Justice League of America #220 (November, 1983)
"The Doppelganger Gambit"
Writer - Roy Thomas
Pencils - Chuck Patton
Inks - Romeo Tanghal & Pablo Marcos
Colors - Gene D'Angelo
Letters - David Cody Weiss
Special Thanks - Marv Wolfman
Editor - Len Wein
Cover Price: $0.60
Okay, we set the table yesterday... and now, it's time to reveal the secret of the Black Canary doppelganger! So... who's ready to have their mind boggled?!
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We open on Earth-1, where the members of the Justice Society (and Red Tornado) are scattering to the winds in order to take care of those super-baddie team-ups we learned about last issue. On their way out, they run into Sargon the Sorcerer. After fighting with him for a bit, they decide to work together. Also, Sargon has brought a guest... the unconscious (and un-Spectre-y) Earth-1 Jim Corrigan! There's a footnote to an upcoming JSA miniseries to explain this... not sure what that mini might've been.
After a brief refresher on the happenings of the last issue, we pop back over to the Thunderbolt Dimension, where Black Canary and Starman are still bewildered by the appearance of Dinah's doppelganger. We learn that this evil Johnny Thunder is from Earth-1... and the "real" version is still lingering.
Dinah asks how T-Bolt can follow the commands of someone as twisted as (the Earth-1) Johnny Thunder. Naturally, T-Bolt really doesn't have much choice in the matter. Earth-1 Johnny lets him share his tale of woe... because hearing it tickles him greatly. It's also necessary exposition to move the story forward, so there's that too. Anyhoo, he begins by talking about his former master, the Earth-2 Johnny Thunder... who, back in the long ago, began working alongside Black Canary. Oh, also... Cei-U is pronounced "Say You"... so, gotta watch out around Lionel Richie!
Johnny began having feelings for Dinah, as one might imagine. Shortly into their partnership, Johnny began having trouble summoning T-Bolt. This was due to a Badhnesian Hex, however, Johnny T. assumed T-Bolt was ignoring him three out of four times. He tells T-Bolt to beat it, and decides to quit the Justice Society. Black Canary winds up taking the open spot on the roster.
Some time passes, and Dinah meets a man named Larry Lance... and they hit it off. It isn't long before they're an item, which really burns ol' Mr. Thunder. Dinah even gives him the "love you like a brother" spiel, which... I mean, c'mon... hasn't he suffered enough?
More time passes... After refusing to unmask, the Justice Society dissolves. Dinah and Larry wed (Johnny is invited to the ceremony, but cannot bring himself to enter the church)... and shortly after that, the Lances welcome their daughter... also named Dinah (see where this might be headed?).
When little Dinah is probably around a year old, the Lances are visited by... the evil Wizard! Before big Dinah can unleash some maternal kung-fu on him... he puts a spell on the baby! Every time she opens her mouth... she lets loose a senses-shattering cry! Surely, you know where this is headed now. At this point, Mama-Dinah decides to enlist the aid of Johnny Thunder and his pink genie.
T-Bolt reveals that, while the baby is bellowing like there's no tomorrow... she isn't in any pain. He offers to take her to the Thunderbolt Dimension, where she will be placed in a stasis of sorts. The Lances, fearing they have no other choice, agree. T-Bolt takes an extra step, and places a suggestion in the heads of the Lances (and Johnny) so that they think the baby has died. He figures this would be easier for everyone.
Back in the present, Johnny-1 has T-Bolt check in on Flash and Hourman as they take on Chronos and the Fiddler in Mexico. They arrive to find all of the civilians (and their pets) frozen in time. After going on the attack, the Fiddler gets down, forcing the heroes to dance madly.
Johnny-1 grows bored of this, and has T-Bolt shift his focus to Egypt, where Huntress and Red Tornado are fighting Icicle and Dr. Alchemy. In a scene just as boring as the one in Mexico, the villains are triumphant.
