issues, the Challengers' chapter between them, the Flash team-up, Beast Boy's guest spot in Teen Titans #6 and the Niles Caulder appearance in Plastic Man, all tied up into a color paperback that could fit neatly between the two DP 'phonebooks'? That would account for absolutely every DP appearance outside of their own title during the 1960's. The details are on page DP01- AA.

.....If the Amazon entry for the upcoming trade is correct, it will ship (from them) on January 18, 2011 for a list price of $17.99. The direct market shipping will likely be the previous Wednesday, January 12. (For reasons lost on me, Amazon lists availability of books on Tuesdays, the day brick-and-mortar stores conventionally release new titles. Both the first Giffen trade, "WE WHO ARE ABOUT TO DIE...", and the second Showcase Presents... volume were listed at Diamond on the Wednesday prior to their respective Amazon dates in the past few months.) Two weeks from now you can expect to go to your local comic book store and find distributor catalogs soliciting DC comics for December and trades for January. Most stores will take advance orders if you want to reserve a copy, or at least give you more reliable stats than a non-specialist web-site. For instance, they say the volume will be 168 pages, but are vague about what issues that covers. Most likely it will be #'s 7-12.

.....Speaking of the new series, I haven't noticed many people making much of a familiar name being dropped into the conclusion of that arc. In issue #12 (09/10), page 4, a memo from MSE is signed "E. Garguax". Granted, if we have the daughter of Egg Fu/ Dr. Yes running around then it's not too far-fetched that Garguax left an heir. Or perhaps it's the original and the 'E' stands for "Emperor"? To the best of my knowledge, Garguax died in the aftermath of Invasion! when his space ship crashed into Arani's Kansas DP HQ. When I saw the signature on the memo I filed it away in my memory as a bit of foreshadowing for an eventual appearance by lime-green invader (or his successor) but the subsequent story arc, in which The Chief simulates Superman's powers, got me to thinking about the circumstances of Garguax' death. Because it occurred in both a mini-series and multiple monthly titles, the Invasion! storyline had multiple elements concurrently at work. There were a few main elements that determined the outcome however (not to disclose too much of the plot), including our own Cliff Steele trading on his non-human appearance to infiltrate an enemy base and the intervention of the Daxamites. Before all the recent foofarrah with the Kandorians, the Daxamites were the only post-Crisis folk who shared Superman's solar-based... talents. They were generally only seen in the Legion of Super-Heroes' 30th Century stories, but a story about several alien races coming to Earth seemed the perfect vehicle for explaining how they originally discovered the effects of our 'yellow' sun. It was very clever how the whole thing played out. It also hinted at how Earth might confront someone with Superman's powers should they become unstable. Who plotted that story, anyway? Wellllll..... whaddayaknow? It was Keith Giffen...

DP02-01 Showcase #94(08-09/77) [a]

.....In the letters' page for Metal Men #49(12/76-01/77), "Airmail Alloys" L-539, there's a letter from Bob Rodi responding to issue #47. [It should be pointed out that Rodi doesn't explicitly mention the issue number. Since the story, for whatever reason, didn't have a title on the splash page, he refers to the issue by the blurb in the banner above the logo-- "The X-Effect". Given that #47 shipped four months before the letter was published ("the second week in May" 1976 if it was on time), that would put it one year into Marvel's X-Men revival and two years before its critical acclaim could be translated into an upgrade from bi-monthly to monthly status.] As per that issue's 'next issue' blurb, he writes, "I see you're bringing back Eclipso. If you plan to use the METAL MEN as a launching pad for revivals, why not bring back the Doom Patrol ? Like the MM, the DP need delicate handling, and you guys have proven yourselves capable of that. They haven't been seen at all since their apparent deaths in 1968, so please bring them back to guest-star. I've always wanted to see the two groups together." We now know that aside from occasionally appearing in the same Crisis-type event, and Magnus repeatedly contributing to Cliff's redesigns, there was no meeting of these two groups. That may prompt some to question the choice of the Metal Men as a back-up feature in the 2009 Giffen Period revival. Yet there is a more ethereal but nevertheless real connection between the two.

.....After Jack Kirby left DC in 1958, with little more than Challengers Of The Unknown by which to remember him, he spent three years drawing monster stories for Stan Lee until they got the green light to turn Atlas into what we know as Marvel today. Once they started creating super-heroes they nervously and scrupulously avoided the trademark cliches of costumed characters that DC had largely built up for twenty years and fiercely defended with litigation throughout the 1950's. The result was the first real threat DC had had on its own turf in at least a decade. Its only obvious competitor for rack space, Dell, was almost entirely licensed properties (Disney and movie adaptions). At the time, the impact of the Marvel heroes on DC was barely noticeable; characters in Superman comics were still driving DeSotos and teenagers all sounded like Andy Hardy or Dobie Gillis, so that it often seemed as though the world had no impact on DC at the time, let alone Spider-Man. Yet, if you look beyond Superman, Batman and the JLA you will notice the greatest change in their second tier adventure titles. Before the Fantastic Four? The Challengers (1957), Adam Strange (1958), Rip Hunter (1959), Cave Carson (1960) and Sea Devils (1960). All arguably a change of pace from the subjects of their more famous stablemates, yet still in the square-jawed mold of Buster Crabbe (or Lloyd Bridges for Sea Devils). After the Fantastic Four? Metal Men (1962), Doom Patrol (1963), Eclipso (1963) and Metamorpho (1964). The new heroes (or protagonists, to account for Eclipso) didn't even have human bodies. When someone wanted another human hero, they now went to Earth-2 and grabbed an old one. So it should come as little surprise that Bob Rodi (and thousands of others) would come to associate these characters despite their having different creators and editors and appearing in different titles (all the pre-FF characters I mentioned above had appeared in Showcase and all but Carson debuted there).

