Second Stage

A while back I delved into etymology and looked at the significance of Forerunner as a "Harbinger."

We've seen a lot of Forerunner since then. And it's still not clear what her role in the greater scheme of things is. Since her appearance she's traveled the multiverse, had her world destroyed, and been left adrift in space by Monarch.

But I'm not here to talk about Forerunner. Another Harbinger has appeared. Behold, the preview for Countdown #19:

The speaker is undoubtedly the Godkiller -- slayer of the Fourth World. Here, he (or she) self identifies as a "Harbinger."

I doubt this is an accident. Nothing happening in Countdown is an accident. We can only assume that we are meant to see the Godkiller as another Harbinger.

Which means we've got two -- Forerunner and the Godkiller. And seeing as we're building to a Final Crisis, I wouldn't be surprised if a few more showed up down the line...

Something's Coming...

So next week in Countdown we have the appearance of a new character. We don't know much about her beyond the fact that she's got blue skin, purple hair, and is called Forerunner. Well, that and she's getting a backup feature in Countdown to Adventure.

It's very clear to me that this Forerunner is going to be a very important character in the DC Universe. So I knew I had to do some research. And since the only thing I know about her is that she's called Forerunner, that's where I had to start. I began by looking up "forerunner" in the dictionary:

fore·run·ner [fawr-ruhn-er, fohr-, fawr-ruhn-er, fohr-] –noun

1. predecessor; ancestor; forebear; precursor.
2. an omen, sign, or indication of something to follow; portent: The warm evenings were a forerunner of summer.
3. a person who goes or is sent in advance to announce the coming of someone or something that follows; envoy, herald.
4. the Forerunner, John the Baptist.

Hmm... Very interesting. One who "is sent in advance to announce the coming of something that follows." I wonder... Let's see what we get when we put "forerunner" into a thesaurus:

Main Entry: forerunner
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: messenger
Synonyms: advertiser, ancestor, announcer, author, envoy, forebear, forefather, foregoer, harbinger, herald, initiator, originator, pioneer, precursor, progenitor, prognostic, prototype

Wait a second! I see many interesting possible meanings here. Envoy, herald, precursor... But how about harbinger? Remember what happened last time a Harbinger showed up?