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.

Blackest Night #1

Black Hand uncovers Batman’s corpse as the Black Lantern rings are unleashed from Sector 666. The anniversary of Superman’s death at Doomsday’s hands is shown to be a day of national mourning in the DCU for fallen heroes. Earth’s Green Lanterns, the Superman Family, the Titans, the JSA, the Atom, Tempest & Mera, the Flash’s Rogues and others all grieve for the dead in their own ways.

On Oa the Guardians realise their great failure as the War of Light rages. But far worse is to come when rogue Guardian Scar makes her move, attacking and killing a number of her colleagues just as the Black Rings’ call to the dead of the DCU to "Rise!" begins. Across the universe Black Lanterns are chosen including Martian Manhunter, Firestorm, Katma Tui, a small army of deceased former Green Lanterns and the dead of Valhalla Cemetery and Avernus, the graveyard of the Rogues.

Black Lantern J’Onn J’Onzz appears to the Flash and Green Lantern and tells them they should both still be dead. Meanwhile the Hawks are confronted by Black Lanterns Elongated Man and Sue Dibny who violently murder them. They are subsequently chosen by Black Hand, still clutching Bruce Wayne’s skull, as the next members of the Black Lantern Corps...

The Bigger Picture: It’s a little surprising to see Pariah amongst the ranks of the dead in the double-paged spread of DC’s deceased heroes given that the character returned to the land of the living in Supergirl #19.

There’s a clarification on the Valhalla Cemetery for deceased heroes here. Despite legislation being passed in Nightwing #146 that all super-human corpses should be interred in secure accommodation to avoid their appropriation as potential "super-weapons" it has only been applied to the bodies of the bad guys. Those bodies are stored in the vaults of the JLA’s HQ. Quite how much of Captain Boomerang’s or Black Condor’s remains are actually still intact enough to make a zombie Black Lantern is very debateable. Talia Al Ghul used them both in the aforementioned Nightwing arc.

Hawkman’s death here is at odds with the one he was predicted to die in Hawkman Special #1 last year which, in turn, he appeared to suffer in Final Crisis #7. Events in the recent Strange Adventures #1 were said to have changed Hawkman’s future. Perhaps this is another symptom of that temporal shift.

From Superman’s perspective this story takes place after Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds as the reborn Superboy is seen at Jonathan Kent’s grave and Kid Flash is with the Teen Titans.

Katma Tui and John Stewart’s reunion was first predicted in Green Lantern #36. That was a more hopeful hint, via the power of a Blue Lantern ring, than the subsequent foreshadowing of Katma as a Black Lantern in the "Origins and Omens" segment of Green Lantern #38. Perhaps GL #36 was the first indication that some of the deceased characters in this series will return to the land of the living at Blackest Night's conclusion?

Continuity Corner: The losses of various GL characters look to play significant parts in this series. John Stewart’s wife Katma Tui was murdered by Star Sapphire in Action Comics Weekly # 601 (1988) while John made the mistake that destroyed the world of Xanshi in Cosmic Odyssey #2 (Dec 1988). Alex DeWitt, Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend, was infamously murdered by Major Force and stuffed into a refrigerator in the notorious Green Lantern #54. Finally Jade, another love interest for Kyle, died in Rann-Thanagar War Infinite Crisis Special #1 (April 2006).

With all the discussion of Coast City's recent past one has to wonder why there is no mention of the alien City of Haven that came to rest on the site in 2002's Haven: The Broken City miniseries.

Questions: What is the particular importance of Batman’s "corpse" to Black Hand and why does he claim the Dark Knight is connected to "all" the dead? And if the body in Bruce’s grave isn’t his, as has been hinted, what is the significance of the skull Black Hand took? Why do the Black Lanterns take the hearts of their victims? What is the nature of the Black Lanterns’ consciousnesses given, for example, that Ralph and Sue Dibny’s ghosts are still active in the DCU (as seen recently in Batman and the Outsiders #5)?

Who is the power behind the Black Lanterns? Could it be an established part of the Green Lantern mythos like Nekron (above right) who certainly has control over the dead already? Or is it something else entirely? Will Black Lantern Katma Tui look for revenge against the Star Sapphires? Why are the Black Lanterns initially targetting those who have already cheated death like the Hawks, Barry Allen and Hal Jordan? And just what hair restorative process has Prof. Martin Stein been using for the last couple of years to so effectively cure his baldness…?

Titans #15

Following the razing of Atlantis Tempest finally brings home the bodies of Dolphin and his son Cerdian. As he mourns he is confronted by the sorcerer Slizzath who uses Tempest’s power to end his existence so that he can join the winning side in the coming war of the Blackest Night. Despite his people’s unease Garth elects to become the new ruler of Atlantis.

Crossovers: Prelude to Blackest Night

The Bigger Picture: Events in this issue tie into the Tempest sequence in Blackest Night #1 and lead into the Blackest Night: Titans miniseries.

The Spectre destroyed Atlantis during his Eclipso-inspired war on magic in Infinite Crisis #2. Dolphin and Cerdian have been missing since those events. Tempest left to find them in the latter issues of Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis, not realising just how close to home they have actually been all this time.

Orin/Arthur Curry, the original Aquaman, died as the Dweller of the Depths in Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #50. Part of his soul was already supposedly residing in the body of his successor as Aquaman, Arthur Joseph Curry, at that point though. As alluded to here, the second Aquaman renounced the identity in Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #57, feeling he was unworthy of the legacy.

Continuity Corner: Slizzath first appeared in Tempest #1 (Nov 1996) . Slizzath is actually Tempest’s uncle, part of the Atlantean exile group known as the Idylists. In that miniseries he attempted to drain away Garth’s magical powers, as he does here, and was responsible for an undead duplicate of the former Aqualad’s lost love Aquagirl (who died in Crisis On Infinite Earths). As a necromancer his desire to die and ally himself with the Black Lanterns during the Blackest Night makes perfect sense.

Questions: Why doesn’t Tempest mention the Spectre’s role in Atlantis’s destruction? Is it due to the amnesia he was suffering in Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis or has the reason behind the city’s destruction been retconned? If Slizzath wants to die to join the Black Lanterns why doesn’t he just kill himself? Where is Aquaman II? Will Dolphin or Aquagirl become Black Lanterns? Is a Tempest-Black Lantern Aquaman confrontation on the cards? Is Tempest aware of the newest incarnation of the Spectre?

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1

Three short stories provide us with the origin of Saint Walker of the Blue Lantern Corps, a look at the childhood of Mongul and introduce us to the final faction in the War of Light – the Indigo Tribe.

Crossovers: Blackest Night

The Bigger Picture: The framing sequence for the Saint Walker tale briefly follows on from the events of Green Lantern #42 wherein the Guardians set the Orange Corps and the Blue Lanterns upon each other.

Continuity Corner: The original Mongul first appeared in DC Comics Presents #27 (Nov 1980) and was, pre-Crisis, an intermittent foe of Superman. He was killed by Neron in 1995’s Underworld Unleashed crossover. The current version is the son of Mongul I and made his debut in Showcase ’95 #8 (Sep 1995). Mongul II’s sister Mongal, briefly mentioned in this short, was murdered by him in Green Lantern #8 (March 2006).

Questions: Just who are the Indigo Tribe? What are their origins and powers? Why is the rest of the universe apparently unaware of them?

And with The Blackest Night coverage completed that’s it for Part 1. We’ll be back soon with Part 2 of this week’s ATDCU including the return of Captain Atom....