Broken Frontier

Welcome to Part 2 of Broken Frontier’s weekly issue by issue roundup of events from every corner of the DC Universe. For Part 1 click here. 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.

Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion #6

The trapped remnants of Easy Company dig in and prepare for the worst on the Vosges mountains. Only the bravery of the Japanese American soldiers known as the Nisei allows the "Lost Battalion" to be rescued. But not without a heavy cost...

The Bigger Picture: Booster Gold #20 recently filled in some of Sgt. Rock’s history between the war and contemporary times. However, the continuity discrepancies regarding the Suicide Squad in that story would make it easier to believe that was an alternate timeline.

Continuity Corner: Navajo Ace Johnny Cloud, one of the U.S. pilots attempting to drop supplies for the "Lost Battalion" in this issue, was a member of DC war team The Losers. Johnny first appeared solo in All-American Men of War #82 (Nov-Dec 1960) and The Losers made their official debut as a group in Our Fighting Forces #123 (Jan 1970).

Also seen in the course of this miniseries were the crew of the Haunted Tank whose classic adventures have been collected in DC’s Showcase Presents trade series. A contemporary incarnation of the Tank recently appeared in the Vertigo Haunted Tank book. Sgt. Rock and the men of Easy also have their own Showcase Presents collections for those who may be interested in finding out more about the characters in a very affordable format.

Billy Tucci gives a knowing acknowledgment of the controversy surrounding Sgt. Rock’s ultimate fate in the postscript to the issue. The series’ narrator, wartime correspondent William Kilroy, speaking some time after the events of The Lost Battalion mentions the rumors surrounding Rock. These cover everything from him "being killed by the last bullet fired on the last day of the war" (as we Rock purists would have it) or becoming a General (as seen in the Superman books around the time of the President Luthor epic and leading into Keith Giffen’s 2001 Suicide Squad series). One wonders if, decades later, that selfsame General Rock recognised Superman as the amnesiac G.I. who served and "died" with Easy Company in the time-travelling classic DC Comics Presents #10 (June 1979)...

Questions: Did Frank Rock really survive World War II and what is his status in the current DCU?

Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #2

With his tattoos taking a life of their own, and acting independently of him, reformed villain and honorary JLAer the Tattooed Man finds himself caught up in gang wars and police corruption in Liberty Hill. Eager to end his threat once and for all, the Hill’s shadowy criminal mastermind sends the villains Slipknot and Cannon to assassinate him...

Crossovers: Final Crisis (follow-up)

The Bigger Picture: Mark Richards, the third Tattooed Man, has played major roles in Trinity, Final Crisis and Final Crisis: Submit in recent months.

The original Tattooed Man, Abel Tarrant, died in the Suicide Squad guest-shot in Checkmate #s 6-7.

Continuity Corner: This isn’t the first time a Tattooed Man has had his own book. The second version of the character, John Oakes, had his own limited series in 1993’s Skin Graft: The Adventures of a Tattooed Man from Vertigo.

Richards is shown serving as a U.S. Marine three years ago in Modora in the "Subsonic Wars". Modora is the home country of sound-based Green Lantern villain Sonar.

Rope-wielding villain Slipknot first appeared in Fury of Firestorm #28 (Oct 1984). During the Millennium crossover event he was serving as a member of DC’s least-survivable team in Suicide Squad #9 (Jan 1988) where he ended up with an arm blown off. He was last seen in prison in Identity Crisis having converted to Kobra’s religious beliefs.

Questions: How are Richards’s tattoos operating without his consent? Who is running the crime scene in Liberty Hill? Is this a new Slipknot and, if not, how has he compensated for his missing arm?

The Last Days of Animal Man #2

Ten years in the future Buddy Baker’s powers continue to fluctuate with no explanation. Meanwhile Mirror Master’s daughter follows in her father’s footsteps after murdering him in the Mirror Dimension discovered in the Wally West Flash series. Calling herself Prismatik she seeks to gain a rep by taking out Animal Man. But when Buddy loses control in battle and nearly kills her it’s time for his colleagues in the JLA to step in.

The Bigger Picture: Buddy’s wife Ellen mentions the time he was able to access the powers of alien creatures as well as Earthbound ones, as first evidenced in the 52 series.

Continuity Corner: Contrary to Prismatik’s claims, her father Evan McCulloch was not actually the second Mirror Master – he was the third. The second Mirror Master was George "Digger" Harkness, better known as the original Captain Boomerang. Harkness used the identity when he was a member of the Suicide Squad so that he could continue to enjoy a life of crime and pull the wool over Squad leader Amanda Waller’s eyes. The Wall was not fooled for long though and Harkness got his comeuppance in Suicide Squad #20 (Dec 1988).

