Posts tagged know your dcu

Know Your DCU: Mister Miracle

Scott Free is the son of the New God and ruler of New Genesis known as Highfather. Scott was traded to Darkseid for his son Orion in exchange for peace between New Genesis and Apokolips. While on Apokolips, Scott was “raised” by Granny Goodness, and eventually he escaped Granny’s cluthches (honing his famous escape artists techniques). He fled to Earth, and became an escape artist named Mister Miracle and was joined by an assistant/father figure named Obiron. Because of his actions on Apokolips, Scott inspired Big Barda who eventually followed him to Earth where the two would become husband and wife. Mister Miracle and Big Barda decided to become superheroes and joined the Justice League.

Scott is currently wherever the New Gods are (those who read Final Crisis know what I mean)…

Know Your DCU: The Monolith

This is the first, and I mean it the first character that when I read the recommendation I thought “Who in the Hell?”. I wish I kept a list of who recommended what character, but whoever recommended The Monolith stumped me. Well done!

Luckily, the internet has all the answers to these sort of problems. According to Wikipedia, The Monolith series:

was published for a total of 12 issues before being cancelled due to poor sales. The issues were cover dated April 2004 to March 2005, and were all written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti. Phil Winslade was the penciller/inker for most issues with Tomm Coker and Peter Snejberg acting as replacements for a total of four issues.

The stories take place in the present (of the publication dates), with flashbacks to the events surrounding The Monolith during the Depression Era.

Well, ok then. I was an avid comic reader at that point in my life, so I’m not sure why I hadn’t heard of this story before. The character sounds interesting too and certainly sounds like something straight out of the Golden Age of comics, saying the title character himself:

is a superheroic golem. The Monolith is guided in his actions by Alice Cohen, a recovering drug addict whose grandmother was one of those responsible for the Monolith’s creation in the 1930s.

Very cool stuff, and I will have to go out and find some back issues of this series to learn more. Since the series was so short, Wikipedia has a very in-depth synopsis of each of the 12 issues that you can find HERE.

So, this will go down in history as the first Know Your DCU where I learned something. Who knew this column would do that? Thanks to whoever suggested The Monolith! Please let me know by hitting the “Ask” button, and I will give you a proper shout out…

Know Your DCU: Alfred Pennyworth

Alfred Pennyworth is the tireless butler of the Wayne family. After Thomas and Martha Wayne were shot and killed, Alfred was given the duty to raise their young son Bruce. Once he reached adult hood and became Batman, Bruce kept Alfred on as his butler, although he is more of a father figure to “Master Bruce”.

Alfred is in charge of keeping Wayne Manor in order, taking care of Bruce Wayne and all of his “wards”, keeping the Batcave tidy, and keeping Bruce on schedule for his public appearences outside of the cape and cowl. A former actor and soldier, Alfred has also helped Bruce in his training to become Batman and supported him in his endeavor.

Oh, he also cleans/repairs Batman’s costumes and “all those wonderful toys”…

Know Your DCU: Bizarro

Goodbye! Me am introduce myself: me am Bizarro #1. Me am not posting on DailyDCU.com today, and me must write my own Know Your DCU? Not fun, speech pattern am not consistent, so have no patience with me…

Me am the third fella to become Bizarro! The first two am failed clones of Superman made by me friend Lex Luthor. They am dead, so me am #1!!!

Funny guy Joker had powers of Mister Mxyzptlk for a few days, so him declared he am Emperor Joker and created him own Superman: Bizarro! Superman and him enemy Batman punch Joker in face. Ha! Bad joke. Me free and living in Graveyard of Solitude.

Me use powers sometimes: heat breath, ice vision, flying, and stronging.

Then me living comfortably being totured by General Zod in Pokolistan. Good times. Superman come pick me up from Pokolistan and punch the fake Zod. Now we am enemies!

After Infinite Crisis, during the 52, me was roomies with Lex Luthor, who am give me TV and a room for thirteen months. Now me am caught up with unfunny show Arrested Development! Google it, you will regret it.

