17) Didn’t realize Art Adams drew the isolated Cryll piece. Adams of course also drew the Martian Manhunter in the jam, although his connection to the character was and remains tangential (Armageddon: Inferno, Bloodlines design materials, house ads, etc.) God bless him, Adams drew a full figure Zook for me which thematically bridges his two pieces here.

So many great, random artist/character inclusions here. Silverblade is so the Peter Nyong’o of this thing, and makes me long for Jemm or Nathaniel Dusk, a sentence no one ever has or should have written. Was Dave Stevens the only double contributor, and how awesome/disturbing that he used that opportunity to work in the full blown racist original Chop-Chop of all people? “Bob Kane” Batman, Curt Swan Superman and… George Perez blowing the flow with another “I am the be all of Wonder Woman?” Ross Andru, Dick Giordano, Mike Sekowsky… even Jose Delbo, but not Perez! I dig that Beto Hourman even more than Rude Mr. Miracle! Robin’s attention-grabbing local rocks, though look, a second “Bob Kane” credit. Kubert kills it on Hawkman. A glorious piece!

2) I definitely have love for George Perez, as evidenced by my using a sketch he did for me (in Sharpee!) as my twitter icon, but for some reason I tend to take him for granted. He always does great work, and I’ve been exposed to it for about as long as I’ve read comics (Logan’s Run!) but he’s never been my favorite (yet there was a time Phil Jimenez was.) I think Perez is actually so good, he starts to turn back around the other way, like the Anti-Matter Universe “so bad it’s good.” Perez is so essential to comic books that he doesn’t register for me emotionally as he ought to, like gutters and z-formation panel layouts. He exists beyond subjective opinion as an ideal. Perez Is.

3) “This book is number ___ of one thousand, signed and numbered by the author and artist” on a tipped-in plate featuring the trinity and their alter egos.

4) Wonder Woman’s soul was that of a murder victim in utero, the last to reincarnate out of a race of resurrected rape/murder victims, with Hippolyta having derived from her Cro-Magnon mama. Thanks Greg Potter and George Perez. Oh, and you really have to look for that nipple in the spine fold.

5) I definitely lost a comment somewhere, because I know I already wrote about how the Manhunter Cult debuted in 1975’s 1st Issue Special #5 where Jack Kirby created Mark Shaw, only for Steve Englehart to co-opt them for all in 1977 for The Privateer/Star Tsar and the Guardian’s homicidal robot corps in JLofA.

6) Brother Blood is the Diablo of the DC Universe– an excellent character design that the writer fails to match with strong characterization. That’s why I have no use for any of the later Brother Bloods that depart from the design, since that’s the best part of the concept.

7) Things I Don’t Miss From The Post-Crisis DCU: Byrne’s Krypton.

8) Doll Man is the 5th super-hero now owned by DC Comics to debut after Superman/Zatara (behind Crimson Avenger, Batman, Sandman, and Blue Beetle.)

9) Forgot to mention that the Alex Ross cover totally turns me off and that the Perez ones work best on the semi-floppies, but the Bill Sienkiewicz is best of all.

10) Did anybody else hear “Child of a Lighthouse Keeper” by Luke Daab while looking at the Kal-El/Arthur page? Still prefer the Golden Age origin though, especially with Tom Curry depicted so easily confusable with Leonard McKenzie. Can’t believe “confusable” is a legit word that didn’t get red-flagged by spellcheck.

11) Was going to cry foul that Kal-El and Arthur were babies before Captain Comet and Martian Manhunter were active until I remembered that they were in their thirties in the 1980s, so math. Anyway, Comet and J’Onn weren’t firmly established as being 1950s based Post-Crisis until the Zero Hour timeline was published (as American Secrets was presumed out of continuity.) Still waiting for a team-up of those two, even though the New 52 negates much of its potential novelty. Love Perez’s take on the Manhunter from Mars Silver Age origin (before it was negated by DeMatteis/Badger.)

11) Robin deserved a full page. Was this the beginning of Robin being treated as less than one of the most popular and recognizable super-heroes on planet earth?

12) Part of what I love about this book and the Post-Crisis DCU is the full integration of the Fawcett, Quality, and especially the Charlton characters into the shared continuity. Plus, they were still the Charlton versions, so their history is acknowledged before the heavy revisions soon to come. I don’t want to derail the company from its DC You initiative of allowing creators to (gasp) be creative, but would it be heretical to (as other commenters mentioned) hammer out a basic throughline of current continuity that better incorporates Wildstorm and maybe have Jim Lee draw a one issue HotDCU addendum?

13) Jemm, Son of Saturn. Vestigial, Character of No Consequence. Only with Jemm could I be offended over a character illegitimately predating Halo and Shade, much less Captain Marvel.

