Today in Comics History, June 30, 1908: In Soviet Russia, Earth hits meteor!

from "Solar System Sizes" in Strange Adventures (1950 series) #69 (DC, June 1956), creators uncredited and unknown




Known as the Tunguska Event, this explosion devastated 830 square miles in Russia. It's believed to have been the impact from the air burst of an asteroid that broke up in the atmosphere.



from Doc Savage (1988 series) #22 (DC, August 1990), script by Mike W. Barr, pencils by Rod Whigham, inks by Steve Montano, colors by Anthony Tollin, letters by Bill Oakley
But what really did cause the explosion? Surely in a superhero universe "an asteroid crashed" isn't the only reason it happened?

Sure 'nuff, in Doc Savage's world, a giant magnet pulled the meteor to Mother Russia!


from Doc Savage (1988 series) #23 (DC, September 1990), script by Mike W. Barr, pencils by Rod Whigham, inks by Steve Montano, colors by Anthony Tollin, letters by Bill Oakley
What about the DC Universe? There, it was caused by Nikolai Tesla...oh, he's always pullin' that stunt! That's the reason Batman calls Tesla "The Crown Prince of Crime!"


from Batman #537 (DC, December 1996), script by Doug Moench, pencils by Kelley Jones, inks by John Beatty, colors by Gregory Wright, color separations by Android Images, letters by Todd Klein
Thanks to pal Andrew Weiss for pointin' this one out: thanks to Tunguska, mild-mannered Soviet citizen Leonid Kovar became the superhero Red Star. Now that's Soviet Exceptionalism for you, comrade! However, by the time of the New Teen Titans, he had to change his name from his original nom-de-supér Starfire. Wonder why that was, hmmm?



from Teen Titans (1966 series) #18 (DC, November 1968), script by Len Wein and Marv Wolfman, pencils and inks by Bill Draut, letters by John Duffy
From the pages of 2000 AD: Tharg tells us the real story: the Tunguska event was caused by time travellers going back to observe the Tunguska event! Timey-wimey!



from "What Hit Tunguska?" in 2000 AD prog 81 (IPC, 9 September 1978), script by Chris Lowder as Jack Adrian, pencils and inks by Pierre Frisano, letters by Paul Bensberg
In the Marvel Universe, Tunguska happened because science, sorcery, and evil-doing. Y'know, the usual.


from Mighty Avengers (2013 series) #12 (Marvel, September 2014), script by Al Ewing, pencils by Greg Land, inks by Jay Leisten, colors by Matt Milla, letters by Cory Petit
But on Earth-1610, Tunguska was because Ultimate Vision fell from outer space and crash-landed in Russia to warn us that Gah Lak Tus was coming. Ah, the scientific explanation.



from Ultimate Nightmare #2 (Marvel Ultimate Comics, November 2004), script by Warren Ellis, pencils by Trevor Hairsine, inks by Nelson with Simon Coleby, colors by Frank D'Armata, letters by Chris Eliopoulos
Also in this version, Vision is female and has big giant metal comic-booky breasts and oh look, I don't make up this stuff, I just read 'em.


cover of Ultimate Vision #1 (Marvel Ultimate, February 2007), art by Brandon Peterson
No explanation yet what caused the Tunguska Event in the post-Flashpoint DC universe, but they DO have a nasty but cool-lookin' villain by the same name! Don't touch him; his filling is hot!


cover of Suicide Squad (2016 series) #24 (DC, October 2017), pencils by Eddy Barrows, inks by Eber Ferreira, colors by Adriano Lucas
And who knows what happened in the Watchmen Universe in other years (aka Alan Moore Revolves in His Grave-Earth), but you can probably blame these two same-day disasters on Tunguska. Or possibly on Geoff Johns.



from Rorschach #3 (DC/Black Label, February 2021), script by Tom King, pencils and inks by Jorge Fornés, colors by Dave Stewart, letters by Clayton Cowles
And in the wonderfully titled Moriarty, Lord of the Vampires novel series by Chuck Miller (Book One: Vionna and the Vampires (Amazon ad), the Tunguska Event was caused by Professor Moriarty throwing an asteroid at Dracula. Oh, that ol' cliché!


So, whichever origin you accept for it...Tunguska Event, won't you?