Next stop Stonehenge, where Power Girl and Sargon the Sorcerer are taking on Felix Faust and the Wizard. The baddies make it so the heroes see each other as villains, and let them fight it out. These "present" scenes might be necessary, but they sure do feel outta place with all of the retconny exposition getting dumped in our lap!
Back in the Thunderbolt Dimension, Johnny-1 decides Black Canary and Starman have heard enough... and commands T-Bolt to kill them. He struggles with the decision, but ultimately... he is a genie who answers to any Johnny Thunder, so he doesn't have much choice in the matter. Thankfully, "light creatures" manage to remove Johnny-2's gag... and so, he's able to override the command of his Earth-1 counterpart! Well, that sorta came outta nowhere, dinnit?
Johnny-2 socks Johnny-1, and sends T-Bolt back to Earth-1 to help the Justice Society deal with the villains.
He does so by... waking up all of the kayoed and comatose Justice Leaguers! Together, the two teams make short work of the "Crime Champions".
And so, all that's left is... explaining who and what the Dinah Doppelganger is!
Dinah suggests that the doppelganger might be her daughter. Just then, Superman and the Spectre show up to shed some light on the subject. Superman explains that, during the battle with Aquarius (which we touched on last issue), Larry Lance did in fact die. But also, Black Canary was bombarded with enough radiation to kill her as well... only, not immediately. She asks Superman to take her to the grave of her daughter before she dies... only, T-Bolt brings them into the Thunderbolt Dimension where she can see that her daughter is still among the living... though, in suspended animation. Mama-Dinah suggests that Young-Dinah take her place.
And so, Superman asks T-Bolt to take care of bidness. They exchange mind and memory... leaving nu-Dinah with the same feelings of loss over "her" husband, Larry Lance, though removing any memory of ever having a child.
It doesn't take all that long for Dinah to come to grips with all of this reality crashing down on her... and we wrap up with her asking Superman for a single favor... to let her explain the craziness to Ollie!
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So... you get all that? Pretty simple when you come right down to it, right? Right? Is this thing on?
I received a few comments on social media when I shared the first part of this story yesterday... the consensus was that this was a "retcon done right". I can't help but agree with that sentiment... this was very well done. It's just too bad it was only in continuity for a couple of years!
Post-Crisis would keep it so Dinah was a second-generation hero... only remove all of the mind-wipiness and Thunderbolt Dimensionness of it. Similar to what they did with Wonder Woman, her mother served with the Justice Society... while the younger (more relatable?) Dinah was active in the present.
Now, let's try and break this down. I've said it before, and I'll say it again now... what I wouldn't give just to watch Roy Thomas at work! Just to watch him crack into his reference materials to pinpoint exactly how and when a revision would fit... and actually make sense (in a comicbooky way)!
We jump back to Golden Age adventures of Black Canary and Johnny Thunder (with footnotes), to her replacing Johnny on the Justice Society (with footnotes), to her relationship and marriage to Larry Lance... to Larry's death and Dinah's move from Earth-2 to Earth-1 (again, with footnotes). That's what we knew going in. Well, that plus the fact that when Dinah "landed" in Earth-1, she was able to perform her Canary Cry.
The addition of the baby makes sense when you take into account T-Bolt's power of suggestion/memory-suppression. The hex from the Wizard even explains why nu-Dinah has a Canary Cry! The memory-merge explains why nu-Dinah believes she had a husband... who she had lost in the battle with Aquarius. If we squint... hell, even if we don't... we can make this "work" in our heads.
I mean, these days I doubt a month goes by where Marvel or DC isn't putting out solicits that promise us that "everything we thought we knew... was wrong!"... and usually, the result is underwhelming, unsatisfying, and really... doesn't make a quarter of the sense that this (arguably, overly complicated in and of itself) story does. There was far more care put into this story than "Ooga booga, they were a Skrull all along!". Roy Thomas and Company didn't only give the readers a story that took actual effort to tell... they gave the readers enough respect to put that effort in. You can tell that this mattered to the people putting it together. This was also from a time before there was an Internet to "tear in half"... so, there's a measure of sincerity to take into account as well.