Me am left Earth to create a home for meself. Me planet a cube shape like Earth, and look just like Metropolis, but worse! But me am was lonely. Me notice that under blue sun, me have Bizarro Vision which let am create peoples from planet. Me use this for populate the planet with more Bizarros! Like a Bizarro Lois. A Bizarro Jimmy. A Bizarro Batman. But no Bizarro Larry King. Me am bring Jonathan Kent (before Brainiac am killed him kinda) to visit Bizarro World, but Superman said “Yes”, and I say “No” and Superman leaves with him Pa. Happy ending me guess? Him Pa die anyway, so why no let he stay with Bizarro? Silly Superman.

That’s not all folks! Hello.

Know Your DCU: The Question

Nope, this is not about Renee Montoya, this is about the man who passed the fedora off to her: Victor Sage. First and foremost, let’s discuss the look of The Question. Vic wore a specialized belt-buckle which released a gas that binds his “faceless” mask, invented by his friend Dr. Aristotle Rodor, to his skin and temporarily recolors his clothes and hair to alter his appearance. Before you ask, the gas only effects Vic and his clothes, as the gas Rodor created would react with chemicals in Vic’s clothing and hair, causing them to change color.

The origin of Vic Sage changed several times, but his main characteristics as a vigilante who would fight government corruption and research conspiracies and larger mysteries remained synonymous with the character. It is well known who trained him in his fighting style, resident DCU martial arts expert Richard Dragon (who should really open a super hero training school and charge these people). Vic worked out of Hub City for many years, but eventually went on to solving mysteries throughout the DCU. When he learned he was dying of cancer, he began training a replacement in Renee Montoya, although she did not know it at the time. Vic Sage died on the side of a snowy mountain en route to Nanda Parbat with Montoya, passing his legacy on to her…

While the characterization of The Question was, well, uneven throughout his years in the DCU, perhaps the best personification of the character could be seen in Justice League Unlimited television series. This is my personal favorite use of Vic, and wish we could get more comic book stories featuring his character.

Know Your DCU: Black Mask

I know Black Mask has grown in popularity since his mid-80’s debut, but frankly I find the villain to be a bit bland/boring with an origin that is far too complex; nothing elegantly simple like the origin of Mr.Freeze for example.

Roman Sionis was a trust fund kid who grew up in an abusive household and told to hate the Wayne family, but he ultimately killed his parents because the did not approve of his “secretary” girlfriend. He later ran his parent’s cosmetic company, which almost went under but was bailed out by Bruce Wayne which lead Sionis to become embarrassed causing him to go underground and carve a black mask out of his father’ ebony grave and become the criminal Black Mask (run on sentence much).

He eventually goes nuts (because I’m sure an editor said “Well, he has to be insane to be a Batman villain”), ditched the ebony mask and started walking around looking like Red Skull, but never changed his name to Black Skull. I’ve been trying to figure out who made the call to change his appearance, but can’t for the life of me. Anyone out there know?

Luckily Catwoman and I saw eye to eye on the lameness that is Black Mask, so she shot him in the face and killed him. Not really, she did it because he was threatening her loved ones, and Selina is not the type of cat you mess with. Although, what type of cat would you mess with?

Apparently, someone else is calling themselves Black Mask now, but that can wait for another day…

Know Your DCU: Jimmy Olsen

Good old Jimmy Olsen; intrepid photographer for the Daily Planet, Superman’s pal, and a guy who gets into some weird situations. Most of the time, Jimmy can be found along side Lois Lane covering a story for the Daily Planet, getting coffee for Editor-in-Chief Perry White, or hanging out in the office with his buddy Clark Kent. However, much like Lois Lane has a knack for getting thrown from high places, Jimmy has a knack for ending up turned into something really random. I could list examples all day long, or you can just look at the above picture. Jimmy has also gained numerous superpowers, like super-speed or elasticity, but they usually fade away. Do to this inclination for getting into trouble, Superman gave his pal a wrist watch that emits a signal only Superman can hear in order to help Jimmy out when he is in a pickle.

