Super-Villain Team-Up

Curse the holidays and all their delicious treats! I've been in a food induced coma for what feels like weeks now. Has it been weeks? It may be; I do not know for certain.

Now, tomorrow is comic book day so I think I'm going to mention a few things about the comics that come out tomorrow. Keep in mind that this post will be mercilessly short; I've got deadlines coming up for the end of the semester and I need my sleep.

Action Comics Annual #13. As far as I'm concerned this is the book that's coming out tomorrow. Have you been reading Paul Cornell's Lex Luthor opus in the pages of Action? You should be; it's fantastically entertaining stuff and is the best of the best of what super-hero comics can be.

The Action Comics Annual should follow in the same tradition. We'll be seeing a Luthor (in this case a young Luthor) going up against some of the DCU's most famous villains. In this case, serious heavy-hitters who have opposed Batman and Superman.

Lex vs. Darkseid and Lex vs. Ra's al Ghul. I mean, what else is there to say? How could that not be tremendously entertaining? These are villains that are supposed to be some of the cream of the crop of their respective enemies' rogues' galleries. But really, are Darkseid and Ra's al Ghul really all that impressive as villains? Perhaps it is necessary to see how they go up against the greatest enemy of the world's greatest super-hero.

In some ways, I pity Darkseid and Ra's. We know that both of them will be unimpressed; they'll think Luthor a mere mortal and beneath their notice (keep in mind that this is before either of them has met Batman or Superman). Perhaps their encounters with Lex Luthor will teach them something they otherwise won't experience until they encounter their arch-enemies.

Darkseid and Ra's al Ghul are going to lose. And if everything goes as I expect it they'll lose bad. What could be more fitting?

Crazy Countdown

Okay, so the preview for Countdown #4 just about made my head explode.

First, I've never seen... Just... Well hell, look at that cover. If I didn't know better I'd say that Mary's right breast is bigger than her left one. Is this some sort of allegory on the superiority of good over evil?

Also: Darkseid on a couch. Apparently the DCU's supreme embodiment of evil likes a good sit down every once in a while. Do you think he was watching TV before Mary got home? Maybe rooting around in the fridge for leftovers?

Mary: How dare you eat the last slice of cheesecake!

Darkseid: Darkseid dares all.

More On Countdown

"Unto Man Shall Come... A Great Disaster." Ominous words, indeed. And words with several layers of meaning. Especially to people obsessed with the intricacies and inner-workings of the greater DC Universe. People like myself.

You may or may not know that "Great Disaster" is more than simply a reference to a general calamitous event. Just as "Crisis" has certain connotations in the DCU, "Great Disaster" has a specific meaning. Specifically Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth.

In the early 1970's the great Jack Kirby created a number of new properties for DC Comics. Most famous of those are, of course, the New Gods. But he also created a possible apocalyptic future for the DCU. A world were mutated animals ruled ruthlessly over the few remaining humans. In this timeline, the event that led to this nightmare world was referred to as the Great Disaster.

Kamandi was the star of Last Boy on Earth (even though he wasn't really the last boy on Earth). Kamandi's name came from fallout shelter-like bunker where he was raised. That bunker was inscribed with the words "Command-D." (hence, "Kamandi.")

It was later revealed that a group known as the Atomic Knights had a part in the events leading up to the Great Disaster. As you may be aware, the Atomic Knights recently played a major role in the Battle for Bludhaven miniseries. After the destruction of the city they were seen entering their base: a bunker labeled Command-D.

None of these things are a coincidence. Nor is it a coincidence that both Kamandi and Darkseid were created by Jack Kirby. After all, it was never revealed what -- or who -- was responsible for the Great Disaster...

A Great Disaster, indeed...