Science, Shouting, & Heroism: The Dr. Light Story

               The cover of issue #4 promises us two things: the end of the world and the death of the Monitor. However, we are now only 1/3 of the way into a 12 issue series, so let’s just wait and see if the creators deliver on either of these promises. The image is an arch overhead image of the Monitor, laying down having been assaulted with energy blasts. Harbinger stands over him with her hands haloed in Kirby crackle. Opposite her, Pariah cowers on the floor. At this point, we can take it as read that I’ve made a crack about him being maudlin, ineffectual, or both.

We start off with Supergirl flying high above presumably Gotham City, as she is coming to check in on Batgirl, who called her out of the blue in a panic. At first I thought that the series must have changed art teams mid-stream, but no, Perez just draws a damn good Supergirl. Batgirl, too, for that matter. I’m not sure if he’s been doing this all throughout the series and I just haven’t noticed but he’s really good at expressive close-ups. There has been such an overabundance of group scenes and action scenes that he really hasn’t had a chance to show his talent with faces. Medium shots are decent, too, but I think he flounders a bit with wide shots. Although, he’s getting demerits for that silly jazzercise headband Supergirl is wearing.

An honest to goodness quiet moment between two characters.  This series was in need of space to breathe.

At this point, it seems like the denizens of Earth accept that the end of the world is a foregone conclusion. Batgirl despairs, while Supergirl seems to be committed to doing what good she can as long as she can. Supergirl’s telescopic vision spots a small airplane coming apart in mid-air and rushes headlong to rescue it’s pilot. Batgirl watches on with her binoculars (I presume they’re called “bat-noculars”), admiring her bestie for her dedication, calling her a hero through and through. But this only increases her self pity.

Constantine's buddy (lover?) really is sitting comfortably

Elsewhere John Constantine and his super-rich sugar daddy friend, Stephen Dayton drink and contemplate the fate of the world from inside the parlor of Dayton’s posh estate. Dayton looks pretty haggard and is drinking away what might be his final hours, but Constantine is pretty certain of their fate (and for some reason, also Swamp Thing’s) and doubts that the world is doomed.

Oh no... the plot is back!

After these two scenes of quiet reflection, we are jarringly returned back to the main plot by way of Pariah’s “oh” face. Another day, another doomed Earth. Again, why is he always so shocked? He should be desensitized to it by now. This Earth is apparently unique, as there are absolutely no counterparts of established characters on this. In fact, it only has had twelve heroes, though only three remain: this Earth’s king, Lord Karak Volt, who is possessed of electrical powers and a Flash Gordon villain-esque costume, his wife Lady Quark, who has nuclear powers and an amazing bodysuit—she looks like Gozer from Ghostbusters—and their daughter Liana, an elemental who reminds me of Wily-Kit from ThunderCats. Pariah tries to reason with the royal couple, but they are much more smashy than they are talky. It takes their daughter falling prey to the anti-matter cloud for them to turn their attention away from Pariah. Lord Volt, too is consumed by the anti-matter. This world is screwed, apparently, but Pariah soothes his guilt by taking Lady Quark with him as he teleports away, making Lady Quark the sole survivor of her world.

Oblivion or Pariah? Tough choices

So apparently, Harbinger was not in the room with the Monitor when she declared that he shall die, for it would appear that he is finally getting around to making his new Dr. Light… In a Japanese science lab, Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi is all kinds of wonderful. She’s a bitch on wheels and suffers no fools. While all her male counterparts, including her own father, are cowering over the impending apocalypse, she’s all like, “fuck that noise—let’s do science.” I want to be her BFF. 

My new favorite DC character.

"Screw all these weak-willed men. I have to do science!"

Suddenly a blast of white energy shoots down on the lab, hitting Dr. Hoshi’s exact location, teleporting her away and destroying the lab in the process. It leaves her co-workers even more scared than they were a moment ago, especially her father, who declares that wherever and whatever has become of her, he still loves her.

