Once Upon a Geek

About two weeks ago I wrote a post about FINAL CRISIS: REQUIEM and the relationship between Martian Manhunter & Hal Jordan. You may recall I felt that Martian Manhunter and Hal Jordan didn’t really have an established strong relationship and I felt some scenes in REQUIEM rang hollow. Well… the webmaster of “The IDOL-HEAD of DIABOLU, a Martian Manhunter blog” follow-up on my thoughts and expounded upon them in a post of his own.

Wow!  Frank Lee Delano (the webmaster of IDOL-HEAD) really knows his stuff!  He took my thoughts and really ran with them.  He reinforced my opinion with numerous facts and history between these two characters.

Stop by the IDOL-HEAD of DIABOLU and check it out!  While you’re there, take a look at all the other great posts about the history of Martian Manhunter.

I read “Final Crisis: Requiem” and one thing is really bothering me. There are three pages where Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen grieve together over Martian Manhunter’s body. Hal talks about the rage he’s feeling and the revenge he wants to inflict because of his friend’s death. What bothers me is that I don’t believe historically there has been a really strong connection between Hal Jordan and Martian Manhunter.

If you look at their respective JLA appearances, they don’t actually overlap much. Both were founding members of the League, however, Martian Manhunter left the League with issue 71. Of those 71 issues, Martian Manhunter only appeared in 43 of them. After that, every run of the JLA that featured Martian Manhunter as a member, Hal was not a member at the same time. If you add up Martian Manhunter’s time in the Detroit League, the JLI, Justice League Task Force, and the JLA (Grant Morrison’s series), that’s something like 230 issues that he didn’t appear with Hal Jordan.

I just feel that the writer is shoehorning Hal Jordan into the grieving, whereas there are many other characters that Martian Manhunter appeared with more frequently that would have made more sense. I think I know why they are using Hal Jordan.. to prepare for “Blackest Night” where numerous dead superheroes are supposed to come back. That is probably where we’ll see Martian Manhunter next, so it makes sense from a plotting point of view to use Hal Jordan. I just feel as a fan of Martian Manhunter, it could have been other folks. Maybe there were some nice character moments between Martian Manhunter and Hal at some point in history, I just don’t happen to remember them. There are many other characters they’ve shown time and time again to have a close bond with Martian Manhunter. For example, characters that have starred in the JLA with Martian Manhunter more frequently and have been shown to have a bond with him include: Batman, Vixen, Gypsy, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Believe it or not, even Kyle Rayner have appeared with Martian Manhunter more often than Hal Jordan. While Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman did feature prominently in this story, the big emotional scene was given to Hal and Ollie. I just didn’t work for me.

Okay, rant over. “Final Crisis: Requiem” was a decent read, its just this one point really stood out to me. I admit part of my rant probably comes from the fact that I’m still bitter they brought Hal back to life.

Oh yeah, it’s also worth mentioning that Aquaman had a really strong bond with Martian Manhunter and appeared more frequently with Martian Manhunter than Hal. However, Aquaman is current dead. Interestingly enough, apparently death wasn’t enough to stop Aquaman from coming to the funeral. Check out the Aquaman Shrine for details on this.

I love me some JLA & JSA.  In fact, I’ve been building a DC Direct action figure collection of these two teams for years.  After seeing my buddy Michael Bailey (Views from the Longbox & Fortress of Baileytude) post some pics of his figures, I thought I would take you on a tour of some of mine.  This is by no means all my figures, just some that I have on display.

So follow me weary reader through the door into the back room of the house.  You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of plastic, a dimension of multiple points of articulation, a dimension of facial expressions that look as if the character is constipated. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into … Shag’s Comicatorium (also known as Shag’s Sanctum Sanctorum). 

 THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (multiple eras)

Notice the classic JLA is on the top shelf, followed by the satellite-era League on the second shelf, and finally the JLI era on the third shelf.  Yes, I’m that geeky.  Also, I hung my cool satellite-era League plate behind the second shelf.

 THE JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA (classic era)

Notice Johnny Thunder and Mr. Terrific are tiny. These are from the PVC JSA set that came out a number of years ago.  They have not yet made full size action figures of these two characters, so I leave those PVC figures in.  Also, in-between the shelves I hung my cool Mike Parobeck “Justice Society of America” mini-poster promoting the series that only lasted 10 issues.  Also in the long shot below, you can see beneath the JSA figures is a framed original drawing of Alan Scott Green Lantern by his creator Marty Nodell.

In this long shot, you can see how the Comicatorium is laid out.  From left to right:

• The amazing 5 1/2 foot Crisis on Infinite Earths poster by George Perez and Alex Ross. 
• The JLA figures above.
• A great Superman/Batman poster by Ed McGuiness that has been mounted on foamcore.  My wife’s office used it for a superhero-themed function.  After it was over, they kindly gave it to me.
• A bookcase filled with geek stuff.  Including Star Wars action figures of Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade; Super Powers Doctor Fate; Secret Wars Kang; a model of a 1960’s movie Dalek; a Jack Knight Starman variant figure; a Hawkman Heroclix signed by Geoff Johns; and a hand-made figure of one of my own characters sculpted by my friend Ron.
• The JSA figures above.

If you are wondering, the term Comicatorium was first coined by Serv and I when we lived together in college.  It was used to describe the dining room that had become the dumping ground for all comic-related items.  That was a great room.

