Broken Frontier

Welcome back to Broken Frontier’s weekly issue by issue roundup of events from every corner of the DC Universe! This is where to come to catch up on what’s been happening with your favorite DC characters and how events in their books affect the DCU’s recent "Bigger Picture". We also point out any interesting continuity tidbits, link to suggested background reading and examine any pertinent questions raised by events in the week’s releases.

Spoiler Warning: Read no further if you’ve not had your DC fix this week and don’t want to hear about key story elements.

Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape #1

Government agent Nemesis is drugged and captured by the Global Peace Agency and awakens to find himself trapped in a hallucinatory prison environment along with Cameron Chase and Count Vertigo. Here visions of former allies appear to him as he learns escape may be impossible...

Crossovers: Final Crisis (follow-up)

The Bigger Picture: This version of the Global Peace Agency came to prominence in Final Crisis. Nemesis is currently a member of the supporting cast in Wonder Woman as Diana’s latest love interest; where his appearance here fits in with that book’s schedule remains to be seen. Cameron Chase has been seen of late as a supporting character in Manhunter while Count Vertigo has been active as a member of the most recent incarnations of Checkmate and Suicide Squad.

Continuity Corner: As mentioned this issue Nemesis did indeed regret following some of Amanda Waller’s orders in the past. This was most noticeable in Suicide Squad #s 5-7 (Sep-Nov 1987) when the Squad were sent to Russia to rescue a political dissident who didn’t actually want to be rescued. His guilt at her death, resulting from the Squad botching the mission, led to Nemesis’s first parting of the ways with the team. Count Vertigo’s mental illness, alluded to here, was also first diagnosed in the original Suicide Squad run although he has regained a degree of mental stability in recent years.

One of Nemesis’s doomed fellow captives bears a striking resemblance to Patrick McGoohan’s Number Six from the classic cult TV The Prisoner, which is a fitting homage for this miniseries.

Questions: What is the Global Peace Agency’s ultimate agenda in kidnapping prominent former espionage operatives? Where is Renee Montoya, the Question, is she still affiliated with the GPA and is she aware of their actions? What is the otherworldly location of the GPA’s Electric City where the events of this issue take place?

Secret Six #9

In Gotham City Secret Sixers Bane, Catman and Ragdoll violently take down anti-capitalist terrorists who are targeting the children of wealthy businessmen to further their message.

Crossovers: Battle for the Cowl

The Bigger Picture: The potentials of both Bane and Catman as possible Batman substitutes is touched on as Gotham’s search for a new Dark Knight, currently being depicted in Batman: Battle for the Cowl and its spin-off one-shots, continues to play out. Crossing paths with Nightwing, Bane identifies the former Boy Wonder as the only natural successor to his "deceased" mentor.

Continuity Corner: Bane’s particular disgust at the use of children in this terrorist campaign stems from his own origins on the Caribbean island nation of Santa Prisca. From birth he was imprisoned in the Pena Duro prison to serve a life sentence inherited from his father. Hardly surprising then that Bane turns down a job to kidnap children in Gotham and enlists his teammates to thwart the scheme this issue.

Action Comics #877

After their confrontation with Ursa in the Fortress of Solitude, Chris (Nightwing) Kent takes the critically wounded Thara (Flamebird) Ak-Var to Lois Lane where her life is saved by the JLA’s Dr. Light. Project 7734 continues its surveillance of the cast and launches a direct attack on Christopher Kent. The threat of Zod’s Kryptonian sleeper agents on Earth looms large throughout events.

Crossovers: World Without Superman

The Bigger Picture: Dr. Light can currently be seen in the pages of Justice League of America. Apart from the Superman Family of characters Project 7734 is also keeping tabs on Icon, the Milestone line’s "Superman" counterpart.

Chris Kent explains his rapid ageing in the Phantom Zone to his former "mother" Lois Lane (see the Last Son trade for more information on Chris’s time as Clark and Lois’s son and how he ended up trapped in that other dimension). Two of what may be General Zod’s "sleeper agents" on Earth go on a "Bonnie and Clyde" style rampage.

Questions: What is the story behind General Lane’s tattooed Project 7734 operative? When will we get the answers surrounding General Lane’s resurrection? Who are the latest Kryptonian characters introduced at the end of this issue?

Booster Gold #20

When Rip Hunter’s Time Sphere breaks down Booster takes a side trip to explore Earth in 1952. Here he becomes involved in a mission with the second incarnation of the Suicide Squad as they investigate whether a Russian scientist working with the American space program is really a double agent for the Communists...

Continuity Corner: This issue contends that the second version of the Suicide Squad (Dr. Hugh Evans, Jess Bright, Karin Grace and Sgt. Rock, here replacing Rick Flag for unexplained reasons) were operational in 1952. If this Earth is indeed New Earth then this is extremely difficult to reconcile with current DCU continuity.

Karin Grace was a member of Amanda Waller’s contemporary Suicide Squad for example, dying in Suicide Squad #9 (Jan 1988) during the Millennium event, and is the mother of current Squad field leader Rick Flag’s son. If the timeline of this issue is to be believed she would have been somewhere in the region of 80 years old when she gave birth!

Similarly, Squad member Hugh Evans is misnamed Evan Hughes in this story which is either a continuity error or an indication that all is not as it seems in this reality.

Popular belief is that Sgt. Rock died on the final day of World War II although, as General Rock, he participated and apparently died in the Our Worlds at War crossover in 2001. He was subsequently seen as the leader of Keith Giffen’s version of Suicide Squad in 2001-02 although as the series concluded it was heavily implied that this Rock was an impostor.

For more on the origins of the first and second Squads check out Secret Origins #14 (May 1987). The original World War II Squad can be seen in Showcase Presents: The War That Time Forgot Vol. 1. Reprints of the second Squad are few and far between but if you can hunt down the back issues then The Best of DC Digest #26 (July 1982) is a cheaper option than the original 1960s issues of The Brave and the Bold.     

The Russian scientist Sergei Pushkin, featured this issue, is said to go on to develop the Rocket Red armor for the Soviets. This is at odds with the origin of the Rocket Red Brigade in Green Lantern Corps #s 208-210 (Jan-March 1987) wherein Earthbound GL Kilowog created the suit to give the U.S.S.R. its own super-hero force.

Finally, there's a surprise cameo from a certain marvellous fantastic foursome and an explanation as to why they never came to be in the DCU...

Questions: Given all the continuity contradictions does this story actually take place on an alternate Earth or a diverged timeline? Where is Rick Flag? Is scientist Sergei Pushkin related to "prime" Rocket Red Dmitri Pushkin, former member of the Justice League International?

Join us tomorrow for part two of this week’s roundup when we hone in on more from the Battle for the Cowl, the latest Blackest Night foreshadowings and present our regular Fanboy Moment of the Week.