Cutting back to the Monitor’s space station, we shift perspective from the Monitor, to Harbinger, to Alexander Luthor in quick succession. Monitor, watching Dr. Hoshi’s father on a view screen, confirm that she will amaze her father after she is recreated—pretty much confirming that she is going to be the new Dr. Light that Monitor has been teasing for a while now. Harbinger talks about being controlled and feeling hate towards the Monitor, and compulsion to kill him. I wonder if this place has bad acoustics. It looks like the whole facility is metallic, so sound should carry, but she is being the opposite of discreet for someone who means to keep her intentions a secret. Maybe she should be thinking instead of saying this. Meanwhile, Alexander, exhibiting either clairvoyance, pre-cognition, or telepathy, is basically a one-boy Greek chorus, lamenting Harbinger’s task and also revealing that not only does her killing the Monitor serve his overall agenda, but it is part of her destiny.

Nothing says "big bad" quite like verbally smacking around your lackeys.

Our villain still thinks he’s Dr. Claw. He reminds us how much he hates the sound of Psycho-Pirate’s voice and that he has promised Psy-Pi all the emotions of the new world he has planned. Then he abducts the Red Tornado, who was in the middle of a mid-apocalyptic crowd rescue mission. He doesn’t tell us why exactly, but we do know that RT is integral to his plans. Psy-Pi cracks wise about Red Tornado being an artificial life form, and our Dr. Claw threatens to replace him with another empath, if he doesn’t shut up.  When RT asks if he’s the one responsible for the current status quo, all we get is some “ominous, ominous, ominous.”

On Earth-2, Firestorm and Killer Frost arrive at a golden protect quest tower that looms over a castle in medieval times. Firestorm is still being horrible about Killer Frost being in love with him. I’m sorry. I know he mentions that there would be serious repercussions if she were to kiss him. However. He was complicit in her emotional manipulation— that’s a huge violation. I don’t know which is worse, the fact that this essentially robs her of her agency, by preventing her from acting and making decisions in her normal state of mind or the fact that this can be interpreted as rape.  At least his jerky behavior is confined to thought balloons this time.

Firestorm = the worst 

Vandal Savage, aka Immortal Villain Guy, watches from the castle, making really no contribution to the plot, but that seems to be par for the course in this issue. So many wasted cameos in this issue…

Firestorm and Killer Frost meet up with Shining Knight. I have to say Shining Knight is on the one hand, one of many characters I’m familiar with on account of the DCAU, but one the other hand, he’s one of those rare characters whose design I felt wasn’t suited to the DCAU’s stylization. He looks so much better on the page. You can tell he’s wearing golden chainmail. You can see the shining sheen of his helmet. He really does look like his bright namesake.

Unfortunately, that brightness doesn’t carry over into his intellect. He confuses them for evil wizards despite Firestorm’s friendly greeting and attacks them. Either they’ve arrived too early in Shining Knight’s personal timeline or the two characters never met one another on Earth-2. Regardless, shadow creatures attack again and SK figures out who their foe is and they team up.  Firestorm comments on how flimsy these towers are because they conform to video game protect quest logic. They think they’ve won the day when SK throws his sword, which I presume is magical, at them.

Voltron, Megazord, or kaiju... all jokes lead to Japan

That hope is quickly dashed however when the shadow creatures Voltron themselves into one cyclopean monster. It apparently exists in tandem across time and space, appearing at the sites of the four other golden towers which we’ve seen already. All of Monitor’s preliminary champions watch from their respective times and location, unable to stop the massive shadow creature.

I don't know who she is, but she couldn't have
committed a crime deserving of that costume.

Then we cut back to the present of Earth-1, where Batman, Superman, the Teen Titans, and Outsiders are still assembled, presumably only minutes or so from when we saw them last issue. A sixth golden tower has appeared and the flyers of the assembled teams fly forth to investigate, no doubt using Superman’s approach from issue #1: punching! Dr. Hoshi appears flying high hear the tower’s apex dressed as the new Dr. Light. She attempts to repel the heroes using her distinct charms. 

The New Dr. Light's primary battle tactic is shouting

Unfortunately, because of language barriers, the only person among the flyers is Superman who is still a ways away but has Kryptonian hearing, who tells them that she’s protecting it. Of course, considering the fact that a) this tower doesn’t seem like a good thing,  b) she’s dressed up like a well-known villain, and c) caring fuck all for niceties seems to defy language barriers, it probably isn’t putting her best foot forward in the superhero world when she blasts them away, sending Starfire and Halo(?) reeling.  