Also, he wears bow ties…

Know Your DCU Marvel U: Spider-Man

Happy April 1st everyone! You may notice something… different here on DailyDCU.com today. Don’t fret, things should be back to normal tomorrow. We hope…

Anyways, Peter Parker was a teenage boy who was bit by a radioactive spider giving him amazing spider powers. Parker decided to use these powers to make a quick buck as a professional wrestler. Peter turned his back on stopping the wrestling manager from being robbed, but the robber ended up killing Pete’s Uncle Ben. Peter decided to honor his uncle and become a superhero, recalling the words of wisdom bestowed on him “with great power comes great responsibility”. Armed with a high school science fair blue ribbon, Peter enhanced his spider powers with mechanical web shooters, making him more spider-like.

Peter ended up dating Gwen Stacey. She died.

Parker fought some cool supervillains, fought some lame supervillains, went through a plethora of costume updates, quit being a superhero a dozen-or-so times, doubted himself a bunch, might be a clone of himself (ambiguous ending), made jokes during fights, sat sad in the rain, stopped the Juggernaut, fought in 2 Secret Wars (I think), joined an Avengers team, and revealed his identity (or didn’t).

Peter ended up marrying Mary Jane Watson. He forgot about it.

Currently Spider-Man is a member of the Fantastic Four Future Foundation.

Happy April Fools’ Day!!!

Know Your DCU: Sandman (Wesley Dodds and Sandy Hawkins)

In the Golden Age, Wesley Dodds solved crimes that came to him via “prophetic dreams”.  These dreams were clues to a mystery, and Dodds dawned the persona of the Sandman to solve them; wearing one of the various outfits pictured above. He also carried a gas gun that would put his antagonists to sleep, sometimes causing them to reveal secrets. He would go on to lend his unique talents to the original Justice Society of America. Dodds would fade into another dimension (aka obscurity), returning after the first Crisis and eventually committing suicide. However, this was not the end of Sandman. Upon his death his powers were sent to Sandy Hawkins, former sidekick to Dodds, who has had trouble dealing with the “prophetic dreams”. Sand would replace the gas gun with a gas glove (pictured center) and changed up the mask a bit.

Now, for all of you Neil Gaiman fans who are wondering “What does this have to do with his Sandman series?”. Well it was revealed that Dodds encountered the imprisoned Dream, causing him to have the “prophetic dreams”. I know it’s a stretch, but if you think I will question logic by Neil Gaiman, you must be dreaming…

Know Your DCU: Sgt. Rock

It’s MY DAD’S BIRTHDAY today, so in honor of such an event today’s Know Your DCU is dedicated to his favorite DC character: Sgt. Rock. The character first appeared in the old war-time book GI Combat and was created by artist Joe Kubert, who is still drawing the character to this very day. Sgt. Rock was a member of the U.S. Army with his unit Easy Company, a rag-tag group of individuals who ended up fighting (somehow) in every battle during World War II. Okay maybe not every battle, but pretty much all of the European battles. Rock is hard as nails, a fierce/loyal leader, and managed to live through every (you know what I mean) battle in World War II. A great and unique character in the DC Universe, I pray they won’t place him in AN AWFUL MOVIE…

Know Your DCU: Animal Man

Animal Man, also known as Buddy Baker, is a fictional comic book character created by Dave Wood and Carmine Infantino that exists in the DC Comics Universe, but don’t worry he’s well aware of all of this. When Buddy stumbled upon a broken down alien spaceship, he is caught in it’s explosion, but instead of dying he gains the ability to access the morphogenic field and use the abilities of animals; i.e. run like a cheetah, spin webs like a spider, swim like a fish. Naturally he became a superhero.

After many years of obscurity, in the 1980’s Animal Man found himself being written by a young Grant Morrison, who put Buddy into strange, crazy, and controversial situations. Buddy decided to be a vegetarian, championed for animal rights, and became friends with Wile E. Coyote (well, not really, but kinda). Also, he met the aliens who gave him his powers and they explained a lot of science (is this all making sense?). Eventually, Morrison had to do something dark to Buddy (which was mandatory for the late 80’s) and killed Buddy’s wife Ellen and their two children. Buddy then gained the ability to see into our dimension, and confronted Morrison himself, who restored Buddy’s family back to the way they were. So nice of you Grant! Then Morrison left the Animal Man title and the character went back into obscurity.

