In those first few issues of the Adventures in the DC Universe title, we have seen those famous faces of the Justice League translated into the world of animation. Writer Steve Vance has aided in pioneering the animated universe – once only the realm of Superman and Batman – by exploring its titanic heroes. We have witnessed Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, and even a few surprise stars like Ultra the Multi-Alien. However, as the title progressed, our journey through this unique universe thrusts us into the world of some obscure DC heroes from the past, present, and future! The further it progresses; the bolder Vance becomes in his choice of star characters. Let’s dive back in!
Adventures in the DC Universe 6-9 was published from September to December 1997, with the usual team of Steve Vance, John Delaney, and Ron Boyd providing their creative magic. Meanwhile, the title released its first - and only – annual in November 1997, with Hilary J. Bader at the helm while the artists include Ron Boyd, John Byrne, Andy Suriano, Rob Leigh, Dick Giordano, Terry Austin, Michael Avon Oeming, and Mike Manley. Some big names there!
ISSUE SIX --- Family Matters
Aquaman had been a classic feature of the pre-1992 DC animated shows. Some seasoned fans would remember the likes of the Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure from the 1960s – what an odd team-up! Featuring Aquaman in the DC Animated Universe was a no brainer, and Adventures in the DC Universe 6 is testament to that. It all begins with the mob turning on their own; a traitor in their ranks is thrown into the river coated in rock-hard cement. Aquaman rescues the criminal from certain death, scaring off his former comrades. Vance seemingly promises a tale of infighting within the criminal underworld, but after just four pages, that story is scrapped and replaced by a typical ‘Aquaman Vs Ocean Master’ tale. Ocean Master, the half-brother of Aquaman, is behind some kind of vague evil under the sea, and it’s down to the Atlean royal – and his dolphin critters – to save the day. Although it’s a pretty typical story, those scenes of Aquaman communicating with the dolphins – many of whom Vance has even given their own distinct personalities – is hilarious. Vance writes a bizarre mixture. We clearly have the Aquaman of the 1990s – a hardened soul with a limb replaced by a hook. However, his brighter character – and the inclusion of comedic sea life with the ability to communicate with him – paint a rosier image more reminiscent of the silver age. Overall, Adventures in the DC Universe 6 is another comedic tale, and a pretty basic ‘hero vs villain’ type at that. Still, the talking dolphins make it memorable.
THE BACKUP --- Rolling On The River
You’d be correct to say that the biggest flaw of Family Matters was that the opening plot – established with such drama and heavy plotting – was abandoned far too quickly. However, in an unexpected move, Vance returns us to the scene of the drama in the backup featuring Power-Girl. It’s a battle to behold – Power Girl and the police versus some heavily-armed mobsters with weapons of unimaginable strength (that they have stolen, obviously). Power Girl is a good protagonist to feature, especially since her villains constantly understate her strength. The seven-page story is paced electrically, but the ending makes it all-the-more worthwhile. It’s revealed that the mobster behind the mask is one of the criminals from the opening scene in the Aquaman tale – he stole the weapons from Mr D, the mysterious crime lord. Whether or not the strands of this tale are returned to, time will tel.
ISSUE SEVEN --- Speak Now… Or Forever Rest In Peace
Adventures in the DC Universe 7 unleashes another kind of world from the pages not originally of DC, but of the defunct Fawcett Comics of the forties. Captain Marvel stars in a full-length tale with his Marvel Family and his two most famed foes. It all begins with a fight – Captain Marvel in a duel against Black Adam over the skies of Fawcett City. Steve Vance establishes the importance of family from the start. Billy Batson – only a child – has been gifted these powers by the wizard Shazam after a trip on a subway train took an unexpected turn of events. Batson has come to share this power with others, including Mary Marvel, and Captain Marvel Jr – perhaps the least bearable of the Shazam family (second only to the talking tiger, possibly). What seems like a pretty typical battle between Black Adam and the Marvel family transforms into something far deeper with the introduction of Doctor Sivana – this clever egghead has managed to create a device which can transform Captain Marvel back into the powerless little boy he really is, just at the click of a button! While Black Adam is a predictable brute, Doctor Sivana is a more colourful foe. His humour, although it would probably have been lost on younger readers even of the time (how many kids in 1997 would have heard of Ross Perot?), is refreshing and makes for fun reading. Doctor Sivana’s plan is to earn the love of America through his evil doings – who wants to tell him that this may not be the advisable path to glory? Regardless, Vance pens a story of teamwork and family, as it’s down to Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. to rescue Billy Batson from the clutches of his two cruel foes. For new readers of Captain Marvel’s world, this is an ideal starting point – this story has everything from the stars of the Marvel family to the hero’s two most notable villains. It’ s tale of many laughs. Even years on, I find great humour in a scene where Captain Marvel Jr makes fun out of himself because he must say ‘Captain Marvel’ to transform into his superhero persona. This ridiculousness must have been lost on DC when, after the New 52 relaunch in 2011, Captain Marvel was finally reinaugurated as Shazam. This issue deserves the full twenty-two-page treatment!