In the future, she'd incorporate a "rising sun"
into her mask to avoid this confusion.

On the ground, Katana tells them Dr. Light is not their enemy, and in the process pretty much accidentally designates herself as Dr. Light’s translator, despite the fact that Superman can both speak Japanese and fly. So let’s hope Dr. Light doesn’t have anything else important to tell us in mid-air. Up in the sky, however, as Superman arrives at the tower, changeling who carries the frazzled Halo in the form of an eagle, still think Dr. Light is up to no good, so clearly we don’t have communicators, let alone a telepath. Dr. Light finally gets some alone time with Superman, aka everyone’s reasonable dad (as opposed to Batman who is everyone’s batshit insane, reckless child endangerment, “prepper” dad), she conveys to him that the fate of the universe might hinge on her ability to guard the tower. Superman trusts her and says he’ll do whatever it takes to help her.

She suffers the burden of being the smartest person in the room at all times.

We have a half-page-long interlude on Paradise Island. Wonder Woman had returned to her home hoping to muster up a fighting force (because we’ve established that’s how superheroes fight annihilation—punching! Unfortunately, the island full of Amazon warriors are praying in the face of the end of the world. It pretty much sidelines the third member of DC's golden trio for the duration of this event, or at least this leg of it. Just call her "Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Event."

I'm digging the symmetry and giving another long speech some visual interest or having each different battle need it's own scene. It's both pretty and efficient.

Meanwhile, in space, the Monitor is busy reminding us how integral he, Harbinger, Alexander Luthor, and Pariah are to the plot. Speak of the emo devil, Pariah appears and the two of them discuss the circumstances. Monitor explains how Pariah’s perpetual “drawn to doom” existence, but doesn’t give too much detail. Instead, he tells us how the fates of Earth-1 and Earth-2 are linked and his machines are bringing the two earths together for his final endgame. 

Okay... why exactly? Other than they're
where all your books are set?

He explains how this is tied into the “Book of Revelations” style natural disasters, but it’s a little unclear whether the weather is the result of the end of the universes or the unfortunate side effect of his machines. All this explanation is intercut with the heroes failing to stop the forces of the villain. He almost gets around to going into the details of his final plan when Harbinger appears. Monitor is resigned to his fate, and calls her Lyla as he tells her to do what she needs to. Harbinger yells at him for calling her Lyla as she vacillates between her evil persona and the dutiful daughter. I have a theory that Harbinger was supposed to be her evil dissociative identity, but the creative team got their notes mixed up because Harbinger only succumbs to darkness towards the end of issue #1. It feels a little messy. Anyway, torn between her faltering Lyla persona and the raging Harbinger, she shoots him with a bolt of energy. 

" If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

The next thing Pariah knows, Harbinger is gone and Monitor is dead. All he can do now is, you guessed it, impotently bemoan his fate. He and the heroes across two universes and multiple time periods are left to gasp in terror as the universe fades to white.

Well, there goes the neighborhood...

A Haunted Tank In Every Garage

He's got the whole cast in his hands

The cover of this week’s installment is pretty busy. This isn’t really a spoiler but there’s a lot going on, and it seems like Wolfman and Perez couldn’t decide on one decisive image that crystalizes what happens in this issue, so everything that happens in this issue is on this cover. Everything. Why read it? Just look at the cover and save your money for next month. I’m half tempted to just describe the cover and call it a day, but it is my sworn duty to go cover to cover for you, so never you fear. Anyway, back to the cover…

Written above the title, is written, “Titans! The Legion! The Outsiders! And more!” The page is divided into four tableaux.  In the top quadrant, we see the Legion. I really don’t recognize most of these guys, despite having met them last issue, but it looks like Brainiac 5 and a woman in white are watching the rest of the team blasting energy beams at… something, I guess, from one of the view screens of their base. A second screen shows a character in green with a turban floating in mid-air with a wall about to collapse on him.  To the left, Cyborg, Green Lantern, Brainiac, and Firebrand are in the Old West, presumably one of these guys is Jonah Hex. To the right, Batman, the Teen Titans, and the Outsiders (I don’t really know their deal, but I recognize Katana and they seem pretty cool) surround another spectre-like vision of The Flash.

