Throughout the 1990s, the perception of comic books was changing in various ways. The days of dot-screen colouring and thought-balloons were quickly departing, while a gruesome new edgy realm of guts, gore, and questionable art. Meanwhile on the small screen, the world of animation was dynamically changed by the majestic Batman: The Animated Series. Before 1992, DC’s animated cartoons had a very static and basic appeal. Its bright colours and tasteless humour existed to entertain youngsters on Saturday mornings, with the likes of Super Friends being the most famous of such animated shows. However, when Batman: The Animated Series debuted in 1992 – with its darker colour pallet, flowing sense of motion, and classic feel – it captured the hearts of a generation. For few – me included – Batman: The Animated Series is the definitive Dark Knight, with its world and characters enjoying their best rendition to date. The same could be said of Superman: The Animated Series, which followed only a few years after. While DC had been publishing tie-ins and spin-offs of this new DC Animated Universe, in 1998, a new title hit the stands aiming to expand this unique universe into a far broader beast. No longer was the world of DC animation confined within the walls of Batman and Superman…
Adventures in the DC Universe was launched in April 1997 to expand the world seen on the small screen. I’ll be looking at the 19 issues and one annual of the run, with this post looking at the title’s first five issues – published from April to August 1997. It ran as an anthology title, with each issue featuring a different hero or set of characters in the DC Animated Universe. The title isn’t remembered much today, but it aided in creating this expanded world long before Justice League Unlimited came along. Written by Steve Vance, the issues here are pencilled by John Delaney and inked by Ron Boyd.
ISSUE ONE --- Now You See ‘Em
Before 1997, viewers of the DC Animated Universe were yet to witness any kind of Justice League. They had seen Batman and Robin fighting crime and colourful characters in Gotham City. They had cheered Superman alongside Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane as he fought the likes of Luthor and Brainiac. But in such a vast universe, we had yet to see a Wonder Woman, a Green Lantern, or a Flash. Perhaps that explains why Adventures in the DC Universe was going to be a must-read right from the start. For die-hard fans of the two animated series of the time, this title must have looked like Christmas had come early. Adventures in the DC Universe 1 begins with ambition and impact – welcome to the animated universe’s Justice League! It all begins with media empire mogul Winston McKinney opening Keystone Tower in – fittingly – Keystone City. This power-hungry and threatening millionaire may worry some, but he doesn’t get in the way of Gorilla Grodd. Everyone’s favourite primate kidnaps McKinney and it’s up to Wally West – the Flash – to rescue him. Immediately from these early pages, the pacing is brilliantly identical to the fast-moving world of the animated shows. The fight, laced with Wally’s entertaining dialogue – can be read just as effectively as a scene from the latter Justice League animated show. However, a genuine plot of mystery emerges when the Flash rescues McKinney, but Grodd vanishes. The same happens to Martian Manhunter after he fights Blockbuster, and to Aquaman in his battle against Major Disaster. In fact, all seven members of the Justice League lose their baddie! Unsurprisingly, the seven members – Aquaman, Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter – unite in their secret base on the moon. Thanks to the Dark Knight’s brilliant mind, the heroes locate their hiding-out foes beneath the southwestern desert. The heroes may make quick work of their villains, but it’s revealed that there is a greater force at work. An enigmatic foe – named Cipher – remains disguised and flees from the heroes. All that is known is that his teleportation technology explains how the villains escaped earlier. Whatever Cipher’s plan is will, sadly, have to wait. Although this is an anthology title, writer Steve Vance has generated interest by adding mystery and stories which will feature throughout the title’s run. Building that suspense is – I hope – the glue binding the series together. This first issue is a fine introduction to a classic ‘heroes vs villains’ tale, and the pacing is certainly worthy of something from an animated series. If anything, the pacing may be too quick! The Flash’s fight with Grodd takes up the opening six pages of the issue, while we barely get to see Wonder Woman, Batman, and Green Lantern in action! Some may think that this opener should have been an origin story for the team – or maybe even a two parter – but overall there is little really to fault. It’s just good fun.
ISSUE TWO --- Bombs Away!