ISSUE EIGHT --- Well, Here’s Another Fine Mess You’ve Gotten Us Into!
If you – like me – absolutely adored the silly humour and comradery of the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League International era, then Adventures in the DC Universe 8 is the present you have been yearning for! Steve Vance is just as talented as Giffen and DeMatteis in recreating the wonderful friendship between Booster Gold and Blue Beetle – the best of DC’s duos. The story’s title really sums up the humour and tone of the kind of story we are to read in this eighth issue. It begins with both heroes screaming that line at one another while they sit helplessly upside down in Blue Bettle’s flying Bug under a mountain of concrete rubble. How did we get here? It all started with an idea – Booster Gold has promised to help a Hub City millionaire rescue his research submarine trapped at sea. This is a friendly gesture from Booster, but there is a catch. He told the millionaire that Superman is a ‘junior associate’ of theirs and that they would like a cash reward. While the nerve of such a request would shock readers and heavily colour their view of a hero, in the case of Booster and Beetle, you’ve just got to love them. They are like big kids – they mean well, but their want of fame, money, and women often gets in the way. Vance writes their double act with flawless energy and comedy. However, it’s those poorer qualities that get in the way of their path to glory. Upon arriving in Hub City, the comedic duo predictably gets distracted by food – and then terrorists! The heroes save a woman from these threatening foes, but it turns out that Blue Beetle and Booster Gold have made a boo-boo. This woman they rescued knew she could lure the duo with her good looks and manipulate them – it’s revealed that she is the villain! And she has met the league before! This is where the run really begins to get interesting. This villainess wants to kill every superhero in existence – her hatred of them is volcanic. She tries her level-best kill to Booster and Beetle, but she simply escapes and leaves them under the rubble where they continue to scream ‘Well, here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into!’. In the end, the duo is so late that the real Superman actually arrived to help the millionaire with his submarine! And the money is no longer on offer! What a waste! For fans of Giffen and DeMatteis, this is a joy to read. Not only does Vance capture the humour of this iconic duo and conjures some genuine laughs, but the emergence of a deeper plot of mystery makes this irresistibly good.
THE BACKUP --- Face-Off
We have seen the characters from the world of Fawcett Comics in a previous issue, thereby expanding the DCAU. However, the backup of Adventures in the DC Universe 8 introduces us to an obscure face from the forgotten Charlton Comics. Perhaps ‘face’ is the wrong word – after all, I am talking about the Question. One of Ditko’s grittier and no-nonsense 1960s creations, the Question travels around Hub City (reminding us of all of the pitch-perfect Dennis O’Neil run during the dark age). Vance brilliantly links this backup to the drama of the main story, with the Question begrudgingly following Booster and Beetle’s footsteps. His quest takes him to that same mystery woman of evil, but in a split second, that woman transforms herself into a very different person. The Question confronts this shapeshifting villain who aims to destroy the city just to kill Booster and Beetle – even though the chances are they have already left the city – and the true identity of this foe is revealed to be Cipher! This was the same enemy the Justice League fought in the first issue – the one who teleported away. Although the Question’s tale ends inconclusively, it’s great to see Vance finally return to that mystery. It makes me yearn for more hardened detective tales featuring the Question, especially one so matters of fact as the one portrayed by Vance.
ISSUE NINE --- Heading for Trouble!