Down below, Blue Beetle, Dr. Polaris, and Geo Force (I may slip and call him GF Man… ye gods, that stupid chest emblem…) are near the sight of one of the golden cyberpunk spires. Of greater interest is the fact that they are accompanied by a group of WWII era American soldiers. They are riding a tank that has been mounted with a Confederate flag. I thought these gold towers were only on Earths-1 and 2. So either this troop of soldiers are all from South Carolina (or at least The South), or the Civil War ended very differently on Earth-2.

Again, I say there is too much going on in this cover, but it does have some unifying elements. At the center of the page is the planet Earth. Bolts of energy converge upon it, dividing the four scenes. Above all these scenes, the Monitor’s face appears, looking somber and half cast in shadows. Below, the Monitor’s two hands cup the lower quadrants of the imagery, bathed in the same energy emitting from the Earth. The greatest takeaway is he ponderous sense of responsibility the Monitor feels, literally holding the fate of the Earth in his hands.

The issue starts in the Monitors’ base. He is using his equipment to examine a very naked Alexander Luthor, who has aged to about age 12 in the span of two days. Seriously? Two days and you haven’t thought to hook this kid up with clothes? And we are supposed to trust you with the fate of the multiverse? Hell, I don’t even trust you with the fate of this kid. I’m calling Child Services. The

Can you clothe the little star child as you study him? Please

Monitor determines that it is more than just his rapid aging that makes him remarkable, but the fact that, as a result of his being rocketed from the now destroyed Earth-3 to Earth-1, his very body seems to be composed of both matter and anti-matter. In case, you’re just joining us, last issue we were told that anti-matter is a form of energy that is making the different realities go up in smoke, essentially negating/erasing them from existence. He isn’t exactly sure how this has happened, but he believes Alexander is the key to their salvation.

#Daddyissues

While he contemplates this, Harbinger contemplates that her father is ignoring her. This brief moment of human clarity soon devolves into her worrying that he is wise to her corrupted nature. Instead of following up on this concern, she instead checks in with the unseen bad guy. Okay, I’m going to digress again. Sorry, this has to be said. The “villain in the shadows” shtick is getting silly. I get the distinct impression that Wolfman and Perez hadn’t figured out who their big bad was supposed to be just yet and they didn’t have time to fill him in when the book before the print deadline. Regardless, the shadowy figure trope works with a set up like Dr. Claw on Inspector Gadget because the high-backed chair obscures him while still leaving one arm open to gesture and physically express itself. In this case, we literally have a silhouette walking around. Sorry Perez, no bueno. I keep waiting for Peter Pan to try to stick him on with soap. I honestly thought him being a voice in the darkness could have worked a bit longer, but I can see why as an artist, he wanted to make some attempt to visualize him, so I’ll give him some credit for good intentions. That being said, I think this is definitely a case of “less is more.”

What is up with this evil lair's lighting design?!

Okay, getting back on track. At [unknown villain’s] base, Harbinger and Psy-Pi have some banter that makes me want to write a fanfic exploring their obvious UST. Psy-Pi revels in telling her of all the myriad lives their master has promised him. Monitor shushes him long enough to instruct

Harbinger to kill Alexander Luthor. She flies off without reply. Psy-Pi says Harbinger is unstable and offers to use his powers to better manipulate. However, our big bad can’t seem to get enough of shooting down Psy-Pi even when he makes a valid point. She’s a good guy, so it wouldn’t be unwise to make extra efforts to keep her under your sway.

Cut to the future where we meet the Flash. The book isn’t specific about this and I’m still banned from Wiki-research, so I’m going to at least guess it’s a good future, considering his thought balloons say he’s been happy and hopeful for the month that he’s been here and living in retirement. Or it would be all sunshine and lollipops if it weren’t for the fact that Mother Nature appears to have gone insane. Suddenly, a white energy force is seen coming in his direction. Flash isn’t fast enough to dodge it and fades into a fuzzy blur.

