Broken Frontier

Answers!

This week we got them... and the way we view events from the Infinite Crisis onwards may well have been changed irrevocably. Read on if you want to know who, and what, has been guiding events in the DCU for the last two or three years. But take note first of our 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.

And this is one of those weeks when I really mean that.

Events of late…

In Countdown to Final Crisis #13: Superman-Prime murders the English language and then tries to do the same to Monarch. Solomon reveals yet another surprising ally. The perfect universe becomes a perfect wasteland as Earth-51 is devastated by an exploding Captain Atom. And Jason Todd proves to be one big headache for the Joker...

Elsewhere in the DCU
(stories from the last week that may, or may not, tie into the Bigger Picture)

Braniac 5: traitor? The truth is revealed to Superman and the Legion in this week’s Action Comics #861.

We finally learn Teth-Adam’s magic word in Black Adam: The Dark Age #6 in the tale that bridges the gap between 52 and Countdown.

Forerunner’s adventures, free of Monarch and the Monitors, continue in Countdown to Adventure #6.

The Death of the New Gods #5 is the big one! Major revelations about everything from Infinite Crisis to 52 to Countdown and beyond in these pages!

The aftermath of the war with the Sinestro Corps has further repercussions for the Corps in Green Lantern #27.

Finally, as part of our more peripheral roundup of DCU events that may prove to be of significance, there are growing tensions in the world of magic in The Trials of Shazam! #11.

Continuity Corner
(interesting tidbits from this week’s issues!)

The Mystery of the Legion – Superman asks Braniac-5 about the lightning rod that the Legion of Super-Heroes recovered from the present-day DCU (in last year’s Justice League of America/Justice Society of America crossover). Apparently this universe is missing a key figure at the moment who will activate it. Dream Girl has had a vision that this will occur when the “Crisis of the 31st Century” begins. There are two obvious areas of speculation here; firstly does this play into a much-rumored return of Barry Allen and is this Crisis related to the previously-mentioned Legion of Three Worlds adventure? Are the three distinct Legion futures set in alternate New Earth futures or are they on different Earths in the 52? (Action Comics #861)

The Source Wall – Forerunner and her crew aboard the captured pirate spaceship (now including the Thanagarian Golden Eagle, last seen during the Rann-Thanagar war) begin a quest to find Monarch, the Monitors or Dark Angel. At issue’s end Forerunner’s ship arrives at the Source Wall. Presumably the next two issues will fill us in on Viza Aziv’s immediate movements prior to her return to the pages of recent Countdown to Final Crisis issues. (Countdown to Adventure #6)

The Source appears to the Challengers from Beyond and directs them to Apokolips for their next stop. (Countdown to Final Crisis #13)

The Death of the New Gods – The Source reveals itself as the force guiding the New God-Killer this week. The actual identity of the murderer remains a mystery. While Orion is made to look the likely culprit, when Kalibak and Mantis are killed, that’s probably yet another red herring.

Those regular readers of this feature will know I’ve played around with the idea that the Source is being used as ne big metaphor for the creators of the DCU. I still wonder whether lines like “My universe is a very improvisational work-in-progress” are a nod in that direction but the latest issue of DOTNG seems to be moving away from the possibility of my mooted metatextual speculation.

The Source relates the truth of its past. After creating the Old Gods it found itself rewarded by rebellion from the leaders of three of the greatest pantheons. The resulting conflict caused the Source to split in two with its darker self sent through a dimensional rift. The lighter side of the Source was incapacitated by this event for some time but when it recovered it took its revenge “and there came a time when the Old Gods died.”

Starting again, the Source created the New Gods but, being only half of what it had been before, these Gods were inherently flawed. In its weakened self it could only contact them in a limited way (the famous flaming hand messages). The Source has decided to start yet again and is killing the New Gods ready for the birth of the Fifth World.

To do this the Source needs to reunite with its other self. Certain cosmic events have stopped this happening before now. The Crisis On Infinite Earths merged all realities into one meaning the Source’s other half was trapped outside the barrier of reality. In turn the events of Genesis (DC’s 1997 crossover series) almost allowed The Bleed to seep into the universe when the Source Wall was nearly breached (the Source has never actually resided behind the wall).

The Source’s darker half has evolved into the Anti-Life Entity (from Cosmic Odyssey). In order to merge with it, the Source manipulated a number of individuals, most notably Alexander Luthor, into instigating the Infinite Crisis and the creation of the 52. Somehow these 51 extra realities will allow a trauma-free reunion of the two sides of the Source and the creation of the Fifth World. To power this the Source is using the souls of the New Gods as raw material for the rebirth. The souls are currently being stored in a second Source Wall.

Ready to catch a breath after all that exposition? So is the Source the prime mover behind everything? The coming Crisis? The Fifth World? The Great Disaster? Or are there yet more disclosures to come? One thing this does allow for is the redemption of Alexander Luthor. While I doubt that’s going to happen, a possessed Alex would go a long way in explaining the complete personality transplant the character underwent between Crisis On Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis. As I have mentioned before, way back in Out For The Count: 49, the first couple of pages of 2006’s Infinite Crisis Secret Files and Origins #1 give the impression Alexander Luthor was possessed by something. Not such a stretch to fanboy-ishly wonder if that was the Source? (The Death of the New Gods #4)

Darkseid’s Chessboard – Been wondering who the lord of Apokolips has been playing chess with since Countdown #51? Then wonder no longer! Darkseid and Solomon are revealed as allies... (Countdown to Final Crisis #13)

The Sinestro Corps War – In Arkham Asylum one of the yellow rings attempts to recruit the Scarecrow to the ranks of the former Sinestro Corps. On Oa the Guardians of the Universe initiate their Alpha-Lantern programme. And finally, in Space Sector 650, the female Guardian whose face was scarred by the Anti-Monitor during the war, sends the Green Lantern Ash on a special mission to recover the Anti-Monitor’s corpse, which may still be full of power. Time for speculation here I think... Has this Guardian somehow become possessed by the Anti-Monitor’s energy as a by-product of her injury? There’s an implication she is working outside the knowledge of the other Guardians. Also check out her eyes at the bottom of page 16 and what is “reflected” in them: the Black Hand logo! Is this Guardian about to start the formation of the Black Lantern Corps? (Green Lantern #27)

The Tenth Age of Magic – One of the big movers and shakers in the magical world is free again. Felix Faust tricks Black Adam into believing his wife is lost to him forever. He then resurrects Isis himself and uses her her powers to free himself from Dr. Fate’s tower, where he has been trapped since 52. (Black Adam: The Dark Age #6)

There’s a vague tie-in to the perceived need to rebuild the pantheons of Gods in current issues of  Wonder Girl in the current Shazam! series (as most of the Greco-Roman deities have been transformed into “human” identities since the book of magic was rewritten) . There’s also a magical war about to come to a head as Freddy Freeman recruits the Shadowpact, Zatanna and the JLA to take on the growing power of Sabina and the Council of Merlin. (The Trials of Shazam! #11)

Monarch’s Manipulations – Superman-Prime attacks Monarch to avenge the destruction of Earth-51, the world he believes to be his long-missing perfect world. The battle breaches Monarch’s armor, apparently destroying all life in Earth-51’s universe with the exception of its Monitor and a single flower. (Countdown to Final Crisis #13)

Join us next week for the JSA and the Kingdom Come Superman, the Pied Piper’s return and yet more rampaging Amazons!