Overall... a fun little info dump, with nods to DC history. The action portions were a bit dull... but ultimately (and unfortunately) necessary. I'd say this arc is well worth checking out... if only to see how much care Roy Thomas and company put into introducing new concepts without telling long-time readers that the stories they're familiar with no longer matter. This issue is available digitally. This arc will be added to our "Collected Editions" Page.
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Letters Page:
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Justice League of America #219 (October, 1983)
"Crisis in the Thunderbolt Dimension, Part One"
Writers - Roy Thomas & Gerry Conway
Pencils - Chuck Patton
Inks - Romeo Tanghal
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - Gene D'Angelo
Editor - Len Wein
Cover Price: $0.60
Today we're going to look at a story I've been meaning to cover here for like a year and a half. I was reminded of this one while Reggie and I were putting together our five/six-part Crisis on Infinite Earths special during the Summer of 2017 to commemorate the 50th Episode of the Cosmic Treadmill.
Up until then, I'd forgotten several of the particulars of Black Canary's move from Earth-2 to Earth-1. Heck, I still probably couldn't speak on it with any authority... which is why we're going to take a closer look at this arc over the next couple of days!
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We open with a gaggle of gaudy terrorists making, ya know terroristic threats. They want ten million bucks in a Swiss Bank Account, or else a five-block radius will go boom. Unfortunately for them... it's that time of year where the Justice League and Society have their annual get-together!
Barry and Jay make short work of the geeks... and even cap off the "battle" with a bit of a flourish. Jay makes all of the bullets ricochet away and form the letters J-S-A on a nearby wall. Barry gets a dig in by corrected the "S" to an "L". The Police all recognize the "tin hat" Flash as the one from the old comic books... and don't seem all that weirded out by the fact that he's standing before them, drawing breath.
As the Flashes head off, we get a quick and dirty regarding the multiple Earths, with Jay suggesting it's a matter of chauvinism that relegated the Golden-Age Earth as "Earth-2" instead of "Earth-1".
The Speedsters rush off to a transport capsule atop a tall building in the city so they can return to the JLA Satellite. Before they can enter, however, they find themselves attacked by a bolt of lightning! Turns out, this is Johnny Thunder's T-Bolt Genie... who goes right after Barry, leaving him kayoed and comatose.
Aboard the Satellite, the heroes hang out. Firestorm is off to the side wondering why Power Girl is "blanking" him. Guess the poor kid doesn't own a mirror. After some prodding from Hourman and Elongated Man, Ronnie decides to give it another go. Unfortunately, before he can, the Satellite is attacked by T-Bolt!
The Genie immediately attends to the Earth-1 heroes (minus Red Tornado and Black Canary... for reasons we'll discuss in a sec), leaving them all just like Barry Allen... kayoed and comatose. It isn't until Dinah lets loose with a Canary Cry that T-Bolt vanishes.
Moments later, Jay arrives with Barry. The remaining "awake" heroes fill each other in about what they'd just experienced. Huntress informs the team that the Transmatter Machine they use to jump between Earths has been destroyed... and they all try and figure out just what's going on. It seems as though T-Bolt only attacked people who were born on Earth-1. Dinah grew up on Earth-2, and Reddy was built there (though, he's also a robot... so that might have something to do with it). Dinah shares a bit of her origin, just in case we're not familiar with it.
She would join up with the Justice Society during their run-in with a goofy-looking sonuvagun called Aquarius. During the fight, Dinah is very nearly killed... until her husband, Larry Lance jumped in front of a blast meant for her! After this, Dinah would relocate to Earth-1... and also, discover that she had the "Canary Cry" power!
Back in the present, the heroes suggest calling in some reinforcements... however, it would appear as though they're all kayoed and comatose as well! Well, except for Batman... gotta keep him strong (or maybe he's just an Outsider at this point).