Meanwhile, in the 80s, the end is nigh! The anti-matter field seems to be coming down on a sky scraper. The Teen Titans are teamed up with the Outsiders. I think this is New York, considering I think that’s where the Titans are situated, but I could be wrong. DC sure does love its fictional cities. At this point, I’m giving up on trying to ID every single character I see. There’s just not enough space on the page. Instead, I’ll just point out that Beast Boy—sorry, I mean Changeling transforms into an elephant, a green elephant because he’s Changeling and all his beast forms are green, and it is a high contender for my favorite moment in the issue. Half the assembled teams seem to be attempting to fight the energy field, which seems kind of like attacking the sea with spears—their tactical skills are on par with Caligula’s. What I was more invested in was the team members dedicated to rescue. With an apocalyptic event, that’s where junior/b-list team are probably better suited, considering their books are more character-driven. Soon, they are joined by Batman and Superman, who saves the walking continuity snarl known as Donna Troy from being crushed by a collapsing building. Then Superman joins Team Futility, where Starfire, whose backstory from memory I can tell you involves being an alien princess of a conquered world, enslavement, and hella PTSD, is giving it her all. Superman, being everyone’s big brother, has to talk her down.

Imagine how fanservicey this would have been in the New 52...

Another sidebar: which is better? Jericho’s sideburns or Nightwing’s amazingly “disco” first costume? Does it matter? No, they both deserve equal praise! If only Dick could be compelled to grow awesome mutton chops like that so we could combine both into one fashionable package.

Suddenly, The Flash appears again. He doesn’t get to say too much more than they last time he appeared to Batman before seemingly blinking out of existence again. This time, rather than disintegrating, it’s more like someone turned off the Flash channel on an older model of television.

Meanwhile, in space, Brainiac is riding around in a space ship shaped like a skull, like his own head, in fact, with octopus tentacles… like a baller. He too recognizes that some real s#%t is about to go down and his programming is all about his own self-preservation, requiring him to reach out to find those who might be of use to him, namely Lex Luthor.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

These protect quests go on forever...

Oh, yeah. The gold monolith teams… I’d almost forgotten about those guys. Blue Beetle, Geo Force, and Magnet—I mean Dr. Polaris have found themselves in the midst of war-torn Markovia, where they come to the aid of a small troop of soldiers. And these guys… Okay, military guys, I’ve never found them too remarkable. When my next door neighbor was playing with toy soldiers, I was quite honestly content to play with my superheroes and model rockets. But these guys are pretty amazing. Apparently, Lt. Jeb Stuart rides a tank named Jeb Stuart, both of whom are named after Lt. Jeb Stuart’s ancestor, Confederate General Jeb Stuart, who haunts Jeb Stuart—the tank not the lieutenant. That description really needs a visual aid. The ghost of General Stuart is fairly amorphous. If I didn’t sneak a peek at the internet while my boss wasn’t looking, I’d have no idea who this guy was, let alone know why this cloud of smoke was talking. The general delivers a message of—you guessed it—portentous doom.

Haunted Tank... your argument is invalid.

 The rest of the gang are on a different part of the battlefield and have fairly generic names, which I presume give us a window into their personalities: Four-Eyes, Wildman, Rock, and Bulldozer. These sound more like call signs the more I think about it though, like the fighter pilots on BSG.

               Geo-Force is highly invested in helping these guys out since he happens to be Markovian, and these soldiers are protecting the country’s stock generic peasant population from the Nazis. Again, just like in last issue, Monitor seems to have picked the wrong people for this mission. They can’t seem to stay focused on the whole end of the world thing. They’d much rather pay attention to the proverbial bush in the foreground of a painting instead of looking at the bigger picture. The Nazis, meanwhile are interested in monolith because they want the technology for themselves. I’m guessing that this series coming out in and around the same time as the Indiana Jones films probably influenced this little beat in the story.

