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: Dance #1

At a press party onboard their new satellite headquarters, publicity-chasing celebrity heroes Super Young Team find the festivities interrupted by a monstrous mutant promoter and the drunk traditionalist super-hero Rising Sun. The spirit of the ultimate Japanese hero Ultimon appears before Most Excellent Superbat to urge him to embrace a more noble destiny than the team are currently pursuing. It is also revealed that a group of shadowy investors have been hired to promote the team in order to divert the Japanese public’s attention from the current plight of their homeland.

Crossovers: Final Crisis (follow-up)

The Bigger Picture:  Super Young Team were first mentioned in the pages of 52 and debuted in Final Crisis. They are the current DCU’s version of the Fourth World characters The Forever People. There are a number of references to their role in defending reality at the end of the Final Crisis miniseries in this issue.

According to the Final Crisis Sketchbook #1 Ultimon (pictured right) is one of a lineage of representatives of a secret society of monster killers – the last survivors of the Monster Wars which devastated old Japan. Alongside Rising Sun, Cosmo Racer, Hammersuit Zero-X, Sunburst and Goraiko, the most recent of the Ultimons was a founding member of Super Young Team’s predecessors Big Science Action, a kind of Japanese JLA. The Ultimon that appears in FCA: Dance #1 is Ultimon-Alpha, the very original Ultimon.

Rising Sun was seen in Final Crisis #2 displaying similar anger at the celebrity lifestyles of Super Young Team.

Continuity Corner: Midway City, shown very briefly as a quarantined wasteland post-Final Crisis in this issue, was the home of Hawkman and Hawkwoman in the pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths universe. It was also briefly the base of operations of the second incarnation of the Doom Patrol.

Japanese super-hero Rising Sun, a former member of DC’s international super-hero team the Global Guardians, first appeared in The Super Friends #8 (Nov 1977).

Questions: What is the truth about Japan that the conspiracy are keeping from the general populace? What will be the significance of Midway City to the Super Young Team? Do the SYT remember Shiny Happy Aquazon’s proclamation of love for Well-Spoken Sonic Lightning Flash during the Final Crisis?

 The Brave and the Bold #23

When Booster Gold witnesses Rip Hunter in brutal combat with a future version of Magog he takes a forward trip in time to this Magog’s world and finds a devastated Earth. Determined to discover more about the "hero" he "teams up" with 2009’s incarnation of Magog to halt a terrorist siege in Kahndaq. Despite their success Booster is aware of what Magog will eventually become and vows to take him down one day...

The Bigger Picture: There are more clues about the greater DC Universe on Rip Hunter’s chalkboard. A couple of them look Legion of Super-Heroes-related including mentions of Brainiacs 5, 8, and the futuristic version 12 (from 2004’s Superman #200). There is also mention of the Legion’s "mascot" Proty and the tease "Proty I or Proty II – which is guilty?" The new Adventure Comics with its Legion ties may be a good bet to see some of these storylines unfold. Brainiac 8 was Brainiac 6’s sleeper agent Indigo who was a member of the Outsiders for a while. The "Origins and Omens" backup in the recent Titans #10 hinted at her/its return from the dead in that title in upcoming issues.

Hints pertaining to Magog on Rip’s ever puzzling board include an equation that states that the JSA minus Magog still equals the JSA, the warning that "His Kingdom still comes", a statement that JLA villain Professor Ivo is the key in this and the simple line "In Gog he trusts". The future Magog that Rip Hunter encounters has a scrap of Superman’s costume that is reminiscent of both the original Kingdom Come Man of Steel’s garb and that of his Earth-22 counterpart, most recently seen as a member of the Justice Society of America.

The JSA appeared to have averted the Kingdom Come future of Earth-22 from coming to pass on New Earth in the recent Thy Kingdom Come storyline. This month’s B&B implies that may now not be the case.

Kahndaq is the homeland of Black Adam and has been an important DCU locale in the pages of many books in the last few years including 52, Black Adam: The Dark Age and JSA.

Continuity Corner: For more on the "original" Magog check out the collection of DC’s 1996 Kingdom Come miniseries set in the near-future of the DCU.

Indigo, ostensibly an android from the future, first appeared in 2003’s Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day miniseries and died during the "Insiders" crossover between Teen Titans #s 24-25 and Outsiders #s 24-25 (July-August 2005).

Proty was the extraterrestrial who became Legionnaire Chameleon Boy’s pet and who gave up his life to revive Lightning Lad in the classic Adventure Comics #312 (Sep 1963). His successor in the Legion mythology, Proty II, was a member of the Legion of Super-Pets.

Questions: What do the clues on Rip Hunter’s chalkboard allude to? Why is Rip so determined to keep Booster and Magog apart? Will this loose plot thread be picked up again in the pages of Booster Gold? Is the future of Earth-22 inevitable on New Earth?

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3

As Gotham collapses into anarchy the Network investigate who is behind the chaos. Tim and Dick end Jason Todd’s rampage as a murderous Dark Knight but not before some shocking revelations regarding the former second Robin. Dick Grayson finally takes on the cowl and becomes the new Batman.

Crossovers: Battle for the Cowl

The Bigger Picture: Batgirl’s idea for The Network first surfaced in Batman and the Outsiders #s 13-14. This loose affiliation of Gotham-based or Batman Family-related heroes also had their own Batman: Battle for the Cowl: The Network one-shot this month.

There are more surprises regarding the last recorded messages that Bruce Wayne had left for his "sons" in the event of his death (as seen in Robin #183). Bruce referred to a secret in Jason Todd’s past which, combined with him labelling Jason as his greatest failure, appears to have pushed Todd over the edge into complete insanity. In his message to Dick Grayson he implored his first protégé not to take on the cowl.

The new Black Mask talks in terms of "we" when discussing his achievements and plans in Gotham implying his schemes are part of a partnership of some kind.

Continuity Corner: Jason Todd’s post-Crisis origin completely retconned the character’s past starting with Batman # 408 (June 1987). Batman first encounters the homeless Jason when he discovers him trying to steal the wheels from the Batmobile. Later stories would reveal his father was murdered by Two-Face and Jason was subsequently betrayed to the Joker by his own mother. That event led to his original demise in the A Death in the Family storyline in Batman #s 426-429 (Dec 1988-Jan 1989). On top of this it would seem there is even more tragedy in his past yet to be revealed...

This is not the first time Dick Grayson has taken over the role of the Dark Knight. After Azrael was stripped of the identity Dick became the post-COIE continuity’s third Batman in the Prodigal story that began in Batman #512 (Nov 1994).

Questions: Can Dick step up to the mantle of the Bat despite his mentor’s misgivings? Who is the new Black Mask and is there a link between him and Jason Todd? How will Tim deal with the knowledge that had he not freed Jason from jail, in a misguided attempt at giving him a second chance, in Robin #182 none of this would have come to pass? Is Jason really dead and what is the terrible secret from his past that drove him over the edge?

Join us again tomorrow when we round up the rest of this week’s releases...