Orion #13 (June, 2001)

Jack Kirby's greatest non-Marvel contribution to pop culture was providing the influence that formed the spine of George Lucas' Star Wars. DC Comics certainly knew that, because when Jedis became all the rage, they did their level best to foist the Fourth World Saga onto a largely disinterested public. As a member of Generation X, I'm well aware of The Force's pervasive presence, and my entry into The Source was Kenner's Super Powers Collection of action figures, whose Kirby-infused lore also absorbed the final seasons of the Super Friends Saturday Morning cartoon that I watched. It's main accomplishment was to set up Darkseid as one of DC's biggest super-villains, and if I didn't know him before, he's been inescapable ever since. I had figures of Darkseid and a Parademon, while my half-brother had Steppenwolf, DeSaad, and maybe Kalibak. I can't recall if either of us bothered with Orion or Mr. Miracle.

Even when I was generally disinterested in DC, John Byrne on Legends couldn't be missed, and Darkseid was there. He popped up in lots of stuff, so that even when I was only occasionally buying DC, the Lord of Apokolips found his way into my collection. By the mid '90s, I was hot and heavy with DC, so I felt obligated to at least try some Fourth World material, and that's exactly how it felt to read that stuff. Finally, I picked up an early proto-Essential/Showcase Presents black & white collection of New Gods, and finally found a way into Kirby's lore. I "got" Orion, at least, but I wasn't convinced that anyone else did. In most of his appearances, he was a hothead jerk with neither the charisma nor menace of, say, Namor the Sub-Mariner. Even favored creators like Jim Starlin came up short.

Of all the attempts to continue the Fourth World without Kirby, I figure mine and the consensus opinion of who came the closest was Walt Simonson's Orion. He'd arguably bettered Kirby on The Mighty Thor, though he admittedly had the whole of Norse mythology to fall back on, and was at the peak of his powers in the '80s. Like John Byrne, some of that luster had faded in the '90s, though Byrne still tapped Simonson to provide the covers to his year-plus attempt at reviving Jack Kirby's Fourth World. When Byrne moved on, Simonson was tapped for the next bid, and I was intrigued enough to give it a try for half a year. The story was about the will-enslaving Anti-Life Equation taking over people's minds in the American heartland. This built to what was presented as a climactic battle between father and son, with Darkseid seeming to perish under the blast of his own Omega Effect beams. Simonson was successful at drawing the characters with a divine Kirby bigness, and create a visual language for the New Gods' cosmic power through ornate and arcane displays. But it also embraced the decompressed storytelling trend that persists to this day, and I simply ran out of interest.

After I left, Orion was forced to take up his father's mantle as leader of a wasteland autocracy, and was manipulated down a dark path. He killed DeSaad, gained control of the Anti-Life Equation, and used it to conquer several worlds. As heel turns went, it was pretty benevolent, actually. Less so was Simonson's clear intent to keep his story New Gods-centric despite middling sales and the imposition of gimmicks. There were hot guest artists like Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee doing back-ups, and a particularly grating and incompetent two month tie-in with the Jokers Last Laugh crossover stunt. By 2001, JLA wasn't the juggernaut that it once was, but their prominence on the right cover was still enough to get my dollars.

Simonson had drawn a couple issues of John Byrne's run, and Byrne returned the favor on the two additional issues that I bought for the Justice League guest spot. I bought #14 assuming that things would pick up from their barely-there cameo in #13, but I was too generous and/or gullible. Orion had used the Anti-Life Equation on Captain (Shazam!) Marvel, who was sort of his herald to the JLA Watchtower base. The Big Red Cheese talked the League into listening to Orion's global broadcast of the Equation, the League's will ceased to be their own, but they still flew around performing good deeds, as usual. Orion just took the fighting aspect out of the... equation... for a hot minute. In his sole line, Martian Manhunter stated his intent to build a dam in China. Like he wouldn't have been up for that any other day?

Predictably, Darkseid turned up alive and the mastermind behind much of this, but also plotted Orion's demise to halt his threat. Orion lost the Anti-Life Equation, but otherwise got better. The book really meandered after that, seemingly marking time until cancellation. Two new villainesses introduced and mostly contained in this volume continued to plague Orion, helping to gouge his eyes out, but he got better across a narratively listless but illustratively compelling five-parter. A final oversized issue set all the pieces back to default. As you can probably tell, I'm glad I kept that money in my wallet.

"The Ordering of Earth!" was by Walter Simonson, John Byrne, and Terry Austin. It was nice to see the classic X-Men art team reunited, and the embellishment was a welcome change from Byrne's solo efforts, but say it with me-- Austin wasn't what he once was by that point.