               When Jeb and the rest meet up with the rest of the gang, we have two more characters, a soldier named Johnny Cloud, who I think might be either Native American or very New Age since he believes in the Great Spirit Guides, and sea captain who wears and eye patch and goes by the name Storm. In the next row down, there is also a black soldier named Jackie. I’ve lost track of whether he was with the first group and only getting name-dropped now or if he was hanging out with Cloud and Storm. Honestly, I have no idea if these three separate groups that converge are different war comics properties or if they are all parts of a larger ensemble. This whole time, they kept calling themselves losers. I thought that was just what they were calling themselves as underdogs. Nope. Turns out that’s their “team name,” for lack of a better description. The shadow beasts appear and seize a handful of the Losers: Johnny Cloud, Captain Storm, Sarge, and Gunner. The latter two were only named after they were seized, so I really have no sense of attachment to them. This is when I realized these guys must be some toyline that DC bought the rights to make into comics, like G.I. Joes or those little army guys that everyone had growing up in the 80s, or at least they were created to compete with the GI Joe comics which I believe Marvel held the rights and were pretty successful in its day. The Losers decide to shoot at the shadows, and Flowers, named so because there are flowers in his helmet, is killed one panel after he is named. I think it should go without saying that rifles are fairly useless against shadows, but Dr. Polaris and Geo Force have a fairly creative team-up in which Geo-force pinions the creature to the ground using his geo-gravity abilities while Dr. Polaris uses his magnetic powers to stretch it, causing it to shatter. Honestly, I think Dr. Polaris could have used his magnetic powers to accomplish both these tasks, but hero/villain team-ups are to be appreciated whenever possible.

Just inserted into the mythos and now we'll never see the Blue Beetle in the DCU again... Right?

               Oh, looks like everyone forgot about The Blue Beetle. He’s been climbing up the golden tower hoping he can do science at it and figures that is where he can really contribute. Suddenly a shadow creature phases through the tower and nearly knocking him down, but then it explodes. Why? Because he inherited a mystical blue scarab from his predecessor and it only becomes handy (he actually seems to have completely forgotten he had it) when the plot deems it necessary. However, both high and low, our protagonists seems to realize that they are drastically outnumbered by the shadow creatures—they’re boned. Viewing them from a view screen, The Monitor also acknowledges how badly they’re screwed and opts to send all three of them back to their own places and times, vanishing in a blast of blue and green light, rather than die in the past.

               Time to catch up with Superman-2, Dawnstar, Solovar, and Kamandi. Solovar perishes from a wound sustained rescuing Kamandi during the battle in the previous issue. Solovar too vanishes in a blast of light, presumably to die in Gorilla City. Kamandi seems really upset about this. And it feels really shippy. DC was a hot second away for some same-sex interspecies lovin’. They are tied with Harbinger and Psy-Pi for my OTP of the issue.

Shipper on deck. Sorry.  Not sorry.

               This is getting pretty long, so I’m going to shorthand this section. We now find ourselves in the late 1800s with Jonah Hex and characters I haven’t heard of. I might have heard of Johnny Thunder, but all I know is he’s a villain on Earth-1 and a hero on Earth-2, but I might have gotten that backwards. The other characters are cowboys Bat Lash and Nighthawk, and Native American Ke-Woh-No-Tay. They all converge at a golden spire. Ke-Woh-No-Tay, being the token Native American character is required by the rules of hack writing to show how in tune he is with nature, they all want to explore. Cyborg, Firebrand, Green Lantern, and Psimon appear. Shadow creatures appear. They attempt to ward them off. One *new* detail: Green Lantern’s ring isn’t working. Jinkies. The heroes fail again. 

And now we see the result of the compounded failures across the series thus far as the anti-matter field encroaches upon them seemingly at all time periods simultaneously. The anti-matter hits Nighthawk in the Old West and Psycho Kid in the Metropolis of the 30^th Century. So far, they are the only Earth-1/2 casualties, which I guess means they won’t be coming back when DC reboots at the end of the event.

Hope you saved your game before the boss battle, player 1.

               The Monitor realizes that instead of a matter of days, he has a matter of hours. He has to enact his final plan now. That’s when Harbinger finally unveils her betrayal, declaring, “Wrong old fool. It is time for you to die!”

Lyla's true power is dramatic  cliffhanger poses.

               Some cliffhanger, huh? So yeah, like I said at the top of the entry, everything that happens in this title can be gleaned from the front cover. The devil is really in the details. The one big surprise though, although not that big a detail if you read the previous couple of issues, is Harbinger’s betrayal. Although, I think it would have been more effective as a cliffhanger if the creative team hadn’t belabored the point that Harbinger is definitely evil now. If they’d made it more ambiguous instead, I think it would have been much more of a surprise. It’s symptomatic of something I’m starting to really pick up on about this book—a lack of subtlety.