Featuring the Justice League and its famed cast was a good way of introducing readers to the characters of this world. For Adventures In the DC Universe 2, we return to Keystone City and the Flash. Fires are afoot in the city, Wally West speeds across the city in search of victims. With buildings seemingly being randomly destroyed, all roads point back to Winston McKinney. He claims that terrorists are behind the recent fires and that they demand money. However, in a fast-paced (in every sense) drama, the Flash discovers that McKinney has hired these terrorists himself and the plot is to destroy derelict buildings in Keystone City so he can expand his real-estate empire. Vance writes a clever plot which creatively links to content from the first issue, but I can’t help but feel the ending is somewhat puny. The Flash believes that, since McKinney is so financially powerful, any legal action will be nulled. It just seems that McKinney gets away free! And he successfully takes over yet another media company at the end of the issue! Whether this rather incomplete story returns, we shall have to see. Vance does a great job displaying Wally’s world to us – happily it doesn’t feel as if his origin story is sloppily jammed into the issue’s pages. The story of Barry Allen’s chemical accident giving him his powers before (unbelievably) the same occurred to Wally West is still all here, told with subtle flashbacks. Overall, the second issue is a most breezy read – made better with Wally’s dialogue and comedic love with Linda Park – but that may just be because the story is only fifteen pages long…
THE BACKUP --- Catch as Cat Can
Starting with Adventures in the DC Universe 2, readers are treated to a seven-page backup story. These backups feature different characters on their own little adventures. For the first, we have a wordless tale starring Catwoman and her jewel-stealing exploits. It all goes well until a slip-up leads to a child stealing her lot before ending up in the newspapers – ‘KID FOILS CATWOMAN’ is the headline. The flowing artwork and a lack of dialogue, allowing the expressive art to convey the story, makes it a memorable and fun first backup.
ISSUE THREE --- You Can’t Cheetah An Honest Man
Adventures in the DC Universe 3 is Wonder Woman’s time to shine, and it’s in a story with the heroine’s most intriguing foe. Wonder Woman heads to a museum to find a curator has been kidnapped by none other than Barbara Minerva. An archaeologist, Barbara has the power to transform into the vicious Cheetah, a creature on the hunt for an item of mystical importance. She is on the hunt for the Scroll of Nephthos, one of two items used as part of a ritual to absorb the powers of another being. Thankfully, the scroll is safe with Wonder Woman, but the sacred dagger is clutched in the palms of Cheetah. It’s all part of Cheetah’s plot to rid herself of the curse and take Wonder Woman’s godly powers from her. Wonder Woman finds Cheetah and one of her enslaved guards, along with the tied-up curator. It’s a tense confrontation, but it has a clever solution, with Wonder Woman burning only a facsimile of the scroll before Cheetah’s eyes to foil her plot. Vance spends some time exploring the deep relationship between Wonder Woman and Cheetah, but with such fast pacing and plotting, time is short for that. I’m not usually a great fan of Wonder Woman stories, but this one has enough creativity and intrigue to make it more than readable! Just as in the previous issue, Vance doesn’t stuff the pages full of Wonder Woman lore. The tale of her creation in clay and the powers of her truth lasso are planted into the writing with effectively subtly. Overall, you finish this story wanting more.
THE BACKUP --- CRUISE TO NIGHTMARE
It seems strange that after such a dramatic Wonder Woman story, following it is a subdued and darkened Batman story. It literally looks as if it could appear in an issue of the Batman Adventures title. It takes place on a cruise ship, with Bruce Wayne attracting the ladies as ever. However, Poison Ivy and her plant-powered creatures invade the ship to steal its riches. This story – written fitting by Paul Dini - portrays the best of Bruce Wayne. He is his clumsy self in throwing himself into the action before Poison Ivy throws him into the sea. This act of silliness was only a guise for Bruce Wayne to become Batman and save the day. Bruce Timm’s brilliance conveys this short story literally as if it was an episode of the animated series, and it should come as no surprise that a cruise ship duel against Poison Ivy would feature in a latter episode of Batman: The Animated Series.
ISSUE FOUR --- So This Lady Walks Into An Expresso Bar…
When DC launched the Justice League animated series in 2001, their choice of John Stewart as Green Lantern seemed unique. After all, by then, John Stewart wasn’t the current Green Lantern of the comics at that time, but the writers of show instantly made him into a favourite Green Lantern. For Adventures In the DC Universe 4, the star Green Lantern is Kyle Rayner. At that time in the 1990s, he was the sole Green Lantern after Hal Jordan went crazy and destroyed Oa. While it isn’t clear how much of that occurred in the DC Animated Universe, Vance makes much of Rayner being the last Green Lantern in the universe. But it’s on that depressing note that Vance writes a comedic tale of laughs and giggles, mixed with the power of the gods. Kyle Rayner finds chaos on the streets of New York, with people beating one another up for no reason. It doesn’t take long for Green Lantern to find the source of turmoil – Glorious Godfrey and Amazing Grace of Apokolips.
