Broken Frontier

Welcome to the second half of our weekly DC coverage honing in on characters and events behind this week’s stories and examining relevant DC history pertaining to the current releases.

Although we are largely looking backwards into the DCU’s past, current plot details may still be mentioned. So, as ever, take heed of our Spoiler Warning: Read no further if you’ve not had your DC fix this week and don’t want to read about key story elements.

Continuity Corner
(The whys and wherefores of some of this week's characters and events)

DC Universe: Decisons #1: All the President’s Men

Super-heroes in the Big Two playground have, traditionally, been somewhat reticent to tell us much about their political leanings. True, there have been the occasional exceptions – radically liberal Green Arrow’s ideological sparring with ultra-conservative Hawkman in 1970s Justice League of America issues for example but, generally, our costume-clad heroes and heroines have kept themselves stoically above the concerns of party politics. Even Lex Luthor’s term as President of the United States was largely just a backdrop for more melodramatic super-villainy.

Back in 1973, though, the DC Universe (albeit in a brief "Hypertime" interlude) elected the "First Teen President of the U.S.A." in the four issues of Prez (Sep 1973-March 1974). Joe Simon, who was capable of some totally off-the wall material for DC in the late 60s/early 70s, was behind the adventures of young Prez Rickard whose mother was so farsighted she even christened him "Prez" in anticipation of his future role!

The basic premise of the book hinged on the legal age for becoming U.S. President being reduced to just eighteen. Boss Smiley, a corrupt businessman with a big yellow Smiley Face for a head, backs Prez’s campaign hoping to have his own easily-manipulated President in his pocket as a result.

Our hero eventually becomes aware of his backer’s duplicity however and cuts ties with him. Short-lived the book may have been, but where else could one find a teenage President fighting for gun control in 1974 or facing a Russian-American chess game to the death where the players were real people? And let’s not even get onto Prez taking on paraplegic vampires in the White House...

Sadly, the fevered imagination of Joe Simon was cut short after just four issues of a title that was, quite frankly, as mad as a bag of weasels. Prez would make just one more Bronze Age appearance in Supergirl #10 (Sep/Oct 1974) wherein the Maid of Might saved him from assassination and firmly rooted Prez in Earth-1 continuity for the first and pretty much only time.

Prez would disappear for a couple of decades after this. He reappeared again in The Sandman #54, under the guidance of Neil Gaiman who had done such a great job of rehabilitating another of Joe Simon’s quirky characters, Brother Power the Geek, in Swamp Thing Annual #5 some years before. This standalone tale in turn led to a more serious Prez one-shot in 1994, part of the Vertigo Visions strand. There’s nothing wrong with Ed Brubaker’s use of Prez as a metaphor for a bygone era but I prefer the sheer insanity of Simon’s original vision myself...

The Brave and the Bold #17: Son of Triumph?

First appearing back in Justice League International #67 (Aug 1994) William MacIntyre has the tragic status of the JLA founder who never was. Responsible for bringing the JLA together as the hero Triumph, MacIntyre was thrown into a time warp in the League’s first mission and written out of history. On his return to the DCU many years later he was understandably more than a little peeved at the way history had slighted him and, although he served for some time with the Justice League in the pages of Justice League Task Force during the 1990s, his membership of the team was a fraught one.

Eventually selling his soul to Neron to regain his missing years of life Triumph crossed the line into out and out villainy. Grant Morrison used him in such a role in his Crisis Times Five! arc in JLA #s 28-31 (April-July 1999). This storyline saw a war between some of the magical inhabitants of the Fifth Dimension and Triumph aiding the imp LKZ against the League. Transformed by the Spectre into a block of ice at the tale’s end that was the last we saw of this rather intriguing character.

This month’s The Brave and the Bold introduces us to Jonathan Mitchell who may be Triumph’s son but, in keeping with the character’s continuity-wiped status, Mitchell’s mother has no memory of his father or even of being pregnant. A nice counterpoint to this storyline’s other major player, Supergirl, who currently has two different origins and two sets of the same parents with very different personalities and motivations.

Rounding up...

There are very interesting contrasts throughout the DreamWar miniseries between the DC heroes and their WildStorm counterparts. Astute readers may remember a very similar thematic edge to the JLA/Avengers miniseries a few years back. But if you thought the Marvel Universe was portrayed as less idealistic to the DCU in that book wait until you see how Earth-50 compares in the inevitable trade collection. (DC/WildStorm: DreamWar #6)

Cyborgirl, one of the Cyborg Revenge Squad, is actually LeTonya Charles, niece of former Cyborg love interest Sarah Charles. LeTonya obtained her cybernetic implants from her Aunt after destroying her body through drug addiction. She debuted as a member of Villainy Inc. in Wonder Woman #179 (May 2002) and it will be interesting to see if there’s any interaction between her and Sarah in the final issue of this miniseries. (DC Special: Cyborg #5)

Not to be confused with his namesake Captain Atom/JLA  bad guy Wade Eiling, the General is the former child villain Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong who first appeared back in Detective Comics #654 (Dec 1992). A military genius, his return echoes his very first appearance when he also tried to unite Gotham’s street gangs under his own leadership. (Robin #178)

Fanboy Moment of the Week

It’s a deliciously apt quote of the week this time around from Cliff Steele, the Doom Patrol’s Robotman, in DC Universe: Decisions #1. In response to Robin eliminating all the deceased potential super-villain suspects in the political bombings from his investigations Cliff warns:

"Careful. A lot of ‘guaranteed to be absolutely, finally, completely dead’ guys still come back to bug me."

Yep, I despair at that revolving door to the DCU afterlife sometimes too Cliff...

That's it for another ATDCU until next week. Until then feel free to post corrections, criticisms and commentary on the Broken Frontier Across the DC Universe message board thread  here . See you at the end of the week for a roundup of this Wednesday's releases and, as ever, thanks for reading!