There are plenty of references to Animal Man’s origins and the aliens who gave him his powers this issue. Buddy Baker first appeared in Strange Adventures #180. Grant Morrison explored the metatextual nature of said aliens in Animal Man #s 1-26 between 1988 and 1990 and in Secret Origins #39 (April 1989). Buddy’s origin and the nature of his powers continued to be rewritten and reinterpreted by a procession of writers during his 89-issue run.

Questions: What is happening to Buddy’s powers? What happened to the rest of the human Earth Green Lanterns that led to them being replaced by a cetacean version? What is the story behind this future version of the Justice League? Is this really the future of the DCU or just another alternate timeline?

Teen Titans #72

Another Titan is dead but how did this tragedy occur? In flashback we see the bulk of the team trying to enjoy some downtime at a funfair while at a routine prison visit Wonder Girl is attacked by a new incarnation of the Fearsome Five. They are working for the Calculator who seeks revenge on the team...

The Ravager co-feature: Ravager’s chemical dependence gets the better of her. Awakening in a remote town she gets into a bar brawl that leads to a dramatic physical collapse.

The Bigger Picture: The Calculator probably blames the Titans for the death of his son Marvin and the horrendous injuries suffered by his daughter Wendy in Teen Titans #62. However, the true culprit was really King Lycus. The villain was last seen in the Oracle: The Cure miniseries where it was revealed Wendy could be permanently paralysed from the waist down.

Continuity Corner: For her shooting skills at the funfair Bombshell wins a Captain Carrot stuffed toy.

Questions: Who is the dead Teen Titan? How did the Calculator escape the authorities after his capture in Oracle: The Cure #3? The Ravager co-feature: Is Rose on a downward spiral of addiction? Is there something even more seriously wrong with her? Will she ever escape the shadow of her family?

Justice League of America #34

The League and the Milestone heroes put an end to the threat of Starbreaker and the Shadow Thief as the truth behind the return of the Milestone characters finally comes to the fore.

The Bigger Picture: Jason Rusch has to contain his rage when dealing with Shadow Thief, the villain who murdered Ronnie Raymond, his predecessor as Firestorm, in Identity Crisis.

When Darkseid fell through time and space in Final Crisis the resulting reality-bending shockwaves destroyed the Milestone Universe. However Dharma was able to use the powers of The Rift to merge Earth-Milestone with New Earth/Earth-0, fusing the histories and continuities of the Milestone and DC heroes together as a result.

Continuity Corner: It is revealed here that a Sun-Eater is actually the "larval stage" of a Starbreaker.

The Rift was the threat in the Worlds Collide crossover between the Milestone and Superman books in 1994. Worlds Collide #1 was notable for having a polybagged edition with a blank cover and accompanying stickers of the characters that the readers could adhere to the front of the issue and create their own action scene! Don’t you just totally miss the ‘90s sometimes...?

Questions: So where was the Milestone Earth located before Final Crisis? Was it one of the 52 and, if so, are the 52 Earths now the 51? Or were there really 53 Earths then? Icon remembers the original Milestone Earth – does this mean he is also privy to many of Superman’s secrets as the DC heroes starred in comic books on the Milestone world?

Rounding up.... This week’s offering from Earth-50 comes courtesy of Wildcats #12... On the peripheries of the DCU-proper there are two Vertigo offerings in the shape of Madame Xanadu #12 and Unknown Soldier #9 ...In Green Lantern #42 the Guardians betray the Blue Lanterns to Agent Orange and a great darkness awakens...

As the "Rise of the Olympian" arc comes to a conclusion Diana, sick of Zeus's constant manipulations, rejects the Olympian Gods and kills her old nemesis Ares in Wonder Woman #33. In a show of godly petulance Zeus retaliates by stripping Hippolyta of her leadership of the Amazons and places his own champion Achilles in charge of both them and the Olympians. And thanks to Broken Frontier’s own Eric Lindberg for pointing out the nod in this issue to the animated Wonder Woman movie with the appearance of Persephone – in the movie a differently characterised Persephone is an Amazon who is assigned to guard Ares' prison. She eventually falls in love with and releases him. Her motivation was resentment that Hippolyta was the only Amazon allowed to have children, the same motivation as the Circle, the villains in Gail's first Wonder Woman arc.

Fanboy Moment of the Week

Plenty of choice this week from Billy Tucci channelling Joe Kubert to the nostalgia of seeing Brian Bolland on the covers of The Last Days of Animal Man. However I’m going with Batman: The Brave and the Bold #6. Putting aside the fun of seeing so many historical heroes in one issue I think it also possibly marks the first time that an ex-Vertigo character has made the transition to the Johnny DC books (unless Animal Man ever has...). Well done Kid Eternity! Next stop from the Johnny DC line The Ever So Naughty Misadventures of Lil’ Preacher and Cassidy Jnr.?

That’s it for this week. Join us at the weekend for our next DCU pit stop. Thanks for reading!