Buddy became a family man until the Infinite Crisis pulled him back into action. Animal Man was one of the heroes presumed dead in space, but was actually lost with Adam Strange and Starfire. The three heroes fought their way back to Earth where Buddy was once again reunited with his family. He did die at some point in his space travels, but those aliens I was talking about brought him back to life and increased his powers. Oh, he was being written by Grant Morrison again at that point. I should have mentioned that. Oh well.

I wonder if Buddy Baker is reading this…

Know Your DCU: The Gray Ghost

The Gray Ghost is a fictional television series within the DCU, more specifically the DC Animated Universe (more on that another day), and stars Simon Trent as the title character. In the Batman: The Animated Series episode “Beware the Gray Ghost” we learn that a young Bruce Wayne was a huge fan of the show, owned countless amounts of Gray Ghost merchandise, and watched it nightly with his parents…. until they died naturally. Years later, after Bruce becomes Batman, a criminal starts committing crimes that mirror episodes of The Gray Ghost. The show had been canceled years before, and many people had forgotten about The Gray Ghost and episodes were impossible to come by. Batman enlists actor Simon Trent, who has been typecast and unable to find acting work, to aide him in solving the crimes. Trent, one of the few people who remembers the show’s details, reluctantly joins Batman and dawns his famous Gray Ghost costume to do so. Upon solving the mystery, The Gray Ghost once again becomes a pop-culture icon and Trent writes a book and finds work again.

The best part of this episode of B:TAS is Adam West, who lends his voice to Simon Trent/The Gray Ghost. It is a very nuanced performance, as West surely channels some of his own frustrations with typecasting to the role. If you’ve never seen the episode “Beware The Gray Ghost”, do yourself a favor and CLICK HERE, you won’t regret it…

Know Your DCU: The Phantom Stranger

No one knows where The Phantom Stranger comes from or who he is (literally, he has like 5 or 6 possible origin stories). It is impossible to summon him, he appears when he feels the need to interject. He is omnipotent, ever powerful, and lives in neither the past, present, or future. The Stranger helps heroes in their times of existential need, or when the fate of reality is in danger. He is neither an agent of Heaven or Hell. He is a stranger to all… a Phantom Stranger!

Know Your DCU: The Batmen of All Nations

Sorry this Know Your DCU is being posted 2 days late. I thought I posted it, but apparently put it in the Drafts folder. Now on with the show!

The Batmen of All Nations is an international group of heroes all inspired by Batman and his war on crime. The current members, from left to right and top to bottom, include:

1. El Gaucho of Argentina
2. The Knight and his sidekick Squire of England
3. Man-of-Bats and his sidekick Raven of the USA Sioux Indian Tribe
4. Dark Ranger of Australia
5. The Musketeer of France

The group has been linked to Batman going back to the era where Dick Grayson was Robin. Since their initial adventures, Batman had very little involvement in the group. Many of the original heroes have been killed or replaced by their sidekicks. Recently, Batman reunited with the group who helped him solve the mystery involving the Black Glove Orginization. Currently, the heroes are slowly being introduced into Batman Incorporated…

SIDE NOTE: The above artwork of the Batmen of All Nations comes from THIS extraordinary piece by Dennis Culver where he draws his dream roster for Batman Inc. You should certainly FOLLOW Mr.Culver as he posts his amazing drawings daily…

Know Your DCU: Harley Quinn

In the past 20 years, no new Batman villain has been more well received than Harley Quinn. Created by writer Paul Dini and the legendary Bruce Timm for the landmark animated television show Batman: The Animated Series, Harley played the role as the Joker’s on-again/off-again girlfriend. The character was such a hit, she made her way into the pages of Batman comic book continuity and has stayed there ever since.

Harley Quinn was formerly a doctor at Arkham Asylum known as Dr.Harleen Quinzell. She was given the task of being the main therapist to the Joker. The two would spend hours together, leading Harleen to pity “Mr.J” and eventually fall in love with him. She dawned a costume resembling a harlequin jester, freed the Joker, and joined him in his quest to kill Batman. Do to how unstable her “puddin’“is, he has tried to kill Harley multiple times leading to them breaking up often. Harley will often join her friend and ally Poison Ivy when her and the Joker aren’t seeing one another. Currently Harley, Ivy, and Catwoman are all living together and watching one another’s backs…