Suddenly news from around the world pours in to the Satellite. It seems that villains from Earth-1 are teaming up with villains from Earth-2 to cause all sorts of mischief! The heroes rush off to attend to these threats, leaving Black Canary and Starman behind to look after the Justice Leaguers.
Once they're all gone, however, Starman has a suggestion on how they might better help out... they could... head into the Thunderbolt Dimension and try and confront T-Bolt head on! It doesn't take much convincing... and before we know it, they do just that.
Also, before we know it, the heroes are attacked by T-Bolt... and Johnny Thunder himself!
With the heroes now captive of T-Bolt, Johnny decides to introduce them to a pair of guests... Larry and Dinah Lance... under glass?!
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I tell ya what... where were Roy and Gerry when DC was getting ready to launch The New-52!? I swear, these might've been the fellas to actually make it all fit/work. Then again, I suppose if DC wanted The New-52! to "work" long-term, they probably would've used more than a packet of Jell-O Pudding to lay the initial foundation.
This was a really good issue... which, isn't much of a surprise. The JLA/JSA team-ups are usually a fun diversion chock full of historical nods to continuity and what-not. This issue/arc is no different. Seeing the characters catch-up... especially Dinah, since she originated on Earth-2, was a treat. Even when Dinah was explaining the length and girth of Ollie's arrow... and by "arrow", I mean... well, arrow... getchure minds outta the gutter.
The art by Chuck Patton is pretty great. He does a wonderful job on the heroes, again... particularly Black Canary. Feel like Patton's one of those artists who doesn't get mentioned as much as he ought to.
Not much more to say about this issue without reflecting on how it all winds up... it really is a set-up for what's to come. I had a really good time with it, and would bet many'a DC fan would too! This issue is available digitally.
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Letters Page (featuring current Sr. VP of Vertigo Comics, Hank Kanalz):
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Flash (vol.5) #23 (July, 2017)
"The Color of Fear, Part One: Hello"
Writer - Joshua Williamson
Artist - Carmine Di Giandomenico
Colors - Ivan Plascencia
Letters - Steve Wands
Associate Editor - Amedeo Turturro
Editor - Brian Cunningham
Cover Price: $2.99
Hey everybody, I come to you today... one-year older... one-year wiser? Ehh, one-year older.
For yes, today is my thirty-coughth birthday... and to celebrate, we're going to take a look at an issue featuring Barry Allen's Birthday Blowout!
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We open in the 25th Century, at the Flash Museum. A voice is narrating over a visual of some familiar-looking costumes... and when it gets to Eobard Thawne, it reveals that the future remembers him as the Flash's best friend! Well, we know better than that. Back in the present, Barry is in the S.T.A.R. Labs Morgue, where he stands over the crunchy and dehydrated corpse of Thawne. Remember he was zapped by some baby-blue energy during The Button. Barry's convinced that Thawne isn't dead... just severely slowed-down. His little monologue is interrupted by a pair of lab techs... and so he leaves. That's okay though, he's actually got somewhere else to be anyway!
Like his Birthday Party!
After getting the big Surprise!", the guests seem to all go back to their business. Forrest approaches Barry to talk his ear off, during which he can't help but flash back to the recent The Button arc. The man with the tin hat... Batman's Flashpoint letter from Thomas Wayne... ya know, all that stuff.
Barry watches Wallace walk by, and mentions that they're not on the best of terms at the moment... he wants Barry to tell Iris that he's the Flash. All he can think about though, is how much danger that might put her in. With folks like Thawne in the Universe, anyone who knows the secret is put at risk! He imagines Zoom busting through this very Birthday Party... and murdering everyone there in a matter of microseconds.
Singh and Hartley head over to snap Barry out of his daydream... but can't get him to reveal what he'd been thinking about. Henry Allen makes an attempt, which is just as unsuccessful.
Then, a very special guest arrives, with a regifted model plane under his arm... Hal Jordan! The Hard-Travel... er, wait, that's not them.
Hal is introduced to Iris, and does that whole "You're too good for this guy" routine, before she starts to harangue Barry about being distracted during his party. An uncomfortable Hal actually wishes for an alien invasion (under his breath) in order to interrupt this discussion...
