Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Today in Crisis History, July 12, 1985: Thank Zod it's Friday

Goooooood morning! How'd you sleep? Did you sleep well considering the multiverse will soon be dead, dead, dead? Deader than Deadman, the deadest man of them all? Deader than Jason Todd? (Whoops, metaphor not valid after 2005.) Well, I hope you did! Sit down and have a sunny glass of fresh-squeezed Florida orange juice (never from concentrate!) while I fill you in on the schedule for our busy day of July 12: Today in Crisis History!


from "The Comprehensive Calendar to Crisis on Infinite Earths" in Amazing Heroes #91 (Fantagraphics, March 15, 1986), by Andy Mangels




I've mildly rearranged the sequence of the events on Mangel's calendar to put them in order of the story in Crisis #2. Granted, some of these may be occuring simultaneously within Crisis #2 and/or with other comics. Corrections to or adjustments of Andy's original calendar will be marked (for now) in green.

As yesterday, full credits for each issue will be given at the end.



The Guardians' Power Battery explodes. This appears in Crisis #2, not #1 as Mangels has said.


from Crisis on Infinite Earths #2



from Green Lantern #194



Superman of Earth-2, Dawnstar, and Solivar travel to the future.. All-Kirby, All-the-Time! The Great Disaster* future of Kamandi!: *Ah, it wasn't that great.



Crisis #2



Pariah appears on Earth-1 for the first time: Note: no red skies, but we've already seen them in Gotham City on July 11 in Crisis #3. This may be a topical error on Mangel's calendar; it may explain why all the events from Crisis #3 that happened yesterday really happen late today or tomorrow, June 13. When I'm done researching the whole timeline I may move those Crisis #3 references from July 11 to July 13. (Yes, it is entirely possible that tthe simplest answer is either a coloring mistake, or the red skies haven't yet reached Metropolis (altho', hey, right across the bay from Gotham, guys.)


Crisis #2



Alexander Luthor ages to four years old: We didn't see him land on Earth-1, but he arrived as a baby, and he is now. He's...four?!? ... Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...


Crisis #2



Arion, Obsidian, and Psycho Pirate travel to ancient Atlantis: What's Atlantis, you ask? The continent of Atlantis was an island which lay before the great flood in the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean. So great an area of land, that from her western shores those beautiful sailors journeyed to the South and the North Americas with ease, in their ships with painted sails. That's either from Who's Who or Donovan.


from Crisis #2



Pariah appears on Earth-1 for the second time, in this ancient past 40,000 years ago. So that's where he was in such a hurry to get to when he was with Superman and Batman. Probably just he left his chariot double-parked in a thirty-minute zone.


Crisis #2



Psycho Pirate is abducted by the Anti-Monitor. And he can keep 'im!



Crisis #2



Anti-matter approaches Earth-1. And I think we all know how painful that can be.


Crisis #2



The JLA, JSA, and Infinity Inc. fight Commander Steel and Mekanique. This is a running subplot in Infinity Inc. at this time, tied into the amazing Roy Thomas revelation that Mekanique comes from a world that resembles that of the silent movie Metropolis (no relation to Clark's home), and she is actually The Machine Man (altho', hubba hubba) character played in the movie by Brigitte Helm, who also played Maria. Gosh, Roy, couldn't work The Ring of the Nibelungs in this time, huh?



Justice League of America #244



The JLA, JSA, and Infinity Inc. fight the red sky storms. Oh goodie, you finally noticed!


JLA #244

John Constantine and Swamp Thing battle vampires in Rosewood, Illinois. Well, no. Actually poor ol' Swampy does all the work, and mighty creepily he does, too...


Swamp Thing #39



...John Constantine actually only shows up at the end to smirk, do his Sting impression, and tell Swamp Thing to meet him at their next rendezvous. Let's all chime in with a refrain from the Gershwin boys: "Nice work if you can get it!"


Swamp Thing #39



Red sky storms continue in Gotham City. Oh, that's just Batman's ol' arch-enemy, Can of Tomato Soup-Man, on the rampage. Adjusted slightly to indicate this is not the first appearance of red skies in Gotham City: we saw red skies there "yesterday" (July 11) in Detective #555, so this entry has been mildly rephrased for clarity.)


from Batman #389



Catwoman struck down by red-sky lightning. Yah, yer gonna get that, yah, doncha know.



from Batman #390

That's all for an action-packed July 12!



Reference reading (or, y'know, just for fun):
  • Batman (1940 series) #389-390 (November-December 1985), script by Doug Moench, pencils and ink by Tom Mandrake, colors by Adrienne Roy, letters by John Costanza
  • Crisis on Infinite Earths #2 (May 1985), script by Marv Wolfman, pencils by George Pérez, inks by Dick Giordano and George Pérez, colors by Anthony Tollin, letters by John Costanza
  • Green Lantern (1960 series) #194 (November 1985), script by Steve Englehart, pencils by Joe Staton, inks by Bruce Patterson, colors by Anthony Tollin, letters by L. Lois Buhalis
  • Justice League of America (1960 series) #244 (November 1985), script by Gerry Conway, pencils by Joe Staton, inks by Mike Machlan, colors by Gene D'Angelo, letters by Albert DeGuzman
  • Swamp Thing (1982 series) #39 (August 1985), script by Alan Moore, pencils by Stephen R. Bissette, inks by John Totleben, colors by Tatjana Wood, letters by John Costanza
(All books are published by DC Comics.)

See y'all here tomorrow when the antimatter really hits the fanboy!

1 comment:

Blam said...

In the crowd on the cover of Crisis #1, Batman has to be thinking "I did that months ago!"