When you get to be as old a comic fan as I am, major comic events from the past become history and begin to celebrate pretty big anniversaries.
I was already in my 20s when Zero Hour first hit the stands, DC's valiant effort to tidy up some of the timeline conundrums that spun out of the Crisis On Infinite Earths. So trust me, I felt pretty old when I saw the Zero Hour 30th Anniversary issue hit the stands.
I wasn't sure how the story would play out. Would this be some side adventure within Zero Hour? Some untold tale? Or something Zero Hour adjacent, adding to the story.
Turns out it is the latter. Writer Ron Marz and Dan Jurgens bring us a Kyle Rayner story, set in an offshoot universe which is both familiar to the DC world of the 90s but also quite different. Do you want a world where Superman stayed dead, Batman stayed paralyzed, and Wonder Woman is missing? A world where Matrix, Donna Troy, and Barbara Gordon are the Trinity? Then this book is for you! Do you want to see Hal as Parallax? Jack Knight as Starman? A classic Fatal Five and Legion? Waverider? Then this book is for you.
And I suppose for someone like me, this book is for me. It brought me back to that time, let me enjoy seeing these characters (in a way) again, and have some fun.
Add to that the incredible bevy of veteran artists on the book. Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Paul Pelletier, Kelley Jones, Darryl Banks, Howard Porter, and Tom Grummett all are here. I got to see Grummett's Matrix Supergirl again. Ordway on Infinity Inc characters. Kelley Jones haunting Gotham, and Jurgens drawing a version of the JLA again.
On to the book! Get ready for some Parallax-ction!
On to the book! Get ready for some Parallax-ction!
The book starts with a version of Wally West Flash storming through a portal and running into the post-Zero Hour Kyle Rayner. Thinking it might be THE Wally, Kyle flies through and enters a world different from his own.
The Flash gets killed by the Fatal Five who show up and confront Kyle and Wally. Kyle heads to Gotham where he learns Batgirl is the main hero, not Batman. (Kelley Jones provides moody art for these pages!)
Trying to figure it all out, he heads to Metropolis only to discover Superman never came back from the dead. And Supergirl is now the city's hero.
My goodness, it is great to see Tom Grummett on art again, especially Supergirl. I love that this Supergirl dons the black costume, I suppose to honor Superman and show she is in mourning? Fantastic.
And it is a ton of fun to see Kyle using his ring, creating some wacky constructs - carnival mirrors, giant King Kong hands, and things like this.
I mean, the robot from the Fleischer Superman cartoon 'The Mechanical Monsters' hitting Supergirl? Pitch perfect.
More heroes arrive including a blue togged Donna Troy calling herself Wonder Woman. Joined by Azrael, The Ray, a warrior Guy Gardner, Starman, and others Kyle is subdued. But through the use of the lasso of truth, they learn that he isn't a threat.
The heroes alone are throwbacks and seeing them felt like I was travelling through time. But reading Kyle talk about Donna in this way really was a sort of emotional gut punch. I liked them as a couple.
Obsidian shows and talks about the Zero Hour Oblivion wave and how it has destroyed time from both ends. Even the mighty Legion could not stop it.
It explains how the Fatal Five got here. They skedattled.
The legendary Jerry Ordway is on art for this chapter. So seeing him draw Infinity Inc. characters and the entire Legion was a nostalgia-bomb.
The true villain finally emerges.
Parallax created a pocket universe where he was successful in recreating a 'perfect' timeline. His perfect world is one without the veteran heroes, without a Green Lantern corps, and without much of a universe.
I mean, I can't believe that DC would bring back the concept of a pocket universe Earth, a la The Supergirl Saga! But here we are. I have to say, I chuckled!
And Kyle vs. Parallax? Classic.
Paul Pelletier brings his smooth line to this chapter.
Hal says he wants to save this universe and the only way he can is to get a hold of Kyle's ring.
Supergirl breaks from the battle and heads to the smartest person she knows ... Lex. And Lex thinks that the ring has the energy that would be needed to save the world.
So much to digest here, especially from a Supergirl fan.
This is Matrix, the Supergirl that got duped by the cloned Lex, not this bald version. Would she have a relationship with him? Maybe. But this isn't quite the relationship we knew.
Next, it's hard to know what Hal would make of their relationship and how to rewrite it on this world.
But most importantly, given the changes he made, why would Hal even have a Lex on this world?
Unclear of what to do, some of this world's heroes team up with Parallax. He wants to save this world.