... and he almost gets his wish! Though, instead of aliens... it's just a whole lotta Multiplex!
Barry and Hal rush off to change into their "work duds". On the way, Barry asks Wallace to bring Iris home right away. Wally puts up a struggle... and reminds me of the way he's depicted in the Teen Titans book... as one of the worst characters ever! Just punch this little goof, Barry!
After a pretty lazy two-page spread of Flash and Green Lantern in costume (I mean, it's just the two of them in front of a flare-y computer background... did we really need to waste two pages?), we find out that Multiplex is there looking for a girl he's fallen in love with. She insists that they've only had a single drink together at this point... so, our man Danton's what we in the biz call a "fast worker"... or, a "damned creep", either descriptor works.
Flash and Lantern show up and start cleaning house. Unfortunately, Multi-plex won't quit multi-plying... until finally, he becomes like... just a mass of multies. Like, ya know when someone shines a light in a cave, and something like a billion spiders scatter away? Like that.
While Hal and Barry deal with that... Wally brings Iris back to the "safety" of her home. Only one problem with that... somebody's waiting for them!
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Ya know... I really wanted to be "all in" on the post-Rebirth Flash book, but it felt like every time I cracked open an issue, I'd see some evil speedster staring back at me. Felt like every time out, Barry would have to fight someone who might be faster than him... which isn't a bad idea, but... feels just so overdone at this point.
I remember this issue in particular. When I get my bundle of books from DCBS every month or so, I enter them into my obsessive-Excel spreadsheet. Part of that is getting issue titles (which more books need to use these days!) and the writer and artist. Upon flipping to the last-page (where too many books now put their credits) I'm faced with Eobard Thawne. C'mon... again/still? And, I gotta say... I was so damned excited for this issue to see how they'd follow up The Button.
Is this some sort of "thing" from the Flash TV show? Is it just Barry fighting an "evil speedster of the week" every time out? Because, lemme tell ya... this is getting tiresome!
Let's talk Thawne for a bit. I swear, the only time I was able to make sense of/differentiate between what a Professor Zoom and Reverse-Flash was, was during the middle-part of the Geoff Johns run. I'm so far removed from all that, that I couldn't, with any authority, speak to who's who and what's what. I could've sworn they were two different guys... but, now they're not? Can't really hold this against them, not having read as much of the recent stuff as I perhaps should.
I mentioned a "lazy two-page spread" during the synopsis. Now, I hate judging art... not being much of an artist myself, I feel weird about giving an opinion one way or another. Though, Di Giandomenico really ain't one of my favorites. I recall his work making All-New X-Factor over at Marvel rather a chore to read. Though, if I'm being honest, the story wasn't exactly great shakes in that book either.
That "spread" though... just feels so unnecessary. I can only assume that Di Giandomenico really wanted to draw a big image of Hal and Barry in costume... or, the writer assumed this would look a lot better than it actually did. I'll include it below...
We discussed a post-Rebirth issue last week as part of the Twelve Days of Christmas on Infinite Earths. During that piece, I mentioned how much better nu-Wally was written here than in Teen Titans... where he is often the worst thing on the page. Well, that's all changed here. It's not quite as bad as in Titans, but he's really so very annoying here.
It must sound like I hated this issue, huh? Well, no... I thought all of the Barry stuff was great. Loved how he was so lost in thought that his own narration boxes were cutting off other peoples' dialogue balloons... that's a great little detail that I appreciated.
Also, the Barry stuff is just the most interesting... especially coming off The Button, lackluster ending and all... it was still (supposedly) the "next step" in the Rebirthening of the DC Universe. Well, hopefully Doomsday Clock will be done within the next 2-3 years so we might finally see what the "next step" could be.
Overall... a fine issue, though disappointing if you were expecting any concrete follow-up to The Button. The art is a bit distracting and Wally is a little jerk. Other than that though, this could be worth a look.
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The Two-Page Spread:
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