14) Speedy was in all those giveaway anti-drug and runaway comics. Agree that Perez and The Outsiders don’t seem to mix. I think they need to be more… um… impressionistic with those costumes. I much prefer his Detroit League, though they’re better with grittier artists like Luke McDonnell. I like the Global Guardians more than they deserve to be liked, and they should have come in earlier.

15) Dig the two pages after Crisis devoted to stuff that barely mattered when Perez drew them, much less in the years that passed until the hardcover and later collections. Infinity Inc. only rated one panel? Not quite equal standing with the Wanderers, since they at least were in full figure instead of waist-up. Batman and Martian Manhunter are the only heroes to appear in each of the Justice Leagues.

16) O hay, Wonder Woman makes her debut after the Suicide Squad on the last page of modern era history before leaping hundreds and thousands of years into the future? Thanks Greg Potter and George Perez.

I can’t remember why I noted this down last week, but apparently ‘we need a Northwind and Fire series’.

The original Ray, Happy Terrill, became a new Neon the Unknown a few years back. Not a lot ot people know that…

Rob said ‘Khund’ tee hee.

Ancient lettercols told me the colourist Tom Ziuko’s surname was pronounced ‘Zooko’. Wonder if he knew J’onn J’onzz.

So, I’m re-listening WITH book in hand!

1. Concerning the “Film and Water” podcast: Rob, I’m assuming that my invitation to review Citizen Kane with you has been lost in the mail?

2. Does the inclusion of the Manhunters as such a primary focus lay the seeds for the upcoming Millennium event? Or are we too early for that?

3. My opinions on Brother Blood are the exact opposite of yours, Shag. I LOOOVE the character. Visually, he is one of the most interesting of the New Teen Titans’ villains, and I love the creep factor that comes from the religious cult gimmick (It is an overdone one nowadays, but at the time it was pretty innovative stuff). This page, however, left me a little flat. Beautiful, certainly, but you should get a full view of the Brother Blood outfit if you are going to give a page to Brother Blood.

4. On the page with Destiny (which is beautiful, by the way), is the “meteor” shooting across the night sky baby Kal-El’s rocket? It is out of chronological order, but isn’t Destiny’s gift that he can foretell what will happen? Foreshadowing an event that will not pay off until the end of the book is a genius way to emphasize that ability.

5. You mentioned it being weird that Hourman was included in the Freedom Fighters, but the whole FF section is a retelling (basically) of their story in All Star Squadron, and Hourman plays a large role there.

6. Is the Atomic Knight reboot new here? I thought this was the origin from his appearances in the 70’s Wonder Woman stories. Personally, I love the original Silver Age Atomic Knight stories, and think making those all some scientist’s paranoia was a disservice to the characters. I’m excited for the real Atomic Knights’ appearance in Convergence. Hopefully they will be more than just cannon fodder for the LSH.

7. Jericho makes an appearance in the History of the DC Universe!!! I’m sad that he did not get a full page exploration, as he rightfully deserved it as much as Batman and more so than Capt. Marvel (As a side note: Capt. Marvel will not “permanently” be known as SHAZAM. Shazam is the old guy with the beard that lives in the Subway tunnel). As Rob said (without a hint of sarcasm as far as I could tell), “What’s left to say after Jericho?”

8. You are absolutely right that this is a Vibe drawing by George Perez! Wasn’t their an urban legend awhile back that Perez refused to draw the character because he was so offensively stereotypical? Or am I just dreaming that?

9. I wonder if the Global Guardians full page spread was a set up for their role in the JLI. I can’t believe that Shag doesn’t like Little Mermaid! She’s not a smoking hot redhead, but she is certainly cute in an amphibious sort of way. Then again, maybe she is more Rob’s speed.

10. I’m not sure that you are right, Shag, about it being a mistake that the book mentions multiple earths. I think this is a case of it being from Harbinger’s POV and certainly she remembers the multiple earths, right?

11. I can’t give you a specific incident where Rorschach was drawn alongside of the DC characters, but I’m sure that it has happened. Does the Watchmen entry from the loose-leaf Who’s Who count?

12. What, no listener feedback! I sat through two hours of you prattling on about these books waiting to hear my name mentioned and . . . just nothing! Looks like y’all are angling for yet another episode with nothing but listener feedback. You are doing everything you can to delay the update podcasts, aren’t you?

Seriously guys, I enjoyed this episode very much. Looking forward to getting back into Who’s Who proper, though, so make it happen!

https://twitter.com/XumYukinori/status/595836806215684096

Views from the Longbox #146
http://fortressofbaileytude.com/viewsfromthelongbox/episode-146-history-of-the-dc-universe/

Fanholes Podcast #92
http://fanholespodcast.blogspot.com/2014/01/fanholes-episode-92-history-of-dc.html

Legion of Substitute Podcasters
#316 http://paulfrench.ca/losp/?p=1171
#319 http://paulfrench.ca/losp/?p=1179

Thanks in advance for your help!