.....In the time following the demise of the first Doom Patrol title only the Challengers and Metal Men continued, briefly. Harry Donenfeld had died and took his influence on New York judges with him. Without the intimidation of specious lawsuits looming over everyone, creators and their comics could become more self-aware and self-referencing and only the Air-Pirates would suffer unjustly. The ex-Charlton crowd had already introduced some decidedly different characters, Kirby would soon return and Green Lantern would face a question he never knew he couldn't answer. There wasn't much left to shake up that wasn't already shaking. Despite this, Marvel was slowly gaining. Even more oddly, Marvel's gains in the marketplace came as they were creatively stabilizing. It was true that they were constantly creating new characters, nearly all of whom would sooner or later recur to reinforce the greater sense of continuity. However, when Silver Surfer #1(08/68) was published just before Doom Patrol was cancelled, it was only the second time they had introduced an ongoing feature (not just a title, but a feature ) using a character created since Daredevil #1(04/64). For the record, the first time was with Captain Marvel in Marvel Super-Heroes #12(12/67). In 1968 they switched distributors and released an explosion of new titles for the first time since 1958. Both publishers had broken through on televsion. Dell barely existed anymore and the publishers who were still in the game had practically given up on super-heroes. DC had reasons to be happy, but the quirky, innovative characters of the early 1960's worked for Marvel and not for them and not knowing why seemed to be driving them nuts. The final years of the original runs of COTU and Metal Men do not rank highly among their respective fans, and perhaps we should all be thankful that nobody tried to extend the DP's title by introducing similar overhauls to the art and characters. I'll admit killing the characters was an unusually drastic measure in 1968, and I don't seriously believe that anyone at DC at the time could have predicted the way it burned them into the memories of readers. It meant that they weren't Superman or Batman; they couldn't rely on luck or cheating or breaking the rules of physics. Kathy Bates was never going to stand up in a theater and scream at them for lying their way out of a cliffhanger ending like Captain America did. When the choices are groveling while innocents die or giving the villains the finger, they go out like Gary Gilmore: "Just shut up and do it." Thus the tell-tale phrase in Mr. Rodi's letter. You saw it, didn't you? Sitting in the middle of that sentence like a speed bump? The elephant in the room? "...since their apparent deaths in 1968..." No one talks about the apparent death of Larry Lance. Not a peep out of them for eight years, but their fans aren't just wishing for their return, they're expecting their return.

.....The editorial reply (unsigned but easily inferred as Paul Levitz from a statement elsewhere on the page) says nothing to correct the assumption of their possible survival. "We've begun reprinting the best of the Doom Patrol tales in the back of Super-Team Family to test reader reaction to them. You see, we've been DP fans since way back and we'd enjoy reviving them too. If enough fans write in...", etc. [Details of those reprints can be found by using the mini-Google internal search in the upper-left corner of this page. Enter "DP01-AR3", or leave off the "3" to access all of the reprint examinations.] The last of those reprints ran in #10 (04-05/77) whose letter page editor was likely also the unsigned voice of Paul Levitz. Responding to a letter, he writes "...there are no plans for new Doom Patrol stories as of now, yet who knows? Things change around here faster than we can keep track of them. Perhaps, if reader reaction to the DP is strong enough we might just surprise you!" Four months later came the first new Doom Patrol story in nine years.

.....According to the full page ads, Showcase #94(08-09/77) went "on sale May 31st!" This comic not only revived the team name as a feature, but the Showcase title itself, which originally ran from #1(03-04/56) to #93(09/70). Keeping with the spirit of that earlier run, this would be the first of three installments seeking to lead into an ongoing series. The only credits are for the four contributors who will see through all three issues: writer Paul Kupperberg, penciller Joe Staton (who presumably inks himself here), colorist Liz Berube and story editor Paul Levitz. As noted above, Levitz had been dropping hints that this project was in the works for at least a year while working as story editor for managing editor Joe Orlando in a few other titles. In the letters' page of one of those titles, he mentions that shuffling of personel at the time had left Orlando in charge of nearly two-thirds of DC's titles (which I've yet to verify) and relying on his story editors to keep on top of details. The details of this debut story are, using a journalist's perspective, in the concretes: who, what, when and where, but not in the abstracts: how and why.

[This review will continue in a second part to minimize loading times. There are currently more details about both this issue and where it fits in the context of the series in the following posts:

1. Original Period reprints (four posts) DP01-AR1, DP01-AR2, DP01-AR3 and DP01-AR4
2. DP02-AA Gypsy Period 1 synopsis
3. DP07-AA Byrne Period synopsis

These posts can be found quickly using the internal "search this blog" feature found in the upper left-hand corner of this page by entering the alpha-numeric codes.]