It was the theme for most DC Comics released in December 1997 to feature a cover with a close-up of a star character’s head or face. Adventures in the DC Universe 9 was no different – it’s another Flash story, but it doesn’t take an eagle-eyed reader to notice the astonishingly swollen head enjoyed by the Flash. It has always been a common theme – at least to me – that the Flash’s head will get bigger every once in a while, thanks to some villainous contraption he has fallen prey to. Here, we return to Cipher who, thanks to the experiments of the Trickster, has created a new device to swell the Flash’s head to breaking point. Why Cipher went for that instead of an instant death ray or one that would remove the Flash’s powers, we cannot say. However, Cipher enlists the help of Gorilla Grodd for this task! However, this is where the story becomes slightly confusing. Although Grodd is to be the one who fires this head-swelling ray at the Flash, Cipher – at the last minute – decides he works better alone, and he fires the gun at the Flash too. So, both Grodd and Cipher fire the ray, raising questions about the purpose of Grodd in such a story (aside from brute force). Nevertheless, Wally West’s head goes bigger and bigger as he frantically experiments to find a solution. Not only does Wally’s head expand, but his brain does too, meaning his dialogue containing scientific waffle becomes complete gibberish (unless you are Gardner Fox or John Broome then they’d consider it elementary English). With Grodd distracting the Flash by causing chaos in the city, it is like reading a classic silver age romp. In the end, the Flash – with the help of Linda – reverse the formula inflicting him and that wonderful round head returns to normal. Although this is the third story of the title featuring the Flash and you would be forgiven for feeling slightly bored by him, I’m pleased Vance is continuing to develop the Cipher storyline after a few directionless – if very enjoyable – one-off issues.
THE BACKUP --- Random Access Memories
The final few pages to Adventures in the DC Universe 9 are dedicated to a rather poorly redesigned Black Canary. She is on the hunt for a stolen microchip with some very enigmatic contents. It has been acquired by a bizarre villainous pair – one as thick as a truck and another as thin as a rake. It’s a pretty quick tale with Black Canary fighting these two; the duel only comes to an end when the thin streak of evil peeks inside the microchip’s content and goes insane. What’s inside – it’s never truly revealed. Although it’s good to see Black Canary star in a solo story, this feels too half-baked and inconclusive. Could this story have relevance to a future tale, or is it simple a one-off where its most memorable feature is its wacky and unattractive art?
THE ANNUAL --- Something Wicked Comes This Way
Within the first year of the title’s existence, Adventures in the DC Universe received its first – and only – annual. Written by Hilary J. Bader, the annual is a meaty fifty-five-page bonanza featuring the best mystics and heroes from DC’s world. Although Something Wicked Comes This Way is one overall story, really it consists of smaller tales – fragments pencilled and inked by different artists. The annual features four ‘events’ – bookended by a prologue and an epilogue!
The theme of the Adventures in the DC Universe’s first annual is chaos – destruction that is tearing at the fabric of reality. It is ideal that Doctor Fate – the enigmatic mask-wearing mystic who lives in a tower with no windows – is the one investigating such a disturbance. A demon from another dimension sends for Doctor Fate’s help and the hero is warped to a place where a demon known only as the Entity is threatening to destroy the universe. While lots goes on in this realm that isn’t exactly intelligible for readers, it seems that with such chaos on the horizon, Doctor Fate will need all the help he can get.
You’d think that with such a threat on the way, this tale would be a team-up of the titans. However, that isn’t the case. Something Wicked Comes This Way is split into four ‘events’ – all of these feature different characters on their own adventures which link – albeit very tenuously – to the main story at hand. Event One introduces us to Impulse, one of the newest characters of the DC Universe to win a star place in this animated title. Think of Bart Allen like Wally West on speed. The energy levels of the young Bary Allen are through the roof, to the point where he rarely seems to abandon the Speed Force. Although a friend is warning him not to use his powers because the Speed Force could shatter the universe – thanks to the Entity’s work – Bart ignores him and ends up going on a boom-tube journey on the other side of the world where he rescues a tribe from greedy treasure-seeking adventurers. As with Wally West, Bart Allen’s attitude is a fun one and his energetic dialogue carries much of the story, even if it can be grating at times. In addition, Bader’s writing for the natives is more than a little embarrassing and stereotypical (especially when it comes to Bart Allen’s imitation of a language he has never heard before). That all said, while this is a pleasing little story, what is its relevance to the Entity?