Others realize that saving this pocket Earth will condemn the entire true universe to the Zero Hour wave.
How great to see Howard Porter drawing Supergirl again!
We finally get a true history of this world. A stowaway Invisible Kid finds Parallax's prisoner ... Waverider!
And Waverider tells how this isn't even the true Parallax. This is a splinter Parallax who created a splinter world.
Insanity.
Dan Jurgens provides art for the last chapter.
Even though this is a pocket universe of odd versions of our classic characters, they are still heroes. Realizing their small sacrifice will save entire worlds, the stop this Parallax.
Holy shades of the actual Zero Hour! A whiteout!
The book ends on a cliffhanger ... but I don't know if it is in the past or in the actual current DCU timeline?
But it doesn't matter. Reading these characters in this pseudo but recognizable timeline was like visiting old friends who I lost touch with. Jurgens and Marz story hits nostalgia beats while being all new. And the artists are still nailing it.
We even get some pin-ups!
Nicola Scott brings a complete winner, an action shot of this world's Trinity. I like this black-suited Supergirl. Love this.
I recommend this book, especially if you were around for the first Zero Hour go-around. Great fun and great story.
Overall grade: B+
I thought this book was fun, and the art was tremendous. I believe Kyle is from our universe and time - the editor's note on page 2 says it takes place before Green Lantern #8.
ReplyDeleteBased on the setting and timeframe in the pocket dimension, I'd assume Supergirl is Matrix, and some evidence for that is, actually, her visit with Lex (not the same Lex, but still the suggestion that there's a relationship there), and also that she is never shown using heat vision, but just throwing punches. (These days, whenever Supergirl is in the background of anything, she's firing off heat vision.) And finally, the sliver of Parallax would know Matrix and not Kara.
On the other hand, there's evidence suggesting this isn't Matrix, though perhaps these are errors. Supergirl is using heat vision in Nicola Scott's pinup. But even worse, Donna calls her Kara (on the 9th page of the Howard Porter section). I kept hoping someone would call her Mae, but that didn't happen.
I wonder why the pocket dimension features Barbara as Batgirl. She was Oracle when Zero Hour was taking place.
Still it was great to see Supergirl used the way she used to be in an event book - prominently throughout. And she looked excellent in all black. (Was that ever a color Matrix donned?)
T.N.
Agreed that based on time, it has to me Matrix. But revisiting this time sure flummoxes people. In the Convergence Matrix mini, she is also called Kara accidentally. And I must admit it just washed over me unknowingly.
ReplyDeleteDon’t think Matrix sported the Black before. Pretty cool!
All this can be no-prized by saying the Parallax essence rewrote things weirdly. Batgirl not Oracle, etc. In his perfect world, perhaps the Joker never shot her?
I'd want to read it more if there was more Azrael in it. My favorite 90s DC character.
ReplyDeleteI wish there still were an E. Nelson Bridwell at DC to do the minimal fact-checking and research that has to be done before publication. DC needs a true editor. Someone who actualy knows the company's characters and history. What a waste of awesome talents.
ReplyDeleteOne possible explanation for the discrepancies: during Zero Hour both the original Supergirl and Batgirl appeared. It could be them in place of the 90s version. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea. Did multiple versions of Supergirl and Batgirl appear in that series?
ReplyDeleteI checked the character lists for the 5 issues of the Zero Hour mini (issues #4 to #0), where the main article is at
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Zero_Hour
And the character lists always refer to:
Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) - which links to an entry called Barbara Gordon (Zero Hour), described as "a Barbara Gordon from an alternate timeline who appeared during Zero Hour."
and
Supergirl - which links to an entry called Matrix (Pocket Universe) which gives the regular Matrix history.
I don't know if any other characters in Zero Hour besides Barbara are alternates that are unique to Zero Hour, or are just the regular characters appearing in DC comics at that time.
There are many tie-ins to the main series, so maybe other versions of Barbara and Kara appear in those?
T.N.
Wasn't sure which Green Lantern #8 people were talking about here ... LOL. I suppose it is the current one. Which means a new Parallax demon has been leashed onto the current world!
ReplyDeleteI thought maybe this Parallax fragment has been around all this time since Zero Hour - it's just that Flash only just reached out for GL in our universe.
ReplyDeleteI'd almost forgotten how much I hated Zero Hour. Being reminded of it even by this roster of creators hasn't improved my opinion one bit.
ReplyDelete