Folks who come to this blog enough have probably heard me talk about the Fire and Water Podcast a weekly comics podcast run by Rob Kelly of the http://www.aquamanshrine.net/ and the Irredeemable Shag of http://firestormfan.com/
As you can tell by the name and their blogs, the podcast is Aquaman and Firestorm centric although they often cover DC comics in general and other trending news. It is must listening for me on Monday mornings. The two also, as an adjunct, have a Who's Who podcast where they have been reviewing the 1985 DC Who's Who page by page, character by character. It is my favorite of their family of podcasts and are definitely worth listening to. I have promoted it before but I don't mind talking it up again.
And what better reason to do it than on this day when they are reviewing Who's Who The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe Volume XIX which includes one of my favorite Supergirl rogues ... Reactron
Now don't ask me why Reactron is spooning with the Reverse Flash on this Ernie Colon cover. That looks like a invasion of personal space although Reactron's smile makes me think he's okay with it.
And here is Reactron's Who's Who entry, a half sheet just above Red Bee.
It is the standard Carmine Infantino pose for most of his Who's Who pages. But the surprint is a nice action shot of Reactron blasting Supergirl. The origin is brief recapping Ben 'Reactron' Krullen obtaining powers after radiation exposure in Vietnam and then gaining control when he teamed up with The Council. It does ignore his connection to Tempest of the New Doom Patrol. Josh Clay served with Krullen.
Reactron is one of the true Supergirl rogues who has had some longevity. After Supergirl was erased from continuity in the Crisis, his history was linked to Power Girl. He then had numerous interactions in the Doom Patrol comic that emerged post-Crisis. Of course, he was then recreated by Sterling Gates around the time of New Krypton, playing a significant role in Supergirl's life ... killing both her parents! You can read my prior posts on Reactron here: http://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com/search/label/Reactron
I have not covered Reactron's Doom Patrol appearances. We just finished Psi-sightings. Should we do a run of Reactron Reactions?
It's true, Reactron has popped up here and there, yet I couldn't tell you anything about him beyond 'power blasts and wears coathangers'. I don't find him interesting, unlike Psi - but perhaps you could convince me!
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I knew absolutely nothing about Reactron until he was swept up from the cutting room floor for New Krypton. And seeing his old look now I don't know why they did do an update based on this rather than the twin dinosaur mask thing they went with for him and Metallo. Pretty hideous. Then he killed Alura during the big reset of the whole event, which turned me off to him even more. If he ever comes back in the New 52 maybe he can be done better.
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