In theory, two such foes should shatter the air with their cruel powers, especially as they aim to take Kyle’s power ring from him and use it for evil. However, happily Vance writes them mostly satirically, with their squabbling and infighting making them relatively easy work for Green Lantern. There are moments where they have the upper hand and they are both genuinely threatening, but Vance writes a story more of fun than of terror.
THE BACKUP --- Escape From The Slab
In keeping with the Jack Kirby theme, the backup story is a prisonbreak featuring the world’s greatest escape artist – Mister Miracle. Watching Mister Miracle with Big Barda and Oberon takes me back to the great days of Justice League International in a silly story where the star characters are forced to break out of a high-security prison. Why Mister Miracle is forced to go through with this is never made clear, nor is the reason why the criminals in the prison have come to hold him to ransom. Nevertheless, it’s a quick and fun adventure, especially as Mister Miracle is joined by a rather less talented prisoner who knows nothing about escaping from prison and therefore falls into every trap possible. It’s a quick and entertaining read.
ISSUE FIVE --- The Fire This Time
While most of the stories thus far in the run have been comedic and silly, Adventures in the DC Universe 5 presents us with something more sombre. Martian Manhunter has just finished a shift on monitor duty when he returns home. That home was once Mars, but that dead planet’s fate led him to Earth. It’s intriguing watching Martian Manhunter live a normal life, one where he goes to the shops on the hunt for Oreos or wants to rent out another video tape to watch. That normalcy crashes when a flying saucer attacks the city, and Martian Manhunter fights to save the day. Vance adds additional flavour and intrigue to events by incorporating a group of children into the story, one of whom is in the unenviable position of enduring the long divorce of her parents. The child finds solace in friends, and it plays into that theme of ‘home’ and its different meanings to people. Although he may be an alien, Martian Manhunter’s humanity is present in his grief and want of peace. He takes the role of a true hero by rescuing those children from a burning building caused by the UFO. Even with his weak resistance to fire, Martian Manhunter presses on to victory. In the end, it's revealed that it wasn’t even a real UFO anyway, but simply a scientific project that went wrong. Although that idea may reek of naff writing, it doesn’t detract from the warmness or weight of this great tale.
THE BACKUP --- Aliens Among Us
On one of his regular trips to the shops, Martian Manhunter listens to the ramblings of the shopkeeper as he reminisces about a time he saw a superhero. From the start, readers’ minds would conjure up particular heroes or characters of strength and might who the shopkeeper is so thrilled to be talking about it. So, when it’s revealed that this hero is Ultra the Multi-Alien, the shock is genuine. Including such an obscure and bizarre character makes this the most memorable backup yet, especially as poor old Ultra has a reputation as one of DC’s most forgotten characters. Vance even includes his tacky origin story! While Ultra may not just be ready to feature in his own standalone story or ongoing series, this seven-page explosion of delights is good enough!
Throughout I haven’t spoken much about the artwork of John Delaney and Ron Boyd. Usually for such spin-offs in the animated universe, the artwork will be purposefully in the wonderful style of Bruce Timm. That rule clearly applies here – you can just imagine some of these scenes working magically on the small screen. However, it is by no means a dull copy-and-paste job. Delaney’s style is sharper and less subtle than Timm’s, and Boyd’s inking is chunky. It often reminds me of the work of Jack Kirby in the 1970s, with its jagged sense and thicker ink lines making the action stand out of the page more. In terms of the storytelling, it flows like a river. It’s sense of drama and pacing is flawlessly similar to what readers would later view when watching the Justice League animated series for instance. Their rendition of the characters may look quite different from what Bruce Timm would later serve up in the 2000s, and their jagged appearances do look slightly out of place on occasion, but on the whole, the art is far from disagreeable or bad.
VERDICT
Overall, the first five issues of Adventures in the DC Universe are a joy to read. The introduction to the Justice League is a wonderful first issue, and it’s intriguing to see the creation of an ongoing plot point with Cipher. The issues that follow make for great introductions to some famous characters, but I’d love to see more of the obscure features of this DC Animated Universe! Ultra the Multi-Alien was certainly a step in the right direction, but I want to see Vance and other creators go wild with their imaginations as we explore this unique version of the DC Universe.
Next Week: Adventures in the DC Universe: Something Wicked (Adventures in the DC Universe 6-9, Annual 1). Written by Steve Vance and Hilary J. Bader, with art by John Delaney, Ron Boyd, John Byrne, Andy Suriano, Rob Leigh, Dick Giordano, Terry Austin, Michael Avon Oeming, and Mike Manley.
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