Superman: The Man of Steel #92 (September, 1999)

In a "Fearful Symmetry" situation, this cross-title arc was dubbed "Secret Origins" by its writer, but marketing wanted to take advantage of a guaranteed sell logo, so all the covers call the arc "The One-Man JLA!" The absence of Superman is first noted by Martian Manhunter in Superman #147. The JLA were addressing a jail break at Stryker's Island Penitentiary in Metropolis, and an editors note causes confusion. Apparently, many of the villains were not up-to-date, tipping the hand that this was a month of inventory stories to cover the triangle-number, comics-by-committee crew of the Superman titles for a month. But also, most of the issue was already a fantasy about baby Kal-El having landed on Oa instead of Earth, and growing to become a Green Lantern Corpsman. The continuity nit-picking wasn't helpful. Manhunter telepathically detects Superman's mind somewhere in the depths of space, and calls for a team to seek him out. Steel and Green Lantern promptly volunteered, with Kyle Rayner pressing The Flash into service as well. Wonder Woman also wanted to come, but was denied by J'Onn J'Onzz, not wanting to leave Earth too short-handed of defenders. Aquaman was also left behind, but I felt a lot worse about Diana, because the artist rendered her in a gorgeous Frank Frazetta style.

The next couple of issues are pretty much a waste of time. Adventures of Superman #570 imagines Kal-El as a Rannian styled after Adam Strange. In Action Comics #757, Kal-El is a Thangarian that has displaced Katar Hol, and that's actually a more interesting spin than the overall "real" story. Across these two issues, the JLA search party travel through space and get attacked by a giant squid, multiple times. I final reveal is that they've been captured by the same aliens messing with Superman's memories, and are making the JLA replay the same corny adventure on repeat.

Finally, the Sleuth from Outer Space figures out the ruse, and mentally reaches out to "K'All L'Ell," who now thinks he's a Martian. The Manhunter eventually recovers Superman's psychic identity, and Kal-El suggests merging their minds to break free of the conditioning. This Supermanhunter frees the JLAers and the proper Man of Tomorrow, restoring Kal-El's psyche to his body. It turns out that their captor was himself from the conquered people of X'VyV'X. Rendered xenophobic by the invasion that propelled him into space, the X'VyV'X refugee tried to use a Kryptonian device to brainwash a champion to take back to X'VyV'X. Superman agrees to one more mind wipe to "become" a X'VyV'X Superman to repel the invaders without compromising their location or security. However, this selfless inspired X'VyV'X to trust again, and send the JLA to again recover Superman, who was grateful to have friends like these.

The arc was by Tom Peyer, Tom Grindberg, and various inkers, plus covers by Walt Simonson. It was fine-- I generally enjoy Peyer scripts more, but this was a space-filler with Silver Age influences. Some back issues that I can now release into the wild.

2014 Houston Comicpalooza Crime Goliath Monster-Man Vulture Jam Sketch Detail by Johnny J. Segura III

I'd hoped to do a story post of some kind tonight, but I'm still juggling super-involved projects at work and in podcasting, so we'll fall back on another belated art post. I don't feel quite as bad about this one, because Johnny's one of my favorite and most frequested artists to commission, and I have gotten stuff from him since this decade-plus-old detail. Except now that I think about it, I don't think any of that material has been posted by me either, so hopefully he snapped a pic and put it in Snapchat or something. Is Snapchat still a thing? Was it in 2014, even? Speaking of oldies, here's a Monster-Man from a 1967 story that I brought up last week.

Johnny Segura 3rd

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The Vile Menagerie: MONSTER-MAN

Alter Ego: Joe
Occupation: Henchman
Marital Status: Unknown
Known Relatives: Unknown
Group Affiliation: Vulture
Base of Operations: United States
First Appearance: House of Mystery #166 (April, 1967)
Height: Approx. 9'-10'
Eyes: Dark
Hair: Dirty Blond

History:
Once, Vulture developed a molecular-ray that could temporarily transform normal men into hulking man-monsters. The most highly visible subject was an agent simply called Joe, who used his new power to rip open an armored car with his bare hands. Mr. V sought to make the process permanent, and scientists at one of his international labs developed a cylinder that could potentially do the job. However, authorities were aware of the Monster-Man's crime spree and Vulture's plot, so they were on high alert to intercept the cylinder when it entered the United States. Mr. V paid the globe-trotting playboy Marco Xavier for the task, as he would be above suspicion. However, the real Marco Xavier was presumed deceased, and his identity assumed in recent months by the Manhunter from Mars.

The Sleuth from Outer Space raided the hideout where "Xavier" had taken the cylinder, but soon determined that this was but one safehouse, not the location where Vulture was keeping the ray. The Alien Atlas traded blows with Monster-Man for a bit, then feigned defeat in a bid to follow the Vulture agents back to their true headquarters. The plan was wrecked when the Manhunter's former partner Zook crashed the scene, and when his own powers faltered before Monster-Man, the Manhunter blew his ruse to save his other-dimensional pet. Just then the ray wore off, leaving Joe just another Vulture bum taking a concussion nap until the police arrived. Manhunter did eventually find the base, and destroyed the molecular-ray before any more Monster-Men could be produced.

Powers:
Monster-Man displayed incredible strength and durability, especially to Zook's deep freeze power. Yet, it wasn't seemingly in the same class as the Alien Atlas, who easily overcame Monster-Man when so inclined.

Weaknesses:
The Monster-Man is a limited time offer of undefined length, and will swiftly and spontaneously fade once its charge dissipates.

Quote: "I'll take care of this little monkey!"

Created by Jack Miller and Joe Certa