So as you can see above, I’m pretty much a … well … a real freak. But it makes me happy.  Maybe another time I’ll post pictures of all my Doctor Who stuff.  Now that will definitely scare the normal people.

So I think Grant Morrison must either be a complete nut-bar or a genius beyond our understanding.

I’d heard that the upcoming “Final Crisis” would have something to do with the former JLA villain Libra.  In preparation for “Final Crisis”, I decided to enter Shag’s Sanctum Sanctorum and dig through the archives for Libra’s one and only appearance - Justice League of America #111 (June 1974).  I found my tattered copy and dove into the story.

This was one of those 100 page comics for only 60 cents.  It featured a 20-page lead story with the JLA versus Libra and the newly-formed Injustice Gang of the World.  Back-up stories included a reprint of a golden age “Seven Soldiers of Victory” story, and a reprint of an early JLA story where they battle Brain Storm.  All told, this is a massive 100 pages of fun!

While the 100 page comics are pretty cool just for their massive size and content, this Libra story was pretty tough to slog through.  Why on Earth this inspired Grant Morrison is beyond me.  The lead story in JLA #111 was written by Len Wein and drawn by Dick Dillin & Dick Giordano.  The gist of the story is that a bunch of villains (all foes of various JLA members) are gathered by a mysterious stranger named Libra.  Together they form the Injustice Gang of the World.  Libra wants the Injustice Gang to be the evil opposite of the Justice League (they even have a satellite orbiting Earth 22,300 miles above the opposite side of the Earth). 

All this is pretty standard fair for the time period of superhero comics.  The story enters the realm of ridiculous when the heroes get ready to go face down their respective foes.  Elongated Man makes a suggestion that instead of the heroes tracking down their usual villains, they put their names in a hat and randomly draw which villain they will go after. Batman is the voice of reason stating that the idea is unprofessional and illogical.  Unfortunately Batman is outvoted and they use the random method.  Why on Earth would you do that?!?!?!  If lives are in danger, you should send your best or more experienced guy.  Why send Aquaman after Poison Ivy?  Don’t you think Batman’s experience would allow him to beat her up quicker?  So the JLA is risking many innocent bystanders lives, simply because they feel like “changing it up a bit”.  Crazy… but that’s comics in 1974 for you.

In the end Libra managed to capture the active JLA members, stole half their powers, and activated his device to steal half of the power from the entire Milky Way galaxy.  Yup, you read that correctly… half of the power from the entire Milky Way galaxy.  What a nifty device!  Don’t you think if Libra could build a device like that, he really didn’t need to bother with these second-rate villains and the JLA?  Anyway, a few Leaguers were able escape Libra’s trap, but not before Libra began to soak in half of the power in the galaxy.  The power proved to be too much for Libra and he became so disjointed he couldn’t hold together the very atoms of his own essence.  Libra dissipates into the ether complaining about knowing too much.  Libra’s device did manage to rob the JLA of half of their superpowers, however, this wasn’t a permanent loss.

So this is the villain that Grant Morrison feels simply must be brought back after almost 35 years in obscurity?!?!?!  Maybe Morrison is going to take the approach of Libra balancing the cosmic scales, or depowering the heroes by robbing them of half their power, or maybe Grant just wants all the heroes to put their name in a hat to decide who they fight.  I keep imagining this funny scene where Aquaman draws Doomsday’s name out of a hat - Suffering Sardines, Aquaman!  Who knows what angle Morrison will take.  After reading this story, I’d be more likely to  bring back Flex Mentallo after seeing the classic Charles Atlas ad in this issue.  I’m willing to forgive Len Wein given the way comics were written back in 1974.  However, Grant… sorry, time for your meds.  With that said, if Grant can pull off “Final Crisis” like he has previously done with “Arkham Asylum“, “JLA”, “Animal Man“, “Doom Patrol“, or ”52“, then we’ll be singing the praises of Grant’s misunderstood genius.

For your Monday enjoyment… a Justice League Crossword Puzzle I put together.  Click here to use this interactive crossword puzzle.  Essentially, I’ve given you a Justice Leaguer’s secret identity and you need to type in their superhero name. 

Just a couple details:

1. I removed any spaces or hyphens.  For example “Captain Amazing” would simply be “CaptainAmazing”; or “Locust-Man” would simply be “LocastMan”.

2. I’m pulling from all periods, so “Justice League Europe”, “Justice League Task Force”, and “Extreme Justice” are fair game. 

Good luck!  If you enjoy this JLA Crossword Puzzle, let me know what other kinds of crossword puzzles you’d like to see.

The Irredeemable Shag

Hey old school JLA fans - Check out this fun podcast that reviews each individual issue of the classic Justice League of America series.  It’s called, “Tom vs. the JLA“.  Tom Katers (”Around Comics” podcast regular and “iFanboy” podcast occasional guest star) started this project as a written blog, but transitioned to 10-12 minute podcasts.  He’s currently covering the issues in the early 200’s, but you can get podcasts going back to the 160’s.  In addition to doing a great job with the story summaries, Tom celebrates the Bronze Age story tropes recognizing them within the context of the time the comic was published.  Oh yeah, he’s damn funny too.  Check out his podcast by clicking here.

He did a really nice job covering one of my personal favorite JLA issues, issue #171 - The Murderer Among Us: Crisis Above Earth-One!

See what you can accomplish with too much time and far too many action figures?  Sometimes I frighten myself… 

For you nutso comic-collector completists…. the following is for comparison purposes…