Perhaps Event Two can shed some light on this. Rose and the Thorn is a very obscure creation from DC’s past. Rose is an anxiety-ridden young woman who has lived a life of fear. But, upon hearing suspicious noises nearby her apartment, she transforms into Thorn, another personality – a braver and more ruthless soul. Rose and Thorn are an intriguing creation, especially when you consider dual personalities and how many situations you could place this heroine in. Its surprising other creators haven’t used her much in other stories, but here, Thorn finds herself rescuing another superhero. Those noises from earlier were coming from Zatanna the magician. She has not only been weeping over the memory of her father – Zatara – she sees through a magical medallion, but she can also find an evil man staring right back at her. Again, this is another breaking-down of the barriers caused by the Entity. Thorn gets to work and defeats this evil man who has the power of mind-trickery. Zatara is saved – and by one of DC’s more obscure characters. It feels like there is a lot to explore with Rose and Thorn, and I hope writers like Bader and Vance will bring her back in future stories.
If Event Two was a somewhat sad and tragic affair, Event Three is easily the most entertaining – and irritating. My annoyance comes from the star – Superboy. This isn’t the colourful and charming young Clark Kent, but one of those Superman-clones from the 1990s. I’ve never been a fan of this leather-clad sunglasses wearing Superboy, with an arrogant attitude which is more cringe-inducing than humorous. However, he stars in a creative little story where – for a magic show – Zatara transports that gold medallion into a dormant volcano. However, the magic show is disrupted by purple-dressed villain who has placed a bomb inside the volcano. You get the picture. It’s a typical story, but it’s made humorous by Zatanna distracting the villain with her magic show while she secretly transports Superboy to the active volcano, both to retrieve the gold medallion and the bomb. It’s written with some great dialogue and fun moments, but it’s lacking in the villain department – little is really given away or talked about him.
By this point, readers may begin to notice that – aside from the gold medallion of magic – little is really linking these events together. Event Four isn’t that much different, but it’s possibly the most personal of tales in the annual. Times are obviously hard for two of the characters of the Fourth World. Mister Miracle and Big Barda once fought with – and against – the gods, but now they spend time using their skills to stealthily take photos of celebrities having affairs. Why has this degrading thing happened? Who knows – even the Justice League don’t want them it appears. But suddenly, a boom-tube opens up and a young boy escaping trouble is thrown into Mister Miracle’s arms. Who should this boy be, but a younger version of himself! This is a young Scott Free attempting to escape Granny Goodness on Apokolips. Of course, Mister Miracle never reveals his true identity to his younger self, but it’s a powerful story because the hero realises that – in order for the timeline to work as it does – he must take the young Scott Free back to Apokolips. Oddly, young Scott Free doesn’t put up much resistance, but this is a story which fills the young boy with hope. Bader may write a few dry pages of fight scenes with Parademons, but underneath it all, there is a powerful story about hope and optimism for the future.
That just leaves us with the epilogue – the moment which should bind everything together. However, all we get is three confused pages as Doctor Fate and Superman fight the Entity and all is restored. That’s it. The Entity is basically just a big monster who has, inexplicitly, been tearing holes in the fabric of reality. How and why? There’s never a great explanation. The trouble is that such a plot would work better if all the star heroes would team up together – it would add prestige to the reputation of some obscure faces. However, we end up getting four short stories – some of which are better than others, but none of them truly shine (perhaps the Mister Miracle story is an exception). I think Bader has made some wonderful choices for star characters – the obscurer the better I’d say. However, when it comes to a coherent plot which ties everything all nearly together, this annual is in desperate need of it.
As ever, the work of John Delaney and Ron Boyd recreate the brilliance of the animated universe with both great faithfulness and originality. Their art appears to shine in those stories featuring obscure faces or characters that were yet to be seen on the small, animated screen. For instance, their art for Beetle and Booster’s tale is wonderfully energetic; it even has shades of Kevin Maguire in it! With Delaney and Boyd, you can the animated universe and more! However, in the annual, you’ve got an array of talent with their take on the animated universe. This includes John Byrne (as an inker only, curiously) and Dick Giordano, whose dramatic but smooth take on the Rose and Thorn story looks sensational. I always like to see mainstream artists deliver their take of the animated universe – some shine more than others, but I’m glad to see creators taking the small screen seriously.
VERDICT
Overall, the Adventures in the DC Universe continues to be at its best when it explores the worlds of the forgotten or obscure characters. Although the full-length Captain Marvel adventure is good fun, I get far more joy out of the Beetle/Booster story and the Question backup. The DC Animated Universe is just as infinite as the mainstream universe – there are so many great obscure characters to explore, and I’m pleased that Vance is embarking on such an adventure. Undoubtedly, the Annual is a disappointment – it’s too unfocused and lacking the substance to glue it all together. However, with Cipher’s return and an ongoing story emerging, where next for our heroes?
Next Week: TBC
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